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Dev blog #355 - 08.12.2023
Dev blog #356 - 26.01.2024
Bye
Phant
IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles / Korea. IL-2 Series
Re: IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles
Il2sturmovik.com ha scritto:
Update 5.201
The huge update 5.201 is live. It contains three major additions and a number of other fixes and improvements.
Flying Circus Vol.III is now officially released and is available on our website and on Steam.
Most of the Flying Circus Vol.III aircraft were already available via the Early Access program - the last one is the R.E.8 two-seater, a very versatile aircraft for its time (it began to reach the front in late 1916). It was designed to carry radio and photographic equipment for reconnaissance and artillery spotting, and a small bomb load on underwing racks. For more information on this airplane, please read our Dev Blog#354.
In total, Flying Circus Vol.III contains 8 early Great War aircraft: the Albatros D.II, Halberstadt D.II, Nieuport 11.C1, French Nieuport 17.C1, Nieuport 17.C1 adapted for British service, and Hanriot HD.1 fighters, and the R.E.8. and F.E.2b two-seater reconnaissance planes.
Updates to the Western Front map to include the entire frontline, many new objects and settlements, and five seasons - Summer, Autumn, late Autumn, Winter, and Spring.
The WWI Pilot's Career mode has also been updated - it now starts earlier, in 1916, includes all available WWI era aircraft including FC Vol.III and Collector, takes advantage of the updated map and uses all of its seasons.
Please note that the updated map and career mode are also available to owners of any Flying Circus volume (If you don't see the new map seasons immediately, please wait a few hours - they are being assigned to eligible accounts on the server). It is recommended that all FC players start a new WWI career, however we have been able to keep the old FC careers playable - they don't include the new additions and are unsupported, but you should be able to finish an existing WWI career if you wish.
Another fascinating addition is a new aircraft type, something we haven't had in the sim before - a player-controlled military glider.
In our simulator, the visual model of the CG-4A glider was restored with great care, and our engineers recreated in its new virtual life all the main features of its control and use. It should be noted that this is a new class of objects for our simulator and we have developed a number of technologies to make its realization possible - for example, a flexible towing cable. In addition to the Quick Mission Builder and multiplayer modes, if you have the Normandy and/or Bodenplatte modules, you can fly them in career mode on the Western Front during the major airborne operations - Overlord, Market Garden, and Varsity.
The third major addition in this update is the short version of the long-awaited IAR-80/81 Collector Plane (the long version is also included in the purchase and will be made available in early 2024 in January or February). We have covered it extensively in our Dev Blog#355.
The I.A.R.80-A fighter series 106-150 is the base model for the short version - it has six 7.92 mm FN Browning machine guns that fire German ammunition. Its flying capabilities were comparable to those of the Yak-1, but later versions of the IAR had more powerful weapons and bombs:
- I.A.R.80-B series 181-200 has four 7.92 mm machine guns rather than six, as well as two 13.2mm FN Browning machine guns that fire 13.2 mm Hotchkiss rounds.
- The I.A.R.80-M has two 20 mm MG-151/20 cannons and two 7.92 mm FN Browning machine guns.
- The I.A.R.81 series 151-175 is equipped with six 7.92 mm FN Browning machine guns and can carry up to three bombs weighing up to 400 kg. The underbelly bomb rack has a distinctive parallelogram mechanism, similar to the Ju 87 dive-bomber, preventing bombs from hitting the propeller during dive bombing.
In addition, the Achtung Spitfire! campaign that previously was only available on our website is now released on Steam.
5.201 Changelist
- The CG-4A Collector Plane has been released;
- Flying Circus Vol. III has been released - R.E.8 two-seater airplane is added to the sim;
- Romanian I.A.R.80/81 fighter is available in Early Access (short version, long version will be added in the next update);
- Added Autumn, Late Autumn/Early Spring, Winter and Summer seasons for the Western Front WWI map (available to either Flying Circus module owners);
- All Flying Circus Vol.III airplanes have been added to the Pilot's Career mode during WWI timeframe;
- The accuracy of AI gunners on player-controlled aircraft matches the "Ace" level on AI-controlled aircraft;
- AI won't turn on the landing light during a daytime approach;
- A tactical number set by the player is saved;
- The send message button in multiplayer chat matches the team color;
- A 100% setting on a control axis should result in 100% value displayed in the technochat instead of 99%;
- T-34 mod. 1942 and PzKpfW III Ausf. L won't be erroneously listed as part of the Bodenplatte module in the equipment selection menu;
- Pilot's Career: new options have been added for fine tuning the difficulty level;
- Assault guns with indirect fire capability (SU-122, SU-152, Stug III Ausf. G, SdKfz 184 Ferdinand) have panoramic sight leveling features to ensure accurate shooting. Ballistic tables added to the Description tab for Stug III Ausf.G and SdKfz 184 Ferdinand ;
- New training scenarios added for SU-122 (firing at stationary targets and indirect fire);
- Removed extra aftersounds from the SHKAS machine guns firing sound;
- Airco DH.4 stabilizer fixed camera position corrected;
- Pilot protection from the shrapnel corrected on British planes when the canopy is closed;
- Albatros D.II lower wing aerodynamics data corrected;
- Li-2 altitude throttle lever function inverted according to its label (forward - poor mixture, reverse - rich);
- La-5 ser. 8 wing sturdiness corrected;
- Overlord campaign is updated and translated into French.
Bye
Phant
Re: IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles
Il2sturmovik.com ha scritto:
Update 5.202
Update 5.202 is live. It brings a lot of new content and improvements in different parts of the sim.
The Battle of Normandy has been expanded to include 9 aircraft instead of the standard 8: Spitfire Mk.IXc, which we released today. As it was a mainstay of the RAF in early 1944, it is a great addition to the career mode during the Normandy period. This addition is retroactive, so all existing owners of Battle of Normandy will get this new bird for free.
The second and last 'long' version of the IAR fighter, I.A.R. 80-B, is also included in this update, which means that IAR-80/81 is officially released. Owners will get two aircraft in the same purchase, the 'short' 80-A and the 'long' 80-B, each with its own set of historical modifications, including fighter/bomber ones, and paint schemes.
In this update we also show some love to our older planes - our engineering team has thoroughly checked and improved the FM of several planes thanks to new historical data found by enthusiasts. P-47 critical AoA and maximum wing lift have been increased and made less stable (please be more careful with the flight stick until you get used to it). All Fw 190-A roll rates have been increased. The P-40 received the 1942 engine modification that allowed it to run on emergency power for a longer period thanks to reinforced ball bearings. WW1 aircraft shaking from damage is reduced and visible damage is tuned to better match actual damage. We were also able to add manual fuel gauges to more aircraft: all Il-2s, all Fw 190-A series, all He 111s, Ju 87, and I-16.
These FM improvements are even more enjoyable because the control mapping process has been streamlined: not only can you search for an assigned command by pressing a button on your control device or entering the command name, but many new on/off commands have been added to assign them to HOTAS switches - parking brakes, engine superchargers, cockpit open/close, bomb bay doors, air brakes, Ju 87 siren, individual engine propeller feathering, etc.
There are also many improvements to mission generation. Flying Circus pilots get their own Advanced Quick Mission Generator on the Western Front WWI map, which was previously only available on WWII maps. There are several improvements to the career mode: the flight altitude over the Western Front during WWII is higher than on the Eastern Front, 12-13,000 feet, and there is a new mission type, Airfield Defense (see other changes below). AI pilots should now generally do a better job of attacking head-on. The historical campaign Lightning Strikes has been heavily reworked and improved, and there are fixes for the Ten Days of Autumn and Steel Birds campaigns.
New experimental mission editor features mentioned in our last DD are also in - to enable them, you can add the line full_editor = 1 to the [SYSTEM] part of the data\startup.cfg file. Changes you make to water and forest maps in the editor will be visible in the game in Mods On mode. The landscape change menu will also be accessible, but it's intended for enthusiast teams working on the new maps (a map with a changed landscape will not load in the game in Mods On mode and will cause an error during loading).
All in all, we have done our best to include something nice for everyone in this update, and we hope you enjoy it!
5.202 Changelist
- The Romanian I.A.R.80/81 fighter is available in both variants (short and long) for all owners of the corresponding Collector Planes kit;
- British Spitfire Mk.IXc fighter is available for all owners of Battle of Normandy;
- Advanced Quick Mission mode has been added to the Western Front WWI map for owners of any Flying Circus module;
- A search by command name and assigned key/axis has been added to the control mapping settings;
- For easy assignment of HOTAS toggle switches, several cyclic commands are duplicated as separate on/off commands: bomb fuses, bomb bay doors, air brakes, Ju 87 siren, engine superchargers, canopy open/close, all propeller feathering, specific engine propeller feathering, tail wheel lock, and parking brakes;
- P-47: updated FM, reduced stability margin to better match historical data, increased maximum wing lift and critical angle of attack;
- P-40: added "Engine V-17190-39 (1942)" modification to reflect improvements in engine design that increased the allowable operating time at emergency modes;
- Fw-190 A-series: roll rate brought to historical values (increased);
- Fuel gauge switch control is implemented on all IL-2s, I-16, all Fw 190-A series, all He 111s and Ju-87;
- Career: the altitude of intercepting and escorting bombers in Rheinland and Normandy careers has been increased to 4000-4500 meters;
- Corrected the visual display of damage and reduced shaking when WWI airplanes are damaged;
- IAR 80/81: its unique bomb control system has been improved to better match the historical prototype - in the bomb drop mode the bombs are released by the main trigger (command "fire all guns");
- Career: updated Airfield Defense mission;
- Career: Spitfire Mk.XIV fighters in Rheinland career are equipped with E-wing (two 12.7mm instead of four 7.7mm machine guns);
- Fixed a problem with AI pilots pulling away from a frontal attack too early;
- Improved routine for detecting an enemy attacking a group of AI planes from blind spots;
- Fixed a problem with AI gunners aiming in tanks with coaxial machine guns;
- Experimental features for editing water and forest maps have been added to the editor: to enable them you can add the line full_editor = 1 to the [SYSTEM] part of the data\startup.cfg file. Water and forest map changes you make in the editor will be visible in the game in Mods On mode. The landscape change menu will be also accessible, but it is intended for enthusiast teams who are working on the new maps (an existing map with an altered landscape won't load in the game in Mods On mode and will result in an error during loading).
- Career: in the transport escort missions for the Eastern Front career, the front line has been restored;
- Career: fighter-bombers have been added as targets in the Attack Intercept and Attack Escort missions;
- Career: Fixed rocket launches in the air without gaining the right altitude in Assault Escort missions;
- Career: fixed very long attack of a target by attacking aircraft on the runway for Attack Escort missions with start on the runway;
- Career: for Transport Escort missions for Eastern Front careers, fixed smoke hanging in the air that should be on the ground;
- Career: redesigned the template for escorting transports that bring cargo to the airfield instead of dropping it on parachute containers, fixed a bug with escorted transports not being able to land;
- Career: Fixed early scoring of mission success when the plane has not even reached its airfield yet;
- Career: Fixed takeoff at Malye Chapurniki airfield on Stalingrad map;
- Career: Added a new engine for AI P-40 fighters in Stalingrad and Kuban careers;
- Western Front" map: fixed takeoff at Braizieux airfield;
- Updated "Lightning Strikes" campaign;
- Added sound for all La and LaGG on the release of the bomb drop button;
- On La-5F and La-5FN, changed the limitation of camera downward movement when the canopy is open;
- IAR 80/81: Bomb racks removed from fighter modifications;
- Fw-190 (all): corrected animation of cockpit canopy opening handle;
- Ju 88 C-6: fixed a bug displaying one of the bombs in the bomb bay;
- Several popular multiplayer servers have their icons in the server list (please contact our Community Manager if you want to assign one to your server);
- Small fixes have been made to the "10 Days of Autumn" and "Steel Birds" campaigns;
- Improved air behavior of parachute containers and Ar 234 rocket boosters;
- Fixed a problem with artillery gun crews when repairing them by MCU Command: Damage.
Bye
Phant
Re: IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles
Il2sturmovik.com ha scritto:
Update 5.203
We have released a new update 5.203, which includes a new ground combat generator mode for Tank Crew owners, which we told you about in one of the previous editions of the Dev Blog, new mission types for the scenario generator and career mode, updated descriptions of all WWII aircraft, added popular campaigns created by enthusiasts AEthelraedUnraed and Juri_JS, and much more (the full list of changes is below).
One of the most important innovations in this version is the introduction of a new dynamic battlefield system in the pilot's career mode to create the most interesting and varied scenarios and to optimize the CPU load (usually, the graphics card's performance limits the saturation of the battleground to a lesser extent because the objects are far apart and they are not rendered with high detail all at once). Since this system directly affects your gaming experience, let's learn more about it.
DYNAMIC RESOURCE ALLOCATION SYSTEM
The new system now works in WWII career mode escort scenarios, where the player's fighter escorts AI-controlled attack, bomber, or transport planes - there are several unique variations, from escorting Ju-52s flying out of the Stalingrad cauldron, or bombers on their way to V-1 launchers in Normandy, to escorting transports with paratroopers during Operation Varsity at the end of the war.
It is based on a dynamic resource accounting mechanism. Both individual combat vehicles and groups of them are assigned a certain performance cost - for example, a truck requires very few CPU resources, while a group of heavy aircraft requires many - and request permission to appear in the game world from the resource controller. The resource controller first checks the amount of resources required, and then, in the case of an aircraft group, the probability of its appearance. The only exceptions to this general rule are such key elements of the scenario as the player's unit, its cover or other groups covered by it, and a group of the player's air targets - they will appear in the mission anyway.
If a unit or group is destroyed, crash-landed, just landed, or otherwise removed from the game world, the controller will use the freed-up resources to create a new group. A bonus effect of introducing this mechanism is that it virtually eliminates the problem of many objects appearing at the same time for ground vehicles, which can cause a noticeable "stutter".
Early warning posts
Enemy interceptors appear in the air for a reason - they are summoned by observation posts located along the front and rear lines. They are organized into three large interception zones along the front line - each zone is assigned its own group of interceptors. The posts request the appearance of interceptor groups from the Resource Controller and then direct them to the group of aircraft to be intercepted: interceptors can either appear in the air at a sufficient distance or take off from their home airfield. In the current implementation, Airborne Warning Posts do not initiate intercepts of single aircraft or groups of fighters that don't cover strike aircraft.
Additional Events
When generating the next day in Pilot Career mode, additional events are selected that may occur on the player's route that day if a friendly aircraft is passing nearby. For example, there could be a pair of enemy fighters on a free hunt or a group of friendly fighters, an enemy reconnaissance plane at high altitude, a group of transport planes flying to the rear, an airfield cover flight of 4 fighters, and so on. They will not suddenly disappear into nowhere - if you follow them, they will fly their full route and land on their airfield, and to save resources, if they are far enough away from enemy planes or the player's plane, they will be removed.
Other changes
Player squadron aircraft are limited to two flights of 4 aircraft each and the second flight if covers the first by default. Large-caliber anti-aircraft guns will stop firing when friendly aircraft are nearby and will not distinguish the player's aircraft from other available targets. Ground vehicle firing modes have been optimized (they pause between bursts of fire).
Effect of career settings on performance
The "Air Forces and AAA" setting has the greatest impact on performance because aircraft consume the most CPU time - it limits the appearance of air groups (other than the player's link) and anti-aircraft artillery units on both sides in the scenario. The higher this setting is, the more aircraft there will be in air groups, the more anti-aircraft artillery units will be operating simultaneously, and the higher the chance of a random event being triggered (and the higher the CPU load).
The "Ground Forces" setting controls the number of ground vehicles to which resources are allocated, independent of the "Air Forces" and "AAA" settings. For example, you can set "Air Forces and AAA" to the minimum and "Ground Forces" to the maximum. By combining these settings, you can find a setting that will allow you to play comfortably in Pilot Career mode on your computer.
As for the "Power Balance" setting, as you can see from its variants "enemy inferiority - parity - enemy superiority", it makes the enemy forces weaker or stronger than the forces of the player's allies, both quantitatively and qualitatively (experience level of pilots, marksmanship, etc.). For example, at the first setting, the chance of a group of enemy interceptors arriving is so low that they may not appear at all, at the equal setting this chance is about 50%, and at the enemy superiority setting they will almost certainly appear.
The new battleground system will be extended to other types of career missions if it receives positive feedback from the community.
5.203 Changelist
- Advanced Quick Mission mode for player-controlled ground vehicles has been added to the Prokhorovka map - it is available to all owners of
- Tank Crew: Clash at Prokhorovka;
- Career: a dynamic battlefield generation system has been added to all scenarios of player flight escorting bombers, attack or transport planes;
- Career: evacuation mission previously only available on the Normandy map has been added to all theaters;
- Career: added night variants of Attack Railway Junction and Traffic Interdiction missions;
- Advanced Quick Mission mode on Western Front WWI map: added Balloon Defense, Artillery Spotting, and Photo Reconnaissance mission types;
- Advanced Quick Mission mode on Normandy and Rheinland maps: added glider towing;
- Descriptions of all World War II aircraft updated: additional instructions added for manual startup and approximate fuel consumption at different modes (work on the descriptions continues);
- Added popular unofficial campaigns: Kerch-Eltigen Operation (Bf 109G-6 pilot in late 1943, by Juri_JS) and Battle of Hürtgenwald (P-47D pilot in late 1944, by AEthelraedUnraed);
- Flying Circus Career mode: corrected career progression of American Sqn. 94 and Sqn. 95, German Jasta Boelcke, Jasta 11, Jasta 12, Jasta 14, Bosta 13, FA(A) 235;
- Flying Circus Career and AQM modes: parked aircraft have been added to all airfields used by players;
- Western Front WWI map: started adding new settlements to a previously mostly empty part of the map;
- Updated campaigns "Lightning Strikes", "Havoc over Kuban", "Hawks over the Bulge";
- Synchronized ShVAK guns on all aircraft have the muzzle velocity of projectiles increased by 25 m/s, from 815 to 840 m/s due to the difference in the length of the rifled part of the barrel;
- All Soviet aircraft from the middle of 1942 (except for I-16 and Il-2 rev. 1941) have late-type HE ShVAK ammo with increased weight to 96 g and increased explosive filling to 5.6 g;
- Fixed taxiing on High Halden and Woodchurch airfields on the Normandy map;
- Fixed mission point placement near the edge of the map in free hunt missions;
- Corrected the audible ranges of airplane engines in first-person view;
- Fixed a problem with the vertical stretching of modification pictures in the equipment customization menu;
- Bf 109 G-2: fixed wrong technochat message about negative propeller pitch value ("-1%");
- Bf 109 G-6: added MK108 cannon reloading tumbler animation;
- P-38J-25: fixed uneven clock hands animation;
- P-47D-28: corrected animation of gyroscopic sight sun filter handle;
- Typhoon Mk.2b: fixed animation of the right rudder trimmer;
- Yak-9 and Yak-9T: fixed bug with collimator reticle not disabling when the reflector is broken;
- Fw 190 A-3 and A-5: fixed minor graphical bugs in the wing model.
Bye
Phant
Re: IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles
Il2sturmovik.com ha scritto:
Update 5.204
We're glad to present you with another update of the sim - 5.204. It brings the new Collector Plane, the very late war Ta 152 H-1. This unique machine was a pinnacle of German piston engine technology of its time, designed to be able to engage Allied bomber formations at very high altitudes and prevail over Mustangs and Spitfires. You could say it was over-engineered with its two-stage three-speed (!) supercharger and two simultaneous boost systems (MW-50 water-methanol for altitudes up to 10 km and GM-1 nitrous oxide for 11+ km). Yes, this is not a typo - this piston-engine aircraft could not only climb above the modern airliners (its ceiling was 13 km), but also be able to dogfight there.
Like most late-war German war machines, there were too few of them to make a difference. By the spring of 1945, when it was too late to intercept Allied bomber formations - Allied ground forces were advancing into the Reich from both the east and the west - only about two dozen aircraft were combat-ready. The few planes were used in the usual fighter roles and, ironically, much closer to the ground than they were built for - covering the takeoffs and landings of the new jet-powered aircraft (see below). This is similar to the story of the Allied P-47 Thunderbolts, which were designed for high-altitude combat and had special systems for it, but ended up spending a good part of their flying time close to the ground because they proved to be the best ground attack fighters of the US Air Army Air Forces. The Ta 152 Pilot's Career mode is only available on the Rhineland map (I./JG 11 since March 1st, 1945), but for player convenience, it is also available in the Scenario Quick Mission (AQM) mode on the Normandy map, and of course on every map in the game in simple Quick Missions.
There is a new mission type available for the late war German Career Mode - Jet Airfield Cover, where you should prevent the Allied fighters from shooting down jet aircraft near the airfields where they were stationed. New jet aircraft such as the Me 262 and the Arado 234 were hunted by the Allies when they were most vulnerable - during takeoff, when their speed was still low, or during landing, when their speed was already low. One such episode is shown in our promo video.
The Jet Airfield Cover mission type is available not only to Ta 152, but also Fw 190 D-9 and several Bf 109 squadrons that were flying it historically.
Another important change is the increase of the maximum amount of buttons and axes on a controller from 64 to 128 - modern joystick and throttle combinations could exceed the old limit when connected to one another. This shouldn't be a problem anymore.
Last but not least - please check out the new section on our website, Museum. We have been preparing it for some time, here you can find the historical information about the aircraft and ground vehicles modeled in our sim.
5.204 Changelist
- Ta 152 H-1 Collector Plane has been released;
- Maximum number of active buttons increased from 64 to 128 buttons per device;
- Rhineland Career: a new Jet Airfield Cover mission type is available for Fw 190 D-9, Ta 152 and some Bf 109 squadrons (I./JG 27, III./JG 27, IV./JG 27, II./JG 54, I./JG 26, I./JG 27, I./JG 11, II./JG 26, III./JG 26);
- Bf 109 E-7: Romanian Air Force color scheme added;
- Fixed a problem with assigning a command to the 64th button of a controller. Please note that previously added command assignments to this key will need to be reassigned;
- Career and AQM: Fixed landing at High Halden airfield from east to west;
- Career and AQM: fixed taxiing at Dortmund airfield;
- Kuban Career: fixed action point generation at wrong coordinates (a corner of the map);
- Stalingrad Career: removed missions of gunboat artillery spotting in winter;
- Career: fixed a bug where cover fighters mentioned in the mission briefing failed to arrive;
- Career: fixed a bug in Bomb Artillery Position missions when the attacking planes failed to drop the bombs;
- Fixed a randomly occurring bug with technochat being disabled in multiplayer when one of the players logs out of the server;
- Improved MK 108 cannon firing sound on external views.
Bye
Phant
