alexis99

I am using both the outdated Raptor and your brand new Raptor. The outdated Raptor works well because I can put the radar in the top right MFD and don't have to scroll down to see the Radar. It's all about locking up the bad guys after all. I spent some time cleaning up the graphics in the MFDs, thickening the lines so they don't flicker, should I at any point decide to scroll down. It also has a lot more weapons to choose from. Loading 8 Brimstone inside is brilliant. I never fly with external weapons, because that affects stealth, even though the game probably ignores that completely. The new Raptor has few weapon choices. You have to scroll down to see the Radar, so you are forced to use Pop-ups. It does give you a shoot cue at the correct time; the outdated Raptor often requires you to press the pickle before the shoot cue comes up. I have the cockpit quite close on the HUD in this version also, because I like to see the fpm on the runway when I'm landing at the correct speed. Some cockpits come out of the box with a HUD where you can't see the fpm on the runway, so I always fix things. That's what is brilliant about the game, you can personalise the cockpit. I flew the brand new Raptor in Iceland. It didn't register the MiG-31, and it didn't register the incoming AHM Adder, exactly like the outdated Raptor didn't. Perhaps I have the RWR graphics in the wrong folder. I have put them in the Flight folder directly, and put them in the Flight folder in a folder called RWR. I have also put some of them in the aircraft/cockpit/RWR folder. Still don't see the incoming missile or the MiG-31 in the RWR. Maybe they have their radars switched off. And as you say AHMs don't show. So thanks for confirming that. If I knew how to put the Radar in the top right hand MFD and the RWR in the top left hand MFD in the brand new Raptor, I might use it more often. But I'm still switching between the two Raptors testing them out. I think I left a note in the support page about removing the extra cockpit layers that make the cockpit look beautiful, but also make it flicker. Any time a single pixel horizontal white line is on a dark field, you get flicker. I dislike flickering cockpits. Just a personal thing. Incidentally I experimented with taking the RCS modifier down from -0.00001 to -0.01 and got a bit more RWR information showing. Mainly ZSUs and MiG-23s. That was in the Desert V4 with updated terrain, not Iceland. Thanks for identifying the topics, I shall read them with interest.

You just reminded me, Viper63a: When I first got the Razbam A-6 intruder cockpit, the graphics were awfully blurry. Raising graphic quality to unlimited fixed it. So Bravo7 should try going higher rather than lower.

It must be your laptop. Mine installed normally.

Yes, imagine what carriers would be like if your entire flight had to park on deck

The F/A-18 has some finely detailed RADAR and RWR displays so I tried larger pop-ups. The RADAR is on the right this time, because it is on the right of the cockpit panel. It just saves me moving my thumb a quarter of an inch to scroll down from the HUD to the panel. But then in combat I really need HUD, RADAR and RWR on screen at the same time. To save interested parties from number crunching, here are the numbers I used: HUD DATA [Display004] DisplayType=RADAR PosX=0.801 PosY=0.580 Width=0.1875 Height=0.250 Alpha=1.0 InitTime=2.0 and [Display006] DisplayType=RWR PosX=0.010 PosY=0.5800 Width=0.142 Height=0.250 Alpha=1.0 InitTime=2.0

Don't know if this may be of interest, but I use the pop-ups at the side, in line with the new message bar position for aircraft that don't have visible RADAR and RWR without scrolling the cockpit. The only problem with the RWR is that it's always on. But you don't have to add it. In fact some aircraft don't need it because the RWR is visible in the cockpit. If the aircraft already has visible RWR, I just cancel [Display006] If it has visible radar, I just make the width and height entries in [Display004] set at zero. (An ancient trick) I keep a set of different HUDDATA.inis for different aircraft, and then just slot the appropriate one into the flight folder. These are the changed and added entries in the HUDDATA.ini from the FLIGHT folder for this A-6, a slightly modified Razbam. [Display004] DisplayType=RADAR PosX=0.048 PosY=0.615 Width=0.1625 Height=0.217 Alpha=1.0 InitTime=2.0 [Display006] DisplayType=RWR PosX=0.147 PosY=0.490 Width=0.06375 Height=0.1125 Alpha=1.0 InitTime=2.0

This is absolutely fantastic. Thank you. Personally I have a bee in my bonnet over the TK Cockpit bounce, and cannot stand thin light-coloured lines jiggling in my vision. The F-22 cockpit is drop-dead gorgeous, but as soon as it moves, you get lots of bounce and jiggling from the beautifully layered graphics. I've fixed this to my liking, by removing the following files from the cockpit: F-22_MainPanel_S F-22_MainPanel_NM I also took the liberty of painting out the white surround lines on the ADI_BG_tga file. Single pixel white lines against black backgrounds cause horrendous flashing jiggles. If the TK Cockpit bounce didn't exist, we wouldn't have to degrade these gorgeous graphics.

This is an alternative arrangement that looks a little neater. I think it works better with the Corsair. To save you number crunching, it's this: [Display004] DisplayType=RADAR PosX=0.080 PosY=0.660 Width=0.1300 Height=0.1742 Alpha=1.0 InitTime=2.0 AND [Display006] DisplayType=RWR PosX=0.010 PosY=0.6595 Width=0.09978 Height=0.1746 Alpha=1.0 InitTime=2.0

I don't want to sound arsy, but you're better off with the red box in medium settings. A real pilot would have better resolution with the MK.1 eyeball in the real world than you'll get in a computer game at 1920x1080. Plus, a real pilot would have been studying recon photos until he had the expected view in his head before he took off. Kudos to you for doing things the hard way. Standing up in a hammock springs to mind. Did I say that? Oops.

I like the message bar because it tells me what ground attack weapons I've selected, but I didn't like where it was because it was writing across the instruments in the cockpit. So after ten years of fuming over it, I decided to find a new position for it. Flight Folder/Message system (You have to extract it) TextFontName=Arial TextSize=15 [MessageSystem] MaxMessages=1 MessageTime=2.0 MessageFadeTime=3.0 ;MaxMessages=25 ;MessageTime=200 ;MessageFadeTime=2.5 [MessageWindow] BackgroundImage=TextBackground.tga TopLeftPosition=0.01,0.845 BottomRightPosition=0.210,0.865 VerticalBorder=0.0015 HorizontalBorder=0.008 ;TopLeftPosition=0.2,0.2 ;BottomRightPosition=0.8,0.985 ;VerticalBorder=0.0015 ;HorizontalBorder=0.008 I removed the cockpit in the image so you can see how it neatly fits over the information box. I bet you've all done this already

Silberpfeil: I notice you're using the double height message bar, which is the standard issue. I must have adjusted it some time ago to this, and forgot about it. VerticalBorder=0.0015 HorizontalBorder=0.008

GKABS These are the numbers that give height on screen TopLeftPosition=0.01,0.845 BottomRightPosition=0.210,0.865 I estimate that you would need to change them to this TopLeftPosition=0.01,0.815 BottomRightPosition=0.210,0.835 I'm running 1920x1080 screen. There's a possibility that your screen format is slightly different. But you get the principal anyway. What finally pushed me to the edge was when I was flying the Meteor in Korea, and it had a neat little flaps display gauge at the bottom of screen. Whenever I chose flap position, I couldn't see the gauge because the message bar popped up on top of it. Grrr.

Lick of paint here, lick of paint there. Works for me.

I bought the 99 dollar full SF2 package. I have installed the 3 part Korean Air War from here. I made some adjustments to the Meteor; new hangar and loading bmps, avionics file added. Duly wrote new information into Meteor ini file. Flew fine. Switched off computer, had lunch. Next time, I started Korea and chose the Meteor, the ini file had reverted to how it was before I wrote in new entries. But how is that possible? The Meteor comes with the Korea pack; it's in the unpacked Korea folder. Everything else I modify in other aircraft and write up in the appropriate ini file remains as I've left it. Then I noticed that Wings Over Israel has the same named Meteor. So this is actually a native SF2 aircraft. And SF2 is replacing the ini file that I modified. But only on this aircraft. Anyone else experienced this. Anyway, I fixed it by renaming the aircraft Meteor_RAAF

So it does happen! First time ever for me, though. Guess I've been lucky so far. Presumably the 100 aircraft limit hasn't transferred over from SF1, because with the full package there's an awful lot of aircraft.

With reference to the rear view mirrors (lack of) and the instruction "Then build me the right fucking cockpit then ", I seem to recollect back in SF1 we used the vanilla A-4A/A-4B to serve as a Banshee/Panther cockpit. The A-4 has two mirrors, good grouping of clearly readable instruments, and fairly close windshield shape. It's also got two waypoint distance counters. The only massive fail is the style of the HUD projector, and the general grey colour all over. However, It works well in this SF2 Banshee, especially with a lick of blue paint around the windshield frame. So until Wilches gets his finger out and does what Wrench tells him, I think this is a pretty good option.

Because the Third Wire Sims are open to tweaking, then it seems churlish not to tweak. The geniuses on here create new aircraft, terrains etc, but that's way beyond the minor tweaking that most of us do. Usually when I decide to fly a new aircraft, the first thing I do is adjust the cockpit so that I can get the flight path marker in frame when I'm landing. It's amazing how many aircraft do not have that out of the box. Then I add a HUD if there isn't one, or modify an existing HUD so the discretes are a comfortable size and to make sure the landing cues are in the right place. I then usually adjust the data file so I don't get 1000 mile missions and I check out the fuel tanks to see if they have the correct weight of fuel. After flying for a while I notice if certain graphics jiggle when the cockpit bounces at certain speeds. So those are the graphics I adjust. Sometimes it's just turning a single pixel line into a double pixel line, because the worst culprit is a light-coloured single pixel line on a dark-coloured background. Other times, the gauge discretes are a little unclear, so this is where double-sizing of the image works. The image files in the stock A-6 as supplied in SF1 are tiny. Double their size and you can paint bigger, more clear discretes. I'm sure we all do this.

I just discovered that you can take cockpit picture files and double their size, and yet they still fit where they are supposed to. This means you can make the graphics more detailed. Like using a bigger font to add discretes. I knew it worked for radar, but this is amazing. I doubled all the A-6 intruder stuff and the detail has really improved with repainting numbers on the dials and such. Why didn't someone tell me before? The only drawback is that if you go too high, the graphics can flicker when the game engine resizes the cockpit down to fit your monitor. There's always something turns up to keep this game fresh.

This is a successful trap on the Ticonderoga. The landing parameters are not as critical

Well, everything has suddenly improved. I just bought the full SF2 package and made a fresh install after removing my previous installs of SF2 basic, Vietnam and North Atlantic. Now I can cycle through targets in the area and hand them off to my wingman, which I previously couldn't do until the Primary was destroyed. And the wingmen are generally better at hitting targets.

I create better definitions that suit my 1920x1080 27" monitor, so they don't look strange. I have no frame rate problems on my stonkingly good win 10 computer. So, you see, I already thought all that stuff through. Your advice may be useful to noobs, or it may put them off.

Here I am successfully trapped, on the SBC. It's a technique thing. Being convinced that the problem is either the wires are too low, or the hook is too short. I tried a technique which would get them closer together. So I came in at 110 Kts, placed the flight-path-marker on the deck, and at the last moment, raised the nose slightly and cut power. Bingo - successful trap. It's actually how you should do it, but because the sim is so forgiving, you can usually nose down to the deck on most carriers and trap easily. With the SCB and jets, clearly you cannot. Not got a flight path marker? I suggest you install one.

I did think about extending the hook by numbers, rather than physically. I noticed in the readme that you said you'd tried everything, so I was just checking. Here's the thing: I actually did a full arrest trap. She bounced around a bit, but she was hooked and came to a full stop way before the end of the superstructure. That was when I was carrying full fuel. But that was also when I was on a slant deck carrier. Which may have had higher wires, and certainly had them grouped further along the deck. The tyre marks on the straight deck are very near the end of the aft deck, so you have to get in early Since I enjoy flying the aircraft, enjoy bombing, enjoy putting 20mm into MiGs and watching them explode, and enjoy carrier traps, I will learn to enjoy trying different techniques to trap on the straight deck. PS: As per readme advice, I just downloaded the Ticonderoga

Great aircraft. I'm having pleasure flying it. I even take-off with the cockpit open as per the NATOPS Flight Manual. I had to alter the data file to get the HVARs attached. You had USN attachments, but you have to add NATO, then it's fine. I thought the Fuel gauge wasn't working because it always showed full, even when I was flying all waypoints at full throttle, and with my fuel options set to hard. I discovered that if I just filled 25% fuel, I could get a reasonable range and return to the boat with just the right amount of fuel to land at 110 Kts as per manual. Perfect. As to landing on the straight deck, I have experienced the gliding to a stop at the prow most times, but I did get one hook miss, and had to full throttle and bolter to avoid going over the front. I once saw a Navy film about deck accidents, and the message was always "If XXX happens, PUNCH OUT!" The ESC key helps here. I took a look at the Banshee on deck, from the side, and the hook does not touch the deck. It's a little high when down. So it occurs to me that either the hook is too high, or the wires on the boat are too low. I really wouldn't know where to experiment with altering these parameters. And presumably, you already tried them. Thanks for the plane.

Wrench, you are a wise man. Thank you.