deacon211

Hey guys, Forgive me if the answer to this is obvious (the search function has proven vexing to me) but is there an A-4E and E (65) skin available for VMA-211? Of course, there is one in game, but it doesn't have any of the squadron markings on it. I have seen a screenshot of a very nice skin, but can't seem to find it in the files section. Thanks for the help! Deacon

Great! Looking forward to flying with the Avengers through the war.

Hehe, message received. That looks awesome. Thanks for all your help! In general, can I drop these skins into all the Skyhawk folders, like the modded A-4 (65), (67) etc? I believe it's the same model, just with the hump or some ECM added. Thanks again! Deacon

Hehe, there are worse problems to have than too many good add ons...

Thanks Wrench, You know, I don't think I have seen any Wildcats for SF2 outside of in all inclusive mods...I'm actually a fairly recent convert to SF2. I just had too much loaded up into SF1 to make the switch for a long time! Deacon

Great links! That modeling link was where I got the decal from. Makes me want to build a model!

Just for giggles...211 over the years. WWII through Korea... VN - mid '70s... Modern... Oh, I found this from a decal sheet. In some VN shots, I've seen a pretty crudely stenciled insignia on the side of 211 birds. It looks a lot like this, though it's no where as pretty as the later "hero" paints

Sorry, my earlier picture dropped out... Both of these borrowed from the internet And a better pic of the lion plunging on the side. Interestingly, for a pretty long period in the squadron's history, the lion started to look like a Chinese lion, and then eventually something of a dog. I was always told that was because the guys who made the patches and plaques in Iwakuni Japan and Okinawa had no clear idea what a lion looked like and kind of made up their own rendition. It was only later that the lion once again became...a lion.

Awesome Wrench! Thanks for your assistance. Hopefully, other Scooter drivers will get some use from the skin. In doing a little research, 211 conducted four deployments to VN and was pretty much a permanent resident in Chu Lai. Dec 1965 - Jul 1966 - - - - Chu Lai, South Vietnam Oct 1966 - Sep1967 - - - - - - Chu Lai, South Vietnam Dec 1967 - Feb1970 - - - - - - Chu Lai, South Vietnam May 1972 - Jan 1973 - - - - Bien Hoa, South Vietnam They were also one of the last American units in VN. I found this quote interesting... "April 30th, 2012 marks the 37th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, and next month wll mark the 40th anniversary of the deployment of VMA-211 & 311 to Bien Hoa AB, 20 miles NW of Saigon...They were A-4 Skyhawk squadrons that had been deployed from MCAS Iwakuni on 17 May 1972, along with detachments from MAG-12 (Fwd) and H&MS-12 (Fwd)...These Marines flew hundreds of combat missions during both Operation Linebacker I & II, and they didn't re-deploy back to Iwakuni until 29 Jan 1973. Because these Marines were not part of Task Force Delta, we didn't read or hear too much about them, but their contribution towards ending the conflict was no less important than any of us who served with TFD in Nam Phong,Thailand, and was problably even more stressful, as they were operating in the midst of battle in South Vietnam the whole time. It was kind of unique how the Air Force got the Marine air crews combat certified with the region...All of our A-4 pilots had to first fly the right hand seat in the Cessna A-37 Dragonfly ("Mosquito Bombers") with a USAF pilot flying out of Bien Hoa...Once they were "snapped in" and certified by the Air Force, then our guys began flying combat missions in their own A-4 Skyhawks. Except for the Marine security detachment at the US Embassy, the Marines from these MAG-12 squadrons were the last Marines to leave Vietnam. ...courtesy of Jim Mackin"

I don't believe that the codes were carried on the USMC birds. This is actually one of the better sets of shots, though it's a little post Nam I believe and a model... http://www.modellversium.de/galerie/8-flugzeuge-modern/9389-mcdonnell-douglas-a-4m-skyhawk-hasegawa.html Here's another that I think would be more properly in Chu Lai at some point... Thanks Wrench, you're a man god! Deacon Here's another...no wing view though.

Wow, man. I appreciate the offer, but don't worry about me, rest your MK-1s! If you get around to it when you are a full up round again, I'd love to get my old squadron skin, but there could not be less of a hurry. Hope you feel better hardcharger! Deacon

OK, I think I'm onto the trail. Found the SF1 to SF2 conversion thread. So, I take it that the entire folder are the decals. I found this line... "Position=7.3,-0.40" So I adjust one of these numbers until the textures look right? How do I get the textures on both the A-4E and A-4E(65)? By just dropping the decals into BOTH aircraft folders? Thanks Wrench!

Thanks Wrench. Is that in an aircraft config file? I literally haven't done anything with SF2 other than adding mods and I was a pretty novice modder in SF1. I'd need to find a basic guide and go from there unless it's very obvious. Will need to search around. Thanks, Deacon

Yes, that's the one I had loaded from before. I'm not sure if moving decals is beyond me or not though. The only thing I've ever skinned...was my knee.

Hey gang, After seeing some of Beach's killer after action reports, decided to try SF2 after a long respite from SF1. I purchased SF2V and installed the Vietnam Air/Ground expansion, which seems to run fine (as far as I can tell) with Green Hell and the Tree mod. So, I decided to try the Skunkworks WWII Pacific mods. I purchased SF2 and SF2NA (I understand that this is not a FULL merged install, but that it was sufficient for this mod).The issue I'm having here however, is that even after installing the mods via the PDF which entail creating a copied SF2NA exe and ini and changing the ini to point to the Campaigns folder in the newly created mod directory, the exe valiantly attempts to initialize with the new mod screen, but then fails and points to the default SF2NA menu screen and locks up upon clicking any menu option. Is there some step I'm missing to get the exe in your SF2 folder to look at the mods folder for its data. I think I have done everything in the readme, but clearly don't understand how the mod system fully works in this sim. Any help you could give would be much appreciated! Deacon

Hey, finally got it working with the help of Capun. Here's what helped me for those that might have the same issue. Somehow, my SSD and mechanical hard drive developed some sort of conflict, so I had to point the exe to the proper options.ini...I understand that this is not normally the case. Posted with Capun's permission and changed terms to more closely match the WW2 PDF install document: 1- Go to the folder with the executable program StrikeFighters2 WW2Pacific.exe 2- Create a StrikeFighters2 WW2Pacific.ini file from the SF2-NA version. (MY EDIT: This was probably already created during the mod install process) 3- Modify the ini file, options section: [Options] OptionsFile=Options-WW2Pacific.ini 4- Create a C:\Users\MyName\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2 WW2Pacific (MY EDIT: This was probably already created during the mod install process) 5- Inside that folder copy and modify the stock Options.ini file and rename it Options-WW2Pacific.ini 6- Modify the ini file Mods and Screenshots section to point to the actual mod folder [Mods] ModsEnabled=TRUE Directory=C:\Users\MyName\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2 WW2Pacific Editors=StrikeFighters2 [screenShots] Directory=C:\Users\MyName\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2 WW2Pacific\ScreenShots Format=JPG 7- Go to the actual mod folder, C:\Users\MyName\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2 WW2Pacific 8- Copy the Options-WW2Pacific.ini from step 2. (MY EDIT: When I went through the process, steps 7 and 8 weren't necessary as the renamed options.ini is already there...you merely must rename the ini as in step 5 and change the entries in step 6). Don't know if this helps anyone but wanted to post it here for Captain Google to point to. :-) Deacon

Interesting! I never would have thought of that.

Well, just a guess but, I'd say it was because they were a defensive air force. The reason planes are painted orange in general is to help spot one when they are downed (e.g. US Naval Air Training Command aircraft are traditionally painted orange and white....though USAF Air Training Command planes are not). Thus, if an Air Defense aircraft was shot down, it would presumably be within the borders of friendly territory. By the same token, I recall that USAF F-106 pilots wore orange flight suits for many years to facilitate rescue. Just a thought. Deacon