Developer Diary for the Mission Editor

[Motherbrain]

I actually think its rather simple to use...

 

Of course, none of my missions are probably presentable. But I usually just use it to make fun little scenarios for my amusement and I've managed to make it do everything that I want it to. The manual is very helpful.

 

 

The only thing that kind of bugs me about it is once you start adding more and more assets the window starts to get really cluttered. You can filter the icons but you still have a spider web of circuit connections to sift thru and I'm constantly paranoid something isn't hooked up the way I want.

 

I'd like for it to be more streamlined but if you streamline it I feel like it will start to lose its functionality.

[IckyATLAS]

It is difficult to know how much the ME is used and what productivity it has. What we all see is what is published. We do not see what the users do for their own fun.

 

I will mention myself as a humble example. If you look at the video that I finally published on this forum (see here https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/42809-nostalgia-il2-pacific-fighters-2008-past-and-future/ ) many years after it was done, it is the result of hundreds of hours of work that corresponded to many many separate missions, many tweaks of the ME, to find ways that you could not do so easily, synchronizing actions for the video, then doing the mounting of the sequences, choosing the music etc. etc. In reality this video is Part 1. 

 

Only those who tried to do complex things with that old ME (the one from Pacific Fighters and all the updates ) can appreciate the result, and the hundreds of objects like even palm trees that have been planted one by one, same for soldiers, crates etc. Do not forget that grouping of objects did not exist. Having the landing barges land on the beach was another complex tweak. I did not use what came with 1946, as I did not play that one and maybe that ME was more complete. I have made many many other sequences or missions from which sequences where cut for Part 2 that is the battle itself, naval and aerial, but that work was never finished.  In a way the ME was heavily used for some years but nothing was posted and so there was no visibility at all.  I am probably not the only one doing so.

 

There is a big difference between learning how to use the ME and knowing how objects behave when you build a mission or a scenario. Knowing how to use the ME say nothing about how objects behave when they are not in isolation but integrated in a complex scenario, how they interact etc. And discovering those behaviors in complex scenarios is very time consuming because you have to learn by trial and error until you master the behavior of what you have created. And that experience is not in the manuals and cannot be, as every scenario and combination of behaviors is different, so you have to learn the hard way.

 

The problem comes also that when you do something with the ME for your own fun you do not need to polish the result, you can have fun even if it is not finished or perfect, but if you post publicly then it has to work to be tested, debugged etc. etc. as the user expectation is not the same as the developers expectation which is perfectly legitimate. And many probably do not want to go and do that very large additional effort, from the prototype to the finished public grade product, and  be exposed after so many efforts (which are difficult to recognize if you have not done it yourself) to being criticized, thrashed etc.. things unfortunately very common. 

 

 

 

 

 

[HBB*Hunger]

I`ve built about 150 COOps now, and used to built a lot more in `46 an some for CloDo. The only thing I really miss is the undo button as well as a rearm/refuel option. I`ve managed to learn the editor in one day, at least to get the basics to run. Everything else came step by step. 

The editor GUI is simple as soon as you understand how the tree works. Thats my opinion. 

[Alonzo]

On 5/6/2019 at 12:19 PM, Gambit21 said:

Guys I’ve talked with Jason about the editor. He wants it stable as a priority.

Don't expect much else, and frankly it doesn’t  need much else. What it does need isn’t brought up by those who complain about it. Anyway don’t hold your breath for an editor DD.

 

For the most part a dedicated builder will put the time in to figure it out. Casual builders most times will not - the worthwhile content comes from a dedicated builder anyway generally speaking.

 

I agree with this 100%. It's loads of work to change how the ME works and will not pay back on investment. But I've lost loads of time to editor crashes and there are some things I constantly need that would make things faster. Reducing crashes, adding 'undo' and adding a "move up one group" shortcut would be first on my list. Next would be adding more static objects to match the stuff available to be flown by players. Anything else would be gravy.

[Jaegermeister]

On 5/6/2019 at 5:55 PM, LuseKofte said:

Mission builders do not grow on trees and they never last long....

and the relentless ingratitude and demands

 

I don’t know about that part. I started building offline campaigns way back in 2004 in IL2 Forgotten Battles and then Pacific Fighters. I have given away at least a dozen full campaigns with 20-30 missions in each. 

 

That’s pretty much 15 years by my count. In that time, I have gotten almost all positive support and gratitude from the IL2 community. For the most part they are appreciative of the work involved and enjoy the campaigns. There is the occasional troll who likes to drop veiled insults, but they tend to go away quickly if they can’t bait you into an argument.

 

I tried to learn the new Mission Builder when Battle of Stalingrad came out but it took an American P47 to actually make me figure it out. I really wanted to fly it in interesting missions so I read all the material available and started working with it. It is a learning process, not something you just start and do. I’m positive I eventually scrapped the first 5 or so missions I did because I remade them better as I learned. Every mission you build is like an IQ test. You have to figure out the logic the program wants and follow it or it doesn’t work. If you figure it out, it runs smooth (mostly). It seems possible to do almost anything with it which is certainly way better than the IL2 FMB from 10 years ago. There are still some features, objects and functions missing, but there is also a fair amount to work with. I do hope we get more generic or western objects with Bodenplatte since the vehicles and scenery is very limited right now.

 

I’m sure a lot of people would think a little 14 mission campaign is no big deal, but I guess they haven’t spent 2 months of spare time scratching their head and testing the same mission 15 times either. They don’t realize that 30 minutes of flying time took 30 hours to create. Anyone who does that for the gratitude of the consumer is nuts. I do it so I can fly it myself and distributing it afterwards is very much secondary. Sort of like a pizza, I selfishly consume it myself and give away the leftovers to whoever wants it.

 

I personally think a revised user interface would just get in the way. Right now it’s kind of bare bones and I don’t see the problem there unless it’s just people wanting everything in an autofill drop down box. I am used to designing and working with windows databases so it makes sense to me as is. Keep in mind that I was taught MS DOS in high school and was 30 when I got my first cell phone and laptop with Windows 95 on it. That’s certainly not typical for some of the impatient people trying to make missions now.

 

The specific MB bugs I am aware of include consistent program crash if you open more than 4 missions in a row. AI will not change speed between waypoints despite changing the specified speed in the advanced properties in certain situations. It’s impossible to deactivate an escort command without initiating another command to overwrite it. AI sometimes fails to follow waypoints if you copy a flight from one mission to another. Ships are immortal. There are a couple more I forget ATM.

 

I vote to leave the interface as is and spend the time on giving us more objects to work with. Tents, jeeps, Deuce trucks, supplies, ships, trucks, cement bunkers to blow up that have damage models. Maybe a couple more special effects like burning planes and explosions from ammunition or fuel blowing up. That would be worth to me.

 

OK, rant over.