Want improved avionics and other things? Say that to Thirdwire here please:

[Stratos]

Have been watching several threads about simming, immersion and the future of our hobby. Examples here:

 

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4010022/Immersion_In_Gaming#Post4010022

 

and here:

 

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4008957/DCS_-_I_don't_think_it's_what_#Post4008957

 

 

And tought that TK series fullfill some of the things people like in flight sims but lack some others and I'm sure it can be improved in order to fill some of the crowd requests. What SF series lacks mainly are advanced avionics, seeing how TK moved to mobile gaming I started a post on Thirdwire forums requesting the source code or at least the part concerning the avionics so the community can add the features we have been requesting for ages, improved air to air radar modes, air to ground radar, CCRP, electro optical systems, air to air refuelling, NVG and some others.

 

I hope we can make TK share the code with us, and I'm sure he will If we have a good number of simmers request it, so please say to Thirdwire we want the code to improve SF series here:

 

http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB3w/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=9673

 

Thanks!!

[Tipari]

i WaNt, I wAnt,  V.niCe  LatViaN poNy wiT dA braided mAne, aN I waNt TK to NkluDE LatVIan HigHWay patRALL NaVY hAIRfoRCe MiG-22UpyuRS FiTER PLANs wIT all Da AdVaNcED AVoNiACs liK DaY Hab iN Da ReaL LiFes.

 

yU ThINk TK iNKLuD aLL daT StUffs?  UdeRwiSe I ThINK iT B V.SiLLy to asK hiM an hIs aNswERs B suMtHIn liK "Yu HabE LotS moNY to SpeND on Dis, SillY boyz?

[+Muesli]

Oh no...

[+Dave]

Stratos my friend, he isn't going to listen to us anymore. We are has beens to him. Yes he took care of us on many many things and we are grateful for it. However we carried his ass for god knows how many years and if it wasn't for us modders his sim would of tanked years ago. Now we ask him something we get ignored. I am happy the cell phone games are working out for him, but a thank you from him for all the above would be nice. Lord knows we thanked him. So we are on our own. If he does anything else for the SF2 series I will gladly eat my words however I highly doubt I will be. 

[Sheriff001]

Has he ever intimated that he might sell the source code? If so, is crowd-funding a possibility?

[+Coupi]

Hello,

 

I would tell you... where there is life...there is hope!

 

Best regards,

 

Coupi.

 

 

[Stratos]

Shouldn't we try? We lose nothing but a couple minutes replying a post saying, I want that code!

[SFP1Ace]

Stratos, I commend you for your good intentions, but you've been here long enough to know well that there's no chance in hell TK will "share" his source code for SF games...From years of reading his posts I know him will well enough to predict any answer he might give on any topic related to SF. He is a very stubborn man with his own vision of conducting business that has been hurt in the past by some publishers. He is very careful and conservative and the things you ask him for will NEVER happen. If you want new features then don't ask TK, but rather find a C++ programmer that would be willing to decompile SF2 exes/libraries and spent months/years cracking the code and fixing/adding stuff. If it happened to IL2 1946 and Cliffs of Dover then why can't it happen to SF2? (keeping in mind that our community is much much smaller the the IL2's.)

Edited September 28, 2014 by SFP1Ace

[Stratos]

Stratos, I commend you for your good intentions, but you've been here long enough to know well that there's no chance in hell TK will "share" his source code for SF games...From years of reading his posts I know him will well enough to predict any answer he might give on any topic related to SF. He is a very stubborn man with his own vision of conducting business that has been hurt in the past by some publishers. He is very careful and conservative and the things you ask him for will NEVER happen. If you want new features then don't ask TK, but rather find a C++ programmer that would be willing to decompile SF2 exes/libraries and spent months/years cracking the code and fixing/adding stuff. If it happened to IL2 1946 and Cliffs of Dover then why can't it happen to SF2? (keeping in mind that our community is much much smaller the the IL2's.)

 

I have such a man, he's a freelance professional with experience in programming games. But of course one doesn't spend months working on such a project without being paid. BTW Il2 code was leaked IIRC or am I wrong?

[+swambast]

 

If you want new features then don't ask TK, but rather find a C++ programmer that would be willing to decompile SF2 exes/libraries and spent months/years cracking the code and fixing/adding stuff.  -SFP1Ace

 

+1  Ummm, that about nails it absolutely perfectly in my book.  I know you have good intentions and want the best of the sim brought out as well just like most of us.  But having someone with "experience in programming games" is meaningless...unless that person can also decompile binaries and spend weeks upon weeks translating machine/hex addresses into meaningful use.  And then, any additional patches/upgrades could potentially negate your entire efforts, and that's coming from some personal experiments.  For what it's worth once again, in my humble opinion based on the current conditions, you're much better off building hooks that overlay on top of the game engine rather than into it at least as a starting point.

Edited September 28, 2014 by swambast

[Stratos]

My friend is currently working on a personal not paid project for me where he had to decompile a program, learn how it worked an then rebuild it for me adding different habilities, so I'm sure he can do what we need. Of course he's not interested in SF, so he will not do it unless someone pay for it.

[Sheriff001]

In addition, he would need a lot of money and/or a tolerance for long periods of confinement. 

[Jarhead1]

Now maybe I am wrong but if we all paid ur friend to "crack" TKs sim and add a bunch of stuff we wanted to see, wouldn't that be the same as hacking? Isnt that illegal?

[Snailman]

Shouldn't we try? We lose nothing but a couple minutes replying a post saying, I want that code!

 

There has been light-year long topics about this already.... He will not sell the code, I'm sure. I suggested if we hire him to continue the stuff for us the way we need it - from our money. No one was interested(

 

No matter if you can acquire the code, no one can do quality work out of it, but it's creator. Believe me, to develop and continue something you haven't created yourself is an endless pain. I was in two groups already, where we "continued" abandon-ware games...  Endless struggle and guess work... you try to fix a bug, and create three in the process. The man who made the code know what and why he has done. Supposed you acquired the original undamaged source without tricks and cracks.

Edited September 28, 2014 by Snailman

[Peugeot205]

Stratos, you are losing time. TK is not going to give us anything about the game code.

 

You should be very happy with the SF2 series and this amazing comunity improving every single day our SF2 gameplay. So I don't understand your point.

[Fubar512]

Talk about beating a dead horse.  By pushing this agenda, all you are doing is hardening TK's resolve against releasing anything, or even agreeing to sell you the code. And even if by some miracle you've managed to convince him (to sell or release the source code), you would quickly discover that you'd bought a dog with fleas.......which is, I suspect, the real reason behind his reticence.

 

Now, if you're truly on the level regarding this, you would have asked your programmer friend exactly what is required to create a modern opened-sourced combat flight simulator, and what it would take to assemble a team to start working on it.  My bet is that you would soon find yourself realizing that you'd be much better off financially by going with DCS-World, or even something along the lines of FSX with the VRS TACPACK and Superbug addons.

Edited October 6, 2014 by Fubar512

[MigBuster]

It would somewhat shock me if TK was to give away his lifes work and foundation for his entire business - I expect a lot of the code is reused in the mobile games as well.

[+Sundowner]

Personally I'm happy with what we have, so I don't worry about what we don't have.

[Snailman]

It would somewhat shock me if TK was to give away his lifes work and foundation for his entire business - I expect a lot of the code is reused in the mobile games as well.

 

Very good point, I didn't realize that myself...   Ask yourself, everyone, how much would you ask for all your life's work? Way too much - if for sale at all.

Everything is for sale for the right price, but does it worth ?

[+russouk2004]

Well TK more or less aluded to the point we can do what we want with the game....we need cat extractors which we know exist but cant persuade the person or persons unknkown    ....who have it to share...we can police here whats done with it if we had access...

There are sites where coders reside,where things like the present .cats,can be given for them to try and open as a challenge.....if needed...but we need not do that  hint hint...

Edited September 29, 2014 by russouk2004

[Stratos]

Well TK more or less aluded to the point we can do what we want with the game....we need cat extractors which we know exist but cant persuade the person or persons unknkown    ....who have it to share...we can police here whats done with it if we had access...

There are sites where coders reside,where things like the present .cats,can be given for them to try and open as a challenge.....if needed...but we need not do that  hint hint...

 

Wouldn't love to see that tried... 

[+Dave]

Yeah there is an extractor out there but the person won't share even though TK said we can do what we wanted to. So hoarding the extractor is complete and utter bullshit. TK has moved on and as Sundowner said, I am happy with what we have. 

[Stratos]

I also love the game, but everything can be improved, right? I just flown a mission in ODS, using Mavericks, it was fun, but would have been more fun If I had to search for the damn AAA, a lot more fun and exciting. Why Tk dumbed the game that much?

[Z09SS]

From reading what TK has said in the past he "dumbed the game down" because he was writing a GAME that is sim-like and not a sim that is game-like.  That anything is realistic at all is incidental rather than intentional.

 

I've seen in several conversations that he doesn't understand our side of the customer base.  He doesn't understand why anyone would want to start on the ramp and taxi out to the runway, for example.  And this is the simplest of changes that could be made since there's already a "start the engines" key.  Add a sound file for start up and shut down and a new location for game start.  It's pretty much already within the capability of the game as written.  But he flat refused because he doesn't think that's fun.

 

Or fold the wings and open the canopy...  Hell he took moving tail-hooks off non-Navy planes!

 

Never mind actually making major changes, like adding refueling.

Edited September 30, 2014 by Z09SS

[+EMCON360]

I For One Am Happy With What We Have So Far. While Access To SF2 .LOD Files Are Still Restricted They May
Become Available At A Later Date. As For The Game Engine A Lot Can Be Changed Via Data Tweaks.Even At The
Last Patch Level There Was Still Some File Heap Errors That Were Rendered Inert By TK. Take For Instance
The Default SA-8 And SA-8B Launchers Set Up As Mobile Sams That Used The Same Naming Conventions In The
Weapons Folder As Well As The Ground Object Folder. Left SA-8 Folder In GroundObject File As Is And
Created SA-8L And SA-8BL Folders. One Process I Use For Tracking Down CTD Problems Is To Fire Up Procmon
Through WSCC By Sysinternals And Drop To Taskbar Making Sure My Filters Are All On And Capture Events
And AutoScroll On. After A Session With SF2 I Bring It Back Up And See How The Game Compiles Itself.
So If TK Releases Another PC Title,Patch,DLC, Thats Fine By Me, If Not There Is Still The Modding
Community.