beachav8r

Early on the same morning that the opening salvo was fired by the Apache's, one of the newest weapons in the United State's arsenal was roaming the skies over Iraq: the F-117A Nighthawk. Tasked with deep strike missions against high value targets and infrastructure, the mislabeled "Strike Fighter" was a useful tool against targets in the heavily defended Baghdad area. Our mission will take our single ship F-117A from Qatar to downtown Baghdad... Though modeled lightly to SF2 standards, the cockpit is pretty cool looking... Heading into the darkness. Actual F-117A missions required multiple tanker connections. The compressed airspace of the SF2 world and the lack of tanker modeling make this a non-stop flight tonight... Crossing the coast near the Kuwaiti / Iraqi border... At the initial point - and not a peep from enemy air defenses... With the target located, I select a GBU, snap the bomb bay doors open for a brief second, pickle the bomb, then shut the doors... Direct hit! As the fire subsides, just a smoking ruin remains where the building once stood... The enemy AAA wakes up after the attack as more coalition forces start working on areas south of Baghdad... The F-117A remains invisible to enemy radars, but other flights are not so fortunate. Here an F/A-18 is targeted by a surface-to-air missile... Other units are taking out enemy air defenses... ..but it is give and take.. The mission is a success. The opening night of hostilities is just a precursor to the extensive air war campaign... BeachAV8R Note - Rivet counters be aware - this campaign is only vaguely following history. No doubt some units, weapons, locations, etc, will differ from those actually flown and used in the real Gulf War. Try to suspend your disbelief..<wink>

It's just a quick mission I put together. I'm thinking I'll fly a full AV-8B campaign with some sorta specialized single missions thrown in for story-telling purposes.. BeachAV8R

January 17, 1991 - 0210 The kickoff of Operation Desert Storm started in the early morning hours of January 17 when a pair of MH-53 Pave Low helicopters escorted a strike force of AH-64 Apache helicopters to a jump off point near a pair of Iraqi radar installations. The mission for the Apaches was to blow a hole in the Iraqi sensor network to allow droves of coalition aircraft to pour through. Though the original mission originated in Saudi Arabia, for our purposes we'll start near enough to the origination point. The MH-53s had precision navigation capabilities and they ended up marking the final waypoint prior to the attack with clusters of chemical lightsticks from which the Apaches were able to take a final position update. * FSX MH-53 - None available for SF2! Skimming low over the desert is demanding flying. The SF2 helicopter modeling is rather poor. Eagle Dynamics or Belsimtek - we are waiting on you! (Or Combat Helo please!) I have no idea how to get my wingmen to turn their lights off. Approaching the attack area we hover behind some high ground to the south... Target acquired: "Party in ten..." Hellfire away! Missiles ripple off the rails and it is all over in a minute... Closing in to clean up with the canon... Send the code messages for mission success: "California AAA, Nebraska AAA" Through the gap in the radar coverage, F-111 and F-15E aircraft entered Iraqi airspace on missions toward the interior. The air war offensive has begun. BeachAV8R Yes, I'm pulling a Brett Favre/Michael Jordan..

..and some unrelated A-7 shots.. SweetFX did the in-game filtering..but I need to tweak the one for the Israel install since it desaturates too much.. BeachAV8R

Sundowner recently updated the stock F-105D skins with 2048 x 2048 and new bump maps! They look awesome... HERE! Really nice work there.. :thumbsup: BeachAV8R

Yeah - that's what I've got - those three locations. Someone had mentioned something about perhaps Anti-Aliasing causing problems - try turning your AA off on your card settings (like via NVidia Control Panel) and letting SweetFX do the anti-aliasing. Second suggestion would be to set all of the SweetFX settings to off (0) in the configuration file and then see if the game still crashes upon launch. If it doesn't, incrementally turn on settings until you isolate what is causing the problem. Hope you get it squared away.. BeachAV8R As far as I know - SweetFX runs automatically - there is no turning it on/off with a hotkey. The nice thing is that you can change settings "on the fly". Simply ALT-TAB out of the game while you are playing (pause it), adjust the SweetFX configuration file, save it, and you will immediately see the effects in game. Pretty cool...

This will be our first night mission - a two ship armed recon against targets of opportunity along what I'd imagine would be the Ho Chi Minh Trail... I've lightened the screens up a bit in post-processing to allow us to see what happened. The mission as flown was quite a bit darker.. The lights from my wingman illuminate my cockpit as I roar down the catapult into the darkness.. With no idea what kind of targets we'll be finding, I've brought along a mixed load of Napalm, CBUs, and Snakeyes... We pick up our waypoints and it is pretty evident that no other carriers are launching strikes or fighters at this hour. Looks like we are on our own this evening... The radar picks up the coast and we are soon in the target area. Flak and AAA is very, very light - I don't know if this is a reflection of operating down near the DMZ or if they just don't shoot as much at night... Our target turns out to be a few troops pushing carts down the trail.. Without the aid of labels it would have been impossible to find them - so I rationalize that I might have had a long-range patrol down there helping mark the targets for me. I select a napalm canister and roll in on the target... The explosion rips across the jungle below - I have no idea if I hit my target, but the explosion is awesome! The view from my wingman as he circles the area... Suddenly, Red Crown gives me warning of enemy fighters in the area - but way too late. The MiGs are already screaming down from above us! I should have been keeping an eye on my map! I quickly dump all my stores, and push the throttle forward until I fear I'm going to bend it. I point my nose south hoping I can drag the attackers into friendly anti-aircraft range... Only one of the two MiGs is on us, and he has taken an interest in my wingman. I query the TAC for help and they do have some fighters to the north they vector down toward us. I see the flight on my map and reverse course and hope to drag our tails up toward the oncoming friendly fighters... As we make the turn, I can see tracers behind me as the MiG starts to take shots at my wingman! The F-104s are trying to get into the fight as quickly as possible, but it is a race against diminishing time as the MiG gets ever closer to my wingman... The debrief will later show that my wingman survives for 30 seconds after the initial burst, but the racing F-104s get there a few seconds too late.. In my haste, I had forgotten to give my wingman his "drop tanks" command that might have squeaked him out some more maneuverability and speed.. The flaming trail of my wingman arcs across the sky to my right as I continue north toward the intercepting fighters... As I fly under the fighters, they take up the fight... The MiGs are quite skilled and keep the F-104s on their toes for a bit. But it is four on two and though it takes a bit of time, eventually the Starfighters triumph.. I take advantage of the distraction to beat it toward the coast and soon I'm back over the safety of the ocean, but alone in the sky. It is a short, but long flight back to the boat as I mourn losing another squadron member... To my surprise, we get a mission success just for destroying those two lone VC bike transports with a single napalm strike. I also get a promotion but I'm still upset I lost my wingman - and this time he is KIA and not MIA. The campaign continues, but attrition will be creeping in... BeachAV8R

Strike Fighters 2 - Vietnam Green Hell 3.5 + Trees - Stary SF2V Air/Ground War Expansion - eBurger68 CVA-63 Kitty Hawk - MigBuster RAZBAM A-6A - Payware Formations.ini - SixGun/PureBlue A-6 SuperPack - Homefries Unified Effects 1.2 - Stary SARCASM 1.5 - Stary A-6 DIANE CCIP - MigBuster Water texture - Stary Sunday Puncher's Skin - CrazyhorseB34 ..and a whole lot of help from the kind people here at Combat Ace...

California Dreaming by the Mamas & the Papas... BeachAV8R

Well, it doesn't get any more hairy than this. Our mission for today is to head "downtown", crossing over the heavily defended Hanoi to the west side of the city. There we will engage in one of the most dangerous missions of the war - suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) otherwise known as Iron Hand. Our loadout consists of a pair of Shrike missiles, and CBU-24/B cluster bombs... Note - these screens are unaltered except for a 2% noise added. The desaturation and vignette are done in real time, in game, by SweetFX. Stary was kind enough to share this awesome water texture with me..it looks fantastic! Heading for the coast it is just my wingman and I this time from our squadron. Dozens of other aircraft are pressing toward the coast as well from other carriers... Keeping the flight director box centered up on the TV display... The fighters push forward on reports that MiGs are in the area... And indeed, they are lining up to meet us over Hanoi... Thuds come in from land bases in the South (or was it Thailand?)... Scooters crossing the beach... I radio my wingman to give me some space. The threat receiver (again - I don't know if this year Intruder actually had them) is audio only and it shrieks. In this mission, the blaring whistle turns to something more ominous and I guess that means I'm getting launched on by an SA-2 site. I blunder around the skies and do see a couple missile trails go whizzing by. I turn my ECM gear on and just hope I'm lucky... While I'm F12 viewing the theater this little truck park comes into view. Wish I could mark it for later... The AAA and flak over Hanoi is just murderous. I had the house to myself today, so I cranked up the sounds system and the subwoofer was rattling the windows as the explosions hit all around my aircraft. It was really intense... As we approach our area of operations, I'm a little unsure how exactly to employ the Shrike. I get the primary target padlocked, hit the launch button and my missile roars off. I track it down and it destroys a AAA artillery piece, but I'm not sure that is how it is supposed to work (I thought Shrikes would only go after emitters?)... I cut my wingman loose and he starts to make a run toward the target area as well.. Things snowball quickly though and he is hit by something. His aircraft crashes just beyond where his cluster bombs are exploding... It looks pretty horrific... I pull off, intending to exit the target area to the southwest, but when I query the Tactical Air Controller she responds that "..the mission is still in progress.." It is then I realize that the "Primary Target" is, in fact, a cluster of a whole bunch of different anti-aircraft units. Oh crap.. The enemy tracers and flak are just unrelenting (I now know what the meaning of "you could walk across the flak" means..) but I roll back in after selecting my CBUs. I get good hits on several CBU passes, but each time I check with the controller the mission goals are not fufilled... It is only a matter of time before I'm going to get hit and each time I drop down toward a target I know I'm going to get blasted from the sky.. Finally, I've dropped all of my ordnance and the mission is still not complete. I need a Skyraider! With no choice, I have to head south under the cover of the other aircraft and accept that the mission is not a success... As I set up the wing leveler autopilot to cruise toward the coast, I hit the F12 key to watch some action. As I'm watching this MiG getting set up to kill this Crusader - it happens: CTD! Argh!! It is unfortunate that I lose the details of the mission - but at least I don't get penalized as far as getting data written to my logbook. In an attempt to recreate faithfully what happened, I cycle though missions in the campaign until I get a similar one to the same area, and refly the mission. On the second run through I get the same results as far as not being able to bring enough ordnance to the table, but this time m wingman doesn't get shot down. I preserved the outcome though by not adding flights or bombs - so in that respect the mission represents close to what the outcome would have been anyway. My penchant for the F12 key can cause lock-ups occasionally as the camera zips around the theater. My 2008 system might need some updating.. The mission was a real nail biter right up until I decided to head back to the carrier. The flak and AAA was just incredible and the thought of an SA-2 inbound was ever present. This sim has the AAA from Jane's F-15 beat by a long shot.. BeachAV8R

That should work - and as far as I know, you probably don't even need it in your MENU folder. Options.ini: --------------------- Flightengine.ini -------------------------- Latest SweetFX settings (this will likely be way to undersaturated for most people...mine is this way for a reason..) Hope that helps.. BeachAV8R

Alrighty..problem solved (whew!). Did a little poking around the internet(s) and came up with this post on the 1C forums: "I've found that repeatedly tweaking sweet FX can eventually muff up your d3d9.dll file which it uses. Downloading SweetFX and installing it again will fix you up. You can use all your favourite settings still, just refreshing those other files will do the trick." So I replaced all of the files in the USER directories, and the main c:/ThirdWire directory and then just put my custom SweetFX_settings.txt back in and everything worked like a charm! So there might be something to what Feathered posted above! Yay.. BeachAV8R

Damn..I'd buy NA and patch it into my current install for the parked aircraft on deck..but I'm really worried I'd pork my current install mid-campaign.. argh..

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.. <g> * You should hear me narrate Surgeon Simulator.. Just noticed the video intro title says Mission 06 - when, in fact, it is mission 07.. LOL.. details..

I've not had to refly any of them yet - but I don't know if I'm going to play it as a true "one life to live" campaign or not simply because I'm sort of just telling a story. If I do get shot down - I'll post the AAR of the shoot down, and then I'll post the corrective AAR of how not to get killed if I choose to continue the campaign. The F-111 is another of my "favorite" aircraft. Anything that is a dedicated ground pounder is my cup o' tea.. The only exceptions are things like the multi-role capable F-15E and the F/A-18 of course..they do both rubble bouncing and air-to-air fairly well (the -E probably a little less better..).. I think last issue of Flying magazine had a great little article about one of their staff writers who went along on an F-15E mission in Afghanistan I think it was.. I was trying not to wake up the family with my slightly lowered volume voiceover. "Mommy..what's Daddy doing?.." "Oh..he's just bombing villages in Vietnam again...drink your milk son.." It would have been great if your handle was "Ivan Kutchercokoff" or "Sum Ting Wong" or something... Does SF2 take advantage of any of the newer rigs out there with multiple cores and more RAM and stuff..or is it definitely a software bottleneck? One thing I found curious about this mission when I flew it. I'm missing one squadron member who was shot down a couple AARs back - so my squadron strength is 15 instead of 16. As I was inbound I was able to give commands to my wingman and the other flights..but as I was egressing the target area I pulled up the comms menu and flight #4 was greyed out. I though - oh crap - they ALL got shot down! But when I got my debriefing, the report was only two A-6s damaged. What would cause the loss of communications with the 4th flight? It was a great mission.. definitely loved the feeling of going "Downtown"... BeachAV8R

This will be the only time I do a video AAR as opposed to a written AAR. The time to put together something like this is prohibitive, but it was a fun experiment. Apologies for the low framerates - playing the game while simultaneously recording full resolution FRAPS on my circa 2008 system is just about maxing it out. The video is a "single take" of the mission and all the events captured happened exactly as they did. I simply paused the sim and moved the camera around to try to tell the story. Apologies for the low voiceover audio too - for some reason my mic input levels suck. BeachAV8R

That is one of my favorite sayings ever.. Nobody ever gets it.. ...it ain't over now..!!!

Our planes are too small to have real lavs.. If you haven't read this story you should. It gives a great example of small private jet problems when it comes to dropping the kids off at the pool.. BeachAV8R

Then I will have to continue to send my wingmen after air defense targets. If they are going to get shot down - they might as well go during a noble endeavor! BeachAV8R

Question - Can anyone hazard a guess as to why I can't get SweetFX working with my ODS install? Just as with all the other variants of the game, I have the SweetFX files placed in my /USERS/SAVEDGAMES/THIRDWIRE/SF2-ODS/FLIGHT directory, but for some reason no effects are being seen in game. I can tweak the SweetFX all I want but the effects just don't show up in the game. I have no problems with Vietnam, Europe, or Israel..just ODS.. ?? BeachAV8R

Just curious - how hard coded are the wingman commands? I'm using the excellent FORMATIONS.INI modification that allows me a little bit of flexibility with directing wingmen..but I was wondering if it would be possible to have an "ORBIT HERE" command? Actually, DCS has a great command system that allows you to send wingmen to a SPI, a steerpoint, the tanker, or orbit in your current location. For campaign missions where preserving resources might be a concern, it sure would be nice to park a wingman in a safe location for a bit... Just wondering... BeachAV8R

Was that you out in the river crabbin'? Or were you down there making Marines turn wrenches?

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