Thread for reports [TAW GUI MP BUG]

[LuftManu]

Hi everyone,

The goal of this thread is to gather all reports related to the GUI bug that has been happening on the TAW server, and which reportedly also occurred once to a player on Combat Box.

By collecting everything here, we can keep all information in one place, making it easier to access logs, screenshots, and videos from a single thread.

 

If you want to add your own report, please follow this format:

 

1. Is the bug the same as the one shown in this video?
   https://youtu.be/HdtJxq_Cs6Y
   (Chat frozen, coalition switched, etc.?)

2. Which aircraft were you flying at the time?

3. Are you using VR or TrackIR?

4. Were you flying with the HUD hidden? (i.e., H key pressed)

5. Tracks/Images/logs (If you have those)

 

 

Any help or input from the TAW admins will be extremely useful and greatly appreciated.

Thanks for contributing and helping gather consistent information — hopefully this will make it easier for devs or admins to investigate.

[IRRE_LeLong]

1. Is the bug the same as the one shown in this video?
   Yes

2. Which aircraft were you flying at the time
   VVS planes like IL2 1942 in mission 172

3. Are you using VR or TrackIR?
   TrackIR

4. Were you flying with the HUD hidden? (i.e., H key pressed)
   HUD ON. I had the compass and G indicators on

5. Tracks/Images/logs (If you have those)
   Here are 3 packs of replays+Tacview acmi files where the bug happened, on TAW
   
   Mission 168
   https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YyVv8sWhYjxXX3uHrRFe7LeAShxXWYUA/view?usp=drive_link
   
   Mission 172
   bug flight 1 : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o9OtwKZkJYCMA6lrGISd-jvoK_ldjbqF/view?usp=drive_link
   sortie link:  https://tacticalairwar.com/pilot_sortie.php?id=20354&name=IRRE_LeLong
   
   bug flight 2 : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aKVAKYs85RCaNfh4jppkAKz4P37Fnlpx/view?usp=drive_link
   sortie link: https://tacticalairwar.com/pilot_sortie.php?id=20466&name=IRRE_LeLong
   
   This mission just happened, and the bug was seen twice for our group, once at each flight. Both times I was switched to "Yellow" coalition, and was able to "Finish mission" when hitting escape. Whereas some others players from IRRE had the "finish spectate"

Notes :

• when the coalition switch happens, if we don't open the chat, we can continue flying.
• for a same group of players (like IRRE flying together on the same plane from the same airfield etc) some will have a regular "finish mission" option whereas others will have a "finish spectate".
• I'm adding 2 additional screenshots from earlier bugs, where I opened the chat and got blocked, with partial loss of controls and broken UI. The other one show a random side switch with different icons.

------

 

It's been a few months now that both Combat Box and TAW suffered different kind of crashes or weird bugs, bugs that change with time, sometime disappearing without anybody being able to explain what stopped it and if it will come back in the next campaign.

 

Since a few days, this bug happening on TAW has been literally killing the MP experience. I'm sorry if I sound a little dramatic here, but should the bug continue, or should the bug spread to other MP servers, this would be the end of IL2 multiplayer community as it really makes the multi unplayable.

 

Finger crossed you'll help admins in finding the solution, and thank you by advance for the thorough investigations!

[IRRE_CaMeL_BaG]

 

---

1.
The bug is more or less the same for everyone, but some variations exist. In the video, we can see Fizz being switched into spectator mode: all map icons disappear, and all airfields are shown in grey. If he lands, the only option available is “Finish spectate” instead of “Finish mission”, and therefore nothing is recorded on the website logs, even if he shoots down or destroys enemy targets.

Variations:
You can be switched into a random coalition (see screenshot). In this case, all map icons also disappear, and all airfields appear as enemy on the map. However, you can still land, click “Finish mission”, and the website logs work correctly. After finishing the mission and returning to the map, sometimes clicking on your airfield switches you back to the correct coalition — sometimes it doesn’t. It’s random.

Sometimes you can’t even open the escape menu to leave the server: when pressing Escape, the grey overlay appears as if the “Leave” window should show up, but the UI box is invisible. You can still press Enter to leave, but the interface doesn’t appear. Leaving the server and reconnecting usually restores the map and coalition to normal (though the bug can happen again shortly after — usually after spawning, taking off, flying a few minutes, and then the coalition bug returns).

A new issue happened to me recently: after leaving because of spectator mode, when I came back I got a black screen with sound still running. Nothing appeared on screen, and the only way out was Alt-F4. Tried multiple times, nothing fixed it.

Stats tab:
The stats tab is also broken, showing different player lists for everyone and never the correct number of players on each side. On the website we can see the real numbers, e.g., “B:15 vs R:25”, but in-game the stats tab only shows around a dozen people, for example.

Chat freeze:
Chat freezing also happens at the same time. As soon as you open the chat, you lose all controls except joystick axis inputs: throttle stops working, buttons stop working (even keyboard-bound ones) and track-IR or VR tracking stop working. The UI becomes broken as soon as you press Enter (to open chat): you can’t see the stats tab anymore, and you can’t press Escape to leave the server.

---

2.
It happens to everyone, so all aircraft types are affected: single- or twin-engine fighters, with or without gunners, German or VVS — everyone gets the bug more or less at the same time and in the same way.

3.
Both VR players and TrackIR players are affected. (For example, I play with TrackIR and Fizz plays in VR.)

---

Additional context:
TAW is a dynamic campaign running for 4 to 5 weeks. We fight on 3 different maps one after another (Moscow → Stalingrad → Kuban). We had no issues on Moscow or Stalingrad, no bugs at all. Then suddenly, on Kuban, about 10 days after the campaign started, these bugs began appearing.
(Campaign started on 24/10/2025.) During the last TAW campaign in September, we also had a coalition-switch bug after a few weeks (on Rhineland), but it was minor: no UI issues, no chat freeze, no lost controls. Only occasional random coalition changes like “Entente,” and the map still worked.
Now the same bug has returned but on a much more severe level, making multiplayer almost unplayable.

 

TAW has existed for years, and the core TAW systems and mechanics were established long ago. Everything worked well these past years — no crashes, no major bugs. Since 2025, all the main custom MP servers have had trouble running their missions or campaigns (mostly the two main servers: Combat Box and TAW), and it is getting worse and worse. Before 2025, everything worked fine and the whole community enjoyed MP without any issues.

Obviously something happened in the 2025 updates that is breaking multiplayer servers with bugs and crashes. The community is already small, with only a handful of people capable of creating missions for everyone. If these bugs and crashes continue, the IL-2 MP community will simply die — and the game with it. And I’m not sure people will be interested in buying a new IL-2 title after such a terrible experience. After so many years of building events, forming squadrons from all around the world, and creating a living multiplayer community, the player base won’t rise again after such a defeat.

---

 

 

[FTC_Davies]

1. Is the bug the same as the one shown in this video?
   https://youtu.be/HdtJxq_Cs6Y
   Yes

2. Which aircraft were you flying at the time?
   Yak-1b (s.127), IL-2 1943

3. Are you using VR or TrackIR?
   OpenTrack with clip from Trackhat

4. Were you flying with the HUD hidden? (i.e., H key pressed)
   No. But UI is hidden by default on TAW server. However I got the compass and chat present (H not pressed).

5. Tracks/Images/logs (If you have those)
   
   DESCRIPTION 1 (video 2025 11 04 22 15 40):
   Before the video, we had been flying Yak-1b and the team had been scrambled. I cannot recall exactly but I could not see myself on the statistics screen. I believe I was switched to "spectators". I knew about the chat bug so I did not click in the chat, also icons on the map was not there. In the video I've just landed at an airfield. When I hit esc to spawn out I didn't have "Finish Mission" in green but I had "Finish Spectating". When I hit "Finish Spectating" I was put into the map screen as seen in the video. I had a mouse but when I clicked an airfield it disappeared and I couldn't click any airfields or anything after that, hitting ESC just removed the map and I could see the main screen with the plane but nothing else. I could hear my plane still idling in the background and when I fired my gun, opened my cockpit etc I could hear all that happening in the background. A friend spawned in at the same airfield I had landed at and he could still see my airplane standing on the runway.
    

DESCRIPTION 2 (video Team bug)
We just took off in IL2 1943's and heading to target. Server restarted maybe 10 min before the video. All of a sudden the teams are scrambled and I am put into the "Red" team. Map lost all icons. In SRS I could hear other players getting stuck in the chat window.

DESCRIPTION 3 (video IMG 7637)
I was placed in another team (cannot remember which). Then when I tried accessing the chat, I was locked into the chat window. I was able to write stuff in the chat and hit enter, the chat message I'd written was sent and other players could see it. However for me, the chat window didn't disappear and I was locked into the chat. I could still fly the aircraft but my tracking was locked in place. 

Here's my trackfiles from the mission I flew in video 2 (Team bug).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-Ml5ZYOR5o5bfl6Yf24BAjsdM3lKmjdo/view


I can only echo what others in this post have said and say that this is game breaking. IL2 has always for me been very stable and had no game breaking bugs. This is in my opinion the most serious issue I've ever had with the game. I have personally only experienced this on the TAW server but friends of mine have said they've had the same issues on Combat Box and Berloga.

Edited Friday at 08:43 AM by FTC_Davies

[IRRE_Fizz41]

One very important point to note:
All these anomalies are client-side only.
On the server side, including the logs, everything continues to function normally. The teams don’t change, and there is no friendly fire (neither between aircraft nor with the AAA, in particular).

However, what is surprising is that this issue affects everyone on the server at the same time, at a specific moment we now call the "team shuffle". Anyone connecting after that moment will experience normal behavior without any bug.

Edited Friday at 11:07 AM by IRRE_Fizz41

[IRRE_LeLong]

In addition to what Fizz is writing above.

cf my examples of mission 172 posted above :

- We can experience 2 "team shuffle" in less than 2 hours, during the same server uptime in-between restarts.

- Which means that a same player can be impacted several times during a same server rotation.

- What happened to me: I took off, got the bug, ended my flight, launched the game again, came back on the server to take off (with the good team), then we all got the bug again a few moments later and I was sent back to a "Yellow" coalition.

[ITAF_Maven65]

1. Is the bug the same as the one shown in this video?
   https://youtu.be/HdtJxq_Cs6Y 
   (Chat frozen, coalition switched, etc.?)  ------------absolutely YES

2. Which aircraft were you flying at the time? ----------FW-190A5 and BF109G2

3. Are you using VR or TrackIR?---------------------- VR

4. Were you flying with the HUD hidden? (i.e., H key pressed) H pressed (only the bearing indication on the left/down side)

5. Tracks/Images/logs (If you have those) nope

 

...anyway, it happened to most of my team mates, regardless of kind of plane, vr or monitor or trackIR. Weird. And to sum up the server is unplayble.

Edited Friday at 07:58 PM by ITAF_Maven65

[=/Hospiz/=MetalHead]

Log files from two example missions where the bug has happened.

172.zip 168.zip