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Menrva

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Everything posted by Menrva

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.

  4. Some sad news regarding a former modder

    Menrva replied to MigBuster's topic in The Pub

    -S-
  5. 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.
  6. 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!

  7. Grumman E-2C Hawkeye

    Menrva reviewed paulopanz's file in Other

    Nice addition, thanks paulo! More AWACS for other countries!

  8. Madagascar, Southeast Africa (1977-2018)

    Menrva commented on Menrva's file in Full Terrains

    No, the CTD is caused by a number of bugs I have discovered. You can keep the FCD at 80000, as the change to 70000 is no longer thought to be needed. Next version will fix as much as possible. Be on the lookout for next release!

  9. Version 1.03

    840 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.
  10. 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...)
  11. Yes, it is.
    Nicely done!

  13. playing with sf 2 europa lan connection

    Menrva replied to hachBORHSO's topic in The Pub

    No. Unfortunately SF2 is single-player only, no multiplayer is supported.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. My money is on the date switch. By using it, skins would get a proper overhaul to SF2 standards IMHO. But I also reckon it's time consuming.
  18. I had the same idea time ago, but I am not much into campaign editing. Looking forward to this, it's a great what if scenario ala SF2!
  19. There is no guide, I'm afraid. I just opened .fx shaders with notepad and made my changes inside. Just look for a thread about mue's shimmering fix. He tweaked stock shaders to address a few things. I simply added my changes (new values for some constants) to such shaders. I'll include my modded water shaders in my custom terrains. I'll update the terrain packages sooner or later.
  20. Ther is no way to make water reflective as it is in SF2: North Atlantic. That terrain is LOD based and uses its own set of shaders. The other terrains do not feature reflective water but use bump maps to create water-like effects. Recently, I modded the stock shaders to improve the looks of water, so that the effect looks less repetitive and is applied further away toward the horizon. They use a custom bump map by our fellow modder Stary. Just look below:
  21. Exactly! @namedders please have a look at what mue described! That should be the solution you are looking for.

  22. The Scandinavian Front 2: Final Release

    Menrva reviewed JonathanRL's file in User Made Campaigns

    One of, if not the greatest expansion for Strike Fighters 2!
  23. Sure thing. I am a bit busy with RL, but you can count I will look into it! This mod really needs some love.
  24. The greatest expansion for Strike Fighters 2. My thanks to everyone involved. @JonathanRL I once provided you with an updated TFD file for the Sweden terrain, fixing some minor bugs, for the older version of TSF2. My nickname was Blaze95 at the time. I can have a look at the bug you mentioned with trees over runways. It should be an easy fix.
  25. No, that is what namedders did, and he encountered the maximum limit of TOD objects being placed on a single tile. To understand what Stary did, download the Madagascar terrain for instance, or some of his other mods; you'll see that .tga files contain graphics for multiple trees and other alpha object things. That single .tga file is responsible for the entire graphics of a forest, not of a single tree as in stock SF2 terrains.
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