Bomber Formations

[+Veltro2k]

Is anyone still pursuing  the possibility of when you choose a bomber, more then two will show up ?  The AI does it when you fly an intercept mission why cant it be done when we fly a bomber mission ?

[Wrench]

Escort missions give you full squadrons as well.

 

gotta be something in the base coding that's not allowing it on Player Controlled bombers

[Wilches]

There must be a file controlled somehow... I made a criterous search through all the .INIs files in every Data files and nothing related to this was found. Well, as far as my skill alloweds.

[FastCargo]

Guys, am I missing something?  I have massed formations of 9 each group (Oyster 1-1 to 1-9)...up to a max of 16 aircraft with me as the lead.

 

 

Ignore the paintjob...I'm still working on the FM and it will eventually get a different paint scheme, decals, and maybe spec/normal maps...

 

FC

[Wrench]

FC, try it with B-17s or 24s

[FastCargo]

Kevin, can you zip one you are having trouble with and send it to me via PM?

 

FC

[Wrench]

They're all in the ww2 downloads section, Harold .... any USAAF or RAF bombers.

 

me wonders if it isn't a formations issue or AircraftRole=

(I assume -oh! that word!- the Spirts are set as BOMBER, not ATTACK?)

 

hmmm.....

in the ww2 formations ini... we have this (note the bold)

 

 

[FormationType002]
Name=USBomber
FormationType=AIR
BaseLevel=2
Level[01].Name=Squadron
Level[01].Size=4
Level[01].Formation[01]=USBomberSq
Level[02].Name=Flight
Level[02].Size=2
Level[02].Formation[01]=USBomberFl
Level[03].Name=Element
Level[03].Size=2

 

this is the STOCK 3W formation set

 

further down, we have this for WW2USBomber:

 

 

[FormationType005]
Name=WW2USBomber
FormationType=AIR
BaseLevel=6
Level[01].Name=BombGroup
Level[01].Size=3
Level[01].Formation[01]=WW2USBomberBG
Level[02].Name=Flight
Level[02].Size=3
Level[02].Formation[01]=WW2USBomberSq
Level[03].Name=Element
Level[03].Size=3
Level[03].Formation[01]=WW2USBomberElm

which is more like it.

 

I'm going to try an experiment, and use these numbers in the 002 setup, and test. Hopefully, we'll start getting the correct bomber formations.

BTW, there's statements for mediums and attack as well

To say nothing of Japanese, German and Italian formation statiements.....hmmm....interestering....

Edited May 6, 2014 by Wrench

[FastCargo]

 

Looks okay...though my Nations.ini for the force I'm using uses USBomber as the default bomber formation.

 

 

Formation.Bomber=USBomber

 

I have no altered Formation.ini file (pretty sure there is such a thing)...using bone stock ini file.

 

FC

[Wrench]

there's a ww2 nations ini, that has the various statements for formations, and the ww2 formation ini.

 

I swapped out the "stock" (first listed USAF) formations, and it still only give 2 aircraft when player flown. This is in, of course, a dedicated ETO mods folder.

 

yours definitely looks right .. flights of 3 each.

 

Let me experiment more; without using the ww2 formations ini. I'll rewrite the ww2 nations ini and return everything to stock, and see what happens

 

below is a screenie of what most of us are getting

[FastCargo]

Did you try adding folks from your rosters?

 

FC

[+Veltro2k]

any update on this ?

[Wrench]

I've been away from it for a number of days for reasons not really important (eye issues)

 

Here's the weird thing ... occasionaly, I've been getting the flight of 3 in single missions; other times, it's back to 2. There's NO rhyme or reason.

 

I'll keep fiddling/testing as I can

[+Veltro2k]

tried posting this issue in thirdwire,...not 1 response

[Wrench]

did you really expect one???

Seems like all us Modders got hung out to dry. Only "customer service" issues seem to get anwswer over the last 12-14 months.

 

what I did was change the USAF formations pointer BACK to stock:

 

[Nation002]
Name=USAF
DisplayName=U.S. Army Air Force
Alignment=FRIENDLY
PlayerFlyable=TRUE
PilotNameList=NamesUSAF.lst
RankList=RanksUSAF.lst
CallsignList=CallsignsUS.lst
Formation.Fighter=USFighter
Formation.Attack=USFighter
Formation.Bomber=USBomber
Formation.Transport=USBomber
Formation.Tank=USTank
Formation.MobileAD=USAD
PilotTrainingStandard=EXCELLENT
GenderRatio=0
DebriefSuccessMusic=DebriefSuccess.wav
DebriefFailMusic=DebriefFail.wav
DebriefKilledMusic=DebriefKilled.wav
SpeechFile=USAFSpeech.cat
SpeechTextFile=USAFSpeechText.cat
Medals=MedalsUSAF.ini
MedalTextFile=MedalsUSAF.str
UseFAC=TRUE

 

and in the Formations.ini, sorta rearranged things:

 

[FormationType002]
Name=USBomber
FormationType=AIR
BaseLevel=6
Level[01].Name=BombGroup
Level[01].Size=3
Level[01].Formation[01]=WW2USBomberBG
Level[02].Name=Flight
Level[02].Size=3
Level[02].Formation[01]=WW2USBomberSq
Level[03].Name=Element
Level[03].Size=3
Level[03].Formation[01]=WW2USBomberElm

 

mind you, I'm still using the "ww2" type formations ini, but only with changes to the US bombers. UK, RA, Japanese and Luftwatte could possibly be the same. Or, have the Axis (Italy, Germany, Japanese Empire and IJN) use the Soviet bomber formations.

 

The damn odd thing is, when you DON'T fly bombers, the AI has the correct formations. It's only when player-flown that the screw up occurs.

[TheWarrior]

So.  Does any one know why bombers don't fly in a larger squadron formation in campaigns but instead two or three aircraft.