1946 - where to start?

[Orpheus]

'Lo chaps, bought IL2-1946 in the Steam sale because CloD has given me the bug (and is a bit too clunky atm for my tastes)... what should I be looking for in terms of updates & mods to get the best out of the game?

Cheers!

[Romanator21]

I would recommend to hold off on mods at least for a little bit until you get comfortable with the game and how it works. The big modpacks are HSFX 5 and UP 3.0 and SAS.

If you just got 1946 you're probably running 4.07. Currently everyone is running 4.101, so you need 4.08, 4.09, 4.09 skinpack, 4.10, 4.101. They can be found at Mission4Today if you register.

Everyone connects online using Hyperlobby, and you can download this for free. Just be sure to have the latest version of the game.

Lastly, invest in a stick. It will make control much smoother and easier.

Have fun!

[MadBlaster]

I just upgraded to UltraPack 3.0 last night. Seems great so far.

How to get there:

First install the stock game you bought and direct2drive patch so game is at version 4.07m and dvd free (i.e., direct2drive patch or whatever). Run the game and check the version at the opening screen. Should say in red "4.07m".

Second, find the "megapatch" at Mission4Today to upgrade to 4.10.1m (latest version of stock game from TD). It's in the downloads section. There's instructions on how best to download and install it. Make sure you extract the runme.exe patch to a temp folder first, then run it and point it to the IL-2 game folder. After installing the megapatch, run the game again and check the version. Should say in red 4.10.1m. At this point if you want to be safe, make a backup of the entire IL-2 game folder in case the next step, installation of the mod pack, goes bad. Then if it does, you just copy the folder and contents over the bad install.

Third, go to Ultrapack and get the torrent file for the full install of UP 3.0. Download it and install on top of your clean install of 4.10.1m. Follow the directions. You need a torrent client like utorrent on your machine to download by torrent. I'll assume you know how to do that. Also, UP recommends in the instructions that you back up four dll files in your game folder for some reason. I don't know why. I guess in case something goes wrong down the road. Easiest way for me was to just do a copy/paste of each of these files in the game folder where they are located. Each backup copy will say "copy of blah, blah.dll", etc. So now you have two copies of each file, but named different and the game will ignore the "copy of" ones, unless you rename them and delete that part of the name. You'll probably never need to use them though. Anyway, when you start the game after the install, it should say up 3.0. Ultrapack says there are a few bugs to be fixed in about a month. They are taking bug reports now. Only thing I noticed so far is 109's running rich and smoking.

Start playing. Stop. Forgot to mention. Before you try to play 3.0, you first have to go to the JSGME icon and open that. The JSGME mod tool will open up. Move the UP 3.0 mod over to the active mods section with your mouse, save it and close out the JSGME tool. Now start playing. The splash screen will say IL-2/UP 3.0. Also, there is a little menu that opens up when you first play. Configure it based on your setup. If you don't want to see it again, there is a radio button to make it go away once you have it configured to your liking.

[Asheshouse]

If you are new to IL2-1946 then you will have lots to explore just with the game patched with the official patches to v4.101, as per links above. No need to worry about ModPacks until you have got familiar with the stock game.

The quality of content in the official game varies considerably. Which reflects the length of time the game has been around. The latest maps like Slovakia are works of art, while some of the older ones are a bit lacking in detail IMO.

Try them all and you will soon find what you like.

The same can be said of some of the aircraft, the later released versions generally being better looking than the early ones.

An essential addon to the stock game is to download some missions and campaigns from Mission4Today. These often come packaged with new aircraft skins.

[ACE-OF-ACES]

Originally Posted by Orpheus

what should I be looking for in terms of updates & mods to get the best out of the game?

The un-official HSFX 5.0 Instructional Download Installation and Operations Tutorial

HSFX 5.0 download

HSFX 5.0 Hotfix 1 (patch) download

[Porksmuggler]

The Steam version is already 4.09m, so your ready for the newest 4.10 and 4.10.1 patches.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forum....php?t=1358851

[MaxGunz]

Originally Posted by Romanator21

I would recommend to hold off on mods at least for a little bit until you get comfortable with the game and how it works. The big modpacks are HSFX 5 and UP 3.0 and SAS.

If you just got 1946 you're probably running 4.07. Currently everyone is running 4.101, so you need 4.08, 4.09, 4.09 skinpack, 4.10, 4.101. They can be found at Mission4Today if you register.

Everyone connects online using Hyperlobby, and you can download this for free. Just be sure to have the latest version of the game.

Lastly, invest in a stick. It will make control much smoother and easier.

Have fun!

+1 -- UP 3 is over 6 gigs. You need that right away before you even know how to fly the sim? Just to use the trim at all correctly takes time.

At least check your 4.101 install and if you have room, copy the folder somewhere to have a working backup.

As far as stick, either get rudder pedals (highly desireable) or make sure that the stick is a twisty-stick for rudder control. Ability to control rudder well makes a large difference in how fast and well you will fly. Other things to look for in a stick are hats and buttons, sliders and/or rotary dials. More -is- better but budget... online you can get a cheap minimal but workable twisty stick for about US$25, less on special maybe.

Look into TrackIR but also check into Cachya (Google the name).

[Porksmuggler]

^ I've not tried Cachya yet, because it's trial software, so I can't give a comparison, but I do recommend FaceTrackNoIR. It's free, and only requires a webcam.

http://facetracknoir.sourceforge.net/home/default.htm

[EJGr.Ost_Caspar]

Originally Posted by Romanator21

If you just got 1946 you're probably running 4.07. Currently everyone is running 4.101, so you need 4.08, 4.09, 4.09 skinpack, 4.10, 4.101. They can be found at Mission4Today if you register.

The 4.09 skinpack is not mandatory (but recommendable).
But it is not possible to install it later (over 4.10 i.e.).

There are not multiplayer problems between version with and without skinpack installed.

Pro: it brings new, better looking default skins to many planes (mainly VVS and Germany)
Contra: its large for a download

[Orpheus]

Thanks for the tips chaps, I'm patched to latest and have installed HSFX 5.0, and an RAF campaign I found at Mission4today... one of which seems to have set all my in-game text to Russian! Updating the conf.ini to eu didn't fix it, on the plus side the downloaded RAF campaign is still in English!

Enjoying it so far.