Carrier Landing single mission - landing waypoints not activating

[Raven Morpheus]

Hello

I've been playing IL2 1946 on and off for a number of years now, although I don't claim to be any good at it, but recently I seem to have mastered taking off, both on the ground in a P38/Corsair and also from a carrier in a Corsair, however I usually let the autopilot do the landing for me because I'm rubbish at it, especially when it comes to carrier landings.

Last night I thought I'd have a go at the single mission carrier landing for the USN in the F4U Corsair to see if I could teach myself how to land on a carrier - and I actually managed to do it...

...but I landed on the wrong carrier. I landed on the one to the right of the actual target carrier. Lol.

So today I went back to try it and I just can't do it, so I thought I'd switch to autopilot and see how it does it.

Now, one thing I immediately noticed is that it doesn't follow the route set out by the 5 waypoint roundels on the minimap, not precisely at least.

Second thing I noticed is that when the autopilot crosses waypoint 4 or 5 (it actually missed out one of the last 2 waypoints) it activates a series of other waypoints designed to bring you in for the landing and the tower gives him the all clear.

Thing is when I'm flying I don't get that series of extra waypoints that shows the landing glide path nor does the tower give me the all clear! I follow the waypoints on the minimap as near as I can and I go through all 5 of them.

So, how is the autopilot activating the series of landing waypoints and how can I do so as well?

[Aviar]

The game is not programmed to display (for the player) the same landing circuit waypoints that the AI uses. However, there is a workaround.

When you hit your next-to-last waypoint (before the final Landing waypoint), activate your Autopilot for a second and then turn it off. The AI landing circuit waypoints will be displayed on your map and will remain there even after you disengage the Autopilot.

*This workaround may not work with certain Difficulty settings and certain game modes, such as Coop.

Aviar

[Raven Morpheus]

Thanks, I didn't realise they were for the AI only.

I tried your suggestion about turning on the AI just prior to landing on a campaign that I'm doing (Battle of Britain redux) and it worked so I'll probably do that from now on.

I need a lot more practice though, I still can't land (even after about 4yrs on and off playing the game), even using those markers, not even on grass. :(

[Stig1207]

Give Zeus-cat's Straight from the farm a go. I reckon you'll be landing in no time:
http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?file=details&id=2147&name=Downloads
Anyway, I'm impressed that you can takeoff from a carrier, I've only managed twice so far:)

[Raven Morpheus]

Give Zeus-cat's Straight from the farm a go. I reckon you'll be landing in no time:
http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?file=details&id=2147&name=Downloads
Anyway, I'm impressed that you can takeoff from a carrier, I've only managed twice so far:)

Thanks I'll try that.

I don't use full realism btw. In my USMC pilot career I am 1st Lt having started as Gunnery Sgt, I've flown 5 sorties (I thought it was more than that, I started over a year ago now so that tells you how little I play this game) and have 15 kills and I've been awarded the Bronze Star and the DFC, but I don't have the following difficulty settings on by the looks of it -

Engine Overheat
Torque/Gyro effects
Flutter effect
Stalls/Spins
G-Force limits
Reliability
Wind and Turbulence
Limited fuel
Limited ammo

None of the view difficulty settings are on, they don't make it any less difficult imo.
I also turned off head shake because I don't like it. It causes some of the gunnery sights on fighters to move about. unnecessarily imo.

Occasionally I use FaceTrackNOIR but I don't suppose that makes much of a difference.


Despite all that I do quite often get shot down or end up in a spin that leaves me in the deep blue and having to restart missions quite a lot.


However as a test I've just started a new USMC pilot career (Iwo Jima, my other one is Okinawa) and all I turned off in the difficulty settings was the Torque/Gyro effects and it's just as easy to take off from a carrier as in my other career - so I'd say if you find take off from a carrier difficult turn off Torque/Gyro effects.

The way I do it is to taxi a little so I'm not in a position where I'm going to drop off the side or hit the superstructure, put the chocks in, lock the tail wheel, extend the wings (on a F4U), put flaps to take off, build the engine to 110%, release the chocks, then when I've got the plane on it's front wheels only and I'm approaching the end of the deck I pull up on the stick to take off.

On full realism I end up barrel rolling straight into the drink. This is obviously caused by the Torque/Gyro effect difficulty setting because it doesn't happen when that setting alone is turned off.


But despite the apparent easy difficulty settings I usually use I still can't land on ground or carriers!

I nearly had a landing last night on Midway island in a single mission in a F4U but it bounced and the right wing caught the ground. :(

It's just lucky that landing isn't considered a condition of mission success otherwise I'd never complete a mission in any of the dynamic campaigns where I've turned the autopilot off and tried to land manually!

[Raven Morpheus]

Wow!! Those tutorial missions you linked me to are great.

I set the difficulty as stated in the mission brief.

Taking off is no problem on grass, even with Torque/Gyro effects on, haven't tried it on a carrier yet though because I know what will happen with the Torque/Gyro effect on and I can do it without that difficulty setting on - barrel roll straight off the end of the deck!

I just landed on grass 3 times in a row though, although I only managed to hit the runway once but I still landed the plane OK the other 2 times, just off to the left. Never managed to land a plane on grass before now without digging the nose in.

I tired the "Carrier" landing on grass mission but missed the "Carrier" entirely so I gave up on that one and went to one of the single missions by Zeus Cat for actual carrier landings instead.

And I just got my first carrier landing, although it was a bit too close to the superstructure and I couldn't find my arrester hook button until the very end...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isj518UlF1c


I think I've managed to work out a sort of way of doing it that I can remember - make sure the landing strip is lined up with your gun sights/nose, keep at about 30%-40% throttle, set flaps to landing, and as you come in and the edge of the strip appears to get closer, i.e. it looks like the nose/gunsight is touching it, reduce to 20%-25% throttle, then deploy the landing gear keep the speed at 80-100mph and let the plane drop and flare as you get closer to the ground.

Seemed to work OK on land and worked OK on carrier landings although my first attempt I kind of fell short of the carrier, got down to 0ft without realising it, tried to increase throttle and pull up but ended up just clearing the end of the carrier deck and rolling right and into the water...


Just have to go back and see if can repeat my success just now again and again and again...

[displayorder]

thing I immediately noticed is that it doesn't follow the route set out by the 5 waypoint roundels on the minimap, not precisely at least.

Second thing I noticed is that when the autopilot crosses waypoint 4 or 5 (it actually missed out one of the last 2 waypoints) it activates a series of other waypoints designed to bring you in for the landing and the tower gives him the all clear.

[Stig1207]

Looking good Raven.

I took my own advice and flew some of the carrier takeoff missions from Straight from the Farm. I have been taking off in the SBD from the Lexington class carrier with full difficulty settings without any trouble, even with a max loaded aircraft:)

So, I'll have to start trying landings next time.

[Raven Morpheus]

Yeah thanks for the link to those missions, they're really helpful.

Still can't do that land on the "carrier" on grass mission properly - that seems harder than an actual carrier landing.

Take offs from carriers are actually really easy once you remember to a) pull the stick back a bit when your tail lifts otherwise the nose digs in b) steer with the rudder to avoid dropping off the side, and c) when you leave the carrier deck stay level, raise the landing gear ASAP and put flaps to combat, otherwise you get what I always get with Toque/Gyro effects on - a barrel roll off the end of the carrier deck into the drink!

I tried it last night with the F4U and it's just as easy in that as it is in the SBD.

Really wish there was a setting in QMB to take off from a Carrier though.

Also just now, I made an almost perfect landing on the Lexington in the SFTF #11 practice mission. I've been doing carrier landings the last couple of days but if I do manage to land I usually either end up towards the front of the carrier having come in too hot or I dig the nose in, presumably because I'm going to slow to pull the nose up enough to flare, and whilst I would survive the latter I'd still call it a crash because the plane is wrecked.

Either that or I end up doing what I did last night which is come in way too hot (even at 100mph!) and/or way too low (50ft low (deck level) and about 50-100ft behind the deck) and have to throttle up and try to climb and circle again. I had to go around 3 times on 1 practice run last night, and I still ended up ditching in the sea!!

Biggest problem besides getting the speed vs altitude drop right (I quite often find I drop too low too soon) is visibility of the deck of the carrier, as you get really close it's guesswork as to where the deck is - last night I did a practice run and I thought I was on the deck but I was actually left of it and I ended up drifting down beside the ship and into the water. :lol:

I think I may have to find out which keys set the seat height so that I can raise it - if I can find a suitable pair of keys on my keyboard that aren't in use.

It also doesn't help that my Thrustmaster T Flight HOTAS X has a bit of a deadzone that I can't dial out (despite trying everything I've read on the web about it) - it's mostly a problem on the left/right axis, not so much the up/down axis. Think I need to save up for a better stick, a Saitek X45 or X52 or something.

Anyhow here's that perfect landing I mentioned -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIHhf2ss1zA

[Stig1207]

:grin:Biggest problem besides getting the speed vs altitude drop right (I quite often find I drop too low too soon) is visibility of the deck of the carrier, as you get really close it's guesswork as to where the deck is - last night I did a practice run and I thought I was on the deck but I was actually left of it and I ended up drifting down beside the ship and into the water.

Try coming in at a steeper angle. I'm coming in pretty steep, and I can see the deck the whole way.

Took off and landed a Corsair today:grin:

[wheelsup_cavu]

Yeah thanks for the link to those missions, they're really helpful.

Still can't do that land on the "carrier" on grass mission properly - that seems harder than an actual carrier landing.

Take offs from carriers are actually really easy once you remember to a) pull the stick back a bit when your tail lifts otherwise the nose digs in b) steer with the rudder to avoid dropping off the side, and c) when you leave the carrier deck stay level, raise the landing gear ASAP and put flaps to combat, otherwise you get what I always get with Toque/Gyro effects on - a barrel roll off the end of the carrier deck into the drink!

I tried it last night with the F4U and it's just as easy in that as it is in the SBD.

Really wish there was a setting in QMB to take off from a Carrier though.

Also just now, I made an almost perfect landing on the Lexington in the SFTF #11 practice mission. I've been doing carrier landings the last couple of days but if I do manage to land I usually either end up towards the front of the carrier having come in too hot or I dig the nose in, presumably because I'm going to slow to pull the nose up enough to flare, and whilst I would survive the latter I'd still call it a crash because the plane is wrecked.

Either that or I end up doing what I did last night which is come in way too hot (even at 100mph!) and/or way too low (50ft low (deck level) and about 50-100ft behind the deck) and have to throttle up and try to climb and circle again. I had to go around 3 times on 1 practice run last night, and I still ended up ditching in the sea!!

Biggest problem besides getting the speed vs altitude drop right (I quite often find I drop too low too soon) is visibility of the deck of the carrier, as you get really close it's guesswork as to where the deck is - last night I did a practice run and I thought I was on the deck but I was actually left of it and I ended up drifting down beside the ship and into the water. :lol:

I think I may have to find out which keys set the seat height so that I can raise it - if I can find a suitable pair of keys on my keyboard that aren't in use.

It also doesn't help that my Thrustmaster T Flight HOTAS X has a bit of a deadzone that I can't dial out (despite trying everything I've read on the web about it) - it's mostly a problem on the left/right axis, not so much the up/down axis. Think I need to save up for a better stick, a Saitek X45 or X52 or something.

Anyhow here's that perfect landing I mentioned -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIHhf2ss1zA
Use the Scramble option with the Midway or the Midway1 QMB maps and you should start on a carrier. If you don't use any enemy planes you should be able to practice taking off from a carrier and landing on it as much as you want and not have to worry about getting bounced by enemy planes.


Wheels

[Raven Morpheus]

:grin:

Try coming in at a steeper angle. I'm coming in pretty steep, and I can see the deck the whole way.

Took off and landed a Corsair today:grin:

Yeah it's a matter of working out how to do that, I've tried it but I am either going too fast, I'm too high when I'm over the carrier or I end up belly flopping it (as I said the nose digs in).

Trial and error I guess. Yesterday I did 3 "reasonable" carrier landings in a row, and I managed to land a Corsair myself in a campaign mission (although it was my Okinawa campaign with my custom "medium" difficulty settings).

Visibility depends on the aircraft though in the Corsair there's little in the way of your view, but in the SBD that gunsight (and whatever else it's a sight for) gets in the way and you can't raise the seat up it seems. Visibility is much better in the Corsair.

Use the Scramble option with the Midway or the Midway1 QMB maps and you should start on a carrier. If you don't use any enemy planes you should be able to practice taking off from a carrier and landing on it as much as you want and not have to worry about getting bounced by enemy planes.


Wheels

Ah cool, I thought Midway would be like the Pacific Islands base where you start on the ground, although come to think of it I tried Midway the other day and I don't recall having to take off/land from/on a Carrier, it was a land based scramble.

I'll go back and have a look though.

[wheelsup_cavu]

Ah cool, I thought Midway would be like the Pacific Islands base where you start on the ground, although come to think of it I tried Midway the other day and I don't recall having to take off/land from/on a Carrier, it was a land based scramble.

I'll go back and have a look though.
Use the Midway map if you want to take off from a Japanese Aircraft Carrier.
You will need to be flying for the Axis side to get the carrier takeoff option when you use the Scramble feature.
There are no limitations on the aircraft that you can attempt to fly off of the Japanese Aircraft carrier other than it must be a player flyable plane.

Use the Midway1 (Midway One) map if you want to take off from an American Aircraft Carrier.
You will need to be flying for the Allied side to get the carrier takeoff option when you use the Scramble feature.
There are no limitations on the aircraft that you can attempt to fly off of the American Aircraft carrier other than it must be a player flyable plane.

I am fairly certain I used multiple carriers so there should be some randomness to the carriers that you use when you start a new QMB session.


Wheels

[Raven Morpheus]

Ah that explains it. I was on the US side when I tried Midway, I'll try Midway1 instead then.

Thanks.