Stwa

Now that I think about it, there is one add-on aircraft that I have. Originally I got it because I wanted some more Israel stuff. The Israel 2 terrain is not the first Israel terrain I have messed with. I did another, the smaller one that was originally made by Gephard ions ago. And, I this bird, the Super Mystere caught my attention. Of course, it had a lot of stuff in it that did not CONFORM to the rest of my birds, but it was a very nice add on model for sure. I get it out every now and then becuase it has an Israeli camo skin, but it is so much like the F-100D, I rarely fly it. The model uses the F-100D cockpit, as well, and its the one I mentioned on Page 1. Anyway, I made it conform by renamining all the skin folders, forcing it to use the stock insignia decals, and renaming every file so the names would match the naming conventions of the other birds in my collection, etc. I got rid of all the French pylon attachment types, and forced it to use NATO and USAF rockets, bombs, etc.. That's kinda too bad because it has a really cool rocket bay that I did not install. However, I did install its 491 ltr drop tank. I think I cheated on the pylon weight thingy so it could carry M117 750 lb bombs too. It's not quite a sluggish as the F-100D and its fun using it for 1950's stuff. Oh, they had changed up the panel configuration on the F-100D and they had changed some of the guages. I wasn't really sure what they had done, I just did not use that stuff. I just went with the stock F-100D cockpit.

Hey Derk, Don't worry, I am used to one line responses. I thought I would drop by about every year or so, and add some more to the thread. I have been expermenting with some new hangar pics, and if I like them, I might use my existing ones as loading screens.

I think for me it is a good idea to make a new aircraft type whenever you get the chance. For instance, I could have left the A-4P, A-4Q skins in the A-4B folder but that created some issues. First of all, the hangar screen is for the USN Navy A-4B. Then, at the load out screen, I had to choose the A-4P camo, and squadron, etc. for all the pilots on the team. Also, I can make the service and export dates (in the data ini) work better this way. Otherwise I would have to add an Export End Year so nations receiving the exported models, can use them long after the service end date of the USN version. When I seperate the export models into their own folder, all these issues (albeit small) go away, plus I get an excuse to make some more hanger or loadout art. This plays an VERY important role in making everything uniform, as I always take the same approach to every hangar or loading screen. I am not really sure if I like the mirror reverse on the camo, but it seems from the reference pic from Aztec Models, that they at least look like near mirror images. But, I am glad to have it, so I can use in the Falkland terrain.

Since I always wanted to modify terrains, I hardly ever got around to add-on aircraft. I did add some, but only a few export models of the aircraft that came with the game. The list is as so -----> A-4H (Israel, one with avionics hump, and one without). Both appear in game as A-4H Skyhawk, and appear in the drop down menu with the same name. A-4P, A-4Q (Argentina AF and Navy exports of A-4B). F-4E (Israel, which also appears in the game and drop down menu as F-4E Phantom II, same as the USAF version.) Hunter F Mk.6 (RAF predecessor to the FGA Mk.9) Hunter F Mk.70 (F Mk.6 export to Lebanon in 1959) For the Argentina stuff, I used this as a guide for the decals. I don't have the numbers quite right, since I don't have squadrons, and I am just using generic USN Attack numbers for now. Also, if I place the numbers near the cockpit, there is a warp in the 3d model there and they will look weird.

Recently, I have been messing alot with the Falkland Islands. In my game the islands can be defended by all friendlies. (i.e. including Argentina). I do have a small campaign as well. It is 1985 (after the real Falkland Island War), and the Soviets (of course) have managed to infiltrate one or more of the much smaller and uninhabited islands in the Falkland chain. They have established a base and though lacking supplies, it represents a way station for Antartic exploration (Aha!), but also has a small airfield and can support at least a few fighter aircraft. And in keeping with the theme of our game, the Soviets, just cannot restrain themselves from messing with NATO countries, hemisphere not withstanding. As it turns out, with this terrain, if the date is 1985 or later, you get two airfields. Mt Pleasant Airbase, which was new as of this date, and the original airport at Port Stanely, which is smaller. The pic shows an Argentine A-4P flying over the Falklands, which implies to me (since it is 1985), that they won the war in 1982!

Hi again, I wanted everyone to know I am still messing with this game. I get it out periodically and it is still a blast. Of the beeg three, I guess I like Israel the best, but its a close call. Persian Gulf is very interesting, so if anyone knows where a good IIAF Phantom skin is, please let me know. I am still on the 2006 version. I just have too many mods to seriously consider SF2. I would probably lose functionality if I upgraded. But, I am having fun, and that is the main thing. I hope you guys are having fun too. Just lurking around the forums, its hard to not notice my approach to terrains is not normal. Same is true for targets. For instance, the Israel terrain has exactly 150 target areas, compared to the 360 after Wrench ran wild in the version 2 that I download several years ago. I did the airports first. There were 65 of them in Israel 2 that I used. I just take the locations (already provided), and add the stock airfields. No custom objects allowed. Then I did the ports next. I have serveral prototypes for the SC50C tile (the one with the docks), with basic target offsets for a few warehouses, tanks, cranes, and cargoships. Think of these like airfields, (i.e. port1, port2, port3, etc.). There were about 20 or so ports. Then I did wrenches, or maybe Gepards oil fields. There were three. Then I did the SAM sites (just the SAM sites), and replaced the radars and launchers with SAMRadar and SAMLauncher. I take just the SAM complexes. Not the SAM sites near the cities or air bases. You know, Osiris, Isus, Ra, etc. The junk by the canal. There were about 50 areas since each has 6-15 launcher sites. Then I pitch the rest of the targets. A lot of them are filled with more third party object references. I generally don't do target areas over cities, especially if there is not going to be a ground war in the campaign. But if there is, I might use target areas to denote major cities, but with NO actual targets. So this whole enterprise (all the steps, might take 5-6 hours depending on how many times, I have to reference the tiles with the Terrain editor. As I messed with the terrain over time, I added more targets to all the port and air base aeras. These additional target have good offset data derived long ago, so they can be cloned and ripped and appended to the air base or port target area. Things like oiltanks, HQs, SAM stuff, comm buildings, city buildings, etc. But generally in ones or twos. For instance, I don't like putting 32 scud lanchers into a single target area. I usually place 1 or 2 in several remote air bases. Well, anyway, have fun. I hope the downloads come on-line soon. The pics show some of Israel, which I didn't post last time. I know what you are thinking. It looks like Vietnam, right.

Hi, Thanks! I really do not think I will start any new terrains. Even though I do not have them all, I have plenty of actual and potential cold war "hot" spots that keep my busy enough with the game. The most interesting terrain turned out to be the Persian Gulf area. Desert maps look a whole lot better, when you can use the desert shoreline tiles I made to extend the WOV set. They have the look of standard WOE/WOV tiles (not SF tiles). This terrain storyline follows an alternate history article from the Wiki regarding a Soviet invasion of Iran. I have attached a PDF of this article. It is very thorough. Soviet Invasion of Iran.pdf

Hi All, I am still playing the game. Alot now days. And I wanted to share with everyone something I have been doing with the SF1 series. I haven't upgraded to SF2, because I am still using XP and the same computer I have had since 2001, which runs WOV/WOE nicely. Anyway, Over time I have put together what I call themes, that you can click on and run, before playing the game. The themes will modify the games available aircraft, set the default bird (and its hanger and loading screen), for each available aircraft, and will determine which enemy planes you might encounter, when playing using the Single Player "Create Mission" feature. These were easy to make, albeit they are very installation specific. (i.e. your installation is probably very different than mine). But they were a lot of fun to make. So, if people want to follow this thread, then over the next few post, I will explain how I did this, and talk about how it has enhanced my game. Some of these things may be accounted for in SF2 now, don't really know.

Hi Lexx, Well, what I have now is a 6380, and its AGP bus, and yes I have been looking on the net. I might go HOG WILD and try one of the HD 3485, directX 10 cards. However, I don't want the box to become a space heater. That is one of the reasons I have kept it the way it was. I have tuned it back up, setting the FSB at 133, etc, multiple of 2 with AMD, I believe. But I just recently found out I can put a Athelon 2700 (I have 2000)into socket A as well, and 6380 will support FSB 166 (CPU 333). Your remarks about the Sandy bridge, duly noted.

Well, just to wrap things up. I thought I would show a "hangar screen" which is part of the new RSAF Middle East Theme. I do have the camo tanks that came with the skin, just haven't got around to adding them to the weapons data base yet. I was thinking, that I might talk about some of the "techniques" I used when do my own re-makes of these maps, but there is plenty of SF1 maps going, so really no need at this late date. Anyway, SF1 is a very colorful, nice looking game, and looks best in wide screen, me thinks.

Hehe Lexx, It is not a money issue. And I did not want to mention this, because I have been going on and on about my computer in the threads I have been doing. But, the computer did ACTUALLY fail, for good, last Thursday morning. I have been predicting its demise for several years. My first one lasted from 1993 (I think) to about 2000. It was an AMD 386/40. This one lasted from about 2001 (AMD Duron later upgraded the processor to Athelon) to 2012. But here is what happened. Apparently, I purchased these MSI system boards, on sale way back when, and I got 2 of them. One for me, and one for my wife. But she ended up doing something different, so I put the spare main board into the closet, and forget about it, until last Thursday. BTW, the box just locked up, so I had to reboot, but when re-booting, the diagnostic part of the system would not allow a post, and indicated that the processor had failed. It lied. Anyway, I took everything out of the case, and re-consturcted the system, using the now 10+ year old system board that all this time had been sitting in the closet. It too has a lithium battery, but I wonder just how long it can go, because it is already 10 years down the road. Anyway, I unseated the Athelon 2000 processor from the dead system board, and dropped it into the socket A on the "closet" main board. The processor was dingy, brown/bronze, gooky look to it. I vacked every component, including the Radeon 9600. Anyway, after everything was installed back in the case (its a 19" rackmount, sitting in between a lot of other crazy stuff), I booted the system, ... AND IT WAS ALIVE. If feels like I got a new system, FOR FREE ! You would be shocked how well this runs Strike Fighters. Well, I wanna get SF2, I saw the screnshots of the NA stuff. Looks great. But if you will allow me to be honest here, I have to address the what for. This game is what it is, as most are. This one happens to be a good one, but all games have a repetitive nature to them, and you never know when you will put them down for a while. That is partly why I don't get real carried away with the modding. If it can't be done in an hour or so, I just dont try it or ever get around it. This is why I have "excuse me" terrains. They were easy to make, and I didn't have to go for month's making them. Same way with these themes, and the menu system. It is easier to make up one of these themes, then to TEST a campaign. As you know, campaigns, sometimes have the habit of ending for some of the most arbitrary reasons. Anyway, this box does full screen video. I can play DVD, I have a on-board DTV tuner (for OTA channels), and I can stream live video from the net, so I am good. However, I douubt seriously, that it could hack WOI. So I just didn't get WOI. It just all falls into the "someday" category.

Apart from trying to modify the behavior of the random mission generator in the Create Mission option, the best alternative to using the "available aircraft" attributes of a Theme (as I have presented), is creating a campaign. A campaign does not have to be elaborate, and can be scaled down, and remain enjoyable. Sometimes such a campaign goes best with a reduced size, simple terrain. I have presented some ideas on those, in this thread ---> The Curse of Uniformity In a campaign, you have more control over the forces that are present, and contrary to popular belief, they are not hard to make at all. I have many, so many, I can't keep up with them. Once you have a few, you can clone and rip, and your imagination takes hold. But here is one, I just started, and as an example for this thread, I decided to clone and rip Linebacker I. Now all I have done is make some text substitutions to get the campaign operational. I have also deleted scads of stuff, because this campaign is just not as complicated as Linebacker I. This campaign is Cactus Air Force 1958, and I have use China as the enemy, until I can get a fantasy Indonesian force together. The friendlies are the RAF and its 1 squadron at Henderson Field in my Solomon Islands terrain against 3 enemy squadrons, which are all based at Enemy Airbase, which is actually off map. Anyway, here is all it takes to get this operational, and from here you can tweak until you puke. FROM THE INI FILE ---> [CampaignData] CampaignName=SWP 1958 Cactus Air Force DataFile=CactusAirForce_data.ini CampaignMap=SolomonIsSWP Service001=RAF [RAFUnit001] UnitName=No. 14 Squadron ForceID=1 UnitID=1 StartDate=1958 DescFile=CactusAirForce_desc.txt StartText=CactusAirForce_start.txt StartScreen=BaseScreens\HendersonField.bmp CampaignBaseScreen=BaseScreens\HendersonField.bmp FROM THE DATA FILE ---> [CampaignData] [CampaignData] StartDate=05/08/1958 StartDateDeviation=0 EndDate=10/23/1958 ForceWithInitiative=1 MaxMissions=25 NormalMissionRate=50 NormalMissionRateDeviation=10 OffensiveMissionRate=1 OffensiveMissionRateDeviation=0 StartScreen= StartText= CampaignBaseScreen= CampaignEndWinScreen=BaseScreens\HendersonField.bmp CampaignEndLoseScreen=BaseScreens\HendersonField.bmp CampaignEndStallScreen=BaseScreens\HendersonField.bmp CampaignEndWinText=CactusAirforce_win.txt CampaignEndLoseText=CactusAirForce_lose.txt CampaignEndStallText=CactusAirForce_end.txt [Force001] Alignment=FRIENDLY Nation=RAF BaseArea=Henderson Field AirOffensive[001].Primary=WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[001].Secondary=FUEL_STORAGE AirOffensive[002].Primary=OIL_REFINERY,FUEL_STORAGE AirOffensive[002].Secondary=COMM_BUILDING AirOffensive[003].Primary=SMALL_RUNWAY AirOffensive[003].Secondary=WAREHOUSE,POWER_PLANT AirOffensive[004].Primary=COMM_BUILDING,POWER_PLANT AirOffensive[004].Secondary=OIL_REFINERY,FUEL_STORAGE AirOffensive[005].Primary=MEDIUM_RUNWAY AirOffensive[005].Secondary=HANGAR,AMMO_STORAGE AirOffensive[006].Primary=OIL_REFINERY,POWER_PLANT AirOffensive[006].Secondary=COMM_BUILDING AirOffensive[007].Primary=LARGE_RUNWAY AirOffensive[007].Secondary=MEDIUM_RUNWAY,SMALL_RUNWAY AirOffensive[008].Primary=CHEMICAL_WEAPONS_PLANT AirOffensive[008].Secondary=OIL_REFINERY,COMM_BUILDING,POWER_PLANT AirOffensive[009].Primary=COMMAND_BUILDING AirOffensive[009].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY,CHEMICAL_WEAPONS_PLANT AirOffensive[010].Primary=ANY AirOffensive[010].Secondary=ANY StartGroundOffensive=100 StartInterdiction=100 Morale=100 Supply=100 NormalSupplyRate=50 OffensiveSupplyRate=-5 DefensiveSupplyRate=-5 SupplyForOffensive=60 AircraftReplacementTime=30 AircraftReplacement=60 GroundUnitReplacementTime=60 GroundUnitReplacement=100 RandomTransportType=ANY WeaponResupplyTime=15 StartAirDefenseLevel=0 [Force002] Alignment=ENEMY Nation=China BaseArea=Visala AirOffensive[001].Primary=WAREHOUSE AirOffensive[001].Secondary=FUEL_STORAGE AirOffensive[002].Primary=OIL_REFINERY,FUEL_STORAGE AirOffensive[002].Secondary=COMM_BUILDING AirOffensive[003].Primary=SMALL_RUNWAY AirOffensive[003].Secondary=WAREHOUSE,POWER_PLANT AirOffensive[004].Primary=COMM_BUILDING,POWER_PLANT AirOffensive[004].Secondary=OIL_REFINERY,FUEL_STORAGE AirOffensive[005].Primary=MEDIUM_RUNWAY AirOffensive[005].Secondary=HANGAR,AMMO_STORAGE AirOffensive[006].Primary=OIL_REFINERY,POWER_PLANT AirOffensive[006].Secondary=COMM_BUILDING AirOffensive[007].Primary=LARGE_RUNWAY AirOffensive[007].Secondary=MEDIUM_RUNWAY,SMALL_RUNWAY AirOffensive[008].Primary=CHEMICAL_WEAPONS_PLANT AirOffensive[008].Secondary=OIL_REFINERY,COMM_BUILDING,POWER_PLANT AirOffensive[009].Primary=COMMAND_BUILDING AirOffensive[009].Secondary=LARGE_RUNWAY,MEDIUM_RUNWAY,CHEMICAL_WEAPONS_PLANT AirOffensive[010].Primary=ANY AirOffensive[010].Secondary=ANY StartGroundOffensive=100 StartInterdiction=100 Morale=100 Supply=45 NormalSupplyRate=20 OffensiveSupplyRate=-20 DefensiveSupplyRate=-5 SupplyForOffensive=100 AircraftReplacementTime=30 AircraftReplacement=10 GroundUnitReplacementTime=30 GroundUnitReplacement=100 RandomTransportType=ANY WeaponResupplyTime=50 StartAirDefenseLevel=2 //----- Player Unit [AirUnit001] AircraftType=HunterF6 Squadron=14RAF ForceID=1 Nation=RAF DefaultTexture=RAFCamo1 BaseArea=Henderson Field BaseMoveChance=0 RandomChance=100 MaxAircraft=16 StartAircraft=16 MaxPilots=16 StartPilots=16 Experience=100 Morale=100 Supply=50 MissionChance[sWEEP]=0 MissionChance[CAP]=50 MissionChance[iNTERCEPT]=20 MissionChance[ESCORT]=0 MissionChance=20 MissionChance[CAS]=0 MissionChance[sEAD]=0 MissionChance[ARMED_RECON]=0 MissionChance[ANTI_SHIP]=10 MissionChance[RECON]=0 UpgradeType=NEVER Supply[001].WeaponType=UK500LB Supply[001].Quantity=2880 Supply[002].WeaponType=UK1000LB Supply[002].Quantity=1440 Supply[003].WeaponType=Matra-155 Supply[003].Quantity=240 Supply[004].WeaponType=Tank100_Hunter Supply[004].Quantity=480 //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- //---- CPAF Unit [AirUnit002] AircraftType=MiG-17F UnitName=1/Indonesian Volunteer ForceID=2 Nation=China DefaultTexture=VPAFCamo1 StartNumber=10 BaseArea=Enemy Airbase BaseMoveChance=0 RandomChance=100 MaxAircraft=9 StartAircraft=9 MaxPilots=10 StartPilots=10 Experience=80 Intelligence=80 Morale=100 Supply=50 MissionChance[sWEEP]=100 MissionChance[CAP]=0 MissionChance[iNTERCEPT]=0 MissionChance[ESCORT]=0 MissionChance=0 MissionChance[CAS]=0 MissionChance[sEAD]=0 MissionChance[ARMED_RECON]=0 MissionChance[ANTI_SHIP]=0 MissionChance[RECON]=0 UpgradeType=NEVER [AirUnit003] AircraftType=MiG-17F UnitName=2/Indonesian Volunteer ForceID=2 Nation=China DefaultTexture=VPAFCamo2 StartNumber=20 BaseArea=Enemy Airbase BaseMoveChance=0 RandomChance=100 MaxAircraft=9 StartAircraft=9 MaxPilots=10 StartPilots=10 Experience=60 Intelligence=60 Morale=100 Supply=50 MissionChance[sWEEP]=100 MissionChance[CAP]=0 MissionChance[iNTERCEPT]=0 MissionChance[ESCORT]=0 MissionChance=0 MissionChance[CAS]=0 MissionChance[sEAD]=0 MissionChance[ARMED_RECON]=0 MissionChance[ANTI_SHIP]=0 MissionChance[RECON]=0 UpgradeType=NEVER [AirUnit004] AircraftType=MiG-17F UnitName=3/Indonesian Volunteer ForceID=2 Nation=China DefaultTexture=VPAFCamo3 StartNumber=30 BaseArea=Enemy Airbase BaseMoveChance=0 RandomChance=100 MaxAircraft=9 StartAircraft=9 MaxPilots=10 StartPilots=10 Experience=40 Intelligence=40 Morale=100 Supply=50 MissionChance[sWEEP]=100 MissionChance[CAP]=0 MissionChance[iNTERCEPT]=0 MissionChance[ESCORT]=0 MissionChance=0 MissionChance[CAS]=0 MissionChance[sEAD]=0 MissionChance[ARMED_RECON]=0 MissionChance[ANTI_SHIP]=0 MissionChance[RECON]=0 UpgradeType=NEVER //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- // Other air units go here //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- [GroundUnit001] GroundObjectType=M113 UnitName=1st RAF Maintenance Brigade ForceID=1 Nation=RAF BaseArea=Henderson Field RandomChance=100 StartObjects=80 MaxObjects=100 Experience=60 Morale=40 Supply=40 UpgradeType=NEVER //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- // Carriers go here //----------------------------------------------------------------------------- [strategicNode001] Area=Visala ConnectTo[001].Target=Visala ConnectTo[001].BasePoint=125000,229500 [strategicNode002] Area=Henderson Field ConnectTo[001].Target=Hendeson Field ConnectTo[001].BasePoint=183000,200875

Well, Now that Iceland and Persian Gulf terrains are finished, and also because I have fetched serveral terrains from my backup files, I have decided to proceed with a few more Themes. I am hoping that going forward, these themes will still be usefull, and hopefully SF2 won't prohibit their use. Currently though, I think I have cleared the task list to a point where I can give the SF1 2008 update another shot. Here is a final screenie of where it all stands as of today. I stll need and AK (Alaska theme) and a SWP (Southwest Pacific theme). And, this discussion got me thinking at least about isolating the enemy aircraft into their own "themes" that should be used in conjunciton with any of the others that have to do with friendly aircraft. I have three of them done, but I still need the dreaded Falkland Islands.

OK Guys, I am done with the Limited Nations wild good chase. Here is the basic issue, on my system at least. While limted nations, is probably good for most installs, the Themes that I have presented here, limit at the AIRCRAFT LEVEL. Falkland Islands and Israel being the most complicated to date. But, as an easy example ... a terrain/theater might NOT want the Soviet fighters, but is DOES want the Soviet bombers. ANOTHER time wasting goose chase, but I am glad I did it, becuase I couldn't remember anyway and maybe I am still not understanding Wrench. If anyone has any other feedback or usefull infomation on what SF2 can do in regards to this Theme concept, please let me know. Thanks,

One more fantasy aircraft. Well not exactly. The Saudis were flying the F-5 Freedom Fighter in 1979. I think they got F-15's around 1984. But in this terrain/scenario, the will get them in 1978. They threw a total fit, when they found out Israel was getting theirs in 1977. The main problem with this bird, and the F-16A too, it is just hard work keeping up with the wingies. We probably wiped out an entire squadron on this mission. Makes the campaigns go quick.

The Persian Gulf terrain, went together faster and without hassle, more so than any terrain I have done. This is mostly due to how desolate it is, and there just isnt that much ground infastructure that needs to be modeled or even shown. After all, it all boils down to how much earth detail you want to use. That is the basic question. You cant do it all, thats a fact. I came from CFS3 to WOV, and I was wanting a sim that did not try to model the entire ground war. It is a combat "flight" simulator, right? Here is a pic, that at least shows you how desolate this area was/is. I found one for all seven countries, but will show just one.

Hey Lexx, Thanks anyway. But this is my assumption, and I have always wondered, because you hear so many contradictory things. But TE spits out a 2000 pixels bmp file, that normally represents 1000 Km in the game. But, in reality its actuall ground scale is 667 Km. So I think, that is why the guys are now using 3000 pixel bmps, which I think equates to a full scale 1000K. Like the Denmark map Gepard is working on. And I agree with you about TE. But, me thinks it is no obsolte, because of SF2 NA.

Well, that pretty much wraps up my terrain collection. Hehe, me thinks I am getting the terrain scales confused again, so maybe Lexx, if he is still following this thread, can help me out. I could have sworn the DEM starts of as 500 NM as each pixel is 30 arc seconds. And you give the TE a 1000 pixel square. Anyway, one of the greatest joys (in my mind) for doing one of these terrains, is reducing (drastically), the number of target areas. Some of them have over 300 target areas, and some of those areas can contain quite a few targets. As an example, the Persian Gulf terrain, had around 50 air bases. I reduced that to 9. Now for sure, I am doing 1979, and I think the terrain was really meant for modern times. In 1979, I am thinking Oman wasn't fully mapped. Each capitol city got an airfield. (for the Hunters). Saudi Arabia has another (for the F-15's). Then there are a few enemy fields. In so doing after, these maps go together quickly. In the end, the main feature of this map, will be blowing away enemy tankers, while protecting friendly ones. Of course you need to CAP the oilfields, and capitol cities. etc... Here is the only airfield in Bahrain. Now that I think about it, they might not of even had and airport then.

Getting back into this game, I remember something from some notes I recorded way back when. I checked, and the following issue occurs on my system, and I was wondering if anyone else had reported the same. When flying anti-shipping missions, if you have collisions set to anything but easy, their is a probabilty that you will collide at mission start with an enemy plane. It seems sometimes, the enemies are started right on top of your flight, and zooming by at great speed. If you set collisions to easy, this phenom does not occur. The enemy planes deploy very close, and zoom by, but no collision, so game play continues. You just have to deal with the very close by enemy planes. I have verified that this happens in every terrain. It only seems to effect the anti-shipping missions, so if you want to fly these without a start-up collision, you must set the collision option to EASY.

OK, Now might be a good time to pause, and review the bidding. What have we learned so far. 1. I like the dull, uninteresting stock terrains from WOV/WOE. 2. I like fantasy aircraft, so much so, I took a perfectly legitiment Hunter skin and turned it into a generic (fantasy) skin, by swapping out its sky blue underside, with the stock RAF grey underside. Maybe the Chilean pilots are happy. 3. I pitched a most clever and artistic tile set (Iceland), in favor of a 3 color stock set. 4. I like sub polar terrains. Tierra del Fuego will be next. 5. My computer needs to be replaced. 6. I still have many more terrains. The ones that took forerver to get "right", or I just didn't finish them off. The partial list includes, Korea, Iran/Iraq, and Libya. For instance, I found a completely functional Korea, tiled in WOV, in a 2007 backup file, just tonight. While there are much better versions of these maps here at Combat ACE, I am happy that I can round up all my old stuff. Korea is so large its daunting, and I doubt I will take the time to finish out its targets. Anyway, it was fun posting, thanks for the patience. I gotta improve my spelling. Its the source of lot of the post edits. Oh, and I was just over a TW looking at the screenies for the new NA. WoW, but you know, I doubt seriously that when I do upgrade the box, I will probably not even try to match the requirements for that game. Regards, Stwa

Sub polar terrains seem to dominate my collection, and Bering Strait was my first terrain. Actually it was lifted off Major Lee, back when he had his own site, and is otherwise known as DBS. Of course, I wanted to retile this terrain as a "summer" terrain, using WOE tiles. Well this was my first terrain hack job, and I was very green. I grappled with peculiar shoreline effects, and the infamous autotexture routine, to mixed results. Eventually I discovered a perfect shorline needed about 4 mouse clicks, and I finally got the snow tiles to go down in a predictable way. The very same method I applied to Iceland, in more recent times. How was I to know, a fellow named Stary, would come along years later, and now I can have both winter and summer seasons for Bering Strait, Iceland, and Falkland Islands, if need be. This terrain is a full 1000 km map, and there is no need for off map enemy air bases. If I had a nickel for every MiG I have shot down over this terrain, I would be rich.

Hi Lexx, I remember you discussing more or less the same concpet years ago over at TK's forum. I thought it to be a good idea at the time. But, I gotta tell you, there are a lot of advantages to using the single base reduced size map. The Solomon Islands map above does not depict the entire island chain, just a 400 km square. But that is 16% of the area of a 1000 km map. You wouldn't believe how much frame rate you recover because of that. I can turn everything to high, except water and shadows. (I dont like the high water anyway), and furball with over 2 dozen planes, and my box is 1.7 GHz and Radeon 9600 (an antique). For instance, in the screenie below, I have cockpit reflections and mirrors turned on. High effects, and terrain textures, I am in a beeg furball, and there are plenty of frames left over. Now, the system obviously does not try to process all the ground detail at once, even in the large terrains. But the combination of reduced area, and fewer ground targets can affect your processing speeds.

Apart from the mainlaind (and sometimes historical) theaters of operations, I have noticed a theme slowly developing over time. And the sim allows us to suppose conflict with the Communist nations anywhere on the globe. It is this attribute, that sets this time period apart from most others. The island theme has emerged. In my case each terrain follows the same construction principles. A central air base, or capital city, with an abundant supply of coastal towns and harbors. Each terrain has been cropped to something less than the usual 1000 km square. Guadalcanal was intended to be a cold war terrain set in the late 50's. But it could be used for WW2 as well, and its development was a method of befriending Wrench. It is the smallest terrain I have developed, 400 km square, and supports the same off map enemy airbases. The missions require a CAP over friendly air bases (there is only one), and cargo ships spread out all around the coastal areas of the main island. In addition, there are enemy cargo ships attempting to supply the Communist infiltration. Here, the old Henderson field is restored, and its home to a fantasy squadron of Australian Hunters. I love fantasy aircraft, and these Hunters duke it out daily with MiGs from the various, now independent, Indonesian nations.

Despite its scarcity of targets, Iceland still has about 40 or so coastal towns and harbors, each with a static cargo ship that must be protected from the bad guys. There are no targets in the upper ice cap, which is depicted with the CE snow tile. The volcanos and glaicers are conveniently covered with this tile. Now days, I like to make clear divisions with the tileset colors. It's simplicity is its greatest virtue, and though not very realistic, it still conveys the primary destinctions of the terrain. The distinctions from coastal Reykjavik and the upper elevations of the island are made clear. This approach is simple, but its too simple for the more modern approach to ground scenery now days.

Iceland, I developed along the same lines as Falkland Islands. I got the idea from another forum topic that was discussing the new NA stuff for SF2. The original terrain was by Baltika. I used most of the same techniques applied to the Falklands, but I added snow in the higher elevations. So, it uses 3 colors instead of 2. I like the terrains best, when you don't get too carried away with them. That being said, the original Iceland terrain is outstanding, and I almost felt shame modifying it in this way. Anyway, I had to change the scale, by reducing the terrain bmp file from 3000 pixels to 2000. Then I cropped it as I did with the Falkland Islands. I added the "off map" enemy bases, retained 2 friendly air bases, and a few of the town, harbor, and shipping targets. It need more targets, but that will come later.