Weapons
The
last half of a DP file is the weapons specifications, in which there are three
main directories, gunstations, hardpoints and payloads. Gunstations
specify the weapons attributes: sound, damage, type etc. Hardpoints and payloads, however, work
together. The payload is an entry list
of weapons, and in each entry, type, quantity and synchronization are
specified. The hardpoint specifies
where the weapon will be “hung” according to three numbers which represent
distance horizontally, vertically and forwards/backwards respectively. In this example, we’ll be adding two
payloads to the Corsair: A Torpedo, and Rockets. In this case the Corsair was chosen because of personal
preference and most people find it difficult to make a .DP around its’ awkward
shape.
The Torpedo
First,
always take the easy path, especially if you don’t have DPed; most of this will
be guesswork. Now, placing the Torpedo
is easy, just use the hardpoints already there. CFS2 in many ways is just a large quantity of small things. Take the files for example, all the .MDL’s,
.CFG’s and such almost never surpass a megabyte. .DP’s are the same way, if you don’t save, get ready for a lot of
minor alterations, that you just did previously. Right! ‘Nuff, chitchat,
let’s get on with the bloody thing, shall we?
Just scroll down until you find this:
[PAYLOAD.0] [PAYLOAD.1] mount.1=wep_pylon_us_cl, 1, -1 mount.0=wep_us_corsair_drop_gp, 1, -1 [PAYLOAD.2] mount.1=wep_pylon_us_cl, 1, -1 mount.0=wep_us_1000lb_gp, 1, -1 [PAYLOAD.3] mount.1=wep_pylon_us_cl, 1, -1 mount.0=wep_us_500lb_gp, 1, -1 [PAYLOAD.4] mount.1=wep_pylon_us_cl, 1, -1 mount.0=wep_us_250lb_gp, 1, -1
This is your payloads
section. Under “[PAYLOAD.4]“, type in “[PAYLOAD.5]“. Now, Microsoft arranged their mounts Z-A,
you can do it random if you want, but for the sake of understandability we’ll
be arranging them A-Z. Go ahead and
type “mount.0=wep_us_mk_13, 1, -1”. This tells CFS2
that you want a US Torpedo placed in mount 0.
Mount 0 refers to hardpoint 0.
Don’t worry about the ”1” and “-1”, those come in later. You’re thinking, “I don’t see Torpedo, I see
‘13 mk’ blah, blah, blah.” CFS2 has
technical names for all its’ objects, the American Anti-Aircraft gun, for
example, is known as “VEH_M1_40mm”. CFS2 has a way to
rename things, but that’s a different story.
Now for every weapon, you need a pylon.
You can do without, but it makes for better realism. CFS2 doesn’t have any default Torpedo
pylons, so we’ll have to make due with the Hellcat pylon, it’s the longest
(Vertically). However, to get this
pylon to reach the fuselage and the Torpedo, we’re going to have
to make a new hardpoint. So go back up
to you hardpoints, it’ll look like this:
[HARDPOINTS] mount.0=0,-0.787,0 mount.1=0,-0.787,0 mount.2=0.805,-0.711,0 mount.3=-0.793,-0.711,0 mount.4=4.413,-0.445,0 mount.5=-4.412,-0.445,0
Type in “mount.6=0,-1,-0.8”. Easy, right? Right. Go back to your
new Torpedo payload and type “mount.6=wep_pylon_hellcat, 1, -1”. Something important to know: your payload entry list doesn’t have to
follow sequential order (0,1,2,3…), the numbers specify what hardpoint
it is, not what order it’s in. To get
your new payload to show up, you gotta name it. Go down to the very end of the file and you’ll get this:
"payload_name.0"=Guns Only "payload_name.1"=Guns Only Long Range "payload_name.2"=Bombs Heavy "payload_name.3"=Bombs Medium "payload_name.4"=Bombs Light
Before proceeding, up until now I
have been showing excerpts with quotes (“
“). In the following section,
I’ll refrain from doing so, for some of the
entries you’ll type have
quotes. So in place of quotes I’ll use $. Nevertheless, after
$"payload_name.4"=Bombs Light$, type $"payload_name.5"=Torpedo$.
Basically, you’re naming payload 5 “Torpedo”.
Right, now, we
go to:
[PAYLOADS] payload.0=%payload_name.0% payload.1=%payload_name.1% payload.2=%payload_name.2% payload.3=%payload_name.3% payload.4=%payload_name.4%
This was an
entirely useless step Microsoft put in, but you can’t skip it. After “payload.4=%payload_name.4%” enter “payload.5=%payload_name.5%”
This is where many people have
trouble; they’ve come this far and assume they’re done. They’re gravely mistaken. You have to give the weapon a
gunstation. IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS THE WEAPON
WILL NOT FIRE! It will merely disappear. Gunstations are long, complicated strings of
numbers, so I’ll only explain the basics.
Go up to gunstations:
[GUNSTATIONS] gunstation.0=0,24,1,0.08,839,2,0.01,500,2,40,1d1*14,-2.429,-0.66,0.815,0.119651268759032,0,0.463894691272955,0,0,0,0,1.6 gunstation.1=0,31,1,0.08,839,2,0.01,500,2,40,1d1*14,2.863,-0.594,0.749,0.119651268759032,0,-0.546776123639333,0,0,0,0,1.6 gunstation.2=3,21,8,0.00,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 [guns.0] gun.0=400,0,0,0,0,0,1,400 gun.1=400,-0.198,0.027,-0.022,0,0,1,400 gun.2=375,-0.403,5.80000000000001E-02,-6.59999999999999E-02,0,0,1,375 [guns.1] gun.0=400,0,0,0,0,0,1,400 gun.1=400,-0.235,-0.033,4.39999999999999E-02,0,0,1,400 gun.2=375,-0.433,-6.60000000000001E-02,6.59999999999999E-02,0,0,1,375 [guns.2] gun.0=3,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
Explaining each, number is a long
and arduous process, so if you want a weapon’s gunstation, you enter:
Bomb: gunstation.0=3,-99,8,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 Rocket: gunstation.0=2,-99,4,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 Torpedo: gunstation.0=5,-99,32,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
We want the Torpedo, and this’ll
be the third gunstation, not the first, so type “gunstation.3=5,-99,32,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0”after
gunstation 2. Moreover, just as a mount refers to a hardpoint, a “[guns.#]” refers to a “gunstation.#”.
Just below, you can see “[guns.2]”. Type “[guns.3]” after
“[guns.2]”, and
type “gun.0=1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0” under “[guns.3]”.
Only the first and last numbers are important here, as you can see
they’re “1” and “0”. “1” is the maximum
amount of that weapon you can carry, and “0” is the default. Feel free to modify these numbers to your
heart’s desire. Go ahead and test
this. Enter CFS2 and pick free flight
from Midway. There’s a static tanker
there, but little do they know of the little Corsair that could! If you manage to get a direct hit on your
first try, (Don’t worry, I didn’t!) the tanker won’t sink because it’s
infrastructure, but CFS2 will give you credit for destroying it. Only true, blue ships will sink.
Overview
OK,
here it is in a nutshell. (I’m gonna go
fast, mind you.) The most important
part of the .DP file is the payloads section, which is where you specify, what
weapons are mounted where. Which is/are
the mounts/hardpoints. Hardpoints are
specified simply by three numbers, and take into consideration all three
dimensions. Then each payload is given
a name, under the master directory of “strings”. CFS2 then takes an extra step to name the payload, with the section
linking payload name to its’ name in strings.
Then you have the gunstations, which specify how the weapon will react,
quantity, sound etc. Although the
gunstation is necessary, it need not be entered more than twice. There should only be one gunstation per
weapon type (Bomb, Rocket, Torpedo).
Rockets
In
this section, I will give you all the information as before, but will not
explain it as thorough. I want you to apply
your knowledge, eh?
Parm2 This number tells what other mount to fire
with. Confused? It’s a bit harder to grasp than parm1.
(As DPed calls them). This neat
little feature makes weapons fire together. Here, mount 9 fires with 7, 13 with 11 and so on (as seen
above). Another example from an
imaginary .DP is shown below. Parm1 This simply boosts the amount of the weapon in
that mount. Since CFS2 limits the
number of your mounts to 26, this can come in handy. Generally, this is used for internal loads,
due to the fact that once you drop the bomb, there’s one sitting right
where the other one is. It’s sort
of a Polish (Poland, not shine) way of doing things and not generally
recommended. Although bear in mind,
it is the same mount, but you’ll still have to carry the additional weight.
The
only difference you’ll find here lies within the payload string (1st
box). Besides the obvious differences,
longer string, different objects, the last two numbers are actually altered
here. In the Torpedo payload, it
remained the default “1” and “-1”. To
lay the groundwork, this is what each number means.
Say
you have a big bomber, a Fortress, a Lancaster, whatever the case may be, they
didn’t exactly drop their bombs one-by-one.
And since it would take too long to keep selecting each one and dropping
it, you would do something like this:
You
can only select the first bomb, the other bombs are “tied” in sequence. Whenever a weapon is tied to another,
there’s a delay in it’s firing.
Possibly less than a fraction of a second, but there’s one. So when you release your bomb, the other
will follow slightly after. The example
on the right is wrong, because a weapons only follow weapons tat have been
fired themselves. I guess you could say
followers follow leaders, not other followers.
As you can see, I attempted to depict the right way on the left, and the
wrong on the right.
Overview
OK,
here’s the other nutshell. The two
“Parms” specify the nitty-gritty of its’ respective weapon. The first details amount, and the second
synchronization.
Questions, comments,
suggestions?
Write Michael Starr (605 Scorpion) at X 605Scorpion@AOL.com