SF2V / WOV Air & Ground Expansion Packs

[Pappa Goat 3]

Paul:

 

Mirage Factory Weapons Pack: We can't add this. In fact, we explicitly advise against dropping weapons packs on top of the Expansion Pack. We've already got Deuces effects plus a handful of other custom effects. I think there's also a good chance we already have most if not all of the weapons and guns you'd need. Again, a list of specific weapons needed would be helpful.

 

Loadouts: Provided they're done as custom-named loadouts (e.g. "Strike_Caves," "Attack_Mk83," etc.), we can incorporate these.

 

Formations: Shouldn't be a problem to ship a custom Formations.ini.

 

Eric L. Howes

 

I'm flying his posted missions ontop of the mod after changing the terrain. All the necessary weapons are already there it seems. The lodouts are custom named to be mission specific. The formations, from the original's he has posted, did something strange though outside of the single missions, meaning I had no control over my wingmen and my wingman was flying inside of me (that's not meant to sound provocative). I've tried placing a few Vietnamese, such as plowing with the water buffalo in some of the villages to add a bit of life. 'Guns' have to be updated to incorporate some of the ship weapon systems.

[+eburger68 199]

Pappa Goat:

 

The formations, from the original's he has posted, did something strange though outside of the single missions, meaning I had no control over my wingmen and my wingman was flying inside of me (that's not meant to sound provocative).

 

Ugggh. Not good. One of the primary goals of the Expansion Pack is to provide new and enhanced campaigns as well as to enhance game-generated single missions. If that problem persists in the new version, we'll have to include it strictly as an "optional" item for use exclusively with those single missions.

 

Thanks for the report.

 

Eric L. Howes

[+comrpnt 16]

Hi Eric, ok, let's go down through the list...

 

The Huey missions are integral to the missions undertaken by VMFA-531 during their tour. I had to soften my requirements from the UH-34 Choctaw as Capun's model was 'restricted access'. Moving it away from the replacement public access Huey to something else again would be even more tricky as there's nothing else even close that can provide a flaming arrow-style mission. Nothing in the inventory really moves slow enough to make the escort as demanding as it probably would have been during the real mission. I'd recommend dropping these from your pack if you don't want to use helicopters. I'll keep them in my available version.

 

'Cardiff' copy that! :-)

 

'Infantry' copy that! :-)

 

Weapons pack: The requirement to use this pack is not a hard pre-req. In fact I only tend to use pretty standard ordnance, as defined in the historical mission logs. White and red smoke are the only non-standard weapons I use. As for loadouts, I have my own named loadouts, such as Strike_Mk82, Strike_LAU-3A, Strike_LAU-10A, Strike_WhiteSmoke, associated with F-4B or F-100D.

 

Ant's 531 skin - copy that! :-)

 

Veltro2k's KC-135 - copy that! :-)

 

As for the parked statics, these are my complex statics derived from the stock F-4B and F-100D, using low-res 531 skins or stock skins. As for the 707_static, I'm not sure if I'll keep this. I may provide Veltro2K's C-141A as a static instead with low rez skin - I think it'll be simpler. I'd be interested to see if anyone gets a CTD. Unless it's an install issue, I've never seen anything with these new statics I do for the October 2008 patched version. Perhaps the old ones I did before are causing the problem. I'll need more details on what people have been using to be sure. The new stuff I do in this area seems very stable.

 

Finally, formations. Papagoat seemed to imply that using my formations ini changes broke his formations outside of my single missions - did I read that right? This is puzzling as the formation changes I define are additional not replacement for the stock formation definitions, and the only place you'll ever see them being played out is in one of my single missions.

 

*** By copy: Pappa Goat, send me your formations.ini please - I'd like to see what you're running with. Thanks. ***

 

Ok, so aside from the Chopper issue, the rest seems like a good fit. I'll be in touch once I have something you can consider merging (hopefully before Christmas if RL doesn't make too many demands on my time ;-) )

 

Cheers, regards, Paul.

[Pappa Goat 3]

Pappa Goat:

 

 

 

Ugggh. Not good. One of the primary goals of the Expansion Pack is to provide new and enhanced campaigns as well as to enhance game-generated single missions. If that problem persists in the new version, we'll have to include it strictly as an "optional" item for use exclusively with those single missions.

 

Thanks for the report.

 

Eric L. Howes

 

It's just for the custom formations. I removed the data and there was no more problem. The missions still work without it.

[+eburger68 199]

Paul:

 

Regarding the UH-1H, I think what we may do is include it as an optional item (not installed by default) for folks who want to play your missions. There will be something in the ReadMe that states that it is completely unsupported outside of the missions you supply.

 

Statics: I have a collection of statics that I can guarantee won't cause any problems. And the collection goes beyond just the F-4B and F-100D. Let me know if you're interested.

 

Weapons: why not test your missions with the Weapons folder, WeaponData.ini, and GunData.ini from the Expansion Pack. If you need anything added, just let me know.

 

Eric Howes

[+eburger68 199]

Dave:

 

I will wait until you get the 7 zip version updated and then when you are happy with it I will kill it at your request

 

Now that the 7-zipped verion of the Gold release files are uploaded, could we get all the original beta downloads (2 beta files, three fixpacks, plus the terrain update) removed from the Downloads section?

 

Thanks,

 

Eric Howes

[+Dave 2,322]

It is done Eric.

[+malibu43 142]

 

...First order of business, though, would be to overhaul the Steel Tiger campaign so that it's much more focused on interdicting traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail as opposed to providing ground support for firefights in South Vietnam.

 

Eric L. Howes

 

Just thought I'd pop in here for a moment and comment on the mission types in steel tiger. The first thing to do to get the focus to be on interdiction rather than CAS, would be to simply go into the campaign file and for each squadron:

 

- lower the mission chances for CAS (try something like 60%)

-Increase the mission chances for Armed_Recon (Maybe 100%) and Strike (maybe 80%)

 

That's a start. If we want to get even more Armed_Recon, you could adjust the supply levels to keep N.Vietnam on the offensive most of the time.

[Pappa Goat 3]

If anyone's interested I've developed a basic way for ground units to pop smoke but it only really works for scripted single missions.

[+eburger68 199]

Pappa Goat:

 

Great. Could you post more details and whatever files or examples you might have?

 

Thanks,

 

Eric Howes

[Pappa Goat 3]

Just Quickly,

 

It includes a new weapon in the gundata (smokegrenade) to create a smoke grenade as a weapon.

 

Bullet.ini data to create the smoke grenade effects set.

 

New smoke effect for a smoke grenade as the existing smoke didn't seem to want to co-operate.

(For the mission I made it is purple. Its a mixture of the 'SmokeDispenser' effect and the PurpleWP effect as the purple effect didn't seem to want to work in this case on its own).

 

To effectively have it deployed as a weapon I tried arming a 'RTO' with it, but getting him to consistently throw it which would have to be towards an enemy even though it falls short, was too tricky to work all the time. So I created two new ground units armed with the smoke grenade. Why two, so that the target and targeting for the use of the smoke grenade occurs reliably between the two in any situation. Both can only see or be seen and have a range of 10 meters, so do not interfere with any other units or are not interfered with. Place them where you want the smoke, facing each other 5 meters apart, set the time delay for when you want the smoke, and they in effect appear, see each other, and one pops smoke which them destroys both of them.

 

At present the modified unit is the VietCong1 figure (which comes up with no skin for some reason), but ideally something smaller and less obvious should be used, or even if it's possible, no actual figure appears at all, the entity is invisible in the game, but I haven't played around enough yet.

 

Room for improvements (feel free to try):

-Modify units used to be non-entities with no physical form in game, or to be a small green cibe or black grenade looking shape.

-Modify purple smoke effect to remove WP explosion and just have the purple smoke cloud as one would from a M18. (I tried but no success yet)

 

 

I'll be posting the first mission I made soon, which involves flying Sandy slow air cover on a extraction for a LRRP team that got bumped in the Ia Drang, co-ordinated by a FAC with fast air on call for if things get hot. Outside of the current ground war mod only the UH-1B is required, unless one wants HOG or Cobra support (but I'm having trouble editing the UH-1H HOG to fly properly under AI (got it to work, then screwed it up again))

PopSmoke.rar

Edited December 5, 2009 by Pappa Goat

[stingray77 4]

Yesterday I experienced some high-frequency flickering of trees when flying low over NV at noon with only a few clouds... It looked like all the woods were flashing (like when setting too high a sharpness/mipmapping on the flightsimulator-series).

 

Can I adjust something in the settings to get rid of that?

 

But again: the new tiles' color is really great...

[+eburger68 199]

Stingray77:

 

That's a product of the new trees. I haven't found a way to completely suppress it.

 

Eric Howes

[stingray77 4]

Okay, good to know.... It's just a minor itch anyhow......

 

Thanks for your immediate answer (again) - great service!

 

 

(Flew the KC-135 yesterday... Too bad, there's nor refuelling-missions in the game. But the bird looks impressive!)

[hayden09 0]

dUDES!! Most excellent ADD-on, Kudos to all involved!

[+EricJ 4,199]

I'll second that, using the stock SF2V map is just boring...

[stingray77 4]

I just read about the Dec 2009 patch for the SF2-series available since yesterday...

 

I am a little hesitant, because I don't want to loose my excellently running SF2V with the XP Gold applied - which I just LOVE. Any experience already if things crash with the new patch installed?

 

Then, can the patch simply be installed over the existing environment or is a new install (patch first, then the Gold over it again) needed?

Does the patch only change things in the programs- (not the mods-) folder?

Any procedure how to revert back to "before-patch" possible?

 

Hope there's already some experience to learn from...

(I'd really HATE to see my SF2V/XPGold get busted! )

 

Thanks for your input

Oliver

Edited December 15, 2009 by stingray77

[stingray77 4]

...or does this patch include exactly those files (included in SF2I) that do not interact (gentle words for make the XP-mods crash) with several of the Gold's files?

 

(Because in another thread I have been asking whether it might be of use to buy/install SF2I - and you answered to that recent question of mine already, Eric... )

[+eburger68 199]

Stingray77:

 

I have not had the time to test this patch with the Expansion Pack, and it will be some time before I do.

 

If you want to apply it anyway, then you should rename your Mod Folder, apply the patch, and run the game at least once to let the game create its own Mod Folder. Then move or rename game-created Mod Folder (for future reference) and rename your original Mod Folder back to the original.

 

The only way to revert to your prepatch setup is to make a backup of your SF2 install dir before applying the patch.

 

Eric Howes

Edited December 15, 2009 by eburger68

[+eburger68 199]

Folks:

 

The Final (Gold) Release of the WOV Expansion Pack is now available for download -- see the File Announcements section. It includes all the items from the beta version plus the "Aircraft Supplement" package that was subsequently released for the beta. It also includes a few last fixes for various items plus six new aircraft not included in the original beta:

 

+ EB-66C Destroyer

+ KA-3B Tanker

+ KA-6D Tanker

+ KC-130F Tanker

+ KC-135A Stratotanker

+ RB-66C Destroyer

 

Best,

 

Eric Howes

[stingray77 4]

Okay, maybe (hopefully) I'll be able to try that tomorrow - I'll let you know of the results! Thanks again...

[stingray77 4]

I just ran the SF2x Dec2009-patch (NOT the one for/including SF2I!) on my standalone SF2V (plus Expansion Pack Gold) before leaving for work this morning (so not much time to check things) and "re-applied" my modded folder...

 

What I found out so far:

+ the game now runs on Vista Aero (eventually) - before, I had to switch it off

+ new load screen (a camoed F-4 on tarmac) - well, I prefer the "Welcome to Vietnam" from the SF2V Expansion Pack

 

- plane(s?) not shown in hangar screen - at least I saw that with the default F-4E (maybe I can find something - jpg or other picture-file - in the "stock mod folder" created after running the patched game once...)

- the HDR mod 1.01A doesn't run anymore. At least Boris' script in the upper left doesn't appear - which (I understand) does indicate whether the enbseries are turned on or not. (Yes, I checked the d9d3.dll and the enbseries being still there.)

Don't know if the new DX10-support implemented overrules the DX9 driver being part of the HDR-mod.

 

Anybody more knowledgeable than me (well, that's not hard) might be able to answer/supply workarounds for the above?

 

things left to check:

- FPS performance

- more things like the missing plane above

- accurate support of the other objects implemented with the Sf2V XP Gold

 

...so, lots to do...

 

(I'll leave copies of this post in the XP Gold- and HDR 1.01A-threads)

 

Oliver

[+eburger68 199]

Stingray77:

 

In the \Optional folder of the latest Expansion Pack (the 7-zipped version), there's an SF2I folder with a For_SF2I.zip inside. Unpack that ZIP, then apply the contents to your SF2V Mod Folder. That should solve some of the problems that you're seeing (not the ENBSeries issues, though).

 

Eric Howes

[stingray77 4]

Ah, good hint and well worth the try...

 

Yes strange the enbseries not getting activated - as said, my (quite uneducated guess) might be the DX10-support overriding the added DX9-driver from the very beginning... I need to check out performance anyway.

If I'm getting all the rest fixed and performance doesn't suffer much, I might consider living without the HDR - MAYBE.......

 

And if all fails, there's is still the fallback-solution.

 

Oh, by the way: I just recall the loadscreen (the "Welcome" being replaced) appeared before re-applying the mod-folder - so I guess (???) the "Welcome" might be back now...

 

Thanks for your feedback, Eric

[stingray77 4]

Just did it - and it worked fine! Thanks!!!

 

What I noticed was some trees shining through clouds - see screenie. Was it like this before or does the patched game not correlate with the addition of trees...??? Anything to be done about it??? (I'll post it in the ThirdWire-forum as well...)

 

And something else from the ThirdWire-forum: the F-4s ailerons don't move - spoilers do but not the ailerons... I DON'T remember - was that different before??? I'd bet someone would have stumbled over that... But I don't recall ever having seen them move.

Guess/hope TK is working to fix that (he was steered to that Dec 3rd)...