Developer Diary

[Han 17012]

239

 

Hello everybody,

 

It's February already and we continue to improve the project as a whole. In the next update, we plan to significantly improve the airframe damage calculations and the explosive and fragmentation damage calculations for all objects in the sim in general. More AI improvements are in the pipeline too - for instance, further improvements for the vertical maneuvering in a dogfight. We have found and fixed another possible culprit for the missing aircraft hit sounds in multiplayer. There are more other corrections and fixes being worked on simultaneously with the full-scale work on Normandy theater that is already underway.

 

And of course, we don't forget about the tank project. While Digital Forms studio creates the assault gun and the tank destroyer that are left, we added a long-requested feature - binoculars for the tank commanders. Other smaller, but nonetheless important improvements are on the way too. Take a look at the binoculars on these screenshots:

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Han 17012]

240

 

Hello everybody,

 

While working on the Normandy project and finishing Tank Crew, we never forget about the existing ones. Not only the most part of all the improvements we release in the updates are applicable for the simulated world as a whole, meaning they update all our theatres of war at once, but we update the content of the existing modules at every possibility as well. For instance, we'll be able to show you the first WIP screenshots of the new Soviet pilot soon. And in the next update, among many other things, you'll see two more aircraft updated to 4K texture quality standard.

 

The first one of these two planes is the MiG-3 series 24 that is included in the Battle of Moscow. It's external texturing has been reworked by Martin =ICDP= Catney - it should be noted that wear, specular map, micro features and damage textures were updated in addition to the paint schemes. The plane materials were corrected as well for more natural-looking glare and finish. 

 

 

The second one is Bf 109 G-4 from the Battle of Kuban that has been reworked by Francisco =BlackHellHound1= Bindraban. Artists did not just redraw the textures in 4K quality - they do the research on the aircraft details and peculiarities of all known paint schemes and add many changes and improvements (sometimes even completely replacing one historical skin with another if needed). So everything possible is made to make the existing 3D models brand new, unlocking the potential our constantly updated renderer offers.

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Han 17012]

241

 

Dear friends,

 

The work on the Normandy module is at an early stage, but of course, this doesn't mean you'll have to wait for new updates for too long. Right now we're testing the next update 4.005 which will include a number of improvements for the damage modeling, especially aircraft damage (but it is more general than that, the way weapons affect various objects is also changing). We did a lot of research observing the community opinion on the various aspects of the current damage system that require attention and corrected our priorities basing on it. In the near future, we plan to publish a special Dev Blog issue completely dedicated to this matter.

 

We're also working on further AI improvements, namely on how they dogfight. Update 4.005 will include these improvements. In the future, we'll begin working on its tactical level and on how they follow the commands. 4.005 will also contain new ground vehicles - Soviet and German fuel trucks and ambulance cars. There are many other improvements across the board - for instance, you'll better hear the hits on your aircraft in multiplayer.

 

 

And today, as we promised before, we can show you the first Work In Progress screenshots of the new Soviet pilot in Summer uniform:

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Han 17012]

242

 

Hello everybody,

 

Previously we talked mostly about the Normandy project, but today we have something to tell you about Tank Crew. Functionality wise, at this stage we're polishing the implemented modules. The coming update 4.005 will bring a dozen important improvements for Tank Crew and the commander binoculars we showed you earlier. Later we plan to implement the indirect fire capability for self-propelled guns (by inputting the distance and traversing angle) and new quick mission types for the tank commanders. It should be also noted that a lot of the damage calculation changes that are prepared for 4.005 also affect the detailed tanks, this is important for the quality of their damage modeling.

 

Today we have something to show you as well. Our partners from Digital Forms just sent us WIP screenshots of the two latest war machines that are being modeled for the Tank Crew project. The first one of them is German tank destroyer Sd. Kfz. 184 "Ferdinand". Here are some shots of its interior parts. This self-propelled gun is very hard to recreate because there is a little info left and we have to conduct a lot of research to clarify how its internal parts worked and looked. But the result is going to be really good - these tank destroyers which first saw action in the Kursk battle impress with their power - take a look at the comparison of their main gun with the entire T-34/76 tank - and unique design decisions:

 

 

The second war machine that is in the works now is the SU-152 assault gun that was built on the KV-1s heavy tank chassis and armed with 152mm ML-20s howitzer. It was designed incredibly fast - it's hard to believe, but between the decision of the State Defence Committee that a new heavy SPG is needed and the act of putting it into service passed only 37 days and it was ready for production by the end of January 1943. There weren't a lot of these assault guns made, but their combat debut at the Kursk salient showed that the Red Army has something to counter the newest heavy German tanks in the coming battles:

 

 

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[AnPetrovich 1846]

243

 

Hi, pilots!
And hi gasoline cowboys! 

 

Today I will tell you about changes in the new damage model (DM), which we are preparing for release in the near future. Daniel already mentioned it briefly in previous diaries, and now it is time to talk about the new DM in more details.

 

Well, how many lances have broken in talks about broken wings in our community?  That guns are “not damaging”, that the Pe-2 is “rock”, tails of Messers are “cut-glass”, the P-47 is "way too weak" and falls apart after a few hits, and many many other opinions, claims and expectations. To be honest, we ourselves have long wanted to double-check the DM of all aircraft and put things in order there, bringing them all to a common concept. As you remember, we already went into this river a couple of times when we changed the DM settings and tried to find a “middle ground” solution with strength and vulnerability. However, it was obvious for us that all these accumulated problems could be solved only systemically, and this would require a lot of time. Finally, this time has come.

 

Firstly, from the very beginning we eliminated several fundamental limitations of the DM-core, which prevented us from moving on. This immediately “untied” our hands and allowed us to simulate combat damage to the aircraft structure much more flexibly. After that, a lot of research was conducted and several methods for calculating the damage of airframe elements from various types of ammunition were tried. The goal of this research was set quite ambitious (however, this is not the first time for us). We wanted to go away as far as possible from using the “game” settings of the DM, and use as many parameters and characteristics of the airframe from real life as possible. This work is not yet completed and right now the new DM is undergoing comprehensive testing (big thanks to our beta testers, and please take more ammo in the hangar!). Nevertheless now it’s becoming clear that the result of this whole work is exactly this one we really hoped for!

 

The main news is that our new damage model now uses data taken from blueprints and technical documentation. Such as: the number of structural elements of one or another part of the airframe, their material and geometric dimensions. An engineer who sets up the DM no longer needs to invent anything and rely on dubious empirical data. Now everything is extremely concrete and objective: what figures from documents you put in the model, such resistance to combat damage you get. Our engineering team carefully collected all this data for all 59 aircraft in the simulator. This is a lot of work, and it took a lot of effort and time. But the result was worth it: now all the planes in the Great Battles have such a balance of vulnerability that they, with a very high probability, had in real life.

 

In the new DM of the airframe, various types of ammunition “work” now in very different ways. Previously, their action differed in the settings of the ammunition itself. Now, the difference in calculation methods, which take into account the principle of causing structural damage in more detail, has been added.

 

For example, armor-piercing bullets and shells make relatively small external damages on the skin commensurate with their caliber. They do not cause “large-scale” damage to the structure frame anymore, but they do hits like a point strike, hitting through a wing spar for example, or breaking a hinge of elevator or aileron. A broken spar, of course, loses its strength, that makes the wing more weak and leads to break it under the less G-load (this is not new in our DM, by the way). But now, using armor-piercing shells to make several damages of the spar in the same area, you need to hit it many times, depending on the spar dimensions and the ammo caliber. In the same way, in order to turn the skin into “rags” or to tear off the landing gear wheel, you need to shoot a rather long time to the particular part of the plane. In other words, firing armor-piercing shells will not be as effective against the airframe as before.  The chance to get into the structure frame and break it is not great, and the skin is not particularly affected. Although, with enough desire and having the presence of a sufficient amount of ammunition, you can "cut" the airplanes apart with armor-piercing projectiles if their weight of fire converges and causes enough damage.

 

Explosive bullets and high-explosive fragmentation shells are quite another matter. Only a few hits are enough (depending on the model of the projectile, its caliber, the amount of explosive) to make large holes in that part of the plane where you hit, and everything around it was cut with fragments. Managing such an aircraft will become quite difficult. It will noticeably lose its performances and become not a serious opponent in the battle. The structural frame will also receive “zonal” damage, mainly due to high-explosive impact. So now the effectiveness of this type of weapon against the airframe will be significantly higher than the effectiveness of armor-piercing shells and bullets. The skin will also get damages much faster than the structural frame. Thus, situations when wings or control surfaces fall off an airplane in a battle will arise much less often. To break the rear part of the fuselage by shooting will become very hard. Nevertheless, anything is possible.

 

In addition, in the new DM, we eliminated the problem of inadequate damage to the airframe when firing at those parts of the aircraft that do not contain structural elements. For example, firing at an engine of a twin-engine aircraft or at its propeller spinner can no longer break the aircraft wing. Also, due to the improvement of the DM-core, the old problem of “extra” damages the airframe when the same projectile hit several non-structural collision-zones of this particular part of the airplane was eliminated. A HE shell also will no longer inflict damage on the structural elements of the airframe with its initial kinetic energy of the intact shell, we fixed it.

 

The new damage model now correctly takes into account the type of material of the structural frame or skin. The same bullets and shells will cause different damage to duralumin, wood, or steel structural elements, making “virtual” holes of various sizes in them.

 

It is important to mention that this work is about the calculations of damages, and the visualisation of the DM (textures and 3D-model) has remained unchanged. As you know, all our planes have three fixed levels of visualization of external damage for each part of the airframe. There are “light” damage (bullet holes and small holes from shells), “medium” damage (larger holes) and “heavy” damage (big holes on the airplane). Each of these three levels, switched in sequence. They have been painted by our artists as well as our community enthusiasts with attention to detail for each aircraft. The new calculations in the DM will now switch these three levels of visual damage, taking into account all the features of the action of various types of ammunition and the damage they cause to the skin, which I mentioned above. Thus there is some improvement of DM visualisation too. Because of this new DM fine-tuning the variety of our existing damage textures has improved. They were not properly being expressed in the past. Because of some bugs and errors, parts of the airframe would fly off or fail and a level of damage it should have shown prior to that was skipped or rarely seen.

 

Moreover, there is another improvement of DM visualisation. The visual effects of hitting the plane (sparks, wood chips, etc.), as well as sound effects, will now depend on the part of the plane in which the projectile hit. Even when shooting at the same part, for example, on a landing gear wheel, one can see different effects of hits - sparks from the wheel’s disk (if the disk is metal) or a cloud of “debris” and “dust” from the tire. Also our online players, I think, will be pleased with the news that we found and fixed a bug of no sounds of hitting an airplane in multiplayer (dear God we hope, we hate this problem!).

 

For sure, making such a large-scale work to improve the DM of an airframe, it was reasonable to take a look at the other areas of the DM. Firstly, we slightly changed the settings of the combat damages of an engine from various projectiles. This was only a preliminary step, and I think that in the near future we will conduct an equally thorough review of the DM for engines and various aircraft systems: control systems, fuel systems, onboard weapons, etc.

 

Secondly, we rechecked the data for all types of bullets, shells, missiles and bombs in the game, such as armor penetration characteristics, high-explosive and fragmentation characteristics. Many tests were carried out and many inaccuracies and bugs found were corrected. As well as significantly optimized performance algorithms of DM. The results of this work will affect not only aircraft, but also all other game objects: ground vehicles (including detailed tanks), ships, buildings. The common model of high-explosive ammo was substantially improved. The penetrating explosion (inside the object) has become much more effective than the external one. A model of a "random" fragment for distant explosions was created, which takes into account the distance from the epicenter, the dimension of the target, and of course the type of ammunition.

 

As I wrote above, at the moment the new damage model is undergoing final testing and debugging of core-settings. We are looking forward to completing this work in a couple weeks. And we really hope that the result will delight you and bring you many new positive emotions from playing the "Great Battles". This is invariably our top priority.

 

At the end I'd like to accompany this boring long-read text with some interesting pictures. Here are the first WIP screenshots of the first Battle of Normandy aircraft - P-47D-22 Razorback. It's a big deal since this is the first time we show you something from this newest project:

 

Yours sincerely,

Andrey “Petrovich” Solomykin – Lead Engineer

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Han 17012]

244

 

Hello everybody,

 

The progress on many parts of the Battle of Normandy project is becoming more visible with each passing day. We have placed the order on the numerous ground vehicles that will be outsourced while the design document on the buildings for the new map will be finished soon. The list of the airfields and the map borders are final and the work on the map itself has begun in earnest. The list of the squadrons that will be recreated in the Battle of Normandy Career mode and its main scenario are prepared as well. Visual models of the three aircraft and the FM of the first one (P-47D-22) are in the works. Today we can show you the current state of the visual model of the second aircraft in development - C-47A transport plane which will be manned by AI. The famous WWII legend, it was the best known Allied transport plane. Built under license in many countries, its civilian versions are still in service now, in the early XXI century. This workhorse played a key role in the airborne operations of the Battle of Normandy.

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Jason_Williams 22587]

245

 

Hey everybody! 

 

We hope you are hanging in there and staying healthy! While we're stuck inside our homes trying not to get sick I thought you'd enjoy some footage of our improved airframe damage model in action. These clips show how our wings are much stronger than before and how our improved damage calculations cause a myriad of failures that can bring down a plane, or in some cases, maybe allow you to limp home. Please note that the engine damage was turned off for this video as we are currently concerned with the airframe and how it behaves. Remember just because a plane takes a physical beating, doesn't mean all the systems are functioning. A knocked out plane may keep flying for a little while, but it is likely not going to make it home or stay controllable. My point is don't get too hung up on some of these planes surviving multiple HE hits. One good placed burst and your day is likely ruined, but your wings should not fold like a bad poker hand. Larger planes and historically tougher planes now have a better personality to match their reputation. 

I pieced this video together in a hurry, so the commentary may not be the best and some of my American humor may get lost in translation. I hope you enjoy this little distraction during this crazy time. Our airframe damage improvements will be in the next update before the end of March.

 

 

My gunnery stinks I know. All AI is basically on Novice so I can actually catch them and hit them. These were just simple furball missions.

 

Try to have an enjoyable weekend everyone!  And remember our Promo Codes are still good!! 

 

Jason

 

P.S. I have been asked what I filmed this on. Intel i7 7200K 4.2ghz, 64Gb RAM, SSD, 20280Ti, 4K res on Asus 43" G-Sync monitor (120hz Refresh / 144hz OC). Ultra Graphics maxed. Average FPS 90-120. Captured with DXtory app at 60fps at 50% size which is 1080p.

 

You can discuss the news in this thread.

[Han 17012]

246

 

Hello everybody,

 

In spite of the serious events happening in the world, the time flows and it looks like we adapted to the new work conditions. The work processes are set up and we continue at the usual rate. Since we plan to release important renderer improvements in late Spring, we set the workflow to develop the short and long term tasks simultaneously. We'll tell you about what will be released in Summer a bit later, while today we'll concentrate on the coming update 4.005. =AnPetrovich= and =Jason_Williams= told you about the main feature of this update earlier - reworked, improved and advanced damage model of the airframe - but it is not the only huge change that it will include.

 

Speaking of the battle damage modeling, another very important change is the improved frag and blast damage calculations throughout the entire sim. Thanks to the fresh look and research input by our partners at Digital Forms, which make the visual models of the Tank Crew vehicles, we were able to bring the fragments damage calculations to the new level of complexity.

 

Generally speaking, the calculations of the damage incurred by munition fragments became less abstract. The new model is universal for all munition types. The calculations of the warhead fragmentation are more life-like and give the initial speed, mass, and size of the fragments. New progressive methods of modeling their speed decrease use the integration of their movement.

 

The calculations of the penetration ability of the combined HE and frag damage is also less abstract. Instead of using an empirical parameter, the system now uses the speed, mass, and size of a fragment to model a penetration and the massed impact in case of a near explosion is also modeled. Since the calculations of the penetration ability and the energy of fragments were changed, the excessive effectiveness of the bombs against armored targets at large distances has been reduced. The penetration ability of the fragments created by shells containing a small amount of explosives relative to their overall mass was also reduced because of the same reason.

 

The blast damage calculations use a more accurate power law depending on the distance to the blast center. The damage inflicted by a blast and its ability to break through an armor sheet now drops as the distance increases faster than before, but became much more powerful at very short distances. It also should be noted that engines, drivetrains, reduction gearboxes, ammo racks and other large pieces of equipment now have their own hard casings modeled where applicable and they can protect them from some damage.

 

The visual and audio representation of the damage is also updated. The additional causes of the unhearable hits in multiplayer have been found and fixed, new sounds were added for ricochets while the existing hit and explosion sounds were improved.

 

In general, the update 4.005 once again is going to be one of the biggest in the history of our project, its change list contains more than 90 items already. It will bring not only the damage model improvements of course - the new content we told you before, many improvements and fixes for the aircraft and player controllable tanks, audio improvements for various in-game objects and more and more. The sim will be more accessible to the larger audience thanks to the additional language as well.

 

Our team hopes that the update 4.005 will be welcomed by you, our players, and will raise the quality level of our sim to the next level. To finish today's diary, let's add some nice pictures to the mix - this time they are the Yak-9 cockpit shots captured in the game. Its texturing is nearly final while the development of its FM is progressing at a full speed. We hope it will be available to you in early Summer.

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Han 17012]

247

 

Hello everybody,

 

The weather in Moscow isn't really fitting for April, but these times it doesn't make a big difference; we're continuing the work on the project. The 4.005 beta testing is nearly finished, and soon you'll see by yourself what all the latest DDs were about. So today we'll tell you a bit about the current work that will yield more distant results. We have mentioned before that we're working on moving the graphics engine to Deferred rendering and now this process gives good results. The main goal in implementing this renderer is to open new visual possibilities while keeping the current level of performance and not making it worse. Till the recent time, we could only hope that having both options is possible at all, while our Lead Programmer Sergey Vorsin was working confidently and his task is nearly finished. We have managed to keep the general level of performance during this transition intact and we already can show you one of the possibilities this technology opens for our sim.

 

The first visual bonus that comes from Deferred Shading is the dramatic improvement of the quality of the reflections on various surfaces. While the existing reflection system was progressive for its time, today the standards are upped. For instance, its issues include too much bloom in reflections from various aircraft surfaces, the lack of diffusion of the reflections - they should be softer and more natural-looking. The new tech makes this possible, resulting in more realistic visuals. Here are a couple of screenshots showing this:

 

 

But the improvements are not limited to the existing reflections on the external model of an aircraft. Now a feature that was requested by the community for a long time becomes technically possible - reflections in the canopy and instrument glass. In other games this effect is imitated using a prepared or generated texture which is rendered on the glass surfaces without following the laws of optics. Deferred Shading allows us to create complex and optically correct reflections in the cockpit. They depend on the external lighting and environment of course, the camera position in the cockpit and other factors. It's clear that the best way to show you this new effect would be a video, but it will be ready later - we're still working on this new reflection effect. Today we can show you a couple of screenshots that demonstrate this effect in general though:

 

 

The work on the new pilot models we announced earlier for Battle of Moscow, Battle of Stalingrad and Battle of Kuban continues as well. Earlier we published the WIP images of the new Soviet pilot in Summer uniform without textures that weren't ready, but now we have the completed models both in Summer and Winter uniforms and for early and late war timeframes as well. At the moment we're working on the animations for the new models for all Soviet aircraft in the project - and started the work on the new German pilot model of the early war.

 

 

To finish today's Dev Blog we want to present you the new work of =HH=Pauk, this time he created the new promo video for Flying Circus. We think the author has managed to the feel of the last knights' epoch perfectly, highlighting the project potential. Enjoy:

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Han 17012]

248

 

Hello everybody,

 

After releasing the update 4.005 last week we continued on polishing it, addressing the issues that were found after the public release. We hope to release another hotfix tomorrow that will improve the public version stability. Of course, the work on the next update is being done in parallel - for instance, the new heavy assault gun SU-152 for Tank Crew project will be finished soon. This one, being a symbiosis of a heavy tank and a heavy howitzer, really stands out. It's no wonder that such a war machine required adapting and improving the core systems to support it properly - there is no reason not to implement something created for one unit to all others that were released earlier. For instance, all 45mm and higher caliber shells that in reality did not have tracers will have a visual model of a flying shell (one for all for now) instead of a symbolical tracer. Firing the main gun without working ventilation and closed hatches will result in carbon monoxide poisoning of the crew and we created additional effects of the evacuation of the propellant fumes from the engine compartment for vehicles that used it for the fumes evacuation. The new system that allows a commander to order his gunner and other self-propelled guns under his command to fire at a specified direction and range is also almost complete. There are also finishing touches like oil pumping animation before starting the engine. The visual model of this vehicle, that probably has the most firepower in the project, is also nearly finished.

 

 

 

 

We would like to emphasize that many things that were done for Tank Crew also improve the aircraft - for example, the Tank Crew separate animations tech and the new models of the Soviet and German pilots that are being created using it for BoS, BoM and BoK allow us to put American and British pilots into the lend-lease planes. This means that soon you'll be able to witness RAF and Soviet pilots in Spitfire Mk.V and Spitfire Mk.IX and RAF, USAF and Soviet ones in P-40E, P-47D and B-25D (according to what country is specified in the mission file by its author). A bit later, when we complete the required animations for the new pilot models, this will also work for A-20B and P-39L.

 

 

In addition, the same approach will allow having a correct visual model depending on the timeframe: Soviet pilots will appear in correct summer uniforms depending on the mission date (there will be three different models for early war before April 1st, 1942, between April 1st, 1942 and March 1st, 1943, and late war). Later, when we have German and US pilot models ready, their uniforms will also change depending on the mission date, including the g-suit. And we plan to give all the WWII-era pilots hand weapons as a final touch in this department.

 

 

 

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[Jason_Williams 22587]

249

 

Happy May Day to everyone!  Here is a short video showing you our new instrument glass reflections, canopy reflections and external skin reflections. The cockpit reflections can be set to either High, Low or Off. In the video they are set to High. Also, remember this is still a Work In Progress. Final result may vary. 

 

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread.

 

[Han 17012]

250

 

Dear friends!

 

We would like to congratulate you on the very important holiday - 75th Anniversary of the Victory in Europe! On this day 75 years ago the hard and long road to peace, that cost millions of lives, has finally come to its end at the European theater of the world war. The people of all nations got a second chance to live. Let's remember the heroic deeds of our ancestors and be thankful to them - even though that today's crisis and problems are significant, they can't be compared to the gravity of the situation and the hardships of those years of war.

 

 

The life that was given to us by the heroic deed of our ancestors continues. Coincidentally, this is a small anniversary for our project, which is entirely dedicated to the World War II events, as well - you're reading its 250th Developers Blog. Our work on the sim also continues - in 2 or 3 weeks we plan to release the next update 4.006. It will bring not only the new player controllable machines - Yak-9 and Yak-9T Collector Planes and SU-152 assault gun for Tank Crew - but also the fundamental changes in the graphics engine: the renderer will be switched to Deferred Shading. At the moment this update is already in the beta testing and our team is working on debugging and finalizing it. The changelist will be a long one once again, it already includes more than 50 changes in different areas of the sim. To illustrate what these renderer changes add to the visuals, we want to show you the in-game screenshots of Yak-9T, which is a good aircraft to display the new graphical capabilities:

 

 

Another pic we want to show you the WIP model of the early war German pilot which will be used in BoM, BoS and BoK timeframes. It's going to appear in the project a bit later, but it won't be a long wait:  

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Han 17012]

251

 

Dear friends,

Update 4.006 will be released soon and we can show you more of the coming improvements. Today we'd like to demonstrate how the aircraft materials and textures will look in the new renderer compared to the old one. For instance let's look at La-5 series 8, He 111 H-6, P-38J-25, Albatros D.Va:

 

We also have good news about the changes in 4.006. First, the airframe damage model for the WWI planes will be tuned according to your feedback. Second, the ships in the sim will have more advanced physical models - they will be able to run aground, receive an impulse from collisions, etc. - this is important for the Battle of Normandy where they played a major role. Third, according to Tank Crew players' feedback, we added a server option to disable tank AI gunners in multiplayer. Another option that has been requested for a while - now tech chat messages are a difficulty option so the players will be on equal terms in multiplayer.

 

Our engineering department improved the FM and systems modeling for a number of planes, including Yak-7 and Bf-110. Tank Crew assault guns will be able to fire indirectly at a heading and distance set by the gun or platoon commander. In the graphics department, we're adding an alternative antialiasing method, FXAA, which trades some AA quality for a noticeable performance boost. It also has a side effect of somewhat improving the visibility of the contacts against the ground, especially when used in conjunction with the "Sharpen" graphics option. Several planes from already released modules will get the 4K quality external textures and the rivers and sea will get the updated water surface visualization.

 

As usual, the full list of the changes and improvements will be available at the update launch and it is already close to 70 items total. We're hoping that the next update will be another step forward in the development of the project and you, our customers, will enjoy it. And to finish today's Dev Blog, here are a couple of Yak-9 and Yak-9T Collector Planes screenshots from our Producer:

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Han 17012]

252

 

Hello friends,

As you know, the recently released update 4.006 brought many important and interesting changes. Our work continues and soon we will start to prepare the new update 4.008 that is planned to include P-47D-22 "Razorback" fighter for Battle of Normandy and tank destroyer Sd.Kfz.184 "Ferdinand" for Tank Crew. You may have noticed and wondered why the mission number isn't 4.007? The answer is that we plan to release an intermediate update before that, it will add some important functionality and new features. They will be based on your feedback mostly and will bring some features long-awaited by the community. The update 4.007 is already in beta testing and we hope it will be ready in the coming week. Among other changes it will include 4К quality external texturing by Martin =ICDP= Catney for the legendary Ju-87D-3 from Battle of Stalingrad, here are some screenshots of it:

 

 

Speaking on the update 4.008, which is planned for late June - early July, we have also something to show you already. Another legendary plane, P-47D-22 "Razorback", will begin the Early Access for Battle of Normandy:

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Han 17012]

253

 

Hello Everyone!

 

Summer has finally come to us, but this is not a reason to relax and slow down - the work continues. Work is going on in many directions at once, especially now, when in the next big update, we will see two major events. First, the readiness and release of the American P-47D-22 "Razorback" fighter, which will mean the beginning of the Early Access stage of Battle of Normandy. Second, this is the completion and release of the German tank destroyer Sd.Kfz.184 "Ferdinand", which will mark the completion of all the planned tanks in Tank Crew. Although, this does not mean we will stop working on it, more improvements will be made in the coming months, several are being designed and prepared now.

 

Several aircraft, six in total, both for BON and a Collector’s aircraft, are currently under development. The P-51B, P-47D-22, C-47, Spitfire Mk.XIV, Typhoon Mk.Ib and  Hurricane Mk.II are all on the production line at once, many of them are in a fairly high degree of readiness. For those who keep asking about the status of the Hurricane, today we will show you a couple of Work in Progress screenshots of the cockpit:

 

 

Creating new aircraft is not the only thing our team is busy with right now. Having finished work on the airframe damage model airframe and control linkages, we smoothly proceed to the development of a more detailed model of fuel systems and their damage. After completing the next iteration of improving lower level logic for air combat AI fighter aircraft - maneuvering and aiming, we have moved on to improvements in matters of the upper level - the choice of targets and operational solutions. Work on the creation of the “Battle for Normandy” map has been launched on all fronts, its borders have been defined, a prioritized list of cities and airfields has been compiled, work has begun on the creation of ground equipment, and a list of development sites is under final approval before production begins. All these works are proceeding in accordance with the approved development plan and, at the moment, we have no serious deviations - we hope that this will continue in the future.

 

In parallel with this, work continues on updating the flight crews for all previous projects, and a German pilot in early winter uniforms will be ready soon. And at the same time, owners of the U-2VS airplane, we have some good news: a special and famous pilot model is ready for this aircraft in three uniforms (summer pre-1943 and 1943+ and winter). However, such news, of course, is better to see than to read:

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Han 17012]

254

 

Hello everyone!

 

As time goes on, the release date for the next update is approaching. As we said earlier, one of the central objects of this update will be a German tank destroyer - a self-propelled artillery Sd.Kfz.184 "Ferdinand". As many of you know, this monster was the result of the loss of Ferdinand Porsche in the competition for the creation of a heavy breakthrough tank for the Wehrmacht. That competition was won by the "Pz.Kpfw.VI Tiger" developed by Henschel. Porsche’s loss was caused by the extraordinary, even for the Germans, the complexity of the chassis. However, in the course of this rivalry, Porsche produced a significant amount of the chassis of a new type of heavy tank. This was subsequently used to create the most powerful and protected, at the time of the Battle of Kursk, anti-tank armored fighting vehicle in the world.

 

 

On the Porsche chassis, an armored fighting compartment was installed, protected in the frontal projection by a 200mm armored plate, the weight of which was similar to the weight of a large truck. Even the Tiger gun is not able to penetrate this 200mm obstacle when using armor-piercing shells and 152mm armor-piercing shells of the ML-20 howitzer can't do it either. To bring the frontal armoring of the front of the hull in line with the existing 100mm armor plates, an additional piece of 100m armor was installed. The sides and rear of the vehicle were protected by 80mm armor plates, which were an extremely difficult, almost insurmountable obstacle for 76mm Soviet armor-piercing shells. The roof and the bottom of the hull were also armored considerably.

 

The weak spots include the roof of a large-scale engine compartment, which was located in front of the tower and could be hit by large-caliber high-explosive fragmentation shells when they burst on the front armor plate of the fighting compartment. Also, the tank’s weak point is the relatively thin armor of the cooler exhaust manifold of the electric propulsion motors - a significant part of ammo is 'conveniently' located just above it. It is worth to note the completely unprotected gunsight of the main and only gun, located on the roof of the fighting compartment.

 

 

The Ferdinand is armed with an extremely powerful 88mm KwK-43 L / 71 gun, that was created on the basis of the Flak 41 long-barreled anti-aircraft gun, while the shorter Tiger gun (also 88mm) was created on the basis of the shorter Flak 37 anti-aircraft gun. Firing a similar armor-piercing projectile, but with a more powerful charge and a longer barrel length, the KwK-43 L / 71 gun accelerated it to 1000 m/s against 800 m/s in the KwK-36. The Ferdinand had no machine guns at the time of the Battle of Kursk. The disadvantages of its armament include a panoramic sight that is not very useful in anti-tank combat since it doesn't allow entering corrections in the field of view (it had a significant degree of amplification though), and a low horizontal aiming speed.

 

But the most remarkable feature of the "Ferdinand" is it’s progressive and promising, but very controversial electrical powertrain. This is one of those cases when technical thought was far ahead of technical capabilities. The idea of refusing the mechanical transmission of torque from the power plant to the propulsion system, which is widely used today in heavy equipment, at that time led to very serious problems. The electric drive motors gave an increase in speed, but with a significant loss of torque on the tracks. So the efficiency of the power plant as a whole, even when on a flat surface, was so low the vehicle could not reach speeds more than 20 km/h. Even with a huge fuel reserve of 950 liters, the range was just 150 km on the highway. Also, due to the features of the electric motors, the power plant had a reduced efficiency when driving backward.

 

 

To supply the required amount of electric energy, two engines from the Pz.Kpfw.IV tanks were installed in the Ferdinand, each with a corresponding DC generator. Both generators were connected to a single line that supplied current to the electric motors, and each of the motors had its own regulator to control the speed and direction of movement. This made it possible to continue driving even if one engine or generator failed. The high cost of materials required for the production of windings, conductors and switches of the electrical powertrain, the use of two engines, plus its huge mass of 65 tons led to extremely serious technological and operational difficulties even for such a rich and industrialized country as wartime Germany. That is why the competition was won by the more traditional and easier to produce Tiger-I of Henschel design even though the Tiger from Henschel was also not a cheap tank by any means and the labor costs for its production were many times higher than required for a mass-produced T-34. On the other hand, the simplicity and ease of control of the tank, as well as the softness of the ride were a bonus to those who manned it. The ability to turn the vehicle on the spot without using advanced mechanical systems required for a traditional powertrain was a welcome bonus.

 

 

Nevertheless, with all the technological and operational difficulties it had, this combat vehicle during the Summer of 1943 was the most dangerous on the battlefield - if it was able to reach it in time to participate in a head-on tank battle. It was important for us to recreate it as close to the real one as possible, just like all the vehicles we already have in Tank Crew, and it was really hard to do. There is only one early Ferdinand remaining in the world - #501, it is located in the armored forces museum in Kubinka near Moscow. Another one, later modification called Elefant with a commander cupola and MG installed, is in the US. The available documentation is very segmentary, short and incomplete. However thanks to the effort of our partners in Digital Forms and application of cross-checking analysis, we have one of the best recreations of this combat vehicle available. From our side, we contributed to the recreation of its maneuverability, armament and systems functioning peculiarities, which required a lot of work as well. On the screenshots, you see exactly that Ferdininand #501 that was captured in the Kursk battle and ended in the Kubinka museum.

 

The last what we want to tell you about this tank destroyer - its release will complete the lineup of the combat vehicles we planned to recreate together with Digital Forms for the Tank Crew - Clash at Prokhorovka project. This moment will be a very important milestone in the history of our project. It won't mark the end of the work on this project - as usual, we continue to support, improve and deepen all our projects after the official release date. IL-2 Sturmovik and Digital Forms teams hope you'll enjoy the result of our joint effort.

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Han 17012]

255

 

Dear Friends,

 

Continuing from the previous Dev Diary, this time we'll tell you about the second important addition (well, depending on your personal preference it may be the first important addition actually) coming in our next update - version 4.008. The P-47D-22 "Razorback", the first aircraft of Battle of Normandy, will kick off the Early Access program for this module.

 

 

The main difference from the P-47D-28 you have flown in Bodenplatte is the cockpit canopy design with significant canopy framing and dorsal spine behind it. The front part of the canopy includes two angled parts and a windshield center post that would have blocked the view through the gunsight if it was installed in the center, so the gunsight was moved to the right like in the German fighters. The space between the gunsight and the angled windshield parts is occupied by the armored glass protecting the pilot from fragments and small-caliber projectiles coming from the forward hemisphere. On the top of the framing, a rear-view mirror is installed - it was standard-issue, not an optional modification. Contrary to the P-47D-28, the canopy was opened in a classic way, manually, and not by a fancy electric motor.

 

 

The "Razorback" had a different propeller than the D-28 and the propeller pitch was controlled by hydraulics, not an electrical drive which had no manual mode. The P-47D-22 can use high-octane fuel, which affects the engine power, and the good news is that P-47D-28 will receive this option in the next update as well. As we have stated many times before, we don't forget about a module after its release date and will always continue to improve it and add new features whenever possible.

 

 

While we were working on the Razorback, its successor from Bodenplatte got the same flight model refinements as well: for instance, the effectiveness of the flaps has been reduced somewhat and the aircraft behavior beyond stall angles has been corrected - it won't stall so unpredictably and will indicate the coming stall by buffeting and lowering the nose. The load on the control surfaces have been corrected as well - the ailerons are affected by the ram air a bit earlier, but the load increases at higher speeds more smoothly and the elevator load at high speeds was also reduced somewhat. The Mach number effect on the controls has been additionally adjusted. Overall, this resulted in better compliance with the reference data for roll speed and increased Mach-tuck tendency at high speeds. In general, P-47 now feels more like a heavy machine it was.

 

 

It is interesting to note that while Razorback was an earlier model than D-28, it has a bit higher climb rate and significantly (+27 kph) speed at emergency engine mode. To a degree, this difference comes from a different propeller, but mainly it was caused by the dorsal spine. Bubble canopy, while being vastly superior for offering a much better view, creates flow swirling behind them. Dorsal spine fairing increases the lift-drag ratio of a plane.

 

 

Bodenplatte fans will be happy to hear that we are going to insert the D-22 into the BOBP Pilot Career once the plane is finished. Some Razorback models were still in operation during this period so you will be able to fly them and against them in the BOBP Career before the Normandy Career is ready. However, you will need to have purchased BON to have access to their cockpits in BOBP. This gives an added benefit to participating in BON Early Access. Would-be Razorback pilots - it's time to enlist! 

 

To complete today's Dev Blog, we would like to showcase another improvement that we did exclusively for our previous projects - new early Luftwaffe pilot winter uniform which will be later used for all fighters and then bombers from Battle of Moscow and Battle of Stalingrad:

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Han 17012]

256

 

Hello!

 

Today there will be a very small issue of diaries for the reason that we are preparing a release candidate for version 4.008, which we told you about before, we are doing the final tests so there is a lot of work and little time. However, even if this DD is short, it’s still significant - because for the first time we will show you screenshots of one of the English planes that will be in Battle of Normandy – the Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIVc.

 

In fact, this aircraft will have an additional modification with heavy machine guns, the Spitfire Mk.XIVe, but we will show you that version a bit later. This plane is quite different from the MK. IX Spitfire, which was previously included in BOBP. The main thing that catches your eye is the massive 5-rotor Rotol propeller, driven by the Rolls-Royce Griffon engine. To provide a much more powerful engine with sufficient cooling, radiators of a larger area are installed on the aircraft. Also, the tail area had to be increased for added stability.

 

The aircraft will be presented with two types of weapon configurations - modification "c" with two 20mm guns and 4 x 7.69 machine guns, and modification "e" with two 20mm guns and 2 x 12.7mm machine guns. A 150-octane fuel option will also be available causing the already powerful engine to develop up to 2,200 horsepower. Work on this legendary aircraft is at a rather early stage, but much has already been done as you can clearly see in a small selection of screenshots:

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread

[Han 17012]

257

 

Hello!

Have you heard about wave interference? It's amazing when the processes in people's lives have direct physical analogies. In particular, how topics for our journal entries appear is a good example. In the development of projects of the IL-2: Great Battles series, there are a lot of very voluminous and lengthy tasks. And sometimes it happens that the intermediate results of different large tasks appear one by one, creating a subject for the diaries. Sometimes it happens that the "wave" processes of development progress in all directions and it gets to a stage when the intermediate results cannot yet be published, but sometimes it also happens that in all directions at the same time appears something that can be gladly demonstrated. And exactly this variant of "superposition of wave development processes in different directions" happened this week, which, of course, is always pleasant.

 

The first thing we can show you today is a 3D render of the Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib, the legendary fighter-bomber of the RAF, which is very much anticipated by many in our simming community. In Battle of Normandy, this aircraft will, as it should be, presented with its late version with a drop-shaped cockpit canopy, a modified stabilizer of the type used on Tempest aircraft, and with two versions of the propeller (three- and four-bladed). It will be armed with four 20 mm Hispano cannons and also rockets and bombs. Despite the fact that the aircraft belongs to the class of fighter-bombers, due to the mighty 2200-horsepower Napier Saber IIa engine (and when using the 11-pound boost and up to 2400hp), it possessed strong flight performance. All in all, it will be an extremely interesting Allied aircraft that will help its virtual pilot achieve success in battle against both the ground and air enemy forces.

 

 

The second thing that we will show you today is important for the owners of all products in the IL-2: Great Battles series. We are talking about a new map! The new "Velikiye Luki, Summer 1941", will be made available to everyone in the next update. This map was developed on a personal basis by one of our map team-members, and although it does not include all of our most modern map tech (such as buildings with increased detail), thanks to the creativity and variety of the implemented terrain and scenery, it looks extremely interesting and will add a lot of variety in your flights. The Velikiye Luki summer map, as well as an improved and updated winter version, will be available to all players. A lot could be written about the positive aspects of this map, but it seems to us that it is better to show them in the following screenshots:

 

 

The third bit of news is that work on the Battle of Normandy is progressing, not only in terms of creating new aircraft but also in other directions. For instance, a lot has already been done in creating the map which will include some promising new technologies for our series. But it’s still early and we plan to show the progress on the development of the map later. Additionally, aircraft crews are also being created and as you already know, the G-suits worn by USAAF pilots appeared after the events of the Normandy, and therefore we created a model of an American pilot in an earlier uniform:

 

 

And in FIRST for the combat-sim genre - the U-2VS, Yak-1 Series 69 and Yak-1b series 127 aircraft will receive a Soviet female pilot option! We have completed the process of animating the new female pilot model and they will be available in the upcoming 4.009 update. It is these aircraft that have the greatest basis for possessing this modification because the famous "Night Witches" from the 588th Night Light Bomber Aviation Regiment fought in the U-2, and the heroic ace pilot of the Soviet Air Force Guards Junior Lieutenant Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak and her fellow female squadron mates flew the Yak-1 and Yak-1b. Also, the U-2VS aircraft will receive new models of male pilots.

 

 

And to finish the today's Dev blog, here is the news about the "Tank Crew" project. As we said earlier, the completion of the vehicle lineup does not mean that work on improving it has stopped. Update 4.009 will introduce a lot of new features that will definitely give you an interesting new experience in our tank simulator. Drivers of the German panzers and the Sherman tank will have the opportunity to use the course director. KV-1s, Pz.Kpfw.III Ausf.M and Sherman tank drivers interact with pneumatic fuel gauges in a realistic way. The working sounds of the radio motor-generators were added to all tanks and the German tanks have the working gyrocompass sound as well. All traveling locks of turrets, main and machine guns are now animated and have sounds as well. In general, due to these changes, the sound environments inside a tank has become much richer and more realistic. DT and M2 .50 machine guns now have a working range correction setting. Other changes have been made to improve the player experience - many of you have previously expressed the opinion that one cannot fully discover the possibilities of the project due to the lack of a description of what equipment each tank has and how to use this equipment. To resolve this issue, a new "Station Notes" dialog has been implemented, which can be invoked at any time by pressing the ESC button.

 

 

You can discuss the news in this thread