last (and
probably final) page update: 3/16/2008
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3/16/2008 |
It’s been an
interesting few years. The world has moved on, real world threats (some actual, many exaggerated),
have pre-occupied many of us for too long. I suspended development of the Gunship: The Times of Sand
project in 2004. It was hard for me continue the project for personal reasons,
and I never regained momentum. Some other folks continued on and made huge advances, (notably PSYKLIK and Will Baldwin ), but the project gradually lost steam as sometimes happens. All the pictures and project details are still at the main GS:TOS page http://www.simwarrior.com/gunship/GSTOS.html There was really only one beta version released of this project to a
small number of testers in late 2004, and while it is hardly a finished
project, I’ve decided to release it publicly in case there are
Gunship! Players out there who would like to play with it, or even carry the
project forward. This is the only beta released. Fully functional, but follow the
install instructions. Use at your own risk, no support implied, not to be
offered for sale, yada yada.
There are a lot of test missions cluttering up the Beta, but it does include all
new maps, new aircraft, and a dozen or so new flyable missions, plus we
managed to convert all the missions from MicroProse’s
M1 Tank Platoon 2 game that used the Saudi map (along with that map), and they
are exciting. http://www.simwarrior.com/gunship/GSTOS_beta.html
(about 17MB) (IIRC, I *think* this version is free-standing- just in case you can't your
old Gunship CD is damaged. ) Many, many thanks to all the great people who contributed, especially Keith
Bedford, Polak, PSYKLIK, Stratos
and the good folks at the1st Bear Hunter Squadron. Will Wills Gunship page: http://members.fortunecity.com/whb11/GunshipTool/Gunship.htm PSYKLIKs Waypoint site has
compendious info about the internals of GS. He carried the research far
beyond what I was able to figure out: http://www.waypoint.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/ (He also has more great stuff that I'll link to if he says ok...) And of course samovar6 has lots of cool new bits, too: http://samovar6.fortunecity.com/ There is a little more discussion about all this over at the SimHQ
forum, if you have questions or comments. This was an incredibly fun project with amazing talented people, and I
am very grateful everything they taught me. But so much more is now known and
so many more tools are now available, it could be carried on to amazing
places if there is the passion for it. (Most of the tools I used are at the Gunship
dev resource page. http://www.simwarrior.com/gunship/gsdev.html ) This site will remain alive indefinitely, and I still check email occasionally:
simwarrior over a_t lycos com Be well. Keep flying- fng
Btw, somewhere in all that, there was even an attempt to pitch some
other new expansion pack ideas to some former MicroProse
developers. Nothing came of it, but here are the concept pages: http://www.simwarrior.com/gunship/expansion.html |
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7/24/2004 |
Some very big
things have been happening. Two are related to one of the best features of Gunship: custom mission building. If you have never made any of your own Gunship missions because you though it was too hard or confusing, stop whining and visit these sites. It is a whole new situation.
Meanwhile, back in the desert... Gunship: The Times of Sand is progressing nicely. Some very new discoveries in EXE editing have open new possibilities, which slowed a beta release a tad. The most exciting changes are: More ships, and United Nations units. Check out the GS:TOS page for all the latest news and pics, including previews of an incredible new Hi-Res UN Mi-8 Hip helicopter by the best Gunship skinner I know of: Polak. A very talented EAW fan named Gurney has been laboring on a new 3D
modeling program for the MicroProse 3DZ format . He hopes to also include support for Gunship's
higher-poly 3DB format, too. But even his new 3DZ editor will make many new
objects possible for Gunship. Have
a look at what he is working on here at his site.
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4/18/2004 |
Well, spare time has become even harder to find. Sorry for the slow progress... I've added this new page for the upcoming Gunship: The Times of Sand expansion pack. Lots of screenshots... I've also made a new sim addon which lets you play random MP3 or WAV files behind any flight sim. Works fine for GS, too. Check out the BackTrax page. Stand by.. |
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1/26/2004 |
Spare time has been hard to come by lately, but development continues on a new Gunship Expansion pack. The tentative title is Gunship!: The Times of Sand. It will include five new maps, plus several new goodies. Stay tuned... Plus... I've maintained a web page for Gunship mod developer resources for a
couple of years now. It's where we keep tools, data, and betas related to
mapmaking, textures, EXE editing, and other bits. Let me know what you come up with... |
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10/29/2003 |
Where does the time go... After many, many hours of effort by Keith and I, the project to adapt the SF:P1 Terrain Editor for use with Gunship and EAW has turned out extremely well. (especially for SF:P1...) Watch for new GS maps soon... It's been too long since I checked my Links section, and I fixed several and added some more. Plus some new goodies to download in the Library area. A clever EAW fan named Gurney has figured out the format of the 3DB object files used by GS. He even made a applet which can convert some of them to 3DZ format so they can be edited in the 3DZ!Studio tool used by EAW fans. (See this SimHQ thread for info.) And better yet: a converter for open source 3DS format to 3DB may be in the works... I made this one evening when I couldn't think of anything productive to do, using the M1TP2/GS sprites. Makes a nice avatar...:
If you like to fly multiplayer missions, be advised that the MS Zone has moved things around a bit (again). Check for new info in my Links section |
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6/14/2003 |
Time for a long-overdue update. Lots of things percolating on various hard drives! Steel, Jim Trapp and I have continued planning a new Gunship campaign
based on recent event in A brand new mod will be incorporated in the But the most exciting news involves maps. The recently released 60's
jet sim Strike Fighters:Project 1 was designed by legendary sim master
That's all for now... |
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4/20/2003 |
New custom skin pack
added: a black UH-60 Blackhawk and AH-64 Apache from the 1st Battalion, And more on the way... Also: We've begun work on an Operation: Iraqi Freedom scenario. Anyone who may be interested in contributing missions of the very highest quality, based on actual or "what-if" situations, get in touch. Stay tuned... |
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03/26/03 |
A fan named Roughneck wanted to put custom unit artwork on
his Apaches. This sounded like a great idea, so I put together an Apache customization kit which includes
the I'll be posting any that I do, and if anyone else decides to "adopt a unit" and make a skin with their unit insignias, let me know if you'd like me to post them here for you. w Honor those who Serve. |
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03/13/03 |
The new Gunship version 2.0 .exe file is now available. Details here. The new XP compatible Mod M8 ver. 3.0
utility with |
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1/16/03 |
Another giant leap forward! One of the original members of the Gunship development team generously and laboriously provided all the details for the following data tables in the .exe:
He prefers to remain anonymous for now, but I hope you will all join me in beaming good vibes at him. :-) |
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1/14/03 |
Still making great progress editing the exe. So far, I've located the tables containing the parameters which control Platoon composition, vehicle's weapons, weapon specifications, and I *think* vehicle performance (FM's). I've been able to do some very cool things like a 50cal on the Blackhawk, an M16 in the Kiowa and a TOW missile for the Vietnam-era AH-1G Cobra! (No, the Gunship Vietnam project isn't dead, but we still face serious 3D editing handicaps.) Steel and I have just completed a beta of the new XP-compatible Mod M8 app, and he is rounding up some fearless folks from his excellent Wings of Fury outfit to test it. So we're getting close... And I hear that our m8 Venom Viper from the 1st Bear Hunter Squadron recently broke his leg in a freak snow-shoveling accident. His mother-in-law was somehow involved, so authorities have not ruled out foul play... ;) Get well, Hans... *MESSAGE ENDS* |
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12/22/2003 |
Time for a quick, pre-holiday, end-of-year update. Some big stuff going on! The new Mod M8 app (Son of Mod M8?), is just about ready for release. Watch for it early in 2003. This one uses Adobe Acrobat forms, so it will run on any operating system that Gunship runs on. Huge thanks to "Steel" from Real Life Gaming for re-writing the batch scripts for XP compatibility, among many other clever bits. Here's a preview: The other big new is that I've finally had a breakthrough in directly editing the Gunship.exe file. By locating and extracting some of the many data tables compiled into the .exe, I am slowly figuring out which values control what. So far, the biggest success has been locating the table that defines which units are in each platoon. By altering that, I can add Kiowas, Blackhawks, Cobra's or anything else to existing platoons. Why is this cool? Because those new units become FLYABLE! The troop carriers even load and unload troops! Here are some screens. Notice the captions:
This just the beginning of a whole new set of possibilities for Gunship. I'm hoping that further research will make ground starts possible for those that want them, and maybe even let us drive some M1A2 tanks around... So stay tuned! Happy Holidays! |
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11/23/2002 |
Comin along... In the meantime, A fan named Eddy had a great idea: make some of the Gunship backgrounds and loading screens into Windows wallpaper! I added some M1 Tank Platoon II views, too.
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10/25/2002 |
Several of us are working on revising Mod M8 and other bits at a secret location. I'm not sure where we are. Steel brought us all in blindfolded. But I hear water dripping... I've had a broken link to something important: Rudi Klaes'
One of the Modmen is also working on an enhanced mission editor with a different approach. Looks very promising. Stay tuned. |
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10/17/2002 |
Mod M8 Update Well, it's been interesting so far, hasn't it? ;-) We finally figured out that some of the DOS commands I used in the batch files behind Mod M8 were *not* functional under NT based systems like XP or Win2K. I guess I didn't research that issue quite well enough, and I didn't have an XP machine available to test it on. So slap me with a dead haddock. Go ahead. I deserve it. No, put that one down and go get a bigger one. The current version of Mod M8 is fine for win95, 98 or ME systems. Steel is generously and professionally re-writing the batch files to be compatible under all operating systems. He's well along in that process, but he, Keith Bedford and others have also developed this irritating habit of coming up with new, better ways to do things. Clever devils... So we're doing some revisions for version 2.0. Keith is developing a slicker way to manage flight models, among other things, there is some activity on the new maps front, and an entirely new helicopter has appeared on the scene from an unexpected source, and may be the first add-on offered. The ideas are flying, so chime in if you have any. I'm very sorry for the confusion caused by the first version of Mod M8, (especially for those of you with dial-up connections who did the big downloads), and I'm very grateful to all the folks who spent time helping to sort things out. This is actually turning out to have a silver lining. Several *very* talented folks are now starting to work on Gunship, and the future looks good. But for all you XP/W2K folks, give us a few weeks to get version 2.0 ready. So thanks for your patience, stay low, and stay tuned... |
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10/09/2002 |
FINALLY! (almost...) Mod M8 is a small switchboard application which dramatically expands your range of experiences in Gunship!. Now you can fly many new aircraft over vivid new terrain, use new sound files, and be ready for all the new Gunship! mods now under development. A whole new world. (Two, actually...)
NOTE 10/14/02 I'm still not quite sure why this is happening, but we're working on it. Thanks for your patience. Plus a new controller profile for the Thrustmaster Afterburner, courtesy of Buff. |
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08/09/2002 |
Welcome to our new, (and hopefully permanent...), home at Simwarrior.com ! Please update your bookmarks. After being on three free webhosts in 18 months, I finally realized that you get what you pay for. So now I'm paying for my webhost, but since I have few vices, (unfortunately ;-) ) , this is not expensive as hobbies go. The nicest part is no more banners. No more cookies. But there are still alot of updates and revisions I want to do around here. I especially need to add and revise the Workshop page. We've learned alot. Mod M8, the Winter Terrain Pack, and the new Desert Terrain Pack all went out to a brave group of Beta testers a few days ago. I'm sure there are bugs to be squashed, but these new toys should be available for download shortly. Stay tuned... InfoGrames has re-released Gunship! in the US in a jewel-case version for $9.99. I picked it up yesterday, and the only significant changes I see so far are that the patch is already applied, and the default installation path is Program Files\Infogrames Interactive\Gunship!, instead of the original path of Program Files\MicroProse\Gunship! . This won't matter to most folks, but I'll need to review the mod installers here at The Helipad. And of course, now that I'm nearly ready to release it, this effects the new Mod M8 application. It might effect online multiplay at The MSN Zone, but I'm not sure yet. If anyone gets a chance to test this out by having an online session with both old and new versions in it, let me know how it goes. I also ran across a Japanese language demo version which turns out be very interesting. I have a feeling we may learn alot from it. If you are an M1 Tank Platoon 2 fan, I recently figured out how to add and manipulate textures and 3D objects for that sim, too. It's not too hard, and it still needs some refining, but I since I have my hands full with Gunship, I doubt I'll be spending much time on it. If anyone else is interested in pursuing that project, get in touch and I'll brief you in on it. More info here at the SimHQ Turret Talk forum. |
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08/04/2002 |
And as if THAT wasn't enough, ;) , I just got word that my current webhost, Flightsimmers.net, is unfortunately going offline for good on 8/15. This is really a shame. They are great people providing a terrific service to the flight sim community. I'm sorry to see them go, but I'm VERY grateful for their past support. So now I am scrambling to get a new host setup, and to complete some overdue site redesigns, too. I'm not sure if they will leave referrer pages up at the old site, but I'll post the new link here as soon as it's ready. I'll also post it in the SimHQ Helosim Forum. Mod M8 developed a bad case of Mission Creep, but will go out for beta testing this week. It's very cool, if I do say so myself... |
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07/07/2002 |
And as if the things going on in the last update weren't enough, ;), I have nearly completed a new Gunship mod/add-on manager app. It's called Mod M8, and is based on a slick freeware menu bar app named Launchmate. This should make it much easier for everyone to install, use and distribute Gunship mods. Read the details at the SimHQ Helosim Forum. Here are some pre-release screen caps: |
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Jim Trapp has completed a new and even better redesign of the CP/G and ground voice comms. This will be included with Mod M8 as a selectable option. Jim also converted and edited a set of authentic rotor sounds for most of the "swappable" helos. So now when you fly the Sea Stallion, it will sound like the real thing. This is one of the many tweaks and upgrades to the alternate helos which were available by using my HeloSwapper tool. Mod M8 will replace Heloswapper, and the desert/winter terrain selectors as well. Mod M8 is fully XP compatible. |
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06/22/2002 |
Well, life continues to be hectic, but here's a quick summary of what's new: A generous European fan donated a copy of the French Speech files for Gunship, so if you are more comfortable hearing French radio traffic, you can convert your English language version of Gunship easily and reversibly. I hope someone will volunteer to repaint the Eurocopter Tiger in French colors. (Or even Australian or Spanish livery, now that they'll be hovering there, too.) |
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We're still plugging away at Gunship mods. Here is a short summary of what's in progress and it's rough state of completion: Gunship Vietnam: Winter terrain set New Desert Terrain set M1TP2 Map conversions I think what I'll end up doing is two or three whole new add-ons. Maybe: Gunship North, which will include the Winter terrain and vehicles,
plus 4 or 5 new maps: Gunship Mideast, which will include the revised Desert terrain and
desert camo vehicles, plus 5 new maps: and maybe Gunship East, which will include the tropical terrain and vehicles, and 4 or 5 new maps: Mekong Delta, Central Highlands, and maybe some other areas like the Korean DMZ, Sino-Russian border, Northern Japan-Russia, Indonesia or ?. It might make sense to incorporate GS Vietnam into that package. We'll see. I'll definitely need help with all those maps, though. These will all include modified executables so that anyone can build battles or campaigns in the new areas. (Any volunteers?) Multiplayer should still work fine. (Raw map conversion for all the M1TP2 maps is progressing, with New mod manager utility - 20% Navy/Marine add-on
Got the test graphics partly done, (the inside of a 3D tent with a control console), and it really is pretty cool. Surprisingly difficult to fly. Unfortunately, it may be a little while before I can get back to it. (Thanks to hardtack for the idea.) There has also been another huge code breakthrough recently, thanks to a gifted programmer from another sim community. I'm not comfortable discussing it much until we figure out the legal implications, but it's fantastic news. So that's that. |
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05/01/2002 |
You want new maps? You'll get new maps! Well, technically, they are old maps, but they are new to Gunship! I'm talking about all the original and fan-built maps for M1 Tank Platoon 2. I found a way to convert them for use in Gunship!. This means that all the M1TP2 missions and campaigns can be converted for Gunship, too! Here are the new worlds that are opening up for us: (Click to view) |
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And the best part is, that these all use real-world elevation data, so they look great. (I did a quick and dirty version of the Kosovo terrain, and it is stunningly beautiful. And VERY difficult to fly in.) And thanks to Rudi's GunTool, we could even make entire new campaigns set in these new regions. The conversion produces basic tiled maps using only a few different tiles. These must then be enhanced manually by adding cities, farms, beaches, some streams, rounding-off forest areas, etc. Roads are already done for most of them. It's a very do-able process using the MapEdit tool below, and Larry Hookins' M1Edit terrain editor. Fun, actually. Timeframe for release? Sheesh, who knows ;) a few volunteers have stepped forward so I'll be getting their construction tools out shortly. With false starts and learning curves, figure 6-9 months for all of them. |
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04/25/2002 |
Another breakthrough! Well, thanks to yet another clever innovation by the EAW folks, (Pilot Officer Prune, in particular), we now have a real map designing tool for Gunship! We can now make a map of any area we want. It's a time consuming process which requires placing each tile individually, but this is apparently the same process used by the Gunship design team when they made the five original Gunship maps. Amazing work. This method utilizes a freeware tile placement tool named, (oddly enough),
MapEdit.
Pilot Officer Prune figured out how the EAW/Gunship tiles are written, and
worked out how to use MapEdit to write new ones . It took a bit of work to set up a Gunship tile set
(based on the tiles used in the You can read the details of this process in the Workshop area of Pilot Officer Prune's website. I hope this can be used to produce some new geographically accurate maps
for Here are some pics: |
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04/16/2002 |
Venom Viper from 1BHS and I realized that alot of the same questions were being asked over an over, so we finally got smart and wrote a Gunship FAQ page together. So far it has 33 topics, and we hope it will helpful. To be sure it's always available, it will be hosted both at the 1st Bear
Hunter site: and here at the helipad: We'll try to keep them in synch. Corrections and contributions are welcome. We're still plugging away at the A US NAVY add-on is in the works, too: |
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HH-60 |
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03/31/2002 |
Welcome to our new home at Flightsimmers.net! |
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03/01/2002 |
Click here for updates on the GUNSHIP! Vietnam project Many new pics added! |
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02/21/2002 |
On March 1 2002, an exciting and ambitious new GUNSHIP! project will be announced. Pretzel, the renowned sim enhancement wizard, will be working with Jim Trapp, myself and others to develop a new add-on pack that will bring this great sim into a new era. Recently, there have been some significant advances in our understanding of how GUNSHIP! works, and that will make many remarkable things possible. The winter terrain project may be delayed somewhat, because superior results are now possible due to recent break-throughs. Major updates will be posted here, and at the SimHQ Helosim forum. |
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Much to my embarrassment, I discovered 4 new custom missions that Jim Trapp sent me 3 months ago. It's tempting to blame the delay in posting them on remodeling the house and remodeling Gunship, but the truth is: I'm an idiot. Sorry, Jim. These exciting, well crafted missions are on the CUSTOM MISSIONS page. Check them out. Jim has also just sent me another package of missions. However since I just realized they are on another PC, they'll have to wait till the next update. |
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A clever fellow named Ulf Muckel has begun developing some very sophisticated fuzzy-logic programming for Thrustmaster controllers, and he has made a profile for Gunship. Unfortunately I don't have one, so I can't speak from experience, but these look amazing! Link on the MODS AND ADD-ONS page. Let me know what you think. |
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01/30/2002 |
This will be a very brief update, due to the choking clouds of plaster dust in the air here at the Helipad. The home remodeling is now at it's worst phase, but should be done in another month. Then I can get back to working on important things, such as: |
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- One or more Winter Terrain packs: |
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- New cockpits for the alternate aircraft (like the Cobra or Hind): |
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- Custom skins for various countries (for example: |
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PLUS: Jim Trapp has reworked a number of the original Gunship missions (single and campaign), to reduce the problems caused by 12km SAMS whacking you without warning, due to your 6km RAWS. This is very helpful in desert and future arctic terrains where there is less cover. I'll try to get these up shortly, plus four new custom missions of Jim's, too. |
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If you have Windows XP or ME, and have had a problem using the DOS batch file in HeloSwapper or the Desert Terrain set, I think the fix is here. |
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I am migrating to a new email address, so please update your address books. The new address will be: |
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That's all for now! *cough cough*.... |
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01/01/2002 |
Thanks to a clever SimHQ Helosim forum member named dcs, we now have a complete list of the files referenced in gunship.exe. Interesting stuff. It's a big page, (345kb), so browse patiently:. File List page Or download the Excel spreadsheet here. |
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12/07/2001 |
We have finally finished the Desert Terrain Set!
(well, we finished version 1 anyway ;) ) |
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We have a new version of Jim Trapp's cool CP/G Sound pack. Now with snazzy installer... |
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Lots more updates shortly, including MANY new custom missions... |
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10/25/2001 |
More info about the newly-available graphics files (skins/tiles) over at the Workshop . |
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The complete (?) set of 84 original Gunship terrain tiles is now available, so if you want to make your own snow, jungle, autumn or ? worlds, use these as templates. |
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Larry Hookins' Terrain Height editor is now available here. Now you can make molehills into mountains... |
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Added some controller profiles, including a clever one by Tim Huntington for flying as CP/G |
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The |
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10/07/2001 |
I've finally figured out how to add new snow, sand, mountain terrain, new aircraft skins w/ new paint schemes, even entire new objects like new cockpits, (if we learn the art techniques and 3DZ editing developed by the European Air Wars fans). We don't need to crack images.cat to add or edit skins and terrain tiles! |
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Here are a few early examples (note the ugly hangars and snowy airport): |
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The technique is amazingly simple: Terrain tiles are 256 x 256 256 color .pcx files. Just name them using the same names GS uses for existing tiles, (see a sample list of tile names in Gunship!\Data\World\Czech\tiles.txt), and just drop them into gunship/data/tiles/. No compression! For 3d object skins, use the same format PCX file. Just make new directory named gunship/data/textures/, drop in a new PCX with the same name as the original (use see3dzpcx.exe to find the file name. See my workshop area.), and away you go! No compression! More later when I update the workshop page. But essentially, GS is now capable of being enhanced into nearly anything we want! Get creative! Any volunteer artists for an |
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09/21/2001 |
NEW MODS!
And on a general note: I will be involved in a major home renovation for a few months, and while I will be available via email, updates to this site may slow down a bit. If you come up with any new mods, drop me a note and I'll try to get it posted. But if you like puzzles, spend some time in the Workshop, and use what's there to see what sort of Gunship enhancements you can come up with! Maybe some more new terrain mods.... |
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09/04/2001 |
Added some nifty new links |
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08/31/2001 |
Expanded The Workshop to include everything we've learned about the contents, function and format of Gunship Files, including a surprising discovery about the holy grail of mod files: images(1).cat ! I have been hunting and pecking like nobody's business... |
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08/29/2001 |
Added a new area called The Workshop. This will be a clearinghouse of what we've learned about how Gunship works, and ways to enhance it. Corrections and contributions welcome! |
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Fixed translation links, (I think...) |
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08/24/2001 |
A set of three new background pictures for the "Loading" screen are available. The installer, and the instructions for how to make your own, are here. |
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08/23/2001 |
New terrain and sound enhancements by Jim Trapp are available. Very cool. And you can even try your hand at making new ones with my new catalogue of 3D objects. |
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A new mission by JT is also available. |
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We've been having some success cracking the way Gunship
terrain is designed and rendered. Looks like it will be possible to build
entirely new maps, (if anyone wants to spend the time), or just add mountains
to the old ones. The snazzy terrain editor built
by Larry Hookins for M1Tank Platoon 2 can edit
Gunship terrain heights. (Hint: the GS files are read only. Change that, and your on your way to your own personal |
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08/08/2001 |
Web page redesign. Please report any errors. |
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08/04/2001 |
Several people have reported sporadic download problems with the files on these pages. It seems to be a problem with my webhost AngelFire. Email me directly if you can't download the files you want. |
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08/04/2001 |
The GunTool Mission editor has been moved to the mods & add-ons page. |
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08/03/2001 |
Gunship's current owner is game giant InfoGrames. They have resumed limited support for Gunship, including some troubleshooting help. Not AbandonWare yet, I guess... |
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07/16/2001 |
PDF copies of the keyboard guide are now available in the Downloads/Utilities area |
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HeloSwapper Version 4.2 (which enables 9 more flyable aircraft (with individual flight models), plus two scenery enhancements is NOW AVAILABLE. |
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PLUS! A clever new add-on by James Trapp which greatly improves the Copilot/Gunner voice comms. |
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Project notes are available at SimHQ.com Message Boards |
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Some early results...(click to view) |
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SHARE
YOUR BEST CUSTOM MISSIONS
If
you would like to share your best custom missions, Arcane Hints,
screencaps of memorable moments,or
links send them to me at:
Please
send missions as .zip or .txt files only. Try to keep screencap
images under 200KB. Briefings, descriptions and screencaps
are encouraged.
Site policy on custom missions: All missions posted here are the exclusive
property of their authors, (where known), and should only be posted elsewhere
with their permission. Missions which are modifications or enhancments
of another author's work should explicitly acknowledge the original author.
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06/24/2001 from fng2k |
I've learned the format of the cool .bik movie files in shown in the Gunship intros and campaigns. It's a system called Bink Video, and a free player/converter (1.3MB) is available from http://www.radgametools.com/ . You can convert them to .avi's, too. |
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06/10/2001 from fng2k |
You can insert 3 Blue Helicopters and give them independent waypoint routes by using the AH-64D from the training missions, (PLATOON: 142) Unfortunately, there are no individual Red helos. |
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11/01/2000 from fng2k |
The last mission Gunship executed is always copied to your GUNSHIP\DATA\ directory as "battle.txt". It is overwritten each time you begin a new mission. When playing multiplayer games, you can save a copy of the Host's mission to play later by copying "battle.txt" before starting a new mission, then renaming it with a new name like "authordate.txt", and saving it in your GUNSHIP\DATA\BATTLES\PLAYER directory. |
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04/15/2001 from Pretzel |
The graphics for the V-22 Osprey and Kiowa Warrior helos shown at Pretzelworks are included in GUNSHIP, but they do not have "Platoon" numbers like the other aircraft (for example, the Blackhawk is coded as 108). To use them, you must "swap skins" with another aircraft by manipulating their *.3d? files. Which is where HeloSwapper comes in! |
Fun with screencaps
and 3DZ files! ( thanks for the tips, Pretzel )
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The first is a leaked photo of a new EU special-ops group. They are rumored to be operating using heavily camouflaged CH53 Sea Stallions. They are known as the Barn Stormers. |
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Pretzel bends space and time... |
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I always suspected my geography teacher was lying.... |
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AirCav Barbie |
A very generous fan named Alberto from |
69kb MSWord manual NEW! 6/14/2003 |
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The |
1.7MB PDF file |
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Several people have asked me if the keyboard layout guide was available anywhere. Apparently, Hasbro/Infogrames no longer has any, so here they are in zipped Adobe .pdf format. Sorry for the large file size. They were detailed, multicolored 7MB .bmp
images, so I changed them to black and white, and shrunk them a bit to fit an
8.5"x11" page. These are from the |
Side 1 Side 2 |
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The GUNSHIP! Primer on Custom Mission building. This 17 page document clearly explains the syntax used in Gunship/M1 Tank Platoon 2 mission files. A must-have by FrankD, Gonzo, Spoons, Rudi et. al. (45kb needs Adobe Acrobat reader) |
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If you are wondering what the fuss is about, a GUNSHIP! Demo is available, try it out. Like most sims, the final version with patch is vastly better. The demo does not have multiplayer support, and lacks various regions, weather conditions and vehicles. The patch will not work on the demo, unfortunately, since the new gunship.exe in the patch requires the CD to function. |
The Gunship demo, (and many others), self-extracting zip 19.5MB |
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A while back, I stumbled across a Japanese version of the GS demo done by an outfit named Mediaquest. Downloaded it , installed it, and never thought much about it. Recently I've suddenly realized that the Japanese demo is very interesting: -it's 5 months newer than the patched version released in 6/2000 I did a rough translation of the Japanese subtitles at Dictionary.com. See this thread at SimHQ. |
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THE GUNSHIP PATCH from MicroProse includes flight model tweaker, and lets you correct the wacky reversed collective. Required for online multiplayer. A must have. |
gsusptch.exe US 468kb gsukptch.exe GSfrptch.exe FR 505kb GSGERPTCH.exe exe's are self-extracting zips |
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At long last, a tip from an EAW fan led me to the Megagames site, where after a brief bit of rummaging around, I found that they have a NO-CD crack! Use only these patched versions:
Discussion and install tips here at the SimHQ forum. Thanks to Wolf Being for the tip. |
English version of No-CD patched exe: German version available at: |
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If you would like to examine some M1 Tank Platoon mission info, here is the last patch from Microprose. It includes several M1TP2 battles, but most require WORLDS not shipped with GUNSHIP!. Not playable, but interesting. Self extracting zip archive. |
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Roger Wilco uses voice over IP so you can voice chat while playing. Free, but be aware the newer versions come with Gator, which some consider spyware. It can be worked around. More here. |
This link goes to Resounding Products |
in apathetical order
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SIMHQ Combat Helo area. News, a great forum, lots of serious simmer expertise |
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This was an interesting discussion of Gunship's qualities, and addreses some of the common misconceptions about Gunship. |
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Mad Jeff's BiohazCentral has grown into a fantastic sim-related site. Check it out!
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If you want to try GUNSHIP! using on-line multiplay, Microsoft has a DirectPlay area in The Zone. MS killed most of the game-specific rooms, so we usually fly in the "Strategy games" area. To find other pilots looking to fly, check here, here and here. |
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The HeloSim site by LionPride - home of the Rotor Club |
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This is a great site devoted to Vietnam-era helicopters and pilots. Worth a long browse. |
A Crew Chiefs View Of Vietnam Era Attack Helicopter Gunships |
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Naval Warfare Net is a terrfic site. They specialize in naval warfare sims, (oddly enough), but have great areas for all sorts of land and air sims, too. And if you are ever looking to buy sim software, they have got everything, including lots of hard-to-find titles. Helpful, straight-shooters. |
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If you have downloaded any of the add-ons or mods, you may have noticed that some of them use a nifty zip installer/setup tool. It's a freeware app called CR Self-Extractor, built by a clever lad named David Cross. Very handy. 959KB download |
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Well after a long lull, Gunship! has a place on the web page of it's current owner InfoGrames. They have also resumed limited support for Gunship, including some troubleshooting help. |
NEW! 8/03/2001 |
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The most active GUNSHIP! Player site on the web! Multiplay, discussion, downloads,
links. Home of the dreaded 1st Bear Hunter Squadron. Players from Europe, |
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An excellent Germany-based site for many more high-quality custom GUNSHIP! missions. |
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Great info on exploiting undocumented vehicles and aircraft in GUNSHIP! Offline indefinately as of 9/2001 |
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Compendious info about how to edit battle files, as
discovered by some very clever indeed M1 Tank Platoon enthusiasts
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CombatSim is a great site for all sort of simulations. Some areas subscription only. |
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Here is another nice combatsim
site based in |