Can no Longer see SAM Smoke

[Arrow 83]

Yesterday when I was flying a CAP mission, enroute well before any enemy aircraft were present there was a missile fired call. So I pushed the target last object in radio call key [R] and that put the target indicator on a SAM site at 12nm range. I turned my F-16A beam to that SAM site and watched, but I didn't observe any smoke whatsoever berfore the SAM slammed into me - unfortunately didn't see the missile graphic either. I was flyiing over the beta Donbass terrain and I was running SF2NA and have the Weapons pack 2 installed. I confirmed that the long range missile and smoke related files are there in my \Effects folder. I recall in the past being able to see such smoke trails, but absolutely nothing now. I also have Menvra's RealSKY mod installed and have my Effects setting at "unlimitted", since that no longer seems to cause SF2 to crash and Menvra mentioned some post processing benefits with that setting for his sky mod. My gaming rig has a 33" display which I run at 1080p - typically in games I can easily see such effects.

I'm wondering if something in my install mix is causing SAM smoke to no longer be visible?

Edited June 11, 2023 by Arrow

[+daddyairplanes 10,253]

i wonder if something is off in the ini's or file names

something as simple as smoke_1 vs smoke1. i know you said you checked, but many of us miss stuff that simple looking at the same damn thing until someone points it out

[Righteous26 70]

Check the missile data file. Look for the following in the last several lines of data.

BoosterEffectName=LargeMissileFireEffect        //This is the effect at launch
BoosterSoundName=SA-2
BoosterNodeName=booster
BoosterPosition=0.000000,-6.590000,0.000000
SustainerDuration=10.000000
SustainerAccel=3.8
SustainerEffectName=MissileFireEffect          //This is the effect when the sustainer motor is firing
SustainerSoundName=
SustainerPosition=0.000000,-4.050000,0.000000
InFlightEffectName=LargeSAMTrailEffect      //This is the effect when the missile is in flight and neither the booster nor sustainer are firing
InFlightSoundName=MissileEngine
ReleaseAnimationID=-1
EODisplayFlags=0
CEP=0.000000

If any of these are blank then nothing shows.

[Arrow 83]

Many thanks for the replies. Yes all 3 of those data INI settings are correct. Not pertaining to visuals but audio....my "BoosterSoundName=Missile", and both my SustainerSoundName and InFlightSoundName have no values set. Should I set them to what's in your data INI?

I'm referring to settings in the SA-5's data INI, which is the only SAM weapon in my \Weapons folder. Should I also have a folder in there for the SA-2 too? I checked the Weapons Pack 2 archive I installed and it doesn't have any SAMs in its \Weapons folder? I'm flying missions in 1982, so I'm thinking it's SA-5s being fired at me.

Edited June 11, 2023 by Arrow

[+EricJ 4,249]

It should only be SA-5s if that's the only SAM, but the game will tell you what missile was fired at you in the debriefing screen.

[Righteous26 70]

The sound names make no difference for the visuals. They determine only what you hear when the missile launches and is active if your view is set to the missile or you are close to the launcher when it fires. You can set the other sound names to "Missile" and the same sound will play on loop while the missile is active regardless of what phase of flight it is in.

Check your Effects folder for the following files:

LargeMissileFireEffect.ini

MissileFireEffect.ini

LargeSAMTrailEffect.ini

You may have to reload the Effects folder from the weapons pack you used for the SA-5 to get all the effects in the proper folder. The ini files call up other files such as fx files and tga files (pictures with transparencies) to create the effects you see on screen.

[Arrow 83]

22 minutes ago, EricJ said:

It should only be SA-5s if that's the only SAM, but the game will tell you what missile was fired at you in the debriefing screen.

Right...I've been paying too much attention to I and my Flights' kills on that screen.    I'll make sure I note the SAM types.

OK Righteous, looks like you've pointed to a problem. I don't have any of those INI files in my SF2NA \Effects folder - just a LongRangeMissileEffect.INI. However, I have all 3 in my Nato Fighters 5 MOD's \Effects folder. I've been away from SF2 for a bit and it's possilbe I'm remembering incorrectly and that my last flights before I returned were with NF5. I'm going to copy those INIs from NF5 to SF2NA and do some testing.

[Righteous26 70]

It may be faster to copy the entire Effects folder and not let it overwrite existing files.

[Arrow 83]

Well things are now smokin  - SAM trails are showing and I can even see where they're aiming for my chaff! Copying those INIs did the trick. I agree about the other Effects, I'll copy the rest over.