Feature
January 29, 2007

First Eagles: The Great Air War 1918
Add-Ons and Mods

by Guest Writer Russ "Russouk2002" Morgan

Introduction

This is a review of the add-on aircraft and other available modifications for this already popular World War I flight sim from Third Wire Productions. Also included are links to where you can obtain the new files.

As with previous titles, this new game offers a myriad of possibilities to modify existing items of the game structure. Including such items as editing the game files to enhance the sim further. Aircraft and vehicle files can be edited to do almost anything. The extensive editing capabilities are due to TK (Tsuyoshi Kawahito, Third Wire's leader) leaving this, as was done on Third Wire's previous titles, open for users to modify as they wish. The games have good support from modders (even I have been known to build a new 3D model aircraft or two).

And as you will see, people can and have done much to add even more to the sim. Not unexpectedly, the sim hadn't even been released and modifications were already made in anticipation. That's how popular the Third Wire sim series has become. Even a beginner can modify the files which control the various aircraft, vehicles, and effects with a simple program such as Windows Notepad. Its really that easy!

There are a few editors available (some are supplied by Third Wire, others are 3rd-party) that you can use to extract the files needed from a catalogue archive that located in the game folders. Some files are readily accessible, others need to be “extracted”. You'll find a list at the end of this article.

There is also a vast amount of help available from existing users. The community continues to add new models to this sim, as was the case in previous Third Wire releases. The best way to get assistance is visiting the forums that specialize in the Third Wire sims. All you need do is ask, and help is almost always offered straight away. The community for this sim is truly knowledgeable (as is the case with earlier Third Wire sims). For just about all of the sims topics, someone is in the know. Many real world pilots offer help.

Third Wire has tried to add what they think the gamers want in this title. Not everyone has what they want in the sim, but that’s remedied by the modding community. TK usually does listen to what is desired in his sims and we usually get our requests in totality or in part. As before with other TK sims, the modders can usually do it if it's not included. Open modding like this keeps everyone happy. You will find links to the forums on the last page in this review.

Creating 3D Aircraft for First Eagles

The tools to create the 3D models can be expensive, but people do manage to use free 3D programs such as Gmax, which is a slimmed down version of 3D Studio Max, to create the objects. Users with the 3D Studio Max program convert the files to the games into the games LOD format. Unfortunately though, this process is one way. That means 3D aircraft models cannot be imported back into 3D Studio Max to edit further. This process may be in effect so that models cannot be acquired illegitimately. That is understandable.

A 3D model viewer would be a nice touch to help the paint scheme creators, or "skinners", and 3D modelers of the Third Wire sims. It would really help those who create and paint view the models that are in-progress. Perhaps this will one day be implemented by TK and Third Wire? We can hope.

The skinners may use popular paint programs such as PaintShop Pro and Adobe PhotoShop, though its been proven that even meager Windows Paint is sufficient for those who are on a restricted budget. It has achieved some good detailed skins for the models. People who don't model usually end up skinning the models. There are some absolute experts at this in the community. They produce top quality paint schemes and these are typically free. Some you'll need to register first before downloading, but these too are free. Quite a lot of work!

There are PhotoShop PSD format templates available for the "stock" models so you too can try your hand at skinning them. There are sites list at the end of this review where you can upload your work for all the world to see and download.

This picture shows what can be achieved in a few hours. This example is a Fokker DVII “fictitious” scheme from the Howard Hughes film ”Hells Angels”. It was created by Warbirds.

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