CheckGear

By God, I think it worked!!! Thank you for all your help! One question - this mod does not include clouds, does it? The clouds look the same.

Just to make sure I am doing this right, all I have to do is extract the files into the "Terrains" folder, correct?

I am redownloading it and am going to see whether that makes any difference...

No sir, my game was completely un-modded prior to attempting to installing IcelandNA.

I cannot tell, because the game in completely unplayable. However, when I do change units (F6), it seems like the entire game world is messed up.

I think I got it to work:

Not sure what to do... the images show up just fine on my end. Any way I can directly send you the images?

Good evening, folks. I just downloaded and installed this mod. I wish I had good news to report to you, but I do not. I installed the mod into its proper location (C:\Users\(user name)\Saved Games\ThirdWire\StrikeFighters2 NorthAtlantic\Terrains. However, all I am getting is the following when I attempt to fly: The whole thing is a complete mess. Did I miss a step here? Here are my system specs: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Intel Core i5-2500 3.3 Ghz 8 GB RAM DirectX 11 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 I am running the game at maximum resolution and color. Thank you in advance! I realize that first screenshot probably did not capture the full extent of my troubles, so let me post a more accurate depiction here:

Where can I find information on all the modifications that were ever made to the F-14, or any other fighter, for that matter? This is information that utterly fascinates me. With regards to an F-14A-specific cockpit, I am looking for exactly that - a general look and feel for what our naval aviators were dealing with at the time, if not precisely what they had in a specific year. But I suppose that is what you were aiming for when you made your design decisions?

Outstandingly explained. Do you have any plans to create an F-14A pit? I know the biggest difference between the F-14A and F-14A+/B cockpit is that RHAW display, but I would love to see something that gives us a sense of what the early Tomcat aviators were looking at.

Thanks for the link! These modders are really trying to outdo Eagle Dynamics, aren't they? I originally intended to start a separate thread for my next question, but, for the sake of consolidation, I will ask it here. I downloaded The Mirage Factory's F-14 Tomcat Superpack. When I read the readmes, I am getting the sense that they utilize the F-14A+/B cockpit for all variants of the Tomcat. Is this really the case, or do the earlier versions of the Tomcat in the superpack utilize the appropriate cockpits and avionics for the time period? Thanks again.

I cannot seem to find this mod. Where is it located for download?

Don't get me wrong - I am all about realism. What I am saying, however, is that developers ought to be a bit more discretionary about how much realism they intend to put in and how much they intend to simulate. To me, this is in part why sims like Jane's F-15 and F/A-18 were so popular, even to this day. These were study sims, but they never quite reached the depth that Falcon 4.0 and DCS reached. Thus, they struck that perfect balance - they realistically simulated and covered only what they had to. These were games that assumed you had earned your wings and you were ready to take on your first combat mission. Another example of a study sim that did it right was Graphsim's F/A-18 franchise. To this day, this is probably still the best study sim ever, in my opinion. It was highly scalable, easy to learn and get into (aided by a "classroom" training tool), yet you could really amp up the realism. Even then, it was still a very playable game.

First time poster here. And I could not have picked a better thread to kick things off in. In my view, it must be remembered that a flight simulator that is sold for the PC (or any gaming system, for that matter) is still, at the end of the day, a GAME. While I am all in favor of realism and technical details, even a hard-core simmer like me has to admit that it can become incredibly overwhelming at times and it takes away the "fun" factor of the game. The way I see it is this. You want to be realistic? Then you have to consider the fact that professional military aviators learn everything about the aircraft before they go on their first flight. In other words, your first flight is not the time to be trying to figure out where the jet-start switch is located. But that is often what you end up doing in a study-sim - a lot of trial and error involved. In my view, the simulator assuming that you are already a qualified combat aviator ready to take on your first combat mission to the point that all the "little things" have been accounted for is far more realistic than making a player learn where every switch is located and learn the exact protocol for getting the plane started on the ramp. There are a lot of things the '80s and '90s flight sims did well, but that is at the top of the list - making you feel like you were a combat aviator right out of the box, as opposed to a noob. Part of the appeal of LOMAC and the SF2 franchise (which I consider to be LOMAC-lite) is that they have that '80s and '90s feel to them. All the little things are taken care of, all you have to do is focus on the big picture. Within that big picture, however, are many small details that you do have to pay attention to and that provides further realism towards the simulation.

R.I.P. Tom Clancy, I really enjoyed his works. But please, do not associate Tom Clancy with the SF2 franchise! SF2 is better than anything Tom Clancy ever did!