TIME:    03/11  8:30 AM
TO:      ALL
FROM:    JON SALOGA   (WNNB53A)
SUBJECT: SWOTL GROUP

Hear Ye Rookie Hexers!
  Lately I've been playing around with the turret bytes and
have found a couple of things that aren't mentioned in the
hexing tutorials..
  In order to prevent those 'glitch lines' that occur when
firing a turret, you must insert the B17PROP graphics into
the .EXP file at the 1C6 thru 1CD addresses like so:
  DEBUG (name of plane).EXP
  E 1C6 42 31 37 50 52 4F 50
  W
  Q
   You can also block unwanted turrets at the 2A9 thru 2B2
addresses. Each byte controls a particular key on the
numeric keypad. 2A9 controls the "0" key, 2AA the "1" key,
2AB the "2" key and so on up to 2B2 which controls the "9"
key. Remember, these are for the numeric keypad as opposed
to the number keys. At each byte you may enter a value that
corresponds to a turret position, or you may simply
shut it off, blocking it from the keypad. The values are as
follows:
         00  Chin Turret
         01  Left Cheek Gunner
         02  Left Waist Gunner
         03  Tail Turret
         04  Right Waist Gunner
         05  Right Cheek Gunner
         06  Top Turret
         07  Belly Turret
         FF  No Turret
  So if you wanted to hex up, say, a TBF Avenger<G>, which
has a rear gunner and tunnel (belly) gunner, your turret
string would look like this:

   DEBUG AVENGER.EXP
   E 2A9 07 FF FF FF FF 05 FF FF FF FF
   W
   Q
      That assigns a belly gunner to the "0" key (07) and a
top turret for the rear gunner to the "5" key (05). Pressing
any other key on the keypad will do nothing as they
are locked out (FF). This now saves you from having to go
thru all the trouble of giving those 'non-existant' turrets
zero ammo. In fact, you can just leave all the information
blank in those areas, except of course for the turrets that
will be active. It also prevents one from getting "lost" in
a bunch of unusable turrets by accidentally pressing the
wrong key on the keypad, something I have done more than
once<G>. Plus, you can customize or mix and match turrets
with this technique (three tail gunners, access top turret
with the "0" key, etc.).
  BTW, it is also advisable that when grafting turrets,
enter 08 at the 2A8 address. This is the 'number of turrets'
byte as mentioned in the SPCTXT file. Entering any other
number seems to cause problems or crash the program. Just
leave it at 08 and you can still put a different amount of
turrets onto your plane. Am not real sure why it does this.

                                              --Jon--
 
TIME:    03/14 10:16 AM
FROM:    JON SALOGA   (WNNB53A)
SUBJECT: SWOTL GROUP

  Just thought I would clarify a few things about the last
note I posted concerning glitches in the hexed turrets.
First off, I forgot to mention that you need to slightly
alter the corresponding .INT file in the CP subdirectory:
  DEBUG (name of plane).INT
  E 87B 4B DA 32
  W
  Q
    I have also recently found a different way to hex the
plane's .EXP file. My last note instructed entering the
B17PROP graphic file at the 1C6 address. This still works,
but if you are flying a plane with a piston-engine located
in the nose, and get shot up so badly that it starts to
smoke and burn, instead of seeing fire and smoke, four B-17
propellers will sprout from the plane's nose!<G> I tried
getting the plane's EGFIRE and B17PROP graphics to co-exist,
one behind the other, but it either would lock the computer,
or give me the aforementioned result. The solution is
to give the plane TWO EGFIRE graphic strings, one at 1C6,
and the other at 1D0. It should look like this:
  DEBUG (name of plane).EXP
  E 1C6 45 47 46 49 52 45 00
  E 1D0 45 47 46 49 52 45 00 00 00 22
  W
  Q
     The '22' byte at the end of the 2nd string is from the
B17 file and prevents the glitches that occur only when
firing.
   Similarly, you can give a twin-engined plane, such as
the P-38, two P38FIRE strings. There is one slight drawback
to this--when in the turret, you will probably see random
glitches that periodically show up for maybe a half-second,
then are gone. If you use the B17PROP graphic, there will
probably be no turret glitches, but there will be some
slight engine graphic anomalies when it begins to burn.
  To sum up, in order to clean up the turret glitches, you
need to do the following:
  For Single-engine planes, enter the EGFIRE graphic at 1C6
and 1D0, and '22' at 1D9.
  For planes with wing-mounted engines, enter the
B17PROP\P38FIRE\or ME262 graphic at 1C6, and 22 at 1CF.
  In the plane's .INT file, enter 4B DA 32 at address 87B.

  Sorry if this caused any confusion. In the future, I'll
have to learn to compose my notes a little better<G>!!

                                           --Jon--
