Baltika

Thanks to the CA staff for setting up this EAW section, got my interest in the old girl re-kindled, now I'm having a blast flying the new build. Now, for my question: I have the dreaded 7127 on any version but the 1.28B, but some of the campaigns I have tried are not compatible with that build. Sadly, Desert Air War 1.1 just CTDs in 1.28, and is unflyable on my system on the older builds because of UI/interface/settings issues due to 7127 error etc. So, really I have 2 questions. Any way to get DAW 1.1 running on exe 1.28? What campaigns are designed for exe 1.28? I already have the Mod Squad's BoB, great work to all concerned. S! Baltika

Hi Brain32, good to hear from you As you know, you got me started on all this tiling stuff, waaay back in the early days of my Iceland terrain, so I'm glad I could come up with something useful in return :yes: Cheers mate

Urgh. . . Took this for a spin out of interest (been a long time) and the first thing I find is a whacking great runway parked in the sea. First thing to do on d/l is to find the targetarea entry for NAS North Island and delete all the [Targetxxx] entries. Shucks, it's why it's an alpha release

Glad you got it working, looking forward to trying it out

Thanks for the interest, everyone. For Wrench and wpnssgt in particular, but really whoever fancies it, here is a link for the unsupported, as-is, no-money back, use-at-your-own-risk alpha release. No point in wasting CA bandwith on something which is in the very early stages of development, but as this is a long way down my list of WIPs, I can't see it being advanced much any time soon. What you get is a new terrain HFD build for full-scale California, with an enhanced version of the tileset which shipped with the old, original SCAL terrain (by Dave, Edward and others, I think). There is a full, expanded Texturelist.ini which may be of interest to terrain builders. There are also the early wip hi-res terrain tiles featured above, plus Alcatraz and Treasue Island, just for fun. There is a massively expanded targetlist, based on Wrench's SCAl upgrades. There are lots of runways, but there has been no, nil, nada terrain flattening, so select runway take offs at your own risk. Some work because they are in naturally flat areas. There are no sea .tga tiles for activated water effects, so don't waste a lot of time trying to get it to work, it ain't there. Such targetising as has been done is purely of the cut and paste variety, and is more or less entirely lifted from Wrench's upgrades. What there is, is a fully transitioned tileset. (Although I think salt flat can only transition to desert). Also, the tiling is completed on this version, I ain't gonna be moving the tiles around none. They are where they are gonna be (unless there are glaring individual tile errors to be fixed). There is a working frontline, and a working movement.ini for all the usual mission types. So, it is flyable, for a bit of fun and sightseeing. Any feedback, comments, requests greatly appreciated. My to-do list on this terrain is:- Airfield flattening, final runway placement and headings to be set; Completion of .tga tiles for water textures; Creation of .TOD tiles for skyscrapers, trees, bushes, farm buildings etc etc; Photoreal NAS North Island, plus a few others of note (Area 51, oh yeah ); Creation of custom airfield.ini files for the photoreal runways, plus maybe some basic runway textures so they don't look so blurry when you're sitting on them; Terrain targetisation (aargh!). PLus no doubt various bits and pieces I cant think of right now. But, as I say, this one is a long way down the list. My NZ terrain is closest to "official" release, and that Iceland terrain tileset is something I dearly want to finish and release. Kuril islands and North Cape are close behind NZ. Then there is all that WW2 stuff. So this one is really just for fun right now. Cheers all, Baltika Link to alpha release:- http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W31945U2

I must admit, it was reading your Top Gun/Red Flag thread that prompted me to post these screenies. Really, the ground covered here is more or less the same as that in Wrench's SCal upgrades. ATM, my targets.ini is set up the same way, positing a "Global Sedition" invasion and occupation of SCal itself, but it would be easy enough to change the Aligments for full US occupation of the US. If you like, I can send the alpha over to you "as is" for a nose around, maybe with a view to developing this for general release. Likewise, @Wrench

Thanks for the comments, all Wrench, praise indeed, cheers mate. The baseline was original Scal terrain, plus the enhanced targetlist scavenged from your SCal upgrades. The tileset is a mix of that one (by Edward?) plus a stack more transition tiles based on that set (my favourite bugbear, not enough transition tiles in the stock sets). From that I created an entirely new .HFD in TE, stretched to full-scale in gimp. The pale sand/salt lake tiles are whipped up by me, from Google Earth colouring of Death Valley and the surrounding area, as is the salt flat airstrip (just a standard airbase ini file plonked on top). All the hi-res stuff is Google Earth imagery, cut, pasted, painted over a bit to blend in. I have improved El Centro tiles with the colour saturation matched to the surrounding fields a bit better, but no time to take a snapshot. As for the Tatooine-style moisture evaporators, they are again Google Earth images of the North Nevada Nuclear Test Facility, whatever those stacks/piles/bunkers are, blended in to my desert tiles. I suspect they blew up a lot of warheads underneath them in the 50s or something. What I would like to know is, how to make a HM .bmp file to give them the proper pointy shape? As for placement, it's a combination of GE, msn atlas, and my ever-trusty Phillips Universal Atlas of the World. And far too much time squinting at the screen when I should be actually finishing a terrain project or two As for status, this is at alpha stage only, no airfield flattening or target placement done at all, other than some airfields of the cut n paste variety. Also, although the core tileset is completed, I have not made up the .tga files, so no water effects (yet). And the hi-res runways are workable, but really blurry down low. They only look good from altitude. Call it more of a proof-of-concept. But, as with all my stuff, I'll keep plodding away with it as and when time permits, and when the mood takes me. Cheers all, Baltika

Yet another terrain WIP. One day. . . Top secret(!) USAF WMD facility. . . Heading on to the nearby Death Valley for some speed trials. . . Way down south near Mexico, NAF El Centro. . . Finally heading off for some well-earned shore leave, I'll have a pint and a shot, barman. . . Here's the whole shebang. . . Full-scale California, started way back when we were looking to fix the seamountains on Dave's original SCal terrain. Of course, since then, Wrench "The Machine" has churned out about three different and increasingly good versions of SCal, plus all the tons of other stuff he does. But I thought this may be of interest to terrain builders. TE and the sim engine can handle individual high-res terrain tiles right alongside low-res standard tiles. Scale your transitions right, and the whole thing fits together. Maybe we can't do photoreal terrain. . . but we can get close, in selected areas anyways. Tally-ho! Baltika Edit: Get the alpha release here:- http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W31945U2

Great work Veltro, I must say I am really looking forward to this one

WoE, WoV, SFP1/SFG, FE. Don't have WoI, haven't taken the plunge into SF2 series, yet. (Waiting new rig, then, the whole lot, from the start )

Hmmm. . . One more thing, try changing the NormalMissionRateDeviation= and OffensiveMissionRateDeviation= values to 0. I think these should be set to a number smaller than the number you have entered in the NormalMissionRate= and OffensiveMissionRate= flags. Otherwise, you could end up with a NormalMissionRate or OffensiveMissionRate of 0, or even less than 0 (a negative value) and that might cause the game to choke. Scratching my head now

Just a few suggestions:- 1. What are the alignments of "SOVIET" and "Afghanistan" in your NATIONS.INI? You may want to match the alignments under your [FORCE001] and [FORCE002] entries. 2. Double check spellings of BaseArea= flags. That sort of error was my most common source of CTD in campaign building - you set an air or ground unit to an airbase/targetarea/strategic node which does not exist in the targets.ini (or, for nodes, defined in the campaign_data.ini. 3. I see you have BaseArea=Bagram under [FORCE001] but your strategic nodes have it defined as [strategicNode001] BaseArea=Bagram Airbase. Change the strategic node to BaseArea=Bagram. The campaign engine seems to treat airfields differently from non-airfield target areas, and I have found it is better NOT to use airfield targetareas as strategic nodes. 4. Maybe the engine is choking because there are no afghan air units. I appreciate this is historically correct, but maybe the game engine needs an enemy air force? 5. Frontline. I have found this the most troublesome part of campaign building. I seem to remember TK posting over on the TW boards that the frontline needs to extend all the way from one side of the map to the other (either horizontally or vertically). I have also found that the more points there are on the frontline, the better the game seems to cope. Good luck! Cheers, Baltika

Sure thing, I will continue to post updates as and when they are completed. Cheers, Baltika

Hi Dave, I would consider it a great honour if my little terrain project were to be included in the mighty NF series. In fact, I have been reading up on 57th FIS, the Iceland Defence Force, Operation Nordic Shield, and of course, the Soviet Operation Polar Glory, with a view to writing up a couple of campaigns to go with the terrain. Having said that, the problem is the "To do" list. - Transition tiles are almost complete, I only have about 24 (!) still to make. - I have to make all the necessary sea tile .tga files (36 at present count, plus some new ones to come) - There are only 6 working airfields in my current build, none are flattened/tiled properly yet. There are a stack more to place, flatten, and test-drive. - There are no target areas created to speak of (some waypoints, that's all) - No terrain targetisation work has been done at all. I am wanting to finish the tileset first, so I can place my targets on a completed terrain. - No .TOD file work done yet. Admittedly not much required, given the lack of forests on Iceland, but I want to have a few buildings/trees on the farm tiles, and buildings on my coastal town tiles. - No real city tiles created, or obviously any city transition tiles. Only really an issue for Reykjavik, but, that is a whole new tile type to be added. I am not Brain32, and I just can't get the Icelandic city tiles I do have to look like anything other than bits of cities cut & pasted from Google Earth, with obvious "seams" at each tile edge. - Lots of seam work to be done on existing tile types. Up close, you can see the joins. My skilfully taken WIP screenies tend to hide this effect Prognosis:- I have made leaps and bounds since my original, now somewhat embarrassingly amateurish v0.1 beta I posted up here many, many months ago. But development time on this is running into years already, with still plenty to be done. And, as I am extremely happy to report, there are now 2 mini-Baltikas running around, my daughter aged 2 yrs 6 months and son aged 3 months. As you know, that limits the gaming/modding/beer drinking time just a bit Not that I would have it any other way. So, the upshot is I just don't have a realistic timescale for completion. But, I am certainly open to suggestion on how to take this forward at more of an increased pace. At your service, sir

Hi there, TK is on record as saying that the SF2/SF2:V/SF2:E/and SF2:I series are simply updated versions of the SFP1/WoV/WoE/WoI series, with native compatibility for Vista, upgraded cockpits, improved 3d models, improved shader support etc etc. Also, the SF2 series have an improved file structure which make modding a whole lot simpler. Add to that, that patch support/updates/new releases are geared towards the SF2 series, there is really no contest. So, SF2 series is the way to go. The makers of the Desert Storm mod have said it will be updated for SF2 series, same thing with a lot of existing mods. It may take a little time, but most folks will update their stuff for SF2 sooner or later. Welcome aboard, have fun

Thanks for suggestions How could I forget bobrock's superlative AV-8Bplus It is in now NP to throw in an F-22 squadron for the Raptor junkies, or an F-35 for that matter. I realise I have missed out a few Red side planes, SU-33, Yak-141 Freestyle, SU-39. They can go into the mix too. "Blue" Russian units are en route. . .

Broken my intentions already. Progress update:- Campaign Files (Air War only) completed. Here's the backstory:- Kamchatka Peninsula, Far East, 2010 The discovery of a vast oilfield in the Sea of Okhotsk brings the promise of great wealth and prosperity to this remote region. The largely non-Russian population is vocal in pressing for independence. These claims are flatly denied by the Kremlin, which refuses to allow the disintegration of the Russian Federation and the loss of the massive mineral wealth and strategic importance of the area. The situation is brought to crisis point when the Far East Military District Generals unilaterally declare independence from Moscow, and claim sovereignty over the Eastern Russian Empire. With military resources stretched to breaking point, and having suffered the mutiny of the entire Eastern Command, Moscow thinks the unthinkable and seeks United States military assistance in stabilising the region. America is reluctant to be drawn into a bloody Russian civil war, but when Japan takes advantage of the situation by occupying the long-disputed southern Kuril Islands, the Eastern Russian Generals order an all-out offensive to maintain the borders of their new Empire. With the blessing of the UN and Moscow, the President orders USFJ Command to protect civilian lives, destroy enemy air assets, and comply with treaty obligations by assisting in the defence of Japan. . . Air war features all USN (CVW-5), USAF (44th & 67th FS (F-15C); 13th & 14th FS (F-16C Blk 50)), and USMC (VMFA(AW)-242 "Bats") units stationed in the area. All JASDF units are flyable. Red Side consists of the air units of: 11th VVS & PVO Army (Far East Military District), flying SU-24M, SU-35 (too good to miss out), MiG-31M, SU-27; the Russian Naval Aviation Units of Pacific Ocean Fleet, flying TU-22K and TU-95M (as stand-ins for TU-22M3 and TU-142), plus 387 IAP flying TMF's MiG-29C_rus. Still to be done:- Airfield flattening and alignment Adding selected air units of 14th VVS & PVO Army (Siberian Military District) Adding ground war Basic terrain targetisation (sorry Wrench, this won't be pretty, but it will work) Fine-tuning front line for disputed Southern Kuril Islands Adding terrain_movement routes for all mission types Adding more Russian airbases on Sakhalin Adding more Japanese cities Adding Naval Bases for all forces What won't make the first cut:- Anything to do with China, North or South Korea. Sorry, but I had to draw the line there as I want to keep this manageable on a short timescale. Cheers for now, Baltika

Hi all, @ pureblue, you are most welcome to use anything I can put together if it helps. I have based my new transition tiles on Deuce's old WoE repaint, so unfortunately they may be of limited use if you are using Stary's 4 seasons WoE. I confess I have not even addressed the issue of new .TODs, so, I will have to take a look at that. I found that creation of the transition textures is not too time-consuming once you get into the swing of it. I combine existing textures in paint.NET, then paint over and merge them a bit in gimp to give them a proper blended and unique look to aid variety. I worked them up for my NZ and Northern Europe terrain wips, which have a while to go before release - NZ is most advanced, but targetising the terrain is slow work done manually. So, as I needed a break from my more detailed projects, and as a vehicle to get the enhanced tileset/texturelist out, and to help out with this project if I can, I have spent a little time in TE with this:- Before I hear everyone say, "Oh no, not another map wip from Baltika that will never see the light of day!" - probably justifiably - let me make my intention clear. I will work up about a half dozen or so airbases and cities for each of the main players (Japan, Russia, China, and maybe about the same for N & S Korea) then set up the front line and a couple of movement routines so each of the mission types are covered. Then, I will post this up as a flyable beta for development by whoever fancies a crack at it. I will include the expanded texturelist I posted above, the new tiles and .tgas I mentioned, and the CityList so it can be taken further in TE. If I have time I will add a little mini-campaign as a sort of template. Timescale, well, "two weeks" of course, but I hope I can make this a quick fix to fill a gap and maybe give folks somewhere fun to fly around in. Cheers for now, Baltika

Hi Wrench, Just as a reminder, here's my old Japan build:- Looking to the WW2 invasion of Japan thread, it seems MKSheppard has taken things much further map-wise. But, if what you're after is more of a subset of his large map, pretty much what you posted at #2 in this thread, I can shift my map North amd East to cover it, and fire it up as a beta flyable with a couple of airbases and cities on each side, to be taken further as and when time permits. I can included my expanded tileset to aid with transition tile woes as well. If that's useful, say the word, and I'll crank it out P.S. Just checked my NZ texturelist. Stock Germany has 123 tiles. Here are the additional ones, following the same naming convention:- Filename124=GERMANYA-JR.bmp Filename125=GERMANYA-JS.bmp Filename126=GERMANYA-RJ.bmp Filename127=GERMANYA-RS.bmp Filename128=GERMANYA-SJ.bmp Filename129=GERMANYA-SR.bmp Filename130=GERMANYC-GS.bmp Filename131=GERMANYC-RS.bmp Filename132=GERMANYC-SG.bmp Filename133=GERMANYC-SR.bmp Filename134=GERMANYG-CS.bmp Filename135=GERMANYG-SC.bmp Filename136=GERMANYG-SR.bmp Filename137=GERMANYG-RS.bmp Filename138=GERMANYJ-AR.bmp Filename139=GERMANYJ-AS.bmp Filename140=GERMANYJ-RA.bmp Filename141=GERMANYJ-RS.bmp Filename142=GERMANYJ-SA.bmp Filename143=GERMANYJ-SR.bmp Filename144=GERMANYRA25A.bmp Filename145=GERMANYRA50A.bmp Filename146=GERMANYRA75A.bmp Filename147=GERMANYR-AJ.bmp Filename148=GERMANYR-CS.bmp Filename149=GERMANYR-GS.bmp Filename150=GERMANYR-JA.bmp Filename151=GERMANYR-SC.bmp Filename152=GERMANYR-SG.bmp Filename153=GERMANYSA25A.bmp Filename154=GERMANYSA25B.bmp Filename155=GERMANYSA50A.bmp Filename156=GERMANYSA75A.bmp Filename157=GERMANYSJ25A.bmp Filename158=GERMANYSJ50A.bmp Filename159=GERMANYSJ75A.bmp Filename160=GERMANYS-AJ.bmp Filename161=GERMANYS-AR.bmp Filename162=GERMANYS-CR.bmp Filename163=GERMANYS-JA.bmp Filename164=GERMANYS-JR.bmp Filename165=GERMANYS-RA.bmp Filename166=GERMANYS-RC.bmp Filename167=GERMANYS-RJ.bmp

Wrench, How much of that map area do you want? I can crank out a basic .hfd pretty quickly, as you know I had started a Japanese home islands map but didn't take it very far, too much other stuff on my plate, and your upgraded Okinawa map works for what I want to do anyway. So, if all you're needing is a basic terrain build, I can do that NP. I should also say, that as part of work on my NZ/Northern Europe/North Cape maps, which I am progressing, I have built a stack of additional transition tiles for the Germany_CE tileset, mainly city to sea, but also mountain to sea, forest to sea etc etc, with working alpha channel .tgas, which make autotiling with TE much easier for these island/mountainous terrains. I had been planning to upload them with my new terrains when they come out, but they could easily be included with a basic Kurile Islands build, for use by terrain builders. You have no idea how long I spent banging my head off a brick wall trying to get Iceland to tile properly, before I realised - the stock tileset just didn't have enough transition textures. So, the custom Iceland set I am working on covers just about every two- and three-way combination between every tile type. Cuts down hand tiling by a huge amount. So, give me a shout if I can help. Cheers, Steven (Baltika)

Glad hear it, happy flying

Thanks for the heads up on this, and cheers to geo for releasing this beauty

Good point, this needs an Operation: Icebreaker campaign to go with it Cheers mate Baltika

A few more WIP screenies. . . They don't call it Ice land for nothing Just make sure you don't eject without your survival kit

Thanks These are the low-res 256x256 summertime set, aka Iceland on Acid. The much more subdued, dare I say realistic, high-res set pictured earlier in this thread is still a long ways off completion. I am obviously still having some issues with seams and joins, but I am no texture artist, just a guy with paint.net and not enough time on my hands. Happily, I recently had a breakthrough with setting up the sea-tile alpha channel, making that process much quicker, so the whole tiling thing is being progressed again. Water effects are disabled in the above screenies, as none of those sea tiles have alpha channels applied (yet!). That's why the sea looks so black. The beaches are meant to be black, takes some getting used to. It's like flying over one of the moons of Saturn, what with the orange volcanic scree, green lakes and purple rocks. But it's all there in RL, trust me Watch this space, we are inching towards release with the speed of a melting glacier :yes: