New Guy Looking To Get Back In The Game

[Fish40]

Hello. Just joined this site recently, and could use some advice on getting back into this sim. I played CFS3 with Firepower years ago, but for one reason or the next, drifted away from it. To be honest, for me, the graphics and the terrain detail and water in particular were lacking. I am still heavily into IL2 1946 with VP Modpack. After seeing some videos on YouTube of the makeover CFS3 has undergone, I'm ready to come back and give it another go. When I saw those videos, I thought they were of IL2 COD! They looked that good, especially the new look of the water! I'm starting from scratch, and could use some direction on patches needed, and links to those awesome looking mods! Thanks for your time, and assistance.

[sixstrings5859]

I'm just the opposite of you.Been into CFS3 since the beginning and just recently got back into Il-2 '46. Take your time and explore this site both in the sticky threads,general threads and the warbirds library. Have 9 installs so i know a little. Ankor's shaders are great from what i hear. Then all the expansions BoB,ETO,MAW,PTO-Solomons, PTO-RS and Korea. Wish there was a get started guide or sticky but there isn't . Kinda like me getting started out with Il-2 '46. A lot of research went in before i did anything with it(have a fully updated version,VP modpack and BAT). My favorite expansion is Pat's BoB ,but that is just my choice yours may differ.Use the search window to look up a topic. If you can't get help there ask here in the forum. There are some great people here smarter than me. Research all you can and let the fun begin. Regards ,Scott

[Daiwilletti]

hi Fish40, take a look at the last few posts in the knowledgebase sticky. The biggest improvement IMHO for CFS3 in recent times has been the development of a new shader package by Ankor. This updates the look of any install you choose to use. There is installation guidance by Majormagee towards the end of the sticky.

The quickest way to get started is to set up ETO 1.50, with the latest shaders (February 2017?). ETO already has a greatly improved scenery package, shaders, scenery and texture budgets ifles, and Av History v4.0 flight models so its a great start. Lots of aircraft and missions. One of the best things about the shaders is a tweak to an .ini file which means you don't have to re-run cfs3config every time you make changes to your install. This saves a lot of grief.

Get your head around the ETO eraswapper and how it works, this is the source of the most threads when people's ETO installs get corrupt.

Other packages which are good from the word go are the PTO Rising Sun package (again with complicated eraswapping bat files which take some time to tweak properly), and MAW which looks splendid with the new shaders, has recently upgraded terrain textures, and has lots of missions out of the box. The quickest instal and arguably therefore the most fun, is Pat Pattles BoB.

The thing about all these packages is you don't need to scratch around like in the past, updating textures, effects.xml, adding new sounds, shaders.xml etc. All that work has already been done.

One trap for young players that I recently found is that when I added some AvHistory planes to MAW, the stock effects.xml and associated fxtextures (for tracers, etc) did not contain a lot of the effects needed for the latest set of AvHistory weapons. Hence I was missing out on tracer effects etc.

Anyway all the best I hope you can find the time to do this old sim some justice - it truly is a different beast from CFS3.

[Fish40]

Thanks for the ideas. I think I may start with the ETO add on with the addition of the new shader package and go from there. One thing I'm a bit confused about is the install of the original game disc. After the install, does it need any patches before ETO gets installed? It's been a while since I had this on my hardrive. Thanks again.

[sixstrings5859]

There are 2 updates for CFS3. Look them up in the sticky threads. Here is a link. http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/83816-Combat-Flight-Simulator-3-Patches-and-SDKs Hope this helps. Follow install instructions to the letter for the ETO and can be found here at SOH. Will save a lot of heartache .

[sixstrings5859]

Been here since the beginning and left for a while. Been back since 2011 and been enjoying my old hobby ever since.

[sixstrings5859]

To run multiple installs you will need the multi-install program to do this. If you have problems finding it PM me. I use it for my custom installs. ETO is a great start just reading up on it before installing as there are some files that need to be tweaked to run in Win.7 64bit and above. Check it out here http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php/66446-Installation-guides-for-ETO-and-Rising-Sun . Hope this helps. Regards,Scott

[Fish40]

Thanks Sixstrings! How are you enjoying the VP Modpack? I've seen some videos of BAT, but too me, the new map textures VP added can't be beat!

[sixstrings5859]

Since i'm mainly into WWII i favor VP modpack. BAT is great and has all eras covered. BAT is good if you want a good platform for all aircraft during history to the present. VP is easy to install and for what it is BAT is also easy to install. Very worthwhile to install BAT and it can be found here http://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php . I'd say BAT is definitely worth looking into. Like CUP but easier to install and improved to boot. Regards,Scott

[sixstrings5859]

Just getting started can be a little intimidating at first. Recommend exploring this wonderful site and read all the stickies and search the forums. If you have questions or if you can't find it using the search box post it here on the forums. A lot of very smart and helpful people here. Il-2 '46 was ,and still to some degree, intimidating to me. Installed 3 versions and that is it. Keep them stock except for some added missions. Live by the K.I.S.S. rule and keeps me out of trouble-(mostly). Regards,Scott