Desert Terrain problems - Enemy does not show up anymore... (SOLVED)

[+Eagle114th]

Hello everyone,

I want to know if anyone has encountered the similar problems before? I had no problems like this until I started deleting many of unused aircraft in this method:

In aircraft folder, let's say MiG-21bisB (This MiG-21 is for Syria, I only wanted to have soviet / china for red side) as an example (For US + Canada vs Russia theater only):

In MiG-21bisB folder, I deleted all file, except for MiG-21bisB .ini, then empty all codes inside that file.

What happened? For Desert based map (Dhimar and Paran) When I was flying one of USN aircraft, enemy does not show up anywhere anymore in the map.  For a odd reasons, no matter what aircraft I choose, enemy does not get generated when doing a single mission.  However, if I fly in another terrain that does not involve Dhimar / Paran, works perfectly fine.  Red side aircraft always appear.

I also edited terrain_nations, so it looks like this (Desert4 for example):

FriendlyNation001=Dhimar
FriendlyNation002=USN
FriendlyNation003=USAF
FriendlyNation004=USMC
FriendlyNation005=CANADA
FriendlyNation006=Canada

EnemyNation001=Paran
EnemyNation002=Soviet


UPDATE:
I Just realized that Paran may have tied to middle east aircraft.  So by disabling middle east aircraft causes them not to show up anymore.  So it mean, I will need to disable Dhimar / Paran nation from the terrain.  

In order to do that, I have to comment out both Dhimar and Paran from Terrain nation.ini right?

Edited June 14, 2021 by Eagle114th

[+Wrench]

Best Answer:

They heard you were in the neighborhood, and ran away.

 

Probable Real Answer:

you don't need Dhimar and Paran listed; it's automatic on the desert terrain. By deleting the unused aircraft (which are all exported, including western birds ExportedToEnemy=TRUE), you removed the possibility of their random generation for Bad Guy (tm) usage. You'll have to reinstate them if you want E/As to show up

[+Eagle114th]

6 hours ago, Wrench said:

Best Answer:

They heard you were in the neighborhood, and ran away.

 

Probable Real Answer:

you don't need Dhimar and Paran listed; it's automatic on the desert terrain. By deleting the unused aircraft (which are all exported, including western birds ExportedToEnemy=TRUE), you removed the possibility of their random generation for Bad Guy (tm) usage. You'll have to reinstate them if you want E/As to show up

Haha, good joke! Good one. :) 

By the way, I see... Even though I used terrain's nation file to ensure only Soviet and China being red side, I still need to include all aircraft's export for another unused nations for the sake of the health of the sim itself? 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Eagle114th

[+Wrench]

I believe so. At least, that's what the "visual" evidence over the last several hundred years seems to support <gr>

[+Eagle114th]

38 minutes ago, Wrench said:

I believe so. At least, that's what the "visual" evidence over the last several hundred years seems to support <gr>

This solved my problem with terrains.  Your advice helped me a lot!  From now on, I will have to keep every aircraft in SF2, even if I don't like it.  At least, for any unused aircraft, I disable the cockpit by commenting it out in aircraft.ini. So it is not a problem at all.

After restoring all aircraft, I am able to see all red side aircraft on the map.

I am relieved.  It means I have to do the same for another 4 of SF2 installation.

Here comes my meditative coding times.

[UllyB]

On 6/14/2021 at 4:13 AM, Eagle114th said:

This solved my problem with terrains.  Your advice helped me a lot!  From now on, I will have to keep every aircraft in SF2, even if I don't like it.  At least, for any unused aircraft, I disable the cockpit by commenting it out in aircraft.ini. So it is not a problem at all.

After restoring all aircraft, I am able to see all red side aircraft on the map.

I am relieved.  It means I have to do the same for another 4 of SF2 installation.

Here comes my meditative coding times.

If you don't want to have (such) surprises use this method I use:

 

Make for each plane folders, meaning that every plane you have has the EXPORT=FALSE line in its dataini file. This way what is deleted remains deleted and, as a bonus, you won't have the nasty surprise, as I did, to see a MIG-21 with arab numbers, paintjob and Finnish emblems all over it.

[+Eagle114th]

46 minutes ago, UllyB said:

If you don't want to have (such) surprises use this method I use:

 

Make for each plane folders, meaning that every plane you have has the EXPORT=FALSE line in its dataini file. This way what is deleted remains deleted and, as a bonus, you won't have the nasty surprise, as I did, to see a MIG-21 with arab numbers, paintjob and Finnish emblems all over it.

That is noted, thank you for the advice.

Oh boy, after modding SF2 intensively for several months, I have learned so much about the structure of SF2. It is truly mind blown how TK really design SFP2 in purely modular structure.  No other sim has done this.  This is a perfect sim that other sims / games could learn from.  

I have a lot more to learn.

[jeffyb]

Is there a way to hide unwanted aircraft in the selection box??

Jeff

[+daddyairplanes]

sure.

delete the aircraft folder from the "Aircraft" folder, what ever file path your mod folders take

now, if you want these aircraft in other terrains, but not this one you either need a seperate install for the other terrains, or just deal with and gloss over it in the selection box

[jeffyb]

Cheers for the reply. I only want Mirages and Kfirs, plus Arab aircraft in my Israel file plus only the aircraft I want to add.

Jeff

Edited August 14, 2021 by jeffyb

[+Wrench]

<cough> LimitedNations = TRUE on the IsrealME map.

Only nations in the IME_nations ini will show up during campaign play. And mostly, in single missions as well (ie: no USMC A-7s, for example). This is what the limited nations statement in the terrain, AND aircraft user lists are for.

[jeffyb]

Where do I found that line?? 

[+Gepard]

In the data.ini file of the terrain.

Here the example of IsraelME_data.ini

 

[Terrain]
TerrainFullName=Israel, Middle East
DataFile=IsraelME_data.ini
TargetFile=IsraelME_targets.ini
TargetTypeFile=IsraelME_types.ini
MovementFile=IsraelME_movement.ini
NationsFile=IsraelME_nations.ini
LocationMap=IsraelME_Location.bmp
WaterMap=IsraelME_Water.bmp
BriefingText=IsraelME_briefing.ini
DogfightFile=IsraelME_dogfight.ini
DogfightOnly=FALSE
Longitude=34.80
Latitude=32.08
MagneticVariation=-5
LimitedNations=TRUE                                 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<This line
GroundObjectTexture=tan

[jeffyb]

Thanks for that 👍🏻.

Jeff