DCG: An idiot's Guide - Printable Version

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+---- Thread: DCG: An idiot's Guide (/showthread.php?tid=51687)

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- Scharnhorst1943 - 09.01.2008

HarryM Wrote:I am also a little confused by off-map locations, since they have coordinates, I guess these are just "way out" choose a crazy huge number in the general direction you want? So if I want "Tokyo_Harbor" I just put in something like -500000, -500000 and if I want "SanFrancisco_Harbor" 500000 , 500000.

I never tried putting in an off map set of WPs to see what shows up in the builder. Or do you just choose an empty patch in a corner of the map and say "this is Townsville Harbor".

You want to do the latter. Don't use crazy waypts because crazy things will happen. Just choose a corner or edge of the map, and name it Townsville or whatever you wish. Just so you know, Townsville and Rabaul are the default off map locations, but you can add more if you wish. You need to add the location name to the "offmap.dcg" file so it will be treated as an offmap location.

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- Scharnhorst1943 - 16.01.2008

I apologize for my absence, but I have been pressed on time due to personal issues. Anyway, I now have the next step, which is making the master mission file. You load up the map and place all static and units in the map. Below I have some pictures to help show what I am trying to say. So in this file, you need to do the following.

1) At all locations in your road network, you can put static objects underneath buildings to be targeted. You can put static aircraft at runways and have them appear at your airfield.

2) You need to put AA at locations that have objects underneath buildings. Locations like Factories, Railyards, Airfields, Depots ...

3) You need to put all the armor and vehicles in the campaign anywhere on the map.

4) You need to put all of the ships you want in the campagin anywhere on the map.

5) You need to add all squadrons that will be in the campaign.

Here are some pictures:
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////







































Are there any questions?

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- Scharnhorst1943 - 16.01.2008

Once you have the master mission file done, you need to make some files.

1) Your "X.rds", "X.rls", "X.srd", "X.prd" should already be done.

2) If you named your offmap locations other than the default, you need to add them to the "offmap.dcg" file in the (C:/.../IL2 1946/dcg/data) directory.

3) You need to make an entry in the "allcampaigns.dcg" file in the same above directory.

4) If you want to tie your new map into the grand campaign that already exists (DCG default campaigns), you need to add what you made in the "allcampaigns.dcg" file to the "grandcampaign.dcg" file and change the header of the map appropriately.

5) If you want to add victory conditions for either or both sides, you need to add those entrys into the "endcampagin.dcg" file.

Once you have all of these files done, you need to go to C:/.../IL2 1946/DGen and add the new map to the list of whatever campaign you want it in. You also need to add what flyable planes you want in this campaign.

After that, you should be able to load it.

Now are there any questions on any of these steps?

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DCG and MODS - Dixiecapt - 18.01.2008

Hmmm well I'm sure this has been asked and been covered....

So im sorry if so, I scanned through this topic and ran short of time so I thought I would simply ask...

Is it possible to set up the DCG to play with the Aircraft mods. I have tried to make a B-17 DCG campaign for example, and it always tells me Unavaiable Aircraft when I do, or something to that effect.

Let me know if any of you could if there is a fix for this, Thanks so much for your time and consideration towards my question!

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Re: DCG and MODS - Scharnhorst1943 - 18.01.2008

Dixiecapt Wrote:Hmmm well I'm sure this has been asked and been covered....

So im sorry if so, I scanned through this topic and ran short of time so I thought I would simply ask...

Is it possible to set up the DCG to play with the Aircraft mods. I have tried to make a B-17 DCG campaign for example, and it always tells me Unavaiable Aircraft when I do, or something to that effect.

Let me know if any of you could if there is a fix for this, Thanks so much for your time and consideration towards my question!

I would be glad to answer your question. There are two steps.

1) open up DCG and go to the icon with the black plane on a grey background. In the top left should be a dropbox with plane names. Simply select the plane you want to add. After selecting it, check the "flyable by players" box in the upper middle. Save and close. You must do this for EACH plane you want to add.

2) you need to go to your IL2/DGen folder. Find the campaign you wish to add the plane to. Open up the corresponding "planesXXX" file. In this file you will see something that looks like this:

[France]
BF_109E4
JU_87B2

Simply add the plane name under the map name. So if you wanted to add the Bf-110C to the German Europe campaign, you would do this:

[France]
BF_109E4
BF_110C4
JU_87B2

Save this file, and now if you start that campaign, the new plane is available to select.

Hope this helps, if you still can't get it, or if you need the plane ID's, let me know.

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- Scharnhorst1943 - 18.01.2008

1) Your X.rds, X.rls, and X.srd files should all look like this:

[Lybia to Lybia_Airfield]
-20.96 50238.37 120.00 0 9 2.3611111640930176
500.00 50131.71 120.00
2100.00 50300.00 20.00
4700.00 50300.00 20.00
5500.00 49500.00 20.00
6900.00 49500.00 20.00
8100.00 48300.00 20.00
9300.00 48300.00 20.00
9474.28 48294.48 120.00 0 8 2.3611111640930176
9700.00 48300.00 20.00
10900.00 48300.00 20.00
11300.00 48700.00 20.00
11500.00 48700.00 20.00
11700.00 48900.00 20.00
13700.00 48900.00 20.00
13896.59 48703.41 120.00 0 2 2.3611111640930176
13900.58 48500.43 120.00 0 2 2.3611111640930176
13706.13 48497.27 120.00 0 2 2.3611111640930176
13661.07 48625.32 120.00 0 2 2.3611111640930176
13622.34 48666.43 120.00 0 2 2.3611111640930176
13563.84 48722.55 120.00

2) The all campaigns file should look like this:

[France]
Campaign=Europe_Campaign
Map=France
Date=03/01/1940
Attacker=Blue
Front=Clervaux_Bridge21
DeHome=St_Vith_Factory_District
RuHome=Eindhoven_Airfield
DeBase=Meinz_Airfield
RuBase=Asth_Airfield
Locale1=Bonn-Hangelar_Airfield
Locale2=St_Vith_Factory_District
Locale3=Frankfurt_Airfield
Locale4=Hossingen_Depot
Locale5=Meinz_Airfield
Locale6=Merzhausen_Airfield
Locale7=Frankfurt_Airfield

3) your grandcampaign file should look like this:

[France to Dunkirque] Blue
Campaign=Europe_Campaign
Map=Dunkirque
Date=05/01/1940
Attacker=Blue
Front=Town_Depot
DeHome=Argentan_Factory_District
RuHome=Le_Havre_Shipyard
DeBase=Argentan_Airfield
RuBase=Carpiquet_Airfield
Locale1=Argentan_Factory_District
Locale2=Argentan_Airfield
Locale3=L'Aigle_Factory_District
Locale4=Ecouche_Factory_District
Locale5=Avranches_Depot

4) Your end campaign file should look like this:

[Hawaii41]
Campaign=Pacific_Campaign
Sunk=USSIndianapolisCA35 80%
Victor=Blue

[Midway42]
Campaign=Pacific_Campaign
Sunk=CV 100%
Victor=Red

[Doolittle]
Campaign=Pacific_Campaign
EndDate=04/14/1942
Victor=Blue

[France]
Campaign=Europe_Campaign
EndLocation=Metzbroek_Airstrip
Victor=Blue

Are there any questions on making any of these files?

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- Scharnhorst1943 - 20.01.2008

Now there are a couple more files we need to make. The first is the campaignXXX file. Go to your IL2 1946/Dgen folder, and copy one of these over to edit. You need to make one of these for each grandcampaign you wish. So, lets say you did a serries of Pacific maps ... for the USN, you would make maybe a Dive/Torpedo bomber campaign, fighter campaign, and PBY campaign. So you would need a campaignXXX file for EACH. So maybe you would name them like so:

campaignUn1
campaignUn2
campaignUn3

OR

campaignUnB
campaignUnF
campaignUnP

This is what the file looks like:

* Fighter Europe
Dynamic campaign for an American fighter pilot in Europe using Full Auto-Generation Mode.
Channel42 English Channel, Jan 1942
Egypt42 Tobruk, Mar 1942
Tunesia42 Lybia, June 1942
MedIsle42 Mediteranean Isalnds, Aug 1942
Napoli Operation Torch, Jan 1943
Italy Monte Cassino, May 1943
Channel43 English Channel, Nov 1943
Hungry Operation Tidal Wave, Jan 1944
Germany Germany, Mar 1944
Normandy44 Operation Overlord, June 1944
Ardennes44 Battle of the Bulge, Dec 1944
NWGermany West Germany, Jan 1945
BerlinW Berlin, Mar 1945

The first line after the astric is what appears in the text box when you select the campaigns for each nation. The second line is what describes the campaign. You can edit this to as much detail as you want. The last part is broken up into two parts. Underneath that are all the mapnames in the campaign AND the order they are played in. After writing your mapname, put a space and give a more in depth mapname. The second name is what appears in the textbox where you select what map / plane you want. You can add dates if you want, or not have dates. up to you.

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- Scharnhorst1943 - 20.01.2008

After you make the campaignXXX for all the campaigns you want, you need to make a planesXXX file. Copy one over to edit. The file should look like this:

[Channel42]
P_47D10

[Egypt42]
P_40E

[Tunesia42]
P_40E

[MedIsle42]
P_40E

[Napoli]
P_40E
P_40M
P_38J
P_51B

[Italy]
P_40E
P_40M
P_38J
P_51B

[Channel43]
P_51B
P_51C

[Hungry]
P_51B
P_51C

[Germany]
P_51B
P_51C

[Normandy44]
P_51D5NT
P_51D20NA

[Ardennes44]
P_51D5NT
P_51D20NA

[NWGermany]
P_51D5NT
P_51D20NA

[BerlinW]
P_51D5NT
P_51D20NA

In this file you need to list the mapname in [brackets]. *You MUST have the name EXACTLY how you named the master map or your campaigns will not generate.* Underneath the mapname, you need to list all planes you want selectable for that campaign. *The names of the planes MUST be exact as well, or they will not appear as selectable*

Also note, Your maps in this files must be in the EXACT SAME ORDER as the corresponding campaignXXX file or your campaign will not generate.

The last file is the squadronsXXX file. This file simply lists the available squadrons to choose for that campaign.

Any questons on makeing any of these files?

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- Scharnhorst1943 - 23.01.2008

Nobody has any questions :?:

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- Scharnhorst1943 - 23.01.2008

well aside from showing you guys another example with different road types, that is how to do everything. Up to the last post I talked about, it should now open and generate the campaign in your game. I could wait for questions because I know that some people will have issues like, "My campaign generates, but the fronts are all goofy and there are pockets of resistance everywhere." I know that many others of you will have your campaigns not generate and have no clue as to why. The answer is to debug. The likely case is that there is a location name misspelled in a file, or that the mapnames are not in order in the campaignsXXX and planesXXX files, or several other things.

So I can either help with questions about getting all this crap to work in you guys's games, or I can move on to a Europe example and show you a different road layout and different location types? What do you guys want to do?

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wow - Dixiecapt - 23.01.2008

well honestly I'm too overwhelmed to have a question,

I learned how to set the AC flyable on the DCG, then go into the PlaneXXX file and add planes for me to choose.

Finding A/C ID was easy because I would open original DGEN Campaign Files and found them.

I got lost in alot of your other files you spoke of making, but I think i jsut need to sit down, and print them out and go slow.

I had a problem when my Pearl Harbor missions where over, and I was going to be sent to New Guinea to fly in B-17F's but the Campaign messed up... I remember being sent to New Guinea, but there was no one else on the map, and I was taking off from where the Japanese were suposed to be (Buna) and suposed to simple Circle Buna.

In fact in the mission brefing i think it told me "Campaign Over" or somthing like that...

Obviously I need to make these files you mentioned in order to do this. The plan was to fly an Amarican USAAF Campaign in the DCG Pilot in the Pacific Campaign.

The european one seems neat, but I hate air-starts and some of those maps are going to have to be airstart

thanks for the help so far!!!!

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hmmm - Dixiecapt - 23.01.2008

The Post that started with this is the one Im most confused on, what are these X files?


I mean My goal is to beable to edit which aircraft are availible in the stock DCG campaigns, mainly the USAAF Pilot in the Pacific (DCG) campaign. The other main goal, which I haven't learned yet is how to make sure I will switch correctly, and to the correct Aircraft when I change theators in the campaign, aka Hawaii to New Guinea.

ps thanks again!

Scharnhorst1943 Wrote:1) Your X.rds, X.rls, and X.srd files should all look like this:

[Lybia to Lybia_Airfield]
-20.96 50238.37 120.00 0 9 2.3611111640930176
500.00 50131.71 120.00
2100.00 50300.00 20.00
4700.00 50300.00 20.00
5500.00 49500.00 20.00
6900.00 49500.00 20.00

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Re: hmmm - Scharnhorst1943 - 23.01.2008

Dixiecapt Wrote:The Post that started with this is the one Im most confused on, what are these X files?


I mean My goal is to beable to edit which aircraft are availible in the stock DCG campaigns, mainly the USAAF Pilot in the Pacific (DCG) campaign. The other main goal, which I haven't learned yet is how to make sure I will switch correctly, and to the correct Aircraft when I change theators in the campaign, aka Hawaii to New Guinea.

ps thanks again!

The "X" represents the mapname. So for each map you make for a campaign, you will have a MapName.mis file (Master Map), a MapName.rds file (Road Network), a Mapname.rls file (Rail Routes), a MapName.prd(Carrier Patrol Box) file, and a MapName.srd(Sea Routes) file. You can name each map you make anything you want (Except for the default maps, you cannot name your map the exact same as the map that came with DCG stock). So if you make a Tarawa map for your Pacific Campaign, you might name your map, "Tarawa43" or "Tarawa1943" or TarawaIsle" or even "Pacific8" (That is it being the 8th map in the campaign ...

I hope this answered your question.

As for the other question, in order to make sure the maps transferr successfully and generate proporly, you need to either edit or make these two files:

"allcampaigns.dcg" - found in IL2 1946/dcg/data
"grandcampaign.dcg" - found in same folder

The first one tells DCG how to set up the map when there is a transferr. The second file tells what order the maps transferr. By changing/editing these files, you can change the front lines, where bases are, where the end points of the campaign are, when the campaign is ....

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Re: wow - Scharnhorst1943 - 23.01.2008

Dixiecapt Wrote:well honestly I'm too overwhelmed to have a question,

I learned how to set the AC flyable on the DCG, then go into the PlaneXXX file and add planes for me to choose.

Finding A/C ID was easy because I would open original DGEN Campaign Files and found them.

I got lost in alot of your other files you spoke of making, but I think i jsut need to sit down, and print them out and go slow.

I had a problem when my Pearl Harbor missions where over, and I was going to be sent to New Guinea to fly in B-17F's but the Campaign messed up... I remember being sent to New Guinea, but there was no one else on the map, and I was taking off from where the Japanese were suposed to be (Buna) and suposed to simple Circle Buna.

In fact in the mission brefing i think it told me "Campaign Over" or somthing like that...

Obviously I need to make these files you mentioned in order to do this. The plan was to fly an Amarican USAAF Campaign in the DCG Pilot in the Pacific Campaign.

The european one seems neat, but I hate air-starts and some of those maps are going to have to be airstart

thanks for the help so far!!!!

There is a known issue with the stock DCG Hawaii and New Guinea maps. They do not generate properly. I have a replacement campaign I have partly done. I could send you my pearl harbor map and you could tell me if you like it better? I eventually plan on releasing my own replacement campaigns for the Pacific, Europe, and Eastern fronts. I want to release a pack to replace all stock DCG campaigns. I am 1/3 way through the Pacific and have Europe almost done. I am just waiting for the release of some new maps to adjust my campaign 8) .

If you have any trouble with those two files, let me know, but everything you should need *should* be with my previous post about that file.

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Thanks! - Dixiecapt - 24.01.2008

Thanks Greatly for your Guidance!!

I've printed all of this out to have a little DCG handbook, but you know what...

I will be Thrilled when your DCG Campaigns Come out, I really hate hot much I hace to tinker with the DCG to get it just right.

JastaV did a few Great Third Party Campaigns, would your be one such as that, or honestly be a replacement for stock?

Looking forward to it!!!

(Oh one thing, if possible avoid Airstarts, the JastaV' DCG's I've played start me up in the air too often, its horrible for imersion)

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