Mission Builders Thread

[O-1Driver]

I wanted to post this thread in the hopes that it would generate more mission building activity for ETO 1.2

While all of the aircraft, scenery and effects are nice none of it matters unless it is "brought to life" by talented mission builders.

ETO 1.2 is virtually a new sim as very little of the old CFS 3 remains and the majority of the new aircraft,vehicles,scenery, damage effects, facilities and effects have been under utilized in missions. There is stuff in 1.2 that has never been used at all in any mission.

Part of the problem is that a lot of the new stuff is "hidden" in ETO and therfore not utilized to it's full potential.

The key to unlocking a lot of the new stuff is to simply open up MB and browse thru the facilities that are offered. However that is only a start as there are literally dozens of items that do not appear in facilities. I will add additional posts to this thread to help you guys unlock and use this stuff.

Also please use this thread to ask any question you have about something you would like to do in a mission, chances are what you need is already here in 1.2.

Best regards

Steve

 

[rbp71854]

Can I have a German aerial bomb?

 

[O-1Driver]

Unlocking the Hidden Vehicles

There are several dozen new "vehicles" in 1.2 but they will not appear in MB when you are placing vehicles unless you do the following:

Open MB and select a German Truck or halftrack. Next add a 2nd one to the formation. When you do this it will "unlock" all of the new "static vehicles" like AA, Artie and smoke markers that will not appear on their own as they have to part of a formation containing at least one motorized moving vehicle.

Now you can add one of the new AA guns or a single individual searchlight or two instead of having to use the preset searchlight facility.

You now also have access to all of the new AA guns, and various artie pieces.

O-1

 

[Tailwind]

What a fantastic thread. Great idea Steve :woot:

I will admit I have become a bit stale with my mission writing creativity lately. I hope this will spark some renewed creativeness for me.

I will ask one question straight away. We talked earlier on this and I never sorted it. I am still getting CTD when I insert a facility and then make it a goal in multiplayer missions. I am stuck using the stock facilities on the map which although improved, is still somewhat limiting.

Could you or any one who reads this give me an idea as to how to fix this?

Help appreciated

TW

 

[O-1Driver]

Eto aa

The ETO flak and artillery is all new. The AA features new explosion, smaller splinters, reaches high altitude, brief illumination of your cockpit at night, and will not shoot at you below 175 ft. It is now possible to hug the treetops and fly in under the flak guns to the target.

Unlock the static vehicles as per the thread above and you will see several new flak guns. The ETO Flak is the standard ETO flak gun with all new features. The ETO_flak1 is the same gun but fires blanks. This gun can be used to add heavy flak you can walk on but the mission will still be survivable, you can mix the ETO_flak and ETO_flak1 to achieve any level of custom flak you need.

Illumination AA. There is a new Illumination AA gun in 1.2 that fires an illumination shell that will explode among the enemy aircraft. It explodes with a new flash bang and ejects a parachute and flare which will slowly drift down.

There are new red and gray targeting flak guns that are used to register the aircraft formations for the main flak guns. The red flak shells will explode with a red light and flash bang and leave drifting red smoke. the gray flak leaves a drifting gray cloud.

O-1

 

[O-1Driver]

What a fantastic thread. Great idea Steve :woot:

I will admit I have become a bit stale with my mission writing creativity lately. I hope this will spark some renewed creativeness for me.

I will ask one question straight away. We talked earlier on this and I never sorted it. I am still getting CTD when I insert a facility and then make it a goal in multiplayer missions. I am stuck using the stock facilities on the map which although improved, is still somewhat limiting.

Could you or any one who reads this give me an idea as to how to fix this?

Help appreciated

TW

TW,

The rules for MP missions are different. Anytime you add a facility and set a goal value to it you must add a spawn to it that contains a goal, otherwise the mission will ctd as soon as you try to launch it in MP. If you look thru the aircraft spawns you will see several "Recon Goal" aircraft that I have added just for this purpose. IE put in a refinery as a goal target, next check the spawn and use one of the goal aircraft and clik all the boxes. You are good to go.

Steve

 

[O-1Driver]

ETO Artillery

ETO 1.2 include everything you need to create realistic land battles to add realism to your missions.

ETO Artillery
Unlock the static artillery as before and look at your options. First you must realize that the guns are "towed" behind the motorized vehicle and point 180 degrees away from the heading of the "towing" vehicle. Therefore you should point the towing vehicle away from the enemy and then add your guns either in a line or spread formation any spacing is permitted. Do not click the towed button for any of the guns. Range is critical and if you are not getting results move them closer.

These are the new artie pieces and they feature new explosions smoke and craters.

1. G_88 - this is a new German 88 MM that has a hell of a punch and will knock out a Sherman with one hit. It has a very nice explosion and leaves a crater. It features a new muzzle blast and smoke when it fires.

2. Air burst artillery - This piece fires a shell which explodes 200 ft in the air and sprays sharpnel downwards killing enemy troops. It is most effective against soft targets as the splinters will not do as much damage to armor. It will however destroy light trucks and jeeps. it will slaughter infantry. It has a nice air explosion and drifting smoke.

3. Illumination Artillery - this artie will fire an illumination round that will target enemy troops, vehicls and facilities. The shell will explode 200 ft above the target and eject a small parachute flare which will drift down.

4. Star shell artie - This piece fires a red star shell which will explode 200 ft above the ground and eject a red star shell blossum above the enemy vehicls.

5. Smoke Screen Artie - This piece fires a smoke shell and comes in different colors. The white smoke was most ofetn used to screen troop movements. the red for marking targets.

6. WP (White Phosphorus) Artie - This piece fires a WP shell that explodes in a WP blossum with tendrils.

7. 105 mm - This piece perform in similar fashion to the German 88 but the German 88 has better range and hitting power.

Steve

 

[O-1Driver]

Marker Smokes

There are a number of smoke markers included in 1.2 that can be found under facilities or vehicles. These smoke markers come in various colors for missions.

There is one very unique smoke marker that is new with 1.2 and it is a purple air burst marker fired from a trooper. He can be accessed under vehicles/trooper_marker. He fires a purple air smoke marker at spaced intervals and does not have to have any enemy present to work.

Steve

 

[O-1Driver]

Guys,

this has just been the start i will continue late with posts on flares, and a very detailed post on the new ships, submerged subs, mines etc. and how to use them. The shipping post you will love as everything is there for spectacular night actions at sea. You will aslo enjoy the Weather portion and how to use it.

Thanks for your interest

Steve

 

[mongoose]

Great idea Steve and much needed if I may say so. Any chance of putting all your points on a pdf for instance and perhaps uploading it here to the ul pages?
There is soo much new as you said that it would be good to have a clearer idea s to what is available.

 

[O-1Driver]

ETO Buildings and Vehicles damage effects

Guys,

All of the stock vehicles and most of the ACC and stock buildings have been updated with new damage effects. West 40 vehicles were not altered and contain stock effects.

Now when you place vehicles in a mission as target goals you will see alot more action and effect. All vehicles have new explode effect with long burning fires and smoke, the ammo trucks an armor now have delayed "cookoff" effects where the vehicle will continue to explode with multiple secondary explsions after the initial hit. The new munitions rail car has spectacular new explode effect and cookoff.

All of the buildings in the stock facilities have been updated with new damage effects which feature larger and longer burning fires and smoke. You will notice this when you attack the stock facilities.


Steve

 

[popsaka]

Amazingawa

I replaced a very tired monitor, and this along w/ these VAST improvements and now, FINALLY, I can enjoy night missions....

...and searchlights in the distance... I got a genuine sense of forBODing (very cool)...

 

[O-1Driver]

ETO Armor and small AA Guns

In addition to new damage effects all of the stock armor have received new guns. All of the tanks now have visible muzzle blasts and their shells have new explode effects and leave craters. All of the armor will "cookoff" when destroyed.

The Wirblewind is equipped with a new 20mm gun with green golfball tracers and new shell explosion and smoke effect.

The Ostwind has a new 37mm gun with red golfball tracers and new smoke and muzzle blast.

The German Tiger tank has a new large gun that will kill almost any Allied armored vehicle with a single shell. It has a large shell burst explosion and leaves a crater. It has greater range than the Sherman and can hit a Sherman before the Shermans reach firing range. It can take multiple hits from a Sherman before exploding

The Panther tank features a new gun that is on the same par as the 75mm sherman and a Sherman can knock it out with one shot in the right place.

The Sherman tank has a new 75 mm gun with all new effects, use the sherman in larger quantities vs the Tiger and German 88 as they will suffer terribly. The German 88 and Tiger will eat up the Shermans. Put Shermans in flanking positions to approach the tigers from different directions with superior numbers.

There is also a new Sherman flame thrower tank available for use along with an updated stock rail flak car which is really bad news and features the new golfball tracers, attacking this car can be dangerous indeed.


Steve

 

[popsaka]

As if attacking German flak cars wasn't dangerous already!!

 

[Nonato]

Steve

This thread is indeed a wonderful idea.
I was thinking if you could gather all of this info in a single document (word, .pdf, or else) that would constitute sort of a "basic tutorial" on mission building possibilities. It would in my opinion be most helpful to all of us.
This thread would thus be a wonderful way of clearing out all doubts about the usage of this "tutorial".

Just an idea...

Thanks

N.

 

[grizzly50]

Popsaka, ya wanna see some ETO night missions? Then check out BelfastFlare and BelfastHurriE2h in historic in Era 2. These two are wild.:d

 

[O-1Driver]

Steve

This thread is indeed a wonderful idea.
I was thinking if you could gather all of this info in a single document (word, .pdf, or else) that would constitute sort of a "basic tutorial" on mission building possibilities. It would in my opinion be most helpful to all of us.
This thread would thus be a wonderful way of clearing out all doubts about the usage of this "tutorial".

Just an idea...

Thanks

N.

Nonato,

I am really pressed for time right now and this thread is going to be the best I can do. If you would like to take the contents of this thread along with any questions and answers that come up and put them in a read me you have my blessing.

Thanks

Steve

 

[O-1Driver]

ETO Shipping

The stock Destroyers and Cruisers in ETO received new guns with golfball tracers along with new effects. the stock German U-Boat now sports a proper 20mm AA gun with golfball tracers.

There is a submerged sub called "Sub" that fires torpedos while submerged.The only thing visible of this submerged sub is the periscope wake when the sub is moving. It can be destroyed with bombs and depth charges. It will attack and destroy any enemy ships that come close to it.

There is also a smoke screen destroyer, an LST rocket launcher, LST flare ship, and a Destroyer that fires red star shells. The star shell destroyer is excellent for night Naval engagements as it fires the star shells to explode a couple of hundred feet above the enemy ships illuminating them.

There is a Lighted aircraft carrier for night landings as well.

The new Battleships are armed with the new tracers and have all new damage effects.

O-1

 

[O-1Driver]

Specialty Facilities

There are a number of specialty facilities orovided in 1.2 to add effects to your missions.

1. Vehicle_mine, Tank_mine - Place these along the path of enemy vehicles and watch the fireworks. the mines have to be placed very close to the vehicles in order to go off. Always make the facility enemy to the forces you want to destroy.

2. land_mine_field - this is a very large mine field in a grid pattern that contains both vehicle and tank mines.

3. Naval Mine - This mine should be placed in the path of shipping. Use several mines for maximum effect. the ships must pass very close to the mines to hit them. A mine will destroy a cargo ship or Tin Can with one hit but Cruisers and Battleships will take several mine hits before sinking.

4.Ocean_Flare_marker - This is a line of white sodium flares in the water burning. They should be used in missions as simulated dropped by Wellingtons or mossies. They were used for marking mine fields, dangerous reefs and also to lay out a magnetic heading for strike aircraft to lead them to points on the Coast of France for best entry to avoid heavy concentrations of AA. These flares should only be used in water.

5. red_flare_path - This is the red candle flare marker as a facility. You can use it to lay out a burning flare path to the target.

6.Craters - these craters can be placed anywhere for added realism to previously bombed areas.

7. Smoke_Drums - this smoke drum produces a high volume of dense white smoke as used by the Germans to obscure targets from enemy bombers.

8. Bomb_Explosions - This facility duplicates the effect of enemy bomb explosions. It will attack and destroy buildings located on airfields and facilities. It can be used in conjunction with spawned aircraft overhead or as simulated delayed fuse bombs from a previous strike.

9. Fire_Smoke - this facility can be used along with facilities burning_houses and burning_apartment facilities to create a dramatic war scene.

10. Ship_Buoy_Flare - this is a flare that launches from the surface of the water with a smoke trail and fireball. The flare explodes at 300 ft with a bright flash bang with smoke. It then ejects a small yellow parachute flare which then floats down. It can be used as put in the water by ships are dropped from seaplanes, both used them.

O-1

 

[O-1Driver]

Airfield lighting

1.2 provides airfield lighting when desired in the form of two runway light facilities that come with and without red threshold markers, blue taxiway lights, green and red RAF Caravan signal flares and hangar lights.

Lighted trucks can also be placed along the edge of the runway to provide primitive frontline lighting.

I have available to anyone that needs it a complete CFS 3 lighting package that contains lighted water towers, airfield beacons, lighted trains, buildings factories, trucks and ships. The lighted locomotive, and two lighted ships are in 1.2

O-1