Basic Mod install in Windows 10

OK, you just installed one or more of these great Strike Fighers 2 sims on your new Windows 10 computer, flew a couple of missons (yes, it works in Windows 10 - at least on my rig), and really loved it.
If you’re reading this you’ve obviously found CombatAce (CA), and you cannot believe the amount of great stuff available here to make the game even better ... and all for free!
But how do you use this stuff?

First install

You can start with any of the 5 “flavors” of the sim (SF2, SF2 Europe, ...; expansion packs are not standalone). However, if you can part with the money, I warmly recommend to go for the full monty.

Note: If you have separate installers, make sure you have the latest release (jul2013), and you can install them in any order. I haven't tried it, but I think the complete edition installs everything (including all DLCs) in one go.

Let's assume that you have separate installers. The first time you install one of them, you have the option to choose where to put it. This will create a folder that should be like:

Drive:\my_path\Strike Fighters

‘Drive’ is the HD you choose (if you have more than one)
‘my-path’ is wherever you want the folder to be created

When you install another one, it will default to the same folder for a so called merged install (recommended).

This folder contains one “.exe” and one “.ini” files named after each sim you have installed, plus a bunch of subfolders. These are the core files of the game. Nothing goes there, and anything you add or change in this folder will simply be ignored (this is not entirely true, but let’s stick to it for now).

The first time you start one of the executable file and fly a mission, it will create a “mod folder” (I think you have to at least start a flight for the folder to be created). In Windows 10, this folder will be in:

C:\Users\user_name\Saved Games\ThirdWire\

and will have the same name as the executable. This is hard-coded, but it can be changed later.
The content of this folder should look like:

\Controls
\Missions
\Objects
	\Aircraft
	\GroundObject
\PilotData
\ScreenShots
Options.ini
Version.ini

At this point, you have one mod folder for each sim you have run. However, the “merged install” means that, regardless of which sim you start, you have access to everything.

Anyway, these mod folders are where the magic happens! This is where you can make changes that will only apply to one sim.

Initially, all the folders created by the “StrikeFighters2....exe” are exactly the same, except for some details in the Options.ini files. However, if you remove/add an aircraft from the ‘Objects\Aircraft’ subfolder of one of the mod folder, this aircraft will disappear/appear only in this particular sim (this also applies to objects in the ‘Objects\GroundObject’subfolder).

More aircraft

To be fair, the SF2 collection offers quite a good choice of aircraft to fly. But you want more (who wouldn’t after visiting CA).

1. Non-flyable aircraft

In your last mission you noticed a SuperMystere flying around. You’d love to fly this bird but it doesn’t show in the mission menu. This is because it is an “AI only” aicraft; it is not meant to be flown by the player.
What makes an aircraft flyable in SF2 is the cockpit. This is define (or not) in a configuration file for each aircraft named aircraft_name.ini.
If you navigate to:

C:\Users\’user_name’\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Objects\Aircraft

You’ll find that every aircraft included in the games has its own subfolder. Each of these subfolers contains a configuration file named “aircraft_name.ini”. So for example let’'s have a look at the F-100A (you can open the F-100A.INI file with Notepad). The first section in this file looks like this:

[AircraftData]
AircraftFullName=F-100A Super Sabre
AircraftShortName=F-100
AircraftDataFile=F-100A_data.ini
LoadoutFile=F-100A_loadout.ini
UserList=F-100A_UserList.ini
CockpitDataFile=F-100A_cockpit.ini
LoadoutImage=F-100A_loadout.tga
HangarScreen=F-100A_hangar.JPG
LoadingScreen=F-100A_Loading.JPG
AvionicsDLL=Avionics60.dll
AvionicsDataFilename=F-100A_avionics.ini

The line in red shows that this aircraft has a cockpit. Therefore, it’s flyable.

Now if you move to the SuperMystereB2 folder and open the SuperMystereB2.INI file, you’ll see that it starts like this:

[AircraftData]
AircraftFullName=Super Mystère B.2
AircraftShortName=Super Mystère
AircraftDataFile=SuperMystereB2_data.ini
LoadoutFile=SuperMystereB2_loadout.ini
UserList=SuperMystereB2_UserList.ini

There is no “CockpitDataFile” line. This means that it is an AI only aircraft. Can you change this? Yes!
Just copy the "CockpitDataFile" line from another aircraft, that you think is close enough, in this file and your Super Mystère should show in the mission menu.
I must admit that I've never tried it myself, but I suspect that not every cockpits fit every aircraft. So you may have to experiment a bit.

Note: Depending on the aircraft you want to fly and the cockpit you want to use, you may want to copy the "Avionics..." lines as well. "AvionicsDLL" values can be Avionics60.dll or Avionics70.dll.

The advantage of this approach is that it uses only stock resources. So you have nothing to download and it should not have any impact on your FPS. But the result may not be very realistic.

But of course you've seen that there is an "Add-On Cockpits" section here at CA with a big choice of cockpits built by some very talented members of the community. These will probably be more realistic, but keep in mind that a full, highly detailed, cockpit can hit your FPS badly.

Let’s stick to our Super Mystère (there’s a cockpit available here at CA ... and I’m French).

https://combatace.com/files/file/16082-super-mystere-b2-cockpit/

Once you’'ve downloaded the file, using it is just as easy. Just copy the content of the zip file to your SuperMystereB2 folder, and you’re ready to fly.
Actually, if you’ve downloaded the "SuperMystereB2 cockpit v1.3.zip" file, the SuperMystereB2.INI is not included. So you'll need to edit the existing one and add the line:

CockpitDataFile=SMB2_COCKPIT.INI

2. Add-On aircraft

So now you can fly all the aircraft included in the SF2 sim; and that’s quite a lot of aircraft. But looking at all the great birds available at CA, you obviously think: “Man, I'd love to fly this one!”.
One of the great features of the SF2 series sims is that TK (the creator of the game) designed it to be easily “modable”. I'm not sure this is an actual word in english, but what I mean is that it very easy to change things in the game. And adding a new aircraft is probably the easiest thing.

As it happens, your all time favourite aircraft is the J-35 Draken (greetings to all our Swedish friends), and you wish you could fly this great bird in SF2.

Here's good news:
https://combatace.com/files/file/13434-tsf-j-35-draken-flygvapnet-package/

Question: Why the Draken?
1 – She’s a beauty
2 - A great package is available right here at CA
3 - The package sticks to the SF2 folders rules
4 - It comes with specific sounds and weapons - so we’ll see where to put this stuff

After unpacking the zip file (in a temporary folder), you’ll find a ‘Readme.txt’ file (that unfortunately doesn’t tell anything about how to install) and two subfolders (Objects and Sounds). The ‘Objects’ contains 3 subfolders: Aircraft, Decals and Weapons. This matches the folder structure of your mod folder.
The aircraft itself is in the Aircraft folder (you would have guessed that). In this case you will find 6 variants of the Draken. All you have to do is to copy the folder of the aircraft you want in the \Objects\Aircraft of your Mod folder. Then if you start the game and go to Single Missions, the new aircraft will show, and you can fly it.
However, at this point you’ll find yourself in the cockpit of what sounds like a glider. That’s because the Draken doesn’t use stock engine sounds but comes with its own. These are .wav files that you can find in the ‘Sounds’ folder. You need to copy these files into the Sounds folder in your Mod folder.
Now you can hear your engine but you will notice that you are mostly unarmed. Again, the Draken comes with a bunch of weapons of her own. These are found in the ‘Objects\Weapons’ folder. Like before, just copy the content of this folder in the matching folder in your Mod folder.
Finally, this package contains another folder called ‘Decals’. It contains graphic files use to display some decorations on the aircraft (aicraft number, squadron insignia ...). I’m sure you get it now: just copy the content of this folder in the Objects\Decals folder of you Mod folder.
(Wrench has posted a copy of TK decals tutorial at: https://combatace.com/forums/topic/95757-decal-advancement-help/?tab=comments#comment-779091)

Note 1: If this his the first time you install an add-on, some of the folders mentioned above do not exist in your Mod folder. You must create them, or simply copy the whole folder from the package to you Mod folder.

Note 2: The Draken package follow the structure of the Mod folder, but not all aircraft packages are that tidy. But now that you know where things go, you should have no problem to install other aircraft.