New Game Launcher, New Set Up

[Crash]

Dear friends!

 

We would like to congratulate you on the very important holiday - 75th Anniversary of the Victory in Europe! On this day 75 years ago the hard and long road to peace, that cost millions of lives, has finally come to its end at the European theater of the world war. The people of all nations got a second chance to live. Let's remember the heroic deeds of our ancestors and be thankful to them - even though that today's crisis and problems are significant, they can't be compared to the gravity of the situation and the hardships of those years of war.

 

 

The life that was given to us by the heroic deed of our ancestors continues. Coincidentally, this is a small anniversary for our project, which is entirely dedicated to the World War II events, as well - you're reading its 250th Developers Blog. Our work on the sim also continues - in 2 or 3 weeks we plan to release the next update 4.006. It will bring not only the new player controllable machines - Yak-9 and Yak-9T Collector Planes and SU-152 assault gun for Tank Crew - but also the fundamental changes in the graphics engine: the renderer will be switched to Deferred Shading. At the moment this update is already in the beta testing and our team is working on debugging and finalizing it. The changelist will be a long one once again, it already includes more than 50 changes in different areas of the sim. To illustrate what these renderer changes add to the visuals, we want to show you the in-game screenshots of Yak-9T, which is a good aircraft to display the new graphical capabilities:

 

 

Another pic we want to show you the WIP model of the early war German pilot which will be used in BoM, BoS and BoK timeframes. It's going to appear in the project a bit later, but it won't be a long wait:  

 

 

[Crash]

Dear friends,

Update 4.006 will be released soon and we can show you more of the coming improvements. Today we'd like to demonstrate how the aircraft materials and textures will look in the new renderer compared to the old one. For instance let's look at La-5 series 8, He 111 H-6, P-38J-25, Albatros D.Va:

 

We also have good news about the changes in 4.006. First, the airframe damage model for the WWI planes will be tuned according to your feedback. Second, the ships in the sim will have more advanced physical models - they will be able to run aground, receive an impulse from collisions, etc. - this is important for the Battle of Normandy where they played a major role. Third, according to Tank Crew players' feedback, we added a server option to disable tank AI gunners in multiplayer. Another option that has been requested for a while - now tech chat messages are a difficulty option so the players will be on equal terms in multiplayer.

 

Our engineering department improved the FM and systems modeling for a number of planes, including Yak-7 and Bf-110. Tank Crew assault guns will be able to fire indirectly at a heading and distance set by the gun or platoon commander. In the graphics department, we're adding an alternative antialiasing method, FXAA, which trades some AA quality for a noticeable performance boost. It also has a side effect of somewhat improving the visibility of the contacts against the ground, especially when used in conjunction with the "Sharpen" graphics option. Several planes from already released modules will get the 4K quality external textures and the rivers and sea will get the updated water surface visualization.

 

As usual, the full list of the changes and improvements will be available at the update launch and it is already close to 70 items total. We're hoping that the next update will be another step forward in the development of the project and you, our customers, will enjoy it. And to finish today's Dev Blog, here are a couple of Yak-9 and Yak-9T Collector Planes screenshots from our Producer:

 

 

[Crash]

more stuff

252

 

Hello friends,

As you know, the recently released update 4.006 brought many important and interesting changes. Our work continues and soon we will start to prepare the new update 4.008 that is planned to include P-47D-22 "Razorback" fighter for Battle of Normandy and tank destroyer Sd.Kfz.184 "Ferdinand" for Tank Crew. You may have noticed and wondered why the mission number isn't 4.007? The answer is that we plan to release an intermediate update before that, it will add some important functionality and new features. They will be based on your feedback mostly and will bring some features long-awaited by the community. The update 4.007 is already in beta testing and we hope it will be ready in the coming week. Among other changes it will include 4К quality external texturing by Martin =ICDP= Catney for the legendary Ju-87D-3 from Battle of Stalingrad, here are some screenshots of it:

 

 

Speaking on the update 4.008, which is planned for late June - early July, we have also something to show you already. Another legendary plane, P-47D-22 "Razorback", will begin the Early Access for Battle of Normandy:

 

 

[Crash]

Hello Everyone!

 

Summer has finally come to us, but this is not a reason to relax and slow down - the work continues. Work is going on in many directions at once, especially now, when in the next big update, we will see two major events. First, the readiness and release of the American P-47D-22 "Razorback" fighter, which will mean the beginning of the Early Access stage of Battle of Normandy. Second, this is the completion and release of the German tank destroyer Sd.Kfz.184 "Ferdinand", which will mark the completion of all the planned tanks in Tank Crew. Although, this does not mean we will stop working on it, more improvements will be made in the coming months, several are being designed and prepared now.

 

Several aircraft, six in total, both for BON and a Collector’s aircraft, are currently under development. The P-51B, P-47D-22, C-47, Spitfire Mk.XIV, Typhoon Mk.Ib and  Hurricane Mk.II are all on the production line at once, many of them are in a fairly high degree of readiness. For those who keep asking about the status of the Hurricane, today we will show you a couple of Work in Progress screenshots of the cockpit:

 

 

Creating new aircraft is not the only thing our team is busy with right now. Having finished work on the airframe damage model airframe and control linkages, we smoothly proceed to the development of a more detailed model of fuel systems and their damage. After completing the next iteration of improving lower level logic for air combat AI fighter aircraft - maneuvering and aiming, we have moved on to improvements in matters of the upper level - the choice of targets and operational solutions. Work on the creation of the “Battle for Normandy” map has been launched on all fronts, its borders have been defined, a prioritized list of cities and airfields has been compiled, work has begun on the creation of ground equipment, and a list of development sites is under final approval before production begins. All these works are proceeding in accordance with the approved development plan and, at the moment, we have no serious deviations - we hope that this will continue in the future.

 

In parallel with this, work continues on updating the flight crews for all previous projects, and a German pilot in early winter uniforms will be ready soon. And at the same time, owners of the U-2VS airplane, we have some good news: a special and famous pilot model is ready for this aircraft in three uniforms (summer pre-1943 and 1943+ and winter). However, such news, of course, is better to see than to read:

 

 

[Sid]

Woowwwww....Painless, didn't you say your mate's wife was making specialised clothing for life sized 'companion' dolls....??

[DD_Arthur]

"Is your purchaseable friend in need of a frock, sir?"

[Crash]

Dear friends,

 

Continuing from the previous Dev Blog, this time we'll tell you about the second important addition (well, depending on your personal preference it may be the first important addition actually) coming in the next update 4.008. P-47D-22 "Razorback", the first aircraft of Battle of Normandy, will start the Early Access program for this module.

 

 

Its main difference from P-47D-28 you have flown in Bodenplatte is the cockpit canopy design with significant canopy framing and dorsal spine behind it. The front part of the canopy includes two angled parts and the windshield center post would have blocked the view through the gunsight be it installed in the center, so the gunsight was moved to the right like on German fighters. The space between the gunsight and the angled windshield parts is occupied by the armored glass protecting the pilot from fragments and small-caliber projectiles coming from the forward hemisphere. On the top of the framing, the rearview mirror is installed - it was a standard-issue, not an optional modification. Contrary to the P-47D-28, the canopy was opened in a classic way, manually, and not by a fancy electric motor.

 

 

"Razorback" had a different propeller than D-28 and the propeller pitch was controlled by a hydraulic, not electric, drive which had no manual mode. P-47D-22 can use hi-octane fuel, which affects the engine power, and the good news is that P-47D-28 will receive this option in the next update as well. As we have stated many times before, we don't forget about a module after its release date and always continue to improve it and add new features whenever possible.

 

 

While we were working on Razorback, its successor from Bodenplatte got the same flight model refinements as well: for instance, the effectiveness of the flaps has been reduced somewhat and the aircraft behavior beyond stall angles has been corrected - it won't stall so unpredictably and will indicate the coming stall by buffeting and lowering the nose. Controls load has been corrected as well - the ailerons are affected by the ram air a bit earlier, but the load increases at higher speeds more smoothly and the elevator load at high speeds was also reduced somewhat. The Mach number effect on the controls has been additionally adjusted. Overall, this resulted in better compliance with the reference data for roll speed and increased Mach-tuck tendency at high speeds - in general, P-47 now feels more like a heavy machine it was.

 

 

It is interesting to note that while Razorback was an earlier model than D-28, it has a bit higher climb rate and significantly (+27 kph) speed at emergency engine mode. To a degree, this difference comes from a different propeller, but mainly it was caused by the dorsal spine. Bubble canopy, while being vastly superior for offering a much better view, creates flow swirling behind them. Dorsal spine fairing increases the lift-drag ratio of a plane.

 

 

Bodenplatte fans will be happy to hear that we are going to insert the D-22 into the BOBP Pilot Career once the plane is finished. Some Razorback models were still in operation during this period so you will be able to fly them and against them in the BOBP Career before the Normandy Career is ready. However, you will need to have purchased BON to have access to their cockpits in BOBP.

 

To complete today's Dev Blog, we would like to showcase another improvement that we did exclusively for our previous projects - new early Luftwaffe pilot winter uniform which will be later used for all fighters and then bombers from Battle of Moscow and Battle of Stalingrad:

 

 

[Crash]

SPITFIRE

Hello!

 

Today there will be a very small issue of diaries for the reason that we are preparing a release candidate for version 4.008, which we told you about before, we are doing the final tests so there is a lot of work and little time. However, even if this DD is short, it’s still significant - because for the first time we will show you screenshots of one of the English planes that will be in Battle of Normandy – the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIVc.

 

In fact, this aircraft will have an additional modification with heavy machine guns, the Spitfire Mk.XIVe, but we will show you that version a bit later. This plane is quite different from the MK. IX Spitfire, which was previously included in BOBP. The main thing that catches your eye is the massive 5-rotor Rotol propeller, driven by the Rolls-Royce Griffon engine. To provide a much more powerful engine with sufficient cooling, radiators of a larger area are installed on the aircraft. Also, the tail area had to be increased for added stability.

 

The aircraft will be presented with two types of weapon configurations - modification "c" with two 20mm guns and 4 x 7.69 machine guns, and modification "e" with two 20mm guns and 2 x 12.7mm machine guns. A 150-octane fuel option will also be available causing the already powerful engine to develop up to 2,200 horsepower. Work on this legendary aircraft is at a rather early stage, but much has already been done as you can clearly see in a small selection of screenshots:

 

 

[Jabo]

Oh that's nice.

[BluBear]

YES PLEASE

[Crash]

update

Dear friends,

 

Today is a very important day - we have just released update 4.008 that includes the first Battle of Normandy aircraft and the last tank for Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka project. The first BoN plane is P-47D-22 "Razorback", the one so many of you had waited for. Battle of Normandy is at a very early stage of development, in the first quarter of the whole plan, but some of its parts are already taking shape - for instance, this new plane we told you in detail in the Dev Blog #225. This release officially starts the Early Access program for the Battle of Normandy and its owners will gradually get more and more content as soon as it is ready, starting with the "Razorback" today.

 

 

The last combat vehicle for Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka is Sd.Kfz.184 "Ferdinand" tank destroyer, you could learn more about its history and design peculiarities in our Dev Blog #254. Tank Crew owners can try it right now. This fearsome machine completes the vehicle lineup of this unique and interesting 'Clash at Prokhorovka' project.

 

 

Another new addition in this release is the new historical campaign Ice Ring by Alexander =BlackSix= Timoshokov. Consisting of 15 scenarios, it is dedicated to very interesting and strategically important events of November and December 1942 in Stalingrad area - the actions of the special IL-2 group under the command of Major Leonid Karpovich Chumachenko which was tasked with interdiction of the German 'air bridge', the air supply route for the encircled Paulus' 6th Army. The campaign can be purchased here and requires only the Battle of Stalingrad module to play. Check this link for details.

 

 

Battle of Moscow owners also will find something new in this update - Martin =ICDP= Catney has finished the work on new 4K quality external textures for IL-2 mod. 1941. They, as well as Battle of Stalingrad customers, just received the new early war Luftwaffe pilot model in winter uniform and additional stuff - sidearm, animations for putting the glasses on when starting from parking and the oxygen mask when it is needed.

 

 

Another neat feature we want to tell you about is the support for a special in-game voice communications system known as SRS - "Simple Radio Standalone" (IL2-SRS). At the moment its support is not final, but it can be used with ease already. You can find all the info on how to install and use it here.

 

Less than a month has passed since the previous update, but again we have found ourselves posting a vast list of changes made. Sometimes the corrections mean that a user-created content needs to be updated as it happened now with height map corrections for Battle of Moscow, but the required actions are minimal, you can learn more about them here. Other numerous changes and corrections in 4.008 are listed below. Please note that some of them are quite important and should get your attention:

 

Main features
1. P-47D-22 “Razorback” heavy fighter is available to all customers who pre-ordered the Battle of Normandy. Early Access phase starts for Battle of Normandy project;
2. Sd.Kfz.184 “Ferdinand” tank destroyer is now available to all owners of the “Tank Crew” project, completing its 10 vehicles lineup; Official retail release of Tank Crew is TBD. 
3. The new historical campaign “Ice Ring” is released and available for purchase (it requires Battle of Stalingrad);
4. Support for special SRS Radio voice comms app. The final version of SRS for IL-2 is still WIP by its author and will be released soon. We have created a special section in the forum dedicated to SRS instructions and discussions - check this link;
5. The 1941 IL-2 attack aircraft now has 4K quality external texturing thanks to Martin = ICDP = Catney;
6. The new model of the early war Luftwaffe fighter pilot in the winter uniform has been added for Battle of Moscow and Battle of Stalingrad;
7. The new model of a hand holding a pistol or flare gun in a 1st person view added for early war Luftwaffe pilot;

 

Aircraft improvements
8. In a multiplayer game, the next steps have been taken to eliminate the problem of invisible planes that appear only at the moment they start to shoot. Because reproduction of this problem is extremely difficult, please help: if you encounter this problem again, be sure to report it and attach a flight record to your message;
9. The option to leave a destroyed object in the game now works for aircraft (uncheck the “Delete after death” checkbox in mission editor);
10. P-47D-28 stall behavior has been corrected: the aircraft is less likely to suddenly stall at a beyond-stall angle of attack;
11. P-47D-28: damping moments have been corrected, resulting in the more inert and 'heavy' feel of controls;
12. P-47D-28 controls effectiveness has been corrected. The maximum roll rate has been reduced to correspond to the historical data. At high speeds (before the air compressibility effects kick in) the aircraft is more controllable along the roll and pitch axes. During the Mach-tuck the controls lose effectiveness making exiting a dive more difficult;
13. P-47D-28: maximum wing lift with extended flaps has been reduced;
14. P-47D-28 engine thermal model corrected (it became more resistant to overheating);
15. P-47D-28: the visual image of the rotating rotorhead has been improved;
16. P-47D-28: the problem with the rotation of the bent screw when using boost has been fixed;
17. P-47D-28: 150-octane fuel modification has been added;
18. P-47D-28 injection system corrected: when there is no liquid in the system left, the engine can’t be switched to WEP mode. The pressure gauge shows correct pressure in the injection system;
19. P-47D-28: the description of the aircraft and the related tips in the technochat were updated;
20. P-47D-28: the outside and inside sound mismatch has been addressed;
21. P-38, P-47, P-51, Tempest, Ju-88, Me-262:  landing gear doors of other players in multiplayer won’t stay visibly open;
22. Me-262:  landing gear doors in the hangar are now open;
23. P-51:  landing gear doors in the hangar are now open while the flaps are down due to the lack of hydraulic pressure;
24. P-38: antenna between the two rudders disappears when one of them is lost;

 

Player controllable tanks improvements
25. Crew members can be gradually poisoned with CO gas when firing the main gun with the hatches of the fighting compartment closed and ventilation turned off or damaged. M4A2, KV-1s, SU-152 the ventilation system is powered from a working main engine while on other tanks it is electric and won’t work with no electric power;
26. The engine won’t stop so frequently after a collision;
27. Tanks shouldn’t visibly ‘levitate’ above the ground;
28. A bug that reduced the actual number of shots for the main gun by 1 for each ammo type has been fixed;
29. A bug that caused the number of shells to be calculated incorrectly when one ammo type is spent (it did not decrease at first and then decreased by 2 after a next shot) has been fixed;
30. Driving along the shallow coastal part of the river is no longer like driving on a highway;
31. A toppled over tank won’t glide on a terrain slope like on ice;
32. A bug that could cause a detailed tank to explode multiple times has been fixed;
33. The effective destruction ranges of light vehicles have been corrected in HE shells descriptions;
34. Pz.Kpfw.VI ammo descriptions updated (trajectory drop and HEAT speeds);
35. Pz.III Ausf. M, Pz.V Ausf. D, Pz.VI Ausf. H1 starting procedure has been updated (the manual fuel pumping was replaced by an electric one with the addition of the required buttons in the driver compartment);
36. Pz.III Ausf. M now has a functioning fuel gauge (to the lower right on the bulkhead of the engine compartment);
37. Pz.III Ausf. M traverse indicator is now illuminated;
38. Pz.III Ausf. M and Pz. IV Ausf. G intercom Z18 parts are covered in self-luminous paint;
39. Pz.IV Ausf. G and Pz.V Ausf. D odometers have been corrected;
40. T-34-76UVZ-1943, SU-122 and SU-152 fuel and oil pipes color has been corrected (made less vivid);
41. The external tools attached to the German tanks were improved to look better, ground jack added for Pz.V Ausf. D;
42. Other changes and improvements to the German tank interiors;
43. The sounds of control levers, pedals and the hand brake are added to Tank Crew tanks;
44. Turning the SU-122 and SU-152 panoramic commander sight produces a sound;
45. Pz.IV Ausf. G and Pz.V Ausf. D odometers have been corrected indicate a change of direction;
46. A failure of one of the M4A2 engines now affects the instrument readings and the engine sound;
47. M4A2 low oil pressure indicator lamps have been corrected;
48. Sound of the M4A2 engine's startup has been improved;

 

Visual crew improvements
49. The color of pilot’s glasses of the late war Bf 109 Luftwaffe pilots has been corrected;
50. The “holes” in the texture of the American flare gun were eliminated;
51. The texture of the flare gun on the British pilot model has been corrected;
52. Shooting any pistol ejects a casing;
53. Soviet tankers have less gloss effect on the faces;

 

AI improvements
54. AI pilots won’t try to attack targets with the parameter engageable = 0 which could cause steep diving on a ground target with no chance of recovery;
55. AI pilots aim at air and ground targets better and the rockets and projectiles won’t fall short of a ground target at the beginning of a burst;
56. AI fighter pilots won’t chase its target too far from their assigned route or area of operations;
57. All AIs in a fighter group will attack a target (previously one of them could ignore it and follow its mates in a formation;
58. A rare random bug that could cause the AI gunner of a player tank to spontaneously rotate the turret at the beginning of the mission has been fixed;
59. A knocked off detailed AI tank (no marker visible and other AIs don’t see it as a threat) won’t continue to fire at targets sometimes;
60. When all the gunner visors of an AI-controlled detailed tank are damaged, it won’t track the targets and fire at them;

 

Other improvements and fixes
61. The residual inertia in the first-person non-VR view of the gradual zoom at maximum zoom and maximum zooming speed option when not using a mouse for looking around has been addressed;
62. The contours of objects against a clouds background have been minimized by using special tech;
63. The lowest cloud quality setting still causes significant artifacts on the aircraft visible against a cloud at near distances, but no longer gives an unfair advantage in spotting a distant aircraft;
64. The double triggering of onKilled events in the mission script shouldn’t happen again;
65. New training missions added for Battle of Moscow in the spirit of the real initial training of a MiG-3 pilot (Missions – Battle of Moscow – Migalovo training);
66. The recently found error on the Moscow map (the landscape height above the sea level was 50m less than it should) has been fixed - check this link;
67. The missing buildings at the Liege / Bierset A-93 2414/7 airfield on the Rhineland map have been added;
68. The poor-looking machine shop buildings in the industrial district of Belgorod (Prokhorovka map) were replaced with better ones;
69. The truncated or missing phrases of one of the USAAF air traffic controllers and RAF and USAAF forward observers were corrected;
70. The shimmering of very long railways on Kuban map that was visible up close has been corrected;
71. The look of the passenger and freight railroad wagon roofs has been improved;
72. Visual snow thickness increased on all winter maps;
73. The ground surface looks more detailed on all summer maps;  
74. Selecting a random Entente aircraft in the duel on Arras map in QMB no longer produces a Bf 109F-4.

[BluBear]

2 hours ago, Crash said:

Aircraft improvements

17. P-47D-28: 150-octane fuel modification has been added;

21. P-38, P-47, P-51, Tempest, Ju-88, Me-262:  landing gear doors of other players in multiplayer won’t stay visibly open;
 

Double whoop!

 

Also, Razorback oooooooh

[Crash]

Have you heard about wave interference? It's amazing when the processes in people's lives have direct physical analogies. In particular, how topics for our journal entries appear is a good example. In the development of projects of the IL-2: Great Battles series, there are a lot of very voluminous and lengthy tasks. And sometimes it happens that the intermediate results of different large tasks appear one by one, creating a subject for the diaries. Sometimes it happens that the "wave" processes of development progress in all directions and it gets to a stage when the intermediate results cannot yet be published, but sometimes it also happens that in all directions at the same time appears something that can be gladly demonstrated. And exactly this variant of "superposition of wave development processes in different directions" happened this week, which, of course, is always pleasant.

 

The first thing we can show you today is a 3D render of the Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib, the legendary fighter-bomber of the RAF, which is very much anticipated by many in our simming community. In Battle of Normandy, this aircraft will, as it should be, presented with its late version with a drop-shaped cockpit canopy, a modified stabilizer of the type used on Tempest aircraft, and with two versions of the propeller (three- and four-bladed). It will be armed with four 20 mm Hispano cannons and also rockets and bombs. Despite the fact that the aircraft belongs to the class of fighter-bombers, due to the mighty 2200-horsepower Napier Saber IIa engine (and when using the 11-pound boost and up to 2400hp), it possessed strong flight performance. All in all, it will be an extremely interesting Allied aircraft that will help its virtual pilot achieve success in battle against both the ground and air enemy forces.

 

 

The second thing that we will show you today is important for the owners of all products in the IL-2: Great Battles series. We are talking about a new map! The new "Velikiye Luki, Summer 1941", will be made available to everyone in the next update. This map was developed on a personal basis by one of our map team-members, and although it does not include all of our most modern map tech (such as buildings with increased detail), thanks to the creativity and variety of the implemented terrain and scenery, it looks extremely interesting and will add a lot of variety in your flights. The Velikiye Luki summer map, as well as an improved and updated winter version, will be available to all players. A lot could be written about the positive aspects of this map, but it seems to us that it is better to show them in the following screenshots:

 

 

The third bit of news is that work on the Battle of Normandy is progressing, not only in terms of creating new aircraft but also in other directions. For instance, a lot has already been done in creating the map which will include some promising new technologies for our series. But it’s still early and we plan to show the progress on the development of the map later. Additionally, aircraft crews are also being created and as you already know, the G-suits worn by USAAF pilots appeared after the events of the Normandy, and therefore we created a model of an American pilot in an earlier uniform:

 

 

And in FIRST for the combat-sim genre - the U-2VS, Yak-1 Series 69 and Yak-1b series 127 aircraft will receive a Soviet female pilot option! We have completed the process of animating the new female pilot model and they will be available in the upcoming 4.009 update. It is these aircraft that have the greatest basis for possessing this modification because the famous "Night Witches" from the 588th Night Light Bomber Aviation Regiment fought in the U-2, and the heroic ace pilot of the Soviet Air Force Guards Junior Lieutenant Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak and her fellow female squadron mates flew the Yak-1 and Yak-1b. Also, the U-2VS aircraft will receive new models of male pilots.

 

 

And to finish the today's Dev blog, here is the news about the "Tank Crew" project. As we said earlier, the completion of the vehicle lineup does not mean that work on improving it has stopped. Update 4.009 will introduce a lot of new features that will definitely give you an interesting new experience in our tank simulator. Drivers of the German panzers and the Sherman tank will have the opportunity to use the course director. KV-1s, Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.M and Sherman tank drivers interact with pneumatic fuel gauges in a realistic way. The working sounds of the radio motor-generators were added to all tanks and the German tanks have the working gyrocompass sound as well. All traveling locks of turrets, main and machine guns are now animated and have sounds as well. In general, due to these changes, the sound environments inside a tank has become much richer and more realistic. DT and M2 .50 machine guns now have a working range correction setting. Other changes have been made to improve the player experience - many of you have previously expressed the opinion that one cannot fully discover the possibilities of the project due to the lack of a description of what equipment each tank has and how to use this equipment. To resolve this issue, a new "Notes" dialog has been implemented, which can be invoked at any time by pressing the ESC button.

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Crash]

moar stuff

Hello!

 

We are currently preparing version 4.009 for release, the process is not easy, but we hope for its successful completion very soon. In view of this, the diary today will not be very detailed, but the topic is interesting. Today we show you the P-51B / C being developed for Battle of Normandy. This single-seat fighter is the predecessor to the P-51D previously created for Operation Bodenplatte. Although she is a predecessor, the B/C model is somewhat superior to the D model in speed at ground level and maneuverability. The reason for this unusual situation is that the teardrop canopy creates more aerodynamic drag than the high-backed design. In addition, the P-51B / C is somewhat lighter than its successor.

 

 

In the sim, the aircraft will be presented with a set of modifications allowing the use of two engine options. The first version of the engine is the Packard-Merlin V-1650-3, created on the basis of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 63. The second, more powerful version is the V-1650-7, which was based on the Merlin 66. 150 -Octane gasoline will also be an available modification, significantly increasing the capabilities of the power plant.

 

 

It should also be noted that our P-51B / C will come with a rather famous modification - a special canopy called the "Malcolm Hood" which was used in rather significant numbers by Mustang pilots. There will also be as many as three options for gun-sights, one of which will be gyroscopic.

 

 

All in all, it should be a very interesting aircraft, with a wide range of equipment options and outstanding flight performance. Like the P-47D ‘Razorback” the P-51 B/C also flew in mixed squadrons as units transitioned from the B/C to the D.

 

[Crash]

Not a DD but a very interesting thread

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/64680-discussion-on-the-plane-visibility-issue/

[delta7]

6 hours ago, Crash said:

Not a DD but a very interesting thread

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/64680-discussion-on-the-plane-visibility-issue/

Thanks for highlighting this, I have always found spotting difficult in this game and need icons . Without them I regularly got the disappearing plane syndrome. 

[Crash]

Although this crazy sequestered summer of 2020 is coming to an end, life goes on, and our work goes on. Many things are happening in our “virtual office” including finishing a new Free Scripted Campaign for Battle of Bodenplatte featuring the Tempest Mk.V called “A Violent Wind” built by Alex Timoshkov. Also, as a result of recent discussions in the community, work is underway to improve general aircraft visibility, which we hope will appear to be both realistic and more comfortable for players. This may require more than one future update to fully conquer, but we’ll see. Additionally, there is some progress towards the completion of the Air Marshal feature which has taken much longer than planned. We’ve also had to build up technical capacity in the field of map production, which is necessary to implement everything planned for the Normandy landscape. And as always improvements to the AI for both aircraft and ground vehicles continue.

 

Our engineering department is fully engaged in the development of flight models of three aircraft - the C-47, Bf-109G-6 Late and the Spitfire Mk.XIV, while at the same time work on deepening the model of aircraft fuel systems is in the research and prototyping stage. Creating the technical specifications for all aircraft and other objects of for Battle of Normandy is coming to and end which is was a huge and complex research task. Completion of this allows Viks to now focus some attention to the Career mode. At the moment, 3D models of several aircraft are at various stages of development - the Hurricane, P-51B, Spitfire Mk.XIV, Bf 109 G-6 Late, Mosquito, Typhoon and C-47. It is the last aircraft from this list, the twin-engine C-47 military transport, that today we are ready to show you in the game world:
 

 

 

[Crash]

Dear friends,

 

The Autumn is here and our project is very close to another milestone. The next version 4.501 that will be released in a few weeks will contain very important improvements. For instance, after constructive discussions in our community, we have come to decisions on two aspects of the sim which are very important for the players: providing a required visibility level for the airplanes in a dogfight and modeling a pilot reaction to high-G loads. We're working on both things right now and the result of this work should be released in the aforementioned update. Another addition will be the MSAA x8 graphics setting, but please note that it will put quite a load on your graphics card.

 

We have almost finished two neat features for Tank Crew as well: controlling a turret using your joystick or buttons and looking through the visors and view slits with the help of preset cameras. Good news for Bodenplatte owners: the long-awaited campaign for this module will be included in this update as well - its author Alexander =BlackSix= Timoshkov has much to tell you about it:

 

 

In today's Dev Blog we'd like to tell you more about the new historical campaign 'Wind of Fury' that will be released for free for all Bodenplatte owners very soon.

It is dedicated to the No. 486 (New Zealand) Squadron RAF that flew Tempest Mk.V fighters and will picture the unfolding of the air battle in the skies of North-Western Europe since October 1st, 1944, till January 1st, 1945.

 

 

With the V-1 launch sites in Northern France captured or destroyed and this threat against the England territory eliminated, at the end of September 1944 it was decided to relieve the five existing squadrons of Tempest interceptors from the ADGB (Air Defence of Great Britain) duties and move them to the continent. Unlike Spitfires and Typhoons, Tempests could not carry rockets or bombs at the moment, making them inadequate for a fighter/bomber role, so the 2nd Tactical Air Force had tasked them with patrolling over own territory, intercept attempts against the German Me 262 jets and free hunting for enemy aircraft and road and railway traffic far behind the enemy lines.

 

 

The story of the campaign is based on the Operations Record Books of the 486th for the second half of 1944 and the historical works on the late war RAF and Luftwaffe actions available in English. After doing the research of the ORB, the most interesting missions were selected that were not too long to require the external fuel tanks which are not yet available in our sim yet. In reality, Tempests were flying with additional fuel tanks almost all the time and we'll add them to the campaign later, but for now, you'll be able to finish any mission with a default fuel amount.

 

There are no B-26 and Typhoon escort missions yet as well - these birds will be available a few months later in the Battle of Normandy Early Access program. We plan to add all the required, but not yet available, objects like B-26, C-47, Typhoon Mk.Ib, Spitfire Mk.XIV, Fw 190 A-6, Bf 109 G-6 Late as well as the British ground vehicles and artillery to the campaign at a later date.

 

 

It may appear counterintuitive, but having detailed reports on the squadron actions for many days and even hours may affect the campaign and its gameplay negatively if you use such data as is. During the long life of the IL-2 Sturmovik series, there were many attempts in the community to do just that, dramatize the historical documents or famous pilot memoirs word by word, but they reached only limited success, if not a failure.

 

This is caused mostly by the well-known fact that most of the missions were routine and repeating, 'Groundhog Day' type ones and enemy encounters did not happen in each one, but also by the peculiarities of the process of recreating real combat operations in a flight sim. Even when you select the most interesting missions with much action going around and that are not too long, you may have a rude awakening finding out that:

• several subsequent missions happen in the same time of day;
• direct time of day recreation makes a ground attack mission nearly unplayable during dawn or dusk hours;
• too few aircraft or vehicles participated in the action so the players will find the mission too dull and empty, even if real pilots back then thought that it was more than enough action for them (or vice versa, too many and the performance reasons come into play).

Such factors mean that simulated events will differ from reality even if it is possible to recreate them exactly because of the performance, convenience and gameplay reasons. In the practice this means that a takeoff can happen in a different time, there will be less allies, but more enemy encounters or more enemy aircraft in a certain dogfight, etc.

 

 

In general, Wind of Fury campaign will make you familiar with nearly the entire range of the real combat missions flown by Tempest pilots during the second half of 1944, briefly including the Battle of the Bulge, and will end with the Bodenplatte strike on the allied airfields on January 1st, 1945.

 

 

 

P.S. We would like to thank the community member @Obelix for his 4K skins for the Tempests of 486th squadron which were used to create the images for the campaign and his advice on the additional official Tempest skin with the invasion stripes that was added to the sim.

 

 

 

We will continue our Dev Blog with another important change that affects the aircraft visibility - update 4.501 will include the atmospheric haze setting. It will be adjustable in Quick Mission Builder for your liking and can be set by an author in other missions. The minimal setting corresponds to the haze level in the current public version while higher values will look like these screenshots. By the way, you can see the progress made on another important thing on them as well 😉

 

 

We'll finish with a short report on the Normandy development. Here's our hero of the day - USAAF pilot in early war uniform and without the G-suit that was introduced in the theater later. 

 

 

[Crash]

Hurricane

Dear Friends,

 

Today's Dev Blog is one where visuals are more important than words. The Hurricane Mk.II Collector Plane has shown good progress lately and its development has entered the final stage. The work of recreating this bird for our virtual world started a year ago, it hasn't been easy because of the many modifications you'll get with it . Essentially, it's not one aircraft, but several - you can choose the modification you want before a mission. We're sure you'll enjoy the final product. It's creation is an interesting milestone for us. At the moment, the cockpit is being textured and its FM is being finished. You can see the Hurricane in the game engine on the following shots:

 

 

 

[Crash]

Mossie

Today we'll continue to show you the progress of the aircraft currently in development. The hero of the day is two-seater this time, twin-engine fighter/bomber De Havilland Mosquito F.B.Mk.VI Series II we're making for Battle of Normandy. This famous and popular WWII British RAF plane had an unusual and distinct look (well, the same can be said about most British aircraft). But it's interesting not only because of its appearance - it reached high speeds in its class despite being partly wooden. Moreover, it kept its high-speed capability even when carrying bombs thanks to the internal bomb bay.

 

2000 pounds of bombs, four 20mm guns and four 7.69mm MGs the Mosquito carried made him a dangerous adversary for the enemy. In our sim, there will be additional weapon modifications available - eight RP-3 unguided rockets and 57mm anti-tank gun (!). Here are the first 3D renders of this bird of prey at its current development stage:

 

 

The recently announced player controllable mobile AA guns are also showing good progress. Along with the work on their visual models, we're improving the realistic physics model of the wheeled ground vehicles movement even more. And don't forget about their crews as well:  

 

 

[Jabo]

Oh my - and they're doing the 'Tsetse fly' mod too?

[Crash]

Yup

[wingflyr]

YES!       Mosquito looks like fun.

[Crash]

interesting stuff

Salute pilots! 

It’s been a year since we introduced a detailed human physiology model in our simulator. The model which takes into account the limits of human’s G-load tolerance, as well as a number of other factors affecting pilots in flight. This, of course, immediately and greatly changed the dynamics of air battles. They became much more realistic. After all, now, when performing an attack or a defensive maneuver, you have to take into account the fact that a living person with his natural physiological capabilities and limitations is sitting in the cockpit. And that any pilot, of course, gets tired of constantly maneuvering at high Gs. And in the end, there comes a moment when he just needs time to catch his breath and recover.

 

We were interested in your opinion

 

Over the past year, we have read a lot of your comments on the forums and collected a lot of feedback about this model. We have seen that this new and exciting aspect of dogfight has been very warmly received by the bulk of our community, and it's encouraging. While another part of the players asked us to make some changes to this model.

 

In order to understand the situation, a month and a half ago we conducted a poll among players on the  .com and .ru forums.

 

What did the poll show?

 

The poll results showed that 60% of players are quite happy with the current model (494 out of 821 unique users on both forums, excluding the extra 31 votes of those who voted twice, i.e. on two forums). And 40% of players would like us to make adjustments to this model.

 

I had carefully read all your comments on the polls. In general, there were more players satisfied with the model on the Western forum, so I conducted a more detailed analysis of that thread and found that 63 out of 381 Western users who chose option 1 (“leave everything as it is”), nevertheless, in comments have written a number of requests for changes in the model.

 

Thus, it became clear to us that the community was divided in opinions approximately 52/48. This means that we cannot leave this situation unattended and we need to think carefully about what can be improved in our model.

 

Collecting new scientific data

 

Over the course of this year, thanks a lot to you, our community, we have collected a large amount of new data from the field of aviation medicine and human physiology under extreme stress conditions (I would like to express special thanks to comrade @Floppy_Sock for the materials he found). This allowed us to take a fresh look at our physiology model and find ways to improve it.

 

For example, a year ago, in my work on a physiology model, I relied mainly on the well-known monograph of the Russian scientist, professor, doctor of technical sciences Boris Abramovich Rabinovich “Human safety during acceleration (biomechanical analysis)”, 2007, where while talking about the duration of the G-loads a human can sustain, he refers to the famous article by Anne M. Stoll, "Human tolerance to positive G as determined by the physiological endpoints." ), published in The Journal of aviation medicine in 1956. This article provides a graph of time to loss of consciousness versus G-load. It is compiled on the basis of the results of 40 experiments,13 of which ended in loss of consciousness by attendants.

 

However, recently we learned that in 2013 there was another article published on the BioMed Central portal in the Extreme Physiology & Medicine section: “The +Gz-induced loss of consciousness curve ”. Its authors, Typ Whinnery & Estrella M Forster, prove there the fallacy of the conclusions from the article of 1956, relying on much broader statistics: now they had already 888 cases of loss of consciousness by testees. These statistics were collected from 1978 to 1992 at a number of US research centers (USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks AFB, Texas and the Naval Air Warfare Center, Warminster, Pennsylvania).

 

In particular, in their article Tip Whinnery and Estrella M. Foster argue that at high +Gz (that is, acting on the pilot in the "eyeballs down" direction), up to +11.7G, the subjects never lose consciousness earlier than 5 seconds after the start of acceleration, and on average statistically - only after 9 seconds after it.

 

While in our current model, built on the basis of data from the sources published above, loss of consciousness occurs within 3-5 seconds at acceleration of more than 6-7G.

 

Authors of the study explain this difference by the presence of a certain “functional buffer” of the brain, which prolongs the activity of the brain for a few seconds after the arterial systolic pressure at the level of the eyes (brain) drops to zero under the influence of extremely high Gs.

 

In addition, many players asked us to reconsider the pilot's tolerance to large negative Gs (assuming that the deteriorating effect of negative Gs should be more pronounced). They also asked us to implement the so-called push-pull effect (PPE), which manifests itself in a noticeable and very dangerous short-term decrease in the +G tolerance immediately after a negative one. Many aviation accidents on maneuverable aircraft are associated with this notorious effect. Over the past year, we managed to find scientific materials about this effect, too: for example, an article published in 2011 on the scientific, technical and medical portal Springer, co-authored by a number of Chinese scientists “A centrifuge simulated push-pull manoeuvre with subsequent reduced + Gz tolerance ”.

 

This and over three dozen other publications, NASA reports, scientific dissertations, and unique test materials that we have collected, gave us a large amount of numbers that we could rely on with greater confidence. And the need to simulate the above-mentioned phenomena presented me with the fact that it is not just about readjusting the coefficients of the current model. It became clear that the model would have to be built anew, with a more detailed account of all factors acting on an individual and an even more detailed simulation of physiological processes in his body.

 

Today I am glad to tell you about the results of this work.

 

First impressions

 

The new pilot physiology model is currently undergoing a detailed and meticulous beta test.

 

The first impression it invoked in our testers, and which, most likely, it will invoke in you, is “it became more forgiving”. After all, due to the appearance of the “functional buffer” of the brain, quick and short-term maneuvers at very high Gs have now become possible without immediate loss of consciousness.

 

More details...

 

For example, if by a one second long jerk one pulls +7-8Gs, then visual disturbances in the form of a "gray out" (which is loss of color perception) will now occur only 3.5 seconds after the beginning of acceleration. After another 1.8 seconds, the peripheral field of view (the so-called “tunnel vision”) will begin to narrow. The vision will be completely lost (“black out”) after another 2 seconds, that is, only 7.3 seconds after the start of the maneuver. And after another 1.6 seconds, G-LOC (G-induced loss of consciousness) will occur.

 

It has also now become possible to perform, for example, a loop or a split-s with the initial and final G-loads of +5...+5.5Gs without loss of peripheral vision. But if these Gs are maintained during the maneuver for longer than 25 seconds, the “blacking out” will nevertheless begin to happen, and consciousness will be lost 32 seconds after the start of the maneuver.

 

In general, at first you may really think that the pilot has become more resilient, and it has become easier to fight.

 

Has it really become easier?

 

But already after 2-3 days of “test flights” our testers found that the first impressions were somewhat optimistic. Yes, you can now actually “kink” the trajectory more sharp. Once, twice ... but you won't be able to maneuver for a long time, while constantly holding high Gs. You will have to reckon with fatigue and a decrease in the pilot's tolerance to G-forces during the battle, just as before. And just as before, you will have to plan well the trajectories of the fight, choosing the moments when to “pull” and when to let yourself catch your breath.

 

About endurance and fatigue

 

As I wrote above, we have collected a large amount of scientific data on a human's tolerance to +Gs and -Gs of different magnitude. Unfortunately, some of them are contradictory, and there is no one single model of the “average person” that would reliably describe our “average” endurance. In one source, you can find information that an experienced aerobatic pilot can withstand +2Gs only for 13 minutes, while in another source, you can find a figure that the + 3Gs are quite normally tolerated within an hour. At the same time, when we talk about larger Gs values, the numbers from different sources become closer to each other. But still, this subject has some field open for discussion. 

 

Therefore, the endurance of our pilot to long-term G-loads, as well as to cyclic G-loads in the new model is adjusted both taking into account reliably known data from various publications, and based on the impressions of real pilots with aerobatic experience. We have involved military pilots and pilots flying on sports aircraft in testing. They all praised the results achieved, and admit that the model reproduces their own feelings quite closely.

 

What else

 

I think that many players will be especially pleased with the fact that the new model now contains several interesting phenomena that have been simulated thanks to a more detailed calculation of physiological parameters.

 

PPE

 

For example, the push-pull effect. If you pull a high positive Gs immediately after the action of any prolonged negative Gs (of which only three to five seconds is enough), then visual impairments will come faster than usual, at noticeably less G-load. To the extent that such a maneuver can lead to an unexpected LOC. The greater the negative G was and the longer it lasted, the more noticeable this effect will be. But just a few seconds of a pause after a negative Gs is enough: the cardiovascular system will have time to adjust and will be ready again to normally sustain positive Gs. This effect is due to the fact that with a negative G, blood intensively rushes to the head, and the body reacts to this by rapid vasodilation, seeking to reduce cerebral pressure. And if, in such a state, a large positive G is immediately pulled, then the vessels will take time to narrow again and maintain the now falling blood pressure at the level of the brain. At this moment, a quick crisis comes.

 

Warming up effect

 

Also, thanks to the improved calculation of vascular response, the new model has a “warming up” effect. It is when the first short maneuver at high +Gs is tolerated worse than the subsequent ones. It is also related to the compensatory response of the cardiovascular system, which needs time to “warm up” in order to maintain sufficient blood pressure in the head. If you pull, for example, +6G in one-two seconds, withstand it for five seconds (this is when you will get the partial “tunnel vision” effect), then reduce to 1G, pause for five seconds, and then create the same +6G for the same five seconds again at the same rate, then in the second case there will be no “tunnel vision” effect. But the same maneuver made third in a row will again lead to a partial "tunnel vision". But this is already because of a decrease in the tolerance limit due to excessively intense load without sufficient recovery time.

 

Backrest angle

 

Over the past year, there were many attempts by some players to prove that there are differences in the endurance of the pilots of one or another coalition. Although the physiological model of a pilot was the same and did not depend in any way on the plane in which he was sitting. However, now in the new model of physiology, while still remaining the common model for every pilot, the peculiarities of the aircraft cockpit in which the pilot sits are taken into account. Namely, we are talking about the backrest angle. As you know, tilting the seat back significantly increases the pilot's tolerance to G-load. This is due to a decrease in the difference in hydrostatic blood pressure between the heart’s level and the head’s (eyes) level. For example, tilting the seat back by 30° increases the maximum G-load-sustaining capacity by about 15%.

 

Many researchers also attach importance to the position of the legs. For example, the Spitfire even had two pedal positions: a lower one for normal flight and a higher one for aerobatics. It was assumed that in the elevated position of the legs, the outflow of blood from the head to the legs decreases under the action of +Gs. However, a number of experiments have shown that this effect is negligible, and, nevertheless, the angle of inclination of the pilot's upper body plays a much larger role. The new model takes this angle into account, which on all highly maneuverable aircraft in our simulator ranges from 0 ° (MC.202 series VIII) to 22.5 ° (MiG-3), averaging about 10-15° for different planes.

 

AGS

 

In the current physiology model the effect of the anti-G-suit (AGS) was simulated empirically, based on statistical data. In the new model, a detailed calculation of the suit’s pressurisation dynamics and the effect of this boost on the hemodynamics of the pilot's blood pressure is performed. Several mathematical models of this phenomenon can be found in scientific research, and all of them give, on average, results that are in good agreement with the tests for modern AGSs. In our new model, we used the characteristics of suits from the 40s, which gives us confidence that this aspect is now modeled even more authentically.

 

AGSM

 

In the scientific literature, the term "anti-g straining maneuver" (AGSM) refers to a set of special measures that a pilot applies in order to temporarily increase his tolerance to G-load. This is a special type of breathing (you are familiar, of course, with it from the current version of the simulator), as well as tension in the muscles of the legs, butt and abdominal press. A well-trained pilot who has undergone special training in a centrifuge, using AGSM, is able to increase his G-load tolerance limit by 2 to 4G! It is not easy and requires a lot of physical effort. If the AGSM is performed incorrectly, then the effectiveness of such a technique is sharply reduced.

 

As you know, during the World War II, pilots did not undergo special training on centrifuges, and were not trained to perfectly perform AGSM as modern fighter pilots are. But even then it was known that the tension of the muscles of the press and legs together with strained breathing allows one to endure higher Gs.

 

Taking these facts into account, the pilot in our game (just as before) performs the AGSM not “excellently”, but “somehow”. This increases his tolerance limit for prolonged G-loads from 5.5G in a relaxed position (statistics are on the chart below) to 6.7G. This is about 0.4-0.5G more than in the current model. Such a slight increase in the limit of the maximum tolerated long-term positive G-load, however, will now make it possible to maintain a g-load of +6G with a partially narrowed peripheral field of view, up to a complete loss of vision within 18 seconds. Loss of consciousness under this Gs will occur in another 2 seconds.

(all pictures are clickable)

 

At the same time, I hasten to inform you that the annoying bug of “double breathing” (duplicate overlay sounds), which sometimes appeared in our game, will now be fixed.

 

Visual effects

 

I would especially like to mention that the effects of visual impairment have also been readjusted.

 

I personally have been flying aerobatics in ultralight and light sport aircrafts for many years, but over the past year I got a new aerobatic experience, now with high G-loads on the Yak-52 sports airplane. Therefore, I now know firsthand what all phases of visual impairment look like from the beginning of the “gray out” appearance, then through a “tunnel vision” and, as a result, almost to a “blacking out”. As they say, a real picture is worth a thousand words. So now in the new model the manifestation of such effects as loss of color, “blurring”, “tunnel vision”, - very accurately correspond to what I see with my own eyes in real flights, if I perform a maneuver with a long-term 5.5 to 6Gs. Other pilots who have tested the new model also agree with this visualization.

 

 

The red-eye visual effect under the influence of negative Gs, has also been slightly enhanced:

 

 

 

Visual disorders dynamics

 

Additionally, in our new model, the delay between the moment the G-load is reduced and the restoration of vision after visual disturbances will be shorter. From my own experience, I would say that now this delay in visual reactions better corresponds to reality.

 

Also, the time between the complete loss of vision (“black out”) and the loss of consciousness has been brought into better agreement with the research results, and now is about 2 seconds, in rare cases reaching 8-9 seconds. By the way, in the current (older) model, this time ranges from 0.2-0.8 seconds under 6G  and higher to dozens of seconds under less Gs. As you can imagine, this change will allow you to better anticipate the moment of G-LOC and to fly near this border with more confidence.

 

I also corrected the effect of temporary and more severe visual impairment, which happens if you pull a high +Gs on the first maneuver with an abrupt jerk (when the pilot was not "warmed up" yet). This effect is associated with the already mentioned above feature of the cardiovascular system hemodynamics. It takes some time for the vessels to "mobilize" and respond to the sudden increase in G-load with an increase in blood pressure. After 5 to 7 seconds from the start of such an abrupt maneuver, while the blood pressure is still "lagging" behind the G-load, the pilot gets a more apparent temporary visual impairment. But after another 3 to 5 seconds, the blood pressure rises enough and the visual function improves.

 

If the Gs are not pulled abruptly, but are rather gradually increased over 5 to 7 seconds, then such a temporary "crisis" of vision can be avoided. This is exactly what is implemented in the new model more clearly than in the current one.

 

Disorientation effect

 

We already have implemented in our older model the "motion sickness" or disorientation effect which was happening in the case of frequent changes in the Gs direction or sign-changing angular velocities. Now this effect will come even faster in order to better imitate the discomfort pilot suffers under alternating positive and negative G-forces. I will not say that the “wobbling” or "dolphin" is physically unbearable. I myself tried to do it in real flight. But it's really damn unpleasant, and I prefer to not do that anymore.

 

Also, this disorientation effect will now come along with the period of recovery after G-LOC (the so-called period of relative incapacitation). It will also manifest itself when approaching the border of LOC, foreshadowing it. Taking into account that, in the new model, loss of consciousness under prolonged G-loads of less than +4..+4.5G will now occur without an obvious tunneling effect, this “dizziness” together with “defocusing” of vision will become a good indicator for you that you are already on the edge.

 

Fatigue indicator

 

By the way, about the fatigue indicator. We decided to heed the popular request and add a G-load induced fatigue indicator to the simple instruments in GUI. When you set the difficulty to “Normal”, you will see a small white triangle in the lower left corner of the G-meter in the GUI. The more your pilot is worn out by the G-forces, the smaller this little triangle will become. Thus, it will give you a rough idea of your current state.

 

As I have repeatedly written on our forum, a real pilot cannot predict in advance what Gs he can sustain during the next maneuver and for how long. He, of course, roughly understands how tired he is. Therefore, this indicator will give you only an approximate idea of the current physical condition of the pilot. When you set the “Expert” difficulty, you will not have this indicator.

 

As a result

 

Ultimately, the new improved version of the pilot's physiology model turned out to be more interesting, detailed, taking into account new important factors and, as a consequence, more “vital” and corresponding to reality. All tests, including the ones with the participation of real pilots, indicate that this model will be the next important step in the development of our simulator, and the realism of air battles will again be raised to the next step with it.

 

This model will get to your computers very soon, along with the next update of the game.

 

Sincerely,
Principal software engineer
Andrey (An.Petrovich) Solomykin

 

[FoolTrottel]

I got really des-orientated looking at all them words... and then I looked closer for a few seconds ...  I went into g-loc