DCG 3.50 Open Beta

[Bawo2019]

Hi Paul,

I use normal time passage. I haven't tried out any other time settings. Otherwise the command seems to work very well. The 'harsher' version of build 8 really removes the objects from the list, instead of merely rendering them 'inactive'

 

 

 

[Lowengrin]

Okay, let me do some debugging on my end. 

[Bawo2019]

Thank you,

[Lowengrin]

Here's the latest beta, which should fix the issue with removing statics on the set date.

Edit: Please upgrade to beta 13 (or suffer a freeze if the Remove Static command is activated).

 

[arquillos]

Lowengrin, Your constants updates and effort is really appreciated!

Thank you very much!

 

[Bawo2019]

Uhm... I think the RemoveStatic command in build 12 broke my campaign until i removed them completely from the timetable file. Also noted some strange things in build 11 and 12 when it comes to location of frontline units (active front, not column). DCG doesn't put these units (both blue and red) at the location where the battle takes place but at another one. It may be caused by my route files... but after looking into it over and over i cant find any problem there.

Cheers

[Lowengrin]

Can you be more detailed in how it broke your campaign?

Frontline units should appear anywhere both sides have "troops" and the "side" is "contested" ("0" vs "1" for Allies, "2" for Axis).

[Bawo2019]

On timetable I use the remove command on second day (normal time passage, active front) so at the first glance everything seems ok on the first day except that, at the actual contested location, there are no frontline units and the defender's static object are not present... Only armors and support columns. After the first mission, on mission debriefing screen, the game freezes when I press the apply button. When i shut it down using the task manager a notification box appear "RemoveStatic 526_Static". I click the ok button on it and dcg crashes while the game continues working. So I decide to take the Remove command off the timetable and dcg stops crashing but still no frontline units at the supposed front location. It appears, after opening the campaign mission on the mission builder, dcg places these on the location controlled by the defender and not even listed as contested on dcg location panel. I've been rummaging through my route files, checking for wrong orientation, typos etc but so far I haven't found anything. I also went back as far as version 3.49 where the program finally puts the frontline units at the correct location. The route itself is relatively simple. I use the stock singapore map and drew a land route on an island off the east coast of malaya peninsula (called Tiaman on the map, the one with high mountain ridge) the route starts at the east coast of the island, immediately branching into north and south arms along the island coast that converge on a point at the west coast of the island. This has a harbor location of a looping sea route that connects the island with the mainland. The sea route ends at the harbor location at the town of Mersing on the mainland. From there the land route continues northward and ends at Endau Airfield. In addition there are offmap bases for both blue and red (blue having no on-map bases). Dcg draws the frontline units at Mersing despite the front being on the island, not on the mainland.

[Bawo2019]

Correction: the beta build 8 places the frontline units correctly but no defender (red) static object as soon as the location is contested.  Beta Build 12 and 11 got it wrong while version 3.49 seems to work ok

Btw, on allcampagn file, I made Blue the attacker.

Sorry for the looong post

Edited January 31, 2021 by Bawo2019
Additional information

[Lowengrin]

Silly me, forgot to remove some debug messaging.

Here's beta lucky 13.

 

[Bawo2019]

Sorry... still bad news. Here are the results

Build 13:

When tested on my own simple map (Test3.rds) using stock singapore2 map:

Failed to add statics per timetable at all (both "ordinary" and "special" type of static obj (static A/C))

Failed to remove static ALREADY present in .mis file

Frontline units still at wrong location; i.e minus one location from the front, from Attacker perspective

No defender static objects at the supposed front location (ownership "0")

Tendency to generate defensive missions (effect of aggressor being unspecified in the Timetable??)

 

When tested on DCG stock Burma campaign:

No frontline units of both sides at battle site Kaya Ferry

 

When tested on DCG stock Solomons USMC summer 1942 campaign:

Frontline objects not generated at supposed front location, Lunga River ("0," 637613.75 73801.52), but instead at Edson's ("1," 639687.44 77490.87)

 

So far build 8 seems to be the best but with problems such as:

Generates/removes static obj at date plus 1 per timetable Add/Remove static command

and no defender static objects (AAA etc.) at contested location

[Lowengrin]

Thanks for being so thorough.  I'll have to do some more tweaking...who know code written more than 10 years ago would come back to bite me when adding one little "remove" addition. 

[Bawo2019]

Good luck and thank you for giving us DCG, the great campaign generator for il2 1946

[Lowengrin]

Okay, let's try this again.

Tweaked the remove stationary code again....

 

[Bawo2019]

I think there are significant progress though some issues remain unsolved. Here's what I found,

BUILD 14

Time setting Normal (as always)

GOODIES

Static Aircraft added, removed and re-added all on time (no delay)!!

Artillery added/removed on time!!

Radio Truck (already present in the .mis) removed on time!!

Fuel and supply truck added and removed on time!

Player(red)sqn down to 1 flight when reequipping with another type of A/C and supply and fuel truck added, this could be due to reequipping rather than fuel/supply issue?? When not reequipping no change in sqn strength.

All stationary objs totally removed from the list; not merely deactivated

BADDIES

Frontline objects still at wrong location as with Build 13; these were spawned minus 1 loc from the contested location (from the attacker point of view). I can post screenshots of the mission builder screen later if you like.

Still no defender static objects on actually contested location while no frontline objects from either side present

At one point, red armor reached the contested loc; blue (attacking side on allcampaign file) supply column still enroute when the mission ended

The next mission DCG turned the location red and red anti aircraft guns were spawned

On this day attacker supply column drove through to the last waypt, not stopping at minus 7 waypt.

Just curious,  did you add/change anything other than the add/remove command on versions later than Build 8? Build 8 seems to spawn frontline objects correctly despite failing to spawn the defender static obj (artillery) on contested location (as opposed to 3.49). It seems to me the mistake concerning frontline units happens after build 8.

Also, Build 8 spawns attacker frontline units on the location point (where the front markers are superimposed). Is this how it should be? Do the defending units have to march to the attacker and not the way around?

I hope it helps,

Cheers

[Lowengrin]

The only other tweak I've made is on upgrade/downgrades of aircraft.

However, the static object spawning is all related so it's possible that my tweaks to removing statics is impacting the spawning of front line objects....

Ugh.

Defending units defend back from the "front" location.  When I wrote the code for how routes would work, way back near the beginning of this journey, I did it quick and dirty and have never ever bothered to refine it.  The whole DCG thing started as a proof of concept to convince Maddox Games that they could write their own damn dynamic campaign.

BTW, you can increase both attacker's and defender's distance from the using the "Contact Distance Level" on the Ground War Editor tab.

[Shakaali]

Hi there Paul. Long time no see   

After all these years DCG is still getting better

But...

Has something changed in player promotion routine? I'm playing a campaign as a RAF pilot and I started as Flight Sergeant (Rank 0). My promotions are a bit weird:

EVENT: 29/01/1942: Promoted to Pilot Officer.
EVENT: 29/01/1942: Promoted to Flying Officer.
EVENT: 16/02/1942: Promoted to Flying Officer.
EVENT: 17/02/1942: Promoted to Flying Officer.
EVENT: 17/02/1942: Promoted to Flight Lieutenant.

It's 18/02/1942. My rank is Flying Officer...  I'm almost 100 % sure that worked in 3.49.

 

Another weird thing. Timetable command SetPaint.

If the campaign has several subcampaigns that command seems to work only for the first subcampaign.

For instance, the campaign has a timetable line in the second subcampaign:

  19421221 SetPaint IJA_F_S_87z0 = 87thSentai_Ki44II_Otsu.bmp

If I start playing from subcampaign 2, squadron IJA_F_S_87z0 planes have 87thSentai_Ki44II_Otsu.bmp skin, as they should. But if I start playing from subcampaign 1 and advance to subcampaign 2 the SetPaint command seems to have no effect and squadron IJA_F_S_87z0 planes have default skin.

 

 

[Lowengrin]

Hi.  I haven't touched the promotion code in years, so I'm not sure what's going on there. 

As for the paint, the date may have an impact.  I can't remember offhand if the setpaint command works only on the date in question or if it's a >= to that date.  So if the event happens before you switch campaigns, that might be why it doesn't trigger.

[Shakaali]

Just now, Lowengrin said:

 So if the event happens before you switch campaigns, that might be why it doesn't trigger.

That is not the case. That also happens if the command is in the middle of the campaign. Or the starting day, as in the example.

Maybe it's me, but I cannot make SetPaint work in any campaigns that are lauched from Grandcampaign.dcg. If the very same campaign is launched from Allcampaingns.dcg the SetPaint command works just fine.

 

[Lowengrin]

I'll have a look at both cases.  Hopefully the answer is obvious and the tweak to the code is, well, just a tweak....

[Shakaali]

Thank you.

If you need the campaign files, they can be found Here

If you need anything else, just let me know. 

[Shakaali]

On 3/1/2021 at 12:15 AM, Shakaali said:

Maybe it's me, but I cannot make SetPaint work in any campaigns that are lauched from Grandcampaign.dcg. If the very same campaign is launched from Allcampaingns.dcg the SetPaint command works just fine.

 

Correction. The SetPaint seems to work also when campaign is launched from the Grandcampaign.dcg if the squadron in question appears for the first time, but not if the same (non-player) squadron moves from one subcampaign to another.

[Lowengrin]

Yeah, the SetPaint command is campaign specific and DCG "forgets" about it when it switches campaigns.  I'd just drop the SetPaint command into the next subcampaign.

[Lowengrin]

Increased the number of supported plane types to 5000 and columns to 2000 (for those using mods with more than 2000 planes types and/or more than 1000 columns/tank types).

il2dcg350b15.zip

[Shakaali]

10 hours ago, Lowengrin said:

Increased the number of supported plane types to 5000 and columns to 2000 (for those using mods with more than 2000 planes types and/or more than 1000 columns/tank types).

Thank you. That was quick

 

I'll let the BAT community know and test this later tonight