PWCG 7.1.0 Released - Fixes and Improvements - lots of them

[PatrickAWlson]

PWCG 4.1.0

Every squadron in PWCG is equipped.

Every plane in the mission maps to a plane in PWCG

Out of mission events affect planes in PWCG.

If a pilot gains a victory out of mission, the victim will also be a plane in PWCG.

A replacements depo of planes exists.- During each time cycle, "needy squadrons" request replacements.  Replacements are distributed from the depo.

The replacement depo is drained to compensate for squadron losses.

There is a lag between the time a plane is lost and the time that the request for a replacement is acknowledged.

The replacement pool is periodically replenished.

Over time equipment will become more of an issue, but not to a severe degree.

Slightly equipment depleted AI squadrons may not fly.

Severely equipment depleted AI squadrons will not fly.

The player's squadron will not fly if severely equipment depleted.

Made tweaks tp odds of other squadrons flying.

Landing improved: planes on the Moscow map will land and taxi to a revetment before disappearing.

@Murleen

A first for PWCG.  Murleen has contributed Java code.  This is the first time in nine years that an outside author has written Java code for PWCG!

Also a first: PWCG is now available on GitHub.

Murleen's contributions were a bug fix for spawn parsing and .. this was a lot of work on his part ... the landing correction noted above.  Many thanks.

Bugs:

Fixed spawn event parsing error

Fixed failure to create ground attack missions

Fixed failure to note missions flown.

Fixed Italian campaign.

 

Take a moment to check out the equipment depo page and the modified intel page.  On the Intel page the squadron listings on the left are buttons.  Click them to get information about the squadron.

[CCIP]

Thanks for your hard work on this, Pat and Murleen - I'm excited to start playing with it!

The landing and taxi is a nice surprise addition - now if only we could get AI to start up and taxi out as well at the beginning of missions... (though I guess that one is something that's up to 1CGS to address first).

 

Edited July 8, 2018 by CCIP

[Sketch]

Github link please (or did I miss it)?

[Stlg13/Sgt_Schultz]

Thanks Pat! downloading now 

[Yogiflight]

Thanks for the second part of this great addition and the bug fixes. I am very curious, how long it will last until my FW190 squadron will be the first time out of order.

[dburne]

Wow what a changelog for 4.1.0.

Very impressive and thanks so much for all the hard work!

[Adger]

Brilliant,can't wait to download and try later..Thanks Pat and Murleen 

[FTC_Riksen]

Amazing! Great job Pat

[PatrickAWlson]

6 hours ago, Yogiflight said:

Thanks for the second part of this great addition and the bug fixes. I am very curious, how long it will last until my FW190 squadron will be the first time out of order.

 

The simulations that I ran did not show the unique squadrons (HS129, Me109 E-7, FW190) being starved for replacements, however, it is definitely possible.  The replacement algorithm is a dual weighted system.  Squadron assignments have been changed from specific types to arch types (i.e .bf109f4 now becomes bf109).  Active squadrons are analyzed for arch types and a weighted value is determined for every arch type in use.  From that weighted pool an arch type is selected.  Once the arch type is selected then the specific type is selected from the arch type, once again weighted based on introduction and withdrawal of the specific type.  Now you have an actual plane - it is assigned a serial number and placed in the depo.

 

Over time the results should produce a proportional replacement pattern.  However,  a run of bad luck, losing too many of your planes while not getting enough replacements, could shut your squadron down for awhile, and the odds of such an occurrence are going to be higher with more rare types.

 

[JonRedcorn]

I just installed 4.0 Give us a chance!!

[Yogiflight]

40 minutes ago, PatrickAWlson said:

The simulations that I ran did not show the unique squadrons (HS129, Me109 E-7, FW190) being starved for replacements, however, it is definitely possible. 

I was flying 3 missions, so far, and apart from the first mission, a two aircraft patrol runnung into six enemy fighters, the result is pretty clear, my squadmates seem to have much improved, just as if they recognized, that it is now important to bring the aircrafts back. Two 8 aircraft flights without any losses and in the first mission of those two, six pilots with a kill. That surely never happened in any mission I have been flying before. Will see, how this is going on.

One question , did you hardcode the cruising speeds of the aircrafts in this version? I tried to customize the speeds in the aircraft file, as 360km/h is a bit slow for the 190 (the 190 is not really a friend of low speeds), but it doesn't work this time. However I changed the speed to 420km/h, we were flying with the preset 360.

[PatrickAWlson]

I didn't do anything to make the AI more interested in survival.  Wish I could.  They might be slipping in some AI improvements with their updates.  I just played my first non-test campaign mission.  Ground attack in a Me110.  We lost one, not sure of the circumstances. One escort was also lost.  The escorts dropped 3 MiGs.  Interestingly, one did go home rather than fight to the death.  Definitely not my doing.

 

Cruise speeds are not hard coded, they are taken from the aircraft files.  Now, whether the AI honors the setting or not is a different matter.

 

So far, through several test missions and one real one 4.1 is working well.  I am going to take a break from coding and play a bit.  Bug fixes will be made ASAP.  I'll get to starting 5.0 in a bit.

Edited July 8, 2018 by PatrickAWlson

[Yogiflight]

I started a Bf110 E2 career on the Moscow map and I have to say a big thank you @Murleen, what a great addition for PWCG, that my squadmates now taxi to a parking position.

[Murleen]

I actually noticed last night that the approach path for Zaluje goes through a tree, so obviously still some work to do!

[jeanba]

Thank's to all !!!!

[PatrickAWlson]

3 hours ago, Murleen said:

I actually noticed last night that the approach path for Zaluje goes through a tree, so obviously still some work to do!

 

Takes time to get everything perfect but that was some nice work.  Much appreciated.

 

Note to self ... stop wrecking planes on landing.  The Luftwaffe no longer has an unlimited supply.

[Smallfry155]

Just before I jump to 4.10 from 3.5,   In co-op mode my fellow human pilots keep disappearing off the roster.  I cannot seem to stop this happening.  Is this preventable in 4.10?  Was there a setting i missed?

 

regards

[PatrickAWlson]

1 minute ago, Smallfry155 said:

Just before I jump to 4.10 from 3.5,   In co-op mode my fellow human pilots keep disappearing off the roster.  I cannot seem to stop this happening.  Is this preventable in 4.10?  Was there a setting i missed?

 

regards

 

The reason it happens is that PWCG models out of mission events for pilots - i.e. they can get killed without flying in a mission.  Since PWCG only understands one human pilot, all of your friends are simply seen as AI.  That is the biggest change for coop support planned for 5.0: make PWCG aware of multiple human pilots.

 

I was going to say that PWCG 4.x might be even worse, but now that I think of it it will be about the same.  Short of editing the campaign personnel file and reviving them there is not much that you can do about it right now.

[Smallfry155]

Thanks Pat,

 

Much appreciated.  Looking forward to 5.0 

 

Is there no way to manually mark another human as immortal/non-transferable?  radio button?

 

regards  and thanks again.  having a hoot.

[PatrickAWlson]

4 hours ago, Smallfry155 said:

Thanks Pat,

 

Much appreciated.  Looking forward to 5.0 

 

Is there no way to manually mark another human as immortal/non-transferable?  radio button?

 

regards  and thanks again.  having a hoot.

 

Been thinking about it and might be possible to support manual marking in 4.x.  Need to review the code to verify.

[PatrickAWlson]

PWCG 4.1.1

Call signs added (Murleen).

Added Stalingrad taxi mappings (Murleen)

Added planes lost to debrief UI.

Bugs:

Fixed replacing pilots in briefing causes AAR errors after mission.

Fixed failure to create create campaign later in war

Fixed player transfer error (Murleen)

Fixed inactive campaign members not saved (Murleen).

Fixed failure to properly apply modifications (reported for E7 but could affect others).

[dburne]

 

Awesomeness, thanks so much Pat and Murleen!!

[TheSNAFU]

16 hours ago, dburne said:

 

Awesomeness, thanks so much Pat and Murleen!!

 

Cant rightly add more to it. These are major steps forward. So nice to see my mates land safely, taxi, park and shut down. The entire experience feels new and improved. Well done!!

[falle96]

For the upgrade to 4.1.1, should I delete the existing PWCG sub-folder in BoX's folder, or can I replace files there by merging old with new?

 

Also, will save-files be affected?

[PatrickAWlson]

16 minutes ago, FarflungWanderer said:

For the upgrade to 4.1.1, should I delete the existing PWCG sub-folder in BoX's folder, or can I replace files there by merging old with new?

 

Also, will save-files be affected?

 

You can just overwrite the existing install.  Your campaigns will be intact.

[busdriver]

1 hour ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

You can just overwrite the existing install.  Your campaigns will be intact.

 

When I updated from 3.5.0 to 4.1.0 I had three careers running. But for some reason they were not available. I deleted them.

 

Edit: After further testing (several attempts to update by letting PWCG overwrite a previous install) I kept getting errors, unable to generate careers/campaigns. In my case, I must delete the previous PWCGCampaign folder and do a clean update. It is what it is.

Edited July 15, 2018 by busdriver

[PatrickAWlson]

28 minutes ago, busdriver said:

 

When I updated from 3.5.0 to 4.1.0 I had three careers running. But for some reason they were not available. I deleted them.

 

3.x.x to 4.x.x.  in general a jump in the major version number means backwards compatibility is screwed.  When I added pilot and plane tracking that was about three months of work that totally altered the insides of PWCG.  It's always possible to maintain backwards compatibility with conversion software, but that gets to be a mess plus the time and effort.

 

4.1.0 to 4.1.1 is a minor version jump.  The campaigns are compatible.

[oho]

Thanks for the callsigns. 

I started a new campaign on the Moscow map with 4.1. What i noticed was that I rarely encounter enemy flights when patroling along the frontline. Before with 3.5 I always had contact with patroling missions. I wonder if that may be a result of the new staffing in 4.1, did somebody experience the same?

What should I do to increase the propability of contact (except turnign up the air density because that kills my fps)?

 

[PatrickAWlson]

6 hours ago, oho said:

Thanks for the callsigns. 

I started a new campaign on the Moscow map with 4.1. What i noticed was that I rarely encounter enemy flights when patroling along the frontline. Before with 3.5 I always had contact with patroling missions. I wonder if that may be a result of the new staffing in 4.1, did somebody experience the same?

What should I do to increase the propability of contact (except turnign up the air density because that kills my fps)?

 

 

Nothing to be done really.  Even turning up the air activity level will not help if squadrons are being eliminated because they are depleted.  One thing that would help me is if you would go to the intel page and look at enemy squadrons.  As long as they have at least seven planes and pilots they should generate flights.

[oho]

They have 7 planes or more. 

So when I to raise the chance I should increase the mission spacing when I see the enemy is depleted, so it has time to get new aircraft and pilots?

Shouldnt the soviet get new A/C and pilots more easily than the german side?

[PatrickAWlson]

I wouldn't worry about the mission spacing, as that is not the issue.  Most losses are out of mission anyway.  Also, squadron depletion seems not to be the issue.  Raising the air activity to medium or high seems to be the best option.  

[Stlg13/Sgt_Schultz]

@oho I noticed the same thing after a few patrols with no contact (start of a new career so attrition wasn't an issue I don't think), I ended up just turning the downward modifier to 0, and setting enemy minimum flights to 2. Pretty happy with the outcome so far.

[Cybermat47]

Just downloaded 4.1.1, and I'm really enjoying it. Just one thing though, I noticed that the Bf-109 F-4 is no longer available to any of the squadrons in August 1942. From what I can find, though, I./JG 3 and II./JG 3 were still using Bf-109 Fs up to mid-September, and III./JG 3 was using them up to December.

[PatrickAWlson]

56 minutes ago, FFS_Cybermat47 said:

Just downloaded 4.1.1, and I'm really enjoying it. Just one thing though, I noticed that the Bf-109 F-4 is no longer available to any of the squadrons in August 1942. From what I can find, though, I./JG 3 and II./JG 3 were still using Bf-109 Fs up to mid-September, and III./JG 3 was using them up to December.

 

I can extend the withdrawal date of the F4.  One thing that the change to managed equipment did was sacrifice strict historical accuracy for a more dynamic campaign.  Equipment allocation is now by arch type (Me 109) instead of just type (Me 109 F-4).  That means that a unit will get whatever the depo has.

[dburne]

April 1, 1943

So after a bit of a break (had to try out some other things), I now have PWCG 4.1.1 installed and have begun a new Spit Kuban Campaign.

Just flew my first mission, it was great. Just my Captain and I, guess he wanted to check me out first to make sure I was going to be up to the caliber of the squadron. After all I was coming in as a rookie with no combat experience yet.

 

Flight was great - just a patrol mission - not to awful long and right along the front line.

We came upon a couple of 109 G4's, Captain took off after one and I the other. We each got a kill ( Yay Captain), and made a successful and uneventful return to base.

Felt great getting my first kill and coming back with an undamaged Spit!

Oh and so nice to see the AI actually land woohoo!!

 

I was rewarded with the Pilots Badge, my first badge!

 

 

Great fun!

 

Thanks again so much Pat for this excellent program!!

 

 

[Yogiflight]

53 minutes ago, dburne said:

Oh and so nice to see the AI actually land woohoo!!

If you fly Moscow or Stalingrad, they not only land, but taxi to the parking area, too.

[dburne]

4 minutes ago, Yogiflight said:

If you fly Moscow or Stalingrad, they not only land, but taxi to the parking area, too.

 

Sweet!

If I can ever tear myself away from the Spit ( not an easy thing ) I will have to check that out.

[Semor76]

21 hours ago, Yogiflight said:

If you fly Moscow or Stalingrad, they not only land, but taxi to the parking area, too.

 

@Murleen it is possible to create taxiways FROM the parking area to the runway?  Cold & dark starts for the entire players flight and stuff like this... ?

[Thad]

Salutations,

 

I am beginning to think that there is nothing that Patrick and Murleen can't do through their coding. ?

 

Outstanding product. Outstanding work. Obviously a labor of love. 

[Skipper-]

Having never flown in career mode or tried PWCG, what are the main differences

 between the two?