IL2 is entering a new life cycle

[nearmiss]

If you are an "old salt" that has been using IL2 since 1.0 you will certainly remember all the whiners on the Ubisoft boards between patch releases over the years. I always hated that, because I knew everytime Oleg released a patch it was ALWAYS more than I had anticipated.

The TD is now doing what everyone has been asking and longing for. They have completed and released a final 4.09 and now they are moving onward with further releases to IL2.

I can tell you from experience when people rag on you and malign your efforts all you want to do is walk away. We all know this great old sim still has enormous potential and we should only think to provide an upbeat environment with a friendly acceptance for all improvements.

We want to stimulate a more upbeat environment around here, there are alot of exciting things going on with Il2. I am excited to read all the "Yes we can do that" on the TD thread.

The 4.09 is a new beginning for us all, because Oleg is behind the TD efforts and encouraging them. TD is already working on improvements that deal with the core IL2 programming, this is huge.

Everyone of us should feel good about IL2 things, because this great old sim is getting a transfusion of new blood, new ideas, and improvements. Think about all the good stuff that has already been coming our way, make a request to TD, join with those of us who are excited and positive about this great sim.

Look around, read the forums look at what is forthcoming for those of us who enjoy this great hobby. IL2 is it, that's the facts. Forgotten Battles is still enjoying extremely high popularity ONLINE. The IL2 forums are still the most popular boards all over the web.

It would cost a literal fortune to start a company to develop an air combat flight sim that wouldn't come close to the quality of what we already have in IL2. The future for IL2 is great with all the modifications planned and in the works from TD.

There are a preponderance of reasons to feel good about the future of IL2.

[JoeA]

There are a preponderance of reasons to feel good about the future of IL2.

Could not agree more! I want to upgrade now...for Il-2 not just SOW!!

[mango42]

nearmiss - you could not have put it better. A remarkable and durable achievement. Yep, I remember the whiners but I also remember my very first successful landing in a Sturmovik - magic moment for an old geezer who always dreamt of flying but went sailing instead ;-)

I'm salivating thinking about the possibilities with 4.09 onward, once I get my graphics cards replaced, anyway. A fried GPU is not a happy GPU.

Thanks so much to Team Daedelos and Oleg's vision.

I also have a 'minority request'. Over the years, might it be possible in either IL2 or SOW to follow the between wars development era? A Dragon Rapide, a Hawker Hart for instance?

[Feuerfalke]

I am excited to read all the "Yes we can do that" on the TD thread.

+1

I've been flamed and bashed, named a brown-nose and alike, for my anti-whining posts, but I never ever thought for a second that OM really has forgotten about his fans, that he abandoned IL2 or BoB.

And I never understood the logic, how whining and bashing Oleg could improve the game, speed up development time or increase popularity of a game.

So, I'm very glad DT picked up the baton and give Oleg time to concentrate on SoW and I'm also glad to see life is coming back. Definitely looking forward to the future of both titles!

[SlipBall]

+1

I've been flamed and bashed, named a brown-nose and alike, for my anti-whining posts, but I never ever thought for a second that OM really has forgotten about his fans, that he abandoned IL2 or BoB.

And I never understood the logic, how whining and bashing Oleg could improve the game, speed up development time or increase popularity of a game.

So, I'm very glad DT picked up the baton and give Oleg time to concentrate on SoW and I'm also glad to see life is coming back. Definitely looking forward to the future of both titles!



Same here! the future appears very bright...If I knew more about the man I would give him his own Wikipedia page, he sure deserves it :-)

[fuzzychickens]

I whine all the time, but in the BOP forum because they should have simply updated the graphics and ported 1946 intact.

Just reminds me how well done 1946 is. I have BOP on PS3 and it looks FANTASTIC, but I'm probably playing 1946 twice as much.

This old game still kicks butt.

[billswagger]

For me, i would like to see the day that we can enjoy epic 200-300 player air battles over a larger map.

Until then, i can only wait in anticipation.


Bill

[HFC_Dolphin]

For me, i would like to see the day that we can enjoy epic 200-300 player air battles over a larger map.

Until then, i can only wait in anticipation.


Bill

I wonder what type of connection could handle so much traffic :-)

[Flyby]

It's amazing to think where IL2 is now. Old salts will remember receiving email updates from Oleg prior to the release of IL2. Though I've been away from the game for a while I still am a fan. I'll get back into it one day for sure. If TD can rework the code then the sky's the limit.

I wonder if we'll see the Grumman Bearcat or the Spit14 any time soon? I wonder if the coding will be implemented to run IL2 on multiple cores? DX10 (11) implementation? Over it's lifetime, why not? Lots of potential to feel good about with this sim. ;)
Flyby out

[proton45]

+1

I've been flamed and bashed, named a brown-nose and alike, for my anti-whining posts, but I never ever thought for a second that OM really has forgotten about his fans, that he abandoned IL2 or BoB.

And I never understood the logic, how whining and bashing Oleg could improve the game, speed up development time or increase popularity of a game.

So, I'm very glad DT picked up the baton and give Oleg time to concentrate on SoW and I'm also glad to see life is coming back. Definitely looking forward to the future of both titles!


+2

[Thunderbolt56]

There definitely IS much to crow about in the IL2 community these days. 4.09m released by TD, UI1.2 released on the other side of the tracks and gobs of content in all of it collectively.

I'm still holding out for the "next" update to bridge everything into one massive, capable WWII flight sim.

Should be another month or so...

[Bearcat]

I never had any doubt that this sim would survive.. I was surprised and greatly pleased that 1C embraced and supported limited modding by a chosen team... but it is better than nothing at all.. FC's QMB+ was a great add on.. and now, knowing that he is a part of DT I can only wait with baited breath because I know that whatever they come up with it will be good.. This sim is the bee's knees... I never ever thought that I would still be so entralled 7 years later when I first booted up IL2 in the spring of 02..

[hiro]

1. We have lots to be thankful for. And the game still is continued to be patched and lovingly played. Oleg n team are watching Team D do their biz.

2. 8 years still is going. That's even longer than some of the service lifetimes of some fighters in the game. The old code has shown flexibility to adjust to current needs of the fans.

3. Il-2 set a standard in WW 2 flight sims that (imho) and is in a class all by itself

4. new people keep coming in (like me)

5. community is huge and dedicated.

6. still lots of theaters and room for improvement

7. SOW BOB series will continue this legacy

[David603]

I whine all the time, but in the BOP forum because they should have simply updated the graphics and ported 1946 intact.

Just reminds me how well done 1946 is. I have BOP on PS3 and it looks FANTASTIC, but I'm probably playing 1946 twice as much.

This old game still kicks butt.
Well, according to Anton Yudintsev (the head of Bird of Preys development team), the problem with using the Il2 engine for BoP was that Il2 is very reliant on Java, meaning it would not run on the PS3 and 360 and the engine itself is rather old and would be unable to produce the graphics necessary for success in the console market.

Therefore the game engine had to built from scratch, along with all ingame assets but the engine was designed to allow the flight models and AI from 1946 to be used, which means it does feel like an Il2 game.

I'm not really that happy about many of the changes, in most cases things they have done differently have been done in a way that reduces the amount of player control over a scenario in the interests of streamlining the experience, and I do think the controller schemes could have been done better, but overall it is a good game, and since Anton (unusually for a developer) has been talking about what could be done in a sequel, asking for suggestions, and has even stated that the first patch will include a number of fixes to issues raised by forum members, I'm sure most of the complaints 1946 players have been making will be addressed sooner or later.

1946 is still the game I play most though, especially since the 4.09 patch came out;)

[msalama]

1946 is still the game I play most though, especially since the 4.09 patch came out ;)

I reinstalled IL-2 a while ago after a long break to see what all the rage's about now that 4.09 has come out, and yeah, it's still good. The new maps and goodies are awesome of course, but what really got me sucked in again this time is the good old dynamic ground attack campaign where you fly a Sturmovik Series 1 into battle during the first days of Barbarossa. I mean, some people gripe about the clueless AI or the game lacking soul, but I at least had the most eventful and hair-raising (and short) career, during which I even managed to shoot down 3 Messerschmitts in addition to the usual tankbusting!

I received a medal and got promoted to a lieutenant before the curtains fell on my 8th sortie. The end, when it came, was fast and total, with some AI goon suffering from a Hartmann complex diving on me and dewinging my trusty rusty old ride :D Now it may well be true that the AI leaves a lot to be desired, but that IMO is a real problem during fighter vs. fighter engagements only, because those numbnuts sure are dangerous enough for us slow and low mudmovers! Although my SA ain't what it used to be either I'm sure...

So yeah, the game's still good IMO, warts and all.

PS. What the hell has happened to all full-difficulty and non-mod servers in HL, by the way? All I see is arcade and mod stuff when I log in there now. Not that there's anything wrong with that persay, it's just that I personally prefer "classic" servers myself...

[David603]

Well, most of the "hardcore" players have moved on to the various mod servers, because there really is a huge amount of content and many other improvements the mods have added, in fact my only gripe about 4.09m is that I'm going to have to wait until someone comes out with a new mod enabler before I can use my mods with the new features.