got a question... - keinmann - 17.12.2008
I've been wanting to play a dynamic campaign with my new aircraft, such as the 109K-14 or the FW190D-11 & 13. I have the DCG as well as the "stock" dgen.exe generators. My question is how can you add these new aircraft to the selection menus? I know there must be some file, somewhere, that controls what aircraft are available on that list. I'd imagine you would have to find that file and add the particular aircraft(s) to some list, kind of like the air.ini when you install new planes. I've found some lists like it in the DCG folders and even some in the DGEN folder. I've messed around with them a little, but have had no luck so far. If anyone knows how to do this, please share the info with me. I'm just dying for a dynamic campaign with some of these new beauties!!!
- Thrud - 17.12.2008
you can take exsisting campagins and just edit in the new AC. it's just a small text edit in the config file.
-edit. my bad, i just read you post more closely. it can easily be done but i don't have the time to explain it at the moment. Perhaps another community member with more time can help. sorry.
i see... - keinmann - 18.12.2008
Well, I'm glad to know this can be done easily. I figured it would be a simple text edit. If no one else has answered by the time you have a chance to tell me, please do. I would greatly, greatly appreciate the info. Thanks!
P.S.- I just thought about this. Is there away to use new maps as well? For instance, I have Canon's BoB map, and I would be absolutely enthralled if I could play a dynamic campaign with Canon's map, and with some of the new AAA aircraft!
I'd figure you'd have to do a text edit to make the DCG refer to that map, and define some of the parameters in the text files on how it should use the map to generate missions... Hmmm.... Come on, someone, help a Flieger out!
lol
- King Franky - 18.12.2008
Hi keinmann,
in this DGen Campaign you can fly the new planes you mentioned:
viewtopic.php?t=10312
I've started the campaign and fly a couples of missions and it's a really good one!!!
- seaniebeag1983 - 18.12.2008
Hi
With regards using dcg to use new planes and mods theres a guide on the dcg website somewhere for adding planes and maps
As for canonuk's map yes it is possible, but very time consuming to add it. For a start its a channel map so to get the front line to move across water would be near impossible, youd have to set the allied spawn point on a beachead in france if you wanted the ground troops to advance into france.
Also, even more difficult, you would have to write an .rds, .rls (road and rails) as well as a ship file and coastline file (cant remember what these are called) so that the ground troops and ships know where the roads and railways are. you'd also have to connect any airfields you want to use to the road network, while remembering to add road and rail depots so your convoys can unload, and factory districts(using static objects) to give AI bombers something to target.
once youve done all that then yes its just a basic text edit to get it to appear in the menu.
Basically its WAY too much effort for a beta map because any files you write for the beta fersion wont work on the final release.
Edit: this refers to dcg only by the way
thanks for the replies - keinmann - 19.12.2008
Really appreciate your replies everyone. I'm gonna try that modded campaign you mentioned too, King Franky.
Basically, what I'd like to do is find out what file(s) control what aircraft are available at the campaign selection menu. I'm sure it's more than one file I would have to edit the aircraft into to do so. Maybe I would have to add it into the files in DGEN folder like "campaignsDeO" or "campaignsDeB"? Then maybe add it also to the corresponding files in the IL2DCG folder? Then I'm sure there is probably another file or two that will need an edit too... If anyone knows how this is done, please let me know what to do. I'd really like to do this to create my own dynamic campaign with these new aircraft to my preferences. But until then, I'll try the modded DC that King Franky mentioned. Hope to find out what to do soon! Thanks for the responses, and keep em comin!
I see what you mean seaniebeag. I figured the map thing wouldn't be very easy. But basically, if I were to do it, I wouldn't really want the front to move anyway. In the real BoB, the channel itself was the front line, and neither side incurred on the other until D-Day. I have a guide on how to make the .rds and .rls files to fit the map, so I could set up the road/rail links for each side. But it probably would be too much work for a beta... So, I don't really know, as I've never done this type of thing before... If you know anything else you can share with me, just let me know. Thanks for the answer though!
If anyone else knows something that could be of assistance, please give me a holler! Thanks!
the sweet smell of... - keinmann - 19.12.2008
Success!!! I've figured it out! Lol, I'm sooo happy now. It took me a little while to work this out, but now I know how to put new planes into dynamic campaigns. I've added my 109E-1 to the DCG's "Poland '39" campaign. So, it's simply a matter of repeating this process for any other planes/campaigns I would like to modify. Upon my first try, I got the E-1 onto the selection menu, selected it, and clicked generate. It crashed that time, and told me: "" is invalid integer. So, I went back and changed some of the other files, and bingo! Got it! Generated my new 109E-1 DC, spawned in, and it worked like a charm!
Before I did this, I searched and searched all over the net to find some info, or some type of guide, that could tell me how to do it. I found NOTHING... If any sufficient info on how to do this exists, I sure didn't find it. So, I basically just started tampering around until it worked. But, I was smart enough to write down EVERY change I made to EVERY file and the corresponding locations. I originally did this so I could go fix anything if I screwed my game up, but now I have my own handy little guide on how to do this. I'm sure there are others out there who would like to do this, so if you want my info, just let me know. I will be more than happy to share it with you.
So, now I'm down to only one question. Do you know that Europlanes.dat file in your DGEN folder? Well, I added the 109E-1 to it as follows:
Axis Germany Fighter BF_109E1 400 3000 3000 default 1
Now, I know those numbers have to do with the weapons loadout, right? Well, I actually just copied the 109E-4's listing, but changed the name to E-1. What I want to know is if this is a problem? Will I still have the correct, default weapons loadout? Or is my ammo count wrong? I really didn't know how to properly write out the E-1's weapon loadout, and that's why I copied the E4's. In game, it still has only 4x MG17s. So, all I'm wondering about is my ammo count. I spawned in and just held the trigger down, and it seemed to fire an awful lot of rounds. I guess I should do a QMB'er mission and see if it seems about the same. But, if anyone has any more info on how to write out weapons loadout numbers in that Europlanes.dat file, please let me know. That will even be a great help for adding future aircraft to dynamic campaigns.
Thanks for all the help so far everyone! Hope to learn some more soon!