Gunrunner

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Maybe better at a time, but the F-16 had a clearer and easier growth path making it a better choice in the long run.

Must be Saint Leonard's Day, here are the Jumping Jews of Jerusalem...

They're buying Lucasfilm, and thus get Lucasarts, however I doubt Disney cares about Lucasarts and I doubt we'd like what will come out of it... As for Lucasfilm ? Star Wars Episode VII already planned for 2015... yeah... right... A Monkey Island Pixar movie I'd be interested in, but a Disneyfied Star Wars, after the fiasco that Episodes I to III were ? No thank you very much...

And how is that a problem exactly ?

File Name: RF-84F Thunderflash Superpack File Submitter: Gunrunner File Submitted: 03 November 2011 File Category: F-84 Discussion and screenshots here NOTICES : This mod is NOT released under the Combat Ace Freeware Licensing Agreement (http://combatace.com/topic/55729-freeware-licensing/) as it includes content NOT subjected to it. The only content you can reuse freely following the CA Freeware Licensing are the SKINS and DECALS as they are my creation based on freely released template or from scratch; For all the rest you MUST contact the original author beforehand. ---------------------------------- PREREQUISITES : To my knowledge you only need SF2:E, however you might also need the Exp2, if you have finflashes not showing, just tell me and I'll include mine rather than using TW's. This should work without trouble with NATO Fighters 5 (however the versions already included in NF5 have a slightly different file organization and naming convention). This mod should not rewrite anything except itself and the relevant campaign files. ---------------------------------- GLOBAL NOTES : All planes marked with a * in the numbers list are considered historically correct, all others are as correct as sources allow, at worst they come from the pool of planes available to the nation in the given timeframe and bear possibly existing squadron numbers. There's a topic on CA (http://combatace.com/topic/68436-rf-84f-thunderflash-request-for-information-and-superpack-wip/) tracking my progress and meant to receive any feedback and information you might want to share. ---------------------------------- NOTES FOR 1956 : The Suez and Norwegian skins are bonuses and not useful for a Europe '56 campaign. I initially planned of including slightly anachronistic camouflage versions for Belgium and Netherlands, however, given the time needed for the operation and the fact that the campaign takes place in the heart of winter, camouflage would have made no sense. If you feel the need to properly install the Squadrons, you should add the following to your SQUADRONLIST.INI (if they squadrons are not already there), but everything is set up to work without it. ----- [squadronxxx] Name=32TRS DisplayName=32nd TRS Nation=USAF [squadronxxx] Name=38TRS DisplayName=38th TRS Nation=USAF [squadronxxx] Name=302TRS DisplayName=302nd TRS Nation=USAF [squadronxxx] Name=303TRS DisplayName=303rd TRS Nation=USAF [squadronxxx] Name=ER1/33 DisplayName=ER 1/33 'Belfort' Nation=France [squadronxxx] Name=ER2/33 DisplayName=ER 2/33 'Savoie' Nation=France [squadronxxx] Name=ER3/33 DisplayName=ER 3/33 'Moselle' Nation=France [squadronxxx] Name=ER4/33 DisplayName=ER 4/33 'Fumassol' Nation=France [squadronxxx] Name=42BAF DisplayName=42nd Squadron Nation=Belgium [squadronxxx] Name=306KLU DisplayName=306° Squadron Nation=Netherlands [squadronxxx] Name=RNAF717 DisplayName=717 Skv. Nation=Norway [squadronxxx] Name=TW4CRS DisplayName=4th CRS Nation=Taiwan ----- FRANCE, SUEZ All serial numbers involved in Suez are correct, 8 squadron numbers are attributed to the proper plane, 3 were used at Akrotiri but randomly assigned, the rest are randomly chosen from the most probable squadron numbers at the time. FRANCE French RF-84F in late 1956 would have been stationned at Cognac, but would probably have been detached in Alsace or Germany in case of conflict, one squadron relieving the previous, given the involvement in Operation 700 and the readiness of the squadrons in late 1956, the order of detachement would have been ER 2/33 first then ER 3/33 and finally ER 1/33 (remember, the last planes reached France from Cyprus in late December, and the last ground personnel and equipment in early January 1957, so even accounting for a rushed move, the attrition of planes and personnel would mean they'd probably take no part in the conflict unless it lasted into the Spring of 1957). US 3 or 4 stripes of different colors denote a plane assigned to the Wing Commander, 2 stripes or the same color to the Squadron Leader and 1 stripe to a Flight Leader. ---------------------------------- OPTIONAL ASSEMBLY REQUIRED : These planes are meant to use specific pilots however this is strictly optional, if you don't add them, the game will use the default pilot, so it's only a matter of adding more pilot variety and a more authentic feel to things. To respect the LOD author's wish not to have a situation where his work might be unknowingly used without proper attribution or worse you'll have to download the pilots separately or as part of the packs in which they are bundled. All are based on Old Diego's pilot, with skins by Corktip14 for the French version, ravenclaw_007 for the German ones. For USAF and ROCAF planes, you'll need the KUSAF01 pilot from Diego's pilot pack : http://combatace.com/files/file/9197-diegos-pilot-pack/ For French planes, you'll need the Guen312 pilot from the Israel 48/56 mod : http://combatace.com/files/file/11024-1948-war-for-independence1956-suez-crisis/ For German planes, you'll need the PilotGAF pilot from the German Pilots pack : http://combatace.com/files/file/9210-german-air-force-pilot%C2%B4s/ For other planes, you'll need the Euro001 pilot included with NATO Fighters 4+ Update 1 : http://combatace.com/files/file/11099-nato-fighters-4-patch-post-dec-2009-patch-level/ ---------------------------------- UPDATING YOUR FORMOSA FREEDOM CAMPAIGN v1.1 The necessary campaign files have been modified to add the Taiwanese RF-84F, just overwrite the original files. Due to JonathanRL's way of implementing squadrons (without a proper squadron list) I've had to use a specific variant for Taiwan rather than use it as a skin for the US variant, as should be. It also means that unless you add the squadrons properly, the ROCAF 4th CRS will appear show up as a USAF unit (without impact on anything else than text displayed on the loadout screen). It was the best compromise to be both working with Formosa Freedom and still be compatible with the standard implementation. At the moment I'm not interested in providing a package solely for that purpose. ---------------------------------- UPDATING YOUR 1956 SUEZ CRISIS CAMPAIGN v2.1 The necessary campaign files have been modified to use the updated RF-84F, just overwrite the original files. Be aware that it will leave the RF-84F using my old naming convention in place, it's up to you to delete it if it creates confusion in single mission play. At the moment I'm not interested in providing a package solely for that purpose. ---------------------------------- CONTENT AND CHANGELOG : v0.2 (10/08/2012) (6 variants, 15 skins, 2 campaign updates) CHANGED ALL Skin naming convention changed to make maintenance easier, you should remove the older skins, the "new" ones are identical ADDED RF-84F_NATO1 (based on the updated RF-84F, spoilers, brake chute, Euro pilot, early Republic Seat) 1 Camo skin for 42 Sqn. (Belgium), 16 planes, circa late 1960, Brustem, BE RF-84F_NATO2 (based on the updated RF-84F, spoilers, brake chute, Euro pilot, late Republic Seat) 1 Camo skin for 42 Sqn. (Belgium), 15 planes, circa late 1962, Brustem, BE RF-84F_TW (based on the updated RF-84F, spoilers, brake chute, US pilot, early Republic Seat) 1 Silver skin for 4th CRS (ROCAF), 22 planes, circa late 1958, SongShan, TW RF-84F_US (based on the updated RF-84F, spoilers, brake chute, US pilot, early Republic Seat) 1 Silver skin for 38th TRS (USAFE), 17 planes, circa late 1955, Sembach, DE Operation Formosa Freedom 1 set of files to add to JonathanRL's Operation Formosa Freedom v1.1 1956 Suez Crisis 1 set of files to update the Israel 45-56 mod to use the new RF-84F naming convention (and benefit from the updated skins and inis) v0.1 (11/03/2011) (4 variants, 11 skins) ADDED RF-84F_FR1 (based on the updated RF-84F, no spoilers, no brake chute, French pilot, early Republic Seat) 1 Silver skin for ER 4/33 "Fumassol" (France), 14 planes, for Operation 700 / Musketeer / Suez War, Akrotiri, Cyprus, UK RF-84F_FR2 (based on the updated RF-84F, spoilers, brake chute, French pilot, early Republic Seat) 1 Silver skin for ER 1/33 "Belfort" (France), 24 planes, circa late 1956, Cognac, FR 1 Silver skin for ER 2/33 "Savoie" (France), 23 planes, circa late 1956, Cognac, FR 1 Silver skin for ER 3/33 "Moselle" (France), 23 planes, circa late 1956, Cognac, FR RF-84F_NATO1 (based on the updated RF-84F, spoilers, brake chute, Euro pilot, early Republic Seat) 1 Silver skin for 306 Sqn. (Netherlands), 16 planes, circa late 1956, Eindhoven, NL 1 Silver skin for 42 Sqn. (Belgium), 14 planes, circa late 1956, Brustem, BE 1 Silver skin for 717 Esk. (Norway), 21 planes, circa late 1956, Rygge, NO RF-84F_US (based on the updated RF-84F, spoilers, brake chute, US pilot, early Republic Seat) 1 Silver skin for 32nd TRS (USAFE), 17 planes, circa late 1956, Sembach, DE 1 Silver skin for 38th TRS (USAFE), 17 planes, circa late 1956, Sembach, DE 1 Silver skin for 302nd TRS (USAFE), 17 planes, circa late 1956, Spangdahlem, DE 1 Silver skin for 303rd TRS (USAFE), 17 planes, circa late 1956, Spangdahlem, DE ---------------------------------- KNOWN ISSUES : - The spoilers are not part of the model and are only painted on. - The brake chute fairing is there even on early models. - Some skins are not "right" due to subtle mapping problems and a model not 100% accurate. - Some parts inherit the global skin lighting values instead of having these set to fixed values. - There may be some decal bleeding on lower visual settings as in some cases I only leave a 1 pixel margin. ---------------------------------- WHAT'S TO COME : - Some more panel changes and details - Normal and specular maps, maybe, when/if Florian has the time and motivation to do so - 15th TRS and 45th TRS PACAF planes - 1962 and 1968 European planes - Greek, Turkish and Italian planes - 1955, 1957 variants for USAFE, various others (French early camo trials, Luftwaffe WS50...) - Templates and full documentation - NF5 updates - Version specific hangars and loading screens - Integration of feedback ---------------------------------- CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS : RF-84F Original 3D Model : Michael Davies & Alphasim (porting rights granted to GMG) 3D Conversion & Animations : Amokfloo / Florian Cockpit : Zurawski (taken from his F-86) INI work : Amokfloo / Florian, Soulfreak / Soulman, NeverEnough Damage textures : Amokfloo / Florian Model update for SF2 : Amokfloo / Florian Various small fixes : Israel 48/56 Team Ejection Seats Republic Ejection Seats : Steve_S Martin Baker Gw5 Ejection Seat : ravenclaw_007 Skins Original Skins and templates : Soulfreak / Soulman, ravenclaw_007 Enhanced templates, skins and compilation of bits : Gunrunner A huge thanks to all the modders allowing me to bundle their work with my skins or taking the time to explain why they'd rather not, to eburger68 for his work on NATO Fighters motivating me to get back to work and of course to CA and TK for a wonderful toy and the community to go with it. If I forgot someone or believe I've included your work without proper credits, permissions or respect for your terms of use, do not hesitate to contact me on Combat Ace forums. ---------------------------------- SOURCES : Wings over Suez by Brian Cull Tactical Reconnaissance in the Cold War by Doug Gordon Squadron/Signal Fighting Colors #6504 - USAF Europe in Color, Vol.1 : 1948-1965 by Robert Robinson Squadron/Signal Fighting Colors #6563 - USAF Europe in Color, Vol.2 : 1957-1963 by Robert Robinson Squadron/Signal Aircraft in action #1061 - F-84 Thunderjet by Larry Davis, David Menard and Don Greer Wing Masters HS 11 : Suez 1956 : Opération Mousquetaire And of course the Internet... With first and foremost, the unavoidable Joe Baugher : http://www.joebaugher.com Nathan Decker's Forgotten Jets : http://www.millionmonkeytheater.com/ForgottenJets.html and countless others... ---------------------------------- Gunrunner 10/08/2012 Click here to download this file

This got a point update to add what was almost finished and to make use of JonathanRL's fantastic Taiwan campaign. There's more to come but I acquired new and better references and interviews and am in the process of adjusting my work (as some assumptions based on bad pictures and erroneous profiles were just plain wrong).

There's also the possibility that once TK sees no further commercial potential for SF2 and can't/won't update it further or give it a successor he will reopen what was closed. Quite a few developers have taken that road before and TK, despite the recent falling out with the larger community, has been a class act, so it would not be entirely out of character for him to do so.

Good point, that's probably why it works that way now, because he doesn't make a distinction between the various elements and he needs it to work that way for normal maps.

I wouldn't bet too hard on that particular technique to work in the long term, it seems to be a bug as it should only work within CAT files, not outside. A more labor intensive method and not available to modders packing their mods is the use of symlinks or hard links (and in some case, junction points), however the game engine seems to be prone to crash on exit when some directories called are using a junction.

FC, while it's true that most underestimate the cost of coding, TK has proved he sometimes uses it as a rational excuse not to implement things he has no immediate interest in doing and for which he thinks the monetary rewards are low. I understand that it's an argument easier to sell than "I'm just not feeling like doing that right now because I have no interesting way to do it and it fits nowhere in my long-term plans yet" but it is the real core of the matter. It's not meant as an insult to TK, I perfectly understand that it is part of the luxury of being an independent developer and the guarantee that he'll continue working on the series without seeing it as just a chore or a way to make money. I also understand that some modders might find it frustrating, but I'm sure they can easily see themselves in his shoes and understand why he takes that stance. Also, for the nay-sayers, think of ALL the things that needs to be coded for air refueling to work properly (and not as a make believe trick using scripted missions and an engine bug), it's not only about getting fuel transferred, but planning refuel zones, making sure they are properly generated (far from danger, yet close enough to be useful), having AI routines dedicated to refuel procedures (because while the tankers would run a pattern, they'd have to adopt another behaviour once you show up to refuel), then there's routine for collision and detecting how things go and how to deal with problems or successful operations, then there's AI routines to be added so your wingmen can refuel too... And for each step you must validate your code, check, test, again and again... It may be true that hands-on testing might have been somewhat lacking in recent times, but don't think that's it's the only testing done and the only one that matters. It's an incredible amount of work for something that would be used by only a limited portion of players and not entirely justified by the scale of existing maps and mission planning algorithm.

Maybe because it was an obvious bug and a nightmare to have that around... As a coder, not checking properly the constraint on your input variables is a recipe for disaster. If all your code expects unsigned or positive values within a certain range but gets fed negative values or values outside of the range for which your code is valid, you're asking for troubles. It may be inconvenient for tinkerers and modders, but on that particular issue TK did what he should have done a long time ago.

Awesome, I just can't wait but... No SF ? Please... pretty please with a cherry on top... I know I may be the only nuts loving recon planes but still... tactical recon deserves some love.

I guess the cost of development and doing business for iOS is somewhat higher to TW than doing so for Android.

Russo, the problem is only on Hard with the one they use (the early version) not the one published here and pulled quickly afterwards, which flies well, even in Hard. Just in case, here's the most recent occurrence of the file I have in store, I'm not sure it's much better from a realism point of view, but it certainly works better than the old one. su50_DATA.7z

Yep, definite FM trouble... On level flight there's a strong tendency to roll left (can't recognize my left from my right this morning, brilliant...) on flaps down and gently left with flaps retracted, in certain conditions it seems to revert to right, haven't figured out the altitude, speed and pitch combination for that one; on pitch up there's a roll right tendency, whether it's gear/flaps up or down, and with the gear double entry and rudders asymmetry corrected.

Ok, only happens in Hard FM, clearly not gear related.

Yes, the double gear entry is an anomaly but I doubt it's the case here. Is that happening only in movement when using rudders ? They are asymmetrical, the Right one has a control rate of 1.0 and the Left one of 1.5, that may explain part of it. Also, both engines have the same centerline thrust point, which should not be the case and may increase the asymmetry (the wider apart they would be, the less influence it would have). The rest seems correct but my code for main aerodynamic surfaces is a mess right now, so, short of a visual inspection I can't guarantee it's valid.

or maybe at least have the pieces tagged *innocent look*

//Shameless plug Just in case you're interested, my RF-84F pack now includes the Taiwanese Thunderflashes and modified campaign files to include them in Formosa Freedom 1.1

Yep, already part of my sources, I think you pointed me to it originally. My current obsession are 15th and 45th TRS nose arts, but I really lack good sources on that, I guess I'll have only one decorated plane for each squadron.

Working on the RF-84F again, I'll be uploading all finished and verified skins tonight (4 more skins at least) as well as altered campaign files for the Suez Crisis and Formosa Freedom.

Hi guys, does any of you have any solid documentation on the nose art on the Thunderflashes used by 15th TRS (at Kadena) and 45th TRS (at Misawa) ? I know they often sported some but so far haven't found enough information or detailed enough photographs to reproduce them. The basic scheme are done, or almost, but I'd love to include the nose arts as well.

Just a bump and to note that I already have Mr Magoo (FS-900 45th TRS) and What, me worry ? (FS-421 15th TRS). And... Mr Magoo decal done :

You mean that one ? Part of the the Israel 48-56 mod...