Battle over France 8/27/22

[Artist]

Who would have thought that TAB-7-1 meant we had to press the sequence TAB then 7 then 1 on the keyboard. Wow!
Now that we figured that out, perhaps someone can explain what happens next?

Here we go, this is how it is supposed to work:
(Also added to the Notes on IL2 Strumovik Cliffs of Dover)

The information you receive depends on what type of vehicle you are in. Currently three types of aircraft are supported: Fighter, Sturmovik, and Bomber.
(Note: As of 5.033, no aircraft is currently typed Sturmovik.)

• If you are in a Fighter: For each type (Fighter, Bomber, Sturmovik) one line giving bearing and distance to the closest enemy aircraft (group) of that type.
• If you are in a Sturmovik: For the closest Bomber (group) a line giving bearing and distance and a list of maximum three ground targets (bearing and distance). Or maximum two, if you have a bomber close by.
• If you are in a Bomber, a list of maximum three ground targets (bearing and distance) .

Regardless of the type of the vehicle you are in, you’ll get bearing and distance to the next waypoint in your mission (“Mission target Bearing”). If there were no waypoints or no waypoint is left, it gives distance and bearing to your homebase (where you started).

The selection of enemy aircraft to be listed as targets, is based on these rules:

• The target is within 50km from the player’s aircraft
• It is the closest aircraft(group) of its type (Fighter, Sturmovik, or Bomber) to the player.

There's no minimum distance nor minimum or maximum altitude; active (AI/human) aircraft on the ground are included.

The information displayed on enemy aircraft:

• If there's no target (of that type) within the 50km radius, nothing is listed
• The distance displayed is the absolute distance: If the target is 10 km directly above you, the displayed distance is 10km
• The biggest distance displayed is 15 miles (GB) or 30 km (DE, IT), even if the target is further away
• The smallest distance displayed is 1 mile / 1 kilometer, even if target is closer.
• The distance is rounded down to the nearest full mile / kilometer. For blue aircraft (gb, it) distances beyond 15km are rounded down to 15, 20, 25, or 30 km respectively.
• The bearing is rounded to the nearest full 30° (165 => 150° and 166° => 180°).
• The bearing is geographical, you need to apply the magnetic deviation to get compass bearing.
• “Single”: The closest target is the only member of its group.
• “Group”: The closest target is member of a group and the group contains more than one, but less than 11 aircraft.
• “Gaggle”: The closest target is member of a group and the group contains more than 10 aircraft.
• “Single”, “Group” and “Gaggle” only give a hint about the group that closest aircraft is in. There might be no, some, or many additional groups close to it!

So far on how it was supposed to work...

... but it never did ...

... and as the community (including me) has been wondering, puzzling, speculating, weaving conspiracy myths, muttering, and swearing for 11 years ...

... here's the story of what went wrong:


From the very beginning there were two bugs which, working together, made the system look like actually working, even though in a very weird and unfathomable way, giving everybody the feeling that there's something not quite right but nobody could lay his finger on it:

The first of these bugs, a simple typo, resulted in the distance taken into consideration not being the one from the player's aircraft, but the one from the origin of the map (the south-west corner).

This should have resulted to only aircrafts flying in that south-west 50x50km corner of a map to be ever selected as nearest target and everybody should have instantly realized that there was something wrong and what.

But there also was a second bug, two missing braces in a logical clause, which resulted in the maximum distance (50km) rule to be ignored for the very first enemy aircraft of each type in the "all aircrafts list".

So whatever aircraft happened to be first of its type in that list would become (and stay!) the "closest target" of that type - no matter where it would be on the map and how far from the player.

When it despawned, the next, now "first of its type in the list" would assume that role - naturally only as long as no aircraft happened to fly into that 50x50km south-west corner.


This was a really nasty one. All conceivable test scenarios would seem to work, the 30km/15mi display limit would hide the fact that a plane in the corner of the map was selected. For the players it looked like if there was a random element.


However, there's probably a happy end:
Both bugs will be fixed with the next patch.


And a few small related other bugs, too:
- “Single”, “Group” and “Gaggle” was not calculated correctly
- Heading/bearing information from ground control is now rounded up or down to nearest full 30° (was only down before).

[ATAG_Noofy]

Here we go, this is how it is supposed to work:
(Also added to the Notes on IL2 Strumovik Cliffs of Dover)

The information you receive depends on what type of vehicle you are in. Currently three types of aircraft are supported: Fighter, Sturmovik, and Bomber.
(Note: As of 5.033, no aircraft is currently typed Sturmovik.)

• If you are in a Fighter: For each type (Fighter, Bomber, Sturmovik) one line giving bearing and distance to the closest enemy aircraft (group) of that type.
• If you are in a Sturmovik: For the closest Bomber (group) a line giving bearing and distance and a list of maximum three ground targets (bearing and distance). Or maximum two, if you have a bomber close by.
• If you are in a Bomber, a list of maximum three ground targets (bearing and distance) .

Regardless of the type of the vehicle you are in, you’ll get bearing and distance to the next waypoint in your mission (“Mission target Bearing”). If there were no waypoints or no waypoint is left, it gives distance and bearing to your homebase (where you started).

The selection of enemy aircraft to be listed as targets, is based on these rules:

• The target is within 50km from the player’s aircraft
• It is the closest aircraft(group) of its type (Fighter, Sturmovik, or Bomber) to the player.

There's no minimum distance nor minimum or maximum altitude; active (AI/human) aircraft on the ground are included.

The information displayed on enemy aircraft:

• If there's no target (of that type) within the 50km radius, nothing is listed
• The distance displayed is the absolute distance: If the target is 10 km directly above you, the displayed distance is 10km
• The biggest distance displayed is 15 miles (GB) or 30 km (DE, IT), even if the target is further away
• The smallest distance displayed is 1 mile / 1 kilometer, even if target is closer.
• The distance is rounded down to the nearest full mile / kilometer. For blue aircraft (gb, it) distances beyond 15km are rounded down to 15, 20, 25, or 30 km respectively.
• The bearing is rounded to the nearest full 30° (165 => 150° and 166° => 180°).
• The bearing is geographical, you need to apply the magnetic deviation to get compass bearing.
• “Single”: The closest target is the only member of its group.
• “Group”: The closest target is member of a group and the group contains more than one, but less than 11 aircraft.
• “Gaggle”: The closest target is member of a group and the group contains more than 10 aircraft.
• “Single”, “Group” and “Gaggle” only give a hint about the group that closest aircraft is in. There might be no, some, or many additional groups close to it!

So far on how it was supposed to work...

... but it never did ...

... and as the community (including me) has been wondering, puzzling, speculating, weaving conspiracy myths, muttering, and swearing for 11 years ...

... here's the story of what went wrong:


From the very beginning there were two bugs which, working together, made the system look like actually working, even though in a very weird and unfathomable way, giving everybody the feeling that there's something not quite right but nobody could lay his finger on it:

The first of these bugs, a simple typo, resulted in the distance taken into consideration not being the one from the player's aircraft, but the one from the origin of the map (the south-west corner).

This should have resulted to only aircrafts flying in that south-west 50x50km corner of a map to be ever selected as nearest target and everybody should have instantly realized that there was something wrong and what.

But there also was a second bug, two missing braces in a logical clause, which resulted in the maximum distance (50km) rule to be ignored for the very first enemy aircraft of each type in the "all aircrafts list".

So whatever aircraft happened to be first of its type in that list would become (and stay!) the "closest target" of that type - no matter where it would be on the map and how far from the player.

When it despawned, the next, now "first of its type in the list" would assume that role - naturally only as long as no aircraft happened to fly into that 50x50km south-west corner.


This was a really nasty one. All conceivable test scenarios would seem to work, the 30km/15mi display limit would hide the fact that a plane in the corner of the map was selected. For the players it looked like if there was a random element.


However, there's probably a happy end:
Both bugs will be fixed with the next patch.


And a few small related other bugs, too:
- “Single”, “Group” and “Gaggle” was not calculated correctly
- Heading/bearing information from ground control is now rounded up or down to nearest full 30° (was only down before).

Great! Thanks!
I think this post deserves to be pinned somehow

[ATAG_Slot]

However, there's probably a happy end:
Both bugs will be fixed with the next patch..

Wow what a great post and very illuminating.
Many thanks Artist for explaining some of the behind the scenes work that has gone on.
I personally have no idea how you do it.

Much credit, thanks and kudos to you and all the other coders involved with this great sim.
The community really appreciates it.

[ATAG_Torian]

Explains why u are happily flying along in a "Tab-7-1" false sense of security and suddenly ur screen goes black.

[Artist]

Great! Thanks!
I think this post deserves to be pinned somehow

Oh, but is is:

(Also added to the Notes on IL2 Strumovik Cliffs of Dover)

These "Notes on IL2 Strumovik Cliffs of Dover" are a continous WIP where I write down detailed informations that would be too much for the manual.

[ATAG_Noofy]

Oh, but is is:

(Also added to the Notes on IL2 Strumovik Cliffs of Dover)

These "Notes on IL2 Strumovik Cliffs of Dover" are a continous WIP where I write down detailed informations that would be too much for the manual.

Cannot access this URL, I must be missing something...

2022-09-03_134440.jpg

[Sleepy_Fly]

Explains why u are happily flying along in a "Tab-7-1" false sense of security and suddenly ur screen goes black.

You have been shot down!
Always check your six!

[Artist]

Cannot access this URL, I must be missing something...

2022-09-03_134440.jpg

Yes, right, erroneously used development url ... here's the correct one: Notes on IL2 Strumovik Cliffs of Dover
I've corrected the posts, too.

[Karaya]

(Note: As of 5.033, no aircraft is currently typed Sturmovik.)

Wouldnt that classification suit the Bf110C-6, it being a model specialized on anti-tank (& ship) missions?
Thanks for the clarification regarding the TAB 7 1 issue. Looking forward to it getting fixed next patch!