Mods for SF2 not having sufficient installation instructions

[1Patriot-of-many 14]

I've been downloading and installing mods for Strike Fighters 2 like a crazy man. I keep running across incomplete instructions for the install. The majority that I haven't gotten to work is because they don't tell you to edit the campaign part of the options.ini file. You have to search around for the # and name of the campaign which somehow in my infernal idiocy I have managed to do with most of them. Kinda frustrating to click on campaign in the main screen and have it freeze up. I'm getting the hang of it figuring out the structure but I bet most dumbasses just give up and say it doesn't work.

[+yakarov79 10,503]

Any particular or majority? Because saying the majority means nothing in solving a problem. Give specific details. What mod what campaign. 

9 hours ago, 1Patriot-of-many said:

I keep running across incomplete instructions for the install. The majority that I haven't gotten to work is because they don't tell you to edit the campaign part of the options.ini file.

Correct me if I understand it wrong - You are downloading mod - for example, aircraft  - and instruction need to tell you what campaign you need to edit to make it run?

But probably modder doesn't know what campaign you are having/running. 

[1Patriot-of-many 14]

I'm talking about complete campaign mods. Several I've run across don't give complete instructions on editing the options.INI file.  Particularly in the campaign part of the file. When you install them as directed, they'll simply lock up on the splash screen when you try to launch a campaign. Probably a bit off putting for someone who doesn't know their way around the options.INI file.  Several of the mods I've run across don't mention what the campaign number or name is resulting in what I've described. Here's one of the latest I downloaded and reinstalled 4 times before I figured out the campaign part of the mods Options.INI file needed to be changed. Only because I've downloaded some excellent mods with precise instructions on editing the new mods options.INI files was I able to figure out why they locked up.  Clear now?  For example if you look at the readme for this campaign mod, no mention of editing the campaign part of the mods Option.INI file, what number it is or the name of it.   For example this mod:  

This one I reinstalled 4 times before I figured out the campaign part of the mods Options.INI file needed to be changed, no instructions to do so and you have to figure out what the number and name needs to be changed to.. just saying, people probably give up trying to get some of the mods to work for lack of precise instructions on installing and editing. Most do, but there's been several I've run across that don't. I guess the modder just assumes everyone knows what editing needs to be done to the options.ini file.....

 

Edited March 3, 2019 by 1Patriot-of-many

[+daddyairplanes 8,636]

there are many different skill levels and personalities amongst the modders here. some add complete instructions barney style, some dont. most of us dumbasses either figure it out (asking for assistance in forum when necessary) or i guess go back to Ace Combat on PS. i know this dumbass got busy learning some years ago.

However, if you provide reciept of your purchased mod, we will happily provide a refund or discount on your next mod.

Oh wait, you didnt pay? Thats right, we do this for free, working topics we want to around our personal work and life schedules. many projects (esp. campaigns) are years in the making as less than a dozen people are directly active on it, some cases only one primary with small help from a couple of others. shit gets forgotten about at the end, but mods are still free. as a matter of fact it states in most readme's that the mod is freeware and not to be used in any payware projects.

what you paid to be a premium member is a donation to the site owner that supports the running of the site as a whole. the modders are freelancers that want to share their work with others in the community, not Erik's employees. but presentations by end users that act as if they are paying for the mods have been discouraging many modders into not releasing any new projects, and pissing others off.

if there is a specific issue with a specific mod, address the original author that released it (yes for each individual mod of those many). constructive criticism is actually always welcome. but general bitching and griping "on behalf of others" isnt necessary. we can look up our FB accounts to get that.

Clear now?

[NIELS 420]

Respect, appreciation, and much thanks is well deserved here. The massive amount of work and sacrifice the modder's deal with is not experienced by the end user's. I damn near got banned from a site because I requested a 'Drogue' for the KC-135 for a more realistic AR experience! The excitement and immersive experience we enjoy and thrive for i.e. (adrenaline rush) is what these magicians provide..........we must not take this for granted.

Thank you Modder's for the thousands of hours of simulated air combat from a multitude of eras and areas of conflict................BRAVO - MUCH appreciated!!!!

Sincerely,  NIELS

[+daddyairplanes 8,636]

Niels, ya gotta get in nice with a modder (modeler in particular) and ask nicely! helps if you can hook up with a different skill too though

joking aside, you know yakarov79 hooked a new drogue up for the KC-135 pack a few months ago? uses YAPs trick in the code and a new hose and drogue and is selectable as a "gunpod" in the loadouts. much better experience, as long as you dont look at the back end between takeoff and around 200 KIAS.

[+Richo 65]

What a great forumYou guys are great on the come backs and really is entertaining.   One thing is for sure... I want to say thanks for the great work you guys put in and all your hard work is really appreciated by me.  I love Combat Ace and the SF community.

[Wrench 9,426]

I'm just curious to know if these "non working" campaigns are designed for a stand-alone mods folder (like KAW or TSF or ODs or..or...or), and the end user is just dumping them into an "all is everything" mods folder. Which, 99.999999999999999999999% of the time simply don't work.

And yes, there are massively varying levels of details in read mes. Always been my personal peeve. Tell the end user what the fuck it's for, if it's designed merging with **** game, or is a seperate, stand alone mods folder is required.

AND the part about "having to edit the options ini" is flagging, to me at lease, said campaign mods REQUIRE seperate installs. Just thinking out loud. Of course

[1Patriot-of-many 14]

22 hours ago, daddyairplanes said:

there are many different skill levels and personalities amongst the modders here. some add complete instructions barney style, some dont. most of us dumbasses either figure it out (asking for assistance in forum when necessary) or i guess go back to Ace Combat on PS. i know this dumbass got busy learning some years ago.

However, if you provide reciept of your purchased mod, we will happily provide a refund or discount on your next mod.

Oh wait, you didnt pay? Thats right, we do this for free, working topics we want to around our personal work and life schedules. many projects (esp. campaigns) are years in the making as less than a dozen people are directly active on it, some cases only one primary with small help from a couple of others. shit gets forgotten about at the end, but mods are still free. as a matter of fact it states in most readme's that the mod is freeware and not to be used in any payware projects.

what you paid to be a premium member is a donation to the site owner that supports the running of the site as a whole. the modders are freelancers that want to share their work with others in the community, not Erik's employees. but presentations by end users that act as if they are paying for the mods have been discouraging many modders into not releasing any new projects, and pissing others off.

if there is a specific issue with a specific mod, address the original author that released it (yes for each individual mod of those many). constructive criticism is actually always welcome. but general bitching and griping "on behalf of others" isnt necessary. we can look up our FB accounts to get that.

Clear now?    

My point was clearly some people simply won't be able to figure out the editing which defeats the purpose of the modder making the mod doesn't it if clear and precise instructions aren't included? I understand the hours upon hours of work making these mods and I've clearly expressed my personal thanks numerous times. I believe it is constructive criticism to point out forgetting to mention some editing you'll have to do leaves some of the desired use of all those hours modding defunct when the end user simply gives up and says it doesn't work.  I'm sure some of these modders aren't even around anymore, on a couple mods I've posted questions with no reply. I've never owned a PS BTW. PC's since the Amstrad...... Clear now?

Edited March 3, 2019 by 1Patriot-of-many

[1Patriot-of-many 14]

16 hours ago, Wrench said:

I'm just curious to know if these "non working" campaigns are designed for a stand-alone mods folder (like KAW or TSF or ODs or..or...or), and the end user is just dumping them into an "all is everything" mods folder. Which, 99.999999999999999999999% of the time simply don't work.

And yes, there are massively varying levels of details in read mes. Always been my personal peeve. Tell the end user what the fuck it's for, if it's designed merging with **** game, or is a seperate, stand alone mods folder is required.

AND the part about "having to edit the options ini" is flagging, to me at lease, said campaign mods REQUIRE seperate installs. Just thinking out loud. Of course

 I always make a separate mod folder, last thing I need is to screw up one of the main parts........ Except of course mods that clearly are for updating existing ones or adding more campaigns to existing ones.

Edited March 3, 2019 by 1Patriot-of-many

[NIELS 420]

Thanks for the KC-135 'drogue' reff. Daddyairplanes. The tankers here at CA are great - just wish we had a way to transfer and receive fuel like the tweek they had years back. The webs site I was referring to is a different air combat sim/web site all together. Don't want to mention details for fear of being banned. The stuff you have done for the 'Heavies' and all other mods here are outstanding! For the 'Century Series' especially, you can't beat what CA has to offer.................Job well done Modder's & Combat Ace!

[+daddyairplanes 8,636]

@1Patriot-of-many: now that i have your attention, yes it is an issue that not everyone has the same standard of instructions. but until CA is based in China thats something that will continue. My issue was the tone (dumbasses, clear now?). it is one thing to go in a repair shop when your 2014 Honda Civic has radiator issues after a repair, and address it specifically to the manager (or particular modder or even admin in the case of mods). its a whole other thing to burst in the store yelling about how jacked all the mechanics are because your cars radiator is screwed up now, like creating a thread to complain about campaigns in general (italics are to highlight specific vs general). referring to other end users as dumbasses would be like the second scenario, but looking at the customers and calling them fools for getting their cars fixed there. the folks running the shop get irritated and some of the customers do too. if there is an issue, try to talk to the specific modder. if you cant reach them, contact an admin or post asking how to get a hold of the modder because of whatever problem.

@Niels: no worries. another member here hooked me up with the YAP hose and drogue, but it looked like a Pepsi can with fins. the code was useful tho to get to the end result. as to refueling, well TK broke it for Gen2 and others have had bigger priorities than to make it work again. have some ideas to bounce off the campaign guys to set up "refueling tracks" while tankers are doing recon missions. doesnt pass any gas, but adds a step to the mission along the way

[+JSF_Aggie 1,291]

In your posts above, and in your messages to me, you speak of edits required to the options.ini.

Please give examples of what you had to edit.

[NIELS 420]

Thanks for the info daddyairplanes. Sure would be nice if TK could bend a bit on the AR issue. Tanker tracks sounds great - anything to add to the immersion factor is a bonus!

Again - Job well done on the 'Heavies' - Much appreciated!

[1Patriot-of-many 14]

On 3/3/2019 at 5:20 PM, daddyairplanes said:

@1Patriot-of-many: now that i have your attention, yes it is an issue that not everyone has the same standard of instructions. but until CA is based in China thats something that will continue. My issue was the tone (dumbasses, clear now?). it is one thing to go in a repair shop when your 2014 Honda Civic has radiator issues after a repair, and address it specifically to the manager (or particular modder or even admin in the case of mods). its a whole other thing to burst in the store yelling about how jacked all the mechanics are because your cars radiator is screwed up now, like creating a thread to complain about campaigns in general (italics are to highlight specific vs general). referring to other end users as dumbasses would be like the second scenario, but looking at the customers and calling them fools for getting their cars fixed there. the folks running the shop get irritated and some of the customers do too. if there is an issue, try to talk to the specific modder. if you cant reach them, contact an admin or post asking how to get a hold of the modder because of whatever problem.

@Niels: no worries. another member here hooked me up with the YAP hose and drogue, but it looked like a Pepsi can with fins. the code was useful tho to get to the end result. as to refueling, well TK broke it for Gen2 and others have had bigger priorities than to make it work again. have some ideas to bounce off the campaign guys to set up "refueling tracks" while tankers are doing recon missions. doesnt pass any gas, but adds a step to the mission along the way

I include myself in the dumbasses comment, so I don't get where you can figure out my tone through the internet. Regardless, I was asking Yakarov if I made myself clear in the post now, How you took it is much like how I took your reply and still take your follow up reply..  Did you miss the part of my infernal idiocy?      "You have to search around for the # and name of the campaign which somehow in my infernal idiocy I have managed to do with most of them. Kinda frustrating to click on campaign in the main screen and have it freeze up. I'm getting the hang of it figuring out the structure but I bet most dumbasses just give up and say it doesn't work."

Edited March 7, 2019 by 1Patriot-of-many

[1Patriot-of-many 14]

On 3/4/2019 at 8:14 AM, JSF_Aggie said:

In your posts above, and in your messages to me, you speak of edits required to the options.ini.

Please give examples of what you had to edit.

I believe it was this part but don't quote me at this point, the campaign name  but I've had to edit a few without specific instructions as I noted, some mods don't have any instructions, some missing the campaign number and/or name in the readme, which is the whole point of the thread, if you look at replies on a lot of these mods, "not working" and they give up. I've given up on a few myself. I've gotten about 22 of the campaign mods working. Some I've had to figure out, most are good with readmes but there's more than a couple lacking, which defeats the modders purpose of having people use their mods if they don't understand the whole structure which myself i don't claim to, but slowly grasping my way around.

[Campaign]
CampaignName=Top Gun '70
PlayerService=USN
PlayerUnit=VF-11 Red Rippers
AircraftType=F-4B_67
Difficulty=EASY
Length=NORMAL
AircraftSupply=NORMAL
WeaponSupply=UNLIMITED
LoadCampaign=TRUE
CampaignSavename=HP's Campaign 2.SAV

[+JSF_Aggie 1,291]

I have installed the Topgun Campaign from scratch countless times, and have never had to make any edits to the Options.ini.

[+mue 707]

3 hours ago, 1Patriot-of-many said:

I believe it was this part but don't quote me at this point, the campaign name  but I've had to edit a few without specific instructions as I noted, some mods don't have any instructions, some missing the campaign number and/or name in the readme, which is the whole point of the thread, if you look at replies on a lot of these mods, "not working" and they give up. I've given up on a few myself. I've gotten about 22 of the campaign mods working. Some I've had to figure out, most are good with readmes but there's more than a couple lacking, which defeats the modders purpose of having people use their mods if they don't understand the whole structure which myself i don't claim to, but slowly grasping my way around.

[Campaign]
CampaignName=Top Gun '70
PlayerService=USN
PlayerUnit=VF-11 Red Rippers
AircraftType=F-4B_67
Difficulty=EASY
Length=NORMAL
AircraftSupply=NORMAL
WeaponSupply=UNLIMITED
LoadCampaign=TRUE
CampaignSavename=HP's Campaign 2.SAV

IMHO the entries under [Campaign] are just the saved settings from the campaign->create campaign menu in the game ui. So I doubt this entries have to be edited manually.

[+malibu43 142]

I agree with others. There is no reason to edit the section of options.ini that you are editing. That is why no one is including those instructions in the readme.

[1Patriot-of-many 14]

21 hours ago, JSF_Aggie said:

I have installed the Topgun Campaign from scratch countless times, and have never had to make any edits to the Options.ini.

Feel free to explain then why mine would lock up when trying to play campaign before I changed this? Maybe I used a different main mod as the base? I've had several mods where they wouldn't work until I changed the number and name here. Have you guys downloaded and tried every mod in the campaign download section? Shrugging shoulder, only way I could get yours to work. As i noted in my posts on your download I'm still having an issue with the storm but other than that working good now.

Edited March 8, 2019 by 1Patriot-of-many

[1Patriot-of-many 14]

11 hours ago, malibu43 said:

I agree with others. There is no reason to edit the section of options.ini that you are editing. That is why no one is including those instructions in the readme.

Actually many do which is where I learned doing it.   Have you actually installed any of the mods in the missions/Campaign section?

Indian Ocean for one example.  Falklands, Operation Darious,  ODS, Black Sea, ect. ect......

* STEP 3: EDIT OPTIONS.INI *
----------------------------

This last step involves a bit of text editing, so please pay attention.

Open the Options.INI file in your Mod Folder. Locate the "Single Mission" section. I recommend setting the StartYear= and EndYear= as follows:

StartYear=1948
EndYear=2020

Finally, a little further down you should find the "Campaign" section. Replace it with the following:

[Campaign]
CampaignName=1987-1021 Southern Calm
PlayerService=USN
PlayerUnit=VF-103 Sluggers
AircraftType=F-14A_82
Difficulty=HARD
Length=NORMAL
AircraftSupply=NORMAL
WeaponSupply=LIMITED
LoadCampaign=TRUE
CampaignSavename=DefaultCampaignSave

Save your changes and close the Options.INI file.

                                        * * * * *

THAT'S IT. Your "SF2 Indian Ocean" mod should now be ready to use. You may consider installing some of the "optional" items as described in the next section.

 

Edited March 8, 2019 by 1Patriot-of-many

[1Patriot-of-many 14]

19 hours ago, mue said:

IMHO the entries under [Campaign] are just the saved settings from the campaign->create campaign menu in the game ui. So I doubt this entries have to be edited manually.

See above

[1Patriot-of-many 14]

Okay all of a sudden ..........  

[+mue 707]

Ok, I installed and tested the "Operation Formosa Freedom" Campaign (the first example you mentioned above, that supposedly missed required options.ini edit instructions):
And ...surprise... I could start the campaign without problems (and without editing anything in the options.ini manually). So maybe there are no instructions to edit the options.ini because it's simply not required for this campaign.

Edited March 10, 2019 by mue

[1Patriot-of-many 14]

Well somethings different then on my computer, shrugging shoulders, I've had numerous that I've had to edit, they would always lock up at the splash screen when pressing campaign. I've got all the main games, all the expansion packs. Don't know, just know what I've had to do to make them work.  What does the campaign section in the options.INI show on yours?  This is what I have to make it work 

[Campaign]
CampaignName=590721 Operation Formosa Freedom
PlayerService=USAF
PlayerUnit=8th BS
AircraftType=B-57B
Difficulty=EASY
Length=NORMAL
AircraftSupply=NORMAL
WeaponSupply=UNLIMITED
LoadCampaign=FALSE
CampaignSavename=

Edited March 10, 2019 by 1Patriot-of-many