Adding Carriers to SF/WOV/WOE

[+Dave]

Adding the aircraft carriers to SF and WOE is easy. This article will explain how to extract the Kitty Hawk-class carrier and add it to either SFP1, SFG or WOE allowing you to fly from it during campaign missions. For the purposes of this article I will make the assumption that you are adding the carrier to Strike Fighters Gold.

 

This procedure also applies for a 3rd party carrier. But with a 3rd party carrier you dont have to extract a thing. Going here http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=11815 will explain that. Ensure however, that any add-on carrier files you do extract from zip/rar files are in their own folder within the GroundObject folder.

 

You will need the following:

 

Legal copy of SFP1 or SFG or WoE with latest Service Pack

 

Legal copy of WoV with latest Service Pack

 

SFP1E Extract Utility

 

Kreelin's Mission Editor (Optional)

 

A text editor. I use EditPadLite, it's tabbed multiple document browsing and find/replace tool makes multiple, simultaneous INI editing and comparison a much faster and tidier procedure than Notepad.

 

Step 1: Extract the Carrier From WoV

 

Open the SFP1E Extract utility and browse to your Wings Over Vietnam installation. Locate and open the ObjectData.CAT file, which should be located in "C:Program FilesWings Over VietnamObjects" if you have installed using the default path.

 

Once you have opened ObjectData.CAT with the Extract Utility, you need to browse to the bottom portion of the file and extract all files whose names begin with either CV63, CV-63 or CVA-63. There are a total of 28 files that need to be extracted. When done, all of the files will appear in your WoV Objects folder.

 

Step 2: Open C:Program FilesWings Over VietnamObjectsGroundObject, and copy the CVA-63 folder to your SFG GroundObject folder.

 

Step 3: Copy the 28 files extracted from WOVObjectData.CAT to the new CVA-63 folder in SFG. The bitmap texture files can be copied to the 'USN Grey' sub-folder if you wish.

 

Step 4: Extract INI Files From SFG

 

You will need to edit several INI files to add the new carrier to SFG. These files are:

 

Campaign1_Data.INI

 

Desert_Nations.INI

 

Desert_Targets.INI

 

Check to see if Campaign1_Data.INI already exists in the SFGCampaignsCampaign1 folder. If it is already there, you do not need to extract it. If it s not present, use the SFP1E utility to open MissionData.Cat located in the SFGFlight folder. Extract Campaign1_Data.INI and copy it to SFGCampaignsCampaign1.

 

Next, open the SFGTerrainDesert folder and look for Desert_Nations.INI and Desert_Targets.INI. If they are already present, you can move on to the next step, otherwise, use the SFP1E utility to open SFGTerrainDesertDesert.CAT and extract them.

 

Caution: If any of the above files already exist in the target folders, DO NOT extract them. This probably means you have installed some other mod using these file, and if you overwrite them with files from the CATs, those mods will stop working.

 

Step 5: Modify INI Files

 

Browse to your SFGCampaign1 folder and open Campaign1_Data.INI. You need to add a carrier unit to the campaign. To do this, scroll to the bottom of the file and add the following:

 

[CarrierUnit001]

CarrierType=CVA-63

CarrierNumber=64

UnitName=CVA-64 USS Constellation

ForceID=1

Nation=USN

BaseArea=Echo Station

NumSquadron=5

BaseSize=MEDIUM

Experience=100

Morale=100

Supply=100

 

Note that the CarrierType must remain CVA-63, but the CarrierNumber and UnitName can be changed to whatever you want, so you could use the CVA-63 model to represent any Kitty Hawk class carrier. To prove this I have changed the Kitty Hawk into the Constellation, CVA-64 in this example. If adding a 3rd-party carrier, enter the carrier's folder name as it appears in the SFGObjectsGroundObject folder

 

While your are editing the Campaign1_Data.INI file, you must make at least one of the player air units carrier based. To do this, scroll up towards the top of the file and find [AirUnit006]. This is VMFA-531, The Grey Ghosts, flying the F-4B. Change "BaseArea=D1 Airfield" to "BaseArea=Echo Station" then insert the following lines beneath the BaseArea entry:

 

CarrierBased=TRUE

CarrierNumber=64

 

Remember that the carrier number entered must match the number you chose for the carrier when you added it to CAMPAIGN1DATA.INI.

 

Save and close CAMPAIGN1_DATA.INI

 

Now browse to the Desert folder in your Terrain folder. Open DESERT_NATIONS.INI and under [Theater] add the following line to the sequence:

 

Location003=Straits of Dhimar

 

Save and close DESERT_NATIONS.INI

 

Finally, open DESERT_TARGETS.INI and scroll to the bottom of the file. Add the following lines

 

[TargetArea074]

Name=Echo Station

Position=700000,700000

Radius=5657

ActiveYear=0

Location=3

Alignment=FRIENDLY

CarrierStation=TRUE

 

Make sure that the number in [TargetAreaXXX] is actually the next number in sequence. Note that I have set the position of the carrier station to "700000,700000". This puts the carrier in a good position off the Parani coast. You can use Kreelin's Mission Editor to select any position you like though. Just open the Desert map with the editor and locate the coordinates you prefer. Enter them on the "Position=" line.

 

Save and close DESERT_TARGETS.INI

 

Start SFG, and select a new Burning Sands campaign, flying for the USMC. In the Splash screen, you should see your squadron location appear as 'Echo Station, Straits of Dhimar'. Click 'fly'and you should see something like this:

 

 

The procedure above may seem a little complex but if you walk through it step by step you should have no problem. You can then use the same methods to extract and add the small-deck carrier to your SFP1 game as well. With a little work, you can add carriers to any SFP1 map and campaign that you want to!

 

This guide was updated by Platinum Rogue on November 4th 2006