76.IAP-Blackbird

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. You can discuss the news in this thread.

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: You can discuss the news in this thread

Looks like she loves you too

Files are Saved, C has a refuel probe

Before my hardware crash, there was a "personal" upgrade project ongoing, cause i didnt liked the canopy shape, to many edges, edited some parts here and there, the whole intake, rounded up some edges and added cockpit details.

Mh... Give me a moment @+jonathan Can you pls send me the updated skin for the C model in a PM, let me Show you something

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: You can discuss the news in this thread

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. You can discuss the news in this thread

i came across a very ugly full glass twinseater version, the NF 14... thats a fugly focker ...meteor

Yes even beyond my expectations

Hello everybody, Only two days have passed since the release of the big update 3.006, but the work continues according to the plan and today we can show you the new things to come for all three of our projects. First, detailed village buildings for Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka are nearly finished (they will be placed in the area of the map where the most important engagements took place). The work on the tank campaigns scenarios is underway. Today we present you the almost final look of these buildings and later we'll show you the new tech we'll be using to simulate their partial destruction. Nearly all the latest tech available in our project have been used to create them: Another neat stuff we can show you today is for Bodenplatte - the late war U.S. pilot model is ready and our animator started working on it. This new model, just like the two pilot models made for Flying Circus, has been made at the new level of detail allowing for the even more realistic look - its textures and materials are four times more detailed than older models: WWI fans will get the new toys this Autumn too - we plan to add Sopwith Camel and Pfalz D.IIIa to Flying Circus Volume I. The work on the updated 3D model for Camel will be finished soon and here are its first pics in the game engine. Since it was one of the iconic aircraft of the first air war, this is important for us: You can discuss the news in this thread

Ok what have you hex edited? Out of curiosity

You can remove the middle bar inside the canopy via ini editing

I need some advice, i had a bad hardware failure and managed to recover so far. Win 10 is a clean new install, but i had lost the folders in the win7 user folder. How can i reactivate the old Sf2 game on a seperate partition in a new clean win10 install, without a full reinstall of the game?

Would it be enough to install just SF2 without going through the installation of all the other content? Or is it saved somewhere else? And i just need the folders at C:?

Dear pilots, The two next Bodenplatte aircraft are not yet finished, but we have decided not to wait for them and release the update that contains the results of our work since 3.005 release. There is a lot of changes, fixes and improvements, some of them are long-awaited ones. Many graphical effects were reworked and some new ones were added. Other fixes include Career mode, multiplayer, AI and collision system improvements. There is a new content as well - new modifications were added for Fw 190 A-8. The full change list follows: Graphical effects improvements 1. Fire effects improved for aircraft and ground vehicles, more dynamic and detailed; 2. Fuel leak effects improved (less noticeable, but more realistic); 3. Damaged engine exhaust effects improved (less noticeable, but more realistic); 4. Tracer smoke effects improved (more smooth and realistic); 5. Wingtip trails effects improved (more dynamic, less apparent beginning); 6. Water hit effects improved (more realistic); 7. Aircraft and vehicle hit effects improved (more difference between AP and HE ammo, more realistic, added debris); 8. Bomb detonation effects improved for 250kg + bombs, additional flash effect; 9. Water steam effects added for twin water radiator aircraft (Bf-109, Ju-87, Spitfire Mk.IXe, Pe-2); 10. Water steam overheating effects added; 11. Wrong mixture exhaust effects added; 12. Wood hit effects added for WWI aircraft; 13. Gunfire smoke effects added; 14. Oil leak during flight effect adjusted; 15. Fuel leak effect on the ground added; 16. Water steam effect on the ground added; 17. Oil drops on pilot googles effect was added in case of engine damage; Simulation fixes and graphical effects fixes 18. The water hit effects no longer appear like ground hit effects; 19. Bug fix: He-111, Bf-110 and Pe-2 right engine hits won't damage the left engine cooling system anymore; 20. Bug fix: Spitfire Mk.VB/IXe oil radiator leak will stop when the left wing is lost; 21. Bug fix: Ju-88 A4 right supercharger hits will correctly damage it; 22. Bug fix: engine fire now correctly works on all planes; 23. Bug fix: damage of the engines far from the cockpit (and the oil leak on Spitfires) won't make the cockpit windows dirty; Other improvements 24. You can set the starting altitude up to 10km in QMB; 25. Projectiles now can be stopped by trees; 26. Fw 190 A-8 modification: removal of two 13mm MG 131. This allows to model the bomber variant of the plane; some Sturmjager modification aircraft also had tem removed; 27. Fw 190 A-8 modification: F-8 with a 1000kg bomb with reduced stabilizer; 28. Flying Circus German and Entente pilots are now animated; 29. German WWI pilot now has a parachute; 30. 30 mm and higher caliber guns can overheat (they couldn't before); 31. All guns fire dispersion differ while firing single shots and in bursts; 32. Burst fire dispersion corrected for Soviet fuselage mounted guns; 33. Burst fire dispersion corrected for German wing mounted guns; 34. While driving, AI now takes into consideration all nearby vehicles instead of the vehicles of its group only; 35. AI has learned how to control the advanced (player controllable) tanks, they can be used in missions; 36. The water in all water cooled engines boils at different temperatures depending on the altitude; 37. Fuel actually burns out in an event of a fuel tank fire; 38. Fuel tank fire intenisity decreases when all fuel is burned out; 39. Fire intensity directly affects the speed of structural damage; 40. Fuel fires are extinguished when an aircraft hits a water surface; 41. Mission generator toolset released (you can download it here and unpack into your IL-2 install if you want to try it); Other fixes 42. Simple vehicles (not controllable by player) physics modeling improved. They shouldn't 'fly' away from collisions as they sometimes did before anymore; 43. German aircraft of Bodenplatte timeframe carry bombs of a different color that was used in the late war; 44. German aircraft of Bodenplatte timeframe carry SD 70 fragmentation bombs instead of SC 50 which production was canceled in 1943; 45. Aircraft loadout tooltips adjusted; 46. Career: the game won't freeze when creating a character in certain squadrons at a certain time; 47. Career won't freeze in May 1943; 48. Career won't show incorrect days at the end of February; 49. Player wingmen won't be captured by the enemy if the player finishes a Career mode mission above the enemy territory; 50. The player marker shows the character name in Career mode; 51. A rare crash in multiplayer has been fixed (it could happen when Pe-2 series 35 lost its wing). 52. The game server and clients won't crash when a player controlled tank impacts the ground, for instance, after falling from a damaged bridge; 53. Multiplayer net packets won't slowly increase in size over time; 54. Multiplayer net packets now have their CRC checked, this should improve the data transfer stability; 55. Net load decreased by optimizing the data packets carrying graphical effects data; 56. Statistics system accuracy increased (this should fix the situations with unaccounted kills); 57. Minimum starting altitude in QMB on Novosokolniki map has been increased to 250m; 58. Sharp texture changes were corrected on the Stalingrad map near Golubinsky; 59. The pilot won't be injured by the wing fuel tanks fire on Bf 110 E2, Bf 110 G2, P-39L-1 and Yak-7B series 36; 60. A rare crash has been fixed (it could happen when Pe-2 series 35 detonated after hitting the ground). 61. Bomb doors handle on He 111 planes is now animated; 62. Broken window in the lower cockpit fixed on He 111; 63. Fw 190 A-8 right WGr.21 launcher arming lamp now works; 64. On Fw 190 A-8 with F-8/G-8 mod the 20mm guns stay on the same fire trigger with MGs; 65. Radiator assist on MiG-3 and IL-2 won't overcool the engine at high altitudes; 66. Pe-2 series 35 upper turret correctly shows ammo left in HUD; 67. Yak-7B altitude mixture controller corrected; 68. Coolant overheat warning in technochat corrected; 69. Damage system performance optimization should decrease the CPU load; 70. Radiator assist closes or opens radiators in a more smart way; 71. Fokker Dr.I and SPAD 13.C1 durability are back to RoF values. Please discuss the update in this thread.

Wouldnt it be better to integrate those fixes into the current Fw190, just asking? 😃

Yes please and thanks for your work

Guys, i had a major problem with my PC last weekend. One of my HDD's started to click and run unsmooth. After removing it, the PC refused to boot. I've got some cryptic stuff on my screen and a "beep"... that's it ... dead... Windows wasn't even on the removed HDD, but the PC refuesed to fire up windows .... So, im back online with Win 10, 8 GB less RAM (one of my two was broken too) and a brand new HDD. Let me reactivate Max and im should be back asap. Guys BACK UP YOUR SHIT!!!!!! I have 2 backups of my work to safe it from getting lost in digital black hole of destroyed hardware ... BACK UP YOUR SHIT!!!!!! BACK UP YOUR SHIT!!!!!! BACK UP YOUR SHIT!!!!!!

@ Stratos, i don't plan any skin updates apartfrom the fakepilot parts im building, if someone else wants to step in, to improve the skins, he is allways welcomed!

Very cool, can you release the skins please

Hello everybody, Another week has passed and our Bodenplatte development progressed neatly during this short time. First, we have finished reworking the graphics effects system we told you about last week: 1. Fire effects improved for aircraft and ground vehicles, more dynamic and detailed; 2. Fuel leak effects improved (less noticeable, but more realistic); 3. Damaged engine exhaust effects improved (less noticeable, but more realistic); 4. Tracer smoke effects improved (more smooth and realistic); 5. Wingtip trails effects improved (more dynamic, less apparent beginning); 6. Water hit effects improved (more realistic); 7. Aircraft and vehicle hit effects improved (more difference between AP and HE ammo, more realistic, added debris); 8. Bomb detonation effects improved for 250kg + bombs, additional flash effect; 9. Water steam effects added for twin water radiator aircraft (Bf-109, Ju-87, Spitfire Mk.IXe, Pe-2); 10. Water steam overheating effects added; 11. Wrong mixture exhaust effects added; 12. Wood hit effects added for WWI aircraft; 13. Gunfire smoke effects added; 14. Oil leak effect adjusted; 15. Fuel leak effect on the ground added; 16. Water steam effect on the ground added. Second, we have revisited the gunfire dispersion model and performed additional research on the historical documents covering the fire dispersion depending on the gun mounting. There are no new sources, but we have re-analyzed our approach and one problem became apparent - some sources provide fire dispersion data for single shots while others have data for short bursts. For some aircraft, the sources provide dispersion data for both cases - this allowed us to build a statistical model for single/burst fire dispersion ratio. Having updated the dispersion model, we're now able to tune the fire dispersion separately for single and burst fire. Of course, we've taken into account the fact that even when you fire a burst, the first projectile has the fire dispersion of single shot while the subsequent ones deviate more because they are modeled as shots in a burst. The fire dispersion increases with the gun temperature as before. In the most cases, the fire dispersion has been already modeled using the burst fire data, so the changes in these aircraft will be hardly noticeable when firing in bursts, but the single shot dispersion will be lowered greatly: 2-2.5 times. On the contrary, the Soviet fighters were set up using single fire data before so now their fire dispersion will be increased 2.11-2.86 times depending on the gun and aircraft (this isn't that much at the effective fire distances though, see below). In addition, thanks to this research, the single fire dispersion of the heavy 30 mm and 37 mm guns has been slightly lowered while the burst fire values stayed the same. It should be noted that all these changes (applied to each aircraft independently) gave the overall effect of reducing the difference in the fire accuracy among the different planes (for fuselage mounted and wing mounted guns that are close to the fuselage). Excluding the rare exceptions, the fire dispersion for non-overheated guns is 0.66-0.95 thousandths of distance. At the effective fire distances, this results in the fire pattern of around 1 ft or slightly more. Surely, we have worked on the other parts of the sim as well. One month ago we could show you the 3D model of Me 262 without textures and a couple of weeks ago you saw the cockpit of P-47D that was untextured too, but today we present them to you in the game engine - the artists haven't finished the texturing and materials yet, but they are almost done. What can we say - while P-47D-28 cockpit is a bit overwhelming with all the details, instruments, controls and various information plates, the jet aviation pioneer Me 262 looks strikingly beautiful in the air. Here they are: You can discuss the news in this thread

@ yak, are those RF-4B?

You should be scared by the lurking Flankers in your airspace ... US pilots seem to run when they see those birds