Acronyms for the ThirdWire series of sims

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Welcome to a list of acronyms used by the ThirdWire series of sims.

 

Some of these will have already been defined in the Basic Definition of Terms article (written by Caesar) here at CombatAce: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=25845

 

Note that most of these acronyms are for the ThirdWire sims in particular and do not cover the more generic aspects of air combat (terms such as HUD). It is assumed you already have a basic understanding of air combat and it's terms. If not, please start with research at these links:

 

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?showtopic=21944

http://www.simhq.com/_air/air_061a.html

 

FE - First Eagles - 4th release of the TW series of sims. Set in central Europe, but back in World War I.

 

SFP1 or SFG - Strike Fighters:Project 1 or Strike Fighters Gold - The first release by TK of the TW series of sims, set in a fictional country. Mostly contained aircraft from the late 1960s.

 

FM – FM is an abbreviation for “Flight Model” which defines how an aircraft flies. Flight Models take a long time to complete and are modeled as accurately as possible. Keep in mind that the ThirdWire series of simulations are “light” sims, so accuracy is not always 100%, but it should be noted that in the latest iteration, Wings Over Israel, departures and spins have been modeled. Note, a Flight Modeler might decide to spend a lot of extra time to force an aircraft to depart under certain conditions in prior versions of the TW series, but this is not easy and it is time-consuming.

 

.INI – .INI files are known as “Initialization” files and are the files that define just about every aspect of the game, aircraft, weapons, etc. Flight models, aircraft limitations, ordinance points, fuel capacities, dates of service, availability, who flew it…all of these are decided by the .INI files. Knowledge of the .INI files is necessary to modify any aspect of the ThirdWire series games, from adding skins to adding weapons to modifying aircraft. The more you work with them, the easier it becomes to mod.

 

.LOD – “Homeworld Level Of Detail” files, abbreviated .LOD, are exported files from 3D Studio Max that cannot be reverse-engineered. They are the actual model files that are used in the ThirdWire series. Without a “skin” attached, they appear in the shape of the aircraft, but are flat white. In order to use some of the mods available, .LOD files are necessary from different games in the ThirdWire series, for example, to use the Tu-22 mods in Wings over Vietnam or Europe, one must first have the .LOD files found in Strike Fighters Project 1. .LOD files made by ThirdWire unique to individual games cannot be posted online, this would be illegal.

 

TW – ThirdWire is the company that developed Strike Fighters Project 1, Wings over Vietnam, Wings over Europe, First Eagles, and Wings over Israel, usually called the ThirdWire series.

 

TK – “TK” is Tsuyoshi Kawahito’s name abbreviated. TK is the designer and creator of the ThirdWire series. He previously worked on European Air War.

 

WOE - Wings Over Europe - 3rd release of the TW series of sims. Set in central Europe and added late 1970s aircraft including the F-15, A-10, Hawker Hunter and Mig-23.

 

WOI - Wings Over Israel - 5th release of the TW series of sims. Set in the Middle East, and adds new aircraft, including the Mirage III.

 

WOV - Wings Over Vietnam - Second release of the TW series of sims. Focused on the Vietnam War and it's aircraft and added carrier operations.