IL2 - Sturmovik, the new upcoming Sim of the Year 2013?

[jcomm 5,890]

http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/168-developer-diary/#entry25430

 

Skip to the last blog entries already in September, and if possible, read through the very interesting description and explanation of the modelling techniques used in this new combat flight simulator!

[Wynthorpe 51]

I have been following this for some time, should be great now 777 are developing this IL2. The last CoD was just terrible.

[jcomm 5,890]

Their latest Blog entry and video!

 

http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/168-developer-diary/#entry31990

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLf6qt76gtQ&feature=player_embedded#t=120

[g_precentralis 191]

Somehow, I put more expectations in DCS WWII.

[EngineRoom 205]

Cliffs of Dover is casting a shadow over both the new sims I think, in the sense that the publisher and some of the development team is now working on the new IL-2 title, and the lead developer and his number two are now leading DCS:WW2.

 

I'm hoping that in both cases the existing partners (777 Studios and Eagle Dynamics) will provide a solid foundation that will stop these sims crumbling into the mess that Cliffs of Dover turned into.

 

Still, I'm happy to see not one, but two new WW2 sims in development. As long as there are no show stopping bugs or problems I'll be buying both. I won't be pre-ordering though.... did that with Cliffs of Dover and still have the burns to prove it!

[Grant1299 1]

I do agree that cliffs of dover was a disaster but don't give up on it just yet the guys over at atag have made a few mods for it and I have just started playing cliffs of dover once again after two years of not wanting to touch it . Its amazing now its like a whole new game and I love my ww2 flying games

They have done an awesome job and the detail blows me away my favourite effects are when you fly under a cloud you get the shadowing from the cloud blocking the sun and the spitfires notorious exhaust glow from unburnt fuel being ignited from the hot exhausts from the low grumble of the merlin engine. The engine management is superb too and trying to manage your engine while having a bf 109 on your tail well that's a whole nother ball game but with all the mods and team speak all that said for an absolute disaster of a game it's gotta be one of the best now shame it only took two years

[Wynthorpe 51]

What was everyones major gripes with IL2 CoD?

[EngineRoom 205]

Where to begin?

 

First of all the framerates were atrocious, even for guys with high end systems. The graphics engine was horribly unoptimised and at the last minute the publisher (Ubisoft) told them to slap an "anti-epilepsy" filter on the graphics engine to stop the strobing effect from the propeller in the cockpit view. This apparently cut into framerates even more.

 

Related to the graphics engine, the landscape colours were pretty poor and didn't look very good. The far distance LOD for the terrain looked awful. As someone from south east England I can only say the terrain in the original sim was very poor, no way what I would expect from a high end sim released in 2011.

 

The sound engine was pretty much untouched from the original IL-2 and that was fairly poor back in 2002!

 

The flight models were very poor. For example the Spitfire couldn't manage anything more than 260mph. At high altitudes the flight models were absolutely atrocious to the point that the AI couldn't even fly them.

 

Radio commands to the AI (e.g. attack my target, cover me, rejoin formation, etc) didn't work.

 

The single player (i.e. offline) content was very poor. The campaigns were a series of horribly researched and designed missions thrown together at the rush and the narrative was atrocious.

 

 

The above is what sticks in my mind from the release back in 2011. The sim itself was built on quite a lot of hype from the developers that building on its legendary IL-2 heritage it would be the most detailed and authentic WW2 flight sim ever. A lot of fans (myself included) couldn't believe the utter mess that was delivered to us after six years of development. The sim featured remarkably detailed ground and naval units - perhaps rather pointless in a Battle of Britain sim? They also put in Italian aircraft... now the Italians only made a small cameo appearance in the Battle of Britain with a handful of disastrous raids that the RAF tore to shreds. Lots of people came to the conclusion that the whole project had been terribly mismanaged and had lacked direction and focus for quite some time. The developers went back and spent nearly two years making patches that included a total re-write of the graphics engine. Finally after two years the Russian publisher dumped the sim and cancelled the sequel "IL-2 Battle of Moscow". They then teamed up with 777 Studios (of Rise of Flight fame) and started work on "IL-2 Battle of Stalingrad". The lead developer from Cliffs of Dover moved away and started DCS:WW2.

 

A couple of weeks ago I caved in and pre-ordered the new IL-2 Battle of Stalingrad. I should have known better, but I thought I may as well as I'll end up buying it anyway. One of the promises was early access in November. The developers just announced now that that early access will only be for a 72  hour period each week - midnight Monday through to midnight Thursday GMT. Quite a few pre-order customers not very happy about that!

 

Then again I was looking at some extraordinarily detailed renders of the Tiger tank model from DCS:WW2 and I'm left wondering how I'm supposed to appreciate that level of detail when I'm whizzing overhead in a P-47 or Typhoon at 350mph. I'm starting to get an uneasy feeling that Ilya hasn't learned his lesson from Cliffs of Dover...

 

Cliffs of Dover itself is now being looked after by a community based group who are doing what they can to pick the sim apart and improve things. They've done some remarkable work, fixing the flight models and the latest patch has re-textured the terrain and it looks far better now. Some users have also started making missions and campaigns. One guy even went back and re-made the original campaigns from the game and improved them tremendously. As has been said above, it's a very good sim now, it's just a crying shame it took two years of patches and then further work from the community after it was dumped by the publisher.

 

It's great that we have two new WW2 sims in development, and I'm hoping that the involvement of two successful developers (777 and Eagle Dynamics) in their respective sims will keep the former Cliffs of Dover developers in line and stop them going off the rails again.

[jcomm 5,890]

I honestly don't like the way things are happening with DCS World, and bringing a forced WW2 scenario to it.  It's not the spririt of that sim platform, but then again, I do not like military sims, and the only reason I bought DCS World in the first place was to be able to taste the remarkable flight dynamics of the p51d, then the helicopters....

 

Although I had the A10c, I never flew it more than once...

[EngineRoom 205]

DCS is a military sim. It's a spin off from military training applications. As you know that doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed as a pure flight sim. The aircraft slated to be in DCS:WW2 are meant to be as detailed as the P-51D so you'll probably enjoy flying them. Take off and landing in the Bf109K should be interesting!

 

My biggest concern about DCS:WW2 is Ilya will introduce the same feature creep that came in with Cliffs of Dover and it will turn into a giant unmanageable mess. There were some very valid questions asked by some people during the DCS:WW2 Kickstarter that never got answered. He's also acting as if Cliffs of Dover never happened, which leaves me feeling uneasy.

 

The wider concern I have with DCS is that it turns into a big mish-mash hodge-podge of ill fitting modules. At the moment we've got a turn of the century Caucuses theatre with modules covering a Russian special forces helicopter that was only ever built in small numbers, a modernised A-10C, a 1960's era US utility helo, a similar Soviet utility helo, and a US WW2 fighter. They don't really go well together! Once we get EDGE we'll get the Nevada map (finally), but even then it's not appropriate for anything else than simulating something like Red Flag. How about a Middle East or Korean theatre? The sim desperately needs a fast mover - I know one is on the way from ED but it's still a long way off.

[jcomm 5,890]

Well, today I gained access to my copy of IL2 BOS.

 

1) Great performance even at max settings on my low / medium rig

2) Great flight models for the Lagg3 and the Bf-109

3) Scenery is... snow .... snow... snow... and airfield buildings, cars, etc.... ( we lack that snow in X-Plane ...)

4) No clicable mouse cockpit :-(  - this, in my opinion, will have a negative impact in the future of this sim...

 

Well, another one that I try, just for the sake of being able to taste how good flight dynamics can make a flight

simulator feel so good. At the same time I continue regretting having to install combat flight simulators to

have the best flight dynamics :-(

[LAdamson 240]

At the same time I continue regretting having to install combat flight simulators to

have the best flight dynamics :-(

I'll help balance it then. I have no problem at all, with combat flight simulators. War has it's evil side, but I've always had an intense interest in combat aircraft, especially WWI & II. Started with my dad hauling me out to the airport, when I was very young. He owned and flew a WWII trainer (BT-13).......even though I don't think I realized it at the time.

[jcomm 5,890]

Then Larry, this one is for you as soon as you get your new rig!!! It's still alpha, but many flightsims I know / knew would love to have their flight dynamics working in final release like this one already has at Alpha stage :-)

 

Only two aircraft to fly, but a true delight!

[jcomm 5,890]

Just a BIG THUMBS UP regarding the quality of the flight dynamics models in IL2.

 

It's in Alpha stage, and only two aircraft and limited settings for missions available, but WHOW!!!! So far I believe we have a winner flight dynamics wise.

 

Of course I can't sy it is better than DCS since the closest in DCS is the P51 D, and it is also SUPERB, so, I'd say we have two great flight simulators,

most probably on pair in terms of having the most advanced flight and overall physics models.

[Nathan3219 113]

We just need someone like Richard Branson to hire the IL-2 team and put them to work building the next flight simulator for civilian and military enthusiasts alike.