A big thank you to Bearcat241! Much belated...

[MaskRider]

Just a little shout out here...

Over the last few weeks I have been catching up on all of the great planes that have been built for CFS2 over the years. During this time on numerous occasions Bearcat241 has effortlessly (it seemed) and graciously answered many questions and pointed me in the right direction. Just last night, I had the pleasure of stumbling across and installing two of his masterpieces- both going on a dozen years old!:

1. b26_marauder_cfs2.zip
2. Fdg2_b25j_conv.zip

They are magnificent pieces of work and the attention to detail in the readmes was just what you'd expect: good-humored, concise and clearly written.

At the end of the readme for the B-25J conversion pack BC wrote:

Enjoy it all ye fans of CFS2, I know I am....

Bearcat241

Well we have and we are thanks in not an insignificant part to your efforts Bearcat. I've said it before and will say it again- you're a treasure!

Thanks
MR


PS I changed the shine settings in MDLC to your gun-metal shine settings.

[bearcat241]

Thanks Chris...two of my fav medium bombers, both with deadly kissing power. You take me back to my bomber-loving days! Guess its about time to blow the dust off my multi-engine ratings again.

[MaskRider]

both with deadly kissing power.

Aahhh, yes...



MR

[MaskRider]

Bearcat241,

Just a couple of questions about the Fdg2_b25j_conv pack.

Number one: how come the reticle is so low below the horizon? See the attached image. The top half shows what it looks like with the supplied panel from the conversion pack. The bottom half shows what it looks like when I alias to another B-25 panel I keep on hand. You can see that in each view the tracers converge on the horizon. The plane itself is sitting level. The position of the reticle in the conversion, however, makes it appear to be pitched down about 5-10 degrees. Is it a model conversion issue?


Number two: is the view shown below what the rear gun position is supposed to look like?

Just wondering.

Thanks
MR

Hehe, I know its been a dozen years since you released this package and it isn't all crisp and clear in your mind, but please bear with me!

Thanks
Chris

[bearcat241]

Well, to your first question, it appears to be an oversight in the panel work. Something i overlooked in it all. Looks like you found a solution. To your second question, i'm not sure what the problem is there on the rear guns. In your pic, it looks normal to my eye, like something modeled that way.

[MaskRider]

Thanks BC,

I will keep playing with it and see if I can't get that reticle up where it belongs. The panel you supplied is still a much nicer panel. I prefer to use it.

As for the bit of what appears to me to be a particle-board patch ;^) in the stern, no biggie either. Just thought I'd ask.

Thanks again,
Chris

[MaskRider]

Bearcat,

You probably already knew this but I had zero clue. I did some googling on "b-25J tail gun position" and found out that the thing I think looks like a particle board patch is actually a rendition of what is referred to in the specs as a "tail-turret curtain". I suppose it was made out of canvas or some such material.

The gunner sat well above the guns themselves and they were operated remotely by a contraption that looked very much like a game controller we see today. When not in use I assume the entire top portion where the tail gunners head could be sealed off- thus the lack of any interior details visible inside that little rear bubble.




Here is a film of what it looked like to man and fire from the B-25J's tail gun position:



Cheers,
Chris

[bearcat241]

Thanks man...i really appreciate that awesome bit of detail. I never knew that about the curtain and i never even questioned that "particle board" look on the model. Imagine being the tail gunner at 20000 feet with nothing between you and the freezing sky but that curtain...

Let me tweak the panel a little. I might be able to set something straight there.

[bearcat241]

I remember now why i left the panel as i did. Among other minor challenges, i had a tough time lining up the CFS2 gunsight64 reticle with the "painted" cross-hairs of the gunsight on the panel bmp. I still can't get it perfect, but here's the best i can do with it:

Near the top of the panel.cfg you'll see this...

[VIEWS]
view_forward_WINDOWS=MAIN_PANEL
VIEW_FORWARD_DIR=14.0, 0.0, 0.0

Change it to....

[VIEWS]
view_forward_WINDOWS=MAIN_PANEL
VIEW_FORWARD_DIR=1.900, -0.010, 0.000

At the very bottom you'll replace...

[Default View]
X=0
Y=0
SIZE_X=8191
SIZE_Y=5300

With...

[Default View]
X=0
Y=0
SIZE_X=8191
SIZE_Y=3290

[bearcat241]

By the way, on a separate note, the dp was initially set up to fire the cheek .50 cal's on the cannon trigger, with all others firing on the gun trigger. In retrospect, i don't really favor this setup. I prefer to set all forward firing guns in the nose and the cheeks to the gun trigger while assigning all lateral and rear firing positions to the cannon trigger. I could upload the changes here, but the catch is i'm working with Allen's modified Dped which switches the spec and trigger assignments to their correct places. If you have the original versions of Dped, this may, in theory, cause problems. So, there it is...

[MaskRider]

Hiya BC,

Hey, if that isn't perfect its as close to being perfect as any reasonable person could hope for. Looks great if you ask me. Thanks for taking the extra time to get it squared away!

!

With regard to the DP file I agree with you that the cheek and all other forward facing guns should fire on the same trigger. Lets you fire them without having to fire every other gun at the same time. As far as I can tell, I do not have any utility named Dped loaded on my computer. So maybe it won't be an issue. What little work I have done with dp files I have always done with notepad. You take me a bit bit beyond my experience envelope here and I'm not sure if I am reading you correctly but I'm guessing that so long as I won't be opening any dps in any version of Dped I should be OK, right?

Cheers,
Chris

[bearcat241]

... I'm not sure if I am reading you correctly but I'm guessing that so long as I won't be opening any dps in any version of Dped I should be OK, right?

That's correct. But i'm curious, how do you modify loadouts in your models? Anyhoo, i'm off to work right now. I'll get back to you later this evening regarding the dp changes.

[MaskRider]

... how do you modify loadouts in your models?

As far as I can recall the only editing I have ever done to AC loadouts is by opening up the dp file in notepad and editing lines there- but only with very specific instructions from somebody who knows what they are doing. I have also used AirEd to edit the ac.air file to tweak things in there but again only with specific instructions on what I should be looking for and what changes need to be made. I don't believe I have ever opened up an ac.mdl file. The closest I have come is using mk_mdlc.

What utility does one need to open up an mdl file? Hex Editor?

If so, then I could do that. Although I wouldn't have the vaguest idea what I was looking at if I did.

I should probably get myself over to Caleb Flerks, eh?

Chris

BTW I just downloaded a copy of DPed110 from the Free Flight Site. Just curious as to see how it presents the information.

[bearcat241]

OK, here ya go. Overwrite your current B25 dp with the enclosed. The dped.exe and dped.ini are Allen's mods for DPed110 & 121. Drop them into your newly installed DPED folder and overwrite the current files.

CheerZ!

[MaskRider]

Aaahh, yes. The old keep him busy clicking around for a non-existent attachment ploy!



Chris

[bearcat241]

they fall for it every time


*Actually, i was away from my computer completely yesterday, so i just got around to correcting the omission.

[MaskRider]

Oh, yes. Ever so much more enjoyable!


Thanks, BC.

MR

[miamieagle]

Kool

[Rami]

Good evening,

Sorry I'm late to the party, Chris. I agree with you completely. Bearcat241 does some amazing work, has a deep reservoir of knowledge, and he's helped me out more than a handful times over the years.

Thanks, Bearcat!