... is this how it is supposed to work or am I doing too much work? Can you let me know what I am missing?
I think you needed only new entries in "Finland41.DB" and "Finland41Planes.dat", don't know what is "planesFiF.dat". I would leave all the rest untouched at this scope.
greybeard,
The planes[campaign].dat file is the file that specifies which aircraft are available for the player to pick for each campaign/episode. So for "FiF" (Finland dynamic fighter campaign) there are 4 major campaigs or episodes, which are Finland41, Leningrad42, Leningrad43 and Leningrad44). When you start the campaign, you can choose which year you want to start. If you start in Finland41, you will go through the whole campaign until Leningrad44 ends. If you start in Leningrad42, you don't go through Finland41, but you still end it in Leningrad44... and so forth.
It is the file that gives you the choice of planes for that campaign to start... so for example, in Finland41 you can start with the J8A, B239, G50 or HurricaneMkIa... eventually you will be upgraded to other planes available but that is how you start. You could add other planes and with the later versions of IL-2 1946 and Mod packs, it is easy to add new (flyable) planes to that list without changing much else... for example, I added the Gladiator2, the MS406 and P_36A3 and A4, because they are already in the [Planes] section of Finland41.DB and they are by default Axis planes in the simulator. In Leningrad44 you could add the MS410 because it is already in the order of battle... But I believe if you want to add something like the Morko Morane, you may have to add them to the DB file as well... not sure.
The problem I have been having is adding the dual side planes, like captured I-153 (M62 and P)... you can add them, and they are available, but even with the changes in the Finland41 (Axis Finland # plane_type), it does not seem to work... only when I create an [episode]Planes.dat it seems to work... which is what you have been saying all along... but Asura is saying that is not necessary, and I would prefer not to have to use that... so I am trying to find what I am doing wrong.
Hope that makes sense.
Best Regards,
UberDemon/danzigzag
www.uberdemon.net