PWCG 17.1.1 Oh, your squadron needs a plane.

[Mtnbiker1998]

Despite being distracted by msfs lately, I've managed to fly a few missions in the FC beta. Seems to be working just fine! No weird waypoints or ai behavior I've noticed. Will try to get some more flights in, and some coop testing. Anything in particular you want us to try out? Also as an fyi, FC1 owners have full access to the maps, careers and campaigns, just not the FC2 aircraft themselves.

 

The Spad 13s in my squadron do have a 94th default skin assigned to them, I'm guessing thats a holdover from the old version. Obviously tactical codes and the rest of the blanks aren't implemented, no surprise there. But at least i've got my hat in the ring! Looking forward to seeing the flying circus in all its glory coming after me!

 

One potential thing I've noticed is towns in no man's land, or at least this one (Neuvilly en Argonne) don't seem to be using their damaged/destroyed models. Is that a switch somewhere in the editor that needs to be flipped?

[PatrickAWlson]

Anything near the lines should be damaged.  I can take that as a to-do.

 

I have tactical codes pretty much working.  Lot of work as I had to create a couple hundred new skins.  The existing squadron skins are almost all usable with tactical codes, so that saved me a lot of work.

 

I am going to release what I have this weekend.  Tactical codes and squadron skins for all will be front and center.  I also want to reduce the use of infantry, especially at low settings.

[BBAS_Tiki_Joe]

@PatrickAWlson Hi Pat, I've been enjoying the FC Beta Version flying with Jasta 2. I'm 8 Missions in and have had some fun ones. The two Baloon Busting missions I was sent on seemed to have been broken. When we got to the area both times, 2x separate missions, the balloon was not there. Might unrelated, but I was flying a French mission with the beta and saw a friendly balloon bust seemingly by itself right at the start of a mission, (It was located close to my base) I don't know if two balloons are spawning in and hitting each other or something weird like that but thought I'd bring it to your attention. Looking forward to tac codes!

[PatrickAWlson]

15.0.0 Beta 2 (FC Only)

Squadron skins with tactical codes for all units.

- Must download ALL FC skin packs.

- Newer skin packs made by me are labeled "FC Squadron"

- Existing skin packs are labeled "FC Skin"

- Both sets contain squadron skins, so you need all of the packs.

Reduced infantry by quite a bit

Made mission generation 500x faster

- At least the  profiler seems to think so

- It's not really 500x faster, but it might be 10x faster.

 

[PatrickAWlson]

Can I take no feedback as generally good news?  

[Dusty926]

10 minutes ago, PatrickAWlson said:

Can I take no feedback as generally good news?  

Sorry about that! I admit I get kinda wrapped up in the poor state of FC's AI, makes me hesitant to say what issues are PWCG and what aren't.
This is a huge step in the right direction though; The infantry are in far lower quantities, and the squadron skins and decals are perfect. I do have an issue related to them though:

I recall finding at least one DFW somewhere missing a code on it entirely, but that was during a campaign started before the new beta so I chocked it up to that.
However, I am currently not finding any Airco DH4s with codes, despite them definitely having said codes in the PWCG screen. 

I also still had another Balloon intercept with no Balloon. If you want an error thingamajig for that I can try and get one later.

 

On long range penetration missions and some patrols, I also had a bunch of patrol waypoints stacking in exactly the same spot. Doesn't make the mission fly any worse from what I saw, it's just a mess on that singular part of the map wherever they do stack. Again, can also try and generate a mission and an error thing for that later.

[Mtnbiker1998]

Very excited to see what kind of Colorful Hun I run into this update! I've watched the AI fly two missions on autopilot and I'm looking forward to actually flying a few myself this weekend!

 

Found another undamaged town in No man's land, This time it was Mesnil. Some of the villages to the north may have been undamaged aswell? Ronvaux, Hermeville, Eix. They were pretty far away though so its hard to be sure. Also spotted a number of German two seaters without codes, a DFW and a flight of Halberstadts in the same mission.

 

I've also spotted a weird thing on the Albatrosses, Looks like the codes are applied asymmetrically on the sides, resulting in the right side letter covering the cross. Not sure if thats a game bug or pwcg but, but figured I'd bring it to your attention. Screenshots attached.

 

Other than those minor bits though, I'm having pretty good luck with the new version. Maybe because I'm flying mostly plain old vanilla fighter missions? I'm just happy to fly alongside Rickenbacker in my Spad over the new map.

[PatrickAWlson]

@Mtnbiker1998  The asymmetrical application is a game bug.  Can I ask you to post that in the complaints section?

@Dusty926 I really played through one of my missions for real in FC for the first time last night.  The AI is nothing to write home about.  Encountered a bunch of SPADs and shot down three.  They were all turn fighting.  Then I went for a Breguet and the tail gunner started hitting me ... from 400 yards away and shooting through his fuselage, as I was directly below him.  Shrug.

[Dusty926]

8 minutes ago, PatrickAWlson said:

@Mtnbiker1998  The asymmetrical application is a game bug.  Can I ask you to post that in the complaints section?

@Dusty926 I really played through one of my missions for real in FC for the first time last night.  The AI is nothing to write home about.  Encountered a bunch of SPADs and shot down three.  They were all turn fighting.  Then I went for a Breguet and the tail gunner started hitting me ... from 400 yards away and shooting through his fuselage, as I was directly below him.  Shrug.

I've been experiencing the same thing with tailgunners, it's all very strange. The last few patches have been devastating for FC AI; At least 6 months ago an AI Se5a would run from battle and just reengage when he had things back in his favor, now EVERYBODY does lethargic turns of death.
It's very disappointing, but your missions are at least the spice keeping something of it alive. Once the AI gets to a place where you can at least be scared by seeing a 3 or 4 man team of nasty fellas, THEN singleplayer will finally really feel worth playing.

 

There aren't really many things I can think of left to be worked out on the PWCG side [I mentioned what I felt in my post], so I'm dearly hoping that something good happens to FC AI soon.

[Mtnbiker1998]

Upon closer inspection, it looks like the "asymmetric" tac codes are only half the issue (looks like the same reversal issue that plagues the 109s in ww2 GB, great fun) But it does also appear that the crosses in your squadron skins are in the wrong spot (at least compared to the defaults.) I'll spend some time looking through the skins and see if I can find any others that don't line up right with the codes.

 

EDIT: After a quick once over (I only have FC1 so I couldn't get a look at the FC2 stuff) It looks like the only skins with consistent issues are the Alb's Apr18 skins. the 27 Aero's Eagle could be moved up a smidge perhaps on their Spad 13 skin, but I think at that point I'm nitpicking. Only because I love your work so much Pat

 

Edited April 14, 2023 by Mtnbiker1998

[Robi89]

PatrickAWlson PWCG just tried to stick me with this mission:

 

 

We were supposed to escort a flight of Breguets from Esc 13, targeting an area near Walencourt. You'd think that would be a job for the somewhat closer units...

Edited April 15, 2023 by Robi89

[PatrickAWlson]

@Mtnbiker1998 The position of the crosses in my skins is also a game issue - I use the provided blanks, which do have national markings.  

15 hours ago, Robi89 said:

PatrickAWlson PWCG just tried to stick me with this mission:

 

 

We were supposed to escort a flight of Breguets from Esc 13, targeting an area near Walencourt. You'd think that would be a job for the somewhat closer units...

 

Too far, and you're not supposed to get missions outside of the box either.  This map is weird in that it contains two distinct usable areas.  PWCG is currently coded for only one.  I thought that the code that I had in place would prevent this sort of thing but apparently not enough.

[TG-55Panthercules]

 

3 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 The position of the crosses in my skins is also a game issue - I use the provided blanks, which do have national markings. 

 

Yeah - the placement of the tactical codes/decals has been causing some issues in my project to inject squadron-marked default skins into career mode as well.  That's one of the reasons the testing is taking as long as it is - the code placement seems to vary somewhat between plane types, and sometimes even between nations within the same plane types.  I've basically wound up creating my own blank skins that I know (after testing) will work with the relevant tactical codes.  That has worked well so far for the French (all flyable and AI units have been done), American (all flyable and some AI units done so far) and German units (only a handful of flyable and AI units done so far), but the situation with the British planes and their codes is so weird that I have only scratched the surface there.  I'm not sure how what Pat is doing with these tactical codes for PWCG might compare or relate to how they are handled in career mode, but perhaps there will be something in the beta/WIP mod package that I'll be releasing next week that might prove useful to him for PWCG.

[PatrickAWlson]

4 hours ago, TG-55Panthercules said:

 

 

Yeah - the placement of the tactical codes/decals has been causing some issues in my project to inject squadron-marked default skins into career mode as well.  That's one of the reasons the testing is taking as long as it is - the code placement seems to vary somewhat between plane types, and sometimes even between nations within the same plane types.  I've basically wound up creating my own blank skins that I know (after testing) will work with the relevant tactical codes.  That has worked well so far for the French (all flyable and AI units have been done), American (all flyable and some AI units done so far) and German units (only a handful of flyable and AI units done so far), but the situation with the British planes and their codes is so weird that I have only scratched the surface there.  I'm not sure how what Pat is doing with these tactical codes for PWCG might compare or relate to how they are handled in career mode, but perhaps there will be something in the beta/WIP mod package that I'll be releasing next week that might prove useful to him for PWCG.

 

At the moment I am doing the best that I can and accepting that it is not perfect.  That is phase I anyway.  Make the skins, let them loose and get feedback.  Fix what can be fixed, for example, moving the balkenkreuz back on late war planes.

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by PatrickAWlson

[Varibraun]

Thanks as always Pat for pressing forward on this, even when you are not given all the tools you really need.  I am just now getting some time to dive into the beta and noticed that the German Intel screen pushes the allied Recon squadrons off the board using the default graphics settings, see below.

 

P.S. - I have been having a good time flying early WWII western front thanks to your efforts (made into to the spring of 1942 so far and has been my best time in GBs to date) 

 

[PatrickAWlson]

@Mtnbiker1998 I purposely chose position 1 (the more forward position) for all of the German skins.  Until you pointed it out I did not realize that the game was transposing the positions on  either side of the fuselage.  The same thing is being done for German WWII planes, which makes sense for them because 15 would become 51 if they didn't.  Single digits fail badly on WWII planes for the same reason they do on WWI, the position is transposed.  On German WWI planes t is a straight up mistake. 

 

I have read that the transposing of single digit numbers on the WWII planes will not be fixed (I actually gave them the algorithm.  It's like 3 lines of code but - oh well) so I do not hold out high hopes that this will be fixed on WWI planes either.

 

BTW: the current code looks like this:

if (left side) 

    code[0], code[1]

else  (right side)

    code[1], code[0]

 

The correct algorithm is:

if (left side)

    code[0], code[1]

else (right side)

    if (code[1] == "%20")

        code[0],  code[1]

    else

        code[1], code[0]

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by PatrickAWlson

[PatrickAWlson]

15.0.0 

For all:

- Missions generate about 10x faster

- Added protection for instances of bad log data

- Reduced infantry by quite a bit

PWCG for FC 2

- FC2 map

- Fronts move in 1918

- Squadrons redeploy based on historical events

Squadron skins with tactical codes for all units.

- Must download ALL FC skin packs.

- Newer skin packs made by me are labeled "FC Squadron"

- Existing skin packs are labeled "FC Skin"

- Both sets contain squadron skins, so you need all of the packs.

 

For FC users., please download FCSquadron1-4 skin packs again.  Several corrections.  Unzip and allow overwrite.

 

For BoS users: while this is primarily FC, I think you will notice the faster mission generation.  The reduced infantry might also help some who were experiencing issues.

 

PWCG has always been free and remains free.  Until very recently I have never asked for donations.  Lately I have been doing that.  Please see the link in the upper right of the PWCG page.  If you can make a small donation it would be appreciated. 

Edited April 21, 2023 by PatrickAWlson

[AkkiAkkarin]

Thank you so much for continuing to update this great generator! I would've never spent so many hours in this sim without it.

[Mulbin]

Apologies if I've missed something, but I only seem to be able to fly RFC fighter careers in Camels or SE5s... are other fighters not supported? I'd like to fly Spads if possible, for example in RFC 23.

3 minutes ago, Mulbin said:

Apologies if I've missed something, but I only seem to be able to fly RFC fighter careers in Camels or SE5s... are other fighters not supported? I'd like to fly Spads if possible, for example in RFC 23.

Never mind! Found 23 a little later... although I think in reality it was active from feb 17 with Spad 7s

[PatrickAWlson]

1 hour ago, Mulbin said:

Apologies if I've missed something, but I only seem to be able to fly RFC fighter careers in Camels or SE5s... are other fighters not supported? I'd like to fly Spads if possible, for example in RFC 23.

Never mind! Found 23 a little later... although I think in reality it was active from feb 17 with Spad 7s

 

Don't have the plane set for Feb 17.  June 17 is the earliest possible due to the British plane set.  Even with earlier British planes, I would need the Albatros D.III to go earlier than May.  Going to have to wait for FC 3 and the collector planes to go earlier.

[Mulbin]

5 minutes ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

Don't have the plane set for Feb 17.  June 17 is the earliest possible due to the British plane set.  Even with earlier British planes, I would need the Albatros D.III to go earlier than May.  Going to have to wait for FC 3 and the collector planes to go earlier.

You've missed my point I think. 23 isn't available at all in may, although it was already in France with Spad 7s and had been for months. I think you have the squadron starting in July. Possibly because it was based somewhere outside the map until then?

[Mulbin]

Another question! Where do I get all my missing skins from? I've added all the skin packs from the website, but I'm still missing 335

When I play as RFC 23 my Spad is in default French colours. Looking at the squadron file it should use "SP7EARLY_No23Sq_Default"

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Mulbin

[PatrickAWlson]

4 hours ago, Mulbin said:

Another question! Where do I get all my missing skins from? I've added all the skin packs from the website, but I'm still missing 335

When I play as RFC 23 my Spad is in default French colours. Looking at the squadron file it should use "SP7EARLY_No23Sq_Default"

 

SP7EARLY_No23Sq_Default is in the skin pack FCSquadron4.7z

[Mulbin]

15 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

SP7EARLY_No23Sq_Default is in the skin pack FCSquadron4.7z

 

 

EDIT - found it! I hadnt spotted the "Squadrdon" files, just the "skinpacks"

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by Mulbin

[Varibraun]

On 4/20/2023 at 9:18 PM, PatrickAWlson said:

PWCG has always been free and remains free.  Until very recently I have never asked for donations.  Lately I have been doing that.  Please see the link in the upper right of the PWCG page.  If you can make a small donation it would be appreciated. 

 

Thank you Pat for the update and everything you are doing on all "fronts."  Another PWCG donation on it's way to a worthy cause! 

[71st_AH_Mastiff]

the previous folders for the campaigns are in the folder, directory, but how do I get the campaigns back after this new update?

[PatrickAWlson]

11 minutes ago, 71st_AH_Mastiff said:

the previous folders for the campaigns are in the folder, directory, but how do I get the campaigns back after this new update?

 

There is a bug in the current version.  The manual fix is as follows:

Add this line as the bottom entry ion your campaign.json file:
  "product": "BOS"

or

  "product": "FC"

 

Make sure that you add a comma to the end of the line above.

 

I have a fix for it but it is not yet released.  I am pretty booked this weekend so it might take me awhile longer before I get to releasing the fix.

[Stonehouse]

On 4/30/2023 at 1:35 AM, PatrickAWlson said:

 

There is a bug in the current version.  The manual fix is as follows:

Add this line as the bottom entry ion your campaign.json file:
  "product": "BOS"

or

  "product": "FC"

 

Make sure that you add a comma to the end of the line above.

 

I have a fix for it but it is not yet released.  I am pretty booked this weekend so it might take me awhile longer before I get to releasing the fix.

Hi Pat,

These 3 squadron jsons have some issues, things like incorrect squad ids in the skins section, incorrect skin names, squad id instead of country etc.

• III_KG27.json
• II_St_G_2.json
• II_JG52.json

 

I've attached what I believe are corrected versions below. Hopefully saves you some work and you can add them to the next version if you feel they are ok.

 

 

fixed sqd jsons.zip

[PatrickAWlson]

5 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

Hi Pat,

These 3 squadron jsons have some issues, things like incorrect squad ids in the skins section, incorrect skin names, squad id instead of country etc.

• III_KG27.json
• II_St_G_2.json
• II_JG52.json

 

I've attached what I believe are corrected versions below. Hopefully saves you some work and you can add them to the next version if you feel they are ok.

 

 

fixed sqd jsons.zip 3.53 kB · 2 downloads

 

I changed the code not to use the squadron id field in the skin records.  No reason for it as the code already knows which squadron file it is reading and can fill in that field without relying on error prone manual entry.

[Stonehouse]

9 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

I changed the code not to use the squadron id field in the skin records.  No reason for it as the code already knows which squadron file it is reading and can fill in that field without relying on error prone manual entry.

There were some skin reference errors as well in the skin section if that makes any difference with the new code.

 

Stuff like I_JG52 skins being referred to in II_JG52 json. One had the squadid rather than Germany for country id.

It certainly will make your life easier not relying on the squadid in the skin section.

[PatrickAWlson]

 

15.1.0
Added Bf109-G6 AS, Spitfire Mk XIVe, Sopwith Snipe and SSW D.IV
Fixed issues around adding a coop user
Fixed briefing issues for coop missions
Fixed zero altitude scramble and strategic intercept missions
Fixed issue that could have neutral targets chosen

 

The 109 and Spitfire are available to any units that already fly the 109 and Gryphon Spitfire (66th and I forget who else). 

The SSW is available for Jasta 12. 

The Snipe is available for No 43 Squadron and No 4 Squadron AFC, very late in the war.

 

Any of these types can be brought into your unit via an equipment request.

 

I need some coop players to check out the fixes around adding new pilots.  Obviously I spent a good amount of time testing myself (this was the hardest thing to fix) but I am not a coop player, so feedback is appreciated.  

On 5/3/2023 at 5:14 AM, Stonehouse said:

Hi Pat,

These 3 squadron jsons have some issues, things like incorrect squad ids in the skins section, incorrect skin names, squad id instead of country etc.

• III_KG27.json
• II_St_G_2.json
• II_JG52.json

 

I've attached what I believe are corrected versions below. Hopefully saves you some work and you can add them to the next version if you feel they are ok.

 

 

fixed sqd jsons.zip 3.53 kB · 2 downloads

 

Got your fixes but didn't get a chance to incorporate them into this release.  They will make it into the next.

[easterling77]

Many thanks to your ongoing work for us all.

 

Best wishes and greetings

 

Daniel

[frenchyErbin]

Is cold start broken in coop missions? Even if I enable it in the advanced config settings, I always start on the runway.

[PatrickAWlson]

1 hour ago, frenchyErbin said:

Is cold start broken in coop missions? Even if I enable it in the advanced config settings, I always start on the runway.

 

Cold start is not available on Normandy or the western front maps.  Support for cold start has been discontinued.  I did not remove it entirely, but I refuse to attempt to support this feature in its current state.

Edited May 7, 2023 by PatrickAWlson

[frenchyErbin]

That's weird, it doesn't work for me on the Stalingrad map when it's a coop career. I have no issue when it's a singleplayer career.

[Mtnbiker1998]

Was able to start a coop campaign and add a friend without issue. Seems to be working ok!!

[PatrickAWlson]

6 hours ago, frenchyErbin said:

That's weird, it doesn't work for me on the Stalingrad map when it's a coop career. I have no issue when it's a singleplayer career.

 

You're right, starting parked is disabled.  I don't remember why that was done.  I'm guessing it was because the AI didn't play nice with the humans but I'm not sure, or I just got sick of hearing about problems.  I undid the check so parked start for coop will work in the next release, but still not for Normandy or the FC western front.

[PatrickAWlson]

15.1.1
Added Ultra Low ground to eliminate trains and trucks.
- Good for WWI where you are not really roaming the countrside
- reduced infantry
Added Ultra AAA to reduce the gobs of AAA  in PWCG missions.
- PWCG puts over 400 AAA units on the map at medium AA levels,so ultra low isn't really a tiny number
- No AAA around bridges
- No AAA around railroad stations
- No AAA on airfield approaches
- reduced AAA on airfields
- slightly reduced AAA on front lines
Added rare plane flight odds config
- Gotha, HP, Arado
- Limits frequency of mission generation for certain rare planes
- Controllable through advanced config: Mission Limits section
Added Adjustment To Pilot Injury config
- Allows incremental downgrade of injuries suffered by player
- Number 0-4.  Every number causes injury downgrade from dead-> seriously wounded -> wounded - just ducky
- Controllable through advanced config: Campaign Preferences section
Fixed FC airfield Beugnatre 
Fixed escorts for players using check zones
Fixed cold start disabled for coops.
Fixed inability to work with coop pilots (transfer, activate, etc.)

 

Note that "Ultra Low" is relative.  On Ultra Low ground there are still battles.  On Ultra Low AAA there is still  plenty of AAA at the front, less in other places.  These are settings that should benefit fighter campaigns for people with lesser systems.

 

[Stonehouse]

On 5/3/2023 at 7:14 PM, Stonehouse said:

Hi Pat,

These 3 squadron jsons have some issues, things like incorrect squad ids in the skins section, incorrect skin names, squad id instead of country etc.

• III_KG27.json
• II_St_G_2.json
• II_JG52.json

 

I've attached what I believe are corrected versions below. Hopefully saves you some work and you can add them to the next version if you feel they are ok.

 

 

fixed sqd jsons.zip 3.53 kB · 5 downloads

 

Hi Pat - no biggie but FYI/memory jogger that these fixes slipped through the cracks and didn't make it into 15.1.1. eg II_JG52 still referencing I_JG52 skins etc. 

[PatrickAWlson]

8 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

 

Hi Pat - no biggie but FYI/memory jogger that these fixes slipped through the cracks and didn't make it into 15.1.1. eg II_JG52 still referencing I_JG52 skins etc. 

 

This time I  put them in and committed the changes directly.  Apologies for the oversight.  For anybody that wants these changes sooner than my next release, simply unzip @Stonehouse file into PWCGCampaign\BoSData\Input\Squadron

Edited May 18, 2023 by PatrickAWlson