Hosting for my Squadron

[56RAF_Witch]

Hi,

I'm trying to write a co-op mission, which I will host, and I'll be inviting about 8 humans to join me, 56 Squadron.

We humans will fly Hurricane's and the 70+ LW planes will all be AI.

When I host the mission, anyone joining is unable to select a Hurricane, the plane slot says *WPF. unavailable puppet place line

wtf?

I used to host missions about 10 versions ago, Is it possible to fix it so they can join the mission online?

= = = EDITED = = = =

Thanks to everyone who gave me tips and advice on fixing this.

Thanks to them all, and my squaddie 56RAF_RGJ , I now understand how it's done, for anyone else with a similar prediciment I shall try and summarise.

Run a dedicated server, goto windows>Start>cmd
in the dos box you'll be in C:\Users\Administrator run a Server start batch file (kept in this folder), I use this one clodserver.bat because my CloD is on the D:\Drive

clodserver contains the following text;

d:

cd "d:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover\"

START Launcher -server (if you want to password it add) -pwd password

You can close the first DOS box now, in the new dos box you'll be presented with

>4Failed to load Steam Service
ServiceStart: failed to start

Here we'll run another 2 batch files, first I use one to set the server difficulty settings
type f settings.cmd
keep the settings.cmd file here C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\1C SoftClub\il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover

In the file settings.cmd I have this for full realism,
difficulty AntropomorphicControl 0
difficulty ComplexEManagement 1
difficulty TorqueGyroEffects 1
difficulty EngineTemperatureEffects 1
difficulty FlutterEffects 1
difficulty WindTurbulence 1
difficulty StallSpins 1
difficulty Vulnerabilty 1
difficulty BlackoutsRedouts 1
difficulty Realisticgunnery 1
difficulty RealisticBombing 1
difficulty LimitedAmmo 1
difficulty LimitedFuel 1
difficulty CockpitAlwaysOn 1
difficulty NoOutsideViews 0
difficulty HeadShake 0
difficulty NoIcons 1
difficulty NoPadlock 1
difficulty Clouds 1
difficulty TakeoffLanding 1
difficulty RealisticLandings 1
difficulty NoMapIcons 0
difficulty NoMinimapPath 1
difficulty NoAutopilot 1
difficulty NoReplacementPlace 0
difficulty NoReplacement 0
difficulty NoSelect 0
difficulty NoReplacementArmy 0
difficulty NoSelectArmy 0
difficulty NoCreate 0

After you see this load in the dos box you can run the mission itself using a batch file, type
f m1.cmd

This batch file is kept with the settings.cmd in C:\Users\Administrator\Documents\1C SoftClub\il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover

m1.cmd contains the following text

missLoad missions/Multi/Dogfight/56RAF Intercept Stukas.mis


battle start

Obviously you need to ensure any mission you're going to run is actually in that location!

The thing to remember now is that the battle has started, you, and anyone else flying the mission, now have to go to the multiplayer part of the game and find the server, join it, select your plane and click create. This can take a minute or two, as will warming your engine, so add about 10 minutes to a mission's design to allow time for a group of pilots to be ready to take off!

When you want to close the dedicated server, in the dos box type

battle stop

exit

That's it, Cheers

[Ataros]

Players get this message because they are located further than 20 km from the planes (probably in the lower left corner of the map). Place spawnpoints in the mission close enough to the planes. Then players can spawn at these spawnpoints, hit ESC and select Hurricanes from the list.

Alternatively you can use COOP script by naryv, posted by me. It automatically places players inside a cockpit when they join server.

[56RAF_Witch]

Originally Posted by Ataros

Players get this message because they are located further than 20 km from the planes (probably in the lower left corner of the map).

I don't understand, what does this mean 20km from planes when they haven't chosen a plane yet?, do I need to put in a Front Line?

Originally Posted by Ataros

Place spawnpoints in the mission close enough to the planes. Then players can spawn at these spawnpoints, hit ESC and select Hurricanes from the list.

As this will be a coop mission that I'll host on my PC, should I only make a spawn point with >12 planes at an airfield, or, put in all the flight waypoints with the start point as a take off from an airfield.

Originally Posted by Ataros

Alternatively you can use COOP script by naryv, posted by me. It automatically places players inside a cockpit when they join server.

I really don't want to use scripts, and shouldn't have to imho.

Thanks for the help.

[ATAG_Bliss]

Witch,

The easiest thing you can do to accomplish what you are wanting is to host with the -server option. This way you can make an airfield and the mission however you like without scripts. You'd just spawn at that airfield like you normally do in a dedi server.

So basically you'd create a launcher shortcut for a server and start up the dos box. Put your mission in the 1cSoft/IL2COD folder (where your confs.ini is) and type in the dos box "missLoad "your mission name here".mis Then type "battle start"

People could direct connect to your server and simply spawn at the airfield you have set-up for them. Then you start your game normally and connect to it as well. COOP just like anything MP right now, isn't exactly quick or easy to setup correctly atm, and without using some sort of programming isn't very feasible going the COOP route.

[56RAF_Witch]

Hi Bliss

Thanks for the that, I can run a server in a dos box easy enough.

But I'm still not clear on HOW I set up the mission, it seems harder now than when the game first came out?

I see I have 2 options
1, I set a spawn point object, at an airfield with enough planes for my guys to use. (which I think is what you mean as this looks like a dedi-server)
or
2, I set a whole flightpath route for our flight with the first waypoint being Take Off.

I take it that if I want to load a second mission, on top of the first, I do that from the dos box as well, does that work OK?

Cheers,

[56RAF_Witch]

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

Players start on a map at the bottom left corner, until they select an airfield. If your pre-generated planes are not within 20km of that, then they are too far for the pilot to select the aircraft.

Hi Cheesehawk,

Thanks, I think the more answers I get the more knackered this FMB thing seems to be?

The bottom left of the BofB map is Sea, so, I have to put in a flight of a/c within 20km of that corner of the map?

Cheers,

[ATAG_Bliss]

Well to set the mission up (like I was suggesting) just go to the object browser in the FMB and find "airfield" and place it at w/e airfield you want to take off from. In the properties of that airfield you can choose what planes you want spawnable. So essentially it would be like playing on our server - choose what side you want, pick your plane/loadouts etc., and then hit create and spawn.

You can also set up properties in your airfield for air starts as well.

As far as spawnpoints in the dedi world, they are hit or miss (more on the miss side tbh) Same goes with spline roads - they'll load fine in the SP world but not dedicated. The method I'm talking about won't use any waypoints at all for your flight. All humans will be flying them instead.

As far as loading a second mission that isn't a problem. The easiest way to load the 1st or any mission thereafter, is to put the commands for loading a particular mission in a .cmd file

So inside say 56RAF.cmd - you'd have:

missLoad "yourmissionname"
battle start

and inside say 56RAF2.cmd you'd have the same format with your second mission.

To load commands use the "f" function.

Basically starting the server just type "f 56RAF.cmd" in the console and the mission should be up and running. If you are loading another mission using the same map you can just use "f yourcommand.cmd" without a need for battle start again.

If you are doing a completely different mission you'll need to perform a battle stop command, before the "f" command (which could be placed in your .cmd file):

battle stop
f yourcommand.cmd
battle stop

and by running that you'll automatically load into the next mission. If you are wanting to just add a submission, your .cmd file will not need any battle stop or start commands. The f function will just inject what you want in there, assuming it's on the same map.

[56RAF_Witch]

Great,

Thanks Bliss, very helpful,

Cheers,

[Ataros]

Originally Posted by cheesehawk

Players start on a map at the bottom left corner, until they select an airfield. If your pre-generated planes are not within 20km of that, then they are too far for the pilot to select the aircraft.

^^ this

To move the players from this corner you can place a spawn area object for them not far from your Hurricanes (within 20 km distance from them) and let players spawn e.g. in a TigerMoth there. As soon as they spawn in a TigerMoth they can press ESC and switch to Hurricanes because now they are within reach (20 km).

In this case you do not have to edit your mission much.

This is not very convenient but you can overcome the inconvenience if you copy and paste the COOP script to your mission folder. You do not have to, it is just a good opportunity.

[SNAFU]

There is also a script here from Kodiak, in which you can transfer yourself in a certain plane by the mission menu... but that only works on non-dedicated servers for RAF planes.