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Hello everyone! Sorry for being absence for almost two weeks. It have been quite hectic weeks! Real life caught me, so I had to put projects down for time being. Aat the same time, i needed a short break, a fresh breath and many ideas for bothSF - CAP and Advanced modding (DLL editing). There is one video that shocked me, let me show you: X-wing: Tie fighter, got modernized through reverse engineering, which bought improved graphic, VR suports and other amazing feats! And please note, this sim is from 1993! This shows me that it is definely possible. However, what I have realized is that, as stated, by using Ghidra to reverse engineer and looking at the pseudocodes, there is one extra challenges: As stated, the SF2 engine is natively written in C++, not C. So therefore, by editing the C Pseudocodes, we nbeed to carefully codes while remain in the loop of SF2 with the calls and imports, so it will rrun well in SF2. But atleast, C and C++ are somehwere close toe ach other. C++ is deviated from C, so we have to use extra C codes that work the same way what C++ codes intended to doin SF2. Nextw eek I am going back working on SF2 - CAP and further exploring advanced modding. I will post an additional i nforamtion on what tools I use and how I managed to extract the codes out, so you can view it and edit it as well. I use the tool known as Ghidra 11.4 and scripts to help me extracting the codes. Cheers!

heading out of Deci

As in real life during Vietnam War the USAF has in DRV 2.1 to attack very high value targets, like some oil barrels, which are hidden in towns or woodland. And sometimes you get the task to attack the command post of Hilton Hanoi POW Camp. If you are not carefull you will not only bomb the Vietnamese, but also kill american colleges, which are POW in Hilton Hanoi. That's not so good for the missions score!

Wingman did a go-around and landed a few minutes later..

As shown on my channel at https://www.youtube.com/@philipsabin1653, I still do most of my tactical air gaming using my own total conversions of air board games, since this allows me to focus in on and savour the formation tactics which are hard to appreciate from the brief flurry of first person aerobatics in real time computer dogfights. When I do play PC air sims, I like to fly entire missions as a wingman and spend most of the time practising formation flying to complement the far shorter and more frenetic experience of combat itself. It is a shame that SF2 and FE2 do not allow the player easy access to this 'wingman experience' as in EAW and some other sims. However, I have just discovered a simple workaround which fits the bill. I am sure that some users have already discovered this, but I thought I would mention it just in case. The first step is to create and save a single mission, either after aborting on the runway in FE2 or from within the mission editor in SF2. Then, exit the sim, open the MSN file in your Third Wire Saved Games folder, and copy the entire block for [AircraftMission001]. Paste it after the final Aircraft Mission, and change its number to the next in sequence. Change the Size in the original Mission 1 to 1, reduce the Size in the new final mission by 1, and in SF2 change the Name at the top of the new mission to an unused friendly call sign. Make any other desired changes, save the MSN file, start the sim and load the amended mission. In FE2, the leader of the new flight should start super-imposed with you and roar ahead as he takes off, allowing you easily to catch and formate with him. In SF2, the new leader begins flying over the airfield, but you just need to take off yourself and then select and padlock the nearest friendly plane, allowing you gradually to climb and catch him at full throttle and join formation. The new AI leaders fly at a stately pace, so you should not be left in prolonged and frustrating long distance pursuit as often happens in EAW. There is more risk of overshooting the leader if you do not cut your throttle as you approach. Formation flying is a fascinating and challenging endeavour in its own right, and it is well worth perfecting it as real combat pilots did as a matter of course during their prolonged journeys to and from the combat itself.

I missed the "Phantom Phriday"...

Guys, I know we are all excited for this discovery, but then again, let's wait for @Eagle114th to play, understand completely, and then, I think he will come up with some changes and ideas. I'd wish for better graphics options and so many more, but for now, i merely will be just watching how this develops, and my fingers are crossed for good, all my good vibes are for him. And if I can be of help, count me in. Thanks!

In my experience, it's still too early to make wishlist yet, we still need to do more research to get familiar with what these things do, and rebuild the foundation one day, which takes time. Let us look forward to it.

Somewhere over North Vietnam.

Then is when the Pave Spike equipped birds enter the fray.

View File SF2 F-86F-40 Sabre, EDA (Spain) Skin Pack SF2 F-86F-40 Sabre, EDA Skin Pack 8/2/2025 -For SF2, Any and All (Full Merged Recommended) This is a NEW skin for the F-86F-40 Sabre. This is a something of a "salvage operation", as I found this skin/decal set in my archives. It was originally done in 2012, but for reason unremembered, never released! This set represents Spanish Air Force (Ejército del Aire y del Espacio) Sabres of 1 Ala from approx. 1958, when they started receiving the Sabre. You get 18 historically accurate decals; accurate in the fact they served in the EDA, but I was unable to associate them to a specific squadron or wing. So, consider them to be 'generic' in nature. Please note, the fuselage numbers are the early presentation as when first delivered. The skin is in jpg format, and decal randomization is TRUE. The SF2 date switch is NOT used, however the "startdefaultdate=" is set to 1958. Hopefully it works as advertised. On the skin selection menu, on the Loadout Page, you'll see: 1 Ala, 12 Esc As is always recommended, unzip to a temp folder or your desktop to give easy access to the rest of this readme for it's install instructions. As always, give the "Notes" section a quick read for any and all nonsensical ramblings. A small request for information is also down there. :) Happy Landings! Wrench Kevin Stein Submitter Wrench Submitted 08/16/2025 Category F-86  

To finally survive a full DiD campaign in Red Baron 3D! Wounded? Yes! Captured? Temporarily? But Lt. John Parks survived a full tour of duty with the 94th Aero squadron from March to November 1918. It was so much fun to revisit "the old gal" and play through, this time with a stock install running in D3D mode, like I did in 1998 when I first got the game - what a treat! Now if he can just avoid catching the flu on the ship home, he'll be in good shape! And at this rate, I might get a pilot through WOFF by the time I'm 70!

View File New Skin in 4k for Yak9P "Korean War" Hello To use this set, YOU MUST HAVE the Yak 9P 3d model by Cocas !!! -2 units during The Korean War: 56thIAP "Guard Taejon" (NKPA) and unit "unknown" PLAAF -NEW textures in 4k .jpg -NEW normal map -NEW specular map Simply extract the file into the folder "StrikeFighter2" Enjoy Submitter Lacsap Submitted 08/10/2025 Category Soviet Origin  

View File New skin in 4k for Sea Fury [sb] from Skippybing Hello To use this set, YOU MUST HAVE the Sea Fury FB11 by SKIPPYBING !!! -2 units during The Korean War: 802 Sqn FAA and 805 Sqn RAN -NEW textures in 4k .jpg -NEW normal map -NEW specular map Simply extract the file into the folder "StrikeFighter2" Enjoy Submitter Lacsap Submitted 08/10/2025 Category Other  

Somewhere in South Vietnam.

Tornados, german nickname "Tony".

Light Flak is shooting.

Short and sweet!

I just checked myself and no issues loading into a mission so far.

To be even more specific, SF2NA is the one giving me fits. And no, ODS30AE is unaffected. I'm still looking for a culprit, and it doesn't appear anyone else is seeing this, so it must be something on my end.

All fine on my end with the latest 580.97 Nvidia drivers. Make sure in the game's options that you're using the Nvidia GPU. SF2 has a bad habit of selecting the integrated GPU instead, and I used to have such crashes with Intel's integrated GPU.

I believe that is the encryption that they use. More was accessible waaaaaaaay back in the day.

View File SF2 F-86F-40 Sabre, Portuguese Air Force Skin Pack SF2 F-86F-40 Sabre, Portuguese Air Force Skin Pack 8/7/2025 -For SF2, Any and All (Full Merged Recommended) This is a NEW skin for the F-86F-40 Sabre. It is designed to be used on the SF2 F-86F-40 pack available here at CA. This set represents Portuguese Air Force (Forca Aerea Portuguesa) # 51 Squadron (later renumbered to 201) in approx. 1958, when they started receiving their Sabres. You get 24 historically accurate decals; all have been positively identified as having served in 51/201 Squadron (excepting the very last 2; they're generics). The skin is in jpg format, and decal randomization is TRUE. All markings are decals, excepting the painted squadron color bands on the wingtips, stab tips, and vert fin. The SF2 date switch is NOT used, however the "startdefaultdate=" is set to 1958. Hopefully it works as advertised. On the skin selection menu, on the Loadout Page, you'll see: Esq 51 (201) Falcons As is always recommended, unzip to a temp folder or your desktop to give easy access to the rest of this readme for it's install instructions. Happy Landings! Wrench Kevin Stein Submitter Wrench Submitted 08/11/2025 Category F-86  

View File New skin in 4k for TU-2S "Bat" 3D model from Cocas Hello YOU MUST HAVE THE TU-2S "Bat" 3D model from Cocas! 2 skins PLAAF and NKPAF of Korean War -NEW textures in 4k .jpg -NEW normal map -NEW specular map -NEW damage textures Simply extract the file into your folder "StrikeFignter2" enjoy Submitter Lacsap Submitted 08/11/2025 Category Other  

Your comment makes me feel a bit better, Rick! After all, you are getting in way more flight hours than most of us and if you struggle, it helps me feel a bit better. I think, at this point, the odds of getting a long term pilot through from 1915 to the end, with the possibilities of mechanical failure, being hit by flak, going down behind enemy lines, crashing on landing, falling prey to an enemy scout if you are playing as the observer and not the pilot in a two-seater... the odds would have to be pretty staggering. And it makes you marvel at the ones who made it. Cheers mate! Still enjoying your videos!

It's good to hear from you, my good friend. I have faith that you will recover soon.

Oh man, I remember those days! I still haven't gotten there in WOFF!

I'm enjoying a mid-afternoon coffee and wanted to send a little note of thanks over to the entire crew working on this latest and greatest iteration of WOFF. At 43 I'm probably still one of the younger (ish) members of the community, and always have been (I joined the ancient Flight Sim boards on Delphi when I was 16!). I've been playing video games since I was 4, and my grandfather (a WWII vet) handed me an Atari 5600 controller and a copy of Moon Patrol. I still love games and I think I've been through just about every generation of console without missing a beat since the NES. Which means that in addition to my flight sim rig (a 40th birthday present from my wife ), I've enjoyed the PS5 immensely. I love getting into racing games and play just about every version of the F1 series and Gran Turismo that I can get my hands on. Modern gaming sure is amazing! But it also has a lot of increasingly troublesome drawbacks. I'm excited (cautiously) for the new Battlefield 6 - so I snagged the Open Beta for both console and PC only to find today that I'm number 7800 in the queue on PlayStation and 152,280 on PC... Modern games also need a constant internet connection, and sometimes I wonder who I'm really supporting when I sign into a server that may be in Russia (which feels a lot more problematic than it did when I first got those games)... Which is why I'm so grateful that there is still a dedicated band of brothers making this sim - a game whose only goal is to create as true to life a representation of an era that we are all fascinated by. Filling out claim forms that often go nowhere, choosing to actually degrade the visuals by slapping on a greasy pair of scratched up virtual goggles... the things we do to feel a little more in touch with the source material lol :screwy: But how refreshing is it in our era of drip-fed content, buggy day one launches and their subsequent 80+ GB "patches," we still have a relic of the golden age of gaming: an offline, dynamic, immersive, remarkable flight sim that takes you as you are, doesn't shove DLC in your face, or ask you to upgrade to the super premium deluxe edition, or micro-transaction you to death for loot boxes and cosmetics. When the team has the next leap ready, it's there for you to buy, one and done - complete with several planes, and dozens of improvements. This is a rare space these days. And one, that, as I sat and stared at my monitor, for a AAA game to tell me that my input is so valuable that I'm in a queue of players longer than several cities I've lived in... I was happy to close the window and send you all a note instead. So thank you - for your passion, your dedication to accuracy (reading the exchanges between OvS, Graf, Elephant, and JFM have been a favorite reading pastime for me this summer), the gorgeous screen shots and just how much we love this odd little corner of the gaming / internet world we inhabit. It's still a pleasure to be along for the ride, all these years later. Cheers gents!

USN trial aircraft camouflage during the Vietnam War applied to the F-8

'Shake rattle and roll,' "Beep Beep!"

How about let him figure out the stuff before requesting it? Kinda let him build a team, get the tools and such. I know people are excited and such, but let's not get too excited and see if he can deliver first.

View File SF2 A-7P Corsair II (TMF) FAP Pack SF2 A-7P Corsair II (TMF) FAP Pack 8/4/2025 -For SF2, Any and All (Full 5 Merged Suggested) This is a rebuild of TMF's A-7A Corsair II to the A-7P versions as used by the Portuguese Air Force's No. 302 Squadron "Falcons". This, like the Real Life (tm) version, uses the "A" body upgraded with "E" bits. This includes the cockpit and avionics. That is to say, I've (re)used the TMF A-7E cockpit and avionics for this mod. If, for whatever reason, you dislike the TMF cockpit, I've provided the inis and instructions herein to switch over to the stock 3W A-7E_78 cockpit and avionics inis. So, you'll need whichever SF2 game version gave us the A-7E_78 (disremember which one) This mod is set up and labeled to cause =NO= conflicts with the 3rdWire DLC A-7P, as this carries a unique name (see below). Skins remain in their original bmp format, in their original size and resolution. All markings are decals. Decal Randomization is TRUE. The skin is provided with 18 historically correct serial number decals. The necessary items provided are drop tanks and pilot seat. Weapons used are all stock in-game items. If I missed anything, PLEASE let me know and I'll try to get it fixed. . The canopy operates with the Standard Animations Keystroke (tm), Shift/0 (zero). The wing fold is operated by Shift/9 (nine). The refueling probe operates with the Shift/3 (three) keystroke. When in-game, on the Aircraft Selection Drop down you'll see: A-7P Corsair II (TMF) So you can't mistake it for anything other than what it is. This will also differentialize THIS one from the Third Wire DLC, if you happen to have it. As always fairly easy to follow, yet detailed install instructions are included. So, please read them. The original readme is included. The 'Change Log' is, of course, in the Notes section below. Good Hunting & Happy Landings! Wrench Kevin Stein For Oli Submitter Wrench Submitted 08/04/2025 Category A-7  

Hun. Waiting for the next mission.

I had this one in my phone before I came to the UK, so this is my first unofficial comeback lol

The LASUR indicator not only shows the flightpath to intercept the target. Left of the indicator you have 3 lamps which shows the distance to target in kilometers. The "x" lamp on the right signals the order to finish the interception and break away. The lamps above and below have something to do with target position and the use of the weapons. There should be a signal lamp to give the order to attack the target and a second lamp which gives the order to activate the radar. With this informations it was possible to bring a MiG-21 into a perfect fire position without to warn the RWR of the enemy plane.

Hello everyone! I’ve been grinding for hours to make sense of these massive codebases, and I have an idea! I’m building a huge resource library with lists of class references and the functions handling strings. These will help us zero in on specific functions in Ghidra. Check out the examples: Avionics 60 Class List Avionics String List I’m working through each DLL, generating text files for all of them. It will take some time, but once done, I’ll start a new thread called "Advanced Modding" with the resource library. Eagle114th

Hello everyone! With the disassembled and decompiled codes, being revealed as of an assemble language and C pseudocode at the same time it display the functions and classes that are being functioned as intended, along with public and private variables. Please note that SF2, along with DLL files, are written in C++ languages, according to CFF explorer. However, what makes disassembled / decompiled codes challenging, unlike Source codes is that, there is no named classes, functions, and variables as the coders would do in the source codes. Therefore, we would have to study the codes to understand the targeted or intentions of the codes, based on each DLLs it is written inside. That means, by understanding what the codes does, we can theorize what each functions do. The beauty of the Ghidra is that, it allows us to rename any functions and variables, making it understandable when we look at them. At the same time, if we want to modify, remove, or add, we can only write them in C codes, while maintaining the computability with the original C++ codes of SF2 DLL files. This is another challenges. Finally, one more thing, another challenges is to find the functions that handles what we seek for, such as .lini files handling, as well SF2 engine. Because there are public and private classes / variables. So for public, they can be directly found by using search for the key words. For private functions / variables, they won't be found. So to find them, we would must manually find them. There are various ways to do it. But good news is that, with python scripts, it can automatically search for the key words for you if you can make the scripts! I was lucky enough to land the goldmine (key words of functions and variables). AI have taught me that, when looking in to DLL, start by looking at initDLL, which means initialization DLL. From there, functions can be traced toward where the specific class is likely to be found. I am studying on how to use python script to let Ghidra find for me instead, saving tons of unnecessary time consuming tasks. To conclude this post, I believe that, by finding the disassembled / decompiled is a small, yet big leaps toward modding DLL files. For now, I am taking a break from intense researches and exploring the dll files using ghidra. I still want to focus on SF - CAP (Avionics overhaul) mod projects too! So I decide to do SF - CAP for a week, then do Ghidra and DLL exploring / experimenting for a week, back and fort. What I would like to do before doing anything to the DLL Files is to extract the information from each DLL, such as avionics radar / hud / tv display, cockpit (gunsight), and other aspect of SF2 names list. That way we can have full reference list for .ini modding. Eagle114th

"Tower, this is Ghostrider, requesting a flyby!" "Negative, Ghostrider! .... WTF!!!!!" BTW. If you are looking for "Super" on this screenshot: The Super Etendard are on board of the argentinian carrier.

It is astonishing how good our old, twenty years old game, can be on a good computer. When it starts we were happy with texture files in the size of 256x256 pixel for the plane skins or for terrain tiles. Today we have 1024x1024 or even 2048x2048 pixel skins and with a modern computer the game runs better and faster then in it's starting times 20 years ago.

I'll try to walk you through this. 1. Download all four parts of the file. I put them on my desktop so it's easy for you to see, but you could put these files anywhere you want as long as they are in the same folder (directory) on a drive. 2. Make sure you have the latest version of 7zip installed. Go to https://www.7zip.com/ and download what you need. Install or update as necessary. 3. Make sure you have all the required Thirdwire Strikefighters 2 games installed and patched correctly. 4. Go to the directory where you put the downloads. For this instruction set they are on my desktop, I can move the install files after I've installed the mod. Right click the main file ODS_30AE.zip and choose to Extract to "ODS_30AE\" ** NOTE ** My right click menus look like Win7 on a Win11 machine because I hated the new right click menus in Win11. Your Windows will not look the same as mine but should function the same. 5. You should now get a new folder called "ODS_30AE" in your directory or desktop like my example. 6. Double left click that folder to open it. You will get a view of the contents in the file explorer window. 7. Right click the ODS_30AE.ISO file. From the menu that appears you can you do two things. Mount the ISO which we will do in this example or Burn the ISO to a CD like we used to do in the old days. 8. Select "Mount" and you will see that your computer mounts the ISO just like it's a new drive on your computer. For me it appears as new DVD Drive (F:) Operation Desert Storm 9. Double left click the "installer.exe" and follow the onscreen instructions. 10. When you're done installing you will need to unmount the file. Open the file explorer window where you double clicked the installer.exe file. On the left right click "DVD Drive (F): Operation Desert Storm" and chose "Eject" 11. Now you can move the files anywhere you want for safekeeping. **Note we did nothing with the files ODS_30AE.z01, ODS_30AE.z02, ODS_30AE.z03. The installer needs those files but you don't need to do anything with them other than have them in the directory where the main download file is. I'm sure someone will do this differently than I do and if I need to update my instructions I can, just let me know. Be nice I'm not much of a computer guy. And just as I finish this tutorial you got it to work. Glad you were part of the 95% and the installer is fine, which I suspected. E

Vought F-8E Crusader - 'Blue Angels', United States Navy, 1966

or call it the curse of the threes.... my desktop is having issues where it crashes. or more specifically it goes blank screens then the fans speed up to a super high rate and i gotta chop power and kill it. talked to the folks that built it. was gonna get on with a tech rep this morning and swap wires. but then i lost the wifi card after another crash. and dont exactly have a 12FT CAT5 cable to run to the router this on top of the system not recognizing the cooler, even though it is cooling the cpu. yes, its a fancy water cooled deal with a monitor that should let me play what ever video i want rather than scrolling "TRYX" all day long. although that is the least major issue thankfully, the folks at xidax are taking it back to fix it up. also thankfully i have a laptop for backup (what im typing this on). but i'm without my main system for about a month. extra frustrating when i just bought it in May. third major VA disabilty bump, third system from them still love em to death, but this one has been the worst experience of hte three