Crash

You seem to be making good progress

This works for me, the odd Nostalgia Night is a good idea

Any progress Bucky??

Is skin collecting a hobby?

But other people might which is the point.

I think that its a great idea to fill the gaps in peoples skin folders so we all can get the full benefit of the skinners talents.

Dear Friends, October has ended and we'll release the next update very soon - once again it will be a huge and very important milestone for our project. Version 4.001 is the release of Bodenplatte and Flying Circus, but it is also a huge step forward for Tank Crew. For Bodenplatte, this update will bring the previously missing parts - the promised 4 seasons of its map and Battle of Rheinland Career timeframe. The Career required a huge amount of work - 115 squadrons, 65 of them are joinable by the player, operate from 70 airfields (most of them are correctly recreated using historical layouts) according to historical images and data. It should be noted that we'll continue to improve both the Battle of Rheinland Career and Rheinland maps after the release. Flying Circus has its scenery finished - our partners from Yugra Media have finished the development of the ground vehicles and artillery and the Amiens cathedral. Please note that AI-controlled ground objects both for Flying Circus and Bodenplatte (Allied ones) are made at the next level of detail, previously unseen in the series. With this content added, Flying Circus is now complete as it was planned and announced. Tank Crew players get the three important gameplay elements which the project lacked before - scenario campaigns, player tank and tank platoon commander functionality, and radio messages. To give orders as a tank commander, turn the autopilot from the driver seat by pressing A key, then switch to the commander station and press ~ (tilde) key to open the orders menu. After that, you can use the cursor to point at a target or place on the ground and choose what to do, i.e. attack it or move to it, and choose who you're giving the order to - your own tank, entire platoon or a selected tank in the platoon. There are also many commands that don't require selecting a point or a target - change formation and spacing, speed, turn at various degrees, move forward or backward, change ammo type, fire from stops, while moving slow or moving at full speed, temporary stop, cease firing and so on). Two historical scenario campaigns included with the Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka tell about the heavy and strenuous fighting that took place there. The campaigns themselves were designed to not only entertain but also to tell about these events with the highest degree of historical accuracy possible in our sim. 20 scenarios (10 in Soviet and 10 in German campaign) were painstakingly recreated using real combat reports and the latest works of Russian and Western historians who specialize in these events. All the details like location and time, weather, approximate unit strength and composition, movement routes, operative decisions of the commanders of various ranks, artillery and air bombardments made it in. A good illustration of the attention to detail in modeling the combat are the briefings of the first missions of Breaking point and Last chance campaigns. Here are also some screenshots taken just in these two missions that show the intensiveness of these dramatic events. And don’t forget that this update also includes the Achtung Spitfire! Scripted Campaign created by The Syndicate. It includes 20 interesting and historically inspired missions in the beautiful Kuban theater of operations. We think you will enjoy it. Thanks to all who have already pre-purchased it. It all adds up and keeps us going! ____________________ Breacking Point - Chapter 1: Difficult start At dawn on July 5, 1943, the German 4th Panzer Army (PA) launched its main attack on the positions of the 6th Guards Army. Despite stubborn resistance from the troops of 52nd Guards Rifle Division (GRD), by the end of the day, the formations of the German 2nd Paul Hausser Panzer Corps broke through the first defensive line of the 6th GA and reached the perimeter of the 2nd defensive line near Kozmo-Demyanovka with the support of the 8th Air Corps. The 22nd Guards Rifle Corps (GRC) was defending the flanks alongside the 375th Rifle Division and managed to keep the enemy from breaking through the first line. After determining the direction of the main attack, by the end of July 5, the VF command was forced to push almost all of its operating reserves to the front line, consisting of the 1st Tank Army, one rifle corps and two tank corps, as well as artillery formations. Unable to further influence the situation, General Vatutin requested that the Supreme Command Headquarters strengthen the front line with strategic reserves. The 1st Tank Army led by Lieutenant General M.E. Katukov secured the Oboyan axis and was supposed to defend the Melovoe - Yakovlevo section, the 2nd Tatsinskiy Guards Tank Corps led by Colonel A.S. Burdeyny was tasked with covering Gostishchevo, and the 5th Stalingradsky Guards Tank Corps led by Major General A.G. Kravchenko had to cover the Prokhorovka axis. On July 6, at 5:00, the 5th Guards Tank Corps, including the 20th, 21st and 22nd Guards Tank Brigades (GTB), the 6th Guards Motorised Rifle Brigade (GMRB) and the 48th Heavy Аssault Tank Regiment reached the Ozerovskiy khutor – Kozinka urochishche – Teterevino line. Combat operations began at dawn on July 6, on the sections of the 375th Rifle Division and the 22nd GRC, and it was not until 11:00 that the main forces of the German II Panzer Corps launched an offensive. After receiving a report that there had been a breakthrough in the positions of the 51st GRD defending the second army line, General Vatutin issued the order to counterattack with the forces of the 1st TA, 2nd and 5th Guards Tank Corps (GTC) on the flanks of the enemy's tank spearhead. At the same time, Pz.Gr.Div. Das Reich, pursuing the units of the 51st GRD and 5th GTC that had been pushed out of Luchki, attacked in the direction of Ozerovsky khutor and in the direction of Sabachevsky khutor – Kalinin khutor. The frontal counterattack carried out by the forces of the 22th GTB was unsuccessful, and by 16:30, the 21st and 22nd GTB, as well as the 48th Guards Heavy Аssault Tank Regiment were surrounded near Kozinka urochishche. '... Waiting was exhausting. After a long night march, our 20th Guards Tank Brigade took up defensive positions in Teterevino, waiting for the enemy to attack in the morning. However, the German soldiers were clearly not in a hurry and only launched their offensive at about midday and somewhat away from our positions. The main forces of the corps had been fighting for a long time and, judging by the abrupt and panicky radio messages, their situation was extremely difficult. We continued to wait while our comrades were fighting and dying somewhere else. The order to advance was only received from the corps commander at about 17:00. ... I arrived at the brigade in late 1942 as junior lieutenant, when it was being restructured in the Tambov tank camps. If it hadn't been for my experienced crew, who had already experienced the smell of powder at Stalingrad, I would have hardly survived the subsequent events. In the gruelling battles for Gorshechnoye and Kastornoye near Voronezh in January 1943, the brigade lost almost all its equipment in just 7 days, and the commanders of both the tank and motorized rifle battalions were killed. In February, our forces were replenished again, but after an unsuccessful battle near Kharkov in late March, the brigade was finally taken out for restructuring. In early summer, I was given command of a platoon, and now I had to lead men, who were just boys yesterday, in their first battle and take full responsibility for them.' Date: July 6, 1943 Time: 17:30 Formation: 20th GTB of the 5th GTC Combat mission: after breaching the defences of the 51st GRD, the enemy strikes in the direction of Kalinin khutor – Belenikhino station. The order was given to advance the 45th and 250th Tank Battalions to the forest north of Sabachevsky khutor leaving one tank company in Teterevino, thereby preventing the enemy from spreading in the direction of Belenikhino. Call sign of the battalion commander: Badger-1 Call sign of the company commander: Wolf-1 Your call sign: Wolf-8 Additional instructions: you command the third platoon of the 1st Company of the 250th Tank Battalion. Follow the battalion commander in the northwest direction to Sabachevsky khutor, following all orders. ____________________ Last Chance - Chapter 1: Big plans The main strike of the German 4th Panzer Army came at dawn on July 5, 1943; it was aimed at the positions held by the 6th Guards Army. The XLVIII Panzer Corps advanced from the Butovo – Cherkassy area along the road to Yakovlevo, and the II Panzer Corps, made up of the Panzer-Grenadier-Divisions Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler (LAH), Das Reich and Totenkopf advanced along the Tomarovka – Bykovka – Yakovlevo road. At the beginning of the operation, the II Panzer Corps had 390 tanks, 104 assault guns and 98 self-propelled guns as well as combat forces of 39,106 men. The 238th artillery regiment and the 3rd Mortar Division were attached to the II Corps. Despite heavy resistance from the 52nd Guards Rifle Division (GRD), by the end of the day, units of the II Panzer Corps, supported by aviation of the VIII Air Corps, broke through the enemy's first defensive line and were facing the front of the second defensive line in the Kozmo-Demyanovka area. Operating on the flanks, the XLVIII Panzer Corps and Army Detachment Kempf, were unable to make headway. According to the plan, by the evening of July 5, the 4th Panzer Army should have breached both defensive lines, approached the crossings near the Psel river and continued on to Prokhorovka, so the entire schedule of the Operation Citadel collapsed in its very first hours. On July 6, the II Panzer Corps was ordered to breach the second defensive line of the 6th Guards Army. On the Yakovlevo – Luchki section, they were to attack in the northeastern direction, destroying the Soviet mobile reserves. By 06:00, only Pz.Gr.Div. Totenkopf had engaged in active combat at the line held by the 375th Rifle Division. It was not until 11:00 that, after half an hour of artillery barrage, the Corps' main forces joined the offensive. After breaking through the lines of the 51st GRD, a combat team from the Das Reich Division rushed to the Luchki – Kalinin khutor direction, while Pz.Gr.Div. LAH captured the southern part of Yakovlevo and continued its offensive on Northern Luchki. By that time, the Soviet command decided to counter-attack with all available reserves—namely, the 1st Tank Army as well as the 2nd and 5th Guards Tank Corps, striking at the flanks of Hausser's Corps. '... I stuck my head out of my command hatch and watched as four Messerschmitts leapt northward, followed by nine dive bombers. The Junkers circled and began to take turns nose-diving and dropping their deadly load on targets we couldn't see but that we knew were in the Russian position. Spurts of flame and plumes of smoke swept into the sky, shortly followed by the sound of explosions. The Stukas had finished their work and began to withdraw, when two flights of Focke-Wulfs arrived, attacking the enemy with equal ferocity. Our aviation had been operating flawlessly that day, providing invaluable support to the division. We hardly saw any Russian planes that day. Suddenly, the radio came alive, and I immediately retired to the turret, pressed my headphones to my head and tried to make the message out from the static. After our grenadiers had taken over Luchki, the 6th and 7th Panzer companies immediately moved on in the direction of Sabachevskiy khutor and were now reporting a clash with numerous Soviet tanks, asking for support. The battalion commander contacted us and ordered that our company, which was temporarily on standby, should prepare for immediate deployment. The short rest was over'. Date: July 6, 1943 Time: 16:00 Unit: 2nd Panzer Regiment of the Pz.Gr.Div. Das Reich Combat mission: the defeated enemy units are retreating northward, constantly trying to counter-attack. The 5th Company is ordered to support the tanks of the 6th and 7th Companies fighting north of Luchki and then strike in the direction of Sabachevskiy khutor. Call sign of the commander of the 5th Company: Puma-1 Call sign of the commander of the 1st platoon: Jaguar-1 Your call sign: Wolf-1 Additional instructions: you command the second platoon of the 5th Company of the 2nd Panzer Battalion. Follow the tanks of the first platoon northward, following the orders of the Company commander.

From Boo on the GBS forums Get the things you need Download Gimp Install a plug in that allows gimp to work with DDS files like this one https://code.google.com/archive/p/gimp-dds/ Download the official template for the aircraft(s) you want. Download the skin the skin you want to work with. (there are 2K and 4K versions so chose the one you want) Prepare the Template Open Gimp and in the "windows" header along the top click "dockable Dialogues" and select "brushes", Layers" and "Channels" Now go to File, then click open and navigate to the template (its esier if you've put it on your desk top) and click on it Click "convert" when prompted. Now turnoff all the layers by clicking the eye icon next to them in the "layers window". You will see braches in things like weathering - turning off the eye at the top of these branches will also turn off anything in them (for speed) - you can also collapse the braches for neatness. Prepare the skin you want to amend Now go back to "file" and click "open" again - this time navigate to the skin you want to alter. When prompted untick "import mip maps" and proceed. Now you will see a faded image in a new window. You will need to right click on the image in the "layers" window for and click "duplicate" layer. The active windows will always be associated with the last main window you clicked on. Now repeat Duplicate layers another two of three times. The image still wont be fully opaque so, for ease right clck on the top layer and select "merge Down" - keep doing for the other layers until you are back to kust one item again. Repeat the "duplicate layer" with this new strong layer a few more times until it appears totally solid (no grey checkerboard is showing). Repeat the merge layers down process again until you have only one layer. Import the skin to the main template right click on the skin layer you have created and and click on "layer to image size" - ive found this helps with the alignment of layers dragged over to other projects. Now left click on the layer in the layer window and drag it into the MAIN WINDOW of the skin template project you opened first of all (the one with all the layers you switched off. Ideally you want you skin at the bottom so just left click it and drag you point down to the bottom of the layers window. Edit the skin Click on the layer in the layer window Ensure that the area you want to work in is active - you can do this by pressing "R" on the keyboard and dragging a rectangle out around the area you want. Now select the colour of the paint you want to use to overpaint the swastika with - to do this press "O" on the keyboard then move the dropper that appears to the paint colour you want and left click Now select a paint tool by pressing either A for airbrush or P for paintbrush. In the Brushes window you will see a number of shapes and an bar for "spacing". Select one of the round soft edged shapes and lower the spacing amount if you want (you will see a dotted outline on the icon in the main window that will show you the size of the brush) Overpaint the area you want and repeat the colour picking and painting with other colours as you wish. If you make a mistake just press ctrl and z to undo your last action Prepare the skin for export Now you can prepare your skin for export Rick click on the layer and click on "merge Visible layers" in the pop up window select "clipped to bottom layer" - this step isn't probably necessary with just one atcie layer but is here just for completeness. Next Right click on the layer in the layer window and then select "Add layer Mask" In the window that pops up selected the bottom option "channel" and make sure that "Alpha1" is selected in the box below - now you will see the image becomes semi transparent and the grey checkerboard appears. your skin is now ready for export. Export the Skin Go to file then click on "export as" Type in the name of the skin you will know it as and make sure you end the name with .dds. This will prompt gimp to work in dds export mode. Click "export" and in the box that appears select "BC3/DXT5" in the compression level dropdown and "Generate Mipmaps" in the mipmaps box In the "Advanced" section select "Box" in the Filter Click OK to complete the export Save the template for later use FINALLY - go back to your main project template and undo the Marge visible layers and add layer mask actions (press Ctrl Z twice) and save it. This is a basic guide - it will destroy any weathering around the area you have painted but you can always but this back in by switching on the layers affected and copying them in but I wont cover that here. Careful work with the airbrush option and a small pattern should see you right though. You could replace the swastika with the default version if its in the template or even create a new layer on which to paint instead of directly onto the original skin. Whatever you do, if you publish it, credit the original artist. Cheers BOO Going to have a play with this

More http://www.mediafire.com/file/ro79g6hvqh74nmq/P38J25_Glacier_Girl.7z/file http://www.mediafire.com/file/ne9koddwetme8bc/p38j25_pudgy_v.7z/file http://www.mediafire.com/file/7xj4ah1hu9xi5jj/hazel_zipped.7z/file http://www.mediafire.com/file/g9jpzxivvcyxzi4/dragon.7z/file

Have you got the TS config set to default input? maybe select the soundcard as input device in the TS settings.

Interesting, that Cortina would be worth a LOT of money.

Go to the menu then on the drop down select options. select the key for PTT. then select the begin test button. Not sure if TS can use joystick buttons.

Hi, have a look here https://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com/forum/forum.php or here https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/forum/104-il-2-sturmovik-cliffs-of-dover/

Link was from here https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/55155-p-38j-california-cutie-released/

Artie wanted to know if it is possible to skin, see here https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/13726-quick-start-guide-to-skinning-with-gimp/ https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/15420-custom-alpha-channel-tutorial-for-gimp-advanced-skinners/ https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/forum/107-4k-skins-and-templates/

Thanks Fen, maybe ask Pat for ideas?

There are issues with overlay messing things up.

look in the private area ;)

Are now starting to be available https://btcloud.bt.com/web/app/share/view/pthsBHFuhZ?shareUid=5e5495aa161c4b4b9f31ae395eded5d4 and another https://mega.nz/#!Y2hCACTI!sF1gPgbRfyB09Zgg349Y_c-3dEkcPYaF5PY40J18HOE and another http://www.mediafire.com/file/0t0lnkpp95iacm1/P38J25_MARGE.dds/file

I have 3.3.2

Collector planes annpunced Dear Pilots! It’s our great pleasure to officially announce that our next Collector Planes for the IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles series will be the – Yak-9, Yak-9T and the Hurricane Mk.II. Both of these aircraft, or I should probably say all three of these aircraft, were important designs that were workhorses of their day that made great contributions to the war effort on several fronts. These particular planes were chosen so we can offer an even more diverse and well-rounded plane-set that benefits primarily our Eastern Front products, which we still care deeply about and as of now, the majority of our customers own the most of. The Yak-9 came in many different flavors and it derived from the robust Yak-7b design. The Yak-9 was used over many important Eastern Front battles and was a very versatile and reliable airframe. It was the most produced Soviet fighter of the war. The famous Normandie Niemen pilots also used a variant of the Yak-9 in combat as did many successful front-line Soviet units. The Yak-9 was light and maneuverable at low altitudes and gave her pilots a real chance against the Bf-109 and Fw-190s of it’s day although it was less armed than its German adversaries. However, the Yak-9T came packing the NS37 37mm cannon in the nose which was a heavy hitter. A 37mm round can do some serious damage to not only enemy airplanes, but also vehicles and armor. Due to the bigger length of the 37mm cannon, the cockpit of the -9T had to be moved rearward about 400mm to accommodate it, slightly changing its lovely profile. The Yak-9 was an important aircraft for the Soviet Union and will make an excellent addition to the IL-2 Great Battles Series! The legendary Hurricane, which was built by Hawker, became famous in the west for winning the Battle of Britain and for the many sorties flown in the Mediterranean and North Africa theaters. However, it was also widely flown on the Eastern Front as a Lend-Lease product and saw much combat over the vast landscape of the Soviet Union. Hurricanes were one of the very first Lend Lease types to reach the Soviet Union and they were pressed into service right away as a stop-gap fighter as Soviet industry moved eastward to safer locations. It would eventually be joined or replaced by other Lend Lease designs like the Kittyhawk and Airacobra and newer Soviet designs, but the Hurricane soldiered on in many combat roles across several fronts including Stalingrad and Moscow. They were also heavily used on the Northern sectors to protect important warm water ports. Soviet ground crews also employed several weapon modifications which had a heavier punch than its original Browning machine guns. We hope to model most of these modifications. The Hurricane in Soviet service was a lengthy affair that deserves inclusion in IL-2 Great Battles. Without further delay, here are some very early Work-In-Progress renders of the Yak-9 and Hurricane in production. As is customary, Pre-Orders for these planes will commence in just a couple weeks and they will be ready for duty first half of next year. Remember, that by purchasing Collector Planes you allow us to continue to make important and interesting aircraft that we may not have been able to include in our main titles. The Sturmovik Team

I might be a bit late tonight.

Its worth it Bucky

Oculus needs to be running before BoX and Open composite should start instead of SteamvR