Small issues...honest;RT commands,gunner views.

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by jamesdietz

Gotten everything to run smoothly & am having fun ( if at somewhat slow FPS..) but am frustrated by several smallish issues:

1.0 I have no radio commands to get my fellow pilots to ataack anything.All I seem to be able to do is call for help & ( perhaps) change formation.I have no ( apparent) commands to have them attack say enemy fighters ,bombers or any ground or sea targets,so half the time they may attack enemy once then fly away or not attack at all! I know AI is being worked on , but I wonder if everyone is limited on what they can do with radio commands?

2.0 If I switch to gunners; they seem stuck intightened seatbelts mode ,I cannot look around in 360 degrees.Do I have to program a key in options to do this- is it even possible?

2.1 Is there any easy way to program my mouse to raise , rotate & fire my guns as default in IL-2? I'd like to set & forget this setting if I can.Does someone with TrackIR have this all "scoped" out?

3.0 I use Track IR so when I go to exterior views of aircraft I can swing around same but moving my head backwards & forwards is a very clunky way ( and doesn't work too well) of zooming in and out looking at aircraft.I'd like to program my mouse to do this again like in Il-2 default,but other than hitting F10 to use mouse to swing around aircraft I've yet to find a key setting command that allows me more precise control over this function- if so what camera view command should I look for?

4.0 Very small question I noticed on a Jabo 110 mission that when I dropped bombs ( to avoid being killed) they didn't explode ( although they seem to when dropped from Stuka) do I need to arm bombs? I know there is a key stroke command for same..

Thats it..the sim is some fun already but like many others I'd like to get it fine tuned & need some help...Thanks!

1) Radio commands are being redone. In order to avoid confusion between working and non-functional commands, the menu is stripped of all commands that don't work yet.

2) Some gunner positions have a cruise/parked setting (blenheim, stuka and the he111's top gunner). I think the default key to switch between parked and active positions is ctrl+O.

Depending on aircraft you might need to have engines on or even be airborne, blenheim for instance, which simulates the fact that the hydraulic pump in the real one wasn't strong enough to run both gear/flaps and turret.

The pilot would set it to drive gear/flaps during takeoff and landing, set it to off during cruise to not have it overheat and then set it to drive the turret upon nearing enemy coast. This is not directly in the player's control but it's simulated in an automated way, i can't extend the blenheim turret while on the ground.

As for controls, the mouse is for moving the gun and the separate turret controls are for moving the gun mount (in the stuka the rotating glass panel, in the 111 top position the iron tubing on which the gun is mounted) or the turret (in the blenheim). This makes it a bit hard to aim the blenheim's defensive gun, because the mouse moves the gun up/down and a very tiny bit of left/right travel range within the confines of the turret (the small opening in the perspex), but you need a separate control to rotate the entire turret.

The exception is the top turret in the Br.20 which is fully mouse controlled (as the gun can't move in relation to the turret, it all moves as a single assembly), but i think the controls were reversed a couple of patches ago when i last tried it. I'm not sure if it has been corrected since.

3) I use freetrack and pause when looking at external views. If you don't want to constantly switch between mouse look and mouse cursor with F10, you can use the temporary override (default is middle mouse button). So, you can keep the mouse cursor on at all times and just press and hold middle mouse button when you want to move the camera. You can also hold down right mouse button at the same time to zoom in/out and sidestep/strafe the camera left right. This also applies to the internal/cockpit views and it's how i set up a view from where i can see a bit of horizon (to maintain level flight) along with the compass and directional gyro in the RAF fighters, for purposes of calibrating the dir. gyro from the magnetic compass.

4) All bombs need to be armed prior to drop if you want them to explode and even so, depending on the detonator settings (selected in the loadout screen) they might need a certain amount of flight time before they are armed and also have a detonation delay after impact as well. The exception is the so called "ever ready" fuse used in the Blenheim's 250lb and 500lb bombs, this one is always armed by default so watch it if you are dropping from a low altitude or trying to jettison bombs in an emergency while flying low.

I have mapped the arming switch to ctrl+W, not sure if this is the default setting but i think so.

Hope it helps