comrpnt

Cheers - nice to be back. Here is a simple mission which illustrates the trouble I'm having: There are a few new definitions I've not seen before - marked with ??? below. As you can probably tell, I based the structure of this MSN on one I saved from the in-game mission creator. // comrpnt - simple circuit AI sqn test [MissionHeader] AircraftType=F-4D_67 MissionMap=VietnamSEA MissionType=RECON StartDate=05/01/1969 StartTime=10:00 [Weather] WeatherType=CLEAR WeatherAlt=2000 WeatherThickness=10 HasHighLayer=FALSE HighLayerAlt=4000 FogAmount=0.60 ContrailAlt=4000 // Force AI to take off heading North StartWindDirection=180.0 StartWindSpeed=0.0 WindGustingAmount=0.60 [MissionData] GeneratedMission=FALSE AdjustStartPosition=FALSE AdjustBaseWaypoint=FALSE CreateStaticAircraft=TRUE CreateHelpFlight=FALSE // There's a war on so max everything out! EnemyAirActivity=3 EnemyAirDefenseActivity=3 FriendlyAirActivity=3 FriendlyAirDefenseActivity=3 // Which AircraftMission below are you? PlayerMissionID=2 PlayerPositionID=1 MissionNumber=1 //***************************************************************************** // Da Nang origin=636000,492000 // Leading squadron [AircraftMission001] AircraftType=F-4D_67 Name=Anvil FormationType=USFighter Texture=USAFCamo1 Squadron=555TFS AircraftNumber=1 Size=3 RandomChance=100 StartTime=0 MissionType=RECON // *** What does BaseArea do??? BaseArea=Da Nang Air Base // *** What does LandArea do??? LandArea=Da Nang Air Base TargetArea=Da Nang Air Base ObjectiveID=1 RatingForSuccess=50 StartOnGround=TRUE CarrierBased=FALSE Position=636000,490800,0 Heading=0 Speed=0 Alignment=FRIENDLY AmmoPercent=100 FuelPercent=100 Loadout=Recon TracerMixRatio=6 // *** What does KillMarking do??? KillMarking=0 PilotTrainingStandard=EXCELLENT Nation=USAF // Take off (mandatory WP) Waypoint[01].Command=TAKEOFF Waypoint[01].Position=636000,492000,0 Waypoint[01].Size=100 Waypoint[01].Speed=140 // Depart airfield airspace (mandatory WP) Waypoint[02].Command=DEPARTURE Waypoint[02].Position=636000,503000,610 Waypoint[02].Size=1500 Waypoint[02].Speed=140 // Head South - pick up Approach Waypoint[03].Command=APPROACH Waypoint[03].Position=646000,471000,2510 Waypoint[03].Size=1500 Waypoint[03].Speed=100 Waypoint[03].Objective=TRUE // On finals Waypoint[04].Command=LAND_LINEUP Waypoint[04].Position=636000,481000,1210 Waypoint[04].Size=1500 Waypoint[04].Speed=70 // Land Waypoint[05].Command=LAND_TOUCHDOWN Waypoint[05].Position=636000,491125,0 Waypoint[05].Size=50 Waypoint[05].Speed=55 // Da Nang origin=636000,492000 // PLAYER'S aircraft - lined up behind Sqn [AircraftMission002] AircraftType=F-4D_67 Name=Bison FormationType=Single Texture=USAFCamo1 Squadron=555TFS AircraftNumber=4 Size=1 RandomChance=100 StartTime=60 MissionType=RECON BaseArea=Da Nang Air Base LandArea=Da Nang Air Base TargetArea=Da Nang Air Base ObjectiveID=1 RatingForSuccess=50 StartOnGround=TRUE CarrierBased=FALSE Position=636204,490680,0 Heading=260 Speed=0 Alignment=FRIENDLY AmmoPercent=100 FuelPercent=100 Loadout=Recon TracerMixRatio=6 KillMarking=0 PilotTrainingStandard=EXCELLENT Nation=USAF // Take off (mandatory WP) Waypoint[01].Command=TAKEOFF Waypoint[01].Position=636000,492000,0 Waypoint[01].Size=100 Waypoint[01].Speed=140 // Depart airfield airspace (mandatory WP) Waypoint[02].Command=DEPARTURE Waypoint[02].Position=636000,503000,600 Waypoint[02].Size=1500 Waypoint[02].Speed=140 // Head South - pick up Approach Waypoint[03].Command=APPROACH Waypoint[03].Position=646100,471000,2500 Waypoint[03].Size=1500 Waypoint[03].Speed=100 Waypoint[03].Objective=TRUE // On finals Waypoint[04].Command=LAND_LINEUP Waypoint[04].Position=636000,481000,1200 Waypoint[04].Size=1500 Waypoint[04].Speed=70 // Land Waypoint[05].Command=LAND_TOUCHDOWN Waypoint[05].Position=636000,491120,0 Waypoint[05].Size=50 Waypoint[05].Speed=55 // What do these definitions do??? [Callsign] GroundCallsignID=7 FACCallsignID=1 TACCCallsignID=1 //end of MSN file All help and guidance gratefully received. Regards, comrpnt.

Hi guys, perhaps I have opened a can of worms here - or simply exposed a 'feature' to a wider audience. But for me, the whole idea of spawning AI flights in formation over an airfield at mission start "sucks", in comparison to having the AI flight taxi out and take off in front of me on the taxiway. I want to be part of that flight, to take off just behind, form up with them, and then head on over to the target area together. All of my previous mission packs for the SF1 series relied on this behaviour from the AI aircraft, to add to the immersion. In response to your previous replies to this post - and many thanks for the info so far everyone - I'm starting to build up a picture of what SF2 will give me. Also, FC, cheers! I'll walk through you MSN details for the classified mission to see if I can gleam any insight into the KC-135 ground-based start. As for my own tests - so far they show that an AI flight starts airborne, regardless of the mission script definitions. The only piece that seems to be used is the x/y coord of the lead aircraft. Subject to details from FC, this 'feature' I'm seeing kills SF2 for me. In the past with SF1 (post Oct 2008 patch) I had to bite my lip with my static aircraft pointing off at a skewed angle due to a heading bug (who remembers that?), and now with SF2 my mission starting positions are screwed. Argh! (Rant over) Back to the mission design drawing board. Regards, comrpnt.

Mmm, ok. When you say "TK's stock mission editor" do you mean the wizard that is part of the Create Mission menu inside SF2 itself - or is this some other separate utility that I've missed along the way? I did use the Create Mission wizard to do exactly as you say, and saved the results - and it gave me a few new attributes to consider, over and above those I'd been using for years with the SF1-era games - like WOV and WOE. One thing I have found out just now - with further tests - is that flights where you're the lead and have n wingmen are fine and behave as expected, with everyone in the right place. BUT, define another flight - with only AI aircraft in it, and StartOnGround=TRUE, and chaos rules. Smoke, fire and failure all round :-( Again, I may have missed an essential element of my mission script, specific to SF2, but I can't see it (yet). Cheers, regards, comrpnt.

Hi Piecemeal, thanks. In terms of the way I think about the set of TW sims. To me WOV, WOE, SFP1 and SFG are all SF1 games. SFV2, SFE2 etc are SF2 games. First I took a WOV (SF1) mission I scripted, and tried it on SF2V - no joy. AI only flights won't start on the ground. So, I created a single mission in SF2V, saved it, and compared the SF1-compatible (WOV) script I wrote with the auto-generated SF2 script I'd just saved. A few minor changes, fair enough, but nothing radical. So, I tweaked my original WOV script and tried again. Same result. AI only flights in SF2 do not appear to start on the ground. Instead they assume a flight configuration and formation, at the start location I specify, and then crash and burn. I can't believe that I'm the first to notice this - so really at this stage I'm just looking for confirmation that this is the way things are in SF2 with starting AI flights on the ground. In which case, I'll stick with SF1 'cause at least it does exactly what I say, not some rough approximation of what I want. BTW - thanks for the link. I'll check it out. Up to now I've always written my mission scripts using a standard Windows plain text editor which has served me well :-) Cheers, regards, comrpnt.

Hi folks, I bumped this from the TW forum as, so far, no responses. Perhaps I'll get more luck here. Howdy, long time no post. Finally I now have SF2V and I'm just getting up-to-speed with it - especially single scripted missions (which is what you'd expect if you've seen my previous SF1 work here). Well, I say getting-up-to-speed but actually I've stalled. Is it me, or does SF2V have a 'feature' regarding starting single scripted missions on the ground with user and AI aircraft. In the past I've always started my missions on the ground, either on the ramp, or lined up behind an AI flight of aircraft as they prepare for take-off. All was well (in SF1). But not any more it seems - or is it just me? Taking a standard simple scripted mission off-the-shelf from my WOV (SF1) collection - immediately the mission starts the AI flight all appear (briefly) set up in front of me in 'flying' formation (USBomber), gear up and going no where. Then they dropped to the deck and blow up. Mmm, what is going on? From the debug panel the AI behaviour was set to AVOID_GROUND - clearly these guys thought they were flying at mission start, despite what I'd scripted for them. So, here's my question: Does SF2 now ignore the script settings of StartOnGround=True? Here's hoping that someone can fill me in with the gossip that I may have missed these past months since version 2 was released. Is this a known problem for scripted single missions? Thanks in advance, kind regards, comrpnt.

Possibly here too: http://www.hiplanes.com/new/Decals/D4814_large.gif Regards, comrpnt.

The LightOn command defines the time of day that the lights come on, or can be set to permanently on (it's not reliant on weather or lighting conditions, only time of day). Wherever you set LightOn=1.25 then you'll get permanent lights for that set of definitions at all hours of the day. Lower values will turn the lights on later and later in the day, until you get to a really low value, say 0.10, which will only turn the lights on at some time during the night for a short period, turning off before dawn breaks. Regards, comrpnt.

Now Reserved.

Hi folks, I have a copy of "Misty: First Person Stories of the F-100 Fast FACs in the Vietnam War" in Paperback that I've finished reading, and as I also have "Bury Us Upside Down" (an excellent read BTW) don't really need this first book on Misty. So, in short, I'm happy to offer it free of charge to someone else in the 'Brotherhood of ThirdWire' ;-) PM me if you're interested. I'm in the UK and postage to another address in the UK will come in at about £2.90 (it's a little under 1KG in weight). So I'm suggesting that whoever is interested should simply send me a stamped-addressed A4 envelope and I'll be happy to pop it in the post to you. For reference, here's a link to it on-line http://www.amazon.com/Misty-First-Person-Stories-Vietnam/dp/0759652546 More details are available at the Misty web site: http://www.mistyvietnam.com/ Cheers, regards, comrpnt.

Hi Mako, sure there is - if you're talking about scripted single missions. You'll need to refer to the contents of the _targets.ini file in the Terrain folder to get the x,y coordinate of the airfield from where you want to depart. e.g. in WOV, Da Nang airbase is defined at map coords x=636000, y=492000. Based on the x,y coordinates you define in the single mission script, you can even define whereabouts on the airfield you start the mission - e.g. on the ramp, or at the end of the airfield, or on some parking area etc etc. If you setup the wind direction correctly at the start of the mission script you can also define the direction of takeoff for any AI aircraft who also use that airfield (i.e. AI takeoff into wind, so a value of 180 denotes AI takeoff heading due North, and vice versa for a value of 360). For Da Nang airbase, with StartWindDirection=0.0, 3 x AI aircraft can be defined to start at x=636000, y=493150, heading=180, and your aircraft can be defined at x=636199, y=493319, heading=280, which denotes that you are lined up behind AI aircraft #3 on the taxiway, while the rest of the leading flight taxi and depart ahead of you. Does this answer your question? Regards, comrpnt.

I like it - cool! Thanks for posting Silverbolt.

Have a look here - at the docs I provided - they'll tell you everything you need to know (hopefully) about zoom climbing... The Curious tale of the Lightning and the U2 High Alt research flight - NF-104 Regards, comrpnt.

yes, I should have the fixes you need on my home machine to auto-open/close the canopies for both of these aircraft. Will look them up when I get home and post the details here. Cheers, comrpnt.

Many happy returns Florian - all the best! Regards, Paul :-)

Hi Pappa Goat, when I revised the existing missions and completed them I wanted to make sure that the whole set worked well with the October 2008 patch. The B-66 did not function well under AI control with the new patch and failed to land properly on the carrier, so I made a Hollywood-style decision to sacrifice historical accuracy for gameplay. The same goes for the O-1E. No specifics on the type of FAC were given in the mission write ups, although O-1Es were probably used on some missions, together with, I expect, ground-based FACs. Because of the slow speed of the O-1E and distance to travel to the target areas, again, for reasons of gameplay, I swapped the O-1Es for F-100s and gave the replacements a Misty-style flight profile, to step up the speed of the game on some of those missions. Regards, comrpnt.

Excellent, it's a result. If you want popped canopies then that can be done too - if SF2 behaves similar to the Oct 2008 game engine, which it seems to do, mostly. See the attached rar files for an open canopy static. BTW, I also put the shadows back in as the loadouts looked strange with shadows, with no aircraft shadow to match. Also there's a new mission sample to see how both styles of static work. Cheers, regards, comrpnt. F-4M_static.rar F-4M_static_c.rar F-4M with static test 2.rar

Well, first thing I notice is that the first half of the attributes repeat the second half, and also EmptyInertia is commented out near the top, rather than set for zero for x,y and z which is what was in my earlier data file. This is a key attribute and commenting it out probably explains what you're seeing. The file I sent earlier was an edited version of the October 2008 patched WOE, rather than taken simply from the much earlier statics pack I developed. I found it better to start again with these once the October 2008 patch came out as so much changed with the way these type of aircraft behave. Try the attached file which is a copy of my WOE October 2008 F-4M static files that works fine for that version of the game - simply copy in the RAFCamo skin folder from the original WOE F-4M - which I didn't include due to file size issues - and besides you already have a copy in your original F-4 folder ;-) I tested this version of the static using the attached mission (.msn) file "F-4M with static test". After that I'm all out of ideas until I get around to installing SF2 and can play around with this some more. Regards, comrpnt. F-4M with static test.rar F-4M_static.rar

Mmm, and I thought that I'd attached it (user error on my part, doh!) - oh well, here you go again - please see attached... F-4M_data_static.ini (Un-rar the attachment and drop into the F-4M_static folder, overwriting the original) Regards, comrpnt. F-4M_DATA_static.rar

Hi Snakeman, simply replace the old F-4M_data_static.ini file you've been using with the new one I attached in the earlier post above. Then retry and see if the new file fixes the problem. Simply drop the new file into the F-4M_static folder and give it a go - again, I've not tested for SF2 but you may get better results. (For info. the static aircraft I developed are picky about the content of the _data_static.ini file and recently I've tried a few changes to this file to overcome changes to the game engine that came in after the October 2008 patch). Cheers, regards, comrpnt.

One of my all time favorite aircraft (after the Lightning) - see here for details on the UK variants... http://www.f4phantoms.co.uk/home.html Cheers, regards, comrpnt.

Hi Snakeman, are you using my original statics for SF1? It looks like it. Let's see what I can do to update the F-4M for use in SF2 - haven't got a copy of SF2 myself yet, still too busy with other stuff to get around to it but certainly after the October 2008 patch the statics behaved differently. Give the attached _data.ini file a go in place of the original static version to see if there is a difference and let me know how you get on. Cheers. Regards, comrpnt. :-)

Lest we forget—lest we forget! Once again, you're very welcome. All the best, regards, Paul.

Thanks folks for your kind words of support - always appreciated. Yes it truely was a labor of love but I was determined to get in finished. Please let me know of any 'issues' I may have missed during my testing, or installation problems - these are always the hardest thing to test without spawning a whole new instance of WOV. All the best, regards, comrpnt.