Il-2 Mission Planner | online flight planning tool | il2missionplanner.com

[JimTM]

Well... just tested something quick and dirty, it actually seems pretty possible. The creation of new routes breaks, but you can move around the map and edit fine... Perhaps in the future I could make a control to rotate the map to a particular heading, and disable creating new routes while it's rotated (unless I can find a fix for that, possible). Unfortunately I have quite the backlog of features and things, so it will be a while, but I have added it to my list it's a good suggestion! (In the meantime, if you're comfortable with editing CSS I could show you how to hack it to a particular heading in the meantime  )

Your test seems quite promising. Personally, I'm only looking to rotate a map once planning is done. Thanks for including my suggestion in your backlog!

 

I did some introductory reading on CSS awhile back so I could try your hack and see how it goes. Thanks!

 

Jim

[curiousGamblerr]

Sure thing.

 

So, if you load the mission planner in Chrome, you can alter the CSS via right clicking on the map and choosing "Inspector" to open the development tools. From there, you can alter the CSS on the HTML body tag. If you add "-webkit-transform: rotate(12deg)" it will rotate the entire page 12 degrees clockwise, for example. 

 

 

Of course, I don't want the entire web app to rotate, just the map, which is a bit trickier because of how the page is organied. But rotating the entire thing is a quick way to achieve what you want until I get a chance to implement it properly in the future.

 

The tricky part with this hack might be rotating it in the air for the return leg/turns. To that end, you'll notice in the inspector that CSS lines each have a check box next to them... You could conceivably write out "-webkit-transform: rotate(Xdeg)" for each leg of the flight, with X being the rotation amount, and turn lines of CSS on/off as you fly.

 

There are quite a few features "in line" before this one, but hopefully it doesn't take me too long, because the above process is a bit convoluted.

 

One last thing: if you want to head 090, I think you actually want to rotate the map 270 degrees to put 090 ahead of you... likewise, 12deg in the example makes 348 heading directly ahead (of course I will do this bit of arithmetic for you when I implement this as a real feature).

Edited June 12, 2016 by 19.G//curiousGamblerr

[JimTM]

Thanks for the CSS explanation curiousGamblerr; I'll give it a try.

 

Edit: I successfully rotated the map, but the mouse movements required to scroll around the map are rotated to a different amount than the map. It's not too hard to get used to the mouse change though. I suspect that keeping the mouse scrolling movements the same regardless of the map rotation is not possible or it is another technical challenge.

 

Cheers!

Edited June 12, 2016 by JimTM

[curiousGamblerr]

Nice work!

 

I did a quick test, and if you put the CSS transforms on the div element inside of the body, it solves the mouse problem. Just the first div inside it, look for <div id="map"...

 

In fact, i can solve the problem of the controls and the entire app rotating if I add the transform to just the map tile container div, deeper into the html structure. But this breaks some things, and the lines, etc. have to rotated separately then because they are in their own container. So for now, rotating the top level div in the body is probably best if you decide to employ this stopgap measure.

[JimTM]

I tried -webkit-transform: rotate(105deg); inside the map div and the map rotated but the mouse scroll movements were the same as before.

[curiousGamblerr]

Damn... well, I'll be sure to address that when I do it properly!

[curiousGamblerr]

In the midst of a big round of polishing, both inside and out. Here are some screenshots of what I've been working on. Will probably push a release in a week or two.

 

 

 

[JimTM]

Thanks for your work to keep improving this great tool Curious.

 

Cheers!

[MadisonV44]

great improvements ! many thanks

[curiousGamblerr]

Question and request for help: Does anyone have a set of map icons? Ideally the ones seen in the game? Or any good set of military icons? Thanks!

 

Big changes incoming once I finish up changeable icons (instead of just targets) and a few other things. Could be by this weekend, since I have some icons, I just don't like them very much at all.

[SvAF/F16_Goblin]

These might help.

http://www.feldgrau.com/articles.php?ID=43

http://33rdscb.tripod.com/id60.htm

[curiousGamblerr]

Thanks Goblin!

 

If I decide to create my own set of icons, those links will definitely be helpful.

 

Since I'm not much of an artist/graphic designer type, I was hoping someone had the icons from the game maps already available, but maybe not.

 

I think I'll push the changes I have today with the less-than-ideal icons, and hope to improve the icons shortly.

[curiousGamblerr]

Just pushed a bunch of new changes, do a refresh and let me know what you think 

• Improved style including colors, fonts and layout
• Improved usability including various small tweaks, such as ENTER now working to accept changes
• Added a settings window, including the ability to adjust the font color. The map select function is now located here.
• Grouped some buttons and got rid of the map select button (move to settings window).
• Improved help info (got rid of the image and just described what to do with text). I might create a video tutorial in the future.
• Probably some other stuff I can't remember!

As always, all feedback is appreciated and I will try to respond to everyone's suggestions. Let me know if anything is broken, especially, as well as what you like and dislike. As much as I like this tool for myself, it's you guys using it that make it worth continued effort. Thanks!

[JimTM]

Nice changes curiousGamblerr. Thanks!

 

I like the ability to edit routes at any time after you have placed them and also the new marker icons.

 

I noticed one minor problem with the markers. If you place a marker, blank out the label, and add some notes, you lose the ability to edit the marker later by clicking on the label. Leaving the label out helps if the marker is for a less important note or you don't want the label to cover an important map area. 

 

Suggestion: If possible, make the marker labels "draggable" so that they can be placed out of the way of important map locations. Or, you may be able to make the location "selectable", for example, top, top-left, bottom right. Not a huge issue though.

 

Thanks again!

 

Jim

Edited June 23, 2016 by JimTM

[curiousGamblerr]

Thanks for the feedback Jim! I'm glad you like it.

 

I was waiting for someone to run into the problem of not being able to edit something after the title disappears... I really do need to make the markers themselves clickable. 

 

And I like that suggestion. Draggable might be trickier, but possible in the long term, but I think I'll try to make the location selectable in the near future. That's pretty easy.

 

Thanks!

[CCG_bexhausted]

Superb tool curiousGambler !

Thanks a lot for sharing your work.

[curiousGamblerr]

Glad you enjoy it bexhausted! Thanks!

[curiousGamblerr]

Just released a small update to fix a few things...

• You can now click on the icon or flight route itself to access it's settings, not just the text title. So if you delete the text you can still edit the plan. The skinny line is a bit tricky to click, but it works, I promise! Thanks Jim for giving me the kick in the butt to fix this one
• A bug where clicking Cancel still applied changes has been fixed. Now changes will only be applied if you click OK- clicking Cancel or outside the window does not apply any changes.
• I added inverted headings in the flight leg text. So now you can get your egress back to base or whatever easily without mapping a return route. 

I think that's it. Let me know if you guys find problems with the changes above or anything else!

 

Looking towards the future, I'm still hoping to implement some sort of real time flight sharing within the next few months. First implementation will probably just have a single "leader" who gets to edit the map, and changes are just pushed out to anyone watching his map. You will likely share your map by providing a link (e.g. il2missionplanner.com/sharing/XYZ123randomCode) and basically you just won't want to share that link with the enemy. Having people besides the leader make changes will come later as it's more complex.

 

Another thing I want to do is improve the navigation system to include things like wind corrections and altitude changes. I also want to add the ability to rotate the map as Jim suggested and implement a better system for placing the text to prevent overlaps, another Jim suggestion 

 

As always, I love getting feedback from you all so please share any and all ideas and issues.

 

Thanks and enjoy!

Edited August 5, 2016 by 19.G//curiousGamblerr

[TP_Jacko]

Works well thanks for making this happen

[JimTM]

Your planner just keeps getting better and better. Great work curiousGamblerr!

 

Here's another suggestion for you to consider: Remove the square brackets and OR signs (|) from the labels. For example:

 

58.9km 255^o/075^o 300kph 11:47

 

rather than

 

[58.9km|255^o/075^o|300kph|11:47]

 

This makes the labels look cleaner and makes them easier to read.

 

Cheers!

Edited August 7, 2016 by JimTM

[XQ_Lothar29]

Nice Tool ! Thanks

[IRRE_Rolluptito]

Thank you for this awesome tools! 

 

I have some troubles using it since some days on tablets (same with iPad and Android). I can't mark a target or start a plan anymore. I can select the option but when I do click on the map, nothing happens.

 

I think it's since the removal of the "Finish" button on the "start a flight plan" button. 

 

It's working on computers though, just not on tablets.

 

Do you know if I can do something about it?

 

Rolluptito

Edited August 8, 2016 by Rollup_Tito

[curiousGamblerr]

Thank you for this awesome tools! 

 

I have some troubles using it since some days on tablets (same with iPad and Android). I can't mark a target or start a plan anymore. I can select the option but when I do click on the map, nothing happens.

 

I think it's since the removal of the "Finish" button on the "start a flight plan" button. 

 

It's working on computers though, just not on tablets.

 

Do you know if I can do something about it?

 

Rolluptito

Hey, thanks for the report!

 

I just checked on iPad and can confirm what you're seeing. I must have broken something in the latest changes. Fortunately, I'm pretty sure I know what it is. I will try to get it fixed by the end of the coming weekend! Really appreciate you letting me know.

 

I believe this breaks the tool on any touch device, not just iPad, so apologies to mobile users!

[IRRE_Rolluptito]

You're welcome! Thank you very much again for your work! I use your tool everytime I fly. Love it.    

[Bearfoot]

Just wanted to say ... THANKS!

 

Thank you so much for such a wonderful tool!!!

 

Really, really, really, well thought out and designed.

 

Is it available for off-line use, for those days when our internet connections are less than great?

[curiousGamblerr]

Thanks guys for the feedback!

 

Sorry the mobile issue isn't fixed yet- it will be soon. I'm just struggling with different versions of this dependency (all have tiny issues, can't decide which I want to deal with). EDIT: Actually, I just went ahead and pushed a fix for that. So the tool should work again on mobile. There is a new issue of the interior of the line filling in while editing on desktop, but since it's cosmetic I've decided to live with it temporarily to get things working for the mobile users again. Bug reports are always welcome!

 

As for offline use, that's definitely on the radar but not an option at this time. It's very possible and you aren't the first to request it, however, so I will work on it soon!

Edited August 16, 2016 by 19.G//curiousGamblerr

[Bearfoot]

Just loving this tool! Really helps with learning navigation!

 

I have two suggestions/requests if I might be so bold?

 

(1) Possible to view route as a table? Maybe HTML or export as a CSV? Basically just like: 

 

| 030 | 32.3 km | 300 kph | 6:38 | <GRID MAJOR> | <GRID MINOR> | <LONG> | <LAT> |

| 060 | 44.1 km | 300 kph | 5:38 | <GRID MAJOR> | <GRID MINOR> | <LONG> | <LAT> |

 

etc.

 

I know we can export the route as JSON, but maybe something like the above can be used as a quick in-flight reference or maybe even passed to wingmen etc. If the grid and geographical coordinates are not easily extractable from the map, then just the heading/distance/speed/time would also be very useful.

 

(2) Possible to save/export map with route marked as JPEG? I know we can take a screenshot now, but it would be nice for the file management (i.e., we can save the exported JPG in a particular location with a particular name, rather than having to find the image stored whereever the OS thinks it wants to put it and then rename it and move it).

Edited August 17, 2016 by Bearfoot

[curiousGamblerr]

Great suggestions Bearfoot! Glad you're liking it. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

 

(1) This is definitely achievable, at least the headings and stuff. Approximating exact grids is tricky but I'll see how close I can get. Added to my list!

 

(2) This one is surprisingly difficult. I looked into it in the past and eventually gave up since screenshotting solved the problem, even if not ideally. For security reasons, it's basically impossible to get javascript to take a screenshot of a user's computer. So the only way to do it would be to port a bunch of code to a NodeJS backend to re-render the map serverside and take a screenshot, then send it back to the client... Basically, way too much effort for the benefit it would provide over screenshotting. Which is annoying, because it would be a nice feature.

 

Thanks again!

[curiousGamblerr]

Hey all:

 

A small but exciting update. I've begun work on the real-time sharing feature, so you can stream your mission plan to teammates as you create it.

 

I thought it would be a PITA, but I think I've figured out a design that minimizes effort on my end and provides a pretty awesome feature.

 

Be on the lookout for a beta release of this in the next couple weeks! Really excited for this.

[JimTM]

Should be a very cool feature curiousGamblerr. Thanks!

[Jade_Monkey]

Wow! Nice to hear that. It will be invaluable when we want to organize sorties for events like SNBF.

[SCG_Darbzy]

GIAP//curiousGamblerr,

 

Well done for creating this fantastic tool. You have transformed the game for me. I now enjoy the navigating over long distances as much as the flying and combat aspects of the game.

Good job!

 

Darbz

[curiousGamblerr]

Awesome Darbzy! And did I see you joined 19.GIAP? Double awesome!

 

Beta of the streaming feature is imminent. It's basically done and ready to be tested by some actual users... maybe even later today!

[curiousGamblerr]

Here it is! Real time mission streaming! Woo!

 

Well, beta at least! Glad to unveil my first pass at it here in the beta region: beta.il2missionplanner.com

 

Basically, there's a new button. If you click it, you can start a new stream, connect to a stream or reconnect to an existing stream as a leader. Only leaders are able to change the plan.

 

This new feature is far more complex than any other part of the app, so please do me the favor of testing it out and providing your feedback!

 

Right now only a single leader is supported, with unlimited viewers. Technically multiple leaders can connect, but they'll overwrite one another's changes. Here's a brief intro on how it works...

 

To start a new stream, choose NEW STREAM and provide a stream name, password and leader code. Provide the password to your viewers. The leader code is used to reconnect to the stream or let someone else take the lead.

 

To connect to an existing stream, choose CONNECT. Select your stream from the dropdown menu. To connect as a viewer, provide a password. To connect as a leader, check the box and provide and a password and leader code. If you've connected as a viewer, the icon will turn blue. While streaming, the icon will turn green.

 

To disconnect as either a leader or a viewer, just click the button again and confirm. Ending a stream as a leader does not technically delete it- streams exist for three hours after their last change before expiring. 

 

Here's a quick video I threw together briefly showcasing the feature, with some great big band music because why not:

 

Let me know what you think! Thanks!

Edited September 13, 2016 by 19.GIAP//curiousGamblerr

[LLv34_Temuri]

Looks awesome based on the video!

[Daff]

This is really cool.

[SCG_Neun]

Very neat CG!  Awesome is the right word.

 

Thanks for all your hard work on this.

[JimTM]

Very nice addition to the features curiousGamblerr. Here's my limited experience so far:

 

- Tried loading the page in Chrome on my PC but the new button is not there. JavaScript enabled.

 

- Tried loading the page in Safari on my iPad and the button appears.

[curiousGamblerr]

Thanks guys! Appreciate the feedback. Please open it in two tabs and try it from both ends!

 

Jim- that is very strange the button didn't show up. Are you sure you went to the beta url? Can you try refreshing it? I wouldn't be surprised by something not working, but the button should at least appear, it works just like the other buttons... Let me know if it's still missing. Thanks!

[JimTM]

...

 

Jim- that is very strange the button didn't show up. Are you sure you went to the beta url? Can you try refreshing it? I wouldn't be surprised by something not working, but the button should at least appear, it works just like the other buttons... Let me know if it's still missing. Thanks!

 

Yes, I used beta url and refreshed. Still no button. I tried it in IE and it worked OK. Some obscure setting buried 5 miles deep I suspect. I tried enabling pop-ups and no go. Does it use third-party cookies by chance (I'm blocking those)?