Piecemeal

Can anyone give me advice as to what adjustments to make in my TERRAIN_DATA.INI file? Here are the settings in the TERRAIN_DATA.INI file: [WaterTextureMaterial] EffectShaderName=terWaterEffect.fx DepthBufferCheck=TRUE DepthBufferWrite=FALSE RenderedInOrder=TRUE AlphaTestEnabled=TRUE CullMode=CLOCKWISE LightEnabled=TRUE SpecularEnabled=TRUE EmissiveEnabled=FALSE FogEnabled=TRUE AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 SpecularColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 SpecularPower=10.000000 Reflectivity=1.00000 ZBufferOffset=2.000000 BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA NumTextureStages=2 TextureStage[01].TextureName= TextureStage[01].MipMap=TRUE TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE TextureStage[02].TextureName= TextureStage[02].MipMap=TRUE TextureStage[02].FilterEnabled=TRUE TextureStage[02].ReflectionMapping=TRUE TextureStage[02].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_BLEND_TEXTURE_ALPHA TextureStage[02].StageAlphaOp=DIFFUSE Thanks in advance

I think that's a little bit out of my depth, bud. The last time I tried making new tiles it was a disaster on my part Maybe I'll just stick with having the water settings at 'Medium'. Thanks for your help anyway lads.

Followed your instructions, Fubar. Seas are still a wee bit on the 'choppy' side at Muthala harbour ...... BTW, would the fact that I'm using Polaks 'Desert2' terrain have any effect on this?

Here's hoping he's having fun in the great flight sim in the sky

Understood. TK said something about an upcoming patch over on the third wire forum. Maybe it's just me being a little impatient, eh?!

Will you be putting all the step-by-step details in the knowledge base? I've got a heavily modded Desert terrain in SF2 that's in need of serious attention

What way do my AI wingmen work as regards using their ECM? When I switch my ECM on do they automatically switch theirs on; do they individually switch theirs on upon being 'painted' by enemy SAM radars; or are the ECM pods on their aircraft just for the hell of it? It'd be great if there was a key command where I could order my entire flight to 'start their music'

HQ; this is tower one - I think we'll be logging off real soon..........

I've already got SF2/SF2V/SF2E and they're all merged and heavily modded. I also remember how much of a f**king headache it was trying to save my ever growing collection of modded files before downloading a patch or a new addition to the series. I'm sure that, like me, we've all got itchy joystick trigger fingers waiting for SF2I to be released. So before it does I'd like to create the much mentioned 'MOD' folder I've heard some people mention. But: 1. Where do I place it? 2. Whats the folder structure? (for example, THIRDWIRE/STRIKEFIGHTERS2/OBJECTS/ETC........) I'd just rather avoid having to go through the agony (again) of saving modded INI files before installing a new addition to my merged installs. Thanks in advance, bros ........

Thanks for clearing up that little bit of, ahem, confusion on my part, lads.

It usually varies from month to month, but at the moment, SF2 is my drug of choice.

Just one more screenshot before I hit my bunk. I guess we're all a little more than hungry for SF2I at this stage, so to stave off my impatience I decided to do some 'experimentation'; this is the stock WOI Mirage IIICJ with the SF2 Libyan Mirage 5D skin. With some minor modifications to the skin, it's rather fetching to the eye don't you think?

I can't wait to at least see the aircraft list. I'm personally hoping that the Mirage IIICJ2 will be in the aircraft list. Maybe there'll be an Egyptian skin for the Mirage 5 also.

S**t, look at the time; I'd better go - tea time's in 25 minutes and it's pie and mash night!!

Was this too close for comfort or what?!! I suppose (in this case anyway) it's just as well the TW proximity fuses don't work as well as they should, eh?!

These guys have obviously had very unhappy childhoods.

I've spent the last week or so spicing up Polak's Desert campaign with add-on ground objects from other terrains. The various objects have been taken from the original GROUNDOBJECT and TERRAIN folders and added to the SF2 GroundObject and terrain folders. The relevant data for these objects have been added to the TERRAIN_TYPES .INI (the object numbers have been triple checked and in the correct follow on order) and the TERRAIN_TARGETS.INI file has been triple checked with the placement co-ordinates carefully selected and double checked. Everything was working perfectly until today when I started things up and noticed that most of the add-on objects aren't showing up. I've checked and re-checked the terrain 'TARGETS' and 'TYPES' folder and no changes have been made. Somebody help me PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

I don't suppose that 'cup of sugar' is attainable, no?

Thanks again for your advice and suggestions, lads. It's almost like the old days when times were tough and you popped next door for a cup of sugar and a chat

I THINK I seem to have cracked the case. I started by comparing all the objects listed in the DESERT3_TYPES.INI with the contents of the Terrain and GROUNDOBJECT folder and discovered that there were a lot of items listed in DESERT3_TYPES that weren't present in either the DESERT3 or GROUNDOBJECTS folders. I started fresh by extracting a default DESERT_TYPES.ini folder, renaming it DESERT3_TYPES, then adding the groundobject listings individually as required. So far so good.... BTW, no prizes for guessing where I got a lot of the groundobjects from, but I've borrowed from a LOT of add-on terrains and if this is going to be released there's going to have to be a lot of requesting for usage first

I've been using this terrain for the past week or so. So 'Desert 3' has always been automatically there in the Single Mission drop down menu. At the moment I've copied a DESERT_TYPES.INI file from the default Desert terrain, I've begun adding objects to it slowly and will test it as I go along. Let's see how that goes ................

Hi Wrench, A couple of answers to your queries: 1. The items that are disappearing ARE in the GroundObjects folder, right??? They're entry in the types ini state UseGroundObject=TRUE right??? .............. Affirmative 2. Obviously, you said they're already listed in the targets ini, so I don't think that's an issue (but check anyway that the Name= in the types ini matches the Target]xxx[= in the targets ini) ............... Affirmative 3. Safe to assume the types in IS named "Desert3_Types.ini"??? (i've made THAT error a few times!!!) ActiveYear= matches that in the GO's data ini?? .................. Affirmative 4. Unless you've copy/pasted the desert.cat INTO the Desert3 terrain folder and renamed it "Desert3". In that case, you don't need the cat pointer line. ................. will try that out now with renaming the CAT file 5. Lastly, are you more than 50km away from the objects in question? That seems to be the spawn/despawn distance for GroundObjects existence ...................... I'm always right on top of the area in question and there's still no sign of the objects in question BTW, I don't know if I mentioned this earlier, but some objects are placed in my OBJECTS/GROUNDOBJECTS folder and some in my TERRAINS/DESERT3 folder. Either way, it's been specified in the DESERT3_TYPES.ini file. Also, there's no problem with the default groundobjects - it's just the add-on ones Thanks for the interest and suggestions, guys. Hopefully I'll get to the bottom of this

I think I've been able to narrow down the problem a bit........ ALL the add-on groundobjects are there, that includes their LOD,BMP,TGA,INI files, etc. This applies to objects that are in either the GROUNDOBJECT or TERRAIN folder. BTW, I've made that distinction in the terrain's TYPES.INI folder. I've renamed the terrain 'DESERT3', and this is from the main DESERT3.INI file: [Terrain] TerrainFullName=Desert 3 DataFile=DESERT3_DATA.ini TargetFile=DESERT3_TARGETS.ini TargetTypeFile=DESERT3_TYPES.ini MovementFile=DESERT3_MOVEMENT.ini NationsFile=DESERT3_NATIONS.ini BriefingText=DESERT3_BRIEFING.ini DogfightFile=DESERT3_DOGFIGHT.ini DogfightOnly=FALSE CatFile=..\DESERT3\Desert.cat The 'DESERT3_TYPES' ini file, which has all my added groundobject entries is clearly pointed out for the game engine to go to; yet it seems to be ignoring ot for some reason and reverting to the default 'TYPES' ini file. There's no problem with the game engine looking at the 'DESERT3_TARGETS.INI' file, as all my additions like extra bases, airfields and suchlike are there. Oh, and yes; the DESERT3_TYPES.INI file is in the terrain folder It must be ignoring the 'DESERT3_TYPES.INI for some reason. I've already converted it to Unicode as well I've also checked the 'DesertPlus' terrain that I installed some time back - no problems. Just to be sure I also just checked thee Madagascar terrain I have on SF2. All ok

Yup. I've got SF2, SF2V and SF2E together but I have this edited terrain in my SF2/TERRAINS folder.

Judging by the colour of the dugouts on the TGA (if it is a TGA file), the star shaped 'dugouts' look like they'd be perfect for a Desert environment, such as in SF2 or SF2I. I wonder will there be different coloured ones made for European and Vietnamese clay?