Update 4.501 is Released! New Spotting, Wind of Fury Campaign and Much More!!
Update 4.501
Dear Friends,
We just released the new update - 4.501. Its shifted version number means it is a kind of a milestone and it really is. First, the research we did on the community opinion on the aircraft spotting allowed us to make many improvements to this important part of the sim. The distant LOD scaling system has been adjusted, their lighting has been made full, atmospheric haze option and an increased MSAA level have been added. We're sure that this update will make the online multiplayer experience totally different from how it was before. Now our next target, for the next update, is the improved pilot G tolerance model we do after asking the community taking the account the new reference data provided by the community members.
Please take in attention: adding Haze option to the mission format makes previously saved .msnbin mission files obsolete. Delete them and save the new version using .Mission files.
In addition to these very important changes, today's update brings you the new campaign 'Wind of Fury' by Alexander =BlackSix= Timoshkov that is included in the Bodenplatte module. This means that our promises on what Bodenplatte will include are finally fulfilled. Of course, it doesn't mean we'll stop improving it, for instance, now we plan to improve the Rhineland Career mode.
Also, P-39L-1 "Airacobra" (Battle of Kuban) and Bf 109 G-6 now have 4k quality external texturing created by Martin =ICDP= Catney. The work on bringing all the aircraft in the sim to 4K texturing continues.
Tank Crew gets the last planned features for its release in this update, making 4.501 a milestone for it as well. The new turret and gun control mode and fixed visor cameras were requested by the community for a long time and they are available now.
We think that this update will mark an important step for our sim and we hope you'll enjoy it!
Main Features 1. The new scenario campaign "Wind of Fury" is now available to all owners of the Bodenplatte project for free; 2. P-39L-1 "Airacobra" and Bf 109 G-6 fighters now have 4K quality external textures created by Martin = ICDP = Catney; 3. The long-range LODs scaling system for aircraft has been adjusted. Aircraft spotting at short to medium distances, especially when using wide camera angles, is greatly improved. The visibility at distance has been adjusted to be closer to reality. 4. Alternate Visibility has been renamed Enhanced Visibility: this mode gives a much greater increase in aircraft visibility at long ranges compared to the new standard visibility. At medium ranges, visibility is also significantly improved compared to the old Alternate Visibility option; 5. MSAA x8 option has been added, but please note that this level of AA is very demanding to the graphics card performance; 6. The atmospheric haze density option has been added to the Quick Mission Builder. Its minimum value corresponds to the haze density available earlier; 7. Dawn/Dusk Fog option has been added to the Quick Mission Builder. This option is available only when the haze density is set to half of the maximum value or more; 8. The haze density option (from 0.0 to 1.0) is now stored in a mission file. Radiation fog appears at dusk if the value of the haze is more than 0.5 and the weather preset name contains an odd number at the end. The denser haze makes it easier to spot other aircraft against the background of the landscape when the distance from the observer to the target is much less than the distance from the observer to the landscape behind the target. This can be used when designing multiplayer missions for game servers; 9. Distant levels of detail (LODs) of the aircraft now have the same surface material setting as closer and more detailed LODs, making the lighting of distant aircraft much more realistic and enabling reflections and glints when the relative position of a contact, an observer and the light source(s) is right; 10. In a multiplayer game, a tooltip has been added to the list of game servers when hovering the mouse cursor over the difficulty preset icon. This tooltip displays all the difficulty settings of this multiplayer server; 11. This information is also available in the multiplayer server lobby (“About the server” section);
AI Improvements 12. AI wingmen keep the optimal climb speed when the wing leader is far and higher; 13. AI aircraft now use combat and emergency engine modes for a fastest possible climb when following the terrain; 14. AI fighters now more actively attack maneuvering targets at lower speeds;
Player Controllable Tank Improvements 15. New control mode allows aiming a tank gun using a joystick (or buttons); 16. Aiming the tank guns and machine guns with the mouse is more convenient; 17. Fixed cameras added to tank visors and other observation devices. Loader viewing devices are, most often, can be used from the gunner's station. You can cycle the views using LShift + V keys; 18. The target marking cursor when giving orders as a tank commander is visible at any settings; 19. The current sight or observation device is indicated; 20. In multiplayer, a connected player in someone else's tank will correctly see the messages from the loader and see the ammo information in the HUD; 21. The time required for repairing the tank systems outside the service areas is doubled; 22. The projectiles correctly penetrate the armor if they hit certain extremely thin areas of the object's surface (a rare issue); 23. Ferdinand: the inverted direction of inclination of the panoramic viewing devices has been fixed; 24. An SPG AI gunner correctly fires at an invisible target by the order of the SPG commander (using the direction and range); 25. Fixed the issue where the AI gunner did not follow the commander's instructions to choose the ammo type in certain situations; 26. Pz-III-M: the KFF 2 binocular periscope is functional (when using the camera selected by LShift + V); 27. SU-152 commander can't use the panoramic sight when unbuttoned;
Other Changes 28. Fixed an issue with parts of the canopy and cockpit instruments that could not be restored after repair; 29. Flare gun and sidearm ammo can be replenished in the reload zones just like other ammo; 30. SdKfZ 251 and similar vehicles and tanks can function as supply vehicles if set this way in the Mission Editor; 31. The dawn/dusk fog level has been corrected on Moscow, Stalingrad, Prokhorovka, Velikiye Luki, Lapino and Novosokolniki maps, it appears in the lowlands; 32. Due to the introduction of the atmospheric haze option, the issue of the dawn/dusk fog blinking near the horizon has been minimized; 33. The difference in the density of atmospheric haze is minimal when using the minimum (40 km) and maximum (150 km) visibility range options; 34. For a tank crewmember to recover from the loss of consciousness in the event of powder gases poisoning it is required for the air to become noticeably cleaner (now the loss of consciousness will last longer); 35. Fixed a graphical artifact at the base of the La-5FN headlamp switch; 36. Fixed the lack of sound when releasing or retracting the landing gear on I-16 and Ju-88; 37. Added the Spitfire IX invasion paint scheme.
NOTE: This update includes content for Tank Crew which is not yet available on Steam, but is coming soon to the Steam platform. Stay tuned!
The Sturmovik Team
Developer Diary #260 - Tempest Campaign, Hurricane Pics, New Haze and USA Pilot!
#260
Dear Friends,
The Autumn is here and our project is very close to another milestone. The next version 4.501 that will be released in a few weeks will contain very important improvements. For instance, after constructive discussions in our community, we have come to decisions on two aspects of the sim which are very important for the players: providing a required visibility level for the airplanes in a dogfight and modeling a pilot reaction to high-G loads. We're working on both things right now and the result of this work should be released in the aforementioned update. Another addition will be the MSAA x8 graphics setting, but please note that it will put quite a load on your graphics card.
We have almost finished two neat features for Tank Crew as well: controlling a turret using your joystick or buttons and looking through the visors and view slits with the help of preset cameras. Good news for Bodenplatte owners: the long-awaited campaign for this module will be included in this update as well - its author Alexander =BlackSix= Timoshkov has much to tell you about it:
In today's Dev Blog we'd like to tell you more about the new historical campaign 'Wind of Fury' that will be released for free for all Bodenplatte owners very soon.
It is dedicated to the No. 486 (New Zealand) Squadron RAF that flew Tempest Mk.V fighters and will picture the unfolding of the air battle in the skies of North-Western Europe since October 1st, 1944, till January 1st, 1945.
With the V-1 launch sites in Northern France captured or destroyed and this threat against the England territory eliminated, at the end of September 1944 it was decided to relieve the five existing squadrons of Tempest interceptors from the ADGB (Air Defence of Great Britain) duties and move them to the continent. Unlike Spitfires and Typhoons, Tempests could not carry rockets or bombs at the moment, making them inadequate for a fighter/bomber role, so the 2nd Tactical Air Force had tasked them with patrolling over own territory, intercept attempts against the German Me 262 jets and free hunting for enemy aircraft and road and railway traffic far behind the enemy lines.
The story of the campaign is based on the Operations Record Books of the 486th for the second half of 1944 and the historical works on the late war RAF and Luftwaffe actions available in English. After doing the research of the ORB, the most interesting missions were selected that were not too long to require the external fuel tanks which are not yet available in our sim yet. In reality, Tempests were flying with additional fuel tanks almost all the time and we'll add them to the campaign later, but for now, you'll be able to finish any mission with a default fuel amount.
There are no B-26 and Typhoon escort missions yet as well - these birds will be available a few months later in the Battle of Normandy Early Access program. We plan to add all the required, but not yet available, objects like B-26, C-47, Typhoon Mk.Ib, Spitfire Mk.XIV, Fw 190 A-6, Bf 109 G-6 Late as well as the British ground vehicles and artillery to the campaign at a later date.
It may appear counterintuitive, but having detailed reports on the squadron actions for many days and even hours may affect the campaign and its gameplay negatively if you use such data as is. During the long life of the IL-2 Sturmovik series, there were many attempts in the community to do just that, dramatize the historical documents or famous pilot memoirs word by word, but they reached only limited success, if not a failure.
This is caused mostly by the well-known fact that most of the missions were routine and repeating, 'Groundhog Day' type ones and enemy encounters did not happen in each one, but also by the peculiarities of the process of recreating real combat operations in a flight sim. Even when you select the most interesting missions with much action going around and that are not too long, you may have a rude awakening finding out that:
- several subsequent missions happen in the same time of day; - direct time of day recreation makes a ground attack mission nearly unplayable during dawn or dusk hours; - too few aircraft or vehicles participated in the action so the players will find the mission too dull and empty, even if real pilots back then thought that it was more than enough action for them (or vice versa, too many and the performance reasons come into play).
Such factors mean that simulated events will differ from reality even if it is possible to recreate them exactly because of the performance, convenience and gameplay reasons. In the practice this means that a takeoff can happen in a different time, there will be less allies, but more enemy encounters or more enemy aircraft in a certain dogfight, etc.
In general, Wind of Fury campaign will make you familiar with nearly the entire range of the real combat missions flown by Tempest pilots during the second half of 1944, briefly including the Battle of the Bulge, and will end with the Bodenplatte strike on the allied airfields on January 1st, 1945.
P.S. We would like to thank the community member @Obelix for his 4K skins for the Tempests of 486th squadron which were used to create the images for the campaign and his advice on the additional official Tempest skin with the invasion stripes that was added to the sim.
We will continue our Dev Blog with another important change that affects the aircraft visibility - update 4.501 will include the atmospheric haze setting. It will be adjustable in Quick Mission Builder for your liking and can be set by an author in other missions. The minimal setting corresponds to the haze level in the current public version while higher values will look like these screenshots. By the way, you can see the progress made on another important thing on them as well. ;-)
We'll finish with a short report on the Normandy development. Here's our hero of the day - USAAF pilot in early war uniform and without the G-suit that was introduced in the theater later.
Enjoy!
The Sturmovik Team
DLC Madness Sale is on! 25-85% OFF Planes and Campaigns!
Attention Pilots!
The DLC Madness Sale is on! Grab yourself a Collector Plane or two and try one of our awesome Scripted Campaigns!
The sales runs from Sept. 1st until Sept. 8th on Steam.
Blazing Steppe - 75% OFF Ten Days of Autumn - 75% OFF Havok Over the Kuban - 75% OFF Fortress on the Volga - 75% OFF Achtung Spitfire! - 75% OFF Ice Ring - 25% OFF Hell Hawks - 25% OFF Yak - 9 - 30% OFF Yak - 9T - 30% OFF P-38 - 66% OFF Dora - 66% OFF U-2VS - 75% OFF Spitfire VB - 75% OFF Hs-129 - 75% OFF La-5 FN - 75% OFF Bf-109 G-6 - 75% OFF Ju-52 - 75% OFF Yak -1B - 75% OFF P-40 - 85% OFF Mc.202 - 85% OFF Fw-190 A-3 - 85% OFF La-5 - 85% OFF
NOTE: Due to an entry mistake the P-40 and Mc.202 will be on sale starting tomorrow.
Developer Diary #259 - Screenshots of in-game C-47 "Skytrain"
Hello Pilots
Although this crazy sequestered summer of 2020 is coming to an end, life goes on, and our work goes on. Many things are happening in our “virtual office” including finishing a new Free Scripted Campaign for Battle of Bodenplatte featuring the Tempest Mk.V called “A Violent Wind” built by Alex Timoshkov. Also, as a result of recent discussions in the community, work is underway to improve general aircraft visibility, which we hope will appear to be both realistic and more comfortable for players. This may require more than one future update to fully conquer, but we’ll see. Additionally, there is some progress towards the completion of the Air Marshal feature which has taken much longer than planned. We’ve also had to build up technical capacity in the field of map production, which is necessary to implement everything planned for the Normandy landscape. And as always improvements to the AI for both aircraft and ground vehicles continue.
Our engineering department is fully engaged in the development of flight models of three aircraft - the C-47, Bf-109G-6 Late and the Spitfire Mk.XIV, while at the same time work on deepening the model of aircraft fuel systems is in the research and prototyping stage. Creating the technical specifications for all aircraft and other objects of for Battle of Normandy is coming to and end which is was a huge and complex research task. Completion of this allows Viks to now focus some attention to the Career mode. At the moment, 3D models of several aircraft are at various stages of development - the Hurricane, P-51B, Spitfire Mk.XIV, Bf 109 G-6 Late, Mosquito, Typhoon and C-47. It is the last aircraft from this list, the twin-engine C-47 military transport, that today we are ready to show you in the game world:
See you in the skies!
The Sturmovik Team
REAL VIRTUAL PILOTS FLY COMBAT SALE IS ON! 66-85% OFF!
Attention Pilots!
We are aware that many of you are sight-seeing in your Cessna or flying an Airbus today. We consider this activity a little perverse of course. Not that there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just not our thing! However, with everyone being in a flying mood today, we have launched our REAL VIRTUAL PILOTS FLY COMBAT Sale with some mind-blowing savings on several Great Battles products.
If you’ve wish-listed any of our products on Steam or been thinking about grabbing one of these from our website now is the time to make your move! We’re almost giving them away. Get in the cockpit today and BECOME A WARRIOR NOT A TOURIST! Tell your General Aviation friends this hobby is much more than driving a bus with wings.
Here’s what’s on Sale on Steam T
The sale runs from August 18th – August 24th 2020
Battle of Stalingrad – 85% OFF for the first time ever!
Battle of Moscow – 75% OFF
Battle of Kuban – 75% OFF
Battle of Bodenplatte – 66% OFF for the first time ever!
Flying Circus Volume I – 66% OFF for the first time ever!
NOTE: Having at least the base game (Stalingrad) on Steam means you can launch it from the Steam client without entering a login and password and you can access your IL-2 content purchased elsewhere if you link the accounts.
See you in the war-torn skies of Europe combat pilots!
The Sturmovik Team
4.009 Update Released - Hell Hawks, USSR Female Pilot, New Map & P-40E 4K Skins!
Update 4.009
Dear Friends,
One month has passed since the previous update, and once again we are ready to present you with a new package of innovations and improvements. The main additions in this version are the new campaign Hell Hawks over the Bulge (website exclusive), new free summer map Velikiye Luki, and new single missions for the Bodenplatte aircraft and Tank Crew tanks - now each model of these modules has a single mission designed for it.
We have also added more beauty to our simulator, in several meanings of this word. First, the P-40E-1 Kittyhawk received 4K texturing of the outer model by Martin =ICDP= Catney. And second, U-2VS, Yak-1 series 69 and Yak-1b series 127 now have female crews option! U-2VS this was done in the memory of the 588th Night Light Bomber Aviation Regiment, known under the nickname "Night Witches", and for Yak-1s in the memory of the fighter pilot Lydia Litvyak, the most effective female fighter pilot of World War II.
This update includes a total of 78 points of changes mostly targeted at the two main areas - AI improvements in and the refinement of the recently completed line of player controllable tanks. There are many extremely important changes in this list for other areas of our sim as well. Despite everything that happens in the world this year, our team continues to work on improving the IL-2 Sturmovik game world and keep the fast rate of development.
Main Features
1. The new map Velikiye Luki (Summer) is available to all owners of any IL-2: Great Battles module; 2. Velikiye Luki (Winter) map has been improved and updated; 3. The new historical campaign “Hell Hawks over the Bulge” is released; 4. The visual models of the U-2VS Collector Plane crew members were replaced with new ones in the correct uniform (according to the year set in a mission, without a helmet and a parachute); 5. Female crews option added to U-2VS, Yak-1 ser. 69 and Yak-1b ser. 127 aircraft; 6. P-40E-1 now has 4K quality external textures thanks to Martin =ICDP= Catney; 7. Each Bodenplatte aircraft now has its own single mission; 8. Each Tank Crew - Battle of Prokhorovka tank now has its own single mission; 9. Since the technochat can be disabled by difficulty settings, the critical information such as the service maintenance indication (refueling, repair, first aid) will be visible in the HUD anyway;
Aircraft AI improvements
10. An AI flight leader shouldn’t circle on the ground after landing; 11. An AI error in the following terrain routine has been fixed that could cause the AI-controlled aircraft to stuck in the climb spiral and the AI wingmen in the formation to stall; 12. An AI flight leader will correctly maintain the set speed on the route; 13. AI climbing on the route corrected (they shouldn’t do too shallow of a climb and accelerate more than required as a result); 14. AI pilots shouldn’t climb on the route too steeply and, as a result, lose speed too quickly; 15. The low route speed limit has been corrected for a number of aircraft, enabling them to reach a maximum climb rate; 16. AI settings corrected for Yak-1, Yak-1b and Tempest, making them able to correctly maintain their position in a formation in level flight; 17. AI settings corrected for P-47D-22, making the formation flying more stable; 18. AI settings corrected for Flying Circus aircraft, making the formation flying more stable when descending;
Player controllable tanks improvements
19. IMPORTANT: all player-controllable tanks have detailed descriptions of their equipment, general control and functionality recommendations and individual lists of input commands accessible from the in-game Esc menu; 20. All the player-controlled tanks have animated and audible MG and main gun traveling locks; 21. Important information on sighting and radio communication equipment has been added to all tank help screens; 22. The powered turret traversing drives (where available) are automatically switched to manual mode at low turn speed for precise aiming and from manual to the powered mode drive for turning the turret fast; 23. Pz.III Ausf.M, Pz.IV Ausf.G, Pz.V Ausf.D, Pz.VI Ausf.H1 and M4A2 have functioning gyrocompass course director (controlled by the LShift + Z / LShift + X keys); 24. DT machineguns (T-34-76UVZ-194 and KV-1s) and M2 .50 AA machineguns (M4A2) iron sights can be adjusted for range (RAlt + Semicolon / RAlt + Period keys); 25. All tank radios have audible umformers (electro-mechanical converters) sounds; 26. Pz.III Ausf.M, Pz.IV Ausf.G, Pz.V Ausf.D, Pz.VI Ausf.H1 have audible gyrocompass sounds; 27. SU-152 and KV-1s: the control levers are locked in the parking position by the corresponding buttons; 28. Enabling and disabling a parking brake is reflected in the technochat; 29. To view a correct fuel reading on the KV-1s and Pz.III Ausf.M tanks, it is necessary to pump the fuel gauge first using the F key; 30. KV-1s: it’s possible to switch the fuel gauge indication between the different tanks with the LShift + F key; 31. M4A2: it’s possible to switch the fuel gauge to display the oil level as well as switch between the different tanks with the LShift + F key; 32. You can raise and lower the M4A2 commander visor; 33. M4A2 engine clutch lock buttons are correctly animated in case of a clutch failure; 34. You can use the loader visor when playing as the gunner on M4A2; 35. M4A2 AA machinegun can be shot off; 36. SU-152, Sd.Kfz.184, Pz.III Ausf.M and Pz.IV have functioning gun recoil indicators; 37. Pz.V Ausf.D ready to fire signal lamp has been corrected; 38. Pz.V Ausf.D gun mantlet armor has been corrected (its upper and low parts became more detailed); 39. All crew members who did not have access to tank intercom equipment are correctly displayed without headphones and microphones; 40. MGs and main guns won’t move a little in a stowed position; 41. The German tank commander model as been corrected (he is easier to hit in the unbuttoned position). 42. The crew models won’t appear and disappear when the camera moves in the cockpit (except the no-restrictions mode in VR); 43. The lateral aiming correction marks were corrected on German tanks; 44. It’s no longer possible to control tank weapons from certain crew stations that did not have access to them; 45. The ‘no ammo left’ message shouldn’t be repeated many times anymore; 46. AI controlled SPGs turn to face the target when ordered to engage it; 47. The ‘fuel system repaired’ message shouldn’t be repeated many times anymore; 48. The ammo counter correctly displays the remaining rounds when certain ammo load-outs are selected;
Other improvements
49. Yak-9T engine control helpers won’t cause the engine to stop when turned on at low temperatures; 50. Engine control helpers won’t incorrectly limit the engine speed after a short shutdown on twin-engine aircraft; 51. Ice Ring campaign is available in the French language thanks to our community member DN308; 52. Tank and aircraft turrets with 3 degrees of freedom have correct stowed positions; 53. Paratroopers jump from Ju-52 correctly; 54. P-38J: drag and pitching moment from the released dive flaps have been increased; 55. Il-2 model 1943: the front iron sight won’t fall off at minimal damage; 56. Pe-2 series 35 bomber: interrupting the startup procedure won’t make it impossible to start again; 57. The problem with resetting the controls to zero when switching between the engines on multi-engine aircraft has been fixed; 58. Bristol Fighter F2B control stick animation has been corrected; 59. A-20B: black artifacts that could be seen from the upper gunner station were removed; 60. Lewis and DT machine guns ammo drum won’t visibly ‘jump’ when reloaded; 61. Aircraft guns ammo reserve is correct now (it was 1 round short); 62. It is no longer possible to reload the magazine when the machine gun is cocked, which led to reloading animation errors; 63. Fighter and tank crew models are being loaded in the sim faster; 64. Character animations were further optimized, which could reduce the stuttering on some configurations; 65. Soviet and American pilots won’t be invulnerable when holding a flare gun or a pistol; 66. MLRS artillery won’t try to shoot at paratroopers; 67. The jerky behavior of rail cars on terrain bends and bridge slopes has been fixed; 68. A bug that could destroy a train when it changed the direction of movement has been fixed; 69. Sorting the list of game servers by the number of players now sorts from highest to lowest on the first click; 70. Fixed an issue that caused the world lighting to have a wrong shade for several seconds at the beginning of the mission; 71. The “F4” camera (chase camera) won’t cause graphics artifacts to appear; 72. A correct hangar will be displayed in the multiplayer lobby (previously it was always the summer one); 73. Camera behavior on mission end has been improved; 74. Numerous static objects won’t disappear from view to early and their collision models were corrected; 75. IV / JG27 will correctly continue after January 23rd in Rheinland career mode; 76. Rheinland Career mode cutscenes added; 77. The service times for all equipment have been adjusted. Now a service operation takes 2-4 minutes at the default service speed (x1 value set in Mission Editor). 78. The tank and aircraft repair settings were clarified in the Mission Editor dialog window.
See you in the skies!
The Sturmovik Team
Developer Diary #258 - First Images of P-51 B/C for Battle of Normandy
Hello!
We are currently preparing version 4.009 for release, the process is not easy, but we hope for its successful completion very soon. In view of this, the diary today will not be very detailed, but the topic is interesting. Today we show you the P-51B / C being developed for Battle of Normandy and will be available in a future update for all BON Early Access customers. This single-seat fighter is the predecessor to the P-51D previously created for Operation Bodenplatte. Although she is a predecessor, the B/C model is somewhat superior to the D model in speed at ground level and maneuverability. The reason for this unusual situation is that the teardrop canopy creates more aerodynamic drag than the high-backed design. In addition, the P-51B / C is somewhat lighter than its successor.
In the sim, the aircraft will be presented with a set of modifications allowing the use of two engine options. The first version of the engine is the Packard-Merlin V-1650-3, created on the basis of the Rolls-Royce Merlin 63. The second, more powerful version is the V-1650-7, which was based on the Merlin 66. 150 -Octane gasoline will also be an available modification, significantly increasing the capabilities of the power plant.
It should also be noted that our P-51B / C will come with a rather famous modification - a special canopy called the "Malcolm Hood" which was used in rather significant numbers by Mustang pilots. There will also be as many as three options for gun-sights, one of which will be gyroscopic.
All in all, it should be a very interesting aircraft, with a wide range of equipment options and outstanding flight performance. Like the P-47D ‘Razorback” the P-51 B/C also flew in mixed squadrons as units transitioned from the B/C to the D model.
Enjoy!
The Sturmovik Team
Developer Diary #257 - Typhoon Mk.Ib, Female Pilot Model, New Luki Map and More!
Hello!
Have you heard about wave interference? It's amazing when the processes in people's lives have direct physical analogies. In particular, how topics for our journal entries appear is a good example. In the development of projects of the IL-2: Great Battles series, there are a lot of very voluminous and lengthy tasks. And sometimes it happens that the intermediate results of different large tasks appear one by one, creating a subject for the diaries. Sometimes it happens that the "wave" processes of development progress in all directions and it gets to a stage when the intermediate results cannot yet be published, but sometimes it also happens that in all directions at the same time appears something that can be gladly demonstrated. And exactly this variant of "superposition of wave development processes in different directions" happened this week, which, of course, is always pleasant.
The first thing we can show you today is a 3D render of the Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib, the legendary fighter-bomber of the RAF, which is very much anticipated by many in our simming community. In Battle of Normandy, this aircraft will, as it should be, presented with its late version with a drop-shaped cockpit canopy, a modified stabilizer of the type used on Tempest aircraft, and with two versions of the propeller (three- and four-bladed). It will be armed with four 20 mm Hispano cannons and also rockets and bombs. Despite the fact that the aircraft belongs to the class of fighter-bombers, due to the mighty 2200-horsepower Napier Saber IIa engine (and when using the 11-pound boost and up to 2400hp), it possessed strong flight performance. All in all, it will be an extremely interesting Allied aircraft that will help its virtual pilot achieve success in battle against both the ground and air enemy forces.
The second thing that we will show you today is important for the owners of all products in the IL-2: Great Battles series. We are talking about a new map! The new "Velikiye Luki, Summer 1941", will be made available to everyone in the next update. This map was developed on a personal basis by one of our map team-members, and although it does not include all of our most modern map tech (such as buildings with increased detail), thanks to the creativity and variety of the implemented terrain and scenery, it looks extremely interesting and will add a lot of variety in your flights. The Velikiye Luki summer map, as well as an improved and updated winter version, will be available to all players. A lot could be written about the positive aspects of this map, but it seems to us that it is better to show them in the following screenshots:
The third bit of news is that work on the Battle of Normandy is progressing, not only in terms of creating new aircraft but also in other directions. For instance, a lot has already been done in creating the map which will include some promising new technologies for our series. But it’s still early and we plan to show the progress on the development of the map later. Additionally, aircraft crews are also being created and as you already know, the G-suits worn by USAAF pilots appeared after the events of the Normandy, and therefore we created a model of an American pilot in an earlier uniform:
And in FIRST for the combat-sim genre - the U-2VS, Yak-1 Series 69 and Yak-1b series 127 aircraft will receive a Soviet female pilot option! We have completed the process of animating the new female pilot model and they will be available in the upcoming 4.009 update. It is these aircraft that have the greatest basis for possessing this modification because the famous "Night Witches" from the 588th Night Light Bomber Aviation Regiment fought in the U-2, and the heroic ace pilot of the Soviet Air Force Guards Junior Lieutenant Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak and her fellow female squadron mates flew the Yak-1 and Yak-1b. Also, the U-2VS aircraft will receive new models of male pilots.
And to finish the today's Dev blog, here is the news about the "Tank Crew" project. As we said earlier, the completion of the vehicle lineup does not mean that work on improving it has stopped. Update 4.009 will introduce a lot of new features that will definitely give you an interesting new experience in our tank simulator. Drivers of the German panzers and the Sherman tank will have the opportunity to use the course director. KV-1s, Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.M and Sherman tank drivers interact with pneumatic fuel gauges in a realistic way. The working sounds of the radio motor-generators were added to all tanks and the German tanks have the working gyrocompass sound as well. All traveling locks of turrets, main and machine guns are now animated and have sounds as well. In general, due to these changes, the sound environments inside a tank has become much richer and more realistic. DT and M2 .50 machine guns now have a working range correction setting. Other changes have been made to improve the player experience - many of you have previously expressed the opinion that one cannot fully discover the possibilities of the project due to the lack of a description of what equipment each tank has and how to use this equipment. To resolve this issue, a new "Notes" dialog has been implemented, which can be invoked at any time by pressing the ESC button.
Enjoy!
The Sturmovik Team
IL-2 Sturmovik: Desert Wings - TOBRUK is Now Available!
IL-2 Sturmovik: Desert Wings - TOBRUK, the new addition to the acclaimed realistic air combat simulator IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover Blitz, is OUT NOW!
This exciting new addition to the long-standing and critically acclaimed IL-2 Sturmovik series of aerial combat simulators takes you over the sands of North Africa in the critical moment during WWII when the control of the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal was decided.
Experience what it was like to fly and fight during the Desert War in deadly Messerschmitts, sleek Macchis, rugged Kittyhawks and the legendary Spitfires. IL-2 Sturmovik: Desert Wings – Tobruk brings over 40 new flyable types and variants, more than 25 new tank, artillery and vehicle types added to the desert versions of the vehicles from the CLIFFS OF DOVER, as well as 15 new ships including British and Italian types which are historically accurate for the TOBRUK map.
The excellent multiplayer environment that allows over 100 players and dozens of AI aircraft online simultaneously, IL-2 Sturmovik: Desert Wings - Tobruk promises intense and challenging human versus human aerial battles. For the Single Player enthusiasts, the game also includes 24 Quick Missions playable with any aircraft, 7 long form Campaigns based on historical Squadron experiences, another 14 single missions as well as two co-op missions playable both via multiplayer or single player.
IL-2 Sturmovik: Desert Wings - Tobruk is now available via Steam, the official IL-2 Sturmovik store and other digital platforms for $69.99 USD / 64.99 EUR. The game requires the base game IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover Blitz Edition in order to play.
And from all of us at Team Fusion Simulations, thank you all for your support. We hope you enjoy Desert Wings Tobruk :)
Version 4.008 Released - P-47D-22 "Razorback" and Ferdinand Tank and More!
Dear Friends,
Today is a very important day - we have just released update 4.008 that includes the first Battle of Normandy aircraft and the last tank for Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka project. The first BoN plane is P-47D-22 "Razorback", the one so many of you had waited for. Battle of Normandy is at a very early stage of development, in the first quarter of the whole plan, but some of its parts are already taking shape - for instance, this new plane we told you in detail in the Dev Blog #225. This release officially starts the Early Access program for the Battle of Normandy and its owners will gradually get more and more content as soon as it is ready, starting with the "Razorback" today.
The last combat vehicle for Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka is Sd.Kfz.184 "Ferdinand" tank destroyer, you could learn more about its history and design peculiarities in our Dev Blog #254. Tank Crew owners can try it right now. This fearsome machine completes the vehicle lineup of this unique and interesting 'Clash at Prokhorovka' project.
Another new addition in this release is the new historical campaign Ice Ring by Alexander =BlackSix= Timoshokov. Consisting of 15 scenarios, it is dedicated to very interesting and strategically important events of November and December 1942 in Stalingrad area - the actions of the special IL-2 group under the command of Major Leonid Karpovich Chumachenko which was tasked with interdiction of the German 'air bridge', the air supply route for the encircled Paulus' 6th Army. The campaign can be purchased here and requires only the Battle of Stalingrad module to play.
Battle of Moscow owners also will find something new in this update - Martin =ICDP= Catney has finished the work on new 4K quality external textures for IL-2 mod. 1941. They, as well as Battle of Stalingrad customers, just received the new early war Luftwaffe pilot model in winter uniform and additional stuff - sidearm, animations for putting the glasses on when starting from parking and the oxygen mask when it is needed.
Another neat feature we want to tell you about is the support for a special in-game voice communications system known as SRS - "Simple Radio Standalone" (IL2-SRS). At the moment its support is not final, but it can be used with ease already. You can find all the info on how to install and use it here.
Less than a month has passed since the previous update, but again we have found ourselves posting a vast list of changes made. Sometimes the corrections mean that a user-created content needs to be updated as it happened now with height map corrections for Battle of Moscow, but the required actions are minimal, you can learn more about them here. Other numerous changes and corrections in 4.008 are listed below. Please note that some of them are quite important and should get your attention:
Main Features: 1. P-47D-22 “Razorback” heavy fighter is available to all customers who pre-ordered the Battle of Normandy. Early Access phase starts for Battle of Normandy project; 2. Sd.Kfz.184 “Ferdinand” tank destroyer is now available to all owners of the “Tank Crew” project, completing its 10 vehicles lineup; Official retail release of Tank Crew is TBD. 3. The new historical campaign “Ice Ring” is released and available for purchase (it requires Battle of Stalingrad); 4. Support for special SRS Radio voice comms app. The final version of SRS for IL-2 is still WIP by its author and will be released soon. We have created a special section in the forum dedicated to SRS instructions and discussions. https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/forum/147-srs-radio/ 5. The 1941 IL-2 attack aircraft now has 4K quality external texturing thanks to Martin = ICDP = Catney; 6. The new model of the early war Luftwaffe fighter pilot in the winter uniform has been added for Battle of Moscow and Battle of Stalingrad; 7. The new model of a hand holding a pistol or flare gun in a 1st person view added for early war Luftwaffe pilot;
Aircraft improvements: 8. In a multiplayer game, the next steps have been taken to eliminate the problem of invisible planes that appear only at the moment they start to shoot. Because reproduction of this problem is extremely difficult, please help: if you encounter this problem again, be sure to report it and attach a flight record to your message; 9. The option to leave a destroyed object in the game now works for aircraft (uncheck the “Delete after death” checkbox in mission editor); 10. P-47D-28 stall behavior has been corrected: the aircraft is less likely to suddenly stall at a beyond-stall angle of attack; 11. P-47D-28: damping moments have been corrected, resulting in the more inert and 'heavy' feel of controls; 12. P-47D-28 controls effectiveness has been corrected. The maximum roll rate has been reduced to correspond to the historical data. At high speeds (before the air compressibility effects kick in) the aircraft is more controllable along the roll and pitch axes. During the Mach-tuck the controls lose effectiveness making exiting a dive more difficult; 13. P-47D-28: maximum wing lift with extended flaps has been reduced; 14. P-47D-28 engine thermal model corrected (it became more resistant to overheating); 15. P-47D-28: the visual image of the rotating rotorhead has been improved; 16. P-47D-28: the problem with the rotation of the bent screw when using boost has been fixed; 17. P-47D-28: 150-octane fuel modification has been added; 18. P-47D-28 injection system corrected: when there is no liquid in the system left, the engine can’t be switched to combat emergency mode. The pressure gauge shows correct pressure in the injection system; 19. P-47D-28: the description of the aircraft and the related tips in the technochat were updated; 20. P-47D-28: the outside and inside sound mismatch has been addressed; 21. P-38, P-47, P-51, Tempest, Ju-88, Me-262: landing gear doors of other players in multiplayer won’t stay visibly open; 22. Me-262: landing gear doors in the hangar are now open; 23. P-51: landing gear doors in the hangar are now open while the flaps are down due to the lack of hydraulic pressure; 24. P-38: antenna between the two rudders disappears when one of them is lost;
Player Controllable Tanks improvements: 25. Crew members can be gradually poisoned with CO gas when firing the main gun with the hatches of the fighting compartment closed and ventilation turned off or damaged. M4A2, KV-1s, SU-152 the ventilation system is powered from a working main engine while on other tanks it is electric and won’t work with no electric power; 26. The engine won’t stop so frequently after a collision; 27. Tanks shouldn’t visibly ‘levitate’ above the ground; 28. A bug that reduced the actual number of shots for the main gun by 1 for each ammo type has been fixed; 29. A bug that caused the number of shells to be calculated incorrectly when one ammo type is spent (it did not decrease at first and then decreased by 2 after a next shot) has been fixed; 30. Driving along the shallow coastal part of the river is no longer like driving on a highway; 31. A toppled over tank won’t glide on a terrain slope like on ice; 32. A bug that could cause a detailed tank to explode multiple times has been fixed; 33. The effective destruction ranges of light vehicles have been corrected in HE shells descriptions; 34. Pz.Kpfw.VI ammo descriptions updated (trajectory drop and HEAT speeds); 35. Pz.III Ausf. M, Pz.V Ausf. D, Pz.VI Ausf. H1 starting procedure has been updated (the manual fuel pumping was replaced by an electric one with the addition of the required buttons in the driver compartment); 36. Pz.III Ausf. M now has a functioning fuel gauge (to the lower right on the bulkhead of the engine compartment); 37. Pz.III Ausf. M traverse indicator is now illuminated; 38. Pz.III Ausf. M and Pz. IV Ausf. G intercom Z18 parts are covered in self-luminous paint; 39. Pz.IV Ausf. G and Pz.V Ausf. D odometers have been corrected; 40. T-34-76UVZ-1943, SU-122 and SU-152 fuel and oil pipes color has been corrected (made less vivid); 41. The external tools attached to the German tanks were improved to look better, ground jack added for Pz.V Ausf. D; 42. Other changes and improvements to the German tank interiors; 43. The sounds of control levers, pedals and the hand brake are added to Tank Crew tanks; 44. Turning the SU-122 and SU-152 panoramic commander sight produces a sound; 45. Pz.IV Ausf. G and Pz.V Ausf. D odometers have been corrected indicate a change of direction; 46. A failure of one of the M4A2 engines now affects the instrument readings and the engine sound; 47. M4A2 low oil pressure indicator lamps have been corrected; 48. Sound of the M4A2 engine's startup has been improved;
Visual Crew Improvements: 49. The color of pilot’s glasses of the late war Bf 109 Luftwaffe pilots has been corrected; 50. The “holes” in the texture of the American flare gun were eliminated; 51. The texture of the flare gun on the British pilot model has been corrected; 52. Shooting any pistol ejects a casing; 53. Soviet tankers have less gloss effect on the faces;
AI Improvements: 54. AI pilots won’t try to attack targets with the parameter engageable = 0 which could cause steep diving on a ground target with no chance of recovery; 55. AI pilots aim at air and ground targets better and the rockets and projectiles won’t fall short of a ground target at the beginning of a burst; 56. AI fighter pilots won’t chase its target too far from their assigned route or area of operations; 57. All AIs in a fighter group will attack a target (previously one of them could ignore it and follow its mates in a formation; 58. A rare random bug that could cause the AI gunner of a player tank to spontaneously rotate the turret at the beginning of the mission has been fixed; 59. A knocked off detailed AI tank (no marker visible and other AIs don’t see it as a threat) won’t continue to fire at targets sometimes; 60. When all the gunner visors of an AI-controlled detailed tank are damaged, it won’t track the targets and fire at them;
Other Improvements and Fixes: 61. The residual inertia in the first-person non-VR view of the gradual zoom at maximum zoom and maximum zooming speed option when not using a mouse for looking around has been addressed; 62. The contours of objects against a clouds background have been minimized by using special tech; 63. The lowest cloud quality setting still causes significant artifacts on the aircraft visible against a cloud at near distances, but no longer gives an unfair advantage in spotting a distant aircraft; 64. The double triggering of onKilled events in the mission script shouldn’t happen again; 65. New training missions added for Battle of Moscow in the spirit of the real initial training of a MiG-3 pilot (Missions – Battle of Moscow – Migalovo training); 66. The recently found error on the Moscow map (the landscape height above the sea level was 50m less than it should) has been fixed; 67. The missing buildings at the Liege / Bierset A-93 2414/7 airfield on the Rhineland map have been added; 68. The poor-looking machine shop buildings in the industrial district of Belgorod (Prokhorovka map) were replaced with better ones; 69. The truncated or missing phrases of one of the USAAF air traffic controllers and RAF and USAAF forward observers were corrected; 70. The shimmering of very long railways on Kuban map that was visible up close has been corrected; 71. The look of the passenger and freight railroad wagon roofs has been improved; 72. Selecting a random Entente aircraft in the duel on Arras map in QMB no longer produces a Bf 109F-4.
Note: Tank Crew title will be coming to Steam store in the near future.
We hope you enjoy these additions and improvements!
