Menrva

Thanks, mate. His transplant went alright, so hopefully he'll be back home soon. Likewise, stay safe and strong, my friend. We often forget there are great people in hospitals, doing sacrifices every day for the health of others, especially now that there's an invisible and terrible enemy.

I'm sorry to hear this. At least I hope you get to enjoy Christmas with your family soon. Things are not that bright on my end as well. I'm spending Christmas alone, my dad's been in hospital for more than 30 days, to cure a terrible blood disease he had to live with this entire year. I guess we're not the only ones hoping that 2021 be a better year...

I agree with you. But you miss the point. You branded what I said as totally wrong, and in all honesty I fail to realize why it is so. It's not a matter of opinions. That being said, peace to you all. Enjoy the holidays with your loved ones as much as possible during these difficult times.

Alright. Next time, I'll shut up and let you guys do the talking. I didn't know that informing about risks and legal aspects in general was something wrong. Also, I fail to understand that TK does not care when at the same time he made things much harder for us modders throughout the years. But I'm wrong, so I'm outta here.

If that's the case, then TK might as well hand us out the source code, for free or on sale at a given price. It would make things easier for a thing he does not care about. This entire discussion was pointless IMHO. I just pointed out that there are legal aspects to consider about reverse engineering, in general, not just related to SF2.

I'm not wrong. First, you're talking about doing whatever we want with a code, code which we do not have for obvious reasons. Second, EULAs generally exist for this reason; to have a code totally reverse engineered, it means that you can even rebuild a product from zero. With that, anyone who gets their hands on such a code may well create a derivative product, rebrand it and make it look like as it were a different thing totally unrelated to SF2. This is not a risk developers like to take, EULAs generally restrict users from using their products and IPs in improper manner. You buy a game for what it is, to play it and not to outsource stuff from it. You cannot make up the rules as you'd like them to be, I'm afraid. TK said something in an e-mail long ago, but he was talking about what you said, about smaller patches/tweaks to hardcoded bits of the .DLLs and of the .EXE, which is not the same as reverse engineering the code and share it with the public. To create certain tweaks, some knowledge of how the game works under the hood is needed, but you do not necessarily need to reverse engineer the entire code. I'd rather stick to the EULAs than to some long gone email which TK may always disavow. He is the same guy who locked harmless shader files from modding (though LODs had a reason to be locked). If I were you, I wouldn't swim in such murky waters. Live with what SF currently is. The dead horse has been beaten too much on this matter. EDIT: a quick search will explain you why it's legally risky: https://www.eff.org/issues/coders/reverse-engineering-faq#faq2 TK can say anything in an email, it's the EULA shown in his SF2 installers that counts. Frankly, I never read what his EULA says and I couldn't care less since I like to stay well within what's legal.

Jokes aside, reverse engineering is not the same as writing code, and it may well be against the EULA, if not done for personal use only. We're not allowed to reverse engineer SF2 and make something out of that code. To answer the question above, nobody knows exactly which languages were used to create SF2, we would need the source code for this (not happening, so forget about it). For sure, we know that shaders (and those can be tweaked) have been written in HLSL, but the rest of the game and its engine are using proprietary technology, most likely written in C++. Other bits might have required different libraries and languages as well. Sure, to decompile the .exe and .dll might give some answers, but I do not see the point since we cannot modify SF2 this deep.

Last night, an earthquake hit my region. Nothing serious fortunately, but I woke up much frightened, since I still have bad memories of the devastating earthquakes of 2017 that happened here. Oh, and even Milan was hit by an earthquake recently, and it's very unusual over there. Let's be vigilant, this year is not over yet.

It is a well known fact that the model in question was originally a conversion from a game, namely HAWX. This one in particular was allowed so much time ago in the past and apparently missed your radars. Let me say that both bazillius and denissoliveira are innocent, they did not know the origins of this particular 3d model when uploading it with further tweaks, so they are not responsible for this, I'm sure they are in good faith. I was able to tell it's from HAWX because the mapping is the same, but not everybody can know this. I do not know if it's possible to trace the one who converted it from that game, but it's not them and they shouldn't take the blame. AFAIK there's a guy who used to upload such converted aircraft, but time ago you admins blocked an upload from him. I am not making names, you can easily find out.

Guys, just have a careful look at the package. In order to "fix" the mapping issue, bazillius used giant decals to paint the entire left wing. So just paint what you want as a decal, take his skins as an example. It's a workaround, not a proper fix of the 3d model's UV mapping which is impossible without the source .max file. This 3d model is not by bazillius, it's a rough conversion from the same guy who rips stuff from other games. I appreciate having certain modern aircraft, but I'd like them to be more original and legal.

Of course it is correct now. You must not have any INSIGNIAXXX.tga in the decals folder from numbers 002 to 212, because those are already provided by the stock game and should not be replaced. Numbers 000, 256 and 257 are for the Merc faction, the fictive Dhimar and Paran, and so their decals can be customized without realism issues. I suggest that you try my nations expansion mod for SF2, which also fixes some wrong data and inaccuracies within the stock game: https://combatace.com/files/file/16986-nations-medals-expansion/

LOL! I think I prefer working alone, or even better, with great people I meet and trust. TK has long abandoned the true fan base of SF, us modders. When dialogue is missing, bridges can only burn and fall apart. From what little we know, Vietnam and other stock scenarios and aircraft would follow as separate DLCs rather than as part of standalone products. I imagine this elusive Win10 Edition to be a single app/executable which can be customized with in-app DLC purchases, unlike how the SF2 standalone games are made. Will it ever happen? That's another story...

The idea is that he will release the additional terrains/campaigns/aircraft as DLC afterwards; those who own the Complete Edition will get all for free. But, I totally agree with what you say. He could have handled this in a much better way, I think.

View File Ace Combat Nations Ace Combat Nations December 13th, 2020 (1st Release) by Menrva >For Strike Fighters 2 games This mod is a fork of my nations expansion mod of the stock ThirdWire _nations.ini file. It includes only the nations and respective aviation services of the Ace Combat universe, AKA Strangereal. All roundels are based on official sources and references from all Ace Combat games. Here below a summary of the included services: -Generic Mercenary faction, using the logo of Ace Combat's developer, Project ACES, as insignia. -Osean Air Defense Force and Osean Maritime Defense Force (as seen in Ace Combat 5, Ace Combat Zero and Ace Combat 7). -Yuktobanian Air Force and Yuktobanian Navy (as seen in Ace Combat 5). -Erusean Air Force and Erusean Navy (as seen in Ace Combat 04 and Ace Combat 7). -Free Erusea Air Force (available since 2006, as seen in Ace Combat 04, Ace Combat 5 and Ace Combat 7). -Independent State Allied Forces Air Force and Independent State Allied Forces Navy (available since 2003 until 2006, as seen in Ace Combat 04 and Ace Combat 5). -International Union Peacekeeping Force (available since 2007, as seen in Ace Combat 7). -Belkan Air Force and Belkan Naval Aviation (as seen in Ace Combat 5 and Ace Combat Zero). -Ustio Air Force (available since 1989, as seen in Ace Combat Zero). -Sapin Air Force (as seen in Ace Combat Zero). -Republic of Emmeria Air Force and Republic of Emmeria Navy (as seen in Ace Combat 6). -Estovakian Air Force and Estovakian Naval Aviation (as seen in Ace Combat 6). -Aurelian Air Force and Aurelian Naval Aviation (as seen in Ace Combat X). -Leasath Air Force and Leasath Naval Aviation (as seen in Ace Combat X). -USEA Unified Air Force and USEA Unified Navy (available since 1996 until 2002, as seen in the remake of Ace Combat 2, that is Ace Combat 3D). -Voslage Air Force (as seen in Ace Combat 7). -Nordennavic Royal Air Force (from Ace Combat: Northern Wings). Other aviation services are known to exist in Strangereal, such as the Rectan Air Force, FATO Air Force and Valka Royal Air Force. However, there are no infos concerning such countries with no established flag and culture at the moment. Those are not included in the mod for the time being. This mod removes the Real World aviation services included in Strike Fighters 2, as such it is not compatible with any mod out of the box. Modders and users are advised to tweak _userlist.ini files and _data.ini files for aircraft and ground objects, to make use of the new services added by this mod. >Credits (in no particular order): -nuni, for his suggestions and other Ace Combat themed mods. -Astore, for his support and for being one of the few Italian Ace Combat fans like me. -RythusOmega, for providing all Ace Combat 7 emblems, reworked for use in this mod. -SuperOstrich, for providing hi-res remakes of the roundel of Nordennavic. -mue, for sharing info about the functionality of the alias.lst file. >Disclaimer: This is a freeware; yet it can be redistributed ONLY in other CombatACE mods/mod packages. This mod may NOT in any way, shape or form be used in any payware additions. >My Terrain Packages: NovaLogic Terrains Outer Space Terrains Hawaii, Central Pacific (1959-2028) Timor, North Oceania (1950-2018) Ecuador, Northwest South America (1981-1998) Texas, American South Central (1968-2018) Sweden, Baltic Rim (2004-2018) Sweden, Baltic Rim (1952-1994) Libya, Central Mediterranean (1980-2011) Madagascar, Southeast Africa (1977-2018) Iraq, Western Asia (2003-2018) Alaska, Bering Strait (1955-2018) Iraq, Western Asia (1980-2003) >My Miscellaneous Packages: Ace Combat Nations Nations & Medals Expansion Speech Enhancement Wings Over World Menu Screens realSKY Environment Submitter Menrva Submitted 12/13/2020 Category ini File Edits  

View File Hawaii, Central Pacific (1959-2028) Hawaii, Central Pacific (1959-2028) Terrain December 13th, 2020 (1st Release) by Menrva >For Strike Fighters 2: Vietnam, Recommended Full-5 Merged This is a complete remake of the Hawaii terrain. Unlike the original one released by Wrench, which is not in full Real World scale, this new terrain was made and tiled from scratch, and it features all the main Hawaiian islands in full scale, with more cities and pretty accurate elevation details. A better looking and more complete tileset has been added. Numerous target areas, such as small civilian airports, have been added in order to expand playability, targets of opportunity and year range. This terrain features a fresh new 250m resolution heightmap (instead of the stock 500m resolution), allowing for greater details and precision in elevation changes; overall it provides the whole terrain with a better look. The terrain spans from August 21, 1959 (when Hawaii officially became the 50th American State) to December 31, 2028; it is designed for fictional clashes between Red forces (namely Russia and China) and all of the American services (USAF, USN and USMC). The island of Kauai is added to Red Side for better gameplay; imagine it as the first step of a hostile invasion of Hawaii. All mission types are available, including CAS and Armed Recon. Targets reflect Real World events as accurately as possible; for instance, some airfields will appear only after a certain year, according to historic changes. If you have SF2NA, naval fleets will spawn in the Pacific Ocean. Also, Off Map Airbases have been added and long range AI flights can be generated from them. All main targets have been placed accurately in their Real World locations. Ground Objects are not included. You can obtain the most needed from Wrench's original Hawaii terrain release. >Credits (in no particular order): -Wrench, for his permission to use his target areas from the original, smaller scale Hawaii terrain. -swambast, who provided me with invaluable help in tracking and fixing common and uncommon bugs, and for allowing me to include his exclusive Pearl Harbor Memorial 3d model (which you cannot redistribute). -gerwin, whose TFDtool has proved to be essential in today's terrain making. If the terrain is pretty accurate to RL it's also because of him. I included his very nice Airfield 7+8 Addon Pack, too. -mue, for the improved shaders he made, which I have included and reworked for the terrain, and for the tools he made for SF2 modding. -luk1978, for the waternormal bitmap he shared at the SF2 screenshots thread. Your mods are very interesting! -JSF_Aggie, for his great Hi-Res Runway Textures v2.0 which I included. -Stary, for the hi-res Okinawa tileset he made, which I have reworked and expanded. -Gepard, for his great tutorials about terrain making, in the SF1 Knowledge Base at CombatACE. It's a gold mine! -krfrge, who has produced a tutorial for recreating SF2-like planning maps, which prompted me to work on templates and my own high quality planning maps. Thank you very much! -comrpnt, for his Approach and Airfield Lighting Pack mod packages for SF1 series, which I reworked and included. Because this terrain re-uses some of the original target area layouts by Wrench from his previously released Hawaii terrain, I included the ReadMe files from his original package, to the end of giving proper credit to everyone involved directly or not. >Disclaimer: This is a freeware; yet it can be redistributed ONLY in other CombatACE mods/mod packages. Any changes to the terrain package's files and/or any copy-and-paste attempts of their contents are NOT authorized if you plan to release them in other mods. But permission might be granted to those who request it to me at CombatACE. This terrain may NOT in any way, shape or form be used in any payware additions. >My Terrain Packages: NovaLogic Terrains Outer Space Terrains Hawaii, Central Pacific (1959-2028) Timor, North Oceania (1950-2018) Ecuador, Northwest South America (1981-1998) Texas, American South Central (1968-2018) Sweden, Baltic Rim (2004-2018) Sweden, Baltic Rim (1952-1994) Libya, Central Mediterranean (1980-2011) Madagascar, Southeast Africa (1977-2018) Iraq, Western Asia (2003-2018) Alaska, Bering Strait (1955-2018) Iraq, Western Asia (1980-2003) >My Miscellaneous Packages: Ace Combat Nations Nations & Medals Expansion Speech Enhancement Wings Over World Menu Screens realSKY Environment Submitter Menrva Submitted 12/13/2020 Category Full Terrains  

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Yeah, I forgot that point about the price; though GOG allows other developers to release (much newer) games on their platform at the price they set. At that point, it's up to the customer to spend $20 for an outdated game. It might be "light sim trash" in the eyes of many other customers, but it's a title (still) widely supported by the community with amazing mods, much like Il-2 1946 on this aspect. It also covers unique time periods and conflicts, it's a Cold War anthology of fighter jets and the conflicts they were used in, there's no real rival to SF2 in this regard. Publishers did wrongs to TK at the time of the SF1 generation of games. I wonder why Wings Over Europe is on Steam; I might be wrong, but I think TK doesn't get revenues from that title on Steam, it's all money to the publisher. On WoE's Steam page, just click on Third Wire Productions, and you're redirected to Strategy First. That's bad. At the same time, TK took questionable decisions, so he's partly to blame. TW's games were not widely publicized, especially outside of the US. I discovered Wings Over Europe by chance, ages ago when I was a kid. It's a niche genre, but I'm sure others don't even know about SF2.

I can see why he does not, though. GOG.com might be a much better solution for his product, and it would also fit the Good Old Games tagline.

@Stratos it's not, it's a mod. MiGBuster always posts screenshots of the game which may contain user made mods. SF2 Win10 is not expected to feature better textures, clouds or anything else. TK is not an artist, he is a programmer.

Not really; I believe TK is proposing this every once and awhile in a (desperate) attempt to cover costs for the Win10 update. His kickstarter was all but a successful one. That being said, I look forward to the Win10 update, but it's clear to me he's in dire straits and cannot fully commit to it.

It's not a real issue, I've seen worse on other terrains where it is due to wrong Tag value for the tile in the TFD. Can be fixed with TFDtool. Just live with it.