PWCG 7.1.0 Released - Fixes and Improvements - lots of them

[dburne]

Yes, thanks so much for your continuing development, much appreciated!

[Taxman]

Yes, thanks so much for your continuing development, much appreciated!

Thank you also for your continuing development.  

[Yogiflight]

Really nice improvements, that we now can select pretty much everything for our aircrafts. And that we now have squad members with more than just one or two kills, makes the pilot list look much more realistic. One question, however, do those pilots have higher pilot skills, too? Because they seem to be the same lame ducks as ever. For example, I was just flying an offensive patrol mission with eight 109 G2/G4, we met four Mig3s, and I was the only one with a kill on our side. Four 109s crashed into ground and one was shot down by a Mig. And one of the crashing 109s was the squad leader with more than 20 kills.

[PatrickAWlson]

They do have higher skills.  Unfortunately, if the AI in a FW190 wants to turn fight a Yak there's not much to be done about it.

[Yogiflight]

 

 

They do have higher skills. Unfortunately, if the AI in a FW190 wants to turn fight a Yak there's not much to be done about it.

Good to read, that they have higher skills. Unfortunately, it seems, that AI seem to do always what is the worst, they can do with their aircraft. Currently I am flying a 109 G2/G4 campaign, and in the 109s AI decides, it might be a good idea, to dive down as fast and as long as possible, which as we all know, is definitely not the best idea in a 109.

Currently my observation is, that at least 75% of the downed aircrafts simply crash, because they do stupid things, fighters, Pe2s and IL2s.

[PatrickAWlson]

On the fourth day of Christmas PWCG gave to me

4 bug fixes

3 small improvements

two brand new missions

and a new version to download 

 

Small stuff and mostly RoF related, coming tomorrow.  One thing I did do is further restrict enemy escorts when the player is flying a ground attack mission.  Reduces instances of being molested long before you can get to the target.  If the cover AI was worth a damn it wouldn't be an issue, but the cover AI is not worth a damn, so this will let you drop bombs on stuff with fewer disruptions.

[Cybermat47]

With the new role override programming (a great addition, by the way), would it be possible for all the German JGs to have their roles overriden? From what I can find, ZGs, Soviet fighter regiments, and 21 Gruppo did use their fighters for both normal fighter missions and ground attack, but the JGs didn't.

[PatrickAWlson]

With the new role override programming (a great addition, by the way), would it be possible for all the German JGs to have their roles overriden? From what I can find, ZGs, Soviet fighter regiments, and 21 Gruppo did use their fighters for both normal fighter missions and ground attack, but the JGs didn't.

 

Jeanba on the RoF forum had the same thought.  Unfortunately it's not that flexible.  The main goal of this mod was to have dedicated FW190 JABOs and dedicated BK37 armed Stukas.  It needs to be fleshed out a bit more to really do everything possible.

 

Good new for you: you can get what you want without any more modifications. 

Go to Advanced Config in your campaign

Select "Flight" config set on the right

Look for "odds mission is a secondary role: Player"

Look for "odds mission is a tertiary role: Player"

Set both to zero.  Now your fighter campaigns will not generate ground attack missions.

 

 

I personally just scrub missions I don't want to fly

[PatrickAWlson]

PWCG 3.1.2

Improve enemy fighter limitations on ground attack.  No fighter escort on player ground attack missions.  Limit fighter missions based on player mission type and not squadron role.

Implemented staggered formation on runway for BoS

Fixed all mission times are 0830.

Fixed no skins in skin management screen

Fixed scrolling the AAR and typing journal entries is slow

Fixed no LA5 modifications are available.

SIxed Dallas and Kinkead on some dates are showing up as not being in the RNAS

Moved wind sock away from runway for BoS

Increased air start spacing for BoS

[161snails]

Great stuff Pat, and FYI I’ll still be playing this Mod long after the campaign release by Dev’s. So don’t stop improving this amazing add on....please, you have a very dedicated fan base

Great stuff Pat, and FYI I’ll still be playing this Mod long after the campaign release by Dev’s. So don’t stop improving this amazing add on....please, you have a very dedicated fan base

[Trotsky]

Thanks Pat 

[Herne]

Really enjoying my first career. I started in a yak, thinking of transferring to a mig squadron. Only think I have a few months of BoM left.

 

Injury has helped the time to fly by. Really looking forward to advancing to the point I can take a spit. I don't want to skip to it though.

 

Playing in VR on expert settings I am often taken by surprise by superior numbers.

 

Anyway, thx again pat for this impressive piece of work. I'll be making a small donation shortly.

 

What's the difference between simple and advanced settings ? I went with simple recommended by requiems video, but wondered what I might be missing out on ?

[Yogiflight]

Hi Patrick, thanks for your continued work on PWCG. I was just flying my first mission in the new version, the new staggered formation on the runway looks really great, thanks for this idea to MarcoPegase44, too. Unfortunately the issues with the takeoff run of the 190s seem to get even bigger, hopefully the Devs will fix that with the coming patch.

I was flying an escort mission and there were some odd things happening. The first after takeoff was my flightleader climbing with 270 km/h and as he reached the new altitude before the next waypoint (distance between waypoints was 10km, altitude difference 740m) he flew horizontally to the next waypoint with the same 270km/h, instead of climbing in a more shallow angle until the next waypoint.

Second, something that happens in the stock campaign as well. The bombers give up altitude as soon as they reach the front line, which meant in my mission as the bombers were based at Taman airfield, they were flying more than 100km in 500m altitude. When I was flying bomber missions in the stock campaign, I never gave up altitude before I was about 20-30km ahead of my airfield. Altitude is, together with a good escort, the best friend of bombers, especially when shot down, it gives the crew the time to get out.

Third, I think it would be better, to not end the mission circling above the bombers, who are circling above their airfield, but let the player's flight escort the bombers to their airfield and then return to the own base.

 

EDIT: I was just flying another FW190 mission with six aircrafts and my squadmates had no issues with takeoff. So no influence of the staggered formation on the runway on the takeoff ability of FW190 AI.

Edited December 24, 2017 by Yogiflight

[Herne]

just notices I'm using 3.1. if I upgrade will, my career progress be lost ?

[Yogiflight]

No, it will go on. Only when PWCG was upgraded from the last 2. version to version 3.0, they got lost. I think, it was because of a change in the Java version.

[PatrickAWlson]

Really enjoying my first career. I started in a yak, thinking of transferring to a mig squadron. Only think I have a few months of BoM left.

 

Injury has helped the time to fly by. Really looking forward to advancing to the point I can take a spit. I don't want to skip to it though.

 

Playing in VR on expert settings I am often taken by surprise by superior numbers.

 

Anyway, thx again pat for this impressive piece of work. I'll be making a small donation shortly.

 

What's the difference between simple and advanced settings ? I went with simple recommended by requiems video, but wondered what I might be missing out on ?

 

Simple settings just impact a group of advanced settings.  The number of advanced settings is overwhelming for most users.  Hell, I get confused myself sometimes .   I made the simple settings to adjust the experience with a single button press.  

 

By "expert" do you mean high air activity?  If yes then two things:

High air activity is not really meant to be interpreted as expert.  It just means lots of planes.  I personally use Low and that generates more than enough contact.

If you are getting overwhelmed try scaling back to low air activity.  Even on low there is more than enough.

 

Spits are available on March 1 1943 in the Kuban.  Stay healthy around that date .

[Yogiflight]

 

 

By "expert" do you mean high air activity?

Patrick, I think herne is talking about 'Expert' difficulty settings, so no icons and so on.

[Trotsky]

I gave a donation. This is the best PWCG ever.

[PatrickAWlson]

I gave a donation. This is the best PWCG ever.

Thanks, for the donation and the compliment.

[Herne]

Patrick, I think herne is talking about 'Expert' difficulty settings, so no icons and so on.

 

Yep expert difficulty in game, so I need to spot and identify hostiles. Sometimes though I'm so focused on keeping formation that i'm not checking for the sneaky barstewards creeping up on our six, I actually really like that. Reminds me of TAW

 

Edit: donation made. thanks Pat, and merry xmas everyone

 

Edited December 25, 2017 by =11=herne

[Yogiflight]

Hi Patrick, I am starting a bomber career with the He111 H16. When you select the bombload in the 'Pilot Selection', you have two times 4x250kg, I suppose the second one should be 8x250kg, as this bombload is missing.

[PatrickAWlson]

Hi Patrick, I am starting a bomber career with the He111 H16. When you select the bombload in the 'Pilot Selection', you have two times 4x250kg, I suppose the second one should be 8x250kg, as this bombload is missing.

 

Yep, you're right.  The second one will be 8x.  I fixed it in the code.  It will appear properly in the next release.

[keeno]

Pat,

 

firstly, thanks again for you continued amazing input into the il2-BoX community

 

and

 

Secondly, Merry Christmas!

 

Cheers

[AstroCat]

Is it normal to have 54 missing skins when you run the skin analysis? Report file attached. Thanks.

MissingSkinReport_201712251812407.txt

Edited December 26, 2017 by AstroCat

[PatrickAWlson]

I'll have to look.  In RoF the skins are separate and PWCG can find them.  In BoS I think many of the existing skins are bundled in some sort of package, so PWCG analysis will show them as missing.

 

Skins for BoS to date are surprisingly ill defined.  In RoF we had download packages, mostly thanks to dedicated skinners and Panthercules organizing them.  In BoS that effort really has not yet begin.  In RoF PWCG gained enough of a following that people skinned specifically for PWCG,  I did a couple hundred skins myself (zero for BoS to date).  BoS and PWCG for BoS simply have not had that ... yet

[Red_Von_Hammer]

Merry xmas all!

I don`t want to nag on Pat on this issue.

Just wondering if anybody ELSE here knows how to install this?
3.1.2 is a far cry in terms of difference between the install video made by Requiem (the one Jason linked to) and this latest version.
I`ve tried unzipping everything into H:\Program Files (x86)\1C Game Studios\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\PWCGCampaign
To my understanding, IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad is the main BOS folder that everyone is talking about, no mistaking that.
So I have the 3 folders and 2 files inside there, I launch PWGC, start campaign etc, click mission, then there is 3 options, Scrub Mission, Briefing Map and Pilot Selection, clicked all 3, ended up on Pilot Selection and Accept Mission: Error (blabla log file blabla)
So I supposedly start the game, click Missions... No PWGC related mission there :/ 

Any takers?

Edited December 26, 2017 by Red_Von_Hammer

[Yogiflight]

You have to unzip into the 'IL-2 Battle Of Stalingrad' folder. If you already have an older version, the installer will ask you, if you want to reset to files, you already have, with the new ones. You click on 'Do with all files' and let it reset the old files.

When you create a mission in a campaign, it will be shown in the game in 'Missions' with the name of your pilot and the date of the mission. PWCG is not mentioned here.

[PatrickAWlson]

The mission will be under your pilot's name with a date and mission type.  Example"

Patrik Schorner 1941 11-09 Itercept

 

BoS does not understand that these missions are anything other than single missions made by the ME.

[Red_Von_Hammer]

Insensibly swift replies!
I watched the Youtube install guide (and have used PWGC in RoF earlier) so knew HOW to find the mission
I did a quick reinstall of the PWGC, and now I get no error on Mission generating (Accept Mission).
Thank you both, I did not expect swift replies!
And you didnt have to answer Pat, I knew you were busy, I hope I made that clear
Now I see the mission in "Missions" in in-game menu, and got to work on those pesky PE-2`s!

A continued merry xmas, and thanks again for swift replies!

[Herne]

anyone happen to know when the yak 1b becomes available ? I'm in the BoS time frame now of my career, and hoping to transfer to a yak 1b squadron but I can't seem to find any.

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

Btw I would like to have option to start campaign by time given plane firstly show up in particular squadron. Now I have to choose date, choose squadron and look for available plane - and that need to be repeated, I can't just click on squadrons and look for plane.

[PatrickAWlson]

anyone happen to know when the yak 1b becomes available ? I'm in the BoS time frame now of my career, and hoping to transfer to a yak 1b squadron but I can't seem to find any.

Definitely by Kuban - March 1 1943

Btw I would like to have option to start campaign by time given plane firstly show up in particular squadron. Now I have to choose date, choose squadron and look for available plane - and that need to be repeated, I can't just click on squadrons and look for plane.

 

I might be able to do something but no promises on a timeline  

[an_Axolotl]

Hi Pat.

I made 2 new medals: The Kuban-shield and the order of Lenin. Maybe you have use for it in the future :-) I also remade the "Aces-Files" of Hermann Graf and Lydia Litvyak, because the medals didn't show up correctly. Now it seems to work, but it depends wich side i choose: Am i on the german side - i can see Hermann Grafs medals, but not Litvyak's and Kovacevich's. Choose i the sovjet-side , Grafs Medals don't show up - but Litvyaks and Kovacevichs do. Is the problem in the File, or could it be somewhere else?

 

have a nice saturday :-)

micha

 

https://imageshack.com/a/img923/5024/5zIh5J.jpg

https://imageshack.com/a/img924/8306/UwOBJ1.jpg

Edited January 6, 2018 by an_Axolotl

[dburne]

Ok I have finally started a campaign in PWCG 3 with the Spit over Kuban.

 

Have only flown two missions so far, and so far the AI does not seem to want to go after enemy aircraft. I have started out as Sgt so am not the flight leader. Both missions were patrol, both during the Ingress ran across some bombers flying lower. I hear radio chatter, and I just can't resist so I head down lower to engage the bombers. But the flight lead and wingmen just keep going on the Ingress route, and I find myself alone against the bombers. The last mission a couple of 109's came to the bombers defense, and I had my hands full.

 

Not sure I should just continue along with the flight lead following that path and ignore these first targets we come across and rely on the lead to determine the enemies to engage? Maybe I will try that this next mission and see what happens.

[PatrickAWlson]

Order of Lenin was a civilian award per wiki.  It was for exemplary civilian service, 25 years service, and would be awarded along with the Hero of the Soviet Union for military actions.  It does not seem to be a medal that has specific military requirements.

 

I like the Kuban shield.  Wonder if there is something similar for Moscow and Stalingrad.

[Darkhorse1]

Is it possable to use this to make coop missions to run on my server?

[an_Axolotl]

Hi

I'm glad that you like it :-) I think i read somewhere that even soldiers got the order of Lenin, but i'm not 100% sure. At least i saw that medal on several sovjet soldiers (for exampel the female Pilot Capt. Maria Dolina; picture below)  I'll ask the internet a little more. Yes, there was a german medal, for those who took part in the Winter war 1941/42 (Moskow; Demjansk) It was the often named "Medal of the frozen meat"(or "Medal of the Winter-battle", or just "Eastern medal") I'll put it below :-)

 

micha

 

https://imageshack.com/a/img922/6006/VuXO5j.jpg

https://imageshack.com/a/img922/9163/JHDEa8.jpg

 

ps. I'm not 100% satisfy with the winterwar-medal. I'll make a better one, if you want :-)

Edited January 6, 2018 by an_Axolotl

[busdriver]

Ok I have finally started a campaign in PWCG 3 with the Spit over Kuban.

 

Have only flown two missions so far, and so far the AI does not seem to want to go after enemy aircraft. I have started out as Sgt so am not the flight leader. Both missions were patrol, both during the Ingress ran across some bombers flying lower. I hear radio chatter, and I just can't resist so I head down lower to engage the bombers. But the flight lead and wingmen just keep going on the Ingress route, and I find myself alone against the bombers. The last mission a couple of 109's came to the bombers defense, and I had my hands full.

 

Not sure I should just continue along with the flight lead following that path and ignore these first targets we come across and rely on the lead to determine the enemies to engage? Maybe I will try that this next mission and see what happens.

 

This is fairly common. I've done both...attacked without my flight and stayed in formation. I chalk Lead's actions as part of the fog of war (doesn't see the bandits, mis-identifies the bandits as friendlies, adherence to the mission plan...all plausible). If you consider that VVS fighter pilots generally engaged in air-to-air combat  during 25% of their sorties, then sticking with Lead isn't a terrible option. 

[PatrickAWlson]

Hi

I'm glad that you like it :-) I think i read somewhere that even soldiers got the order of Lenin, but i'm not 100% sure. At least i saw that medal on several sovjet soldiers (for exampel the female Pilot Capt. Maria Dolina; picture below)  I'll ask the internet a little more. Yes, there was a german medal, for those who took part in the Winter war 1941/42 (Moskow; Demjansk) It was the often named "Medal of the frozen meat"(or "Medal of the Winter-battle", or just "Eastern medal") I'll put it below :-)

 

micha

 

https://imageshack.com/a/img922/6006/VuXO5j.jpg

https://imageshack.com/a/img922/9163/JHDEa8.jpg

 

ps. I'm not 100% satisfy with the winterwar-medal. I'll make a better one, if you want :-)

 

I found a good Stalingrad shield.  There are two shields related to Moscow: Cholm and Demjansk.  They are pretty similar - Demjansk was the town in the pocket and Cholm was the key town that would prevent the pocket from being closed.  I think Demjansk  is better.

[an_Axolotl]

Hi :-)

Do you mean those? :-)

 

https://imageshack.com/a/img923/3540/4BFVdJ.jpg

https://imageshack.com/a/img922/2232/pNEPv3.jpg

https://imageshack.com/a/img924/7971/6jVTCb.jpg

 

 

micha