Armaments for Ground Attack Missions

[TheSNAFU]

For the past couple of versions for ground attack missions I am not seeing any bombs or rockets onboard the aircraft of my flight mates. My plane is properly armed as indicated in PWCG. I reported this to Pat some time ago but have not heard as to whether it's a program issues or something on my end. I am flying a P51 (352nd FG) Normandy campaign. I have not seen any comments from others on this topic which is confusing since if it were a program issue I would think someone besides me would be talking about it... 

 

Anyone? 

Edited January 25, 2023 by TheSNAFU

[Jake]

I recently had the same problem. I was the only one flying with bombs. All the others had nothing with them. One of my fellow pilots even flew with his landing gear down the whole time. It was all very strange. 
Also a P51 Normandy campaign.

[PatrickAWlson]

Please post a mission file.  I know this is an old complaint, so if you have already done that, my apologies ... but please post another one  

[TheSNAFU]

Pat, 

Here is a link to the mission I posted for you originally. I haven’t flown a ground attack mission since because of the problems. If this doesn’t help you let me know and I’ll fly a new one. 
 

To recap, my flight mates do not show up in the mission with any ordnance. PWCG says they should have bombs or rockets but they never have them. They fly to the target then turn back for home, no strafing and of course no bombs or rockets to attack with. P51 campaign in Normandy. 
 

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=172841&key=e732810ec8a3730f9749134947db9d52

Edited January 25, 2023 by TheSNAFU

[TheSNAFU]

Pat, will the mission I provided be useful in fixing this issue? 

[TheSNAFU]

Pat, was reading through the attached discussion and near the end there is information on ai and ground attack behavior and some about ai behavior with respect to flight leader commands and other ai stuff. Don’t know if it is information you are already aware of but I thought I’d pass it along in the event it’s helpful. 
 

 

 

[TheSNAFU]

Pat, I did some testing to see if I could help narrow down the problem with ordnance being loaded on ai flight mates. My problem has been on the Normandy map but I didnt know if other maps were doing the same thing. So I started a test campaign on the Stalingrad map with JG 52. There was no problem with ordnance on ai flight mates. Bombs or rockets showed up as they should. I then opened a new Bodenplatte campaign with 352nd FG and again bombs and rockets appeared as they should. After that I went back to my current Normandy campaign where the problem was noticed. Instead of waiting for a ground attack mission I did a mission with role and chose attack. Surprisingly, my ai mates had the correct ordnance when I went into the game. I did another mission with role and chose attack again but went with rockets vs bombs and that also worked. Afterward, I just went to mission and once I got a ground attack mission I went into the game and the ai was properly armed with bombs. I closed and reopened the game and PWCG and once I got another ground attack mission the ai had the ordnance they should have had... 

 

It almost seemed as if when I did a mission with role and chose attack it triggered something and after that I'm getting bombs or rockets in ground attack missions without using mission with role. No idea why this happened but thought I provide it to you in case it helps. 

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by TheSNAFU

[PatrickAWlson]

Choosing "Attack" in mission with role is the same as letting PWCG choose ground attack.  Attack is just generic ground attack.  PWCG offers variations on the ground attack mission like raid, train bust, anti shipping, etc., however, most of these are the exact same ground attack profile with a specific target type.  Target type definitely influences ordnance, so that might be part of it. 

 

[PatrickAWlson]

Looked at the mission and, I see this:

Two P51 Ds:

    PayloadId = 4;
    WMMask = 1111001001;

 

The P51Ds should have 2x 500 lb bombs (PayloadId = 4) WMMask = xxxx1001

The leading 111100 part should give the P-51 various items not related to ordnance

 

Two P51Bs:

    PayloadId = 1;
    WMMask = 110111111;

 

The P51Bs should have 2x 500 lb bombs (PayloadId = 1) WMMask = xxxxxx11

The leading 1101111 part should give the P-51 various items not related to ordnance

 

The only error that I see is that I gave the P-51B two gunsights in the weapon mask.  I need to correct that.  Maybe that error in the weapons mask is causing the game to go belly up with the ordnance?  Hard to be sure.

 

 

[TheSNAFU]

Dont know what to tell ya Pat. In the mission I provided and any time before that one that involved bombs or rockets there were none on any flight mates plane in the game. I was the only one who had them. Today, as I noted after choosing a mission with role (attack) I am now seeing bombs and rockets on flight mate planes. Doesn't sound like that should have changed anything in regular missions involving ground attacks but for some reason it seems to be working now. 

 

In any case, thanks for looking at it.  

Edited January 31, 2023 by TheSNAFU

[TheSNAFU]

Oops. Spoke to soon. Still having issues with p51b’s not getting the ordnance they should. They also don’t get the bubble like variant canopy when it happens. These are not 100% consistent. Sometimes they do get ordnance and the special canopy, sometimes they don’t. They are both being checked in PWCG. I couldn’t identify a driver for when this happens. 

[TheSNAFU]

Pat,

 

I did some additional testing and think you were right about the two gunsights assigned to the p51b's being the problem.

 

I generate ground attack missions and on the pilots screen I choose the malcolm canopy, gyro sight and high grade fuel for the p51b's. PWCG assigns bombs or rockets as applicable. When I go into the mission in the game the p51b's do not have the malcolm canopy and have no bombs or rockets. The p51d's have bombs or rockets. 

 

Now, I go into PWCG and generate ground attack missions and on the pilot screen I choose only the malcolm canopy and high grade fuel. I do not choose the gyro gunsight. PWCG assigns bombs or rockets as applicable. When I go into the mission in the game the p51b's do have the malcolm canopy and bombs or rockets as applicable. The d's all have bombs or rockets. 

 

I did the above multiple times and got the same results. 

 

So, it appears if I choose the gyro sight for the p51b's on the pilots screen PWCG does not assign the Malcolm canopy, bombs or rockets to the p51b's. If I do NOT choose the gyro sight PWCG correctly assigns the p51's with the Malcolm canopy, bombs or rockets. 

 

Wish request: I would love to see a lot more parked planes along the runways and in front of camo nets and vehicles on airfields, particularly mine along with seeing the return of soldiers walking about on my field. These make the fields more realistic and alive.  

 

Hope you will fix the p51b set up when time allows and consider the wish request too. 

 

Thanks Pat!

 

[PatrickAWlson]

@TheSNAFU Thanks for testing.  I will remove the gunsights as automatic modifications and make them selectable.  As it stands now the suer has no way of knowing that PWCG selected one sight already.

 

What is happening in game ... I don't know.  PWCG is using an admittedly bad byte code for modifications and the game is barfing and completely mangling the options instead of making a reasonable decision like choosing one sight or the other.  They are not going to change the game so it will be up to me to make sure the aircraft modifications are acceptable to the game.

 

I don't feel as though I can do too much more with airfield objects.  They end up in bad places.  

Edited February 21, 2023 by PatrickAWlson

[TheSNAFU]

Welcome Pat. Glad I could be of some help to you.

 

Too bad you can’t get more parked planes. In the career they are nicely lined up along the runway and in front of the camo nets which really makes the places feel occupied. Wonder what the secret is to do that.
 

I did forget something from my wish list. in addition to maybe adding the soldiers walking around again can you do anything to get landing planes to park somewhere off the runway? Seems like they used to do that in pwcg but maybe something in the game changed? 
 

Anyway thanks!!

Edited February 21, 2023 by TheSNAFU