Quick mission, career, and single missions

[Redglyph]

Brief description: In career mode, <user> has been awarded the "Mentioned in Despatches" several days in a row, even when operations are suspended.

Detailed description, conditions:

My character has been awarded the "Mentioned in Despatches" several days in a row, even when operations are suspended. Other pilots too, I have 5 of these awards in 2 days, visible in a screenshot (please provide email if necessay, we can't upload the screenshots in these forums, format is refused).

Career as British pilot in Bodenplatte campaign, in No 416 Sqn RCAF.

No air operations on 19.10.1944, yet 3 pilots are awarded this mention (which was only awarded for exceptional flight action).

Additional assets (videos, screenshots, logs):
Your PC config data (OS, drivers, specific software):

Win7 Pro 64-bit, IL2 v4.003b

Edited December 18, 2019 by Redglyph

[LukeFF]

22 hours ago, Redglyph said:

No air operations on 19.10.1944, yet 3 pilots are awarded this mention (which was only awarded for exceptional flight action).

 

It was not awarded only for exceptional actions in the air.

 

Furthermore, what you are seeing is the game catching up with what awards your pilots should have after the latest build update.

[Redglyph]

On 12/19/2019 at 8:02 PM, LukeFF said:

Furthermore, what you are seeing is the game catching up with what awards your pilots should have after the latest build update.

 

OK, thanks, that must be coming from the catching up. It felt weird since we are used to receiving awards directly after the mission they relate to. No reason not to receive them later though, which must have been the case in reality.

 

Quote

It was not awarded only for exceptional actions in the air.

 

Was it not? The description specifies "gallantry or meritorious in the face of the enemy", and pilots were not involved in other form of action (especially in the game)

 

"Within the British Empire, being mentioned in despatches is the most junior form of recognition for gallantry or meritorious action in the face of the enemy. The practice dates back to around the time of the Boer War, when the commanders-in-chief of a theater of war or a campaign began to be required to report their activities and achievements to the War Office in the form of despatches. These despatches were then published in the London Gazette, one of the official journals of record of the British government.

Those military personnel who were mentioned in despatches during World War II received a certificate referencing the despatch in which he was mentioned, as well as a bronze oak leaf, which was to be worn on the ribbon of the appropriate campaign medal. Despatches during World War II were published in the London Gazette from 1941 to 1951."

[LukeFF]

All that is true, however, there is a source out there (unfortunately, I cannot find it right now) that states that MiDs were given out for practically anything during the war - from actions that were just short of the VC to basically "yes, this chap has been doing a swell job for the past year." So, those 2 criteria are more or less what used in the game). 

 

EDIT: here's the source I was thinking of: http://www.rafcommands.com/awards/mention-in-despatches/

 

"The range of reasons for awarding a “Mention in Despatches” was immense. Many a failed VC recommendation wound up as a Mention in Despatches. It could be awarded for great gallantry or mundane service. Moreover, the vast majority of “Mentions in Despatches” were initiated far below the level of a Field Commander. It is doubtful if Air Officers Commanding at the level of Sir Arthur Harris had ever heard of the men and women in their commands who had been “Mentioned in Despatches”."

Edited December 25, 2019 by LukeFF

[Redglyph]

That makes sense, there's the theory, and there's how hectic things can be in that time, or the overall impression someone did well but hasn't received any award yet.

 

Very interesting, and it seems you did a thorough research for the career mode, well done! 

 

[RedeyeStorm]

Brief description: Career mission Intercept ground attack planes

 

Detailed description: Lately these type of missions no longer steer you towards a flight of enemy planes but give you a ground point to cover. Bassicly the same as the Troop cover and 
Bridge cover missions. Furhter more no attack planes show up at the designated point. Using external view I can seen that there are attack planes in the air but they attack a point much further away. 

 

This behaviour occured during a BOM career flying for the I/Jg52 flying Bf 109 F2 and F4's.

[Cleo9]

Brief description : there are two separate 443 RCAF squadrons BoBp...

 

Detailed description : This is not a bug "per se", just a typo I guess... No 442 AI squadron is listed, in parenthesis, as 443 squadron (2nd screenshot) . Here are the pics : the real 443 and the other one, plus a headquarters screenshot ... Yeah, I know, it's just a little detail but I had to report it...

 

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by Beurling

[Cleo9]

brief description: BoBP Dora (Fw190 D9) campaign -  mission with no ground kills and sudden crash

 

detailed description : 30-40 minutes mission against ground attack airplanes. Encounter Tempests (ground attack ?? ...eh... no....). Got a few ground kills myself, not accounted for in stats... good start !!!  ... Then shot down 3 Tempests while they were landing at their AB, but no mission completed indication, I RTB , and my squad mates circle endlessly around a waypoint; try to leave the mission and it crashes to desktop. Have to redo the mission all over.?

 

I know I'll sound like a whiner, cause I complain a lot on this forum... but this is my latest "finding", the bugs were possibly reported in part by other posters, because they have to do with a lot of issues at the same time. No ground kills... no mission completed message... endless circling... and sudden crash to desktop when leaving the mission... What a beauty... Extremely disappointing. I love this game... but less and less because of such issues. I know this is a a small dev team, but don't come up with a half-assed effort  at a SP game... i don't wanna sound arrogant, but seriously... I've bought every scripted campaign, every collectible plane, all theaters so far... I will continue to support this company, but show respect to the SP clientele and don't deliver a product that is far from being fully operational... 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2020 by Beurling

[-DED-Rapidus]

@Beurling, what settings do you use to launch your career? take a screenshot please.

[Cleo9]

3 hours ago, -DED-Rapidus said:

@Beurling, what settings do you use to launch your career? take a screenshot please.

 

 

Voilà 

 

 

[Cleo9]

It's me again...

 

brief description : 2 consecutive AI ground attack missions accomplished with nothing being destroyed...

 

detailed description : BOS FW190 A3 career (love that plane). On my first day into the campaign, 2 AI ground attack missions come out as "accomplished " despite the fact that nothing was accomplished... No ground kill... Rather perplexing from my point of view. Is this... normal ... ??

 

This is a career that I restarted after 30 missions +  because I got killed and just wanted to start over. Overlapping files bug ? it keeps on happening after 10 missions into the career: AI planes get no kill at all, unless I fly with them. 

 

 

Edited February 27, 2020 by Beurling

[-DED-Rapidus]

@Beurling, 

Sorry for the delay, I will ask you to take a few steps for the test:

1. copy the "\ data\Career" folder, or better archive it;

2. clear the "\data\Career " folder of all files and try repeating the same 1-in-1 thing that happened with your fw190a3 pilot career.

[Cleo9]

@-DED-Rapidus

 

Just did that. It erased any trace of previous careers, as I expected. I then tried to create a new career; this is what i got:  

 

 

 

@-DED-Rapidus

 

the init.sql has to remain in the folder. Only the cp/data base file has to be cleared, if not the list is not available

 

proceeding with testing... will let you know

Edited February 29, 2020 by Beurling

[Cleo9]

@-DED-Rapidus

 

Ok, this is what happened : nothing happened...  When AI missions are conducted they generate no kill, but they are considered "accomplished" more often than not. I initially believed (first post) this was due to restarting the career with the same pilot/squadron/timeline, but it is not the case apparently. Strangely enough, I don't remember AI missions accomplishing nothing (in terms of kill) when I started my first career. This was a while back, a few updates have appeared since then. Sometimes they come up with certain negative impacts from what I can tell... 

 

Edited February 29, 2020 by Beurling

[-DED-Rapidus]

On 2/29/2020 at 9:50 AM, Beurling said:

Just did that. It erased any trace of previous careers, as I expected. I then tried to create a new career; this is what i got

I'm sorry, after clearing need update game (for recovering files).

[Redglyph]

I'll post this here because it's currently not possible to post in the AI thread.

 

Brief description: AI 360 with very high bank angle

Detailed description, conditions:

When the AI does 360s in carreer mode, either to wait for the trailing airplanes to get in formation or at patrol waypoints (for ex. in "free hunt" missions), they turn in very tight circles, which is not efficient for the plane, and *very* annoying to follow for a long time because it's not natural and doesn't leave much spare time to look around and below for incoming enemy units.

I'm not sure if that's realistic with WWII planes, but it's not what we do when flying in general.

Additional assets (videos, screenshots, logs): N/A

Your PC config data (OS, drivers, specific software): version 4.004

Edited March 1, 2020 by Redglyph

[Cleo9]

On 3/1/2020 at 1:02 AM, -DED-Rapidus said:

I'm sorry, after clearing need update game (for recovering files).

 

No update with Steam. Should I use your launcher ?

[-DED-Rapidus]

On 3/5/2020 at 12:58 PM, Beurling said:

Should I use your launcher ?

Yes sir, you are right.

[Cleo9]

On 3/7/2020 at 12:03 AM, -DED-Rapidus said:

Yes sir, you are right.

 

All of my careers are with Steam and do not appear with the launcher. My accounts are linked but I never use the launcher cause my collector planes and scripted campaigns acquired on Steam prior to update 3,004 are not recognized when i use  the launcher. Nevertheless,  I'll do the test... 

 

Editing : Ok done. Same thing happened. No kills on 3 AI missions that were considered accomplished : bomber escort, vehicle attack, river crossing. 

The FW190 A3 is a plane that I acquired on steam after 3,004 if i remember correctly, so I tried the La-5 series 8, also acquired after, and everything went fine. Looks like it's related to the A3 or the squadron ( I JG 51); note that I started that career during the second phase/stage, not from the beginning (A3 not available in the initial BoS chapter). I have noticed in the past that beginning or ending a career outside of the pre-defined boundaries (1st to last chapter inclusive) causes different problems. Might not be related but I'm mentioning it. 

 

Re-editing... I continued my career on Steam and this is what I got...

 

 

 

 

My career is now unplayable ... Fantastic....I'll check what happens with PWCG... My last option to enjoy SP  with minimal frustration... 

 

 

 

Edited March 8, 2020 by Beurling

[-DED-Rapidus]

Old files are archived by you, just return them back.

but I still don't understand the reason for the failure in your career.

Сreating a new career ends in a mistake, right?

[Cleo9]

12 hours ago, -DED-Rapidus said:

Old files are archived by you, just return them back.

but I still don't understand the reason for the failure in your career.

Сreating a new career ends in a mistake, right?

 

What do you mean by : "old files are archived by you, just return them back" ? If you mean that I should reinstall the career folder that I archived, this is exactly what I did, obviously. 

 

This was my initial career, the one I started on Steam, the same one that I was referring to in my initial post... I was 30+ missions in. I got the same error message a month ago in a Macchi 202 career, but after a couple of attempts at restarting the career, it finally worked, for some unknown reason...Not this time though...

 

So, to sum things up: A3 careers do not allow kills on AI missions, even with a brand new and fresh career folder. And the career eventually ends all of a sudden...   

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this. 

I'm taking the time to report these things because I (still) love the game and want it to be more "playable" in SP. 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Beurling

[-DED-Rapidus]

I apologize for causing you any inconvenience when using the game. my task was to find out why you have problems, including when creating a new career. unfortunately, since the problem does not play back, the last option remains, try re-installing IL2 in a different folder and creating a new career.

[Cleo9]

On 3/12/2020 at 4:24 AM, -DED-Rapidus said:

I apologize for causing you any inconvenience when using the game. my task was to find out why you have problems, including when creating a new career. unfortunately, since the problem does not play back, the last option remains, try re-installing IL2 in a different folder and creating a new career.

 

It's all good, no need to apologize, the career was playable for a few missions after I reinstalled my archived Career folder (and all of my other campaigns in that folder are ok) . It's only after a while that I got the error message, it's a different issue altogether; as I said , I also got that message in the past in a different career. 

Edited March 14, 2020 by Beurling

[Mijit]

Brief description: Plane selection doesn't work in the Quick Mission Builder. (Battle of Kuban)
Detailed description, conditions: Whenever you try to select a plane it just reverts to "None" after you've selected it, random plane selection doesn't work either. Changing the map, scenario type or location doesn't fix it. (Planes work fine in Campaigns, Missions, MP)

Your PC config data (OS, drivers, specific software): Purchased Tank Crew a week ago and Battle of Kuban today if activation/installation order might be the issue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2020 by Mijit

[Cleo9]

Hi it's me again !!

 

Brief description: Pilot systematically removed from 2nd or 3rd missions BOM

Detailed description: This happened After I transferred from III/JG51 to IV/JG51

 

everything went fine until My Bf109 career was considered "completed"; a screen mentioned that it was completed although 3 months remained to BOM; at least I was asked if I wanted to continue by transferring to another unit, which I did. Then, when I tried to proceed to the next day, I got an error message : Proceed next day failed. I left the game, restarted it, and to my relief I could continue. But... Cause there is a but... If I was not part of the first mission of the day, I could not fly... Each time I was supposed to be part of the second  or third mission of the day, the name of my pilot would be removed after the first mission (AI or not) was done. It happened systematically; so, basically I could only fly when I was part of the first mission of the day. I ended up completing only 6 missions during the final 3 months of BOM. Out of curiosity, I tried to prolong my career with BOS. Exactly the same bug appeared. Rather frustrating, I spent countless hours on this career.

 

Here are screenshots illustrating the whole thing:

 

On the first one, my pilot is supposed to be part of the second mission. On he second one, taken after completion of the preceding AI mission, my pilot has been removed

 

 

Edited March 28, 2020 by Beurling

[yeikov]

Brief description:

Career "River crossing cover" missions: bombers consistently arrive after the patrol is completed.

Detailed description, conditions:

In Career mode, most or all of the "River crossing cover" missions I have been assigned lately are eventless, but when checking the flight log it always shows that the position we were protecting was bombed some minutes after the patrol was completed (on our way back to the airfield).

Last occurrence today, in Kuban career, Russian side (see attached mission): patrol was completed at around 6:30-6:33 am, He-111 bombed the position at 6:40 am. This is now happening consistently for most/all missions of this type, but did not happen some months ago.

 

Additional assets (videos, screenshots, logs):

Example mission: river_crossing_cover.zip

Your PC config data (OS, drivers, specific software):

Game version v4.004

 

river_crossing_cover.zip

Edited April 6, 2020 by yeikov

[41Sqn_Skipper]

Brief description:

In career mode of BoBP the designated target ("Vehicle column") is not moving and instead lined up on both sides of a bridge

Detailed description, conditions:

In a Spitfire IX career of BoBP my flight was ordered to attack a vehicle column. The several trucks of the column were all lined up on one side of a bridge partially within the river, 2 trucks were on the other side of the bridge. These trucks were not alligned to the road. I saw one truck moving on the road. It looked like they didn't receive the command to move yet and were still in their spawn position.

 

It was a very mission, the target was only 3 minutes away from the airfield. Start was on runway with warmed up engine. The mission was generated to be executed by AI only, but as the leader of the squadron I place myself in the first aircraft.

Additional assets (videos, screenshots, logs):

Generated mission: VehicleColumnBridge.zip

Your PC config data (OS, drivers, specific software):

v4.005, no mods

VehicleColumnBridge.zip

[41Sqn_Skipper]

On 4/9/2020 at 9:10 PM, 41Sqn_Banks said:

Brief description:

In career mode of BoBP the designated target ("Vehicle column") is not moving and instead lined up on both sides of a bridge

Detailed description, conditions:

In a Spitfire IX career of BoBP my flight was ordered to attack a vehicle column. The several trucks of the column were all lined up on one side of a bridge partially within the river, 2 trucks were on the other side of the bridge. These trucks were not alligned to the road. I saw one truck moving on the road. It looked like they didn't receive the command to move yet and were still in their spawn position.

 

It was a very mission, the target was only 3 minutes away from the airfield. Start was on runway with warmed up engine. The mission was generated to be executed by AI only, but as the leader of the squadron I place myself in the first aircraft.

Additional assets (videos, screenshots, logs):

Generated mission: VehicleColumnBridge.zip

Your PC config data (OS, drivers, specific software):

v4.005, no mods

VehicleColumnBridge.zip 964.85 kB · 2 downloads

 

 

Had another mission with the same target location, but this time tanks. This time I took a screenshot to illustrate the issue. Mission file also attached.

 

TankColumnBridge.zip

[41Sqn_Skipper]

Different target location this time, but again very short flying distance from airfield (only about 20km). It looks like most of the tanks were still at the spawn position, only a couple of them were already moving on the road. So it seems to me that the issue is caused by the short flying distance: the ground targets don't have enough time to form a column and leave the spawn area.

 

AttackArmoredColumn_20km.zip

[-DED-Rapidus]

@yeikov, @41Sqn_Banks, thank you for the reports, we are looking at your tracks with missions.

[vonGraf]

Just an observation I made in career; happened five times now since the latest patch.

If an AI controlled bomber (He-111, Ju-88) has returned to its base and landed with a damaged wheel it is obviously not able to taxi to its parking position anymore. But now the plane is standing on the runway/driving circles for a long time blocking the entire traffic sometimes for two squadrons which are trying/asking to land and got denied every time.

I had to land quickly myself in my escort 109 to end the missions.

Maybe I'm wrong but I've no recall that happened to me before the latest update in one of the four careers I've done on the Moscow map so far.

 

Thanks for your good game!

Edited April 14, 2020 by vonGraf

[sevenless]

SP Me 262 AI in career mode

 

Me 262 starting behaviour of AI planes

 

My AI flight mates of Kdo.Nowotny are having a hard time getting their jets in the air. Yesterday had a flight of 7 planes and 4 crashed while starting from Achmer. Should be easy to reproduce. My experience is that currently at least 2-3 AI planes per flight can´t manage to get their jets off the ground. I guess it is an AI problem. Please have a look.

[Sybreed]

Brief description: Ground attack missions result in friendly AI dropping their bombs and focus solely on AAA if many AAA units are present

Detailed description, conditions: Whenever you do a ground attack in career mode (IL-2, Mig-3, FW-190 A5, P-38, etc), your friendly squadmates will focus almost exclusively on AAA units, ignoring the target required to be destroyed for the mission to complete. If a few AAA units are present, friendly AI still start attacking other ground units. If many AAA units are present, friendly squadmates will not attack the other ground units and will solely attack AAA units. Often, the result is that each friendly squadmate will have destroyed one AAA unit without touching anything else. This is due mostly to AI using the bombs on the AAA, then using its cannons on tanks and other "hard" targets.

Also, a fighter with multiple bombs like the A5 will drop all its bombs on a single unit instead of multiple units, preventing better results.

Bonus "annoyance": The FW-190A5 career won't use the 500kg + 4x50kg even with the U17 modification. It will only use the 250kg bomb. It's a minor point. Just an annoyance.

Additional assets (videos, screenshots, logs): 

Screenshots below.  First is the A5 campaign. All the "1" you see are a single AAA unit killed by the AI.  The 2nd screenshot is from my spitfire campaign. In the mission I participated in, only I destroyed anything other than AAA. All my squadmates destroyed a single AAA unit. Now, look at the mission under it. I did not participate in that one, but this time, the AI apparently destroyed everything! How strange...

 

The last screenshot is another A5 campaign. My friendlies only attacked a single AAA unit while I had take out everything else.

 

I noticed the same behavior with the P-38 and the Mig-3 as well.

 

If there is only 1 or 2 AAA unit around, AI will attack other targets of opportunity, but they will attack the AAA first.

Your PC config data (OS, drivers, specific software): All my campaigns are played with these settings: Medium difficulty, dense activity.

career-26-Christoph Schulze-1943.2020-04-17_20-34-19_01.zip

Edited April 18, 2020 by Sybreed

[-DED-Rapidus]

On 4/15/2020 at 3:17 AM, vonGraf said:

If an AI controlled bomber (He-111, Ju-88) has returned to its base and landed with a damaged wheel it is obviously not able to taxi to its parking position anymore. But now the plane is standing on the runway/driving circles for a long time blocking the entire traffic sometimes for two squadrons which are trying/asking to land and got denied every time.

I had to land quickly myself in my escort 109 to end the missions.

Thank you for the report, we will definitely look at this problem in detail

 

2 hours ago, Sybreed said:

Brief description: Ground attack missions result in friendly AI dropping their bombs and focus solely on AAA if many AAA units are present

On 4/15/2020 at 6:47 PM, sevenless said:

SP Me 262 AI in career mode

 

Me 262 starting behaviour of AI planes

 

My AI flight mates of Kdo.Nowotny are having a hard time getting their jets in the air. Yesterday had a flight of 7 planes and 4 crashed while starting from Achmer. Should be easy to reproduce. My experience is that currently at least 2-3 AI planes per flight can´t manage to get their jets off the ground. I guess it is an AI problem. Please have a look.

We are just working on AI, thank you for the report, we will take it into note.

...by the way your tracks in this matter would help a lot.

 

[Sybreed]

1 hour ago, -DED-Rapidus said:

Thank you for the report, we will definitely look at this problem in detail

 

We are just working on AI, thank you for the report, we will take it into note.

...by the way your tracks in this matter would help a lot.

 

Do you need my tracks or were you talking to sevenless?

[-DED-Rapidus]

Yes, very very need!

[yeikov]

Hi, I don't know if the following issues are caused by the AI code or by the mission logic, but just in case I report them here, please let me know if it's better to do it in the AI section:

 

Brief description:

AI behaviour in Career missions: A. inefficient take-off maneuvers; B. Wingmen (usually last flight members) navigate after take-off at very low speed, falling behind of the rest of the flight.

Detailed description, conditions:

Both issues observed in Career mode:

A. Some AI pilots make very violent and inefficient maneuvers during take-off, causing them to stay too low and fall behind of their flight. See attached track_1, recorded in autopilot.

B. Almost in every mission in Career mode, some wingmen (usually the last ones in the flight) keep their flaps extended after take-off and navigate through the first waypoints at very low speed, causing them to fall more than 5 km behind of the rest of the flight. At some undefined point, they decide to throttle up and catch up. See attached track_2, where you can see the AI plane with flaps extended at 2000 m of altitude (which is already the nominal waypoint altitude, i.e. the plane is not trying to climb).

 

Additional assets (videos, screenshots, logs):

Attached Tracks.zip file with tracks and mission files: A_Track_1; B_Track_2

Your PC config data (OS, drivers, specific software):

Game version v4.005

Tracks.zip

[-DED-Rapidus]

6 hours ago, yeikov said:

Brief description:

AI behaviour in Career missions: A. inefficient take-off maneuvers; B. Wingmen (usually last flight members) navigate after take-off at very low speed, falling behind of the rest of the flight.

Great, thanks for the tracks! just in time, now we are working on setting up AI procedures for taking off and maintaining speed in the climb.

[Sybreed]

18 hours ago, -DED-Rapidus said:

Yes, very very need!

 

okay, I edited my post and added the track file! In case you don't see it, I'll link it here as well.

 

The mission was "Attack concentrated ground forces" and you'll see that all my squadmates will only drop bombs on AAA and ignore the entire rows of tanks! This problem can be recreated with all aircraft with ground attack missions, not just the FW-190 A5!

career-26-Christoph Schulze-1943.2020-04-17_20-34-19_01.zip

Edited April 18, 2020 by Sybreed

[Sybreed]

I talked to a dev that says the AI will prioritize the most dangerous targets, so targeting AA makes sense. But they should use their guns for that, then use their bombs to destroy the actual target? And at a point, they should forget about 1 or 2 AA pieces remaining and actually destroy the target.... the site doesn't need to be completely free of AA to be engageable. 

Edited April 21, 2020 by Sybreed