Monkey on the runway

[+Stary]

18 hours ago, 76.IAP-Blackbird said:

I had an idea, i know cracking up the code isn`t welcome here, so i thought about the possibility,
to be able to create a kind of community patch, to upgrade stuff like with mue's help / cooperation
- cloud height,
- possibility to add graphic upgrades
- avionic update
- etc

All that as a controlled and planed "patch" and not crack open the code itself to the public. Something like Team Daidalos for il2

 

Dear Blackbird that is something I planned for few years. Specifically to pay from my pocket to some thirdparty HLSL shaders guy for firstly (always take small steps in such cases) simple things like diffuse-derived normalmaps on terrain, better clouds lighting/transformations, maybe some terrain additions etc. This option still stands even with lesser interest in SF2 on my side. Still, I want it upgraded at some point. Because let's be honest upgraded SF2 in VR would be awesome to fly. And I refuse to go back flying in 2d.

My testings from past -posted even here at some point in summer of 2016 IIRC- indicate that clouds height pass infamous December 2010-b and 2010-c updates is tied with terrain's encoded maximum altitude in HFD file, matter of hacking the terrains into thinking the max alt is -customizable value-, the engine it seems treats that as base level for clouds height (call it z axis) spawning;  the HFD file has range of altitudes the terrain has, say from 0 to 2600 meters, then if the highest value is mountain peak at 2600 meters then the engine apparently adds some values (and those seem not the clouds bases from environmentsystem definition) to push clouds higher and avoid clipping issues with alpha-based objects (sorry TK if you read this Sir, I'm calling this lazy problem solving)

As for avionics updates, we have to thank fellow Team America here that booed and called faker the poor chinese (?) guy (MLRacing was the moniker) who hacked the libraries back in the day driving him off from more modding and sharing.

[+Stary]

24 minutes ago, FLOGGER23 said:

Could the FPS handling be tweaked also? What would that implies?

Enoc what do you mean? Framerates? Nah I think not, you'd end up with unchanged internal pipeline after all.

[+Stary]

8 minutes ago, PFunk said:

Almost 100% sure that TK is planning no future updates to the games, but I doubt he would view editing his proprietary stuff with anything other than anger.  I guarantee you'd have a cease and desist order within a day.  

 

Not really PFunk, depends on the scale and exposure. We're niche within niche as the not so accurate saying goes.

But consider this -bloody YAP was pirating and reusing stock TK's carrier decks textures for own models and getting cash from selling that and no one in Austin,TX blinked. Heck even Ubi didn't bother about ripped SH4 hull n' portholes textures used on Rising Sun ships.

[+Coupi]

In my simple player opinion... I think it is a pity that SF2 is no longer improved !!! 

July 2013... the last TW update:  Almost 5 years.

We realize that with the "galaxy" of produced mods SF2 has of the potential to be highly improved somehow (by TW) or other (by Community).

About the new mue tool project this could be for me humbly to test modding! 

Edited January 31, 2018 by Coupi

[PFunk]

7 minutes ago, Stary said:

Not really PFunk, depends on the scale and exposure. We're niche within niche as the not so accurate saying goes.

But consider this -bloody YAP was pirating and reusing stock TK's carrier decks textures for own models and getting cash from selling that and no one in Austin,TX blinked. Heck even Ubi didn't bother about ripped SH4 hull n' portholes textures used on Rising Sun ships.

I understand where you're coming from, but I've had the pleasure of speaking on the phone with TK on a couple of occasions, back when I worked for another simulation enthusiast's site.

Let's just say he's like every other Teasip I've ever met in my life.  If you're from Texas, that means something.  If you're not, well, it doesn't translate very well.   Frankly, I'd be shocked if TK tolerated someone getting into the game mechanics files like that.  Some textures, well, that's one thing.  Proprietary game engine files?  Not so much.

SF2 is still very much TK's beach and ocean.  Making an extension for Blender to create new LODs for the game?  I'm sure he's not even going to lose any sleep over it.  Modding his avionics or AI files?  I wouldn't recommend it, but I'm an overly cautious guy.  You can't even really make the case that he's not into PC game development anymore, he just made a new title last year.  Sure, it was a port of a mobile game, but it's still a PC game.

The last exchange I had with TK over the state of the game was about a year ago or so and I was so mad at his response, I stopped playing until this month.  I had a hard drive crash and lost a ton of work on a terrain I was building and I didn't even care and I still don't.  Guys, it's going to take a lot of polish to get the game where you want it to be and you're going to have to start from scratch.  You'd be better off finding a low-cost game engine and just building something new.

[+Stary]

1 minute ago, PFunk said:

Frankly, I'd be shocked if TK tolerated someone getting into the game mechanics files like that.  Some textures, well, that's one thing.  Proprietary game engine files?  Not so much.

Nah not dlls, of course not. Shaders, lots of things can be tweaked in shaders. Shaders are not core game files I'd say. Tools to automatically adjust things in HFD as the clouds altitude >>maybe<< possible fix I propose. If that is right track and doable. External tool.
Injectors are external tools too not binded by any EULA as far as I know. Otherwise I wouldn't be legally able to post my ReShade-enhanced screenshots back in the day I used ReShade in my Korea install. Or fly payware WW1 opus magnum WOFF is. Check WOFF development and CFS3 engine code injectors especially around Phases 2-3-up to Ultimate Edition.

6 minutes ago, PFunk said:

You can't even really make the case that he's not into PC game development anymore, he just made a new title last year.  Sure, it was a port of a mobile game, but it's still a PC game.

Different engines and approach the Unity-based games and SFP1/WOX/SF2, not that I made such point at any stage (about TK "not being into PC anymore"; find it irrelevant)

I am the sane person here, I don't talk about rewriting code lol. Think of better ways to spend 50k he wasnts for source code. Tweaking things is possible to an extend. I see alot of people like to throw into air things that are utterly unrealistic at all like A2A refuelling (shees you guys) Things I would like to see in SF2 are to some extend doable. I like to focus on things I would like to see in SF2 :)

but let's not steer from Mue's topic here.

[+Stary]

also I know you can't really tell what was TK's last response but would love to hear that

[PFunk]

2 minutes ago, Stary said:

also I know you can't really tell what was TK's last response but would love to hear that

Yeah, no.  Wasn't worth it then, time ain't changed much.

[+Stary]

TY

[+Stratos]

He doesn't care If we mod, exes, DLL, CAT's or wathever! Just check the mail!! What we CANOOT is to share his files, but we can make patches changing what we need. He even said, "you'll need to update the mods when we update our games" so he's well aware of what we want to mod.

[+Stratos]

27 minutes ago, Stary said:

. I see alot of people like to throw into air things that are utterly unrealistic at all like A2A refuelling (shees you guys) Things I would like to see in SF2 are to some extend doable. I like to focus on things I would like to see in SF2 :)

AFAIK Some time ago was possible to refuel mid air with some kind of fake engine or something like that, but TK killed that in a patch, maybe is possible to get it back, we don't need to code all the A-A refuelling thing.

[+Menrva]

13 minutes ago, Stratos said:

AFAIK Some time ago was possible to refuel mid air with some kind of fake engine or something like that, but TK killed that in a patch, maybe is possible to get it back, we don't need to code all the A-A refuelling thing.

That wasn't real A-A refueling, it was more like using a bug back in the days of SF1. Since official terrains are only 60% of Real World size, I see no point in A-A refueling in this game. Also, I would love to see better avionics for modern planes, but it's not an easy task, it's like creating a whole new .dll from scratch, not really something that is doable without source code.

What we can do, however, is to do what Stary said. There are things which TK locked or simply disabled in some way, like the clouds' height, or the FAC Snoopy which I like to think it can be brought back, at least just for immersion. Not to mention many statements inside the game's .dll files, which would be interesting to see if they are developed to a a certain extent or not (mostly they aren't from what I've seen).

I don't want to hijack Mue's thread, so what do you think about creating a new thread about this, guys? People like Stary have much knowledge to share, it would be a pity to let all that info go away. I am willing to learn new tricks, and I am sure I am not the only one. 

Edited January 31, 2018 by Menrva

[JungleThing]

\o/ Congratulations Mr. Mue, another Community Hero achievement for you!

We all Thank you so much. \o/

[+russouk2004]

so we can extract files from Objectdata001.cat  and 002  as long as we dont swap em or give to others ?

Reason I ask is....so I can import to max and make better detail,IE,less blocky stuff,add new anims,effects to some aircraft models..TW ones. etc 

Edited February 2, 2018 by russouk2004

[+Stratos]

 

3 hours ago, russouk2004 said:

so we can extract files from Objectdata001.cat  and 002  as long as we dont swap em or give to others ?

Reason I ask is....so I can import to max and make better detail,IE,less blocky stuff,add new anims,effects to some aircraft models..TW ones. etc 

If you don't share any of TK files, you can do wathever you want.

[+76.IAP-Blackbird]

If there is a company out there, that would update the game files into more modern stuff, i even would pay for it. Why not 

[+Stratos]

9 hours ago, 76.IAP-Blackbird said:

If there is a company out there, that would update the game files into more modern stuff, i even would pay for it. Why not 

A new module for DCS costs 70$, I will pay the same, and maybe even more for a Avionics update to the game. After all, almost all my siming time is devoted to SF2.

[+russouk2004]

On 2/2/2018 at 7:05 AM, Stratos said:

 

If you don't share any of TK files, you can do wathever you want.

Its a pity...I can get tk models into max 2009 but if I update stuff like adding better anims,better effects ie better afterburners etc   or more 3d details  I cant share it....unless...hmmmm dunno..

[+Stratos]

8 hours ago, russouk2004 said:

Its a pity...I can get tk models into max 2009 but if I update stuff like adding better anims,better effects ie better afterburners etc   or more 3d details  I cant share it....unless...hmmmm dunno..

Will the final user still need the game? I mean, he will still need the game lod files?

[+Wrench]

that WOULD be the safe assumption! Without the game(s)...

[+FLOGGER23]

Mue, how about a latest max versions exporter too? Just saying... is that possible?

[+daddyairplanes]

i think the  blender route might be better. while the max users would need to relearn the wheel, new users would pick up quicker and not everyone can afford max or get the student editions. Blender iirc is free in its basic form.

back to the new users, it would get some young blood (figurately speaking) going in the community in my opinion. while the work might not be the greatest at first, the 3d modeler population isnt even holding steady at the moment.

[+russouk2004]

I rarely touch my models these days,so its all really academic...

[mue]

On 5.2.2018 at 1:30 AM, FLOGGER23 said:

Mue, how about a latest max versions exporter too? Just saying... is that possible?

Of course it's possible to write an exporter for 3ds max. But I don't plan to do it myself because:
1.) I don't own 3ds max
2.) My priorities are more in providing a free/open source toolchain for strike fighters 2

[+Stratos]

https://www.freelancer.com/find/programming?gclid=Cj0KCQiAzfrTBRC_ARIsAJ5ps0sME0sfBRK9UJsb5vVTqhC45cIzRWlAfFctOzAuPKUrRBBTa_AtpKEaAk8IEALw_wcB&ft_prog=ANH&ft_prog_id=239097321102