Instrument interaction?

[MadTommy]

Hello all,

Excited about the imminent release of IL2 - CoD. I've had a look about, and am somewhat struggling to find much info about its features and the like...is it all a surprise.. or am i just being blind?

My question is about cockpit instrument interaction. Will it have 'clickable' controls like the DCS series does, Blackshark & A10c Warthog?

Of course there will be a lot less switches & buttons in a WWII plane, but i do love that immersive feeling of flicking switches & twisting knobs. :-P

Thanks for any info.

[swiss]

If I remember correctly: No

flicking switches & twisting knobs.

With the mouse? During dogfight? Enjoy. :D

[BadAim]

The simple answer to your question is yes, the cockpits will be clickable. All controls used during flight will be modeled, but start up procedures will be abbreviated somewhat.

COD has been known as Storm of War throughout it's development, causing some confusion for the uninitiated. You will find a lot more info if you look it up that way.

Edit: The clicking will be optional, all controls will be mappable.

[MadTommy]

Shall i take the 1st or 2nd answer? :)

[Matt255]

The second.

[ckolonko]

Nice one! We do get clickable stuff. Even after Oleg stated we wouldn't.

[Blackdog_kt]

What BadAim said.

There's been a huge debate over this in the past and the reason we'll get an optionally clickable interface is very simple.
Oleg Maddox said that apart from engine startup and shutdown sequences,everything else will be modeled in a way that we can interact with it: fuel tank selector switches, armament selector panels, emergency hand pumps, fuel transfer controls, electric system switches (lights), etc.
It's very possible that the whole lot of what's in every cockpit will not only be animated, it will actually work like the real thing and have an impact on the aircraft's systems and operation.

Well, it's obvious that there's too many keybindings and button mapping required to do that with keyboard and HOTAS alone ;)

That doesn't mean you won't be able to if you want to though. Maybe you want to build a custom switch panel and map everything to that one so you don't use the mouse.

Maybe someone is comfortable hitting shift+f+< to turn the fuel selector anti-clockwise and shift+f+> to turn it clockwise in single engined aircraft, or even shift+f+1+< or > to turn only the no.1 engine's fuel selector in multi engined aircraft :-P

As you can see, after a certain point it's obvious that key mappings are not enough to work the various subsystems or they just become too confusing to remember. I don't have Black Shark but a little while before its release the developers made the manual freely available in .pdf form and i had a look. It's the same thing in that sim as well, it has already predefined keyboard commands for every single switch in that cockpit and you can remap everything to your taste if you're so inclined, but after a point it becomes not only easier but faster as well to just use the mouse and be done with it.

What Swiss says is true, but partially. I don't expect anyone to actually click on the trigger on top of the control column to fire their guns, or click on the gear/flaps/etc controls during flight. These are primary controls and just like in IL2 (which doesn't have a clickable interface) or Black Shark (which does), i guess most people will want to have them mapped to their stick or keyboard.

When it comes to secondary systems however and all the easy to remember keybindings are already taken by the primary controls, unless you have a customized switch panel or one of those sold by CH and other peripheral manufacturers, it's going to be mouse control all the way and guess what...It's perfectly ok, because you won't be fiddling with your fuel selectors in the midst of a dogfight. If you find yourself in a position where you need to do it, you did something wrong in the first place ;)

It's just a question of using a mix of different interfaces to enable us to control everything in a way that's intuitive and natural, or skip on modeling the complicated stuff because of a mere dislike for a certain interface that's needed to do it.

I too would prefer not to click on things and have my own switchboard because it's faster to use. Heck, i would prefer to have my own sim-pit.
However, just because i can't afford a sim-pit doesn't mean i prefer less realism, just like when i didn't have a TrackIR yet i still chose to fly on servers without external views, even if that meant a disadvantage for me.

Currently i only have a MS sidewinder precision 2 stick and a TrackIR, so i already have to settle with using the keyboard in IL2 even for engine controls like prop pitch. Imagine adding all the CoD controls on top of it all with no other way to use them, it would be very hard to remember them. With a mouse on the other hand, i can just look around my virtual cockpit and click on that switch when i want to do something that needs to be done once or twice per each mission (like switching fuel tanks), instead of having to remember obscure and convoluted keybindings.

In general, i'm willing to settle for a non-optimal control scheme as long as i get aircraft models that are as close as possible to the real thing within the limits of today's technology.

From where i'm standing, team Maddox made the right decision and didn't let a purely subjective issue of taste in interface drag down the new sim's realism level. They chose to provide all the possible interfacing options and let the player decide what to use on his own, instead of skipping on modeling the aircraft in detail and that's not only commendable from a "purist/realism junky" standpoint, it also accommodates players regardless of how much they can spend on extra peripherals ;)

Edit: The first confirmation of the clickable interface came when a member of the French simulation community (check-six.fr) traveled to Moscow and interviewed mr. Maddox. You can find the interview here: http://www.checksix-fr.com/articles/Articles_html/inter_Oleg_Foxy/interview_oleg_foxy_EN.html
I think he mentions the Stuka canopy fogging up as it climbs higher, at which point the guy behind the controls clicks on the defrost system and the canopy clears again. It's features and small details like this that are going to raise immersion to new heights in this sim. The interview is some months old, but it's a good read anyway and a good refresh course on things we tend to overlook when we're all busy debating the colour of grass in the Friday screenshots :P

[ckolonko]

Cheers for the article Blackdog. Thats awesome! I cant wait to get this even more!

[MadTommy]

Thanks, great to hear.

Is there anything bad about this sim? :D

[Azimech]

The only situation I'd want to play with the fuel selectors during combat is to switch on the fuel transfer pump and select a different tank, in case of a leaking tank.