Hi,
i'm trying to tow a glider (the 321), but i can't get it to work.
When i place both planes at about 1000 mtr in the air, the glider is immediately released, no matter how far they are apart.
When i place the towing plane on the ground with a takeoff waypoint and the glider with a normal waypoint @ 0 mtr, the takeoff works fine, but as soon as both planes are in the air, the glider is released. The first waypoint isn't an impossible one, no strange height changes or sharp turns (in fact, it's a straight line from the runway).

I have IL2 Sturmovik 1946, version 4.07m if i'm correct.

Here's how to use gliders:

1. Set waypoints for the tow plane. As you noted nothing sharp or drastic in turns or altitude.

2. Choose a waypoint for release by using the "GAttack" function.

3. Set ONE waypoint for the glider. "Set" it to the towplane. If you want a ground start set the glider's waypoint at '0' speed and altitude. If an airstart make sure that the towplane and glider speeds and altitudes are the same.

4. Make sure that the area you want to land the glider in is fairly level. If it isn't the glider will seek level ground.

You will need to experiment and tweak to get the gliders to land just where you want them. Even then they may not always land in the exact place. (That seems to be realistic based on the results of most glider invasions in WWII)

I just tried this out on the new desert map and it worked like a charm.

I still can't get it to work
I've tried virtually everything, including:
Lower the height of the 1st waypoint
Lower the speed of the tow aircraft
Placed the 1st waypoint far from the airfield
Changed fuel on both planes
Tried different distances between glider and towplane
Tried different towplanes (bf110, 323 and some random others)
Tried the other small glider
Updated my game to 4.08

Still it snaps the cable seconds after takeoff.

I've made a sample mission here:
http://vuurvliegje.ath.cx/test.mis

I don't see anything wrong with this?

Try the He-111Z "Zwilling" for towing the Me-321.

Make sure you have at least 2 waypoints for the tow plane after the release point. The glider will release at the next to last waypoint even if you do not set it as ground attack.

I did a little experiment. I tried to make a tow mission in v4.08m and it didn't work, I followed the instructions given in this page and even the FB manual.

I used the Russian Li-2(Russian C-47)and the G-11.

I put my IL-2 Switcher to v4.04m and made a whole new map exactly the same and the tow worked. And the v4.04m worked in v4.08m when I switched it back to that version. But the v4.08m version still DID NOT WORK!

So it looks like a problem might be in the v4.08m patch.

Try it and you'll see what I mean.

VF-17_DWolf.

I tried the tow set up in v4.08m again and now it seems to work OK when I start a new map. I get the planes towing and drop offs right where I set them.

But I can't get the tow to work in the v4.08m map I was trying to get it to work in yesterday. It was already completed if that means anything.

real_firefly try to make a tow mission in a new(fresh) map ,and see what happens.

The new map worked for me in v4.08m.

VF-17_DWolf

firefly, I apologize for my "off the cuff" remark that I wasn't having a problem. When you posted your mission I began experimenting with it and found out that no matter what I tried, (except the two waypoints only version), the gliders just aren't working right for some reason.

I tried a bunch of stuff and nothing worked except to only have two waypoints for the tow plane. If you have a third, the glider detaches early, even if it's a normfly waypoint.

Now, the odd thing...I have a desert glider mission I d/l'ed a long time ago, (110 towing a 321) on the MT map with tons-o-waypoints and the glider stays attached until the GAttack waypoint. This mission came out just after the patch that had the MT map in it.

The only thing left to do is copy those waypoints onto a fresh MT map and see if it still works.

Setting up a glider/tow plane combination was one of the most difficult things that I had to do for my most recent Campaign. In fact, the combination of waypoints and speeds worked on 4.04 but not on 4.08.

If you check my JG27 part 1 thread you will notice that I fixed my glider problem. They do work in 4.08, but I had to make a change to the combination that took literaly hours to come up with on v4.04

Don't quite know what the difference is, but I know that the tow rope is elastic. It will pull until it breaks if it is overloaded. If it is stretched but does not break, it will slingshot the glider into the tow aircraft (that was my issue).

I don't know if this will help the thread author's dilema, but here's how I have my stuff set up: They start in the air. The glider starts 10 meters higher than the tow aircraft. the glider starts at 165km/h. The Ju52 starts at 195km/h. The second waypoint for the Ju52 is 295km/h. There is only 1 Glider waypoint.

I hope that this in some way helps your problem.

My current problem is that once released, the Glider just glides. It will not turn or seek anything. It will just glide for miles off the map, and crash into the ground without making an effort to flare on the landing or anything.

Oh well, small detail. While the gliders are flying of the map, I'm engaged in combat with Gladiators and Hurricanes, so it matters little anyway. Paratroops work fine though. The Ju52's drop them like bombs.

B50

I was playing with gliders last night and this morning and found many of the issues mentioned. In the past I found they worked 'as advertized,' but no longer.

FWIW, here's what I found, along with the solutions that work for me:

After setting the route for the towing ac (Dakota), setting one WP for the glider and 'targeting' it on the first Dakota WP DOES NOT work - the glider casts off at mission start.

Setting TWO WPs for the glider and tying them to the first 2 towing ac WPs DOES work. You don't need to set more WPs, 2 is enough to link glider to towing ac.

The glider will follow the towing ac to the end of its route if all WPs are NORMALFLY - it won't cast-off at the penultimate point, but will continue to follow the towing ac into its hold at the final WP. It may cast-off if the final WP is a LANDING WP (not tested); it will cast-off at the WP BEFORE a GATTACK WP - not at the GATTACK WP. The glider will initially continue on its last heading and won't start looking for a landing zone (LZ) until it gets pretty low - 100-200 m I reckon.

This is the really infuriating bit and there seems no easy way to avoid lots of tedious testing with minor changes in release point/height/heading in order to get a good landing on the LZ. At one mile, from a huge, inviting, open space right on the nose, everything can be looking good; at half a mile the moron AI will decide to execute a violent turn away from the obvious LZ in an attempt to land on some postage-stamp-sized clearing, with predicatably disastrous results. It would have been far easier all round if they just didn't bother writing any special AI for the gliders, but just let them glide straight ahead with a flare at the last minute onto whatever surface happens to be there. It would take minimal trial & error on the mission builder's part then.

Oh, once you have one glider working properly be careful about adding a second glider - it will change the way the first glider acts. Once the first glider is doing as you wish it will land in the same space each time - there is nothing variable about it. With a second glider it seems they try to follow each other, which can screw up the first glider. However, once one glider is working it seems less trial & error is needed to get the second working, so long as it essentially follows #1.

Summary of what I do

Set up single C-47 with 5 stores containers - give it a route (~500m and 150 mph/240 kph). Set up a G-11 with 2 WPs and tie these in to the first 2 C-47 WPs. At some WP, M, plot a course towards the LZ with WP N, placed about 9-10 km from the LZ. N is the release point. WP O is close to the LZ and is the drop zone (DZ) for the transports. This WP, O, is set to be GATTACK for the C-47s (they can come down to 100-200m and should slow-down to 120 mph/190kph ish). The remainder of the route, P,Q etc, can be as desired. After playing with WP N to get the LZ right, you will get the combination flying a route as planned with the glider casting-off just before the target, when the ac continues and drop supplies to a stores-DZ (less FPS issues than 28 paras), while the glider lands on/assaults the LZ with more supplies/troops (not portrayed) depending on the scenario.

Edit: Placing any objects on the LZ can affect where the gliders will go, even if the object is not that close to the glider's landing area. Oddly, objects already on the map, like buildings, get ignored (and flown into), but objects you add seem to have a great affect on the AI decision making.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kernow,