Baltika

Oh yeah, 1000km x 1000km, no upscaling for this one to keep the rugged mountains as accurately modelled as possible, so TK's usual 66% RL scaling applies. Even so, this neck of the woods is plenty big enough to fly around in

Progress update. . . Tiling work mostly complete, some corrections as I go along. About 40% through flattening airfields. Let myself go and bought TK's F-14A skinpack DLC - fits right in to this scenario CAP over Orumiyeh lake, Northwestern Iran, near to the border with Turkey:- Lining up for final approach to TAB1 Mehrabad International, Tehran:- Getting there, slowly but surely

Hi there, I recommend you try out these excellent add-on cockpits by Stary:- MiG-15, MiG-15bis & MiG-17:- http://combatace.com/files/file/12684-mig-15-mig-15-bis-mig-17-simplified-cockpit/ MiG-17PF/PFU:- http://combatace.com/files/file/12852-mig-17-pfpfu-cockpit/ Great work by Stary, they will get you started flying for Red Side Prost! Baltika

Try the new thirdwire web-based updater/installer from the link here:- http://www.thirdwire.com/downloads.htm You will need the email address and download password you used to download the manual game installers. The web-installer is a snap for downloading all of your purchased games, EPs and DLCs to the latest patch standards.

Looking at all the great WW2 terrains which Edward, Gepard and stwa have created, I realised there was a gap to fill - which happily coincides with my current interest in the early air war in the PTO. In flyable beta phase. Most of the cities in Malaya are added, need to finish the airfields before uploading. "2 weeks"

Or Tweakers Anonymous United. . . Well, I have been kicking about here from the good old days of SFP1, when patches only came along once every couple of years. Man, how we bitched to get the old campaigns working when version 083006 came out, and yes, I am still patiently waiting for SF2:Operation Tainted Cigar - throw me a bone here guys And for a long time I was running hardware which frankly couldn't run the 08 level patches properly - we are talking 15 FPS on average, with frequent dips into single digits. But, you know, none of that mattered, 'cos I could tweak stuff, fiddle around to get an extra FPS or two, or perceived a marginal improvement, and anyhow I had campaign and terrain mods to finish, so, actually running missions was a bonus. Then, last summer, I got myself a proper modern gaming rig, so, I thought, I would be in SF2 nirvana, right? Well, not really, I have spent over a year tweaking, fiddling, testing, trying to sort a framerate hiccup on comms playback glitch. From 200+ FPS to freeze, to 4FPS, what's been going on? In every mission, on every detail setting, and, on every nvidia setting I could think of. No dice. Bandit calls, Red Crown, Wingmen soundbites - hiccup. Darn! I have changed vid card drivers, changed soundcard drivers, gone from onboard Realtek cr*p to Creative soundcard cr*p, all the while cursing, tweaking, cursing, tweaking and keeping on coming back. Well, all that has changed. On a hunch I tried an old WoX trick, and installed my combined main game folder (SF2; V; E; I; NA; EP1; EP2) to a 16GB Corsair USB Pen Drive. Guess what? It worked. Stutter gone. Hiccups gone. Running at an average 59-60 FPS (limited by my TFT panel with vsync enabled) with occasional drops to the mid 30s, unnoticeable unless I have the frmaerate counter running. I have run CAS missions, intercept, battlegoup strike missions, IcelandNA terrain, all the same. Fluid, beautiful, uninterrupted gameplay. At last, I can play SF2, with no stutters, no hiccups, just missile spoofing, ground-run-strafing, MiG-killing fun. I should be having fun, but you know what? I just d/led DCS World 1.2.0, running around in their free to play Su-25. The terrain stutters a bit when I pan around. It's bugging me a bit. Even though the switchology is a pain to learn, the canned missions are boring, and it's all so Russian, I want it to run right. Without hiccups or glitches. Play some SF2? It's running great now. Well, yeah, but I gotta research HDDs. I think I need to fit faster one. To get DCS running right. I mean, I won't play it that much, but, you know, I need something to tweak. . . AAAAaaaargh!!!

Hi all, Thanks for the suggestions. I am reading up on HDDs and SSDs now. The SF2 issue seems to be that the disk is accessed on the fly to load up the sound files for the various voice comms. This is causing a hiccup on playback, except when I have my main game install on the Corsair stick. i see the stick activity light flashing when comms play, but the in-game-stutter doesn't happen. So I reckon it is a speed of data access issue, pointing to my HDD combination. Good question, I have no idea what the answer is. I will try to find out. The computer is set up to use the 64 Gb Kingston SSD as a cache drive for the HDD, using Intel's Rapid Storage/Smart Response Technology. This is supposed to cache all frequently used files on the SSD to speed up access, and improve overall system performance, but instead I am getting this glitch. If I find time I can try to switch that off (maybe not if I need to reinstall windows) to see if that technology is causing the issue. The SSD and HDD are set up in a RAID 0 config, with the driver set to "Enhanced" acceleration. I think I can easily switch that over to "Maximised" mode to see if that helps any.

Hi Jedi, here's the rub: My new (-ish, now last year's model) rig:- Intel Core i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz (Sandy Bridge) 16.0 Gb RAM 64-bit Win 7 HP Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 1.5Gb Creative Soundblaster Audigy Samsung 2TB HD204UI HDD - 3Gb/s 5400RPM 32MB cache Kingston 64GB SSD (in cache mode for HDD) The weak link looks to me like the HDD, which turns out to be the Samsung Spinpoint F4EG EcoGreen Version. Not exactly as advertised by the vendor, who claimed a 7200RPM model, but that will teach me to buy off the shelf. So I am eyeing up a Western Digital 1TB VelociRaptor SATA 6Gb/s 64MB 10K 3.5" Hard Drive to put all my flightsims on Meantime, my Corsair USB stick is taking up the slack Slainthe! Baltika

Well, I have this old, old wip on my HDD:- http://combatace.com/topic/46880-kurile-islands-campaign-remember-usnf-97/ Check out posts #11 - #15 for planning map/screens. Development stalled after Kamchatka terrain preview release, then my old school Iceland terrain took priority, but if there's interrest I can dig it up out of the vaults. . . It will take a long time to get it to releasable state, don't all hold your breath

Yup, like Gepard says - and after all, he is the terrain guru of all terrain gurus - thanks for those TE tutorials, mate, without which none of this would exist Bear in mind the purpose of this terrain. North Cape carrier campaign, like in Janes F/A-18. For that scenario, everything south of the Kola Peninsula is a bonus. Finland and Sweden are only there because TE makes square maps. Like I said for my old UK terrain, it is what it is. If you want something different, check out Gepard's terrain tutorials in the SFP1 KB, and get to grips with TE. If I can do it, anyone can

Yes, this is a very old map from my early days experimenting with TE, before I got the hang of re-sizing the heightmap bmp to fix projection issues and create full-sized maps. The north/south axis projection is squashed on this map. It was only ever intended as a bit of fun to let me fly over Scotland, so take it for what it is. Anyway, I have set up a water map and got SF2NA carrier operations working - for some reason the Kiev Battle Group likes to lurk around in the Irish Sea, goodness knows how they got in there I need a couple of days to tidy up the targetisation a bit and I upload it as a bit of fun for SF2. @Snapper, good work on bringing this up from the vaults. You can use the NEUTRAL alignment to remove those airfields you don't want for single missions, but I reckon your best bet would be to set up a campaign file with the various squadrons stationed at their home bases. That way, the Russians might still try to take out London or whatever, and you can be tasked with intercepting. Slainthe! Baltika

OK, looks like I'm going to have to take some time off work. . . I have an updated version of this old SFP1 terrain sitting on my HDD with corrected coastlines, fixed runway placements and sundry other targetisation upgrades. I'll need a bit of time to sort out the SF2NA level naval engagement stuff, then I can fire it up in the SF2 section. Slainthe Baltika

Just tested North Cape using my SF2NA exe, patched to May 2012 with all other games installed - works fine Here's the planning map of North Cape to let you know the full extent of the terrain:- And yes, those fjords were darn hard to tile - most of the Norwegian coastline was done by hand, but if you spot a stray sea mountain, just let me know Needs an update to use all the SF2NA naval stuff, one of these days I'll complete my original intention for this terrain, which was to re-create the Janes F/A-18A North Cape carrier campaign for Strike Fighters. One day . . . Slainthe Baltika

I have no idea, I'm just advising on the SF2 campaign_data.ini entries. This is a campaign for SF2E with the NF4+ pack installed, yes? The above example is taken from the Wings Over Afrika WW2 total conversion mod for WoE, for which I built several WW2 North Africa campaigns using the WoE engine.

Hi KB, great campaign idea Ace pilots are added in the campaign_data.ini file, to whichever air unit you want them to appear in. Here's the format:- // Jagdgeschwader 53 'Pik As' [AirUnit088] AircraftType=Bf109G6 Squadron=I/JG53 StartDate=02/11/1943 ForceID=2 Nation=Nazi Germany DefaultTexture=Camo StartNumber=0 BaseArea=Bizerte Airfield RandomChance=100 MissionRate=1.0 MaxAircraft=36 StartAircraft=27 MaxPilots=36 StartPilots=27 Experience=100 Morale=100 Supply=60 UpgradeType=NEVER MissionChance[sWEEP]=90 MissionChance[CAP]=90 MissionChance[iNTERCEPT]=90 MissionChance[ESCORT]=90 MissionChance=0 MissionChance[CAS]=30 MissionChance[sEAD]=0 MissionChance[ARMED_RECON]=30 MissionChance[ANTI_SHIP]=0 MissionChance[RECON]=0 Supply[001].WeaponType=20mm Cannon Pod Supply[001].Quantity=120 Supply[002].WeaponType=Sc-250 Supply[002].Quantity=240 Supply[003].WeaponType=Tank300_Bf109G Supply[003].Quantity=120 KnownAce[01].LastName=Freiherr von Maltzahn KnownAce[01].FirstName=Günther KnownAce[01].RankID=5 KnownAce[01].NumMissions=200 KnownAce[01].AirKills=68 KnownAce[01].AircraftNumber=1 KnownAce[02].LastName=Schiess KnownAce[02].FirstName=Franz KnownAce[02].RankID=1 KnownAce[02].NumMissions=200 KnownAce[02].AirKills=67 KnownAce[02].AircraftNumber=8 KnownAce[03].LastName=Müller KnownAce[03].FirstName=Friedrich-Karl "Tutti" KnownAce[03].RankID=3 KnownAce[03].NumMissions=600 KnownAce[03].AirKills=140 KnownAce[03].AircraftNumber=4 Make sure you have AllowRandomAceCreation=FALSE under the [FORCEXXX] header, also in the campaign_data.ini. The names_german.lst file just contains lots of german names from which the game will create the pilot roster for your flyable squadron. Slainthe, Baltika

Hi all, just checking in, great to see CA back up and running again, nice to be home And congrats, Przemek,good luck with your latest project

File Name: Burning Sands 1944 v1.0 File Submitter: Baltika File Submitted: 14 March 2007 File Category: User Made Campaigns Burning Sands 1944 v1.0 A fictional WW2 Campaign for Strike Fighters Project One by baltika ***************************************************************************************************************************** This is a mod of the stock Burning Sands campaign to take advantage of the many excellent WW2 MTO planes and skins which have been produced by individuals more talented than me. It is entirely fictional. Please note that this download includes the campaign files only. 3rd party planes, skins and ground objects, and a couple of other essential mods, will require separate download. Full list below. But let's face it, if you're reading this you've already got them all anyway. Hell, you've probably got a dedicated MTO install you can drop this right into. My thanks to all devs and modders whose work has inspired this campaign. See Credits. ***************************************************************************************************************************** CAMPAIGN CONTENT: FLYABLE SQUADRONS:- RAF 213 Sqdn RAF - Hurricane 2C 601 Sqdn RAF - Spitfire 5BL 252 Sqdn RAF - Beaufighter Mk1 274 Sqdn RAF - Hurricane 2D 145 Sqdn RAF - Spitfire 8C 114 Sqdn RAF - Boston RAAF 3 Sqdn RAAF - Curtiss P-40E (Kittyhawk) Luftwaffe I./JG26 Bf-109E (Emil) V./JG77 Bf-109G10 I./ZG26 Bf-110E (Zerstorer) I./JG52 Fw190 I./JG77 Me-262A (Schwalbe) II./KG26 He-111H6 I./SchG2 Hs129B3 I./StG2 Ju 87B (Stuka) I./JG300 FW-190A-8/R2 (Wurger) DESERT TERRAIN CHANGES:- -No more concrete runways. All airfields replaced with the desert airstrip, for a more WW2 look. -Desert airstrip re-classified as MEDIUM_RUNWAY to allow some of the bigger birds to take off. -Sam sites, radars, trucks and so on replaced with WW2 equivalents. But ground object placement is a frustrating and time-consuming business so more work is required here. For now, all AAA sites are active in 1944, and most of the airstrips will have a few WW2 vehicles around, including mobile AA units which will fire at you if you get low enough. You have been warned! USER INTERFACE:- -Squadron specific intro, victory and defeat screens to add atmosphere. Please see Credits section for a full list of the modders whose work is featured in these screenshots. Thanks to everyone involved. If your name has been omitted, it is in error and I apologise. Please contact me and I will rectify the situation. ***************************************************************************************************************************** * * * HEALTH WARNING * * * INSTALLATION OF THIS MOD WILL OVERWRITE THE FOLLOWING FILES, WHICH WILL BREAK THE STOCK BURNING SANDS CAMPAIGN AND ANY OTHER MODS WHICH RELY ON THESE FILES. BACKUP THESE FILES BEFORE INSTALLATION SO YOU CAN RESTORE THEM IF NECESSARY. Strike Fighters/PilotData/SquadronList.ini Strike Fighters/Terrain/Desert/DESERT_NATIONS.INI Strike Fighters/Terrain/Desert/DESERT_TARGETS.INI Strike Fighters/Terrain/Desert/DESERT_TYPES.INI AGAIN, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! BACKUP THOSE FILES! Or, make a fresh install to run this campaign. Having a dedicated MTO install will probably make life easier. If you have that, you're not going to use it to run stock Burning Sands anyway. Those of you who know what you are doing can copy my squadron list on to the end of the existing squadron list, if you already have a modded SquadronList.ini. You will have to renumber the squadrons. I have simply added more (WW2) target types onto the end of those listed in DESERT_TYPES.INI, so that shouldn't cause any problem at all. ***************************************************************************************************************************** REQUIRED FILES:- ************** AIRCRAFT:- ******** Hurricane 2C - SFP1 Dev A-team Spitfire 5BL - SFP1 Dev A-team Beaufighter Mk1 - SFP1 Dev A-team Hurricane 2D - SFP1 Dev A-team Spitfire 8C - SFP1 Dev A-team Boston - SFP1 Dev A-team P-40E - SFP1 Dev A-team Bf-110E - SFP1 Dev A-team Me-262A - SFP1 Dev A-team He-111H6 - SFP1 Dev A-team Hs129B3 - SFP1 Dev A-team Bf-109E - RussoUK2004 Ju 87B - Pasko, virtual pit by Kesselbrut FW-190A-8/R2 (Wurger) - howling1's mod of WOLF257's FW-190 All the above available at combatace in the WW2 aircraft section. A-team planes also available at Skunkworks website, http://cplengineeringllc.com/SFP1/ - Registration required for both sites. Fw190 - WOLF257 Bf-109G10 - WOLF257 EDIT:- WOLF has generously re-issued his planes as the WW2 plane pack, available here at CombatAce. At present only the 2 listed above are required. A major expansion to this campaign is in the works to utilise the many American birds now available. Cheers to WOLF for the re-release. COCKPITS:- ******** Kesselbrut's excellent Bf-109E virtual pit http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autom...p;showfile=3235 SKINS:- ***** 213 Sqdn Hurri 2C - The Wrench 145 Sqdn Spitfire Mk8 - The Wrench Bf-109G10 MTO JG53 - The Wrench Bf-109G10 MTO JG77 - The Wrench Fw190 MTO JG2 - The Wrench FW190 MTO JG52 - The Wrench ME-262 MTO JG 77 - The Wrench Some of The Wrench's skins available at combatace. Best to stop off at his site first though, as not all are. Get them here:- http://wrench1smog.com/index.html Bf-109E MTO theme - mrcraig He111H6 IIKG26 - allenjb42 Both of the above available at combatace. Please note, if you are using the Wurger instead of the Fw190, The Wrench's Fw190 MTO skins will work perfectly well on the Wurger, as it is a mod of WOLF's original Fw190. GROUND OBJECTS:- ************** WWII Ground Object Packs 1 & 2 - George (Geo) http://www.geos-aircraft.com/SFObjects.htm KpfPzIII_Pack - Kesselbrut http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autom...p;showfile=2682 WW2 AAA units - BoforsFlak, FlakAchtAcht, Tommyflak37, Vierlingsflak - Created by Kesselbrut I'm not sure where these can be downloaded seperately. However, if you have downloaded Gepard's excellent Battle of Britain terrain v 1.3, you will have these objects. If you don't have the BoB terrain, this is your excuse to download it from combatace. Otherwise AA fire is going to be thin on the ground in this campaign. OTHER ESSENTIAL DOWNLOADS:- ************************* Bunyap's Weapons pack (latest version) http://www.bunyap2w1.com/ WW2 Formations mod - Charles EDIT http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/CharlesEAW/sfpage.html Whew! Still with me? OK then, onwards to- ***************************************************************************************************************************** INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS 1. Install Strike Fighters Project One 2. Patch up to v 083006 3. Install the latest weapons pack. 4. Delete all stock aircraft 5. Install the aircraft, skins and ground objects listed above. For detailed instructions on how to do this, see the readme file for each individual item. For the AA units from the BoB terrain, simply copy their folders from the SFP1/Objects/Groundobject folder to the the same folder of your new install. 6. Install Charles' WW2 formations mod. 7. Copy the Burning Sands 1944 mod files to the relevant folder of your new install. The simplest thing is to retain the file structure and copy the unpacked files over. Items in the Campaigns, Menu, Objects, PilotData and Terrain folders go into those same folders in your new install. When asked to overwrite existing files, say "Yes" each time. YOU DID BACK UP THOSE FILES LISTED ABOVE, DIDN'T YOU? 8. That's it. Burning Sands 1944 should now be available at the campaign menu. Happy hunting! ***************************************************************************************************************************** KNOWN ISSUES 1. Some of the third party planes use the "_" character in the name of their install folder when unzipped, e.g. Bf_110E, He_111H6, Me_262A, P_40E. For some reason, my set up refuses to recognise those planes as installed when that character is present. I have all those planes installed in the following format: Strike Fighters/Objects/Aircraft/Bf-110E, Strike Fighters/Objects/Aircraft/He-111H6 and so on (Me-262A, P-40E). I have used that format in the BS1944_data.ini file, so if you find that the campaign does not allow you to select those planes, check that you have installed those planes with the same naming format. If they are different, either change each air unit entry in the BS1944_data.ini file to match the install folder for each plane, or change the name of the plane's install folder to the format used in the BS1944_data.ini file. 2. WOLF257's planes are not currently available for download. If you don't have them, use the alternative BS1944_data.ini file provided. 3. Skins. I have used the "DefaultTexture=" flag for each unit (in the BS1944_data.ini file) to try to ensure all planes use the appropriate MTO skin. Sometimes planes still show up in ETO skins. I have no idea why. If you are having skin problems, check that the "DefaultTexture=" for each squadron specifies the skin folder in the aircraft folder correctly. Or you could create a specific MTO install where the only skin in each plane's folder is an MTO skin - hint, hint. Otherwise, answers on a postcard to. . . 4. Loadouts. If you are having trouble saddling up with the appropriate tank-busting gear or whatever, check that the "AttachmentType=" flag in the Weapon Stations section of the appropriate aircraft_DATA.ini file is specified properly. Bunyap's site has updated DATA.ini files for many aircraft so they work with the latest weapons pack. Or just set it like this, "AttachmentType=UK,USAF,USN" (without the quotes) for the Allies and all will be well. Purists run screaming for the hills at this point. For Luftwaffe the setting is "AttachmentType=Nazi Germany" On the subject of loadouts, if (like me) you want to fly CAS campaign missions in the Hurri 2C (and what else would you do with a wingful of rockets?), go to the Strike Fighters/Objects/Aircraft/Hurricane2C/Hurricane2C_DATA.ini file, and add CAS to the "PrimaryRoles=" flag under [MissionData] near the top of the file. My apologies to the A-team. My excuse is that this is a fictional campaign. 5. I know that the RAAF squadron has to be selected from the RAF list. My apologies to our Australian cousins. Apparently the current build of the campaign engine has trouble with the ground war if more than two forces are defined. Take solace in the fact that the Poms can't cope without you. 6. If you have any other problems, questions, suggestions or constructive criticism, I can be contacted at Combatace, SimHQ, column5.us and the Thirdwire forums. I can't promise to solve your issue, but talking helps. 7. Now, if only someone would make an MTO skin for the Hawker Typhoon. . . ;-) Cheers, baltika ***************************************************************************************************************************** CREDITS This campaign is my way of saying thanks to all the modders who have created so many great WW2 planes to enhance the community's enjoyment of this great series of sims. Without all their hard work in producing a wealth of additional planes, skins, ground objects, terrains, weather mods, and all the rest, this mod would, quite simply, not exist. My thanks to all concerned, and indeed the wider SFP1/WOV/WOE/FE community in general who have provided so much information about how this whole bag of nuts and bolts works. And, of course, thanks to TK and Thirdwire for creating SFP1/WOV/WOE/FE in the first place. I have included a number of screenshots which feature the work of various devs and modders, and I would like to thank them for their contribution:- The SFP1 Dev A-team (Capun, Gramps, Charles, Kesselbrut and The Wrench) - Planes and skins too numerous to mention. 12 out of the 16 aircraft featured in this campaign. The Wrench (Kevin Stein) - Skins (see full list above) & inspiration. Kevin kicked this off with his Cold War Gone Hot: 1946 suggestion. Pasko - Stuka Ju 87B (Skins by Gramps) Polak - WW2 Ground objects, Sky mod WOLF257 - Bf-109G10 and Fw190 Deuces - weapons, effects Kesselbrut/Geo - WW2 Ground objects Cellinsky - Weather Mod Thanks to everyone. If your work is featured and I have not credited you, please accept my apology. Let me know & I will add you to the list. Happy Hunting, baltika ***************************************************************************************************************************** DISCLAIMER AND LEGAL STUFF Use these files at your own risk. They have been tested, but I accept no responsibility for loss of data, damage to hardware, or trashing of your heavily modded SFP1 install. Heed the health warning or else! This campaign is distributed as freeware. Feel free to mod it to your heart's content, so long as you give credit where it's due. You are not permitted to attempt to make any money out of it. Or are you so low that you would feed your grandmother to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal for only five altarian dollars? (Douglas Adams, of course. See what I mean about credit where it's due?) ***************************************************************************************************************************** Click here to download this file

Great work, merci beacoup indeed Capitaine Nice to see work still being done for the old BoB campaign after all these years

Great work Many thanks to everyone involved

Night Carrier ops, HMS Ark Royal and F-4K, somewhere off Iceland. . .

Congrats

Hi Kout, I have to say, all my old SFP1/WoX installs used your UI mods. . . I am loving your new work for SF2:NA Cheers Mate

well, this is certainly the most interesting manifestation of OCD I have ever seen