IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad News

Dear friends,

The year 2020 is here in full force. Let's hope that the new decade will bring good changes to our world. We in the IL-2 Sturmovik team are beginning the work on the new project, Battle of Normandy. For instance, the production of 3D models for several new planes has started already. We're researching the possibility of moving the rendering engine to Deferred Shading tech. The map team has begun the research of the new map. We're making design documents on new buildings, ground vehicles, ships and motorboats.

We're continuing our approach of improving our sim constantly - the incoming update 4.004 will bring many improvements for our already released projects. It will also add the new tank for Tank Crew - Pz.Kpfw.V Ausf.D "Panther" - and additional airfields and visually improved banks of the countless rivers and canals on the Rheinland map.




The Sturmovik Team

Dear Pilots,

Another Holiday Season is upon us and that means it’s time again for a huge sale and reflecting on the year that was. 2019 was a year like no other in our history as we released two new titles (Battle of Bodenplatte and Flying Circus) and neared completion on a third (Tank Crew). We also announced our next great battle (Normandy) and continued to improve our simulation engine even further with no fewer than ten major updates and several Hotfixes.

As always, we could not have done all this without your continued financial and encouraging support. The team continues to work to make the entire IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles series better and better all the time. We have just one simple message and that is we hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season and can spend some time with your favorite IL-2 title.

Next year, 2020, will see the completion of Tank Crew, release of more Collector Planes (Hurricane, Yak-9 and Yak-9T), continued improvements and the addition of new features for IL-2. It will also see the release of an interesting and fun add-on for a much improved Cliffs of Dover from our partners at Team Fusion. We hope you will stick by us again in the year to come!

Winter Sale Begins

The Winter Sale runs from Dec. 19th until Jan. 2nd on Steam and Dec. 19th through Jan. 2nd on the Official Website.

]Battle of Stalingrad – 75% OFF

Battle of Moscow – 75% OFF

Battle of Kuban – 75% OFF

All Collector Planes – 75% OFF (Except P-38 and Fw-190 D-9)

Blazing Steppe Scripted Campaign – 75% OFF

Fortress on the Volga Scripted Campaign – 75% OFF

All Rise of Flight Content – 75% OFF

We wish everyone in the IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles community a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a fantastic New Year’s! Please stay safe and we’ll see you again in 2020 which will usher in a new decade of IL-2 flight and armor simulation goodness!

The Sturmovik Team

Updates 4.003 and 4.003b

Dear Friends,

Yesterday we decided to release a Bug-Fix update (4.003) to prepare for the coming winter holidays - it doesn't bring new content, but its fixes are important enough. The most of them are AI improvements - we have spent a lot of time this month to improve dogfighting algorithms and we'll continue to improve AI further. There are also important fixes for the player controlled ground vehicles and our friend =Luke FF= worked on improving the Career mode.

Today we also released a Hotfix update (4.003b) to fix some more small issues.

The full list of changes is following:

4.003 AI Improvements
1. AIs finish a ground attack run by pulling up harder, which should improve their survivability rate in hilly terrain;
2. AI bombers drop the bombs better;
3. Advanced AIs won't 'stuck' in an endless circle during dogfight anymore;
4. AIs perform "Low Yo-Yo" and "High Yo-Yo" maneuvers better;
5. Detailed AI tanks engage the nearest targets by default like simple AI tanks do;
6. AI drivers of self-propelled artillery and other ground equipment with a fixed main weapon now face the target to aim if the priority of the mission command being executed is LOW;
7. Ground vehicles won't 'jump' on steep slopes;
8. Ground vehicle AIs won't turn their engines off immediately after stopping;
9. AI ground vehicles have a variable exhaust effect when moving;
10. The steam locomotives won't turn on the lights during the day;
11. AA guns and machine guns mounted on trains follow mission command priority;

Aircraft Improvements
12. The game won't crash when repairing a dirty airplane canopy;
13. Fixed excess clicks of triggers in the cockpit for missing weapon groups;


Player Controlled Tanks Improvements
14. There is a turret ventilation sound in Pz.III Ausf.M, Pz.IV Ausf.G, Pz.VI Ausf.H1 and T-34-76UVZ-43;
15. The master switch is turned on not only when the engine is turned on, but also when the headlights, lighting, signal, tower control with electric trigger or fan are turned on;
16. Fixed the "loss" of the camera when switching from a gunsight to the normal view;
17. Detailed tanks gunsight adjustments are displayed in technochat;
18. Opening and closing of various hatches is displayed in technochat;
19. Startup procedures, the operation of turret and gun systems of the Tank Crew tanks are displayed in technochat;
20. Sub-caliber armor-piercing rounds now lose their stability and ability to penetrate further armor barriers after breaking through the first one;
21. On SU-122, the problem with displaying the commander’s sight in VR was fixed (the second eye was not deactivated);
22. On SU-122, when choosing the DG-460A HEAT shells, the slider of the scope scale is now correctly set to the third scale;
23. Added gunsight settings for firing using a gunner’s sight to the description of SU-122;

Career Mode improvements
24. Awards in career mode adjusted to better reflect the historical reality for all nations;
25. Awards text descriptions updated;
26. US careers: medals are awarded according to the criteria set forth by the US 9th Air Force in 1944;
27. German careers: new AI pilots in the squadron with previous flight time now have the possibility to have campaign awards from earlier battles (Eastern Front Medal and Kuban Shield);
28. Soviet careers: new AI pilots in the squadron with previous flight time now have the possibility to have the Medal 'For the Defense of Stalingrad' from December 22, 1942;
29. Soviet careers: Order of the Patriotic War 2nd Class, Order of the Patriotic War 1st Class, Red Wound Stripe, and Yellow Wound Stripe no longer erroneously awarded during the Battle of Moscow;
30. British careers: Mentioned in Despatches can now be awarded multiple times;
31. More stock aircraft skins added to all phases of career mode;
32. German fighter and attack pilots will now fly an airfield attack strafing mission on January 1, 1945, in career mode;
33. Aircraft weapon loadouts and modification restrictions updated for all phases of career mode;

Other improvements
34. Loaders in player controllable tanks, Ju-52 Co-Pilot and A-20 Navigator are invulnerable if Invulnerability difficulty option is turned on;
35. All aircraft GUI previews updated to have a similar style;
36. Simple AI vehicle sounds completely overhauled (all large artillery guns, tanks and assault guns, GMC-CCKW, WillysMB, M16-AA, 72K).

4.003b
1. Fixed the lack of ammo in some Career mission types;
2. AI pilots perform maneuvers at low altitudes better;
3. Albatros D.Va won't erroneously overheat in a climb*;
4. P.u.W. bombs look correctly from afar;
5. S.E.5a compass corrected;
6. Bristol Firghter side-slip indicator made visible;
7. Halberstadt CL.II gunner animation corrected;
8. 13-pdr and 77 mm AA guns firing range corrected;
9. Sturmoviks correctly open fire at the ships in the 3rd mission of the Sea Dragons campaign;
10. Hitting Blip Switch button won't show a wrong message about an engine failure;
11. Static aircraft in the Bodenplatte career can be destroyed by guns and MGs.

- Albatros D.Va overheats and engine seizes at normal coolant temperature were fixed (the reason was overheating of the oil). You can still get a message about engine overheating in the GUI due to overheating of the cylinders when the coolant temperature is below the boiling point, but still high. Just keep the coolant temperature within the normal range.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

Attention Pilots!

We are proud to announce that Battle of Bodenplatte and Flying Circus along with the P-38J-25 and Fw-190D-9 are now AVAILABLE ON STEAM!

We have also included a Launch Discount that is good for one week until Dec. 10th 2019.

Battle of Bodenplatte - $44.99 (Reg. $49.99)

Flying Circus - $69.59 (Reg. 79.99)

P-38J-25 - $17.59 (Reg. $19.99)

Fw-190 D-9 - $17.59 (Reg. $19.99)





NOTE: To purchase Battle of Bodenplatte or Flying Circus or any Collector Planes such as the P-38J-25 and Fw-190 D-9 you first need to own Battle of Stalingrad.

See you in the skies!

The Sturmovik Team

Update 4.002

Dear Friends,

Our team is glad to announce that we finished another update 4.002. In this version, all Tank Crew owners get the SU-122 assault gun. In addition, everyone gets many improvements - some of them our community asked for a long time. After additional work on the aircraft visibility modeling against the clouds is improved. We also added automatic dive-recovery controls to four bombers from Battle of Stalingrad and Battle of Moscow. The login time has been drastically decreased, it will now happen up to ten times faster than before. Tank and aircraft turrets aiming will be more convenient and there are many other minor improvements. Let's go into detail about the automatic dive-recovery controls:

Ju-87
When the dive system is engaged, the plane enters a dive when the air brakes are extended and will recover from the dive either by pressing the bomb drop button or when the air brakes are retracted. The dive system controls are separate: the trimmer tab on the right elevator is controlled by the dive system while the pilot controls the trimmer tab on the left elevator. Therefore the pilot input and dive system input of the trimmers are independent, and when the dive system is in operation, there is no indication of a trimmer position change in the technochat.

Ju-88
When the dive system is engaged, the plane enters a dive when the air brakes are extended or when the dive button (LCtrl + D by default) is pressed. The plane will recover from the dive either by pressing the bomb drop button or by pressing the dive button (LCtrl + D by default). The dive system will return to the neutral position of the elevator trim, while the full range of trimmer travel from the pilot’s input is preserved. Therefore the pilot input and dive system input of the trimmers are independent, and when the dive system is in operation, there is no indication of a trimmer position change in the technochat. Also, the elevator trim is automatically shifted when the stabilizer is moved to the landing position (when flaps are released to the landing position). This also shifts the trim back to the neutral position.

Pe-2 (both series)
When the dive system is engaged, the plane enters a dive when the air brakes are extended (pass through the 45° position) and will recover from the dive when you press the bomb drop button or the dive recovery button to exit the dive (LCtrl + D by default). The dive system controls the elevator trim -for correct operation, the trimmer must be in the range between -4.5 ° to + 4.5 ° before turning on the dive system. If the trimmer is outside this range or if the airplane is trimmed manually while the dive system is in operation or if the air brakes are retracted the dive system will disengage.

Ju-87 and Ju-88
Contact altimeters are installed on these aircraft. The RShift + K and RCtrl + K commands (by default) set the bomb release (contact) altitude. When the dive system is engaged, the buzzer will sound 250 m above the contact altitude. Buzzer turns off when the contact altitude is reached or when the dive system is disengaged. The pressure setting is adjusted by the same command as on the main altimeter (with a short pause after setting the pressure on the main altimeter). The contact altimeter is not connected with the dive system, it is a separate device that just gives an audio signal at a contact height.

Main features
1. SU-122 assault gun made by Ural heavy machinery factory in 1943 is now available for all Tank Crew owners;
2. Guns and MGs aiming using the mouse has been improved;
3. Turret aiming in VR is improved (you don't need to physically turn while aiming);
4. The issue with planes visually disappearing against the clouds at short distances has been minimized;
5. Planes visual pixelization against the clouds at medium distances has been greatly reduced;
6. Winter textures for all Bodenplatte buildings added;
7. Winter textures for all Bodenplatte vehicles added;
8. Speed and reliability of the online login have been greatly improved;
9. GMC CCKW fuel truck added;
10. Thanks to the new tech developed for Tank Crew, B-25D, P-47D and P-51D have correct British or US pilots depending on the country specified in the mission file;
11. Dive and recovery control automatics added to Ju-87 D-3, Ju 88 A-4, Pe-2 s. 87 and Pe-2 s. 35;
12. Ju-87 D-3 and Ju 88 A-4 dive bombers are equipped with contact altimeters;
13. LaGG-3 now sports 4K exterior textures made by Martin =ICDP= Catney;

AI improvements
14. AI pilots can resume engaging a target after losing it;
15. AI pilots won't try to engage a distant target flying at negative G for a prolonged time;
16. AI pilots won't crash into the ground while doing a defense spiral maneuver;
17. AI pilots won't get stuck in a shallow dive during a defense maneuver;
18. AI pilots won't attempt dangerous evasion maneuvers at low altitudes which caused them to crash;
19. AI pilots won't get too excited following a falling target and crash into the ground after it;
20. AI pilots attacking air targets will attack the planes that take off or land;
21. AI pilots won't get stuck in an upside position during a dogfight;
22. AI pilots won't get stuck in a roll during an evasion maneuver which could end in a crash;
23. AI pilots will try to bail out of a burning plane (now it depends on how fast it will decide to bail out and if he has strength left to do so);
24. Self-propelled AAA switch to combat position if they don't have movement orders and have an attack targets in area command (even if there are no targets present);
25. Ship guns aiming corrected;

Aircraft improvements
26. Ju-87 D-3 has animated servo tabs;
27. Ju-87 D-3 has visual indicators for the extended dive brakes;
28. Ju-88 A-4 elevator trim adjusts automatically when the stabilizer is switched to the landing position;
29. Ju-88 A-4 has animated servo tabs;
30. heavier aircraft like He-111, Ju-52/87/88, A-20, IL-2, Pe-2 won't shake as much when their tails are damaged;
31. Pe-2 and He-111: the camera automatically turns in a correct direction when switching to a new MG in turrets with several MGs;
32. Ju-52/3mg4e 2nd pilot animations have been restored;
33. P-38J-25: canopy close sound won't play too early;
34. P-38J-25: the instruments panel can be damaged;
35. P-38J-25: signal lights won't float in the air on a severely damaged aircraft;
36. IL-2 elevator control rods damage has been corrected;
37. All additional armor elements on Bf-110 correctly shield the aircraft;
38. P-51D-15 rear landing gear can be damaged now;
39. MC 202 s8: MG151 ammo reserves can be damaged now;
40. Fw 190 A-8 ammo reserves can be damaged now;
41. Fw 190 A-8 wing pylons look correctly from various distances;
42. Bf 109 G4/G6/G14/K4: the right underwing cannon won't stop working after the loss of ammo in the left wing anymore;
43. Bf 109s except for G14 and K4: jettisoned canopies are correctly repaired;
44. Bristol Fighter will correctly register radiator hits;
45. Pedals animated correctly on Bristol Fighter;
46. Static U-2VS has winter skin;
47. IL-2 mod. 1942 has its exterior color saturation corrected;

Tank Crew improvements
48. Visual detail of plates above the tracks on KV-1s has been improved;
49. Speedometer added to KV-1s (it is on the engine compartment bulkhead);
50. Batteries are visible in the KV-1s interior;
51. Many visual improvements to KV-1s interior (level of detail, textures, etc.);
52. Recoil indicators added to KV-1s and T-34 mod. 1943;
53. Panoramic sight cupola stopper added to KV-1s and T-34 mod. 1943;
54. T-34 mod. 1943 tracks have been visually improved;
55. T-34 mod. 1943 internal collision model (that is used in damage calculations) has been improved;
56. Engine exhaust is visible at the idle engine RPM;

Other changes
57. Caquot balloons won't disappear at medium distances;
58. The inner walls of the damaged detailed buildings on the Prokhorovka map won't disappear at medium distances;
59. It's now possible to turn off the VR rendering mode for the propellers - any negative values specified for the prop_blur_max_rpm_for_vr parameter in startup.cfg file (like prop_blur_max_rpm_for_vr = -1) will result in the normal propellers rendering;
60. Object Fake_Block can be used on the airfields (its collision object has been lowered below the ground);
61. Levitating buildings on Stalingrad map have been fixed;
62. It's now possible to win the 5th mission of the Turning point campaign after a successful retreat;
63. The excessive effect of concussion and possible loss of consciousness after HE hits at a tank or aircraft has been removed if the player or AI weren't wounded by these hits.
64. Ten Days of Autumn campaign: all static objects have been updated to correct durability values, other minor improvements;
65. Fortress on the Volga campaign: minor improvements;
66. A black line won't appear in the middle of some Bodenplatte timeframe newspapers;
67. Added another (fifth) voice of a Soviet tanker;
68. Trees preventing a takeoff from some airfields were cut down on all Rheinland maps.



The Sturmovik Team