Bearcats Nugget Guide

[T_O_A_D]

I'm dropping it in here, just so we have it, in-case of anything happening to it over at UBI

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/23110283/m/9121094645?r=9121094645#9121094645

Originally posted by Bearcat99:

Welcome aboard nugget!! With all the new blood in here I thought it would be a good idea to post this.

While this guide can be used with any 1C IL2 product version it is written with IL2 1946 in mind.

While it is possible to fly this sim with a keyboard and mouse, to get the most out of it a joystick is recommended.

I personally recommend either SAITEK or CH Products. Both brands can also be purchased from other sites at a reasonable prices as well as the manufacturer's sites. I recommend that you shop around to find the best bang for the buck since usually you pay more at the manufacturer's site, but those are the main options when it comes to joysticks. For what it is worth the Microsoft Force Feedback 2 is the best single joystick ever made in my opinion. Rugged as all get out, good solenoids, and a good Force Feed Back (FFB) joystick, even if you do not use the features like gunshake, which I personally find a little hokey, or hit effects, just for the control forces alone, does things that no mechanical spring can do as far as transmitting a better feel for what is going on with your virtual ship. Unfortunately Microsoft no longer makes the FFB2 but they can be found on Ebay and Go Gamer.com also had a limited quantity. Saitek does make a FFB stick. I have no clue as to how good it is because my trusty MS FFB2 is still working. Thrustmaster also makes a line of joysticks from low to high end, however I have no experience with them at all so I cannot vouch for therm one way or the other. I can say that the top of the line Cougar HOTAS, which will run you around $175-$300 out of the box depending on where you get it is from all reports a good stick, but it requires costly modifications to really make it shine. By costly I mean another $100+ , and for me that is just unacceptable, but most of the Cougar owners I know love their sticks. I also recommend that you go for a H.O.T.A.S. setup (Hands On Throttle And Stick) which in my opinion is much more versatile and immersive. The Saitek X-52 or the CH Fighter Stick and Throttle are examples of a H.O.T.A.S. setup along with the offering from Thrustmaster. Whatever stick you choose or wherever you choose to get it, make sure that it has some kind of rudder control on it or that you take rudder control into consideration either through rudder pedals, which both Saitek and CH produce, or some kind of twist rudder on the stick.. Also take a look at Guide to Joystick Settings as far as actually programming your stick.

Before we begin... I must say that Mission4Today.com is the single absolute best overall TOTAL RESOURCE for this sim as far as guides, missions,skins,downloads etc. goes in cyberspace. It has no equal and will henceforth be referred to as M4T throughout this guide. Between here and M4T you will have all the resources you need to become proficient in this sim and get the most out of it.

This sim is going to do one of two things to you. It is either going to spark that rise to the challenge fire in you... making you want to master it.... or at least invest a lot of time trying. Or it will frustrate you so much that after a few attempts you will put it back on your shelf and go back to whatever it was that held your interest before you decided to see what the hubbub was about. I cant help you if you chose the latter. However if you choose the former... then read on.

Installing 46 on Vista, Win 7 & X-64

X-64, Vista & Win 7 and Win 7 Fix

First.... find out what version you have. Keep in mind that the versions are NOT compatible. The series is as follows.

IL2 Sturmovik - The original sim. It is not compatible with any of the later versions and is patchable to v1.22ov. A milestone for sure, and a classic for a collector... but if you want to fly NOW with people there are not a lot of servers that run IL2 left. It is 8+ years old.

Forgotten Battles 1.0 - Originally conceived as an add on for IL2, it wound up becoming a separate stand alone product in it's own right.

The Aces Expansion Pack AKA FB 2.0 - As the name says an add on expansion pack bringing in more planes and enhancing the move west. (Bear in mind that IL2 started out as an Eastern Front sim..).

Pacific Fighters AKA FB3.0 - This is where things get.... confusing for some... Pacific Fighters can be installed as a stand alone sim (FB3.0) with just the Pacific content... or it could be merged with FB 2.0 (FB3.0merged ). Many people came here after buying PF and installing it as a stand alone... but most of them came around and wound up getting the other parts and merging the sim. *NOTE* PF standalone can only be patched as far as 4.04.. there are no more patches for PF standalone after that. All subsequent patches and updates are for the merged version of the sim and IL2 1946 ONLY.

After PF came out there was a major patch for the sim that brought it up to FB 4.0 and FB 4.0m for the merged version of the sim. After that there were a few more patches that eventually brought it up to 4.04...from there on out all upgraded versions were the results of the add ons..... There were patches throughout all the versions.. but IMO they aren't worth mentioning since the final incarnation of the sim ... is IL2 1946 which is what I recommend that you get if you have anything other than that. That includes the FB GOLD, or the Ultimate Flight collection, or that combo CD set that had FB,the AEP & PF all on one CD. IL2 1946 is the way to go.. but just for the record so that you know.... the addons after FB3.0 were:

Pe-2.... an add on that only works on FB3.0m. Originally it was going to only be released in Russia... but after much weeping and gnashing of teeth... it was released online as an add on to FB4.0. Pe-2 brought the sim up to FB 4.05m

Sturmoviks Over Manchuria... and 46 were originally planned as separate add ons... but after the release of Pe-2 and the problems associated with the release it was decided to hold off on the release of the final two products individually and they wound up being released together in the IL2 1946 DVD, version 4.07m of the sim which also contains all the previously merged versions.

The IL2 1946 DVD contains IL2 FB, The AEP, PF, AND the Pe-2, Sturmoviks Over Manchuria and 46 addons _{*There will be only one desktop icon.}

Installation and Patching of the sim

It is highly recommended that you forgo any other version of the sim and get the 1946 DVD .

Currently as of 12/24/2010 the latest patch is 4.10.1 . After you do your clean install of 1946 you should be at 4.07m. To verify this after you first install the sim boot it up and when the initial splashscreen loads look on the lower left corner and you should see ver X.x. Keep in mind that while the initial version should be 4.07m, with each successive patch if correctly installed that version number should change accordingly. It is recommended that with each successive patch install you boot the sim to make sure that the patch installed correctly before installing the next patch. Download and install the 4.08m patch, verify it's correct installation, then install the 4.09m patch. After you verify that, install the skins patch for 4.09m. After doing that Install the 4.10 patch International Version and then the 4.10.1 patch which is a small patch to fix bugs that were in 4.10 and you should be done. All official patches for the sim can be found at Mission 4 Today->Official Game Patches. Then it is recommended that you boot the sim, make sure that it fully loads to 4.10. Run a quick mission to make sure that it works. Once you do that and you get your control settings the way you want them, I recommend that you do a complete back up of that entire install to another drive. The footprint of a stock 4.10 install is only 5.8G on the disk. This way if you ever have any kind of instance where you will have to reinstall the sim you wont have to start from scratch. When the next patch is released then upgrade your backup accordingly so that it is always at the most current incarnation of the sim. Further along in this post is a list of specific files to back up once you begin to use the sim and add missions, skins etc. It is highly recommended that any patches be installed over clean versions of the sim.. NOT modded versions.

If you have an older version of Forgotten Battles bear in mind that 46 installs to a different folder so you don't have to worry about overwriting anything. If you already have a stick profile or custom skins/missions etc... in that older installation then just copy your Paintschemes,Missions,Records,Users,Quicks and config file into the 46 folder. For more detailed information on patching the series in any of it's incarnations click here. Because of the fact that the dedicated server software for this sim only went up to 4.08m there were switchers (batch file programs) around that enabled flyers to switch from 4.08m to 4.09m with the click of a mouse.. Now that official dedicated server software available for 4.09m game switchers are becoming obsolete until the next version change. Bear in mind that the m in ver X.xxm DOES NOT stand for MODDED but for MERGED.

Dedicated Servers briefly

A dedicated server is just what it's name implies.. it is a server that is usually set to run 24/7 with some kind of mission always running. While you can run a dedicated server using the standard sim software, it is better and easier to manage a dedicated server if you use the available dedicated server software. For just hosting missions you do not need to use dedicated server software. To find oout more about the subject of dedicated servers do a search either here or at M4T under Dedicated Servers.

IL2 series and Mods

This sim was never meant to be modded.

Originally the code was locked by the developer.

Approximately 2-3 years ago around the winter/spring of 07 give or take a few months the sim was cracked. Some say that it had been cracked for some time.. but the difference was that the crack was made public this time. To the IL2 community this was a major crisis. For some it was a great thing.. and for many others it was a disaster. Much of the dismay was caused by the fact that so many sims in the past had been ruined by mods because of the opportunity for online cheating. Many others felt that because the sim was hacked by people who did not have developer approval, they in essence were "stealing" the code to the sim.. and many to this day refuse to use mods of this sim for that reason. The issue threatened to split the community down the middle into two pro mod and anti mod camps. The pros and cons of the issue of mods are individual matters and are not open for discussion on these boards. This stickied post is the official policy of this forum on how mods will be handled here. To summarize, we allow discussion of mods.. but we do not support them and we do not allow direct links to mod sites here. This stance was decided upon after @ 9 months or so.. with none of the rampant cheating so many expected to see and nothing coming from official channels to counter the mods. They were here to stay and it seemed silly to act as if they did not exist. Some of them are very good.. some of them are not good at all. Whatever side of the fence you fall on, bear in mind that for the most part this community prides itself on honest and straightforward gameplay. Cheating is not looked very highly upon by any segment of the community.. pro mod or anti mod. We all want the best sim experience we can get. So.. strap in and enjoy the sim. If you have problems online connecting it may be due to the server running a modded version of the sim, however there are two primary mod packs (HSFX 4.1 and UP 2.0) that you can choose from that most of the community use. They are compatible with each other with some tweaking, although I prefer one in particular over the other.

For more general info on the evolution of the sim go to the front page and look in the left hand corner just under the IL2 logo for NEWS and 1C Maddox Games.

*** Getting IL2 to work in WIDESCREEN ***

OK YOU NUGGETS.... LISTEN UP!!!!

You can choose to do this any way you want to .... This is just one method..... it might not work for you.... but try it.. I guarantee you that if you do it this way... in 30 days you will be better off than just doing it on your own. Feel free to come to the forums at anytime to ask some of the more experienced members for advice. After this is all said and done if you want a more formal training regimen... I highly recommend that you check out the Joint Ops Virtual Flight School ... the link to which can be found in my signature right underneath my Mustang at the bottom of this post.. along with the Sturmovik Essentials thread.

Preflight: Setting the controls

1- HOTAS controls. In this sim the HOTAS section of the CONTROLS menu is where any command that can be set to an axis (as in a potentiometer on the joystick axis) will be found. (Throttle,Brakes,Prop Pitch,Flaps,Roll,Pitch,Yaw and the trims associated with them. While controls in the HOTAS section can also be assigned to keystrokes it is more efficient and much smoother to have them mapped to a slider where possible. At the very least you should have Elevator (Pitch), Ailerons (Roll), Rudder (Yaw), and Power (Throttle) mapped in the HOTAS section. I also have my trims set on sliders (Potentiometers.. they can be knobs or levers) and prefer it that way.

Open the sim and go to CONTROLS. Look at that slider on your right hand side and grab it and scroll all the way to the bottom where you will see a section called HOTAS. Once you get to the bottom of the screen you will see the controls menu. Highlight the right side of the line that has the control on it and then move the corresponding joystick function. For example.. if you want to map your throttle L click on the line next to Power and an empty box will open up. Once this happens cycle your throttle from top to bottom. Inside that empty box text will appear that will say something like "U slider axis" or "-U slider axis". Should you find that when you go into the sim any controls in the HOTAS section are reversed, simply go back to the control in question and reverse the cycling of the control in question. If it said U before it should change to - U and vice versa..

2- Individual Controls

Scroll back to the top of CONTROLS and make sure that you have the following functions mapped (these are the basics you will need to be able to enjoy most of the aircraft in the sim in various scenarios), either to a key on your keyboard or on your stick or that you know where they are in the case that they are already mapped:

*Chocks** (If you are on a carrier and you throttle up.. and you go nowhere... you have NOT released your chocks.
*Tailhook**
*Wing Fold** *
*Radiator
*Canopy Open
*Supercharger > <
*Mixture > <
*Prop Pitch > <
*Toggle Engine (toggles engine on/off) *
*Select All Engines *You can also assign Unselect All Engines as well, although I really haven't had to use that function yet.
*Left Engines
*Right Engines
*Dive Brakes
*Tailwheel Lock - Very important if you have a hard time keeping your aircraft straight.
*Trim-All 3 trims (rudder,aileron & elevator) are good to have but IMO rudder and elevator are a must. You can set your trim either in the HOTAS section above or with keystrokes. If you use keystrokes make sure you have a trim neutral function set.. especially for elevator trim.
*Landing Gear some aircraft, like the F4F and the I-16 have manual landing gear and the normal landing gear function will NOT WORK therefore if you intend to fly those aircraft you should map a key to manual gear raise & manual gear lower. You will have to tap this key repeatedly intil the gear is raised... or use a macro on your profiling software.
*Weapons 1-4 Machine guns, cannon, rockets & bombs.

*I recommend making these functions multi key. In other words make it so that it will take 2 hands to perform them. That eliminates the accidental execution of them. Nothing like folding your wings in flight to ruin a mission for you.

Also All of the views...F1-F5 and FOV WIDE,NORMAL & GUNSIGHT. (These are preset I believe so just know where they are). Also be advised that on some aircraft the gunsight will initially appear to be off center, most notably the Me-109s and some of the Japanese planes.. This can be corrected by pressing SHIFT+F1. Also some planes will have a lens cap covering the sight and you will not be able to see through it.. CTRL+D is the default control for that. Lastly on carrier based aircraft and in some missions depending on the planeset or the map you must release your chocks before you can take off.

Additional controls....

*SHIFT+F1 will center the gunsight on some axis planes like the 109s, Ki-84s, Zeros...

*CTRL+D will remove the lens cover on the gunsight for the D-3A, the F2-A and the Ki-43

*ESC will end your mission

For some ideas on how to set up your controls differently from the default settings see Skycat's Custom Keyboard & Joystick Settings. If you are starting from scratch this is a good place to start. Make sure that you also read Skycat's addition to this guide below this post.

Controls that are set up on an axis in the HOTAS like throttle, pitch etc.. have their values displayed in the C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\IL-2 Sturmovik 1946\conf file under rts_joystick section. Each individual user you set up also has these values displayed in C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\IL-2 Sturmovik 1946\Users\doe (Or whatever name you have in your pilots setup). The individual key assignments for each pilot you create including the default one are found there as well. You will note that inside that users folder there is a config file named default. That default file contains the settings for the default stick assignments that are initially displayed and that the sim will default to when you press the "reset as default" key. If you have ever accidentally pressed that button in the controls menu after you set up an assignment profile that works for you then you know the frustration of trying to remember all that. What I did was renamed that default config file as default_stock, then I copied the settings file from my pilot and renamed that one default. Now if I accidentally hit that button nothing will change, and if for whatever reason I want to revert to the default I can always rename that fie and do so. DaimonSyrius has an outstanding explanation of the axis setup for joysticks that goes well beyond this sim alone. It is more than worth a Syrius :winky: look here.

A more detailed explanation of stick setup @ M4T.

Once you have set all this up in the controls menu click APPLY on the lower left and you will be returned to the main menu.

Since I am the only one who flies my sim I copied the same information from my primary user folder to all my other ones.. I have 3 users.. one is for Joint Ops, one is for the squad I fly with, the 99th.. and the other is just my name... but as far as the users folder settings go they arer all the same and I also coped that to the default file.. that way if I ever accidentally hit Reset to Default in my controls menu.. it will not change. I renamed the original default file to something else but i doubt I'll ever use it.

There are other functions in the controls menu as well. However they are not essential at this point for you to function efficiently in flying the sim. Look at them later and decide what you will or will not need. Also make sure that you see the note on trim in Hands on Phase one.

2-Go to the Quick Mission Builder>go to the difficulty screen. On that first page the only thing that you should DESELECT (meaning the light will be out) is Limited Ammo. Hit Next in the lower right hand corner and another screen will pop up. On that page DESELECT - Cockpit Always On,No External Views,No Icons,No Padlock,No Map icons,No Minimap Path and No Speedbar. All else should have a light on. Then click BACK 3 times.

NOTE: Some of these settings are temporary just so that you can remove some of the frustration factor from the sim, however you should NEVER EVER fudge on flight settings. Keep the flying portion of the sim as realistic as possible as far as stalls & spins, torque & gyro, flutter, wind & turbulence go. Where you can bend things is on the settings like external views and icons etc. Some might say eliminate CEM (Complex Engine Management)* as well but I think that is a bad idea... It is best to get used to how the plane will perform in it's fullness and if you want to fly online, not many disable CEM or Separate Engine Start*. In the beginning these changes will help you immensely in getting used to the sim and how it works. As you get comfortable you can and should tighten things up a bit. I still use externals and icons although I very very rarely fly outside of the cockpit (As in no cockpit around you at all) and I like to set my icons extremely tight... so that they show up much closer than the default settings.. but for now this is good to learn on.

*For a more detailed tutorial on CEM, including flying Multi Engined Aircraft and using trim see The CEM guide @ M4T. I recommend that you take the time to go through this material before you take to the skies. Consider this a part of ground school.

**Needed for carrier based aircraft. Chocks must be released before you can take off from a carrier.

Now that you have done all that Preflight stuff, we can begin with the the hands on Phase of getting you up in the virtual skies.

Hands On Phase One

Go to Multiplay>Create New Server>(Make sure Gametype is Dogfight)>Create>2>Dogfight 4 or 5 (Which should be Dogfight for 2 armies winter or summer). Select a base..... For this part of the exercise select a base in the rear... any one will do.. pick a plane (I recommend that you consider either one of the La-5s, a A6M2 or a Hurricaine MkII initially.. and stick with it until you at least get through phase one, then consider the plane you want to fly on a regular basis and if you are comfortable with it switch to it and stick with it until you get to phase 4.. then you can experiment more if you like.)> select arming. In the arming screen set your fuel to 100% set gun convergence *** to 300 for both for now. Hit fly. You will find yourself on the Tarmac... start your engine... taxi to the runway and take off. Fly a circuit around the airfield and land. Practice trying to do touch and gos... almost landing... fly around in the sky... turn dive.... if you crash hit escape... then refly... and do it over and over until you can get up... fly around and land reasonably well. Once you can do that and you are comfortable go on to Phase 2.

Hands On Phase Two

Go back into the same multiplayer DF (DogFight) server that you have been using, but this time select a base closer to the front..as in closer to the bases of the opposite color. Select your plane. Select a weapons load.... hit fly. Take off... go to the nearest enemy base and try to bomb it. The flak will be tough. Very tough. This practice will help you to learn how to take off with ordinance.. which if you set things up correctly should be different from a clean take off... it will help you to practice ground attack. It will help you to practice landing a damaged bird.

Hands On Phase Three

Go into the QMB (Quick Mission Builder), set up a QM. For this first one make your enemies rookies and put them in inferior aircraft. Use all the enemy slots. Initially ONLY IN THE BEGINNING for this phase, go back to the difficulty screen and make yourself invulnerable. Do that until you start to get more hits... but be aware when you are getting hit and try to still avoid it. You will have unlimited ammo... but don't spray and pray. Now you can practice your air to air gunnery. Pay attention to how the bullets behave. The numbers in the icons are in kilometers. 1.00 is 1K, 2.50 is 2.5K etc.. therefore when you see a plane at .30.. that is 300 meters... the convergence number you set earlier. Don't shoot when they are too far away. When you get used to the 300 meter convergence then change it to 200-275. When you find yourself getting more accurate then change the conditions.

Hands On Phase Four

Remove the invulnerability.... and instead of using all the enemy slots use just two. Keep them rookies and in inferior planes though. When you get comfortable with that or ready for the next level of challenge upgrade the enemy planes... maybe give yourself a wingman... you can go through that cycle until you are competent enough to at least handle yourself. AS you cycle up with upgrading the enemy planes upgrade their skill level too... add more... add more wingmen for yourself.

By that time you will be well on your way. If you do this over say... the next 14 to 28 days... you will only suck as bad or pretty near as bad as the rest of us.... :wink2: :thumbs:

This procedure is not set in stone, once you become more familiar with the sim you may want a more immersive method and there are other options however there is no full startup procedure modelled in IL2 1946.

Other tips

Check out the config guide at M4T. Using it or any one of the utilities like IL2 manager or IL2 stab will let you turn off various features like the AI chat text or the hudlog. The hudlog is the thing that tells you where your throttle settings are etc. I highly recommend that whatever plane you fly get used to looking at your gauges and the relationship they have with the throttle settings and prop pitch. Prop pitch will usually effect the RPM.. while the throttle will effect your manifold pressure. There is a link to all the cockpit gauges that can be found in the Essentials Thread linked in my sig, as is the M4T database. Also pay attention to where the virtual representation of your throttle stick etc are too.. you would be amazed at how that helps when locked in the pit.

For a more detailed explanation of just what the settings within the sim mean check out the Settings and the Graphics setup guides @ M4T.

Some aircraft (Fw-190s, Me-109s P-47 Razorbacks to name a few) have an offset gunsight or a cover over the gunsight that will have to be moved. To move the offset gunsight pres SHIFT+F1 and the sightview will toggle back and forth (It will slightly offset the forward view to look directly into the sight). To remove the lens cover from the sight (Some Japanese planes and the SBD to name a few..)press CTRL+D and the lens cover will be toggled on and off.

You will also note that often on take off your aircraft may veer to one side. This is the effect of the torque from the engine. To counter this effect it is recommended that you lock your tail wheel for take offs until you become proficient at ground handling. The lock tailwheel is an assignable function found in the controls menu.

***What to Back up***

Back up the following folders it can save you much grief in the event of hardware issues. Look inside your IL2 46 folder.

Missions - This folder contains all the missions you may have downloaded.

NGen - This is where your camapigns are

Paint Schemes - This folder contains all your skins

Records - This folder contains all of the tracks you may have recorded.

conf - This folder contains your game settings.. as in sound graphics etc.

Users - This folder contains your pilot/stick config settings.

This is for a clean unmodded install. If you have mods installed you will need to one of the mod sites for a more detailed listing of what to back up.

OTHER PERIPHERALS

Rudder pedals.. though not a must... they do add to the immersion and if you are more than just a casual simmer they are not to be left out of your rig. While car pedals can be used... rudder pedals are the best way to go. The options there are Saitek, CH & SimpEd.

I have no experience with the Simpeds.. but I hear they are the best out there.. they are also the most pricey. I have used the CH & Saiteks. I replaced my CHs with Saiteks... the CH pedals are good.. but the Saiteks offer a wider stance, adjustable tension and IMO are smoother. The Saitek products can be found reconditioned at the link losted or at GoGamer.com at a decent price.

Track IR

Without a doubt one of the best pieces of hardware for flight simmers since the joystick. If I had to choose between getting TIR or pedals... I would not choose one over the other but I would say get the pedals first.. since they are more conducive to good flying.. IMO both are essential. You don't have to have them to fly.. but they help a great deal and if you can get them by all means do so. Even if it takes a few paychecks. One of the best ways I have found to really get a handle on TIR is to set up a QM with you and a bandit.. don't give him any ammo... at least at first... and just shadow him.. he will try to do all sorts of evasive maneuvers.. stick to him like glue... roll... yo yo... but keep him in sight... it will really get you used to using the TIR basically a virtual head.. and the plane. Then you can practice combat...

Also you can give Zeus Cat's Training Campaigns a spin. Very good if I must say so myself.

Tweaking your joystick settings

Originally posted by FatBoyHK:

It is my own experience, I hope it is helpful for those who have wobbling problem. Step-by-step instruction are presented first, for those who are lazy The story behind the instructions are presented next.

Instructions:

1. Figure out how to trim your plane for hand-off flying in both high speed and low speed.

2. Try to find an all-linear pitch setting (All-40s, All-50s, etc) that enable you to aim very precisely in high speed BnZ, with you plane trimmed for high speed flying.

3. Increase this linear reponse curve as much as you can while you can still aim precisely. For example, if you are using All-40s, try All-45s.

4. Modify the profile, by adding up the values progressively to 100. For example, if the profile is All-50s, change it to 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 100.

5. Try to use this profile to do some BnZ in high speed, and TnB in low speed. In both case trim your plane properly first. If you can aim well in both situations, you are done on the pitch setting.

6. If not, try to reduce the maximum deflection value (i.e. the last value). For example, if you are using 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 100,

try 50 54 58 62 66 70 74 78 82. For BnZ planes, a fairly low value can be used, because you can't pull maximum deflection without snap-rolling anyway. For TnB plane, you should be more conservative.

7. For the yaw profile, try a soft, linear setting like All-50s. Increase or decrease it as you wish. After that, modify the last two or three values so that they add up progressively to 100, so you can turn while taxi-ing on the ground. For example. if you are using All-50s, try 50 50 50 50 50 50 60 75 87 100

============================================

And here is the Story

Before trying to do anything with joystick profile, find out how to trim you plane properly first, by "proper" I mean a hand-off flying. You will need more than one trim settings, for example one for high speed flying (BnZ), and one for low speed flying (TnB), so you can test accurately how your profile works in both of these situation.

After triming your plane, fire up QMB with your favorite plane against an ace AI, with you in the advantage. Bounce it from altitude, at high speed. Try to make presice aiming and fire only when you are sure.... after several run, ask yourself, is it easy? Can you hit it consistantly?

Proably not, otherwise you won't be here. It should wobble like a balloon and you just can't point to where you want. If it is true, you profile is too sensitive, or too aggressive, in the low-stick-delflection region (i.e. the first 4 to 5 values in the pitch setting)

By sensitive, i mean the value is too high. By agressive, I mean the value increase too fast and make the response curve non-linear...

one very common mis-conception, is that a profile of 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 is a linear response curve. It is actually wrong. It may be a bit surprising for some, but an All-100s, or an All-50s profiles are linear. Linear porfile are better IMO, as it is a lot more predicable.

After this step I come up with a pitch setting like this:

40 40 40 40 40 40 60 70 80 100

With this setting I can aim very accurately when doing BnZ, and I was actually using it during the last weekend on Warclouds.

However there is another problem. Yes, BnZ is fine, but once I wanna work on a tracking shot solution in a turn fight, I failed terribly. Every time I want to pull a lead on the bandit, my plane started to over-respond and my nose jumped up and then came back down violently, totally out of precision.

This problem is due to a over-aggressive response curve at the large-stick-deflection region (the last 3 or 4 values of the pitch setting). In the previous step, I chose to use 40 for the first 6 values. It is actually pretty low. When I pull the stick to 60%, the game take it as 24% only. And the last 40% of the stick deflection need to represent 76% of the stick input to the game. It will be too inaccurate.

I tried to solve this problem by using this profile:

40 47 54 61 68 75 82 89 96 100

Now I can make delfection shooting a little bit better, but it is still not ideal. The plane is still over-sensitive in both BnZ and TnB situation. The response cuvre is abit too aggressive. So what can be done next?

A compromise is needed. You may leave it and try to live with it, or you can give up the maximum possible deflection, by lowering the last value of the profile. I did the latter and here is my final setting:

40 46 52 58 64 70 76 82 88 94

I give up 6 points from the maximum deflection. Because I don't need to add up to 100 anymore, I don't need to be too aggressive. The result is excellent, I love it. I think it is the final setting that I will use throughout the life of v402.

So how many points you should give up? The less the better of course. In most BnZ plane, you can actually give up quite alot, because you can't pull the sticks much without snap-rolling anyway. For TnB plane, you may need to apply full-stick deflection quite often, so it is better to keep as much value as you can.

After tuning for the pitch, tune for the yaw. It is alot easier. Linear setting is still the call of the day. And due to the fact that any rudder delection bigger than 50% are quite useless for pin-point aiming, you can give up precison from the large-delectionn-region and beef up the low-deflection-region instead. It is my yaw setting:

50 50 50 50 50 50 60 75 87 100

The first 60% of the physical deflection represent the first 30% of the logical deflection. It is accurte enough for me. If it is still too responsive, lower values like 30 can do used.

To conclude, when tuning your stick profile remember these simple rule-of-thumb

• Trim before testing
• Linear response curve is usually better
• You need to cater for both Bnz and TnB
  situation (with small and large stick deflection respectively)
• You don't need 100% stick deflection in most cases becasue your plane cannot take it. Therefore you can trade maximum deflection for more precision.

In addition hit the Sturmovik Essentials Link in my sig... lots of good stuff there. Particularly at Sim HQ and Mission4Today...

Here are just a few of the GREAT user made utilities that in my opinion make this sim even more enjoyable.

In Pursuit: An Online Pilot's Guide to Aerial Combat

Neural Dream's Aircraft Reference Guide Also contains cockpit gauge refernces

Hardball's Aircraft Viewer an online version of the guide basically.. both are very good.

IL2 Compare An interactive graphical interface comparing aircraft statistics from weapons to performance stats.

Uber Quick Mission Generator A utility that will allow you to make much more diverse quick missions using more maps and with more options than those found in the stock IL2 1946 Quick Mission Builder.

Mission Mate A mission building utility similar to The U.Q.M.G. but different. IMO both are good and deserving of a place on any FB simmers HD. I think MM is a bit easier to use.... but The UQMG has other features that make it a must have as well.... better to have and use both. You will never need the QMB again.

IL2 Manager 5.0 This utility will allow you to make certain adjustments within the config file.. like graphics setting etc. on a gui. While it is highly recommended that you learn where these things are in the config file, once you know that... easy and quick is the way to go. It also has a stick editor which will allow you to set up different profiles for your joystick sensitivity settings.

IL2 Stab 6.3 Similar to IL2 Manager but without the stick editor and with a Diary feature.

VAC- Voice Activated Commands - This utility is very similar to SHOOT.. it allows you to interact with your PC and thus the sim with voice commands. Very useful in coops. A bit tricky.. but a good program.

Sniper's Corner - A nice utility to help get the angles aspect of A2A gunnery in your head

Gunnery at AW.C - A good explanation of the tool and what is does. Also this entire section at AW.C is a really good resource.

The RAF Gunnery manual and Bag The Hun a video based on the same literature but with animation made by Joe 90 in our movie maker forum.

EXCELLENT tutorial videos on Dart's Page on all things from skip bombing to wingman tactics.

ACM - Short for Air Comabt Maneuvers - This program will show you a short video of various combat maneuvers.... yo yos, immelmans etc. It is a very usefull tool.

Dart's Training Videos One of the single best resources for fundamental combat training short of going to Joint Opsin this community. Dart's lecture delivery on the videos only adds to the overall quality. Even for die hard vets of this sim... if you have not checked out these videos do so. Skip bombing & determining range from the gunsight were two of the most helpful ones for me.

There are tons more stuff to be found here: M4T Downloads from skins & missions to full blown campaigns and some very useful utilities. Some excellent guides on everything from setting up your hardware, getting the most out of the settings in the sim, to mission building can be found here: M4T Knowledge Base.

For online play use Hyperlobby

Just download the client, then once you download and install the client it should put an icon on your desktop. When you click that icon you will go to a screen that looks similar to below:

Only there will be no callsign in the window. Pick a callsign for yourself. and enter it. Choose this wisely as this will be the name that you will be known for better or worse on HL. Select a password. Notice a small square to the right of the password box. That is so that Hyperlobby can remember your PW and you wont have to type it in each time you connect. There is also a feature where you can have HL automatically connect you once you hit the icon. I prefer to not use that feature. I prefer to hit connect. If you decide to have HL remember your PW MAKE SURE YOU WRITE IT DOWN SO THAT IN THE EVENT OF A HD CRASH YOU CAN STLL USE THE SAME CALLSIGN. Make sure that you enter the Forgotten Battles room NOT the IL2 or Pacific Fighters room. Hit connect.

Hyperlobby will ask you to direct it to your 46 folder on your PC which in most cases is C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\IL-2 Sturmovik 1946. Once you do that it should load up to a screen that will look like this:

Note that the dogfight rooms are the ones on the left.. the coop rooms are on the right. The difference between the two types of missions is that in a Dogfight Mission all of the pilots are live, and there are no moving AI objects such as ships, which limits the amount of ordinance you can carry from the deck of a ship since it isn't moving or planes etc.. In COOP missions however it is different. The ships and vehicles can move so you can take off from a moving carrier and thereby carry larger loadouts, and the opposition that you will face, as well as the friendlies on your side can be any mix of live and AI pilots depending on the mission and the amount of people/available slots in it. The open mission rooms in the middle can be used for anything. To find more rooms hit the General Room panel and more rooms will pop up in a drop down menu. There are two players lists... one lists the players who are in Hyperlobby but not flying, the other lists the plots that are in a server.. It will also list who the hosts are, indicated by a H to the left of their name in the ingame players list window. To select a server simply mouse to it and click it. By L clicking on any D

Originally posted by Skycat_2:

_{Skycat I took the liberty of editing this post of yours because it was right under the guide and your other postwas just so darned good... :thumbs:}

After newcomers learn what functions they should know and what 'user defined' keys they need to assign, they can look here for ideas for customizing the key map.

Using the Multiplayer dogfight maps for offline practice is a great tool. Quick Mission Builder gives you airstarts but when you use the Multiplayer area you have to start out on the ground. I prefer the later numbered dogfight maps (the Summer Mountains under Mission Type 4 for example) because they have really nice scenery.

Two more links: First, a newcomer's guide to updating the 1946 DVD -- this is sequential guide with links that will help new players update the game to the latest official version and also add several more free dynamic campaigns.

Second, if anybody is coming to this series from versions earlier than the IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 DVD (especially IL-2 Sturmovik, Forgotten Battles or Pacific Fighters) here is a Patching Guide with direct links.

SKYCAT'S ADDITIONAL TIPS FOR NUGGETS

I'm going to demonstrate a few controls and guages worth knowing within the game. I'll use the F4F-4 Wildcat for these reasons:

1. It has simple gages that are similar to those of many other aircraft in the series, especially to the other American fighters.

2. It has elevator trim, aeleron trim and rudder trim.

3. It has folding wings, an extending tailhook, opening canopy, wheel chocks and manual landing gear: all features that need to be 'user defined' in the Controls menu in order to use.

For the purposes of this demonstration I used the following stock Single Mission:

You might want to ensure that your difficulty options match mine so that maps icons, speedbar and other features are visible on your monitor:

Difficulty screen 1

Difficulty screen 1

Launch the mission and you should be on an aircraft carrier. Let's take a moment to familiarize ourselves with the Wildcat's features:

1. Folding wings. This toggle has to be set by the user. My key command is ALT+F. (This feature might be used in online wars but not really necessary for single missions.) _{It is highly recommended that you define this control with a two key function (like ALT+F), this will prevent accidental wing fold at the wrong time... like when you are in the air. ~Bearcat99}.

2. Tail hook. This toggle is also defined by the player. I use 'H' as my key command. You'll need this hook to catch the arresting wires when you land on aircraft carriers.

3. Opening canopy. Again, this feature must be defined by the player. My chosen key command is ALT+C. This feature is most useful when used in combination with raising the seat ...

4. Seat raise. Once again, this feature must be defined by the user. My personal key command is ALT+S. When the canopy is open and you are toggled out of the gunsight view (Shift+F1 by default) you can raise your seat to see over the nose of the plane a little better. This makes carrier take-offs and landings a bit easier because you can see more.

5. Tail wheel lock. I believe this toggle needs to be defined by the user; there may be a default command though. I use 'T' as my key commmand. When your tailwheel is locked, your takeoffs and landings will be more controlled because your tail won't be fishtailing around.

6. Wheel chocks. This feature needs to be defined by the user, and it will affect all of the carrier-based planes plus some other aircraft in PF. The basic idea is that there are invisible chocks against your wheels so the plane won't roll off of the pitching carrier deck. No matter how much throttle you apply, you won't break free of the chocks; you'll have to use the 'Chocks away' toggle. My chosen key command is simply 'C.'

Start the engine. Lower the flaps a little. Apply full throttle and release the chocks ... hopefully you'll be soon be airborne and not floating in the drink. With most aircraft you would be able to raise the landing gear by using the 'G' key. The Wildcat is different however; you'll need to manually raise the gear using a user-defined key command. My personal keys are 'U' to raise the gear and 'Y' to lower it. With both functions you'll have to continuously tap the corresponding key until the gear is fully in place.

In the Wildcat the landing gear handle will turn clockwise as you hit your chosen 'manually raise landing gear' key.

I've changed the 'Speedbar' in the bottom left corner so that now it reads in Miles Per Hour and feet instead of meters and kilometers. You'll have to define a key to toggle the measurements; I chose the 'K' key.

Notice the position of the artificial horizon indicator as it relates to the actual horizon in front of the plane. The center of the gage represents your plane; if it is above the moving line your aircraft is climbing and if the center is below the line you are descending. Simple, huh?

It's always nice to know which direction you are heading. The highlighted box in the Speedbar is a quick and easy readout that matches the gyro compass on your panel. Compasses have 360 degrees so 90 degrees is East, 180 degrees is South and 270 degrees is West. The Speedbar readout of "HDG 75 deg" corresponds to the panel compass' position between 6 and 9, so we're travelling roughly North-East. Now look at the map in the upper right corner: Our plane's icon (the white one) is pointed almost North-East.

Now look lower on the instrument panel and you'll see another compass. This one has a waypoint indicator (the parallel lines with barbs at one end) to show you the way to your next waypoint. Notice that the heading indicator needle is pointing in the direction the plane is actually going but the waypoint indicator is pointing to where you should be going. Your next action will be to turn the plane until the needle is lined up with the indicator and the needle's pointed end is aimed in the same direction as the barbs. In this particular case you'd then be heading North-West (or approximately HDG 320 degrees).

A few minutes later, and notice that we've passed the first waypoint and are now headed towards the next waypoint.

Are we ascending or descending though? Remember what I said earlier about the Artificial Horizon indicator; the center of the gage is above the moving line so we are ascending. To determine the angle that we are climbing, look at the climb indicator a little lower on the panel. If the indicator's needle is pointing to zero we are flying level; if the needle is above the zero our plane's nose is pointed upwards. The further the needle is from the neutral point of zero, the steeper our plane is pointed toward or away from the ground.

Let's check our altitude. The Speedbar says 5,500 feet and so does the altimeter on the panel...read it like a clock. In this case the long hand is hundreds of feet and the short hand is thousands. Some gages have a third needle that shows increments of 10,000 feet (or whatever unit is used by that nation).

Now all we need to know is how fast we're going. We can easily see our Indicated Air Speed in the Speedbar and also read the airspeed indicator gage. Both will give you the same measurement. However, it is important to tell you that Indicated Air Speed (IAS) is affected by higher altitudes and you won't be getting a True Air Speed (TAS) reading. In other words, the reading on the gage is close to your true ground speed but it is not exact. In real life you'd have to make some corrections to achieve accurate navigation or level bombing operations.

I was going to continue with an overview of 'trim' but this thread explains trim and illustrates it with a screenshot.

How much trim you need for each axis (aeleron, elevator, rudder) will vary as you change speed and altitude. In real aircraft trim would also need to be continuously adjusted as fuel is burned and the weight of the plane changes. A properly trimmed plane will almost 'fly itself' -- at the very least, you won't have to move your joystick a lot to keep the aircraft flying straight and level.

Many planes in the game are only adjustable along one or two axes, usually at least elevator trim which lessens the nose from wanting to go up or down on its own. I assigned the NUMPAD 8 key as elevator trim negative (aka, nose more down) and the 2-key as elevator trim postive (nose more up). Tap these keys to even out the balance of your plane along this axis.

You may have noticed that planes usually want to keep banking to the left on their own. This is because of torque from the engine. Using aeleron trim (if it is available) will help balance the wings out so that one isn't dipping lower than the other. The keys I have assigned for this are NUMPAD 4 for aeleron trim left (more 'weight' on the left wing) and NUMPAD 6 as aeleron trim right.

Only a small number of planes in the IL-2 series have rudder trim. Most American planes including the Wildcat have this feature. If your rudder isn't neutral, your aircraft will want to fly in a slight turn or skid all the time. This will not only slow down your air speed but also might throw off your aim when you are shooting. I use NUMPAD 1 for rudder trim left and NUMPAD 3 for rudder trim right. Use the slip ball indicator on the instrument panel to keep your rudder neutral.

I said at the beginning of this demonstration that the Wildcat F4F-4 has all three trim axes available to it. Furthermore, the trim controls are all animated in the Wildcat's cockpit so you can visually see that adjustments are being made; look to the pilot's left just aft of the throttle quadrant. Elevator trim is a hand crank; aeleron trim is a green wheel with a scalloped edge; and rudder trim is a red and white dial. Portions of these controls are visible in my screenshots above.

Now we'll review the gages used for monitoring the engine.

Let's look at the area I marked with the purple box. The first gage, marked Manifold Pressure, tells you how much power your engine is delivering to you. The increments represent units called "inches Mercury" or inches Hg. When you first take off in the Wildcat you'll probably be using full throttle so the indicator's needle will be at approximately 50" Hg, or about where it is in the screenshot. As you ascend into thinner air the needle will start indicating less available power because there is less oxygen going to your carbureator. In the Wildcat you can switch to higher Supercharger stages as you increase altitude. This will push more air into the carbeurator, thus giving you more available power. Changing stages will make the Manifold Pressure needle advance a few inches Hg. You may have to define keys for the Supercharger stage advance/decrease feature; I use the +/- keys.

The next gage is for engine RPMs. In the screenshot above, the needle corresponds to 100% propeller pitch. If you decrease your prop pitch you'll see the needle move away from the 3,000 RPM mark and towards the 2,000 RPM mark. (Reducing prop pitch is mostly used to conserve fuel on really long missions.)

The small gage to the right is your air temperature gage. I noticed that the needle started towards the right of the gage at take-off and gradually moved all the way to the left as I climbed to higher altitudes. My assumption is that the gage is measuring ambient air temperatures.

Directly below the air temperature gage is a cluster that shows fuel pressure, oil pressure and oil temperature.

It's a little difficult to explain how to make these gages useful to you within the game. In real life, pilots would carefully monitor all of these gages to operate their aircraft at specific power settings for given situations. Consider this page from a real P-47 training manual:

See this link for tips on engine management in the game.

I noticed that the Wildcat is not as prone to overheating as some other planes in the IL-2 series. I kept climbing at 110% power and 100% prop pitch, and the Engine Overheat warning text only appeared twice. I was able to cool the engine to Normal very quickly by backing off the throttle to 100% and opening the radiator a little.

I think the Radiator Toggle key is 'R' by default. In the Wildcat the radiator toggle opens the cowl flaps (on the nose of the plane) in increments. You can see the flaps open outward in the aircraft's external model. There is also a lever in the cockpit (under the RPM gage) that is animated when you change radiator positions.

* Opening the radiator causes drag and will reduce your airspeed.

I've drawn a green box around the Fuel Main Tank Contents gage. I believe the purpose of this gage is self explanatory.

Since we're familiarizing ourselves with features available on the Wildcat, I thought I should mention a few more 'user defined' features:

The Wildcat is one of the aircraft that has a mirror in the cockpit. You'll need to define a key in order to toggle the mirror on and off. My personal key assignment is ALT+M.

You may notice in the linked screenshot that the instrument gages are illuminated green. I don't recall for certain if you have to assign a toggle or if there is a key assigned by default. My personal command is 'L.'

Another set of lights that can be toggled on and off are the navigation lights. Again, I don't remember if there is a default command to toggle them, but I use the 'N' key.

You can activate wingtip colored smoke. This doesn't have much purpose in combat except to taunt other players online, but it is useful for training and aerobatic demonstrations. I use the 'S' key to toggle the smoke on and off.

I'll wrap this up with a screenshot that shows the instruments with the cockpit light toggled on. My real purpose is to mark some additional gages that I didn't cover earlier: the clock and the oil temperature gage. You'll find a clock in most cockpits in the game; having a timepiece in real operations allows the pilot to calculate his waypoints based on distance vs. airspeed.

[Kira]

Good idea!