Bodenplatte Interactive Playground!

[Stoopy]

 

Following on the distant heels of the Kuban and Stalingrad Interactive Playgrounds (PG's), we are pleased as freaking punch to finally present to you the latest in the series of *ABSOLUTELY NON-HISTORIC* missions which are meant to be used as a sandbox for familiarization flights with new aircraft, gunnery / bombing practice, and just generally hosing around with a variety of challenging objectives which can be activated in any order and combination.  The Bodenplatte Interactive Playground (hereafter simply referred to as the BoBp PG) uses, as the name clearly denotes, all aircraft of the BoBp plane set, including premium and collector planes released to date, as well as aircraft released up to this point for the Battle of Normandy release just to give BoN owners something to enjoy as well.  And of course, all 4 seasons of the BoBp map are represented, yielding a total of 13 different mission combinations to choose from based upon the player's mood and level of inebriation:

 

Axis Map missions (Home base at Dortmund):
Summer - FW190A-8 and BF109G-6 late
Autumn - Bf109 K-4 and FW190A-6
Winter - Bf109 G-14 
Spring - Me262 and FW190D-9 

 

 

Allied Map missions (Home base at Venlo):
Summer - P-51D, Hurricane Mk.II and Tempest Mk.Ib
Autumn - Tempest Mk.V and P-47D-22 "Razorback"
Winter - P-47D-28 Thunderbolt
Spring - Spitfire Mk.IXe and P-38 Lightning

 

 

As with previous PG's you can fly solo or have an escort/formation flight of two aircraft depending on which direction you taxi from the parking area, just follow the instructions that appear at the start of the mission.  In addition, in this version you can also trigger a second flight of friendly aircraft that will tag along and provide air cover, although they are a separate flight and cannot receive orders from you.  To activate them on the Axis map, fly down on the deck through the train terminal in downtown Essen.  On the Allied map, fly under the arched sections of both bridges crossing the Rhine in Duisburg.  Both locations are clearly marked on the map.

 

Some highlights and notes for this PG version:

• Axis and Allied pilots now fly from opposing sides of basically the same map, to give better contrast to the roles of the objectives available on each side.
• For instance, Axis pilots have the objective of defending trains, but as an Allied pilot your objective will be to hunt and destroy them.  
• If you really feel strongly about it you can even fly a strike mission against the home base that you fly from as a pilot on the opposing side and seek revenge on your "other self" (I hate that guy).
• In the same vein, there are matching Bomber Escort / Bomber Intercept missions for the Allied and Axis sides respectively, for Low, Medium and High altitudes and using the same bomber aircraft, routes and targets.
• In addition to Repair, Refuel and ReArm (RRR) facilities at your home base, the sheer size of the map calls for Emergency RRR facilities closer to the action - these have been provided at forward bases located at Essen-Mulheim for the Axis map, and Krefeld on the Allied map, and which as you'll see are "hot" so it's best not to dawdle around them too long.  The RRR area lies in and around the long mid-field open hangars conveniently near the runway and have aircraft and trucks scattered around them.  You need to be within approximately 30-50 meters of the hangar to activate and receive RRR service even if the hangars are damaged.
• For the Train Hunt mission on the Allied map, you need to destroy the locomotive of each train that spawns in order for the next train to activate.  There are 4 trains to destroy.
• There are two banks of the troublesome enemy Artillery that can spawn independently or together, so you may have to deal with them more than once. 
• Map icons are used to a much greater extent than in previous PG's to mark the position of targets or route of enemy aircraft or vehicles.
• In many objectives - namely the fighter patrols - mission logic is been improved over previous versions, making for much more challenging engagements.  Watch your six!

 

This was by far the most complex and ambitious PG to date and the size of the Rhineland map called for a wide distribution of objectives with somewhat greater time needed to reach them, but some easy and some difficult objectives are within fairly close range of your home base if you're in the mood for just a quick 15-30 minute scrap.  Every effort was made to use a high level of randomization for the objectives wherever possible to maximize the level of chaos immersion. 

 

I would like to thank the individuals who made this possible through their inspiring words of encouragement and their willingness to spend hours testing the various iterations, while also providing significant improvements in playability by way of their excellent suggestions.  My greatest thanks to the "Playground Gang" of @GregP, @itsbillyfrazier @Krasp28, @Oyster_KAI and @easterling77, as well as to @JimTM, @Sketch and others here in the community for their outstanding efforts to share knowledge about using the IL2 Mission Editor.  This is truly an outstanding community and I'm happy to be a contributing part of it. 

 

"OK Stoopy that's great and all but can you please shut up and tell us how to get it??!!!"  Sure thing!: 

 

New version 1.14 as of 12/12/2021

 

Changes from previous version:
1. Updated mission binaries for compatibility with IL2 Great Battles release 4.701

 

Download link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1seS2P9cWFGqX8H6yW-azSiUlX-4Ptdd7/view?usp=sharing

 

Instructions:

1. Unzip and copy the "Bodenplatte Interactive Playground" folder, and all contents, to your IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\Missions folder.

2. Start IL2

3. Load Mission and have fun!

4. (Optional) Posting screenshots of any action you get into is always appreciated! ?

 

Stoopy

Edited December 12, 2021 by Stoopy

[DragonDaddy]

I really enjoyed your earlier PG’s, looking forward to flying this one. Thanks for the fun you put into this series. 

[lantern53]

awesome! thanks!

[GregP]

Woohoo, it's out!  It was absolutely a pleasure to help test this, and once again Stoopy has managed to work wonders with the mission editor.  If anyone hasn't tried one of his playgrounds before, and of course if you have, you really owe it to yourself (and him!) to give it a try.  Lots of fun and challenges to be had all in one package.  Especially when real life leaves me little time for flying, this is a fantastic way to be able to jump in and quickly have lots of options to try all the different things that IL-2 offers.

 

Excellent work and thank you again for putting so much effort (seriously guys, this is not an easy task, and Stoopy clearly pours vast amounts of time and planning into making these) into these and making them available for all to enjoy.

[Stoopy]

14 minutes ago, GregP said:

Woohoo, it's out!  It was absolutely a pleasure to help test this, and once again Stoopy has managed to work wonders with the mission editor.  If anyone hasn't tried one of his playgrounds before, and of course if you have, you really owe it to yourself (and him!) to give it a try.  Lots of fun and challenges to be had all in one package.  Especially when real life leaves me little time for flying, this is a fantastic way to be able to jump in and quickly have lots of options to try all the different things that IL-2 offers.

 

Excellent work and thank you again for putting so much effort (seriously guys, this is not an easy task, and Stoopy clearly pours vast amounts of time and planning into making these) into these and making them available for all to enjoy.

 

Thanks for the very kind words and truly the pleasure was all mine (except for those annoying language files grrrr!).  Without your efforts and that of a really great team I'd still be struggling along.

??

[Gunter_Glieben]

This looks awesome Stoopy! Thank you!

Edited February 14, 2021 by Gunter_Glieben

[Hypertexthero]

Thanks so much for making this.

 

This game would greatly benefit from more dynamic non-historical quick missions with randomized events and objectives, ideally with statistics tracking and orchestral music that plays after certain events, say when you take off or successfully destroy a target or land in a couple of still-attached pieces.

I will try the mission and come back with thoughts. Thanks again!

PS. Does it work for online coop with a friend?

Edited February 14, 2021 by Hypertexthero
PS.

[Stoopy]

2 minutes ago, Hypertexthero said:

I will try the mission and come back with thoughts. Thanks again!

 

Thanks and feedback is always appreciated, since I've already started on the next PG effort for another module of the BoX series.  I expect that effort to go quicker than teh BoBp PG which was challenging to find just the right airfield selection for.

 

Funny enough, I did add some a sound effect or two to the original Kuban PG but didn't think about music to accentuate certain event and accomplishments.  But they have to be kept in the right folder relative to the Missions folder to work, so I expect a lot of folks may have installed to a different folder and never heard them anyway.

[Stoopy]

  

17 hours ago, Hypertexthero said:

PS. Does it work for online coop with a friend?

 

From what I understand, with some basic modifications the missions would work as long as they're running on Dserver.  They would need more significant modification to work as player-hosted coops.   

 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Stoopy

[easterling77]

I had the pleasure to be part of the test team and could observe it's great growth and can now enjoy this extensive module for the SP fraction.

This is an example of what is possible in this game with talented crafters and lots of enthusiasm.

 

If you never get friendly with the empty world of the QMB but had not the time for longer career missions or MP battles....this is realy worth a try for you.

You get total control about what you want to have:

 

Wanna make a CAP, searching for enemy aircraft over your frontline? - Check!

You want to bomb enemy positions or support your ground forces with CAS? - Sure do it!

Eager to intercept enemy Bombers to protect friendly facilities? - Clearly a challenge!

You are in need of company? - You can get wingmen or emergency support in flight if you want/need to.

 

Or just fly around in this great simulation environment for an easy flight? - Not a problem! And if you want some action in the interrim just fly over one of the many triggerpoints.....but be careful, you can activate multiple at a time, so you can end up outnumbered and overwhelmed if you are to greedy!

 

And the best part?

You don't have to restart the mission for anything mentioned above - even Repair/Rearm/Refuel is in the mission.

Only for switching to another plane, you got to restart another mission of this Playground.

 

On leave time in the testing phase, I made flights of couple of hours duration with no experience of boredom.

Sure! This is my personal view on this Playground but for the quality and amount of details and variety for SP I can't overrate this supeb work.

 

I deffinetly recomend this to everyone in search of SP experience.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by easterling77

[Stoopy]

Thanks for the very kind words @easterling77 !!!!! 

 

To celebrate the 4.506 release that came out today, the BoBp PG has been updated with a new Autumn mission for the Focke-Wulf 190 A-6 for owners of Battle of Normandy Pre-Release.   The download link in the original post at the top of this thread points to the new v1.10 version, just re-download and install.

 

Edited February 17, 2021 by Stoopy

[itsbillyfrazier]

Thanks for including me in the testing team @Stoopy.

 

For the uninitiated with Stoopy's  Playgrounds, they are all definitely worth checking out. 

 

They really scratch an itch for players wanting more from the QMB experience, which pales in comparison to these playgrounds for fun and variety.

 

The missions are a great showcase for the type of missions you are likely to face across the sim, be it in campaigns, MP or career missions. So its excellent for improving skills given you can hop between dog-fighting, ground attack, bombing missions all pretty quickly and easily. 

 

I don't think I've ever used the QMB feature since I first used the Kuban PG and subsequent releases. Any testing I do to check out graphics, game-play features or learning new aircraft is done using one of the playgrounds. (....Or when I get tired getting my ass handed to me in MP! )

 

I'm looking forward to testing the Moscow PG when it takes shape Stoopy!

 

All the best,

 

Billy.  

[Stoopy]

I'm just gonna mention, in passing, that I went to take a look in the mission editor to see what it would take to add some nice exploding trucks into the maps, and it looks to me that specific existing truck types were converted into the exploding, ammo-carrying variants.  In other words, if the mission already uses the covered trucks from various nationalities, they're now the exploding variety.

 

Sadly I don't believe i put any such German trucks on the Allied map, but if one were to fly any Axis mission in the PG, there are trucks toward the back of the convoys in the "Destroy Bridges" objective, that look like they are now the explody kind.    I haven't personally verified this yet by shooting them, but if anyone is in that area it may be worth a shot, if you'll pardon the pun... ?

Edited February 17, 2021 by Stoopy

[easterling77]

2 hours ago, Stoopy said:

I'm just gonna mention, in passing, that I went to take a look in the mission editor to see what it would take to add some nice exploding trucks into the maps, and it looks to me that specific existing truck types were converted into the exploding, ammo-carrying variants.  In other words, if the mission already uses the covered trucks from various nationalities, they're now the exploding variety.

 

Sadly I don't believe i put any such German trucks on the Allied map, but if one were to fly any Axis mission in the PG, there are trucks toward the back of the convoys in the "Destroy Bridges" objective, that look like they are now the explody kind.    I haven't personally verified this yet by shooting them, but if anyone is in that area it may be worth a shot, if you'll pardon the pun... ?

On the way to my new A6?

[easterling77]

Yup the trucks do BOOOM?

Edited February 17, 2021 by easterling77

[RAAF492SQNOz_Steve]

Just want to add my thanks to the team that produced it!

 

Start off by triggering a "Lets attack unescorted Bombers" scenario and accidently fly over the trigger point for other missions and unleash a Tempest or three

 

Return to to base, out of ammo, some additional holes and my tail between my legs, with several winged admirers in hot pursuit wanting to share their ammunition with me.

 

Off to the debrief room, with Three bombers and a fighter in the bag, and get told "You failed".......

 

Just like real life! ?

 

Seriously though, thanks for the effort you have all put into it.

[Stoopy]

39 minutes ago, RAAF492SQNOz_Steve said:

Off to the debrief room, with Three bombers and a fighter in the bag, and get told "You failed".......

 

Just like real life! ?

 

Seriously though, thanks for the effort you have all put into it.

 

You're sure welcome and can you share what exact mission you might have been flying?  If you landed back at your home base you shouldn't have got a mission failed message, the only success criteria is that you land back at base - that's it.   But if enough bombers got through to severely damage their target, there should be a "secondary objective failed" message.   I can check and make sure there's not an error in that specific mission file.

Glad you had a good time though!  The Bomber Intercept (and Escort, on the Allied side) objectives were my personal favorites.

 

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Stoopy

[RAAF492SQNOz_Steve]

Hi Stoopy,

 

I was flying the Bf 109 K4 and triggered off at least 3 missions including the primary one of attacking 6 or so unescorted B25's while alternatively running away from Tempests and trying to bag the "sitting duck" Bomber formation. At least Three of the Bombers made it to target.

 

I guess it also depends on your definition of landing.

I ended up overshooting the end of the runway and parked next to an airbase defence flak gun.......... with a bent prop

 

Had a birds eye view of the flak gun shooting down the Tempest that had been strafing me so was not all bad.

Surprised to see the flak crew happily shooting away at the AI pilot once he hit the silk.

 

In real life I would not have been able to out-run the Tempest. 

 

Edit: Addendum. It is with sad news that I announce that pilot "Almost an Ace in one mission" failed to return from his very next mission ☠️.

In positive news! The Luftwaffe was saved the cost of a burial service due to his high impact speed, he would have ended up about 4 - 5 metres under! ?

Edited February 23, 2021 by RAAF492SQNOz_Steve
Summary of next, very short, mission added.

[Stoopy]

8 hours ago, RAAF492SQNOz_Steve said:

I guess it also depends on your definition of landing.

I ended up overshooting the end of the runway and parked next to an airbase defence flak gun.......... with a bent prop

 

Had a birds eye view of the flak gun shooting down the Tempest that had been strafing me so was not all bad.

Surprised to see the flak crew happily shooting away at the AI pilot once he hit the silk.

 

...

Edit: Addendum. It is with sad news that I announce that pilot "Almost an Ace in one mission" failed to return from his very next mission ☠️.

In positive news! The Luftwaffe was saved the cost of a burial service due to his high impact speed, he would have ended up about 4 - 5 metres under! ?

 

Ahhh, well, that explains things.  The Base Commandant places a premium on getting his nice shiny airplanes back in one piece and on the runway.    Budget cuts for replacement parts and all that. ?

 

The flak gunners must have taken the damage to their beloved nearby Schnapps Refinery personally.   Or maybe the Dachshund Assembly Plant was too frail and easily damaged by the remaining 3 Bombers - it's delicate work going on there, dealing with those little tiny legs. 

 

Best wishes to the pilot who has the honor of replacing this steadfast hero!  ?

[Stoopy]

An updated version 1.11 of the BoBp PG is available for download, please see the link in the first post at the beginning of this thread.  

 

Changes in this version:
1. Binary mission files converted for compatability with IL-2 release v4.601 
2. Added Spitfire Mk.XIV Summer mission for owners of Battle of Normandy Pre-release

 

?

[Sergeikat]

This looks awesome, I can't wait to give it a fly! I have a couple questions, namely: Is it/is it possible to fly this in multiplayer with a friend, and secondly, are there any plans of a Flying Circus 1 interactive playground?

Keep up the great work!

[Stoopy]

1 hour ago, Sergeikat said:

This looks awesome, I can't wait to give it a fly! I have a couple questions, namely: Is it/is it possible to fly this in multiplayer with a friend, and secondly, are there any plans of a Flying Circus 1 interactive playground?

Keep up the great work!

 

Right now it is single-player only and would take some modification to support multiplayer, but namely if you run it under a server (dserver).  It would take much more extensive modification to work in co-op.  At least I think so.  I did make multiplayer versions of other Playgrounds (PG's) like the Kuban PG, but never heard back from anyone if it worked for them. 

 

Now that the individual PG's for Kuban, Stalingrad, Bodenplatte and Moscow maps and plane sets are done, FC is next on my list and I do have a start on one but am taking a short break before diving back in, but yes it is planned. 

 

I appreciate the enthusiasm and thanks!

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by Stoopy

[Stoopy]

An updated version 1.12 of the BoBp PG is now available for download, please see the link in the first post at the beginning of this thread.   Heads-up to 

@Luger1969,  @VilsonFarias,  @DD_FT- and @Sergeikat who have recently reacted or commented to this thread and perhaps recently downloaded, and to anyome else also.   

 

Changes in this version:
1. To celebrate the 4.602 release of BoX, added Tempest Mk.Ib Spring mission for owners of Battle of Normandy Pre-release

 

?

Edited June 5, 2021 by Stoopy

[VilsonFarias]

Thanks a lot. The Interactive Playground is very very nice for trainning, I'll try the update as soon I have some free time

[easterling77]

?NICE?

One more reason to party and blow stuff up?

[RAAF492SQNOz_Steve]

On 6/6/2021 at 5:23 AM, Stoopy said:

An updated version 1.12 of the BoBp PG is now available for download, please see the link in the first post at the beginning of this thread.   Heads-up to 

@Luger1969,  @VilsonFarias,  @DD_FT- and @Sergeikat who have recently reacted or commented to this thread and perhaps recently downloaded, and to anyome else also.   

 

Changes in this version:
1. To celebrate the 4.602 release of BoX, added Tempest Mk.Ib Spring mission for owners of Battle of Normandy Pre-release

 

?

Hi Stoopy, can we get this setup to run with the latest release of IL2?

 

Thanks,

Steve

[Hoss]

Resave it in mission editor, under the tools tab. Save mission, don't do " missions in folder", takes forever. Just one mission at a time.

[Stoopy]

6 hours ago, RAAF492SQNOz_Steve said:

Hi Stoopy, can we get this setup to run with the latest release of IL2?

 

Thanks,

Steve

Sure.  You can also follow @352nd_Hoss's advice but I'll also go do the conversion and re-upload just to keep it current and avoid everyone having to do it themselves.  Thanks for flagging this.

 

@RAAF492SQNOz_Steve and anyone else:  Mission files have been updated for compatibility with IL2 Great  Battles v4.701, just re-download the version 1.13 ZIP using the link in the original post at the top of this thread.

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by Stoopy

[Stoopy]

NOTAM: 
Mission files have now **REALLY** been updated for compatibility with release 4.701 and can be downloaded using the link in the first post of this thread.

 

Apologies for errors in the previous update yesterday, mission files were failing the integrity check when attempting to load into the mission editor.

[Hoss]

Thanks Stoopy!

[Geezer]

Hello,

Just downloaded this and it absolutely marvelous.  Will have to get the others as well.  Flew two bomber escort missions.  One in the Mustang and the second in the MKIXe.

During both the "British" B-25 comms were almost entirely in Russian.  One transmission in English and one in German were the only exceptions.  Ground control responses were in English as were comms with my flight.  Is there a file I need to modify to correct this?  In not, it's no big deal.  Easy to overlook.

Thanks

[Buzzguinnog]

Many, many thanks for your work on this. I did a highly enjoyable first mission, shooting down two B-25s then being badly damaged by one of the escorts, unable to bail out, and made a forced deadstick wheels-up landing at a friendly airbase. I think I will be using this a lot!