Wrench

Damage textures are simple tgas with an alpha channel. Look at the various and sundry damage one's I've done (they're in the D/L section) and/or extract some from the Classic series and you'll see how they work. Be aware, however, if made 1-1 scale, they can run up 4-6 megs EACH!!!!, depending on the original skin size BTW, the pattern of holes and other exposed innards MUST match the general shape of the aircraft. wrench kevin stein

I still have to get that old unfinished version of the terrainto you ... remember, it ain't got no 'really' working water for 08 Classic or SF2 NextGens. Needs MAJOR retiling, or rebuilding of the existing sea/land/other water tiles to add better alpha channels. Those sand berm thingy's are called "Shelter2" the other one like that, with a camo net over the top is "Shelter3". You'll probably want to edit the types ini, and give them a target value of 0, cause it takes like 3-5 2000#s to kill 'em. Another thing to do with them, as I've done on a lot of the WW2 maps, is just replace them with some of Stary's hangars. They'll need resetting of course. If you use the one with the open door, you can add parked planes there as well; either the existing statics (which is more for WW2) or add parking slots in the airfields data ini, and let the game generate them. Just remember you might not be able to fit a B-52 in there, so make them for 'small' parking slots. For your Pit1s that are extended over the ramp onto the grass, decrease the offset. It "should" be the second number, assuming you just replaced the existing blast shields. The reason in the 0/0 point of the pit is IN the exact center of the pit. Make sure you have your HUDData.ini set to Debug=TRUE to get the exact offset numbers Meaning, data taken from a Runway1 layout.... Target[041].Type=blastshield Target[041].Offset=518.60,-145.70 Target[041].Heading=270 518.60, is the distance north/south of the center of target area (the 0/0 point) and -145.70 is the distance east/west of the 0/0 point. Decrease this distance to move it "in" so the back wall matches the concret/grass parting line. All distances are in meters. This is where having the Debug on REALLLY comes in handy. You can zoom in, and using the "cross mark" measure exact distances from the center to the back wall, and subract the difference. wrench kevin stein

You mean this one?? (note: slightly eariler lod, the later lods have all the gaps closed, and new custom made FR-1 drop tanks will be coming too) Full release in the usual "2 weeks". wrench kevin stein

Nope. No enemy airfield for them to spawn from wrench kevin stein

True,I took the lazy man's way out and used the solid R, forgetting my USAF stencil font has the correct one. Again was too lazy to correct it. Oddly, the Squad/Signal book on Carrier Air Group markings and Squadron shows BOTH styles, but Ginters, having the actual picures, prevails. Shoot, even the loadout is 'fictional' , as they only had their guns. I added the rockets cause I wanted it to be able to do SOMETHING!!! DAT's got yet another Forgetten Bird out, that's almost done with tweeking for the Final Release ™. Just a few more tests, and it'll be ready to go. Like my FH-1, it includes an alternate decal for WW2 useage wrench kevin stein

G models never had more pylons/attachments than we are given in the stock one. Now, adding a internal jammer, as some late-model KLU Gs had, is a nothing data ini mod. Why would you need to mod the skin for CM dispensers? Just add them to the data ini, adjusting the 'ejection location',if necessary, and go from there. Don't think Gs every had them at any rate (ASA-Ms might have had them added just before retirement, but I never added them, just the decpetion jammer), other than MF versions Jet-Zs AMI 104G/S/S-ASA/ASA-M skins are ALL based off using the STOCK 3rdWire 104G lods. The 104S/etc pylon set, which includes extra ventral strakes, has been in the various and sundry weapons pak since about 2006-ish. Look for F-104S_1.bmp F-104S_1.LOD your mounting positions and loadout info can be found in my S-ASA-M mod, or Jet-Zs S/S-ASAs. Right now, it adds them as a weapon/weapon station. If one is clever enough, it can be switched over to the 'fake pilot' method, allowing the pylons to exist on game-generated parked aircraft. You can even swap out the 2ndy ADI, and turn it into a working RWR if one know what to look for and where/how to mod it. But, like 'extra pylons' on a G, it's not historically correct (cause, if your Primary ADI fails, whatcha gonna do then?) wrench kevin stein

The Hawk 75/P-36A is in Wolf's WW2 Planes Pak. THIS one, the Vichy skin, is based off that, but with a different LOD. I had Capun shave off the nose gun blisters, as there was a mapping issue. The original AdA BoF version is available here and my site, as is my hack-job Vichy skin as well. (rather generic in nature -- Lloyd has turned the sow's ear into a silk purse!!) Righteous skin dude!!! wrench kevin stein

Max, I know THAT disease VERY well!!! I'm doing something similiar on the WW2 Euro map for Berlin, encircling the city with masssive AAA batteries. Eric: does Kreelins give the exact offsets, or just the general coordinates??? (ie: 245,789 vs 201919,345678). I still find my "placement missions" work really good. I know the WoVSqmd give the full map coordinates, which is good when you've got an already built area to just drop on the spot. wrench kevin stein

WOOOT!!! To the Skin Master!!! (does that sound dirty or what???) Happy Birthday Ant!!! wrench kevin stein

Mesh/node names are: gun_R gun_L that'll remove the visible barrels. To remove the guns themselves, see Gunny's post above. You can even just comment out the SystemName= instead of deleting the gun entries, in either the wings or the //Guns callouts in the weapon section. BTW, don't forget to renumber the SystemNames: Doing it the above way, lets you easily 'turn-it-around' back to full combat status. Of Course, you'll have to either delet or comment out the added 'remove components' sections up at the top of the data.ini. OR.... do a 'save as...' ori_TA-4J_DATA.INI, without making any changes to it, and restoration to full combat is just a rename away. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cliff, you NEED to get a hex editor, and learn how to use it. It's super simple, as we (that means pretty much ALL of use!!!) never use it for anything other than looking for mesh names. I use XVI32; it quick, easy and best of all free!!! wrench kevin stein

Thanks to you all! I think this deserves to be stickied, as SOMEBODY (most likely me) will wind up having to go looking for it again!!! wrench kevin stein

The only problem I see it the Blue side batteries ... since there's only ONE Blue SAM .. the HAWKS. And since HAWKs are networked to their 2 radars, you'll need SPECIFIC target object call outs, and the items added to the Desert_Types.ini. EDIT: you'll probably want to re-write those Red Layouts, unless you want the Libyan flag flying over Paran (which, might NOT be too far from truth .. "advisors" and all. And/or include the AA Gun Pit, as most folks aren't going to have it, as it's a terrain object included in some varying terrains; all the bit will need transfering to the Desert folder, and the _Types.ini edited to add them. Otherwise they'll be blank spots, when the Game Engine ™ 'sees' and object that's not there. It WILL skip over it, and go on to the next item in sequence. A typical HAWK battery would be something like this (taken from Nick Bell's WoE AD Mod, as he worked HAWKs in the USArmy in Europe...) This layout is from ASW, one of the batteries near Gavelston: You'll also not it uses the OLD designations for the CWAR and HiPAR, NOT the newer ones from TMFs WepPak. Plus the "North American Alliance" flag. Here's a slightly smaller battery: Once they're in place on the map, you can dress it up with a few more AA units, some power carts, etc. Just to make the place look nice. Found the OLLLLDDDD Desert defense sites, think Fubar did these a very long time ago. Probably have to renumber the TargetArea***, and should have 3 launchers per site, but these'll help wrench kevin stein

Looks like the path is too long...maybe??? lose the first callout, make sure the damaged model is in the MAIN folder, and try that. Same for the destroyed. Worth experimentating with, at least!! I know only the stock CargoShip and Tanker seem to show damaged models; tried making one for the KriegDestroyer and LibertyShip, and they never worked! wrench kevin stein

This post comes about in response to a question on the 3rd Wire Boards. I thought this might be of some help, so I'm posting it here as well. Now, most of our Terrain Engineers ™, pretty much know the ins-and-outs of tile creation, but there's always that issue with the transions - those pesky sea-to-land transiton tgas, that require a Alpha Channel to simulate the wave actions. So....I give you a rather "quick and dirty" way to create them. (BTW, this assumes that you're already created the bmp version of the tile, and are now going to add the ocean.) Below is one of the new port/ship basin tiles for Tunisia, showing the alpha only (there are 6 new ones like this coming) Yes Yes AND no!! (btw, you've got it backwards .. land is ALWAYS dark, water is ALWAYS light) I'll give away my secret for creating sea/land transitons.... Open the Sea1.tga (if desert terrain). Switch view to Channels, turn OFF the R/G/B, so ONLY the Alpha channel shows. With the rectangular marque tool, outline the ENTIRE Alpha layer. Copy the entire alpha, and on the NEW transition tile, "Create New Channel"; this will be an all black alpha. Paste in the one you just copied off the Sea1.tga. Now, the entire thing will register as water, so you'll need to turn the R/G/B back on, so to get the outline of the Land sections. You'll need to zoom in to at LEAST 200-300%. Using whichever brush you like, I prefere one of the soft fuzzy ones, paint the sea/land -beach area- with black, letting the 'fuzzines' carry 1 or 2 pixels onto the land. Fill in the rest of the Land with Solid Black. Leave the Ocean portions completely alone!!! You want that pebbly-gray bit to simulate the wave/swell actions. In the tile above a city-port tile, you'll need a hard edged brush to create the solid edges of the ship basin. For those that don't need it, like sea2farm50, the soft brush works well for the beaches. Nope. "Save as..." whatever-the-name-of-the-tile-is.tga". It's just like making a serial number decal from a bmp. For tiles, you'll still want the original bmp, as that'll be needed for the Terrain Editor, when adding the new tile to the texturelist.ini. Questions? Comments? Elaborations? Post them in the Mods and Skinning Forum, and if they fit, I'll add them to this thread. wrench kevin stein

Yes. The BLW, AMI, USAFSilver1 have had them since Day 1, TOS SF release For SF2, you'll probably find it hiding on one or another of the cats. A little searching sounds in order.... wrench kevin stein

We've had working firebase/arty support sites for over 2 years. These are, as expected, fixed bases with working tubes. Example: SoCal Map ASW Map ODS North Africa (WW2) Palestine (WW2) Tunisia (WW2 -upgrade still in progress) Possibly in the Isreal2 and IsrealME target enhancement paks I did some time ago, and maybe Libya?? (disremember) Unfortunatly, as stated, the rounds DO fall short as they use already existing units (the aformentioned D-20, any US/NATO SPGs and my hack-job M-59), but they sure do LOOK for targets and engage. Right now, the target layouts are only for North/South and East/West facing*. For any other angles, new battery layout will need to be created, but...since there is a limited traverse, they can engage slightly side-to-side. Also, having the guns in an arc helps too. *excepting the bases in ODS, where the tube are supported by tanks acting as arty, in a circular formation wrench kevin stein

Delete the "probe" section ... just use the data EXACTLY as I've supplied it. (as in copy/paste it from the post above) Looking into the LOD, there is only a listing for "gun_holes_right" and "gun_holes_left", so it might not be possible to remove the blisters. As seen below, the recessed area for the muzzles seem to be cast into the nose, and probably can't be filled in with Bondo. -- To post a picture, look at the bottom left of the screen, when typing a new post or when replying ... you'll see the "Attach This File" blue button, along with an empty window and the Browse and Clear Selection. Browse will open a popup for your computer, navigate to the folder where the screenie is (making SURE it's been converted to a jpg) and attach. Or upload to our Gallery, right click to find the URL, and copy it. On the post/post reply screen, you'll see the little buttons at the top, you can use the Picture to create the place to paste the screenies URL into, is hosted in our Gallery or on a personal site. wrench kevin stein

Hooly Crap!!!! As for the number of guns, I'd reccomed looking at Grinch's Fletcher DD ... thing is COVERED with guns, 5", 40mm and 20mm, and they all track and shoot you full of holes. May have somethig to do with GunnerID=, assigned X number of guns to X/Y/Z gunner 'station', not sure. Maybe a PM to Grinch is in order??? Be great to see these in game, in ANY version! A new gun effect would be super ... be usable on the 13 & 14 guns on the other BBs as well great stuff guys! wrench kevin stein

Excellent...!!! Then, with every such edit we perform, we can honor him. One of the very coolest tricks in the Modders Kitbag! Olivier, we thank you! wrench kevin stein

To be using sequential numbers, my friend, only sequential numbers. ie: 8, 9 wrench kevin stein

There's some MAJOR differences in between the A and D models, as stated in Dave's readme for the ROCAF Rehab Version. The FM edits alone will make it unusable for the D model drones. -------- The reason the probe is now white, is you've removed the 'paint' by fiddling with the skin map. The right and proper way to remove it is use the "remove components trick' via data ini edits. What you need to know is the node or mesh name of the probe. One needs to extract the F-100D.LOD from the Objects.cat (Classic series games) or from which ever it's in in the NextGenners, and have a hex editor, and know how to use it. In this case, only to find the mesh name. Then, you take the hex editor, open the LOD and search for... "probe". This will turn up the name "refuel_probe" (without the quotes, of course). Then, you extract the data ini, if you haven't already --one can assume you're building the specalized QF-100 drone, and have already edited the various and sundry inis to create the stand alone type- ... Open the data ini, and in the ]AircraftData[ section, where the major Components are listed, add this, where *** is the next number in sequence Component[***]=Remove1 Component[***]=Remove2 Then, below that, add this statement, that'll REMOVE the probe from sight [Remove1] ParentComponentName=fuselage ModelNodeName=refuel_probe DestroyedNodeName=refuel_probe DetachWhenDestroyed=TRUE HasAeroCoefficients=FALSE [Remove2] ParentComponentName=fuselage ModelNodeName=refuel_base DestroyedNodeName=refuel_base DetachWhenDestroyed=TRUE HasAeroCoefficients=FALSE save and close the QF-100D_DATA.INI Note: if you only want to remove the MAIN probe, just use the first statement. The 2nd statement will remove the mounting base that's under the wing. you're probe will now be gone. I've done this LOTS of time, and it works like a charm. Post a screenie when you're done, so all can see! Just wish I could remember WHO found this trick in the first place...Fubar? FastCargo? AD??? wrench kevin stein

Good to hear you're still working on it! January? That's cool...at the rate I'm going with the Tunisia map, I hope to have the terrain with CV Station Judgement ready by then!! (actualy, the carrier station is already there; I may have to retile Taranto Harbor, but we'll see...) wrench kevin stein

Ok, lets start a little fun thread; find that obscure refercene in a motion picture, in can be about general, commerical or military aviation, and let's see who remembers what about what. I"ll start...and most importantly NO CHEATING!!! This means you can't use IMBD or other net movie sources. Just your brains and the DVD/BluRay or (shudder!) VHS The correct answerer should also post another question Have at it folks! -------------------------------------- In the John Wayne classic, "The High and The Mighty", WHAT is the mistake that puts the aircraft in jepordy, and WHO made it?? wrench kevin stein

File Name: Ju-87R Stuka, 4/StG.2, North Africa File Submitter: Wrench File Submitted: 11 Nov 2009 File Category: Axis Bombers Junkers Ju-87R Stuka, for SF/SFG/WoV/WoE MTO Style Installs -06 Patch Level Installs ONLY This is a mod of Pasko's Ju-87B Stuka into the slightly later, long range version, the Ju-87R. The main difference is the 'duplication' of 2 of the under-wing hardpoints for the use of 2 300 ltr drop tanks. The 'stock' stations for the 4 small bombs are still intact for short-ranged use for CAS type mission. No other changes in the flight model or other data have been effected. A completly new skin, from home-made templates based off the original skins, represents 4/StG.2 in North Africa in the approximate 1941-43 time frame. The aircraft carries a MTO/Desert finish (see Notes below for more info.) All new decals are included for individual aircraft, however research has shown that some letters were NOT used on the call sign/ID, so there's only 23. No number list is included; this will force the Game Engine ™ to cycle back to the beginning of the number set, when the last number is reached, allowing all aircraft to have -something- on their fuselage. Data ini and loadout edits included all the lights being dialed in to their (more or less) proper positions, and the landing light now works. (see Notes below for just how). As stated above, 2 of the wing stations now carry drop tanks, but all are usable for bombs on shorter ranged missions. This is handled via the Loadout.ini. I took a 'SWAG' as to the STRIKE and Anti-Ship loadouts, and used the heavier 1000kg bomb. My research has been unable to determine if this is historically correct, but switching back to the 500kg is a simple text edit. A new WoE-style Hangar Screen is included, as are the damage tgas I did some years back. = IMPORTANT: This aircraft is designed for use in SF/SFG/WoV/WoE, at the 06 patch level -ONLY-, It has =NOT= been tested it in post 08 patch SF/SFG/WoV/WoE/WoI. It has also NOT been tested in the NextGen, SF2 series. You use it in these enviroments at your own risk. = =This mod is designed for use with the WW2 Weapons Pak by me, as it contains all the needed weapons . If attempting to use this aircraft with any other weapons pak, you'll need to add ALL the WW2 era bombs, torpedoes, guns, etc. They are NOT included in this package.= As always, unzip this to a temp folder somwhere, and you'll have access to the rest of the readme for it's instructions. It's reccomended you read it all the way through, so as to be familarized with the procedures, and whatever issues I've encountered. Happy Landings! Wrench Kevin Stein Click here to download this file