O/T - Falklands flight sim?

[Pat Pattle]

Is there a Falklands-conflict based flight sim around?

There was one mentioned for the Third Wire series a few years agoI seem to recall and I found this link here (may be the same thing):

http://www.thunder-works.com/about.htm

Did that ever go anywhere or was there ever anything for CFS2?

Thanks.

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Pat,

Is this what you had in mind?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harrier-Jump-Jet-Flight-Add/dp/B00005QDL9

I will never forget Eddie Izzard's rationale for why the British felt the Falkland Islands were so important to hang on to..."we need them for strategic sheep purposes."

 

[Threedp]

I've watched Thunderworks go nowhere for many years. The add-on for CFS2 is fun, but be very aware that guided missles are not possible, so it's cannons all the way. Extremely rarely, you may be able to down something with a missile which acts as an unguided rocket. Also, the terrain is flat, although if you know what you're doing, I think you can import better from some version of FS. Fun flying all the Harriers as well as Daggers, etc. As a sim of the event, it's not the greatest, but it is all we have I believe.

 

[ndicki]

Forget CFS1/2/3 as a support for post-Korean War fighting. SF2 does it a lot better, with all the weapons working properly, guided AAM, SAMs, etc. There is a Falklands addons somewhere too, but I don't imagine it's any great thing. Meanwhile, SF2NA - North Atlantic - has introduced more over-sea fighting, with carriers as well. That might be the way to go...

SF2 has a very nice Harrier GR.3 included, just for starters. There are Mirages, Super Etendards and Skyhawks as well.

 

[MajorMagee]

The one for Strike Fighters was actually quite good.

 

[Pat Pattle]

Thanks for the replies chaps, looks like sf2 is the way to go, unfortunately. Shame we can't have working guided missiles in cfs3.

 

[ndicki]

There's some good stuff in SF2... The best thing is that the AI actually try to kill you. They can be rather tenacious at times.

 

[ndicki]

Or these...

 

[Pat Pattle]

Ooh they do look good Nigel!

Probably a daft question but will sf2 run on XP?

 

[Bravo/4]

Yes Clive it will, that's what I'm running it on, and it runs well!

 

[Pat Pattle]

Thanks John, good to know.

The Third Wire shop is down at the moment so I'm not sure what's available, which version do I need to get, is there a European one?
The array of add-ons is a little bewildering!

I need to fly that Canberra!

 

[ndicki]

Let me try and work out what is what! I'm reinstalling the lot on a new computer, running XP SP3 at the moment, so yes, SF2 does run on XP/DX9. The one that doesn't is SF2 North Atlantic, which requires DX10? 11?

The Canberra is AI only as issued, which is as easy to fix as it is in CFS3. Once you've grafted a cockpit onto it - there is one available - you're away.

There is a European one, called SF3 Europe... But I don't know if they run by themselves, as I bought the full set anyway. I think they probably do.

 

[Bravo/4]

Hi Clive,
I've not been there or used it for quite a while, and I know my install will probably be out of date, but this is how my installation went from what I remember?

Strike Fighters 2 (SF2)

Strike Fighters 2 Vietnam (SF2V)

Strike Fighters 2 Europe (SF2E)

Strike Fighters 2 Israel (SF2I)

Strike Fighters 2 North Atlantic (SF2NA)

These can all merge together to make one sim.

An important note I should of mentioned earlier is that the "North Atlantic" install will not work with XP! You can install it, but you can't use it, this can be a major prob for some people, I personally don't miss it, because I've never had it!
Nigel might be better placed to help you with the details, think his install my be fresher than mine?

If you go to http://combatace.com/, you will find everything you need to know!

It's a nice sim well worth it, has it's good and bad points, regards CFS3.

 

[Bravo/4]

Nigel beat me to it! lol

Yes I'm sure they will run individually too.

 

[ndicki]

Interestingly, I've done only a small handful of skins for SF2, and John doesn't appear to have done any that he's released in any case. For some reason, it doesn't inspire me to the same extent. I wonder why not, because there is plenty of room for decent skinners. The WW2 contributions in particular are often pretty rough...

 

[mongoose]

There's some good stuff in SF2... The best thing is that the AI actually try to kill you. They can be rather tenacious at times.

I was looking at the WWII dl's on SF2 and no 4 engine bombers; at least on the combat ace site. No Ju88's IIRC.
How would you rate it as a WWII sin cf CFS3 and CFS2?? Is it in anyway complete? (missions, scenery, effects,vehicles, etc.)

 

[Pat Pattle]

Thanks for the pointers Nigel and John now I need to go shopping!

 

[ndicki]

I was looking at the WWII dl's on SF2 and no 4 engine bombers; at least on the combat ace site. No Ju88's IIRC.
How would you rate it as a WWII sin cf CFS3 and CFS2?? Is it in anyway complete? (missions, scenery, effects,vehicles, etc.)

I wouldn't really. Most of the WW2 aircraft are pretty rough compared to what we've got in CFS3, and even compared with CFS2, it's not brilliant for ww2. If you look at the screenshots I posted above, they show some of the few decent WW2 aircraft we've got. The Spitfires are stock MkIXs (although there is a MkI made from the PD model we have in CFS3, but it needs the work it got for the recent CFS3 updated version) and there are P-51Ds, S-99/S-199s - Bf109g-14AS to you lot! - and Spitfires MkXIV, XVIII, 19, 22 and 24. Some other top-rate addons are available, but often have inadequate cockpits compared to the stuff we have here. Other aircraft tend to be a bit outdated, and many don't run well in SF2 (as opposed to SF1) Others are single-LOD and cause stuttering and FPS-drops.

With the kind of work we see here for CFS3, that could be changed, although SF2 requires 3DS MAX rather than GMAX. 3DS MAX is expensive...

Piston engine management is inexistent - no mixture, pitch or boost controls, no engine torque and so forth. Plus, damage profiles are more simplistic, as a jet hit by a Sidewinder tends to get big bits knocked off it, while gnawing away at an enemy with .303 Brownings takes a bit more modelling. Plus each single bullet is modelled, so if you have a MkI Spitfire or a flight of He111s opening fire, you can imagine what happens to your frame rates... And you have no bombsights, no real maps that you can really do a Bomber Command mission from, no effective Flak, and the list goes on.

The good bit is for fighter dogfighting, where as I said, they really do try their best to get you. But that goes for IL-2 as well, and IL-2 does other things too.

SF2 is brilliant for post-Korean War period fighting however. If you want to fly a Phantom or a Skyhawk, with guided weaponry, working radar, threat receivers and SAMs, then SF2 is absolutely the thing. Just it does best what it's designed to do best...

 

[mongoose]

In that case I might as well stick to Free falcon/Falcon Allied Force; unless I want earlier jets.

 

[Bravo/4]

Yes James, unless as you said, you want the early jets, which as Nigel pointed out is what the sim was designed for!
I think Nigel summed it up very well in the above post.

Regards skins I've made for it yes I do have a few, most were done for AVHistory, who did move to SF, quite a bit or work was done, but the project just fizzled out in the end. All the skins I did for it are just sat on my HD now!

For me Nigel, it's more a case of having the time I suppose, and I've been working on CFS3 for a good few years now, it did feel odd working on another sim.

Here's a some samples, I've got a few 109's and Hurricanes knocking about too, the P-51 was going to be AVH's first release!