SOE missions as a Campaign

[gabuzomeu]

 

Hello

I have put together Heinkill 11 missions and skins so they play as a campaign.

The  missions  are somewhat difficult  but very original and enjoyable.

There is   no  scoring or success criteria  for the missions: when you exit, irrespective of the mission result  ,  it's up to you to decide to replay or go to the next mission.

 

All credits to Heinkill

 

Description from Heinkill:

You have been seconded to the newly formed Special Operations Executive (SOE) of the British Armed Forces. You have been chosen for this assignment because of your ability to pilot any and all aircraft types, from single to twin engine, both RAF and captured Luftwaffe aircraft. 

The commanding officer of SOE, Hugh Dalton, has been assured by Air Chief Marshall Hugh Dowding that if it has wings, you can fly it.

Now it is your duty to prove him right. You will be based at RAF Southend; a former Royal Air Force station.

The airfield is perhaps the most secret airfield in the whole of Britain. It is home to Special Duties Squadrons,  No. 138, which drops agents and their supplies into occupied Europe, and No. 161, which specialises in personnel delivery and retrieval by landing in occupied Europe. Due to your special profile, you will fly for either squadron, as needed.

Most of your missions will be conducted at dusk, dawn, or at night, at low level, in poor visibility.

You will operate mostly alone, and often behind enemy lines.

Success will depend on your ability to fly, navigate by map and compass, and recognise your targets from the air based on scant intel.

Good luck out there! The partisans and freedom fighters of occupied Europe depend on you.
 

The download is  17MB , here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b6Hjmtrr4icyTC6G6X28eI8E_Cyo0ejp/view?usp=share_link

Then 3 steps to install in the spoiler below:  

Spoiler

You have to extract the campaign_SOE  folder  (the  one  INSIDE  the  downloaded  folder  (named  the  same  sorry))   to

Steam/Steamapps/common/IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover Blitz/parts/bob/mission/campaign

 

 

The Skins  folder is to be extracted to your name/documents/1C SoftClub/il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover/PaintSchemes

 

and  add (using  windows  notepad  or  download  notepad++)  to your  campaign.ini file  in  :

Steam/Steamapps/common/IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover Blitz/parts/bob/mission/campaign

 

insert  the  following at  the  end of the [Main]  list

campaign_SOE

[campaign_SOE]
folder campaign_SOE
title Special Operations Executive
image Poster.bmp

 

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by gabuzomeu

[gabuzomeu]

And, for   those trying, let me know if the install explanation is  clear enough, all suggestions  welcome!

[OBTBrunov]

Hi Gabuzomeu,

the install explanation is ok and clear.

But after installing the campaing is not disponible in the mode one player campaing.

This files can be used for playing alone ?

 

Thank's 

 

Gabuzomeu : français ?

[gabuzomeu]

French  :  yes  ?

did  you change  the campaigns.ini  ?

[OBTBrunov]

Bonjour Gabuzomeu,

je suis plus à l'aise en français

j'ai transformé mon fichier campaigns.ini en y ajoutant les lignes

campaign_SOE

[campaign_SOE]
folder campaign_SOE
title Special Operations Executive
image Poster.bmp

 

mais j'avais mal identifié la fin de la main list , liste principale.

c'est corrigé à présent, j'ai démarré la première mission et lu les consignes, c'est du haut niveau pour la navigation.

Donc de longs vols pour les froides journées d'hiver à venir.

Merci

 

cordialement

[OBTBrunov]

Bonjour Gabuzomeu,

je viens d'effectuer la première mission SOE, plutôt sympa.

 

J'ai quelques questions.

 

En premier lieu, j'ai constaté un « trou »  dans la carte, je m'explique ,

J'ai bien décollé de Rochford, je survole Eastchurch cap 145 (pour rejoindre Hawkinge) et là après le bras de mer au lieu de voir le Kent, je suis au dessus du Channel, je rejoins Wissant.

 

Sur la suite du parcours tous les autres points de passage sont conforme à la navigation à effectuer,

Suis je le seul à rapporter cette anomalie relative à la carte ?

 

Deuxième question, peut on contourner certain point sans être pénaliser ? Là aussi je m'explique, je suis passé à 100 pieds au dessus de Calais, la flak ne m'a pas raté, j'ai perdu le moteur gauche. Il serai moins dangereux de passer 5kms plus au sud mais la mission sera t elle validée à l'arrivée ?

 

Enfin, c'est une longue mission, aussi en vue de Manson, j'ai accéléré le temps en X16 pour rentrer plus vite. Je ne pense pas avoir été pénalisé pour ça, que peux tu m'en dire ?

 

J'ai effectué un vol total d'1h57, je suis bien rentré à Rochford mais à l'atterrissage j'ai cassé le 2e moteur, posé trop dur, pales d'hélice hors service.

 

Au résultat, le jeu me dis joueur ok, avion endommagé , échec de la mission mais me permet de poursuivre sur la mission suivante, moi ça me va. Est ce uniquement le décès du pilote ou la perte de l'avion qui invalidera la mission ? Devrai-je recommencer depuis la mission 1 en cas de décès ?

 

Je poursuivrai ces vols ces prochaines semaines et te rapporterai les anomalies que je pourrai rencontrer,

 

Chouette mission, merci pour cette campagne solo.

 

ci dessous une traduction Google pour les autres joueurs hors hexagone 

 

Hello Gabuzomeu, I just did the first SOE mission, pretty cool. I have some questions.

 

First, I noticed a "hole" in the map, let me explain, I took off from Rochford, I'm flying over Eastchurch heading 145 (to reach Hawkinge) and there after the inlet instead of seeing Kent, I'm above the Channel, I join Wissant. On the rest of the route, all the other crossing points are in accordance with the navigation to be carried out, Am I the only one reporting this map anomaly?

 

Second question, can we circumvent a certain point without being penalized? There too I explain myself, I passed 100 feet above Calais, the flak did not miss me, I lost the left engine. It will be less dangerous to go 5kms further south but will the mission be validated on arrival?

 

Finally, it's a long mission, also in view of Manson, I accelerated the time in X16 to return faster. I don't think I was penalized for that, what can you tell me? I made a total flight of 1h57, I got back to Rochford well but on landing I broke the 2nd engine, landed too hard, propeller blades out of order.

 

As a result, the game tells me player ok, plane damaged, mission failure but allows me to continue on the next mission, that's fine with me. Is it only the death of the pilot or the loss of the plane that will invalidate the mission? Will I have to start over from Mission 1 if I die?

 

I will continue these flights over the next few weeks and will report any anomalies that I may encounter,

 

Nice mission, thank you for this single player campaign.

[gabuzomeu]

Hello

I just compiled  Heinkill  missions  into a campaign,  so  there  are  no  campaign "rules"  and  no  trriggerr  in  the  missions  :  play  it as you like, for myself,  on  the ground alive in frriendly terrritory is enough ?

 

(J'ai  simplement assemblé les missions de Heinkil en une campagne, mais il n'y a aucune regle speciale ni  de déclecheurrs complqiués dans les missions: tu fais comme tu veux au moment de decider si tu passes ou non à la suivante.)

[OBTBrunov]

Et bien merci pour ces infos, ça facilite les choses.

Et pour le manque dans la carte ? une idée ?

 

Thank's for informations, it's ok like that.

An idea for the problem map ?

[arquillos1]

Thanks gabuzomeu

[arquillos1]

Hi! quick question from a noobie, what are the SOE_XX.misroads files for?

Thanks

[Raptor341]

What aircraft are flown in the course of this campaign? - Looks very interesting, the SOE Squadrons had a very important role yet remain rather unknown to the wider public (one could say that was the point)

Edited January 24, 2023 by Raptor341

[gabuzomeu]

so, in these missions, you will fly: Blenheim, Spitfire, Bf 110, Tiger Moth, 

NB: these are a bit difficult, so do not forget you can always decide to go to the next mission at the debriefing screen!

 

[OBTBrunov]

Indeed, these missions are quite difficult.

I'm stuck on mission 3 (I think) the one where you have to place your Blenheim in a terrain located in T5. No matter how much I squared this square, I never saw the arrows indicating the terrain.

Could you give a more precise indication?? T5, key ??? (reference to the numeric keypad)

 

THANKS

 

OBT~Brunov

[OBTBrunov]

Hello,

having recently upgraded to Windows 11, I downloaded this SOE mission. Unfortunately, following the same procedures, the campaign doesn't appear in the list.

Am I the first to encounter this problem ?

Have other players found an alternative to playing it on Windows 11 ?

Thanks

 

Bonjour, 
étant passé récemment à windows 11, j'ai téléchargé cette mission SOE.

Hélas, en suivant les même procédures la campagne n'apparait pas dans la liste.
Suis-je le premier à rencontrer ce problème ?
D'autres joueurs ont ils trouvé une alternative pour la jouer sous windows 11 ?
merci

 

mon fichier campaign.ini en PJ

[taxillus13]

Hello OBTBrunov,

same problem here but only with this SOE campaing. 

I am using Windows 11 and have many campaings installed which all show up.

As I was not able to locate the problem, I play the SOE single missions.

[paul_leonard]

This is a very old campaign created in 2011.  The main zip version I have is an executable that when extracted is completely broken and incomplete.  But I did manage to find another version of it in one of my other archives but that one seems to be missing some custom skins?  Where did you obtain your version?  Please let me know and I'll download it and take a look at that as well.

 

In any event, I think I know what you need to do.  I am assuming you have copied the campaign_SOE folder and contents to:

C:\Users\<yourname>\OneDrive\Documents\1C SoftClub\il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover\mission\campaign\custom\campaign_SOE

 

I strongly recommend you use your 1C Softclub folders and not the steamapps folder structure as any update or integrity check through steam is likely to delete files and folders under steamapps.

 

You then add the following lines to your Campaign.ini file found here:

C:\Users\paull\OneDrive\Documents\1C SoftClub\il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover\mission\campaign\custom

 

Using Notepad or another editor like my highly recommended Notepadd++ edit the Campaign.ini file.

 

under [Main] section add the following line:

campaign_SOE
 

Add a new section at the bottom with the following lines:

 

[campaign_SOE]
folder campaign_SOE
title Special Operations Executive
image poster.bmp

 

So far this looks like where OBT_Brunov and others have gotten to without success.  As a side note I notice that some peoples Campaign.ini file is called Campaigns.ini (plural).  This may depend on what version VRbeta or 2D Steam, I don't know.  But whatever name you have that works for you for other campaigns, don't change that file name.

 

He's where the problem is.  The SOE campaign folder is probably missing a single semi-generic file that is easy to create or copy into the folder.  The missing file is called "campaign.mis".  I've attached a copy here but it is also a simple file that can be created using Notepad or simply copied from a neighbouring campaign folder, so long as the campaign you copy it from is a Channel map campaign.  The contents of the campaign.mis file are:

 

[PARTS]
  core.100
  bob.100
[MAIN]
  MAP Land$English_Channel_1940
  BattleArea 150000 100000 100000 150000 1000
  TIME 12
  WeatherIndex 0
  CloudsHeight 0
  BreezeActivity 0
  ThermalActivity 0
[splines]
[CustomChiefs]
[Stationary]
[Buildings]
[BuildingsLinks]

 

This file tells the game what map to use and what grid pattern to use.  I actually prefer the following line instead of the above:

BattleArea 8500 8500 350000 300000 10000

 

With this missing file now existing the campaign should appear in your list.

 

Good luck.

 

 

 

Campaign.zip

[taxillus13]

Hello paul_leonard,

thank you for your help, this works fine!

 

My version is from here:

 

But I did not use the JSGME installer.

 

These SOE missions seem to use only default skins.

[OBTBrunov]

On 7/27/2025 at 4:49 PM, paul_leonard said:

This is a very old campaign created in 2011.    Please let me know and I'll download it and take a look at that as well.

 

Hello, Paul_leonard,

I downloaded and installed the SOE campaign file here
on this post:
The download is 17MB, here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b6Hjmtrr4icyTC6G6X28eI8E_Cyo0ejp/view?usp=share_link

Then follow the 3 steps to install in the spoiler below:

 

I will download your file and reinstall according to your instructions, and I will get back to you with the results in a few days.

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

Campaign.zip 395 B · 0 downloads

 

[OBTBrunov]

Hello, Paul Leonard, Taxillus13,

I've solved my problem. Maybe not exactly, but I'll explain.

 

I successfully installed and extracted the zipped files to my documents/1Csoftclub/IL2 Cliffs of Dover/mission/campaign/custom
I checked the campaign.mis file; it's there and matches what you wrote. The same goes for skins in PaintSchemes.

 

I'll test it; Failure

 

However, rereading the post from the beginning, I read that the files should be unzipped into

"You have to extract the campaign_SOE folder (the one INSIDE the downloaded folder (named the same, sorry)) to
Steam/Steamapps/common/IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover Blitz/parts/bob/mission/campaign

The Skins folder is to be extracted to your name/documents/1C SoftClub/il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover/PaintSchemes."

So I extracted it to Steam/Steamapps/common/IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover Blitz/parts/bob/mission/campaign
then I copied your campaign.mis file there
modified the campaigns.ini as requested
(on my PC) The file is named campaigns.ini, not the singular:

"Insert the following at the end of the [Main] list
campaign_SOE
[campaign_SOE]
folder campaign_SOE
title Special Operations Executive
image Poster.bmp"

I restarted my PC and it works.

I did this because all the other campaign missions appear in Steam and not in my documents.

I protect myself from the update you're talking about (perhaps) by disabling the Steam overlay.
I've always done this and it's never caused me any problems.
What are the risks I'm exposing myself to by placing my campaigns in Steam and not in my documents ?

 

I still make a monthly backup of the 1Csoftclub files and a restore point when my PC is at its best.

 

I have no computer skills, so don't assume my method is correct, but feel free to share your point of view.

 

I'm going to try the same procedure on this mission. Follow this link if you want to know the result.

1lokos has just uploaded the Bristol Beaufighter campaign to the Channel map!

 

I'm having the same problems as with the SOE mission !

Have a nice day !

[paul_leonard]

Hey if it works for you then all good.  You claim no computer skills but you certainly have problem solving skills!  The risk of putting the campaigns in the steam folder structure is that an update/reinstall might erase them.  Also if you do a file integrity check that might also erase them.  This does not happen if you use the documents folder structure.  
 

one other thought though, is your documents folder on the c drive?  Sometimes CloD gets finicky if it is on a non-C drive.

 

glad you got it working.

[OBTBrunov]

Hello Paul_leonard,

yes, all my files (documents and Steam) are under /C.

So I'll avoid having to do a file integrity check myself!
And if that happens by mistake, I just have to reinstall the campaign I want to play; it's neither very long nor difficult.

 

As for my computer skills, I've been looking for answers on the internet and on this forum. And recently, I've been asking AI questions (Copilot, for example).
This AI is pretty good at explaining technical terms for a beginner like me.

 

Have a good flight, and thank you for your explanations.

 

PS: I did the same for the "Beaufighter" mission I mentioned earlier; it works just as well.