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BlackSix

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  • 1CGS

40
 
Greetings.
 
I've really enjoyed bringing you good news all the time, so it's up to me then to tell you the less pleasant ones today. We are not going to finish a game version of proper quality by November 12th. At this moment it still requires some more work to be done, and after that - a small series of tests in the studio. That's why I have to postpone the start of early access for 1 week, and launch it on November 19th.  
 
Now I'm going to answer several questions of yours about the early access and announce our decision on the R7 exclusiveness issue.
 
1) Damage model
 
It's 60% complete. Technically it works already thou some fine tuning must be done.
 
2) Visual effects
 
Some of them have been added. FX will be added one by one by the start of beta-testing. 
 
3) About AI
 
AI will be added to the early access sessions 2-3 weeks after the start. First weeks will be devoted to solo flights.
 
4) Gift skins on early access
 
Yes, Founders will have them from the start
 
5) Quick Mission (Quick Start) mode availability
 
It will be ready by the New Year, and then brought to you ASAP
 
6) Making own skins
 
Of course we'll offer you necessary tools and templates but later - we don't want to distract from more important tasks
 
7) Handguns/flare guns in early access
 
Not sure about those, the decision will be made the next week
 
About the gun pods for Bf 109 F-4 issue now. Considering the results of the polls on all forums and according to our own vision the following decision has been made: R7 will be available to ALL pilots in IL2BOS, however Founders will access it instantly while other players will need to unlock it. This mod will be harder to obtain than other unlockable items.
 
Note that November 11th is the last day when the Pre-order program is still active - with its special bonuses and at the old price. So there's still a couple of days when you can join the Founders program by pre-ordering Premium or Standard editions. After that, on November 12th we officially enter the Early access stage. 
 
And now we are completely concentrated on current tasks, so unfortunately we have less time to spend on the forums than usually. Actually the entire teams' top priority now is preparing for the early access. And considering its' importance one extra week of waiting is not that much, is it?
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJYbOvrKuDs
 
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41

Dear friends,

We'll be live streaming the game on Twitch in 10-20 minutes from now. You'll see the version of the game that you're getting for early access on November 19th. Loft and I are going to show you the game interface and tell a few words about first steps in IL2BOS.

Watch us on Twitch. The record will be published later today on our YouTube channel
 
And here's the record
 


 
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Hello Everybody.
 
First of all we’d like to say thanks for the kind feedback that you gave us and our project. We’ve been surprised and sincerely impressed. Also, it’s very pleasant for the whole team to read those kind words and now everyone works knowing that you enjoy the game that we’re making. In fact, this early access program puts extra responsibly on us because the alpha-version is actually very raw and far from the release in many, many aspects. So thank you all for this inspiration and we’ll try to meet the upcoming expectations.
Technically the early access started successfully. All servers are functioning properly and the software shows good performance on a big range of different PC configurations. Our approach to modeling has also proved to be correct, so we believe we’re on the right track now.
 
As of today, Friday, the game is no longer available to you till the next session; meanwhile we’re analyzing the received data and feedback and preparing for the next session that is scheduled to November 26th-28th. Next week you are going to meet Bf-109 F-4, the German fighter that is often called one of the best aircraft in the Messerschmitt family. The plane indeed has outstanding combat features and it’s quite more responsive to controls than LaGG-3. Well, you’ll learn it by yourselves pretty soon; I don’t want to give too many spoilers now.
 
Also, we’re just adding one more plane and not locking the LaGG-3. The missions will be updated and the first AI-controlled planes will be added. They’ll be just roaming, following their own routes and completing their own missions. And please remember that combat is not available yet, but we are working on it.
The project’s readiness percent will stay at 32%, because the Friedrich has already been added to this version. We’ve only made some fine tuning which is evaluated as less than 1% of development progress. The numbers will change a bit later when the weaponry is unlocked for you. In addition to that, the next update is going to fix several technical issues and bugs that may have bothered you this week.
 
And again, thanks you for the boost of positive energy that you have shared with us. It is very important for us to know that our work creates such great emotions. We’re happy to meet your expectations and earn your trust.



 
And a bonus today - this cool photo of one of the Founders. Sometimes when you have to wait for next IL2BOS session you turn into a real pilot.
 
post-7693-0-67340700-1385122196.jpg
 
By the way if you have original ideas for similar photos feel free to grab this templete (just like on the photo above) and then share your cool portrait with the community in the Pilots' art section.
 
Early access - week #2
Change log:
  •  
  • Fixed issues that caused some in-game screens to load endlessly
  • New realism setting added: Engine auto control (regulates optimal fuel mixture, propeller pitch (RPM), supercharger speed)
  • Mini-map was fixed, directions are now shown correctly
  • The settings screen opened from in-game menu now works correctly
  • New explosions for the plane crashes added;
  • A game crash issue fixed;
  • No ground war in the far corner of the map any more;
  • Propeller position in the hangar fixed
  • Inverting the axis does not limit the stroke to 50%
  • Russian localization improved
  • Default plane skin is now on the top of the list
  • Interface layout improved

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  • 1CGS

43
 
Greetings Friends!
 
The second week of early access featuring Bf-109 F-4 is now over. Thanks for all of your critical comments and positive feedback, but most of all – for your emotions. I think that it's most important that the project calls for so many emotions. It could have been just another game about planes which is not a rare thing these days. But luckily for us - and for your enjoyment - the project does give you emotions. This is the most precious of our goals, and it seems we've are reaching it.
 
We're at the second stage of the project development: adding, tuning and fixing content. Most technologies are now ready which is what we've been working at all the time before. The second stage is definitely much more interesting both for us and you because all the changes, all the development progress is more obvious. New features are being added daily and others are being improved.
 
But this impressive speed is also a big difficulty. We need to smartly evaluate our capabilities to be able to bring you something new and enjoyable in the short perspective and at the same time keep on working on the project until it’s complete. There are not many examples of studios that work like we do, so we never borrowed that experience, never had a chance to sneak-peek and learn on someone else’s mistakes. We're doing it our way and if we patiently beat our heads against the wall then we just harden our tough foreheads. Patience is what we expect you to have and luckily you're patient, thank you for that. It's a reward for us to work for players who actually understand us.
 
Let's get specific now - what about the next week? Everything goes as planned as of now and even though there are some technical issues the majority of players are able to fly and enjoy the game. That's why we've decided to start providing game access on weekends earlier than it was initially planned. So, everyone who was too busy to play should be able to get to the game soon.
 
The next session starts on December 6th and ends on December 9th. We're not yet ready to tell the certain time when our servers will go online the next Friday because we still need to figure out the best way to do it. The next goal is to increase the length of each session. Maybe we'll get to it earlier than planned as well. And of course the Standard edition owners will be joining the early access soon.
 
Next Friday you'll get the previously known LaGG-3 and Bf-109 F-4, but this time they will get their firepower back. We'll setup 7.62mm and 20mm weapons with historically adequate AR and HE rounds. AI-controlled planes are going to be the targets for you. They will have weapons as well, but they shouldn't be a problem for skilled pilots.
 
More details are coming up with the next blog update next Friday.
 
Thanks again for your kind and positive feedback and impressions the last 2 weeks that we've read on our forum (and it feels like it has been longer than only 2 weeks). I think that our project is going to break a few more stereotypes: not only about development time, team building and modeling principles, but also about the community in this genre. Yes, you're complicated, noisy and controversial and it's not easy to satisfy you. But it looks like earning your trust gives birth to one of the strongest game communities. 
 
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  • 1CGS

44
 
Hello Everybody!
 
This month marks the one year anniversary since we announced BOS and began work. Hard to think that only 12 months ago, there was no BOS and now today you are trying combat for the first time. We hope you enjoy it. So much has been accomplished, but so much more to do. 
 
Today we are giving you the next early access version. In this session both planes will have their weapons working. The control settings screen was also updated with commands for shooting. Draft versions of visual effects were implemented as well as combat system for AI-pilots. This session will last till the end of Monday, December 9th, and it’s completely determined by the stability of the version. Development progress was updated to 35%.
 
When you open the mission screen you’ll find 2 more missions – 1 per each plane. These are interactive scenarios that involve features of advanced game logics. You start the flight on Lapino airfield. Then you choose one of the training zones: A or B. B-zone is located above the Yantar airfield; A-zone is between Povorotnoe and Stepnoe settlements. Distance between the start point and any of the zones is approximately 10km.
 
When you approach one of the zones an AI-controlled enemy plane will be generated randomly. It will appear at an altitude of about 1km and will automatically recognize you as a target so be prepared for a frontal attack. After defeating this enemy you may proceed to the other zone where a new fighter will spawn. Thus, you’ll be able to roam between the zones to search and destroy any resistance.
 
Note, that there’s a 50% probability that a pair of enemy fighters may spawn. Also, there’s 50% for the next enemy you encounter to be a higher level AI pilot. And also there’s a 50% possibility that a friendly fighter would spawn on Lapino airfield to support you. 
 
Today I'm going to tell you about unlocks, the modifications you are going to obtain in the game. We've mentioned them before speaking of the game mechanics and today we're starting to publish complete leveling branches. Please, don't mix them up with leveling trees in typical MMO-games: the logic is mostly the same but the details make the difference. As it was said before, unlocks are not unambiguous and they don't make your aircraft plainly better. Most of them are designed for specific sorts of combat missions, some of them will force you to change your fighting style. But all of them will surely bring you a new gameplay experience.
 
We have plenty of time to tell about them in detail in the future. And there're massive differences that you should note: all Premium and Standard edition owners already own all the planes that you've purchased. But in future we'll offer another edition where player will need to unlock planes as well as modifications for them. That's why the unlock topic may be not entirely devoted to Premium and Standard edition owners - you guys have the planes already.
 
Some of the unlocks will open new possibilities in the gameplay. For example, you will not be offered to attack ground targets until you unlock the bombs (except for assault planes and bombers of course). And you'll surely get plenty of bonuses and achievements. Note that all of them have been designed for adult players, so they are generally created based on real-life historical prototypes.
 
Mods_LaGG-3_s29_en.png Mods_IL-2_s42_en.png
 
As always I remind you that the project is currently in an early stage of development. And we’re not claiming there will no errors and bugs – we’re sure that you will experience some. We ask you to react professionally – exactly this type of reaction will help us to fix everything as soon as possible. Every feature that is responsible for its visual beauty and impressiveness is only a draft. Work under all of them is now in progress.
 
We wish you to have an exciting weekend with some nice shooting and great impressions.
 
Early access - week #3
 
Change log:

  • Fixed the issue when two planes used to spawn instead of one
  • Fixed game crashes that could occur when a plane hits the ground
  • Shadows from objects on airfields don't disappear anymore
  • Compass on Bf 109 F-4 fixed
  • Multiple minor fixes in the interface
  • The executive file was renamed into IL-2.EXE

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Greetings, Friends!
 
We're happy to welcome you to the 4th week of Early access. It's been 3 weeks already that you're not just looking at screenshots, and watching videos, and reading our annoying articles - but you're actually playing, flying, and shooting in the game that was just an idea only 12 months ago.  
 
It's been a year since we published the announcement about cooperation between 777 Studios and 1C and our plan to create a new game in the legendary IL-2 Sturmovik series. The news were perceived ambiguously: some saw it as a chance for the sim to return after a big correction of old mistakes, others we afraid that we'll work out of the genre traditions, and others simply had no idea about who we were and what could be expected. 12 months after the announcement and 6 months after the start of Pre-order have passed, and you've shown your actual support to us and the project. It's Early access stage now, and we keep moving on. Thanks for all your support on that path.
 
Back to business now. You're about to get your hands on a new version of the game this weekend. The key addition is track recording. The video that you can find below in the post tells about this feature and gives a brief instruction for it (it's yesterday's live stream actually).
Here follows the text description of the track recording system controls (for the current, shortened version of the game):
 
LCtrl+R - start/stop recording
H - hide the play bar and activate cameras
LCtrl+F1 - choose camera that was recorded in the replay
F1 - pilot's view replay
LAlt+F1 - free camera in the cockpit
 
Access will be open to all Premium pre-order and Early access editions owners from 20:00 GMT December 13th till  20:00 GMT December 16th.
 
We're also glad to announce that buyers of the Standard edition will join the Early access program starting December 20th. Thanks a lot for your patience, and please wait just a little more.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9BD9eDxQFY
 
Early access - week #4
Change log:

  • Track recording features added
  • Ground textures quality preset changed
  • Shadow quality preset changed
  • A plane no longer disappears in the air after the pilot is killed
  • LaGG's compass fixed
  • New hit sounds added
  • A clone plane does not spawn in the missions anymore
  • Axis inversion, mouse sensitivity, and force feedback settings reset correctly now
  • Canopy opening sound added

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46
 
Hello Pilots!
 
Welcome to the 5th week of Early Access in IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad. In this "episode" you'll meet the first bomb and rocket weaponry; the list of planes remains the same.
 
LaGG-3 gets 3 sets:
- 2x50 kg bombs (FAB-50)
- 2x100 kg bombs (FAB-100)
- 6 rockets (ROS-82)
 
Bf 109 F-4 gets 2 sets:
- 4x50 kg bombs (SC-50)
- 1x250 kg bomb (SC-250)
 
When the project is released you'll need to unlock these modifications by playing the sim.  Now we make them available for you to test them and of course to inform you of what we're working on these days. Speaking of the rockets, they will have 3 presets for the fuse corresponding to the firing distance (300m, 500m, and 1000m). We've prepared a new mission scenario to give you an opportunity to use these weapons. You'll start on Lapino airfield as always, take off and fly to the combat zone where a group of targets will be waiting for you: some tanks and light vehicles that will serve as targets for your bombs, rockets and cannons. They will not show much resistance so you'll surely be able to knock them all off pretty fast. The point of the exercise is for you to learn how to effectively employ these weapons and get some early practice. There'll be morning and night variations of that mission. Note that several visual effects have not been finished yet, that's why buildings are not destructible. This will be implemented later.
 
A very important and pleasant part of today's announcement is that customers who chose the Standard Edition are joining the Early Access. Welcome everybody and thanks for you trust and support! We truly hope you're going to like it here in IL2:BOS. Starting this session you'll be able take part in every bit of the early access program. You'll finally get to experience it for yourselves, not by judging comments of those who's already in. 
 
The 5th session is scheduled to be open from 20:00 UTC/GMT December 20th till December 23rd. The next one will open on December 27th and last until (hopefully, barring any problems) January 5th.
 
Overall development goes well. We're working on 2 game modes at the moment; A Quick Mission Builder (mission generator) that would give you the tools and simple interface to create your own scenarios; and Multiplayer so you can play with others. Both modes will be added to early access program shortly after the Christmas and New Year holiday. 
 
Our engineers are building new planes and power plants to power them. You’ll probably be able to take off in an Il-2 shortly after the holidays, as well as the Ju-87. After the Holidays we'll get back to tuning the damage model with a lot more detail, and fix remaining instruments. Also, we hope to show you the first iteration of the main Stalingrad map in the next session. There's a huge amount of work to be done there, but I figure it is good enough to be rolled out for you to give your feedback and impressions. A big part of the ground objects is in their places and rivers and forests are where they belong. The snow on the airfields is packed well enough for planes to use them as runways. Anyway, we'll be polishing the visuals all the way up to launch day.
 
There's a whole lot of work for us to do and hopefully, even more excitement for you as the first people to check it all out.
 
P.S. And one random picture from office PC
 
1.png
 

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Hi there!
 
I hope you've enjoyed the 5th session of early access. Judging by numerous fan videos that you've published where LaGGs and Friedrichs blow up every ground target, you definitely liked the recent game update. It's also interesting to know that some of you found rockets' behavior so realistic that using them in missions turned into a brand new experience - another gameplay feature that is be discovered both by experienced and new-born virtual pilots.
 
Thank you for your comments and feedback regarding the weaponry, and a special thanks to players who helped us with references and calculations. By the way we'll start gathering an alpha/beta testers team in January. That's not going to be a public casting but you'll meet the testers on the forum anyway - they will wear corresponding tags.
 
So, early access, week number 7. It's going to be the most prolonged open session: you will get access later today on Friday, December 27th (approx. 20:00 UTC/GMT) and will be able to play freely until January 5th when the server will go offline (20:00 UTC/GMT as always). This time we've added all remaining unlockable modifications to currently available planes including cannons for both fighters and removable armor plates for Bf 109 F-4. So it's time to try out your high caliber weapons in missions against AI-planes and ground forces. Also we keep on working at visual effects, for example, buildings are now destructible.
 
We decided not to deploy the Stalingrad map this time, and we count on your understanding. It's a very massive and important part of development, and we don't want to risk by giving you too raw content. That's why today we're showing you several screenshots taken on the map. The map itself will be ready for you in January. Yes, it's getting more and more interesting with every update.
 
Enjoy your Christmas & New Year holidays, and have a great time playing IL2BOS!
 
il2bos_stalingrad_1.jpg   il2bos_stalingrad_2.jpg
 
il2bos_stalingrad_3.jpg   il2bos_stalingrad_4.jpg
 
il2bos_stalingrad_5.jpg   il2bos_stalingrad_6.jpg
 

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  • 1CGS

48
 
Hi Everybody.
 
It doesn't matter where you live and in what language you toast - Happy New Year one and all!
 
The project's team has returned back to work after the winter holidays. We have a lot tasks to complete and here are our goals in the short perspective.
 
Quick Mission Builder - improved analog to the good old editor in IL-2. It's a pack of tools to create a battle scenario, choose desired parameters and try it out yourself or with your friends. Soon you'll forget the missions that we used to offer you for the early access sessions.
 
Multiplayer - You'll learn a lot more about it in a few days, next week actually. Note, that it'll be offered on our usual terms: technology tests first, new features and suggestions - second.
 
New Planes - Several models are being built these days, and even though I can't reveal the release schedule, I promise that IL-2 is coming next and it's coming really soon. This is the first aircraft featuring so many payload options, new combat roles and it's the first two-seater. One plane combining so many technologies makes us a bit nervous, of course, but if it works out well then the rest of the planes will be produced and released at higher rates. 
 
I need to draw your attention to the development progress as it is for us. A lot of players on the forum wonder "why don't you fix those minor issues?", "why does it take you ages (2 months, huh?) to implement trimmers on LaGG and some instruments?", etc.. Here you have my answer. Because we do it maximum ad minima. The key features must be completed first. No matter how big the task is - it's assigned to the same specialists. So if they don't make the core game because they get distracted by minor fixes all the time, that would be very sad for both you and us. So please remain patient and don't wave banners under our office windows - we're doing our job. New technologies and planes will occupy us entirely till spring, after it we'll get to fine tuning and minor "cosmetic" elements, etc..
 
Main Map - It will soon be presented to you. It's far from being complete of course. We've finished the landscape and placed most of the settlements and airfields. It was a huge effort, believe me. At this moment the map accommodates 82 airfields and over 300 settlements plus Stalingrad itself and all main roads were laid. Speaking of graphics, they're not final: we'll re-construct the trees, for instance. What you see now is a mere draft. And there'll also be significant visual additions that, we hope, will please you. 
 
All that is to be delivered to your PCs within the next 2 months so this winter is going to be hot for flight-sim fans.
 
We haven't prepared anything new for you during these two days since we returned from the winter holidays, so you won't need to update your clients this weekend - please play the current version. Meanwhile we will be creating something new and cool for you. 
 
And once again - Happy New Year everyone! We hope that this year will be full of optimistic, pleasant and joyful events.
 
1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg
 
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49
 
Hello.
 
 The first week after the winter holidays has been surprisingly easy and effective. The team has successfully adjusted to our usual working schedule, so I hope will keep doing everything in time and deliver new features regularly. And today we start the new early access session.
 
 This time we bring you some obvious and not so obvious changes. The first significant one is the main Stalingrad map. It's really large and has lots of objects. That's why we need to evaluate your PCs' performance at this map to prepare smart decisions for further optimization.
 
 Also we plan to use this simple way of optimization: remove all unnecessary objects that are out of 50km radius from the mission zone. That should help to reduce system load. So we offer you both options in this session: 1 - has this optimization mechanism with faraway objects removed, and 2 - all objects just remain on their places. Let's see how your PCs can handle the uncut version. 
In future, when you get to make your own missions you'll be free to choose whether to keep or remove those objects. Our own mission will always follow that optimization scheme because players' computers have very different capabilities. Till Quick mission editor is added we won't write any new scenarios, stability is much more important. So we simply moved our previously created missions to the main map.
 
 The second big addition to the early access version is graphical settings presets. This is a very controversial decision, and I expect some intense discussions on the forum, but I also hope to get some support as well. This decision has it's background.
Firstly, unfortunately a lot of our players consider themselves as IT experts but actually they have no clue. Having read other "experts" posts on the web, they manually change game settings and modify driver preferences. As a result they lose performance, get graphical glitches of all kinds,  etc. After that they pour out their complaints on the forums and fill up our customer support mailbox, and demand on immediate fixes. Look, we develop technologies that take everything into account including video card software which allows us to reach balance between performance and quality.
 
 Secondly, we want to uphold unified gameplay principles for everyone. Flight sim is a very emotional and competitive genre, you know. Virtual pilots' strive for advantage in everything. But starting that day you may be confident: you only lose if your opponent is better. Note, that current presets are temporary and may be changed prior release. 
 
 Thus, starting today we remove custom video setting from the menu leaving you 4 preset option, so you just pick one that you like most. We also add Ultra preset since the recent feedback says that your PCs run the game pretty smoothly. In Ultra graphic quality has been increased - try it out and tell us how you like it.
 
 Multiplayer will be given out for closed testing next week. There are still quite a lot of bugs there, they all are insignificant but they still need to be fixed before the mode goes to early access players. We are also about to complete the new launcher that's going to replace our old updater. The launcher will have a news block, it will work over p2p connection and will allow you to change some settings before starting the game. You'll get to see it by the end of January.
 
 This early access version has other changes and new technologies but they still need some debugging, so I won't mention them on purpose. Let's see if you notice them. That's it for today. And as always have a great time playing IL2BOS!
 
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Hi Everybody!
 
There’s still a few hours left before the next early access session starts so I’m going to tell you about our work on multiplayer mode, share my impression about IL2BOS thru the glasses of Oculus Rift HD and show you the inner world of the Peshka bomber. Well, first things first.
  
  Intense discussion of graphical presets turned to be almost as hot as we expected. We accepted that feedback and resumed work according to the plan. By the way, please note this Preset Optimization thread. We kindly ask you to share with us the performance stats of your PCs running the game on different settings presets. This info will help us to tune the presets more precisely and optimize our software for numerous specific PC configurations. Your cooperation is highly appreciated and truly needed.
   
Closed testing of multiplayer mode started earlier this week, and forum members with Tester avatars can confirm that. Several expected and not so obvious errors have been discovered which we’re going to fix before the game is ready for early access. But, as Albert has said before, the mode itself works perfectly and the necessary changes are minor bugs. Meanwhile, performance suits our expectations: the test mission, which accommodates 30 tanks, 30 guns and 30 AAAs engaged in combat, utilizing only about 30% of the CPUs free resources with the server running on a relatively old PC. Long story short, you’ll get to play multiplayer in a few weeks (1 month maximum). Outside of MP, the team has been totally busy with new up-coming features, but this early access session isn’t going to present you any new content. So, let’s keep on training for MP a little while longer.
 
    Full HD dev version of Oculus Rift tuning was completed last week. Thanks to our programming team, the game is absolutely compatible with this new technology. It’s truly hard to find words worth describing the whole range of emotions: delight, fear, curiosity, admiration, interest - all the feelings born by flying over Stalingrad in virtual reality. Yes, I know that the device  is not yet available to users on a true retail level and it will hardly be inexpensive, but trust me: HD Oculus suits BOS as great as cream suits hot borsch :) A high level of immersion - usually featured by a quality sim game - becomes incredible due to the use of this thing. And yes, I don’t recommend it to faint hearted pilots. Although I don’t think there are a lot of those in our community, is there?
 
orhd.jpg
 
You saw the Stuka on an airfield last week. All mods for it are ready and will be available for you on the day it’s released for early access. And today I offer you this table that shows all unlockable modifications for the Ju-87 D-3.
 
ju87_en.jpg
 
And of course the Pe-2 series 87screenshots that Albert promised to show you. You were first shown the exterior model of Peshka about two months ago. Today it’s time to take a look inside of it.
 
1.png    2.png    4.png
 
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Hello everyone.
 
It's +28 C and a light midday rain on the Caribbean isles. Meanwhile, the IL2:BOS dev team keeps digging into the program code here in freezing and windy Moscow. Another week of development has passed and I'm going to tell you how it was.
 
First of all, about the upcoming early access session: it's an extremely rare occasion when you won't see anything specific, but you will feel it in a new way for sure. It is related both to our game and to any other existing flight sim about the WWII era. The reason is that our in-game physics has reached a brand new level in regards of aircraft systems modeling. From now on our internal combustion engine model takes into consideration the state of atmosphere. For example: its winter outdoors, the air is cold which allows an engine to perform with more power. The system is universal and homogeneous so it can be implemented in other theatres of war if we choose to make those. So, keep in mind that you should know the weather forecast before going on a mission. Here in Stalingrad it is -15C, so the engines have their power increased some. Should it influence your perception of well-known planes? Well, you'll see it soon.
 
In other news, the closed test participants are passionately working on future improvements in the multiplayer mode. We plan to have a new live stream soon maybe next week. Albert and I and a group of testers will show you some online battles and tell you what's going on and how to use the new features.
 
Another update to the early access version in addition to atmosphere system is spotters and missions for them. They will let you feel the support of your allies and help you to find your bearings while on a combat mission. Also the model of Stalingrad city has been changed slightly. Please, share your impressions as we're interested in your opinion on that one, as well as on the new visual FX like fire, etc.
 
And yes, the IL-2 is coming really soon. February is promising to bring lots of excitement and spring will surely be pure fun with new game modes and planes. As for now we have to hold out some of the big updates from the early access version – so we can keep the pace of development up and remain within the time limits that we've set for ourselves.
 
Enjoy your flights this weekend! As a dessert - here a couple of screenshots with a freshly added graphical effect of the vapor trail. After necessary fixes and tests it will become active and will be featured in the early access. 
 

NOTE: our poll "What media do you prefer?" is still active. Please, check it out and take part.

post_01.jpg    post_15.jpg     post_07.jpg
 
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Hello Friends,
 
Another week has passed keeping us busy in multiple segments of development. We’re currently working on new visual effects: huge smoke domes covering the destroyed Stalingrad; bomb explosions with one particularly outstanding one - the enormous SC1800 which was the heaviest German bomb and tracers with a few shape and color corrections etc. By the way, thank you for your warm feedback about improved graphics of city ruins - we'll keep searching for the most natural looking and beautiful creative solutions trying to make the map as spectacular as possible.
 
Another graphical addition that unlike the previously mentioned ones is going to be featured in the early access is increased draw distance for all aerial contacts. This new feature will not depend on the field of view (from max to min). I'll keep the extensive comments for now, you'll see it yourself soon. As for the gameplay updates, we're adding anti-aircraft artillery so keep focused and take care of yourselves. This is the very first implementation of AAA, it's far from final so please don't rush to criticize, but constructive suggestions are very welcome. Below this text you'll see a couple of screenshots with this fresh early access feature.
 
Now something fresh for the most impatient ones; first of all, we plan to roll out the IL-2 next week and remove the availability limit for you in the Early Access. And you'll get a set of ground assault missions accordingly. Secondly, we'll hold the first mini-tournament in IL2:BOS multiplayer this Sunday. You'll witness (oh yes, because we decided to live stream and comment everything in real time) the first big battle in the history of our project. There, in the icy sky above Stalingrad the team of developers (=FB= squad pilots) and participants of the closed test with players from many countries of the planet, will face each other in intense dogfights. And of course Albert and I are going to talk about the new interface and all multiplayer features explaining how to use it.
The Live Stream starts on Sunday at 20:00 GMT. Traditionally we'll be glad to see you in the chat on Twitch, and to answer your questions. See you there, it'll be fun!
 
In addition to all that we present you the list of unlockable modifications for Yak-1
 
yak-1_en.jpg
 
aaa_il2bos_1.jpg    aaa_il2bos_2.jpg
aaa_il2bos_3.jpg    aaa_il2bos_4.jpg
 
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As we develop our flight sim, the team itself seems to be turning into a train simulator: after the locomotive is warmed up with technology development the speed of adding new content increases rapidly. It means this time I can please you with some long awaited good news.

 

As we promised you’ll get IL-2 and all its modifications including the rear gunner in the nearest early access session. Note that it’s not complete yet, for instance, a lot of gauges are disabled and the armored protection may be not 100% correct. Updates to complete the aircraft will be applied over time, but in general IL-2 is ready for early access. Also, several missions for this plane have been designed so you could try it in various combat situations, so I congratulate you and enjoy this new flying beast!

 

Instead of teasing you with Ju-87 release date, I’d rather tell you about fresh fixes and additions. Let’s start with AA crews that were sent for extra training which means that: a) they are better shooters and more dangerous to careless pilots; b) they will die if you shoot them or bomb them. By the way, bomb and rocket explosion effects have been improved so the mighty destructiveness of your brand new IL-2 is now even more impressive and realistic. Another addition that shows our warm care for the AA crew guys is that the Germans now have searching lights to hunt down LaGGs in the night sky around the Stalingrad region. In this version they can be found near the Lapino airfield which we believe you already love.

 

Furthermore, radio comms have been reworked to make them sound clearer and help you to realize where and why you may need to fly somewhere. Some other optimizations have been made as well such as the smoke domes above Stalingrad should now show better performance. And here comes pleasant news for those that love details and those who prefer manual mixture control – the color of the exhaust flames now vary depending on the mixture setting.

 

This is still not all that we’ve prepared. We plan to tell you about everything included in the 12th week of early access later today in a live stream. Loft and I will share with you all interesting and useful data about the IL-2 and we’ll answer your questions in the chat of our Twitch channel. Broadcast starts at 18:00 GMT.

 

P.S Happy Valentine’s Day! It does not matter if you’re in love with a nice person, or your job, or one brilliant flight sim about Stalingrad - let this day bring you more joy and delight.

 

ATTENTION: All input settings will be wiped with the up-coming update. Please, do NOT try to back up the recent configuration and replace the new one - reconfigure settings from scratch.

 

 

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Even though our office is near the Dostoevsky subway station, the gloomy and grumpy mood of the author is not affecting us at all - on the contrary, we’re entering a hard working and emotional spring-time as is the project itself. After 3 months from the start of early access you have 3 planes and one game mode. The time till release is going to be tremendously busy with new things. And we’ll give them to you in small, but tasty portions. We and the testers are already testing Stuka and the Yak-1, Quick Mission Builder and Multiplayer. MP works fine and is stable, however it lacks interface elements that would make the entire mode useless for ordinary players.

 

Thanks for the warm feedback about IL-2. Within a week a whole lot of new videos featuring this plane have been posted on the web, and our team is very pleased to see you enjoying this great aircraft. During the next session you will experience the same mission with the IL-2, but from other points of view like piloting a LaGG in covering missions and the Bf-109 in interception scenarios. So Sturmoviks will be going on missions under AI control, and you will have a chance to try it out in new tactical roles.

 

This week's main update is actually important for the whole project. We are releasing the game launcher - a special application that keeps your client up-to-date. It also does the following:

 

post-7693-0-34401000-1392985626.png

 

  1. You can easily find the most frequently used links: website, forum, FAQ and get in touch with the customer service
  2. Setup settings before launching the game, for example, choose screen resolution;
  3. Read most recent updates from the team or visit project's social network pages.

Please, note the "Seed when downloaded" option. Could you kindly keep it active if your internet service allows it. We need to test this new update system and we'd appreciate your assistance as always.

Another important thing is that you need to uninstall your game client and then download this new installer. The link to the file traditionally can be found on your profile page.

We will inform you when the update is deployed, and when you'll be able to get the fresh installer. Meanwhile you may want to backup your input settings.

 

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Hello Friends,
 
It’s been a great week - just like all the others. But it is very easy to see how fruitful it was - because you’re getting Ju 87 for Early Access sessions! We must leave some features of the IL-2 for future investigations and testing - don’t you worry though, the Sturmovik beast now has a contester on the German side. So now with the new launcher, you just wait for the evening and click Play – and then try out this mighty weapon of Blitzkrieg.
 
Of course you’ll notice that Stuka has its own specific temper - as does every aircraft in IL2BOS. And we’ve prepared missions for your new Ju 87 that will reveal its powers and maybe even some week points; discover them all and you won’t regret it.
 
Until then you may switch your attention to another plane - the Pe-2 bomber. It’s not quite ready yet, but we’ve got some very special pictures of it today for you. This is the gunner that is going to be placed into it. This fellow is very accurately animated and we hope you’ll love him both for smooth animation and sharp shooting.
 
il2bos_shot_01.jpg il2bos_shot_02.jpg il2bos_shot_04.jpg il2bos_shot_05.jpg il2bos_shot_06.jpg
 
By the way we decided to update the screenshots section on our website. And it would be great if you helped us with it. Please, run the game on max graphical quality setting, find an impressive shot and send us the picture without any editing. We’ll pick the best screenies, will put them on the site, and probably make some of you famous - because your nicknames will be there. :) Please, post the screens in this topic (click here), and we’ll announce the result by the end of next week.
 
That’s it for today. Stay focused for the game session start, and then get your mighty Stuka into the skies!
 
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Hello Dear Friends and Founders,

 

Today I'm going to tell you about the most recent development news. The past few days have brought several significant changes. First, we have three game versions now: early access, closed beta and an internal developer version which as you can imagine is the most content rich one. But what's more important is that closed beta version is already way ahead of the early access build. This means that the playable version goes through a double bug hunting filter, but also still fits within our timelines - that's a solid attribute of a controlled release schedule by the way. So both content and game mechanics get properly tested and you get to play the most bug and glitch proof game build that can be possibly provided at the current stage.

 

As I said, we are keeping up a good pace and the beta version is currently ahead of the early access by two planes (Yak-1 and Pe-2) and two game modes: Quick Mission builder and Multiplayer. If we keep this up we’ll have a quality game to release. Meanwhile, flying the Pe-2 is a peculiar pleasure. It's hard for me to describe all the tiny traits of its character with words, so let's take landing for example. Somehow it makes me adore and hate this plane at the same time. Landing speed is so low that it nearly matches the stall speed, that's why landing actually looks like a series of bounces on the airfield or more like a landing turns into a control semi-spin at ultra-low altitude (it may sound like a joke, but it's pretty much true). The plane is unique; I love how we made it.

 

We're going to tell you the precise dates of when these two aircraft will be added to early access, since they are almost ready now. The Quick Mission Builder has a more complicated story. There are still quite a lot of bugs in the interface which is extensive and has plenty of cross connections. So it remains in the test room a bit longer. The state of Multiplayer is more optimistic and complex at the same time. It has been working fine since the first test day, but I personally find it incomplete. I believe you're waiting for more than it features at this moment. And we as its creators don't feel ready to hear your annoyed jabber about it. Even though it is not fully ready yet, on the other hand I realize that such early debugging (even if it's smooth) can definitely be useful. The sooner we get the test results - the sooner we start fixing the discovered issues. That's why we've decided to at least show you the basics of multiplayer mode. We have a start-up mentality here; we're allowed to take some risks.

 

This will happen next week, on March 15th. You'll get all the necessary info in the next dev blog, as this time we’re only sharing general info. We'll set up our own servers. They will run the same scenario for everyone, but at different difficulty settings. There'll be several servers of each kind. We'll try to have servers on both sides of the Atlantic to provide better connection to all players. Also, we'll contact people who have already offered their servers for next week and if the Universe is surprisingly generous to our genre then we may have more servers. More details will follow soon. Just wait for the next dev diary note.

 

The version in this week's early access is mostly devoted to fixing bugs and preparing the game for the up-coming multiplayer session. All currently unavailable missions will be unlocked, some mistakes will be removed, and you may find some new details in the game.

 

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Hello, Pilots!
 
Unfortunately, this weekend will not go as we planned. We are not ready for a public test of multiplayer scheduled for today. This was a hard decision, which made only an hour ago, and we had to go through intense debate to get to it. But we're sure that such test would have been useless for us and wouldn't be enjoyable for you. Some of connections inside the project must be properly tested. At the same time, the fresh changes and updates may not only influence the multiplayer mode itself but also may lead to failures of the early access version, including broken login procedures, content unavailability, etc.. Today's version has not been tested yet, and we can't take such a big risk. It's even bigger than with weekly published early access builds, and you trust me here - that risk is always high. Thus, I decided to postpone the public multiplayer test for 1 more week minimum. We'll devote all that time to testing and quality assurance.  
 
As a substitution of the delayed MP test, we'll unlock Yak-1. It's not how we planned to release it as well, it's too early for it but luckily we can afford that now. Some of you may be extremely disappointed, some - slightly upset and others may be delighted with this new addition to the early access - a whole new plane, and a good one, I might add. Game access will be granted at usual time later today. Thanks a lot for your support and understanding. Looks like we'll need to work even harder to speed up development of this module. Well, hardships harden the character.

 

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Hello Pilots!

 

As we stated last week, the key element of this early access session is multiplayer. We tried to do as much as we could to make this test successful and to let you not only feel involved in the project development, but also enjoy the process. Of course, multiplayer is different from the single player experience that you’ve already had because live players are just not like the bots.

 

On the one hand, players make mistakes and get distracted more often than AI. On the other hand, true aces are born in these battles and they can turn dogfights into some sort of deadly sport as if a real life was at stake. Kill or be killed! Well, you can become such a sportsman or join other pilots and find yourself in another role – it’s up to you. Anyway, the game modes are not yet complete, there’re only a few tips and helpers that can assist you. So you are very welcome to use your imagination for your entertainment. 

 

We will open 4 servers. 2 of them will be hosted in the Americas, and 2 more will be placed in Europe. So, both main groups of players will be able to play with minimal latency (unfortunately we still can’t send packets faster than light speed). There will be a couple different realism settings used. Two of them (one in each zone) will have difficulty close to “Expert” level, and the other two will be “Normal”. Nevertheless we ask you not to judge this experience as a completed game, but only as a package of technologies and a sketch of what is yet to come. Max players per server will be set to 64.

 

Missions on all the servers that we have prepared are absolutely identical, only realism level varies. We’ll play on the Lapino airfield. There’ll be two sides of course: Luftwaffe and VVS. Each side will have two airfields. One of these two will be placed close to the imaginary front line and the second one will be located further from the epicenter. The first field will only offer spawn on the ground, so you’ll need to take off before you join the battle, while the second airfield will have an aerial spawn point 1000 meters above the ground.  There will be two planes on each airfield: Bf 109 F-4 and Ju-87 for Luftwaffe and LaGG-3 and IL-2 for VVS.

 

You'll be able to use all available weapon and field modifications, just like in single missions before. However, you'll find that gunner positions in IL-2 and Ju-87 cannot be taken by another player. This gameplay feature is currently being tested by our beta testers, and we hope it will be added to early access very soon. Meanwhile you'll need rely on yourself and on your AA gunner.

Obviously, fighters and assault planes can easily attack the nearest enemy’s airfield and prevent planes from taking off. However, in such scenario you’ll probably be shot down as many times as you spawn by enemy aircraft that are above waiting for you. So you should consider switching to the further base and take a plane from there where you’ll appear at a decent altitude giving you a chance to knock off the invaders. This should be the most efficient strategy. We expect the battles to have an interesting ebb and flow.

 

Also the map will have various ground objects, tanks, artillery, AA guns, etc. These are prototypes of future mission goals. Use all your weaponry to destroy them. The ground targets are set to re-spawn every few minutes. In the future, destroying enemy ground vehicles will become a separate mission goal and a sure way to prevail.

 

Our initial testing says that MP works as it should, however, anything can happen in this first MP session, so if something does not work properly or servers crash, please don’t get too discouraged and understand that we will look into it so we can improve future sessions.

 

The entire team hopes that everything will go smoothly. And we hope you will enjoy the first attempt at Multiplayer.

 

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Hi Everybody,

 

First of all, a couple of words about the recent 17th session of Early Access. Thanks a lot once again to everyone for taking part in that very first test of multiplayer over a wide audience. The test was successful, data was gathered, conclusions were made and new goals appointed. We’ve been keeping an eye on the entire test and we’re fully aware how smooth it was (or was not) for all of you. Technical issues are being cared for, and you know, it’s great for the whole team to work knowing that the servers were full on the day one of the MP test. Which is an optimistic event, isn’t it?

 

The past week hasn’t brought any changes to the early access version, and you’re going to have the same one for at least one more week. We need to fix the known bugs first and get ourselves onto some new ones second. About the Yak-1 in multiplayer - well wait until the Bf 109 G-2 enters the scene, since we’ve settled a tradition to release planes in pairs. LOFT and I are ready to answer your questions about the upcoming plans for IL2BOS next week in a new official live stream. Next Wednesday you’ll see Pe-2 in its grace and hear some of our comments about this first bomber in the game.

 

And this time we give you the Quick Mission Builder for Early Access. Now it is time for you to build your own gameplay: you may start exploring faraway corners of the map, or try any time of the day, or play a combat scenario you want most. We hope you’ll find its interface easy enough to use. The QMB has been shown in our previous live streams a couple of times so feel free to watch the important part once again on the 1CGS YouTube channel. And as always we need your feedback: a whole lot of bug reports are expected, as well as thoughtful suggestions would be appreciated. Please, accept QMB as it is now; we know what it must be like and we’ll make it that way.

 

The 18th session of early access will not be limited with 72 hours period, single player and multiplayer modes will both remain available 24/7 during the up-coming week.

 

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Hi Everybody!
 
This has been quite a hardworking week, but also a useful and important one. First of all I’d like you to pay attention to the site maintenance earlier today. We’ve added an improved customer support helpdesk. All answers to your frequently asked questions have been gathered here, and you’ll be able to submit your own ticket as well so we could help to resolve your issue ASAP.
 
support_EN_1.png   support_EN_2.png
 
And back to the game development. As it was said on Wednesday, we present you the multicrew MP feature today. This means that you won’t be alone in you IL-2 or Stuka anymore, and your trusty friend – is a real person, not AI who will be protecting your six o’clock. Note for the future: turret guns in BOS are as effective against your own plane as they are against the enemies. So it’s wise to be picky when choosing a fellow traveller. Speaking of gameplay, multi-crew works pretty simply and intuitively: you enter a server, look at the mission map and choose to spawn in somebody’s plane as a crew member.
 
il2bos_crew_EN.png   il2bos_crew.jpg
 
We’d appreciate any feedback and possibly bug reports, however we’re quite confident that this system is going to function without significant flaws.
Also, the first parts of ingame statistic system are being tested now. This is how the match stats will look like in future:
 
Aaaaaaaaa2.png
 
AA flak guns have been slightly corrected. Long story short, it’s a bit safer now to fly above enemy AAA positions. Our internal tests have shown that they needed a little review, so the changes were made and we’re looking forward to hearing your opinion about them.
That’s it for now. Pe-2 is coming up really soon, and for today we’ve prepared the record of Wednesday’s live stream with Loft with plenty of Peshka gameplay and visuals.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wwgOh0IkjM

 
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Hi Everybody
 
Today’s Dev Blog is entirely devoted to the upcoming game version which goes straight to Early Access. But some important news comes first. The Early Access servers will be open 24/7 starting this week. Two weeks of challenging tests and daring debugging sessions showed us that we can handle it now and you can actually play it. Game and specifically multiplayer access will be permanent with exceptions for short updates or maintenance breaks. The number of MP servers will remain limited for some more time - we still may need stress tests which are only possible while the number of servers is limited. However, one extra server has been started earlier this week - it’s the Duel Server with a proper duel mission running on it. By the way, thanks again to those in the community who helped make this community request a reality.
 
Today we give you the Pe-2, the first two-engine aircraft in the project. I bet this is something you’ve been looking forward to, because there’re so many bomber fans on our forums. The plane is pretty much complete, but the bomb sight is not ready yet and it will be added later. Note that it shouldn’t stop you from using it as a dive bomber which the Pe-2 was. Of course, the Peshka will be offered with all her unlocks available. It will also be put into multiplayer missions, so get ready to gather your own crew including navigator and radio-operator.
 
Other changes that have been included into the fresh build are small, but numerous corrections in the AAA behavior and a correction of the LaGG’s and Yak’s excessive nosing-over tendency while braking.

 
You’ve also been asking us to show some La-5 pics! Well, here they are along with screenshots of the clouds that we'll add to the game pretty soon. And Pe-2 wallpapers.
 
wall_en.jpg
 
il2bos_la5-1.jpg il2bos_la5-2.jpg il2bos_la5-5.jpg il2bos_la5-6.jpg il2bos_la5-7.jpg

 

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Hello everyone!
 
Today we've decided to answer some of the most topical questions that you ask us on the forums. But now some important news about early access: please, uninstall the game completely before you update it later today. Then download the fresh client version from your profile page and install it again. Please, do not download the game and do not update before we give a green light. Note, that you can back-up the "input" folder and use it in the updated game version, if you want to keep your personal control settings.
 
Now - questions and answers, and a couple of important and interesting announcements bellow them.
 
1) What is the progress in DM development? It was 60% on November 9th. Is it correct to say that it's not yet ready in regards of visual presentation? How much work still must be done with the visuals and how different will it look from what we have now in early access?
DM is ready for 90% now. Some elements are not complete yet, props for example. And it's important because it plays its role, in collisions and similar events. But generally speaking the damage model is ready. There are still some visual bugs, and we're working on fixing them. Some other things are just different from you're accustomed to. Fact: in IL2 1946 all the weapons were made weaker than they must be for gameplay purposes. That's not how ot is done im IL2BOS because weapons deal realistic damage according to the WW2 archive data about gun tests that we use. For instance, these tests state that basically two 20mm canon shots take out a single engine fighter. I know that GUI doesn't provide the necessary info that would make DM more transparent, so it's just not ready yet, WIP.
 
2) Will there be a no-cockpit view?
It would be good to have it. I hope we'll find time to make it. Or we might add it after release, if the project deserves its right to live on.
 
3) It would be great to have some API to grab stats for usermade servers, or to collect data about squad performance and present it on fan sites, squad pages, widgets on forums pr social networks, etc.. Is smth like that in your plans?
No, we don't plan anything like it. We can't afford spending time on such small things, even nice ones like this. There's still a lot of job to do before we could distract from our priorities. Nevertheless such features as squads, friend lists and so on are among pur global goals and we plan to put them into the GUI.
 
4) Will the front line be marked somehow visually?
Front line in WW2 was totally virtual most of the time. It could move a dozen miles in both directions several times within a day. That’s why it’s primarily seen on the tactical map, and less obviously on the terrain. But there will be certain marks like burning villages nearby the military dispositions, etc.. Of course it was simpler in WWI where we could just put a special texture on the land terrain and name in “frontline”.
 
5) When will we have the chance to make skins for aircraft? Personal markings and numbers? Kill markings on aircraft?
Making paint schemes for planes in IL2BOS is a quite complex process. Those who have experience in creating skins for ROF aircrafts know that there are various materials used in planes’ structure and making a proper camo is a sign of a true master. There won’t be any ingame editor, we have no time for it. Nevertheless it will be possible to add your own skins, and we’ll provide you with necessary tools for it. You’ll be free to create anything for your offline missions. Neither campaign nor multiplayer will be playable with custom made skins. Because, firstly, you may draw a transparent plane and gain unfair advantage, and secondly, your creative ideas may be offensive to other players in our worldwide community. Further details about user made skins will be revealed later, before the launch.
 
6) Will there be any game chat moderation and obscene language filter to stop the most aggressive brawlers? How do you plan to control it?
Democratically (demon smiley). We’ll let the players decide who leaves a server. Press Esc, go to menu and find the trouble maker. If 50% of the server agrees with you initiative, that bully will be kicked and banned for a short time automatically. Also, the server holders will be able to ban anyone, it’s their lawful privilege.
 
7) Do you plan a summer map for online tournaments?
No, we don’t. Although that would be terrific to make one before we release the game. Ah, you would be so impressed!
 
8) How will numbers and emblems be put on the planes: as entire skins (RoF) or like decals (1946; CloD)?
Like it’s in RoF.
 
9) Do you guys authorize youtube monetization if we publish video with BOS content? If yes could you make an official statement because such use is not allowed by the end user agreement?
The more good videos go to YouTube the better it is for the game. And their authors must have a chance for a reward for their creations. That’s why keep making fan videos and don’t worry about formalities. Fan vids are good for IL2BOS.
 
10) Will AI be improved? Will ground attackers be able t fly in formations and behave adequately in combat situations?
We’ll teach them or make them do the right thing. We are still working at AI and we’ll keep on working with it till the very release. Honestly, I’ve never seen a perfect AI. But trust me, we’re going to give you a good one.
 
11)  Will vehicles be smart enough to use good light discipline?  Are there blackout lights as well as normal headliights? Will vehicles drive slower using blackout lights vs. headlights vs. daylight?
We know how to make it this way. But it's not among priorities. We understand that all the valuable things contain of smart details but we still have more important details to develop.
 
12)  Has the development team thought of using AMD's new API called Mantle in BoS? Seems to be quite beneficial to performance. Will there be any performance improvements for AMD configs particularly?
They say you can't live happily in marriage if you stare at every cute girl passing by. Let this technology price itself outside the adverts and promotional demos first. Meanwhile we'll be fixing the existing AMD related drawbacks in the game. Please, keep on gathering the data, you're helping us a lot.
 
13)  How granular is the engine DM going to be?  Can you hit individual cylinders and bits or is it just going to be old school "the engine is one bit hitbox" style?
It is very detailed and you'll be informed about every hit in the GUI when it's ready. But here's a note for the future: a 20mm round doesn't care how detailed the engine's DM is - it hits it and it turns it into a piece of junk
 
14) Will DM be at least as good as it was in IL-2: 1946? Particularly speaking, breaking aileron rods, rudder rods, gun jamming, radiator and fuel tank breaches, etc..
Radiators and fuel tanks get damage and get holes; they also explode and set afire. Have you even played the game? Other rods modeling and gun jamming are being worked at. But still I don’t get it, what’s wrong with the guns? You get a 20mm round damaging your engine and you somehow manage to stay in the air, fly and maneuver? You really have sooo few chances to survive a 20mm blow.
 
15) Will planes and modifications be flyable outside the campaign before they are unlocked? I can appreciate the unlock system in the campaign, but would like all planes to be available for custom/quick missions.
We’ll think about it. The current decision covers the entire unlock system, which means that you unlock content in campaign only. It’s one of the game’s rules, it’s a given.
 
16) Will we be able to fire the flare gun from the flare tube inside the 109's cockpit?
Yes, we'll add it.
 
17) Will there be an option to save every game you play automatically? (automatic track record/replay, whatever you call it). Will there be other information within these replays?
Replay files are quite big that’s why we didn’t put any auto record feature. So a user must independently decide how to utilize their hard drive space. We might add this as an option after the release.
 
18) Will it be possible to save game (anytime or at checkpoints) during a mission?
Nope. There are no save games unfortunately. We’d love to have it too but in a flight sim  it’s far not as simple as it may seem.
 
Also today we invite you to join us in developing unlockable content for the game. I'm speaking about actual part in creating it. As you know, there are at least 10 extra skins per each plane that will be added as unlockables. Obviously, there are dozens of candidates but we want to have only the most remarkable, the most recognizable ones.  So we suggest you to pick those skins that you'd love to see in the game.
Use internet, books, albums and any other sources and references that can provide you info about our planes - and keep in mind that only our planes with their specific series count.
 
What is important:
- open a topic about a plane that is announced to be in BOS
- find a picture of the skin you like and that you want to be added
- post the picture (-s)
 
What is NOT important:
- the skin you choose may have not been fighting the Battle of Stalingrad
- it may be some ace's plane with its unique markings and paint scheme
- it may be any nation's squadron plane (Polish, French, Italian, etc.)
 
In a few weeks we'll pick the skins that are good for the game. We are counting on you, pilot! Let's bring only the best to our game.
 
LaGG-3 series 29
Bf 109 F-4
IL-2 AM-38 (in 1942)
Ju 87 D-3
Yak-1 series 69
Bf 109 G-2
Pe-2 series 87 and 110
He 111 H-6
La-5 series 8
Fw 190 A-3
 
And the second announcement for today - adding Bf 109 G-2 is scheduled for the next early access session. And check out these unlocks that will be available for the fighter.
Please also note, that we've removed all the preset missions from the new version. Use Quick mission builder to get a desired singleplayer scenario.

 

bf109g2_en.png
 
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Hi Everybody!
 
Traditionally the dev blog that announces adding new planes is the most welcomed and appreciated. Well, it’s that kind of dev blog today because tonight we give you Bf-109 G-2 and put the Yak-1 into multiplayer. Our tests of the Gustav showed us that it’s a strong fighter and the long-awaited release of the Yak in MP was necessary to help equal the chances of Soviet pilots. Both planes will become available today on all MP servers.
 
Beside the new planes, we present you a new variation of the clouds that actually have been shown earlier this week. The work is not yet complete however and your feedback mostly proves that we’ve been moving in the right direction and all that’s left to do is to improve the current result.
 
Also speaking of technologies: today’s update is going to include multi-GPU support for nVIDIA and AMD hardware. So, using two or more video-cards connected with SLI or Crossfire will give you a significant boost to performance. All owners of corresponding configs are recommended to turn them on in the SLI/Crossfire settings check out their effectiveness in BOS.
 
Other changes are included, mostly fixing bugs that you reported about last week. For instance, the steam loco won’t be going on high speed trough the fields anymore and AI pilots will spot them evading from the battle field. The prop damage model has been updated too - props will bend, break and be more realistic in general.
 
And while you’re waiting for the game update that’s about to occur later today, we offer you a fan video about Bf 109 G-2 which is about to enter your hangars very soon. And here’s one more thing - it’s the unlockable modifications tree for La-5, the premium soviet fighter in IL2:BOS.
 


 
la-5_en.png

 
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To all who have been watching how our project evolves and have taken part in the Early Access including those that are labeled as Founders - we are glad to inform you that we’re entering the final stage of development of IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad.
 
Eighteen months ago in December 2012 we announced the start of a new flight sim project and now you can see what exactly that project is. In February 2013 development started, and six months after that we decided to provide the community an opportunity to support our enterprise via the Founder program. Thus, the game became available for sale in July 2013. It was a bold and peculiar move for us and for flight sim fans as well. We hoped that our adult and mature community would understand the specifics and decide to help us in our courageous endeavor. And many of you did, helping us get to this important point in the development process.
 
Four months after the opening of pre-orders we started the Early Access program - another risky step considering that our goals and player’s expectations could have been completely different. But then we decided to establish a highly transparent communication operation with the community. And there were arguments, kudos and critiques, but this was exactly the thing that allowed us to build such cooperation with thousands of players from all over the world. And we feel this approach proved to be a good one with positive results.
 
Today, a new stage of development is upon us – the Beta-version stage. The Alpha version is a cast copy of the project, it’s a shadow with the original forms merely sketched. The Beta version already has all key elements and the game is practically ready to be released - it just needs to be tested and tweaked. Our game will remain in the Beta stage for the whole summer of 2014. All this time will be spent for testing and quality assurance procedures. lL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad will be released in September 2014.
 
Although not our original planned release date, we decided to prepare the game properly so we could present it to the worldwide flight sim community with pride. And your support and attention has proven us that the future of our project is worth fighting for despite all circumstances. Rest assured that the rest of the path will be exciting too. Firstly, we received numerous requests to make Standard edition available again, so we agreed to put it back in the store until June 18th. All the details about the two different editions are available on our site.
 
Secondly, as a sign of gratitude for your trust and great support we decided to give the Founders tag to everyone who bought the game from November 2013 till May 2014. Because that way you can be recognized as someone who made the rebirth of your favorite gaming genre possible!
 
We also plan to launch the game on Steam later this summer. Pricing will be similar to the one on our site. All details about the Steam release will be announced later.
 
Thanks again to all Early Access participants and pre-order owners! You have been making the game together with us. It’s a rare and precious experience for us and hopefully you as well. And thanks to you the project is going to be of a nice quality. The remaining 50% of the development progress is polishing, debugging and taking care of performance and usability issues.
 
The next step is the Beta version. Looks like we made it, guys! And congratulations on the V-E day!
 


 

Today we give you soviet fighter La-5 for the early access. It's one of the two premium planes in our project. This means that golden Founders and early access owners will be able to try the plane in a few hours, but players with Standard edition already have time to plan purchasing La-5 in future. Both La-5 and Fw 190 A-3 will be available in our store in the end of June.

 

Please, DO NOT backup your Input folder this time. Older version of Input will not work. Just let the game update everything automatically.

 

Fan-video by ruNike


P.S. A small part of 1CGS crew went to Lipetsk for the May day holidays to visit local flight sim community. Guys, thanks again for your hospitality and for an unforgettable tour to Lipetsk Airbase!

 
crew_fullback.jpg

 

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Hi Everybody!

Summer, the last season that divides us from the release date is coming really soon. And the remaining 3 months are going to give all the early access owners a chance to try almost every one of the game’s feature before the launch later in September. Today's update is mostly fixing the bugs that have been reported during the past week. Also, w have enabled air resistance to gun and bomb pods and added new features to the MP stats system, etc..

Since this week’s game version is not rich in changes we decided to get a bit educational.

 

Firstly, we publish a guide that would help amature bomber pilots to get better aquanted with the Pe-2 bomb sight.

 

pe2_bombsight_tips_en.png

 

Secondly, many of you already know about the Network settings in the game menu. This is where you can apply the most effective parameters for received and sent traffic. This section of the Settings is specifically useful in these two cases:
- you have a very fast unlimited internet and you’d like to take the best from the game; also the position of planes around you will be shown as precise as possible
- you have slow internet and connection is not reliable, but you want to play with comfort and enjoy playing without “warps”, “teleportations” and so on.

 

How it works if settings are incorrect:
1) You have slow internet connection, but in-game settings are for fast connection. This causes other planes to slow down and your own plane is not controlled smoothly.
2) You have fast internet, but your in-game settings are for slower internet. That causes all planes around you seem to be flying oddly slow.
 

How it should work when set up properly:
a) Find out the speed of your internet connection (use this test, for instance; EU server - Dublin, US server - San Jose);
b) Divide this number into 4;
c) Put the result into the Downloading speed field (if the test result is 10Mb/s or less, put 1 or 2 into the settings);
d) Uploading speed may stay default which is 1Mb/s (but you may down it to 256kb/s is your uploading speed is limited for some reason)

Considering the listed principles, you may experiment with network settings. But what you must keep in mind is that you should not underestimate or overestimate your internet connection quality.

And thirdly, we announce the list of unlockable modifications for Fw 190 A-3 fighter which is going to be available in Early Access in a few weeks.

 

fw190a3_en.png

 

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Hi Everyone!

 

Today we publish answers to the most interesting and important questions of the forum community. Friday game update is still being worked at, and it will be released later today. Don't expect big content updates, it's mostly about bug fixes and improvements.

 

How will the single-player campaign work? Are we going to play as an abstract or real pilot, or we freely choose where to server and what plane to fly? Are separate missions in the campaign connected?

Our goal is to tell the story of Battle of Stalingrad to as many players as we can. This approach along with restricted development period surely limits us in comprehensive recreation of smaller details. Thus it will not be a single player campaign about a pilot or a squadron. It will be about aircraft and war history.

We'd be glad to avoid endless community arguments on that matter. However, there's a lot to discuss since even historians are not certain about some moments. So we just turn away a bit from these issues and create a game about planes. Let your imagination personalize your gaming experience. We're an unbiased story teller. You are pilots living virtual lives in the sim. Also, this community is quite segmented in its desires, just because you are the loudest, does not mean you are the biggest. A lot of players can't afford to spend more than 1 hour a day in the game while the other group of players is able to play the game 10 hours a day or even more. And we realized that it's not us making the game emotional, it is you. Our part is to deliver necessary conditions for your experience.

IL2:BOS campaign will tell you the story of Battle of Stalingrad from November 19th 1942 till February 2nd 1943. The whole period is split into operations (phases of the battle). Each phase has a realistic template on how ground troops and airfields were positioned. We did our best to be as precise as possible in this and all templates are based on historically correct data and real maps. We divided the battle into several key parts: Uranus, Little Saturn, Aerial Bridge, Winter Thunder and so on.

Meanwhile the player is not limited with anything and the playable character is impersonalized. Each player is going to have their own virtual life and singular, specific experience and emotions. You'll be free to pick any plane, any airfield and any mission that is available at that moment. And this unique experience of yours will build your personal campaign.

Missions are not connected with each other. There's sort of a "groundhog day" within each single phase. Time of a day, weather conditions (within a list of historically correct ones for each period) will vary every time you start the mission. And you play this or that phase as many times as you want. Several successfully completed missions open access to the next phase leaving the completed one available for reply at any time. This is akin to sand-box style gaming.

Players who are looking for precise reconstruction of particular historical events will have community created missions to satisfier their demands. Those missions can tell about specific pilots, events and real combat missions down to historically correct personal skins and battle conditions. But our studio is not able to deal with such amount of tasks right now, that's why community we'll need to provide themselves with those WWII reconstruction missions. And the main campaign will remain available for the wider audience.

Is there going to be an object viewer? The opening screen with the rotating plane is stunning. Really allows you to view the aircrafts details. It'd be great to be able to do that with aircraft and even vehicles and other objects as needed.

We have such tool, but it's been designed for development purposes and that's why its interface is too complex. I hope that we'll be able to make something like it for you. But this may happen after game release only.

What’s the final decision regarding the pilot’s exhaustion simulation? There was a users’ poll about it somewhere on the forum.

We’ll do it if we have time for it. You see, the feature is interesting, but still quite elusive. It’s already hard for players to figure out how to play such a complex game where an engine can fail about 10 different ways. So, adding such unexpected elements like pilot’s exhaustion could turn us into a developer with target audience of 20 people.

How will AI bombers behave in the campaign? A player tries to stay alive, maybe bots should do so as well? Speaking of AI pilots in general - will they try to keep their planes and their lives leaving the battlefield if fuels and ammo run out?

Bombers will not be that impressive as you described, but they do have a fear of death. They try to leave the battle and get back to the airfield by evading a threat. But nevertheless they are game objects only. They wouldn’t bring any enjoyment to players if that were not just objects. Imagine that bots would refuse to fly because they saw their battle stats and considered further attempts futile.

When will we have the full mission editor?

This will come after game release. Only those who we have worked with before will have a chance to get their hands on the editor during early access. The editor is too complex. It has reached functionality, but it’s too hard to learn to use it. Loft is sure that 95% of players don’t need it at all. The remaining 5% are actually capable of making something worthy. We’ll contact these 5% later, and I hope that some of them may offer the community their own user missions by the game release.

When will we actually see Skin templates? Can we have some sort of skin viewer to check if our work "works" properly on the model?

Yes, there’ll be templates and tools.

Will there be an option to see how many hours your buddy has flown in the game? What modes count flight time for the global stats?

Detailed stats will be done after game release. We’re currently creating basics of that stats system. One’s flight time counter can possibly be hacked as any other counter, but who plays with cheaters and liars?

How do you plan to count frags? The last one to hit gets it? Or the one who dealt most damage?

We have system of group victory. The one who deals critical damage gets the frag, other get group victory points. The algorithm is rather complex as well as the definition of critical damage. And we don’t have health bars so it’s impossible to count who dealt most damage.

Question, will we have AI that tries to belly land a damaged aircraft? Currently I see AI only bailing out also at low altitudes.

Yes, AI is currently able to bail out only after getting critically hit. Admit that most players do the same. I hope that we’ll be able to teach bots to land on belly. That would mean making AI more complicated which would scarcely be the wisest decision. Anyway we’ll get back to this discussion later.

How much of the code for BoS will be available for third party folks? Back in the day in IL2 there were several 3rd party utilities that came out from Sturmolog to the DCG and the UQMG etc... Will it be possible to do something like this in BoS?

You don’t need code for it. All the tools are in the game as well as full logs and mission editor algorithms. As of yet I’m skeptical about it because people would rather talk then do anything. But if somebody from the community actually did something worthy we’d help them personally as we have at times done with the ROF community. And please don’t compare the game to IL-2 1946. The original IL-2 game lived several years before such creativity came out to the light; we’re only 16 month old.

Will you give dedicated server to players someday this summer, before the release? Is it possible to control the server remotely?

Yes, we’d like to do so and give out the tools. But they are not yet ready and we’re still working on them. It means that you’d require our help and guidance and we’re currently unable to provide constant support to such enthusiasts. Please, stay patient for a bit more.
And yes, you can operate the server software remotely using any standard remote access software, and there’ll be no specific tools for it from us. We also use remote access to control the servers and its fine.
 

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Greetings,
 
I’d like to apologize to those who’s used to reading our diaries on Fridays because we’ve skipped a couple of them recently. The project is on its finish line, and we find it hard to come up with all-fresh news hooks. We have so much to do and there’s so few time left. But I feel sad for being that involved in high-speed development and not in talking to you more. That’s why I’m making this blog although there’s still no news because we’re working real hard.
 
Every Friday you get new versions for Early access, and we get your feedback, fix found bugs and prepare small additions for future. This version is not an exception, and what’s new is that I going to tell you the change log even thou we normally don’t do that. 
 
We’ve been persistent enough and we managed to convince our engineers to make a step back from epic tasks and finally fix the compasses.
 
A tactic-changing element has also been added. From now on incoming air will put pressure on the flaps when you try to release them during a high speed flight. This will only have effect on two aircraft: Yak-1 and IL-2 since they have a pneumatic gears drive. Hydraulics would cope with the pressure but not the pneumatics. Note that nothing is going to happen if you gain speed with the flaps released all the time because they are locked hard in set positions. So, you’re free to experiment and learn about the corrections that may need to be made for further aerial combat experiences.
 
Also we keep working on the stats system applying first versions of it to multiplayer. It’s practically complete but there are still many bugs in it. Today’s update removes most of them, for instance, negative score points after the flight. Several new elements will be also included such as team score (coalition score points) and updated logics of scoring when your team wins.
 
Issues with friction of some planes has been fixed; you may have noticed that they used to dig the nose down in case of belly landing.
 
We keep on optimizing the game because we believe that good graphics is not really pleasant if you don’t get decent performance. Some performance problems have been resolved, some are still there.  Finding and fixing these bugs is a painstaking work which requires lots of patience both from you and us.
 
I’m not going to describe all the minor fixes, reading these details is not worth your time - I’ve told you the key things already. And the last thing I wanted to tell you today: we’re fine and the work is going as planned  even thou good summer weather and pretty girls are against it - planes is what’s inspiring us.
 

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Hi Everybody!
 
A bag of small, but positive and long-awaited news is much more pleasant than one single big good news update, isn’t it?
Adding FW 190 to early access would have been dull and even boring for you. So why don’t we wait for it for another 2 or 3 weeks and simply enjoy what we have due to this weeks’ achievements.
 
First of all, good news for pragmaticс, prudent virtual pilots: the Standard edition will stay in the Store and keep its price until the game release later in September 2014. Note that the two extra planes can always be purchased separately. You can buy both or the one you like most - you decide. First, the La-5 - goes on the virtual store shelf in a few days at the end of the month. Then the Fw-190 A-3 will become available as soon as it’s ready and becomes playable in BOS.
 
Meanwhile we decided to give you a rather small and symbolic, but still important gift: Founder status along with golden and silver bars will be presented to anyone who buys the game before the launch in September 2014. You’re the most loyal community that our project has, so we just can’t overlook your heartfelt belief in the game and your participation in development.
 
Those who have no time to read forum news on Mondays should be informed that we announced a new flight sim project called ILya Muromets which is devoted to the history of military aviation usage by the Russian army on the south-west front of WWI. The star of the show will be the unique Sikorsky designed aircraft that introduced large four-engine bombers to aerial warfare. You can find more info about the project at the official website: http://ilyamuromets.net And of course, feel free to ask us questions about it and engage in discussion in the official forum: http://ilyamuromets.net/forum
 
And IL2:BOS is waiting for a traditional Friday update today. An important feature that has been a temptation for quite a long time is now here; the big Stalingrad map is going to be added to Multiplayer. The endless Volga steppes and breathtaking icy ruins of the city are waiting for you there. We’re expecting some feedback from you as always: the map is big, and performance issues are normally expected. Your feedback is the guiding light that we just can’t live without. By the way some graphical optimization has been made and applied which means that (hopefully) some of you will get to play BOS with a noticeably better visual performance. Also, ground vehicles and projectile physics we optimized as well - this means a good chance for more complicated and complex mission to run on the same mid-core hardware that used to perform poorly before the update. And of course a pack of older bugs was fixed including IL-2 flaps, odd client crashes, etc… Traditionally, we’ll announce it on the forums when the update arrives!
 
Have a nice weekend everybody!
 
P.S.: We're also working at some landscape variations improving the vegetation on the map, so here's a few screenshots of what we got at the moment.
 

tree01.jpg       tree02.jpg
tree03.jpg       tree04.jpg

 

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Hi Everybody!

Another week of development is passing by. Some of you may even say that the game is basically complete and we only need to assemble the ready parts and release is straight away. But actually we all here in our small Moscow office (which doesn’t even have windows BTW) and we are totally engrossed with work. Tension is growing every week, but even summer time with its traditional human thurst for vacations cannot break us. I think, flight-sim developers are the toughest and some of the most driven specialists in the gaming world, because if you can’t keep your promise to deliver a new high-end flight sim - then you don’t get to work on a new IL-2 Sturmovik title.

The Project manager that some of you may know as Han on the forums is the one who, with his unfailing precision is coordinating pretty much all production segments and keeps the work going as planned and previously announced. Actually, he manages to solve so many production issues that I’d rather not bother him without a certain need - everything’s under control and the system is maintained like a perfectly serviced mechanism. He oversees all new elements and fixing newly discovered flaws - all that is in trustworthy hands.

The team of engineers is led be Andrey aka Petrovich who occupies the furthest room in our office. They run so many insanly complicated maths and physics that I’m honestly surprised their PC haven’t been caught on fire yet (three knocks on the wood). The flight model for the Fw-190 and He-111 is what we all are expecting from them these days. There’s no doubt that the result will be as impressing as always. When these two planes are complete, the engineers will run tests for all 10 aircraft that we have and make sure they are historically and technically correct. No use repeating how difficult and long that work can be, but we’re sincerely grateful to them for it.

Of course, there would have been nothing to fly in without the game engine and the program environment in general which are permanently maintained and developed by our programmers and their leader, Sergey Vorsin. Those who claim IL2:BOS to be nothing more than ROF with different planes and maps have no idea on how incredibly wrong they were. Our code guys are relentless. The constantly work on newly added graphical technologies and fresh content, and neverending game optimization - they always know what to do and how to bring the project closer to their ideals. It’s the same story with our network segment developers. BTW you help them a lot with your bug reports on issues in multiplayer; all that feedback is warmly welcomed and sincerely appreciated. It’s crucial to fix the netcode now, before the big release.

The long-awaited He-111 can easily be taken from a desktop on our modelers’ displays and made into a desktop - this much time and work it takes to make a large mighty German bomber. It’s still too early to show it on screenshots but trust me, there’s a lot in this aircraft for you to put your teeth into. The Fw-190 is much clearer - we only need to finalize the cockpit. Meanwhile, we still have to agree to some compromises, such as gauge illumination level dial is not going to be controllable in the game. Even though it’s a unique feature we still hope that you’ll be able to fly and and enjoy the game without it.

And that picture of peace and harmony that is saturated with creative energy is regularly resounded with rumble and clanking. Valery Kornilov, like a very self-critical and devoted goldsmith, is polishing the sounds that he prepares for the game. Well, we can’t shush on him: the war is a one loud thing, so our sound director is fighting for every decibel to be in its place.

The most quiet spot in our office is occupied be the customer support. If you’ve ever communicated with them them you must know how client-oriented they are. How could it be any different? Flight-sims is a unique genre and its community is definitely worth being treated correspondingly.

Unfortunately, the developer blog isn’t big enough for me to tell more about other crew members. But anyway what I was trying to share with you is the unique atmosphere here in the studio. It’s the spirit of the original, long-awaited and cherished project - a really new IL-2.

 

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Hi Everybody,

 

It’s hot times in the development studio and there’s a lot of great, new things to be added relatively soon (take Fw-190 for instance). But these days we’re working on something particularly big. It is the campaign mode that is being added into the project. It doesn't mean that it will soon be available in the early access but now this day is closer for sure. Also separate controls for rockets and bombs will be implemented. That’s why we’re going to have to leave the actual version as it is now and keep working on the update. This means that there won’t be a game update today, because next week will bring us a new build which needs to be completed first and cannot be deployed to the server unfinished.

 

Meanwhile a new version of the official website is practically ready, and it will be launched on Monday, July 7th. The very first thing that Standard Edition owners will notice is the La-5 that is coming to the store. Remember that the Fw-190 is to be added for purchase later this month as soon as it’s available in early access.

 

 

il2bos_site_en.png

 

The index page is now divided into 4 blocks:

 

1) Main trailer: the pre-order video holds its place these days, but it’ll be replaced with a brand new BOS trailer which, we hope, you’ll find even more impressive.

2) The Store allowing you to purchase game codes for either edition as well as premium planes.

3) Product description that is now split into 3 key features: Play, Fly, Learn.

4) Community-made game videos: the best fan-made trailers will be handpicked and proudly placed there – which we appreciate so much. Nobody does a better job advertising our products than our community!

 

We also plan to be updating the screenshots area more often by picking the best of your screens and posting them in the corresponding section. If you make an impressive high-quality Full HD or more screenshot in BOS and applied no editing, please post it in the forum for all to see. If it is marvelous enough, you may have your work posted on the official portal or even used by the gaming press. Keep posting your screens on the forum; it’s a great way to share your amazing BOS experience with the world!

 

That’s it for today. Let’s all wait for the next week and then enjoy what it has for us. We wish a lovely weekend to everyone! Happy 4th of July to our American friends in the community!

 

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Hi Everybody!


Today’s update should be released as planned - it’s full of great new features and we want to deliver them to you as soon as we can. As you know from the previous dev diary we’re adding Campaign mode technology into the game. It does not mean that you or us are able to play this mode now, at this stage of early access. But it means that a huge volume of content and lots of gameplay algorithms are being merged with the project. It was only a couple of days ago when VikS’ screen looked like that.

 

DSC_0158.JPG

 

Almost one hundred airfields on the map. Each of them has its combat history, each of them is known for squadrons based on them - and all of them will play active roles in the campaign. When it’s ready the briefing screen will change a lot. And this is how one of the campaign starting screens will look like - you’ll see your progress in the current stage of the battle. .

 

il2bos_AQM_TC_start_screen_EN.png

 

As you can see the game is still being developed in your virtual presence, and you’re the main tasters of our sim cuisine. :)

 

And since the campaign is still being cooked, I’m going to tell you want we’ll be serving tonight.

The siren on Stuka is finally ready to sing. In a few hours you’ll be able to turn it on and, for instance, start vulching enemy airfields on your Ju-87.

Vertical rate indicators and horizon indicators have been turned on; fixed loop radio compasses are now working on Pe-2, Ju-87 and He-111. They are also available as unlockable modifications on Yak-1 and La-5.

 

Radio beacons in Quick Mission editor will be placed on all airfields where you plan to start and finish the mission. In multiplayer, the beacons will be working on almost all of the airfields. Your fixed loop radio compass will be responding to the nearest beacon by default. We know that you’d like to have more settings and an option to switch channels - and we’ll add it later.

Something that you’ve been waiting for long - binding separate keys for dropping bombs and launching rockets is now possible. The bombers also got some corrections: the boom that helps to release the bomb from the attachment on Ju-87 has bben fixed; half-doors of the bomb hatch on Pe-2 will interact with bombs under the Peshka’s belly correctly. Turnkey needle should now be functional on all planes. German aim sights were fixed with colour filter - Luftwaffe’s virtual pilots as always enjoy superior German comfort.

 

Today we also add new trees and bushes, and you can see some of the m on the screenshots below. And in a few hours this new richly updated version will be in your hands.

 

veget_il2bos_1.jpg        veget_il2bos_2.jpg        veget_il2bos_3.jpg

 

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Hi Everybody,


The traditional Friday update is waiting to be deployed for you later today. And while Loft and Jason are on their challenging business trip visiting the America’s most popular gaming media, we here at the studio are preparing all kinds of improvements for BOS.

Ammocounters that many of you have been waiting for are going to become available on both Bf 109 and on Ju-87. A nice improvement has been made to the DM - it is now possible to cause damage to enemy’s machine guns and cannons and practically disable them. There are also going to be visual changes - you’ll notice that we’ve implemented vapour trails and wingtip trails that often appear when a plane reaches critical angles.

 

FW 190 A-3 that some of you are eager to see in the game is planned to be released next week. And as we’re doing our best to make it happen, check out this short flight video featuring the fighter.

 

http://youtu.be/31qFvUIAdP0

 

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Hi Everyone,

 

Today we give you FW 190 A-3 for the early access. Beside that the plane is going to be available in the store at il2sturmovik.com for all Standard edition owners. And of course the Focke-Wulf is to be added to all multiplayer servers as well. So, this is the last fighter plane in IL2BOS, so there’s only He 111 is left and you’ll see it during summer 2014.

 

Also we present you a new Battle of Stalingrad trailer. Some of you could have seen it already on US gaming media sites but now it’s available officially on our YouTube channel.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4JfBYoHYg8

 

The new game version is planned to be deployed on early access servers this evening (Moscow time). Below you’ll find the first sweet FW 190 cockpit screenshots that we’ll ease up waiting for the update.

 

il2bos_fw190_1.jpg       il2bos_fw190_2.jpg

il2bos_fw190_3.jpg       il2bos_fw190_4.jpg

 

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Hi Everybody!

 

Congratulations with the last month of summer and the final stage of BOS development. The end of July was far not simple but first things first.


First of all, our press-trip that lasted for 2 weeks is finally over. Our goal was to show the game to the US and European media, and everything went quite well. If you’re wondering how interested the modern gaming media is in flight sims, check out the Press about us section here. I personally would like to mention the EU presentation in Prague where we were lucky to meet some folks from the community, which was possibly the best part of the trip.


Secondly, we’ve released Fw 190 A-3 for early access. A great plane that raised great disputes. Today’s update contains some fixes in regards of Focke-Wulf’s damage model and its 3D model. We’ve worked at the compromise solution that had been proposed earlier this week, and we hope that this new approach to the windscreen implementation would be more commonly accepted.

 

Thirdly, ILYA Muromets was sent to early access and added to the digital store yesterday. As we’ve said before, this project is important for us because it’s our very first experience of working on a title devoted to one of the fathers of modern aviation which Igor Sikorsky was. .And also it’s a wonderful chance for a technological experiment (mouse control in particular) that we wouldn’t risk to start in a larger sim project.


And we keep on working on the Historical campaign mode - currently it has the top priority in development - and on He 111, the German bomber. You’ll see a couple of screenshots with it below the text. Have a nice weekend and enjoy your flights!

 

il2bos_He111_1.jpg       il2bos_He111_2.jpg       il2bos_He111_3.jpg

 

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75

 

 

Hi Everybody!

 

This week has been rich in all sorts of events in the development. The late Friday update is an adequate proof of that.

 

We've started Early Access program for IL2"BOS on Steam. Hopefully, it will help us make sure that the game runs smoothly and reliably which let’s you have fun playing it when released. There are two versions available for purchase - the regular one (Standard) and Deluxe edition (Premium). The extra planes La-5 and Fw 190 are also available as DLCs.

 

Store page of the game is here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/307960

Community hub can be found here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/307960

 

Also we've decided to make it possible to upgrade a Standard Edition into a Premium Edition. Buying both extra planes automatically gives you a gold bar on the forum instead of the silver one and grants you special markings on multiplayer servers.

 

The second big news is the one you've been waiting for since last Friday. It is the FM changes for several aircraft. Almost all of them were modified except for LaGG-3. Stability of all planes was reconfigured and the plane's reaction to sharp movements of the stick was revised. Rudder effectiveness for Fw-190 was slightly decreased. Roll rate was finalized for all planes according to the reference base that we have. So it wouldn't be a lie to say that maneuverability characteristics of all BOS planes are complete.

 

We expect quite a lot of feedback and impressions on the recent changes. So we'll be answering the most topical questions. And remember that the next  big update won't take long to arrive which will bring us the He 111 and extended engine control features.

 

 

post-7693-0-84960300-1408120599.jpg

 

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Hi Everybody!

 

Today we give you He 111 H-6 for the early access. This magnificent aircraft completes the IL2BOS hangar making it all 10 planes that we planned to create - and we did it. Still there is one BUT - we release it without bomb load this week. Next Friday update will contain necessary corrections

 

Also today we update the game version implementing massive changes in the multiplayer, improving its technical features. We count on performance improvement however we don't know yet how big this improvement will be. Also some technical issues are expected so don't be surprised if multiplayer mode crashes - we're testing the new system, it's still WIP.

The team is working hard and there’s still a lot to do. But the work is not just for the in-studio employees.

Some of you already know that a small group of enthusiasts is engaged in a voluntary project - creating an additional content for BOS. For instance, Tatarenko has presented us his first singleplayer missions and we’re considering an opportunity to add them to the game. Also earlier this week I’ve asked the lead designer of another small team, Zeus to tell more about their remarkable project which is highly awaited even by us.

 

Zeus:

 

We’re in love with the sky with our whole hearts. Most of us have been flight enthusiasts since childhood, attending modeling clubs (I personally have a grade in RC modeling) and reading tons of aviation related material. But circumstances weren’t always smooth for each of us and only a few actually work with planes.

For people like us flight-sims are the only chance to virtually touch the sky. That’s our sort of escapism: get back home from work, let the family sleep, get to the room and “fly” for an hour or so.

And we started building our own map - Novosokolniki. We approached the dev’s with our idea and discussed it with them. They said that they know about this piece of history, but they’re simply short of resources and time to make such a campaign. But players may try this challenge and make a small map for the two planes by themselves.

So, we decided to create a “semi-historical” map. I call it semi-historical because the game industry is not yet capable of recreating realistically sized territories exactly the way they looked back then in 1942. The work started in August 2013. We spent a few months learning the technologies, researching and categorizing all the info including wartime maps of the Red Army and Wehrmacht including aerial footage and photos. After several months of development a base for the map was finished: landscape, rivers, forests, roads, rail tracks and villages. We modeled several types of buildings that are not available in the original game, such as churches and rail stations. We've also learned how to enriche the vegetation with spruces which are naturally not presented in the Stalingrad region. I’m glad to admit that we learned to use the editor within a relatively short period.

*****

In addition to the changes that have been mentioned above we plan to add the Novosokolniki map to the game today. It should be available in multiplayer to all IL2BOS players.

Click HERE to open the map of this level (only Russian names are available at the moment).

 

1.jpg     4.jpg     2.jpg

5.jpg     3.jpg     6.jpg

 


P.S. As a bonus for today we're sharing this short video. It's kinda related to Steam... just watch it.

 

 

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Hi everybody!

Some of you may still remember how convoy and train crews were running away from attacks from the air in old IL-2: 1946. Starting today you’ll be able to see a similar picture in BOS. To tell the truth, it’s only a first step on our way of bringing more life to the the scenery. But first things first. Meanwhile, the artillery units’ crews have also started to care about their safety and leave their post when the cannon is severely damaged.

Also we’ve finished work on several sim features this week: improved the automatic procedures of starting and stoping the engine (new sounds for it will be added next week), reaction of He 111 construction to combat damaged was fixed; inflamability of Pe-2 and He 111 was also corrected; some issues with the flare gun on German planes were taken care of.

With the IL2BOS release on Steam the question of extra multiplayer servers has become topical. To provide the pilots with comfortable MP experience we gave some volunteers an opportunity to help us and gave out the necessary software. By the way, I’d like to say aoother big thanks to all who provides these servers - it’s a noble deed that is very appreciated among the community. Even though our job is not done yet you’ve arranged to set up public servers and put away your squad’s or personall ambitions. We do realise that some of you are eager to host your own server with blackouts and stukas. But now, at this stage of development it’s absolutely no good to us to have dozens of empty servers, and pretty much no fun to you - since the full mission editor is not out yet.

The following community servers are now available (in order of their appearence):
1) EU duel server - the only password protected public server, great place for pilots who feel the need to find out who’s the best;
2) EU custom server - offers different official maps with custom difficulty settings and missions that start in the beautiful morning hours;
3) US Eagle’s Nest server - has no autobalance and timeout settings, so it welcomes entire squads to join the battle;
4) RU coop and training server - a recently established server capable to provide good ping for players on the vast territory of Russia;
5) EU Syndicate server - painstakingly tuned server with full realism setting brought to the community by an experienced ROF crew.
There’s no doubt that if we need it, we’ll continue to share the dserver with players able and willing to provide the community with quality and exciting multiplayer experience. But please keep in mind that we still need you on our servers to track performance and do further optimization.
 
http://youtu.be/qgNc3GptF-w

 

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Hello dear pilots!
 
Autumn came and it means that we have reached the final part of the development. In today's update will be fixed some bugs and will be added a few new elements, they are not big and will not have a special effect on the gameplay.
 
Today we'll give the latest beta version to a certain group of players. It will turn into release candidate after passing of process of debugging and thereafter it will already turn into release. The campaign has a lot of bugs as any soft built on random generation, it's extremely difficult to check out all the options. We'll focus on this process all our efforts now.
 
The exact release date of the project will depend on how the debugging process will go. We'll announce it as soon as we can. At some point, release candidate will be public and you will see it too, but it will happen only after major errors will be corrected.
 
Many thanks to all who helps us to create training videos and texts, many thanks to all who helped us in the first week after a release of the project in Steam. Flight simulator game called niche, it so and probably someone says so finding it's a shortcoming. But on the other hand this is the great strength of the genre. When the players are no longer gamers and become pilots, creating a unique community.
 

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Hi Everybody!

 

The team has been working on the single player campaign (or AQM – advanced quick mission as we call it) for the whole week. The recent live stream shown on Friday was to demonstrate you some of the elements of that extensive mode. As you might guess, that’s a whole lot of work – to put that much content into this complicated system. You may have a lot of questions about this part of the project and you’ll find answers to many of them in the record of our latest live stream below.

 

Along with AQM, we’re completing the other elements of the sim. Today’s update brings you the technical chat (or technochat, sounds impressive). Anyway this feature is to tell you what happens to your plane: gears are released, an engine suffers from overheating, all your gunners are extensively bleeding, and so on. And of course you can always turn those off if you’re so hardcore.

Some peculiar DM improvement is to be deployed later today: incoming damage will be able to breaks rods used to control rudders and ailerons. It’s pretty hard to demonstrate such feature on a video for example so you’re free to try it yourself flying on a damaged aircraft in BOS. By the way, AI pilots will tend to bail out if those rods are damaged in their planes.

 

As it was planned from the very beginning, we’re adding deeper simulation step by step. Today is a good day for Messerschmitt pilots because they get to control all radiators manually.

Other changes are mostly about minor graphical fixes. Speaking of which: nVIDIA released new WHQL driver pack that features IL2BOS profile. So if you want to use your SLI-configuration in the game then just install the 344.11 version – the thing should work at least as good as in ROF.

 

Here goes the record of the live stream I promised. Have a good weekend everyone.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guA-Cm9jDRs

 

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