Dear Friends,

Today we'll tell you about the development progress on two other Collector Planes. The first one of them is the C-47A Skytrain. C-47A was a military modification of the civil passenger aircraft DC-3 that had the reinforced floor and large door on the left side for cargo and different radio equipment. The cargo/passenger cabin windows had gun ports for small arms firing. The Skytrain name was used in the US, British called it Dakota, while in USSR it was known as Douglas. Li-2 planes (a licensed modification of DC-3 with Soviet ASh-62 engines, Soviet cockpit instruments and armament) were also called 'Douglas'.



The DC-3/C-47 family was the most popular transport aircraft of the war. The model we have in the sim can accommodate a general cargo, air-droppable cargo containers in the cabin, the same containers attached under the fuselage and paratroopers. Having the takeoff weight of up to 14 tons, the aircraft could carry up to 2,5 tons of cargo (more than 3 tons if overweight). The main disadvantage was its low speed, which adversely affected its usage in airborne operations. However, it was very easy to pilot and had good performance characteristics, which made it a real workhorse of the war. The long-awaited feature - make it player controllable - should be ready soon. Our engineers and artists from Yugra-Media are working to make it available to you as soon as possible.

The second plane we'd like to tell you about today is the late WWI fighter with rotative engine, the epitome of the British aircraft design school - Sopwith Snipe single seater. This aircraft is being developed from scratch since we did not make it for Rise of Flight previously. This very maneuverable, fast enough aircraft that was armed with two synchronized Vickers machine guns could confront the best German aircraft of that time. The new 9-cylinder 230 HP rotative engine Bentley BR2 had 100 HP more than the Clerget 9B engine installed on the very successful Sopwith Camel - a huge increase. The upper wing was shifted lower to give the pilot a better view forward and up. The work on the 3D model of this bird by Yugra-media artists is nearly finished and the work of our engineers is underway - we hope to release it for customers this year, which means really soon in fact.



Speaking of WWI we should mention that the Flying Circus Vol.II map had good progress. We should be able to start the beta-testing of this Spring 1918 map in the near future and it will be released soon after that. In Early Access the players will be able to use the new map in QMB and create single and multiplayer missions. After that we'll have to complete the work on the Flying Circus Career mode and update the map according to the customer feedback. We count on Yugra-media designers to use the new approaches that were adopted by our map designers during the work on the Normandy map to achieve the next level of the visual quality and fidelity compared to the old Rise of Flight map. And last but not the least - according to the player feedback we have revised the WWI airplanes damage from rifle caliber ammo - the evolution and the improvement of all the parts of IL-2 continues.

DD 330

Dear Friends,

The work continues. At the moment we're working on the schedule of the new project, new techs, compiling design documents for the new aircraft and other objects - and along with all that we're developing the six Collector Planes, some of which will be released before the end of this year and some in the beginning of the next one. One of them is the British fighter Supermarine Spitfire Mk.XIVe "Bubbletop". Unlike the Spitfire Mk.XIV already existing in the sim, this one has a bubble canopy without the dorsal fuselage spine.




Many WWII fighters had such modification - the goal was the improved backward field of view. However, the dorsal spine wasn't there for nothing - it provided better aerodynamics via better airflow behind the canopy, reducing total drag of the aircraft. Nearly all pre-war aircraft designs had it because of a bit higher speed, but the actual war, as it usually does in human history, set the priorities differently.

In the beginning of the war two Axis design bureaus tried a different canopy and rear fuselage design: there were Focke-Wulf Fw 190 designed by Kurt Tank and Mitsubishi A6M Zero designed by Jiro Horikoshi. They weren't the first fighters with bubble canopies and without a dorsal spine behind, but they were the fighters that were quite numerous and affected the air battles on either side of the Earth. The bubble canopy without the dorsal spine affected the aerodynamics negatively, but it gave the pilots much better view backwards - this was noted not only by them, but by their adversaries as well, since an air engagement was usually initiated by a sudden attack from a blind zone.

Soviet engineers created bubble canopy modifications of the existing aircraft in the end of 1942 and in 1943 these models were produced on a massive scale. Their Western colleagues adopted it later and bubble canopy modifications began to emerge in 1944. Bubbletop Spitfire Mk.XIV appeared a year after the initial design, in April 1945.




In Great Battles, Spitfire Mk.XIVe "bubbletop" will have two wing variations - with long (fighter) and short (photo recon) wingtips. As we always do, there will be other modifications included. Spitfire Mk.XIVe bubbletop will be released in the beginning of the next Spring, which is a bit symbolic, since, as we mentioned above, the real fighter appeared on the front during Spring 1945.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

Dear Friends,

The huge update 5.002 was just released - it contains both new content and a lot of improvements for all released modules at once.

The heavy British infantry tank Churchill IV is released - it is already available in the game for everyone who has purchased it. The tank represents a Lend-Lease program vehicle on the Eastern Front. There is a thorough description of it in the Dev Blog #328 - we recommend you to take a look since there are many interesting features.



The update contains really important improvements for ALL aircraft of our projects — now you can customize their tactical numbers. The style of tactical numbers for each aircraft corresponds to the average historical practice: in reality, the numbers were applied with huge differences even on the same model of aircraft, however, the style we have chosen reconstructs historical prototypes well. Unique "fonts" have been created for each country, and the user can choose not only a symbol, but also its color. The available selection depends on the aircraft model according to historical data. In addition to being customizable by the player, in the Quick Mission, Advanced Quick Mission, and Pilot's Career modes the AI-controlled aircraft also have correct tactical numbers.



In addition, the technology of dynamic visual damage (DVD) is now applied to ALL aircraft in our project. Essentially it makes the impact marks appear exactly where they should, not just in a general area like part of the wing. You are already familiar with it - earlier it was working on tanks, Flying Circus Vol.2 aircraft and some Battle of Normandy aircraft. Now the new system is used everywhere. It should be noted that since the position of these dynamic marks must be transmitted in a network game, an optimization was in order to avoid a decrease in the performance of the network module: in a multiplayer game, only hit marks from bigger rounds are displayed, bullet hits aren’t due to their number. In single player mode hit marks from all calibers are present.

In the version 5.002 ALL aircraft also received a completely new visualization of the rotating propeller. Its appearance is now based on the physical principles and the image is matched to how it looks on video recordings, taking in account interference and strobe effects. The 3/4 view of the propeller corresponds to the direction of its rotation, forming a "crescent" pattern according to how the blades are facing the observer at each place of the propeller disk. The side view at the propeller depends on the propeller pitch. When viewed from the front, there is an effect of scratches flickering in the sun. In addition, the blurred propeller texture changes according to the paint scheme.



A long-standing problem related to the excessive visibility of aircraft navigation and formation lights was also resolved. On all aircraft, the visibility of such lights is reduced to a common denominator and in accordance with historical data.

There are well over 60 improvements and fixes waiting for you in this update. For instance, three new cargo ships were added for the Battle of Normandy. The full list of changes can be found below.



Take a look at the last item on the list - the story of how it made it into the update is very interesting. After the release of Normandy, a gentleman who saw our trailer on YouTube recognized his father’s Typhoon by its tactical number (!), and wrote about it in the comments. He offered to provide more information and send photos. Of course, we updated the information (it is in the description of the paint scheme ‘Collins’), and we have found an excellent use for one photo. As you know, in our sim you can place a photo in the cockpit of aircraft and tanks - by default it is a woman corresponding to the era and country, but the player can replace it with an image of their own loved ones or even put some notes there. Now the Typhoon by default will have the real photo of the wife and child of the 245th squadron leader Jack Collins, who has been killed in action over Normandy - exactly the photo that he would have placed himself in the cockpit of his aircraft in 1944.

This is a kind of a digital monument, a tribute to the memory of the pilot and his family. We want to extend this practice to other aircraft and tanks in our simulator - if you happen to know relatives of a pilot or tank crew member who fought in one of them, and they still have wartime photographs showing his family, please tell them to contact us at pr@1cgs.net.

5.002
Main Features

1. Player-controllable detailed tank Churchill IV is now available to its customers;
   
2. All Great Battles aircraft have new rotating propellers visualization tech;
   
3. All Great Battles aircraft now use user-defined tactical numbers. The tactical number format for each aircraft reasonably corresponds to historical prototypes and varies by country. The font of numbers for each country is different and was chosen as the most commonly used from a historical and technical point of view. Additional paint schemes that are compatible with customizable tactical numbers are added;
   
4. All Great Battles aircraft have the new tech of navigation and formation lights visualization, their visibility range became more realistic;
   
5. All Great Battles aircraft use the DVD (dynamic visual damage) technology that was previously applied for tanks - the impact marks from bullets and shells are placed in the impact location (not just in a general area like part of the wing). The size and appearance of the marks is consistent with the type and caliber of the projectile, as well as the material of the skin at the point of impact;
   
6. Bayfield-class assault transport ship added;
   
7. Liberty cargo ship added;
   
8. 12,000 ton cargo ship Design 1013 added;
   Normandy Map Improvements
   
9. River borders in some French port cities corrected;
   
10. Rivers near railway bridges and landmarks corrected;
    
11. Churches in some areas were replaced with more historically suitable models;
    
12. Coastal cliffs positions corrected;
    
13. Many railway bridges were replaced with ones more suitable for specific locations;
    
14. Mulberry A and Mulberry B port plans corrected;
    
15. Windmills, water towers and production workshops positions corrected throughout the map;
    
16. Some leftover trees removed from airfields;
    
17. Several French port layouts corrected according to the new historical data;
    
18. Fixed a problem with fortification objects partially hanging in the air;
    
19. Fixed a problem with houses, barracks and production shops partially hanging in the air;
    
20. Road network refined on the entire map;
    
21. Manston airfield texturing adjusted;
    Miscellaneous Changes
    
22. A-20 cockpit canopy reflections adjusted when viewed from the outside;
    
23. Bf 109 spinners won’t visibly “turn 180°” when viewed from a distance;
    
24. Red underwing smoke generator works correctly on SPAD XIII;
    
25. Colliding with certain houses won’t cause tanks and other ground vehicles to be pushed in the air;
    
26. Player controllable detailed tanks won’t stuck on the ruins of some houses;
    
27. Rotating a ground object view camera won’t cause it to freeze or jump to the coordinate root in certain situations;
    
28. MLRS won’t sometimes ‘creep forward’ when firing;
    
29. Fixed an issue with the wingmen progressively falling behind in altitude when flying in a formation when the leader is climbing;
    
30. The V-1 cruise missile autopilot ability to recover from a push has been reduced, making it easier to knock off course;
    
31. V-1 engine flame effect looks correct from a distance;
    
32. IL-2 airframe sturdiness has been corrected (now its tail is more resistant to damage);
    
33. In Quick Missions where you control an AA gun the skins of target aircraft are set in accordance with the side, season and theater;
    
34. Career: fixed an issue where the flight leader could taxi back to the last taxiing point on the runway before starting the takeoff;
    
35. Career: fixed an issue that caused an empty bridgehead cover mission generation when choosing to start in the air;
    
36. Normandy Career and AQM: a car on the runway and a parked plane near the control tower on the Thorney Island airfield were removed;
    
37. Normandy Career and AQM: signal fires were removed from the airfield A1 Saint-Pierre-du-Mont taxiways;
    
38. Normandy Career and AQM: static aircraft were removed from the edge of the runway on the Plumelot airfield;
    
39. Normandy Career: now your character can be captured when landing or bailing out over enemy territory;
    
40. Mission Editor: fixed an issue where changing the model of a detailed building in a mission could make it indestructible and generate script errors;
    
41. Mission Editor: fixed the assignment of an object script for detailed buildings after changing the building model via the Properties > Model dialog;
    
42. Mission Editor: Properties > Model dialog for Artillery, Buildings, Blocks, Blocks Detail and Firing Point object types now contains only the objects of the corresponding type;
    
43. Mission Editor: the ability to link the objects in different groups has been restored due to a popular demand;
    
44. Mission Editor: logical objects were removed from the Normandy map templates (this caused a large number of error messages during mission integrity checks, but did not affect the game functioning in any way);
    
45. Mission Editor: the “/” symbol in the path to the object skin will be read correctly;
    
46. Historically correct single-barreled 40-mm Bofors guns and the rangefinder post are added to the LST landing ships;
    
47. Now the amount of time an AI aircraft can spend in a negative G maneuver is limited;
    
48. Camouflage colors of the Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.G tank and the Flakpanzer IV Mobelwagen self-propelled anti-aircraft gun were fixed;
    
49. A disabled detailed tank won’t incorrectly remain a group leader (previously damage to the vehicle could be incorrectly taken into account);
    
50. AI wingmen execute commands "Attack air targets", "Attack ground targets" and "Attack air and ground targets" better;
    
51. AI pilots engage brakes on the runway when waiting for the takeoff;
    
52. Ar 234B2 drag parachutes and the SB 1000/410 bomb look correctly from a distance;
    
53. Improved display of translucency of camouflage nets at a distance;
    
54. Fixed graphical bugs in wagon models, due to which some of their parts began to “glow” in the dark in distant views;
    
55. Fixed a graphical bug in the airfield barracks model (arf_eu_barrackblack) that caused a destroyed building to look like an intact one at a medium middle distance;
    
56. Fixed display of balloon cables in multiplayer;
    
57. Fixed an issue with the visual disappearance of the ammo belt and a false message about reloading when correcting a misfire in a bow (forward firing) machine gun on German tanks;
    
58. The M2 commander's machine gun on the M4A2 tank can overheat and misfire;
    
59. In multiplayer Dogfight mode a mismatch of tactical codes has been fixed;
    
60. Fixed a game crash that could occur when a detailed SPG is following Attack Area - Attack Ground order;
    
61. P-51B-5 some parts of the landing gear won’t "glow";
    
62. The size of HE shell DVD hit marks on thin metal and non-metal was increased by 3 times;
    
63. The M8 Greyhound and Morris C9B combat vehicles have been temporarily removed for revision;
    
64. Fixed a game crash for a guest commander when the owner of the tank exited the mission and there was an active order to move or attack;
    
65. Fixed switching to the visor view when the tank is below a certain height above sea level;
    
66. Last but not the least: the default photo in the Typhoon cockpit has been replaced with a real photo provided by the family of the 245th squadron leader, Jack Collins, who was killed in action over Normandy.

Dear Friends,

This one will be very short, sorry: we're preparing the update 5.002 release candidate right now and you already know what it will contain - Churchill tank (that was extensively covered by Daniel in the previous DD), dynamic visual damage and tactical numbers for all Great Battles aircraft and Normandy map improvements. We'll post the info about all this improvements simultaneously with the update release (hopefully it will happen early next week). Therefore there is little new info we can share today with two exceptions.

First, community member Enigma89 has published an interview with us:


And second, here's the first in-game shot of IAR and its cockpit which is early WIP at the moment:


However if you the IAR cockpit looks rather too "work in progress"-ish, take a look at this :)


Have a great weekend and enjoy BoN!

Dear Friends,

We're glad to inform you that Battle of Normandy and its accompanying Collector Planes are available on Steam!

Battle of Normandy includes 8 player controllable aircraft:

1. Hawker Typhoon Mk.Ib – British fighter/bomber,
   
2. North American P-51B-5 Mustang – American long range fighter,
   
3. Republic P-47D-22 Thunderbolt – American fighter/bomber,
   
4. Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 Late – late version of the German fighter,
   
5. Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-6 Würger - German fighter,
   
6. De Havilland Mosquito F.B. Mk.VI ser.2 – British twin engine fighter-bomber,
   
7. Messerschmitt Me 410 A-1 Hornisse – German twin engine fighter-bomber,
   
8. Junkers Ju 88 C-6 – German twin engine heavy fighter.

Two additional Collector Planes are released on Steam as separate DLCs: British fighter https://store.steampowered.com/app/2118562/2___MkXIV/ and German twin engine jet bomber and recon aircraft Arado Ar 234 B-2 Blitz (in addition to Quick Mission Builder, Advanced Quick Mission Generator and Multiplayer modes, you can fly them in Career mode during Battle of Normandy and Battle of Bodenplatte timeframes).



The new module sets the new record in terms of the work involved. New northern France and southern England map (107924 sq.km.), new airfield types, new airfields appearing on the map after D-Day - bringing their total amount to 100 airfields with historically accurate layouts! New objects created specially for the module - ships, ground vehicles, buildings, coastal defenses, V-1 buzzbombs and their launch positions, dozens of new aircraft paint schemes, etc. New mid-1944 Career mode includes 3 countries, 5 phases, 17 frontline states, 225 historical squadrons, 103 of them joinable by the player, many new mission types - all this is just a couple of clicks away.

Each aircraft includes a slew of historically correct modifications - unlike other games where each modification would be counted as a separate aircraft model, in Great Battles you can freely select and combine them. For instance, Me-410 A-1 mentioned above has modifications that, when selected, make it a whole model lineup:

1. Me-410 A-1/U2,
   
2. Me-410 A-1/U4,
   
3. Me-410 B,
   
4. Me-410 B-2,
   
5. Me-410 B-2/U1,
   
6. Me-410 B-2/U2,
   
7. Me-410 B-2/U4,
   
8. Me-410 B-2/U4 field mod with four MG 151 guns.

Meanwhile, we're actively developing the next HUGE update 5.002 - it is already in the beta-testing stage and will be released soon, in a couple of weeks. It will bring the long awaited Churchill IV player controllable tank and many improvements both for the Battle of Normandy and Great Battles series as a whole. Just take a look at the version highlights:

• Churchill IV Collector Vehicle
  
• Dynamic Visual Damage (DVD) tech for all aircraft in the Great Battles series (the projectile holes will appear at exact place of the impact corresponding to the skin material and round type)
  
• Customizable tactical numbers for all aircraft in the Great Battles series with historically accurate symbols and fonts for each represented country and timeframe (WWI or WWII) and additional paint schemes to accomodate them
  
• Liberty and Design 1013 cargo ships for Battle of Normandy
  
• A myriad of Normandy map enhancements: rivers, buildings, ports, churches, roads and railroads, airfields, harbors, cliffs etc.
  
• New propeller rotation and formation lights effects for all aircraft in the Great Battles series
  
• Enhanced AI attack routines for air and ground targets
  
• Dozens of other fixes and improvements

Stay tuned for our news and enjoy Normandy!

Dear Friends,

Today is a big day. IL-2 Sturmovik team is glad to report that after almost three years of development Battle of Normandy is out of Early Access and is officially released - 5.001 update is out!

The official release also means that in addition to Battle of Normandy Premium Edition in our webstore there’s now Standard Edition without two Collector Planes - German jet bomber Arado Ar 234 and British fighter Spitfire Mk.XIV (they can be bought individually). On Steam the new module and its accompanying Collector Planes will become available for purchase in the coming weeks - please stay tuned while we work out the details. As usual, Battle of Normandy owners who have linked IL-2 and Steam accounts can access all the new content in the Steam version already.



In addition to a ton of new content, update 5.001 brings the results of the big work on the damage model improvements which are of course are applicable to all the modules as usual - as you can see in the long list below, it required many changes in various parts of the sim. The testing and tuning of these changes by beta-testers from the community took a lot of time. We think this is the big step forward for Great Battles series and hope you’ll enjoy it.

There are many other fixes and improvements - for instance, the mission loading time has been reduced dramatically, several times less on some PC configurations! The pilot and tank crew AI got better, etc. The full changelist is avaialble here.

DD 326

Dear Pilots and Tankers!

Today’s DD gives you a glimpse of the gorgeous scenes that are possible with the new Normandy map which is rapidly nearing completion and we give you a sneak peak at the progress on the Churchill Mk.IV exterior and interior.

NOTE: Both Battle of Normandy and the Churchill Mk.IV Collector Tank will be released on Steam just as soon as they are ready.

Below are some recent screens I’ve taken with each of the aircraft built specifically for Battle of Normandy including the AI piloted B-26. Of course, all of these planes can be flown alongside your own or against in any title in the series. This really is our most detailed and complex map we’ve ever made and pushes our current map technology to its limit. It will provide countless hours of great missions and historical re-enactments of this pivotal battle and theater of the war. We think you’ll like it.





Below are some very WIP images of the Churchill Mk.IV tank coming to Great Battles. As you can see the interior is NOT textured completely, but you can tell that our friends at DigitalForms have once again done an amazing modeling job!





It’s another very busy summer for us. Stay tuned!

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

Update 4.707

Dear Pilots and Tankers!

The IL-2 Sturmovik team is nearing the finish line of our Battle of Normandy development cycle. However, after some deliberation, we decided not to make you wait any longer than necessary for the next update and to prepare an interim release for you containing what is already ready. So, today we bring you the final aircraft in the BON hangar – the Me 410 A-1 ‘Hornisse’ and our new Custom Input Profile feature!

Our Me 410 was bult from scratch and became a very challenging model for us to build. It’s cockpit and rear facing gunner station is very unique and it took several modelers to finish it. There were many engineering challenges and complex equipment to model. It can appear to the user as an example of clever WWII German engineering or unnecessarily complex WWII German engineering long after the war had shifted against the Luftwaffe. Whichever way it strikes you, our 410 is the most highly detailed model of its kind in any combat flight simulator to date. Our very special team has built a very special bird. It comes loaded with many armament options to create several different sub-variants that you can try in virtual combat. Enjoy!

NOTE: This aircraft will be available on Steam just as soon as we complete Battle of Normandy and release it here.




In addition to the new aircraft, we have prepared for you a feature that you have been asking us to make for a long time – Custom Input Profiles and Pitch Response Profiles that can be assigned to individual aircraft. We created a video about this new feature for you earlier, but we recommend that you review it again so you can understand how it works. It’s quite simple, but powerful. Like all other features of Il-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles, this new feature will be available to owners of all titles in the series – Normandy, Stalingrad, Moscow, Kuban, Bodenplatte, Flying Circus I/II and Tank Crew.

The final Normandy release event will take place in the coming weeks as we put the finishing touches on the Normandy map and gameplay modes such as the Pilot Career, QMB and AQMG. We also need to finish our prep work for the V-1 “Buzz Bomb”. At that point we will release it here in the IL-2 Official Webstore and on Steam and remember that shortly thereafter the price will increase to its normal full price. If you haven’t already jumped in, now is a super great time to do so!!!

As always, in addition to the main changes, we have made a number of improvements and fixes aimed at improving the quality of your simulation experience. We hope you enjoy.

4.707

Main Features:
1. The German Me 410 twin-engine two-seat fighter-bomber is now available for all players who have pre-ordered Battle of Normandy;
2. You can now create various Input Profiles and assign them to different planes and tanks;
3. You can now create pitch axis response profiles and assign them to different aircraft;
4. New gunners model (as well as navigator in the A-20 and radio operator in the C-47) for American A-20, B-25, and C-47 aircraft crews added;
5. New bridge destruction visual effects added;

Armament Changes:
6. Machine guns and automatic cannons on aircraft and player controllable tanks can now misfire when overheated (including the turret guns);
7. If a loader is killed in a player controllable tank, the player has to press the reloading key after each shot to reload the gun;
8. The bug that caused too frequent misfires of WWI aircraft weapons has been fixed;
9. MG81 gun barrel overheat value has been corrected (it overheated too fast);
10. Restored the techno-chat message about machine gun overheating in aircraft and tank turrets;
11. The issue where an AP shell could be stopped by one 100mm plate but couldn't be stopped by 50mm+50mm double plates was fixed. Spaced armor plates with total thickness similar to one thick plate now stop AP rounds better than one plate;
12. An explosion of an APHE projectile inside a detailed tank would correctly damage nearby equipment or crew members (previously it could result in no damage in some cases);
13. The issue of large bombs damaging only a small part of a dense scene (many objects) has been minimized;

Arado 234 Changes:
14. The destructive overload value listed in the Ar 234 aircraft datasheet has been corrected;
15. The effect of Ar 234 flight stability loss at overcritical Mach numbers has been reduced;
16. Ar 234 cockpit reflections became more pronounced;

AI Changes:
17. AI controlled planes which rotated on the ground because of damaged landing gear are now removed from the simulation after some time (previously such planes could rotate infinitely during takeoff or landing and thus occupy the runway);
18. AI terrain recognition algorithm has been improved when flying in groups (previously its shortcomings could cause them to crash when flying over a terrain with big altitude differences, like over mountains on the Kuban map);
19. AI aircraft turret gunners now lean to the machine gun and prepare to fire on the target in advance, before it enters the fire zone;
20. AI pilots differentiate by altitude while landing on a same airfield;
21. Due to a bug in the target selection the AI tank gunners operating the guns with a limited fire sector did not fire when they were assigned targets outside their fire sector - this shouldn’t happen again;

Mission Editor Changes:
22. It is possible to edit countries and coalitions for multiple locations of the same type;
23. The ability to place outgoing target links from MCU:Complex Trigger has been removed (the necessary links were and still are set only through Events in the Advanced Properties of the Trigger itself, the outgoing target link did not work);
24. Object links for Land and Take Off commands can be set only for aircraft;
25. The performance when copying/pasting objects in large missions has been improved;
26. New Ungroup Recursive command was added for a group of objects, allowing to ungroup all subgroups in it;
27. The durability of Building, Block, Bridge, and Airfield object types can be reset to default values using the Reset Durability button. There is also a new command in the Tools menu with the self-explanatory name Reset All Durability;

Multiplayer Changes:
28. When connecting to a Dogfight server, airfields in the lobby appear faster;
29. Mission script commands in Cooperative game mode work for groups of objects with players;

Other Changes:
30. Oyster_KAI has improved cockpit detail of P-51B, Mosquito, Bf-110E2/G, Ju-88A4/C6 and He-111H6/H16;
31. The (fictional) photographers' names appear under photos in newspapers in Career mode;
32. Landscape parts shouldn’t disappear from view on wide-angle VR HMDs anymore;
33. Pause button during recorded track playback works correctly;
34. Me 410 has been added to the Rhineland pilot career mode to II./KG 51 (joinable by player).

See you in the skies and on the battlefield!

The Sturmovik Team

325

Dear Pilots,

Today’s Developer Diary is a video that shows the Me 410 in action! We’re very proud of this aircraft because it is the most detailed and comprehensive modeling of a 410 ever in a combat flight simulator. It took several team members to complete it and lots of testing from the Beta testers to get it to its final form, but here is a sneak peak of the upcoming ‘Hornisse’ in action. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we worked to ready the 410 for release.












We continue to finish the Normandy map, which is the most complex map we have ever made, and work continues on our other Collector Planes and Tanks as planned. We hope to have more images to show you soon on those. The FC2 map continues to be worked on as well.

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team

324

Hello Pilots and Tankers!

Today’s Developer Diary is a video of a GREAT NEW FEATURE for the Great Battles series – Custom Input Profiles! This will allow you to create many different input profiles and pitch responses for your favorite planes and tanks and assign them to each one. The profiles will automatically load each time you jump into the cockpit. This has been a long-requested feature and we are happy that it is just about ready for release. It makes managing your Great Battles install a lot easier. We hope you like what you see in the video.

Note: Steam users this feature will be available for all users and all Great Battles titles as soon as it's released.



Work on Battle of Normandy and all other content continues as planned and the ME 410 is on final approach. As we have mentioned before, it has proven to be one of the most challenging to build, but we think you will get a kick out of flying it!

Enjoy!

The Sturmovik Team