Is SF2 now primarily a mod community project?

[Akmatov 1]

I used to play SF1 a bit and am thinking of getting back in as there is a LOT of mod content that is hugely tempting.  Of course, that means anything SF1 now needs to be replaced with SF2.  :(

 

From reading some of the posts, it appears SF has probably reached the end of new content provided by the developer and now the modding community is the group supporting it and providing new content.  Regardless of whether the developer has moved on to other things, the community seems alive and productive.  I guess I'm a bit cranky that the cost of entry is based on New Model Year prices for programs that are years old. Prior to starting on the financial project, is there anything else in the same genre that I might should be considering?  Given the time scale SF covers I doubt it, but I'd hate to later find out I'd missed something obvious. :)

[Milktrout 9]

Yes, exactly.  Even modders are running out of steam.

 

SF2 is on the back-side of its lifecycle but is still a superb game and has only gained playability with time.  By the time you're finished with all the possible downloadable content from both Thirdwire and the community it will be 2018 and something new will be out.

[+daddyairplanes 10,232]

Me thinks it always was. The game is somewhat limited in stock version, though with almost all makes of Phantom available.

Go full 5 +2 merge install though, and pull the mods you desire and its still quite enjoyable.

 

And i dont think the modders are out of steam. We just have real lives as well is all, and not all left standing have full capability (3d modelling, flight model knowledge etc).

[Skyviper 1,101]

Yes and the 3D moddeling programs are F*ing expesive too (like $4000-$8,000 for just the required program to make a plane that will work in game) so on top of not having the correct 3D moddeling knowledge most of us simply can't afford the necessary software to mod. Which is why its always a good thing as well as a polite thing to really thank the modders who have taken so much time and effort to make new aircraft, cockpits, etc. etc. 

 

I think if SF2 were like other games were free software such GIMP, or BLENDER, could be used you would have ALOT and I mean ALOT more mods than what we have now because more people would be able to put their own spin on things. Also another thing that I think kills some mods is the games coding... once again other games out there make it easy to change things around in the game for example; Fallout New Vegas yes that game is dirt old but because people can change every aspect of the game you still have new content that are new games in and of themselves that simply require the New Vegas engine to run. If SF2 was like that there would be functioning bomb sights for big bombers, movale cursors for radar screens new mission types and target objectives (such as supply drops, troop deployment) and air to air refueling would in my opinion would be among the first ten mods to be created if the coding were easy to be tweak. As matter of fact I'm talking up a couple of mod developers that have done outstanding work with games and am seeing if they'd like to take a crack at SF2 but right now we're in the talking phase so nothing solid yet. And again like Daddyairplanes said the biggest factor is that people have real lives.

[Wrench 9,846]

I'd like to add a bit more on the "having Real Lives ™" statements...

 

from my perspective, in regards to terrains, it takes an unbelievable amount of time to simply "get it right", or even close to right (ie: 90+%)  in regards to "which city has what type of ______ (fill in the blank) in the region?" One can spend days simply running down the type of industries in a given city. Or bridges, or harbors/port facilities. or ... or... or.... And within a given time frame (is it for WW2, post-war? ColdWar? Modern??) . Cites (or "target areas") are organic things, and grow and change over time.

And given the trend of "higher resolution", requiring MUCH more detail, it takes longer and longer.

Add in the occasional 'bad cards' life deals out (in my case, eye problems), and time delays add up and up and up.

 

Personally, I wish some you folks would stop whining about air-to-air refueling. It ain't never gonna happen. We've been told that since 2003. Get over it.

Also given the face that the 5 stock maps are 63% of Reality ™ -something NO one seem to remember- ... it just ain't really needed.

 

Now, better ground mapping radars ... that I can go for. But the question remains on those as well, which the "complainers" don't address:

Do the Real Life ™ versions of said radars, ACTUALLY have the capability to lock and hold a fixed ground target, and display it as such?

I'm sure we have members here, that have actually USED these types of radars (I'm looking at FC, as an ex-BONE driver), for more information. Nothing I've researched has given a hard and fast "yes" or "no". Quite frustrating!

 

As to Skyvipers comment about free programs, GIMP and paint.net are already in use by skinners ("texture artists"). It's the 3d programs that are slowing down the flow.

[NIELS 421]

Much thanks to all who have made this series an outstanding, 'Top Notch', collection of air combat simulations. Still the best Century Series accomplishment going, and the WWI, II, Korea, present day, etc., etc. compilations deserve standing ovations as well............BRAVO to you all!

 

Thanks for the great times and keeping the adrenalin flowing!

 

NIELS

[+russouk2004 6,958]

All we need is source files when TK deems this title dead,and shy is the limit...

If I could complete my stuff,with no work etc I would,I still like the game,we here have made better...and we all continue to do...this sim has models no other sim has,im sure models that have appeared ,after first been seen here,are because of us maybe...you never know

[Peugeot205 2,745]

 

 

Personally, I wish some you folks would stop whining about air-to-air refueling. It ain't never gonna happen. We've been told that since 2003. Get over it.

 

 

 

 

Really?        

 

[Fubar512 1,350]

Is fuel being delivered? Otherwise, it's a pointless exercise.

[+Dels 649]

Do the Real Life  versions of said radars, ACTUALLY have the capability to lock and hold a fixed ground target, and display it as such?

 

This depends on the level of reality you want.

 

For example, if you expect to arrive at a new target location you've never been at before and cycle through targets that are giving strong returns on the radar then the answer is a firm 'NO'.

 

While I have never used a radar for the dropping/firing of weapons, in my experience, radar targetting is more than just the radar having the ability to detect or focus on something. It is an integrated system where your position (INS, GPS etc) is also used and so the lack of these systems renders the ability to see returns on the radar useless for targetting. This is the dilemma we have in this game.

 

So, if we were to have the ability to cycle targets on the radar that can then be fired at there would need to be a significant amount of reality removed or automated such that it doesn't require our input.

 

Dels

[Peugeot205 2,745]

Is fuel being delivered? Otherwise, it's a pointless exercise.

C'est de l'ironie !!

Edited July 29, 2014 by FRPignon

[+logan4 847]

So, if we were to have the ability to cycle targets on the radar that can then be fired at there would need to be a significant amount of reality removed or automated such that it doesn't require our input.

 

Dels 

Would be intresting to know how Janes' pepole solved that for IAF and USAF. There I remember cycling through ground targets stationary and moving with each of their own sets of targets.

[+Dels 649]

Would be intresting to know how Janes' pepole solved that for IAF and USAF. There I remember cycling through ground targets stationary and moving with each of their own sets of targets.

 

What I meant was that it would need to be coded into the sim for certain objects to be displayed on the radar and that these displayed targets could be selected. This is not accurate from a real world perspective.

 

For this to occur in the real world you would need to:

 

1. Detect the objects on the radar

2. Use your GPS/INS to work out their positions

3. Save these positions in your FMS or other system that can communicate with your weapon systems

 

Only then, could you cycle through the target list.

 

The obvious flaw with this is that it won't work for a moving object. The perfect example of this is an Exocet or Harpoon:

 

Your radar and navigation systems are used to find the target and its position. This is uploaded to the weapon's navigation system (along with other waypoints if you wish). You fire the weapon and it uses its navigation system to fly the waypoints to the original area of the target. At this point it switches on its radar to find the target and home in. This final phase is fairly hit and miss depending on density of targets and countermeasures etc. as demonstrated with the Antlantic Conveyor during the Falklands War.

 

Dels

Edited July 30, 2014 by Dels

[+Veltro2k 6,351]

as someone said...not going to happen I read the Thirdwire remember them thread...    it all has to do with the game engine. TK is concentration on hand helds, and besides maybe releasing a new aircraft every blue moon will not add more features to the game

[+daddyairplanes 10,232]

not a bad thing necesarily, makes it stable for those that still mod.  and all i really sweat is the squadronlist.ini, lord help the terrain gurus!!!!

[Centurion-1 1,228]

I don't think the modders are running out of steam at all, but summer is summer, many people do other stuff than games during summer. Myself for sure. But I still have a large list of stuff I wanna do in SF2 before I call it quits!

 

I really do wish TK would pick up the ball or some other sim would take up the slack, whether something new or something that is already out there. I am catiously optimistic about the future of DCS, and finally got my computer upgraded so I can run it properly. If Eagle Dynamics can start releasing some serious mod tools that might be the platform we all move to. But that is still some ways off...

[lootee 0]

I just wanted to thank all of you modders for bringing me back to a past-time that I love.  I owned nearly every PC flight sim title in the 1990's, and enjoyed them thoroughly.  With the trend towards sims that required a PhD in physics to operate, I found myself losing interest in sims with a 30-50 hour learning curve and so I haven't flown in 8 or 9 years.  By sheer accident, I fell upon the Strike Fighter series a few weeks ago, downloaded all the pay stuff and now I'm thoroughly enjoying this community's devotion to this title.  It might be old for you, but its new for me, and frankly, all the criticisms aside, you've done an amazing job.  For me, a flight sim is more about a "feel" for air combat and history rather than an exercise in modern avionics, so this title hits the spot for me, and it is because of you folks that it stays relevant.  Great work.

[+russouk2004 6,958]

Im not running out of steam...its time for me...Im trying to finish a lot of stuff here,to clear the decks,so to speak...trying to get 3 or 4 items done ,swapping between each after doing a little more on each..

[+Monty CZ 209]

Out of steam?

 

not yet :-)

 

Monty CZ

[macelena 1,070]

Oh, me wants to bomb 

[+daddyairplanes 10,232]

I see a stick of half a dozen snakeyes in that bahnhofs future heh heh

[+ludo.m54 2,078]

I don't think the modders are running out of steam at all, but summer is summer, many people do other stuff than games during summer. Myself for sure. But I still have a large list of stuff I wanna do in SF2 before I call it quits!

 

I really do wish TK would pick up the ball or some other sim would take up the slack, whether something new or something that is already out there. I am catiously optimistic about the future of DCS, and finally got my computer upgraded so I can run it properly. If Eagle Dynamics can start releasing some serious mod tools that might be the platform we all move to. But that is still some ways off...

 

100% agree with you.

 

Ludo

[+Stary 2,427]

It's always been a mod community project. That said I am still around and will be back with them mods in some time, so no to naysayers, it's far from being dead

[Stratos 3,188]

Cool to see you "back" Stary!

[+NeverEnough 78]

Stary, it is good to see you back! Hope all is well with you.