Baltika

Detailed guide on how to enable Red-side flyable campaigns from existing campaigns at post #2 right here:- http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=31321 I strongly recommend you do NOT alter the Alignment= flag in air units or the campaign_data.ini file. "ENEMY" and "FRIENDLY" settings as used in Thirdwire are absolute values, not relative. All NATO and allied nations are defined as "FRIENDLY," whilst all WARPAC nations, SOVIET client states and NATO enemies are defined as "ENEMY." So, if you are flying Red side, you are flying for the "ENEMY" force. All "ENEMY" units are on the same side as you. The "FRIENDLY" force and all "FRIENDLY" air units are your enemies. It's like this:- In Thirdwire, FRIENDLY=NATO ENEMY=WARPAC. For a simple example of how to make a Red-side flyable campaign, d/l my "Red Wings Over Dhimar" campaign. There are much better Red-side flyable campaigns available, especially MK2's MiG Aces, Soviet Aces and VPAF Aces campaigns, and his Red Falcon add-on, and I heartily recommend them, but they are rather more complex. Good luck with the campaign building

Magnificent Thanks very much :yes:

Hmmm. . . I checked C5 and doubled checked by d/ling - C5 seems to have a -25B v1.0 12/3/04, a -25M v1.0 12/2/04 and a -25RV v1.0 12/3/04. This file has a readme which says v1.1 2004-03-12. If it is a duplicate, it may be of the -M, and according to this readme it is an update. What the actual difference is, I'm not sure. Also I am getting dead links on C5's -25B and -25RB (accessed from the homepage here at CA). I apologise if I am only causing confusion

1328 downloads and counting for Battle of Britain campaign pack, S! to all of those modders whose work is included :yes: The interest is there, it's just that putting together a WW2 install can be a bit of a job of work, these days. And whilst the recent flight engine upgrade has left a lot of our existing WW2 birds a bit "squirly" with their current FMs, it seems that TK has put all the building blocks in place to make the Thirdwire engine the best prop FM engine around, bar none. All we need is an FM guru with an interest to lock himself in an attic for 6 months and update all the WW2 birds to the current standard If only I had an attic Or six months to spare Or the remotest understanding of how to build a flight model

Great stuff I'm in Su-7 heaven :yes: (Couldn't resist )

Nice pack, thanks for working on these, and very timely as I have been working on adding the Yaks to my recent Red Wings campaign. Cheers mate

TK said that the only difference between the A and the B patch was that the B patch had the updated TerrainEngine.dll, so although the B patch won't install to a version updated with the A patch, to save all your mods just make a clean install somewhere safe, apply the B patch to it, and copy the WOX/System/TerrainEngine.dll over to your modded install. The man himself:- "You'll need to apply B patch to a unpatched version. The only file thats changed (besides some other very minor installer fix) should be TerrainEngine.DLL in game's system folder. So if you need to update already patched version, just apply the B patch on clean install somewhere, and copy and overwrite that file over. Again, sorry for all the confusion... TK" Hope that saves you a ton of work.

Hmmm. . . CA_Stary posted that as a mod to his own WW2 effects pack, so it may be something from that is needed. It's here in the d/l section at CA, effects mods section. http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...amp;showcat=310 I'm not sure what you would need to take from there, though, and I suppose you probably don't want to install the whole thing. Sorry I can't be of more help

Take a look at post #63 in this thread, from CA_Stary, of course http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showt...30473&st=60 Those are for his WW2 effects pack, but may be what you are looking for.

Nice work, thanks - goes straight into my Red-side flyable install, cheers

@FastCargo, I rushed home from work today to try out the very procedure you described. . . Too bad it doesn't work. But the lines must be there for some reason? Maybe it's something that simply hasn't been implemented yet. We will see what TK has up his sleeve :yes:

Just had a look at the NATIONS.INI file in /Flight folder, and there seems to be a flag which suits our purpose:- [Nation004] Name=USMC DisplayName=United States Marine Corps Alignment=FRIENDLY PilotNameList=NamesUSNMC.lst RankList=RanksUSMC.lst CallsignList=CallsignsUS.lst Formation.Fighter=USFighter Formation.Attack=USFighter Formation.Bomber=USBomber Formation.Transport=USBomber Formation.Tank=USTank Formation.MobileAD=USAD PilotTrainingStandard=EXCELLENT GenderRatio=0 DebriefSuccessMusic=DebriefSuccess.wav DebriefFailMusic=DebriefFail.wav DebriefKilledMusic=DebriefKilled.wav SpeechFile=USAFSpeech.cat <<<<-------------------- THIS ONE! SpeechTextFile=USAFSpeechText.cat Medals=MedalsUSN.ini MedalTextFile=MedalsUSN.str UseFAC=TRUE [Nation005] Name=Soviet DisplayName=Soviet Air Force Alignment=ENEMY PilotNameList=NamesRussian.lst RankList=RanksRussian.lst CallsignList=CallsignsUS.lst Formation.Fighter=SovietFighter Formation.Attack=SovietFighter Formation.Bomber=SovietBomber Formation.Transport=SovietBomber Formation.Tank=SovietTank Formation.MobileAD=SovietAD PilotTrainingStandard=NORMAL GenderRatio=0 DebriefSuccessMusic=DebriefSuccess.wav DebriefFailMusic=DebriefFail.wav DebriefKilledMusic=DebriefKilled.wav SpeechFile=USAFSpeech.cat <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<----- HERE IT IS AGAIN! SpeechTextFile=USAFSpeechText.str However, all the nations listed have that file set to USAFSpeech.cat, and I am not aware of any such .cat file existing in any version of the game. So perhaps this has not been activated?

Good suggestions, thanks

Gramps, Thanks for this one. Great mod, a lot of work involved, as I know from my BoB RAF Speech pack, it is appreciated. Cheers mate Baltika

Veltro. . . You are Da Man!!!! Oh yes :yes:

Nice work

Gorgeous model, gorgeous pit. . . I remember flying F-117 stealth missions in Jane's USAF, keep low, avoid the radar, hit the target, some of the most intense sim flying I have done. . . Marco, we'd love you to release this one :yes: Cheers mate And, yes, whilst I'm here, thanks for the Flanker :yes:

Hi pcpilot, Glad you're enjoying the add-on, and whilst as a Scot who got my first taste of real flight in an RAF Chipmunk trainer at school, and spent a fair whack of my teenage years square-bashing around RAF bases in Germany on Cadet Force "holidays" getting my arse kicked by the SAS, for the avoidance of doubt I am resolutely pro-West and pro-democracy, and hugely supportive of our men & women in the armed forces - although the damn politicians have a lot to answer for - I, too, have that "different" curiosity about flying Red side. The fact that, being as I am, more of WW2 prophead, yank and bank is more my style, so the early MiGs have that edge, helps as well :yes: But it really comes down to the fact that, in my personal dawn of PC gaming, I much preferred flying TIE Fighter to X-Wing. . . Perhaps I should change the Mainscreen.wav to the Imperial March from Empire Strikes Back - Da Da Daah Daah Da-Da Daah Da-Da Anyway, it is good advice to know thine enemy. I am still waiting to hear that Iceland HAVE accepted that Euro 4Bn bail-out offer from Moscow, and that as a quid-pro-quo the Soviet Air Force WILL be taking up residence at the former BIKF Keflavik NAS. . . . . . Which would add some some spice to those North Atlantic campaign scenarios I have in mind for when I finish Iceland terrain. But I am sure this is all getting too political To take a completely neutral gaming perspective, it seems to me to make sense to make both sides flyable where that is possible. I must say the response in terms of downloads has been more than I expected, so there must be an interest. To that end I am working on expanding the flyable types (MiG15bis, MiG15bisBS, Yak-25, Su-9A etc) and looking at some other existing campaigns for "conversion" - JSF_Aggie's Harrier campaign is so well put together it is crying out for a Red-side conversion, and the thought of "WARPAC Fighters" is irresistable (if only to see what C5 would say about it - well, he has signed up to the "fair use" agreement, so I guess I don't really need his permission to make his NATO Fighters campaigns Red-side flyable ) So, to that end, suggestions, requests, and comments on further "Red Wings" campaigns are most welcome - what do you want to fly, and where, and we'll see what we can whip up :yes: Cheers all, Baltika

Just for fun, a quick mod to my newly-updated SFG Oct 2008b install: With all due credit to the creators of the original Red Wings campaign, R. Lee “Banger” Sullivan Beta testing by Jeff "STORM" Stoermer Pilot-record screen by Joe “Badger” Younger Cheers guys, Wherever you are. New Red Wings campaign is ready to go, except for this issue:- http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5822 Any of you campaign building gurus come across that, or found a solution? Tally-ho! Baltika

Now approved and available in the campaign d/l section. Cheers Dave

Absolutely I have found a workaround for the issue re the camaign screens, which was no biggie anyway, so I am uploading the campaign mod as we speak. Capitalist oppressors beware

Bananimal, You are correct in saying that a small number of tiles are used over and over again in TE. It is possible to use Google Earth imagery to create new tiles, essentially what Brain32 has done with his various excellent repaints, but you are still stuck with your core tileset, and transition tiles between each main tile type. I think what you are asking about is true photoreal terrain, whereby the entre satellite scan imagery of, say, a whole country, is imported into the Thirdwire engine. Technically, that is possible - but you would have to make a separate tile for each 2km x 2km area and hand-tile each one into TE. That would take, probably, centuries The complete tileset in Germany_CE terrain consists of 123 different tiles, and that includes a lot of duplicates of "plain" tiles for roads and rivers. For my Iceland terrain WIP, I have 9 main tile types: TypeName001=A Sea TypeName002=B Grass TypeName003=C Volcanic TypeName004=K Cliff TypeName005=L Lava TypeName006=M Snow TypeName007=N Rock TypeName008=O High Rock TypeName009=P Glacier I also have a number of inland water tiles (lakes to those at the back of the class ) TypeName011=D Thingvallavatn TypeName012=E Oskjuvatn TypeName013=F Thorisvatn TypeName014=G Myvatn TypeName015=H Hvitarvatn TypeName016=I Hagongulon TypeName017=J Blondulon TypeName018=R Apavatn And then I have special category, which may interest you: TypeName010=Q Photoreal The problem is this: Each main tile type has to intersect with each of the others individually in 3 main ways, 25%, 50% and 75%. Then, TE enables each tile type to intersect in a three-way junction with all of the others, so you have 50% sea with 25% grass and 25% cliff, and so on for every main tile type you create, in every combination Stephen Hawking can think of. You don't have to be a mathematician to realise that the maximum number of possible combinations gets very large, very quickly. Each one has to be hand-blended to tile seamlessly with every other possible combination. It requires a lot of good source material, good imaging programs (I use a comination of PAINT.net AND gimp, both are free and between them cover what photoshop will do) and a lot of time. Now, TE allows you to specify parameters for auto tiling, so depending on your terrain you may never have to create a tile where lava flow meets glacier meets sea, or where city meets snow meets high rock - but with Iceland, pretty much everything mets everything else somewhere. As to that Q catgory - TE allows you to specify that some tiles will not be randomly placed, but you can hand-tile them after your basic terrain is built. I have 4-tile scan of BIRK REYKJAVIK airport (looks great from altitude, but too blurry to make a working runway on the ground - I have a workaround solution, I think) which I can hand place on the map - voila, photoreal airport - from altitude. And provided you blend those tiles in to match the surrounding "standard" tiles. Likewise, I define BIKF KEFLAVIK NAS as a runway in-game, but I have a four-tile scan of Njardhvikur, the neighbouring town, to place next to that runway as a photoreal "insert" to the terrain. Then, you add your city buildings to the .TOD file for those tiles and you are well on the way to making a realistic surrounding for your airfield. Well, that's the plan, anyway. My tileset currently has 155 tiles (cf Germany_CE) and I am not even close to completing all the cominations TE needs to make the terrain tile properly. I admire the elegance of Doghouse's ANW Winter thaw tileset (based on work by Deuces) which has 2 main tile types, and the three fractional combinations between them (25, 50 and 75 per cent) for a total of five tiles for the whole terrain - which is still one of the best looking terrain tilesets out there. So - true photoreal terrain is probably a practical impossibility. But it doesn't stop us trying

I love the Draken, I love the Jolly Rogers - put the two together - oh yeah :yes: It is crazy, but it works :yes: Great skin, cheers

Excellent work, looking forward to this one Consolidation gets my vote as I always found the different ANW sets confusing