Wrench

A lot of the 1stGen to SF2 conversions are forgetting this supremely ciritical file. When one has an aircrft that is tagged Exported=TRUE it is vitally important that a userlist is either created new or adated from a pre-existing one (a good example would be my JASDF F-86 skin pak, those that downloaded it might have noticed that it came with a new userlist, while not fully complete, at least there was SOMETHING for the game engine to use). This goes for GroundObjects as well. Now, it's not just a matter of "is it Western/NATO, or Soviet/Warsaw Pact user" -- you HAVE to list the nations that use/used the thing! (that, or create non-exported, nationalized clones of said objects). You can have all sorts of oddities (like I recently encountered); for example, TF-104Gs parked on the ramp with Iranian markings!! Simply put, even terrains that have an active LimitedNations=TRUE statement, and an accurate terrain nations ini well still have the odd-ducks popping up all over the place. What is the Userlist.ini, you may ask. It's a file designed to absolutely limit which nation gets how many of what airplane (or groundobject) for how many years. They can be found scattered through all the various ObjectData***.cats, located in the main core game install. For editing, you'll need to extract them, using Gerwins Cat Extrator tool. Here's what a standard entry looks like, this from the F-4E_72 Phantom: You can see it only has 2 nations listed, and the Availability is based on how many that air force operated. A rule of thumb that I've found (actually someone else did, and it was in HIS users ini for something I downloaded), for trying to figure out which of the availability tags to use is: RARE: Less than 100 COMMON: 100 - 500 VERY_COMMON: Greater than 500 One might conclude that "VERY_RARE" is something substantially less than 50, or even less than 18 (a normal US squadron strenght). The first questions one asks in "How do I find out what countries used this aircraft, over how many years, and how many did they operate?" Well, that's where the skull sweat comes into play ... you have to get out the books, hunt across the Internet and roll up your sleeves and get down to it. Personally I've found that, even with all it's errors, Wikipedia gives a fairly accurate listing of "who got what" and pretty close to "when" ... obviously some educated guesswork is involved, but in the end it worth it make the mod right. Read the full article, and with a little bit of cleaverness and the skill to 'read between the lines', one can make a accurate guesstimate as to operational years. Countries are already listed in said articles. Is it time consuming, and frustrating? Sure it is ... especially when trying to hunt down some obscure country that used the aircraft for only a few years, and in very small numbers. But, in the long run, it's better for the End User ™, than seeing complaint posts about "I was bounced by Soviet Vampires flying on the Wagstaffistan map. Can anyone fix this, or tell me what's wrong?" So, yeah, spend the time; try to get it a close to Real Life ™ as possible. You won't get it perfect ... shoot, even the stock aircraft occasionally appear with wrong markings (example: Chinese Meteors that bounced me in a F9F Panther while flying in 1951 Korea!!!) In short .... make the effort. In the long run, it create better mods, and more fun for all involved. Questions? Comments? Clairifications? Post them on the regular Forums, either in General Discussion or Mods & Skinning Happy Researching! Wrench kevin stein

self explanitory wrench kevin stein

got any questions, or need some advice/help, pm me! Anything to get outta the damn Zagaros mountains... wrench kevin stein

Try this (I had a similiar fault recently ...) rename to 2 maps to PlanningMap1.bmp and PlanningMap2.bmp (respectively) open the Vogessen.ini, and change the pointer to... [Map] FilenameFormat=PlanningMap%d.bmp Width=250000.0 Height=250000.0 NumZoomLevels=2 see it that helps. I can't remember it the crash/freeze happens to me or not; I'll test it sometime tongiht if I can get out the Zagros Mountains... wrench kevin stein

since when did the ROC forces use Centurions??, or Isreali Pattons? I'd suggest start checking userlist inis from the object cats .. there are several items listed that are Middle East only use (M-113 ZPU for one --Egypt only, not exported) Don't forget the Type 59 and Type 69 PRC tanks, they're arond here somewheres.... Also, make triple damn sure ANYTHING that's DAT in [b]NOT[/b] in the mod ... those are 'locked' permission only items, and their inclusion will only cause problems. (Brooklyn, for instance) Don't forget the 'targets/airbases' fix I uploaded a few months ago for Taiwan. And DO try to make the install instructions easier!! (as discussed in another thread). A seperate, standalone mods folder would be best for something like this. Pairs down what you have to upload, and what folks have to download. wrench kevin stein

you mean the Dassault Ballsac??? completely impractical; no war load, no range, what use would it be??? wrench kevin stein

If you look at the data in for ALL the Thuds (both 3W and ADs), you'll find the bombbays all full of fuel. Like FC said, TOTALY new models would be required to add the bay (interior structures), bay doors and animations thereto wrench kevin stein

the major issue with doing Warbirds, is it'll HAVE to be a stand alone mods folder. Simply because you can't use the stock Nations.ini. Remember, the 45th is supporting friendly Iraqi forces against the enemy PSA Iranian forces. Oddly, the front line is pretty much as it was during the I-I war of the 80s. (Koramshahr/Basra being the main axis of attack/defense) (I know the mission sets for that book intamately ... having done novel conversion sets for the first 4 in Herman's series for FA back in the day) I also retiled the island, removing the bulge to the east. Given the 'oddities' of the terrain editor/terrain engine/tile sets, that the best that's possible. wrench kevin stein

I just couldn't resist.... wrench kevin stein

Interesting to note the USN BuNum, and the RAAF serial (2 different fonts). I'd use the RAF font, that's over at SimmersPaintShop ... looks pretty damn close to it wrench kevin stein

Yikes!!! A little too close for comfort .. singed my tail feathers!! (yes, that's a HAWK) wrench kevin stein

like Eric said, you have to have WoV to get the VietnamSEA terrain. Once you have it, however, it's a simple matter to copy/paste it into your WoE install. Also, iirc, it's the only 1stGen game you can merge (WoV --> WoE). wrench kevin stein

hmm... was the old "Top Gun" campaign/terrain set ... seems to be missing. No matter, it predates the 06 patch, and probably wouldn't work in 08 level game without a massive overhaul of all parts concerned wrench kevin stein

Lets see.... sf2 - seperate game (even when full-4 merged +exp 1) fe2 - seperate game ... hmmm.... I'd say no right off the top of my head that the SF2E expansion would work with FE2 as to antishipping mission in FE2, ferget it .. the needed coding isn't there (or if there, not activated via some dll or ini -of which I've already perused). So, like I mentioned recently in the FE2 WW1 Palestine read me, "unless TK activates these functions, which is unlikely, you probably won't be seening anti-shipping missions in FE2 for the foreseeable future. Besides, the bombs to too small to really do any damage, expeically against armoured naval vessels" wrench kevin stein

about 6 years ago, for SFP1. Might be somewhere' wwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy back in the Campaigns downloads section. wrench kevin stein

a picture is worth 1000 words... wrench kevin stein

oh, I LIKE those shelters! Yah, populating can be a real bitch! Now, multiply that by an ENTIRE map with 120 'empty' target areas -in this case, I emptied them to correct the items- retiling to move them to the geographicly correct positions...(including cities, ports, oilfields, airbases, military bases of all types...then add creating the front lines, movement routes and so on and on and on and on..... It no wonder Terrain Engineers go mad..... I think there's a post office nearby... wrench kevin stein

The Classified MIssion Mod if FUN!!!!! (although, I am a bit prejudiced...hving built the terrain for it!) ktick, just look for any mod by "The Wrench". And do't you go worrying about 1950s Korea, we have THAT well in hand (just browse through the SF2 screenshots thread for the occasional teaser) Truer words have neve been spoken! wrench kevin stein

NICE harbor tiles!!! wrench kevin stein

All Hail the Titan of Texturing!!! have a GREAT one! wrench kevin stein

I think it's in the particlysystem.ini, as that lists all the effects. How/what to 'change' thing I don't know. You'd need to grab one of the effect guys, Stary, or maybe Fubar (and some othere whose names I disremember!) wrench kevin stein

Yes, brand new (one of MANY coming for KAW) wrench kevin stein

absolutely agree! on a war footing, ALL bases would surely be blacked out. wrench kevin stein

Missing the proper cat pointer line in the terrains' main ini, or the line is pointing to a cat that DOSEN'T have the proper airfields, or misnamed airfields in the targets ini. The mod, while pretty good, has overly complicated install instructions (iirc, I mentioned that 8750 at one point, i think on the modern korea mod.) It would have been MUCH easier to just zip up the mods folder, with the necssary item, into a single zip (it'd probably wind up about the same size as the download is now, using 7Z), with all the bits and bobs in their individual folders, all set up and ready to go. That way, there's no screwing around with the core install; rename the exe, run it once, delete the newly created mods folder, drop this one into it. Off you fly. (this is how KAW and Indo-Pak will be released, when finished) Simpler, easier, smoother 1) you've obviously never seen any of MY mods and readmes and 2) as some of the other Big Names (and older experienced hands will relate), why I'm so ADMANT on having good, understandable readme for mods. I'm real OCD that point. wrench kevin stein

Yes and No. all the terrains will work with minimal editing of their data inis. (excpeting some unresolvable issues on the EAW_Euro WW2 terrain) However... ALL (and I mean ALL 350+ aircraft, including subvariants) currently available need completly new flight models to take advantage of all the "particulars" in the SF2 engine. Many could also stand complete rebuilds of their LODs, as they were (for the most part) created BEFORE the 06 1stGen patch level, and are showing their age. (this is NOT to discredit them in any way -- after all, I am The Head Prop Head around here, running the PropHeads forum, and right now they're all we got) Some aircraft, available at another site have some at the 08 1stGen patch level, and work fairly well (in 08 levels), but much more fine tuning is required for the SF2 series. For myself, I'm dying here...with nearly 5+ years of modding WW2 stuf...we need to get them in SF2 fully opertional As to what's available .. check the PropHead forum for a semi-complete listing (one of the stickies), and ALWAYS look in our Download section -- you'll find WW2 sections right there wrench kevin stein