PWCG 7.1.0 Released - Fixes and Improvements - lots of them

[Yogiflight]

One possiblity to have it easier to get some fighter kills, would be to reduce their skills in the advanced config (Mission AI) of your campaign by setting it to -1 if you have it on the default 0.

[dburne]

One possiblity to have it easier to get some fighter kills, would be to reduce their skills in the advanced config (Mission AI) of your campaign by setting it to -1 if you have it on the default 0.

 

Your talking about the fighter ai adjustment right?

​Mine is set by default to 0, will try -1 and see how that does thanks.

 

I would not have thought of something like that, and certainly would not have known could use negative numbers.

Edited February 18, 2018 by dburne

[161snails]

Maybe there are more aces hanging around in kuban? Have you tried turning the chance of meeting ace down?

[Yogiflight]

 

 

Maybe there are more aces hanging around in kuban? Have you tried turning the chance of meeting ace down?

By setting Fighter AI Adjustment to -1, this is exactly what happens, as Patrick explained somewhere. Aces get turned down to veterans, veterans to default (I think this is the third step), and so on.

[dburne]

Maybe there are more aces hanging around in kuban? Have you tried turning the chance of meeting ace down?

 

Yes I had already done that thanks.

[jeanba]

Deleted : reinstalled, everything is ok

Edited February 18, 2018 by jeanba

[dburne]

Can you tell me about how to find a spitfire campaign ?

 

It is in the Kuban Map. So you need to have that map which is in early access already

Choose start date of March 1 1943 . 

Select squadron 57 Guards IAP.

Edited February 18, 2018 by dburne

[dburne]

By setting Fighter AI Adjustment to -1, this is exactly what happens, as Patrick explained somewhere. Aces get turned down to veterans, veterans to default (I think this is the third step), and so on.

 

 

Ok this seems to have helped. So far I have come across some MC 202's, and BF 110's. I was much more competitive this time with the 110's.

They seemed to behave more like they used to seems like. Starting to rack up some kills again.

 

Have not come across any 109's yet will be curious to see how I fare against them, but it certainly is looking promising so far. 

 

Thanks so much for the tip!

[jeanba]

It is in the Kuban Map. So you need to have that map which is in early access already

Choose start date of March 1 1943 . 

Select squadron 57 Guards IAP.

Thank you, I will check

[Cybermat47]

Great news, the enemy fighter AI is now running back to base after being damaged in my campaign! Makes things a lot more immersive. I had to give up on an La-5 after I hit its fuel tank and it went to the deck, while its squadmates stayed at 1000m.

[PatrickAWlson]

Per aces: there are only like 3 aces in PWCG BoX at this point, so not much odds of meeting one.  However, the German Jagdstaffeln are higher quality than the Russians, so they will generate higher levels of AI.  As noted above, this can be scaled down.

 

With enemy fighters set to "1" PWCG should generate 0-1 enemy fighter flights per mission - i.e. half the missions should have no fighter opposition at all.  Me110s primary role is ground attack for this purpose, as is the Me109 E7s.  MC202s are fighters, as are the FW190 and every other Me109. 

 

PWCG checks both the flight mission and the aircraft primary role.  So - a Me110 on a patrol is considered to be a fighter flight because the flight type is in the fighter category.  A Me110 on a ground attack is not a fighter flight.  Any flight with a FW190 is considered a fighter flight because the primary role of the aircraft is fighter.

[Boremski09]

Hey Pat, first of all, Thanks for your work!.

 

Since this new version im having problems with the ground battles killing my fps. There is any way to reduce the size of them? In simple config i already had selected "Low" but im still having troubles.

 

thanks!

 

 

Edited March 4, 2018 by Boremski09
orthography

[dburne]

Those ground battles can get pretty tough in VR as well. You can reduce the smoke level which helps a little.

[TheSNAFU]

2 hours ago, dburne said:

Those ground battles can get pretty tough in VR as well. You can reduce the smoke level which helps a little.

There is a setting in advanced config that adds random battles and other activity. I switched it to 0 because it's strains my pc even though fps is the same. I suggested to Pat to make the components of it configurable to lessen the hit. You might try setting that to 0. I don't recall exactly where it is in config. 

Edited March 3, 2018 by TheSNAFU

[dburne]

3 hours ago, TheSNAFU said:

There is a setting in advanced config that adds random battles and other activity. I switched it to 0 because it's strains my pc even though fps is the same. I suggested to Pat to make the components of it configurable to lessen the hit. You might try setting that to 0. I don't recall exactly where it is in config. 

 

I will take a look thanks!

[Boremski09]

17 hours ago, TheSNAFU said:

There is a setting in advanced config that adds random battles and other activity. I switched it to 0 because it's strains my pc even though fps is the same. I suggested to Pat to make the components of it configurable to lessen the hit. You might try setting that to 0. I don't recall exactly where it is in config. 

I had already changed that option to "0" .However the impact of the ground battles remains the same. =/

[TheSNAFU]

5 hours ago, Boremski09 said:

I had already changed that option to "0" .However the impact of the ground battles remains the same. =/

That's odd. With that setting on 1 there are a lot of battles raging AAA all over the place, other stuff happening, it's very noticeable. With it on 0 there is little visually happening on the ground or AAA. I like the affects but the hit to smooth play is too much for me. I also have smoke set to 2 and 75. Seems to help and still have plenty of smoke and fire to make things believable. 

Edited March 4, 2018 by TheSNAFU

[blitze]

Setting smoke down to 40% but still at 3 makes a big difference.  You still get the smoke and fires but it doesn't eat your frame rate compared to closer to 100 settings. This for me was the biggest frame killer, not the objects involved in the ground war per say.

[Yogiflight]

It depends very much on your hardware. Flying with a GTX1060, I have no issues with framerate, but my CPU is too week for it and the game runs only with half speed with full smoke. I even went down to 1 and 50%. But no issues with ground war. But I sadly never see it, only read in the AAR about it.

[Boremski09]

48 minutes ago, Yogiflight said:

It depends very much on your hardware. Flying with a GTX1060, I have no issues with framerate, but my CPU is too week for it and the game runs only with half speed with full smoke. I even went down to 1 and 50%. But no issues with ground war. But I sadly never see it, only read in the AAR about it.

 

My specs are:

Intel Core I7 6700 (non k)
16 GB RAM
AMD RADEON 480 8GB

 

The problem begins when a big ground battle its taking place below my flying path. Then the FPS go down from 60 to 40 if i loose some altitude. This problem its more common in the patrol missions when you flight over the front lines.

Edited March 4, 2018 by Boremski09

[blitze]

9 hours ago, Boremski09 said:

 

My specs are:

Intel Core I7 6700 (non k)
16 GB RAM
AMD RADEON 480 8GB

 

The problem begins when a big ground battle its taking place below my flying path. Then the FPS go down from 60 to 40 if i loose some altitude. This problem its more common in the patrol missions when you flight over the front lines.

Are by any chance using in game Anti Alaising?

 

If so, turn it off and run it from AMD driver control panel

 

What resolution are you running at?

 

I had a AMD 8350 with a AMD 390  GPU pushing better rates than that at 1440p (High Settings for game graphics with AA set to 2x in AMD Control Panel and off ingame).

 

Now I run a i7700 HQ with a Max-Q 1070 Nvidia mobile GPU and 16G 2400 ram.  Getting a constant 100+ frame rate on Ultra Settings at 1440p with Nvidia AA set to 4x.  With Hud off, frames are more round 144.  Drops a little with smoke but not too bad if smoke is set to 40%

[Boremski09]

12 hours ago, blitze said:

Are by any chance using in game Anti Alaising?

 

If so, turn it off and run it from AMD driver control panel

 

What resolution are you running at?

 

I had a AMD 8350 with a AMD 390  GPU pushing better rates than that at 1440p (High Settings for game graphics with AA set to 2x in AMD Control Panel and off ingame).

 

Now I run a i7700 HQ with a Max-Q 1070 Nvidia mobile GPU and 16G 2400 ram.  Getting a constant 100+ frame rate on Ultra Settings at 1440p with Nvidia AA set to 4x.  With Hud off, frames are more round 144.  Drops a little with smoke but not too bad if smoke is set to 40%

Thanks! I will the AA settings in the Control Panel.

[Boremski09]

UPDATE: The problem was the HUD. When the HUD its Hidden my FPS are stable at 60. Even flying low over huge battles. Thanks for your help guys! =D

[blitze]

8 hours ago, Boremski09 said:

UPDATE: The problem was the HUD. When the HUD its Hidden my FPS are stable at 60. Even flying low over huge battles. Thanks for your help guys! =D

Map Hud (H) to a button on your controller as well with Map (O) so you can easily access it if you require when not in the heat of battle.  Helps with Navigation.

[blitze]

Think I might try turning the AI down a notch myself.  Tired of getting ass graped by Migs and Yaks when our flight encounters them.  I try to stay wide and gain energy but they ping my engine from afar and it's down hill from there.

 

Still, I flew 2 of them into the ground so that is some consolation.  They just seem to have better energy management and awareness than I could ever possible get and my flight just flounders around.  AI is wierd, it was nice to chase down a Lagg but he dragged me to his side of the front and AA.  It was a challenge.  Bombing is also a challenge in the 109.  I dump a 250 on a target which is firing from inside a thing tree line, looks on target yet nada.  Would have thought a 250kg would have some area splash damage going for it.

 

Still, overflying the ground war is really intense.  You see a lot of action on the ground which you just don't get in Multiplayer.  Also strange that there are no escort missions being generated in the fighter campaign.  Mainly Offensive Missions flying deep over the Front Lines to take out aircraft or Intercept with the odd ground strike mission.

 

Anyway, I also bumped cruise speeds back up 30 to 40kph pending on the plane type.  Better for getting to combat speed when needed.

[PatrickAWlson]

The AI suffers from the same issue as every other flight sim AI that I have ever seen.  It knows how to turn.  It does not know how to manage energy.   In this sim that benefits the Russians because their planes are better suited to the AI.  In ROF it was Camels and DRIs that the AI flew well.  Seen the same in flight sims made by other outfits.

 

At least 777 is trying to make the AI use energy.  Just not there yet.

[blitze]

AI gunnery accuracy is more my issue than flight capabilities.  They seem to be very competent on all levels aside from lowest.  taking out my engine before I have a chance to position and deal with the situation.  Only chance one has is snap shooting them in a head on pass at first merge. Not your problem just an observation of the simulation in general. 

 

We all know about AI AA capabilities at normal and above.  I try lower level AI for now and see how that goes.  I like the flying challenge just not the sniping.

[blitze]

Quick flight with the new update using my early into campaign for VVS fighter in Stalingrad.  Mission loaded up no problem and the map looked beautiful.  Seemed to have objective completed notification on the map (flying Full Real but looking at map with hud turned on).

 

Lucky as I lost my flight admiring the reworked map so I headed home and landed to a completed successful Escort Mission.

 

AI seemed less in a race when in climb and I was able to hold position in climb with my flight leader which is a first.  Our squad of 6 were flying Yaks.

 

Not sure how the new Campaign System holds up as I didn't delve into it but was happy to know that I can continue with this campaign as well.

[Taxman]

6 minutes ago, blitze said:

Quick flight with the new update using my early into campaign for VVS fighter in Stalingrad.  Mission loaded up no problem and the map looked beautiful.  Seemed to have objective completed notification on the map (flying Full Real but looking at map with hud turned on).

 

Lucky as I lost my flight admiring the reworked map so I headed home and landed to a completed successful Escort Mission.

 

AI seemed less in a race when in climb and I was able to hold position in climb with my flight leader which is a first.  Our squad of 6 were flying Yaks.

 

Not sure how the new Campaign System holds up as I didn't delve into it but was happy to know that I can continue with this campaign as well.

Good to know as I have 5 campaigns going and was wondering if the 3.001 would pork PWCG.  About an hour and half before I get home and upgrade 

[FTC_Riksen]

Can PWCG generate COOP missions now with this new update?

 

Thanks Patrick

[busdriver]

On 3/9/2018 at 2:40 AM, blitze said:

AI gunnery accuracy is more my issue than flight capabilities.  They seem to be very competent on all levels aside from lowest.  taking out my engine before I have a chance to position and deal with the situation.  Only chance one has is snap shooting them in a head on pass at first merge. Not your problem just an observation of the simulation in general. 

 

We all know about AI AA capabilities at normal and above.  I try lower level AI for now and see how that goes.  I like the flying challenge just not the sniping.

 

I couldn't post a reply during the testing for obvious reasons. I did all my test campaign flying on Easy or Moderate difficulty (assuming a casual simmer) and usually Dense activity. I'm very happy with the end of AI high and beam aspect sniping. And rarely will you find two or more AI camped out at your six chasing you around the sky. I've had a blast fighting 1-v-4 and managing to stay neutral...I ran out of gas but it was fun. Plus if you manage to make a landing at home or a field in friendly territory, AI will strafe you. It's all good...well almost all good.

[dburne]

9 hours ago, busdriver said:

 

I couldn't post a reply during the testing for obvious reasons. I did all my test campaign flying on Easy or Moderate difficulty (assuming a casual simmer) and usually Dense activity. I'm very happy with the end of AI high and beam aspect sniping. And rarely will you find two or more AI camped out at your six chasing you around the sky. I've had a blast fighting 1-v-4 and managing to stay neutral...I ran out of gas but it was fun. Plus if you manage to make a landing at home or a field in friendly territory, AI will strafe you. It's all good...well almost all good.

 

That is certainly good news then!

[E69_Chipi]

14 hours ago, SCG_Riksen said:

Can PWCG generate COOP missions now with this new update?

 

Thanks Patrick

 

This feature would be vermy much welcome...

 

Edited:

 

I tried to modify a PWCG 3.3.2 generated mission to fly it in co-op mode.

 

It didn't work, but it might be due to my extremely limited knowledge of the mission editor. In fact it was the first time I've used it at all.

 

First I change the mission type to cooperative in the mission properties dialog.

 

Then I ticked the checkbox start in cooperative for two different flights. One flight was a flight of two Stukas that were the single player flight generated by PWCG.

 

The other one was a flight of four 110s.

 

I saved the mission in the corresponding cooperative mission folder.

 

I created a server, loaded the mission and the airplanes I had selected to be flyable in the coop mission showed up nicely on the coop launch lobby. Eureka!

 

BUT....(not so fast with the eureka..)

 

When I tried to launch the mission, I got in the 3d world and could not see the cockpit. I just got a message that my player had been killed and stayed in what looked like an spectate mode, but I was not able to see my plane at all.

 

I tried with the three options available for cooperative start: parking, runway and in air, but the results didn't change.

 

Botommline, my conversion method does not work. Too bad, I would have been such an easy way to generate nice and coherent missions to play in co-op mode....

 

But I'm sure Mr. Wilson, sooner or later, will provide us with a way to play the PWCG generated missions in cooperative.

 

By the way, I hadn't realized how much work PWCG has in it until I didn't try to use the editor myself.

 

Big respect for Mr. Wilson!

 

Edited March 15, 2018 by Chipi
Added results of testing

[FTC_Riksen]

I just tested in COOP and it worked!!!!!!!!!

 

My question is .... can we launch this in Dserver as coop and if yes by having the "keep log" feature enabled, will the events in a flown mission count towards the generation of the next mission?

[PatrickAWlson]

@ChipiPer coop - I was never the one that used that capability.  Way back in RoF I just followed instructions from people who created coop missions by hand.  Riksen just announced success - any feedback on a procedure to make it work?

 

What you saw is the same effect as SP if there was no player plane.  If the game announced that you were killed then that seems to be what happened.  Why is a mystery.  Can you try again with a different mission?  

 

[E69_Chipi]

7 hours ago, SCG_Riksen said:

I just tested in COOP and it worked!!!!!!!!!

 

My question is .... can we launch this in Dserver as coop and if yes by having the "keep log" feature enabled, will the events in a flown mission count towards the generation of the next mission?

Could you please elaborate on how did you do it?

Edited March 16, 2018 by Chipi

[FTC_Riksen]

To be honest, the only thing I did was to change an option in PWCG settings that said something like COOP mode from 0 to 1. I loaded it in the cooperative folder of the game and voila!

[71st_AH_Rob_XR-R]

Co-op mode worked when I tested it with the squadron last night, changed co-op to 1 in settings. The mission was generated and in the correct folder, ran perfectly, landed and ended mission.

 

When I tried to enter claims and then run the AAR before generating the next mission, there was an error. It could not find the log file even though I had changed the line in startup.lua file to generate one. I found the log it just seems to be not seen by PWCG. I will have another look when I get home from work.  

 

Have not tried 3.3.2 in RoF yet but will compare where log file is being generated this weekend.

[E69_Chipi]

2 hours ago, SCG_Riksen said:

To be honest, the only thing I did was to change an option in PWCG settings that said something like COOP mode from 0 to 1. I loaded it in the cooperative folder of the game and voila!

And doing that, do you get all the flights available to be flown by players?

 

I have to check. It's much simpler than editing the mission with the editor...

[E69_Chipi]

To be honest, this is what I deserve...

I had not seen that option in the PWCG configuration......
And I started editing the mission with the editor and changing sufff!!! Big LOL at myself!!!!

I tried the "simple" way and the mission worked ok.

Now I have a question:
 

The skins of the airplanes not flown by humans are loaded ok.

Is there a way to keep those skins when an aircraft is selected by a player. I tried a couple of times and whenever i select an airplane it appears in the setup screen with the default skin.

 

Thanks