Dumb Question #8221 - No A-1 Skyraiders in my Vietnam...?

[beachav8r 360]

Forgive me, I'm rusty. I wanted to check out the A-1 Skyraider in my newfound VR obsession and I can't seem to find a way to either single mission or campaign mission the Skyraider. I'm using (and have been for years) the awesome SF2V Air & Ground War Expansion, and I see the A-1 in my aircraft directories, but I can't see where any of the campaigns that I have mention the A-1. Is there a quick fix to add it in? A few years back, I think I could have figured this one out, but I'm a bit rusty now on the relationship between the A-1H.ini, CAMPAIGN.INI, and USERLIST (which I can't even find..!).... Throw me a life ring..haha..

 

[KJakker 901]

Check your Version.ini file. When I did a reinstall once it caused StrikeFighters2 Vietnam to be set to FALSE instead of TRUE which made the A-1 disappear from the game. 

[beachav8r 360]

This look about right?

 

BuildDate=Jul 2013
StrikeFighters2=TRUE
StrikeFighters2 Vietnam=TRUE
StrikeFighters2 Europe=TRUE
StrikeFighters2 Israel=TRUE
StrikeFighters2 Exp1=FALSE
StrikeFighters2 Exp2=TRUE
StrikeFighters2 NorthAtlantic=FALSE
StrikeFighters2 Exp3=FALSE

 

[+russouk2004 6,958]

looks ok...this from complete pack

[Version]
BuildDate=Jul 2013
StrikeFighters2=TRUE
StrikeFighters2 Vietnam=TRUE
StrikeFighters2 Europe=TRUE
StrikeFighters2 Israel=TRUE
StrikeFighters2 Exp1=TRUE
StrikeFighters2 Exp2=TRUE
StrikeFighters2 NorthAtlantic=TRUE
StrikeFighters2 Exp3=FALSE

[OnlineNews]
LastUpdateVersion=Jul 2013
LastDLCCount=29

[DLC]
DLCData001=TRUE
DLCData002=TRUE
DLCData003=TRUE
DLCData004=TRUE
DLCData005=TRUE
DLCData006=TRUE
DLCData007=TRUE
DLCData008=TRUE
DLCData009=TRUE
DLCData010=TRUE
DLCData011=TRUE
DLCData012=TRUE
DLCData013=TRUE
DLCData014=TRUE
DLCData015=TRUE
DLCData016=TRUE
DLCData017=TRUE
DLCData018=TRUE
DLCData019=TRUE
DLCData020=TRUE
DLCData021=TRUE
DLCData022=TRUE
DLCData023=TRUE
DLCData024=TRUE
DLCData025=TRUE
DLCData026=TRUE
DLCData027=TRUE
DLCData028=TRUE
DLCData029=TRUE

 

[Wrench 9,848]

did it (the game engine) rewrite them back to AI only??

was the SPAD written into the campaign to start with??

[+Erik 1,812]

The #8221 question was answered in August of 2004. Please pick a new number.

[+Menrva 4,200]

21 hours ago, Wrench said:

did it (the game engine) rewrite them back to AI only??

was the SPAD written into the campaign to start with??

What the man said. Once AI aircraft have been modified to be flyable, it's good to change their file properties to Read Only, and the game no longer overwrites their .ini files.

As for the SF2V Air & Ground War Expansion, IIRC the Skyraider should be available in the other campaign set during the mid-late 60s, Operation Steel Tiger, not Rolling Thunder.

Edited January 24, 2020 by Menrva

[beachav8r 360]

On 1/23/2020 at 5:20 PM, Wrench said:

did it (the game engine) rewrite them back to AI only??

was the SPAD written into the campaign to start with??

I see the A-1s in the various campaign and campaign data INIs, but I don't know how to tell if they are AI only...

 

[beachav8r 360]

On 1/24/2020 at 2:32 PM, Menrva said:

What the man said. Once AI aircraft have been modified to be flyable, it's good to change their file properties to Read Only, and the game no longer overwrites their .ini files.

OK..yeah, referencing Wrench's How to Make AI Planes Flyable guide, I can see that my A-1s do not have the properties that would make them flyable for some reason...

 

Edited January 26, 2020 by beachav8r

[beachav8r 360]

OK..thanks for the tips guys. Got my A-1s back by grabbing the file out of SF2V_AG-XP_v2_Part3 Objects/Aircraft folder and those files still have the flyable status in there. Thanks!!

 

[beachav8r 360]

[Wrench 9,848]

You're welcome.

If every in doubt about "is this plane player flyable or AI only", check the aircraft selection drop down on the single mission menu. Saves shitloads of time

 

[beachav8r 360]

1 hour ago, Wrench said:

If every in doubt about "is this plane player flyable or AI only", check the aircraft selection drop down on the single mission menu. Saves shitloads of time

Right on. I got my A-1 working..now if I could just get SF2 Vietnam to launch and play nice with vorpX I'd be a happy camper. Most of the other SF2 modded executables are working fine with it, but of course, the one I really want to work isn't...

 

[beachav8r 360]

So I bit the bullet and did a total reinstall of SF2 Air & Ground War Expansion Pack + updates + Green Hell 3.5 + Green Hell Enhancements..

Wow..what a package! Green Hell 3.5 looks fantastic (Stary is THE MAN!) - more subdued colors and just awesome. With the newly updated package, the SF2 Vietnam executable is working with vorpX and it is awesome!

 

 

I'll get some through the lens pictures tomorrow..but I did record a bit of my 2D monitor while flying in VR...

 

 

 

Edited January 26, 2020 by beachav8r

[+yakarov79 11,089]

You might want to add Menrva's new realSKY environment mod now.

[+Crusader 2,101]

And perhaps the cockpit by Dels

Cockpit folder and cockpit ini

[+Menrva 4,200]

@beachav8r I see from the screenshots that your installation of Green Hell 3.5 is somewhat messed up. The terrain still uses Green Hell 2 TODs (trees and buildings) and some GH2 tiles still appear together with the new GH3 tiles. It's suggested that you use the original Green Hell 2 tileset (the one that comes with SF2V Air & Ground War Expansion) because target areas have been built by taking into account the placement of trees and buildings of the Green Hell 2 tileset. The SF2V Air & Ground War Expansion should also provide original GH2 tiles with more subdued colours. Those tiles were created by using satellite images, so it's more lifelike IMHO. Also, there should be a proper Skyraider cockpit already included in the SF2V Air & Ground War Expansion package (it's the one made by Dels and linked by Crusader in the post above).

Edited January 26, 2020 by Menrva

[beachav8r 360]

1 hour ago, Menrva said:

 I see from the screenshots that your installation of Green Hell 3.5 is somewhat messed up.

Hmm..OK, I thought I had gotten that right. So I guess I need to fix that.

Would the best order of operations for that be: ?

Overwrite the terrain folders with GH2 from the SF2V Air & Ground War Expansion

Overwrite again with the SF2V Air & Ground War Expansion Pack 2.0 Terrain Update

2 hours ago, Menrva said:

Also, there should be a proper Skyraider cockpit already included in the SF2V Air & Ground War Expansion package (it's the one made by Dels and linked by Crusader in the post above).

I tried the optional Skyraider cockpit by Stary that uses the F-8 cockpit and sort of liked it, but I'll take a look at the Dels one too!

 

[beachav8r 360]

So I tried overwriting with the original SF2V Air & Ground War Expansion tiles..which are based on the Green Hell 2 tiles (?)..and, to be honest, I don't think it looks as good as GH 3.5..or is this not what it is supposed to look like? The colors are more vibrant, which I thought the 3.5 ones looked a bit more gritty and appropriately depressing (LOL)....but maybe I have my install screwed up?

 

Edited January 26, 2020 by beachav8r

[beachav8r 360]

OK..sorry for the stream of consciousness posting. This is from the Green Hell 3.5 Enhancement READ ME.txt and I think it implies while GH 3.5 + Enhancement pack might not be perfect with SF2V Air & Ground War Expansion, it is largely OK:

As noted above, the SF2V Expansion Pack ships with an enhanced version of Green Hell 2.0 tile set. The numerous custom target areas in the Expansion Pack were hand-placed with an eye towards exploiting the particular visual features of the GH 2.0 tile set in order to make buildings, vehicles look as though they "belonged" in the places you find them.

As the GH 3.5 tile set is a complete departure from (not a mere revision of) the GH 2.0 tile set, some of the ground target items might look a bit oddly placed in some target areas with GH 3.5. Thankfully, the GH 3.5 tile set is quite forgiving visually speaking (much more than the earlier GH 3.0) -- so much so that in most cases the worst you'll see is trees crowding buildings just a bit too much.

Edited January 26, 2020 by beachav8r

[+yakarov79 11,089]

yup You can occasionally run into some strange trees areas...etc.

but I run same config as you (Generally as  My exp Pack is highly modded and handpicked necessary objects for my use) and I do not give a damn....

As long as I am serious about the mission I am spending the whole duration in cockpit....so hell with what is down there..

[+Menrva 4,200]

9 hours ago, beachav8r said:

So I tried overwriting with the original SF2V Air & Ground War Expansion tiles..which are based on the Green Hell 2 tiles (?)..and, to be honest, I don't think it looks as good as GH 3.5..or is this not what it is supposed to look like? The colors are more vibrant

I agree with you that those tiles are too vibrant. The ones included in that expansion package are actually a repaint/mod of a tileset made by Brian32, which is way more subdued in its original form. The original tiles, which I prefer, should be available here:  https://combatace.com/files/file/5300-vietnamsea-tile-repaint-v10/

Green Hell 2 is actually a complementary TOD improvement (trees and city buildings) for that tileset by Brian32, made by Stary and available here: https://combatace.com/files/file/7095-green-hell-2/

Green Hell 3, instead, is Stary's creation completely, both tiles and TODs.

Edited January 27, 2020 by Menrva

[beachav8r 360]

Thanks for the detailed explanation. As often is the case..my SF2 install is a house of cards..