Question about other aircraft generated on the airbase and aircraft taxiing off PSP

[Mysticpuma]

I have pretty much given up on CloD now and am trying to invest some time in BoX now. The new weather system has elevated this to a new level beyond what I could have visually hoped for! 

 

Anyway I hope you don't mind me asking but here goes. 

 

I have generated a mission, no issues at all, love how simple it is, but there are two issues. 

 

Firstly, my mission is aboard P47's. I can see 'ambient' aircraft scattered around the airfield/revetments, these are P38's. Would it be or is it possible to have those ambient aircraft the same as the player has chosen for their mission, or an option to have similar aircraft scattered around the airfield? Next question, once the mission is generated, is there a way to change those ambient aircraft for different aircraft. I have opened the Full Mission Editor but once the EMG mission is opened, I cannot see the aircraft or work out where they are in the FME. 

 

 

 

Second question. 

 

I chose for the aircraft to start on the ramp. Once the engines start the aircraft taxi to the first way point on the grass.... when the PSP is right next to them ?

 

 

Is there a fix for this? 

 

Finally, I have mentioned this before but wonder how easy it would be. 

 

Could an option be added to have a 'living' airfield. 

Simply put, whichever base the player starts at, could it just have a few trucks scripted to drive around, or a couple of jeeps? Nothing super busy, but just something that brings an airfield to life a bit more? 

 

 

[SYN_Vander]

Hi Mysticpuma,

 

let’s see if I can answer your questions:

 

1a) Possible? Yes, I think so, but will take considerable effort. In the mission generator I could look for static planes near the player and change the type to the same as the player. However, not all planes have a static plane model in IL2 and they will be named differently. For the Flying Circus planes there are none at all. So I would need to maintain a separate table to find the proper model. I’ll add it to the wish list, but no promises.

 

1b) The static aircraft are usually in a group under ‘Scenery’. Probably called ‘Airfield scenery’ or something.

 

2) Taxi paths are defined in the properties of an airfield object. Look in the group airfields; find the one you start on. Select it and click on ‘taxi paths’ or something then you can see the waypoints that the planes should follow while taxiing out. It could be I made a mistake in the template, but it’s also possible that the AI is just not following them strictly. To get the planes to taxi correctly is a hell of a job. It’s probably the reason why the devs didn’t even bother with it in their career mode: you can’t start from a parking spot, only from the runway.

 

3) Yes, that can be improved. Each airfield would need to have waypoints defined where the AI vehicles can drive. The (vehicle) AI in IL2 is pretty stupid and can’t navigate on its own.  It’s a LOT of work though, not something I will do anytime soon. I did already add a starting tower and a repair zone for each airfield though. Perhaps I can add a vehicle that drives around these or something.

PS:

I think your best option is to use EMG as a starting point, then tweak the mission further in the FMB. It’s not that difficult if you get the hang of it.