posted 05-28- 06:45 AM               

I remember it was the start of April that I came up with the idea, and its ready FINALLY!

Here's the description from the readme:

12 drivable vehicles. If you downloaded my vehicles as a seperate pack earlier, don't worry, this pack will overwrite them and upgrade them to their latest versions. All vehicles have training missions, a Hangar test mission with images and specs, and some historical information too. Each vehicle also now has the amount of the attention to detail as version 2 of the Jeep had. Some vehicles, may have more Their drivers will not look like aircraft pilots anymore, they will look like soldiers, or in the case of civilian vehicles, civilian people. The gunners of the vehicles (where available) will be dressed in Army uniform and their 3D models will be improved. German crewman will have helmets too. The sound effects for each vehicle are authentic and you'll be surprised to hear some new ones too. In addition, all the textures and sounds for the vehicles will be localised in their textures folder for each vehicle so you can easily change or make your own skins for them if you like! The best improvement to be done to ALL of my vehicles is that their front wheels will actually steer the vehicle in a realistic fashion. That means the front axle won't turn with the front wheels, the wheels themselves will rotate on the spot like they should! This improvement has been added to ALL vehicles wherever applicable. This also means that steering will now be controlled by your joystick allowing you to even hook up your steering wheel (if available) and having a good spin. Credit must go to Raider from the FSIC Forum for showing me how this is done. Thanks Raider! You will also notice that all the Halftracks (the M3, M16) now have animated wheels in their rear track system! This is also true with the German "Hanomag" series Halftracks and the King Tiger. I have included some quite interesting loadout options for the German vehicles to balance out the Allies arsenal, among them, a new mortar loadout with three different calibres available, 5cm, 8cm and the massive 12cm! The Panzerfaust is also available for use along with the Mp40 sub-machine gun.

Ok, here's the rundown of vehicles...

1. Citroen 7CV
2. GMC Supply Truck
3. M3 Halftrack
4. Matador 40mm
5. Willys' Jeep
6. M3 Halftrack AAA
7. Matilda
8. Hanomag Sd Kfz 251
9. Hanomag Sd Kfz 7
10. Opel Blitz
11. BMW R75
12. Tiger II

Here's a list of fixes/improvements:

* ALL vehicles now steer realistically. This also means that going above 55mph, SDOE won't disable the steering anymore! Steering is now by use of your Joystick and NOT the rudder controls anymore.

* ALL vehicles have engine torque effect fixed. You can now drive with engine torque ON or OFF. Your choice.

* ALL vehicles now have a dashboard.

* Matador 40mm is now less prone to rolling over when applying heavy use of steering.

* Citroen 7CV has "bouncing" front-end fixed. This issue arised when multiple vehicles including the Citroen were in a mission and the player would take control of the Citroen. Citroen also has new wheels and generally handles better. In addition, the interior has been revamped with a larger steering wheel and better seat textures than version 2 of the Citroen previously released. I have also included a "Brass" loadout that will put an important passenger in the back seat. This loadout is useful for missions where you must escape from a location with an important person on board.

* M3 Halftrack, M16 AAA and Matador 40mm have new improved gunners both texture and 3D model-wise.

* Willys' Jeep also has a new excellently re-modelled Bazooka launcher as well as a new projectile for the Bazooka. IMPORTANT: in order for the new bazooka projectile to work in SDOE, you will have to add the following to your startup.ppf file:

"aircraft/weapons/bazooka.sm"
"aircraft/weapons/pnzrfst.sm"
"aircraft/weapons/mortar50.sm"
"aircraft/weapons/mortar80.sm"
"aircraft/weapons/mortar120.sm"
"aircraft/weapons/smkgren.sm"

The above is also important to enable the other weapons such as the Panzerfaust, mortars and smoke grenades to work. The above MUST be added to the startup.ppf for these weapons to work!!

The startup.ppf file can be found in "Media\" directory of your SDOE install directory. A new sample startup.ppf has been added to your media folder with the above texts already added. Open this ppf, copy the texts inside it, and add them to your original startup.ppf.

* Textures on ALL vehicles are now localised as much as possible. What this means is that most if not all of the vehicles' textures are in their specific vehicle texture folder, and changing ANY of these textures WILL NOT affect the look of other objects (apart from your vehicle) in SDOE. This also means that each vehicle is individual in this pack, and does not rely on the other vehicles for textures or 3D models. So go ahead and customize!

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION:

For download links, go here:
http://www.fightersquadron.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/000411.html

Credits:

It may looked as if I did all this on my own, there's NO WAY I could have done all this without help from other people. I did get help and feedback from many people, and also, the work of other people are in this pack, whether it be as a result of their software, or otherwise. These people deserve to be named for their efforts.

In no particular order, Many Thanks to:

Scorpion Rouge - Many thanks to him. Try out the Opel Blitz and also the Hanomag SdKfz 7 you'll realise why. Most if not all, the 3d model work on the mentioned vehicles was from the efforts of Scorpion Rouge. All I did was put them together, or "motorise" them in OPS and I modelled a few misc parts, but most of the textures and 3d models were thanks to Scorpion. He also helped out in the loadout file for the Blitz too. Visit Scorpions web site at: http://perso.libertysurf.fr/scorpion_rouge/menu.html for more ground objects (non-drivable). He has a gift of modelling excellent ground objects.

Raider - For showing me how to make the vehicles steer by use of joystick and making the steering effect appear much more realistic. Also, for helping me out with the hit detection issue with the tanks. Without his help, I would have never figured it out and the tanks you see in this pack probably would not have made it. Thanks Raider!

Pachy - Base 3D model and base textures of Citroen 7CV, also provided historical information on Citroen.

Archy - For enlightening me on some concepts of vehicle performance and of course, for showing me the concept of reverse gear in my vehicles!

Razer - Base 3D model and tires of Willys' Jeep and also for showing me an excellent modellers archive website.

Werner Molders - A constant source of ideas and concepts, some of which I chose to implement . Visit Abbeville Field! http://af.3dgw.com/

Jeeves - For supplying me with the historical information on the Sd Kfz 7. I'll try and get that Kat underway soon Jeeves!

Psi - For the improved 40mm gun sound as heard on the Matador 40mm vehicle.

FSIC Forum Community - Including those names above, there were many more people that helped out. I will thank everyone who helped me out with their comments, suggestions and help on the FSIC forum...Argon, Sunray, Commando, Pye, Hip63, 71hemicuda, Da Jug Head, Lil'Bastard, 3dp, Rendsburger, Snickers, Spin, Jerry, Semmern, HeinzBaby, Nat, Pete Hawk, Condor, Von, AGAS-5, WOP, Vahnatai, Biggles, Private Roger, Maury Markowitz, Sailor, Charmstar, Aladar, Snake, Starfire, Darthbob, Riverrat, Flash Gordon, Sturm Spieler, Sv, Hawk, Biggles3, and also all those people I've missed (sorry if I missed your name), and of course, YOU for downloading this pack.

Bryan Russell - OpenPlane Studio!! Without it, none of this would be possible!

There's many more people to thank, so please view the readme that comes with the pack...

That's all folks! I hope you guys enjoy the pack, It's been a long time coming, and I'm glad it's finally off my shoulders...well sort of. PLEASE report any bugs or issues you find, I want to make sure this thing is as close to perfect as possible.

HAVE FUN!

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posted 05-28- 07:25 AM               

You have outdone yourself sir! Fantastic!!!

I'm downloading now!

These great vehicles need to be tested online. I envision some great missions with these.

Now, if only the AI could be made to follow waypoints in these.

Thanks Harman!!!

posted 05-28- 09:54 AM               

Can we add any of these in there? I know we can't assign the AI waypoints, but does the AI fire on its own, Harman? So say you were swooping down in a 109, the Matador would open up?

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posted 05-28- 10:47 AM               

Sorry about the download files, they're sort of screwed right now. I just tried uploading the whole file, and NBCi went and rejected it saying it was too large

I've emailed Dogma at simfiles, hopefully I can get the file hosted there. Until then, I guess we'll have to wait

Jeeves, I'm not sure if the Mat would target aircraft, I'll have to try it out, it has basically all the properties the static Matador has, I'll be darned if it doesn't shoot at targets.

Sorry about the download files once again

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posted 05-28- 10:54 AM            

Now if we were a cheeky lot we'd have an online event on the same day WWIIOnline goes live, online (not beta testing). WWIIOnline, without the user fee.

Werner

posted 05-28- 10:58 AM               

I'm now trying to upload the whole zip to 50megs.com while I wait for Dogma to get back to me, fingers crossed...

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posted 05-28- 12:55 PM            

This should make front page at www.world-at-war.com ,, eh.. Pvt Roger!

Harmen,, thanks for your vision on this project and all those that helped you!

Waiting for the download all clear and I'll be getting it asap!!! Online of course..

i'll wait for the all clear first tho!

posted 05-28- 10:06 PM               

S! Well, I was hoping it was gonna be ready for download Psi, but apparently the pack pieces got corrupted when they were uploaded.

I've emailed Dogma from simfiles, but while I wait for him to get back to me, I'm trying again to upload the pieces of the pack this time as zip files to NBCi. This *should* work. Last time I uploaded the pieces in their normal *.00* format, and I uploaded in ASCII format which is probably why it corrupted...

Anyways, trying again and I'll post here again within about 4 or 5 hours and by then the pack should be uploaded.

I'll keep ya posted...

posted 05-29- 05:30 AM               

What will make it work this time? Well, I've zipped the files up this time instead of uploading them as they were before, and last time I uploaded them in ASCII mode, which is wrong. The files are as I said, available in zip format, and all you have to do is visit the downloads section to download them!!

I have checked the files uploaded down to the byte, and compared them to the ones on my computer. I've also tried joining the split files on my computer, and everything checks out.

It's ready!!

Btw, Thanks for your patience, what happened this past day or so was the equivelent of someone wheeling out a roast with all the trimmings and then tripping over and spilling everything all over the ground lol! I've picked up the pieces now

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posted 05-29- 06:11 AM               

Great, and it worked!!!

I am about to leave for work, but I hope to have time to play with it tonight. Look for a feature at the World-at-War site on this great new development for SDOE soon!!

posted 05-29- 06:15 AM               

Ah, it's working...

posted 05-29- 03:33 PM               

After downloading and intalling your Ground Pak I have NO sound in SDOE! For the life of me I don't know what the connection is but this is the only change to SDOE I have made.

There is no sound in either .8 patch mode or standard 1.5. There is no sound for any aircraft, not just the Ground Pak vehicles. My sound works in other programs, just not SDOE. The individual SDOE sound files work using other players, just not in SDOE.

posted 05-29- 05:16 PM               

How about someone makes some gunsights for the Tiger and Matilda now that the guns are realistic?

posted 05-29- 05:20 PM               

Also, I have noticed that other planes are no longer showing up on the radar or on the map (both friendly and EA) although I can F5 to them - they are in the game. I can not T target them either. It's like they aren't there even though you can see them. I did hear one sound, the wing/metal flex sound when you pull G's suddenly or get rocked by flak.

posted 05-29- 09:21 PM               

Anyway, I have an idea that may help fix the sound problem hopefully, click below and download my "sounds.ppf" file. Make sure you make a backup of your existing one first, and then place this download one in "\Media\".
http://members.nbci.com/harman_5/soundwavs/sounds.zip

Wow, radar and map icons gone too? Ok, it seems to be affecting planes and sounds, and seeing the pack adds more folders to the Aircraft folder, I can say it's *probably* because of the number of aircraft you have installed? How many folders do you have in the Aircraft folder? I have 84, but I'd say 90% of these are empty because the plane data is mostly in the PAR files supplied by the PlanePacks.

I'll try and help you out more Jerry, keep me posted on it.

Thanks Snake

Regarding vehicle stability, there are some vehicles that could use a little tweaking still, but I hope they're not unbearable. With these trucks, just remember, keep your speed low when turning and use full steering lock only at very low speeds. I'm sure if you were pulling 50+ mph and you suddenly hauled the steering wheel all the way left or right, the truck wouldn't stay on its wheels anymore. I'll note down all the feedback you guys give me and then roll the fixes into a pack update. Regarding the tank gunsights, yes, I know they seem a little simple, this is easy to update I'm thinking, if anyone else wants to have a stab at it, go ahead. Otherwise, I'll roll these fixes/improvements as I said into an update pack soon.

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posted 05-29- 10:43 PM               

Yeah, I also thought of the "too many planes" issue. Renamed my Aircraft folder and ran with just 6.1...no glory.

Unless someone comes up with a solution I guess I'll do a complete reinstall of SDOE...bummer.

posted 05-29- 11:29 PM               

Regards

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posted 05-30- 12:48 AM               

This is a damn shame. There are so many add-ons out there and we can't use them all. Maybe we could set aside a par file, which could be updated frequently, for beta's not going into official paks to avoid this. For now I'm just going with 6.1

Does anyone know what causes this plane limit bug and if it can be fixed?

posted 05-30- 01:01 AM               

Just so you know, I have PP 6.0 installed and Nations v2 and also the Ground Pack, and SDOE can handle those three ok for me.

So if you haven't got too many stand-alone planes installed, then you should be fine with the combination described above. I don't have the WWI pack tho.

Then again, if you've got the space, you can always install another SDOE and use one for the online standard and one as a mod-installed version. I wish I had enough space to

posted 05-31- 03:41 PM               

li'l b

posted 05-31- 09:22 PM               

Regarding the AI, as far as I know, this is a current limitation of SDOE. Although these vehicles are "aircraft" class objects, they don't fly and I don't think the AI was not made to drive along the ground unfortunately, this being a flight sim and all. Also, regarding them shooting, I've tried getting them to shoot at planes, but so far no go. I've added all the properties from the ground objects to the vehicles' guns and turrets, still no go. However at one time, one of the guys holding the Mp40 on the back of the Sd Kfz 7 did start shooting at a GMC Fuel Truck static object as I went past it. But I've never seen them shoot at planes yet.

The good side of this is these vehicles would be killer online.

Maybe the AI driving/shooting is something the patch team can address? I don't imagine it will be an easy task though...

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posted 06-01- 12:40 AM               

Visit the downloads section of this forum for it...

http://www.fightersquadron.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/000411.html

Size is 15MB.

posted 06-01- 06:47 AM               

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Brought to you by the campaign for a better Dauntless!

posted 06-01- 06:51 AM               

I'd be interested to see that mission where they all opened up on you Jeeves.

I still love this addition, but since the vehicles will not follow WP I see this pack as more of a boon for online play than offline.

So far anyway.

PR=FC=

posted 06-01- 07:01 AM               

Really Jeeves? Try that mission again and verify that the AAAs shooting at you are in fact drivable and not the static ground objects that shipped with SDOE...you should be able to F5 to them if they're drivable, unless you have "AllVehicles=1" in the ini...

It's a shame the AI can't drive, but I sure am glad SDOE can be played online

Cheers

p.s, Ground Pack v1 Update patch is in the works...

posted 06-01- 07:52 AM               

Could the ai drive them if you made invisible
wings and a tail section?

Just a thought but maybe it would work?
Here's hoping.

posted 06-01- 08:00 AM               

Actually, the things you mentioned are essential for these vehicles to work, or at least so the AI won't bail out when the vehicles are not under your control. All these vehicles have invisible tail sections and wings. A "CAircraft" object in SDOE without wings or a tail, will make the AI think the plane is damaged and he will bail immediately. In fact, it may even CTD.

I based the my very first vehicle, the Citroen 7CV, off a WWI plane, and just mixed and matched parts, but all the while kept the wings and tail in there.

Anyways, thanks for the idea, maybe I can figure out a way of making them drive. As it is now, you can get the AI drive, by starting the vehicle, driving it to about 30mph and hitting 'P' to engage autopilot, the AI will keep driving! But the AI won't follow waypoints or start from a standstill.

posted 06-01- 10:03 AM               

What about playing around with the Classes.ppf? This is the one that lets the game know what the planes should be doing in a CAP or a sweep, etc-- could this be fiddled with to get them working- at least defensively?

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posted 06-01- 10:06 AM               

So it seems to be choosy as to what it fires at- but it does fire. I will check that AAA mission when I get home though.

****I wonder--- maybe you have to F6 into them to wake them up first and then let the AI take over? Kind of like the guns on the B-17?

posted 06-01- 10:32 AM               

About the Jeep and Bazooka thingie, so you're driving around and you see a bazooka round launched over your head by the AI bastard? Wow. Assuming we're both talking about the very same "tank busting" training mission for the Jeep... My doubt is, there is actually a Matilda tank behind the Tiger in that mission, and it will start firing at the Tiger soon after mission start, so I'm not sure if the guy with the Baz did it, or the equally sneaky fellows in the Allied Matilda behind the Tiger.

On the other hand, if you switched to the Bazooka afterwards and found it had 9 rounds left after not being fired by you, then I'm a happy man.

Will check out classes.ppf, looks hopeful.

posted 06-01- 03:26 PM            

It could be Jerrys missing sound problem!

When you add the new lines to the startup.ppf file. Most likely you will add them to the bottom

Be very careful not to delete or overwrite,, the Closed bracket ' )' at the end

There is one at the beginning and it parenthasises all the files!

Not sure the effects it can have if you lose this syntax, but i can only presume assume it could be grave!

Anyway! ,,,,,,, thx again Harman,, I haven't driven all the vehicles yet!,, I spent the first 5 minutes, of the sidecar mission trying to navigate out of the small town to my fw waiting for me (test mission) and kept doing a full circle and driving up the wrong road!,,even with the map on!,, gonna need to practice navigating! lol

I like the offline scenario ,ride to your plane! then hop in your plane shoot the bombers get down,, and drive back into town,, James McQueen style! felt like i a movie!

then the matador,, then tank,, then the morters all ammuniton!,, those little explosions are so cute! and so proportional to the buildings ,good anti infantry, keep your heads down covering fire! and the i'm using the f4 bomb view are great!,,

Ground pack Get it!,,

I'm running with Spins PP 6.1, Thanks spin discovering this too
, Nations 2.0, WW1 Planepack, and the Harmen_5 Groundpack
No problems except my map reading

It's all so much at good things at once, i feel spoilt for choice
Thanks All!