LATEST NEWS

IL2 Sturmovik Update 3.009


By 76.IAP-Blackbird, December 19, 2018
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.       Please discuss the update in this thread.
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DCS Weekend News: 7 December 2018


By MigBuster, December 8, 2018
  DCS World Open Beta Update This week’s Open Beta update has some great updates to DCS World, the Hornet, and the Viggen. Highlights include: Hornet changes: added work-in-progress AGM-65F infrared-guided Maverick air-to-ground missile; corrected Hornet catapult launch roughness; added “Go to Tanker’ command for AI Hornets; corrected and improved the Hornet radar in RWS and STT modes; and corrected and improved operation of the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS). More great stuff coming in the 19 December update! Corrected potential for static objects not being visible to multiplayer clients Added removal or cargo in multiplayer based on scripting Viggen changes: greatly improved air-to-ground radar; corrected TERRNAV not fixing; and added scratches to canopy glass You can find the complete changelog here DCS: Combined Arms – Frontlines Georgia Campaign The Combined Arms Frontlines Georgia campaign is the first Combined Arms single player campaign. In this campaign you will experience many different aspects of Combined Arms combat in DCS World, from commanding many units over several different objectives to sitting in a tank and commanding a platoon from the driver’s seat. Key features: 11 Story driven missions (with supplemental missions if you have a stumble along the way) Command various ground units, from armor to transport Freedom to set up your air units load-outs before the mission starts 35+ unique voice overs   With CA Frontlines, we hope you will learn and enjoy playing DCS: Combined Arms in ways you might not have ever thought about before. Campaign video See in the DCS e-shop DCS: F/A-18C Hornet Last month we added the Joint Helmet Mounted Cueing System (JHMCS), AGM-65E laser-Maverick, the FPAS page, updated Hornet Guide, and improved air-to-air radar performance. For this month we’ll be added the AGM-65F infrared-guided Maverick, GBU-10, 12, and 16 Paveway II laser-guided bombs, 13 new interactive training lessons, air-to-air waypoint (bullseye) and BRA information. We are also working on the AGM-88 HARM and datalink MIDS/MSI with improved IFF, but these may not be available until January 2019, based on testing results. Afterwards, other systems will be developed like LTWS/TWS air-to-air radar modes, GPS- and INS-guided weapons, further JHMCS features, and others. In parallel, we are working on the technology for air-to-ground radar and new FLIR rendering technology. These are very important to the Hornet’s AN/APG-73 radar and ATFLIR pod. Burning Skies Multiplayer Server For DCS World multiplayer pilots, the Burning Skies server is now testing our new dedicated server technology! This is acting as a test-bed to help us debug the dedicated software with many players participating. The dedicated server will form the backbone of DCS World multiplayer. Burning Skies is a World War II server with options to fly the Mustang, Spitfire, Dora, and Kurfurst. As an official server, will be supporting Burning Skies with prizes to the championship winners. For a fantastic World War II multiplayer experience, stop by and fly a sortie! Sincerely,
The Eagle Dynamics Team
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Update 3.008 RELEASED!!!


By 76.IAP-Blackbird, December 6, 2018
Update 3.008   Dear friends,   We spent the two weeks since the previous release on intensive work on important aspects of the project. In the not-too-distant future, we'll be adding some huge new features for our Early Access titles, so we've decided to take some time and concentrate on several smaller, but important and long-awaited improvements and create this update.   The main feature of this release is revised airframe damage modeling - an important part of the damage system. Airframe damage system was completely overhauled to take into account additional parameters. The damage modeling as a whole was tuned and improved and bugs fixed - you can read the entire list below.   There is large amount of changes and improvements in aircraft systems, their model and the AI. We added the new British pilot model to the sim and all Bodenplatte and Flying Circus pilots can now take their oxygen masks and goggles on and off. Multiplayer improvements also continue since the last version too. There are new performance optimizations for sea maps. Users who encountered stutters using Microsoft Force Feedback joysticks and TrackIR now have an option to tune FFB effect polling frequency using the additional setting in startup.cfg file.   For mission designers we added a way to control Timer and Counter values dynamically. To do this, there are two new logical objects Modifier: Add Val and Modifier: Set Val. We plan to widely use them to alter various triggers in the future, but at the moment they can be used for:
- modifying a Timer trigger value. A modifier can set, add or substract the time value in a timer by using the 0 index of the controllable value and 1-st field of the value vector. When set to a negative value, the time counter is reset and the timer stops until the next input. For example, this can be used to reset and stop a timer in a mission, delaying some events tied to it.
- modifying a Counter trigger value and threshold (initiall set in a mission). To alter a Counter value, use the 0 index of the controllable value or alter Counter threshold using the 1-st index. For example, a certain mission event like a premature elimination of some targets can lower the threshold of a Counter to make sure the others are eliminated at the moment the player arrives to the waypoint.     Main features:
1. Late war British pilot added to Spitfire Mk.IXe;
2. New control elements added to mission logic (useful for mission designers): "Modifier: Add Val" and "Modifier: Set Val". They can alter the values of other logical elements - Counter and Timer (when used with a Timer object, Set Val can input a negative value to reset and stop a Timer);
3. Force Feedback joystick owners who experience stutters can alter the new value in startup.cfg that governs the maximum frequency of FFB effects polling to try to eliminate them (update_freq parameter in [KEY = force_feedback] section can be set to a value from 0.5 Hz to 10 Hz, example: update_freq = 10.0);
4. Additional renderer optimizations for sea maps (Kuban, Bodenplatte in the future) allowed to boost performance on such maps even more;
5. AA searchlights now can follow Attack Area command which can be used to limit their search area and/or use them as visible beacons (useful for mission designers);
6. Multiplayer: 'allow other players to man stations' option now saved;
7. Multiplayer: various issues like statistics 'freezing', inability to start a mission, kill messages disappearing were fixed for high-load servers;
8. Multiplayer: missing AP hit sound effects and some other sounds restored;
9. A rare crash that could happen in high load situations like joint air-ground engagements with many units has been fixed;
10. keep_binary_log = 0 option in startup.cfg correctly removes binary logs from the game folder on exit;
11. Career: mission area correctly set while escorting transport planes in Stalingrad TOW;
12. Incorrect navigational markers won't be shown in a mission without player aircraft;   Damage model improvements:
13. P-47D-28, Yak-7b and Spitfire Mk.IXe wings made less fragile when damaged;
14. Aileron control rods correctly damaged when Yak-7b, P-39L-1 or P-47 wing is damaged;
15. An overdone HE explosion effect on the primary structure of an aircraft has been reduced.
16. Damage calculations of the airframe take a hit angle into account;
17. Damage from direct hits and explosions on the skin and control rods has been tuned;
18. Minor visual damage correctly appears after a first hit;
19. The visual damage of a cockpit glass correctly appears after a first hit there;
20. Ju-52 instruments can be damaged now;
21. Aircraft primary structure won't erroneously receive double damage in case of hits on the internal components like fuel tanks, engine, radiators, etc.);
22. Airframe sturdiness tuned for all aircraft;
23. Armor of the internal components corrected whenever it was wrong;
24. P-47D-28 wing damage corrected (wing loss is preceded with a wing crack);
25. A weapon won't fire if its ammo supply was lost with a wing part;
26. Fuel tank fire probability corrected for Flying Circus aircraft;
27. Ammo detonation effects differ visually depending on the explosion power;   Aircraft improvements:
28. Bodenplatte pilots put on and remove oxygen mask when needed;
29. Bodenplatte and Flying Circus pilots put off their goggles on parking;
30. Ignition box cover animated on Pe-2 series 35;
31. CB panel cover animation corrected on Fw-190 A3/A5/A8;
32. Gunner folding seat animation corrected on Ju-88;
33. Bendix course detectors animations corrected;
34. Dead pilot model position corrected on Pfalz D.IIIa;
35. Bf 109 G-2 cockpit lamp corrected;
36. P-47D-28 visual wing crack corrected;
37. Visible projectiles at high aircraft speed appear correctly;
38. MK-108 fire sound corrected on Bf 109 K-4;
39. Fuel tank fire effect corrected on Flying Circus planes;
40. Ejected cartridges correctly appear in multiplayer;
41. The maximum number of ejected cartridges corrected based on real time instead of a simulated one;
42. In multiplayer, all visible projectiles appear from gun muzzles instead of aircraft center;
43. Visible gun convergence corrected in multiplayer; 44. The delay between pushing the fire trigger and experiencing the gunfire FFB effect has been reduced.
45. Pfalz D.IIIa performance corrected;
46. Sopwith Camel description corrected;   AI improvements:
47. AI pilots correctly perform Chandelle maneuver;
48. WWI AI pilots won't 'stuck' flying forward;
49. AI pilots evade ground even better;
50. Conditions for attempting vertical maneuvers corrected for all fighters;
51. AI pilots will bail out of aircraft with cracked wings or fuselage instead of trying to fight;
52. WWI AI pilots open fire sooner;
53. WWI AI pilots maneuver more aggressively;   GUI changes:
54. Starting altitude won't reset in QMB;
55. Flare gun indicator won't be shown after restarting a mission in external view;
56. Flight frequency option in Career corrected;
57. The wrong message about timescale won't be shown on mission end;
58. Interface music can be turned on when interface sounds are turned off;
59. Airfields are correctly shown after changing the current chapter in Career;
60. Previously selected modifications correctly shown in QMB.     Please discuss the update in this thread.
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IL-2: Battle of Kuban In-Depth Review


By 76.IAP-Blackbird, December 3, 2018
Original Message is from ShamrockOneFive posted over at Il2 Forums. It was posted in April, but right now it is a good time to reread it and maybe, buy it as an xmas gift for yourself 

Hey folks,   I spent some serious time with IL-2: Battle of Kuban and particularly with patch 3.001 before I started to write my review. I decided I wanted to write a review for new players coming in or old players that were used to IL-2: 1946 so that they would have an idea of what this series is all about. I didn't want to hide the few warts that the series still has but I also wanted to put them in context of all of the great things that it does so well.   At a little over 4,500 words I think I've captured nearly all of my main thoughts and feelings on the recent final release of the title and I try and cover as much ground as possible. This review isn't so much for you guys as it is for new players coming in. In short, I think IL-2: Battle of Kuban is a crowning achievement for 1CGS and one that points towards a very bright future for the series.   https://stormbirds.blog/2018/04/11/il-2-battle-of-kuban-in-depth-review/   Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the review!   https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/35878-il-2-battle-of-kuban-in-depth-review/
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Il2 DD Update Dev Blog 212


By 76.IAP-Blackbird, December 2, 2018
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  
To 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:    
Aaand we are delighted to present you the finished tankmen models. We still need to animate an each crew member in each player controllable tank in the sim, but now you can already see how they will look:     You can discuss the news in this thread
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DCS Weekend News: 30 November 2018


By MigBuster, November 30, 2018
  Autumn 50% Sale. Last few days! Lasting only three more days to December 2nd, 2018, get up to 50% off on most DCS World products. Autumn 2018 Sale Video This sale applies to aircraft, maps, and campaigns. The only exceptions include: DCS: F/A-18C Hornet at 25% off DCS: Persian Gulf Map at 25% off UH-1H Argo Campaign at 20% off DCS: SA342 Gazelle at 15% off Note: the sale only applies to released, non pre-order products. Get these deals in DCS E-shop DCS Warbirds Update Earlier this year we showed off a greatly updated cockpit for the DCS: P-51D Mustang that will be released next month. In addition to a beautiful, new cockpit, we’re also updating the external model to include both P-51D-25 and P-51D-30 versions! This includes improvements to both the 3D model and textures. Along with the Mustang, we’ve also completing work on a fantastic new cockpit for the Bf 109 K-4 and a Fw 190 D-9 that takes advantage of both deferred shading and physically based rendering. In parallel, the P-47D, Fw 190 A-8, and Mosquito are all making great progress in both the external model, cockpit, flight model and systems.   A big element also getting a lot of attention has been the new damage model we discussed in an earlier newsletter. We’ve been using the Spitfire as the test bed and the progress has been steady and good. Once we’re happy with the results, we’ll first incorporate the new damage model system into the other warbirds. Next month, we’ll make available a wonderful P-51D Mustang campaign by Reflected Simulations. Virtual Reality Update We see VR as an amazing tool to enjoy DCS World and the future of PC gaming for many. To make DCS World even better, we’ve been working on some great VR improvements that include: Optimized VR performance Touch control that allows direct finger interaction with cockpit controls Touch control to allow the right and left Touch controllers to act as stick and throttle when positioned correctly in the virtual cockpit and holding down the middle-finger button These will provide a much more immersive VR experience, particularly for those flying warbirds and other aircraft that do not require HOTAS controls. Sincerely,
The Eagle Dynamics Team
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