How to load out weapons for dummies

[glennhailstone 0]

Maybe you can have step by step instructions from start to finish. You dont have to have one for each indivisual plane just any plane so it gives a rough guide, then the users can use common sense to make the appropriate changes.

[glennhailstone 0]

Can anybody help me out on this? I still cant get it going, and the thread has gone quite.??

 

Thanks

[Wrench 9,417]

ok...I  THINK I may have figured out a way for YOU to do this. Taken my a while to find a way around, through the back or side doors

 

I'm going to tell you what to do, perhaps not step-by-step, but with enough info you should be able to figure it out..

 

FIRST OFF:

 

DELETE that Chilean F-16. It ain't even close to what you want.

DELETE the Weapons Pak you've installed -- EVERYTHING associated with it. It's going to be replaced.

 

SECOND:

 

download and install the October 2008 patch I'd linked to before. This will bring the game to it's final level.

After installing the pach, you'll have to reset all your preferences (graphics, sounds, possibly Pilot -if you've created one- and the controls. This is all done off the Options tab on the main screen.

 

After doing that, fly a few mission anywhere, in any airplane, just to make sure things are still workings.

 

THIRD:

 

Go to the SF/Wo* Missions and Campaigns downloads section.

This link should (with luck), put you on the page with the 3 parts of the ODS mod (Operation Desert Strom).

 

http://combatace.com/files/category/339-user-made-campaigns/?sort_order=DESC&sort_key=file_submitted&num=10&st=40

 

You're going to download ALL 3 parts.

Download them to safe location, like a "Temp" folder on the C drive. Create one, if one doesn't exist.

 

 

FOURTH:

 

Unzip all the parts to this temp folder. Now, you'll soon see that each part is a executable (.exe). Don't worry about that.

 

Run EACH of the exes in turn -- this is an important part -- into this temp folder.  You'll have to select the destination folder from the window that opens when it asks where your WoE install is.

DO NOT INSTALL THIS TO YOUR WoE GAME INSTALL!!!!! You're going to "install" this INTO the temp folder, and NO WHERE ELSE 

 

After running each of the exes, you may get a warning pop-up that 'the items didn't install properly". Again, don't worry about that. Just hit the 'cancel' button and proceed down the line until all 3 parts exes have been run.

 

After all 3 parts have been "exed", you should see the same folder structure as a regular game, like below

 

-------------------

 

What you're going to do next, is open the /Objects folder, and the the /Aircraft subfolder. Inside you'll find 2 F-16C. Them's the ones you want

Copy/Paste the 2 aircraft folders over into you're newly patched WoE game install.

 

From the /Aircraft folder, you'll see a bunch of pilot and seat bits. It's up to you if you want to grab them all, or just pick out the one's marked "F-16" and you WILL be needing those!!

 

Copy/Paste the /Flight folder from ODS into your newly patched WoE Game install

 

Copy/Paste the /Effects folder from ODS into your newly patched WoE game install

 

Copy/Paste the /Weapons folder from ODS into your newly patched WoE game install.

 

Copy/Paste the /Sounds folder from ODS into your newly patched WoE game install.

 

Also, from the root of the /Object folder, you'll want to copy the following files to you WoE Game install's /Object folder:

 

BulletObject.ini

GunData.ini

MissileObject.ini

ObjectList.ini

WreckObject.ini

GunData.dat

 

just ignore the Guns and Weapons editor stuff .. you won't be needing them.

Now that you have this, you can pick and choose anything else in there that suits your fancy. (Eagle, Hornets, Tomcats, whatever. To say nothing of the Ground Objects and the ODS terrain)

 

That should just about do it.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Wrench

[glennhailstone 0]

Ok thanks Bob! for all this, just reading through it all now. Should I delete everything and start with a new WOE install, like get rid of any strike fighters weapon editors mods ect.

 

Thanks,

 

Glenn

[Wrench 9,417]

that's up to you.

But I'd clean it out, so to speak. If you've added any /Effects from that previous weapons pak, you can dump that whole folder.

 

If you have any old weapons & gun editors, dump them too. 08 has different ones. But I doubt you'll be needing them, ever.

[glennhailstone 0]

Ok, firstly I would like to say I appreciate the time you have spent in helping me out with this issue, and I have a new appreciation for the programming that has gone into making all the mods and campaigns.

 

So, I done everything as you stated and it did appear that it was going to work. As when I installed the update the game worked fine. I didnt install direct X as my one newer.

 

However when I went to run the new game with the mods I cant get past the main menu. If I go single mission the screen goes black and I can just make out a faint message box silhouette, which I cant read. I then wait like a couple of minutes nothing happens so I press escape and go back to the desktop.

 

I'll wait to see what you think the next step is.

 

Thank you very much,

 

Glenn 

[Wrench 9,417]

something screwed up somewhere

 

Now, remember, most of us haven't fooled around with 1stGens for quite some time, so there's a lot I don't remember.

 

So, I guess, we'll try the "clean slate". Uninstall the game completely, delete the shortcut.

 

Reinstall the game, patch to 08, new shortcut, fly and test the "clean game"

 

Check the M$ site, and make sure your DX 9 is the latest one (don't remember how exactly to check)

 

then, add JUST the 2 Vipers one at a time and test -- don't worry about weapons. We want to narrow it down to being an aircraft or ???

Do NOT add the various inis from ODS (the ones from the /Objects folder). A possibility exists they may be faulted.

 

other than that, I'm really out of ideas

[glennhailstone 0]

Ok well thanks for all your help, I'll have a play around with it.

 

So what is a more modern one SF2 or something. Which one do most people use now. And will it run with my WOE.

 

Thanks

[Wrench 9,417]

No. 1stGens (SF, WoE/I/V) are completely incompatable with SF2. For all intents and purposes.

The SF2 series is designed for the Vista/Win7/Win8 environements. They will run on XP, excepting SF2NA, which in Win7 only.

While they will run in XP, they are DX10/11 based, so users in XP won't get all the visual enhancements.

 

But in truth, the original 4 (SF2 - SFP1. SF2E -WoE, SF2V - WoV, SF2I -Isreal) use mostly the same "bits" and terrains. There are differences; things like new aircraft, effects, various visuals like specular and bump mapping, downloadable (read: you can buy them) aircraft and things -but that's been slightly modified by TK, but that's a whole nuther story and issue, not relevant here.

 

To answer the main question, 98.6% of all 3W users have gone to SF2. That's why you see so little being done for SF/Wo*. The last "patch" was an expansion pack for WoI, that brought ONLY that game to almost to SF2 levels, but only as far as the original SF2 release.

Not to be hurtful or rude, or an asshole in general, only those few folks with dinosaur computers are "stuck" with 1stGens. We've all evolved.

Think of SF2, and SF2NA in particular, as that asteroid in the Cretaceous; it was the final Death Blow to 1stGens.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Wrench

[glennhailstone 0]

Hi Wrench,

 

I got it going your instructions were fine, except that I deleted the flight folder and replaced it with the temp one, when I should have just added the extra files into my existing flight folder.

 

Anyway, its all going sweet now so thank you very much.

 

The only thing I will say is that there only a few weapons to chose from, but it looks like theres heaps in that weapons folder. I wonder why they are not all showing up. I just got sidewinders and a few bombs.

 

Thanks

[Wrench 9,417]

well, at least it's working now!

 

not all the weapons are available for loading on each aircraft. The ODS weapons pack has a lot of stuff, for Coalition and Iragi forces. You should be able to copy that entire weapons folder over, with no issues. It's at the 08 level.

You can even add the Hornets if you want.

 

You can always use the "Community Weapons Pack"

 

http://combatace.com/files/file/7791-weapons-pack-252-by-the-wosfp1-community/

 

It's a HUGE compilation, and unfortunately, you'll have to install the entire thing. Another disadvantage of the 1stGen Weapons system (ala the Game Engine). But that pack IS valid for the 08 patch level.

With that pack, you should be able to add just about any aircraft available for for the game (meaning: add-on, 3rd party aircraft).

 

IF you choose that route, rename your existing /Weapons folder to "hide" it from the game engine (or move it to a storage folder)

Edited May 23, 2014 by Wrench

[glennhailstone 0]

Ok, so I downloaded the weapons pack and added it to my weapons folder, but it doesnt make any difference.

 

It seems like each aircraft has its own weapons in its loadout.ini and it doesnt matter what weapons are in the weapons folder because the aircraft dosent look there for weapons. If you know what I mean.

[orfeas 0]

sorry guys,could someone enlight me as i have a small issue reading this topic.how can i load sepatately each pylon and not in pairs?till now i found this option only in imported planes such as the A-7D from column.us.what changes should be done in the data.ini file?thanks in advance,if its already covered the matter,im asking sorry,just give me the link.

[FastCargo 412]

Ok, so I downloaded the weapons pack and added it to my weapons folder, but it doesnt make any difference.

 

It seems like each aircraft has its own weapons in its loadout.ini and it doesnt matter what weapons are in the weapons folder because the aircraft dosent look there for weapons. If you know what I mean.

 

The loadout.ini is only used by the program to 'auto' load weapons for a particular kind of mission.  It does not dictate if certain weapons can be loaded or not and in fact can override the restrictions placed on a weapon station.

 

Also, the program is looking for a file called Weapondata.dat in the Objects/Weapons folder.  If it does not see that file, it will not use ANY of your addon weapons.  That file is created from the Weapondata.ini file located in the Objects/Weapons folder.

 

FC

[glennhailstone 0]

Ok thanks for that. Im trying to find out why these weapons arent showing up.

 

The only weapons that do show up are the ones in the aircrafts folder. On a single mission.

 

Can you explain why that is.

 

Cheers

[FastCargo 412]

sorry guys,could someone enlight me as i have a small issue reading this topic.how can i load sepatately each pylon and not in pairs?till now i found this option only in imported planes such as the A-7D from column.us.what changes should be done in the data.ini file?thanks in advance,if its already covered the matter,im asking sorry,just give me the link.

 

Here is a link with an explanation of how a weapon station in an aircraft's data.ini works:

 

http://combatace.com/topic/12099-basic-ini-editing-weapon-stations/

 

To explain the difference between a StationID= and StationGroupID= is very straight forward.

 

Lets say an aircraft has 4 weapon pylons on each wing.  Which means it has a total of 8 places to hang weapons off of.

 

The StationID= is that number.  So in this case, each Weapon Station would have a unique StationID, numbers 1 through 8.  You can have a max of 32 StationID numbers.

 

Now, if you can only drop the weapons in paired pylons, let's say far outer pylons, then outer pylons, then inner pylons, then close inner pylons.  So basically, you can drop in 4 grouped pylons.  That's where the StationGroupID comes in.  In this case, 4 groups of pylons. You can have a max of 6 StationGroupID numbers.

 

So in the above example, if you numbered your pylons left to right 1 to 8, you would have:

StationID=1

StationGroupID=1

 

StationID=2

StationGroupID=2

 

StationID=3

StationGroupID=3

 

StationID=4

StationGroupID=4

 

StationID=5

StationGroupID=4

 

StationID=6

StationGroupID=3

 

StationID=7

StationGroupID=2

 

StationID=8

StationGroupID=1

 

Note how the pylons get paired up.  So, if you want to unpair them, you can guess what you need to do.

 

Now, this info does not go into things such as multiple type stations on the same pylon, forced asymmetric loading, etc.  That's a topic for another discussion.

 

Ok thanks for that. Im trying to find out why these weapons arent showing up.

 

The only weapons that do show up are the ones in the aircrafts folder. On a single mission.

 

Can you explain why that is.

 

Cheers

Well, damn...the message board won't let me do two posts one right after the other...keeps combining them.

 

Anyway, give me a screen shot of your weapons folder directory.

 

FC

[glennhailstone 0]

[FastCargo 412]

I don't care about the loadout.ini file. Also, your Weapons folder looks right, can you tell me the whole directory tree?

 

(ie C:\Wings Over Europe\Objects, etc, etc).

 

FC

[glennhailstone 0]

C:\Program Files\Wings Over Europe\Weapons

[+malibu43 142]

C:\Program Files\Wings Over Europe\Weapons

 

Not to steal FastCargo's thunder, but it should be:

 

C:\Program Files\Wings Over Europe\Objects\Weapons

 

Move your weapons folder then give it a try.

[glennhailstone 0]

Hahaha, I'll give it a try. Im sure he will understand. And I know that it is because he asked for the directory tree that he was onto this.

So after I tried this the weapons in the loadout screen have disappeared entirely.

[FastCargo 412]

There are several possibilities.

 

One, you are on the wrong patch level and so the program can't read the weapondata.dat file.

Two, the F-16 you are trying to use has some sort of restrictions that won't allow loading of any weapons.

Three, the Weapons directory is still not in the proper location.

 

I'm leaning toward an incorrect patch level, based on all weapons vanishing.

 

FC

[glennhailstone 0]

Ok but Im using the F 16 recommended by Wrench.

 

Also I updated the game with the latest service pack.

 

If I put the weapons folder back to wings over europe\weapons I get my weapons back but only the stock ones

[FastCargo 412]

Okay. Here's what you're going to do then.

 

First, make sure you are at the latest patch level for WOE (Wings Over Europe). Should be 08.30.08 or something to that effect.

 

If is not, then you have not patched your game.

 

Second, move the Weapons folder as before so the path is C:\Program Files\Wings Over Europe\Objects\Weapons

 

Third, go here: http://download.thirdwire.net/files/dl/WeaponEditor_022008.zip and download this program. It is a weapons editor for the Strike Fighters series.

 

Let me know when you have done all these things. Also, I want verification of your patch level...post the text contents of the Readme.txt file located in your C:\Program Files\Wings Over Europe directory.

 

FC

[orfeas 0]

thanks FastCargo!valuable your information