Developer Diary

Jason_Williams · August 17, 2018

199

Dear Pilots,

Summer is winding down and we’re getting back to our normal work schedule. Here are some early pics of our Me-262 model. Looks fast doesn’t it?

You can discuss the news in this thread.

Han · August 24, 2018

200

Hello everybody,

The time flows and significant changes in our main project, Bodenplatte, are on the horizon. Lead engineer Andrey Solomykin has started the huge chunk of his planned work - air compressibility modeling at high speeds which is a must for the late war period when the aircraft speeds approached the sonic barrier.

At the same time another engineer, Roman Kovalenko, is modeling a new device type in our project - turbosupercharger. The main difference between a turbosupercharger and other superchargers we already modeled in other aircraft is the fact that it is powered not by the engine shaft, but by the turbine which is rotated by the engine exhaust. Therefore, the manifold pressure created by the turbosupercharger at different engine modes has a much more complex formula and requires a much more complex physical model. The first aircraft in our sim that will have this device is P-47D-28 Thunderbolt.

In the next update, we plan to improve numerous aircraft graphical effects and make minor improvements to the netcode. Meanwhile, Pfalz D.IIIa and Sopwith Camel are being developed for Flying Circus Volume I, the work on new WWI pilots animations has also started.

For Tank Crew, M4A2 "Sherman" and Pz. IV Ausf.G are in the works. Both of these tanks have interesting peculiarities and we hope to model most of them in the sim. Today we can show you the first WIP screenshots of one of them. In addition, the work on the detailed buildings for Prokhorovka map will be finished soon. We begin the AI development for player controllable tanks and will start the work on implementing additional tank systems and their damage modeling, tank commander functionality and tank radio communications.

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · August 30, 2018

201

Hello everybody,

Today's Dev Blog is dedicated to the development made in our community. -DED- online squadron worked on implementing the online campaign functionality as an addition to our multiplayer mode for some time now. You can already play the working campaign on their server. Having accumulated a ton of experience on this matter, -DED- team decided to share it with other community members - perhaps this would be a good incentive for other multiplayer enthusiasts. So here is their guide:

How to make an online campaign

The biggest challenge in fan-made online war-like projects comes from the lack of volunteer and qualified human-hours to create a required software. Thankfully, the possibilities included in IL-2 Sturmovik help remedy this - and we’ll tell you about exactly that. This will be a general overview since we’d like to explain you the general direction of where you should look.

To create an online campaign, you’ll need the following tools:

1. Mission editor (available to everyone; chances are you’ll also need rcon and resaver utilities found in the bin folder of the game as well).

2. Mission templates editor (it can be obtained from the developers if you’re serious about hosting an online war server and are willing to sign the NDA).

3. Mission generator (obtainable by NDA, see above).

4. Commander utility (this piece of software should link your missions together, this is what you need to code yourselves because there is no ‘out of the box’ solution).

5. Statistics website (you can use the one made by Vaal or create yours).

Leaving commander utility and statistics completely to you and assuming you have experience with the mission editor (this is required) we can tell you about template editor and mission generator - how they work in general and how we use them to run our ‘Random expert’ server.

As you can tell from the names of these utilities, template editor (let’s call it t-editor to differentiate it from mission editor we’ll call just editor) and mission generator (just generator from now on) can create the missions automatically, saving you from untold hours of manual work and allowing for good variability of the online missions. It’s important to note that by variability we don’t mean ‘generating a new mission using the results of previous ones’ (this should be handled by you commander utility), but randomness using the variants included in the mission template.

To make it clear, ‘random’ in this guide means a random variant chosen from pre-made variants you have created. You can define the random limits yourself and we’ll show you how.

Let’s look at this simple chart:

Therefore, to create a mission the generator needs to have:

1. Location database that defines the possible placement of the mission objects (it is created in the editor).

2. Groups - these are the ‘bricks’ the mission is made of - created in editor as well (a group can contain a single unit or many ones and their links).

3. Mission template - here you define the rules how the ‘bricks’ can be arranged and link them (it is done in t-editor).

4. Several files (cfg, ini, dat) that define the mission building parameters (described in detail in File structure).

We don’t include here ‘on-the-fly’ changes in the database, groups or template that your commander utility will be making (you’ll need them to create an online campaign, be sure of this). However, these components are just plain text files so you our your programmer(s) won’t have trouble working with them.

It should be noted that:

l While creating a database you need to understand what will be placed in the locations you are adding, how these objects should look and how the mission will play (an airfield shouldn’t be placed in the river, a decoration shouldn’t block a road, etc.). It may be worth it to think about the groups placement rules in the template in advance to make it easier for yourself and simplify the template;

l While creating groups you need to think how they will be linked and how the mission will function as a whole (MCU logic in the mission editor, a desirable scenario);

l Finally, while creating the rules in the template, you need to keep the mission and locations database in mind so you won’t make a mistake in the random limits (to avoid things like red airfield in blue territory unless you specially want to do something like this).

To summarize, everything is interlinked.

*****

Now let’s take a closer look at the mission components.

Locations database

Its elements are located in the mission objects library in the editor. This database defines the possible locations on the map for placing groups or objects, their types and orientation (only for static placement, dynamic is provided by the template).

In the editor menu called location database you can export the database to a text file that can be converted into a format the generator can open using the special utility (under NDA), import a previously saved database into the map and combine separate databases into one. You can also filter out different object types to make your work and search easier.

Location database preparation is a boring work, but if you have planned the gameplay of your campaign in advance well, you won’t have to return to this step in the future.

Groups

Since we assume you are familiar with the editor, let’s concentrate on the differences between groups in regular, manually created missions and groups intended for generator missions. These differences include the use of helper objects and operation peculiarities (while working with decorations).

Helpers are special class of editor objects.

1. Reference point defines the group placement in a mission, its position is the same as the center of the location assigned to the group while the location, rotation and altitude are specified in the mission template. Reference point is required for any group.

2. Output, Input - these are like ‘male’ and ‘female’ connectors that allow to connect groups in the mission template using target and object links, events and reports. After processing in generator, this results in the final mission logic. The names of these helpers are important to avoid confusion while working in t-editor. In addition, the names of the object link connectors should begin with OBJECT, but this is more related to t-editor usage.

3. Dynamic - this helper specifies the object properties (an entity or MCU) in a group that can change dynamically from one mission to another by rules defined in the template. Clear names make your life easier, just like connector names. This helper allows making universal groups and make the missions variable with more randomness - for instance, a group of T-34 tanks created in the editor may become a group of KV tanks or even Opel trucks in the resulting mission depending on the template properties (see Mission template).

4. Preset description - groups with this helper will contain your mission briefings: main and secondary task descriptions and anything else you want to include in the briefing. The generator will use these texts to create the mission briefing automatically.

5. There are other helper types, but it’s likely you won’t need them.

Decoration and coordinate groups

Since the engine of the game doesn’t allow to change ‘nationality’ of the decorations dynamically, the groups containing decorations that can change during the course of the campaign need to be prepared in two variants, ‘red’ and ‘blue’.

Moreover, some of these groups should be placed at a certain place on the map (airfields, railway stations, bridges, etc.). Such groups need to be specially named and listed in the generator settings file (see File structure).

Neutral and static (that won’t change) decorations are fed to the generator in one special group, which doesn’t have a reference point unlike other ones but should be listed in the generator settings file and it needs to be converted using a special utility (NDA).

Mission template

The template is the main build instruction for the generator. It defines all the groups in a mission, their placement on the map, their connections to each other and the randomness you can add.

It is created by t-editor which is essentially a graph editor that allows you to set it up in a natural way. You can alter unit type, coalition and properties in a group (and make them random), change MCU properties, set up orientation, distances or ranges for objects and groups.

T-editor is a powerful tool: both the older campaign mode and new career mode in the game were created using it.

File structure

To make everything work as intended you need to be familiar with the file structure of the career/campaign files in the game. The excellent unGTP--IL2 utility made by AnKor that unpacks the game resources will help you.

Take a look at Scg.gtp file first - it contains the files required for mission generation. Having it unpacked, you’ll get the new folder named Scg containing subfolders with numerical names - each one of these corresponds to one of the theatres of war (or one of the maps) in the career mode or quick mission builder. The t-editor configuration file TemplateEditor.ini is located there as well.

Let’s take a look at the subfolder ‘1’ which in our case contains the Stalingrad part of the Random expert server (in the game it contains the files for QMB on winter Lapino map, but we can use it for another purpose since the generator will use unpacked data as the primary source and ignore the files in the pack).

Let’s list the file in the order of importance (only the required ones, there are more of them but they have self-explanatory names usually).

TemplateEditor.ini - it defines where the t-editor should look for the groups for the current template. It contains links to the theatre of war, to model and object files, to the file containing the list of the coordinate groups (see blocksFolder.ini), to folders and subfolders of the groups themselves.

You can alter only the theatre of war number to work with the different ones (if they have the same internal structure of course).

Blocks_quickmission folder contains all the groups the generator needs to build a mission. The name of this folder is kept as it is in the game, but it and its subfolders can be renamed if you want (but don’t forget to change the t-editor .ini file accordingly).

I18n folder contains the localized texts for mission names (briefing.cfg) and date, time and weather info (template.cfg) which the generator will add to the mission briefing along with their values from defaultparams.dat file (see below).

Templates folder contains the template files which you can order as you want (the name of a template is included in the command prompt when you launch the generator).

Actions.cfg file contains the rules that apply to the groups in the template and that are passed to the generator. The names of the variables are stored in defaultparams.dat (see below), you can add your own variables for specific tasks.

Let’s take a look at a simple example - say, we need to make sure that a group of ships won’t appear during the winter season without making extra template. We specify the rule ‘delete_ships’ in t-editor and add the following lines to action.cfg:

Action

{

Name = "delete_ships";

Comment = "Deletes object in phase, if condition is true for object.";

NoHelper = 1;

NeedCondition = 0;

Complex = 1;

Import = 1;

Format = "no params and conditions";

Add

{

Action = "delete_object();";

Condition = "if($wtype<35);";

}

Here $wtype is the name of one of the variables in defaultparams.dat which specifies the weather preset, 34 is the last winter time preset in weather.cfg (note that we specify the rule so it will work for any preset which number is less than 35).

BlocksFolder.ini file contains the list of all the coordinate groups in the game with the links to the folders of these groups and each group in particular in the following format:

block = "z_!(index_number)","!x(x_coordinate)z(z_coordinate).Group"

Attention: all the groups that have strict map coordinates should have such names (example: !x16500z156000.Group). These groups should be stored in separate subfolders since ‘red’ and ‘blue’ variants will have the same names.

Countries.cfg file specify the coalitions in the game, you won’t need to change it.

Defaultparams.dat is the main configuration file for the generator. All parameters a player selects in the game interface in the Career or QMB mode is included in this file in case of an online campaign. It needs to be created, since there is no such file in ‘1’ subfolder by default. Your commander utility should alter this file to progress the campaign.

Here’s an example from our Random expert server (summer Stalingrad):

//it’s required to begin with an empty line

$author = 72AG-DED- //if you open the resulting mission in the editor, you can see this in the ‘author’ field

$date = 01.05.1942 //mission date

$forests = graphics\LANDSCAPE_Stalin_s\trees\woods.wds //path to various required map files

$guimap = stalingrad-summer-1942 //path to various required map files

$hmap = graphics\LANDSCAPE_Stalin_s\height.hini //path to various required map files

$textures = graphics\LANDSCAPE_Stalin_s\textures.tini //path to various required map files

$mapId = graphics\LANDSCAPE_Stalin_s\height.dat //path to various required map files

$language = rus // default language in the editor

$loc_filename = base.ldf //path to location database

$missiontype = 2 //mission type in the editor, 2 means dogfight

$playercountryid = 101 //default player coalition ID, important for working with templates

$seasonprefix = su //season (su - Summer)

$period = 5 //Custom variable added to specify the mission plane set for a given date, the corresponding rules are set up in the template and in actions.cfg

$sunrise = 05:45 //Sunrise time (important for searchlights)

$sunset = 19:56 //Sunset time (important for searchlights)

$temperature = 12 //Air temperature in the mission, visible in the briefing

$time = 11:06:53 //Mission start time visible in the briefing

$winddirection = 225 //Wind direction visible in the briefing

$windpower = 1 //Wind speed near the ground, visible in the briefing

$wtype = 42 //Weather time preset, the corresponding weather description will be displayed in the briefing (see i18n folder)

$xposition = 230400 //This is the reference coordinate also included in the template, everything in the mission is relative to it. You can place it anywhere if needed.

$yorientation = 0 //Same as above.

$zposition = 358400 //Same as above.

$xtargetposition = 115200 //Second anchor point coordinate, similar to above.

$ztargetposition = 179200 //Same as above.

$tvd = scg\1\ //Path to the theatre of war folder.

$overlay = scene.Group:none //Path to the file containing the main decoration; ‘none’ means the generator should leave it ‘as is’; in theory, the generator can cut the decorations outside the specified radius, but in our missions we use the entire map and don’t use this option.

You can learn about the additional mission generation parameters from mgen.log file having the logging turned on in data\startup.cfg file.

Models.cfg and Objects.cfg files contain the lists of models and objects names usable in the current theatre of war. Usually you don’t need to alter them.

Base.ldf.ldb file is the location database converted for the generator (it can be named differently); the source location database created by the editor should be placed next to this file (base.ldf and base.ldfbin files).

Please note that you can use several databases for one theatre of war, just put them in a different folder and make sure to set up the correct paths where needed.

Scene.Group.lgb is the main decoration for this theatre of war converted for the generator from the source file scene.Group. It can be put in a different folder and renamed as well if needed.

Weather.cfg contains the list of the weather types. You can edit it ti remove the weather presets you don’t like (for instance, overcast ones).

*****

Therefore, having learned how to use the mission editor and the file structure of the offline career and/or QMB modes, you can ask for the t-editor and generator, which will reduce the amount of work you need to do to make an online campaign two times, if not more.

Good luck!

---

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · September 7, 2018

202

Hello everybody,

While, as you know, we're working on several projects at once, today we'll tell you about our the current main one - Bodenplatte. The most important new tech we're developing for it is the FM improvement to take into account the air compressibility and its influence on the aircraft stability and handling that is noticeable at high speeds. The late war aircraft are a pinnacle of the piston engine technology and they can approach the sonic barrier, especially in a dive. And of course this new tech is paramount for our first jet - Messerschmitt Me.262 'Schwalbe'. You may have wandered will the new tech work for the existing aircraft released before - it certainly will, we always update all aircraft to take advantage of the new tech so they all have the same modeling fidelity.

Meanwhile, our artists are working on several 3D models simultaneously (some are nearly complete and the work on others has just begun): Bf 109 K-4, Me 262 A-1, P-47D-28, Fw 190 D-9, Hawker Tempest Mk.V and P-51D-25.

We also decided to improve the recently released Fw 190 A-8. It will be able to carry 1000 kg SC 1000 bombs with reduced ring stabilizers and "M8 Panzerblitz 1" HE rockets and you will be able to remove the nose-mounted 13 mm MG 131 machine guns, resulting in four different modifications of this plane:
Fw 190 A-8 (fighter)
Fw 190 A-8 Sturmjäger (better armoured interceptor)
Fw 190 F-8 (attack plane)
Fw 190 G-8 (fighter-bomber)
So, while it may appear we have only one Fw 190 A-8 in the sim, in fact, you'll have 4 different modifications. This is also true for many other aircraft - in one of the coming Dev Blog releases we'll compile the complete list of aircraft including the possible modifications.

Since the words are best followed with visuals, today we can show you the WIP screenshots of Messerschmitt Bf 109 K-4 'Kurfürst', Republic P-47D-28 'Thunderbolt' and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 D-9 'Langnasen-Dora':

Our map designers also have something to show you today. In Dev Blog #193 we presented the early European map prototype. At the moment, th designers are working on the road network and settlements. The total amount of settlements will be around 300 including so many towns we have never modeled on one map before. To be able to finish this work in time while modeling the general layout of the cities and towns the special settlement block designer tool has been created. This is a small teaser, a Western European town made using this approach (this is not a particular historical town, but a test layout):

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · September 14, 2018

203

Hello everybody,

Today we'll tell you a bit about what awaits us (and you) in the near future.

First, we plan to publish the new update soon, at the end of this month or at the beginning of October, that will bring numerous fixes and improvements for the existing stuff - Career fixes, multiplayer stability in tank missions, corrected German bombs for 1944 timeframe and new Fw 190 A-8 modifications we have covered in the previous Dev Blog. In addition, our programmers managed to improve the collision detection between various vehicles and objects without compromising performance and fix bugs, also, trees will stop or divert/slow projectiles. The graphics will get the attention as well - you can see some of the reworked graphical effects on the following screenshots:

New Bodenplatte aircraft, Bf 109 K-4 and P-47D-28, will be released to Early Access later this Autumn. New Po-2 Collector Plane and two WWI aircraft for Flying Circus Early Access, Pfalz D.IIIa and Sopwith Camel, will follow before the end of the year, provided we don't run into unexpected problems. Meanwhile, we're also working on the new Marschal mode for multiplayer which should make it more interesting and refreshing for all multiplayer oriented users of our projects.

New tank models take a lot of time to develop, so Tank Crew customers will get their new toys early next year, but it looks like they'll get a lot of other stuff in a short time frame starting with the map of the Southern part of the Kursk salient (see Dev Blog #195) and continuing with animated tank crew members (ETA: Spring) and their AI capable of controlling the new playable tanks (the work on it has already started). This will make possible to create the missions where the player tank will be a part of the unit fighting against the enemy tanks s which will have the same high level of modeling detail. The main tank systems and damage modeling should be finished before Summer. The work on the additional UI for tank and unit commanders has started too. And of course, there will be new tanks - our Saint-Petersburg based partner, Digital Forms, plans to have 4 of them ready before Spring:

Lend-lease M4A2 Sherman;
T-34-76 mod. 1943 made by factory #183 (most probably, we're still researching the exact variant);
PzKpfw IV Ausf.G made during Spring 1943 with additional armoured sheets (Schürzen);
PzKpfw III Ausf.M also with additional armoured sheets. Today we can already show you the early WIP screens of it:

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · September 21, 2018

204

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

Han · September 28, 2018

205

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

Han · October 5, 2018

206

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

Han · October 12, 2018

207

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

Han · October 19, 2018

208

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

Jason_Williams · October 26, 2018

209

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. :salute:

You can discuss the news in this thread.

Han · November 9, 2018

210

Hello everybody,

The last month of Autumn has begun and we're preparing the next update for our three projects. We plan to release it in two weeks (doh!) or so and today we'll tell you about the upcoming additions. Of course, the stars of the show are FOUR new aircraft, two for Bodenplatte and two for Flying Circus.

USAF P-47D-28 Thunderbolt is one of the biggest, powerful and menacing single-engine fighters of WWII. Its radial 18-cylinder engine with turbocharger, intercooler and water injection boost system enables this monster to reach 700 km/h at 7000 m altitude. Eight 12.7 mm M2.50 Browning machine guns with 3400 rounds total give a new meaning to the phrase 'spray and pray'. In addition, for strike missions, this fighter can be equipped with six unguided rockets and up to three 500 and 1000 pound bombs (225 and 455 kg). Being a late war aircraft, it has many interesting design peculiarities you'll be able to experience in the near future.

Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109 K-4 "Kurfürst" is a glaring example of the inconsistency of the late war aircraft production in the Third Reich. This plane combines the newest weapon and engine technologies with maximum possible simplification and cost-cutting of the secondary systems. Its engines are a pinnacle of DB-605 line - standard DB-605 DB with water-methanol injection system and DB-605 DC with higher boost and power - and both of them will be available in our sim. Armed with 30 mm MK-108 gun and 13 mm MG-131 machine guns, it could also carry 250 or 500 kg bombs for strike missions (this is the first Bf 109 modification in our project that can carry a 500 kg bomb). It is interesting to note that this modification could retract its tailwheel to reach higher speeds - up to 715 km/h at 6200 m.

Royal Air Force Sopwith Camel was one of the mainstay fighters of World War I. It was a contradictory machine, but in the right hands, it could face any foe. Carrying 168 liters of fuel (a very big reserve for its time), it could go on long patrols. This amount of fuel hampered its performance and made it hard to control and inert in a dogfight while full, but with about a half of fuel spent, the aircraft got a second breath and its horizontal and vertical maneuverability became on par with the best fighters of that time. Its two 7.69 Vickers Mk.I machine guns (late modification with the rate of fire increased to 750 instead of 500 and 745 m/s muzzle speed) were linked belt fed instead of fabric ones, reducing the misfire chance. It could also carry four 20 lb Cooper bombs.

The Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte Pfalz D.IIIa was a second line fighter mainly used for escorting bombers and attacking the enemy balloons. It had very simple cockpit instruments because of the cost-cutting. Its one-and-a-half plane airframe (a design previously adopted by the French) was sturdy enough to sustain higher loads during sharp turns and dives. Its armament is standard for a late WWI German aircraft - two 7.92 mm Luftgekühltes Maschinengewehr LMG 08/15 (based on the original design of Hiram Maxim) with 650 RPM rate of fire and muzzle speed of 825 m/s, fabric belt fed. This fighter had an advantage of an excellent field of view, especially in the upper hemisphere.

For Tank Crew - Battle of Prokhorovka project we plan to release 4 new player controllable tanks and the map of the southern part of the Kursk salient, but it will happen early next year. However, you'll see the new functionality being developed for this project earlier - it should be noted it will benefit not only the tankers but pilots as well. For instance, in the coming update, you'll experience the higher fidelity damage modeling for AI controllable ground objects such as trucks and tanks. Before, there was no difference where you hit a truck, but in the new system, each 'simple' vehicle has many types of simulated parts - wheels or trucks, engine, ammo rack, fuel tanks, driver, turret, main gun. By hitting a simple AI vehicle at these parts you can immobilize it or render it inoperable by damaging a turret or main gun if any. Statistics system will consider it destroyed if its ammo, explosive cargo or fuel tanks detonated or its crew was killed or its engine was destroyed or its suspension has been rendered inoperable (at least two wheels or tracks damaged). All this not only makes the tank missions more interesting but also increases the simulation accuracy of the ground attack missions for pilots. We also develop two scenario campaigns (USSR and Germany) for Tank Crew, each one containing 10 missions set in the second week of July 1943 near Prokhorovka.

Another important change in the upcoming update is the adjusted logic used for scoring a kill. Previously, an aircraft was considered destroyed and a kill was awarded for it if it was damaged enough to prevent it from continuing the mission (for example, heavy damage of the controls, no fuel left, engine damage). Now, the 'aircraft lost' and 'kill awarded' events will be separated and their logic will be adjusted. An aircraft will be considered lost if its fuselage or wing at the base is broken, its pilot is killed or ejected. The victory, on the other hand, will be awarded if the scored hits were followed by the mission exit or disconnect in multiplayer, 'aircraft lost' event or the landing far from an allied airfield. Thus we motivate multiplayer players to try to reach a friendly airfield even if their aircraft is heavily damaged - even a hard landing there (as long as you don't break a wing at its base or fuselage) won't count your aircraft as lost and your enemy won't get the kill.

We'll have other multiplayer improvements in the coming update as well: we have managed to find a way to synchronize weapon fire events on different multiplayer clients better, minimizing the total time of the delay to the total client-server-client ping and optimize the net delay compensation routines for transmitting aircraft positions and orientations. Server ping calculations will be also corrected - this is required for further improvements in the multiplayer lobby. Of course, we never forget about the singleplayer experience too - in the same update, we'll add 2-3 new mission types for Career mode, including Cargo airdrop and Free hunt.

You can discuss the news in this thread

Jason_Williams · November 16, 2018

211

Dear Pilots,

The team continues to make ready our next update (3.007) and they are too busy to showcase anything from the upcoming update in this diary entry. So, today we’d like to show you some of the USAAF and RAF squadron emblems we have commissioned for Battle of Bodenplatte. These have been created by our good friend Isaac ‘Spektre76’ Chavira who is a member of our awesome IL-2 community. He has done a great job of researching and recreating these colorful and fun squadron emblems.

USAAF squadrons had a unique approach to designing squadron insignia. The style was usually cartoonish and drew inspiration from animated movies which were extremely popular during the 1940s. RAF squadron insignia were very regal in their design sporting crowns, banners and even jewels. These insignia will be incorporated into the Bodenplatte Pilot Career later in 2019. We hope you enjoy.

You can discuss the news in this thread.

BlackSix · November 30, 2018

212

Hello everybody,

Today we'd like to dedicate our Dev Blog to the tank part of our sim. We attempt not only to create the authentic visual models of the tanks and model their movement, armament, and damage realistically. We also want to create an interesting gameplay, based on historical events, as usual, that will not only entertain you for some time but let you experience what a real tank warfare in a meeting engagement situation was like.

The air part of our sim started at the great battle of WWII that changed its course and the course of world history, the Battle of Stalingrad. Following this principle, we start the tank part with one of the key tank battles on the Eastern front that decided the entire 1943 campaign - Prokhorovka.

Beginning the campaign development for "Tank Crew – Clash at Prokhorovka" we faced the fact that a usual, common for flight sims approach just won't work - its unlikely that any single tank crew in July 1943 survived several large-scale engagements in a row (especially a Soviet one) and participated in all key points of the large Prokhorovka battle we'd like to reconstruct in our scenarios.

Therefore we have decided not to link the scenarios with a personal story of one of the tank crewmen, but concentrate on creating a coherent story about July 6 -17 engagements. The mission briefings will include first-person remarks, but there will be several plot lines. This will allow you to experience the battle of Prokhorovka from several locations and command 2-3 different combat vehicles in the course of one campaign.

"Breaking point" (tentative title)
Soviet campaign

This campaign will be dedicated to the heroic deed of Soviet tankmen of Rotmistrov 5th Guards Tank Army that disrupted the German offensive at the center of the southern part of the Kursk salient at the cost of their lives. The massive, but poorly prepared counterblow on July 12th stopped the German advance and eventually pushed them back to their initial positions. The later missions of the campaign will cover the subsequent, less known stage of the battle of Kursk on July 13th - 15th at the interfluve of Donets river.

Timeframe: July 6th - 15th, 1943.
Controllable tanks: T-34-76 mod. 1943, KV-1s
Duration: 10 missions
Average playing time: 5 hours

"Last chance" (tentative title)
German campaign

This campaign will tell about the operations of the tank units of Army Group South during Operation Citadel. Having breached two army defense lines, German forces reached Prokhorovka as early as at the evening of July 6th and were close to capturing this key area. However, instead of continuing their advance they were forced to defend against numerous Soviet counterstrikes that culminated in the massive battle on July 12th. The second part of the campaign will be dedicated to German attempts to encircle and destroy Soviet 48th Corps at interfluve of Donets river and the forced retreat of the German 2nd Tank Corps to initial positions when the entire offensive failed.

Timeframe: July 6th - 17th, 1943.
Controllable tanks: PzKpfw III Ausf.M, PzKpfw IV Ausf.G, PzKpfw VI Ausf.H1 "Tiger"
Duration: 10 missions
Average playing time: 5 hours

To make our feature about Tank Crew – Clash at Prokhorovka more visual, we can show you several WIP screenshots of the new tanks made by our partners - Digital Forms. They are planned to be released in Early Access early next year:

- T-34-76 mod. 1943 produced by Nizhny Tagyl tank factory #183 in name of Communist International ("Uralvagonzavod") and

- Panzerkampfwagen IV (Sd.Kfz.161) Asufuehrung G produced by Nibelungenwerke of St. Valentin

To accompany them, here are WIP screenshots of Prokhorovka map being developed by our mapping team. The new landscape scaling tech has been developed specially for this map - by reducing the total size of the map from 400x400 km to 100x100km we were able to make its heightmap 16 times more detailed. The detailed area of the Prokhorovka map is still in development, but other parts of this map are more polished. We'd like to note that it is suitable not only for tank engagements, but also for aerial ones and, of course, for joint multiplayer battles that unfold both on the ground and in the air simultaneously. To illustrate this, today we can show you the views of Belgorod that is also there:

Aaand we are delighted to present you the finished tankmen models. We still need to animate an each crew member in each player controllable tank in the sim, but now you can already see how they will look:

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · December 28, 2018

213

Hello everybody,

So, this is the end of 2018. It was a very interesting year for us, it brought many new, but long-awaited changes and improvements to the project. Almost 500 points were listed in the update changelists in total and there were more minor, unlisted ones which are impossible to count. All this combined upped the quality of the sim to a new level. And right now we continue the development of our three Early Access projects: Battle of Bodenplatte, Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka and Flying Circus Volume 1.

For the main project, Bodenplatte, we're working on several new aircraft at once. Having completed the implementation of the air compressibility and significant improvements to the damage model (they are already in the public version of the sim), our Lead Engineer is creating the physical model of the jet engine for Me 262. Of course, this work opens up the possibility to widen our aircraft pool in the future.

Our partner Ugra Media makes the new WWI aircraft for Flying Circus - Fokker D.VII, Fokker D.VIIF and Sopwith Dolphin. They'll start the work on the Arras area map (1918) soon.

The new tanks for Tank Crew that are being made by our partner Digital Forms are more than half complete already: M4A2, T-34 mod. 1943, PzKpfw IV Ausf.G and PzKpfw III Ausf.M. Meanwhile, we're making the map of the southern part of the Kursk salient ourselves. Soon we'll be able to tell you more about the tank commander and tank platoon commander functionality which will be the backbone of Tank Crew gameplay. 3D models of Soviet and German crewmembers are ready and will be added to the sim as soon as their animations are complete. The scenarios for two, German and Soviet, tank campaigns are ready, so soon we'll start to make the missions themselves. The detailed buildings tech that includes higher detailed 3D models and the physics of their destruction is nearly finished and we had a bit of time to make this short video for you:

To complete this Dev Diary, we'd like to show you some screenshots. First, here is the finished Fw 190 D-9 cockpit. Also, the community enthusiast Martin =ICDP= Catney upped default and official P-47 skins to 4K quality:

Our team wishes you Happy New Year and Merry Christmas. We wish you happiness and fulfillment of all your dreams in 2019!

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · January 25

214

Hello everybody,

The year has just begun, but we're already preparing the new update for you. Version 3.010 will be focused on improving the functionality of several modules of the sim and some of the changes are long-awaited and important. In the meantime, the work on all the Early Access projects progresses according to the schedule and many new things will be ready shortly after 3.010 release, in Q1 2019.

Our map designers are finishing the map of the Southern Kursk salient that includes Prokhorovka. As we announced before, it will utilize the higher detailed landscape wireframe and higher detailed buildings damage. When it is finished, the work on the scenario campaigns for "Clash at Prokhorovka" will begin. The campaigns will recreate the large scale historical events of July 1943 to the South-West of Prokhorovka. Today we can show you several screenshots of this map:

We plan to show you the new tanks soon - M4A2 Sherman, Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.M (to be released at the end of the Winter) and T-34 mod. 1943 and PzKpfw IV Ausf.G (to be released at the beginning of Spring). We also started the implementation of the major feature - animated tank crewmen. This is a very laborious and time-consuming task since each tank has 4-5 crewmen and each one of them has his own unique pose and animations (many can also lean out of their hatches). This forced us to find new technical approaches for character animation that open new prospects not only for the Tank Crew but also other projects:

For "Flying Circus" project we're making the map of 100 km front line near Arras (Spring 1918). It will be made using the same techniques we're using for the creation of the large Bodenplatte project map, so it should also be a step forward visually. Here are first in-game screenshots of Sopwith Dolphin and Fokker D.VII which will be ready soon:

For our main project, Bodenplatte, we're preparing the next wave of the new aircraft. FMs for P-51D, Fw 190 D-9 and Me 262 A-1/2 are already in the works, while artists create 3D models of Hawker Tempest Mk.V, P-38J-25, P-51D-15, Me 262 A-1/2 and B-25 Mitchell-II (non-playable). Here are some screenshots of Me 262 A-1/2 (its paint schemes and cockpit are nearly ready):

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · February 8

215

Hello friends,

This week was a hard one - we had to let you play during the weekend without problems, so we released another update that continued the work started in 3.010. The majority of the changes are in the GUI and are required for the new Marschal multiplayer mode that is coming this Spring and will concentrate on the interaction with the map. Other important improvements were made for tank weapons and damage calcualtions. We hope that now the basic damage model is adequate and we'll start working on more particular tasks in the tank systems and combat damage department next week.

This week we finished the map of the Southern part of the Kursk salient while two next tanks, M4A2 and PzKpfw III Ausf.M, will follow soon. The new tanks and the map will be released into Tank Crew Early Access after beta testing. Today we can show you the first in-game screenshots of them taken near Prokhorovka:

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · February 15

216

Hello everybody,

Before we return to telling about the Battle of Bodenplatte and Flying Circus in our DDs, today we'd like to tell you more about Tank Crew. The most important thing is that we prepare the next big update that will include two new tanks, M4A2 "Sherman" and Panzerkampfwagen III Ausführung M, that were used in Kursk area and the map of the southern part of the Kursk salient made for joint ground and air warfare. But of course, we work not only on the new content.

The main areas of the Tank Crew development at this moment are:

1. Improving the damage and armor-projectile interaction model both for the player controlled tanks we're making for Tank Crew and the other objects. Several consequent updates for the sim we released this month contained most part of this work, but this was only a part and we continue. Ricochet modeling will be improved and 'simple', non-player controllable, vehicles will get even more detailed armor (which will be noticeable especially when you attack them from the air). We're beginning the work on the detailed systems of the player controllable tanks (fuel, electric, transmission, cooling, etc.) which will allow for more variable and realistic damage of Tank Crew vehicles. We also plan to make them repairable in the field.

2. Developing and expanding the tank and tank platoon commander functionality. The basic commander functionality is done - a commander can give all the orders we planned for this stage of development in relation to the current position, target, firing, maneuvering and some additional commands that make the playing experience more diverse. A commander will be able to give orders to other players in his tank in multiplayer and to AI crewmen alike. It looks like the commander role will be the most interesting one.

3. Developing AI for crew members. Again, the basic functionality is done and now detailed tanks controlled by AI can follow the orders that can be specified in a mission like the simple AI vehicles always did. This means that detailed tanks can be fully used in a mission scenario. Now we begin the work on implementing the functionality that will make possible for a player to give orders to crewmen of his tank and other tanks in his platoon. We hope to have this functionality mostly done by the end of Spring and release it into Tank Crew Early Access.

4. Developing the scenario campaigns which should carry out the main idea of the project - let you experience not the fictional gladiator-like balanced tank duels, but the tank warfare of July 1943 with its balance of power and technical characteristics of the armored vehicles involved. Moreover, we'll try to show the historical events since the scenarios will be based on the tour of duty of the units that participated in these events. Later we'll tell you more about these scenarios.

All this - detailed, true to history tank models including interiors with crews, the historical map with variable detail level, buildings with detailed damage modeling, realistic movement kinematics, improved tank damage modeling, detailed weaponry, all important crew roles, especially the commander one, acting as a part of a tank platoon, history-based and educational scenario campaigns telling about the major event of WWII, ability to control one tank with several people in multiplayer - all this combined should give you the new experience and impression you can't get anywhere else.

To make this DD less dry, our studio and our partners Digital Forms prepared several WIP screenshots for you that show what will be released in the next big update:

The map of the southern part of the Kursk salient you'll see in the game. The zone containing detailed buildings developed for tank warfare and scenario campaigns in the historical events of Clash of Prokhorovka project is marked inside (106x106 km, the detailed zone is 19х23 km):

KV-1S crew:

PzKpfw III Ausf.M impact shot demonstrating the improved damage modeling with certain parts detaching:

M4A2 "Sherman" interior renders:

PzKpfw III Ausf.M interior renders:

You can discuss the news in this thread

AnPetrovich · February 22

217

Salute, comrade pilots! :salute:

For some time, we have not covered the work being done in our aviation workshop, giving the news platform to armored vehicle enthusiasts. But today it is time to return to the planes. And I will tell you what our engineering team is working on now.

At this time our software engineers are simultaneously developing three legendary airplanes: the P-51D Mustang, the Fw-190 D-9 Dora and the Me-262 Schwalbe, which is the first jet airplane in the "IL-2: Great Battles" series. Undoubtedly, all these airplanes stand out from the rest of the plane-set in terms of their excellent speed characteristics. And as usual making a virtual copy of a new airplane to our stable brings new challenges and tasks we must perform.

For example, the Me-262 is the first aircraft in our project with a swept wing. It would seem that the difference is not very big, but this circumstance required us to refine the aerodynamics calculation technology. The result of this work will be more accurate characteristics of the stability and controllability of the airplane in lateral movement, which sweep has a significant impact. Daniel has already mentioned about a turbojet engine in the previous diaries, and now work on the Jumo-004B model is in full swing. A dynamic model of the turbo-compressor was assembled, and now work is underway on the engine's thrust, heat and fuel-flow characteristics. Virtually each of the above airplanes required us to make improvements in the models of units and on-board equipment. For example, this is a powerful developed wing mechanization, including slats across the whole wingspan of the Schwalbe, a new gunsight that the Dora and the Schwalbe will receive - they will be the first German airplanes in our project with a gyro gunsight. There is also an automated control of radiators and superchargers on the Mustang. I should note that the P-51D and Me-262 have a sensitive center of gravity when heavily loaded with fuel and ordinance. For example, the Mustang had such a small reserve of longitudinal stability with full fuel tanks that the pilot flight manual instructed pilots to avoid aerobatics with full fuel tanks because of the risk of stall and spin. This quirk of the P-51D will be present in our simulator.

In addition, two new biplanes for the Flying Circus project have entered the “factory testing” stage. These are the legendary Fokker D7 and Sopwith Dolphin, whose 3D models were revamped by our partner Ugra-Media. This stage involves a large number of in-game tests that we perform before giving the airplanes to beta testers. And for such tests, we use special developer tools that allow us to quickly check various animations, visualization of damage models, operation of instruments and visual effects, such as smoke, fires, dust from under the wheels and others. Today I would like to show you a short video with one of these tests. In this video you can see an in-game test (conducted at a special test base on a distant secret island) where the animation of the landing gear damage was checked. I recorded this video in the fall while working on the implementation of the Sopwith Camel to our project. Often, working on "serious games" we forget that our work is also fun. In this video I just wanted to have some fun with my colleagues, to cheer them up after a period of hard work. So today, my colleagues and I decided that maybe it is a good idea to share this video to you. If it evokes a smile on your face - well, then I recorded it not in vain. If you like it, it may possible that we will show you some more in-game tests that our very serious engineers do:

And finally, since we have touched on our Flying Circus project, we would like to show you a series of screenshots from the Arras map which our partners at Ugra-Media are actively working on. In these screenshots you can see the step forward in visualization of the map compared to our previous Great War simulation. Plus, here are the first in-game screenshots of the re-furbished Sopwith Dolphin and Fokker D.VII cockpits which are coming soon:

Fly for fun! :salute:

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · March 7

218

Dear friends,

The Spring has come and in today's Dev Blog, after some delay, we're returning to our main project - Bodenplatte. This delay in the news has been caused by the fact that during the Winter all the work on this project was made at a deep level - it was hard to make a screenshot of something - but it was a hard work nevertheless. This was known beforehand and planned this way. If you were following us for some time, you may recall that such visible pauses in the development news in the middle of a development cycle happened in all our previous projects and are a result of the effective work and division of labor. But today we finally have some intermediate results to show, and there a lot of them.

First, we can disclose more details about the map of the project. Previously we mentioned only its size and location, but today we can tell you more information.
There will be more than 200 settlements of various sizes.
Air forces of the opposing forces will take off from more than 100 airfields.
The total length of all roads will exceed 20000 km.
The reachable zone of the map is 129859 square kilometers (400.8 x 324 km) while the entire map is 176947 square km (460.8 x 384 km).
The preliminary list of the cities we plan to have ready at the time of release follows:

Antwerp
The Hauge
Liege
Frankfurt am Main
Dortmund
Münster
Cologne (Köln)
Bonn
Gent
Rotterdam
Charleroi
Amsterdam
Düsseldorf
Aachen
Bruxelles
Arnhem
Duisburg
Essen
Apeldoorn
Maastricht

Again, if you have followed our development before, you may notice that the parameters of the new map are breaking the record once again. This is also the first map to be released with all four seasons simultaneously - a hard challenge for the entire team. To be able to complete the project before the set deadline without compromising quality, our Lead Map Artist Evgeny Isaev has found new methods of development and large cities creation. Also, Evgeny has designed artistic approaches that will not simply repeat the visual quality of the previous maps but will also give players a new visual feel that is characteristic for flying over Western Europe. But enough words, it is time to show you something new - on these screenshots you can see the central areas of Bruxelles, Liege, and Köln:

But these map development news are not the only ones we have. We can show you the progress we have made on the three coming planes: P-38J-25 heavy fighter, B-25 heavy bomber (AI only), and Me 262 A jet fighter. For the first one of them, P-38J-25, we have used a new approach of creating the exterior and interior 3D models in parallel, not subsequently - at the early stage the model is divided into exterior and interior parts and the coordinates of their seams are stored, then both models are being worked on simultaneously to be connected back at the final step. This aircraft, of course, is unbelievable, what can we say - it's a legend:

The B-25 bomber will be AI-only in this project, but we'll try to make its exterior 3D and physical model at the same quality level as our player controllable aircraft. First, this is important for those who will be attacking or defending these planes in the Career mode, campaigns, single scenarios and Coop multiplayer. Second, who knows - perhaps a possibility to make it flyable will reveal itself in the future:

The exterior 3D model of Me 262 A "Schwalbe" is completely done, including the official skins. The interior (cockpit) model is almost done (currently the artists are working on its texturing), while our engineers are working on its FM and the physical model of a jet engine. When you look at this legendary aircraft, you can't help but think that it was ahead of its time:

To finish today's Dev Blog, we would like to congratulate the beautiful half of humanity on the coming holiday - International Women's Day. Dear girls, be happy!

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · March 15

219

Dear friends,

One week has passed since our previous Dev Diary and we have something new to show you once again. The rate of development is truly fantastic. Today we won't have so much text but will compensate it with WIP screenshots of two 'stars' of our Bodenplatte project.

The first star of today's Blog is the British fighter Hawker Tempest Mk.V series 2. These planes played a significant role in the events of January 1st, 1945 - the units managed to take off in time when Luftwaffe attacked the Allied airfields during Bodenplatte operation. Tempests were equipped with some serious firepower - four 20mm Hispano guns - and achieved good speeds at lower altitudes, which was handy for a dogfight near the ground.

The second aircraft we want to show you today is USAAF North American P-51D-15 Mustang, the most famous American fighter of WWII that was widely used in different theatres of war. To a degree, its exceptional range and altitude capabilities made the deep bombing raids over Germany possible. Mustangs had good overall maneuverability and climb rate, while their six .50 cal M2 Browning machineguns allowed them to engage any air targets. A Mustang could also carry bombs and rockets, making it a fighter/bomber.

It should be noted that while many Mustangs still exist around the world, including airworthy ones, most of them are combinations of different modifications, including post-WWII ones. Therefore we're spending a lot of time researching tech schematics, spare parts catalogs, and similar documents to make sure the final result will be as authentic as possible.

And to finish today's blog, here are WIP screenshots of the next Flying Circus plane - Fokker D.VIIF. This Deutsche Luftstreitkräfte late WWI fighter has been equipped with a great engine for its time, BMW D.IIIa, that gave it an advantage over Allied fighters at high altitudes. Coupled with good maneuverability, it made Fokker D.VIIF a very dangerous adversary.

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · April 5

220

Hello everyone!

In these sunny April days, we are working on the next big update, which we hope will be released in May. Previously we can say that this update will again be very voluminous in terms of the amount of content being released. A little bit later we will be able to say exactly what will be in this update, but we are aiming to launch a new noteworthy aircraft of the "Battle of Bodenplatte" project, two WWI airplanes in the "Flying Circus" project and two new tanks in the "Tank Crew" project. We also continue to work on evolution of the aviation part of the project and on deepening the gameplay of the tank part. A little later in the developer’s diaries we are planning to tell in detail about a new big "feature" of the multiplayer game - the "Battlefield Marshal" mode, the development of which is almost completed and will soon move to the testing and debugging phase. In the tank project, we are working on the functions of the tank commander, which will allow you to control both your crew and subordinate units. Also in the next update, we plan to significantly expand the model of damage to the systems and parts of the tank.

Today we want to show you a couple of the first in-game cockpit shots of our new "Swallow" - the Me 262 A "Schwalbe" fighter-bomber. Honestly - it turned out to be an incredibly interesting aircraft:

Today we also will dedicate a couple of screenshots to the almost completed crew of the M4A2 "Sherman" tank. Since the tank has an extremely wide range of possible positions for firing and driving by various crew members - this work was not easy, but the result is interesting too:

And another screenshot shows a new particle-based effects technology inside the cockpits in the first-person view. In the first stage, we will introduce this system for tanks (the effect of a fire starting from spilled fuel, the effect of extinguishing this fire, smoke when the engine is damaged, powder gasses when firing from a cannon and a machine gun). In the medium term, we also plan to use this technology for airplanes:

And many of your have inquired and commented about the Arras map for Flying Circus. It is underway by our partner Yugra Media. So far, everything regarding this map is on schedule, but work is still early and we don’t have any WIP shots for you to see yet. We are doing our best to help Yugra make a quality map for you.

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · April 18

221

Dear friends,

As the development continues, we have new stuff to show you today. Let's begin with the Flying Circus project - together with our partners, we're finishing the next two planes: British S.E.5a made by Royal Aircraft Factory made and German Albatros D.Va made by Albatros Flugzeugwerke.

S.E.5a combined all the main combat characteristics needed for a victory - speed, firepower and maneuverability. Its 8-cylinder 200 HP V8 Wolseley Viper engine enabled it to go up to 218 kph at the ground level. Its armament of two different machineguns was somewhat original - one forward firing 7.69 mm Vickers and one 7.69 mm magazine fed Lewis installed on a mount that made firing at the targets forward and above possible:

Albatros D.Va was a symbol of the first half of WWI and its streamlined profile is easily identifiable. Powered by 6-cylinder 180 HP Mercedes D.IIIa engine and armed with two synchronized 7.92 mm Spandau LMGs 08/15, it had a completely rigid fuselage made of glued wood, which is now much easier to visualize in the sim thanks to the increased quality and complexity of 3D models:

For Tank Crew project we're developing the interiors of the next two tanks together with our partners: PzKpfw. IV Ausf. G and T-34 made by UVZ factory at the beginning of 1943. In addition to these new tanks, the next big update will bring numerous additions to the tank system functionality and damage modeling. Today we can show you the renders of the new T-34 interior made by Uralvagonzavod.

And finally, the news about our biggest project, Bodenplatte. At the moment, all buildings models for it are completed, including the unique historical ones, and most of them already have modeled damage. The work on the new AI-controlled ground vehicles required for this project has started. Of course, the development of the remaining aircraft is progressing at full speed. Today we can show you a couple of screenshots showing the building damage on the Bodenplatte map:

And here's one of the new AI-controlled vehicles - Willys MB off-roader. You can see the increased level of detail we have set up for all new non-player controlled ground vehicles:

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · April 30

222

Dear friends,

The time flows and the Summer draws near, and we're another step closer to the release dates of our projects. For Bodenplatte, the biggest chunk of work to be done is the map. With first cities, settlements and airfields done, the work continues on placing the rest of them according to historical data. In the code, we have begun the long-awaited work on aircraft AI improvements: for instance, in the next update, we plan to release the improved formation logic. For Career mode, new squadron emblems, military ranks and awards for all three countries will be finished soon.

P-38J-25 and Tempest Mk.V FM are in the works, while Me-262A jet fighter-bomber FM should be finished soon. Speaking of visual models, P-51D-15, P-38J-25, Tempest and B-25D are nearing completion and proceeding according to schedule. Of course, the new theatre of war requires new ground vehicle models too. Today we can show you the screenshots of another one - German Sd.Kfz. 7/1 halftrack with 20 mm Flak-Vierling 38 AA gun:

For Flying Circus, the development of the Arras map (1918) continues, it will use the new art techniques being developed for 'Bodenplatte'. We should be able to show you the first screenshots of it in Summer, but today we have some new WWI aircraft cockpit screenshots, S.E.5a and Albatros D.Va. As you can see, the work on them is nearly complete and we plan to release them for Flying Circus owners before the end of this Spring:

For Tank Crew, the work on enhancing the tank damage modeling is progressing well. Physical tank models now include many systems and their damage while visual models have many new animations and working instruments. The already released systems have their damage modeling improved and we have added simple GUI damage notifications for systems and crewmen. All significant events will be displayed in the 'technochat' (log) on screen. In May-June we plan to implement repairing, refueling and rearming (which later will be also applicable for aircraft). In the next update, we'll release the animated crews for PzKpfw. III Ausf. M and M4A2. Today we can show you the PzKpfw. III Ausf. M crew and PzKpfw. IV Ausf. G interior:

And to finalize this Dev Blog we would like to show you the new promotional video for Battle of Stalingrad created by =HH=Pauk. It shows that the development of all of our projects doesn't stop on release date by all means and they are continuously developed and improved. Enjoy:

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · May 17

223

Hello everybody,

The Spring ends soon, and we're preparing the next update for you. In the next 2-3 weeks, we plan to finish the testing of the new game version, which has started already - this week we started the beta testing of Flying Circus S.E.5a and Albatros D.5a and today we add T-34 UVZ mod. 1943 from Tank Crew project to it. And the next week the beta testing of the long-awaited Me 262 A for Battle of Bodenplatte will begin.

For Bodenplatte we also have the Summer US pilot ready, German and British pilots will receive their summer outfits soon. We can show you the US one today:

Jet engine Jumo-004B-1 for Me 262 A fighter/bomber is nearly finished - it is installed on the aircraft, its characteristics are set up and it is being tuned right now. For our project, we have chosen the updated variant of this engine which had a modified valve that made the throttle controls more trouble-proof. However, sharp throttle changes still can cause an engine fire, so it requires a degree of caution. Speaking of available modifications, this aircraft in the game will have the following ones:
- EZ 42 gyro gunsight with automatic deflection calculation,
- R4M unguided air-to-air rockets, 12 per mounting,
- Armored pilot headrest,
- Pilot back armor,
- Removal of the gun mounting armor for making the aircraft less nose-heavy,
- Removal of two Mk 108 guns,
- Bomber variant capable of carrying two SC 250 or one SC 500 bombs.

The list of this plane peculiarities includes the dangerous effect of Mach tuck at higher speeds that at first decreases its yaw stability. This yaw stability decrease not only makes the aircraft harder to handle but also warns the pilot of the increasing danger of an uncontrollable dive. The nose landing gear is omnidirectional and has additional brakes. While the plane is capable of reaching up to 837 kph near the ground it has good controllability at low speeds thanks to wing slats. It should be noted that the longitudinal center-of-gravity depends on the remaining fuel, ammo and modifications installed very heavily. For instance, if you remove the nose gun armor and two guns, it becomes so tail heavy with full tanks that it is dangerous to fly. Positive characteristics include good roll controls at any flight speed. All in all, the plane is going to be controversial, unusual and very interesting to fly:

Next Flying Circus planes, S.E.5a and Albatros D.5a, are completely finished and are being tested at the moment. The new level of visual quality allows us to have a fresh look at the aircraft of the Great War - previously invisible details became apparent, the materials became more lifelike. We hope to be able to show you the first screenshots of the Arras map soon. Meanwhile, we started the work on the next pair of WWI planes we have to develop - Bristol Fighter and Halberstadt CL.II. Bristol Fighter was a general purpose frontline aircraft that served as fighter, light bomber and recon plane while Halberstadt CL.II was a specialized frontline attack aircraft, sometimes also used for recon. But today we can show you the screenshots of S.E.5a and Albatros D.5a:

Tank Crew owners will also get much new stuff in this update - our partners from Digital Forms have finished the work on T-34-76 UVZ mod. 1943 and it will also be added to Early Access. There is much info on T-34 available, but some things can be repeated. Fast, maneuverable, with good armor and weapons - sloped angle armor made it only slightly less armored than heavier KV-1s. However, long 75 mm and 88 mm German guns in 1943 were very dangerous and this armor was no longer enough, so this means that T-34 crews need to rely on the main advantages of this tank - speed and mobility - even more.

However, the new tank isn't the only addition to Tank Crew you'll get in the next update. We're currently testing the new, more detailed tank damage model. The damage sustained will be indicated on a special overlay toggled by Enter key and in the messages on the left of the screen. The following systems can be damaged:
- Engine,
- Cooling system (coolant leaks that eventually lead to an engine overheat and damage),
- Oil tanks (oil leaks lead to fire danger),
- Fuel tanks (fuel leaks also increase the danger of fire, more for gas engines and less for diesel ones),
- Transmission and gearbox (longer gear shifting, inability to change the gear, complete transmission failure),
- Steering (more difficult turning),
- Electric system (inability to start the engine, inability to use powered turret traversing mechanism, internal and external lighting, radio),
- The left part of the suspension and left track,
- The right part of the suspension and right track,
- Radio,
- Main turret traverse mechanism,
- Manual turret traverse mechanism,
- Gun mounting,
- Main gun,
- Machine guns,
- Crew.

Of course, this feature is linked to another - the possibility of field repair. It is also being worked on and most of it will be usable for aircraft as well. The crew will be able to repair the tank systems in the field as long as the tank is not completely destroyed. In addition, the mission designer can add special repair and ambulance tracks that accelerate this process both to single and multiplayer missions. Later, during Summer, we plan to add refueling and ammo trucks to replenish the fuel, oil, water and ammo reserves. And today we can show you the screens of the coming T-34-76 UVZ mod. 1943:

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · May 31

224

Dear friends,

Today's Dev Blog is really short - we're working on finishing the update 3.101 full time. This update will be very huge, its change list consists of more than 70 points already. Be warned by the way - because of the critical amount of changes, the track and mission format will be changed, so if you have interesting tracks convert them to videos beforehand. If you're an author of a custom mission or campaign, be prepared to resave your creation after the release (it can be done quickly using 'Convert missions to binary in folder' in the Mission editor). So, we have a lot of work on our hands at the moment, but it's not very exciting to tell about it. However, we have an interesting thing we can show you today.

The plan is to have the external textures of all Bodenplatte aircraft in 4K quality. This is possible thanks to new texturing techniques and the help from our community members =ICDP= and =BlackHellHound1=. For instance, today we can show you the Me 262 as you'll see it in the coming update - in all 4K glory.

See the world combat debut of our Me-262 at FS Expo 2019 in Orlando, FL June 8-9 Booth #505. Jason will be there putting it through its paces with a 6DOF motion-sim by Gforcefactory and VR.

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · June 28

225

Dear friends,

The Summer is in full swing and we're working on finishing the Bodenplatte project. P-51D, P-38J, B-25 and Tempest 3D models are nearing completion, their textures are being made right now. Today we can show you the cockpit of Hawker Tempest Mk.V:

As we announced before, all Bodenplatte planes will have 4K external textures. Here are Bf 109 G-14 shots that show the texturing made by Martin =ICDP= Catney:

In addition to the models, we're working on the important features like more detailed pilot's physiology effects. Fatigue caused by a high G stress, (in)ability to bail out and other such things. After that, we'll get to repairing, refueling and refitting the aircraft on the ground.

At the moment we're moving to a newer FMOD version and our sound designer converts all the sounds to the newer sound engine. The main result of this work should be a fix of the disappearing sounds issue after playing for a while that was caused by having too many of them. We also started the research on making the aircraft and ships visible from several times farther distances. This task is very complex since it involves many various parts of the project - we can't make it at the cost of a significant performance loss in the graphics and network subsystems.

The work on the Bodenplatte map is nearing completion and we'll be able to show you the screenshots showing the result of this tremendous work soon. This also means we started the work on the Career mode for it that will be called Battle of Rheinland. Starting on September 17th, 1944 and ending on April 1st, 1945, it will include several new mission types characteristic for this timeframe on the Western front. All the required information - squadron histories and emblems, pilot biographies, awards, news, etc. - was accumulated with the help from our community members and we're very grateful to those who participated in this task.

Another important thing we must tell you is that American, British and German infantrymen models for Bodenplatte project are finished - they will man the guns, drive the vehicles and appear as airfield personnel. And here's the model of the Royal Air Force pilot for Summer of 1944:

Now let's talk about other our projects. For Tank Crew, the next update will bring Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G that has autonomous electric turret turn mechanism for instance. And in September we plan to release the two scenario campaigns for Tank Crew - Breaking Point and Last Chance, telling about the fighting near Prokhorovka. Players will be able to participate in the battle from both sides. Today we can show you the title art for these campaigns that were created using in-game tank models and the screenshots of Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G in the sim.

The next update is planned to include two - actually four - new aircraft for Flying Circus - Halberstadt CL.II, Halberstadt CL.IIau, Bristol Fighter F2 Falcon 2, Bristol Fighter F2 Falcon 3. After that, to complete this project we'll have to release Amiens-Arras-Lille map that will come with improved visual models for ground vehicles. Here are the screenshots of the coming planes:

You can discuss the news in this thread

Han · July 5

226

Hello everybody,

This time we'll start with a small release. As we said before, we began working together with Mikhail =HH=Pauk Zemskov who makes great gameplay videos. The first fruit of this cooperation has been presented to you in April in Dev Blog #222 - that video was dedicated to our first WWII project - Battle of Stalingrad. And today we present you his second work - Battle of Moscow. As always, =HH=Pauk captured the spirit of the project, its vibe, very well. See for yourself:

In the meantime, the Bodenplatte release comes closer and closer. We told about the work we're doing at this stage in our previous Dev Blog, and today we want to show you some visual results - it is better to see once than to hear a thousand words. Even better - to see in the sim engine already. The hero of the day is the British fighter Hawker Tempest Mk.V series 2. It turned out to be very complex and simultaneously very interesting to recreate - like all British flying machines which were always famous for their distinctness and original design decisions:

As always, we constantly update our previous releases. As part of our plan to have all the aircraft in 4K eventually, Fw 190 A-3 Collector Plane for Battle of Stalingrad will be available in 4K in the next update thanks to Martin =ICDP= Catney:

Now let's move to the news about our other projects. Scenario campaigns for Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka are nearly finished, soon we'll record the voices for them and start their beta testing. Our partner Digital Forms is finishing the interior of Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G and it's beta testing will start this weekend:

Flying Circus is also moving forward: Halberstadt CL.II and Bristol Fighter F.2B airplanes have their cockpits finished and they are going to this beta too.

All in all, we progress in all directions and the closer the development is to the release the more interesting details about the coming additions we can tell you.

You can discuss the news in this thread

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