DESERT AIR WAR
Version 1.1
AN ADD-ON PACKAGE FOR
MICROPROSE'S EUROPEAN AIR WAR
1. Introduction
Desert Air War ("DAW") contains a comprehensive set of files which enable you to simulate, with a fair degree of realism, the air war over the Western Desert in North Africa in 1941-1942, using Microprose's EAW.
DAW can be played either in single missions, or by using a specially-written desert campaign. However, DAW creates a theatre of war which extends beyond North Africa to Malta, Sicily, Crete and Greece, and we hope that further campaigns will become available to take advantage of this new setting for our favourite game.
As well as a complete new "world" for EAW, DAW features a greater emphasis on attacks against convoys and ground troops than in previous EAW add-ons.
DAW is a group project, put together by the following people:
"Dancho" Dan Dunn Hangar screens
"Emil" Campaign files
"max188" Matt Magleby Terrain tiles, runways
"Mosi" Christian Mosimann Skins, selection screens
"P.O. Prune" Stephen O'Leary Terrain layout, some screens
"Pobs" Brian Egan 3D objects and textures
Any of us can be reached through the EAW Forum at SimHQ, on:
http://www.simhq.com/
2. Installation
· The Desert Air War add-on requires a separate, clean installation of EAW.
You can easily do this by installing EAW from CD and selecting a directory path
for the DAW installation that is different from your original EAW directory.
This way you can be sure that no files from other campaigns, addons or skinpacks
are "'contaminating" your new DAW installation.
· Patch EAW to version 1.1, 1.2 or 1.2a, according to your preference.
· Copy the files contained in all the .zip files you downloaded EXCEPT FOR
MISSIONS.ZIP into your DAW main directory. Say yes to overwriting files with the
same name in your directory.
· Copy all the files from Missions.zip into the Savedata sub-directory of your
DAW main directory. (If you don't, you may get a crash to desktop when you try
to start a mission.) If you don't have a Savedata subdirectory, you may need to
start the game once for this directory to be automatically created.
· Run the make_bn.bat file (copied over with the terrain download) to create
all the necessary terrain files.
· If you want to fly a campaign you may want to rename PlanesUK.dat or
PlanesGR.dat to Planes.dat first. To fly only single missions this renaming is
not necessary. See 'Known Problems' below for a better explanation.
· Start the game and verify that the installation is working okay. If you
started from a clean installation, you should encounter no problems.
· At this point you can introduce additional add-ons according to your
preference. But be VERY careful, as many add-ons will overwrite the DAW files
and give undesirable results. You should be safe with add-ons like sound packs,
sky files, effects pack, or gunsites. DO NOT use ECA Panel after installation of
DAW, or all campaign-specific files will be overwritten.
That's it!
3. Limitations
It was never our intention to attempt to re-create the rapidly-moving front lines of the desert war. We have therefore had to adopt a compromise in setting out the front lines and target locations for DAW.
The North African theatre is depicted in DAW as it was for the majority of the campaign, from the beginning of May 1941 until the Allied retreat to el Alamein in June 1942. Rommel has carried out his first lightning attack into Cyrenaica, but Tobruk is holding out against him. The front line between the two armies lies between Sollum and Sidi Barrani. The ground troops, however, are shown in approximately the positions they held at the start of the CRUSADER offensive in November 1941.
Crete is shown as held by the Axis. However, we may at some point in the future produce a variant in which Crete is held by the Allies, with a view to creating a (largely hypothetical) Cretan campaign.
The European mainland and islands, and the Egyptian delta, are depicted in a "Mediterranean" style, unlike the "desert" style used for the rest of North Africa. Because there is a limited number of terrain tiles available in EAW, no rivers are shown in Sicily or Greece (there are very few rivers there anyway).
The ground forces, the convoys at sea and the aircraft carriers do not move.
DAW is intended for use in offline playing modes (campaign, single mission,
instant action.) Using the DAW add-on in an online environment has not been
tested.
4. Known problems
1) When flying single missions the default Planes.dat can be used. However
when using the default Planes.dat in a campaign, enemy bombers will sometimes be
unescorted on intercept missions. This usually results in an unexciting 'turky
shoot' because the bombers are unable to defend themselves properly without
escort.
To assure that enemy bomber formations will allways be escorted by enemy
fighters, it is necessary to use an "Allied or Axis specific"
Planes.dat file when playing a campaign.
When flying a British or an Axis campaign you must rename PlanesUK.dat or
PlanesGR.dat respectively to Planes.dat. All three files : Planes.dat,
PlanesUK.dat and PlanesGR.dat are contained by the Flight.zip file.
You can use the .bat files also contained in the Flight.zip file to rename
PlanesUK.dat and PlanesGR.dat.
Alies.bat will rename PlanesUK.dat and will make a safe copy of the default
Planes.dat.
Axis.bat will rename PlanesGR.dat and will make a safe copy of the default
Planes.dat.
Adefault.bat will remove the renamed Planes.dat and will make the default
Planes.dat available again.
Not renaming PlanesUK.dat or PlanesGR.dat will not cause other bugs than the sometimes unescorted enemy bombers.
2) The "Convoy Bug": this mysterious convoy near Malta is left over from the default version of EAW. At present we don't know how to get rid of it!
The convoy may be assigned as a target in interdiction missions both for the Axis and the British. This will happen only a few times in a full 60 mission career. Your best option is to abort the mission, since there's not enough fuel to reach the convoy and return safely to base (with possibly the Beaufighters as an exception) - unless, of course, you want to practice your ditching and swimming abilities and hope to get rescued.
Do not confuse this bogus convoy with the actual target convoys in the game. You can tell if you get assigned a mission to a "real" convoy because all the real convoys have code names given in capital letters, such as PEDESTAL or CIRCE.
3) The cockpit of the Me 210A is created from pieces using different standard-cockpits. It was not possible, due to the slot (262A), to add correct cockpit gauges.
5. Acknowledgements and credits
First of all, our thanks to the pioneers of EAW-editing, without whom, etc., and especially to:
Charles Gunst
Dominique Legrand
"Moggy"
Paulo Morais
Special thanks from Prune to Dominique and Moggy for their advice and help during the construction process.
Skins provided in this package were made by the following people:
Gladiator II (P51B slot) Skin by Shadow dragon, model by Woolfman
Huricane I (Tempest slot) Skin by Edward, model by Captain Kurt et al.
Hurricane IIB (Spit 9 slot) Skin by Mosi, model by Captain. Kurt et al., cockpit
by Migge
Hurricane IIC (Spit 14 slot) Skin by Mosi, model by Captain Kurt et al., cockpit
by Migge
Spitfire VB (Spit 2a slot) Model and skin by Flying Sheep
Tomahawk IIB (Typhoon slot) Skin by RedEyes et al., model by Captain Kurt
Kittyhawk IA (Hurricane slot) Skin, model and cockpit by Flying Sheep
Martlet III (P47C slot) Skin by Emil, model by Captain Kurt
Beaufighter IC (P38H slot) Skin by Sagginb and RedEyes, model by Woolfman
Beaufighter VIC (P38J slot) Skin by vonOben, model by Woolfman
Blenheim IV (B26 slot) Skin by C. Wilches, model by Captain Kurt
Wellington I (Mosquito slot) Skin and model by Woolfman
Halifax B.II (B17 slot) Skin by -E and RedEyes, model by Moggy
Liberator II (B24 slot) Skin by -E
Marauder I (Me410 slot) Skin by C. Wilches and Serb
CR-42 (P47D slot) Skin and model by Woolfman
MC-200 (P51D slot) Skin by HarryM et al., model by Captain Kurt, cockpit by C.
Wilches
MC-202 (190A slot) Skin by Fabio Mele, model by Captain Kurt, cockpit by C.
Wilches
Bf 109E-7 (109E slot) Skin by Mosi, model by Cpt. Manduca
Bf 109F-2 (109K slot) Skin by Mosi, model by Cpt. Manduca et al., cockpit by
Migge
Bf 109F-4 (109G slot) Skin by Mosi, model by Cpt. Manduca et al., cockpit by
Migge
Bf 109G-2 (190D slot) Skin by Migge, model by Cpt. Manduca et al.
Bf 110C-4 (110C slot) Skin and model by Serb
Bf 110E-1 (110G slot) Skin by Migge
Me 210A-1 (Me262 slot) Skin and model by Serb
Ju 88A-10 (88A slot) Skin by Pilot Officer Prune
He 111H-6 (111 slot) Skin by Jamie Hamilton
Ju 52/3m (88C slot) Skin by Mosi, model by Cord
Ju 87D-3 (87 slot) Skin by Mosi, model by Paulo Morais & GhostBoy
A lot of these skins were enhanced and tweaked during the process of generating this skinpack, it was not possible to keep track with all enhancements which were included to all planes. To place the planes in their DAW-aircraft slots, Paulo Morais' utility SnapShot and hexediting have been used. Special thanks to Col. Gibbon for the help with several hardpoints.
3D objects and textures used in this set were made by:
Captain Kurt Original flat-roofed buildings
Freddy B Olive trees
Geo Original parked aircraft
Major Lee Original palm trees
Martin "Hoover" Hoefer Desert perimeter tracks
Martin Kubani Desert vehicle textures
Moggy Battleships, aircraft carriers
We don't know who made the desert airfield building textures or the textures for the Mediterranean train, but thanks anyway.
Pobs made the new Matilda and Panzer III tanks, the farms, the desert "people", the HQ bunker, the Army HQ compound, the fortified infantry position, and the final versions of the flat-roofed buildings, the palm trees and the parked aircraft (both Axis and British).
Dancho made the hangar screens from his amazing collection of photographs.
max188 made the desert and Mediterranean terrain tiles, and the desert runway textures.
Mosi put together the skin packs and made the aircraft selection screens plus the mainscreen.
Prune did the terrain layout, and made the map, the briefing screens and the mission parameters screen.
Emil wrote and tested the campaign, ironed out the bugs, and put the whole
package together.
6. THE CAMPAIGN: DESERT AIR WAR 1941 - 1942
The 1941-1942 Desert Air War campaign replaces the 1940 Battle of Britain campaign in EAW. It starts in April 1941, when Rommel and the German Afrika Korps arrive in Tripoli, and ends in December 1942 with the Battle of el Alamein. The aim of this campaign is to simulate the air and air to ground war in North Africa between Axis (German and Italian) and British (and Commonwealth) air forces.
Selecting a normal campaign, you fly a mission every 10 days with a total of about 60 missions. It is not posible to fly a long campaign, as flying a mission every 10 days seems fixed. Ofcourse by using a hex editor or campaign editor by Rockphi you can change the Camp**40.dat file to fly a mission every 2 days if you want and if you have that much time.
When you play this campaign DO NOT select Limited Supply or you may not have
bombs to carry. I would like to quote Charles Gunst on this : "Did you join
up to be a fighter pilot or a supply clerk anyway?" :-)
Units available for the 1941-1942 Desert Air War campaign
AXIS Initial Aircraft Replacements
I/Jagdgeschwader 27 Bf 109E-7 Bf 109F-2 Bf 109F-4 Bf 109G-2
III/Zerstörergeschwader 26 Bf 110D-3 Bf 110E-1
9° Gruppo Cr.42 Mc.200 Mc.202
8° Gruppo Mc.200 Mc.202
III/Jagdgeschwader 53 Bf 109F-4 Bf 109G-2
10° Gruppo Mc.202
I/Jagdgeschwader 77 Bf 109G-2
III/Zerstörergeschwader 1 Me 210A-1
BRITISH Initial Aircraft Replacements
No. 73 Squadron Hurricane I Hurricane IIB Hurricane IIC
No. 112 Squadron Gladiator II Tomahawk IIB Kittyhawk IA
No. 2 SAAF Squadron Tomahawk IIB Kittyhawk IA
No. 805 Squadron Martlet III Spitfire VB
No. 272 Squadron Beaufighter IC Beaufighter VIC
No. 94 Squadron Hurricane IIB Hurricane IIC
No. 3 RAAF Squadron Kittyhawk IA
No. 80 Squadron Hurricane IIC
No. 145 Squadron Spitfire VB
No. 227 Squadron Beaufighter VIC
The flyable aircraft slots are as follows:
Beaufighter IC P38H
Beaufighter VIC P38J
Martlet III P47C
CR.42 P47D
Gladiator II P51B
MC.200 P51D
Kittyhawk IA Hurricane
Spitfire VB Spitfire I
Hurricane IIB Spitfire IX
Hurricane IIC Spitfire XIV
Tomahawk IIB Typhoon
Hurricane I Tempest
Bf 109E-7 Bf109E
Bf 109F-4 Bf109G
Bf 109F-2 Bf109K
Bf 110D-3 Bf110C
Bf 110E-1 Bf110G
MC.202 FW190A
Bf 109G-2 FW190D
Me 210A-1 Me262
Other non flyable planes participating in this campaign are :
Wellington I Mosquito slot
Halifax Mk.IIB B-17 slot
Liberator II B-24 slot
Blenheim IV B-26 slot
Marauder I Me 410 slot
Ju 88A-10 Ju 88A slot
Ju 52/3m Ju 88C slot
Ju 87D-3 Ju 87 slot
He 111H-6 He 111 slot
Remarks, problems and solutions
Flight models and plane characteristics are based on the superb ECA Panel by
Charles Gunst. However I made some adaptations as I also did in Pacific Tide,
Battle of Britain and the Ardennes.
Defensive guns on bombers are given the same rate of fire, muzzle velocity and
range as the offensive guns of the same type on the fighters. To compensate for
their increased power the dispersion factor is larger and so results in less
accurate defensive fire.
To prevent what the makers of the ECA Online flight models called
"Shot-off-tail syndrome", I applied their solution: doubling the tail
hit points while halving the tail hit bubble size, both for fighters and
bombers.
The great Rendermod by max188 is applied so that planes retain better visibility over larger distances.
The fuel burn rate is 1.5 (in the original EAW it is 1.0). Completely correct fuel burn rate would be 2.0, but this leads to major problems with computer-controlled planes as they cannot conserve their fuel. The value 1.5 leads to nice dropping fuel gauges while on mission, but retaining enough fuel reserve to reach your homebase safely. Alt-N also conserves fuel.
'Emil'
5 March 2002
Original version 1.0 release
23 March 2002
Version 1.1 update-- Includes graphics and data file updates to fix several
minor issues.