Hello, I'm a new forum user.
Well first, I have some bugs to report, I'm not sure if it's because of any bad changes I made... But I wanted to report here anyways:
1)Sometimes, briefing texts won't get created, I don't know what happened and it's hard for me to recreate this bug, I also don't know if it's on my part or not but it seems to be happening at random right about now. I'll do some more tests on this.
2)In oDeAttackAF missions (played as german of course), the briefing text told you to "attack a german air field".
3)Planes tend to crash into the ground at map start sometimes. Might be my part because I set the ops codes wrongly, but I don't know
For example I have a defend script that proved problematic:
oDeDefendBridge VVS 9Ff 9P 9P 9P 9P 9P 9F LW 8Y 4F
The script worked fine ingame most of the time, but whenever a Bf-110 spawns it will crash into the ground (and always a Bf-110, never have a problem with the Bf-109). Further investigations showed that while the Bf-110's waypoints was spawned correctly, the first waypoint's altitude was set at 0, the reason for the crash. Is it because Dgen wanted to spawn the Bf-110 at the airfield (for take-off), but somehow it cannot?
EDIT: I presume this is part of the well known "planes flying at low alt bug" that remained unable to be fixed right now?
4)I regularly have the "too many planes on airdromes" error. Can you script the way Dgen distribute it's planes for take-off to account for this limit? Also in the case the mission variant Dgen selected have too much planes for airfields to support, could you script Dgen to forgo that mission variant and choose others?
The "too many planes on airdromes" is quite a serious bug/limitation of Dgen that severely limits the plane count of each mission variant... It would be nice if you address this.
And secondly, I need to state the real reason why I wanted to post in this thread: some suggestions for future versions.
Some time ago I tried to mod Dgen for personal enjoyment, only to be put off by various hard-coded issues and limitations with the ops codes. However, ever since I've discovered your revival of Dgen, it is for the first time that it is possible to use many ops codes exclusive for PF (like for example Ff, Br and Bx) in the Eastern Front... something Dgen could not do.
I experimented with these new PF code thoroughly and figured that ops files hold massive potentials in mission designs. Unfortunately, hard-coded limitations in the original Dgen still present, only when these limits are expanded, Dgen_mod can finally generate missions that match the quality of hand crafted campaigns, something DCG can never do.
These are the limitations that are most crippling right now:
1) The code Bx and Br (which spawns bombers close to the target) are extremely useful. It can spawn bombers at will around the target area, creating a wide level of opportunities such as simulating multiple waves of air assaults, missions where you have to catch the bombers on their return trips, etc, etc. However, there are way too much limitations with this type.
First, you cannot specify the amount of escorts (only 3 for LW and 4 for VVS per flight) so it is not possible to do something like spawning un-escorted bombers en-route, or large formations of en-route bombers having adequate escorts. Maybe add a "Bxy" code that would spawn bombers without escorts, and "Bxz" code that would spawn bombers with more than 8 planes escorting?
Second, the direction of the flight with Bx and Br is randomized, while this is great, I wanted more control on where the bombers might come, especially if I want a large formation of bombers to come from one direction. If possible, maybe add a "Bxf" code that would spawn bomber from the same direction as the player's waypoint?
Third, Br and Bx is limited to calling any bomber types (while the By and Bz codes can call HBomber types), I wanted the capacity to call different types like Attack, FBomber, Paratroop, Recon, DBomber as well... If this is achieved, the possibility is endless, like having recon planes acting as a path finder before a mass formation of dive bombers follow it... If you can, could you allow "A", "dB", "R", "P",...,... to have the following "spawn at target" variants like "Ax", "dBx", "Rx", "Px",...,... as well?
2) The Ff code, borrowed from Pacific Fighter, is exceptionally handy for having random fighters approaching the target from multiple directions. It allows you to create everything from random patrols to aerial superiority in bomber missions. Unfortunately, this code is glitched and only work as intended for the attacking side, but not for the defending side, the plane that spawned for defenders will immediately try to land at the closest airfield, instead of been spawned 20-30 kms away. Can you fix the glitch so that the code will work for both sides?
Because of this bug I've always have to rely on the Bx code as a workaround for spawning fighters randomly, it's just not working so well...
However, when experimenting earlier this week, I discovered that this glitch also create interesting results, in airfield attack missions or scramble missions, these planes will try to land at the player field at map start. It's good fun seeing AI fighters strafing planes when they try to land, tons of confusion... :3
So... maybe to preserve this glitch an "L" code to spawn aircrafts that will land at the nearest airfield at map start?
OTHER UNIMPORTANT SUGGESTIONS/ FOOD FOR THOUGHT: This one is JUST a suggestion, but if you somehow managed to achieve this it would be the holy grail of dynamic campaign generation: The ability for the campaign maker to set AI planes to attack the nearest airfields, clusters, etc, independently from the main target.
For example, the campaign maker wants a mission where you as an IL-2 will strike some armor, while a another IL-2 squadron will strike the airfield close to the armor spawning fighters. The code might look like this:
oRuAttackArmor VVS {8Y}:Main {8B}:NearestAF LW {8F}:Main {8F};Main
Where "Main" specify that your squadron will attack (or as the Luftwaffe will defend) the main target of the mission, where "NearestAF" specify that the other bomber squad will attack (or as the Luftwaffe will defend) the nearest airfield from the primary target of the mission.
Think about it, if this is possible you can create complex missions with this setup, like one where you are tasked with attacking an airfield to clear the way for bombers to attack a bridge. But when you start said mission, a formation of bombers attacked your airfield instead, so you either have to choose to engage the bombers or continue with the mission. I know that Random Flights can achieve something similar, but random flights are unreliable, limited, and unpredictable, the above allow you to make the mission looks like a comprehensive air operation that took months of planning...
But since this might take some rewriting of the script, which is something quite difficult to pull off and I'm not expecting anything. So I'm not urging you to do it, in fact doing it might be a venture that could be conflicting with your other plans. But still it is some good food for thought.
In the end. Many thanks for the people that have created, tested, and make campaigns for Dgen_mod, I greatly appreciate all your efforts.
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Topic: Project DGen_mod (Read 377189 times)
