Hey there,
Ive been looking for some information about "how do pilots after 3.7.0 work" but havent found only scattered information though ive been reading the 3.7.0 release thread.
Here's my story:
I started playing FS2 again in January so all my Pilots are created with the new code. First ive read that i should use one Pilot for each mod in order not to corrupt them.. so what ive been doing chronologically is the following:
1) Created Pilot 1, played FS2 Main Campaign with 2014's vps
2) Created Pilot 2, played Derelict with 3612 vps
3)Created Pilot 3, played FSPort Main Campaign (with the corresponding vps)
4) at that point i read, that due to the new code in 3.7.0 it wouldnt be neccessary to create a pilot for each mod anymore... which made me somewhat happy, because with all those cool mods around iam sure it can become quite complicated to keep track of what Pilot youre using for which mod...
5) so
i stayed with Pilot 3 for the next campaign: Silent Threat Reborn.
6) Yesterday i finished STR (wonderful campaign btw) and decided to stay with FSPort Campaigns for a while as there are some restored campaings mentioned in the STR Thread: Cardinal Spear, Destiny of Peace, Awakening... I downloaded them and installed them properly (each one gets its own folder in the main directory)
7) At that point i began to experience some "odd" things which are the reason for this thread... First of all: I was in FS2 with STR Mod activated, clicked on the ready room and got the "your campaign is finished, restart it to play it again" message. I left the game and activated one of the 3 mentioned above campaigns (i deactivated STR)
8) As soon as i wanted to join the main hall i got a "your pilot is not fitting for this mod" message (cant recall the exact msg).
9) Now i backed up my pilot files and started some experiments
10) I started / restarted some campaigns in the planning room and experienced, that if i go back to FS1 Main Campaign the "overall progress" of my pilot seems to get resetted back to that point where i finished FS1 Main. Just like i would've never played STR with that Pilot. I also figured out that for a pilot, there obviously are 3 different types of files: .hcf (hud config, can be shared) , .plr (this seems to be the "main storage" ?) unique for each , .csg ('campaign save game'?? - seems to be one for each campaign you play).
So, now i'd like to know more about the mechanics of the new pilot files..
Is this bevaviour i encountered working as intended?
Is there a way to accumulate stats of your played campaigns without "going back" to a (hidden) savepoint in the pilot file?
What about "this pilot doesnt fit the mod" message ive got? Am i able to use 1 Pilot for each Mod (without accumulating) ?
What's the file format of .csg and .plr? I am familiar with c, c# and java so iam quite interested to look into this... is there an editor available? (maybe i can write one at some point).
What about Multiplayer Pilots? Ive read that there is no difference anymore. So i can just go ahead in the start screen, click on multi and use my pilots without any troubles?
Ive got some old Pilots, FS2 Retail and ive been wondering if there's a way to convert them - Especially my old pxo Pilot - a lot of love went into there you know
Kind regards,
Eagle