Battle of France - Part I has now been released!

[Rami]

Hello again,

A couple of other notes for you....the timing of this was to get this package out before the grad semester heats up. I knew I was close to getting this released, but once I got busy with school, this release would have been delayed into May. So I made sure to finish and release it by the end of this weekend.

Please also note that most of the campaigns are dynamic. If you see a mission with an "A," "B," "C," and so on, it means these missions are flown on the same day. Accordingly, the campaign is set up so you will fly some, but not all of these missions. So each campaign is a dynamic experience, except for those (there are a few) which are linear.

Also, the campaigns have something for everyone. The British fighter campaigns are designed with Captain Kurt and others in mind; they are "immersive," with the same aircraft, squadron, and often airbase for the duration. The Lysander campaign also uses a single aircraft throughout, and the AASF is similar with using the Fairey Battle for eight of ten missions.

A similar mindset exists for the German Stuka campaign, which is progressive as you hop forward along the front, along with the Bf-109 and Bf-110 campaigns. These are with the same aircraft throughout, however you do hop from squadron to squadron.

The British and German bomber campaigns, as well as the French fighter and bomber campaigns, are more of a hodgepodge, likewise the Royal Belgian Air Force and Slag om Nederland campaigns.

There are a total of nineteen campaigns and three hundred and thirty-eight missions, so it should keep you busy for a few hours, at least.

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Thank you sir! Long awaited and much appreciated.

[hewman100]

The boys made it! The original intention was to have it ready for the 75th Anniversary of the BoF IIRC. To get it done in time for 80th with the shear amount of coding and updating that the computing team did is a marvel.

I'm honoured to be included as part of the team although my input came to an end some time ago. I've also received the call to break out the books in readiness.....

[Rami]

Hewman100,

Kdriver suggested an original aim of thirty new missions. I think I went (cough) a tad over that.

As far as Part II is concerned, I have your notes from 26 May onward, and I also have the Battle of Britain by James Holland, and Case Red, the Collapse of France by Robert Forczyk that I can mine for information, along with the numerous .pdf files and notes you guys sent me.

For Part II, I was going to have the initial focus be on two specific areas of the front; Dunkirk and Amiens/Abbeville, and then of course it would shift with Operation Paula.

[Rami]

Good morning,

Two more items of note...

1) I will post an updated Part Ic this afternoon that has one fix: The Royal Belgian Air Force missions were originally listed under the "Dutch" nationality before the "Belgian" nationality was included. Some of the missions have the wrong allegiance.

UPDATE: Here are the corrected Belgian missions, which fixes their nationality. Just copy them into the CAMPAIGNS and MISSIONS folder of your BoF installation.

2) You may notice that there are two Ju-88 aircraft folders in this installation. KG 30 is configured as a level bomber, and KG 51 as a dive-bomber. If you wish to fly Ju-88 missions using the aircraft as a dive-bomber pilot, use Morton's aircraft and ship utility (or hand-edit them manually) to swap out the aircraft for an added mission twist.

[mercure]

Hello Rami,

First of all I want to assure you and the team of my very very deep appreciation for this unbelievable work. It is a kind of apex for CFS2 Europe, with an unprecedented effort to create, collect and compile about 20 years of CFS improvements.

Many many many thanks, just the installation is a joy!

I also would like to kindly inform you there is slight glitch regarding the campaigns from the French side, fighter and bomber. The names of mission files (e.g.: Battle of France 1a (F)) and the names in the cmg file (Battle of France (F) 1a) do not match.

It is not a big deal to change, I do this, but others might be a little lost.

Again Bravo et merci!!

[Rami]

I also would like to kindly inform you there is slight glitch regarding the campaigns from the French side, fighter and bomber. The names of mission files (e.g.: Battle of France 1a (F)) and fhe names in the cmg file (Battle of France (F) 1a) do not match.

It is not a big deal to change, I do this, but others might be a little lost.

Mercure,

First, many thank yous for your kind words. This was indeed a labor of love on my part, as well as the others involved!

Second, thank you for pointing this out. I already noted a flaw I saw myself, so when I make that correction later this evening, I will make sure to include this as well. If you find additional problems, please call them out, it's how things like this get fixed!

[Rami]

Good evening,

Here are corrected French bomber and fighter campaign files. Thanks to Mercure for the heads-up!

Just use them to override the originals in the CAMPAIGNS folder.

[blohmundvoss]

Rami and team

What a fantastic example of what this creaking old sim is still capable of after all these years, thanks to the effort and imagination of some great developers and mission builders.

I think it will take longer to work through it than it did for you to put it all together - what a lovely prospect . . .

Hats off to you all once again.
So when did you say the next part's coming out?



Cheers
BuV

[Rami]

BuV,

You're quite welcome. And actually, because we kept all of the historical notes, (They're in pack Ic) we're already discussing preliminaries, including some scenery improvements / enhancements.

Later today, I was going to begin going through the mission days from 26 May until 22 June and cobble together a list of missions by day to get an idea of what Part II will actually look like. One of the big decisions will include whether to include the Italian-French missions as part of the Part II package, or as a separate entity. I'm inclined to make it the latter, since it really is part of the Mediterranean.

[Killer Svend]

Rami,

You have done it again, FANTASTIC!!!!!, the best we have seen up till now, although a little problem.

I would fly the French fighter campaign, but got the message "Mission Battle of France (F) 1a is not found," I installed your upgraded .cmg file, but still no joy.
Killer Svend

[Rami]

Killer Svend,

Thank you for the compliments! Just to be sure, I just checked the revised French campaign files myself, and the missions load normally in the campaign file.

Did you or would you check again to ensure that all of the actual missions are in the missions and campaigns folder?

[Killer Svend]

I flow it "Tangling with Kampfgeschwader 53" as single mission -no problem.
Killer Svend

[Rami]

Killer Svend,

Okay, good to know the mission works. Here's the thing...

1) That mission is actually Battle of France 3a (F), which is at node.9 in the campaign file, so you'd be flying that about the third mission in.

2) Also, you said you replaced the original campaign files with the ones from this thread, but the way you wrote the error ("Mission Battle of France (F) 1a is not found") tells me that the revised campaign files have not been installed in the CAMPAIGNS folder to overwrite the originals.

Here's how the new .cmg file has them worded...(the first ten entries)

[node.0]
true_branch=1
false_branch=2
percent_true=50
filler=0
soundfile=

[node.1]
mission_name=Battle of France 1a (F)
true_branch=3
false_branch=5
percent_true=50
filler=1

[node.2]
mission_name=Battle of France 1b (F)
true_branch=4
false_branch=6
percent_true=50
filler=1

[node.3]
mission_name=Battle of France 1c (F)
true_branch=5
false_branch=8
percent_true=50
filler=1

[node.4]
mission_name=Battle of France 1d (F)
true_branch=6
false_branch=7
percent_true=50
filler=1

[node.5]
mission_name=Battle of France 2a (F)
true_branch=7
false_branch=9
percent_true=50
filler=1

[node.6]
mission_name=Battle of France 2b (F)
true_branch=8
false_branch=10
percent_true=50
filler=1

[node.7]
mission_name=Battle of France 2c (F)
true_branch=9
false_branch=10
percent_true=50
filler=1

[node.8]
mission_name=Battle of France 2d (F)
true_branch=10
false_branch=9
percent_true=50
filler=1

[node.9]
mission_name=Battle of France 3a (F)
true_branch=11
false_branch=12
percent_true=50
filler=1

So in theory, if the new .cmg files are in the CAMPAIGNS folder in the install you created for this package, the missions in the campaign should load normally now.

[Killer Svend]

Am I going to change anything in the cmg file? I can't,because I can not open the file. I seems that I need some special program to do so, I am sorry, but I am certainly not really able to do something if the system is not working 100%
Killer Svend

[Rami]

Killer Svend,

No, you don't have to change anything in the .cmg file, I just showed this to you to confirm that the new .cmg files that are in this thread are written to fix the mission order. I highlighted in black the error you were getting in my post to show you that for whatever reason, you may not have the corrected .cmg files in the campaigns folder, because if you did, the mission files should now load normally.

All you should have to do in theory is download the .cmg files and place them in the campaigns folder, letting them overwrite the originals.

Beyond that, I'm out of ideas, because I cannot replicate your problem now.

P.S. - You can open up mission, (.mis) dynamic elements, (.dyn) and campaign (.cmg) files in notepad. It's a standard Windows program, in Accessories.

[Killer Svend]

Sorry, still no joy with the french fighter campaign after the new cmg files, I tried the bomber campaign and it opened without any problems.

The problem is that, I am not a bomber pilot, I like flying only fighters.
Killer Svend

[Rami]

Killer Svend,

I am at a loss, because I cannot replicate your problem. So let's work it in reverse. Please attach your French fighter campaign file, and I'll have a look at it. Also, please confirm that the mission files for the French Fighter campaign are also in the CAMPAIGNS folder.

[Killer Svend]

Rami,

No wonder if you were puzzled, there was nothing wrong with the campaign, I, myself was the guilty one. I saw that after I entered the my pilot name, there was some garbled signs at the and of the line. I deleted the pilot and added a new one, the garbled signs disappeared and voila I was in the air. Now I am really sorry for bothering you for nothing. Sorry!
Killer Svend

[Rami]

Killer Svend,

There is absolutely no need to apologize, I am happy you found the solution and everything is working as it should be now!

[skylane]

Rami and Team,

It is amazing what you did with this project, so many missions and all this attention to detail!

Thank you very much!

[stuart277]

To Rami and the team,

Thank you very much for the extraordinary efforts with this massive project.

The installation was a breeze.

Again, many thanks.

Cheers,

Stuart

[Rami]

The installation was a breeze.

I think these are some of the kindest words that anyone has ever said to me. You're welcome!

[Killer Svend]

Let me join the choir. THIS IS NOTHING ELSE BUT OUTSTANDING.Thank you so mutch RAMI.
Killer Svend

[Rami]

Killer Svend,

Thank you. Part of the reason why it took so long was to create a quality product. The other is we kept adding to it. Would you believe it initially was only going to be about thirty missions?