Mission building

[planesyplanesy]

Please don't shoot me!

I have a very  basic question to ask to the game designers of IL2 BOS.

Why does the MB have to be so complicated?

IL2 1946 and CLOD is so intuitive and easy and yet this platform seems to be so difficult to even put a basic mission file together!

I  love this game and prefer its game play and graphics to CLOD but have to say it would be a total master if the MB was easier and more straightforward.

 

[Sketch]

The simple answer is, the current mission editor is more difficult to learn because it's more robust than previous mission editors.

[Jaegermeister]

It’s like working with a database. There are no shortcuts. You have to start from the beginning and put every piece of data together in logical order or it does not work. You can make it do almost anything, but it is very time consuming and tedious.

[Gambit21]

2 hours ago, planesyplanesy said:

Please don't shoot me!

I have a very  basic question to ask to the game designers of IL2 BOS.

Why does the MB have to be so complicated?

IL2 1946 and CLOD is so intuitive and easy and yet this platform seems to be so difficult...

 

Think of the old 1946 editor as the original Microsoft Paint that came with the old Windows, and the new editor as Photoshop. Photoshop is MUCH more powerful but also takes more time to learn.

 

It’s really that simple 

[Thad]

Salutations,

 

I don't think the mission editor was created as a community mission building guide. It was most likely a in house editor used by the developers. After a lot of pleading by some in the community that wanted to create there own missions.... what we have now was shared.

 

Like I said, the ME was not built to be a simple editor for us players. It is and was a development tool.  

Edited June 8, 2020 by Thad

[Beebop]

"Why does the MB have to be so complicated?"

 

What Thad said. 

I once held your opinion, and in many ways still do, but through perseverance, practice and community help have a better grasp of how it works.

And since it is not viewed as a source of income like new planes, maps etc. development is not supported.  The Dev's feel that the Community can suss it out themselves.  And we have.  Many thanks to JimTM, Sketch, Vapor, Prangster, Jaegermeister, Gambit, Thad, Gramps and a host of other users that come to the aid of the mission builder.  They have come to my assistance every time, been very civil, kind and non-judgemental about my questions and provided excellent advice and solutions

.

Personally I see a Mission Editor as the lifeblood of a flight sim.  There are only so many scripted campaigns and pre-made missions that come with the game.  Many of the best campaigns, missions etc. have come from the Community and that breeds interest in the game and thus more sales and support.

Primarily what I would like to see is better documentation of the editor features.  The only manuals are years old and I understand that it would be a daunting task for any indiviual(s) to update the editor to the current level.  This is why I wish the Dev's would do some of the work to help the Community who would do most of the heavy lifting. 

But that's just my opinion.

 

Best advice, read the Mission Building forum, watch the videos on YouTube,  download and read the manuals, practice and if unsuccessful or confused, ask the question.  It helps if you can be specific, add screenshots, detail what you did thoroughly and upload the mission so experienced mission builders can look at what you did and suggest corrections.

Once you start getting the hang of it it becomes addictive and tons-o-fun!

 

Good luck!

Edited June 8, 2020 by Beebop

[IckyATLAS]

If I can just only dare a small comparison somewhat just a little exaggerated:

 

As a small child you are given a color pencil (MB 1946) and you made on a piece of paper a raw drawing, simple, circles, outlines your ma and pa, in a very crude form maybe add the sun and a cloud, and a few lines on the bottom for the grass.

 

As a grown up adult and experienced artist painter you are now in front of a large canvas and you paint a complex scene, with light reflections, shades, subtle color variations, highly detailed trees and leaves, flowers of various kinds, and animals like birds with their colored feathers, a wandering woman with an umbrella(sunshade) holding a dog that pulls on its leash, all this nearby the sea with its crashing waves and a sailing vessel that is  strongly tilted due to the wind in its sails, etc. etc.

It is not a static picture but it an extremely complex dynamic scene were a lot of physical details and phenomena are shown.

MB of IL2 BOX is your tool that is a very large palette of paints and brushes to allow you to paint this scene above.

But as I mentioned to become this experienced artist painter it took you 30 years of work.

 

Nevertheless you are very lucky as with the MB of IL2 BOX, three months only of hard work are well enough to start sketching your scene........   ?

[Jaegermeister]

I forget who I head say it not long ago...

 

It's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, but you have to make the pieces first.  

 

[SYN_Vander]

On 6/8/2020 at 5:12 AM, Thad said:

Salutations,

 

I don't think the mission editor was created as a community mission building guide. It was most likely a in house editor used by the developers. After a lot of pleading by some in the community that wanted to create there own missions.... what we have now was shared.

 

Like I said, the ME was not built to be a simple editor for us players. It is and was a development tool.  

Probably so. But it goes all the way back to when RoF was released in 2009 (?!) and hasn’t really changed (fundamentally) since. That’s when I started to learn.

The tutorials I made 10 years ago are probably still valid. ?

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL724688FAC76E4385

 

Edited June 12, 2020 by SYN_Vander