There is a lot of interest in the RB community for the new SWWISA planes. Since a lot of people are not familiar with patching their game, I’ll try to give a full explanation on how to do this and how to solve problems.
First: there are 2 different types of plane models available. You have models that are new versions of the stock models in the game and you have completely new plane types. The use of the latter was meant for other patch builders to incorporate them in their patches, they were not meant for end users. You can find UOPs like WFP or Mark Munro’s that use some of these new plane types and you’ll find them in some mmp war patches as FiF6 or GW5. In short: new plane types will replace your stock models and probably look weird without a matching set of skins. Some more experienced users can try to insert them in their favorite UOPs but this requires some advanced skills. More about this in the last chapter.
WHICH VERSION OF A PLANE SHOULD YOU DOWNLOAD?
You’ll find multiple versions of the same plane on our pages.
Early and late versions of a plane or special build versions (e.g. the Alb DIIIoef): choose along your own taste. You can not have multiple versions in your game at the same time. It is possible with the aid of the date function in CM to use all versions but never at the same moment. This requires some patching skills or you can use some of DeltaK’s patches, especially made for my models.
Normal or full 3D versions (e.g. the EIII): The full 3D version has more details but also affects your FPS (frame rate). The normal versions will not affect your fps or even show an improvement over the original models; the full 3D version will have a 5 to 10% impact on fps. Those versions are meant for SP use, although you can use them in mmp too when you have a high end PC.
High detail or mmp versions (e.g. the Dr1): the mmp versions are basically the same as the above-mentioned normal
versions but without the fire animations. Both versions can be used in SP or mmp, depending on your PC performance.
And yes, you can use the Camel in SP but it comes without fire animation and default SP skins.
DOWNLOAD INFO
Download the plane.zip AND the FPS Friendly Plane Parts and extract both to a working folder, e.g.
C:\unzipped.
The FPS Friendly Plane Parts can be found on top of my page at SWWISA, here’s the download link:
http://swwisa.net/cdt/fpsppCdT.zip, these are common
bitmaps for ALL plane models, so you’ll only need to download it once. It is however updated from time to time, so
check if you have a recent version.
After extraction you’ll find 2 new folders: C:\Unzipped\plane and C:\Unzipped\fpsppCdT
NOTE! Some downloads from other SWWISA members can have a different structure, check this before
installing.
Skins of some planes can be in subfolders. Read the info.txt.
In the plane folder you’ll see a 03xx8000.dts and 03xx9000.dml file (sometimes also 8100 to 8300 and/or 8f00.dts; 9100 to 9300 and/or 9f00.dml).
The 8000.dts is the basic shape file for EXTERNAL view. The accompanying 9000.dml is the material link file for it. In short, the dml files tells the dts file which bitmaps are to be painted on all parts of the plane. The dts file will cause a DTD without the dml file! Always use them together.
8100 to 8300 and 9100 to 9300 are shape files for the external views too, but with less detail for use at greater distance. If you don’t have them in the download, the game will use the stock files. This does not affect your game, since it’s basically the same plane, but with less detail. (These files are only important when using new plane types as the Bristol scout etc.)
8f00 and 9f00 are the INTERNAL F2 views. Again, not having them in the download only causes the game using the stock ones.
The dml files links to 2 sets of materials: first the squadron or ace related skins of the plane; second some special bitmaps for engine, prop, struts etc.
The first set has the usual 03xxyyyy.bmp structure, the second set can have any name: STRUT1, Dam1, prop5000, amani1 etc.
In the plane folder you’ll find some of the special bitmaps for the plane. Special bitmaps used in several planes are bundled in the FPS Friendly Plane Parts. NONE OF THE NEW MODELS WILL WORK WITHOUT THE SPECIAL BITMAPS!
The 03xxyyy.bmp files are recommended skins for the new model. They are basically the stock bmps, adapted to the better shape of the improved model. For the moment, they are not important.
In the Dr1 download you’ll also find some templates (files with templ in their name). THESE SHOULD NEVER BE USED IN THE GAME, they are only bitmap contours meant for people doing their own paint jobs. Copying them into your game can result in DTDs! The only safe place is in your paint folder.
GAME FILE STRUCTURE
This is the relevant part of the RB directory structure:
C:
\SIERRA
\RedBaron3D (or RedBaronII)
\DATA
\Multi
\shellpat
\Simpatch
In Multi, you install files that should only be used in MMP, in Simpatch those you want to use in multiplay AND single play. The shellpat directory is for SP only, but should be avoided if you have a patched RBII version. The reason for this is that certain stock files of planes are in the Simpatch folder of a patched RBII game and would overwrite new shape files in shellpat.
In MMP, the game will look for a file in Multi first, if not found in Simpatch next and if not there either it will use stock files from C:\…\DATA\rb.vol.
In SP, the game will try to load a file first from Simpatch, then from shellpat and last from rb.vol.
DIRECT INSTALLATION (without CM11)
Cut and copy all dts and dml files from C:\Unzipped\plane and paste them into the Multi (mmp only) or Simpatch (SP and mmp) folder.
Cut and copy ALL special bitmaps (neither the 03xxyyyy.bmp files nor any bmp with ‘templ’ in its name) from both C:\Unzipped\plane and C:\Unzipped\fpsppCdT to the SAME folder.
Now the plane will have the new shape, but it probably won’t look right because it does not have adapted skins for it. In some downloads you’ll find a set of default SP skins or default mmp skins. You can copy and paste them into the appropriate folder but again: only the default set will be adapted to the new model, not the squadron and ace specific skins. (Some downloads however, have a full replacement set for Beery’s and Wingstrut’s, read the info file in the zip)
To show correctly, you’ll need either to adapt all the game skins to the model (LOL), or go over at SWWISA and the SWWISA forum where you’ll find several replacement skins for various UOP, done by other SWWISA members.
INSTALLATION with CM
Make a new folder in CM11:
C:\Sierra\Redbaron3D\Cm11\patches\newmodels
Make an extra subfolder in that new planes folder:
C:\…\newmodels\Simpatch or C:\…\newmodels\Multi
Follow the same procedure as described in the previous chapter, but this time paste to the new CM11 folder in stead of the C:\…\data\Simpatch (or Multi) folder. Finally, install using CM. This procedure can cause some problems if other patches used from CM are overwriting the new files.
PROBLEMS AFTER INSTALLING A NEW MODEL
STILL HAVING PROBLEMS
You probably have some leftovers from other patches in your game.
Uninstall every patch with CM and look in the multi, simpatch and shellpat folder for any leftovers. (There is a file
at SWWISA describing which files should still be in there; delete all other). Also don’t forget to delete the subfolders
in the C:\Sierra\Redbaron3D\Cm11\Date folder. Some leftovers can be hidden there and would reinstall together with your
normal patches.
If all this still doesn’t work, uninstall the game (after backing up your mplayer.ini and some files from the multi directory: mmppilot.dat and mpprefs.dat). You still will have the C:\Sierra\Redbaron3D\Cm11 folder. Delete the ENTIRE data folder if still present. Now reinstall the game and use CM11 to add your patches. Copy and paste your backup mmp files into the game. Try different sequences for adding the patches and see when the problem occurs (if it still does). This might give you a clue what’s causing the problem. Or experiment with only adding the new planes and see if this works.
If you still can’t find what’s causing your troubles, try getting help on the SWWISA forum: http://forums.delphiforums.com/swwisa
STILL NO GO
Lucky for you, we have a very productive community. Some people have bundled new models into complete patches (sometimes with all skins).
Recommended sites for SP:
Recommended sites for mmp:
MMP Wars:
FOR EXPERIENCED USERS ONLY: ADDING EXTRA PLANE TYPES
Some of our planes are non-stock new types (e.g. the fokEII, the Bristol Scout etc). Adding them to the game is somewhat more difficult. First: if you want to install them anyway, use CM11 for installing. You will have to choose which stock plane they will replace and alter the names of the dts and dml and skin files in the download. Don’t try to put a mono in a biplane slot or anything like that. This requires hex editing skills of various files. Take a similar plane.
After successful install, you will notice the new model will fly as the plane it replaced and probably won’t have a matching internal F1 view. Fixing all this will require editing acspecs.dat, Fmparam3.dat, the damage file of that slot, pnames.dat, abrevstr.dat and planespc.dat (and some other if you really want to have all names and specifications correct, even in the intelligence books).
This is a very elaborate work and is usually only done for major patches. However, the WFP has all fixes, so do some mmp war patches.
Charles de Thielt ~8 Jan 2002
Uhlan ~ 15 Jan 2003