Templates sharing corner - Il2 Series editor

[LuftManu]

Hey everyone!

Just like the old IL-2 forums had a dedicated template-sharing thread, I thought it would be great to have one here as well:

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/14803-the-groups-sharing-corner/

The idea is simple: a place where the community can share templates they've created to help others build missions faster or improve historical accuracy 

If you'd like to contribute:

• Select the group(s) you want to share in the Mission Editor.

• Export them and save the files from that group as a ZIP

• Upload the ZIP file in this thread.

• Include a short description of what the template contains (unit type, nation, period, historical notes, intended use, etc.).

Installation

Simply extract the ZIP file into your:

data/templates

Hopefully this thread will grow into a useful library of ready-to-use templates for everyone creating missions and campaigns.

I'll kick things off by sharing several platoons and unit templates for the U.S. Army and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), based on historical organizations from the Korean War era.

Sources:
 

US Army manuals

FM 17-30 Tank Platoon

TO&E 17-37N (15 Nov 1950)
FM 17-33 (1949)

 

The Korean War

David Glantz

 

 

 

DPRK Tank Batallion.zip US Army Tank Platoon.zip US Army Tank Company (Infantry Regiment).zip US Army Mechanized Infantry.zip DPRK Tank Company.zip DPRK Tank Platoon.zip

[eszyman]

This is the Eastern fighter 5 pack I have been working on as used in the brokenprops server.
The cool thing about this template is that it narrows down where the enemy fighters are on a given mission.
This keeps everyone from flying different directions triggering all sorts of things and killing server performance.
My server seems to do okay with two of these 5 packs running independently on the map.

I hate to say exactly how the sausage is made, but here is the basic run down.

• Your team checkZone(s) "In" and all other groups in the 5 pack are "closed"
• A Random Spawner is triggered where 4 choices are made based on percent left from 100%, so for instance, as set, there is a 5% chance of a MiG-15 flight.
•   Each random set of planes has an attacker and a wingman. 
    The lead should attack. The wingman's job is to cover the lead.
    (I also feel this improves the AI by quite a bit).
• A timer is also started that provides a 33% chance of re-reinforcements, set for every 5 minutes.  
  So if you stay in the 'zone' you have the chance of more aircraft every 5 minutes.
  This can create huge air battles so depending on everyones skill this timer may need tuning.
• When all enemy are destroyed a 3 min cooldown timer starts (with the possibility of 5 min re-enforcement spawn) again tune as desired.
• If you (and all your team mates) get shot down or leave the zone, a timer starts and the aircraft are ordered to disengage and head towards the RTB waypoint for their group.
• When the timer expires (~1 min) all enemy and the re-enforcement possibility are deactivated and then deleted.
• A signal is sent to the other zones to "open" back up their logic so other planes can spawn in the other areas.
• The zone that was just deactivated will re-activate when the 3 min cooldown timer expires.

Eventually I will do one of these for the Americans also, I expect the flights will be a little different but you could just swap the aircraft, nation, and check zones.

Eastern_Fighters_Random_5pack_V6.zip

Edited September 4 by eszyman

[Majakowski]

I want to share a small "utility" I have just created to have a way to randomize 100 possible outcomes to add replayability and unpredictability to self-made missions.

This group is called 100PointRandomizer.

How does it work?

1. The Group itself contains 11 Subgroups. 1 Initializer and ten output groups containing 10 output-timers each.

2. You connect your mission translator or any other target or event link from another unit to the timer that is called "Input Signal".

3. The input signal triggers 10 timers with a probability of 10% each (which can of course be adjusted). Once triggered, the respective timer will deactivate the other timers so after one possibility has been chosen, the chain stops.

4. There is a timer called "Switch Through" which starts all sub-timers again in the event none of these has been activated. To make the Randomizer run only once and create no outcome if none of the timers fires, simply disconnect the Input Signal from the Switch Through Timer.

5. Each of the Output Signals of the Initializers triggers another 10-Point randomizer just like that one, again starting 10 Output timers with 10% probability each.

Why should I use this?

Scenario 1: If you want to create a reconnaissance or search mission without already knowing where to look or what to look for, you can simply determine your possible spawn points, add my group and connect the output timers to your spawns, trigger the Initializer Input and have no idea where to look for what target once the mission starts.

Scenario 2: You can create 10 potential search areas with 10 (or more if you daisy-chain the randomizers) potential spawn locations each via the sub-groups. 

Scenario 3: You have 10 different, unrelated cases you want to cover with random functionality: Disconnect the output triggers of the Initializer sub-group from the Input Signals of the other sub-groups and simply connect the Initializer Input Signal (the one you would set off the whole commotion) timer directly to the Input Signals of the sub-groups.

I really hope my blubber is comprehensible. 

Screenshot 1: The general architecture. Initializer Group is right and connects to the sub-groups.

Screenshot 2: On the right side of the contraption you can see "Switch Through" and "Randomizer Input Signal". Remove the target link between these two if you want to allow for no timer firing at all.

100PointRandomizer.zip

Edited August 30 by Majakowski

[eszyman]

18 hours ago, Majakowski said:

I want to share a small "utility" I have just created to have a way to randomize 100 possible outcomes to add replayability and unpredictability to self-made missions.

This group is called 100PointRandomizer.

How does it work?

1. The Group itself contains 11 Subgroups. 1 Initializer and ten output groups containing 10 output-timers each.

2. You connect your mission translator or any other target or event link from another unit to the timer that is called "Input Signal".

3. The input signal triggers 10 timers with a probability of 10% each (which can of course be adjusted). Once triggered, the respective timer will deactivate the other timers so after one possibility has been chosen, the chain stops.

4. There is a timer called "Switch Through" which starts all sub-timers again in the event none of these has been activated. To make the Randomizer run only once and create no outcome if none of the timers fires, simply disconnect the Input Signal from the Switch Through Timer.

5. Each of the Output Signals of the Initializers triggers another 10-Point randomizer just like that one, again starting 10 Output timers with 10% probability each.

Why should I use this?

Scenario 1: If you want to create a reconnaissance or search mission without already knowing where to look or what to look for, you can simply determine your possible spawn points, add my group and connect the output timers to your spawns, trigger the Initializer Input and have no idea where to look for what target once the mission starts.

Scenario 2: You can create 10 potential search areas with 10 (or more if you daisy-chain the randomizers) potential spawn locations each via the sub-groups. 

Scenario 3: You have 10 different, unrelated cases you want to cover with random functionality: Disconnect the output triggers of the Initializer sub-group from the Input Signals of the other sub-groups and simply connect the Initializer Input Signal (the one you would set off the whole commotion) timer directly to the Input Signals of the sub-groups.

I really hope my blubber is comprehensible. 

Screenshot 1: The general architecture. Initializer Group is right and connects to the sub-groups.

Screenshot 2: On the right side of the contraption you can see "Switch Through" and "Randomizer Input Signal". Remove the target link between these two if you want to allow for no timer firing at all.

100PointRandomizer.zip 9.63 kB · 2 downloads

This is really cool and I have been working to do something similar for pretty much the same reasons, armed recce.
I had some problems in my case where it seems like the dserver would get unstable with too many units.
Got me thinking if spawn vs activate would be better for such a large number of placed active entities.
Without looking at how you did it exactly, I thought I would just ask directly if you have had any issue with this spawn tree?

[AEthelraedUnraed]

1 hour ago, eszyman said:

This is really cool and I have been working to do something similar for pretty much the same reasons, armed recce.
I had some problems in my case where it seems like the dserver would get unstable with too many units.
Got me thinking if spawn vs activate would be better for such a large number of placed active entities.
Without looking at how you did it exactly, I thought I would just ask directly if you have had any issue with this spawn tree?

The logic your quote by itself doesn't spawn a single unit 😉

There shouldn't be a performance difference between spawn and activate. There might be one between delete and deactivate, but it's very minor at best, and so far all evidence I've seen that there even is one, has been anecdotal.

[Majakowski]

@eszyman There shouldn't be an issue, as it is wired up, only one of 100 outcomes should fire but you should allow for some seconds for this to be done. There are no spawners attached to this group, only timers that fire if they are triggered from which you can then activate your own activities like spawns, waypoints and so on. I am working on another version that allows to fire either a certain amount of randomly triggered timers and one where the amount can even be randomized.

[Majakowski]

Another template from me: Recon Zone

It consists of 9 check zone triggers, that self-deactivate after triggering. All these feed into a counter that counts to 9 (or any lower number if you want to allow for tolerances). The Recon Zone covers one large GUI map square. It has an input on the lower right that activates the check zone triggers and the icon. It also has an output timer on the upper left corner. Just change the checkzones to the coalitions or objects you need and connect a Mission Begin Translator or any other target link to the Input timer and the output timer to your other desired MCUs. 

This Recon Zone checks for a larger area to be overflown at least as often as necessary to actually trigger each sub-square. Can also be used for visual navigation training, learning to read land features when doing the individual approaches to cover all the ground.

ReconZone.zip

[DFLion]

I've just posted a 'Force Complete' MCU set-up drawing under the topic 'Why aren't we seeing more user created missions' in the single mission forum. 

Attached is another MCU set-up drawing I did - 'Start in the Air'. Over the years, these series of drawings helped me quickly make missions. I  have now memorized nearly all of them, except for the more complicated ones. I found the IL-2 Mission making manual difficult to interpret. Perhaps we could produce a basic set of MCU drawing notes ( 'Take-off', 'Artillery', 'Train's', 'Smoke pillars', 'AA fire' etc.)  to help new Campaign/Single missions builders get into the game?

DFLion

[eszyman]

Just curious if anyone knows if using the trigger date time is cheaper for the dserver to run over a checkzone, seems like they would be.