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AOEDIT version 1.0 (April 12, 1995)
Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~
AOEDIT is a simple hacking tool for Dynamix's ACES OVER EUROPE. It will
help you change many characteristics of AOE without having to
resort to using a hex editor like we did when we did AOEREAL. It is only a
tool, however. In some cases you will still have to experiment with the
values you plug in to achieve the results you are after.
Since there is no direct relationship between many AOE data values and real
life aircraft/weapon performance, much of the change in AOEREAL is relational.
Of course when we could use a stop watch or observe a gauge in the cockpit, we
did. To assist you in using AOEDIT, I have designed it so that when editing
one aircraft's flight model, you can also see the data for two other aircraft.
Necessary Disclaimers
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Use of this program is at your own risk. I assume no responsiblity for your
use of this program. The program does not directly edit your original AOE
files, but it doesn't hurt to have a backup of AOE when you do this editing.
This software is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either
expressed or implied.
WARNING: System Lock-up may occur when entering new values which AOE
considers out of range. This lock-up occurs when you accept the mission
parameters and the sim portion of the program attempts to load. Unfortunately
the same value which is out of range on one plane may not be on another
aircraft. I don't want to give you the impression that this is a major
problem, but I don't want you to be surprised if it does, either. If
you have done any hacking on any program you know what I am talking about.
System reset is required when this happens - a 3 fingered salute (cntrl-alt-
del) won't work.
Depending on how full your hard drive is, constantly working with small files
can really make a "mess" of your hard drive, so I recommend using "defrag" and
"chkdsk /f" or "scandisk" frequently.
Distribution and Donations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AOEDIT may be freely distributed by any means, methods, or media. However
no fee may be charged for this software, nor may its contents be altered
or added to. AOEDIT package must consist of the following files:
AOEDIT.EXE
AOEDIT.TXT
AOEFILES.ZIP (contains original, unmodified files for you to edit)
REAL.ZIP (contains modified files from AOEREAL for your use)
AOEDIT is in reality public domain software, ie "Freeware", but I'd like you
to consider it "Donationware." If you use AOEDIT and find it useful, please
consider making a small donation of $2-5.00 to:
Nicholas Bell
c/o RW Thomas Construction Management Co.
252 West Swamp Road, Ste 24
Doylestown, PA 18901
Many of you are probably thinking, "Yeah, right. Why should I bother?"
Well, your donation will support my efforts to continue adding modules to
AOEDIT, like a Pilot Editor, a Campaign Editor, and a Mission Builder. I am
also considering an Aces of the Pacific Editor. Plus think of all
the fun you've had for free with AOEREAL & AOEFIX, not to mention all those
AOTP patch files <g>.
Acknowledgments
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This editor is based on data resulting from a lot of hard work done by
Grant Senn, Larry Grill, Brian Sanford and myself back in late 1993 and
early 1994. I certainly could not have figured it out by myself. Do not
bother these gentlemen with problems or comments regarding this editor,
however. They all have real lives and were not directly involved in its
creation (although Larry had many good pointers on improving the interface).
A Request
~~~~~~~~~
There are many unknown factors in the FMD files. In fact much of the labeled
data may not be correct (they are marked with a "?"). If you determine
what an unknown byte does or find that a "?" marked factor is incorrectly
identified, please contact me.
Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copy AOEDIT.EXE into the AOE directory in which you are going to perform
your editing and testing. Dynamix's programs search the directory first for
required files when it is loading. Therefore it is possible to have
additional files in the AOE directory which are easily edited without having
to modify the original AOE data files. AOEDIT only edits these single data
files stripped out of the the various *.DYN files. Therefore you must have
these files in order to use AOEDIT. If you have AOEREA.ZIP or AOEFIX.ZIP you
are already have necessary files available, albeit already edited by me. If
you want to start with the original AOE data, unzip the included AOEFILES.ZIP
into the same AOE directory. Or unzip REAL.ZIP for files which have already
been modified for improved realism.
You need to have the *.FMD files to edit the flight models; the *.GL files to
modify the aircraft armament; the *.DMG files to edit the damage capacity of
aircraft; and the BULLETS.MEC file if you are going to change the weapon
characteristics. Here is a list of the files required:
P38_J.FMD P38_J.GL P38_J.DMG BULLETS.MEC
P47.FMD P47.GL P47.DMG
P51.FMD P51.GL P51.DMG
SPIT_IX.FMD SPIT_IX.GL SPIT_IX.DMG
SPIT_14.FMD SPIT_14.GL SPIT_14.DMG
TYPHOON.FMD TYPHOON.GL TYPHOON.DMG
TEMPEST.FMD TEMPEST.GL TEMPEST.DMG
MOS_VI.FMD MOS_VI.GL MOS_VI.DMG
MOS_18.FMD MOS_18.GL MOS_18.DMG
ME_109G.FMD ME_109G.GL ME_109G.DMG
ME_109K.FMD ME_109K.GL ME_109K.DMG
FW_190A.FMD FW_190A.GL FW_190A.DMG
FW_190F.FMD FW_190F.GL FW_190F.DMG
FW_190D.FMD FW_190D.GL FW_190D.DMG
ME_262.FMD ME_262.GL ME_262.DMG
ARADO.FMD - ARADO.DMG
B25_D.FMD - B25_D.DMG
B26.FMD - B26.DMG
B17_G.FMD - B17_G.DMG
B24_J.FMD - B24_J.DMG
JU_88.FMD - JU_88.DMG
If you are unhappy with the results of your editing, you can simply delete the
offending files and the program will automatically use the original data
located in the *.DYN files which you haven't touched.
How to use AOEDIT, or what do all these numbers mean?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay so you've got the files unzipped and the editor functioning. So where's
the mph, degrees per second, feet per second, rounds per minute, goodies
you're expecting to see? Well, read on to find out.
First, if you're unfamilar with this stuff, start off easy by just changing
the aircraft armament. Not hard at all. Then try modifying the weapons.
Plenty of info below to make that easy too.
Modifying the flight models looks horrible at first, but becomes easier once
you get the hang of it. First, read the explanations below, adjust some data
values based on what you read, and then go into the sim and test out the
change. Then start over, fine tuning your change. Test and test again.
Don't just look for the changes you've supposed to have made. Watch your
wingmen for odd behavior. Don't just fly the planes you modify - fly against
them and see if they perform as you might expect (keeping in mind how the AI
cheats - see below).
Now don't be grumbling yet. It's not that bad - you don't have to work in
hexidecimal like we did before <g>. Plus all the important flight model
data is explained - we were working in the dark before. Well enough of this
light stuff, let's progress to the real meat of this document.
IMPORTANT: The position of the "time scale" and the horsepower of your
computer system has major effects on adjusting AOE. Changing
a plane's roll rate on a 486/33 to 6 seconds won't result in
the same roll rate on a P90 with the same "time scale" setting.
I. AOE Flight Model Data (FMD) Editing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(a) SPEED AND CLIMB
Aircraft speed and climb are controlled by the relationship between the Power
Factor, the aircraft's altitude, and the Drag Factor. Increasing the Power
Factor will increase the aircraft's speed, acceleration and the climb rate.
Decreasing the Power Factor has the opposite effect. The Drag Factor works
against the Power Factor effecting aircraft speed. The Drag Factor does NOT
seem to affect the acceleration or climb rate (if it does it is a small
effect).
The greater the Drag Factor the lower the speed. A smaller Drag Factor
will increase the speed. In fact, if you lower the Drag Factor too far the
plane will accelerate to an uncontrollable speed in a climb and self-destruct
when it hits the structural integrity limit - even though the throttle is
only set to 10% max power.
As is evident on the Speed & Climb editing screen the Drag Factor depends on
the altitude of the aircraft. You can find at what altitude the aircraft
reaches top speed by finding the lowest Drag Factor. Note that if you are
looking at the unmodified orginal AOE *.FMD files, the drag factors have
been altered so that aircraft reach top speed at lower altitudes, presumably
for playability. The REAL *.FMD files have been corrected.
NOTE: The Altitude Bands displayed on the Speed & Climb editing screen (and
others) are based on testing and observation. Thus I cannot say with abso-
lute certainty that they are correct - although I am confident of the 19,500'
break. Altitude band breakpoints may possibly vary by up to 1000'. If
you can confirm or deny the accuracy of the displayed bands, please let me
know.
Comparision of aircraft FMDs is the best way to understand how this all works.
Note how the P-51 has a low Power Factor, lower than the ME-109G. This makes
the P-51 accelerate and climb slower than the ME-109. The P-51 is neverthe-
less faster than the ME-109 because it has lower drag factors. When making
AOEREAL I decided that the P-51 was too much of a dog in the original sim,
so I increased it's power factor. This made the P-51 more powerful, but also
made it too fast. So it was also necessary to increase the plane's drag
factors (at all altitudes). Note that there is not a one-to-one relationship
between Power and Drag Factor.
A less pleasant note: The climb rates in AOE are greatly magnified.
Dyanmix did this for playability and I'm not sure this is a fixable problem
given my knowledge of the FMD's. Hopefully more experimentation with what
I have labeled "Lift" and some of those "Unknowns" may help resolve this
problem. One solution that is not feasible (at least for me) is to lower
all the power and drag factors. Without a formula for doing this, this
would be a nightmare. Just adjusting the aircraft to get the correct speed at
the proper altitude took me weeks when doing AOEREAL.
Master Power & Master Drag Factors: In ACES OF THE PACIFIC, these had general
effects on the overall power and drag of the aircraft. In AOE I have been
unable to replicate this phenomenon, but that doesn't mean I have been putting
in correct values or seeing the correct result. The other possibility is that
these two data integers may have been relocated in the FMD file, and that
these are new data integers totally unrelated to power & drag.
Summary of Speed & Climb
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-Increase speed: Decrease Drag Factor at given altitude.
-Increase acceleration & climb, keep speed same: Increase Power Factor
Increase Drag Factor
-Increase acceleration, climb, and speed: Increase Power Factor
Decrease Drag Factor (if required)
-Increase acceleration & climb, decrease speed: Increase Power Factor
Increase Drag Factor
-Decrease speed: Increase Drag Factor at given altitude.
-Decrease acceleration & climb, keep speed same: Decrease Power Factor
Decrease Drag Factor
-Decrease acceleration, climb, and speed: Decrease Power Factor.
Increase Drag Factor (if required)
-Decrease acceleration & climb, increase speed: Decrease Power Factor
Decrease Drag Factor
(b) ROLL
Initial Roll Rate: How fast the aircraft reacts to aileron input, ie left
and right joystick input. A higher value equates to a faster initial roll
rate. To model an unresponsive/high inertia aircraft, use a lower value.
Roll Recovery: How quickly the aircraft stops reacting to aileron input.
The smaller the number the longer it takes for the plane to stop rolling
once you relax left/right joystick input. When this value approaches the
Sustained Roll Rate, there will be little feeling of inertia and the plane
will stop rolling immediately when you release the stick. Use a low value
for a more realistic feeling of "slop" in the controls.
Sustained Roll Rate: Exactly what it says it is. Higher numbers equate to
faster roll rates. Lower values model slower roll rates.
Dihedral Effect: Makes the plane roll back to a normal attitude with
zero degrees bank. With a value of 0, if you bank the aircraft, the aircraft
maintains the bank even though you relax aileron input. With a positive
value (200 works well) the plane with slowly roll back to zero bank. This
seems more realistic to me. Unfortunately the plane will also roll itself
out if you relax aileron input in an INVERTED bank. Hmmmm....
Aileron Lock Effect: The speed at which aircraft starts having difficulty
with rolling. In sim terms, the initial and sustained roll rates seem about
divided by two or three. This is a bit harsh to happen all at once. Actually
most aircraft gradully experience higher control forces as speeds increase,
but AOE doesn't simulate this gradual reduction in roll rates. It's all or
nothing. Aileron lock is also compounded by Compressibility (see below). For
values to enter here see SPEED VALUE TABLE below.
Aileron Control Effect ?: This entire section is questionable. It is based on
the AOTP FMD file work that Larry Grill did, in which he was able to improve
the "feel" of the controls by altering the Aileron Factor at various alti-
tudes. By comparing various planes, one might guess that 1024 is the highest
value and represents the best aileron response. Perhaps this data controls
or interacts with the Turn Rate? (see below) Perhaps it has nothing to do
with aileron controls, since my limited experimentation to date demonstrates
that if the Aileron Factor close to the Master Aileron Factor I cannot get the
plane to take-off! Ailerons have nothing to do with that. Have fun experi-
menting <g>.
And as food for thought regarding accurate roll rates, here is a shortened
message from the Flight Simulator Forum of Compuserve. Thanks Richard!
#: 377453 S7/Historic Air Combat
09-Jul-94 14:25:12
Sb: #List of Roll Rates
Fm: Richard Ordway 74473,1664
To: ALL
Hi,
Following is a list of roll rates already in print. The list shows the
time to roll 360 degrees. It has Viet Nam, World War 2, World War 1 and
Pitts Special airplanes. Sources follow each related group.
P-51D Mustang 4.8 sec. to right/5.1 sec. to left (230 mph/1g/10,000 feet)
P-51D Mustang 6.8 sec. to right/6.5 sec. to left (253 mph/3g/10,000 feet)
P-51D Mustang 9.2 sec. to right/9.2 sec. to left (landing configuration)
P-47D Thunder. 4.9 sec. to right/5.9 sec. to left (230 mph/1g/10,000 feet)
P-47D Thunder. 5.9 sec. to right/5.5 sec. to left (253 mph/3g/10,000 feet)
P-47D Thunder. 9.2 sec. to right/9.2 sec. to left (landing configuration)
FG-1D Corsair 4.5 sec. to right/4.9 sec. to left (230 mph/1g/10,000 feet)
FG-1D Corsair 7.3 sec. to right/6.2 sec. to left (253 mph/3g/10,000 feet)
FG-1D Corsair 9.2 sec. to right/9.2 sec. to left (landing configuration)
F6F Hellcat 4.6 sec. to right/5.9 sec. to left (230 mph/1g/10,000 feet)
F6F Hellcat 8.0 sec. to right/7.5 sec. to left (253 mph/3g/10,000 feet)
F6F Hellcat 9.2 sec. to right/9.2 sec. to left (landing configuration)
* These figures are from a flight test in the book Classic Warbirds by Jeffrey
Ethell, Motorbooks International, 1991.
P-51H Mustang 6.4 sec. not known if to left or right(300 mph/?g/10,000 ft)
P-51H Mustang 8.0 sec. not known if to left or right(360 mph/?g/10,000 ft)
P-51H Mustang 10.4 sec. not known if to left or right(400 mph/?g/10,000 ft)
* These figures are from a copy of a book page 121. The book was
about Mustangs. It had a painting of a silver Mustang with a yellow nose and
blue trim I believe. If anyone knows the name/author please tell me.
Me 109E 32.0 sec. not known if to left or right(400+mph/?g/10,000 and below)
* This figure is from a 1940 test in the book Messerschmitt at War by
Armand Van Ishoven, Scribners, 1977.
Me 109G- longer than 4.0 sec.(/?mph/?g/? altitude.)
LA-5FN(Russian Fighter) 4.0 sec.(280 mph/?g/? altitude)
* These figures is from the book Luftwaffe Test Pilot by Hans-
Werner Lerche,Janes, 1980.
Me 262(jet) 3.8 sec not known if to left or right(400 mph/?g/5000 feet)
*This figure is from the book Wings of the Luftwaffe by Capt. Eric Brown,
Airlife,1993.
The next quotes are comparisons from flight tests. To find the actual roll
rates, you will have to compare the findings with the roll rates listed above
to which they are referred.
"The Mustang could not roll as quickly as the Spitfire Mk 9 or Mk XlV
at normal speeds, but the aircraft were comparable in this respect
at very high speeds"
"The Mustang's rate of roll was better than that of the Tempest"
"The Mustang's rate of roll was similar to that of the BF 109G" (However,
below is a quote that states that the BF 109G had a superior rate of roll to
that of the P51D Mustang's at low speeds).
"The Mustang's rate of roll was far inferior to that of the Fw 190A".
* These quotes are from a 1944 flight test in Wittering England by
the Air Fighting Development Unit in the book Flying the World's
Great Aircraft edited by Anthony Robinson, Crescent Books, 1982.
"Above 250 mph however the 109s roll starts to heavy up and up to 300 mph
or so and is very similar to a P-51."
"The roll rate of the 109 being much better than a P-51's in a slow speed
dogfight."
This is from a flight test by Mark Hanna, "Flying the 109", Air Review,
Challenge publications, Fall, 1991.
"The latest Fw 190 had a roll rate of almost twice the P-51".
This is from that same untitled book listed above about the
Mustang, p.117.
"At low speeds the bigger-winged Spitfire could roll faster than the
BF 109E."
"Rate of roll for the Zero was equal to that of the Corsair at speeds
under 230 mph(200 knots), and inferior above that speed due to
the high control forces"
"Rate of roll of the two fighters was equal at 184 mph(160 knots)
(Zero/FM2 Wildcat) and under. The Zero became inferior at higher
speeds dure to heavy stick forces."
*The Great Book of World War ll Airplanes, Jeffrey Ethell et al.,
Bonanza, 1984.
"The new airplane(Fw 190D long nose) lacked the incredible
roll rate of its close-coupled radial-engined pedecessor."(Fw 190A)
*JG 26:Top Guns of the Luftwaffe, Donald Caldwell, Ivy Books, 1991
(c) PITCH
Pitch is the aircraft's response to elevator input - either pointing the nose
of the plane up or down. In sim terms this effects not only how quickly an
aircraft can get into a climb or dive, but also how fast a plane can turn -
since most turns in the sim will be of the "combat turn" variety with the
stick pulled all the way back and the plane banked at near 90 degrees.
Pitch variables are similar to roll rate variables:
Initial Pitch Rate: How fast the aircraft reacts to elevator input, ie
forward and backward motion on the joystick. A higher value equates to a
faster initial pitch rate. To model an unresponsive/high inertia aircraft,
use a lower value.
Pitch Recovery: How quickly the aircraft stops reacting to elevator input.
A low value will give the plane a bit of an inertia "bounce" when you pull
back on the stick and then release backpressure. Higher values will make the
nose of the plane stop moving immediately when you release stick pressure.
Sustained Pitch Rate: Exactly what it says it is. Higher numbers equate to
faster pitch rates - faster loops and break turns. Lower values model slower
pitch rates.
Did you know that the Me-109 in the original AOE has the highest pitch rates,
enabling it to out-turn the Spitfire in combat turns? Not very realistic
implimentation of pitch rates.
(d) YAW
Yaw is the aircraft's response to rudder input. In sim terms it moves the
plane to the left or right without inducing any roll. In its original form
AOE makes the rudder far more useful in a dogfight than it ought to be.
So consider dropping these values way down.
-Level Bank Yaw Rate Self-explanatory. High values equate to faster
-Yaw Rate in Banked turn yaw rate, and lower values means slower rates.
(e) TURN
The Turn Rate value changes how quickly the aircraft will turn left and right
when in a banked turn without any stick backpressure or rudder. Probably
more important in considering the computer controlled planes. Ever notice
how tightly the enemy planes turn without being in a steep bank? Well, one
way to cut down on this cheating is to decrease their turn rate.
A higher value equates to a faster turn rate. No planes are modelled in the
original AOE with a greater turn rate to the left or right. Must be a left
over from Red Baron <g>.
Here's a bit of information you might find useful:
The Me-109 F could complete a 360 degree turn at 1000 meters altitude in
18 seconds. The Me-109 E took 25 seconds to complete the same turn.
The A6M2 Zero could complete a 180 degree turn in 5.6 seconds at a speed of
230 mph. I suppose that means the Zero could complete a 360 in 13-14 seconds.
No matter, check out how fast the aircraft turn in the original AOE. Yeah,
they're all better at turning than the Zero. Didn't know we had any planes
that could do that <g>! I guess that was more play balance stuff by Dynamix
to make the sim more "fun."
From "Battle over the Reich" by Alfred Price, quoting from a British wartime
evaluation turn rate of captured aircraft:
Comparing the P-51B to FW190: "Again, not much to choose. The P-51 is slightly
better." However"...Dog-fighting is not
altogether recommended."
Comparing the P-51B to ME-109: "The Mustang is greatly superior." (My question
is, is whether the ME had underwing tubs when
they conducted the test. The Me-109 (w/o tubs)
had a wing loading, fully armed and fueled, of
about 39-40 lb/sq ft. The P-51 when loaded
had a wing loading of 43-51 lb/sq ft.)
Here's some wing loading (aircraft fully loaded, ie fuel & ammo) information:
Aircraft Pounds/Square Foot
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Me 109 E-2 33.28 (with half tank of fuel: 25 lb/sq ft)
Me 109 F-4 36.74
Me 109 G-6 40.11 None of these German planes have
Me 109 K-2 39.27 underwing gun tubs figured in.
FW 190 A-3 44.00
FW 190 A-8 49.03
FW 190 F-3 49.23
FW 190 D-9 48.12
Me-262 60.26
Ar-234 65.00
Spifire II (with 1/2 fuel) 24.00
Typhoon 47.49
Tempest 44.70
P-51 43-51 (Depending on Fuel load)
P-47 42-45 (Depending on Fuel load)
P-38 47
P-39 37.8
P-40 36
F4F 28.4
F6F 35.89
A6M2 22
A6M3 24.2
A6M5 26.3
N1K2 34.9
J2M2 32.8
J7W2 49.1
Ki-27 19.75
Ki-43 I 19.0
Ki-43 II 28.0
Ki-44 37.7
Ki-45 KAId 35.2
Ki-61 Ib 30.2
Ki-61 I KAIc 35.1
Ki-84 35.1
Ki-83 53.7
Ki-100 35.8
Of course there are a lot of other factors involved in determining turn rate,
like speed, altitude, actual weight (who's got the least amount of fuel on
board ??), type of bank, willingness to lose altitude, power loading, how
many G's can the plane handle, etc. I'm sure there's even more to consider.
There are a lot of factors more difficult to model: In a medium speed
dogfight the Me 109 E could perform a tighter break turn because it could
pull more instantaneous G (8.1) than a Spitfire (7.1). Of course in a
prolonged turning match the Spitfire would gain the edge (Deighton, "Fighter").
The FW 190 A-3 could do everything better than a Spitfire V except tight
turns. Yet the FW could perform "Incredible aileron turns were possible that
would have torn the wings from a Me 109 and badly strained the arm muscles of
any Spitfire pilot trying to follow." (Brown, "Wings of the Luftwaffe") So
the FW could out-turn a Spitfire? And if the wings of the Me-109 would have
gone their seperate ways in a turn that tight, why is the wing loading of the
ME less than the FW?
I guess this is one of the reasons I did AOEDIT - so you can model the planes
to your interpretation of the facts.
(f) LIFT ?
Here's another area which needs a lot of investigation. This data field
follows the same format as the aileron effect factors. Adjusting either
the Master Lift factor of the Stall Factors introduces many interesting
effects like stalls which occur based on wing angle of attack instead of
speed. Limited experimentation leads me to believe that this data may hold
the solution to reducing the climb rates and perhaps introducing accelerated
stalls.
(g) CEILING
Enter ceiling in feet above sea level (or in sim terms, ground level - since
there is no difference. The world is flat).
(h) COMPRESSIBILITY
The speed at which compressibility kicks in - that point when the aircraft
controls barely respond to input because of high speed. This is on top
of aileron lock. A great feature which the original AOE didn't implement.
They actually had the structural integrity speed set lower than the compres-
sibility speed, so your plane would fall apart before you would feel the
compression causing the structural failure. Well, that was fixed in AOEREAL
and now you can change it to suit your own interpretation. See SPEED TABLE
for values to enter.
(i) STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY
The speed at which your plane falls apart. Note that shaking will occur prior
to this, but that this is either controlled by an "UNKNOWN" or the .EXE file.
See SPEED TABLE for values to enter.
(j) RAKE ANGLE
Controls the attitude of the aircraft in the air and on the ground. Positive
value means the plane will fly nose high. Value of 0 means no angle.
Negative values drop the nose angle. Radically changing this can make your
line-up on the runway before take-off look pretty funny.
(k) TAKE-OFF AND LANDING
Use SPEED TABLE for following two factors:
Tail-Up speed: Speed at which aircraft tail lifts when taking-off.
Tail-Down speed: Speed at which tail will drop when landing.
Tail Wheel Drag Effect: How much drag the tail wheel causes. This will
lengthen take-off but shorten landing distance. Higher value increases drag.
(l) LANDING GEAR
Landing Gear Drag Factor: Slows the aircraft down in the air. Larger values
increase amount of drag.
Landing Gear Damage Speed: Speed at which landing gear become jammed down.
Use SPEED TABLE.
(m) FLAPS
Flaps Drag Factor: Slows the aircraft down in the air. Larger values
increase amount of drag. Half flap and full flap effect controlled by
.EXE (?).
Flap Damage Speed: Speed at which landing gear become damaged.
Use SPEED TABLE.
Dive Brake Drag Factor: Slows the aircraft down in the air. Larger values
increase amount of drag. However, if an aircraft does not have dive brakes
in the original AOE (ie value is 0) then you cannot add dive brakes. Perhaps
an "unknown" value switches this on?
(n) UNKNOWN
Data which hasn't been labeled because I haven't been able to observe any
change in aircraft performance. That doesn't mean they don't control some-
thing important. Who knows what these integers control. Please let me know
if you discover any secrets and I will update AOEDIT.
SPEED TABLE
***********
Use the following values to control the functions which occur at various
speeds. Interpolate as required. It appears that the relationship is
approximately 1:12. These values are based on actual tests.
For Speed: Enter Value:
75 mph 800
100 mph 1200
180 mph 2100
225 mph 2700
300 mph 3360
375 mph 4500
400 mph 4900
425 mph 5200
450 mph 5400
475 mph 5500
500 mph 6000
540 mph 6360
II. AIRCRAFT ARMAMENT EDITING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is pretty self-evident when you look at the editing screen. Let me
remind you that the ammo load is important if you are interested in ever
having the computer controlled planes disengage. They will only leave a
dogfight and head for the next waypoint if they run out of ammo. Computer
controlled planes will not disengage if they are damaged or out-numbered.
In AOEFIX I have offered *.GL files which have a greatly reduced ammo level
for the "other" side. The reason for this is that sim automatically doubles
the ammo level of all computer controlled planes - a play balance gimmick
they didn't need. It was left over from AOTP and Dynamix forgot to take it out.
Because of this the enemy rarely runs out of ammo. This makes escaping from
them when you're hurting impossible. By reducing the ammo level to 30-50
rounds (which the then computer doubles) I have found that a fairly balanced
engagement can be realistically modelled. I have fought large combats where
only one or two planes total were shot down. This is obviously much more
realistic than the "all or nothing" battles found in the original AOE (Unless
you enjoy air-combat DOOM style;). Of course it would be nice of Dynamix to
fix this bug (in the .exe file) since they admitted it back in early '94.
NOTE: The bomber aircraft are not available to edit armament. It is much
easier to edit the weapon characteristics than edit the armament files. All
Allied bombers are armed with .303 cal MGs (another "playbalance" feature)
except for the B-26 which has 2 positions with .50 cal's (an oversight?). The
Ju88 is armed with 7.62mm MG. Simply edit the weapon. Only the Spitfire IX
has .303 guns other than the bombers. Give it the same armament as the
Spitfire 14 so that when you change the .303 for the bombers you don't make
the Spitfire IX more or less heavily armed. No German aircraft other than the
Ju88 have 7.62mm. Regarding the odd B26, I have included in REAL.ZIP a B26.GL
which has the "normal" .303 cals like the other bombers.
III. REBUILD GUN TEXT FILES
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You only need to use this if you change the armament of a plane. It builds
new files which will give you the proper text description when you change
weapon selection while flying. It does NOT change the text description in
the pre-mission "PREFLIGHT" screen. For example, if you change the armament
of the P-51 from six .50 cal's to 4 20mm cannon, if you DON'T rebuild the
gun text files, when you are flying and you attempt to select 2 cannon instead
of 4, you will still be reading the text which talks about the original .50's
even though you are firing 20mm's. Not a big deal, but a nice touch IMHO.
IV. WEAPONS CHARACTERISTICS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DF is DAMAGE FACTOR. The larger the value the more damage the weapon creates.
Here is some information you may find useful regarding the DF:
Weapon User Projectile Weight
~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.303 cal RAF .344 oz
.30 cal USAAF .34 oz
7.62mm LW .45 oz
.50 cal RAF/USAAF 1.71 oz
20mm FF LW 4.82 oz (explosive)
20mm all 4.82 oz (explosive)
30mm Mk 108 LW 11.22 oz (explosive)
37mm USAAF 21.44 oz (explosive)
AOE has inaccurately lowered the DF values of the 13mm and 15mm weapons.
ROF is RATE OF FIRE.
RPB is ROUNDS PER BURST. The ammo counter decreases by
this amount for each burst fired.
To set the rate of ROUNDS PER MINUTE (RPM) use the following table which is
based on tests of actual AOE data. Interpolate the values and test them to
achieve the RPM required. Check out actual RPM below to see how inaccurate
Dynamix's AOE data is.
ROF with RPB equals RPM AOE WPN
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~~~
210 1 400
210 2 800
210 3 1200 13mm, 15mm, .50 cal
210 4 1600 7.62mm, .303 cal.
315 1 288
315 2 630 20mm
315 3 952
420 1 225
420 2 450 30mm
420 3 681
1260 1 80 37mm, 57mm
1260 2 160
1260 3 240
1260 4 320
ACTUAL RPM
~~~~~~~~~~
7.62mm MG17 1100-1200 rpm (synchronized RPM is 1000)
.303 cal. 1200 rpm
13mm MG131 900-930 rpm
15mm MG151/15 750 rpm (Armor Piercing Ammo)
680 rpm (High Explosive Ammo)
.50 cal 800 rpm
20mm US M2 650 rpm (introduced 1941)
20mm US M3 800 rpm (introduced 1944)
20mm MG/FF 520-540 rpm
20mm MG151/20 800 rpm (Armor Piercing Ammo) Synchronized rate for both
750 rpm (High Explosive Ammo) 550-750 rpm.
30mm MK 103 420 rpm
30mm MK 108 650 rpm
37mm US M4 150 rpm
MV is MUZZLE VELOCITY. Notice how AOE has practically all weapons with the
same muzzle velocity. Although I am not sure of the actual correlation
of the values against real muzzle velocity, one might guess that it is
1:2 feet per second. (Try setting the MV real low and watch the tracers
crawl out of the cannon <g>)
Here are the actual muzzle velocities (in feet per second) I have. Difficult
finding any two sources which agree.
Weapon Muzzle Velocity
~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7.62mm MG17 2450-3000 fps
.303 cal 2600-2660
13mm MG131 2370-2461
15mm MG151/15 2715-3131
.50 cal 2810-2850
20mm US M2 2850
20mm US M3 2750
20mm MG/FF 1800-1900
20mm MG151/20 2300-2920
30mm MK 103 2820
30mm MK 108 1650-1705
37mm 2000
RANGE is observed to affect the range of tracer burn out. I haven't done much
with this except to observe that one can change the distance. When firing a
weapon while sitting on the runway, the tracers don't even get a third of
the way down the strip. However, finding out any reliable information on
"effective" range is a problem. Looks like Dynamix felt the same way and gave
ALL the weapons the same range.
NOTE: The weapon firing sound effect is not controlled by the BULLETS.MEC
file. For example, if you should use the 37mm cannon (not used by any
planes in AOE) to represent a new weapon, it will still have the same
"thump-thump" sound when fired, not matter what the ROF/RPB/RPM is.
V. AIRCRAFT DAMAGE CAPACITY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have worked over the DMG files alot in AOEREAL. Of course I'd recommend
starting with them instead of the original AOE DMG files, since a lot of
the work is done for you.
AIRFRAME DAMAGE: This represents the overall capacity of the plane to take
damage. The lower the value the more difficult the aircraft is to destroy.
ENGINE DAMAGE: The lower the value the more difficult it will be to get the
engines burning. In-line engines should have higher values since they are
not as rugged as radial engines. The bomber engines should have higher values
(even though they are usually radials) so that you can damage them enough so
that they fall out of formation. If you don't, you won't be able to get them
to fall out of formation.
FUEL TANK PROTECTION: Making them unprotected will result in the planes
exploding easily like many Japanese planes do in AOTP.
VI. CONCLUSION
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There will no doubt be updates to this editor. I hope you will be a part of
that process as I again ask you to forward any comments, corrections, or
insights (and your $2 :) you have on AOE and this product. Contact me,
Nicholas Bell, at Compuserve, 72162,1667.
eof