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(up)loading and waiting Happy New Years everyone

To quote Erik... "With out more income CA will close. If CA closes then nobody gets anything. I just write what will happen." Pretty simple. EDIT: What I'm more surprised at is the passive aggressive tone coming from people towards Erik on this decision. A couple of thoughts: The running of CA is purely for the enjoyment of others, it makes zero profit, in fact it costs him a shit load of money to simply keep the website up and running. Does anyone seriously think he would ever want to apply a subscription to access downloads? It's been made abundantly clear from multiple posts in this thread that it is now beyond financial viability for him to keep things going without much needed help from the broader community I'm amazed at the sense of entitlement being shown by some... I'm yet to see one shred of thanks to Erik for personally bankrolling this site where we all come to blow off some steam and enjoy SF2 (and other games) for over 20 years. That's his own money, that he's perfectly entitled to spend on his own hobbies... but instead, he keeps this place open for all of our enjoyment. Instead of criticising the guy, maybe we could help with him out by buying a subscription? Crazy idea I know, but christ on a bike... come on.

YAP B-29 Superfortress redo

For all those complaints, no one yet proposed any solution...nothing. It is easier to say "fuk u, I quit" No one is forcing anyone to stay, pay or even create content. It does not matter anymore. The worst thing is that you "takers" do not understand that without CA...there will be nothing to take. Of course, after that, mods will stay on private drives, and then it will travel around, some will use it, some will mod it and use it, and no one will give credit to other's work anymore..and all that hard work of guys from CA will be absolutely raped. But for those who take it, it does not matter...Because mods should be free. I bought a game so you little moder- fukers give more content to download... You guys who only download, you do not even give a shit to say "thank you" or write a review of the mod...Yes. You do not give a shit about it, who made it and why. As long as the download button is clicked. And..I just had a thought...Maybe there is a solution to it. That access to download will remain free. Let's make content payable. I mean. Download mod - new F-89 for example. Made out of new stuff, not related to old ones..all is new. No one will complain about using old parts in new ones. But it is not free. 12$ per download. And the whole income from it goes to CA piggy bank. All modders and subscribers have free access to it. I think I could convince some other modders. For sure I can do it without a blink. I can even upload a mod within 3-4 days...TAV-8B. I think 15$ will be a fair price. All income from it is going to CA piggybank. I do not want any profit from it. But If you will share it with someone who did not pay for mod..I will consider it as piracy.... Of course, someone will say that there is some Illuminati circle in CA...but at least, the site will remain free and alive.

SitRep: I made some sea to city tiles. this are screenshots of the first test. The mask in alpha channel has still to adjust. Thatswhy the differences between the seatiles.

Respectfully, you missed the point entirely. The pot is empty. I am looking down the barrel of two options; figure out how to pay the bills or turn it off. I don't profit from CA it costs me money every single month without fail. Not fake money, real money that people pay their bills with and use to buy food and essentials. CA is a bill that keeps rolling in multiple times per month, payment due on receipt. If I understand you correctly, I turn off the site you won't get downloads or the community. If I charge for people to use our bandwidth you threaten to leave because you disagree with it. Seems to me I'm screwed either way. No thanks for paying the bills for 25 years and never being late so they turn the servers off. No thanks for all that you do working here 365 days per year for 25 years. No hey I have suggestion that might be worth trying. Nothing. Instead, let's all assume that Erik is doing this to make money off people and tell everyone how disgusting that is. After 25 years that is what I'm worth, understood, copy all. Hey while we're at it, CA needs $3000-$4000 in hardware and software. We've been running a deficit for so long I can't bring myself to paying for upgrades to bring us into this century. Instead, I've been patching us together just to keep us alive. Where do you suggest I get that money from? Erik

Thank you. The Modders in this community have always stood up and put their shoulder behind this place when we've needed it. I owe them a huge debt and amount of gratitude. It's one of the reasons I don't complain about finances, and try the best I can, to quietly maintain things in the background. Sincerely, thank you guys. Please take a bow for all you've done throughout the years. You deserve applause and appreciation. @logan4 you own the spotlight sir, center stage please. It is unfortunate but everything has gone up in price, even what do here. What used to cost us $400 a month 20 years ago has increased yearly to our current state. Everything has gone up and I mean everything. The cost to have the books and taxes done for the site has doubled since I first started. Our licensing and support for our forum software has doubled. Not to mention we've been running outdated forum software because our Apache distro is outdated but I can't upgrade the LAMP stack without new gear, it's a never-ending battle. Licensing for our domain names has gone up 35%. Licensing for hosting software has gone up. The cost we pay to PayPal for every transaction has gone up. The servers have been at contractual rates for 24-month clips, but they go up with every new contract. We're working on the 12th renewal now due to be signed by the 15th. Our delivery costs have gone up 46% while growing in volume. Even electricity has gone up. If we broke even every month I'd pass out. Let's not forget I'm also forced to look at a $3000 - $4000 hardware upgrade because our gear is old and tired. I'm surprised the old girls have lasted this long if the truth be known. The amount of abuse these machines take is insane. I'm sure you've noticed the sluggish response when making form posts? That's our MySQL database machine just choking on the size of our database after 23 years. So, the bills aside I've been agonizing over the equipment for years just praying it hangs in there. On the plus side we don't have any money to keep track of, so our banking fees are non-existent besides the PayPal fees. Another good thing is my hips are still in decent shape because I don't have a fat wallet to carry around. I prefer to end on a positive note, so I'm going to leave it there. Erik

@FANATIC MODDER Hello and Happy New Year. Thank you for your input. I have relentlessly supported this community and everyone in it for more than two decades. No-one is more disheartened, and gut punched than me with the changes I must make. Since you were so kind to share your position let me reply with the same candor and directness. It has never been freeware. TK charged for his games. He stopped developing his games because he couldn't pay the bills, sound familiar? CombatACE has never been freeware. I pay for those "free" downloads. Nothing in this life is free. It would be helpful if we could stop propagating this myth. @Wrench Could you open a discussion in the Modder group about this candidate? @FANATIC MODDER This is conflating two different issues. One is us being able to pay for the site and the second is your Modder status. The Modder group is a peer accepted position that I have nothing to do with other than the physical change on your account. I have asked Wrench to offer your name up for consideration. We do appreciate the twenty files you have shared with the community, and we are not in any way trying to keep you from downloading your own content. Thank you for your involvement in the community. I understand your position. My wallet is empty. There are no more funds to pay the bills. I am finished with supporting this site. Today is the first and in my email is the bill for December 2024, just like clockwork. How do you suggest I pay that bill or can I send it to you for payment? Please let me know but see we both can play the victim card. I'm trying to follow along, but you lost me. I don't see that you've ever financially supported the site. I do see the twenty files you have here. You have been inactive for the most part and I do see your random hand full of downloads monthly or bi-monthly depending on when you would log in. So, if you're not really downloading then you're coming here to visit the forums which aren't changing they will remain open and accessible at no cost. You want to know what's excessive? The bills that I pay every month. We need 100 monthly subscriptions every month just to pay the bills. Why might you ask? Because our catalogue is large, and our bandwidth bill is huge. 3.521 terabytes for December 2024. So given those sums for me it's something excessive. If we don't keep this, I will turn off the switch tonight and then I will see an absolute decrease in downloads. That would be truly unfortunate. I don't understand most of this, but I get it. TK quit because he couldn't make money. Period. End of discussion. TK is not interested in selling the game or the rights to anyone but you're welcome to talk to him. If you need his email address, I will be happy to provide it to you. There is no update because TK quit, he could not make money. You keep SF2 alive, CA keeps it alive, the community keeps it alive. The nail is in the coffin. I've been trying to tell everyone that for years and years. I bring myself to the point of asking for donations and pleading for subscriptions, which is utterly demoralizing and demeaning, but I do it to keep this place open. You know who ends up supporting us during those times? The modders and a couple amazing people who understand. The public, the netizens on a whole have always been about the free part. Oddly, it's those that have never donated that are the ones speaking the loudest about this. So, I spend my time answering concerns and opinions when my time might be better spent figuring out a solution. Thank you for what you do, and I do hope I answered your concerns. Erik

i have a blunter version pay a cover charge to get access to thousands of mods and Combatace goes on for another few years. or consider it a streaming service if you like or go back to free for all and it shuts down in 6 months ----------------------------------------- having free access sure has brought some new names out the wood work. welcome several old time names complaining in here that suprise me though, both in their complaints and that they are not some form of contributing member (modder, moderator admin). really some names have been around long enough i thought they were but i do know that many of the names that have suprised me have been around long enough to have gotten most of what they want from CA, and to make most of their own changes too (minus models and terrains) if having to take a step in fighting a losing battle with bills means "goodbye SF2" (a general quote not specific one), well then have fun with that. ---------------------------------------------- back to teh original rant of mine, times change. circumstances change. rarely for the better i used to be able to watch sports on network television. now i have to pay alot for cable to catch all games broadcast over the week or a little to a streaming service to catch the few on that service each week (hoping my teams are heavy on teh rotation for that channel) or go without TW didnt do this, he's been pissin us off since Jul of 13 (the last patch for SF2) and has nothing to do with this site. Erik's just trying to keep this thing going and reign in a problem thats part of the growing expenses.

Well I renewed for two more years myself

@Erik Discussion opened.

Why all the vinegar? Why all this nitpicking? Bills need to be paid to keep this site going! It's not about profits and earnings... And for those whining about it... You have cable TV or a streaming subscription... You have a mobile phone with a monthly subscription... You have a speedy internet subscription... All these cost a lot too, wherever you are. And you are NOT willing to pay for the 1 or 2 year subscription to have access to the greatest flightsim community, to the huge amount of files? Spread the costs and a CA subscription costs you less a month than an evening meal... If you are NOT willing to help lessen the burden and chip in... you're a cheapskate. Letting someone else pick up the (huge!) tab so you can have your "free" files makes you a leech... And please don't come here with local exchange rates, with living standards and such... In comparison with my countrymen I am in a pickle. My military disabilities have shrunk my income to 60% of the nominal average so I never have enough to get by. HOWEVER... I DO appreciate the little things in life and I am willing to put some money aside to pay for that. So that is why I paid a 2 year subscription here on CA to do my little bit to keep this site going. Not because I can afford it and I can easily take it out of my checkbook, but because I want to! I want CA to stay afloat, I want to be a part of this community, I want to keep my SF game alive. And to ALL those people who have no contribution to CA whatsoever (so I mean those who register to download and never ever write something, except the last few days) and are here only to suck it dry for its contents... shame on you and go f*** yourselves and your arrogant privileged attitudes...

Hello everyone, It have been a great new year day and eventualy got a chance to work on mods today; This time I am re-working on the optional accessiblity system to make more noticable and can be noticed easily. When switching to IRM, the inner circle will appear as red. And when lock is achieved, it will move to enemy aircraft telling that IRM is ready. Any thoughts on the new system? I am applying it on the rest of aircraft for next alpha version of mod. Eagle114th

With out more income CA will close. If CA closes then nobody gets anything. I just write what will happen. Besides, we arent finished with the changes. You are commenting on an unfinished project. Maybe my support isn't good enough you want everything right now. No discomfort, no waiting. Czy się rozumiemy?

Also, here's the citation for his Distinguished Flying Cross. He also had a Navy/Marine Presidential Unit Citation probably from this same mission, two USAF Presidential Unit Citations, Outstanding Unit Award (2 X), Air Medal with 6 Oak Leaf Clusters, Meritorious Service Medal, Combat Readiness Medal, NDSM, Vietnam Service, Vietnam Gallantry, Armed Forces expeditionary, and Expert Marksman. Nerdy little guy about 5'6" tall. Very quiet and self-effacing. And apparently a steel-balled badass of a navigator. That was the day the NVA broke through the wire at Khe Sanh.

bigger sets of buildings tend to be shopping centers. especially with bigger parking lots. smaller sets of buildings tend to be the factories

EF-2000

Back to Michigan, USA SitRep: I made two new tiles for suburbs. Further i created transistion tiles from sea to famland and from sea to forrest. I still have to create transition tiles from sea to city and then i hope, that the terrain editor will make his job to do the transistion of the map automatically. You see in front the city tiles and in the background the two suburb tiles Here the suburb tiles are on the left, the city tiles are right. Here you see the two suburb tiles. One as only living area, the other with shopping centers or factories or whatever it is.

New but retro looking Flight Sim / Game with Strike Fighters level Terrain / GFX and clicky cockpits for Meta Quest VR. Has Ten flyable jets including Me262, Meteor F.3, T-33, but you need to earn money to buy planes. Is Early Access so use at own risk. Take command of history's most iconic fighter jets in this unprecedented VR flight simulator for the Oculus Quest. Intuitive and easy to fly, yet sophisticated enough to support takeoffs, landings, rolls, loops, and even carrier launches and traps. You'll be amazed at how powerful the Oculus Quest 2 is! Meta EA Page: https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/dawn-of-jets/3677727965681410/?fbclid=IwY2xjawHO7GZleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHbROfsoGUHkNqfD8ZqE0vyn50397xNAMWKFuxPijQdH-uTYpqYYkcISZ9w_aem_-Sr_VGcCNPUSUtNnaym8tA&utm_source=l.facebook.com&utm_medium=oculusredirect#reviews Website: https://www.evinteractive.com/dawn-of-jets-vr

It is nice to see you have an open mind. You're open to discussion and reason and that counts for something. And as said earlier here... asking for money to keep CA alive is not easy and funny at all... but very necessary! Happy to see you get the broader perspective. Cheers!

Happy New year to you too. Honestly, I didn't open this discussion because I was seeking a modder status, it's up to you guys. 1000$ a month???????? This is a crazy !!!!! Sorry I was not aware of this, it never crossed into my mind that it could be that much That sucks...I was thinking a "IL-2 Sturmovik" like solution, however if he's not willing to negotiate about the game makes things difficult. Well if he's not willing to talk about it with you that you are the Combat Ace man I don't think anyone else has any chance. No, never. It's much more than the twenty files because I worked on the data.ini (mainly FM), avionics, loadouts and as a beta tester on many projects. Indeed, after Guruu presented his Tornados (I worked with him for them a lot) I was largely inactive because of real life issues despite my attempts to return. I was a beta tester in the ODS campaign but I failed to work on it properly, it was an unfortunate timing for me at the time. A few times that I came back was when my HD crashed and I re-downloaded planes that I had in my old HD. There are many files in my folder that I downloaded and are still there unistalled because I had no time (if I don't have time to "fly" them, I tend not to install them). It's a couple of months that I made a slow comeback via PMs of others that urged me to come back. Therefore I downloaded a lot of stuff recently. One more thing, my fears are genuine, it's not a complain because I am just a "free down-loader" as Daddy implies. After your reply I have second thoughts because the 1000$ per month struck me in the head, I never thought that much. I hope that TW will reconsider and open us the way to do an update to the SF2 series the way Oleg Maddox let the IL-2 to others because some parts are getting very dated like the mission planning, AI, the gameplay suffers a lot in comparison with newer simulators. The IL-2 survived that way and frankly I don't see any other way for the SF2 series.

I'm not from Michigan but the suburb neighborhood tiles feel right at home. So many easter eggs could be placed on this map too. Don't suppose there's a cargo ship that looks close to a lake freighter?

You and me both Jimmy, you and me both

Moved it to the Modder forum where it needs to go. Thank you for starting it.

Hi everyone ; happy new year anyway !! One simple question : how much is it to stay , and how to pay ? These are 2 questions in fact... Indeed, I cannot resolve myself to get out of this community, and as I don't contribute (no time and no particular skill for it), It's fair to pay (not too much !) thanks for answering

I don't have any money either. All my money goes to war. I just want to say that in this way you are simply cutting off users from third world countries. I am one of them. Look at some of the comments above.There will be no increase in money this way. Although why are we arguing. I shouldn't have written this comment. Everyone has their own problems. Someone's oysters are too small, and someone's second-rate bread is too stale. i dont say you must pay for everything. i just write what will happen.

View File Creek Klaxon '86: Air National Guard Deployment to Ramstein AB 1986 Creek Klaxon '86: Air National Guard Deployment to Ramstein AB 1986 This mod is a simple skin and decal set to represent Creek Klazon; an ANG deployment from April 1986 through March 1987 while the resident 86th Tactical Fighter Wing was transitioning from the F-4E to the F-16C Block 25. Crews from many ANG squadrons rotated out over the course of the year, while three units sent three aircraft each to support the Zulu Alert interception mission. These airframes came from California's 194th FIS, Minnesota's 179th FIS and North Dakota's 178th FIS, all with air defense missions in the United States and all donating F-4D aircraft in the colorful Air Defense Gray paint scheme. Also included in this mod is terrain mods to allow pairs take offs at Ramsein AB, and a mod to plug into NATO Fighters 5 so that you can fly the 1986 campaign with this unit (they were historically there during the timeframe) Included skins and decals for the stock F-4D new load and hangar screens for same terrain mods to allow pairs take offs at Ramstein AB (Rends terrain and stock GermanyCE) campaign and terrain mods to add a Creek Klaxon campaign in NF5 Required SF2 Europe for use of terrain or NF5 mods and F-4D_78 aircraft Installation Basic aircraft: add contents of "2 mod folder" to your preferred instal. allow overwrites Pair take off: add contents of "add to stock GermanyCE terrain" to your preferred instal's terrain folder. similar if you are using Rends Germany terrain. allow overwrites NF5: add contents of "2 mod folder" and "add to NF5 instal" to your NF5 instal. allow overwrites Credits Thirdwire original F-4D_78 aircraft cSomers611 hangar screen, much research assistance cSomers611, nightshadeP/R, Stratos test team daddyairplanes skin and tga work, basic research into topic(that lead to desire to do it I hope you enjoy flying this mod as much as i did creating it Kevin unruh aka daddyairplanes 31 Dec 2024 ************************************************************* This is freeware; it CANNOT be distributed unless permissions are granted by myself. The original readmes, if any, and all other pieces of the package MUST remain intact. The names of all contributors, modders, suppliers, etc =MUST= be listed in any new readmes. This package and any part of it may NOT in any way, shape, or form be used in any payware additions. See the original readme documentation, if any, for further allowances and restrictions Any persons wishing to make further modifications, contact me first. Any persons wishing to make further modifications MUST remember to put everyone's name in it. ************************************************************* THIS AIRCRAFT MOD OR ANY PART OF IT MUST NOT BE HOSTED OR POSTED FOR DOWNLOAD ON ANY OTHER WEBSITE WITHOUT MY EXPRESS PERMISSION, OR USED FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE THAN THIRDWIRE FLIGHT SIMULATORS, AND MUST NOT BE SOLD OR OFFERED FOR SALE BY ITSELF OR WITH ANY OTHER FILES OR MODS. ************************************************************* Submitter daddyairplanes Submitted 12/31/2024 Category F-4  

Yes, that's a 1958 tank, probably F105 or even earlier Century series. I kept a Finnish 81mm mortar as part of my commission. Stamped, works, 20' CEP at 500 yards. I paid them for the Soviet DPM, 1939. DEWAT that I had to reactivate--this is the one that had the wrong serial number on the registration paper. And my wife said, "I think we should get the Thompson. I mean, it's a Thompson." Still tuning that one to work. A friend of mine bought the Panzerschreck and is working up rockets for it. It may be one of two entirely complete, functional, with wiring harness and blast shield, on the Registry. The WWI Imperial helmets also came from the same estate.

Сapun has the best model of interaction with its users, of course. You should strive for it. It is the high standard. How many users does Сapun have per month? 0? I'm just asking. I haven't visited it for about ten years. (maybe there are 100,000,000) It is better to make registration on the site paid right away. A person comes in, looks and immediately leaves without registering. Without wasting either his or your time. No need to delete registration. I thought it was some kind of error on the site. Many people will think the same and will bombard with questions about why it is not downloading.

increase to at least 2 kilobytes per day, realy! Please!

I understand Erik's reasons and I understand that this was the last straw for him. I say that I understand because I am the founder of an international automotive club, with visitors to our forum from many country´s around the world. This forum I mentioned has almost 20,000 registered members and I have always suffered with moderators who disappear, problems and disputes between members, people just complaining about content that they never even contributed to, and things like that. And I have always been the one who has borne the costs, trying to recover something by selling a line of club products such as caps, t-shirts, stickers, etc. But I do it because I like it, because I see the community that likes that vehicle in common grow and that's all. That said, I imagine Erik feels outraged by people cheating accounts to exceed the daily download count and things like that, but I wonder if there isn't something else that could be done to curb this "little trick". (On my site, I only allow downloads from members who are recommended by someone who has been a member for X amount of time, or people can only download after X amount of time registered, after introducing themselves in a specific topic for this purpose. This discourages people from creating fake emails, because it won't solve anything). I also wonder what happens to someone who creates a mod and does it out of pure passion, to be distributed as freeware, and suddenly people have to pay to have it, while he doesn't earn anything. (I know it's not that simple and the site doesn't stay online by miracle, but it's a worthy discussion.) I've been here and I've made friends over the years, always contributing with suggestions as a "beta tester" and trying to help in any way I can, because I'm a fool with files. 3D and other skills to make mods. However, I currently can't afford the amount in dollars that the subscription requires (for me it would be something like 600 dollars/year). They bankrupted my country in just 2 years and the value of the dollar has skyrocketed, and spending that amount on something that is not a priority for me to live is not in my plans. This said, if the dollar were cheap for me, I would happily donate frequently without even needing a subscription, but dollar never was cheap and now is bizarre. Best regards

Many people, still do not get it.. I see. Now questions and answer to yourself. - Do I have a cell phone? Do I use my cell phone for calling friends, and family, sending pictures, watching nudes, TikTok cooking while dancing, and all that stuff..? Do I pay a bill to my network provider? I know that many will not get the logic in that simple example... Just to be clear: While you might still pay for watching nudes, you are definitely not paying your family to be your family - but you still call them.

well i just waiting for myself to get main income, 9 dollars are bit too high for Indonesia and for myself, and the tax just went up to 12%, hope i don't forget i have CA to get my first subscription long live modders!

ooohhh my gosh i was asked to make a new more detailed 450 and 650 gallon drop tank for an F-105 project and i had only some pictures without any measurements as basis to start with , it took me quite some time to find more good pictures and i used the original tank from the 3d model as reference for the length and diameter , i just wish i had pictures like this for my work excellent pictures , thank you so much some how my tank pictures are looking different from the one you posted is this an early type drop tank ??? the one i have has 3 fins and the main body is screwed together along the whole lenght of the part like the one from the F-4 Phantom the 450gal tank i made i still have to make the 650 gallon drop tank , if anybody has pictures like the one above please send them to me or post them here , thank you

Well, I'm resurrecting this thread because a late friend of mine had one of these tanks in his basement. He was a retired USAF navigator with a stack of decorations, a weird collection, and a long story as to how a drop tank got in his basement. But here's the link, and a couple of pics to start it. I took photos from every angle possible. https://www.michaelzwilliamson.com/randomfactoids.html

I appreciate your input, and I understand your concern. Here's the problem more directly so hopefully everyone can understand it. The 5-file download limit per day does not work. Because free email accounts exist people go to the furthest extremes possible to beat a system put there to prevent unlimited free downloads. There are no options for us. We either switch to fully free downloads which is financially destructive, or we go to a pay for content model. It will not matter if we put an age restriction on the accounts, we'll end up with the same burden just one or two years down the road. I have believed in the honesty and integrity of people for over 23 years doing this. I have supported them financially and I have believed that they would get their fill and things would calm down. Today CA delivers over three terabytes of data every month and that number continues to climb. Then there's the other side to managing the multitude of accounts people create to download, it takes me hours every single day to weed through them, 365 days per year no breaks or no time away. I pay to work here. To make things worse it's only making those people mad when their accounts get suspended. They go out onto the internet and talk trash about what we do and how horrible we are, but they never once look at it from our perspective. I challenge each of those people to make a luxury sized car payment, a mortgage payment for some, every single month to work at a place where you're the enemy while you're paying for their download content. The change is here.

I took the crest of Dodge Viper. Rotated it by 180° and i found Daffy Duck. Funny.

I really wish someday, somehow, to see a 64-bit version of the SF2 series, or a open source code so we can make the game evolve. I really love SF2, playing everyday for years, but only due to the modders who maintain this game alive, and not for TW.

Thank you very much as well!! merry xmas!!saved me buying 2 modules at dcs and having a real one like this. The beauty of sf2 is that you can fly ALL planes in ALL eras.. past, present and future, no pressing buttons and readying hours before takeoff, no expensive module buying, SF2 is my real go to when you want to just, fire up, take off, fly and complete your missions without worrying about avionics and systems, and the graphic , effects and map mods are FANTASTIC!!

I can understand the problem of multiple accounts and something should be done about it. I can understand that it may be in deficit and some source of income should be found. But charging 10$ a month for a simulator that started in 2006 and had its last update in 2013, it's crazy. Especially since it was envisioned by its creator as open and easy to modify. And it was a freeware for all these years. And there is more on it. I am now not able to download not even my own uploads, which is crazy. I was recently convinced to come back to modding, despite my severe lack of time, but the reworked RAZBAM F-102 was the only one that I managed to upload before the announcement. I have ready in my HD a veltro2K F-102 with reworked skins by me (something that I don't do often) + all the FM upgrades + a lot of goodies from Eagle (avionics, cockpit + IR delete). I have also ready reworked F-89s with new FMs (LOTS OF CHANGES, MUCH MORE REALISTIC NOW) and the new avionics and cockpit of Eagle. I have also reworked the F-104s, I have ready all the F-104A/B/C/D models both TW and AJ, now that I corrected critical values the Starfighter suddenly became the handful that it really was, I was talking also and used as a beta tester a person that his dad actually flew the F-104 he is himself a pilot and I was working on the F/G/J/S models. Well, guess what. I am not going to release now anything. Let it be I am finished with modding with SF2. Now, someone will ask, is this that much to pay ? As you may have been aware, I had purchased most of RAZBAM and DLCs are well as YAP, so it's not that I am not willing paying. My answer is that since 2017 I had been largely inactive. While I was regularly logging into Combat Ace, I was more into looking and rarely downloading let alone installing. I haven't played the sim for almost a year until a couple of months ago. And I think I am not the only one. As years are going on, more and more people are becoming more casual with the SF2, simply because they are growing older and newer sims are becoming available. So giving that sum for me it's something excessive. If you keep this, the SF2 modding will slowly fade away and die. You can see yourselves that there is a drastic decrease in downloads in comparison with what was happening a decade ago – which is to be expected, it's an old simulator now. For sure, it's the end of the FE2. Which is so unfortunate. Now could had been done? Some talk with the TW maybe? One of the main reason that someone would still want to purchase from TW this old simulator WAS the huge aftermarket support from Combat Ace that now there's no more. Would TW still want to market this? Why not just give to you the rights? Or if not be enabled with Combat Ace somehow? Or even better work on an update? Why not having an update that we can download only from CA (and of course pay for it)? This is will keep the SF2/FE2 alive. If not, you just put the nail in the coffin.

The current count is: 3,631 accounts on this site have more than one account. 715 of those accounts have more than 5 accounts associated to them. Our top offender has 44 accounts associated to them.

Well, if now it will only be possible to download through a paid account, that's it for me. I don't have an international credit card at the moment, and even so the value of the dollar is absurdly expensive given the shitty political situation my country finds itself in, that the monthly subscription becomes surreal.

or contribute to the community (modders, admins, moderators) but it is correct that you can no longer have a free account and download, although free accounts can still make comments in forums

Pratically a abandonware...I don´t see TW investing $$$ and time on this.

Uhu. great loss to the universe…