Wrench

hven't gotten back to Korea yet....still stuck in the Sanbox! (figureativly speaking) I haven't played the campaign, but the clouds are working in my patched version. I don't remember which terrain/targets version I'm using though.....I'd rebuild the targets/types inis, and don't know if they work with the new terrain (know they won't with the full sized...stuff will be waaaay off!) With the old, 'standard' sized, they will. Wrench Kevin Stein

Don't remind me of those flapping pyrimads!!!! You know how long it took me to stack bunkers, one on top the other, to even get a semblance of the Giza Plateau, when I built that for FA!!!????? And how'd we get all those little boats to tow the Sara, if we were to try it in the SF series!!?? Or get the Gibralter Defence Force Toro's to land on her!! Wrench Kevin Stein

Also, don't forget that unless their avionics ini has been sepcificially tweeked, and the "HasRWR=TRUE" has been added to their data inis, most of the Red Air birds don't/won't have any clue their being fired upon until they blow up. (this is simply because all the stock Migs and Sus and Tupeys are designed to be NOT player usable) Now, mind you, I'm not sure exactly how the AI reacts, but I've seen Western aircraft, with warning systems, take evasive actions; manuvering, deploying countermeasures, etc. There is a definate need, as you say, of tweekeded AI responses. Wrench kevin sten ps: you're welcome!

Nice A-12!!! that'll be an interesting addition, when finished! Lucifer Crusade you ask?? If FA runs in XP, perhaps I should upload the Wingman mission set back to my site!! Wrench Kevin Stein

Windex????? No, but seriousily, it has to do with the transparecny of the canopy tga. How you change that, I don't remember. I do remember is something in the alpha channel Wrench kevin stein

You know, to clean up that diry exhaust you need a bucket of prop wash.. ....ducks and runs away..... I crack myself up sometimes!!! Wrench Kevin Stein

It took me a little digging to find the old, stored mission zips from FA. I present to you, quoted below, the opening briefing taking directly from the first mission, from Wingman #1: For you guys looking for the books (at least the 1st 6 or so... there are 13 or 14 in total), be advised they are mostly out of print. You might find some shopping around the Web, or scrounging used book stores. Good Luk!! Wrench kevin stein

Oh HELL yes!!!! But weren't they flying Es??? At the 1st Battle of Football city, it mentions both Rhino's strafing Family boats crossing the Mississippi (yah, I know, it really wasn't ever made clear.....I used E's in the FA version) Nice to do some PAAF Buffs too.... You know, we've got every plane needed, excepting the Canadian Voodoo's, for a full on Wingman mod (well, maybed need a new gun nose for Hawk's Falcon) I say, clean that puppy up, do up some nice decals (even down to pilot names onthe canopy rails), and rlease it! I'd download it!!! Fershure!! Wrench kevin stein

Mind you, it is the original F3 (the needs work one) default loaduts: [AirToAir] Loadout[03].WeaponType=Tank_BTornado Loadout[03].Quantity=1 Loadout[04].WeaponType=Tank_BTornado Loadout[04].Quantity=1 Loadout[05].WeaponType=AIM-9L Loadout[05].Quantity=1 Loadout[06].WeaponType=AIM-9L Loadout[06].Quantity=1 Loadout[07].WeaponType=AIM-9L Loadout[07].Quantity=1 Loadout[08].WeaponType=AIM-9L Loadout[08].Quantity=1 Loadout[09].WeaponType=Skyflash Loadout[09].Quantity=1 Loadout[10].WeaponType=Skyflash Loadout[10].Quantity=1 Loadout[11].WeaponType=Skyflash Loadout[11].Quantity=1 Loadout[12].WeaponType=Skyflash Loadout[12].Quantity=1 Haven't even considered converting one the newer GR/ECR over to the F3...the model may not have the needed wells for the Sparrow/Skyflash/Amraams. And I think they're missing the mounting rails for the 'winders. I'm sure it's doable, but it'll probably 'look' wrong' Wrench kevin stein

Forgot about the Canal Nazis! Don't forget the Mongolian cavalry in the Badlands during The Circle War! The last Vark nuke run was against the Mid-Ak main base at Baltimore. We'd also definately need the Tigersharks for the Football City Air Force! The first 6 books were done by me as complete sets for FA some years ago....some of my best work (not counting the Richard Herman conversions Warbirds, Force of Eagles (eh, kinda weak) and Firebreak -- now's there one we could do; we've go the Israel map, and all the needed planes. Would need the Gadflys...."s**t oh dear", as Ambler Furry would say! We could even do Lucifer Crusade; we've got the Med maps! Wrench Kevin Stein

California Dept of Forestry uses them for spotters for the water bombers...saw them on the tv news quite a bit a few weeks ago, when we had the fires near Griffith Park Very cool to see them still in use! Wrench kevin stein

that's ok...you're questin got me looking at them, and now I've got a desert skin for the M-113 Wrench kevin stein

I'm right here!!! Don't think the first thing I thought of, is how do we get the Vulcan 6-pak on the nose???? I'm expecting a t-birds skin, with a big black W under the body.....(remember, NO insignia!! -- can't have anything leftover from Old America under the New Order.) Now, we just need some Mid-Ak Migs.....or Circle Su's Wrench Kevin Stein

Aren't they in the stock SF objects cat??? If you need them I can extract them. Wrench kevin stein

Haac: what exactly are you trying to build (ie: which theatre?) Wolf's WW2 planes pack has both Luftwaffe and IJN/IJAAF aircraft, Edward's WW2 terrains have lots of WW2 ground objects built in; there are ships here at CA, more vehicles at Geo's site (the link is in my tutorial); lot's of Dev A-team aircraft (here at CA - Hurri, Spits, Ju88, He111, Ki61, Ki27, A5M) AD's IJN pak has the Zeke, Betty and another Oscar. etc, etc, and of course, etc. All you need is hard drive space!!! Wrench kevin stein

That's why you need to use the IDS, GR and ECR that are here at CA in the Tornado Package. All those original Toros need, well, work! The F.3 can be made usable, but you'll need to extract and modify the flightengine ini. I'm not even going into the decal issues.... Sad it say, as much as it's a needed/wanted aircraft, it has some serious problems. My advice, don't use the originals over at AvSim. Hopefuly, at some future date, we'll get a nicer, more stable F.3 variant. As to the F3/ADV having an 'Interdiction' role, don't forget, it's an interceptor, not a bomber. It already has the CAP role. Right from my data ini: PrimaryRoles=SWEEP,CAP,INTERCEPT,ESCORT SecondaryRoles= Wrench Kevin STein

SCB-125 You can even add the carrier's name on one of the lines, too.l Wrench kevin stein

Might want to try converrig those to jpg...it'll be a smaller file and easier to store. That way, you can put them in a Gallery here a CA! Wrench Kevin Stein

I'm going to send the modifined data and loadout inis to mustang first, let him approve, and go from there. don't like stepping of folks toes unnecessarily In fact, I just PM'd him with a link. Wrench Kevin Stein

The first question is... why would you want to??? You can 'turn off' the internal cockpit view with a simple key press (I've a button on the stick set to this) We're talking about the windshield forward frame?? or the aft sections?? You can 'move' them via edits in the cockpit ini. (hopefully, I'll remember most of this procedure, if it gets confusing, I aplolgize in advance. Perhaps one of the real guru's will step in and correct me). IIRC, this was discovered by ArmourDave several years ago. You need to find the name of the frame, either in the cockpit lod or the cockpit out file. The out is generated by Max to list the name of all meshes. For the stock aircraft, you'll not find the out -- you'll have to extract the cockpit lod from the objects cat. The lod, of course, is the physical model. It can be searched with a hex editor for a specific string (ie: canopyframe, or whatever). It's a hit or miss proposition, as one never knows what it's exactly called. Once located, you'll need to cockpit ini. You create a 'new' insturment. You'll list it, just like adding a system in a data ini: There are 2 ways to move the struts, one is to rotate it so it's not visible (this was done on the original release of the F-16A blk 10, when using the F-4J pit). Example below: Insturment Listing: Insturment[076]=MoveCanopyStrut Insturment[077]=MoveFrontStrut 'New' insturments: [MoveCanopyStrut] Type=AIRSPEED_INDICATOR NodeName=FrontFrame MovementType=POSITION_Y Set[01].Position=-100 Set[01].Value=0.0 Set[02].Position=-99 Set[02].Value=1.0 [MoveFrontStrut] Type=AIRSPEED_INDICATOR NodeName=CanopyFrame MovementType=POSITION_Y Set[01].Position=-100 Set[01].Value=0.0 Set[02].Position=-99 Set[02].Value=1.0 This rotated them out of sight Another way is to simple 'move' them elsewhere. Lexx_Luthor did this recently to remove the fogged canopy glass on the Su-17: Insturment: Instrument[068]=Move1 'New' Insturment: [Move1] Type=AIRSPEED_INDICATOR NodeName=canopy_glass MovementType=POSITION_Y Set[01].Position=-100 Set[01].Value=0.0 Set[02].Position=-99 Set[02].Value=1.0 There ya go! Wrench kevin stein

Thanks, Buff. I grabbed that one too. Nuts...I didn't want to make one, but.....(and it aint really that important...the bird was natural metal anyway) Wrench Kevin STein

Can you believe that one of the moderators can't get the search function to work for him?? Yep, sorry to say it's true. Or I'm just too dim to find it... Anyway, is there a template around here someplace for the Mig-21F, stock 3rd wire unit?? I stumbled over it once, (and llike at dumba$$ didn't grab it) I looked in all the usual places (like, the 'Templates' section) TIA! a very humbled.... Wrench Kevin Stein

Wonder if somebody could do sound grabs from "Hot Shots".... that would be funny!!! Wrench kevin stein

YES!!! That's what we all been saying all along...didn't you read the tutorial on "how to create a era-specific install" I just wrote??? One, clean fully patched install is all you truely need...for storing the most up to date core game files All other installs are just copies of that, with the era-relevant aircraft/vehicles/ships/terrains, whatever, needed. Now, mind you, I have a 250 gig internal, and a 180 gig external (for backing up full installs and file storage 0nly!...) This is what's on mine: SF: stock (full patched) full everything(minus ww2) SF-Korea (1950s) SF-ETO SF-SWOTL2 SF-Iran/Iraq SF-DBS SF-OTC SF-PTO SF-Suez (arab/israeli wars) SF-Weapons (for testing new aircraft and weapons) {it should be noted, all the WW2 stuff & Suez has been transfered over to WoE,and the originals backedup to the external} WoV (just one, modded. I didn't like this one too much, just my opinion) WoE: stock (fully patched, unmodded) WoE-Desert Storm (you didn't see this one) WoE-FullSF (all the stuff from the SF above, terrains, ships, etc) WoE-modded (weaponspak, tweeked terrains, aircraft, everything from 1950-2040) WoE-ETO (WW2 Europe) WoE-MTO (WW2 North Afirca/Med) WoE-SWOTL2 (ww2 Europe with the 1946 plus stuff) WoE-PTO (includes WW2:46 Pacific stuff) WoE-PropColdWar (cold war gone hot: 1947) WoE-NATOFighters (superb add on) WoE-Mid East Wars (arab/isreali) First Eagles: FE-stock FE-modded (most of the planes, vehicles, terrains, etc) So, there you have it. It all depends on how much space you want to use for your games. I would venture a guess at my total usage at around 85-100 gigs. But the single most important thing is: Always have 1 install that's 'clean', with no mods and fully patched to the latest standard. This install is usually not played in, but is used as the "core" storage of needed, up-to-date files used in creating other copies for Era/Theatre Specific versions. Wrench kevin stein

Yup, unbelievable that it was 100 years ago. Still need 'Fort Apache' on DVD to complete my Cavalry Trilogy collection. Here's a link to a Robert McGinnis painting I have stored on my site, entitled "Ethan".. Ethan For anyone who wants it. I thin 'The Searchers' is one of the best Westerns of all time. Wrench kevin stein