Amazing.

[Les]

I just had the most realistic, most immersive flight-simming experience I've ever had.

Struggling to find the words to describe it, I realize I'm amazed, and so realize the 'game' I just played is amazing. No questions. No doubts. 'Cliffs of Dover' is the best, most realistic, flight-sim I've ever used.

You might not think it's possible based on what you read around here, and there's no reason it should mean anything to anyone else anyway, but what I just experienced was the pinnacle of years of combat-flight-simming and I'm blown away by it. A simple 6 Hurricane vs. 6 Bf-109 dogfight over the Channel, then a short flight back to land in England. (And as a bonus, it turned out I bagged three of the 109's, but I didn't see any one of them actually go down, was too busy looking for the next one and keeping my engine in order.)

I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that this was just a stupid off-the-cuff Quick Mission furball that's left me so impressed I'm blabbering here on the forums about it. Maybe I should go start it up again and look at the things about it I don't like, or go do something more 'real' or 'important', just to regain some perspective on it. I don't know.

Played with full engine complexity, no chat or hud messages at all, just flying by using the gauges in the cockpit and what I could see around me, except for the mini-map to check there were no enemies left and to find my way back to base after an air-start. All video settings on full, with good to great frame-rates throughout and very minimal stuttering over land. For me, that was the most immersive combination of elements, but I'm hoping others can use their own preferred combinations and still have the same kind of experience, in their own way, that I just did. It's the new best, it really is.

And no, it wasn't perfect, but the honeymoon is well and truly on, for me anyway. The novelty may wear off and I may grow tired of it, but I have just flown what I believe is the closest thing to a real combat flight you can get on a computer. The way it looked, the way it sounded (yes, the way it sounded), the procedures involved, the whole thing was on a whole new level for me.

I'm not saying if everyone experienced what I just experienced they'd come away with the same impression. But if everyone who uses this sim finds their own way through it to this same awestruck place I'm in, 'Cliffs Of Dover' and the new IL-2 series will become widely known and accepted as the best combat-flight-sim ever, and in some ways, as the best flight-sim in general. Big words, big claims, but it's just a fact as far as I'm concerned.

You could say Maddox Games tried to do too much with the new series and that they fell short in a lot of ways. Well, even if that's so, from what I've just seen, they've still landed head and shoulders above anything else that's been done. I've already gotten my money's worth out of it, playing around with only a few of it's features.

People, rightly so I believe, have their problems with aspects of the sim, I do too. Others talk about it's potential. Well all those problems just disappeared and this sims potential was just made real for me, and I just had the best flight-simming experience I've ever had, as simple as that.

Congratulations, and thanks, to all involved in it's creation.

Edit - I've attached the .trk file of the mission if anyone wants to watch it, though I doubt it would be interesting to anyone else (it's probably a guess-you-had-to-be-there kind of thing) and it probably shows up my mistakes and short-comings more than anything, but what the hell, as crap as it may seem in hindsight, this little sortie on max settings blew me away.

Edit2 - Looks like there's a bug with the replay system, the track plays alright up to a certain point, then the plane's engine keeps throttling up and down in way it didn't do when I was recording it. Could be due to bringing up the map in-game, I don't know. If you do play the track though, you can still see the actual dogfighting before the bug kicks in. Watch it without enabling 'Change Views' in the options if you want to see the recording as I saw it at the time, it probably makes more sense that way.

[danjama]

Cool story bro (really)

[glue]

I wish I could view it. (Don't have CoD yet)

[andmcq]

That looked awesome. Headtracking makes it look so much nicer.

[doghous3]

It's just good to read accounts of people enjoying the game.

According to steam, I've racked up 47hrs on CoD.

[oxygenthief]

:grin:

[naz]

Thanks for posting mate, I enjoyed watching that. I've been playing Il2 since the original demo and am loving Cliffs of Dover as well.

PS... I was wondering what was going on with the the throttling at the end LOL

[SG1_Lud]

Well expressed bro and thank you very much for taking the time to write this.
You know, normally the people that post in the forums are because they have a problem. That's why is so much appreciated that you wrote that, and even more, so well that was a pleasure to read.

Indeed, those who like to use real navigation, cem and enjoy not only the combat phase, but the rest of the flight, have here a real diamond. Of course it needs some work, but it is a gem.

To be honest, I had a slightly better experience with the amazing A2A spitfire (with accusim), which I recommend you strongly. But it lacks the war environment. IL2 COD is an amazing simulation of it all.

Hope Luthier and team read your words, and they encourage them, despite the bad reviews.

Cheers and keep enjoyng Les!

[Rocka]

Great read and good to hear that some other ppl are having blast with the game.

I've had my ups and downs with the game so far (46 hours played) but sometimes it's so good that it beats everything out there, both past and present.

The game can only get better from this point, and that's not a bad thing.

After having some dogfights in COD yesterday with complex engine management on I loaded up the old IL-2 doing some mission in a Hurricane. Oh boy what a difference!
Went back to COD immediately! :)

[Triggaaar]

I'm glad some people are finding the game is living up to their expectations.

I do wonder how this sim would have been received if 1C had called the release a Beta until 19th April, when it's due for release in the States. It would have been harder for people to slag it off, instead they'd have to just state what didn't work.

I think there are still pleanty of bugs and issues, but given that we can fly this at maximum settings with the hardware we have, it's difficult to see how it could fail. Everything is there, and it just needs tweaking. I'm sure there are people here that just can't run the game, thinking that it needs more than tweaking, but if it can run properly on some people PCs, then it's clearly capable of working.

[MD_Titus]

I've been verbose in my praise for cod, despite having a bit of a chugger for a pc and getting random ctd or bsod whilst playing. If this patch marks the curve for refinements then I believe this praise in the face of adversity will be well earned.

[Rickusty]

Nice man! We need these kind of messages here.

Even though the last patch has somehow worsened my FPS (true...) , I really think this sim has a HUGE potential, a huge one.
The feeling of actually "being there" is amazing.

The combat isn't so fast and crazy as before... and I feel it's more realistic this way. Planes slowly curves and maneuver, the fighting is "alive", and really IMO close to what it really was back then.

I love this sim, even though it has many shortcomings, and I'm sure Luthier and the team will solve them with time. We only need to wait.

Thank you.
Cheers

[Furio]

Thank you, Les. This is a breathe of fresh air after much heated debates and some downright trolling.
So far, I had less luck with game performances, but from what I saw so far, I agree with you this is the best sim ever. What impressed most me, having learned to fly first in real planes, is the realism of planes handling. In other sims I always needed to adjust to differences in handling and response to command, some minor – like in good old Il2 – some major, like in FS. But with CoD I had to do absolutely nothing but piloting like I’m used to do going through real word air, seated in a real airplane, behind (or in front of) a real engine. This is what amazed me the most.

[tranquillity]

I do soo agree:-P
This night I played the even dogfight quick mission, 6vs6 in a bf109, and it is just amazing now after the patch! You really get sucked into the cockpit, and in one situation I was shocked, as i pursued a hurricane, when i heard a roaring behind me, and when I realized what it was i pushed the nose down so hard that I got a red out, but could see the tracers like a wall of fire above me:). Some even perforated the right wing, leaving small holes..
It is nice that AI doesn't hit like a computer, but do also miss in times.you don't automatically die when they get behind you...
Well I can't even play in full details due to my hd4870, but models on high, shadows on and damage decals and visual effects on high...blows me away already on 1280x1024(got to get me a hd6970 i guess..:)..
After I survived the scirmish(downing only 1 plane as I still suck at aiming;))
I headed towards land, where I even recieved playable framerates over cities...amazing:)
sorry for my english, just thought this would fit into this thread:)

[Triggaaar]

sorry for my english, just thought this would fit into this thread:)Your English is very good

[Ataros]

You should try online with full engine management. It is something! Especially now at the beginning of the learning curve it feels just like in all the stories I've read: as if you are for real put into combat right after a flight school with not enough experience. Sometimes you just forget about enemy struggling with your own plane to survive watching gauges and rotating radiator handles like a mad :grin:

Won a duel with a 109, burned my engine in the process and managed to glide to safety of my airfield. It feels so great when you manage to do it for the first time. Tnx Maddox Games for giving this experience again after 10 years! I never thought I can have it again.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_SFUSvzV-UZg/TaAXQETCVMI/AAAAAAAAAxg/ann0TrMsm28/s1280/shot_20110409_022935.jpg

Anyone can get "real" external IPs from your providers and host small 16 ppl online sessions. Do it! Nothing compares to it!

[BlackbusheFlyer]

Thanks for posting, enjoyed watching it and hope others will also post their memorable flights.

[MadTommy]

I've been really enjoying the sim too, getting great performance, 40-50fps average, removed all the HUD crap.. I'm new to the IL2 series so i don't come with any of the baggage. I haven't been waiting for it for years.. which i think helps, only really heard about it a few months ago.

The only bad thing about it is all the whining within this community, some of it is understandable, most is not. Sure the game was released in beta shape but i'm struggling to think of a sim that is not these days. (not an excuse, sure, but a fact). I'd prefer sims to be released in beta form than not at all. Many only seem to see the faults and ignore the good things.

Anyway i'm rambling.. loving the sim.. very much looking forward to getting the multiplayer side of things working. If the DEV team keep up the work & patches i'm sure even the 'haters' will come around. :rolleyes:

[machoo]

Great sim , I just need better hardware. I was watching a He-111 not long ago all shot up with dead crew just flying around aimlessly just like in the BOB movie. Eventually it went down in the channel. Was really cool seeing the puffs of flame randomly spurt out of the engines that were smoking.

[SlipBall]

:cool:

[GothicGhost]

Thanks Les i watched your replay but as with my own after a while the shooting effects stops and looks like the enemy plane getting damage from no where :(

This happens to all my replays even with the new patch.

[jibo]

I've been verbose in my praise for cod, despite having a bit of a chugger for a pc and getting random ctd or bsod whilst playing. If this patch marks the curve for refinements then I believe this praise in the face of adversity will be well earned.
for BOSD check PSU and ram first

[Anvilfolk]

Great posts everyone. It really gladdens me to read them :) Keep them coming if you had good experiences!

[shrink]

Yep. Even warts and all, amazing is the word. :-P
I give you the beautiful Merlin.
http://shrink.home.bresnan.net/engine%20hood.jpg

[doghous3]

I shan't even ask how you managed pop the lid on that, but that's pretty cool detail-wise.

[janik_dk]

After the new patch COD has become much more playable - i Actually managed to down a bomber today!

The realism in this sim is fantastic!

I was approaching some british bomber and under estimated their guns badly..
The result was this:
http://www.frithioff.dk/div/damn.jpg

Now how am I surposed to aim?! :)

[Mad G]

Les, which is your rig and configs? Thanks,

[123-Wulf-123]

I have a fairly modest system and I too am having a great time, great read Les and I thoroughly agree this game is fricking fantastic warts and all. :grin:


I am just awestruck by the cockpits and the lighting effects and really I even with my low end system the game is for 97% of the time smooth as silk :)

[Rattlehead]

Enjoyable reading.

The more I play this sim, the more I realise it's light years more advanced the the old (but rightly loved) Il-2, and not only in terms of graphics. The flight model seems much better to me, for one thing. Certain aspects of the sound is very, very good, and overall it's just a more immersive experience that pretty much anything else I've played. It's great fun, even though I am still struggling a bit with certain problems performance-wise in the game.

I'm having a lot of fun with the FMB too; using triggers one can create some really fantastic scenarios, and I love how customisable the AI is.

All in all, this is going to be one heck of a ride. :-P

[Les]

Hey all, thanks for your feedback, I wasn't really expecting that. It's good to know others are finding ways to enjoy the game too. After struggling with the buggier aspects of it myself, I just couldn't contain my enthusiasm after I hopped into that quick mission to record some stuff and ended up having such a great experience.

Earlier on I took a Spitfire for a low-level cruise down the Thames too, to check out the performance in London after the patch, and found that much more playable as well, averaging 20-25fps. I've just never seen so much detail in an off-the-shelf flight-sim before. It's the sort of thing people have been waiting for years to see, and there it is.

Hopefully the developers can keep optimizing and improving the sim to the point where everyone can get their individual issues sorted out and can get on board and have fun with it too.

The challenge now for me is to decide which part of the game I play with, when I get time to play it at all. Making missions, making video's, playing missions or campaigns, playing online, or just flying around looking at the scenery, it's all there and available right now, more or less.

My specs are -

GTX580 (1536MB VRAM)
i7 920 @ 3.8GHz
12GB DDR3 RAM
2x150GB Velociraptors in RAID0

Video settings are maxed out, but I've still got to see whether that's playable in the heavier action scenarios I might find in single missions and campaigns. I expect I'll have to turn some settings down at times.

I have Audio set to 'Ambiosonic', which I think is the binaural setting, as it sounds different to Stereo when heard through headphones. It has a fuller sort of sound to my ears. I've been hearing engine sounds I haven't heard in the IL-2 series before, but that might be due to new content, not (what I'm assuming are) the binaural Audio settings themselves.

I guess my system could still be considered top-end in some ways, but I really don't think you need to go all out on the tech side to make 'Cliffs of Dover' play well enough to make it worthwhile. It's meant to be scaleable after all, and some of the best parts of it aren't really hardware dependent anyway.

I understand people want to maximize their settings as much as they can, I do too, but I think sometimes too much emphasis is placed on the hardware and visual performance side of things. As some of us know from first-hand experience, some of the best times you can have are with the not so best looking of things. Just something to keep in mind perhaps. I'm big on the visuals, but there's got to be more substance to it as well, and a lot of what you get out of it in that regard is dependent on what you put into it. IMO, 'Cliffs of Dover', like the rest of the IL-2 series, isn't really a sit back and have it all dished up to you sort of experience. To get the most out of it you've got to make an effort to learn how to work with it. I'd only consider it a failure if it didn't reward that kind of effort. But I think, even in it's current state, it does pay off in that regard.

Of course, that's no excuse for making things un-necessarily difficult, or leaving things unfinished, but it's a give and take kind of thing. I'm still looking forward to some pretty fundamental fixes and improvements, but there's already a lot of stuff that makes the new title worth working with.

Anyway, gotta go, have been staying up too late with it and am falling asleep at the keyboard again.

[lbuchele]

I was on my Bf-110 chasing a Beaufighter,when I fired my devastating set of cannons,hitting it's starboard wing and engine.
Immediatly,the engine stops running,but without dropping smoke.
I was so amazed with the detail of the situation,the beautiful 3d modeled proppeler spinning so slowly,that I stopped firing,just looking at the scene.
Suddenly, another Beau , coming from nowhere,gave me a head-on pass, firing a real brief .303 burst after that the screen become black.
I thought "damn bug,just now!"
The truth slowly entered in my soul and a F2 view confirmed:me and my gunner,both dead instantly.
The cockpit and the canopy full of small holes,my pilot body leaned forward.
That's was in my sim life of years the first moment when I feel DEAD in some way,with a feeling of strange sadness.
Man,I really love this sim.