beachav8r

That's some funny sh*t right there..

I think I see Bruce Willis...(and why is he holding a lighter?) BeachAV8R

Norfolk and Baltimore are two of my favorite places to fly to because the scenery is always so good... I've seen the LCACs maneuvering on the beach and out in the bay there at Little River a few times while overflying. And seeing the carriers all lined up is always really cool. Yesterday I noticed a couple of those amphibious assault ships tied up in the river getting worked on. I didn't get a picture so I don't know what numbers they were... BeachAV8R

<G> I don't see an "unlike" button... <G>

Thanks Stary - that is a high compliment and I'm glad I can help spread the word about the great work TK did, and that you guys continue to do with the series. The pulse pounding action when you are heading over the beach and the AAA starts to pound around you is comparable to the sims that take 50 switches to get started. I mean, I love the DCS planes because there is a huge feeling of accomplishment in just getting the systems nailed..but Strike Fighters has a great environmental quality to it that really shines. Re: fire and smoke - <G> - I don't know if we need less of it, or if I just need a few more cores and an i7 to take better advantage of it! Was thinking about presenting the next AAR as a Video AAR, but I'll have to post-process it because apparently SweetFX and FRAPS don't work well together. Looking forward to whatever else you guys push down the pipe. After Vietnam (which could take awhile), I'm probably shooting for the Operation Desert Storm campaign.. Looks right down my alley.. Thanks again for all the hard work you guys do creating the mods, tweaking them, and setting us moron end users on the right path to getting them all working <g>.. BeachAV8R PS - Sure wish TK would show some indications of where the series is heading. It would be really nice to see him get back to PC platform programming. IOS apps...meh...

I've heard of this rumored country...sort of like that country rumored to be south of us..

So this weekend I'm going to (finally) map my Warthog to take more advantage of the commands available. I'm curious what other people are doing and have found useful. And I'm not looking for ultra-realism or anything - for instance, I'd imagine some people map a "padlock" command perhaps to one of their buttons. I figure I probably need to have some radar commands mapped (modes), probably target selector button, and weapons cycling. Right now I'm using the little lever on the HOTAS labeled INCR - DECR (it is an axis) as my thrust vector - but I probably should have it somewhere on the throttle that I don't have to take my hands off the throttle. I haven't even mapped flares or chaff yet simply because the A-6A I'm flying doesn't (or isn't supposed to) have them. So any TM Warthog users want to share their assignments? I'd be interested in what other non-TM users have mapped too.. BeachAV8R

Anyone know how to turn OFF the saving of screenshots by SweetFX in the installed folder? I use the default TW screenshots and really don't need 6MB extra for each image being saved by SweetFX.. (?) BeachAV8R

Interesting - learned some things I never knew: - The airplane has it's own APU. I always figured it just used battery power to get the engine spinning to the point they could introduce fuel. - I didn't know they could control the MFD LSK with the stick. I mean, I know there are a ton of commands mapped to the HOTAS, but I didn't know they could actually mouse around on the displays.. - Did not know CF-18s had a spotlight... - I did not know there was a country located north of the United States. What is this "Canada" he so often speaks about? BeachAV8R

Had a good chuckle at this one last night. This F-4 was pursuing this MiG-19 over a heavily defended port area. The flak was intense. As I was watching, the F-4 was easing into position behind the MiG when suddenly the MiG was hit by a piece of flak intended for the F-4.. Doh! Pretty cool that that randomness of flak is modeled and that there is no magic formula buried in the code that protects friendlies.. BeachAV8R

That's great. Sometime's it's tough to know what cumulatively has been wrapped up in these bigger mods (unless you read the entire changelog..which I usually skim, but didn't remember seeing it mentioned there..) Good to know.. And thanks eburger for the awesome flak! BeachAV8R

That'd be cool..! PS - all of the screen in AAR #6 I just posted are pretty much no post processing. The only thing I changed to the stock SweetFX captured images was that I'd crop them if I needed to and I added a 2% noise through PhotoShop to make them look slightly more weathered. Colors were done in-game with SweetFX. I found the setting to reduce the saturation to a bit more. It might not look as real and vivid as the real thing..but I think the images closely match the color photos of the era. And that mission was flown with overcast..so the sunny ones should be a fair bit brighter.. BeachAV8R

The F-105 is my other mistress... I might consider switching to one for one of the other phases of the campaign (B or C or something..).. The only Thirdwire title I haven't picked up thus far is NA. If I found some compelling reason to get it, I would..but I think after Rolling Thunder I'll end up doing some Desert Storm AARs because that is another of my favorite regions.. Would having NA add anything to SF: Europe with the Desert Storm mod? (Like - could I have those carrier task forces in the Gulf..?) BeachAV8R Tankers and multiplayer would really round out this sim nicely.. Kickstarter TK? C'mon..I'll be your PR guy! <g> BeachAV8R Good idea.. <files it away in the memory banks..>.. <G>

I'm wondering if that mod isn't bundled into one of the components of my install. Since eburger and malibu have both worked on various aspects of part of my install A-6 Superpak and Ground War expansion..I'd bet it is. Seems like the flak does pretty good... In any case, it is damn scary when it comes out of nowhere and starts blasting all around! <g> BeachAV8R

Note - For this mission I've made a small change. I've switched to the Thirdwire A-6A model and imported the RAZBAM A-6 cockpit. The reason for this is simple - the RAZBAM A-6 3D model only supports the original RAZBAM paint schemes. There were a couple of problems with this - most notably not having the period specific paint of the squadron being flown during the campaign, and also the inability to see different tail numbers on each aircraft. Thanks to Homefries and malibu43 for putting together the superb A-6 Superpak 1.51 that provides us with all these great campaigns, skins, and other modifications. I wish I could name all of the modders that contributed to that package, because it is a collaborative effort drawn from dozens of resources. I'd also like to thank CrazyhorseB34 for providing me with a specific 1965 A-6A VA75 skin you see in this report... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our mission for today is to strike the POL storage facility at Ben Thuy. This is another big strike package in the southern region of North Vietnam. For this flight, I'm going to try the low and fast tactic since it is such a short distance from the shoreline to the target area. As such, I load up with 20 500 lb. Mk-82 Snakeye retarded bombs. As a backup, I load my wingman with a pair of 2000 lb. bombs in case his clean-up is necessary. Having lost my most experienced squadron member on the last sortie, I try a change in strategy and give the FNG with the least experience a go at the mission. I'd pack an overnight bag if I were you Ensign Greer. Our first look at the awesome VA-75 skin provided by CrazyhorseB34...sweet!! And off we go.. We tick off the waypoints in the flight plan and I order my wingman to widen out and drop back a bit to give us room to maneuver after we cross the beach.. I put the wing leveler autopilot on and hit the F12 key - which is great fun since it zooms around the theater picking up on all the action going on. I watch with some surprise as a flight of F-4s manages to get the drop on a flight of MiG-19s..they pull right in behind the MiG flight without them even noticing until the last second.. Meanwhile, I stay a few miles behind my escort which is a flight of F-8 Crusaders that will clear a path across the shoreline.. We drop down to low altitude and skim the waves at two-hundred feet... As we flash over the coast something catches my eye. Oh man..that is a Jake Grafton target right there! To my surprise, the cluster of torpedo boats is also coming alive and firing sustained bursts at the F-8s and us..! Despite the temptation to drop a few bombs on the boats, I stick with the mission plan and forge ahead. The city area is jam packed with AAA and the explosions pop all around us. I lean a bit more on the throttle and realize it is all the way forward... The flak is withering even at low altitude, but at least they don't have a long opportunity to track us as we pass quickly overhead... Another nice touch with the Homefries/malibu43 mod is the addition of the modified bomb dropping symbology. It looks great! I tap the labels key to help me spot the target (a concession to not having the greatest visual acuity in the sim I tell myself..).. At the last moment I realize I have forgotten my wingman again and I quickly dash off the "ATTACK MY TARGET" command.. I figure there is no way he has time to engage and worry he will yank up and try setting up for an attack - risking getting shot down in the process.. My bomb fall line crosses the POL facility and I don't really have time to adjust to hit anything specific. I just press the pickle button and hold it down while all of my bombs ripple off.. Holy crap! The explosion is massive and I worry for a second that I might have killed myself as the glow flashes in my cockpit. I don't know what the minimum release altitude is for the Snakeye..but I don't think I would want to try that any lower! (Is there frag pattern modeling that you can take damage from?) My wingman roars over the target and to my great surprise, he pickles his bombs too.. Nice job! I roll to the left because I know that is a southerly heading. I have no idea what the MiG situation is behind me, but I stay low and pull for all she's worth..nearly blacking out in the process.. I level off briefly and take a quick look to my left and can see the smoke rising from our strike. That looks pretty good! I realize I've pulled a bit too hard for a bit too long though as my heading is more back the way we came from to the east and I should be evading to the south southeast. I jink back to the right and take up the proper course to get me toward the south side of the DMZ via a direct route.. In case my wingman gets any crazy ideas I ask him to rejoin. I also query him for his status and he tells me he has no more weapons and no damage. Yes! We head south and I can see a bit of a furball is going on just offshore, so I elect to keep flying southeast to clear the area without attracting any attention before turning offshore.. Feet wet! Soon I pick up the carrier task force on the air-to-ground radar. I have to be careful though because there are three different carriers out there and it would be pretty embarrassing to land on the wrong one.. Meanwhile, back over the port the Crusaders are paying a steep price for loitering. This one takes a shot from some AAA... I finally spot my carrier and get configured for the landing. The ship is in mid-turn so I have to make some odd corrections... The turn throws me off a bit and I end up getting a bit fast and high. I think I have it all sorted out so I'm surprised when I land a touch long and miss all the wires. Bolter! I hit the power, stay configured, and come back around for another pass... This time the pass is pretty good - maybe even a three-wire..! The mission is a great success. The low level attack was really exciting and I was very happy my wingman came through unscathed. The timeline is pretty compelling to study because it shows just how compressed the action is - basically 60 seconds from getting shot at while crossing the coast to getting shot at as we leave the target area. Our bombs were released nearly simultaneously but mine did the damage. He might not have gotten credit if my bombs destroyed the target first (?). I'm now a decorated aviator! Can't wait to fly the next sortie. Once again, thanks to all the modders that have worked to make this Vietnam campaign so much fun..I appreciate all the advice, suggestions, and assistance. <S> BeachAV8R

That's good to know. So far I've been pretty good at hitting my targets..but then again they have been very BIG targets (buildings, oil containers..) so it doesn't take much accuracy to take them out. Thanks for the reply.. BeachAV8R

I put a copy of all the zip contents in \ProgramFiles\Thirdwire\StrikeFighters2\ and then also copies in the MOD folders (looks like you were putting it in the game install FLIGHT folder): user/savedgames/StrikeFighters2 Vietnam/Flight and user/savedgames/StrikeFighters2 Vietnam/Menu Give that a whirl... BeachAV8R

Yeah - I'm not too interested in any of those (yet)..just want a more subdued color for Vietnam... South China sea.. BeachAV8R

Couple more unedited screens showing the output from SweetFX - still a touch too dark for me, but I can change some settings to lighten up or desaturate the colors a bit I think.. BeachAV8R

<wink> Maybe! I dunno. In doing some research (searching the forums) I saw several posts talking about water color - is there some relationship with water color and where ships are able to sail or something? I haven't actually tried my new water in the campaign..but if it screws up some sort of setting identifying water as water then obviously that wouldn't be good. So does just changing the color/saturation of the water cause some other undesirable consequences? I'm good at fixing one thing and breaking three others.. But I'm pretty damn happy with my install right now - (that means..back that *hit up right now right..?!) Regards, BeachAV8R

Note - In our last mission - I stated that I had switched to CrazyhorseB34's VA-75 skin, but in fact the campaign defaulted to the nice looking skin included in Homefries' and malibu's A-6 Superpak. In order to correct that, I moved the Crazyhorse VA-75 skin into the default folder so that it will load until I'm able to select my own skins (apparently you can do that once you reach a certain rank in the sim.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our mission for today is one of the more iconic ones. The Thanh Hóa Bridge spanned the Song Ma river and was a frequent target for frustrated U.S. war planners for seven long years between 1965 and 1972. Despite having damage inflicted on it multiple times, it wasn't until 1972 that a "smart" weapon was finally able to destroy the bridge. The Vietnamese nicknamed the bridge The Dragon's Jaw... The mission is originally tasked to have just a flight of two A-6As. Knowing the history of the bridge, I elected to add another two wingmen to improve our odds and perhaps divide the enemy fire... All members of the flight will carry four 2,000 lb. bombs each... CrazyhorseB34's awesome VA-75 skin - appropriate to 1965 and it has the correct carrier (CVA-62 Independence) on the side. I particularly like the humor of the "Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club" - gotta love attack pilot humor! The second element is ready on the waist catapults... What is really cool about SF2 missions is the amount of other stuff going on. Two other carriers are nearby launching their own aircraft in support of the strike. These F-8 Crusaders will be our CAP flight launching from the Bon Homme Richard (CV-31)... Soon all our aircraft are launched... The Oriskany feeds some airframes into the battle as well - A4s I believe? F-4s launch from another carrier... Further inland, a pair of F-100s is on another mission.. As we get closer to the coast, I radio my flight to spread out... I have the throttle eased back hoping that the CAP flights will pull out in front of us to clear the airspace. I glance at the map (yes - a cheat I know) and see some MiGs awaiting us. I slow down further.. The F-4s start shooting, but they aren't engaging the targets I'm most worried about... The MiGs continue to head south and I have no option but to break off the planned flight path and I try dragging them to the east toward more blue air power. The A-6A isn't the speediest demon in the world even when it doesn't have four tons of ordnance hanging off it, so we have to trade some altitude for airspeed and we drop quickly from 20,000'... The MiGs have taken an interest in the second element and they are closing the distance. I swing us back around to the northwest, continuing to drag them like a train into some blue CAP flights. I beg on the radio for assistance... Our continued quest for speed drives us ever lower until we can go no further.. Lion flight comes to our rescue and takes on the MiGs - that was close! We retreat back to the safety zone between the MiGs and the coast... We complete another course reversal and I pick up another flight (Chevy) that we can duck under which should provide us some cover... Sure enough, they cross over the top of us and start engaging the remaining MiGs.. We take the opportunity to climb back up to 15,000' to give us room to release our bombs.. A quick glance with labels confirms the primary target location and it looks like we are lined up right down the axis.. As I roll in I give a quick command to my wingman and the element to engage the target – hoping that at least one of us can get bombs on the target… The flak is murderous and shells zip by my canopy and explode behind me as I press downward waiting for the ‘DIANE’ bomb fall reticle to pass over the bridge. I don’t know how those guys did this in real life..it is unnerving waiting for that shell that will take your wing off. Guess I can’t buy a JDAM kit in 1965 huh? As soon as my bombs release I yank hard to the left. I complete nearly a 180 before my bombs hit sending up an enormous plume of debris – wow those 2,000 pounders really put on a show! A span drops into the river – guess the Dragon’s Jaw isn’t quite as impervious in SF2… I jink my way back to the coast and hit the wing leveler autopilot and take a glance at how my wingmen are doing. The element (#3 and #4) have pulled off dry with weapons still hanging from their wings. I give them the order to rejoin since I don’t want them doing anything stupid over the target area. I query the Tactical Air Controller and she verifies that the mission is accomplished, so I then order the element to drop their tanks which makes them dump their ordnance into the ocean. The flight is spread out a bit as we come offshore but everyone is clear and there are no MiGs in the immediate vicinity. Each mission where my guys all come off the target feels like a victory unto itself.. With the wing leveler on I’m free to do some sightseeing with the F12. I watch a fascinating engagement between an F-4 and a MiG. This screen isn’t all that remarkable until you realize that isn’t the MiG launching a missile..it is a missile missing the MiG! I don’t get a chance to revisit the engagement, but I like to believe that lucky bastard got away clean and made it back to Hanoi… I find my carrier and drop into the groove. I’m surprised to see a gaggle of F-4s on final recovering too and things get a little bit tense as I trap then have to goose the throttle to get out of the landing zone. It is really cool to see all the other flight returning to their ships. I hope everyone made it home safely, but I know that is wishful thinking… The mission is a success, to my great surprise. The flak was impressive but our exposure was minimal. It was historically inaccurate to have dropped the span on this mission. An interesting historical note is that C-130s actually attacked this bridge using unique 5,000 lb. “mass focus” bombs in a failed attempt to destroy the bridge in May of 1966. There is a great article about it at AirForceMag.com… Of interest in the debrief is the 14-second bomb fall time. It begs the question whether wind affects ordnance in SF2..because I would have bet on a miss with such a high altitude drop… Another exciting mission in the books and again, continued thanks to Homefries, malibu, Crazyhorse, Stary, and all of the other guys that made these missions possible. TK must be pretty amazed at how you guys ramped up his sim! <S> BeachAV8R

That's good to know. I must have been pretty close to the minimum release altitude on that Snakeye pass. Good to know that it is possible to frag yourself.. Thanks! BeachAV8R

I gave it a shot - I initially thought I got it..but it has some annoying shimmering effects and is better at lower sun angles than high ones.. I'll experiment with it a bit more later tonight.. BeachAV8R

A little mea culpa..I thought I was using Crazyhorse's A-6A skin, but in fact it was the one from the package malibu and Homefries had put together. Seems that I'm not able to alter my skin selection until I reach a certain rank. I remedied that by making the Crazyhorse A-6A VA-75 skin the default one... BeachAV8R

Hey Stary - do you know of any darker color water textures that I can use? The ones I'm using now seem a little too "cyan"-ish..so I'm desaturating the cyan a bit when I post-process the screens to make the water a bit less brilliant. Just curious if there is a darker water color available I could experiment with? Before and after post process editing.. BeachAV8R