Enable Mods in Multiplayer

[JimTM]

I'm adding this step to "Configure a Multiplayer Mission Server to Run Missions" on pg. 169 of the editor manual:

 

    9. (Optional) If you want to allow game modifications ("mods",

        not to be confused with plane WeaponMods) to be used on

        your multiplayer server, do the following:
        a) Install the mods that you want to allow on your server.
        b) Advise users of your server to do the following:
             • If necessary, install the allowed mods on their copy of

                IL-2 Sturmovik.
             • Select the Enable mods option in the IL-2 Sturmovik 

                Settings > Game screen.
        Game mods allow you to change certain aspects of the game,

        for example, terrain textures, career biographies, or sounds.

        For more information about mods, see the
         Mods section of the IL-2 Sturmovik forum.
        Important! Use mods at your own risk. The developers do not

        support mods. See A word about Mods for IL-2 Sturmovik.

 

I know very little about mods. Did I get it right?

 

Thanks!

Edited October 9, 2018 by JimTM

[SAS_Storebror]

Hi Jim,

 

Thanks a lot for dealing with mods in online gameplay.

We have a mods enabled server active ourselves.

Step a) actually is optional because you can as well just decide to enable mods on your server and let users choose which mods to use.

Most mods are just client side anyway, as they're mostly of "cosmetical" nature.

That said, the first dot of step b) is optional as well. I don't know if there's any mod available where server and client must have it enabled on both sides but I doubt so. In the same way, "allowed" mods is a bit tricky as you cannot judge which mods a user has active or not.

In the end it all boils down to:

 

"Configure a Multiplayer Mission Server to Run Missions":

On Server side:

1. Stop DServer.exe
2. Enable any mods you wish to enable on Server side.
3. Open up "data/startup.cfg", set "modes = 1" in "[KEY = system]" section and save the file.
4. Start DServer.exe and load SFS of your choice.

On Client side:

1. Enter "Settings -> Game" from main Screen and tick the checkbox "Enable Mods".
2. Exit the game.
3. Enable any mods of your choice.
4. Start the game.

Mike

[DD_Arthur]

Hi Jim.  In BoX,  running in Mods On mode allows the client to run any mods they want. 

The server cannot limit the use of any mods in this mode and the server does not need to have any mods enabled either.

Mods are client side. 

[JimTM]

Thanks guys. I'll work on an update and get back to you.

[SAS_Storebror]

7 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

The server cannot limit the use of any mods in this mode and the server does not need to have any mods enabled either.

 

Just for the record, because I've made some tests concerning the impact of mods online (and the possibilities to abuse "mods enabled" for cheating):

There are mods that make a difference whether or not they're installed on server side.

 

In the "good old" 1946 days for instance, all hit calculations took place on the shooter's side, and the damage calculation took place on the side of who has been shot at. The server wasn't involved as long as it wasn't AI objects you were going to kill.

In BoX this is different (positive surprise!): The shooting client still decides whether the shot is a hit or not, but it's the server who decides how much damage the shot will inflict, and eventually the victim decides what actual effect that damage amount will have on his object (plane).

 

Example: In IL-2 1946 you could mod an SC-50 bomb to have a Nuke's explosive power, and this would give you the same uber-power offline and online.

In BoX, you can still turn the SC-50 into a nuke, but it will work offline only, as the server decides the amount of damage your bomb will inflict.

And even more, if you turn SC-50's into nukes on server side in BoX, this will turn any players' SC-50 into a nuke, whether he has the mod installed or not.

 

So the bottom line is: "Cosmetical" mods are client side only, but anything that changes the actual gameplay might need server side mods, too.

 

Mike

Edited October 10, 2018 by SAS_Storebror

[JimTM]

OK, how's this?

 

9.   (Optional) If you want to allow game modifications or "mods" (not to be confused with plane WeaponMods)

       to be used on your multiplayer server, do the following:

•        In the DServer startup.cfg file, set "modes = 1" in the [KEY = system] section.

                  The startup.cfg file is in your DServer installation directory under \data.

•        (Optional) Install mods that you want on your DServer, according to the instructions for each mod.
•        Before you start your server, advise users to do the following:

                   a)  Select the Enable mods option in the IL-2 Sturmovik Settings > Game screen.

                   b)  Stop IL-2 Sturmovik.
                   c)  Install the mods that they want to their copy of IL-2 Sturmovik, according to the instructions for each mod.
                   d)  Start IL-2 Sturmovik.

  

Edited October 12, 2018 by JimTM

[JimTM]

<bump>

 

Just checking back to see if the procedure in the post above is OK.

 

Thanks!

 

Jim

[SAS_Storebror]

Sorry Jim, have been away for a few days.

Yes, that procedure is absolutely OK, thanks a lot for your efforts!

 

Mike

[JimTM]

Thanks for checking the procedure Storebror.  

[-TBC-AeroAce]

So by this I take it there is no current way to restrict players to just the mods the host wants the player's to have. And defo no way to have the players download the mods the host wants them to have when they join a game. 

Edited October 29, 2018 by AeroAce

[JimTM]

26 minutes ago, AeroAce said:

So by this I take it there is no current way to restrict players to just the mods the host wants the player's to have. And defo no way to have the players download the mods the host wants them to have when they join a game. 

 

Given the responses from Storebror and Arthur above, it looks like users can install any mods that they want. I'm not sure about the answer to your second question, but I imagine the mod download and install has to be done before the player joins the game.

Edited October 29, 2018 by JimTM

[SAS_Storebror]

Absolutely right.

You've got no control on which mods your users have when you enable mods.

They might not have any, they might have the same like you do, they might have a subset, they might have additional ones.

It's completely independent.

"Mods enabled" means: Any user can have any mods as it pleases him.

It's also correct that mods always have to be installed/enabled before the player launches his game.

 

Mike

[1Sascha]

I'm sorry for resurrecting this ancient thread, but:

 

Is it really possible to only enable specific mods on a dedicated MP server? So that everyone who wants to play would have to have the exact same mods enabled and had the same visual experience as everyone else? I spoke to a buddy of mine yesterday who had looked into the issue some time ago and he was adamant that you couldn't enable just specific mods.

 

This would be nice to have for the modded/reduced icons I'm planning to use for coop-sessions, since otherwise people could just fly with vanilla icons - while others, who use the modded icons, wouldn't see any icons until 1 or 1.5kms. Plus I also want to use a GPS-map-only mod (no plane icons on the map except for the player icon) and that too would be kind of pointless in MP if the server couldn't enforce it.

 

S.

[Beebop]

Use JSGME and announce what mods will be used that session.

In my opinion using JSGME is the best way to install all mods so that if the mod gets broken by an update or the game adds a feature that makes the mod unnecessary you can easily remove it rather than go hunting through all the files to find which mod elements need to be removed. 

 

 

Edited April 20, 2022 by Beebop

[1Sascha]

22 hours ago, Beebop said:

Use JSGME and announce what mods will be used that session.

Sooo... rely on everyone to stick to the honor-system and that's all you can do ... is that what you're saying?

 

Some of the remarks in this thread seem to suggest that you can enable specific mods (not just mods in general) on the server-side. Hence my question if there is any way to, say, enable a specific set of reduced icons on the server and then everyone would

 

1. have to have that specific mod enabled in order to join

2. and all those who join will experience the same set of limited icons.

 

Since I have no experience with setting up IL-2 dedicated servers or even with hosting on my own PC, knowing that what I suggested isn't possible would save me some trial-and-error-work.

 

S.

[Beebop]

It has been my experience both hosting missions and flying missions that others have hosted that mods are an individual experience. If for instance I loaded the old realistic clouds mod only I would see the difference. Everyone else on my server would see the stock clouds if they hadn't installed the same version of The realistic cloud mod. 

I think the fact that we can use mods is a gift from the devs and isn't designed as something the server can enable for everyone else who joins their server otherwise they may be forced to use a mod they do not approve of or may conflict with another mod they have previously installed on their machine. 

It is my opinion based on my experience as a host that if I want everyone to see the game the way I see it they will need to load the same mods onto their game.  

48 minutes ago, 1Sascha said:

 

Sorry for some reason I quote was added to this reply and I can't get rid of the quote box but I was able to remove the text. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by Beebop

[1Sascha]

No worries...

 

I think you have to click on the frame of the quote to select it, then hit DEL to get rid of it.

 

S.

[Beebop]

Okay, thanks. 

Like so much in this game nothing seems to have a real clear tutorial on how to use it basically just have to trial and error until you get it figured out.

I hope my response was helpful. 

[Stonehouse]

11 hours ago, Beebop said:

It has been my experience both hosting missions and flying missions that others have hosted that mods are an individual experience. If for instance I loaded the old realistic clouds mod only I would see the difference. Everyone else on my server would see the stock clouds if they hadn't installed the same version of The realistic cloud mod. 

I think the fact that we can use mods is a gift from the devs and isn't designed as something the server can enable for everyone else who joins their server otherwise they may be forced to use a mod they do not approve of or may conflict with another mod they have previously installed on their machine. 

It is my opinion based on my experience as a host that if I want everyone to see the game the way I see it they will need to load the same mods onto their game.  

Sorry for some reason I quote was added to this reply and I can't get rid of the quote box but I was able to remove the text. 

There are a few you need to be careful of - the dynamic smoke and units mod for instance. You only want the server to run this one as each instance of the mod that runs will spawn things and to keep things in sync for all players the mod is network enabled. So if everyone runs the mod you will drown in spawned effects and units. I suspect also things like the AAA mod or AI mods that impact gunner accuracy etc must be run on the server and while I don't know possibly not clients. It would be an interesting experiment to only have say the AAA mod run on the server and not on all the clients and see if the experience is different for a mod on client compared to a mod off client. You'd kind of expect things like that to be driven by the server and the clients should get the changes from the mod without having to run it. 

 

However, I do know from experience that editing a mission with mods enabled can sometimes leave the mission with a hard dependency on a mod and launching the mission without that mod enabled will cause IL2 to pop up error text boxes about things missing.

Edited April 22, 2022 by Stonehouse

[1Sascha]

I guess the answer with most of this is that the game could really use more built-in customization options. Especially for the icons (IMO) which would be probably a matter of a couple of days of work for the actual functionality and a few days more for a dedicated preview/adjustment-screen to make adjustments easier for the uninitiated.

 

Oh well ....

 

 

S.