FLAK sites for your new A2A Accu-Sim B17G to encounter

[GypsyBaron]

I have just uploaded a package to implement FLAK at several sites in Germany so that flying your A2A B-17G
will be even more engaging than it already is. The FLAK sites are implemented using FSX effects controllers
placed at various locations and altitudes. These controllers then trigger FLAK effects files to create the bursts.

Flak is triggered by distance from the flak effect emitters. The current distance setting is between 700 and
1200 meters.
Flak bursts will occur above, below, and all around the aircraft when it enters an area where I have placed
the flak controllers.

There are FLAK concentrations at Wilhelmshaven, Bremen, Berlin, Peenumunde, Dresden, Schweinfurt, Koln,
Dusseldorf, the length of the Kiel Canal and at the Valentin U-Boat pens on the Weser River north of Bremen.

I will be adding more sites in the future which can simply be added to the existing mix by dropping a BGL
file into the "FLAK\scenery" folder you will create when installing this package.

Unzip the file into a temporary location and then follow the instructions contained in the "Readme" file.

In the library here:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?catid=4&linkid=261

Try this link for the download:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=4&id=261


Enjoy.
Paul "Gypsy Baron" Strogen
3561

[krazycolin]

That dear sir, is one of the best ideas I've heard in a very long time.

Kudos to you.

kc

[GypsyBaron]

That dear sir, is one of the best ideas I've heard in a very long time.

Kudos to you.

kc

Thanks kc. I have some ideas on how to implement damage effects as a result of the FLAK but
that will take me a bit longer to implement and test. Right now I'm busy enjoying the B-17G :)

I'm also hoping to get feedback on this implementation, particularly if anyone is running into
problems. In many locations the FLAK can be very intense but this can be "toned down",
if need be, through some simple text edits.

Paul

[MudMarine]

I can't find the file, it's not showing with the link?

[Snuffy]

Stunning! (no pun intended! LOL! )

Thanks!

[Shylock]

Great idea and awesome add on. Thanks can't wait to try it out.

[GypsyBaron]

I can't find the file, it's not showing with the link?

Did you try clicking on the little disk icon with the red "down arrow" just to the right
of the file name in the upper left of the page?

I've not uploaded here since the new software has been in place so I just "followed instruction" :)

Hopefully you can get it from that link. it appears to work for me.
Paul

[Matt Wynn]

i'm not seeing it in the library, same problem you're having Mud?

[Scratch]

Wow! I made a wish last night that something like this would happen and here it is! Thanks a bunch sir!:salute:

[MCDesigns]

Paul, outstanding work!! I don't have the B-17, but took my P-40 up over Berlin to check it out, pretty sweet effect!! Now all we need is damage effect and WOOHOO!

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/5423/flak.jpg

[Snuffy]

Wuz just there in the download section myself ... I can't find the file either. :(

[MCDesigns]

try this link

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=4&id=261

[MudMarine]

try this link

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=4&id=261

Thanks, that worked!

[Snuffy]

Thanks, that worked!

Wot he said! Thanks Michael.

[GypsyBaron]

try this link

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=4&id=261

Thanks for posting that, Michael.

I just added that to my original post upstream.

Paul

[Matt Wynn]

thanks Michael, and thank you Paul

[Chromius]

After B-17 accusim was released I went straight to A2A looking for flak and failures and found a thread to your Flak.

Does'nt Passenger X support creatable flak zones that can cause random failures? This would be great with that?

2 things from pass x , woundable pilots and damage and random failures due to flak zones, i believe intensity and area can be adjusted.

FS Passenger X http://www.fspassengers.com/?action=news

"Fly through dangerous parts of the world, and risk the safety of your plane, crew, or passengers! (Actual , 1944 or 1968 war situation)"

"The new FsPassengersX will also include new stunning visual effect, DCA explosions, engine smoke (dca hit, fuel or oil leak etc), you can see a video of DCA smoke here: Video of DCA smoke (wmv) (http://www.dansteph.com/FsxEffect.wmv)"

If these can be made to work together!!!!! The possibilities. It would be nice if more specific damage or failures could be tied in with the accusim, or something more detailed.

If someone could confirm this that would be great.

Thanks for this.

[Capt.Vaughn]

I know this is a dumb question, but, where does the pln file go?

[CheckSix]

Excellent scenery addition, well done!

The Vampyres FSX multiplayer group were messing with these flak effects and also tracer & SA-2 launch effects a couple years ago... SA-2 launches complete with flying model that could track you all in private server based Multiplayer for our AS F-105 Thud Vietnam campaign we flew. We had Hanoi so blanketed in Flak effects one could get out and walk from Noi Bai to Haiphong on the flak bursts, especially fierce around the Paul Doumer bridge. If anyone is interested in some of the work we did I am sure I can talk the creators to upload their work.

With regards to damage we could never quite make it work, we tried all sorts of XML tricks including damage boxes etc but alas we couldn't quite nail it. I would urge anyone out there with programming expertise to take a serious look at it, I am certain it can be done some how and it would really bring scenery additions such as these to life.

Again a hearty congrats and thank you for a neat scenery, this kind of work is quiet demanding as each Flak burst has to be hand placed before it can be block copied, a lot of time and effort has been put into this... Dare I ask for more? :)

[Kowalski65]

We had Hanoi so blanketed in Flak effects one could get out and walk from Noi Bai to Haiphong on the flak bursts, especially fierce around the Paul Doumer bridge. If anyone is interested in some of the work we did I am sure I can talk the creators to upload their work.

How awesome would THAT be with the project Vietnam scenery!!!!

[GypsyBaron]

Excellent scenery addition, well done!

-SNIP-

Again a hearty congrats and thank you for a neat scenery, this kind of work is quiet demanding as each Flak burst has to be hand placed before it can be block copied, a lot of time and effort has been put into this... Dare I ask for more? :)

I'll be a bit busy with other things for a few weeks but I could entertain specific requests for
areas to add to the flak site "list". At some point I may have enough time to document my
procedure and upload some basic SBuilderX files related to the creation of these sites
so others can add to the "list" :)

I have plans to attempt to add damage effects for the A2A B-17G Accu-sim model since
that aircraft and system has a well defined set of failures that can be induced using
XML coding. This is going to take a lot of time to code/test/debug so it won't happen
soon, although I do have the "trigger mechanism" done :)

Paul

[dogknot]

This "scenery" of flak bursts is so intriguing that I just had to try it in FS9. No go....at first.

I decompiled the bgl's for Hamburg and greater Bremen (so far), tweaked the xml's a bit to be compatible with FS9 and recompiled to fs9 usable bgl's. The flak attack worked great! ... but no explosion sounds.
So tweaked the effect files to play the sounds in fs9.........WOW!! It'll rattle your teeth!

Thankyou Paul for this neat scenery!

Once I finish with the redo's of the other scenery bgl's, I hope I can send them your way in hopes you will approve and share your labors with the FS9 crew.

[Quax d. Bruchpilot]

I'll try it in Fs9... THX for this, untill now I only know the "searchlight and cityfires" addon for fs9 :wiggle:

btw if anybody rework this for FS9 PLEASE let me know... ;-)

[gera]

Congratulations GypsyBaron for a great addon for all of us........This is a perfect example of so many great developers in our great community that dedicate so much of their time to share freely their work and by doing so enhance our hobby and open doors for further development.....Thank you.:medals::medals::medals:

[warchild]

Well, i couldnt resist.. This has got to be one of the greatest addons for FSx yet. i love it.. Enjoy the pics :) ...

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k171/urushira/2010-4-14_21-35-53-462.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k171/urushira/2010-4-14_21-33-24-10.jpg

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k171/urushira/2010-4-14_21-29-12-980.jpg

[Wing_Z]

...I decompiled the bgl's for Hamburg and greater Bremen (so far), tweaked the xml's a bit to be compatible with FS9...

:applause::applause::ernae::applause::applause:

.......................both of you!

[Capt.Vaughn]

Can someone tell me where the PLN file goes please? Does it go in the misssions folder?

[dogknot]

Can someone tell me where the PLN file goes please? Does it go in the misssions folder?

I believe it goes to C:\Documents and Settings\..xxx..\My Documents\Flight Simulator X files\
and should be just gps available.

[Chromius]

Thanks for this flak.

Long post because I am VERY desperate for working flak with damage effect at 20-30k.

I had ideas to use FSpassengerx flak with a custom germany map with mapped out 1944 Flak sites as 12-15km circles and use real bombing missions from the 303rd starting with mission 82 when they got the first batch of G's. But after mapping out all my flak over france and germany, I found that FSpassx only goes up to 6499 ft for flak. FSpassx does have damage effects with a percentage setting. Its a shame I had used FS recorder and recorded multiple b-17s and then was going to add fighters joining (p-47's) I went so far as to record correct take-off and formation form up. The user would have used Passx to start a 25 mission carreer that would track your flight performance and pilot health and add flak effects and damage, fsrecorder would allow you to have 3-5 b-17's to fly with in formation to bombsite, and be able to add p-47's along route from correct runway, so if you had a2a p-51 or p-47 you could fly those too. I was also going to use mission creator to add flavor to each mission. I ran 5 WOP3 B-17's in formation on an e6600@3.0 gtx260 and it ran fine when at altitude. I had 5 historic aircraft picked out for repainting and the user could have chosen whichever (1 no-name) I had planned on adding sound files for oxygen checks, and initial crew checks, and swap fspassx sounds for transition to swap filters and 10k to put oxygen masks on. Unfortunately I spent 2 full weeks getting all the historical data and missions/flight routes, the only flak map I could find, just to hit the 6499ft flak cap. Really most routes avoided most of the flak except on the few minutes of the bomb run, after that you could break formation a bit for evading and rejoin at rally point. With fsrecorder you could even add random fighters coming at you and create a failure on 1 of the b17's that were recorded, just have to time it right.

Anyway I hope you have some luck on damage effects, they need to work at 20-27k though.

Here was a post I made at FSpassx, but it would need recoding to fix or alter.

"Its a shame to be limited in what can be done with the flak as far as height is concerned. Flak is a great feature that should be expanded upon or improved. I would think more Combat flying aircraft people would appreciate it's possibilities aside from the passenger aspect.

There is a lot of potential for the War mission scenario's and special Flak/Theatre maps mixed with FSrecorder and Mission creator, but with flak being limited in height to 6,499 feet it is impossible to create flak zones over Europe at 22-30k as most mission were flown. I had already created an excellent theatre map with flak zones over Germany and France according to the only flak maps I could find. My idea was for the user to create a new Scenario with FSpassengers and the 25 flight goal for the A2A B-17 keeping track of flight performance and pilot health and the flak, I was then going to create 25 real life missions with historical routes and briefings, (3 done) and create mission parameters seperately from fspassenger. I had already used fsrecorder to record 5 A2A B-17s and 2 P-47s along the route so that the user could pick either the P-47 as escort (different flightpath than bombers) and also using recorder pick how many aircraft would be in playback depending on what computer could handle.

The player could pick the aircraft to fly as (other than lead since you would join formation and fly as a group to target with escort coming in along the way) Scripted things could be added
along flight. The critical part of FSpassenger would be on the few minutes of the bomb run when all had to fly straight and level into FLAK then they could do evasive maneuvers if necessary and meet at a designated rally point. Unfortunately this is not possible with the flak height constraints. Also the random damage seems to be always hitting the same items 90% of the time, all 4 hydraulic pumps and the electrical system, vacuum system always seem to get hit, followed by the engines and fuel leaks.

Flak results 3% failure 100% Warzone.

below
6499 ft 60% flak effects kick in
3000 ft 80%
1500 ft 90%
750 ft 95%

It would be nice to have a height parameter, and possibly the percentage calculated differently (min height / max
height / diameter )

So my hands are tied, I dont believe there is any payware or addon that can do this. I did see someone trying to make better flak for FSX but it is WIP.

So I am stuck with maybee creating PBY anti-sub attacks or P-38 low level photo recon mission or L-4 recon (which could even be done at higher altitudes), but I really wanted to do something with the A2A P-47 /P-51 escort and A2A B-17 missions.

Any feedback is appreciated."

I have a test mission to bomb Helgoland with 3 B-17s 303rd BG from Molesworth and 1 P-47 taking off from Rackheath, unfortunately you must drop down to 6400 ft to complete bomb run so theflak effects work. If anyone is interested you would need FSpassengerX, FSrecorder (free) I would upload my North Europe Map and cfg and fsrecorder files. All b-17s are started from cold start and run through checklist you would take last b-17 and follow the other 2 on takeoff and join formation, then drop bombs when you see leader drop, the silly part is dropping from an already low 15k cruise to 6400ft then back to 15k. I was still working on the mission part to place ques upcoming level changes and bombardier call for bomb drop. Theres a lot I would like to do but the flak height and damage is the holdup. Otherwise we could create a semi realistic 25 mission career.

Also someone could fsrecord lead and pass it to another to build up the flights for mission release. I have spent too many hours trying for the perfect takeoff and formation form up per info, im sure someone else could do better.

edit: On top of that working flak effects and damage that can be placed anywhere with adjustable strength to possibly include strength by height would be so useful even for some modern stuff, I would think if nothing else this should be considered commercially, if its to much work as a mod. For instance we will need good flak for the upcoming F-4 as was posted about the Vietnam flak/missiles that were done. So Flak and missiles and damage can be done.

Yes I destroyed sentence structure.........boom.....:ernae:


Ideas?

[gajit]

Looks more like Volcanic ash to me :jump:

[CheckSix]

Hehehehehe!

[tailspin45]

Out STAND ing add-on. Flew over the channel from EDMG this morning and it was hot along the coast, as advertised.

The sounds and smoke are terrific, addition of turbulence and damage almost too good to hope for.

Recently joined the 91st BG (http://91stbombardmentgroup.com) and had the extraordinary thrill of flying in the real Nine-o-Nine (https://www.flickr.com/photos/tailspin_tommy/) yesterday.

This package adds so much to the immersion, just fabulous.

Bravo Zulu, Chief!

[GypsyBaron]

Glad you enjoyed the 'addition' Tailspin.

I have added turbulence at a few locations but those are only in conjunction with the 91st Bombardment Group missions as those
sites are the ones I add for a specific mission/target.

The damage will have to wait, yet again, due to my summer travel and having just too many other things on my plate at the moment.
Creating the 91st missions takes a good deal of time and now that I am also creating custom weather themes for missions, another
3 to 6 hours are added to each mission development/test cycle.

To complete the code for damage from flak, I need a prolonged period where I can concentrate solely on that project. Although the
concept is fairly straight forward, the implementation is a bit more convoluted and as with most developments, the testing will
take longer than the creation :)

So, you got to 'ride' Nine-O-Nine eh? That must have been a great experience. I'm waiting for one of the 17's or B-25's to
visit my area, when I am not traveling, so I can take a ride or two. My financial base has changed for the positive recently
and now I can afford to take advantage of the opportunity to go flying on one of those aircraft.

I did get a ride on B-25J "Killer Bee" several years ago when the Air Warrior convention was held down in Florida at Tom Reilly's
facility. It was given as a 'raffle' prize and I was lucky enough to be one of the winners. I still remember being amazed at how the
sounds of the Air Warrior B-25 compared so closely to the real B-25. Also, I remember the G's we pulled when we 'strafed' the local
competitions field and pulled up from the low pass :)

Paul

[trucker17]

Awesome....
Thank you sir......

[AussieMan]

I get the following message: Link 261 does not exist.

[GypsyBaron]

I get the following message: Link 261 does not exist.

What link are you referring to? In a recent post or an older one? This thread is a couple of years old so some
links may have 'gone missing'..

Just looked 'back' at the original posting and saw the 'link 261' referencve.

The files are stiill in the library here.

Try this link:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=118&id=4682



Paul

[AussieMan]

Thanks Paul that link worked. The other link I was trying was the most recent one posted before this one.

[dougal]

MASSIVE thanks to you Paul. None of the links except the last worked for me, but I now have it. I often use FSRecorder to take groups of B17's or Lancs on bombing runs. This will make such a difference.

It's folk like yourself that keep this hobby alive and kicking for me
:applause::applause::applause: