malibu43

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...

I didn't really check any target areas. If things are out of place, then it doesn't make sense to incorporate it. Thanks, Eric,

The VietnamSEA.ini file needs to be tweaked (just a few lines changed) to work in the VietnamSEA terrain withe A&G Exp Pack. Also, the A&G Exp Pack has a South Vietnam terrain that is separate, so in order to get the new tiles and trees in South Vietnam, the .ini file needs to be tweaked there and renamed as well. I've done it already in my install, and it seems to be working with no issues. I can try and post the .ini files here with some instructions later. There will need to be an updated the SF2V expansion pack to bring it up to date with the latest patches, so I'm sure GH3 will be adapted and incorporated in that update.

Just to clarify - what I described above is a way to get the desired ground objects to show up first when the ground objects folder is read in alphabetical order.

Actually, if I remember correctly, I think the game goes through the ground objects folder in alphabetical order to find the first enemy and friendly ground objects defined as TANK. So you might want to try renaming some enemy and friendly infantry units with an underscore as the first character in the folder and main .ini file. I'm on an iPod right now so I can't easily give an example. But if you get what I'm saying, you can give that a try.

The single missions generated with the single mission generator will draw ground objects from the ground objects folder. I forget exactly how it chooses the ground object, but I remember it tends to choose tanks over infantry. There is nothing that can be done about the way the game chooses ground objects for single missions. Therefore, you have two options. 1. Delete the tanks that you don't want to show up, and leave only the ground objects (infantry). 2. Write your own single missions to specify the targets you want. If you upgrade to SF2:Vietnam, you can use the new mission editor to write missions, which makes thing easier.

Also, Alt+D cycles through HUD display modes, and the third one removes all the HUD info altogether. This is an alternative to changing the HUD setting, which would allow you to still have the HUD information available, if/when you want it.

Yeah, but you said yourself, this list is intended for new pilots to be able to know what to add without a lot of guess work. To me, it looks like there is still a lot of guess work to figure out what is compatible with what. I think the thing that is most likely to happen here is that folks new to the TW games will look at this list, install everything from it, and then flood the forums with questions about why their game is screwed up after they followed the must-have install list. And, like wrench mentioned, the list has gotten pretty large and has been created by a limited number of folks. And as someone who's been around here for a few years, I see tons of stuff on there that I've never considered installing. So is it really the "must-have" stuff? I think the real must have list should be more like this: NF4+ SF2V Exp Pack Range Terrain But that's just my .02

One thing I'd like to point out, is that there are some mods listed that may conflict with eachother. For example, Pasko's SAM's and Gunny's weapons pack will probably overwrite things in NF4+ or the SF2V Exp Pack that were updated specifically for those mods. NF4+ and the SF2V Exp Pack are updated quite often, where I'm not sure if some of those mods listed are. Just my .02.

What setting do you have for visual targeting then? I thought the only way you'd be able to target primary targets from your own runway would be to have visual targeting set to "easy". Is that not correct?

This is looking great guys! If you want to do any skyraider missions, this site (and the combat journal in it) has some great material. I started a mission set based on this at one point, but it fell off to the wayside. www.skyraider.org

Just curious, for all of you who are using HUD set to Hard, how do you identify your primary target on strike missions? That's probably the main thing that's kept me from switching to Hard HUD. If I get "srike the enemy hangar at the airfield" I can't figure out which one to strike unless I use the red square! Along the same lines, something I did for my install was to go into HUDDATA.ini, and remove the white cone and triangel for waypoints, and remove the red cone for targets. I also changed the red target box into a small red dot. Much harder to see and really doesn't screw with emmersion as much a that giant red box!

For randomly generated single missions, the game chooses ground objects with groundobjecttype=TANK out of the ground object folder. IIRC, it's not totally random, but it's definitely not controlled by an entry in a file somewhere. The game engine chooses whatever it wants to. So the only way to control what you get in CAS missions is to 1) write scripted missions, or 2) limit what's in the ground objects folder. As far as the columns of firecan radars go, I would change the groundobjecttype= in the _data.ini file from TANK to SAM_RADAR. That should fix that problem.

You forgot that the new simulation needs to also be compatible with all future formats that haven't been invented yet!

It's probably the SF2V Expansion Pack (free-ware from CA,). It has not been updated for the latest patch level yet, although a patch is in the works. I would expect that you might see other oddities if you continue to run a .exe that's patched up to Dec 2010 with the SF2V Expansion Pack installed.

I still think it's a good idea. But the list, so far, seems to really just be 1) clouds/trees issue, and 2) prop issues. Those are the two that have the most impact on what's out there and require the most work to fix (or are not fixable in the trees' case). PS - if we're going to add a 3rd item to the list, it should be "TK, please fix the sim so it runs on the highest graphics settings on my lowest of low end computers at 60 fps and add every aircraft from 1912 - 2011 and make the gameplay infinitely scalable from HAWX-like arcade to DCS Black Shark... and please include a flyable pony as well."

Hmmm... I think i asked for 2GB of RAM on my xmas list, and if that's what I get, then that's what I'm going to have to stick with. I'll need to look more into Win7 and RAM requirements... So should I not expect the same FPS increase with 2GB of RAM?

Hey guys, There is a possibility I may have a new (larger!) hard drive in my future, which means I will have to reinstall windows. The disk I have right now is XP. I've seen, in various forums, for various reasons, people post comments about FPS improvements in Win7 vs XP. If the improvement is significant enough, it might be worth it for me to hold off on the new HD installation until I can get my hands on Win7 (hard to find for < $100). I'd be interested to hear specifically what kind of improvements folks saw when they switched from XP to Win7. Is it only for high end systems, or across all levels of systems? Were you upgrading something else as well (new GPU, more RAM), or is it a straight apples to apples comparison with the same system running XP and then Win7? Obviously a straight comparison will result in some better data... Thanks!

Very nice!!!

The reason that most terrains and modders don't use the SAM placement method that you've described is because you've now made that terrain and target area "era specific" by specifying only one type and variant of SAM that can show up there. The way the stock terrains handle SAMs (SAMLauncher, SAMRadar, etc...) allows the game to automatically pick the right SAM system depending on the year that you're flying. Fly in the '70's and you get more modern systems like the SA-6, fly in the '50's and early '60's and you get older systems like the SA-2. And, FWIW, you're trying to set up an F-86 vs MiG-17 scenario, right? That would be something that would take place in the '50's, right? The SA-3 wasn't active until the early to mid '60's. So in your quest to create a "more realistic air combat scenario", you've actually created something that is very unrealistic.

Did you save the mission after the first time you flew it? Or were you just selecting the same parameters from the single mission generator? *edit* - never mind. I see this is SF1. As Fubar stated, it's random. Sometimes the engine will pick the same thing several times in a row.

I have the demo on the 360. Tones of fun with the AV8R-02 as a stick. This game should show up under the xmas tree for me!

Again, as I asked before, what SA-3 are you using? The latest available SA-3's (and necessary radars) included in NF4+ have accurate settings and provide quite a challenge. No editing required. You are reinventing the wheel, here. There are SAM systems available for download that work just fine. No need to Frankenstein together some SAM ground objects using different pieces of different objects from different downloads created for different patch levels of the game. There are SAM target layouts in every terrain out there that will self populate with SAM's and provide a challenging experience. If you can clearly and conceisely tell us what you're trying to accomplish (which is not currently clear to me) we can probably tell how to get it done with about 1/10th of the effort you are currently putting into it.