How to make a SF2 aircraft/weapon useable in Gen 1 ThirdWire sims.

[FastCargo 412]

This question is going to continue to come up as more SF2 only releases are made available, so I figured I'd start a thread designed to help those who haven't made the jump for whatever reason to be able to enjoy creations made for the SF2 series. Now, realize this list only applies to third party aircraft. Stock SF2 aircraft LODs use different code, and so are NOT backwards compatable, period.

 

This list will assume several things:

 

1. That any Gen 1 install is patched to at least the Oct 08 patch level.

2. That you are intimately familiar with ini files (data, weapondata, gundata, etc) and how to change them.

3. That you are intimately familiar with the Gen 1 directory layout.

4. That you have good skills with the 'search' function.

5. That you have a good understanding of the various terms used in this list.

 

If any one of these statements is untrue, you will need to fix it before you can start making stuff backwards compatible. The modders will increasingly not have the time to be able to make 2 versions of the release.

 

Realize this list is only valid as of 30 Jun 09...any SF2 changes after that may continue to cause the generations of TW sims to deviate from each other, so continue to consult additional sources.

 

I would ask others to contribute to this list as they see fit. Realize, this isn't a 'step by step' list, merely a 'checklist' of what needs to be changed to use a SF2 aircraft.

[FastCargo 412]

1. What are the differences in the LODs between third party Gen 1 and Gen 2 aircraft

 

Answer: 2 additional mesh nodes have been activated in the SF2 aircraft. One is a new 'Afterburner' node...basically a illuminated part of the aircraft inside the engine now 'lights up' when the afterburner is selected. The second is the external drop tanks are now part of the LOD model but can be jettisoned. Which means skins for the tanks can now be placed within the aircraft skin folder...no more 'hex editing' seperate drop tanks LODs. They also can be decaled.

 

2. What's that mean to me?

 

It means a couple of things. One, the afterburner and drop tank nodes will ALWAYS be visible, unless you make changes in the data.ini to 'hide' those meshes (reference this post: http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?s=&am...st&p=306057 for the exact details). It also means that if the model does not come with seperate drop tank meshes that go in the Weapons folder, that you will not have jettisonable drop tanks available for your aircraft.

[FastCargo 412]

1. What is different about the Pilots folder in the Gen1 series vs the Gen2 series?

 

Simple...there is no Pilots folder in the Gen1 series. Any pilots from an SF2 download must be placed directly into the Objects/Aircraft directory.

 

2. What is different about the Weapons folder in the Gen1 series vs the Gen2 series?

 

Ah...now we start getting into the nitty gritty. Though the Weapons folders look the same (Gen 1 patched to Oct 08 and SF2), how they work is significantly different. If you'll notice, in an SF2-specific weapon folder there are now TWO ini files...a basic ini, and a data.ini file. The basic .ini file looks about the same, and usually tells what LOD to use, visibility distance, and shadow data. However, the meat of the weapon is located in the data.ini file. Note that the entry looks very similiar to the original weapondata.ini entries in Gen 1 sims. So you can guess what you need to do. Yep, copy the entry from the data.ini file to the weapondata.ini file, run the weapons editor as per normal. There are several caveats though. One, the ModelName parameter, the basic .ini file name, and the weapon's directory name must ALL match...otherwise, you may not see a weapon model at all (ie the directory name must be AGM114, the basic .ini must be AGM114.ini, and ModelName=AGM114 in the weapondata entry. Also, the [WeaponData] entry (including the ObjectFullName and ObjectDataFile parameters) are not needed in the basic .ini file...if you notice, all that info is located in the data.ini entry...so delete those lines in the basic ini.

 

In addition, weapon visual effects can be specified with the data.ini itself. So you'll need to see if such an entry already exists within your Effects folder in your Gen 1 install. Otherwise, you'll get damage effects, but no visual boom.

 

Finally, if the weapon is part of the aircraft model (ie drop tanks), you're sort of screwed. You can either make the tanks non-jettisonable (within the aircraft data.ini), create or adapt another model to use for that aircraft (keeping the original tank 'hidden' as per above), or accept not carrying any drop tanks at all.

 

3. What is different about the Guns folder in the Gen1 series vs the Gen2 series?

 

Simple, there isn't a Guns folder within the Gen1 series! All guns are handled through the Gundata.ini/gundata.dat files and the gun editor. Basically, you handle the guns the same as you would handle converting a Weapon from Gen2 to Gen1, except there are no LODs, folders, to handle. Simply take the information from the specific's gun data.ini file, and paste it into the gundata.ini (you may need to extract it if you haven't already) and run the gun editor in a very similar fashion as the weapons editor. One advantage is that once you do that, you can delete the specific gun directory since Gen1 sims don't use them....all the data they need is in the gundata.ini/gundata.dat files.

 

4. What is different about the Decal folder in the Gen1 series vs the Gen2 series?

 

In the Gen2 series, ALL aircraft decals are now consolidated in the Decals directory. So the path specified in the Decals.ini file located in an aircraft's skin directory always starts from the Objects/Decals directory...verses the Gen1 series where all paths are assumed to start from the Objects/Aircraft directory. So you can see how to fix this already...simply create a directory inside the particular skin directory you have the decals for, move the decals over, then adjust the paths in the Decals.ini to reflect the new location. Personally, I'm going to recommend to modders to keep the directory structure for decals in Gen2 exactly how it is in Gen1 sims...that way all end users have to do is move the directory, without messing with the Decals.ini file.

 

FC

[FastCargo 412]

There have been problems with certain aircraft being released for Gen 2 sims that even after following instructions here do not appear in Gen 1 sims. The problem as Spinners alluded to eariler is that the newer sims can read Unicode and ANSI encoded ini files, whereas the Gen 1 sims can only read in ANSI.

 

The solution is simple....resave the ini files in ANSI format.

 

Here's what should be done:

 

First, backup all your ini files in the aircraft you are converting over.

 

In XP, use Notepad to open the file, then go to the File, Save As... menu. You should see an option to save the file and it should default to ANSI. You will see the ANSI option in the Save As... menu, you may not see it in the Save menu. Make sure you are overwriting the specific file you opened...otherwise things could get ugly quick.

 

In Vista, the instructions are very similiar, except the default is Unicode. Make sure you change this to ANSI or you'll have wasted your time. Otherwise, the instructions are the same.

 

That should be it, enjoy your Gen 2 third party aircraft in your Gen 1 sim.

 

FC

[FastCargo 412]

An update.

 

As the sim has continued to advance, specifically with the advent of bump-mapping, compatibility issues will arise.

 

If the MAX file has been exported to the LOD format, using the newest exporter plug in for 3ds MAX 2009 (dated Feb 2010 or later), the model will NOT work in Generation 1 sims, nor in SF2 versions earlier than the Feb 2010 patch level with one BIG exception.

 

In simple terms, if the aircraft you want to use has bump mapping, you will not be able to use it in SFP1/SFG/WOV/WOE/WOI at all with one BIG exception.

 

If you have the WOI expansion pack (located at the top of the page https://store.thirdwire.com/store.htm), you CAN use the latest SF2 LOD files. You won't get the bump mapping, but the majority of the special functions will work.

 

FC

[FastCargo 412]

A final update.

 

As of Jan 2011, the newest exporter for 3ds MAX 2009 (exporter Dec2010-C), has added specular mapping support, plus a few other features.

 

Any LODs created with this exporter will NOT be compatible with ANY version of the Gen 1 sims (SFP1/SFG/WOV/WOE/WOI/FE).

 

In other words, any models created with this exporter cannot be back converted into the Gen 1 sim. This pretty much marks the end of official Gen 1 support.

 

FC