Could it be done ?

[Bev]

I'm playing SF2 (and SF1 before) since its debuts, and I really appreciate all the upgrades and mods provides by the community. I like how the game plays (not too hard, not too basic), I like the the main era (post WII early jets), it's my goto flight sims since many years (I also tried some others like IL2 but I never really got hooked, probably due to a few details or the overall atmosphere that I prefer in SF2)

Recently, in my quest to look for something else, I came across a few videos on YT of a game that is even older than SF2 but modded with outstanding graphics : MS CFS3. I remember playing it in its days but the state it is in now is incredible ! For example :

 

So, although SF2 has come a long way with mods, graphics - most notably the environments (sky, terrain, reflections) - are a bit outclassed by this older title

My question to modders (I'm not unfortunately) : is it possible to get to the next level graphically ? Or has the game engine already reached its max output ?

[+EricJ]

You'd need the graphics engine code and whatnot to improve it.

[+Menrva]

1 hour ago, Bev said:

My question to modders (I'm not unfortunately) : is it possible to get to the next level graphically ? Or has the game engine already reached its max output ?

We've been modding the game for almost two decades. The short answer is no. Without source code, we cannot improve the game engine more. Even though SF2 is newer than CFS3, its graphics engine is pretty limited and more basic than CFS3's.

[+Wrench]

We all wish it was so, but .... without the code (and it ain't never gonna be forthcoming) not much more we can do. Sadly

[+daddyairplanes]

check ODS30AE if you havent already.

it would be the top end for how this sim can be modded using practically all the tricks discovered to date (and invented a couple in the process iirc)

beyond that, enjoy the variety. theres biplanes to Chinese stealth and most of whats in between here, an many parts of the globe to fly em in

[+simonmiller416]

Yes, as everyone has said before, many people here have been working on it for ten or even twenty years, but this is all we have available at this point.

There is also a thread there looking into changing the cloud height, again with no luck.This is just one of the areas where this community were explore.

God, I really want to say something about the HUD effect in the video (I mean that holographic sight? Sorry I don't know what these old-school things are called),the crosshair will only appear in the glass, if SF2 also had such a thing, not only would the visual effects be much better, it would even be possible to make something like an HMD in theory, but all of this is just pure fantasy.

At this point (mid-2020s) there is almost no hope of getting any further TK source code, and even the game itself is in an abandoned state, so the best we can do is look the present(make the best use of).

Edited October 6, 2024 by simonmiller416