4.12 development update discussion and feedback

[TheGrunch]

Originally Posted by ElAurens

Honestly I do, yet, the "instant stop" engines on these aircraft are still perplexing.

If anyone could do some tests with a friend online we could possibly get some definitive proof of this behaviour (or lack thereof). A good starting point would be one player parked in a bomber with a turret in front of a MP spawn point and another spawning in and switching their engines on in various aircraft before getting fired upon. For extra points, move the bomber to a different position relative to the aircraft and repeat.

[Woke Up Dead]

How much difference is there between the dead-stopped and the windmilling engines? I get the impression the crippled Soviet engine might let you glide a little further en-route back to base, but it's just as useless in combat as the dead American engines.

[IceFire]

Originally Posted by Woke Up Dead

How much difference is there between the dead-stopped and the windmilling engines? I get the impression the crippled Soviet engine might let you glide a little further en-route back to base, but it's just as useless in combat as the dead American engines.

Fair point... it's not much different although its harder to tell with the windmilling engine from the attackers perspective. You do seem to be able to glide a bit more with an engine windmilling at low RPM than one utterly dead.

I'm curious why the two behaviours exist and why they happen one way to some and one way to others. I'd have figured it fairly normal if it happened one way to all in-line engines and another way to all radials but it's sort of a smattering back and forth and I never could make sense of it.

I think it may give the impression to some that American engines (for example) are more vulnerable in the aircraft that it happens to when in reality is probably about the same across the board. And perception is 9/10ths...

[Birdman86]

There are actually many engine damage options with prop still rotating but not much power, so which one do you mean with that windmilling engine?
a) inoperable but not jammed engine that is completely stopped in low speed, rotetes slowly with more airspeed and in high speed windmills so fast that it seems to run but bleeds a lot of energy instead
b) engine with magneto failure that behaves like above unless you switch on only the working magneto and manage to restart the engine
c) engine still running but with almost no power left after a lot of hits or just before stopping due to water or oil leak
d) engine with failed prop pitch control that in some planes runs with really low RPM and with little power in low speed but is still running properly and brings you home surprisingly fast if you keep speed up to have a bit higher RPM

With option c the engine is not really dead but almost and it is not really windmilling but running at low RPM and power instead. In this case the prop doesn't bleed energy and you can glide further than with jammed engine and a lot further if there is still some power left. With smoking engine or radiator you'll soon get from c to a, but without smoke you'll stay in option c until ditching.

However, with option a the prop bleeds energy while windmilling and you can't glide as far as with jammed engine but you can reduce the energy loss with low speed. With real windmilling engine in option a and possibly also with jammed engine you can reduce the drag by using 0% prop pitch, but I haven't tested this in game. However, if you want, you can test gliding with engine or magnetos off and measure the distance with 100% and 0% prop pitch in otherwise identical glide.



I also got a couple ideas to improve the engine damage modeling in IL-2:

- Is it possible to simulate coolant leaks better? I mean we could have different effects for oil and coolant leaks together with proper overheating effect in case of coolant leaks. I also hope that all planes with liquid cooling could have proper radiator hitboxes and possibly also realistic options to stop the coolant leak.

- Could we have some random jamming of damaged engines? That would simulate the possible jams when some major parts fail later due to vibration or local overheating with broken cooling or lubrication. That would make returning to base with damaged engine harder and more exciting. The probability of sudden jam could be made a lot higher for high RPM and power settings so that you would have to handle the damaged engine carefully and attempts to fight with damaged engine could end with jammed engine.



I think that the engine damage modeling is so different in different planes because sizes of hitboxes for different engine parts may vary, some of the hitboxes may be missing, and the hitboxes are not always coded to trigger similar damage when hit. Standardizing it all is not really a good option because real planes and engines also had differences, but maybe reworking the hitboxes and damage code of some planes and adding some missing damage options wouldn't be too much work.

[Woke Up Dead]

Originally Posted by Birdman86

There are actually many engine damage options with prop still rotating but not much power, so which one do you mean with that windmilling engine?
a) inoperable but not jammed engine that is completely stopped in low speed, rotetes slowly with more airspeed and in high speed windmills so fast that it seems to run but bleeds a lot of energy instead
b) engine with magneto failure that behaves like above unless you switch on only the working magneto and manage to restart the engine
c) engine still running but with almost no power left after a lot of hits or just before stopping due to water or oil leak
d) engine with failed prop pitch control that in some planes runs with really low RPM and with little power in low speed but is still running properly and brings you home surprisingly fast if you keep speed up to have a bit higher RPM

I was thinking of option a): Yak engine is working fine one second, then it takes a bullet or two and right away it is gasping and gutless. I didn't even know that option b) existed, you mean I might get my engine power back if I cycle the magnetos?

Originally Posted by Woke Up Dead

I was thinking of option a): Yak engine is working fine one second, then it takes a bullet or two and right away it is gasping and gutless. I didn't even know that option b) existed, you mean I might get my engine power back if I cycle the magnetos?

Sounds weird. I've actually experienced a mag failure in flight and I almost completely missed it. If I hadn't been totally bored while buzzing along I wouldn't have noticed my rpm had dropped by about 75/100rpm. Cycled from Both to Right ... no change. Switched from Both to Left ... engine died ... and ... quickly back to Both. The Left mag had lost point gap. Other types of mag failure can cause a rough running engine ... but I don't know of any situation involving just one mag that would result in the engine just not running ...