Western bombs for A20, P39, P40

[Stonehouse]

Simple mod to alter the definition for the FAB100M, FAB100M39 and FAB250tsk to GP 250LB and M64 500lb bombs (closest matches to FAB100 and FAB250tsk) as well as set up the arming screen for the A20B to give the western bomb names. 

 

As part of this mod, I included the human occupiable A20 navigator position.

 

This was to allow people to use both this mod and the AI Gunnery mod without losing any AI Gunnery mod functionality as the two mods overlap on file info.txt in \data\swf\il2\worldobjects\planes\a20b and so I decided to add the overlapped portion of AI Gunnery to this mod.

 

As a result, you can use both this mod and AI Gunnery together and you can ignore the JSGME messages that will appear if enabling both mods about info.txt, HandGunFlareRed15.txt, HandGunFlareWhite15.txt, HandGunFlareYellow5.txt, a20b_p2.svc, cvc.txt, botpilotnpc_a20b_raf43.txt, botpilotnpc_a20b_rus42.txt, botpilotnpc_a20b_rus43.txt, botpilotnpc_a20b_ruswi.txt,  botpilotnpc_a20b_usa43.txt and a20b_p2.txt.

 

So, with this mod you get western bombs for the A20 and the ability to man the navigators chair but none of the updated gunner stuff from AI Gunnery. If you want that then you need to enable AI Gunnery as well. 

 

Note that other than shape and name the FAB250tsk and M64 500lb bombs have identical game definitions. Unfortunately, we don't have an AN-M57 250lb bomb to substitute for the FAB100 and FAB100M39 so I selected the nearest I could see which is the British GP 250lb bomb. There are slight differences between the FAB100s and the GP 250lb bomb in armour penetration and blast radius, but I can't do much about it.

 

It would be great if the devs had time one day to add two new modifications to the A20B to give it USAAF and RAF bomb loads. Most of the stuff is already in game so you'd think it would just be adding the modification config and perhaps a new M57 bomb.

 

Only the English version of text for the loadout screen sorry and obviously this mod impacts all FAB100, FAB100M39 and FAB250tsk use so if you want the Russian weapons you need to disable this mod in JSGME.

 

Russian to Western bombs for A20_P39_P40.zip

 

(6.002 compatible)

 

Changelog:

19 Dec 2024 - Resync to current game files

April 4 2024 - Updated to include P39 and P40. Rebadged mod accordingly.

 

Edited August 14 by Stonehouse
see changelog

[Dusty926]

This is fantastic!! Thank you so much! I've been frustrated by the lack of western bomb options for the A-20, considering it's the only western bomber we really have.

I'm having trouble understanding the last line fully; Does that mean that it affects the russian bombs only for the A-20, or does it affect all aircraft's russian bombs like on the IL-2 or Pe-2?

[Stonehouse]

6 hours ago, Dusty926 said:

I'm having trouble understanding the last line fully; Does that mean that it affects the russian bombs only for the A-20, or does it affect all aircraft's russian bombs like on the IL-2 or Pe-2?

It changes the internals and shape of the russian bombs to the western equivalent, so it impacts all usage of these three bomb types in game. Only the loadout screen for the A20 will reflect the western bombs, however. So, you should be able to happily load a Pe2 with FAB100s as long as you don't care that you'll actually drop GP250LB bombs. It basically flips the issue the other way around making the A20 westernized but then doing the same to the Russian aircraft using these bombs. So, if you want Russian aircraft to use actual FAB100, FAB100M39 and FAB250tsk you need to disable the mod. 

 

The best solution would be for the devs to add some new loadout options to the A20 - one or two USAAF and one or two RAF - which are equivalent to the existing VVS ones but with western bombs. I don't think it needs anything more. Users would pick the correct load out for the usage situation, and I don't think it needs special code based around country to flip loadout choices about like they do for tactical codes. I believe it would be pretty simple for the devs as other than needing to create a US 250lb bomb (AN-M57) all the other bombs are already in game and just needs loadout config changes on the aircraft. I think I could probably do the config changes myself to get this mod a different way but because the A20 is flyable the game would reject it.

Edited April 2, 2024 by Stonehouse

[Stonehouse]

Perhaps add your polite support over in the linked post below. If I have time, I may expand this mod to cover the P39 and P40 (I don't think there are any other shared VVS/non-VVS aircraft are there?) 

 

Edited April 2, 2024 by Stonehouse

[Stonehouse]

Mod now covers P39 and P40. Note there is no western (USAAF or RAF) equivalent of the ROS82 rockets used on the P40 so I have just left them alone. The US and UK rockets are much larger and heavier so are not suitable to use as a substitute. 

Edited April 3, 2024 by Stonehouse

[Stonehouse]

Fine post 5.203

[Stonehouse]

Believe fine post 5.203b

[Stonehouse]

Believe fine post 5.204

[Spidey002]

Is it possible to drop bombs from the bombardier position in the A20?

[Stonehouse]

14 hours ago, Spidey002 said:

Is it possible to drop bombs from the bombardier position in the A20?

I don't believe so. Outside chance you might be able to access the bombsight in SP but you definitely can't access it in MP unless you are the pilot player.

Edited June 24, 2024 by Stonehouse

[Stonehouse]

On 6/19/2024 at 12:12 PM, Stonehouse said:

Believe fine post 5.204

 

ok after 5.204b

[Stonehouse]

Still to review post 5.504

[Stonehouse]

Believe fine post 5.504b

[Stonehouse]

Resync mod to current game files

Edited December 19, 2024 by Stonehouse

[Stonehouse]

P39 has changed so will need to resync this mod to current game version

[Stonehouse]

On detailed investigation it turned out that the files changed weren't involved in this mod.

 

So all good post 5.506

[Spidey002]

If I want to use this mod in multiplayer, do all the players need this mod, or only the host server?

[Stonehouse]

3 hours ago, Spidey002 said:

If I want to use this mod in multiplayer, do all the players need this mod, or only the host server?

It modifies fundamental game files so I believe if it was Dserver hosted then the server would need to use the mod and I believe the clients would inherit it. Note you would have to do some work first as detailed in link below to get the mod to work on Dserver. If locally hosted I'm not sure and you will need to do a quick experiment to confirm if the clients will inherit the mod from the server. ie Have the mod on the host and not on a client and see if the client sees western bombs or FAB100s etc in the arming screen.

 

I've usually just played it safe for local hosting and just had everyone load the mod as it's only small.

 

 

 

[Stonehouse]

ok post 5.507

[Stonehouse]

ok post 6.001

[Stonehouse]

Believe these are fine post 6.002