malibu43

I was playing around with a stock install after I posted this yesterday, and found that the problem wasn't there. Where I am seeing the problem is in my NF4+ install. In addition to the flare issues, every once in a while, I'll spot an effect that isn't working quite right as well (big white squares instead of smoke or shock waves). I wasn't able to figure out which effects they were, but I can check some more. Anyone else having these issues in their NF4+ installs after patching?

Hey guys. After updating to the Jan 11 patch, I'm getting that weird issue where the smoke trails from flares run from one flare to the other in addition to behind the flare (I know I saw someone post this before). Was there ever a fix for this? I didn't have the problem the first time I saw the issue posted, because I waited to patch up until the Jan 11 patch. Looks like maybe this is one thing that wasn't fixed...?

My issue is that new flight sims don't run smoothly on my old, underpowered laptop when I use high graphics settings. I'll head over to the TW forums and ask TK to release a patch for this issue.

Wow! Good for you. I wish I could solve all my flight simming issues like you!

Keep in mind that you can select "custom" graphics settings where you can have different combinations of low, med, high, and unlimited settings for different things (so, for example, you can have lense flare but have other things set to medium or low). You could start with medium settings across the board and then increase individual settings one at a time until you find the cuplrit. In the graphics setttings drop down menu, select medium. Then go back into the menu and select "customize". Make changes from there. Of course, given that shaders are part of the problem, this may or may not make a difference.

I will echo what JM said, and even raise it one - DO NOT GO WITH INTEL GRAPHICS FOR GAMING!!! My current laptop and my previous laptop both have/had intel graphics chips. The newer one (in my Macbook) is a little better than the old one. I can really only play SF on med settings (on average, some are set to low, some are set to high). Right after I got my Macbook, Apple started using the NVIDIA integrated graphics instead of the Intel for the same price. NVIDIA's integrated graphics are supposed to perform 5-10x better than the intel ones. So if you're going to get something with integrated graphics, go with NVIDIA. But for $1000, you should be able to get something better than integrated graphics.

Sounds good to me! I don't discriminate when it comes to virtual beverages!

OK. Looking back at my post now, I can see that it may have sent the wrong message. I did not intend to offend anyone who has put time and effort into all the WW2 stuff for the SF series. From what I've seen, it all looks pretty impressive (as are most of the mods that are out there for SF). Rising Sun actually looks very impressive, and, like I said, if it was free I'd try it in a heart beat. But, like I said, I can see how my post may have inadvertently conveyed a different message. And, to answer your question, no, I haven't really tried much of the WW2 stuff. So I don't have much room to talk, then, do I? Rising Sun as payware just doesn't make any sense to me given what's already out there. That's all I meant and all I should have said. Beers on me.

These are my opinions on RS. And that is all these are. Opinions. Well, most of it anyway... No offense intended to anyone and it's not meant to be personal. I'll be totally honest, all personal and ethical issues aside: Rising Sun doesn't look nearly as good as IL-2 (IMHO). And I can run IL-2 maxed out on my laptop. Rising Sun (ie WoX) I could use medium settings at best. I think IL-2 does a WAAAYYYY better job at simulating the feel and sensation of flying a prop aircraft (IMHO) than the SF series. IL-2 1946 inludes WAAAYYYY more aircraft/missions/campaigns out of the box, including all the Pacific Theater stuff. IL-2 1946 is cheaper. The only thing IL-2 doesn't do is "tell stories" the way the YAP/RS sun adverstises their product to do. Does that interest me at all? No. I read books and watch the Miliatary Channel for that. Does Rising Sun look pretty cool? Yes. Is it neat what they've done with the SF engine? Yes. Would I install it and give it at try if it was free? Absolutely. Would I pay for it? Not a chance.

When you run the patch, you need to point it to your WoE installation folder. If it isn't patching up, you must not be pointing the patch installer to the right place.

They are not stock items. They are available in the modded version of IL-2.

I would like to recommend this get added to the KB (unless it's already there and I missed it). I've seen a lot of posts here and at other sites lately asking about this... In Strike Fighters Project 1 and the other “1st Gen” games in the TW series (Wings Over Vietnam, Wings Over Europe, Wings Over Israel), any mods or addons were dropped into their respective folders in the game’s main install directory. That is no longer the case with the “2nd Gen” games (Strike Fighters 2, SF2V, SF2E, SF2I and SF2NA). Any mods or addons you download for the 2nd Gen games will most likely include a reference to a “mod” folder somewhere in the readme, where the user is supposed to put the downloaded files. However, there is no folder (nor should one be created) called “Mods”. The following is to help you understand what the “mod folder” is really referring to. When a 2nd Gen game is first installed, the game needs to be run at least once so that the game can create the “mod folder”. After the first time you run the game, a set of directories will be created in one of two locations, depending on whether you’re running XP or Vista/Win7. Assuming you ran the .exe for Strike Fighters 2, the directories created are as follows: WinXP: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Effects C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents \ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Sounds C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents \ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Objects\Decals C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents \ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Objects\Pilots C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents \ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Objects\Weapons Vista/Win7 C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Effects C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Sounds C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Objects\Decals C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Objects\Pilots C:\Users\<username>\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2\Objects\Weapons So, most of the time, the term “Mod(s) Folder” is referring to the “StrikeFighters2” directory in the example above. When you run the game, the game will look here for any files or addons first before pulling files from the main install directory. If you ran Strike Fighters 2: Vietnam, the directory would be “StrikeFighters2 Vietnam”. If you ran Strike Fighters 2: Europe, the directory would be “StrikeFighters2 Europe”. Etc, etc… An addon or mod will usually have Effects, Objects, Campaigns, Terrains (etc..) folders contained within the zip file that are supposed to be dropped into your “Mods Folder”. You would drop those files into the StrikeFighters2 folder (in the example above) and allow to overwrite when asked. Notice that some folders are not created when the game is run the first time, and you may be required to create those folders first yourself. Prime examples being …\StrikeFighters2\Terrains and …\StrikeFighters2\Campaigns. There are too many to list all of them, but you get the idea. If the readme tells you to drop something into a directory that isn’t already there, make sure you’re looking for the right thing and that it really is missing, and then just create it yourself. Now, there are some more advanced applications of this, where you can create duplicate game installs and mod folders, or you can even change the location of your mod folder. More advanced stuff is covered here: http://combatace.com...knowledge-base/ And in this sub-forum, which can easily be missed: http://combatace.com...knowledge-base/ I recommend becoming familiar with the basic “Mod Folder” concept I went over above before diving into the more advanced stuff.

Correct. SF Gold is a release of the original Strike Fighters and is compabible with the "WoX" games. I don't know what makes it "gold". It was before my time. Strike Fighters 2 (SF2) is the first in the "second generation" of the series and is compatible with the titles I listed with it above.

Which terrain is that? Is that a variation of ANW? I've been seeing that one a lot lately.

Also, SF2:E is part of the SF2 series. SF2 series: SF2 SF2V SF2E SF2I SF2 Exp Pack 1, Exp Pack 2 The SF series: Strike Fighters Project 1/Gold Wings Over Vietnam Wings Over Europe Wings Over Israel

Profi is asking about AAA, I believe. I think Wrench is talking about surface to surface artillery. So there may be some confusion there... Profi - Off the top of my head, I can't say how to increase the visual range of the tracers. There could be lot's of factors at play, such as the HorizonDistance and EffectDetail settings in the game graphics options. Those are just guesses, though... Regarding random firing - the AAA units in game will not do it. Period. But they do fire at other aircraft. And when there are other aircraft in your vicinity, you will see tracers from AAA firing at them. There are add-ons at this sight (NatoFighters 4+, SF2V Exp Pack, SF2I 1948 mod) that add better AAA, tracer, and flak effects that may help you achieve the atmosphere you're looking for, without all the extra work on your end. These addons are in the SF2 campaigns download section. However, given that you are completely new to this game/sim, I would strongly recommend playing the stock game for a couple weeks and reading through the SF2 Knowledge Base before adding those. Otherwise you may have some troubles getting them to work.

I'm not sure here what you are trying to do or what you are asking? It sounds like you are having problems merging and patching titles. What exactly are you installing, in what order, and what patch are you trying to apply? For example the SF2 Vietnam is not compatible with and connot be merged with Strike Fighters Gold. Also, the Feb 2010 patch is for the SF2 serieis only (not Wings Over XXXX or Strike Fighters Gold).

That is actually a really good idea! Much easier than dealing with a modified cockpit sound or speech pack. You could easily have a different 10-15 min .wav file for different nationalities or eras, and just load the desired .wav file in winamp before starting the game. You'd only need 1/2 dozen or so, depending on how many installs you have. Of course, you'd still have to find a way to deal with the anoying in game speech! Is this what you have already Fubar, or did you create files that were meant to be used as cockpitsound by the game?

If you tell us exactly what files you edited, exactly what you changed in them, and exactly where you put them, we should be able to help you figure this out...

You'd be surprised. In my experience 30 mi visibility is a pretty clear day as far as aviation is concerned, and I think your screenshots look about right. *edit* - I just did a google search for "Israel Arial Photos", and I saw quite a bit of haze. So again, I think what you have looks about right.

I did not think I'd need to post that twice in one day...

I want it and I want it now!!!

The basepoint values should not be needed, but if that is the problem for some reason, it would just take some copy and pasting to get the values from targets.ini and put them back in the campaign files. Let me try my install when I get home and see if I'm getting the same issue. When I updated the campaign files, I tested the changes and didn't get any problems, but I missed something...

Hey guys, I, for one, am very interested. Unfortunately, I'm limited to .ini editing only, so this isn't something I can really contribute to. But by all means, keep working on it! I will definitely add populated aircraft carriers and/or carriers with battle groups around them to my Vietnam campaigns the second they're available!

Just curious, could the same method be used to add other ships in formation with the carrier? I didn't initially think going that route made sense, since adding the initial method utilized a phantom aircraft and only worked in single missions, and you can already add ships in single missions. But, if this weapon method works in campaigns, it would be nice to see some other ships sailing with the carrier...