Yes, I am playing the old demo, but it is fun. I have learned that at least one of the plane variants is extremely finicky and have crashed twice before even getting to the objective.

I have not tried take-off yet, but I have been able to land. Ground targets are a little tricky as you say. I have crashed into or rammed them a few times, but I the more I play, the better I get.

I'll take a look at those links when I get home, thanks again for the support, and yes I'm looking where to buy the IL-2 1946 DVD for the best price.

I do plan to stay away from the P51 and maybe use a Hellcat variant, Hurricane or 109 as you suggest.

I finally installed IL-2 1946 and have been playing online this week for the first time. I do have some issues and/or questions:

1) I was reading some other player's post regarding the physics of the aircraft and why they are so unstable and they are not like that in real life. I know when I fly, if I bank past 90* even at full throttle, I'm in a stall about 90% of the time depending on the aircraft. With that said I crash a lot! lol Maybe I should bank slower, build up inertia and then go for a hard bank?

2) I only use a Wingman FF joystick, and notice the elevators not move at all when I maneuver. Along with that, I see other players' aircraft move so gracefully in the sky, bank, spin, ascend, while I struggle to simply bank without stalling. Its hard to keep up with them and I am sometimes afraid if I bank and pull back on the stick, I'll stall. I suspect it has something to do with me not being able to control the elevators. Are most of you using some kind of pedal control to help you control your aircraft? Any advice? SaiteK?

3) I've read about trimming out the aircraft, but seems to fly any which way and not specific to one direction. I just have my hand on the stick for safety :)

4) Do you have any advice on setting my guns at a better convergance distance? 500 seems to far. Is there a way to calculate distance if an aircraft is say..1.00 away?

Thanks for any further advice. The simulator is awesome, even with me having trouble taking off sometimes. At times, I can't get myself away from the computer.

I have NEVER seen an IL2 question on UBI forums go unanswered, so I am wondering where you get the 'Non existant IL2 support'from?

Just ask here if you neeed anything....

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/49310655

Welocme to your new addiction, wait until yo9u get online then the true addiction starts ;P

Salute Killspeed

I just replied to another query regarding stalls not too long ago on the UBI forums, so here it is again.

Stalls:

If you consider the reality of virtual air combat, most stalls happen when the stick is about halfway through its travel. Ie. you are in a turn, pulling back on the stick, you try to add just a little more elevator, and the plane stalls.

The best scaling for a stick is one which modulates the jumps in the virtual input at that critical middle section of the stick.

It's all about transitions, if you do not have smooth transitions between each step in the 10 programmable units in the scaling of input for the elevator, you will have a tendency to stall more easily. The same applies to Rudder and Aileron, although poorly setup scaling for these last two cause less problems re. stalls.

If you doubt me, take at careful look at the movement of the joystick as shown in the game's input section, ie. the twin axis setup, where two marker squares move along the axis of the joysticks movement. The red square follows exactly the physical movement of your joystick, the green square is the virtual movement you are inputting to your aircraft's controls. If you put in a typical profile, ie. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, and then compare this, with the one I list below in my suggested profile, and notice how smoothly one moves compared to the other. The typical profile has the green box jumping quickly in the middle range, making those fine adjustments when you are on the edge of the stall very difficult to input.

Here is an excerpt from the RAF74 Pilot's guide, showing how to setup INPUT for your joystick:

>>>

Pilot Handbook Part 1 (continued)

>>>

2) Scaling the Joystick


A Joystick must now be set up so that the Elevator, Aileron and Rudder are easily and smoothly controlled by the pilot. Incorrectly setup Elevators, Ailerons and Rudder will cause the pilot to stall his aircraft more often and also to maneuver less efficiently.

A Pilot scales his Joystick by using the INPUT interface. Access the INPUT interface by selecting HARDWARE SETUP from the main menu and then INPUT.

You will see on the upper left a box which allows you to select one of three Axes: Pitch (Elevator), Roll (Ailerons) and Yaw (Rudder). Each selection then can program a ten step scale of input degree for each of the three potential Axes. Step 1 must be at least 1, and Step 10 can be a maximum of 100.

The idea for the scale is that a Pilot will want to have a slightly finer set of inputs available to him when he is using the initial few centimeters of movement of the joystick, but at the same time, a set of smooth, non-abrupt transitions in the middle range, where stalling typically happens. This is to allow him to make fine adjustments to allow for accurate gunnery, with larger, but smooth adjustments to input in the middle and upper range.

Normally a pilot will program, by entering a number between 1 and 100 for each of the ten steps, a rising scale, that takes the form of an initially gentler slope, slightly steepening as it approaches 100.

Each pilot will have to determine what best suits him, but as an example of what I program here are my 10 steps for each of Pitch, Roll and Yaw.

50-60-75-90-100-100-100-100-100

What this level of scaling means, is that when I have moved the joystick the physical equivalent of 1 of the ten steps, or 10% of the movement distance available to the Joystick, I am inputting electronically just slightly over 5% of the virtual control. At the medium end of the scale, with movement equivalent to 3 of the ten steps, or 30%, I have inputted 22.5% of the virtual control. At the 5th step, I am inputting 50% of the virtual control or a 1 to 1 ratio of hand movement to virtual input. At 9 of ten steps, I am inputting 90% of the virtual control. The whole key to setting the input is to make the transitions between the steps as smooth as possible, otherwise you will not be able to fly the aircraft as accurately as you wish.

There are also scalable settings availabe for FILTERING and DEADBAND. Filtering is used when a Joystick is slightly prone to spiking, and can moderate such wild inputs. For those with a good joystick, this is unnessesary. Deadband creates a dead area around the center of the joysticks physical movements and thus prevents small, involuntary movements of the pilot’s hand from affecting the plane’s control surfaces. I prefer to set both to zero, but many like to have a deadband of 5 or 10. However, when you allocate a percentage to deadband, you are actually reducing the amount of physical movement of your joystick, which is actually dedicated to control. Therefore the whole scale becomes less fine, and less movement of your hand results in more movement in the virtual aircraft.

<<<

Some other suggestions:

It takes a while for an aircraft to get settled into a turn, a pilot has to have the patience to allow it to. I almost always used to find that I had to back off on the elevator input once I got into a turn, but now am disciplining myself to add just enough.

Putting aside elevator inputs, in many ways though, using just the ailerons and rudder to set the aircraft into a bank, thus initiating a turn is a better solution than over-using the elevator. Aileron turns use the natural lift of the aircraft's wings without the extra drag of the elevator, thus speed stays high. So you set the aircraft into the turn with ailerons and rudder, and only then do you think about adding any elevator. In some cases, you may find you don't need any.

>>>>

Trim

Trim should be used on all aircraft to allow them to fly level and straight with hands off. A trimmed plane gives a pilot a better chance of hitting during gunnery and improves his acceleration and top speed. The nature of the game is such that perfect trim cannot be maintained at all times, but trim can be set up shortly after takeoff and prior to combat to allow a reasonable level of efficiency. Normally a plane should be trimmed when it is flying at a speed which it would normally be travelling at during combat maneuvers. So for example, since a Spitfire V’s best combat speed is between 250 and 300 kph, it should be trimmed for somewhere between those speeds. (I like to trim it at 300 kph since I like to keep my speed up)

The most crucial trim functions are for Rudder Trim and Elevator Trim.

You assign Elevator trim to your mousewheel.

The four arrow keys on the left of the number keypad can be used for other trim functions. I suggest the left and right arrows for Rudder trim. You can use the up and down keys for Aileron trim, or you can use the 4 and 6 buttons on the number pad, which have arrows on them, for the same purpose.

Of the three trims, Elevator and Rudder trim are the most important. An aircraft which does not have its elevator or rudder trimmed correctly is travelling slighty sideways or fighting your attempts to fly level. What this means is that the pilot will have his gunnery negatively affected, especially at longer ranges. In addition, he will be more likely to spin in hard turns.

Rudder Trim is adjusted on German or American planes by zooming in with cockpit view onto the floating ball, (like on a Carpenter’s level) on the instrument panel. The pilot then uses the right and left arrows to center the ball in between the two lines. Rudder trim on British planes is adjusted by zooming in on the instrument panel and looking at the SIDESLIP and TURN indicator, (low and to the right of the joystick) and adjusting the rudder trim so that the SIDESLIP indicator needle is centered. German aircraft such as the 109 and 190 do not have rudder trim. The 190 is an aircraft which does not require much trim when it is flying at normal combat speeds, at other times, you need to apply rudder pressure from your rudder pedals or twist stick to get it trimmed. The 109 trims fairly well on its own at low and medium speeds, but when it gets going faster, you need to manually add rudder to trim it.

Remember that Rudder trim must be adjusted when the plane is flying straight and level. And no rudder input on the twist stick or rudder pedals should be applied when adjusting.

When you roll your wings to enter a turn, the ball or sideslip indicator will go off center showing you are yawing. This is because you have begun an uncoordinated turn, ie. one in which you did not apply rudder to assist and prevent yaw. A coordinated turn involves the use of both ailerons and rudder to start it. Yaw during a turn cannot be corrected by trimming, you apply rudder manually to correct the imbalance. This is because, when you straighten out, you will out of trim if you have adjusted the trim controls instead of manually feeding in rudder to correct the imbalance.

Elevator Trim is adjusted by feel. The pilot takes his hands off the controls and notices whether his plane has a tendency to dive or climb. Elevator trim is then applied until the aircraft flys level. (although some pilots trim their plane for a climb when climbing after takeoff, and return it to normal trim when entering combat) Again, no Elevator input should be applied when adjusting elevator trim. Elevator trim is on a delay, so that it takes a few seconds before it comes into effect after you input a trim. Wait till your adjustments take effect before applying too much elevator trim. Ideally Elevator Trim should be on a slider or a mouse wheel, as it can be then used in combat to squeeze a little bit more turn performance out of your aircraft. But this is not very often an advantage.

Aileron Trim should also be programmed onto the keyboard, although in my opinion, Aileron Trim is not as crucial as the other two. Aileron trim should be adjusted last, after Rudder and Elevator trim. Many aircraft, like the Spitfire and Hurricane, do not have Aileron trim.

Trim must be adjusted everytime you change your speed. An aircraft trimmed properly at 400 kph will not be trimmed when its speed increases to 500 kph. An expert pilot will have his plane in trim at all times. Those who have less experience will trim their aircraft for the expected speed they will be flying in combat, and then leave it there.

<<<


RAF74 has a number of elements in our training program which can help less experienced pilots move more quickly into flying and fighting more effectively.

For more info, RAF74 homepage is here:

http://www.raf74.com/

The Cessnas flight model is porked! It is underpowered and the gun button on the control yoke doesn't do anything! Also there is no abrieviated start up procedure! ;)

IL2 1946 is without any doubt whatsoever the absolute best WWII combat flight sim available on the market to date bar none.

If you are a stickler for details then this is the sim for you, qand mind you it is a 10 year old engine and 46 is based on a sim IL2 which was released in 2001, yet it is just now getting to the point where it canh really be run in all it's glory.

It is a system intensive sim, and it is a challenge to fly, a thing of beauty to behold
and while the community has it's share of holes.. you will find that 99% of the people you will meet here will be the most helpful internet folks you have ever met.


Hit the Nugget's Guide in my signature... You might also want to hit the Essentials link.

Ever heard of the hyperlobby
 

I didnt read all the comments you got but i am sure that someone tolt you to download hyperlobby.
There you meet allot people how like to fly online ..every day between 500-1000 24/7

The others have given great advice, so I will add only one main thing and a couple of side points.

#1: Be patient, this game simulates the most advanced and complex machines of their day, the real life pilots of these planes were usually among the most highly trained professionals in the world, yet only a few of them became "aces" and many were killed by their own planes, wether in training or accidents. It will take time to learn.

Also, do your homework, learn the basics of aeronautics, and flight control. If you know why your doing something and how it works you will find it much easier to learn the techniques. Also do some study on the individual aircraft, what they were designed to do, and how the were used in real life, then stick with one or two main types for a while to get them down like driving a car, then you will find it much easier to hop in different types and do at least reasonably well.

Oh, yeah. Join a squad: you won't regret it. You might want to also consider Joint Ops, It's a virtual school that's very demanding but equally rewarding.

Hello killspeed, good to see new people interested in realism too, and not Skie.. Ummrh, well, just arcade df. :rolleyes:

Try MiG-3. Build up some speed and try turning - thats bad elevators. In general, the more speed you have the less likely you are to spin if you pull back hard. To keep your speed up, try not to always pull stick fully back. I, for example, almost never pull the stick fully back, usually only some max. 30%. The less you pull back the less you lose speed. Also, try not to raise the nose above the horizon while turning - that will also make you lose speed and eventually stall, so dont do it before you learn more.

Using the rudder does help, but not as much as you'd think. I played more than 6 years without using rudder at all(with keyboard in takeoff and landing) and I think I did fairly well then... ;)

to BUZZSAW: in il2, trimming = moving control surfaces. Ie. != real trim. Elevator trim down and pushing stick forward = neutral trim and not touching the stick.

Dont think about trimming yet. Trimming will give you a few extra kmph in TOP speed (not acceleration). If you start concentrating on trimming before you have learned the gazillion other things you will only end up in being shot down even more often.

For example the P51, P47, P38 and P40 have 105 mils gunsight. That means that when a plane with a wingspan of 10 meters (FW190, for example!) is 105 meters from you he is exactly the size of the gunsight. If hes half the size, hes 210m away, a third of the size means 315, double the size 55, etc. Different planes have gunsights of different size, most having "range rings" or lines for distance approximation.

The best way to learn is to keep flying and flying. And giving yourself new challenges. Once you've learned how to dogfight a little and you can hit others from angles as well, move to a more challenging enviroment. But also remember not to get used of(completely dependant) on padlock, invisible cockpit, external views, icons(labels) or la5fn/la7! :cool:

Thanks so much for all the replies!