Managing SF2 Series Mods

[Warmbrak]

Hi there,

 

I have the whole SF2 series, and know that installing by default will make all aircraft available to all versions (a.k.a Merged Install). I reinstalled up to SF2E to install Nato Fighters 4 Plus, but now I am reluctant to install SF2I as it might "break" NF4+ as per the readme. With the 1st series it was easy to just copy a fresh installed version to a new folder and mod it. How can I keep my vanilla install of SF2E intact, and have an entirely separate NF4+ install?

 

To prevent further confusion - what would be the right way to:

 

~ Have a vanilla install of SF2E and a separate NF4+ version?

~ Should I do another install to a new folder, then create it's own "mod" folder?

~ How should I go about doing it?

 

Oh yes, and I'm running Windows 7. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

[+hgbn]

You can copy/paste the entire SP2E install to a new folder like the old games. Then rename the SP2E exe to NF4+ run it once. then you have a seperate mods folder to install the NF4+.

 

You can do the same if you want do a merged install with all games.

[Warmbrak]

Thank you very much for the explanation. How does the merged install work? How do I get it to merge/not to merge? If I am not mistaked, on my first install of NF4+ I saw a lot of F4 Phantoms with navy paint jobs - I assume by default paths one gets a merged install and those F4's come from the SF2V install?

[dsawan]

Hi, see this:

 

Hi all!

 

You may all know what I’m talking about already, but I couldn’t find it in the KB. I think I found a really easy way to have multiple installs of SF2 (or SF2V or SF2E).

 

Apparently, the name of the folder in your main ThirdWire Mod folder is not hard-coded but copied from the name of the EXE when it is first run.

 

So you fancy another intall!... Follow me:

 

Go to your main SF2 (or V or E) folder.

Make a copy of your “StrikeFighters2.exe” (or Vietnam or Europe, but you get that now).

You should get a new file called “Copy of StrikeFighters2.exe”.

Rename that file “Whatever_you_like.exe”.

Run it.

 

There you go! This will create a “Whatever_you_like” folder in your ThirWire mod folder (by now everyone knows where it is!). This folder is a carbon copy of the initial mod folder created by your stock SF2, with its own “option.ini”. When you launch your “Whatever_you_like.exe”, it will read this “option.ini” file.

 

In your “Whatever_you_like” mod folder, you can add or remove pretty much anything you want (as long as it’s SF2 compatible). However, if you remove stock aircraft (or other ground objects), you will probably CTD if you try Instant Action or stock Campaign.

 

So far, I’ve remove most of the US aircraft (I want a Western Europe vs Soviet) and add a new terrain, and everything works perfectly fine. Haven’t done a campaign yet!!!

 

 

Franck