Baltika

Hi Viper, Specific, step-by-step instructions at post #2 in this thread: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showt...&hl=baltika For side by side Red and Blue Force flyable campaigns for comparison purposes, I will make a shameless plug here and recommend you take a look at the files in my SoCal '84 Red Dawn and Red Force campaign d/l. Keep those Red-side flyable campaigns coming :yes:

Thanks for the headsup re Biggin Hill, snakeman Runways were flattened and placed from TE and I have not had time to test fly them all, but it is easy enough for me to fix a problem like the one you describe if someone brings it to my attention. Working on a 0.5 update hotfix to sort out a few things like that, plus some gross sea mountain effects round the coast of Ireland, plus some major improvements to target areas south of the border. Anyone else spot any strangeness, feel free to post it here and I will try to sort it out. Cheers all, Baltika

I have had a PM about a problem someone is having with their planes exploding on the runway whilst running UK terrain beta 0.4. I have been unable to re-create this issue on my set up, which is WoE patched to Oct 08 standard. Is anyone else who has d/l this terrain having this problem? Thanks for the feedback, Cheers, Baltika

Very simple. Install your WOx. Patch to latest version. Zip entire install folder somewhere safe. Unzip to your desired location under whatever folder name you care to choose. Make shortcut to the WOx .exe in your unzipped install folder. Drop the shortcut on your desktop. Mod the unzipped install in as many crazy ways you can find. Repeat unzip process for as many multiple installs as you need/want/can fit on every hard drive you can jam into your box Or, just copy and paste your entire install folder somewhere else, and make a new shortcut. It gets addictive very quick. . .

Hi shinobi, As I say a couple of posts above, the huge Baltic Sea terrain is still a WIP. There is a long way to go with that one - we are talking months. So, just the UK for now. Have fun Cheers, Baltika

Just a question of dropping capun an email and waiting for authorisation. May take a couple of days, but it is worth it.

Hi Canadair, The custom tiles are a straightforward blend of some of Deuce's existing tiles. The texture names are as follows: Filename124=GERMANYRA25A.bmp Filename125=GERMANYRA50A.bmp Filename126=GERMANYRA75A.bmp Filename127=GERMANYA-JR.bmp Filename128=GERMANYA-RJ.bmp Filename129=GERMANYJ-AR.bmp Filename130=GERMANYJ-RA.bmp Filename131=GERMANYR-AJ.bmp Filename132=GERMANYR-JA.bmp This is lifted straight from my custom texturelist for UK terrain (based on the stock WoE texturelist) and the new tiles follow the naming convention of the existing WoE tileset. I did mean to include the custom texturelist as part of the download (as it is essential for modders to run the UK terrain through the TE) but I guess I forgot to include it. I also meant to include my custom tiles in a separate folder for ease of reference, sorry. Here's the texturelist I used to create UK terrain v0.4: UK_TextureList.txt D/L that file, and re-name it "UK_TextureList.ini" without the quotation marks. Drop it into the Terrain/UK/Tileset folder and you will be good to go in TE. Note that the Tileset folder is NOT included as part of the d/l, read Gepard's terrain tutorials on how to set this up properly - basically you just copy the terrain .bmp files, and the terrain .tga tiles converted to .bmp format, in 256x256 size for use in TE, into the Tileset folder. As to the question of the feel of the terrain, well, that is a matter of personal taste. I too am a big fan of Gepard's BoB terrain. It uses a relatively limited number of tiles (based on the original SFP1 desert terrain naming convention) to achieve the desired effect. In setting up UK terrain, I wanted to use one of the stock tilesets, as those texturelists are provided with TE. The choice between desert, Vietnam_SEA, Germany_CE and Isreal (WOI) made selecting the Germany tileset the obvious choice. It would be relatively simple to copy & rename Gepard's BoB tiles to match the WoE tileset naming convention, and drop them into the UK terrain folder, but I leave that to the individual to do if they so wish. As I said above, I am working on a completely new tileset for Iceland, from scratch, and that is pretty well advanced, but it has taken a long time already and has a while to go, so I am not starting any new tiling projects for now. As to a practice range style UK terrain, I'm not entirely sure how to go about this but what you suggest seems like a good start. If you look at the "range" terrains available here by Wrench (from MajorLee's work, or is it Deuces?) you should be able to set up a friendly-only UK terrain without too much trouble. What I can promise for UK terrain is periodic terrain targeting upgrades (I am working through London and the major English cities to give them a facelift, with many more landmarks, target zones and so on), fixes for the more glaring "sea mountains" and coastal tile issues as I come across them, and at least one more RAF vs Soviets campaign - probably late 90's, to use bobrock's superlative Tornado F3 and Harrier mods, and of course the Mirage Factory's excellent Mig-29. And yes, that campaign will be Red-flyable as stock. So watch this space. Slainte, Baltika

OK, this has taken much longer than expected, but for those who missed it, here is the beta UK terrain: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...p;showfile=8548 The huge Baltic Sea terrain is still a WIP, but certainly is still being worked on. Meantime, you can go sightseeing round most of the UK RAF bases and fight off a Soviet invasion of England, if that tickles your fancy. Feedback most welcome. Slainte! Baltika

Glad you all like it, cheers Thanks for the kind words. As I say in the Read me, it is a beta, so there are issues to be ironed out. But if you spot any very weird stuff, let me know as this will be improved over time (maybe a long time, but hey ) Canadair, I agree, CA_stary's seasoned WoE tileset would go great with this. The UK terrain is based on the stock WoE tilset, so you can use any WoE tileset repaint. However, I have made a couple of custom transition tiles from Deuce's repaint, so any other WoE set would be missing those, which may look a bit odd. The stock WoE tileset has the bare minimum of transition tiles to make the stock Germany_CE work, which is fair enough, but for a terrain like the UK which is very hilly, mountainous, and with rugged coastlines, TE struggles to texture the thing properly without those additional transition tiles. Frankly, I would like more transition tiles, but after what has happened to my Iceland project I am not starting another full-blown tiling mod in a hurry. Also, as this is a beta (albeit much more advanced than my Iceland beta) I wanted to keep the d/l size to a minimum. Cheers all, Baltika

View File British Isles Terrain Beta 0.4 ************************************************** UK Terrain and Campaign by Baltika Beta v 0.4 For Wings over Europe Oct '08 patch ************************************************** Credits: Thanks to gepard for his terrain tutorials, without which this mod would not exist. Thanks to Deuces for his Enhanced WoE tileset. I have included this in terms of the CombatAce Fair Use agreement, as I understand Deuces has granted his permission for his older mods to be used in this way. Thanks to Wrench for leading the way in terrain target placement. ************************************************** Unzip the zip and copy the "UK" folder in to your terrain folder. The "RedBritain68" folder goes into your campaign folder. I have included two sets of terrain .ini files. You will find them in the UK/Soviet Invasion and UK/Celtic Wars folders. The default is the Soviet Invasion set, which has England defined as "ENEMY" and is required for the Red Britain 68 campaign to work. The Celtic Wars set has England defined as FRIENDLY, with the Celtic Nations as ENEMY. This is for use with ndicki's upcoming Celtic Wars mod, and should be regarded as a WIP. use at your own risk. In particular, you will require to add the various nations listed in this thread to your NATIONS.INI or you will likely get a CTD: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showt...38449&st=40 This terrain is a beta, so you will see some strangeness. You can report any particularly freaky stuff to me at CombatAce. It is set up for use with WoE, but you can use SFP1 and WoV if you change the CAT pointer line in the terrain .ini file. Slainte! Baltika March 2009 ************************************************** For the campaign to work, you will require to add the following mods: Files required for Red Britain '68: Soviet Invasion UK F-111K by FastCargo & team (@ C5) Lightning F.6 by Russ (@C5) Sea Vixen FAW 2 by P. Chandler http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...mp;showfile=885 Lightning Fmk6 by Russo http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...mp;showfile=736 Lightning skins by Sundowner http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...p;showfile=5959 http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...mp;showfile=992 http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...mp;showfile=985 Gloster Javelin by Veltro2k http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...p;showfile=8164 RAF Thunderchief FGA 1 by Spinners http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...p;showfile=7986 RAF Corsair GR.2 by Spinners http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...p;showfile=7049 RN Skyraider by Wrench http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...p;showfile=1938 Skyhawk FG2 by Guest http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...mp;showfile=554 ******************************************************* Submitter Baltika Submitted 03/30/2009 Category Terrains

Great Hawk skin

OK, confession time, terrain targeting lost a couple of hours tonight - feature creep, aarrgghh But I think it will be beneficial in the long run. The UK terrain will now ship with a campaign featuring the RAF & USAF vs a Soviet invasion of the UK. It is a simple .ini edit of the stock WOE '68 campaign to use the UK terrain, with some more interesting RAF birds added. The good guys are the RAF (with some help from Uncle Sam, happily extending his WW2 lend-lease arrangements with Old Blighty, dont'cha just love the capitalists ) flying from the "Celtic" side of the border. The Soviets have occupied the whole of England and expect soon to crush the remaining British resistance with little difficulty. They got another thing coming. . . Cue Judas Priest power chords and RAF Lightnings out of Leuchars screaming overhead Both sides still hope to win the conflict by conventional means: The Americans seeking to avoid a MAD scenario which would result in an ICBM tennis match with no winners, just smoking ruins of American (and Russian) cities. The Soviets are confident enough in their massed tank armies to hold off on the nuclear option unless NATO pulls the trigger first. So - the stage is set for The Battle of Britain II: Soviet Invasion UK :yes: ndicki, this will give you a template, if you want to use it, for your Celtic Wars campaign. You will have to switch Red/Blue Force over, and the various Celtic nations will require a more complex campaign.ini file to select each of the featured nations' flyable squadrons, but it will give you a working baseline as a reference tool, if nothing more. Tally-ho, Baltika

Great looking insignia there Personally, I'd go for the lion rampant for Scotland, and the St. George Cross for England, but that's down to personal taste I suppose. Looking forward to seeing them on my wings :yes: Cheers, Baltika

Hi all, @ndicki, Great additions to the NATIONS.INI, looking forward to flying them As for campaigns, the easiest way is to mod a stock campaign. That's how I started out, making little changes here and there and eventually building up. If you have any specific questions, fire away. @PACMAN, Hell, yes :yes: Thanks to Wrench unlocking the Stadium model from the hidden depths of a CAT file somewhere, everyone can have their own favourite football ground in game. If you fly around Edinburgh, Dublin, London and Cardiff, you may spot a familiar landmark or two Speaking of which, here's a couple of "money shots" to give you a flavour: I was contemplating starting a competition to see who could guess the view - then realised the debug HUD kind of gives it away. Anyway, hats off to Wrench for all his targetising work. That is one slow process. If I am to get a beta out, I may have to leave the other national capitals for people with more local knowledge. But you get the general idea. Cheers for now, Baltika

Well, I realised that Wales was getting a bit of a rough deal, so, courtesy of those wonderful learning tools, wikipedia and Google Earth, I have added: RAF Mona MOD St. Athan Welshpool Aerodrome RAF Haverfordwest That should provide plenty of Welsh airbases to be going on with. Lovely country to fly over, just watch out for your height on some of those final approaches OK, back to some targetising, then a little flying around, and this should be all set for a beta release. Still on track for the weekend.

Hi ndicki, ATM Wales has RAF Valley in the north and Cardiff Aerodrome in the south. I am happy to take suggestions for any more you would like to see on the map, as things are not yet finalised for the initial release. Slainte! Baltika

OK, I am done creating target areas for this version of the terrain. I could spend hours just adding stuff in (and already have ) but given I may go over to a new atlas projection for the next build I have to draw the line somewhere. Forgive me if your home town isn't featured (yet). Here's where it's at: There will, no doubt, be other stuff added before it goes up, but this is the final planning map. "Targetisation" will be somewhat generic (i.e. copied out of GermanyCE_Targets.ini ) but there are some surprises in there too. Just don't expect it to be on The Wrench's level (Kevin, we are not worthy ) And thanks to ndicki for kicking this whole thing off. I have a stack of TE/campaign mods at various stages of development, creeping along, and this has been a blast of fresh air. So cheers for that @Kopis, no harm in filling in the background on the genealogy of the British Isles. As a true Scot myself, I nonetheless have a queasy feeling flying over a virtual London as an attacker in this scenario. I've obviously spent too long defending the bloomin' place in BoB So, this is all in fun. I look on it as an extension of the Six Nations tournament (rugby, for those out of the loop). Competitive, but not to be taken too seriously, have a good bit of banter with the opposition, and sometimes the small guy can win the Grand Slam. Well done Ireland. Hmm. . . Maybe I have to put Twickenham in so I can drop bombs on the darn place (j/k)

All airbases from allen's list now included, as well as a stack for Eire and Scotland, plus a few surprises On track for a release by the weekend. Meantime, this should help get you in the mood:- Och aye

Hi all, Ultramax, a facility at Shannon is no problem. So far I am working from the list of active RAF bases allen posted. If I go down the path of adding all the civilian facilities in the UK, this map will never get released - feature creep is the worst enemy of most of my stuff right now. But for Eire, I will probably place airfields at most of the major airport sites, as otherwise they will be a bit short - I have just realised I have no idea if there is an Irish Air Force, or where their bases might be ndicki, Glad you like the look of it. You will notice it is a bit compressed in the North-South axis if you compare it to a good atlas projection. That is a function of TE at these latitudes - well, actually, it is because the DEM data is compressed in that way because of the curvature of the Earth. There is a workaround, but this was intended as a "quickie" and, like I said, I got carried away. If I go back to fix it now, I will have to re-place all the target areas and that will also probably stall the map meantime, and I am still aiming for a quick release. I had one of those "duh!" moments after I had posted the above screenshot. If I ever manage to finish my Baltic Sea / North Sea map, the projection will be much improved. Meantime, this is a good fun map to fly over, with lots of terrain differential, and is "close enough for government work," as they say. Great minds obviously think alike on the subject of the Nations.ini As to Cornwall, well, here's my current working Terrain Nations.ini file: [Theater] TheaterName=British Isles Location001=Alba Location002=Eire Location003=Cymru Location004=Kernow Location005=Mannin Location006=Breizh Location007=Sealtainn Location008=Orkneyjar Location009=Foeroyar Location010=Innse Gall Location011=Northern Ireland Location012=England I would have included Brittany (Breizh) if I had thought about this properly before placing a ridiculous number of cities. Sadly it is now behind "the wall" 80k from the edge of the map. Ho-hum. We will just have to assume that your scenario is correct, and that the National French government squashed any attempt at breakaway before it got off the ground. OTOH, the Celts have gained a few Viking allies in the far North :yes: And I assume, as good Celts, the Cornish (Kernow) would be keen to throw their forces into the struggle for freedom OK, I have quite a few airbases to place, then I will fire up a beta for playtesting. Targetising will be fairly generic, but it will give a good, playable, target-rich map to mess around with. Slainthe!

Hi ndicki, You will find that the SF campaigns are dynamic, and support moving frontlines. These are dependant on mission outcomes, and movement of the frontline is not scripted in the sense of moving at pre-defined times. It all depends how well you do in the air. As to defining territory, well, I got a bit carried away, but at least I'm making progress: The green dots are "FRIENDLY" territory, whilst red dots are "ENEMY." The frontline is defined in the terrain_movement.ini file, and winds all round the map points like a twisty turny snaky thing, but it works. I think for the beta terrain release, I will include two sets of ini files. The first for a cold war scenario as pictured above, where the red territory is held by the Soviets, and the RAF are fighting a desperate rearguard action from the airbases in the home nations other than England (and Northern Ireland). The second set of inis will be for use with your Celtic Wars scenario, in which the colours are reversed - all of England is held by blue force (which will fit in with the way RAF is defined in the standard NATIONS.INI), whilst the Celtic Nations are held by Red Force (defined as ENEMY). This will allow the stock RAF to fly from England, and allow additional nations to be defined as ENEMY to fly against them. Tally-Ho! Baltika

Beta UK terrain is well advanced. Those of you who remember this old thread may rest assured that I have not forgotten my Baltic Sea terrain, but the wheel turns, and TE gives up its secrets slowly The Celtic Wars terrain is a development of this work: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showt...&hl=baltika But that will take a long time to finish. Anyhoo, here's where the little UK terrain is at (after about 4 hours work tonight): Frontline, Groundattack, shipping and truck routes done. I'm having a few tiling issues (that always happens with mountainous terrain with rugged coastlines), and I don't know how you're going to get the Celts vs the Anglo-Saxons to show up in single missions (extra NATIONS.INI entries required, I suspect), but I'll fire up a beta release as soon as practical. Tally-ho! Baltika

I'm loving those Scottish skins - this idea has certainly piqued my interest. I have an old build of a British Isles map lurking somewhere on my hard drive that I can knock into shape for beta release, if you are interested. I don't have the time to place all the airbases allen gave the link to, but I can probably include the national capital for each of the separated countries and an auxiliary airbase or two, without too much trouble, for someone to take further if they wish, much in the same way Gepard released his Kashmir terrain. And feel free to ask anything you like about putting together a campaign file. Good luck with this

Kevin, This is magnificent, thanks very much for compiling this pack Now, off to "slim down" my various WW2 install weapons folders :yes:

Glad you got your weapons to show up Like Wrench says, all the work has been done. The a/c loadout.ini specifies default loadouts for each mission type. The Midway_data.ini file, in the Campaigns/Midway folder, specifies what supplies are available to each unit throughout the campaign. If you want to customise your loadouts for a particular mission, you can change things round from the HANGAR screen by pushing the "loadout" button and selecting your weps from the drop down menu from each hardpoint. Go fly! Blow stuff up! And I welcome your feedback on campaign difficulty levels, win/lose parameters, what you think of the way naval CAS missions play out, and whether the USN can actually beat the Japanese in this campaign - I'm still trying