Beginner's Server

[Cooley]

We have been hosting a server for several month designed for beginners and intend to continue indefinitely.  It features immediate combat with large number of AI planes.  We hope this is a way for new players to get their feet wet prior to venturing into more competitive waters.  The maps can be flown as coop or dogfight.  Complex engine management is required but all icons are visible.  The server's name is Beginner's Server by the Gang.  We have a small but dedicated group of players and always looking for more players to join in for some relaxed mayhem.  The maps are heavily edited version of SYN_Vander's generated maps from his Easy Mission Generator.  He should be recognized for his excellent map generator.  We are always looking for mapping suggestions or themes.  We typically fly on Wednesday nights but often join in randomly.  It is a bit of Mom and Pop endeavor which we hope to evolve over time.  If you are interested in joining our discord please PM at Cooleymbc#4631.

[Jake]

20 hours ago, Cooley said:

but all icons are visible

For all aircraft or only for engine management?

[Cooley]

Sorry it took me so long to reply.  I was moving into a new house and migrating the server.  We are now a Ryzen 9 7950 with 3 servers running.  Random crashes are much less now.  We have a beginners WW1 server, the beginners server for WW2, and an expert server.  On the beginners server the icons are visible for all aircraft.  Engine management is complex on all servers.  However, I may make a true beginners server with engine management turned off.  The expert server is set to expert settings as per the Dserver default configuration.  I am happy to hear any suggestions to improve the servers.

[Rummy63]

Cooley, I have a group of beginners as well. I also use Easy Mission Generator. A year ago when I last hosted, I could create a mission and the mission would load no problem. However, I may have forgotten a step or something changed. Now, I create a mission. At that point I can choose the mission file type or the msnbin file type. I am unsure which is the correct choice. Then I have to save it as a "sds" extension. What happens then is my server joins the master server list but when the mission file tries to load, the message is "Bombers2.mission' (Multiplayer/C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\Missions\Stalingrad-Bombers2)...
!!! ERROR: Mission not found
!!! ERROR: COULDN'T LOAD MISSION Multiplayer/C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\Missions\Stalingrad-Bombers2"

I thought maybe it was a folder within a folder type problem. However, whatever folder I try, the problem remains. 

Anyhow, if you have any idea what I can do, I would appreciate it. Take care.

[JimTM]

On 2/8/2023 at 5:51 PM, Rummy63 said:

...At that point I can choose the mission file type or the msnbin file type. I am unsure which is the correct choice.

The .mission file is your source file from which the editor produces a .msnbin file when you save your mission. Copy the .msnbin file to your DServer but don't copy the .mission file there because that file is larger and it can increase the mission download time significantly for people that join your server.

 

On 2/8/2023 at 5:51 PM, Rummy63 said:

...Then I have to save it as a "sds" extension.

The .sds file is not the same as the .mission or .msnbin files. It stores the settings for the DServer (including the list of missions to run). An .sds file is generated when you save configuration settings using the DServer interface.

 

On 2/8/2023 at 5:51 PM, Rummy63 said:

...What happens then is my server joins the master server list but when the mission file tries to load, the message is "Bombers2.mission' (Multiplayer/C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\Missions\Stalingrad-Bombers2)...
!!! ERROR: Mission not found
!!! ERROR: COULDN'T LOAD MISSION Multiplayer/C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\IL-2 Sturmovik Battle of Stalingrad\data\Missions\Stalingrad-Bombers2"

Your folder path above includes "Missions", which is not correct. You need to save your multiplayer mission in "...data\Multiplayer\Dogfight" (if you selected "Deathmatch" in the editor) or in "...data\Multiplayer\Cooperative" (if you selected "Cooperative" in the editor). You can save your mission in a subfolder of Dogfight or Cooperative if you like.

 

Other than that I found that the maximum length of the path (including mission name and suffix) is 220 characters. Your path is 120 characters (assuming you copied the .mission file over).

 

For more information, see Chapter 11 Running Multiplayer Missions in the editor manual. Further editor help is available under Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Guides in the IL-2 Sturmovik Resources post

Edited February 11, 2023 by JimTM

[kestrel79]

I'll have to check this server out. I have limited time to fly these days with kids. And when I do have time I always suck and get shot down because I forget things and haven't played in forever.

[Rummy63]

On 2/9/2023 at 7:44 AM, JimTM said:

The .mission file is your source file from which the editor produces a .msnbin file when you save your mission. Copy the .msnbin file to your DServer but don't copy the .mission file there because that file is larger and it can increase the mission download time significantly for people that join your server.

 

The .sds file is not the same as the .mission or .msnbin files. It stores the settings for the DServer (including the list of missions to run). An .sds file is generated when you save configuration settings using the DServer interface.

 

You folder path above includes "Missions", which is not correct. You need to save your multiplayer mission in "...data\Multiplayer\Dogfight" (if you selected "Deathmatch" in the editor) or in "...data\Multiplayer\Cooperative" (if you selected "Cooperative" in the editor). You can save your mission in a subfolder of Dogfight or Cooperative if you like.

 

Other than that I found that the maximum length of the path (including mission name and suffix) is 220 characters. Your path is 120 characters (assuming you copied the .mission file over).

 

For more information, see Chapter 11 Running Multiplayer Missions in the editor manual. Further editor help is available under Mission Editor and Multiplayer Server Guides in the IL-2 Sturmovik Resources post

Thank-you so much, JimTM. I will definitely investigate this tomorrow. Very much appreciated.

[JimTM]

10 hours ago, Rummy63 said:

Thank-you so much, JimTM. I will definitely investigate this tomorrow. Very much appreciated.

 

Your welcome Rummy63.

 

One other thing I forgot to mention: When you copy your mission to the DServer, make sure that you copy it to the exact same folder path as the path you saved it to from the editor. For example, if you saved your mission to "...data\Multiplayer\Dogfight\RummeysMissions", you have to set up the same folder on the DServer and copy your mission there. 

 

Good luck!

[Rummy63]

16 hours ago, Rummy63 said:

Thank-you so much, JimTM. I will definitely investigate this tomorrow. Very much appreciated.

JimTM, I sent you a message.

[noisy-boy]

Cooley, tried to DM you about the discord as I'd love to jump into your server, forum says I can send 0 messages per day, any other ways to get in touch with you ?

[Japsai]

On 2/9/2023 at 5:59 PM, kestrel79 said:

I'll have to check this server out. I have limited time to fly these days with kids. And when I do have time I always suck and get shot down because I forget things and haven't played in forever.

Welcome to my life (or death)!.  I need to check this out too.  Sounds ideal

On 8/17/2022 at 4:31 PM, Cooley said:

We have a small but dedicated group of players and always looking for more players to join in for some relaxed mayhem

I would love to join and regularly practice dogfighting.  Is there a Discord or Teamspeak channel? 

[Manning]

Sounds like exactly what I need: an environment where I can grow with others. To the point above, how do we communicate with others in the sky with us?

I'll look for you tonight.

[-DED-Rapidus]

EU 1CGS Aerobatic Server
EU 1CGS Normal Server.  
two servers for beginners, on the first you can practice aerobatics, on the second in dogfight

[=V86=Skipper_II]

Recently started flying multiplayer Flying Circus with my nephew and we stumbled across this server. We've been on more often than not for at least an hour or two each day the last week or so. On our first night another player popped in and said it was his first time playing on a server. "Ours too!"

 

Thanks for providing the chill environment. Nice to learn a little about who's hosting! 

[Cooley]

To all,

 

Sorry I have been so remiss about responding on the forum.  I always forget to check the messages.  Real life takes it toll on me.  We have IL2 SRS running for the WW2 server for voice communication.  If you like an invite to our discord server PM me on discord at Cooleymbc#4631 and I will friend you and send an invite.  At present we are very loosely organized but I hope to make some progress soon on getting discord server more structured.  Please be patient.  Any suggestions on how to improve the server are appreciated.  We are experiencing crashes on the server very frequently.  I suspect this is a hardware/driver issue and hope to resolve it soon.  It is slow process of improvement.

 

As for the issue with the missions.  There is a .lst file that tells the server about the integrity of the mission file and what to download.  The easiest method I have found is to move the mission to folder you want to use in multiplayer/dogfight/ and then resave with the mission editor.  If you have multiple installs of IL2 make sure you use the installed editor that corresponds to the installed dserver.  I hope this helps.

[Cooley]

The stability issues have been resolved.  Overclocking the memory was the problem.  Sorry for the multiple crashes.

[Knarley-Bob]

Hopefully this is the place to ask a "newbie" question about engine management.

I have been picking it up piece by piece at a time thru trial and error. Is there somewhere a guy or gal can find a "check list" of setting and such that will at least get them in the air? It is very frustrating trying to figure this all out alone. Finally got a P-47 in the air on a server, flew quite a while, couldn't get it out of combat mode, and the motor died. Still don't know the answer to either question of why. Seems the icons for planes isn't the problem, if the motor won't stay running due to the lack of which key to push.

 

KB

[JimTM]

18 minutes ago, Knarley-Bob said:

Hopefully this is the place to ask a "newbie" question about engine management.

I have been picking it up piece by piece at a time thru trial and error. Is there somewhere a guy or gal can find a "check list" of setting and such that will at least get them in the air? It is very frustrating trying to figure this all out alone. Finally got a P-47 in the air on a server, flew quite a while, couldn't get it out of combat mode, and the motor died. Still don't know the answer to either question of why. Seems the icons for planes isn't the problem, if the motor won't stay running due to the lack of which key to push.

 

KB

 

Learn to fly the P-47 D-22 Razorback

Learn to fly the P-47D-28 Thunderbolt

Engine Management P-47D

 

There is more help in general under "Aircraft and Vehicle Guides" in the Il-2 Resources post.

 

 

[Cooley]

I must apologize as I have not checked the forums in a long time.  Real life got in the way and I missed all these posts.  I will be more diligent about checking in forums going forward.  The servers are still running and I am in the process of updating the maps and adding the new planes.  I still have to add all the new planes to the WW1 map.  Currently we have 3 beginners servers running.  One is our primary dogfight server.  The second is a dogfight/coop server which allows players to fly Germany against the USSR with a random missions appearing consecutively.  The 3rd server is a WW1 dogfight server.  I have finally figured out Discord passably (I am a slow learner).  Please feel free to join our discord server at https://discord.gg/2DJ5dAJqJV.

[GD351]

My new favorite server! Had a blast on it tonight with my dad

[GD351]

One of the missions i was on didnt display the messages on the right side, that tell you if your gears retracting exc, not sure if that's by design. But did make it harder to fly

Edited January 13, 2024 by GD351

[Zooropa_Fly]

1 hour ago, GD351 said:

One of the missions i was on didnt display the messages on the right side, that tell you if your gears retracting exc, not sure if that's by design. But did make it harder to fly

 

There's a bug that makes that happen sometimes.

[GD351]

Oh gotcha thanks

[Cooley]

I am glad you are enjoying the server.  The loss of engine alerts happens when the server has a bunch of entities it has to manage.  It is a pain in the ass but there is no work around.

 

I am working to add tank spawns and AI tanks to battle with capture the flag objectives to many of the maps.  It is a work in progress.

[Zed_77]

Did you guys stop hosting your servers? Me and some friends were just getting into the game and really enjoying playing on your servers, and i noticed that they no longer show up on the server list for us...

[Bilbo_Baggins]

On 6/21/2024 at 1:24 PM, Zed_77 said:

Did you guys stop hosting your servers? Me and some friends were just getting into the game and really enjoying playing on your servers, and i noticed that they no longer show up on the server list for us...

 

These servers are back now. Lots of fun

[Cooley]

Sorry for the downtime.  I was having some memory leak issues but now the server is up to 64 GB memory.  This give me some time to figure out that the servers are down.  

[[popeye]parasins]

Hey thanks for hosting the server, super fun!

There was a warning about multiplayer server overload and the AI ruber banding a bit

[zen_bastard]

I've been playing a little for practice with my father and brother (dad is 86!) and we've been looking to practice on a server. (the learning curve is steep, but i am starting to be slightly less terrible)

 

I'm currently waiting for a key from the company to host one on my pc (it's got enough juice) but, in the meantime, I wonder how to find other servers?

 

When I clicked on multiplayer and join server - none showed up. Is it still a thing? is anyone out there?

[Agent-X]

On 3/9/2023 at 6:02 AM, -DED-Rapidus said:

EU 1CGS Aerobatic Server
EU 1CGS Normal Server.  
two servers for beginners, on the first you can practice aerobatics, on the second in dogfight

The EU server is beginner physics with 20 year veterans flying in 3rd person view chasing everyone off. Most people wont fly there because the ramming, rude behavior, runway killing, ramming targets ect, ect. Anything to win. There is one squad that out numbers everyone every day. The 54th . I think they have got most of there competition banned or ran them off with their bad behavior and ganging up. I would not recommend the EU server if your are beginning or even trying to make friends. This server lacks admin preventing this behavior unless there is film sent in wich does not help because they do not film there bad behavior.