PWCG for BOS Beta 3 Available for Testing

[Toxin1]

Version 1.0 with new summer and autumn maps.  Thank you!

[Bando]

Hi Patrick,

 

I flew a mission as number 4 in a 4 ship Stuka wing.

After 15 seconds (default is 30, but I changed this) the nav lights went on and 1 by 1 they took off.

After take off, they slow down to speeds that sometimes causes planes to crash. I had this happen, could not see wich one crashed, but the rest of the flight remained circling around the airfield.

 

I opted for the reflying of this mission and every one took off again, but this time noone crashed and after about a minute the leader increased throttle and proceeded to the climbing waypoints.

 

I hope there is a simple solution for the flight to take off and gain some altitude before they throttle down to near stall speed.

I have only tested Stuka flights thus far.

 

Thanks.

[Rasim]

Here's how it works:

You generate a mission in PWCG.

PWCG writes a mission to the BoS mission file

You fly the mission with logs enabled.

BoS writes logs to the BoS (not PWCG) data directory

Back in PWCG the program sees the logs (you might have to exit and reenter your campaign menu to get PWCG to look for log files) and enables the combat report button.

After i fly the mission and exit, BoS writes log files in C:\Games\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\logs\. There are many files named like "missionReport(2015-10-30_22-45-18)[0].txt" When i start PWCG and enter campaign, combat report button still greyed out.

[Picchio]

 

 

Just look at that line up of Frederics & there were an equal number in the air

 

 

Not entirely PWCG related, but I'm just bringing in this example in order to ask a more general question, since I'm in doubt. Assuming you've got the best CPU money can buy, can BoS actually run at normal speed (as in, not going into the famous slo-mo) with this number of planes in the air? Or is there an actual limitation within the engine, therefore slo-mo will occur, once a certain number of planes is reached, no matter the CPU power?

 

Also, are ships already being generated, in summer/autumn missions?

Edited November 5, 2015 by Picchio

[Blitzen]

After i fly the mission and exit, BoS writes log files in C:\Games\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\logs\. There are many files named like "missionReport(2015-10-30_22-45-18)[0].txt" When i start PWCG and enter campaign, combat report button still greyed out.

Same thing here.Tried a Stuka campaign  after my 109 campaign stalled , but no matter what I did I could not get a combat report ( I might add I had to force land on my first mission...)

  Perhaps I have the utility folder instaled in the main folder incorrectly? Any ideas?

[Reflected]

When I encounter enemy attack planes, they start dogfighting like fighters.

 

Then I had an escort mission. I was the leader. I headed straight for the Heinkels, when I was jumped by Yaks. I got through them, caught up with the Heinkels - The Yaks didn't care about the bombers, and the bombers were just circling endlessly. The Yaks (and the Il2-s in the previous mission) followed me back to base.

 

My wingmen always fall very easily.

[SCG_Space_Ghost]

Not entirely PWCG related, but I'm just bringing in this example in order to ask a more general question, since I'm in doubt. Assuming you've got the best CPU money can buy, can BoS actually run at normal speed (as in, not going into the famous slo-mo) with this number of planes in the air? Or is there an actual limitation within the engine, therefore slo-mo will occur, once a certain number of planes is reached, no matter the CPU power?

 

Also, are ships already being generated, in summer/autumn missions?

 

I've had 50 friendlies/50 enemies and it was completely playable.

 

I can't say with absolute certainty that the clock cycles were 1:1 with standard expectations but I didn't notice a slowdown of any sort.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Space_Ghost

[Picchio]

I've had 50 friendlies/50 enemies and it was completely playable.

 

I can't say with absolute certainty that the clock cycles were 1:1 with standard expectations but I didn't notice a slowdown of any sort.

 

Mmm. Thanks for the response, I hope someone comes in with further clarifications.

[LLv24_Zami]

Not entirely PWCG related, but I'm just bringing in this example in order to ask a more general question, since I'm in doubt. Assuming you've got the best CPU money can buy, can BoS actually run at normal speed (as in, not going into the famous slo-mo) with this number of planes in the air? Or is there an actual limitation within the engine, therefore slo-mo will occur, once a certain number of planes is reached, no matter the CPU power?

 

Also, are ships already being generated, in summer/autumn missions?

I have 6700k@4.6Ghz and BoS runs great with large numbers of planes in air. In PWCG and otherwise. There were optimizations few patches back and I haven`t seen any major slowdowns these days. Of course every plane uses CPU power so there must be a limit at some point.

 

About the ships I don`t know.

[Blitzen]

I am not sure I've got the correct install.I've placed the entire BOS Campaign folder in my main BoS folder.I've tried the exe. command but ,although it seems to run for a few seconds nothing happens.I haven't tried to open the BOS Campaign folder & drop its contents into the Main BoS folder- should it try that...sort of manual install? I can get the Beta 3 to pop up & work through a mission by using the BosCampaign.jar and I like the resultant mission, but no matter what I do I can never get the Combat Report button to work- it remains grey & believe me I've tried everything.Of course I can't go further in the campaign.I can scrub the mission I've just flown & get another one for the same day,which is ok ,but sort of defeats the purpose of such a great Mod.Can anyone help?

[PatrickAWlson]

The reason the combat report button is not available is in Rasim's post:

 

"After i fly the mission and exit, BoS writes log files in C:\Games\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\logs\"

 

PWCG looks for the logs in  the data folder - i.e. C:\Games\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data

 

I think that the "logs" destination is the result of another third party mod.  At least that's what I remember reading.  Not sure what causes the logs to go to C:\Games\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\logs but it is probably in the startup config file.  

[LLv24_Zami]

The reason the combat report button is not available is in Rasim's post:

 

"After i fly the mission and exit, BoS writes log files in C:\Games\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\logs\"

 

PWCG looks for the logs in  the data folder - i.e. C:\Games\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data

 

I think that the "logs" destination is the result of another third party mod.  At least that's what I remember reading.  Not sure what causes the logs to go to C:\Games\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\logs but it is probably in the startup config file.  

This is correct. There is an extra line in startup.cfg causing this. Deleting it solves the problem

[PatrickAWlson]

There are some AI issues that have been raised that I really cannot do anything about.

 

1. Stukas crashing on takeoff.  I give every flight a high priority WP 2K meters down the runway and 500 meters in the air.  My $.02: The AI needs to be corrected to prioritize not crashing over other things.  It can do this by not choosing to do violent maneuvers to accomplish low priority tasks like getting into formation or changing waypoints.  It can also do this by not making violent, altitude losing maneuvers at low altitude when there are no enemies nearby.

 

2. Attack planes behaving like fighters.  Only fighters are told to attack other planes.  Bpmbers, dive bombers, and attack planes do not have attack air MCUs (I will double check to make sure).  Not sure how I would tell IL2s and Stukas not to behave like that.

 

3. Fighters circle.  Every fighter is told to attack every enemy plane.  The only exception is when they are damaged or the pilot is wounded, and even then the escape WP is medium priority.  In Beta 2 I eliminated the escape logic for flight leaders to avoid having their wingmen follow them into passive mode.  Flight leaders are now stuck with fighting to the death to serve as an example to those that they lead.  Apparently that did not sole the problem.  Would love to solve this one but I really do not know how.

This is correct. There is an extra line in startup.cfg causing this. Deleting it solves the problem

 

For those experiencing this problem, if you want you can salvage your last mission by copying the logs into data.  Once the logs start going to "data" you will be able to submit combat reports and advance time.

[Skoop]

This is correct. There is an extra line in startup.cfg causing this. Deleting it solves the problem

I was just looking for answers to a logs problem, and you may have answered it.

 

I use Lupson's boparser for SP stand alone missions AARs, the IL2 Career Generator by Warham, and just installed the Beta3 version of PWCG. When I went to finish my first mission, the combat report button detected a log from a QMB mission from last week. I deleted the BOparser thinking that would solve it, but PWCG still will not find the logs for the combat report to display.

 

It seems the log destination has been changed, so I will have to do as you suggest and make changes to the startupCFG file. I'm going to have to find a way for all these log based apps to play nicely together. There's even the new MP stats app that has been released to use on a dserver, this is the one the WOL uses for stats...I would imagine that uses log files too.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Skoop

[LLv24_Zami]

I was just looking for answers to a logs problem, and you may have answered it.

 

I use Lupson's boparser for SP stand alone missions AARs, the IL2 Career Generator by Warham, and just installed the Beta3 version of PWCG. When I went to finish my first mission, the combat report button detected a log from a QMB mission from last week. I deleted the BOparser thinking that would solve it, but PWCG still will not find the logs for the combat report to display.

 

It seems the log destination has been changed, so I will have to do as you suggest and make changes to the startupCFG file. I'm going to have to find a way for all these log based apps to play nicely together. There's even the new MP stats app that has been released to use on a dserver, this is the one the WOL uses for stats...I would imagine that uses log files too.

IIRC the line in question is text_log_folder = "logs\IL2CG\". It was made by earlier versions of Warhamm`s Career Generator. 

Edited November 5, 2015 by Zami

[Rasim]

The reason the combat report button is not available is in Rasim's post:

 

"After i fly the mission and exit, BoS writes log files in C:\Games\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\logs\"

 

PWCG looks for the logs in  the data folder - i.e. C:\Games\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data

 

I think that the "logs" destination is the result of another third party mod.  At least that's what I remember reading.  Not sure what causes the logs to go to C:\Games\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\logs but it is probably in the startup config file.  

Yes, finally! Thank you!

I copied my log files to \data folder, start PWCG and Combat Report is active. But! Log files should be writen in \Logs folder, isn't it? Its look more... right?

Here's a screens. 1. PWCG work now, log files in data folder with other impotrant game files. 2. statup.cfg, log files setup. 3. Where logs should to be.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Rasim

[Sokol1]

2. Attack planes behaving like fighters.  Only fighters are told to attack other planes.  Bpmbers, dive bombers, and attack planes do not have attack air MCUs (I will double check to make sure).  Not sure how I would tell IL2s and Stukas not to behave like that.

 

Looks this is related with QM generator code, that supposedly have only a "fighter behavior" for any plane, if enemy plane are detect they engage.

In hand mad missions like Veteran66 ones, attack planes/bombers fly more convincing...

 

In Lupsons's AQM missions bombers stay in formation under attack,at ~2:00 in this video.

 

https://youtu.be/ENNvt_r0-h0?t=123

Edited November 5, 2015 by Sokol1

[SCG_Neun]

This is coming along great Pat and opening up a whole new dimension for offline play.  The interface is absolutely no problem for me and your time and work are greatly appreciated.  

[PatrickAWlson]

Yes, finally! Thank you!

I copied my log files to \data folder, start PWCG and Combat Report is active. But! Log files should be writen in \Logs folder, isn't it? Its look more... right?

 

It does look more right and makes much more sense than dumping the logs into the data folder.  However, by default, that is not the way that Bos (or RoF) work.  They use the data folder.  I have to stick with the default because that is what most BoS users will experience.

[74_jim_nihilist]

Okay, tested Beta 3 some more.

 

- Brilliant idea with the Climb-Waypoints. As far as I can conceive it, the AI trhrottles down at waypoints, which gave me and the AI planes a chance to catch up, the result was that we all arrived as formation AND flying in the correct altitude. Thumbs up!

 

- I have also seen that IL2 and Pe2 suddenly flew like fighters. He111 will stay in formation though.

 

 

Question:

- Escort Missions... isn't it strange that the mission is to escort the bombers to the frontline and not on their entire flight?

[Blitzen]

Yes, finally! Thank you!

I copied my log files to \data folder, start PWCG and Combat Report is active. But! Log files should be writen in \Logs folder, isn't it? Its look more... right?

Here's a screens. 1. PWCG work now, log files in data folder with other impotrant game files. 2. statup.cfg, log files setup. 3. Where logs should to be.

Yes that seemed to work for me to, but it doea seem a bit clunky...and eventually thee will be quite a few of the log enteries streaming down the page in the data folder....

[PatrickAWlson]

There is an auto delete function that might not be enabled yet.  During normal game play it cleans up logs after they have been processed.

[Warhamm]

IIRC the line in question is text_log_folder = "logs\IL2CG\". It was made by earlier versions of Warhamm`s Career Generator. 

it again because IL2CG. My mistake. In first versions of IL2CG, when its called IL2 Commander, i didnt change  text_log_folder parameter. Then one of the 1CGS devs said me to change this parameter to logs\IL2CG\. After PWCG beta 1 released it became clear that compatibility is necessary to change the setting to default. But I forgot that a default is not "logs\" but empty string. I will make new version of IL2CG today and all will be fine again )

[Comes]

Thank's al lot Warhamm and Pat!

One Question:
If I start using the PWCG, will I be able to transfer my progress to newer versions of PWCG?

[Bando]

Thank's al lot Warhamm and Pat!

One Question:

If I start using the PWCG, will I be able to transfer my progress to newer versions of PWCG?

 

Yes. In new versions the old "pilots" are still there.

[Geralt]

does this new PWCG for BOS Beta 3 also include the new summermaps or just the usual wintermaps ?

[Bando]

All the seasons are in there 

 

PWCG chooses the right map based on the date of the current mission you create.

Edited November 6, 2015 by Bando

[Finkeren]

does this new PWCG for BOS Beta 3 also include the new summermaps or just the usual wintermaps ?

 

It includes all seasons. They change automatically with date, so you don't have to do anything except fly missions in the right months (Winter starts in November)

[Geralt]

ah, great, thanks for your answers   

[PatrickAWlson]

it again because IL2CG. My mistake. In first versions of IL2CG, when its called IL2 Commander, i didnt change  text_log_folder parameter. Then one of the 1CGS devs said me to change this parameter to logs\IL2CG\. After PWCG beta 1 released it became clear that compatibility is necessary to change the setting to default. But I forgot that a default is not "logs\" but empty string. I will make new version of IL2CG today and all will be fine again )

 

Thanks for working together to keep things compatible.  Best of all worlds if all of these tools can coexist.

[Blitzen]

Could someone walk us through the advanced settings options? The terminology is a bit unclear.I'd like to increase ( within reason,)the number of aircraft in campaign missions.

[LLv24_Zami]

Could someone walk us through the advanced settings options? The terminology is a bit unclear.I'd like to increase ( within reason,)the number of aircraft in campaign missions.

Here you go: http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/19061-advanced-config/

[Rasim]

Most of the russian pilots have a strange names. File with correct male names in attachment.

Russian Male Names.txt

[Brano]

I did simmilar txt yesterday evening on my own.Adding more "standard" russian first names from the calendar

 

EDIT:

One observation from yesterday.I flew in zveno of 4 sturmoviks and we were attacked by 2 messers near our target zone.While bombing the arty position I realised,that AI messers were attacking only our zveno leader.They damaged him so he had to crashland.Then the leadership has been switched to other zveno member and they focused again only at him,even I was exposing myself right in front of their guns to cover the boss.This way I managed to shot down leading messer.The second one was doing slashing attacks on our new leader but did not fire a single shot.Dunno I f he ran out of ammo? He did this till we reached our homebase,maybe 50 times

Edited November 6, 2015 by Brano

[PatrickAWlson]

I did simmilar txt yesterday evening on my own.Adding more "standard" russian first names from the calendar

 

EDIT:

One observation from yesterday.I flew in zveno of 4 sturmoviks and we were attacked by 2 messers near our target zone.While bombing the arty position I realised,that AI messers were attacking only our zveno leader.They damaged him so he had to crashland.Then the leadership has been switched to other zveno member and they focused again only at him,even I was exposing myself right in front of their guns to cover the boss.This way I managed to shot down leading messer.The second one was doing slashing attacks on our new leader but did not fire a single shot.Dunno I f he ran out of ammo? He did this till we reached our homebase,maybe 50 times

 

 

 

The attack MCU specifies all enemy planes in the mission, so there is nothing in the mission file that should make them focus on a single plane.  Also not sure if PWCG can do anything about AI that chooses not to open fire.  Again, since every enemy plane is listed in the Attack MCU it should try to shoot it down.

 

The feedback is good.  I think that we have seen the BoS development team respond and make improvements in the last patch.  I do, however, want to point out what I can fix and what items I don't think that I can affect.

 

I did see something odd in the code last night related to non fighters behaving like fighters.  I did not have an opportunity to complete the investigation yet but if it turns out to be an error I will fix it.

[keeno]

Pat,

 

I just downloaded and fired up your fantastic PWCG for BoS for the first time, and as with RoF it is brilliant, really immersive and just what this sim needed.

 

Thanks and the good work.

 

Cheers.

[Brano]

Thanks for your comment Patrick.I know it is more of a problem for not quite mature AI in general.They still need to learn a lot but as you said,progress is there.And I have my first kill in sturmovik

[Warhamm]

Thanks for working together to keep things compatible.  Best of all worlds if all of these tools can coexist.

Patrick, what about the translation into Russian? I understand that you may think that everyone knows English. And besides Russian there are Polish, French, and so on. And while the Poles and the French can use the English version without too much difficulty. But with the Russian situation is different. In Russia many players know English very bad. This is understandable even by my posts. I always use Google translate. And this despite the fact that I'm a programmer, and a basic knowledge of English I need to work. Many Russian players would be grateful for translation. And I'm one of them. Of course we will translate everything ourselves if we have the files for translation

 

We with Jason and the other translators of IL2CG met with excellent facilities library GNU gettext and Google translate service for sharing of translation. Can we expect something similar to PWCG but in reverse translation? Not necessarily now, but after the final release. 

[PatrickAWlson]

I don't like the way that last post came off so I deleted it.  Let's try again.

 

Internationalization of PWCG: Definitely possible but painstaking and a bit mind numbing.  Internationalizing code is fairly straight forward.  Take all of the strings, pull them into a file, reference from the file based on a configuration setting.  

 

Not in this release but we'll see what happens.  It is a good idea.

[74_jim_nihilist]

- Hm, I still encounter hat odd circling and I think it has something to do with the AI priorities? In one mission we engaged some LaGG while in the climb phase. After that was done with, the wing leader began an endless circling, "forgetting" that he had to reach the next WP. I usually fly away and try to complete the mission, when I look at the map later, the old Waypoint is still active and no progress has happened.

- Escort missions usually never happen, because on the way to the bombers my wing leader always finds some IL2 down low on the frontline (quite realistic) and is sailing down to attack them. I don't know what I should think about it. On the one hand, it is A okay to attack enemy planes, but than...it is not the mission. Is it possible that the Generators designs its missions around the escort, so that the attacks happen during the escort to the final waypoint (after the rendezvous) or after the bomb drop? Will investigate fruther though.

 

Furthermore, I would be happy, if somebody could confirm this - was it usual that the escort only flew with the bombers till the frontline? I can't manipulate the rendezvous waypoint (which seems reasonable), but then I usually drag the Egress waypoint along the bomber route to make the escort "complete". This is my workaround in theory, because since we never get to the rendezvous...

Edited November 6, 2015 by 74_jim_nihilist