The Western Front Patch
Moving Front adds improved historical accuracy to the Western Front Patch by
moving the positions of the front lines several times during 1917-18 and adding
and fixing many aerodrome assignments.
A realistic front line position enables much more realistic squadron
movements, and so the patch greatly revises the names and positions of
aerodromes.
This version concentrates on the appearance of the
terrain and maps, and fixes (mostly) a couple of long-term bugs.
Balloons. This version goes some way towards removing the
indestructible balloon bug that was in earlier versions. Most balloons can now be destroyed by
gunfire, but you generally need two to four passes to do it. A diving approach to the target is more
effective than a horizontal attack.
This actually adds realism in that, historically, single firing passes
at balloons often failed to ignite them.
Le Prieur rockets are almost useless (but then they mostly were).
It is possible that balloons at a few sites remain
indestructible; if you think you have found one, let me know.
Terrain. The patch
restores topographic relief. This was
absent in earlier versions due simply to my unfamiliarity with the terrain
editor. The terrain appearance may vary
slightly from the RB original as I have not been able to find the precise
numbers used in the out-of-box release.
The south-western corner of the Marne map sheet is
supposed to reach the north-eastern outskirts of Paris (le Bourget) so I have
dressed up this area of the terrain file by placing numbers of town type tiles
instead of grassy countryside.
Several errors or mismatches in aerodrome positions
have been corrected and the positions of some aerodromes improved.
Alsace front: Burscheid
aerodrome has been added E of Sarreburg, using the slot for the unused
Schlellstadt (Fr: Selestat) aerodrome. The position of Morchingen has been
improved. Dieuze aerodrome has been
renamed as St Medard, historically a significant Jasta base just west of
Dieuze.
Flanders front: Poperinghe aerodrome’s position has been
fixed. The Belgian towns of Jabbecke
and Varsenaere are only a few kilometeres apart, such that one RB aerodrome
would cover the two sites. The more northerly RB drome (Jabbecke) is closer to
the historical position, so I have stuck with that as
"Jabbecke". RedBaron's
"Varsenaere" is closer to the position of another German aerodrome at
Erkeghem and has been renamed accordingly.
RB's aerodrome Koekhoek (the old "Hooey Hook") becomes
redundant with the deletion of Jasta 58.
The site is close to Thourout (=Thouroube; today: Torhout) a 1917 base
for Jasta 7 and Jasta 29, so Thourout replaces Koekhoek.
Verdun front: Aerodrome positions between Briey and
Montmedy have been improved (Spincourt, Mont, Hivry, the “Mercy”s,
Longuyon). Boulay (G: Bolchen)
aerodrome dropped and its slot used for St Mard, E of Montmedy. Niederum (French: Many) is used instead of
Vatimont. Behonne’s buildings are now
oriented correctly.
Marne front: The northern railyard at Soissons is visible
(data corrupted in earlier version).
The “Vaux” of KEK Vaux was not a town but a chateau, Chateau Vaux just
outside Roupy. Jastas 4 and 22 start
their careers there. RedBaron’s “Vaux”
is renamed La Selve. The aerodrome SW
of St Quentin now has three date based alterations starting as Chateau Vaux,
changing to Roupy, then Foreste.
Maps. Background maps now have additional town names –
just about all town locations that are not immediately adjacent to an aerodrome
have their own names. The position of
an extra city, Bruges, has been added to the northern edge of the Flanders
sheet. No city added to the terrain, as
Bruges just misses, but it was an important landmark that northern fliers ought
to “know” about.
All major rivers and some of the major canals are
also named. Named structures are picked
out in blue (rivers) or blue-grey (canals).
Two rivers have inaccurate gaps in their courses, the Vesle should run
between Fismes and Rheims and the Moselle between Toul and Azelot. Fixing the underlying terrain file is beyond
me, but I have shown the rivers’ actual courses on the maps. A few place name mis-spellings have been
corrected, and names in German Alsace and Lorraine (“Elsass” and “Lothringen”)
have now all been switched from French to their German equivalents.
Squadrons. Historically accurate
squadron placement has created some game play anomalies. For the second half of 1917 none of the WFP
German fighter units are in Alsace, and in the second half of 1918, none of the
WFP Allied fighter units are. So I have
changed three squadrons to ensure that there will always be at least one
fighter unit from each side present in Alsace.
Jasta 58 and Jasta 77b (two of the worst-performing Jastas of the war)
have been deleted and their places taken by Jastas 33 and 41. Similarly Esc 79 (which simply clogs up the
Marne front with yet another mediocre French fighter unit) is dropped in favour
of the Alsace-based Esc 90. Several
data files have been changed and new squadron-specific colour schemes added.
Other minor squadron changes are present. Alteration of bases in Verdun and Alsace
means a few improvements to some Jasta movements. Several German 2-seater units have been renamed, as some of those
in use had spent much or all of their time on The Eastern or Italian
fronts. Some persistent errors in
date-based unit name changes have been fixed.
For this version, my thanks to Zsolt Fazekas and the TED primer notes prepared by Rens for helping me improve my terrain editing.
First, WFP2 is the
baseline patch for this addition (NB It will NOT work with other
patches, such as HA or FCJ. However, it
WILL work with earlier WFP versions (6 to 7) and WFP patched over the top of HA
or FCJ landscape). Also make sure
any other additions, like terrain and redux patches etc are in place.
Before You run WFPMF3, read the info
below. The patch will over-write
important basic RedBaron files. And two files that support the SquadronEditor
program (if you have it).
You may wish to backup, move
or replace your existing versions of these files in case you wish to delete the
WFPMF versions later on. Do this
now.
Second, after any
backing up:
NEW
unzipping arrangements for MF3
The TWO patch files should
each be unzipped to DIFFERENT target directories:
MF3 datefiles.zip - unzip to the Sierra/RedBaronII or
3D/CM11/patches directory
MF3 terrain files – unzip to
the Sierra/RedBaronII or 3D/Data directory
·
Two files, Rbaero.txt and Rbplanes.txt, should be moved
to the folder that contains your copy of Squadron Editor, overwriting previous
versions.
·
The PowerPoint file summarises the changes in the front incorporated in
the patch – just hit ‘view slide show’ and it will run through automatically.
·
For those wanting to use Nowi’s date based screen shots, I have
supplied a MF3 logo if you want to update those BMPs.
Third. NB. do
not try to continue an existing campaign (including existing WFP careers)
once you have loaded the WFPMF3. Its
altered Lo files can cause any existing campaigns to freeze or DTD the
game. Purge all of your existing
campaigns and start fresh.
Fourth. Open CM and add the WFPMF3 patch to the
current patches list.
Fifth. In CM, set a game date.
***To have
this patch work correctly you have to be conscientious in using CM to refresh
files. Note the times when the front
lines change:***
1 August 1915
10 October 1916
19 March 1917
15 May 1917
1 June 1917
15 June 1917
1 October 1917
26 March 1918
15 April 1918
1 June 1918
1 July 1918
1 August 1918
15 August 1918
15 September 1918
20 September 1918
15 October 1918
For the patch to work
properly, refresh the campaign using CM immediately one of these dates has
arrived. To be sure, do it after every
mission. Do it BEFORE you generate the next mission. If you don’t the next mission may well tell you to attack a
friendly or protect an enemy location.
If a mismatch does happen to
occur, you may get the ‘Mission Planner’ screen when you hit next mission. If this happens, select a Lone Wolf patrol
for yourself, then start and finish the mission immediately. The game should then operate normally again.
You can continue to use MissionGen
with MFP to improve mission realism.
Likewise, you can use Captain
Darwin’s FCJ control panel with no problems.
WFPMF 2.0
The
new version has several major additions.
·
All four map sheets now
have new, renamed and relocated aerodromes.
On the Flanders and Marne sheets, over half of the aerodromes have now
been adjusted. On the Verdun sheet,
those flying USAS will notice relocation of their aerodromes as well as quite a few French bases. On the Alsace sheet hardly any of the
original set of Entente bases has survived.
·
A few bases that were
historically important lie close to map overlap areas, so they appear twice and
units get ‘transferred from one sheet to another to enable them to operate in
both map areas while based at these places.
Included in this is Cachy (Flanders and Marne) and the bases around Toul
and Nancy.
·
The positions of the front
lines have been refined. Flanders,
Marne and Verdun now have alterations that more accurately place parts of the
lines compared to the previous patch.
·
Additional town
names. Many of the ‘town’ and ‘village’
symbols, all anonymous in original RB, have now been given realistic
identities. As a result, there are now
even more points on the map that can be used to describe the site of a victory
or the course of a mission.
·
French escadrille
movements. Thanks to excellent info
uncovered by Shred, all French units now undergo much more accurate movements during
the course of the war. Many of these
new moves are to bases that were not in original RB and have driven the choice
of quite a few name changes.
·
Town appearances. Most cities and towns near the front were
more or less damaged by shellfire. This
version substitutes shell-damaged versions of the BMPs for the three types of
town buildings and the cathedral. As
you fly low over them you’ll see the damage.
The cost is that towns well away from the fighting will also show
damage, but the damage is not extreme, and as most action takes place close to
the front, it seemed to me most buildings should look damaged. Farmhouses on aerodromes, however, are in
good repair.
·
Antiaircraft fire. Over the course of the war, AAA fire becomes
heavier over the front lines. The
‘Brigades start with relatively small numbers of flak guins and MGs, but these
increase over time, slowly at first but more rapidly in 1918. German AAA is thicker on the ground than
Entente. Thanks to Bletchley for this
suggestion and for testing it.
·
Map sheets (PlanregX.bmp)
have been adjusted here and there to improve the correspondence between in-game
positions of cities and the positions shown on maps.
BUG: An unsolved bug using the moving front is that
balloons can no longer be shot down.
Altering the landscape has somehow made them impervious to guns and
rockets, although they can still be destroyed if a plane collides with
them. You may wish to use Captain Darwin’s
FCJ control panel to
eliminate balloon attack and defense
missions.
The RBII/3D front line
positions are static throughout the game and represent a compromise position
historically. In reality, from early
1917 there were some changes that significantly altered the positions of the lines
and of aerodromes in use. This patch
moves the front line from time to time to better reflect its historical
position and to allow a closer approximation between historical squadron
placements and game placements.
NOTE that the underlying
landscape (specified by the .TED files) will not change, so that the nomans
land tiles will stay where they are (the old battlefield areas took a long time
to recover, so it’s not completely unrealistic). So when flying over altered lines you'll need to keep a keener
eye on where you are as enemy gunners will be shooting at you from more
difficult-to-spot positions.
The novel features of the Moving Front patch are date based versions of Lndmrks#.dat, Brigade#.dat and modified Squadron.dat files, planreg0, -1, -2 and-3 .bmp files, new aerodrome Lo.files. Together these move the front lines and enable squadrons to advance or retreat as the lines move. The new versions of Baron0.ted, Baron1.ted, Baron2.ted and Baron3.ted include new aerodrome tile sets, eliminate others, and alter the layout of many aerodrome landscape ‘tiles’. Also present is a set of new aerodrome lo files that alter the appearance of aerodromes (Lo020000.dat to Lo02000D.dat) and provide more diversity, and more small dromes with relatively few buildings. Two of these lo files (-02 and -09) are used for a few aerodrome locations when no planes are based there; they provide groups of buildings and tents to simulate army camps. The operating aerodrome lo files get extra buildings and AAA in October 1917 to reflect increasing numbers of squadrons (see Aerodrome Appearance on pp 5-6 below). Improving AAA is also represented by date based increments in the numbers of flak guns and MG nests along the front lines (Lo130000.dat to Lo130300.dat). Low flying over the trenches should become increasingly hazardous as time goes by. The town buildings and cathedral (0906-, 0907-, 0908-, 0908-. bmp) now start the game in their damaged state, to give the appearance of battle-damaged towns. The file also includes sets of date-based printable maps for the different fronts showing the variations that occur to the lines. These maps (labelled Alsace, Flanders, Marne and Verdun) can be used to try your hand at navigating RB by eye. As well, I have a PowerPoints file (Changing front.ppt) that sums up the major changes in the lines at a glance. The zip also contains two files to enhance the use of the Squadron Editor as a way of looking at the Squadron data file. Use these to replace the default rbaero.txt and rbplanes.txt that come with the Squadron editor.
The patch has the following date-based modifications of the front
lines:
150801
The game starts with the
German lines bulging towards Albert on the Flanders map and towards Ste
Menehould on the Marne and Verdun fronts.
161020
After
three months of fighting the lines have been pushed back to RB original on the
Flanders map.
170319
Flanders and Marne
Maps: The Germans withdraw to the
massively defended Siegfried Positions (“Hindenburg line”), in so doing cutting
out a great curve of the old front line.
Much of the old battle lines, including all of the Somme battlefields,
are now well inside Anglo-French territory.
Flanders Map: In the south the
lines run SE from Arras to Cambrai then south to St Quentin.
Marne Map: In the
northwest, the lines run south from St Quentin to Soissons.
170515
A
localised British offensive led by Canadian forces captures the tactical
highpoint of Vimy Ridge, pushing the Germans away from Arras and towards Lens –
minor movement of the lines.
170601
A major French offensive on the
Marne map towards the ridge of the Chemin des Dames is a near total
failure. Minor gains occur NE of
Soissons, but the disaster precipitates mutinies in French units.
170615
British offensives centring on the
town of Messines make small gains along the front between Bethune and Ypres.
171001
After
several months of attempting a break through in northern Flanders, the British
have merely pushed the Ypres salient east as far as the town of Passchendaele,
with huge losses on both sides.
180326
Operation 'Michael' opens on
March 21st and the British and French lines are breached where they meet along
the Somme valley. Germans advance west
towards Amiens.
Flanders Map: Following the German assaults, the front
lines in the south bulge west to Villers-Bretonneux. Many Entente aerodromes change to German. Albert in German hands.
Marne Map:
Front moves south in the west, Montdidier and Noyon taken by the Germans. Several aerodromes captured.
180415
On April 7th a second
German assault (Operation 'Georgette') is launched in the north along the Lys
River valley. The attack is halted but
a new bulge has appeared in the lines.
Flanders Map: Front lines in the north bulge west between
Ypres and Bethune. British aerodromes
including la Gorgue, Merville and Bailleul occupied.
180601
Operation Blücher hits worn
out British units moved to the ‘quiet’ French sector for a rest. The line around Fismes disintegrates and the
Germans roll south to the Marne before being stopped by, among others, the
first US forces to see serious action.
Marne Map: Front lines in
the centre bulge south to the Marne and Chateau-Thierry. Several French aerodromes change hands.
Soissons and Fismes now German.
180701
After what the Germans
call Operation Yorck, and the French the Battle of Reims, the Germans fail to
take the French city, pushing their line only slightly south and east. It is the last gasp of the German offensive. The French forces with their newly readied
US allies are about to counterattack
180801
French and
American counter attacks known as the Second Battle of the Marne have forced
the Germans out of the Chateau-Thierry bulge.
Marne Map: Front lines and aerodromes in centre return
to March 1918 position.
180815
A massive Anglo-French
assault on August 5th smashes through the German lines in front of Amiens. Australian and Canadian shock troops,
supported by great numbers of tanks, give the Germans their blackest day as they
fall back towards the old front lines.
Flanders Map: Front lines in south moved to the game
original lines (150801). Entente
aerodromes, towns, bridges revert to original status.
Marne Map: Front lines in
west revert to game original. Noyon and
Montdidier back in French hands.
180915
The Entente forces have now
pushed the Germans back to the Hindenburg line and are gearing up to make their
final breakthrough. Entente squadrons,
especially the army-cooperation ("Corps") squadrons, move up behind
the new front lines to stay in touch with the advancing troops. In the south, French and US forces are
starting to push the Germans northwards.
Flanders Map: Front lines in north revert to original
status. Front lines in south now the
Hindenberg line arrangement of March 1917. Several aerodromes now back in
Entente hands.
Marne Map: Front lines in west pushed to March 1917 Hindenberg line. Aerodromes in the northwest corner back in
Entente hands. Lines in east to RB original.
Verdun Map: Lines in the
west to RB original.
180920
Verdun Map: The Germans
decide to evacuate the long-standing St Mihiel salient, but US forces choose
this moment to attack, capturing many German troops and equipment as they
occupy the old salient..
181015
The Entente
forces have broken through and the Germans are in retreat.
Flanders Map: The Germans have abandoned much of Flanders
and northwest France. Most of the large
towns and cities are now liberated.
Many RAF squadrons will shortly move further east to occupy former
German aerodromes, while the Germans withdraw their squadrons to the east.
Marne Map: Lines pushed
northeastwards, now running through Laon.
Many German aerodromes abandoned or in Entente territory. Lines in east
bulge north to Rethel.
Verdun Map: Lines in the
west move north to Vouziers.
SD made a lot of compromises
to real geography in order to achieve the incompatible aim of using historical
names of aerodromes and an un-historical static front line.
By bringing some movement to
the line I had an opportunity to fix some of the un-historic aerodrome
placements. Where I could, I renamed a
number of SD aerodrome sites to more accurately reflect actual French geography
and correct RB errors. The ability to
do this is limited by the TED files, which dictate where aerodromes can be by
providing sets of aerodrome tiles at appropriate coordinates. The most problematic area is the Somme
valley where the greatest oscillations of the front occurred. This is very
unfortunate because this is where the Marne and Flanders mapsheets meet, and SD
avoided placing aerodromes close to the map limits. The cost is that on Flanders all of the most southerly aerodromes
are too far north, while those at the top of the Marne sheet are too
southerly. On both there are not enough
aerodromes and there seems too much east-west compression. So I have used the TED editor to create new
aerodrome sites on the map sheets that more correctly place several game
aerodromes; other sites no longer used have been eliminated or reduced to
irregular patches. Other aerodrome
sites have been renamed.
Date-based changes
The above changes are
'permanent' alterations to the SD maps and files. In addition to these, during 1918, some aerodromes change names,
to represent bases that were close to RB dromes but used at different
times. For example, the Marne aerodrome
Cramaille is used for the German aerodrome Beugneux during the period of the
German advance to Château-Thierry.
Cachy on the Marne sheet becomes Harbonnières. Etc. Some compromises,
where several closely placed aerodromes are represented by one, mean that a few
squadrons will visit places they didn't really go to (still very close to the
right region though). Forgive me,
history buffs. SD knew not what they
did.
Place names
I have also taken the
opportunity to correct the spellings of many of the place names (there are
probably still a few I haven't got). [Rant:
The level of mis-spelling of French and Belgian place names in the
original RB was incredibly slack]
In spite of all of this
tweaking, the aerodrome positions are STILL very approximate.
Aside from historical
adjustments, the MFP also changes the in-game appearance of aerodromes.
SD made all aerodromes on a relatively large landscape patch consisting of 16 terrain tiles. It used six different layouts for the aerodrome buildings, with a German and Allied version of each layout. To me, the result is that most aerodromes look too big in area and have too many large, permanent-looking buildings compared with what I’ve seen in photos of aerodromes of the period. And there is too much similarity from drome to drome. So I have added diversity to aerodrome appearances in two ways. Firstly, I reduced the number of tiles on many aerodrome sites. Some bases are now on only 8 tiles, and look more like the farmers fields that many were. Then I took the six German and six Allied aerodrome Lo files and made 12 new aerodrome layouts. German and Allied versions of the original six layouts differed only in having German or Allied trucks and gun positions, differences that are trivial as far as the look in-game is concerned. So now on each side of the lines you can see 12 different building layouts. One layout is for very large permanent aerodromes (for places like St Omer), some are medium-sized, and more are small, with one or two groups of three to five temporary hangars.
RB included two Lofiles for
aerodromes that were to be Zeppelin or airship bases. As the game has no such dirigibles, I use the two Lofiles to make
‘army bases’ – collections of tents, AAA, vehicles and other military stuff to
be placed on a few aerodrome locations that are not being used by any
squadrons. So you may find yourself
flying an airfield attack on an ‘army camp’ rather than an aerodrome.
Thanks to Miles Constable's
web postings detailed information is available for the bases used by all
British squadrons for the entire war. I
have used this info along with the revised positions of bases to update
squadron movements. Similar information
has been posted by Dave Townsend for the Jastas. Shred provided detailed data
fro French unit moves. No such detailed info is available for most German 2-seater
units; these include a lot of guesswork, or are simply arbitrary to ensure
German two-seaters are spread across all of the fronts.
This patch is for private exchange only and neither it nor any of its
contents are to be posted on the web or used for any financial gain whatsoever
without prior written permission from the owners of original work contained in
this patch.
Websites used as sources of historical information:
WW1 air war historical information
Belgian Air Force
http://www.wwiaviation.com/Belgium.shtml
French Air Force
German Air Force
http://patriot.net/~townsend/WW1AirMap/
RAF
http://clubweb.interbaun.com/milesc/oob1.html
http://www.rafweb.org/Menu.htm
Thanks to Steve Fabert, Ted
Harrity and Pat Wilson for testing and further improvements. Special extra mention for Steve Fabert who,
years ago, gave me a lot of info on historical movements and the localities of
aerodromes that got me started with more with realistic placement of squadrons.
He also suffered through trying early versions of the patch – all frustrating
failures. It's a pity that SD limits meant I was able to use only a fraction of
his information. Shred and Bletchley
added info on unit movements and AAA, and provided ideas and encouragement that
moved the project along.
The fact that the patch has
become workable is due to a critical insight by Sygrod regarding the way
Campaign data files track local landmarks.
This finally enabled the elimination of a persistent and fatal flaw in
earlier prototypes of this patch.
If you notice any problems/bugs or, better, have information for improving the historical accuracy, let me know at mrars@bigpond.com