harryleith

I just had the strangest experience! i was flying a Strike mission with an RAAF Mk20 Canberra bomber and was on the run into my target, the infamous Comms building, when my aircraft started flying sideways. This made getting to the target impossible. I went around and had another go, and as soon as i crossed onto the city tile, my aircraft lurched to starboard and started flying sideways again. The MiG-19 Farmer following me did the same. His forward motion suddenly became tangential, like he had flown into a glass wall and was skidding along the surface of it. you can see form the screen grab that the wingtip vortex is not aligned along the line of the aircraft, but the tangential line of flight. Do the laws of physics change over this tile? Any ideas? Wing vortex along the line of flight. I am using a merged SF2 install of all four titles with EXP1 and 2, flying on the Modern Darwin Terrain. (This is the first hassle i have had with this great terrain.)

After a few minutes in Photoshop we have a new tail - much better! It will do me until wrench's re-work comes out.

Here's a quickie I knocked up from a French skin. The tail needs work.

Flying High decals do a sheet of decals of all the RAAF squadrons. Here is a sample. http://www.hyperscale.com/reviews/decals/flyinghighdecalrevierh_1.htm

sorry Wrench, I didn't think to save the mission. As for flying to the edge of the map, would the game place the target outside the map boundary? I flew straight from the IP towards the target and started the tangential stuff on the straight run into the target. I will see if I can replicate the problem. Thanks for the help.

I was an early adopter of Expansion pack2 and I seem to have developed an odd problem. Some of the later third party aircraft now do not have a service date range. They are available for the since year noted in the ServiseStartYear attribute but ignore the ServiceEndYear value. This seems to affect more modern aircraft. For example my A-4G Skyhawk is fine, but my RAAF FA-18s aren't, only being available in 1984 or 2003. Bizarrely, my RAAF F-111 (early) has a date range, while the F-111C (Late) doesn't. They all worked fine before, and the same aircraft work fine in a non-expansion pack install. Has anyone else seen this or is it just me?

JediMaster - <waves hand in air> "These are not the user folders you are looking for. You can go about your business"

On December 28 it will be one year exactly since I stumbled across a reference to Strike Fighters 2 on a website and re-kindled my love affair with virtual flying. I had started playing an arcade WWII flying game with a mate, a newbie I was helping get into gaming. I decided I wanted to relive my glory days playing Chuck Yeager's Air Combat with friends many years ago and started googling flight simulators. It must have been fate, because one of the first links I found lead me to Third Wire - on the very last day of the sale of the merged combo pack. After some debate with myself I decided to take a punt and pulled out my credit card, little realising I would be taking a trip down the rabbit hole that would still have me regularly playing this game every day almost a year later. It was love at first sight. I installed the game and immediately got reamed a new one by some MiG-17s who flew rings around my F-4 Phantom. It just made me want to do it more and better! It wasn't too long before I discovered CombatAce and another love affair blossomed. I am a survey flyer - I love to fly new aircraft and learn how they handle, pondering how best to fly them. My day job is as a web developer, so it wasn't long before I was learning how to hack aircraft open to get SFP1 aircraft re-jigged for SF2. I have said it before, but CombatAce is something special. I follow interesting threads in the discussions all the time, and you guys have always helped me out when I have managed to bugger something up! There is not one time when I have asked a question when I haven't got a useful reply, usually more than one. So thanks TK and crew for the game. For what I paid for it against the use and enjoyment I get from it, it must be one of the best purchases I have ever made. To the modders who have worked to build the aircraft which keep this game so fresh even after a year of play - there are not words enough to thank you. To the moderators and CombatAce forum members who have so often come to my aid and never made me feel like a Wally - I give you my heartfelt gratitude. Just because you don't do it for the thanks doesn't mean you shouldn't get any. THANKS! Now if only after a year flying I still didn't suck so badly at it...

Thanks EricJ - changing the SingleMission end date from 0 to 2050 worked a treat and my aircraft are now all ship-shape and terrific again. You are, sir, a dead-set legend and I won't hear a word to the contrary! My date problem would appear not to be an Expansion pack 2 issue. It also wasn't a Gen 1 issue, so thanks to Wrench and Fast Cargo for moving it to the right place! My bad! I have been flying SF2 for exactly a year, and the forums and help on Combat Ace really provide valuable assistance. I appreciate all the effort you guys go to.

Hi Gang, I downloaded the RAAF FA-18 Hornet Skins pack for SF2 by dtmdragon but the outer tail surfaces are not being textured correctly. The rest of the aircraft is textured, and the textures appear on the texture bitmaps, but it seems to be a mapping issue. I am using a merged install of SF2 just updated with Exp2. The aircraft I am using the textures on is the excellent Mirage Factory FA-18C. The standard textures display correctly for the aircraft. Any ideas what might be wrong or how to fix it? The 3 Squadron RAAF skin showing the missing tail surface texture.

I went to the Manjimup Aero Club's open day (Manjimup is a small town in Western Australia) today and had a Trial Instructional Flight. I got to fly a small two-seater Tecnam Eaglet high-wing light monoplane in windy and turbulent conditions. My dream was to fly fighters (then Mirage III0's) for the RAAF, but bad eyesight put paid to that particular notion. I have played with sims etc. for years, getting back into flight sims over the last few years. I now work as a journalist in my local paper, and when the local Aero Club president came in to get a story done about their open day, I decided to come along. It was a blustery warm day with lots of turbulence, but I decided to give it a go and forked over my $80 for a trial instructional flight. The instructor took me over the basics on the ground, and seemed pleased I already knew about aerodynamics and control surfaces etc. from my time with sims. We climbed into his Tecnam Eaglet, started her up and taxied onto the runway. There was a fair amount of traffic and it took a few minutes to get a slot and takeoff. As well as the airshow traffic, we were having a bushfire to the west of town and a spotter bird and a couple of water bombers were in the area. After a very short roll, we rotated and started climbing. The very first thing I noticed was the aircraft was very 'live' - you could feel every buffet and dip as we moved through the air and were hit by the blustery breeze. It is an interesting feeling, and one I wasn't really prepared for through sim flying. Pretty soon the instructor handed over control and told me to hold a steady climb to 4500 feet. It was very hard to hold the aircraft on course and I felt like I was fighting the controls, but we climbed up to the required height and levelled off, throttling back to 4500rpm for cruise. There was still buffeting, and the feeling of fighting the controls persisted. Turbulence rolled, pitched and yawed the aircraft and I was worried it was going to catch me unawares. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, and I really didn't feel in control of the aircraft. We made a gently left turn and I took it nice and slow, mainly using ailerons to turn the aircraft. Interestingly, having to concentrate on the turn meant I was fighting the controls a bit less. The extra wing-loading from the turn probably helped to smooth it out a bit. I guess it is like learning to drive, the small, instinctive corrections an experienced driver makes are jerky, hesitant movements for a beginner. I turned through about 90 degrees and we climbed a little to 4700 feet, where the air was a bit smoother. We got a good view of the bushfire burning to the west of town, and I could see we were just above the layer where the smoke abruptly stopped and flattened out. I was keeping an eye out for the spotter and the water bombers, but I couldn't see them. My instructor spotted them and made sure we stayed well clear. The instructor then asked my to make a 270 degree turn, and I pulled the aircraft to about 15-20 degrees angle of bank and put a bit of rudder into it. I was still fighting the stick and didn't feel in total control, but I was more confident making the turn. It is hard keeping track of your position, other aircraft, where the strip is, and maintain airspeed and a smooth climb. I had to concsoiusly remind myself to look at the instruments, then to get my head outside again to look around. We were flying parallel to the strip now and started a 500 foot-per-minute descent, throttling back to 3800rpm, moving at about 80 knots. After we passed the strip, we made a long descending turn and lined up on the runway. Once we got down to about 2000 feet, the instructor took the controls and we came in to land. The turbulence was getting worse and there was a significant gusty cross-wind over the strip. I could feel the movements of the controls as the instructor bought us down - and we had to land at a significant angle because of the cross-wind. I was glad it wasn't me putting us down because there was no way I would have been deft enough to react to the gusts to get us on the ground. We taxied off the runway and I was surprised my half-an-hour flight was over already. I was pretty drained and the constant fighting for control was pretty nerve-wracking, but I had done it. Flying isn't like driving a bus, but I had a go and did it - not particularly well, but with growing confidence. It was a lot harder to fly an actual aircraft than I was prepared for. The motion of the aircraft moving made me pretty jumpy and I never got to be comfortable with my control of the aircraft. Gusts moved the aircraft quite a bit, and I was concerned it would get away from me. When I talked it over with my instructor, he said the aircraft would resist big movements - the surface area of the wing would resist against flipping over too hard. The unpredictability was just a bit hard to cope with. I guess this would pass in time, and I thought about the first time I drove a car. I had the same sense of being overwhelmed and out of control. I am not sure if I will get another opportunity to fly, but I am glad I did it and I have a much better appreciation of how hard flying really is. The Tecnam Eaglet light aircraft I flew. The cockpit of the Tecnam.

A friend loaned me his TrackIR 4 rig for me to try out. he is an FSX fan, but couldn't get it working. I wanted to see TrackIR in action before i shelled out some AUD$$$ for it. Having seen it in action, I am convinced. Being able to move my head to track targets is great, and I think it will make the difference in my dogfighting. Basically I used to get stuck "chasing the red cone" in a fight - losing sight of the target and cranking and banking using the direction cone to try and get back on him. With TrackIR I can follow him through the merge and see where he is going. I am also able to anticipate changes of flight direction which i missed before when he was out of my cone of vision. It's not perfect - I am still getting used to the exaggerated view movement of the TrackIR rig - necessary for its operation, but still something to get used to. I still tend to overshoot my targets as I track them. There is also the "stickiness" of the centred view, which takes careful head-twisting if you only want to look very slightly off your direction of travel. However, none of these are deal breakers. They are just something to get used to. My situational awareness was greatly heightened by TrackIR and if you haven't tried it - I thoroughly recommend it! Installation was a snap and the default settings worked for Strike Fighters (SF2 full merged) straight out of the box. It couldn't be simpler. I know everyone on the boards who has used it says you will never go back after you try it. What are your thoughts?

The Alamo has been carving a swathe through the Korea Mod! I have been turned into chaff by them myself more than once - last time in an RAAF FA-18F. And the AA-11 Archer I used to get the kill and the damage was great. I'll use them again!

I installed the new Modern Warfare Korea mod and I would just like to congratulate everyone involved with its development. It is absolutely beautiful, the terrains are superb, the aircraft gorgeous - however, be warned. The modded game is LETHAL! My experience is once you fly into the target area, you need to survive the initial barrage of AAMs or SAMs in order to last more than a few seconds. In my first mission the flight recorder recovered from the smoldering wreckage indicated I dodged and decoyed 8 incoming AA-10 AlamoC missiles before getting one squarely in the face and going down. Each new aircraft texture must have a great big target painted on it! Ground attack is much the same. My Su-25 Frogfoot's role in the attack on a runway target appeared to be to attract all the SAM fire and soak up all the ready missiles so my wingmen could continue the mission after my demise and drop their ordnance on the target. Next time I will send the wingman in first, I think. It is great to have something so challenging to really test my skills. I am going to have to work hard to succeed. Anyway, this is a fantastic mod and everyone involved should feel proud to have produced such an excellent and professionally polished piece. Modders play a big role in making Strike Fighters as fun as it is and I salute you all. I didn't have a lot of time to admire my beautiful RAAF F/A-18F Super Hornet before it went down to a barrage of AA-10 AlamoC AAMs. Even flying low and fast in my Su-25 Frogfoot I got pasted by SAMs. At least I depleted the ready loads so my wingmen could accomplish the mission.

I was flying a single mission in the shiny new Korea mod (where I am getting PASTED - it's lethal!) and had this interesting experience. I was flying an F-15E Strike Eagle and was engaged by two MiG-21MFs. In the merge I popped off an AIM-9S Sidewinder and hit one of the MiG-21s, but his buddy shot me in the face with a an AA-11 Archer. When I flipped to external view, sure enough the rear of the aircraft is wreathed in flame and the port tail is gone. I am in a diving corkscrew to port. I was just about to punch out when I thought I should recover from the spin first. Imagine my surprise when I not only recover the aircraft, but it is flyable. I continue my recovery turn and I can still hear the tone from the remaining sidewinder. The MiG who shot me is chasing my wingman, so I pursue, get tone and shove one up his tailpipe. Kill number 2 for me. I check the back end and the fire is out and I am flying on one engine, but it is handling OK despite the damage and lack of tail. I spot a MiG-29C Fulcrum and since i can't get any response from the Sparrows, I try for a gun kill. I line him up and squeeze the trigger. Nothing. (Guess I should have checked that!). Anyway, my wingman takes lead and downs the MiG and we fly back towards our lines. I run out of fuel on the way, but manage a forced landing behind our lines. The bird is shot up and so am I, but both repairable. Damn the F-15E can take some punishment. Damaged F-15E continues to fly despite the damage from a missile hit. Damaged and out of fuel but wheels down and safe behind our own lines.

I do a lot of air-to-mud work and I flew a mission this afternoon which shows how far I've come since buying this game last Christmas. I flew a single mission strike over Libya terrain in an Su-7BMK FitterA. The target was a warehouse on the docks. Enemy air defenses and air activity were set to random. My 2-ship flight was loaded with four 250kg FAB unguided bombs each. As we flew into the target area, I started getting RWR warnings for HAWK SAM radars, so I dove for the deck. I could see several SAM launches on the coast and deepened my dive angle, looking to get under 100 metres altitude to break the radar lock in the clutter from the sea. The SAMs streaked in, passing over my canopy and nailing my wingman, who had been slower to start to dive. He took about 3 direct hits and it was just debris that came out of the explosion - no ejection and no chute. I leveled off at 60m AGL and heard the search radars lose me. There weren't any fighters that I could see, but I wasn't willing to wait around and find out. I pushed the throttle up to full military power and streaked towards the target and the coast. At about 6 miles, I could see a number of tankers docked in the harbour, and identified my target just beyond them. I lined up on the target and then pulled the stick sharply back and climbed. As I gained altitude the RWR told me the search radars were still active and looking. Some AAA also started to arc up towards me from the docks. I couldn't jink because I had leveled off was lining up the sight on the target, but I was moving fast and the tracers curved away behind me. I set the ripple release to 2, and nosed over onto the bombing run. The warehouse was right there and as it drifted into my sights I pressed the pickle once, then again a fraction of a second later. I felt the weight of the bombs come off the aircraft as all four of the 250kg bombs separated cleanly. I pulled out of the dive and rolled right just as the shadow of a SAM passed over my cockpit and some more tracers arced past my wing. I pulled around over the docks and heading for the safety of the deck, keeping an eye back over my shoulder (Thank you, TrackIR). I just caught a glimpse of the warehouse before it was obscured by the dock cranes and tankers - it was a blazing ruin. I must have scored a direct hit! The HAWK tracking radars lost me again as I dropped to the water and I advanced the throttles, streaking for home. Mission complete! It used to be I couldn't even hit the target on a run with dumb bombs - let alone fight my way in against enemy air defenses and do a pop-up bomb run. I guess all that practice is starting to pay off. Banking away from the coast and hugging the water on the run for home in my Su-7BMK FitterA after completing a successful strike mission.

I have a dual-boot XP SP3 and Vista SP2 machine, but I generally work in XP. I installed SF2 (SF2 full series merged and updated) into the Vista partition to see what difference DX10 shading made to the game. I noticed interesting lighting effects, especially reflections on cockpit glass etc. but is there a real, noticeable difference running the game under Vista? I have taken screenshots under both, and XP still looks pretty good. I was just wondering if anyone had opinions on this they were willing to share. Thanks gang. I have an extensive library of screenshots on Facebook if anyone wants a look. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=404663&id=902945499&l=b3e22baa3a

Thanks for the feedback Stingray - but budget is an issue for me at the moment, so I went with TrackIR4. However, I can always get 5 later. My budget issues are temporary - I hope!

So I am sitting here with my credit card and TrackIR4 is AUD$125 and TrackIR5 is AUD$220 - so I guess my question is - is the extra resolution of TrackIR5 worth an extra one hundred dollars? Any thoughts, TrackIR5 users?

I guess I should mention I run an nVidia 9800GT card with the latest stable driver set, shouldn't I?

I have been flying an RAN Grumman S-2 Tracker and downloaded some Mk-48 wire-guided torpedoes for it. However I noted to my extreme amusement that they act like Mavericks or other missiles by flying through the air to their target rather than dropping into the water. Of course it makes perfect sense given the game physics and other weapon dynamics, but I get a kick out of it every time I see it and thought I would share it with everyone. Fish Away! I'm not looking to fix this, just share it for fun.

Just as an amusing aside about cultural issues in gaming - I used to be a university lecturer in communications, and we had an exchange programme with the University of Kiel in Germany. A friend of mine who lectures about interface design in gaming was delivering his standard lecture to a bunch of german students when he flips to the next powerpoint slide - which shows the CoD interface, complete with germans getting mowed down all over the screen. It was a real "Don't mention the war!" moment which was greeted by embarrassed silence by everyone. Needless to say - he moved smartly onto the next slide...