PWCG 17.1.1 Oh, your squadron needs a plane.

[Vishnu]

3 hours ago, jeanba said:

I love the Ju88C campaigns especially the raid missions, is it the same type of missions for the Mosquitos ?

 

Also, can we play Hurricanes over Velilye Lucky ?

 

For the moment, I really enjoy the current versions of PWCG, they give a nice experience of the new planes !

Velie Leiki map isn’t in PWCG.   I asked this question before. 

[jeanba]

Thank you

[PatrickAWlson]

4 hours ago, jeanba said:

I love the Ju88C campaigns especially the raid missions, is it the same type of missions for the Mosquitos ?

 

Also, can we play Hurricanes over Velilye Lucky ?

 

For the moment, I really enjoy the current versions of PWCG, they give a nice experience of the new planes !

 

Mosquito profile is very similar to Ju88c right now.  That should remain the same when Normandy drops, as both will get a fair dose of anti shipping missions, the Ju88c more than the Mosquito.  Mission profile is controlled at the squadron level and not the plane level.  This allows a plane to be used differently by different units.   

 

No Velilye Luckie map support

 

Thanks

[jollyjack]

On 6/20/2022 at 5:45 PM, PatrickAWlson said:

- Change payload to add rocket assist

 

Thanks for the update, one Q: rocket assist; the white square?

[PatrickAWlson]

4 minutes ago, jollyjack said:

 

Thanks for the update, one Q: rocket assist; the white square?

 

The payload drop down I think.

[Stonehouse]

On 6/27/2022 at 3:38 AM, PatrickAWlson said:

13.10.1

Disabled attack MCU to fix issue that planes will not follow  waypoints.

 

No idea why the attack MCU confuses the AI and causes it to fly circles, but apparently it does. 

 

With this, I am done trying to experiment.  Either I have clear mission building rules that actually work or I don't even try.  I have pushed the envelope as far as I am able and probably much further than I should.  PWCG does many, many things this game was never designed to handle.  This is not the way that 1C wants mission designers to do missions.  Therefore, actually having it work is hit and miss.  Having it continue to work is hit and miss.   I cannot criticize 1C if something that I want to do doesn't work.  That's on me. 

 

Going forward, I will I will incorporate planes, do Normandy, and take advantage of new documented features.  But no more "this should work ...".  

 

 

 

Not sure if it is any comfort to you Pat but it seems like there are possibly bugs in play with MCUs and fighters at present so you may have well done everything perfectly and the game has caused the issue seen in PWCG. Realize it is not the same situation but it still is sounding like something might be busted. See 

 

Edited June 28, 2022 by Stonehouse

[Vishnu]

9 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

 

Not sure if it is any comfort to you Pat but it seems like there are possibly bugs in play with MCUs and fighters at present so you may have well done everything perfectly and the game has caused the issue seen in PWCG. Realize it is not the same situation but it still is sounding like something might be busted. See 

 

See also. 

 

I think AI is borked.  Not Pat’s fault.  

[PatrickAWlson]

@Stonehouse @Vishnu Thanks.  That is what was happening in PWCG.  I gave it commands to attack the enemy immediately after the formation command.  Somehow it spotted the enemy right away, even if there was no enemy in sight.  Then it got confused and circled.  Something wonky in the 1C code around triggering an attack MCU?

 

At any rate, disabling was one line of code commented out.  If this gets fixed I can restore it and try again.  In the meantime it is as it is.

[Barkhorn1x]

On 6/26/2022 at 6:26 PM, Majpalmer said:

Thanks, Pat. I'm amazed at what you have managed to do, not what you have been unable to do. And that's been the case for me since the Campaign Generator for Red Baron 3D. God bless! 

 

This!  ?️

[TimSell75]

On 6/28/2022 at 3:07 PM, PatrickAWlson said:

@Stonehouse @Vishnu Thanks.  That is what was happening in PWCG.  I gave it commands to attack the enemy immediately after the formation command.  Somehow it spotted the enemy right away, even if there was no enemy in sight.  Then it got confused and circled.  Something wonky in the 1C code around triggering an attack MCU?

 

At any rate, disabling was one line of code commented out.  If this gets fixed I can restore it and try again.  In the meantime it is as it is.

 

Thats a pity, because with the 13.10.0 Version it was the first time it was fun being a flight lead in a fighter campaign. The wingmen were finally following orders, which is great.

 

Is there a chance to have a version with the code change additionally in the future or being able to adjust the onle line of code ourselves? So we can adjust it depending on if we are flight lead or just wingman?

 

[PatrickAWlson]

2 hours ago, TimSell75 said:

 

Thats a pity, because with the 13.10.0 Version it was the first time it was fun being a flight lead in a fighter campaign. The wingmen were finally following orders, which is great.

 

Is there a chance to have a version with the code change additionally in the future or being able to adjust the onle line of code ourselves? So we can adjust it depending on if we are flight lead or just wingman?

 

 

I need to know that the issue won't repeat, then I can reinstate it.  I would not hold your breath waiting.  An AI issue that impacts PWCG is probably not going to make the it to the top of 1C's to do list any time soon.

[Spidey002]

Minor error: the US last name list has “jackson” in lowercase. 
 

(I’ve taken to editing it to “Jackson” whenever I update PWCG.)

[TimSell75]

On 6/28/2022 at 3:07 PM, PatrickAWlson said:

@Stonehouse @Vishnu Thanks.  That is what was happening in PWCG.  I gave it commands to attack the enemy immediately after the formation command.  Somehow it spotted the enemy right away, even if there was no enemy in sight.  Then it got confused and circled.  Something wonky in the 1C code around triggering an attack MCU?

 

At any rate, disabling was one line of code commented out.  If this gets fixed I can restore it and try again.  In the meantime it is as it is.

 

It might be a stupid idea, but could we have the line of code as an option (checkbox) in PWCG?

 

Because with 13.10.0 it is the first time that being a flight lead makes sense. With all other versions before, I had the issue that my wingmen were just circling above me, watching me fight 4-8 enemys on my own and have a chill. No matter which order I gave them, they simply ignored it and went home without a single bullet shot.

 

With 13.10.0 everything is fine, they follow orders and fight the enemy as they should. The only flaw I have noticed so far, is the call of an imaginary enemy right after takeoff. But this would be perfectly fine for me, if I can have actual usefull wingmen in exchange!

 

Edited July 2, 2022 by TimSell75

[Redeye]

Quick qestion: Is that fact that wingmen ignores orders and act as cannon fodder a general BoX thing that people just accept, or is it tied to PWCG specifically? 

[354thFG_Leifr]

BoX, the AI is pretty shite.
Don't expect anything other than basic maneuvering and sluggish responses.

Edited July 5, 2022 by Leifr

[=SqSq=SignorMagnifico]

Is it still possible to ramp start using PWCG? I can't seem to find the option. 

 

"PWCG 8.0.0
PWCG 8.0 contains dozens of small improvements.  Here are some of the more important ones:
Added cold start for Bodenplatte
Added new Bodenplatte airfields
Added spotlights for night missions
Improved layout of plane selection to allow for more payload options

Updated WWI ground structures
Fix for planes running away

Improved AAR that carries all details forward to debrief.  
Added recon missions"

[PatrickAWlson]

37 minutes ago, =SqSq=SignorMagnifico said:

Is it still possible to ramp start using PWCG? I can't seem to find the option. 

 

"PWCG 8.0.0
PWCG 8.0 contains dozens of small improvements.  Here are some of the more important ones:
Added cold start for Bodenplatte
Added new Bodenplatte airfields
Added spotlights for night missions
Improved layout of plane selection to allow for more payload options

Updated WWI ground structures
Fix for planes running away

Improved AAR that carries all details forward to debrief.  
Added recon missions"

 

Advanced Config -> Mission Limits -> Start Type set the value to "2" for taxiing.

 

Taxiing is no longer actively supported as there is no rule set that guarantees success.  You can try it, but if it doesn't work it will not be fixed (because we don't know how to).

[=SqSq=SignorMagnifico]

39 minutes ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

Advanced Config -> Mission Limits -> Start Type set the value to "2" for taxiing.

 

Taxiing is no longer actively supported as there is no rule set that guarantees success.  You can try it, but if it doesn't work it will not be fixed (because we don't know how to).

Thank you!

[Spidey002]

On 6/28/2022 at 8:07 AM, PatrickAWlson said:

@Stonehouse @Vishnu Thanks.  That is what was happening in PWCG.  I gave it commands to attack the enemy immediately after the formation command.  Somehow it spotted the enemy right away, even if there was no enemy in sight.  Then it got confused and circled.  Something wonky in the 1C code around triggering an attack MCU?

 

At any rate, disabling was one line of code commented out.  If this gets fixed I can restore it and try again.  In the meantime it is as it is.

Is this only a problem if you’re not the flight lead (i.e. wing leader circles he airfield and never flies the mission)?

 

I played one mission when this was implemented, heard the call to attack, but as I was flight lead and didn’t see anyone, I kept flying the mission. The yellow waypoint indicators were missing, but I can live without those. 
 

As others noted, I was pleasantly surprised when my wingmen actually did their jobs and attacked as ordered. 

 

Would be possible for this code to be included only when player is flight lead?

[PatrickAWlson]

35 minutes ago, Spidey002 said:

Is this only a problem if you’re not the flight lead (i.e. wing leader circles he airfield and never flies the mission)?

 

I played one mission when this was implemented, heard the call to attack, but as I was flight lead and didn’t see anyone, I kept flying the mission. The yellow waypoint indicators were missing, but I can live without those. 
 

As others noted, I was pleasantly surprised when my wingmen actually did their jobs and attacked as ordered. 

 

Would be possible for this code to be included only when player is flight lead?

 

Not going to write code to try to outguess the AI only to have to rewrite it again when my guess is wrong.  Don't have enough time in my life for that.  Very happy to write code on an operable set of rules.

[Spidey002]

On 7/16/2022 at 4:43 PM, PatrickAWlson said:

 

Not going to write code to try to outguess the AI only to have to rewrite it again when my guess is wrong.  Don't have enough time in my life for that.  Very happy to write code on an operable set of rules.

 

I still had 13.10.0 in my downloads folder. I extracted just the exe into my 13.10.1 folder and renamed it. Now I can use the older version to create missions when I'm flight lead, and use the newer version when I'm not. 

 

This should do me for a while, until the newest versions have so much more content than 13.10.0 that I'm missing out.

[FodderMonkey]

Greetings, Patrick,

 

Just curious if you're planning an update for the 410, or waiting for Normandy to drop.  Sounds like they're pretty close so wouldn't be the least surprised if you opt to wait.  Can't imagine the shenanigans all those new airfields and vehicles are going to cause.  Thanks!

[PatrickAWlson]

2 hours ago, FodderMonkey said:

Greetings, Patrick,

 

Just curious if you're planning an update for the 410, or waiting for Normandy to drop.  Sounds like they're pretty close so wouldn't be the least surprised if you opt to wait.  Can't imagine the shenanigans all those new airfields and vehicles are going to cause.  Thanks!

 

I'm going to try to do the 110 this weekend.  Adding an airplane and adding a map are two totally different things, so no need to wait for one to get the other.  

 

When Normandy comes out it might be upwards of a month for me to incorporate it into PWCG, but it will get done.

[CosmicXSolitude]

3 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

I'm going to try to do the 110 this weekend.  Adding an airplane and adding a map are two totally different things, so no need to wait for one to get the other.  

 

When Normandy comes out it might be upwards of a month for me to incorporate it into PWCG, but it will get done.

Damn I had to get heavily into PWCG now just have to wait longer to do a good career ? haha. Looking forward to it

[Majpalmer]

It's great that 1C regularly is releasing new content for the game, but it must make poor Pat's job hell. New plane one week. Another the next week. Then another. And then they'll drop a new map. Bonkers.

[PatrickAWlson]

8 hours ago, CosmicXSolitude said:

Damn I had to get heavily into PWCG now just have to wait longer to do a good career ? haha. Looking forward to it

 

I'm hoping it will be worth the wait.  I am going to do a fake BoB - German assault on England but using 1941 planes, followed by the Channel air war and then on to Normandy.  During the Channel phase there should be lots of anti shipping and raider missions for bomber types, with fighter sweeps and intercepts for fighter types.

[Mtnbiker1998]

1 hour ago, PatrickAWlson said:

During the Channel phase there should be lots of anti shipping and raider missions for bomber types, with fighter sweeps and intercepts for fighter types.

Hopefully plenty of strategic bomber escorts too! Really looking forward to some early-ish USAAF campaigns in the P-38 and 47.

 

Maybe some western front P-40 squadrons too?

[Sandmarken]

2 hours ago, Mtnbiker1998 said:

Hopefully plenty of strategic bomber escorts too! Really looking forward to some early-ish USAAF campaigns in the P-38 and 47.

 

Maybe some western front P-40 squadrons too?

Was there any p40 squadrons in the west? I know the brits did one p39 raid before deciding they didnt like it and go back to the spit. 

[RedeyeStorm]

On 6/26/2022 at 5:33 PM, curiouslysophie said:

I just started a Mosquito Campaign in Sept 44 and when generating missions the only payload options I can choose from are Standard, or 2 x 250lb bombs. Is this normal? The rockets seem to be fitted on some missions, but I can't choose them.

Did not see a reply on this. Most of the Mossie loadout cannot be selected. On the mission profiles like attacking a treinstation they get AP rockets and they are not very useful at the moment.

[tattywelshie]

10 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

I'm hoping it will be worth the wait.  I am going to do a fake BoB - German assault on England but using 1941 planes, followed by the Channel air war and then on to Normandy.  During the Channel phase there should be lots of anti shipping and raider missions for bomber types, with fighter sweeps and intercepts for fighter types.

Oh wow, that sounds amazing!!!! Give a whole new career timeline then!

[Vishnu]

11 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

I'm hoping it will be worth the wait.  I am going to do a fake BoB - German assault on England but using 1941 planes, followed by the Channel air war and then on to Normandy.  During the Channel phase there should be lots of anti shipping and raider missions for bomber types, with fighter sweeps and intercepts for fighter types.

Wow!!! Thanks!!!   That sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun!   I’ve always wanted a BOB scenario without getting CLOD, mainly because I strictly fly VR

Edited August 7, 2022 by Vishnu

[I.JG3_CDRSEABEE]

11 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

I'm hoping it will be worth the wait.  I am going to do a fake BoB - German assault on England but using 1941 planes

Anyway to do your magic for CLoD?

[PatrickAWlson]

1 hour ago, CDRSEABEE said:

Anyway to do your magic for CLoD?

 

Not realistically. Totally different program.  I don't even know if it would support a 3rd party career.  If it did then it would be several months to code it and another program that I have to maintain.  TBH I'm struggling to maintain PWCG at this point.  

 

If anybody else wants to do it and use PWCG code as a basis, I'm sure that would be possible.  But my involvement would be "here's the code" and no more.

1 hour ago, Vishnu said:

Wow!!! Thanks!!!   That sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun!   I’ve always wanted a BOB scenario without getting CLOD, mainly because I strictly fly VR

 

The planes are going to be right but wrong.  109E7 (which is mostly right), F2 and F4, Spit V, Hurricane II, Me 110 E, Ju87 D, etc.  Still, it will be Spits and Hurricanes against 109s, 110s, Stukas, He111s and Ju88s.  Should be fun.  

On 8/2/2022 at 1:06 PM, Spidey002 said:

 

I still had 13.10.0 in my downloads folder. I extracted just the exe into my 13.10.1 folder and renamed it. Now I can use the older version to create missions when I'm flight lead, and use the newer version when I'm not. 

 

This should do me for a while, until the newest versions have so much more content than 13.10.0 that I'm missing out.

 

I broke my promise and tried again.  I think that I have it working now.  I delay the trigger of the attack MCU until 20 second after the first waypoint is reached instead of triggering it immediately on the start of the flight.  Looks like the AI is OK with it since it has been given a WP to fly to.  Testing takes time so the number of test cases that I can run is limited, but in two missions the AI behaved as I would want.  It always ran the waypoints up to the point where enemy AC were encountered and then attacked.  Two missions does not equal guaranteed success, but I am hopeful. 

 

This will be available in 13.11.0.  If it goes bad I will have to disable it again in a hot fix.

[PatrickAWlson]

13.11.0
Add Me410
- III ZG 26 starting in June 1943
Changed victory assignment logic in AAR
- Better damage records allows me to determine who did the most damage
- Victory goes by log assignment or by who did the most damage.
- Unclaimed player victories are still assigned to flight mates.
Output AAR results to the error log.  Allows players to see what the log files are saying.
- If you are wondering why you did or did not get credit, look at the PWCGErrorLog.txt file
Another attempt at triggering an Attack MCU to attack all enemy planes
- This time I wait until the first WP is reached on take off.
- Worked in a couple of tests
Move Fokker D8 introduction to August 1918.  Allows player to select as a private plane.

 

The Attack MCU is another attempt to get fighter AI more aggressive.  The last attempt in 13.10.0 failed.  In this attempt I trigger the attack MCU later in the flight, after the first WP.  For those who fly manually, you're going to have to hit the first WP to trigger it.  Two flights and it worked as hoped for.  If this goes bad then I'll have to revert again in a hot fix.

 

The change in crediting victories is a pretty big deal.  The damage logs are much better than they used to be, showing all damage done by anybody.  i eliminated all of the "fuzzy" processing and simplified it.  By adding up the damage done in each of the log entries you can determine who did the most damage to a plane that crashed without a designated victor.  In PWCG, that person now gets the victory.  No longer is it possible to get a victory without hitting the target.

 

Exception: You, the player, can still give away kills.  If you do not claim a kill it will still be awarded to a flight mate as was the case in all previous versions of PWCG.

 

Per a request I moved the introduction date of the D8 up to allow it to be selected as a personal plane in August 1918.  The DRI is already available in August 1917, so no changes needed there.

[TheSNAFU]

This update looks great Pat. Good stuff indeed. I’m particularly glad you’ve taken another shot at improving the aggressiveness of the AI fighters. Much appreciated!! 

[Vishnu]

Thanks again for all your hard work!

[Majpalmer]

Thanks, Pat. I'll give it a run tomorrow. 

 

I remember. Attach log files. 

[PatrickAWlson]

Something I forgot to post in the list of changes ...

 

I now print the destroyed and damaged summaries to the PWCG log file (PWCGErrorLog.txt).  You can see the events: who was shot down by whom, which vehicles were destroyed without being credited to a specific victor, and who damaged a vehicle.

[Stonehouse]

@PatrickAWlson Quick question/clarification - I usually upgrade by unzipping the new version over old. I'm finding that some of my campaigns no longer appear. It looks to me like two things happened somewhere in the last few versions

 

1) the json structure for squadron roles changed?

2) some Bodenplatte centric squadrons either changed name (eg IV_PzSch_G_2.json now is 4_PzSch_G_2.json)  or have been removed (eg 362nd FG, 363rd FG. 321st BG)

 

So I see messages like in the PWCG error log if I remove the squadrons not in 13.11.0

"No squadron found for squadron id 102363485 in campaign FortyOne" 

 

I figure this is why the campaign does not show.

 

So creating a new Bodenplatte campaign gives errors like below if I put them back:

"Mon Aug 08 19:56:20 AEST 2022
java.lang.NullPointerException
    at pwcg.campaign.squadron.SquadronRoleWeightCalculator.calculateCategoryWeights(SquadronRoleWeightCalculator.java:22)
    at pwcg.campaign.squadron.SquadronRoleWeightCalculator.calculateHeaviestSquadronRole(SquadronRoleWeightCalculator.java:12)
    at pwcg.campaign.squadron.SquadronRoleSet.selectSquadronPrimaryRoleCategory(SquadronRoleSet.java:36)
    at pwcg.campaign.squadron.Squadron.determineSquadronPrimaryRoleCategory(Squadron.java:814)
    at pwcg.campaign.squadmember.SquadronMemberFactory.createInitialAIPilot(SquadronMemberFactory.java:87)

................................"

 

I figure the above is because I have squadron jsons that are now in invalid in structure in the squadrons folder relevant to the map I am trying to use. Creating a campaign on the eastern front works fine.

 

Any point in trying to recover these lost Bodenplatte campaigns or just start fresh on a fresh install (which works - I've checked)?

 

Don't want to waste your time so if it is just better to start fresh I'm fine to do so. It's been a while since I last flew any of the campaigns (ie few months)

 

<edit> ok problem solved. I created a fresh install and ported my campaigns across and then on starting the only errors were due to the Canadian wing (non official) squadrons. Once I put those in it seems fine. The fresh install fixed the null pointer exception error. Going forward I'll stop being lazy and do a fresh install and bring the campaigns across rather than unzipping over the top.

Edited August 8, 2022 by Stonehouse

[YouBet]

Many on this forum have heaped praise upon you -- rightfully so.

 

I can say with no hyperbole, though, that the possibility of an early war channel campaign using your application is what excites me the most about the Normandy map.