Guide to converting old weapons from the Strike Fighters 1 series to the new “plug and play” weapons for the Strike Fighters 2 Series (by MigBuster)

[+EricJ 3,937]

Guide to converting old weapons from the Strike Fighters 1 series to the new “plug and play” weapons for the Strike Fighters 2 Series

 

 

 

1. Converting a couple of old Weapons over

2. Weapons with more than 1 lod file

3. Wing tip tanks/pods using left and right models with single data entry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Converting a couple of old Weapons over

 

You should know by now where the weapons live in the new SF2 series – if not see section 1 of my guide on converting old planes to work with SF2 – also in the knowledge base.

 

Firstly download and install the weapons editor for Strike Fighters 2 from Thirdwires site or here at Combat Ace (bear in mind later versions may have been released since this guide was written that you may need to use)

 

 

Ok I want some weapons from my old game or from wherever and want to put them in my new strike Fighters 2 game!

 

 

As an example I went back to my Wings Over Israel install and in the Objects\weapons folder opened up Weapondata.ini in notepad. I then found entries for 2 weapons that I wanted and stuck them in a new text file which I saved as whatever.ini:

 

 

Important see I have renamed the headers [Weapondata001] and [Weapondata002] so they run in sequence – you must do this otherwise the editor wont pick up the weapons!!

 

 

 

Next open the Strike Fighters 2 weapons editor you installed and choose your game:

 

 

 

 

 

Press the import / merge button:

 

 

 

 

Then find and open up whatever.ini:

 

 

 

 

 

Now if you have done this properly the 2 new weapons will appear at the bottom of the list. Hit the Save button and close the editor

 

 

 

 

 

 

This has created 2 new folders in your SF2\Objects\Weapons folder – and in there it has placed 2 essential files, the xxx.ini and xxx_data_ini:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately its still missing the 3d model file and its skin - so I need to go back to WOI and get them. I need to find the correct files in what is a mess - however in most cases its easy to see what files I need. In this case the GBU-15.lod (3D model) and GBU_USAF.bmp (skin) files:

 

 

 

 

 

 

How do I know GBU_USAF.bmp is the correct skin for the GBU-15.lod file????

Well here it’s a guess – but to check I can open the LOD file with a lod viewer like XVI32 and run a search on bmp to find the skins file name – as here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Important – you might find that your weapon may have:

• More than 1 lod file (see step 2 below)
• an xxxx.out file
• an xxxx.shd file (Old shadow)

 

You don’t need the .out or .shd files so can leave them if you like.

 

 

Right so I stick those files back in the new SF2 folder – so I should have at least the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then open up the GBU-15V1.ini and paste the [shadow] section in so the ini looks like this:

 

[WeaponData]

ObjectFullName=GBU-15(V)1/B EOGB

ObjectDataFile=GBU-15V1_data.INI

 

[shadow]

CastShadow=TRUE

ShadowCastDist=2000

MaxVisibleDistance=100

 

 

Where did I get that from???

Well another weapon actually - and it should still work without defining a [shadow] section anyway unless you wish to be consistent :)

 

 

So save that and close it – and that’s it.

 

Note: Yes that’s right you can actually just create the folder and ini files without ever using the weapons editor – the game will just pick it up like it does with ground objects and aircraft. Just make sure the ini file has the same name as the folder!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Weapons with more than 1 lod file

 

This is not much different to the above - basically sometimes the weapons will have multiple model (lod) files. Just stick them in the weapons folder:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then change QRC-335A.ini to something like this:

 

[WeaponData]

ObjectFullName=QRC-335/A ECM Pod

ObjectDataFile=QRC-335A_data.INI

 

[LOD001]

Filename=QRC-335A.lod <--------------must be same case as the actual file

Distance=125

 

[LOD002]

Filename=QRC-335A-001.lod <--------------must be same case as the actual file

Distance=400

 

[LOD003]

Filename=QRC-335A-002.lod <--------------must be same case as the actual file

Distance=850

 

[shadow]

CastShadow=TRUE

ShadowCastDist=2000

MaxVisibleDistance=100

 

And save it.

 

 

Where did I get that???

Well older weapons with multiple lods had their own ini files also – so just open up the old xxx.ini and take the [lodxxx] and [shadow] sections and paste them in the new QRC-335A.ini in your new folder.

 

- VERY IMPORTANT . You see the lines Filename=QRC-335A.lod etc - well that MUST be the same case and spelling as the 3d model files you have put into the folder – otherwise the model wont appear in the game.

 

 

Move on to section 3 if your weapon is a wing tip tank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Wing tip tanks/pods using left and right models with single data entry

 

This refers to wing tip items that consist of 2 models but only 1 data entry like this:

 

[WeaponData001]

TypeName=F5C_TKLW

FullName=41.6 Gal Fuel Tank

ModelName=F5C_TKLW

Mass=195.000000

……………

Asymmetrical=TRUE

RightModelName=F5C_TKRW <---------------- this is the right wing model!!

 

 

 

Follow steps 1 and 2 above and get the correct files – here is an example using the F-5s wing tanks. The Left wing files go in the main folder with the ini files:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The right wing model and skin however sits outside in the weapons folder:

 

 

 

Lastly If for some reason the weapon isnt showing open up the weapons data.ini file - for example GBU-15V1_Data.ini and check this line:

[WeaponData001]

TypeName=GBU-15V1

FullName=GBU-15(V)1/B EOGB

ModelName=GBU15 <----------must be same case and spelling as main .lod file

Mass=1162.000000

Diameter=0.482000

..............

 

 

 

 

 

That's it - if the weapon is in the editor and you have followed the above - but it still cant be selected by your jet - then its the jets data.ini file you need to start looking at now - specifically the weapons stations - so start searching threads on something covered 1000s of times already - or see section 23 of my guide on converting older planes to SF2.