Upgrading to SF2 NA & How to Handle Existing Mod Folders?

[Arrow 83]

I've been flying SF2 Euro for about 2 weeks now and are enjoying it as much or more than I did the WO series. I miss the Intruder though and I'm keen to try the state-of-the-art radars (viewed through an early 80s set of glasses)   in SF2 North Atlantic. I've learned how to create a Mod folder via my installation of the Nato Fighters 5 patches. What I'm unsure of, is if and how I update an existing mod folder to use SF2 NA once I've done a merged install of it.  Ideally I want all of my content for my Strike Fighters 2 Europe mod folder to use the new, updated features in SF2 NA; is that even possible? If that is possible, is it as simple as renaming my existing StrikeFighters2 Europe.EXE and then making a copy of the StrikeFighters2 NA.EXE and then renaming it to StrikeFighters2 Europe.EXE? Note:  I have no intentions of attempting to have NF5 use the NA exe - that will be strictly kept as a SF2 Euro mod.

Any info, tips or cautions on doing this, would be very much appreciated.

[+daddyairplanes 10,241]

one point on the exe that you use: you can load into whichever specific executable you like, but two or mod installs merge together unless you explicitly tell the installer not to (into say a Thirdwire2 folder for example). so you likely have SF2NA features if you have Europe and NA installed.

 as for the mod folder, rename that folder xEurope . install NA and run once. run your Europe exe.

then go into the mod folders, (user/savedgames/thirdwire/) go into the Europe folder that was created and cut teh version.ini, paste it into your xEurope folder. delete the new Europe folder and rename the old removing the "x".

that version ini has what you have in it. particularly important if you get DLCs or the expansion packs. could you mess with it? probably. should you? i wouldnt.

this is a way to do things, i'm sure others will chime in with other methods.

final note: you will need to search the site for A-6A and B cockpits. there really isnt an E model pit i'm aware of . but the Intruder is not player flyable from stock

[Arrow 83]

Many thanks for the info. I think I'm following you - you're suggesting I generate a new SF2 Euro INI, because it will reflect some of the content from SF2 NA. More specifically the new INI should make the AI late gen Intruder, E-2C sentry,  Prowler, Backfire B and Yak 38 available to SF-2 Euro. That correct?

I already have the Intruder mod downloaded and waiting to be installed - was just awaiting my purchase of SF2NA or SF2V so I could make it so.    

[Edit] One thing I noticed immediately the 1st time I ran SF2 NA, was that although it still had the correct mapping for my Stick, rudders and throttle quadrant all the other button mappings were missing. I'm assuming those are stored in the Default.INI in the \Controls folder & I should be able to just copy that into to the \Controls folder for other mod folders to get the assignments back - that correct?

Edited September 1, 2018 by Arrow

[+daddyairplanes 10,241]

a new version ini was generated when you installed. it had the info that you had Europe and now NA.  but yes all NA planes (player or AI) will be available in Europe

Edited September 1, 2018 by daddyairplanes

[Wrench 9,848]

sound like you're creating a "theatre or era specific" install.

these instructions, albiet geared more for WW2, may be of assistance

 

there's also a link in there to a Knowledge Base post.

You may also want to read this one:

as it relates to adding a new game, patch, or DLC

[Arrow 83]

Thanks for that Era specific install link - looks to be info that I'll be able to use. Yes to some extent I am trying for a Northern Atlantic - Arctic theater. I have the Alaska Bearing Strait and Sweden Baltic Rim Terrain and have been running missions in both with a 1962 timeline with the what-if CF-105 Avro Arrow and RCAF edition of the CF-105 Thunderchief. Of course the Thud, with the Arrow having actually been deployed, would have probably been given a different designation (maybe in my what-if it's the F-106  and the Dart was designated something else), but I don't know how and if it's possible to do that in SF2?

Currently I'm just running both of those terrains with SF2 Euro as the base install. I'm hoping somehow to use the SF2 NA Iceland terrain though and its support for off map USSR bases, as both terrains border the USSR. I'd really like to run a full  campaign in the AlaskaBR and SwedenBR terrain, but the only campaign I could find was a WW II one located in SwedenBR. Ideally I'd like to run a Red Thunder campaign with all 3 of those terrains, but haven't got a clue how to do it, or if it's even doable? 

Edited September 2, 2018 by Arrow

[+Menrva 4,200]

7 hours ago, Arrow said:

Thanks for that Era specific install link - looks to be info that I'll be able to use. Yes to some extent I am trying for a Northern Atlantic - Arctic theater. I have the Alaska Bearing Strait and Sweden Baltic Rim Terrain and have been running missions in both with a 1962 timeline with the what-if CF-105 Avro Arrow and RCAF edition of the CF-105 Thunderchief. Of course the Thud, with the Arrow having actually been deployed, would have probably been given a different designation (maybe in my what-if it's the F-106  and the Dart was designated something else), but I don't know how and if it's possible to do that in SF2?

Currently I'm just running both of those terrains with SF2 Euro as the base install. I'm hoping somehow to use the SF2 NA Iceland terrain though and its support for off map USSR bases, as both terrains border the USSR. I'd really like to run a full  campaign in the AlaskaBR and SwedenBR terrain, but the only campaign I could find was a WW II one located in SwedenBR. Ideally I'd like to run a Red Thunder campaign with all 3 of those terrains, but haven't got a clue how to do it, or if it's even doable? 

About the SwedenBR terrain, it's my high quality remake of an original Sweden terrain made by gillg. The original terrain was included in The Scandinavian Front 2 (TSF2) mod package created by JonathanRL. I suggest you to download it. However, its campaigns are compatible with the old terrain, not the one I made. JonathanRL is working on a final version using my remake. I have never found a WWII campaign for the terrain I released. Are you sure it's not using the original Sweden terrain?

The AlaskaBS terrain is a more accurate remake of the DBS terrain by MajorLee. There should be some very old campaigns made for the DBS terrain at the time of the old Strike Fighters Project One game. But they are so old that it's better to create new campaigns from scratch. I'm not a campaign guru (not yet) and I have no idea if someone is interested in creating campaigns for my recently released terrain packages.

For you, I highly suggest this mod package: https://combatace.com/files/file/15270-strike-fighters-2-north-cape/

Carefully read the ReadMe file. eburger68 did a great number of mod packages including campaigns. The one linked above uses a huge terrain made by Baltika, which is of your interest. That terrain is unfortunately incomplete, it could use a lot of things, such as a better tileset, more airbases and so on. But IMHO it's much worth that you give it a try. For what you're seeking, I suggest that North Cape terrain more than the SwedenBR terrain I released. It's a nice companion to the AlaskaBS terrain.

 

 

 

[Arrow 83]

5 hours ago, Menrva said:

For you, I highly suggest this mod package: https://combatace.com/files/file/15270-strike-fighters-2-north-cape/

Carefully read the ReadMe file. eburger68 did a great number of mod packages including campaigns. The one linked above uses a huge terrain made by Baltika, which is of your interest. That terrain is unfortunately incomplete, it could use a lot of things, such as a better tileset, more airbases and so on. But IMHO it's much worth that you give it a try. For what you're seeking, I suggest that North Cape terrain more than the SwedenBR terrain I released. It's a nice companion to the AlaskaBS terrain.

I did come across the Northern Cape campaign earlier, but it mentions a requirement of SF2 and SF2 Vietnam and I only have SF2 Euro and SF2 NA. The theater it contains is very much of interest to me. I have been discovering that with browsing some of the mod readme's, they don't always require what they state or can be partially installed to fit what you have installed. So on that note, I will download and read through the Northern Cape campaign.

BTW I'm really enjoyed the Alaska Bering Strait terrain, although I haven't sited a polar bear or Walrus yet?    Just a bunch of Russian bears in the cockpits of Migs.  

[Arrow 83]

19 hours ago, daddyairplanes said:

final note: you will need to search the site for A-6A and B cockpits. there really isnt an E model pit i'm aware of . but the Intruder is not player flyable from stock

I had the A-6 Superpak pre-downloaded and have now installed it. I also found and downloaded guderian1's A-6E cockpit, but Sadly the archive doesn't contain an A-6E_cockpit.INI file. I'm far too much of a novice to cobble one together (especially with the large amount of graphics files in the \Cockpit folder), so I'll have to keep searching.

I'm wondering about the possibility of using the A-6 cockpit from my WoV install - I still have the drive with the files and IIRC I installed a mod that added the DIANE?

[Wrench 9,848]

suffice it to say, the Intruders cockpit ini can be found with a little search grease. If you have ANY of the original SF/Wo* you can find it in WoV* and (believe it or not!!) WoE

 

*obvioiusly! that's where the A-6A come from!

[Arrow 83]

I think I must be missing something. I dug out my old gaming rig drive and copied the A-6A folder from the WoV \Aircraft folder. The problem is, there's less of a cockpit in the WoV installation than what's contained in the A-6A Superpak and guderian1's A-6E cockpit archives I downloaded and installed. Yet the A-6E doesn't show up in my SF2 NA install as an available aircraft for single missions or campaigns? I assumed that it was just the absence of an A-6E_cockpit.INI, but there's no such file in a plain vanilla WoV installation. Or is it that the cockpit.ini files are something new with SF2 and without one the A-6E won't be enumerated an available aircraft? Or is there yet some other INI that needs an A-6E entry? Very confusing for a n00b like me.  

Edited September 3, 2018 by Arrow

[Wrench 9,848]

that's because everything is stored in the Object cat (in WoV) you'll have to extract the ENTIRE cat, and copy/paste all the pieces that are labeled "A-6******" to a seperate folder and hope you got them all. then, Copy/paste that folder into you /A-6A's main folder, rename to "cockpit" and start the game.

I know for a fact that there is a full list of all the necessary parts (lod, bmp, tga, inis -both cockpi & avionics). We had/have to do the same thing for the F-104s to make them flyable

As to your A-6E issue, did you make it flyable? Did you forget to make a backup copy of the main ini? When the game starts, it erases ALL info in AI aircraft made flyable, removing them for Player Usage. Your best option is to make the A-6E.ini "read only". However, you won't be able to add any new skins with it that

This is all covered in the Knowledge Base in the thread "Making AI Planes Flyable".

 

[Arrow 83]

Ahah - knew I had forgotten something. I do have the WO Cat Extractor so I can do that. Thanks for the info and pointing me to the AI plane article - will read it when I get a chance.

[Wrench 9,848]

that's why we started the KB 12-14 years ago