IL-2 Great Battles Updates 2021

[smokinhole]

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/12826-game-updates/?do=findComment&comment=1081893

Main features

1. Spitfire Mk.XIV Collector Plane is available to all owners of Battle of Normandy Premium Edition;
2. Nieuport 28.C1 is available to all owners of Flying Circus Vol. 2 and the Early Access program for Vol. 2 officially starts;
3. 25 mm 72-К AA gun on GAZ-MM truck is available to customers who prepurchased it;
4. New special mission type for QMB mode and 5 single missions added for AAA guns;
5. Dynamic Visual Damage (DVD) technology is added to the sim, that shows (with some limitations) the hit marks of projectiles on various objects. At the moment it works for all detailed tanks of Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka, 72-K GAZ-MM AAA, P-51D-15 fighter, and Nieuport 28.C1 airplane;
6. Dynamic tactical markings technology is added to the sim, allowing to customize the tactical numbers on aircraft and vehicles. At the moment it works for all detailed tanks of Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka, 72-K GAZ-MM AAA, P-51D-15 fighter, and Nieuport 28.C1 airplane;
7. More detailed railyards added to 19 cities on the Rhineland map (Bodenplatte): Antwerp, Liege, Mainz, Frankfurt, Bonn, Cologne, Duisburg, Brussels, Charleroi, Düsseldorf, Munster, Koblenz, Eindhoven, Tilburg, Nijmegen, Essen, Enschede, Hengelo, Osnabrück;
8. Completely new graphical effects are added for all munitions in the game for ground, water and object impacts and for midair explosions;
9. All F, G and K series Bf 109 fighters got the corrected tail models. Now the sturdiness of their elements are on par with the rest of the fighters and these elements can be shot off individually;
10. 4K quality external texturing added for MC.202 fighter and Ju 88 bomber while all Spitfires, Bf 109s, Bf 110s, Ju 87, Ju 88 and U-2VS cockpits were updated;

Aircraft improvements
11. Spitfire Mk.XIV added to Rhineland Career mode (Bodenplatte) to the following squadrons the player can join: No. 41 Squadron RAF, No. 130 Squadron RAF, No. 350 (Belgian) Squadron RAF, No. 402 Squadron RCAF and No. 610 Squadron RAF.
12. The player flight takes off correctly in the 15th mission of the “Achtung Spitfire!” campaign;
13. An issue that could cause a AI fighter to approach to an air target too close and potentially to collide with it has been corrected;
14. AI fighter correctly attack balloons;
15. AI pilots aiming the MGs and guns at ground targets has been corrected;
16. Less experienced AI pilots engage the ground targets at closer distances;
17. Flying Circus aircraft visibility at large distances has been corrected to correspond to other aircraft in the game (it was 3 times lower);
18. Fuel tank and ammo explosion effects can be observed on other players in multiplayer;
19. An issue with potential fuel tank catastrophic detonation in case of engine(s) fire has been corrected;
20. The power of a fuel tank explosion now depends on the actual amount of ignited fuel or fuel vapors in a partially spent fuel tank;
21. Modeling of the putting out the fuel tank fire by sideslipping the aircraft at high speed has been improved;
22. Multiple ammo storage explosions are now possible (previously it could happen only once);
23. Maximum ATA near the ground level with C3 injection system on Fw-190 A5/A6 has been corrected (increased);
24. Roll shaking at high speed corrected for AI or mouse controlled Sopwith Dolphin;
25. A visual bar on the rotating Fw 190 A-6 spinner removed;
26. Rear formation light corrected on Fw 190 A-6;
27. Fw 190 A-8 small clock hand restored;
28. Added missing luminous paint on some Tempest, Spitfire Mk.IX, Bf 110 G-2 and Ju 52 instruments;
29. P-38 formation lights corrected;
30. Spitfire IX mirror position corrected;
31. Oil from the damaged engine on canopy effect corrected on P-51D-15;
32. A small visual issue corrected on MC.202 (attitude indicator tube);

Player controlled tanks improvements
33. All detailed tanks now have tactical numbers in Last Chance and Breaking Point tank campaigns;
34. Radio antennas on all Tank Crew detailed tanks can be damaged by enemy fire (in addition to damageable radio equipment that was modeled before);
35. Detailed tanks won’t ‘freeze in the air’ after colliding with another object that was later moved;
36. AI gunners will properly burst fire the coaxial MGs of the detailed tanks;
37. An issue with the inability to hit the gun barrel on some tanks has been fixed;
38. Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.M lower turret armor has been corrected;
39. The missing part of the Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.M ammo reserve can be damaged by enemy fire;
40. T-34-76 UTZ (1943) coaxial MG can be damaged by enemy fire;
41. Additional external parts of Pz.Kpfw.VI Ausf.H1 like various covers and splashers can be shot off;
42. KV-1 and SU-152 splashers and rear deflector can be shot off;

Additional improvements
43. A graphics issue that caused z-fighting of the shadows on certain buildings in MSAA x4 mode has been corrected;
44. External objects like trees, buildings and aircraft drop visible shadows on the player aircraft or vehicle and its cockpit in non-VR mode;
45. Gamma can be lowered down to 0.5 for more comfort in VR mode;
46. A visible city blocks shadow ‘border’ at large distances has been minimized;
47. A visible city blocks fog ‘border’ at large distances has been minimized;
48. An issue with certain European buildings glowing in the night has been fixed;
49. A GUI issue that could cause the regiment symbols to disappear from the Career creation screen has been fixed;
50. A GUI issue that could cause the mission start coordinates to reset to 0 on the Career HQ screen;

51. Water explosions of large bombs have dedicated graphical effects;
52. 50, 100, 250, 500, 1000(1800) and 2500 kg bombs now have more diverse graphical explosion effects;
53. Soviet Tank Crew tanks headlamp lens, visor, and mirror textures have been improved;
54. The issues with pilots and tankers animations have been fixed in multiplayer;
55. The bomber group leader will correctly proceed to the next waypoint after dropping the bombs.

I don’t have FC2 but I’ve been told that the N.28 model seems identical to the one in RoF except that the slow tail raise during takeoff has been fixed. The poor turn performance despite it’s low wing loading is unchanged and still unexplainable.

[ST0RM]

I reinstalled Il-2 BoX onto my new rig and began the control binding chore.
It doesnt recognize the WinWing Start-Up panel portion of my Taurus throttle. So those toggles are worthless. Is there a way to force it?

[chipwich]

Storm, I’m using all of my Virpil gear without issues, including some pretty high numbered DX input assignments. How does the WinWing panel look in the Windows USB gaming controller applet? Do all of the buttons show input?

[ST0RM]

I honestly didnt look there to see if it shows up.
I’ll do that tonight and see if its recognized. Funny that DCS does though. Thanks!

[apollon01]

Oh well… that su@#s.

How about mapping it through a tool like Joy2Key?

[JediMaster]

Is this the 32-button per controller thing?
My Orion clearly tells me that while DCS supports all the buttons as one controller, for Il-2 BoX I need to switch it to act like 4 separate 32-button controllers in Simapp Pro. Then when I go into Windows gaming controllers I see 6 devices–stick, rudders, and 4 separate throttles with different button/axis combinations.
If I don’t do that, BoX doesn’t recognize a ton of the buttons.

[chipwich]

@JediMaster

Is this the 32-button per controller thing?

It will handle more than 32 DX input buttons. I’m using my VPC MT-50 CM3 throttle with BoX, which has 64 buttons no problem. I think gear up is 45 and gear down is 44, or something similar. I did have to unlink my Switch Box 2 from the throttle and set it up as stand-alone USB device, because it seems to have trouble with linked devices. Maybe your Orion is in a similar situation.

[ST0RM]

@chipwich

I did have to unlink my Switch Box 2 from the throttle and set it up as stand-alone USB device, because it seems to have trouble with linked devices

And thats what I think is happening with the WinWing throttle. It’s combined with the panel, so it’s not being recognized. Oh well, not worth the effort to separate them.

[chipwich]

@ST0RM

Oh well, not worth the effort to separate them.

I feel your pain. More cables and ports being used, and more reconfiguring modules/sims.

My brothers tell me that with this hobby, all I seem to be doing sometimes is configuring joysticks

[JediMaster]

Still, I’d rather be doing that than lying on my back in the garage having oil and grease drip on me in the heat all day!

[Magnum50]

Sure this topic is somewhere, but couldn’t find it…

It’s out! “Update 4.603 is Released! Includes Sd.Kfz. 10/5 Flak 38” will be broadcasting later, (Thunderstorm right now) a first look, hope the controls are similar to the GAZ. “gotyoursixgaming” on Twitch. (Around 7 PM Eastern.)

[Troll]

@Magnum50

couldn’t find it

Moved it

[Phantom88]

290

Dear Pilots,

Our Mosquito FB Mk,VI for Battle of Normandy is coming along nicely. Some very early WIP shots of it in the engine. Still much support work to do for it still. Will initially be available to fly with 8 squadrons in Career mode.

Q. If it’s made from polygons is it still a Wooden Wonder ?

Enjoy!

Jason

[Phantom88]

291

Dear Friends,

This Dev blog is a bit unusual - I wanted to illustrate how the virtual world created by our team is not just a place to show nice-looking aircraft and vehicles, but it comes really close to real world experiences and situations (which is the ultimate goal of any sim).

This past Saturday night, myself and Roman (one of our flight model and aircraft systems engineers) had time to enjoy our sim as players and our experience turned out much like the real Eastern Front air clashes - somewhat confusing, challenging and stressful.

We flew a pair of Yak-9Ts to patrol a water basin area where both Soviet and German priority targets were located. I was the flight leader and… it didn’t go well.

Upon reaching the area, I spotted a target flying at our altitude at a 7-10 km distance and closed up to identify it. The target started to do shallow, full-speed evasive maneuvers. I identified it as Fw 190 even though I wasn’t totally sure. Roman (my wingman) wasn’t confident as well and we continued the approach. At a closer distance where a positive ID could be obtained the target made a sharp evasive maneuver that continued as a dive so I decided to engage. The first single 37 mm shot connected and the target exploded, the pilot was killed. Very cool to watch, but immediately we saw the report (in the chat) that a La-5 was destroyed. Oh no!

Quite a negative combat situation – I was thinking about the inevitable court-martial as we continued the patrol. Then Roman spotted a target on the right - a medium-sized twin-engine aircraft not more than 2 km away. Having forgotten about the tragedy that just happened for a moment, we rushed to it. This time we closed to be absolutely sure what it is - it could be Bf 110, but also a friendly Pe-2.
Climbing up from below the contact, Roman identified it to be German by yellow wingtips and he started his attack, but the German pilot wasn’t sleeping and successfully evaded the attack while his rear gunner hit the Yak’s radiator. But this is why a pair is always more effective than a single fighter - having evaded Roman’s attack the 110 exposed itself to me! A short 37 mm burst connected and blew off part of its wing. The pilot tried to keep his plane in the air, but couldn’t manage to do it and fell to the ground below. We didn’t see any chutes.

Apparently though, the 110 wasn’t alone. A fighter that must have been providing cover saw what had happened and quickly closed the distance between us. Roman managed to spot it just in time and maneuvered smartly to get onto his six o’clock, then the FW made a fatal mistake and made a sharp climb which slowed him down and made himself a fatter target with much less deflection than say a sharp diving turn would have. I always find it easier to lead a climbing target than a turning target. A few 37mm rounds connected making it a falling wreck.

Since Roman’s radiator was leaking and our 30 rounds ammo was nearly spent, I made a decision to return to base immediately. In spite of the damage sustained, Roman’s Yak successfully reached the airfield and landed in time.

After cutting off the engine and opening the cockpit canopy, the thrill of victory quickly left and a dark feeling of the grave episode of mistaken identity set in – a Willy’s jeep containing the Commissar pulled up.

P.S.

An interesting thing - I wrote this immediately after the landing and before viewing the flight record. After viewing it, I believe this experience proves that what we had just done was even more lifelike and close to what you usually read in pilot memoirs than I first thought. When I saw the flight record, it turned out that when I wrote ‘the first single shot’ or ‘a short burst’ I couldn’t be more wrong. I fired at least five short bursts at the first target (the friendly La-5) before I hit it. The second target was also hit only after firing for some time when it was doing scissors evasion maneuvers. This is close to historical reality as well - memories of combatants can sometimes be confused or tell a different story than reality. It’s this kind of thing that helps make our job of creating a ‘simulation’ difficult at times.

Update on IAR-80/81

On the actual development front, our modeling partner Ivan is working hard on the IAR-80/81 and it’s beginning to take shape nicely. When we see the cockpit starting to take shape, we will offer it up for Pre-Order. This plane promises to be very interesting.

Battle of Normandy objects development

We’re happy to report a good progress on the Normandy project. The most of the buldings anf ground vehicles are ready and the work on the sea objects is going at full head flank speed - today we can show you a couple of screenshots straight from 3D editor screen. This is WIP model of a Gleaves class destroyer that participated in the invasion.

[Troll]

I fly close to my man, aim well, and then of course he falls down.

• Oswald Boelcke

[smokinhole]

Shooting the pilot in the head is not at all difficult in FC. Sadly, shooting cables is far easier. AND, once shot, the control itself nearly always locks. Many have asked 777 how this might be possible. I find it, and other DM issues, so frustrating that I rarely play any more unless there happens to be a special multiplayer event like Bloody April.

[ST0RM]

120Gbs of 14.69Gbs…
I guess I havent played Il-2 in a while. Today is the day.

EDIT. Or was. Its still downloading. 411Gbs worth and counting. WTH??

[Phantom88]

292

Dear Pilots,

Today we want to show you some WIP pics of the P-51B/C with the birdcage style canopy. It really changes the look of the P-51 and it’s obvious why they changed to the bubble style canopy with the “D” model and some “B” airframes had their birdcage replaced with the ‘Malcolm Hood’ canopy which was a semi-bubble modification. We will also model the Malcolm Hood.

Also, if you happen to have any detailed references on the Malcolm Hood’s canopy frame, rails or emergency release mechanism please share them with us. We could use some more detailed pictures or drawings of it.

The P-51B/C is unfortunately behind schedule and should have been ready by now, but she is getting ever closer to release and likely to be finished next month.

Also, here is a pic of our American bomber pilot model ready to face some German flak!

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

[JediMaster]

The only one, unfortunately. Not counting the legacy and arcadey stuff, this is the only developer even addressing it. DCS is only doing WWII and later slowly, I doubt they’ll ever go back this far.

I still have ROF installed, although I don’t touch it nearly as much as I used to, but I’m not planning on leaving it until at least we have a FCv3 or even later to really flesh out the world.

I accept it will never get to be ROF-sized, but there are planes there I barely touched so that’s not really as important as nailing that world with the most important planes.

[Phantom88]

Yea…I also long for a Razorback P-47…I flew the @#$% out of it with The A2A Simulations version in FSX