SF2NA: Black Sea Crisis (Part 1 of 4)

"Black Sea Crisis" for
Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic

 

September 1994. Conspiring with senior elements of the military, a coalition of hard line Russian nationalists and former communists in the State Duma deposes President Yeltsin, who makes a dramatic escape from Russia in the middle of the night aboard a hastily commandeered Aeroflot airliner.

 

Declaring the December 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union to be an illegal act of high treason, the new powers in the Kremlin announce their intention to bring "renegade" former Soviet republics back into Moscow's orbit. Within days Russian tank divisions are massing on the Ukraine's eastern border.

 

Alarmed at the rapidly mounting threat to their newly independent country, Ukraine's leaders turn to NATO and the United States for assistance. The United States responds by sailing the Eisenhower carrier group through the Turkish Straits and into the Black Sea, while simultaneously deploying several USAF bomber squadrons to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. As tensions continue to rise, a Marine Amphibious Group is also dispatched to Sevastopol with its complement of battle-ready U.S. Marines.

 

Despite the show-of-force by Washington, the revanchist hardliners in Moscow press on with the build up of military forces on the Ukrainian border, all the while demanding that U.S. military units withdraw immediately from the Black Sea area. Ignoring pleas for talks to resolve the crisis, Russian tanks cross the border in the early morning hours of September 29 as part of a full scale invasion of the Ukraine.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Minimum Requirements
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

To install and play this mod, you must have the following games as part of a merged install:

 

SF2 VERSION: Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic
Strike Fighters 2 Europe
PATCH LEVEL: Mar2012 or higher

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

This mod requires "Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic" (SF2NA) as well as "Strike Fighters 2: Europe" (SF2E) in a merged install. Before installing this mod package, please ensure the installation of "Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic" and "Strike Fighters 2: Europe" that you intend to use is updated to at least the Mar2012 patch level. The latest patches for Strike Fighters 2 can be downloaded from ThirdWire:

 

http://thirdwire.com/downloads.htm

 

The main installation process consists of three main steps. Please read the following instructions carefully and follow them religiously. If you wind up with a non-working mod install, then you likely failed to follow the instructions properly.

 

-----------------------------------
* STEP 1: PREPARE THE MOD FOLDER *
-----------------------------------

 

This mod requires a separate mod folder. Please do not attempt to install this mod over or combine it with other mods such as "NATO Fighters 5," "Operation Desert Storm," or the SF2V Expansion Pack.

 

- Open your SF2 Installation directory and make a copy of StrikeFighters2 NorthAtlantic.exe. Rename the copied .EXE file to StrikeFighters2_BlackSeaCrisis.exe (or whatever unique name you prefer).

 

- Run the newly copied and renamed .EXE file, then exit back out to the Windows desktop after navigating through a few menus. A custom Mod Folder for your "Black Sea Crisis" mod install will have been created in one of these locations:

 

Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\ThirdWire\[YourModFolder]
Windows Vista: \Users\[username]\Saved Games\ThirdWire\[YourModFolder]
Windows 7: \Users\[username]\Saved Games\ThirdWire\[YourModFolder]

 

...where [YourModFolder] matches the name of the copied .EXE file that you created. You will install the "Black Sea Crisis" mod files to your Mod Folder.

 

- Open your Mod Folder and delete the \Objects sub-directory (including everything in it).

 

Now you're ready to install the "Black Sea Crisis" mod proper.

 

-------------------------------------------------
* STEP 2: INSTALL MAIN COMPONENTS TO MOD FOLDER *
-------------------------------------------------

 

This is the easiest step.

 

- Unpack the four "Black Sea Crisis" archive packages you downloaded to a temporary location on your hard drive.

 

- Move the contents of the \To_Mod_Folder directory from all four unzipped packages to your Mod Folder (created in Step 1 above). (Note: do not simply drag and drop the folder named "To_Mod_Folder" or you will end up with a non-working install. You should drag what's INSIDE the "To_Mod_Folder" directory.)

 

If you've moved everything correctly, you should have a new \Objects sub-directory in your Mod Folder, along with a few new other sub-directories.

 

----------------------------
* STEP 3: EDIT OPTIONS.INI *
----------------------------

 

This last step involves a bit of text editing, so please pay attention.

 

Open the Options.INI in your Mod Folder. Locate the "Single Mission" section. At minimum you should change the EndYear= statement to 2000 or higher. I recommend setting the StartYear= and EndYear= as follows:

 

StartYear=1992
EndYear=2020

 

Finally, a little further down you should find the "Campaign" section. Replace it with the following:

 

[Campaign]
CampaignName=1994-0929 Black Sea Crisis (Full)
PlayerService=USN
PlayerUnit=VF-142 Ghostriders
AircraftType=F-14B_87
Difficulty=NORMAL
Length=NORMAL
AircraftSupply=NORMAL
WeaponSupply=LIMITED
LoadCampaign=FALSE
CampaignSavename=DefaultCampaignSave

 

Save your changes and close the Options.INI file.

 

* * * * *

 

THAT'S IT. The "Black Sea Crisis" mod should now be installed on your PC and ready to play.

 

If you start the mod and it crashes or you don't see any new aircraft or campaigns, then you didn't install the mod properly (and that's exactly what I'm going to tell you if you post to the CombatAce forums and ask me if I have "any ideas?" as to what the problem is).

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Note on the Included Campaigns
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

This mod includes five different versions of the same underlying campaign:

 

- 1994-0929 Black Sea Crisis

 

The basic Blue campaign. Blue-side forces include the Ukrainian Air Force, the Eisenhower carrier battle group and its air wing, the Nassau Amphibious Group with its complement of AV-8Bs, and USAF bombers at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey (which are not player-flyable).

 

- 1994-0929 Black Sea Crisis (Full)

 

A variant of the basic Blue campaign. Blue-side forces include the Ukrainian Air Force, the Eisenhower Carrier Battle Group and its air wing, the Nassau Amphibious Group with its complement of AV-8Bs, USAF fighters and attack aircraft deployed to Ukrainian air bases, and USAF bombers at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey (these last not being player-flyable).

 

- 1994-0929 Black Sea Crisis (Red)

 

A Red variant of the "Full" 1994 campaign discussed just above. In this variant the player flies for the Russian Air Force.

 

- 1996-0929 Black Sea Crisis

 

Another Blue-side variant of the "Full" campaign above, but set in 1996. The Eisenhower's carrier air wing now includes F/A-18Cs in lieu of the A-6Es and A-7Es of the 1994 campaign. The Nassau's AV-8Bs are an upgraded version.

 

- 1996-0929 Black Sea Crisis (Red)

 

A Red variant of the 1996 campaign described above. Russian forces are essentially the same, but some fighters now use AA-12s in lieu of AA-10s.

 

** Conventional SF2 Campaign Variants **

 

The game engine for SF2NA brought many welcome new features to the world of Strike Fighters 2. As useful as those new features are, the SF2NA campaign engine (i.e., the engine that allows for "naval campaigns" with battle groups and cruise missile strikes) was clearly designed specifically for the SF2NA Iceland/North Atlantic campaign, as it attempts to turn every campaign into North Atlantic, Part II.

 

Once battle groups are "discovered" by the opposing side, the campaign engine will throw everything at that battle group, mission after mission, until all the ships are sunk or the attacking side runs out of aircraft capable of performing strike missions. This can become a bit wearisome, and it is extremely difficult to prevent those battle groups from being "discovered" and attacked. In the standard SF2NA-style campaigns listed above, this usually happens around the fifth mission of the campaign.

 

To give players an alternative to the standard "North Atlantic" duel-to-death naval campaign, I have included standard SF2-style campaigns that put the campaigns' focus squarely on the battle for the Ukraine. The carrier battle groups will no longer be attacked. (One can imagine a scenario in which the Kremlin -- based on a combination of military and political reasons -- elects not to directly attack American carrier groups while still engaging U.S. aircraft flying in defense of Ukraine.)

 

The upside to these "conventional" campaigns is that the campaign engine no longer gets stuck in the same cycle of hurling strike aircraft at the battle groups over and over. The downside is that carrier battle groups no longer move together. The carrier moves, but the escort ships are static terrain elements. Also, the big bombers on both sides tend to make less frequent appearances from their off-map air bases.

 

How to Use the Conventional Campaigns:

 

If you wish to try the conventional campaigns, you will have to install them from \Optional\CampaignsAlt (found in the directory where you unpacked the "Black Sea Crisis" downloads).

 

1. Drag the \Campaigns folder to the Mods folder where you installed the "Black Sea Crisis" mod, allowing Windows to overwrite files as prompted.

 

2. Drag the \Terrains folder to the "Black Sea Crisis" Mods folder as well, again allowing Windows to overwrite files as prompted.

 

When you re-start the game, the listed campaigns will play as conventional, SF2-style campaigns.

 

Please note that in the above install process you are effectively converting the Black Sea terrain into a conventional SF2 terrain. While the terrain is coverted into a conventional, non-naval terrain, naval aircraft in Single Missions will fly from land bases, not carriers.

 

To convert the terrain back into an SF2NA-style "naval" terrain, copy these files from \Terrains\BlackSea2 (in the directory where you unpacked the "Black Sea Crisis" download files) to the \Terrains\BlackSea2 directory in your Mods folder:

 

BlackSea2.INI
BlackSea2_TARGETS.INI
BlackSea2_WATER.bmp

 

That's right -- those are the only files that need to be restored. I would recommend restoring the original SF2NA-style campaigns at the same time.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Note on Anti-Ship Missiles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

For this mod most third-party (i.e., non-stock) anti-ship missiles have been converted to use the ASM/cruise missile functionality introduced w/ SF2NA. At the same time, the older versions of these missiles have been preserved, as the new ASM cruise missiles can be used by AI only against ships.

 

So, for many anti-ship missiles you will now find two versions:

 

1) "Standard" guided version

 

These versions are the "old" style missiles setwith WeaponDataType=1. They can be used by AI against land and sea targets. These missiles retain their familiar names (e.g., AGM-84D Harpoon, Kh-59M Ovod, etc.).

 

2) ASM/cruise missile version

 

These versions utilitize the new cruise missile functionality set by WeaponDataType=7. They can be used by AI only against ships. These versions can be distinguished by their names:

 

- U.S./NATO missiles have the ASM tag (e.g., AGM-84D Harpoon ASM).

 

- Soviet/WP missiles follow the naming convention used by ThirdWire's
Soviet cruise missiles (e.g., Kh-59M AS-13 Kingbolt).

 

At the same time aircraft that typically carry these missiles have been updated to accommodate the ASM versions. Loadouts for these aircraft have been updated to use ASM versions by default for Anti-Ship, Naval_Attack, and Cruise_Missile loadouts.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Note on Laser-Guided Bombs (LGBs)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

AI pilots in Strike Fighters have long had problems employing LGBs. AI pilots in the player's flight can drop LGBs, but will treat them as dumb bombs. AI pilots in flights not controlled by the player (i.e., AI-only flights) cannot use LGBs at all, and will typically get stuck circling the target.

 

To address this problem I have created EOGB versions of all LGBs for AI pilots to use (AI pilots have no problems with EOGBs for some reason). These AI versions are identical in all respects to the LGB versions save for the Guidance Type, which is set to "Electro-Optical Guided" instead of "Laser-Guided."

 

By default aircraft that use LGBs for certain loadouts (usually Stike, Attack, SEAD, or Anti-Ship) are loaded with these AI (EOGB) versions instead of the LGB versions. You should make it a habit to check the Loadout screen and switch the bomb version on your own aircraft to the LGB version.

 

You can distinguish between the AI (EOGB) and LGB (Player) versions by the weapon name -- for example:

 

LGB version: GBU-12D/B Paveway II LGB
AI version: GBU-12D/B Paveway II (AI)

 

While this solution introduces an extra step for the player in the preparation to start a mission, it allows AI pilots and AI-only flights to use these weapons.

 

~~~~~~~
Updates
~~~~~~~

 

This mod was released in October 2014. In September 2015 it was updated with the following additions, fixes, and changes:

 

New Aircraft:
- AH-1W Cobra
- AH-64A Apache
- Ka-27 Helix
- Mi-24P Hind-F
- P-3C Orion
- Su-27M Flanker-E

 

New Skins:
- AV-8Bplus new skins
- C-5A new skins
- C-17 new skins
- C-141B new skins
- HC-130P new skins
- S-3B new skins

 

Other Updates:
- minor fixes & tweaks to
most other aircraft
- minor updates to terrain
- addition of new aircraft
to campaigns
- other minor updates to
campaigns
- addition of around 200
new weapons & guns

 

~~~~~~~
Credits
~~~~~~~

 

This mod package incorporates a large number of items from the following modders:

 

Aircraft
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
HomeFries ........................... A-6 Superpack for SF2
Wrench .............................. A-7 low-viz skin
Spectre8750 ......................... A-10A (new model) & cockpit
yakarov79 .......................... AH-1J_80
EricJ ............................... AH-1J camo skin
Dels ................................ AH-64
Bobrock & Brain32 ................... AV-8B-da & AV-8Bplus
Wrench .............................. AV-8B updates
331KillerBee & USAFMTL .............. AV-8Bplus skins
Crusader ............................ Harrier Avionics Mod
Dels ................................ B-52G
Dave (USAFMTL) & team ............... B-52G upgrades
USAFMTL, JSF_Aggie, Dels & wpnssgt... B-52H
Dels & the Bone Team ................ B-1B
Kesselbrut .......................... B-52 cockpit
Veltro2k ............................ C-5A, C-17, & C-141B
Wrench .............................. C-5A, C-17, & C-141B updates
Daddyairplanes ...................... C-5A, C-17, & C-141B skins
Dels ................................ C-130E, C-130H, EC-130H
Daddyairplanes ...................... C-130E/H upgrades & new skins
The Mirage Factory .................. E-3A
USAFMTL ............................. E-3A AEW Update
Daddyairplanes ...................... E-3A skins & SF2 updates
HomeFries ........................... EA-6 SuperPack for SF2
The Mirage Factory .................. E-8C J-Stars
Fastcargo ........................... F-111F & EF-111A
liamp51 ............................. Re-textured F-111A cockpit
slick_cowboy ........................ F-111E/F new skins
Dels ................................ F-117A
The Mirage Factory .................. F-14A & F-14B
Spectre8750, Caesar, SupGen, ....... F-14 Superpack
& Crusader
FastCargo & team .................... F-15C & F-15E
The Mirage Factory, ................. F-16A_Blk10 & F-16A_Blk15
Viper Crew .......................... F-16C_B25, F-16C_B30, F-16C_B40, F-16C_B42,
F-16C_B50, & F-16C_B52
The Mirage Factory / ModMafia ....... F/A-18A & F/A-18C
Wildcat, column5, SidDogg, & BPAo ... F/A-18 skins
Veltro2K ............................ Il-76, Il-78, & A-50
WhiteboySamurai ..................... Ka-27
Marcfighters......................... KC-10
Daddyairplanes ...................... KC-10 new skins
Pappychksix & 331KillerBee .......... KC-130F
Bpao ................................ KC-135E & KC-135R tankers
Marcfighters & Kreelin. ............. Mi-8 Hip
YEYEYE .............................. Mi-24P
emresukhoi .......................... Mi-24P skins
ArmourDave & Sal .................... Su-17 cockpit (used for Floggers)
Paladrian ........................... MiG-21 cockpits
AtariBaby ........................... MiG-21 Complete Pack for SF2
The Mirage Factory .................. MiG-29A Fulcrum
Russouk2004 ......................... MiG-29A updated model
Russouk2004 ......................... MiG-29C Fulcrum
Jv44kt, Erwin_Hans, & Lindr2 ........ MiG-31
Florian ............................. P-3C beta
FoxMonter ........................... S-3B
Wrench .............................. S-3B updates
slick cowboy ........................ S-3B skins
Florian ............................. SH-3D Sea King
Veltro2k & Lindr2 ................... Su-24M, Su-24MP, Su-24MR
Mikeymead ........................... repainted/updated Su-24 cockpit
NATO Fighters 4+ team ............... Su-25
Florian, Baffmeister, & Paulopanz ... Su-25 (updated model & skins)
Marcfighter, Erwin Hans ............. Su-27
SayWhat!, Massimo, Erwin Hans, ...... Su-27 skins
& Diogo
Marcfighter, Erwin Hans, ............ Su-33 (Su-27 w/ canards)
Bpao, & Jv44KT
tarru & Drdoyo ...................... Su-33 skins
Orsin & Lindr2 ...................... Su-27 & Su-33 flight models
YEYEYE .............................. Flanker cockpits
Paulopanz & Spillone104 ............. Tu-16 Badger Collection
Veltro2K ............................ Tu-95KD, Tu-95MS
Snailman ............................ Yak-38 Vertical Pack
Komrad .............................. New Yak-38 skins
Gabilon, Oliver, & Bpao ............. Yak-41M
Snailman ............................ SF2NA Vertical Pack

 

Ground Objects
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Kesselbrut .......................... CommTrailer, HQTrailer
Pasko ............................... D-20, 155mm Howitzer, M-59, EW_Radar
rebel ryder ......................... BMP-1, BRDM-2, BRDM-3, & M-109
BANIDOS TEAM ........................ BTR-60
Razvan Stanciu & EricJ .............. BTR-80
Gepard .............................. T-64s
BPAo, Fubar512, 331KillerBee ........ T-80BV
Gerald14 & Kesselbrut ............... M3A1 Bradley & M6 Linebacker
Pasko & Kesselbrut .................. M60A3, M60A1AOS
Kesselbrut .......................... M1 Abrams, LVTP-7, 105mm Howitzer, ZiL-157 trucks
SUICIDAL & TORNO .................... Humvees
Spectre8750 ......................... Ural-375 trucks, GAZ-66 trucks, & GAZ-66_ZPU23
bigal1 .............................. M270MLR
BANIDOS Team ........................ M167 VADS
Gerald14 ............................ "Russian Defence/ZSU-23-4 Pack"
SUICIDAL ............................ New Destroyed Tank LODs
Monty CZ............................. Stinger site
YEYEYE .............................. PAC-2 system
Pasko ............................... Hawk launcher/radars, Chaparral, SA-7
Fubar512 & Wrench ................... Hawk INI tweaks
Gabilon ............................. 2S6, Tor-M1, & SA-13
Abhi ................................ AN/TQ-1 Avenger, Pantsir-S1
Pasko ............................... SA-3 launchers, Flatface, Sidenet
FastCargo ........................... SA-5 & SquarePair
Kesselbrut, BPAo & Sundowner .........SA-9
Monty CZ............................. SA-10 & Flaplid, Stinger site
Fubar512 ............................ SA-10 INI tweaks
EricJ ............................... SA-11 & SA-17
YEYEYE .............................. TubeArm
Crusader ............................ Soviet MANPADs for SF2
Stary ............................... Soviet MANPADS (new models)
Fubar512 & MiGBuster ................ Carrier Deck Illumination package
WhiteBoySamurai ..................... Bainbridge & Leahy class ships
WhiteBoySamurai ..................... Ticonderoga & Arleigh Burke class ships
WhiteBoySamurai ..................... Kidd Class DDG
WhiteBoySamurai ..................... Kirov, Sovremenny, & Nanuchka missle boats
Cocas ............................... Trawler & Soviet Trawler
Raven ............................... Trawler skins
Kesselbrut .......................... Trawler 1 & 2, Small Cargo Ship, Navy Tug
Kesselbrut .......................... Kilo Class submerged (November)
AleDucat ............................ Kilo Class Sub (ARA Salta)
JSF_Aggie ........................... ThirdWire LHA upgrade
Florian ............................. USN AOE Transport
Julhelm ............................. USN Tanker & Kresta II
Orsin ............................... Udaloy & Slava classes
WhiteBoySamurai ..................... Udaloy & Slava Upgrade Packages

 

Other
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pfunk ............................... Black Sea 2 terrain
Stary ............................... seasonal terrain tiles (Baltic terrain)
cellinsky, Insky/Orsin, & PanamaRed Environment mods
OldDiego, Pappy, Wrench, Pasko, ..... Pilots
Florian/AmokFloo, & PureBlue
Stary ............................... new gun tracers
Spillone104 ......................... custom engine sounds
Spectre8750 ......................... Fake Afterburner Node
Stary ............................... Ejection mod

 

If I have neglected to credit anyone here, please let me know. I will get it fixed ASAP.

 

The works of art used for the campaign end screens -- "The Black Sea" (1881), "Russian Black Sea Fleet on a Parade Review" (1849), and "Pushkin on the Coast Black Sea" (1887) -- are all by the 19th century Russian maritime artist Ivan Aivazovsky. You can see more of Aivazovsky's works online at Wikiart:

 

http://www.wikiart.org/en/ivan-aivazovsky

 

--------------------------
Eric Howes
eburger68
25 October 2014
22 September 2015