il2mg - Mission Generator

[Sim]

Download r13 - 2018-10-21

(see below for instructions on how to use the utility)

 

NOTE: This mission generator is a work-in-progress.

 

il2mg (short for Il-2 Mission Generator) is a standalone utility that can generate procedural and dynamic single-player missions.

 

 

A list of features the project aims to have:

 

- Entire Battle of Stalingrad modeled (from 1942-07-17 to 1943-02-02)

- Many different mission types and variations

- Historical units and their deployments

- Historical day-by-day front lines

- Randomly generated (and historical) pilots with appropriate ranks

- Detailed airfields (supporting parking/ramp starts)

- Off-map airfields

- Weather system that is both random and is historically "steered"

 

How to use this mission generator:

1. Download and extract the archive from the link above.
2. Launch il2mg.exe application and create your first mission.
3. Click "Launch" button and select your IL-2 Sturmovik installation folder.
4. Click "Accept" button to launch the game and start the mission.

 

Project is open source - please visit GitHub project page for source code.

 

Edited October 21, 2018 by Sim

[VBF-12_Stele]

Tested it out. Looks great! Looking forward to updates.

[Blitzen]

I look forward to the fully developed version!!!

[JGr2/J5_W0LF-]

Same here keep up the great work, Salute!

[74_jim_nihilist]

Wow. Sounds like a dream.

[KpaxBos]

Hello,

 

Great tool.

Do you plan a switch to select plane in the mission ?

Will it be possible to select other maps ?

How do you select the airfield in the current version ?

 

Thanks again for this tool.

 

Have Fun

[Sim]

Do you plan a switch to select plane in the mission ?

 

Yes, but in the future. It will be possible to select unit and/or plane - probably at some point when I start working on the GUI part. Although keep in mind that the missions generated are strictly following existing data, they can't make up non-existing planes or units.

 

Will it be possible to select other maps ?

 

It is built with the idea of multiple battles, however currently only "stalingrad" is supported. Adding new battle means tons of new research and is a huge task, I don't even want to think about it right now.. 

 

How do you select the airfield in the current version ?

 

This utility has a command line interface (run il2mg.exe with "--help" parameter on command line). Here is an example of the output:

 

 

As you can see you can use "-a" or "--airfield" parameter to specify the airfield. As of this initial version, only 8 airfields are ready:

 

illarionovsky

karpovka

leninsk

oblivskaya

pitomnik

solodovka

srednyaya_ahtuba

tuzov

 

So a command "il2mg.exe -a solodovka" will try and create a mission for one of the units stationed on this airfield. However, keep in mind that units do change airfields based on date, so it is possible that at some point this airfield is empty and not active at all. If you receive an error "airfield is not active" - use a "--date" param to specify exact date or just try again until a mission is generated.

 

I know that all this command line interface thingy is not very user friendly.. and I plan to remedy this in the future with a GUI version.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Sim

[6./ZG26_McKvack]

Looks promising. Do you plan on adding transport missions for the He-111 and AI Ju-52?

[Sim]

Looks promising. Do you plan on adding transport missions for the He-111 and AI Ju-52?

 

Absolutely yes. Current focus is on adding all fighter and stuka/il-2 units, then I will move on to bomber/transport units. Lots of little things are still required to make other than test/practice flights happen - so not sure when this will be ready, but let me assure you I am huge fan of bombers/transports

 

Actually, one of the interesting features of this generator is support for "off-map" airfields. What this means in principle is that units can be stationed on an airfield that is not really part of current in-game stalingrad map and they still can fly mission from there. They will simply appear on the edge of the map (with appropriate fuel levels consumed) and at the end of the mission will leave on the edge of the map. This was required to make historical bomber/transport unit placement to work without resolving to workarounds.

[6./ZG26_McKvack]

Absolutely yes. Current focus is on adding all fighter and stuka/il-2 units, then I will move on to bomber/transport units. Lots of little things are still required to make other than test/practice flights happen - so not sure when this will be ready, but let me assure you I am huge fan of bombers/transports

 

Actually, one of the interesting features of this generator is support for "off-map" airfields. What this means in principle is that units can be stationed on an airfield that is not really part of current in-game stalingrad map and they still can fly mission from there. They will simply appear on the edge of the map (with appropriate fuel levels consumed) and at the end of the mission will leave on the edge of the map. This was required to make historical bomber/transport unit placement to work without resolving to workarounds.

Awesome! Cant wait to see this evolve to something big 

Edited November 2, 2015 by McKvack

[71st_AH_Hooves]

Hey Sim this is awesome!!   one question, is it possible to genereate these missions to be say 5 player coops?  and still ahve all the ambiance of the rest of the mission? 

 

I imagine it like in teh text it would say how many flyers are human and it generates that many planes.  then you can drop the mission thats genereated onto the server.  Say, for a coop event.

 

Thanks for your work!!

[Dauntless]

[KpaxBos]

Hello,

 

Thanks for detailed answers

 

 

I know that all this command line interface thingy is not very user friendly..

.

 

I do not care to type :-) .

 

Have fun

[Toxin1]

Awesome!! Looking forward to seeing this develop and grow with the sim

[SCG_Neun]

Looking good...Keep up the great work!

[74_jim_nihilist]

Actually, one of the interesting features of this generator is support for "off-map" airfields. What this means in principle is that units can be stationed on an airfield that is not really part of current in-game stalingrad map and they still can fly mission from there. They will simply appear on the edge of the map (with appropriate fuel levels consumed) and at the end of the mission will leave on the edge of the map. This was required to make historical bomber/transport unit placement to work without resolving to workarounds.

 

This works already or is this your plan? Awesome concept!

[Toxin1]

Tried the generated practice flight and also test flight missions with the winter and autumn maps.  The airfields are very nicely done. Great job! 

[Sim]

Hey Sim this is awesome!!   one question, is it possible to genereate these missions to be say 5 player coops?  and still ahve all the ambiance of the rest of the mission? 

 

I thought about this... It should be possible to generate multiplayer coop missions if we had the coop multiplayer mode (like in RoF) with very little changes to overall mission structure. However, currently in BoS we only have deathmatch mode - which is tricky as you can't link ME commands to spawned player planes. I am really interested in the idea for generating coop missions, but it's kind of low on priority right now (and maybe future BoS developments will make this an easier task).

 

This works already or is this your plan? Awesome concept!

 

It's there, the units move and change airfields, and some of those airfields are outside stalingrad map area. However, none of the available missions do utilize this functionality yet.

 

***

 

A quick status update:

 

- Added many new and updated existing units.

- Started work on a new airfield - Kotelnikovsky.

- Made a change where a unit can now be stationed on multiple airfields at the same date. When this happens then that unit will be split into parts - essentially distributed among multiple airfields. This functionality is now used during the dates when units change bases.

- Wanted to do something fun, so started work on a weather system overhaul. Things like wind layers, temp pressure, temperature, clouds etc. One of the tasks is to also add current mission weather conditions in the briefing text. Also, make units aware of weather conditions so flights could be rejected based on that.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Sim

[Dakpilot]

Thanks for the update

 

Cheers Dakpilot

[[7e]Forza42]

great tool!

if i can add my ''vote'' for a coop generator to higher the priority, i do

 

thanks again for the tool!

[Sim]

New update - r2 (see first post for download link)

• Added new mission type - cover airfield.
• Added Kotelnikovsky airfield.
• Added Altuhov airfield.
• Updated existing and added many new units.
• Overhauled weather system:
  • Added a new --weather command-line parameter (to set desired weather conditions).
  • Weather report is now included in the briefing text.
  • Added historical day-by-day weather conditions and temperature levels.
  • Implemented diurnal (day/night) temperature variations.
  • Cloud cover and wind levels are now set based on weather conditions.
  • Winds are now dynamically generated (and change direction/speed with altitude).
  • Turbulence is now dynamically generated.
  • Atmospheric pressure is now dynamically generated.
• Units are now selected based on number of available planes (making smaller units rarer).
• Units having multiple airfields assigned on the same date are now split and distributed among the airfields.
• Various minor updates to front lines.
• Other minor changes and tweaks.

---

 

The new airfield cover missions are different from the free/practice flights in that you fly as part of a small formation - either as a wingman or a leader. The weather system overhaul is now finished - and I am quite happy with the result. Weather is now both random and historically "steered", but still can be overwritten by the player with the new command-line parameter. There is also a bunch of new/updated units and two new airfields.

Edited January 5, 2016 by Sim

[Jupp]

~S~ Sim,

 

As someone who has been studying BoS Mission Building for nearly a year now... just wow!

 

I am keen to see what you have done here, and will certainly see if this can be used, in yet another way.

 

 

It did flag on Norton 360, so I restored and excluded it, then re downloaded it afterwards, just to make sure.

 

I have tried installing this onto a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit system, which says that it is incompatible.

 

If I can resolve it running through the usual suspects ( my install is in Program Files (x86) ) then I will report back.

 

 

What you have done, and have taken on for yourself, is extraordinary. I both applaud, and salute, your accomplishment.

 

 

Thank You!

 

!S -Jupp-  

Edited January 6, 2016 by Jupp

[Sim]

Hi Jupp,

 

It did flag on Norton 360, so I restored and excluded it, then re downloaded it afterwards, just to make sure.

 

I am currently using UPX utility to compress the executable before distribution - and some anti-virus software seems to flag this as a problem. Will investigate the possibility of not using this for the next release.

 

I have tried installing this onto a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit system, which says that it is incompatible.   If I can resolve it running through the usual suspects ( my install is in Program Files (x86) ) then I will report back.

 

That's strange. Don't think I have a way to test on a Windows 7 machine myself but in theory it should work.. How does the incompatible error message looks like? Also, if your install is in the Program Files directory - you will need to run the utility as an Administrator (right click and "Run as Administrator") - otherwise it will not have the permissions to write files to BoS mission directory under Program Files.

[Jupp]

~S~ Sim,

 

Hey, good news. It must have been "pilot error" on my part somewhere in understanding this.

 

While I was working in the Mission Editor just now I found files that must have been generated by your program.

 

"order227-wl-106-4" and the like. They are in my Multiplayer Dogfight folder somehow, which is how I found them.

 

Thanks again, and, I'll be sure to let you know if I experience any further problems, or success, with what I try out.

 

Mucho Gracias,

 

!S -Jupp-  

Edited January 6, 2016 by Jupp

[KpaxBos]

Hello,

 

Got this with il2mg-r2 (line mode command) :

 

C:\.....\1C Game Studios\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\Missions\il2mg
 il2mg.exe --help                                                              
CPU lacks feature 0x00f8                                                             
Failed to read code                       

 

I am on Windows 10 64bits.Previous version working.

 

Happy New Year.                                        

[Sim]

Got this with il2mg-r2 (line mode command) :

 

Thanks for the heads up - I am looking into this. Strange in that I have just tried on both of my computers also on windows 10/64 bit with Intel CPUs and did not have this error. Do you maybe know the CPU model of your computer?

[KpaxBos]

Here some infos :

 

Operating System
            Windows 10 Famille 64-bit
        CPU
            Intel Core i7 870 @ 2.93GHz    51 °C
            Lynnfield 45nm Technology
        RAM
            6,00 Go Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 664MHz (9-9-9-24)
        Motherboard
            MEDIONPC MS-7616 (CPU 1)    34 °C
        Graphics
            ASUS VW266H (1920x1200@60Hz)
            1024MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 5800 Series (ATI)    38 °C

[Sim]

Here some infos :

 

Thanks, found the problem. Will release a fixed version later today. Current version will not work with all CPU models (especially older ones).

[Sim]

New update - r3 (see first post for download link)

• Fixed an issue where the program was not working on some CPU models.
• Removed executable file compression.

---

 

A small update that I hope will fix the reported problem with incompatible CPU models (not supported feature error).

[KpaxBos]

OK it is working now.

 

Thanks for support.

[Sim]

I have been working on something fun this weekend and though it is worth sharing. As you may know, my mission generator already has day-by-day front lines accurately recreated from military situational maps. However, so far they were just that - a paining on the map. To add more complex mission types in the future I needed to tackle the issue of understanding more about the map - like figuring out what territory does a point belongs to.

 

The result is this screenshot from a debug mode output:

 

 

Ray tracing is used to identify friendly/enemy territories based on front lines alone. As you can see it can handle things like encirclement and pockets quit well! I will see if I can improve this even further and will start implementing more complex mission types - like patrols and free hunts.

Edited January 11, 2016 by Sim

[Toxin1]

Awesome work.  What does the -seed value parameter do? how do you set the mission type?

 

S~

[Jade_Monkey]

Wow, very impressive!

 

Keep up the good work!

[Sim]

What does the -seed value parameter do? how do you set the mission type?

 

The --seed parameter is used to seed the initial value of random number generator. That means if you set it to something like --seed 123 - all the procedural generated content will be the same (hence the same mission will be generated always). I use this functionality while developing - like if I spot something odd with the generated mission, I can make a fix and then recreate it from seed and verify if it was fixed.

 

Currently, there is no way to select mission types as there are only a couple of them available right now. I will add this feature in the future.

[KpaxBos]

Hello,

 

Will it be possible to select plane (without searching through documentation I do not have ). Or have a list in the help menu with position and date of the different planes (to have the info to fill in the current options) .

 

Nice work.

 

Be Happy in 2016

[Yazh-29]

Hi Sim,

 

I just found your great work and I had to congratulate you for this impressive initiative that I believe will move the community.

 

Good luck and happy new year.

[LLv24_Zami]

Really nice work Sim!

 

Hopefully we get briefings like that to the stock campaign missions some day.

[Sim]

Made some good progress on the new fighter missions in the last week or two - still some serious work needs to be done before this is ready. I have in mind to introduce three different fighter mission types right now - patrol (defensive), fighter sweep (offensive) and free hunt (a variant of fighter sweep). Also, I have added a concept of roles - missions can now be configured per role.. and roles can be assigned to each unit. In parallel I am also working on the new airfields - the next version will include both Morozovskiy airfields. Here is a screenshot of Morozovskiy south at some point in December 1942.

 

[Bando]

That looks like it's populated. That's great!!

[Jade_Monkey]

Looks great! Finally an airfield that doesnt feel completely deserted.