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Guys, Please correct me if I'm wrong here, but you don't need to add OSEAN to userlist.ini in order for the nation to display. You need only have a skin assigned to that particular nation (textureset.ini) for that nation and its squadrons to be picked up. Leaving OSEAN out of the userlist will also avoid the possible unintended consequence of having OSEAN show up as the default nation (i.e. OSEAN is alphabetically ahead of US Air Force and will show up first when the plane is selected for single missions). Bottom line: to use a level 0 (national) decal, you need the country to be entered in nations.ini. AFAIK, this is the only way to get the OSEAN national insignia to display on a stock aircraft. Likewise, for level 1 (squadron) decals, you need the entries in SquadronList.ini with the proper nationname associated with the squadron. Finally, you need a 3 digit number on the end of each TGA file that matches your entry number in nations.ini (level 0) or your squadronlist.ini (level 1). @RadPig, If you're looking to add to nations.ini and squadronlist.ini, give this thread a look. We're working on a consolidated, standardized squadronlist.ini, and if you're looking at doing a full-blown Ace Combat/What-if line (including campaigns, missions, etc.) it would be beneficial to get these entries in while we're still figuring out the slots. The only thing I ask is that if you decide you want the squadron entries in a number less than 999, that you follow through and do the decals for the squadrons/airframes.

One more thought on this: If we're not sure, we can always put the entry post-999. If we decide to do decals for that unit, just renumber it in the sub-1000 pool and create the decals. A new SquadronList package would need to be released, but we'd be looking to do this anyway after releasing new decals. You wouldn't need to change/renumber any decals because the entry would not have decals to begin with, and you could always leave the old post-999 entry as a blank placeholder if you couldn't think of a unit to add. No campaigns or missions would be affected because they use the SquadronName and not the entry number. This also alleviates pressure of the triage I described in the previous post. EDIT: If we go this route, we should leave an even larger buffer on the back end of the sub-1000 entries, and only put entries we know we intend to decal in the sub-1000.

US Army is a level 0 decal (or at least should be; we could add it to Nations.ini as part of the effort), so you can have your cake and eat it too. EDIT: NVM; I reread your post and saw what you're really getting at. I tend to agree, although we really have plenty of room to work with. The trick is in the front end of the project: we need to determine not only which units to include, but which units will have level 1 squadron decals. We don't need to do the decals now, but we need to determine whether we (or somebody else) will do the decals in the future. Without knowing the organizational markings of other NATO nations, I'm not really the best guy to make this determination, though I do think that the priority should be given to tactical aircraft likely to be player flyable.

Bad news: the decals over 999 don't display on the aircraft. I think the game engine only looks for 3 digits at the end of the filename. What this means is that we can still leave 100 or so placeholders from 900-999, and start using 1000+ for units which are unlikely to have specific decals, or will have decals assigned to the skin itself (i.e. not level 1). 1000+ would be a good place for the Army and Transport/Logistics units, as well as units in popular mods that don't use level 1 decals.

I'm putting finishing tweaks on the EA-6B pack, and I ran into the following problem: I have restricted the numbers used on the EA-6B from 50-99 (which corresponds to the 5xx-6xx modexes). When I select an EA-6B in the single mission, then select "Fly" without going to the loadout screen, the plane displays in-game with no modex or any other level 2 decals. Likewise, if I go to the Loadout screen, if I don't select that specific aircraft (e.g. 1-3), I get no modex on that aircraft either. If I go to the aircraft on the loadout screen, but don't make any changes, then the modex does display. Here is the entry in my EA-6B.ini, which is also duplicated in the Textureset.ini: [TextureSet005] Directory=USNGREY3 Name=USN Gull Grey (White Tail/Tan Radome) Nation=USN Squadron=VAQ135 Specular=0.400000 Glossiness=0.400000 Reflection=0.200000 EndDefaultDate=1981 DecalNumberRandomize=TRUE DecalNumberStart=50 DecalNumberEnd=99 DecalNumberBlockSize=25 When I rem out the lines DecalNumberStart=50 DecalNumberEnd=99 then there is no problem. However, I don't want to allow the Prowler to use 3xx-4xx modexes, and would also like to fix this in the next version of the A-6 Superpack. Any Ideas?

I'm just using the standard USN Attack number list (300-324 -- 600-624), which is why I'm using DecalNumberStart/End to limit the modexes to 5xx-6xx. Doing 100 modexes (50 EXCAP, 50 ICAP) was pain enough (also recoloring them for white and light grey); I can't imagine doing 233 individual nose-arts! Thanks for the answers as well.

Interesting stuff. Of course, this begs two questions: If you can specify a start and end decal, what is the purpose of the block size (since the game engine could do simple arithmetic and figure out the same thing)? Are the 3W default settings for the prowler (listed 3 posts up) incorrect? And you're right, Wrench. You can limit the modexes used by the way you specified. This method doesn't appear to influence modexes in campaigns; that appears to be left to the parameters in the campaign_data.ini.

Looks like a Sentry wing. Just curious if you've tried a level 1 decal with the 1000 at the end of the file. If not, then I can easily test it.

Is there a list of modified files with this patch?

Setting block size to 50 worked. Thanks, Wrench. Just curious: what does block size actually do? I always assumed it was a numeric subset (e.g. 300-324, 400-424, etc.). Interestingly enough, the Textureset entry for the stock EA-6B in ObjectData025 also uses the block size of 25 Directory=USNGrey1 Name=USN Grey Nation=USN Squadron= Specular=0.400000 Glossiness=0.400000 Reflection=0.200000 DecalNumberRandomize=TRUE DecalNumberStart=50 DecalNumberEnd=99 DecalNumberBlockSize=25

No question about that. I dare say we should leave some placeholders for future expandability. The other thing we can do rather easily is just insert the eastern block/VPAF fighter squadrons used in the campaigns. That should cover the stock theaters/campaigns, and should also give you a good sampling of Czech and DDR units.

Actually, I like the idea of a red side. Pick some eastern bloc and VPAF squadrons that flew the MiG-17, 19, 21, 23, and/or 29, which should cover the major widespread user mods for the red aircraft. Perhaps even units for each of the skins in the MF MiG-29 superpack. That could make for some interesting campaign mods with the stock theaters. No need to cover everything; that's why we already have great total conversions out there.

DA, If you really want to test the 1000 ceiling, you can add placeholders to 999 then try your 1000 entry. No guarantee that it will work when all entries are filled, but the odds will be pretty good that it will work the same. Also, I still think that the 12 Dhimar squadrons should be included. Spinners already made decals for them, so we could easily add spice to the existing campaigns. We would ned to add Dhimar and Paran to Nations.INI, but that isn't a big deal; we'll want to put out a standardized nations.ini anyway.

How about the FOTI "historical" mission. Make the power plant one of the nav points, party HQ in Hanoi the primary target. Drop two on the plant, drop the rest on the HQ. With the Flak mod, that mission would be amazing!

malibu, I made some tweaks to your tracer files. I added a small white magnesium core to Tracers 4-7 (the smaller caliber rounds) to give them a white-hot look. RealMod AAA Tracer Update.zip

Dave, I've uploaded my submissions for the Realism Pack. Some of these files supersede the A-6 files submitted by malibu43, in particular the data files which now include the fakepilot and custom pilot/seat combos in the new datafiles. The loadout files have also been updated to reflect the restricted carry ability on the internal pylons, and a few tweaks are included that were made after malibu and I collaborated. Most notably, I have removed any STARMs from the A-6A loadout file, as the A wasn't wired for it. If you want to put these in (especially since we're not modelling the B), they are in malibu's loadout files. I'm also breaking with convention in two places, both related to the included campaigns. First, I have included your VAQ-134 skin (though refoldered as VAQ134), which is referenced in the included campaign file as "VAQ134" rather than "USNGrey1". Second, I have included a low-res version of the green A-6A skin from 1966, which is used by VA-65 and VA-85 for a six month period in the included Rolling Thunder campaign. I figured for realism, this would be a nice touch, but feel free to remove the skin and reset the campaign references to USNGrey1. I (obviously) have also included campaigns, which may be exceeding the scope of this pack, and NA1 in particular may be risky because TK seems to change something every patch. That said, in addion to the skin calls and campaign graphics, I have added the prowler to the Linebacker II campaign (VAQ-130 and VAQ-131, which will require the updated SquadronList.ini or a change to "UnitName="), and I have replaced the A-6E in the NA1 campaign with the A-6E_79, as that was the first operational TRAM deployment (and also necessary with the removal of LGB capability for the standard A-6E). Feel free to cut the campaign related features and just go with the datafiles; I won't take offense. Finally, the included Soundlist.ini incorporates and supersedes the one uploaded by malibu. I have incorporated his GAU-8 and Flack sounds, as well as the TMF F-14 sounds (which are also used in a number of other mods). This looks like a good starting point for a baselined SoundList.ini as well. A-6 RP.7z

Bump for 1.5.

How much space are we talking about, DA? Can you upload your latest version?

I would consider Transport units the lowest priority, because if you want to add a non-player flyable or non TACAIR unit to the theater, you can use UnitName=. SquadronList is great for a player's unit to show up in a decoration, as well as for having a set of decals that can span multiple skins. If we're approaching 800 or 900, we should probably leave room for expansion of tactical units. No problem with Army Aviation units, though. Sooner or later, somebody will make a helo for SF2 that will have us lining up to bag red tanks with TOW and Hellfire.

concur.

Here's a thought (I know we're getting ahead of ourselves, but while we're brainstorming...): I think rather than have a "heavy" pack and a "lite" pack, have additional features that build off the "lite" pack. Keep the same baseline regardless, and build on that. We're already looking at multiple downloads for the basic RP, as well as the squadrons. Why not do series of aircraft over a generation as separate packages? I'm already planning on doing the A-6 Superpack as dependent on the RP in order to keep things consistent and keep the download size to a minimum. Obviously, we're talking about a major difference between a series of additional INI files versus a huge skinpack, but the same principle applies. If someone wants to build a campaign with certain required features, he can say that the campaign requires the Realism Pack, the xxx aircraft package for the RP, etc. That said, we are getting ahead of ourselves. We certainly need to think about this approach, but there will no doubt be a few iterations before the proper hooks are in place for people to build on the RP.

Dave, If it's not going in the main install, it shouldn't be going in at all. Since we're talking about a baseline, it should be an all or nothing affair, with the only options being things that won't impart or require any other dependencies. Since someone could create a 1990 campaign using the SWIP, it's easier just to have them require the A-6 Superpack.

Fair enough. I can always add the datafiles and Dave can choose not to incorporate them.

malibu, A agree with you as far as adding the B into the realism pack. With no specialized SAM suppression mission (and for that matter, no way to limit the A to the Shrike alone for ARMs), there's really no upside to adding it globally. I add it to the superpack for completeness, but I was just reviewing datafiles when I saw it. I figured I would ask the question, though I was not planning on adding it per se. Now the SWIP, on the other hand, I do plan on adding. I figure just add a standard extracted gull grey skin for that, and let people download the superpack to get the more accurate LV skins. This will put the SWIP in the RP, but won't have to be updated every time I get a bug up my a$$ and decide to re-skin the planes. BTW, I love your AAA mod. I just tried it for the first time while smoke testing the A-6A, and the noise over the target almost made me jump out of my seat! On a related note, since the latest A-6 pack uses some of the TMF F-14 sounds (stall horn and overspeed), I need to add the SOUNDLIST.INI to the pack. I've integrated your AAA and GAU-8 updates along with the TMF sounds into mine, which I will release with the superpack and submit here for the RP along with the rest of my work once it is done testing.