malibu43

Man, TK sure could benefit from a new cloud.tga. Those shots all look pretty good, except for the weird cotton balls floating in the sky...

(drools on keyboard...)

The release of SF2NA seems to be looming in the near future. Once it's out, it's possible, or likely, that there will be patches (in addition to what we've seen already) to the other titles to make them compatible. This, of course, means that the installers available for download from the TW site will be brought up to the new patch standard. Every new patch brings new features, some good and some not so good. Who knows what changes might be in store? I don't, that's for sure. But there's a chance that future changes might totally pork some of our favorite mods that work at the current patch level. For example, if SF2NA and it's patches update the terrain engine, who know's how it will do to all of Stary's tree mods... Maybe updates to the campaign engine to handle some aspects of naval warfare will render your favorite 3rd party campaign un-playable. eburger68 and I try out best to keep the SF2V A&GXP compatible with whatever the latest patch is, but it may get to a point where it's not feasible anymore... NF4+, ODS, KAW, Suez may end up in the same situation (pure speculation on my part, btw). I back up my installers the minute I buy them. That means I can always revert back to 2008/2009 patch levels with a fresh install and then patch up to whatever level I liked best. I know lot of others here do the same thing. But some may not. There could be some point in the near future where we'll all be wishing we were back at the "good ol' Nov 2011 patch when 'this' and 'that' still worked." Yeah, that sounds crazy, but it could happen. So, if you've backed up your installers, good for you! If you haven't, now's a good time to grab them from the TW site and put them on a CD/DVD for safe keeping in case the SF2 appocolypse hits!

Since I switched over to SF2, I have managed to only have one install with everything merged and patched up to whatever the current level is. I then create separate .exe's from that install for my different mods. I have just gotten tired of updating my SF2V AGXP install every month for new patches when the patches aren't adding anything that relates to the that mod. I think I am finally going to do a separate SF2V install and only patch up to Feb 2010 so the trees and clouds all work they way they should.

Make no mistake. I'm in no way saying SF2 is dead or that I refuse to buy any new SF2 titles/content or patch up to new patch levels. My main, merged install will continue to be patched up and merged with anythign new I buy. I'm just saying, you never know when you might want older patch levels - either to for mods that can't be brought up to new patch standards, or for testing purposes.

Also, if you were to tweak the F-4 so it flies "per the manual," the game would be out of balance unless you did the same thing for all other aircraft as well.

I think we sometimes over-estimate the power of an internet forum. We post here (and at SimHQ and at the TW forums) over and over and get upset when we don't see results*. Remember, the loudest voice a customer has is the one that comes out of his wallet. If SF2NA doesn't meet your expectations (whether it's destructable carriers, new avionics, a flyable pony, etc...) or the developer hasn't shared enough information for you to know if it's worth your $$$, then hold off on buying it. TK has every right to release whatever he wants. And we have every right to decide to buy it or not. Capitalism at it's finest. Personally, I am leaning toward buying it but am going to wait for a review or something first (thanks for taking one for the team, Pfunk ). If it' really boils down to being equivalent to the MF F-14A over a bland terrain, then maybe I'll pass. If there are enough new features/goodies included to make it worth my $$$ then I'll probably get it. * - Just my own two cents here about requesting from TK things on forums - For every 2 reasonable and well thought out requests for new features, there seems to be at least one request that is totally off the wall and unrealistic. Slightly more advanced radar modes to suit the tomcat. Sure. Sinkable carriers. Yeah that makes sense. Clickable cockpits... Huh? Now you're talking about a different sim/game. F-18's and Fulcrums... Wait - what happened to the F-14 game we were discussing!?!? So I'm not really surprised that some of our requests or ideas get ignored. It would be one thing if TK could stop by CA and get right to the point. But if he has to wade through pages and pages of silliness just to get a few good ideas or some good feedback... (again just my 2 cents)

IMHO it's not a real Tomcat sim until we see screenies of MiG-28's. But seriously, SF2NA looks great. Can't wait.

As I read the article, I got the impression that the children were taken away because the parents had other "physiological and psychological" problems that prevented them from being considered fit parents. It wasn't just because of what they named they're kids. I agree that these people are a screwed up as they come, but I don't think I want the governement to start deciding who can and can't be parents based on the names that are chosen.

Is it possible to allow two different fuel tanks types on one weapon station, or do I just need to duplicate the weapon station and allow the second fuel tank type on the duplicate?

Thanks guys. Coincidentally, Wrench, I'm actually doing this for the USN A-1's in the SF2V AGXP. I got it to work just by creating a new weapon station and changing the fuel tank type to Tank300_A4. I'm not sure why it didn't work the first time I tried it.

Hmmm... OK. I tried it and I couldn't get it to work. I'll go back and look again to see if I missed something.

Right. So, if I understand this right, I can't use the stock A-4 300 gal wing tank on a different aircraft, correct?

Below is my loadout data for my A-1H. The USAF loadouts work perfectly, but the VNAF/SVietnam loadouts don't work at all. When I select South Vietnam as my nation, I get the standard attack or strike loadout - not the ones specified below. I've tried using both VNAF and SVietnam for the nation. Any thoughts?

Did you get anywhere with this, Wrench? I'd like to have a default attack loadout, a loadout for ARMED_RECON during a certain time period, and then a separate nation-specific attack loadout for that's different from the first two. I can't get it to work... [Attack] ... [Armed_Recon] StartDefaultDate=1964 DefaultFor=Armed_Recon ... [Attack_USN] Nation=USN StartDefaultDate=1964 DefaultFor=CAS,Armed_Recon ... Do you think it could have anything to do with the order they're listed...?

These are fun to read. You guys are really handing it to the Iranians!

Well, to be honest, if your not following the instructions that come with the mission, I wouldn't expect the mission to work properly. That's probably your problem. Like LIma said, try some of the randomly generated single missions and see if you have better luck there.

Yes. They show up in the mission builder. I did some more testing, and found (in my case) I couldn't have more than one nation using alternative loadouts. Just SVietnam or just USAF work fine. But when I try to have both, only the ones that are first in the loadout.ini work (ie - if the USAF loadouts are listed first, they work but the SVietnam ones don't. Or it could be the other way around). I also tried to list two nations for one alternative loadout (Nation=USAF,SVietnam) but then the loadout didn't work for either of the countries. In my case, I'm able to work around this since I only have 3 nations that use the aircraft (USN, USAF, and SVietnam) and 2 of those nations share the same loadouts (USAF and SVietnam). So I made the USAF/SVietnam loadouts the default and used nation-specific loadouts for the USN loadouts. That works for me in this case. But I agree. Maybe something to ask TK about.

I thought about that, but when I select South Vietnamese Air Force, it's not that the some of the weapons aren't showing up. It's actually giving me the default loadout instead of the specified one. For example, if I select a CAS mission, I get the loadout with LAU-10's, LAU-3's, and Snakeyes. I should get the loadout with the gunpods, M47A4, and CBU-25's. I doubt many people fly as the VNAF, so maybe it's not a big deal that the wrong loadouts show up. The other option would be to make the USAF/VNAF loadouts the default ones, and then just specify different loadouts for the USN. That may work.

I'm just going to BUMP this once. Then I'll figure something else out. (I thought for sure Wrench would have been all over this within minutes of me posting it! )

As far as campaigns go, the game/campaign engine doesn't work in a way that those mission types would work in a campaign. However, scripted single missions can recreate those. I've actually thought about writing some Sandy missions, but I don't have time right now. Maybe that will be something I'll work on once eburger68 and I get the next update out. PS - while there are no Sandy missions at this time, the next update will include Sandy loadouts for the A-1:

Here is the first of several parts for the WoV version: http://combatace.com/files/file/10281-wov-air-ground-war-expansion-pack-gold-part-1/ Here is the first of several parts for the SF2V version: http://combatace.com/files/file/10189-sf2v-air-ground-war-expansion-pack-v20-gold-part-1/ There are 5 or 6 .rar files to download in total for either version.

Fuel usage is still the same and there is no aerial refueling. Most people get around this by setting fuel usage to normal or easy. The stock game still just has the Rolling Thunder and Linebacker campaigns with a focus on N. Vietnam. However, look at the SF2 campaign download section and look for the SF2V Air and Ground War Expansion Pack (comes in several parts). This adds: - Steel Tiger and Easter Offensive campaigns that focus on CAS/Interdiction/Strike missions in S. Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. - Lots of additional flyable aircraft - some AI made flyable, some 3rd party. The "AI only" A-6 is made flyable again with this mod. - Tons of weapons and effects that make North and South Vietnam much more deadly and exciting places to fly. This mod was created in an effort to rectify just the situation you described. The stock game completely ignores the ground war aspect of the conflict. This mod tries to fix that. If you still have WoV, there is a version of this mod for WoV (in the SF1 campaigns download section). That way you can try it out and see if you like it. If you do like it, I suggest you buy SF2V and get the SF2V version of the mod since it is the one still being updated and it includes more.

Some nation specific loadouts I'm working on for the next SF2V AGXP update... USN and USAF A-1H/J loadouts: USMC F-4's: "Snakes and Nape"