Operation Jupiter - Normandy WWII PvE Playground

[Surrexen]

Operation Jupiter is a persistent, open world PvE playground for the Normandy WW2 map. It is loosely based on the events of Operation Jupiters and Goodwood which were part of the Battle of Caen. This mission uses similar mechanics to what Operation Snowfox uses for the Persian Gulf map. The mission utilizes Moose functions and custom scripts which have been included in the mission file.

 

To allow the mission to provide persistency, it is necessary to de-sanitize 'lfs' and 'io' in MissionScripting.lua. The mission will still be able to run without this, but persistency won't happen.

 

Please note the following:

- Wake turbulence has been disabled in this mission by default and enforced to save on performance, enable at your own peril

- B-17 bomber missions can be enabled from the radio menu, however this will impact performance on older machines. To save on performance, the bombers will not actually drop bombs over their target areas. They are just there to represent some form of historical accuracy.

 

There are 30 mission targets for Blue coalition. Red coalition does not have any missions aside from the "Defend" objective at this time until I see how the mission runs on people's systems. Feedback is most definately required on how it runs with and without the B-17 missions running. When the B-17's are up, there will be a flight of 12 bombers that fly over Caen. This is on top of the various dogfights that will spring up all over the joint.

 

Also, I had a lot of ideas for adding sounds and music but I've had to back out of the idea due to potential copyright concerns. Also the only WWII module not included in the mission is the I-16, simply because I don't own it.

 

Download here:

 

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3306695/

Edited January 9, 2021 by Surrexen

[skunk160]

look forward to trying this tonight

[Surrexen]

look forward to trying this tonight

 

Once you have had a look please do come back and let me know how it runs for you :thumbup:

[skunk160]

10-4

[skunk160]

nice work, nicely balanced AAA, didn't bog my machine down, didn't see any other aircraft axis or allied in the two quick flights, but they were quick

 

are the AA batteries randomised in location?

 

spawned axis v allies battles would be nice to fly over and help out with

 

Good job sir

[Surrexen]

nice work, nicely balanced AAA, didn't bog my machine down, didn't see any other aircraft axis or allied in the two quick flights, but they were quick

 

are the AA batteries randomised in location?

 

spawned axis v allies battles would be nice to fly over and help out with

 

Good job sir

 

The AAA is in set locations. At the start of play axis planes have to fly from Evreux to Caen which will take around 10 minutes or so. Allied fighters start from Saint Croix-sur-Mer so you should have seen them in the air around the base. Take a look at the F-10 map to see where they are. Dogfights typically break out on the Eastern side of Caen. Keep checking your map :thumbup:

[Surrexen]

Anyone else given this a go? What did you think of it?

[Bagpipe]

downloading now

[Bagpipe]

With the B17 mission i could use a grid reference aswell as a target name as i had no idea where they were headed to intercept for escort duty. good fun dogfighting the AI though

[Surrexen]

With the B17 mission i could use a grid reference aswell as a target name as i had no idea where they were headed to intercept for escort duty. good fun dogfighting the AI though

 

When triggered, it will tell you the grid reference that the B-17's will start at and give you 10 minutes warning. Effectively they start at the given grid reference (right in the middle of that grid) and fly pretty much South towards Caen at 6000m altitude. The 3 'mission's are Colombelle Steelworks, Cagny and Mondeville to give you an idea of where they are going.

 

It is very rare at this stage for the Axis planes to engage the bombers on their own so escort isn't overly necessary. I was considering spawning a special 'intercept' flight but it's tricky because performance is a concern at this point (at least on my old potato machine).

 

At some point I'll make this a little more intuitive and have the bombers report on their position/progress. Given that very few people have tried this out and it is an initial version I would welcome any suggestions to improve it. How is performance for you when the bombers are flying over Caen?

[Bagpipe]

Feedback offered by Reflected Sims for warbird missions/campaigns right now is to always fly them with wake turbulence OFF. This massively increases FPS especially on the lagging Normandy map.

 

The B17 mission started and gave me a rendezvous point but then just said Colombelle, which to me was like somebody i can't see poniting at something i had no idea where it was lol.

 

Even like "Colombelle Steelworks - XXnm SE of Caen" or similar would do me better :)

[Surrexen]

Feedback offered by Reflected Sims for warbird missions/campaigns right now is to always fly them with wake turbulence OFF. This massively increases FPS especially on the lagging Normandy map.

 

The B17 mission started and gave me a rendezvous point but then just said Colombelle, which to me was like somebody i can't see poniting at something i had no idea where it was lol.

 

Even like "Colombelle Steelworks - XXnm SE of Caen" or similar would do me better :)

 

Wake turbulence is enforced 'off' by default from the mission editor for this mission, which is also stated on the download page so I've already got that covered.

 

For the B-17's, no problem I will add the grid reference of the target :thumbup:

[Surrexen]

v101 is now up.

 

Changelog v101

- Added NoLove's fancy new A2A CAP Zone method to the A2A Dispatcher, which allows for more organic intercepts. Many thanks to NoLove for his work, and permission to use this new method!

- Added grid references for the B-17's target areas as requested by Bagpipe

[Surrexen]

v102 is now up which reverts back to the regular air dispatcher methods due to some unexpected unit behaviour.

[Surrexen]

v103 is up

 

Changelog v103

- Sounds added for aerial kills, mission successes, B17's being shot down etc. Due to not being able to find anything usable material for the luftwaffe yet, both sides will use the allied sound set for now.

[grant977]

Just for fun I swapped a p51 spot with a f16....

[Surrexen]

v104 is up which is just a minor change to some scripting.

[tintifaxl]

v103 is up

 

Changelog v103

- Sounds added for aerial kills, mission successes, B17's being shot down etc. Due to not being able to find anything usable material for the luftwaffe yet, both sides will use the allied sound set for now.

 

 

As far as I know, Veteran66 did a WW2 German radio mod: https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/2161798/

 

 

Maybe you could ask him if you could use that?

[Surrexen]

v105 up

 

Changelog v105:

- Bug in mission validation for statics if the initial mission target was a previously destroyed static has been corrected

- Target report target elevation now listed in meters as well as feet

[Surrexen]

With the Normandy map having received an update, it appears I will have to do some fix-em-ups on some unit placement etc as some units are now under trees. Might be a while before I can get this done.

[Surrexen]

v106 up

 

Changelog v106

- Corrected unit placement after today's Normandy map update

 

 

With the changes to the Normandy map underway, I'll wait to see what happens with it before doing any further work to it. But the extra airfields are going to be extremely useful. The possibilities are now much greater than before.

[QuantumMonk]

Hey Surrexen, I finally got my forum account to let me post after being randomly blocked post verification for quite a while.

 

 

Needless to say, I've been running this mission on my dedicated server for quite a while and it's great! I don't seem to hit any performance issues with it set up on a separate server machine. Wondering if we can get an option to enable the B17s to actually bomb their target. Just to get that satisfaction :smilewink: (and yeah, this is the same person that posted this question on the mission download comments).

 

 

 

A few other requests/ideas that are completely optional:

 

 

 

1. I like having the option to start cold, it would be great if there were a few of each plane group set cold at the airport that you could optionally select for flying.
   
2. It is also quite lonely if you are the only one playing. I don't know if this is possible because I am still barely starting to learn the mission editor, but is it possible to request a flight join you in formation (they could be spawned on request)? This would make playing solo feel a lot less lonely.
   
3. I'd love to have a more direct response to the B17 group from the Axis side. I realize you said it seems to be a big performance hit, but right now the escort mission is pretty uneventful quite often and when the mission is running on dedicated hardware it seems to be pretty smooth so far for me.
   
4. I have no idea if this is possible, or may already exist and I haven't hit the mission yet, but having a mission to destroy some armor moving from a distant town toward Caen would be really awesome! I feel it would add a bit more realistic excitement and intensity to the missions.
   
5. Last but not least, I've noticed the axis planes often times seem to suddenly decide to RTB and completely ignore being shot at. It seems like a weird AI bug. They will just fly in formation while being slowly picked off. Don't know if you think this is fixable in the mission itself or not, but it might be worth looking into. The Allied planes may be doing the same thing, but I'm not usually chasing them to so I haven't noticed.
   

 

 

I know this is all a lot of work, and you have put in a ton of work already for this mission and all your other ones. Your work is really great quality, I appreciate it a lot. I'm working on learning the mission editor myself to make some small simple WWII multiplayer scenarios as well, and it is quite a task to get the hang of everything. I reeeeaaally wish there was just one AI Axis bomber in the WWII assets... it just feels weird flying a p51 to shoot down axis B17s...

 

 

Anyway, you are awesome, keep up the good work, and happy holidays!

[Surrexen]

Hey Surrexen, I finally got my forum account to let me post after being randomly blocked post verification for quite a while.

 

 

Needless to say, I've been running this mission on my dedicated server for quite a while and it's great! I don't seem to hit any performance issues with it set up on a separate server machine. Wondering if we can get an option to enable the B17s to actually bomb their target. Just to get that satisfaction :smilewink: (and yeah, this is the same person that posted this question on the mission download comments).

 

 

 

A few other requests/ideas that are completely optional:

 

 

 

1. I like having the option to start cold, it would be great if there were a few of each plane group set cold at the airport that you could optionally select for flying.
   
2. It is also quite lonely if you are the only one playing. I don't know if this is possible because I am still barely starting to learn the mission editor, but is it possible to request a flight join you in formation (they could be spawned on request)? This would make playing solo feel a lot less lonely.
   
3. I'd love to have a more direct response to the B17 group from the Axis side. I realize you said it seems to be a big performance hit, but right now the escort mission is pretty uneventful quite often and when the mission is running on dedicated hardware it seems to be pretty smooth so far for me.
   
4. I have no idea if this is possible, or may already exist and I haven't hit the mission yet, but having a mission to destroy some armor moving from a distant town toward Caen would be really awesome! I feel it would add a bit more realistic excitement and intensity to the missions.
   
5. Last but not least, I've noticed the axis planes often times seem to suddenly decide to RTB and completely ignore being shot at. It seems like a weird AI bug. They will just fly in formation while being slowly picked off. Don't know if you think this is fixable in the mission itself or not, but it might be worth looking into. The Allied planes may be doing the same thing, but I'm not usually chasing them to so I haven't noticed.
   

 

 

I know this is all a lot of work, and you have put in a ton of work already for this mission and all your other ones. Your work is really great quality, I appreciate it a lot. I'm working on learning the mission editor myself to make some small simple WWII multiplayer scenarios as well, and it is quite a task to get the hang of everything. I reeeeaaally wish there was just one AI Axis bomber in the WWII assets... it just feels weird flying a p51 to shoot down axis B17s...

 

 

Anyway, you are awesome, keep up the good work, and happy holidays!

 

 

With the Normandy map being overhauled currently I will wait until they are done messing with it before I do anything else. I will also need to wait until a new Moose version is out that caters for the new airfields so I can use them. Anyway that said, I am hopeful that with the increased performance of the map, that I can re-jiggy a few things and hopefully include at least one flight of interceptors, maybe even make the bombers active by default. When the time comes I will add some cold start planes in. I will also add a few flights where the player is the leader of an AI flight so you can take a wingman or flight with you, the downside here is that those flights can only be 'one off's as they don't respawn etc but it is what it is. Moving ground unit's is one of the bigger performance chewers so I probably won't do that (I want too, but the performance would be better spent on interceptors).

 

Also I am waiting for the u-boat model they said they were going to add. My intention is to add u-boats and various targets to Le Havre area, along with another bomber flight to attack that area. Other things I'm waiting on is of course the P-47 (drool) and the Mosquito (mega drool). So yeah, this mission is nowhere near final. Merry Christmas!

[QuantumMonk]

That all sounds awesome! Thanks for responding and explaining some of your future plans, I’m excited to keep testing anything you add to the mission.

 

If you ever see more than one person in a server with ‘Quantum’ in the name, feel free to pop in, it’s probably my server and is likely running one of your missions (usually this Normandy one). I’ll probably be trying to bomb the mission target, and mostly missing.

[Surrexen]

v107 is up

 

Changelog v107

- B-17 bombers will now carpet bomb their target areas

- Sainte Croix sur Mer and Evreux are hot start airfields

- Lantheuil and Argentan are cold start airfields

- Sommervieu and Goulet are cold start airfields with 2 AI wingmen (each flight can only spawn the wingman once)

- Tailnumbers and callsigns slightly adjusted

 

Note: When I tested out the B-17's it seemed fine performance wise after the map upgrades etc. Your mileage may vary. I would like some feedback on how this goes for you guys now, as the next step would be to add in some bomber interceptors if all is ok.