Wrench

If you look at the stock skins, they're all standard base8 sizes ... 512, 1024, 2048. (unless you're Sundowner, and use the 4096s -like on some his SuperHizRez Rhino skins) I tend to work with the 2048, as that's a pretty good trade off between details, size (where some birds have 5 skin maps!) and etc. Of course, as long as the skin map is 'square', it really dosent' matter. Some of Gramps' older skins for DAT birds were 1500x1500 wrench kevin stein

ObjectData007.cat has ALL the Cruds inis (data, cockpit, avionics, loadout) wrench kevin stein

Yup, NEVER touch the Position statement, that's the pilot position, as was said above. YOu need to edit these: [CockpitSeat001] ModelName=F-8E_cpit Offset=0.0,0.0,0.0 Position=0.0,5.42,0.75 ViewAngles=0.0,0.0,0.0 MaxYaw=152 <--- MinYaw=-152 <--- MaxPitch=90 MinPitchFront=-48 <--- MinPitchRear=-35 <--- they are exactly what they say they are ... look left/right (yaw) the minus - number is right, positive is left MaxPitch is how far up or down total "head" movement MinPitchFront - look down at the cockpit MinPitchRear - not quite sure, but most likely trying to "look over your should and down your back, as in 'does this flight suit make my butt look big??' " Just like Lexx said! negative numbers are downwards, so if you want to look down more into the pit facing front, increase that number. --- To determince WHICH cat, we need to know WHICH game -- is it 1st Gen SF/Wo* or SF2 series ... since sf2 uses 10 objectdata cats..... wrench kevin stein

Probably won't work on helos, though, but worth a try. Since I don't fly helo (I leave them AI).... Ask Capun about it, over on the DAT forums. He bound to know something!! (or maybe Charles will, or Kreelin?) wrench kevin stein

Could be the dreaded ATI issue, rearing it's eel-like head again??? wrench kevin stein

Actually, the Game Engine ™ dosen't seem to care about "nationalized" weapons .... look in WoI and the entire SF2 series ... if the aircraft is 'western', you can still use 'western' weapons (examples: Jordanian & Indian Hunters, mounting UK bombs and RPs). There still may be the 'odd thing' once in a while, like Paki J-6s mounting 9Bs, but as Pakistan is "firendly", that's ok. Never tried mounting Atolls, though... Basic Rule seems to bem, if it's a Western built aircraf, you can use Western weapons, regardless of Enemy/Friendly status. Same goes for Eastern built ... can use SOVIET WP attachments (and each data in SHOULD be checked to make sure it DO say Soviet,WP) This is for post-08 and SF2s wrench kevin stein

Important Information on File Upload Policies and the Minimum Requirements Thereof: (a small edit, as the post that was originally linked here has mysteriously vanishing into the ether...) At the very minimum, the following is required for an upload here at CombatAce 1) A screenshot of the mod; not a photgraph of the RealLife ™ item, but an in-game shot, so people can see what it looks like. For terrains/terrain mods, a shot of your favorite aircaft flying over the terrain, hightlighting terrain features is a good one. 2) A quick, simple description, this is what shows in the Announcement Threads below, describing for WHICH 3W Game series; meaning if for ONLY SF/SFG/WoV/WoE/WoI, or Only SF2 Series, OR is usable in both; what the purpose of the mod (is it a "What If..", or a mod of an original aircraft or mod of another mod, etc) Generally, explain the purpose and intent of the Upload. 3) Inside the uploaded zip, a COMPLETE readme with full instructions on How To Install, if other parts are needed and where to get them; etc. There are several dozens of REALLY good, clear conscise readmes around that one can base theirs off of (I should know - I wrote most of them!) Also, list sources and if using someone else's as a base PLEASE make sure you have permission (as in for TMF Products). If the mod is of someone that has signed the Freeware Accords, PLEASE make sure you list their name, and Thank Them for their origianl work. It's the civilized way, doncha know! Thank you all for you kind attention to details; working together we can only create better mods, and a better 3rd Wire Community Wrench kevin stein

You can put decals ANYWHERE! You just need the mesh name. Remember, SF2 lods are in Unicode, so you'll need a Unicode-capabale Hex Editor. Extrat the A-10.lod, open it up , "search" or "Find" the word nacelle, and that should get you close. Determining the x/z positions will be the fun part, BUT if it IS it's own mesh, you can start with 0.0,0.0 and move fore/aft up/down from there (as the decal position are not global, but per each mesh) wrench kevin stein

Well, one COULD wait a few months after SF2I's Suez release, as TK WILL be releasing the Suez add-on for 1st Gen WoI. THEN readapt the existing objects/campaign for the WoI wrench kevin stein

Fla-MG (which is DAT WW1 Allied gunners), is also called "BrowningAAA" and is still available in my Hawaii map It's been replaced by a 50 cal gunner/sandbag pit, as have a all of the Libery's in the IJN troop convoy (as the IJN NEVER used american ships!!). Swapped out for the stock CargoShip; removed any support ships from Nagumo's CV Force (don't forget -- the IJN NEVER learned how to UnRep, like the USN did) Don't suppose you have an original WoE, that's NOT 08 level ...and patch to 06. That's ALSO part of the problem, you see. You can use ANY terrain cat, just change the pointer line as below: Also gets an new planningmap, new TODs (the trees), all new HM bmps, some edits to the types ini to add/change a few things (like CVs now have a 0 target value, as they're unvulnerable by nature) etc. Have some quicky target enhancements, and hopefully early next week for an update wrench kevin stein

Yup, it's definatly a TERRAIN issue....it's been fixed. Expect an update in the near future, as I want to look over target placements and a few other items... In the meantime, How about some trees??? wrench kevin stein

It might help if you tell us WHICH patch level, and WHICH game you're using. NONE of the presently available WW2 aircraft are designed/reccomended for use in 08 level 1stGens and DEFINATLY not for SF2 series. Far too many changes in SF2, and the aircraft need complete rebuilds of their data inis. To say nothing of the last patch for SF2 really screwed up a whole bunch of s**t. BTW: Historical Fact -- P-40B/Cs were never sent to Midway ... E models only arrived after July 42 (B/Cs had already been removed from AAF service at this point) BTWx2: the P-40B/C is by Wolf257, not the DAT BTWx3: check your rolling radi for gears ... it's too small (did you double check the MaxSteeringAngle= for the tailwheel???) OR check the Midway data ini, looking in particular for the callouts for HeightField in each tile; actually if you look carefully at the Midway data ini, you'll find these lines completely missing: HeightMap= HeightMapScale= and there's no *tilename*_hm.bmp to go with them. As these tiles are all well within 5km of the sea, you'll need to create HM bmps for EACH and EVERY tile, and add the lines as above, with the *tilename*_hm.bmp added, and the HMS scale set as follows (example is for the Sea1 tile, all other will be similar: HeightMap=Sea1_hm.BMP HeightMapScale=2.000000 even without the HM bmp, I'd still add the HeightMapScale=2.000 to ALL the tile listings in the data ini. Bet that would have solved the problem ritht off the bat, without having the screw around with aircraft data ini (which really shouldn't be messed with, at least in the RECCOMENDED 06 patch level I'll add fixing Midway to my "ToDo" list of terrains .... wrench kevin stein

Well, depending on WHICH game (ie: 1st Gen or NextGen SFs), all the aircraft data ini reside on the Object.cat (for SF/Wo*) and in SEVERAL for SF2 (ObjectData001, ObjectData003, ObjectData009 etc). The SF2 KB threads and unfortunately, I disremember exactly WHICH one, has a list of what can be found where. I've got some extracted, (for SF2), so if you need a particular aircraft, name it (excepting SF2:I as I don't have that yet), and I'll tell you (hopefully) where the data ini might be found. wrench kevin stein

kfrge: no, to Padfoot's statement. Nothing wrong with your weapons' data!! wrench kevin stein

Nice looking boat ya got there brother!! looking forward to when its finished wrench kevin stein

Haven't seem THAT movie in about 1000 years!! WElll... having had more than my fair share of "Garand Thumb", I'll have to go with "Bolt Group, SIR" (don't stick your thumb in there boy, if want to keep it!) wrench kevin stein

The old trick of adjusting the year via edits of the Options.ini and SingleMission ini from 1st Gens (SF/SFG/WoV/WoE/WoI) no longer works, as those statements have been removed from those inis. Ya see, TK went and changed how things work on us, and it probably pertains to 'fixing' aircraft and object types to specific terrains and time frames and the 'LimitedNations' statements ... instead of having it listed in the singlemission or options inis for global game use, it now contained in EACH TERRAIN'S MAIN INI. Probably a 'merged' useage thingy. Important Note: read this ALL the way thorugh before attempting the adjustments!! First off, you'll need Gerwin's Cat Extractor*. Unfortunately, the thing will unpack ALL 100-odd megs of stuff from the terrain cat, when you only need the singele ***.ini (ie: Desert.ini, GermanyCE.ini, VietnamSEA.ini, IsrealME.ini). Follow the instructions for use on Gerwin's Extractor. Keep said main ini, and THROW OUT EVERYTHING ELSE. (however, you may want to keep the types, targets, movements ini in the extracted folder. As a 'just in case I want to mod this terrain' kinda thing Using the VietnamSEA.ini as an example (all the others WILL be similiar), this is the entire VietnamSEA.ini, you'll note the relevant statements at the bottom, higlighted in boldface:

Pilot skins have REALLY good readmes in them ... I should know, I WROTE the first ones!! nothing to it wrench kevin stein

SkippyBing, being our Resident RN Expert, is correct .. I must have been reading on Batch 3s! 2 30mm mounts seems AWFULLY light armament for a firgate! Mabye I just come from the "Big Gun School of Thought" ! (5" and UP!!) wrench kevin stein

Didn't I just answer this question last week??? Seem to recall...well, anyway.... Actually, that old trick dosen't work any more, at least not if SF2 series. Ya see, TK went and did an dirty trick on us, and it probably pertains to 'fixing' aircraft and object types to specific terrains and time frames and the 'LimitedNations' statements ... instead of having it listed in the singlemission or options inis for global game use, it now contained in EACH TERRAIN'S MAIN INI. Probably a 'merged' useage thingy. First off, you'll need Gerwin's Cat Extractor. Unfortunately, the thing will unpack ALL 100-odd megs of crap from the cat, when you only need the singele ***.ini (ie: Desert.ini, GermanyCE.ini, VietnamSEA.ini, IsrealME.ini). Follow the instructions for use on Gerwin's Extractor. Keep said main ini, and THROW OUT EVERYTHING ELSE. (however, you may want to keep the types, targets, movements ini in the extracted folder. Using the VietnamSEA.ini as an example, this is the entire VietnamSEA.ini, you'll note relevant statements at the bottom: The "AllowedDates" are the lines you want to edit. After extraction, and editing, you'll need to move this 'new' ini into you mods folder's /Terrains subfolder, AND you'll need to create a "VietnamSEA" folder for it to reside in... example, using XP (that I'm on): C:\Documents and Settings\Kevin J. Stein\My Documents\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Terrains\VietnamSEA for Vista/Win7, it'll be in your SavedGames\ThirdWire\etc\etc\etc. Again, this DO need adding to the SF2 KB, and whenever I can find the time, will add it. As to your other question, with regards to migrating SF/Wo* maps to SF2, you might find this tutorial a might helpfull, in the SF2 Knowledge Base: http://forum.combatace.com/topic/54856-converting-sfwo-terrains-to-sf2-usage/ In fact, most everything in there could be considered 'required reading'. Have fun, and don't be afraid to ask questions! wrench kevin stein

marcello (marcfighters) was working on it. Status: still in development wrench kevin stein

All the more reason to NOT use FRAPS. Those F keys are VITAL to game operation. You can also use IrfanView for conversions, and it's free ... and has a LOT of features. Not as good a Photoshop or Gimp, but still good. AND it don't take away from ingame keystrokes (BTW, one has ALWAYS had the ability to take screenies of the menus -- it's called the PrtScn key, top left/center on your keyboard. Hit that, then exit the game, open a 'blank' image -Open/New, and drop it from the computer's clipboard into Irfan/PS/Gimp .. Nothing to it) wrench kevin stein

wish I'd never sold mine ... all it needed was a gas cylinder and operating rod. <sigh> Even if it was a "weldo", I still liked it! wrench kevin stein

And????? The SeaWolf WAS designed as a shipboard SAM, and the Type 22s to mount them. They also carried Harpoons for their SSMs, Goalkeeper CWIS (but we don't have one -- but a real good ini dancer could 'fake in' the Vulcans off the M-163 and their turrets to use -one fore, one aft, each with 180 degree hemispherical engagement zones) Those wimpy 40mm L-60s also need replacing ... I'd reccomend swapping them out for Mk.12 5 inchers w/1000 rnds each, as those already exist in the gundata. Not quite the same as the 4.5s, but close enough for gaming work. Which looses the close-in AA mounts, but see above wrench kevin stein

FRAPS??? I've never used it, but most of those that do say it works well. (Fubar's video's as proof) wrench kevin stein