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CombatAce modders, Forgive me, it couldn't be helped.
By
Eagle114th, in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
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By Eagle114th
Hello everyone,
It has been a hectic week for me. I am still working on new SF2 menu project slowly. At the same time, since I got a new external SSD as an alternative storage for my external HDD. 1 TB external is affordable now. To my surprise, it is small and doesn't even require me to plug into power outlet, unlike an external HDD. I could just hook it into my gaming laptop's USB 3.1 T Type-C. Oh boy, it made a huge difference. I am able to load SF2 much faster now.
I just wiped my old SF2 multi-installation, in order, to have a fresh start with SF2. I spent weeks installing many mods for SF2, in order, to make up for my lost SF2 files.
I decided to work on aircraft sorting list for my preference ways of sorting the list by nation first, then aircraft. I started with default SF2. (Note: I bought SF2 complete Edition since it is on sale. It is a perfect time to get it before the time runs out.)
Here is what default list looks like:
Now with a new sorting list (by nation), it looks like this:
NOTE: When you see [Export], it means it have a multi nations skins included.
I am very pleased with this. With the new sorting list, I am able to quickly tell which nation specific aircraft belong to. It has been an educational day for me about the nations and aircraft versions. If anyone wants this, I could post it in combatace download section. I modified All the aircraft .ini in a clean SF2 (Without mods). That way anyone can build the mods on it. I am still brainstorming about what to do with [Export] tag. Should I replace it with '*" or any certain symbols to the end of the aircraft name? Feedback are appreciated, as always.
Plus, I also can add updated HUDDATA.ini with both RWR and RADAR being included on upper right corner. I modified it this way, so I can easily scan my eyes between both RWR and Radar while padlocking around. (Note: Either RWR / Radar will only show up if aircraft have either. For example, if you fly aircraft that doesn't have either RWR or Radar, it won't show up on the screen.
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By Eagle114th
Hello everyone,
It has been a long time since I have flown SF2 series sim. I am now back after seeing the news about SF2 being updated for Windows 10. I also missed flying SF2, I have been going through a very busy life. Now that I am balancing the times between hobbies, work, and living. I am wiping whole SF2 series installations and start over from scratch. I am truly overwhelmed by steer many amounts of mods available for SF2, especially with the fact that the modders are still enjoying modding and flying SF2. It is truly awesome to see that here! It has been decided that
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Here are the questions.
(QUESTIONS #1)
I want to know how people manage the aircraft list for a multi nation in a multi-SF2 installations?
I'll use F-15s as an example, it has F-15s for USAF, USN, HAF, IDF, and another countries. Since there are no features I am aware of in SF2 that would filter the aircraft list based on the nations yet. So if I install over 100+ flyable planes in SF2, i would have to scroll through a long list trying to find out which countries have the specific aircraft.
I am thinking about doing this way:
1) Rename each aircraft in .ini to start with each nation's military branch abbreviation.
Let's use F-15 as an example.
[Regular SF2 aircraft list]
F-15A Eagle
F-15B Eagle
F-15C Eagle
F-15D Eagle
F-15E Strike Eagle
F-15I Ra'am (Thunder)
F-15K Eagle
etc...
I am considering re-naming all F-15's ini file, in order, for all F-15s to appear as this way:
JASDF F-15DJ Eagle
JASDF F-15J Eagle
IDF F-15I Ra'am (Thunder)
RSAF F-15S Eagle
ROKAF F-15K Eagle
USAF F-15A Eagle
USAF F-15B Eagle
USAF F-15C Eagle
USAF F-15E Strike Eagle
etc...
That way I can easily scroll through the list sorted by nations, then aircraft. What is your opinion about this?
Questions #2:
I have noticed that with the add-on aircraft, there are many multi-nations skins for the specific aircraft. For example, MiG-21F; I saw the skins for multi countries for one aircraft. I am planning on making the copies of MiG-21F (And edit their nation and ordinance in aircraft's data.ini) and rename the folder as:
MiG-21F_RU
MiG-21F_India
MiG-21F_Syria
etc...
Then divide the skins into unique MiG-21Fs, that way I can easily load a specific nation's MiG-21F with their own default skins, along with their additional skins.
However, I still am wondering how SF2 handle multi-national aircraft. Would my method be obsolete if there is a better way? How do people handle multi-national skins for any aircraft? If There is a way to filter the list of specific national aircraft without having to make copies of specific aircraft, please share here.
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I am planning on making a multi-SF2 installations this way:
SF2 (Default - For backup / reference purposes)
SF2 Asia (This cover Korea War and Vietnam War, along other campaigns and aircraft that flies in Asia)
SF2 Middle East (This covers campaigns and aircraft that flies in Middle East)
SF2 NATO (This covers campaigns and aircraft that flies in Europe)
SF2 WARSAW (This covers Russia / Soviet and other WARSAW nations)
Note: In this, I aim to make Russia / Soviet and other WARSAW flyable only while disabling cockpits for NATO + Western aircraft. so I can easily go through list of aircraft for Russia and other nearby nations.)
SF2 North America (This covers a huge numbers of aircraft from North America.)
SF2 South America (This covers all campaigns and aircraft from South America.)
I will do it slowly through the year. My first step is to install the campaigns and carefully merge them (if they cover the same places), terrains, and other mods that expands the SF2. After doing all of that, I will slowly add aircraft for each nation. As stated, before doing it, I want the opinions here.
Cheers!
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