IL2 Great Battles Easy Mission Generator

[Spidey002]

4 hours ago, SYN_Vander said:

 

Seems to work on my end. Are you sure the mission date is later than june 13, 1944??? 

If so, please attach the mission here if you can.... 

 

Turbulence is currently related to wind. The more wind, the higher the chance for turbulence.

 

I set it June 14, 1944. 

Spidey Normandy 10.zip

[SYN_Vander]

8 hours ago, Spidey002 said:

 

I set it June 14, 1944. 

Spidey Normandy 10.zip 881.3 kB · 0 downloads

 

Thanks. I tested this and it works as advertised. 1 min after game start the V-1 launches and after 15 min the next one appears and launches as well.

I will have to work on a separate objective "intercept V-1"  where there will be multiple launches with shorter interval. The current objective is about destroying the launch site, not the v-1 itself per se.

 

[kraut1]

Hi Vander,

 

Today I made some modifications to the planes.json for BoB1940 and I found these new parameters:

for Hurricane MK.II:

 "mods": {
            "01.02.1942": "/1..1/6..9",
            "01.05.1942": "/1..2/5..9"},

 

P-38J:

 "mods": {
            "01.04.1944": "/0..2/5",
            "01.07.1944": "/0..3/5"},
        "payload": {
            "01.1.1944": "/0..3/18"},

Could you please explain these new functions.

Thanks in advance!

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by kraut1
missing word added

[SYN_Vander]

2 hours ago, kraut1 said:

Hi Vander,

 

Today I made some modifications to the planes.json for BoB1940 and I found these new parameters:

for Hurricane MK.II:

 "mods": {
            "01.02.1942": "/1..1/6..9",
            "01.05.1942": "/1..2/5..9"},

 

P-38J:

 "mods": {
            "01.04.1944": "/0..2/5",
            "01.07.1944": "/0..3/5"},
        "payload": {
            "01.1.1944": "/0..3/18"},

Could you please explain these new functions.

Thanks in advance!

 

 

Mods and Payloads can have filters. These are used for Dogfight missions where you can spawn in a plane. The filters will restrict certain mods and loadouts as explained below. The date is the date until the filter is applied.

 

 

[Spidey002]

On 10/30/2022 at 6:03 AM, SYN_Vander said:

 

Thanks. I tested this and it works as advertised. 1 min after game start the V-1 launches and after 15 min the next one appears and launches as well.

I will have to work on a separate objective "intercept V-1"  where there will be multiple launches with shorter interval. The current objective is about destroying the launch site, not the v-1 itself per se.

 

 

We never saw any V-1 rockets in the game and we played for over an hour. Do they only launch if we are near the base?

 

[SYN_Vander]

4 minutes ago, Spidey002 said:

 

We never saw any V-1 rockets in the game and we played for over an hour. Do they only launch if we are near the base?

 

 

No, simply every 15min. If you fly MP then you'll only see other aircraft in external view if you are close enough.

[kraut1]

Hi Vander,

From my point of view a general GB Topic are very long ground attacks:

In most ground attack missions the attack is completed after a very long time.

This could be okay and realistic if the attacker has air superiority, weak AA defensive and target is close to own front lines.

But beside of this many attack missions are done in this way:

If eg. the target is far away behind the frontline, if anti aircraft fire is dangerous, if enemy intercepters are a dangerous threat.

The attacking aircrafts make a first attack run and release their bomb loads and maybe strafe the target one or two times and then fly as fast as possible back to home.

Do you think it is possible:

-to add an additional ground attack option for "short ground attacks"

or

-a variable parameter that the ground attack is completed after a to be defined time.

 

Of course it has to be considered that some AI Planes take a long time to choose a target and to releasee their bombs.

-A long attack time during a running ground forces battle maybe allright.

-But I flew yesterday and today 2 1940 missions escorting BF110 fighter bombers over England and they were circeling and searching for targets for a very long time.

UPDATED:

In one mission the target was destroyed with the first bombs hits and the attack was directly ended and the fighter bombers flew directly back home.

Very good!

 

UPDATED:

If the times of the timer and the wp (default 15minutes) would be 1 editable parameter the player could decide before mission how long the attack is repeated if there are still targets existing.

But editing with mission editor is possible too. For example a reduced time of 3 minutes resulted in a fighter bomber vehicles column attack in 1 attack pass with bombs and 1 attack pass with guns. These 2 attack passes took ca. 2:30 minutes and there after the fighter bombers ceased the attack.

 

Edited November 9, 2022 by kraut1
2x updated

[352ndOscar]

Vander, I don’t suppose there is any way to separate the mission briefings Allied - Axis when the scenario is a dogfight - both situation?  Sharing the different briefings with the opposing team/side is a bit …. well you know ….. deceiving.

[SYN_Vander]

2 hours ago, 352ndOscar said:

Vander, I don’t suppose there is any way to separate the mission briefings Allied - Axis when the scenario is a dogfight - both situation?  Sharing the different briefings with the opposing team/side is a bit …. well you know ….. deceiving.

Alas, there is no way to do that. I’m hoping one day we can use an <allied> tag or something as it is was already done in the old IL2.

On 11/6/2022 at 5:29 PM, kraut1 said:

Hi Vander,

From my point of view a general GB Topic are very long ground attacks:

In most ground attack missions the attack is completed after a very long time.

This could be okay and realistic if the attacker has air superiority, weak AA defensive and target is close to own front lines.

But beside of this many attack missions are done in this way:

If eg. the target is far away behind the frontline, if anti aircraft fire is dangerous, if enemy intercepters are a dangerous threat.

The attacking aircrafts make a first attack run and release their bomb loads and maybe strafe the target one or two times and then fly as fast as possible back to home.

Do you think it is possible:

-to add an additional ground attack option for "short ground attacks"

or

-a variable parameter that the ground attack is completed after a to be defined time.

 

Of course it has to be considered that some AI Planes take a long time to choose a target and to releasee their bombs.

-A long attack time during a running ground forces battle maybe allright.

-But I flew yesterday and today 2 1940 missions escorting BF110 fighter bombers over England and they were circeling and searching for targets for a very long time.

UPDATED:

In one mission the target was destroyed with the first bombs hits and the attack was directly ended and the fighter bombers flew directly back home.

Very good!

 

UPDATED:

If the times of the timer and the wp (default 15minutes) would be 1 editable parameter the player could decide before mission how long the attack is repeated if there are still targets existing.

But editing with mission editor is possible too. For example a reduced time of 3 minutes resulted in a fighter bomber vehicles column attack in 1 attack pass with bombs and 1 attack pass with guns. These 2 attack passes took ca. 2:30 minutes and there after the fighter bombers ceased the attack.

 

I agree this can be improved. As long as the flight doesn’t achieve the object it will keep attacking ( circling) until a timer expires. The timer is probably still very high because it used to start at waypoint 2 so included the flight to the target, but I think I changed it so it now only starts at the target.

Ideally the aircraft should return when there are no bombs left, but sometimes the loadout is rockets or only ( heavy) guns so this will not always work.

Also, flying circus aircraft can take forever to set up an attack and we don’t want to end the timer before the attack.

I can perhaps use the on Report trigger for Attack, see if that works.

[kraut1]

11 hours ago, SYN_Vander said:

I can perhaps use the on Report trigger for Attack, see if that works.

Hi Vander,

What I like very much of the current mission design of the attacks in the mission file is that all relevant waypoints, timers are in one group and every thing has a very clear name and it is easy to understand in the mission builder. I found directly the wp and the timer with the 15minutes and it was no problem to change it.

Please continue with this style of mission design!

Concerning the problem with the attack time and the complex situation with very different plane types from 1917 to 1945 and different armament types and maybe AI Behaviour:

What about to leave everything as it is, only define 1 variable in the menu for attack time that the player can adapt as required?

[352ndOscar]

Vander,

 

Given that both “The Channel” and “Strait of Dover” occupy essentially the same map area, could these two be combined into a single map area with ALL the bases inside that area available?

[352ndOscar]

In the maps.json file, what are these numbers and do I need to worry about them if I’m adding a new “Lines_C” map area?

 

"position": [[172000,110000],[371808,341200]],

"gui_map": {"top_left": [371800,30000], "scale": 10000},

[SYN_Vander]

***** New Version *****                             (I hate the automatic merging of posts!!!!!)

 

I noticed I have fixed quite a few bugs in the mean time (usually observed on our server) so decided to do a little bug-fix release:

 

Version 68
-When multiple objectives are selected for Intercept scenario, the targets will all be 'aircraft' or V-1' now instead of additional random ground targets.
-Added "torpedo boats" as target
-Optimized Arras map, removed some airfields from the fronts
-Fixed some default skins assignments as they were changed in latest IL2 release
-Fixed bug in Channel map template: Factories on English side were not populated; one site didn't even have any factory buildings
-Fixed bug: Objective completed messages for individual objects was not working anymore
-Fixed bug: When AI activity set to "aggressive" the ambient AI flights would not patrol near the objective(s), but further away.
-Fixed destroyed counter for success for level 'hard' is now 90% of total amount of vehicles instead of 100%

 

Download: https://sites.google.com/view/il2-great-battles-emg/home

 

 

44 minutes ago, 352ndOscar said:

In the maps.json file, what are these numbers and do I need to worry about them if I’m adding a new “Lines_C” map area?

 

"position": [[172000,110000],[371808,341200]],

"gui_map": {"top_left": [371800,30000], "scale": 10000},

 

The first entry determines the coordinates of the whole map.

The second entry determines the starting point of the GUI as shown in the EMG, plus the scale (not all maps use 1:1000 scale unfortunately)

You should not need to change these for an existing map if you only add a new front.

 

On 11/12/2022 at 12:52 AM, 352ndOscar said:

Vander,

 

Given that both “The Channel” and “Strait of Dover” occupy essentially the same map area, could these two be combined into a single map area with ALL the bases inside that area available?

 

It was like that earlier, but I wanted some variation in airfields used and where the focus would be of the fighting so I split them into two slightly different fronts.

Edited November 14, 2022 by SYN_Vander

[Spidey002]

7 hours ago, SYN_Vander said:

-When multiple objectives are selected for Intercept scenario, the targets will all be 'aircraft' or V-1' now instead of additional random ground targets.
 

Is there an intercept V-1 option?

[SYN_Vander]

5 hours ago, Spidey002 said:

Is there an intercept V-1 option?

Not yet.

[Spidey002]

On 11/14/2022 at 12:14 PM, SYN_Vander said:

 

Version 68
-When multiple objectives are selected for Intercept scenario, the targets will all be 'aircraft' 

Tried this with a buddy on two dogfight maps. There were five interception missions. But after taking down a few planes from one flight we encountered, all five objectives suddenly completed and the mission was over. 

[Scorpio_L]

Syn_Vander,

thank you for making this mission maker available and developing it. I was in the process of creating a mission using the standard mission editor when I found out about EMG. What took me two weeks to create in the standard ME took only 30-45 minutes (and that included the time to watch the videos in advance) in EMG.

 

Alas, I have two questions I've not found definitive answers on:

1) Skin buttons on the Scenario tab - are those also dependent on the date you set under the Situation tab? I ask because the only option I ever get to choose from is 'default'. I'm wondering if its because I'm doing a Battle of Britain and dates range from July 10-30, 1940. If that is indeed the issue, is there a way to manually set a custom skin?

 

2) Currently, you can define a Blue Flight and Red Flight on the Scenario tab - would it be possible [in future] to ever expand it to a third flight or this something that is limited in the hard-coding of the game itself?

 

[SYN_Vander]

1 hour ago, Scorpio_L said:

Syn_Vander,

thank you for making this mission maker available and developing it. I was in the process of creating a mission using the standard mission editor when I found out about EMG. What took me two weeks to create in the standard ME took only 30-45 minutes (and that included the time to watch the videos in advance) in EMG.

 

Alas, I have two questions I've not found definitive answers on:

1) Skin buttons on the Scenario tab - are those also dependent on the date you set under the Situation tab? I ask because the only option I ever get to choose from is 'default'. I'm wondering if its because I'm doing a Battle of Britain and dates range from July 10-30, 1940. If that is indeed the issue, is there a way to manually set a custom skin?

 

2) Currently, you can define a Blue Flight and Red Flight on the Scenario tab - would it be possible [in future] to ever expand it to a third flight or this something that is limited in the hard-coding of the game itself?

 

 

Hi Scorpio!

 

1) This only works for custom skins, so if you have none installed you won't see anything. The default skins are hidden in a GTP file, so I can't simply show them in a list

 

2) This is a major change and not something I will be able to do quickly. If I'll change it, it will be possible to have n flights, but for now it is simply one flight with an optional escort flight. But if you have some experience in the FMB then you should be able to quickly copy a flight group.

On 11/19/2022 at 2:45 AM, Spidey002 said:

Tried this with a buddy on two dogfight maps. There were five interception missions. But after taking down a few planes from one flight we encountered, all five objectives suddenly completed and the mission was over. 

 

Yeah, this is still not how I want it to work. Need to make it so it's one overall counter.

Edited November 24, 2022 by SYN_Vander

[Dawg35]

Let's say I set up a cooperative mission of 2 flights of 4 aircraft on the allied side and the same on the axis side. For each flight I set AI skill to "random". Does that mean that each AI pilot in each flight has random skill or does it mean that a single random skill level is assigned to all pilots in each flight? IE are there 16 random AI skill levels in total across all 4 flights or only 4?

 

Thanks!

[Jeroen83]

Hi Vander, any chance of seeing a new version of EMG with the c47 as flyable soon?

 

[SYN_Vander]

2 hours ago, Jeroen83 said:

Hi Vander, any chance of seeing a new version of EMG with the c47 as flyable soon?

 

 

Yeah, but I'm working on Western Front templates too, which takes some time. Hopefully in the weekend or shortly there after.

 

6 hours ago, Dawg35 said:

Let's say I set up a cooperative mission of 2 flights of 4 aircraft on the allied side and the same on the axis side. For each flight I set AI skill to "random". Does that mean that each AI pilot in each flight has random skill or does it mean that a single random skill level is assigned to all pilots in each flight? IE are there 16 random AI skill levels in total across all 4 flights or only 4?

 

Thanks!

 

It will choose a random AI skill level and assign it to the whole flight, but the leader will always have a slightly higher AI level.

[Dawg35]

13 minutes ago, SYN_Vander said:

It will choose a random AI skill level and assign it to the whole flight, but the leader will always have a slightly higher AI level.

 

Ah, thanks. 

Another question, on weather. I have tried every single combination of clouds with rain/haze both checked and the worst weather I can get (low cloud cover, rain, haze) is still not very bad. I still have scattered rain and miles of visibility, usually able to see coast of France right after take off in UK.

Is there a way to get some really bad weather to facilitate creating British low level, bad weather, Rhubarb attacks into France?

[SYN_Vander]

1 hour ago, Dawg35 said:

 

Ah, thanks. 

Another question, on weather. I have tried every single combination of clouds with rain/haze both checked and the worst weather I can get (low cloud cover, rain, haze) is still not very bad. I still have scattered rain and miles of visibility, usually able to see coast of France right after take off in UK.

Is there a way to get some really bad weather to facilitate creating British low level, bad weather, Rhubarb attacks into France?

 

Use either "low cloud cover" or "rain clouds" in combination with "Rain/Snow" plus "Haze" and Wind "Moderate" or higher should give you bad enough weather.

[JG4_Moltke1871]

Hi Vander,

Just download  the mission generator,

thanks a lot for this nice tool ?

I created a mission Gotha Bombing with Pfalz DXII Escord, starting from ramp.

The Escord flight start engine, taxi to runway and take off perfect.

But the Gothas taxi useless to a field and crash or just stay there. 

No matter i create a mission as flight lead or not, the bombers always have this strange behavior.

[SYN_Vander]

18 minutes ago, JG4_Moltke1871 said:

Hi Vander,

Just download  the mission generator,

thanks a lot for this nice tool ?

I created a mission Gotha Bombing with Pfalz DXII Escord, starting from ramp.

The Escord flight start engine, taxi to runway and take off perfect.

But the Gothas taxi useless to a field and crash or just stay there. 

No matter i create a mission as flight lead or not, the bombers always have this strange behavior.

 

Yeah, well two things:

 

-AI taxiing to the runway is not really working well in the sim. I don't think the developers give any priority to this; at least I haven't seen any improvements in the last couple of years. In the official career mode it isn't even an option to start from the ramp which is saying something. Still, I try to support it best as I can.

-The Gotha is in a class of it's own when it comes to handling. The AI has trouble enough flying it, let alone taxiing.

 

So in this case the only solution is to choose "on the runway" as start option. I don't think it's a problem really for WW1 planes as they would normally not taxi , just get in position (with help from ground crew possibly) and then take-off.

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by SYN_Vander

[Jeroen83]

18 hours ago, SYN_Vander said:

 

Yeah, but I'm working on Western Front templates too, which takes some time. Hopefully in the weekend or shortly there after.

 

 

It will choose a random AI skill level and assign it to the whole flight, but the leader will always have a slightly higher AI level.

Thanks, take your time. Really looking forward to transport missions.

[Spidey002]

On 11/5/2022 at 9:55 AM, SYN_Vander said:

No, simply every 15min. If you fly MP then you'll only see other aircraft in external view if you are close enough.

 

Alright! I must not have been close enough to see them on the Channel map.

Just shot down two on the Rhineland map—and was too close to the V-1 when I shot it both times! Boom! Ouch!

[Scorpio_L]

To anyone who might be able to answer this:

 

After creating say 2 missions, I might want to go back and tweak the first mission. Is there a way I can LOAD the 1st mission so that the Situation and Scenario tabs are populated without my having to reenter everything from scratch. If so, details, please.

 

[SYN_Vander]

52 minutes ago, Scorpio_L said:

To anyone who might be able to answer this:

 

After creating say 2 missions, I might want to go back and tweak the first mission. Is there a way I can LOAD the 1st mission so that the Situation and Scenario tabs are populated without my having to reenter everything from scratch. If so, details, please.

 

 

There is indeed a save feature for a mission configuration, but I guess it's either too complex or no-one needs it, since this is the first question I have seen about this

 

Here is how it works:

On the first tab ('File') you will see a 'Configuration preset' button. If you click this you will see the presets you have saved. If you haven't done so far it will only show 'default', which is the default configuration you will see after a new install.

To load a preset first select it (you can test by clicking the 'default' preset in the drop down) and click 'Load and Restart'

To save a configuration preset first configure your mission by setting everything in the other tabs and of course the name. Then click 'Save Config as'. If you want to overwrite a preset then first choose it and then click 'Save Config'. Same for 'Delete Config'.

 

Be aware that sometimes an update with a new feature might add a configuration entry and then the preset will probably be broken.

 

 

Edited November 26, 2022 by SYN_Vander

[SYN_Vander]

New update!

 

Release Notes EMG Version 69

-Added C47 as flyable aircraft

-Changed default skins for C47

-Added Western Front as new Flying Circus map. For now it covers the same Arras fronts, although slightly moved. I will work on Verdun area next.

-Delete-On-Death is turned on again for multiplayer missions. Reason is that we see crashed AI bombers 'standing up' on the water for the whole duration of the mission.

-Fixed AI colliding on taxiway for some German airfields on Normandy

-Reduced detection areas for Intercept missions so less chance on counting destroyed aircraft twice when there are multiple Intercept targets.

 

Download here: https://sites.google.com/view/il2-great-battles-emg/home

 

[Dawg35]

On 11/25/2022 at 5:24 PM, SYN_Vander said:

 

Use either "low cloud cover" or "rain clouds" in combination with "Rain/Snow" plus "Haze" and Wind "Moderate" or higher should give you bad enough weather.

 

I've conducted more testing on the weather generation. Selecting the "Rain Clouds" in the Situation tab, along with moderate winds (and with rain/haze checked) doesn't generate a very visibility limited scenario, only scatter clouds and lots of remaining sunshine. I even opened the resulting mission file in ST Editor and maxed out the "CloudConfig" (change 03_Heavy_05 to 03_Heavy_09), "PrecLevel" and lowered the "CloudLevel" to 500 and raised "CloudHeight" to 6000 etc. but there was still plenty of sunlight getting through.

However when I use the "Low Cloud Cover" selection in Situation tab (again, along with moderate winds, rain/haze checked) I get a relatively poor visibility scenario. Then when I open this mission file in ST Editor and:

 

- lower CloudLevel to 500

- raise CloudHeight to 6000

- set PrecLevel to 10

- replace CloudConfig "04_Overcast_05" with "04_Overcast_09"

- set SeaState to 6

 

This gives me a MUCH better low visibility, crappy weather scenario! makes for some very cool low level introduction missions into France! Or low level Jabo missions into England for that matter.

[Mtnbiker1998]

Version 69? Nice.

 

Looking forward to Verdun but the upgraded Arras map should keep me occupied for awhile!

 

Is there a chance the delete on death could be a configurable option? Personally its a huge immersion breaker for me when a dead plane disappears before hitting the ground. I think I'd prefer the floating bomber issues

[Dawg35]

Just now, Mtnbiker1998 said:

Is there a chance the delete on death could be a configurable option? Personally its a huge immersion breaker for me when a dead plane disappears before hitting the ground. I think I'd prefer the floating bomber issues

 

+1

[Jeroen83]

Thanks for the new version!

[Spidey002]

On 11/27/2022 at 6:42 AM, SYN_Vander said:

-Reduced detection areas for Intercept missions so less chance on counting destroyed aircraft twice when there are multiple Intercept targets.

It’s a LITTLE bit better.

This last time, I took out a plane from one flight to complete 3/5 interception objectives, and a plane from another flight to complete the other two. 

[BBAS_Tiki_Joe]

Hi Vander, Thanks for the new update so fast! I'm trying to setup a CoOp mission for my crew to reenact the D-Day Night Airborne operation with the New C47 in celebration of its release. I see that the C47 is available now and that "Transport" is a mission. Is this the same as an Airborne drop? If not, is it currently possible to set up a mission like this.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

[SYN_Vander]

8 minutes ago, BBAS_Tiki_Joe said:

Hi Vander, Thanks for the new update so fast! I'm trying to setup a CoOp mission for my crew to reenact the D-Day Night Airborne operation with the New C47 in celebration of its release. I see that the C47 is available now and that "Transport" is a mission. Is this the same as an Airborne drop? If not, is it currently possible to set up a mission like this.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

 

Not yet, I'm working on it. Transport is the correct scenario, but currently only supports 'cargo' missions, ie flying from one airfield to another. I will add other missions 'para drop' and 'cargo drop'.

Edited November 30, 2022 by SYN_Vander

[JG4_Moltke1871]

Hi Vander ?

When fly ww1 bombers or attackersI cant chose a special bombload of my choice.

The menue only offers me cargo ,cam, rockets. bombs  etc..

[kraut1]

Hi Vander,

what about introducing a mission type Scenario "free Hunt" or "fighter Sweep"?

You can copy the reconnesence mission settings, change only the timers for reconn. to 1 or 2 minutes and change the subtitles and the texts.

I just flew such a mission in may 42 over south Englands coast. Worked perfect.

Thanks for your great Tool!

 

42-05-11a-Channel.zip

Edited December 3, 2022 by kraut1

[SYN_Vander]

1 hour ago, kraut1 said:

Hi Vander,

what about introducing a mission type Scenario "free Hunt" or "fighter Sweep"?

You can copy the reconnesence mission settings, change only the timers for reconn. to 1 or 2 minutes and change the subtitles and the texts.

I just flew such a mission in may 42 over south Englands coast. Worked perfect.

Thanks for your great Tool!

 

42-05-11a-Channel.zip 888.45 kB · 0 downloads

 

Great idea! I'll add it to the backlog.

1 hour ago, JG4_Moltke1871 said:

Hi Vander ?

When fly ww1 bombers or attackersI cant chose a special bombload of my choice.

The menue only offers me cargo ,cam, rockets. bombs  etc..

 

Yeah, it's mainly for WW2 I guess. Perhaps some more bomb options? Like heavy or small bombs?