The Two Week War

[jmarso]

The mission pack has been out for a while now with over 150 downloads. I'm going to leave this thread here for discussion and feedback, and suggestions on tweaks / improvements for possible future updates to the mission pack.

 

Just as an FYI, I'm not planning version 2.0 until after the new carrier module is released. Below is the text taken from the original README file.

 

Mediafire link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/1ppuoo...wo-week+War.7z

 

(Will also be available on DCS World after moderator review)

 

The Two-week War README

-by JMarso

 

This is a pack of 14 single player missions for the F-14B Tomcat, set in the Persian Gulf in February of 2005, depicting a fictional conflict with Iran. Given the available units in DCS, the makeup of the various naval groups and the air wing are also entirely fictional, with no correlation to ships and squadrons actively deployed to the Gulf during that real-life timeframe.

 

The missions commence as the CSG is preparing to transit the Strait of Hormuz and begin a regular deployment. The first five missions are relatively uneventful, and useful as training scenarios. Starting around Mission 6 is where the shooting really begins. The player will experience A/A and A/G combat, along with day and night CV operations, along with a couple of opportunities to relish the scenery on the PG map. The action starts off light, then builds in intensity. The final mission is a large-scale battle that may tax your system, depending on specs.

 

All missions are noob friendly. You almost always start on the catapult; in a few missions you start hot on the ramp / deck and must taxi into position to go. No cold starts in this mission pack.

 

NOTE:

 

Originally, these missions were built with the Alerax LSO mod incorporated into them. Given the fact that LSO functionality is starting to show up in the latest updates, the LSO mod was removed. In the briefings, there are certain frequencies designated for Marshall and LSO. These can be ignored now.

 

Right now, the mission pack requires the U.S. Navy Deck Equipment mod. Later, when the animated deck crews are implemented, this mod will be revised.

 

In a similar vein, all A/G missions were built using ‘dumb’ weapons due to LANTIRN capability for Jester not existing yet. If you play with the LANTIRN mod, you can conceivably change loadouts in the mission planner and fly some of these missions a little differently than they are designed. In the future, when full LANTIRN capability is available via Jester, at least a couple of the missions will undergo revision.

 

A few of the missions contain custom voice files. (I’m a mediocre voice actor at best) Most extraneous communications happen via message.

 

The last mission (14 The Big Event) had some crashing issues in initial testing; I pretty much narrowed this down to trying to pack too much ancillary stuff into the mission to make it epic. I’ve pared it down for stability, but you will see units listed in the brief that don’t show up on the F10 map during play. They are still there in spirit! ????

 

Installation

 

Module Requirements:

 

DCS Open Beta

F-14 Tomcat module by Heatblur

Persian Gulf Map

 

Required Mods:

 

U.S. Navy Deck Equipment https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.c...se_id=18880259

Naval MOD collection https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.c...files/3304473/

Civ Boats V1 https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.c...se_id=18880265

 

Recommended Mods:

 

F-14 VF-41 Black Aces 1991 V2 https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.c...files/3304338/

VF-86 Sidewinders Line Bird https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.c...se_id=18393294

Tacitcal Call Sign Mod Version 1.0 https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.c...se_id=18393301

 

Recommended mods will make squadrons, liveries, and callsigns match the mission designs and briefs. The missions will still function without them, but portions of the briefs will no longer make sense.

 

Install:

 

Download and install the required mods, and the recommended mods if desired.

 

Unzip “The Two-week War” mod folder to your designated OvGME mod folder, and then activate it. The missions should show up in DCS in your F-14 Single Missions folder.

 

To manually install the missions in the F-14 mission folder, use the following filepath:

 

DCS World OpenBeta/Mods/aircraft/F14/missions/single

 

Alternatively, you can drop the individual mission files into your Saved Games mission folder and play them from there. If you want to alter the missions using the ME, the .miz files should be placed in your Saved Games mission folder.

 

 

Un-Installation

 

Either de-activate the mod in OvGME, or follow the filepath you used to manually install the missions and delete them from that folder.

 

Permissions

 

This mod is distributed as freeware. Nobody is permitted to use this content for purposes of obtaining money or any other form of compensation. Anyone wishing to modify these files, use them for a campaign, convert them to MP use, or to use them as part of another freeware mod release is free to do so- credit where due is always appreciated!

 

Disclaimers

 

As with all mods, install and use at your own risk.

 

 

Mission List / Summary

 

01 Deployed to the Gulf:

Fly a CAP mission designed to help the CSG staff map Iranian air defenses in the Gulf of Oman.

 

02 Liberty Call at Al Minhad:

Lead a division of Tomcats to Al Minhad for a ‘show the flag’ liaison visit with the UAE.

 

03 Bombcat Demo:

Fly a low-level bombing mission through the UAE mountains and desert to demonstrate the Tomcat’s abilities as a striker to UAE military observers.

 

04 Dubai by Moonlight:

Return to the strike group on a night hop. The good news is that you get a look at Dubai at night. The bad news is that you’re trapping in the dark.

 

05 Chosin SAG Transits the Strait:

Fly a CAP mission covering the transit of another U.S. naval group.

 

06 Early Morning Buzzkill:

An unexpected provocation results in a surprise ready alert launch and an international incident.

 

07 Maritime Rescue Operations:

Fly CAP over a rescue operation after the Iranians conduct an unprovoked attack on an Allied freighter in the Gulf.

 

08 Lavan Retaliatory Strike:

Take part in an Alpha Strike on Lavan Island in response to previous Iranian aggression.

 

09 Lavan Follow-up Strike:

Conduct a runway cratering dawn strike on the airfield at Lavan Island

 

10 Abu Musa Naval Interdiction:

Participate in an ASUW air-surface action against Iranian naval units and cargo vessels attempting to move forces to Abu Musa Island.

 

11 SAR Operations:

Fly a combined AAW/ASUW SUCAP over a SAR mission to rescue an aviator downed in Gulf waters.

 

12 Kill the Kilo:

What? The Tomcat can’t do ASW? Nonsense. Bomb a damaged Iranian submarine surfaced at Tunb Kochak.

 

13 Night Ready Launch:

Foil a rare Iranian attempt to conduct a night sneak-attack on the battle group.

 

14 The Big Event:

Participate in a major battle over the Strait of Hormuz as the 5th Fleet forces an Expeditionary Strike Group through the contested choke point.

 

For mission hints/tips, see the associated file included in the zip package.

Edited August 5, 2019 by jmarso

[alftand]

Upon attempting to start mission 7 I get missing module errors for these items:

Unarmed Boat

victory cargo

USN-Deckcrew

 

As far as I can tell all the required mods are installed correctly. Any advice?

[jmarso]

Upon attempting to start mission 7 I get missing module errors for these items:

Unarmed Boat

victory cargo

USN-Deckcrew

 

As far as I can tell all the required mods are installed correctly. Any advice?

 

Not just yet. I'll have to fire it up a little later and see what happens. Hopefully it's not another case of a DCS World update breaking mods.

[jmarso]

Okay, fired it up both to play and in the ME, and it loaded fine for me, so the mods themselves aren't broken by the latest updates.

 

The victory cargo module as I used it in the mission build is part of the NAVAL MOD COLLECTION mod (https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3304473/), not as a separate module, but that's already listed in the README.

 

So I'm not sure what the issue is. My best advice would be to uninstall all those mods and then reinstall them, and give it another whirl. The only time I an error message like that is when a mod is missing. You might also want to check where the mods are installed and make sure they are in the right folders. I use OvGME for mod installs. That's the only other thing I can think of off the top of my head.

 

Just about all the missions use the USN deck crew mod. Are they working okay?

 

Also, try mission 12: Kill the Kilo. That one also needs the naval collection mod.

 

Another possibility: Sometimes updates wipe user-made stuff out of the folders. You might want to check your mod installs and make sure they're still there!

Edited August 4, 2019 by jmarso

[alftand]

Okay, fired it up both to play and in the ME, and it loaded fine for me, so the mods themselves aren't broken by the latest updates.

 

The victory cargo module as I used it in the mission build is part of the NAVAL MOD COLLECTION mod (https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3304473/), not as a separate module, but that's already listed in the README.

 

So I'm not sure what the issue is. My best advice would be to uninstall all those mods and then reinstall them, and give it another whirl. The only time I an error message like that is when a mod is missing. You might also want to check where the mods are installed and make sure they are in the right folders. I use OvGME for mod installs. That's the only other thing I can think of off the top of my head.

 

Just about all the missions use the USN deck crew mod. Are they working okay?

 

Also, try mission 12: Kill the Kilo. That one also needs the naval collection mod.

 

Another possibility: Sometimes updates wipe user-made stuff out of the folders. You might want to check your mod installs and make sure they're still there!

 

Thanks - I also use OvGME but perhaps I screwed up some settings (haven't used it before). I'll do some troubleshooting and see if I can solve it. All missions up to 7 are working fine.

 

Edit: Got it working now. Guess an update removed some files from the mods.

Edited August 5, 2019 by alftand

[mwd2]

Not a single link is working!

[jmarso]

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3304473/ Naval Collection Mod

 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3301580/?sphrase_id=18880259 US Navy Deck Equipment

 

 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3302670/?sphrase_id=18880265 Civ boats version 1

 

I think putting the links in a quote may have borked them. Finding and posting these links took me all of one minute on their site, however- probably less time than it took to type the above post about the links being broken.

Edited August 5, 2019 by jmarso

[mwd2]

The MODs are not the problem.

[todd022]

Agree with mwd2 on this...just installed all the mods from fresh links last night. Still getting "Need modules for load mission: Unarmed Boat

victory cargo" when trying to load mission 7.

 

Is there a need to put everything in "saved games" folder or main directory? Does it matter?

[jmarso]

Agree with mwd2 on this...just installed all the mods from fresh links last night. Still getting "Need modules for load mission: Unarmed Boat

victory cargo" when trying to load mission 7.

 

Is there a need to put everything in "saved games" folder or main directory? Does it matter?

 

I'm not at home right now so I don't have access to the game or my files. All I can suggest is that you make sure you follow the installation instructions for the required mods according to their own individual README files. As of the latest game update, all of it still works on my machine which indicates the mods themselves shouldn't be broken by DCS itself.

 

If you are getting the 'need modules' message, it points to an incorrect mod install somehow. For whatever reason, DCS can't find the mod files it needs to load the mission.

[jmarso]

Back at home now.

 

Planning to go into the ME and remove all third party mods from this mission pack in order to preserve it before I do any further DCS updates. One thing I've noticed is that when an update borks a mod, you can't even load the file in the ME after that. That way, when the carrier module is released and so forth, I can do the 2.0 update I'm planning using the current missions as templates. I might even take a swing at turning them into a campaign.

 

In the meantime, I'm curious if anyone posting issues with the third party mods loading up ever resolved their issues. As a gamer, I know the default thing when you solve an issue is to press on and play, and post no more. So did anyone having issues fix the issues, or just give up?

 

Feedback will help me with future versions going forward, especially when it comes to writing README files and installation instructions.

Edited August 21, 2019 by jmarso

[alftand]

Back at home now.

 

Planning to go into the ME and remove all third party mods from this mission pack in order to preserve it before I do any further DCS updates. One thing I've noticed is that when an update borks a mod, you can't even load the file in the ME after that. That way, when the carrier module is released and so forth, I can do the 2.0 update I'm planning using the current missions as templates. I might even take a swing at turning them into a campaign.

 

In the meantime, I'm curious if anyone posting issues with the third party mods loading up ever resolved their issues. As a gamer, I know the default thing when you solve an issue is to press on and play, and post no more. So did anyone having issues fix the issues, or just give up?

 

Feedback will help me with future versions going forward, especially when it comes to writing README files and installation instructions.

 

Like I wrote in an edit to an earlier post, I got it working, not sure what the issue was though. After fiddling with OvGME settings and reinstalling all the mods I had no further problems. Possibly the fact that many mods make little or no effort to describe how to install them is causing some people to have issues.

[jmarso]

Like I wrote in an edit to an earlier post, I got it working, not sure what the issue was though. After fiddling with OvGME settings and reinstalling all the mods I had no further problems. Possibly the fact that many mods make little or no effort to describe how to install them is causing some people to have issues.

 

Yeah, there are lots of mods in lots of games that need much better README files. I think sometimes modders get so familiar with a game and its file structure that they forget that other people (especially newcomers) may have no idea about how that stuff is set up. Hell, even if I've been away from a particular game for a while and come back to it, especially with new mod content, I have to go back and relearn all that stuff, especially the quirks.

[jmarso]

Did the latest update and fired up the most third-party-mod-heavy of the missions in the mission pack. Nothing broken this update! :thumbup:

[jmarso]

Update:

 

Just returned to DCS after a lengthy absence, and fired up the mission pack. I was half-expecting it to be 'broken' in light of the numerous updates over the past year, but I was pleasantly surprised to find all the missions still loading and working as they should.

 

My original plan to convert the mission files over to the Teddy Roosevelt SC have been scrapped. What I've found is that with the exception of the deck crew, the SC stuff works for the Stennis as well, and since there is only one carrier-based mission where you don't start on the catapult to begin with, the deck crew becomes superfluous to a degree anyhow.

 

So, the bottom line is that I'm going to leave the package alone, for now. In the near future here I may look at making some more missions, perhaps some standalone ones, using the SC module. When the LANTIRN mod for Jester is out and fully functional, I may tweak a couple of missions in this pack. A couple of them practically beg for that LANTIRN pod and some smart bombs.

 

The mission pack is still downloadable from the DCS website, right where I left it. Ciao!

Edited July 14, 2020 by jmarso