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
Early Unofficial Patches
One of the first major UOP’s was the Beery Patch version 2.0 with the CMDate add-on included. Beery and Wi`ngStrut were two of the founding fathers of UOP’s to be created within Red Baron. While the Beery Patch 2.0, WingStrut’s 2.2, and UOP 3.0 appeared at roughly the same point in history the Beery Patch provides an excellent example of the early steps attempted by all modders within the community in late 1999. It featured improved plane bitmaps, special effects such as thicker smoke and fire graphics, and an improved (though far from perfect) flight model. The Beery Patch was one of the first UOP’s to take advantage of file swapping, using the Campaign Manager 1.1 program. Beery even made what became an aborted attempt at creating new aircraft for the game. Called the New Plane patch it attempted to model such obscure planes as the Fokker DVIII, which saw little to no combat in WWI. However, it was not yet known how to change interior cockpits and coupled with other shortcomings, the patch simply could not be completed. While it can be said the New Plane patch as a whole failed, it was simply ahead of its time. It would take another five years for the knowledge of Red Baron to progress before new planes could be featured in a patch. Fly this UOP along with Baron von Benz’s UOP 4.5 or WingStrut’s 2.2 patch to see what the community first experienced in late 1999 with its first taste of a full-fledged UnOfficial Patch for Red Baron.
(A
few of the aircraft featured in Beery 2.0 and a good example of what was
commonly seen in 1999 and 2000: courtesy of vonOben’s Flight Sim site)
(Screenshot
from Beery’s NewPlane patch, next to the BSPFX Patch released in early
2000)
Moving down the timeline a few years, we come across one of the more unusual patches created within the community. Produced by Baron von Helton, The Revenge of the Jastas II patch was the culmination of much work. Von Helton was the first to create new 3D models of the aircraft in Red Baron, finally providing the realism the community so greatly desired. Wires began to appear between the wings, engines took on three-dimensional shapes, and aircraft parts were rendered in full 3D. Of course these models were primitive at the time, yet they show the Baron’s unique touch at creating engaging and visually interesting models of WWI aircraft. With his flair for the obscure and offbeat aircraft and personalities of the war, Revenge of the Jastas II has possibly the most unusual feel for a UOP. Fly this patch next to see what the next leap in Red Baron technology looked like.
(A
bitmap file unique to ROTJ II)
(An
Albatross DV from Revenge of the Jastas II)
