Game version 4.701 discussion: Next Gen Clouds, DFW C.V, Yak-1b in 4K and other improvements

[wuffman]

Nice

 

[TheSNAFU]

Huge shout out to the entire IL2 team for this amazing update. The changes I’ve experienced so far, particularly those related to the p51 are really good. 

 

And the clouds, oh those big beautiful clouds. Absolutely first rate. In VR using the Quest 2 the performance is much improved. Flying PWCG missions frame rates are higher and far more stable especially with medium or heavy weather where fps would suffer before, they now remain the same or close to light cloud cover. This is a very significant achievement that advances the game to a new level. 
 

To the talented and devoted team, congratulations and thank you.  

Edited December 11, 2021 by TheSNAFU

[dbzero]

All I can say is WOW! Just WOW!

 

Guess all people can ask for now is FS2000 like terrain.

[unlikely_spider]

1 hour ago, dbzero said:

All I can say is WOW! Just WOW!

 

Guess all people can ask for now is FS2000 like terrain.

Next patch I think.

[=FEW=fernando11]

2 hours ago, 332FG_Spaz said:

I thought I would share this screenshot as I'm starting to understand the cloud configuration in the mission editor... this is way too kool not to share Thanks again to the entire IL-2 Development Team.... your work is awesome!!!

Can you give the specific of the settings?

Map, time of day, and cloud tipe and density.

Im trying to check the visuals and colours with and without HDR on a monitor Im not sure is fully HDR.

[BlitzPig_EL]

I'm starting to suspect that the AI are now able to track us through the clouds.  Either that or the 109 G6 Late picked up a radar set in the last update.  And it seems their uncanny ability to make long range hits when coming head on has taken a leap forward in the accuracy dept.  We flew for a considerable time this evening (Friday) and everyone noticed it.

[Guest deleted@83466]

17 hours ago, Sneaksie said:

SLI?

Are you saying new clouds are broken with SLI?  
 

I’ve only gotten about 2 minutes of flight time in with new patch, and did notice a rapid shift.  

[-Ger-oldsql]

5 hours ago, RNAS10_Oliver said:

 

Just need to read the update announcement that this thread is about. ?

 

 

I read and also deleted the msnbin files from the mission folder. Unfortunately it still doesn't work.

[S10JlAbraxis]

On 12/9/2021 at 9:32 PM, I./JG52_Woutwocampe said:

Hmmm apparantly the clouds killed the wind because now in campaigns the indicated wind speed is always 0 m/s.

Same here - have flown 6+ missions in career mode and regardless of what wind speed is indicated it is always 0.  Hopwfully this gets fixed in the next release.

[Praetorious]

I haven't played the game in some time, been busy restoring a bike and a car however everytime we get a update of course i have to try it out, those clouds are pretty righteous,i play single and i took of in my trusty FW190D and i started to get up there and i was like "man it looks like its going to rain!!" the area where i was had these  darkish clouds etc, very realistic, thank you much.

 

From reading some comments on here i also noticed myself that my game was somewhat running better than normal after the update, i have a older rig,its adequate and it runs my game fine as long as there isn't a armada of planes in the sky which is fine by me, keep those updates coming, they are much appreciated. 

[Charlo-VRde]

5 hours ago, SeaSerpent said:

Are you saying new clouds are broken with SLI?  
 

I’ve only gotten about 2 minutes of flight time in with new patch, and did notice a rapid shift.  

 

Here's the thread discussing that issue further:

 

 

[SvAF/F16_Goblin]

Under certain conditions (no screenshot, I'm in VR and it seems to only show in headset) there is a very visible shimmering circle corresponding to scenery draw distance setting in the clouds.

Has anyone seen this besides me?

I saw it in a campaign mission whit overcast and early morning.

[-DED-Rapidus]

On 12/9/2021 at 8:45 PM, DD_Friar said:

When this type of release is made as well as the new features, which are of course very welcome, do the devs also include any outstanding bug fixes? for example a while back I reported and had accepted the issue of setting the server to have "Safe Collisions" (thinking it may be a work around for tanks hitting and being damaged by invisible / small objects like the water wells and hand carts) which made a player tank invulnerable. 

Of course I know I could fire up a server and test but in the release notes it might be nice to have a section on any historical bug fixes that may been included?

The task has already been set, thanks for the previously provided information.

[DD_Friar]

1 minute ago, -DED-Rapidus said:

The task has already been set, thanks for the previously provided information.

Sorry I should have made it clear to the community that when I originally logged the bug it was acknowledged and accepted.

I appreciate that it is in the queue somewhere, I was just wondering if bug fixes get "sneaked in" when a new release is made.

 

Salute for the excellent work you guys are doing.

 

Friar

[dburne]

12 hours ago, TheSNAFU said:

Huge shout out to the entire IL2 team for this amazing update. The changes I’ve experienced so far, particularly those related to the p51 are really good. 

 

And the clouds, oh those big beautiful clouds. Absolutely first rate. In VR using the Quest 2 the performance is much improved. Flying PWCG missions frame rates are higher and far more stable especially with medium or heavy weather where fps would suffer before, they now remain the same or close to light cloud cover. This is a very significant achievement that advances the game to a new level. 
 

To the talented and devoted team, congratulations and thank you.  

 

Fully agree VR performance is really nice with some pretty high settings.

[=FEW=fernando11]

2 hours ago, SvAF/F16_Goblin said:

Under certain conditions (no screenshot, I'm in VR and it seems to only show in headset) there is a very visible shimmering circle corresponding to scenery draw distance setting in the clouds.

Has anyone seen this besides me?

I saw it in a campaign mission whit overcast and early morning.

Not only on VR, saw it on QMB, stalingrad winter, early morning or late afthernoon. Medium fog/precipitations, broken clouds. 

Sadly no track/video.

[Flyingkiki]

Amazing work, thanks a million !

I've been trying all afternoon in VR, performance is amazing now, it's smoother than it's ever been, feels so so great ! I had a dogfight in and out a cloud tunnel made by cumulonimbus, this was hands down the best VR flying experience I ever had.

 

However one thing, is that I find cloud masses a bit blurry in VR, even when put in "Extreme". Should I use other parameters, like supersampling ?

 

Anyway, this update is amazing, thanks a lot to the team !

[I./JG52_Woutwocampe]

10 hours ago, S10JlAbraxis said:

Same here - have flown 6+ missions in career mode and regardless of what wind speed is indicated it is always 0.  Hopwfully this gets fixed in the next release.

 

Yesterday I got 1 m/s wind above Germany. But Dora was shaking so much, the real value was probably above 25 m/s. 

[Beebop]

44 minutes ago, I./JG52_Woutwocampe said:

But Dora was shaking so much, the real value was probably above 25 m/s. 

Maybe your Mechaniker forgot to tighten some bolts? ?

[I./JG52_Woutwocampe]

23 minutes ago, Beebop said:

Maybe your Mechaniker forgot to tighten some bolts? ?

 

March 45, flying for the luftwaffe. It actually makes a lot of sense ;). 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

2 hours ago, Badniouze said:

Impossible to start with the new version 4.701 ...... The game no longer recognizes my username and asks me to update my version which is already .. !!!!!!Did we really need new clouds .... ??? A Dewoitine 520 or an A6M5 Zero, yes, but otherwise .... !!

What can I do now, ....waiting for newest update...???????? Very frustrating..!

Did you already try a re-install?

[Yogiflight]

3 hours ago, I./JG52_Woutwocampe said:

 

Yesterday I got 1 m/s wind above Germany. But Dora was shaking so much, the real value was probably above 25 m/s. 

Shaking has nothing to do with the wind speed, but with turbulences, which can occur with larger cloud formations.

[[APAF]VR_Spartan85]

Ya so I don’t know what these devs were thinking trying to push this garbage on us…

now flying in quick mission in VR, full plane load, vehicles, extreme clouds, higher graphic setting than before and  I get stable frame rate with crazy game play…

 

how do they expect me to want to play anything else other than this sim?

 

I don’t get it….    The clouds don’t flicker in the distance, there’s pockets of weather in different places on the map, and everything runs well…

 

thanks devs. Thanks a lot for doing this… now I have to spend less time with my family and more time weaving in and out through these hideous things you call clouds…

 

 

 

ok but really, how the f did you guys manage this!!??    Probably the best clouds in any flight sim… 

 

????????

[Beebop]

30 minutes ago, [APAF]VR_Spartan85 said:

Ya so I don’t know what these devs were thinking trying to push this garbage on us…

now flying in quick mission in VR, full plane load, vehicles, extreme clouds, higher graphic setting than before and  I get stable frame rate with crazy game play…

 

how do they expect me to want to play anything else other than this sim?

 

I don’t get it….    The clouds don’t flicker in the distance, there’s pockets of weather in different places on the map, and everything runs well…

I know E X A C T L Y what you mean.  It's almost TOO perfect!  And FREE updates!  What are these guys thinking?   I just wish there was more things to bitch about like more planes, more maps, more objects, more theatres, more popcorn, reclining seats, and shouldn't this game come with a full sim cockpit shipped free to your door and fully assembled?  They really dropped the ball on that one!

GAWD!  All the things  we want that we don't have..........................................................yet.

 

On another note, the new clouds are fantastic!  It's as good as the Cloud Mod IMO and I'm willing to bet there might be some future tweaks.

Thanks Devs (and 3rd Party consultants/content providers) for all your hard work.

 

And for putting up with some of us, (me included at times). 

[Avimimus]

On 12/9/2021 at 5:35 AM, Beebop said:

ADDENDUM II:

I do agree with our CO, the snow is waaay too blue.  See attached.  Velikiye Luki winter, 8:30 AM:

I think it should be a lot lighter, closer to the snow that tops the revetments.

 

I've done a bunch more flying and comparing different times of day to what is outside my window. I'm increasingly impressed about the accuracy (for a 45.5 degrees latitude continental climate anyway). So, I just thought I'd let you know that I'm still thinking about this but I think it is still accurate.

 

If is often difficult to tell what other places in the world look like without visiting - since cameras work differently from the human eye (and often have automatic white-balancing these days).

[Spaz-505]

18 hours ago, =FEW=fernando11 said:

Can you give the specific of the settings?

Map, time of day, and cloud tipe and density.

Im trying to check the visuals and colours with and without HDR on a monitor Im not sure is fully HDR.

I apologize for the delay, I didn't see a notice that a response to my post was submitted.  Here are the settings you requested:

Map: Stalingrad

Time of Day: 8/25/1942 7:50pm

Cloud Type & Density: 04_overcast_06

 

Let me know if you need further details.

Edited December 11, 2021 by 332FG_Spaz
Update Label

[IckyATLAS]

10 minutes ago, Avimimus said:

 

I've done a bunch more flying and comparing different times of day to what is outside my window. I'm increasingly impressed about the accuracy (for a 45.5 degrees latitude continental climate anyway). So, I just thought I'd let you know that I'm still thinking about this but I think it is still accurate.

 

If is often difficult to tell what other places in the world look like without visiting - since cameras work differently from the human eye (and often have automatic white-balancing these days).

And each of us see colors slightly differently simply because colors don't exist and they are a creation of our brain. Our screens also are not the same and the way colors appear on the each screen will be different. Gamer displays are typically bad at displaying correct color gamut as they are often with TN technology for high frame rates and generally saturated bright colors. IPS will be more accurate but to the condition that the screen is calibrated but according to ambient lighting. As you see it is a difficult topic and we could chat on this for hours ?

 I use a calibrated IPS LG screen and frankly I am not shocked at the snow color, which looks very white to me at noon blue sky. And sunrise and sunset it is still a good white with some very light orange tint on the illuminated part of the snow. Anyway nothing shocking and all seems very natural.

 

[IckyATLAS]

After some updates of my campaign missions I can confirm that this update rocks. I have a solid 10% up to 15% of frame rate improvement in certain conditions like inside some cockpits with these new clouds in Extreme mode. And this improvement is also overall between 5 to 10%. I am impressed.

 

[I./JG52_Woutwocampe]

5 hours ago, Yogiflight said:

Shaking has nothing to do with the wind speed, but with turbulences, which can occur with larger cloud formations.

 

Yep that is correct, but my Dora career is almost to an end and Ive noticed through all the time spent flying above Europe in career that wind speed is almost always very high when there as much turbulence. 

[56RAF_phoenix56]

Many thanks to the devs for the most outstanding and significant update in at least a year.

Not only are the new clouds a joy to behold, but they're significantly changing behaviour and tactics on the better online servers.

 

Personally, I most welcome the frame rate improvement. I can, at last, run my Reverb G2 with some antialiasing (2xFXAA) and "100%" resolution at a reliable 90 Hz frame rate.

Interestingly, using 2xMSAA causes some stutters when looking down into the cockpit. So I suspect the cockpit is now the limiting factor, rather than the externals. I've also been able to abandon the OpenVR FSR mod which somewhat precluded using any AA as it is a post-processor. Avoiding the jaggies really does improve the experience and avoid confusion.

 

Well done!

 

56RAF_phoenix

Edited December 12, 2021 by 56RAF_phoenix56
more specific on OpenVR mod

[Uufflakke]

I would like to know how to fix this clouds issue.

When selected Cumulonimbus 1 or 2 + overcast in Quick Missions I don't see those impressive clouds.

With Cumulonimbus 1 no clouds at all and with 2 I fly constantly in an open circle surrounded with (sort of) clouds/mist.

 

All mods disabled, restarted game, rebooted computer but to no avail.

 

 

[Beebop]

6 minutes ago, Uufflakke said:

I would like to know how to fix this clouds issue.

When selected Cumulonimbus 1 or 2 + overcast in Quick Missions I don't see those impressive clouds.

With Cumulonimbus 1 no clouds at all and with 2 I fly constantly in an open circle surrounded with (sort of) clouds/mist.

 

All mods disabled, restarted game, rebooted computer but to no avail.

 

Did you use the Cloud Mod previously?

If so check in Main Game Folder > data > graphics for a folder called 'sky'.  If it's there remove it.  It's an orphan left over despite the mods removal by JSGME.

I had the exact same problem and that fixed it.

Edited December 12, 2021 by Beebop

[Uufflakke]

13 minutes ago, Beebop said:

Did you use the Cloud Mod previously?

If so check in Main Game Folder > data > graphics for a folder called 'sky'.  If it's there remove it.  It's an orphan left over despite the mods removal by JSGME.

I had the exact same problem and that fixed it.

 

Thank you!

Problem solved!

 

[fubar_2_niner]

SLI users with cloud probs, check my post here;

 

 

[dburne]

Man o man this thing is gorgeous - the weather effects, the clouds - incredible.

I was landing my Spit in heavy rain and opened the canopy, leaned my head out and it was like rain drops splattering on my VR goggles!

[Beebop]

@Uufflakke, glad I could help.  Happy skies!

[Yogiflight]

Is it possible, that with the new clouds the CPU workload is higher? In a career mode mission with the A5 the game slowed down so much that the props were sounding like wob...wob...wob. The turns lasted for ever. I'll try a fresh installment, hopefully it helps.

[kendo]

Great review/overview of the new clouds update in ShamrockOneFive's blog.

 

https://stormbirds.blog/2021/12/12/il-2-great-battles-new-clouds-arent-just-a-visual-update/

 

Completely agree with his summary of the transformative effects and improvement they've brought to the sim. I've been surprised by the massive change they've made in the overall feel, and the way the landscape looks.

 

But also agree with his comments that further improvements and fine-tuning could make them even better:

 

Quote

This first release is very good but the clouds could use some added lighting and definition and while there’s no reason to rush that in my mind, it would be a nice to have at some point down the road and so I suspect that they will continue to refine these.

 

Edit: To be more specific, most of the larger clouds and overcasts for me are amazing. Really great. But for some of the clouds the lighting looks off - almost like an over-exposed photo with no shading or light variation. I was surprised a little too because some of the early dev shots looked absolutely perfect. Expect there are many settings to fine-tune. and it's easy to drift off slightly from totally nailing it. Understandable too given the larger number of different cloud presets and lighting conditions to set up for the initial release.

 

Hope thus comes across as constructive critique / honest opinion and not whinging.  

 

Overall, a big thanks to the devs for the improvements and pace of development.

 

Edited December 13, 2021 by kendo

[MajorMagee]

This shot from the review shows the color banding that I hope is on their list for improvement.

[FuriousMeow]

43 minutes ago, MajorMagee said:

This shot from the review shows the color banding that I hope is on their list for improvement.

 

Spoiler