Wrench

Me too, see below maybe use 7z, and try re-uploading? I KNOW it's a pain in the ass ... but might be worth a try!!

RIP

Cool!! I just renamed them in the insturment listing with a x, and they stopped moving! Man, that was annoying!!! Thanks, brudda!!

Oh, that's the stuff!! Viewed with the LOD viewer (great for decal placements!!) Now, I can move on the IL-78 refueler!! Many Thanks Again!!

Well Done!!!

Yes!! That's it!!! Thank You VERY Much!!!

I'm trying to make the 'nation name' decal that goes on the side of the Algerian AF IL-76s (and Hercs, too). Like the Indian AF, one side is English, the other in the native language. I have an Arabic font, but I'm reasonably sure that what I type is only English with Arabic lettering (see below). I know its wrong, because I've found photos, and the lettering IS different. So, if anyone speaks/reads Arabic, I could use some help! And your name goes in the credits (goes without saying!) the image needs to be at least 512x512 so I can work with it, and create the decal from it. thanks in advance!!!

Something strange going on in the cockpit for Su30s. Those 2 boxes, outlined in yellow, have something spinning around in them like the mirrors of a Martian Heat Ray Generator. Anybody know what the are, and why they're doing what they do? And most importantly, how to stop it!!

View File SF2 MiG-15bis "Fagot-B" Algerian Air Force Skin Pack by Cliff7600 SF2 MiG-15bis "Fagot-B" Algerian Air Force Skin Pack by Cliff7600 9/14/2025 -For SF2 =ONLY= (Full 4/5 Merged Recommended) NOTE: If you've made it flyable and use the "read only main ini trick", you'll have to turn that off after adding this skin. See "Installation" for more details. In Cliff7600's own words .. "I have made a quick skin for a Algerian MiG-15bis at the start of the Algerian air force with the early roundel and fin flash from a picture found on the net. It's for the Third Wire MiG-15bis. I've sent it to you and you can use it as you want for the Iberia terrain you released. You might add the "insignia trick" in the decals ini file because there's no stock insignia or fin flash decal. The numbers are semi-historical as I took what I found from the thread about the Moroccan and Algerian numbers. I made 12 of them. It's my contribution lol" All markings are decals, and decal randomization is TRUE. The skin remains in their 'as issued' BMP format (3w Rez) When on the Loadout Page, you'll see Algeria 1964 As is always recommended, unzip to a temp folder or your desktop to give easy access to the rest of this readme for it's install instructions. PLEASE read them, before installing!!! With special thanks to Cliff7600 for this nice surprise for MiG Monday!! Happy Landings! Wrench Kevin Stein Submitter Wrench Submitted 09/15/2025 Category MiG-15

View File SF2 MiG-29C "Fulcrum-C" Algerian Air Force Skin Pack SF2 MiG-29C "Fulcrum-C" Algerian Air Force Skin Pack 8/29/2025 -For SF2 =ONLY= (Any & All, Full 4/5 Merged Recommended) This is a revamp of a skin released in 2015 for The Mirage Factory's MiG-29C "Fulcrum-C" as used by the Algerian Air Force (QJJ). The original skin was by ADM17 from 2015. This package will replace that skin & decal set completely. Please note, in the TMF Pack, it's for the just "Plane Jane" MiG-29C (no suffix). All markings are decals, and decal randomization is TRUE. The Serial numbers are historically correct for this aircraft. You'll have 24 of them. The skin has been converted from 12meg bmps to jpgs, saving a considerable amount of space!! Resolution stays at 2048x. When on the Loadout Page, you'll see: 193 Esc. de Chasse (QJJ) <1999 As you can see, there is an active start date (listed in the texture set ini) and with luck it will turn on in 1999. This is when the QJJ started operating the Fulcrums I have included a modified data and loadout ini. The data ini gives the aircraft some "hardening" (via aluminum armor), and the loadout ini adds the drop tank for all missions. All weapons used are from the TMF MiG-29 Super Pack, available at the following URL: https://combatace.com/files/file/12489-the-mirage-factory-mig-29-fulcrum-mod/ I've also included a new pilot figure, "Red7001". The canopy is also activated, it uses the Standard Animation Keystroke (tm), Shift/0 (zero). . Included is a skin-specific Hangar Screen. As it's named the same as the original, no editing is required to install!. As is always recommended, unzip to a temp folder or your desktop to give easy access to the rest of this readme for it's install instructions. PLEASE read them, before installing!!! Also, the Notes section has more details on the changes. Happy Landings! Wrench Kevin Stein (After all, today IS MiG Monday!! Enjoy!!!) Submitter Wrench Submitted 09/15/2025 Category MiG-29

I wonder if that might be why, even with my extracted inis, the Viewer won't open them, as they UNICODE stock edit: that makes no sense, as the aircraft lod is unicode. Now, I'm confused!!! (but have pre-lock LODs archived, so I can always open them)

unfortunately, even with being able to extract the cockpit ini, the LOD Viewer won't open it because of them being locked away. to view a cockpit, you NEED the actual _pit.lod itself Are you looking for the mesh name from the INSIDE, as from the cockpit lod itself, or the actual name from the external model??

Because that's how I want it to be. Having had to deal with the bullshit when the DAT pulled their stuff, INCLUDING things I made for them, made my desicision for me. Also I've found my work in other places, in particular a large payware mod we all know of. Ant: one can always delete their older mods, it's a simple edit on the upload page. Somewhere on there, iirc, under "file actions". Allows deletion of the entire thing. Unfortunately, we (apparently) have to keep the SF1/Wo* files as there are some unevolved folks that refuse to move to SF2. Like Menrva said, we MUST figure out a way to keep the site sustainable. And guys, remember, its not just SF2/FE that's here -- there's others as well (EAW and OFF come right to mind)

You both bring up EXCELLENT points; some I'd never considered. Oddly, I've recently rewritten the disclaimer used on my mods: Maybe I should change the "bribes" section to "donations/subscriptions to Combat Ace are HIGHLY suggested??? Something like: "If you like mods like this, and wish to continue to have them available please consider supporting Combat Ace in any way you can, with a subscription or Donation to help defray the operating costs of the site. We are the largest repository for the 3rd Wire Family of Sims, and MANY others, so anything at all helps. Thank You"

Yup, that 3W discord is pretty much a Star Wars quote "a wretched hive of scum and villainy". There's some seriously stupid people over there, like some other sites you see on FB. Thieves and cheats.

what Dr Quest said!!! Please!

View File SF2 Su-24MK "Fencer-D" Algerian Air Force Skin & Ini Pack SF2 Su-24MK "Fencer-D" Algerian Air Force Skin & Ini Pack 9/1/2025 -For SF2 =ONLY= (Full 4/5 Merged Recommended) Here is a new(ish) skin, decal and ini set for the Veltro2k's Sukhoi Su-24MK "Fencer-D"", as used by the Algerian Air Force from 1989 thru the late 2020s. If you don't have the aircraft, it can be found at the following URL: https://combatace.com/files/file/12158-sf2-su-24-fencers/ You MUST have the aircraft installed BEFORE adding this mod, as MANY newly edited/corrected items are included within this package. All markings are decals, and decal randomization is TRUE. The Serial numbers are 100% historically correct for this type of aircraft. You'll have 34 of them (I think that's ALL of them!). The skin is in jpg format (2048x), and is reused (rebadged?) from Slick Cowboys' "Improved Fencer Skins Pack" from 2015. When on the Loadout Page, you'll see: 274e Escadron d'Attaque (QJJ) <1989 The actual folder name is QJJCamo. I have included a modified data and loadout ini. The data ini gives the aircraft some "hardening" (via aluminum armor), and the loadout ini adds the drop tank for all missions. I've also included a new pilot figure, "Red7002" and ejection seat (K-36D) from Slick Cowboys' pack. I've included the weapons from the Original 2011 Release (tm) of the Fencer Pack, and made MANY adjustments (See "Notes" below). The canopy is also reset to manual control and it uses the Standard Animation Keystroke (tm), Shift/0 (zero). As is always recommended, unzip to a temp folder or your desktop to give easy access to the rest of this readme for it's install instructions. PLEASE READ THEM BEFORE INSTALLING!!! Also, the Notes section has more details on the changes. Happy Landings! Wrench Kevin Stein Submitter Wrench Submitted 09/10/2025 Category Su-24

TO LOWER THE ALTITUDE OF CLOUDS IN SF2 by pagsab - Read the full thread at https://combatace.com/forums/topic/97376-clouds-altitude-hack/ to understand the potential and side-effects of Stary’s ingenious tweak. - Save the ENVCLOUDS.FX file from Stary’s opening post of the thread. - Navigate to your Flight folder, which should be in – [your name] – Saved Games – Third Wire – [the name of the version you are playing]. - Open the Flight folder, and paste a copy of Stary’s file there. - Open the file with Notepad, scroll down to the Vertex Shader section, and find the active line of code (without the preceding //) in which Stary inserts a deduction of 1900. If desired, you may increase his deduction to make clouds even lower over flat terrain, or reduce it to keep the cloud base above hilly terrain. Deductions from 1000 to 3000 should work. - Close the file, and agree to save any change you have made. - Start the sim and press Single Mission – Create Mission to test the results. Select Scattered or Broken clouds (the only ones affected), and note that modifying cloud height in the mission editor has little if any effect. - Accept and Fly the mission, and climb up to see the results. The change should affect Scattered or Broken clouds in all missions including saved and Campaign missions, and can be tweaked by exiting the sim and amending Stary’s deduction or removing his file before restarting the game. Stary’s tweak does not work in a few terrains such as EuroWW2, apparently because they contain higher mountains than normal. If you wish to lower the clouds for missions over flatter parts of the terrain, you will need to cut the mountains temporarily down to size. - First, read the full thread at https://combatace.com/forums/topic/80880-te-question-height-map-to-hfd/, especially Baltika’s helpful comments on using the Third Wire terrain editor for height map editing. - Download the terrain editor from http://www.thirdwire.com/downloads_tools.htm, and extract the zipped files to a folder in a location of your choice. - Open the folder, and open the TerrainEditor.ini file with Notepad. Check that the HeightScales for BitmapExport and BitmapImport are set at the default 10. Close the file and accept any change that was required. - Double click on TerrainEditor.exe to start the program. - In the File menu of the resulting window, click on Open, and browse to the folder of the terrain concerned, which should be in Desktop – [your name] – Saved Games – Third Wire – [the name of the version you are playing] – Terrains. - Select the terrain folder (such as EuroWW2) without opening it, and click on Open at the bottom of the program window. This should create a window showing any sub-folders within the folder, and any HFD files in the folder (such as EuroWW2.HFD). HFD files whose name does not exactly match the name of the Terrain folder will not be opened by the Editor, so if need be you will have to rename the file before continuing. -Select the HFD file without opening it, and click again on Open at the bottom of the program window. In the View menu, select View Height Field and select a zoom level of 100%. If all is well, you should now see a coloured square map showing the terrain. - Move your cursor across the map, and note how the height of each point is displayed at the bottom right of the program window. - In the File menu, click on Export Height Map as Bitmap. Change the save location to your desktop, and choose a file name such as EuroWW2mod.bmp. Press Save to export the bitmap. - Minimize the Editor window if need be, right click on the saved bitmap, and select Properties – Details to find its size in pixels. - Return to the Editor window, and click on New in the File menu. If the Terrain Map Size in the resulting dialogue box is not exactly half the width of the bitmap in pixels, modify it accordingly. (The EuroWW2mod.bmp should be 3000 pixels square, matching the default Terrain Map Size of 1500.) - Clicking OK should replace the terrain map with a completely blue square, representing a new blank ocean map. - In the File menu, click on Import Height Map from Bitmap. Navigate to point the program to the saved bitmap on your desktop, highlight it, and click on Open at the bottom of the program window. - You should now see the coloured terrain map again, but with the crucial difference that moving your cursor over it should show that the highest mountains have been capped at 2550 meters. (Baltika explained the reason in the thread which you read at the outset.) - In the File menu, click on Save As, and again choose to save on your desktop and to name the saved file EuroWW2mod.HFD or the equivalent. - Clicking on Save at the bottom should create several new files on your desktop. The only one you need is the HFD file, so you can delete all the rest and close the terrain editor. - Navigate to your terrain folder (such as EuroWW2) in Desktop – [your name] – Saved Games – Third Wire – [the name of the version you are playing] – Terrains. Open the folder, find the original HFD file such as EuroWW2.HFD, and rename it to something like EuroWW2real.HFD. Now rename the modded file on your desktop EuroWW2.HFD or the equivalent, and move it into the folder so that it becomes the active HFD file for the terrain. - Start the sim and fly a test mission as explained above, to see if Stary’s cloud tweak now works as it does elsewhere. You may rename and swap the HFD files to choose between low clouds or uncapped mountains, depending on where missions are flown. You should make backups of both the original and the amended HFD files and store them safely just in case. The terrain editor may also be used to increase or decrease all heights in proportion, so as to exaggerate relief as in Sundowner’s Photo Real UK Terrain or to tone it down to a more realistic level (helpful in stopping lowered clouds colliding with beefed-up hills). This is a more advanced process involving divergent Height Scales for bitmap export and import, and you will need to experiment for yourself once you have got the hang of the basic functionality covered here. EDIT: The Terrain Editors (there are 2 - one for SF 1&2 Desert style terrain, and the other for WoI/WoE/WoV and the rest of the SF2 series, EXCEPTING SF2:NA. As that's a LOD based terrain, nothing works on it. Link: https://combatace.com/files/file/6492-terrain-editor-2-versions/

TO FLY AS A WINGMAN IN SINGLE MISSIONS (SF2 & FE/FE2) by pagsab - Start the sim, and open Options - Gameplay to ensure that you will start on the airfield. - Exit to the main menu and click on Single Mission and then on Create Mission. - Choose your plane type, year, mission type, map, time of day, weather and enemy activity as usual. - If you have the SF2 mission editor installed, click on the pen button to open it, and make any desired changes to the month and to individual flights (for instance, you could delete all other flights and shift the position and altitude of your own waypoints to create a formation training flight entirely over friendly territory). - If you are playing FE2, or SF2 without the mission editor, click Accept and then Fly, let the mission load, and then press Escape to abort on the runway. - In either case, you should now have a button to save the mission. Press this, amend the filename if desired, and accept the save. - Press Exit twice to return to the main menu, and a third time to leave the sim. - Navigate to your Missions folder, which should be in Desktop – [your name] – Saved Games – Third Wire – [the name of the version you are playing]. - Open the Missions folder, find the file you just saved, and open it with Notepad. - Scroll down to the [Aircraft Mission 001] block, select the entire block from the title to the numbers assigned to individual planes, and copy it (Ctrl-C). - Scroll down to just past the last Aircraft Mission block, widen slightly the gap before the next section, and paste the copied block into the gap (Ctrl-V). - Amend the number of the copied Aircraft Mission to one more than that of the Aircraft Mission preceding it (so you would put 002 if there are no other missions besides your own). - Reduce the Size of the copied Aircraft Mission by one, and cut the Size of the original Aircraft Mission 001 to 1. - If you wish, amend the Name of the copied Aircraft Mission and the Number assigned to its first plane so that they differ from your own. - Close the mission file, and agree to save your changes. - Restart the sim, and click on Single Mission – Load Mission. - Check that the selected filename matches, and click on Accept and then Fly. - In FE2, your leader should start superimposed with you – momentarily disorienting, but not a problem unless your Collision setting is Hard. In SF2, your leader starts flying above the airfield. In either case, once airborne you can press Ctrl-Y to target the nearest friendly plane, and then use F4 to toggle the padlock view on and off to help you locate and track your leader (who may be a subordinate leader in larger formations). - Leaders generally fly at a stately pace, so at full throttle it should not take too long even in SF2 for you to catch up. A greater risk if you do not throttle back in good time (or use speed brakes if you have them) is that you will overshoot your leader and face a difficult recovery. - You are now ready for prolonged practice of formation flying skills, which are hard to master especially if flying fast, close, off to the side or with multiple aircraft. The key technique is anticipation, moving your throttle and joystick before a problem becomes evident so that you are not always ‘porpoising’ back and forth due to successive belated over-corrections. - Once you achieve tolerable stability, you may risk a quick glance at your map with Alt-M, using W if need be to delete any waypoints you just missed. - You will lose formation if you use the Autopilot, time compression or time jumps, so flying as a wingman is best suited to shorter missions in which you can simulate the entire flight from takeoff to landing in real time, perhaps with a brief flurry of combat in the middle.

Was working on this (below), with all it's attendant issues, until I discovered the version by PauloPanz. With a model without tractor beams (HIGHLY recommended!). So, here's just a shot of my version, that I've archiving. (GET THE PAULO VERSION of the Foxbats!!!)