Timeframe for action of special nations in terrains

[+Gepard 11,181]

I need the wisdom of our great community.

My question: Is it possible to limit the timeframe in which a Force (air and ground) can operate in a terrain?

For instance my old Afghanistan terrain: Can i somehow limit the soviets to operate from 1979 till 1989 and the western forces from 2002 till today?

Or my Battle of Britain terrain: How can i limit french or american planes to the historical correct timeframes whithout to mod the planes?

Is it possible to mod the terrains_nations.ini file?

 

[+daddyairplanes 10,127]

a wiser head will probably prove me wrong but my understanding is this

it is most certainly possible to edit the TERRAIN_nations.ini. i have done it myself to add my airliners nation to some terrains (so they would show up, created a new nation so they would fly in trail formations)

the TERRAIN_nations with say who can fly within that given terrain. i do not recall year specific parameters within this ini though

the overall NATIONS entry for that nation will state how long that air force operated for (start and if needed end dates). has the year specifics but in terrains the yare active the whole length, unless you start making a lot of subset nations (American volunteers 1940-1942 or some such). monkeying with the nations.ini too much would probably bust a bunch of installs (even with the warning to use it in a standalone install) and irk people

i cannot think myself of a main way to limit in the fashion you want without a subset of aircraft. hopefully the other Kevin or someone else can prove me wrong

 

[+Gunrunner 314]

One way is to create a duplicate terrain-specific nation in the NATIONS.ini of the terrain (add a RoyalNavy_Desert or something), with an end date (AFAIR it works, but I haven't tested it lately so take this with a massive pinch of salt, if not, do it through the plane's userlist), but that means potentially a lot of editing on the weapons (as they now need to be exportable), planes (to add to the userlist) and skin fronts (as you can't use the DecalLevel 0 and 1 as intended anymore).

Another way to do it is to duplicate terrains for specific timeframes with different, that takes more disk space and is not very elegant but it requires no further messing around.

My way is much more invasive and requires creating a lot of nation duplicates at the global NATION.ini level (such as RoyalNavy_Corporate, RoyalNavy_DesertStorm and so on), and doing the necessary changes to all related weapons, planes, terrains to make sure the game only uses the limited sets in the appropriate timeframe. I certainly don't recommend it, it can be a great way to have control over an all inclusive install (my quest being to, at some point, be left with just one giant install only spawning relevant planes, at the relevant place and time) but it requires a stupid amount of work and breaks compatibility with the rest of the community.

[Wrench 9,801]

no, unfortunately it can't be done.

like GR said, you'd need to create era-specific versions for each time frame. The nations can stay the same, however. No need to create an, for example "RN_Desert". 

[+Gepard 11,181]

Thats a pity. Then the best solution would be a special installation for SF2 especially for Afghanistan terrain, as i have done it in the old WoX days.

Thanks for your answers.

[Wrench 9,801]

One of my major complaints, is inabality to have a "time specific" movement ini!! Wouldn't that be great??? Could have, say, WW2 western europe BEFORE June 6, on June 6 add the beach assaults, and afterwards the advance across Europe. Same could be said for the Pacific as well.

[+allenjb42 4,232]

I have two Afghanistan terrains in my install.
- A 1980s version with a Nations.ini limited to Soviet and Afghanistan vs Mujehadeen and Pakistan.

- A post-2001 version with a Nation.ini consisting of Taleban vs pretty much the rest of the world.

Because I fly most of my missions via the editor I can specify the aircraft involved, and try to ignore any random parked aircraft not appropriate to the terrain.

[+Gunrunner 314]

I use things such as RN_Desert  and others to control both timeframe and geographic fencing for planes. For instance in my all inclusive install that's how I make sure I don't get CF-5 showing up in Bering Strait (because BS is only open to Canada_NORAD and the CF-5 only belongs to Canada_Europe) or CF-101 showing up in Germany (because of course, Gemany only accepts Canada_Europe and the CF-101 is only used by Canada_NORAD). It also allows me to have theater specific squadrons/skins (making sure no Atlantic Fleet Tomcat squadron ends up in the Pacific and vice-versa unless it makes sense for the scenario). But yep that should never, ever be your first solution, insanity lies that way. Good thing I already was.