New Game Launcher, New Set Up

[DD_Arthur]

And as an added bonus

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/43824-request-mod-add-axis-to-trim/

 

[Crash]

It is an awful lot better now that Loft has gone.

 

[Jabo]

3 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

Cor!

Indeed! And trim on rotaries too? Whoop!

[Crash]

And again

Dear friends,

 

We just released the new update 3.012. Only two weeks have passed since the previous update so the changelist isn't that long, but this time our customers will get FIVE new pieces of content for all three our current projects at once.

 

First, this is a new Collector's Plane for Bodenplatte - Fw 190 D-9 "Dora", one of the legendary late war Luftwaffe planes with very good speed and armament. Its main difference compared to previous models is Jumo-213 A1 water cooled engine equipped with MW 50 water-methanol injection system that can be used to increase the power output even more for up to 10 minutes. Another improvement of this plane is the automatic engine governor MBG and an effective engine cooling. This is also the first aircraft in our project to receive EZ 42 gyro gunsight. "Dora" could carry up to 500 kg bombs and R4M Orkan rockets (the new weapon in our project as well) which later served as a base for many post-war unguided rocket designs.

 

 

Second, we released the Prokhorovka map for Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka project. This map is an important step in our map technologies because the polygonal net of the landscape is 16 times more detailed than on previous maps. In addition, the detailed zone for ground warfare (20 km to the South and the West of Prokhorovka) contains new high detailed buildings with new damage visualization. It should be noted that this more detailed environment, of course, demands more from the graphics subsystem, but reasonable graphics settings can give you good performance even on middle range video cards. You may ask "Why don't you make all the new maps at this level of detail?", but the answer is that increasing the level of detail reduces the overall size of the map. A good map for the joint tank and air battles (100 x 100 km in case of Prokhorovka) would be not enough for a full-blown, 'air campaign' map that should be 200 x 250 km minimum. Therefore, Prokhorovka map is a fine balance of several things. It allows making interesting tank campaigns, having interesting joint tank and aircraft multiplayer, keeping the performance impact 30% or less at reasonable graphics settings, and having improved visual quality at the ground level required for the ground battles.

 

 

Third, Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka customers get two new toys: M4A2 and PzKpfw.III Ausf.M. Both tanks were interesting machines and they are recreated painstakingly and with passion. It should be noted that M4A2 could stand its own even against the heavier German adversaries thanks to its maneuverability, good turret traverse speed and sufficient armor penetration ability of its solid AP round. The medium tank PzKpfw.III Ausf.M also had a good chance against medium Soviet tanks - APCR rounds could penetrate their armor while its frontal protection was relatively good thanks to the spaced 50 and 20 mm armor plates. It also had a low visible profile, good maneuverability and high rate of fire.

 

 

 

Fourth, Flying Circus customers get Fokker D.VIIF. it was one of the best, if not the best, Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte fighter of WWI. The new and powerful for its time BMW IIIa engine gave the plane high speed and maneuverability at high altitudes while the oxygen supply enabled a pilot to fight up there effectively. Its armament is standard for German fighters of that time - two 7.92 mm LMG 08/15 "Spandau" (650 rounds per minute each).

 

 

1. Fw 190 D-9 "Dora" fighter is available to Battle of Bodenplatte Premium Edition owners;
2. Prokhorovka map (Southern part of the Kursk salient) is available to Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka owners;
3. M4A2 tank is available to Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka owners;
4. PzKpfw.III Ausf.M  tank is available to Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka owners;
5. Fokker D.VIIF fighter is available to Flying Circus - Volume I owners;
6. Locomotive tenders are destroyable once again;
7. The oxygen system capacity corrected (increased) on Fokker D.VII;
8. The sound of a damaged engine made more pronounced on all aircraft;
9. KV-1s, Pz.VI-H1, M4A2, and Pz.III-M have night gunsight illumination;
10. KV-1s and Pz.VI-H1 turrets bend their antennas when rotating;
11. Rocket exhaust flame corrected - it cuts immediately when the engine of a rocket stops and its smoke trail disappears faster;
12. A game freeze (when a statistics screen was visible on top of the other menus) has been fixed.

 

Please discuss the update in this thread.

•  

[delta7]

Dora dora dora

[Sid]

Lovvvvely

[Crash]

More stuff

Hello everyone!

 

In these sunny April days, we are working on the next big update, which we hope will be released in May. Previously we can say that this update will again be very voluminous in terms of the amount of content being released. A little bit later we will be able to say exactly what will be in this update, but we are aiming to launch a new noteworthy aircraft of the "Battle of Bodenplatte" project, two WWI airplanes in the "Flying Circus" project and two new tanks in the "Tank Crew" project. We also continue to work on evolution of the aviation part of the project and on deepening the gameplay of the tank part. A little later in the developer’s diaries we are planning to tell in detail about a new big "feature" of the multiplayer game - the "Battlefield Marshal" mode, the development of which is almost completed and will soon move to the testing and debugging phase. In the tank project, we are working on the functions of the tank commander, which will allow you to control both your crew and subordinate units. Also in the next update, we plan to significantly expand the model of damage to the systems and parts of the tank.

 

Today we want to show you a couple of the first in-game cockpit shots of our new "Swallow" - the Me 262 A "Schwalbe" fighter-bomber. Honestly - it turned out to be an incredibly interesting aircraft:

 

 

 

Today we also will dedicate a couple of screenshots to the almost completed crew of the M4A2 "Sherman" tank. Since the tank has an extremely wide range of possible positions for firing and driving by various crew members - this work was not easy, but the result is interesting too:

 

 

 

And another screenshot shows a new particle-based effects technology inside the cockpits in the first-person view. In the first stage, we will introduce this system for tanks (the effect of a fire starting from spilled fuel, the effect of extinguishing this fire, smoke when the engine is damaged, powder gasses when firing from a cannon and a machine gun). In the medium term, we also plan to use this technology for airplanes:

 

 

 

And many of your have inquired and commented about the Arras map for Flying Circus. It is underway by our partner Yugra Media. So far, everything regarding this map is on schedule, but work is still early and we don’t have any WIP shots for you to see yet. We are doing our best to help Yugra make a quality map for you. 

 

[DD_Arthur]

Dear friends,

 

As the development continues, we have new stuff to show you today. Let's begin with the Flying Circus project - together with our partners, we're finishing the next two planes: British S.E.5a made by Royal Aircraft Factory made and German Albatros D.Va made by Albatros Flugzeugwerke.

 

S.E.5a combined all the main combat characteristics needed for a victory - speed, firepower and maneuverability. Its 8-cylinder 200 HP V8 Wolseley Viper engine enabled it to go up to 218 kph at the ground level. Its armament of two different machineguns was somewhat original - one forward firing 7.69 mm Vickers and one 7.69 mm magazine fed Lewis installed on a mount that made firing at the targets forward and above possible:

 

 

Albatros D.Va was a symbol of the first half of WWI and its streamlined profile is easily identifiable. Powered by 6-cylinder 180 HP Mercedes D.IIIa engine and armed with two synchronized 7.92 mm Spandau LMGs 08/15, it had a completely rigid fuselage made of glued wood, which is now much easier to visualize in the sim thanks to the increased quality and complexity of 3D models:

 

 

For Tank Crew project we're developing the interiors of the next two tanks together with our partners: PzKpfw. IV Ausf. G and T-34 made by UVZ factory at the beginning of 1943. In addition to these new tanks, the next big update will bring numerous additions to the tank system functionality and damage modeling. Today we can show you the renders of the new T-34 interior made by Uralvagonzavod.

 

 

And finally, the news about our biggest project, Bodenplatte. At the moment, all buildings models for it are completed, including the unique historical ones, and most of them already have modeled damage. The work on the new AI-controlled ground vehicles required for this project has started. Of course, the development of the remaining aircraft is progressing at full speed. Today we can show you a couple of screenshots showing the building damage on the Bodenplatte map:

 

 

And here's one of the new AI-controlled vehicles - Willys MB off-roader. You can see the increased level of detail we have set up for all new non-player controlled ground vehicles:

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Crash]

Dear friends,

 

The time flows and the Summer draws near, and we're another step closer to the release dates of our projects. For Bodenplatte, the biggest chunk of work to be done is the map. With first cities, settlements and airfields done, the work continues on placing the rest of them according to historical data. In the code, we have begun the long-awaited work on aircraft AI improvements: for instance, in the next update, we plan to release the improved formation logic. For Career mode, new squadron emblems, military ranks and awards for all three countries will be finished soon. 

 

P-38J-25 and Tempest Mk.V FM are in the works, while Me-262A jet fighter-bomber FM should be finished soon. Speaking of visual models, P-51D-15, P-38J-25, Tempest and B-25D are nearing completion and proceeding according to schedule. Of course, the new theatre of war requires new ground vehicle models too. Today we can show you the screenshots of another one - German Sd.Kfz. 7/1 halftrack with 20 mm Flak-Vierling 38 AA gun:

 

 

For Flying Circus, the development of the Arras map (1918) continues, it will use the new art techniques being developed for 'Bodenplatte'. We should be able to show you the first screenshots of it in Summer, but today we have some new WWI aircraft cockpit screenshots, S.E.5a and Albatros D.Va. As you can see, the work on them is nearly complete and we plan to release them for Flying Circus owners before the end of this Spring:

 

 

 

For Tank Crew, the work on enhancing the tank damage modeling is progressing well. Physical tank models now include many systems and their damage while visual models have many new animations and working instruments. The already released systems have their damage modeling improved and we have added simple GUI damage notifications for systems and crewmen. All significant events will be displayed in the 'technochat' (log) on screen. In May-June we plan to implement repairing, refueling and rearming (which later will be also applicable for aircraft). In the next update, we'll release the animated crews for PzKpfw. III Ausf. M and M4A2. Today we can show you the PzKpfw. III Ausf. M crew and PzKpfw. IV Ausf. G interior:

 

 

 

And to finalize this Dev Blog we would like to show you the new promotional video for Battle of Stalingrad created by =HH=Pauk. It shows that the development of all of our projects doesn't stop on release date by all means and they are continuously developed and improved. Enjoy:

 

 

[Gypsy]

When I pre-ordered Bodenplatte (what seems like years ago) I was taking a chance that I would still be around to see it delivered. I thought the same thing when I pre-ordered the Tomcat. Well damn, it looks like I will live to see Bodenplatte also! Can't wait to try the GB version of the P-38!

I have decided that if something is "coming in two weeks" and it holds interest to me, I will get it. Maybe that's what keeping me kicking; the thought of wasting money ?????!

[Crash]

and again

Hello everybody,

The Spring ends soon, and we're preparing the next update for you. In the next 2-3 weeks, we plan to finish the testing of the new game version, which has started already - this week we started the beta testing of Flying Circus S.E.5a and Albatros D.5a and today we add T-34 UVZ mod. 1943 from Tank Crew project to it. And the next week the beta testing of the long-awaited Me 262 A for Battle of Bodenplatte will begin.

For Bodenplatte we also have the Summer US pilot ready, German and British pilots will receive their summer outfits soon. We can show you the US one today:

 

Jet engine Jumo-004B-1 for Me 262 A fighter/bomber is nearly finished - it is installed on the aircraft, its characteristics are set up and it is being tuned right now. For our project, we have chosen the updated variant of this engine which had a modified valve that made the throttle controls more trouble-proof. However, sharp throttle changes still can cause an engine fire, so it requires a degree of caution. Speaking of available modifications, this aircraft in the game will have the following ones:
- EZ 42 gyro gunsight with automatic deflection calculation,
- R4M unguided air-to-air rockets, 12 per mounting,
- Armored pilot headrest,
- Pilot back armor,
- Removal of the gun mounting armor for making the aircraft less nose-heavy,
- Removal of two Mk 108 guns,
- Bomber variant capable of carrying two SC 250 or one SC 500 bombs.

The list of this plane peculiarities includes the dangerous effect of Mach tuck at higher speeds that at first decreases its yaw stability. This yaw stability decrease not only makes the aircraft harder to handle but also warns the pilot of the increasing danger of an uncontrollable dive. The nose landing gear is omnidirectional and has additional brakes. While the plane is capable of reaching up to 837 kph near the ground it has good controllability at low speeds thanks to wing slats. It should be noted that the longitudinal center-of-gravity depends on the remaining fuel, ammo and modifications installed very heavily. For instance, if you remove the nose gun armor and two guns, it becomes so tail heavy with full tanks that it is dangerous to fly. Positive characteristics include good roll controls at any flight speed. All in all, the plane is going to be controversial, unusual and very interesting to fly:

 

Next Flying Circus planes, S.E.5a and Albatros D.5a, are completely finished and are being tested at the moment. The new level of visual quality allows us to have a fresh look at the aircraft of the Great War - previously invisible details became apparent, the materials became more lifelike. We hope to be able to show you the first screenshots of the Arras map soon. Meanwhile, we started the work on the next pair of WWI planes we have to develop - Bristol Fighter and Halberstadt CL.II. Bristol Fighter was a general purpose frontline aircraft that served as fighter, light bomber and recon plane while Halberstadt CL.II was a specialized frontline attack aircraft, sometimes also used for recon. But today we can show you the screenshots of S.E.5a and Albatros D.5a:

 

 

Tank Crew owners will also get much new stuff in this update - our partners from Digital Forms have finished the work on T-34-76 UVZ mod. 1943 and it will also be added to Early Access. There is much info on T-34 available, but some things can be repeated. Fast, maneuverable, with good armor and weapons - sloped angle armor made it only slightly less armored than heavier KV-1s. However, long 75 mm and 88 mm German guns in 1943 were very dangerous and this armor was no longer enough, so this means that T-34 crews need to rely on the main advantages of this tank - speed and mobility - even more.

However, the new tank isn't the only addition to Tank Crew you'll get in the next update. We're currently testing the new, more detailed tank damage model. The damage sustained will be indicated on a special overlay toggled by Enter key and in the messages on the left of the screen. The following systems can be damaged:
- Engine,
- Cooling system (coolant leaks that eventually lead to an engine overheat and damage),
- Oil tanks (oil leaks lead to fire danger),
- Fuel tanks (fuel leaks also increase the danger of fire, more for gas engines and less for diesel ones),
- Transmission and gearbox (longer gear shifting, inability to change the gear, complete transmission failure),
- Steering (more difficult turning),
- Electric system (inability to start the engine, inability to use powered turret traversing mechanism, internal and external lighting, radio),
- The left part of the suspension and left track,
- The right part of the suspension and right track,
- Radio,
- Main turret traverse mechanism,
- Manual turret traverse mechanism,
- Gun mounting,
- Main gun,
- Machine guns,
- Crew.

Of course, this feature is linked to another - the possibility of field repair. It is also being worked on and most of it will be usable for aircraft as well. The crew will be able to repair the tank systems in the field as long as the tank is not completely destroyed. In addition, the mission designer can add special repair and ambulance tracks that accelerate this process both to single and multiplayer missions. Later, during Summer, we plan to add refueling and ammo trucks to replenish the fuel, oil, water and ammo reserves. And today we can show you the screens of the coming T-34-76 UVZ mod. 1943:
 

[Crash]

And there is more

224

 

Dear friends,

 

Today's Dev Blog is really short - we're working on finishing the update 3.101 full time. This update will be very huge, its change list consists of more than 70 points already. Be warned by the way - because of the critical amount of changes, the track and mission format will be changed, so if you have interesting tracks convert them to videos beforehand. If you're an author of a custom mission or campaign, be prepared to resave your creation after the release (it can be done quickly using 'Convert missions to binary in folder' in the Mission editor). So, we have a lot of work on our hands at the moment, but it's not very exciting to tell about it. However, we have an interesting thing we can show you today.

 

 

The plan is to have the external textures of all Bodenplatte aircraft in 4K quality. This is possible thanks to new texturing techniques and the help from our community members =ICDP= and =BlackHellHound1=. For instance, today we can show you the Me 262 as you'll see it in the coming update - in all 4K glory.

 

 

See the world combat debut of our Me-262 at FS Expo 2019 in Orlando, FL June 8-9 Booth #505. Jason will be there putting it through its paces with a 6DOF motion-sim by Gforcefactory and VR.

 

[Crash]

Update due Monday/Tuesday

 

[DD_Arthur]

Excellent!  That means SE5a and the Albi DVa too

[Crash]

Update 3.101

 

Dear friends,

Today we have finished another huge update and it is already available to you. It includes the new war machines you can control - jet fighter/bomber Me 262 A Schwalbe for Bodenplatte, Т-34-76 made by UVZ factory in early 1943 for Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka and airplanes S.E.5a and Albatros D.Va for Flying Circus - Volume I.

Upping the exterior textures to 4К quality level for Bf 109 F-4 and Fw 190 A-8 are another neat feature, as well as adding visible crews to player controllable Pz.III Ausf.M and M4A2. All VR users get the long-awaited fix of an aircraft propeller that looked distorted with VR reprojection turned on. There are many changes in aircraft and ground AI. The level of detail of player controllable tank systems and their damage model is nearly final. And as usual, there are many improvements in FM and aircraft systems modeling.

IL-2 Sturmovik team wishes you nice summer weather and enjoyable flying in our sim!  

Main features
1. Jet fighter-bomber Me 262 A "Schwalbe" is now available for all owners of "Battle of Bodenplatte";
2. Albatros D.Va is now available for all owners of "Flying Circus";
3. S.E.5a is now available for all owners of "Flying Circus";
4. T-34-76 UVZ made in early 1943 is now available for all owners of "Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka" (includes crew);
5. Bf 109 F-4 exterior textures are now available in 4К quality, including damage, thanks to =BlackHellHound1=;
6. Fw 190 A-8 exterior textures are now available in 4К quality, including damage, thanks to =ICDP=;
7. Crew models added to M4A2;
8. Crew models added to Pz.III Ausf.M;
9. In VR, active reprojection won't cause a rotating propeller to flicker;
10. The game launcher (non-Steam version) now offers more options (enabling or disabling VR, 4K textures, GUI autoscale and mods);

AI improvements
11. AI fighters may cancel the attack run when hit by a bomber gunner fire;
12. AI fighters aim better when engaging a straight flying target;
13. AI fighters open fire earlier when engaging a straight flying target;  
14. AI fighters maneuver more carefully when covering bombers;
15. AI keeps the formation much better;
16. AI ground attack planes and fighters RTB if they have no ammo for forward-firing armament left;
17. AI bombers open bomb bay doors during the bombing run only if there are bombs inside;
18. AI bombers won't open bomb bay doors during the route by mistake;
19. AI won't attempt to land on tank spawn points in multiplayer in case of an emergency;
20. AI gunners fire only at targets selected as 'Engageable' (Mission Editor parameter);
21. AI guns and tanks aim in a more realistic way, there is a slight fire delay after aiming and before re-engaging;
22. Driveable tanks controlled by AI keep formation better, including cases of losing one or more tanks of a platoon;
23. Ground AI can set and keep User Formation by mission command (current relative position of vehicles in the group);
24. Ground AI has three new formations: line left, line right, centered line (relative to the group leader);
25. Ground AI now correctly selects and uses APHE ammo (it used only AP ammo before);
26. Ground AI won't fire at crewmen escaping from friendly vehicles;

New features for player controllable tanks
27. It's possible to limit the maximal gear by X and Z key;
28. Enter key invokes the damage control overlay;
29. Headlights state, engine damage and overheat, low oil pressure and battery charge, maximal selected gear limit are shown in the quick info interface panel;
30. Lots of instruments and controls are now animated: odometers, service meters, engine revolutions counters, ignition switches, starter buttons, oil temperature indicators, amperemeters, voltmeters, fire detection lamps, radio tuning dials, parking brake handles, turret locks;
31. Transmission damage affects the changing of gears, they become harder or impossible to switch;
32. Oil system damage causes engine damage at a progressing rate;
33. Cooling system damage affects oil and cylinder heads cooling effectiveness;
34. Electrical system damage affects the functionality of lighting, powered turret traverse and engine starter;
35. Engines have a heat model that is affected by damage;
36. Cold engine yields less power until it heats up;
37. An engine with overheated oil or cylinder heads accumulates damage fast;
38. 'Warmed up engine' option is valid for tanks too;
39. Fuel or oil leak could lead to a fire that can kill the crew and cause the ammo detonation;
40. In case of fire, the crew uses fire extinguishers if there are any left. It takes up to 2 seconds using automatic fire extinguishers and up 5 seconds using regular ones;
41. Damaged suspension springs or torsions can become lame;
42. If the coolant is boiling, there is a visible vapor exhaust from radiators;
43. A damaged engine can fill the tank interior with smoke;
44. Firing the gun and MGs can obscure vision in the tank interior;
45. Crew clothes, faces, hands, etc. can become dirty from smoke;
46. The turret traverse speed decreases with the inclination of the tank, it may be impossible to turn the turret at a high inclination angle;
47. The driver instruments functioning was updated;
48. Powered (electric) turret traverse mechanism added to KV-1s and Т-34-76-UVZ-1943 with the manual traverse as the backup one. The powered traverse mechanism won't work if it is damaged, there is no power or the engine is off;
49. Powered (hydraulic) turret traverse mechanism added to M4A2 and PzKpfw. VI Ausf. H-1 with the manual traverse as the backup one. The powered traverse mechanism won't work if it is damaged or the engine is off;  
50. Backup (pneumatic) engine starter added to KV-1s and Т-34-76-UVZ-1943 that is used if there is no power;
51. Additional (panoramic) gunsight added to KV-1s and Т-34-76-UVZ-1943;
52. Backup gunsight (iron sights) added to Pz.III Ausf.M;
53. The shaft between the flywheel clutch and the gearbox on M4A2 is correctly animated;
54. Pz.III Ausf.M brake drums are correctly animated;
55. Pz.VI Ausf.H1 engine cooling fans are correctly animated;
56. Tanks won't 'jump' on rubble left from destroyed buildings;
57. A rare issue that could cause a still functioning tank to appear destroyed, but with functioning turret has been fixed;
58. A rare issue that could cause a still functioning track to appear destroyed has been fixed;
59. A small visual issue (grey square near the gun gunsight) has been fixed for Pz.III Ausf.M and Pz.VI Ausf.H1;
60. KV-1s paint color has been corrected;
61. The motion of a damaged right track of Pz.III Ausf.M has been corrected;

New features in aircraft physics, systems and animations
62. Infinitely firing aircraft of other players shouldn't randomly appear in multiplayer anymore;
63. Additional steps were taken that should eliminate a rare problem of another player plane being invisible before opening fire;
64. PTAB sub-munitions effect on ground targets has been corrected;
65. Damage calculations for AP, APHE and HEAT aircraft-launched rockets have been significantly improved;
66. Physical models of all aircraft engines have been revised, many rare bugs were found and fixed;
67. A rare issue that could crash the sim when all fuel was spent (or leaked away) on Ju-88 and He-111 H6/H16 has been fixed;
68. A rare issue in P-47 turbocharger that could crash the sim was found and fixed;
69. The error that caused the Flying Circus aircraft propellers to have more power than RoF ones has been found and fixed. The notable difference was found at lower flight speeds, but additional research showed that this error made during porting of RoF planes to Flying Circus more or less affected all flight characteristics of the Flying Circus aircraft. In this update this error is fixed, so flight characteristics of all Flying Circus planes fully correspond to RoF before update 1.034. You can see the updated flight characteristics of Albatros D.Va and S.E.5a in their in-game descriptions, while updated descriptions for other Flying Circus aircraft will follow in the next update when we redo all the required measurements;
70. All aircraft: when starting or shutting down the engine with all three difficulty options "Cruise control", "Throttle auto limit" and "Engine auto control" turned off you need to move the engine controls during the startup or shutdown procedure yourself;
71. All aircraft: wind noise sound with jettisoned or broken canopy won't disappear at 720 kph and higher speeds;
72. All aircraft: new technochat message informs the player about the engine failure (when it shuts off by itself without player or throttle limiter input);
73. All aircraft: new technochat message informs the player that the engine start command is ignored if the startup requirements are not met;
74. Fw-190 D9 and Me 262 A: there is a tip in chat clarifying that the engine throttle is blocked from moving to cutoff position when the engine is on;
75. Sopwith Camel and Sopwith Dolphin skid steering animations were corrected;
76. Weight values listed for all large gunsights of Flying Circus planes and for the camera on SPAD XIII.C1 have been corrected;
77. Weight values listed for additional Lewis MGs on Sopwith Dolphin have been corrected, speed loss information added;
78. Moving horizontal stabilizers control levers or wheels can be heard;
79. When an engine is turned off, the motion speed of a throttle lever with engine helpers turned on has been increased (it is now the same as its motion speed with engine helpers turned off);
80. In multiplayer, you can hear the engine starter of another player. 

Because of the huge amount of changes, the track and mission format was changed. If you're an author of a custom mission or campaign, you need to resave your creation (it can be done quickly using 'Convert missions to binary in folder' in the Mission editor).

 

 

 

 

[DD_Arthur]

 

[Crash]

Looks fun, I might get the tank crew later this year

 

[Crash]

More stuff

225

 

Dear friends,

 

The Summer is in full swing and we're working on finishing the Bodenplatte project. P-51D, P-38J, B-25 and Tempest 3D models are nearing completion, their textures are being made right now. Today we can show you the cockpit of Hawker Tempest Mk.V:

 

 

As we announced before, all Bodenplatte planes will have 4K external textures. Here are Bf 109 G-14 shots that show the texturing made by Martin =ICDP= Catney:

 

 

In addition to the models, we're working on the important features like more detailed pilot's physiology effects. Fatigue caused by a high G stress, (in)ability to bail out and other such things. After that, we'll get to repairing, refueling and refitting the aircraft on the ground.

 

At the moment we're moving to a newer FMOD version and our sound designer converts all the sounds to the newer sound engine. The main result of this work should be a fix of the disappearing sounds issue after playing for a while that was caused by having too many of them. We also started the research on making the aircraft and ships visible from several times farther distances. This task is very complex since it involves many various parts of the project - we can't make it at the cost of a significant performance loss in the graphics and network subsystems.

 

The work on the Bodenplatte map is nearing completion and we'll be able to show you the screenshots showing the result of this tremendous work soon. This also means we started the work on the Career mode for it that will be called Battle of Rheinland. Starting on September 17th, 1944 and ending on April 1st, 1945, it will include several new mission types characteristic for this timeframe on the Western front. All the required information - squadron histories and emblems, pilot biographies, awards, news, etc. - was accumulated with the help from our community members and we're very grateful to those who participated in this task.

 

Another important thing we must tell you is that American, British and German infantrymen models for Bodenplatte project are finished - they will man the guns, drive the vehicles and appear as airfield personnel. And here's the model of the Royal Air Force pilot for Summer of 1944:

 

 

Now let's talk about other our projects. For Tank Crew, the next update will bring Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G that has autonomous electric turret turn mechanism for instance. And in September we plan to release the two scenario campaigns for Tank Crew - Breaking Point and Last Chance, telling about the fighting near Prokhorovka. Players will be able to participate in the battle from both sides. Today we can show you the title art for these campaigns that were created using in-game tank models and the screenshots of Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G in the sim.

 

 

 

The next update is planned to include two - actually four - new aircraft for Flying Circus - Halberstadt CL.II, Halberstadt CL.IIau, Bristol Fighter F2 Falcon 2, Bristol Fighter F2 Falcon 3. After that, to complete this project we'll have to release Amiens-Arras-Lille map that will come with improved visual models for ground vehicles. Here are the screenshots of the coming planes:

 

 

[DD_Arthur]

Soon......

[Jabo]

3 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

Soon......

Squeee!

[Crash]

Jason says

Guys - P-51, P-38 and Tempest are looking good. I am in Moscow this week and I have checked on all of them in person. You have nothing to worry about. Coming in not too far future.

He also said Cockpits 95%. FMs several weeks out, under development.

[Crash]

wow

Dear Friends,

 

After the recent release of the update 3.102 many of you wondered "why there are no new Bodenplatte planes"? There is nothing strange about it: the remaining three player-controllable fighters and AI-controlled bomber are the most complex and difficult to produce objects in the entire history of our team. But the more difficult is the task the more interesting is the result. At the moment we plan to make all these four planes available to you in the next huge update at the end of September that will also bring the important new features we're working on at the moment. Here's the rundown on their current statuses:

• P-51D-15: cockpit texturing and flight model is in development.
• P-38J-25: cockpit texturing is nearly finished, the flight model is finished, it will go to beta testing soon.
• Tempest Mk.V ser.2: 3D model is finished, the flight model is nearly finished, it will go to beta testing soon as well.
• B-25D (Mitchell II): 3D model is finished, we’re working on the last bits of texturing and turret animations, the flight model is in development.

The work on the Rhineland map for Bodenplatte is also progressing well and we'll show you some of it in one of the coming DDs. We're working on the new Career timeframe 'Battle of Rhineland' in parallel. Now let's list the features that are at the final stage of development at the moment:

• Switch to the newer F-MOD API version which we hope will fix the disappearing sounds issue right away or in the near future.
• An advanced model of pilot physiology that includes complex fatigue modeling that takes into account G-overload fatigue, overload frequency, alternation of positive and negative overloads, wounds, having a G-suit, lack of oxygen and oxygen supply system. The model will also simulate a loss of consciousness and ability to control an aircraft after experiencing too sharp or too severe overloads. The algorithms it is using are based on the research of various institutes. The introduction of this model is likely to change the flow of air combat, especially in multiplayer. However, those who find it too difficult and unfamiliar will be able to switch it off as realism option (it will also be a server setting).
• Air Marshal mode that is being developed especially for multiplayer will also enter the testing stage soon. When this happens, we'll dedicate a special DD to it.
• Improved AI maneuvering in a dogfight. Our new programmer is working on this (the recent formation keeping improvements are his work), but remember there is still a long way to go in this area.
• Improved visibility distance of planes and ships. The main difficulty in the development of this feature was making the dynamic objects show at great distances without a steady stream of data reporting their position and orientation. Another important thing is to model the lighting of the airplane even at long range - we discarded the idea of having just black dots at these distances, where the visibility of an object is determined by the position of the sun, brightness and hue of the sky, haze, etc. All this is impossible to model having only a black dot. The distant planes flying at high altitudes will have contrails and ships will have visible wakes. It is also important to have more or less equal terms for owners of different monitors. Having completed all these tasks, we'll increase the maximum visibility distance for planes and ships from 10 to 100 km and the resulting visibility distance will realistically correspond to the lighting and weather conditions.

As you can see, the Bodenplatte project is at the final stage and nearing release. Numerous changes and additions to be seen in the final version are more or less close to being finished. Therefore, the update 3.102 included the content that was ready and a minimal amount of changes - at the final stage nothing should divert the team from the main target. We don't want our words to sound empty or unfounded, so today we can show you the in-game exterior shots of the P-38J-25 Collector Plane (that is included in Bodenplatte Premium, only version you can get at the moment), the cockpit of the British Tempest Mk.V ser.2 and the new German pilot in Summer 1944 uniform:

 

 

 

[Crash]

More good stuff

228

 

Hello Dear Friends!

 

As you know, to work well one needs to have a good rest. While the summer season continues, and our colleagues go on vacation, I will tell you how important it is for a military pilot to be able to save and properly spend his strength during combat.

 

Probably you have already realized that in today's diary I want to talk about our new pilot physiology modeling, which we are preparing for the release in the next update. Our Beta testers will receive this model for tests today.

 

About Pilot Physiology

 

The focus of the new physiology model is, above all, on a more realistic imitation of a person's tolerance to high G-load. Although this is not the only change in the pilot physiology, you will most likely notice it first, so let's talk about it in more detail.

 

As you know, we all are different, and each of us has different stamina, physical strength, and ability to resist negative environmental factors. Therefore, the ability of a particular pilot to withstand high G-load is, of course, purely individual, and depends on a good number of factors: age, state of health, fitness, whether a pilot slept well the night before, how much he ate and how long ago, and even what his emotional state is. Of course, we cannot collect all this information about you, and take all these factors into account in such detail; such a model would be excessively complex, although it would probably allow the player’s best immersion into virtual reality. Nevertheless, we found that the most reasonable approach would be to choose a certain averaged model of an average pilot physiology. By "average pilot" we mean a trained pilot in good physical condition, who often performs aerobatics. A large number of different medical studies with the collected statistics of experiments with pilots and volunteers come to our aid. Based on them it is possible to establish a “middle way” of the typical human tolerance to high G-load.

 

The first thing that all researchers pay attention to is the fact that the amount of G, both positive (when a pilot is “pressed” into his seat) and negative (when a pilot is “pulled away” from his seat and “hangs on the belts”) depends primarily on the duration of the G-load and on the rate the G-load was applied. For example, at a positive +6G the “average” pilot loses consciousness within the first 5-8 seconds, but the same pilot quite successfully sustains +5G for about 40 seconds, if the rate of G-load application was less than 1G/sec. However, if you create the same +5G in just 1-2 seconds, then loss of consciousness will occur in 5-7 seconds. In aviation medicine, this phenomenon is explained by the “hemodynamics” of the cardiovascular system. The body needs some time to mobilize and begin to effectively counteract overload. This is illustrated in the chart from the article written by Anne M. Stoll, “Human tolerance to positive G as determined by the physiological end points” published in The Journal of aviation medicine in 1956:

 

 

In our new model of human physiology, all these factors are now taken into account. If a high G-load is applied within 1-2 seconds, the negative consequences (visual and hearing disorders) do not appear immediately, but rather with a 2-3 seconds delay, then a quick “crisis” follows, and then, after a few seconds, the body mobilizes and its ability to tolerate G-loads becomes better. This “crisis” can be avoided, or at least reduced, if you pilot more smoothly and create G-load gradually and slowly.

 

Here is another graph that shows how long an average pilot is able to withstand positive and negative G until he loses his consciousness. The blue line is a summary of data we collected as a result of our various medical studies analysis. Red dots are the results our new model shows:

 

 

As you can see, pilots tolerate the positive g-loads much better than the negative ones.

 

In addition, now we also take the pilot’s fatigue factor into account, based on the data mentioned above. This means that every pilot’s maneuver performed with a large g-load is no longer in vain, and the more actively a pilot maneuvers, the worse he and his crew will suffer further g-loads. If the pilot is already pretty worn out by maneuvering combat, be aware that a new opponent who entered the battle will have a significant advantage, and maybe you should get out of the dogfight and catch your breath. This may take you a few minutes.

 

Another important part of this work is the reconfiguration of the visual effects of visual impairment. We brought it into a full compliance with the sequence described in the scientific literature. First, under the influence of positive g-load, a pilot begins to lose color perception (a so-called “grayout”). Then his peripheral vision field (or a “tunnel vision”) narrows, until it becomes completely dark in the eyes (a so-called “blackout”). The visual impairment is also accompanied by hearing loss. On a negative g-load, the effect of “tunnel vision” and loss of color perception do not happen, because, unlike a positive overload, there is no oxygen starvation of the optic nerve. But on the other hand, the pilot feels a rush of blood to his head, which is expressed in the appearance of a noticeable red tint of vision (a so-called “redout”), and the sharpness of vision also deteriorates.

 

I have mentioned a “loss of consciousness” several times already. Yes, now we are simulating this state, too. A pilot can lose consciousness at large positive or negative g-loads if the threshold of their physiological tolerance is exceeded (taking into account the duration of g-loads, the pace of their creation and accumulated fatigue). A harbinger of the loss of consciousness at the positive g-load is a blackout, although even having completely lost his eyesight, the pilot is still able to control his aircraft for some time. At the negative g-load loss of consciousness occurs more unexpectedly, and the only way to determine it in time is by a sharp deterioration in visual acuity. Studies have established that, depending on a number of factors, a usual period of a G-lock can be as long as 10 to 15 seconds, and during this time the aircraft will remain uncontrollable. Keep in mind that each subsequent loss of consciousness will cost you even greater loss of time and energy. WWII fighter pilots were very human, not Superman and they did experience pretty high G-loads even in piston planes.

 

Another feature of this model is an anti-g suit a pilot has. On average, according to various studies, the anti-g suit increases the physiological tolerance threshold to positive g-load by 1.5 - 2G, so pilots with the anti-g suits will certainly get a significant advantage in dogfight.  The anti-g suit does not affect tolerance to a negative g-load.

 

In conclusion, I would like to mention that we also limited the pilot’s ability to bail out at the airspeed of more than 400 km/h, or under the influence of positive g-load of more than +3G (which is the physiological limit in terms of the ability of a person to get out of the seat). These numbers refer to a healthy pilot; in case of injury getting out of the cockpit will be even more difficult for a crew.

 

The effect of hypoxia model on g-load tolerance model has also been refined and will take air pressure into account more correctly.

 

Preparing for the release of a new physiology model, we understand that for some players it incomprehensible and not obvious at first. Therefore, we left you the opportunity to choose a simplified physiology model in the realism settings, which will work quite similar to the current model, and will not take into account the pilot’s fatigue, the hemodynamics of his cardiovascular system, or limit the pilot’s endurance according to the duration of g-loads or the pace of their creation. Also, in a simplified model your crew will not be able to lose consciousness. At the same time, this simple model will use the new reconfigured effects of visual and hearing disorders, and the magnitude of the g-load at which these disorders occur will be brought into line with the updated data from the new model.

 

We really hope that the new model of the pilot’s physiology will make the gameplay more interesting, and significantly change the tactics of dogfight. So, the players will now have to take care of the physical condition of the pilot and be more careful about active maneuvering, and this will take us one step closer to the reality of air combat.

 

Andrey “Petrovich” Solomykin – Lead Engineer

 

News from Jason

 

Bodenplatte Coming Along Nicely!

 

We continue to work on the BOBP map and its large list of airfields and urban areas which is something rather new for us. This map has been a challenge like never before and we have it functioning in Beta, but it has a little way to go still. However, our last three Allied planes are coming along nicely. Check out this beautiful formation of vintage American air power and a bonus shot of the Tempest in flight. The Tempest continues to be tweaked and improved after the first round of Beta testing and the P-38 is also in Beta with small tweaking necessary. The P-51D will also be coming to Beta soon. All three aircraft are quite complex. The different design philosophies of each nation have really become evident as we make more and more planes.
 
We must remind everyone that these planes are still a Work-In-Progress so some of these details in these images may change.

 

 

 

Saddle Up Cowboy!

 

Our P-51D-15 “Pony” is nearing the Beta stage as we finish the cockpit and external model. Here are the first pics of the P-51D cockpit. Our model team has done another awesome job!

 

 

 

Personal Images in Cockpits

 

Another popular request has been the ability to place a personal picture in the cockpit of your plane. We have now added this capability.

 

 

 

New View Distance for Airplanes

 

Yes, by popular request, we have increased the visibility of distant airplanes. This has been a difficult technical challenge, but we think Sturmovik pilots will appreciate this new reality. Can you spot the far-off planes? We’re still tweaking the feature, but it’s in testing.

 

 

Next Collector Planes in Pre-Production

 

And last but not least, we have begun preliminary work on a couple cool Collector Planes. We aren’t announcing them quite yet, but they will available for pre-order later this year and then in your hangar next year. Sorry, no hints quite yet!

[DD_Arthur]

Wow!  Thats some update   Mmmm......P38.......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Crash]

• s

Oh YES

229

 

Today I’d like to tell you a story about how our Tempest Mk.V came to be. Every once in a while, I get to stop being a producer and just be a fanboy and add something to the simulation to fulfill a dream.  When I saw how well our Spitfire Mk.Vb turned out, I knew I wanted a Tempest added whenever possible. There is something very cool about these British birds. I knew a Tempest built by our team would be awesome. 

 

I’ve always thought the Tempest was really an awesome warplane. It just looked tough and mean with that huge air scoop under the nose of that powerful Sabre engine. It appealed to me as the perfected sibling of the legendary, but initially troubled Typhoon. The Tempest represented the pinnacle of piston powered late-war aircraft. The type of Allied fighter that could beat the best the Luftwaffe had and put the final nail in the coffin. As an American kid, the British Tempest looked uniquely cool and somehow different, but I could only see pictures in books and read about them. I never got to see an actual Tempest in the air. Unlike Spitfires and Mustangs, so few examples survived their service and performed to airshows in California where I grew up. So, when the opportunity came much, much later in life, I decided I wanted to fly one built to our specs in our engine with our team. Now it’s finally time.

 

From the first moment I decided we should make the Tempest, I knew building it would be a challenge. I recalled from the days of IL-2:1946 that there was a real lack of quality references to make the plane to a high degree of detail, both in its physical shape and the engine’s performance. That Tempest model is a great accomplishment as well and I remember the enthusiasm that accompanied it way back then. I knew it would be the same difficult road today for our Tempest without a real effort and help from other people. And luckily, that is exactly what happened. Thanks to total strangers and friends in the community, this mission has been a successful one. In the past, other such endeavors have failed, so I am very excited that this one did not.

 

1CGS Office Las Vegas, NV U.S.A

 

Last year I put out a call on the forum asking for help locating information and references for the Tempest. The community responded in force, and I was able to quickly get a grasp of what was out there. This got the ball rolling and I bought the team several books, drawings and sourced any operator manuals that were publicly available. I also learned what actual airframes existed and I started to try and make contact with their owners. 

 

Fantasy of Flight in Lakeland, Florida U.S.A.

 

My first bit of luck was successfully making contact with Fantasy of Flight outside Orlando, FL thanks to social media. Fantasy of Flight is home to the famous Kermit Weeks, who’s videos of him flying many different aircraft on YouTube is legendary. I took a trip to Orlando and drove out to FOF to see the two Tempest airframes they have there. They have a Mk.V and a Mk.II. I was informed that the Mk.V was a front line WWII bird, but it had crash landed in the Netherlands and was recovered, but then turned into a test airframe for refurbished Sabre engines at a repair depot. I was told the Mk. II airframe was one of the prototypes. Both are in various stages of restoration, but the project manager was retiring in a matter of days and the planes were going into a crate and locked away for who knows how long. Matter of fact, a lot of the plane was already in crates! I had to act fast. 

 

I made it to FOF just in time and met with Andy, the gentleman who was retiring the next week. I learned as much as I could from him about the Tempest airframes they had and took lots of pictures for our modelers. Here is a sampling of what I saw there, which was two airplanes in bits with the wings and an incomplete fuselage. I was stressing this would not be enough.

 

   

 

  

 

Fantasy of Flight has a great collection of aircraft and I highly recommend visiting it if you are ever in the Orlando area. It’s not a far drive from Disneyworld. Lots of interesting and rare aircraft in great condition. The staff there is great and really helped us out and they are willing to do so again in the future. A great outfit.

 

www.fantasyofflight.com

 

RAF Hendon, London, England, UK

 

My second bit of luck was successfully making contact with the RAF Museum at Hendon. This took some real doing and I must thank community member EAF19_Marsh aka Ed for helping get me in touch with the right person. It looked grim and I was extremely frustrated with Hendon at one point, because I knew they had the missing piece of the puzzle, but they just were not responding to my requests. However, in the end it all worked out and Ed’s effort helped get things moving. I hopped on a plane to London and took the London Underground for the first time to Hendon. There I saw a real complete Tempest Mk.V in the flesh. Airframe NV778 was a former target tug, but other than the unique target tug equipment it was the exact airplane we needed. Here are some pics of it at Hendon. My worry was starting to subside, it looked like we could make the Tempest after all.

 

  

 

  

 

I also encourage anyone who visits London to go to the RAF Hendon museum. Their collection is awesome and includes some real gems. The Lancaster bomber there is extremely impressive! Makes the B-17 and B-24 look small. The crew at Hendon did us a real solid. Please show them your support and thanks for helping us out. A special thanks to Ian Thirsk, Brendan O’Gorman and especially to Tim Bracey for his assistance in accessing the Tempest.

 

www.rafmuseum.com

 

While I was in London I met up with a few IL-2 community members and had some beer and some chat. Thanks to Custard, Herne, Elem and Royal Flight and a few other gents which I embarrassingly can’t remember their names of so many months later. My apologies. I had a great time with everyone even though I had caught a nasty cold. I felt awful and I apologize to everyone who came for not being my usual chatty self. Why is beer so warm in England? What’s up with that?

 

 

 

Typhoon Legacy British Columbia, Canada

 

Getting pictures for the Tempest model was a huge step, but what about other things like flight data, engine data and operator manuals? Without some kind of understanding about the performance of the plane we’d just be guessing and users would not be happy. Well, shortly after my original call for help on the forum I was contacted by community member [IV./JG54]Croquemou aka Nicolas who works on the Typhoon Legacy project. They are restoring a Typhoon and they had lots of useful info and references for us about the Tempest and Napier Sabre engine. They were kind enough to share this information with me and I passed it onto the Sturmovik engineering team. We acquired official manuals, parts lists, drawings, engine test data, flight-data and other small bits of info that should help us make the Tempest fly in a realistic fashion. Special thanks to Nicolas and Ian Slater for their help in acquiring this important information. 

 

   

 

  

 

www.typhoonlegacy.com 

 

1CGS Office Moscow, Russian Federation

 

Armed with all the information and pictures I could gather our modeling team went to work building the Tempest. It took quite a while, but Phil really did an excellent job capturing its shape and he somehow untangled the complicated cockpit structure to create what I consider a masterpiece. 

 

Here is Phil’s take on building the Tempest, “Each aircraft is unique, even within the same series, there will always be small differences. Working on a visual model of Tempest was not a challenge, but unlike many others, there were features that I could not foresee. The unique designs and decisions of British engineers were of great interest to me in the process of studying this aircraft, but, in turn, covered with the lack of references that were high enough for modeling, was affected by the great stress in the process of creating this war bird. Spatial frames, many open cabin panels, non-standard solutions of simple assemblies, many details, confusion of differences in series, all this at certain times became difficult, but no less interesting.

 

Starting with the external model of the fuselage, you feel like a sculptor, deriving smooth contours, wide and graceful wings, a streamlined body - all this contrasts with the cabin, reminiscent of some kind of chaos of scattered parts, wires, hoses. One got the impression that this was done not at the factory, but in the field, or in the form of a prototype. But this style is observed in many British warbirds - Hurricane, Spitfire, and others.

 

For me, the artistic process is inextricable with the study of not only visual references, but also the design of how it works and what it was intended for. Understanding the internal processes and historical decisions gives many details that affect the final result. You can also find interesting comparisons in the future. For example, I often find similar solutions in other planes of other countries. For example, in the Yak-9 - this is unbelievable, but there are many similarities with Tempest. Or at one time I found interesting comparisons in the models of Foke-Wolf Dora and Soviet Lavochkin LA-5.

 

Returning to Tempest, I would also like to note that once it was one of my favorite airplanes. As a child, I often riveted such airplanes with large “beard” air intakes, but then cooled down to this design. Work on Tempest revived this love in me, and I hope you all will like it, and you will also feel the power of this bird. Feel the smell of fuel and oil. And shooting down an enemy plane you will feel like those heroes defending your country!”

 

Any time we create an airplane model from scratch under our tight deadlines it’s a struggle to include all the necessary details without blowing up our polygon and texture budget. Lucky for everyone, Phil somehow got it done!
 

  

 

    

 

Next came the flight model work and our engineer Alex dove right in. Even with all of the data I gathered, there is still some mystery surrounding the Tempest’s Sabre engine and certain engine limits and performance characteristics. 

 

Alex says, "The Tempest is a bit of a mystery plane in history. Not a lot of books and no flying examples like you get with say the Spitfire. There are several different versions of performance numbers in the data we collected and trying to weed through all of them and find the truth was a challenge. In cases like this, our aero model and our systems start to tell the story instead of the data telling us, which happens on more well documented planes. It's a bit like a detective story. We search for the truth with our advanced aero modeling and see what starts to line up. As I measured its shape and entered more and more data points into our aerodynamic and power models, its real flight envelope began to emerge and it began to line up with one or more of the data sources. The end result is a really great war-winning airplane that Allied pilots are going to like and we think is the most accurate Tempest ever made for a PC flight-sim."

 

With the info we gathered, the Mk.V sub-variant we decided to build is the Series II with the Sabre IIa engine. The initial results of FM tests are very promising for fans of British airplanes and Alex has done another outstanding job. The Tempest is indeed a deadly plane and British pilots were lucky to have her.

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

Without further delay here is a short movie featuring our Tempest Mk.V in Beta testing. As always, all textures, markings and even its performance are still a work-in-progress. We hope you enjoy and THANKS to everyone who had a hand in our research and its development. Truly an international effort by a wonderful community.