Eagle114th

(NOTE: I am using the excelelnt radar texture from both SF2 (TW) and dtmdragon F-8 packs as base for radar overhaul for all variants of F8U / F-8.) } Here is picture of F-8D cockpits and radar scope from flight manual:

I am continuing to re-adjust the color to try to bring it closer to actual F_8 radar screen color. I would like to request for feedback on this please.

Please note, I cam not use exact acccurate color becasue if I do, , it appear too bright inside the cockpit. Realistically, the radar scope does not glow in cockpit, only the radar symbols that is being displayed through radar scope screen right? By nature of how lighting / darkness work in SF2 cockpit, had to darken the original texture. Here is an example, if I do not darken the radar scope texture:

Hello everyone! Based on the manual and the picture of F_8B cockpit: Here is in--game screen shot with new texture for radar scope:| (NOTE: I sincerely apologize, I forgot to mention that I am using the excelelnt radar texture from both SF2 (TW) and dtmdragon F-8 packs as base for radar overhaul for all variants of F8U / F-8.)

Hello everyone! It have been long days gathering the information on F-8s and F-89s cockpit, gunsight, FCS / Radar scope / screen, etc... To my surprise, F-89 is quite very interestinga nd complciated inthe evolution of avionics. This is why I find late 40s to 70s avionics to be most interesting! What I realized is that (Always feel to correct me if I make mistakes from my finding on specific aircraft avionics), is that F-89D to J did not have gunsight, unlike early series (F-89A to C). And that F-89A to C uses A-1C(M) gunsight which is same used in early series of F-86s. however, the F-86D and later uses more advanced Hughes FCS (Fire control System) that no longer reply on seperated radar. For example, F-89A and B uses Hughes E-1 FCS with AAN/APG-33, then F-89D use improved E-4 FCS with AN/APG-40 radar and AN/APA-84 computer. Then F-89D uses E-6 FCS ,. F-89H operated with E_9, evnetualy E-9 get get further imprpoved and modified, therefore became MG-12 for F_89J. now the biggest question , how do we 'simulate' E-6, E-9, and MG-12 in SF2? That's the question. However, for F-89A to C, it have some challenges. I want to figure out how to simulate their system. However, at the same time, managed to find the pictures of F-8s cockpit with differnt radar upgrades. The biggest challenge is that most pictures are in black / white, which mean I can not tell which color it is exactly. So I am using an educaated guesses, based on finding the colorized picture I cn find and find the pattern in radar scope color. I want to make sure I have the accurate colors. However, here are screenshot of F8U-1 / F-8A with new Mark 11 Mod 7 gunsight reticles: The radar scope texture is being worked on for F-8 series too. Eagle114th

Hello everyone! F-8 Crusader avionics are being worked on now. Here is updated Mark 11 gunsight And the leading symbols also match the colors of Mark 11 gunsight The radar scope texture is being worked on. When they are completed, the screenshot in F-8s will be posted. Eagle114th

A-1s with new gunsight

The gunisght used by A-1 and A-4 are further polished and they appear to be bit brghter compared to USAF gunsigh. (To anyone who know which Mark gunsight it is, please let me know. I am gathering the information on each gunsight type used by various aircraft.) Eagle114th

Helloe veryone! It have been very interesting projets working on gunisghts for K-14, A-1CM and A-4 sued by various aircraft in late 40s to 60s. What led me into looking for the information, I was looking for the type of gunsight F-89s used, it is quite challenging to find. What I found out is that F-89A to C uses A-1CM gunsight. (Please correct me if I am wrong). I am still researching on F-89D, H, and J model on the radar-guide sight they use. If anyonoe have information and pictures for me. Pleae post it here. the gunsight from excelent Korea war gunsight reticle is being reworked with specific color, as was done for A-4 Skyhawk. Here are screenshot (the blue background is added on purpose, so you can see what it looks like when using it in SF2): K-14 (I am uncetain about the diamond outer of center. From whaat I have seen, they are either short and wide or/and thin and long. So please post feedbck on this) Next is A-1CM Radar aided gunsight Finally, here are two of A-4 Radar Aided gun reticles The templates that is used to create the gunsights will be provided in the first releae of SF2: ACP, so anyone can use it to use. Eagle114th

After re-adjsuting the darkness of the texture for radar scop eand RWR: Eagle114th

A-4's new radar scope, RWR, and gunsight I am stil researching on the different RWR variants of A-4s have used. The texture of RWR is based on the pictures of AN/APR-23, it can be found here: https://phantomphacts.blogspot.com/p/usn-ew-equipment.html I realized that the RWR may seem too bright, so I am re-working on the colors of RW and darken it (Due to SF2 lighting rendering system). And in the future, if anyone found more pictures avionics and requires re-texture, I am more than happy to do it, if time permits.

F-89 Radar scope, it is no longer too bright in cockpits and is readable. Feedback is always helpful, so should I make radar scope a bit darker? Eagle114th

NOTE: THe new screnshots with F-89s and A-4s radar scop eand RWR will be posted after further adjhusting the darkness of radar scope and RWRs. Eagle114th

The radr scop etexture is based on two images found: One of them is AN/APG-33 radar website: https://aeroantique.com/products/radar-indicator-lens-an-apg-40-fire-control-radar?variant=6386100240414 And another from war thunder F-89 cockpit:

Hello everyone! It have been a long time since I have done any modding, I am doing small projects for SF2, such as avionics texture and effects modding. I have been modding Jane's series sim and thought i would like to do some for SF2 too. Here is screenshot of new radar scope for Stary excellent F-89 cockpits. I do realize this cockpit have been not updated for many years, so I want to bring this back up. If someone want new texture for radar, please let me know and I'll uplaod the file here. Cheers

Hello everyone, (To Mods, please let me know if I am doing anything wrong here. I intend to respect the rules while sharing how to open or view the files.) It have been a while since I posted, it can't be helped. The world rather have become more crazier as yaers have gone by, keeping all of busy for sure. However, our hobbies are always here for us when we come back to it. There have been requests asking me to sahre how I managed to view the core files. I will share what tools I ujse and I can not promise that you will see the sources. From what I can understand is that, if anyone have an access to the source codes, it is where you can see all codes with comments that tells you what code do. It is what is used by programmer to create the program. However, if you use tools to view the codes from the core, you are not really looking at the sources codes; Rather, you are only seeing codes without the comments. Therefore, messing with it can be 'hit and miss' and if you do not know what you are doing, you can break the whole files. Please make sure you make copies of back up before doing any experiments with the files. Two tools I use and please note, I am still newbie when it come to using the tools. 1) CFF Explorer - this is a vital tools that help you figuring out what type of file and kind of language the file is written in. This will be needed when using the 2nd tool. I consdier this tool as gem. I do not know how reiable this is, but I thave helped me a lot understanding what the type of file it is and what language it is written in. 2) Ghidra - this is most popular tools to view the codes inside the file. It is also where you can edit the codes by making patches for it or another methods. Alternatively, you can also use tool known as OllyDbg 3) Using Ghidra I will give you basic step-by-step so you can get familiar with quickly. It is all what I am familiar with so far; When running it, click on FILE -> New Project Make a new project, and when you finish with it, you will see a project folder in left sectino of the program. you can make a new folder within that project folder for organizing purpose. Then run CFF viewer, you need to know what type of file and what language it is written in: Then back to Ghidra, go to file then click on IMPORT FILE go to the file you want to import, and import it. New window will pop asking you what type of file and what language it is written in. use the information you learned from CFF viewer. Then, click on OK. You wil see import file summary, click on OK again. You should see a fil ebeing importd into project folder Next, double click on the file you want for program to analyze, then click on OK Then you will have Analysis Options window coming up, click on Analyze". You will see the list of assembly language with C++ on the right section. Sometime when you click on the group of assemlby codes, the right section will change to show what you are viewing in C++. That is what I figured so far. I do not know what to do next. If anyone know how to make patches or how to make changes to any files, let us know. Cheers

From now on, you will see two picturs (TOP / BOTTOM) which is Jane's orignial pictures (resized by either x4 or x8 of the orignial size) / New texture version so you can see the difference.

Hello everyone! I want to let everyone know that there are modding community for Jane's Figther Anthology and Jane's USAF. You can find us by discord: https://discord.gg/a8rjdVEh I started the project overhauling the texture with upscaling and "super resolution" techniques. Jane's USAF runs smoothly on Windows 10 / 11. I wrote the guide a while ago about how to install and run jane's USAF on Windows 10, which can be used on Windows 11. Here is the link: (OUTDATED, no longer need to install new .exe and reshade, all is included in JUCE now. The only thing you need to do is to install Jane's USAF and update it with offiical Jane's USAF patch.) https://www.vnfawing.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=31023#31023 DOWNLOAD LINK for JUCE v1.2: https://www.mediafire.com/file/hvkjh94pshc6x6m/_JUCE+v1.2.zip/file Jane's USAF deserve to be revived so people can re-experience masterpieces made by Jane's combat simulation team. Here are screenshot, so you can see the difference: Originial Jane's USAF: JUCE version: The texture is based on excellent work of MigBuster airport texture for SF2. His name is included in README file as well. Please note, the texture is upscaled to 8x, then the texture get replaced with new texture, then re-sized back to 2x of the orignial resolution. The reason why I stay with 2x resolution for now is due to the limitation of Jane's USAF engine for now. UPDATE: With help from Tcklbrry, I am able to have texture maximum of 1024 height / width instead of 512. The new version of JUCE (v1.1 onward) will start using higher resolution texture up to 1024 height / width. Thank you for enjoyng the mods Cheers!

REPORT from JUCE v1.2: What I have learned about creating texture and working with transparent background for Jane's USAF: The system is primitive compared to modern where we can use .TGA, .PNG, and other file formats for texture. In the old days of gaming, we had to use 256 color 8 bit BMP. And in order for texture to have transparent, the game developer use one of color and turn it nto alpha. For example, in Jane's USAF, the transparent color is 00FFFF (HTML color or 0, 255, 255 RGB). It mean I can not use semi-transparent colors for smooth curves. Therefore, I am forced to try to 'smooth' the curve with rough edges. It is one of big challenges. Another challenge is to preserve the 00FFFF cyan color as I work with texture in GIMP, then move them to paint.net and save them in 256 color 8 BIT BMP while making sure cyan color is saved properly with exact 00FFFF. Here is interesting projects I have worked on, but firstly, I want to thank to all aritsts out there who made the materials available for me to use, as well as powerful tools, such as chatGPT that saved my time A LOT. Allow me to explain how i use AI to help me: By heping me with upscaling the texture 4x and 8x while using various methods. There is no perfect methods, so I use what is avaiable out there, especially with my RTX 3080TI and Stable Diffusion. However, for texture part, I use my hand to polish, replace, or tweak when needed. AI is not that advanced yet, so I must be very involved. However, I have this philosophy that AI is meant to be your partner, teammate, not your leader. You are the one who leads with creativity and passions. I, as artist / military aviation fan and hobbist, always make sure there is no mistakes with the textures. However, without AI, I would probably get burned out working on over 130 texturs, and AI have saved my time from years to a few weeks. For that, i am forever thankful. How do I use AI upscaled texture? let's say I have 8 different methods of upscalng, then I compare them, then cut off what I like the most, then paste into one template,. If none of them provide good texture, then I find the excellent texture materials online. If there is none, then I use my hands. When working with P-14, P-35, and P-40, that was quite interesting part, used my hand to create the radar lines. For example, here is P-14, so you can compare between orignial Jane's USAF and my new version: Jane's USAF orignial (resized to 1024 pixel height / width): By using this photo as reference: This is my new version, took me a while to finish the radar dish part. Here is P-35 (Jane's USAF orignial texture resized) My new version P-40 radar (Jane's original version resized) My new version:

Hello everyone! The new version of JUCE v1.3 is now released with oaver 130 texture updated. The file sizes jumps from 76 MB to 156 MB. All texture files in stationary folder (in Resouce folder) is now completed. I am moving on to the next texture project, especaily on aircraft. The screenshot from JUCE v1.2 will be posted here as soon I get the chance. Cheers

Hello everyone! I am certain that there are simmers out there in this community that still fly old simulations for sake of nostalgic and enjoyment. For me, it is the wonderful old Jane's series simulation. There is no another sim that do amazing jobs with it, especially with the ACCESSBILITY. I had to say it many times. there were time when people asked me "Why didn'tyou fly Flaming Cliff 3 for "low fideity' sim? SF2 is so old? Jane's series sim, it is so ANCIENT sim!" Becasue it does not have accessbility that Janes' series sim and SF2 have: Subtitles and target box that help me spotting them, along with arrow for padlocking, due to sensory disability. Another amazing features of Jane's Fighter Anthology / Jane's IAF / Jane's USAF and another Jane's sim is amazing tutorials and training. it actually feel very involving and immersive experiences for me. No another sim does that before. I wish SF1 / SF2 would have that immersive experiences, but again, it was develloped by 1 man so it can't be helped. Jane's comat simulation was developed by team. However, another thing I love about Jane's series sim is excellent "low fideity" envoriment. SF2 is the only sim that came in excellent envoriment after Jane's series sim. However, SF2 still is lacking of enriched air to ground targetting system / radar / other anvionics that Jane's IAF / USAF / other sim have. (Jane's FA is too basic, I do realize, but it was their firs tsteps toward advacing into more advanced features in next generation simulation in the 1990s.) And this might will surprise peope, I am currently working on mods for Jane's Fighter Anthology and Jane's USAF. for jane's USAF, it is texture overhaul projects. I am currenlty on a break from SF2 because it requires too much times of researching for accurate data, being just one man project, I do not have that time for now. If I do have time for it with great resources on my hand, I might will restore the projects (SFCE). However, .I have been looking everywhere to find the right tools to view / open .P3D files for Jane's USAF. Have anyone successfully opened or view the old 3D models? With that, I wil be able to quickly preview the 3D model with the new super resolution texture (By upscaling them 4x or 8x, work on it, then re-size it to 2x of the orignial resolution). Just in case, if any of you wonder why I am modding ancient simulation? It is the same reasons with the people who mods the old classic car and modernize them. Same thing with old furnitures and technologies. I am like that with the old simulation. I want to modernize them as much as possible.with excellent software and technologies we have now. It is straight from passions and heart. it is a shinig gems for us who loves old simulation that enriched us with childhood joyful memories. I still fly SF2 from time to time, because it is also one of my gems. I wish there are newer simulation that does 'lwo fideity' like Jane's series sim and SF2, with excellent accessiblity features. Thank you, Eagle114th

Hello everyone, Here is screenshot of JUCE v1.1, to show you the result of improving the resolution from 512 heigth / width to 1024 height / width, along with an improvement to the hangars. I am working on the rest of various building and bridge textures. Eagle114th

Hello everyone! After working with "Shack" hanger, I learned a lot about transparent. It is quite tricky. I can not include 'semi transparent blur edge for curve part', otherwise bright blue would show up around edge of texture. In order, to have clear transparent, I must have very clear texture without 'semi transparent' edge. It works now after several attempts to get 'Y" shaped metal bar showing up without bright blue around edge. It turns out a little bit rough looking, but still much beter than orignial Jane's texture. Original version: New version: Eagle114th

Hello everyone, There is a breakthrough in updating Jane's files, thank to Tcklbrry for making it possible to have 4x resolution instead of 2x. The new version of JUCE is on the way and I do not have ETA for now. The new 4x resolution texture is currently being polished and fixed. I am still working on re-laligning the lanes and sand textures. For now, here is the current process: Eagle114th