BOX Update today

[Vonrd]

Quote:

 

Update 3.007

 

Dear friends,

We just published another IL-2 Sturmovik update - 3.007. In this update we release 4 new aircraft: P-47D-28 and Bf 109 K-4 for Bodenplatte and Sopwith Camel and Pfalz D.IIIa for Flying Circus. But of course, these planes aren't the only addition - the two months weren't spent in vain and we have added numerous improvements to the sim.

First, as announced before, we're adding new mission types to the Career mode. Second, there are many fixes that should make the multiplayer experience smoother. Third, important changes in the game stats adjust the kill registering logic. Fourth, the damage modeling of simple AI controlled vehicles is much more detailed now. Fifth, FM now takes into account the compress-ability of the air at high speeds - this complex modeling was required for late war aircraft, but it works for any plane in our sim. Sixth, pilot AI has been improved. There are other numerous changes in graphics, user interface, physics and aircraft systems, etc.

 

Some words on the new aerodynamics feature presented in this new update:

 

Our physics engine now includes the aerodynamic effect of air compress-ability at high Mach numbers. Our lead engineer has done the hard work of adding this phenomenon to the simulation so we take another step forward in our physics engine.  As it is well known, when an aircraft’s speed approaches the speed of sound, many aerodynamic characteristics change; the drag increases a lot, the lift changes in a complicated way, the center of pressure and the aerodynamic center moves backwards. All of these factors affect the maneuverability, the stability and control-ability of the aircraft. When this happens the available G-load factor goes down, the turn rate decreases while the radius of trajectory does up and when pulling hard the airplane enters a stall earlier. Some airplanes have a tendency to become unrecoverable while in a dive at extremely high speed. As we plan to have high-speed piston and jet airplanes in Bodenplatte we could not ignore this aerodynamic effect. However, all airplanes in the Great Battles series now has this feature. So, dog-fighting at high altitude and high speed is getting another step closer to reality

 

You can read the whole list of 100+ improvements that come with 3.007 below:

Main features:

1. P-47D-28 "Jug" available to all Bodenplatte owners;
2. Bf 109 K-4 "Kurfürst" available to all Bodenplatte owners;
3. Sopwith Camel available to all Flying Circus Vol. 1 owners;
4. Pfalz D.IIIa available to all Flying Circus Vol. 1 owners;
5. New mission type for Career mode: Cargo paradrop for Ju-52/3mg4e;
6. New mission type for Career mode: Special squad paradrop for Ju-52/3mg4e;
7. New mission type for Career mode: Free Hunt for fighter planes;
8. Major FM change: air compressibility at high speeds now modeled;
9. New late war Luftwaffe pilot models added to Bf 109 G-14 and Fw 190 A-8;
10. Multiplayer: a kill will be awarded immediately only if an enemy pilot was killed, bailed out or his aircraft crumbled;
11. Multiplayer: a kill won't be awarded if a pilot manages to return and land at a friendly airfield (with the exception of point 12, see below);
12. In mission statistics, an aircraft will be scrapped only if its fuselage or a wing at its base has been ruptured;
13. New, more detailed damage modeling is used for simple (AI controlled) vehicles - it is now possible to damage their engines, wheels or tracks, crew and ammo rack;

Multiplayer changes:

14. Engine sounds of other players planes won't randomly disappear;
15. Gunfire sounds of other players planes won't randomly disappear;
16. Net traffic generated by multiplayer clients has been optimized, which should improve the performance of multiplayer servers;
17. Other players position prediction routine has been optimized, resulting in a smoother multiplayer experience;
18. The delay between a player pushing the fire button and other players actually seeing his aircraft fire has been minimized to the best possible extent;
19. Other players gun convergence displayed correctly;
20. APHE and HEAT rounds fired by other players won't generate a double sound effect;
21. Server ping values appear correctly in the server list;
22. The coalition flag in the game world switches correctly;
23. Binary mission logs are now saved correctly (needed for mission stats debugging);
24. An exploit linked to navigation markers on the fullscreen map has been fixed;
25. Right Ju-52 engine animation fixed;
26. AA searchlights function correctly in multiplayer;

Visual changes:

27. FPS in forest areas with lots of trees visible has been improved a lot thanks to the tree rendering optimization;
28. Aerobatics smoke effect has been improved;
29. Wrong 'black debris' effect issue while hitting enemy planes has been addressed;
30. Distant forests won't appear too white in morning or evening fog;
31. Water drops now appear on the pilot goggles in VR;
32. Water drops on windshield have been removed during winter (unrealistic);
33. Oil drops from the damaged engine will appear on the pilot goggles only if he peeks out around the windshield;
34. Engine start effect has been improved;
35. Flying Circus aircraft now has the new fire and leak effects like the rest;
36. Mission designers can place colored smoke signals in custom missions;
37. Too subtle sun glare effect has been improved on the Moscow winter map;

GUI changes:

38. Tank Crew commands now have their own input settings section;
39. Starting altitude shouldn't reset in QMB;
40. Wrong aircraft type issue in QMB has been fixed;
41. Air turbulence and wind direction randomness work correctly in QMB;
42. Wind direction randomness near the ground works correctly in QMB;
43. Precipitations during bad weather work correctly in QMB once again;
44. Mission track records will be named correctly;
45. Mouse pointer won't disappear after opening Settings menu while replaying a track record;
46. GUI shouldn't flash after alt-tabbing anymore;
47. With Imperial units selected in settings, the atmospheric pressure is indicated in mm Hg in Career missions forecast;
48. Speed tooltip appears correctly while hovering the mouse cursor over a waypoint;
49. Career interface won't glitch after exiting a Career briefing using the top navigation buttons;
50. Chat messages delay in singleplayer has been corrected;
51. A possible crash bug tied to changing settings during a mission has been fixed;
52. Technochat has been optimized, making the game smoother in many situations;
53. Technochat tips have been moved to the main chat area;

FM and instruments changes:

54. Engine oil in case of a leak or engine failure won't be splattered on the windshield or pilot goggles for P-39;
55. Aircraft fuel tanks may detonate (the probability depends on the amount of fuel left);
56. Fuel tank explosion correctly nullifies the fuel reserve;
57. You need a greater sideslip motion to put off the fire on Flying Circus aircraft;
58. Collimator reticles look better;
59. Revi 16B sight reticle made more authentic (Bf 109 G-14 and Fw 190 A-8;
60. In addition to critical aircraft damage or loss of controls on one axis (lateral or longitudinal) the tip suggesting to bail out will appear in the following additional cases:
- no fuel left,
- engine damage makes a horizontal flight impossible,
- fire on board;
61. Artificial engine assistant now uses different mixture control lever positions:
- He-111 H6/H16: decreased from 10 to 5 positions,
- Hs-129 B2: increased from 4 to 5 positions,
- Spitfire Mk.VB: decreased from 3 to 2 positions,
- Spitfire Mk.IXe: decreased from 4 to 2 positions;
62. Artificial engine assistant now uses less different cowl flaps positions on Fw-190 A5 and Ð8 (3 instead of 5, like on other aircraft);
63. Radio direction finders corrected for all aircraft (inverted);
64. An error in aerodynamic momentum calculations while pushing the Bf-109 G14 rudder to the left has been corrected;
65. Spitfire Mk.VB and Mk.IXe coolant boiling temperature increased from 115°С to 140°С (MSL) and for MiG-3 increased from 115°С to 120°С (MSL);
66. Different mixture error that appeared while controlling Bf-110 G2 left and right engine throttles separately and that caused the power difference between them has been fixed;
67. Bailing out tip added for Fokker Dr.1;
68. Indication errors corrected in Fokker Dr.I fuel and speed gauges;
69. Fokker Dr.I and SPAD 13.C1 descriptions corrected;
70. Bomb lever delay fixed on SPAD 13.C1;
71. The default amount of fuel in GUI corrected for different aircraft;
72. All FLying Circus airplanes ground collision made more detailed;
73. Fokker Dr.I and SPAD 13.C1 visual damage appearance corrected;
74. SPAD 13.C1: erroneous speed, water temperature and fuel tank pressure readings corrected;
75. SPAD 13.C1: upper wing fuel tank leak and fire effects added;
76. SPAD 13.C1: bombs can be dropped only one after another;
77. Oil leak effect added to all Flying Circus planes;

AI changes:

78. AI fighters, AA guns, etc. will continue to engage a target even if is criticaly damaged;
79. AI planes pursuing a target evade the ground better;
80. AI wingmen following the leader evade the ground better;
81. AI pilots check their speed and altitude before attempting Split-S and downward spiral maneuvers;
82. AI maneuver more efficiently after passing each other in a dogfight;
83. AI wingmen keep formation a bit better;
84. AI pilots take off correctly from Nizhny Balikley airfield in Stalingrad Career;
85. Turrets aiming at enemy planes corrected;
86. AIs controlling detailed (Tank Crew) tanks takes into account the different ballistics of various ammo types;
87. AIs aim the tank guns better;

Other changes:

88. Pilots bailing out from Flying Circus planes are animated better;
89. IL-2 mod. 1943 gunner bails out correctly;
90. Sound volume balance between engine and wind sound has been adjusted;
91. The issue when the first login attempt resulted in failure message has been addressed;
92. Burning fuel tanks sound added;
93. Mouse control pointer (in mouse control mode) won't disappear if aircraft suffers heavy damage;
94. MG fire heard from inside of a tank has been made different and more realistic;
95. Blazing Steppe campaign: secondary task labels removed, scenarios #3, 7 and 12 containing Ju 87 groups have been corrected;
96. Steam locomotive explosion power has been reduced;
97. Destroyed Pz 38t and Marder III H burn correctly;
98. Iron sights textures won't blink on IL-2 mod. 1943;
99. Water drops correctly appear on all He 111 H-6 windows;
100. Ju 52/3mg4e gauge dials made clearer;
101. Rogue (enemy) Pe-2 won't appear while playing for USSR after January 16th in Stalingrad Career.

 

[Stuka]

S!

A lot of improvement!

[IRFC Hawkeye]

Just got it.  Server download performance was pretty low for the 1.26 GB download.

[Klaiber]

Wow, that's great!  Can't wait to try out the Pfalz and the P-47!

[Britchot]

Just got it.  Server download performance was pretty low for the 1.26 GB download.

 

I've noticed that their update server tends to be awfully slow, nearly every time. 

 

I love the P-D.III!  My favorite of all time in RoF. 

 

[IRFC Hawkeye]

I've noticed that their update server tends to be awfully slow, nearly every time. 

 

I love the P-D.III!  My favorite of all time in RoF. 

 

You and me both, brother!  A plane that will bring you home nearly every time.  S!

[Kliegmann]

Awesome.  Well MAYBE my wife will work some overtime and I'll get to fly some of these tonight 

[Razwald]

Pfalz looks great in VR.

 

Blew my engine in the jug. Had a turbine over-speed light flashing.  The supercharger is an axis wasn't sure what I was doing and it seized on me. 

[Kliegmann]

Didn't use the Supercharger on the 47, I used the injection boost.  The Pfalz is awesome, as is the K 109.  The most cool thing so far is I attacked the fuel drums on the field and was able to cook them off with MG fire from the 109, 47 and the Pfalz

[Razwald]

I was mistaken its a turbocharger. It isn't too bad to get used to once you wrap your head around it.

 

Now the question is do I map controls for the gyroscopic gun sight.

[Vonrd]

 

 

Had a turbine over-speed light flashing.  

 

Counter intuitive but the flashing light is normal. It's solid red is when it's been over-sped (and most likely seized... No Boost For YOU!)

They got rid of it in later models. 

[Snaggle]

Wow!!

[J5_Hotlead]

This looks sweet! Can't wait to get into Flying Circus. 

[Pfeil]

We had a nice training session with Baron, Stefan and me on Shooting Star Japanese server.

At the peak it was 8 vs 8 with some AI mixed in.

 

Pfalz and Camel look very good.

Camel is a bit too fast right now and you can't run away from him in a Pfalz,

Pfalz can do few manuevers that Camel can't repeat.

On the other hand Camel is now more forgiving, you can still go in a flat spin easily though.

Pfalz has many mods available. Colimators, altimeter, bullet counter etc... i'ts still better to aim with that cooler bongle upfront 

Camel has only larger wing cut (most useful) and Aldis.

 

DM is much better. You can damage coolers, set fire to engines, the structure breaks in more ways I think.

The engines catch fire more often and even explode in one burst if you hit the right spot.

AI's are still made from concrete but that's no surprise.

Gone are the WWII bullet impacts and there are new pilot models.

 

So far I think a good update and can't wait to see more.

 

We had no time to test the Jug or Kurfurst. Had too much fun in Pfalz and Camel

[Kliegmann]

I looked up the top speeds for the Camel and the PD IIIa.  Dont know how much stock you can put into Wiki and such, but the Camel F.1 has about 113 mph at 10,000 feet, and the Pfalz in one listing is listed at 115 mph, but EVERY other listing I can find says 103 mph at 10k.  Last night I was flying around the camel, at 6k feet, auto-level, and mixture set to best rpm, the Indicator was reading about 110 mph.  I didn't check the Pfalz.  Note sure what the historic maneuverability of the PD III is suppose to be, but it seemed to me to be REALLY maneuverable.

[Lipfert]

I looked up the top speeds for the Camel and the PD IIIa.  Dont know how much stock you can put into Wiki and such, but the Camel F.1 has about 113 mph at 10,000 feet, and the Pfalz in one listing is listed at 115 mph, but EVERY other listing I can find says 103 mph at 10k.  Last night I was flying around the camel, at 6k feet, auto-level, and mixture set to best rpm, the Indicator was reading about 110 mph.  I didn't check the Pfalz.  Note sure what the historic maneuverability of the PD III is suppose to be, but it seemed to me to be REALLY maneuverable.

 

Kliegmann,

 

First D.III variant had a 160hp Mercedes engine and the D.IIIa had 180hp Mercedes with additional aerodynamic improvements. That is probably the other 12mph improvement.

 

S!

[Baron]

I must say that Pfalz D.IIIa is better like in RoF. As wrote Pfeil above, we did dogfights on the Shooting Star server. At Pfalz we were able fight with Camel in close turns - and did kills. In Camels were some good pilots, for example Hq_Jorri. Pfalz is now really excellent fighter and is faster like Camel (not slower like wrote Pfeil above). Ofcourse if you will attacked by Camel with advantages of altitude - Camel will faster. Camel have not chance against Pfalz in diving and this maneuver is basic for escape if you have a trouble. i dont know how many kills we did yesterday. Simply - many. I was glad that i saw in server Vonrd too. 

 

...looking forward to Albatros and Fokker D.VII/D.VIIF 

[IRFC Hawkeye]

Update to the update??

 

I just started up BoX for today, and it downloaded another game client update of 123.85 MB.

 

So if you're flying tonight, better start a little early and knock that one out too.

[Baron]

It's a hotfix only.

 

Sneaksie wrote:

 

We just pushed a small hotfix that removes the non-working FC1 aircraft entries from the game menu for players who don't own them.

[Stuka]

S!

 

Oh man.. oh man...

 

 

 

[EmerlistDavjack]

Augh, of course they released it when I don't have a lot of time to game, lol. 

 

I did hop in the Camel for a few minutes without my pedals and...it does seem too easy to fly. Just flew it around with my joystick, no problems.  That doesn't sound like the Camel that killed so many careless pilots.

 

EDIT:   The FC thread is actually not that toxic, if a bit long winded. https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/41053-easy-camel/  In summary:  ZachX argues that lower speeds would require more rudder, and that makes sense to me.  It also correlates to the anecdote that most pilots killed by the Camel were on takeoff or landing...slow and too low. I haven't landed one yet in BoX.  So, I'm not saying it is wrong or overpowered, just that it feels very different than RoF.  

 

Also some people on the FC forums have been saying that wing-folding is greatly reduced...which is nice...although with the BoX engine Camel I pulled one of those asymmetrical-snap-stall-longitudinal/lateral-axis rotations that the WWII planes perform at high speeds, that was over-G'd so hard that I would never believe a WWI biplane could take that force at sea level without ripping apart.  I mean, I don't know if the aircraft IRL would have even spun/flipped like that, but it feels wrong to flip around that much at high (170km/h) speeds, wings going perpendicular to the airstream in a split second.  Those high speed asym stalls are one of those things in the BoX FM that I just don't know enough about.

 

Otherwise, beautiful. I hope MP doesn't lose its shine before I get to put some time in.   \m/

[Snaggle]

Flew both planes for the first time today. My family celebrates Turkey Day Saturday.

 

All I can say is fun to fly in VR!

 

Now where is my 2 seater?

 

[IRFC Hawkeye]

Twice is nice!!

[Lee]

Finally got around to updating IL2 last night.  Love the PD.III in VR!  It appears more compact in VR than 2D.  I loaded up RoF just to check the apparent size differences.  Same size, but the VR experience is much better.

 

Also flew a pattern in the P-47.  Got it up and down in one piece, but will have to do some studying on systems and engine operation.  Remember, I'm just a lowly Sailplane pilot.  Once we get more than an airspeed indicator, altimeter, variometer and compass I'm pretty much lost. 

[IRFC Hawkeye]

....It appears more compact in VR than 2D.... 

 

All of the planes in FC seem "more compact" to me, than they do in RoF.  From my point of view (non-VR), the pilot's position is somewhat forward of what it is in RoF.  Therefore, when you pull back your FOV fully, you can't see as much.

 

Not saying this is correct or incorrect....just different, and it will take some getting used to.  Honestly, if I remember right, RoF started out kind of like this; then later they changed the default home view to be further back for a greater FOV.  This is helpful in the game, but not necessarily as realistic or true to life.

 

If it was me personally, I'd ask them to make it like RoF; but I can understand if they don't.  Everything is a compromise in these sims, with respect to reality.