
                   Modifications for Aces over Europe
                            Fly AoE's Bombers
                         by: Grant "Tagert" Senn
                               AEBMR1.TXT
                               Version 1.0
                             Date  1-25-1994


      TABLE OF CONTENTS:
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Section 00:  WHAT THESE MODIFICATIONS WILL DO FOR YOU
      Section 01:  INSTALLATION
      Section 02:  MODIFICATIONS COMPATIBILITY
      Section 03:  WARNING
      Section 04:  A BUG
      Section 05:  OPTIONS THAT PROVIDE MORE AC IN YOUR FORMATIONS
      Section 06:  HOW TO FLY THE AOE BOMBERS
      Section 07:  PLAY BACK OF VCR TAPES
      Section 08:  DISCLAIMER
      Section 09:  EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS?
      Section 0a:  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
      Section 0b:  SPECIAL THANKS
      Section 0c:  VERSION HISTORY
      Section 0d:  LIST OF FILES
      Section 0e:  POINT OF CONTACT




      Section 00:  WHAT THESE MODIFICATIONS WILL DO FOR YOU
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      These modified files will enable you to fly a single mission
      and or a campaign in a B-25D Mitchell, B-26 Marauder, Ju-88-
      C-6 and the Arado 234C.  Note that the B-25D and the B-26
      versions remain the same, the only difference is that now
      you can fly them.  Also note that the Ju-88-C-6 and the
      Arado 234C are different versions.  The original Aces over
      Europe came with the Ju-88-S and the Arado 234B but I
      converted them to the Ju-88-C-6 and Arado 234C versions
      respectively.  Where the 234B was able to be flown in the
      original Aces over Europe, the Ju-88-S was not; but via
      these mods now both the Ju-88-C-6 and Arado 234C can be
      flown in both the fly a single mission or campaign play.
      The Arado 234C has a set of REAR firing 20mm Cannons, along
      with the C version's improved performance.




      Section 01:  INSTALLATION
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      To install these modifications simple place all the files
      contained in the ZIP (Except for the ZIP files themselves)
      into the directory that contains the original Aces over
      Europe game files.  The program will automatically use these
      modified files over the original files, and the nice thing
      is it does not change any of you original Aces over Europe
      files.  So there is no real need to back up your files
      before installing these files.  But as always there is
      always a possibility of unforeseen problems so it is always
      a good idea to backup your files before installing any patch
      files - especially ones that are not supported by Dynamix,
      which by the way these are not supported by Dynamix.  And
      another nice thing about these modified files is if for some
      reason you don't like the changes they make to your original
      Aces over Europe game then simply delete all the files
      contained in this ZIP and you will be right back where you
      began.  That is if you started off with no mods whatsoever
      If you were running some previous modified files that were
      overwritten by these modified files then you will have to
      reinstall that previous modification.




      Section 02:  MODIFICATIONS COMPATIBILITY
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      This AEBMR*.ZIP modification has been tested and found to
      work with:

      AOE Version 1.0

      Nicholas Bell and I have been working on many modifications
      for Aces over Europe.  One of our projects was the
      modification called AOEREA.ZIP that can be found in
      FSFORUM's Historical section (Better know as AOEREAL).

      In this AEBMR*.ZIP there are two versions.  The  Standard
      Version, and the REAL Version.  If you want to maintain all
      the changes that were made by AOEREA.ZIP then once you have
      unzipped AEBMR*.ZIP and placed it's files into your Aces over
      Europe directory, go back and unzip the file called REAL.ZIP
      that is contained in the AEBMR*.ZIP.  The files contained in
      the REAL.ZIP will maintain the changes made by AOEREAL plus
      add any additional modifications needed for the AEBMR*
      modifications.  These files will make the bombers conform to
      the REAL standards that Nick has laid down.  Basically the
      bombers overall performance is limited to make them a little
      harder to fly.  When I say overall performance I don't just
      mean the bombers speed and maneuverability, I'm also
      referring to the bombers ordnance and gun loads.  The
      gunners for the bombers in REAL.ZIP are not as deadly as the
      one in the standard version, and the AC's speed, weight,
      momentum and maneuverability will have to be taken into
      consideration during maneuvers.  That is the maneuvers that
      you can do in the Standard version might cause you to kiss
      the dirt in the REAL version.  But if you want a REAL
      challenge than try the REAL.ZIP!  And if you can complete a
      campaign with the REAL files, then I take may hat off to
      you!




      Section 03:  WARNING
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      There have been quite a few modifications made for Aces over
      Europe, but not all are the same!  And the way they interact
      is unpredictable.  Nicholas Bell and I have worked together
      on all of our modifications and have supported each others
      work to insure that one modification would not udo another.
      But there are other people out there working on their own
      and independently.  This is not a bad thing - just
      different.  So I just want to point out that a modification
      made by someone other that Nicholas Bell will probably not
      work.

      Especially if that modification requires editing of the
      original (striped out) Dynamix data files.  For instance
      just a few days after Aces over Europe was on the selves for
      sale old Jaybird had posted a number of gun load
      modification for AOE.  It worked by running some BAT files
      to edited the original (stripped-out) ORDANCE0.DAT file via
      some Debug commands.  But those BAT files will NOT work on
      the ORDANCE0.DAT file contained in this AEBMR*.ZIP!  Because
      to make this, and other modifications, I had to completely
      rewrite the ORDANCE0.DAT file.




      Section 04:  A BUG
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      During the development of the Ju-88-C-6 I came across a bug
      in my modifications that I could not fix.  You may or may
      not notice it, but it is there.  The bug occurs on any AC
      with computer controlled gunners.  The bug is, when you
      start to line up a shot on an AC with your Gun Sight the
      player controlled guns (None of which exist on the B-25D),
      will sometimes fire on their own!  Somehow the AI is
      allowing the computer controlled gunners to fire the player
      controlled forward firing guns.  I have also noticed that
      the NPC's while flying the Ar-234-C-3 do not seem to use
      their new found guns?  But the user has no problem using
      them, that is no problem except for sighting out the rear.
      For that I suggest that you use external views!  If I find a
      way to fix these bugs, I will upload a patch and or a new
      version of this modification.  This auto fire bug is not
      consistent in that it does not happen every single time.
      Overall I think the benefits of these modifications
      outweighs this small inconveniences.  But the final judgment
      is up to you.  If you can live with it, fine if not simply
      delete the file that came with this modification.




      Section 05:  OPTIONS THAT PROVIDE MORE AC IN YOUR FORMATIONS
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      During the development of the modification I found, or
      should I say Nick and Jaybird found the data that controls
      the number of AC that are in your formations during campaign
      play.  So as a test I increased the number of AC from the
      standard max of four to six to see what effect it has on the
      game.  Well as expected the number of AC was increased to
      six, but with one small drawback.  The preflight menu
      display of the formation configuration gets distorted!  That
      is the display of the wingmen and their corresponding
      numbers is no longer able to be read clearly.

      They also found the data that controls the type of formation
      that the AC can fly during campaign play.  The standard
      types of formations are fighter and fighter bomber types of
      formations for both the German and Allied sides.  The game
      also provides data for Medium and Heavy Bomber types of
      formations, but since these AC were not intended for use by
      the player (that is they were originally Non Fly-able AC),
      the game does not provide selection between Medium and Heavy
      Bomber formations types and Fighter and Fighter Bomber
      formations types.  That is if you try to select a different
      type of formation the program will crash to DOS.

      So you may be thinking "so what", just tell me how to
      increase the number of AC in my Bomber formations. Before I
      tell you how to do this note that the standard version of
      this modification comes with a modified file called
      SQUAD0.DAT that has a maximum of four AC per bomber flight
      during campaign play and has the fighter type formations to
      select form.  With no distortion and or limitation to
      formation type selection of the preflight menu.

      But if you want a maximum of six AC in your formations
      during campaign play and are willing to put-up with a
      distorted preflight menu, and willing to not be able to
      select different types of formations during campaign play
      then I have the file for you!  Included with this AEBMR*.ZIP
      is a file called SQUAD0.486.  It will provide for all the
      Bomber types of AC a maximum of six bombers in your campaign
      play formations, and the medium bomber type of formations.
      To implement these options simply rename the file called
      SQUAD0.486 to SQUAD0.DAT, this will overwrite the standard
      version SQUAD0.DAT and provide you with the options
      mentioned above.

      Now note that more AC in any AOE flight usually means a
      lower frame rate, but since you are not going to be doing a
      whole lot of loops or split S's in a bomber than the frame
      rate should not be affected too much.  Now I have not tried
      this on every type of machine out there, but I would think
      you would need at least a machine running at 33M Hz at
      least.  I have a 386 40M Hz with eight megs of ram, and Nick
      has a 486 66M Hz (Lucky Dog) and neither of us have noticed
      any real problems running the SQUAD0.486 modification.  So
      as always the final decision is up to you.  Try it and see
      if ya like it  Because I got to tell ya, there is nothing
      like flying fourth position in a diamond box bomber
      formation in a B-26!




      Section 06:  HOW TO FLY THE AOE BOMBERS
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      The best way I have come up with to fly the bombers in AOE
      is to set up a few external views via the <Ctrl> <F*> save
      view option keys along with the zoom in and out keys  "[" &
      "]".  Once you save a view like this it can be recalled by
      pressing the <Alt> <F*> key.  Your needs may vary but I have
      found it necessary to set up a few as follows:

      1)  An external zoomed out view from directly above the
          formation that encompasses all the AC in my formation.
          This is useful while flying in formation, from this view
          you can determine how much right or left rudder is
          needed to bring you back on line with the formation.

      2)  An external zoomed out view from slightly back and above.
          This is good for lining up the target just prior to
          jumping back inside to the internal view down (F6) view.

      3)  An external slightly zoomed out view slightly below and
          in-front of your AC.  This is good for when you have a
          bogie on your hi six, sense this view is all but
          impossible to get from the internal views I consider this
          one a must and not really cheating.


      As for bombing, well there is no bomb sight but just after a
      few missions I have gotten pretty good at using the above
      views to hit my target.  I usually end up in the internal
      Down (F6) view just before release of my bombs.  It takes
      some getting use to, what with different altitudes and such
      but you will get the hang of it.  When starting out watch
      for your wingmen's bombs sailing by; when you see them, that
      is a good indicator that you should release yours.  If you
      are lined up you will usually hit the target about 60% of
      the time via that method.  The wingmen seem to be good at
      release time, but not good at lining up the target, so just
      make sure you're lined up and release when they do and you
      should be OK.

      As for fending of enemy fighters, well that is another
      story, you don't want to get out of formation because the
      concentrated fire power of the formation is what will save
      your A__.  Just like it was in W.W.II, but slight movement
      left and right can throw off the attacking fighters to where
      you don't get to badly chewed up.  In the standard version I
      made the bomber gunners very deadly by actually giving them
      more guns per position.  I did this to try and offset the
      unrealistic unescorted missions that you may be assigned.
      True this will give you an unrealistic advantage when you
      have escorts, but it will kind of equal things out when you
      don't have escorts.  The gunners are good but not so good
      that you don't have to try so I think it will be a
      good combination.  And if you want a real challenge unzip
      the REAL.ZIP, in it the gunners have exactly the number of
      guns that they were suppose to have, but if you are using
      the SQUAD0.486 file than the extra AC in your formations
      should offset this and give you a more realistic run.  But
      if you are not using the SQUAD0.486 file but are using the
      REAL.ZIP modifications you may want to use the standard *.GL
      files, because when you only have a max of four AC in your
      bomber formation the concentrated fire power is not very
      much!

      As for flak, well when you're not the flight leader, you
      don't have much of a choice and the game does cause the
      bomber to fly much lower than they would probably actually
      have flown.  But when you are in charge I highly recommend
      you take the time to get up to 20k ft or so, then set a way
      point near the target you are to attack.  And then fly it in
      real time to the target!  Don't hit the auto pilot (A) key
      after climbing to 20k ft unless you set a way-point near the
      target, because the program will drop you back down to
      somewhere under 10k ft.  This method is a bit of a catch 22
      though, even though the flak won't tear you up so bad up
      there at higher altitudes it will make the bombing harder
      because the view is not as good, but the higher you are the
      more room you have to dive away from the enemy AC.

      The AI of the bombers has been switched (Except for the B-25
      that has now player guns!) so that the bombers will strafe
      what ever is left after the bombing run, so watch for your
      formation to dive after the release of the bombs.




      Section 07:  PLAY BACK OF VCR TAPES
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      There is one side effect to using modified data files that
      "change the performance" of the aircraft in this game.  When
      I say "change the performance" I'm not just referring to the
      aircraft speed and agility (*.FMD's).  Performance also
      includes such things as the weapons and ammo count (*.GL's).
      And such things as the aircraft damage ratings (*.DMG &
      *.BXL's).  The reason there is a problem is due to the way
      the VCR tapes works.  Prior to playback the VCR tapes scans
      the tape and loads all the pertinent data (*.FMD, *.GL,
      *.DMG & BXL's etc.) for each aircraft that is in the VCR.
      If this data is different then the data that was used during
      the original recording of the VCR then you will get a
      different play back of the VCR.

      An example of this would be after you added the modified
      files you noticed that your aircraft appears to shoot at a
      target that's not there.  So, if you or anyone else wishes
      to view your VCR as it was originally recorded, then you
      must insure that the same modified data files which were
      present during the recording of the VCR are also present
      during the replay.

              NOTE:  Due to this it will be very easy to tell if
              anyone is cheating during a FSFORUM tournament! So
              if  you were thinking of giving yourself an edge
              during the next tournament then just forget it
              because all tournaments are flow with the original
              "performance" data files!

      There is no problem in playing back a VCR using modified
      data files that change an aircraft "appearance" or "ordnance
      load".  If you change an aircraft appearance via a modified
      *.TBL file and then record a VCR tape with that modified
      data file present, and then later remove or change that data
      file, there will be no problem during playback except for
      the fact that the plane's appearance will change. If you
      change an aircraft ordnance load via a modified ORDNCE0.DAT
      file, then record a VCR tape with that modified data file
      present, and then later remove or change that data file,
      there will be no problems during the playback.




      Section 08:  DISCLAIMER
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Note that the utilization of these files and information is
      at your own risk!  I assume no responsibility for any damage
      that may occur to your program or hardware due to the
      modifications you may make to these or any of the original
      program data.




      Section 09:  EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS?
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      If you are experiencing any type of problems contact me and
      I will try and help you.  But before you contact Dynamix
      with your problem I urge you to do one thing before you do
      so.  First remove all the modified data files!  Now if you
      are still experiencing the same problem, then when you
      contact Dynamix to report your problem you can rest assured
      that the problem is with the program itself and not due to a
      modified data file.  This will save you and Dynamix allot of
      time.




      Section 0a:  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Below is a listing of all the people who have, in one way or
      another, contributed to the hex editing ability of AOE.

      I WANT TO THANK....

      1)   Damon Slye:
           for his dedication to turning out the most realistic
           dog fighting sims on the market.  And for his savvy
           decision not to encrypt the Dynamix code, which enables
           guys like us to tweak the game to our liking.

      2)   James "Jaybird" Johnson:
           for his inspirational and pioneering work on Dynamix
           Flight Sims.  I especially want to thank Jaybird for
           all the informative DOC's that he has either posted or
           personally sent me.  His detective work and
           understanding of Dynamix Code is top notch!

      3)   Tim Kilgore:
           for his wonderful Dynamix editing & utility programs!

      4)   Nicholas Bell:
           for his personal help and insight, and to his
           dedication to furthering the knowledge of the Dynamix
           data types.  His overall knowledge of all the data
           types is unsurpassed.  Nicks dedication to accuracy and
           realism is also top notch.  Leave it to an ADA guy to
           know his AC! Go Army!

      5)   Uwe Serf:
           for his work on the TBL data files.  Due to his efforts
           we can color the planes to just about any color we
           desire.

      6)   Larry Grill:
           for his extensive work on the FMD & PLT files!  His
           contributions are many but his initial break down of
           the PLT files is phenomenal.

      7)   Brian "ID" Sanford:
           for his extensive and endless work on the FMD data, no
           single person has worked harder on the FMD's.  Thanks
           to Brian we can make the AC do just about anything we
           want at any altitude!




      Section 0b:  SPECIAL THANKS
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Below is a listing of all the people who have directly
      contributed to the development of the modification.

      I WANT TO THANK....

           Nicholas Bell:
           for his extensive doc on the SQUAD0.DAT
           file.  Had it not been for his work in this area I
           would still be working on this damn thing.  And for
           his information contributions to the actual Ju-88-C-6
           version specs.  I also want to thank Nick for putting
           together the REAL FMD & DMG file for all the new AC
           which makes em conform to his specs for AOEREAL.  And
           especially for Nick info on the CMP0.DAT file.  Boy
           had it not been for that bit of info none of this
           would have been possible.

           James "Jaybird" Johnson:
           also for his extensive doc on the SQUAD0.DAT file.
           Had it not been for his work in this area I would
           still be working on this damn thing.  And for his
           information contributions to the actual Ju-88-C-6
           version specs.  And  I want to thank Jaybird for beta
           testing these mods, and for finding the SQUAD0.DAT
           bugs!

           Anthony C. Federici:
           for his idea to make the Ar-234-C-3, and for all his
           information that he provided on the 234-C-3.  The
           Arado is now one deadly AC.

           General:
           and to all those folks that provided info on the
           Ju-88-C-6's Bomb load.  I went back and changed the
           ordnance load to a max of 2k kg's for short range in
           the standard version.  Not too sure if it's real or
           not but there were so many requests that I figured
           what the hell!




      Section 0c:  VERSION HISTORY
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      AEBMR1.ZIP Version 1.0 Finished 1-24-94




      Section 0d:  LIST OF FILES
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Below is a list of all the files contained in AEBMR*.ZIP
      and REAL.ZIP (All except for the one you are reading)

          Files included in the AEBMR*.ZIP (Standard Version)

          Name         Size        Name         Size
          =========    =====       ==========   =====

          air0.dat       848       fb26.edg      1130
          arado.dat      152       fju_88.edg    1130
          arado.fmd      223       ju_88.dat      152
          arado.gau      536       ju_88.dmg       34
          arado.gl        46       ju_88.fmd      222
          arado.glt      106       ju_88.gau      536
          b25_d.dat      152       ju_88.gl        66
          b25_d.fmd      222       ju_88.glt       99
          b25_d.gau      480       ju_88.pal      809
          b25_d.gl       146       ju_88.tbl    17192
          b25_d.glt       81       ju_88.ttm     1658
          b25_d.pal      784       lb25_d.edg     926
          b25_d.ttm     1965       lb26.edg       926
          b26.dat        152       lju_88.edg     926
          b26.fmd        222       misc.dat       621
          b26.gau        536       ordnce0.dat   4462
          b26.gl         146       pltext0.dat  10406
          b26.glt         81       rb25_d.edg     926
          b26.pal        784       rb26.edg       926
          b26.ttm       1965       REAL.ZIP      6335
          bb25_d.edg    1266       rju_88.edg     926
          bb26.edg      1266       sd_f.ttm      2808
          bju_88.edg     838       squad0.486    9761
          cmp0.dat       907       squad0.dat    9761
          fb25_d.edg    1130


          Files included in the REAL.ZIP (Real Version)

          Name         Size
          =========    =====

          arado.gl        46
          b25_d.fmd      222
          b25_d.gl       146
          b26.fmd        222
          b26.gl         146
          ju_88.fmd      222
          ju_88.gl        66
          ordnce0.dat   4462
          pltext0.dat  10406




      Section 0e:  POINT OF CONTACT
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Contact me if you have any new information or corrections to
      this doc and I will incorporate or correct the next version.
      The best way for us to figure all this data is to share all
      our information.

      GRANT C. SENN  aka TAGERT
      CID [70713,136]
      
