malibu43

Or even better, back up the AI-made-flyable *aircraf*.ini files in a .rar file (which I have done for A-1's, Mirages, F-104's, and the A-6). Then after a patch all you need to do is drag and drop back in. If you keep them in approrpriately named folders, it's just one drag-and-drop and you're all set!

More questions - posted these at TW forums, but thought I may get a quicker answer here (at least for some of it)... Quick question - How does the campaign customizer choose what sort of missions will be flown by the unit the user creates? In campaign_data.ini files, the missions types can be broken down by percentages. Does it simply go off of the primary and secondary roles defined in the aircraft's data.ini file? If so, does it just split all the primary roles into even percentages? This would work well for more specialized A/C like the A-10, but I'm curious what would happen with an F-4 that is so versitile. Would you get even splits of all those mission types? Thanks. PS - Also, how does it handle units based on Carriers? Is it a selectable option is a carrier is already in the campaign? And one other thing (sorry) - does it look at the campaign files in the .cat files or will it look at the campaign files in the mod folder? For example, I've added carriers to the Desert campaigns, but it would be nice to use the editor to add additional units in the campaigns instead of continuously going back and editing the files to add more units.

Started installing this last night. Got up through 1.2, but I don't think I followed the directions (didn't deactivate all mods before moving to 1.2 from 1.1) so I think I'll probably start over again once I get all the updates downloaded up through 1.5. Interested to see how it turns out. I've been using UP2.1, so we'll see how it compares...

Hey guys. I'm working on making the stock F-84F flyalbe. The F-84F Megapack has some great skins, but the F-86 cockpit it uses looks a little outdated compared to the stock cockpits in SF2. I'm willing to sacrifice a little realism in the layout to get some better eye candy in this case (I know... shame on me!). What stock cockpit would be the closest fit for the F-84F? I was thinking maybe one of the F-8 cockpits...

Quick question - I'm not a Bucc guy at all so I'm not that familiar with the aircraft and it's history. What's the significance of the RAFG version?

Thanks Dave. I thought someone more knowledgable than myself my have made the change on purpose...

IIRC, you need to go into the conf.ini file in your game folder and manually enter your desired resolution. My UP2.1 install runs fine at 1366 x 720 for me.

Looking great!

Dave - quick question. Going back to the SF1 tornados (and I think the NF4+ tornados as well), the start date for the GR1 was 1979 (which allowed it to be used in the Red Lightning campaign). However, in this pack, the GR1 has a start date of 1982 and shows up in the aircraft drop down as "Tornado GR1 (82)". Is there supposed to be another version that's active earlier than 1982? Or is 82 the intended start date for the GR1? I can always change the start date myself, but I just wanted to know if it was intentional or not.

Realling thinking about grabbing this (finally). I'm curious, though, how does this work with regards to modified campaigns? Does it create a campaign based on campaign data from the .cat files, or will it look in your mod folder first?

This is amazing work! I have a "mostly stock" SF2 install that only had only one 3rd party A/C in it (MF F-14A). I'm very picky about what goes into that install... The Bucc is now the other 3rd party A/C in there!

Cool! I just came on here to search for an SF2 level GR1. I'll keep my eyes on the downloads section!

Works now! Thanks!

Erik, I was able to create a new album ( http://combatace.com/gallery/album/689-test/ ) and upload one image to it. I then exited and went back to my gallery. If I go to upload -> selelct album, it doesn't show either of my albums (including the test album) under "My Albums". It does let me select and upload to the albums listed on the right. Also, if I select and view the album, there is no option to upload any images. I hope this helps.

The PWP bombs in the Air and Ground Expansion pack work. Check those out. Make sure you get the latest update (sept '11) since some shaders needed to be updated.

If this was on facebook, I would "like" it.

MigBuster - I gotten into a couple deep stalls so far, both resulting in my F-16 pancaking into the ground! I completed 2 more campaign missions - both scrambles as I was waiting for a SEAD strike to start. I got 3 kills in each with no red missiles fired in my direction, which makes me think I may need to bump up the difficulty a little. I also discovered I can't map the speed brakes to the second throttle on my AV8R, which is too bad. So far I haven't found a use for it... I did add a homemade after burner detent to my AV8R. Otherwise I had a really hard time finding 100% mil power without staring at gauges. I'm going to try and get a picture of it later and show it off. I basically hot-glued a piece of bamboo skewer to the base of the stick on each side of the throttle so that the throttle lever contacts them at about 75%. I then sanded the skews down so they interfered with the throttle just enough to provide a noticeable detent, but the throttle could still be pushed past. Unfortunately, it's not adjustable, which means it might be a PITA for SF2, IL2, FC2, FE, and FSX. If anyone has suggestions for a homemade, adjustable throttle detent, I'd love to hear them!

Can you explain this? There was one crash this year. If you're talking about past years, there have been 19 or 20 fatal crashes total in 47 years of racing. This is the first time spectators were killed/injured at the reno air races. They did more than ground the planes. They cancelled the race. Umm... Do you think they don't do "saftey checks"? I'm sure they go through an extensive preflight. The planes are probably crawled all over by the pilot and crew for days/weeks before the races. They fly in a big oval/circle. That's about as basic as you can get. There are no complex manuevers. Oh yeah! You're totally right! We should let the NTSB that the probable cause of the crash is that no one checked to make sure the pilot could fly before he got in the cockpit. There is a minimum distance. The FAA says what it is. And the planes don't fly toward the audience. There's nothing you can do when a plane going 500mph goes out of control. The audience could have been miles away and the plane could still kill people.

Along the lines of what FC said - I think that a lot of people/media are going to wrongly start pointing to the cause of this accident being that the aircraft was 60+ years old. These airplanes have no business still flying, blah blah, etc... This wasn't a carefully restored P-51 meant to be as it would have been in 1944. Galloping Ghost was heavily modified. I would guess that the only part(s) of the aircraft that may have actually been around since the '40's would be the actual frame itself. Engine components, control surfaces, controls, control mechanisms, etc... could all be heavily modified and newer (younger) than I am. Those components that aren't new are probably meticulously inspected and combed over before any race/flight and on a regular basis. Therefore, I don't think (totally unqualified opinion, BTW) the risks of racing these warbirds is any greater than the risks of racing any other modified aircraft being pushed to it's limits (which is what racing is, BTW). The only real safe solution would be to only view air shows and air races on TV in your own home. Moving spectators farther away may have helped in this situation becuase of the way the aircraft behaved once control was lost/and or pilot was incapacitated, but it's not the end-all answer. An aircraft moving at 400-500 mph can cover a lot of ground between the time control is lost to the time it hits the ground. This time it was box seats right next to the final leg of the course, but it could have easily been a home several miles away. Or the plane could have impacted in the desert 100 yards in the other direction and it would have been just another air show accident. My point isn't that there shouldn't be any airshows. My point is that there was real bad luck involved in this case.

Found a 1/2 hour to read through the radio stuff, and then found another 1/2 hour to set up my DTC. And then randomly ened up with 45 minutes to try a campaign mission. Restarted the campaign and selected the same BAI mission I struggled with last time. This time it went pretty well. As we came up on the objective, 2,3, and 4 all asked for weapons free and I let them loose. Rifle(s)! I was in the process of fiddeling around with GMT and at about the time my flight started letting them have it, I saw some blips on the radar screen. With my mavericks slaved to the FCR I was able to pick up a little black trail of ants (OK, trucks, but they looked like ants...) moving across the ground. I ground stabelized and let a couple mavericks loose on two of the trucks. I think I got one. I swung around for another pass, and at this point the sky was starting to lighten as dawn approached. That coupled with the 4 or so burning trucks meant I could use Vis mode with the mavericks and abandon the GMT. I made a couple more passes and let loose the rest of my mavericks. I saw some tracers whiz past my canopy on the last pass, but that was it. I was spiked by an SA-13 a couple times, but that never turned into anything. I left the target area with the rest of my flight still working the target area over. I heard them engage a MiG-21 at some point. Judging by the radio calls it seemed to have gone well. I was vectored to a long final by approach, but as I was lining up I started having trouble with the speed brakes. It took me a while to figure out that the "B" key isn't a toggle like it was in AF. I had to hold it down to keep the brakes out. By the time I figured that out I was at about 1500' AGL, abeam the threshhold, and offset about 1/2 mile to the left of centerline! The smart thing to do would have been to go around and set up a better approach, but this is a video game, dammit! I chopped the throttle, left the brakes all the way out, and started some sort of S-turn into a short approach. Well, this was my first attemp at a Falcon landing in a few years, so needless to say, it didn't go very well. I over shot the runway centerline and stalled in a bank just a few feet off the ground off to the right of the runway. I hit the ground and snapped the landing gear off and slid for a looonnnnggg time, and then finally stopped. Hey, any landing you can walk away from... Debrief showed I hit with 4 of my 6 mavs. Killed a bunch of fuel trucks. Sweet. Saved it and quit. Between the new DX9 graphics, fully clickable 3d pits, and dynamic campaign, I'm having a hard time seeing myself go back to SF2 or FC2 anytime soon!

I was considering going this year, possibly taking my 3 month old son. We wouldn't have been there until Saturday, but still, kinda makes me shudder. PS - Not that it can't be discussed here at CA, but there is a pretty lengthy thread at SimHQ already. Contains some interesting discussion as to what might have happened. http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3391667/Tragedy_at_the_Reno_Air_Races.html#Post3391667