Request for a very simple "Pat Wilson Universal Campaign Logbook" Tool for general IL2 GB SP Missions / scripted Campaigns

[kraut1]

@PatrickAWlson

Hi Pat,

I ask you because you are for many years very experienced in automatic Logbook creation with your PWCG.

Beside of the official IL2 GB Pilot Career and your great PWCG there are many other ways to create / and fly SP missions:

-"Hand made" ME missions and Mission Packs

-"Scripted Campaigns" that contain ME SP Missions

-SP missions generated by QMB (and later renamed)

-SP missions generated by AQMB (and later renamed)

-SP missions generated by EMG by Vander

 

For all these SP Missions and the Scripted Campaigns there is no Logbook function available.

 

My idea is a very, very simple Logbook Tool to be used for all mentioned SP mission types.

Most importent is to make it as simple as possible, no squadroon management, ...

Only the most importent data for each mission recorded and a summary page

 

Description:

1.) When the player wants to fly a mission that should be recorded in the Logbook, he starts the PWUCL Logbook Tool.

2.) The mission is flown and IL2 generates the mission report files, e.g.

missionReport(2024-02-07_18-55-42)[0].txt, .......

3.) After the mission is completet the mission data is filled in the logbook:

minimum data for the player (player defined with  Ailevel = 0 in the mission):

 

3a Mission basic data

-Date of the mission / time according mission

 

3b Results

-number of destroyed planes (if possible with plane type)

 

-number of destroyed ground targets

or optional if possible:

-number of destroyed tanks

-number of destroyed artillery

-number of destroyed vehicles

-number of destroyed train cars

 

-number of destroyed ships

 

3c End of the mission:

Pilot landed / Pilot crash landed (survived) / Pilot bailed out / Pilot killed / Pilot captured

 

Now one point, that is from my point of view very importent:

1.) Option to delete or edit a mission entry

Because there is always the possibility, that due to bad AI, bad mission design, ... the Pilot is either killed or captured unnecessarily.

So there is a option to delete or edit a mission entry required, or a simple backup function is required.

 

Awards and Promotions:

-if possible as simple as possible, but user editable defined in cfg text files:

 

Awards:

Award01 [Name of Award] required [Air kills] or [ground obj] or [ships]

Award02 [Name of Award] required [Air kills] or [ground obj] or [ships]

...

e.g:

Award01 [Iron Cross 2.nd class] [2] [5] [1]

#Pat: to reduce the workload for you only the cfg table with the variables, to be edited by the user

(requirements for Award are defined in a post in forum)

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/57712-general-guide-to-earning-awards-in-wwii-career-mode/

 

Promotions:

Rank00 [basic Rank at begin] required [no. of completed missions]

Rank01 [Name of Rank] required [no. of completed missions]

Rank02 [Name of Rank]

....

e.g:

Rank00 [Unteroffizier] [0]

Rank01 [Feldwebel] [20]

Rank01 [Oberfeldwebel] [40]

...

(same as Awards only cfg with variables definitions required, values can be defined by users)

 

Summary

either Summary page or just a row with sums at the bottom of the table

With current

-Rank

-Number of missions

-Air / Ground / Ship kills

-Number of bail outs

 

Notes:

If "Ailevel = 0 does not work for finding the player related data in the reports the user could be instructed to

Use one uniform neutral player name for all missions, e.g: Pilot

 

Summary:

From my point of view a "Pat Wilson Universal Campaign Logbook" Mod would be a very importent tool that would be loved by most SP players.

If some of my suggestions are not possible / or create to much workload just forget them.

Really importent is the option for the player to delete a mission entry (e.g. player killed because rammed by dumb AI wingman) and to make a backup, maybe just by copying some files.

 

Sorry for confronting you with all these ideas, if you are not interested or no time available I fully understand.

 

Best wishes

Kraut1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2024 by kraut1

[PatrickAWlson]

I was with you until the point where you started talking about changing results and issuing awards.  It is the framework of PWCG that allows for the latter.  Without PWCG the information needed to do that sort oof thing is not possible.  The AAR code in PWCG is the most complex part of the code base, even more so than mission generation.  It has to take events from the log files, map those to PWCG personas, make some fuzzy logic decisions that are still believable, and then translate that into results that fit your PWCG campaign.

 

The log file is just a series of events.  The most crucial events are spawn events and destruction events.

A plane spawn event tells you the type of plane and a name if one is provided.

A pilot spawn event tells you the id of the bot and maps that id back to the id of the plane.

A destruction event tells you that either a plane or a pilot was destroyed.  If the plane was shot down and the pilot killed then there will be two destruction events.

That's all that that the logs contain: events with ids.

 

In PWCG I set the text name of the plane to the name of the PWCG pilot.  That allows me to find the name of the plane in the spawn event and map the that to a PWCG pilot.  The spawn event also contains the id of the plane.  Now, when subsequent log events occur, I can go from the id in the event to a name in PWCG.  Outside of PWCG that name will be who knows what (might even be empty, not sure).

 

So, back to what is possible:

I can write code that tells you what happened in a mission.  Which planes were shot down.  Was the pilot of the plane killed or wounded.  However, without PWCG to provide the context of a campaign, there is no concept of the plane belonging to anything but a QMB mission.  It will not map to anything in a coherent, persistent game world.  As far as what I can provide, you already get that in the mission report, and I don't have anything more to add.

[kraut1]

8 hours ago, PatrickAWlson said:

.... about changing results and issuing awards. 

 

... I set the text name of the plane to the name of the PWCG pilot.  That allows me to find the name of the ...

 

So, back to what is possible:

I can write code that tells you what happened in a mission.  Which planes were shot down.  Was the pilot of the plane killed or wounded.  However, without PWCG to provide the context of a campaign, there is no concept of the plane belonging to anything but a QMB mission.  It will not map to anything in a coherent, persistent game world.  As far as what I can provide, you already get that in the mission report, and I don't have anything more to add.

Many thanks for your reply!

It is a complex topic and maybe I misunderstood you in some points.

It would be great if you could write a simple code for simple Logbook, of course only what is possible and what you want to do.

 

Here some ideas / notes from me. Please ignore them if they are unrealistic.

 

.... about changing results and issuing awards. 

-Of course if not possible no changes of results, no awards. You are the expert!

 

... I set the text name of the plane to the name of the PWCG pilot. 

I think to set the text name of the player's plane to a uniform name (e.g.: Pilot) or a individual pilot name (e.g. John Brown) is possible for each type of SP mission.

Would this be helpful for a logbook?

 

So, back to what is possible:

I can write code that tells you what happened in a mission.  Which planes were shot down.  Was the pilot of the plane killed or wounded.  However, without PWCG to provide the context of a campaign, there is no concept of the plane belonging to anything but a QMB mission.  It will not map to anything in a coherent, persistent game world.  As far as what I can provide, you already get that in the mission report, and I don't have anything more to add.

Yes please try what is possible:

I can write code that tells you what happened in a mission.  Which planes were shot down.  Was the pilot of the plane killed or wounded. 

 

Logbook Campaign Summary Page:

Currently in the Scripted Campaign there is only the "Awards" called summary with all destroyed Air / Land / Ship targets available.

If you could add to the Logbook's summary table the number of missions flown, bailouts, how often wounded Changed later and at the end killed or captured, this would be great.

(the layout can be simplified, it is only an example for the content)

 

Page per mission with mission report and the missing context to a campaign:

If you could put the name of the mission as a headline for a mission report page, some info concerning the mission and the campaign would be available.

Example:

1943.07.16 Operation Citadel FW190-A5U17 II.SG1 Ground Attack.Mission

Example for a Mission Report Page:

(the layout can be simplified, it is only an example for the content)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 10, 2024 by kraut1