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RichNagel
April 3rd, 2015, 21:26
I just purchased Flight One Software's "December 7th, 1941! Pearl Harbor" add-on for Combat Flight Simulator 2 a few days ago.

A problem that I'm having is with two of the missions that require an AI controlled PBY aircraft to land at an airfield (which is one of the goals of the two missions, that the PBY survive). The problem is, after advancing to the last leg of the missions, the AI controlled PBY aircraft ALWAYS crashes into the water!

The two missions in question are the ONLY two in the Pearl Harbor add-on that require an AI controlled PBY landing...

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Filename: "USN-PH5.mis"

Title: "USN Pearl Harbor 5 (fictional)"

Summary: "PBY rescue north of Hawaii on December 6"

Objective: "One of the Navy's PBY's has fallen out of radio contact north of the island. CINCPac has called over for our assistance to send a P-40 flight to go find her and lead her in, based on her expected position."

Intelligence: "Get this done well, and then maybe we can start to play nice with the Navy folks."

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Filename: "H43US_02.mis"

Title: "Hawaii 1943 - Mission 02"

Summary: "A PBY on patrol to the Southeast has reported shipborne gunfire. Go bring her in."

Objective: "One of our PBY's - following up on the sub sitings from last Friday - has reported unidentified hostile gunfire. Go out and make sure she gets back to make a full report."
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The first mission listed above was one that was actually included with the Pearl Harbor add-on, while the second mission listed above was included with the official freely downloadable "Battle For Hawaii" mission expansion for Pearl Harbor ( http://www.flight1.com/esd-products.asp?product=FL1-PRL-DL1 / http://flight1software.com/pearlh/pearl_bfh.exe ).

Anyhow, this makes the two missions in question broken and unwinnable, as the AI controlled PBY aircraft ALWAYS crash into the water before they finally land at Keneohe Bay Air Station :(

Any idea of what could cause this problem (is it a known problem with these two missions?), and was there ever any fix for it?

Thanks in advance for any help or info! :)

Allen
April 3rd, 2015, 22:29
All add-on suck at landing. Why any one would make landing requared I have no idea.

Rami
April 4th, 2015, 04:56
Rick,

I also had the Pearl Harbor add-on, and actually got permission from Just Flight to overhaul their Mosquito Squadron and "Double Trouble / Mustang Vs Fw-190" add-ons a few years ago.

However, the Flight One add-ons are ancient compared to what we have available for Pearl Harbor now. The good news is that the missions could always be retrofitted to accommodate the new scenery.

Oglivie
April 4th, 2015, 16:38
Perhaps could report problem to Flight1 and request a fix or permission to modify that particular misson. You could perhaps use the CFS2 Mission Builder to edit and change the goal for that mission--for the PBYs to arrive over the field instead of landing to complete the required goal. Also there are Pearl Harbor projects and campaigns here in the download libraries.

RichNagel
April 5th, 2015, 05:25
Thanks for the info, folks :)

RichNagel
April 5th, 2015, 15:50
P.S. Another bug/problem that I have discovered, with the following mission:

Filename: "USN-PH2.mis"
Title: "USN Pearl Harbor 2"
Summary: "Kenneth Taylor's flight over Hawaii"

Each and every time that I click the "Advanced Info" button the game crashes. The only time that the mission doesn't crash the game is when viewing the "Advanced Info" AFTER completing the mission (at the debrief screen).

I have NO idea what could cause this, as all of the airfield entries within the mission file seem to be proper and intact (they are identical to the airfield entries contained in the game's "AirBases.dat", that the PH configuration utility adds).

All of the other missions (including the missions included with the free mission expansion) seem to function fine (no game crashes or lockups)... only the above mentioned one.

RichNagel
October 20th, 2016, 01:59
OK, I THINK that I have FINALLY SOLVED this annoying problem with the PBY crashing into the water with the "USN-PH5.mis" mission, which ALWAYS causes you to fail the mission!

There are two mission files that are bugged: one is located in the "Campaigns" directory, and one is located in the "Missions" directory (note that they are the exact same file byte for byte, with the exact same bug), and the filename for both files is "USN-PH5.mis".

1 - Open them in Windows Notepad.

2 - Search for:

[unit_type.1]
type_id=3842
unit_family=2
name=F1_PH_PBY

...and change to:

[unit_type.1]
type_id=3842
unit_family=1
name=F1_PH_PBY FLY

3 - Save the files, and ENJOY!

The first problem was the "name=F1_PH_PBY"... there is NO "F1_PH_PBY" that ships with the addon. The two included aircraft are "F1_PH_PBY Fly" and "F1_PH_PBY Static".

Secondly (and this was the MAIN problem/bug), the "unit_family=2 was incorrect... it SHOULD be "unit_family=1", which matches the entry in the aircraft's ".dp" damage profile file.

The above FIXED the problem, and I have flown the fixed mission twice successfully :)

READ ON:

Now, that being said, I found that the matching "IJN" mission file had the same incorrect "unit_family=2" entry, and I ALSO corrected that one.

1 - Open the two "IJN-PH5.mis" files in Windows Notepad (as above, one is located in the "Campaigns" directory, and one is located in the "Missions" directory).

2 - Search for:

[unit_type.1]
type_id=3842
unit_family=2
name=F1_PH_PBY FLY

...and change to:

[unit_type.1]
type_id=3842
unit_family=1
name=F1_PH_PBY FLY

Note that the "IJN" version of mission file ALREADY has the correct "name=F1_PH_PBY FLY" entry.

3 - Save the files, and ENJOY!

P.S. Hey Flight1 Software, do I get any freebie for FIXING this blatant show-stopping bug for you? :)

RichNagel
October 20th, 2016, 03:12
A BIG P.S.

NOTE that the above fix did NOT fix the bug in the mission file "H43US_02.mis" (Hawaii 1943 - Mission 02), as that mission ALREADY includes the "unit_family=1" and "name=F1_PH_PBY FLY" entries in the mission file. I have NO idea what's up with that mission... the PBY ALWAYS crashes into the water!

This leads me to come to this conclusion: The Flight1 Software PBY that is included with the addon SUCKS... the AI simply can't reliably fly/land it.

Allen
October 20th, 2016, 12:49
The unit_family=1 tells the game that this is a fighter/bombers but not level bombers. unit_family=2 tells the game this is a level bomber.

Rami
October 21st, 2016, 04:05
RichNagel,

Flight One and Just Flight's payware products were good in their time, the trouble is that now, the only usefulness they have is for their missions. Pretty much every single add-on plane, ship, or scenery piece from those has a freeware equivalent that at least meets or exceeds the original.

You can use Morton's aircraft and ship mission utility to swap out the aircraft and ships.

RichNagel
October 22nd, 2016, 01:15
Thanks for the info, guys :)

RichNagel
October 31st, 2016, 04:45
P.S. Another bug/problem that I have discovered, with the following mission:

Filename: "USN-PH2.mis"
Title: "USN Pearl Harbor 2"
Summary: "Kenneth Taylor's flight over Hawaii"

Each and every time that I click the "Advanced Info" button the game crashes. The only time that the mission doesn't crash the game is when viewing the "Advanced Info" AFTER completing the mission (at the debrief screen).

I have NO idea what could cause this, as all of the airfield entries within the mission file seem to be proper and intact (they are identical to the airfield entries contained in the game's "AirBases.dat", that the PH configuration utility adds).

All of the other missions (including the missions included with the free mission expansion) seem to function fine (no game crashes or lockups)... only the above mentioned one.

BUG FIXED! Open the "USN-PH2.mis" file in Windows Notepad, and search for the following:

[unit.0]
id=9633
type_id=3850
name=%name_string.0%
is_player_aircraft=1
allegiance=3
skill=2
aggression=2
payload=1

[unit.1]
id=9634
type_id=3850
name=%name_string.1%
allegiance=3
skill=2
aggression=2
payload=1

...and edit the two "payload=1" entries to read "payload=0", as there is *NO* "payload=1" for the included Flight1 Pearl Harbor P-40 aircraft (as it is guns-only).

PROBLEM SOLVED! :)

Lastly, I *THINK* that I may have tracked down the problem with the crashing PBY aircraft in the "H43US_02.mis" mission ("Hawaii 1943 - Mission 02")... I still have more testing to do, but watch this space for more info :)

RichNagel
November 1st, 2016, 13:27
Lastly, I *THINK* that I may have tracked down the problem with the crashing PBY aircraft in the "H43US_02.mis" mission ("Hawaii 1943 - Mission 02")... I still have more testing to do, but watch this space for more info :)

FIXED! Open the "H43US_02.mis" file in Windows Notepad, and search for the following:

[waypoint_path.0]
id=5000
waypoint.0=2,1,N21* 34.53',W158* 8.12',+21,,,,0,,8054,0,1
waypoint.1=1,1,N21* 13.13',W157* 22.18',+845,,,,257,,0,0,1
waypoint.2=32,1,N21* 12.91',W157* 20.63',+5000,,,,237,,6035,1,1
waypoint.3=1048576,1,N21* 32.08',W157* 42.80',+3000,,,,237,,6035,1,1
waypoint.4=4,1,N21* 34.53',W158* 8.12',+21,,,,0,,8054,0,1

...and also search for the following:

[waypoint_path.1]
id=5097
waypoint.0=1,0,N21* 10.81',W157* 19.87',+5000,,,,237,,0,0,1
waypoint.1=1,0,N21* 12.91',W157* 20.63',+5000,,,,237,,0,1,1
waypoint.2=64,0,N21* 32.08',W157* 42.80',+3000,,,,237,,6000,1,1
waypoint.3=4,1,N21* 27.39',W157* 46.35',+7,,,,0,,8056,0,1

...and then edit the three "+5000" entries above to read "+3000". Apparently, the PBY flies too poorly for the AI to be able to decend from 5000' MSL to 3000' MSL without crashing problems.

One final important thing to bear in mind:

Note that the above fixes for the PBY crashing problem only corrects the bug some of the time. I flew all of the fixed missions in question five times... three out of five times the PBY didn't crash, but the other two times I flew the mission it DID. Hence, the fixes aren't 100% perfect, but AT LEAST I can win the missions most of the time :)

RichNagel
November 1st, 2016, 13:38
P.S. I figured, what the hey... I might as well attach a ZIP with the fixed missions. ENJOY! :)