Strike Fighters 2 : Operation Desert Storm Redux

[MigBuster]

 

 

Now a short revisit to one of the seminal Mods for the Strike Fighters series. 

Strike Fighters 2: ODS Redux is a very impressive modification of the basic game series and included new aircraft / ground objects over the original. 

As the title suggests the mod will have you flying over the Middle East battleground where Operation Desert Storm was actually set, so mostly Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait of course:

 

 

New aircraft for Redux included the amazing Buccaneer by Ravenclaw:

 
 

 

Install 
As ever the mod works best at the game version it was tested and built for, and if you install onto a later version or one merged with North Atlantic there will be a bit more work to do. However if you can copy & paste files and edit word documents you shouldn’t have any problems.
 

The instructions are pretty good – however you must insure you follow the first and second rules of modding:
1.    Make sure you stick the files in the correct place! 
2.    Make sure you stick the files in the correct place! 

If you get stuck there is a few years worth of information and a knowledge base on here to help.

 

 

Gameplay
The variety of aircraft you can choose along with the different squadrons is vast as you can imagine, and should be historically accurate. For this I am going to be in VFA-81, - that’s right I can literally walk into any Navy squadron I am that good!

 

 

The campaign starts with a bit of background about the situation and the strategic error Saddam Hussain perhaps may have made:

 

 

For day one I can rejoice in the fact that mod campaigns include targets other than the beeping Comms building!

 

 

 

Default loadout looks good enough so no changes for me:

 

 

 

And flying with my good buddy Ens Mike Erwin, who is not the highest in flying skill but is good with the ladies!:

 

 

 

Into the sky we go, the Hornet is a third party mod but includes a very good pit complete enough for us to get by with navigation etc:

 

 

 

Flying over Kuwait Mike seems to think keeping his lights on is more challenging!

 

 

 

Plenty of Bandits are being called out, like this MiG-23:

 

 

 

They are being kept busy by F-14s on the way in though luckily:

 

 

 

We find and hit the scud rather easily, although Mike doesn’t think it is fun without flying low and getting shot at by every gun in theatre:

 

 

 

Coming off target, a MiG is within 10 miles at 9 o’clock, so I turn and lock it up.

 

 

 Not being certain who or what it is I close to visual just to see a cheeky F-14 blast it out of the sky with guns (that's the guy locked in the circle).

 

 

Typical, I am off to the tanker, or Alt + N as it is more commonly known here:

 

 

Success is ours…in your face Saddam!

 

 

 

And of course, hats off to the many that contributed to make SF2:ODS possible!

 

 

[+Menrva]

One of the greatest mods, first time I played it, it was a version for the old Wings Over Europe.

My only gripe with it is that the terrain is pretty wrong, for target locations etc. The one I made is identical in dimensions (portrays the same area), but addresses such issues and was also built for ODS. I wonder if people are still interested in playing ODS; when I get the chance, I might rework the campaign files and provide a more accurate campaign.

Edited October 8, 2017 by Menrva

[+dtmdragon]

This is a great mod to integrate 'what if' or 'what could have been' aircraft into and see how they fair! RAF F-4JUK (this is the interceptor the RAF wanted to deploy but politically the Tornado ADV got the job), RNZAF A-4K flying in a joint Skyhawk Wing with the Kuwaiti's (this option was actully pushed in preference to the USMC mercs that ended up providing ground support for the Kuwaiti's but the NZ government faltered ),  TSR-2, F-111D, F-111K even an extended service Vulcan with Falklands war ordanance/ ECM mods etc

Edited October 9, 2017 by dtmdragon

[RustyKurnass]

On 8/10/2017 at 10:39 AM, Menrva said:

I wonder if people are still interested in playing ODS; when I get the chance, I might rework the campaign files and provide a more accurate campaign.

Personally yes,

I'm currently play ODS  with the VFA-81,an upgrade are more than welcome!

Also,I played some different Service/planes since joined the community,and I think that in the strike missions,more ABA type will be incremented:for example,I didn't run a single base attack with the Brit Tornado,and we know that the reality was quite different...

Gianni

Edited November 9, 2017 by RustyKurnass

[RustyKurnass]

Hi guys,

talking od ODS,recently I've added the Green Knights' F-18D FastFAC from the Hornet BetaPack to the campaign and all work fine.

But I want create a historical load out,add Zuni WP pods to the plane' VER,but I'm unable;in the Screenshot subforum I see what I want,post a comment with an help request but I received any answer.

Can someone help me?

[MigBuster]

You should just need to change the loadout.ini file for the aircraft.

 

 

[RustyKurnass]

2 hours ago, MigBuster said:

You should just need to change the loadout.ini file for the aircraft.

 

 

I tried mate but don't work.

But I solved thanks to dtmdragon

[JosefK]

On 10/8/2017 at 1:39 AM, Menrva said:

One of the greatest mods, first time I played it, it was a version for the old Wings Over Europe.

My only gripe with it is that the terrain is pretty wrong, for target locations etc. The one I made is identical in dimensions (portrays the same area), but addresses such issues and was also built for ODS. I wonder if people are still interested in playing ODS; when I get the chance, I might rework the campaign files and provide a more accurate campaign.

Still playing the SF2 version!  Please tinker with it, and would love a 2003+ version.  The + being for the MiGs & Sukhois & Mils that should have (futilely) sortied into the jaws of the almighty Grumman F-14 Tomcat!

Edited September 8, 2018 by JosefK

[JosefK]

On 10/8/2017 at 6:20 PM, dtmdragon said:

This is a great mod to integrate 'what if' or 'what could have been' aircraft into and see how they fair! RAF F-4JUK (this is the interceptor the RAF wanted to deploy but politically the Tornado ADV got the job), RNZAF A-4K flying in a joint Skyhawk Wing with the Kuwaiti's (this option was actully pushed in preference to the USMC mercs that ended up providing ground support for the Kuwaiti's but the NZ government faltered ),  TSR-2, F-111D, F-111K even an extended service Vulcan with Falklands war ordanance/ ECM mods etc

Agreed.