[MOD] Moving infantry asset

[AEthelraedUnraed]

Hello fellow pilots,

 

I've noted the occasional complaint about a general lack of infantry, especially now we've got Tank Crew and Flying Circus. So, as the title says, this little mod adds moving infantry to the game as an asset to use for mission builders:

 

 

 

 

What this mod doesn't do, is:

- It doesn't add infantry to existing missions, but mission builders can use it as an asset for future missions (or modify their existing ones).

- It doesn't add infantry to career or quick missions either, nor is it likely it ever will.

- The infantry doesn't have any advanced AI. They spawn out of nowhere, run 500m straight ahead, then dive to the ground, unless they're killed on the way there of course. No firing, taking cover or complex maneuvres (but they will move around objects - in a somewhat clumsy manner).

 

What it does do however:

- It provides a bit of "background scenery" for frontline flights.

- It adds the option of infantry assaults, either to defend against (although they won't fire at you!) or to give some extra immersion when driving your tank towards the enemy lines in an assault of your own (Za Rodinu! Za Stalina! Ura! - anyone?)

- It can be used to simulate infantry fleeing from your tank if you get too close.

 

The included .zip file adds the infantry object itself, as well as a small example mission "Infantry Assault" (requires Flying Circus) and a very quick showcase mission "Spawner Test" that should work with just IL2 BOS. Mission builders can load the .msnbin to see how it works, but I'll also shortly describe it below:

 

Spoiler

- Create a vehicle/artillery object (doesn't really matter which one, the 3d model won't show up anyway).

- In the advanced object settings, set the script to LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww1.txt, LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww2.txt, LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww2_late.txt or LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww2_gbr.txt depending on if you want respectively WW1 UK/GER, WW2 USSR/GER, WW2 USA/Late GER or WW2 UK soldiers.

- Set the country accordingly! Only USSR, Germany, United States, Great Britain, Germany, Great Britain WW1 and Germany WW1 will work.

- You may want to set the Engageable flag to false, or the AI might fire at the (invisible) spawners.

- To spawn the soldiers, add a Command:Damage MCU with the spawner(s) as object links.

- Once you trigger the MCU, the soldiers will spawn in a single file (column) of 5 and run 500m to the back of the "vehicle". Note that what happens is that infantry will exit the "damaged vehicle" and run to a safe distance, just like when you attack a truck, artillery or train car.

 

Note that it's quite easy to tweak the spawners to spawn a different amount than 5 soldiers, or to run further or shorter than 500m. However, spawning more than one file of soldiers requires multiple spawners. You might also be able to repair the spawner and re-use it, although I didn't test any such thing.

 

As stated above, the infantry won't fire at enemies and hence won't damage or kill them even if there's a hundred Russians surrounding one measly German Opel Blitz. Killing infantry won't score you any points either (AFAIK, at least it doesn't show up in the mission stats), however killing your own guys will result in a friendly fire message.

 

Performance seems to be reasonably good, with no noticeable lag on my system for +-100 soldiers (although I do have a high-end system).

 

Known bugs:

- The WW1 and late WW2 infantry becomes invisible at a relatively short range (500m or so). I suspect that this is a problem with the LOD settings, somewhere in the .mgm files. It may even be a bug in stock Flying Circus/BOBP, as I didn't change any of the soldier assets. Perhaps someone with more knowledge of the LOD system used in IL2 can fix this. The early WW2 infantry (USSR/GER), meanwhile, works correctly and is easily visible from a long distance.

- Occasionally, one or two soldiers will run into another direction. This happens especially when they spawn close to other objects.

 

Feel free to use or modify it in any mission or mod you like. It's not required (most of the credits go to the devs anyway, as they did all of the 3d modeling, programming and scripting), but I always appreciate attribution.

 

Cheers!

 

 

Moving_Infantry.zip

Edited March 1, 2020 by AEthelraedUnraed
updated the spawners to include US, WW2 UK and late WW2 GER models

[ITAF_Airone1989]

4 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

 Za Rodinu! Za Stalina! Ura! - anyone?

 

 

Ahahahahahahah ???

[150GCT_Veltro]

Official release? Jason?

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

Great work.  If they could use small arms ...

[=gRiJ=Roman-]

Absolutely awesome!

[AWC]

Why dont the late German, US and British soldiers work? Is there a way to enable these models?

[AEthelraedUnraed]

48 minutes ago, Lemsip said:

Why dont the late German, US and British soldiers work? Is there a way to enable these models?

Laziness. I've updated the .zip file and instructions in the original post to include a spawner for the missing soldier models

Here's all of them:

F.l.t.r.:

- LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww1.txt, Great Britain WW1

- LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww1.txt, Germany WW1

- LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww2.txt, USSR

- LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww2.txt, Germany

- LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww2_late.txt, United States

- LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww2_gbr.txt, Great Britain (country doesn't matter here)

- LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww2_late.txt, Germany

 

Note the USSR and early German soldiers have separate uniforms for summer and winter!

[Flashy]

I must be doing something wrong, but when I load the mod into JGMSE and start the game in mods on mode, I get an object undefined error when loading the mission:

 

[J2_Trupobaw]

It should be incorporated into official game.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

26 minutes ago, Flashy said:

I must be doing something wrong, but when I load the mod into JGMSE and start the game in mods on mode, I get an object undefined error when loading the mission:

Oops, my bad. I forgot to remove one line from those files that I used for testing. I updated the .zip in my original post. It should work now.

[Flashy]

ah yes, that fixed it thanks!

 

That is pretty cool what you have done with them - I have always thought using those little soldier guys was the best way to implement infantry in the game and it seems to work really well now that you have done it, well done! 

 

Some questions though: can you change how long they run for before falling down? can you modify the speed they move at so they keep pace more or less with the tanks?

 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

12 minutes ago, Flashy said:

Some questions though: can you change how long they run for before falling down?

 

Yes, you can. In the spawner scripts, look for the line DistanceToRun=500.0f in the CrewEscape section. Just replace 500 by whatever distance you'd like them to run (but be aware that a couple of soldiers always seem to drop a bit sooner; this seems to be a maximum or average distance of some kind rather than a pinpoint distance that each and every soldier must run).

 

13 minutes ago, Flashy said:

can you modify the speed they move at so they keep pace more or less with the tanks?

 

It should be possible, but for that you'd need to edit/clone the bots themselves. Look for instance in luascripts\worldobjects\bots\botfield_soldierger.txt. There's the line RunSpeed=3,-0.7 near the end of the file, which is the running speed in m/s (the -0.7 is for running backwards, lol). You should be able to just replace the 3 with whatever speed you like.

[PA_Keko_]

Amazing!!!

 

Edited March 1, 2020 by 6./JG5Keko_

[AWC]

On 3/1/2020 at 10:42 AM, AEthelraedUnraed said:

Hello fellow pilots,

 

I've noted the occasional complaint about a general lack of infantry, especially now we've got Tank Crew and Flying Circus. So, as the title says, this little mod adds moving infantry to the game as an asset to use for mission builders:

 

 

 

 

What this mod doesn't do, is:

- It doesn't add infantry to existing missions, but mission builders can use it as an asset for future missions (or modify their existing ones).

- It doesn't add infantry to career or quick missions either, nor is it likely it ever will.

- The infantry doesn't have any advanced AI. They spawn out of nowhere, run 500m straight ahead, then dive to the ground, unless they're killed on the way there of course. No firing, taking cover or complex maneuvres (but they will move around objects - in a somewhat clumsy manner).

 

What it does do however:

- It provides a bit of "background scenery" for frontline flights.

- It adds the option of infantry assaults, either to defend against (although they won't fire at you!) or to give some extra immersion when driving your tank towards the enemy lines in an assault of your own (Za Rodinu! Za Stalina! Ura! - anyone?)

- It can be used to simulate infantry fleeing from your tank if you get too close.

 

The included .zip file adds the infantry object itself, as well as a small example mission "Infantry Assault" (requires Flying Circus) and a very quick showcase mission "Spawner Test" that should work with just IL2 BOS. Mission builders can load the .msnbin to see how it works, but I'll also shortly describe it below:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

- Create a vehicle/artillery object (doesn't really matter which one, the 3d model won't show up anyway).

- In the advanced object settings, set the script to LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww1.txt, LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww2.txt, LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww2_late.txt or LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots\spawner_ww2_gbr.txt depending on if you want respectively WW1 UK/GER, WW2 USSR/GER, WW2 USA/Late GER or WW2 UK soldiers.

- Set the country accordingly! Only USSR, Germany, United States, Great Britain, Germany, Great Britain WW1 and Germany WW1 will work.

- You may want to set the Engageable flag to false, or the AI might fire at the (invisible) spawners.

- To spawn the soldiers, add a Command:Damage MCU with the spawner(s) as object links.

- Once you trigger the MCU, the soldiers will spawn in a single file (column) of 5 and run 500m to the back of the "vehicle". Note that what happens is that infantry will exit the "damaged vehicle" and run to a safe distance, just like when you attack a truck, artillery or train car.

 

Note that it's quite easy to tweak the spawners to spawn a different amount than 5 soldiers, or to run further or shorter than 500m. However, spawning more than one file of soldiers requires multiple spawners. You might also be able to repair the spawner and re-use it, although I didn't test any such thing.

 

As stated above, the infantry won't fire at enemies and hence won't damage or kill them even if there's a hundred Russians surrounding one measly German Opel Blitz. Killing infantry won't score you any points either (AFAIK, at least it doesn't show up in the mission stats), however killing your own guys will result in a friendly fire message.

 

Performance seems to be reasonably good, with no noticeable lag on my system for +-100 soldiers (although I do have a high-end system).

 

Known bugs:

- The WW1 and late WW2 infantry becomes invisible at a relatively short range (500m or so). I suspect that this is a problem with the LOD settings, somewhere in the .mgm files. It may even be a bug in stock Flying Circus/BOBP, as I didn't change any of the soldier assets. Perhaps someone with more knowledge of the LOD system used in IL2 can fix this. The early WW2 infantry (USSR/GER), meanwhile, works correctly and is easily visible from a long distance.

- Occasionally, one or two soldiers will run into another direction. This happens especially when they spawn close to other objects.

 

Feel free to use or modify it in any mission or mod you like. It's not required (most of the credits go to the devs anyway, as they did all of the 3d modeling, programming and scripting), but I always appreciate attribution.

 

Cheers!

 

 

Moving_Infantry.zip 64.88 kB · 22 downloads

 

The potential for this is huge. Thankyou, it works perfectly!

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

This great mod is especially useful for FC (1918) where strafing and bombing infantry was common job. 

I wonder if they can be set to march in columns and run away in random direction when strafed by enemy plane.

[J2_Trupobaw]

I think Jason / devs said once that strafing / killing little men on the ground is not going to happen.

Great to have them as scenery, anyway. Watching them rout and run back for their lines once their MG support is bombed will be good enough for me.

Edited March 3, 2020 by J2_Trupobaw

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

1 hour ago, J2_Trupobaw said:

I think Jason / devs said once that strafing / killing little men on the ground is not going to happen.

Great to have them as scenery, anyway. Watching them rout and run back for their lines once their MG support is bombed will be good enough for me.

They can be "killed" but they are not count. This is enough, we don't need  ragdoll physics or any  gruesome effects. What would be needed is connecting it with object state so it can be target.

 

BTW never heard of that statement in first place.

Edited March 3, 2020 by 1PL-Husar-1Esk

[J2_Trupobaw]

Pushing for that may meet opposition from the devs and sink the  whole idea (makes the game more violent or something). If you can strafe them why not bomb htem, if you can bomb them why not runthem over with tank, lot of cruelity potential against these defenceless toy soldiers there). I think keeping them immortal (have them turn back and run for their lines while bombed / strafed) is best compromise we can aim for.


(Not that I personally would care ? ).

Edited March 3, 2020 by J2_Trupobaw

[AEthelraedUnraed]

Well, you can already strafe them, bomb them or run them over with your tank if that is what you wish. The infantry are vulnerable, and can be killed if you damage them. Personally, I don't see a problem with that. It is a war simulator after all, and shooting at pilots/gunners or ground crew (e.g. artillery) is an essential part of the game. There's no crew-less drones in WW2.

 

Besides, if you're of the kind that wants to kill for the sake of cruelty, I don't think IL2 is your game of choice. There are lots of good FPS shooters with all kinds of gory effects that IL2 doesn't have (nor should have IMO).

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

20 hours ago, J2_Trupobaw said:

Pushing for that may meet opposition from the devs and sink the  whole idea (makes the game more violent or something). If you can strafe them why not bomb htem, if you can bomb them why not runthem over with tank, lot of cruelity potential against these defenceless toy soldiers there). I think keeping them immortal (have them turn back and run for their lines while bombed / strafed) is best compromise we can aim for.


(Not that I personally would care ? ).

 

You are killing pilots , gunners , observers, tank drivers which are real person avatars in the game  but you have objection destroying the AI soldiers ?

[J2_Trupobaw]

It's not about me, it's about pg ratinings and other such nonsense. Implicit killing people in plane or tank and graphically killing them on foot are considered different things for some reason.

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

17 minutes ago, J2_Trupobaw said:

It's not about me, it's about pg ratinings and other such nonsense. Implicit killing people in plane or tank and graphically killing them on foot are considered different things for some reason.

Pg ratinngs do not hinder the sells as one can see looking at top selling games. Yes nonsense , especially that average age of flights sim players is like 30 years old ?

 

Moreover ratings for kids -13 years old:

 

"Games with this rating contain content which the ESRB believes is generally suitable for those aged 13 years and older; they can contain content such as moderate amounts of violence (including small amounts of blood), mild to moderate use of language or suggestive themes, sexual content, and crude humor.^[21][46]"

Mature - 17 years old.

"Games with this rating contain content which the ESRB believes is generally suitable for those aged 17 years and older; they can contain content with an impact higher than the "Teen" rating can accommodate, such as intense and/or realistic portrayals of violence (including blood, gore, mutilation, and depictions of death), stronger sexual themes and content, partial nudity, and more frequent use of strong language.^[21][46]"

 

Our game is suitable for infants ?

 

Edited March 4, 2020 by 1PL-Husar-1Esk

[Goffik]

To suggest that killing infantry in a war game would make it too graphic or violent is pretty silly, to be perfectly honest. This is supposed to be a simulation, and taking out infantry in large numbers was a big part of fighting battles in the world wars. If people don't like violence then why on Earth would they be playing this game in the first place? I don't think anybody wants the kind of ultra-violent, graphic killing you see in arcade shooters and Hollywood movies, but having infantry that can be killed in the game is an important addition, especially for Tank Crew.

 

As for age restrictions, I don't think that many kids play WWII flight simulations to be honest. Even if they do it won't hurt sales, since kids these days get access to games like GTA V, Assassin's Creed, and Call of Duty from their own bloody parents. Few seem to care about inappropriate content in the day and age.

[J2_Trupobaw]

Again, I'm not the one arguing for it.

I'm recalling an old (BoS/BoM stage) post by devs saying that strafing infantry won't happen because no, and trying to work out what kind of mod should be made that fit their boundaries and gets accepted into baseline game.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

Well if the devs don't want to include separate infantry in the base game, then that's fine. It's their game, after all, and I'm sure they've got their reasons. I do doubt however that age restrictions have anything to do with it, as strafing infantry is basically already possible. All artillery is manned, and infantry flees from damaged vehicles. My mod does nothing that's not already in the game; it just makes spawning infantry the main goal instead of a nice eyecandy feature.

 

I just hope this mod isn't a problem. It gives people the choice to have infantry in the game if they wish, and to not have it if they don't.

[Yogiflight]

A few days ago I killed two soldiers, I had not seen, with my Focke Wulf, while taxiing to my parking area.

I could see them lying in the grass, just a few meters from my aircraft. How much more could you do when shooting on infantry?

[1PL-Husar-1Esk]

12 minutes ago, Yogiflight said:

A few days ago I killed two soldiers, I had not seen, with my Focke Wulf, while taxiing to my parking area.

I could see them lying in the grass, just a few meters from my aircraft. How much more could you do when shooting on infantry?

Nothing more .

[=gRiJ=Roman-]

Dear AEthelreadUnread

We have tried to use your mod in a Multiplayer in Coop mission.

All the players have the 4L0M_Sky_Mod_0.1 in the JSMGE activated and then we start the Coop we choose the tanks and the configuration. Finally, the countdown starts and when it reaches 0 we get an error message saying: "Object undefined" and we cannot play the mission.

Any idea of what we are doing wrong?

 

Could you please share a mission created by you so we can open it with the editor and see how you have done it?

 

Thanks in advance

Edited March 4, 2020 by =gRiJ=Roman-

[AEthelraedUnraed]

Do you use the latest version? Flashy had a similar error last sunday, which I then fixed, so if you downloaded my mod before sunday 15:00 GMT, download it again and it should work.

 

If you do use the latest version, be sure that the players and the server all have the objects installed in the right path. There should be the files spawner_ww1.txt, spawner_ww2.txt, spawner_ww2_gbr.txt and spawner_ww2_late.txt in the folder IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots. If those files are not there, make sure you put the right folder into JSMGE so that they do end up there.

 

Included with the mod are two test missions that you should be able to select in-game: "Infantry Assault" (requires Flying Circus), which is more of a real mission albeit very quickly written, and a very simple test mission "Spawner Test" which is just one plane and a bunch of infantry. Try to see if these missions work. You can also load the .msnbin files with the editor to see how it works.

 

I hope this helps!

[=gRiJ=Roman-]

2 hours ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

Do you use the latest version? Flashy had a similar error last sunday, which I then fixed, so if you downloaded my mod before sunday 15:00 GMT, download it again and it should work.

 

If you do use the latest version, be sure that the players and the server all have the objects installed in the right path. There should be the files spawner_ww1.txt, spawner_ww2.txt, spawner_ww2_gbr.txt and spawner_ww2_late.txt in the folder IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Bots. If those files are not there, make sure you put the right folder into JSMGE so that they do end up there.

 

Included with the mod are two test missions that you should be able to select in-game: "Infantry Assault" (requires Flying Circus), which is more of a real mission albeit very quickly written, and a very simple test mission "Spawner Test" which is just one plane and a bunch of infantry. Try to see if these missions work. You can also load the .msnbin files with the editor to see how it works.

 

I hope this helps!

 

Cool! It's working now thanks a lot. 

Now we have to find out how to set the heading of the infantry. In our first try they were running in the opposite direction of the tanks.

scheweres panzer-regiment bake.zip

Edited March 4, 2020 by =gRiJ=Roman-

[AEthelraedUnraed]

The infantry runs towards the back of the spawner, so you actually have to point the spawner away from where you want the soldiers to run. Just rotate the spawners 180 degrees and you should be fine

 

I can't exactly recall why it works like this (I did most of the work on the spawners 2 months ago), but I think I had problems reliably making them run straight ahead, while running backwards was somehow less of a problem.

[Blitzen]

I wonder what Studio 777 didn't come up with this earlier???️‍?️

[Beazil]

1 hour ago, Blitzen said:

I wonder what Studio 777 didn't come up with this earlier???️‍?️

I'm 95% sure they did.  I recall Jason saying they wanted to add infantry assets for Tank Crew at some point in the future as part of the overall project.

....or maybe it was another user suggesting it.

Regardless, I reserve the right to be 100% full of #$@* in the event I got this wrong.  ?

Edited March 5, 2020 by JG51_Beazil
Potty mouth

[Blitzen]

I've downloaded this mod & am installing it thru JSGME and assume that the correct way of doing so, but may I ask when should I see these new troops? Which key command should I use to see if they are doing their job?Will they bee seen in Tank Crew as well...that's where they are really needed I think.

[vonGraf]

11 hours ago, Blitzen said:

I've downloaded this mod & am installing it thru JSGME and assume that the correct way of doing so, but may I ask when should I see these new troops? Which key command should I use to see if they are doing their job?Will they bee seen in Tank Crew as well...that's where they are really needed I think.

 

So far I understand you have to place them in the mission editor by yourself. They don't show up in existing missions and campaigns.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

14 hours ago, Blitzen said:

I've downloaded this mod & am installing it thru JSGME and assume that the correct way of doing so, but may I ask when should I see these new troops? Which key command should I use to see if they are doing their job?Will they bee seen in Tank Crew as well...that's where they are really needed I think

 

3 hours ago, vonGraf said:

So far I understand you have to place them in the mission editor by yourself. They don't show up in existing missions and campaigns.

@vonGraf is right. As my OP says, this mod "doesn't add infantry to existing missions, but mission builders can use it as an asset for future missions (or modify their existing ones). It doesn't add infantry to career or quick missions either, nor is it likely it ever will."

 

Adding infantry to quick missions or careers would require coding to get it to work properly, or some heavy scripting for what could be mediocre results (one could for instance edit the [career no.]\blocks_career\ground\frontline_battle\frontline_battle_vx.group files, if anyone is interested).

[Blitzen]

D___n! So maybe some bright boy like Jade Monkey might use this great mod in future SP & Scripted Campaigns? I’ll look forward to seeing the troops marching across the battlefield!?So remove it from JSGME-it doesn’t do a thing activated there,right?

Edited March 7, 2020 by Blitzen
Added info

[=gRiJ=Roman-]

This MOD has to be made official and improved to the max. As simple as that.

[Dutch2]

Maybe a short manual “fool safe” on how to implementate this mod into existing missions and campaigns. 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

20 hours ago, Dutch2 said:

Maybe a short manual “fool safe” on how to implementate this mod into existing missions and campaigns. 

 

Well, basically everything is said in my opening post, and I included two demo missions, so that should give enough information to anyone who wants to implement this mod in an existing mission. If you still have some questions left you're of course free to ask them, but I think what I wrote in my opening post should be enough to get it working in a custom mission.

 

If by "campaign" you mean the career, then it'll suffice to say that anyone who knows enough about the mechanics behind the career to actually implement this mod won't need any manual

Edited March 8, 2020 by AEthelraedUnraed