IL*2 Great Battles News

[Phantom88]

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/40150-developer-diary-206-discussion/

206

Hello everybody,

We're another week closer to our target. We've made good progress in Bodenplatte development - Koln (Cologne), Brussels and Charleroi buildings are already placed on the map. The size of the cities and their number required to invent and successfully implement the new development approach. It allows recreating the basic city layout without compromising the schedule and visual quality. Here are some screens:




It should be noted that Flying Circus map and its cities will be created in the same way, so Lille and Amiens would look like this as well. Meanwhile, our development partners for Flying Circus project were also busy and today we can show you the first in-game screenshots of the fourth WWI aircraft that will be released, German fighter Pfalz D.IIIa. Both Pfalz D.IIIa and Sopwith Camel are already working in the game engine and we're waiting for their 3D models and cockpit texturing to be finished.

 

[eddie]

Looking good!

 

[Phantom88]

Hello everybody,

Today's Dev Blog will be a short one - we have a lot of work to do at the moment. Right now we're finishing five aircraft: Bf 109 K-4 and P-47D-28 for Bodenplatte, Pfalz D.IIIa and Sopwith Camel for Flying Circus and Po-2VS Collectors Plane. Two maps, Prokhorovka map (the map of the Southern part of the Kursk salient, to be correct) for Tank Crew and Western Europe map for Bodenplatte are also shaping up nicely.

The engineer department continues their work on near-sonic aerodynamics required for late WWII aircraft. The interface is also being worked on - Marschal interface for multiplayer and tank (platoon) commander for Tank Crew. Speaking of more imminent changes, we plan to improve the in-game statistics and 'who gets the kill' logic in the next update.
Today we can show you the in-game shots of Fw-190 D-9 Collector Plane:

 

[Phantom88]

208

Hello Everybody,
This week our Executive Producer, Jason Williams, paid a visit to our Moscow studio. Of course, we have many discussions about potential ways of improving the project in the near future and more distant plans. We can't disclose what we're discussing yet, but when we'll be able to tell you we're sure you'll be surprised and amused by the new prospects.




Meanwhile, we continue our current work and can show you some new WIP screenshots. First, the new late WWII German pilot for Bodenplatte:





Second, here are the first in-game Pfalz D.IIIa cockpit shots:





And third, here is a sneak peek from our partners, Digital Forms - these images show the 3D models of the PzKpfw IV Ausf.G and M4A2 "Sherman" powertrains:

 

[eddie]

That's a great looking Dora!!!!

 

[huub vink]

Looks good! Bodenplatte is a certain buy once I have a new computer .

Is it possible to post some images from the West of the Netherlands?

Thanks,
Huub

 

[Phantom88]

209
Dear Pilots,
I am wrapping up another trip to our Moscow studio where we discussed the current successes and future challenges that face our team and IL-2 Great Battles series. As always, we have a strong team and the will to keep powering on pushing the limits of ourselves and our products. Battle of Bodenplatte is coming along nicely along with the PO-2 which we will officially rename the U-2 to be more historically correct. This cool little bi-plane is finally nearing the final stage. Matter of fact, we had a real pilot who has experience flying an actual U-2 test our FM. He really liked it and gave us some small pointers that we will incorporate into the FM.
Additionally, Flying Circus work continues as does Tank Crew work including tank platoon commands and the more complex damageable buildings for the Prokhorovka map.
Before I catch my flight back to the U.S. here are some pics of the skins that will ship with the P-47 D-28 “Jug” and the updated faces of our American USAAF pilot and our WWI Entente pilots. Per your feedback we have made them look younger. Quite a rugged, good looking fellow custom fit for the part.
See you soon when I’m back in America.
Jason
P.S. Some of the textures on the ordinance is not finished yet so don’t panic.

​

 

[Phantom88]

210

Hello everybody,

The last month of Autumn has begun and we're preparing the next update for our three projects. We plan to release it in two weeks (doh!) or so and today we'll tell you about the upcoming additions. Of course, the stars of the show are FOUR new aircraft, two for Bodenplatte and two for Flying Circus.

USAF P-47D-28 Thunderbolt is one of the biggest, powerful and menacing single-engine fighters of WWII. Its radial 18-cylinder engine with turbocharger, intercooler and water injection boost system enables this monster to reach 700 km/h at 7000 m altitude. Eight 12.7 mm M2.50 Browning machine guns with 3400 rounds total give a new meaning to the phrase 'spray and pray'. In addition, for strike missions, this fighter can be equipped with six unguided rockets and up to three 500 and 1000 pound bombs (225 and 455 kg). Being a late war aircraft, it has many interesting design peculiarities you'll be able to experience in the near future.





Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109 K-4 "Kurfürst" is a glaring example of the inconsistency of the late war aircraft production in the Third Reich. This plane combines the newest weapon and engine technologies with maximum possible simplification and cost-cutting of the secondary systems. Its engines are a pinnacle of DB-605 line - standard DB-605 DB with water-methanol injection system and DB-605 DC with higher boost and power - and both of them will be available in our sim. Armed with 30 mm MK-108 gun and 13 mm MG-131 machine guns, it could also carry 250 or 500 kg bombs for strike missions (this is the first Bf 109 modification in our project that can carry a 500 kg bomb). It is interesting to note that this modification could retract its tailwheel to reach higher speeds - up to 715 km/h at 6200 m.




Royal Air Force Sopwith Camel was one of the mainstay fighters of World War I. It was a contradictory machine, but in the right hands, it could face any foe. Carrying 168 liters of fuel (a very big reserve for its time), it could go on long patrols. This amount of fuel hampered its performance and made it hard to control and inert in a dogfight while full, but with about a half of fuel spent, the aircraft got a second breath and its horizontal and vertical maneuverability became on par with the best fighters of that time. Its two 7.69 Vickers Mk.I machine guns (late modification with the rate of fire increased to 750 instead of 500 and 745 m/s muzzle speed) were linked belt fed instead of fabric ones, reducing the misfire chance. It could also carry four 20 lb Cooper bombs.




The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte Pfalz D.IIIa was a second line fighter mainly used for escorting bombers and attacking the enemy balloons. It had very simple cockpit instruments because of the cost-cutting. Its one-and-a-half plane airframe (a design previously adopted by the French) was sturdy enough to sustain higher loads during sharp turns and dives. Its armament is standard for a late WWI German aircraft - two 7.92 mm Luftgekühltes Maschinengewehr LMG 08/15 (based on the original design of Hiram Maxim) with 650 RPM rate of fire and muzzle speed of 825 m/s, fabric belt fed. This fighter had an advantage of an excellent field of view, especially in the upper hemisphere.





For Tank Crew - Battle of Prokhorovka project we plan to release 4 new player controllable tanks and the map of the southern part of the Kursk salient, but it will happen early next year. However, you'll see the new functionality being developed for this project earlier - it should be noted it will benefit not only the tankers but pilots as well. For instance, in the coming update, you'll experience the higher fidelity damage modeling for AI controllable ground objects such as trucks and tanks. Before, there was no difference where you hit a truck, but in the new system, each 'simple' vehicle has many types of simulated parts - wheels or trucks, engine, ammo rack, fuel tanks, driver, turret, main gun. By hitting a simple AI vehicle at these parts you can immobilize it or render it inoperable by damaging a turret or main gun if any. Statistics system will consider it destroyed if its ammo, explosive cargo or fuel tanks detonated or its crew was killed or its engine was destroyed or its suspension has been rendered inoperable (at least two wheels or tracks damaged). All this not only makes the tank missions more interesting but also increases the simulation accuracy of the ground attack missions for pilots. We also develop two scenario campaigns (USSR and Germany) for Tank Crew, each one containing 10 missions set in the second week of July 1943 near Prokhorovka.




Another important change in the upcoming update is the adjusted logic used for scoring a kill. Previously, an aircraft was considered destroyed and a kill was awarded for it if it was damaged enough to prevent it from continuing the mission (for example, heavy damage of the controls, no fuel left, engine damage). Now, the 'aircraft lost' and 'kill awarded' events will be separated and their logic will be adjusted. An aircraft will be considered lost if its fuselage or wing at the base is broken, its pilot is killed or ejected. The victory, on the other hand, will be awarded if the scored hits were followed by the mission exit or disconnect in multiplayer, 'aircraft lost' event or the landing far from an allied airfield. Thus we motivate multiplayer players to try to reach a friendly airfield even if their aircraft is heavily damaged - even a hard landing there (as long as you don't break a wing at its base or fuselage) won't count your aircraft as lost and your enemy won't get the kill.



We'll have other multiplayer improvements in the coming update as well: we have managed to find a way to synchronize weapon fire events on different multiplayer clients better, minimizing the total time of the delay to the total client-server-client ping and optimize the net delay compensation routines for transmitting aircraft positions and orientations. Server ping calculations will be also corrected - this is required for further improvements in the multiplayer lobby. Of course, we never forget about the singleplayer experience too - in the same update, we'll add 2-3 new mission types for Career mode, including Cargo airdrop and Free hunt.

 

[Phantom88]

211

Dear Pilots,

The team continues to make ready our next update (3.007) and they are too busy to showcase anything from the upcoming update in this diary entry. So, today we’d like to show you some of the USAAF and RAF squadron emblems we have commissioned for Battle of Bodenplatte. These have been created by our good friend Isaac ‘Spektre76’ Chavira who is a member of our awesome IL-2 community. He has done a great job of researching and recreating these colorful and fun squadron emblems.

USAAF squadrons had a unique approach to designing squadron insignia. The style was usually cartoonish and drew inspiration from animated movies which were extremely popular during the 1940s. RAF squadron insignia were very regal in their design sporting crowns, banners and even jewels. These insignia will be incorporated into the Bodenplatte Pilot Career later in 2019. We hope you enjoy.

 

[Phantom88]

Update 3.007

Dear friends,

We just published another IL-2 Sturmovik update - 3.007. In this update we release 4 new aircraft: P-47D-28 and Bf 109 K-4 for Bodenplatte and Sopwith Camel and Pfalz D.IIIa for Flying Circus. But of course, these planes aren't the only addition - the two months weren't spent in vain and we have added numerous improvements to the sim.

First, as announced before, we're adding new mission types to the Career mode. Second, there are many fixes that should make the multiplayer experience smoother. Third, important changes in the game stats adjust the kill registering logic. Fourth, the damage modeling of simple AI controlled vehicles is much more detailed now. Fifth, FM now takes into account the compress-ability of the air at high speeds - this complex modeling was required for late war aircraft, but it works for any plane in our sim. Sixth, pilot AI has been improved. There are other numerous changes in graphics, user interface, physics and aircraft systems, etc.

Some words on the new aerodynamics feature presented in this new update:

Our physics engine now includes the aerodynamic effect of air compress-ability at high Mach numbers. Our lead engineer has done the hard work of adding this phenomenon to the simulation so we take another step forward in our physics engine. As it is well known, when an aircraft’s speed approaches the speed of sound, many aerodynamic characteristics change; the drag increases a lot, the lift changes in a complicated way, the center of pressure and the aerodynamic center moves backwards. All of these factors affect the maneuverability, the stability and control-ability of the aircraft. When this happens the available G-load factor goes down, the turn rate decreases while the radius of trajectory does up and when pulling hard the airplane enters a stall earlier. Some airplanes have a tendency to become unrecoverable while in a dive at extremely high speed. As we plan to have high-speed piston and jet airplanes in Bodenplatte we could not ignore this aerodynamic effect. However, all airplanes in the Great Battles series now has this feature. So, dog-fighting at high altitude and high speed is getting another step closer to reality

You can read the whole list of 100+ improvements that come with 3.007 below:

Main features:

1. P-47D-28 "Jug" available to all Bodenplatte owners;
2. Bf 109 K-4 "Kurfürst" available to all Bodenplatte owners;
3. Sopwith Camel available to all Flying Circus Vol. 1 owners;
4. Pfalz D.IIIa available to all Flying Circus Vol. 1 owners;
5. New mission type for Career mode: Cargo paradrop for Ju-52/3mg4e;
6. New mission type for Career mode: Special squad paradrop for Ju-52/3mg4e;
7. New mission type for Career mode: Free Hunt for fighter planes;
8. Major FM change: air compressibility at high speeds now modeled;
9. New late war Luftwaffe pilot models added to Bf 109 G-14 and Fw 190 A-8;
10. Multiplayer: a kill will be awarded immediately only if an enemy pilot was killed, bailed out or his aircraft crumbled;
11. Multiplayer: a kill won't be awarded if a pilot manages to return and land at a friendly airfield (with the exception of point 12, see below);
12. In mission statistics, an aircraft will be scrapped only if its fuselage or a wing at its base has been ruptured;
13. New, more detailed damage modeling is used for simple (AI controlled) vehicles - it is now possible to damage their engines, wheels or tracks, crew and ammo rack;

Multiplayer changes:

14. Engine sounds of other players planes won't randomly disappear;
15. Gunfire sounds of other players planes won't randomly disappear;
16. Net traffic generated by multiplayer clients has been optimized, which should improve the performance of multiplayer servers;
17. Other players position prediction routine has been optimized, resulting in a smoother multiplayer experience;
18. The delay between a player pushing the fire button and other players actually seeing his aircraft fire has been minimized to the best possible extent;
19. Other players gun convergence displayed correctly;
20. APHE and HEAT rounds fired by other players won't generate a double sound effect;
21. Server ping values appear correctly in the server list;
22. The coalition flag in the game world switches correctly;
23. Binary mission logs are now saved correctly (needed for mission stats debugging);
24. An exploit linked to navigation markers on the fullscreen map has been fixed;
25. Right Ju-52 engine animation fixed;
26. AA searchlights function correctly in multiplayer;

Visual changes:

27. FPS in forest areas with lots of trees visible has been improved a lot thanks to the tree rendering optimization;
28. Aerobatics smoke effect has been improved;
29. Wrong 'black debris' effect issue while hitting enemy planes has been addressed;
30. Distant forests won't appear too white in morning or evening fog;
31. Water drops now appear on the pilot goggles in VR;
32. Water drops on windshield have been removed during winter (unrealistic);
33. Oil drops from the damaged engine will appear on the pilot goggles only if he peeks out around the windshield;
34. Engine start effect has been improved;
35. Flying Circus aircraft now has the new fire and leak effects like the rest;
36. Mission designers can place colored smoke signals in custom missions;
37. Too subtle sun glare effect has been improved on the Moscow winter map;

GUI changes:

38. Tank Crew commands now have their own input settings section;
39. Starting altitude shouldn't reset in QMB;
40. Wrong aircraft type issue in QMB has been fixed;
41. Air turbulence and wind direction randomness work correctly in QMB;
42. Wind direction randomness near the ground works correctly in QMB;
43. Precipitations during bad weather work correctly in QMB once again;
44. Mission track records will be named correctly;
45. Mouse pointer won't disappear after opening Settings menu while replaying a track record;
46. GUI shouldn't flash after alt-tabbing anymore;
47. With Imperial units selected in settings, the atmospheric pressure is indicated in mm Hg in Career missions forecast;
48. Speed tooltip appears correctly while hovering the mouse cursor over a waypoint;
49. Career interface won't glitch after exiting a Career briefing using the top navigation buttons;
50. Chat messages delay in singleplayer has been corrected;
51. A possible crash bug tied to changing settings during a mission has been fixed;
52. Technochat has been optimized, making the game smoother in many situations;
53. Technochat tips have been moved to the main chat area;

FM and instruments changes:

54. Engine oil in case of a leak or engine failure won't be splattered on the windshield or pilot goggles for P-39;
55. Aircraft fuel tanks may detonate (the probability depends on the amount of fuel left);
56. Fuel tank explosion correctly nullifies the fuel reserve;
57. You need a greater sideslip motion to put off the fire on Flying Circus aircraft;
58. Collimator reticles look better;
59. Revi 16B sight reticle made more authentic (Bf 109 G-14 and Fw 190 A-8;
60. In addition to critical aircraft damage or loss of controls on one axis (lateral or longitudinal) the tip suggesting to bail out will appear in the following additional cases:
- no fuel left,
- engine damage makes a horizontal flight impossible,
- fire on board;
61. Artificial engine assistant now uses different mixture control lever positions:
- He-111 H6/H16: decreased from 10 to 5 positions,
- Hs-129 B2: increased from 4 to 5 positions,
- Spitfire Mk.VB: decreased from 3 to 2 positions,
- Spitfire Mk.IXe: decreased from 4 to 2 positions;
62. Artificial engine assistant now uses less different cowl flaps positions on Fw-190 A5 and А8 (3 instead of 5, like on other aircraft);
63. Radio direction finders corrected for all aircraft (inverted);
64. An error in aerodynamic momentum calculations while pushing the Bf-109 G14 rudder to the left has been corrected;
65. Spitfire Mk.VB and Mk.IXe coolant boiling temperature increased from 115°С to 140°С (MSL) and for MiG-3 increased from 115°С to 120°С (MSL);
66. Different mixture error that appeared while controlling Bf-110 G2 left and right engine throttles separately and that caused the power difference between them has been fixed;
67. Bailing out tip added for Fokker Dr.1;
68. Indication errors corrected in Fokker Dr.I fuel and speed gauges;
69. Fokker Dr.I and SPAD 13.C1 descriptions corrected;
70. Bomb lever delay fixed on SPAD 13.C1;
71. The default amount of fuel in GUI corrected for different aircraft;
72. All FLying Circus airplanes ground collision made more detailed;
73. Fokker Dr.I and SPAD 13.C1 visual damage appearance corrected;
74. SPAD 13.C1: erroneous speed, water temperature and fuel tank pressure readings corrected;
75. SPAD 13.C1: upper wing fuel tank leak and fire effects added;
76. SPAD 13.C1: bombs can be dropped only one after another;
77. Oil leak effect added to all Flying Circus planes;

AI changes:

78. AI fighters, AA guns, etc. will continue to engage a target even if is criticaly damaged;
79. AI planes pursuing a target evade the ground better;
80. AI wingmen following the leader evade the ground better;
81. AI pilots check their speed and altitude before attempting Split-S and downward spiral maneuvers;
82. AI maneuver more efficiently after passing each other in a dogfight;
83. AI wingmen keep formation a bit better;
84. AI pilots take off correctly from Nizhny Balikley airfield in Stalingrad Career;
85. Turrets aiming at enemy planes corrected;
86. AIs controlling detailed (Tank Crew) tanks takes into account the different ballistics of various ammo types;
87. AIs aim the tank guns better;

Other changes:

88. Pilots bailing out from Flying Circus planes are animated better;
89. IL-2 mod. 1943 gunner bails out correctly;
90. Sound volume balance between engine and wind sound has been adjusted;
91. The issue when the first login attempt resulted in failure message has been addressed;
92. Burning fuel tanks sound added;
93. Mouse control pointer (in mouse control mode) won't disappear if aircraft suffers heavy damage;
94. MG fire heard from inside of a tank has been made different and more realistic;
95. Blazing Steppe campaign: secondary task labels removed, scenarios #3, 7 and 12 containing Ju 87 groups have been corrected;
96. Steam locomotive explosion power has been reduced;
97. Destroyed Pz 38t and Marder III H burn correctly;
98. Iron sights textures won't blink on IL-2 mod. 1943;
99. Water drops correctly appear on all He 111 H-6 windows;
100. Ju 52/3mg4e gauge dials made clearer;
101. Rogue (enemy) Pe-2 won't appear while playing for USSR after January 16th in Stalingrad Career.

 

[sixstrings5859]

Awesome ! Once i get another gaming computer,(had to sell my last one), i'll be sure to get the whole series. Into IL-2 '46 for now,(4 installs), and my current rig handles them fine. I know i need a better rig for this. Looks are amazing ! Good progress so far. Have WOFF and ROF ,just not on my stand in rig.Had to pay for medical bills,so i had to sell a lot of stuff. Started saving up for a new rig and hopefully will have enough in 6/9 months. By then, i'm sure things will have progressed even further! Thanks for keeping the combat flight sim world alive and well. Not like the past,but at least the sims out now are so much better and immersive. Thanks to all. Regards,Scott

 

[Sascha66]

Amazing work, this is what I have always waited for - the way it's meant to look!

 

[Phantom88]

Hello everybody,

Today we'd like to dedicate our Dev Blog to the tank part of our sim. We attempt not only to create the authentic visual models of the tanks and model their movement, armament, and damage realistically. We also want to create an interesting gameplay, based on historical events, as usual, that will not only entertain you for some time but let you experience what a real tank warfare in a meeting engagement situation was like.

The air part of our sim started at the great battle of WWII that changed its course and the course of world history, the Battle of Stalingrad. Following this principle, we start the tank part with one of the key tank battles on the Eastern front that decided the entire 1943 campaign - Prokhorovka.

Beginning the campaign development for "Tank Crew – Clash at Prokhorovka" we faced the fact that a usual, common for flight sims approach just won't work - its unlikely that any single tank crew in July 1943 survived several large-scale engagements in a row (especially a Soviet one) and participated in all key points of the large Prokhorovka battle we'd like to reconstruct in our scenarios.

Therefore we have decided not to link the scenarios with a personal story of one of the tank crewmen, but concentrate on creating a coherent story about July 6 -17 engagements. The mission briefings will include first-person remarks, but there will be several plot lines. This will allow you to experience the battle of Prokhorovka from several locations and command 2-3 different combat vehicles in the course of one campaign.


"Breaking point" (tentative title)
Soviet campaign

This campaign will be dedicated to the heroic deed of Soviet tankmen of Rotmistrov 5th Guards Tank Army that disrupted the German offensive at the center of the southern part of the Kursk salient at the cost of their lives. The massive, but poorly prepared counterblow on July 12th stopped the German advance and eventually pushed them back to their initial positions. The later missions of the campaign will cover the subsequent, less known stage of the battle of Kursk on July 13th - 15th at the interfluve of Donets river.

Timeframe: July 6th - 15th, 1943.
Controllable tanks: T-34-76 mod. 1943, KV-1s
Duration: 10 missions
Average playing time: 5 hours


"Last chance" (tentative title)
German campaign

This campaign will tell about the operations of the tank units of Army Group South during Operation Citadel. Having breached two army defense lines, German forces reached Prokhorovka as early as at the evening of July 6th and were close to capturing this key area. However, instead of continuing their advance they were forced to defend against numerous Soviet counterstrikes that culminated in the massive battle on July 12th. The second part of the campaign will be dedicated to German attempts to encircle and destroy Soviet 48th Corps at interfluve of Donets river and the forced retreat of the German 2nd Tank Corps to initial positions when the entire offensive failed.

Timeframe: July 6th - 17th, 1943.
Controllable tanks: PzKpfw III Ausf.M, PzKpfw IV Ausf.G, PzKpfw VI Ausf.H1 "Tiger"
Duration: 10 missions
Average playing time: 5 hours

To make our feature about Tank Crew – Clash at Prokhorovka more visual, we can show you several WIP screenshots of the new tanks made by our partners - Digital Forms. They are planned to be released in Early Access early next year:
- T-34-76 mod. 1943 produced by Nizhny Tagyl tank factory #183 in name of Communist International ("Uralvagonzavod") and
- Panzerkampfwagen IV (Sd.Kfz.161) Asufuehrung G produced by Nibelungenwerke of St. Valentin






o accompany them, here are WIP screenshots of Prokhorovka map being developed by our mapping team. The new landscape scaling tech has been developed specially for this map - by reducing the total size of the map from 400x400 km to 100x100km we were able to make its heightmap 16 times more detailed. The detailed area of the Prokhorovka map is still in development, but other parts of this map are more polished. We'd like to note that it is suitable not only for tank engagements, but also for aerial ones and, of course, for joint multiplayer battles that unfold both on the ground and in the air simultaneously. To illustrate this, today we can show you the views of Belgorod that is also there:

 

[Phantom88]

Dear Friends,

The Вattle of Stalingrad was one of the decisive events of the World War II and there is still a lot of interest in it. New historical research and data from archives allow us to continue to reveal little-known, but important events and facts. The Blazing Steppe campaign, released in 2017, told the story of Soviet fighters in August-September 1942, but this time we invite you to experience the battle from the German side.

We are proud to announce a new historical campaign - "Fortress on the Volga" for IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad. We are now accepting Pre-Orders!
The campaign is scheduled to be released later this month.



The campaign is set during the peak of fighting between the Red Army Air Force and the Luftwaffe during Autumn 1942 in the skies above Stalingrad. Continuous German ground assaults on the destroyed city were met with ever more powerful Soviet counterstrikes. The fight for air superiority was just as furious and dangerous. You'll be the deputy Staffel commander in I./JG 52 that has been redirected to Stalingrad from the central part of the Eastern front.

Although a completely independent campaign, "Fortress on the Volga" continues to tell the story of a German pilot that began in our "Ten Days of Autumn" campaign.

All missions are based on historical events and contain a number of additions and innovations compared to the previous Scripted Campaigns:
- While "Ten Days of Autumn" was a semi-educational campaign that introduced you to the new game mode, "Fortress on the Volga" (like "Blazing Steppe") offers a normal difficulty level. It will be challenging!
- The mission structure has been changed. Now there is a possibility that additional aircraft groups will appear in the vicinity. This can either simplify or substantially complicate your task, ultimately increasing the replayability of the whole campaign.
- Whenever possible, air and ground battles will continue for another 15-20 minutes after the mission’s objective has been completed.
- A large number of new maps and operation records available from the Ministry of Defense archives allowed us to recreate the movement of the front-lines not only near Stalingrad, but also at the defense lines occupied by the Soviet 57th and 51st armies to the South of the city and along the Don to the Northwest in detail.

 

[Phantom88]

 

[Phantom88]

Update 3.009

Dear friends,

Trying to squeeze in more functionality, new content, improvements and additions for you before the holidays, we've prepared another update 3.009. This time, the main feature of this update is the new content: Collector Plane, famous Soviet light bomber U-2VS. At the moment it can be used in QMB and multiplayer modes, but we'll add new Career mission types especially for it (Stalingrad and Kuban ToWs) next month.






There are two new scripted campaigns available. One made by =BlackSix= happens at Stalingrad after 'Blazing Steppe' and continues the story of the German pilot that started in '10 Days of Autumn' campaign, while another made by =Gambit21= is dedicated to A-20 squadron operating in the skies of Kuban.



As usual, the update also brings numerous improvements and additions, upping the overall quality of the sim:

1. New Collector Plane U-2VS;
2. New scenario campaign 'Fortress on the Volga' by Alexander =BlackSix= Timoshkov;
3. New scenario campaign 'Havoc over the Kuban' by =Gambit21=;
4. New Career mission "Troop concentration night bombing strike";
5. New Career mission "Enemy airfield night bombing strike";
6. New Career mission "Railway hub night bombing strike";
7. New Career mission "Supply dump night bombing strike";
8. New Career mission "River crossing night bombing strike";
9. Our community enthusiast =BlackHellHound1= remade all outer textures of Bf 109 F-2 (main texture, bump, specular, damage) and made historically accurate skins for it in 4К;
10. Three new skins for Fokker Dr.I;
11. Two new skins for SPAD 13.C1;
12. The delay, when a new player connects to a server, has been minimized for other players;
13. Projectile hits at turret gunners now calculated properly (they weren't counted properly before);
14. 76 mm APHE rounds won't erroneously damage the internal components without penetrating the armor;
15. P-47D-28 skin damage has been corrected (increased);
16. Airfields surface on Velikiye Luki map has been flattened;
17. It is now possible to lean to the gunsight closer than before on all aircraft;
18. Visual propeller damage corrected on Ju-52 (previously damaging the right propeller would visually damage the left one);
19. Inability to start a new Career from an old one (lack of available units) has been fixed;
20. After spending all ammo of one kind in a tank the interface won't erroneously show the full ammo;
21. Escape menu works correctly even if there are no vehicles in the mission;
22. Wrong waypoint labels corrected in scenario campaigns;
23. Mission briefings text rendering corrected in scenario campaigns;
24. The random mirroring issue of a pilot portrait in Career has been fixed;
25. Creating new Career in Stalingrad ToW has been fixed for certain units;
26. An issue of jumping reflections in the water caused by mirrors has been fixed;
27. Vehicle pathfinding issue that could cause slow performance loss has been fixed;
28. Formation movement AI on land and water has been improved - the leader won't slow down if it is possible;
29. Collision detection routine improved (the detailed tanks shouldn't twitch in certain situations anymore);
30. Formation movement has been improved overall;
31. The bug that caused AI pilots to miss ground targets has been fixed;
32. AI checks the altitude in a downward spiral maneuver;
33. Bombs and rockets equipped AIs should correctly engage ground targets in QMB;
34. Modifier object: it is now possible to assign negative values to a counter. Both the current value and trigger threshold can be set for a timer;
35. Timer: when a new trigger signal is received, the timer resets;
36. Modifier and timer: parameter index 0 now controls the current timer value while parameter index 1 controls the timer threshold;
37. Modifier and timer: timer can be reset and stopped by parameter index 0 and value -1;
38. Fw 190 A-8: canopy raindrops added for Sturmjager modification;
39. Fw 190 A-8: windshield cleaner corrected for Sturmjager modification ;
40. Fw 190 A-8: too dark materials corrected at some places;
41. Fw 190 A-8: rocket control box decreased in size;
42. Fw 190 A-8: pilot model holds the control stick;
43. Bf 109 G-14: pilot model holds the control stick.

 

[Phantom88]

Hello everybody,

So, this is the end of 2018. It was a very interesting year for us, it brought many new, but long-awaited changes and improvements to the project. Almost 500 points were listed in the update changelists in total and there were more minor, unlisted ones which are impossible to count. All this combined upped the quality of the sim to a new level. And right now we continue the development of our three Early Access projects: Battle of Bodenplatte, Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka and Flying Circus Volume 1.

For the main project, Bodenplatte, we're working on several new aircraft at once. Having completed the implementation of the air compressibility and significant improvements to the damage model (they are already in the public version of the sim), our Lead Engineer is creating the physical model of the jet engine for Me 262. Of course, this work opens up the possibility to widen our aircraft pool in the future.

Our partner Ugra Media makes the new WWI aircraft for Flying Circus - Fokker D.VII, Fokker D.IIF and Sopwith Dolphin. They'll start the work on the Arras area map (1918) soon.

The new tanks for Tank Crew that are being made by our partner Digital Forms are more than half complete already: M4A2, T-34 mod. 1943, PzKpfw IV Ausf.G and PzKpfw III Ausf.M. Meanwhile, we're making the map of the southern part of the Kursk salient ourselves. Soon we'll be able to tell you more about the tank commander and tank platoon commander functionality which will be the backbone of Tank Crew gameplay. 3D models of Soviet and German crewmembers are ready and will be added to the sim as soon as their animations are complete. The scenarios for two, German and Soviet, tank campaigns are ready, so soon we'll start to make the missions themselves. The detailed buildings tech that includes higher detailed 3D models and the physics of their destruction is nearly finished and we had a bit of time to make this short video for you:



[video=youtube;fwkTxyh21-g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=23&v=fwkTxyh21-g[/video]

 

[Phantom88]

***DD #214 NEWS***
https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/42738-developer-diary-214-discussion/

 

[Phantom88]

 

[Phantom88]