Contents:
Flawed
Beginning
History
Begins
Early UOP's
"The Dr.1 is Porked!"
SWWISA
The Last Classic UOP
To
the East!
Revolution
of CdT
A New Breed of UOP
Pat Wilson and WFP
Stachel's Hell's Angels
The Promised Land
The End of the Road
Stachel and His Angels from
Hell
Yet,
even with the epic achievement of Western Front Patch, two more patch
creators continued to work even harder to produce great patches that would
not need date-based file swapping. Two stand-alone patches mark their
place in community history with the two unique roads they take. One
brilliantly captures all that Red Baron has been to all of us, and the
other strains Red Baron to its very limits by filling it with the most
immerse graphics and sounds seen to date. Hell’s Angels by Otto von
Stachel, and Full Canvas Jacket by Kessler, stand shoulder to shoulder
with WFP in the history of Red Baron.
Otto
von Stachel, a lifelong World War One aviation buff, computer game
enthusiast, and member of SWWISA, would create a significant UOP from the
ashes of an old patch that was left behind, and then make the work truly
his own. Hell’s Angels began from the remains of UOP 4.5, an older patch
from the Beery 2.0 days, created by another maker, Baron von Benz. Stachel
took the patch and began what is known as a homebrew; a mix of various
patches from various sources made for one’s own liking. But as he began
skinning aircraft for his private collection, the itch began to grip him
and soon he was making headway on his own UnOfficial Patch.
(Bitmap
file from Hell’s Angels Super Patch highlights Stachel’s attention to
detail)
Hell’s Angels began as Red Baron at its most classic. The patch
featured a mix of photo-realistic skins along with the older bitmaps of
previous patches (including UOP 4.5 and Baron von Helton’s work).
Stachel was the T.S. Eliot of Red Baron, shoring the remains of every
patch ever created against him to create, in essence, a living history of
the community rolled into one patch. Thus, Hell’s Angels was released
with much praise and success. Yet, Stachel’s journey into the world of
patch making was not yet complete. Banding together with Pat Wilson from
WFP fame, something truly special would emerge in the next versions of
Hell’s Angels.
If
Hell’s Angels and Western Front Patch are to teach us anything, it is
the benefit of having two creators share resources openly. In fact, many
of Hell’s Angels bitmaps are actually borrowed from Western Front Patch,
and vice versa. Stachel said he felt his patch should be called:
“WFP/HA”. This sharing of
work allowed both patches to benefit enormously and created two deep and
rich UOP’s for everyone to enjoy. It was, as they say, “a beautiful
thing”.
Over
the course of two years, Hell’s Angels grew into an immaculate non-date
based patch that really broke out of the traditional mold of Red Baron
into a unique work all its own. The last version of Hell's Angels added
another SWWISA member's talent, Shredward. Stachel will be the first to
tell you that Shredward was vital to producing Hell’s Angels Super Patch
(HASP) and without his help, the patch would never have been the success
it is today. With Shred's vast knowledge and depth of research, the skies
of HASP were filled with more historical accuracy than any WWI game ever
seen before. Hell’s Angels also featured some of the most realistic and
breath-taking skins ever seen in the history of the community, and coupled
it with Rabu’s excellent work in terrain modeling. Works by Pat Wilson,
Andreas, and WWeaver, made their debut in the latest version of Hell’s
Angels. The patch also featured ace paint schemes of lesser-known pilots
such as Elliot White Springs, and Raul Lufbery but always historically
accurate even to the smallest detail. The patch included exciting new
“single missions”, something that no other creator has included in a
UOP before or since. This gave players a chance to see the richness of the
patch and to really enjoy all of the work that was done. Hell’s Angels
also featured menu music from the movie “The Blue Max” along with a
mix of period songs and gave the game brand new sound effects. Wind now
whistled through the cockpit, guns had new, frightening sounds, and the
immersion created by the great new effects was stunning. The patch
successfully combined the artistic talents of the brightest in the
community, openly shared resources, and in the end, created an amazingly
rich, deep single player experience that left pilots pleased and eager for
more. But Otto wasn’t finished yet.
(A Pair of Spad XIII scouts from Hell’s Angels… OvS/PW)
(Three Pfalz D.IIIa’s in
Hell’s Angels … WWeaver)
Stachel followed up the successful Hell’s Angels with a unique patch called Resurrection. This patch allowed all historical pilots from the war to live indefinitely, only dying when the player shot them down. This opened up many new possibilities within a single player campaign. What if Manfred von Richtofen wasn’t the highest scoring ace of the war? What if Max Immelmann lived until 1918? The ramifications of these seemingly slight changes were huge and generated a lot of excitement within the community. Resurrection’s concept remains a first. Stachel rewrote the pages of history, changing every ace profile in the game to reflect what might have happened if they had survived the war which claimed so many of their lives. In addition to the new profiles, Stachel had to invent new ace paint schemes for aircraft the resurrected aces would have flown. What would Bolecke look like in a Fokker DVII or Max Immelmann in a Fokker Dr1? The new paint schemes and possibilities were exciting from the beginning, and gave many of us chills as we flew with aces we knew had never lived that long. Resurrection stands as a unique patch that broke the mold of what Red Baron had traditionally done. While it was a departure from the great historical accuracy produced in the original Hell’s Angels, it gave the community a great injection of fun to live out boyhood dreams of flying with, or against, the all time greats.
(Bolecke
flies patrol with Jasta 11 in 1918 RB default scenery)
Stachel
also coupled Hell’s Angels with a Blue Max Patch, in honor of the
1960’s film. After seeing a set of skins released by Andreas that
duplicated the paint schemes used in the movie, Stachel could not pass up
a chance to make a full blown patch for Hell’s Angels. Players could now
fly along side Bruno Stachel or even Willi von Klugermann, the famous
characters from the film. It gave the game another shot of pure fun and
enjoyment for all of those who remembered the movie so well. Hell’s
Angels still stands the test of time as the best free, non-date based
patch around and is the best start for anyone looking to begin their way
into the world of Red Baron, or for those who love the game at its richest
and most fun.
(A pair of Fokker DR.1’s painted for the Blue Max patch.... Andreas)
