PWCG 13.0 Beta Available at PWCG Web Site

[PatrickAWlson]

Lots of changes in this one.  The most significant change is under the hood.  I changed quite a bit of AAR code as I noticed that it was possible for some events to get lost.  Beyond that, there are revamped visuals for the AAR, lots of newspapers, iconic events for Moscow, out of mission ground kills, some alterations to awarding medals, etc.   

 

The download installs into a Beta directory and will not overwrite your existing PWCG installation.  

Campaigns are backwards compatible, so you can copy your campaigns into the beta.

I have been using it myself.  I am unaware of any issues, but with a change of this scope I always post a beta to get willing participants to shake it out.

 

13.0.0
Added Ground Free Hunt mission
- Currently targets trains and trucks
- Fly to a point and search.  No guidance except follow roads or tracks.
- Ground units start moving when mission starts.  
- Will do ships and armor next as they require a different pattern
Improved out of mission victories
- Added ground and structural out of mission victories
- Added ground and structural out of initial victories
- A pilot will get a pseudo mission type based on his squadron configuration.  That mission type will determine the victory type.
Bryansk iconic event added
Newspapers
Rewrote newspapers such that a new paper can be added by supplying a photo and adding a bit of data
- Used to take me 30 minutes to make a paper.  Now it's less than 5.
- They look better too.
- Hoping for community contributions
Newspapers added for all iconic events
FC newspapers converted
Added news rack to view old newspapers
- campaign->activities->news
Made AAR documents prettier
- They retain their dimensions and do not stretch
- Added a folder image under the document
Added Ground Unit Spawn Distance configuration in Mission Limits
Fixed: In several places plaques were referred to as plagues.
- Don't think they were visible to players but it bugged me
Fixed: Sometimes AAR events were not properly rolled up into the campaign
Fixed: Removed a few defunct configuration settings
Fixed: Preddy's status when killed on 12/25/1944
Fixed: Aces historically killed no longer show as transferred
Fixed: End of war newspaper now appears
Fixed: Unassigned pilot is now the on whose button was pressed and not the radio button selected
Fixed: added heal wounds button on mission page to got directly to leave page to heal.

[Panzerlang]

Awesome stuff Pat, thank you for your continued dedication to this.

[Highwayman]

Testing, will let you know if we encounter any issues, thus far creating a Co-op vs campaign and generating a mission has worked without an issue, we just haven’t flown it yet. 

[GenMarkof007]

S! Pat,

Thanks a lot for this new version of PWCG...
After downloading the Beta version, I tried to start a new career, as a British pilot in early 1944, No 56 squadron over the Kuban Region.
After doing a complete setup of the (Own planes, in-game settings, ...)
When a select mission, I seem to get an error message... and cant see the mission or the map
I might start it up as admin, but wanted to let you know what I saw when creating a mission.

 

Cheers,
GenMarkof

 

ps: again, a very big thanks for all the work your doing for us to have more fun will IL2 GB and IL2 FC!

[Varibraun]

@PatrickAWlson Just had my first mission in the beta.  FYI - the in-game mission results screen reflected an additional 109 kill by a P-51 and a P-51 loss to an FW190 in the vicinity of my 4 flight engagement location and egress route.  I believe those should have been attributed to my flight, but they didn't show up in the PWCG AAR. 

 

However, I am not 100% certain those came from our squadron since another P-51 flight was in the mission.  I did then create a pilot in that squadron (354th Group) and didn't see that 109 victory or P-51 loss in their squadron log (it appears they were engaging Ju-52s, not the fighters in the immediate area of my engagement).

 

Error file attached - I will keep testing this morning.

Aces over the Rhine202107040807513.zip

[Varibraun]

2nd beta mission - my pilot scored 3 kills (2 190s & 1 109), escorting Spitfires scored at least 3 more.  However, getting an error when attempting to go to debrief.  Error file attached.

Aces over the Rhine202107041007172.zip

[PatrickAWlson]

3 hours ago, Varibraun said:

2nd beta mission - my pilot scored 3 kills (2 190s & 1 109), escorting Spitfires scored at least 3 more.  However, getting an error when attempting to go to debrief.  Error file attached.

Aces over the Rhine202107041007172.zip 1.98 MB · 0 downloads

 

Figured that one out.  Two problems:

 

1. PWCG was looking for a historical ace killed.  it should be looking for any ace killed, historical or not.  This issue is new to 13.0.  Fixed that.

2. After that the AAR was still producing ugly results - failing to complete.  Your current reference pilot is Allen Frederick, but he is not the one that flew the mission.  Alex Edmonds flew the mission.  PWCG is not handling that well.  When I switched the reference pilot to Alex Edmonds it worked.  Alex was awarded his victories.  Unfortunately, he died. 

 

This issue is not new to version 13, but it could happen any time a user switches pilots and runs an AAR.  I will try to do something to halt the AAR early with an error message.

 

You will be happy to know that, after the fixes, Alex's efforts were appreciated.  He made the news.

Edited July 4, 2021 by PatrickAWlson

[PatrickAWlson]

5 hours ago, Varibraun said:

@PatrickAWlson Just had my first mission in the beta.  FYI - the in-game mission results screen reflected an additional 109 kill by a P-51 and a P-51 loss to an FW190 in the vicinity of my 4 flight engagement location and egress route.  I believe those should have been attributed to my flight, but they didn't show up in the PWCG AAR. 

 

However, I am not 100% certain those came from our squadron since another P-51 flight was in the mission.  I did then create a pilot in that squadron (354th Group) and didn't see that 109 victory or P-51 loss in their squadron log (it appears they were engaging Ju-52s, not the fighters in the immediate area of my engagement).

 

Error file attached - I will keep testing this morning.

Aces over the Rhine202107040807513.zip 1.7 MB · 1 download

 

One of the downed planes, an Me109,  does not have a victor designated.  At that point PWCG is guessing.

The other 109 and Ju52 have a victor designated and those were correctly credited.

On 7/3/2021 at 1:26 PM, JG1_GenMarkof said:

S! Pat,

Thanks a lot for this new version of PWCG...
After downloading the Beta version, I tried to start a new career, as a British pilot in early 1944, No 56 squadron over the Kuban Region.
After doing a complete setup of the (Own planes, in-game settings, ...)
When a select mission, I seem to get an error message... and cant see the mission or the map
I might start it up as admin, but wanted to let you know what I saw when creating a mission.

 

Cheers,
GenMarkof

 

ps: again, a very big thanks for all the work your doing for us to have more fun will IL2 GB and IL2 FC!

 

No 56 squadron is British.  It can't fly Kuban.  I tried to create an RAF campaign in the Kuban and could not do it.  How did you manage it?

[Varibraun]

5 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

Your current reference pilot is Allen Frederick, but he is not the one that flew the mission.  Alex Edmonds flew the mission. 

 

Hmmm...not sure how I managed that (Allen Frederick was the pilot I created to check on the previous mission Squadron Log), but thank you for the fix!

[PatrickAWlson]

2 hours ago, Varibraun said:

 

Hmmm...not sure how I managed that (Allen Frederick was the pilot I created to check on the previous mission Squadron Log), but thank you for the fix!

 

It's a possibility that I did not account for.  I added to the AAR validation to make sure that one of the pilots in the mission is the reference pilot.