WoI Historic Mods Thread

[+Johan217 5]

Are you, guys, planing an historical mod that revamp stock campaigns? Will all Israeli planes and arab planes be flyable?

You can start with my WOI campaigns expansion, which makes the stock WOI aircraft flyable and allows campaigns for both sides.

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...p;showfile=6144

 

Also be sure to get Pancho's campaigns. They don't add any aircraft, but they fill in the time gaps between the stock campaigns.

[Emp_Palpatine 501]

I've already them, but I would like to have WoI compatible pits with your campaign, as those downloadable here all includes loadout and FM, and don't know if installing them or not will mixed up the game.

[+LloydNB 212]

Wrench

 

I like your idea of making duplicate western A2A missiles with a EGY prefix and changing the attachment type to WP. It works a treat for the Egyptian F-4E and Jordanian F-5E, F-104A and F-104B. All we need is a comprehensive list of western weapons used by Arab nations.

 

It seems the EAF F-4Es were armed with AIM-7 Sparrows and AIM-9 Sidewinders, AGM-65 Mavericks and "iron" bombs.

 

Watch out for the Mirage Factory WoI weapons pack. It changes the Nations.ini file to make Jordan a "friendly". I image that some other states have been changed as well. Took me ages to work out why the Soviet weapons weren't showing.

 

LloydNB

Edited March 10, 2008 by LloydNB

[Wrench 9,461]

I don't use their nations ini...although it's a simple matter to change it back. Could be why I never had the problem?

 

All the Egyptian-style weapons exits in the BunyPak. It's easy thing to just import them over, or do the 'copy/adust nations/etc/' with existing stuff in TMF pak. Might just be easier to do the copy thing, as the parameters have changed, and the new WedEd just assigned generic valuse for some. It's something else I'm working on...and I'll be posting the results in the "WoI ONLY Loadouts Thread" in the KB

 

Has anybody done EAF Mirage/Phantom skins???? With the Orange Flashes?? We'd also need a Mirage F-1 for Jordan, too. Eventually.

 

So, you made a RJAF B winder??

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[+LloydNB 212]

OK Wrench, I'll keep an eye on the other thread.

 

There's an EAF F-4E available (model and skin) but I'm not sure where I got it. I'll check when I get home from work - its just after 9.30am here at the moment. Its quite fun doing F-4 v F-4 combats.

 

The RJAF F-104B is the very quick and dirty conversion of colmn5's original model using your suggested decal changes for the F-104A.

 

As a filler the F-5A Turkish skin can be easily converted into the F-5s that Jordan got from Iran in the mid-70s.

 

LloydNB

 

(Note - The EAF F-4E is at AVSIM)

Edited March 11, 2008 by LloydNB

[+allenjb42 4,127]

Sundowner did an Egyptian F-4E skin. It's at C5's site

 

http://column5.us/skins/GUESTS/sundowner/F4E_Egypt.7z

 

Did this Egyptian F-16 package from Gepard get mentioned yet?

 

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...p;showfile=2027

 

 

If you're still interested in the Israeli order of battle for Suez 1956, here's what I put together from Bill Norton's Air War On The Edge:

 

IAF Order of Battle - 29 October 1956

(Including French units based in Israel with bogus IAF unit designations in parentheses)

 

Eilat

100 sqn 4 x Cub - flight D

 

Hatzor

101 sqn 49 x Mystere IVA (incl 1 x photo-recce, only 34 operational)

113 sqn 29 x Ouragan (7 x u\s)

 

Lod

(200 sqn) 18 x F-84 (French detachment)

 

Ramat David

69 sqn 2 x B-17

100 sqn 4 x Cub - flight B

105 sqn 13 x P-51

110 sqn 13 x Mosquito FB.6 & TR.33

119 sqn 3 x Meteor NF.13 (1 x u\s)

(199 sqn) 18 x Mystere IVA (French detachment)

(201 sqn) 12 x Mystere IVA (IAF assets flown by French pilots)

 

Ramleh

100 sqn 15 x Cub - flight A

147 sqn 25 x Steaman

 

Sde Teiman

100 sqn 11 x Cub - flight C

140 sqn 22 Harvard

 

Tel Nof

103 sqn 6 x C-47, 19 x C-47 leased from France, 2 x C-47 mobilized Arkia passenger planes, 3 x Noratlas

(203 sqn) 8 x Noratlas (owned & operated by France)

115 sqn 3 x Meteor T.7, 2 x Mosquito PR.16 (photo-recce unit)

116 sqn 16 x P-51

117 sqn 11 x Meteor F.8 & FR.9 (5 x u\s)

Flying School 25 x Harvard, 38 x Stearman

 

Hope it helps.

[Wrench 9,461]

I think Gepard's Arab F-16 is the first post in the WoI Weapons Fixes Thread!

 

Looks like I'll have to go out and get the others, and see whats what with whom that needs something that I lost my train of thought on....

 

I should have an updated targets, types and movements ini for WoI ready in the next day or two. Added HAWKs for the IDF, some truck routes for the Arabs to attack, and a new shipping route for them too. Plus a bunch of flags for the various airbases.

 

Wrnch

kevin stein

[+Johan217 5]

If you're still interested in the Israeli order of battle for Suez 1956, here's what I put together from Bill Norton's Air War On The Edge:

Thanks for the info! Seems to agree with the info I had. I'll experiment with the number of available aircraft in the campaign, but it's possible that the historical numbers will cause units to be wiped out in the game.

 

I'm now putting the ground war in place for the Suez campaign. I will need to add a few locations to make it work the way I want it. Port Fuad isn't there and I want more ships near the harbours...

Once that's done, I'll still need a few skins (mostly for RAF and French units) and edit the loadouts, then testing can begin :)

[+Dave 2,318]

Now that I think of it, this would be good here.

 

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Libya---Air...ules/0731452/L/

 

Before the 1977 skirmish with Egypt they didn't have the green markings as we see in WOI. They had the ones that looked like the ones in the pic of that C-130.

 

Also found this article claiming the same thing. So are the Mirage 5D markings wrong for the 1973 war? Just something I found accidently doing some research on the Mirage 5D.

 

http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_353.shtml

 

Look at some of the markings on these pics in this article.

 

http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_355.shtml

 

 

Thoughts, and I am not rivot counting either, just something I found researching the 5D's armament.

[+Crusader 2,051]

the markings in the game are correct, they change depending on the year ... all arab nations have 2 sets of markings, old and new

its one of the new features which TK added first with FE X1

[+Dave 2,318]

the markings in the game are correct, they change depending on the year ... all arab nations have 2 sets of markings, old and new

its one of the new features which TK added first with FE X1

 

Ah outstanding. I didn't know that.

[+Dave 2,318]

Watch out for the Mirage Factory WoI weapons pack. It changes the Nations.ini file to make Jordan a "friendly". I image that some other states have been changed as well. Took me ages to work out why the Soviet weapons weren't showing.

 

LloydNB

 

That was a mistake and I am re uploading it with the corrections.

[Wrench 9,461]

Johan: you going to edit the targets ini??? I've got an updated one nearly ready, adding IDF HAWK launchers, adding an additional nation (Cyprus) as a base for a new ship route, several new truck routes in Israel.

 

I was also thinking of 'borrowing' some of Gepard's target areas from the Isreal2 map to add...Haifa fuel stroage, Port Said fuel storage, Port Fayd (sp?)

 

I've actually been giving the terrains a good going over...Gepards Israel2 works fine, as long as you have the germanyce terrain folder in, to reference back to for terrains objects -- for some odd reason, Suez needs the desert cat; even with the terrain tiles from Is2. Very strange.

 

For historical, 48 and 56, I'm thinking that his maps ARE the way to go, as everything is already in place. Of course, lots of them can easily be added to the IsrealME map -- have the positions already plotted out

 

Tel Aviv Insdurstial

Haifa Fuel storage

 

Ashod Munitions storage

Netanya Motor Works

Herzila IAI Factroy (these last 3 will need new target areas, as I can't cross match them to the IsME map...have to find the closest 'location'

 

Tanta barracks

the oil field in southern Egypt, on the Red Sea.

 

These can also be easily added. Parked ships is a total no-brainer!

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[Emp_Palpatine 501]

Now that I think of it, this would be good here.

 

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Libya---Air...ules/0731452/L/

 

Before the 1977 skirmish with Egypt they didn't have the green markings as we see in WOI. They had the ones that looked like the ones in the pic of that C-130.

 

Also found this article claiming the same thing. So are the Mirage 5D markings wrong for the 1973 war? Just something I found accidently doing some research on the Mirage 5D.

 

http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_353.shtml

 

Look at some of the markings on these pics in this article.

 

http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_355.shtml

 

 

Thoughts, and I am not rivot counting either, just something I found researching the 5D's armament.

 

Here speak the ex-worker in diplomacy in Libya. ;)

 

Well, Libya changed the markings of aircraft following 1977 people power proclamation, when they switched from their Egyptian-like flag (panarabism and all that stuff) to a Green banner, symbolizing Kadhafi's green revolution.

The following months, they updated their marking, from the egyptian-like to the green roundel and flag.

So, I've seen that in 1973 war campaign, the WoI Mirage V do have the correct roundels and marking, and that's great. That's even better if they switch to green after 1977.

[+Johan217 5]

Johan: you going to edit the targets ini??? I've got an updated one nearly ready, adding IDF HAWK launchers, adding an additional nation (Cyprus) as a base for a new ship route, several new truck routes in Israel.

Yes, I'd be very much interested!

Since it's for a 1956 campaign, SAM sites are not necessary, but the rest will be useful.

So far I have only added 2 airbases in Cyprus, but the location needs tweaking because the terrain is too hilly there. I wouldn't add any targets in Israel as the action will take place over the Sinai.

 

The WOI terrain covers most of the things I need, so I was planning to stick with it. Besides I don't have a copy of SFP1 or WOE

The only things I want to add are:

- Port Fuad

- El Gamil airfield

- (static) ships in Port Said and Port Fuad

- RAF Akrotiri and RAF Tymbou on Cyprus

- shipping lane in the Red Sea

 

By the way, is it possible to add ships to a carrier station, or do I need to create a new target area close to the carrier station?

[Wrench 9,461]

The only things I want to add are:

- Port Fuad

- El Gamil airfield

- (static) ships in Port Said and Port Fuad

- RAF Akrotiri and RAF Tymbou on Cyprus

- shipping lane in the Red Sea

 

There are 232 stock target areas....the targets ini I have now has 261, and I'm not done yet!!!

 

I forsee some problems with Cyprus...the northern/northeastern part of the island is at "The Wall" . Found this out when I added the target area "Limassol" (ok, one building! -- just needed a start point for the shipping route). Akrotiri is to the west, IIRC, near the southwestern peninusla?? Have to pop back to google earth again...

 

There are static ship in Said on both sides of the Canal mouth; Fuad dosent' exist, as they've spread Said to BOTH side of the canal. It would be a pretty easy matter to 'split' the zone by adding Faud, and centering the 0,0 coord just east of the canal. I have the tank farm placed west of the city, about where the r/l airport is, as that was the only spot big enough to lay it down in.

 

Airfields are pretty easy to add...it's flattening them that's the bitch!!! We'd need a few things not supplied with the game before attempting to create a new HFD and TFD:

 

1) complete city list - not that difficult, just time consuming.

2) unsure the TE, as it is, actually works with the new format of WoI -- and I'm afraid to test it!!! Even with 3 installs of WoI, my paranoia is showing for blowing up HFD/TFD files.

 

You said you don't have SF or WoE..I assume you have WoV?? Try this:

 

copy the VietnamSEA terrain file into WoI

Get Gepards Israel2, as it has it's own terrain tiles.

Adjust the cat pointer to the VietnamSEA.cat;

Test fly.

 

It should work!

 

I haven't tried this myself, as I have, well, ALL version of the game, and am using the desert cat for Suez (needs the tiles--but these can be transfered over from Isreal2), and the WoE GermanyCE.cat for Isreal2. They work fine ... excepting for some oddities with the Mc-205 -- explodes on the runway)

 

As to your Red Sea shipping routes, a target area will need to be added at the bottom of the Gulf of Suez, out in the Red Sea somewhere. I'm assuming you want them only to go from Suez to the Ocean?? Running ship up the Canal will be problematic; due to formation sizes...we'd want single file only, otherwise we'd get Elric's "Ship That Sails Over Land and Sea" again.

 

Carrier stations, again no problems. Just pick a spot in the ocean...

 

[TargetArea***]

Name=CV Station Eagle

Position=***

Radius=4000

ActiveYear=0

Location=1

Alignment=FRIENDLY

CarrierStation=TRUE

 

If you want ships permanently stationed there, you can add them into the targets ini. I should have a CVTF formation around here somewhere...

 

location=1 makes it Israeli, but you can always add Royal Navy to the terrain's nations ini. It'll become #13...

 

[Theater]

TheaterName=Middle East

Location001=Israel

Location002=Egypt

Location003=Syria

Location004=Jordan

Location005=Lebanon

Location006=Saudi Arabia

Location007=Iraq

Location008=Sinai

Location009=West Bank

Location010=Gaza Strip

Location011=Golan Heights

Location012=Cyprus

 

Just some thoughts...I hope to have the updated targets, types, movement and nation ini, plus the 'terrain objects' ready in the next day or so. There will, of course, be objects needed to add to people's GroundObjects folder ... Geo's Sherman E8 (with idf skin), M-3 half trak, the AMX-13 and BTRs from the pasko pak, the HAWKs from TMF pak, and etc.

 

I'll post some screenies later today

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[Wrench 9,461]

As promised, some shots of upgraded target areas, and some of the new ones...

 

 

Suez refinery, with docked tanker. The positioning of these object is off, as in R/L, they'd be at/near that slightly 'open' area on the waterfront, near the center of the city tiles.

 

 

Another view of Suez port; the 2 cargo ships in the foreground are 3rd Wire placed, the upper center I added. Just above the crane to the right, you can see 3 parked patrol boats.

 

 

Arab army camp; very generic in style.

 

 

IDF army camp; note the parked Centurion variants and Magach's. Note the new flag!! (every country gets their own)

 

Still working out some sites; just found a reference to Syrian FROG batteries used against the norther settelments; there's supposed to be a refinery/oil terminal near Latakia -- have to find where THAT is, as well as to where to 'hide' the FROGs

 

Haven't tested the 'new' ship route down the Gulf of Suez to Bir Hac-tooey, or whatever it's called...near the southern edge of the map.

 

Speaking of ships....has anyone given any thoughts to the various navy's involved??? We know Osa's...what about the IDF? and other Arab nations?????

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[+Johan217 5]

That is some impressive work Wrench!

 

As for the ships involved (Sues Crisis), I am working with these:

- HMS Albion and Bulwark by MadJeff

- French carriers (LaFayette and Arromanches) I don't know yet: maybe an Illustrious class?

- Task force: Daring Class DD by Capun and possibly Foch by Hinchinbrooke (as generic combat vessels)

- Egyptian navy: don't know yet

 

The only locations on Cyprus that I am working with are Tymbou (since Nikosia is off the map; AI units only) and Akrotiri.

 

It would be a pretty easy matter to 'split' the zone by adding Faud, and centering the 0,0 coord just east of the canal.

Great!

 

As to your Red Sea shipping routes, a target area will need to be added at the bottom of the Gulf of Suez, out in the Red Sea somewhere. I'm assuming you want them only to go from Suez to the Ocean?? Running ship up the Canal will be problematic; due to formation sizes...we'd want single file only, otherwise we'd get Elric's "Ship That Sails Over Land and Sea" again.

Actually, just a shipping lane anywhere in the Red Sea is enough I think.

 

If you want ships permanently stationed there, you can add them into the targets ini. I should have a CVTF formation around here somewhere...

That would be very useful. I tried adding more ships to the carrier station, but couldn't get it to work.

 

I got Gepard's terrains working in WOV, I only briefly tried them in WOI (didn't work then).

[Wrench 9,461]

Let's have a look at this....

 

Gepard's terrains WILL work in WoI provided you DO NOT use the IsraelME.cat. All the naming conventions for tiles, the new terrain objects, airfields and some etcs are different.

 

I have the Israel2 working using the GermanyCE.cat, as it has it own terrain tiles. Theoretically, it should also work with the VietnamSEA.cat from a fully patched version of WoV; as all the needed 'desert_airfield inis, lods bmps and tgas to get them working.

 

OTH, the Suez map does NOT have any tiles as it was designed to use those from the SF desert.cat. BUT....

it's a simple matter to copy over the needed tiles; bmps, tgas and tods from the Isreal2 folder, as they are identical. This i what I did; it took less than 5 minutes to ID and copy the needed files.

Again, it could possibly use the VietnamSEA.cat for it's airfields, once proper terrain tiles are installed.

 

I guess I'll be spending today double checking and triple checking these findings.

 

Even if desert_airfield3 (the dirt strip) is missing, there are 2 paved versions of available ... one by Fubar here in D/L section, and another in my ASW and SoCal maps. -- but these already exist in the GermanyCE and VietnamSEA cats.

 

Now, another important statement.....

After spending the last 12 days inside the IsraelME terrain, it is my considered opinion that it NOT be used for historic missions, campaigns, etc pre-dating 1963. It would take far too much work to recreate what's already available; or to rebuild the map to add airfields and other target areas far to close to "The Wall". TK has built this map for what he wanted it for... the 6 Day War and Later. That dosen't mean it can't be used, it just means that History will need a little 'adjustment' as to operations and basing.

We're tying to reinvent the wheel here, and it's not necessary. A little work can bring the existing, ready-to-use maps up to WoI spec, or make them usable for pre-63 mission sets.

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[+LloydNB 212]

Thanks Wrench

 

I appreciate the time and effort you're putting into this.

 

LloydNB

[Wrench 9,461]

WEll, after spending over 8 hours today (from the time I posted above, till 4pm PDST), I did nothing but try to get Suez to work using the VietnamSEA cat.

 

I'm saddend to say, it beat me. Not only do the airfields NOT show up, but neither do any of the standard eye candy building AT said airfields.

 

Changed the names of the airfielddataini= to match the 'veitnamSEA_airfield*.ini', added the tiles from Isreal2 (which worked wonderfully), and nothing. It's real bugger!!!! Even extracted ALL the lod files for the physical airfields (runways), and only got bare white; no skins.

 

Even tried a cheat and used the tile info from the IsrealME_data.ini; got a partily tiles map, but still no airfields.

 

So....I have no idea where to go from here with that one. It' works with the GermanyCE.cat, obviously with the desert cat...just not with Nam.

 

I just do NOT want to spend the time creating a complete cities.ini for IsrealME; not with 290 target areas....and trying to (hopefully) get the TE to work and add the Cyprus airfiled Johan wants.

 

I guess I'll just try defying gravity.....

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[+LloydNB 212]

Bad luck.

 

Looks like pre-1967 will have to be done the "hard" way. The GermanyCE.cat wont work for me - WOE is the only one of the series I don't have. Its $85 in the shop locally. Aghhh!

 

I've been working on the EAF (as usual).

 

Lloydnb

[+Johan217 5]

Hang on, I just tried to use Gepard's Suez2 terrain in WOI using the VietnamSEA.cat... and I had no problems with missing tiles. I was using a Desert tileset (Polak's I think, need to check) and Polak's runway textures. All terrain textures showed up fine, but now I can't remember if I saw any buildings. I only had a brief look.

 

Anyway, I'll check again this weekend if the Suez terrain works. If I can get Gepard's terrains to work I have nothing against them (I like them a lot in fact), it's just that I wanted to minimise addon requirements - and from past experience I know that most user problems are related to terrain installation :yes:

So if they work, it's just a matter of renaming some of the German place/object names (already did most of that), adding a few locations, and most importantly checking if armed recon and anti shipping missions work in the campaign.

 

Thanks all for your hard work, now get some sleep please :)

[+Dave 2,318]

Somewhere off the coast of Lebanon. VMF-334 is preparing for a CAP in support of IAF forces in the War for Water...

[+Stary 2,426]

Suez terrain works without any problems. Using desert.cat in my install. Buildings and custom tiles do show.

 

Furthermore, it seems that WOI terrain rendering engine increases terrain heightmap resolution a bit -tested it also with VietnamSEA, and on High settings terrain mesh looks to me more detailed.