baffmeister

Fuel Gauge for TW Hunter FGA-9 View File Quick fix to get an internal fuel gauge into Third Wires Hunter FGA-9. It uses the cabin pressure altitude indicator located on the lower righthand side of the front panel. I think the real ones were located on the righthand side panel but might not be possible to put gauges there. The gauge shows internal fuel only, about 3000lbs. No more excuses for running out of fuel! This is the READ ME: Put the HUNTERFGA9_COCKPIT.ini into the HunterFGA9 aircraft folder. Thats all. Submitter baffmeister Submitted 04/13/2007 Category Jet Cockpits

A good read, nice screens, and good looking enviro / terrain!

Great paint jobs and some really nice screenshots! Golden Hawks and the 2 CF-18's my favs.

A good rule to remember when editing campaigns. Don't do it if you have a current campaign on the go. It's almost a guaranteed CTD! Here's some sample files with notes from TW's WOE 62 campaign. I just copied the entire campaign then re-named it to Germany62 prior to editing, to keep it separate from the stock campaign. [CampaignData] CampaignName=Germany62................new name, also on campaign folder DataFile=Germany62_data.ini..............new name for campaign data.ini CampaignMap=GermanyCE Service001=USAF Service002=RAF Service003=France Service004=Canada.......................add any new countries in here. make sure the name Service005=Belgium............................matches the nations.ini Service006=Denmark Service007=WGermany [uSAFUnit001]....................................................add your new units in this section or UnitName=7th TFS 'Bunyaps'...............................change an existing one. see further ForceID=1..........................................................down for more detail. UnitID=1 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [uSAFUnit002] UnitName=8th TFS 'Black Sheep' ForceID=1 UnitID=2 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [uSAFUnit003] UnitName=9th TFS 'Iron Knights' ForceID=1 UnitID=3 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [uSAFUnit004] UnitName=10th TFS ForceID=1 UnitID=4 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [uSAFUnit005] UnitName=22nd TFS 'Stingers' ForceID=1 UnitID=5 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [uSAFUnit006] UnitName=23rd TFS ForceID=1 UnitID=6 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [uSAFUnit007] UnitName=32nd TFS 'Wolfhounds' ForceID=1 UnitID=7 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [uSAFUnit008] UnitName=45th TFS 'Hoosier Hogs' ForceID=1 UnitID=8 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start2.txt [uSAFUnit009] UnitName=53rd TFS ForceID=1 UnitID=9 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [uSAFUnit010] UnitName=55th TFS 'Fighting Fifty-fifth' ForceID=1 UnitID=10 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start2.txt [uSAFUnit011] UnitName=434 TFS ForceID=1 UnitID=11 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start2.txt [uSAFUnit012] UnitName=79th TFS 'Tigers' ForceID=1 UnitID=12 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start2.txt [uSAFUnit013] UnitName=436 TFS ForceID=1 UnitID=13 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start2.txt [uSAFUnit014] UnitName=476th TFS ForceID=1 UnitID=14 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start2.txt [uSAFUnit015] UnitName=121st TFS ForceID=1 UnitID=15 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start2.txt [uSAFUnit016] UnitName=136th TFS 'Rocky's Raiders' NY ANG ForceID=1 UnitID=16 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start2.txt [uSAFUnit017] UnitName=417th TFS ForceID=1 UnitID=17 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [uSAFUnit018] UnitName=435th TFS 'Eagles' ForceID=1 UnitID=18 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [RAFUnit001] UnitName=No. 1 Squadron ForceID=1 UnitID=26 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start2.txt [RAFUnit002] UnitName=No. 2 Squadron ForceID=1 UnitID=27 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [RAFUnit003] UnitName=No. IV(AC) Squadron ForceID=1 UnitID=29 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [RAFUnit004] UnitName=No. 14 Squadron ForceID=1 UnitID=30 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [FranceUnit001] UnitName=EC 1/3 'Navarre' ForceID=1 UnitID=35 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [FranceUnit002] UnitName=EC 2/3 'Champagne' ForceID=1 UnitID=36 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [FranceUnit003] UnitName=EC 1/11 'Roussillon' ForceID=1 UnitID=37 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [CanadaUnit001] UnitName=RCAF-444 'Cobra'............ add to squadron list.ini ForceID=1......................"Good Guys"... warsaw pact is 2 UnitID=38.............................Unit number in the campaign data.ini StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [belgiumUnit001] UnitName=Belgium 2 Sq ForceID=1 UnitID=21 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [DenmarkUnit001] UnitName=Denmark 5 Sq ForceID=1 UnitID=18 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start1.txt [WGermanyUnit001] UnitName=JBG 33 ForceID=1 UnitID=20 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start2.txt [WGermanyUnit002] UnitName=JBG 36 'Westfalen' ForceID=1 UnitID=19 StartDate=1962 DescFile=woe1Start.txt StartText=woe1Start2.txt Heres the change in the campaign data.ini to add in the RCAF squadron noted above: [AirUnit038]........................................this matches the entry in the previous file AircraftType=Canadair............... Squadron=RCAF444.................... ForceID=1 Nation=CANADA............................ DefaultTexture=444 RCAF.......................don't forget these entries BaseArea=Zweibrücken Airbase BaseMoveChance=25 RandomChance=100 MaxAircraft=16 StartAircraft=16 MaxPilots=16 StartPilots=16 Experience=100 Morale=100 Supply=50 MissionChance[sWEEP]=10................depending on type, changes may be required in this MissionChance[CAP]=70.....................section. MissionChance[iNTERCEPT]=50 MissionChance[ESCORT]=10 MissionChance=10 MissionChance[CAS]=50 MissionChance[sEAD]=25 MissionChance[ARMED_RECON]=25 MissionChance[ANTI_SHIP]=0 MissionChance[RECON]=10 UpgradeType=NEVER Supply[001].WeaponType=M117..............don't forget weapons and drop tanks Supply[001].Quantity=2880 Supply[002].WeaponType=Mk82 Supply[002].Quantity=1440 Supply[003].WeaponType=Mk83 Supply[003].Quantity=240 Supply[004].WeaponType=HVAR Supply[004].Quantity=1000 Supply[005].WeaponType=Tank_f86 Supply[005].Quantity=240 The changes I made for this campaign were done my editing EXISTING FLYABLE AIRCRAFT ENTRIES. Mostly by replacing F-100 units with others. I wanted to maintain the existing campaign balance. Not sure if I covered everything but maybe start with one new aircraft at a time, then try the campaign and fly a mission, if it works, delete the saved campaign and add another aircraft, etc. Regards.

Glad your having some fun with it Saganauy. I am planning to do a version 2 in the future for campaigns and single missions, hopefully with some more static objects, but it's a long way off due to time constraints. [ plus, since I got WOE, I'm actually playing the game more, instead of messing with it.] Cheers. P.S. I have started working on a similar project for WOE that will have less target areas but is being made with a "mini campaign" in mind. It will probably be a couple of months before the terrain mod is released, then a couple more months for the campaign.

There is a little bit in the read me about adapting the mod for "modfied" airports, [Approach lights, for example.] The area of the airbase.ini that contains the new taxi and takeoff waypoints is noted. The Quicker Take-Offs for Strike Fighters may be the best one to use for add on terrains but the only one I checked is "Gepards" DRV terrain. In an add on terrain, if you have a look in the target.ini and find an airport, you should get an idea what airfield.ini's the terrain is using. Here's an example from the original Strike Fighters desert terrain. [TargetArea070] Name=P9 Airfield Position=705000.00,405000.00 Radius=6000 ActiveYear=0 Location=2 Alignment=ENEMY AirfieldDataFile=desert_airfield3.ini.....................................look here NumSquadrons=1 Target[001].Type=Runway3 Target[001].Offset=0.00,0.00 Target[001].Heading=0 I think most third party terrains were built to be used with Strike Fighters so likely use the DESERT_AIRFIELD.INI's. Regards.

Glad you like it Tristan. Your wecome!

View File Quicker Take Offs for WOE THIS FILE IS OBSOLETE. NEWER VERSIONS THAT WORK WITH LATEST THIRDWIRE UPDATES ARE AVAILABLE AT THIS SITE. This mod will decrease your take off times by at least 50%. This is done by placing 2 aircraft on the runway and decreasing the separation between the first few aircraft on the taxiway. A couple of issues: 1. Third Wire aircraft seem to work well with this mod but some third party aircraft can tend to miss the waypoints due to "bouncing" and they may end up wandering around the airport. 2. Due to the reduced taxi and take off separation, large player flyable aircraft may overlap with the A.I. aircraft and explode on the runway. There are 2 optional files for the large airports that were tested with the TU-16 Badger but they may not work with the B-52 which hasn't been tested. If you have A.I. only large aircraft you shouldn't have a problem. This mod uses basic runway and taxiway lighting that includes some fixes done by "Sidewinder86", "Eightlein", "Piett" and last but not least, "Comrpnt", who did the tricky fix on the large airport taxiway. Thanks Gents! Submitter baffmeister Submitted 03/23/2007 Category Ini Edits

You might want to be careful doing that, Kevin. I ran into some issues with targets becoming invulnerable when overlapping target areas. Never figured out the exact problem, it was a bit intermittant,and it didn't affect vehicle type objects, just the static ones. May be worth doing some target practice. Regards.

View File Desert Target Zone For Strike Fighters Project 1 / Gold. Built for real time game generated strike missions. Shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to do a round trip strike mission. Paran and Dhimar get 4 airports each and the front line is relocated to what used to be central Dhimar. Main Features: 1. 141 target areas including 10 SAM sites for Paran. 2. Easy install. 3. Many "Freeware" building objects being used. 4. Quicker Take Off mod pre-installed, with customized parking spots and parking for C-5A sized aircraft. 5. Contains Ground Attack, Truck, and Ship routes so you can fly CAS, Armed Recon and anti-ship missions. 6. Has a 3X zoom map from an older version of SF that shows desert and green spaces better. 7. Installation won't affect your stock "Desert" terrain. 8. Negative points awarded if you cause collateral damage. CREDITS: Thanks to these folks for creating and allowing freeware use of their building objects: 1. This project uses some objects from MITCH's "Factory Place" project. There seems to be a consensus within the Strike Fighters community that it's OK to use these objects for FreeWare projects. 3. WRENCH, for hosting the "Factory Place" objects at his website. And for the cool "Shipwrecks!" 2. GEPARD, for some objects I lifted from his DRV terrain. 4. PASKO, for the round tents, now used by the Bedouins. 5. GRUMPOTAMUS, for the Radar Dome. 6. WINGWHINER, for the new Factories, Headquarters Building, Gas Station, Tactical Control Center, and Control Tower H1. 7. STARY, for the new Hangars. 8. FUBAR512, for the Pecco Crane. New for this version: 9. WINGWHINER again for some buildings from his epic 43 buildings pack. 10.JULHELM for some industrial silo's/buildings 11.RussoUK and Gepard for the Oil Rig. 12.EZLead for the formation take off mod. 13. TK and ThirdWire for creating such an interesting flight sim / hobby. Changes for the final version: Mostly some new objects with a few other minor changes. EZleads formation take off mod is a perfect fit for this terrain, give it a try! Submitter baffmeister Submitted 02/18/2007 Category Terrains

Here's some possible work-arounds. Combat Ace Cheers.

Had the same problem with Win 98Se. Heres a workaround that worked for me and also worked for a Vista user. ThirdWire Forum Regards

What USAFMTL said. Extract the LOD files [5 of them] for the MiG 27 from the WOE Object.Cat. Then add them to the MiG 27 folder. You may want to extract the Shadow.Shd as well. I did this with the MiG 23M and it's working OK in Strike Fighters as an A.I. aircraft, although it seems to be missing a pilot seat that I havn't bothered looking for yet.

FE seems to be generating a lot of posts at this site. I expect it will have a very long life, as new players become familiar with the Third Wire game and flight engine.

I've managed to fit airfield's around trees and buildings in the strike fighters desert terrain. It is very much trial and error. Also, if FE has a high tree and building density it might not be possible. And you need perfectly flat terrain as well, or the runway BitMaps will disappear into the ground or hang in the air. Most likly place to find a bit of flat terrain is around cities. Otherwise, terrain editor time. Regards.

For anyone who might be interested, major update for Desert Target Zone has been uploaded. More Factory Place objects in use, many target areas extensivly changed, 3 new airports, and some point defence SAMS for Paran. You can get DesertTZ HERE. Regards.

If you extract the mission control.ini and scroll down to the bottom you will see this section: [Map] MapIconSize=32 FriendlyIcon=//MapFriendlyIcon.tga...........insert a double slash as shown and the icons won't be there. EnemyIcon=//MapEnemyIcon.tga FriendlyRunwayIcon=MapFriendlyRunwayIcon.tga EnemyRunwayIcon=MapEnemyRunwayIcon.tga RadarIcon=MapRadarIcon.tga WaypointIconSize=16 WaypointIcon=MapWaypointIcon.tga IPIcon=MapIPIcon.tga TargetIcon=MapTargetIcon.tga WaypointLineColor=0.914,0.777,0.230 GridLineColor=0.0,0.0,0.0 GridTextColor=0.0,0.0,0.0 MinorGridLineColor=0.0,0.0,0.0,0.8 MinorGridTextColor=0.0,0.0,0.0,0.4 TextFontName=Arial TextSize=12 The MissionControl.ini can be found in the Flight Folder, MissionData.cat file. After the mod, just put the new MissionControl.ini in the flight folder, leaving it outside of any other folders. Regards.

Might actually be easier to model a large plane set for an on-line only sim as opposed to a single player or combination sim. [assuming a so called 'hard core approach'] With a good flight engine and good data I suppose the aerodynamics could be modelled OK. I expect meeting the requirements of a hard core enthusiast with regard to the engine management aspect would be a big challange, however, though maybe not impossible. Would probably be more difficult in a single player or combination sim. As well as the aerodynamics and engine management, you would have to address the historical combat tactics used by the airforce involved, as well as for the missions being carried out. All this kind of development requires a lot of cash if you want to get a sim on the market in a reasonable length of time. [say 2 years] Didn't explain my earlier comments very well but for a niche developer of an expensive 'hard core' sim, licencing someone elses flight engine [possibly with some tweaks] would save a lot of time and money. Dismissing TK's 'sim lite' approach doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. After a horrible start he 'soldiered on grimly' and as near as I can tell, has succeeded commercially with his project. Also, Third Wire has been very good about passing along updates and many people enjoy their sims. After some large scale failures of flight sim companies, it's good to see some gaining traction again. If the IL-2 people and Thirdwire can stay in business, there will be evolutionary improvements in these sims, I'm sure. My issues with trimming and control imputs stem from my frustration with 'Mig Alley.'[i would have really liked to like that game.] Why not have as many options as possible to appeal to as many players as possible. Driving sims have had speed sensitivity for years. For players without force feed back, this makes the games much more enjoyable. Rowans approach with Mig Alley struck me as totally dumb. It seems to me they thought being 'Hard Core' meant modeling the control response of a Sabre as realisticly as possible and this would somehow be realistic for a guy using a 6inch tall 'swizzle stick' with no force feedback. Same goes for trimming, with out the feel,[and you would need force feed back rudders as well] the 'hard core approach' is UNREALISTIC. I have a force feed back steering wheel for driving games and really like it. I tried a force feed back stick for flight sims once and thought it sucked. [can anyone recommend a cheap one that makes trimming in IL-2 less of a chore?] Some differences here as well with regards to on-line and single player sims. An on-line sim requires the players to be on a level playing field. So, either you go with autotrim or not. [disregarding some newer fly by wire designs that have auto trim.] Probably some potential issues here as well with regards to control response, but if everyones got a realistic flight model, why not let them adjust the response however they like. Regards.

I recall a previous post explaining how to reduce the size of the icons to make them less intrusive but didn't try it myself. I find visual tracking in thirdwire games quite difficult as well, IL-2 seems better in that regard. Maybe a very small target box coloured grey might give a decent effect. Kind of curious if there is a simple tweak to extend the range of visual acquisition. [or maybe a generic, dark grey, airplane shaped lod.] Also, I think a lot depends on the lighting angle and background as well. The silver MiGs have a tendency to blend into the sky, but can be spotted at longer ranges when they are between the player and the ground. Regards.

This seems to be a very interesting comment. Following through on this concept, you could , remarkably, buy a copy of Strike Fighters for about $5.00US, spend a couple of evenings learning how the game works, then gut the game of the things you don't like, download StreakEagles F4-B data ini and Fubars MiG-21MF data ini, then partake of [i suspect] quite an accurate version of F4-B and MiG-21MF dogfights. I don't play online but I think this would work. All for $5.00US......AMAZING! Regarding "Hard Core" flight sims, it might be worth remembering Rowan's Mig Alley. To address the desires of "Hard Core Enthusiasts" they didn't include a simple autopilot, [ Great graphics at the time, don't you think I might want to sit back and enjoy the view once in awhile?] no auto-trim option, [i hate that] and no way to adjust control imputs. [i REALLY hate that] What the cr#p where they thinking. They where basicallly saying, "THIS IS THE WAY IT WAS AND YOU CAN"T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!" Apparantly, people in large quantities could do something about it, NOT BUY IT! I suspect Rowan spent a huge amount of money developing this game and it was very good in many respect's. This leads to my third observation. If you want a hard core sim, it will have to be built off a current sim. Thats not all that crazy. Third Wire's flight engine gets good reviews from many pilots. I suspect other ones would be OK as well. [maybe rowans or IL-2's] In this case, a developer may be able to licence the flight engine, develope their own game engine, and develope HiFi FM's for individual aircraft. I'm not into modern weapons that much but I could see some potential for this approach, but would probably be easier for a developer to start in an earlier era. A sim that trys to model many aircraft will always be "lite" but the idea of an expensive flight sim that models 2 aircraft in high fidelity is quite appealing. Think Spitfire vs. ME-109, Zero vs. Wildcat, Sabre vs. MiG-15 etc. Just my $00.02 on an interesting topic. Regards.

View File Quicker Take Offs for Strike Fighters/WOV THIS FILE IS OBSOLETE. NEWER VERSIONS THAT WORK WITH LATEST THIRDWIRE UPDATES ARE AVAILABLE AT THIS SITE. [includes fixes to airfield lighting. Fixes done by "Piett", "Sidewinder86", "Eightlein", "Comrpnt", and a few by myself.] This mod should decrease the time required to get aircraft airborne by at least 50%. The mod involves putting 2 aircraft on the runway at the same time as well as tightening the spaceing on the next few aircraft on the taxiway. Third Wires aircraft are quite well behaved when taxiing under AI but some add on aircraft tend to bounce a lot and others don't like to turn. I used 2 "bouncers" in the test program and it took lots of adjustments on the taxi waypoints to get them to work. I think this mod should work OK with most aircraft but can't guarantee it. If you have large bombers installed in your game there is an optional file available for the large airport. It has increased spaceing for the taxi waypoints but is still quicker than the stock version. It was tested with the TU-16 Badger and the B-47. This mod works OK with the DRV terrain and probably many others. To use this mod in WOV just change the file names from DESERT_AIRFIELD"X" to VIETNAMSEA_AIRFIELD"X" and copy them into the WOV terrain folder. Regards. CHANGES FOR VER 2.1 : Now includes "Comprnt's" fixes for the missing taxiway lighting on the big airport. Submitter baffmeister Submitted 11/25/2005 Category Ini Edits