Greetings, fellow CFS enthusiast, and thank you for downloading this mission.
This is a CFS1 stock mission originally titled Camel Caravan. It has been converted and modified to play in CFS2.
You will be flying from the German side, so the mission will be found under the German section in the mission setup screen.
The objective in this one is to attack the British Aerodrome at Villacoublay near Paris. You are going after the Spad's that have just been delivered as reinforcements, so any Spad's you find are priority targets, be they on the ground or in the air.
Also, our spies have reported that the great ace "Lester" is in the area as well. It would be a great boost to morale if he were to be killed. So if you find him (he'll be the one with the black beard), try and down him. Just don't get yourself killed in the process.
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.
You will also need to copy a few sound files from your Cfs2 Sound folder into your Cfs2 Sound/Action folder, if you'd like to have some status messages while flying. (Specific files listed in the sound.txt file included in this package) *I only used a few sounds to tell you mission accomplished and such, it won't be as if you are communicating with your wingmen over radio.
I also recommend the German radio calls by the Ground Crew, as I did use several of those sound files in this mission. They are not absolutely required, but they do add some flavor to the mission. They can be found in the CFS2 section under CFS2 Stuff.
You will need the excellent simTECH Fokker Dr1 and the simTECH Spad XIII just released as freeware at the Sim-Outhouse. The Fokker is in the CFS2 section and the SPAD is in the FS2002 section. *You will need to swap in the appropriate files for the SPAD. They are included in the "New Folder" that comes with the download. It is inside the aircrafts folder along with your panel, texture, etc... folders. You need to drop the dp file and aircraft.cfg as well, from the New Folder inside the Spad.
***If these links are dead or inaccurate, try getting help on one of the CFS forums out there for updated locations.***
This mission was one of the "hidden" missions included with CFS1. You had to rename the mission file to open it up and make it playable. *The mission file's name was missing an s at the end of the extension name.
Instead of using the old Sopcamel that came with CFS1, I wanted to update to newer plane models. The problem was I never had really downloaded any WW1 stuff in these many months of CFS2 play. It just so happens that right before this redux series of missions was finally complete, the guys over at simTECH released their wonderful Fokker and Spad models as freeware. So I jumped at the chance to use these wonderful creations.
I had been using a couple other WWI planes that were a bit "hot" in the airfile department. These new models were much more realistic, and great looking to boot. Also, the frame rates were excellent.
So I spent a few hours crafting and tightening up the mission. I am pleased with the results, and this one ended up being probably the easiest of all these missions to convert adequately.
The mission works on a couple of different levels.
All in all, I think it's a good mix of action and strategy. I seem to play this one quite often, if for no other reason than to just mix it up in classic dogfighter style. This is where it all began, with the WW1 style fights.
I did have to move the starting base closer to the enemy airfield, and I also changed the mission text a little. Instead of using the same plane for friends and foes (as they did in CFS1, because they only included one WW1 plane), I wanted a classic match-up. I also incorporated my usual "mods" to the mission.
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 how it will play in real time.
****If you modify this mission, make a backup copy first. Some hand edits were done to the mission and
dynamic files. I eliminated the automatic "you must survive goal", and I also adjusted the ai skill levels. These things will
be overwritten if you run this mission through the mission builder.***
I would suggest either editing by hand or using Keith Bedford's mission editor to make most adjustments.
I'd also recommend installing some form of European CFS1 runways. During testing I just used an old set of bare runways that have NDB's included. I got them at Sim-Outhouse. They are called European Runways for CFS2 ~ Mk. II. These match up to the european runways listed in the airbases.dat file, so there is none of that annoying adding runways to the airbases.dat file. It is fine to check your advanced info screen in other words.
I deleted most of the ground objects, but I left a few things at the enemy airbase to shoot at. It shouldn't hog your frame rates too bad.
I have included ditching (like C. Burgess uses in his missions) in these missions, as I like it, and find it helpful in the cases where you just can't make it home. You just need to be outside the base area (about 1 mile from base or less) and come to a stop, then cut off your engine. I have found that doing this inside enemy territory miraculously let's you evade capture. At least it has every time I've done it so far.
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 more.
I also have other "experiments" sitting on my hard drive if I can get around to completing them, stay tuned...
Enjoy, and watch for that "Lester" guy. Show him who the real ace is.
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.
If it blows up your pc, it weren't me that caused it. If my puny, ancient, much neglected pc will run it, then yours should too.
Use at your own risk, no warranty implied or offered. It plays fine on mine own system.
I can be reached at the following address.
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 (mostly the classic type). Play it loud!
LONG LIVE ROCK!!!
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