Vietnam Update

[Widowmaker]

I am about to update Vietnam
for SP2 environment.
I got all the files from beta 7 from Snakeman

I need to know/have the following stuff:

1. are there any new textures for objects (ac, tanks etc) to be included
ifso please send em to me.

2. can someone wrap up all the loadout info
on this forum for me in to a nice document
so I can send it up to some guys who know what to do with it..

3. did anyone make any te-training missions for this theater that needs to be included??

4.or does anyone have some nice te's to be included

5. any other info I should have??


Widmak

[ccc]

1. are there any new textures for objects (ac, tanks etc) to be included
ifso please send em to me.

hmm, i've built a skin pack and put on Shadow's site( now Spyder?)
http://www.siteofshadow.de/Patches.htm
or http://www.spydershangar.de/

5. any other info I should have??

Could be more than you expect:

1. new a/c, ground or surface in list?
2. new unit composition, like VC, NVA, SVA, US and allied force unit?
3. vnam-era avonic suite?
4. vnam-era sam capability? earlier model of SA2/3?

[brewskie]

ccc, did the pave knife pod ever get added, i thought you made one. Widow, i'll continue to work on the nam background doc, the loadouts from the current theater are not that far off, but i would add the napalm, some are complaining- but i defer to Hunter on that.

[ccc]

well, not yet. need better line drawings to build.

[Widowmaker]

I've got your skinpack
was just wondering about new skins that might be available since you made that Pack

quote:Originally posted by ccc:
1. are there any new textures for objects (ac, tanks etc) to be included
ifso please send em to me.

hmm, i've built a skin pack and put on Shadow's site( now Spyder?)
http://www.siteofshadow.de/Patches.htm
or http://www.spydershangar.de/

5. any other info I should have??

Could be more than you expect:

1. new a/c, ground or surface in list?
2. new unit composition, like VC, NVA, SVA, US and allied force unit?
3. vnam-era avonic suite?
4. vnam-era sam capability? earlier model of SA2/3?

point 1-5
well first I wanna do a 'simple' beta07
conversion to SP2 (ingame theaterswitching)


after that we'll see further...

Widmak

[Steven]

Seems like a lot of knowledgeable people here. Anyone thought of getting together and creaing a full 'nam sim on its own?

[ccc]

quote:Originally posted by Steven:
Anyone thought of getting together and creaing a full 'nam sim on its own?

Vnam theater is a full nam sim itself.

[ccc]

Brewski, could you find more pics or line drawings of Pave Spike and Pave Knife? I cant gauge their dimension spec.

BTW, what's that ECM pod on sparrow recess station? I've seen that before..what model?

[Red Dog]

Widowmaker,

I could use some informations for the stations.dat file.
I still can't reach you on ICQ so I'll post that here.

- I need a list of all airbases in the theater. (by airbase, I mean airstrips, airbases, highway strips,...)

- From that list, I need to know which names actually correspond to airbases.
The other names will be considered airstrips.

- If possible a list of ID2 and Tower index for all entry in the list.

- Also a picture of the mission MAP UI showing VietNam with all runways displayed would be helpfull too. I use to take mine in two part, one north of the Map, the second for south. Zoom level is nice with the theater being split in two.
Of course, I can do it without these pix but it's more complicated.

With these information, I can write a stations.dat file compliant with SP2, make the checklists Theater booklet and create a kneemap.

Let me know
and if anyone else is having airbases information for VietNam, let me know

Red Dog

[brewskie]

i'll see what i can get you ccc.

CCC, this is all I could get.I think this pod is still classified and it will be difficult to get dimensions, but maybe we will get lucky.

550 kilogram banana-shaped pod that could be carried on an F-4 or A-6 Intruder strike aircraft. The weapons operator watched the image using a small 8" Sony TV fitted into the cockpit, and steered the television imager and laser with a hand controller.The system operated by having the pod look in the same direction as the pilot's bomb sight, with the weapons system officer then finding the target on his monitor screen as the pilot pointed his aircraft at it.

[Red Dog]

quote:Originally posted by ccc:
BTW, what's that ECM pod on sparrow recess station? I've seen that before..what model?

i think that's an ALQ-87 FM Barrage jammer
The Phantom , F105 and later AC130 spectre carry those. Maybe also other A/C.

I don't really know what they are for.

Cheers
Red Dog

[WOLF-257]

I modified the Campaign to work online with the bridges in 108i2 and RP5.I'm not sure how it will work with SP though.If your interested just let me know and I can send it to you.I made some changes regarding squadrons as well.There were far too many B-52 squadrons in theater.I also added more Mig Squadrons.The NVA now seems to be moving south when playing the campaign online.

[ccc]

Guys you should check new shots on this:
http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/show ... genumber=2

Ripper's phantom's dressed up!

Glad to hear campaign's moving!

[chance]

Red Dog sends: - I need a list of all airbases in the theater. (by airbase, I mean airstrips, airbases, highway strips,...)

- From that list, I need to know which names actually correspond to airbases.
The other names will be considered airstrips.
_____________

Are you aware of the scope of what you are asking? Laos= 440+ Air Fields, Strips and Sites. SVN 600+, Cambodia 200, Thailand 400+

TACANs http://members.tripod.com/chancefac/TACANs.htm

Lima Sites (Laos) http://members.tripod.com/chancefac/Lim ... LSpg_1.htm

Partial VN Site list http://members.tripod.com/chancefac/Vic ... VSpg_1.htm

For the absolute best map selection (Zumable)esee Dusty's Project Map Scan http://www.nexus.net/~911gfx/sea-ao.html

[Red Dog]

quote:Originally posted by chance:

Are you aware of the scope of what you are asking? Laos= 440+ Air Fields, Strips and Sites. SVN 600+, Cambodia 200, Thailand 400+

Well, no offense, but I made it for ODS, so doing it for VietNam won't be worse.
Furtermore, the stations.dat file is mandatory for the theater to work fine with Sp2 - so there is now way around it.

What I asked was the airbases and airstrips already present in beta 07 of VietNam, not IRL.


And I doubt all these dirt aistrips you mentionned are really used in the F4 theater.
Except for the Sandies, the chopper LZ and the FACs and Special Forces who operated from dirts strips, the airforce only used a few airbases and these are well known in South VietNam and Thailand

A lot of Tacan stations in SEA were only Tacan station defended by grunts on top of some hills. (lots of them in Laos - secretly)
Thyey were used only for navigation purposes and except for the short dirt strip sometime associated with it, they are not airbases.

We cannot add navigation stations without a runway of some sort, so the implementation of these TCN stations is not possible in F4


Thanks for the help and the links, they look great. I was aware of the SEA map project. Lots of tactical charts there - very usefull.

Have a Bandit Day
Red Dog

[Widowmaker]

Got you email on what you want.

Since it involves some work and I'm low on time due to other commitments I will send you
the data you need ASAP.

Widmak

[Snake Man]

quote:Originally posted by Red Dog:
What I asked was the airbases and airstrips already present in beta 07 of VietNam, not IRL.

Are you still looking for beta 0.7 airbase lists with ID's?

PMC TFW
Snake Man

[Red Dog]

quote:Originally posted by Snake Man:
Are you still looking for beta 0.7 airbase lists with ID's?

PMC TFW
Snake Man

Yep
I hear you coming

Red Dog

[Widowmaker]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/F4Iceland ... tnamUI.jpg

Terry made some nice artwork for vietnam/SP2
most files are ready for switching


Widmak

[ccc]

ya, nice UI.

still my request: larger fonts, larger pic( that theater pic), we have plenty space there, dont we?

BTW, vnam, i think the representative colors are green and hot red, not cool blue. just my 2c.

[Widowmaker]

-larger fonts can be achieved by running in 800*600 UI.. or a bigger monitor..

-as far for the images.. well we already did most of them for all theaters (actually Terry made em)
these are also larger in the 800 UI..

did you check ACMI yet???

Widmak

[ccc]

-larger fonts can be achieved by running in 800*600 UI.. or a bigger monitor..

na, i run f4 in 1024x768, never back to 800x600. As for fonts( i mean those on left hand column, "instant action", "tactical reference", "campaign"), arent they graphic icons? i want them LARGER.

As for campaign pic, on the right hand, i think it can be enlarged to 125%, we've plenty UI space there. sure, Terry do great job!

did you check ACMI yet???

not yet. what i've done is checking new 3d items, one by one, lod by lod, skin by skin.

Regretfully, not all new toys been added, not all item linked. i know, only few dedicated guys working hard on DB.... a following patch is month away...cant wait that long..feature freezed, passion too.

[Widowmaker]

what I meant is that you can run the UI in 800*600
this will make all fonts bigger and make the Theaterswitch image bigger too

3D will still be 1024 as selected within falcon

So basically no bigger font and or theater pic . sorry
both the images(buttons and theaterimage) are used as in both resolutions and it will take quite some time
to enlarge them, and I don't have that time for such minor issues

3D models are looking great
and what is a month...
will be over before you know

keep up the good work

Widmak

[ccc]

If you dont mind, i'd like to have those UIs in gif or jpg format, i'll tweak them myslef, then request a bit help to pack them in f4p.

btw modeling is on hold, due to lack of interest at this moment.

[Widowmaker]

as for the templates
I'll request it to Terry and see what I can send ya (not my work)

I'll explain a bit more on why I'm not going to do it (for SP release)

800 and 1024 UI share images
therefore

-if I increase fontsize in the LeftBar buttons they'll be increased in the 800 UI too, making them way too big

-same holds true for the theater image
the image is used in both UI's
so in 800 UI it fills alot of the screen
and in the 1024 UI it is alot smaller
I personally like this in 1024 UI
however I understand taht someone (this case you) dislikes it

after the release you van always make you personal setup
i can help you on wich files to modify
and also with the f4patch file if required

really I got nothing against your opinion however i cannot comply in regard to the SP2 UI

for your personal setup I'm willing to help
and if you want to release that that is also no problem with me personally
(mind that you 800 UI will be fucked up then)
but if ya never use it that will be no problem)

hope to have been a bit more informative
and I wish i had more time to make a personal setup for everyone.. lol

but I'm sure I can find the time to make a personal setup for you.

Widmak

[ccc]

quote:Originally posted by Widowmaker:
i can help you on wich files to modify
and also with the f4patch file if required

Thanx. I dont care 800x600 UI, just want larger fonts/buttons in 1024x768. those small icons hurt, (similar complaint to Brownsnake, webmaster of official F4UT site).

glad to hear you can help this, those small icons really hurt, much smallers than default UI.

quote:Now get back to modelling...
Widmak

i'd better hold on for few months.
I suppose DB job can be done in time to catch first SP2 release, the truth is far from my expectation.

No, im not bashing somebody, everyone working on DB are volunteers, you cannot ask them working around the clock. so giving few more months to intergrate and test everything is ok.

In past months, i worked with Rick and his skin men, spent all nights on new toys, hurry up, hurry up, and urged Rick to upload new a/c for intergration. meanwhile i recruiting more 3d modelers to help, everyone try to catch the first release, hopefully an impression of "BANG!"

Digesting current lods, plus tweaking their performance would bring lots workload on DB and realism guys. Besides, LE guru got lots work to do( Spike?), to modify/upgrade new a/c from Mac to PC, implanting new SP2 features on these models wont be an overnite job. Few more months' testing sounds ok and reasonable. so i dont hurry to build more.

BTW, just to note you Pave Spike and Pave Knife are done. Big thanx to David, who built the nice 1/48 phantom model( link in general discussion forum) for dimension spec.

[brewskie]

That's good news ccc. I doubt the Nam background doc will be done it time, but it is almost finished, i'm just waiting for the last reference book to come in from barnes+nobel, its about the change in tactics when General Creighton Abrams took over from Westy in 68.

Chance, when I'm done could I send it to you to proof read it? I would appreciate the input of somebody who was there to go over it.

[ccc]

If possible, i hope the background doc includes pre-68 nam war.
i've some vnam 3ds models, though it wont be ready for theater in months, i hope we can reproduce the whole history( and excitement!)