Some people were asking about changeable weather in the Campaign Server.  So now we are trying some changeable weather patterns.

Here is the best online resource for adding weather to a mission IL2 Cliffs of Dover FMB:

• Adding Weather to Missions - Part 1
  
• Adding Weather to Missions - Part 2
  
• Adding Weather to Missions - Part 3
  

Quote:What can be changed (safely):
1. Global (e.g. across the whole map) wind direction and strength.
2. Wind layers
3. Cloud position, height, amount (1-8 Octas) and density

What can be changed (with some issues, i.e. not recommended for campaign):
1. Cloud type and thickness
...
Wind will show up in the FMB but the editor is buggy (in the current version), and limits what you can do. If you choose Mission Parameters off of the View menu you can edit the wind. For this though, I’ll go through the sections of a typical mission .mis file to show what can be edited.

The weather settings here are the generic ones for across the whole map. The WeatherIndex can have values 0, 1 or 2, where 0 = Clear, 1 = Light Clouds, 2= Medium Clouds. The CloudsHeight parameter seems to relate to the base height of the clouds in meters and I believe is limited to between 500m and 1500m, e.g. changing it outside of these limits seems to have no effect. BreezeActivity and ThermalActivity do not seem to be implemented - certainly with the testing I’ve done anyway. They are an index between 0 and 10 – and should both be left untouched.

Quote:Local Weather is added to the bottom of the mission file. A “[WeatherFront]” section is used to define all of the weather areas, e.g.
CODE: SELECT ALL

[WeatherFront]
  LocalWeather_0 CUMULUS_GEN 20000 20000 143109.43 256458.64 0 0
  LocalWeather_1 CUMULUS_GEN 25000 25000 96419.38 250153.03 0 0
  LocalWeather_2 CUMULUS_GEN 25000 25000 130921.50 300816.90 0 0
Then, beneath this section there will be a section for each of the areas, e.g. [LocalWeather_0], [LocalWeather_1] and [LocalWeather_2]. Like I said, you can have as many of these areas as you want, but don’t overlap them. Notice how, like global wind, each area has a unique identifier. Also, areas can be circular or elliptical – so they have a width. Length and angle rather than just a radius.

Starting with the definitions then, the parameters are as follows:

- Identifier – LocalWeather_X where X is a number from zero up.
- Cloud Type – either “CUMULUS_GEN”, “FLAT_OVERCAST_GEN”, “OVERCAST_GEN”, “OVERCAST_VS_SPLASH_GEN” or “THUNDER_GEN”
- Width in meters
- Length in meters
- X Position on Map
- Y Position on Map
- Z Position – leave at zero (note, FMB incorrectly puts base height into this field)
- Angle – leave as zero if you use circles. Otherwise – it works in the same way as wind angels.

Quote:Cumulus Field (CUMULUS_GEN)
This cloud type is safe for use in campaigns.

Image

Image

Example:

Code:

  EllipticA 10000
  EllipticB 10000
  RotAngle 0
  ShiftX 0
  ShiftY 0
  BaseHeight 450
  IsRain 0
  IsDynamicEnabled 0
  ParticipType 0
  DropSize 10
  RainPower 10
  ThermalIntensity 10
  CloudsDensity 10
  MidSize 10

EllipticA and EllipticB define the width and length of the weather area, e.g. set them to the same value for a circular area, or if you want an ellipsoid make them different. A safe low value for each is 2500. Much less than this and you won’t see any cloud at all. That said, why would you have such a small weather area? The safe upper limit is 25000 – go much higher than this add you may have strange graphical glitches like ground shadows disappearing or the whole cloud bank occulting when viewed at certain angles (usually over your shoulder behind you). Whatever you use, ensure that these values match the width and length you set in the [WeatherFront] section.

RotAngle is the rotation angle and should match the last value of the corresponding [WeatherFront] section. I always use circles so I leave this set to 0.

ShiftX and ShiftY do not seem to be implemented in v4.312 so leave these at 0.

BaseHeight is the base height of the clouds above sea level in meters. You can have the cloud right down at ground level if you want but you will get some graphical render oddities which will ruin immersion. I would recommend the lowest cloud base to be 25m above the highest airfield in use. The upper limit seems to be unbounded and the higher you put them the darker grey they get. The downside of putting them up very high is that the draw distance comes into play – so you could end up with a circular patch of clouds way up high above your head and nothing else. Also, when on the ground you’re not going to see clouds going all the way down to the horizon – so it is a bit of an immersion killer. Personally I would recommend you keep them relatively low and definitely no higher than 2000m.

The IsRain does not seem to be implemented in v4.312 so leave this at 0.

I’ve not found a way of using the IsDynamicEnabled parameter so leave this at 0. I suspect if it is set it may be possible to apply scripting to it but I’ve not investigated this as yet.

ParticipType does not seem to be implemented in v4.312 so leave this at 0.

The DropSize parameter has a range of between 1 and 10. It does not seem to be implemented in v4.312 but has a default value of 10 so I would recommend leaving it as this.

RainPower does not seem to be implemented in v4.312 so leave this at the default 10.

ThermalIntensity does not seem to be implemented in v4.312 so leave this at the default 10.

The CloudsDensity parameter affects the cloud coverage and is an integer between 2 and 10. This can be considered to be like Octas. Don’t put it at 1 because the clouds will disappear.

MidSize changes the size of each clump of clouds. It has a range between 1 and 10. Frankly I wouldn’t bother reducing it too far because at low values the clouds just don’t look very realistic, e.g.:

Quote:THUNDER_GEN is similar to Cumulus but with these differences:

The EvenLayers parameter does not seem to have much of an effect. If anything, it adjusts the spacing between clouds but I think it may be quite subjective. The FMB seems to have a range of between 3 and 16 for this parameter but in actual fact its range is 1 to 10. Anything above 10 will result in the clouds occulting at certain viewing angles. A safe value is 3.

Adjusting the TotalLayers parameters affects the vertical spacing between clouds. It also impacts the overall height. Lower values create more space between clouds and higher values close these in. The FMB would indicate that the parameter has a range between 3 and 31, although actually the minimum value is 2. Less than this and the clouds occult. Setting it to 31 seems safe. The picture below shows the clouds with it set to 3:

Not sure what these targets are, as it it pretty dark (sunset)
This flight is a straight line just north of La Toque flying
BA17.2.7/8/9 west to east.

1st on left was circular camp, no visible radar structure?
2nd on right was (English style tall radars?) already hit
& 3rd is another circular camp that I thought was Samer#1
except within the perimeter are two german airplanes?

Can anyone confirm what these targets are?

Dang!
1,000 Lbs of bombs,
& the Chess table is still standing!

-  all area targets IMHO need to be looked at for tonnage and objects requirements.
    After you have gone there 4 to 6 times with less than a 50/50 change of living it just might lower the frustration level on these targets.
   A % of damage would be nice to see (like airfields)
   For me  they will be the last targets to work on for now. Down the road this couldl just end up being low level on everything and the hell with living or aircraft supply.
   Like it was a couple of campaigns ago.

- maybe less AI fighter groups (they tend to look like squirrels) and more 4 to 6 bomber groups with escorts that may look like breather raids (high and low).
  This might encourage smaller groups of Hurricanes and Spits going up together to protect our targets
 
-Could we lose the 10 to 20 109's having a Sunday afternoon sightseeing tour of England at  20k plus


I'm sure there will be more to follow (as my old brain remembers them).... as we hash this out.......

Could we please just keep it on topic in this thread.

- in K mode when you check position does not always change to GATTACK   Can't say for sure if they always drop as per coordinates (ext view would be handy for this)

-Mar 1st while leaving Samer area after bombing Samer army camp came across 6 to 8 landing craft floating in the air over Le Touquet harbour area

   

So we have action elements to input into the vid and more content.   This is our starting point.



Feel free to comment, criticise, offer suggestions to improve it.

So while playing with the Calender today (post your post that we had one). I was trying to insert a picture of timezone variations. Pic was in .jpeg format. 
I  uploaded to an external website, and then attempted to add it using the image upload button above (TWC forum post icon.

I noticed its tags did not have the usual [img] XXX [/img] thing going on and instead posted the following:

[image:FwT9SYUV]

The picture didnt actually load at all, just that format above.

My question then is, does the Calendar accept pictures?

More my issue than yours I suspect, but I can never remember what the homepage URL is as the old one is firmly implanted onto my frontal cortex.  As a result, I sent a prospect to twcpilots.com the other day and never heard anything back. I do a search myself for it today and I cant find it. (I use the forum as my TWC bookmark).

Request 1.   Can the banner with the aircraft at the top of the forum be replaced with the same exact one, but with the Squadron URL imprinted on it under "The Wrecking Crew" title?

Request 2.   Can the forum have a link (in Extras tab perhaps or under Home) that links to the TWC main home page?

Both of these requests, I believe will stop old men like me being forgetful, increase our chances of successful recruiting and stop me looking like a dick know it all, who doesnt when speaking to others.

For your consideration.



...and no, just telling me what it is again, wont cut it in a months time.

OK, I started this b/4 Flug posted most of todays "stuff"...
& I have to say, ITS A GAME! damnit!

Flug, I appreciate everything you are doing, but you have got to
understand your audience!

When you post in such concise detail, abbreviation would be appreciated.
You see, if it takes me a six pack to read everything you wrote,
I aint gonna remember a damn thing...

Remember, the Brass was leading a bunch of 20 year old killers
when this really happened.

Your leading a bunch of old farts...

(ease up damnit!)

1.  Is the weather always the same?  Seems like it is..can that be changed?  More clouds?

2.  Tab 4 -1, Tab 7-1 - are they both accurate?  Only one is accurate?  

3.  Seems there are a lot of small AI fighter patrols wandering around - doesn't seem to be realistic.  Instead of small fighter patrols how about larger bomber and escorts formations?

That's it.  Loving the server - keep up the good work!