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View File Operation Desert Storm: 30th Anniversary Edition Welcome To Duty Built with the extraordinary expertise and dedication of modders from CombatACE.com, Operation Desert Storm – 30th Anniversary Edition promises to be the most complete total conversion ever made for Strike Fighters 2 by ThirdWire. Fly with more than 50 aircraft ranging from Cold War relics to the most advanced platforms. Gain air superiority in the mighty F-15C Eagle or challenge the Coalition with the agile Fulcrum. Support troops with the A-10A Thunderbolt II, bomb strategic targets with the stealthy F-117A Nighthawk, lead airfield denial operations in the iconic Tornado. Enjoy a beautifully rendered scenario on a scaled and accurate terrain. Fly over the lakes and rivers of Mesopotamia, the oil-rich fields of Kuwait, the mountains of Iran and Turkey. Take-off from aircraft carriers stationed in the Persian Gulf to watch over Kuwaiti oil rigs. Perform landings and patrols in more than 90 airports and air bases in the Middle East. Take part in different campaigns including the Iraqi blitzkrieg on Kuwait and the US-led liberation of the Kuwaiti Emirate. Discover how the Iraqi Army was one of the biggest in the world, through the eyes of American, British, Canadian, French, Italian and Arab pilots. Test your skills and abilities flying for the Iraqi Air Force during all stages of the conflict. Thirty years after, Operation Desert Storm still remains the largest air operation of modern warfare to date. Modders and flight sim enthusiasts at CombatACE teamed up to bring you a unique product in the lite flight sim world. Exquisitely detailed aircraft and paint schemes are delivered in a well-researched and thorough order of battle. The ODS 30th AE Development team would like to thank CombatACE.com, its admins, moderators and contributors. We are sure you will enjoy and appreciate this high-quality freeware product. From the aviation enthusiasts, to the aviation enthusiasts... and for the pilots of tomorrow. Minimum Requirements Required products from ThirdWire: Strike Fighters 2, July 2013 patch Strike Fighters 2: Israel, July 2013 patch Strike Fighters 2: North Atlantic, July 2013 patch Full support for: Mission Editor DLC Campaign Customizer DLC System specs: OS: Windows 7 x86 Processor: Dual Core 2.7 GHz Memory: 4.0 GB RAM Hard Drive: 17.0 GB Free Space Video Card: 1024 MB DirectX 10 Sneak Peek Disclaimer CombatACE.com shall at all times retain ownership of the Software as originally downloaded by you and all subsequent downloads of the Software by you. The Software (and the copyright, and other intellectual property rights of whatever nature in the Software, including any modifications made thereto) are and shall remain the property of CombatACE.com and of the respective developers/modders. In no event, unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, shall CombatACE.com, or any person be liable for any loss, expense or damage, of any type or nature arising out of the use of, or inability to use this installer or program, including, but not limited to, claims, suits or causes of action involving alleged infringement of copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, or unfair competition. The Operation Desert Storm: 30th Anniversary Edition modification does NOT comply with CombatACE's Freeware Licensing. Various contents of this modification are exclusive, as such you are NOT allowed to share, redistribute and/or make use of the mod and/or its contents for other purposes, without the consent of the mod's developers. Contents of the modification are the copyright of their respective authors. Notes about the installer Beware, the mod is available only in the ISO format. You can either mount it on a virtual drive, burn it on a DVD like in the good old days, or unzip it with 7-Zip or equivalent software. The installer will automatically detect your installation of the required Strike Fighters 2 games by reading through the registry keys. Game folders that are copied from or manually moved from where they were originally installed are not supported. You need all three aforementioned Strike Fighters 2 games and they must be installed with ThirdWire's original installers, not manually copied from other sources nor moved elsewhere after installation to other folders or drives. If you do not meet any of these requirements, installation cannot proceed and you are on your own. If you install all required games properly, the installation of the mod will proceed correctly as intended. The installer then lets you choose where to install the mod folder; you can even install the mod on a different drive or partition than the one where Strike Fighters 2 is installed. No further user input nor manual edits after installation are ever required; the installer takes care of creating all proper links to your desired path for the mod folder. After installation is over, simply run the mod by using the created Desktop and/or Start Menu links. If you have a previous version of the mod installed, please use the uninstaller to remove it completely. Clean installation is mandatory. You might want to make a backup of the Controls folder, so that you can easily restore your controller settings afterwards. Suggestions on common issues Make sure that you are using your dedicated GPU. By default, Strike Fighters 2 usually selects the integrated GPU you may have on your CPU, which is much weaker in terms of VRAM. In case you have frequent crashes or black/missing textures, I highly suggest you download and install the DXVK graphics wrapper (x86 DLLs) into your Strike Fighters 2 game folder: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk. You need a Vulkan-compatible GPU. The wrapper can greatly improve the experience with the mod. With DXVK I can play the mod on a mere Intel UHD 710, whereas without it the mod would always crash to desktop. Go to Sound and set Sound Channels to 32. We got reports that 16 is not enough and will cause crashes on some systems, due to the higher quality sounds included within the mod. The mod is pretty heavy for the game engine despite huge optimizations. Strike Fighters 2's engine is 32bit only and apparently does not manage VRAM properly; consecutive campaign missions might show black/missing textures on objects or cause crashes to desktop because the game does not release the occupied VRAM from the previous mission you played, thus the more missions are loaded consecutively, the more easily you may run out of memory. Set Ground Objects to Medium or Low, Horizon Distance to Near, and Shadows to Medium or Low. These are the most troubling settings. Avoid Unlimited settings as much as possible. If the mod used to work and suddenly crashes to desktop, updating or reinstalling video drivers should help. Make sure that DirectX June 2010 Redistributables are also installed, they are included inside the ISO disk image of the mod. Inside the mod folder, you'll find some extra text files. "(Coalition Order of Battle)" should be of your interest; the mod's terrain covers the entirety of Iraq, at the cost of not having all of Saudi Arabia; this means that a number of important units are based on airbases that are beyond the in-game playable area. With those units you always spawn near the target area, you'll never get to start from a runway nor to land on the assigned runway beyond the invisible wall. You have an entire list of the affected units in the aforementioned text file. By pressing ALT+N, the plane returns to base automatically. The mod is fully compatible with the Campaign Customizer and Mission Editor DLCs by ThirdWire. The Campaign Customizer might be an alternative way to experience those off map units I mentioned previously, since it assigns you to a random airbase of the in-game flyable area. Escort missions are often broken, this is not an issue of the mod, but a bug of the stock game; sometimes the AI flight you escort does not engage its target and keeps flying in a straight line instead of following waypoints, thus the trigger for mission success will never happen. Abandon the mission or retry it if the issue happens, sometimes it works. Pray for ThirdWire AKA Tsuyoshi Kawahito to work on a 64bit version of Strike Fighters 2, maybe even with support for DirectX 12. With that done, any out of memory issues should become an old memory. Submitter Menrva Submitted 01/16/2021 Category User Made Campaigns

I decided to make a post so I can put all my work in one place I hope you okay with that. Okay here is the update of the M978/M977 HEMTT more detail will be added but this is how it looks so far.

View File Iraq, Western Asia (1980-2003) Iraq, Western Asia (1980-2003) Terrain February 13th, 2017 (1st Release) by Menrva >For Strike Fighters 2, Recommended Full-5 Merged This is a complete remake of the DS/IR terrain released long time ago by Wrench. The entire map has been retargetized and retiled using a whole new tileset, combining tiles from JSF_Aggie, Stary, Centurion-1 and my bad transition tiles. All major water bodies, lakes and some minor rivers have been hand-tiled. The Caspian Sea coast had to be hand-tiled as well. Numerous target areas have been added in order to expand playability, targets of opportunity and year range. This terrain features a fresh new 250m resolution heightmap (instead of the stock 500m resolution), allowing for greater details and precision in elevation changes; overall it provides the whole terrain with a better look. The terrain spans from September 22, 1980 (the beginning of the Iran/Iraq War) to May 1, 2003 (the end of major combat operations of Operation Iraqi Freedom); it is designed for the Iran/Iraq War, Operation Desert Shield, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Desert Fox and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Iraq is Enemy, Iran is Friendly, other countries are Friendly as well. Due to limitations in the terrain engine, and not wanting to make three different terrains, I opted to set Iran as Friendly together with other countries such as Saudi Arabia. While you might see US planes spawn in Iran during Single Missions even if the 1979 Iranian Revolution already happened, it's up to the users to play with missions in the editor to fix any historical oddities. Targets reflect Real World events as accurately as possible; for instance, after the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, Kuwaiti airfields are set as Neutral, enemy targets appear inside Kuwait, etc. Some airfields won't be available after a certain date and/or will change name according to historic changes. Various Operation Desert Storm expeditionary bases and FOBs have been added, and will appear only during Operation Desert Storm dates. All main targets are in their Real World locations (I tried to be as accurate as possible, to such a level that even surpasses ThirdWire's stock terrains). Shiraz Int'l Airport and Prince Sultan Airbase are beyond the Wall. However, if you have SF2NA, long range AI flights can be generated from such airbases. Ground Objects are not included. You can obtain most of them from Wrench's original Iran-Iraq terrains, or from other mod packages. >Credits (in no particular order): -Wrench, who reworked the original terrain and provided the CombatACE community with plenty of mods and scenarios to play with. He gave me invaluable advise, the tools I needed and introduced me to the beautiful, exhausting world of terrain modding/making. Thank you, sir! -swambast, who offered to build two high quality 3D models (Mosul Dam and Mosul Grand Mosque), featured for the first time in this terrain, it's an honor! He also provided major help in tracking and fixing common and uncommon bugs. If the terrain is stable (no CTDs), it's his merit! -Nyghtfall, for creating 3d models of the Kuwait Water Towers and Kuwait Freedom Towers. -tiopilotos, for providing reworked .tga tiles with new alpha channels. Much appreciated! -Spudknocker, who helped me complete the 1980-2003 beta version of the terrain, providing additional target areas. -gerwin, whose TFDtool has proved to be essential in today's terrain making. If the terrain is pretty accurate to RL it's also because of him. I included his very nice Airfield 7+8 Addon Pack, too. -MigBuster, I have included some of his great hi-res textures for runways. -mue, for the improved shaders he made, which I have included and reworked for the terrain, and for the tools he made for SF2 modding. -luk1978, for the waternormal bitmap he shared at the SF2 screenshots thread. Your mods are very interesting! -Crusader, who provided me with the info I needed about ODS and other stuff related to targets. -JSF_Aggie, for his high quality DS tileset, which I have expanded with my horrible transition tiles. -7eleven, who directed me to a website filled with Desert Storm related info. -Centurion-1, since I used some tiles from his Desert 4 Mountain Regions+ Addon. I tried to contact you for permission, but it seems RL got in your way. Your WIP mod about the Iran/Iraq war gave me the motivation to complete this terrain. The least I can say is thank you. Best of luck, mate! -Stary, because his tilesets are pure art. I borrowed a few TODs and tiles from his excellent IsraelME tileset. -Gepard, for his great tutorials about terrain making, in the SF1 Knowledge Base at CombatACE. It's a gold mine! -Stratos, who supported me support during the terrain's development. -krfrge, who has produced a tutorial for recreating SF2-like planning maps, which prompted me to work on templates and my own high quality planning maps. Thank you very much! -comrpnt, for his Approach and Airfield Lighting Pack mod packages for SF1 series, which I reworked and included. I am totally sure I missed someone, especially because the terrain was born from Wrench's original ones. So I also included Wrench's original readme files from his IR and IR2003 terrains to the end of giving proper credit to everyone involved directly or not. >Disclaimer: This is a freeware; yet it can be redistributed ONLY in other CombatACE mods/mod packages. Any changes to the terrain package's files and/or any copy-and-paste attempts of their contents are NOT authorized if you plan to release them in other mods. But permission might be granted to those who request it to me at CombatACE. This terrain may NOT in any way, shape or form be used in any payware additions. Submitter Menrva Submitted 02/13/2017 Category Full Terrains  

View File Eurofighter Typhoon 2000 Improved Hello and thank you for downloading my work. https://gkabs.net https://gulfknights.net What's included: Eurofighter Typhoon 2000 with 2 textures set Kuwait and Qatar. improvement on the Beta in 3ds Max by me: Pilot with BAE helmet system Refueling probe Added a drag parachute A new PIRATE system was added to the 3ds Max model Towed decoy added pilot ladder and engine cover and remove before flight tags Added miner addon to the model and fixed some model miner 3ds model imperfections Added 2 lod 001 and 002 lod All my files should include the Strike Fighters 2 Series game file (.LOD) and the texture required. (tested and work only for SF2) Installation: Copy files to their proper folder //Please add to Soundlist (If you don't have the WAV sound added) under the Flight directory and change the XXX with the correct number [SoundList] SoundFileXXX=J79Burner [J79Burner] Priority=NORMAL 3DSound=FALSE FrequencyControl=TRUE NumBuffers=1 Looped=TRUE If you need any further help, please read the Knowledge Base at: https://combatace.com/forums/forum/268-thirdwire-strike-fighters-2-series-knowledge-base/ Shift+1 to open canopy Shift+2 Deploy refueling probe Shift+4 Deploy the towed decoy Virgin 1.0.1 Minor fix in 3ds Max for the LOD file fixing the textures setting and changes made to the Specular/Glossiness/Reflection Big thanks to bazillius for his help understanding more things for setting up the material in 3ds Max for jets. Just download GK_KAF_QAF_Typhoon_Beta_02.zip and overnight the old file with the new one. Virgin 1.0 LICENSE: You are allowed to use this model and everything included for personal non-profit use for Strike Fighters 1 and 2. For use outside of this scope, you need to contact me for permission. gkabs@gkabs.net Credit goes to the following: Coupi for reworking the data files, fixing hitboxes, improving the RWR system, improving increased magnification of the camera, the visual of the IRST/PIRATE system, and testing. Compufat for working on the 2 textures, Decals and testing the model. Sundowner for sending me the 3ds Max file and the Photoshop files Pilots: GKABS (3D models) and Ludo.m54 (texture) Bongodriver for giving me his permission to use his beautiful Eurofighter Typhoon model and add the update/upload file to the community Original Beta credit form ace888 readme file: EF-2000 Eurofighter Typhoon "BETA" Pack "All work is done by me (ace888) with the exception of the credits given to the people below: Bongodriver - Aircraft/Seat/.LODs and most of the .INIs (with tweaks by me) ChrisBV - Pilots (I slightly modified the skin) Florian/JAT - Pilot Ravenclaw - Weapons (I modified one of the weapons to make the GBU-48B) FastCargo - Fakepilot Eagle114th - Wingtip vortex (I modified both the skakey/straight vortex effects, also can use both at the same time) Spillone104 - Engine sounds Third Wire for making this outstanding game." Finally not to forget the wonderful site of https://combatace.com and all the nice members and their dedicated support for this game. Software used: 3d Max 2009 UVLayout v2 Pro Substance Painter Adobe Photoshop Mixamo If you need any assistance please contact me at gkabs@gkabs.net gulfknights.net Submitter GKABS Submitted 08/22/2023 Category Typhoon  

Speaking to Breaking Defense, Ali Al Hashim, a Kuwait-based defense analyst has said that the US Marine Corps (USMC) is interested in taking over kuwaiti F/A-18s when they are retired from service (the country is currently fielding 27 legacy F-18 Hornets, plus six F-18D trainers). Malaysia and Tunisia are said to be interested in acquiring those legacy Hornets, however, the USMC will have priority as approval is required from the US government before Kuwait can sell the jets to other nations. “Kuwait cannot sell the legacy Hornets to another country without the prior approval of the US Navy,” said Hashim. “There are reports that the US Marines command appears to be interested in acquiring the Kuwait fleet of Hornets, and negotiations were underway between the two sides.” According to Alert5, the USMC is planning to retire its F/A-18s in 2030 and has given its existing F/A-18 fleet some upgrades such as a new AN/APG-79(v)4 radar and ejection seats. The Kuwait Air Force received the first two of 28 Typhoon jet fighters being built by Leonardo were last December, while the 28 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet block 3 were reportedly delivered last September by Boeing to the US Navy. Kuwaiti pilots training on the Typhoons will start flying the fighters to Kuwait during this year and well into the next one. Hashim explained that transferring the Super Hornets to Kuwait will take longer than planned due to the delayed infrastructure work at Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base because of the pandemic. According to Abdullah Al Foudary, the former Kuwait Air Force commander, selecting the Super Hornet to replace the Hornets was a “natural and logical move.” Instead he said that the additional selection of the Typhoon came in line with a policy to “unify the platforms with other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC),” an alliance of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. "Saudi Arabia and Oman had procured the Eurofighter Typhoon and Qatar was considering it and recently proceeded with the purchase,” Al Foudary pointed out. “The idea here is that GCC air forces would be easily interoperable and will also be able to support one another with spare parts if they all purchased the same platforms.”

Fans of ThirdWire's Strike Fighters, I'm glad to announce the Christmas release of Operation Desert Storm: 30th Anniversary Edition. This huge and quality total conversion has seen two Early Access releases this year, one back in January 16th and the other on August 2nd. Once available to site subscribers only, now we offer an updated version of the package to all CombatACE users as our Christmas gift, regardless of a subscription. There have been usual bug fixes and important improvements since the last release. Make sure to read the change log and all the details in the mod's download page once it's approved. You are not required to own a subscription, but keep in mind that the mod is distributed in a hefty, yet highly compressed 3GB installer which contains 15GB of contents. You will need a stable internet connection in order to download it. The mod cannot and will not be offered in a different form. A subscription grants you unlimited number of downloads for its duration and will support the site's hosting costs. The Operation Desert Storm: 30th Anniversary Edition modification does NOT comply with CombatACE's Freeware Licensing. Various contents of this modification are exclusive, as such you are NOT allowed to share, redistribute and/or make use of the mod and/or its contents for other purposes, without the consent of the mod's developers. Contents of the modification are the copyright of their respective authors. My personal thanks to the ODS 30AE Development Team, you guys keep inspiring me with your great works and continuous support! And special thanks to @Erik and to all admins and moderators of this great place that is CombatACE. Happy Holidays, pilots of the virtual skies!