Menrva

AFAIK you're right. If the exported .LOD model has no bump/specular maps, those must be added to the source 3d .MAX file. Anyway, your skin is going to be a much needed improvement over the original, so thank you for contributing!

Great improvement, nice job!

strahi has uploaded updated campaign .inis to be used with the latest standalone terrain, check the following thread: https://combatace.com/forums/topic/90184-iran-iraq-war-terraincampaign/?page=2 However, users might need to find and fix their aircraft folder names to match those of the .ini files. Apart from that, they should work.

Oh well, I didn't recognize that it came form ACAH. Thanks for the explanation, yakarov! Such a pity that Veltro's 3d model is nowhere to be found. AFAIK it only missed a skin and .ini edits.

Why is that so? And who created that 3d model? The only Tu-160 I remember being in the works was the one made by Veltro2k. Unfortunately, it never materialized.

@strahi I already said, the terrain from the Iran-Iraq mod package is an old, bugged version. I don't give a damn about those bugs because you can download the latest, better version of the terrain here: https://combatace.com/files/file/16395-iraq-western-asia-1980-2003/ Please, download the linked package and use that one. The terrain in the Iran-Iraq mod package is bugged and awful, so don't use it. That's all, now please someone lock the thread.

@Geary That mod is using an old, beta version of my standalone terrain which is miles better. You'd better download and use the standalone terrain I have uploaded, as it was updated and bugfixed numerous times and now it's rather bug free. However, you'll have to fix the campaigns as various target area/airport names do not match with the old, beta version of the terrain.

Not far from Sand Island, a flight of Harriers takes to the skies to provide CAP over Kure Atoll...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-44811988 My deepest condolences to his family. Youngsters like me usually take freedom for granted. He was one of many we should thank and remember for his service to a greater cause. S!

In the skies over the Midway Atoll, Pacific Ocean, Planet Earth... (in the skies over Sand Island, Ceres Ocean, Ace Combat's Strangereal universe...) On a distant island, far away from civilization, the protectors of the peace take to the skies...

It's much on topic, I'd say. Something like this could be very useful. To get our hands on all different .dll files of each patch level (in order to investigate bugs and changes) is another story, though.

Good to know! I didn't know this was the cause of such bug! I think it's rather important to keep in mind this bit of information, at least for us modders and SF2 enthusiasts. I don't want to close it. TK won't react, but if there are more modders willing to share their infos on bugs, etc., a topic like this would be useful.

Alright, fixed. Although I don't think it matters that much at this point. I don't think we'll ever see interest from TK about all this. Just my point of view.

Another game-breaking bug I want to point out is the following: Environment : July 2013 patch-level, SF2NA In Single Missions, and in Campaigns In stock installs Conditions : The player flight is assigned an escort mission. The escorted flight reaches its waypoint for its ground attack. Expected result : After engagement, the escorted flight reaches the egress waypoint, prompting a mission successful for the player's mission. Result : For reasons still unknown, it happens from time to time that the escorted flight is flying straight instead of engaging its ground target, and it never heads back home. By never reaching the egress waypoint, the player's escort mission ends up in a loop, it can't be completed. Sometimes, simply restarting the mission is enough to trigger the correct behaviour of AI planes. Still, the bug is frustrating and it should not happen. I don't recall it happened in SF1 games. Another solution, if possible, would require that a "mission complete" statement is triggered when the AI planes fly over their ground target waypoint, instead of the egress waypoint. No matter what, in that case the mission would be complete even if the AI planes keep flying straight. Stock Frequency : 4 Specific Frequency : 0 Severity : 4

Very interesting post! Are you using my Madagascar terrain? Because in the latest available version I have disabled certain mission types (including ESCORT) to prevent all known bugs and CTDs. If we know that the terrain crashes with certain mission types, TK has enabled us the opportunity to disable them. I find it very handy in those situations. Still, much thanks for the detailed report. I wish everyone posts so much details when bug-reporting to us modders.

Wow, thanks for sharing, I love history! I already watched some of them. I knew nothing about the duel at St. Vith during the Battle of the Bulge; it was incredible to say the least.

The surrounding tiles also have the TAG value set to 0? I have no clue as to why this is happening. Make sure to remove any _HM.bmp files and their relative entries from the _DATA.ini, it might help! Also, which terrain is that? I am asking because some SF1 terrains upgraded to SF2 standards need some changes to the _DATA.ini; for instance, if you find the following inside the _DATA.ini, remove it completely: [NoiseTexture] Size=256 MinColor=207 MaxColor=255 Frequency=1.7 ResolutionFactor=4.0 StartFadeDistance=200.0 EndFadeDistance=500.0 The NoiseTexture must not exist in the DATA.ini for SF2 terrains. Its function has been deprecated and can cause this kind of issue you're having. To be more safe than ever, also copy and paste the following entries for the terrains' _DATA.ini, replace the original values: [NormalTextureMaterial] EffectShaderName=terTerrainEffect.fx DepthBufferCheck=TRUE DepthBufferWrite=TRUE RenderedInOrder=TRUE AlphaTestEnabled=FALSE CullMode=CLOCKWISE LightEnabled=TRUE SpecularEnabled=FALSE EmissiveEnabled=FALSE FogEnabled=TRUE AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 ZBufferOffset=0.000000 BlendOp=ONE NumTextureStages=1 TextureStage[01].TextureName= TextureStage[01].MipMap=TRUE TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=NO_OP [WaterTextureMaterial] EffectShaderName=terWaterEffect.fx DepthBufferCheck=TRUE DepthBufferWrite=TRUE RenderedInOrder=FALSE AlphaTestEnabled=FALSE CullMode=CLOCKWISE LightEnabled=TRUE SpecularEnabled=TRUE EmissiveEnabled=FALSE FogEnabled=TRUE AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 SpecularColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 SpecularPower=10.000000 Reflectivity=0.00000 ZBufferOffset=0.000000 BlendOp=ONE NumTextureStages=1 TextureStage[01].TextureName= TextureStage[01].MipMap=TRUE TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=NO_OP [BackgroundMaterial] EffectShaderName=terFarTerrainEffect.fx DepthBufferCheck=TRUE DepthBufferWrite=TRUE RenderedInOrder=FALSE AlphaTestEnabled=FALSE CullMode=CLOCKWISE LightEnabled=TRUE SpecularEnabled=FALSE EmissiveEnabled=FALSE FogEnabled=TRUE AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 ZBufferOffset=0.000000 BlendOp=ONE NumTextureStages=1 TextureStage[01].TextureName= TextureStage[01].MipMap=TRUE TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=NO_OP [SolidObjectTextureMaterial] EffectShaderName=terSolidObject.fx DepthBufferCheck=TRUE DepthBufferWrite=TRUE RenderedInOrder=FALSE AlphaTestEnabled=FALSE CullMode=CLOCKWISE LightEnabled=TRUE SpecularEnabled=FALSE EmissiveEnabled=FALSE FogEnabled=TRUE AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 ZBufferOffset=0.000000 BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA NumTextureStages=1 TextureStage[01].TextureName= TextureStage[01].MipMap=TRUE TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=NO_OP [AlphaObjectTextureMaterial] EffectShaderName=terAlphaObject.fx DepthBufferCheck=TRUE DepthBufferWrite=FALSE RenderedInOrder=TRUE AlphaTestEnabled=TRUE CullMode=NO_CULL LightEnabled=TRUE SpecularEnabled=FALSE EmissiveEnabled=FALSE FogEnabled=TRUE AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000 ZBufferOffset=0.000000 BlendOp=BLEND_SRC_ALPHA NumTextureStages=1 TextureStage[01].TextureName= TextureStage[01].MipMap=TRUE TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE

Exactly. The only way to avoid such issues is to make the player aircraft the only one of a flight/squadron. ODS for SF1 had some custom missions where the player is assigned to a squadron with 0 AI aircraft, like in Instant Action.

Either the airfield has not been properly flattened (check the HFD), or the tile's tag value is other than 0, most likely set to 1. Use gerwin's TFDtool, to check. The Latest versions of TFDtool can fix the tiles' tag values, which sometimes are wrong even on stock Thirdwire terrains. Wrong tag values can bring to a number of issues: airfields not treated like perfectly landable areas, the possibility of landing over water instead of sinking, etc.

It's the ONLY way, and the smartest I'd say. As I recall, whenever TK changed his stock campaigns, he always said that previous saves wouldn't work (they would crash to desktop), because new planes and/or modified OOBs wouldn't match with those of your saves. Your solution might work because the aircraft you've substituted exists already in the pool of those you can buy; basically, it's a matter of tricking the game into thinking that a custom aircraft is a stock one.

I might be wrong, but AFAIK it is not advisable to edit campaign files when a campaign has already started. If you want your changes to show up with no kinds of issues, you most likely need to restart the campaign.

Your AARs make me want to drop terrain modding and start playing SF2 again! I hope we can soon give you an updated Operation Desert Storm campaign!

That Target Successor thing is something that we'll be greatly useful for terrains with a large time frame! I have a WIP terrain ready for it!

The game will never support GIFs. It was programmed to use other image file types, the ones I mentioned before. We don't have the source code to modify the game's executable. So, forget about using GIFs.

You can't. The game supports .TGA, .DDS, .BMP and .JPG textures, but does not support GIFs as far as I know.