Professional Documents
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Version 3.0
NOTE: PF standalone and PF+FB+AEP are NOT compatible online! Users of stand-alone Pacific Fighters
do not have any European Front content installed on their machines, and thus cannot participate in online
games started by PF+FB+AEP users as it may contain aircraft and other features that doesnt exist on
their machines. Vice versa, PF+FB+AEP users will not be able to join games started by PF standalone
users.
WARNING: With the combined install option, some previous content may be overwritten, such as
interface backgrounds, music, speech, missions and campaigns, etc. If you are using any custom-made
content such as music, paintschemes, pilots and others, and back them up somewhere else on your hard
drive. Then after installing Pacific Fighters check if any of your custom content was overwritten by
standard PF content, and replace any features that you wish to have back.
Finally, theres a third install option available. If you own FB and AEP, you may install TWO separate
versions of Pacific Fighters first a stand-alone, and the second an upgrade of FB+AEP. This way youll
be able to join both PF-only and PF+FB+AEP multiplayer games.
In order to run the game via Autorun, you will need the following CDs:
PF Standalone - insert Pacific Fighters CD2 into your CD ROM drive
PF + FB + AEP - insert Pacific Fighters CD2 into your CD ROM drive
When the CD is already in the drive you can always run the game via the Start menu, or he
desktop shortcut
ATTENTION:
- Once again, any network play between installs of option 1 and option 2 is impossible.
- Any tracks recorded in option 2 using any objects or maps from FB+AEP will not be compatible
with option 1. Attempting to load such track will fail with a missing object error message
- Also, any missions created in install option 2 with any objects not included with option 1 will not
work in install option 1, and return and error message.
- In the merged install we keep the FB-style debriefing icons based on the
Russians and Germans. In the PS stand-alone install the kill markings in debriefings are given
new icons for Allies and Japan.
WARNING
If you uninstall a stand-alone PF installation, only PF will be removed. However if you uninstall PF from a
merged install, the uninstall process will not only remove PF, but FB and AEP will also be deleted.
with certain versions of video drivers due to video card manufacturer bugs. You may encounter graphic
glitches with these drivers.
ATI
Driver versions 4.3 4.7 are not recommended. Flickering polygons may appear, and the game may
occasionally lock up.
For x800 series cards with Catalyst 4.8. The following problems may occur:
- Dark color of animated water in Perfect regime, with conf.ini setting of Water=0 or Water=1
Solution: use conf.ini setting of Water=2. Water color will be normal, but the game may run slower.
- Glass reflection may disappear when glass in near the edge of your screen
- Some delays may appear during the game
NVidia:
Latest official driver version 61.77 is unstable and does not support 3D animated water.
Recommended drivers versions as of September, 2004:
ATI
9600, 9800 cards = Catalyst 4.1
NVidia
Geforce 3/4/FX WinXP-56.72_WHQL
6600/6800 61.11, 65.73WHQL (unofficial)
NOTE: we obviously cannot at this time comment on compatibility with future driver versions which may
be released in the future. Please check the forums on our websites at www.il2sturmovik.com and
www.pacific-fighters.com for latest compatibility information.
Additional Features
(Things that didnt quite make it to the manual)
Open / Close Canopy: This feature is mainly designed for carrier ops. It will decrease your airspeed
somewhat and is not recommended for combat.
It is ONLY available in some of the new planes that shipped with Pacific Fighters. It is NOT available on
older planes that were built for Forgotten Battles, Ace Expansion Pack or our older games.
Wing Fold: This key will toggle your carrier-borne aircrafts wings between the up and down position. Not
all aircraft are so equipped. None of the land-based aircraft have this feature, and many carrier-borne
planes, such as the SBD Dauntless or the F4F-3 were also not historically equipped with folding wings.
We do not recommend using this feature while airborne.
That doesnt mean you shouldnt try it once. Or twice.
Change seat position: this key toggles the pilots seat height between two presets: high and low. This
feature is intended for use during take-offs and landing to help look over the aircrafts nose. High position
should not be used in combat as it prevents you from using your gunsight. You must open your canopy
first before raising your seat.
This function ONLY works on the A6M Zero, F4U Corsairs and F4F/FM Wildcat series of planes. All other
planes did not have seat systems that could be controlled by pilot in-flight.
Arrestor Hook: toggles your aircraft arresting hook between the up and down positions. Used to land on
an aircraft carrier.
NOTE: not all planes are equipped with the arrestor hook.
Chocks: These are used to fix your aircraft on the carrier deck, and to reach full throttle before beginning
to move. Otherwise a heavy aircraft, especially carrying extra fuel or ordnance, may not be able to reach
sufficient speed if it begins moving before reaching max RPM. This is especially true for slow moving or
stationary carriers, as their speed is added to your planes speed during take-off. In other words, an
aircraft carrier moving at 20 miles per hour adds 20 mph to your airspeed even when you remain
stationary with your engine off. If the carrier however is not moving, it means you need to reach an even
higher speed before you run out of deck.
Youre not required to use chocks, and can release them at any time and simply use wheel brakes,
however chocks provide much better control over your aircrafts speed when you increase RPM.
After landing, if you wish to watch other AI or human-controlled planes land, move to the front of the ship
and engage chocks. Otherwise the motion of the ocean may cause your plane to slide and fall overboard.
Speedbar Units: You can use the Toggle Speedbar key (definable in the Controls section) to toggle the
speedbar between metric units, and imperial units with speed in knots or miles per hour. The speedbar
will toggle through measurement units in this order: Metric -> Imperial / Knots -> Imperial / Miles.
Craters: When bombs and artillery shells hit the ground, the crater they create will actually affect any
objects running over it. This most importantly affects craters placed on runway surfaces. If an aircraft runs
over the crater its gear may be damaged and it may crash. These craters however are not permanent,
and will disappear over time. The lifespan of the crater will depend on the size of the bomb or shell that
created it, and may vary from 1 minute 20 seconds to 10 minutes.
Time Skip: This feature allows players to quickly transfer between mission waypoints in cases
when flying normally would take too long. When using this feature the 3D render is completely turned off,
and only the in-game clock is shown in the bottom left corner of your screen. During time skip the game
does fully model all normal AI aspects, such as fuel consumption, pathfinding, etc. In other words, all
game processes run as usual, only in accelerated time.
Please note that this feature heavily relies on your machine's processing power, and its general speed will
depend on your hardware specs and the number of AI aircraft and other objects in the mission.
No key is assigned to this feature by default. You will need to bind one in the Controls section of the
game.
3d models of humans
PF includes 3d models of human gunners manning most of our guns on ground and sea objects, such as
ship and land-based flak and artillery guns, drivers and other troops inside trucks and amphibious assault
vehicles, etc. However these objects cause a decrease in game's frames per second when shown,
especially when related to large ships such as aircraft carrier which can have a hundred or more of these
gunners in close proximity.
Therefore we've made this feature turned off by default.
If you wish to turn it on, you'll need to open the conf.ini file inside your game's root directory with notepad,
locate the
[game]
section, and insert the following line there:
3dgunners=1
If the line already exists and you wish to turn the feature off, replace the 1 with a 0, i.e
3dgunners=0
Icon Color
Please note that in Pacific Fighters Axis units are given blue color icons on maps, and Allied are given
red. While the opposite was true historically for the Pacific Theater, we kept these colors since we needed
to keep PF compatible with Forgotten Battles and AEP, and that color combination is correct for the
Russian front. Changing the icon color would of course affect all areas modeled in the game, and as
different colors were used in different theaters, it would invariably end up being wrong for some of the
areas.
In Pacific Fighters dynamic campaigns the player's actions influence the outcome of individual operations
as well as the whole war. The system works by assigning a static number of points to each target
destroyed, and calculating a total number of points for each side. If your side destroys enemy targets,
points are added to your side's tally. If your side's targets are destroyed by the enemy, the points are
subtracted from your side's tally.
The following point values are used:
Carrier = 100 points
Other ship = 20 points
Plane = 5 points
Tank = 3 points
All other targets = 1 point
The tallies are recalculated after each mission, and they're checked at the end of each operation. Each
side is assigned a predetermined number of points which in each operation means a historical outcome
(victory or defeat). If the operation's tally does not match the historical outcome, an alternative briefing is
triggered which may mean a defeat for the side that historically won, or vice versa.
The grand total tally of multiple campaigns can also lead to an alternate outcome of the whole war.
Default value for an operation outcome is 100 points (added if it's a victory, subtracted if it's a defeat). War
outcome's value is 1,000 points.
You can change these values by adding and modifying the following lines in the conf.ini file located in
your root game folder:
OperationVictory=100
OperationDefeat=-100
WarVictory=1000
WarDefeat=-1000
These are default values. You can change the numbers to your liking. For example, if you want mission
outcome to always be historical, you can set the parameters to unachievable high values, such as
OperationVictory=3000
OperationDefeat=-3000
WarVictory=30000
WarDefeat=-30000
By reducing the numbers you can make your contributions matter much more in the overall war effort.
Starting on Aircraft Carrier in Co-op and Online Campaigns
In order to maintain better online synchronization we had to turn off client-side collision for parked planes
that are using chocks. In all other cases collision works as usual.
1. Set a minimum of 3 waypoints each before the target attack waypoint, and before the landing
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
waypoint.
In order to give the plane kamikaze orders, the attack waypoint should be its absolute last. If
there are any additional waypoints, the plane will attack the target using conventional tactics
When setting up the waypoints around hilly or mountainous terrain, try to set waypoint altitude
comfortably above the terrain to avoid AI flying into it. This is especially true if you with to set the
aircraft flying at low level between the hills / mountains. If you specifically want this, you may have
to experiment with waypoint placement. Remember, even humans often fly into terrain on
accident. Dont make it too hard for AI.
AI carrier landing, as described in the manual, is set by putting a Waypoint of Landing type on the
carrier, as well as using the Set button with the carrier as target. If the waypoint snaps to a nearby
land strip, just drag it back to the carrier. Also, please make sure you set AI waypoints to come in
from the carriers stern. Note: AI may not land properly on a static carrier.
For AI carrier take-offs, same logic applies as above, only with the very first Waypoint in the
aircraft path.
Note that you may set as many planes as you like to start on the carrier. However different
carriers of course can only fit so many planes on the deck, which also depends on a plane type.
You can fit many more smaller planes such as F4F Wildcats on an Essex carrier, than larger
planes such as the TBF on a small carrier like the Casablanca.
So, the planes that do not fit on the deck will begin the mission airborne above the carrier deck,
flying towards their next waypoint. If wingmen of one flight start in the air but their leader starts on
the deck and there are no enemies nearby they will wait for their leader and then form up on
him. If the whole flight starts in the air, they will simply follow their waypoints.
Try not to set too many waypoints at tree-top altitude. This is especially true for the very first
waypoint in the aircrafts path. Setting it to too low an altitude may very well cause them to fly into
the ground. Minimum recommended altitude above flat terrain is 70 meters (230 feet)
Hold Fire function for AAA: please note that setting that value to 0 (default value) the gun will fire
at all targets within its effective range without any delays. Any other numbers will limit the initial
range at which the fire is openeed.
If you wish to change the max number of speech subtitle lines displayed on the screen at any given time,
open the conf.ini file with an editor, and locate the SubTitlesLines setting under the [game] section. Then
set the setting to the desired number of lines. For example, to set it to a maximum of two lines at any
time, you should have this:
[game]
SubTitlesLines=2
Note that the lines will also be automatically limited by your screen resolution
Oleg Maddox
Head of Games Development
1C: Maddox Games