IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad News

Attention Gunners!

We are proud to announce that the Sd.Kfz. 10/5 Flak 38 Collector Vehicle is now AVAILABLE ON STEAM! 

We have also included a Launch Discount that is good for one week until August 27th 2021. This is the maximum time allowed by Steam rules.

Sd.Kfz. 10/5 Flak 38 - $19.99 (Reg. $24.99)


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1728910/IL2_Sturmovik_SdKfz_105_Flak_38_AntiAircraft_Gun/





We hope you enjoy shooting down enemy planes with this awesome vehicle!

See you on the battlefield!

The Sturmovik Team

290

Dear Pilots,

Our Mosquito FB Mk,VI for Battle of Normandy is coming along nicely. Some very early WIP shots of it in the engine. Still much support work to do for it still. Will initially be available to fly with 8 squadrons in Career mode.

Q. If it's made from polygons is it still a Wooden Wonder?



Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

Update 4.603

Dear Friends,

IL-2 team reports that the new update 4.603 is released. It's a significant one for Flying Circus Vol.II - three airplanes are added to the Early Access program of this project at once.



Also in this update is the long-awaited Collector Vehicle - German AA half-track Sd.Kfz.10/5. It was an interesting experience to develop: this is the first player controllable half-truck chassis in our sim. A lot of work went into ballistics data and other ammo parameters research. Our partners at Digital Forms did a stellar job at references research and creation of the 3D model and myriad of its parts based on them.



Oyster_KAI improved all Flying Circus aircraft cockpits (both Vol.I and Vol.II) and Martin =ICDP= Catney created 4K quality external textures for the German Collector Plane Hs 129 B-2.



And finally, Alexander =BlackSix= Timoshkov finished his new campaign "Steel Birds" about Fw 190 A-5 missions over the Kuban and it is available in the game now (you can get it on our website if you haven't done so already).



Meanwhile, the work on Marshal multiplayer mode, fuel systems and drop tanks, environment graphics, Normandy and Western Front WW1 maps continues and we hope to show you the results sooner than later. This update contains many changes in addition to mentioned above:

Main Changes

1. Collector Vehicle 20 mm Flak 38 anti-aircraft gun on Sd.Kfz 10/5 half-track is now available;
2. Pfalz D.XII is now available to all customers who pre-ordered Flying Circus Vol.II;
3. The early version of the Spad VII.C1 fighter with a 150-horsepower engine is now available to all customers who pre-ordered Flying Circus Vol. II;
4. The Airco DH4I two-seater single-engine bomber is now available to all customers who pre-ordered Flying Circus Vol. II;
5. New historical scenario campaign “Steel birds” is now available;
6. All Flying Circus Vol.I and Vol.II airplanes cockpits detail improved (Oyster_KAI);
7. Hs-129 B-2 attack aircraft now has 4K quality external texturing (Martin 'ICDP' Catney);

Aircraft Changes

8. Fixed invisibility of paratroopers on Ju-52 and C-47 in a multiplayer game;
9. Removed the ability to select a pistol and fire it when the cockpit is closed (it is automatically holstered);
10. Fixed overload indicator for ‘guest’ gunners (other players) in multi-crew airplanes in multiplayer;
11. Adjusted the maximum wing lift of the Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib. The flight model of the aircraft was reconfigured in such a way that most of the flight characteristics of the aircraft (speed, rate of climb, control stick balancing positions, roll angular velocities) practically did not change;
12. The indicator in the bombsight showing the impossibility of dropping bombs from the current position has been fixed;
13. AI pilots won’t shake their aircraft along the pitch axis when attacking a ground target with cannons that have a mix of different types of ammo;
14. AI pilots won’t ignore a heavily damaged but not destroyed ground target;
15. The angle of a shallow bombing dive for Pe-2, Il-2, Fw-190, Ju-87, Ju-88, Bf-110, Hs-129 aircraft has been increased to 30°;
16. Bomb release sound has been added to all Flying Circus aircraft;

Player Controllable Tanks Changes

17. "Turn off the engine" command works as it should and has voiceover;
18. Fixed an infinite rotation of AI-controlled detailed tanks after giving them a turn and stop order;
19. Fixed "turn shaking" of AI-controlled detailed tanks that sometimes happened after stopping;
20. Fixed "looping" of AI-controlled detailed tanks hat sometimes happened after "Turn by 180°" order;
21. Movement to a point and movement according to the mission scenario commands correctly function after issuing commands "Stop and hold position" and "Turn and stop";
22. The camera won’t be randomly stuck in external view after the death of one of the crew members and it won’t be possible to switch to a killed crew member;
23. The gunner now uses a manual turret traverse drive and its different gears if available depending on the aiming correction required (small adjustments are made using the manual drive);
24. Killed gunners won’t visibly "turn" after death;
25. Detailed tanks won’t "bounce" when collided with static versions of vehicles (static_ ...);

Graphic Effects

26. Ship wake trails and splashes effects are improved significantly;
27. New ship explosion and sinking effects added;
28. Improved ship fire effects added;
29. New aircraft fuel tank explosion effect created;
30. Bomb ground detonations, railroad and road fuel transport explosions are improved and optimized;

Pilot's Career

31. New bombing mission types added for all fighter/bombers in all careers (8 types in total): artillery position, fortified area, troop concentration, airfield, river crossing, railway junction, warehouse, bridge;
32. The mission logic in all ground attack and bomber missions has been improved: the player's flight planes returning home with unused bombs and missiles should happen much less often;
33. The player’s fighter/bomber flight in all ground attack and bomber missions should have an escort depending on the type of the player's aircraft and the time period;

Other Changes

34. The deletion of train cars by the MCU: Delete mission command fixed (previously it only deleted the locomotive, leaving the cars);
35. Fixed a problem with the part of the game interface missing in the screenshots;
36. A default tactical code can be set in the spawn point settings in the mission editor;
37. The discrepancy between the ship movement effects for different players in multiplayer has been fixed;
38. Corrected ballistics and penetration ability of German 20mm rounds used in anti-aircraft guns;
39. Thorny 13 pdr AA anti-aircraft gun firing sound restored;
40. Fixed the “Engageable” flag for GAZ-MM 72K anti-aircraft gun in mission editor (previously AI pilots attacked the vehicle even with it set to 0).


SUMMER SALE 2.0 IS ON!

The Summer Sale 2.0 runs from 10:00am PST August 11th to 10:00am PST August 25th right here on STEAM.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/307960/IL2_Sturmovik_Battle_of_Stalingrad/

Tank Crew - 50% Off
BOM – 75% Off
BOK – 75% Off
BOBP – 66% Off
FC1 – 66% Off
Hurricane Mk.II - 50% Off
Yak-9 – 50% Off
Yak-9T – 50% Off
Fw-190 D-9 – 66% Off
P-38 J-15 – 66% Off
U-2VS -75% Off
Ju-52/3M – 75% Off
Bf-109 G-6 – 75% Off
Yak-1B – 75% Off
Spitfire Mk. VB – 75 % Off
LA-5FN – 75% Off
HS-129 B-2 – 85% Off
P-40E-1 – 85% Off
Macchi MC.202 – 85% Off
Fw-190 A-3 – 85% Off
LA-5 Series 8 – 85% Off
Ice Ring – 50% Off
Blazing Steppe – 75% Off
Fortress on the Volga – 75% Off

https://store.steampowered.com/app/244050/Rise_of_Flight_United/

All ROF Content – 75% Off

Enjoy!

See you in the skies and on the battlefield!

The Sturmovik Team

Dear Friends,

A LOT is being worked on at the moment and we’d like to share what is going on, but first, here is a picture of our new American bomber pilot models that are now ready for implementation. Once again, our dear friend Alexey comes through with a beautiful model.



First, update 4.603 is coming next week, assuming there are no nasty last-minute surprises. The 4.603 update will see the release of the long awaited Sd.Kfz. 10/5 Flak 38 vehicle mounted anti-aircraft gun and three WWI aircraft for Flying Circus: Volume II – the SPAD VII, Pfalz D.XII and the Airco DH.4 two-seater.




In addition to the new aircraft for FC2, Ugra Media is hard at work on the map and making elements for it including buildings, airfields, vehicles and other small details that you may find interesting.



And don’t forget that the awesome STEEL BIRDS historical campaign is also going to be released with the 4.603 update. You can still pre-order it in the IL-2 Official Webstore! Jabo pilots get ready!

I also want to touch on a few items that you have heard about or have been waiting for patiently for a while.

We have good news and not so good news on the progress of our new more Complex Fuel Systems feature and Drop Tanks. It looks like we will be able to include drop tanks for some of the later model Bf-109s in the sim along with their new fuel system modeling in the next update. The not so good news is that other aircraft will have to follow in future updates as we work to retrofit so many planes. We had hoped to be able to accelerate this process, but we have not been able to fill a couple critical positions on the team in time to make this happen as fast as we want. However, these 109s really needed drop tanks so we added them first. There is a slight chance they won’t make this update if last minute bugs appear, but we are hopeful. Positive thoughts please!

Next, our new Air Marshal feature has been in testing for a couple weeks now and it does function, but there are some bugs and design issues that need to be ironed out before release. Air Marshal includes lots of GUI related items and is also connected to multiplayer so it’s more complex than a simple GUI feature. We’re finally feeling confident that Air Marshal will indeed be released, but exact ETA is still not known. However, it’s inching closer and closer with the help of some motivated testers. When we’re certain the interface is finalized or very close to final, we will show you pictures and talk about its features.

Additionally, we continue to test and work on the new AQM (Advanced Quick Missions) feature and it’s making rapid progress, but initial tests revealed some issues that need to be addressed. The AQM system will eventually be applied to all our maps and we are working to do that as soon as possible. It is likely it will be released for our larger maps first then applied to the others. Projected release is this Fall.

In Career mode news we are happy to report that 8 new mission types for fighter-bombers are going to be in the next update. Viks and LukeFF have been working to improve the career in this aspect and all seems to be working well.

Also, many of you know we are working on new cloud technology for the sim. This should bring our clouds up to a new level of beauty, variety and realism. We also plan to work with a talented community member on this project and we hope it will bear fruit in the coming months. But before we get into worrying about artistic quality, we need to perfect the technology part of it. And we think, based on early tests, that these clouds will also improve performance, but yield a prettier result. We’ll have pictures for you once we have something worthwhile to show you.

And finally, work on several new aircraft continues – V-1, P-51B/C, Me-410, Mosquito, Ar-234, B-26 (AI) are all being worked on feverishly and Ugra is knee-deep in building the cockpit for the C-47 along side preparing more FC2 planes for release.

And last but not least - Jason is beginning to plan future projects that you’ll likely learn about late this year or early next year as we work feverishly to finish Battle of Normandy.

There are so many aspects of IL-2 we are working on as we finish out this hot summer and we’ll talk about in future Developer Diaries.

See you in the skies!

The Sturmovik Team

Dear Pilots, Tankers and Gunners,

Today we have a short Developer Diary for you that shows progress on the Normandy airfields and the cockpit our P-51B/C.

As with our Rhineland map, the Normandy map will include historically accurate airfields. Here you can see how we match up period photos with our in-game map as we build them.



And work continues on the P-51B/C cockpit and below are some WIP shots. Of course, there are some missing details as the work is ongoing and still quite early. We are confident the P-51B/C will be really awesome when completed.



Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team