What I'd like to see ...

[Wrench 9,461]

is 'parked planes and helicopters that are terrain objects. not just those generated by the game during missions, but for us terraformers to add say, parked inside a hangar, or on the ramp area. both civilian (general aviation), comerical and military. For both Red and Blue air.

we have a few scavanged from various sources and so forth, and some very old ones (1stGen) that are utterly awful (missing and open meshes, unmapped meshes, etc).

So, I just thought after all these years, I'd just toss that out for our 3dGurus.

thanks!

[+Trotski 832]

I would tend to agree with this sentiment, and even though it would be merely static scenery, it would add some life to pretty bland airfields, of course I dont have the first clue about terrain modding, I would assume it should be relatively easy ( ish) to do this, though I would assume rather time consuming as each object would need to be hand placed on each airfield etc. 

[+EricJ 3,937]

And don't forget period maps too. I think it's easier to just go with the rando spawning because you use maps in different time periods, and as trotski00 says, it's a bit of work to get it right.

[Wrench 9,461]

don't forget, you can turn terrain objects on and off with the activeyear= and inactiveyear= in the targets ini, and also in the types ini. Actually, quite easy (well, ok me, as i've been doing it since dinosaurs roamed the earth -- and no Raquel Welch!)

examples below:

Quote

[TargetType293]
Name=UH60
FullName=Parked UH-60 Blackhawk
ModelName=HH60_GO.LOD
TargetType=MISC
ActiveYear=1979
TargetValue=75
UseGroundObject=FALSE
//GroundObjectType=
DamagePoint=0.04
ArmorValue=0.0
ArmorType=0
RepairRate=0
StartDetectChance=0
StartIdentifiedChance=0
IncreaseDetectChanceKey=0
MaxVisibleDist=10000.0
DestroyedEffect=SmallRocketGroundExplosionEffect
DestroyedModel=Mi8T-Dest.LOD
SecondaryEffect=VehicleFireEffect
SecondaryChance=100

[TargetType294]
Name=CH47Y
FullName=Parked CH-47 Chinook
ModelName=CH47_GO.lod
TargetType=Misc
ActiveYear=1962
TargetValue=50
UseGroundObject=FALSE
RepairRate=0.150
StartDetectChance=50
StartIdentifiedChance=0
IncreaseDetectChanceKey=0
MaxVisibleDist=12000.0
DamagedModel=
DestroyedEffect=LargeRocketGroundExplosion
DestroyedModel=CH-47EA-Dam.lod
SecondaryEffect=VehicleFireEffect
SecondaryChance=100

[TargetType295]
Name=Mig17FS
FullName=Parked MiG-17 Fresco
ModelName=MiG-17FS.lod
TargetType=Misc
ActiveYear=1952
TargetValue=50
UseGroundObject=FALSE
RepairRate=0.150
StartDetectChance=50
StartIdentifiedChance=0
IncreaseDetectChanceKey=0
MaxVisibleDist=12000.0
DamagedModel=
DestroyedEffect=SmallocketGroundExplosion
DestroyedModel=MIG-17_Destroyed.lod
SecondaryEffect=VehicleFireEffect
SecondaryChance=100

or this example from the _targets.ini

Target[078].Type=AAA
Target[078].Offset=541.14,537.89
Target[078].Heading=45
Target[078].ActiveYear=0

You can do that for whole target areas, too

[TargetArea139]
Name=NVK NARVIK FRAMNES
Position=496138.00,1434012.00
Alignment=FRIENDLY
Location=1
AirfieldDataFile=airfield_Büchel.ini
ActiveYear=1970
InactiveYear=2017
Radius=5000
NumSquadrons=1

 

so, yeah, it's not too hard!!!

[+EricJ 3,937]

Ahh okay.  It would  make for some interesting missions in a way, where you'd have to blow up that plane or whatnot.

[+Gepard 10,264]

It would be a lot of work to create such targetareas. The ActiveDate value setting you will make all by hand.

Then you need completly new static planes. With stock planes in use you would find them "laying on the belly".

[Wrench 9,461]

Indeed, that's true. You can't use the stock lods for statics. The landing gear doesn't show, and they look like derilects.

 

[+Jimbib 684]

100% agree with you Wrench, I'm a big fan of having the option to permanently place specific static aircraft models especially at airfield locations where only that type of aircraft is ever found (e.g. I don't want the game engine to spawn random types of aircraft on the Janet ramp at my Groom Lake base, I only want to see Janet 737s that I've placed there) in addition to using the game engine's airfield parking feature.

I've rattled through the downloads and some mods I have installed to draft the following list of what is available at the moment. Note that I've listed what I could find in the modders repository as these could easily be converted into static terrain objects with the authors permission of course:

Aircraft in the Downloads				Aircraft in the modders repository
Type	Aircraft	Author		Type	Aircraft	Author
Airliner	Sukhoi S100	RussoUK		Bomber	B-70	FastCargo
Fighter	A-10	Banidos team		Bomber	Beaufighter Mk.1	cocas
Fighter	AV-8 Harrier II	Banidos team		Bomber	Tu-2S	KnightWolf45
Fighter	F-16	Banidos team		Fighter	A-10	Sparkchaser
Fighter	F-4E			Fighter	CF105	FastCargo
Fighter	F-5E	TMF		Fighter	F-103	FastCargo
Fighter	Hurricane	RAVEN		Fighter	F-108	FastCargo
Fighter	IAI-Finger	Banidos team		Fighter	F-18 Super Hornet	EricJ/James Glendonnews
Fighter	MiG-17	Wrench?		Fighter	F-5B / T-38	FastCargo
Fighter	MiG-21F-13	TMF		Fighter	F-5F	FastCargo
Fighter	Spitfire			Fighter	F-86H	Zurawski
Fighter	Su-9			Fighter	Gloster Gladiator	KnightWolf45
Helicopter	Chinook	Banidos team		Fighter	MiG-21UM	Florian
Helicopter	Huey			Fighter	MiG-9	Stary
Helicopter	Mi-8			Fighter	Mirage 5	KnightWolf45
Helicopter	S-76			Fighter	Mirage 50	KnightWolf45
Helicopter	SA-300 Puma	Banidos team		Fighter	P-47C	cocas
Helicopter	SH-3			Fighter	Spitfire II	Snapper21
Helicopter	UH-60	Wrench?		Fighter	Spitfire IIC	cocas
Helicopter	Wessex			Fighter	Spitfire V	Snapper21
Transport	C-130	Banidos team		Fighter	Spitfire V LF	Snapper21
Airliner	737-200 (not released yet)	Soulfreak		Helicopter	Mi-2	KnightWolf45
				Light	L-4 Grasshopper	RAVEN
				Light	TigerMoth	RussoUK
				Trainer	T-45 Goshawk	RussoUK
					Fennec	KnightWolf45

Wrench, if you or anyone else happens to have source files of existing 'regular' aircraft in the downloads (or any other sources that are mapped and textured for that matter) that you'd like to see a static version of, I'm happy to volunteer to do the conversions (lower landing gear, reduce poly count a bit to help with frame rate etc) as it's something that could benefit all the terrain builders here by having more choice available. I've got a load of 3d models I've downloaded from the internet over the years that I'll check through, but often figuring out if they're actually ripped models or not is a nightmare and hence a no go.

I noticed that in the SF1 downloads there is a sub section for Static Aircraft under Objects, however I couldn't find a similar sub category in the SF2 downloads, is it worth having a new one made there for these to be gathered in one place?

 

[Wrench 9,461]

For those of you that have "The Forest Bowl" terrain, use the free camera when at an airfield, and look around, especially in the open hangars. I think they add a LOT of eye candy and depth to the scene. Even if they just sit there and get blowed up!

Don't forget the WW2 statics, culled from the various WW2 terrains (many of which originated from "that dude")

P-40E, P-38F/H/J, P-51D P47D -razorback and bubble top, Blenheim, Beaufighter, Me-262, Bf-109 E/F/G (iirc), FW-190, Hurricane 1, Spitfire 1/5/9 Lancaster, B-17F/G, Beaufort, Bf-110C, Ju-87, Ju-88, Re-2000, Re-2001, A5M, Ki-27, Ki-45, Ki-48

to that list we can add a few items that have come out of their payware origins, and are now (somewhat) freely available

PBY (land and water) C-47 & DC-3, F4F, G3M, G4M, Hawk75N, Ki-27, Ki-21, Ki-30, Ki-48, P-36

B1B, 707, A-10C, AH-1J, C-17, C-130E/J, F1EQ, F-4E (IRIAF), F-5EM, F-14, F-16C, F-22, HH-60, KC-10, KC-135/R, MiG-29 (IRIAF)

A-1 (various), A-4E, A-6A, A-26C/K, AH-1G, B-57B, C-7, C-119, F-4B/C/D/E, F-100D/F, F-105D/F, KA3B, MiG-17FS, MiG-21PFS, O2A, PC-6, RF-4C, RF-101, T-28D, TH-55 (Hughes 300), UH-1B/C/D

Russo also gave me a Cessna T-50 Bobcat on floats too! Along with 2 version of the HRS/H-19, standard and navy style with folded rotors (see Bowl)

I have the really old SF1 statics "he" built 1000 years ago (33 units) Some aren't soooo bad, others are just unbelievably horrid (missing parts, open meshes, etc)

---

I don't (actually) think we need a new category for static aircraft, even if we can assemble the majority, maybe under "object mods" or "building", as they ARE treated like terrain object buildings.

I truely appriciate the offer Jim, and will no doubt take you up on that!!!

 

[+EricJ 3,937]

13 hours ago, Jimbib said:

100% agree with you Wrench, I'm a big fan of having the option to permanently place specific static aircraft models especially at airfield locations where only that type of aircraft is ever found (e.g. I don't want the game engine to spawn random types of aircraft on the Janet ramp at my Groom Lake base, I only want to see Janet 737s that I've placed there) in addition to using the game engine's airfield parking feature.

I've rattled through the downloads and some mods I have installed to draft the following list of what is available at the moment. Note that I've listed what I could find in the modders repository as these could easily be converted into static terrain objects with the authors permission of course:

Aircraft in the Downloads				Aircraft in the modders repository
Type	Aircraft	Author		Type	Aircraft	Author
Airliner	Sukhoi S100	RussoUK		Bomber	B-70	FastCargo
Fighter	A-10	Banidos team		Bomber	Beaufighter Mk.1	cocas
Fighter	AV-8 Harrier II	Banidos team		Bomber	Tu-2S	KnightWolf45
Fighter	F-16	Banidos team		Fighter	A-10	Sparkchaser
Fighter	F-4E			Fighter	CF105	FastCargo
Fighter	F-5E	TMF		Fighter	F-103	FastCargo
Fighter	Hurricane	RAVEN		Fighter	F-108	FastCargo
Fighter	IAI-Finger	Banidos team		Fighter	F-18 Super Hornet	EricJ/James Glendonnews
Fighter	MiG-17	Wrench?		Fighter	F-5B / T-38	FastCargo
Fighter	MiG-21F-13	TMF		Fighter	F-5F	FastCargo
Fighter	Spitfire			Fighter	F-86H	Zurawski
Fighter	Su-9			Fighter	Gloster Gladiator	KnightWolf45
Helicopter	Chinook	Banidos team		Fighter	MiG-21UM	Florian
Helicopter	Huey			Fighter	MiG-9	Stary
Helicopter	Mi-8			Fighter	Mirage 5	KnightWolf45
Helicopter	S-76			Fighter	Mirage 50	KnightWolf45
Helicopter	SA-300 Puma	Banidos team		Fighter	P-47C	cocas
Helicopter	SH-3			Fighter	Spitfire II	Snapper21
Helicopter	UH-60	Wrench?		Fighter	Spitfire IIC	cocas
Helicopter	Wessex			Fighter	Spitfire V	Snapper21
Transport	C-130	Banidos team		Fighter	Spitfire V LF	Snapper21
Airliner	737-200 (not released yet)	Soulfreak		Helicopter	Mi-2	KnightWolf45
				Light	L-4 Grasshopper	RAVEN
				Light	TigerMoth	RussoUK
				Trainer	T-45 Goshawk	RussoUK
					Fennec	KnightWolf45

Wrench, if you or anyone else happens to have source files of existing 'regular' aircraft in the downloads (or any other sources that are mapped and textured for that matter) that you'd like to see a static version of, I'm happy to volunteer to do the conversions (lower landing gear, reduce poly count a bit to help with frame rate etc) as it's something that could benefit all the terrain builders here by having more choice available. I've got a load of 3d models I've downloaded from the internet over the years that I'll check through, but often figuring out if they're actually ripped models or not is a nightmare and hence a no go.

I noticed that in the SF1 downloads there is a sub section for Static Aircraft under Objects, however I couldn't find a similar sub category in the SF2 downloads, is it worth having a new one made there for these to be gathered in one place?

 

I have no issue with the Super Hornet. You'd have to get with FastCargo as he has the original max files.

[+daddyairplanes 8,679]

the good news is that using statics would add so much to dual use airfields like Frankfut/Rhein Main. for the civil side it would be excellent to have airliners at terminals rather than lined up on a ramp

the bad part would be having to skin each airline. hopefully as just a seperate ground object skin, otherwise a whole "Pan AM' model, and "Lufthansa" model

[+Sundowner 4,516]

For my Vietnam install I'm not using the game "parked" aircraft slots anymore, everything is now a static aircraft so that I can get the right aircraft on the right airbase for the time period.

I've also made about 50 (maybe more) extra vehicles, bomb trailers, generators etc & skinned them all to five  1024x1024 jpgs.

And about 80+  new buildings all using about seven seperate jpgs.

With 650+ tile textures you've really got to get into some creative thinking if you want use-able framerates....distance lods are a must !

As I only fly A/G missions ground object and terrain variation is a must for me........& don't get me started on rivers & roads.....

[Wrench 9,461]

DA: while it'd be nice to have the individual airlines, it may not be truly necessary. Just a generic white-with-a-stripe 707 or 747 or whatever with the name tag "parked *** airliner". As to having individual models for each, that's pretty much what I've done with the static HH3's -- with minor hex editing and renaming, I've like like 6-ish(?) 'national' versions. The good news about that ,as they're terrain objects, they only reside in the terrain's folder, so there's no cross-contamination of say, Norwegian Sea Kings on a Iranian air field

I agree with most of what Ant just said, excepting for the use of the 1024x skins. My personal opinion -- and it's just that, mine alone! -- is 512 is more than enough. The Catalina's shown above where in 2048; I reduced them to 512, and they look just fine.

Quote

don't get me started on rivers & roads.....

I feel ya' there, brother!!! Must haves!!! (if at all possible!)

[+daddyairplanes 8,679]

1 hour ago, Wrench said:

Just a generic white-with-a-stripe 707 or 747

uh huh...

[+allenjb42 4,127]

There are parked airliners at Istanbul airport in the Anatolia terrain, and also I think at Sarajevo airport in one of the Balkans terrains (Strahi’s iirc).

[+daddyairplanes 8,679]

ok, so heres an idea, at least for scripted missions

set the object as NavalObject=True rather than False. talking with someone else that had some work, some not. they found that the nots all had NavalObject as false.

regular number list as wtih the regular aircraft still worked.

this could be really good for airliners, given some dude went and did tga skins for many of the airliners on here, even by decades for the 707, DC-8 and -9

[Wrench 9,461]

DA: not for terrain objects. Trust me on this. Each has to be individual, and created by renaming and hex editing. It might be possible if used as ground object.

Here's the actual in game. DC3, helos, PC-6 C-130E (bandidos)***, SJ100 (737 stand in -- it's really small!) A310, 747, 707

 

** bandidio Herc is the one with the 'extra cargo bits" now hidden inside the hangar behind it.

 

[+daddyairplanes 8,679]

that lufthansa bird hurts my feelings. and that A310 looks familiar, although i dont recall florian having a Swissair skin for the original. allen's work?

 

[+Soulfreak 6,351]

2 hours ago, daddyairplanes said:

that lufthansa bird hurts my feelings. and that A310 looks familiar, although i dont recall florian having a Swissair skin for the original. allen's work?

 

both are static objects from pureblue´s Anatolia terrain.

[Wrench 9,461]

What Souli said. Allen pointed me towards them

 

now, If I can really stretch the requests ...

open hangers large enough for Bears, B-52s, C-5s and C-17s to fit inside !!!!!!

[+allenjb42 4,127]

19 hours ago, daddyairplanes said:

that lufthansa bird hurts my feelings. and that A310 looks familiar, although i dont recall florian having a Swissair skin for the original. allen's work?

 

No, not my work. What I did do though was copy the Turkish Airlines skin from Strahi's East_Med (Adriatic) terrain to Anatolia so the Airbus at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul looks more appropriate for that terrain.

So from this..

to this...

(The third aircraft in the pics is me trying to park accurately btw)

And presumably with Wrench's editing techniques you could have both Swissair and Turkish Airlines Airbuses showing at an airport for even more variety?

Edited March 29, 2023 by allenjb42

[Wrench 9,461]

yes, it can be done (robert shaw, battle of the bulge)

judicious (sp?) hex editing and renmaing. that's how I have like 6(?) different skinned SH-3 SeaKings!

[+Jimbib 684]

Regarding a hangar large enough to fit the heavy metal inside, GKABS had made this one although I'm not sure if the final version got uploaded or not:

https://combatace.com/forums/topic/94678-b-52-hangar/

 

14 hours ago, Wrench said:

judicious (sp?) hex editing and renmaing. that's how I have like 6(?) different skinned SH-3 SeaKings!

Also, you should be able to avoid the hex editing to create differently skinned terrain objects by organising them into sub-folders with names. In the screenshot below if you were to copy, paste and rename the A-10 folder to 'A-10_S_2', or something like that, drop in the new skin bitmaps and add a new entry to the TYPES.ini, you should be good to go without any hex editing required (I did the exact same for the two 737-200 static models):

[Wrench 9,461]

I just tried the folder method last week and again Monday. For some stupid reason, the engine (tm) is not recognizing their existence. It would make things so much simplier that way; no need to rename or edit

I wonder if there's a trick I'm missing in the _types ini or something. Any help or advice is VERY welcomed!

[+daddyairplanes 8,679]

ok, im putting this out there for airliners, since i wont have the time to assist myself if this goes forward

anyone wants to use my airliner tgas as a basis to skin up static airliners, you have it.

it would take some time adjusting, as you would have to make a copy of the tga over it, line up front and back halves where necessary.

but its a metric shit ton of research thats already done. converting the images to a usable format will take a lot less time. especially for the period pieces like any 707 or Dc-8 in the 60s and 70s

call it a research credit rather than a skin credit