Kuban Autumn Nth Africa Desert Beta upload - Updated version to 4.0 04-04-2021

[No74_Cheese 17]

A defendable dream,an attackers nightmare!!!!!

[Kapteeni 20]

Amazing work! 

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Kapteeni

[Off_Winters 338]

Hi All,

continuing to change out Russian models with US or Brits if available. again this is just for QC and or missions that do not stipulate country for mission placed items. stops the map being populated with Russian items. I'll give the artillery pieces a coat of desert sand paint at some point. 

regards Rob.

Edited December 28, 2020 by Off_Winters

[Blitzen 890]

Getting higher in the desert? Well ...probbably just a glitch in my original install, but still a surprise when & had to "deadstick" near this location...🙄

[Beebop 755]

@Blitzen

 

 

[CB77Don246 73]

I deleted the Beta 2 and installed Beta 3 but Beta 3 has no missions unlike beta 2 is this so ?

 

Thank you for this mod I was enjoying the Beta 2 untill I uninstalled it.

[Beebop 755]

AFAIK there are no missions included with this mod, it's all texture repaints.  At least I didn't get any missions.

Any mission should work with Beta3 as long as it's on the Kuban Autumn map.

[CB77Don246 73]

I have downloaded a number of the Malta missions but I only get green terrain and not desert is there any way you could upload Beta 2 please that worked just great as I deleted it.

 

Sorry to be a pain I did try a quick mission on the Kuban map in Autumn and I had the desert terrain so it must be the missions I downloaded that were to blame so if any one has some missions for the beta 3 please can they link me thanks.

Edited December 29, 2020 by CB77Don246

[Beebop 755]

1 hour ago, CB77Don246 said:

I did try a quick mission on the Kuban map in Autumn and I had the desert terrain

Then the mod is installed correctly.

It's not the missions!  Those "Malta" missions are just like any other mission.  It's the map textures that are different.

Also, the Malta repaint is for Kuban Summer.  This North Africa repaint is for Kuban Autumn.

You already have the mod installed.  ANY mission you load that uses the Kuban Autumn map will have the N.Africa Desert textures.

If the mission was made on the Kuban Spring or Summer map or on any other map you will see the textures of that map, not desert.  Some objects may have desert textures as per the ReadMe/Install instructions.

 

Again, I't's Not The Missions!

[meplanes1969 1146]

for the malta missions to have malta texture you need to install the malta mod

[CB77Don246 73]

1 hour ago, meplanes1969 said:

for the malta missions to have malta texture you need to install the malta mod

Ho I thought I had it with the beta 3 so there is another mod the MALTA MOD. ?

Ok so I have found the Malta beta 2 zip then can I run it with the north African mod ?

Edited December 29, 2020 by CB77Don246

[Off_Winters 338]

1 hour ago, CB77Don246 said:

Ho I thought I had it with the beta 3 so there is another mod the MALTA MOD. ?

Ok so I have found the Malta beta 2 zip then can I run it with the north African mod ?

Hi CB,

yes mate you can run the Malta MOD over the top of the Desert MOD.

the Malta MOD uses the Desert MOD as a base, it then places its own modified files over the top changing specific aspects of the Desert mod to suit the Malta scenery.
so steps are:

1. install the Desert Mod.

2. Install the Malta Mod.
3. play the missions set for Malta.
 

regards Rob.

[No457_Stonehouse 118]

Easiest way is to get EMG (see https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/forum/129-easy-mission-generator-by-vander/) and select the channel map in the map selections and 1941. This is kuban autumn but with the plane set limited to non Russian circa 1941 aircraft (if you leave historical aircraft ticked) so if you have the Nth African mod installed you'll get desert missions out the other end when you click generate mission. Leave skins default generally and the Nth African mod will give you desert skins. If you want to pick particular aircraft loadouts like 4x20mm cannon and tropical filter for the Hurricane you will need to load the generated mission in the editor and do some simple tweaks to each aircraft you want set up a particular way. You can also set skins via the editor too as I think EMG only allows you to pick the default or a custom skin (could be wrong about this). The examples below took a few mins for EMG to create each one and about 5-10 mins in the editor on each depending on what I was setting. Mostly I just wanted to give every Hurricane a desert filter and the extra boost.

 

 

 

<EDIT 8/1/21>

Apologies - Mucking around this afternoon I found that perhaps the 3rd mission in the attached zip is mistakenly in Kuban Summer. I'll fix it over the next few days as I have time and reupload the zip. Although if you poke about in the editor it is pretty straight forward to switch the season and the aircraft skins without changing anything else mission wise.

 

<EDIT 10/1/21>

Updated the 3rd mission to correct my mistakes. Replaced the zip file.

Desert EMG example coops.zip

Edited January 10 by No457_Stonehouse
attachment updated

[CB77Don246 73]

Thanks guys for replys I understand it now.

[Off_Winters 338]

11 hours ago, No457_Stonehouse said:

Easiest way is to get EMG (see https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/forum/129-easy-mission-generator-by-vander/) and select the channel map in the map selections and 1941.

 

Thanks Stonehouse,

I did just as you said and it worked just fine. Even opened up the full game mission editor for the first time, and it only took a couple of minutes to work out how to edit skins and loadouts etc for the easy mission generated file.
For the next update I'll include a couple of basic missions flying sweeps, strike's, and Rhubarb's.

regards Rob.

[Beebop 755]

1 hour ago, Off_Winters said:

For the next update I'll include a couple of basic missions flying sweeps, strike's, and Rhubarb's.

Excellent!  Thanks.

(did i mention you are doing STELLAR work?)

[No457_Stonehouse 118]

Yes it's pretty straight forward to tweak loadouts and skins. Only issue with skins is the editor doesn't give the description so I found that making a pdf or shortcut to skins.tab.eng from the mod onto the desktop for easy reference made life easier as you can then cross ref the editor name to the description. I am (well was, it's been a while) fairly proficient with DCS's editor and simple lua scripts (which is really how DCS handles complexity by offloading it to scripts) but IL2 went the other way and kept the complex functionality in the editor so while tweaking loadouts and skins is fine there is no way I could build a mission from scratch to match the complexity of an EMG or PWCG mission. Lots of respect for Vander's and Patrick's work.

[Off_Winters 338]

2 hours ago, No457_Stonehouse said:

Yes it's pretty straight forward to tweak loadouts and skins. Only issue with skins is the editor doesn't give the description so I found that making a pdf or shortcut to skins.tab.eng from the mod onto the desktop for easy reference made life easier as you can then cross ref the editor name to the description. 

Hi Stonehouse,

yes agree on the skins being hard to work out which one is which in the mission editor. I've made a file that takes each of the aircraft details  and stock skin number from the skins.tab file as a quick reference tool. I'll include that with the next update, and I'll attach it in this thread tonight after work for people to use before the next update is released.

regards Rob.

[Off_Winters 338]

Hi All,

Attached is a list of default game skin slots that have a desert air war paint scheme in place. In the mission editor you can select a skin for each aircraft listed, this list will help you identify a skin number that has a relevant Nth. African/ Mediterranean  scheme  from the list. ie skin_1, skin_2 etc.

This list will be included with the next update to the mod and will include any new additions or amendments.

regards Rob. 

Stock IL2 Skin name details.txt

[Beebop 755]

I was working on a fictional Arab-Israeli post war conflict mission and I was wanting to use the arc hanger as part of a secret Iraqi-German nuclear reactor when I found a minor anomaly in the ME today.

 

If I choose
"Blocks_arf_hangerarc" I get "arf_hangerdoubleside" instead.  ( I also get "arf_hangerdoubleside" when I choose it.)

 

Is this planned?  Were there no arc hangers in North Africa?  If so, OK.

This anomaly does not occur with meplanes Malta repaint or any other Kuban repaint I have.
Of course the problem goes away when I disable the mod.

 

Not a big deal really but I thought I'd mention it.

[Off_Winters 338]

1 hour ago, Beebop said:

I was working on a fictional Arab-Israeli post war conflict mission and I was wanting to use the arc hanger as part of a secret Iraqi-German nuclear reactor when I found a minor anomaly in the ME today.

 

If I choose
"Blocks_arf_hangerarc" I get "arf_hangerdoubleside" instead.  ( I also get "arf_hangerdoubleside" when I choose it.)

 

Is this planned?  Were there no arc hangers in North Africa?  If so, OK.

This anomaly does not occur with meplanes Malta repaint or any other Kuban repaint I have.
Of course the problem goes away when I disable the mod.

 

Not a big deal really but I thought I'd mention it.

Its an intentional swap, those arch hangers are a European thing. theres a lot of models I have swapped around in the Desert mod to try and have as little European infrastructure as possible show up in the desert.

I haven't looked at the content of the Malta Mod, but If you have the desert mod installed under the Malta mod then you should still see the double hanger rather than the arch. the only way you could still see the arch hanger is if the Malta Mod includes that file and swaps my change back.

regards Rob.

[Beebop 755]

OK then.  Makes sense.  I admit I've never seen an arched hanger in any WWII desert pictures but I was just curious.

Yet another example of your attention to detail that makes this mod effin' OUTSTANDING! 👍

[Off_Winters 338]

Hi All,

I have just uploaded a small fix  - 3.1 Hot-fix.
The hot-fix file is a short term fix for several issues around the static vehicles (was missing some low-LOD models in the Russian vehicles I swapped out) and an issue with the rear gunner of the A20 not displaying correctly. the hot fix files will be incorporated into the next full version (4) when that is released to bring it back to a single install item.

the first post has been updated with the link and instructions for the hot fix.

regards Rob.

[jollyjack 638]

180MB a small fix ?? For an Aussie maybe, used to the size of the outback LoL. Thanks again for all your works, much appreciated.

[Atlantia39 36]

@Off_Winters

I've noticed using this mod it turns ALL German troops/vehicles into Desert/Africa Corps colors.

 

I was playing TC and in the Pokharovka map all the Germans were the wrong color scheme.

 

How can one account for this?  Does the new update address?

[Beebop 755]

This is the result of the mod being installed.  Unlike most map mods that only re-texture the seasonal terrain tiles, this mod goes further and re-texture's files that are used universally.

As long as the mod is installed you will see "desert" colouration on various objects regardless of module, map or season.

To end this effect just uninstall the mod.

Edited January 25 by Beebop

[Atlantia39 36]

22 minutes ago, Beebop said:

This is the result of the mod being installed.  Unlike most map mods that only re-texture the seasonal terrain tiles, this mod goes further and re-texture's files that are used universally.

As long as the mod is installed you will see "desert" colouration on various objects regardless of module, map or season.

To end this effect just uninstall the mod.

 

Yes that what I did alright...it was most unnerving to see Afrika Corps troops running around in Russia...LOL  

[Uufflakke 1444]

3 hours ago, Atlantia39 said:

 

Yes that what I did alright...it was most unnerving to see Afrika Corps troops running around in Russia...LOL  

 

Oh well... even field marshal Erwin Rommel can take a road exit too late and the wrong lane on a roundabout.

 

 

[pjmack11377 340]

great mod...my favorite orina.  fictional skin.  lol

will this work with easy mission generator?

 

[No457_Stonehouse 118]

Yes - have the mod installed and use the channel 41 situation and an autumn date. This will limit the plane set to non Russian and German and use the Kuban Autumn map (which is what the Nth Africa mod requires). Most likely you will need to edit the aircraft skins (although picking default will largely work as is) and the aircraft mods like Hurricane desert air filter, 20mm x 4 Hispano cannons etc using the IL2 mission editor. Fortunately this is not difficult even though it can be a bit of a pain.

Edited January 29 by No457_Stonehouse

[pjmack11377 340]

Any idea when version 4 will be up?  Thank you kindly

[Off_Winters 338]

7 hours ago, pjmack11377 said:

Any idea when version 4 will be up?  Thank you kindly

Hi pjmack,

I was hoping for end of January to release the next update, but I've been flat out at work and have not really done a great deal of work on the mod over the last few weeks. It won't be too far away though.

regards Rob.

[pjmack11377 340]

Thank you Bob.  It's worth the wait.

 

Patrick

1 minute ago, Off_Winters said:

Hi pjmack,

I was hoping for end of January to release the next update, but I've been flat out at work and have not really done a great deal of work on the mod over the last few weeks. It won't be too far away though.

regards Rob.

 

[BP_Lizard 210]

@Off_Winters: What an absolutely great mod! Thank you very much.

Edited February 16 by BP_Lizard

[BP_Lizard 210]

On 11/2/2020 at 5:14 AM, SKG210_Molders said:

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful skin. Any link where I could download it, please? Thanks.

[Falcon41 78]

Rob,

     I've noticed that when playing the SIM with your MOD unselected the Willys jeep appears as if it's not completely filled out.  If you recall you had a similar problem with the control tower a while back.  I love the MOD and look forward to any improvements you make.

He

 

Falcon41

 

 

Rob,

     Just a quick follow-up, what I meant to say is that your MOD is installed but I was playing on another map when I noticed the jeep was just barely visible, actually I taxied into it! 

 

Falcon41

[Beebop 755]

Most map repaints only do the ground textures.  This mod also repaints objects such as the trains, and many buildings and vehicles.  Those repaints are global so will show up on any map.

It's probably a conflict with the other map(s) wanting to show the stock object texture and the mod wanting to display it's repainted texture.

Most likely the issue will go away if you uninstall the mod through JSGME. 

That said I personally have never had the issue as you describe on other maps even with the mod enabled.  However those objects repainted will show up in desert schemes.

Edited February 22 by Beebop

[Falcon41 78]

Beebop,

     I checked the mission I was referring to with the MOD uninstalled and on close examination in the ME I noticed the Jeep was still there as described in my initial post, basically a faint skeleton.  I was able to replace it and it showed up just fine.  Don't understand what's happening here, as you and Rob are more knowledgeable in this regard than I.  As I mentioned in my earlier post I saw a similar effect with the control tower and Rob noted he saw it also and was able to correct it, "it" having something to do with an alpha channel correction.
     Thanks for your explanation and response.

 

Falcon41

[Falcon41 78]

Beebop,

     I went back to the ME in an effort to sort this out and realized that with the MOD installed I saw the willys jeep where I had placed it.  However, next to it, in the skeleton appearance, was another.  Looking in the ME I realized there were two willy jeeps one was a static willysmb and the other one under Vehicles, its the willysmb that has the skeleton appearance.  Hope this helps.  I've checked this out with both the MOD on and uninstalled and its shows up.

 

Falcon41

[Off_Winters 338]

4 hours ago, Falcon41 said:

Beebop,

     I went back to the ME in an effort to sort this out and realized that with the MOD installed I saw the willys jeep where I had placed it.  However, next to it, in the skeleton appearance, was another.  Looking in the ME I realized there were two willy jeeps one was a static willysmb and the other one under Vehicles, its the willysmb that has the skeleton appearance.  Hope this helps.  I've checked this out with both the MOD on and uninstalled and its shows up.

 

Falcon41

Hi Falcon 41,

I haven't checked in game yet, but I'm sure as you have indicated its the static model version that will be the skeleton one. I'll check tonigt after work. It appears the static object (like the buildings) uses the alpha channel in a slightly different manner, I had to fix a couple of the static aircraft I did as well as they to were translucent rather than non reflective.

I'll let you know how I get on. regards Rob