New Game Launcher, New Set Up

[Crash]

TLDR is good stuff coming soon

[Crash]

Dear Friends,

 

It's the middle of Autumn already and the work on the project progresses well. For instance, the AI-controlled transport plane C-47A Skytrain (Dakota) for Battle of Normandy is almost ready and you'll get it in the next update. This WWII veteran served in air forces and civilian air fleets of many countries for several decades - one of the iconic symbols of the piston era of aviation. These aircraft played a tremendous role in the Battle of Normandy, dropping paratroopers, supplies and towing assault gliders. This legend will be finally reconstructed in our project, even if it is an AI only aircraft for now. Later on, when we complete another stage of the Career mode improvements, it will be used in this mode for transporting cargo loads, airdropping paratroopers and parachute supply containers for the troops on the front-lines. At the moment the new paratrooper model and its integration in the Career mode are not yet ready for Early Access, so this aircraft will be available in QMB and community-created custom missions as an ally or enemy loaded with cargo or parachute supply containers.

 

 

The second hero of the day is the upcoming Collector Plane - the British Hawker Hurricane Mk.II fighter. This legendary early war aircraft saw much action in the Battle of Britain and later on the Eastern Front with the Red Army Air Force via the lend-lease program. This fighter actively participated in the Battle of Moscow and Battle of Stalingrad and the owners of this Collector Plane will be able to use it in the Battle of Moscow and Battle of Stalingrad careers in the coming update. There were many different modifications of this plane, the most interesting ones will be available in our sim:

• Hurricane Mk.IIa - default model with eight Browning .303 MGs;
• Hurricane Mk.IIb - modification with twelve (!) Browning .303 MGs;
• Hurricane Mk.IIc - modification with four 20mm Hispano Mk.II guns;
• Hurricane Mk.IId - two assault modifications with two Browning .303 MGs and two 40mm Vickers S Class guns, with or without additional armor plates;
• Hurricane Mk.II Soviet - modification armed with Soviet bombs, unguided rockets, two 12.7mm UBK MGs and two 20mm ShVAK cannons;
• In addition, either of the modifications listed above can be equipped with a Merlin engine with an additional boost, air cleaner for dusty conditions and rear-view mirror.

 

 

The work on Tank Crew is continuing as well. The coming update will include very important changes for ground vehicle AI, both detailed and simpler modeled vehicles, making the AI gunner actions more realistic. To hit a target at a distance, they will usually bracket a target with gunfire as they find the proper range. Spotting a target to the side of the current aiming line will require more time the more distant it is. Both of these actions will depend on the AI proficiency level set in the mission. The AI gunner will also behave more naturally when the target is destroyed or no longer visible - it won't rotate the turret to the default position immediately, but will wait for some time, looking for more targets in the same general direction. Many smaller improvements and changes will be added as well, as we prepare Tank Crew for its official release. 

 

 

[Crash]

Jason says...

No DD today guys. Team is busy prepping release candidate for testing.

 

 

Jason

[Crash]

UPDATE NOW LIVE

[Crash]

Details as below

Attention Pilots!

 

On this chilly Autumn day, we’re releasing a large update to IL-2 Sturmovik - update 4.502 is here! The star of this update is the new Hurricane Mk.II Collector Plane. This plane has the most modifications in our sim and with a wide range of weapon loadouts available this makes it 5 aircraft in 1. You get several variants including the IIa, IIb, IIc, IId and the one with the Soviet armament. The famous Dust Filter and Merlin XX engine with +14lb boost are also available. On top of all that, you can use the new bird in the Career mode right away - we added it to the Battle of Moscow and the Battle of Stalingrad careers. In addition to the Hurricane we have added the legendary С-47А "Skytrain" transport plane for the Battle of Normandy. The C-47 is AI only, but adds a new dimension to our missions and variety of Allied aircraft you will encounter in the sky. It is also great for mission makers who want to make supply runs an integral part of their battle. And finally, Battle of Moscow players receive new 4K quality skins for the Bf-110 E-2 thanks to our talented friend Martin =ICDP= Catney.

 

 

 

 

On the technical front we have added a new and more realistic G-load physiology modeling system. This work was described in great detail in our Developer Diary #263. Additionally, a lot of work was done on all the aspects of the ground battles, significantly improving the quality and realism of Tank Crew engagements. There are many improvements to the pilot AI as well in this update. And finally, long-awaited Career mode improvements are finally starting to arrive.

 

 

Main Features
1. The Hurricane Mk.II Collector Plane is now available to its owners;
2. The C-47A transport aircraft is now available in the sim as an AI enemy or ally in the Quick Mission mode. It can also be used in the custom missions as an AI transport aircraft;
3. Female crews got female voices in the radio messages;
4. Pilot physiology modeling has been improved significantly. This is described in detail in the Developers Diary #263;
5. The zoom function now works correctly on VR devices with canted displays (Pimax) without using the performance-intensive Parallel Projection mode;
6. New multiplayer scenarios, including Cooperative ones, are added for Tank Crew (you can create a server directly from the game by selecting a scenario or scenarios from the Multiplayer\Cooperative\TankCrew or Multiplayer\Dogfight\TankCrew folders);
7. 4K external textures for Bf 110E heavy fighter (Battle of Moscow) are added thanks to Martin =ICDP= Catney;
8. A-20 and B-25 bombers got new paint schemes with invasion stripes for different timeframes;

 

Tank Crew Improvements
9. Several missions of the Soviet tank campaign "Breaking point" were improved;
10. Both tank campaigns are now available in Simplified Chinese, German and French;
11. KV-1s got an additional paint scheme;
12. It is now possible to use binoculars or personal weapons after pressing the "T" button (except for the M4A2 tank, where binoculars and personal weapons cannot be used simultaneously with a machine gun);
13. It is now possible to designate a waypoint on the ground in a command mode while using binoculars;
14. The enemy spawn point in Tank duel quick mission is correctly randomized after the destruction of a previous one if the player did not leave its spawn point;
15. It is now possible to designate a target in a command mode while using binoculars;
16. Fixed the issue that prevented the tank commander from using binoculars or personal weapons after pressing the "T" key if he does not have a machine gun to operate;
17. Trying to fire the M4A2 machine gun while using binoculars or personal weapons won’t work;
18. AI gunners use bracketing the target with fire when engaging the ground targets both for the range and (if the target is moving or there is a wind) the azimuth error. The size of the initial aiming error depends on the AI level, distance, target speed and wind;
19. Ground AI gunners now have a certain delay in detecting and starting aiming at a new target depending on the AI level, distance and density of the group of enemy targets;
20. Ground AI vehicles return the turret and/or gun to the traveling position only after a considerable time after the destruction or disappearance of the last enemy target from the field of view;
21. Fixed an issue where detailed AI tanks (and especially self-propelled guns) could not hit the target at minimum distances (they were firing above the target);
22. SU-152 will correctly stop for a shot and won’t drive towards the target without firing;
23. The extra (maximum) AI level parameter has been removed from the Quick Mission, it caused errors in the AI functioning;
24. Fixed a bug due to which the AI controlled tanks did not attack obviously visible targets in some rare circumstances;
25. A bug has been fixed due to which there was no difference between aircraft or ground vehicle gunners with different AI levels;
26. The enemies and allies have correct marker colors in tank Coop missions;
27. Detailed damage buildings on Prokhorovka map are correctly displayed at far distances (the inner side of the walls was invisible far away);

 

Airplanes physics, systems and damage model improvements
28. 13mm German and 12.7mm Italian machine guns are no longer loaded with HE ammo only due to a bug;
29. USAAF pilots wear G-suits only when piloting P-47D-22, P-51D-15 and P-38J-25 in September 1944 or later;
30. A circular limit of the movable aiming mark of the Mk IID and K-14A gyro reticles has been implemented. The mark also bounces and stops at the working range boundary when the gyro mirror reaches its stop;
31. The characteristic whistle of P-51 machine guns ports during active maneuvering that disappeared before due to an error is back now;
32. P-51 and P-38 fighters won’t be pulled into a dive when their tail section is damaged;
33. Ju-52 / 3m g4e cargo containers drop animation has been corrected;
34. The mixture control of al aircraft with M-105 PF engine became standard (similar to Yak-7/9);
35. According to the historical data found, Ju-87D ammo counters are disabled when the BK 37 outboard guns are fitted;
36. Fixed an issue due to which hit effects weren’t visible on certain parts of the P-51 fuselage;
37. Bf 109F-2 cockpit canopy correctly jettisons;
38. All Fw 190 aircraft are less stable after rudder loss;
39. Tail combat damage causes less shaking;
40. Closed landing gear doors on P-51D-15 won’t be torn off at high speeds;
41. The top gunner of the He-111H-6 and the bottom gunner of the A-20B won’t always hold their machine guns and its hatches won’t be always open;
42. The turret hatch on certain aircraft turrets won’t start to close before the machine gun is returned to the stowed position;
43. U-2VS shooter's leg won’t clip through the fuselage;
44. Incorrect (missing) armor value of the armored glass visor and headrest has been fixed for La-5FN;
45. TIncorrect (missing) armor value of the armored headrest has been fixed for P-38J;

 

Visual aircraft improvements
46. Yak-9 s. 2, Yak-9T s.2, Fw 190 D-9, P-47D-22, P-38J-25, P-51D-15: jettisoned cockpit canopy has all the details;
47. Fixes for Bf 109 G-6 4K textures from Martin = ICDP = Catney (Barkhorn and Hartman planes);
48. The A-20B tail lamp no longer visibly detaches from the aircraft at a significant distance from the observer;
49. Fixed an issue where some of the glass fragments could be visible next to torn P-51D elements;
50. When moving the camera away from Yak-9 aircraft its effects won’t disappear;
51. In the upper MG turret of He 111 H-6 bomber some elements won’t visually jitter;
52. Damaged Pe-2 series 35 cockpit windows have a correct color;
53. Some of the Fokker D.VII airplane debris pieces won’t have extra engines visually attached to them;

 

Aircraft AI corrections
54. An AI issue that could cause a fighter AI to be unable to engage a slowly moving target flying in a circle has been fixed;
55. An AI issue that could cause excessive error in aiming the forward firing armament at ground and air targets (especially in a frontal aerial attack) has been eliminated;
56. Heavy aircraft will use the differential brakes after landing correctly to turn to a taxiway, preventing unintentional turns;
57. An AI issue that could make the bombers unable to start a bombing run after a failed first bombing run has been fixed;
58. U-2VS AI pilot can fire unguided rockets at the ground targets;
59. AI pilots attacking a ground target from a high altitude will reduce the altitude in a downward spiral first;
60. AI pilots now try to reduce the G-load they experience in order to prevent loss of consciousness if their condition is deteriorated due to fatigue or other factors;

 

Career mode improvements
61. An AI in Career mode won’t stuck at the first route waypoint after takeoff if its assigned target is very near (less than 5500 meters);
62. A random issue that could cause the bombers to stuck in a circle above the target area after dropping their bombs has been fixed;
63. Several typos in the Battle of the Rhine cutscenes were corrected;
64. Hurricane Mk.II fighters have been added to the Battle of Moscow Career mode, they are available in 5 squadrons: 1st GIAP (former 29th IAP), 67th IAP PVO, 157th IAP, 287th IAP, 736th IAP PVO;
65. Hurricane Mk.II fighters have been added to the Battle of Stalingrad Career mode, they are available in 2 squadrons: 651st IAP PVO and 629th IAP PVO;
66. There are now 13 additional subphases in the Rheinland Career frontline (18 different frontline positions according to the current career date in total);
67. Three American squadrons were added to the Rheinland Career, one of them is  available for the player to join - 412th Fighter Squadron, 373rd FG (P-47s) and two are AI squadrons 410th Fighter Squadron, 373rd FG and 411th Fighter Squadron, 373rd FG;
68. 18 new target locations added for the following mission types in Rheinland Career: Ground Forces Support, Enemy Troops Concentration Attack, Enemy Troops Concentration Bombing Strike, Railway Junction Attack and Railway Junction Bombing Strike.

 

[FoolTrottel]

Quote

32. P-51 and P-38 fighters won’t be pulled into a dive when their tail section is damaged;

😎

[Crash]

Just noticed that the Spit/Hurri gunsight can now be adjusted  to range and wingspan

[DD_Arthur]

It always has been adjustable Crash

[Sid]

11 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

It always has been adjustable Crash

I have looked in the .cfg files in the game to see if I can set it with my convergence and preferable wingspan as default so I don't have to adjust it every time. Can't see it anywhere so I'm assuming it's inaccessible.

[DD_Arthur]

I set it with a couple of thumb wheels on my throttle.  It does keep those settings when you close and relaunch the game. 

[Sid]

31 minutes ago, DD_Arthur said:

It does keep those settings when you close and relaunch the game. 

I use one of the 4 way hats on the joystick. It doesn't save them even if I restart the same mission.

[DD_Arthur]

6 hours ago, Sid said:

I use one of the 4 way hats on the joystick. It doesn't save them even if I restart the same mission.

In a spontaneous surge of enthusiasm this afternoon i dug it all out, connected it back up and can tell you that weirdly, my set up retains the previous settings.

I've no idea why we're different.  Is it because mine are on an axis of sorts whilst yours are on switches?

I am liking the Hurricane very much

[Crash]

Dear Friends,

 

We know that the Battle of Normandy pre-order customers are eagerly waiting for its planes to arrive. It's understandable, but in spite of our team keeping the development rate at a very high level, creating an aircraft with the fidelity worthy of our simulation from scratch is very time consuming and labor intensive. The main bulk of the Normandy planes list will arrive next year. However, some of the planes that are based on the previous ones will arrive sooner.

 

We have already released the P-47D-22 'Razorback' and as soon as next week another one will arrive - the German Bf 109 G-6 Late fighter with an enlarged tail and additional modifications which are characteristic for the year 1944. This includes the MW-50 water-methanol injection system and an improved cockpit canopy - the 'Erla Haube'. Being part of the 109 family, this fighter also has very good flying characteristics and powerful weaponry. The MW-50 allows increasing the power near the deck from 1480 to 1800 HP, increasing the maximum speed from 528 to 573 km/h. Of course, the engine power increase also improves the turn radius and climb rate which are invaluable in a dogfight. This late G-6 variant could also carry the WGR.21 heavy unguided rockets in jettisonable underwing launchers.

 

 

 

Lufties will be happy, YET another 109!

[Crash]

Dear friends,

 

As you know, the long-awaited Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka was released officially recently. This is a very important milestone in the development of the IL-2 Great Battles series even if it has deviated from the aviation theme a bit. However, those of you who read our Dev Blog regularly know that the tank project development contributed to the aircraft features immensely. And while today's Dev Blog is dedicated to tanks, in the near future all the aircraft in the series will benefit from both things we'll tell you about (3-dimensional visualization of the terrain unevenness and graphics effects improvements).

 

 

First, though, we'd like to show you the new Tank Crew promotion trailer created by =HH=Pauk. It showcases the main features we focused on with our partner Digital Forms during the development - operations of the realistically looking and accurately modeled combat vehicles on the real terrain that were recreated according to historical documents of the Prokhorovka battle and the events immediately before and after it. Taking into account the two bundled historical campaigns, it is a massive historical reconstruction of the tank actions in that area. Here it goes:

 

 

It is well-known that we continue the improvement of our modules long after their official release dates, that's why we keep them in one 'package', so all the modules shared the newest benefits of the sim core. In the next update, you'll see the terrain roughness that previously was modeled physically and affected the tank movement is now visible and have a realistic size and layout. This also affects the aircraft in case of an emergency landing in a field. The second addition is the set of newly developed gunfire visual effects for the detailed tanks - their guns and machine guns. Before all the gunfire effects looked similar, but now they'll differ depending on the muzzle brake and the power of the gun. We plan to do the same for the aircraft guns of the planes in development and later on for the previously released ones. This video demonstrates the new effects better than many words can:

 

 

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

[Crash]

More stuff

Hello everybody,

 

Many of you ask us how is the development of the recently announced mobile AAA is going. The physical model of a wheeled vehicle is nearly complete while the visual model of the Soviet GAZ-MM with 72-K AA gun being developed by our partners at Digital Forms has made good progress. You can see the attention to detail on these screenshots, it's really a labor of love:

 

 

You may wonder how fast the German half-track chassis can be developed since it is partly wheeled and partly tracked, but in our engine, the player controllable vehicles have a sophisticated module structure where a combination of various propulsion types is possible. We plan to start the implementation of the German AAA half truck soon. On the other hand, the AA gunsights are a new thing, but we hope to make them as functional as Tank Crew artillery sights.

 

Meanwhile, we're working on updating all the existing aircraft in the sim with the new visual models of the crew. All the fighters were given the new pilot models where it was possible to do in a universal way previously, and now we're adding the new models to the planes where unique adjustments are required. In the coming update, you'll get the new pilot model for P-39L-1. More detailed pilot appearance aside, this also means that an American or British pilot will be displayed if a P-39 is set to one of the countries in the mission file. Also, our friend Martin =ICDP= Catney have created an additional RAF skin for this airplane.

 

 

Another of the many questions we got recently after showing the video of the new terrain effect on the vehicles, is how the new detailed terrain roughness will affect the aircraft outside the prepared airfields when making an emergency landing for instance or taking off from a field (which is an even more difficult task naturally). We think the best answer would be another short video:

 

 

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

[Crash]

Dear Friends,

New player controllable aircraft or vehicles aren’t ready yet, but we have decided to release the update 4.504 that improves many aspects of the sim. The main feature of this update is the increased visual detail of the landscape at close distances, which is a graphics option. It makes the terrain bumps and unevenness, that were previously only calculated in physics, to be visible. Overall, this improvement makes the vehicle and aircraft movement on the ground look much better and natural.

 

The second main feature is a nearly complete overhaul of the sound volume balance in the aircraft cockpits which was done with the help of pilots that have experience flying similar aircraft, resulting in a more realistic sound environment in the cockpit.

 

There are many other important changes as well, for instance, many graphical effects were improved like large structural fires in cities and more detailed tank cannon fire effects. Even the grass now bends when you fire the tank main gun! The full changelist follows:

 

Main features

1. The terrain bumps that were previously only in the physics are now visible at a short distance, resulting in a much better visual look of the wheeled and tracked vehicles and planes on the ground movement. The detail of this visualization can be adjusted or completely disabled and works at ‘Medium’ or better graphics settings preset;
2. The movement of all simplified ground vehicles (cars and tracked vehicles) also looks more realistic since the benefit from the new tech as well;
3. Tanks transmission modeling was made more detailed, increasing their maximum climb angle;
4. New RAF paint scheme added for P-39L-1 by Martin =ICDP= Catney;
5. P-39L-1 pilot got a new visual model, animation of removing glasses on the ground and donning an oxygen mask at high altitude. In addition, setting the country of the plane to the UK or USA in the mission file changes the pilot model to UK or USA pilot accordingly;
6. The ram air noise sounds depend on the flight speed, taking into account the position of the pilot's head in the cockpit (in the center, near the side, overboard) and the cockpit canopy state (open or closed). The volume of the ram air noise has been increased, giving more audio cues in a closed cockpit;
7. Airflow noise sound when stalling or at a high-G load has been improved;
8. Stall sound on Yak fighters was adjusted to be more informative at high angles of attack;
9. The volume of other sounds in the cockpit (the noise of the aircraft moving on the ground on the landing gear, the hissing of the flaps and landing gear valves, the background power grid noise, radio communications, etc.) is balanced according to the new volume of the airflow noise. Corrections were made to the sound volume of several engines as well;

Tank improvements

10. New motion blur effect improves the look of the player controllable tank tracks if the ‘Cinematic Camera’ option is checked;
11. All Tank Crew module tanks got new gun and machine gun firing effects that depend on the muzzle power. If a gun has a muzzle brake, the effect has a corresponding shape. In addition, firing the main gun temporarily causes the grass nearby to bend down;
12. The "jitter" animation issue of aircraft and tank gunners when the player left the corresponding station has been fixed;
13. The tank turret stays in place when the player switches from the gunsight view to another station and there are no visible enemy targets for AI gunner to engage;
14. When giving an order to other tanks in the platoon only existing tanks are shown in the menu;
15. Only existing ammo types are shown in the commander menu when selecting the ammo for your tank;
16. AI gunners will correctly engage a target when several different targets were assigned by the commander one subsequently;
17. AI will load correct ammo as instructed by the commander;
18. Gunsight zoom on VR devices with canted displays and Parallel Projection mode works correctly;
19. M4A2 visors won’t look too bright in an external view;
20. The remaining .50 cal ammo is shown correctly when the M2 MG installed on the M4A2 tank is in the anti-aircraft firing position;
21. It’s no longer possible to hit the M4A2 turret by pushing the AA MG down and left to the limit when firing;
22. The free T-34/76 STZ (1942) tank turret switches to manual turret traverse when the generator is not working;
23. The free T-34/76 STZ (1942) tank field of view when looking through the gunsight has been fixed;
24. Free T-34/76 STZ (1942) and Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.L tanks have their turret traverse speeds reduced the more they are tilted, just like Tank Crew tanks;
25. SU-122 SPG mass has been corrected according to the latest data found (30900 kg);
26. Commander's machine guns (KV-1s and M4A2) won’t ‘stuck’ when trying to swivel them looking through the sights in VR mode;
27. The graphic effect and sound of a machine gun or tank gun firing won’t stuck when the tank is blown up;
28. In Quick Mission - Duel, tank settings are correctly applied;
29. The 1st and 3rd missions of the "Last Chance" German tank campaign were optimized to be playable on 3.0 GHz processors (without time compression);
30. The vertical adjustment sound of the PT4-7 and PG panoramas (KV-1s, T-34UVZ-43, SU-122 and SU-152) was removed since they can be adjusted along this axis separately;

Aircraft improvements

31. Pilot AI won’t dive into the ground after receiving a command to attack a ground target if there is no ammo;
32. Fighter pilot AI won’t open fire too far away in a ‘face to face’ attack;
33. A rare issue that could make an aircraft to levitate above the ground or sink into it up to 1m depth (it happened more frequently on Arras map) and therefore cause damage to it has been fixed;
34. U-2VS wing damage when touching the ground during taxiing has been reduced and the landing gear damping settings have been corrected. Now it is possible to land and take off on an unprepared field with a bit of luck;
35. U-2VS formation and landing lights functioning was corrected;
36. Pe-2 series 87 top turret camera corrected in VR mode;
37. Torn off A-20B bomb bay doors behave in a physically correct way;
38. A-20B bomb bay doors will be torn off during an emergency landing (landing gear up) only if they were opened;
39. A-20B cockpit view won’t shake when the mission starts;
40. P-51D level autopilot won’t turn off by itself at the start of the mission in the air if the fuel tanks are full;
41. Visually inverted MC.202 propeller pitch has been corrected;
42. The P-39L-1 antenna won’t ‘hang’ in the air if the tail section is broken;
43. Audio and visual effects when hitting the outboard cannons and bomb and rocket racks were corrected for IL-2 (all modifications), Bf-109 (all modifications), FW-190 (all modifications) and MC.202;
44. IL-2 mod. 43 gunner and rear fuel tank armor has been corrected;
45. An issue that could cause the aircraft with a repaired wing to move instead of stop when applying the wheel brakes has been fixed;
46. Pe-2 series 87 surface material won’t visually change when moving away from it;
47. A-20 cockpit glass won’t visually change when moving away from it;
48. P-51D-15 spinner was made less shiny;
49. Visual artifacts on the Bf 109 E-7 cockpit glass were eliminated;

Other improvements

50. The visual image of the sea surface was improved up close (the blackness on wave crests, shadows shake, reflection and glare when the camera was directed downward very close were corrected);
51. Fixed an issue that caused ships and aircraft on the sea surface to be unaffected by the movement of the waves;
52. Fixed an issue that prevented the submarines from moving when the waves were high;
53. Fixed a rare issue that could display a black screen when switching to F11 free camera;
54. F11 camera movement was made smoother;
55. An incorrect factory building roof in Stalingrad that glowed at night has been corrected;
56. The visibility range of large fires (static effects City_Fire, City_FireSmall, VillageSmoke and their new cyclic versions) has been increased to 100 km;
57. Settlement fire effects in Career, Quick Missions and tank campaigns won’t periodically disappear and reappear or ‘flip’ when you move the camera around them. These effects now illuminate the surroundings as well;
58. Three factory chimney smoke effects for mission creators were added: Chimneystalk_smoke_white, Chimneystalk_smoke_grey, Chimneystalk_smoke_black;
59. The “DummyGroundExpl” explosion effect set in the mission has been restored;
60. Visual mission effects AmmoExplosion and AmmoExplosion_Big have corresponding sounds;
61. House_smoke effect starts correctly, without an overly intense and dark first phase;
62. Сyclic settlement fire effects City_Fire_Loop, City_FireSmall_Loop and VillageSmoke_Loop won’t visibly disappear and reappear or ‘flip’ when you move the camera around them, greatly simplifying their use by mission designers and reducing the resulting performance impact;
63. German and French translations of Last Chance, Breaking Point and Wind of Fury campaigns were corrected.

 

 

[Sid]

Interesting.... https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/67848-game-version-4504-discussion-rough-terrain-visualization-new-cockpit-sounding-gfx-improvements-and-other/ 

Jason is saying that use stereo setting for sound - the game is designed for it. Always wondered why there is no setting in sound to change it. First page of the thread Jason states this and clarifies it further down the same page.

14 hours ago, BladeMeister said:

Why stereo if I have a 5.1 setup? Thanks for the update. I am so glad that the A20 bomb bay doors will be ripped off if you belly land with them down now. That was really bothering me!!! LMAO!

 

S!Blade<><

Because the sim is designed for Stereo. Always been that way. If you force 5.1 sounds will likely  be missing.

 

Jason

 

 

 

[Jabo]

Yep, interesting - I'll try swapping 7.1 for stereo next time I'm flying.

[Sid]

I swapped out 5.1 for stereo on my pooter speakers this morning to try. No problem. Difficult to tell whether it sounds different or whether I am hearing extra sounds but it sounds good. I set them up for surround effect from the Realtek control panel.

[Crash]

more news  mmmmmm

Dear friends,

 

So, here is the new year 2021! Like anyone else, we're going to hope that it will be better than the previous one. However, for IL-2 Great Battles, the last year was quite positive in spite of all complications. We hope that we'll build on this success this year - the plans are quite extensive. Let's start with the first in-game shots of the British fighter Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib which is being developed for the Battle of Normandy. As you can see, it looks nearly complete, but in fact, there is still a lot to do - a hefty chunk of work is left on its cockpit instruments and the flight model. Nevertheless, we're expecting to finish everything before the end of this Spring and release it to all Battle of Normandy customers.

 

 

Speaking of the Normandy map, the layout of the towns on its continental part is complete for the first iteration. A bunch of landmark buildings and a significant part of AI-controlled ground vehicles planned for Normandy are already done. We're researching the data for the Normandy Career mode.

 

Meanwhile, the AAA trucks are also showing good progress - the GAZ-MM with the 72-K gun will be ready first. Its chassis is ready both in terms of the 3D and physical models while the crew animations and audio are being worked on. We've managed to find the authentic firing tables prepared by the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army and printed by the military publishing house of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the Soviet Union in 1943 and made the ballistics of the 25mm rounds and their armor penetration ability in various cases as close to the real thing as possible according to this data. We still have to research and recreate the really complicated correction system for the gunsights, that's what we're working on now while our partners at Digital Forms are creating the complex 3D model of the AAA gun itself as you can see on the screens below:

 

 

[Crash]

more stuff

Dear friends,

 

Today we have mostly images for you. Soon we'll be able to share news on the Battle of Normandy progress in various areas, but today we can show you the first in-game screenshots of Fw 190 A-6. This aircraft will include the assault modifications G3, G3/R5 and A6/R2 Sturmjager and is planned to be released in the coming update along with the new graphical effects and aircraft AI improvements.

 

 

And here are the screens on what we're working on at the moment, the feature that all the previously released BoX projects will benefit from:

 

 

[fruitbat]

Squadron decals, the half glass full part of me is 'whoop whoop', the half glass empty part of me 'is about bloody time'!!!!!

Seriously though, a small but cosmetically great addition. 

[Crash]

NEWS

Dear friends,

 

Earlier this week we have published update 4.506 that brought the new aircraft for the Battle of Normandy and many important improvements, but the preparation of this update did not slow down our main development. Soon we'll be able to show the first teaser screenshots of the new map, while today we have for you several of the unique buildings that you'll see in the Normandy and Southern English coast cities -  Royal Hospital Haslar (Gosport, Hampshire), Abbey of Saint-Étienne (Caen) and Bayeux and Rouen Cathedrals.

 

 

We are also glad to report that the next Battle of Normandy fighter, Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIV, will be finished soon - its FM should be ready in a month while its visual model, including the cockpit, is nearly finished. Here are the first in-game shots of this legendary aircraft:

 

 

 

Together with our partners at Digital Forms, we continue building the player-controlled AAA trucks - the Soviet 72-K AA gun installed on the GAZ-MM truck chassis will be ready soon. The visual and physical models of the truck itself are complete, the 3D model of the gun is created and we're working on animating it and its crew. Ballistics are recreated according to the historical data and the rounds already have self-destruct fuzes (you may have seen such fuzes in action when fired from other AA guns in this week's update). This in-game screenshot demonstrates the state of its completion:

 

 

[Crash]

Dear friends,

 

Today we can show you a teaser, the first screenshot of the Normandy map showing one of its characteristic features - a coastal port city. Le Havre, in the Seine estuary, is one of the biggest in France. Our map development team always tries to find new ways to improve the landscape elements, and now, working on the Normandy map, they are researching new techniques of terrain texturing, coastline composition, keeping in mind the differences in the architecture and city layout between the two sides of the Channel, attempting to recreate more detailed railway junctions and many other things.

 

 

Speaking of the railway junctions, some of you have pointed out that they are too simplified on the Rhineland map. They were made simple because the development was focused on many detailed airfields and time was not available, but we're always trying to improve the existing content and other things whenever we have time and resources to do so. This year we plan to gradually add more detailed railway junctions to this map. This is the Antwerp railyard being improved:

 

 

[Sid]

Ooooh, looks great, can't wait to get it in my bombsight....