SF2:Europe - only Tan Centurions in CAS missions?

[Helmut_AUT]

I looked into the Knowledgebase but couldn't find this covered:

 

I tried a few quick CAS single missions yesterday to get an easy entry into SF2:Europe. What I found is that three or four times - every single time - the mission would create a ground battle between a handful of Centurions in tan desert camo, and a horde of Russian T-72 and T-62.

 

Now, maybe I need to play the campaign - but shouldn't there be more variety in friendly ground units, I see from the directory that there are the expected M60, M48, Leo1 all present.

 

Also, I looked for tank skins here in the download section, but didn't find specific information - would be nice to get the Centurions into green camo, as well as some of the AAA units present which are also desert camo.

 

Right now, it's a bit disappointing that all I have for a war in Central Europe are British desert tanks. I'm surprised the paint hasn't been updated before release.

[+Gr.Viper]

Centurions only have tan camo for now, but I hope they'll be fixed. Soviet air defences were all tan when SF2:V was released

[Helmut_AUT]

Well, that promises hope. Shouldn't it be easy to just overwrite the default skin with a green one? I hope the campaign generates different ground engagements for CAS, with M60, Leo1 and stuff? They would be green at least.

 

Thanks for answering.

Edited July 21, 2009 by Helmut_AUT

[+Gr.Viper]

Shouldn't it be easy to just overwrite the default skin with a green one?

The game selects proper skin automatically if available but there's no green texture in the game folders so far. Still, nothing a patch couldn't fix. :yes:

 

I think you'll see different tanks in different years. Maybe in different tank units. All SF2:E stock campaigns start with all-out Soviet offensive but if you survive long enough you'll see blue tanks attacking.

[Helmut_AUT]

I'm constantly surprised how clever the game engine is. So it knows "green" and "tan" camo by name - makes a lot of sense. I'm surprised the ton of skinners out there haven't dug more into the tanks.

 

Good point about trying different years, maybe in Single Missions that will also provide some variety. I think I just switched aircraft around (A-10 and Harrier), not the years.

[eraser_tr]

Not that clever, it just calls out for a different skin in the unit data in the campaign data file. You could also give them snow if you download the skin and fly the DBS terrain.

[+Fubar512]

Not that clever, it just calls out for a different skin in the unit data in the campaign data file. You could also give them snow if you download the skin and fly the DBS terrain.

 

Actually, there are two lines that you can add to any terrain.ini file that takes care of both textures, and limits the nationality of units that one is likely to encounter (running into VPAF MiGs or Israeli Phantoms over central Europe can be an immersion killer ). For example, in Stary's seasoned WoE terrain (whiched I've ported over to SF2E), I've made the following edits to the GermanyCE.ini, which I've highlighted here in red:

 

[Terrain]

TerrainFullName=Germany

DataFile=GermanyCE_data.INI

TargetFile=GermanyCE_targets.INI

TargetTypeFile=GermanyCE_types.INI

MovementFile=GermanyCE_movement.ini

NationsFile=GermanyCE_nations.INI

BriefingText=GermanyCE_briefing.INI

DogfightFile=GermanyCE_dogfight.INI

DogfightOnly=FALSE

Longitude=10.817

Latitude=51.111

LimitedNations=TRUE

GroundObjectTexture=green

[Helmut_AUT]

Ah okay, it's a feature of the terrain then. I still think it's clever enough to do it such, instead of having a hard-coded "texturename" entry somewhere.

 

I also like how First Eagles uses color change (shaders?) to simulate time of year. Does SF2 use this as well?

[+Fubar512]

Ah okay, it's a feature of the terrain then. I still think it's clever enough to do it such, instead of having a hard-coded "texturename" entry somewhere.

 

I also like how First Eagles uses color change (shaders?) to simulate time of year. Does SF2 use this as well?

 

There's a 4-season mod for WoE, by Stary. I've ported it to SF2E, and Stary's working on an update. Either way, I highly recommend it.

 

Shaders in this series are limited to effects; reflection bump-mapping (water), texture bump mapping (terrain only), alpha bump-mapping (trees), and solid object bump-mapping (buildings, etc). The last two were added with SF2E, BTW.

[+Gr.Viper]

solid object bump-mapping (buildings, etc)

Is that the reason why there are ghosts of buildings hovering above cities at night?

[+Wrench]

or perhaps just your generic run-of-the-mill spatio-temporal distortion?? (yah, I watch/read too much sci-fi)

 

At least it's not Cardiff, with that dimensional rift they had to contend with....

 

wrench

kevin stein

[eraser_tr]

Now, I wonder if TK would make a tweak to that so you could have green in the summer, spring and fall, but when winter tiles are used, ground objects use a white snow camo?

[Helmut_AUT]

Shaders in this series are limited to effects; reflection bump-mapping (water), texture bump mapping (terrain only), alpha bump-mapping (trees), and solid object bump-mapping (buildings, etc). The last two were added with SF2E, BTW.

 

Could this be the reason I'm seeing so much worse performance in outside view for SF2E compared to First Eagles? Maybe on my "larger" game rig with a 9600GT (64 Shading Units) it will be faster, the 7600GT in this one only has 12 Shading Units. On the other rig, First Eagles seems to be CPU bound mostly, but here in SF2E it seems both gfx and cpu are important.

 

I re-tested two CAS missions tonight - Single Missions - one in '69 with a Harrier, the other in '80 with a Thunderbolt - and both times tan Centurions as friendlies. I guess the single mission CAS template is limited, can anyone confirm the other allied tanks (green ones) show up in the campaign?