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Wrench

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Everything posted by Wrench

  1. Actually, it kinda-sorta is. I'm reusing all the original tiles that came with it (by Deuces perhaps?), so Italy, Sicily, Sardinia and that other island are 'farm/mountain/sea/2whatever', and Libya Desert, Tunisa a combo of varioius farm, mountain and desert tiles. Did a LOT of hand tiling. In theroy, one COULD import the WoE Germany tiles into the SF desert style TE via rebuilding the DesertTextureList, and retile Italy and Co to a much more European look. Although, it would be a more Central Europe look as opposed to a "Med" look. Other than the usual flaws in the Desert style tiles, I think the look is farily close (well, moderinish) to reality. I remember Canadair commenting on the Libya maps, that it looked pretty close to Real Life ™. As he's from Sicily (or at least has flown out of most of the airports there. --wonder if he's in Greece, fighting that fire near Athens??? So, the map look ok split like that?? (btw, that's just PM #1, and there's a few more airbases to add in Italy and Sicily) Them maps of sure are coming in handy!! wrench kevin stein
  2. THAT's the kind of info I love collecting!!! I'd always assumed (and we all know what happens when you do that), that the convergence/boresights angle were done like vehicle alignments (back in the day); loosen a bolt and slid in a calibrated shim that x thickness = y degrees. I can see where that might not work, of course, given the much heftier bouncing around aircraft get than your average car. So, is it then also safe to assume the the A-1,A-4 and early F-8 were lead computing? wrench kevin stein
  3. for the AAF, i'd have to guess 1944, when the D Mustangs got the K-14s (maybe Jug N/Ms too??) USN, don't know if the Mk.8s were or not (most likely not) I'd guess approx the same time for the RAF Mk.III "Ace Maker", but I never did find enough info on that one. Don't think the Japanese ever used one, but maybe the Luftwaffe's Revi-16 might have been. Again, I never did find enough data. as for a-g sights, i'm pretty sure they'd be 'fixed' (ie: the cockpit ini may read caged or AG, with the depression built in). I know the K-14's I've done have a seperate a-g sight; a kind of semi-circular ladder thingy that really helps in getting bombs on target. Oddly, when using the HVARs, it reverts back to the guns reticle. Sabres, obviously, were -with that little ranging radar in the nose (and possibly F-80s, too) What I miss on the modern ones is the "V" shaped guide, like we used to see in Falcon 3 & 4 wrench kevin stein
  4. It done via creation of new TOD files in the Terrain Editor. There were turorials on Deuces's old website, but I can't find the url at the moment...it detailed the importation of 3d objects, and the bmp or tgas that created new buildings and trees. Conversely, one can also easily import existing TODs to other terrains that use the same tiles ie: the green hell tods/tgas into any other terrain that uses the WoV VietnamSEA tiles, or the Germany Forest & Fields mods to those using WoE's GermanyCE tiles. Same goes for the desert-based maps. There are MANY floating around; CA-Stary has some nice large urban centers (read: skycrapers) for the desert map, there's some very old ones done by Polack that I used for the Isreal2 rebuild, a bunch of custom ones I built for SoCal and ASW, etc and so forth. I just can't do heavily forested/dense jungles ... wrench kevin stein
  5. when I saw the title, I was thinking 'what??' old dudes with canes/walkers/wheelchairs and long beards!!! Pulled out of the Old Folks Home!! nice work! wrench kevin stein

  6. Happy Birthday 331Killerbee

    Wrench replied to Dave's topic in The Pub

    Happy Birthday brother!!! Make it a good one!!! wrench kevin stein
  7. Eventually. It'll be only on my site, when I get round to it. wrench kevin stein

  8. Okinawa/Japan - Version 3 (WW2)

    Wrench posted a file in Terrains

    Version

    1,075 downloads

    Okinawa Terrain Upgrade, Version 3.0 For SF/SFG/WoV/WoE WW2 PTO modded installs, 06 Patch Levels This mod is a extensive rebuild to Edward's WW2 Okinawa terrain, and is designed to COMPLETELY replace any and all eariler versions. This is the COMPLETE terrain, with all tiles, TODs, inis and terrain objects necessary to (almost) just unzip and fly over. YOU, the End User ™ are still responsible to locate the various and sundry Ground Objects and Aircraft needed for you PTO flying pleasure. I've supplied MANY, but more are not included. This map has been re-designed with Operation Olympic in mind, hence the island of Okinawa itself should be consided "nearly" secured; ie American and Allied forces have pretty much taken the island, and are building up for the Invasion of Japan. The time frame I have in mind in Mid-1945 to approx late 1947, or even into 1948 if needed. To that end, expect a Runway 4 (large airfield, albeit -NOT- historically correct) at Kadena for Bomber Operations, and several smaller auxillary fields to 'activate' themselves based on the year flown (ie: 1946). Many completely NEW target areas have been added, and the map has been extensively retiled to create a more Japanese looking environment. This retiling 'resets' several cities, adds some rivers, creates clear zones around the various airfields, and corrects some other issues. The targets ini itself has been almost complety rebuilt, adding LOTS of interesting things to look at and blow up. TODs and tgas from "Green Hell" and another terrain project have been used to create forests and such, and several brand new custom TODs and and several new tiles have been created. These are based off the stock VietnamSEA tiling, so these new TODs are usable in ANY map that uses the WoV VietnamSEA tiles, or can easily be imported for any other terrain type. This is a very 'target rich' environment -- there are plenty of items for strike and anti-shipping missions. It is also HEAVILY defended - so watch out for the flak. As expected, I added the 'Rising Sun' Japanese flag, and the Stars and Stripes. Several 'new' parked aircraft have been added; you'll see them if you look for them. There are also other bits of 'eye candy' floating around... :) I've included several updated data inis for some ships, as they now have semi-proper effects (IJN DDs now have smoke coming out the stacks) You MUST have ALL the Pacific Objects (ground units, ships, AAA, infantry, etc) already installed in you PTO version of the game; otherwise things won't be appearing. This is especially important for the ships. See below in the "To Install" for more information. Don't forget to check Geo's page for more WW2 goodies ... there's a lot of stuff that's usable (and used!) here as well. = MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE LATEST, WW2 NATIONS INI IN YOUR FLIGHT FOLDER = = MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE LATEST WW2 FORMATIONS INI IN YOUR FLIGHT FOLDER = == MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE LATEST WEAPONS PAK FOR THE WW2 WEAPONS!! == It has been tested in SF, WoV and WoE, using their cats pointed to in the main ini. As most of the new objects will be residing directly in the terrain folder, you should have no problems. (see the CombatAce Knowledge Base for the tutorial on using the cat pointer line). It has NOT, however, been tested in post 08 patch WoI or post 08 patch SF/SFG/WoV/WoE; nor has it been tested in the SF2 Series - it is NOT designed for useage in those type of game installs. If you choose to do so, expect NO support from me -- you're on your own. However, it IS usable ... it's just 98.6% ™ of the aircraft are NOT! As always, it's reccomended that you unzip this package to a temp folder or your desktop to gain access to the rest of this readme. Follow these instructions herein =EXACTLY= and you should have no problems. It's =HIGHLY= reccomended you read this document completly through before installing this mod. In other words -- read this damn thing, or you'll get yourself in a jam!!!! Good Hunting! Wrench Kevin Stein ps: like the recent Solomons V3 pak, there are still a few new parked aircraft that are NOT finished yet, and therefore not included (doh!). When and as they are done, expect a VERY small update.
  9. Ok, forgetting that either Stary or Brain32 had the texturelist, and had sent it to me for the modern EAW Euro rebuild attempt....even though the tiles themselves LOOK different, they share the same names. So.... off I go into the TE and import the WW2Euro, and start looking round it. Of course, we don't have a cities ini that lists things, so I'll have to rebuild one (all 255 items!!) just to locate all the airfields. And, again, the 'copy/paste' method of populating cities which makes them problematic (as in each and everyone will need a Total & Utter Rebuild ™ ) Then there's the rail stations ... those ALL need flattening, as the bits and bobs tend to disappear into the ground beneath them (just like on the NorthAfrica, Tunisia, Burma and the as yet unfinished Indo-Pak and Korea maps) But...I was able to import the airfield tiles from WOV, so it's just a matter of placing them (well, and painting to match of course...), as seen in the screenie below, it's not quite matching yet. The water/river tgas need some going over (which I'd thought I'd already done some year ago....) but it's most eiminantly doable. Unfortunately, with the terrain and other mods workload, don't expcet anything for major for this map until after the New Year. The shear amount of target areas, the cusomization needed foreach and every one, new terrain objects to be imported -- Gepards BoB terrain will be a godsend for that -- to say nothing of somehow adapting WoE forests and fields....some tods for the farm tiles are very easily created, adding small groves of trees to them isn't all that difficult. So, expect a VERY long lead time before anything major in the targets area materalizes. One good thing is, we have SO many people that live in the region, ther's an overabundunance of informations availalbe (if one knows where to look), so reasearch times can be cut down a bit. Thank goodness I bought the 8 volume set of "Impact" 30 years ago!! wrench kevin stein
  10. Their positions are adjusted via data ini edits in each light callout section (ie: Positon=, as below). Having done this hundreds of times for thousands of light bulbs, I can assure you it's a mind-bending process. Move, test in game, move, test in game, move, test in game - you get the picture. Finding exactly WHERE they're supposed to be, well, that's where hours of research on the web comes into play. Or finding really good walkaround sites, books on the aircraft, detailed photos, etc. have fun!!! wrench kevin stein
  11. I'm just curious as to whats different from this version, as opposed to these 2: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=5146 http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=5145 plus Ghostrider883's skin set with 100% accurate serials and paint jobs Just curious... wrench kevin stein
  12. No plans at present to take on THAT challenge! (read: if I thought WW2 Japan was tough ... imagine WW2 Europe) Although, if I ever get the proper texturelist.ini, there's some custom tiles that need creating for the 'exclusion zones' around the airbases. Meaning, that would give them the nice, clear empty regions around the runways and such. Also too, Fighter Command (and Luftwaffe fighter bases as well) really should have a runway -- most were just grass field ala First Eagles (another experiment I'm working on) I'd love to retile the entire thing with the WoE tiles. It's like the 'modern' 4-seasons Euro version (again, needing those exclusion zones) that I'd started last year. There's a LOT of internal issues that prevent the 4-Season versions from blending together (least of which is the tiles). In 2005 when it was released, it was a VERY good map. But, it's showing it's age. As we player demand more 'eye candy' in our sophistication, these older terrains need to be brought up to current (ok, 06) levels. The shear size of this map gives it SOOOO much potential, it really cries out for upgrades. Look at it this way....adding targets really isn't an arcane science; it just takes the will to do literally days or weeks of research to properly locate the target areas, find/adapt the necessary objects, place them in the histoirc or semi-historic locations, recreate the look and feel of the 1940s, then test, test and test again. Those steps I posted in the KB about 'Placing Targets' works superbly well ... it eliminates hundreds of hours of guesswork, and puts your player aircraft directly over the target area to be rebuilt. It really works, as the Okinawa map will show. wrench kevin stein
  13. Ok peoples! The Okinawa rebuild in finished ... I"m just waiting for all the changes to the boards to be finalized before uploading it. As to be expected, there's a very detailed readme, several new/modified GroundObjects and such, etc, etc, blahblahblah. Expect it weigh in around 80+ megs zipped. So, either this weekend or beginning of next week it'll be here. I'll probably upload it to my site as well, for those poor unfortunates that can't get here. wrench kevin stein
  14. Nice shots Dave!!! (good one sneaking in the Okha!) Don't suppose you can get some as to the landing/taxi/running/formation light positions? None of my books show them. well, not all of them -- there's a taxi light on the nose strut. No rush, of course. btw, those pics would a great addition the Aircraft Resource Center's Walkaround collection. wrench kevin stein
  15. don't forget, too, that map needs a MAJOR target's overhaul...the Rhur valley is pretty much blank as to the factories and manufacturing centers needed (as is most of The Continent) wrench kevin stein
  16. I don't know about that...that would add a HELL of a lot more work for Veltro....having to make and animate the spinning radar dish and the electronics boxes. It would probably effect the 'no cockpit' view, too. Personally, I'd just skin it over with a very light gray to represent a slight di-electric paint coating on the fiberglass. Much easier for all involved!!! note to Veltro: you doing 2 complete lods, with and without upper turret? May I reccomend just one, WITH turret. The gunbarrels, turret assembly etc can easily be removed with the 'hiding stuff' data ini edit, like I did for the DATs B-25B (Midway) to remove the belly turret and the P-26 (Chinese) to remove other various and sundry bits. This way, you only need to make one LOD, and we can create 2 complete aircraft. The Edits are super easy when one has the OUT file (and the names are easily IDed). wrench kevin stein
  17. Have you also edited the SingleMission.ini?? That's the real improtant one. As outline here in our Handy-Dandy Knowledge Base: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php/topic/38609-adjusting-the-games-start-year/ wrench kevin stein
  18. Most A models, and about half the Bs had the turret removed due to severe buffeting issues. (they were also more needed for the B-29s, which used the same one for the front/top unit), which left the aircraft with the 4 20mms in the ventral tray. It was controlled by the gunner, the dude in the #2 seat. It could be locked in the forward position by either the pilot or gunner, and fired along with the 4 belly 20mms. It could also be independently controled by the gunner to engage targets, pretty much like any other turret. The Radar Operator sat in the rear section all by his lonesome, seperated from the pilot/gunner by the turret well/mechanism (warbird tech #15 has some great exploded diagrams from the assembly manuel) One of the books has a great diagram of the turret's firing arcs, and the 'inturuppted' regions so it dodn't shoot off it's own vert fins and props. I can post that, if you want. Bs were also used in Interdictor roles in both Europe and PTO, and could carry (in-theatre rigged) HVARs or tripple bazooka units, but bombs and up to 4 drop tanks were available via factoy hard points. now up to 200+megs on books -- FINALLY got the Osprey one and it's some fantastic pics of nose arts. Gonna be making a LOT of decals!!! A models were mostly OD/Neutral Gray, all Bs were night black, usually heavily weathered (that's gonna be fun!!!) wrench kevin stein
  19. Unfortunatley, NOT in a 06 level game. It only works post-08 and NextGens wrench kevin stein
  20. Count me in! I was thinking of using the P-38 pit; has a wheel and twin engine annunciator, but I want to look at it more, as the BW has a radar screen directy below the gunsight. D/Led about 140 megs of books on pdf for it last night ... unfortuantely, the WarbaridTech didn't have the usual goodness I thought it would. Although, the Schiffer had some nice pictures. Still after the Osprey "P-61 Units" book. Nose art will be problematic ... still working at it. btw: which version will this be? Your screenie looks like at late-series B, as it has the upper 4 gun turret. FM wise I can't do too much, but have some idears....according to of the books I got yesturday, it should compare favorably with the P-51D & P-47D/N, performance and handling wise. Suppose to be VERY manuveralbe for a medium bomber sized fighter. as in "holding it's own against the Mustang". Hope to find some charts that someone (or anyone) can use to figure out FM data. wrench kevin stein
  21. There was an airfield "trick" I used to use when building my mission sets for Fighters Anthology... In this example, your Intrepid Hero ™ is stealing an enemy aircraft (set as friendly) from an enemy airbase. Even back then, you couldn't use Red for Blue basing, and vise-versa. So, I hit upon the idea of laying down an 'empty' friendly runway directly on TOP of the existing enemy runway. The game engine (well, back then) saw both runways, but each was operational for each opposing side. I don't see why this would would here in the 3W series ... all you'd need is 2 target area, congruent with each other, and the aformentioned addition to the terrains Nations.ini. Obviously, depending on the aircraft used, and it's runway requirements (Medium or Large), would depend on which runway type to use For example: so, for your airliners or other 'neutral air-shipping', and NOTHING else listed. Using the exact same coordinates as the 'Blue' or 'Red' base location. HOWEVER!! (you knew that was coming, right??) You might want to create a 'copy' airbase and 'copy' airbase ini, call in desert_airfield1A.ini, and REMOVE the in-game generated parking slots so there's no conflicts, or plot NEW positions away from the existing ones -- there's lots of empty spots near the hangars and such, especially on Runway 4. Add the 'new' runway to the _Types ini, but use ALL the original LODs and such, like this: I've done somethign similiar with various and sundry stock and aftermarket building; the game engine ™ dosen't seem to care what LOD is used, as long as there's a specific/new name for the object. Mind you, this is something I've not experimetated with in the SF/Wo* series, but I don't see why it shouldn't work wrench kevin stein edit: if this DOES work, don't forget to put my name in the readme for credit -- I'm a credit whore!!!
  22. Yes, Malta is on the Tunisia map, which is 'in the hangar' for it's overhaul -about 60% done. Unfortunately, due to the standard tiling issues inherent in this game, I'm unable to exactly duplicate the Grand Harbor (but there IS a castle!)Also, WASPs convoy and the PEDESTAL convoy stations are present (and the addition of a carrier station for JUDGEMENT, although we don't have any Stringbags....perhaps the Baffin can be modified as a stand-in???, will need LOTS of data in tweeks, and a new skin of course) Missing the Gladiator too.... I can post screenies, if wanted wrench kevin stein
  23. File Name: Solomons Islands - version 3.0 File Submitter: Wrench File Submitted: 20 Aug 2009 File Category: Terrains Solomon Islands Terrain -Version 3- For SF/WoV/WoE WW2 PTO mods, 06 Patch Level ONLY This is a COMPLETE and TOTAL rebuild of Edward's WW2 Solomon Islands map. It has been completely retiled (pretty much by hand!) to use the VietnamSEA tiles, and the Green Hell trees/jungle TODs; several of which are NEW, and only availalbe in this mod. This is a FULL terrain, with just about everything included for you to unzip and use, with minimal difficulty. It has been fully upgraded to make use of the 06 level terrain effects, so Vista users please take note. It is designed to TOTOLLY replace any and all eariler versions. This is a fairly 'target rich' environment -- the types and targets inis have pretty much been rebuilt from scratch, and the 'locations' in the Solomons_Nations.ini has been divided up into the various island named regions of this Theatre. There are also several completly NEW ground/terrain objects, creating via edits of pre-existing terrain objects. You MUST have ALL the Pacific Objects (ground units, ships, AAA, infantry, etc) already installed in you PTO version of the game; otherwise things may not be appearing. This is especially important for the ships -- the Liberty ship, and all warships, both Allied and Japanese. It's HIGHLY reccomended you have Gepard's "Midway" terrain installed, along with his IJN/USN naval units -- I've made use of them for both Fleets. Don't forget to check Geo's page for more WW2 goodies ... there's a lot of stuff that's usable (and used!) here as well. Some items are included (see below in the 'To Install' for details) There ARE some historical flaws, which as most of you know cheeses me off to now end; they are somewhat detailed in the "Notes & Explinations" section below. The data ini has been upgraded to the semi-latest standards (ie: 2006 patch level). Water effects are active, so Vista users beware...more information for you is below in the Install Instructions. See "Notes for Vista Users". While not designed for use in 08 or SF2 level games, it is quite easily adaptable with minor additions/changes to the data ini. Consult the CombatAce Knowledge Base or the several hundred threads on the matter. = MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE LATEST, WW2 NATIONS INI IN YOUR FLIGHT FOLDER = = MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE LATEST WW2 FORMATIONS INI IN YOUR FLIGHT FOLDER = == MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE LATEST WEAPONS PAK FOR THE WW2 WEAPONS!! == It has been tested in SF, WoV and WoE, using their cats pointed to in the main ini. As most of the new objects will be residing directly in the terrain folder, you should have no problems. (see the CombatAce Knowledge Base for the tutorial on using the cat pointer line). Follow these instructions herein =EXACTLY= and you should have no problems. It's HIGHLY reccomended you read this document completly through before installing this mod. Note: There are several new terrain objects still in the works (some parked? docked? moored? seaplanes); they just aren't ready yet. So, rather than wait until they're done, I've chosen to release this "as-is". Expect an update with these 3 objects are finalized (those are actually the only thngs missing -- everything else is done!). This will, at least, give the Campaign Builders something to work with. As always, it's reccomended you unzip this to a temp folder or your desktop to gain acess to the rest of the readme. Good Hunting! Wrench Kevin Stein Click here to download this file
  24. Wait....we have a downloads section??? Who knew, and didn't tell me??? walks off mumbling to self.....this is what I get for missing staff meetings..... wrench kevin stein
  25. As stated in the announcement thread, there are 3 'terrain objects' still missing for the seaplane bases: parked/docked/moored -whatever you wan to call it, Rufe, Pete and Mavis static aircraft. I'm still awaiting them to be finished, but my 3d guy is having some problems getting their world centers high enough so the 2 floatplanes sit on their floats. For my 2 terrain testers, the only differences in what you have is some tiling changes scattered here and there, so you might need to redownload this new version, and replace the test version Enjoy! wrench kevin stein
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