Special Aircraft Service
The SAS Factory - Tech Help, Ancient Mods etc. => Dark Blue World Discussion & Support => The Keepsake: Old Mod Packs, Game Versions and Guest Mods => DBW Campaigns & Missions => Topic started by: Slink on August 01, 2011, 05:36:18 PM
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(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/Background-Copy.jpg)
Dedicated BoB Campaign add-on package for LDCG 3.47 & SAS Dark Blue World 1.7.1.
Work in Progress, alpha test version links below.
This page needs a major facelift, but for now look through the later posts in this thread for info and discussions, there's more info/explanations there.
Download: currently back in the workshop for a quick refit, "I will return"...
Just unpack this into your IL2/jsgmemods folder, making sure it's the first mod to get loaded in the #DBW directory (note the leading "!!!s").
Inside the entire directory structure is already there, so if you unpack it into your IL2 directory it should be fine
Inside is:
IL2 Folder
jsgmemods
!!!!Clash_of_Eagles --- everything is in here
so just drop the jsgmemods folder into your IL2 folder, so !!!!Clash_of_Eagles goes inside jsgmemods
Same with the update, so !!!!Clash_of_Eagles_Update01 also goes into jsgme mods
Don't enable it yet!
Don't forget to copy the 109 skins into the other 109 skin folders before enabling in jsgme or only the 109E1/4 will have skins... two sets, E1/E3, and E4 upwards.
jsgmemods
!!!!Clash_of_Eagles
Paintschemes
Skins
Bf-109E-1
Bf-109E-3
Bf-109E-4
Bf-109E-4N
Bf-109E-4_B
Bf-109E-7
Only two folders have the major skins in them to save you downloading the same ones multiple times
copy all the skins from the E1 folder to the E3 folder
copy all the skins from the E4 folder to the remaining folders
Now you should be ready to enable it in jsgme, may take a minute, it's pretty big. Campaign then update of course.
You need to have DCG 3.47 beta installed, (the old files I made only work with DBW 1.6, and this mod/campaign is for DBW 1.7)
Once DCG is installed and working, enable DGEN replacement mode in the options, then go to Files on the menu, and tick "Optional Third Party Data Folder"
this will open a window asking where the new campaign is, point it to the !DCG Clash of Eagles BoB 1940 campaign folder which is now in your IL2/Missions folder, and it will show an allcampaigns.dcg file, double click this file and your campaign is ready, DCG should tell you it will now use the files in this folder.
There will also be a CoE_Docs folder in your IL2 install, inside is a txt file with all the instructions for setting up the options in DCG, I won't list it all again here.
Enable the music in IL2!
The campaign works just like a DGEN campaign, you don't need to do anything else, so close DCG , start IL2 (it will look different), go to campaigns, RAF or Luftwaffe, select the Clash of Eagles campaign in the list, set your rank (highest) and options (make sure "No Instant Success" is switched off) and the usual choices.
Click on Start, choose the first campaign, choose a plane, and click on generate, wait, takes a minute, especially the first time, and the first mission should come up on screen. The briefing lists any options you have to select in DCG once the campaign is generated, check them, and then fly the first mission. The options won't come into effect until the next mission, but it's no big deal, normal in DCG.
What density settings to use depends on your machine, but set them low if it's not that powerful. If everything works OK you can try putting them up to get more action, but if things slow down (and the number of planes increases as you go on) put them back down a step. Find what's right for you and your system.
The density settings in DCG are on the DCG Campaign Settings tab (little black square, No.3 in line).
The first three settings in the first column, Squadron, Column and Stationary Object Density, going from Full, Dense, Heavy, Moderate, Sparse, None
These control how many flights (1-4 planes) and vehicles/ships/objects appear in a mission, allowing you to control the load on your machine.
Full is what it says, don't use it for the squads or you'll have hundreds of planes and a slideshow...
Dense is 66% of all flights, and that's still a hell of a lot, especially later when all the Luftwaffe squads are active...
Heavy to Sparse use progressively fewer, with sparse it's just a handful, and none means just you and any escorts/intercepts
Column and Object density work the same way, turn down the columns and there will be fewer moving ships/vehicles, turn down the objects and there will be increasingly less of those too.
You're meant to use a maximum of dense for the columns and objects here to give some unpredictable variety, there are thousands of objects on the map, but you don't always want the same set up every mission, so this means some of them won't always be there, so it's never quite the same. Same for the convoys (columns), they will always have a random factor.
So you can turn it up and down from one mission to the next. If things get too much for your machine, turn one or more down a step to reduce the load. Squads are the heaviest load, objects the least, and you don't need all the objects to play of course, searchlights, AA, vehicles at airfields, it's all variable.
Lastly, check that you don't have the Instant Logging mod enabled, seems to slow it down (apparently) and if your graphic card is old or has low mem you may have to disable the high-res textures in the maps folder, the map is already a heavy load.
It's actually meant to run at Slow/Extremely Slow (under Time Passage in the Campaign Settings panel), i.e. 3 or 4 missions a day so you get the full time range from dawn to dusk and beyond... which may take as long to play as the real thing (4 missions each an hour long = an evenings playing time?) but you can also use Random for a bit of variety, some days more missions, some days less.
Also tried the Squadron Defaults settings for skill, does indeed appear to then use only the listed aces as aces (new in 3.47?), only those on the list and with five or more kills showing up instead of the previous randomly generated collection, certainly gives a better overview and we can then use the full DBW AI range with the new separate skill qualities. Need more aces/historicals on the list...
This is just a minimal reduced version, still lots to do here, most airfields still need the statics arranging, timetable not complete, graphics are not final, needs the historical texts etc, and a larger separate skin pack, but as an alpha it's much bigger than any previous campaign. Well, it's a makeover mod really, but still just an alpha, not really ready for gameplay testing yet, but might be interesting to play around with... but for now just a trial run for a bit of fun. See if you can spot the aces, should all have chimps' faces, and Luftwaffe aces get separate skins (squad generic at this stage).
You fly the "Player Squad", if you want to change the name look in the instructions.
Some things to check out apart from choosing sides and setting up (see the txt file for instructions);
Uses Cannon's maps for now to get things moving, they should all work in stock DBW. Includes the 1024 textures with alpha channel and tgb extension (for close high res, distant low res, but can you see any difference? CY6's Fire object also extends view distance, any effect? The mega map is still in progress... and it really does need a bigger map.
If you prefer to have all the static scenery on the maps just disable (rename) the 1940actors.static file in the mod folder, it will then use the full DBW stock file with all the objects, but this might be slower, at least when down low, and the load is already rather high. I've always been cursed with lag and pauses, dynamic weather/vectors may make it worse, how does it perform for you?
You're meant to start at the beginning and work through, but here everything is enabled so you can start anywhere.
Missions can be very long if you let events play out, use unlimited ammo for fun, lets you stay up longer, but watching everyone else is quite absorbing too, as long as you watch the DCG density... there can be over a hundred planes in the air in the later stages, but it should start out slow and then build up, so if things start overloading turn it down. The vectors can tend to send the entire RAF after a single bomber, think of it as a confused rookie controller...
The Su2/Defiant is just experimenting for looks, nothing special yet.
This includes the basic required mods, you can use others with it too, but it will override anything trying to give the same effects (like impact flashes, deWilde...)
Try it out, if anything is unclear let me know, would appreciate feedback if people have the time, Good luck!
CREDITS
Digital artwork by Wiek Luijken; www.luijken.com (excellent stuff, go look).
Paul Lowengrin for DCG, without which IL2 would be just a game.
CirX and the SAS for Dark Blue World.
Brave Initial Testing done by dietz, thanks Jim.
Elements inc some rds & srd layouts from BoB Campaign Lonestar
Screens & Graphics Slink
New GUI colours Baraca
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DBX (conversion Slink) FGA9Hunter
DH89 Blitz
Wellington Ranwers
Do 17Z-0/2 Ranwers/SAS~Crazyflak/RDDR
(Plutonium Effects files) HG&P
He46C2 Dreamk with fix by Birdman
Base Mats from Decalshine McWolf
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Plane Skins Various Artists, see plane skins for ID
Bf 109 skins primarily by Revolver~I./JG 53_MAD at adlerhorst-hangar.com
Crappy Default Skins mostly by me, except:
BlenheimMk IV, IVF ?
Gladiator MkII Pavlac
He 46C2~Hs126 Slink, based on originals by Juanmalapuente/Albert Von Grewe
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Semi-Real AA Zloy Petrushko
C&Cv2/Ground Target Order/Ambient Airfield sounds CY6
Distress Call Position Burn
Unlimited Ammo with Limited Bombs and Rockets SAS~Storebror
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GB/DE Pilot Skins elephant
BoB1969 Pilot Skins Purgatorio
Aces Pilot Skins max_thehitman
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Channel Map_M (Resized & Indexed Slink) xxx?
1024 Channel HiRes textures restored Birdman
(alpha channel & tgb Slink)
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Variable Temperature MANYSH
Thunder & rain sounds (prs Slink) BlueAngel01
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and any I may have missed at this early stage, please PM me at SAS if you see something I've forgotten amidst the chaos or can fill a gap...
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original post
FEATURES
DGEN files for RAF & Luftwaffe players, Italians will come with the winter campaign.
Should come in two versions, historical (let the timetable do everything, almost) and free DCG (let DCG control movements, or manage your own campaign resources).
Custom air.ini with reduced plane set for simplicity and smoother play, and matching plane.properties file for consistent custom plane names in briefings and map screens. This also means you can’t use QMB as the default planes may be missing. (Change?)
Currently uses a reduced regiments file with only DE GB for simplicity, with some new squads added, but you can't run other missions with this active, disable the mod to play normally. (Change?)
New screens and GUI, with "Clash of Eagles" in big, friendly letters so you can instantly see that you have the mod installed on startup.
Includes required mods integrated into the package directly for click & play, as long as LDCG is installed of course.
Required skins for stand-in planes automatically installed and removed in jsgme; credits are on the skins themselves, ‘cept mine, but would you admit to doing them?
DBW SET UP
Self-contained jsgme mod/TotalMODer profile for DBW, install into your jsgmemods directory in the IL2 game folder.
Includes pre-installed required mods, screens, music, custom ini files etc; as a click & play installation with minimal user requirements.
You only need to know how to use jsgme/TotalMODder, how to use DCG, and how to play the game.
Temporarily converts your DBW install to exclusively run the Clash of Eagles campaign using DCG. You can disable it to play standard DBW whenever you like, and enable it again to go back to the campaign.
DCG SET UP
3rd party campaign, set the option in DCG and navigate to your missions directory, the campaign folder is in there, where you can set the allcampaigns file.
You only need standard DCG installed to use this campaign, all required (custom) files are in the campaign directory inside your Missions folder, no other DCG files are required, but if you are using my DCG4DBW files this should not affect them.
This is a (functional) work in progress, updates & extensions will be provided separately to be added to the main campaign folder and jsgmemods.
This is intended to be the base for a chronologically extendible DCG grand campaign to eventually cover the whole 39-4? period using timetable campaign progression.
INCLUDED MODS, automatically installed/removed, no editing required
CY6's new C&C v2 objects; Includes an integrated stationary.ini with the required entries, so no editing required.
Zloy Petrushko’s semi-realistic AA (fast) mod checked for 4.101 by Burn.
Mod planes used in the campaign are automatically installed along with the custom air.ini, and removed when you disable the mod.
Wellington MkIII by Ranwers : Will eventually be stock in UP/DBW. Used as a transport in the campaign, plays the part of a HP Harrow transport, would be nice with yellow transport undersides, skin?
dH89 by Unknown, updated by Epervier : Be careful with this in DCG, don’t enable a none loadout as this plane doesn’t have one, this will result in exploding spawns if you generate a mission with this loadout.
DB2EX – A-20 float plane by HUNTERFGA9 : Used as a He 115, it’s kind of close, overpowered for a Heinkel, and tries to dogfight, but it has floats...
MAP
Currently transferring to the new map with minimal actors/max airfields, runs just like any other map as long as the actors file is kept to a minimum, but still needs a lot of work.
Due to size airfields are currently place-holders to be updated later as it’s the campaign gameplay that counts here, not sight-seeing, don’t you know there’s a war on man? We all have to make sacrifices.
Airfields so far, nevermind the google, it's just for placement... Some more updated pics in later posts
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/54748fd9.jpg)
TO DO
Obviously still lots to do, map, AA & searchlight coverage, historical convoys (difficult in DCG), proper targets on map and DCG supply, so you can try and knock out the RAF by attacking airfields & factories.
Historical documentation (that is a book cover on the start screen), but could this go into say the credits viewer? No shiny pictures though.
Daily briefs (historical/dramatic).
Radio broadcasts, music & briefing background sound files.
Pilot skins and portraits for aces/historical figures.
Optional full skin pack for all the squads & Gruppen, like in BoB WoV?
Custom speech packs for RAF squads + composite Polish/Czech/Dutch packs with mixed chatter and excitement in the native language but basic orders and ground control in English.
Replacement viewer info describing the planes and their role in the campaign with mod plane details and explanations.
Minimal icons pack to reduce clutter on the map screen
Campaign extension into 41 including Italians
May/June 40, the obvious BoF & Dunkirk prequels, will require a major effort, but first get this one done.
Early night fighter campaign, easy adaptation of main day campaign
Possible optional what-if scenarios, with structured/branching campaign progression;
Laval's 200 Vichy French pilots with French planes.
Rubendörfer's ground attack strategy.
Possibility of Sealion invasion (requires road network).
Sealion 41 scenario, planned for by the British.
Russian response to allied plans to land troops in Finland; Red Storm Rising 39/40, a blue Europe against the Soviet steamroller? Needs blue RAF in DCG, how?
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This looks amazing Slink - cant wait to give it a go!!
DBW is rockin'
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My God!!
Hope this is all true
Congratulations for a wonderful job
All the best
Gerson
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This looks fantastic. Great job.
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Who will need CloD? Amaizing effort! THX
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G'day Slink,
Installed DCG for the first time to be ready for CoE (been playing IL2 since v1.0).
Why haven't I been using this before???? Great program :)
Cheers,
T_T
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So glad to see this happening. So Glad.
Cheers,RDDR
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Thank you very much for the kind support guys, it's coming along very nicely, and I'll need some testers eventually for jsgme and TotalMODer versions, but still lots to do of course, and then there's also the map... but we're getting there.
RDDR, I'm building an optional skins pack, maybe you could consider providing instructions on setting up mat manager for this campaign if people want to use it? I'm half a noob myself.
Here's a collection of some quick screenies to show how it looks currently, run it as a slideshow.
(obsolete)
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Hi Slink just saw this. I'll work on it in the next day or so.
Thanks for all the work your putting into this campaign as its gonna be a great Campaign asset.
Cheers,RDDR
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Great, thanks RDDR, currently struggling with transfer to the big map, so may may take a while, have just over a hundred UK airfields on the go, and Europe still to come, think I must be nuts... but without thousands of objects (and types of object) still runs smooth even with mega squad numbers, so all is looking well except my sleep quota... cheers!
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Wow, going to be really nice.
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Hi guys,
My apologies for being so late in posting. The truth is that it slipped my mind.
So, lets get MAT manager.
1. Go to Mission4today and download the MAT Manager self installer.
Once you have done that, just leave it for a minute. Dont install it just yet
2.Go into your game and make a copy of your exe.
Once you have done, that your going to change the copy exe name to il2
No dot, no exe, just il2
This is going to show MAT where DBW is when your setting up MAT
3 Now your going to install MAT Manager.
When you start to install, it will ask you where your Sim is when it begins to install for it is going to install hundreds of files into a folder in your main game folder called CooptRegt. These files are numbers,insignias, you name it. Hundreds of options.
Be warned that its huge and will take a few minutes to install all the info so,...
Go to the kitchen grab a cold beer,make a sandwich then sit back and be patient. ;).
MAT like DCG can be installed outside of the Sim. Preferably in C: Program files(x86) if your using Win 7 64 bit or for others just Program files for other OS's just remember to point the way so it can install.
When you've finished your sandwhich and the second beer, these files should be finished installing.
Now go to your Desktop and you will see the MAT icon. Open it
4 Next MAT is going to want to set up the Manager Face plate where you make choices of numbering and insignias and once again it will ask for the home of your exe. That exe will be the copy you made first before installing.
Without it being there in game MAT Manager will not work. When the Manager asks go ahead and do it and the Manager opens up.
5.
Lastly Selection
As you can see there are many options on the Manager face.Look them over and once you know what you want, go up to the top and you will see
a number of boxes Europe,North Africa,Ost Front etc.. Select what front and year.
Next lets say you want Stab or numbering for the Luftwaffe...Select then go up to the top left and hit Load.
When this is done go to the small Control panel and press the bigger box with the 3 on it which is Save then hit quit and a horizontal bar will appear and you will see your choice being uploaded loaded;
Hot Tip.
I have found that the best way to upload what I need in the way of loading is not to make multible choices but do it one choice at a time.
There you have it. I hope I have been able to make everything clear enough for everyone.
I'm sure there will be questions. If I can be of anymore help I'll do my best.
Cheers,RDDR
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Hi back KB, thanks, good to hear you got 1.6 working, welcome to the Dark (Blue) Side.
Took a while to get the DCG files sorted out with all the unexpected weapons entries problems, and quite a few screw-ups on my part, but somebody has to do it, so… Seems to be just about OK now but there will probably be another loadout option for some plane somewhere that turns out to have an underscore, or not actually exist, but DBW 1.7 will hopefully simplify this with the reduced plane set, and maybe even an accurate weapons file, but will change loadouts and probably be just the first step in consolidation, so the story isn't over yet. On top come accurate details for all the jet era planes, and optional data sets for the DBW add-on packages to come, and any new planes, so there’s still lots of potential/work. (but do update that campaign, and the jet era plane data for DCG too if you like, I’m no jetman! Well, actually CirX did make me fly around as jetman for a while as punishment for being such a know-it-all, but then I found Angelina also with a pack strapped on her back and haven’t looked down since...).
I looked at your project at M4T (very belatedly now), and had similar problems initially with the CC map, but as the only 1:1 map available it was also the only option. This actually caused a great deal of unnecessary effort unless you count all that as learning mapping, as there was so much to be corrected it was a real learning exercise. Initially tried to get the airfields working, turned out some were even doubled as if pasted twice, are extremely object heavy, over complex, late war oriented and many are copies, then the map-h, which is to be honest a mess, coming out more like the Death Star trenches, and all for a few cliffs to crash into, but replacing it is problematic as the projection they used in Microdem is unknown and the whole thing may have been post processed so getting a matching shot from a DEM is practically impossible, but basically it just looks nothing like Blighty.
At the time I just wanted a combination with Cannon’s map with more of France, but then more kept coming with BOF, Biscay, Northsea, SND, Holland, Westfront; all covering parts of the same area and partially overlapping, but none compatible with another, which is fine, the more the merrier, but does seem to be a bit of multiplication of effort, so why not all in one? So to prevent having to do multiple road/sea networks in DCG, or just AA/target layouts in mis files, it seemed to make more sense to have one large map covering the entire area which could be added to over time but forms a playable base for any campaign with specific actors/ini files for the area concerned, over progressive periods, either thin or detailed according to the size of the area of action for the campaign. Once the base map exists anyone can build their own scenario on it with dedicated actors/ini files or even textures; also needs a darkened night version. The biggest problem is indeed texturing, as getting a characteristic look for each country/area without repetitive tiling is always going to have to be a compromise, but still looks better than the CloD map! I’ll make some screenies, but it’s still just a (working) draft, but should perhaps go a bit further north and east to include Newcastle and Hamburg for those long bombing missions. Come to think of it the new big Med theatre map follows a similar principle, ideally you would never see the edges, but someone will always want to fly over anyway.
Extending this you then get a set of 6-12 big maps (clean they run as fast as any other, like online maps, it’s only the total number and variety of objects that make a difference) which with some overlapping (texturing limitations?) would cover the whole European area. Extending that to DCG the rds files would also be made to allow overlap and continuation from one to the next (using nodes as origins from the overlapping sections), so eventually the whole set up already exists and making campaigns is all about game play and not slogging through all the background work.
I also had a thought about making the map (ini) a timetable function, so theoretically there could be a different map with textures/actors and specific conditions, pressure, temp, etc, for each day of a campaign if anyone wanted to take it that far. This is all in my DCG doc draft along with many more ideas/suggestions, I’ll have to clean up the draft and post it to see what people think, before scaring the crap out of Paul. This also has suggestions for dealing with transit times, interceptions, night fighting, scripting, campaign management, gui, etc.
Airfields; on the CC map these are full of problems, missing h flattening, AI confusing paths, and the friction areas may be misplaced too. With these set in the map.ini file there’s no problem for DCG (and which in the above would also allow sticky airfields in wet weather...), but if there’s a mismatch you get an edge effect and a distinctive bump as planes cross it, possibly even nose overs. Flattening is another point here, I wanted to use the original heights averaged in Microdem with friction values, so the Bump can actually be bumpy, but buildings end up half sunken, planes on slopes slide all over the place, and concrete plates disappear halfway into the ground so it's probably unavoidable despite being difficult to blend in properly, but it really requires map-h editing as doing it manually in FMB never seems to avoid slight edge mismatching, blend instead of peak can be better, same smoothing effect as using averaging in Microdem for map-h. However I did have all the CC fields working eventually, and added new ones, but with all the effort going into a basically flawed map it seemed better to just use that as a test bed and start afresh, as I wanted more than just South East England anyway, from the premise of making a minimal “online” base which could be extended at will, but trying to do Berlin density on a map this size is obviously pointless, so photo-realistic ground textures with objects only where they are relevant is the key, as the idea is to fly and fight, not sight seeing, although a tour through a populated London in a jeep would also be possible but only London, not the whole map or it would never load, but if someone wants to why not, just don’t try combat operations with the same actors file. This is actually the entire point, it’s possible to have as many ini files as you like, one a day even as above, so the options are endless and we only really need a single large base map for continuity/compatibility, and all the effort of building road networks etc need only be done once. One map.ini a day in all.ini is however a bit much for the standard DBW game, as with a lot of other things in this mod/campaign, which is why it’s a dedicated add-on so as not to overload basic DBW and allow almost complete flexibility.
The big map (CoE or NWE or something) is still a rough draft, using standardised placeholder airfields (which do work however) as the point is to get the campaign running (and eventually actually released…) but both map and campaign can be continuously updated so we don’t all have to wait five years before the thing comes out with every garden shithouse in Europe correctly positioned for your frame rate displeasure… but updating any airfield, as long as it’s low on objects, can be done as an individual project and then added to the actors when it’s ready, so if we want accurate (time period too) airfields then it’s relatively easy to add them and build up seasonal sets year by year, but it’s not meant to be sight-seeing as I said, and no trees, I’m trying replacing the stock 3D RGB 24 trees with tiled and blended textures and .tree extensions for colour matching and reduced load, and no more losing half your squad to crashing into the bloody forests, makes the point of flying over England almost irrelevant for the RAF, and looks better too… waste of texture slots actually, if there was a way to improve/optimise/replace the stock 3D forests… Bridges are also an issue, need to be minimal to avoid having to drop down to sea level but required for the road/rail network, and I want to avoid bridge attacks in DCG, rail yards yes, but bridges are a total failing in IL2, along with the bloody ships dammit. Still setting locations in DCG for 200 or more airfields to get the campaign transferred over, then new sea routes and mission maps, but once done we’re back in the air.
However, this campaign is meant to be just the start, covering the BoB period for the same reasons as CloD probably, apart from my personal interests, but thanks to DCG is open to being extended forward or backwards using different actors/textures (new airfields etc.) along with new campaign sections in the grand campaign, all interlinked and continuous so you can start in 1939 and go all the way to 46, try surviving through that one. I could possibly spend the rest of my days extending it but I'm just laying the foundations, it’s meant to be open to the community to add on to, just keeping to the basic principles and continuing on from the existing files/set up, or pre-dating them, but all at half scale and historically based/researched (never ending) using the timetable as the primary tool, more on that in the DCG doc later, but also as a single unified campaign without needing separate campaigns for fighter, bomber, or whatever, everything runs from the same campaign, apart from the night fighting currently, but again there’s more on that in the DCG doc.
This thing is however so big and extensive, historically up to four sorties a day except in bad weather, and then sometimes, and the missions are by nature long, it’s not something for a quick spin like QMB, more a long hard graft under full real and mostly about surviving, as historically, so probably not for the faint hearted. This campaign should however also lend itself to co-ops, considering all the recent discussion, but that’s currently beyond my brief and makes more sense once the single player version is actually up and running, and I’m no co-op expert anyway, but maybe later, why not, the potential is there, but I never flew online myself.
There are many features and aspects people could help/get involved with, RDDR already started with MAT manager, (thanks mate!) it’s not actually meant to be a one man show. Historical data for squads & events, aces with pilot skins, airfield layouts, installations, targets, etc; for follow up campaigns not just this one, good skins for stand-in planes and squads generally (currently making a collection so squads and aces are all unique, but it’s a lot to download and would need to extend for different periods) currently using Martins’ textures but probably need to make new ones, need a full rail layout on the map first, and eventually road network, with corresponding DCG files, atmosphere and flavour, period music and briefing files, and the historical documentation which was the starting point of it all anyway.
Beyond the basic map/campaign though there would also need to be more campaign sections with detailed timetables to move into 41 onwards or back to France, Norway would need a different map, but once the basis is there it can be expanded at will, well almost. I won't be able to do the entire set of campaigns for the entire war period with what-ifs branching and corresponding load.inis ad infinitum single handed, unless everyone is prepared to wait several years probably, so I'm currently looking at going up to mid 41 where the campaign ends (from the German perspective) to include the possibility of a Sealion 41 too, but after that it's a different campaign really, but all that's required is a little coordination so people don't double up effort doing the same thing twice, really should be a community/team effort, I just want to get the ball rolling and then get to actually play the campaign myself eventually, but there’s loads to do, we still need the Do17, and a SU2/Defiant Franken hack, Ki21/Hudson, He115, or maybe just edited class files to change the labels on screen, though we shouldn’t be using them actually, with vectors and GCI/observers should really be icons off as pipsqueak was only for the radar, but I digress... but the changes I’m proposing in DCG would make an enormous difference so need to get on with that too, but not to forget thanks again to CY6 for the amazing C&C objects which allow things previously undreamed of and are basically a core component now.
So after the possibly longest post in SAS history, hope it clarifies and brings things a bit up to date, unless everyone has already fallen asleep of course, but thanks for the offers of help, any contributions are greatly appreciated, although I often don’t know what I’m doing next myself, trying to do it all simultaneously is just a bit demanding, and I'm a bit slow anyway, but I’ll try and get a test version together to show how it works and where the gaps are, but will take a while still.
However, I’ll get the DCG doc sorted out so you can see what I’m talking about, it’s not that much really, but some things would greatly expand campaign building possibilities, but it all needs prioritising as there’s no way it would all come at once, and would all depend on Paul himself of course, otherwise we just have to do our best with what we have.
Meanwhile, some very quick pics of a very rough WIP, all texturing is still very provisional;
Airfields so far, nevermind the google, it's just for placement...
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/54748fd9.jpg)
Dover to be
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/099592c7.jpg)
Cliffs still to come
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/1f122796.jpg)
Welsh coast and valleys, somewhere there will be a little tent which is me out camping...
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/fba18bbd.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/730c05ce.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/58d1c4b1.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/45c3ed1a.jpg)
Lake district in the North
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/24a2a2f2.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/aabd9643.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/1b532971.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/464cca6f.jpg)
Ireland from the Scottish coast
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/1aad8d38.jpg)
Thames Estuary
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/837ad787.jpg)
Bomber Command airfield, can someone desaturate those sandbags?
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/6c92ff18.jpg)
Looking out from the Met office, how do they keep everything so bright and squeaky clean? Mixx has some better building textures. The noise.tga could do with a higher res too.
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/d91528fc.jpg)
A generic place holder small grass airfield with roundabout taxiing and multiple take offs/landings, works too!
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/d77b0e0e.jpg)
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Hi,
That was really a long post but for a huge project! The map looks really impressive and I'm curious about the campaign!
Will there be a 4.09 version . . . just kidding!
All the best, Slink!
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Final proof that the planes in IL2 are actually Airfix kits... anybody got a tube of glue handy?
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/670e06be-1.jpg)
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Good God Slink!! Let me put it this way. How much coffee do you drink a day?
Amazing amount of work you've done. Very,very impressive mate ;) ;)
Cheers, RDDR
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I saw the picture of the map and my jaw literally dropped. No joke, I thought I'd have to stick it back to my skull with tape!
HOLY HELL!
Wow. Just wow.
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Thanks for the support guys, it really does help with motivation when you’re spending hours making an edit and then waiting for Gimp to stop thrashing about and finally update the screen, do keep checking in though to stay up to date.
A quickie here though if anyone wants to try it is to “mod” microdem.exe with large address aware and 4GB max heap size, seems to help with big DEMs, or maybe I’m imagining it, but till the 64bit version is out, and the beta exe is updated often but still buggy buggy, it will have to do.
Actually tried the same trick with the java exe files in IL2 (4 of them in bin). Seems to be smoother, certainly does not seem to cause any problems, had the campaign running fine with the “modded” exes which is a quite heavy but fairly limited environment as far as testing goes, maybe someone who actually knows what they’re talking about can try it and see if it really does improves anything, Storebror? Pablo?
However, once jaws are back in place, I’ve been experimenting with an alternative which should be comparable to the Italy at War map; this is about 1,500km square and just a raw test for now to check loading etc. The top right of Norway is missing though; I need to remember where I got the full DEM data for N60, Japanese, ASTER?
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/a29c9374.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/badc0194.jpg)
Trouble is this puts the whole thing behind schedule even more, but it’s a question of doing it now before rebuilding the whole campaign around a smaller map and then redoing it all later, so since there’s already the huge Italy at war map in progress maybe this one could go with it and cover the ETO theatre. It’s a lot of little fiddly bits with the fjords in Norway though, and we do want to get it out before CloD actually works and the whole thing gets cancelled…
Actually the map is just meant to be a vehicle for the campaign though, and I’m no master mapper, but I’d rather only do it once and then update gradually with all the details and variations once the campaign is out (actually Kapteeni’s WIP alpha Italy campaign could be the perfect partner), and the bigger map allows other campaigns and extensions to all use the same data and environment. However, the bigger the map the more effort & time required, and textures become even more problematic, not to mention declination etc; but it would start as just the basic map and be extended later, population being a multiple variable according to period and focus of campaign activity, and certainly not the entire thing in intricate detail from 39 to 46, but who knows, eventually?
So to expand or not? Any thoughts?
Maybe it helps if we all sing along…
It’s a long way, to the map edge,
it's a long way to go,
it's a long long way till we get there,
but it's worth the wait I know,
goodbye, little boxes, hello vast expanse,
it's a long long way back to Blighty, but it's a route we'll get to know.
Coffee? Far too much, lots of Coke too, and far too many ciggies, and all late at night, honestly, modding can be bad for your health, but as we know it’s a (creative) addiction, seriously. So, still on the go, and still have to do the DCG4DBW update once 1.7 comes out, update the campaign, update the docs and go hassle Paul with my ramblings, and finally get back to writing the book as they say. Good to see so much new stuff coming out recently though, things do seem to be moving ahead.
Oh, and in reference to alotef’s avatar and another thread including Idefix, let me introduce you to his sister, my little helper…
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/e0aad6f8-1-1.jpg)
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Aw, she even looks like me! :D
I think its a good idea to add to it over time so that if some people have a lower-end spec computer they won't have as hard a time running it all in one shot with 30,000,000 objects, personally. Anyway, whatever decision you come to, it looks brilliant so far. :)
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+10 A true labour of love (or obsession :D )
Like all large projects, take your time and enjoy, don't burn out and get to hate it.
We appreciate your efforts, even those that look but don't comment.
Cheers,
T_T.
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Nah, no worries mate, “cancellation” is just part of the Douglas Adams reference, but thanks anyway, cheers mate! You might be right with the obsession though. However, in preparation for some populating here’s how it looks in Google to give an impression of scale, this is just the rough M01 as an overlay with a KML and google showing through. The A labels are HAA sites and decoys etc; and only the 1940 airfield sites are needed for now. Would be nice to have the same level of detail for Europe, must be around here somewhere.
Flew across the draft map last night in a Blenheim, think I’ll have to look up the navigation beacons as it’s easy to get lost on here, well, it is almost empty at the moment but I think landmarks are going to be important, but 30,000,000 million objects, don’t make me even think about it. Basic map, campaign, details, extension, and all in two weeks!
Also need to extend the micro icon set as zooming out the map on screen gets very cluttered, but there’s not much can be done with the texts. Need to get on with this as I really want to get the campaign up and running again, so, on with the draft, just about meets up with War in Italy, but I seem to have missed Vienna, does anyone want to bomb Wiener Neustadt? Really is a long way, maybe something for Nachtjagd, but would also be handy for 1946 Allied vs Soviet scenarios. Will be really fairly basic to begin with but it’s still much better than the SWOTL map!
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/4ef9cfe3-1.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/89f489a1-1.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/9f8e404e-1.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/1309af33-1.jpg)
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This is a proof of concept test map to demonstrate the max map size in IL2, which turns out to be half of the 65,536 pixels for MapC originally thought, i.e. 32,768 = 1,638.4 km = 1024 32-pixel units. 65,536 is the max texture size for most graphic cards, so bigger than this and IL2 will CTD on loading the map (actually openGL32 crashes with a DeleteTexture error), for me anyway. This one is not quite that size, there are 48 pixels spare on the Y axis, but near as dammit.
This has been loaded in DBW and flown, there’s a test mission included (Single/GB/CoE) so you can jump straight in and have a look (the Hudson skin is included too). This mission includes CY6’s Dynamic weather, Storm Front and Vector objects, so if you don’t have them in your DBW you can just edit the mission and remove the entries.
The download is a jsgme mod, so you can install to test and remove it all again afterwards. The map itself is just a weekend draft, full of glitches, inland water is just texture, MapH has a few faults etc., and texturing is just for show, although there are airfields. These are however just roughly positioned placeholders, most are probably not usable but something is needed in static.ini to allow missions to be saved. MapC is very rough but I did take the trouble to remove that bit of Holland…
There are two questions however;
Can everybody load this size of map, with minimal actors, quickly and successfully? No problems for me with 1024 in the selector, and I can get very high framerates, but this may not be true for everybody.
This is using “modded” Java exe files with Large Address Aware flag set and Max Heap Size of 4GB, which may not help at all, but don't appear to cause any problems either, but may make things a bit smoother? Someone who knows better would have to tell us if this actually makes any real difference, but maybe worth a try. They are included too, and since it's jsgme you can easily take them back out again anyway, but try and see, maybe?
The big problem is missions.
Although this is the max map size, it appears the max mission size is different. Despite being placed near the corners in the test mission, flights outside a 1000km box set from the bottom left origin will spawn on the edges of this box, so no flights can start outside it, and all waypoints will be moved to the edges when you start the mission even though they show correctly in the mission screen. Planes can go outside this box; if there’s a turn at a waypoint they will cross the line as they turn, so it’s not a hard edge and you can probably fly over it manually, but does restrict any missions to this area.
Oddly enough ships do not seem to be affected, the Marat in the test mission starts correctly outside the box, so I assume the 1000km limit only applies to flights, or at least airspawn and waypoints. This may just be me though, so is it true for everyone? If so, this means the maximum effective map size is actually the 1000km limit, as the rest is basically wasted unless you fly there manually to admire the scenery.
Why this should be so, who knows, maybe it’s just a round number default set in a classfile somewhere and can be modded out, as everything else seems to work (didn’t try vehicles though [yes I did, and they also work fine]). Maybe it’s a DGEN limit? Maybe it's just my install?
So try it out and test, you get to see what a max map feels like, but if the above limit is indeed fixed then this remains just scenery, and any practical map has to stay within the 1000km limit, which may explain why the CloD map is also so restricted? (No, it's much smaller, no room for expansion at all...)
Or maybe I'm just missing something completely obvious again?
Whichever way, so you can see what you’re downloading here are some screenies to show it’s not April, I’m not nuts, and it really does work before you download 93.4 megs.
This is the original mission layout;
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/2503354f.jpg)
and here you can see the waypoints moved along the 1000km line.
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/258d4c61.jpg)
and some scenery…
Isles of Scilly
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/15c531ae.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/178ef766.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/6114f90d.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/9deeb257.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/470926f5.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/c4d737ae.jpg)
Alps down to Italy
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/86c623e1.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/b8720f4d.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/9306d58f.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/bd38845f.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/7897e9a9.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/c13ccf94.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/12d785e5.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/834e204a.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/843af329.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/34ddcade.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/6c2433a5.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/8583c04b.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/c1bfdfbf.jpg)
and that's the Med in the background...
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/246376ac.jpg)
Download: You probably need an up to date version of 7zip for this, it's at max compression.
New link, fixed download.
http://www.datafilehost.com/download-d093f28e.html
So if anyone knows how to get around the limit we can use this size, otherwise it's down to 1000 clicks.
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Thanks for all your efforts Slink
I could not get this to load using JSGME, someting to do with the load ini I think.So I just placed all the nessesary bits in my mapmods file.The mission loaded up fine.Really hope there is a solution for the 1000 clicks barrier.
How does the dynamic weather work,do I need a mod for it?
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Hmm, have to check the jsgme structure, should be correct... or did I screw up again!?
Dammit, yes I did, missed the MapMods folder under #DBW, jeez, ultimate dorkdom. Add this folder level and it should then work in jsgme.
Fixed the download.
but at least it worked, thanks for the report. The barrier is a real problem, maybe it can be extended, but for now we're stuck there.
Working on a 1000x1000 version.
But you can still fly over the map manually, just takes a while... but no AI. Any good for online?
For Dynamic Weather/Storm Front you need CY6's C&Cv2 mod, it's in Modworx here https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,16973.0.html
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Map is huge! AI flew very well, manual flying I got lost serval times, to the point of running out of fuel lol. takes awhile to load though. mountain tops horizon has way too much saturation colour. also had to put the map in #DBW MAPMODS to work.
otherwise very nice wip so far Slink! :)
(http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee380/ASYLUM_thirteen/CoE.jpg)
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Thanks Ratsel, glad you got it working, despite my little "oversight". Seems my Hudson skin matches the terrain better than I thought!
I ran out of fuel too, with this size it's easy to overstretch things, and economic cruise suddenly becomes more than relevant and mission planning has to be more careful. In the test mission the planes are flying at the default 300kmh, but in DCG each does have a separate cruising speed at least. What we need on here are some features and landmarks, and radio beacons of course, especially at night. Would be a good navigation trainer...
Question though; did any planes spawn and fly waypoints outside the 1000km box? This is the the crunch point, as otherwise a practical map can only be this size and no more, unless it can be fixed.
How long to load? For me it loads in 35 seconds flat, and did you try the tweaked Java files? Any noticeable difference?
MapF is currently just a copy of MapM, terrible, but a quick and dirty way to make it work, and the mountain textures are just the standard cliff textures recycled, necessary with so few textures available and so much variation, but they could be tweaked of course. A screenie of the mountain horizon view would help for comparison, the maps and textures are set to the colour profile of my screen but you could load them in GIMP and set them to match your own monitor. We could actually do with a standard colour profile for IL2, then at least all the textures and skins would have the same standard basis as you can't edit and adjust those in sfs files, so should all be standardised at least, but the original IL2 files are probably a mix anyway...
This is the coverage on a 1000 square map, (already running, but even rougher as yet). Should also be able to shift southeast and fit most of Germany in along with eastern UK airfields as slipper wanted, have to try it.
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/104f35a7-1.jpg)
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Hi Slink
Thank you for your hard work on this awesome project!!!
I can imagine how much work do you have on this huge map,and set up the things right.
So,I´m still downloadig at the moment and will see how it is to fly over half Europe ???
But I have a question,maybe it goes a little bitt off-topic but I hope you can help me...
You talk about,that you set the Dynamic Weather mod in your Campaign,and I think this is one of the most important mods that I´ve ever seen.
I like to have this too,but I have realy no plan how to set this in a default DCG Campaign!!
I play DCG for years,and its make so much fun,but I have never touched the FMB to edit a mission or anything else.
Of course,I read some toutorials how to do,so,I think I have a very little overwiev how it all works.
Can you explain me,maybe in a few steps how to set the Dynamic Weather in,lets say for example the Singapore 41 default Campaign?
The CY6 Command and Control mod ist installed and works.But for the rest,I need a little help. ;)
Thanks in advance..and sorry for my bad English ;D
Greets, Semor
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Sure, all you have to do is add the objects to the DCG campaign template.
These are all in the DCG install under "Masters" each one being a normal IL2 mission file. To edit them however they need to be somewhere inside the IL2 Missions folder, I normally install DCG and any campaigns inside this folder as then anything can be edited directly without copying and moving files, but do keep backups just in case. Otherwise just copy the mission files you want to edit to the Missions directory and afterwards move them back again.
Once you're this far just open the FMB and load the mission from the menu. Then go to View, Objects, and Stationary Objects, scroll down until you find the Dynamic Weather object in the list, and put it anywhere on the map with Ctrl + mouse click. It doesn't matter where you put it as it affects the entire map, and is red by default but this is irrelevant so just leave it. Do the same with Stormfront, but this time it does matter where you put it as CY6 made it so the weather gets worse as the player approaches, so decide where you want the bad weather to come from. Save the mission (and copy back to DCG if it's installed somewhere else) and generate the campaign. DCG will now put the objects into all missions automatically, and that's all there is to it.
There's also a third object which is indispensable, Vectors. With these you can have automatic intercepts of incoming flights by patrolling planes, really makes a difference, and much more sense, simply fantastic.
Note that you can't use any of the variables these objects are capable of as these only work as entries in single mission files, and DCG generates them dynamically, so no go, but the automatic defaults work very well anyway.
Bad English? Not really, don't worry about it, you should see some of the stuff that comes over my desk...
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Yessss...Thank you 1000 times! Finally I´ve made it!!!
Can´t belive how easy it was. ;D
This makes flying in DCG so much better.
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So here's the 1000x1000 version, full coverage is as in post above.
Still very rough of course, looks a bit too dark?
Lots to do of course, but tested and you can spawn right into the corners.
So how does it look? Well, it's empty, but ignoring that.
I'll clean up the existing airfields so you can actually land and take off before putting a test version up if anyone wants to play around on it.
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/c12dd55b.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/01227532.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/896682a9.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/f4605323.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/c320b6ed.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/21caff15.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/7b9866c5.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/d6a1d8fe.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/5449cd02.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/6251f836.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/033431dc.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/503a76e7.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/48b971f7.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/d4a75ff0.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/ea298fa7.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/4488b7cc.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/003467ad.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/a223ea10.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/dafd83bc.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/a58688a7.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/7292be6e.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/1ecee546.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/8171b2fc.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/a43ab9f6.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/7e66efe2.jpg)
(http://i1122.photobucket.com/albums/l526/Sinclairius/5f1b48b3.jpg)
So, now that's settled I can get on with some detail work...
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This is looking very promising indeed. I look forward to the outcome. The map alone is indeed quite breathtaking in scope. Very well done so far.
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Hi Slink,
First I want to thank you for all your efforts. It's a huge project, so I can understand it's a lot of work and it takes a lot of time and research to create an as realistic as possible map. But I have one remark :-[: In some of your pics I see that Flevoland (a part of The Netherlands) is shown. In other pics Flevoland is not present. I live in The Netherlands and as far as I know (and according to Wikipedia), Flevoland didn't exist completely in WWII. Here is a short history of Zuiderzee Works from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuiderzee_Works
The Northeast Polder didn't exist untill 1942 and Southern and Eastern Flevoland didn't exist untill 1957 and 1968. I don't know if you've taken this into account. It's just a remark, I'm only trying to help. :) Thanks again for your hard work to create this magnificent map! ;D
Regards,
Wing King
Btw: Have you found a solution for the 1000 km limit for airspawns and waypoints?
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Map works great in DBW 1.6, just spent 4 hours exploring!! all A/C spawned inside the 1000 box, loaded the mission in mission pro and changed into a P38 with drop tanks and went for a (long) blast, all of the UK looks great, from 20,000ft down to ground level with very little tiling effect, loaded in normal time compared with any other map and Fps pegged at 60 with Vsync on.
The only area not so convincing is in the south east of france/germany a little tiling, but i realise this is an early test map! ;)
I cannot say how impressd i am with what you have done so far!! the potential of this is just enormous, congratulations :D
Cheers Dakpilot
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Hi Wing King, constructive criticism and qualified information and assistance is always welcome, so no worries, your help is appreciated, and thanks for the link!
The disappearing/reappearing parts of Holland are due to the number of test maps I made, from the original 352nd Cross Channel adaptation to several versions of NWE (actually about half a dozen…) all the way up to the mega European version and now the 1000km version. Some have the Polders removed (masked out on MapC) and others not, the Noordostpolder needs the dykes and islands showing so I always left it in so far. In Microdem you always get a modern satellite image and for tests whether it’s worthwhile masking out depends on how far each version progresses, but ultimately these areas (and others) will not appear, as also for some post-war features in England and Germany (reservoirs, open strip mining etc.)
This is indeed a little problematic for waterways, transport, forestation and urbanisation etc, so it’s a case of making old maps into overlays/templates, which can be a pain with such large graphic files in colour so it’s all a bit laborious… on the other hand I want detailed coasts/rivers/canals and as much of the waterways as practically possible given the limits of IL2 maps, but I see these permanently visible landmark features (along with accurate heights, shallows etc) as more important than populating with buildings which pop in and out constantly and kill your frame rates, kind of spoils the illusion really.
This will all take a while of course, so in the meantime, originally updating Lonestar’s BoB campaign, I started converting the CoE campaign (reduced) to Canon’s map so people can actually try it and fly it without having to wait for the megamap, which will come of course, but an alpha test for the campaign is not a bad idea; actually Windweapon’s fault for suggesting the update in the first place… Currently trying to position red and blue CY6 stormfront units so DCG will activate/deactivate them as the front moves around to give variable & unpredictable weather effects… This is almost ready for testing (i.e. not finished, but workable) so if anyone is interested drop me a PM, but it’s a big download for a reduced test version, 180-200 MB, available once I clean up the jsgme version. This is currently still for DBW1.6, but a 1.7 update shouldn`t be difficult once it’s out, and update the DCG files for 1.7... 4.11 is a different story, lots of things I want but not yet within reach, and it’s still unstable on my setup.
No answer to the 1,000km limit, been searching through endless classfiles but unless you know what you’re looking for and where to start looking... but if it ever comes through I’d probably make two maps, one for southern Europe going down to the med and another for northern Europe going up to Norway, with an overlap, so there’s more potential for other campaigns to be built on them too.
Still, glad to see Dakpilot is having some fun on the mega test map! Thanks for the feedback mate, glad you like it. Yeah, SE is a bit rough, well, all of it actually, but it is just a proof of concept test, not even any rivers etc. However, you can always play “spot the truncated mountain” in the Alps; find the flat tops which go over the altitude limit and try to land, or put an airfield on top! (And ignore the awful mountain texturing… it’s just for fun).
Once the test campaign on Canon’s map is done (with some fixes for ed_MapT etc.) the 1,000km map will continue with full campaign, extensions to follow, and the mega Europe map(s) if I can get around the limit, also need to update the request doc now Paul is looking at 4.11. If you don’t ask…
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I just try this great and nice map!But dont forget "Kerlin Bastard" now "Lann Bihoué" just near Lorient(47°45'39"N,03°26'23"W).
Thanks a lot.
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Sold! ;)
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Jolly good show that man! Check PMs dietz.
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Slink's Sunday Evening Entertainment Programme;
Here are temporary downloads for the alpha test version for DBW 1.7 and DCG 3.47 beta, 'fraid it's nearly 200MB.
This is really just a filler while I sort out the DCG compat files, will come down again later.
Just unpack this into your IL2/jsgmemods folder, making sure it's the first mod to get loaded in the #DBW directory (note the leading "!!!s").
Don't forget to copy the 109 skins into the other 109 skin folders before enabling in jsgme or only the 109E1/4 will have skins... two sets, E1/E3, and E4 upwards.
This is just a minimal reduced version, still lots to do here, most airfields still need the statics arranging, timetable not complete, graphics are not final, needs the historical texts etc, and a larger separate skin pack, but as an alpha it's much bigger than any previous campaign. Well, it's a makeover mod really, but still just an alpha, not really ready for gameplay testing yet, but might be interesting to play around with... but for now just a trial run for a bit of fun. See if you can spot the aces, should all have chimps' faces, and Luftwaffe aces get separate skins (squad generic at this stage).
You fly the "Player Squad", if you want to change the name look in the instructions.
Some things to check out apart from choosing sides and setting up (see the txt file for instructions);
Uses Cannon's maps for now to get things moving, they should all work in stock DBW. Includes the 1024 textures with alpha channel and tgb extension (for close high res, distant low res, but can you see any difference? CY6's Fire object also extends view distance, any effect? The mega map is still in progress... and it really does need a bigger map.
If you prefer to have all the static scenery on the maps just disable (rename) the 1940actors.static file in the mod folder, it will then use the full DBW stock file with all the objects, but this might be slower, at least when down low, and the load is already rather high. I've always been cursed with lag and pauses, dynamic weather/vectors may make it worse, how does it perform for you?
Is it simple/easy to install and set up, instructions a bit basic still, looking at an exe eventually.
All campaigns work? Timetable and maps aren't complete yet, but how do things progress? (may take some time...) You're meant to start at the beginning and work through, but here everything is enabled so you can start anywhere.
The vectors can tend to send the entire RAF after a single bomber, think of it as a confused rookie controller...
Missions can be very long if you let events play out, use unlimited ammo for fun, lets you stay up longer, but watching everyone else is quite absorbing too, as long as you watch the DCG density... there can be over a hundred planes in the air in the later stages, but it should start out slow and then build up, so if things start overloading turn it down.
The He115 and Su2/Defiant are just experimenting for looks, nothing special yet.
This includes the basic required mods, you can use others with it too, but it will override anything trying to give the same effects (like impact flashes, deWilde...)
Try it out, if anything is unclear let me know, would appreciate feedback if people have the time, Good luck!
Download in first post
CREDITS
Digital artwork by Wiek Luijken; www.luijken.com (excellent stuff, go look).
Paul Lowengrin for DCG, without which IL2 would be just a game.
CirX and the SAS for Dark Blue World.
Brave Initial Testing done by dietz, thanks Jim.
Elements inc some rds & srd layouts from BoB Campaign Lonestar
Screens & Graphics Slink
New GUI colours Baraca
--------------------------------------------------
DBX (conversion Slink) FGA9Hunter
DH89 Blitz
Wellington Ranwers
Do 17Z-0/2 Ranwers/SAS~Crazyflak/RDDR
(Plutonium Effects files) HG&P
He46C2 Dreamk with fix by Birdman
Base Mats from Decalshine McWolf
--------------------------------------------------
Plane Skins Various Artists, see plane skins for ID
Bf 109 skins primarily by Revolver~I./JG 53_MAD at adlerhorst-hangar.com
Crappy Default Skins mostly by me, except:
BlenheimMk IV, IVF ?
Gladiator MkII Pavlac
He 46C2~Hs126 Slink, based on originals by Juanmalapuente/Albert Von Grewe
--------------------------------------------------
Semi-Real AA Zloy Petrushko
C&Cv2/Ground Target Order/Ambient Airfield sounds CY6
Distress Call Position Burn
Unlimited Ammo with Limited Bombs and Rockets SAS~Storebror
--------------------------------------------------
GB/DE Pilot Skins elephant
BoB1969 Pilot Skins Purgatorio
Aces Pilot Skins max_thehitman
--------------------------------------------------
Channel Map_M (Resized & Indexed Slink) xxx?
1024 Channel HiRes textures restored Birdman
(alpha channel & tgb Slink)
--------------------------------------------------
Variable Temperature MANYSH
Thunder & rain sounds (prs Slink) BlueAngel01
--------------------------------------------------
and any I may have missed at this early stage, please PM me at SAS if you see something I've forgotten amidst the chaos or can fill a gap...
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Hope this isn't a stupid question , can I ( shall I) replace the beta with this alpha? :-\
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Absolutely, the one I sent you was pretty much a pre-alpha really!
Oh, and not to forget, thanks to dietz for going through the pains of initial testing and putting up with me!
Cheers Jim, hope this works better for you!
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Outstanding!
Thank you!
Pierre
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Thanks pierre, glad you like it (and I know it does unpack now). It's still only a cut-down alpha, not the real deal yet, bit crude, bits missing, maps need the airfields doing, some bugs probably, but should still be fun I hope.
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Fantastic work, Slink! Thank you!
I have to buy new graphic card, new processor, more new RAM etc. ;D
So. I'm waiting now for DCG campaigns in West Europe after BoB with using Cannon's map. ;)
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Wow,Great work,Slink!!
Looks very proffesional,I´ve downloaded it,and still playin around the whole evening but I have discoverd something strange what makes the Campaings nearly unplayable for me:
When I´m in the air,I get every 2-3 minutes a massive stutter,and and then a big freeze for 10-20 seconds!
This happens so far in every mission. I´ve tried to lower the settings in the DCG pannel step by step,but no luck.
hmmm, any ideas?
But again,fantastic work ;)
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yes, this is the biggest problem, but I'm still not sure what it is, something in the mod set or just the load.
Oddly it seems to be cyclic, but not constant, so my first guess was the dynamic weather/vectors. You can disable these objects in the DCG control panel but didn't seem to help. They're also crucial to the gameplay concept. Also odd is that I had far far less pauses on the big (clean) map, so I also wonder if its a graphic card issue?
The graphic card load drops to practically zero, but the game goes on, and then you get a jump as the card catches up. Texture loading from HD? My card also shares memory, normally not good, probably need more onboard dedicated mem. (GeForce GTX 460, 4096 total, 1024 dedicated on-board and 3071 shared. Not the best really.
Turning down the quality settings in the nvidea control panel helps, and lower res too (I'm normally running on 2560x1440), and full screen is always better anyway.
Question is whether this happens to everybody or just some (we have the wrong card?). Have to try it with the new nvidea drivers, or maybe one of the older versions is better, but we all want to play other stuff too.
So is this an issue for everybody? Anybody not have problems?
Back tomorrow, need to go craszzzzzzzz.
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Ok,I will try to lower my graphic card settings,maybe this helps really a bit.
BTW,I run a different card:ATI Radeon HD 3600/512MB ( yes,I know,not really the best) with 1024*768 res. and 4 Gig ram on Win7.
So, I dont belive that this Bug is a card issue.
Maybe it has to do with one of the C&Cv2/Ground Target Order or something in this direction?
As far as I can remember,I have lots of trouble with objects like this in a static nightfighter campaign...
The full program:hick ups,stutters,freezers,really,this was terror in the dark! ;D
Anyway,we will see if anybody else has the same problem.
greets
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is this completely done for us nooblets? cant wait to fly it. looks like a frame kill tho. :( . Also after hearing all the hoopla about 3.47, i went and redid dbw and went back to 3.46 until 8.1 comes out. no sense in dealing with all those loadout confusion when the fix is enroute. 3.47 jacked up my game lol. i think i overwrote some class file or something. o well, i'll be fine til all the kinks are made out. cheers m8s.
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See semor: "When I´m in the air,I get every 2-3 minutes a massive stutter,and and then a big freeze for 10-20 seconds!
This happens so far in every mission. I´ve tried to lower the settings in the DCG pannel step by step,but no luck.
hmmm, any ideas?"
I have the same.
It can't be a low end PC because I inherited a PC with a i7 3690X, 32RAM and 2x Geforce GTX 580 in SLI.....
Settings in the selector: 2048. Under normal circumstances obviously no stutters.
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Dunno Semor, 512 onboard is half what I have, but could be more complex than that. Win7 with 4gigs? I tried that on my first Win7 machine (32bit) but it was unbearable, went to 64bit with 8gigs and finally ran smooth, but that's really the effective minimum. Deja vu, I remember 4 megs mem vs 8 megs...
pierre, 2048 in the selector is pushing beyond the safe limits, but if it normally works... I only have 512 in the selector but still get it.
Could it really be the vector/weather objects? Again, disabled and no difference, but put a NAV object in and the pauses match the nav reports on screen!?
I'm still more inclined to think of texture loading from second level mem or even HD, as you can remove all the mods and it's still there. Have to try taking out all the C&C objects, removing that too, and see if that finally confirms it. In QMB in DBW there are no problems, but that's clearly much lighter.
I know the dynamic weather pauses as the weather updates, but there are multiple vectors and max 3 stormfronts active here (variable), so if they all hit the CPU at once? On the other hand it's the GPU that's stalling, unless it's (they) are waiting for data from a stalled CPU? I run with 8 cores, and at least half are active running the game (just internal load balancing), but the graphic data thread must be getting blocked by some heavy number crunching.
Maybe CY6 himself could say, but I'll try taking it all out to check if it's still there. Bit of a killer this one, but if that doesn't work?
Still, lowering the graphic settings in nvidea (or ATI) seemed to help, but not completely.
Oddly enough, it is variable, sometimes I get it, but not always, and sometimes with longer intervals, sometimes brief pauses, sometimes long, and the game continues so it shouldn't be the CPU... think I need a guru... anybody not have this problem?
Actually dietz just told me it was working fine, have to go ask back.
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So, a partial fix; knew something must be staring me in the face.
The vectors don't seem to be the problem, AGCI might be slowing things down though when it scans for contacts, not sure, have to test more, but then you have to rely on the IL2 vectoring, or play god and use the map.
UPDATE; so I did test some more, and it is the vectors. Shit.
Watched the RAF flights closing in on a lone raider on the map, waiting, pause... and just after the RAF group splits and breaks off. This at 5:03 mission time, so start again, run up to nearly 5:03, watch the RAF flights, waiting, pause... and they get new orders and vector toward the target.
So, the number of vectors or the number of flights being vectored? Tried it with even more vectors so they each control fewer planes (I know it says all planes within range, but it does actually work). No help, which is odd, on the big map I didn't really have this problem.
Still, try it with a single vector, better, still pauses, but only momentarily.
One red and one blue? Makes things worse again.
So, looks like only one (and no it's not in the read me), so here's a new single and repositioned entry for the mission templates to replace the vector block at the top of [NStationary]
2719_Static vehicles.stationary.Vector$VectorUnit 1 120000.00 290000.00 360.00 0.0
i.e. replace the eight entries with this single one. There will still be a bit of lag occasionally, nothing is perfect, but should be playable.
Does mean the Luftwaffe have some gaps, so Ventnor has probably been hit again, and the RAF may tend to bunch up more, but if it works...
There may still be some pauses, like when delayed start planes get spawned, but much less.
ALSO:
The Fire objects from C&Cv2 increase the draw distance to make city fires visible over long distances at night (Semor's campaign?), but this also seems to drop the frame rate by half on my set up, which maybe stands to reason... I put these in experimentally at the last minute (for Blitz fires in London), but taking them out of the mission templates (and generating a new campaign) seems to improve things. Delete these from the mission templates (BoB7, BoB8a, etc.) to increase frame rates.
Dynamic weather causes a slight delay when the weather changes, graphic update, which may contribute too, but removing it doesn't seem to make that much difference, and the changes are a bit sudden, but it does give some nice mixed weather effects with Stormfront, which doesn't seem to be a problem either really, there are two red and one blue which are enabled/disabled by DCG as the front moves over them so you may get none or all three.
Doesn't seem to be any real conflict, but we probably don't actually need both as the stormfronts are variable thanks to DCG and actually provide more realistic transitions without the sudden changes, and different conditions in different places on the map, so you could take out dynamic weather and stick to the stormfronts to reduce the graphic updates and give less sudden changes, but it's personal taste there.
After editing you have to start a new campaign or go into the campaign itself in Missions/GB/DE and edit the DCG campaign files (if you know what you're doing!). Easier to just generate new, unless you insist...
You should do this after disabling in jsgme of course, or the changes won't stick.
(You can actually do this anytime in a campaign, disable in jsgme, untick third party campaign in DCG, play a different one, come back again by re-enabling third party campaign, and point DCG to the interrupted campaign with Files/Select DCG Campaign Folder, or just use the folder icon on the button bar. Your campaign will start up again where you left it... ).
I'd also like to say thanks to pierre and Semor for giving me some feedback and suggestions, really helps to bounce ideas around, cheers guys.
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Alternatively you could also just download these updated mission files, disable the campaign in jsgme, and drop them in jsgmemods/!!!!Clash of Eagles BoB 1940/Missions/!DCG Clash of Eagles BoB 1940, i.e. the folder with the DCG campaign files, and overwrite the old ones. Re-enable, start a new campaign, and it should work...
Get the full update from the first post instead...
and I still have to do the Luftwaffe airfields...
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So, last point just in case before I put it back in the box,
this includes the 1024 textures for Cannon's maps, however as tgb s with alpha channel. (1024 high res close up with tile blending & 512 for distant). This should improve the view and reduce the graphic drawing load (not trying to draw 1024 out to the horizon), however, it also means you have two tiles loading into memory, one 1024 and one 512, so the memory requirement is actually higher, although the number of tiles is limited, so doesn't add up to that much.
This shouldn't be a problem for most, and isn't for me, no difference with and without, but as Birdman states in the High Res textures thread, graphic cards with low mem (512) may struggle with this producing lags and pauses. The same would be true if you allocate too much mem to the game in the selector, leaving no space to load textures.
If you have low mem, try disabling the _Tex directory in the Maps section of !!!CoE, you'll go back to the "stock" 512 textures, but it might help.
Ironic somehow to have the same problems as CoD...
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Slink,thanks for your had work,to make this Campaign playable for the most users.
But in the end,I have to say that this Campaign is a REAL FPS KILLER for my Poor pc with my dual core 2,9 Ghz and 512 mb graphics, :(
I can try what I want,but I never come over 6-12 Fps in the missions,and yes, I try to disable the _Tex directory in the Maps section ,but no luck.
Maybe it is the resource hunger of the Cannon´s map AND the C&C objects that drop´s my Fps. I don´t know.
Strange thing is,that I can normaly play the most third party campaings and the stock DCG ones in full settings with a constant good frame rate. Anyway, shit happens...and life goes on! ;)
I´m looking forward to your DCG campaigns in West Europe( hopefully,that this true piece of art runs a little bit smother on my machine)
Keep on rock´n
cheers mate.
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Hi, Slink / everybody,
Built a fresh install (CD 1946 => Superpack => DBW 1.71).
Installed CoE. Installed patch http://www.datafilehost.com/download-8e16164b.html.
These measures certainly had a good effect overall.
It strikes me that in another install the level of FPS stays around 60, even with time hurry up, but in CoE the FPS drop from around 60 to 40 and 15 with time-acceleration. 2x => 40, 4x => 20, 8x => 15.
I mentioned earlier that my PC can't be the culprit.
I wonder what is?
Thanks for a mountain of work in the campaign. I started off with Kiwibiggles' building tutorial and I know now what campaing building entails. Whow!
Greetings / Pierre
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Semor, did you try turning down the stationary objects/columns density too, there are several thousand objects on the map, and a lot of ships, try putting everything down to sparse, squads included, delete all the C&C objects from the mission template, and without the textures it should then be basically just Cannon's map with a few planes.
Still, does indeed seem to be some strange variable factor involved pierre, odd, so I'm going to take it apart and try it as just the raw campaign in a completely clean DBW install, then add back bit by bit to see where it starts slowing down. After I've finished the new DCG files, over the weekend hopefully.
Thanks for the reports Semor & pierre, really appreciate it.
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Now that you mention it (there are several thousand objects on the map) it takes a rather long time for the map to load, and all the stationary items. A drop in FPS therefor isn't strange. For me it's easy: no time acceleration and I'm happy....
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Why does it slow down again from the second campaign?
'cos some idiot forgot to delete the three fire objects at the bottom of [NStationary] from the other mission templates. ::)
Just delete them manually if you already downloaded, new updated link above.
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Now you lost me.
Step by step?
Do I look in the stationary.ini? Or....?
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Two different things pierre, step by step refers to me taking the mods/campaign apart and putting it back together again, one at a time, to see which may be causing a problem.
Interesting here is that I put the Instant Logging mod in for some checking, only to find the FPS dropping dramatically, maybe there's so much going on? Took it out, stable and regular, 97% GPU use, nice frames, fast, switch views instantly, speed up etc. Put in again (same mission) and it drops to the floor again (but could be different again tomorrow the way things are going). However, if anyone has it enabled in #DBW try taking it out and see if that helps, I was rather surprised...
The fire objects are in the mission template files in the CoE campaign folder under !!!Clash of Eagles/Missions/!DCG Clash of Eagles BoB 1940, there are five, BoB7.mis, BoB8a.mis, BoB8b.mis, BoB9.mis and BoB10.mis. I already took them out of the first, but forgot in haste to take them out of the others. You only have to open them in notepad and scroll down to the objects list under [NStationary], it's a long list so use the scrollbar not the mousewheel (or just search for fire). The last three entries are the fire objects, which you should delete, leaving no empty lines of course.
2764_Static vehicles.artillery.Artillery$MG42 2 327039.37 271247.15 495.00 0.0 0
2765_Static vehicles.artillery.Artillery$Flak38_20mm 2 327129.37 271247.15 405.00 0.0 0
2768_Static vehicles.stationary.Fire$FireUnit 0 264416.13 238849.02 360.00 0.0 <---- here
2769_Static vehicles.stationary.Fire$FireUnit 2 264023.18 238740.80 360.00 0.0 <---- here
2770_Static vehicles.stationary.Fire$FireUnit 1 264612.93 239106.90 360.00 0.0 <---- and here
[Buildings]
0_bld House$FurnitureSandbags_Round 1 101105.00 224060.00 660.00
1_bld House$FurnitureSandbags_Round 1 100800.00 225300.00 405.00
2_bld House$FurnitureSandbags_Round 1 102099.62 225000.32 585.00
or use the fixed mission files I reposted.
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Thanx for the updated Mission files Slink.
Seems like my Fps problems are mostly gone.I had a short look in the first 3 missons of the german side,and so far,it runs smoth.Have to tone down the column and stationary object density a little bit to moderate/heavy settings and now it works well.
Cool stuff. thank you very much!!
Now, I can practise some survival technics in my Me 110....lol
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Okay. Thanks.
Experimenting........
Report later.
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Excellent Semor, is that with the new files or without instant log? I normally use TotalModder, so didn't actually realise I had it enabled in the profile... still odd.
Survival in a 110? They often seem to come out on top against the Spits & Hurries, can turn with them, accelerate and fly faster, haven't seen them having the problems they should be having... maybe an AI factor?
However, for a real laugh try and catch the "He115"s in combat against the "Defiant"s. Once they go into fighter mode both are almost unbelievable. It's the same FMs, so the Stormovik AI has some pretty nifty manoeuvres, but the SU2 takes the cake. Once they turn into fighters these things outperform just about everything else, incredible rate of roll and apparently little inertia, the turret is obviously just a weightless dummy, (in this case it is a dummy), but seems the RAF should have scrapped the Spitfires, which are not impressive at all, and the Hurricanes can't turn for toffee, all under AI control of course, but it makes you wonder about some FMs and AI assignments.
pierre, thanks again, wish I had your set up...
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Slink's Sunday Evening Entertainment Programme;
Here are temporary downloads for the alpha test version for DBW 1.7 and DCG 3.47 beta, 'fraid it's nearly 200MB.
This is really just a filler while I sort out the DCG compat files, will come down again later.
Just unpack this into your IL2/jsgmemods folder, making sure it's the first mod to get loaded in the #DBW directory (note the leading "!!!s").
Don't forget to copy the 109 skins into the other 109 skin folders before enabling in jsgme or only the 109E1/4 will have skins... two sets, E1/E3, and E4 upwards.
This is just a minimal reduced version, still lots to do here, most airfields still need the statics arranging, timetable not complete, graphics are not final, needs the historical texts etc, and a larger separate skin pack, but as an alpha it's much bigger than any previous campaign. Well, it's a makeover mod really, but still just an alpha, not really ready for gameplay testing yet, but might be interesting to play around with... but for now just a trial run for a bit of fun. See if you can spot the aces, should all have chimps' faces, and Luftwaffe aces get separate skins (squad generic at this stage).
You fly the "Player Squad", if you want to change the name look in the instructions.
Some things to check out apart from choosing sides and setting up (see the txt file for instructions);
Uses Cannon's maps for now to get things moving, they should all work in stock DBW. Includes the 1024 textures with alpha channel and tgb extension (for close high res, distant low res, but can you see any difference? CY6's Fire object also extends view distance, any effect? The mega map is still in progress... and it really does need a bigger map.
If you prefer to have all the static scenery on the maps just disable (rename) the 1940actors.static file in the mod folder, it will then use the full DBW stock file with all the objects, but this might be slower, at least when down low, and the load is already rather high. I've always been cursed with lag and pauses, dynamic weather/vectors may make it worse, how does it perform for you?
Is it simple/easy to install and set up, instructions a bit basic still, looking at an exe eventually.
All campaigns work? Timetable and maps aren't complete yet, but how do things progress? (may take some time...) You're meant to start at the beginning and work through, but here everything is enabled so you can start anywhere.
The vectors can tend to send the entire RAF after a single bomber, think of it as a confused rookie controller...
Missions can be very long if you let events play out, use unlimited ammo for fun, lets you stay up longer, but watching everyone else is quite absorbing too, as long as you watch the DCG density... there can be over a hundred planes in the air in the later stages, but it should start out slow and then build up, so if things start overloading turn it down.
The He115 and Su2/Defiant are just experimenting for looks, nothing special yet.
This includes the basic required mods, you can use others with it too, but it will override anything trying to give the same effects (like impact flashes, deWilde...)
Try it out, if anything is unclear let me know, would appreciate feedback if people have the time, Good luck!
This is a 7zip file in 2 parts, after downloading you only need to open the first one, the other will be extracted automatically, but with Ultra compression you do need the latest version of 7zip, it's available in SAS essentials if you don't already have it.
Part 1: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-6960764f.html
Part 2: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-b6a00a07.html
CREDITS
Digital artwork by Wiek Luijken; www.luijken.com (excellent stuff, go look).
Paul Lowengrin for DCG, without which IL2 would be just a game.
CirX and the SAS for Dark Blue World.
Brave Initial Testing done by dietz, thanks Jim.
Elements inc some rds & srd layouts from BoB Campaign Lonestar
Screens & Graphics Slink
New GUI colours Baraca
--------------------------------------------------
DBX (conversion Slink) FGA9Hunter
DH89 Blitz
Wellington Ranwers
Do 17Z-0/2 Ranwers/SAS~Crazyflak/RDDR
(Plutonium Effects files) HG&P
He46C2 Dreamk with fix by Birdman
Base Mats from Decalshine McWolf
--------------------------------------------------
Plane Skins Various Artists, see plane skins for ID
Bf 109 skins primarily by Revolver~I./JG 53_MAD at adlerhorst-hangar.com
Crappy Default Skins mostly by me, except:
BlenheimMk IV, IVF ?
Gladiator MkII ?
He 46C2~Hs126 Slink, based on originals by Juanmalapuente/Albert Von Grewe
--------------------------------------------------
Semi-Real AA Zloy Petrushko
C&Cv2/Ground Target Order/Ambient Airfield sounds CY6
Distress Call Position Burn
Unlimited Ammo with Limited Bombs and Rockets SAS~Storebror
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GB/DE Pilot Skins elephant
BoB1969 Pilot Skins Purgatorio
Aces Pilot Skins max_thehitman
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Channel Map_M (Resized & Indexed Slink) xxx?
1024 Channel HiRes textures restored Birdman
(alpha channel & tgb Slink)
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Variable Temperature MANYSH
Thunder & rain sounds (prs Slink) BlueAngel01
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and any I may have missed at this early stage, please PM me at SAS if you see something I've forgotten amidst the chaos or can fill a gap...
OK guys, you have noticed by now that you just can't get away from an old guy asking stupid questions. Here's my latest. You state that these are zip files, but my question is - where do I unzip them to? I am sorry for not being smart enough to figure it out, but you have always helped out in the past, and so I'm asking for your patience and advice again. Any help is, as always, greatly appreciated.
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Hello Bob, good to see you here again!
First these are not actually zip files (WinZip) you need 7zip to unpack them, the latest version (free) is available under SAS Essentials. (It's two parts, but just open the first and 7zip will automatically read the second if it's in the same directory).
Inside the entire directory structure is already there, so if you unpack it into your IL2 directory it should be fine
Inside is:
IL2 Folder
jsgmemods
!!!!Clash_of_Eagles --- everything is in here
so just drop the jsgmemods folder into your IL2 folder, so !!!!Clash_of_Eagles goes inside jsgmemods
Don't enable it yet,
Download the new mission templates, a couple of posts above, and put them here
!!!!Clash_of_Eagles
Missions
!DCG Clash of Eagles BoB 1940 <---- here
overwriting the old ones.
Also, before you enable it, look here:
jsgmemods
!!!!Clash_of_Eagles
Paintschemes
Skins
Bf-109E-1
Bf-109E-3
Bf-109E-4
Bf-109E-4N
Bf-109E-4_B
Bf-109E-7
Only two folders have the major skins in them to save you downloading the same ones multiple times
copy all the skins from the E1 folder to the E3 folder
copy all the skins from the E4 folder to the other folders
Now you should be ready to enable it in jsgme, may take a minute, it's pretty big.
You need to have DCG 3.47 beta installed, (the old files I made only work with DBW 1.6, and this mod/campaign is for DBW 1.7)
Once DCG is installed and working, enable DGEN replacement mode in the options, then go to Files on the menu, and tick "Optional Third Party Data Folder"
this will open a window asking where the new campaign is, point it to the !DCG Clash of Eagles BoB 1940 campaign folder which is now in your IL2/Missions folder, and it will show an allcampaigns.dcg file, double click this file and your campaign is ready, DCG should tell you it will now use the files in this folder.
There will also be a CoE_Docs folder in your IL2 install, inside is a txt file with all the instructions for setting up the options in DCG, I won't list it all again here.
The campaign works just like a DGEN campaign, you don't need to do anything else, so close DCG , start IL2 (it will look different), go to campaigns, RAF or Luftwaffe, select the Clash of Eagles campaign in the list, set your rank (highest) and options (make sure "No Instant Success" is switched off) and the usual choices.
Click on Start, choose the first campaign, choose a plane, and click on generate, wait, takes a minute, especially the first time, and the first mission should come up on screen. The briefing lists any options you have to select in DCG once the campaign is generated, check them, and then fly the first mission. The options won't come into effect until the next mission, but it's no big deal, normal in DCG.
What density settings to use depends on your machine, but set them low if it's not that powerful. If everything works OK you can try putting them up to get more action, but if things slow down (and the number of planes increases as you go on) put them back down a step. Find what's right for you and your system.
Lastly, though I'm sorry if I'm telling you what you already know with all this, check that you don't have the Instant Logging mod enabled, seems to slow it down (apparently) and if your graphic card is old or has low mem you may have to disable the high-res textures, the map is already a heavy load.
If you need help with that ask me here, don't want to go on endlessly if it's not necessary, but any problems just ask (but I may have to go watch Castle with the fam in a minute).
Cheers Bob, good hunting, you're the one everyone is relying on to make a difference here (you're not AI, so it's up to you), but watch out for those tiny icons, I always use Pablo's mods, (Mission Pro) for a better overview and mouse zooming on the map. Optimising clouds and water is a good idea too, OLC water and Clouds_BIG both help a lot, as does the Plutonium Effects V2 mod (the new one, optimised), but that's all up to you.
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Thanks Slink, I am gonna try to follow what you have said. Again, many thanks for bearing with us who are pretty dang old and not very smart. You guys have always been a really great help. Thanks again.
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Slink, I followed your excellent instructions, and it worked. First time I tried loading the first campaign, all I got was a beep. Scared me to death, so I figured it was just one of those old age things, and I would just have to not play your campaign. I have to admit, I just don't know about DCG, and what I had done is missed one of the steps you told me about (the "enable DGEN replacement mode in the options"). Went back and did that, and lo and behold, now it works. The "density" thing you mentioned, not too sure about that though. My computer has a Phenom II x4 965BE CPU, Ausus 6850 video card, 16gb memory, Ausus MB, etc., so I'm wondering, should that density thing be an issue? Anyhow, the main reason for this post is to thank you for those detailed instructions, your overall kind help, and to let you know that even a dummy like me could make it work (with assistance). And yeah, those small icons on the map are a challenge for 69 yr old eyes, even with trifocals. Thanks again.
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Bob, you are actually a genius, on the green in two strokes...
The density settings in DCG are on the DCG Campaign Settings tab (little black square, No.3 in line).
The first three settings in the first column, Squadron, Column and Stationary Object Density, going from Full, Dense, Heavy, Moderate, Sparse, None
These control how many flights (1-4 planes) and vehicles/ships/objects appear in a mission, allowing you to control the load on your machine.
Full is what it says, don't use it for the squads or you'll have hundreds of planes and a slideshow...
Dense is 66% of all flights, and that's still a hell of a lot, especially later when all the Luftwaffe squads are active...
Heavy to Sparse use progressively fewer, with sparse it's just a handful, and none means just you and any escorts/intercepts
Column and Object density work the same way, turn down the columns and there will be fewer moving ships/vehicles, turn down the objects and there will be increasingly less of those too.
You're meant to use a maximum of dense for the columns and objects here to give some unpredictable variety, there are thousands of objects on the map, but you don't always want the same set up every mission, so this means some of them won't always be there, so it's never quite the same. Same for the convoys (columns), they will always have a random factor.
So you can turn it up and down from one mission to the next. If things get too much for your machine, turn one or more down a step to reduce the load. Squads are the heaviest load, objects the least, and you don't need all the objects to play of course, searchlights, AA, vehicles at airfields, it's all variable.
Your machine sounds better than mine, so shouldn't be too much of a problem for you I expect, but turning on all the squads may kill any normal machine (and the map itself is already heavy, lots of textures to load, maybe pierre can try it, but it will be rather crowded up there...).
The icons are actually meant for the big map, which turns red and blue with all the stuff on it, but reduces the clutter anyway, now we can mouse zoom it's easy to focus on something, and otherwise you don't need all those little piccies blocking the view. Have the same problem though, I have Varivision or whatever else it might be called ("Gleitsicht" over here), but I need a pair of real bifocals... just remember to give your eyes a break from the screen every so often, change focus occasionally, just not when you're taking aim...
RAF or Luftwaffe BoB? I often wonder what side everyone plays. Even thought of putting myself in somewhere among the aces, maybe I should collect everybody's faces... then you could still shoot me down without going online... often, unless you're on my side of course.
So, back to the DCG data...
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Reading around in another thread it appears CY6's Ground Target Order is actually already in the 1.7.1 AI, so just in case there's any conflict with the new consolidated AI classfiles, search for this one and take it out: 126260EED483093E
Also, anyone tried enabling Aces AI in DCG? i.e. squad defaults, not defaults-no aces. Have to try this with 3.47 and the new 171 AI, maybe the real aces (from the list) then come out better and survive longer? Would be nice if it could be limited to only listed aces and natural progression, not by default assignment.
Any screenies? No piccies? It's Sunday, need to review some combat reports while I fix up the new DCG data !?!...
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Dang Slink, I don't think anybody has ever called me a genius, not even in jest. I have been called several other things, but they weren't quite as flattering. Anyhow, I will quit bothering you and these other guys now, and just play your excellent campaign. Oh, and to answer your question about sides - I usually play the RAF side. Thanks again for all your work, and the help you've given me.
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Hmmm. I have DBW 1.71 installed, and grabbed the latest DCG. I want to check this out really bad, but on Lowengrins site, I only see the DL for 3.46. So then I took the files you posted (again not realizing I was using DCG 3.46) and placed them into the DCG folder.
This might be the cause of some errors in my Pacific missions (using "replacement" planes and whatnot).
So, where do I find DCG 3.47? I think Clash of Eagles will keep me busy for months lol.
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In the chat box at Paul's site, click on "View all Posts" at the bottom to see the full list and look for this one.
Lowengrin on Friday 17 February 2012 - 14:07:50
A beta of the latest DCG is available here for those who wish to give it a try:
The current files (v1.6) are for DBW 1.6 and DCG 3.46. For DBW 1.7 and DCG 3.47 you need to hang on a bit till I get the new ones out; which is partly why I put this up to test as you can use DBW 1.7 and DCG 3.47 with this, let's you DCG with DBW1.7 until I get through with the new ones. DCG 3.47 is actually for stock 4.11, so we're in the middle of an asynchronous development phase currently (which I'm trying to sort out with the new set of files...). Using the old files with the new DBW will indeed cause problems, (as will many older missions & campaigns) as there have been many changes to the planes & weapons lists, so you're very likely to get exploding spawns at some point. The CoE campaign has everything required already in it, except DCG 3.47, and uses it's own set of internal data, but you still have to have DCG3.47 installed of course. Once I get the new files out we're back in business generally, but for the moment it's CoD for DBW...
Also, in the process, made a little update to put in the Cant506 seaplane from 4.11 (thanks to Epervier) as the He115 (need to skin it...) to replace the DBX, anyone interested?
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In the chat box at Paul's site, click on "View all Posts" at the bottom to see the full list and look for this one.
Lowengrin on Friday 17 February 2012 - 14:07:50
A beta of the latest DCG is available here for those who wish to give it a try:
The current files (v1.6) are for DBW 1.6 and DCG 3.46. For DBW 1.7 and DCG 3.47 you need to hang on a bit till I get the new ones out; which is partly why I put this up to test as you can use DBW 1.7 and DCG 3.47 with this, let's you DCG with DBW1.7 until I get through with the new ones. DCG 3.47 is actually for stock 4.11, so we're in the middle of an asynchronous development phase currently (which I'm trying to sort out with the new set of files...). Using the old files with the new DBW will indeed cause problems, (as will many older missions & campaigns) as there have been many changes to the planes & weapons lists, so you're very likely to get exploding spawns at some point. The CoE campaign has everything required already in it, except DCG 3.47, and uses it's own set of internal data, but you still have to have DCG3.47 installed of course. Once I get the new files out we're back in business generally, but for the moment it's CoD for DBW...
Also, in the process, made a little update to put in the Cant506 seaplane from 4.11 (thanks to Epervier) as the He115 (need to skin it...) to replace the DBX, anyone interested?
Thanks much. That makes much more sense now.
To be honest, using DCG 3.46 with DBW 1.71 I had had 0 issues on the DCG German campaign Mareth Line.....so far.
I will DL the beta of DCG and try out the CoE! Thanks for answering Bobs post about the install. It will help me as well!
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Can it be used with SAS MODACT without DBW?
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Up and running now. But came into a few questions...
First, after I generated the first mission, I checked the options in DCG that I needed. I also made some changes to the squads, mission radius, skill levels, etc. I flew the first mission, hit apply, and now am about to start the second one.
So do I ever need to hit "generate mission" in DCG, or will it automatically update all the stuff I changed when I start the next mission?
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tomoose, afraid not, at least not in it's current form without adding the required planes and maps. If you have all the components present in a ModAct install then it should work. Spitfires, Hurricanes, 109s, any objects, Canon's map with Gilb57s seasonal variations... and the download would be vast... but I'm looking more at 4.11 and DBW 1.8. However, the stock 4.7 to DBW 1.7.1 installation pack makes a DBW install easy, you just need some disk space and bandwidth..?
lokitexas; no you don't, works just like normal DGEN and will simply run automatically. You can still generate a mission manually if you need to for any reason (like after editing, changes apply to the next mission), but otherwise just click Apply and Fly... this should work for any DCG campaign as long as you have "Replace Career Generator" ticked in DCG.
Changed settings in DCG only affect the current campaign though, if you want to make them permanent (when you start a new campaign) you have to edit the campaign files themselves.
New: here's the little update: downloads in first post
Replaces DBX with Cant506 float plane as He115, needs a skin but works very well, this is excellent work from TD, and thanks to Epervier for the cut out.
Fixes the I/JG53 skin assignment
Updates London airfields with positioned objects (still have to do the European/Luftwaffe airfields...)
Updates UK AA sites to 4-gun emplacements, but need to find a dummy gun for the other three, one CY6 battery is enough!
Includes the previous update with new vector and removed Fire objects etc.
This is also a separate jsgme add on, enabling it will install, disable and you're back to the original, just in case something doesn't work (I'm not perfect either...) or you'd rather go back. To see all this you need a new campaign section generated, but you can still continue an existing campaign and the next will have the changes, depends how far along you are.
It's actually meant to run at Slow/Extremely Slow (under Time Passage in the Campaign Settings panel), i.e. 3 or 4 missions a day so you get the full time range from dawn to dusk and beyond... which may take as long to play as the real thing (4 missions each an hour long = an evenings playing time?) but you can also use Random for a bit of variety, some days more missions, some days less.
Also tried the Squadron Defaults settings for skill, does indeed appear to then use only the listed aces as aces (new in 3.47?), only those on the list and with five or more kills showing up instead of the previous randomly generated collection, certainly gives a better overview and we can then use the full DBW AI range with the new separate skill qualities. Need more aces/historicals on the list...
Any problems with this let me know asap, otherwise happy hunting chaps...
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Think I've looked a5t this thread like 800 times and still have no clue where the link to the beta is. hehe, would be nice to check it out. maybe my eyes deceive me.
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Up and running now. But came into a few questions...
First, after I generated the first mission, I checked the options in DCG that I needed. I also made some changes to the squads, mission radius, skill levels, etc. I flew the first mission, hit apply, and now am about to start the second one.
So do I ever need to hit "generate mission" in DCG, or will it automatically update all the stuff I changed when I start the next mission?
This where I'm completely lost. Slink in a prior post if you remeber, you stated that 3.46 will not work all completely with 1.7.1. Even other people have told me, 3rd party campaigns crash asnd you even said you had to fix some files with 1.71 so it did in fact work better with 3.46. All my 3rd party DCG games are not working anymore. I have to run stock DCG or i guess revert back to 1.6 which is a PITA or stick with what I got. So Lokitexas if there is something I don't know then please share. As of now my B-26 is jacked and my campaigns so lol. Man this is alot of reading lol.
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Chaney, go to Paul's site, and in the chatbox on the right there's a "Show all posts" link at the bottom. Open this and the main window will show the full list of posts, scroll down till you find the one I quoted, which contains the link.
Lokitexas is referring to the CoE campaign (I think), which uses DBW 1.7.1 and DCG 3.47
DCG 3.46 will have problems with DBW 1.7.1 (using the old compat files for modded planes) due to changes in the plane & weapons lists.
Stock campaigns are probably OK, as almost all stock planes are still the same.
DCG 3.47 needs a new set of files for modded planes.
a: to increase the weapon loadout strings in payloads.dcg to 40 characters, otherwise it won't work.
b: to implement all the changed planes and weapon loadouts in DBW 1.7.1, otherwise there will be exploding spawns.
I put the CoE campaign up so you can use DBW1.7.1 and DCG 3.47 together (which is still in beta) if you want to try it out, otherwise hang on a bit till I finish the compat files for DBW 1.7.1, getting there.
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Chaney, go to Paul's site, and in the chatbox on the right there's a "Show all posts" link at the bottom. Open this and the main window will show the full list of posts, scroll down till you find the one I quoted, which contains the link.
Lokitexas is referring to the CoE campaign (I think), which uses DBW 1.7.1 and DCG 3.47
DCG 3.46 will have problems with DBW 1.7.1 (using the old compat files for modded planes) due to changes in the plane & weapons lists.
Stock campaigns are probably OK, as almost all stock planes are still the same.
DCG 3.47 needs a new set of files for modded planes.
a: to increase the weapon loadout strings in payloads.dcg to 40 characters, otherwise it won't work.
b: to implement all the changed planes and weapon loadouts in DBW 1.7.1, otherwise there will be exploding spawns.
I put the CoE campaign up so you can use DBW1.7.1 and DCG 3.47 together (which is still in beta) if you want to try it out, otherwise hang on a bit till I finish the compat files for DBW 1.7.1, getting there.
Yes I am talking about CoE. I believe Chaney is talking about the actual CoE campaign DL which for me is not on the first page.
Chaney go to page 6, and look for a post from Bob, and in his quote you will find the 2 part DL for CoE. Thats how I DL'd it last night.
Aside from the extremely slow time compression, it runs great. I made the changes I needed such as changing my airfield to Abbeville, and my squad to JG26, and AI to average (I am not a good sim pilot), and now it seems everything is working great. The flight sizes are still small, even though I changed them in DCG, but I assume it will increase as time goes by. So far, everything is playing well, and I am amazed at everything!
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Aha, then it's me that's getting confused, maybe 'cos this is the alpha and DCG is the beta... (the CoE beta comes with the big map, all squads, complete timetable, more aces, awards, sound packs, more skins in a separate package etc, this alpha is just to to check how it works and fill a gap...).
So maybe I should put all the links on the first page together, wasn't meant to be a real release, just a weekend filler for testing, but might make more sense.
Flight sizes are controlled individually in the timetable by squad, along with the replacement rate this controls when squads begin to appear in missions, such as Stukas should appear in strength on July 4th, JG51 has to hack it alone until the rest start coming back from refit etc, it's largely historical, if not complete in this alpha version, this one starts with low numbers and lets DCG build things up semi-randomly so there's always some variety.
Skill is also set in the timetable, so you start with experienced vets from Dunkirk and France, but quality will reduce as you go on on both sides, most replacements being green, some very green for the RAF, again historically. Overriding this in the DCG control panel should work though, but if you leave it as designed you should get a few experienced vets holding the fort and a bunch of greenies being fed in to fill the gaps. Gives plenty of opportunities for the Luftwaffe against RAF "Idiotenreihen", but they will also begin to struggle as their replacement rate was/is very low, the Luftwaffe being increasingly short of pilots and planes, more so than the RAF, although training was better, but leading Goering to issue instructions for the old hands to look after the newbies, so even in this limited alpha it's semi historical, if mostly "free DCG" for fun.
The Luftwaffe is also limited largely to the channel in the first campaign, but that changes later when they start moving further inland in the second and third, and to London in the fourth and fifth. Only has a fraction of the targets set currently, so this is mostly for just having a good fight. The RAF movements aren't in yet but will rotate historically, you may have to move them manually from up North if you're under pressure as the RAF, or the same if you're running out of targets as Luftwaffe, but DCG will handle it to some extent, though you can always push the panic button by reducing the action radius so the northern squadrons will be transferred to bases closer to the front, but watch out for overcrowded airfields if there are too many squads concentrated in the south or around Calais.
Slowdowns are the biggest problem, which cannot be DCG itself, as all it does is write missions, but if those missions (3rd party campaigns) are heavy loads then the game will let you know. Can be the map too, the Channel map is very heavy in memory, the big map is lightweight and runs faster, but depends on machine and config of course, and how many other things are running at the same time, mod-wise. You could always try it clean with nothing else running and compare, and some mods actually reduce the load, but it's still a heavy load in the first place.
So I'll put the links up in the first post...
Done, now back to the data... one day I'll actually get to play this...
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Looks very impressive, Slink! I hope that I find time in the next few days to try it out!
Thanks for your work!
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This isn't directed at anyone in particular. I'll take advice from any of you smart guys. Slink gave me all sorts of good advice concerning the installation of his fine campaign. So good, in fact, that even one as unsmart as me was able to get it to work. So I sure don't want to overburden him. Anyway - the campaign is good, loads fine, but Lordy, it really runs slow. I am having "pauses" that almost would qualify as a "quit". It has almost caused me to give up on it and consider it pretty much an exercise in futility. Funny because I can run any other campaign or such which use Canon's map, at Perfect settings, with no slow downs at all. Can any of you fellers maybe give me some pointers? I assumed that my hardware was up to it, but maybe I am wrong. Thanks for any help.
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Bob, did you install the update? update: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-9ed9ca2d.html
This removes the multiple vectors (pause every 5 minutes) and Fire objects (increase view distance, but then slower), adds some stuff and fixes a couple of timetable glitches, but seems to help most people with frame rate problems.
Also check your density settings in DCG (3 of them, squads, columns, and stationary objects - this is now explained in the first post).
The high-res textures shouldn't be a problem for you (and this is actually according to TD specs), but try disabling them too, you never know.
Also check you don't have the instant logging mod installed, seems to slow things down too.
(due to lots of action? maybe why Oleg didn't do it in the first place? May be a variable though, have to try putting it in and out again).
Best is probably to try with any other mods removed and see if you still have the same problem, this after installing the update (new campaign needed).
Tried this myself and it's possible to get >150 fps looking up and >60 down (2560res; at 1600 windowed it's up to 250fps looking up), single plane over coast with high-res textures (on my rig of course), also with time acceleration at 2x. (So which mod is causing the problems?).
What is really weird is that most times it will run at high fps but will still occasionally be slow from the start, 7-8 fps on loading, which doesn't improve (not with all mods removed). If this happens it's probably best to end the mission and restart the game to reset the graphic drivers. It may also slow down if you play for very long periods (half the night), and remember that in the IL2 manual it does say not to pause for more than ten minutes or the game will slow down. There is a memory leak in openGL32 which was never fixed, which might explain problems with long missions using lots of objects, something that used to be put down to DCG (which as said, only generates missions...), where starting and stopping a track recording was meant to help, but this hasn't come up in ages.
Try these things and let me know how you get on, if something is unclear just ask.
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Bob, did you install the update? update: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-9ed9ca2d.html
This removes the multiple vectors (pause every 5 minutes) and Fire objects (increase view distance, but then slower), adds some stuff and fixes a couple of timetable glitches, but seems to help most people with frame rate problems.
Also check your density settings in DCG (3 of them, squads, columns, and stationary objects - this is now explained in the first post).
The high-res textures shouldn't be a problem for you (and this is actually according to TD specs), but try disabling them too, you never know.
Also check you don't have the instant logging mod installed, seems to slow things down too.
(due to lots of action? maybe why Oleg didn't do it in the first place? May be a variable though, have to try putting it in and out again).
Best is probably to try with any other mods removed and see if you still have the same problem, this after installing the update (new campaign needed).
Tried this myself and it's possible to get >150 fps looking up and >60 down, single plane over coast (on my rig of course), also with time acceleration at 2x.
What is really weird is that most times it will run at high fps but will still occasionally be slow from the start, 7-8 fps on loading, which doesn't improve. If this happens it's probably best to end the mission and restart the game to reset the graphic drivers. It may also slow down if you play for very long periods (half the night), and remember that in the IL2 manual it does say not to pause for more than ten minutes or the game will slow down. There is a memory leak in openGL32 which was never fixed, which might explain problems with long missions using lots of objects, something that used to be put down to DCG (which as said, only generates missions...), where starting and stopping a track recording was meant to help, but this hasn't come up in ages.
Try these things and let me know how you get on, if something is unclear just ask.
I didn't mean to bother you again with my problems, but thanks. I'll try your update, and the other stuff. I do have a question (but then, don't I always seem to?) - what is that "instant logging mod" you speak of? And where is it found? Is it supposed to be in the JSMGE folder? I don't have a MODS folder anymore. It seemed to have disappeared at some time or other. I just have the DBW and DBW 1916 folders. Now I feel bad that you had to stop what you were doing and answer an old guy's ravings. Thank you.
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No problem Bob, I wrote the thing and put it on-line, so the least I can do is answer peoples questions.
The instant logging mod is actually a useful tool created by SAS~Storebror, it makes IL2 write the error log instantly instead of at the end, which meant a lot of error messages got lost if there was a crash. It's not included in the campaign, so if you don't have it don't worry, I just found that when I put it in for testing things slowed down (maybe writing a lot of stuff...), but I have to check that out again.
There is no Mods folder in DBW, just the two as you said, #DBW and #DBW1916, so again no worries.
And no need to feel bad either, I don't do this stuff all the time, have to watch Castle on Friday nights (my time, CET, in German), so as long as you can play it and enjoy it I'm happy, if something doesn't work I'm happy if people tell me so I can fix it. Hope the update fixes it for you.
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Thanks Slink, I'm gonna persevere even if it kills me. I watch Castle also, but down here in south Texas. Man, you have a pretty country. My wife and I took a Rhine cruise (and the Mosel) and really enjoyed it. Thanks again.
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Thanks Slink, I'm gonna persevere even if it kills me. I watch Castle also, but down here in south Texas. Man, you have a pretty country. My wife and I took a Rhine cruise (and the Mosel) and really enjoyed it. Thanks again.
S. Texas here as well.
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Thanks Slink, I'm gonna persevere even if it kills me. I watch Castle also, but down here in south Texas. Man, you have a pretty country. My wife and I took a Rhine cruise (and the Mosel) and really enjoyed it. Thanks again.
S. Texas here as well.
In relation to Seguin?
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Thanks Slink, I'm gonna persevere even if it kills me. I watch Castle also, but down here in south Texas. Man, you have a pretty country. My wife and I took a Rhine cruise (and the Mosel) and really enjoyed it. Thanks again.
S. Texas here as well.
In relation to Seguin?
Converse/San Antonio.
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Thanks Slink, I'm gonna persevere even if it kills me. I watch Castle also, but down here in south Texas. Man, you have a pretty country. My wife and I took a Rhine cruise (and the Mosel) and really enjoyed it. Thanks again.
S. Texas here as well.
In relation to Seguin?
Converse/San Antonio.
Damn, we are neighbors. I play golf with some guys from Schertz every Tuesday. Good to hear from you.
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Fixes from Epervier & Birdman for the Cant506 floatplane FM, so it can actually take off from the water... LOL... airstarts...
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,20980.msg245961.html?PHPSESSID=ab5d759e4602606179cfccce7d0e9729#new
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I must be missing something. Got the latest 3.47beta DCG, everything installed in the correct folders (that I can tell) and DBW fires right up w/ the new screens - looks great. I select new campaign, hit start, select the first phase of the battle, set my plane to Bf109E4 and hit Generate - nothing. Game doesn't freeze just the Gen button doesn't work. I checked all DCG settings and they are set as per the instructions. Thoughts?
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a small suggestion,have you enabeld the off-line career (full auto option) & replace career generator(DGen) options in the DCG mode tab? so,please re-check that this options are enabeld.
cheers,Semor
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Semor I've done that and triple checked that all the settings were correct. Full auto, replace DGEN and use 3rd party campaign which is pointed to the CoE allmissions file.
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Ok. Then it´s a case for Dr. Slink... ;)
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Thanks Semor, ein bischen unterstutzung hilft viel... :) aber wo ist den der Paul!? ???
Peroni, usually means the campaign is not actually active, something must be missing. The DGEN files are there or you wouldn't see the campaign or be able to select it, assuming you're selecting the right campaign, but it's hard to miss on the list... try disabling in jsgme, check the structure and content of the folder against the download (assume you have all 3 parts). It's designed to simply go into jsgme, enable, set 3rd party campaign in DCG (don't use the globe) and simply start from inside IL2 like a normal DGEN campaign. Only time I had this was when I disabled it in jsgme for editing, and forgot to put it back before starting the game again. You do of course have to set the campaign in DCG after enabling it in jsgme, otherwise DCG will be looking for the campaign files in the wrong folder (in jsgmemods) instead of the Missions folder... done that one myself too... but try disabling in jsgme and starting from scratch, often easier than trying to work out where you went wrong (said the voice of experience...). There has to be an error in the set up or sequence, as it's proven to work, but without seeing what's on your screen and where I can't say where you're going wrong. If it still doesn't work after trying the set up procedure again come back and we'll go through step by step.
Thinks, maybe I should clean it up and put it all into an exe file; I'll put it on the list.
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Thanks Semor, ein bischen unterstutzung hilft viel... :) aber wo ist den der Paul!? ???
No problem. Wo ich helfen kann helfe ich gerne. Nur den Erklärbär für Komplexe Sachverhalte auf Englisch überlasse ich besser mal dir. ;D Den Paul hab ich auch gefunden:
https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,24661.msg252313.html#new
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Funny cos im having the exact same issue... doesnt freeze but once i click generate it hangs for 5 seconds and then stays on the same screen with nothing generated. I reinstaleed everything completely fresh today all the way up to dbw1.71 so my install isnt the problem :( is there a log specific for dcg?
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Yes, dcgerror.txt in the main IL2dcg folder, may give a pointer to the problem, which must be something like " no active campaign" or something similar.
The DBW install is unlikely to be the problem, and if it's put as a complete package in jsgme mods as designed there shouldn't be a problem, probably more to do with the DCG generation sequence.
Install the package into jsgme (do not move anything manually) and enable.
Open DCG and set the 3rd party campaign option, make sure you select the campaign in your Missions directory, not the one in jsgmemods (though it should still work even then...).
Close DCG (do not use the globe to select a campaign) and open IL2.
Go to campaigns, choose nation etc, the usual procedure.
If IL2 cannot then find the campaign to generate then there's probably something wrong with the 3rd party campaign set up in DCG, as it's not generating the campaign files correctly, if at all. Open DCG and see what it shows, campaign name with pic or standard pic with "no campaign active" message. Check if there is an incompletely generated campaign in Missions/campaigns/NationID/CampaignName, or nothing at all, might give us a place to start. I'll try and recreate the same error here, I'm good at screwing things up...
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hey slink thanks for taking the time to respond, yeah im getting a No Campaign selected error when i try to generate the campaing in il2. when i select the 3rd party campaign data I get a "no campaign selected" screen in dcg with the "warning: no active campign" , Im not overly familiar with the program so Ive no idea what im doing wrong....
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I've got a problem with that fantastic campaign
I installed everything like i should, started the game and created a new campaign
after loading the first mission i started in the air with an inoperable engine and all other planes exept an enemy Bf-109 (which also had an inoperable engine) were destroyed.
3dwa21
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The no active campaign error means it's not set up correctly in DCG, you're trying to generate a campaign that isn't actually there. Check the instructions in the first post, the exact procedure is described in detail, and follow it step by step. Start from fresh though, disable in jsgme, disable 3rd party campaign in DCG, clean out the backup folder in your DCG install, start IL2 and delete any existing campaigns, and check in the Missions/Campaigns/Nation/folder that there are no junk directories left over, completely clean from scratch. It's not always easy using DCG at first, can seem a bit complicated at first glance but once you get more familiar with it everything is much easier. If you still can't get it to work come back and I'll do a step 1,2,3 list for every mouse click, but it's pretty much all in the instruction in post#1 already.
Starting with engines off and exploding spawns is new. Which campaign section is this? There was a post here somewhere (in one of the help sections) about engine off airstarts, and I've had it myself occasionally updating old campaigns, but never with this one, yet... I'll search for that post and meanwhile try to remind myself what the problem was and how I fixed it...
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I already found out, what the problem was.
i made no tick at the ''Air Starts'' option.
Now it's working fine
3dwa21
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Hey Slink, feeling pretty stupdi but I tried all the steps and Im getting this new error now
[2012-04-08 20:14:46.545] Logfile = eventlog.txt
[2012-04-08 20:14:46.968] No "BoB7/" Campaign Found. Creation Failed.
[2012-04-08 20:14:46.971] Parameters processed.
[2012-04-08 20:14:46.974] Form Create Complete
Is there a windows 7 compatability issue that anyone knows of?
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a Don't feel stupid, took me quite a while to get the hang of DCG at first, we all have to start somewhere.
b No, it was built in Win7.
Just loaded it up again, enabled as 3rd party campaign in DCG, went into IL2, started a new campaign, began at the beginning, and it generated the campaign without problems... so I have to assume that if the campaign shows up in IL2 then the files should have been transferred correctly in jsgme, particularly if everything else shows up too, leaving only the third party campaign set up in DCG as questionable. The error you're getting is saying the campaign files aren't there, which normally means it hasn't been enabled as 3rd party in DCG so DCG is looking for campaign files it hasn't created yet, hence the error message.
Check again that it really is enabled as 3rd party in DCG, you should get a window asking to navigate to the campaign directory (Missions/!DCG Clash of Eagles BoB 1940) and once you open this directory you should see an allcampaigns.dcg file, alone, nothing else. Double click on it or click OK, same thing, and the campaign is enabled in DCG. Then close DCG, open IL2, go to campaigns, select CoE etc, and it should then work, unless something is drastically wrong like you have DGEN active not DCG, only have one of the 2 downloads, or a download is corrupted, something is screwed up in jsgme, or you have gremlins.
Just to be sure, open DCG, open the Files menu, and there should be an entry "Optional Third Party Data Folder". If this isn't ticked then the campaign isn't enabled. If it is untick it, and go through the procedure again to make sure it's the right campaign and you don't have some other campaign enabled. Check under Mode for Off-Line Career (Full Auto Generation) and Replace Career generator (DGEN), both should be ticked.
Look in the DGEN folder for a confgb.ini file (or de), open this and see whether it points to the CoE campaign (BoB7), and the actual generated campaign files.
Pilot,RAF,York,1912
gb01
dir=missions\campaign\gb\DGen_!_BoB7pilot0 <----------- this is where your campaign files should be
Language=Russian
instant=false
BoB7 HurricaneMkIb
BoB8a HurricaneMkIb
BoB8b HurricaneMkIb
BoB9 HurricaneMkIb
BoB10 HurricaneMkIb
Go to this directory and look inside, should be a load of files. If there are only a few then the campaign isn't generating correctly for some reason (usually an error in the campaign, but we already know it works). If there is a squadrons.dcg file in there, you may have to reset the active campaign in DCG, can happen. Open DCG again, click on the little folder icon, opens another window asking for the squadrons.dcg file, point it in the right direction as above and again double click on the squadrons.dcg file, this will tell DCG to use this as the active campaign if it got lost somehow.
Otherwise, well, apart from from coming over there and looking at your screen it's hard to say, but everything points to it not being enabled as 3rd party in DCG...
Still, I'll update the files and put it all into an exe file and reupload, (hang on a bit) but you'll still have to set up DCG yourself of course.
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Slink thank you for the reply. Reinstalled the whole campaign and still have the same problem. Here is the DGN log file. I suspect something is not right here?
I will play with it some more later tonight.
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.312] Parameter String0 = C:\Program Files\IL2 1946 DBW\IL2 1946\DGen.exe
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.328] Parameter String1 = de
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.328] Parameter String2 = 6
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.328] DCG.ini processed.
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.328] Loaded messages processed.
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.343] Game version checked [1946].
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.343] Game version includes IL2AEP [True].
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.343] Game version successfully set up.
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.343] Begin Parameter Check
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.359] Setting new log file date.
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.359] Game Path = C:\Program Files\IL2 1946 DWB\IL2 1946\
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.359] Finding configuration file to determine log file name.
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.359] Logfile = eventlog.lst
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.890] No "BoB7/" Campaign Found. Creation Failed.
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.890] Parameters processed.
[2012/04/09 12:47:36.890] Form Create Complete
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A quick flash of possibly misguided inspiration, looking at your game path...
C:\Program Files\IL2 1946 DBW\IL2 1946\DGen.exe
Now this actually is a Win7 issue, installing IL2 (or games, or anything...) to Program Files is highly NOT recommended, as Win7 has a tendency to prevent anything in there being altered, as an anti user/virus security measure... which means if you transfer and overwrite files (like with jsgme) it will often as not reject it and put everything back as it was... on the other hand all the screens etc do show up, so maybe not, but it would be a good idea to move your install to somewhere more "reliable"... equally if DCG is installed in and writing to Program Files you may have to set it to use Administrator rights so it can actually do anything... which is always a good idea, but does standard DCG work anyway..? Could be worth a try shifting the install out of PFiles, usually helps with a lot of things generally... I switch off all the Win7 crap as soon as I install, going back to the old GUI being the absolute first thing before it drives me nuts, and it's so much smoother afterwards... you can do all this fairly quickly using GodMode, just make a directory on your desktop and copy/paste this in as the folder name:
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} including brackets, but don't play with anything intricate, I'll have to pay HG to come here and fix it...
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Thanks Slink! 100% a windows 7 fault, moved out of programfiles and voila. once again thank you for the time to troubleshoot this! Now time to play! :D
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Thanks awfully sir, just doing our job you know sir, the ground crew are always here to keep your guns loaded and your crates flying sir, but a round of beers at the NAAFI does help to keep the spanners greased sir (salutes and grins sheepishly)...
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Ok some progress at last! I'm running Win XP, not W7 but I still changed locations from Program Files to a new games folder on C drive. I still had no luck but after downloading the DCG again and reinstalling it hey it works! Well kind of. I fly one mission, select apply after it is finished and I am dumped back to the main screen. I try to select the campaign again but it says 100% completed after only 1 mission? It is a setting I am missing I'm sure.
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Hi Peroni!
This could may help: http://www.jg1.org/tabid/116/g/posts/t/638/Same-mission-generates-over-and-over.aspx
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Success at last! Apparently when I download the dcg to my pc a file gets corrupted. So I downloaded it at work and transferred to my pc. Reinstall and everything works as it should. Great campaign Slink! Thank you to everyone for their help.
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Thanks Lonestar, well spotted!
Peroni, this is actually just a test version, still lots to do! Very happy you like it, thanks mate. I'll pack all the updates together and put it all into an exe file, should be simpler, but dcg will always have to come from Paul. Keep an eye on Paul's site for the next version or eventually final release!
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Hi Slink
Is this DCG mod still availaible for download? Info at the thread start says away for refit?
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I took the links down while I update and repack, but the downloads are still there, hidden in various quotes amongst posts, have a scan through and ...
oh what the hell, I've done it for you...
Part 1: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-6960764f.html
Part 2: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-b6a00a07.html
Patch: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-9ed9ca2d.html
enjoy!
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Sorry to bother, but are the above links for the Cannon map version or the "Big Map"
Cheers Dakpilot
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Still the Cannon map version, same links as originally posted here earlier. Update is in the queue, but the big version needs a lot of work still, aimed more at DBW 1.8.
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Thanks, will have a go (practise) with the "Alpha" for my first attempt at DCG
Still have the odd flight on your "big" Map :) faults and all its still a remarkable experience!
No hurries, I think the benefits of 4.11.1/DBW 1.8 will be ekk worth the wait...I sort of see a light at the end of the tunnel, 4.11.1 with Mods should be the pinnacle of Offline :)
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Can already be downloaded? ::)
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if you mean the 1.8 version (?) then maybe after 1.8 is out... but the existing version should still be there...
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I must be blind because I just don't find the link to download the campaign!
Please, where is it? 8)
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4th post above your previous post... ;)
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hello everyone, im trying to download and play this campaign but running into a hurdle with the update download, it seems to be missing :(
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:) Fixed link for patch
Part 1: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-6960764f.html
Part 2: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-b6a00a07.html
Patch: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-9ed9ca2d.html
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That was quicker then i thought, thanks alot i may be calling on your help again soon :P
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awesome campaign and i havent even had the chance to shoot no1 down yet due to not be able to spot them in the crappy weather :D
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I've downloaded this from the links above and installed correctly (I think?) - do the .001 and .002 files go into the main !!!clashofeagles folder? ( I notice these arent zip files is that correct?)
I initiated thru JSGME and then browsed to the folder in IL2DCG described in the instructions but found no 'allcampaigns.dcg' in there?
Can someone please explain the correct installation process in plain English? I musta missed summat !!
Mick
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they are 7zip files, winrar will not extract them, alpha 001 an 002 extract together starting from 001
This is the programe you will need: http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
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Hi all :).
My first post on this awesome forum. I registered to say a big thanks to Slink for his work on Clash of Eagles and also to be able to get any queries/problems answered relating to CoE an DBW.
I'm new to DBW and CoE having been disappointed with the progress of CloD. I didn't have too many problems getting a working DBW 1.71 but have had a few hiccups with CoE and DCG 3.47. I've managed to get a campaign started and have the suggested parameters saved in DCG. I can fly a generated mission but when I need to exit the mission I'm experiencing either a hard lock or a return to desktop(although the IL2 icon is still in my task bar). Returning to the campaign I'm finding that the mission results have not been saved ie there is no 'apply' option and I end up having to repeatedly fly the same mission with the same results whenever I have to quit ie shot down or mission over. I'll see if I can find the problem but any help or suggestions are much appreciated.
Slink,
kudos to you for your hard work on CoE. I hope and look forward to seeing it in its completed glory whenever. The few missions I have managed to fly have been great and the German AI have given me a serious 'butt-kicking' on more than one occasion!. Frame-rates are 70-120 for me although time compression hits this pretty hard. I do experience the pauses that are mentioned earlier in the thread but not too often and they are only for about 1-2 seconds duration. Some of the other mods I'm running, ie gunsounds seem to have been disabled by CoE, can you suggest a weapon sounds mod that will work with it?
Thanks again for your time and effort,
Cheers,
Pete.
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Hey Slink! great stuff and been following since the start! One quick suggestion, recommend adding a shaded box area on the initial post with the latest links for install archives. Now that the thread is soo long, its hard to follow what is where. An associated "build number" for the download works great as well. I use "bmmddyyyy" as a format to easily identify the version number/release date of the archives. I believe I have an older version of the release, but not clear where I go to update from my current state, which I believe is "Update 1."
all in all though, awesome stuff, and looking forward to the final release!
~S~
wind
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Hi Mello,
Winrar does open 7z zip files (at least mine does) - but they didnt download as zipable files? I tried to redownload them but all I get is .001 and .002 extension for both files? They dont download as .7z?
Mick
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right click on 001 extension then there should be an option with 7zip then click extract here
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Cheers MelloYello - I've never had a problem with 7z files before so never bothered installing the program till now - worked a treat mate. As you rightly stated Winrar didnt wanna know :-)
PS, If you add 7z as a file type in winrar download options it will open them as zip files
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:o.... 8)
This is just incredible. Many thanks to you and your little dog too.
And yes, I wholeheartedly endorse '41 Italians in the future. Let me know if you need custom RA skins for it and I can dust off my old G50 and MC200 templates.
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I'm receiving a hard lock-up and a DCG 1224 'ERROR' repeatedly after the first mission :(. Any ideas anyone?
Thanks.
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I downloaded this just to check out the skins.
To that end, has anyone else noticed that most of the skins simply don't fit?
Im going to go through my copious loads of skins and find/make replacements for those that aren't quite right.
Question: I started the campaign as indicated, and sitting in the briefing screen of the first mission attempted to follow the setup instructions. I was unable to set anything outside of the general settings (first panel) because "no active campaign" failure.
Any ideas? Running fresh DBW 1.7.1, with some extra mods of course.
If this has been covered before my apologies, I haven't read the whole thread.
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Cannot get the second 7-zip 002 file to open, may be a problem in the upload?....the first 7-zip 001 opened fine?...... :-[