Wrench

Have shadows turned on in the Options menu. The game will either generate them from SHD files in the terrain cat (old style) or from the object's LOD itself (08/SF2). wrench kevin stein

Been trying to collect pics/box art for it. I can come up with SOMETHING! Just won't gurentee how good... wrench kevin stein

those nose stipes are a triple dammned nightmare, aren't they!!???? Went more than half crazy on the original version. Yes, PLEASE finish that off. It really looks good!!! I may give up skinning....just kidding!! wrench kevin stein

It's one F-80, one T-33 and one F-89 Scorpion also, just to the left of the Duece, isn't that an Apache (AH-64) fuselage? wrench kevin stein

Since NorthAfrica is finished and re-released, I've been redoing the Tunisia map. The usual upgrades; repositioning airfields so they're in a 'clear zone', some retiling and of course the targets upgrade, which is the MAJOR reworking. But I've come across a small quandry.... Edward has given us 2 carrier convoys - Pedestal and Wasp. I've taken the reaaaaaalllllly old "Carrier" object that came out with the ancient PAW terrain mod, tweeked it into a usalbe, more armed Yorktown class CV. Also doing some very small tweeks to Hinch "Irrestiable' -now renamed to Eagle. My question is ... as the 2 target areas are already set as CarrierStation=TRUE in the targets ini, would it help or hinder campaign builders if I added Gepard's Invisible Airfield ™ for Naval use. The main side effect of THAT is, land based aircrft use it in game-generated single, random missions. Or should I just leave the objects where they sit (with some additions, of course), and let the campaign gurus to their thing via the campaign ini in locating squadrons to various ships? Also, is there another WW2 RN carrier around somewheres??? (i'm sure we could suspend disbelief and use Hinch's Bulwark for Indomitibale etc) wrench kevin stein

WW2 for now (in reference to Morocco/TORCH). Obviously, the terrain features, (cities, rivers, mountains) wouldn't be changing, unless the oceans rise more than 1000 meters or the world turns to ice (which DOES open some quite interesting possibilities....) BUT...as the terrain WAS started with a post-war/post-modern time frame in mind, it'd be a VERY simple matter to replace the WW2 objects with more modern ones. We all know the drill ... find/replace such*and*such with this*and*that in the targets.ini, and add the 'newer' modern tanks, vehicles, ships to the typesini. Nothing to it! Having already done this for the Modern Darwin terrain.... The airfields would/will be the most problematic, depending on tiling, if I used the 4-tile airbase for runways 1,4,5,6 no issues. Those placed in the 'desert' won't be a problem. Runway 3 (small) and Runway 2 (medium-small) would be the only real issues for 1950s and up jets. Other than that, the 'terrainobjects' are like the Lok-Nar, for "all times and all galaxies" (sorry, was watching Heavy Metal last week) wrench kevin stein

I don't build campaigns ... I'm just the terrain/skins/objects/ini dancer. As to historicaly located bases, cities, etc, within the bounds of the game engine and my skill sets, abso-fraking-lutely! I'm sure the aircraft are being taken off as we speak. Although, we ARE missing the M-3/M-5 Stuart light tanks...plus whatever tanks the Vichy forces had. (although we DO have the Soussa S-35, both in French AND German vairities) wrench kevin stein

Actually, the Tunisia map does NOT cover Torch ... it's Post-Torch, circa Feb 43 and later. It only goes as far west as Bone, but has the terrain region (too near the wall, unfortunatley) for Phillipaville. One can, on THIS map, recreate Monty's westward push across Libya towards Tripoli, and eventually to Tunis (and of course, the American push east from Bone, Kasserine etc), the Invasion of Sicily, landings at Salerno, Anzio and the drive to Rome (which is just below The Wall and has been declared an "open city", with no valued targets) TORCH requires an entirely new map covering Morocco. That one exists, but it's just the terrain with no targets, and requires extensive research, both in geography for the city and river placements (gotta be able to sail a destroyer past that French fort), and the forces involved (airfields, army camps, etc) SkippyBing's been working on the Stringbag for couple of years; maybe we can motivate him ... Tunisa includes a fully detalied naval base at Taranto, plus CV Station Judgement The DB-7, albeit modded from the A-20C, already exists as both AdA and Vichy (and requires a very small data ini edit to remove the exhaust outlet nipples on cowlings). I think Lloyd is going to redo my rather generic Vichy Hawk 75 skin (and give it correct markings) As to the others, well, we all know the drill. Hopefully, Wolf will finish off HIS Spits, and well have other choices. wrench kevin stein

Thanks! It's just your garden varitey airfield control tower, although I DID think about using the guardtower, as it's taller. Right opposite it, on the southern breakewater is where I might place a lighthouse (the old brick one would look good there, methinks) You can see Castel Benito in the background, and if you look carefully at the cargo ship at 2 o'clock, you'll see its being manuvered against the jetty by a tug boat. Photoshop always amazes me ... it unbelievable what one can do with the clone stamp tool!! wrench kevin stein

Just to let you all know that I'm still working on this ... I want to finish it before the CR.42 is released, but probably won't make it in time. I HAVE, however, created 4 or 5 new cityport tiles, as seen below at Tripoli. Yes, I don know the breakwater extends quite a ways towards the northeast (well, in our time, at least -- I figure it was expaned by Quadaffi) Consider this (or these) as more or less generic ship basins. To do the Tunis basin alone would probably require 6-8 new tiles, and I just don't feel like building them (and rebuilding the entire city as well, given the game's inherent scaling issues....) BTW, does anyone know if WW2 Tripoli would have a lighthouse?? As you can see, there's a nice empty spot on that jetty for it.... wrench kevin stein

Ground Object Unlimited is ONLY for Ground Objects (vehicles, ships, and expecically the game-generated parked aircraft). It has absolutely NO control over terrain objects, in particular those controled via TODs. THAT is controled in the terrains data ini; one needs to look at the entry for the particular tile these trees are linked to: [Texture052] Filename=vietnamGJ50B.BMP HasWater=0 Color=0.257751,0.320937,0.226057 SolidObjectTexture=terobject_buildings1.BMP <-- AlphaObjectTexture=jungle.TGA <-- Also, at the top of data ini, you may need to UP the SolidObject and AlphaObjectIndexCount, depending on you video settings: [TerrainMesh] TextureThreshold=0.80 LowDetailMeshThreshold=0.50 MedDetailMeshThreshold=0.30 TileToHeightGridRatio=4 RenderMeshVertexCount=4096 RenderMeshIndexCount=6144 SolidObjectVertexCount=12288 SolidObjectIndexCount=18432 AlphaObjectVertexCount=8192 AlphaObjectIndexCount=12288 <-- the higher the number, the more tress will show. Be aware of frame rate issues that may occur. wrench kevin stein

Those of us old enough be remember the MicroScale B-25 decal sets from the mid-70s might recall this bird. As well as from photos! Unfortunately, there's a massive decal bleed on the left outer side of the left naccelle. But from the top it looks good! wrench kevin stein

Opsss...wrong variant, too!!! I used the D when it should be a J, and natural metal, too! Well, that's an easy fix! lettering would have to be changed to red, but no issues there (other than the bleed) wrench kevin stein

That's an excellent tutorial! What does the final skin look like, in game? Also, I think this should go in KB. Would you mind writing it again and putting it there? I think all the skinners would appriciate it with thanks, wrench kevin stein

The pilot looks like the Euro01 I did, based off one of Diego's USAF 1950s versions. Glad it found another home! wrench kevin stein

You mean like slimer decals? Those most assuredly would be DecalLevel=0, so they show on ALL aircraft. Actual WORKING light need to be added to the aircraft's data ini. Both in the SystemName= in the particular sections, and in the lighting sections (having added lights to all kinds of birds, this I know!) Level 2 decals are sequential types, for serial/bunums, nose arts etc (just look at any of my WW2 type skins and you'll see) Level 1 is squadron markings Level 3 is kill markings The decal tutorial (albeit from 04 or so) is around here somewheres in the D/L section. Fairly good explanations. Not being fully up to speed on NextGen sims, I'm gonna guess that having squadronlist.ini in the Mods folder (Flight??? methinks) would give you correct list that shows on the dropdown in the Loadout Screen. I"m sure MigBuster or one of the real knowing NextGenners will correct me if I'm wrong. wrench kevin stein

Was testing out Stary's terrain enhancements of the East Africa terrain, and came across this little item, standing in a jungle clearing wrench kevin stein

I haven't had time to play with it too much, but I'd look at the spring & damping factors in the nose gear. Maybe up the damping factor to 0.05??? Have you had any issues with Ordway's cockpit in SF2/SF2:I??? (haven't gotten SF2I yet -out of money!) I'd forgotten I'd put the templates in FAS version!! Pilot-wise, maybe my IDF50s version?? Should be at my site (maybe!) wrench kevin stein

Don't worry about that my friend, I'm already on it!! I must say, that's EXACTLY the look of the terrain it needed. My only complaint is I'll have to revert BACK to the 'original' type city TODs, as all those wonderful buildings fill all the availalbe empty spaces for placing targets! As everyone KNOWS most targets during the time frame (well, and pretty much now as well) were placed IN cities!!! The screenies below show what's up ... 1st is Duxford, with the 'AB' tiles 2nd is London, in particular the Tower of London and Tower Bridge (I've imported boatloads of stuff from Gepard's BoB terrain -buildings, RDF staions, etc) I havn't look around Berlin to see where the Chancellery wound up, or the Brandenberg Gate. Paris, alas, will have to do without the Effiel Tower, which for some reason is CTDing this terrain. Of course, it works perfectly in the BoB terrain, so go figure!!! I'll probably wind up making custom TODs, using the standard buildings, so the 'new target' stuff isnt buried within the TOD buildings, and to fit the new smaller city areas and such. But other than that, an OUTSTANDING job of retiling!! wrench kevin stein

DecalLevel=1 is for squadron markings/codes. However, if used on a single skin, I always use them as 0, to ensure they actually show up. IIRC, the squadronlist.ini has each squadron assgined a number, that matches the decal 'name' wrench kevin stein

The turrets rotate and the guns elevate, what more do you need??? (other than less people with MANPADS out to kill you!!!) wrench kevin stein

If I'd have known you were doing this, I'd have given you my 1024 templates, that I created for the El Salvadoran version. btw, did you catch the mapping issue on the lower right aileron??? Good looking skins! Still requires a little tweeking (FM wise) for 08+ levels, but flys just fine!! wrench kevin stein

I'm absolutely stunned and shocked with disbelief of this news. A sad, sad thing. My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to Olivier's family, friends. You will be sorely missed, friend, sorely missed. Wrench Kevin Stein

Hence the need to actually READ the readmes (and to have modders actually WRITE detailed readmes). Now, in my case, with my terrain mods, there's a WHOLE section in the readme devoted to .... Can't be stated any clearer than that. wrench kevin stein

Could you elaborate the question/statement a bit more??? It's sort of unclear as to what you wish to accomplish. Updating the old versions is quite easy -- just look to Indian MiGs I did (updated to 08 standards via the data ini edits you mention). One just needs to compare, and know what bits to copy/paste However, with the changes in the physical models; TKs updated the lods and skin themselves -and possibly even the mapping, though I haven't compared ALL of them to TOS skins - it would be a job of work. As to is it wise, in light that each and every patch screws up pre-existing units? ....well, that's up the end users. What you'll probably find, upon extraction of the 'new' data inis, is they're aren't specific for SF2:I, but an update across the board for all the stock 3W MiGs; that's how his patches work (speaking of fully merged installs of all 4 games). Extraction and comparison --line by line-- is the only way to tell. wrench kevin stein