I am really excited about Battle of Midway. Some of my best memories of the old Il-2 were from Pacific Fighters, even with some of the fundamental flaws this project had. 777 giving the 1942 carrier battles a proper treatment sounds like a dream come true.
Out of frustration with the latest DCS 2.1 release, I decided to install Il-2 BoS again. I wanted to try it in VR for a while now but never came to it. It looks and feels fantastic! Those German cockpits sure are cramped.
Do some neck exercises before you begin. It can get intense
Link with pics for the message above:
https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/168-developer-diary/page-5#entry475296
Good to see the Sturmovik crew letting people know the challenge of what’s coming up. Capital ships in the Pacific sounds amazing.
After having flown a couple of missions, I must say I should have re-installed BoS a lot sooner (if I just wasn’t so busy with doing stuff for DCS…). It looks beautiful and runs great. The sound is very nice and the feeling of flight is very well done. The shooting and the damage effects look fantastic, very authentic and satisfying.
The summer version of the Stalingrad map looks very nice too. It really shows the vastness of the Russian steppes and has a very distinctive eastern front atmosphere. While 777 did a good job with the winter version of the map, in retrospect it wasn’t a very appealing environment to fly in. Glad that there is the Summer option now.
My last mission was an evening escort flight for some Jabo 109. Downed a couple of enemies (I can actually see stuff in VR!) without loosing one of my fighter-bombers. On the way home the sun set, which looked fantastic. As we approached our home filed in the encroaching darkness, the guys on the ground were launching signal flares and lighting fires along the runway. Very cool.
What I don’t really get though is the campaign. It seems that you can basically select your airbase, aircraft type and task for each new mission. It has a bit a feeling of a quick mission generator deluxe. Also there are references to experience points all over the place. The game is basically taking great WWII immersion and giving it a kick in the nuts. The last thing I want to read is how much EXP I get for reaching the exit waypoint! I understand that they have removed the controversial unlocking from the game, but it seems that this EXP madness was too deep in the design of the game to redo. Does anyone know if they will make a new campaign system for Battle of Kuban?
Have you tried PWCG or seen this? I enjoyed it.
I don’t know about revising the existing system so much, but there are plans for an ROF-style career if we read Jason’s comments correctly.
You are correct, though, in that the existing campaign is more or less a random mission generator that lets you pick what and where you fly, but not what you fight against, and after some number of missions it considers that “phase” complete and changes to the next. That change seems to consist of a changing front/base situation and possibly a change to mission types but I never experienced it that I can recall, only a change in the front.
I thought I read somewhere that the plan is to incorporate PWCG into the current career. I like the current career for what it is. But you have to be very observant to notice any activity other than your current objective. Even with that it is highly repetetive.
June Dev News:
https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/168-developer-diary/page-5#entry481140
We’re finishing our work on 2.011 update. It will bring you another Collector Plane - Supermarine Spitfire Mk.Vb which has been used in Battle of Kuban. These planes were sent to the USSR via the lend-lease program. The update will also include the new historical campaign Blazing Steppe by Alexander =BlackSix= Timoshkov (you can already pre-order on our website).
The bulk of the update looks like aircraft flight model updates. The post above included some nice Henschel Hs 129 skins as well.
its coming …
My gods… the engine sound on that last rolling passage is amazing.
Seen RoF mentioned a few times - I have been trialling TriDef’s new “VR” utility. It isn’t proper VR, in fact all it is, is 3D on a screen in front of you (a bit like using Virtual Desktop or the like to play, but in 3D.
It’s supposed to support RoF and I was really excited about that - but so far in my tests, I get refused even logging in to RoF, apparently due to some added or modded file. This is only when using TriDef VR - works fine otherwise, so even that may be a no go.
I’ve uninstalled BoS for now - I got so fed up of a) being unable to log in so frequently and b) the awful ground handling. Once you get up, it’s fine, but that horrid ground handling is a real off-putter.
I’m sure you guys will be aware that there’s a sale on at the IL-2 webshop just now, but if not -
Hey guys, there’s a sale on at the IL-2 website just now!!
Really? I find the ground handling to be quite good.
ROF used to have a “mods on” check box for that kind of thing, did they remove it?
The main problems I had was with the throttle. I would increase it ever so slightly and nothing would happen. Then after half a minute or so, it would shoot up to a silly level and I’d just spin off into the countryside.
If I tried just raising it very slowly until the aircraft started moving, same thing happens.
In CloD I have real trouble getting the Hurricane to turn at all - and it’s the only one I’ve tried so far. It was a real nightmare.
I’d like to do more, but it’s so off-putting, it takes me so long just to get airborne, by the time I’m up I’m either in the completely wrong frame of mind because it’s been so frustrating, or I don’t have enough time left to fly the mission.
Also in CloD, I suppose it doesn’t matter that much, but I like my screenshots - I have thousands of em from each sim I fly - and the aircraft looked silly from the outside view. I can’t quite describe it - like a toy, I suppose. I think there is an option IIRC to have different exterior finishes, so maybe I need to look at that.
No - I was thinking about that. I’ll try it on, I don’t remember what I had it set to - I don’t fly RoF online, so probably didn’t bother with the setting, but I will check it - ha, when I have time!