"The Kuban Wall" Campaign

[IckyATLAS]

I have excellent news. Finally the completely redesigned and much updated and improved Version 2 of The Kuban Wall campaign is released. Hope you will enjoy it.

Check the main page that has been edited.

[Satanas17]

Hi Icky,

 

I launched the 1st mission but I cannot finish it, after several tests I noticed that it went to "Mission Failed" before takeoff.

[IckyATLAS]

10 hours ago, Satanas17 said:

Hi Icky,

 

I launched the 1st mission but I cannot finish it, after several tests I noticed that it went to "Mission Failed" before takeoff.

That is correct. The mission is failed by default until you fulfill the primary objective and land alive in the mission airfield. For the first Mission with title Mission 00 Welcome to Kuban it is Krymskaya airfield.

At that point the Mission will switch to success. If this is not the case please let me know.

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2021 by IckyATLAS

[Missionbug]

Sorry to say I have the same issue Icky.

 

My flight meets some FW-190 en-route, the indicator seems to stop there and will not proceed for a while, however, after trying to pick up the next waypoint they activate again and I follow the route to the landing but still have a failed mission and cannot proceed.

 

For my rig there is far too much activity so Unfortunately I will not be going on but just so you know as far as I am aware I completed the landing safely which is the completion criteria.

 

Take care and be safe.

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[KodiakJac]

Hi Icky,

 

This looks like a great campaign!  But I had the same problem as the others on the 1st mission.  I shot down two Fw-190 en-route, and then I shot down two 110s attacking my destination airfield.  Then landed and ended the mission and it said "Failed."  Was I supposed to re-arm/re-fuel and do something else?  I spotted the service area with the white flag, but didn't use it as I wasn't sure what else I was supposed to do.

 

Cheers!

[IckyATLAS]

Thank you all for playing this campaign and for your comments. Yes you are right there was a link bug to activate the mission success when all mission conditions are met. It has been corrected. I have also corrected the mission description text to make it clear that you have to land in Krymskaya.

 

The campaign files to be downloaded are corrected too. Those that will newly download the campaign it is all fine. For those of you that already downloaded and installed the campaign you can just download the Mission 00 Update zip file here.

 

Unzip the files and just copy and replace all the Mission 00 files in the Kuban Wall campaign folder. 

 

KodiakJac nice you managed to shoot down three of the enemy planes along the route and in Krymskaya which is perfect. Just landing is not enough though. You must land and park your plane anywhere you like on the airfield which means you have stopped moving, that will get you the mission success. Don't be in a hurry and end your mission too early just after having landed on your airfield as this will not record your success. When the mission is properly ended you will get a nice visual mission success confirmation message.  The message can appear only if the HUD is active but in any case the mission success will be recorded. There is no need to go to the service center and rearm, refuel or repair, to register a mission success unless you need to do so (if you are out of ammo or too damaged to continue) to be able to fly back again to complete your main mission objectives.

 

The mission route waypoints are there "for info" as a guideline, and only for the primary objective. When you activate the autopilot during the mission it will send you to the last active waypoint which may be counterproductive. I do not think there is a command to switch waypoints during the game. The secondary objectives to be carried are free flight, you have to plan your way for them.

 

[Missionbug]

Thank you very much for the mission update Icky, really appreciated, I will give it another go.

 

Further to the last report I actually landed and went wandering to the fuel tanks near the control tower but did not notice the flag that denotes the refueling area, I eventually parked at the side of the control tower and exited, never did find where the refuel station was (Not something I use to be honest unless it was at mission start, out and back once is enough for me).

 

While in flight it is possible to look at what you have hit and on that mission screen it was declared failed where we met the FW-190s so had I missed something between takeoff and there for the mission to be void that early?  Should my flight have avoided the 190s or is that intended, I ask because they seemed interested in a train I think it was?

 

Take care and be safe.

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

 

 

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by Missionbug

[IckyATLAS]

8 hours ago, Missionbug said:

Thank you very much for the mission update Icky, really appreciated, I will give it another go.

 

Further to the last report I actually landed and went wandering to the fuel tanks near the control tower but did not notice the flag that denotes the refueling area, I eventually parked at the side of the control tower and exited, never did find where the refuel station was (Not something I use to be honest unless it was at mission start, out and back once is enough for me).

 

While in flight it is possible to look at what you have hit and on that mission screen it was declared failed where we met the FW-190s so had I missed something between takeoff and there for the mission to be void that early?  Should my flight have avoided the 190s or is that intended, I ask because they seemed interested in a train I think it was?

 

Take care and be safe.

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

 

 

 

The mission is failed all along and it is only the fact that you land alive and park (after having fulfilled the mission requirements) that will have the mission success message appear and that will switch the mission to success. For Mission 00  it is to have three of the attacking planes: destroyed, pilot killed or plane crashed. Just damaging the enemy plane is not enough otherwise the mission would be too easy. You have three wingmen for help. The attacking planes you may encounter along the Krasnodar-Krymskaya axis are a flight of FW190, BF109 and  BF110 at different places, they will try to attack various trains that carry fuel, troops, cargo as well as tank or troop convoys. Better to attack those planes, but you may not and go on. The problem is that if you do nothing and do not fight first you still need to get three planes down and second if you do not protect the trains than this is a hint here, in case too many carried troops are lost (this may happen or not, the outcome is not always sure as enemy planes have still trouble attacking the locomotives) you may have some terrible trouble with your superiors as you avoided to defend them and the mission may be lost.

 

The maintenance hangars are where there is a white or soviet flag flapping in the wind. It is not near the fuel tanks. That's risky, in case of attack on fuel tanks the whole maintenance place can burn or be blown up. To be able to activate the maintenance you have to park twenty to thirty meters from this flag. You can use the arrow panels that will indicate where the parking place is. Your plane, wings must not trespass the panels that show the limit. This creates a free zone between your plane and the hangars where some animation takes place that I let you discover.

Edited October 31, 2021 by IckyATLAS

[Missionbug]

That explains things, my flight was not that successful against the 190's, I forget exactly but I damaged one but in the engagement lost two of my flight, a 190 followed what was left of us and took out my last man, he was taken down himself by airfield flak as he continued to follow me to the home base.

 

Taking out three 190's is not that easy especially as my flight had four different types, that would I think be a major stumbling block for most of us, just getting home is difficult enough without having to jump through too many hoops, especially when I did not know that.

 

I noticed the arrows, thought they were the landing direction, anyway, seems I failed that one on many points, looks like I was doomed to fail.

 

Thank you very much for the effort, I will leave it to others from here.

 

Take care and be safe.

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

 

[IckyATLAS]

2 hours ago, Missionbug said:

That explains things, my flight was not that successful against the 190's, I forget exactly but I damaged one but in the engagement lost two of my flight, a 190 followed what was left of us and took out my last man, he was taken down himself by airfield flak as he continued to follow me to the home base.

 

Taking out three 190's is not that easy especially as my flight had four different types, that would I think be a major stumbling block for most of us, just getting home is difficult enough without having to jump through too many hoops, especially when I did not know that.

 

I noticed the arrows, thought they were the landing direction, anyway, seems I failed that one on many points, looks like I was doomed to fail.

 

Thank you very much for the effort, I will leave it to others from here.

 

Take care and be safe.

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

 

You do not need to take out the three 190's. It is enough that you down three planes be it 190, 109 or 110. You have in total 9 enemy  planes but not at the same time and they are in different places along that route. Any combination is ok as long as you have three enemy planes down in total. 

 

Some additional info:

Regarding the maintenance or service facilities here are some picture to illustrate two of them. There are many others on the airfields and the sizes can be different and also sometimes the facilities are small and made of fabric tents. But they all have the same working logic and they will always work independently of how is your mission going.

These are places you can go and if they are active (white flag at mid-mast) then you can be services. If the white flag is down then the facility is normally closed. If the flag is the soviet flag at top of the mast then the facility is open but busy servicing other planes and you will have to wait to be serviced. Waiting time varies from a few minutes up to 20 minutes. The service facilities status on certain airfields is random so if you replay the mission they can change status.

 

Here a picture of the Krasnodar facility which is large:

 

Closer look from a ground perspective:

 

You can see the signs that will guide you and define the service parking area in from of the facility. Just avoid being in the area between the signs and the facility itself. There is an animation of the facility that may collide with you if you stay in that area.

 

Here the facility in Krymskaya that is smaller:

 

Same with a ground perspective:

 

Just a hint, at night the hangar interiors are illuminated.

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by IckyATLAS

[Satanas17]

Hi,

 

I download and replace the files then carry out the mission, I shot down three 190s and one BF110, then landed in Krymskawa and always failed mission. After shooting down the three FW190s I landed in Krasnodar to rearm.

[IckyATLAS]

1 hour ago, Satanas17 said:

Hi,

 

I download and replace the files then carry out the mission, I shot down three 190s and one BF110, then landed in Krymskawa and always failed mission. After shooting down the three FW190s I landed in Krasnodar to rearm.

When you shot down the 190s they were attacking a convoy made of trucks carrying troops and a train also carrying troops. If at least 4 of the trucks of the convoy are destroyed then this fails the mission as you have to defend them. Same if the train loco gets destroyed as the carriages if destroyed do not count. Can you remember if one of these two cases happened.  This is not true for the 109 or the 110. I agree that this adds to the difficulties, but war was never simple or easy.

 

The only thing that did not work indeed and there was an issue with that is that after landing you should have got a message about this fact.

I have corrected this. But before I publish the correction, I have to recognize that this situation can be frustrating to all of you trying to play.

I will do some additional checks and be back here shortly.

 

[Elem]

15 hours ago, IckyATLAS said:

When you shot down the 190s they were attacking a convoy made of trucks carrying troops and a train also carrying troops. If at least 4 of the trucks of the convoy are destroyed then this fails the mission as you have to defend them.

So these 190's are the most important targets then? I've flown the mission 4 times now. All other requirements for success have been met. Last time with all 3 190 downed, 1 109 and 2 110, all with the original ammo load. Landed at Krymskaya, stopped and got the success video each time. Taxied to the maintenance point anyway and rearmed and refuelled just in case, but still a mission failure. It can only be that 4 or more trucks were destroyed.

[IckyATLAS]

5 hours ago, Elem said:

So these 190's are the most important targets then? I've flown the mission 4 times now. All other requirements for success have been met. Last time with all 3 190 downed, 1 109 and 2 110, all with the original ammo load. Landed at Krymskaya, stopped and got the success video each time. Taxied to the maintenance point anyway and rearmed and refuelled just in case, but still a mission failure. It can only be that 4 or more trucks were destroyed.

Thanks Elem. I am looking into this issue. If you got the success video there is no reason there is a mission failure. This seems weird.

By the way you are an excellent sharpshooter. 

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by IckyATLAS

[Elem]

Thanks Icky. I thought this was odd from what you said previously. I have enjoyed playing it 5 times now but would like to move on!

[Satanas17]

On 11/1/2021 at 7:59 PM, IckyATLAS said:

When you shot down the 190s they were attacking a convoy made of trucks carrying troops and a train also carrying troops. If at least 4 of the trucks of the convoy are destroyed then this fails the mission as you have to defend them. Same if the train loco gets destroyed as the carriages if destroyed do not count. Can you remember if one of these two cases happened. This is not true for the 109 or the 110. I agree that this adds to the difficulties, but war was never simple or easy.

 

The only thing that did not work indeed and there was an issue with that is that after landing you should have got a message about this fact.

I have corrected this. But before I publish the correction, I have to recognize that this situation can be frustrating to all of you trying to play.

I will do some additional checks and be back here shortly.

 

the FW190s damaged carriages and no truck.
I also got the video of the victory on the landing.

[IckyATLAS]

3 hours ago, Elem said:

Thanks Icky. I thought this was odd from what you said previously. I have enjoyed playing it 5 times now but would like to move on!

You are totally right. I will be as quick as possible.?

[IckyATLAS]

Thank you all for your comments. The Mission Objectives success/failure management was indeed with some design issues that were the same across all missions. I have corrected that across all the eight missions, but also took an additional decision. Please find the new update and explanations and also a new possibility that I think you may like, on the top main page of this thread. This new approach allow you to continue in this campaign without being stuck in a mission.

[7bhp_Mk]

I can confirm the first mission can now be completed upon downing 3 enemy aeroplanes and successfully landing at the destination airfield. Have been having lots of fun replaying this mission since it was released, but I can now also look forward to the remaining 6 missions. If they are half as much fun as the first one, no doubt they will be a blast.

 

Thanks to Icky for creating this campaign. I appreciate your hard work in putting it together for us all to enjoy!

[KodiakJac]

"This is why I have decided to release this campaign in two formats and I added the form of individual missions that you can play independently as you like."

 

Thank you for such an open minded and reasonable approach, Icky!

 

I'm going to try the campaign version again, and will give you feedback if possible, as I really like the feel and atmosphere of your first mission.  But I'm really glad you've also offered this campaign in single mission form, as one way or another, I want to fly all your missions!

 

Cheers, and also looking forward to Part 2!

[Elem]

All good now Icky. Mission 01 here I come. Many thanks for a very nice campaign.

[Satanas17]

Mission 1 carried out successful, I will be able to move on to the 2.
Thank you for this campaign which looks exciting, and for the reactivity to solve problems.

Thanks Icky

[Missionbug]

Hello again Icky, not sure exactly how but I completed the first mission.

 

I had only shot down one aircraft and there was a message in Red about failing secondary targets but while taxiing aimlessly around to find the refuel point a song came on that I assumed heralded the success of mission one, I escaped and so it was.

 

Thank you very much for the updated version, really appreciated.

 

I love the detail around the airfields and the surrounding industry, boats as well, it plays havoc with my machine though, cannot cope well enough, I

need a new one.

 

Take care and be safe.

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Missionbug

[Falcon41]

Icky,

     I am playing the campaign version and all is working just fine.  I need to complement you on the uniqueness of the missions and how each is unique and full of surprises.  I didn’t know we could do all that you have done.  KUDOS!!!

Falcon41

[IckyATLAS]

2 hours ago, Missionbug said:

Hello again Icky, not sure exactly how but I completed the first mission.

 

I had only shot down one aircraft and there was a message in Red about failing secondary targets but while taxiing aimlessly around to find the refuel point a song came on that I assumed heralded the success of mission one, I escaped and so it was.

 

Thank you very much for the updated version, really appreciated.

 

I love the detail around the airfields and the surrounding industry, boats as well, it plays havoc with my machine though, cannot cope well enough, I

need a new one.

 

Take care and be safe.

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

Well done, and Yes indeed you can very well succeed by shooting down only one airplane. The objective is that three attacking enemy planes be shot down. But it is not mentioned that YOU must shoot them down. If some get shot down by your wingmen or the AAA artillery on the trains, or by the airfield AAA defenses that is fine too. What I do sometimes to bring the enemy airplane down is to lure him over my friendly AAA fire. 

Have fun ? 

[Elem]

I think mission, 03 Save the Convoy is the next problem. Is this really possible? I've tried 4 times. The bomber force is overwhelming and the turbulence makes aiming very difficult, although this doesn't stop the AI gunners from being snipers! I can usually sink the U-boat on route, but that doesn't help. What's the secret of success Icky?

[IckyATLAS]

Good question and a good point. Maybe it is too hard. As I said it is difficult to calibrate between too easy and too hard. When developing and testing it was always too easy, even for me and I am far of being an ace. There is no other key to success except to avoid loosing too many cargos and tankers. Sinking the submarine is not mandatory (secondary success) but a good precaution if you plan to fly much longer in the mission without registering your success (that is flying back to your airfield Gelendzhik-1 and as usual landing and parking anywhere on the airfield) as one additional cargo or tanker can be sunk by the submarine and this would fail the mission. And in fact sometimes there may be even another submarine (not always as it is random) but from other places that can attack the convoy.

Turbulence is strong true, because the weather is bad and the sea is bad too. But again here maybe too strong.

On the other hand by attacking the submarine you loose some time and the bombers may arrive earlier at the convoy and destroy it.

Have you tried to go direct to the convoy leaving the submarine. Maybe this would improve your chances, you can always try to find the submarine on your way back. But if it sees you it should dive.

Anyhow I will try to make the mission easier. Stay tuned.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2021 by IckyATLAS

[Blitzen]

WONDERFUL- MANY THANKS!

[Elem]

Hi Icky. Yes I tried not taking the bomb to attack the sub, but it's not possible to get to the bombers any quicker. They appear to be triggered by your proximity to the fleet and only spawn when you first make contact with the fleet, so you can never intercept them any sooner. I can usually take out 3 of the He 111 but take damage too, meanwhile the bomber escorts are making short work of my wingmen and then they chase me to Agoy. I then get the mission failed every time I'm approaching Agoy. I've tried it 7 times now and it's the same result every time. I'm really curious to know if anybody else has succeeded.

[Alfaunostebas11]

Hi Icky.

I have just downloaded The Kuban Wall (in the single missions version) and I must say that my impression is that you have done a really immense job.

I wanted to load a mission into the M.E. to take a look at the large amount of units present, but - strangely - I can't find any mission files in the folder. Not being a paid campaign, but for free, normally the files are available and, frankly, I don't even know how they can be protected ... but I can't find them !

How is this thing...?

 

EDITED: Problem solved. There are no mission files but only msnbin files ... OK.

Edited November 9, 2021 by Alfaunostebas11

[KodiakJac]

37 minutes ago, Alfaunostebas11 said:

EDITED: Problem solved. There are no mission files but only msnbin files ... OK.

 

Yeah, I ran into the same thing.  I thought it would be fun to fly the missions in some of the other aircraft present, but found that there are no mission files, just the bin files. 

 

Campaigns are a lot of fun to fly in other aircraft after you've completed the original campaign ?  Hopefully Icky will supply the mission files at some point in the future.  But maybe he is thinking of offering The Kuban Wall as payware at some point in the future, so then it would be understandable that he has made the mission files unavailable.

 

Either way The Kuban Wall is shaping up as a great campaign! 

[Alfaunostebas11]

32 minutes ago, KodiakJac said:

 

Yeah, I ran into the same thing.  I thought it would be fun to fly the missions in some of the other aircraft present, but found that there are no mission files, just the bin files. 

 

Campaigns are a lot of fun to fly in other aircraft after you've completed the original campaign ?  Hopefully Icky will supply the mission files at some point in the future.  But maybe he is thinking of offering The Kuban Wall as payware at some point in the future, so then it would be understandable that he has made the mission files unavailable.

 

Either way The Kuban Wall is shaping up as a great campaign! 

Kodjac, I don't know why the mission files are not available, but I don't think the author wants to think about an "economic" exploitation of his work, because he clearly explained in the introductory post the reasons why he wanted to create a campaign " free "and not for a fee.

In any case, the mission files are easily recoverable through the MSNBIN, just follow the instructions on page 48 of the "IL-2 Sturmovik Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Manual" ...

Then you can intervene and modify whatever you want (if you are able ...) provided of course that you make a strictly personal use, unless you have the permission of Icky ....

[KodiakJac]

56 minutes ago, Alfaunostebas11 said:

In any case, the mission files are easily recoverable through the MSNBIN, just follow the instructions on page 48 of the "IL-2 Sturmovik Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Manual" ...

Then you can intervene and modify whatever you want (if you are able ...) provided of course that you make a strictly personal use, unless you have the permission of Icky ....

 

Thanks, Alfaunostebas11!  Didn't know the mechanics, but I figured that there must be a way to convert an msnbin file into a mission file.  And it would always be for personal use only.

 

Now I know how!  ?

[Alfaunostebas11]

14 minutes ago, KodiakJac said:

 

Thanks, Alfaunostebas11!  Didn't know the mechanics, but I figured that there must be a way to convert an msnbin file into a mission file.  And it would always be for personal use only.

 

Now I know how!  ?

I'm glad I helped you ...

[IckyATLAS]

8 hours ago, Alfaunostebas11 said:

Kodjac, I don't know why the mission files are not available, but I don't think the author wants to think about an "economic" exploitation of his work, because he clearly explained in the introductory post the reasons why he wanted to create a campaign " free "and not for a fee.

In any case, the mission files are easily recoverable through the MSNBIN, just follow the instructions on page 48 of the "IL-2 Sturmovik Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Manual" ...

Then you can intervene and modify whatever you want (if you are able ...) provided of course that you make a strictly personal use, unless you have the permission of Icky ....

Correct. You can generate from the .msbin files a .mission file through the editor. Nevertheless it will not be easily readable as at this stage to modify things without screwing up the whole mission, or at least it will request some work to find out what does what and the mission design is more than complex.

 

This campaign is free and there is no plan at all to make it paying in a way or another. Once the campaign will be completed with part 1 and part 2 finalized and fully "playable" thanks to your inputs, as my project was initially intended I will open it and make it accessible to modifications.

[IckyATLAS]

One thing that makes me a "little" angry is that to correct the impact of the "surprise" change by the devs of the MCU Set Value function behavior,  I have a modification to do 124 times across the 8 missions, as in average this function is used give or take around 13 times per mission. This  modification adds complexity and is not "clean" coding. This function is exclusively used in the service area logic where it can manage the behavior of the player plane which actions timing cannot be defined in advance. The pilot may come and leave as it pleases from such an area. It is incredible that the devs change such an important function without a warning. Fortunately it will not impact the capability of the player to do the servicing of his plane in normal circumstances. The impact will be that some vocal radio messages will be received by the pilot out of context after having been in a service area, in certain cases like when the pilot takes actions in contradiction with what the service area has requested him to do. My decision here is to leave this functionality as is for now and see if any of you encounter these more rare situations. Maybe in some future updates this function's initial behavior is restored.

Edited November 10, 2021 by IckyATLAS

[Falcon41]

IckyATLAS,

      After the latest update I can no longer play your missions either as single or campaign.  Any idea what needs to be done ?  I've attempted to save them all with the ME, but no luck.

Falcon41

[Elem]

2 hours ago, Falcon41 said:

IckyATLAS,

      After the latest update I can no longer play your missions either as single or campaign.  Any idea what needs to be done ?  I've attempted to save them all with the ME, but no luck.

Falcon41

Mine is the same. I re-saved all the scripted campaigns in the ME after the update. They all work except this one.

[KodiakJac]

On 12/12/2021 at 11:41 AM, Falcon41 said:

IckyATLAS,

      After the latest update I can no longer play your missions either as single or campaign.  Any idea what needs to be done ?  I've attempted to save them all with the ME, but no luck.

Falcon41

 

@IckyATLAS

 

Same here.  I just resaved "The Kuban Wall" in the ME, but no joy...it doesn't work anymore.

 

Looking forward to when Icky can fix it, as this is a great campaign!

 

[IckyATLAS]

8 hours ago, KodiakJac said:

 

@IckyATLAS

 

Same here.  I just resaved "The Kuban Wall" in the ME, but no joy...it doesn't work anymore.

 

Looking forward to when Icky can fix it, as this is a great campaign!

 

 

Unfortunately the updated version is not yet ready. As you know this campaign is free and it is a personal project that I do in my free time.  I take the opportunity of a major update for the sim to improve globally the missions.

A few examples here:

1) The IL2 last update as you know has modified the Atmospheric model. This has impacts on certain missions, and I had to modify when necessary the atmospheric model to be coherent with the scenario.

2) Those who played already the campaign saw that the mission to Save the Convoy coming from Tuapse was so difficult that it was impossible to win and so to move to the next one. This has been corrected. I am in a testing phase now. It is very difficult to not do the opposite and have a too easy mission. I have also to better check other missions to be sure that they can be done.

3) The Nightmare Mission, which is a purely night mission, and the fact that we do not have anymore the light tubes from the projectors visible does indeed make the mission much less interesting or fun. I hope a quick hotfix may be done until I release the updated version.

 

There are also some additional improvements made in each mission etc. 

I will not give a date for the release but I will do my best ? 

Thank you for your patience.