IL2 n00b with questions!

[onelifecrisis]

Hi chaps.

Please permit me this ramble... it'll be cathartic, I hope.

I bought the original IL2 when it came out and I liked it, but I never bought any of the expansions. Then last week I bought 1946, which is supposed to be IL2-plus-every-IL2-sequel-and-expansion-ever. BUT... I've installed it and discovered that although there are flyable Spitfires there's only one RAF campaign and it's a Hurricane campaign

I've looked around on the web and found DCG which adds another RAF campaign which does include Spitfires, but it's a bit buggy. I also found out about something called Battle Over Europe which, it would seem, is an official expansion which was not included in 1946? Is that right? If that's right, then what else is missing from this "all inclusive" package called 1946? More importantly, what do I have to do to be able to fly a Spitfire in a dynamic campaign?

Please help.
Thanks,
OLC

[Fincuan]

Thanks to DCG you can fly Spifires in any campaign you like. DCG allows you to add, remove and change squadrons in existing campaigns. I'm not very familiar with this feature and don't remember the exact procedure, but I was able to add a P-38 squadron to a New Guinea campaign with about 5 minutes of fiddling. See the DCG FAQ and forums for more details: http://www.lowengrin.com/news.php

Another way to get to fly Spits, or against Spits, is to join our online coops when we tackle Britain. That'll be in a few weeks, since the Low Countries are almost done and I doubt France will be much harder. Link to the campaign is in my sig. We normally fly Luftwaffe, but players can choose any side they want.

edit: A quick look at the DCG forums revealed that you've found them already

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by Fincuan

Thanks to DCG you can fly Spifires in any campaign you like. DCG allows you to add, remove and change squadrons in existing campaigns. I'm not very familiar with this feature and don't remember the exact procedure, but I was able to add a P-38 squadron to a New Guinea campaign with about 5 minutes of fiddling. See the DCG FAQ and forums for more details: http://www.lowengrin.com/news.php

Another way to get to fly Spits, or against Spits, is to join our online coops when we tackle Britain. That'll be in a few weeks, since the Low Countries are almost done and I doubt France will be much harder. Link to the campaign is in my sig. We normally fly Luftwaffe, but players can choose any side they want.

edit: A quick look at the DCG forums revealed that you've found them already

Yes.
Right about now, I reckon Paul is wishing I'd just **** off.
And I'm tempted to oblige him! This DCG thing has so many problems that the stock campaign generator is starting to sound really good...

I should have specified - I want to fly Spits, and I want to fly them somewhere they actually flew! I like my so-called "historical accuracy"

So, even ignoring the other DCG problems, it's ability to add Spits to a campaign they don't belong in is of little use to me. But thanks anyway for the tip!

Co-op campaign sounds fun. What sort of campaign is it? Stock or DCG? And what map does it use for Britain?

[Fincuan]

Originally Posted by onelifecrisis

So, even ignoring the other DCG problems, it's ability to add Spits to a campaign they don't belong in is of little use to me. But thanks anyway for the tip!

Co-op campaign sounds fun. What sort of campaign is it? Stock or DCG? And what map does it use for Britain?

Well, as you know Spits did fly in many places. I'm quite sure there are several ETO and other campaigns set to places where Spits historically flew(Normandy, Ardennes, Italy, Africa etc). There aren't any BoB era spits in the game anyway(oldest is MkV)

See the link in my sig for info on the coop campaign we are flying. It's DCG all the way, and progresses dynamically from map to map according to how we play. I think there won't be a realistic BoB, since there aren't any channel maps available at the moment. Africa is also one possibility, maybe Malta etc. There is a full scale channel map in developement now that modding the game is possible, but I don't think it'll be incorporated to our coops anytime soon.

[Raptor1]

The Gulf of Finland is substituted for the English Channel in the DCG BoB campaign

Anyway, I can't see why you can't find any campaigns with spits, what about Italy '43, Mareth Line (I think), Normandy, all those late war scenarios...?

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

Anyway, I can't see why you can't find any campaigns with spits, what about Italy '43, Normandy, all those late war scenarios...?

Are you talking about DCG campaigns? Cos like I said, DCG has some pretty severe problems for me, for some reason. Paul seems stumped as to the behaviours I'm getting.

I guess what I want, in a nutshell, is stock campaign which has Spits. There doesn't seem to be one (at least, there isn't an RAF one) which I find odd. Why would Maddox put so many flyable Spits in the game if they aren't used in the campaigns?
:hmm:

Failing that, some help fixing my DCG bugs would be good!

[Raptor1]

Oh, I see

Well, I can't help you as I have never played the Normandy '41 map, but the AI in Il-2 can be incredibly annoying sometimes (We ran a coop mission yesterday where there were 3 Tu-4s, one of them parked too close to the taxiway, the next then proceeded to clip the former's tail when taxiing and crashed into the trees, and the 3rd one did the exact same thing... )

[Fincuan]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

there were 3 Tu-4s, one of them parked too close to the taxiway, the next then proceeded to clip the former's tail when taxiing and crashed into the trees, and the 3rd one did the exact same thing... )

Hahah That was excellent.

"Why is that guy missing part of his tail?"
"Why is that other guys missing part of his wing?"
1+1 = AHA!


To OLC: Have you looked for campaigns here: http://www.mission4today.com/index.p...=Downloads&c=1

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by Raptor1

Oh, I see

Well, I can't help you as I have never played the Normandy '41 map, but the AI in Il-2 can be incredibly annoying sometimes (We ran a coop mission yesterday where there were 3 Tu-4s, one of them parked too close to the taxiway, the next then proceeded to clip the former's tail when taxiing and crashed into the trees, and the 3rd one did the exact same thing... )

I know, but that won't happen every time. I agree bugs like that are annoying, but they aren't game-killers.

The problem I have on the Normandy map is much worse because it happens every time, to every plane that lands. On the very first mission, every single plane in my squadron gets destroyed by landing (including mine if I land on autopilot). That's a total game-killer. I could minimize the damage by hitting Escape as soon as I see "MISSION SUCCESS" if only I could get that working, but DCG as often as not fails to spawn the bombers that I'm supposed to be escorting which messes up the objectives. And then there's the fact that allied planes will be crashing on landing throughout my mission, making my own efforts on the battlefield somewhat pointless in the grand scheme of things.

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by Mikhayl

Hi OLC, did you pick a look at http://mission4today.com/ ?
There's tons of campaigns not using DCG, you can even use JSGME to install them after some fiddling for the folder structure

Like this one : http://www.mission4today.com/index.p...etails&id=2793

*droooool*

DLing!!

Or maybe rather this one : http://www.mission4today.com/index.p...etails&id=2241

Yeah I found that after posting last night. I wasn't too keen on the map of "britain" but maybe I could look past that problem. It was late and I didn't spend time looking through the rest of that Mission4Today site... are there lots of good campaigns on there? I mean good? Stuff you'd pay for if it were not free? I'll have a look around the site...

Also I have a question... if I uninstall DCG and reinstate the stock DGen, and then use it to run community campaign such as those you linked, will conf.ini settings (such as AirIntensity) affect those campaigns, or do those settings only affect stock campaigns?

Thanks a lot

[Fincuan]

Originally Posted by Mikhayl

I too have some problems playing BoB on a map that doesn't even remotely look like southeast Britain

Did they even change the names or are you now very familiar with the towns and cities of Estonia and Southern Finland?

[onelifecrisis]

It's fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiixed! :dance: :dance:

I switched DCG from Full-Auto to Auto and now all the bugs are gone. TFFT!

I'm playing the DCG RAF campaign (Spitfires!!! Well, eventually...) and loving it, although I must say... I really need to improve at this game.

Or maybe it just feels that way cos I'm trying to fight Bf-109's in a Mk1 Hurricane.

Originally Posted by Fincuan

Did they even change the names or are you now very familiar with the towns and cities of Estonia and Southern Finland?

Nah, they left the names.

[Fincuan]

Originally Posted by onelifecrisis

Or maybe it just feels that way cos I'm trying to fight Bf-109's in a Mk1 Hurricane.

Ah we did exactly the opposite in the coop campaign yesterday. We "won" the Low Countries map and progressed to Normandy, and right on the first mission came against a HUGE formation of Blenheims and Hurris. Having "prior knowledge" of the formation we made our wills and said prayers on the way to the interception point, and I think all of us survived even though two had to bale out. Even those Hurris can be dangerous when they outnumber you 2 or 3 to 1.

Good to hear you got it working

[onelifecrisis]

Originally Posted by Fincuan

Ah we did exactly the opposite in the coop campaign yesterday. We "won" the Low Countries map and progressed to Normandy, and right on the first mission came against a HUGE formation of Blenheims and Hurris. Having "prior knowledge" of the formation we made our wills and said prayers on the way to the interception point, and I think all of us survived even though two had to bale out.

Congrats on the victory!
Do you guys use TS or something while you play?

Originally Posted by Fincuan

Even those Hurris can be dangerous...

Were they MkI's or MkII's? I find the MkII is not a terrible plane, but the MkI is a nightmare. No WEP boost, and the engine cuts out if you push a negative-G, and maybe it's my imagination but it seems to have less guns and less ammo than the MkII. It's a winged coffin!

[Raptor1]

I'm pretty sure they were Mk. Is, there were like, 9 of them compared to 4 of us