IL-2 Sturmovik Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Manual

[IckyATLAS]

This manual is an outstanding work. Very well structured and easy to navigate. When working with the editor I have always an Adobe window with the manual open. I went through a lot of it, and still I miss information that I find later was there. I have yet to go through server, multiplayer stuff which I have not yet studied. Just passed my first degree. The server, and multiplayer will be for the Il2 university doctoral exam later on . Let's be honest this manual is the Il2 bible. I felt an obligation after using it so much to give Jim a very respectful thanks and multiple kudos for this incredible work.

 

 

 

[JimTM]

Thanks IckyATLAS (and many others) for the welcome comments. I also welcome feedback with corrections and improvements to the manual.

 

[Bluntmann]

Wow! Thank you for putting this together!  This explains many things that I have had issues with.  Again thank you for your hard work with this.

[IckyATLAS]

A small question to Jim. I use the 

IL-2 Sturmovik Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Manual.pdf

that can be downloaded above.

 

I have also an extract of the the Draft Extract of the FME Manual in which you have the chapters to create a campaign that is a sequence of single missions. But when I look at the page numbers or at the chapter names I cannot find them in the IL2 Sturmovik Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Manual.pdf .  The document format is identical between the two documents so I thought the second was an extract of the other, but it does not seem so.

 

Am I missing the FME manual, and if so where can it be downloaded. Thanks

 

[JimTM]

4 hours ago, IckyATLAS said:

A small question to Jim. I use the 

IL-2 Sturmovik Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Manual.pdf

that can be downloaded above.

 

I have also an extract of the the Draft Extract of the FME Manual in which you have the chapters to create a campaign that is a sequence of single missions. But when I look at the page numbers or at the chapter names I cannot find them in the IL2 Sturmovik Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Manual.pdf .  The document format is identical between the two documents so I thought the second was an extract of the other, but it does not seem so.

 

Am I missing the FME manual, and if so where can it be downloaded. Thanks

 

 

FME stands for Full Mission Editor and the FME manual (aka the "mission editor manual") is available from your link above or the link in the opening post of this thread.

 

The Draft Extract comes from a work-in-progress update to the mission editor manual, which is not yet available.

Edited May 19, 2019 by JimTM

[Thad]

1 hour ago, JimTM said:

The Draft Extract comes from a work-in-progress update to the mission editor manual, which is not yet available.

 Where is my flight jacket... I feel a draft. ?

[JimTM]

43 minutes ago, Thad said:

 Where is my flight jacket... I feel a draft. ?

 

Check with our manual store lost and found counter.

[JimTM]

In the opening post, I resaved the English-language sample missions for v3.101.  @-=PHX=-Trenkos, let me know if you have an updated Spanish version of the missions that you would like me to post.

[-=PHX=-Trenkos]

On 11/6/2019 at 19:59, JimTM said:

@ - = PHX = -Trenkos, avísame si tienes una versión actualizada en español de las misiones que quieres que publique.

Yes, here

[JimTM]

Hi Everyone,

 

The manual just crossed the 4,000 downloads line ( ), so I thought I would discuss my plan for the future of this resource. I have started looking into moving the manual online, using WordPress.

 

One major advantage to moving online is that people will have access to the latest version of each topic. This does not necessarily mean that all the topics will be up-to-date and correct. Rather, it means that you'll get immediate access to any updates and corrections that I have the time to do. I have already done a pile of updates and corrections (some of which you have seen in a few extract posts that I made).

 

Another major advantage of moving the manual online will be the ability for you to comment right in the topic. In this way, you can point out errors and improvements and everyone will see the comments immediately.

 

Now, the disadvantage to moving the manual online is that the updated manual will not be available in PDF for use offline. However, I will try to see if there is a way to make the website available offline or find a way for people to easily print it.

 

As I get time, I am looking at how to convert the current content over to WordPress and keep the formatting adjustments to a minimum. If there are any WordPress gurus out there, I could use a resource or two to bounce questions off of. I'm trying out the Mammoth plugin and custom style map for converting a Word document to WordPress, but I'm running into some roadblocks tweaking css to format indented text properly. The research continues.

 

Cheers!

JimTM

[Thad]

Interesting if a great way.  

 

Oh yeah, there is a manual god.

 

Life is good. 

 

 

[JimTM]

7 minutes ago, Thad said:

...

Oh yeah, there is a manual god.

...

 

 

...and the manual god wants to show you the way.

Edited June 21, 2019 by JimTM

[Thad]

Ah.... so narrow is the way. ?

[Alonzo]

On 6/21/2019 at 11:32 AM, JimTM said:

Now, the disadvantage to moving the manual online is that the updated manual will not be available in PDF for use offline. However, I will try to see if there is a way to make the website available offline or find a way for people to easily print it.

 

I'm sure everyone will be different, but personally I only use the manual when I'm map-making, and that's at my regular gaming rig with fast CPU, GPU, and Internet. Being online-only (or online-mostly) will be fine for me for the manual. I think this is an excellent thing to do, I am probably reading a slightly old version of the manual that I got around Christmas. Sadly I am not a Wordpress guru so cannot offer much there.

[JimTM]

1 hour ago, Alonzo said:

 

I'm sure everyone will be different, but personally I only use the manual when I'm map-making, and that's at my regular gaming rig with fast CPU, GPU, and Internet. Being online-only (or online-mostly) will be fine for me for the manual. I think this is an excellent thing to do, I am probably reading a slightly old version of the manual that I got around Christmas. Sadly I am not a Wordpress guru so cannot offer much there.

 

You are reading the only version of the manual, from Nov. 2016. Somehow, Thad got a copy from WWII and needs an update.  

 

Perhaps I need to create a separate WordPress guru wanted post. 

[Thad]

On 6/24/2019 at 10:32 PM, JimTM said:

 

Thad got a copy from WWII and needs an update.  

 

True... but it is nearly useless because I need an actual enigma machine to decipher it.

 

It takes forever. ?

Edited July 11, 2019 by Thad

[jollyjack]

On 6/21/2019 at 5:32 PM, JimTM said:

Hi Everyone, The manual just crossed the 4,000 downloads line ( ), so I thought I would discuss my plan for the future of this resource. I have started looking into moving the manual online, using WordPress. ........... Cheers! JimTM

 

Ever think of some financial contribution from thankful users LoL? You'll be a rich man ...

[Jade_Monkey]

AI POI translator is not documented in the manual yet. Does anyone know what it's used for?

A use case or two would be nice, just to see if it's something we can use in our missions.

 

 

 

[JimTM]

36 minutes ago, Jade_Monkey said:

AI POI translator is not documented in the manual yet. Does anyone know what it's used for?

A use case or two would be nice, just to see if it's something we can use in our missions.

 

When I wrote the manual, I could not get the POI to work (or I did not understand exactly how it was supposed to work) so I deferred the doc on it.

 

For what it's worth, here are some information sources:

• Translator AI POI
  (includes a link to an RoF forum post)
• General FME Questions #1 - Answer to Question 2

I have not looked at POI since I wrote the manual so there may be some new info in the first bullet above.

[Jade_Monkey]

Thanks, that's good enough. Now it's a matter of testing and checking if it works. 

Could be useful in SP.

[JimTM]

2 hours ago, Jade_Monkey said:

Thanks, that's good enough. Now it's a matter of testing and checking if it works. 

Could be useful in SP.

 

Please post here if you find out how it works.  

[2/JG26_rudidlo]

I've found information in the manual describing separate installation package for dserver. But when I logged in with my dserver account, I've got the same installation package as for my account I'm using for playing the game.

 

Is there any possibility to launch server in command line and pass him *.sds file as a parameter?

[DD_FT-]

4 minutes ago, 1stCL/rudidlo said:

I've found information in the manual describing separate installation package for dserver. But when I logged in with my dserver account, I've got the same installation package as for my account I'm using for playing the game.

 

Is there any possibility to launch server in command line and pass him *.sds file as a parameter?

Yes, there is: simply run Dserver and add the .sds file name as a parameter. Include the correct path names, like so: 

<Drive:GBSFolder>\bin\game\DServer.exe <Drive:GBSFolder>data\Multiplayer\<FileName>.sds

 

[JimTM]

13 minutes ago, 1stCL/rudidlo said:

I've found information in the manual describing separate installation package for dserver. But when I logged in with my dserver account, I've got the same installation package as for my account I'm using for playing the game.

 

The separate DServer install looks the same as the purchased game, but it's actually a stripped-down version of the game. If you start the launcher for the DServer and click "Play", an IL-2 Sturmovik main screen appears, but you cannot fly any planes. The only time you need to open the launcher screen for the DServer is when you want to update the DServer (pg. 169 in the manual).

Edited December 22, 2019 by JimTM

[2/JG26_rudidlo]

8 hours ago, DD_FT- said:

Yes, there is: simply run Dserver and add the .sds file name as a parameter. Include the correct path names, like so: 

<Drive:GBSFolder>\bin\game\DServer.exe <Drive:GBSFolder>data\Multiplayer\<FileName>.sds

 

Thank you for quick response. Are there some other optional parameters?

[DD_FT-]

10 hours ago, 1stCL/rudidlo said:

Thank you for quick response. Are there some other optional parameters?

Not that I am aware of.

Hardly any need for them, as you can configure all settings via the Dserver interface. And this command will start the server by itself, and it will load the first mission in the rotation list...

[2/JG26_rudidlo]

4 minutes ago, DD_FT- said:

Not that I am aware of.

Hardly any need for them, as you can configure all settings via the Dserver interface. And this command will start the server by itself, and it will load the first mission in the rotation list...

Thank you.
My problem is that I am going to automatize launching Dserver via Windows Service, which doesn't have a clue about DServer UI.

[DD_FT-]

1 minute ago, 1stCL/rudidlo said:

Thank you.
My problem is that I am going to automatize launching Dserver via Windows Service, which doesn't have a clue about DServer UI.

Interesting. If it does run as a service, you may be able to get away without the UI, not sure...

 

Troubleshooting in case of a faulty mission will be a bit of a challenge I guess, you do not have 'Skip mission' available ...

 

If you get it to run, please let us know how, could be of interest to others...

[Alonzo]

On 12/23/2019 at 5:04 AM, 1stCL/rudidlo said:

My problem is that I am going to automatize launching Dserver via Windows Service, which doesn't have a clue about DServer UI.

 

I ended up writing a control script in Perl that I run using a batch file. The batch file is kicked off using Windows Task Scheduler at login, and the computer is set to auto-log-in on boot. Would the batch file approach work for you?

 

I have to caution you that dserver isn't particularly stable. You might need more scripting on top of it to ensure it's working. Depends on how many users you want on the server, for a low-traffic server it's not that big a deal, but once you get up over 50 users it will likely need some monitoring to ensure it's up.

 

Edit: I should correct that assessment of dserver. It's pretty stable for us even with high player counts, now that we've figure out some of its foibles. Once the server is up and running it's usually stable, but sometimes at map roll there can be a hang. So it's not 'bad' it's just not perfect and if you have a high traffic server you might encounter some issues.

Edited December 27, 2019 by Alonzo

[2/JG26_rudidlo]

On 12/27/2019 at 5:54 PM, Alonzo said:

 

I ended up writing a control script in Perl that I run using a batch file. The batch file is kicked off using Windows Task Scheduler at login, and the computer is set to auto-log-in on boot. Would the batch file approach work for you?

 

 

Hi Alonzo,

 

thank you for your offer,  you're really kind.

I will have my dserver launched from Windows service, which will be started upon system start. Unfortunately, when i inject *.sds file containing map when launching the dserver, I don't have any other way how to replace map than killing the dserver process, modifying *.sds file and starting server again.

[Alonzo]

4 hours ago, 1stCL/rudidlo said:

I will have my dserver launched from Windows service, which will be started upon system start. Unfortunately, when i inject *.sds file containing map when launching the dserver, I don't have any other way how to replace map than killing the dserver process, modifying *.sds file and starting server again.

 

You want the ShutdownLoads setting in the .sds file. This tells dserver to run a certain number of maps at most before shutting down. On Combat Box we have the following:

ShutdownLoads = 3

This runs 3 maps, then shuts the server down. An external control script chooses 3 new maps, writes them into the SDS file, and then re-launches dserver.

 

Here's the current Combat Box control script. It does lots of stuff to check for server liveness, and also does some things that are specific to Combat Box (for example, we can start the server with a specific map for our "Friday Night Flights" event each week).  I provide no warranty. Back up your server first. Code not guaranteed to be readable. Requires Log4perl. NO WARRANTY. ?

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ajdotxkermvzgg/alonzo-dserver-controller-1.2.zip?dl=0

[336th_Porkie-]

i've started trying to use mission editor and downloaded the Sample Missions from Manual into the mission editor. could someone tell me where and what i link my AA units too? thanks

[JimTM]

54 minutes ago, 361st_Porkie- said:

i've started trying to use mission editor and downloaded the Sample Missions from Manual into the mission editor. could someone tell me where and what i link my AA units too? thanks

 

See the Output section of the Target Defence Switch topic on pg. 298 of the editor manual.

[336th_Porkie-]

9 hours ago, JimTM said:

 

See the Output section of the Target Defence Switch topic on pg. 298 of the editor manual.

thanks. going to give it a try

[336th_Porkie-]

21 hours ago, JimTM said:

 

See the Output section of the Target Defence Switch topic on pg. 298 of the editor manual.

i did, i got AA guns to show in Objects box of the MCUs. but i don't see the green lines running from the AA guns to the linked MCUs. going to try an run it on our dserver and see if it works. 

Edited March 5, 2020 by 361st_Porkie-

[JimTM]

36 minutes ago, 361st_Porkie- said:

i did, i got AA guns to show in Objects box of the MCUs. but i don't see the green lines running from the AA guns to the linked MCUs. going to try an run it on our dserver and see if it works. 

 

In the Toolbar, try clicking the MCU OBJ button, MCU SEL button, or the MCU UNSE button (descriptions on pg. 198 of the manual).

[336th_Porkie-]

15 hours ago, JimTM said:

 

In the Toolbar, try clicking the MCU OBJ button, MCU SEL button, or the MCU UNSE button (descriptions on pg. 198 of the manual).

see the AA is in the object box but no green linking it to the MCU, i've even grouped the AA unit in with it. tried the tool bar too. am at the point where i can't remember where i am in the mission. 

 

[JimTM]

40 minutes ago, 361st_Porkie- said:

see the AA is in the object box but no green linking it to the MCU, i've even grouped the AA unit in with it. tried the tool bar too. am at the point where i can't remember where i am in the mission. 

 

 

Your screenshot shows that the MCU SEL button is not enabled. You have the MCU selected so click MCU SEL.

Edited March 6, 2020 by JimTM

[334th_fulminator]

Phew, what a great job you fellers are doing! I'm just looking through the manual and I've got loads to learn, I would love to be able to develop my own missions, so I'm using this lockdown period to investigate.  The only problem is I'm a total noob. I'd like to thank jimTM for producing the manual in the first place, otherwise I might have to help the wife round the house ? 

[JimTM]

22 minutes ago, remer said:

Phew, what a great job you fellers are doing! I'm just looking through the manual and I've got loads to learn, I would love to be able to develop my own missions, so I'm using this lockdown period to investigate.  The only problem is I'm a total noob. I'd like to thank jimTM for producing the manual in the first place, otherwise I might have to help the wife round the house ? 

 

Thanks remer. For more help, look under "Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Guides" in the IL-2 Resources post. 

 

Note: Be sure to go through Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of the manual first.

Edited March 30, 2020 by JimTM