IL-2 Sturmovik Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Manual

[JimTM]

Good grief, just bumped into this. What an amazing work. I hope to finally get learning the FME from January so this will be a great learning and reference tool.

 

Straight up first impressions:

1. Get someone to do a title page which better matches this epic feat and quality.

2. Nice formatting. 

3. An IL2 legend is born. :-D

 

S! JimTM

 

PS You wouldn't happen to know the mission file in equal detail would you? I'd love to have a manual for that (for coding).

 

Thanks for the first impressions! 

 

I don't know the mission file details, but the RoF mission editor manual has file details available for each RoF editor MCU. The IL-2 Sturmovik editor is based on the RoF one so the details are probably similar. 

Edited December 12, 2016 by JimTM

[216th_Jordan]

Update: Problem solved, was my first mission with waypoints and did not see that following waypoints also need object-links to the plane.. :O

 

I am tying to make a plane follow a set of Waypoints. I want those waypoints to appear while the plane is on the ground so it can taxi through them. (The idea is to create a tutorial for taxiing). The first waypoint in my series appears but when I go through it it does not disappear. Do you guys have any idea what I could be mission here?

See screenshot below for configuration.

 

Thanks,

Jordan

 

EDIT: Even if I set it to "OnPlaneTookOff" it does not trigger somehow.

Edited December 26, 2016 by 216th_Jordan

[JimTM]

Update: Problem solved, was my first mission with waypoints and did not see that following waypoints also need object-links to the plane.. :O

 

I am tying to make a plane follow a set of Waypoints. I want those waypoints to appear while the plane is on the ground so it can taxi through them. (The idea is to create a tutorial for taxiing). The first waypoint in my series appears but when I go through it it does not disappear. Do you guys have any idea what I could be mission here?

See screenshot below for configuration.

 

Thanks,

Jordan

 

EDIT: Even if I set it to "OnPlaneTookOff" it does not trigger somehow.

 

Here's a test mission demonstrating what you are after.

 

JimTMTest Waypoints2.zip

 

I was confused by your dialog box, which has OnPlaneSpawned as an event in a single player plane rather than a multiplayer airfield object. I'm not sure how you got that event. Anyway, as far as I know, you cannot create visible waypoints in a multiplayer mission, only a single player one.

Edited December 27, 2016 by JimTM

[216th_Jordan]

Thanks Tim, I am doing a singleplayer mission actually. Guess it might be a bug then as I could only select the onspawned option on the second try.

Btw: I was looking in your manual but found no info on this: Is it possible to do a new line in a subtitle translator? I was trying \n and some unicode but to no avail. I figured it would be worth to ask..

Edited December 26, 2016 by 216th_Jordan

[JimTM]

Thanks Tim, I am doing a singleplayer mission actually. Guess it might be a bug then as I could only select the onspawned option on the second try.

Btw: I was looking in your manual but found no info on this: Is it possible to do a new line in a subtitle translator? I was trying \n and some unicode but to no avail. I figured it would be worth to ask..

 

Hmm, bizarre. I can't get OnPlaneSpawned from a plane object at all. Oh well.

 

Re. adding a new line, the subtitle translator topic in the manual (pg. 273) indicates that you can use HTML tags to format the text. Use the <br> tag to start a new line. I've updated the attached mission in my previous post to include a subtitle translator to demo new lines.

[216th_Jordan]

Hmm, bizarre. I can't get OnPlaneSpawned from a plane object at all. Oh well.

 

Re. adding a new line, the subtitle translator topic in the manual (pg. 273) indicates that you can use HTML tags to format the text. Use the <br> tag to start a new line. I've updated the attached mission in my previous post to include a subtitle translator to demo new lines.

Excellent! I'm making leaps in Mission building now thanks to yours and Prangsters guides!

[216th_Jordan]

Hello Again

On page 283 it says

 

Usage Notes
• Do not spawn objects that are in formation because the wingmen do not follow
commands given to the leader.

 

Is there any workaround for this? I would really like to spawn a flight that will fly in formation somehow. I did not find any useful info on that yet but I'm sure some of you must have found a way.. (I tried spawning the other planes some seconds later than the leader but that did not work neither)

 

I attached the mission I am having the problem with, just in case it would be needed to understand the problem. (I'm spawning 3 Mig-3s in the south of the map and they don't follow the leader, without spawn trigger they did) Btw: Early WIP

Jordan_TutMission_1.zip

Edited December 29, 2016 by 216th_Jordan

[LLv34_Temuri]

I noticed this too, when using spawner, the vehicles/planes don't act as a group. You could try having the planes be inactive in mission start, then activate them instead of using a spawner.

[216th_Jordan]

I noticed this too, when using spawner, the vehicles/planes don't act as a group. You could try having the planes be inactive in mission start, then activate them instead of using a spawner.

I will give that a try, thanks!

[JimTM]

I noticed this too, when using spawner, the vehicles/planes don't act as a group. You could try having the planes be inactive in mission start, then activate them instead of using a spawner.

 

Note that you activate a formation of objects by activating the formation leader only.

Edited December 29, 2016 by JimTM

[CCG_bexhausted]

Awsome job ! Thanks a lot !

[JimTM]

FYI, I have re-saved the sample missions listed in the opening post to solve a problem where they would not load.

 

If you like, you can fix your current copy of the sample missions. In the editor Tools menu, choose "Resave All Missions in a Folder", navigate to the folder where your sample missions are located, and click OK.

This is covered in "Cannot Open a Mission in the Editor" on pg. 180 of the manual.

[Legioneod]

This may be mentioned in the manual but I can't find anything on it.

 

Is there a way to lock groups? Because I had all my bridges, buildings, etc. grouped and I accidentally moved the group and it moved everything out of place. I had to restart from the beginning.

[Sketch]

This may be mentioned in the manual but I can't find anything on it.

 

Is there a way to lock groups? Because I had all my bridges, buildings, etc. grouped and I accidentally moved the group and it moved everything out of place. I had to restart from the beginning.

 

Not exactly...

 

Save your groups to a file, then do all your mission building as normal.... when you're ready, reload the groups to your mission (from your group save file). They'll auto-populate into the same location you saved them from. I do this often, because sometimes I need to know where all the buildings are to build around something... then I'll delete the group again and keep building my mission... then I'll load the group to check something, and delete it again... and so on.

[Legioneod]

Not exactly...

 

Save your groups to a file, then do all your mission building as normal.... when you're ready, reload the groups to your mission (from your group save file). They'll auto-populate into the same location you saved them from. I do this often, because sometimes I need to know where all the buildings are to build around something... then I'll delete the group again and keep building my mission... then I'll load the group to check something, and delete it again... and so on.

Thanks for the help.

[JimTM]

Not exactly...

 

Save your groups to a file, then do all your mission building as normal.... when you're ready, reload the groups to your mission (from your group save file). They'll auto-populate into the same location you saved them from. I do this often, because sometimes I need to know where all the buildings are to build around something... then I'll delete the group again and keep building my mission... then I'll load the group to check something, and delete it again... and so on.

 

You can also hide the icons in groups, which is covered in "Show or Hide Icons in a Group" on pg. 31 of the manual.  

[Legioneod]

You can also hide the icons in groups, which is covered in "Show or Hide Icons in a Group" on pg. 31 of the manual.  

Does hiding them prevent you from selecting the on the map? or does it just hide the icon only.

[JimTM]

Does hiding them prevent you from selecting the on the map? or does it just hide the icon only.

 

I assume you mean select the group icon, right? When you hide icons in a group, the group icon itself is still visible. You can select a group icon and make it the working group (pg. 25), which then makes the icons in the selected group visible.

Edited February 2, 2017 by JimTM

[Wandalen]

Fantastic work Jim TM !

[JimTM]

Thanks for the kudos from everyone. Hopefully the manual is helping folks get comfortable with mission-building basics and not-so-basics.

 

Some of the topics and examples are fairly complex, so I strongly encourage you to download the sample missions and groups that go with the manual. Some people find that running the mission first helps them better understand the design in the editor.

 

Be sure to submit any manual issues and feedback in IL-2 ME and MP Server Manual - Issues. Thanks!

Edited February 24, 2017 by JimTM

[JG300_Tempest]

I missed this, thank you very much...

[LLv34_Temuri]

What about putting all of this information to the Il-2 Battle of Stalingrad wiki?

[JimTM]

What about putting all of this information to the Il-2 Battle of Stalingrad wiki?

 

I am considering it at some point. Currently there are links to the manual on the Wiki.

[JimTM]

The manual has just passed 1,000 downloads! I imagine that there are a lot of new mission builders out there, not to mention those that already got their start with Prangster's guide. Hopefully, all the new missions and other wonderful contributions from the community will attract many new pilots and help ensure a bright future for IL-2 Sturmovik.

 

If you haven't tried building your own missions yet, why not give it a go. Here are just a few of the things that you can do:

 

- Create single-player (pg. 33) or multiplayer missions (pg. 38)

- Create your own multiplayer server (pg. 167)

- Make a plane taxi to and from a runway (pg. 63)

- Create a train and make it run between stops (pg. 70)

- Fire a flare to signal players to take off (pg. 55)

- Create target defences (pg. 125)

- Make areas smoke due to damage (pg. 130)

- Create player-controlled tanks (pg. 47)

- Mark locations and draw shapes on the flight crew's map (pg. 151)

 

You can get the mission editor manual and sample missions on the first page of this thread. You can also get more help here:

 

- Prangster's IL-2 BoS Mission Building Guide

 

- Prangsters Battle of Stalingrad Mission Building Room

 

- Prangster's Battle of Stalingrad Mission Editor tutorials:

    - Tutorial 01 Introduction

    - Tutorial 02 Building a Coop Mission

    - Tutorial 03 Setting Up a Map

    - Tutorial 04 Check Zones

 

- Rise of Flight - Mission Editing Tutorials (the BoS editor is based on the RoF editor)

 

- Vapour's Mission Editor YouTube Series

 

Enjoy!

Edited March 21, 2019 by JimTM

[Jason_Williams]

Jim,

 

Thanks for everything. Send me an email dude.

 

Jason

[No601_Swallow]

Jim, could I add Bob Vanderstock's Rise of Flight tutorials to the list? They're what cracked open for me the underlying logic of how the mission editor works. I know its not even BoS, but he explains really clearly how you need to link the MCUs with each other and with objects, etc. I found them really helpful right at the start.

[JimTM]

Jim, could I add Bob Vanderstock's Rise of Flight tutorials to the list? They're what cracked open for me the underlying logic of how the mission editor works. I know its not even BoS, but he explains really clearly how you need to link the MCUs with each other and with objects, etc. I found them really helpful right at the start.

 

Done. Good suggestion Swallow, thanks. I learned a lot from those tutorials too, back when I flew RoF regularly.

Edited June 1, 2017 by JimTM

[WD-666Gothicpilot]

Wow, this is awesome, just found it. I've been making RoF missions for years with no issues, but I couldn't get multiplayer working with IL2 until I found this. Thanks! Look forward to finally getting some missions going.

[unreasonable]

Just a another vote of thanks for this terrific piece of work - both guide and samples. Thank you JimTM.  

[JimTM]

Thanks for the feedback folks! 

 

FYI, I ran a couple of the SP sample missions (see the link in the OP) and ran into some issues which I didn't see when I released the samples. When I get some time a bit later, would anyone like to help me rerun the sample missions and note any problems? Please PM me if you can help.

 

In the meantime, you can fix one of the sample missions, "FME Manual Engage An FW190" (described on pg. 34 of the manual), by applying the fix described in "Player Enters Plane and Is Kicked Out or Plane Is Destroyed or Goes Underground", on pg. 186 of the manual. It's highly recommended that you use an advanced editor such as NotePad++ (free download) to apply the fix. If SeasonPrefix = "", change it to "wi" (for Winter).

 

Cheers!

Edited September 12, 2017 by JimTM

[56RAF_klem]

Excuse me if this has been asked before. I just bought BoK and frankly the mission builder is not the friendliest I have found in the past. As a short cut to my entertainment, I see in my /data/Multiplayer/mmoscowwb/ folder a mission I flew online (I did not make it). Is there any way to use this mission myself offline or as a host?

[LLv34_Temuri]

Excuse me if this has been asked before. I just bought BoK and frankly the mission builder is not the friendliest I have found in the past. As a short cut to my entertainment, I see in my /data/Multiplayer/mmoscowwb/ folder a mission I flew online (I did not make it). Is there any way to use this mission myself offline or as a host?

Yes. You can open the .msnbin file in the Mission Editor, although it isn't shown on the Open dialog (because it has the .mission file type filter). Just start typing the name of the .msnbin file.

 

As the co-author of the said mission file, I can tell you that you'll need quite a bit of modifications to the mission in order to be able to use it offline or host it yourself, as the mission uses server input commands quite heavily

[56RAF_klem]

Yes. You can open the .msnbin file in the Mission Editor, although it isn't shown on the Open dialog (because it has the .mission file type filter). Just start typing the name of the .msnbin file.

 

As the co-author of the said mission file, I can tell you that you'll need quite a bit of modifications to the mission in order to be able to use it offline or host it yourself, as the mission uses server input commands quite heavily

Thanks Temuri

[deleted@31403]

 

Thanks Jimtm for all your hard work. I made a manual out of your PDF. I am going to try to learn this big learning curve for my squad, I have another word for the mission editor it is " SOB". Want to make single player training missions and build on that for a online missions. Make a mission with bombing ranges, shipping lanes and dogfight areas. Once the first is complete just change the player plane for other planes to train in.

I did make my first single player mission taking off in a P-40 on Kuban.

[JimTM]

...

 

Thanks Jimtm for all your hard work. I made a manual out of your PDF. I am going to try to learn this big learning curve for my squad, I have another word for the mission editor it is " SOB". Want to make single player training missions and build on that for a online missions. Make a mission with bombing ranges, shipping lanes and dogfight areas. Once the first is complete just change the player plane for other planes to train in.

I did make my first single player mission taking off in a P-40 on Kuban.

 

 

Cool TwoLate! Good luck with the learning journey. Be sure to download the sample missions and check out the other resources listed here too.

[Thad]

Thanks for the feedback folks! 

 

FYI, I ran a couple of the SP sample missions (see the link in the OP) and ran into some issues which I didn't see when I released the samples. When I get some time a bit later, would anyone like to help me rerun the sample missions and note any problems? Please PM me if you can help.

 

In the meantime, you can fix one of the sample missions, "FME Manual Engage An FW190" (described on pg. 34 of the manual), by applying the fix described in "Player Enters Plane and Is Kicked Out or Plane Is Destroyed or Goes Underground", on pg. 186 of the manual. It's highly recommended that you use an advanced editor such as NotePad++ (free download) to apply the fix. If SeasonPrefix = "", change it to "wi" (for Winter).

 

Cheers!

I checked the mission... it was correct with "wi" for winter.

0926172138.jpg

 

Thanks Jimtm for all your hard work. I made a manual out of your PDF. I am going to try to learn this big learning curve for my squad, I have another word for the mission editor it is " SOB". Want to make single player training missions and build on that for a online missions. Make a mission with bombing ranges, shipping lanes and dogfight areas. Once the first is complete just change the player plane for other planes to train in.

I did make my first single player mission taking off in a P-40 on Kuban.

I made a manual out of his guide too. I was becoming demented trying to make missions until I downloaded these editor manuals. Now I'm just slightly deluded as a mission maker. Hey, any improvement is progress.

[Simicro]

Hello Jim,

 

Many thanks for the manual.

 

I cannot imagine the time and effort that went into it.

 

Respect!

[ReddLeggs]

Great work.

 

well done.

 

Redd

[RedBravo65]

What a great resource!  Thank you for doing this.

[robotic5]

Thanks for sharing this, can't wait to get started! Best wishes to you from the frozen Allegheny Mountains of central Pennsylvania USA.