SF2 - what has been taken away?

[+eburger68 195]

SupGen:

 

Actually, there's an even easier method -- one that doesn't require you to mess around with two different installs of SF2. All you need is 7-zip.

 

Right-click on the .EXE installer that you downloaded for your DLC purchase. From the 7-zip sub-menu, select one of the Extract files options and 7-zip will unpack the installer contents for you -- either into the current folder or a sub-folder, depending on the option you select.

 

There will be folders unpacked: PLUGINSDIR and DLC. In the DLC folder you will find a .DLC file. Simply drag that to the \DLC folder in your SF2 install dir. Then add the appropriate line to your Version.ini file (in your Mods folder):

 

DLCData0XX=TRUE

 

...where XX is the DLC number.

 

Note that when you start SF2 again, it will behave as if you've installed an update -- meaning that all the stock .INI files will be restored. That means you need to follow the same procedures to protect your mods (esp. aircraft you've made flyable) that you would for any patch scenario.

 

Very easy actually. Unpack, drag-and-drop. Then a small INI edit.

 

Eric Howes

[+ravenclaw_007 7,221]

  Actually, this isn't true. See this post: http://combatace.com/topic/78792-having-your-cake-and-eating-it-too/ . It sounds harder than it is; it's well worth it, I have the DLC F-104 with the corrected nozzle animation in July 2012. Read this and do it.

 

this is a nice way around to get the DLC´s installed , but never the less the fact remains that each DLC is asking for the latest patch what brings me right to my next point WHY , if there is a way around like it seems there is , why is TW setting the DLC up this way ??? if the DLC´s work without the patch then there would be no reason to force people to update and the DLC´s would be much more user friendly

[JediMaster 451]

Some patches will update the DLCs as well, not all are patch-independent. So you might get them to work that way, but it's possible one has a bug with the radar or cockpit or something and this method means you won't get that fix. Especially if the fix required a change to the core game files which an older patch version won't have.

 

I understand the reasoning behind making everything consistent, and if the newer patches didn't mess with the mods it wouldn't even be an issue. It's just that these 2 philosophies run afoul of each other in some places like this.

[+Gunrunner 313]

What I feel we've lost is not in features, it's respect for each other... I feel it's TK who, for financial reasons, started ignoring the community, but the community's response was, frankly, disproportionnate, reinforcing TK's impression that to make ends meet, he had to ignore us and belittle, if not us, at least our concerns with where he was going and how he was doing it.

 

With that respect and trust broken, TK had only one reliable benchmark to see if his actions were working... sales, and unfortunately it seems it didn't work out, and we've all lost.

[MigBuster 2,861]

I'm truly sorry TK has had all these financial difficulties with his stuff, especially as it seems he's right back where he started a decade ago...but I honestly think it's partly his fault. Programming and products aside, his business model/sense has at times seemed to sabotage him more than help him...and while you can argue the technical stuff with him and he'll listen if you have a valid point, there's no convincing him his business acumen isn't as good as it needs to be.

 

 

 

Yes he wont even listen regarding the poorly worded web pages for his games that are supposed to actually sell them to people.

 

He did used to listen - back when Flares were first added a load of people from this way moaned they were too effective and he changed it (even though the flares seemed spot on  )

 

 

Okay so a few things have been removed (good to see them all in one place) - not to say there may be other ways to get around some of them also.

 

 

What is the best that can be hoped for regarding any future - now the respect has moved elsewhere?

 

Thirdwire leave SF2 as is and develop SF2 lite based on the Mobile games?

[+daddyairplanes 8,635]

He should still release new DLC's to keep his revenue stream going tho. just kept at current patch levels (although i'm stayin at May 13 for now). really who here wouldn't snap up player flyable A-6, F-104 or F-16A (USAF and NATO)?

[macelena 1,070]

The F-16 is coming for sure, either as a separate DLC or in the expansion...unless they are doing so bad that they are ending the show as it is. About the flyable Intruders and Starfighters, i don´t know how much would it take to bring the cockpits to sf2 standards, but i´m sure it would be worth a shot. About all the mobile phone goodies, i guess they wont release substandard ported stuff unless they fix it. But a few AI planes like F-5 or MiG-25 would be a sure hit...maybe for the expansion too. 

 

Who knows, we talked a thousand times about this, it is only a matter of time. I´m personally patient. While my burnt out PC doesn´t let me have much besides stock stuff, so far, im happy flying the Dutch Hunter and the Phantom N. If i get bored, i shoot mutants on Killing Floor. If something new comes out, i´ll most probably get it. If it doesn´t, i keep my cash. Simple. But i think it would be worth to keep it up and i hope they do so. Both for them and for CA inmates.

Edited September 10, 2013 by macelena

[+daddyairplanes 8,635]

of course you know he's gonna release a F-4S and or F-4J with DECM around Christmas. just because those are my next projects

[macelena 1,070]

Damn Murphy. Not Robocop, the other one

[JediMaster 451]

The one who flew Blue Thunder??

[+daddyairplanes 8,635]

Well he did it with my N, and there is an S in the Android Arcade. So why not?

And not that one eithrr Jedi. You know SF isn't helo friendly xD

[macelena 1,070]

You know, once i had an absurd dream because of that film. There was a C-135 variant wich was an airborne chicken grill, it got hit by a sidewinder, exploded, and a stick with four chickens flew through my window, stuck itself into the wardrobe and i ate all chickens, then som AF officers came home claiming the chickens. Talk about crazy man.

[+SupGen 78]

You know, once i had an absurd dream because of that film. There was a C-135 variant wich was an airborne chicken grill, it got hit by a sidewinder, exploded, and a stick with four chickens flew through my window, stuck itself into the wardrobe and i ate all chickens, then som AF officers came home claiming the chickens. Talk about crazy man.

 

 

  Mac, stay away from that stuff. Whatever it was.   

Edited September 10, 2013 by SupGen

[+SupGen 78]

SupGen:

 

Actually, there's an even easier method -- one that doesn't require you to mess around with two different installs of SF2. All you need is 7-zip.

 

Right-click on the .EXE installer that you downloaded for your DLC purchase. From the 7-zip sub-menu, select one of the Extract files options and 7-zip will unpack the installer contents for you -- either into the current folder or a sub-folder, depending on the option you select.

 

There will be folders unpacked: PLUGINSDIR and DLC. In the DLC folder you will find a .DLC file. Simply drag that to the \DLC folder in your SF2 install dir. Then add the appropriate line to your Version.ini file (in your Mods folder):

 

DLCData0XX=TRUE

 

...where XX is the DLC number.

 

Note that when you start SF2 again, it will behave as if you've installed an update -- meaning that all the stock .INI files will be restored. That means you need to follow the same procedures to protect your mods (esp. aircraft you've made flyable) that you would for any patch scenario.

 

Very easy actually. Unpack, drag-and-drop. Then a small INI edit.

 

Eric Howes

 

 

  Hah! There we have it gentlemen, the bang-your-head against the wall until it gives way solution (me), and on the other hand, the elegant, cerebral solution from eburger (I'm stil trying to figure out how he got the Lens Flare button to work in OTC). Thank you Eric, I'll definitely try this on the next DLC. More than one way to skin a cat!

[macelena 1,070]

  Mac, stay away from that stuff. Whatever it was.   

 

I was hungry 

[+Stary 2,426]

what has been taken away?

 

Since SF2:NA came out, beloved soul of the game, part of it's core premise that everything is possible slowly been taken away...

 

call me negative (again!) but right now I'm not in the mood regarding the series

 

oh, I'm another one who less and less believe we'd see EXP3

[Spinners 15,966]

Stary, you're probably burnt out from making all those superb cockpits! Forget modding, fire up the (lite) sim and have fun. Or, as my American friends would say, blow some 5hit up!!!

[+Stary 2,426]

Spinners you're right, I think I should spend some time simply PLAYING the game for a while, with none to very little mods added

[Z09SS 21]

I know what I lost.

 

I lost a game that ran acceptably on Win98 at about 40 frames per second with a 256mb video card.

 

Now I have between 15 and 25 frames with double the video card and Win7 64.  (Although there was a brief moment with one patch level where I had my old game back)

 

If the game looked any different, I think I could chalk it up to improvements in the scenery.

 

But my screen shots look the same.

 

The slide show when flying the Lightning is what really sticks in my craw.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Z09SS

[MigBuster 2,861]

What system and what SF games are you running today out of interest?

[Z09SS 21]

What system and what SF games are you running today out of interest?

 

I'm using an early 2008 Mac Pro with Win7 Ultimate 64.  The machine has 2x Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 CPU @ 2.8Ghz, ATI Radeon 5770, 4GB DDR2 RAM.

 

I'm running the whole SF2 pile.  SF2, Vietnam, Europe, Israel, Exp 1, Exp 2, North Atlantic and all the DLC.

 

Like I say, it was just fine for Win98 until one day a patch (I want to say Nov 11) everything slowed to a craw and I had to change the settings from unlimited to much lower levels.

 

Much of my lost speed was recovered when I finally upgraded my Bootcamp partition to Win 7; but the 2012 series of patches introduced the Phantom stutter and made the Lightning just about unflyable.

 

I even did the dreaded fresh install with April 12 installers.

 

From my reading here, the situation I've encountered is not unique to my particular machine and I must admit that the last two patches recovered a LOT of speed for me; but it's still a far cry from the former glory.

 

I'd probably be happy if the new scenery was prettier or something, but it's exactly the same, just slower.

Edited September 17, 2013 by Z09SS

[Spinners 15,966]

I've only ever noticed reduced FPS in SF1 and, on the same machine, SF2 was noticeably faster and smoother. My current rig for the past two years is pretty modest and runs SF2 like a charm.

[MigBuster 2,861]

I'm using an early 2008 Mac Pro with Win7 Ultimate 64.  The machine has 2x Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 CPU @ 2.8Ghz, ATI Radeon 5770, 4GB DDR2 RAM.

 

I'm running the whole SF2 pile.  SF2, Vietnam, Europe, Israel, Exp 1, Exp 2, North Atlantic and all the DLC.

 

Like I say, it was just fine for Win98 until one day a patch (I want to say Nov 11) everything slowed to a craw and I had to change the settings from unlimited to much lower levels.

 

Much of my lost speed was recovered when I finally upgraded my Bootcamp partition to Win 7; but the 2012 series of patches introduced the Phantom stutter and made the Lightning just about unflyable.

 

I even did the dreaded fresh install with April 12 installers.

 

From my reading here, the situation I've encountered is not unique to my particular machine and I must admit that the last two patches recovered a LOT of speed for me; but it's still a far cry from the former glory.

 

I'd probably be happy if the new scenery was prettier or something, but it's exactly the same, just slower.

 

 

I used to have a HD5770 - mid end card - but could never max it out on a PC either.

 

 

SF2NA obviously has major terrain differences - but the other SF2 games just got higher res terrains - so its not always easy to see why the game cant run too well on modern hardware.

 

Higher poly aircraft objects, higher res skins, and parked aircraft no doubt make a difference

[+ravenclaw_007 7,221]

Win7 64bit , Asus Z77 MB , Nvidia GTX-680 , I7-2600K CPU, 16GB RAM

 

no problem on any terrain sofar , all settings to unlimited and a flightengine setting to have trees up to the horizon

 

the only terrain i encounter some FPS drop is the Anatolia terrain

[PFunk 198]

Threat libraries are locked down, now...apparently...sheesh...