How to play a co-op mission with 1 player and 1 gunner?

[Shikikan]

My friend and I both have IL-2 BoS, and we'd like to play together.  I'd like to fly a plane with gunner positions, like the Ju-87 D-3, and they'd like to be my gunner in the same plane.

 

How can we make this happen?

 

Here are some things we have tried that have not seemed to work:

 

- I tried setting up a co-op miltiplayer server using the built-in co-op example mission.  I can take off and fly, but my friend can't join as a gunner, even though the position is shown as available in my UI.  There appears to be no way for my friend to join my plane as a gunner, even though the position is not locked, and even though I can hop in and out of the gunner position myself.

 

- I tried the same thing with PWCG; I made sure to create a "co-op" mission when I did this.  (I wonder why co-op missions are treated as a special thing?)

 

- When I create a "dogfight" miltiplayer server, my friend CAN join me as a gunner. However, I don't think this is what we want to do, since I can't choose any of the PWCG-generated co-op missions in this mode, and most importantly this mode seems to be all about quick dogfights, which is not what we really want to do.

 

I feel like I'm missing something obvious.  How can I fly and my friend be my gunner? I would be happy if there is ANY way to do this; it could be PWCG missions, it could be the built-in campaign mode, it could be hand-crafted missions, whatever.  I've seen forum posts that suggest something like this is possible, but the exact way to do it eludes me.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Shikikan

[SCG_Tzigy]

I would explore Combat Box training server...usually there are not too many people on so you would not be bothered practicing missions and there is plenty of AI and targets...

[Shikikan]

Thanks! That's a good suggestion, and that might at least let us fly together.

 

It would still be lots of fun to be able to fly an actual mission with my friend as a gunner, though.  I've found posts like the following one, which have people saying it's possible and people saying it isn't:

 

I'm hoping to find concrete instructions on how to do it, since we can't figure it out no matter what we try.

 

[DD_Friar]

If you are in a plane that has slots, like gunner, that can be occupied, have you unlocked those positions in your plane?

Press esc and select "unlock gunner positions"

 

The player wanting to take that seat should select "become a gunner", he then selects the side, that will then show a list of planes that have slots open. He should then be able to jump into the seat.

[Shikikan]

Yes, we have double checked that the position is unlocked.  However, no user interface seems to appear that might allow my friend to join as a gunner.  There just isn't an option.

 

I imagine we are missing something or doing the steps wrong, but I don't know what it is.  We've tried clicking just about everything in every combination.

 

Has anyone successfully done this for a custom mission?  They CAN join me just fine when I host a dogfight multiplayer server, but in this case I'd like to start a co-op multiplayer server, and it is in the co-op case that my friend cannot seem to join as a gunner...

 

If anyone who has done it before can provide concrete steps, or just PM me and maybe we can walk through it together so I can understand what to do, that would be awesome!  This game is super fun; I just wish it weren't so difficult to get my friend in the gunner position for a custom mission.

[JG27_Steini]

On 5/12/2022 at 2:20 AM, Shikikan said:

My friend and I both have IL-2 BoS, and we'd like to play together.  I'd like to fly a plane with gunner positions, like the Ju-87 D-3, and they'd like to be my gunner in the same plane.

 

How can we make this happen?

 

Here are some things we have tried that have not seemed to work:

 

- I tried setting up a co-op miltiplayer server using the built-in co-op example mission.  I can take off and fly, but my friend can't join as a gunner, even though the position is shown as available in my UI.  There appears to be no way for my friend to join my plane as a gunner, even though the position is not locked, and even though I can hop in and out of the gunner position myself.

 

- I tried the same thing with PWCG; I made sure to create a "co-op" mission when I did this.  (I wonder why co-op missions are treated as a special thing?)

 

- When I create a "dogfight" miltiplayer server, my friend CAN join me as a gunner. However, I don't think this is what we want to do, since I can't choose any of the PWCG-generated co-op missions in this mode, and most importantly this mode seems to be all about quick dogfights, which is not what we really want to do.

 

I feel like I'm missing something obvious.  How can I fly and my friend be my gunner? I would be happy if there is ANY way to do this; it could be PWCG missions, it could be the built-in campaign mode, it could be hand-crafted missions, whatever.  I've seen forum posts that suggest something like this is possible, but the exact way to do it eludes me.

 

This might help

 

 

[SYN_Vander]

17 hours ago, Shikikan said:

Yes, we have double checked that the position is unlocked.  However, no user interface seems to appear that might allow my friend to join as a gunner.  There just isn't an option.

 

I imagine we are missing something or doing the steps wrong, but I don't know what it is.  We've tried clicking just about everything in every combination.

 

Has anyone successfully done this for a custom mission?  They CAN join me just fine when I host a dogfight multiplayer server, but in this case I'd like to start a co-op multiplayer server, and it is in the co-op case that my friend cannot seem to join as a gunner...

 

If anyone who has done it before can provide concrete steps, or just PM me and maybe we can walk through it together so I can understand what to do, that would be awesome!  This game is super fun; I just wish it weren't so difficult to get my friend in the gunner position for a custom mission.

 

Cooperative multiplayer is not the best mode if you want to have human gunners. I don't think it's possible. Perhaps (but I may have remembered this wrong) it is possible, if the gunner only joins the game as spectator after the pilot has started the mission.

 

It's better to use Dogfight (Deathmatch) multiplayer mode. You can do the same sort of missions. You can use my mission generator to quickly create multiplayer missions on the fly: https://sites.google.com/view/il2-great-battles-emg/home

 

"I wonder why co-op missions are treated as a special thing?" 

 

History. In the beginning Cooperative mode was the only multiplayer mode available (back then for Rise of Flight; OMG I feel old  ). The advantage with coop is that players have to pick a slot and always start the mission together so players tend to fly more as a team. The unoccupied slots will be filled in by AI so even with few people you can fly interesting missions. The downside is that you can't join mid-game so you have to organize it more if you want to fly with larger numbers.

Edited May 13, 2022 by SYN_Vander

[=FI=Blue2]

This is pretty old & hopefully the OP & others have already resovled it.

But, Vander is on the right track above.  A person can join as a gunner in a Co-op.

First all players join the coop server, and pilots take their slots.  Gunners DON'T claim a slot - just hang out until after the mission is launched.

After mission launch, gunners should be able to join as gunners, jumping into any open slot(s) in aircraft manned by other player pilots.

(I don't recall exact sequence to get there at this moment... might involve using 'escape' key.)

Depending on the hosting PC, you may also need to wait a minute or so to let the mission "settle out" rather than trying to jump into gunner positions immediately, at least that has been some of our experience.  Good hunting gunners!