Why didn't the World War 2 era take off for SF2?

[+mue 715]

I'm curious what features FE has what SF doesn't have? Regarding flight models, I would think the (prop) FM in both games are (nearly) identical.
Maybe the AI or campaign system is different? What else?

[+Trotski 936]

not really, if you import an FE aircraft into SF , the FM is all over the shop. Your wingmen do strange stuff, if they even take off at all, its probably relatively simple to sort out, but as i am no rocket scientist when it comes to FM's I dont have a clue, theoretically though one would presume that it should work in either FE or SF , but that is beyond my paygrade. 

[+Gepard 11,293]

8 hours ago, mue said:

I'm curious what features FE has what SF doesn't have? ... What else?

The major plus point for FE is the terrain. It is made by 500 m x 500 m tiles instead 2000 x 2000 m tiles in SF world. What means, that a FE terrain can look much better than a SF terrain. The resolution is much better.

You can use SF terrains in FE, but not FE terrains in SF.

[+russouk2004 6,958]

3 hours ago, Gepard said:

The major plus point for FE is the terrain. It is made by 500 m x 500 m tiles instead 2000 x 2000 m tiles in SF world. What means, that a FE terrain can look much better than a SF terrain. The resolution is much better.

You can use SF terrains in FE, but not FE terrains in SF.

my point exactly...no doubt we have thanks to the guys here ,dont get me wrong ,we have some great terrains and effects and mods...but we havent anything that matches the atmosphere of the FE stuff...like so...if you look at some of the terrains screenshots...with fog etc they look far better...

[amariani 4,882]

On ‎10‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 6:25 PM, Wrench said:

Please, enlighten us to that "original" statement, if you would

As in TK/Thirdwire product, you know like SF2 North Atlantic.

[+VonS 1,424]

On 10/28/2019 at 7:00 PM, Gatling20 said:

I've got a dedicated install for the SF2 Korean War mod, and love it. The aircraft set is a bit limited, about 40, but a lot of fun in the jets.

I also have dedicated installs for WW2 ETO 1939-45 (170 different ETO aircraft), PTO 1941-45 (130 aircraft), WW2 Russian Front 1941-45 (95 aircraft), WW2 Finland 1939-44 (50 aircraft) and WW2 North Africa 1940-43 (120 aircraft), so I can't agree that SF2 WW2 never took off.  There are a lot of WW2 aircraft (and ground objects) around.

I don't fly DCS or Il-2, I found them too fiddly and difficult, but SF2 works a treat for me, for WW2 combat flying.

The mini-modular approach, yes - I've got a similar set up and it's a more workable way of "doing WW2" in SF2 instead of the all or nothing approach I usually take with WW1 in FE2. Small theaters, smaller groups of aircraft per theater, etc. for WW2 in SF2 - this way I can tweak/tune the FMs in packages and at least have something that looks like a WW2 install.

In terms of overall impressions...yes, SF2 works best for the jet age...but the FMs for prop aircraft in SF2 are just fine and can be hammered out well enough (although it is time consuming). Another peculiarity worth being aware of is that, unless entire data inis are revamped, don't assume that real hp/engine watt numbers will give the same "real" results in SF2 right off the bat - I've had to engine-up several of the FM tweaks in my Cold War prop and 1937-1941 packs, and then to put in place speed caps, max. Mach no. caps, etc. This gives, for example, more realistic climb rates and zoom climb lengths, together with tweaking of climb data for airfoils, etc. Another rule I learned...easier to re-tweak FE2 data inis for SF2 than to retrofit SF2 data inis into FE2 (your mileage may vary on this).

Can WW2 SF2 surpass IL-2 WW2 (both the 1946 sim and the newer IL-2 packages)?...probably not at this point - but if installed in small modules it's workable for the casual WW2 flyer and, honestly, I've never had more enjoyable WW2 dogfights than in SF2 - and that's saying much since I'm usually a WW1 guy .

Von S

[+russouk2004 6,958]

Just reinstalled FE and expansion pack,added the last patch...game runs black screen and music...last time it ran ok on my win 10 Pro 64...any ideas ?...TIA

 

Disregard...just redownloaded FE2 and now works...forgot I had FE2 lolz...   <NOOOOOB

 

oh btw unlimited effects works on dx10 in FE2  weird...but good ha

Edited October 30, 2019 by russouk2004

[+Gepard 11,293]

21 hours ago, russouk2004 said:

my point exactly...no doubt we have thanks to the guys here ,dont get me wrong ,we have some great terrains and effects and mods...but we havent anything that matches the atmosphere of the FE stuff...like so...if you look at some of the terrains screenshots...with fog etc they look far better...

The advantage is, that SF2 supports jpg files. So we can make tiles with a comparable resolution to FE. But the variability of the tiles is lower than in FE, of course. As an example a WIP tileset for South England in late summer. One tile has the size of 1024x1024 pixel which are comparable with 512x512 pixel tiles of FE terrains.

 

[+Gepard 11,293]

In the meantime it is possible to include satellite imagary in tiles.

[Stratos 3,191]

1 hour ago, Gepard said:

In the meantime it is possible to include satellite imagary in tiles.

Populate that city would require a TOD editor.

[+Gepard 11,293]

59 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Populate that city would require a TOD editor.

So it is. A TOD editor would be a nice and urgently needed tool.

[+Gepard 11,293]

New coastline tiles for BoB terrain rework (WIP). You see the differences between new and old tiles.

Maybe the "Seelöwe" is landing till X-mas.

[Wilches 1,172]

Super good! Fill the Channel with ship convoys for our delight. My Stukas are ready!

[+baffmeister 1,205]

21 hours ago, Wilches said:

Super good! Fill the Channel with ship convoys for our delight. My Stukas are ready!

That could work well. They could have a date range so they only show up in the Channel during the early Battle of Britain phase. A bit off topic, but the BoB2 sim has the Battle of Britain campaign modeled in 4 distinct phases, with one of them called "Convoys".

[Tony_Spike 19]

On 31/10/2019 at 6:23 PM, Stratos said:

Populate that city would require a TOD editor.

City? .............why that place is no bigger than the village i live in

actually i always wondered what a strike fighters terrain made out of entirely google earth imagery would look like .....although piecing each individual tile together in the same way the Iceland terrain uses its images would take a long ass time i should imagine

Edited March 3, 2020 by Tony_Spike

[+Gepard 11,293]

The problem are the sea or coast tiles.

While we can make land tiles in jpg, sea, coast and river tiles are neccessary to made in tga format.

A 1.024x 1.024 pixel tile in jpg has a size of approx 350 kb. A tga file of the same resolution has a size of 4.097 kb.

Thatswhy performance problems may appear in game, especially when "polymonster" planes are active. Then a massive dogfight can easily become a "slide show".

[JosefK 911]

Il2:1946 is much like SF2, but more meant for WWII stuff.  Just my two cents.