Cambrai 1917 Scripted Campaign

[Off_Winters]

Hi All,

Is anybody else having trouble with the campaign after the most recent update? when selecting the campaign I get to the menu screen for selecting the mission and I'm seeing text mission is loading and thats as far as it gets. 

regards Rob. 

[itsbillyfrazier]

6 minutes ago, Off_Winters said:

Hi All,

Is anybody else having trouble with the campaign after the most recent update? when selecting the campaign I get to the menu screen for selecting the mission and I'm seeing text mission is loading and thats as far as it gets. 

regards Rob. 

Hi Rob,

 

The missions have yet to be updated to the current game version by the author.

 

You can either wait or get them working yourself by following the steps in the post below: (Credit to Stoopy for the instructions!):

 

 

[Off_Winters]

14 hours ago, itsbillyfrazier said:

Hi Rob,

 

The missions have yet:

 

Thanks for the heads up, I'll resave them tonight after work.

regards Rob.

[dresamAsam71]

Hello.

 I have tried what is said in that thread and it does not work for me.

 If I delete the campaign and reinstall, would it work, even if I start the campaign from scratch?

 Or if there is someone so kind to post the campaigns adapted to a new update ...

 Greetings.

 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

3 hours ago, dresamAsam71 said:

Hello.

 I have tried what is said in that thread and it does not work for me.

 If I delete the campaign and reinstall, would it work, even if I start the campaign from scratch?

 Or if there is someone so kind to post the campaigns adapted to a new update ...

 Greetings.

 

Caused by the latest game update. Open the missions in the mission editor and resave.

[dresamAsam71]

Hol

1 minute ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

Causado por la última actualización del juego. Abra las misiones en el editor de misiones y vuelva a guardar.

Hi, that's what doesn't work.

 Greetings.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

40 minutes ago, dresamAsam71 said:

Hol

Hi, that's what doesn't work.

 Greetings.

Did you first delete the .msnbin file? You need to. First delete the .msnbin file, then load the .mission file and resave.

[dresamAsam71]

OK. Thanks 

[Off_Winters]

You should'nt have to delete anything, you can delete the .msnbin file and it will rebuild it, it just takes a bit longer to save the mission file. but you do not have too.

Not sure how your trying to re-save the file, but its under the tool section in the mission editor, its not under file open file, save as, as such.

use the function highlighted below and navigate to the folder that contains the mission you want to work on. I resaved the entire Cambrai 1917 campaign in one go. took about 3 minutes to do.

regards Rob.

Edited April 27, 2021 by Off_Winters

[AEthelraedUnraed]

1 minute ago, Off_Winters said:

You should'nt have to delete anything, you can delete the .msnbin file and it will rebuild it, it just takes a bit longer to save the mission file. but you do not have too.

You do if you resave them one-by-one. The Mission Editor actually loads the .msnbin (if present) instead of the .mission file, so it'll crash if you try to load an old mission file.

 

Still, with your Resave All Missions in Folder option (I didn't know of it, thanks!), that shouldn't be a problem.

[dresamAsam71]

Hello.

 Can a file be modified to fly the campaign with another plane, camel for example?

 Greetings.

Edited April 28, 2021 by dresamAsam71

[plepew]

Hi All, sorry I've been away for the last couple of weeks and didn't see the IL2 update until now.  I'll update the campaign and post a current version for download soon.  

 

Best.

[plepew]

On 4/29/2021 at 6:58 AM, gagood17 said:

Hi All, sorry I've been away for the last couple of weeks and didn't see the IL2 update until now.  I'll update the campaign and post a current version for download soon.  

 

Best.

Just posted updated campaign files.  Sorry about the delay.  Thanks @Off_Winters for posting the DIY solution!   

[CB77Don246]

Thank you for this campaign it must have taken you some time to complete unfortunatly I have deleted it after 4 attempts to complete the first mission and landing back at the airfield I get mission failed every time ok my fault must be I am not a ace WW1 pilot.

 

WHY do the campaigns have to be like a XBOX game one has to complete one mission to advance to the next mission they are not true campaigns but a collection of missions it is so frustrating this is why I would never want modern games.

 

Any way I thank you looks like I will have to just fly quick missions if I want to fly WW1 aircraft.

 

Please do not take this the wrong way it is very kind of you to share with us it's just not for me I will have to miss ALL the other great missions.

 

One last thing I have purchased the two campaigns from the web site here and had no problem completing them.

[plepew]

On 5/18/2021 at 11:20 AM, CB77Don246 said:

Thank you for this campaign it must have taken you some time to complete unfortunatly I have deleted it after 4 attempts to complete the first mission and landing back at the airfield I get mission failed every time ok my fault must be I am not a ace WW1 pilot.

 

WHY do the campaigns have to be like a XBOX game one has to complete one mission to advance to the next mission they are not true campaigns but a collection of missions it is so frustrating this is why I would never want modern games.

 

Any way I thank you looks like I will have to just fly quick missions if I want to fly WW1 aircraft.

 

Please do not take this the wrong way it is very kind of you to share with us it's just not for me I will have to miss ALL the other great missions.

 

One last thing I have purchased the two campaigns from the web site here and had no problem completing them.

Thanks for posting this - really - and I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with mission 1.  I know the feeling of frustration.   Let me see if I can help.    

 

A couple of general principles that are described in the readme file are also relevant for the campaign.

 

1) Make sure your HUD is activated for this campaign.  You will get important messages in many missions that you will need to see in order to complete the missions.

2) Landing at your home airfield is never a criteria for success in any mission (you will still get credit for landing, but it is always up to you if you want to fly all the way back to base).   

3) When you accomplish all mission objectives, you will see a "Mission Success!" message in your HUD.

 

In terms of mission 1 there are several objectives described in the mission: Photograph both Bullecourt and Noyelles airfields and any artillery positions you see (hint - there will be two).   You should have seen a reference photo to help you spot the artillery positions when the mission starts.  Photographing is accomplished by flying directly over each location then your rear gunner will take the photo.  

 

I'm assuming you saw these objectives in the mission description but were still unable to accomplish those objectives.   If that's true, the most likely reason is that you didn't fly the planned route closely enough.    Most single player missions have trigger zones that you have to fly into in order to activate some key events.  I tried to make these as big as possible, but If you get really far off course, you might still miss those triggers and have trouble completing a mission.

 

One simple solution is to turn on the autopilot ("A") for most of the enroute portion of the mission (flight to Bullecourt in this case).  That should take you right to the first airfield.

 

If you are a purist and have your settings so that you don't see your plane icon on the map when you are flying, you may want to activate that "cheat" so that you can verify you are staying close to the assigned flight path.   If you leave it off, then really study the map and use terrain association and dead reckoning to stay on course.  

 

For this mission, your rear gunner will help you spot each location (Turn your HUD on to see these messages).  Once you fly over each one, you will get a message that says for example "One of two airfields photographed."  

 

In all missions, I list the objectives for mission success.  That is a good "checklist" to use as you fly the mission.  You will almost always get a message in your HUD as you complete each of those pieces of the mission so that should help you keep track of what remains to be done to complete the mission. 

 

In terms of having to complete each mission before being allowed to progress to the next one, that is just a requirement of the scripted campaigns in IL2.  

 

Hope this helps.   

[Trooper117]

For me, this is what spoils any kind of campaign that relies on completion of 'all' objectives before you progress to the next one.

If you were flying and fighting in the First World War and you were wounded by flak or enemy action, you would head back over the lines and land at the nearest friendly aerodrome... that way when recovered you would be back to fly and fight again.

In this rigid way of making people complete all objectives to progress just emphasises 'gaming the game' instead of injecting a more realistic approach to campaigns in general.

I applaud the effort made to produce any campaign, I certainly couldn't do it, but making the objective the prime reason for progression just puts many people off... let's face it, for real, many objectives were never accomplished and pilots just returned to their aerodromes.

[SYN_Vander]

1 hour ago, Trooper117 said:

For me, this is what spoils any kind of campaign that relies on completion of 'all' objectives before you progress to the next one.

If you were flying and fighting in the First World War and you were wounded by flak or enemy action, you would head back over the lines and land at the nearest friendly aerodrome... that way when recovered you would be back to fly and fight again.

In this rigid way of making people complete all objectives to progress just emphasises 'gaming the game' instead of injecting a more realistic approach to campaigns in general.

I applaud the effort made to produce any campaign, I certainly couldn't do it, but making the objective the prime reason for progression just puts many people off... let's face it, for real, many objectives were never accomplished and pilots just returned to their aerodromes.

 

Agreed. Only if you die or get captured you shouldn't be able to progress to the next mission. You can always retry a mission of course.

[Nadelbaum]

On 5/21/2021 at 6:46 AM, gagood17 said:

In terms of having to complete each mission before being allowed to progress to the next one, that is just a requirement of the scripted campaigns in IL2.  

 

First of all I would like to say that I've enjoyed this campaign a lot. Apart from the two official scripted campaigns for FC this is really the only other that I've found.

 

That said I have to agree with what others have already said and I have to disagree on what I quoted above. There's quite a few scripted campaigns for Il-2 where you can advance to the next mission just by taking off and then finishing. I think this is a great way to overcome the problem where you might try a mission 5-6 times without succeeding thus being unable to make progress. In my opinion the final decision on mission skipping should be left for the user. 

 

That said, if someone wants to know how to edit the save file to skip to the next mission it is pretty easy and straightforward. There's a simple logic on how the list of completed missions is populated in the file.

[TAIPAN_]

If you move the failed mission out of the folder then restart the game, the campaign will start at the next mission in the list. It auto skips mission files that can't be found.

[plepew]

@CB77Don246; @Nadelbaum; @SYN_Vander; @Trooper117  And everyone,  I finally got around to modifying the missions so that returning to your base will count as mission success.  This provides the pilot with a failsafe method to progress to the next mission in the campaign. In fact, for missions that start at the airfield, the pilot can takeoff, turn around, land, and come to a stop and the mission will be scored as a success. Mission success can still be achieved by reaching the actual mission objectives.  If you achieve the primary mission objectives, returning to the home airbase is NOT a requirement to achieve success. Once you see the "Mission Success" message, the mission will be counted as successful in the campaign even if the pilot subsequently dies.  Note that in some missions if you fail your primary objective (e.g., preventing enemy recon planes from reaching friendly lines), returning to your base would be the only way to count the mission as successful. 

 

I hope this helps to improve the  campaign for some of you.  Sorry it took me so long to implement but it took the better part of a day to complete and I've had too many other projects competing for my time lately. 

 

Please continue to give me feedback  - good, bad, or ugly.  Your constructive feedback is helping me to learn the art of building a good campaign.   Happy flying!  

 

 

[CB77Don246]

On 7/18/2021 at 6:54 PM, gagood17 said:

@CB77Don246; @Nadelbaum; @SYN_Vander; @Trooper117  And everyone,  I finally got around to modifying the missions so that returning to your base will count as mission success.  This provides the pilot with a failsafe method to progress to the next mission in the campaign. In fact, for missions that start at the airfield, the pilot can takeoff, turn around, land, and come to a stop and the mission will be scored as a success. Mission success can still be achieved by reaching the actual mission objectives.  If you achieve the primary mission objectives, returning to the home airbase is NOT a requirement to achieve success. Once you see the "Mission Success" message, the mission will be counted as successful in the campaign even if the pilot subsequently dies.  Note that in some missions if you fail your primary objective (e.g., preventing enemy recon planes from reaching friendly lines), returning to your base would be the only way to count the mission as successful. 

 

I hope this helps to improve the  campaign for some of you.  Sorry it took me so long to implement but it took the better part of a day to complete and I've had too many other projects competing for my time lately. 

 

Please continue to give me feedback  - good, bad, or ugly.  Your constructive feedback is helping me to learn the art of building a good campaign.   Happy flying!  

 

 

Thanks will give them a try.

[venger]

Hi!

I'm very new to FC, thanks for this.

I am on my phones hotspot, so until that improves, single player missions are what I need

Edited July 28, 2021 by venger
appending

[unlikely_spider]

I'm in VR, and in the Bristol the seat behind me is empty. Is there a command to show/hide the gunner by chance?

[AEthelraedUnraed]

No, he should be there. Are you sure he wasn't killed? Killed gunners/pilots disappear after a while.

[unlikely_spider]

8 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

No, he should be there. Are you sure he wasn't killed? Killed gunners/pilots disappear after a while.

He wasn't there from the beginning. I'll try outside of the campaign - not sure if it's just in this campaign. I'm new to this plane.

[=IRFC=Gascan]

Did you limit the external view? If it is unlimited, you can lean outside the normal cockpit boundaries in VR. If you get too close to the gunner, he will disappear.

[unlikely_spider]

1 hour ago, gascan said:

Did you limit the external view? If it is unlimited, you can lean outside the normal cockpit boundaries in VR. If you get too close to the gunner, he will disappear.

Yeah, I was too far back in my seat. Thanks.

[=RS=Stix_09]

With game updated you need to delete the .msnbin files in the folder "\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\Campaigns\Cambrai"

The mission editor has a function to recreate these compiled mission files. (this is easy way to do it)
Compiled mission files often don't work after any major game update (flight recording also break)
 

thye

Edited December 11, 2021 by =RS=Stix_09

[Russkly]

Very much looking forward to trying this campaign, and thanks for all the work that you've put into it.

 

I followed the instructions on the first page of this post and unzipped the file into my l2 bos/data/campaigns folder, but I can't see the campaign or the missions anywhere in game.

 

What am I doing wrong, please?

 

Cheers.

[fiddlefadel]

Hello  Newbie here I could use some help I downloaded this campaign and installed it where my computer advised... no luck could you tell me where to install it, I have the developer version not steam.

Thanks 

Dave

[Russkly]

23 hours ago, Russkly said:

Very much looking forward to trying this campaign, and thanks for all the work that you've put into it.

 

I followed the instructions on the first page of this post and unzipped the file into my l2 bos/data/campaigns folder, but I can't see the campaign or the missions anywhere in game.

 

What am I doing wrong, please?

 

Cheers.

Sorted.

 

I needed to read the Readme.txt of course.

 

Once installed, however, there is a slight error in the Readme, which states:

 

"NOTE 6: Updating campaign files for compatibility with IL2 versions: Occasionally an update by the 1c developers will require the campaign files to be updated in order to work with that version.  I will try to release updated campaign files for download, but it is a relatively easy DIY project using the mission editor if you don't want to wait for my updates.  Of course this will work for all of your community developed campaigns.  Just follow the steps below:

1.) Open the mission editor in "...\1C Game Studios\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\bin\editor\" folder.

2.) Click the "tools" dropdown then choose "update all files in folder".

3.) Using the mini browser that opens, navigate to the "...\1C Game Studios\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\Campaigns\Cambrai" folder and then click OK.  The whole process takes several minutes so be patient."

 

Where the Readme says, "update all files in folder", the actual command to use from the Tools dropdown menu is: "Convert Missions to binary in Folder".

 

Hope this helps.

 

8 hours ago, fiddlefadel said:

Hello  Newbie here I could use some help I downloaded this campaign and installed it where my computer advised... no luck could you tell me where to install it, I have the developer version not steam.

Thanks 

Dave

 

See my post above, fiddlefadel.

 

Extract the Cambrai folder in the OP to somewhere convenient on your PC and then read the Readme.txt file bearing in my mind my addendum above.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Russkly

[=RS=Stix_09]

On 12/21/2021 at 7:16 AM, fiddlefadel said:

Hello  Newbie here I could use some help I downloaded this campaign and installed it where my computer advised... no luck could you tell me where to install it, I have the developer version not steam.

Thanks 

Dave

 

From install instructions in the README.txt file of the extracted zip campaign file you downloaded.

 

Quote

TO INSTALL
___________________________________________________________

Before you install: If you have installed a prior version of this campaign, I would recommend going to your ...\1C Game Studios\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\Campaigns\Cambrai\ Folder and delete the old files there. The new campaign should just overwrite all of the old files, but just to be safe, I would do a clean install.

Extract cambrai1917.zip file and copy/drop the "Data" folder into your "IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad" main folder.  

If you have a previous version of Cambrai 1917 installed, you should overwrite files from the previous version if prompted.

NOTE 1: This install should not impact your progress in a prior version of the Cambrai 1917 campaign.   

NOTE 2: This campaign will not "mod" any of the default game files. See additional discussion of the Autumn map below.

NOTE 3: This install includes some of the Albatros DV repaints by the_dudeWG contained in his two skin packs (AD5_4K_Skins1.zip & AD5_4K_Skins1.zip).  If you have already downloaded and installed these skinpacks, you will be prompted to overwrite those files. Whether you choose to overwrite the files or not makes no difference.

This campaign is distributed as freeware. By downloading these files you acknowledge that you have the right to copy, modify, re-distribute, and use these files only as freeware.

 

i.e you have to extract the zip AND THEN copy the data folder from the extracted zip to the il-2 game install location on your disk.

 

In my case it's "E:\Steam\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\"

The only dif between the steam version of IL2-GB and developer version is location of the main game folder on your drive.

 

Also

After after game updates you may need to resave the compiled  versions of mission files (.msnbin files) in the campaign folder, using the process described in previous posts above as game updates don't recreate these binary files for custom made missions. (major updates break these compiled files)

Edited December 23, 2021 by =RS=Stix_09
typo

[fiddlefadel]

I cannot find the Flying circus file on my computer. I bought from the publisher and downloaded it a couple of years. I do get updates and just received the new campaign.

I want to add the new skins and am perplexed any ideas?

Regards

Dave

[Russkly]

@gagood17 Firstly many thanks for putting this together - it's a very good,well-constructed campaigm which I am enjoying immensely (esp. with the autumn mod).

 

One thing though: I am on Mission 5 (bombing the arty in the Brisfit), and I'm rubbish at bombing. I've tried it a couple of times myself and perhaps destroyed one arty piece, but some Albatri show up at the same time my section arrives at the target, and my wingmen go off fighting the Albatri and leave the arty.

 

I tried letting the AI do the dirty work, but as soon as the scouts show up, he jettisons bombs and goes after the e/a.

 

OK, I thought, I'll just RTB and get a mission success that way, so I can move onto the next mission, which will hopefully not involve bombing anything.

 

I did that and got a successful landing but a mission failed.

 

I thought that you had changed it so that a successful landing constitutued a mission success?

 

Please help, because I can't see how I'm ever going to get to mission 6 unless the Albatri leave us alone and my wingmen can do the bombing. or the simple landing at home thing works.

[plepew]

On 1/23/2022 at 9:20 AM, Russkly said:

@gagood17 Firstly many thanks for putting this together - it's a very good,well-constructed campaigm which I am enjoying immensely (esp. with the autumn mod).

 

One thing though: I am on Mission 5 (bombing the arty in the Brisfit), and I'm rubbish at bombing. I've tried it a couple of times myself and perhaps destroyed one arty piece, but some Albatri show up at the same time my section arrives at the target, and my wingmen go off fighting the Albatri and leave the arty.

 

I tried letting the AI do the dirty work, but as soon as the scouts show up, he jettisons bombs and goes after the e/a.

 

OK, I thought, I'll just RTB and get a mission success that way, so I can move onto the next mission, which will hopefully not involve bombing anything.

 

I did that and got a successful landing but a mission failed.

 

I thought that you had changed it so that a successful landing constitutued a mission success?

 

Please help, because I can't see how I'm ever going to get to mission 6 unless the Albatri leave us alone and my wingmen can do the bombing. or the simple landing at home thing works.

 

Russkly,  Apologies, I've clearly been very remiss in checking this forum topic of late!   I'm also overdue to post an update of the missions per the latest version of the sim with the new cloud tech.  I'll take a look at mission 5 (and others) to make sure the RTB and landing properly yields a mission success.  I've got some time this morning so let me see if I can get this update finished today.

[Russkly]

20 hours ago, gagood17 said:

 

Russkly,  Apologies, I've clearly been very remiss in checking this forum topic of late!   I'm also overdue to post an update of the missions per the latest version of the sim with the new cloud tech.  I'll take a look at mission 5 (and others) to make sure the RTB and landing properly yields a mission success.  I've got some time this morning so let me see if I can get this update finished today.

@gagood17 No worries!

 

I got through it in the end and completed the whole campaign.

 

It was very well constructed and diverse and very enjoyable - more so than many of the 'official' scripted campaigns available, so well done to you.

 

Clearly a lot of work went into it, so thank you.

[plepew]

@Russkly Your appreciation makes the effort worth it.    

 

Just posted an update to the campaign.   I did find and fix the problem in mission 5 that caused you to be unable to get mission success on landing back at your airbase.   I also made adjustments to take full advantage of the new cloud rendering technology and made a few more tweaks to some of the missions to make the objectives a bit more reasonable.   It all took quite a bit more time that I thought it would, but I'm glad to have it posted.     

 

Can't wait for FC V2 to come out.  I'm planning to do a companion Cambrai campaign from the German perspective.

Edited March 5, 2022 by gagood17

[pilotpierre]

I think I have downloaded this but cannot locate it to put it in the game? Please advise.

[AEthelraedUnraed]

5 hours ago, pilotpierre said:

I think I have downloaded this but cannot locate it to put it in the game? Please advise.

You mean you cannot find the downloaded zip file on your PC, or you don't know how to install it?

 

The zip file is likely in your Downloads folder. If you open File Explorer, there should be a shortcut to the left. Otherwise, just download again. A popup should show, giving you the option to open the file or open its location; choose the latter.

 

Regarding how to put it in game, first unzip it. There should be a folder structure inside mimicking that of the IL2 install directory (partially, at least). Copy-paste in such a way that everything ends up in its matching folder. E.g. if you've got the folder data\Campaigns, this corresponds to [il2 installation directory]\data\Campaigns. In that case, simply copy the data folder into the IL2 installation directory and you should be fine. 

[pilotpierre]

Thanks AEetc, I missed your response today, will attempt again tomorrow. Muchos grassy arse.