Iraq, Western Asia (1980-2003)

+**Menrva** · February 13, 2017

Iraq, Western Asia (1980-2003)

Iraq, Western Asia (1980-2003) Terrain
February 13th, 2017 (1st Release)
by Menrva

>For Strike Fighters 2, Recommended Full-5 Merged
This is a complete remake of the DS/IR terrain released long time ago by Wrench.
The entire map has been retargetized and retiled using a whole new tileset, combining tiles from JSF_Aggie, Stary, Centurion-1 and my bad transition tiles. All major water bodies, lakes and some minor rivers have been hand-tiled. The Caspian Sea coast had to be hand-tiled as well. Numerous target areas have been added in order to expand playability, targets of opportunity and year range.

This terrain features a fresh new 250m resolution heightmap (instead of the stock 500m resolution), allowing for greater details and precision in elevation changes; overall it provides the whole terrain with a better look.

The terrain spans from September 22, 1980 (the beginning of the Iran/Iraq War) to May 1, 2003 (the end of major combat operations of Operation Iraqi Freedom); it is designed for the Iran/Iraq War, Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Desert Fox and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Iraq is Enemy, Iran is Friendly, other countries are Friendly as well. Due to limitations in the terrain engine, and not wanting to make three different terrains, I opted to set Iran as Friendly together with other countries such as Saudi Arabia. While you might see US planes spawn in Iran during Single Missions even if the 1979 Iranian Revolution already happened, it's up to the users to play with missions in the editor to fix any historical oddities.
Targets reflect Real World events as accurately as possible; for instance, after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, Kuwaiti airfields are set as Neutral, enemy targets appear inside Kuwait, etc. Some airfields won't be available after a certain date and/or will change name according to historic changes. Various Operation Desert Storm expeditionary bases and FOBs have been added, and will appear only during Operation Desert Storm dates.
All main targets are in their Real World locations (I tried to be as accurate as possible, to such a level that even surpasses ThirdWire's stock terrains). Shiraz Int'l Airport and Prince Sultan Airbase are beyond the Wall. However, if you have SF2NA, long range AI flights can be generated from such airbases.

Ground Objects are not included. You can obtain most of them from Wrench's original Iran-Iraq terrains, or from other mod packages.

>Credits (in no particular order):
-Wrench, who reworked the original terrain and provided the CombatACE community with plenty of mods and scenarios to play with. He gave me invaluable advise, the tools I needed and introduced me to the beautiful, exhausting world of terrain modding/making. Thank you, sir!
-swambast, who offered to build two high quality 3D models (Mosul Dam and Mosul Grand Mosque), featured for the first time in this terrain, it's an honor! He also provided major help in tracking and fixing common and uncommon bugs. If the terrain is stable (no CTDs), it's his merit!
-Nyghtfall, for creating 3d models of the Kuwait Water Towers and Kuwait Freedom Towers.
-tiopilotos, for providing reworked .tga tiles with new alpha channels. Much appreciated!
-Spudknocker, who helped me complete the 1980-2003 beta version of the terrain, providing additional target areas.
-gerwin, whose TFDtool has proved to be essential in today's terrain making. If the terrain is pretty accurate to RL it's also because of him. I included his very nice Airfield 7+8 Addon Pack, too.
-MigBuster, I have included some of his great hi-res textures for runways.
-mue, for the improved shaders he made, which I have included and reworked for the terrain, and for the tools he made for SF2 modding.
-luk1978, for the waternormal bitmap he shared at the SF2 screenshots thread. Your mods are very interesting!
-Crusader, who provided me with the info I needed about ODS and other stuff related to targets.
-JSF_Aggie, for his high quality DS tileset, which I have expanded with my horrible transition tiles.
-7eleven, who directed me to a website filled with Desert Storm related info.
-Centurion-1, since I used some tiles from his Desert 4 Mountain Regions+ Addon. I tried to contact you for permission, but it seems RL got in your way. Your WIP mod about the Iran/Iraq war gave me the motivation to complete this terrain. The least I can say is thank you. Best of luck, mate!
-Stary, because his tilesets are pure art. I borrowed a few TODs and tiles from his excellent IsraelME tileset.
-Gepard, for his great tutorials about terrain making, in the SF1 Knowledge Base at CombatACE. It's a gold mine!
-Stratos, who supported me support during the terrain's development.
-krfrge, who has produced a tutorial for recreating SF2-like planning maps, which prompted me to work on templates and my own high quality planning maps. Thank you very much!
-comrpnt, for his Approach and Airfield Lighting Pack mod packages for SF1 series, which I reworked and included.

I am totally sure I missed someone, especially because the terrain was born from Wrench's original ones. So I also included Wrench's original readme files from his IR and IR2003 terrains to the end of giving proper credit to everyone involved directly or not.

>Disclaimer:
This is a freeware; yet it can be redistributed ONLY in other CombatACE mods/mod packages.
Any changes to the terrain package's files and/or any copy-and-paste attempts of their contents are NOT authorized if you plan to release them in other mods. But permission might be granted to those who request it to me at CombatACE.
This terrain may NOT in any way, shape or form be used in any payware additions.

Submitter

Menrva
Submitted

02/13/2017
Category

Full Terrains

+**yakarov79** · February 13, 2017

GREAT !!!

I would like to report that problem with 'untextured' black buildings I had in terrain from Spudknocker's campaign is no longer present.

All bulidings are textured correctly..

I didn't notice trees...but hope its ok.

And this terrain is cool,

Thanks.

+**Menrva** · February 15, 2017

GREAT !!!

I would like to report that problem with 'untextured' black buildings I had in terrain from Spudknocker's campaign is no longer present.

All bulidings are textured correctly..

I didn't notice trees...but hope its ok.

And this terrain is cool,

Thanks.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad that the bug you experienced with the early version of the terrain is no longer present. Trees have been removed from certain tiles, since there are rough mountains, and they would look bad. I hope that in the future some artists manage to make a whole new tileset for it, with better TODs.

BTW, with little modding knowledge this terrain can be made to work with Spudknocker's campaigns, since this one is also a better-looking version with the plus that Iran's got new SAM sites which were totally missing from the early version.

Edited February 17, 2017 by Menrva

+**Menrva** · April 13, 2017

Terrain package updated to Version 1.01. Minor tweaks here and there, it might be worth re-downloading.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Menrva

+**Menrva** · August 12, 2017

Terrain package updated to Version 1.02. Major changes and bug-fixing, it's well worth re-downloading this time.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Menrva

Fuzzyinthe348 · September 17, 2017

Hey brothas,

My runways are not showing up. Any word on how to fix this? Much appreciate!

+**Menrva** · September 17, 2017

5 hours ago, Fuzzyinthe348 said:

Hey brothas,

My runways are not showing up. Any word on how to fix this? Much appreciate!

This should happen since you don't have the Desert terrain from SF2, so you might have another SF2 title, like SF2E, or SF2V or SF2I. My terrain uses the stock Desert terrain files as a base. But don't worry, there is an easy fix. Inside the terrain folder, find the IraqWA.ini file, and open it with Notepad. You'll find that the referenced CatFile is the Desert.CAT. Since you don't have SF2, but some other stock terrain, enable a different CAT instead. If you have SF2E, you have the GermanyCE terrain, etc.

So, double slash the Desert.CAT line and enable one of the different CAT files from the list below, according to which SF2 game you have:

CatFile=..\Desert\Desert.CAT
//CatFile=..\GermanyCE\GermanyCE.CAT
//CatFile=..\VietnamSEA\VietnamSEA.CAT
//CatFile=..\IsraelME\IsraelME.CAT

I hope I have been clear enough. Just follow these simple instructions and let me know if it works.

Edited September 17, 2017 by Menrva

Fuzzyinthe348 · September 18, 2017

Thank you my friend, this worked! I have SF2:I so it makes sense.

+**Menrva** · September 18, 2017

7 hours ago, Fuzzyinthe348 said:

Thank you my friend, this worked! I have SF2:I so it makes sense.

Glad it works! Enjoy the terrain, it took me years to develop it!

Fuzzyinthe348 · September 19, 2017

I am truly amazed at the quality my friend! I have to say my favorite part so far is the mountains. Looking forward to your future works!

+**Menrva** · December 13, 2017

Terrain package updated to Version 1.03; small fixes and the addition of high quality planning maps!

Edited April 12, 2020 by Menrva

+**Menrva** · February 12, 2018

Terrain package updated to Version 1.04; among minor additions, the terrain's folder has been cleaned up of many unnecessary files. Users are advised to remove the previous version completely.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Menrva

**beachav8r** · February 16, 2018

On 2/13/2017 at 2:49 AM, Menrva said:

The terrain won't work with the current Operation Desert Storm campaign available at CombatACE, so I leave the job of updating that campaign to other modders.

Sorry for the obviously dumb question - but what are the chances we could see a campaign built specifically for this map? I'd love to give the map a whirl..but have no idea how to make a campaign for it. Or can I just install it and make Quick Missions on it?

+**Menrva** · February 16, 2018

28 minutes ago, beachav8r said:

Or can I just install it and make Quick Missions on it?

You can play with it already, feel free to create quick missions! As for an updated Desert Storm campaign, a team is being formed, and it will use this terrain. Just check the following thread: https://combatace.com/forums/topic/91614-upgrade-for-odscalling-modders-new-and-old/

You have no idea how wrong the original Desert Storm map was. This one is very accurate in terms of target locations. Also, it comes with most if not all Iraqi airbases, and there are Iranian bases as well, for the 1980-88 Iran/Iraq War.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Menrva

+**yakarov79** · February 16, 2018

Great job again.

Did you add more air defence sites ? It is like i have threat everywhere today...

although ...i had to spend few minutes for editing types and targets ini....for my own Iran - Iraq purposes.

+**Menrva** · February 16, 2018

1 hour ago, yakarov79 said:

Great job again.

Did you add more air defence sites ? It is like i have threat everywhere today...

although ...i had to spend few minutes for editing types and targets ini....for my own Iran - Iraq purposes.

Well, I added them since the definitive version 1.0. Latest update simply fixed some minor things, and I added more border posts. The beta Iran-Iraq terrain missed lots of Blue Side SAMs, so this one is more complete.

**Peugeot205** · February 25, 2018

Hi Menvra

I'm trying to add the Oilrig that we can find in this superb terrain in my Europe Terrain . However, and I don't know why, the 3d model does not show up in game..... it does in the target area editor....... I have never seen something like this. Any idea?

+**Menrva** · February 25, 2018

On 25/2/2018 at 2:10 PM, FRPignon said:

Hi Menvra

I'm trying to add the Oilrig that we can find in this superb terrain in my Europe Terrain . However, and I don't know why, the 3d model does not show up in game..... it does in the target area editor....... I have never seen something like this. Any idea?

Hi! The Oil Rig shows up fine on my terrain.

Make sure you have added the needed entries in the _types.ini, and copy all the Oil Rig related files (check Gepard's package here: https://combatace.com/files/file/12331-small-oil-rig/).

Edited April 12, 2020 by Menrva

**Peugeot205** · February 25, 2018

1 hour ago, Menrva said:

Hi! The Oil Rig shows up fine on my terrain.

Make sure you have added the needed entries in the _types.ini, and copy all the Oil Rig related files (check Gepard's package here: https://combatace.com/files/file/12331-small-oil-rig/).

Nothing. Everything is at the correct plane, with correct names and the entries are in the _types .ini....... and nothing, it does not show up.

+**Menrva** · February 25, 2018

2 hours ago, FRPignon said:

Nothing. Everything is at the correct plane, with correct names and the entries are in the _types .ini....... and nothing, it does not show up.

FRPignon, send me a PM with more details. I can double check your files. Let's leave this thread of my terrain package.

**Peugeot205** · February 25, 2018

48 minutes ago, Menrva said:

FRPignon, send me a PM with more details. I can double check your files. Let's leave this thread of my terrain package.

Ok I'l do that, because I'm really confused, I don't know what it going on..

+**Menrva** · March 13, 2018

Terrain package updated to Version 1.05; nothing big, just minor changes.

Edited April 12, 2020 by Menrva

+**Menrva** · April 12, 2020

Terrain package updated to Version 1.07. Check the Changelog for full details.

**madvad** · June 30, 2022

This is happening when I choose fo fly with IRIAF side.

Some tips?

+**Menrva** · July 1, 2022

8 hours ago, madvad said:

This is happening when I choose fo fly with IRIAF side.

Some tips?

No idea, I don't know on which airfields you spawn. Anyway, don't bother. The terrain needs to be updated to the latest version which is included in ODS 30AE. I lack time due to RL unfortunately. Some day I'll manage to update it fully.

Iraq, Western Asia (1980-2003)

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