WWII Fighters lesson 2: Situational Awareness

Dude Joined: Jul 21, 2003 Posts: 12 Location: USA

Lesson #2: Situational Awareness (ww2keys & ww2ini files)

This is lesson 2/6, to help new pilots get a handle on how to be successful at playing Jane's World War II Fighter's. This post is for new pilots who want increase their situational awareness by customizing their game settings and keyboard assignments. Not knowing how familiar anyone might be with computers, or this game, these instructions are basic. If for some reason things do not go exactly as described, stop when it does not make sense, go to the Hyper Lobby, and ask someone for help.

The files you need to look for are the Keys-File and the Config-File (a.k.a. the INI File). First thing, go the C:Program/FilesJanes/Combat/SimulationsWWII/Fighters folder. To get there, Double-Click on "My Computer" then 2-click on "C:" then 2-click on "Program Files" then 2-click on "Janes Program Files" then 2-click on "WWII Fighters." Your address line should read: "C:Program/FilesJanes/Combat Simulations/WWII Fighters" exactly. Leave that folder open for now.

In that folder, look for two files with icons that look like little notebooks; one file says ww2 and it will have a gold flower on it; the other file says ww2keys (just a notebook icon). There is another file in that folder that says "ww2" but it has an airplane with a blue circle around it, that one is your EXE file, leave that one alone (if you click on it, it will only start your game). These other two files, called the configuration and keys files, are there for you to customize your settings, and let you change your key-command assignments to whatever you like.

Before you change anything, you should save read-only COPIES of those original files. You are going to create a new folder in My Documents and name it Janes Backups or something, and paste copies of those two original files into it. To do that, Double-Click on "My Documents," then in the upper left-hand corner of that window, left-click on "File," and drag to "New," then to "Folder." That will create a "New Folder" in your My Documents folder. Right-Click on that new folder and that will bring up a little menu window, then left-click on "Rename" and type in "Janes Backups" or something like that. Double-Click on that new folder and that will open it up, it should be empty. Leave this new backup folder open and go back to C:Program/FilesJanes/Combat Simulations/WWII Fighters folder. Right-Click on the "ww2keys" file, then select "Copy" and then right-click in that new backup folder you just created and select "Paste" from that little menu window. Now, just to be safe, right-click on that new backup copy of your ww2keys file, then select "Properties" and check the "Read Only" box. Now that file is there as a backup for your reference, and will not be accidentally modified (repeat for the above for the ww2 configuration file).

When you have copied both the original ww2 config and the ww2keys file and saved them as Read-Only in your new backup folder, you can close down that new backup folder, as well as the "My Documents" folder. Then go back to the C:Program/FilesJanes/Combat Simulations/WWII Fighters folder. Open the ww2 config file and check it out. These items allow you to change the settings in your game to however you like it. For online play, you should increase the display frame-rate speed first, so that the planes have smooth continuous flight paths, then adjust the graphic details to look good. You can also set your joystick sensitivity, gun settings, seat positions, etc. Many of these items are explained in the "readme" files.

Look for the NUMDEER line item. Change that number to 0. Those deer are lag generators, and they serve absolutely no purpose for fighting against human pilots. You can change these items to whatever you like, but make one change at a time. Then if you make a mistake, you can refer to the copies of the originals that you saved in that other backup folder. Once you get these settings the way you want, change this file to "Read Only" as well. Otherwise, some of these settings may change if another mission host has different settings.

Another interesting line item in the ww2 config file is "RealSize." It changes the planes to realsize if you want. Normally, the planes in this simulation are double the real historical size. If you are on realsize and the other players are not, then they will still see you the original double size, but you will see them half of what you normally do. That will make the game 4x harder because with realsize set to "Yes" the planes will be twice as hard for you to hit, but they will also appear to be moving twice as fast. So if you practice like that, you will force yourself to get better. But you will get absolutely hammered if you play in the lobby with realsize on. So you might want to use an alias while you practice, its tough to shake a reputation for being that bad, hehe.

The ww2keys file is where you can assign commands to keys on your keyboard and joystick buttons. Some of the commands can have two buttons assigned to it, like a keyboard button can fire the guns as well as the trigger on your joystick. But no single button can be assigned to two different commands. Therefore, when you change a key assignment, you have to make sure it is not already assigned to another function or command. If that is the case, then the other assignment has to be changed to an unused key as well.

Of course, you will want a setup that is natural for you. But as an example, I will show you how mine is setup. My goal in changing my key assignments was to keep my left hand on the keyboard or mouse, to always have my right hand on the joystick, and NEVER take my eyes off the screen. Below is how my ww2keys file is setup, and unless otherwise noted, the button assignments remain as the default settings:

Q = AutoPilot, when this function was assigned to the A-Key, I would accidentally hit it sometimes meaning to hit the S-Key for Auto-Trim, so I moved it.

A = Inactive key assignment.

Z = Landing Gear, sometimes I would hit the G-Key meaning to hit the F-Key for Flaps, so I moved it.

X = Target Friendly, I use this to find my wingmen and fly to them when I get in trouble. When used with JOY2 (explained below) I can now toggle to view other friendly planes. Use the D-Key to turn this function off.

D = Deselect Target, this used to be the ; key but being able to deselect targets with my left hand allows me to switch from targeting friendly planes to targeting enemy planes without taking my eye off the monitor.

R = Chase View, I moved this from the F5-Key so I can see how close to the ground I am without moving my left hand too much. Now I can toggle from Chase-View to In-Cockpit view by hitting the R-Key and the JOY4 key.

G = Player to Target View, (formerly F7) this allows me to see an enemy (or friend) in relation to my plane. Since the target window only displays the horizontal distances, I use this view quite often to get an idea of vertical separation between my plane and whoever I have in my target window.

JOY1 = Main gun trigger, the default setting.

JOY2 = NextVisibleTarget, this used to be button used to be assigned to "CockpitToggle" but I moved it. This is a more convenient button that allows me to toggle to the next target without moving my left or right hand, and thereby keep my eyes on the screen. Every time someone revives, I can find them, and re-evaluate the situation, it is like having eyes in the back of your head.

JOY3 = VirtualView, this feature is used to bring my view back to front and centered from any other view or angle that I had been looking at. This is the default button assignment and used for precision shooting.

JOY4 = CockpitToggle, this used to be assigned to "LockHead" but with JOY4 switching the cockpit on and off, it allows me to switch back from the "ChaseView" and if I am ever trying to track someone with my mouse, the cockpit provides a reference to what my plane is doing. Personally, I believe the LockHead function gets many people killed by making them focus on one enemy at a time.