IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad Discussion

[Jarhead0331]

Today is the first time I have ever heard of that plane referred to with that name.

Its really the "Tante Ju" (literally, "Aunt Ju"). Its a nickname given to the aircraft by those who flew it.

[Gusington]

I knew 'tante' from my own family but never in this context.

Yskonyn - when you have a moment let me know which file you edited to change the monitor refresh rate. I can't do it in game.

[Barthheart]

Thanks all for answering my questions. This game is cool! And all I've done so far is fly around in single plane missions! This game has just the right settings for my required idiot mode.  :bd:

[JasonPratt]

Fooled around in my He 111 tonight. ...uh, not a euphamism! But I love it so much... 

Basically went absolutely minimal by setting up a parked aircraft and hopping in at 5am (with a few restarts) so I could play with the views and cameras and the HUD, and getting familiar with the little tritium (??) glow-in-the-dark dials. Discovered that while the flaps work fine without power, the lights do not.  Also discovered the skybox rotates as time passes! 

Also discovered that the game seems designed for 4K instead of merely 1080p, in some regards, as the stars and some scenery joints 'slip' between the pixels when my view moves around. This would be less obvious when not in the dark, I expect. I tested at two stages higher in resolution (the max available) and this effect disappeared, but (1) I'm fuzzy about whether I should be running my monitor that high on any regular basis; and (2) the screen text becomes unreadably small and a bit smeery (which made me worry I had borked my text like Gus did!)

More discoveries:

* There's a ton of simulation going on under the hood (apparently? or only a facsimile?) during engine startup, which seems like it could be controlled in theory, though I can understand why the devs would assume no one would.

* Cabin lights turn on other crew station lights, too. These can be seen somewhat outside at night! This is despite the cabin lights for the pilot being ALMOST COMPLETELY USELESS!! For goodness' sake, I can see a vaportight incandescent (apparently?) below my left foot, but no, all I get is a pen-light showing me overhead gauges that are already lit up; and another penlight showing me some flap controls that are also already lit up internally.

* My landing/taxi light is hilariously useless despite making me a target (with lens flare and prismatic sparkle if I dolly the camera around outside. But I suppose the point is to show me when I'm close to the ground.

* The plane starts parked in random (?) areas on the field, and not necessarily at its revetment. That's just odd.

* OMIGOSH I LOVE MY CONDOR LEGION SHATTERED SNOW PAINT JOB SO MUCH YOU GUYYYSSSS!!1!  :D :D :D

* I know I can make some camera adjustments (in theory) that will allow me to see some glow-dark gauges behind my pilot's seat left and right (those are two of the trim adjustments) -- one of the preset views does show the left one, but nothing shows the right one. Why would that not have been dialed in already by the devs...? Maybe left over from a prior patch adjustment? It takes me to a fully useless view behind my right hip, but I still can't see the gauge. Nor does rotating my head with mouselook help. (No doubt trackIR or the equivalent will help with this later. And the HUD UI would show keyboard adjustments.)

* There are at least two secondhands on the clock (placed very handily on the center of the yoke, I was pleased to see), which are not animated. Why they're even there at all eludes me.

* Not sure where the bomb view is, in the cabin. Or the plane. I know how to get there by key, but not its location in relation to the plane.

* I like how the belly gunner has been animated to sit up in the fusilage until after takeoff. Even though he would practically never be seen. Apparently (based on a YT video) the forward gunner gets into position at the start of the mission, from his little folding seat next to me, too, but I haven't caught him doing that yet. Why he would be prone out front during takeoff, I don't understand, but maybe it's a realistic balancing thing. The inside of the plane's body is trololol narrow. No apparent way for the cabin guys to go back there or vice versa? (I mean not even a door.)

* Field of view seems distortedly wide. Maybe this can be adjusted in config, but not in-game so far as I can discover. Possibly this is set so that the "instrument view toggle" will show everything without yanking the pilot's head back in a heron-curved-neck fashion?

* Dolly-camera-ing around outside, I can hear distant big guns, and birdsong. Nice touches.

* The "canopy" toggle opens and closes a window. The "window" toggle does nothing. Okay.

* Evidently, though I haven't tested this yet, I can draw and shoot three colors of flare gun, and a personal pistol. I presume this is outside the one little window I can open? Why I would do this in the game is beyond me. I can understand flare signaling in real life, I guess, but in the game? And pistols wouldn't be used in flight, right?? YOU HAF FAILED ME FUR ZE LAST TIME, FORWARD GUNNAR!!

[Gusington]

 :dreamer:

[JasonPratt]

Forgot to mention:

* despite the fact that if any plane should be flying in formation, it's this one, there are apparently no "formation lights". The toggle key does nothing. I've dolly-cam'd all around the bird. I guessed they should be small lights on the back wing edges, but no joy yet.

* there are two little dots of tritium lighting in the cabin which I cannot for the life of me understand. I can't help but suspect they're marking dials that I cannot adjust my view sufficiently to see (yet). It's making my OD-C itch. Note to self, do not fly bombing runs at night in this thing. I will fixate on trying to figure out what those are, and roll us into a spin...

[Toonces]

Alright, I'm in.  Buying BoS and BoM now.   :wow:

[Toonces]

Actually it wasn't all you guys.  I went to the San Diego Air and Space museum Sunday and got all fired up about aviation again.  They had a spectacular WW1 set up, lots of old biplanes.  It was really well done. 

But it got me motivated to finally break out the HOTAS and get things working...it's all sort of jumbled up in my office right now. 

I doubt I'll get to it until the weekend, but once I do, watch out in MP.

[JasonPratt]

I may or may not have screenies coming tonight...  :-*

[Tuna]

Broke down and grabbed Kuban before the sale ended!

[Gusington]

I fondled Moscow last night but held off. Still thinking about the Bf110 and its sweet, sweet variants though.

[Dammit Carl!]

I fondled Moscow last night but held off...

Heyoooo! :))

(Heinkel  He-111 = love that plane)

[JasonPratt]

After whining last night, I hopped back on to try to figure out what the heck I was seeing, and solved several mysteries in the He 111.

* I hunted down every last one of the weird snippets of night-glow I was seeing. Two of them were air pressure gauges for oxygen masks -- I have yet to determine whether the game actually features crew members wearing them, much less whether they fluctuate. One of them was the ampmeter for the battery. This does fluctuate, as I confirmed while watching different parts of the cabin during the automated startup procedure. And one was nothing more than a dot to indicate where to put one's hand on a console for initial switches during the startup procedure. Those switches are mostly not operable in the game, but they all have audible localized sounds (the clicks are coming from 'there'), and some of them do move (the engine pull-starters and their covers). The gears and dials for two of the trimming controls, flanking my seat left and right behind me, are not glow-painted. I'm probably supposed to adjust them by 'feel' (and so by the HUD).

* I do not apparently have a personal pistol. I do have a flare pistol, which I found stored up near the front gunnery 'bed'. I also found where the three colors of flares are stored. The flare pistol does not seem to go anywhere when used, but then when I take over a crew position I can't see the 'figure' for that crewman in any case -- only in camera views, or looking at other crew from my position. I can shoot flares, but other than a poomf sound and a little HUD icon telling me I have one less flare of that color, nothing seems to happen. I can't shoot the flare from a camera position outside the plane. I can't shoot the flare from anywhere but pilot's position. Shooting the flare does not require me to open the window (ahem "canopy"). A flare shot inside the cockpit ought to be fatal and/or hilarious!

* There is in fact, as I should have expected, a door panel between the cockpit and the main body. It can't be actually 'used' of course, but at least it's there. I just couldn't see it from turning my 'head' around at the standard position in the seat. All positions, however, have a body/neck shift 'map' (using the num keys), which can be dialed in somewhat to save the position to a more useful 'look', and between those and the front gunner I was finally able to see the cabin door. (I spent much of my time last night checking out the 'view' angles for each position, most of which are set up to scan parts of the sky or ground as might be expected.)

* There are dozens of bundled ammo boxes around the two 'cabins'. Presumably they get used up during reloads. The only true "turret" gun (which does not need the generator on to work, much like the flaps ;) ), shows that its ammo boxes have animated shells which can be seen through some tracking windows: when you don't see a shell there anymore, then you've got less-than-the-mark nearby. It's a very nice little practical touch.

* The side and belly guns are comically, though no doubt also realistically, restrictive. Enough so that I thought of the Doolittle raid painting broomsticks to save on weight, just to keep fighter defense worried that shooting might start. Apparently there's a command to tell your gunners to start shooting at ground targets and things of that sort, which in this bomber would be rofl. ...and now I'm wondering how feasible it would be to try my brother's old Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe tactic of landing his bomber on the way back from the target to strafe opportunity targets and then take off again!  ;D

[JasonPratt]

I snuck Cliffs of Dover Blitz out of the sale just over the wire it ends in about 30 minutes, just on the hope that someday it won't be a broken mess...  :dreamer:

[MengJiao]

I snuck Cliffs of Dover Blitz out of the sale just over the wire it ends in about 30 minutes, just on the hope that someday it won't be a broken mess...  :dreamer:

  You have to get the fusion group's rebuild (I think that is even on Steam): Blitz