Another question about old terrains...

[+SupGen 79]

I've recently downloaded both the "all inclusive mod" Wings Over Russia from the Skunk Works (DAT) site and the EuroWW2 terrain from here to use with the Fallen Angels campaign. Both terrains have a callout in their main .ini for an "EnviornmentFile" and both have what looks like an EnviornmentSystem .ini that would (nowdays) be placed in the Flight folder. Will the present day (July2012) game still read enviornment information from this location, or is this irrelevant now? I'm guessing the second option, but if an expert weighs in I'd appreciate it. (Lookin' at The Wrench! )

Edited April 29, 2013 by SupGen

[Panama Red 22]

If the EnvironmentSystem.ini file was written for SF1, it will NOT work in SF2. If the EnvironmentSystem.ini file was written for SF2, it will still work in SF2NA in the Flight folder.

[usafphantom2 19]

Get rid of it or you wont have any sky.You dont need it dont use anything from the SF1 folders except the planes vehicles,pilot data,sounds ,Terrains,Menu,Use new Gun data+weapons data and build new folders for WOR,USE new effects,GUNS,Weapons ECT...

[+SupGen 79]

Panama Red, thanks for the answer, however I know that the SF1 files don't have the proper shader statements; my question was will the game read Enviornment info from the individual Terrain folder. I didn't think it would, but it does. If I leave the original (SF1) file in the Terrain folder I get all the glitches you would expect. If I simply remove it, I get a standard SF2 "look". When I dropped the ENVIORNMENTSYSTEM.ini from Stary's SARCASM1.4 into the Terrain folder, renamed to match the Terrain's main .ini, and dropped the required .tgas into the Flight folder I got...Stary's SARCASM1.4. It seems you can still have a Terrain specific EnviornmentSystem; this could be useful for a multi-terrain mod folder.

Edited April 29, 2013 by SupGen

[+SupGen 79]

Get rid of it or you wont have any sky.You dont need it dont use anything from the SF1 folders except the planes vehicles,pilot data,sounds ,Terrains,Menu,Use new Gun data+weapons data and build new folders for WOR,USE new effects,GUNS,Weapons ECT...

 

Yeah, I know dat,...you got the Campaign in WOR runnin'? I converted WOA to SF2 and everything runs fine...got a problem in WOR, tho.

[Wrench 9,816]

back in the day, even as far as the 08 patch, EACH terrain could have specific environmental statements (ie: evriosys inis). They're no longer needed. Or, as the case may be since all the shaders are locked away, only "global" enviro ini are required. to the best of my knowledge

 

have you checked the stock terrains, to see if Stary's tgas are showing? more than likely, they will be, as when placed in the /Flight folder they no become 'global' in usage

 

ps: you wasted a download of the EAW Euro ... the revamped version goes up sometime this coming week. you'll be deleting the old one completely

[+SupGen 79]

"back in the day, even as far as the 08 patch, EACH terrain could have specific environmental statements (ie: evriosys inis). They're no longer needed. Or, as the case may be since all the shaders are locked away, only "global" enviro ini are required. to the best of my knowledge"

 

It might still be useful in the case, say of a WW2 Europe install that had the BoB, Russia, and North Africa terrains in the same mod folder. I updated the original Russia_ENVIORNMENTSYSTEM.ini with the correct shader names (taken from the ENVIORNMENTSYSTEM.ini in Stary's SARCASM1.4 and it looks fine. (With it's original .tgas in the Flight folder.) We've all read of the "different" appearance of the Russian steppes as compared to the more congested spaces of Western Europe; it's often referred to as "Big Sky Country" much like Montana in the U.S. (Have you ever been to Montana? "I would like to live in Montana") In an install with multiple, widely varying terrains, it might be useful to have an ENVIORNMENTSYSTEM.ini in each terrain folder to represent those differences. Perhaps Stary could comment on the feasibility of this, if only to crush my hopes yet again. "have you checked the stock terrains, to see if Stary's tgas are showing? more than likely, they will be, as when placed in the /Flight folder they no become 'global' in usage"

 

Whoops! True dat, Wrench. Yeah the .tgas would be global, but the paremeters could be individualized for each terrain.

 

"ps: you wasted a download of the EAW Euro ... the revamped version goes up sometime this coming week. you'll be deleting the old one completely"

 

I know, but in the meantime I wanted something to look at/play with. Looking forward to it!

Edited April 29, 2013 by SupGen

[Wrench 9,816]

[usafphantom2 19]

Yes I have the Campaign running-Trick is to have the campaign folder name match the ini If I remember correctly drop the date or include in Data .ini they just both have to match.If you run into trouble Pm me and I'll send my ini files.

[+SupGen 79]

Yes I have the Campaign running-Trick is to have the campaign folder name match the ini If I remember correctly drop the date or include in Data .ini they just both have to match.If you run into trouble Pm me and I'll send my ini files.

 

Yeah, I've got it running now too. All the start dates were wrong in both the main and data .inis. Still not sure if that was the only thing though, I had to go through another bizarre dance, with the added pleasure of having to delete the flight folder before it would run. After I got it running, I was able to add everything back into the flight folder, and it still ran. Go figure. Working on adapting .inis so it can use the SF1 style screens.

Edited April 30, 2013 by SupGen

[usafphantom2 19]

Yes it can I changed mine to jpgs Weird that you keep having to do that.Glad you got it going.

[+SupGen 79]

Yes it can I changed mine to jpgs Weird that you keep having to do that.Glad you got it going.

 

I'm adapting the game .ini files so you can use the Campaign, SingleMission, PilotRecord, Loadout etc. screens that came with the mod. I'll upload them here tomorrow.

[+SupGen 79]

OK, as promised here's a full set of Screen .inis that will enable you to use all the Menu Screens that came with the Skunk Works (DAT) Wings Over Africa and Wings Over Russia all inclusive mods; it should work with almost any mod with SF1 style screens. The BoB mod is an exception, you will have to make some adjustments due to the unique screens it has. Since there's only the Mainscreen and CampaignScreen, it shouldn't be a big deal. These .inis are set up to use the original .BMPs supplied with the mods; however this is easy to change in case you've converted them to .JPGs. If you need to change them, open each Screen file with notepad, near the top you'll see two BackgroundImage statements, like this: BackgroundImage=ScreenName.bmp //BackgroundImage=ScreenName.jpg. If you're using .bmps, leave it alone. If you're using .jpgs, change it to looklike this://BackgroundImage=ScreenName.bmp BackgroundImage=ScreenName.jpg and you're all set.

For anyone wondering why I bothered, I just couldn't stand to let those screens go to waste, the briefing screen in WOR in particular. At the same time, I couldn't stand looking at all the text etc., in all the wrong places and one thing led to another. The included FlightEngine.ini is stock except for the BackgroundImage statement for the default loading picture. For safetys sake, back up your menu folder in case something porks up your install, drop these folders into their respective locations, and hopefully, enjoy.

SF1 .inis for SF2.7z

Edited April 30, 2013 by SupGen

[+SupGen 79]

So um, any feedback there boys?

[usafphantom2 19]

Downloaded it but havent had a chance to mess with it,I will however appreiciate it if it does as you say,I've been using Wrench's generic screens.Thanks for your investment of time and effort with this-Let me be the first to say.

[+SupGen 79]

Downloaded it but havent had a chance to mess with it,I will however appreiciate it if it does as you say,I've been using Wrench's generic screens.Thanks for your investment of time and effort with this-Let me be the first to say.

 

It does. Thanks.

Edited May 1, 2013 by SupGen

[usafphantom2 19]

I also recommend Baltika's North Cape terrain for WOR you can set up the Finnish-Russian War although we could use a few more skins here.

[+SupGen 79]

I dunno man, there's a couple of serious problems with that; I think that Terrain would need some serious rearrangement to use for the Winter War, it's set up for the modern era. The airfields look too modern and some from WW2 are probably not shown. In those days all you needed was some reasonably flat ground, some hangers, and a tower and you had yourself an airfield. The real problem, I think, would be the placement of the front line. The Winter War was fought because the Soviets demanded certain territorial concessions from the Finns; while the Finns kicked some a$$ for a while, (which is, of course, why we want to "game" this scenario ), eventually the weight of Soviet numbers prevailed and the Finns were forced to concede those territories. This is already recognized by the front line in the Terrain and sort of removes the "causus belli" from the situation. Take a look at the attached images; one's a map screenshot from the game, the other is the SovietFinnish border at the beginning of the war.

[Wrench 9,816]

and Front Lines can't be moved via editing of the Movement.ini???

targetin, with regards to Sweden, is easy ... edit targets ini so all "stuff" in sweden is NEUTRAL.

 

airfields are always an issue ... as NO real WW2 style bases exist. AND you still need to flatten the airfield zone, even in NOT using any of the runway**.lods

[usafphantom2 19]

I was looking at just the planning maps,But maybe it can be tweaked,I guess the real question is whether someone would do skins for the planes we have.How do you flatten an airfield without using bombs?

[+SupGen 79]

and Front Lines can't be moved via editing of the Movement.ini???

 

Wuh? They can?

targetin, with regards to Sweden, is easy ... edit targets ini so all "stuff" in sweden is NEUTRAL.

 

airfields are always an issue ... as NO real WW2 style bases exist. AND you still need to flatten the airfield zone, even in NOT using any of the runway**.lods

 

Oh, great! So you'll do it then? Boy, here I thought that after all that work on the EuroWW2 terrain, (which looks to be really great [shameless stroking ]) you'd want to take a break!

 

Just kiddin', Boss. Thing is, though, to many of us (me), the only thing we know about terrains is what they knew in the Middle Ages: Here Be Dragons! I'll try messin' around with the movement.ini, but the airfield stuff is definitely beyond me.

 

LOL: One of these days I'll figure this "quote" thing out!

Edited May 3, 2013 by SupGen

[Wrench 9,816]

How do you flaten an airfield without using bombs?

 

wouldn't that cause more probems?? all them craters to fill in....

 

actually, I have to finish the NEW FJ-3M Fury (thank you Russo!!), get back to decaling -and bugging Veltro for LOD fixes- for the B-17F, annoy Coupi on how the Me-262 is doing, Cocas for the new Spit mk V (and WILL need help in painting it... I suck at camo pattern matching!!)

and...

and...

and...

and...

 

personally, I have no interest in the Winter War scenario. But I will give advice to those that wish to make the needed fixes

 

as to dragons ... don't tempt me....(easy to add that text to the planning maps!! )

Edited May 3, 2013 by Wrench

[usafphantom2 19]

Hey Wrench,I tried out the Western desert upgrade v2 and right when I start a single mission I'm flying from no airbase and am running into another invisable wall and there are no ground targets or bases at all.Setup per instructions and converted for sf2 tried all catalogsTerrain no dice.Right now using Dat's N.Africa.Any idea's on what's up on V2? put the height's to match the cat's.Like yours looks more detailed.

[Wrench 9,816]

sounds like a user install error ( )

cat pointer incorrect maybe??? As expected, mine all work perfectly.

Rule of Thumbe: if missing terrain objects (buildings, runways, etc), you cat pointer is wrong

 

there HAVE been some extreme oddities of late (since march/may/june/july 12 patchs) of aircraft starting at the wall. even I get that once in a while.

 

Like yours looks more detailed

that's because it is

[usafphantom2 19]

I will go back and try this again with a fresh download,But I tried all cat pointers but didnt have the SF1 GermanyCE folder when I tried it.Found I have a copy with WOA so I will try that.That wall thingy is a pain in the Ass! You really need your seatbelt.Deceleration trama.Ever see a bird fly into a window?There was me and a bunch of feathers. And I'm sure now that those planes with the static prop's have run outa gas.Somebody might want to look at making tanks available for all of our WW2 planes,Can we write something in the data.ini to get the gameto use on missions beyond the regular capacities?