eburger68

Paul: I think the Pitch/Yaw model node names are not quite correct. They should be: YawModelNodeName=LnchrBse PitchModelNodeName=Launcher Also, the MissileRange is off as well. EricHowes

CaptainSchwarz: This mod does not have custom menu screens. So you will see the stock menu screens. Eric Howes

Ice Man: If you're going to change the Nation in the main campaign .INI, you should also change it in the DATA.INI as well. Eric Howes

captainschwarz: Glad to hear you're enjoying NF5. This mod was almost two years in the making (we started on it just a few days after the release of Exp. Pack 2). In the process we managed to check off quite a few of my own "wish list" items. Good that we got yours, too. Eric Howes

Folks: I have uploaded Update #1 for ODS on SF2E. You can find it in the first post of this thread: http://combatace.com/topic/71944-update-1-for-sf2e-ods/#entry565758 This update package includes all the fixes and updates from the four previously released Hotfixes plus a good number of new updates, included updated aircraft, ships, and other ground objects. Eric Howes

Folks: Attached to this post is Update #1 for the OpDarius Mod. The update includes fixes and updates to various things as well as new aircraft, ships, and other ground objects. Also included is an alternate version of the main OpDarius campaign that takes advantage of many of the air and naval items that are introduced in this update. Please pay attention to the install instructions that are included, as the installation process for this update does require you to remove and replace certain items. This update will eventually be rolled into a refreshed set of installation packages. If you encounter problems with this update, please report them here. Eric Howes UPDATE: The Update #1 package attached to this post is now superseded by the refreshed set of OpDarius install files that was released on 31 Oct. 2014. See my post below for more details. If you have downloaded and installed OpDarius after 30 Oct. 2014, you should not apply the update attached to this post. OpDarius_Update1.7z

Guys: Wrench is correct. .OLD files are simply older versions of certain files. If you find one, it's because I considered it important enough to keep around an earlier version of that particular file for archival/reference purposes. Same goes for .ORG (original), .ALT (alternate), or .ELH (me) files. Eric Howes

Wrench: Thanks for the information. Eric Howes

Folks: Thanks for all the replies. I hope you find something to enjoy in this new version of the mod, which is the largest overhaul/update that's been done to it yet. Even if you played an earlier version of the mod, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the campaigns -- esp. the 1948 campaigns, which have been almost completely rebuilt from the ground up. Propheads in particular should find plenty to like here. Lots of new aircraft. Also, the "navalized" Suez campaign adds a number of ships that have received quite a bit of work. Some of these models now look quite different from their default offerings, as I did make a concerted effort to give the Royal Navy and French Navy ships a kind of uniform appearance/look (well, as much as possible given the different models involved). If you wanted to a see a big task force (seven carriers with dozens upon dozens of escorts) in the world of SF2, the new Suez campaign is the place to see it. Best, Eric Howes

File Name: SF2NA Ultimate Carriers Pack File Submitter: eburger68 File Submitted: 21 January 2013 File Category: Aircraft Carriers SF2NA Ultimate Carriers Pack This package collects a large number of aircraft carriers available at CombatAce, puts them into one package with semi-standardized data tweaks, numerous error corrections, complete SF2NA conversions, and touched up or overhauled skins. Also included are several new carriers based on existing models. This package is thus designed as an ultimate one-stop shop for all carriers available at CombatAce, exclcuding USN and Soviet carriers. Please note that there are no new models in this package. All models included here have been released before on CombatAce. Indeed, most (but not all) of carriers included here have been released previously with rudimentary SF2NA conversions applied. So, why re-release these carriers in this package? This package brings several new things to the table, including: - corrected DATA.INIs (basic ship data, catapult data, angled deck configuation, etc.) - several tweaked or significantly overhauled skins - indexed decal sets to represent various carrier classes - several newly created individual ships (usually to represent particular carriers at specific stages of their service lives) The majority of the ships here are Royal Navy carriers, though you will also find carriers from Canada, Australia, India, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and France. Please read the remainder of this ReadMe carefully, as important instructions regarding installation and use are included below. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What's Included ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This package includes 34 different carriers, which are organized by carrier class or by nation (in the case of France, Italy, & Spain). Some of these carriers are set up to represent entire classes or partial classes, with decals indexed by ship number. Please note that you may find several different versions of the same carrier, each configured to represent the same ship at a different stage of its service life. There are also several fictional or "faux" carriers. Colossus Class -------------- \ R95 Arromanches \ Colossus Class CVL [Colossus,Glory,Ocean,Venerable,Vengeance, & 5 others] \ HNLMS Karel Doorman Majestic Class -------------- \ HMCS Bonaventure \ HMCS Magnificent \ HMAS Melbourne \ HMAS Sydney \ INS Vikrant Centaur Class ------------- \ HMS Albion \ HMS Bulwark \ Centaur Class CV [Centaur & Hermes] \ HMS Centaur (Early) \ HMS Hermes ('80s) \ INS Viraat Invincible Class ---------------- \ Invincible Class CVL [invincible,Illustrious,Ark Royal)] Illustrious Class ----------------- \ Illustrious Class CV (Early) [illustrious,Formidable,Victorious] \ Illustrious Class CV [illustrious,Formidable,Victorious] \ HMS Victorious (Post-refit) Implacable Class ---------------- \ Implacable Class CV (Early) [implacable,Indefatigable] \ Implacable Class CV [implacable,Indefatigable] Audacious Class --------------- \ HMS Ark Royal \ HMS Eagle \ HMS Eagle (Late) Misc/Other ---------- \ HMS Eagle (1918) \ HMAS Australia (fictional) [using SCB-125 model] \ Merchant Aircraft Carrier \ INS Vikramaditya \ HMS Vindictive (fictional) France ------ \ R91 Charles de Gaulle \ Clemenceau/Foch Class CV [using SCB-125 model] \ La Fayette Class CVL [La Fayette, Bois Belleau] \ Mistral Class BPC [Mistral,Tonnerre,Dixmude] Italy/Spain ----------- \ R01 SNS Dedalo \ C551 Giuseppe Garibaldi ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Installation Requirements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All of the carriers included in this package are configured for use with "Strike Fighters 2: North Atlantic" (SF2NA). Thus, for any particular install you plan to use one of these carriers in... - SF2NA must be part of the install base (even if other SF2 titles such as SF2V or SF2E are also merged into the install) - the game .EXE you use must be either the main SF2NA executable (StrikeFighters2 NorthAtlantic.EXE) or a re-named copy of it in the case of custom mod installs. If you try to use these carriers in an install that does not conform to the above requirements, you will likely find your aircraft sinking into or falling through the carrier deck. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Installation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All of the files to be installed can be found in \To_Mods_Folder. The task of installing the various bits included here is fairly straightforward. For any particular install that you want to install carriers to, do the following: 1. Install the supporting files Supporting files include all the files found in the following folders, which should be copied or moved to the corresponding folders in your Mods folder: \Effects \Flight \Objects\Guns \Objects\Weapons \Sounds Please note that the \Flight folder does include a new SOUNDLIST.INI. If your destination Mods folder already has a customized SOUNDLIST.INI, you can simply add the new entries from For_SOUNDLIST.txt (found in the root of this package) instead of overwriting your entire custom SOUNDLIST.INI. 2. Add the carriers The carriers themselves can be found in the numbered directories (which are organized by class or nation). The carriers should be installed to \Objects\GroundObject in your Mods folder. DO NOT simply grab all the numbered directories and drop them in the GroundObject folder, as they won't show up in game. Instead, you will need to drag and drop the particular carrier folders from within the numbered directories. 3. Add the decals For any carriers that you install you should also install the corresponding decals, found in \Objects\Decals. Decals go to the same location in your Mods folder (\Objects\Decals). The decals folders for carriers are named the same as the corresponding carrier that uses them. Please note that there are a few carriers that do not have decals. 4. Install the LODs for Hermes & Viraat We were not able to include the LOD files needed for the HMS Hermes ('80s) and the INS Viraat (which uses the same model as the Hermes). You will need to download the "Falklands '82 for SF2" package from CombatAce, which includes the necessary LODs: http://combatace.com/files/file/13296-sf2-falklands-mod-redux/ When the download is unpacked, you can find the ncessary LOD files in this location: \_For_SF2NA\Objects\GroundObject\Hermes Copy the .LOD files to the folders for the the Hermes and Viraat, which are included in the \1c_Centaur_Class directory of this carrier pack. Once the LODs are installed, make a COPY of the R12-R2b.LOD in each folder and rename it to R12-R2b_COL.LOD (this is the collision LOD for the ship). * * * That's it. You should be good to go. If any carriers are not showing up properly in the game, that's because you didn't install them correctly. My advice will always be to review the steps above, consult the Knowlede Base at CombatAce.com for the relevant articles on installing mods to Mod folders, and try again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A few notes about the carriers included in this pack. 1. Decal problems: many of the models included in this pack suffer from decal problems -- decal bleeding, mirroring, doubling, and occasional distortion. Although I have tried to minimize these problems as much as possible, you might see decals being inappropriately mirrored, often in a distorted fashion, in odd locations on some of these boats. Also, to minimize problems, I have occasionally positioned decals slightly forward or aft (or above or below) where they ideally ought to be. 2. Texture mapping problems: some of these models also suffer from texture mapping issues, which means that sometimes things just quite don't line up properly or aren't perfectly mirrored from one side of the boat to the other (because the texture map is effectively wrapped around the model in an odd fashion). 3. BPC Mistral: included in this package is an alternate skin for the BPC Mistral named FNGrey. I would have liked to make it the default, but discovered that the bridge area of this carrier is simply not mapped -- meaning that part of the island will always remain the default light blue. Also, decals will not show up properly on large parts of the hull, which means that I haven't been able to use them for the hull numbers of the three ships in this class. Thus, we're stuck the painted-on hull numbers for the lead ship of the class. 4. R91 de Gaulle: the model for this carrier is very poly heavy (I'm guessing because of the static aircraft and deck crew included). On some PCs game performance and frame rates might lag severely. As with the Mistral (from the same author), some parts of the model simply aren't mapped, which has limited what I've been able to do with the skin. Finally, it's worth pointing out that many of the models included in this package date from 2004-2006. The oldest are seven or eight years old -- created during the first few years of the ThirdWire series. Although they still stand up fairly well, they are showing their age. Carriers (and ships more generally) seem to be some of their more difficult jobs that modelers can tackle in the ThirdWire series (along with cockpits), so we should be thankful that we have the models we do. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Credits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This mod package includes the work of several modders: Hinchinbrooke .............. original models for all Royal Navy carrier classes, except where noted below; La Fayette (old) AlphaSim & A-Team .......... Hermes & Viraat Aleks1 ..................... BPC Mistral & Charles de Gaulle YEYEYE ..................... La Fayette & Dedalo bobrock .................... Giuseppe Garibaldi ThirdWire .................. HMAS Australia & Foch/Clemenceau Zola25 ..................... skin for INS Vikramaditya Wrench ..................... previous mods to many carriers included here Paulopanz .................. previous mods to many carriers included here The line drawings included in \_drawings are from ShipBucket.com or The-Blueprints.com. If we have neglected to credit anyone here, please let me know. I will get it fixed ASAP. --------------- Eric Howes eburger68 12/19/2012 Click here to download this file

Wrench: Anyone who does that will end up breaking the '53 campaign -- or at least all the squadrons that use two of the three USAF Sabre models that appear in that campaign. I would not recommend doing that. Eric Howes

JonathanRL: Funny, I came up with slightly different numbers: [Cat1] SystemType=CATAPULT CatapultID=1 StartPosition=-9.515,33.179,17.111 EndPosition= -7.815,73.945,17.111 LaunchTime=1.18 LaunchEffect=CVNLaunchEffect CatapultEffect=CVNSteamEffect ReadyAnimationID=1 ReadyAnimationTime=5.0 [Cat2] SystemType=CATAPULT CatapultID=2 StartPosition=8.257,39.133,17.111 EndPosition= 7.657,73.945,17.111 LaunchTime=1.18 LaunchEffect=CVNLaunchEffect CatapultEffect=CVNSteamEffect ReadyAnimationID=1 ReadyAnimationTime=5.0 Eric Howes

Wrench: Yes,I tested the data, which works fine. Eric Howes

Wrench: Here's the data I'm now using for the arresting cables... [Cable1] SystemType=ARRESTER_CABLE CableID=1 StartPosition=-10.5,-80.353,17.246 EndPosition= 10.5,-80.353,17.246 [Cable2] SystemType=ARRESTER_CABLE CableID=2 StartPosition=-10.5,-73.084,17.246 EndPosition= 10.5,-73.084,17.246 [Cable3] SystemType=ARRESTER_CABLE CableID=3 StartPosition=-10.5,-65.816,17.246 EndPosition= 10.5,-65.816,17.246 [Cable4] SystemType=ARRESTER_CABLE CableID=4 StartPosition=-10.5,-58.548,17.246 EndPosition= 10.5,-58.548,17.246 [Cable5] SystemType=ARRESTER_CABLE CableID=5 StartPosition=-10.5,-51.388,17.246 EndPosition= 10.5,-51.388,17.246 [Cable6] SystemType=ARRESTER_CABLE CableID=6 StartPosition=-10.5,-41.934,17.246 EndPosition= 10.5,-41.934,17.246 [Cable7] SystemType=ARRESTER_CABLE CableID=7 StartPosition=-10.5,-32.48,17.246 EndPosition= 10.5,-32.48,17.246 [Cable8] SystemType=ARRESTER_CABLE CableID=8 StartPosition=-10.5,-23.025,17.246 EndPosition= 10.5,-23.025,17.246 [Cable9] SystemType=ARRESTER_CABLE CableID=9 StartPosition=-10.5,-13.571,17.246 EndPosition= 10.5,-13.571,17.246 [Cable10] SystemType=ARRESTER_CABLE CableID=10 StartPosition=-10.5,0.474,17.246 EndPosition= 10.5,0.474,17.246 [Cable11] SystemType=ARRESTER_CABLE CableID=11 StartPosition=-10.5,5.189,17.246 EndPosition= 10.5,5.189,17.246 [Cable12] SystemType=ARRESTER_CABLE CableID=12 StartPosition=-10.5,9.141,17.246 EndPosition= 10.5,9.141,17.246 Also, the Deck section... [Deck] SystemType=FLIGHT_DECK FlightDeckHeight=17.106 FlightDeckLenght=173.212 FlightDeckWidth=38.777 LandDeckAngle=0.0 CollisionMesh=FLIGHT_DECK LandingAimPoint=0.0,-85.353,17.106 Eric Howes

Wrench: The arrestor cable spans have zero-width. X coordinates of the start and end positions are set to 0.0. Also, the Independence-CVL is missing the collision LOD. Eric Howes

slick cowboy: The mod works fine in NF5 in my tests. Eric Howes

KJakker: Be careful. What seems like a good set of values in testing may not prove to be as desirable in everyday game play. When testing this kind of thing, the object is to get aircraft shot down. So, when lots of aircraft get shot down, it may seem like the values that produced those results are the ideal values. Once you start playing the game -- flying single missions and campaigns -- your view very well might change. I know mine did. After hitting on some gun values that seemed ideal, I moved on to testing campaigns and so forth. It didn't take too long before I was thinking, "OK, yeah, I wanted these things to be more dangerous, but this is ridiculous. I'm getting shot down every other mission, and every flight I take with me loses half its aircraft" Result: I went back and adjusted the values downward. Eric Howes

KJakker: Two things to fiddle with: 1. the WarheadWt on the guns themselves: multiply the defaults by 100x-300x (or even higher) 2. these values for the gunners on the ship: RangeFinder= BallisticComputer= Bump those up to 10. As I said, I strongly suspect that TK has made even more adjustments to the way time-fused guns are handled so that what worked in the 2009-2010 patch levels are no longer effective. But that's a hunch or suspicion at best. Eric Howes

KJakker: The fused guns do model the shell burst, and you can indeed be shot down by them. The modeling may not be very sophisticated or accurate, but the time-fused guns can damage aircraft. When you (or an AI wing man) gets shot down by a contact-fused gun, you typically see this sequence of lines in the mission log: - Zsu-23 fired 23MM_AZP23 at Pilot. - Pilot was hit by 23MM_AZP23. - Pilot was shot down near Hanoi. With SAMs, a similar sequence occurs. With the timed-fused guns, however, you will see only this: - Pilot was shot down near Hanoi. TK has changed the modeling of time-fused guns over the years. This I know because when I initially tested the guns we customized for SF2 and WOV 2008 in WOV 2006 (for inclusion in the WOV Expansion Pack), I was shocked -- entire flights of B-57s and A-4s were getting blown out of the sky within a matter of seconds by time-fused S-60s and M1939s. The solution was to crank down the WarheadWt value on the time-fused guns. Since the release of the SF2V Expansion Pack in 2009, I've started to suspect that TK may have fiddled some more with the modeling of time-fused guns, as those guns are not as effective now as they were at earlier patch levels. Again, I don't claim that shell bursts are modeled in a very sophisticated or realistic fashion, but all the evidence I've seen tells me that they are modeled to some degree. Eric Howes

suhsjake: OTC has been in the works for a while. Still needs some more work. The most difficult part has been the ground war, which requires the front line to bend in two opposite directions -- a difficult feat on on narrow island. Eric Howes

Folks: Sorry, but it sounds like an incredible PITA to me, even if the retirement dates issue worked out. In addition to creating multiple carrier battle groups for every carrier with multiple tours, you'd need to create multiple versions of each squadron, each differently named and with different start dates. Keep in mind that there are currently 70 USN squadrons is the version of Rolling Thunder currently used in the SF2V Expansion Pack plus a few misc USMC squadrons that did carrier tours. You're effectively talking about tripling that squadron count. And all that for what? Some moving ships that function as eye candy. I may add some static ships to carrier stations in an update, but I'm not very keen on bulking up the Rolling Thunder campaign with over 200 USN/USMC squadrons -- or maintaining such a campaign from one patch to another. Eric Howes

elephant: The Suez Mod will be updated to SF2NA standards. The SF2V Expansion Pack is more difficult, though -- the problems there were discussed earlier this year in a substantive thread. The real problem with SF2V is that the largest stock campaign (Rolling Thunder) is heavily dependent upon carrier tours -- that is, the same carriers making repeated appearances over the course of the three and a half years of Rolling Thunder. At present I know of no way do carrier tours with SF2NA-style naval campaigns. Carrier groups have a single start date, a single retire date, and that's it. We need carrier groups with multiple start dates and retire dates.The alternative is a dozen of so carriers all active at the same time, all churning up the Gulf of Tonkin for the duration of Rolling Thunder. The result looks ridiculous. There are also potential performance problems on some users' machines. It's an easier task to enable carrier groups for Single Missions --but that does involve duplicating both terrains in the Expansion Pack to create NavalMap-enabled versions of NorthVietnam and SouthVietnam. Eric Howes