Wrench

Just to let everyone know, the Isreal2 rebuild for WoI I did in March this year, has gone back into the hangar to fix the terrain issues we've been experiencing. I also plan to make several other enhancements and corrections, so expect the ENTIRE terrain, all inclusive, to be released sometime in the very near future. It will TOTALLY replace the one now available in the D/L section. Yes, it includes all the tiles, city block tods, and hms and everything and such like. Hope to have a few screenies up soon Wrench kevin stein

Easiest and simplest way to prevent/stop that, is to remove the aftermarket parked statics, and let the game generate them via the airfield.inis. (with aplologies to cmprnt, for all his hard work on making them) You'll all forgetting the post-patch game handles terrains MUCH differently than before (if you've been following the dozens of threads about them). On these statics, it's reading the centerpoint waay to high, thereby dropping the parked statics underground. Or, they're on elevators taking them down to the secret underground service centers.... Wrench kevin stein

No, you only get that close up, with an unflattend airfield zone. What he's describing is the standard "pops into (or out of view) with distance" that's always been in these games. You could try setting the max visible distance = line in the various terrains's types inis to something higher, like 50-70000 (they're alrady maxed at ~30000) and don't forget to pull the Airfieldx.ini, and adjust the lods visible distances. Or, do just do like the rest of us, and live with it. Wrench kevin stein

Really????? That's interesting, I'd have thought that no matter what, the terrain's data would automatically add them. Wrench kevin stein

Like the man said: Actually, the repainted hm bmps ARE necessary. I'm going through that now with the Isreal2 map (a pure coincidence - working on the 'missing' HAWKS, I noticed the 'sunken' ground objects, and other anomolies). So, along with the data ini edits, new hm bmps, I think I'll put the whole mod back into the factory, and fix a lot of other things...so expect YET ANOTHER upgrade for Isreal2 for WoI -- gotta bring it up to the newest standard. Like to add some tods with buildings, too. what a PIA!!! as if I ain't go enough to do!!! Fubar: any help would be appriciated. I changed the missile listings last night, and occasionally got an empty laucher or with only 1 missle one it. Me thinks it's a weaponsdata.ini issie with service years/type name I think the issue with the carriers, expecially the older ones, is they were never brought to 'current' standards. Might want to let the DAT guys know that... Wrench kevin stein

Nice! With the new patch for WoV/WoE, I'd reccomend using that alternative avionics.ini I supplied. It's called "woi_A-4AR_Avionices.ini" Just rename the origial the "xA-4AR_avionics.ini", and renamed the other by taking ou the "woi_" section. Now you'll have GM radar, and HUD Enjoy! WRench kevin stein

Stick: no, it dosen't. You don't think the Targets Guru wouldn't have tried that first???? They don't show up AT ALL... using the free camera view to look at the "XXX Air Defense Battery" only show the AAA units stationed there and the 2 trucks And sometimes not even the HIPAR or PAR. Given the fact there are 4 different entires for the MIM-23 in the weaponsdata ini, and none of the data inis for the HawkB,C,D and E launchers have the correct missile entries....remember, the 'hardpoint' of the launcher MUST have the missile specified in it's data ini to load it... Which may be the problem...just another thing to add to my "to do" list.... Wrench kevin stein

A quickie note for both the Isreal2 and IsrealME targets/AD mods...there seems to be something 'off' with the TMF's latest weapons pak HAWKs. They don't even show up in game. Best thing to do, is simply use the old HAWKL, and open the data ini and use the set up below: I just extended the operational years. Missile wise, I've seen no differences. Oddly, the Chapparal's don't seem to have a problem. Also, Israel2 will need the hm fix...as some things are disappearing/sinking (liquifaction of the ground, doncha know!). I'm working on that now (as opposed to the 3 projects Dave gave, 1/2 of which are done, the Korea map and countless other items of intrest) Wrench kevin stein

The fix for the gm radar is in the "Things you need to update Thread", possibly in the "Official Patch Thread", and the "how to" is in the knowledge base (which needs a small correction, pointed out to me by Canadair) Don't know why we even bother with stickies, since no one reads them...It amazing to me how little attention is paid to things... Me, I'm perosnally happy to wait for TMF's version, because I know it'll be damn near perfect. Those that can't wait...can either learn paitence, make their own or do without. It don't get any simpler than that. Wrench kevin stein

This is a short tutorial for those people thathave never used the Cat Extrator to 'pull' files from the cats (short for 'catalog' files in the various 3rd Wire Sims. This handy little tool -and probably the single most important mod EVER created for this series- allow you to 'extract' the files you want so you can make changes in them. The cat is basiclly a large zip file of sorts; think of it as something like the Windows .cab files, where vital information and operating data is stored, readily avialble to the operating system, or in our case, the Game Engine ™. What's I did with mine, is after downloading and unzipping to a temp folder, is move that folder to the root of the /program files main folder. I also gave the fold a unique name, to make it easy to find. Pathway would be something like: C:/Program Files/SF Extractor Tool keeping it simple. What I don't remember, is compatability modes...looking at it just now, it seems to have NO compatability mode checked, and runs with no problems on my XP machine. Those with Vista may have other issues, so you may want to experiment. So, create a new shortcut to the 'sfp1e.exe'. You can either place it on you desktop, or as I did, in a folder on my destktop for my 3W games. Again, Vista users may have to do it slightly differently. Ok, so click on you new shortcut to open the extractor. Your main or start screen should look something like this: You'll see the "Select a Cat File" radio button. That will open the drop down. From there you navigate to you game install. For purposes of this tutuorial, we'll be using Wings Over Europe. Remember: It works the same on all of the 3rd Wire Games!! So, in our example, we're going to extract the A-4E_radar.bmp. A note to all: sometimes it isn't always apparent where a file may be stored. There are several rules of thumb: If it deals with a aircraft, vehicle, weapon it'll be in the objects cat. Decals (in most cases) are also stored here. If it deals with game operations; ie Flight or Mission parameters, those will be found in the cats in the /Flight folder If it deals with a terrain, those will be found in the various terrain cats, located in the various stock terrain folders. Again, some jumping around is sometimes necessary. It happens.. Ok...here we've located out Objects cat... Double click on the highlight cat file to open it. It may take a short time - so just let it do it's thing. When it opens you'll see the listing of all the files 'hidden' inside the Objects.cat. You'll see here that I've already scrolled down to find the "A-4E_radar.bmp" Selcet the file by clicking on it once to highlight it. Or, maybe black light it .. I don't know. But that's how you select the item to be pulled. Then, down on the lower left, you'll see the "Extract File" button. YOu just click once on that, and you'll here a musical tone, and the message "File Extracted" or words to that effect. That's it .. you can now move that radar bmp to whatver cockpit needs it. The extractor will always 'drop' the extracted file into the folder where the cat it was pulled from resides -- this is very important to remember!!!!! So, if you pull the FlightEngine.ini from the FlightData.cat, it will be in the /Flight folder. If you pull the GermanyCA_DATA.ini from the GermanyCE.cat, it'll be in the /GermanyCE terrain folder. If you pull the ZSU-24's data ini from the Objects.cat, it'll be in the /Objects folder. Got that???? AN IMPORTANT REMINDER: The Game Engine ™ is designed to look into the seperate folders FIRST and then into the various cat files. That's why we can have multiple variants of the same aircraft, using the same data ini, and have no conflicts. The greatest thing about this system, is if you screw up an ini edit, you can simple delete and the game reverts back to the stock one, hidden in the cat files Happy Extracting! Wrench kevin stein

Yes it does!! And, it needs an avionics upgrade, now with the latest patch I'll have to add the GM radar section BUT...since I supplied a "woi-A4AR_Avionice.ini" you just need to follow the instrucitons in the supplied readme, and use that one for 8/28/08 patched WoE or WoV. Problem solved. Get to it!!! Wrench kevin stein

didn't we go through this once before, when WoV came out without the C-130 and F-104??? (and, obviously, before the Herc was added back and G-Zipper was made availabe as a seperate d/l) And don't we have instructions for this somewhere in the Knowledge Base??? I seem to recall conscise, step-by-step instructions on aircraft importation somewhere - either here or at C5s site? It all boils down to actualy having the game in question to extract the parts from -- and THAT set of instruction I KNOW is KB somewhere; how to use Skypat's cat extractor tool. As the A model Vipers, there are at least 2 superb versions readily available F-16A-ADF (sparrow equiped), F-16A blk10 NDC. Complete with cockpits. They're either here at CA or at C5s. One just needs to look. I know this sounds like a broken record, but DO spend some time in the KB -- lots of answers there Wrench kevin stein

Follow the link below to the SF/WoE/WoV/WoI Forums. link -->Now, this =IS= interesting <--link Fiddling with some terrains... I don't play FE (hardly at all, anyway), but thought you folks might like this info. Wrench kevin stein

Of course, I didn't mean to steal any thunder, as it were. However, it just shows that great minds think alike In regards to a Middle East (palestine, syria, trans-jordan, egypt etc), may I suggest Gepards's Isreal2 map. It would probably require the least amount of work. Well, other than 'combining' sides (egypt/palestine) and other fiddelations to the front lines and etc One of the reasons I kinda left FE, was no expansion maps, other than the stock ones and 'test' and Vogesen. May have to reconsider my descision.... Wrench kevin stein

Had this little bee in my bonnet, thinking about this whilst driving home from the E-4-All today...and just had to experiment with it... These are Spad 13s sitting on desert airfiled 3, at some base in Libya/Egypt, circa 1918. I made the assumption, that post-patch WoE is now essentially the same as WoI and FE. So I did a copy/paste of the GermanyCE terrain, and then Edward's North Africa terrain (cat-pointed to Germanyce.cat)...and the above pic is the result. So, we may be seeing the end of the lack of terrains for First Eagles. Of course, I haven't tested this with the VietnamSEA.cat, but in theory any terrain with it's tiles 'internal' to the terrain folder should work, when pointing back to an existing cat. I have also NOT tested this with pointing to the ww1Verdun.cat, but, again in theory... I know this should probably go in the FE forum, but I just thought EVERYONE should know this, and do their own experimentating Can you imagine the possibilites now??? Southeast Asia, Middle East (Trans-Jordan, Iraq, etc), Africa...could be something here!! Of course, a LOT of work will still be required, to 'back-date' some of the terrains to a more turn-of-the-century look; airfield changes, ground objects, etc....but those are pretty simple edits of the targets and types inis. Hmm...wonder of the ETO terrain ... it probably should work....would need frontline adjustments and side-swapping of aerodroms, of course.....hmm..... Wrench kevin stein

I feel your pain, brother!! You wanna feel better? When this series first came out, I was running P3, 500 mgz with (gads, I don't even remember how much HD space...I do remember it weren't much -- 40 gig? 80gig?? ) Ran that pig for the first 2 years WoE was out (already had SF for 2+ years) ... wanna talk about low frame rates...sometimes I was lucky to hit 40 (with clear skies, minumal graphics and no flak) When the sith started hitting the fan, I considered myself lucky to have 9 fps!! Viturally unplayable. Yah, I know how it is!! Wrench kevin stein

In regards to the HAWK issues stated above, YES they MUST be placed via edits of the targets & types ini. For those just joining us, you'll find 2 (count them!) 2 whole terrain upgrades for WoI here in the downloads section, under -oddly enough, /Terrains. One is for Gepard's "Isreal2" map The other is the stock "IsrealME" map Major upgrades on the IDF's air defenses for BOTH maps (and some 'improvements' on the Arab side, too. ) I should know...I did them both. And yes, the most certainly shoot at you!!! Now, in regards to the HAWKs, the new TMF weapons pak =FOR WOI ONLY= has 3 or 4 new HAWK missiles and their associated launchers (various models B,C,D & E methinks). Which means, in the short term, if using their pack, you'll probalby loose them after the the 'base models' end of service years. In the long term, it means a few hours in-game and in the inis for me to swap out the various names I used at the myriad missile batteries I placed around the map. Expect that upgrade sometime next week; probably near the end of the week, depending on what other projects I'm involved with (like 3 airplane upgrades I've been asked to check over/tweek) Wrench kevin stein

I'd think just putting the decal in the skin folder would take care that...and having the Squadorn= in the textureset.ini do the rest. Adding them to the squadronlist.ini, too of course Easier, simpler, faster Wrench kevin stein

I like it!!! Go for it dude!! That's how that Scooter was supposed to look!!! Remember, too, I'm a FAT member (both in the Freeware Accords Treaty, and physical size!! ) No permission is needed, just don't spell my name wrong!! Wrench kevin stein