Stoopy

If you want a REALLY nice flying plane mod, go here: https://www.avsim.com/forums/topic/587227-bonanza-turbo-v2-released/ Rob Young is an old hand at making realistic flight models and the Bonanza G36 benefits GREATLY from his talents. it's a whole new plane!

I hear you. I can't help but think the whole thing is tongue in cheek. "All the thrills of a six-hour commercial flight in coach"... The video part where the user lifted the window shade to reveal a scenic view of the top of the wing says it all!

Then I guess you won't be interested in this? (check out that tasty croissant!!) https://store.steampowered.com/app/931310/Airplane_Mode/

I'm glad we're getting the wiggle words for your bet out of the way early then. 👍

My bad, didn't mean to make you nervous. Just work habit - when a project has to be deployed "by" May, that means it's late on May 2. By COB means that evening, not the next morning. So if you meant within 2022, that's cool... like I said, pick your date. We'll catch up on this in Jan 2023. Give or take a generous amount of milliseconds. 😁 Those guys were always the first to get shot down in that sim. Like I said, it had nuthin' on IL2. 😆

Thanks! So did @VA_c2xtreem and @BM357_TinMan and a few others who are also members here. Those guys kept me on my toes!

Sadly, that seems to be the case - reading the civilian flight sim forums, users are clamoring daily (if not hourly) for their PMDG, FSL etc etc aftermarket tubeliners, and I have yet to see one person asking for a Bf109, FW190, or Yak variant. Maybe one or two references to a P-51 or P-38. It's just a different crowd. Which in a way I am grateful for... lots of those folks who consider themselves to be the penultimate "hardcore simmers" don't like us combat-type hooligans polluting the purity of their SIDS/STARS procedures, RNAV/GPS approaches or any other acronyms they use to re-create the thrilling excitement of flying a load of business people and screaming infants on the Cleveland to Boise redeye run. I'm not in that group to be sure, and I had GREAT times in CFS1, 2 and 3 (was C/O for a great squad with 24 pilots, some of us still stay in contact today) and I do agree that flying combat missions over exact, real scenery anywhere in the world (Pacific!!!!) would be fantastic. But when I see the default planes focusing on so many pedestrian training rides such as the Robin DR400, Pipistrel Virus, CTLS, Diamond DV20, DA40-TDI, DA-40-NG and no less than 3 tandem taildraggers that are based on the Cub (but alas, no real Cub), with a smattering of exciting planes like the Pitts and Extra thrown in to placate us adrenaline junkies, it does appear that MS went with a plane selection that was meant to be friendly, approachable and juuuust a tad more "PC" than a Stuka. Sounds good - I make that to be 14 and a half months. We'll see each other back here in Jan 2022. If you want a few extra months as a Mulligan just say the word. 😉 Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see it happen but I just can't feature it at this point. Well that's because you didn't see this horrifically cool old video from me and my beloved flying Swines! It was fun if you accepted it for what it was (apologies in advance for flying in WonderWoman mode, but that was the popular server setting). It's got nuthin' on IL2 though!

Sure, I'll take the bet. As much as I'd like to see a new CFS happen, you only have to look at MFS2020 and see the emphasis on newer, more modern and accessible aircraft to realize that a combat flight sim just doesn't jive with the soft-shoe approach they are using in their flight sim environment. Name your time frame in which there will be a new CFS released. One year? Two? Five?

@Krasp28 - Without giving away any surprises, you are hitting on all the things i want to do differently in the next playground. As you can tell in the Stalingrad set, I went to individual airfields for axis and allies, but didn't take advantage of using them as objectives for each other - the geography choices didn't really allow for that and I had other preferences for putting the airfields where I did. But I do want to take that forward with the next one, which is why finding just the right airfield has been crucial There are some other components/activities I' want to do that will take advantage of the more specialized missions types in the late war planes like high-altitude bomber intercept, escort, and interdiction missions that I want to put much more focus (and as you also mention, randomization) on. The Stalingrad playground has much-improved (non-repeating) randomization logic than the very basic logic in the Kuban set, and again I want to expand that further. As regards to how these missions show up in the editor, because there are many individual components, I make heavy use of Groups to keep each part in it's own section in order to keep things sane for myself. As you look at the object tree on the left you will see the groups and they can be expanded, and modified if they are set as your working group (see "Set group as working" and "Reset working group" commands in the ME). It's a habit from the coding world that followed through here. The downside is it's a little more cumbersome to interconnect any items between groups but it's liveable. Unfortunately after several edits, revisions and changes, things aren't as neatly organized as they originally were, but it's still much more maintainable. We can certainly take this to a PM but i would also say be dead sure to go through JimTM's great manual on the ME. It's SO much worth the time, and it's really how the Kuban playground came into being, it was a direct result of experimenting with different topics covered in the manual, and then tying one thing into the next, until it eventually got out of hand.

Missions have now been updated per feedback and suggestions by @Krasp28 - thank you! Latest version - Kuban Interactive Playground v1.6 Now includes missions for all aircraft in the Battle of Kuban release as well as many for Battle of Bodenplatte (BoP Playground coming soon, so help me). To assist with realism on bombing exercises, Ammo is no longer Unlimited. To compensate for the above, there are now Repair, Refuel and Re-Arm (RRR) facilities in the large hangars at either end of the airfield; after you land back at base, taxi up to them and shut the engine off as per the on-screen instructions. Note: Default keys are RCTRL-A to Re-Arm and RCTRL-F to Refuel Changed method of activating escort flight: Turning left and following the taxiway to the runway will activate escorts, taxiing straight ahead through the grass will select Solo flight - helps expedite quick solo flights and results in better timing for escorts. Modified cloud and time settings for a little more ambience, and different missions take place in the Spring, Summer and Autumn maps. To download, please use the link in the original post at the beginning of this thread. Note: Mission descriptions and text have changed. If you encounter any oddities in how the missions show up in the menus, you may want to delete the "ctreechache" and "mtreechache" files in the IL2 "data" folder. They will be automatically rebuilt and corrected the next time you access the Missions menu in the game. Happy Hunting!

Dude! Thank you! I had overlooked that airfield many times previously because on the GUI map it looks like a "rounded" early-style grass airfield without the well-defined runways, which I wanted for 262 ops. Ideally I was looking for paved runways and convenient hangars for the 262's, but this has everything (including the city features in Duisburg) that I'm looking for except for non-paved runways which are certainly well-defined and long enough. It will do nicely, and the BP Playground will now have a home. Thanks again! 🍺 🤙 🍺

Heya Kevin, Well, I have started and stopped the Bodenplatte Playground twice now. With the capabilities of the late-war plane set there are certain things I want to do with it and I'm having trouble finding an airfield I like on the Eastern half of the map for the ME-262 that is right next to a large city. The Allied side of things is simpler since they don't have a plane like the 262. And I got sidetracked trying to do some things that the AI logic just won't support well (in short, a racing course with an AI plane flying through it to race against). The AI have their own lackadaisical style of flying a specified course that doesn't work well for that idea. And lastly, trying to just pull over all of the components from earlier Playgrounds and modifying them to line up in the new map is kind of a boring result since it's the same-old same-old, y'know? So I've taken some time off to think about what features to have and now have some cool ideas I want to work with, it will be a build from scratch for the most part and not use many of the things in the earlier playgrounds other than some of the techniques and tools that are better in the Stalingrad playground, but will be worth it, It's just thrown off my timeline. There have been other distractions (enjoying VR, and VTOL VR and MS Flight Sim) but I always come back to IL2. TBH the biggest impact has been COVID-19 and now working from home. Before all this, I had a 2-hour commute to work and I could dream up all kinds of ideas and ways to do things in the mission editor, then come home and work on those ideas. Now, my commute is to another room and there's no daydreaming time, so it's longer between epiphanies. But I have arrived at some decisions on what it will and will not contain so plan on firing it up for the third attempt here in the immediate future..

Dude! That was great! I feel like I should be the one thanking you, I enjoyed every bit of watching that - I'm stoked! And jeez how long did that Stuka hang around your airfield without getting shot down finally?! You don't see that too often. Really nice job. Those cloud changes make a huge difference and I agree with the change to limited ammo for sure. I need to update that mission, take out the unlimited ammo and put a ReArm/Refuel/Repair spot on the airfield like the Stalingrad playground has, it makes for a vast improvement and you can end up flying even longer missions - theoretically at least. Also I see that the building textures got reset to the Winter map and that needs fixin' too. I can make those changes this coming weekend and include your cloud settings in the new download version if you feel like sharing what you had them set at. Thanks again for posting and sharing that - made my day.

Agreed. Although sometimes it's better just to let the nausea take over and go with it, and after upchucking into a nearby bucket or plastic shopping bag you'll just feel a lot better and be able to really immerse yourself into the realism of simulated air combat.

Don't forget about the Guillow's balsa model kits too - they offer far more detailed damage modeling!