Wrench

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

Yes, you have to delete and start over. Of course, with Stachel, we all know what happend to him...Death by Ursla Undress (what a way to go!! hubba hubba!) Nice to see Biggles flying again, though. Just keep him away from JetRangers! (note to self: find the 1stGen install, and rebuild the "secret sound weapon" site again) wrench kevin stein

I'm Old Fashioned ™ ; and that reduces the risk factor wrench kevin stein

One of the way to 'cheat the system', when physically placing the airfield on the terrain, is to REPLACE an existing airfield. Using it's exact coordinates, as defined the terrain's targets ini. The removes the necessity of having to go back into the Terrain Editor and either retile the new region for a "airfield cleared zone" and/or flatten the region for this new airfield. However....if you're adding it to a new positon, where there wasn't one before, one must take into consideration the placement of TOD items (trees, small buildings, etc.) that are NOT added via targets ini placements. Unfortunately, new areas will probably require that zone to be retiled to use the various "airfield" tiles (since I forget what they're exactly called) BUT... There is yet another cheat! The main caveats to this one are: a) is the 'clear of obstacles? (the TOD items) b) is there enough room for the runway? c) knowledge on use of the Terrain Editor (this is assumed, no matter how incorrect that assumption is!) On the Desert terrain, this is moot, as there's LOTs of empty spaces. For Germany, Vietnam, and to a lesser extent, Isreal, one has to be carefull in placement. This cheat comes directly from the Grand Engineer Himself, TK. (and was used on the Suez War expansion pak by your's truely to add the RAF bases on Cyprus). This one gets your base in place without having to rebuild, or add to, a 335 item long city list. You create a new one, with ONLY the single entry. What's required (we'll assume usage of GermanyCE): The Terrain Editor for that Terrain, fully prepped (tiles, texture list, TFD & HFD, data ini, etc) Just as outlined elsewhere. What you DON'T require is actual citylist for that terrain, as you're only adding the one base, and not touching anything else!!!. If you have the CitiesWoE.ini, rename it so it won't be seen. Now, here's where it gets fun.... To save time and effort, you can copy/paste the listing of an existing airbase out of the CitiesWoE.ini onto a blank notepad sheet. "Save As..." CitiesWoE.ini. Then, edit the name and positions of the new airfield, like below (name and coordinates are for examples only): Save and close. Then, start up the TE, load the terrain as usual. I usually scroll the map to the coordinates of the base, and zoom in to max (3200). 'Open Ciy List'. You'll see "Monty's Flying Field". Click OK, and then "Flatten Airfield". "Save All", this will generate the new HFD with the newly flattend airbase. It will also generate a new TFD; even if you haven't changed any tiles. Use them both, and be safe! Then, copy/paste the new TFD & HFD into the /GermanyCE terrain folder (*for 1stGens, in the usual place, for SF2 series, you'll have to create a /GermanyCE sub-folder in you mods folders /Terrains main folder) Now, if you've already added the base, you should be ready to fly from it! If needing populating, you can use Swambasts STT (if you have it), or the test mission as described here: http://combatace.com/topic/44621-adding-objects-to-your-target-areas/ And that, as they say, is that! wrench kevin stein

I think (and don't quote me!) it's a percentage chance; higher number is more accurate? wrench kevin stein

Or, better yet.. http://www.thirdwire.com/ as you not only get the DR1, but the other terrain, and some other aircraft. AND/OR... for the same $20 USD, you could buy FE2, and get everything all in one package. Provided, that is, your computer has the horsepower to run the newer (aka) NextGen games. wrench kevin stein

oh, gods! don't I know that one! Actually, adding runway/taxi lights is exactly the same as adding any other 'object' to the base. What I haven't figured out, is the directionaly of the approach end lights (they change color on the stock runways, depending on which way you're facing). I've added taxi, runway lights to the stock runway3 a long time ago; you'll find it in many of my terrain mods. You just have to follow the 'basics' set on the other stock runway set ups. Here's the runway3 you can see, it follows the same offset patter as other buildings and such the screenie is what it looks like wrench kevin stein

Yup, it's actually covered somewhere's in the SF2 Knowledge base ... although I can't remember where, exactly In essence, you are creating completly seperate, individually, infinatley moddable game installs wrench kevin stein

the expansioin pak's exe looks for the SF2I exe, so without it, you're screwed. Abso-frakking-lutely worth the money! (and I can tell you right now, the Indo-Pak mod will REQURIE it for the mystre and vampires, let alone the Skytrain) wrench kevin stein

Since I no longer deal with 1stGen games (excepting some WW2 stuff), bear with me. (actualy the only real difference between 1stGen and NextGen game is WHERE the stuff is, same exact folder structure, just NOT in the core game install) So, assuming (oh! that word!) you have FE1 with the expansion pak??? That added the DR1. It did not come, as far as I can remember, with the original FE. If so, you should have in your folder tree a pathway similiar to this /First Eagles/Objects/Aircraft/Dr1 so, you then unzip whichever skin you've downloaded to a temp folder or your desktop or somewhere's else that's easy to find. Then, you copy/paste the new skin folder (lets just call it Jasta99 for ease) INTO the Dr1 folder. So, now the path reads...(and how the folders should look...) /First Eagles/Objects/Aircraft/Dr1/Jasta99 when you next start the game, you should be able to use the pulldown on the loadout screen, and select the new "Jasta99" skin This should be covered in the SF/Wo* Knowledge Base, a few forums above this. It sounds like you're fairly new to this so, a friendly suggestion --- READ every post in the Knowledge Bases (both the SF/Wo* and any here in the FE Forums). That'll give you a base to work from. ALWAYS read the readmes that (should!) accompany EVERY download here at CA. They are there for a reason -- it's the install instructions. And the pdf that's the game manual, too. However... you mention you ONLY have a Dr1_Loadout.ini in the tripe's folder...this is NOT right! You should have at the very least the stock skin folders (I don't remember how many), and the single most critical file .. the Dr1.ini. That is THE main file that allows the game engine to recognize the aircraft exists. How as this version of game obtained? From downloading at TKs site (the only actual way for the last several years), or from "some other place". These questions have to be asked, so take no offense. We've have MANY instances of folks having issues with 3W games that obtained them, well... "extra-legally". Said types of game are usually incomplete in one way or another. If this is the case, there's nothing to be done. "It is what it is", for better or worse. wrench kevin stein

Did you move the SF2I exe UP one folder level, RENAME it, and then move it back down with the others before running it??? That's how you create 'seperate installs'. Get used to doing this people ... there's several 'total conversion' mods comming that will REQUIRE that this be done wrench kevin stein

Actually, stictly speaking, it's a mod of WoE. That was the base game we used, as WoE had the needed T-72s And ALL the information necessary to install is covered in the included readmes. AFAIK, its now gone in for overhaul to SF2 standards. wrench kevin stein

unless the skins were BUILT for the stock DR1, they won't work. If they're for the DATs tripe, you'll need their aircraft. IIRC, the KMD needs things things now longer 'available' in FE2; some object list ini or something ??? None of the available 3rd party mission builders are fully compatable with SF2/FE2 due to internal changes in the game. I wonder if TK is going to add the mission builder to FE2, after SF2:Es expansionpak 2 comes out.....hopefully, yes. wrench kevin stein

Steve: a question.... how does it handle the facing the terrain objects, in particular buildings? I ask because there are some "oddities" on how some of the stock items were built in MAX. Meaning: what looks like the front on some, isnt. Here's a short list of what faces which way, assuming a North/South orientation all stock hangars -- the doors are the 'front' (if you have a n/s runway, the hangars will face West) building1, building2 building3, barracks 1 & 2, -- the narrow ends are front/back (dosen't matter with them) tent1, bunker1 & 2 - the side with the 'door' is the front HQbuilding1 - when facing the flagpole, the LEFT side of the building is the front warehouse1 - the side with the LARGE wooden crate-thingy is the front (not the overhaning roof) and there are even more oddities, in particular with the buildings in The Factory Place, some of Diego's rail curves, and several others. wrench kevin stein

Looks Great!! Remember, the offsets for the buildings, fuel tanks, etc, even the parking slots, are based off a North/South orientation of the main runway (it being the 0,0 point). Of course, that assumes the runway was built with N/S in mind, like TKs, and the 0,0 point IS the center of field (regardless of lenght/width or taxiways, etc) Even with the STT, you may still have to physically fly over the target area, and 'hand measure' the offsets, and then recheck in-game. For some buildings, their "front face" if you will, is not where you think it might be. Once the objects placements are finalized, you can then rotate the runway's heading to whatever it should be, and the other objects will 'follow or get dragged along' keeping their placements. But once rotated, you can't add anything, as the offsets will be wrong. (however, if you rotate back to N/S orientation, you can. then, flip to whatever) edit: terrain objects, as you've figured out, get listed in the terains _targets and _types inis. Those go in the /Terrain folder (in this case, in the mods folder, /Terrains/GermanyCE). wrench kevin stein