The
Promised Land “Full Canvas Jacket” Mini-Review
by Barkhorn.
I
just received the new Full Canvas Jacket Red Baron II/3D upgrade produced
by Kess at the Promised Land (http://www.plgrafix.com)
I cannot overstate how impressed I am with this effort. It builds
on a series of earlier efforts by other folks - including Kess - but
takes it all a step farther by bringing it all together in one grand
patch that features a very useful Control Panel to manage it all.
I really wanted to thank Kess for his efforts and I figured the best
way to do this was via a mini-review. So let’s take a look at
each component of this effort in some detail.
Install:
The install went off without a hitch. There are 2 main parts to the
install, “Install FCJ” and “FCJ Windscreens” for
those who fly in Glide. There are also a bunch of options to lower
terrain and effects levels that can result in an FPS savings for those
with low end machines (fortunately I didn’t have to worry about
that ).
Aircraft
Models:
ALL a/c models are redone from the stock release and feature authentic
shapes, struts, wire bracing and rotating radial engines. Kess makes
use of models originally conceived by the SWWISA (http://www.swwisa.net/)
group for their massive Western Front Patch. The stuff that these
guys have accomplished is amazing - especially compared to the stock
models - as the screenshot link below will attest. Paint schemes were
also redone and the one’s I’ve seen so far (there are a
TON!) are mighty fine - check out the “petal” pattern engine
cowling on a 94th Aero Nieuport 28 - very nice.
Cockpits:
All flyable a/c now have unique cockpits w/ gauges in the right places
and, when panning around, the wings/fuselage area colors now match
the schemes on the a/c. These pits are a quantum leap from the past
(w/ their “cookie cutter” cockpits - all pits were pretty
much the same for a given nationality). Now, when you fly - say a
Sopwith Camel - it has the unique look and feel of a Sopwith Camel.
Terrain:
What can I say -it’s the second go round for Promised Land terrain
and it looks better than ever - even down low where the patterns tend
to “wash out” a bit. The compensation here however is all
the objects that have been added - trees, cows, people, barbered wire
and shell holes in NML. The only criticism I have here is that the
winter terrain looks a bit too yellow as the snow does not cover the
fields completely. Oh well, I can live w/ that.
Flight
Model (FM):
Again, I’m no expert (who really can claim to be on WWI a/c?!),
but this new FM seems “right” to me. The Camel and Dr.I’s
are tricky to fly, the SE5 and Albatros family are very forgiving
- this is what one would expect. And, if you do dumb things like yank
the stick around you will quickly bleed speed. Finally, violent maneuvering
in a Nieuport will lead to structural failure - as it should. One
final note here, Capt. Royce (the Promised Land FM guy) is already
working on a revised FM.
Damage
Model:
Very nice stuff here! There are really only 2 vulnerable spots on
WWI a/c - the engine and the pilot. If you are not aiming for these
areas you are going to waste a bucket of ammo. The FCJ DM reflects
this quite nicely - test it yourself and you will find that hitting
the engine will give you some nice flames after a few bursts. And
a nice lucky “melon shot” means game over for your opponent
(and for you at times ). For FX effects you get bullet holes and fabric
tears and broken wires and flames and all sorts of nasty stuff. Kess
really stretched the RBII envelope in this area.
Sound
& Music:
Kess is a sound engineer (or so I’m told) and his knowledge really
shows, as all sounds have been redone for a more authentic atmosphere.
You’ve got radial engines, in-line engines, different types of
MG’s, ripping fabric, etc. - all come together in an impressive
package. Kess composed original, and very atmospheric, pieces for
the menu and briefing screens. The music is quite nice and adds another
layer of immersion.
Multi-Play:
I don’t play on-line so I am really not qualified to comment
here.
Odds
& Ends:
Damage messages - instead of the old specific “You have an oil
leak” type of message, now you get a “Something is wrong”
message, and it is up to you to figure out what that means. I like
this approach as it adds a level of uncertainty to the sim as the
effects of the problem may not become apparent until sometime later
in the flight. Flak and MG ground fire - there is a whole bunch of
it and it can be deadly. I remember flying straight, level and on
through in the old days. That is suicide now as you WILL get hit.
This change makes those easy balloon kills a thing of the past too!
FPS - using FRAPS I am getting between 40-70 FPS pretty consistently
in Fly Now at 1280x1024 (yea, you read that right ) and everything
maxed except “sun glare”. The counter occasionally dipped
to 20 but the important thing is I didn’t even notice because
things are so smooooth. My system specs are below for those who are
interested.
FCJ
Control Panel:
An icon for this handy application is left on your desktop when FCJ
finishes its install processing. You can set ALL gameplay, graphics,
Fly Now and sound settings right from this application. It includes
2 key extras that those of us w/ high end machines and G4 cards really
appreciate - a 1280x1024 resolution option and an XP/USB Sound bug
fix - nice! Finally, you can launch RBII/3D right from the control
panel, and it then unloads itself so it won’t hog any systems
resources.
Summary:
The best part about FCJ is that it pulls all of the above pieces together
in a single unified whole that is rock solid and a joy to play. The
effort that went into this patch is evident by the result, a finished
product that is truly greater than the sum of its parts and gives
the player that illusive feeling of immersion that all simmers crave.
FCJ brings RBII back to life and into the modern age.
Thank
you Kess!
SCREENSHOTS
= a small gallery of before and after shots at this site = http://community.webshots.com/user/barkhorn_real
!!!IMPORTANT!!!
Tip for those who need the Sierra ‘Super Patch’ to patch
from RBII to RB3D;
The Super Patch puts updated a/c files and .BMP files in the Data/Simpatch
folder. These files will overwrite FCJ files as anything in the Simpatch
folder is applied LAST. The solution is to delete all files in the
simpatch folder that end in .BMP, .DML and .DTS.
MY
SYSTEM SPECS;
AMD Athlon XP2100+ CPU
768MB PC2100 DDR RAM
Biostar Socket “A” motherboard (M7VIB-A)
Via KT-266A chipset
80GB ATA/100 7200rpm hard drive
16x DVD
24x speed CD-RW drive
Leadtek G4 Ti4600 AGP card w/ 31.40 Det drivers
Wavetable onboard sound card
Windows XP Home Version OS