Operation Ilium, A new mini-campaign for the UH-1H

[SpikeGondorff]

Good afternoon everyone,

Just wanted to let everyone know about a new mini-campaign for the best helicopter in DCS.  I'm creating this thread for any feedback, bug reports, etc. because I don't get notified on new Comments in the User Files. 

The summary:

In April of 2022, a Brazilian journalist has been kidnapped near the Ba'ath Dam. You've been hired by a Private Military Company to provide helicopter support and transport to help locate and rescue the journalist.

The campaign has full voiceovers with kneeboard pages. It's not meant to be a difficult campaign. As long as you can start up, take off, and land the Huey in FARP-sized landing areas, it will be fine. The difficulty ramps up through the 4 missions, however.

If you're interested, here's a link:

https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.com/en/files/3334386/

Thanks, and fly safe!

Edited November 18, 2023 by SpikeGondorff
Added summary

[KeyserSoze62]

@SpikeGondorff Great work on this campaign.  Voice overs are on point. Typical banter not unlike what i remember.  Great triggers and scenarios.  Love the 2nd mission and the jeep chase akin to Blackhawk Down. " Single shot through the engine block", "<profanity> that's a shame that was a nice jeep!"

Thanks for the work.

 

[SpikeGondorff]

1 hour ago, KeyserSoze62 said:

@SpikeGondorff Great work on this campaign.  Voice overs are on point. Typical banter not unlike what i remember.  Great triggers and scenarios.  Love the 2nd mission and the jeep chase akin to Blackhawk Down. " Single shot through the engine block", "<profanity> that's a shame that was a nice jeep!"

Thanks for the work.

 

Thanks for the kind words; glad you're enjoying it so far.  And you nailed the inspiration for the jeep shot. 

[LuseKofte]

Once home I be downloading this. 
Not sure if it is the best module in business but a very close second after mi8 

[MikeRomeoSierra1974]

This look very promising and like the quality of the voice acting. Found a potential bug in the first mission when the trigger fired for the message "Good morning gentlemen welcome to Air Syria..." but I hadn't landed yet and was still at 1000 feet or more, so might just have been a one-off but just a heads up

[MikeRomeoSierra1974]

Second mission went smoothly apart from getting stuck after Pollux got back in and had to use the F10 broken trigger option and that let me progress after that. Very enjoyable mission and well made

[SpikeGondorff]

3 hours ago, MikeRomeoSierra1974 said:

This look very promising and like the quality of the voice acting. Found a potential bug in the first mission when the trigger fired for the message "Good morning gentlemen welcome to Air Syria..." but I hadn't landed yet and was still at 1000 feet or more, so might just have been a one-off but just a heads up

Thanks for the report.  Probably a backup trigger (in case the game didn't recognize that the group were loaded on the helicopter) that fired incorrectly.  I'll take a look when I get some time.  And thanks for the update on the 2nd mission.  I'm pretty sure I have some grey hairs just from the infantry. 

[KeyserSoze62]

Just finished the campaign.  Really great work.  That last mission was tough. Great use of the Predator.  I'll be studying your mission scripting for sure. Thanks again for the great contribution.

Also wanted to mention that great missions like this make me understand even less why we still don't have troops actually appear inside helicopters when we load  them. It seems like this is long overdue in DCS. If we can have door gunners why not troops that embark and disembark?

Edited November 22, 2023 by KeyserSoze62

[Gunfreak]

8 hours ago, KeyserSoze62 said:

Just finished the campaign.  Really great work.  That last mission was tough. Great use of the Predator.  I'll be studying your mission scripting for sure. Thanks again for the great contribution.

Also wanted to mention that great missions like this make me understand even less why we still don't have troops actually appear inside helicopters when we load  them. It seems like this is long overdue in DCS. If we can have door gunners why not troops that embark and disembark?

 

I think they are SLOWLY working towards it.

I mean they are planing on a vietnam map, you can't spend hundreds/thousands of man hours on a vietnam map and not improve the Huey/other helicopters with vietnam area infantry and visual troops that go in and out.

[SpikeGondorff]

On 11/21/2023 at 1:03 PM, MikeRomeoSierra1974 said:

This look very promising and like the quality of the voice acting. Found a potential bug in the first mission when the trigger fired for the message "Good morning gentlemen welcome to Air Syria..." but I hadn't landed yet and was still at 1000 feet or more, so might just have been a one-off but just a heads up

Updated the first mission to fix that trigger.  I forgot to add the landing part of the trigger, so when you just flew over them (without landing) it fired.  I added the landing part of it...

 

 

On 11/21/2023 at 10:18 PM, KeyserSoze62 said:

Just finished the campaign.  Really great work.  That last mission was tough. Great use of the Predator.  I'll be studying your mission scripting for sure. Thanks again for the great contribution.

Also wanted to mention that great missions like this make me understand even less why we still don't have troops actually appear inside helicopters when we load  them. It seems like this is long overdue in DCS. If we can have door gunners why not troops that embark and disembark?

 

 

Awesome, glad you finished it and like it!  If you have any questions on how the missions work, or ideas on how to make the missions smoother, please let me know. 

I don't know why they don't have some animated soldiers in the back of the helo.  I know it's been requested since the Huey launched.  Hopefully they'll get to it, because it would add a lot to the atmosphere.

[MikeRomeoSierra1974]

Thanks for fixing that trigger. I totally agree about the lack of models for the soldiers in the interior of the helicopter and it does kill the immersion a tad but at least it doesn't stop it being a fun way of using the Huey. Hopefully they will update it at some stage because ir really is a great module which has stood the test of time

Edited November 23, 2023 by MikeRomeoSierra1974

[Ryuk99]

I just finished it, really enjoyed the campaign.
Thank you for making it.

What I liked the most is the really good voice acting, alongside the humor and characters (could’ve been louder at some points, or I did mess up my audio settings). The briefing was also really well made, and informative. Each mission was unique and had fun elements to challenge you.

Like closely following the jeep to shoot it with the rifle, or acting as Gunship in the last mission with the M60 Gunners.

You really felt like you’re part of something bigger.

Can recommend.

[SpikeGondorff]

On 1/11/2024 at 6:43 PM, Ryuk99 said:

I just finished it, really enjoyed the campaign.
Thank you for making it.

What I liked the most is the really good voice acting, alongside the humor and characters (could’ve been louder at some points, or I did mess up my audio settings). The briefing was also really well made, and informative. Each mission was unique and had fun elements to challenge you.

  Reveal hidden contents

Like closely following the jeep to shoot it with the rifle, or acting as Gunship in the last mission with the M60 Gunners.

You really felt like you’re part of something bigger.

Can recommend.

Thanks for playing, and I'm glad you enjoyed it.  The voice actors were awesome, and many thanks to them for their work.  You're the first to report issues with the volume of the voices, but there definitely could be others.  Some lines were recorded quieter, and I may have just not boosted them up enough.  If there is a specific section or person with quiet lines, let me know and I can take a look. 

Thanks for the recommendation!

[S3ntinell]

Great campaign, immersive and believable. Im only having problem with the last mission when I get message that mission will be over in 20 seconds and my squad got killed. Replayed the mission again, went to hover over the point marked and got the same message after first car passes the crossroads. I'm either doing something wrong or there might be a bug

[SpikeGondorff]

On 4/2/2024 at 2:49 PM, S3ntinell said:

Great campaign, immersive and believable. Im only having problem with the last mission when I get message that mission will be over in 20 seconds and my squad got killed. Replayed the mission again, went to hover over the point marked and got the same message after first car passes the crossroads. I'm either doing something wrong or there might be a bug

Sorry about the delayed response.  I never got an email that a new reply was on this thread.

I just re-ran the mission and received the same issue.  Looks like a Mission Failed trigger now fires when the group is deactivated instead of actually killed.  I think I fixed it, but I want to fly it a few times to be sure.  

Sorry for the issue, but many thanks for posting about the problem.  I'll post again when I've updated and uploaded the mission after some more tests. 

Edited April 15, 2024 by SpikeGondorff

[SpikeGondorff]

Updated the files so that the final mission should no longer fail unexpectedly.  Thanks S3ntinell for reporting it!  Sorry again for the problem.

[S3ntinell]

On 4/16/2024 at 3:45 PM, SpikeGondorff said:

Updated the files so that the final mission should no longer fail unexpectedly.  Thanks S3ntinell for reporting it!  Sorry again for the problem.

Just finished the last mission, works as intended had to use your infantry broke F10 menu option which was very smart of you to include. Thank you for the quick fix, campaign was great especially the voiceovers which multiplied the immersion , I'm silently hoping there will be a sequel

[SpikeGondorff]

On 4/20/2024 at 3:59 PM, S3ntinell said:

Just finished the last mission, works as intended had to use your infantry broke F10 menu option which was very smart of you to include. Thank you for the quick fix, campaign was great especially the voiceovers which multiplied the immersion , I'm silently hoping there will be a sequel

Awesome!  Glad it works now and you were able to finish it.  Sorry again for the mishap that wrecked the last mission, and thanks for the patience in getting it fixed.  I'm happy you enjoyed it!

[jpuk]

Finished today. Not bad at all. Thanks a lot.

[SpikeGondorff]

On 4/25/2024 at 5:14 PM, jpuk said:

Finished today. Not bad at all. Thanks a lot.

You're welcome, and thanks for playing it!

[Rony]

Hello,

I have problem in the last mission. Castor a Pollux always get killed. I am not sure it it only bad luck or I am doing something wrong. It always happen after car from the nord goes by.

Thanks for your help.

 

[SpikeGondorff]

3 hours ago, Rony said:

Hello,

I have problem in the last mission. Castor a Pollux always get killed. I am not sure it it only bad luck or I am doing something wrong. It always happen after car from the nord goes by.

Thanks for your help.

 

 

Sorry for the problem! 

There was an issue with a trigger that caused Castor and Pollux to incorrectly be considered dead.  I updated the mission with a fix a couple of weeks ago.  Did you download the campaign since April 16th?  Or was it before then?  If you downloaded before April 16th, try to redownload the campaign and fly it with the updated mission.

If it was downloaded after that date, I'll have to take another look at the mission.  I can take a look tomorrow or the next day.

[Rony]

20 hours ago, SpikeGondorff said:

 

Sorry for the problem! 

There was an issue with a trigger that caused Castor and Pollux to incorrectly be considered dead.  I updated the mission with a fix a couple of weeks ago.  Did you download the campaign since April 16th?  Or was it before then?  If you downloaded before April 16th, try to redownload the campaign and fly it with the updated mission.

If it was downloaded after that date, I'll have to take another look at the mission.  I can take a look tomorrow or the next day.

I downloaded before April 16th. I will try new version. Thank you very much.

[Fudge]

I'm getting back into flight SIM after a few years off, I think this is the first campaign I've ever actually completed and rather enjoyed it. Nearly gave up when the lights went out given I hadn't flown in the dark before, but glad I gave it a go.

Would enjoy a follow up campaign at some stage. Thanks for putting this together!

[SpikeGondorff]

18 hours ago, Fudge said:

I'm getting back into flight SIM after a few years off, I think this is the first campaign I've ever actually completed and rather enjoyed it. Nearly gave up when the lights went out given I hadn't flown in the dark before, but glad I gave it a go.

Would enjoy a follow up campaign at some stage. Thanks for putting this together!

You're welcome, and I'm glad you enjoyed it.  Night missions aren't too bad, especially with the F10 map.  :)