The MOD folders

After you install Strike Fighter 2, the first time you it 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.
The content of this folder should look like:

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

More aircraft

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.INI. 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.
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 at CombatAce ... 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

Although SF2 offer quite a large choice of aircraft, you would like to fly some bird that is not in the list. The SF2 community has created a huge number of aircraft that can be downloaded for free. And adding adding one of these to the sim is really easy.

As an example let’s look at the J-35 Draken that is available at CombatAce:

https://combatace.com/files/file/13434-tsf-j-35-draken-flygvapnet-package/

Question: Why the Draken?
1 – She’s a beauty
2 - The package sticks to the SF2 folders rules
3 - 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 and two subfolders (\Objects and \Sounds). The ‘Objects’ contains 3 subfolders: \Aircraft, \Decals and \Weapons.
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.

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.