UnknownPilot

Gotcha. At first when I was reading I thought "well, I'm comfortable with p-shop, so I can give it a shot", but your second post with the attachment really drove home the point ("hotspots"). It's something that might be fun to play with, but I can see it being a LOT of work. I never thought to change the background for the various menu screens though - I had messed with the hangar and loading screens though, thanks for that heads up. Sounds like you have some good stuff brewing though. Look forward to it.

March, '65 They don't waste any time throwing you into the thick of it. As soon as we got here, we just about had time for the nickel tour, then rack, then we were off to take out a warehouse. Seems like an odd target. 1 warehouse, surrounded by a whole complex? Why not the whole complex? I found out why they call the Skyhawk "Heinemann's Hot Rod", on the first mission, without using much throttle at all, we nearly outran our TARCAP to the target area. Red Crown was calling out bandits in the area, and one of our flight spotted them, fortunately they were going the other way, but that was close! Up ahead I could see a field of flak outlining the river banks, and we were expected to fly straight though it! Who designs these flight plans anyway?! I took the flight west and approached the target from dead south, routing around the flak nest. Once we got in, it got hot! I dispached 3 and 4 to hunt for AAA to try to split their fire and reduce their numbers, while #2 and I went in on the target. I missed with my first toss, called 2 in to do the job, but he missed too. 1 pass and haul ass..... but dammit, we had a job to do. I circled back, took out the warehouse on my second pass, and sic'ed 2 on a gun emplacement nearby, he hit that, and then I called in 3 and 4 and we took off. Eventually things got mixed up, the flight was nowhere to be found, and it looked like they had to cross a lot of flak to get to me, so I just sent them home, we'd rendezvous back at the barn. And we did. I had to skip west again and retrace my steps, but got out of the heat nice and quiet-like. Caught a hard 4 wire on my return and got razzed for it a bit. 3 and 4 were shot up bad. Kinda scary. Next up was another short hop. We were assigned to take out the Dragon's Jaw Bridge. What a cool name. Weather was nicer, and it was a short run, so I outfitted 3 and 4 with rockets, while 2 and I took 6 500s and a rocket pack for good measure. This time I used less throttle and didn't beat the TARCAP, and they got into a tangle right away. Lots of buzzing about up above us. The bridge was just inland of the shore, and our flight path took us right down the throat. About 4 miles out I loosed 3 and 4 again and lined up for my run. Unfortunately my first 2 went wide. I called in 2 for backup and reset incase he missed - he did. But I got it on the second pass with 2 bombs to spare. I dropped them on a nearby AAA emplacement, but am not sure if I hit it or not. I called in 2 on another AAA on the way out, he hit that, and I dumped my rockets on another one but missed, at that point I called for everyone to bug out. Unfortunately 3, Lt. Greer, didn't make it. He called out that he was taking damage, and that was the last we heard or saw of him. 2 and 4 beat me back, so I orbited while they landed, and set up for my run. Everything was going well until the last second, I bounced off the deck, the hook missed and the LSO was screeming for me to hit it. But I was able to collect myself and put down nicely on the next shot. The CAG talked to me, but didn't give me an official repremand, given that it was me second mission and first loss in a mission. Thankfully it was a successful one. If I had just made one pass and hauled ass, Lt. Greer would likely have died in vain. (though some might say we could have gotten out of there sooner, but, who says that would be so? No, that target had to be taken out, and I'm glad we did it) **** I hit print screen at the debrief, it froze momentarily like it took a pic, but there is nothing there in the folder. Do I need to run fraps for this? I'd hate to run something else in the background. I'm literally down to 10fps when things get thick as it is.

Having seen some of the screen shots in the DiD thread, the WOV debrief screens look cooler (IMO) than the SF2:V screens. Is it possible to change them? If so, can anyone point me to a source location? I did a search in the downloads section, but came up empty.

Neat idea. I personally don't ever see a refusal like that taking place, but it's still a neat backdrop. The problem though, is that I don't think SAC would ever stand a chance. Unescorted bombers are toast, and A2G planes outfitted with AIM-120s and AIM-9s just won't be able to get the job done. (also, '92 is quite late) But that's just my .02¢ - that doesn't mean it wouldn't be a fun thing to play. :)

Ah. Maybe hack it as though you pulled some strings on the sly with some other crews or something? lol

Would it help to have one of your number loaded with ECM pods (if available)? (sorry if it's a stupid question )

That's because you are on the wrong side. ;) To borrow a phrase from Parker and Stone (and an image from Gustav in the screenshots thread) F*#% Yeah!

Whenever I make a new pilot for a new campaign, I always like to "train" that pilot. Sometimes I'll go to the bomb range for practice for myself if I'm coming off of a fighter campaign, but for all USN (and if I ever make a USMC pilot/campaign) I like to "carrier qualify". Basically load the Carrier Take Off mission with the intended starting plane, take off, fly the way points, come back, trap, then stand on the brakes, gun it, take off again, orbit, trap, and repeat a 3rd time. (somewhere a long time ago I heard the USN requires 3 successful traps aboard a carrier to qualify, but that was while when PF came out, so it might be something WWII? dunno) Ensign James Ó Dúnabhra had graduated from flight school, with intent to fly attack for the US Navy. On his first trip to the Bomb Range, all went well, until... he tried to do an "over the shoulder" bomb delivery. A bigger whiff had not been seen by the instructors in quite some time, fortunately, it was such a wild stunt with such loony results that he didn't get in much trouble. Flying, landing, even the field carrier landing all came naturally. So next up was the real deal. Out on a cruise on gentle seas and a nice day, he strapped in for his first ever cat shot. The flight was routine, and the first return was nothing much to talk about. The second trap was a little left, a little hard, an a little late, but still successful. On the third attempt, focus was momentarily lost, and the A-4 Skyhawk was screaming through the skies at 540kias as the fan tail was coming up on the left fast. Fortunately the alt had also climbed a bit more than anticipated. Using the altitude, the Ensign hit the brakes, chopped throttle and went into a high AoA barrell roll that bled speed down enough to drop flaps and gear, and then dove on the ILS path. The LSO was momentarily stunned, and that pause was enough for the ensign to avoid the dreaded wave off and reel it back in. After that little stunt, he was given his wings.... and a stern talking to by the Air Boss. And that night, he gained his callsign - Daredevil. Now off to 'Nam..... (first campaign mission tonight)

Is it too late to join in on this?

Testy..... Yeah, like I said "sorry for lamenting". I didn't think you would be taking it as a personal insult (as it is neither personal, nor an insult). I am WELL aware that it's a small 1 to few person shop. And I am well aware of the time it takes to code, and also what a workload is like for one person (I have done some meager coding for myself, and I am an IT shop of 1 and among my users are a small coding shop of 2). That doesn't change anything I've said, nor necessitate or justify a response like those. It's also not "inconsequential" either. If it were, then the same could be said of clouds, weather effects, and sounds (just to name a few). But I suppose that comment will bring more agument and vitriol too eh? (make me a dreaded "rivet counter" or something...? lol)

If you can make it, you can change it. That's all. However, time, desire, priorities, etc all get in the way of that. Clearly it's not something he has the time or desire to do - but that's not the same as it being impossible. Sorry for lamenting. "Little" details like that are important (not vital, and less important than some others, but still important none-the-less). It's just a shame the owners, generally speaking, don't agree, that's all.

Yeah, it makes sense too, it's just doing the science for you. Technically it would be possible to do it without any help, but you'd have to have an intuitive feel for it, or a million charts and a solid, repeatable approach. Near vert diving works well, but that requires so much atlitude that you become a big target for flak and SAMs here which is not fun (or feasable) - "fun" in the sense that you want to make it home intact. lol

That sounds.... strange. I can understand it being something hard-coded, but to be an all or none? Surely the dev could fix it, if you have access to the source and are the creater, nothing is impossible. It's also a BIG shame too. Yeah, it can be worked around (as mentioned above, keep A2G off, change your approach, etc, to keep it high and inside), but that is a disappointing "solution". (and I'm just venting here, I know full well this post won't actually change anything ) If only I could manage to hit stuff with intent rather than pure luck while not using a CCIP I'd be ok. lol!

Your greying out sounds like a very slow steam train. Couldn't understand the comments (non-Red Crown) either, but I have to keep the volume down (at work). Sounds like some sort of rap song intro though. lol Nice map though. That's the clearest clear day I've ever seen in this sim.

SUNNUVA.......!!!!! Friggan Comcast doesn't let me get the Military Channel. I so need to switch to FIOS.

I'd like to see an undistorted pic of her (looks like they widened and warped it for added effect). I like curves though, and a little extra poundage isn't bad at all.

It's meaningful and helpful to ME, and it's something I would really like to have set up if at all possible.

Does this mean that it can be modified for every planes? One of the reasons I fly with the "speedbar" on, is because I need to know my throttle setting. I haven't gotten the numbers for fuel flow or whathaveyou, I go by throttle percentage. It would be nice if it could pop on screen momentarily when you change throttle setting, and thereby allow me to edit huddata.ini to make the rest of it go away.

Interesting find, ty! I have tried this, and I can't say it's really helped too much, but I've only tried it in actual use (combat missions), so the variables are far too great in number. One the one hand, a minpixelsize of 0 would seem to suggest that it will be allowed to disappear, but on the other hand, I guess it's saying once it's smaller than 1 pixel, the default setting (of 1) would cause it to just go away, whereas this change should still show it. I wonder what it does to frame rate.... (ugh - I wish I could buy a new system) Also interesting is the comment that a higher res should allow things to be visible longer. Is that some aspect peculiar to TW's sim/rendering engine? I ask because I am running at 1280x960. In IL2, I run at 1024x768. And as noted, that is my comparison, where I can see a WWII prop fighter at 5Km (or more, really) distance in IL2, but can't see a comparably sized object at a mere 1.5NM in SF2:V. Now, with that in mind - some of the hardcore _gamers_ in IL2 will run at 800x600, specifically so that they can see enemy planes more quickly and easily and at greater distances. This is especially true for the full difficulty users and servers (where icons are turned off completely). I think the idea there is, as long as the plane is supposed to be visible, it will be displayed at whatever the smallest dot is, and the lower the res, the larger the dot. It can screw with depth perception, but you spot the target more easily. If anyone has any further thoughts or ideas on increasing aircraft visibility distances, please step forward.

Hehe. That's why I ended up going with the Red Rippers (VF-11) on my first foray into SF campaigns. Unfortunately, almost as soon as I did it, I tried looking for a VF-11 F-4 skin and found none. Then I looked for online images of the real things and found none, then saw the killer VF-84 F-4 skin here, and regretted my decision. lol But, the name is kinda cool, they survive to this day, and the patch (which personally I think is ugly) has a cool thinking/layout behind it - Yeah, I've always loved the Intruder. Really ever since I first saw Flight of the Intruder. And it's really odd too, becuase generally speaking, I don't like 2 crew planes. Yeah, I like the Phantom and the Tomcat, but those are recently gained appreciations, and it's really more a case of "in spite of the 2 place nature". Something about the look I guess. And the name is really cool too - Intruder; comin' into your space and having it's way with your things. hehe Since I've come to find Grumman to be my favorite manuafacturer, that's just added to my A-6 interest I think. (and I say "come to find" because when I saw FOTI, I never heard of Grumman, but liked the plane. When the Tomcat was all the rage (GI-Joe, Macross, Transformers, Top Gun, etc), ditto - it didn't totally suck me in, but I definitely thought it was really cool looking. Then I got heavily into WWII, and sims, and then the PTO, and the cool ugly and amazing toughness and hot performance of the F6F Hellcat (plus the cool name) lead to me liking that plane. It actually has ended up my favorite plane of that era. And then I kinda grew an affection for the F4F (and especially the FM-2). Then I learned about the F8F and was in awe and in love. lol Then the F7F comes along, and I don't care much for twins - the Lightning has a lot of fanbois, but I never "got" it, but the Tigercat.... damn is that pretty, and a beast too! Then I see pics of the F9F-6 Cougar, and again, lust at first sight. Later I see that the F11F is cool too, and well damned if I'm not just a Grumman fan!

I have found the flak to be QUITE deadly actually. Running SF2:V 12/09 with Expansion Pack 2.0 Gold, I've lost about 4 planes in one weekend (the ones actually being flown I mean, not AI). A friend was playing single missions with an A-7 and got blown out of the air twice, having lost large sections of his airframe. And I was flying an A2A F-4 campaign, made it through about 5 or 6 missions in, was the only ace in the unit, promoted to 1st Lieutenant, had 2 medals, and was chasing this MiG 21 who was being rather stubborn, and a burst went off, and I saw the fire light come on. I was down around 8 to 9 thousand feet at the time, I tried to press on, then the mirrors filled up with an unholy conflagration, and I was DEEP in enemy territory. Throttling back to about 38% I tried to keep my speed up and head for the water. I didn't make it - detonated long before I got there. Then I started an F-104 campaign and on the first mission, I was up against a MiG 17, around 14,000, had just pulled off a sweet guns kill (walked the rounds from his nose to tail and turned him into a fire ball, flak was going off all around, then an instant later, the plane was out of control. I look outside and I lost my V-Stab and both H-Stabs. I was not THAT close to the MiG at the time. So yeah, aside from being eerie and atmospheric, I now truly fear it. All I can do is ignore it, try to get the mission done and hope, but that stuff is brutal, all it takes is a proverbial throw of the dice..... and my number likes to come up it seems. lol

Me again. lol A friend of mine is over right now, flying an A-7 (his favorite plane), and I am surfing on my laptop, and I got to thinking... Is there any sort of external output in this sim-engine? For instance, some way to link in another screen, or maybe to pipe instrument output to another screen, so that I could act as his second seater (ok, the A-7 doesn't have one, but he doesn't have much stick time and it is really helpful to him, plus if he were to take an Intruder or Phantom there really is one there. lol). The ideal would be to have the second cockpit modeled, or to have a duplicate of the cockpit he's in but give me independent view control. I'm guessing that level is probably not possible (but damn would it be sweet). But I know IL2 can pipe out instrument data for cockpit builders, and I thought I saw some cockpit builders here, so I'm guessing that's a little more feasible? That way I could at least watch his instruments for him. (and involve the second person as more than just a passive spectator). Also, on a couple of missions targets have not shown up. On an anti-shipping mission there were no ships. Another time there were glorified paddle barges. And I've done a few fighter sweeps with no enemy air presence at all. (all "create mission" single missions) Any idea what might be going on there?

Yeah, I always have an enemy targeted (air or ground) due to the issues with visibility at a distance in this sim. I haven't noticed if they drop all their iron in one pass or not, I know they keep searching and destroying things, and they usually have something available if I direct them to a target, so I just assumed they were being judicious, just like me.

Smokey, it's not all bad. I've been telling my secong wing to free range vs either Air or Ground (depending on mission) and they do it, and they get kills. Often I will tell my #2 to attack my target, just so I can pre-occupy said target a little better. Sometimes he does seem to go off into lala-land, but quite often I find myself competing with him to get the kill. And they do use missles (and bombs). I hear lots of "winchester" calls too (normally from other flights I think, but that's still AI friendlies). When I find a cloud of enemy, I want other friendlies with me, even if all they do is serve as targets for the enemy, they still split the fire. lol But all in all I've been finding the wingmen to be quite useful and "satisfying" (not too good, but not worthless or frustrating either). [i have to say this is most true on ground strikes, a flight of 4 of us will simply obliterate the entire area around the primary target, and I will use #2 as spare ammo, directing him to targets, and he goes after them - calling out, "in hot" and "off", mixed with frequent "Shack!"'s. It's really rahter fun to think of all the devestation we end up causing as a unit. hehe ]