IL2 and Sound Modding

[X]

Completely concur with Dr. F_IV's diagnosis.

In the interest of full disclosure, I ran through a tremendous number of airplanes looking for egregious flaws caused by the 6 DOF mod. First, an observation. We, alas, do not get fully capable 6 DOF with the mod because we are not able to lean our heads out of the canopy. You can lean out of your canopy in BOBII, for example, but those models were designed from the start for 6 DOF. Now, compared to the early essays in 6 DOF we saw in FS9 in which cockpits not designed for 6 DOF were crudely adapted, the IL-2 46 6 DOF mod is superb. The 46 job is not crude. Are there inevitably glitches? Yes. They always occur when you are extremely close to your gunsight when you are looking along your cowling. Some aircraft were not given a contiguous cowling right up to the windscreen, thus, in extreme close up, some exhibit small gaps. Compared to the monster holes we used to see in FS9, they are nothing. I found this in the LaGGs, Las, the Hellcats, and very slightly in the MiG-3 (this list is not intended to be definitive). Where I expected to see gaps, like in the huge snouts of Spitfires and Corsairs, or in the complex glazing of the Pe-2/3, He 111, and Ju 88, there were none. I consider this to be fantastic. You will feel like you have never been in these bombers before after flying them with 6 DOF---you are no longer imprisoned by the framework of their complex glazing, you can look around the frames. Flying is so much easier, and so much more natural when you are not banging from one range view to another like a reflex camera. Some things need to be refined. It is very hard to get your head low enough to see properly through the Pe-2/3's gunsight. You almost can't get your head far enough to the right to properly use the 262's sight.

But, the rear view in the P-40E is suddenly spectacular. Same for the P-39s. Dive bombing in the D3A1 is so much easier. Unfortunately, the SBD was designed so that you have to use the bombsight view to look through the tele sight so it derives no benefit from 6 DOF, a pity.

Anyway, if somebody has been spreading rumors of gross deformities due to the 6 DOF, it is a blatant untruth, and more hysteria from the fanatics. The truth of the matter is that the 6 DOF mod is a brilliant achievement.