Hi Mike,MIKE JG wrote:Here's the scoop on this package and its current status:
Back in 2007 I started work on this package when Kevin created the model. The original intent was to do the package in two or three parts. The first part was to be the Gripens of F7 based at Satenas AB and includes the C-130s that are based there as well. I even created scenery for Satenas AB based on what few pictures existed of the base. (The Swedes are very secretive about their military). I finished the scenery and the rest of the stuff required for Satenas. However in creating the package and doing the serial number research for the F7 based Gripens, I realized that the number of aircraft that are part of that unit far exceeds the real life parking capacity of Satenas AB. So that presented a problem in that I have all these Gripens and not enough parking spaces to host them all. So I began seeking alternative places to place them for the package. So between John Stinstrom and I, we managed to create even more custom scenery for this package by creating the base at Uppsala where the Swedes do their tactical training. In addition to this, Mike MacIntyre created the FDE for this model so that the aircraft can land in the 800m that the Swedes use to land on their network of highway bases throughout the country.
So between Satenas, Uppsala and a custom made highway base that I made, plus sending about 7 Gripens to the UK for the week, I managed to fit them all in to Satenas even though the place looks like it's overflowing with Gripens.
Then we started some basic testing and we quickly realized that the custom made highway base was in a different place on pretty much everyone's individual FS9 setup. I made the base using a road network that is default in FS9. It also uses default terrain mesh for that part of the world. However anyone who has anything other than default road networks or terrain mesh in that part of Sweden will not see the highway base in the correct location. So once I realized that, I pretty much scrapped the idea for a highway base. That then left me with 6 Gripens that had no place to park at Satenas. So that was the first monkey wrench in the package that brought its progress to a halt.
Since then I've moved on to different things with the intent of one day getting back to this package to get it finished. Kevin made a lot of customized loadouts for just these Swedish Gripens so they absolutely will get released sometime soon, either in a finished package or not.
Since this package was first started, we've since moved to our standard MAIW scenery libraries. So the scenery in this package, does not conform to those libraries and duplicates a lot of files. So that needs to be sorted out if this is going to get into an official MAIW package.
Then when I started picking this package up again I realized that in the two years since, the serials for the F7 Gripens had probably changed. So a quick check revealed that indeed many of them had changed and we can no longer be certain which aircraft are flying and which are not. So now I'm faced with picking out some aircraft to simply remove from the package. In addition, new textures had to be created which is where this package currently is.
So my intentions now are to release Satenas and Uppsala with the aircraft and go from there. But before I do that, I have to sort out the scenery first since we combined Satenas, Uppsala and Malmen (John did that base as well) all into a single folder which won't work now.
So.........hang in there.
I had that same problem. Not just with Satenas, but also with Kallax and Ronneby. They are civil / military airports, and the Gripens are parked on large aprons, no shelters, nothing. The way I dealt with it was like this.
As far as I can see, the list of aircraft posted a bit further up is accurate. I presently have 18 Gripens flying out of Satenas, but only on Saturday & Sunday are they parked there. During the week, you will see 8 standing there at the most, the rest is flying. If you check out Google Maps, you will see 23 parking spots for Gripens. Adjacent to the parking spots is a group of hangars, and a single one opposite them. I put a few parking spots between / around those those, and ended up with 30 spots. That still leaves about 15-20 unaccounted for.
If you put 6-8 of those at Uppsala permanently, and another 8 at EGQS and EBFS for an Exercise ( that's what I did ), you can easily fiddle with the rest and always have a few parking spots to spare. My Gripens fly to Finland, Denmark, the UK, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, The Netherlands and the Czech Republic on a regular basis, some aircraft only returning home on the weekend. That way you can even have visitors from the other Swedish bases .....
Perhaps some Gripens could even park INSIDE the hangars ?!
