Modifying Aircraft Role

[Lt. James Cater 62]

I know someone discussed it some time ago but i just can't seem to find it.

 

The last time i flew Thuds in WOE it kept tasking me for intercept missions and such that were not remotely what the plane was supposed to do. Someone else had the same problem months ago and a solution was provided but i just can't remember exactly what was the answer. It involved deleteing something in a file.

 

Can anyone clue me in?

[thundercheif 1]

In the campaign data INI go to the Thud squads and look for missionchance or something down that road. Look for the intercept line and change the chance to 0%

[Wrench 9,851]

Open the data ini of the aircraft in question, look at the top section. The parts you're intereseted in are PrimaryRole and SecondaryRoles....

 

from the stock 3rdW Thud-D, in WoE: (WoV should be similiar)

 

[MissionData]

NationName=USAF

ServiceStartYear=1961

ServiceEndYear=1973

AircraftRole=ATTACK

AircraftCapability=DAY

Availability=COMMON

Exported=FALSE

PrimaryRoles=STRIKE,CAS,SEAD,ARMED_RECON <--here

SecondaryRoles=ANTI_SHIP,FAC,RECON <--- and here

NormalMissionRadius=835

MaxMissionRadius=1184

Ceiling=15240.0

MinBaseSize=MEDIUM

 

If you're still getting tasked with CAP and INTERCPET in campaigns only, edit the squadron entries in the campagin data ini.

 

The aftermarket Thuds,you'll have to double check.

Addendum: 105F and 105G should ONLY have SEAD as their mission statements (which I think I covered in the KB, in the Bunyap Weapons Pak Thread some looooong time ago)

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[Lt. James Cater 62]

Thanks for the info.

 

I'll see what i can do after i get out of work tomorrow morning. I have to catch some zs now. As it is it looks like i'll have to download somehting to properly work in those files.

[zmatt 2]

How do you allow WoV to make intercept missions? I have bombers installed and I want to shoot them down, but without an intercept mission they are never airborne.

[Wrench 9,851]

Because WoV don't support intercept missions, per se....

 

You'd probably have to build you own, and good luck...I have reason to believe the mission contorl dlls aren't set for intercepts - for either side. After all, when the NVPAF ever fly sweeps over Than Sun Nhut???

 

Of, I'll have to check in the post-patch world...

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[Lt. James Cater 62]

I hate to bug everyone but it's my first time messing around with DLLs and i want to make sure i get it right and not screw things up.

 

For starters, when i open a DLL i use notepad and everything looks like gibberish with a "Can not be run in DOS mode" the only thing that makes sense. Can anyone point me out towards some page where i can at least guess at instructions?

 

Wrench's reply is the solution. I now have to work through the problem and i'm flying blind right now.

[+SkippyBing 8]

Noooooo! Don't mess with the DLL, that's part of the source code for the game!

 

You need to edit the xxxxx.ini files, specifically for the aircraft the Aircraft_DATA.ini found in the aircrafts folder in the Objects/Aircraft folder to adjust it's roles and in the campaign folder the campaign.ini. They can be edited with any garden variety text editor, like notepad.

[zmatt 2]

Because WoV don't support intercept missions, per se....

 

You'd probably have to build you own, and good luck...I have reason to believe the mission contorl dlls aren't set for intercepts - for either side. After all, when the NVPAF ever fly sweeps over Than Sun Nhut???

 

Does WoE support intercepts? If so then I am in luck.

[Fubar512 1,350]

I hate to bug everyone but it's my first time messing around with DLLs and i want to make sure i get it right and not screw things up.

 

For starters, when i open a DLL i use notepad and everything looks like gibberish with a "Can not be run in DOS mode" the only thing that makes sense. Can anyone point me out towards some page where i can at least guess at instructions?

 

Wrench's reply is the solution. I now have to work through the problem and i'm flying blind right now.

 

Never mess with a .dll file. For starters, any changes made to a .dll will render it unusable, as each .dll is checked for version and file size by the game engine. If it doesn't pass muster, the game will not start.

 

OTH, using a proper hex editor, one might spend some time perusing the code contained within a given .dll file. Occasionally, you'll come across an unused gem or two that the developer has not yet enabled in that .dll's corresponding .ini file.

[+malibu43 142]

Does WoE support intercepts? If so then I am in luck.

 

Yes, WOE supports intercept.

 

Also, FWIW, if you want intercept missions in WOV random single missions, you might try looking through the menu folder and replacing the 'singlemissionmenu.dll' file with the one from WOE. It changes the available missions in the drop down list (it'll have SEAD instead of Iron Hand), and it might add intercepts. Just back-up everything first.

 

To get them (from the blue side) in a WOV campaign, you'll have do some major alterations to the campaign_data.ini to get the N.V. to go on offensive and then give them squadrons with strike capability.

[Lt. James Cater 62]

Thanks for the heads up concerning .dlls.

 

Good thing i just looked but didn't mess with them.

 

I can't find the .ini for the life of me. I can see the configuration settings easy enough, but that's it.

[Fubar512 1,350]

I can't find the .ini for the life of me. I can see the configuration settings easy enough, but that's it.

 

What exactly are you looking for?

[Wrench 9,851]

Probably the easiest was is to...

 

1) Have WoV, fully patched 10/08

2) Have WoE, fully patched 10/08

 

3) Create new, seperate, clean, fully patched version of WoE for this mod...

 

4) Delete all aircraft from said install WoE

5) Transfer ALL aircraft from WoV to said install of WoE (and all decals in the main Objects/Decals folder to be safe)

6) Transfer VietnamSEA terrain from WoV to WoE, include campagns, etc

 

optional:

 

7) extract all menu bmps, inis, and associated 'button' bits from WoV, and install to WoE -this'll give you the WoV style for use

 

People are continously trying to make WoV (and in some part WoI), something it's NOT!! WoV and WoI are damn near perfect as released, in what they're designed to do: replicate Theatre and Era sepcific historical and semi-historical events. Hence, WoV extreamly narrow operational window -- 1964 to 75, ie: the US Era in Southeast Asia.

Personally, (and this is MY opinion only) it's the weakest of the series simply becasue it is so self-limiting.

The same can also be said for WoI ... it replicates Arab-Isreali Wars from the 6 Day War upwards.

And that's ALL those 2 sims are designed to do.

 

Most folks just can't seem to grasp the concept....and continually run themselves into walls trying to figure it out.

 

You want flexibility? WoE is the best bet. With small modifications to a couple inis (the Famous Adjusting the Beginning and End of Time Tweek), it covers everything and all mission types.

 

That's all there is too it

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[Lt. James Cater 62]

Thanks for the advice, Wrench.

 

I really like WOE and have only minor quibbles. Having to click back and forth to avoid unusual missions in a Thud is one. As of this post i've started another WOE campaign and i'm in an F-105 again.

 

SAMs might not be the problem like WOV, but i recently had everyone in my flight shot down while disengaging from an CAS mission. On the last strike a Mig19 managed to put a few holes in my plane before i went low and got away.

[zmatt 2]

Last night I was flying a SEAD mission in my merged WoV/WoE install with the A-4 Kahu. I had so many sam's fired at me. And only 2 HARMs and 2 Mavs. I flew it about 5 times until I was able to survive.

[+malibu43 142]

Thanks for the advice, Wrench.

 

I really like WOE and have only minor quibbles. Having to click back and forth to avoid unusual missions in a Thud is one. As of this post i've started another WOE campaign and i'm in an F-105 again.

 

SAMs might not be the problem like WOV, but i recently had everyone in my flight shot down while disengaging from an CAS mission. On the last strike a Mig19 managed to put a few holes in my plane before i went low and got away.

 

Maybe you already got this, but all you have to do to prevent getting unusual mission types for a given aircraft, is go into its data.ini file, and remove those missions types from Primary and Secondary roles in the top of the file.

 

I've done the same thing for my Thud's, and I only get Strike, SEAD, CAS, and Armed Recon in campaigns. No more A/A.

[Lt. James Cater 62]

Maybe you already got this, but all you have to do to prevent getting unusual mission types for a given aircraft, is go into its data.ini file, and remove those missions types from Primary and Secondary roles in the top of the file.

 

I've done the same thing for my Thud's, and I only get Strike, SEAD, CAS, and Armed Recon in campaigns. No more A/A.

 

 

It'd be really easy if i knew how to find the data.ini in the first place.

 

At the moment, Wrench's advice is the best thing i have

[Wrench 9,851]

It'd be really easy if i knew how to find the data.ini in the first place.

 

You're kidding, right???

This is, like, the most basic stuff there is....

 

The data ini for EVERY aircraft (along with main, cockpit, loadout, all the various and sundry lods, tgas and whatnot) are stored in the games Objects.cat.

 

Using Skypat's Handy Dandy Extractor tool, (available in our downloads section) you just pull it out (or 'extract'), and drop it into the aircraft's folder in question.

 

If you don't know how to use the extractor, there's an illustrated tutorial in the KB

 

Wrench

kevin stein

[Lt. James Cater 62]

Yo Wrench,

 

when i go to the objects folder and go through the aircraft i've yet to see anything like the info everyone posts here. All i find is the configuration settings. Personally, i think that if it is so basic, no one should ever have to ask for assistance in matters such as this and we shouldn't need anything like an extractor.

 

 

No complaints, but this is not as cut and dry as it seems.

[Anthony W. 0]

I know someone discussed it some time ago but i just can't seem to find it.

 

The last time i flew Thuds in WOE it kept tasking me for intercept missions and such that were not remotely what the plane was supposed to do. Someone else had the same problem months ago and a solution was provided but i just can't remember exactly what was the answer. It involved deleteing something in a file.

 

Can anyone clue me in?

 

The 105 was originally designed for intercept...

[+Jarhead1 27]

Actually as I recall, the F-105 was originally intended for delivery of Nuclear Weapons.

 

The new aircraft was intended primarily for supersonic, low altitude penetration into the Soviet Union on a hi-lo-hi mission and delivery of a single, internally carried nuclear bomb.

Edited January 10, 2009 by Jarhead1

[Lt. James Cater 62]

The 105 was originally designed for intercept...

Every version of the 105 was deployed as a strike aircraft of one form or another. The D, F and Gs were the models used in combat as mostly everyone here knows.

 

Speaking of which, I nailed a MIG19 a while ago in WOE to make it my second ever kill while driving a Thud!

[zmatt 2]

I have had several kills in Thuds. They make terrible gun slingers but a few well placed sidewinders have ruined several a mig pilot's day.

[Wrench 9,851]

Carter: do you have Windoze Explorer set to "show extensions" and "show all files"????

 

To repeat myself:

 

the data inis for ALL game objects, aircraft, ships, vehicles, etc are STORED in the Objects.cat. You need the Cat Extractor tool to open this file, and pull or extract the files needed for editing.

It REALLLY is, just that basic; that cut and dried.

 

Just so's you all don't wrack youself's too hard trying to find (and it took ME 10 minutes to find, and I wrote the damn thing...)

Here's a link to the Illustrated Tutorial

 

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=32706

 

note: you WILL most likely have to set compatibility mode to Win95/

 

Wrench

kevin stein