Possible new CFS owner

[ONE_HELLCAT]

But this is simply what's going to make or break the deal for me. How easy is it to mod and add new planes? Also, is there anyway I could make a Crimson Skies plane for it? Ya see, I'm big Crimson Skies fan and I'm kinda left with nothing here after the two games, and there are so many aircraft in the universe.

[Njaco]

I only have CFS 2 but adding planes and scenarios was pretty straightforward. I didn't have a problem. Don't know about 1 or 3.

[ONE_HELLCAT]

Did you make your own or just download them? I've already searched what's available for download an I know no one so far has had the idea of making a Crimson Skies plane, or did but it didn't work out for whatever reason.

[Njaco]

I downloaded from here Sim-Outhouse - Combat Flight Center - durtsche and other places. Never tried to do it myself. But I haven't played since I got Fighter Ace which I like better.

[Catch22]

I was never able to figure out how to get planes into those games, it drove me nuts!

[Ivan1GFP]

Hello Folks,

I believe that Crimson Skies aircraft will work only with CFS2 and later. CFS1 is a little strange: It is a cross between FS98 and FS2000 with guns added. I believe CFS2 is straight FS2000 with guns added.

Building planes isn't all that difficult, but it IS time consuming. Abacus currently has AF99, the most common CFS aircraft tool on discount. That is what I use along with some extra tools such as Aircraft Animator and SCASM and a little hex editing. Back when life was slower, I could get a project done from initial concept to uploaded in about two months. These days, I have projects stacked up starting from about 3 years ago. I haven't gotten one out the door in over two years.

- Ivan.

[ONE_HELLCAT]

Man, if I knew about this earlier this summer I probably could've had a plane or two done by now. So Ivan, do you know how much this would cost and if there are any aircraft making tutorial's available?

[Ivan1GFP]

Hello ONE_HELLCAT,

The AF99 application goes for $30 at the moment. I don't know how much Aircraft Animator goes for, but you will probably need it also. The rest of the tools needed to properly put together a new plane are pretty much free. There are also quite a few 3D models out there that are available as source if you want to figure out how others do things.

I wrote a couple utilities in GNU C to help with texture layouts, but they are not essential to get something done.

As for the length of a project, I don't have a lot of free cycles left after kids and work these days, so I have stuff that I started 3 years ago that I still have not finished. The first one is generally tough, but once you get the idea, a good 3D model untextured can be done in about a week and a half of free evenings.

Lately I have been working on the AIR files (flight performance) which takes quite a lot of testing to do properly. The night before was spent on a SBD-3 Dauntless. Last night was spent on a F6F-5 Hellcat. Tonight is mostly done, but I might get a few cycles in on a F6F-3 Hellcat.

- Ivan.

[ONE_HELLCAT]

The AIR files sound like they would be the hardest thing since Crimson Skies aircraft aren't real.

[Ivan1GFP]

Actually, if the aircraft isn't real, it's easier. No one will argue with you that the plane climbs too slow. "Your plane can only climb at 2500 fpm, it should be 3500 fpm!"

"Your aircraft pitches up too fast when you drop the flaps!"

You are building the flight model of an imaginary aircraft, so you can make it any way you want.

- Ivan.