Official Free Historical Campaign "Wild Mustangs" - P51D

[Jaegermeister]

This is a 12 mission historically based scripted campaign for the P-51D-22 Mustang on the Rhineland map. The majority of the information for these missions came from The 370th Fighter Group in WWII, In Action over Europe with the P-38 and P-51 by Jay Jones. Various other sources were used as well. You will need IL2 Battle of Bodenplatte installed to play it.

 

 

A special thanks goes to @Mysticpuma for producing the following trailer video and assisting during testing of the missions...

 

 

There are now 2 versions of this campaign. If you own Battle of Bodenplatte, the Official version is already available in your Scripted Campaigns section and you do not need to do anything to play it. The “Unofficial” version has slightly altered ground texture files included with some added detail in the airfield and target areas. The .zip file containing the campaign mission files also contains a group of custom 370th Fighter Group skins made specifically for this campaign by @Dannoh. I greatly appreciate his efforts with those works of art!

 

A link to download the campaign file is available here;

 

Download "Unofficial" Wild Mustangs Campaign

 

Once the file is downloaded to your computer, you can either unzip it directly to your IL2 main directory, or you can extract the files and manually place them in the appropriate locations. You should leave subtitles active to see in game messages while flying the missions, but there are no special directions that are not listed in the briefings.

 

In addition to the individuals mentioned above, I would also like to thank @AEthelraedUnraed for posting his guide on surface editing which has helped me tremendously. I would probably not have been able to make the surface texture enhancements in the missions without his help. The surface texture files are included with the mission files and install in the same location. 

 

 

 

 

 

Please post any issues you have with the campaign or comments in this thread. I hope you enjoy flying your Mustang with the 370th! 

 ~S~

 

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by Jaegermeister

[Sandmarken]

This is gona be a good one! ?? thx! 

[Billsponge1972]

Yahoo!

Thank you!

[Azuradasbadazura]

Googleooo!!

[technic]

There is small glitch in the swf/IL-2/preloader/info - the name of the document is written in russian letters (azbuca(, therefore the campaign did not load. Just replace the russian name with "Preloaded images" - then itworks fine

[easterling77]

Oh nice. Thx a lot....tonight's plans changed

[AEthelraedUnraed]

First of all, congratulations on this release!

 

I'm most definitely gonna play it, hopefully soon, although lately with all the designing and testing for my own campaign, there's little time left to fly. I'm sure you know the drill (However, with the operations likely taking place quite close to where I am currently and where I grew up, I'm not sure how long I can hold out )

[Jaegermeister]

4 hours ago, technic said:

There is small glitch in the swf/IL-2/preloader/info - the name of the document is written in russian letters (azbuca(, therefore the campaign did not load. Just replace the russian name with "Preloaded images" - then itworks fine

 

I don't follow you, that's not a file included with the download

[technic]

When I have downloaded and unzipped the file from the first post, simulator refused to play. During troubleshooting I usually try to find the files, which were changed at the time when I unzipped the file into core game. Then I found file "_gui. log error" and file "_gui" in  Sturmovik´s  file "data". In the file "_gui" was written, that "unknown fonts" were found in swf/Il-2/preloaded/info. In this file the title was written in russian language in "azbuca". I presumed, that this could be the culprit and changed the title in the file - and everything worked fine...

[No_85_Gramps]

36 minutes ago, Jaegermeister said:

 

I don't follow you, that's not a file included with the download

I found the file here: IL-2 Sturmovik Great Battles\data\swf\il2\userdata\default\preloader.txt. I found nothing in it in Russian, so I installed and tried out the 1st mission and had no issues. The funny thing is the preloader.txt file was date stamped today's date around the time I installed the campaign. Maybe the file gets modified some how? I also noticed that the file isn't included in the download as you stated Jaegermeister. Campaign looks like it will be  a lot of fun! 

[Zeev]

Nice, thanks for the effort making the campaign.

Are the missions long? Just want to decide if to start it now or later as I dont have much time lately but a 30 min mission would be welcome.

Edited February 13, 2023 by Zeev

[Jaegermeister]

27 minutes ago, Zeev said:

Nice, thanks for the effort making the campaign.

Are the missions long? Just want to decide if to start it now or later as I dont have much time lately but a 30 min mission would be welcome.

 

The first one is not, after that they get a little longer. It's not like Normandy unfortunately.

[Jaegermeister]

1 hour ago, technic said:

When I have downloaded and unzipped the file from the first post, simulator refused to play. During troubleshooting I usually try to find the files, which were changed at the time when I unzipped the file into core game. Then I found file "_gui. log error" and file "_gui" in  Sturmovik´s  file "data". In the file "_gui" was written, that "unknown fonts" were found in swf/Il-2/preloaded/info. In this file the title was written in russian language in "azbuca". I presumed, that this could be the culprit and changed the title in the file - and everything worked fine...

 

1 hour ago, No_85_Gramps said:

I found the file here: IL-2 Sturmovik Great Battles\data\swf\il2\userdata\default\preloader.txt. I found nothing in it in Russian, so I installed and tried out the 1st mission and had no issues. The funny thing is the preloader.txt file was date stamped today's date around the time I installed the campaign. Maybe the file gets modified some how? I also noticed that the file isn't included in the download as you stated Jaegermeister. Campaign looks like it will be  a lot of fun! 

 

Yes, I don't even have that file on my system. It must somehow get created when you start a new campaign. I'm glad you figured out a solution, and I will keep that in mind if anyone else has the same issue. Very odd.

[TimSell75]

I played the first (short and simple) mission and it was already amazing. I like immersion, and that living aerodome alone is justgreat for that.

 

Is there a way to donate? Becuase I think it is a pitty that it is not an official paid campaign as intended!

[ACG_Sash]

I have played the first three missions. Really love the attention to detail throughout the missions. The airfield looks amazing with all the static aircraft and vehicles. Almost like the blank slate of the map was finally finished. The skins are also top notch. So far my favorite Il2 Scripted Campaign. Thanks for the all work that went into it. 

[nachinus]

Thank you so much, Jaegermeister! I'm going to try it ASAP. 

[Jaegermeister]

14 hours ago, TimSell75 said:

I played the first (short and simple) mission and it was already amazing. I like immersion, and that living aerodome alone is justgreat for that.

 

Is there a way to donate? Becuase I think it is a pitty that it is not an official paid campaign as intended!

 

I sent you a PM. 

[Jaegermeister]

On 2/12/2023 at 5:39 PM, Billsponge1972 said:

Yahoo! Thank you!

 

On 2/12/2023 at 5:11 PM, Sandmarken said:

This is gona be a good one! ?? thx! 

 

On 2/13/2023 at 12:28 PM, easterling77 said:

Oh nice. Thx a lot....tonight's plans changed

 

On 2/13/2023 at 4:52 PM, Zeev said:

Nice, thanks for the effort making the campaign.

 

On 2/14/2023 at 5:01 AM, nachinus said:

Thank you so much, Jaegermeister! I'm going to try it ASAP. 

 

You are all very welcome, I hope you enjoy it!

 

 

On 2/13/2023 at 2:54 PM, AEthelraedUnraed said:

First of all, congratulations on this release!

 

I'm most definitely gonna play it, hopefully soon, although lately with all the designing and testing for my own campaign, there's little time left to fly. I'm sure you know the drill (However, with the operations likely taking place quite close to where I am currently and where I grew up, I'm not sure how long I can hold out )

 

Thanks, as you can probably understand I'm glad to finally get it updated, finished and out the door so I can move on to other things.

Good luck on your current project as well.

 

 

On 2/13/2023 at 6:06 PM, TimSell75 said:

I played the first (short and simple) mission and it was already amazing. I like immersion, and that living aerodome alone is justgreat for that.

 

On 2/13/2023 at 10:22 PM, SashD said:

I have played the first three missions. Really love the attention to detail throughout the missions. The airfield looks amazing with all the static aircraft and vehicles. Almost like the blank slate of the map was finally finished. The skins are also top notch. So far my favorite Il2 Scripted Campaign. Thanks for the all work that went into it. 

 

That's the benefit to being able to edit the ground textures. Everything looks like it belongs there. The buildings are surrounded with worn areas, there is no grass growing under the static planes, and I could even place repair hangars and buildings where they really were at the time. I had some good aerial recon photos to work from, but I can't recall the link at the moment. Thanks for the comments and I'm glad you like the missions. 

 

[Falcon41]

Jag, 

     I second all the great comments written about your scripted campaign.  I'm three missions into it and its really a lot of fun.  Keep up the good work!

Falcon41

[Jaegermeister]

1 hour ago, Falcon41 said:

Jag, 

     I second all the great comments written about your scripted campaign.  I'm three missions into it and its really a lot of fun.  Keep up the good work!

Falcon41

 

Glad you are enjoying it...

 

Fair warning to all, it gets harder, not easier LOL.   

[Falcon41]

Jag,

     You mentioned being able to edit ground textures and that it really helped with providing a realistic ground environment.  Is there a manual/article that describes it's use in the ME?  Thank again for a great campaign.

Falcon41

[Jaegermeister]

Yes, it’s a sticky in the mission building section

 

 

[Falcon41]

Jag,

     Thanks for the information.

Falcon41

[Sandmarken]

Great campagin so far (4 missions in) all extra details around the airfields like the small towns, farmsteads and those total bombed out cities looks amazing. I wish the devs woud go that extra mile with their campagin and career, it makes everything so much more alive. 

Spoiler

Fun detail, when we escorted bombers in mission 4 and get intercepted by 2 me 262, they where both shot down imidiently by the other p51 AI. In like 20 seconds i was nowhere near. Pretty funny ?

 

[Jaegermeister]

36 minutes ago, Sandmarken said:

Great campagin so far (4 missions in) all extra details around the airfields like the small towns, farmsteads and those total bombed out cities looks amazing. I wish the devs woud go that extra mile with their campagin and career, it makes everything so much more alive. 

 

Thanks, I wish it was possible to have that kind of detail everywhere, but with the size of the maps, where would you even start?

 

Also the airfields and city damage are specific to certain time periods, so having them particularly detailed in certain ways by default would make them less useful. At least we have the ability to change them around, even if it takes a lot of time.

 

 

Edited February 17, 2023 by Jaegermeister

[Sandmarken]

8 hours ago, Jaegermeister said:

 

Thanks, I wish it was possible to have that kind of detail everywhere, but with the size of the maps, where would you even start?

 

Also the airfields and city damage are specific to certain time periods, so having them particularly detailed in certain ways by default would make them less useful. At least we have the ability to change them around, even if it takes a lot of time.

 

 

You are right about the citiesand airfields. But most missions i play they are all pristine and that isnt right either ? i know two guys trying to make the map more detaild. They do a very good job, i always use their work whenever I make a mission within their work area ?

[Enceladus828]

I'm up to mission 8 and am loving it, especially when you engage the Me-262s.

 

One thing I'd add for the description of mission 7 (set on April 7th 1945) is that earlier in the day, Bf-109s of the Sonderkommando "Elbe" did aerial rammings of bombers.

[creamersdream]

Love this campaign.Thank you very much.

[Jaegermeister]

On 2/27/2023 at 8:59 AM, creamersdream said:

Love this campaign.Thank you very much.

I’m glad you are enjoying it. You’re welcome. ?

[Spidey002]

Found a train on the way home from mission 7. (Captured in VR)

[justin_z3r0]

2 hours ago, Spidey002 said:

Found a train on the way home from mission 7. (Captured in VR)

Nice - I'm on Mission 5. Just curious, why do you have your flaps down ~10 deg?

Edited March 8, 2023 by justin_z3r0

[Spidey002]

28 minutes ago, justin_z3r0 said:

Nice - I'm on Mission 3. Just curious, why do you have your flaps down ~10 deg?

 

I think it was to make it steadier for a low level strafing.

 

I don’t know how many passes I had to make on that engine to take it out with 50 cal. 

Actually, I might have lowered them to drop speed on my initial strafing pass and forgot to put them back up. 

[justin_z3r0]

32 minutes ago, Spidey002 said:

 

I think it was to make it steadier for a low level strafing.

 

I don’t know how many passes I had to make on that engine to take it out with 50 cal. 

Actually, I might have lowered them to drop speed on my initial strafing pass and forgot to put them back up. 

Thanks - Maybe I'll give that a go on the next one.

Just finished mission 5. the weather was cool in the early AM.

Thanks @Jaegermeister

 

[SARFlytitus]

@Jaegermeister
Thanx for the Campaign .  Great work and very immersive . Lifelike populated and believable airfields with great amount of details , very nice skin pack etc.

So much fun and one if not the best single player VR experience so far.

[Jaegermeister]

13 hours ago, Spidey002 said:

Found a train on the way home from mission 7. (Captured in VR)

 

Yeah, I beat that one up a couple of times just for the heck of it myself.

 

11 hours ago, justin_z3r0 said:

Thanks - Maybe I'll give that a go on the next one.

Just finished mission 5. the weather was cool in the early AM.

Thanks @Jaegermeister

 

Your welcome. Being able to change the weather is one of the best parts of Scripted Campaigns. You don't get that very often in other types of missions.

 

2 hours ago, SARFlytitus said:

@Jaegermeister
Thanx for the Campaign .  Great work and very immersive . Lifelike populated and believable airfields with great amount of details , very nice skin pack etc.

So much fun and one if not the best single player VR experience so far.

 

Thanks for the comments. I'm glad you are enjoying it. I test and play in VR, so it's kind of designed that way with the scenery and all. I focus on enhancing things that are in your peripheral vision and field of view, and if I don't notice it in VR, I move on to other details.

[LukeFF]

Great job on this one, as always. I flew the first two missions tonight and found them to both be very good.

[Jaegermeister]

Glad you enjoyed them so far @LukeFF. Even though I prefer the B model slightly, flying the Mustang will spoil you. There just aren't really many faults with it.

[Spidey002]

Hey @Jaegermeister!
 

I noticed an issue with the objectives map, sometimes the route will tell me to fly at something like 1250 ft, but the mission briefing and waypoints have me flying at 10,000 ft. 
 

(I took a screenshot, I’ll upload later).

[justin_z3r0]

8 hours ago, Spidey002 said:

Hey @Jaegermeister!
 

I noticed an issue with the objectives map, sometimes the route will tell me to fly at something like 1250 ft, but the mission briefing and waypoints have me flying at 10,000 ft. 
 

(I took a screenshot, I’ll upload later).

I noticed the same thing. its like what we see on the map is not real paths to take.

 

(sorry I cant recall the specific mission number) I had to use AP once in order for objectives to appear. (it was the one where we attack tanks in a small town East of Koln) Edit - Waldbrol. The red smoke didn't come from our friendlies so I dropped ordinance on what I saw then started heading home - turned on AP.

AP kept me on track, west towards Koln, but then turned back to the target area. I let it do its thing, and aha - red smoke marking some new tanks that weren't there before. I had no bombs left at this point though.

 

Its as if I missed a waypoint going in or something. But I stuck as close to the marked route as I could (and heights mentioned in the briefing). 

Edited March 21, 2023 by justin_z3r0
added town name

[Spidey002]

Here it is. Mission 8, I think? The one where you go after the tanks in that little town (but I've seen this in other missions too.)

Map says 2825 ft. The briefing (and yellow objective markers) send you to 10,000 ft.

P.S. Anyone else buzz the spires in the Cologne Cathedral...?

Just me? Ok. ?