Kuban Autumn Nth Africa Desert Beta upload - Updated version to 8. 10-01-2023

[Off_Winters]

A few more P40 skins made up using the official template with some heavy edits, which now fill all the available official skin slots with historical accurate schemes, with revised in game menu screens and historical write ups to suit. And some random scenery shots.

regards Rob.

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Off_Winters

[Stonehouse]

Nice!

[chris455]

Guys,

I like the mod, but just curious- how do I uninstall permanently from my hard drive if I ever wish to do so? Just use JSGME to "uninstall" it from the game, then delete the files from the MODS folder? Or?

Thanks! And beautiful work!

[Beebop]

To permanently remove the mod, disable the mod via JSGME then if you want yes, delete the folder from 'MODS'. 

All JSGME does is re-direct the game to use the textures in the mod rather than the game textures which still reside in the game.  Otherwise a "direct install" would require that you search for the files in the game, remove then, then re-download the game to replace the files that were overwritten. 

 

I cannot imagine why anyone would use anything other than JSGME (or that other similar program) to install a mod.

 

(i also can't understand why anyone would want to deep-six this mod.  it's some 70 USD cheaper than Tobruk and retains the flight fidelity of Great Battles, but maybe that;'s just me)

 

[Falcon41]

Bebop,

     I agree wholeheartedly with you regarding this MOD.  I purchased “Tobruk” and was really disappointed, but when this MOD was released my interest in a campaign in the desert was raised, particularly with all the fidelity in the basic sim.

Falcon41
 

 

 

[chris455]

On 3/4/2021 at 10:33 AM, Beebop said:

To permanently remove the mod, disable the mod via JSGME then if you want yes, delete the folder from 'MODS'. 

All JSGME does is re-direct the game to use the textures in the mod rather than the game textures which still reside in the game.  Otherwise a "direct install" would require that you search for the files in the game, remove then, then re-download the game to replace the files that were overwritten. 

 

I cannot imagine why anyone would use anything other than JSGME (or that other similar program) to install a mod.

 

(i also can't understand why anyone would want to deep-six this mod.  it's some 70 USD cheaper than Tobruk and retains the flight fidelity of Great Battles, but maybe that;'s just me)

 

Beebop,

Please know I too think the mode is great. No reflection on the mod or it's quality when I asked how to delete. Thank you for the response-

[carts]

Just installed this mod,what a hoot! Huge Thanks to all involved.

[Stonehouse]

Rob suggested I should post up something about how the renaming of the map locations is going.

 

Just some background first though, I spent a lot of time trying to find a section of Nth African coastline that (a) matched up roughly to what we see in the Kuban map and (b) corresponded to an area of WW2 interest. Not surprisingly I guess I didn't have much success until I realised that if I rotated a jpg of Kuban somewhat I got roughly close to the coastline of Tunisia giving me an approximation of the region running from Djerba to Tunis, although it doesn't have the Cap Bon peninsula plus some other features. It did seem close enough however to try to give renaming locations a go with the aim of ending up with a usable faux Tunisian Campaign map. This was about Nov 2020.

 

Move forward through about 3 months of looking at normal and sat maps on the internet and looking at ww2 history and using the editor to look at terrain (finding a Kasserine location that gave something like both the terrain features and strategic reqs as well as being roughly right in relationship to other locations was a real pain) resulting in the final draft map below. Apologies for the way it looks I am not a graphics tool user really and pretty much worked in Paint adding names to my WIP pic and keeping track in a spreadsheet.

 

As you can see it is rotated compared to the in game map. I worked with it like this because it made it easier for me to compare it to the real world location. There definitely are compromises in what you see below and even though my aim was to try to keep the spacial relationship between locations roughly correct there were times when it just wasn't possible. Particularly the inland locations were difficult to manage. After all - it is Kuban flipped not Tunisia.

 

So happy to hear constructive comments and feedback but do realise that it has taken 3-4 months of work to get to this point and that at best it will only ever be an approximation of Tunisia. Therefore, while I tried to keep locations which were important to history, some didn't make it or are not quite where perhaps they should be in reality. Airfields are particularly not historically correct as quite a few were just temporary LGs in the real world and I only had the locations available already in the Kuban map.

 

Anyway, obviously in game we will see the non rotated map, this will mean mission builders need to translate history a bit so that N & NE (the Allies main directions of movement, Mareth to Tunis and from Algeria to Tunis)  becomes S & SE in game, please keep this in mind when looking at the attached. Hopefully people generally like what they see and are looking forward to doing missions over Tunisia.

 

Cheers,

Stonehouse

 

PS - you may need to click on the image to get past the thumbnail and then save it and view it outside the forum to be able to zoom in and read names. 

Edited March 7, 2021 by No457_Stonehouse

[Aliocha62Mordreddesurmia]

Good evening guys,

 

I find this world excellent and I thank greatly all the creators who participated in this beautiful work.

I have just two questions, the first being that I still have the normal trees of the Kuban Autumn map despite the use of JSGME and the Beta 3 and 3.1 version as well as the patch "trees" I do not understand why when comparing with this video:

 

 

 

 

 

The second question is that it is impossible for me to change the livery of the M4A2, it is always the basic one of the mod that appears 

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Aliocha62Mordreddesurmia

[Stonehouse]

Can't help you with the livery question but I believe that the trees patch adds the trees back to the mod. So if you uninstall the trees patch you will have no trees as I think you want? So if you just do beta 3 and 3.1 hotfix and do not do the optional trees patch you get the treeless desert landscape.

 

 

[Aliocha62Mordreddesurmia]

Thank you Guy. I try it.

[Beebop]

1 hour ago, No457_Stonehouse said:

...the trees patch adds the trees back to the mod. So if you uninstall the trees patch you will have no trees as I think you want? So if you just do beta 3 and 3.1 hotfix and do not do the optional trees patch you get the treeless desert landscape.

 

 

That is correct.  The "tree patch" was supplied by Off_Winters for those who would want trees.  (but why?  it IS a desert after all).

But since we can't have palm trees, you might want someplace for your camel to cool off, so..... ?

Edited March 16, 2021 by Beebop

[Aliocha62Mordreddesurmia]

Indeed it is necessary not to put the file "trees" so that they are not displayed, whereas it is 15 days that I record video shots by avoiding all the trees to have a desert aspect. Thanks again for your quick answers.

I still need to know how to replace the default M4A2 skin on the Mod to be able to use it:

 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Aliocha62Mordreddesurmia

[Off_Winters]

On 3/17/2021 at 10:53 PM, Aliocha62Mordreddesurmia said:

I still need to know how to replace the default M4A2 skin on the Mod to be able to use it:

 

Hi Alicha62, great looking skin you have.

The default M4 skin lives in the vehicles folder.

If you navigate to this folder:
 IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\MODS\Kuban_Autum-1943_Desert_Beta_4\data\graphics\vehicles\_M4A2

 

and change its name to ie _M4A2_orig.

 

before starting, uninstall MOD with jsgme, then change folder name and then reinstall with jsgme.

the game will not see my M4 skin even with the mod installed now. then you should now be able to see the skin you need for your videos. Although you should be able to select your player tank skin via the custom skins tab. 

You could also place your skin into the folder outlined above making sure you have the same file names and your skin would then be the default M4 skin in game while the mod is installed.

EDIT....
 

You will also need to do the same for this folder, for the default M4 skin, I forgot you will need to change this folder as well. the one I directed you too before was the player drivable version.

this one is the true default M4 skin location.
IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\MODS\Kuban_Autum-1943_Desert_Beta_4\data\graphics\vehicles\m4a2

 

regards Rob.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Off_Winters
added in second folder location.

[Off_Winters]

Hi All,

A little bit more work,

Thanks to Meplanes1969 for the use of several of his base effects textures so that we now have revised ground strikes for bullets and cannon shells showing yellow sandy dust in the sand areas and more traditional darker textures for dark earth and structures vehicles, ships etc.
 

The Russian names on the ingame maps are pretty much all gone now with only a handful of textures remaining to be edited. then its onto adding in the new names researched by 457_Stonehous as detailed a few posts up. this may seem a trivial part of the project, but I think once completed it will add a lot to the feel of the game. with 420 individual textures to be photoshopped to remove the Russian text its been no small task, now having to place back in to those textures approximately 270 locations.

I've reworked some of the static vehicles and aircraft, mostly alpha channel work to improve appearance along with some new desert colour schemes and historical markings added in. As well as making more historically correct schemes for several aircraft.

 

below you can see the yellow dust of the bullet strikes along side the road and then the lighter dust of the strikes hitting the road.

 

 

compared to stock bullet strikes

 

Arty strikes also lightened up a bit to match the lighter earth colour rather than the dark browns of the stock files.


 

 

 

and lastly some rework to the beaches and thanks again to Meplanes1969 for the use of his default.dds texture which uses yellow and oranges to give subtle hues to the ground tiles proper. much better than the stock file with its blotchy reds, purples browns and greens. this will be evident for people who like low flying.

 

my aim is to release update 4 early next week.

regards Rob.
 

[Falcon41]

Rob,

     This MOD is looking better all the time and I’m looking forward to your next release.  Thanks for all your work and that of the others who have added to this MOD.

Regards,

Bill

 

 

[Beebop]

1 hour ago, Off_Winters said:

this may seem a trivial part of the project

?  There ain't no such thing!  Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is trivial in this high of quality mod.  With the high attention to detail that both you and meplanes provide, you are effectively making "Tobruk Desert Wings" Great Battles style.  This will be an EPIC addition to the game.

Thanks to both you and meplanes for your dedicated and diligent work in providing us with essentially a new theater of play.

(now if you could only turn the map upside down so it appeared more like the North African coast for the ingame maps)

THANK YOU ? THANK YOU ? T H A N K  Y O U!!! ❤️

Edited March 19, 2021 by Beebop

[Off_Winters]

Just a small change, the picture/screenshot is pretty ordinary as I took a picture of the monitor (for some reason screen shots of the main menu dont com out well anymore)

Anyway the view outside the hanger door as a camera panned around in the main game menu hanger showing green grass just looked out of place in a desert environment. Its now got a view across one of the airfields within the mod. looks much more believable.

In game the outside texture is much crisper than what the picture portrays here.


regards Rob.
 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Off_Winters

[jollyjack]

I posted some RAAF "afrika' b25D and a20 skins for download on haluter's site:

 

 

 

 

 

[Stonehouse]

Probably some South African Air Force A20s (Bostons) would be quite useful too if you are willing. SAAF 12, 21 or 24 sqd. Other B25 units in Tunisa are USAAF 12BG/81, 82, 83 or 434

[Off_Winters]

For when you just need to do a wee bit of sight seeing, or slip over the road to see ya mates. What better than a captured squadron hack to do the job..

A reasonably common practice in the equipment starved theatre of Nth Africa, pressing captured machinery into second line roles.

 

 

And finally managed to track down the last German truck that was still showing up with its grey paint. Turns out the model file was the Ford truck (not one that jumps out as German use LOL) in the vehicles folder.

[Off_Winters]

A light armed reconnaissance version for the Regia Aeronautica.

 

[jollyjack]

I just installed the lot, and each boot of the game i get the gunner popping up like this with a a20.

I used my own RAAF skin BTW, but what can be the cause? He probably wont be able to shoot any boogieman like this ...

CORRECTION, the gunners gun shoots OK; "look, no hands ma!'

 

ADDED: without the mod active Harry sits on his ass as usual ....

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by jollyjack

[Beebop]

What other mods do you have enabled?  I've had that too even without the North Africa mod enabled.

IIRC it was a mod that had been affected by an update. 

If any other mods are enabled remove all but N. Africa and see if it persists.  If not, enable mods one at a time until your rear gunner stands up and shout's "THAT'S THE ONE!".

[Stonehouse]

I think it is the same issue that was found with the mod for converting USSR crew to RAF - if you look over in that thread Rob gives some instructions for a temp fix. 

[Beebop]

13 minutes ago, No457_Stonehouse said:

I think it is the same issue that was found with the mod for converting USSR crew to RAF

YES!  That was the one. 

But if I'm correct the last update gives you proper crews for USAAF and RAF planes.

I think.

[Stonehouse]

I think he included the same mod separately in the Nth Africa mod so it hasn't had any fix. So I guess you could perhaps load the latest USSR-RAF mod after the Nth Africa mod and see if it fixes it

[jollyjack]

I am trying too find the clue; mean while i started a non historical mission with a fictional Rommel base to attack,

but still haven't found the proper location .. Could use some help LoL.

 

Maybe moving infantry MOD is the problem?

Edited March 22, 2021 by jollyjack

[Stonehouse]

@jollyjackDisable the Nth African mod in JSGME, go into the Nth African mod folder and look for the files and folders Rob talks about in the post below, do as he suggests and then re-enable the Nth African mod and see if the issue is resolved.

 

At my end the path is \Kuban_Autum-1943_Desert_Beta_3\data\graphics\characters\pilot_brit\

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by No457_Stonehouse

[jollyjack]

PS for North Afrika skinning: P38 Informatiom, looking fot RAAF use .....:

https://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_P-38_NorthAfrica.html

 

I could not find records of P38 use by the RAAF in N.Africa,

only the 41th USAAF, according to this site operating from:

 

Tafaraoui, Algeria: 15 Nov 1942
Maison Blanche, Algeria: 18 Nov 1942
Youks-les- Bains, Algeria: 22 Nov 1942
Berteaux, Algeria: 9 Jan 1943
Mediouna, French Morocco: 5 Mar 1943
Telergma, Algeria: 5 May 1943
El Bathan, Tunisia: 3 Jun 1943
Ste-Marie-du-Zit, Tunisia: 25 Jul 1943

 

So that would be info for Cliffs-Tobruk?

On 3/8/2021 at 12:26 AM, No457_Stonehouse said:

Rob suggested I should post up something about how the renaming of the map locations is going.

 

Just some background first though, I spent a lot of time trying to find a section of Nth African coastline that (a) matched up roughly to what we see in the Kuban map and (b) corresponded to an area of WW2 interest. Not surprisingly I guess I didn't have much success until I realised that if I rotated a jpg of Kuban somewhat I got roughly close to the coastline of Tunisia giving me an approximation of the region running from Djerba to Tunis, although it doesn't have the Cap Bon peninsula plus some other features. It did seem close enough however to try to give renaming locations a go with the aim of ending up with a usable faux Tunisian Campaign map. This was about Nov 2020.

 

Move forward through about 3 months of looking at normal and sat maps on the internet and looking at ww2 history and using the editor to look at terrain (finding a Kasserine location that gave something like both the terrain features and strategic reqs as well as being roughly right in relationship to other locations was a real pain) resulting in the final draft map below. Apologies for the way it looks I am not a graphics tool user really and pretty much worked in Paint adding names to my WIP pic and keeping track in a spreadsheet.

 

As you can see it is rotated compared to the in game map. I worked with it like this because it made it easier for me to compare it to the real world location. There definitely are compromises in what you see below and even though my aim was to try to keep the spacial relationship between locations roughly correct there were times when it just wasn't possible. Particularly the inland locations were difficult to manage. After all - it is Kuban flipped not Tunisia.

 

So happy to hear constructive comments and feedback but do realise that it has taken 3-4 months of work to get to this point and that at best it will only ever be an approximation of Tunisia. Therefore, while I tried to keep locations which were important to history, some didn't make it or are not quite where perhaps they should be in reality. Airfields are particularly not historically correct as quite a few were just temporary LGs in the real world and I only had the locations available already in the Kuban map.

 

Anyway, obviously in game we will see the non rotated map, this will mean mission builders need to translate history a bit so that N & NE (the Allies main directions of movement, Mareth to Tunis and from Algeria to Tunis)  becomes S & SE in game, please keep this in mind when looking at the attached. Hopefully people generally like what they see and are looking forward to doing missions over Tunisia.

 

Cheers,

Stonehouse

 

PS - you may need to click on the image to get past the thumbnail and then save it and view it outside the forum to be able to zoom in and read names. 

 

Exporting the map; could not read names, have you got a version with more pixels maybe?

 

Edited March 23, 2021 by jollyjack

[Stonehouse]

To the best of my knowledge the RAAF never used P38s in North Africa. Pretty much P40s all the way in 3 and 450 and 451 SQDs. 3 sqd was a recce squadron which turned fighter squadron around 1941 getting Hurricanes and then changing to Tomahawks later the same year. 450 was a bit mucked around and didn't really get going until 1942 with Kittyhawks. 451 was a tactical recce squadron which I think had Hurricanes and Lysanders in Eygpt in 1941 and didn't see much action at all doing artillery spotting etc up near Tobruk and suffered morale issues as a result of underemployment and eventually got transferred back to the delta area in Eygpt in 1943 where they got Spitfires and were designated a fighter squadron. Again though they were held as a defensive sqd and saw little or no action. Other than perhaps an evaluation aircraft I don't believe the P-38 was ever used by the RAAF anywhere. 

 

On the map it's a bit tricky as the full size map is up around 25-30mb and uploads to the forum are capped at only 5mb per post (understandably). I found if I right clicked on the map in my post and opened it in another window and then left clicked on the resulting image I could read location names. Be aware though that the post had a draft version which has moved on slightly and that the version in the next release will differ and it's possible that it will change again over time for the final version of the map.

Edited March 23, 2021 by No457_Stonehouse

[Off_Winters]

Some Fw190's into the mix. A3's to start with. three new 4K skins, and two stock game skins revamped with full historic markings. in game historical descriptions added for all. 

 

Stab./JG.2, GrKdr. Dickfeld, Tunisia 1942

 

 

6./JG.2, Oblt. Rudorffer, Tunisia 1943

 

10J./SKG10, Oblt. Scheck, Tunisia 1943

 

 

 

6./JG.2, Oblt. Rudorffer, Tunisia early 1943 - stock skin updated with historical markings and a bit of touching up.

 

 

 

Erpr.Kdo 19, Hptm. Maack, Libya 1942 - stock skin updated with historical markings and a bit of touching up.

 

He111's also coming along.

Kurierstaffel 'Rommel' North Africa 1942.

 

No. 260 Sqdn. RAF Libya 1942. No. 260 Squadron RAF claimed this He111H-6 assigned to KG4 that was found abandoned on Castel Beneto airfield near Tripoli, Libya, in North Africa around December 1942. It was still airworthy and was used as a 'hack' by the squadron personnel. 

 

 

 

 

[Falcon41]

Rob,

     Will these skins show up in the current MOD or do we have to await the release of version beta 4?

Bill

[Off_Winters]

7 minutes ago, Falcon41 said:

Rob,

     Will these skins show up in the current MOD or do we have to await the release of version beta 4?

Bill

G'day Bill,

they'll be in Beta-V4. which I will be uploading on the weekend. I was going to upload last week but got bitten by the bug to do some German skins to balance out all the new allied desert schemed skins.

The IL2 supplied official templates are very good, they just need a bit of time to set the various layers in photoshop to the right levels and add in some small details that are missing. from there it takes about an hour of so to make a new texture. viewing in game and tweaking until happy.

regards Rob.

Edited March 31, 2021 by Off_Winters

[Falcon41]

Great Work, can't wait for Beta-V4

[Off_Winters]

Bf109-E7 8./ZG.1 Libya 1942. using the public template with my own refinements.

 

 

 

[Beebop]

I am very appreciative of all your hard work and am loathe to mention this but....

I am constructing a mission set in Palestine in 1929 representing the Arab Revolt.  At my RAF airfield I went to place a Zis fuel truck as there are no fuel trucks (at least yet) in Flying circus.  I figured it looked "old-timey" enough.  But when I chose it, it is the very same truck as the GMC fuel truck.  And the Zis 5 open truck is the same as the GMC 6 X 6.

Is there any way we can get the Zis models back?  I'm not asking for a desert repaint, just the model.  If not it will just be another "game limitation" but certainly not a deal breaker. 

This map (and meplanes Malta textures placed on top of it), along with Flying Circus opens a whole new theatre for mission building.

 

Looking forward to the release of Beta 4.  ?

[Off_Winters]

11 minutes ago, Beebop said:

I am very appreciative of all your hard work and am loathe to mention this but....

I am constructing a mission set in Palestine in 1929 representing the Arab Revolt.  At my RAF airfield I went to place a Zis fuel truck as there are no fuel trucks (at least yet) in Flying circus.  I figured it looked "old-timey" enough.  But when I chose it, it is the very same truck as the GMC fuel truck.  And the Zis 5 open truck is the same as the GMC 6 X 6.

Is there any way we can get the Zis models back?  I'm not asking for a desert repaint, just the model.  If not it will just be another "game limitation" but certainly not a deal breaker. 

This map (and meplanes Malta textures placed on top of it), along with Flying Circus opens a whole new theatre for mission building.

 

Looking forward to the release of Beta 4.  ?

G'day Beebop,

You can get the original Zis vehicles back in game by removing the zis folder from

\MODS\Kuban_Autum-1943_Desert_Beta_3\data\graphics\vehicles\

obviously uninstall mod first, then reinstall.

For an old open truck there is the "leyland3tonraf" in game which would be a better choice for WWI (IMHO)

regards Rob.

[Beebop]

Oh.  OK.  That's easy.

I am using the Leyland truck but as a cargo truck.  I was looking for a "tank truck" model.  Maybe in FC2?

Thanks for the tip. 

Actually I did think about it removing it but since I know about as much about modding as I do on interstellar trajectories, I decided I wouldn't chance it.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Beebop

[Falcon41]

Rob,

     Something I noticed about the MOD recently, when activated the air cleaner on the Hurricane does not show up as an addition.  When the MOD is inactivated the air cleaner is available.  I'm not certain how this occurs, but could it be possible as having to do with the time the air cleaner was made available and the release of your MOD?  Just another small point to clean up. 

     Stay safe and healthy.

Regards,

Bill