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Game Changer: The Team Fusion Mod
for IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover
Version 1 (3.00) + hotfix

by Fred "HeinKill" Williams with comments by I.F. "Sokol1" Oliveira

Introduction

What you need to know about the new Team Fusion Mod for IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover (IL2CoD) is not included in the readme document. You won’t find it in the publicity material from Team Fusion and you won’t see it in their promotional videos.

Yet one of the changes Team Fusion has introduced with this free to download mod is a true game changer, and has the potential to make IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover nothing less than the new game of choice for fans of the WWII flight simulation genre.

This article will look at the reasons why, with "color commentary" from IL2CoD full-real flight enthusiast "Sokol1".

A revolution in the online experience

In the world of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games maps allowing between 200 and 500 players are now possible for games like Planetside, Mount and Blade and Eve. But those games aren’t simulating every bone in the player’s bodies, and the chariot they ride in, as players move around the game world.
The challenge of course is that the more complex the simulation, the more aircraft systems, weather systems and landscape elements it is modeling, and the bigger the strain that each player aircraft is going to put on the server.

IL2CoD servers using the unmodded netcode started to choke at anywhere from 70-90 players. Yet the IL2CoD pre-release publicity promised that up to 128 players would be able to join online battles in IL2CoD – could that dream ever be realized? The answer is yes.

The new netcode introduced in the Team Fusion mod has proven it can handle stable online battles with up to 124 human players, making it probably the most attractive online flight sim platform today for hard core WWII warbird fans.

High fidelity flight and damage modeling, in beautifully realized 1940s warbirds and stable multiplayer battles on large maps with 120+ human players at a time?

That takes IL2CoD into flight simulator MMO territory and so I'm calling the Team Fusion mod a game changer.

Take your big wing into battle online, in sessions of 120+ human players.

Who is "Team Fusion"?

Team Fusion (TF) is a group of IL2CoD enthusiasts who can be found at the Air Tactical Assault Group (ATAG) Forums, though they are not officially linked to ATAG in any way. This is a similar setup to the BoB Developers Group (BDG) that works on Battle of Britain II, and has its online home at the A2A Simulations forums, without being affiliated to that company. This type of setup gives the groups a place to discuss and share their work, access to an online community, and the freedom to choose their own development direction.

What’s inside the mod?

The primary focus of the first Team Fusion mod was to correct what many players saw as the biggest remaining shortcoming in the final IL2CoD patch, the flight models, and in particular the high altitude performance of the fighters.

To help me review these aspects, as I am not a "full-real" flying enthusiast, I have co-opted a player who is more of an expert in complex engine management and full-real flying in IL2CoD, "Sokol1". You will see his comments throughout the review.

According to the TF readme, “Our main goal is to create a realistic, unbiased environment where your chosen aircraft will perform as close to their real world counterparts as we can make them within the limitations of the software, giving you a closer simulated experience of the hectic aerial battles fought in the skies over southern England in the summer of 1940.”

The official list of key changes includes:

• Removal of an altitude bug which prevented aircraft from operating at their historically relevant ceilings, cloud height now extended to 9500m (31,167 feet) and cloud icing removed.
• Flight & engine models retuned to reflect real world performance data.
• Textures reworked to improve FPS but maintain visual quality.
• Addition of a new 100 octane variant of the Bf109E4 and a Royal Navy Flowers class corvette, and..
• 100 octane versions of Hurricane DH5-20 and Spitfire I.
• Fixes for the British Merlin engine misfire bug.
• Fixes for the Fiat G-50 engine misfire bugs.

In addition, there are myriad smaller updates that the various team members felt added value to the game, among them:

• new "factory fresh" weathering setting which removes all weathering from the aircraft skin and makes it shiny and new
• new ships skins including a hospital ship and Royal Navy corvette
• multiple cockpit and instrument corrections
• updated uniforms and faces for pilots
• increased reflectiveness of cockpit glass at distance, to allow easier identification of aircraft, and more reflective cockpits in general
• added contrails to aircraft flying above approximately 6000 meters
• adjustments to landscape colors, shadows and textures

High altitude flying is one of the key improvements in the mod.

The full readme with the complete list of changes and the Team Fusion mod download can be found here.
 
You will see that "changes to online gameplay netcode" are not part of the list, but they should be at the top of the list and here is why.

The March 2011 press release for IL2CoD stated that game modes would include "Massive multiplayer (with) customizable modes ranging from simple deathmatch-style free-for-alls to epic, ongoing 128 player battles that can last hours, days, weeks, or even longer."
That was not realized in the official version of the game, and even after multiple patches, servers would begin to lag and drop players when player numbers rose toward 90. But the potential was buried in the code, and after being optimized by Team Fusion, massively multiplayer battles are a reality.

Some data from the ATAG server highlights the change. In the graph below, from the stock IL2CoD online game, you can see the upstream (green) and downstream (blue line) traffic. This graph shows a session with 75 players right before the game becomes unresponsive. You'll notice how the upstream green area slowly falls on its face and the downstream traffic (the blue line) increases because more players are still joining. Eventually the upstream stops and the downstream almost touch. That's when the server is completely unresponsive and no one can see each other's chat messages, planes, etc.

Below is a chart showing the traffic using the modded netcode which has now been tested with up to 124 players in a session.

The entire session was perfect bandwidth / netcode wise. You can see at around 15:20 the server rotated missions / restarted and started to fill up with players again.

ATAG servers have hosted sessions with up to 124 players. Steam may be the main bottleneck now, as it seems to terminate sessions when numbers climb toward 128. But even if more fine tuning is needed, the breakthrough has been achieved.

Online warfare with complex missions and campaigns, involving massive aerial battles of a size similar to the 100+ raids that were seen in the actual Battle of Britain, are now possible for the first time.

If Team Fusion is able to realize its ambition to introduce new maps and aircraft to the platform, then IL2CoD has the potential to become a WWII air combat sim of choice for hard core simmers.

A Team Fusion video of online gameplay.

Documentation

The mod is accompanied by a ten page readme detailing all the changes which the team has made to the stock game. It should however have included more than the current one paragraph on installing the mod, because there are several pitfalls which players need to be aware of, as you will see.

As importantly, Team Fusion has created a Wiki, which contains a host of useful information not included in the standard IL2CoD manual, including pilot notes for the main aircraft types, performance hints, advice on loadouts and much more.
Installation

The install is a potentially confusing process as you need to do a few manual steps for the best results.

I won't go into all the details here but where the confusion comes in, is that the install process creates a new MODS subfolder in your IL2COD user folder, but it doesn't appear until after you have run the game the first time with the mod installed.

You need to think of this new MODS folder as a fresh version with no skins, missions, and default config settings. So anything you need from your old vanilla version (missions, skins, control configs) needs to be moved over from your original docs/1csoft/IL2 folder to this folder or they will not work. An example which has really vexed people is the popular Desastersoft series of campaign add-ons. Unless the Desastersoft folders are moved into the new MODS folder, they will not work. User made campaigns may also disappear when you "verify" your game in Step 1. These then need to be reinstalled after you apply the mod, in order to appear in your campaigns menu.

So installing this mod is not a "1-click" process and some players seem to struggle with it. Luckily there is help to be had at the Team Fusion forums and user "phil enz" has made a very useful "how to" video...

Flight model updates

These were the primary focus of this mod by Team Fusion, so what has been done?

The altitude bug which prevented aircraft from operating at their historically available ceilings has been fixed. Aircraft are now able to fly at historical altitudes, enjoying the historical performance advantages and disadvantages that these ceilings conferred. If you are a mission builder and/or fan of high fidelity in sims, you will rejoice over this long requested fix.

Setting up a quick high altitude furball is easy, and the flying is exhilarating.

Personally, I found the ability to fly and fight at high altitudes is an exhilarating experience and the high altitude quick mission added to the quick missions menu is a good way to experience it. You can set up four groups of fighters on a collision course at 9000 meters / 30,000 feet, or you can change these to, for example, two groups of bombers and two groups of fighters. Missions like this force all the fighter aircraft to stay higher rather than dive for the deck.

Sokol1: "The mod does change the way you manage the engines. Some planes are now more easy; Blenheims at low level can sustain full throttle, boost cut out on, radiator below 50% for a long time with no overheat signal. In high altitude flight there is also no overheat risk. I took a Blenheim to 30,000 feet, throttle full open, boost on, and temps stayed around 170~180.

Spitfires behave similarly; unless you forget and leave the radiator closed, there are no problems with the engine, just don't use boost indefinitely.

In the Hurricane however, engine management is critical, especially in high-altitude flight. It requires careful handling of ATA and RPM. This means it is getting rare to see any online, while they should be numerous like in the movie 'Battle of Britain'.

I don't have much success in the German fighters online, because the Spitfires are always at higher altitudes. But I can still get kills (on Spitfires) that are flying at low altitudes."

Performance notes from Team Fusion indicate that Hurricanes are comparable to Merlin III engined Spitfires I and Ia's in their engine overheating characteristics. The Spitfire IIa and its Merlin XII is a special case, and performs differently, as the historical engine had a fully pressurized radiator system, which used a mixed water/glycol mix (for improved cooling) and was therefore much easier to manage. TF has modeled this.

Unfortunately the change to high altitude fighting has highlighted one of the things IL2CoD does not model very well, and that is compression on the control surfaces. In a high speed dive in these WWII birds, speed of airflow over the control surfaces should lead to compression and a potentially dangerous stiffening of the controls, well before wings rip off. The longer and steeper the dive, the stiffer the ailerons and elevators, the harder it is to pull out of the dive. In the IL2CoD stock version, and also in this mod, this is not well modeled and I was able to dive almost vertically from 9,000 meters to 1,000 meters, pull back (gently!) on the stick and level out without any noticeable difficulty.

TF says compression modeling is on their "fix list" for future attention.

G-force modeling

 

G-Force stress on the airframe has been given some attention.

You will rip your wings off if you dive for the deck at full throttle and try to pull up too hard. Unfortunately, you can also rip your wings off in level flight on some machines!

Sokol1: "The new G limits require more caution in handling, and in my opinion some planes break too easily. The Fiat Br.20's wings break off in level flight during 'skip bombing' if you pull hard to avoid hitting a ship mast. Online I have seen a Spitfire wing break off during a maneuver to avoid my 109 attack, at low level. The plane wasn't in a dive, just pulling a climbing right turn. In a Bf109 you need to ease your dive immediately at the first sign of vibrations or the wings rip off.

It is possible that Sokol1s Spit had taken damage which led to the wing structure failing in the turn, but the matter of the BR.20 was something else, so when Sokol1 pointed it out, I tried to replicate it, with the result displayed below when I pulled up sharply on my first low level run."

It is very easy to trash your BR.20 in level flight, just by snapping the stick back.

Team Fusion's lead flight modeler is a former military jet pilot who makes the following observation, "...you need to understand that all you need to exceed a G limit is to be above corner velocity. You don't need to be in a screaming dive at Vne. So to say you shouldn't be able to (rip the wings off a bomber in level flight) is not really true... looking at the BR.20, stall speed in game is listed as 126.6kmh. so the corner velocity for the 4G (Ultimate load) is 253.2Kmh. That means at any speed above 253kmh you have the ability aerodynamically to rip the wings off." TF suggests that players should consider decreasing stick sensitivity when flying bombers to compensate for overly sensitive elevator controls, and they are looking at implementing 'heavier' elevator controls for bombers in a future patch.

For now, I can only conclude that implementing new Structural G limits, without compensating for the overly sensitive bomber elevator controls either in the game code, or your joystick setup, creates an unrealistically high risk of self-destruction with some machines.

(Post review EDIT: a hotfix for this issue has now been released. I have not tried it).
 

 Texture optimization and framerates

Textures have been reworked to try to improve FPS. This seems to depend very much on your PC specs. I would venture to say, the lower the system specs, the more likely you will see an improvement in FPS.

We tested FPS using the standard "Black Death" track on the stock IL2CoD vs TF modded IL2COD on our three systems.

My systems / results were:

PC1: ASUS G73JW gaming laptop, Windows 7, Intel® Dual Core i5, 4GB RAM, NVIDIA GTX460M 1.5GB
Average 4 FPS gain

PC2: ASUS G75VW gaming laptop, Windows 8, Intel quad core i7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GTX670M 3GB
No FPS gain

At the same settings (most effects on high, grass off, trees very low) for PC1 the average FPS on stock IL2CoD was 34, on TF Mod it was 38. For PC2 there was no difference, both versions ran at an average 42 FPS. Both modded and unmodded, and on both these systems, the game gets micro stutters when there are explosions, and slows down when there is heavy smoke onscreen.

Sokol1: "My PC is an Intel I5-3570K stock, 8GB RAM, VGA Radeon HD7970 3GB. I also did not see any performance improvement from the mod, but inconsistent performance seems to be an issue particular to my model of the video card."

Cloud height and icing

Cloud height has now been extended up to 9500m and cloud icing removed. While it is nice to have a higher potential cloud base for missions, if you enjoyed the cloud icing effect that was present in IL2CoD you will not necessarily like the fact it has been totally removed. Like other graphical tweaks Team Fusion has implemented, I would have preferred to see this effect disabled, with the possibility to enable it again in the conf.ini file.

This is an approach that has been adopted by the BoB Developers Group with most of the discretionary changes (as opposed to bug fixes) it has made to the stock BOBII. These are very much a matter of personal taste, so the BDG allows the user to switch them on and off in the BOBII config file. I strongly recommend this approach to Team Fusion!

Sokol1: "I welcome the new clouds, without the 'instant freeze' effect – maybe in the future the dream of dynamic climate becomes possible. Importantly, I don't notice any performance hit flying through clouds."

New objects

By tweaking existing ships, TF has created some new types. It has long been an annoyance for mission builders that there were no Royal Navy warships in the game. From the existing Kriegsmarine Mine Layer, a Flowers Class corvette for the Royal Navy has been created. It is also nice to have some new merchant ship skins such as the hospital ship model.

The new Flowers Class British corvette.

A repurposed freighter becomes a new hospital ship type.

Other aircraft variants have also been added, notably new 100 Octane variants of the Hurricane and Spitfire, and a new 100 Octane Bf109 E4/N, which is now the best performing Bf109 in the game.

Sokol1: "The new Bf109 E4/N seems a bit slow in initial climb, but has good performance at high altitude. It also requires careful handling of ATA and RPM and a constant check of engine temps to avoid engine trouble."

Flight notes from Team Fusion indicate the E-4N should climb faster than any aircraft in the game, at both low and high altitudes, so it is obviously a beast that will challenge its pilots, and its enemies!

Sounds

Sounds are such a subjective issue that some players will like the changes the mod has made, while others won't. Personally, I really don't like the new .303 in-cockpit sounds, which are meant to simulate the "tearing paper" sound pilots reported when the 8 Brownings were all firing at once. To me they sound more like a child making machine gun noises with their lips! The outside cockpit sound is fine.

But if you don't like the TF mod sounds, you can just copy the original sounds back manually.

Sokol1: "The Merlin engine sounds impressed me, even though I also liked the stock sounds, and didn't feel there was a need to change. I think the .303s sound too "über" from inside the cockpit, and bring to mind an A-10 cannon sound. I also think that from the outside view these sound fine, and remind me of the sound of WWII .303s unearthed in Ireland, which I saw recently in a YouTube clip."

TIP: Apparently the sounds are best heard if you turn up the volume fully on your system, and then adjust loudness through the in game settings menu.

Lighting and reflections

I predict this will be one of the most discussed, even controversial, elements of the mod. The way in which cockpit glass reflects light has been dramatically boosted so that a bright flashing light is visible at a distance at which the aircraft itself may still be barely a dot. This means that a group of fighters coming toward you, depending on the position of the sun, will wink and blink as their canopies catch the light. One less enthusiastic player has described this effect as "crazy Christmas lights". I don’t think it is that bad, but I could definitely live without it. Where it is very useful is in online dogfighting, where aircraft have been notoriously difficult to spot in IL2CoD at greater distances or against the ground clutter. Now, there is an added chance that as they maneuver they will catch the light, and you will be able to see them. Once again, it would be better to be able to enable / disable this feature.

You can see for yourself in this video I made...

In game video of reflections off approaching aircraft.

Sokol1: "The cockpits seem better defined, the outside view more clear, the tree shadows have almost no flicker – this was one of the the more annoying features in scenery pre-mod – but the scenery shaking in the background remains, maybe a little less. Overall, visuals have improved. But the glass reflections are overdone. It is like the entire plane is reflective, and not just the glass surfaces. Maybe this effect should be decreased 50%, but as it pleases online players because it makes it easier to see enemy planes, I predict it is unlikely to be changed.

And there are other lighting issues. One of the big ones is the view at night. Clouds are too bright at night, around 1:30AM they seem phosphorescent, with a strange glow effect inside cockpit. It may not be a problem for the majority of online players, interested only in daylight dogfights in a clear blue sky, but I am playing with (offline) radio navigation at night time, and night now is very, very ugly."

While several on the TF forum have asked to have the reflections turned down, or off, others such as 14./JG5_Droz have praised them, "As a real life pilot, I can tell you that the reflections in game are absolutely realistic. I can't tell you how many times I've caught sun reflections off of objects that have just the right angles to give that sun glare off of. These objects have been up to 10, sometimes 15, nm away from me. On especially clear days, at higher altitudes, it can be even further out. I very much like these reflections. Excellent job. Tall high rises and skyscrapers are especially susceptible to these light reflections. You only need a very specific angle from an object to get the glare, and this object can be miles away and you will still see it. Heck, I remember during my initial training one day, I was out doing steep turns and actually used the reflection off of something in the distance as a point of reference."

Once again, this discussion could be resolved if the effect was made optional, at either player and / or server level.

Weathering

IL2CoD allows the player to adjust the level of weathering on their aircraft. But in the stock version, even the lowest weathering setting does include some weathering of the paint, and exhaust stains on the cowling. In the TF mod, setting weathering to zero completely removes all weathering and delivers a factory fresh paint job for your enjoyment. It is purely a matter of taste whether you like the new look, but unlike other graphical changes like reflections, you can adjust this one to suit your preferences, and I think it is nice to have it as an option. You can get back to the old look by adjusting the slider in the customization screen for your aircraft.

Sokol1: "See my previous comments. A big low for me in this patch is the 'plastic' effect in aircraft paint, which has an excess of brightness."

The images below show a Bf109 with and then without weathering. Unlike the new reflections effect, the weathering is fully adjustable.

Contrails

One of the side effects of flying at 9,000 meters / 30,000 feet is that aircraft leave contrails in the right conditions. In the modded IL2CoD this occurs from about 6,500 meters upward and pretty much independently of whether the sky is clear or cloudy. These can look quite spectacular against a deep blue sky, and mirror very well some of the better known photographs of aerial combat from WWII. They can also be an aid to spotting enemy aircraft, because contrails are often visible before the aircraft themselves come into view. A nice addition to the game.

Images like the WWII inset photo are now replicable in the Team Fusion modded IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover.

Landscape and vegetation

"The (insert sim name here) landscape is too green / not green enough / doesn't look like that in real life and I should know, I live there..." These comments are typical for any flight sim release and IL2CoD has been no different. Team Fusion has put a lot of effort into remodeling the British landscape to reflect some of the complaints about the landscape colors in IL2CoD, improve shadow effects, and to reduce framerate hits caused by the landscape.

It is subtly different, but I like the new look and as Sokol1 has referred to above, the implementation of shadows is an improvement.

Historical accuracy

There have been multiple corrections for historical accuracy. Labels in cockpits, instrumentation, even pilot uniforms have been given a thorough work over with a list of corrections too long to include here, all intended to make these elements as historically accurate as possible. For the enthusiast this type of dedication is always welcome.

Patch stability

Finally, in any big undertaking of this sort, it should be expected that there are some issues that still need to be ironed out after release. For the Team Fusion mod, these issues have been very limited and the mod seems stable for most players. The team has been very quick to give serious attention to issues which could be game stoppers and help players who have issues. For example, within days of identifying an issue which prevented AI flights from taking off on some player PCs, Team Fusion found the problem was a particular Windows .NET update, and issued a hotfix.

Good

• There is a wealth of new content in this patch but the big news is the ability to go online with up to 128 players in a WWII flight sim with some of the best flight and damage models available.
• Welcomed flight model updates, especially the high altitude performance.
• New aircraft and ship variants.
• Factory fresh skins which can be weathered if the user prefers.

Could Be Better

• Easier installation, without manual file shuffling of player config and campaign files.
• Player should be able to enable / disable quirky new features like reflections via a config.ini or console setting.
• Improvements in FPS will not be seen by all players.
• G-stress modeling on airframes, without a balanced compensation in bomber control sensitivity, can mean disaster for some aircraft types.

Reviewer's System Specs

HeinKill

• ASUS G73JW gaming laptop
• Windows 7
• Intel® Dual Core i5
• 4GB RAM
• NVIDIA GTX460M 1.5GB

• ASUS G75VW gaming laptop
• Windows 8
• Intel quad core i7
• 8GB RAM
• NVIDIA GTX670M 3GB

Sokol1

• Intel I5-3570K stock
• 8GB RAM
• VGA Radeon HD7970 3GB

 

Reviews of Desastersoft add-ons

My reviews of these rich and challenging campaign add ons for Cliffs of Dover can be found on SimHQ

Channel Battles

http://www.simhq.com/_air15/air_538a.html

Wick vs Dundas

http://simhq.com/_air14/air_524a.html 

Oct 18: final patch released

Feedback is generally positive. I have updated my core review to incorporate the new patch impact.

1C has announced this is the last patch. There will be no more. So is it worth it?

If you can pick it up at a bargain price - no question!

****

October 2012: the Cliffs of Dover sequel will be
Battle of Stalingrad

You heard it here first.

I got a PM yesterday from a person I now consider to have inside knowledge of the project. They said the much rumoured Cliffs of Dover sequel from 1C will be Battle of Stalingrad.

It will use historical maps based on the Eastern Front, including but not limited to Kursk, Moscow and Stalingrad. It will not feature the Britain/France map from Cliffs of Dover.

A screenshot from the upcoming CoD sequel. This must be a Stalingrad Ma:  see the Volga river (above) as confirmed by Google Earth comparison.

The game will enter alpha development in 2013 as long as it can pass a 'proof of concept' milestone before the end of the year.

Sept 2012: Wassup with CoD?

A shot from the Battle of Moscow sequel. Do you care? After all, you already paid once for a sim that was a buggy mess. 1C hopes you care enough to pay again, because "on the success and timely appearance of a new game depends all our future."





You've given up waiting for a patch to make Cliffs of Dover playable for you right? Or, you did have it working, but the latest beta patch porked it for you so you gave up (well, beta is beta boyo!). Or it's good enough for you in its current state and you are happily playing with it, buggy mess that it is.

I know I have moved on. There are too many other sims and games out there which run just fine on my machine, and are fun! (CoD to me is more like work, than fun, in its current state).

The next official update is however 'around the corner', so maybe when it arrives it will be worth firing up CoD again.

The latest from 1C unofficial spokesperson, BlackSix - 2 Sept 2012 - is below (but isn't it sad even he no longer bothers to post updates on the English language official 1C game website, only in Russian, on the Sukhoi forum? Says it all really.):

"a) At the moment, the main goal for CloD - to bring the current series of beta patches to the final status and publication on Steam. After that, the leadership will have take a decision on the future of the game.
b) We have a very tight schedule for a sequel. We are now focused with full strength on it, as of the success and timely appearance of a new game depends all of our future. "


So, the next update, if and when it arrives, will be the last.

Nothing more will be done with Cliffs of Dover, all efforts are being put into Battle for Moscow, or Stalingrad, or whatever it is, and CoD owners can just hope it is a backward compatible 'merge' install as was done with IL2 expansions, so that improvements in the new game will update the basic engine in the CoD scenario too.


In any case, here are some more of his Sukhoi updates, in case your Russian is rusty:

• Readme for last beta? Coming with next official patch
• Mini-patch for LOD/Tree shadows? - Fixed
• .Net crash on exit (Microsoft .net security updates causing?) fixed
• When will we get all damage decals back? (small calibre hits etc) some fixed still more work to be done
• When will we get the Clouds back? - lower level clouds are back - high altitude clouds still being worked on
• Is the SDK being worked on again yet? Timeframe for release? Before sequel or after? Low priority
• Is there a plan to implement Anti Aliasing or any of the newer full scene anti aliasing (FXAA, MLAA, TSAA etc)?? Timeframe for release? Before sequel or after? Yes, we are planning to make normal AA in the future. The main task now is fixing and debugging new game engine.
• Is SLI/Crossfire support going to be working again soon now that you have almost finished the graphics engine rewrite? Is it a priority? Luthier says working with Nvidia for driver level profile
• Mini-patch for Hurricane start issues? fixed
• Will the 'weather' option be reset to original on RAF aircraft for more a more realistic appearance? skin weathering effects still being worked on
• Will the Channel map coop problem be fixed to allow us to use it as originally intended? No further plans for co-op addition or changes
• Does the ".cs" file have a character limit? OR Is the ".cs" file limited to so many functions or abilities? No & No
• Why is there not a gladiator static object? We'll add this plane in the next patch maybe Only as a static object. And CR.42 too, maybe.
• Any news on progress on the AI? There are still a lot of crashings of AI, in the air and on the ground. Could you give me links with bug-reports about crashings of AI on this forum? I'll show them to our programmers if they didn't see.
• clouds: shadows and self-shadows, reflection on water, source light influences, etc.. are you working on them, and when they will be added (back)? We are working on them, they will be added in one of the patches, when they will be ready
• - Radio Comms.. any progress in this area? is some programmer assigned to and working on it, or it was postponed? I need full list of bugs in the last beta-patch. Our programmer are working on it.
• - AI.. any progress in this area? is some programmer assigned to and working on it, or it was postponed? Our programmers are working on it.
• I will add to the above and ask if the FM are still been worked? FM are still been worked, we'll tell when we'll stop all work for CloD.
• do the development team look at the bugtracker at all? Some of our programmers look at the bugtracker, some of our programmers can't read English, some of our programmers visit bug-threads only on the Sukhoi.ru. I don't study a bugs, this is not my work. If I see question about problem with game I need link with bug-report.
• I know this is a long shot but it would nice for the reds to get another bomber. I know you have already stated that the modellers are all working on the sequal. We can't make new planes or cockpits for CloD. We can fix only now.
• Has the skin weathering bug being addressed? Yes, we know about this bug
• Are the problems with interior and exterior sound problems still being worked on for the official patch, for example, damage or hit sounds? Do you have links with bug-reports about sound problems?
• Can you give a waiting time estimate on this "final patch"? I can't. Nobody know this now.
• Focke-Wulf 190. When? If we'll make appropriate theater of operation then we'll make FW-190.
• - some chrono doesn't work, - magneto switch auto at engine start, - need to make a key for armed bomb and switch low altitude, (no feature in cockpit), -need to make a key for starting engine ( no click in cockpit availlable) Maybe we'll make something, I can't say about our plans
• will see pilots animations in the future like bailing out open canopy etc Maybe in the sequel.
• You mentioned ages ago the devs were working on improving the ground handling of aircraft. Is this included in the current beta? Maybe in the sequel.
• It was also mentioned that the flight model was being improved by making lift calculations at different points along the wing. Have these changes been released yet? We'll tell about this in the readme if we'll make this
• Will the spit cockpit be fixed I.e. rim wheel animations, corrected read outs etc Maybe
• Su26 ... what about that ? ? Ilya said last year: "You’ll get to fly it". I have no new info.
• Are the development team aware of the fact that the 'engine temperature effects' setting of the game reduces the performance of all aircraft in the game by varying amounts when switched on? Affecting some aircraft more than others? To be discussed with the FM programmer. :UPDATED: 28-8-2012
• Are there plans to accept 3rd party ground objects to be imported into CLOD, such as buildings, trees, static objects etc. We have no this plans.
• In the current Beta-Patch, many Radio-Commands are removed compared to the last official version. Are you planing to fix only the radio-commands of the last beta or all the radio commands, including the radio-commands from the last official version?
  I think we are planing to fix only the radio-commands of the last beta. We have no time for full rework.
  1. Is dedicated server going to be available? Timeframe for release? Before sequel or after?
  2. If no dedicated server is being worked on (above) is the MP code still being worked on and what improvements would you like to make?
  3. Are you expecting further maximum FPS improvement or are you focusing on minimum and average FPS and removing micro stutters?
  4. Will there be an improvement to the GUI for setting up control device axes? Compare to old IL-2 where it was very simple to do.
  5. Will there ever be a document or readme what the graphics options in conf.ini do or could they be integrated as Options in Graphics, if applicable?
  6. Will the user interface be simplified or implimented as per 1946 to allow easier use?
  7. Will a QMB function be set as above to expand single player
  1-2 This work has a very low priority
  3 We will try to work on all fronts
  4-5-6-7 We are not planning this now for CloD

Developer Updates 2012

Devs started regularly updating the community again in early 2012. You can see their older updates here:

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/forumdisplay.php?f=189

Beta patch 'readme' 13 April 2012

From Blacksix at 1C Forums

Performance

We've performed a huge amount of work improving both average and minimum FPS in the game. Most recommended-spec machine will see a roughly double average FPS and a significant reduction in the micro-freezes that had previously plagued the game. Their frequency, duration, and overall FPS impact will be greatly reduced or completely redone.

Some of the changes include:

• Completely rewritten rended pipeline, which reduced CPU load;
• Rewritten texture manager, reducing stutter when loading new textures;
• Moved landscape geometry generator to its own CPU core, reducing stutters;
• Optimized tree code, reducing stutters when moving across landscape or rotating camera;
• Moved grass generator to its own CPU core, decreasing stutters during low-level flight;
• Moved all building and vehicle damage models to be pre-loaded, rather than dynamically loaded when they are destroyed. This increased mission loading times and memory usage, and reduced stutters when blowing things up;
• Improved multithreading in many other aspects of the code, improving minimal FPS on most multicore machines.

Finally, we need to mention the launcher.exe crashes. This was a very hard issue to address as it wasn't caused by a single 100% reproducible bug, but rather rare combinations of various uncommon events. The work described above, coupled with a huge volume of general bug-fixing performed, should have at least minimized the number of instances that lead to crashes. We haven't encountered one in months, but determining whether that'll be the case for the general player base will be one of the leading goals for this beta test.

Flight Model

We've performed a tremendous amount of work testing and improving flight models in the game, as well as improving various aircraft engines. We used actual pilot's notes and flight testing data during the process (thank you Sean!). Unfortunately some deeply-set limitations in the engine code do not allow us to minimize the margin of error at altitudes about 7 km (21,000 ft) where most aircraft begin to perform worse than their real-life counterparts. Fixing this requires more extensive code rework and will therefore only appear with the upcoming sequel. However at lower altitudes most flyables will perform much closer to real life. We also have to note that some aircraft, most notably Spitfire Mk.II, had better performance than the real thing. Others, especially their engines, had reduced performance. We've addressed these serious issues and made our planes fly much closer to the real thing.

More specifically:

G.50
Temperature models of the engine were wrong due to incorrect data. The engine could not get up to required power at all altitudes. We've also added +100 boost for WEP mode.

Spitfire Mk.II
The aircraft's speed performance was too good at all altitudes, sometimes 60 mph better than the real thing.

Spitfire Mk.I
Fixed the top speed dip above 18,000 ft.

Hurricane Mk.I
Speed performance was also too good at all altitudes, similar to the Spit II.

Blenheim Mk.IV
Had many problems with the engine model. The engine overheated at normal RPM, the plane could not get up to stated airspeed at all altitudes. Maximum allowed airspeed was too great, and the plane could get up to 560 mph in a dive. A huge amount of work was performed to improve the plane's FM and bring it up to speed.

For a better example, here's a comparison of the old and new speeds of the Fiat G.50. The data was taken by a special internal module that tests speeds at a range of altitudes using optimal engine settings. Human players will likely not be able to set their engine precisely the same way, or fly exactly level at the exact altitude, so testing this for yourselves may give you slightly different results. The vertical axis is the speed in kph, the horizontal is the top speed.


Artificial Intelligence

Partial list:
• Fixed some non-working orders, removed others from the list. There are no more orders available to the player that the AI does not follow.
• Added a request for available targets;
• Turned off friendly fire for ground battles (improving FPS);
• Added the ability to query current waypoint for scripts;
• Told AI pilots not to commit ritual suicide when their leader crash-lands;
• Fixed out of turn take offs for AI pilots;

The main work of the devs at the moment appears to be going into IL2 Sturmovik the 2nd (yawn), otherwise known as Battle of Moscow (yawn). Want to fly Sturmoviks over the steppes, but with more eye candy? Go knock yourself out (We did that in IL2 1946...yawn).

Seriously, of all the possible theatres in all the possible wars involving the type of aircraft modelled in the IL2 series, a return to Sturmoviks over Russia is the best they can come up with? But you will have to buy this next installment in the series if you want the new code improvements that are anticipated as part of the new release.

The sooner they open this sim up to 3rd party devs to start work on theatres that actually DO interest simmers - the med, western europe 43-45, the pacific, afrika, korea etc etc - the better!

Until then, suggest you occupy yourself with the fantastic content on the BoB GameHub CoD Missions Page, now 42 missions and counting!

Update from devs 14 Nov 2011

Hi everyone,

Quick status update.

We are aware of the issues many of you are having. We are monitoring the forums, and we are checking the crash dumps you are sending, for which we are especially grateful.

The crashes are caused by an old graphics bug that’s been in the game all year. Since we are in the process of seriously overhauling graphics, we cannot release a quick fix. The bug simply doesn’t exist in the current version of the graphics at all. It got thrown out with a lot of other bad code, but the overall feature isn’t ready for the world quite yet.

We’re also improving the sound quite a bit, doing exciting things with aircraft, and generally progressing along the same fronts I’ve listed in my older updates.

These are all major features so they take time. We only have a tentative ETA at this point, but considering this forum’s special relationship with the word “tentative” I’m not going to say what it is. It’s not this Friday or the next – take that as you will. We’ll keep you updated as we get closer.

Luthier 

The best user made campaign so far?

This one gets my vote:  The Battle of France with 87 Sqn. RAF by DFLion...

16th Nov 1939. You have just received your 'Wings'.

Posted to 87 Squadron, British Expeditionary Force (BEF) Lille, France, you are sitting in a comfortable seat aboard the 10.00am 'Amiens Express' Dragon Rapide, watching the cliffs of Dover gradually disappearing from sight. Soon you are crossing the French coastline at Le Treport?

Fly with 87 Squadron during the 'Battle of France' in this 'action packed' and historically scripted campaign.

Download from Airwarfare.com 

BoB Game Hub Mission of the Week #4, McNab's Darkest Day

You fly as CO of 1 Squadron RCAF, in the Canadian Hurricane unit's first ever combat mission!

Flying at full squadron strength, 1C Sq was sent up to drive off a low level Ju88 attack on shipping. On their way to the patrol area, they noted a dogfight between 109s and Hurricanes already in progress.



Minutes later they spotted the Ju88s...dead ahead, and low...

Try to stay clear of the dogfight and cover those ships!

Gameplay note: for full immersion this mission requires you to turn aircraft labels off (in your realism menu) and test your skills at visual recognition!

Get the auto installer here:

http://www.box.net/shared/e9gx1lo12alc9byeglhe


New Patch released October 2011

After some teething problems with the beta version of this patch (BETA does mean BETA folks!) the latest version has been released.

From KiloSierra at SimHQ, "The sound is awesome! Letting the 109 warming up at around 800 RPM is really great. Minor complaint, the switch to "power-sound" is a little abrupt. Fly-by is like the real thing. Game is stuttering more for me, but I didn`t clean the cache and will have to defrag. Edit: Game looks better too, a little like RoF with this haze. And the coasts are looking better too."

NOTES
* RUSSIAN README: Извините, не успеваем перевести!
* ENGLISH README: This readme is only partial;
* SOUND: Still working on the content for the new engine, but many of the features are already present in this build;
* MAPS: No new missions are provided for these in the beta version of the patch.

MAIN
* Drastically reworked graphic algorithms dealing with in-game color;
* Rewrote the sound engine from scratch;
* Added three new multiplayer maps: Steppe (medium), Fields (small), and Scimitar (small);
* Updated multiplayer GUI to allow users to easily select a position in an existing plane.
* Added two new aircraft - Bf. 109 E-4 and Bf. 109 E-4/B. These two are equipped with MG/FF-M cannons and so make use of the famous Minegeschoss.

AIRCRAFT - MAIN
* Reworked routines for gyro bombsights;
* Removed allusion to Engine 4 from He 111 model;
* Improved memory consumption for multi-crew aircraft;
* Airborne status is now checked correctly even if the aircraft in question departed prematurely;
* Landing status should be applied correctly when ditching in water;

VISUALS
* Reworked bombardier cockpits in aircraft so affected (He. 111 and Ju. 8 to accomodate new Lotfe gyro routines;
* Small caliber bullet hits on the ground now show difference in material being hit;
* Modifications in Blenheim's damage visuals;
* Added a range of visual SFX for higher-caliber guns;
* New bombsight visuals in Blenheim bombardier's cabin;
* Returned the famous Il-2 stall sound effect;
* Doubled the distance at which the tracers can be seen.

PHYSICS & A.I.
* Increased Lotfe bombsight gyro operational limit to 15 degrees of aircraft roll / pitch;
* Lotfe type bomb sight now stabilizes aiming platform to horizontal plane;
* Removed sudden jump in view angle when viewing through Lotfe ocular and moving bomb sight elevation for the first time in the flight;
* Increased side slip input limit to +/* 30 degrees for the Lotfe bomb sight;
* Made Kurssteuerung mode 2 for level bombers. This mode will also stabilize the aircraft in level flight;
* Reworked motor startup routines to accomodate new options available in the new sound engine;
* Adjusted ricochet angles on firm surfaces;
* Redesigned bomb sight in Blenheim and made it easier and more realistic to use;
* Blenheim bomb sight plane is now adjustable to reflect changes in plane AoA in level flight. Correction is applied automatically over a period of sustained flight and can compensate up to 3 degree changes in plane attitude;
* Fixed issue where overstress would inflict damage to airframe regardless of the Vulnerability difficulty setting.

NETWORK
* Changes to bombs' detonators setup will now be carried over once applied without the need to rejoin the server;
* Increased Lotfe bombsight gyro operational limit to 15 degrees of roll / pitch. This will give more tolerance to aircraft maneuvers as strict limits put too much obstacle to communication between bombardier and pilot while playing on-line;
* When flying as a bombardier, you should now use "Aircraft - Drop Ordnance (Bombs)" key (instead of "General - Fire Current Weapon" key) to drop bombs. This will remove confusion of on-line bombardier players who could not drop bombs using the key we're accustomed to.

AIRCRAFT - MISC.
* Decreased bombsight altitude indents by ten times. This will give you more control of the altitude input and make bomb sight aiming more precise;
* You can now switch off the boost cut-out control in Spitfires.

NEW BoB Game Hub Missions of the Week!

Adolf Galland vs Johnny Allen (player flies Luftwaffe, Galland)
24 July 1940.

54 Squadron is scrambled together with 65 and 610 squadrons to intercept a heavy raid of Dornier 17s escorted by 109s. Leading the German fighter escort is the ace, Adolf Galland. But with the flight from 54 squadron is RAF ace, Johnny Allen.
 
This mission recreates the fateful day when Adolf Galland met Johnny Allen over the sea north of Margate, and only one of them survived. Who will it be today?
Download Galland Mission here.
Faithfully recreates the clash with great historical accuracy, using Capt Farrel's Galland skin, all historical combatants present, location and altitude of combat accurate to within 100m.
 
Deere Over Dunkirk (player flies RAF Al Deere)Deere over Dunkirk mission click here to download
Flying with 54 Sq, Al Deere and Johnny Allen flew cover for their CO, James Leathart (in a Miles Magister) on a mission to France to rescue the downed CO of 74 Sq, Drogo White.

In the course of the mission, Deere shot down the first Bf109 claimed by a Spitfire in the war.

Can you replicate Deere's feat, and get Leathart home safely?

Flight of the Condor... (player flies RAF)
A frantic radio call has reported Luftwaffe bombers attacking shipping in the Channel. You are sent up to investigate!
Download Flight of the Condor mission click here
 
 

(c)2010-2011 Hein Kill