Making Radar Sites

The problem in FA is that in real life the SAM radar is destroyed.  This in turn, makes the entire SAM site inoperable.  Well why not make a SAM radar in FA.  It won't affect any SAM unit in the game but it'll increase realism and be more fun.  Here is how you do it:

Step 1: Making the Radar Gun
What is a radar gun you might ask.  Well in order for the radar to be able to lock onto you, it needs a mock weapon to fire at you.  So go and open the SA-2 weapon file.  Rename it all as Radar Gun and save it as RDGN.JT.  Now set the weight to 0, set the shape as STARS.sh, set the type to Air-to-air and the guidance to active radar and open the missile info.  Set every parameter to 0.  Save and open the targeting.  Here is where it gets tricky.  In RWS set the minimum range to 0 and the maximum range to whatever you want, lets go with 50 for an example.  In TWS set the ranges to 0.  The radar will never begin to track you so it won't ever be able to fire at you.  For both RWS and TWS set the minimum altitude to 0.1 that'll give the weapon a minimum altitude of 528 ft.  If you are below it the radar won't lock onto you.  Though it may not be a realistic altitude for all cases, it is still the lowest (except for 0.) For maximum altitude give it 25 (which means it has a maximum altitude of 132,000 ft.  That way if you are above 528 ft. you will be tracked.  You'll want all FOV Pitch and Heading values set to 180.  Now open firing info, set the first slot to 1, all else to 0 and the last slot to 255.  Open damage next and set all the text boxes to 0 and the explosion types to undefined.  Set everything in movement to 0
except the maximum altitude and minimum altitude.  For ours it'll be 528 for minimum and 132000 for maximum.  Open ordinance parameters and select Guided Project and Can Damage Aircraft.  Then open Ordinance Hit Parameters and make everything 0.  Save you gun and it's ready.

Step 2: Making the Radar Radar
Open up the Seeker and select A10.SEE.  Now here you'll save it as RDGNR.SEE.  Open additional and select the parameters you want.  Match the RWS with those of the weapon and make the TWS exactly the same.  Fill in any other appropriate data.

Step 3: Making the Radar
Open up the ZSU-23 NT file and rename it as Radar Gun, etc.  Set the date to 1956, select the damage parameters and speed, etc. that you want.  Set the shape to whichever radar you want.  Open the hardpoint data and delete everything.  Then add the radar (*.SEE file) and 1000 (in quantity) of the weapon (*.JT file) and make sure they are both set as required parameters.  Then save and you're radar is made.  Open the new NT file in a texture editor and scroll down to line:

[brent's_relocatable_format]

;---------------- START OF OBJ_TYPE ----------------

 

;---------------- general info ----------------

byte 3
word 234
word 179
ptr ot_names
dword $821
word $ <---- THIS LINE (SET TO 200)

Step 4: Game Instructions
Start the game, make your mission and insert the radar in, it should show up as a vehicle.  Fly your mission and use anti-radiation missiles because the radar will show up on your HARM sensor.  Destroy it and you are done.