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Everything posted by Menrva
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My Projects (EricJ)
Menrva replied to EricJ's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
Just to clarify, it's not the YAP most over here at CA think it is. YAP-RW is a free fan-made project done almost entirely by one end-user who bought all YAP products in the past; he's been updating those so that they work on Strike Fighters 2 for his own enjoyment and simply thought about sharing what he's done for free. He's in no way related to the original YAP nor to the fact original YAP guys monetized upon freeware mods without permission. The owners of YAP died years ago and the store was still up despite not being controlled by anyone anymore. Apologies for the little off-topic, it's just that I've seen people complain about YAP-RW as if it was done or even monetized (it is not) by the same YAP guys responsible for those issues. This is a case where an unrelated end-user was held accountable by some for the issues surrounding those products, products he legitimately bought without knowing of all this chaos. -
WIPs by amariani
Menrva replied to amariani's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
Pretty cool! Is it available somewhere? I don't recall anything like this in the SF1 download section. -
Fedayeen Saddam - Wikipedia Just discovered that this helmet used by Saddam's paramilitary Fedayeen resembles the one of Star Wars.
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SF2 Grumman C-2A(R) Greyhound Pack by Coyote Aerospace
Menrva replied to Wrench's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - File Announcements
@Wrench By the way, during the development of ODS 30AE, I discovered that the E-2C_Destroyed.LOD model (and also Yak-38_Destroyed.LOD) actually don't exist in the game files. So if you crash, there's no destroyed model for those aircraft. I use the C-47A_Destroyed.LOD for the E-2C and for this C-2A, better than nothing. -
SF2 Grumman C-2A(R) Greyhound Pack by Coyote Aerospace
Menrva replied to Wrench's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - File Announcements
My extended thanks to the team for this release. We need proper ODS skins for the ODS 30AE mod. Any volunteers? References are available here: https://dstorm.eu/pages/en/usa/c-2.html -
Extra Terrain Types.ini Statements
Menrva posted a topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Knowledge Base
Most have probably missed this fact that with Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic, additional types.ini statements for a terrain have been introduced. Here below you'll find the extra ones: [TargetTypeXXX] Reported=FALSE DetailLevel=2 FadeWithDistance=TRUE IgnoreHeading=TRUE AdjustZBuffer=FALSE The most interesting and useful statement is DetailLevel. The Ground Objects graphics setting in the options has always been rather pointless in Strike Fighters as it would only affect randomly parked aircraft. This DetailLevel statement makes it much more useful when applied to most if not all target types defined in a terrain's types.ini. DetailLevel=3 means that the target type will spawn only when Ground Object settings are set to Unlimited, a value of 1 means that the target type will only spawn when Ground Object settings are set to Medium or higher. The below screenshots show it clearly. Ground Objects set to Unlimited; even the smallest eye-candy objects are shown, loading times are obviously higher. Ground Objects set to Low; only priority objects (those that should be targets for missions) are shown, loading times are quicker. The downside is that it requires a terrain modder to add such DetailLevel statement to each of the eye-candy objects in a types.ini file. If you have 300 or more, you can imagine it takes quite a bit of work and trial and error to choose which priority to assign to each object. This update/feature will be part of the IraqWA terrain in a future update of the ODS 30AE mod. The other statements are also used in the stock IcelandNA terrain, here below a summary of what I managed to figure out about them: FadeWithDistance - No matter what, it doesn't seem to work. it would have been cool to have terrain objects fade like TOD entities; most likely this is a placeholder for something TK never implemented properly. IgnoreHeading - Rather self-explanatory, it makes the object type ignore the heading you give to it in a terrain target area of the targets.ini file. TK uses it for the countless tree LODs created for the IcelandNA terrain. AdjustZBuffer - When set to false for runways, they suffer from heavy z-buffering issues on tile based terrains. Most likely this option was needed for specific runways on the IcelandNA terrain, since runway LODs are placed over another LOD, that of the terrain. For our usual tile based terrains, this statement may be of little to no use. Reported - The only statement I couldn't figure out. For sure you wouldn't set it to false for main terrain objects. This info may be useful to terrain modders wiling to optimize their own terrains and make them more scalable depending on graphics settings. Please admins, pin this topic for future reference. -
Help needed
Menrva replied to Wilches's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
@Wilches I should have specified, do NOT use Photoshop. It doesn't save 8bit bitmaps properly. Now you have to start from scratch. Extract the water bitmap via TFDtool, repaint green and yellow areas with MS Paint. Use MS Paint or it'll most likely break. -
Help needed
Menrva replied to Wilches's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
I don't know what you're trying to achieve. Just look at the IcelandNA water bitmap. You have to use the same exact green and yellow colors (respectively indicating where friendly and enemy fleets can spawn), save it as 8bit. It's best to use MS Paint for this. You need to have ships in the GroundObject folder, with their data properly updated to SF2NA standards. Then you just have to pray and hope the game spawns stuff like you wish. Nothing else can be done. I cannot help more than this. Use the search bar on the site, I already explained how to create water bitmaps properly on several topics. -
Help needed
Menrva replied to Wilches's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
I think there's quite a lot of confusion over here. Carrier Stations are never used in single missions, they exist only for campaign use. Adding ship objects to those target areas won't achieve nothing apart from having static ships able to fire back. Naval fleets ala SF2 North Atlantic just require a proper water.bmp and the NavalMap=TRUE statement. You cannot control where the fleet exactly spawns on game generated missions, that's a limitation you cannot overcome. Only in campaign data we can specify precisely where a naval fleet or a static carrier station can be. Fleets ala SF2NA are dynamically spawned objects, nothing to do with terrain target areas. -
Strike Fighters 2 Screenshots Thread
Menrva replied to Wrench's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Screen Shots
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Texas ASC Campaign Movement File
Menrva replied to Righteous26's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
No. I don't think any of my terrains ever got a campaign (with the exception of IraqWA getting one from yours truly with the ODS 30AE mod, and the Iran-Iraq war mod using a much outdated version of the same terrain). When I released my first terrains, community members who used to make campaign mods had already left. I very much doubt we'll see campaigns for any of those, there's little to no interest in those terrains I released (TexasASC is one of the worst IMHO, it needs a rework). I'm already busy with the ODS mod, so I don't have time to spare in the making of other campaigns. -
A ground target data that is engaged by helo gunners.
Menrva replied to Stratos's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
I fail to see where I've been negative. Actually, I wanted to add something positive, that is, more correct information instead of such a misleading topic title. It's okay, next time I'll simply shut up. -
A ground target data that is engaged by helo gunners.
Menrva replied to Stratos's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
It's not game engine wise, but you're entitled to believe what you want. I already explained above why. If you want to have a parked aircraft be attacked by gunners, it works, but it's just a workaround that applies to Aircraft objects, not GroundObject ones. I won't repeat myself a third time. -
A ground target data that is engaged by helo gunners.
Menrva replied to Stratos's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
Well, to be honest I don't see anything special about it or in its data. It's no wonder gunners would target it simply because it's an aircraft, not a ground object. We know this since ages; it is possible to create a standalone parked aircraft from any aircraft object (done already by comrpnt, like his Static SFP1 Stock Aircraft Pack, Static WOV Stock Aircraft Pack and Static WOE Stock Aircraft Pack), and then manually add them to airbases by editing mission files. It's just a mere workaround that would only work with aircraft. The title of the topic is misleading, we're talking about aircraft objects really, not proper ground object entities. -
DTV Filter Material
Menrva replied to ravenclaw_007's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
It's not a grey filter really, you'd be disappointed when you see it. Anyway, it's achieved by using one of those blending ops in the DTVFilterMaterial (INV_DST or INV_SRC, can't remember which one of the two) and by giving it a black texture instead of the stock GreenTVFilter texture. -
DTV Filter Material
Menrva replied to ravenclaw_007's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion
You can't, it's not possible on Strike Fighters. The way it works, the filter is applied through one of a few DirectX blending operations. Me and guuruu experimented with it after I discovered other blending operations we can use, more details here: Unused Blending Operations - Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mods & Skinning Discussion - CombatACE. We managed to achieve some sort of grey IR filter but it's far from being acceptable, lights and the sky are colored and it would only work under certain times of day with other side issues. SF2 includes and makes use of few DX10 features; some other, more advanced blend ops are not implemented at all. It may be possible to achieve a grey IR filter through a custom shader for the DTV filter material, but I haven't succeeded so far in creating one. -
Like grand-grandpa and grand-grandson...
Menrva replied to Svetlin's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
You joke but it's also real: At 44:30 he mentions a Pilot Activated Automatic Recovery System. It was implemented starting in 1994 on the Nighthawk, but the Soviets had a similar system since the 1950s. Not to mention that the theory behind stealth aircraft was conceived by Pyotr Yakovlevich Ufimtsev, Soviet physicist and mathematician. -
Bay of Pigs addon for Operation Tainted Cigar (WIP)
Menrva replied to dtmdragon's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - Mission & Campaign Building Discussion
I haven't looked into your campaign data yet, but that's the most probable reason why it ends prematurely. You can make the ground war start at a later day, not as soon as the campaign starts. You can find out how by looking at the campaign data I made for ODS 30AE. -
Version 1.3
332 downloads
F-22A Raptor Skin Pack October 13th, 2021 (1st Release) by Menrva >For Strike Fighters 2 games This is an extra skin pack for the high quality F-22A Raptor aircraft add-on. Most skins are based on ideas and depictions from other videogames. Here below a list of the included ones: -YF-22 Paint Scheme (inspired by the real YF-22 prototype) -Sea Raptor Livery (inspired by the F-22N Sea Raptor concept) -Saudi Grey Camouflage (as depicted in Digital Image Design's F-22 Total Air War) -Egyptian Woodland Camouflage (as depicted in Digital Image Design's F-22 Total Air War) -USAF Pac West Camouflage (as depicted in Digital Image Design's F-22 Total Air War) -Desert Lightning Camouflage (as depicted in NovaLogic's F-22 Lightning 3) -Phoenix Livery (from Namco Hometek's Air Combat, as depicted in Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown) -Phoenix Livery, Dark (as depicted in Project Aces' Ace Combat Infinity) -Scarface One Livery (as depicted in Namco Hometek's Ace Combat 2) -Z.O.E., Red Livery (from Namco Hometek's Ace Combat 2, as depicted in Project Aces' Ace Combat Infinity) -Mobius One, ISAF Livery (as depicted in Project Aces' Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies) -Abell, Black Livery (as depicted in Project Aces' Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies) -Razgriz Livery (from Project Aces' Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, as depicted in Project Aces' Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation) -Pegas, 3-Tone Blue Camouflage (as depicted in Project Aces' Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation) -Indigo Wing Livery (as depicted in Project Aces' Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation) -Gryphus One Livery (from Access Games' Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception, as depicted in Project Aces' Ace Combat Infinity) -Warwolf Livery (as depicted in Project Aces' Ace Combat: Assault Horizon) -Mobius One, IUN Livery (as depicted in Project Aces' Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown) -Trigger Livery (as depicted in Project Aces' Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown) -JASDF 2-Tone Blue Camouflage (as depicted in Project Aces' Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown) As a bonus, different aircraft configuration files are included in the "(Alternative Data)" folder. You'll be able to choose between realistic loadouts (default configuration of the aircraft add-on package) and what-if loadouts inspired by the mentioned F-22 videogames of the late 90s, namely weapons included in F-22 Lightning 3. Both configurations are also available with the addition of invisible skids; those will allow you to perform belly landings, which are a feature of good old F-22 Total Air War. Notes: -The B61 tactical nuclear bomb is a retarded version, but drop it safely from high altitude at high speed. Take note that it does not damage the stock Runway object, due to the armor values of it. The B61 is meant to be used against naval fleets you may encounter on some custom terrains. -You need to tweak the SoundList.ini file in order to fully experience any new sounds. Read "(Add to SoundList)" for further details, and remember to extract the SoundList.ini file from the FlightData.cat archive, if you do not have a custom one in your mod folder already. >Credits (in no particular order): -yakarov79, for his high quality templates which allowed me to easily put some new paint on the aircraft. -ravenclaw_007, for sharing some of his latest weapon 3d models for the bonus what-if loadouts. -Astore, for providing me with better Ace Combat themed emblems, and for being one of the few Italian Ace Combat fans like me. -godrugalultimate, from DeviantArt, for making incredibly detailed Ace Combat themed decals. -RythusOmega, for providing all Ace Combat 7 emblems and whose skins have been used as reference for the Phoenix liveries. -Lanzerince, whose Ace Combat 7 skins have been used as reference for the Scarface livery. -mue, for his LOD Viewer which helped immensely in the making of the skins. -Blade, for sharing info about the purpose of the game's decal levels. -My girlfriend, for supporting me in all of my endeavours. >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.- 1 comment
- 1 review
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- f-22 lightning 3
- f-22 total air war
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What will be next ?
Menrva replied to UllyB's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
@UllyB I'm cool, I already left the discussion since it was pointless. Next time I should ignore certain posts. Can you add the Alpha Jet E to this big wishlist? I had suggested it a few posts ago but I think you missed it. If you exclude it from the list I won't be offended, it's huge already. -
What will be next ?
Menrva replied to UllyB's topic in Thirdwire: Strike Fighters 2 Series - General Discussion
Again, where did I mention it is available? I think you're misunderstanding quite a bit. Let me quote posts as they happened and tell me if I said otherwise. Then you said this after my post, and I must suppose you were referring to cocas' version if you missed angelp's posts at the screenshot thread. After that, angelp posted screenshots on this topic of his work in progress X-32 (not yet available, and miles different than cocas' F-32). However, you still continued to state it's not a proper X-32. So this left me with a big WTF. I give the benefit of the doubt that you were initially referring to cocas' version, though the way it was worded it was quite confusing to my eyes. But I don't understand why you stated the same in front of a yet to be released X-32 that angelp teased over here. I hope it is clear now.