IL-2 Sturmovik Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Manual

[J5_Adam]

Thanks. When I try to make a formation of aircraft follow me around they only form out to my right and downward despite asking them to do anything else. How do I remedy this?

[JimTM]

2 hours ago, Adam said:

Thanks. When I try to make a formation of aircraft follow me around they only form out to my right and downward despite asking them to do anything else. How do I remedy this?

 

Can you please zip the mission and post it here.

[DN308]

This manual is outstanding. Honestly, the editor is very hard to use and too complex to be used without a manual AND online help.

like many of us, my .pdf is open as soon as I launch the editor.

 

if I could make and humble suggestion, it would be really handy to have on each page of the FME a link to go back to the table of contents.

Really often, I search for the right page concerning a subject, click on it to go, and damn, wrong item! Let’s go back to the beginning... 

A little bit of annoyance.

 

but once again a great job from you. Thank you so much

[JimTM]

13 hours ago, DN308 said:

...

if I could make and humble suggestion, it would be really handy to have on each page of the FME a link to go back to the table of contents.

Really often, I search for the right page concerning a subject, click on it to go, and damn, wrong item! Let’s go back to the beginning... 

A little bit of annoyance.

...

 

If you are using Adobe Reader, right click on a white spot on the toolbar and choose Show Page Navigation Tools > Previous View. This places a back arrow on your toolbar. If you click the back arrow, you are taken back to the page that you jumped from. You can add other navigation tools using the same procedure.

 

FYI, work on the manual is on ice for the time being.

[336th_Porkie-]

having problems in single player with ai taxing...

namely page 199 i don't see the taxi path in the view port'

i added an Airfield obj(fakefield) and placed it center of runway and then oriented it down the runway, created linked entity, clicked add chart, then edit chart. i can select the various points and see the box with their X,Y positions, but don't see them in the view port.

[JimTM]

30 minutes ago, 361st_Porkie- said:

having problems in single player with ai taxing...

namely page 199 i don't see the taxi path in the view port'

i added an Airfield obj(fakefield) and placed it center of runway and then oriented it down the runway, created linked entity, clicked add chart, then edit chart. i can select the various points and see the box with their X,Y positions, but don't see them in the view port.

...

 

In the Tools menu, choose Objects Filter and select Airfield.

[336th_Porkie-]

10 hours ago, JimTM said:

 

In the Tools menu, choose Objects Filter and select Airfield.

thanks.

now that i have placed the park waypoint in front of the ai leader. he still proceeds to just take off straight ahead

Edited April 21, 2020 by 361st_Porkie-

[JimTM]

3 hours ago, 361st_Porkie- said:

thanks.

now that i have placed the park waypoint in front of the ai leader. he still proceeds to just take off straight ahead

 

Change the country of the airfield object to that of the plane, or at least a country in the same coalition as the plane (see the "Countries" button on the "Mission Properties" dialog).

[336th_Porkie-]

On 4/21/2020 at 7:48 AM, JimTM said:

 

Change the country of the airfield object to that of the plane, or at least a country in the same coalition as the plane (see the "Countries" button on the "Mission Properties" dialog).

thanks so much. appreciate all the time and effort you have put into this and the additional time you give answering my questions.

[JimTM]

No problem Porkie.

[Thad]

On 4/16/2020 at 3:44 PM, JimTM said:

FYI, work on the manual is on ice for the time being.

 

Oh no.. tell me it isn't so. ?

[JimTM]

14 minutes ago, Thad said:

 

Oh no.. tell me it isn't so. ?

 

Well, I did take another look last night at what I had cobbled together for testing in my local WordPress.org install. If I can figure a way to get a halfway decent Word-to-WordPress content import going with the "Mammoth" import tool, maybe there is hope. If not, you may end up here.

[Thad]

11 minutes ago, JimTM said:

 

Well, I did take another look last night at what I had cobbled together for testing in my local WordPress.org install. If I can figure a way to get a halfway decent Word-to-WordPress content import going with the "Mammoth" import tool, maybe there is hope. If not, you may end up here.

 

Ah, a glimmer of hope with WordPress. ?

 

Then you crush me with a vindictive, cruel and inhuman denial of ultimate access reference. Although, it is reassuring nothing has changed. ?

Edited May 7, 2020 by Thad

[oblalex]

Hi there,

 

Could you please tell, if the topic links to the latest version of the manual? Its name is "pre-release edition one" and it's confusing, as 4y have already passed since the initial release. If this is the latest version of the manual, does it correspond the latest version of the game? Is it possible to add update date and/or revision history to the doc?

 

Also, is it possible to expect a headless version of the dedicated server? i.e. as a console app instead of GUI app. Would simplify the development of game projects running on non-windows OSs a lot.

 

Thank you!

Edited May 13, 2020 by oblalex

[JimTM]

1 hour ago, oblalex said:

Hi there,

 

Could you please tell, if the topic links to the latest version of the manual? Its name is "pre-release edition one" and it's confusing, as 4y have already passed since the initial release. If this is the latest version of the manual, does it correspond the latest version of the game? Is it possible to add update date and/or revision history to the doc?

 

Also, is it possible to expect a headless version of the dedicated server? i.e. as a console app instead of GUI app. Would simplify the development of game projects running on non-windows OSs a lot.

 

Thank you!

 

There is only one version of the manual.

 

I only know about the GUI version of DServer. Perhaps someone else knows about a headless version.

[Thad]

One manual to rule them and in the darkness bind it. 

Edited May 13, 2020 by Thad

[JimTM]

11 minutes ago, Thad said:

One manual to rule them and in the darkness bind it. 

 

Ring-a-ding-ding!

                     - Gollum

 

Working on WordPress version.

[oblalex]

On 5/13/2020 at 3:11 PM, JimTM said:

 

There is only one version of the manual.

 

I only know about the GUI version of DServer. Perhaps someone else knows about a headless version.

Got it, thank you!
 

21 hours ago, Thad said:

One manual to rule them and in the darkness bind it. 

You are very kind, thank you.
 

21 hours ago, JimTM said:

Working on WordPress version.

 

Consider giving a try to https://readthedocs.org/ or https://www.gitbook.com/.

Edited May 14, 2020 by oblalex

[Thad]

3 hours ago, oblalex said:

 

Consider giving a try to https://readthedocs.org/ or https://www.gitbook.com/.

 

These appear promising. ?

[JimTM]

Thanks for the recommendations. I've already taken significant steps down the WordPress road and I was looking to gain WordPress experience anyway.

[SYN_Vander]

Going through this wonderful manual I noticed that the AI POI MCU is not yet explained. I have used it in missions in the past, but never really understood how it works. Did someone find out in the meantime? It could be useful for my mission generator...

[JimTM]

2 hours ago, SYN_Vander said:

Going through this wonderful manual I noticed that the AI POI MCU is not yet explained. I have used it in missions in the past, but never really understood how it works. Did someone find out in the meantime? It could be useful for my mission generator...

 

Thanks for the comment Vander. I learned the basics of the RoF editor from your great YouTube tutorials. Thanks for those.

 

In reply to a PM, Han described it as follows:

"It's attractor object for AI planes (allready) and vehicles (in future) in case when they have no any other mission commands at the moment.So, if plane have a command - he will perform it."

 

Also, there was a post in the RoF forum.

 

I was never able to get it to work so I left it to a future edition of the manual (which will be a website).

Edited June 19, 2020 by JimTM

[SYN_Vander]

1 hour ago, JimTM said:

 

Thanks for the comment Vander. I learned the basics of the RoF editor from your great YouTube tutorials. Thanks for those.

 

In reply to a PM, Han described it as follows:

"It's attractor object for AI planes (allready) and vehicles (in future) in case when they have no any other mission commands at the moment.So, if plane have a command - he will perform it."

 

Also, there was a post in the RoF forum.

 

I was never able to get it to work so I left it to a future edition of the manual (which will be a website).

 

Thanks for the quick response Jim. Yeah, this was about the info that I had in my mind; it being a 'bug magnet'  . I guess it needs some exploring. It should work as (if I remember it correctly) it is being used in the generated missions.

So I assume now: If an AI plane has no active command (ie go to waypoint or something) it will then default back to whatever is defined in this POI as long as the plane is in range.

The options are:

-Type: plane/vehicle (so only plane works)

-Command: Attack Air targets, Ground or Ground Targets

-POI type: <all the mission types> <- no clue what this does?

-Country: <coalition> So this POI is active for this country only?

-Priority: low, medium, high. I presume same as with AttackArea MCU etc

-Radius: <distance>. I assume only applies when AI is inside this radius.

 

All this should be confirmed by some testing. Which I will do if I have some time. Currently I'm building a proper mission file parser, which is why I came across this MCU. I have now defined data interpretation for ALL MCU's in the game, so let's say I now have a rather intimate knowledge of all MCU properties...?. For instance, the 'Emergency' tickbox on ForceComplete is called EmergencyOrdnanceDrop in the mission file, which now suddenly makes a bit more sense to me.

 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by SYN_Vander

[JimTM]

58 minutes ago, SYN_Vander said:

...

-POI type: <all the mission types> <- no clue what this does?

...

 

This appears to be a combination of a few mission types and a bunch of the icon translator Icon ID values.

[Angelkawa]

@JimTM Thank you for thid manual, I used before the old IL-2 1946 editor to create my personal missions, noe I will have a lot of questions for sure!! after many years not flying!! 

 

Skål!!

[JimTM]

1 minute ago, GarM_ said:

@JimTM Thank you for thid manual, I used before the old IL-2 1946 editor to create my personal missions, noe I will have a lot of questions for sure!! after many years not flying!! 

 

Skål!!

 

You're welcome GarM_.

[Thad]

The Hubble Space Telescope reportedly spotted the new updated manual as it crossed the surface of Mars. NASA vehemently denied the accuracy of the report.

 

The legend.... the myth... of the updated manual. ?

[JimTM]

2 hours ago, Thad said:

The Hubble Space Telescope reportedly spotted the new updated manual as it crossed the surface of Mars. NASA vehemently denied the accuracy of the report.

 

The legend.... the myth... of the updated manual. ?

 

I've heard a legend that the entire ancient manual has been transported over time and space to a fabled world called HTML (a class M world), where the inhabitants don't wear masks and have no patience at all. The legends speak of the land of WordPress, where the editor sucks and the great author learned the mysteries of Visual Studio Code and almost bowed to the insufferable hastiness of the great Thadisius. TL:DR: Werken onit!  

Edited August 23, 2020 by JimTM

[David_ArmAstrong]

Outstanding ME manual. Thank you Jim. It is very well done! It is very much appreciated. 

[JimTM]

Thanks David.

[AcidBath]

A bit late to this party, but DANG, thanks for the manual!  One of my banes with software is that devs work into it all these great capabilities, but without good documentation those features might as well not exists...well done on getting us users a useful working manual.

 

For trivia sake, building a mission actually is software programming using a Data Flow language.  Another such language, used in engineering and science research, is LabView, developed by National Instruments for use with their electronics hardware.

[2/JG26_rudidlo]

On 12/29/2019 at 3:22 PM, Alonzo said:

 

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.

It's a shame, that there is impossible to inject list of missions to the running server without restarting it.

[Alonzo]

1 hour ago, 1stCL/rudidlo said:

It's a shame, that there is impossible to inject list of missions to the running server without restarting it.

 

Some servers do something clever where they have map_1, map_2, map_3 in the map list, and then just before the map finishes they overwrite the next one. That would have the same effect.

[2/JG26_rudidlo]

19 hours ago, Alonzo said:

 

Some servers do something clever where they have map_1, map_2, map_3 in the map list, and then just before the map finishes they overwrite the next one. That would have the same effect.

Good idea!
So it means that server is loading the map only when previous map finishes or when admin execute switch to next command.
Thanks Alonzo, you've solved my worst nightmare!

Edited March 1, 2021 by 1stCL/rudidlo

[JimTM]

On 2/28/2021 at 9:17 AM, Alonzo said:

 

Some servers do something clever where they have map_1, map_2, map_3 in the map list, and then just before the map finishes they overwrite the next one. That would have the same effect.

 

If I understand correctly, a server runs missions that are always called, for example, "map1", map2", "map3" etc. So if map2 was currently a Crimean mission and you wanted to replace it on the fly with a Rhineland mission, you save the Rhineland mission as "map2" and save it to the server, right?

 

Edited March 1, 2021 by JimTM

[Emil109]

Hey, very thanks, for download in Español , ?

[JimTM]

On 10/4/2021 at 12:42 AM, Emil109 said:

Hey, very thanks, for download in Español , ?

 

Yes, many thanks to @-=PHX=-Trenkos for the Spanish translation of the manual.    

[joji]

Guys I am thinking of learning how to create dedicated MP server. My idea is to create competitive server similar to Berloga but difference being that all players will spawn at the same time to create sort of a match between two teams. So lets say 10 players join the server. There would have to be some sort of balancing so 5v5 or even 6v4 would be ok. And then when all players pick sides and planes, they would all spawn at the same time. So there would have to be a ready button or some sort of mechanism to sync the spawns. You guys think this would be possible ?

[JimTM]

1 hour ago, joji said:

Guys I am thinking of learning how to create dedicated MP server. My idea is to create competitive server similar to Berloga but difference being that all players will spawn at the same time to create sort of a match between two teams. So lets say 10 players join the server. There would have to be some sort of balancing so 5v5 or even 6v4 would be ok. And then when all players pick sides and planes, they would all spawn at the same time. So there would have to be a ready button or some sort of mechanism to sync the spawns. You guys think this would be possible ?

 

As far as syncing the spawns, you can create a cooperative mission.

 

Balancing sides involves selecting the Coalition balancer option in the server configuration and possibly editing CBalancer.cfg in the \data\LuaScripts folder. I have not found much on how to edit CBalancer.cfg but this post may help.

[joji]

On 12/22/2021 at 5:54 PM, JimTM said:

 

As far as syncing the spawns, you can create a cooperative mission.

 

Balancing sides involves selecting the Coalition balancer option in the server configuration and possibly editing CBalancer.cfg in the \data\LuaScripts folder. I have not found much on how to edit CBalancer.cfg but this post may help.

Thank you my friend. You mentioned cooperative mission. I would like to make PvP competitive server. You think this is still possible? At the moment I am studying the manual but it is great to hear from people with actual experience like you.