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Everything posted by Menrva
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Iraq, Western Asia (2003-2018)
Menrva replied to Menrva's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - File Announcements
Terrain package updated to Version 1.02; among minor additions, the terrain's folder has been cleaned up of many unnecessary files. Users are advised to remove the previous version completely. -
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Madagascar, Southeast Africa (1977-2018)
Menrva replied to Menrva's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - File Announcements
Terrain package updated to Version 1.01; major updates to the whole terrain, now it matches my usual quality standards; check the Changelog for more details. My apologies for the rather broken Version 1.0 release.- 5 replies
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- madagascar
- mozambique
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Alaska, Bering Strait (1955-2018)
Menrva replied to Menrva's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - File Announcements
Terrain package updated to Version 1.03; among minor additions and fixes, the terrain's heightmap has been remade from scratch, and the terrain's folder has been cleaned up of many unnecessary files. Users are advised to remove the previous version completely. -
What If Screenshot Thread.......
Menrva replied to Dave's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Screen Shots
Are you talking about zachtan's skin? No, it's Belkan. Belka is a fictional nation of Ace Combat's alternative universe, referred to as Strangereal. Mandatory screenshot: Hot dogfights over the icy Bering Straits... -
Upgrade for ODS...calling modders new and old
Menrva replied to daddyairplanes's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mission & Campaign Building Discussion
I was aware about viper63a's aircraft upgrades. They are a must, although the Hercules use the old 3d model, not the latest we have. So, it could be useful for the package you are preparing, but in regards to the campaign .ini files, I'll have to remake them almost from scratch. About the US Army, I have the US Army Aviation as a separate nation, in my custom mod folder spanning from 1948 to 2018. I can add it for our standalone ODS mod. At least the Apaches will fly for the Army, not USAF. -
new Tornado 3d model
Menrva replied to guuruu's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
I have no words... That is A-MA-ZING! -
Swedish Campaign (The Scandinavian Front)
Menrva replied to JonathanRL's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mission & Campaign Building Discussion
Make sure they are downloaded completely. If the problem still occurs, then you have to update WinRAR or 7-Zip to the latest version. Each change in the compression algorithm screws up older compressed packages. Some users reported the "file is corrupt" problem with some of my terrain packages as well. Just update your compression software and you're good to go. -
Upgrade for ODS...calling modders new and old
Menrva replied to daddyairplanes's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mission & Campaign Building Discussion
The only major change would be the campaign name in the dropdown menu list, since other countries had their own name for the American Op. Desert Storm. There is no point in dividing, AFAIK. However, when I'll work on the campaign .inis, I'll make sure to rework mission types probabilities as realistically as possible; in the original ODS mod, depending on the squadron selected, I even got CAP missions against many Iraqi planes well inside Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. Much unrealistic. So it's on the “to fix” list. -
Upgrade for ODS...calling modders new and old
Menrva replied to daddyairplanes's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mission & Campaign Building Discussion
My Iraq terrain has been cleaned up of unnecessary files, all textures converted to .jpg (only a few .bmp textures remain because they are retextures of stock objects); the updated terrain package will be released later this month. In terms of space conservation, indeed we should remove all unnecessary files and convert all possible textures to .jpg format. I have not seen FPS improvements in using .jpg textures instead of .bmps. But at least the mod will be lighter. I can try to update the campaign to work with my terrain, but I will wait until all planes and additional objects are complete. The one in ODS uses wrong, low-res textures. Paulopanz made hires textures for the Su-25 (one specific skin for Iraq too, IIRC). So we can update ODS with this one at least. -
Upgrade for ODS...calling modders new and old
Menrva replied to daddyairplanes's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mission & Campaign Building Discussion
Thanks for the news about eburger68! There is quite a lot to do in regards to updating the ground war. I added more cities and targets, so we can really improve it in terms of realism. If we could have OOBs for the Iraqi air forces, I can see about updating the campaigns' airbases for both the Coalition and Iraqi units. -
Upgrade for ODS...calling modders new and old
Menrva replied to daddyairplanes's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mission & Campaign Building Discussion
I already contributed, if I can say so, by providing a much better terrain, complete with ODS specific targets and correct locations for every airbase: https://combatace.com/files/file/16395-iraq-western-asia-1980-2003/ The campaign can be adapted to it. Since there are additional airbases and specific ODS Iraqi and Coalition strongpoints, OOBs are necessary in order to update the campaign correctly and provide a scenario as realistic as possible. While I can provide help with the choice of terrain's targets for the campaign, someone else must take care of strategic nodes, I am not much expert with their editing. So I am in, as long as this terrain is used in place of the old one, which was very very inaccurate. I also made a 2003+ version of the new terrain, should we ever want to update CombatACE's Operation Darius; just a thought. In other news, does anybody have news of @eburger68? I really admire the work he has done on so many campaign packages. His help would be very important. -
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Monkey on the runway
Menrva replied to mue's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
That wasn't real A-A refueling, it was more like using a bug back in the days of SF1. Since official terrains are only 60% of Real World size, I see no point in A-A refueling in this game. Also, I would love to see better avionics for modern planes, but it's not an easy task, it's like creating a whole new .dll from scratch, not really something that is doable without source code. What we can do, however, is to do what Stary said. There are things which TK locked or simply disabled in some way, like the clouds' height, or the FAC Snoopy which I like to think it can be brought back, at least just for immersion. Not to mention many statements inside the game's .dll files, which would be interesting to see if they are developed to a a certain extent or not (mostly they aren't from what I've seen). I don't want to hijack Mue's thread, so what do you think about creating a new thread about this, guys? People like Stary have much knowledge to share, it would be a pity to let all that info go away. I am willing to learn new tricks, and I am sure I am not the only one. -
Monkey on the runway
Menrva replied to mue's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
I'd really like to see TK's post about it. Unfortunately, he locked the game here and there, but still, many things live inside the game's .dll files, although most functions are non-working. Maybe the FAC (Snoopy) can be brought back, among other things. The only problem is that only Mue has shown the kind of interest and expertise we need for such things, like improving the shaders and creating new plugins and tools. I am sure there are other modders with that expertise as well (gerwin's TFDtool is a great example, and his powerful tool is still undergoing interesting updates). We could create a group of people interested in the things Blackbird mentioned. Avionics can wait IMHO, since I'd really like to see the bugs we already have being fixed, if possible. Strike Fighters 2 is still unique in its genre. Granted it does not age that well graphically, but it's the only game that, thanks to the community, can span from pre-WW2 era (not counting First Flight) to our modern times. We have dynamic campaigns, lots of scenarios and planes for many of the world's countries. In few words, it's an anthology of aviation history! -
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- 2 comments
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- mozambique
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Version 1.03
833 downloads
Madagascar, Southeast Africa (1977-2018) Terrain December 13th, 2017 (1st Release) by Menrva >For Strike Fighters 2: Europe, Recommended Full-5 Merged This is a complete remake of the AE terrain made by Deuces and Dave, further tweaked by Wrench. The entire map has been retargetized and extensively retiled; Mozambique is now a lush green jungle, not a barren desert as seen in the original. The Comoros and Mayotte islands now properly exist and are carefully populated by towns and airports. Numerous target areas 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 May 30, 1977 (the beginning of the Mozambican Civil War) to December 31, 2018. Despite the given time frame, this terrain is not right for reproducing the Mozambican Civil War. Instead, the terrain is meant to pit the French Navy against the combined forces of Mozambique and Madagascar in a what if scenario where the Comoros and Mayotte islands are being threatened by the two Soviet-aligned countries. The French (Blue Side) only have four flyable airfields. Don't even try to fly Blue Side long-range bombers from said small airfields; I am providing a rather realistic representation of the area, where the French are tasked with the defence and patrol of the skies above the Comoros and Mayotte islands. Having SF2NA is a must, as I have enabled naval ops. If your mod's folder contains French ships and carriers, you'll see fleets being generated during single missions. Ground Objects are not included. It's up to the user to find and obtain anything that can be useful for the proposed terrain's scenario. >Credits (in no particular order): -Deuces and Dave, who had the idea of recreating such a gorgeous environment in the Strike Fighters world. -Wrench, who kindly allowed me to improve upon his work by giving me a blank cheque and trusting my capabilities. Thank you, sir! -swambast, who provided me with invaluable help in tracking and fixing common and uncommon bugs. -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! -MigBuster, I have included some of his great hi-res textures for runways. -Stary, for the old .TOD mod which adds trees on this terrain's tileset. -Gepard, for his great tutorials about terrain making, in the SF1 Knowledge Base at CombatACE. It's a gold mine! -tiopilotos and Stratos, who supported me during the terrain's development. Thank you, guys! -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 the original terrain was born from Deuces and Dave, and was later tweaked by Wrench, I included the ReadMe files from the original packages, 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.- 2 comments
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new Tornado 3d model
Menrva replied to guuruu's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
You're doing an awesome job, take your time to finish it. Your dedication to this project is admirable. Hopefully one day I will manage to create a much needed terrain for SF (and for the Italian Tornados...) -
hitting the map's edge
Menrva replied to UllyB's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 1 Series - General Discussion
Yes, it is. -
ace combat J-35J Draken & Rafale-M Espada Team (Ace Combat Zero)
Menrva reviewed zachtan's file in What If Skins
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No. Unfortunately SF2 is single-player only, no multiplayer is supported.
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F-15C MSIP Cockpit Repaint
Menrva replied to orsin's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
I wasn't talking about editing the LOD cockpit, I was asking for similar .ini corrections and repaint for the F-15C Baz cockpit, since it's pretty identical to the other non Baz F-15C cockpit. -
water modding question
Menrva replied to one4five's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
Exactly, not to mention that the Iceland LOD based terrain is so poorly optimized. We don't even have official tools to create LOD based terrains, so all custom terrains are HFD based. I prefer HFD based terrains since they give better framerates, and we have tools to create/mod them. However, in regards to HLSL shaders, experts should be able to recreate a reflective water shader for the other HFD based terrains; I think it can be doable, but it must be made from scratch. I am no such expert, but I'm eager to learn when time allows. -
F-15C MSIP Cockpit Repaint
Menrva replied to orsin's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
There is also a F-15C Baz Cockpit with a slightly different LOD for the Israeli F-15C Eagles. An update for them would also be appreciated. I think the repaint works as it is, only the .ini corrections would be slightly different.