PWCG for BOS Discussion

[El6ricko666]

Erased, posted in the wrong section, sorry.

Edited July 9, 2023 by El6ricko666
Wrong place

[Watts12]

sorry to ask a question that's probably been answered a million times, i'm new to BOS Pat's campaign generator.  Where can I get mods to go with it? Could someone direct me to the post about this or just provide a link to the download site if they're mostly on one site  appreciate any input

[PatrickAWlson]

3 hours ago, Watts12 said:

sorry to ask a question that's probably been answered a million times, i'm new to BOS Pat's campaign generator.  Where can I get mods to go with it? Could someone direct me to the post about this or just provide a link to the download site if they're mostly on one site  appreciate any input

 

There are no mods that PWCG uses directly.  Any game mods can be used without regard to PWCG.

[mjmitch]

Issue with being assigned aircraft i dont have.

 

I have selected all the flyable aircraft i have in PWCG

 

I only have the base BoS sim with the eight flyable aircraft it comes with.

 

In PWCG, for the luftwaffe options, there are Bf109 squadrons which have a mix of the F-2 and F-4 but no matter what options i select i'm always automatically assgined to fly an F-2 which is not flyable in BoS which prompts a you dont own this error .

 

So it must something im doing wrong. Anyone help please?

[PatrickAWlson]

4 hours ago, mjmitch said:

Issue with being assigned aircraft i dont have.

 

I have selected all the flyable aircraft i have in PWCG

 

I only have the base BoS sim with the eight flyable aircraft it comes with.

 

In PWCG, for the luftwaffe options, there are Bf109 squadrons which have a mix of the F-2 and F-4 but no matter what options i select i'm always automatically assgined to fly an F-2 which is not flyable in BoS which prompts a you dont own this error .

 

So it must something im doing wrong. Anyone help please?

 

You can change the aircraft that you are flying in the mission briefing.  On the pilot chalk board (last screen of the briefing) just click on the plane and assign a different one.

 

Should you find yourself in a unit that does not fly any plane that you own, use equipment requests (Campaign->Activities->Equipment Request)  to swap out some of the aircraft with a type that you can fly.

[Mtnbiker1998]

Hey Pat, are there any Squadrons flying the 109E7 in the "Battle of Britain?" I'm looking for one but am only seeing F2s. I woulda thought the E7 would be a staple of the faux-bob.

 

They don't seem to show up until Moscow in Oct '41 as attackers

[PatrickAWlson]

On 8/10/2023 at 7:53 PM, Mtnbiker1998 said:

Hey Pat, are there any Squadrons flying the 109E7 in the "Battle of Britain?" I'm looking for one but am only seeing F2s. I woulda thought the E7 would be a staple of the faux-bob.

 

They don't seem to show up until Moscow in Oct '41 as attackers

 

Short answer is no.  PWCG BoB is 1941.  With only Spitfire Vs and Hurricane IIs flying for the British, I equipped the Germans with their contemporary 109s.

[Bad_Luna]

you said somewhere in another thread that you don't have much bandwidth for IL2 any more. Any cool projects your working on?

[PatrickAWlson]

On 8/25/2023 at 9:44 PM, Bad_Luna said:

you said somewhere in another thread that you don't have much bandwidth for IL2 any more. Any cool projects your working on?

 

Increasing my 401K so I can retire in a few years  

[Patricks]

On 8/11/2023 at 1:53 AM, Mtnbiker1998 said:

Hey Pat, are there any Squadrons flying the 109E7 in the "Battle of Britain?" I'm looking for one but am only seeing F2s. I woulda thought the E7 would be a staple of the faux-bob.

 

They don't seem to show up until Moscow in Oct '41 as attackers

 

Funny you mention the F2, just started an early German campaign, JG1 in an F2. Took off from a southern France AF to intercept near Dunqurke.  Ran into 4 2 engine bombers, dispatched them, then headed toward the next SP. Got a message I was leaving the combat area and to turn west, but I was in formation with 10 planes close to my leader. All of a sudden i'm outside my plane watching the formation fly away... what's up with that? "West" would have been away from the steerpoint and headed to N. UK over the channel.. ?

Edited August 28, 2023 by Patricks

[PatrickAWlson]

4 hours ago, Patricks said:

 

Funny you mention the F2, just started an early German campaign, JG1 in an F2. Took off from a southern France AF to intercept near Dunqurke.  Ran into 4 2 engine bombers, dispatched them, then headed toward the next SP. Got a message I was leaving the combat area and to turn west, but I was in formation with 10 planes close to my leader. All of a sudden i'm outside my plane watching the formation fly away... what's up with that? "West" would have been away from the steerpoint and headed to N. UK over the channel.. ?

 

Anything coming over the radio or popping up is the game's decision.  As a mission maker I could put subtitles in the game, but I don't, so that's not PWCG.  Were you close to the edge of the map?

[Patricks]

18 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

Anything coming over the radio or popping up is the game's decision.  As a mission maker I could put subtitles in the game, but I don't, so that's not PWCG.  Were you close to the edge of the map?

 

Mystery solved when I re-ran the mission. The steerpoints for the Intercept were set above Dunkirk, OFF the map in game. My whole squadron flew the route and seemed to get stuck up there. I waited as long as I could at a SP inside the map area, 8 Hurricanes showed up. Tried to drag them up by my flight but no response, so ran back to Boulogne-Sur airfield. The Hurri's split up with 4 chasing me so I engaged near my base but #1 Hurri took a head-on shot and knicked my engine, so I landed. Never saw 1 AAA shot or flak at the Hurri's the whole way home...

Edited August 29, 2023 by Patricks

[Stonehouse]

17 hours ago, Patricks said:

 

Mystery solved when I re-ran the mission. The steerpoints for the Intercept were set above Dunkirk, OFF the map in game. My whole squadron flew the route and seemed to get stuck up there. I waited as long as I could at a SP inside the map area, 8 Hurricanes showed up. Tried to drag them up by my flight but no response, so ran back to Boulogne-Sur airfield. The Hurri's split up with 4 chasing me so I engaged near my base but #1 Hurri took a head-on shot and knicked my engine, so I landed. Never saw 1 AAA shot or flak at the Hurri's the whole way home...

 

Would reducing the size of the mission box (campaign advanced settings mission limits) be a work around? i.e., making it a bit smaller = steer points not going off map

[Patricks]

13 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

 

Would reducing the size of the mission box (campaign advanced settings mission limits) be a work around? i.e., making it a bit smaller = steer points not going off map

 

Possibly, or simply moving the steerpoints back a bit (I usually adjust them anyway)..  The AI got all flustered out there in never-never land, most never made it home..

[Juliu5]

Well thats not good eh ? Stuck cant get out from this, mission start type 2 in the configurator where you have to start engines and roll out to runway..
Stalingrad front Surovikino 06/03/1942 I./JG51, every mission same stuck position..

Edited September 2, 2023 by Juliu5

[PatrickAWlson]

On 9/1/2023 at 8:03 PM, Juliu5 said:

Well thats not good eh ? Stuck cant get out from this, mission start type 2 in the configurator where you have to start engines and roll out to runway..
Stalingrad front Surovikino 06/03/1942 I./JG51, every mission same stuck position..

 

Taxiing is no longer supported.  It never really worked reliably.  If taxiing from an airfield produces issues you will have to use runway start.

[frenchyErbin]

I'm currently trying to increase the number of bombers per bombing mission to at least 12 (by using the advanced config). Unfortunately, the max amount of bombers in game seems to be 8. Has anybody managed to generate more than that in a bombing/escort mission?

[parkerc341]

So regarding PatWilson's break, will PWCG ever be updated again? or is it just done for a while?

[FodderMonkey]

20 hours ago, parkerc341 said:

So regarding PatWilson's break, will PWCG ever be updated again? or is it just done for a while?

What’s to update?  The developers aren’t providing any meaningful changes or corrections that would impact PWCG, so no point in him bothering about it imho. 

[parkerc341]

33 minutes ago, FodderMonkey said:

What’s to update?  The developers aren’t providing any meaningful changes or corrections that would impact PWCG, so no point in him bothering about it imho. 

Just adding the new airplanes, LA5F, Li-2, new flying circus planes. I think it'd be nice to add, but I understand what you are getting at. 

[PatrickAWlson]

2 hours ago, parkerc341 said:

Just adding the new airplanes, LA5F, Li-2, new flying circus planes. I think it'd be nice to add, but I understand what you are getting at. 

 

Most of the FC planes aren't worth doing until I get some two seaters.  1C has chosen to do fighters, fighters, and more fighters.  Apparently online dogfighting is the priority.  The two seaters will come eventually.  When they do I will pick this back up again.

[parkerc341]

Gotcha, that makes sense.  Until then enjoy the break Pat.

[Alon4634]

hello wilson is it possible for you to add tracking of aircraft gunner players? atleast some way to track awards and missions if tracking kills isnt possible

[PatrickAWlson]

On 11/3/2023 at 2:51 AM, alon4634 said:

hello wilson is it possible for you to add tracking of aircraft gunner players? atleast some way to track awards and missions if tracking kills isnt possible

 

The level of effort makes it not feasible.

[Alon4634]

5 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

The level of effort makes it not feasible.

ok

[KodiakJac]

On 10/26/2023 at 11:13 AM, PatrickAWlson said:

 

Most of the FC planes aren't worth doing until I get some two seaters.  1C has chosen to do fighters, fighters, and more fighters.  Apparently online dogfighting is the priority.  The two seaters will come eventually.  When they do I will pick this back up again.

 

It's unfortunate that 1C waited to develop the most interesting period of WWI aviation, 1916, until last.

[PatrickAWlson]

8 hours ago, KodiakJac said:

 

It's unfortunate that 1C waited to develop the most interesting period of WWI aviation, 1916, until last.

 

As a career guy I actually like the backwards progression.  It allows you to play to the end even if you can't play from the beginning, which seems realistic for a career.  I do agree that 1916 is a lot of fun.  It's very different from 1918.  Much more lone hunter or smaller formations.  Dragging an E.III around the sky is a challenge.  That feel is why I have been asking for more two seaters for 14 years now.  If you're going to play the hunter, you need something to hunt.  It's also fun to play the prey for awhile.

[KodiakJac]

On 1/9/2024 at 10:21 AM, PatrickAWlson said:

 

As a career guy I actually like the backwards progression.  It allows you to play to the end even if you can't play from the beginning, which seems realistic for a career.

 

Ok...I can see that.  I've never looked at it that way, but you're right!  Will continue to look forward to 1C releasing some 1916 two seaters and the E.III to make 1916 a more complete experience. 

[kraut1]

Hi Patrick,

Just in case that you maybe want to add the Tank Crew Map to your PWCG for BoS for pilot careers.

I have defined in my EMG adaption some semi historical 1943 front lines, based on german military maps (accuracy ca +-1km to +-5km).

They are absolutely not perfect, but they could be maybe a basis for you to save time.

Time range June 1943 - August 1943

The 1941 / 42 fronts are only suitable to create some few missions, but not a pilot career. (huge gap / no winter 41/42 TC map available)

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/87294-easy-mission-generator-by-vander-tc-map-belgorod-prokhorovka-map-41-43-mod-v02-update-for-emgv84/

[ShellShocked]

Hi. Is there any plans to update this mod to include the new dynamic battlefield system from update 5.203. Maybe your mod already does these things. I'm not sure so I just though I'd ask.

 

[PatrickAWlson]

23 hours ago, HodgeRider said:

Hi. Is there any plans to update this mod to include the new dynamic battlefield system from update 5.203. Maybe your mod already does these things. I'm not sure so I just though I'd ask.

 

 

I am not familiar with the dynamic battlefield system.  Is that a mission making tool or is it a capability of the stock career mode?  

[Aapje]

He's talking about the dynamic resource allocation system, which probably only works in the quick missions, for escort missions only.

Edited June 11, 2024 by Aapje

[PatrickAWlson]

3 hours ago, Aapje said:

He's talking about the dynamic resource allocation system, which probably only works in the quick missions, for escort missions only.

 

Thanks. Still not sure how that would apply to PWCG.  If it can be phrased in terms of PWCG like "When I create a PWCG mission, I would like to <fill in the blank>" then light might dawn and I might get it  .  

 

I really do not fly stock career mode so I don't really know what it does.  I haven't flown the game in a year or more so I am not up to date with the latest.  I am also getting older and increasingly lazier so I don't want to do the research  . 

 

Anyhow, the features built into QMB and Career are not things that are necessarily available to mission makers.  PWCG has its own dynamic elements.  Every pilot and plane is tracked from the depot to the squadron, making temporary pilot or plane starvation a thing.  Pilots improve over time and lost aces are replaced by novices, making it very worthwhile to protect your wing mates.  Squadrons move, as does the front line.  Missions are aligned with historical battles.  There's more going on under the hood.  If I add anything it has to be in terms of PWCG and not the game.  Hope that makes sense.

 

 

[ShellShocked]

Yep let me clarify further. Here is the link to the full dev diary but I will highlight the main things that could be interesting.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/307960/view/7720933511835749677?l=english

 

1. In April the devs updated the vanilla career mode with what they are calling the Dynamic Resource Allocation System. They describe it as assigning individual combat vehicles and groups of vehicles a certain performance cost. eg a truck only needs very few CPU resources while a group of bombers needs lots of CPU resources. This  allows the resource controller to check the amount of resources required and then determine the probability of the group spawning. They say that it improves performance by virtually eliminating the problem of a stutter when too many things appear/get spawned at once.

 

2. They added early warning posts which add a new mission of interceptors to attack you when you are detected (could be annoying). Random events on your flight path eg random pair of fighters on free hunt, enemy recon plane, airfield cover flight, etc. They also added Air and AAA settings which are already in the PWCG config.

 

Right now it only works with escort missions but they said they will expand it in the future to more mission types.

 

I understand PWCG already has amazing dynamic elements so basically what I was wondering is, when I create a PWCG mission can these random events occur and could these performance improvements be added to PWCG?

Hopefully that is more clear and thanks for your amazing work.

[PatrickAWlson]

11 hours ago, HodgeRider said:

Yep let me clarify further. Here is the link to the full dev diary but I will highlight the main things that could be interesting.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/307960/view/7720933511835749677?l=english

 

1. In April the devs updated the vanilla career mode with what they are calling the Dynamic Resource Allocation System. They describe it as assigning individual combat vehicles and groups of vehicles a certain performance cost. eg a truck only needs very few CPU resources while a group of bombers needs lots of CPU resources. This  allows the resource controller to check the amount of resources required and then determine the probability of the group spawning. They say that it improves performance by virtually eliminating the problem of a stutter when too many things appear/get spawned at once.

 

2. They added early warning posts which add a new mission of interceptors to attack you when you are detected (could be annoying). Random events on your flight path eg random pair of fighters on free hunt, enemy recon plane, airfield cover flight, etc. They also added Air and AAA settings which are already in the PWCG config.

 

Right now it only works with escort missions but they said they will expand it in the future to more mission types.

 

I understand PWCG already has amazing dynamic elements so basically what I was wondering is, when I create a PWCG mission can these random events occur and could these performance improvements be added to PWCG?

Hopefully that is more clear and thanks for your amazing work.

 

That is new to me.  I suspect that is embedded in the code and not something that mission makers control.

 

PWCG has always had such performance limiters, achieved in code and, more significantly, through configuration.  If you go to "Simple Configs"  you can set activity to low, medium, and high levels depending on your tastes and capacity.  If you go to advanced configs under "Mission Limits" you can further refine these settings.  So, for PWCG, this has been there for years, but with one exception - it is not dynamically applied while you are playing a mission.  Pretty sure that there is no way to do that from PWCG, however, given the config options, it is also probably not needed.

 

I tell people that if they want a mostly air to air campaign, set air activity to medium and ground to low.  If you want an air to ground campaign then turn ground activity to medium or high and set air activity to low.  In advanced configs further tuning is possible, like specifically limiting bomber missions.

 

 

[ShellShocked]

 

10 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

That is new to me.  I suspect that is embedded in the code and not something that mission makers control.

Yep no problem. I thought that might be the case.

 

10 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

PWCG has always had such performance limiters, achieved in code and, more significantly, through configuration.  If you go to "Simple Configs"  you can set activity to low, medium, and high levels depending on your tastes and capacity.  If you go to advanced configs under "Mission Limits" you can further refine these settings.

Thanks. I never even saw these settings but that definitely added more action to my missions when I cranked them up. I'm definitely gonna have to experiment more with those.

Thanks again!

[Varibraun]

On 6/11/2024 at 9:45 AM, PatrickAWlson said:

I haven't flown the game in a year or more so I am not up to date with the latest. 

 

Based on that, I remain amazed at your selflessness in keeping PWCG maintained for us to use what I consider the most immersive SP Career Mode ever developed.

Thank you Pat! 

 

(My "buy you a beer in Cary/Raleigh" offer ALWAYS stands for you and @Jason_Williams  for keeping me looking forward to retirement).

[Artfactial]

Hey, I'm planning my RAF campaign and wanting to start decently early.
Do I understand correctly that the Normandy 1941 dates are a substitute for BoB with 1941 aircraft? Since this overlaps with The Blitz, does this mean that, in effect, The Blitz and missions during actual 1941 aren't really a thing?
I suppose I could treat the substitute BoB as a heavier Blitz.:)

 

Edit: nevermind, Blitz ended in May 41, of course.
Still, could you please tell me what to expect from starting my Hurricane campaign in June 1941?:) (besides a quick and fiery death)

Edited July 8, 2024 by Artfactial

[PatrickAWlson]

On 7/8/2024 at 8:04 AM, Artfactial said:

Hey, I'm planning my RAF campaign and wanting to start decently early.
Do I understand correctly that the Normandy 1941 dates are a substitute for BoB with 1941 aircraft? Since this overlaps with The Blitz, does this mean that, in effect, The Blitz and missions during actual 1941 aren't really a thing?
I suppose I could treat the substitute BoB as a heavier Blitz.:)

 

Edit: nevermind, Blitz ended in May 41, of course.
Still, could you please tell me what to expect from starting my Hurricane campaign in June 1941?:) (besides a quick and fiery death)

 

If you start the campaign at the earliest you will be greeted with Dunkirk, only 1941.  Fake BoB 1941 continues until the end of October when it switches to to reality.  The Germans invade Russia and Britain starts its nuisance raiding in France.  The planes are 1941, because that's what we have.  I make the Hurricanes use 8x .303 but the Spits are cannon armed.

[Artfactial]

14 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

If you start the campaign at the earliest you will be greeted with Dunkirk, only 1941.  Fake BoB 1941 continues until the end of October when it switches to to reality.  The Germans invade Russia and Britain starts its nuisance raiding in France.  The planes are 1941, because that's what we have.  I make the Hurricanes use 8x .303 but the Spits are cannon armed.

Oh that's fantastic, I didn't know Dunkirk was even in it, that's a hell of a starting year, love it! 
I hope I'll make it into the Circus raids into France, would love to do some Hurribomber missions.
Thanks a lot!<3