Official Scripted Campaign "Lightning Strikes!"

[LF_Mark_Krieger]

In Mission 20 and other missions the wingmen and other flights have accidents when landing. In many missions I have seen some russian trucks with the US forces fighting on the ground, too.

Edited February 23, 2024 by LF_Mark_Krieger

[Jaegermeister]

2 hours ago, LF_Mark_Krieger said:

In Mission 20 and other missions the wingmen and othe filghts have accidents when landing. In many missions I have seen some russian trucks with the US forces fighting on the ground, too.

 

Landing accidents may be an issue of the wind being too high. There are Russian trucks because when this was made, there were no other trucks to use.

 

Revising this campaign has had to wait until some other things are done first. It will probably be some time in January before I can get back to updating old Scripted Campaigns. I got to mission 18 before I had to change priorities.

[LF_Mark_Krieger]

Just now, Jaegermeister said:

 

Landing accidents may be an issue of the wind being too high. There are Russian trucks because when this was made, there were no other trucks to use.

 

Revising this campaign has had to wait until some other things are done first. It will probably be some time in January before I can get back to updating old Scripted Campaigns. I got to mission 18 before I had to change priorities.

The wind was low. I think it was more a matter of a missplacement of the landing point. Anyway it is a great campaign that I flyed many times. I'll be waiting for this little arrangements. Anyway If I don't remember wrong, there were some specific audios for the ground control previously on this campaign?

[Jaegermeister]

The landing points just direct the aircraft to the closest runway. Perhaps the runways or taxi points got moved. I'll check it.

 

Yes, there are about 12 or so custom audio tracks. They used my voice tracks for the ground controller in game so I figured why not? Those have to be remapped to the new file location.

[MAJORgoonMADLOU]

This campaign has been "updated" in the patch out today.  Anyone know exactly how it has changed?

[Jaegermeister]

Funny you should ask...

 

Change list for Lightning Strikes update 5.202

 

* Added new generic P-38 skin for 485th Fighter Squadron

* Assigned Tactical ID codes to player and all AI aircraft

* Revised enemy aircraft to eliminate custom skin download and update production dates/models 

* Added combined ground textures from Battle of the Hurtgen and new Ardennes cities (Dinant, Celles, St. Vith, Amel, Bad Munstereifel, etc)

* Revised mission goals

* Revised effects for improved frame rates 

* Revised waypoints and flight path altitudes

* Revised mission briefing GUI map

* Updated subtitle text in all localized languages

* Corrected wind speed

* Revised attack zone logic and timing

* Reassigned custom audio tracks

* Updated AI AAA to fire higher volume at greater distance

* Revised AI vehicle commands

* Added more AI flights and vehicles to increase activity

 

[kjb4077]

I'm curious about what bluebird flight's intended cruising speed is supposed to be. I just flew mission 1 and to the target it is only about 200 mph and on the way back to base it drops to about 190 mph. We fall way behind ripper flight.

[Jaegermeister]

10 hours ago, kjb4077 said:

I'm curious about what bluebird flight's intended cruising speed is supposed to be. I just flew mission 1 and to the target it is only about 200 mph and on the way back to base it drops to about 190 mph. We fall way behind ripper flight.

240 mph IAS, that’s an AI issue caused by the flight leader waiting on wingmen to join up and not climbing at max power. It has been reported various times. It has been improved slightly from the previous 160 mph IAS they were doing while forming up.

 

Other flights have separate assignments and it will work out even if you do not arrive at the same time. If they fix it later, it should still work out.

[Falcon41]

Jay,

     With the 5.202 update, does that mean the changes you’ve made to Lightning Strikes will also be included in the update?

Bill

[Jaegermeister]

23 hours ago, Falcon41 said:

Jay,

     With the 5.202 update, does that mean the changes you’ve made to Lightning Strikes will also be included in the update?

Bill

Yes, as far as I know they all are. I have not tested in the release version yet

[LukeFF]

Nice job on this. ? It's definitely the best P-38 campaign out there, and it looks like I have another blank skin to steal for career mode. ? 

[Sandmarken]

1 hour ago, LukeFF said:

Nice job on this. ? It's definitely the best P-38 campaign out there, and it looks like I have another blank skin to steal for career mode. ? 

Its the best, but also the only p-38 campaign! ? 

This great plane shoud have some more ?

[Jaegermeister]

20 hours ago, LukeFF said:

Nice job on this. ? It's definitely the best P-38 campaign out there, and it looks like I have another blank skin to steal for career mode. ? 

Thanks, if I have my way there will be more historical blank skins added to the game that can be used with the Tactical ID codes. Individual skins are good for reference and online, but have very limited use in single player missions.

 

I would also love to see the Alpha layer adjusted on some of the bare metal default skins as it is still just a little bit too shiny and looks blue in dim light. The newer D-day and later skins are much better.

[Comes]

Thank you for updating the Campaign, much appriciated.

 

I have an issue with textures not loading since the Update:

 

Outside of the campaign, textures did load fine. I was playing mission 23 and 24.

[Jaegermeister]

7 hours ago, Comes said:

Thank you for updating the Campaign, much appriciated.

 

I have an issue with textures not loading since the Update:

 

Outside of the campaign, textures did load fine. I was playing mission 23 and 24.

 

OK, thanks . If you can give me the map location of the texture errors that would help a lot. Any errors on the winter map should be in all missions after 13

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2024 by Jaegermeister

[Comes]

Hello Jaegermeister,

 

it does seem to appear on the whole winter map.

 

I just played the last mission (awesome by the way ) and used the free cam to get down on the ground. Textures did not load anywhere on the map. 

 

[Jaegermeister]

2 hours ago, Comes said:

Hello Jaegermeister,

 

it does seem to appear on the whole winter map.

 

I just played the last mission (awesome by the way ) and used the free cam to get down on the ground. Textures did not load anywhere on the map. 

 

ok, I will check, thanks!

 

?

[KodiakJac]

Lightning Strikes #12 Duren is broken.

 

Flight leader Woodbine 1 spawns off the runway and in front of some boxes.  With Woodbine 1 stuck against the boxes unable to move, the entire mission's flights cannot take off and you are stuck on the runway forever.  You cannot fly the mission.

Edited March 5, 2024 by KodiakJac

[Jaegermeister]

On 3/4/2024 at 2:02 PM, KodiakJac said:

Lightning Strikes #12 Duren is broken.

 

Flight leader Woodbine 1 spawns off the runway and in front of some boxes.  With Woodbine 1 stuck against the boxes unable to move, the entire mission's flights cannot take off and you are stuck on the runway forever.  You cannot fly the mission.

 

I know, I am about to submit a fixed version, but thanks for reporting it. I am fixing some other things as well. Unfortunately I overwrote updated files with old ones right before the last update was released.

 

After the first 2 planes attempt to take off, go around them to the left and take off. You will not get a waypoint, but you can just fly for about 1 minute and you will get mission success when you hit the ESC key. Then you can go on to the next mission.

 

 

On 2/27/2024 at 4:05 AM, Comes said:

Hello Jaegermeister,

 

it does seem to appear on the whole winter map.

 

I just played the last mission (awesome by the way ) and used the free cam to get down on the ground. Textures did not load anywhere on the map. 

 

 

That is not a texture error, it's the way the snow looks. And yes... there is snow on the whole winter map.

If it was a texture error, there would not be any grass or shadows.

 

 

Edited March 5, 2024 by Jaegermeister

[KodiakJac]

6 hours ago, Jaegermeister said:

 

I know, I am about to submit a fixed version, but thanks for reporting it. I am fixing some other things as well. Unfortunately I overwrote updated files with old ones right before the last update was released.

 

After the first 2 planes attempt to take off, go around them to the left and take off. You will not get a waypoint, but you can just fly for about 1 minute and you will get mission success when you hit the ESC key. Then you can go on to the next mission.

 

 

 

Lightning Strikes is an outstanding campaign!  I'm so glad you are still maintaining it!  Thank you! ??

 

And thanks for the tip on how to get around Mission 12 ?

 

Edited March 6, 2024 by KodiakJac

[Jaegermeister]

I'm glad you are enjoying it @KodiakJac... There are still a few small issues like missing skin assignments, but they are not major. The mission 12 thing is the only one that is a real problem.

[Comes]

On 3/5/2024 at 3:43 PM, Jaegermeister said:

That is not a texture error, it's the way the snow looks. And yes... there is snow on the whole winter map.

If it was a texture error, there would not be any grass or shadows.

 

Here is a screenshot what the same map looks like outside of the campaign. This is much more detailed and not just a flat texture. I think there is something not loading correctly. Maybe this is just on my system

 

[Jaegermeister]

8 hours ago, Comes said:

Here is a screenshot what the same map looks like outside of the campaign. This is much more detailed and not just a flat texture. I think there is something not loading correctly. Maybe this is just on my system

 

Spoiler

 

 

OK, you're right. I took a screenshot with the custom texture and without it.

 

Spoiler

With:

 

Without:

 

 

You can now see that the issue is the winter ground texture being a few inches too high when the new texture file is loaded. 

 

Edit... After digging a little bit it turns out the surface.txt file has changed recently and there are new texture files that need to be updated.

 

 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

42 minutes ago, Jaegermeister said:

Perhaps @AEthelraedUnraed would have some insight into what exactly is going on there, but it is a bit more than I can sort out right now.

A blank white texture means IL2 couldn't find the texture file specified, or it wasn't specified in the SurfaceTex.txt file.

Might be some spelling error, or one of the (packed) official textures changed its name.

[Jaegermeister]

1 hour ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

A blank white texture means IL2 couldn't find the texture file specified, or it wasn't specified in the SurfaceTex.txt file.

Might be some spelling error, or one of the (packed) official textures changed its name.

 

OK, maybe there was a change to the packed texture file recently. Your Hurtgen winter texture has the same issue. I can unpack a more recent file and see if it makes it go away but that would mean importing all the added textures again which requires reselecting each ground texture from the properties box individually. That's a lot of work I fear. Do you know a way to import the added textures from one file to another including the texture selections?

 

Edit... It looks like there is no .nm file for the airfield texture and they used the swamp texture back then.

Edited March 19, 2024 by Jaegermeister

[Jaegermeister]

@AEthelraedUnraed it turns out the texture files have been changed. Notice the airfield textures numbers 97 through 100

 

The file on the left is from the current release version. The file on the right is from my custom ground texture file from 2003

 

 

Those are the textures in the screenshots above.

 

Edited March 19, 2024 by Jaegermeister

[Jaegermeister]

OK, I fixed the ground textures by replacing the Surface.txt and the surface.tini files with the new ones.

 

 

Now the ground textures will have to be corrected in various locations due to the changes

 

 

I used the same surface.dat file as before so no importing is required.

[Anonymousgamer]

The campaign scoreboard does not register the destruction of bridges even when it’s a successfully accomplished mission objective.

[Jaegermeister]

12 hours ago, Anonymousgamer said:

The campaign scoreboard does not register the destruction of bridges even when it’s a successfully accomplished mission objective.

 

What mission number was that?

[Anonymousgamer]

On 5/26/2024 at 11:14 AM, Jaegermeister said:

 

What mission number was that?

Mission number 8. 
I have also noticed that the scorbourd does not account for the destruction of railway platforms in all the missions that involve targeting railway stations. 

[Jaegermeister]

9 hours ago, Anonymousgamer said:

Mission number 8. 
I have also noticed that the scorbourd does not account for the destruction of railway platforms in all the missions that involve targeting railway stations. 

 

I checked and verified that the bridge is assigned to the German coalition. Whether it shows up in the scoreboard or not would involve game coding and is not related to mission design as far as I can tell. Maybe you want to file a bug report in the technical issues section.

[Anonymousgamer]

I have noticed that on several missions in the "Lightning Strike" campaign, the scoreboard does not account for the destruction of bridges or railway platforms.

[Anonymousgamer]

The autopilot usually doesn't land the plane in the “Lightning strikes.  The player's plane and the rest of the squadron's planes just circle the empty runways endlessly.

[Jaegermeister]

I already responded to the part about the scoreboard statistics.

 

On 5/30/2024 at 1:47 PM, Anonymousgamer said:

The autopilot usually doesn't land the plane in the “Lightning strikes.  The player's plane and the rest of the squadron's planes just circle the empty runways endlessly.

 

If you could tell me what mission number or numbers you had this issue with, I will look at it.

 

Edited May 31, 2024 by Jaegermeister

[Anonymousgamer]

On 5/31/2024 at 2:10 PM, Jaegermeister said:

I already responded to the part about the scoreboard statistics.

 

 

If you could tell me what mission number or numbers you had this issue with, I will look at it.

 

Sorry about the wait, but my PC just reached the end of its life span. I am in the process of getting a new one, but it will take a while. I will let you know as soon as I can play IL-2 again. 

[Burninator6502]

I'm confused over my name/position in the flight - missions 1-4.

 

Ok, so there are two flights, Ripper and Bluebird. I'm named Bluebird 2, so it sounds like I should be Bluebird 1's wingman. However, if I engage the autopilot, I fly in the element leader's (Bluebird 1) position.

 

It seems that either my callsign or position in the formation is incorrect.

 

I'm only on mission 4 so I can't speak to the rest of the missions.

 

It's been a blast so far...

 

[Jaegermeister]

@Burninator6502, I have brought up the issue with the Finger Four formation various times and submitted at least 1 bug report a long time ago.

 

 

 

 

This is the formation they fly in IL2. Not only that, when there is a fighter intercept 2 and 4 break off together and leave # 3 with the flight leader. It is clearly wrong.

 

I also looked up what your flight assignment is in Mission number 4 since you said that is where you are. You are assigned as number 2 on the leader's left, it says BlueBird 2 in the briefing, but you are assigned the callsign #3 on this mission. I will go back through the radio assignments and correct them, but I don't know when a patch will come out to correct it.

[Burninator6502]

I grabbed an image to use as an example and never noticed it said “Four Finger” even though I know that’s completely wrong.

 

The brain works in mysterious ways…

[Jaegermeister]

11 hours ago, Burninator6502 said:

I grabbed an image to use as an example and never noticed it said “Four Finger” even though I know that’s completely wrong.

 

The brain works in mysterious ways…

 

No, "Finger Four" is correct. The formation should look like the four fingers of your right hand when you hold it out in front of you palm down. The entire concept of element offense and defense is based on this formation and it was utilized by every major Air Force by the end of WWII as far as I know.

 

The IL2 V formation is incorrect for an Allied "Finger Four" formation. Whether that is intentional or a mistake is unclear, as it has never been corrected. The Germans used line abreast formations later in the war as it was too hard for the poorly trained replacement pilots to keep their elements intact. I am unsure about the details of Russian formations, but I have seen references to them using various formations including the early "gaggle", echelon and the Finger 4.

 

Thanks for pointing out the error in the radio ID!  

[KodiakJac]

Hi Jaegermeister,

 

One request for my favorite campaign.  Please don't despawn the player at the end of a mission.  I just finished Mission 17 - Gerolstein and came back all shot up after an encounter with some 109s on the way home.  After a nail-biter of a landing I parked my plane and was just about to shut down my engines and open my canopy, but suddenly I was despawned before I could finish.  My little ritual was cut short...lol

 

Thanks!