B-17: Flying Fortress – The Mighty Eighth Patch Version 2.0

 

Although there are various changes in this patch the majority of difference is to be found in the way the simulation manages engines. Simulation and Modelling of the engines has been made more complex and realistic – full explanations follow.

 

Installation

This patch will upgrade B-17 V1.1 with or without earlier Patches installed. You can apply this patch safely to any version of B-17 below V2.0. You should not, however, install the earlier patch onto a version of the game patched to V2.0. If in doubt, consult your Read Me file to check the Version number of B-17 or the Volume Label of your CD.

 

The patch comes with a full install shield front end. Simply doubleclick on the B-17 Patch 2.0 icon. From there, follow the instructions on screen to fully install the patch. The patch needs to make changes to the AIRCRAFT.OMF B17Data.OMF files and RiverAndRoadsDB.LMF (amongst others!) so you will lose any changes you may have made to these files. Please be aware that you should not overwrite the files provided by this patch with older files you may have modified. If you wish to make any changes using the OMFMOD utility, please make them to the new files provided!

New Difficulty Options

 

Note: The difficulties for Engine Management are controlled via Realism: General Difficulty.

 

Low: No damage, simple modelling, no AI

Medium: No damage, full modelling, full AI

High: Full damage, full modelling, full AI.

 

Notes on Engine Management

When an engine is damaged it suffers from a heating penalty. Therefore damaged engines will tend to overheat more at the same power levels.

 

Given that, the following points should be remembered:

 

Carburettor Air Filters should be turned on below 8,000 feet and off above that. 1.5 inches of manifold pressure are lost due to use of these. If used above 8,000 feet there is an increasing heat penalty on the Carburettor Air Temperature.

 

Fuel Boosters should be on for engine start, take-off, landing, flight below 1,000 feet and flight above 10,000 feet. If fuel pressure is above 10 then there is a fuel usage penalty.

 

Open cowl flaps have a small effect on drag.

 

Monitoring Engine Temperatures

The best view to monitor the status of your engines from is the Pilots Instruments View. To quickly access this you should press <F1> (To Enter the Aircraft if outside), <3> (To select the Pilot), <I> (To select the Instrument View) and then <F6> (To select the right part of the control panel).

 

You inlay card can be used to quickly orient yourself as to which gauges refer to which temperatures – for your convenience you can leave your mouse pointer still on any needle to identify it’s gauge.

 

The temperature gauges have had a number added, letting you know exactly what the gauge is reading. This can be used to get a precise reading if the gauge itself is unclear. In addition the following colour codes have been added by colouring the tool tip text as follows:

 

 

Colour	Temperature Status
Blue	The Temperature is below desirable levels. Action should be taken to increase the temperature
Green	The Temperature is within desirable levels. No action is needed.
Amber	The temperature is exceeding desirable levels, but not by a dangerous amount as yet.
Red	The Temperature is exceeding desirable levels and by a dangerous amount. Action should be taken to decrease the temperature.

 

Each individual element of the engine where temperature is important is mentioned in detail below. When action is indicated, you can find useful information there.

 

In addition two types of controls have had to be changed.

 

Cowl Flaps needed more detail to allow players to balance Carburettor Air Temperature properly. Cowl Flaps are now operated on a percentage basis (tooltips will confirm) with the Left Mouse button opening them and the Right Mouse button closing them. Of all the engine instruments, cowl flaps alone cannot be used to hand an engine back to the AI. This is due to their dual Left and Right mouse button functionality. If you change the settings of a cowlflap manually, then AI control WILL still be locked out, but you will need to right click on any other control related to that engines performance in order to hand the engine back to the AI Due to graphical limitations cowlflaps set to 40% or less will appear closed and those set to 41% or more will appear open.

 

Fuel Mixture

 

Mixture Setting	Circumstances for use	Effect on Heat	Fuel Economy
Auto Lean	Cruising at Low altitudes or payloads	Hottest	Best
Auto Rich	Take Off, Landing and Climbing. Cruising at high altitudes with heavy payloads.	Slight Cooling	Worse
Emergency Rich	Emergency situations where Engine Temperature is critical	Rapid Cooling	Worst

 

Note that Emergency Rich reduces maximum Power Output under normal circumstances, but may increase allowable output by cooling very hot engines.

 

Strategy:

Your Oil Temperature needs to be closely watched, as Cowl Flaps and Intercoolers can do nothing to affect it. Only reducing power and increasing airspeed and/or altitude can lower your Oil Temperature. Times to watch particularly for high Oil Temperatures are Low Altitude climbs, especially after take off or when carrying a heavy payload. Always remember that a high oil temperature may force you out of formation or risk engine damage and should be avoided.

 

If your Oil Temperature DOES start to rise during a climb (especially if it rises evenly across all engines) you should try levelling off slightly and reducing power to maintain a constant airspeed of 150mph. Having a high airspeed will tend to increase the cooling effects on the engine so reducing the power on a climb without in turn reducing the climb rate will result in a bleed off of Airspeed.

 

The Carburettor Air Temperature reacts quickly to cooling or heating, and tends to decrease in relation to the temperature of the air surrounding the aircraft (which cools quickly with altitude). You should therefore gradually move the intercoolers to the Hot (closed) position during a climb to stop ice forming in the carburettor. The sign to check for if icing in the carburettor is suspected is a drop off in power output from the affected engine. If the temperature in the carburettor is not raised to counter this then the power reduction will accelerate. Eventually the engine will fail entirely and, once the carburettor is completely frozen in this manner the damage will not be correctable in flight.

 

Remember that the Intercoolers ALSO affect Cylinder Head Temperature, albeit to a much lesser extent than their effects on the Carburettor Air Temperature.

 

The Cylinder Head Temperature (CHT) will vary slowly and is best controlled with the Cowl Flaps, although the intercoolers also affect it slightly. Running the engine in Auto Rich will have a slight cooling effect but Emergency Rich will have a dramatic cooling effect at the cost of excessive fuel consumption and loss of power.

 

In emergencies diving at speeds of around 200-250MPH is a useful tactic for reducing the engine temperatures quickly.

 

 

Oil Temperature Data

 Operational Temperature Ranges

Min: +60

Max: +88

Desired: +70

 

Heating Influences

Power (Manifold Pressure)

 

Cooling Influences

Airspeed

Altitude

 

Rate Of Change

Very Slow

 

Damage

When power is high and temperature is low.

When temperature is high.

 

 

Carburettor Air Temperature Data

 

Operational Temperature Ranges

Min: +15

Max: +38

Desired: +20

 

Heating Influences

Power (Manifold Pressure)

 

Cooling Influences

Intercoolers

Airspeed through Intercoolers

Altitude through Intercoolers

 

Rate Of Change

Fast

 

Damage

When the temperature is low the engine's efficiency will be gradually reduced until eventual failure. If the temperature is increased before failure the efficiency will gradually recover.

When the temperature is high.

 

 

Cylinder Head Temperature Data

 

Operational Temperature Ranges:

Min: +150

Max: +205

Desired: +204

 

Heating Influences

Power (Manifold Pressure)

 

Cooling Influences

Airspeed minor effect through Intercoolers, major through Cowl Flaps

Altitude minor effect through Intercoolers, major through Cowl Flaps

Intercoolers

Cowl Flaps

Mixture Auto Rich/Emergency Rich

 

Rate Of Change

Slow

 

Damage

When the temperature is high.

 

 

 

Gameplay Strategies

The biggest change in gameplay from this patch regards altitude and the way the successful commander uses it during a mission. The following things will have to be remembered.

 

1. Non-critical hits to engines will reduce power output or the ability to deal with heat – with similar results, a lesser ability to sustainably produce the power needed to loft a fully laden B-17 at 30,000 feet and 150mph.

 

2. The only factor that changes in your favour as the mission progresses is the payload of your B-17. Fuel is consumed steadily and your bomb load will hopefully be released about halfway through the mission. The load on your engines will therefore decrease as the mission progresses.

 

3. If your B-17 is forced to abort the mission because of an inability to stay with the formation then you should immediately jettison your bombs. This will lighten the load on your bomber, and may make the difference between making it back and force landing or bailing out.

 

4. You CAN manually force more power out of your engines. The AI will act protectively towards your engines, and you can often squeeze a lot more power out of your engines than it can. Only push an engine to destruction if you have to, however – watch for the black smoke that warns of overheating to the point of damage.

 

5. Extreme Payloads may compromise your squadron’s ability to cruise at 30,000 feet, this is especially obvious for deep penetrations into Germany / Austria. If you prefer this altitude for your missions, but find your squadron formation breaking apart before you get that high, then you should try 25,000 or even 20,000 feet until things stabilise.

 

6. Utilising ANY control attached to an engine deactivates the AI’s control of that engine. As well as the normal controls you should be aware of controls like Fuel Booster pumps, Intercooler settings and Cowl Flaps. Remember that right clicking on any control  (except Cowl Flaps) associated with that engine will allow the AI to take control of the engine again.

 

7. The AI will attempt to maintain temperatures and power outputs within acceptable norms (given above). Once you return control back to the AI, it will only alter your original settings in order to stay within those norms.

 

8. Evasive action during flak attacks is a necessity if playing with complex engine management. Every flak fragment that impacts an engine reduces that engines efficiency. A great way to avoid damage from flak is to go to the Radio Operator as soon as flak is sighted (or a timeskip is interrupted with an attack warning) and order a 2,000-foot change in altitude. By the time the flak is bursting around your formation you should be far enough into your altitude change to avoid the worst of it.