Major Lee

They all do, but most "new" sticks don't properly implement force feedback; they lack input from flight controls and only provide feedback from effect events, such as launching a missile or being hit... (at least a cyborg stick I had behaved this way) The old MS FF2 was the ultimate, and I sure love mine...

Hi Russ, been lurking a bit and make a post occasionally. R/L has taken over and not been much time for simming... Still around though... :yes: Ken

Not that difficult... In Photoshop, it is just another layer. Open a stock TGA and look at the Alpha channel...

The TGAs for SF are 32 bit files; 24 bit for color and 8-bits for an "Alpha Layer"... The Alpha layer or alpha channel is a gray scale image that designates transparency; you'll need Photoshop or some other fully featured graphics program to make alpha channels. I have an old copy of Photoshop 5.5 that I use... there are a number of other programs that will handle this type of file. ML

You can explicitly call a specific date in a user-made mission...

You've answered your own question... Looks like we have a winner!

I always thought the Dhimar/Paran story was kind of interesting myself ... There is a lot that hasn't been told about the Merc' events though...

Flatten first, then tile...

Good to see you got it figured out...

It should be in the TE folder, or you can extract the PAL from within any decent graphics program... Just extract a BMP from the TE. Use the export hdf to bmp function. You can extract the proper PAL from that BMP... Also, F1 look under color properties, 256 indexed colors or some such for more information about color pallettes...

Check the water box... You'll find it when you examine where you enter info about your terrain tiles within the te...

The TE uses a specific indexed color pallette... Look for TE.pal and convert your BMP... OH yes, you can also use a tile resolution of 1000m and 250M for height field... as long as it is 4:1 ratio, it *should* work, as I recall... Game, or rather, the gaming machine, might be able to handle the resulting VERY huge HFD though...

You'll need to learn about color values and the number of colors available... just do a search in your graphics program for "indexed 256 color" and RGB True color" or 24-bit color... Also, you do know that to level airfields within the TE, you'll need a proper list of airfields, grid and sizes... You can build it from the *_targets.ini list...

Open the HFD in the TE, export as BMP, export your color pallette, convert to 24 bit color, draw your valley, convert back to original pallette, import BMP back into TE... Relevel airfields, put back in game folder... (of course, you backed up the original HFD, didn't you?) Easy...

Correct, in-game scale is what it is... Objects will stay the same size regardless of the accuracy of the map to R/L/. As for the highly unauthorized mods to ANW and DBS, they are highly approved and recommended!!!

Much easier to crash a very large map, export the BMP, resize and rework, then re-import with adjusted height % field...

Well, actually, the data points are still going to be at 250 intervals, no matter what you do. The TE doesn't know/care about any resemblance to actual real-world terrain; it's just data points. Obviously you will lose detail and accuracy if you go "off-scale". You can always adjust vertical scale to get back any lost height, which is what you do any way because of the 250-meter resolution.... You could always crash the map at 125 meter resoultion, resize and re-import the bmp...

How about some useful ground objects? Not as glamorous as new planes to be sure, but stuff on the ground goes a long way towards better overall realism.... How about a Soviet nuclear power facility? or a Soviet Ice Breaker? (link to webpage, not a picture) http://www.msco.ru/cgi-bin/common.cgi?lang...&fn=cont4_4 or Soviet B200 Yo Yo radar? Perhaps new docks of large size to simulate a full size naval installation? Or perhaps bombing the Comm Building is as exciting as you can stand? If you need a project, I have ideas and a place to use your work. Any takers? (Recent volunteer is much appreciated... thanks!)

Well, TK is independent, methodical and determined. He "hears" the communities requests, but operates from his perspective and information. If one does not see what they want, they can mod it or pay him to do it, like Alex did with FE... I'd like a SW Pacific WWII game with Thunderbolts and Corsairs, but I don't think ever I'll see it as an official title...

2-5 years before another title? Hardly... TK has put out SF:P1, WOV, WOE, FF-Wright Brothers (with Birhle Engineering), FE, Fe-Exp, WOI, plus the sim for the USAF recruiting team, plus the graphic update for Birhle Engineering's D-Six test simulator... and he has patched all existing commercial sims to the latest standard all along the way, which is a continuous process... He puts out new titles in less than one year...

2% hit rate? In the Army, we called that "Spray and Pray"...

I have secured a new domain name. I did it right this time, registering the domain myself, instead of relying on an unreliable host. I have also secured a hosting service, appropriate for the needs of the Aerodrome. So, while you wait on me to post the NEW site, let's see if anyone can find the new URL... Whoever posts a link first will win! The prize is paid admission to the US Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio, during my next trip there. I will be your personal tour guide and expound endlessly on the virtues of the P-47, the greatest combat aircraft of WWII. I'll even buy lunch at the Valkyrie Cafe'... Of course, you'll have to co-ordinate with me, whenever I happen to get down there... Anyway, let's see if anyone can find the new site... ML...

Happy Birthday Dave! :yes:

400 is a fine number... 400 is the number of grads in a circle... 400 is a Harshad number... fine number, 400 is...

This article might help sort out the power of various CPU's... http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/07/16/cpu_charts_2007/ WOI has upped the "in" for the SF series. TK has plans to activate dual-core architecture in the (near??) future. This will make SF even less friendly to lower speed machines running single core CPUs; it's the price of progress...