Recomended mods to give you the ‘best’ of a merged series of Strike fighters 2?

[+dtmdragon]

Hi guys,

 

 

I have a bit of a question that is probably a matter of opinion but I’m wondering what non addon aircraft mods will give you the ‘best’ out of a merged series of Strike fighters 2?

 

I have had the game for a few months now and even managed to spit out a few mods, personally I just use the default terrains with all the aircraft, ground objects, weapons and effects from the Nato fighters 4 mod plus what ever other aircraft I fancy from the downloads section, all add on SAMs for SF2 and some ships from the SF1 section (changed so they show up in anti-ship missions by changing them from 'warship' to 'cargo_ship' in the data.ini).

 

I have just purchased Strike fighters 2 Vietnam to complete my strike fighters series and looking into the Vietnam ground and air war expansion series but wondered what mods experienced players/modders recommend for someone starting off with all the games merged and patched to the latest versions? As I'm aware the NATO fights and Vietnam ground and air war mods change the game quite a bit.

 

Also can I use one mods folder with all these major addons (nato fighters and Vietnam air and ground war etc) merged into it to give me one ‘super modded’ game so I can fly any aircraft on any map etc or is it best to have separate mods folders for the major modes?

Cheers,

 

Dan.

Edited July 8, 2010 by dtmdragon

[FastCargo]

You want to have seperate modded folders if you can help it. Combining mods could be bad in that if there are overlapping aircraft with different weapon loadouts, or data.ini's, etc.

 

You can DO a super combined modded install...but it's a LOT of work to make sure it works completely correctly...in my opinion it's not worth the effort.

 

FC

[+hgbn]

I totally agree with FC on this. Life becomes so much easier that way.

[+dtmdragon]

You want to have seperate modded folders if you can help it. Combining mods could be bad in that if there are overlapping aircraft with different weapon loadouts, or data.ini's, etc.

 

You can DO a super combined modded install...but it's a LOT of work to make sure it works completely correctly...in my opinion it's not worth the effort.

 

FC

 

Cheers, I had a feeling that would be the case!

 

Going back to my original questian then, what are the best mods other than extra aircraft and a weapons pack to use with SF2 to get the best from it?

[jomni]

All my SF2 titles are merged.

But mods are in separate mod folders. These are accessed by the inidvidial exe files for each title.

Strike Fighters 2 Vietnam for the "Ground and Air Expansion"

Strike Fighters 2 Europe for "NATO Fighters"

Strike Fighters 2 for separate add-on planes and weapons.

 

There's actually a "War for Israel" mod for SF2I but I didn't like it when I tried it.

There are Arab campaigns for Israel.

You have to get the enhanced map tiles for Israel.

 

SF2 (Desert) has an expanded map (it's called Desert Plus or something) but I haven't gotten around to play it.

There's Red Wings Over Dihmar (red campaign for the desert map) but I got this of the SF1 section.

 

Never attempted to merge all the mods into one folder. Just like the others, I don't recommend it.

Edited July 8, 2010 by jomni

[Slartibartfast]

I have all mine seperate but thats because of the way I purchased them. But when I build my next PC I will still be going down the seperate install route simply because it makes it easier to mod...

[jomni]

I have all mine seperate but thats because of the way I purchased them. But when I build my next PC I will still be going down the seperate install route simply because it makes it easier to mod...

 

Well if there's a new patch then you need to patch all the separate installs.

Both a disadvantage (hassle) and also an advantage (flexibility of applying the patch to certain mods that don't "break" when upgraded).

Edited July 8, 2010 by jomni

[bragadox]

Cheers, I had a feeling that would be the case!

 

Going back to my original questian then, what are the best mods other than extra aircraft and a weapons pack to use with SF2 to get the best from it?

 

I can recommend HighRes-Terrain Mods (like this for SF2-Europe) and the Better Widesky -Mod. They´re giving some eyecandy for ground and sky to match them up with the highly detailed stock- and addon-aircrafts.

Definetly worth a look, if you don´t have them already and if you own a gaming-machine, that can handle that HighRes-Stuff.

 

 

-

Edited July 8, 2010 by bragadox

[+dtmdragon]

All my SF2 titles are merged.

But mods are in separate mod folders. These are accessed by the inidvidial exe files for each title.

Strike Fighters 2 Vietnam for the "Ground and Air Expansion"

Strike Fighters 2 Europe for "NATO Fighters"

Strike Fighters 2 for separate add-on planes and weapons.

 

There's actually a "War for Israel" mod for SF2I but I didn't like it when I tried it.

There are Arab campaigns for Israel.

You have to get the enhanced map tiles for Israel.

 

SF2 (Desert) has an expanded map (it's called Desert Plus or something) but I haven't gotten around to play it.

There's Red Wings Over Dihmar (red campaign for the desert map) but I got this of the SF1 section.

 

Never attempted to merge all the mods into one folder. Just like the others, I don't recommend it.

 

Cheers thats the kind of thing I was wondering about, as I try out the different terrain/camaign mods I'm finding there are diffrent parts of each that I like and want to use with the stock game or other mods eg certain effects, an addon aircraft or extra ground objects. But It can become quite a job to find the idividual effects or sound files that go with a certian part of a mod so you can copy and past it into a stock vertion of the game or another mod etc. Hence why I am putting the questian to the masses, what are the best mods/terrains/campaigns to use from the get go.

 

Dan.

Edited July 8, 2010 by dtmdragon

[jomni]

I get it now. You want to build a hybrid mod for SF2 so you're asking what's nice to put together...

Safest thing to do. I suggest you pick the environment and effects mods from either NF4+ or Vietnam Air Ground... copy the whole folder. Hehe.

You can add planes that you like... and also the relevant weapons. Don't forget the decals.

 

The problem with a frankenstein mod is making sure the campaigns / terrain / ground objects / planes / nations / etc. are in sync. And that's not easy.

You also get funny stuff when you create a random mission.

 

 

 

[+dtmdragon]

I get it now. You want to build a hybrid mod for SF2 so you're asking what's nice to put together...

Safest thing to do. I suggest you pick the environment and effects mods from either NF4+ or Vietnam Air Ground... copy the whole folder. Hehe.

You can add planes that you like... and also the relevant weapons. Don't forget the decals.

 

The problem with a frankenstein mod is making sure the campaigns / terrain / ground objects / planes / nations / etc. are in sync. And that's not easy.

You also get funny stuff when you create a random mission.

 

 

Cheers that was one of my aims, but after reading all the responses I think I am going to go with a merged install with separate mods for the two major add ons: Nato fighters and Vietnam Air Ground war, a separate mod folder left as a stock install and one last mod folder as a stock install with extra add on aircraft, ground objects and the playable years extended to the present day. I also will extend the Nato fighters playable years to the present day and add more aircraft to cover the years up till the present day for when I'm playing single missions.

 

As you pointed out I think there are to many edits to the stock aircraft and the various add on aircraft that are unique to each major add on (Nato fighters etc) to allow a massive merged mod folder to function correctly.

 

I wonder if it would be a good idea for someone to start a sticky topic of all the major and must-have mods available for a full merged game of SF2? It would be a kind of ‘ingredients list’ to download and install to get the best out of the game in terms of more realistic campaigns, aircraft, AAA, terrains, and effects etc. From what I can tell Nato fighters and Vietnam Air Ground war are a good start plus the killer bees weapons pack and what ever add on aircraft you want to cover the years past those covered in those mods. But what about AAA, SAMS and ground objects etc? And what are the best add on effects to use, those with Nato fighters, or are there better ones out there, or are the default game ones the best etc?

 

These are some of the questions I would have liked to ask when I first started modding my game but didn’t want to be a pain asking things that had been covered over and over in other topics. So I just trawled through old topics to try and get the 'gist' of things but here I am months later stumbling across information in random topics that leds me to some great addons I knew nothing about and now I have to re do all my mods folder to include them! lol

 

Just a though if some of the more experienced/senior moders/players are interested?

 

Cheers,

 

Dan.

Edited July 9, 2010 by dtmdragon

[+Dave]

Dan

 

In the end it's up to each person to add what they want. It's not hard to go look yourself. A sticky is pointless because no one reads them.

[MoonGoose]

... or you can do a merged SF2, SF2V, SF2E and to create different mod folders you can rename the EXE file with the name you want (example natofighters4.exe)

 

once you run it, it will create a new folder in C:\users\..\saved games\thirdwire\natofighters4 (example)

 

and there you can put your mod.

 

so you can use a core merged install and different separate mod folders. more info in the knowledgebase.

 

Anyway i read a lot of that in the knowledgebase...

 

to find the best mods just use search in Download section for Campaigns or go look in Downloads -> Campaigns

[+dtmdragon]

... or you can do a merged SF2, SF2V, SF2E and to create different mod folders you can rename the EXE file with the name you want (example natofighters4.exe)

 

once you run it, it will create a new folder in C:\users\..\saved games\thirdwire\natofighters4 (example)

 

and there you can put your mod.

 

so you can use a core merged install and different separate mod folders. more info in the knowledgebase.

 

Anyway i read a lot of that in the knowledgebase...

 

to find the best mods just use search in Download section for Campaigns or go look in Downloads -> Campaigns

 

Cheers that was my plan after reading the replys to this topic.

 

Have the Soviet SAM threat in Nato fighters 4 been increased? If not can the add on SAM's avalible for download here be added to the mod to enhance it? I find the Stock SAM threat way to easy even on hard

[toonces]

The only mods I have are the Nato fighters 4 and the Vietnam air-ground war expansion. I don't spend enough time modding to remember how to do it everytime I see something I like, so the complete one-click mods are the ones I tend to go with.

 

IMHO, the Vietnam air-ground war expansion is the best expansion ever. With the green-hell, new campaigns, and all the aircraft, it makes the Vietnam campaign a completely new experience. If I could recommend only one, that is the one that would get my vote!