PWCG 7.1.0 Released - Fixes and Improvements - lots of them

[Cybermat47]

It is possible to reduce the amount of the thick black smoke at frontline cities? I like a smoking battlefield but this is too much. Depending on the size of the city, PWCG places 6 or more of these black smoke objects in one single place.Besides the fact that this looks very unatural and overdone,it kills the FPS if you come too close and slows down the whole game if more than 2 heavy smoking cities are close to eachother in the players field of view.

I think that the thick black smoke is meant to represent a fuel or oil fire, while the light brown/gray smoke is meant to be the wooden buildings burning.

 

I’d suggest that the thick black smoke be kept to the oil silos in Stalingrad proper.

[Yogiflight]

 

 

It is possible to reduce the amount of the thick black smoke at frontline cities?

In the Advanced Config under'Mission Limits' you can reduce 'Maximum Amount Of Smoke', which is set by default to 100. This should do the job.

[haltux]

Hello,

 

I have just tried PWCGBos.exe but it does not start, I get "a java exception has occured" and that's it. I don't even know how to get the stack trace. Any requirement in terms of Java version?

 

Thanks for your help.

[Semor76]

In the Advanced Config under'Mission Limits' you can reduce 'Maximum Amount Of Smoke', which is set by default to 100. This should do the job.

Glaubst du,ich hätte das gefunden....

 

Thx. Sometimes I overlook such minor things ^^

[PatrickAWlson]

Hello,

 

I have just tried PWCGBos.exe but it does not start, I get "a java exception has occured" and that's it. I don't even know how to get the stack trace. Any requirement in terms of Java version?

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Make sure that your Java is up to date.  PWCG requires Java 8.

Edited February 4, 2018 by PatrickAWlson

[Yogiflight]

 

 

Glaubst du,ich hätte das gefunden.... Thx. Sometimes I overlook such minor things ^^

It was just coincidence, that I saw it.

Manchmal stolpert man halt drüber.

[WWSitttingDuck]

 

 

In the Advanced Config under'Mission Limits' you can reduce 'Maximum Amount Of Smoke', which is set by default to 100. This should do the job.

 

Not working for me.  What setting your recommending , zero or one? 

[Yogiflight]

 

 

Not working for me. What setting your recommending , zero or one?

I am not absolutely sure, I understand what you mean. Are you sure, you are not in the wrong line? 'Max ambient balloons' above 'Maximum amount of smoke' has a 1, but 'Maximum amount of smoke' is set by default to 100, which should be the percentage, you can reduce.

[PatrickAWlson]

I looked at the code and I think that there is a bug with smoke.  It will add too much and will not respond to changes in "'Maximum amount of smoke" as intended.

[OrLoK]

Odd question here.

 

Im a bit obsessed with balloon busting.

 

Do they exist in your missions even as scenery?

[PatrickAWlson]

Odd question here.

 

Im a bit obsessed with balloon busting.

 

Do they exist in your missions even as scenery?

 

I don't think they exist in BoS at all.

[Stlg13/Sgt_Schultz]

 

 

I don't think they exist in BoS at all.

 

 

I see observation balloons a fair bit on WOL, they even get reeled in as you get close, can't shoot em down however.

[haltux]

Make sure that your Java is up to date.  PWCG requires Java 8.

 

I use Java 9, can that be an issue? Is there any easy way to get the stack trace of the exception?

[Tapi]

Question about possible additional debrief info:

 

Hi, I would like to ask you Pat if it would be possible (in future versions) for you to add info like this:

1) about the player's route with times and heights at the waypoints (or approximately at some nearest points to waypoints)

2) about planned route(s) (not necessarily the actual route) of group(s) of enemy planes: their waypoints and time and height in these waypoints. This kind of info would be extremely helpful for understanding why enemy planes were not encountered during the mission or what groups of enemy planes were present during the mission.

 

e.g. Recently I am flying a lot over Kuban and many PCWG generated missions take places above solid layer of clouds. I can see enemy planes with CTRL + F2 so I can see they are there present above clouds - but very often I do not encounter them during the mission and I would like to analyze why I missed them...

 

BTW: PCWG is an amazing tool, thanks again very much for it!

Edited February 6, 2018 by tapi

[161snails]

Hi tapi, if you use tacview, it will give you all the info you need

[Tapi]

OK, thx for tip. I surely try it.

(There is the only one drawback - it is necessary to have Record On all the mission)

[PatrickAWlson]

 

 

I see observation balloons a fair bit on WOL, they even get reeled in as you get close, can't shoot em down however.

 

 

Interesting.  I looked in the ME and did not see any balloon objects, so ... not sure what they are.

I use Java 9, can that be an issue? Is there any easy way to get the stack trace of the exception?

 

Java 9 is fine.  Look in the PWCGCampaign directory for the file names PWCGErrorLog.txt.  If PWCG is recording the error it will be in there.

Question about possible additional debrief info:

 

Hi, I would like to ask you Pat if it would be possible (in future versions) for you to add info like this:

1) about the player's route with times and heights at the waypoints (or approximately at some nearest points to waypoints)

2) about planned route(s) (not necessarily the actual route) of group(s) of enemy planes: their waypoints and time and height in these waypoints. This kind of info would be extremely helpful for understanding why enemy planes were not encountered during the mission or what groups of enemy planes were present during the mission.

 

e.g. Recently I am flying a lot over Kuban and many PCWG generated missions take places above solid layer of clouds. I can see enemy planes with CTRL + F2 so I can see they are there present above clouds - but very often I do not encounter them during the mission and I would like to analyze why I missed them...

 

BTW: PCWG is an amazing tool, thanks again very much for it!

 

Go to advanced configuration->campaign preferences.  Set "show all flights in briefing" to 1.

 

For clearer flying, go to advanced configuration->weather and reduce the values for cloudy weather conditions.

[dburne]

Interesting.  I looked in the ME and did not see any balloon objects, so ... not sure what they are.

 

 

The last time I saw observation balloons was the last time I played ROF.

 

In all the hours I have now in BoS I have yet to see one.

[Picchio]

The last time I saw observation balloons was the last time I played ROF.

 

In all the hours I have now in BoS I have yet to see one.

 

I didn't investigate it further, but I clearly recall seeing them above Moscow.

[keeno]

Pat,

 

... you rock!

 

Cheers

[OrLoK]

Oh ballons do exist as theyre in one scripted campaign. (ivans war? Def a allied one) ill confirm for you later today.

 

Prepare to Marvel.

[dburne]

Oh ballons do exist as theyre in one scripted campaign. (ivans war? Def a allied one) ill confirm for you later today.

 

Prepare to Marvel.

 

I played all through Ivan's War, I sure did not see any.

Course I could have just missed as well I suppose.

[OrLoK]

Albert's Life campaign! Edited February 7, 2018 by OrLoK

[Nocke]

This last update is just great. I love all these ground battles going on there below me now

[Stlg13/Sgt_Schultz]

This last update is just great. I love all these ground battles going on there below me now

Ditto am loving the new update(s).

 

 

@Orlok Yup see them all the time on Wings. Pity though they're just superficial, but it would be cool to see Pat add them regardless, the smoke and battle damage already makes a big difference.

Edited February 7, 2018 by Stlg13/Sgt_Schultz

[PatrickAWlson]

Ditto am loving the new update(s).

 

 

@Orlok Yup see them all the time on Wings. Pity though they're just superficial, but it would be cool to see Pat add them regardless, the smoke and battle damage already makes a big difference.

 

There are battles happening below you.  I usually include one or two per mission, plus a some convoys plus a couple of trains.If you want to help out your side with a bit of strafing, feel free.  I'm sure they would appreciate the help .

 

P.S. Heavy smoke density is indicative of a battle.  I use lighter smoke for just plain atmospheric smoke and heavier smoke where a fight is happening.

[Stlg13/Sgt_Schultz]

 

 

There are battles happening below you.  I usually include one or two per mission, plus a some convoys plus a couple of trains.If you want to help out your side with a bit of strafing, feel free.  I'm sure they would appreciate the help .   P.S. Heavy smoke density is indicative of a battle.  I use lighter smoke for just plain atmospheric smoke and heavier smoke where a fight is happening.

 

Now I know why I was copping so much damn ground fire over one of those massive smoke plumes, whilst in the middle of a giant furball mind you. I thought it was just a coincidence  . I'll be sure to put in a few passes the next time I come back from an uneventful sortie  , damn hairy around those things though.

 

 

Will be on the look out for smoke now every time I do a lone wolf mission.

[Leon_Portier]

Is anyone else having loading times up to 10mins for PWCG on BOX? Its longer than previous releases.

Edit: I mean when starting a mission.

Edited February 10, 2018 by Leon_Portier

[Stlg13/Sgt_Schultz]

 

 

Is anyone else having loading times up to 10mins for PWCG on BOX? Its longer than previous releases.

 

 

Yeah I have actually noticed this too, though I didn't know if it was PWCG or IL2 causing it because I haven't played anything other than PWCG.

[Trooper117]

Yes, same here, the loading times are sometimes quite long!

[dburne]

My loading times are certainly longer than in PWCG 2, I was not sure if it was because I was on the new Kuban map or what.

Now it is no where near 10 minutes, but definitely longer than previously. 

I do have IL-2 on a SSD.

[Yogiflight]

My impression is, that not only the loading times of PWCG missions is longer, but of all missions. Maybe an effect of all the goodies we got in the last patches.

[Taxman]

The PWCG missions do take longer to load then any of the scripted campaign missions.  However no where near 10 minutes for me more like 2 minutes.  Same as dburne on a SSD.

[TheSNAFU]

No where near 10 minutes loading for me and I am not on an SSD. Something be wrong somewhere.

[Stlg13/Sgt_Schultz]

Not 10 minutes for me either (on SSD as well), but I have noticed significantly longer load times than normal.

[PatrickAWlson]

Load times are longer because of more activity on the ground.  You can set ground activity to Low in simple config, bu then you won't be getting all of the interesting stuff on the ground (battles, trains, vehicles, AAA along the front).  If you are a pure fighter jock and don't care what is happening under 1K meters then low ground settings might be the thing for you.

 

Smoke also adds to load times, as each smoke instance is actually a loop of several MCUs (nothing as simple as "add smoke here" in the ME).  I know that the smoke config doesn't work in 3.3.0 but it is fixed in 3.3.1.  Once 3.3.1 is out you will be able to turn smoke off completely if you want.

 

PWCG stresses the limits of what a mission can be. PWCG routinely generates mission files that are 400,000 lines long.  Buildings, planes, virtual waypoints, spawning ground objects, effects, etc.  It's all in there and it's done such that it performs pretty well, but there is a lot of stuff for the game engine to consume.

[Kapteeni]

I don't care about loading times. Game is much more better now with smoking villages and heaps of ground objects. My old rig can't handle full aircraft density. PWcG does not generate missions when everything is maxed..

need a new PC ASAP.

Thank you for the hard work PW!

PS i use PWCG in Rise of Flight too

[dburne]

Man now the FW 190's are waxing me in the Spit in addition to the 109's. Ugh, took about a 5 day break I must have lost my touch...

[PatrickAWlson]

PWCG 3.3.1

Extend Kuban action back to July 1942.  Add mountain flying.

Added config to reduce smoke in a given area.  Smoke is now controlled by two parameters: max smoke in mission and max smoke within a radius.

Campaign->Advanced Config -> Mission Limits

-> Max Smoke In Mission

-> Max Smoke In Area

Cleaned up weather inputs in advanced config

Bugs:

Fixed will not respond to changes in "'Maximum amount of smoke" as intended

Fixed Radio beacon doesn't work (I think)

Fixed Attack marker showing up over friendly forces

Fixed No landing if player chooses air start

Fixed Freeze if number of aircraft config changes (max planes per flight will now be 8)

Fixed failure to create campaign in some situations

Fixed when flying the E7, selecting the 'remove headrest' option adds an armored windscreen instead (and vice versa I assume).

[dburne]

Thanks for another great update Pat, we appreciate all you do very much!!