PWCG Normandy Beta 2 Released

[Stonehouse]

7 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

 

IMHO wise move.  The consistent availability of dynamic markings is a potential game changer.  One squadron skin now really works and user created skins can still be peppered in.  

 

For Normandy I made use of the existing skins to show the allied transition before, during, and after Normandy.  It means a little less color for now but I'm working on that.  With planes that accept dynamic markings I only have to overly squadron markings with t\he series of base planes and I get planes with appropriate date based markings that also have squadron markings.  

Absolutely agree. I know from my own experiments adding P51D and Typhoon squadrons etc to use tactical markings it makes a huge difference in immersion. Taking off you see the other aircraft carrying your squadron codes using just the one skin and all assigned automatically. As you say it should be also possibe to assign custom skins to aces or unique aircraft or units. It will mean a huge reduction in the size of people's skins libraries. I know I have 24+ skins for 486 squadron's Tempests over different time periods so that they look right in missions and the only real difference for each era across the skin set is the codes on the fuselage side. 

Edited October 3, 2022 by Stonehouse

[Hotaru_Ito]

Started up a 109 campaign with JG26 on the Channel front. First mission was great, I've been playing vanilla career for a while and I'd forgotten just how cool it is to not know exactly where and when the enemy will come from. Only a couple of minor issues so far:

 

Some of the Spitfires we encountered still had default Soviet skins, while some had early brown RAF skins. They were from 66 and 41 Squadrons. I looked at the skin configurations for those squadrons and they both seem to be set up correctly, using skin 01 till sometime in '42. However, in the actual mission file, the skins are a mix of 00, 01, and 09. I'm not sure if the skin numbers are in the same order they're displayed in game or not, but if they are, 00 is default Soviet, 01 is RAF brown, and 09 is one of the later ones with invasion stripes. I didn't see the invasion stripes one in-game, but I definitely saw several brown ones and several Soviet ones.

 

Radar is cool, but AI totally disregards radar contacts and doesn't engage till the enemies come within icon range. Not sure there's much you can do about that, but thought I'd mention it anyway.

 

PWCG throws an error message when trying to create a mission with a cold start. I assume that's just because you haven't set up cold starts for the Channel map fields. Switching to runway start fixed the issue.

 

Hope this helps!

[migmadmarine]

On 10/1/2022 at 9:29 PM, Mtnbiker1998 said:

I know @migmadmarine and @Skycat1969 have been doing a lot of work with Career mode squadron skins, perhaps a lot of their stuff would also work well with PWCG? the old Skin packs on the website could probably use an update, maybe even an HSD pack.

 

 

I had actually prepared some for Pat ages ago, but I didn't realize that you can still view a private message to a person who has left the message thread, so I was sending the files off into the aether, and missed the release window for his skin packs. Did wonder why you weren't getting back to me before I realized that haha. There will be plenty of crossover from the ones I've been working on, so you may be able to implement these the same when the time comes. 

 

[Stonehouse]

Mission generated fine, SP mission, campaign settings all on high. Lots of action and a lot of fun. Flying 56 sqd out of Newchurch. Like others I had an issue with skins and it looked like all RAF units except 1 hurricane was using the default russian skin. The one aircraft that did have an RAF skin (in fact it was a 56 squadron skin I think hurricanemkii_skin_03.dds) was a 74 squadron aircraft looking through the mission file. Checking back to the squadron folder I couldn't see a 74 squadron json nor a json for the other squadron in the mission 73 squadron. Could these missing jsons cause the skins issue?

 

Small cosmetic bug as below, apostrophe showing as asterisk.

 

Also, small cosmetic one again it was a patrol over a convoy of ships out in the channel so really should say ships or convoy rather than troops if that is possible......I know previously you have said that there is no real method to determine if a co-ordinate set is a water or ground location. So, I guess maybe use a generic term like "units" if there is no easy way. Ditto with "on the ground" perhaps should say "in the area".   

 

 

Only other issue is the known one you mentioned already where there were ground units out in the channel near the convoy. Shame that there is no concept of a function you can call with a co-ordinate set to return terrain type like in DCS. I know from my own modding work that the game has a method to determine ground or water as staticexplosions.txt automatically spawns the correct emitter for the type of ground at the co-ordinates. If the MCU_Spawner could use the same concept and allow you to nominate a ground unit and a water unit and spawn the correct one for the terrain at the co-ordinates the issue would go away perhaps. Guessing you'll probably have to define a set of co-ordinates (maybe a series of rectangles) that come close to the coastline and includes 99.9% of the water of the channel and if co-ordinates are in the rectangles use a water unit instead of a ground unit or just not spawn a ground unit. Likely have to also not spawn ground units within x metres outside of the defined areas so you don't get a ground unit in the water between the side of the rectangle and the actual coast. I've seen similar used in DCS scripts and also the old DCG campaign generator for IL2' 46 to define sea zones. Anyway, I'm sure you have already considered things and have a solution in mind. You must have done something for Kuban.

 

eg:

//Ground based Flak36 mobile enemy turret or destoyer battleship
//[Emitter]
//    P=0.007
//    Object="LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Vehicles\flak36.txt"
//    WaterObject="LuaScripts\WorldObjects\Ships\destroyertype7.txt"
//    Alt=0
//    Range=4500,35000
//[end]

 

Hoping to start a co-op campaign on a dedicated server over the next week and see how that goes too. Before I forget I did have one future enhancement idea recently out of using EMG - EMG builds the mission but allows you to set a parameter so that the mission file is deleted at the end of generation of all mission files. This is very handy for dedicated servers where you do not want a .mission file hanging around.  If there could be a PWCG level or better campaign level setting to either trigger deletion or perhaps rename the .mission file that could be really useful. Maybe hang it off the build binary mission setting so that if it is 1 the mission file is renamed/deleted.

 

Thanks Pat for this. It really was great to sit there on the Newchurch runway with a bunch of Hurri's heading off on the first campaign mission in 1941.

Edited October 3, 2022 by Stonehouse
typo

[Robi89]

12 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

Alpha 1 is up. 

 

Download PWCG here

 

Please post error reports in this thread.

 

Please consider a donation using the link in the upper right of the PWCG download page.

 

 

Great work and again many thanks for your hard work, Pat!

 

Most of the major stuff has already been mentioned.

Some minor observations from the first couple of missions, mostly cosmetic:

 

- The CH towers at Dover show up in their destroyed form which looks a bit weird if you're based at Hawkinge and see them every time you take off, yet radar coverage is there.

- Smoke rising from the coastal towns/areas in southern England even during the Dunkirk phase (I'm guessing it has something to do with proximity to the frontline?)

[Seamus]

More of a curiosity. Since both sides in the base game BON have intruder type night bomber squadrons. Would it be possible to set up night intercepter missions through pwcg? 

 

[PatrickAWlson]

10 hours ago, Hotaru_Ito said:

Started up a 109 campaign with JG26 on the Channel front. First mission was great, I've been playing vanilla career for a while and I'd forgotten just how cool it is to not know exactly where and when the enemy will come from. Only a couple of minor issues so far:

 

Some of the Spitfires we encountered still had default Soviet skins, while some had early brown RAF skins. They were from 66 and 41 Squadrons. I looked at the skin configurations for those squadrons and they both seem to be set up correctly, using skin 01 till sometime in '42. However, in the actual mission file, the skins are a mix of 00, 01, and 09. I'm not sure if the skin numbers are in the same order they're displayed in game or not, but if they are, 00 is default Soviet, 01 is RAF brown, and 09 is one of the later ones with invasion stripes. I didn't see the invasion stripes one in-game, but I definitely saw several brown ones and several Soviet ones.

 

Radar is cool, but AI totally disregards radar contacts and doesn't engage till the enemies come within icon range. Not sure there's much you can do about that, but thought I'd mention it anyway.

 

PWCG throws an error message when trying to create a mission with a cold start. I assume that's just because you haven't set up cold starts for the Channel map fields. Switching to runway start fixed the issue.

 

Hope this helps!

 

I'll look into the skins.

Radar is just "Spotter".  There is no code in the game to make the AI actually behave like it's radar so not much to be done.  At least you are aware.

No taxiing in Normandy.  That took Murleen a lot of time to do for iffy results due to bad AI.  I'm not going there until taxi AI actually works reliably.

[ssn650]

Wow, thanks for all your hard work and dedication above and beyond the call of duty, Pat!

 

Promptly flew in a first mission with a Spitfire MK XIV Squadron, picking the earliest date these were available (September 1944), where I served as wingman to a lead in an uneventful flight over Le Havre, admiring a group of P-47's attacking the city while we circled above looking out for German fighters.  

However, on our second mission, where a group of four were assigned to attack an enemy train in Rouen, we were met with a hoard of anti-aircraft batteries that left every one of us in flames!  Gonna give that one another try, but with the concentration of batteries out there I just don't see how we can possibly succeed in getting near that train!

In three successive missions our flight of 4 were shot down over Rouen so I've skipped that suicide attack and moved on, focusing on air superiority and intercept assignments, since the Spitfire MK XIV isn't suitable for bombing runs in heavily defended sectors.  Haven't run into any enemy fighters yet but am enjoying the scenery!

 

By the way, whenever a mission is generated I get a pop-up message claiming that the binary mission file could not be created, but when I check the appropriate folder there is indeed a .msnbin file there along with the mission file.  Not sure why and haven't seen anything here (after a quick search) that indicates this as a known issue.

 

 

Edited October 4, 2022 by ssn650

[PatrickAWlson]

 

So ... 

Russian skins on Hurris and Spits.  The squadron definitions are there but seems to be an issue with the selection algorithm

Need to turn off smoke unless there is combat.

CH towers are in a damaged state.  Probably same issue as smoke - inappropriate application of battle damage for this map.

Troops in the water near a convoy.

 

Can somebody give me the history of early war night intercepts?  Were they a thing?

[PatrickAWlson]

@Stonehouse When you saw infantry in the water, what was the date?  I suspect this is occurring during Dunkirk when the mission area can be either the beach or the channel.  Wanted to be sure.

[Seamus]

This is the best I could find for a German perspective of nighter interception on a large overview. http://www.kagero.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=499:guide-to-german-night-fighters-in-world-war-ii-the-night-defenders-of-the-reich&catid=95&Itemid=688

[PatrickAWlson]

1 hour ago, Seamus said:

This is the best I could find for a German perspective of nighter interception on a large overview. http://www.kagero.pl/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=499:guide-to-german-night-fighters-in-world-war-ii-the-night-defenders-of-the-reich&catid=95&Itemid=688

 

Thanks.  That verifies that night interceptions did happen early in the war.  

[RNAS10_Oliver]

 

Not tried PWCG in quite a while so sorry if this is known Pat and not a Normandy alpha bug. Just checking the alpha out now (before I go to town on the files to try create the Fleet Air Arm) and noticed this "near near" in the primary objective text. I was checking out the "mission with role" choice and chose "recon". Minor I know but figured should report none the less.

Edited October 3, 2022 by RNAS10_Oliver

[Hotaru_Ito]

Couple more very small issues:

 

I./JG26 doesn't seem to have a radio call sign. I checked the .json and it is assigned the call sign "SWAN" after August 1, 1941 (the old Moscow start date, I assume) but it doesn't have one before that. Suspect this is true for other squads too but haven't checked.

 

All the post-invasion Allied airfields in Normandy are marked on the map as friendly airfields for Germany in '41, even though the actual fields aren't there yet. Also, Maupertus, at the north end of the peninsula, is labeled "Plane." All the other ones, on the French side at least, seem to be fine.

 

So far I'm not seeing much in the way of land units in the water. Only ones I've noticed are the AA "corridors" at the ends of runways, which sometimes go into the water if the field is right next to the coast.

[RNAS10_Oliver]

Just ran that mission and as well as some troops in the sea as others mention (an AA gun in the sea off what I believe was Bognor Regis) I am also seeing every train existing at the mission's start are not on rails. I've zipped up the mission and attached that to this post if it's of assistance.

 

 

PWCG.zip

Edited October 3, 2022 by RNAS10_Oliver

[Robi89]

5 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

Russian skins on Hurris and Spits.  The squadron definitions are there but seems to be an issue with the selection algorithm

 

A-20s are affected as well.

 

18 minutes ago, Hotaru_Ito said:

I./JG26 doesn't seem to have a radio call sign. I checked the .json and it is assigned the call sign "SWAN" after August 1, 1941 (the old Moscow start date, I assume) but it doesn't have one before that. Suspect this is true for other squads too but haven't checked.

 

Can confirm.

 

Also, not sure if this is PWCG related or not, but I keep getting these messages once things start hitting the water:

 

 

[PatrickAWlson]

22 minutes ago, Robi89 said:

 

A-20s are affected as well.

 

 

Can confirm.

 

Also, not sure if this is PWCG related or not, but I keep getting these messages once things start hitting the water:

 

 

 

I have been seeing that as well.  Need to post that in "Complaints".  I think it may be happening when a parachuting pilot hits the water.

 

Trains off the rails are just going to be a thing until a solution is found.  At the moment I have no solution.  I used to just put the train at the station but then that stopped working.  Now I use the precise locations as listed in the in game railroad.ini file and that is also hit and miss.  So if I can't put them at the station and I can't put them exactly where the game's ini file says a rail should be, I'm out of ideas.

 

[Stonehouse]

5 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

@Stonehouse When you saw infantry in the water, what was the date?  I suspect this is occurring during Dunkirk when the mission area can be either the beach or the channel.  Wanted to be sure.

It was 1 June 1941. Do you want the generated mission?

[PatrickAWlson]

17 minutes ago, Stonehouse said:

It was 1 June 1941. Do you want the generated mission?

 

Thanks.  That's what I thought.  I did something that disabled infantry generation during cross channel dead zones.  June 1 1941 is Dunkirk so I need infantry.  I also set up two competing battle zones, one on the beach and the other in the water.  Apparently I am generating infantry when the channel battle zone is selected.  That's a good thing since it is not a hard fix.

[Stonehouse]

5 hours ago, Robi89 said:

 

A-20s are affected as well.

 

 

Can confirm.

 

Also, not sure if this is PWCG related or not, but I keep getting these messages once things start hitting the water:

 

 

 

There is only WaterSpray_1.txt to WaterSpray_4.txt that I can see when I ungtp things. WaterSpray_1 is to do with bots hitting the water, so assuming a new file wasn't introduced I suspect someone has made a typo and meant WaterSpray_1.txt rather than WaterSpray5_1.txt. Attached JSGME mod might serve as a stop gap solution until it gets fixed. I've just made a copy of WaterSpray_1.txt and named it WaterSpray5_1.txt.  Note that I am tied up with work stuff at the moment so have not tested the attached but can't see why it won't work.

 

<correction> it seems like once upon a time the files were waterspray1_1.txt etc but still only went up to 4_1. Previously it was reported for bombs, aircraft hitting water and also bizarrely AAA MGs so while my mod below will sidestep the issue likely the splash used is incorrect and someone who is getting the error should post the issue along with a track and mission over in the Graphics, models and maps bug thread. @Robi89 it sounded like it happened to you quite a bit so if you had the mission and could generate a track and you could create a post in the bug thread that would help the dev team fix it.

 

Links to other reports in the past:

Undefined Object when bombing targets at sea. - Technical Issues and Bug Reports - IL-2 Sturmovik Forum (il2sturmovik.com)

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/67860-graphics-models-and-maps/?do=findComment&comment=1185885

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/67860-graphics-models-and-maps/?do=findComment&comment=1188290

 

Waterspray error.zip

Edited October 4, 2022 by Stonehouse
correction

[RNAS10_Oliver]

1 hour ago, PatrickAWlson said:

Trains off the rails are just going to be a thing until a solution is found.  At the moment I have no solution.  I used to just put the train at the station but then that stopped working.  Now I use the precise locations as listed in the in game railroad.ini file and that is also hit and miss.  So if I can't put them at the station and I can't put them exactly where the game's ini file says a rail should be, I'm out of ideas.

 

I presume then that these positions that PWCG places them on are not the same X, Y, Z and Orientation coordinates that someone would also use when designing missions in the mission editor? And that the community just providing coordinates for working starting positions (along train routes) would be unworkable?

Edited October 3, 2022 by RNAS10_Oliver

[TheSNAFU]

I am unable to find squadrons flying the p51D prior to or on D Day. I believe at least the 361 was flying the D model by the time of the invasion. Am I wrong or maybe I’m missing something?

 

Also I don’t seem to be able to reduce smoke. I’ve tried to reduce the % of smoke and the areas where it’s visible but it does not seem to change anything. 

Edited October 4, 2022 by TheSNAFU

[CVGridley]

Super news on the Alpha!  Looking forward to starting a new career later this week - Thanks!

[PatrickAWlson]

3 hours ago, RNAS10_Oliver said:

 

I presume then that these positions that PWCG places them on are not the same X, Y, Z and Orientation coordinates that someone would also use when designing missions in the mission editor? And that the community just providing coordinates for working starting positions (along train routes) would be unworkable?

 

However working positions are derived is fine.  However, the rallroad.ini was the recommended solution

[Robi89]

5 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

I have been seeing that as well.  Need to post that in "Complaints".  I think it may be happening when a parachuting pilot hits the water.

 

4 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

Attached JSGME mod might serve as a stop gap solution until it gets fixed. I've just made a copy of WaterSpray_1.txt and named it WaterSpray5_1.txt.  Note that I am tied up with work stuff at the moment so have not tested the attached but can't see why it won't work.

 

Waterspray error.zip 1.38 kB · 0 downloads

 

Not just pilots, it looks like. Planes hitting the water seem to cause this as well. However, after some quick and dirty testing, it appears that Stonehouse's little fix works.

 

(Interesting side observation - paratroopers are apparently unaffected by this, even if you VDV a whole stick of 12 guys into the Channel, there won't be any error messages.)

 

[Stonehouse]

14 minutes ago, Robi89 said:

 

 

Not just pilots, it looks like. Planes hitting the water seem to cause this as well. However, after some quick and dirty testing, it appears that Stonehouse's little fix works.

 

(Interesting side observation - paratroopers are apparently unaffected by this, even if you VDV a whole stick of 12 guys into the Channel, there won't be any error messages.)

 

 

Glad to hear it helped. I haven't experienced it yet but hopefully you or someone else getting the issue will put an example mission and track over in the bug thread. It'd be nice to get it found and fixed in the next patch as my temp solution is obviously the incorrect effect even though it allows the error to be suppressed.

[PatrickAWlson]

13 minutes ago, Stonehouse said:

 

Glad to hear it helped. I haven't experienced it yet but hopefully you or someone else getting the issue will put an example mission and track over in the bug thread. It'd be nice to get it found and fixed in the next patch as my temp solution is obviously the incorrect effect even though it allows the error to be suppressed.

 

I posted in the technical issues chat.  Hopefully somebody looks at it.

[Stonehouse]

First coop mission on a dedicated server ran fine other than I had overestimated densities a bit so got the usual overload messages occasionally. I will sort that before the next mission. Ironically got the target destroyed looping message for the first time in months but that is nothing to do with PWCG. Trying to keep things aligned with my offline campaign so I can see differences easily it was 56 squadron flying Hurri 2's out of Newchurch again. Low alt patrol between Dunkerque and Calais. We caught an unescorted group of Ju88s out northwest of Gravelines attacking a convoy. We destroyed 2 and got 2 more badly damaged and they jettisoned their bombs and went home but we were out of ammo by then so unfortunately the other 4 Ju88s clobbered the convoy. Only PWCG issues were those already noted earlier today so no new problems. Looking forward to the next mission.

Edited October 4, 2022 by Stonehouse

[Stonehouse]

Flying another single player patrol over towards Dunkerque found a bunch of Ju52s. Got bounced. It was a very long trip home with a failing engine......which leads me to a possible future enhancement for channel missions - not a bug nor an urgent matter. Not sure if it applies to Kuban as well from a historical point of view. Anyway, both sides did air sea rescue to recover pilots down in the channel. The game however regards you as dead the moment you hit the water in your chute or belly land on water. No idea if it is possible but it would be nice if PWCG somehow could determine that you'd ended up swimming and instead of marking you as dead apply some sort of probability that you get picked up.

 

Lucky...............missed by just that much lol

Edited October 4, 2022 by Stonehouse

[Patricks]

9 minutes ago, Stonehouse said:

Flying another single player patrol over towards Dunkerque found a bunch of Ju52s. Got bounced. It was a very long trip home with a failing engine......which leads me to a possible future enhancement for channel missions - not a bug nor an urgent matter. Not sure if it applies to Kuban as well from a historical point of view. Anyway, both sides did air sea rescue to recover pilots down in the channel. The game however regards you as dead the moment you hit the water in your chute or belly land on water. No idea if it is possible but it would be nice if PWCG somehow could determine that you'd ended up swimming and instead of marking you as dead apply some sort of probability that you get picked up.

 

Lucky...............

 

 

Looks better than the Hurri I had to bail out of over the channel. Tried my 1st mission (CAP) by leaving the pilot assignments alone so there were only 4 of us with me as #4 (3 other squadrons in the area though). Passed them all egressing during our ingress, bad sign.. My leader felt it was a good idea to engage 4 109's, which quickly became 12 109s. I knocked 1 down, badly damaged another, looked around and I was now alone, no idea where those cowards ran off to so I dove to the deck but couldn't out-run my pursuer and he knocked my controls out, but 5 seconds earlier i had opened my canopy and zoomed up of the deck to get room to jump. Got out safely, debried showed we lost one other pilot/plane. Brought some chicken soup to my two buddies that left me there alone.. 

 

Next time everyone flies!

Edited October 4, 2022 by Patricks

[Robi89]

Just had an absolutely intense patrol north of Calais.

Four Spitfires of 41 Squadron (with me in the #2 slot) and four Hurricanes of 74 Squadron vs 8+ Bf 109s of JG51 and four Bf 110s of ZG26 in a chaotic low-level furball that ended with all Hurricanes shot down for four 109s and two 110s.

Imagine my surprise when I read in the debriefing just who I'd shot down - among others, a certain Leutnant Heinrich Bär.

 

[Russkly]

Very glad to enjoy the fruits of your labour once again, Pat.

 

A few things whilst testing a career with 41 Sqn. out of Hawkinge in June 1941 (Spits), and i'm aware that some of these have already been reported:

• Missions are all Dunkirk related, even though it's mid-1941, but I'm guessing you know this. right?
• As others have noted, smoking towns and damaged radar stations around the airfield.
• I've assigned myself a skin, but the rest of the sqn. has VVS markings.
• Units are all metric in all the mission generation screens.
• Under "Modifications" in the pilots selection screen there is "Merlin engine" listed. What is this? Excuse ignorance.
• As I've mentioned in a separate post, it would be very useful at some point to have the missions and kills stats listed in the pilot selection screen, so that one can select pilots based on their experience/competence without having to remember them from the chalk board. Appreciate that this is a separate topic and not critical for your work on Normandy, but it would be an enhancement IMHO, if you get around to it.

Once again, thanks for this work - it is excellent to be able to fly Hurris and Spits over Dunkirk, and then move onto BoB and thereafter to Rhubarbs, Rodeos, Ramrods and Circuses.

[Letka_13/Arrow_]

Hello Pat,

thank you for your great work with the PWCG Normady. I have one question regarding the modifications of Typhoons. Even when I fly in 1943 the typhoons get as standard four bladed propeller and dust dome. Is there a way to change it to some other config with three bladed prop, no dust dome and only standard engine? I can only select Reflector gunsight and Armor mods for typhoon in PWCG. 

[Raptorattacker]

@PatrickAWlson

Hiya Pat.

Not necessarily a major error but I get this when I land. Dunno if it's a snow effect that snuck in there somehow but I had it on an Albatros (I think) in FC as well a while back.

It's a BoB mission and I CAN'T remember if it was there at T/O (obviously I was looking forward!!).

Let me know if you want any files or anything, I'm happy to provide...

Rap

 

Some more white snowy strangeness. Like I say, I don't knoow if this is 'just one of those things' that you haven't gotten round to yet but just in case you're not aware...

Edited October 4, 2022 by Raptorattacker

[Letka_13/Arrow_]

Pat,

the campaign generator is not generating correct squadron codes for the 193th Typhoon Squadron, DP is missing and it might be a problem with other squadrons. I was trying to find out where the error could be, but to no avail. It works correctly in Rhineland PWCG campaign - 13.11.0, but not in the Normandy alpha PWCG.  Thank you for correction .

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by Rudolph

[giullep]

hi, I would use it....where must install it!?! any instruction? thx

[Stonehouse]

8 hours ago, Rudolph said:

Pat,

the campaign generator is not generating correct squadron codes for the 193th Typhoon Squadron, DP is missing. I was trying to find out where the error could be, but to no avail. It works correctly in Rhineland campaign but not on Normandy map.  Thank you for correction.

 

Looking at 193 Squadron json for the alpha it looks like all the typhoon skins except the last two are referring to squad id 103083184 (which is 184 squadron) by mistake. The relevant line should be "squadId": 103084193 for all 193 squadron skins. No idea whether that is the cause or not of your issue, but it is a definitely a bug.

[Letka_13/Arrow_]

1 hour ago, Stonehouse said:

Looking at 193 Squadron json for the alpha it looks like all the typhoon skins except the last two are referring to squad id 103083184 (which is 184 squadron) by mistake. The relevant line should be "squadId": 103084193 for all 193 squadron skins. No idea whether that is the cause or not of your issue, but it is a definitely a bug.

Good catch, thanks, but it seems that it is a broader problem as I have tested several other squadrons and they are not generating squadron codes correctly for RAF. For example when I start the Normandy campaign as RAF fighter, the 41, 56 and 66 squadrons generate the squad codes correctly, the others miss the prefix with the squadron code. Even correcting this error in the 193 squadron json hasn't helped me. Hopefully Patrick will be able to solve it quickly  It is maybe a small detail, but for me tactical codes connected with particular aircraft add so much immersion, I just can't play stock careers where all airplanes are anonymous. 

[PatrickAWlson]

On 10/3/2022 at 9:06 PM, TheSNAFU said:

I am unable to find squadrons flying the p51D prior to or on D Day. I believe at least the 361 was flying the D model by the time of the invasion. Am I wrong or maybe I’m missing something?

 

Also I don’t seem to be able to reduce smoke. I’ve tried to reduce the % of smoke and the areas where it’s visible but it does not seem to change anything. 

I had the intro date as August 1944.  I bumped it up to April.  The internet agrees with you.  Deliveries started in March so April seems like a good PWCG introduction.  They should be there by June 6 in the next drop.

@Raptorattacker Need to look into it more, but  my guess is that you're flying in the winter calendar months.  There is no winter Normandy map.  I am probably designating the season in the mission file as winter.  I need to change it to summer or spring or whatever.  Not 100% sure that's the problem but it's my best guess right now.

[ssn650]

I've now completed a half-dozen missions in September 1944 with the Spitfire MK XIV (Squadron 41) and have yet to encounter any enemy aircraft, which is as far as I know historically accurate (weren't only 2 JG-26 Focke-Wulfs able to sortie over the Normandy beaches on June 6th?) but not as much fun! 

 

I think I'll switch to JG-26 and try my luck in a BF109-F in the summer of 1941 with drop tanks to see what difference they would have made if they'd been available during the Battle of Britain (drop tanks are an option with the F variants, aren't they?).  But with those 109's capable of 660 km/h at 6.000 meters I don't think it's going to be a fair fight!

 

Edit: I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I can't seem to load my first mission because I don't own my plane.  Can anyone help please?

 

 

 

Cheers and thanks again, Patrick!

Edited October 5, 2022 by ssn650
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