Mr_Tayto

Clearly it's a "Rock the Casbah" reference I'd like my 1000 points coverted into skill points for bombing, please

Also, it's not Friday anymore but I forgot to share this:

Up to 22 kills now. A couple of "lucky" sorties where the VPAF were totally overwhelmed by the alpha strike and their meagre defence was pointless. And the missiles worked! Also one or two where I was fragged to bomb something, but on the way feet wet I hear the immortal call "requesting assistance!" The pictured mission was all the way into Pack 5, with an egress over every working SAM and AAA site east of Moscow, south east along the Laos border before feet wet just north of Vinh. I lost count at 9 SA-2 calls, but luckily this bird is a '67 variant (upgraded 2 missions ago) with a RHAW and chaff. Landed with the dispensers empty, fuel state 2, the target destroyed and (mostly) clean underwear...

Thanks MB. I found the setting and have set to max 60 - will let you know how it goes. I didn't have the option for VS Adaptive (RTX4070).

One of the first campaign mods I installed was the Falklands mod, and I agree the Sea Harrier is great to fly. If only I could figure out how to land the thing...

It's always done it over Hanoi when there's a lot of AA and SAMs firing. I don't get frame drops on anything else, including ray traced AAA games

Hi all, as the title suggests I'm experiencing low frame rates when the game is busy, e.g. over Hanoi. I assume this is due to the number of assets being rendered. The thing is, I shouldn't have any problems, my PC runs MSFS at 100fps, and current AAA games no problem, so I guess this is an issue with how the game allocates memory. It has always happened to me but notably in tonight's session where I restarted the machine (due to the game not recognising my keyboard), and had no other programs running, and especially not Chrome. Is there some kind of "fix" for this, if it's a known problem?

Awesome @Gepard, thanks for the info. I imagine it wasn't advanced enough (in terms of technology) for the US to be too worried about the Soviets getting a hold of them. Neat little plane though.

I need to do a campaign in the A-7, I've liked the plane ever since watching them on TV in Desert Storm. This is another one I'd like to try, such a cool looking aircraft and felt omnipresent on TV shows and films in the 80s and 90s, from Top Gun and Apocalypse Now onwards. The one I quoted, is it in (presumably post-reunification) VPAF colours? I read about VPAF pilots stealing A-37s from liberated airbases and using them in the fall of Saigon, I didn't know the SVAF had them too?

When I started playing this game I wasn't prepared for the sheer joy of dials switches it has since given me. I grew up on Microprose sims on Atari ST; F-19, F-16 Fighting Falcon, Gunship etc. Almost universally they had glass cockpits, I guess because with the resolutions of the time it was hard to render needles and dials. Same with early radars; games back then either had "modern" radars with TWS as standard, or were WW2 sims with no radars. That the developer focused on 60s-80s aircraft in SF2 is its greatest strength. Not only do we have some iconic thoroughbred jets to play with, but he was able to make a sim where airmanship really mattered. Learning your gauges is as important when flying a new aircraft as is knowing its flight envelope. As an aside, I love that he modelled missiles accurately as well, if it was possible to have a guaranteed hit every time, in the absence of chaff and flares, the game would be way too easy, especially the Vietnam theatre. With all this in mind, the aircraft it's taken me longest to start flying is the F-4. Unaerodynamic, heavy, even ugly, it's a plane that frightened me a little. I decided a month or so back I might as well try it... and I LOVE it. I can't even explain why, really. It might be the climb rate, it might be the speed (she's fast with engine on minimal settings), but she's hard to trap on deck, turns like a tanker and with tanks and ordnance may as well be a 747. All this in mind I love her anyway, and feel powerful flying her in a way I don't in the A-4 or even the F-105 (otherwise a strong contender for favourite). The F-4 isn't invulnerable by any stretch of the imagination, but it's the plane I most feel like I can get out of a sticky situation. So what's your favourite (and why?)

Sorry to ask in a screenshot thread, but all of these modded in planes, like the B1 and the late model B52s; do they have campaigns? Or even missions? If not how are you playing with them? I especially wonder about the transports, because there's no mission type in the game that covers (fly A > B). Anyway, I'm not flying these, but here's a BUFF I snapped months ago at the start of Rolling Thunder, plastering a target in Vinh.

My only previous experience in game development was over 20 years ago, and it was in historical research and direction; I worked on the very first iteration of the Red Orchestra mod. I have no skills in actual modding beyond installing mods into this game (which is difficult enough for me!

Survived long enough to get a paintjob...

Count me in. Vietnam feels to me like the last generation of aircraft that were really seat-of-the-pants; they had the performance but had analogue dials everywhere, simple radar, rubbish missiles, dumb bombs, dive bombing, SAMs being new and AAA still ruling the battlespace up to 30000ft... The last generation before FBW, glass cockpits and BVR engagements. I love reading and learning about all aspects of the Vietnam war anyway, but the air war is particularly interesting to me. You couldn't have a story like Leo Thorsness', or Robin Olds Gunfighters nowadays.

I guess this is why the MiG-17 was always tucked up in bed at sundown! Second mission as a carrierborne F-4 pilot and boy, are those AIM-9Ds an upgrade! Forgot to say... I trapped her first time, in the dark too Those boats really need landing lights

Early war Phantoms, pre- and post-repaint. My first mission (shot 1) was an escort of BUFFs striking a target in Pack 2. Nothing happened except me getting a few nice close-up shots of them.

Love me Thuds

Right enough, thanks. I have finally downloaded it tonight; can it be used in the campaigns? Do I have to select from the list at Campaign start?

Thanks, but I realise this - I cannot find it, however.

Thanks for this (and you @OlWilly). The extractor readme talks about finding the install directory path; I assume this is not the Mod Folder? Or is it?

Hi all, I came across this post in the Knowledge Base which I think might come in useful for me. I'm looking to increase the gunsight depression for rockets on the F-105, and this seems to be the answer (short of a clickable cockpit). I can see from the F-105D.ini, that it points to a file called F-105D_cockpit.ini, but I can't find that file anywhere. Being relatively new to the game, I'm looking for some advice. I HAVE had a look in the KB, but it's fair to say I don't know what I'm looking for exactly. I also find the search function of this forum simply doesn't work for me - again, probably because I don't know how to use it properly. TIA

I'll have a dig around, thanks.

I downloaded ODS during the week, I've been so excited to play it with Desert Storm being the first "TV war" I lived through while I was at school. I've been desperate to fly a Buccaneer in a sim my whole life, too. Firstly, what a step-up from SF2:V; not in terms of the aircraft necessarily (after all the Bucc is a contemporary of my favoured Thud), but in terms of the battlespace and enemy defences. While I got used to the cockpit of the Bucc fairly quickly, the lack of a radar display was strange - is this important and if so, how can I view it? Also, while I wasn't expecting a CCIP, am I to assume that (dumb) bombing is conducted the same way? I've had zero experience of LGBs in this game so far. My first mission in the Bucc was to bomb a barracks with a mix of laser-guided and dumb bombs - in pitch black. I didn't have a clue about the LGB employment and missed. How should I be setting up a run for LGBs? I had the objective targeted as normal, so I could order the wingman, but it didn't seem to matter. Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks, mate!