What Add-Ons do you find SF2(V) benefits from the most?

[stingray77 4]

I know, not an easy question - especially as it very much goes into the personal likes and preferences.

 

So, to close it in a little bit, you can do without the add-on-planes and -skins (which I already found and apllied a couple of), please...

 

What "surroundings" (sky, wheather, scenery, terrain - esp. trees) do the best in SF2 and especially Vietnam. What are the "trade-offs"? Where can one get them (for free or payware, maybe)? What skills are needed (I learnt, that applying skins is as easy as it gets - at least to my current experience)?

 

I'm oppen to all your comments.

 

Oliver

[stingray77 4]

I just read about the "SF2V Air and Ground Expansion Pack v1.0" - sounds as if THAT one pretty much covers a lot of what is to be wished..........

PLUS it covers A-1 Skyraider and A-6 Intruder, which - in my opinion - must not be missed when thinking about Vietnam...

 

Experiences?

[jomni 6]

I just read about the "SF2V Air and Ground Expansion Pack v1.0" - sounds as if THAT one pretty much covers a lot of what is to be wished..........

PLUS it covers A-1 Skyraider and A-6 Intruder, which - in my opinion - must not be missed when thinking about Vietnam...

 

Experiences?

 

Yup that mod basicially has all the vitenam planes, map and environment mods that you need for enhancing SF2V.

It also has a ground war campaign aside from the default strategic bombing campaigns.

 

BTW, when i run it in my low end laptop... i intentionally took away the environment mods (sky) because slows the game down significantly.

Edited August 5, 2009 by jomni

[stingray77 4]

Thanks for yor view...

 

How "low end" is your laptop, then? I am running SF2V on a notebook, too:

_{Dual Core 2,5 GHz}

_{2 GB RAM}

_{NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GS}

_{Vista 32 SP2...}

Will I have to expect slow performance, too?

 

Btw: can I "de-select" certain parts from the package after installing or do I have to keep away from installing them, beforehand?

 

So, there is an enhanced sky coming (description names some "Widesky") in it - how about more scenery like trees/jungle (is that included in the "GreenHell2-fixes" mentioned)?

[+malibu43 142]

Thanks for yor view...

 

How "low end" is your laptop, then? I am running SF2V on a notebook, too:

_{Dual Core 2,5 GHz}

_{2 GB RAM}

_{NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GS}

_{Vista 32 SP2...}

Will I have to expect slow performance, too?

 

Btw: can I "de-select" certain parts from the package after installing or do I have to keep away from installing them, beforehand?

 

So, there is an enhanced sky coming (description names some "Widesky") in it - how about more scenery like trees/jungle (is that included in the "GreenHell2-fixes" mentioned)?

 

You could remove the Widesky mod after installing, IF you're familiar with the game, mods, etc... If you're still kinda new, it might be hard to determine what to remove and what to leave. BUT, based on the specs you posted above, I don't foresee you having any issues running the game. Your notebook seems more capable than my MacBook, and I don't usually have any issues with Widesky.

 

Green Hell 2 is included, which adds all the Jungle, trees, buildings, etc...

[jomni 6]

You could remove the Widesky mod after installing, IF you're familiar with the game, mods, etc... If you're still kinda new, it might be hard to determine what to remove and what to leave. BUT, based on the specs you posted above, I don't foresee you having any issues running the game. Your notebook seems more capable than my MacBook, and I don't usually have any issues with Widesky.

 

Green Hell 2 is included, which adds all the Jungle, trees, buildings, etc...

 

Try out the sky mod first. When I say low end, i mean a laptop with intel integrated graphics.

[stingray77 4]

Sounds very promising - your info on what's included and that chances are not too bad, that the package won't slow down my system considerably...

 

As it won't harm, I can try our widesky "isolated" before... Guess it's more easy to remove it then before re-installing it with the "Expansion Pack".......

[jomni 6]

The best part about the new mod folder system of the 2nd Gen ThirdWire games is that you can mix and match the mod packages. For example, i took away the WideSky related files from the Vietnam All-in-One mod by simply deleting the related files. Then the game will then use stock graphics since it was never overwritten (Unlike in the old mod folder strucutre). Green Hell won't matter as I have chose low detail for ground.

 

Then I added the SF2E mig cockpits to be able to fly the Migs (even in the Vietnam setting). I'm excitied in the upcoming Nato Fighters 4+ for SF2E and the enhancements it will bring to my merged install.

Edited August 6, 2009 by jomni

[stingray77 4]

I just downloaded "Better Widesky" by insky/orsin... Now I am unsure if this is the one integrated into the "Expansion Pack"... (Is it? Don't think so...)

 

Yes, that way of "filekeeping" in SF2 really sounds very straightforward!

So, how do I then identify the files related to "Widesky"? Are they put into one ("widesky"-) folder altogether?

 

As the next step then, installing "Fly Them All Rolling Thunder" sounds quite tempting (getting the bunch of MiGs plus their Missions)......

[jomni 6]

Yes, that way of "filekeeping" in SF2 really sounds very straightforward!

So, how do I then identify the files related to "Widesky"? Are they put into one ("widesky"-) folder altogether?

 

No you have to keep track of them yourself. I just deleted evey file with reference to skies, clouds, horizons in the Flight(?) folder to get the stock skies.

 

Just be careful about mixing and matching as they might overwrite things that you like in another mod.

[stingray77 4]

Willdo - or at least try to! Thanks!

[luckyluca 0]

Hey Jomni,

 

what I did in the end was bringing all the widesky files in photoshop and scale them down to a more manageable size, I now am getting a similar look and much much better performance.

as a rule of thumb I scale down the 2Mb images to 256Kb

 

 

No you have to keep track of them yourself. I just deleted evey file with reference to skies, clouds, horizons in the Flight(?) folder to get the stock skies.

 

Just be careful about mixing and matching as they might overwrite things that you like in another mod.

[stingray77 4]

Allright: yesterday I copied the ThirdWire/StrikeFighters2-folder (from my drive: saved games) to a back-up drive and installed the Expansion Pack plus the A-6 Cockpit from FOTI... All works absulutely flawlessly! :yes:

 

Seeing the mass of jungle below really adds to the scene, and the A-6-cockpit - I must/can say - is absolutely well done!

 

The only thing, that I do not like too much is the "StarWars"-like cross-shaped halo from the rocket thrust...

 

Looking forward to flying again this evening.........