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    Operation Desert Storm: 30th Anniversary Edition
    Menrva
    By Menrva,
    Welcome To Duty Built with the extraordinary expertise and dedication of modders from CombatACE.com, Operation Desert Storm – 30th Anniversary Edition promises to be the most complete total conversion ever made for Strike Fighters 2 by ThirdWire. Fly with more than 50 aircraft ranging from Cold War relics to the most advanced platforms. Gain air superiority in the mighty F-15C Eagle or challenge the Coalition with the agile Fulcrum. Support troops with the A-10A Thunderbolt II, bomb strategic targets with the stealthy F-117A Nighthawk, lead airfield denial operations in the iconic Tornado. Enjoy a beautifully rendered scenario on a scaled and accurate terrain. Fly over the lakes and rivers of Mesopotamia, the oil-rich fields of Kuwait, the mountains of Iran and Turkey. Take-off from aircraft carriers stationed in the Persian Gulf to watch over Kuwaiti oil rigs. Perform landings and patrols in more than 90 airports and air bases in the Middle East. Take part in different campaigns including the Iraqi blitzkrieg on Kuwait and the US-led liberation of the Kuwaiti Emirate. Discover how the Iraqi Army was one of the biggest in the world, through the eyes of American, British, Canadian, French, Italian and Arab pilots. Test your skills and abilities flying for the Iraqi Air Force during all stages of the conflict. Thirty years after, Operation Desert Storm still remains the largest air operation of modern warfare to date. Modders and flight sim enthusiasts at CombatACE teamed up to bring you a unique product in the lite flight sim world. Exquisitely detailed aircraft and paint schemes are delivered in a well-researched and thorough order of battle. The ODS 30th AE Development team would like to thank CombatACE.com, its admins, moderators and contributors. We are sure you will enjoy and appreciate this high-quality freeware product. From the aviation enthusiasts, to the aviation enthusiasts... and for the pilots of tomorrow.   Minimum Requirements Required products from ThirdWire: Strike Fighters 2 Strike Fighters 2: Israel Strike Fighters 2: North Atlantic Full support for: Mission Editor DLC Campaign Customizer DLC System specs: OS: Windows 7 x86 Processor: Dual Core 2.7 GHz Memory: 4.0 GB RAM Hard Drive: 17.0 GB Free Space Video Card: 1024 MB DirectX 10   Sneak Peek   A Note from Menrva I started this project back in May of 2020. When I invited some of the most renowned modders to contribute to it, I would have never expected such an amazing support from many of them. After roughly 8 months of development, we have produced a high-quality total conversion for Strike Fighters 2, all for free. Driven by passion and teamwork, we managed to achieve new heights and set new standards; this modification is most likely the most complete ever anthology of the Gulf War in any flight sim to date. 2020 has been a difficult year for so many all over the world due to an unprecedented pandemic. It has been a very difficult year for me as well, unrelated to the pandemic. I am extremely proud of what I started, but without the support of the team I managed to form, I would have never accomplished this amazing modding project with success. I want to dedicate this to my beloved girlfriend, Alessandra. With her love and support, I have come to realize my potential and value as a human being. Così adesso lo sai...   Download Rights In accordance with the owner and admins of CombatACE.com, the ODS 30th AE Development Team decided to offer the mod in Early Access to all contributors of the site (modders and subscribers alike). Revenue generated by the release in the form of download subscriptions will be used toward the regular monthly operating costs of CombatACE. Modders individually will not be profiting from their work released here. This is our thank you to the community who has supported us throughout the years and to the site for which we are greatly appreciative. A minimum of a 1 month subscription plan is required for download access. Available January 17th, 2021.

    Falcon 4 BMS 4.35 released
    MigBuster
    By MigBuster,
    Ladies and Gentlemen,

    on behalf of the entire BMS development team, I am happy to announce that the latest iteration of the BillionSoft Falcon 4.0 total conversion modification - Benchmark Sims 4.35 - is available for you to enjoy as of RIGHT NOW!

    BMS 4.35 requires a legit installation of a Falcon 4.0 (all older and newer versions are accepted alike, i.e. Microprose, Hasbro, GOG, Steam, Retroism). The check is performed both at setup time and every time you start BMS. If no valid installation is found, BMS will exit with a corresponding error message.


    For those of you who are new to Falcon and still need a legacy Falcon 4.0 license, you're lucky, as there are various season sales going on right now (i.e. at the time of writing this post):
      Retroism GOG
    Note that this is NOT an exhaustive list of where to buy Falcon 4.0, it's just a list of retailers known to me (best effort) that offer sales/discounts right now, for your convenience. The list will not be updated.


    This mod may not be used for any commercial purposes. Any such use may constitute a violation of the intellectual property of Billion Soft (Hong Kong) and the non-commercial Terms and Conditions under which Benchmark Sims make this mod available to you.    

    BMS 4.35 comes with a plethora of changes. As with each major BMS release, a full changelog would fill whole books. Instead, we've summarized the most important changes for you here: NOTES: ====== - 4.35 is *not* an update to the former 4.34, but a new independent base installation - 4.35 can co-exist with 4.34 on the same machine — The build number string in the Falcon UI will read "4.35.0 (x64) Build 22548" for the base installation BMS 4.35 Changelog Summary: =========================== - DirectX 11 Upgrade - Tactical Reference UI and Data Update - Weather Control Improvement - Zulu Time Integration - Enhanced Flight Planning - Updated 2D War - Enhanced Fog Of War and Unit Detection (RECON/JSTAR) - Improved Gameplay for KTO TvT Theater - Revision of (AI) pilot names - New Arresting System for emergency landings - HTS and HARM improvements - New multipage customizable kneeboards - Full canopy control implementation - Jet Fuel Starter 1+2 support - Taxi-/Landing light update - New Pilot Seat Adjustment - New Anti-Ice Implementation - Updated MFD fonts - Enhanced Brakes + Hydraulic Systems - Accurate Gear Implementation - Better Aircraft Spawning and Despawning - Improved Taxi, Lineup, Takeoff and Landing behavior (AI) - ATC Overhaul (AI) - Tanker AAR Update (AI) - Carrier Enhancements (AI) - RWR Realism Update - New Pilot Death Situation - SAM and AAA Operator Enhancement (AI) - SAM Multi Targeting (AI) - Enhanced Ship Self Defense Capability (AI) - Anti Missile Intercept (AI) - Better Aircraft Weapon Selection + Deployment (AI) - Improved BVR Tactics (AI) - More realistic pilot view and threat detection (AI) - New Wind Turbine Facilities - New Airbases - New Features - New Aircraft - New Aircraft Skins - New Ground Units - New Naval Vessels - Optimized LOD transition - Improved Aircraft Destruction Model - Moon Phases + Ephemeris - Higher Atmosphere Upgrade - Enhanced Smoke Duration for Destroyed Vehicles - Updated switches on the F-18 cockpits - Mirage 2000 cockpits improvements - A-10 cockpit fixes - New Sounds (internal + external) - New HOTAS Callbacks - RTTClient/RTTServer Update - Hitbox Optimization - Updated Flight Models (non F-16) - Updated Key Files - New Training Missions - Documentation Update - Enhanced Multiplayer Stability - Hundreds of bug fixes, 3D and data improvements     https://www.benchmarksims.org/forum/showthread.php?40646-Falcon-BMS-4-35-Full-Installer&p=557049#post557049      

    DCS Winter sale and free to play period
    MigBuster
    By MigBuster,
      18 December 2020   Dear Fighter Pilots, partners and friends, Our Winter Sale 2020 has started and will run until the 11th of January. On Steam, the sale will start on the 22nd of December and end on the 5th of January. We are pleased to announce an additional ‘Free to Play’ period starting on the 22nd of December, giving you access to all aircraft and terrains from our e-Shop and Steam for two weeks. We have made improvements to the wear and tear of piston engines as well as the damage model by considering various loads and fractures to the main bearings that occur during flight, combat, and abusive engine management. We are now running Open Beta 2.5.6.59398, which is a really big update. Check out the full changelog; we hope you will be impressed. As this will be our last newsletter before Christmas, let us take this opportunity to thank you for everything you have done for us this year. Without your trust in our team, none of this would have been possible. We are so grateful. Please check out our 2021 and Beyond, you may notice a few cool things that we have in the pipe for you. Merry Christmas to you, your friends, and your families. Thank you for your passion and support.   Yours sincerely, Eagle Dynamics Team   Free 2 Play Winter Sale We are excited to announce that the DCS World Winter Sale 2020 has started, and that it will run until 15:00 GMT on the 11th of January. Most modules have a 50% discount. For DCS World Steam Edition, the sale will start on the 22nd and end on the 5th of January at 10:00 PST. Modules with a 50% discount: AJS-37 Viggen AV-8B Night Attack C-101 Aviojet M-2000C I-16 Spitfire LF Mk.IX BF 109 K-4 Kurfurst Fw 190 D-9 Dora Fw 190 A-8 Anton Yak-52 Christen Eagle II A-10A Warthog F-5E Tiger II F-15C Eagle F-86F Sabre L-39C & L-39ZA Albatros MiG-15bis MiG-21bis Fishbed MiG-19 Farmer MiG-29 Fulcrum A & MiG-29S Fulcrum C P-51D Mustang Su-25A Frogfoot Su-27 Flanker B Su-33 Flanker D SA-342 Gazelle UH-1H Huey Mi-8MTV2 Magnificent Eight Ka-50 Black Shark Persian Gulf Nevada Test and Training Range Modules with a 30% discount: P-47D Thunderbolt The Channel F/A-18C Hornet F-16C Viper A-10C II Tank Killer Supercarrier Exceptions: F-14A/B Tomcat will have a 25% discount JF-17 Thunder will be only $59.99 Not in the Winter Sale 2020: Syria NS 430 Navigation System for SA-342 Gazelle Mi-8MTV2 Crew Part 1 Campaign F/A-18C Raven One Сampaign The Free to Play period will run for two weeks (22.12.20 10:00 PST - 05.01.20 10:00 PST), and it will allow you to access all DCS World modules for free with no time limitation within the two week period. Note that an internet connection is required for the Free to Play event and that Free to Play modules will not work in DCS World in OFFLINE mode. We hope that you will enjoy some well earned free flight time, and who knows, maybe also to fall in love with your next aircraft or terrain.   Warbird Warriors Development Report Fighter engines, and in particular radial engines, are susceptible to master bearing overloads that require fine management skills and attention during operation. To prolong the service life, compliance with manifold pressure levels and RPM recommendations and limitations are mandatory. If not respected, you run the risk of serious engine malfunction, and you will probably be looking for a suitable emergency landing site in short order. If the engine is damaged due to poor management, or excess combat abuse, lowering the manifold pressure (or boost) and engine RPM will help keep the oil temperature within limits. With sufficient oil pressure, it should allow you to execute a controlled emergency landing. The DCS: Fw 190A-8 Anton and DCS: P-47D Thunderbolt now include these new algorithms for calculating and simulating the above, as well as the subsequent damages / failures to the engine. These aircraft represent our latest advancement in modeling, heating, cooling, aging, and damage to power plants and systems. This work will be extended to our older DCS World aircraft, and this will set the standard for all new warbirds coming to DCS World.   Open Beta 2.5.6 Multicrew At last, and after a long gestation period, we have added multi-crew capabilities to UH-1H, with playable roles for all four crew members, to the next Open Beta. You can now have dedicated roles to fly and fight with two pilots and two gunners and interchange roles in flight. If the UH-1H does not have M-60 and M-134 minigun installed, you can fly as passengers. This offers a new level of gameplay that we plan to roll out to other platforms in the near future. The Hornet now includes the GBU-24A/B Paveway III laser-guided bomb. Auto IFF/CIT from the AZ/EL A/A page and AZ/EL FlIR Sublevel. Watch DCS: F/A-18C Hornet | Automatic IFF. A redesigned threat search algorithm for HARM for TOO mode has also been added. Read and watch the details DCS: F/A-18C Hornet | GBU-24 Paveway III. We have fixed the logic of the System Point of Interest (SPI) concept. Multiple other bugs have been fixed and new A/A Training Missions have been added to help you hit the ground running. The manual has also been updated. Watch DCS: F-16C Viper | Targeting Pod and Maverick Tips. This update to Open Beta 2.5.6 is our largest to date and includes the MBT T-72B3, SPAAG ZSU-57-2, and APC BTR-82A AI vehicles mentioned in recent news. For a more comprehensive list of updates and bug fixes, please check out the full list of changes. Once again, Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones. Thank you for all for your passion and support,   Kind regards, Eagle Dynamics Team

    Il2 Update 4.504 released
    76.IAP-Blackbird
    By 76.IAP-Blackbird,
    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.     Please discuss the update in this thread.

    Il2 DD Update Dev Blog 266 "Tank Crew"
    76.IAP-Blackbird
    By 76.IAP-Blackbird,
    ear friends,   As you know, the long-awaited Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka was released officially recently. This is a very important milestone in the development of the IL-2 Great Battles series even if it has deviated from the aviation theme a bit. However, those of you who read our Dev Blog regularly know that the tank project development contributed to the aircraft features immensely. And while today's Dev Blog is dedicated to tanks, in the near future all the aircraft in the series will benefit from both things we'll tell you about (3-dimensional visualization of the terrain unevenness and graphics effects improvements).     First, though, we'd like to show you the new Tank Crew promotion trailer created by =HH=Pauk. It showcases the main features we focused on with our partner Digital Forms during the development - operations of the realistically looking and accurately modeled combat vehicles on the real terrain that were recreated according to historical documents of the Prokhorovka battle and the events immediately before and after it. Taking into account the two bundled historical campaigns, it is a massive historical reconstruction of the tank actions in that area. Here it goes:     It is well-known that we continue the improvement of our modules long after their official release dates, that's why we keep them in one 'package', so all the modules shared the newest benefits of the sim core. In the next update, you'll see the terrain roughness that previously was modeled physically and affected the tank movement is now visible and have a realistic size and layout. This also affects the aircraft in case of an emergency landing in a field. The second addition is the set of newly developed gunfire visual effects for the detailed tanks - their guns and machine guns. Before all the gunfire effects looked similar, but now they'll differ depending on the muzzle brake and the power of the gun. We plan to do the same for the aircraft guns of the planes in development and later on for the previously released ones. This video demonstrates the new effects better than many words can:     Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

    Il2 DD Update Dev Blog 267
    76.IAP-Blackbird
    By 76.IAP-Blackbird,
    Hello everybody,   Many of you ask us how is the development of the recently announced mobile AAA is going. The physical model of a wheeled vehicle is nearly complete while the visual model of the Soviet GAZ-MM with 72-K AA gun being developed by our partners at Digital Forms has made good progress. You can see the attention to detail on these screenshots, it's really a labor of love:     You may wonder how fast the German half-track chassis can be developed since it is partly wheeled and partly tracked, but in our engine, the player controllable vehicles have a sophisticated module structure where a combination of various propulsion types is possible. We plan to start the implementation of the German AAA half truck soon. On the other hand, the AA gunsights are a new thing, but we hope to make them as functional as Tank Crew artillery sights.   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.     Another of the many questions we got recently after showing the video of the new terrain effect on the vehicles, is how the new detailed terrain roughness will affect the aircraft outside the prepared airfields when making an emergency landing for instance or taking off from a field (which is an even more difficult task naturally). We think the best answer would be another short video:     Enjoy! The Sturmovik Team

Portal by DevFuse · Based on IP.Board Portal by IPS


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