Converting Ground Objects for use in SF2 (by MigBuster)

[+EricJ 4,245]

Converting Ground Objects for use in SF2

Dedicated to those flying in 2009 against SA-2Fs

 

 

 

 

1. The Basics

2. Installing the Ground Object itself

3. A new Category - Mobile_SAMs

4. My RWR/RHAW scope doesn’t pick up the SAM I’ve just installed

5. Shadows in the new games

6. Limiting the ground object to certain terrains

7. Vehicle model not showing in game

8. Aircraft Carriers (The easy way)

9. Stock ground objects using desert skins?

10. What is the ObjectData.ini file and where is it??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. The Basics

In case you don’t know by now all SF2 mods go in the special mod folders that are in a DIFFERENT location to where the core game files are installed.

 

XP Default

C:\Documents and Settings\<Name>\My Documents\ThirdWire\

 

On Vista and later versions:

C:\Users\<Name>\Saved Games\ThirdWire\

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Installing the Ground Object itself

 

No different to an aircraft - copy and paste the ground objects folder into the SF2\Objects\GroundObject folder.

 

 

 

 

Now because it’s a mobile SAM in this case i'm going to change its type to be MOBILE_SAM (This is new in SF2 version June 2009!!)

 

NOTE: MOBILE_SAM is currently broken - Use MOBILE_AAA instead

 

So I open up SA-9L_data.ini and change this line:

 

 

[MissionData]

NationName=SOVIET

………

GroundObjectRole=MOBILE_SAM <--------------changed

The game will randomly choose the weapon and place it in missions just like the mobile AAA.

 

 

This is just the vehicle for the SA-9 so now check to see if it has a Gun or missile you need to install - because these are SEPARATE items.

 

So open up its xxx_data.ini (SA-9L_data.ini) :

 

 

Scroll down until you get to the [Missile section]

[Missile1]

SystemType=MISSILE

MissileID=1

WeaponTypeName=SA-9 <------------------here is the missile you need

WeaponPosition=-0.81,0.0,2.84

ShowMissile=FALSE

IndependentPitchMovement=FALSE

 

 

So you need to get the SA-9 strela missile – from your old games weapondata.ini , or its probably in an old weapons pack somewhere. Anyway you install that the same as you would a normal aircraft weapon. See my guide on converting weapons and installing them in SF2 if you don’t know how.

 

 

 

Next your ground object may have a gun – so here is the gun section in the M1319_data.ini field gun (for example)

[GunBarrel]

SystemType=GUN

GunTypeName=37MM_ZP39 <--------------the gun you need

MuzzlePosition=0.00,2.609,1.040

…………

 

 

 

Use the SF2 guneditor (download it from Thirdwire and install it ) to see if that guns already in your game – if its not listed you need to install that too.

 

So if you need to install it - get the data code for the gun. It should be with the groundObject you downloaded somewhere - or if you brought it over from an old game it will be in the Gundata.ini in the objects folder in your old game – or in the gundata.ini of an old weapons pack.

 

 

Put the data section for the gun in a new text file by itself - MAKE SURE the header says [GunData001]

 

[GunData001]

TypeName=37MM_ZP39

FullName=37mm Gun

etc ...........

 

save it as whatever.ini

 

start up the SF2 guneditor,

select your game when prompted, Then hit the Import/Merge button, then find and open up whatever.ini. This should add it to the list of guns.

Now hit Save

 

If you look in your \SF2\Objects\Guns folder you will now see the folder for the gun. - thats it.

 

 

A note on STATIC SAMs

 

If you install static SAMs the game engine will place them randomly in the game as long as the launcher (ie SA-10L etc) has this in its data ini GroundObjectRole=STATIC_SAM

 

And its radar (ie flaplid etc ) has this GroundObjectRole=SAM_RADAR in its data.ini file

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. A new Category - Mobile_SAMs

 

NOTE: This seems to be broken - use MOBILE_AAA for now

 

Yes from June 2009 you can actually specify mobile SAMs to be Mobile_SAMs because of the new SA-8. You will find existing add on mobile SAMs to be defined as MOBILE_AAA so just change it here:

 

[MissionData]

NationName=SOVIET

.............

GroundObjectRole=MOBILE_SAM <----------------changed

 

 

The game will randomly put them in missions when you play.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. My RWR/RHAW scope doesn’t pick up the SAM I’ve just installed

 

Firstly the RWR only picks up RADARs!

 

If the ground object has a radar that can track aircraft you need to add this into its [detect system]:

 

i.e. open up sa-8_data.ini:

 

[DetectSystem]

RadarFamilyName=SA-8

 

[DetectSystem]

TargetType=AIR

RadarFamilyName=SA-8 <--------Important

RadarSearchTime=2.0

RadarSearchRange=30000.0

RadarSearchStrength=100.0

RadarTrackTime=6.0

RadarTrackRange=20000.0

RadarTrackStrength=100.0

RadarPosition=0.0,0.0,3.30

RadarMinimumRange=1500.0

RadarMaximumAlt=5000.0

RadarMinimumAlt=50.0

RadarSearchFreq=7.0 <----------------New

RadarTrackFreq=14.5 <---------------New

RadarMissileGuidanceFreq=14.5 <---------New

RadarSearchCW=FALSE <-----------New

RadarTrackCW=FALSE <----------New

RadarMissileGuidanceCW=FALSE <-------------New

DataLink=TRUE

NetworkType=SA-8

OpticalSight=TRUE

NightSight=TRUE

VisualRange=2500.0

ViewportPosition=0.0,0.0,2.30

MaxVisibleDistance=8000.0

RadarCrossSection=100

 

Just like the jets if the RadarSearch and RadarTrack Frequencies specified above are not within the jets RWR range – its RWR wont pick up the radar.

 

 

 

One last thing – you need to add the radar to all the jets with the TEWs RWR (1978 and on jets) threatLibrary text file (If you don't know what this is see my guide on converting aircraft to SF2 )

 

This is from my F-16A_RWR.lst

 

F-102=RWR_F-102.tga

F-106=RWR_F-106.tga

……………..

SA-6=RWR_SA-6.tga

SA-8=RWR_SA-8.tga <----------The radar SA-8 must be here

SA-11=RWR_SA-11.tga

ZSU-23=RWR_ZSU-23.tga

 

In this case the SA-8 was there already – but if you were adding an SA-19 then you would define the RadarFamilyName=SA-19 as above - then put in:

 

SA-8=RWR_SA-8.tga

SA-19=RWR_SA-8.tga

SA-11=RWR_SA-11.tga

ZSU-23=RWR_ZSU-23.tga

 

for example – otherwise the SAM radar will just show up as a U on the RWR. So now the SA-19 will show up as an 8 on the scope because Ive assigned the SA-8.tga to it.

 

See ErikJs Guide for creating a custom .tga for TEWs RWRs

 

See my guide on converting aircraft to SF2 for more on the TEWs RWR.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Shadows in the new games

 

In an objects ini file – ie SA-8.ini the shadow section may look like this

 

[shadow]

CastShadow=TRUE

ShadowLOD=SA-8_shadow.shd

ShadowType=1

ShadowCastDist=10000

MaxVisibleDistance=150

 

However in the newer versions the shadow section looks like this with two lines omitted:

 

 

[shadow]

CastShadow=TRUE

ShadowCastDist=10000

MaxVisibleDistance=400

 

So alter accordingly - due to dynamic shadows the old .shd file is no longer needed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Limiting the ground object to certain terrains

In SF2 a new line appeared in aircraft ini files (eg SA-9L.ini) called the user list:

 

According to TK:

 

Each plane has UserList.INI that lists which country has used it, and between what years.

 

Each map, if its set to limit nations, has a list of countries in Nations.INI under LimiedNations list. (Germany and Vietnam are currently set to limted, but Desert isn't, although we might change that in the future if we get too many Chinsese planes flying around there )

 

The game compares the two, and if the country in the UserList.INI for the plane is in LimitedNations list on the map, then it used, if not, its not selected.

 

 

So using the add on SA-9L as an example only - you add this line to the SA-9L.ini

 

[GroundObjectData]

ObjectFullName=SA-9 Gaskin

ObjectDataFile=SA-9L_data.ini

UserList=SA-9L_UserList.ini

 

 

Then create a new text file in Notepad but save it as “SA-9L_Userlist.ini” with these contents:

 

[soviet]

ServiceStartYear=1972

ServiceEndYear=2020

Availability=VERY_COMMON

 

 

 

And if the Groundobject has more than one user:

 

[soviet]

ServiceStartYear=1972

ServiceEndYear=2020

Availability=VERY_COMMON

 

[Algeria]

ServiceStartYear=1983

ServiceEndYear=2020

Availability=COMMON

 

[Armenia]

ServiceStartYear=1992

ServiceEndYear=2020

Availability=RARE

 

Then put the file in the SA-9L folder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Vehicle model not showing in game

 

SF2 is case sensitive when it comes to naming model files – so referencing UPPER case model files with lower case names wont work. Open up the ini file for the jet – i.e. SA-9L.ini and look at these lines

 

[LOD001]

Filename=SA-9L.LOD

Distance=200

 

[LOD002]

Filename=SA-9L_lod002.lod

Distance=1000

 

Make sure the actual LOD files (ie SA-9L.lod) in the SA-9L folder have those exact names in the correct CASE! Change them if not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Aircraft Carriers (The easy way)

Don’t get too excited because the game still doesn’t support them very well from what I can tell.

 

To install them – well they are just ground objects so install as the SA-9L (In section 1) above including any separate missiles and guns it needs.

 

 

Now once installed you would hope they would randomly appear in the game somewhere but no. Nothing seems to have changed from SF1 – they only appear in Campaigns and custom single missions. So to use them you need to edit the campaigns or create a custom single mission as before!

However for people with SF2:Vietnam you can download one and stick it in place of the stock one.

 

How to do that well find CVA-63 in your SF2V\Objects\GroundObject folder and rename it to CVA-63_OLD

• Then rename the folder of your new carrier to CVA-63.
• Then rename its ini file to CVA-63.ini

 

 

Now when you play a campaign you will have your downloaded carrier.

 

And if you like that kind of thing YAP2 has some amazing looking carriers – but sneakily none that you can take off AND land on that i’ve seen! A real shame - I still use the in game Carrier!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9. Stock ground objects using desert skins?

 

Have noticed that TK has put this line in the Terrains ini file (i.e. GermanyCe.ini)

GroundObjectTexture=green

 

So all the stock ground objects will use the green skin on this terrain right? even if they are defined individually to use the Dessert skin?

Well its not working at the moment – will update this when it does.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. What is the ObjectData.ini file and where is it??

Short answer - You have a mod there that was made before about 2005 - because that's about the time the ObjectData.ini stopped being used for this purpose in the game.

 

So what do you do?

You need to convert it to the newer "plug and play" ground object format - which is easy if you look at how newer add on ground objects look.

 

 

You will be given the following to put into the GROUNDOBJECT.ini file:

 

[Objectxxx]

ObjectName=2S6

ObjectFullName=2S6 Tunguska

ObjectDataFile=2S6_data.ini

 

 

Put it into a new Notepad file and convert it to something similar to this:

 

[GroundObjectData]

ObjectName=2S6

ObjectFullName=2S6 Tunguska

ObjectDataFile=2S6_data.ini

 

[LOD001]

Filename=2S6.LOD

Distance=120

 

[LOD002]

Filename=2S6_LOD2.LOD

Distance=300

 

[LOD003]

Filename=2S6_LOD3.LOD

Distance=750

 

[LOD004]

Filename=2S6_LOD4.LOD

Distance=3500

 

[shadow]

CastShadow=TRUE

ShadowCastDist=500

MaxVisibleDistance=500

 

 

[TextureSet001]

Directory=Desert

Name=Desert

Nation=Soviet

Specular=0.300000

Glossiness=0.850000

Reflection=0.000000

 

Save the file as 2S6.ini

 

stick all the files for it in a folder called 2S6 and thats it - well kinda - now you need to install the SA-19 and Gun for it (see section 1)

 

 

[+pcpilot 181]

Thanks Migbuster, this is what I needed to get my older ship collection in game. The ships would show up in the mission editor ground object list but when I flew the mission, they wouldnt be there. Mainly it revolved around adding the groundobjectdata part to the ships' ini file as some of them didnt have that, (it was in a seperate GroundObjectData.ini file)...like this...

 

[GroundObjectData] }------

ObjectFullName=Chapaev }------add this 3 line section here

ObjectDataFile=Chapaev_DATA.ini }------

 

[LOD001]

Filename=Chapaev.LOD

Distance=20000

 

[shadow]

CastShadow=FALSE

ShadowLOD=

ShadowType=1

ShadowCastDist=500

MaxVisibleDistance=500

 

Then making sure as you mentioned to check ALL the lettering's case ie; upper or lower case. This seemed to revolve mainly around the LOD file name and the _DATA callout in the file...like this...

 

[GroundObjectData]

ObjectFullName=Chapaev

ObjectDataFile=Chapaev_DATA.ini <-----here

 

[LOD001]

Filename=Chapaev.LOD <----and here

Distance=20000

 

[shadow]

CastShadow=FALSE

ShadowLOD=

ShadowType=1

ShadowCastDist=500

MaxVisibleDistance=500

 

Soooo, now Im sailing and flying ASUW missions again thanks to you MB...