IL*2 Great Battles News

[Phantom88]

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

[Phantom88]

[Phantom88]

Dear Friends,

1C Game Studios and Ugra Media are proud to announce our next Great War themed product – FLYING CIRCUS: VOLUME II!

It’s been over 100 years since the end of WWI, a conflict that shaped the modern world and killed tens of millions of people. It was an era that saw a new invention, the airplane, become a weapon of war. It also saw devastation like never before all along the vast Western Front in France. Trench warfare, artillery barrages, machine guns nests, and poison gas made ground combat an ugly, nasty affair. But above the brutal meatgrinder, a ballet of winged machines made largely of canvas and wood, piloted by knights for a new age, dueled to the death in a most personal way. Flying Circus: Volume II brings a renewed effort to recreate the WWI aerial battlefield on your PC and expand upon the work of Flying Circus: Volume I with a more diverse plane-set, a larger map and a Pilot Career mode.



This is one part of a new two-part plan to create not only FC2, but also FC3 with our partner Ugra Media. Completion of this new plan will make the first three volumes of Flying Circus an exhilarating combat flying experience that will usher in a new era of development for Great War titles and content.

Content

Flying Circus: Volume II will continue our long tradition of bringing WWI aerial warfare to your computer with an explosive plane-set that includes not only fighters, but bombers and recon aircraft. This will bring a more diverse range of missions available to the user. When combined with the existing plane-set from FC1 most of the aircraft that saw combat from 1917 to the end of the war in 1918 are represented. Flying Circus: Volume II is a big leap forward in aircraft, map and mission content setting up the Flying Circus range of products for an exciting future.
Flying Circus: Volume II Plane-set:

Spad 7.C1
Airco DH.4
Sopwith Triplane
Nieuport 28.C1
Breguet 14.B2
Handley Page 0-400
Pfalz D.XII
Fokker D.VIII
DFW C.V.
Gotha G.V.

We plan to have the first aircraft from FC2 flying into your Early-Access hangar by Spring 2021 with more aircraft from the plane-set released on a steady clip after that. The Phase II map will likely we ready near the end of 2021.

Flying Circus: Volume II Map

The map we will build for FC2 will be much larger than our FC1 map and will aim to re-create the huge Western Front battlefield we created in our original WWI title – Rise of Flight. Of course, this map will use our latest map technologies which is currently showcased in our Arras map of Flying Circus: Volume I. This new map will be built in two phases. Phase I which is the Arras Map, was the testbed for making a WWI map in the Sturmovik engine and has been completed. Phases II and III will expand that work to eventually, over two product dev cycles, complete the map. We plan to make multiple seasons for this map to allow maximum opportunities to fly in various weather conditions. Also, once the larger map is completed, we plan to offer it to FC1 users.

We have designed each map phase to match the plane-set for each volume and the battles those planes participated in. By time FC3 is complete, the map itself will be whole and an amazing canvas to fly and fight over.




Flying Circus: Volume II Pre-Order Now Available and Special Discounts!

To kick off Flying Circus: Volume II development we have opened Pre-Orders today! For a limited time, our Pre-Order discount price is $20 Off MSRP at $59.99. This discount is good on all pre-orders through January 15th 2021. After that, the Pre-Order discount will be our usual $10 Off until release. The final MSRP at time of release will be $79.99.

We have also put FC1 on sale at 66% Off. This discount also lasts through January 15th 2021. This is the perfect time to pick up both FC1 and FC2 for an awesome discount!

FC1 + FC2 makes an amazing Christmas gift for your best wingmates!

Pre-Order Flying Circus: Volume II Here

Order Flying Circus: Volume I Here

We here at 1CGS and our friends at Ugra Media hope you are as excited as we are to build Flying Circus: Volume II and we appreciate everyone who has purchased Volume I this past year making Volume II possible.

We also wish you the absolute best this Holiday Season to you, your family, your friends and our dedicated development partners all over the world. We appreciate all the support and encouragement during this most difficult year. We will continue to do the hard work of making our flight-sim and armor-sim products the best they can be in 2021.

We’ll see you over the Front!

The 1CGS and Ugra Media Teams

You can discuss this announcement HERE.

[Phantom88]

Update 4.504

Dear Friends,

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



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



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

Main features

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

Tank improvements

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

Aircraft improvements

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

Other improvements

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

[Phantom88]

Update 4.505

Dear friends,

The IL-2 Sturmovik development team wishes you the best in the coming year and has a small gift for you - another update. It includes the work of the community enthusiast Chiawei =Oyster_KAI= Liang who agreed to work with us more closely and make his textures even better to be included in the sim officially. All the player controllable aircraft in this update have their cockpit textures considerably upscaled and sometimes corrected, resulting in a much better look of their cockpits. At the same time, Martin =ICDP= Catney has finished working on the external textures of another plane - this time it is I-16 - and they look great. There are many other fixes and improvements you can see in the changelist below.

Happy New Year and best of luck to you in 2021!







1. All player-controlled aircraft got 4K quality cockpit textures created by Chiawei = Oyster_KAI = Liang;
2. I-16 type 24 fighter got 4K quality external textures created by Martin = ICDP = Сatney;
3. I-16 type 24 fighter has a new “Silver” skin (painted with aluminum paint) by Martin = ICDP = Catney;
4. New visual effects added for and railway fuel tanks and fuel tanker trucks explosions. The airfield fuel storage also explodes with a new effect if there is an entity assigned to it in the mission file;
5. The A-20B bomber crew visual models were updated, as well as the animation of taking off glasses on the ground and putting on an oxygen mask at altitude. In addition, if the country parameter in the mission file is set to UK or USA the crew models will be British or American respectively;
6. Added missing fire effect to old player controllable tanks (T-34 STZ 1942 and Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf. L);
7. Old player controllable tanks (T-34 STZ 1942 and Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf. L) should no longer shoot at targets when considered destroyed (when their marker is removed);
8. Old player controllable tanks (T-34 STZ 1942 and Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf. L) have visual models of the driver and tank commander;
9. The surviving crewmen of the old player controllable tanks (T-34 STZ 1942 and Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf. L) leave if the tank is knocked out;
10. Old player controllable tanks (T-34 STZ 1942 and Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf. L) commanders have a pistol and binoculars;
11. Several cases of incorrect camera operation have been fixed (for example, when the camera remained in the cockpit of a destroyed aircraft or a tank);
12. The giant smoke columns from the Stalingrad city fires should now be visible up to 100 km away from the player starting point in QMB mode;
13. Wrong tree models on the river island near Stalingrad were corrected on Summer and Autumn maps;
14. The cropping of the ground structures outside the mission zone has been optimized, reducing the load on the system and speeding up the mission loading in the QMB mode on the Stalingrad map (all seasons);
15. The cropping of the ground structures outside the mission zone has been optimized, reducing the load on the system and speeding up the mission loading in all Career mode timeframes (BoM, BoS, BoK, BoBp);
16. All internal equipment of the armored vehicles was made less resistant to the fragments of APHE rounds that detonated inside;
17. Zademyanye airfield on Winter Velikie Luki map has been smoothed;
18. Ju-88 cockpit raindrops effect has been restored;
19. Pe-2 bombers right spinner won't become darker when the propeller is rotating;
20. The auto-oscillations of the La-5 elevator in the simplified control mode at low altitudes have been fixed;
21. A technochat error that could cause an incorrect message about the flaps release has been corrected;
22. Ju-87, Ju-88 and Fw-190 aircraft have technochat messages about releasing the flaps to takeoff and landing positions;
23. Yak-9 and Yak-9T water radiator drag has been corrected when the radiator shutter is closed more than a neutral position;
24. Lighting on both Halberstadt aircraft can be turned on only with cockpit lamp modification present;
25. Technochat flap position messages corrected on aircraft with fixed flap positions;
26. On A-20B bombers, problems with ANOs and bomb bay tail signal lamp at long LODs have been fixed.

[jymp]

Is Pacific Fighters the last sim done for the WWII US Pacific theater of operations ?, looks like it.

[Phantom88]

Is Pacific Fighters the last sim done for the WWII US Pacific theater of operations ?, looks like it.

Sadly Yes As of right now,IL*2 and DCS do not include Pacific Theater....DCS is coming out with a Free Pacific Map with promise of WWII Features added later on.

[Phantom88]

Nice Review of "Tank Crew"

[Phantom88]

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

[Phantom88]

Dear friends,

There will be a lot of Battle of Normandy news in 2021. Relatively soon we'll be able to show you the first landscape shots, while today we have some of the ground vehicles that are already done. Please note that the quality level for the new trucks, armored cars and other objects for Normandy has increased. Of course, the new objects will benefit from all the previously developed physics and AI improvements.

Dodge WC-54 - while working on the Battle of Normandy we have decided to add the ambulance vehicle for the US Army that was missing in 'Bodenplatte'. This 3-ton all-wheel-drive vehicle was designed specifically for the US Army medical service.


Austin K2/Y - you can tell the country of origin of this 3-ton military ambulance vehicle after a first glance. Of course, it is British.


Ordnance QF 17-pounder - the famous British gun which was very effective in the anti-tank role in spite of its relatively small caliber. This gun, either in an AT gun form or installed on a tank gave good chances against German panzer beasts.


Sd.Kfz.222 - this German all-wheel-drive 5-ton armored car with 3 men crew had a powerful weapon for its class, 20mm automatic gun KwK-20, and sloped armor.


AMES Type 15 was a British made radar.


SCR-584 was a US radar. Also on this screenshot are the British AA searchlight and its accompanying electric generator.

[huub vink]

Thanks for the updates Phantom88. The battle of Normandy (Or should it be the battle for Normandy?) is really something to look forward to.

The Sd.Kfz.222 is one of my favourite vehicles and judging the image very well done in the game!

Cheers,
Huub

[vonernsk]

Hi Phantom 88, I have been very impressed with the advances made in this series of simulated combat. The graphics and feeling of authenticity is really quite outstanding.

How do I set about getting back into this simulation after quite an absence? Main questions are:

I have very poor broadband speeds (often below 1 Mb/sec for download speed).

Do I need high-speed broadband? (I do not intend to fly with or against others on the net)

How do I purchase it, and what should I aim at?

What spec PC should I be considering?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Mal

[Priller]

Thanks for the updates Phantom88. The battle of Normandy (Or should it be the battle for Normandy?) is really something to look forward to.

The Sd.Kfz.222 is one of my favourite vehicles and judging the image very well done in the game!

Cheers,
Huub

Lieutenant Grübers "Little tank"?? (Âllo Âllo series)

Priller

[Phantom88]

Thanks for the updates Phantom88. The battle of Normandy (Or should it be the battle for Normandy?) is really something to look forward to.

The Sd.Kfz.222 is one of my favourite vehicles and judging the image very well done in the game!

Cheers,
Huub

Yes I agree....Thank You for the nice comment

[Phantom88]

Hi Phantom 88, I have been very impressed with the advances made in this series of simulated combat. The graphics and feeling of authenticity is really quite outstanding.

How do I set about getting back into this simulation after quite an absence? Main questions are:

I have very poor broadband speeds (often below 1 Mb/sec for download speed).

Do I need high-speed broadband? (I do not intend to fly with or against others on the net)

How do I purchase it, and what should I aim at?

What spec PC should I be considering?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Mal

Hello Mal.Every few months IL*2 has a site wide sale,This is probably the best time to purchase.
-The IL*2 Battle series comes with a variety of different aircraft and maps,Pick something that suits your favorite timeframe and Warfront.
-You don't need to be online to play,You can play many single player missions and military careers offline.The only downside of slow broadband would be The Game Patches can be massive.
-I think a mid range pc maybe like 5-7 yrs old is acceptable to play IL*2 since the game engine itself is about that old and it has a great range of graphics settings.
-Give The IL*2 site a look and browse the forums for detailed info https://il2sturmovik.com/
-Check this video out about getting started

[rohan]

A couple of things worth mentioning as a follow-up.

If you visit the store -
https://il2sturmovik.com/store/
you will find a trailer for each battle except Normandy - well worth watching . . .

If you want to buy from Steam, then you MUST buy Stalingrad as a base game for anything else.

I bought my two battles from the store. When I went to download the first, the download size was around 22 Gb. A major update later also sent the size back to 22 Gb. And after buying my second battle recently, the download size is again 22 Gb, although this also includes another major update.

Finally, I was told in the forum that this series is like FS9, FSX and X-Plane in that you get the most performance out of a fast processor speed - the software is effectively still single-threaded.

Hope that helps,

[Phantom88]

***Lunar Sale***
Attention Pilots!

The Lunar New Year Sale has begun in the IL-2 Official Webstore and on Steam! Save between 30% to 85% on most items.

The Lunar New Year Sale runs from 10:00am PST February 11th to 10:00am PST February 15th in the IL-2 Official Webstore and on STEAM.



IL-2 GREAT BATTLES IN IL-2 OFFICIAL WEBSTORE

IL-2 IL-2 GREAT BATTLES ON STEAM

Tank Crew - 35% Off (Webstore & Steam)

BOS – 85% Off
BOM – 75% Off
BOK – 75% Off
BOBP – 66% Off
FC1 – 66% Off

Hurricane Mk.II - 35% Off

Yak-9 – 40% Off
Yak-9T – 40% Off
Fw-190 D-9 – 66% Off
P-38 J-15 – 66% Off
U-2VS -75% Off
Ju-52/3M – 75% Off
Bf-109 G-6 – 75% Off
Yak-1B – 75% Off
Spitfire Mk. VB – 75 % Off
LA-5FN – 75% Off
HS-129 B-2 – 75% Off
P-40E-1 – 85% Off
Macchi MC.202 – 85% Off
Fw-190 A-3 – 85% Off
LA-5 Series 8 – 85% Off

Ice Ring – 30% Off
Blazing Steppe – 75% Off
Fortress on the Volga – 75% Off
Hell Hawks Over the Bulge – 30% Off (Webstore Only)
Ten Days of Autumn – 75% Off (Webstore Only)
Havoc Over the Kuban – 75% Off (Webstore Only)
Achtung Spitfire! – 75% Off (Webstore Only)



CLIFFS OF DOVER IN IL-2 OFFICIAL WEBSTORE

CLIFFS OF DOVER ON STEAM

Cliffs of Dover: Blitz - 75%
Desert Wings: Tobruk - 35%



RISE OF FLIGHT IN ROF OFFICIAL WEBSTORE

RISE OF FLIGHT ON STEAM

All ROF Content – 75% Off

Enjoy!

See you in the skies and on the battlefield!

The Sturmovik Team



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[Phantom88]

Today our team presents you the first IL-2 Great Battles update in 2021, 4.506. The main feature of this update is the Fw 190 A-6 fighter/bomber developed for the Battle of Normandy. The Normandy map is in development, but you can already fly the new aircraft in Rheineland Career mode, provided you have both Battle of Normandy and Bodenplatte. You can also encounter the new A-6 as an enemy in the recent Wind of Fury campaign and anyone can set it up as an AI in quick missions.



In addition to the new arrival, there is a significant number of other changes and improvements. The updated graphical effects are included (the ones that are ready), Chiawei =Oyster_KAI= Liang continued his work on the 4K texturing of many planes cockpits and Martin =ICDP= Catney created 4K external textures for Bf 109 E-7 and corrected a number of other aircraft. There are two AI corrections, but they are significant. Among other fixes are ones for aircraft systems, player controllable tanks, including an important one for the gun aiming, and many improvements for historical campaigns.





We continue our work as always and this Spring you'll see new planes and improvements for the game world.

Main features
1. German fighter/bomber Fw 190 A-6 is now available to all Battle of Normandy owners;
2. Fw 190 A-6 added to Rheinland Career mode (to the 1st and 2nd chapters to joinable squadrons III./JG 11, I./JG 26 and II./JG 26 and to all chapters to AI squadrons III./KG 51 and NSGr. 20);
3. Bf 109 E-7 got 4K quality external textures;
4. There are new truck variations (which look exactly like the regular ones) that are loaded with ammo and explode when attacked in a spectacular way;

Aircraft improvements
5. AI pilots of fast fighters engage slow-flying targets much better;
6. AI pilots that are alone or from different groups carry out a landing approach much better - now all the AI pilots form the landing queue, not only the ones that belong to the same group;
7. MC.202 propeller rotation and twist were corrected;
8. Yak-9 and Yak-9T elevator is affected at high speeds similar to other Yak fighters;
9. On all aircraft with set mixture control positions the current position is shown in the technochat instead of the mixture percentage;
10. UBT MG gunsight scale on IL-2 mod. 1943 has been recentered;
11. A damaged Fokker D.VII won't visibly disappear at long distances;
12. Gunsight adjustment (target size and range) using buttons happens faster and their default values are set for a close dogfight against a typical enemy fighter;
13. German gyro gunsight Ez.42 damping corrected, higher frequency oscillations of the aircraft affect the calculated lead less;
14. AI pilots fire all 12 Hurricane MGs when installed instead of only 8;
15. Water vapor effect added to the damaged or overheated Hurricane radiator;
16. Oil and water drops won't visibly appear on the inside surface of the cockpit canopy on many aircraft;
17. A number of typos that appeared on Soviet planes after increasing the cockpits to 4K quality were corrected;
18. Bf 109 E-7 cockpit: a typo corrected, detail of certain controls improved, dimmer looks more historically accurate;
19. Bf 109 F-2 and F-4 wheels corrected;
20. BG-25 detail increased (Bf 109 G6/G6 Late/G14/K4);
21. Rocket control panel detail improved on Bf 109 G6 Late and G14;
22. Fw 190 A-3/A-5/A-8 ammo counters panel detail improved;
23. Hs 129 B2 cockpit: weathering and scratches on leather objects, weathering of the gunsight parts outside the cockpit, more detailed dimmer switch, revised coloring and updated lettering of gauges and parts to make them more historically correct, alpha layer adjustments;
24. MiG-3: enhanced textures of braided cables, redrawn placards, alpha layer adjustments;
25. P-39L: control stick weathering, more detailed radio equipment (MN-52H, BC-345, BC-451) and recognition light switch box, more accurate white aluminum panels and detailed text, enhanced throttle quadrant and fuel prime pump handle, improved gauges and parts lettering, alpha layer adjustments;
26. P-40E: more detailed radio equipment (BC-366, BC-451A, BC-450A), throttle quadrant and fuel prime pump handle, historically correct texture for exposed wiring (black wires and white braided cables), alpha layer adjustments;
27. P-47D22/D28: more detailed BC-765 switch box and fuel prime pump handle, upgraded textures of the white screws on the trim indicators box and flap control handle slide rail, alpha layer adjustments;
28. Fw 190 A-3 and A-5 default pilot positions and some skins of these aircraft were corrected;
29. Radio and lighting switches are now animated in Fw 190 A-3 and A-5 cockpits;

Player controllable tank improvements
30. An option added that amplifies the gun aiming response to the mouse movement. If you play without a visual mouse aim indicator or aim the gun using buttons, it is recommended to leave it at the default setting (0);
31. Player controllable tanks now correctly collide in multiplayer;
32. A wrong technochat message about turning on and off the powered turret traverse won't appear while moving across rough terrain at high speed;
33. SU-122 and SU-152 crews throw out all the accumulated spent ammo casings when the hatches are opened;
34. The initial position of the shot off Ferdinand gun mantlet corresponds to the mantlet type installed;
35. 72-K 25mm round ballistics were corrected;
36. HE rounds of 72-K, 61-K, Flak 36, Flak 38, Flakvierling 38, Sh-37, NS-37, BK-3.7, M4 and Vickers Class S now have self-destruct fuzes (HE rounds without such fuzes were not used on these guns);
37. Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.M suspension animation corrected;

Visual effects improvements
38. New bomb ground and water impact (impact, not explosion) effects;
39. 50-100 kg bombs explosion effects have a new style (it is planned to update all the explosions in a similar way);
40. Additional explosion effects added for rounds containing more than 450 g and less than 1500 g explosives;
41. Improved gunfire effects for the detailed ground vehicles;
42. APHE explosion effects corrected accordingly to the number of explosives they contain;
43. Ground vehicles leave better-looking tracks;

Other improvements
44. The hook on port cranes is raised higher so it won't prevent larger ships to dock underneath;
45. The visual model of a destroyed 52-K AAA gun was corrected (it contained elements of an intact gun);
46. Blazing Steppe, Fortress on the Volga, Ice Ring historical campaigns: all fire effects updated, ammo trucks added, many other improvements and fixes;
47. During the Wind of Fury historical campaign you can encounter С-47 and Fw 190 A-6 while Bf 109 G-6 fighters were replaced by Bf 109 G-6 Late;
48. Fortress on the Volga historical campaign: fuel and ambulance trucks added to the transport columns, the overall number and size of the columns increased.

[Phantom88]

272
Dear friends,
Earlier this week we have published update 4.506 that brought the new aircraft for the Battle of Normandy and many important improvements, but the preparation of this update did not slow down our main development. Soon we’ll be able to show the first teaser screenshots of the new map, while today we have for you several of the unique buildings that you’ll see in the Normandy and Southern English coast cities - Royal Hospital Haslar (Gosport, Hampshire), Abbey of Saint-Étienne (Caen) and Bayeux and Rouen Cathedrals.


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

[Phantom88]

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

[Phantom88]

Pilots,

The McRib sandwich IL-2 Promo Codes Are Backfor a limited time! They are good only in the Official IL-2 Webstore!

The codes are good until March 22nd, 2021 at 10:00am Pacific Time.

We have put two codes in your profile.

The first is good 50% Off all products except - TC, BON, FC2, AAA Vehicles and Dover series products.

The second is good for 35% Off Tank Crew.

You can find the codes in your IL-2 User Account which you can access from the Main Page of the website. You just have to log in and go to Profile then Promo Codes. They are easy to find. Just copy and apply them in the Cart at checkout.

IMPORTANT: Remember, we don't mean your forum profile and only apply the code once you are fully READY for checkout otherwise the store will think you have already redeemed it if you hit your browser's back button. Shop carefully so you don't have to contact support.

NOTE: This is why it's a great time to LINK your BOS Steam purchase with your IL-2 User Account. Steam does not allow promo codes like this, so make sure to link it and take advantage of these promo codes. https://il2sturmovik.com/m/SteamAndIL2AccountGuide.pdf

NOTE: New user accounts will receive their promo codes in about 24 hours after creation.

REMEMBER: Spread the word! Direct sales from the IL-2 Official Webstore give us a higher profit margin helping us to create more content and expand the team.

Finally, the team is on holiday until February 24th. Customer Support tickets will be delayed until after the team returns.

Enjoy!

Jason

[Phantom88]

273

Dear friends,

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



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

[Phantom88]

274

Hello Everyone!

Time does not stand still, just as work on the Battle for Normandy project does not stand still. Work is underway on various technologies as well as development of ground equipment, maps, aircraft and ships. As you know, the Battle of Normandy is an event most closely associated with the navy. And in order to reproduce some of these events, new types of ships and watercrafts will be introduced into the project. Along those lines, today we will show you a screenshot of development progress of the landing craft LCI (L) (Landing Craft Infantry, Large). This is a specialized vessel designed to land infantry units directly ashore, for which it is equipped with two gangways, on both sides of the bow.



And because Battle for Normandy is a project about combat aircraft, you are waiting patiently for news about the progress of aircraft in development. So here we have something new to show you today! It is the cockpit of the Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib fighter-bomber. These screenshots were taken in the game world. Work on this aircraft is entering the final stage, and we plan to give it to everyone who pre-ordered the project at the very beginning of the summer.

[Phantom88]

275
Dear Friends,
As some of you who frequent our forums already know, Jason has recently announced that we’re developing a new tech called DVD and invited you to guess what that actually means. There were different guesses and some of them were near misses. The answer is, DVD means Dynamic Visual Damage. In a nutshell, it places an impact mark where a projectile hit.
Among the many neat possibilities this tech brings, the size of the mark corresponds to the caliber of the projectile and/or explosive power of the shell if it was of the HE variety. They also look different depending on the material the projectile hit - whether it was armor, thin metal, or not a metal at all. There are also separate marks for ricochets of high caliber armor-piercing rounds. The look of these marks is thoroughly prepared by our partners at Digital Forms and is based on real-world photos of combat damage on different objects. The marks placed by this tech are not simple 2D textures - thanks to modern graphical techniques they have visual depth. Even the penetrations can look different such as near penetrations when the armor (barely) stopped a projectile. We concentrated on making these marks as realistic looking as possible.
All in all, we think this new tech would make the visual part of the damage system much more interesting and appealing both for aircraft and tanks. Tanks will be adapted first and then aircraft. It is a long-term project that will take several months.
Please be aware though that this tech is visual, it doesn’t affect the physical interaction between the projectiles and aircraft and tank parts or systems. We’re working on the improvements in the physical damage system as well, but we’ll tell you more about that later.
Speaking of this new DVD tech, we must note that due to ever complex issues of graphics performance and network traffic and stability, there are some limitations to what can be done. This may be apparent in some rare cases, but we have to mention them. In certain ‘critical’ cases the mark may not appear or a wrong mark type may appear (like a visual penetration when there was a near penetration in fact). There is also a limit to the total amount of marks that can be placed on the object. In multiplayer, you’ll see the marks on your aircraft or tank, but you’ll only see the marks on other player aircraft or tanks that appeared when they were in your view. To alleviate this limitation, we added a special transmission of the most recent marks to other players even if they were looking the other way.
Because of these compromises, the DVD tech doesn’t replace the current visual damage system completely. The current system of visual ‘damage levels’ guarantees that every player in a multiplayer environment will get the visual cues on how badly a certain object is damaged. DVD is designed to enhance the existing visual damage system and we made every effort to make them work harmoniously during its development. Nevertheless, in multiplayer you’ll see the marks on your aircraft and the marks on your opponents’ aircraft - which is the most important and critical application of this tech. If you saw the hits of someone else projectiles on another player, you’ll also see these marks.
The limitations listed above, however, won’t undermine the improved visual look of the damage system the new DVD tech will bring. We hope we have found the sweet spot between visual quality with the least impact on graphics performance and multiplayer. To illustrate the new system, we would like to show you these WIP in-game screenshots.

[Phantom88]