SF2V / WOV Air & Ground Expansion Packs

[+eburger68 195]

Eric:

 

I looked in the Linebacker III TAGRETS.INI -- didn't see any Cambodian SAM sites. Besides, they'd be historically inappropriate for the time period we cover in this mod.

 

ELH

[+EricJ 3,933]

Eh okay... Linebacker III was a more modern one... or maybe it was Laos... okay!

[+eburger68 195]

Eric:

 

We do have a SAM area right along the DMZ -- active from March-June 1972, when the NV withdrew their SA-2s back North following the start of Linebacker. We also added SA-7s to some of the PAVN base camps in eastern Laos.

 

Eric Howes

[+malibu43 142]

Eh okay... Linebacker III was a more modern one... or maybe it was Laos... okay!

 

The targets.ini for LBIII only had AAA entries in target areas in laos and cambodia. However, if you installed any of the mobile SAMs (SA-8,9,13,19... etc) they would show up in those locations. I think with the SF2V exp pack, those AAA sites in laos and cambodia have been tweaked such that those mobile sams won't show up there anymore.

[DrArrow 0]

The targets.ini for LBIII only had AAA entries in target areas in laos and cambodia. However, if you installed any of the mobile SAMs (SA-8,9,13,19... etc) they would show up in those locations. I think with the SF2V exp pack, those AAA sites in laos and cambodia have been tweaked such that those mobile sams won't show up there anymore.

 

Does that also mean that if I use mobile sams for NV they won't appear in my SV campaigns ? :) Anyway great work with AAA - now it is really a threat and coming into the dense flak really pumps the adrenaline high (even on normal that I consider the most realistic) And Neptune is also great fun to fly, for me its the best MODpack out there

 

Regarding the texture flicker - on my install it happens just and only in RF8-A and RF-8G. objects like hangars and other airfield object flicker and shimmer and I also get black flickering patches on water. I couldn't catch the objects flicker on screenshot but it is quite apparent on water. The screenshot follows:

[+eburger68 195]

DrArrow:

 

If you add the mobile SAMs, they will show up in the EasterOffensive campaign -- that's one of the reasons that I removed them.

 

As for the flickering of ground objects through the canopy glass with the RF-8A/G, now that I think about it I did see a bit of that during testing. I couldn't figure out the cause of it, and I believe Malibu43 didn't see it at all. So I chalked it up to some peculiarity with my graphics card (NVidia 6600). I'll take another look at it. Perhaps others have an idea.

 

Eric Howes

[Murphy'S 15]

hello

 

nice job on this addon

 

just a question

 

how to avoid too much clipping on tree and object/cities (like screen below)?

 

[+eburger68 195]

MurphyS:

 

I believe you'll have to play around with the settings in FlightEngine.INI (but I could be mistaken). I'd suggest posting your question in the General Discussions forum, where some of the resident experts might see it. Also, check the Knowledge Base -- there might be something in there about this topic.

 

Eric Howes

[stingray77 4]

Just returned from vacation on the weekend I found that you uploaded the Gold!

Cool - I downloaded it already, started installation and am eager to see what will be new then...

 

(Oh, btw "Mobile SAM's": the readme says to "copy the folders from the /Mobile_SAMs folder" to the GroundObjects - so simply copying the "Mobile SAM-folder" into the GroundObjects - so creating this folder in the GroundObjects - does not do the same?)

 

And then the announcement that more terrains are to be expected in future "Terrain Updates" - wow!

 

Thanks, guys!

[+eburger68 195]

Stingray77:

 

You asked:

 

Oh, btw "Mobile SAM's": the readme says to "copy the folders from the /Mobile_SAMs folder" to the GroundObjects - so simply copying the "Mobile SAM-folder" into the GroundObjects - so creating this folder in the GroundObjects - does not do the same?

 

Nope -- not the same. The game won't know what to do with the Mobile_SAMs folder if you just drop it in \GroundObject -- and the mobile SAMs won't appear in the game.

 

Eric Howes

[+EricJ 3,933]

The targets.ini for LBIII only had AAA entries in target areas in laos and cambodia. However, if you installed any of the mobile SAMs (SA-8,9,13,19... etc) they would show up in those locations. I think with the SF2V exp pack, those AAA sites in laos and cambodia have been tweaked such that those mobile sams won't show up there anymore.

 

Well I guess I have to actually work and see if I can't add them back in... was a very nice touch man

[+malibu43 142]

Well I guess I have to actually work and see if I can't add them back in... was a very nice touch man

 

 

Your best bet for getting a more up to date (SF2V level) LBIII scenario would be to:

 

-Copy the terrain folders. Go into the SouthVietnam_targets.ini file and change all the specialized AAA entries (I'm not sure exactly what they look like at the moment) and change them all to just 'AAA'. Shouldn't be too hard using Find/Change.

-Copy the easter offensive and LBII campaign files and change the names, dates, and campaign description files to reflect mid '80's. Change the aircraft used to be their 1980's equivalents. (use only aircraft that come in NF4+).

-Find all the SF2V AGXP specific ground object that are called out in the campaign files and terrain _types.ini and _targets.ini files.

-Drop the terrain folder, new campaign files, and necessary ground objects into a NF4+ install.

 

I'm not saying this won't screw something up, as I haven't tried it. But I think it would be the fasted and easiest way to get a LBIII style campaign for the second generation games.

 

Anyone up for trying it?

Edited November 11, 2009 by malibu43

[stingray77 4]

@ eburger68: thanks for clarifying, Eric... I will correct that.

 

(Btw, on my vacation I found a book I just started reading: "One Day in a Long War (May 10, 1972, Air War North Vietnam)" by Ethell and Price. Great literature to accompany the game...)

[+eburger68 195]

Stingray77:

 

That is an excellent read. If you're interested in doing more reading on the air war over Vietnam, look in the \Extras\Docs folder from the Expansion Pack -- there are several texts in there that you might find helpful.

 

Eric Howes

[stingray77 4]

Yes, I already "nosed" in there - I have had a couple of books already (Stackpole publishing offers several "first-hand-recollection"-books) and found this rather old book in an antiquarian book store, when in Boston... Cool!

[+EricJ 3,933]

Your best bet for getting a more up to date (SF2V level) LBIII scenario would be to:

 

-Copy the terrain folders. Go into the SouthVietnam_targets.ini file and change all the specialized AAA entries (I'm not sure exactly what they look like at the moment) and change them all to just 'AAA'. Shouldn't be too hard using Find/Change.

-Copy the easter offensive and LBII campaign files and change the names, dates, and campaign description files to reflect mid '80's. Change the aircraft used to be their 1980's equivalents. (use only aircraft that come in NF4+).

-Find all the SF2V AGXP specific ground object that are called out in the campaign files and terrain _types.ini and _targets.ini files.

-Drop the terrain folder, new campaign files, and necessary ground objects into a NF4+ install.

 

I'm not saying this won't screw something up, as I haven't tried it. But I think it would be the fasted and easiest way to get a LBIII style campaign for the second generation games.

 

Anyone up for trying it?

 

Well I'm quite sure that the coordinates are generally the same. The Ground War Expansion just needs additional stuff, I've had a blast (literally and figuratively) with the new additions, so it's good as it is. Only thing is to maybe add some more modern SAMs into the mix, the SA-3s and -2s... well they're cute, but maybe a resurgent North Vietnam starting to buy more of that stuff. And can you take over airfields in campaigns? I don't know if you can, but I got another twist. A unified Vietnam but as it stands a Communist ones looking to grab more territory or just needing a beat down, and therefore an invasion style scenario?

[+eburger68 195]

EricJ:

 

Tom Clancy has a semi-plausible scenario in his book "Fighter Wing": southern provinces, esp. those around Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) which were never completely integrated culturally or economically into the DRV, begin chaffing at hard-line rule from Hanoi. When a few former VC commanders disaffected with the direction of the Revolution seize the opportunity to ride a wave of popular unrest in the south and declare the formation of a new government in Saigon, a civil war results. Under U.N. auspices (presumably China and Russia abstain from vetoing action in the Security Council after a long falling out with their former allies), the U.S. and Australia intervene to protect the newly formed southern state whose capital is Saigon.

 

I won't say that everything in Clancy's scenario strikes me as completely plausible (much of it reads like a crude and strangely bloodless revenge fantasy). If, however, you set the events in the early to mid-nineties when Vietnam was just starting to open up to foreign investment (giving the South a taste of the potential economic opportunities to be had by opening itself once again to the world and cutting Hanoi's Party apparatchiks out of the picture), then you might have a believable historical basis for new Vietnam conflict.

 

Edit: I should have added that if you wanted to do a Linebacker III campaign set in '75, then the obvious counterfactual background would be Nixon somehow surviving Watergate, the Democrats taking a bath in the 1974 mid-term elections (effectively frustrating their attempts to cut off all funding for U.S. SEA military operations and military assistance to SVN), and the "wild man" Nixon taking the opportunity to deliver on his pledge to SVN President Thieu (made in December '72 during Linebacker II) to back the RVN with massive U.S. airpower when the communists invade again in March 1975.

 

Eric Howes

Edited November 11, 2009 by eburger68

[+EricJ 3,933]

Well honestly I was thinking more of a more modern scenario but that could work too...

 

Well that would be a good scenario if played right. So Saigon does it's thing, and now you got one US airfield in Vietnam, while you run strike and other missions from the Thailand bases, etc. The GermanyCE map still has Templehof (if my brain serves me right) as "Friendly", which has played hell when playing the Red side when on finals to another field.

[stingray77 4]

It took me a while to check out the "Gold"...

 

A comment on the ReadMe: from the text I assumed the RWR rattlers would be included as default now and was puzzled not to hear them in flight. I found them in the /Extras/Sounds then (and was easy to add them to the /Sounds), but it might be a good hint to people not having used the "Betas" before where they can find how to apply them...

 

Back to the battlefied.....

[DrArrow 0]

DrArrow:

 

If you add the mobile SAMs, they will show up in the EasterOffensive campaign -- that's one of the reasons that I removed them.

 

As for the flickering of ground objects through the canopy glass with the RF-8A/G, now that I think about it I did see a bit of that during testing. I couldn't figure out the cause of it, and I believe Malibu43 didn't see it at all. So I chalked it up to some peculiarity with my graphics card (NVidia 6600). I'll take another look at it. Perhaps others have an idea.

 

Eric Howes

 

Hi, I nailed it down - the flickering is caused by these lines in RF-8s cockpit.ini's

 

OpenCockpit=TRUE

ExternalClipDistMin=0.02

 

Both lines should be removed, I have done a lot of reading about this feature and clipping distances - OpenCockpit is used mainly for planes with open cockpit (e.g. in First Eagles) and it causes the clouds to be rendered inside cockpit (changes the order of environment and cockpit rendering). The second issue is that it overrides the nearclip distance from flightengine.ini with a very low value (even if you remove the line of ExternalClipDistMin) that causes flashing and flickering of objects on some systems. By default the nearclip distance value in near scenes is set to 1.2m. Anyway I don't see any purpose of having those lines in RF-8 because you cannot see fuselage from the cockpit anyway. It is more useful with phantoms, because that way you can see air intakes from the cockpit.

 

Anyway the last problem I cannot solve is the flashing of doors on warehouses - no other objects flash but on my install the wooden warehouse doors flicker no matter what I do and what setting I use. Maybe it is a problemjust with this object, because no other objects flicker.

[stingray77 4]

I just noticed a wohle city (or the ground it stands on) flickering - RF-4 mission (the second-last plane from the list when starting a single mission)..... Same as above?

 

But: KUDOS - you got rid of lots of ships smoke! Great!

And that shadow-line was gone (or at least I didn't see it any more) on the f-104...

 

Good job!

 

Now it's time no throw away some old back-ups...

[+eburger68 195]

DrArrow:

 

You wrote:

 

Hi, I nailed it down - the flickering is caused by these lines in RF-8s cockpit.ini's

 

OpenCockpit=TRUE

ExternalClipDistMin=0.02

 

Yeah, I looked into this a few days ago, and that is exactly the fix that I've implemented.

 

Anyway the last problem I cannot solve is the flashing of doors on warehouses - no other objects flash but on my install the wooden warehouse doors flicker no matter what I do and what setting I use. Maybe it is a problemjust with this object, because no other objects flicker.

 

I've noticed the same thing. Looks to be to be a quirk of the object and its textures.

 

Eric L. Howes

Edited November 13, 2009 by eburger68

[DrArrow 0]

I just noticed a wohle city (or the ground it stands on) flickering - RF-4 mission (the second-last plane from the list when starting a single mission)..... Same as above?

 

Yes, it has the same problem, although not as bad as RF-8s because there the clipdistance is set higher. But anyway, if you want to keep the air intakes, delete opencockpit and ExternalClipDistMin from cockpit file and in flightengine.ini set:

[NearSceneClip]

FarClipDistance=200.0

NearClipDistance=0.5 --> set this setting to 0.5 or 0.6 value

 

This should leave you visible air intakes on RF-4 phantom without having flicker problems (at least it works this way on my system :)

[stingray77 4]

Oh-kay, thanks for the hint... I might try that out...

 

Where do I find that flightengine.ini - and what other effect/influence does this have?

[+eburger68 195]

Hi All:

 

I have uploaded updated versions of all four parts of the SF2V Expansion Pack Gold release -- they are still awaiting approval. When they are approved you will find two main differences between the original Gold release files and these updated versions:

 

1. The new files are 7-Zipped instead or RAR'ed and are just over half the size of the originals.

 

2. The new files contain some updated and added items (see below for a complete list). Those who installed the original Gold Release can download a 27 mb update package that will bring you current here (and save you having to re-download all four parts):

 

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/sf2v/SF2V_X-P_Gold-Update.7z

 

Installation is the usual drag-and-drop affair. See the included ReadMe for some notes on changes and updates. That file is hosted on my own site. I will keep it there for, say, a month for players who installed the original Gold Release. After a month it will be gone.

 

Here's a summary of what's been changed and added:

 

Changes

-------

- adjust damage textures for several structures in terrain TYPES.INI

- tweak all campaigns with adjusted MissionChance schedule for some

units & revised list of player-flyable aircraft

- add early '65 units to Rolling Thunder campaign

- add F-4D_69 to Linebacker I/II and Easter Offensive campaigns

- change AGM-12s to TV Homing type (EOGR, to let them work with

"Hard" Weapons setting)

- tweak base quantities for ARMs (AGM-45s & AGM-78s)

- adjust accuracy of AIM-4s

- tweak texture for AIM-9J

- add GBU-11A/B Paveway II

- re-name type for GBU-11 Paveway I

- swap out drop tanks for A-1s for new custom grey tanks

- change GunFireSound for Dummy_Gun

- adjust loadouts for all A-4s

- enable A-4s, A-6s, A-7s, F-100s, F-105s, F-4s, and F-8s to carry

EOGR-type AGM-12s

- tweak A-7D USAFCamo3 texture

- limit service years for F-4D_67

- swap out AIM-9s for AIM-4D Falcons in F-4D & F-4D_67 loadouts

- tweak AIM-9 loadouts for F-4Es

- replace F-104C SEA Camo texture set with newer one

- fix canopy glass flickering on RF-4s & RF-8s

- add destroyed model data to stock aircraft still missing it

 

Additions

---------

- add Container Ship (Tierra del Fuego) to GroundObject

& Terrains

- add USN pilots for SP-2H

- add SP-2H Neptune (replaces P-2H Neptune)

- add AC-123K Black Spot

- add C-123K VNAF skin

- add F-4D Phantom II (69) (from F-4D_67)

 

Eric L. Howes

Edited November 17, 2009 by eburger68