Piecemeal

Does anybody know how I can edit or at least alleviate the problem of having my aircraft looking like they just flew over Chernobyl? I've solved the problem of the firing flashes on the surface being too prolonged, but I'm not sure exactly where to look with this problem. BTW, the Flak effects I'm using are from the Strike Fighters 2: Vietnam Air and Ground Expansion Pack

I know it was going the long way round it but after altering the add-on 'FlakEffect' files I was able to get rid of the gunsmoke effect when firing. Also made changes to the 'ParticleSystem' and 'BulletObject' files to keep the add-on flak effect that I wanted to keep. Check them out for yourself; they work exactly the way I want them to: Edited_Files.rar I suppose one way of looking at the way I went round it is that it was a slow but bloody good way of learning to edit effects. That debris firing effect can always be deleted from the FlakEffect file, just like I did with the gunsmoke effect

Black Panthers' 1973 Dhimar Tour

OK; got just about that problem sorted - the flak airburst settings I want without the over-realistic gun smoke effect. Thanks for you advice and help, Fubar. It took me a few hours and more than a few swear words to get it right eventually. Just one more query though (I can hear the groans from here!); Is there a way I can lessen the intesity and size of the debris when the AAA fires?

Right; things are a little clearer here, except for one thing; How come when I remove the smoke effect from the 'GunFireEffect' there's no flak cloud? As you can see below, there's two separate effects for the GunFireEffect and the 'GunEffect', which is supposed to take care of the flak cloud?

I've looked everywhere in the stock CAT folders for that INI file and I can't find it. Where the hell can I get it? In my wisdom I forgot to look in the ParticleSystem.INI file for it. Just shows my level of skill in the effects dept eh? But this'll mean that I'll lose the flak explosion effects won't it? I was just thinking of that before I fell asleep last night

OK, I SEEM to have sorted all but one of my tasks; the emanating cloud of smoke on the ground around the AAA piece when it fires. Now, I can delete the entries for it in the 'FlakEffects.INI' file - but that will stop the flak clouds from appearing in the sky when the shells explode around me. [EmitterType004] Name=FlakCloud37mm EmissionType=RADIAL_EMITTER UpdateType=NON_MOVING LifeTime=0.900000 MaxVisibleDistance=8000.000000 PositiveZOnly=TRUE EmissionRate=0.0500000 EmissionVolume=0.0000,0.0000,0.200000 EmissionVelocityTableType=CONSTANT EmissionVelocity=0.000000,0.000000,246900.000000 EmissionVelocityDeviation=0.80000 RadialVelocityTableType=CONSTANT RadialVelocity=157100.0 RadialVelocityDeviation=0.500000 ParticleUpdateType=SIMPLE_POINT ParticleRenderType=SPRITE ParticleRandomOrientation=TRUE ParticleLifeTime=11.250000 <- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I've changed the values here to 0 and there's no longer any 'lingering cloud' around the AAA piece - but there's no flak clouds in the sky ParticleLifeTimeDeviation=0.20000 ParticleWeight=1.50000 ParticleRandomness=0.010000 ParticleDragFactor=0.350000 ParticleInheritence=0.00001000 ParticleWindFactor=0.12 ParticleColorTableType=TABLE ParticleColor[01].Time=0.000000 ParticleColor[01].Value=0.600000,0.600000,0.600000,0.600000 ParticleColor[02].Time=0.10000 ParticleColor[02].Value=0.700000,0.700000,0.700000,0.700000 ParticleColor[03].Time=0.400000 ParticleColor[03].Value=0.800000,0.800000,0.800000,0.800000 ParticleColor[04].Time=0.600000 ParticleColor[04].Value=0.900000,0.900000,0.900000,0.900000 ParticleColor[05].Time=0.100000 ParticleColor[05].Value=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 ParticleSizeTableType=TABLE ParticleSize[01].Time=0.000000 ParticleSize[01].Value=1.340000 ParticleSize[02].Time=0.200000 ParticleSize[02].Value=4.490000 ParticleSize[03].Time=1.000000 ParticleSize[03].Value=6.700000 BaseSizeDeviation=0.3 TextureMaterial=GraySmokeMaterial [GraySmokeMaterial] EffectShaderName=effectLightLevel.fx DepthBufferCheck=TRUE DepthBufferWrite=FALSE IgnoreRenderOrder=FALSE AlphaTestEnabled=FALSE LightEnabled=FALSE UseLightLevel=TRUE SpecularEnabled=FALSE EmissiveEnabled=FALSE AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 ZBufferOffset=0.000000 PriorityLevel=3 BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA NumTextureStages=1 TextureStage[01].TextureName=EE4_SMOKE.tga TextureStage[01].MipMap=FALSE TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE So if anybody can figure a way out of this annoying problem I'd be really grateful :yes:

Glad it worked out for you. There's two reasons why I didn't include that cockpit LOD. Firstly cos I assumed that anybody downloading it would already have SFP1 or SFG. Secondly, and more importantly, is cos that cockpit LOD is an original stock file and legally isn't supposed to be re-distributed Those F-15 files you mentioned aren't really doing any harm (I left them in there by accident) so I don't think I'll bother removing them. However, I'll edit the Readme soon to make sure this headache can be avoided. Regards, Piecemeal

F@*k man, this has got me stumped. The only suggestion I can give to you is to try this F-4E cockpit LOD file from SFP1: If that doesn't work, I honestly don't know what to do

Apologies for misreading your first message. I didn't read through it properly. However back to the issue at hand. I take it this is the reading your referring to: If so, as you can see it seems perfect at this end, radar size and all. I'm not sure if I ever updated it, but I just downloaded the mod from here at CA, as I don't have any SFP1 titles anymore. I put it into an F-4E and tried it out without a bother. Just in case it has been updated, here's the INI files: F-4ES_COCKPIT_INIs.rar Try them out and get back to me. Let me know how it goes

You shouldn't have bothered with all that trouble mate I've already done that cockpit and uploaded it. You can get it here: http://combatace.com/files/file/6981-f-4es-cockpit-hud-upgrade-version-10/

Did some more flying over a Flak battery. I don't think the smaller calibre (37mm, 57mm) AAA is to blame here. It's more like anything from 85mm upwards: The light from the flak explosion seems to last around 1.5 to 2 seconds. Oh, and does anyone know how I can prevent the AAA batteries from being enveloped in a cloud of smoke every time they fire? I've tried removing the effects but it also removes the flak bursts in the air, which I want to keep

Earlier I was doing some web research and tinkering with the weapons files settings. When testing them out I was flying single missions in SF2 flying a stock A-7E. All of a sudden when the mission loads fully I see is the wreckage model of the A-7 in what appears to be the bottom left edge of the terrain (check out the screenshot) with Red Crown telling me my mission's failed. OK, I thought; I'll leave the A-7 til later to check out and switch to another aircraft in the meantime. Guess what? Same story. I try this with three different aircraft and get the same results. I don't get this one bit! No matter what airfield I fly from; no matter what aircraft I use, I always end up at the same co-ordinates in a smouldering heap. I know it's not the terrain cos I've tried out the Madagascar terrain and the game just crashed on me. I checked out my SF2V and SF2E installs and they're OK (thank f**k). This just seemed to happen out of the blue. And the only files I was editing were the weapons INIs via the WeaponEditor. Ideas anyone?

Cheers FC. I'll make a fresh pot of coffee after breakfast tomorrow and get stuck into this. Watch this space

It's quite interesting actually. I always thought the SUU-30B dispenser had just the one shape and size but when I saw different pictures of them in books and on the web I decided to look into it further: mppd's revised CBU-24B model / SUU-30A/B dispenser web diagram: TW's stock CBU-24B model / SUU-30B/B dispenser web diagram: The SUU-30( )/B was used for the following cluster bombs: CBU-24/B (665 BLU-26/B or BLU-36/B in SUU-30/B) CBU-24A/B (665 BLU-26B or BLU-36/B in SUU-30A/B) CBU-24B/B (665 BLU-26/B or BLU-36/B in SUU-30B/B) CBU-24C/B (665 BLU-26/B or BLU-36/B in SUU-30C/B) CBU-29/B (670 BLU-36/B in SUU-30/B) CBU-29A/B (670 BLU-36/B in SUU-30A/B) CBU-29B/B (670 BLU-36/B in SUU-30B/B) CBU-29C/B (670 BLU-36/B in SUU-30C/B) CBU-49/B (670 BLU-59/B in SUU-30/B) CBU-49A/B (670 BLU-59/B in SUU-30A/B) CBU-49B/B (670 BLU-59/B in SUU-30B/B) CBU-49C/B (670 BLU-59/B in SUU-30C/B) CBU-52/B (217 BLU-61A/B in SUU-30/B) CBU-52A/B (217 BLU-61A/B in SUU-30A/B) CBU-52B/B (217 BLU-61A/B in SUU-30B/B) CBU-53/B (670 BLU-70/B in SUU-30B/B) CBU-54/B (670 BLU-68/B in SUU-30B/B) CBU-58/B (650 BLU-63/B in SUU-30A/B) CBU-58A/B (650 BLU-63A/B in SUU-30A/B) CBU-62/B (M38 grenades in SUU-30/B) CBU-63/B (2025 M40A1 fragmentation bomblets in SUU-30/B) CBU-68/B (BLU-48/B in SUU-30/B) CBU-70/B (79 BLU-85/B in SUU-30/B) CBU-71/B (650 BLU-86/B in SUU-30A/B) CBU-71A/B (650 BLU-86A/B in SUU-30A/B)

Solved my 'problem', which started occuring due to a typing error in the weaponeditor. I had the diameter of a bomb at '396000' instead of 0.396000 All appears to be well on that end now While going throught the web researching different types of cluster bombs I discovered that some models of the CBU-24 were shaped like mppd's modded cbu-24model, while other versions were shaped like the stock SUU-30 model. I was trying to appy these different versions when this clerical f**k up occured.

Nice effects! A first for TW sims I'd say. What kind of a FPS hit would we be talking about?

Impressive work on the B-57, Spinners. Well done bud

You are SOOOOO full of s**t, Wrench

Whahh?? Huhhh??!! A good day for the Dhimari Air Force

SFP1Ace pointed out my ommision of RAF Canopic from the terrain So here's the revised DESERT3_TARGETS.ini file ........... DESERT3_TARGETS.rar

Good selling shots Dave Actually the reason I created the new 'AIRFIELD_TYPE' ini files was so that they could be placed into any terrain. For example, 'DESERT_AIRFIELD4' would more or less be the same as 'GERMAN_AIRBASE4', right? So you could replace Spangdahlem with 'BLUE_AIRFIELD4' and a Soviet equivelant would be 'RED_AIRFIELD4'. The same would apply to the Israeli or Vietnam maps. Of course, you'd need to make sure you had all the little bits and pieces to throw into the terrain folder and then would be the unenviable task of adding them to the _TYPES' file. The airfield set up itself would have to be added to the '_TARGETS' file. I'll be thinking over the next few weeks on how to go about that so that any Joe Soap could download it and install it into any terrain they want without too much of a fuss

I've been trying to edit the stock LAU-10A rocket pods to fly without the front and rear covers without much luck, so I was just wondering if anyone knows of an add-on model without the covers by default? Here's an example of what I'm looking for:

Great find, bud. Just installed them in all my SF2 titles. Thanks a million

Latest Desert terrain update forwarded to Dave. Awaiting approval ................