New PWCG Issues Thread

[PatrickAWlson]

6 hours ago, Hotaru_Ito said:

 

So far I'm actually seeing 80 or 90% trains on tracks in recent updates. Certainly enough that I'm not bothered by the occasional oddball.

 

I think the only way to get it to 100% would be to manually go through and map valid spawn locations across all five maps. Which might be viable if either a. we accepted having a relatively small number of train spawn points compared to now or b. it was made a community project, as is now being talked about for Normandy cold starts, so Pat wouldn't have to do it all himself.

 

There is a file embedded in the .gtp files called railroads.ini.  It has positions of rail waypoints.  That is what I use to place trains.  I used to use the stations.  Putting the train at the exact same location worked 100% of the time, until it didn't.  

[Stonehouse]

50 minutes ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

There is a file embedded in the .gtp files called railroads.ini.  It has positions of rail waypoints.  That is what I use to place trains.  I used to use the stations.  Putting the train at the exact same location worked 100% of the time, until it didn't.  

Pat - just double checking - you knew there are multiple railroads.ini files yeah?

 

Pretty sure you do know as I can't see how it would work for PWCG otherwise.

 

One in graphics\landscape and also one in each graphics\landscape_season (e.g., landscape_summer) and then one in each map\season combination (e.g., graphics\landscape_stalin_a and graphics\landscape_stalin_s etc).

 

The ones in landscape and landscape_season are quite small and have a much lower number of co-ordinate pairs than the ones in the specific map/season folders. I don't know what the landscape ones represent. 

I guess you would reasonably assume that for the same map (e.g., stalingrad autumn and summer etc) the rail system would not change between seasons. However, I guess since they have their own copy, they might in fact differ sometimes.

Edited November 10, 2022 by Stonehouse

[Picchio]

Pat, we're still getting AAA units floating happily at sea. Can't complain for the tight defense at Thorney Island, but it's a bit too much.

[greybeard_52]

On 11/7/2022 at 10:41 AM, Hotaru_Ito said:

 

I can open that exact skin (bf109f4_generic_II_JG52.dds) in DXTBmp and it loads fine for me in-game.

 

I installed the DXTBmp and now the game can load and display those defective skins(*). Thank you. Evidently it needed some devilry contained in DXTBmp ?. I observe with surprise that these skins are still with the grotesque "fake swastika"; I wonder when this historical denial will end ...

 

(*)P.S.: forget it! PWCG still does not use skins with that strange format, which are only visible in game by loading them on the pilot's plane in Quick Mission. What a mess! Never seen one like it in thirty years of aerial simulation! ? Better let it go and go back to stock careers!

Edited November 11, 2022 by greybeard_52

[PatrickAWlson]

5 hours ago, greybeard_52 said:

 

I installed the DXTBmp and now the game can load and display those defective skins(*). Thank you. Evidently it needed some devilry contained in DXTBmp ?. I observe with surprise that these skins are still with the grotesque "fake swastika"; I wonder when this historical denial will end ...

 

(*)P.S.: forget it! PWCG still does not use skins with that strange format, which are only visible in game by loading them on the pilot's plane in Quick Mission. What a mess! Never seen one like it in thirty years of aerial simulation! ? Better let it go and go back to stock careers!

 

Bye bye.  Ignore.

[Hotaru_Ito]

@greybeard_52 The "fake swastikas" are just because Pat used the stock blanks as a basis and those have them. Most of the 109 ones are literally just the stock skins with squadron badges added--as opposed to e.g. the 190 skins, which also have different-colored cowlings and such. I agree about the "historical denial," and so did Jason Williams (see the "DO NOT POST SWASTIKAS!" sticky--he mentions he hates the rule as much as us) and a lot of other people, but Russian laws are what they are so we're stuck with it.

 

As for the skins not working, like I said a couple posts back, be patient. There's like 600 of these things, and they're all brand-new, and the system that uses them is brand-new too! It's not at all surprising there are a few bugs to work out.

 

I'll poke around with those 109 skins myself and see if I can figure anything out, but right now you seem to be the only one reporting a problem. Have you tried re-downloading the 109 skin packs? The packaging has changed slightly since the first upload and the file names might have changed too, which could cause PWCG to not recognize the old ones. Just an idea.

[PatrickAWlson]

On the skins front, the only specific issue that I am aware  of is that the American skins need to be redone such that the silver use a silver alpha and the green use a green alpha.  The fact that there are two different alphas makes sense but it was not something that I had thought of. 

 

Beyond that the skins work as far as I have tested.  As you point out, there are more than 600 of them.  I have reviewed 30 or 40 to ensure that the tools and methods that I am using produce usable results.  I have not inspected every one of them in detail.

[greybeard_52]

5 hours ago, Hotaru_Ito said:

@greybeard_52 The "fake swastikas" are just because Pat used the stock blanks as a basis and those have them. Most of the 109 ones are literally just the stock skins with squadron badges added--as opposed to e.g. the 190 skins, which also have different-colored cowlings and such. I agree about the "historical denial," and so did Jason Williams (see the "DO NOT POST SWASTIKAS!" sticky--he mentions he hates the rule as much as us) and a lot of other people, but Russian laws are what they are so we're stuck with it.

 

As for the skins not working, like I said a couple posts back, be patient. There's like 600 of these things, and they're all brand-new, and the system that uses them is brand-new too! It's not at all surprising there are a few bugs to work out.

 

I'll poke around with those 109 skins myself and see if I can figure anything out, but right now you seem to be the only one reporting a problem. Have you tried re-downloading the 109 skin packs? The packaging has changed slightly since the first upload and the file names might have changed too, which could cause PWCG to not recognize the old ones. Just an idea.

 

Thanks for your kind reply.
I did not know that swastikas were prohibited by law in Russia; but I wonder, since there are no such prohibitions in English-speaking countries, can't they be restored at least in the English version? However, I find it nonsense: it is like saying that since the ancient Romans persecuted Christians, we modern Christians must be prevented from looking at the S.P.Q.R. symbol!
I tried to re-download the skins of the Bf 109 (early), actually they have been reduced, but I see that the remaining ones have the same dates as the previous ones, so I don't see how they can give a different result.
I also re-downloaded the P-47D-28 skins, one of which (the first one I used in the game) had problems with earlier today (please see the first three attached screenshots), and tried the same skin as the new download and it seems to me that there is still work to be done (see the fourth screenshot attached).

[Hotaru_Ito]

@greybeard_52 Pat has acknowledged that the US skins still need some polishing. I haven't noticed the prop and tail issues you pointed out, but mostly all I've done has been glance at them in QMB.

 

As to the German skins, I suspect if having separate Russian and foreign game versions was doable it would be being done. Not sure if the obstacle is legal or practical (i. e. having to maintain two versions of everything), but thankfully it doesn't apply to mods and custom skins. Personally the skins don't bother me as much, but I do use the mod that adds historically-accurate awards, flags, etc. to vanilla career--and of course PWCG has these by default.

 

@PatrickAWlson If you're getting tired of messing with hundreds of skins, I'd be happy to go through them myself and clean up some of the alpha issues, etc. Could also add accurate markings to the German ones.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Hotaru_Ito

[Stonehouse]

1 hour ago, Hotaru_Ito said:

glance at them in QMB

 

Suggest you use the skin viewer if you just want to look through them. Much quicker.

Viewer.exe in folder \IL-2 Sturmovik Great Battles\bin\viewer

[Hotaru_Ito]

27 minutes ago, Stonehouse said:

Suggest you use the skin viewer if you just want to look through them. Much quicker.

Viewer.exe in folder \IL-2 Sturmovik Great Battles\bin\viewer

 

I know, I mostly just wanted to see what a couple of them looked like in-game rather than go through every one.

[greybeard_52]

6 hours ago, Hotaru_Ito said:

glance at them in QMB.

 

I do use the mod that adds historically-accurate awards, flags, etc. to vanilla career

 

I have been involved in quality control / quality assurance in what was FIAT and now FCA for twenty-six years. Finding flaws in other people's work was my job (and I was very good), but also suggesting techniques to avoid them. Both you and Pat Wilson talk about sample control, but it can only be applied to automated productions whose parameters are constantly monitored. In this case it is about artisanal productions, for which 100% control is absolutely necessary.
I too use the beautiful mods that make the true historicity of the period, including the German swastika skins. I think these should be used as a base, adding the squadron emblems, except in special cases of historical squadron camo, to be selected with care however because there is also a lot of junk around ...

[TheSNAFU]

Are others having very slow load times from when mission is clicked to when a mission is presented? I am experiencing a very long load time, so long that at first I thought the application was locking up. But I let it go and it does eventually bring up a new mission. The time it takes to actually generate the mission is also longer than it used to be but not excessively long. 
 

Is this the new norm or maybe my install is bad? 

[FodderMonkey]

2 minutes ago, TheSNAFU said:

Are others having very slow load times from when mission is clicked to when a mission is presented? I am experiencing a very long load time, so long that at first I thought the application was locking up. But I let it go and it does eventually bring up a new mission. The time it takes to actually generate the mission is also longer than it used to be but not excessively long. 
 

Is this the new norm or maybe my install is bad? 

Pat is aware.  He mentioned it when he rolled out the latest version.

[TheSNAFU]

Oh ok. I looked to see if it had been noted but must have missed it. Thanks

Edited November 12, 2022 by TheSNAFU

[PatrickAWlson]

@Stonehouse Embarrassed to admit this but I did not know about the view.  Huge time saver, so thanks.

 

@Hotaru_Ito Took a look at the skins.  P47-D22 skins look fine, although I will redo them and all American planes with silver/green alphas.  The P47-D28 skins look odd.  It looks like I had translucency set to something less than 100 on the noses when I exported them.  I will simply redo every P47-D28 skin.  And yes, the P47-D28 skins of 50 FG (yellow checkerboard tail) are a white hot mess, so yes, I did utterly FU one skin set for one squadron on one plane.  I eagerly await the arrival of the firing squad to put me out of my misery  ... or maybe I could just fix them.

 

If anybody cares to  help me out, please use the viewer to view skins and verify that they are OK.  If they are not, just identify the plane and the skin.  Thanks.

 

Finally, all of this work is in GFIMP XCF files.  I will try to post those files but there are over 40 of them and the sizes range anywhere from 200MB to 600MB each.  If I do get them posted then everybody will have access to the same working set that I have.

[Dubl-A_52]

My Issue:  IL2 (Flying Circus) hangs-up/crashes when attempting to finish a mission..

 

Hi everyone - new to the forum here.  Downloaded and installed PWCG for FC (v13.11.0) today, and got it to work OK.  I can generate a mission, go into IL2 FC, fly the mission, and do everything AFTER the mission in PWCG just fine.  The issue is that when I attempt to 'Finish Mission' in IL2, it just freezes right there.  It won't get back to the main menu.  I've tried waiting, but ultimately have to kill IL-2.exe in Task Manager and then re-start IL2 to fly the next mission. 

 

Even after IL2 freezes up PWCG seems to operate fine - I can Alt-Tab to PWCG and do my combat report, etc.  I get credit for my kills and everything in PWCG seems to be OK.  It's just that IL2 chokes when trying to finish the mission, and then has to be killed & restarted.

 

I did a few searches, and didn't find any obvious answers, so figured I'd ask here.

 

Thanks!!

 

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Dubl-A_52
clarification

[Mtnbiker1998]

4 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

@Stonehouse Embarrassed to admit this but I did not know about the view.  Huge time saver, so thanks.

 

@Hotaru_Ito Took a look at the skins.  P47-D22 skins look fine, although I will redo them and all American planes with silver/green alphas.  The P47-D28 skins look odd.  It looks like I had translucency set to something less than 100 on the noses when I exported them.  I will simply redo every P47-D28 skin.  And yes, the P47-D28 skins of 50 FG (yellow checkerboard tail) are a white hot mess, so yes, I did utterly FU one skin set for one squadron on one plane.  I eagerly await the arrival of the firing squad to put me out of my misery  ... or maybe I could just fix them.

 

If anybody cares to  help me out, please use the viewer to view skins and verify that they are OK.  If they are not, just identify the plane and the skin.  Thanks.

 

Finally, all of this work is in GFIMP XCF files.  I will try to post those files but there are over 40 of them and the sizes range anywhere from 200MB to 600MB each.  If I do get them posted then everybody will have access to the same working set that I have.

The P-38 skins have similar alpha issues

[Voya]

Hey,

 

I started a new campaign as a squadron leader and there's a BIG problem. Sometimes AI do what they feel like doing. For exemple i can see a black dot in the sky, 15 km away and they just run for it even if i spam "echelon right formation". Any idea ?

 

Thanks ^^

[Hotaru_Ito]

23 minutes ago, Voya said:

Hey,

 

I started a new campaign as a squadron leader and there's a BIG problem. Sometimes AI do what they feel like doing. For exemple i can see a black dot in the sky, 15 km away and they just run for it even if i spam "echelon right formation". Any idea ?

 

Thanks ^^

 

Use the "follow me" command to get them to join back up.

[PatrickAWlson]

3 hours ago, Mtnbiker1998 said:

The P-38 skins have similar alpha issues

 

These silver skins are a pain.  If I apply a a paint job and use the silver alpha the painted areas show as translucent.  If I use the painted alpha the silver parts are gray.  I am going to have to not only make each skin but also make an alpha that works with it.  

[PaulTheSalty]

48 minutes ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

These silver skins are a pain.  If I apply a a paint job and use the silver alpha the painted areas show as translucent.  If I use the painted alpha the silver parts are gray.  I am going to have to not only make each skin but also make an alpha that works with it.  

Welcome to the wonderful world of skinning lol!

Great work as always so far though! Try not to let the frustration detract too much from all that you've managed to accomplish so far. Making all theses little corrections is easy, but tedious.

 

I'm happy to help out on correcting some of the skin issues you're seeing once you share working files. It sounds like your silver alpha is set to max black or near to it. In case you haven't figured it out yet, try adjusting them to be lighter. Closer to white should get you a reflective looking surface. Going towards black will make things matte, but like I said earlier, if you darken things up too much it flips from matte to transparent.

 

I have yet to look at your generic squadron skins, however I imagine you will be able to reuse some of the alphas across multiple skins as long as the painted/polished areas are the same across some of the squadrons. Things like polished body with red or blue painted nose depending on squads...

 

To quickly make adjustments I'd just duplicate the existing alpha and then mod the areas that do not have the finish you desire by highlighting your spots to be adjusted with the "Select by Color" tool. That'll let you make changes to only your hyper black spots on the alpha that is showing up transparent in-game.

 

This is all using GIMP btw, not sure about Photoshop.

[Stonehouse]

1 hour ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

These silver skins are a pain.  If I apply a a paint job and use the silver alpha the painted areas show as translucent.  If I use the painted alpha the silver parts are gray.  I am going to have to not only make each skin but also make an alpha that works with it.  

I read - admittedly with low level of understanding - the Il2 Great Skinners Community discord - and remember some time ago @Raptorattacker talking about hassles with metallic skins and work arounds for some of the issues. Possibly worth asking over there or PM'ing Raptorattacker directly. It might save you a lot of time overall.

Edited November 13, 2022 by Stonehouse

[Raptorattacker]

11 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

These silver skins are a pain.  If I apply a a paint job and use the silver alpha the painted areas show as translucent.  If I use the painted alpha the silver parts are gray.  I am going to have to not only make each skin but also make an alpha that works with it.  

Pat, PM me and maybe we can work something out? Basically if you want silver skins and NON-reflective decals and paintwork then the Alpha is there precisely for that. You colour the parts you want metallic and the parts you want painted or less reflective with different shades of grey on the corresponding parts IN that Alpha.
Anyway, like I said at the beginning, you know where I am.

 

[PatrickAWlson]

5 hours ago, Raptorattacker said:

Pat, PM me and maybe we can work something out? Basically if you want silver skins and NON-reflective decals and paintwork then the Alpha is there precisely for that. You colour the parts you want metallic and the parts you want painted or less reflective with different shades of grey on the corresponding parts IN that Alpha.
Anyway, like I said at the beginning, you know where I am.

 

 

Thanks.  I am working on it now.  I think a effort is just going to be required, but I think I have the technique.  

 

What I am doing is adding squadron level paint schemes to the blank skins.  I am taking the green alpha and overlaying it onto the silver alpha for the painted parts.  That should result in the desired results. 

 

My problem is volume.  I had been counting on an assembly line process to do this work.  With the American planes every silver plane is going tor require a distinct alpha because the combination of squadron markings and period invasion markings is going to  be different.  Not much to be done about it.

[Raptorattacker]

@PatrickAWlson Like I say, sing out if you need help.

[MagicMike]

Has anybody ever had any issues with friendly AI attempting to land at enemy airfields when they’ve ran out of ammo? I’m very new to IL-2 and PCWG so I’m not sure if I’m doing anything wrong. Today is my first day on the mod after seeing it in some YouTube content, I’ve flown 4/5 sorties and on 2 of them I’ve lost 3 decent pilots because they’ve either landed on enemy airfields or been shot down by flak when trying to land at enemy airfields lol

[PatrickAWlson]

I have uploaded new American skins.  The files are:

P47D22

P47D28

P51P38

 

All of the silver skins have been redone.  

Edited November 14, 2022 by PatrickAWlson

[No105_Swoose]

20 hours ago, MagicMike said:

Has anybody ever had any issues with friendly AI attempting to land at enemy airfields when they’ve ran out of ammo? I’m very new to IL-2 and PCWG so I’m not sure if I’m doing anything wrong. Today is my first day on the mod after seeing it in some YouTube content, I’ve flown 4/5 sorties and on 2 of them I’ve lost 3 decent pilots because they’ve either landed on enemy airfields or been shot down by flak when trying to land at enemy airfields lol

Yes I and others have also experienced this.  I reported it in a post in this thread along with a mission file last Tuesday.  Attempts by friendly aircraft to land at an enemy airfield seem to happen more frequently when the friendly aircraft is damaged.

[PatrickAWlson]

1 hour ago, No105_Swoose said:

Yes I and others have also experienced this.  I reported it in a post in this thread along with a mission file last Tuesday.  Attempts by friendly aircraft to land at an enemy airfield seem to happen more frequently when the friendly aircraft is damaged.

 

Have not had time to look into that.  Being plain about it I have no idea why.  No changes to mission structure in that regard.  Could be a change in AI that now imposes different rules but ... shrug

 

[Mtnbiker1998]

16 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

I have uploaded new American skins.  The files are:

P47D22

P47D28

P51P38

 

All of the silver skins have been redone.  

Theres a stray P38 skin in the P47D22 folder. its a duplicate though, all the needed P-38 skins seem to be in their place.

 

Thats a very minor issue though, I took a look-see at the new skins and they all look great! excited to encounter them in missions.

[Misty06]

As of 1749 EASTERN US 11/14/22 I get the following message when trying to download the new Tank Crew Mission Generator.

 

The latest Easy Mission Generator for IL-2 download occurred without incident. 

 

FROM LINK : TankCrewGenerator_v9.zip - Google Drive

 

 

 

Hmmm… can't reach this page

doc-0s-ag-docs.googleusercontent.com’s server IP address could not be found.

Try:

• Checking the connection
• Checking the proxy, firewall, and DNS settings.
• Running Windows Network Diagnostics

ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED

[Spidey002]

I have an issue with the Mossie tactical numbering. Instead of MM-E, it shows as ME-M. 
 

Everyone’s third letter is M i stead of their distinguishing letter. 

[Przemro]

Hi, got error while trying to submit report, here is error report: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-NMhY8e_yotSzR-mUoKSnyE7QNdUfh-U/view?usp=share_link

Also I tried few times and now it shows that I got 5 missinons (this was first) and 45 air kills.

[PatrickAWlson]

2 hours ago, Przemro said:

Hi, got error while trying to submit report, here is error report: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-NMhY8e_yotSzR-mUoKSnyE7QNdUfh-U/view?usp=share_link

Also I tried few times and now it shows that I got 5 missinons (this was first) and 45 air kills.

 

Thanks for posting the zip.  I will try to look into it this evening.

 

[Letka_13/Arrow_]

Greetings, I am not sure if this can be solved or is it a core sim problem. However when I arm Typhoons with rockets they will not fly to the target area, but they will instead engage some first random AAA that they spot on the way to target. When armed with bombs they will usually hit the target. I am also attaching a mission where this happens. Is there a way to solve it?

Rockets_mission.ZIP

[Russkly]

@PatrickAWlson

 

Getting random LuaScripts/Sound errors while loading missions in game.

 

Seem to be mostly related to Ju88 and Bf110.

 

Requires Task Manager to close programme, deletion of mission in PWCG and creation of new mission.

 

Error files attached.

PWCGErrorLog.txt 435043745_Bf1091940202211220911258.zip

[Dubl-A_52]

On 11/12/2022 at 3:50 PM, Dubl-A_52 said:

My Issue:  IL2 (Flying Circus) hangs-up/crashes when attempting to finish a mission..

 

Hi everyone - new to the forum here.  Downloaded and installed PWCG for FC (v13.11.0) today, and got it to work OK.  I can generate a mission, go into IL2 FC, fly the mission, and do everything AFTER the mission in PWCG just fine.  The issue is that when I attempt to 'Finish Mission' in IL2, it just freezes right there.  It won't get back to the main menu.  I've tried waiting, but ultimately have to kill IL-2.exe in Task Manager and then re-start IL2 to fly the next mission. 

 

Even after IL2 freezes up PWCG seems to operate fine - I can Alt-Tab to PWCG and do my combat report, etc.  I get credit for my kills and everything in PWCG seems to be OK.  It's just that IL2 chokes when trying to finish the mission, and then has to be killed & restarted.

 

I did a few searches, and didn't find any obvious answers, so figured I'd ask here.

 

Thanks!!

 

 

Hi all - coming back to this... I've 'uninstalled' and reinstalled PWCG and confirmed I'm still having the issue - BOSFC hangs up when you 'Finish' a mission.  Once it frees up enough to let me switch to PWCG, I can do the post-mission debrief and all just fine - so it doesn't seem to impede my PWCG career progress.  But it's a pain having to kill the IL-2 app in Task Manager after every mission.  (Do not have the same problem in ROF - that seems to work fine.)

 

Attaching error log files for review, comment, etc., and would greatly appreciate any suggestions Pat or the rest of the community may have to get it to work properly.

 

Thanks!

Andrew

WW1 Axis 1202211212211638.zip PWCGErrorLog.txt

[Spidey002]

On the channel map, my wingmen keep landing in occupied France when wounded or out of ammo, and getting captured. 

[No105_Swoose]

5 hours ago, Spidey002 said:

On the channel map, my wingmen keep landing in occupied France when wounded or out of ammo, and getting captured. 

Yes, it's a bummer. I and others have reported it to Pat who replied on 14 November in this thread: "Have not had time to look into that.  Being plain about it I have no idea why.  No changes to mission structure in that regard.  Could be a change in AI that now imposes different rules but ... shrug"  Weird that apparently it's not happening in stock career mode.  But even with the glitch of Allied aircraft trying to land on Luftwaffe airfields after being damaged (and vice versa as I've also seen), PWCG missions are much better and more immersive than stock career missions IMO.  Swoose