Developer Diary

April 15, 2021

279

Dear Friends!

Work on our next update, which is version 4.6 continues as planned and should be released before the end of this month. This update will be a pretty big one with new content, some new features and lots of small tweaks as usual.

We also continue to make new airplanes and other models that will be incorporated into the sim this year and beyond. Work never slows down for us as you know. Today I’d like to share some screens of ongoing work that you’ll enjoy as we finalize the next update.

Here are some images that help demonstrate our DVD system for our tanks and AAA vehicles along with our Tactical Codes technology. DVD definitely adds another interesting layer to our damage modeling.

Work on the Normandy map is going strong and here you can see some towns that are taking shape. The terrain textures are not final and borrowed from the Rhineland map at the moment.

And here’s the terrible vengeance weapon that terrorized Great Britain for many months during the war - the Fieseler Fi 103 or simply the V-1 “Buzz Bomb”. The British sarcastically nicknamed it the “Doodlebug”, but there was nothing cute about them in reality. It was the world’s first jet powered cruise missile, and it was a deadly, dangerous weapon that fell from the sky at seemingly random locations with little or no warning. About 8,000 V-1s were launched against Britain with about 2,400 of them getting through the defenses. Over 6,000 people were killed and many thousands more wounded by them. Over 44,000 Allied sorties were flown to try and intercept them along with the flak batteries that tried desperately to knock them down. Truly a flying terror. You’ll be able to simulate intercepting them before they are able to strike their targets along the southern coast of England when the BON map is ready. They were also used against targets in France and Belgium in smaller numbers as the Allies advanced.

We also have added more railyards to BOBP cities and here is the current list that has increased to a total of 19. We apologize for not having pictures of them, but COVID has decided to interfere with this operation. Just a reminder that we are not totally out of the woods yet with the pandemic.

Antwerp

Liege

Mainz

Frankfurt

Bonn

Cologne

Disburg

Brussels

Charleroi

Dusseldorf

Munster

Koblenz

Eindhoven

Tillburg

Nijmegen

Essen

Enschede

Hengelo

Osnabruck

And before we end this DD, here are three new posters Jason has created featuring all three Spitfire variants found in Great Battles including the new Spitfire Mk. XIV. We hope you enjoy this artwork.

Spitfire Mk.VB Poster
Spitfire Mk. IXe Poster

Spitfire Mk.XIV Poster

And of course, here are a few pics of the upcoming Spitfire Mk.XIV and Nieuport 28.

Enjoy your weekend everyone and stay safe!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss this post HERE.

May 14, 2021

280

Dear Friends!

Today’s DD is pretty straightforward, we’d simply like to show you some shots of content that we have in the works for both Battle of Normandy and Flying Circus: Volume II.

First, we have multiple renders of new objects, vehicles and ships that are being created by a development partner of ours. They are coming along nicely as you can see. They will be fully integrated into the engine very soon.

Next, we have the first shots of the Fokker D.VIII which is development by our friends at Ugra Media. This awesome high-winged monoplane will grace your installs next month assuming everything goes to plan. We plan to release it along with the Typhoon Mk.Ib (which we showed in a DD269) in our next update, which should happen by mid-June. Again, assuming final preparations go well.

Also, our great friend Luke 'Requiem' Campbell has created a very helpful video on how to operate the GAZ-MM 72-K and improve your accuracy when shooting at planes and vehicles. Check it out! Thank you to Requiem for making another great training video!

GAZ-MM 72-K Steam Release!

Additionally, we have added the GAZ-MM 72-K to our Steam store today where it along with the official webstore will have it on discount for another week. You can pick it up HERE.

All other work continues and our efforts to expand the team a bit so we can finish Normandy as planned continues. Stay tuned to our DDs all spring and summer long as we continue to build out BON and FC2!

See you in the skies!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss this post HERE.

May 21, 2021

281

Dear Pilots!

Behold the mighty Typhoon Mk.Ib in action! Coming soon to Battle of Normandy! It is now in Beta and is scheduled for release in June. It's another beauty by our talented team. This beast is armed with 4 x 20 mm Hispano cannons and can carry multiple rockets like the RP-3 in HE and AP flavors or a pair of 500 lb. or 1000 lb. bombs. The cockpit is another tubular framework popular with British designers of the period. It just looks angry with those rockets slung under the wings!

The Typhoon Mk.Ib helped pave the way for the Allied invasion of Normandy and soldiered on throughout the war pounding German ground units at every opportunity. We will feature no less than 21 Typhoon squadrons in our Normandy career with 4 of them flyable initially.

Jason has created another special poster. This time inspired by the beautiful emblems of Typhoon equipped squadrons. These emblems were created by our artwork partner (and newly minted rocket engine engineer) Isaac "SolidKreate" Chavira.

Full Size Poster HERE.

We hope you enjoy these screenshots. They were a blast to make.

Also in the works for Normandy is the solid nose Junkers Ju 88 C-6 which will make for an interesting maritime patrol and ground attack aircraft. Is it as effective and versatile as the American A-20B has proven to be? We shall find out!

And finally, we have built a big 380 mm gun that was known as the Todt Battery. In BON it will try, and in real life it really did try to pound the Allied invasion forces into oblivion. During the real invasion it stayed operational until late September 1944 when it was finally captured by Canadian troops. Check out this short video as we test its animations.

In other important news - next week, we plan to make an announcement about some additional content we plan to add to the Great Battles series, we hope you will be happy. Stay tuned!

See you in the sky and on the battlefield!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss this post HERE.

May 28, 2021

282

Dear Great War Pilots!

We are hard at work trying to finalize update 4.602 and the Fokker D.VIII is in final testing and implementation. So, this DD is dedicated to that deadly monoplane the Germans sent to the Western Front late in the war. The 'Flying Switchblade' makes it's debut in Flying Circus next week if testing goes well. Enjoy these beautiful images of it in action!

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend to our American community members!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

June 8, 2021

283

Hello Everyone!

This week we are showing a Dev. Diary a little early because we have some vacation and Covid-related holiday time that interferes with our normal routine. So, before we take a little time off, here are some quick shots of the German Sd.Kfz. 10/5 Flak 38 in the actual game engine. As you can see the textures are not anywhere near ready, but it is starting to become functional including some of the damage model and the gunsights. Once again, our partners at DigitalForms have done a terrific job on the model.

In the images below you can see how a machine gun from a Soviet armored car shot up my engine and ended my mission. The sights on this German gun are quite different from the Soviet 72-K and maybe it’s a bit more user friendly? You’ll have to be the judge when you try it, but it sure is fun trying to knock down planes with either gun!

Again, the textures are not done and this is just an early Beta example and we wanted to show you that progress is being made. The Sd.Kfz. 10/5 Flak 38 will be ready for action later this summer.

In WWII aircraft news – the P-51B/C is scheduled be the next aircraft released as we work on other things like the V-1 ‘Buzz Bomb’. The P-51B/C will be released late summer; the exact date is unknown at this point, but we’ll have updated pics for you just as soon as we can.

In WWI aircraft news, Ugra Media is hard at work on several FC2 planes and the map, but the closest to release is the Pfalz D.XII. She will be ready for our next update.

Recently, when I collected the USAAF squadron emblems for BON, created once again by our friend Isaac ‘Solidkreate’ Chavira, I was inspired to make another poster. This time for the P-47D-22 with all the USAAF Ninth Air Force squadrons that will be a part of the Battle of Normandy Career. There are quite a few that flew the Razorback during that period.

….. and finally, a shot that you have been waiting a long time to see. A Bf-109 with something new under slung its belly. Functional drop tanks are being worked on for several planes, but it will take time to retrofit the aircraft that need them.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

June 25, 2021

284

Dear Pilots,

Summer is here and it’s very hot in both Moscow and Las Vegas, but we soldier on still working mostly from our flats and homes. This week’s DD features just a couple items, but one is quite a surprise as you will see. But first, let’s admire the upcoming 4K skins made by our steadfast ally and partner Martin “ICDP” Catney. The ugly duckling has become a swan with these new textures wouldn’t you say?

With the new skins for the Hs-129, we are rapidly closing in on ALL planes in Great Battles being upgraded to the 4K standard. The Yak-1b should be next and eventually the Ju-52 will also get a refresh. The entire 4K upgrade has been a huge effort on Martin’s part as well as the previous contributions made by Francisco “BlackHellHound” Bindraban. Please join me in thanking them for their awesome contributions! A shining example of talented community members helping the developers and an effective international partnership.

And now a surprise that came about very recently, but one that has a its roots in Rise of Flight history and one that should end in a positive result for Sturmovik. Today, we share extremely early WIP shots of an important fighter design that saw action against both Soviet and American air forces and late in the war, alongside them. Can you guess what plane it is? There are very few types that have this distinction.

Spoiler

That’s right, the Romanian designed and built IAR-80/81 is under development by a third party that we feel has the skills to make it a reality. This will take some time, but we are confident it will come to fruition. Please enjoy this little tease and when we the mesh is further along, we will offer it for pre-order as we always do.

Why the IAR-80/81 exactly? Well, believe it or not, there is a lot of good reference information on this plane, so it is one that is possible to build by a single qualified modeler. A lot of what we do as a sim developer, can be described as the “art of the possible”. The IAR is indeed possible to make, so let's do it. And it’s a nice departure from our usual plane-set and is often overlooked in the history books. It will be sold as a Collector Plane, but it will certainly add some more historical flavor to the Battle of Stalingrad theater. There are some other planes we are working looking into finding a way to make. Your continued financial support is most important when we try to make new aircraft.

And we continue to work on the new AQM feature, fuel systems with drop tanks, Air Marshal and even improved cloud technology. All of which I hope to show you pictures of in upcoming Developer Diaries.

And Jason continues to work with talented mission makers on new mission content and Campaigns which we hope to have localized and released soon.

On a serious note, the pandemic really slowed us down as we are prevented from being on our office and seeing each other face to face. Working from home is not always ideal for a collaborative effort like developing Sturmovik, but we continue to do our best and fill irritating personnel needs as soon as we can. We had hoped 2021 would bring a quick return to normalcy for us, but sadly it has brought a whole new set of challenges for us as a team beyond the usual technical ones as the pandemic sticks around. So please have patience with us and know that the team is doing their very best under less-than-ideal circumstances.

See you in the skies and on the battlefield!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

July 2, 2021

285

Dear Pilots,

Today’s Developer Diary has two cool items to announce.

First, you can’t stage a Normandy invasion without some dashing British gents jumping out of airplanes. So, we built some.

Next, we are excited to announce that our next payware historical Scripted Campaign is coming soon and it’s called – Steel Birds!

Pre-orders will begin next week!

Created by our master mission-specialist Alex “Blacksix” Timoshkov, Steel Birds focuses on Fw-190 A-5 operations in the Kuban theater in late spring 1943. You'll take on the role of the newly appointed flight commander in 5. Staffel of the II./Sch.G 1. Under the command of Hauptmann Frank Neubert this Gruppe has just completed a retraining program and has relocated to Anapa airfield to support the operations of the German 17th Army.

The campaign is set from April 14th to May 16th, 1943 and is centered around the struggle for a bridgehead at Novorossiysk (Operation Neptune), and two major Soviet offensives in the area of Krymskaya, which ended with the withdrawal of German troops to a new line of defense in early May.

The sharp increase of the Soviet air strength in the Kuban led to one of the largest and fiercest air battles ever on the Eastern Front. In this difficult situation, you have to strike artillery batteries, transport and armored columns, airfields and battle formations of enemy advancing troops.

We’ll have more about Steel Birds next week when we formally launch pre-orders for this historically bases campaign. Release is scheduled for August.

Some images from Steel Birds are below.

And finally, we have some images from the new Advanced Quick Mission interface that is coming later this summer. We saved our old “campaign” system technology and have laid it over the existing QMB to give you added depth for missions that can be created quickly. We think this will be an entertaining new feature that will allow you to fly missions with more structure, but not be as big a commitment as the Pilot Career or as simplistic as the QMB battles. This new AQM, alongside our other mission-making tools such as the existing QMB, Pilot Career and Mission Builder, plus all the great third-party apps like PWCG by Pat Wilson and EMG by SYN_Vander gives the Great Battle series an amazing number of options for creating entertaining mission content.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

Discussion is HERE.

July 9, 2021

DD 286

Dear Friends,

Today we have a very straightforward Dev. Diary for you. We’d like to show you 4 aircraft that we have under development. Two from the Great War and two from WW2.

First, we have the Spad VII.C1 which is under development by our partners at Ugra Media for Flying Circus Vol. II. She’s coming along nicely.

Second, we have the powerful Airco DH.4 that gives Flying Circus some more two-seat bomber options. Such a great looking airplane.

Next, we have the B-26 Marauder that will be flown by the AI in Battle of Normandy. This is one of Jason’s favorite aircraft because his Grandfather John served in a B-26 unit in England and France during the war.

Finally, we have some pics of the Ar-234. Looks amazing!

We continue to build other planes including the Mosquito, Me-410 and the P-51B/C and we continue to test Air Marshal. Also, our new more complex Fuel System modeling is finally entering the Beta stage. It will first be installed and tested on our Bf-109s.

So, work continues on all fronts even as team members take hard earned summer vacations.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

July 16, 2021

Dear Pilots, Tankers and Gunners,

Today we have a short Developer Diary for you that shows progress on the Normandy airfields and the cockpit our P-51B/C.

As with our Rhineland map, the Normandy map will include historically accurate airfields. Here you can see how we match up period photos with our in-game map as we build them.

And work continues on the P-51B/C cockpit and below are some WIP shots. Of course, there are some missing details as the work is ongoing and still quite early. We are confident the P-51B/C will be really awesome when completed.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

July 30, 2021

288

Dear friends,

Despite the wonderful weather behind the window that would direct anyone's thoughts towards a vacation, the IL-2 team continues to work at the fastest rate possible in all planned directions. For the most massive one of them, the Battle of Normandy, a number of significant results were achieved during the last few weeks. For instance, the work on the Normandy map objects, including the ones needed for temporary ports in the beachhead area, German fortifications, unique city buildings, and stationary radars are nearly complete. We can already show you some of them in the sim:

In addition, we started the final production stage of P-51B we're creating for the Battle of Normandy. We want to deliver this famous and long-awaited plane to all BoN customers as soon as possible.

There are good news about Flying Circus Vol. II as well -the Western Front map is progressing well and we plan to show it in our Dev Blog soon, while today we can show you two coming airplanes at once: early SPAD 7.C1 with 150 HP engine and two-seater bomber Airco D.H.4:

And finally, Sd.Kfz.10/5 with 20mm Flak 38, the second player controllable mobile AA gun, is nearly complete as well. Here are its screenshots in the sim:

You can discuss the news in this thread

August 6, 2021

289

Dear Friends,

A LOT is being worked on at the moment and we’d like to share what is going on, but first, here is a picture of our new American bomber pilot models that are now ready for implantation. Once again, our dear friend Alexey comes through with a beautiful model.

First, update 4.603 is coming next week, assuming there are no nasty last-minute surprises. The 4.603 update will see the release of the long awaited Sd.Kfz. 10/5 Flak 38 vehicle mounted anti-aircraft gun and three WWI aircraft for Flying Circus: Volume II – the SPAD VII, Pfalz D.XII and the Airco DH.4 two-seater.

In addition to the new aircraft for FC2, Ugra Media is hard at work on the map and making elements for it including buildings, airfields, vehicles and other small details that you may find interesting.

And don’t forget that the awesome STEEL BIRDS historical campaign is also going to be released with the 4.603 update. You can still pre-order it HERE in the IL-2 Official Webstore! Jabo pilots get ready!

I also want to touch on a few items that you have heard about or have been waiting for patiently for a while.

We have good news and not so good news on the progress of our new more Complex Fuel Systems feature and Drop Tanks. It looks like we will be able to include drop tanks for some of the later model Bf-109s in the sim along with their new fuel system modeling in the next update. The not so good news is that other aircraft will have to follow in future updates as we work to retrofit so many planes. We had hoped to be able to accelerate this process, but we have not been able to fill a couple critical positions on the team in time to make this happen as fast as we want. However, these 109s really needed drop tanks so we added them first. There is a slight chance they won’t make this update if last minute bugs appear, but we are hopeful. Positive thoughts please!

Next, our new Air Marshal feature has been in testing for a couple weeks now and it does function, but there are some bugs and design issues that need to be ironed out before release. Air Marshal includes lots of GUI related items and is also connected to multiplayer so it’s more complex than a simple GUI feature. We’re finally feeling confident that Air Marshal will indeed be released, but exact ETA is still not known. However, it’s inching closer and closer with the help of some motivated testers. When we’re certain the interface is finalized or very close to final, we will show you pictures and talk about its features.

Additionally, we continue to test and work on the new AQM (Advanced Quick Missions) feature and it’s making rapid progress, but initial tests revealed some issues that need to be addressed. The AQM system will eventually be applied to all our maps and we are working to do that as soon as possible. It is likely it will be released for our larger maps first then applied to the others. Projected release is this Fall.

In Career mode news we are happy to report that 8 new mission types for fighter-bombers are going to be in the next update. Viks and LukeFF have been working to improve the career in this aspect and all seems to be working well.

Also, many of you know we are working on new cloud technology for the sim. This should bring our clouds up to a new level of beauty, variety and realism. We also plan to work with a talented community member on this project and we hope it will bear fruit in the coming months. But before we get into worrying about artistic quality, we need to perfect the technology part of it. And we think, based on early tests, that these clouds will also improve performance, but yield a prettier result. We’ll have pictures for you once we have something worthwhile to show you.

And finally, work on several new aircraft continues – V-1, P-51B/C, Me-410, Mosquito, Ar-234, B-26 (AI) are all being worked on feverishly and Ugra is knee-deep in building the cockpit for the C-47 along side preparing more FC2 planes for release.

And last but not least - Jason is beginning to plan future projects that you’ll likely learn about late this year or early next year as we work feverishly to finish Battle of Normandy.

There are so many aspects of IL-2 we are working on as we finish out this hot summer and we’ll talk about in future Developer Diaries.

See you in the skies!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss this DD in this thread HERE.

August 20, 2021

290

Dear Pilots,

Our Mosquito FB Mk,VI for Battle of Normandy is coming along nicely. Some very early WIP shots of it in the engine. Still much support work to do for it still. Will initially be available to fly with 8 squadrons in Career mode.

Q. If it's made from polygons is it still a Wooden Wonder?

Enjoy!

Jason

You can discuss this DD in this thread HERE.

August 27, 2021

291

Dear Friends,

This Dev blog is a bit unusual - I wanted to illustrate how the virtual world created by our team is not just a place to show nice-looking aircraft and vehicles, but it comes really close to real world experiences and situations (which is the ultimate goal of any sim).

This past Saturday night, myself and Roman (one of our flight model and aircraft systems engineers) had time to enjoy our sim as players and our experience turned out much like the real Eastern Front air clashes - somewhat confusing, challenging and stressful.

We flew a pair of Yak-9Ts to patrol a water basin area where both Soviet and German priority targets were located. I was the flight leader and... it didn't go well.

Upon reaching the area, I spotted a target flying at our altitude at a 7-10 km distance and closed up to identify it. The target started to do shallow, full-speed evasive maneuvers. I identified it as Fw 190 even though I wasn't totally sure. Roman (my wingman) wasn't confident as well and we continued the approach. At a closer distance where a positive ID could be obtained the target made a sharp evasive maneuver that continued as a dive so I decided to engage. The first single 37 mm shot connected and the target exploded, the pilot was killed. Very cool to watch, but immediately we saw the report (in the chat) that a La-5 was destroyed. Oh no!

Quite a negative combat situation – I was thinking about the inevitable court-martial as we continued the patrol. Then Roman spotted a target on the right - a medium-sized twin-engine aircraft not more than 2 km away. Having forgotten about the tragedy that just happened for a moment, we rushed to it. This time we closed to be absolutely sure what it is - it could be Bf 110, but also a friendly Pe-2.
Climbing up from below the contact, Roman identified it to be German by yellow wingtips and he started his attack, but the German pilot wasn't sleeping and successfully evaded the attack while his rear gunner hit the Yak’s radiator. But this is why a pair is always more effective than a single fighter - having evaded Roman's attack the 110 exposed itself to me! A short 37 mm burst connected and blew off part of its wing. The pilot tried to keep his plane in the air, but couldn’t manage to do it and fell to the ground below. We didn’t see any chutes.

Apparently though, the 110 wasn't alone. A fighter that must have been providing cover saw what had happened and quickly closed the distance between us. Roman managed to spot it just in time and maneuvered smartly to get onto his six o'clock, then the FW made a fatal mistake and made a sharp climb which slowed him down and made himself a fatter target with much less deflection than say a sharp diving turn would have. I always find it easier to lead a climbing target than a turning target. A few 37mm rounds connected making it a falling wreck.

Since Roman's radiator was leaking and our 30 rounds ammo was nearly spent, I made a decision to return to base immediately. In spite of the damage sustained, Roman’s Yak successfully reached the airfield and landed in time.

After cutting off the engine and opening the cockpit canopy, the thrill of victory quickly left and a dark feeling of the grave episode of mistaken identity set in – a Willy’s jeep containing the Commissar pulled up.

P.S.

An interesting thing - I wrote this immediately after the landing and before viewing the flight record. After viewing it, I believe this experience proves that what we had just done was even more lifelike and close to what you usually read in pilot memoirs than I first thought. When I saw the flight record, it turned out that when I wrote 'the first single shot' or 'a short burst' I couldn't be more wrong. I fired at least five short bursts at the first target (the friendly La-5) before I hit it. The second target was also hit only after firing for some time when it was doing scissors evasion maneuvers. This is close to historical reality as well - memories of combatants can sometimes be confused or tell a different story than reality. It’s this kind of thing that helps make our job of creating a ‘simulation’ difficult at times.

Update on IAR-80/81

On the actual development front, our modeling partner Ivan is working hard on the IAR-80/81 and it’s beginning to take shape nicely. When we see the cockpit starting to take shape, we will offer it up for Pre-Order. This plane promises to be very interesting.

Battle of Normandy objects development

We're happy to report a good progress on the Normandy project. The most of the buldings anf ground vehicles are ready and the work on the sea objects is going at full head flank speed - today we can show you a couple of screenshots straight from 3D editor screen. This is WIP model of a Gleaves class destroyer that participated in the invasion.

You can discuss the news in this thread

September 3, 2021

292

Dear Pilots,

Today we want to show you some WIP pics of the P-51B/C with the birdcage style canopy. It really changes the look of the P-51 and it's obvious why they changed to the bubble style canopy with the "D" model and some "B" airframes had their birdcage replaced with the 'Malcolm Hood' canopy which was a semi-bubble modification. We will also model the Malcolm Hood.

Also, if you happen to have any detailed references on the Malcolm Hood's canopy frame, rails or emergency release mechanism please share them with us. We could use some more detailed pictures or drawings of it.

The P-51B/C is unfortunately behind schedule and should have been ready by now, but she is getting ever closer to release and likely to be finished next month.

:salute:

Also, here is a pic of our American bomber pilot model ready to face some German flak!

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss this post HERE.

September 10, 2021

293

Dear Pilots,

Tough, busy week for the team so we simply leave you with images with some Ju-88 C-6 in flight (please ignore the incorrect sheen on some of it's glass) and a render of our USS Gleaves Class Destroyer with full textures applied. The cockpit for the C-6 is under development, but when it's ready it will be a lot of fun to tear up ground and maritime targets!

And our destroyer for Normandy landings support is looking good.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss this post HERE.

September 23, 2021

294

Dear Friends,

In today’s DD we want to show you some screens featuring our new cloud technology and renderer. We have been working on new clouds for a few months and we now have some WIP results we can show you. As you can see, they look more natural and have more variety and are larger than our previous clouds. They also have localized rain showers and react well with the lighting creating a beautiful scene. While other teams out there have more resources than we do to make amazing clouds, our new clouds are the work of just two motivated people on the Sturmovik Team (Sergey and Isay). And soon we’ll be working with community member and friend rowdyb00t who has previously made some cool cloud mods with our current technology. This new cloud technology has great potential and of course it will take some artistic talent to make it look it’s best. They should also offer better visuals with no loss of performance over the current technology, at least that’s what we see in early testing.

We think you’ll like these new clouds and we’ll work to get these to you as soon as we can. The technology is being perfected as we speak and we will begin work on making the new cloud content shortly. Then they will go into testing with release hopefully in a few months.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss this post HERE.

October 8, 2021

295

Dear Pilots,

This week we are working hard on the 4.605 update which will see two major releases. First, a French WWI bomber - the Breguet 14.B2 will be released for Flying Circus: Vol. II. The second will be the initial release of the Advanced Quick Mission Generator (AQMG) that adds a lot more mission content to the series.

Breguet 14.B2

The Breguet 14.B2 was operated by the French, Belgian and American air forces during WWI and it is quite a powerful machine and successful bombing platform. It was well liked in Rise of Flight and we are proud to bring it to the Flying Circus series. This time around, we have taken the time to improve a couple details of this wonderful aircraft including the addition or Fuel Mixture and Elevator Trim. Both of these details were not included in the ROF version of this plane. Whenever possible, we try to add missing details to our re-born ROF aircraft.

Advanced Quick Mission Generator

The Advanced Quick Mission (AQMG) offers a very fast way to generate Scenario-style missions quickly that offer high quality combat. It’s not a campaign and it’s not the QMB. It’s kind of an in-between feature that lays the groundwork for possibly more detailed Scenario generating (building) in the future. It’s one more way to create combat missions without having to learn the complex Mission Editor. The AQM is more of a “generator” than a “builder “meaning most of the hard work is done by the system and the user does not have to make many inputs to get up and running. The goal is to create a mission that is fun with lots of combat with flexible settings for enemy activity. The AQMG is based on the very old Campaign generator we originally had for BOS that we set aside several years ago (it worked quite well though) to make the Pilot Career mode. We never tossed the code and have now adopted it for Great Battles.

The AQMG is located inside the GUI beside the QMB and you can easily transition between the two features. The AQMG lets you choose several parameters that affect the mission, such as the map, airfield, mission type, starting position, your aircraft, loadout, weather, the time of day and the strength of enemy opposition. A mission is then generated from a historically based mission template that is populated with your objective and other friendly and enemy units that you may or may not encounter on your mission. It just takes seconds to set up a mission and get flying in a well-crafted historically appropriate mission that includes takeoff, ingress, targets, egress and landing. This is a bit more than your typically Quick Mission that is mainly geared for fast action and target practice. The AQMG can create thousands of different scenarios so no two missions will be exactly the same. This means thousands of hours air combat are at your disposal.

Here are a few examples from the Moscow, Stalingrad, Kuban and Rhineland maps. The AQMG is available on all of our main theater maps at time of release. We hope to expand it to other maps in the future.

The AQMG is one more tool in our mission creation toolbelt, alongside the QMB, Scenario Missions, Scripted Campaigns and Pilot Career offering a huge library of single-player content without the need to use the complex Mission Editor.

In addition to all of these options, we recommend you also check out the Easy Mission Generator (EMG) by SYN_Vander and Pat Wilson’s Campaign Generator (PWCG) to have even more options for creating combat missions. Both are excellent, excellent apps! We will continue to explore ways to improve both the QMB and AQMG features in the future as well. Being able to adopt these AQMG missions for Co-Op is also high on our wish list.

Old Clouds vs. New Clouds Video

Work on our new cloud technology continues at a rapid pace. So much so that we can now show you a comparison of how the old clouds and new clouds compare when rendered in the engine. This video demonstrates just how powerful the new cloud tech is and its potential. We can now offer A LOT more cloud cover and not smash the framerate that you are accustomed to. Early testing points to a net gain in framerate even with exponentially more cloud particles and shapes in the scene. The video is a direct comparison of the same track and was originally captured in 4K and reduced to 2k thanks to Jason’s outdated movie editing software. The mission that was flown in the video was an 8 vs. 8 QMB mission on the Rhineland Map with all ground objects like vehicles, flak, trains and ships enabled. The cloud cover in the New Clouds portion is considered “heavy”. The Old Clouds portion is considered just your average ‘cloudy’ preset.

Many of you will ask about how it performs in VR. To give you some idea here is what fellow team-member Jury aka Zeus told me today after testing it with his VR unit. This is a direct quote… and no he was not sucking up to the boss!

Jury, 11:58 AM

@Jason It's absolutely Awesome in VR

On my settings (I did not change it from the release version), I did not notice a decrease in FPS at all in VR

Hardware: I5-9600K overclocked by 4,8Hgz + RTX3070 + WMR "Samsung Odyssey+" in 60Hz refresh screen setting

In all Isay`s clouds test-missions - stable 60FPS in VR in all altitude

In QM battle 8x8 - stable 60FPS in VR in all altitude

IMHO its huge step onforward

like in a fairy tale in VR imagine you fly in a living volumetric sky ... Or even in a huge labyrinth of clouds

We believe this is very good news for VR pilots and all IL-2 fans for that matter. There are still some bugs to work out and there is (as usual :dash: ) some issue with Radeon cards we have to solve first. However, we are quickly moving to put these in Beta soon and then work on making many interesting and realistic cloud designs!

Enjoy!

Jason

P.S. Yes the music in the video is annoying I know. :salute:

P.S.S. I mixed up my monitor listing in the video. I know there is no such thing as an ASUS Predator. I meant ASUS 43PGUQ. I also have an Acer Predator monitor.

You can discuss HERE in this thread.

October 15, 2021

296

Dear Friends,

Autumn has arrived in Moscow and Las Vegas and even thought the air temperature is dropping, our work pace is heating up fast. Work on our new cloud tech continues and is making rapid progress. We will make many different “cloud patterns” over time as we mentioned previously, but right now we are trying to create some quality cloud designs that we can put into Beta testing and fulfill the minimum designs needed to get you up and flying with them sooner rather than later. Please enjoy these screenshots and prepare to get lost in them!

Work on the forthcoming P-51B continues and I really wanted to show you a shot of the cockpit with textures, but they aren’t quite ready for public viewing yet. But rest assured that the P-51B work is going hot and heavy. I am “encouraging” Mike as much as possible to get her done.

So, we can’t show you the P-51B cockpit at the moment, but how about some shots of the Mosquito instead! As you can see, it’s taking shape and looking nice! Like our other British birds this one also has a busy cockpit that when finished will be nothing but Royal Air Force awesomeness!

Testing on the new AQMG is progressing well and it should be released in our next update as mentioned last week. The Breguet 14 is also entering its final stages of tweaking before release as well. Work on the next update overall is going quite well so we expect a smooth release of 4.605 this month as planned.

There has also been some good news with some research endeavors Jason has working on. If all goes well It may bring a new warbird to our skies. One that many of you have asked for. Stay tuned for more on that.

And as mentioned by Jason in his recent Briefing Room post we have two Collector Tanks being worked on by our friends at DigitalForms and we will announce those very soon.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE in this thread.

October 29, 2021

297

Dear Pilots,

Today’s DD is short and to the point. We have WIP pics of the Arado 234 B-2 cockpit that is being built by Phil and one of our new modelers Vasily. It’s looking good so far! An interesting cockpit for an interesting and ground breaking plane.

Also, we have images of some new cloud formations, some thicker and some thinner at different parts of the day. Clouds are progressing. Not quite ready for beta testing yet, but getting closer.

And finally, you already have these in the 4.605b Hotfix we released yesterday, but we now have 4K skins for the Auntie Ju made by intrepid artist Martin =ICDP= Catney. Here are a few shots to show off some of his work. Almost all planes have now been brought up to the 4K standard. Really an awesome accomplishment considering the sheer number of airplanes involved and the time commitment! The template for the JU 52 is also now available. Thank you, Martin!

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE in this thread.

November 5, 2021

298

Dear Friends,

The team is on a well-deserved extended weekend and Jason is lost in the middle of America on a research mission, so today’s DD is very straightforward. Behold the jet powered Arado AR 234 B-2 bomber! What sleek lines she has! As you saw last week, the Arado’s unique cockpit is also in development. We are working as hard as we can to make her operational as fast as we can.

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE in this thread.

November 12, 2021

299

Dear Friends,

The cold November is here already and we continue working on our projects. An important milestone for the Battle of Normandy is getting near - its map will be ready to a degree that will allow us to begin the development of Pilot's Career for this theater (meaning that settlements, airfields, roads, rivers and forests will be there). It will be too early to share the screenshots of the map itself at this point since the work on its visual part - texturing and finalizing landscape features, coast and additional detail - happens at the last stage of development according to our workflow. Nevertheless, this stage is not very far away either, since the map overall progresses according to the plan. Speaking of the map, we can say that creation of map objects is finished, including the new city blocks characteristic for Britain, coastal defenses, radar stations, farmsteads for rural areas and, of course, unique landmarks. For creating believable airfields, certain additional airfield objects were created which are characteristic of this theater of war.

The work on various naval and ground units for BoN continues - there are several ship types that participated in the landing, including landing craft and radar-equipped ones, and several vehicles like this British armored car Humber Mk.IV, which is ready for deployment.

The German heavy fighter Ju 88 C-6 and the legendary US fighter P-51B-5 are getting close to release. Progress on the P-51B has been frustratingly slow with several technical delays due to research and software issues. Anyway, it's Flight Model 99% done and only Malcolm Hood visual is on the finish line of production. Please be patient the early Pony will get here we promise! Arado 234, Mosquito FB MK.VI and Me 410 are at earlier stages of development, but they are progressing according to the general plan. In the meantime, the work on the new fuel system is nearly finished and it will make its debut on Bf 109 fighters. As soon as it is ready we'll apply it to all the aircraft of the sim. This new tech will make the fuel system modeling more realistic, damageable in more detail and pilot interfacing with it will be recreated with more fine details. With this new technology up and running, we plan to switch to the development of the launch, guidance and warhead functioning of the V-1 vengeance weapon - its FM and 3D model, including the launch site, are already ready.

There is good progress in Flying Circus Vol. II project is well. The German two-seater recon/strike airplane DFW C.V is the closest one for the release - at the moment its 3D model is nearly finished while its FM is in the works - and we plan to have it in the next update already. Sopwith Triplane should be also released before the end of the year as well as the British heavy bomber Handley Page O/400. Early next year we'll have to finish German bomber Gotha G.V, Western Front map, and two Collector Planes, late WWI fighters.

In addition, there is a lot of WWI-era ground vehicles incoming - for instance, in the next update, we plan to release Jeffery Quad, Benz LKW 1912 and Daimler DR4 in several modifications and tanks - Mark V female, Reno FT and Schneider CA 1. WWI aviators will find their life slightly more complicated due to the addition of the German 37mm automatic AA gun Maxim Flak M14.

All the things listed above are just a fraction of what we and our partners are working on at the moment, so please stay tuned - we'll be able to tell you more about the other development streams in our next Dev Diaries.

You can discuss the news in this thread

November 22, 2021

300

Dear Friends,

Welcome to a rare Monday edition that is our 300^th Developer Diary which happens to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the release of the original IL-2 Sturmovik for the PC! Two decades on and IL-2 products are still going strong! Simply amazing!

We know you would like this to be a super special diary today, but for us, it’s just another busy week at work trying to finish our projects. Please don’t think that we are not proud of this milestone, because we are, but there is just so much to do and we need to stay on task! However, we hope that there will be 300 more DDs and 20 more years of Sturmovik products to come!

We also realize that we could not have gotten this far without the financial support of our customers and those dedicated people in our community that help us make Sturmovik week after week. We salute anyone and everyone who has contributed to the Great Battles series over the years either as an unpaid volunteer or professional partner. From painting skins to developing apps, making missions to beta testing, 3D modeling to historical to research, localization of text to voice acting and on and on, this 300th Developer Diary is dedicated to you guys! THANK YOU!

No DD is complete without some news and images about current projects and today’s is no exception. Both of these projects have been undertaken by third-party partners – the C-47 cockpit is being built by Ugra Media and the IAR-80/81 is being built by our partner Ivan. Both of these models have been shown before and they have progressed since we last showed them, even if their appearance is not drastically different from before. There is lots of work being done to keep the poly and texture budgets under control and make the model not only beautiful, but also efficient. This is always a big challenge for anyone who makes models for us.

C-47A

IAR-80/81

The IAR will likely go on Pre-Order next week as well as our two new Collector Tanks which Jason will also announce next week.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss in this thread.

November 29, 2021

301

Hello Friends!

Happy Monday to everyone! We have a short DD for you today that features the DFW C.V for Flying Circus Vol. II and new 4K skins for our old friend the Yak-1b which were crafted once again by our partner Martin “ICDP” Catney. The Yak-1b completes our initial goal of bringing all aircraft and tank skins along with their templates up to the 4K standard. It took several years, but what an accomplishment!! Thanks again to Martin, Francisco (BlackHellhound1) and Marcus (Raptorattacker) for helping make all this possible!

DFW C.V

Yak-1b 4K Skins

The DFW C.V, Yak-1b 4K skins and our initial release of our new clouds will be in the upcoming 4.701 update later in December. Which we pray to all mighty Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Yahweh, Zeus, Lucifer, Cthulhu, Thanos, General Zod or whatever powerful deity controls its fate, please give us the strength to finish the P-51B so we can include it in update 4.701! :dash:

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

December 3, 2021

302

Hello P-51 Lovers!

We know you’ve been waiting patiently to see more of the P-51B, so today we show you what it looks like both inside and out! This new ‘Pony’ should be ready by the end of this month. It’s the Holiday Season and a time for giving, so there will likely be two updates in December! One with the new clouds and the DFWC.V and the other with the P-51B and maybe, just maybe new fuel systems and drop tanks for several Bf-109 variants. Of course, plans are subject to change pending testing. And as mentioned previously the Malcolm Hood has taken extra work to get it right, so that component is not ready to be shown yet. Without further delay…

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

December 17, 2021

303

Dear Pilots!

Happy Holidays to everyone in the IL-2 Sturmovik community! May it be filled with good health, family, friends and lots of time to play your favorite virtual air combat simulation!

Today’s Developer Diary is a showcase of the beautiful P-51B which we are working very hard to finish for you by the end of the month. Just some minor bugs are left along with still finishing the tricky Malcolm Hood.

We also have some shots of some new combat vehicles for you to check out like the M8 Greyhound and Universal “Bren Gun” Carrier Mk. II. And we have a new good looking USAAF bomber crewman model to show you. The fur sure looks look warm!

We’re working as hard as we can to end this challenging 2021 strong so wish us luck as we battle to get things done!

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

January 21, 2022

304

Attention Pilots!

Our first Developer Diary of 2022 is here and it includes our first of two heavy bombers that are coming to FC2 – the mighty Gotha G.V. is up and flying! She’s a big bird that terrorized its enemies and foretold the future of heavy bombing in later conflicts. She’s a pusher design that is not so easy to fly, but in the right hands is an effective bomber. Load her up with your friends and multiplayer sorties become a whole new experience! We think you’ll like her and she’s coming soon to Flying Circus – Vol. II. The Handley-Page O/400 is also being worked on along with the Sopwith Triplane.

In Normandy news, we are developing some new and varied runway surfaces for our airfields and tweaking some existing ones. There were quite a few different types of surfaces used in this theater. Everything from asphalt to steel to wood chips mixed together with tar were utilized to build runways and taxiways. These pics are early WIP so may change before final, but we thought they are interesting to show you what’s in the works.

And we are also adding the British C9/B with 40mm Bofors to the BON vehicle collection. She’s looking nice.

We continue to push to finish BON and FC2 and so many things are being worked on at the moment. Several twin-engine planes, two collector tanks, two big maps (Normandy and Western Front) and new GUI features are in development along with some small, but welcome improvements like adjusting Navigation Lights to more realistic visibility. The new Fuel Systems modeling is also finally coming back to beta along with drop tanks for several 109s as a start. We’re also taking a look at some other FM related issues like propeller modeling where some old issues exist. We continue to research how to improve our sky even further, not to mention the continued implementation of Tactical Codes and Dynamic Visual Damage to all our airplanes. Career mode development for Normandy is also under way and Flying Circus Career work will begin just as soon the new map has enough of it ready. And I almost forgot, Alex has built a new Spit XIV Scripted Campaign for the Rhineland map called His Majesty's Griffons. It will be free to all who own both BOBP and BON and will be in the next update. So, 2022 is off to a very busy start and it will be a huge year for the Great Battles series!

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

January 28, 2022

305

Attention Pilots!

Today’s DD is both informative and interactive! First, we have a couple shots of our new Recon GUI that heralds our re-establishment of interactive elements into our in-game environment. We had this feature in ROF and used it for recon and artillery spotting duties. We are bringing it back for the Great Battles series and it’s starting to take shape. These shots are WIP, but you can see it will add some cool new mission types to our various modes of gameplay.

EVERYONE PLEASE TAKE THIS POLL

On a much different note, we are working on some changes to the engine and it might require an increase in certain minimum system requirements. Especially in the video card category. So, we would like everyone to take this special poll below and answer the questions. This will give us some insight into what video cards you are currently using, or if you plan to buy a particular card quite soon go ahead and select what you are planning to own say within the next 30-60 days. We know upgrading cards right now is tough due to shortages, but we’d like to know where you currently are or plan to go soon with a new card to give us a snapshot. Thanks in advance!

TAKE VIDEO CARD SURVEY

:salute:

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE and in the Poll location itself.

February 4, 2022

306

Hello Everyone!

While we continue to work to finish several aircraft for BON and FC2, we would like to take a moment to show you something else we’ve been working on- our new sky technology! Many of you have complained in the past about “banding” that occurs in our sky-dome, especially as light begins to fade late in the day and at night. We agree that this was not ideal and we have decided to do something about it.

We have now adopted a more physics-based technology that has more or less become an industry standard these days. Before we had more of an artistic approach, but it had some limitations as many of you pointed out. The new sky is meant to simulate the sky on a round globe and we have adapted it to our engine. The results are pretty nice. The end result should be no banding, including the glow around the moon. This should give you a more realistic picture. Our new sky also allows us to change how we do dust and haze in the atmosphere which we will look at in the not too-distant future as well.

This technology should not have much of an impact on your performance, however, it does use more Video Memory, so we highly recommend you have at least 2GB or more. This was one of the reasons for the Video Card Survey we asked you to participate in last week. Which, if you haven’t taken the time yet, please do participate. It’s very helpful to us.

We feel that with this new sky along with our new clouds create a really great atmospheric environment to fly and fight in. We still need to tweak our lighting for each season and make some further small adjustments, but here are several pics that show where we are headed. Some pics are on clear days and some are on hazier days. We also show how the moon looks now and some of the new sunset colors that occur.

Note: Due to compression when I saved the images for posting I caused some loss in quality which may show some slight banding. This is not from the game itself. Please download and look at the originals here in this archive to see the difference if you feel it necessary. In-game there is no banding.

Uncompressed Originals

Note 2: I changed the images to .png format and the compression is much less. I will keep the uncompressed images linked just in case you want to view them.

We hope you like it.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

February 11, 2022

307

Hello Everyone!

Today we bring you some news from the Great War! We are nearing completion of the final trio of Flying Circus- Vol. II aircraft. The Gotha G.V., Handley-Page O/400 and Sopwith Triplane are coming along nicely. The Gotha G.V. will be released in our next update, which we hope will be by the end of this month. The HP O/400 and Tripe will be in a March update. The Western Front map for FC2/3 is also being worked on by Ugra Media, but it is not ready to be shown yet and will likely take more time to complete that we originally planned unfortunately. A clear estimate on its arrival is not possible at the moment, but will update you as soon as we get a better handle on it. Map making is a slow process in general.

In some WWII news we have created new USAAF bomber crewmembers for our B-26 to man the gun stations. The work by Alexey is top notch as usual.

We have also made more progress on our new sky technology and are currently working to put it into Beta soon. Next week we plan to update our Astro-dome (stars and planets) to be more accurate depending on the latitude of the map. This is a small, but interesting improvement to make our physical world a little more accurate.

Work on our remaining Battle of Normandy aircraft continues. As I have mentioned previously, moderate delays have befallen these birds during the pandemic, but work continues and we hope to start showing you more of them in upcoming DDs. However, the Ju-88 C-6 should be ready for Beta testing soon and be included in our next update (provided testing goes well). We are finalizing our skins for it and getting ready to roll her out. We hope to have updated pics for you next week of the beastly Ju-88 C-6.

It appears the world is finally ready to move on from the pandemic and we hope this means life will get back to normal. Of course, humanity will find a way to struggle to even get back to normal, such is our nature it seems. However, the long-term disruption to daily life, families, education, travel, medicine, governments and business norms that this pandemic has caused will be felt for years to come. In the face of all this disruption, we want to say THANK YOU to all who have supported us during the last couple years as we have struggled to maintain a steady flow of content and improvements for the Great Battles series. We can never thank you enough and we will continue to work hard for you.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

February 18, 2022

308

Hello Everyone!

Today’s Developer Diary has just one task. To show you the mighty Ju 88 C-6 in the engine and decimating targets with her awesome firepower. Don’t get caught in her gunsight because she can unleash a hellish barrage or bullets, cannon fire or bombs! A couple of these heavy hitters can wreck a convoy or an airfield in no time.

These images also include our New Sky which is nearing readiness for release soon. You’ll notice it looks not only more beautiful, but more realistic with no banding in low light conditions. The new sky when coupled with the new clouds and some new adjustments to the lighting, combines to make a beautiful scene!

We’ve also added the ability to set the time to the exact hour and minute you want in the Quick Missions GUI so it will be much easier to fly during your favorite time of day.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

February 25, 2022

309

Dear Friends,

Once again, we are reminded that real-life is much more important than a video game or flight simulation. We pray for the safety and well-being of all our friends, family and associates no matter where they are during this difficult time. We are an international team and an apolitical organization and we wish to remain so. We ask that you help us keep our forum and other properties civil as world events unfold. We are operating as usual; development continues and we expect to continue to do so.

For today’s DD we have new, never before seen pics of the Arado AR 234 cockpit under development.

We also have some shots of the Bedford truck and fuel tanker.

And finally, we have an image of our USAAF bomber pilots with different helmets.

Please enjoy.

The Sturmovik Team

Discussion is HERE.

March 4, 2022

310

Hello Everyone,

Today’s DD brings us some very cool renders of the Me 410 A-1 cockpit. It’s a very unique cockpit and has been a challenge to build, but it’s looking great now and heading into the final stretch. We continue to work on our next update which we hope will be next week. It will be a good one with the new sky and new airplanes like the Ju 88 C-6, Gotha G.V. and we think possibly the Handley Page O/400.

Me 410 A-1 Cockpit in Development

And our colleague =DED= Rapidus just handed me a link to a short video of our new sky and Ju 88 C-6 in action that he filmed while testing the Beta. You may want to check out. Has some funky beats. ?

*Any artifacts are caused by YouTube compression.

Enjoy.

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

March 11, 2022

311

Hello Everyone,

A quick update on all that we are working on at the moment. We are preparing version 4.703 for release for middle of next week. Assuming, of course, no last-minute show stoppers arise.

Update 4.703 will include three large planes – the JU 88 C-6, Gotha G.V. and Handley Page O/400. This brings some heavier metal to BON and some err… heavier lumber to FC2 I guess you could say.

The Gotha, as it was in ROF is a handful to fly. See if you can master it! The Sopwith Tripe is also entering its later stage of development and will be in our next update.

4.703 also includes 40+ smaller tweaks and improvements including items such as:

- New sky technology and improvements to lighting. Should see a reduction in overall blue tint.

- Improvements to the appearance and lighting of snowy landscapes.

- The position of heavenly bodies now depends not only on time and date, but also on geographic coordinates (including when moving around the map).

- Quick Mission GUI now includes the ability to set any time of day with clues as to Sunrise, Daylight, Sunset and Night-time scenes.

- AI with mixed cannon and machine gun armaments shoot more accurately.

- Fix to the landing lights that are visible from far away issue.

- Added the Ju-88 C-6 to Stalingrad Career mode with III./KG76 and for the Battle of Kuban 7.(Eis)/KG 51 and 9./KG 55.

- Squadron II./JG 3 for Pilot Career Battle of Stalingrad moved from AI to player controllable

- Squadron II./KG 76 for pilot career Battle of Moscow and Battle of Stalingrad moved from AI to player controllable.

After much research and bug chasing, our engineers discovered clear issues with our modeling of some aspects of the Bf-109 airframe, which in some situations made their performance quite unrealistic. So, we have made some changes to most Bf-109 variants relating to the over-modeling of propeller performance and aerodynamics. Version 4.703 will include the following changes.

- On all Bf-109 aircraft (except for the E-7) the aerodynamic characteristics of the propeller have been changed to eliminate the unrealistic behavior of the aircraft in the wake of the propeller and the possibility of "hovering on the propeller". The airframe aerodynamics of these aircraft has also been corrected so that the maximum speed, rate of climb, turn time, and acceleration time better corresponded to the reference values.

- On all Bf-109 aircraft (except for the E-7) the effectiveness of the ailerons at high speeds has been changed (increased) (the "clamping" of the ailerons has been reduced at speeds over 400 km/h)

The goal was to be more accurate overall, so in some cases speeds may be bit lower at sea level, but higher at rated altitudes and climb-rate may be a bit slower. But in some cases, turns may be quicker, but acceleration a little slower. As usual, we have used a mix of German and Soviet sources to try to get a more accurate picture.

Also, Fuel System work has progressed to a late stage and has been in Beta testing, but the Beta testers continue to find issues that need addressing, so work continues. Its very frustrating, but we continue to work on it.

And before we sign off for the week, here are a few pics of the Churchill Mk.IV tank being tested and tweaked in our virtual proving grounds.

We hope you will like version 4.703.

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

March 25, 2022

312

Dear Friends,

Today’s Developer Diary showcases our upcoming and awesome Mosquito FB Mk.VI. Isn’t she a beauty? Our “Wooden Wonder” as it was called, is in the later stages of development and we have already completed some of her skins that will be included. Work on her flight model has begun and work on finishing her cockpit continues. We are doing all we can to get her into your hangars just as soon as possible. We know she is a hotly anticipated plane and the wait is difficult, but please have patience, we think she will be worth it!

As you know, we frequently re-visit some of our older technology and try to improve it. A recent example is our sky, clouds and lighting, which we still hope to improve further in time. Recently, we finally had some time to re-visit our technology that affects the appearance of our Propeller Disk. Our current prop disk has some issues that we wanted to rectify including how it seems to disappear at certain angles. We also wanted to make its appearance more realistic and dynamic. We think we achieved this and here are a couple screens to help demonstrate. It’s hard to get the whole effect in still images or even a video, but we wanted to make you aware of this development. We think you’ll enjoy it once it’s in-game.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss it here.

April 1, 2022

313

Dear Friends,

Today’s DD features two great, new additions that we think you will be excited about!

First, we have in-game pics of the awesome and often overlooked workhorse of the USAAF – the B-26! The B-26 was considered a fast medium bomber and it saw action on all fronts in WWII for the USAAF. It was somewhat tricky to fly and had a not so good reputation in the eyes of early aircrews. Accidents were known to happen quite often. But once in theater the B-26 rose to the occasion and usually bombed tactical targets from lower altitudes than the heavy bombers like the B-17 and B-24. Targets like bridges, airfields, command posts, beaches and railyards are all prime targets for the B-26. The B-26 in Great Battles is the Block 55 model which were numerous in the European theater during the Normandy timeframe and this model also came in both olive drab and natural metal finishes which will add variety to our skins. Our B-26 is an AI controlled plane, like our B-25. However, with the inclusion of the B-26 we can have much more interesting missions and gameplay with some proper Allied level-bombers playing their role. Plus, it is just a beautifully streamlined aircraft that really makes for some great photos! Also, we cannot wait to see what skin artists will do with her.

On a personal note, my grandfather served in B-26s during WWII in England and France with the 9^th Air Force and seeing the B-26 take flight in Great Battles makes it extra special for me. It's this kind of personal connection to history that makes this job and hobby worth the effort.

I addition to the B-26 we have finally begun work on improvements to our controller assignment system. In Rise of Flight, we had a great system for assigning key maps, joystick curves to custom input profiles which could be assigned to individual planes or set as default. The system worked well and was popular.

We are now taking the time to add a similar system to Sturmovik and we think you’re going to be very happy with it. I hesitate to show you such early, early draft images, but they demonstrate where we are headed. Also, we are adding the ability to virtually adjust the pitch like we had in ROF, which for WWI crates makes them much more comfortable to fly and increases the fun factor.

Enjoy!

Jason and The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

April 15, 2022

314

Dear Pilots!

Today’s Developer Diary brings us pics of the classic Sopwith Triplane in action along with some pics of B-26 liveries. The Tripe is the tenth plane for Flying Circus - Vol. II and it will be in the next update which is due at the end of the month. We continue to work on the map for FC2. The AI B-26 will be in a later update. The Tripe will have the option of mounting one or two Vickers machine guns. Work and testing for the 4.704 update is well underway and will include some new optimizations that should speed up loading times for many of you.

Sopwith Triplane

B-26B-55

Enjoy and Happy Easter to everyone!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

April 22, 2022

315

Dear Pilots and Tankers,

Today’s DD is a collection of images of new content in development by our partners such as Ugra Media, DigitalForms and others.

First, we have a few very much WIP images from the C-47 cockpit being built by Ugra Media. As you can she its coming along nicely and it will add a new dimension to Allied air operations!

Next, we have some amazing cutaway shots of the Churchill Mk.IV tank being built by our partners at DigitalForms. The engineering and work they do for Tank Crew models is simply the best in the business. Looking great!

They are also working on the Stug III which as you can see is not as complete as the Churchill, but the modeling is just as detailed. Here are a few shots of some sub-assemblies.

Finally, we have the Sd. Kfz. 234 which is built by a collection of professional modelers we call Luchin Team. This armored vehicle will be on the Normandy battleground later this summer.

Please cheer on our partners as they work to bring some very interesting new toys to your favorite combat simulator – IL-2 Sturmovik!

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

April 29, 2022

316

Dear Great War Pilots!

We have some awesome news to share with you in today’s DD. The images below are the first to show the Sopwith Snipe and Siemens-Schuckert D.IV Collector Planes we have in development. They are being built by our friends at Ugra Media with our supervision and they are coming along quickly. The Snipe’s external is looking good and the cockpit is well under way, but not ready for a public reveal yet. The SS.D.IV is in a less developed state, but it’s coming along nicely. Both of these are challenging little birds to build, as great reference material is sparse, but when complete they will represent the pinnacle of WWI fighter design at the time of the Armistice. These are also the first truly new aircraft for Flying Circus that were not made for Rise of Flight in the past and we think you will really enjoy them! Both of these will be made available for Pre-Order soon, now that they have made significant process in their development. More about these two interesting warbirds as development progresses.

Sopwith Snipe

Siemens-Schuckert D.IV

Enjoy!

You can discuss here.

May 13, 2022

317

Dear Pilots!

Today’s DD is all about the mighty Mosquito FB Mk.VI, which is nearing completion for Battle of Normandy! We are finishing her systems and flight model and preparing her for release. As you can see from the images, she is a really good-looking aircraft and there are tons of armament options. She packs one hell of an offensive punch with awesome flight performance. We think she will be an incredibly popular ride in Great Battles. Below you see the almost completed cockpit along with several armament options and skins that will be included. Unfortunately, some systems were not functioning yet, so I was unable to launch any weapons or engage in combat, but she will be entering Beta very soon where the testers will put her through her paces. Stay tuned for more as we get the “Wooden Wonder” ready for release!

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

May 20, 2022

318

Dear Friends,

In today’s DD we see images of the AR-234 in some new skins and geometry of the IAR-80/81 cockpit. We also see the implementation of WWII style barrage balloons which can be used to protect ships and ground targets.

These balloons can be towed by ships, winched up and down and if the wire is hit hard enough and severed the balloon will fly away. If the Luftwaffe ever does reach the invasion fleet watch out for these new obstacles!

Our AR 234 B-2 jet bomber is nearing its final stages of development and we have some cool skins to show you today. What a great looking aircraft.

The IAR-80/81 Collector Plane is also making progress. The cockpit geometry is about done and ready for texturing. Looks like a very busy cockpit!

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

You can discuss HERE.

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