20 years of Sturmovik!

[ShamrockOneFive]

I was reminded this morning that on this day, November 18th, 2001, the first IL-2 Sturmovik was released. I admittedly only played the demo of the first release but I was there from day one of IL-2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles and thus launched a long term obsession with the series. IL-2 has provided much entertainment, historical understanding, and learning about such a wide range of aircraft from the period.

 

So, raise your glasses, and three cheers for IL-2 Sturmovik! May it last another 20 years!

 

[ITAF_Airone1989]

I have it!

[JG27_Steini]

I had alot of luck and was tester some month before it. Our names were displayed in the small CD inlet. We were the first to try multiplayer and it was amazing. 

 

Greetings go out to JG26_Galland, the old JG26 crew, LLv_34 and Oleg, who made this possible.

Edited November 18, 2021 by JG27_Steini

[Diggun]

Still got the manual ?

[ITAF_Rani]

Legend....

 

 

Edited November 18, 2021 by ITAF_Rani

[Trooper117]

Got it, and I've even still got the demo on one of my HD's somewhere...

[KpaxBos]

ah nostalgia when you hold us?

Have still the box the cd and some addon (Barbarosa...)

I loved the lesson on how to fly and the music....

 

[Missionbug]

I was in from Forgotten Battles, still playing the 1946 version even now and making 3d for it, so much has been done over the years by TD and the modding community that it is truly irreplaceable, the original still gives the modern games a run for their money and is testament to the work of Oleg and the team back then who made that very first title.

 

Take care and be safe.

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete.

[Rjel]

32 minutes ago, Trooper117 said:

Got it, and I've even still got the demo on one of my HD's somewhere...

Same here. When the demo was leaked we were like world class hackers trying to find a link to it. 

[BlitzPig_EL]

I picked up my copy on Dec. 26, 2001, little did I know that it would lead to 20+ years of fun, discovery, and making life long friends.  Hell, at the time all I knew was that I was probably the only person in a 25 mile radius that even knew what an IL2 was!

[Elem]

Wow! I was waiting eagerly for it for over a year before then, when it was being developed by BlueByte. I still have the original disc signed by Oleg when I met him at a convention in Birmingham.

[Jaws2002]

47 minutes ago, Trooper117 said:

Got it, and I've even still got the demo on one of my HD's somewhere...

Me too. That domo hooked me up. I got that demo on a CD, that came with a Maximum PC sometimes in fall 2001. I tried that P-39 intercept mission, in bad weather first. Obviously, it was windy and i veered off the runway and crashed. I was in awe as I was looking at that messed up plane, with bent props, and parts of airplane allover the place.

 

I was hooked. 

Remember how everyone was messing up the Sturmovik name for the first few years?? I remember laughing at reviewers how they would pronounce the name Sturmovik. It was obvious they never heard about the plane, before the game was in the top ten. ? 

[Dennis_Nedry]

I first saw a preview in PC Gamer with a 109 and a contrail.  It blew my mind and I knew I had to have it.  Still have the original disc!

Edited November 18, 2021 by Dennis_Nedry

[Gambit21]

I miss my Zero and Wildcat.

The 109 can get stuffed.

[Rjel]

1 minute ago, Gambit21 said:

I miss my Zero and Wildcat.

Now, now. Don’t be sad. “I” have the P-51 so all is right in the sim world in my eyes. ?

[Irishratticus72]

10 minutes ago, Gambit21 said:

I miss my Zero and Wildcat.

The 109 can get stuffed.

Still play CFS2 with skins for that exact reason. 

[Furni]

Can’t believe it’s been 20 years had IL2 from the beginning even purchased my first PC to run it.

 

All ways remember the demo video that was about just before release got me hooked straight away.

 

Has anyone got the original video demo by any chance?

 

Here to another 20 years ??

[Hoss]

I was playing Combat Flight Simulator at the time, saw a advertisement in a magazine for IL2 Sturmovik before it was released I bought it sometime before Christmas 2001.  I have that box, Pacific Fighters, and 1946 boxes.  Found original Lock On, Black Shark, Rise of Flight, FSX.  I'm sure there are more games in other boxes I don't open much anymore.

 

This game has consumed a lot of hard earned money in new computers, Upgrades to those computers, sticks, pedals, upgrading those to bigger better hardware.  At my age you would think I'd know better................ well I do... I know to look for better deals now.. LOL, not so anxious to quickly throw money at it anymore.....

 

Cheers

Hoss

[pilotpierre]

I too have been playing this from the very start and still have every CD they released.

Lots of memories of the WOW factor over the years. 
Flying aerobatics in real life and many flight sims pre IL2 I was particularly impressed with the feeling of weight in the LaGG-3.

 

[Monty_Thrud]

About 2001/2...I played the demo, which was recommended to me by a work college after I had complained bitterly about MSCFS3...bought the IL-2 cardboard box same as above, first try drove across most of the map in a Sturmovik trying desperately to take off , bought a new PC for it, then Forgotten battles came out, played it all (includ ing HSFX Mods) till 2013 when my pc kept shutting down when playing ...so, waited till new PC, missed the middle gen, now I'm just trying to fathom the BOSME....

 

   HIC!...HIC!...HIC!...WHORRAH!111...

[Jaws2002]

42 minutes ago, Monty_Thrud said:

first try drove across most of the map in a Sturmovik trying desperately to take off ,

?

 

I remember that Original Il-2 grass. ? If you veered off the strip, good luck trying to takeoff.?

[=621=Samikatz]

I remember going from MSCFS1 to Forgotten Battles as a small child and being completely blown away. Actual 3D cockpits! Seeing damage decals approximately where you got hit! So many planes I'd never heard of in detail I couldn't imagine! I really fell in love with the La-5FN there, and when I finally got to fly it in this sim with the much improved visuals it was weirdly emotional for me. Same with the Hurricane later on. Something familiar but more vivid than ever

[sevenless]

Best sim ever. Still unsurpassed in many ways. Started my interest in airwar on the Eastern Front and I still have a lot of fun flying it with all the excellent mods.

[FoxbatRU]

?

It was a super adorable sim!

But for me his time has passed, unfortunately now I can not bring myself to play it.

[Gambit21]

1 hour ago, sevenless said:

Best sim ever. Still unsurpassed in many ways.

 

EAW?

 

[sevenless]

Just now, Gambit21 said:

 

EAW?

 

 

Not bad either. For me a definitive second place of the good old games followed by Aces over Europe and Aces of the Pacific if we go further back in time. But the versatility, eastfront, pacific, westfront with the sheer amount of flyable planes combined with the excellent careers and huge amount of missions put IL-2 1946 in the lead for me.

[Gambit21]

7 hours ago, sevenless said:

 

Not bad either. For me a definitive second place of the good old games followed by Aces over Europe and Aces of the Pacific if we go further back in time. But the versatility, eastfront, pacific, westfront with the sheer amount of flyable planes combined with the excellent careers and huge amount of missions put IL-2 1946 in the lead for me.

 

I stopped flying EAW when IL2 was released, simply because I couldn't go backward with physics, ballistics, damage model, graphics.

However I lamented the huge loss in immersion that wasn't recovered.

If even one of the above items in EAW was the equal of Oleg's release, I'd have stuck with EAW for quite some time...until Pacific Fighters was released certainly.

Edited November 19, 2021 by Gambit21

[LukeFF]

Downloaded the original demo while at work, then I ended up being delayed for some reason on the commuter train ride home that night. I remember thinking to myself, "man, here I have maybe the greatest flight sim ever, and I'm stuck going nowhere on this train." ?

[Guster]

I wasn't even into gaming at the time when a box with this wicked looking thing on it caught my attention in a shop. Amazing how one thing leads to another, I mean I was just a young lad at the time and knew very little about history, WWII aviation and the Eastern Front.

 

Two decades later I've got a pile og books on the subjects, two degrees that are somewhat related, and I've had hours of fun with the series on and off through the years.

 

From the word go I was blown away by the physics and how bits and pieces were flying off the aircraft everywhere. I remember wishing the game was about the Battle of Britain because that was my within my very narrow historical comfort zone, but now of course I'm insanely grateful it wasn't.

[Fritz_X]

12 hours ago, 352nd_Hoss said:

I was playing Combat Flight Simulator at the time, saw a advertisement in a magazine for IL2 Sturmovik before it was released [...]

 

I experienced exactly the same.

 

I was just a teenager playing CFS back in the day and enjoyed it a whole lot. Then I heard about a new WWII flight simulation with some strange sounding name being in development. Of course I was interested, but there was no chance that this new sim could be any better than CFS. Right?

 

Back in the day I was also reading Gamestar magazine, a German computer gaming magazine that still exists today. And in late 2001 they had a whole page advertisement for IL-2, which simply blew me away. I remember that it consisted of three pictures, the rest was text. And even though I can't remember two of those pictures, the third one is still stuck in my head 20 years later: A Stuka flying in front of a thick cloud layer at dusk (or dawn). I was fascinated. These graphics made CFS look like dirt in comparison. They simply had to be altered with Photoshop for advertisement reasons.

 

They weren't. Of course I bought the game the moment I had a chance to get my hands onto it. CFS left my hard drive about three days later, never coming back. Funny enough, I bought CFS3 a little while later, but I strongly disliked this game from the second I started it for the first time, abandoning it for good after just a few hours of questionable experience.

 

And altough I have to admit that I can't go back to classic IL-2 after enjoying the GB series for so many years (I really tried, but it simply doesn't cut it anymore), it will always have a special place in my heart, for being such an important part of my youth.

 

Here's onto many more years to come!

Edited November 19, 2021 by Fritz_X

[sevenless]

3 minutes ago, Fritz_X said:

And altough I have to admit that I can't go back to classic IL-2 after enjoying the GB series for so many years (I really tried, but it simply doesn't cut it anymore), it will always have a special place in my heart, for being such an important part of my youth.

 

Yeah that is true. I occasionally go back when I feel the urge to do some large scale battles. You can´t beat the immersion of intercepting or escorting large bomber streams. Given the fact that it is now 20 years old, graphics don´t look too shabby with all the mods.

 

 

[Fritz_X]

29 minutes ago, sevenless said:

[...]

 

You're absolutely right.

 

I just watched a few seconds of that video and it is quite a joy to watch. The graphics do look okay and the large count of planes is indeed astonishing. But there are just too many things that simply kill the immersion for me, both gameplay wise and visually (just look at that coast line, which ironically is nothing more than a straight line).

 

I also have to admit that both my priorities and my interests have changed. As a teenager, I loved the sheer mass of planes IL-2 offered, especially all those late war prototypes that came with the 1946 expansion. Today I'm glad the devs go for quality over quantity and the fact that they ignore unicorn planes and 'what if' scenarios.

 

Thank you for sharing this video though, it's a great reminder of why I loved the classic game so many years ago.

Edited November 19, 2021 by Fritz_X

[Guster]

IIRC the original game was conceived as a ground attack sim only, and flyable fighters was an afterthought. Anyway, like a lot of people I found the dogfighting aspect more appealing, but I've always enjoyed the occasional air-to-ground sortie.

[I./JG52_Woutwocampe]

Are you guys ready for a nasty sirprise?

[Ribbon]

2001  (best year in gaming history)

-il2

-operation flashpoint: cold war crisis

 

2021 

-il2:GB

-Arma 3

 

Best two games ever!

I was high school kid back then and my pc barely run those two.

Next summer holidays i was already working for better pc

[[CPT]Pike*HarryM]

Don't have original box still but all the rest... got it first day at GameSpot. Remember the excitement of seeing that shrink wrapped box on the shelf and snatching it up...

[IckyATLAS]

I had all of them. I was 42 when it first came out and now 20 years later 62. Who knows next 82 maybe....

Gee in 20 years what kind of computers (optical CPU's at terahertz frequencies) and graphics (32K fully ray traced only, 32K per Eye VR without glasses)  will we have.

Edited November 19, 2021 by IckyATLAS

[LLv34_Flanker]

S! 

 

Got the russian version of original IL-2. Had a t-shirt etc. in it and a poster signed by Oleg Maddox himself. Still have the box. Unfortunately the t-shirt is gone except the pic I cut out and saved. Original IL-2 Sturmovik managed to change the sim gaming in a very profound way, something it's predecessors can only dream about. Had CloD gone as Oleg wanted..oh boy. 

[[CPT]Crunch]

I think it was ground breaking because it was really the first practical all visual based air combat simulation, it wasn't a coincidence trackIR arose simultaneous.  Head out of the cockpit combat, no other crutch needed.

[Lusekofte]

On 11/18/2021 at 3:37 PM, ShamrockOneFive said:

I was reminded this morning that on this day, November 18th, 2001, the first IL-2 Sturmovik was released. I admittedly only played the demo of the first release but I was there from day one of IL-2 Sturmovik Forgotten Battles and thus launched a long term obsession with the series. IL-2 has provided much entertainment, historical understanding, and learning about such a wide range of aircraft from the period.

 

So, raise your glasses, and three cheers for IL-2 Sturmovik! May it last another 20 years!

 

Took this home 1 day it came to a shop in Norway 

I flew this IL 2 against tanks for years in QMB

I did not get fed up. What a joy