UnknownPilot

Well... either way, regarding that info, what I was looking for was to keep that of my own aircraft, and eliminate that of the target, but that level of granularity doesn't seem to be present. The waypoint and target indicators are independent of Alt+d, so those tweaks do need to be done in the ini file. Regarding Track IR.... no way. I really don't like the idea of infrared blasting me in the face (and eyes) for hours on end. Plus, I also don't like the idea of turning my head a few degrees to look over my shoulder, or, turning my head one way while looking back the opposite way with my eyes so that I can control the view and still see the screen. If I had a full dome projection, or a good head mounted display, then PL wouldn't be as necessary. (although, in leiu of either proper visibility distances or IL2 style icons, PL would probably still be necessary to tell you something is there when you SHOULD be able to see it, but can't because of the rendering engine) Regarding these planes being different than what I'm used to.... that is not the issue here at all. And I did rather well in LOMAC if I do say so myself. lol (and yes, I still got down and dirty and knife fought at every opportunity)

Hmm... I'm not sure what other stuff you mean? From what I've seen, with HUD on "normal", when you load the mission you have your own planes info on the lower left (in white, IIRC) - Speed, Alt, Heading, Flight Name (not sure what else). Once you get a target, it's info, mirroring that of your own, shows up in red on the right. Now, if you hit Alt+D, it brings up FPS info in white at the top center of the screen. Hit it again, and it all goes away. Generally speaking I don't fly with the FPS data on. And it sounds like what you are talking about is getting rid of both the target, and personal plane info (which I know as the "speedbar", IL2 parlence) through editing the HUDData.ini, but to leave what....? Doesn't sound like it would be any different. I'm not trying to be difficult or argumentative, just not sure what you mean.

Yeah, I've 'turned off' the floating radar display, and also got rid of all waypoint indicators entirely, most, if not all, the planes have that awesome radio direction indicator (like the Bf-109 and FW-190 had), which just takes you from waypoint to waypoint, even showing if you are off to one side of it or not (if you care). Currently have left the target box and cone alone. Since you can still target unseen items, even through mountains and up to 100NM away, there doesn't seem to be much point to tweaking it further, but reducing the size, as you mentioned, seems like a cool idea. I'll definitely have to consider that. One thing I was trying to do was get rid of the target data in the lower right - unless I missed something, there doesn't appear to be a way of doing that without also affecting the personal speedbar data (on the left, your own speed, alt, heading, etc). There's no sense in editing that file if I'm going to make both disappear totally, because I can use Alt+D to do that. Since the HUD set to hard does exactly what I'm looking for, it must be possible, I'm guessing I've just missed it so far. Eric, I've not had a chance to do more than just look over that file you sent. That thing looks quite complex, but I definitely will be digging into it and using it.

Nico, the one Stingray and Toonces were referring to is for Strike Fighters 2: Vietnam (what some mistakenly call WOV2). The link earlier in the thread was for Wings over Vietnam, the 2004 one, the one that you have. There are enough differences between the 2 titles that I'm sure it would not work to put the SF2:V expansion pack over WOV. You might be able to manually work it in, that part I'm not sure about, but looking at all the content, it seems it would be a lot of work. lol

Wing Commander big time - as mentioned in the WC vs XW thread, WC is my favorite series of all time. I played, and "enjoyed" QuakeWarrior (sorry "Mech Warrior 4"), but it was mainly just because I was playing online with some friends and that's what they had and played. The last, and best true Mech Warrior game was MW3. And that kicked all kinds of major ass. Although, the original MW was great too, as was MW2, MW2 Ghost Bear, and MW2 Mercs. The FMV era remains my favorite overall for games, and has a slew of games I still play again and again - 7th Guest, 11th Hour, Under a Killing Moon, The Overseer, The Pandora Directive, Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within, Phantasmagoria 2: A Puzzle of Flesh, Shivers 2, Ripper, of course this was when Wing Commander 3 came out too. Gotta love Space Quest! (the whole series) Also, Max Payne, The Labrynth, Ringworld, and Orbiter, and the one game I've played more than any other, ever.... (and for it to be more than Wing Commander is something serious) - IL2, from the demo to FB, to AEP, to '46, and all the patches in between. Some cool trailers for those who might not have heard of those cool old games. :) Under a Killing Moon - (do bear in mind it's a 1994 game, but I don't know why the video there is that choppy, it's never been that choppy for me when playing it) Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4-D0nHfKqo The 7th Guest - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUvqkdtXMPY (1993) Phantasmagoria 2 -

Not trying to hawk or "sell" it, I just know it's obscure, so wanted to post a couple cool vids - (recommend clicking the HQ/HD button and Full Screen for both) Obiter: - Construction of the Orbiter Forum Space Station (all actions are done by the player, the video was just edited for time, and the comms chatter was overlayed along with the music for the sake of the video) - Space Cowboy, little more cinematic (the systems modeling detail of the Delta Glider 4 is phenomenal, but there is a mind numbing amount of magic tech in craft (engines, fuel, strength, heat tolerance, etc, etc) ) Orbiter, and everything for it, is free. What you see in those vids has some cinematic effects (wipes, shake, and sepia tone) added, but what you see is what it's capable of in the 2006 version. There is a new one that was due out in '09, but I'm not sure it has gotten out yet (the site implied it was still in the works, and I didn't dig into it, currently hooked on my newly purchased SF2:V right now )

Wing Commander, bar none. From the very start of the intro in WC1. The first time through, my friends and I lost, and lost bad. It was a struggle to master the Kilrathi and turn the tide, but after a few times through we did it. But that didn't diminish the game one bit. I bought all the new ones as they came out and have played them all countless times. Periodically I get the itch and break them all out, start with WC1, and go through the whole series add-ons and all. Prophecy rocked except for what happened to "Blair" (never did care much for that name, but I do understand they had to give him one officially eventually). WC3 was a revolution. But that was part of the best era in gaming history, the FMV era - Phantasmagoria II, Gabriel Knight II, The Tex Murphy Series (Under a Killing Moon, Pandora Directive, & The Overseer), 7th Guest & The 11th Hour...... ah the good ol' days. Fortunately I kept them all and still play them from time to time. lol :D (a non-FMV from that time that rocked was The Labrynth, which had nothing to do with the David Bowie movie). WC4 was awesome because the war with Kilrah was over and it took on a decidedly Babylon 5 twist. Loved Wing Commander Academy too (the Animated Series), even though they screwed up a lot of things in the time line. And gotta love Privateer as well (Privaeer 2, not so much, but it was ok). Got a few of the books, but do want to get more. And when the movie came out, it was like a dream come true.... until I saw it. Ever since then I've always said, if I ever meet Chris Roberts, I will shake his hand, thank him, and then kick him in the nuts. lol Star Lancer is cool too. Oh!..... can't forget Strike Commander. Yeah... Wing Commander remains my favorite game series of all time, to this day. Look for The Kilrathi Saga on eBay. It was the first 3 games, with all the add-ons for 1 and 2 packaged together and made to run on Windows (9x, but it does work in XP). It's also frame limited to run on modern computers... well, modern when it came out, but as it's frame limited, it doesn't matter what you run it on, so you don't need to fight with slow-down programs or find an old machine to play them. WC4 is a Windows game, as is Prophecy. Well, most of the good space games are firmly in the past, sadly. Best options for today would be Star Lancer (Erin Roberts, basically a WC re-tread, except it's the Cold War gone hot in space), or Babylon 5, I've Found Her. That one rocks, and it's the closest thing to a space combat sim as ever has been devised (ie, newtonian physics). Another good sim is Orbiter. But it's not a combat game. It's an orbital simulator. There are tons of air craft and space craft available for it, from the pure sci-fi, to near furture possiblities, to actual space craft; ranging from space-borne only, to rockets, to space planes, to SSTOs, to air craft only, even some ground vehicles. It's a serious challenge, and great fun, trying to get up into stable orbit, then working on rendezvous and docking, even space station building, or setting up a course to other planets and moons in the solar system, but working within the contraints of the tech level your ship comes from. That's about it as far as I know. :)

Toonces, I see 2 different ones there, one appears to be a single download of around 140MB, and another one with "gold" in the title and appears to be about 5 parts. What's the difference between them, and which do you recommend?

That would be sweet! My email address is blutspray@aim.com. Thanks! :)

:) Yeah, I can see 4 guys being limiting, for time, resources, funding, etc, etc. I didn't know that up front however, and wasn't sure if there was a setting for what I'm looking for. Being that there isn't, I was then wondering if there was a mod to accomplish it, or if such a mod were possible. If everyone merely "rolled with it", we wouldn't have all the amazing add ons and mods that are out there.

James, is that usable in SF2:V? And on a related note... is there a breakdown of the SF2:V campaign missions? So far in single mission play I have yet to see a carrier, which is a disappointment, just curious if they are used in the campaigns. Regarding F4 vs MiG 17, I just had a very frustrating, and enjoyable DF this afternoon at lunch, using the F-4B with gun pod. I spun it 3 times, and it reacted like the pilots described in the Dogfights episode (always nice when it corresponds to what the people who actually flew it claimed - despite all the trouble with anecdotal evidence). I did manage to get 2 kills, 1 guns, 1 Sidewinder (first ever with a sidewinder). As mentioned above several times - stay fast, and stay above them, make them bleed of their energy if you can, then hit them with a Sparrow or guns. Personally, I find it difficult to get the MiGs to bleed energy, AND to keep fuel in the tank. On full burner it feels like I just opened up the back half of the plane and dumped the fuel out. lol F-8 is a good fight against the 17s too. Just remember to bring as much fuel with you as you possibly can. lol

As I was first reading your comment, I was thinking "Alt+D", but then I see that you mean a little more granular than that. I like the option of having my own speed bar up, but the enemies is a bit over kill, and Alt+D is all or none (3 phases, off, on, and on with FPS data). But you're probably right, the HUDData.ini probably has something for that and I guess the same technique could be applied. In IL2, I always did 'pit on, short-ish icons, PL on, and externals on (so I could jump out and enjoy the scenery from time to time). Lately I started using extremely short icons, where enemies had nothing until like 1Km or so, and then it only showed color and type (no range). I was working toward turning them off entirely, and also trying to not use PL, so that I could play in those damnable full switch servers on HL. Yet have always maintained that PL and icons are a means of allowing the limitations of the interface (ie, small, low res, flat, 2D, computer screen) to be compensated for a bit. That's sort of what I was looking for here. It must be said, that stock icon setting in IL2 is 4.5Km, and you can see planes WELL before that. In SF2:V, the enemy disappears totally, smoke trail and all, at just over 1 mile out. According to Google, 4.5Km is 2.42NM, and I was able to see little WWII prop jobs out beyond that, to 5Km or more. And then of course there were the arguments from real pilots about how they could ID planes out beyone what was possible in IL2 without icons, supporting the use of icons....... and I'm rambling again. Anyway. Yeah, I wanted to use the hard setting. But since the only thing that can be relied on is guns, it's just not an option for me as it stands (even for mud moving, I just can't locate targets until I'm on top of them).

Well, since the point of PL is to keep the enemy centered in view, and since we are in stream-lined bricks against turbine powered aerobats, that is a rather tall order. lol I've helped it somewhat with putting PL on my stick, and also by discovering that I could zoom the PL view, and adding the zoom keys (mouse buttons) to my stick as well, and all around the same hat (H2, up is wide view, down is "normal", right is close or "gunsight" in IL2 parlence, left is gunsight mode, shift up is zoom out, shift down is zoom in, shift right is PL, nothing for shift left yet). This has helped by allowing me to adjust the zoom on the fly, and also turn PL on and off without having to take my hands off either the stick or the throttle. I also turned HUD to normal and edited out the floating RADAR and waypoint triangle (need to edit out the waypoint cone as well, thought I had but apparently missed it). This helped, but it's also overkill. You can see your target even when you shouldn't be able to - both wnen they are behind your guages, and when they are 20 + NM away. And unfortunately, it still doesn't really tell me which way they are going/turning/etc, but it does tell me their speed and range, which I can't seem to turn off. I'm living with it. So don't mistake that as too severe kvetching. It would just be nice if the range could be limited, and the target data on the "speed bar" could be edited and/or turned off. Of course it would be even nicer if those targets weren't tracked/super imposed in places you can't see through. But the true ideal would be just to increase the visible distance of the enemy planes, and perhaps toss in the adjustable range target box indicator for good measure. hehe But, I must say, this combo has finally got me scoring aerial kills now. So thanks again to everyone. :)

rscsjsuso5 : Yes, I have read the manual and the KB, and that's why I am posting here, because I didn't find the solution I need/am looking for. :) hgbn & Lt James Cater : Agreed on all counts. :) I sometimes get carried away when writing and I guess it is read differently than I intended, but yes, I realize the MiGs should be fought in the vertical. Just like when using the Do-335 Pfeil in an Air to Air role, or using a 190 Anton to fight a Spitfire. The trouble for me here is, I can't locate or track the enemy unless I'm basically in the pit with him, so that makes energy fighting near impossible. It's exacerbated by the way the padlock works. The ability to "target" any enemy, whether you had spotted them or not is a bit weird. But since I can't see them when they are centered in my view but just a short distance out (E-fighting distance), I then have no way of knowing if it's a case of them being too far away, or being out of range of head movement. It's hard for me to put it in words, but basically both cases look and behave the same way, leaving me feeling like I'm fighting with a blind fold on. I really don't want to use icons, honestly, but this seems to be a limitation of the graphics engine vs real life, I can't beleive they are that invisible for real (the combat stories you hear about where RADAR is not used, pretty much require visibility to a few miles out). I will try dropping the HUD setting, see what that does for me. Is there no other way to tweak visibility distance? Via an ini or something? Could the enbseries thing-y (stickied here - http://forum.combatace.com/topic/43231-yo-check-this-out-great-speed-boost/ ) have something to do with reducing vis? BTW - this is the LOMAC mod I was referring to - That's the full blown version. There is also a simple version as well - That makes it much easier to tell where you are looking, and where the plane is headed. I've not seen something like this for Strike Fighters yet - do any of you guys know of such a thing out there for SF? Thanks all for the responses. :)