Greetings, fellow CFS enthusiast, and thank you for downloading this mission.
This is a CFS1 stock mission originally titledThe Guns of Gris-Nez. It has been converted and modified to play in CFS2.
You will be flying from the British side, so the mission will be found under the British section in the mission setup screen.
The objective in this one is to destroy the barrage balloons that are helping the Germans to destroy Dover with their big gun emplacements. There are nine of them, but they are easy to destroy. Therefore, I also added one of the guns as a target. There is also flak (of course, of course!), so watch out for flying shrapnel. There is also a difference in the numbers of enemy aircraft you will face, depending on which level of difficulty you select in the mission setup screen. If you find the easy level too easy, then try it on medium or hard difficulty. Or vice versa.
Just extract the contents of the zip file into a temp folder and then cut and paste or drop and drag the .mis and the .dyn files into your CFS2 mission folder.
I also added some sounds from the Ground Crew website. Look for the British radio calls pack. They are from CFS1 and add a bit of flavor to the mission. They aren't necessary, but it does improve the experience. They are located in the CFS2 section under CFS2 stuff.
You will also need to copy a few sound files from your Cfs2 Sound folder into your Cfs2 Sound/Action folder. (Specific files listed in the sound folder of this zip file, check sound install.txt)
British screen pack for your single and campaign missions can be found at Netwings.
Also don't forget the planes mentioned above need to be installed as well. Akemi's Bf109e-7 and the VB Hurricane IIA from Sim-Outhouse.
***If these links are dead or inaccurate, try asking on one of the CFS forums for updated locations.***
This particular mission went through a couple of revisions before arriving at its present configuaration. Originally I had the goal as destroying the three guns, and I was using a bomb-equipped Spitfire. Everything was working great, so I moved on to completing another mission.
As I entered my final playtesting and tweaking phase of operations, I was confronted with the fact that the AI were no longer destroying the guns like before. I must have played and tweaked for four or more hours, and not once in all those games did the AI wingmen destroy a gun. I tried several different planes, I tried tagging the guns as "must be destroyed", I tried various speeds and altitudes at the waypoints around and on the target. I tried and tried and tried, but it was just not to be.
SOOOO, I decided to alter it in the end. I went back to reading the summary and objective texts, and as it turned out, the barrage balloons were really the basis of the mission anyway. It made more sense to just have the goal as being destroy the balloons. Let the bomber boys worry about the guns!
However, as I was testing the mission with this new goal, I was ultimately unsatisfied with the difficulty level. It was a little challenging, but not what I was aiming for.
To compensate for this, I decided to make one of the GUNS be a goal target as well. The GUNS are hard to destroy, but it is manageable. How you use your wingmen in this mission is vital, I think, to your success or failure in completing the mission goal.
There was also an interesting bit about "fly low to avoid detection" in the objective string. I decided to spice up the mission a bit by having a play at that. So I set up an event based on that idea.
I also set up a timer that starts up when you enter the attack area. You have about 10 minutes to get in there and knock those targets out before the defenders start arriving. This does not include the random flights I have set up as well, but they are small 2 plane units. This force is larger, and also depends on the difficulty level you select.
Don't be lured into drawn out dogfights though, you need to knock those balloons and one gun out and get out of there!
So anyway, in the end, this mission ended up being very different from what I originally thought it would be. Maybe that's a good thing. Looking back, I am certain it is much better than my initial conversion, and I must admit, I am tempted to keep on tweaking it more still. But as Neil Young would say, "Comes a Time".....
Here are a few tips, but you'll have your most fun experimenting for yourself.
As always it was designed to be played at 100%. It should play fine on other settings as well, but it was not tested on any.
This mission was designed and tested using warping. I can make no guarantees what it will do in real time.
I tried several combinations of aircraft before settling on the VB Hurricane IIA, and Akemi's Bf109e-7. (These planes just flat out don't like each other, apparently). They got me the frame rates I wanted and the Hurricane carries a lot of rounds of ammunition, which is helpful with all the targets, and defending aircraft that you may have to worry about. I also selected the medium bomb load, which can help with the goal, depending on how you use your wingmen.
You can find the VB aircraft at the Sim-Outhouse or other various CFS2/flight sim sites. Or you can swap for the mount of your choice.
For the enemy plane I chose Akemi's Bf109E-7 found Here.
Just make sure the folder names are mz-Bf109e-7 and VB_Hurricane 2A to avoid
the dreaded mission file may be corrupted message.
***If you run this one through the mission builder, I did several hand edits to the mission and dynamic files so be prepared
to either re-edit by hand or lose what was edited. Mostly I just adjusted the skill levels of the ai pilots, but I did also
get rid of the automatic goal of survival (which I mostly detest).***
I can't guarantee what kind of results you will get if you swap planes. These planes match up pretty well and the AI at least tries to do what you tell it to. That's the most important aspect to me.
I used several of the sound files from the British Radio Calls package by the Ground Crew. They aren't absolutely required, but they do make it more interesting. You can find them Here.
I used Martin Wright's Dover scenery for my Hawkinge airbase, but it's not required. it does add to the experience though. It is my favorite of the various Hawkinge\Dover sceneries I've tried. *Note: IF you are using a different scenery, some tweaking may need to be done to the [runway.0] section at the bottom of the mission file. I would imagine that tweaking the base_lat= or the base_lon= lines will get you what you need. Just experiment with those for aircraft placement on the runway. You may also need to adjust the heading= line as well. By going into free flight and selecting the Hawkinge scenery you are using, then hitting shift+z while sitting on the runway will give you the co-ordinates needed, including heading. This is your starting point for tweaking the [runway.0] section.*
I deleted all objects from the mission files that were at or around the runways. Mainly because it takes longer to load when they're all there, and secondly because some of you are probably using other scenery packs anyway, and this would just cause a bunch of overlapping and altogether sloppy looking scenery. If you don't have any of the CFS1 runways installed, you'll just be taking off from bare land (no runways). If you don't mind that, then neither do I.
I also included ditching (like C. Burgess uses in his missions). Just come to a complete stop anywhere outside the base area (about a mile or so), and cut off your engine. It will trigger an end mission event in a matter of seconds. This works on land or water.
Curiously though, I have ditched successfully in enemy territory after having completed the mission goal, and I wasn't captured by the enemy. I have done this several times. Not sure why it does this, but I have been unable to find an answer. Yes there is a front line around the enemy territory, in case you're wondering. I've bailed out in the same area and been captured. Go figure.
There are several more of these CFS1 stock converted missions also available, and possibly more on the way. It just depends on the potential of each one. If I discover some aspect of them I like, then I will invest the time necessary to complete some.
I also have other "experiments" sitting on my hard drive if I can get around to completing them, stay tuned...
Well get out there and save the world soldier. Hope you have fun, good luck.
This package is freeware and cannot be sold for any reason. You may post it where you like, just so long as all original documentation (this HTML file!) is included as well. Swap it, pass it along, hack it, but most importantly have fun with it.
Use at your own risk, no warranty implied or offered. I will accept no responsibility for any damage you think may have been caused to your pc and or marriage due to the use of this mission or any of its contents.
I can be reached at the address below.
Designed and tested on a PIII 600, windows 98 SE, 128 RAM, Voodoo 3 2000 system. (You can stop laughing now, I can hear you!!!) The same system I was playing the original versions of these CFS1 converted missions on. As the saying goes, "She ain't much, but she's mine".
All HTML on this page was done by hand using wordpad and tested on Internet Explorer 6.0. Not sure what it'll look like on anything else, but it looks ok with IE 6.0.
All grammatical errors are solely the fault of the author and cannot be blamed on anyone or thing excepting himself.
FvB missions are made under the influence of rock and roll, and as such they are more enjoyable with it blaring in the background. Long Live Rock!!!
© Michael Brookshire and Franz von Baron Productions 2000-2004. All Rights Reserved