Chuffy's Flying Circus

Pip pip Gents

Actually got around to dabbling in the latest early access window today and it's pretty encouraging as to what's on offer.

It was obvious that several months away from a sim would add to the challenge and possibly taint the jaunt, but all went well. It's still in an alpha state and doesn't have SLI support, but it runs well and has a pleasing 'not too far from RoF' about it.

The control settings need tinkering with to get the best combo, but there's time for all that. Thankfully the only DF missions have the enemy AI set at novice so there wasn't too much shame to be had!

I'll post some screenies soon.

Toodle-oo

Badger

Tally Ho Gents!

After over a week of sick time in the Squadron hospital, Matron's coffee enema's finally did the trick and I was able to commence again on ATAG operations.

The following is a tale of blind luck as I nearly came a cropper because of cockiness and not paying attention!

I took off from Eastchurch again because it offers the best over from tip-and-run 109's but is close enough to the action so a pilot doesn't get bored during transit!  I followed my usual route along the north Kent coast, covering Ramsgate and MAnston at a bout angels 8 before heading south past Dover and Folkestone.  All was quite and there was no action to be had at all.

GC announced that a radar site had been attacked near Littlestone in grid C7, so off I trotted as fast as my MkIIa would take me.  Alas, any enemy AC had gone by the time I got there, but after 5 minutes I saw flak bursts going off below.



As hard as I tried, I couldn't see anything to chase, so I kept my height and then "BANG", My own gunners seemed to be putting a bead on me!



I performed a full turn but could see nothing, but then the flak bursts climbs and then I saw them - Contacts, probably bombers 12 o'clock high!!!



It took 7 or 8 minutes to get into position, but when I did I let rip and gave the Blighter what for!!



After more punishment he went down in a steep right-hand dive - the pilot must have bought it!



Now this is where I was very, very lucky!!  Not checking my tail, I then started on the doomed 88's flight leader.



I took out the gunners and then just bobbed and weaved behind him taking shots at my leisure!



As the warning tracers came through to warn me of low ammo, I noticed tracer spiraling past my starboard wing!  Then I looked around!



It was a 109 and I was nearly winchester!!  There was only one thing for it - Head for the deck!!  Tip over, coarse prop and here I go!!



Not wanting to lose his energy, the 109 left me to scoot off.  I think that if it had been a more experienced pilot I would have been done for!  Luckly I made it back to Eastchurch to count my blessings.



A very fortunate jaunt from which I claim 1 Ju88 destroyed and 1 Ju88 damaged.

What was very annoying on this sortie was a green hue which turned what I assume was grey smoke to green!!!  Highly irregular!!

Any way, I'll update my scores.

Badger out.

As the afternoon leads to evening we think that we can hang up our goggles and head for the bar, but.....  " Get to your Hurricanes Chaps - Stukas are inward bound!!"

Blast!  There they are!!



And here we come!



Let's slip artound to the side - watch that cross-fire!



Choosing my moment!



Put that in your pipe and smoke it!!  Eight of the best - trousers down!!  Huzzar!



I bet that smarts!



Let's get up close and personal!!



Damaged, nowhere near their target, some of the bombers drop their loads.



There are still stragglers to be had!!



Job done and winchester - time for home!

Whilst minding our own business at dispersal, we receive the message to get aloft and intercept contacts heading west!

There they are the rotten swines!



We're vectored for an intercept course. Aha - no fighter escort!



Let them go underneath us!



Here we go!




A bit close, but I've got his port engine!



Have at you!  



Going around for another pass!!



Those gunners are a bit nifty!  I'll try a longer range shot!



The Cheeky Blighters are returning fire!



That port engine is smoking now - serves you right!



Job done - away he goes...



That's one for the album!

No Chaps, I haven't caught a packet of German lead, but something even worse - MAN FLU!!! 

The unfortunate side of the accursed bug is my loss of voice, (which is now returning) so Team Speak was not possible on any sorties.  I tried once, but my squeaks just caused confusion and I decided to return to my bed and continue off-line.  On-line escapades will commence shortly however and I'll continue to report as normal.

On the plus side, I've recorded some spiffy late afternoon tracks of a stuka raid over Hawkinge and 111's over London, which I'll cut some piccies from and post shortly. 

So - Coming Soon.....

"The Hawkinge Stuka-Pooper-Scooper Caper"

And

"Does My Bomber Look Big in This?"

Gentlemen

A very quick peice of recording, editing and splatting onto the interweb. Click the link below.  It has music, so switch your sound on.

http://s1104.photobucket.com/albums/h331/badgersmedly/?action=view&current=DornierCorner.mp4

Planning to put together a better peice once Wilkins can get away from Matron's linament bottle.

Enjoy!

Badger

Baron Von Boche has had more than his fair share in delivering explosive little packages across our airfields, so we thought we'd have a jolly old go back.  We didn't appreciate the ribbing we'd get!!

Enter stage left....

It's a quite Tuesday morning and Mr Blue is getting his airfields up to scratch after his rude conquest of France.



What's this?!?!  A map containing draft details of Operation Sealion?!?!  Fiends!!



Enter the Heroes in their 'fast' bombers, on their way to hammer the Hun airfield!!



As expected, they're been seen by spotter on the coast! Off the fighters go!



Spitfires go feet dry as fast as they speed to support the Blenies!



Get on Target heading Gentlemen!!



Bombs are gone - don't hang about to watch the fireworks!  Off you go!!



Oh no!!! The 109's have got to attack altitude! Hard right Chaps!



That wasn't a successful pass, but he's climbing for another!!  Where are our fighters?!?



Hurricane to the rescue!  That that you Swastinker!!



He's in trouble now!  The Hurricane delivers a killer blow and the Blue pilot doesn't try to bail out!



Poor chap - he slumps in his cockpit before the short trip down....



There's no respite for the bombers as they are chased back across the Channel!



Come on Spitfires - Where are you?!?



Crikey - They're cleaning up returning Blue aircraft!  Get a move on and get back to those bombers!!




A reasonably successful mission, but with half the Blenheims shot down.  Some good cover tactics, but losses were too high.... Better results next time hopefully.

Next Stop - "Dornier Corner!!"





End of Transmission

Alas the phoney war is over and that Horrido lot are over giving our airfields a pounding!!


Look out Chappie, you're about to be made into a Chuffolite Sandwich!!



He turns away to fight another day!!



And on to the tail of another 110 - "BRAVO" AT AN ANNOYINGLY LOUD VOLUME!!



What beastliness is this?!?  Aha our flak boys are on to them!!



Here come our Chaps to join the fight!



Too late  - they've achieved their objective and are going home!




Mark our words - "We will have our rewenge"!!

Sorties: 6

Status: Alive with 2 broken Spitfires

Confirmed Destroyed
1 x Bf110 
2 x Bf109 (1 shared)

Probably Destroyed
1x Bf109
1x Ju88

Damaged
1x Bf109
1x Ju88

Friendly Damage
1 x Blenhiem fuel pump.

Tally Ho Gentlemen!

I was going to have a rest from operations this weekend, but as I was loafing around in the mess late this afternoon, I noticed Matron by the door, linament lotion in hand and eyeing in my direction with mischieve on her face!!

"Isn't the boche rather quiet today?" I said in a loud almost robotic fashion - then not 3 seconds later but the scramble bell sounded, so off I ran!!  'Phew' I thought as ran towards my Spitfire, not really knowing where I was off to....

This afternoon I was on the ATAG server in a Spitfire IIa operating from the Gravesend airfield and looking to toil with the boche!  I only had one flight which I will cover below. Also I had my new polaroid on me so will pop up some picks to.  Apologies for the quality, as I had to balance the camera whilst doing everything else too.


So - to the off!!  I heard on TS that some dastardly Stukas were off over head towards London, but I was still on the deck and they were about angels 10, so I abandoned that idea.  Contacts called out by GC over Eastchurch airfield, so off I went, radiator open, sights set into the blue and on a ENE course.



It wasn't long before the flak was visible and after to high and low spying, I saw a fiendish 109 chasing a Spitfire.  I checked my own tail and set forth to challenge this chap and give him what for!!



I hit him on the starboard wing which shook him off his target, so then I tried to get him directly from behind!  Watch that engine temperature!!




Hits on his radiator and the glycol came streaming out!!  But he was having none of it!!  He'd tasted blood so I had to go for the patented 'Badgerton sling-shot manoeuver'!!  




This was fatal to the poor old chap and he started in a right-hand downward spiral till some other chap poked in with a few good shots and the 109 pulled too hard and slapped into the deck.

Pleased with my results and also conscious that I had only 6 second of ammunition left I continued for another 5 minutes before I spotted what I thought was a lone Ju88 low and slow.  This is my chance I thought!  At low RPM's I got into a good rear position and loosed off a few rounds.  Oh no that could be a Blenheim!! Time to make a quick exit!




After 10 minutes I heard an SOS from an American Chappie complaining that there's a yellow nosed blighter other the airfield.  Not wanting to appear rude, I sauntered over and there he was being chased!!  The beastly fiendish 109 was blind to everything but his quarry, so on his tail I jumped to give him a squirt of lead!!  He's trying to dogfight me!!  Have at you!!




He drops his speed and so do I, besides I need to as my Merlin is cooking a big one!  I let him have one fatal burst before high-tailing it out and heading back to Gravesend.



I see him feathering his prop and putting down in a field close to the estuary.  Huzzar!  A good sortie: I claim 2 downed 109's (1 shared) and a Blenheim fuel pump to go on the wall (yes it was a friendly...).  Sortie 5 and still alive.

Totals to be added to a separate thread.  Typos to be corrected in due course.

Badger

Tally Ho All!

Last nights escapades on the ATAG server were interesting, but only in showing how much preparation and competent flying play part in executing an effective sortie!

I took off from Biggin Hill with the view I would proceed East and capture the evil Hun on his way over the British coast proceeding in-land.  Whilst I've been happy with the level of fuctionality around the cockpit of the sim, some learned chaps on TS passed comment to each other that that the compasses don't work so don't rely on them.

My start-up and checks went well, so I hauled the Spitfire MkIIa out of the blast pen onto the runway and off I went.  I used the layout of the field on my maps to sort out my take off direction and then after a few orbits at medium RPM's to gain a bit of height, off I went ENE to find Harold Hun and to teach him some manners!

What I didn't realise is that I was infact travelling SSW which became apparent when the South Coast appeared before me after 20 minutes! After ascertaining where I actually was, off I went NNE proper to get me where I should have been towards Eastchurch airfield.  It turns out the compass was working fine!!

Lots of chatter on RT and TS which warned everyone of impending 109 strikes on the airfield, which was all good news!  On arriving at Eastchurch there were 8 or so Spitfires chasing a couple of 109's so there was not much actions to be had.  At one stage I saw a 109 being pursued by 6 Spitfires!!  Poor Chap!

So without a shot being fired and after 50 minutes in the air I landed at Eastchurch.  What really rounded it off was when I hit a Spitfire who had just stopped and hadn't cleared the landing strip.... Pah!  Ah well tomorrow's another day.


Badger

Tally Ho All!

With various operational nasties this weekend (DIY), Clod flying Operations have been severely restricted and are rescheduled for this week.  I'll start with a brief CAP tonight on ATAG followed by some Blenheim escort duties and 109 hunting later on in the week.  Hoping to stay alive long enough this week to achieve 'Ace' status! (On the basis that wrecked aeroplanes don't decrease One's balance)

I will report on sorties as they happen and provide some action shots where possible. I'll also see if I can get my hands on the Blue damage reports as they expose the new DM modelling nicely.

Wish me luck!

Badger

Dear All

The below account of Sortie #3 includes a summary of the first flight, which didn't get far.   

Sortie #3: Flight 1
Eastchurch airfield looked fantastic on this gorgeous August morning I trotted out of the dispersal hut and made my way to the hangar where Jenkins strapped me in to my Spitfire MkIIa.  Right;canopy open, set gun-sight, TeamSpeak is on with correct volume settings, mags on, 0.5 inches on the trottle, fuel on,radiator open and - ignition! The Merlin XII leaps to life....

Rad temp moving past 60 degrees, so power up, wrong direction, finger on brake over the lip of the concrete and then I gently nose over, breaking my propeller.... Orf I go again to the CO....

Sortie 3: Flight 2
Preflight checks are all agreeable, I saunter the right way at a reasonable pace out of the hanger and power up at an angle to get on the runway and I am aloft in a semi-professional fashion!

Pitch to 85%, RPM's back to 2100 and saunter around and let my engine cool for a bit.  Hmmm, there are several things on fire out here, check gun-sight range setting - set for a 109 at 200 yards, all ok.  FLAK!  More bursts!!  Cripes - those hurricanes are on fire! What's that? Contact diving - pursue, pursue!!  It's a lone 110 and he's more intent on letting his rear gun deal with me than getting away.  He's getting as many targets as possible!! The total swastinker!!

He pulls up through the smoke of his quarry and banks left in a shallow climb relying on his speed, but I've got a fair whack of speed behind me too.  My sight settings are still on the 109 wingspan so I move closer heating my already hot engine further, lead by a length and then let him have it! Hits, hits.  I see a stream of oil and fuel start streaming from his port engine area.  He noses down and I perform a long low turn to put a bit of distance between me and his gunner and then I'm on his tail again 6 o'clock and slightly low.  I get to the best possbile range I dare and then pop off a 4 second burst achieving multiple hits. More fuel streams out.

I flat 'S' and then follow round inside his flat left hand turn and rake fusalage from nose to tail with a one second burst at just the right range. His engines look like the are powering right back as he peels away to the left and I see him go in for a belly landing, engines off in a field about a half a mile from Eastchurch airfield.

A good result.  I'm back on the ground and parked up in about 5 minutes, still with about 4 seconds of ammunition left.  I claim one Bf110 destroyed. 

Totals thus far: 1 x Bf110 destroyed, 1 x 109 probably destroyed and 1 x 109 damaged.

Status:Still alive (with 2 broken planes).

Off to pick up the Blue pilot and get in him to the bar!

Regards

Badger

Dear All

The below account of Sortie #3 on the ATAG server should be a warning to all around sloppy preparation and inadequate preflight checking!

Sortie #3: Flight 1
All was well at Lympe airfield as I stepped out of the dispersal hut and sauntered up to my Spitfire Mk1.  Jenkins was there ready to strap me in, but "No" I said, "I can do it myself". So in I got...  'This is nice' I thought as I panned around and chuckled as I saw Wilkins running after some Orderly or other.  Right, to business; canopy open, TeamSpeak is on, mags on, 0.5 inches on the trottle, fuel on, this is a Spit Mk1 so radiator open and - ignition! Ahhh the sound of the Merlin....

Right, temperatures rising, rad temp moving past 60 degrees, so off we go out of the hangar, right rudder....  temperatures at 90!!  no time to line up - off I go!  Speed increase to 60 so forward on the stick, hmm that's sluggish, tail up, 90mph, pull back on the stick..

I then violently nose over, breaking my plane....  I try to open my canopy using my joystick control - no response, I try again, hey I can hear the chaps on my channel now, I must sort out the sound controls.  I try the canopy again.  No luck.  I check my main control stick and notice that the power plug has come out.... The lights aren't even on...  Of I go to explain why I didn't perform adequate prefilght checks before the off, to the CO....

Sortie 3: Flight 2
This time I am strapped in, I check all controls - canopy open, TeamSpeak is on, mags on, 0.5 inches on the trottle, fuel on , this is a Spit Mk1 so radiator open, check control surface function and - ignition!  I've spawned in a different hanger where the exit is not so wide so there's lots of right rudder pulling out and some jiggery-pokery on the throttle and brakes as I line up off-piste for a quick take-off.  Good lord, the rad temperature is as 95 degrees already, I can hear another spitfire in the adjacent hangar - "out of the way!!".  I power up and this time get aloft in one peice!  Huzzar!

Temperatures nearing 110 degrees!!!  Power back and pootle at 2200 RPM for a while.  There's another chap taking off so I wait for him to get aloft so I can impress him with some formation stuff.  Hmmmm, I can hear something...  Bother!!   I didn't reconfigure my TS!!  The engine noise is drowning out the gen on any action action!  Another school boy error!  Whilst I'm messing around with the settings I lose the disembarking Spitfire and then see him in the distance....

Right, well I'm on my own, so to buisness;  I patrol from Ramsgate to just past Dover for 15 minutes, noticing bursts of AAA which I race over to, but to no avail.  15 more minutes I'm done and start my approach back to Lympe.  Revs down to 2000 RPM and after 5 minutes at this pace temps settle to a healthy 90 degrees.

A slow pass over the airfield to find the active run way, luckily on the down wind leg already, approach is clear, so 140mph on the clock, gear down, flaps down,canopy open.  Turn in a sloppy manner to wards finals, line up, loose height on the throttle - too much - power up, over the thresh hold and touch down with a little bump. Flaps up, roll out out - easy on the brake.  Clear the runway to the right, park up.  Fuel off, mags off.  Hey I can hear everyone on TeamSpeak again....

A very poor evening of flying due to my shoddy airmanship I'm afraid.  One scrapped crate and a waste of fuel with not a shot fired.  Oh well better luck next time.

Off to the bar for hard stares and a tankard of Wilkins's homebrew.

Regards

Badger

After I'd experienced the one and only 'launcher.exe has stopped working' error, I was able to air start over the Isle of Sheppey, which is probably a wise thing.

I was pootling on the ATAG server which has had good feedback from the strong and the true Clodites - balanced game play and basic maps.  There were ~80 players on plus some AI to be had, the weather was good with clouds at about angels 3, but there was still a nasty taste of boche in the air.....

Messaging from the server was good but unfortunately I spawned alone without the friendly faces of Biffer, Smudge and Mouse Tiddley to keep me company.  I brought up the map, which to be fair is useless at that scale.  I must look into blowing the damned thing up.  Anyway I headed SE to the coast of the mainland and towards Ramsgate.

Sitting in the office of the 100 octane Spitfire 1a was fine.  I brought down the RPM's to around 2800 with the pitch wibbly and climbed to angels 10 over Manston.  Anything over angels 12 and I had to throttle back regardless of what I did with the mixture, or the engine start to buck around. I'll have to look at that.  Also I think the fuel gauge doesn't work.  I'll have to get Wilkins to look at that one.

I headed towards towards Lympe, using one of Nurse Crabtree's tautest garters to keep the compass in check when Control broadcast a number of contacts around Charlie 8, so off I went!!  At around angels 11 I saw 3 bogeys hove into view at 10 o'clock level movinging fast from the channel in land!! I'd been aloft for ~20 minutes so I first thought "Huzzar - if only the girls at Madam Fi-Fi's oculd see met now!!" Then the 3 contacts changed course and circled at what must have been over a mile away - I then remembered that I was alone...

In a very brave way, with my head firmly down as far as it could go I inverted and dove towards the deck - yes I said "bravely"! Hitting about 420mph IAS I levelled out using the trim wheel into a whirling mass of what I could see as Spitfires.  'What's this' I thought 'Have I just wasted my height advantage to run from Sptifires', but then flak started going off and after a few turns I saw a couple of Spitfires chasing a 109.  Did I leave them to joust with their mortal foe unhindered?  Did I heck - I joined in and got a hit in before one of the other 'Red and Trues' clobbered it and the Blue kites engine stopped and the canopy was ejected.  A minor damaged on my part.  Not bad for a first flight.

"Is that it Badger you wet lettuce leaf!?" I hear you say!  No it wasn't!!  whilst at about angels 1 I saw more flak so headed over narrowly missing engaging a Hurricane when I saw a 109 chasing a Spitfire both in a climb.  Could I catch it? Could I heck, so spent the next 2-3 minutes following it climbing to around angels 3.  Pretty dull and always aware that I was low enough to be bounce and culled extremely easily when  - what is this..... a 109 basses over head - just - from 9oclock to 1 o'clockand about 180 metres away!!  I can't believe it!! Pitch to fine, rad open throttle to gate - I line up and let the leather shorts wearing cad have a burst!!  Hits, Hits, glycol, he then climbs but has no power.  He swings round and tries to yo-yo but I catch him again , then again in a turn. I pass overhead and see his engine stop.  I test my guns to see if it's worth a return, but I'm empty.  No you're right, he was done for so why would I resort to such beastliness....  

Off home I went followed by some tracer and a long 20mm burst which was stopped by a couple of Hurricanes who must have been watching. Not sure what went on there, but thanks and good luck to them. Landed back at Eastchurch after 40 to 45 minutes in the air. I'm claiming 1 damaged and 1 probable.

A good flight with no hitches.  Apart from the initial crash I had no issues and the game ran fine.  I think the ATAG servers switch a lot of the features off and to be honest that was fine.  I was on CAP so the ground clutter wan't important till I was in attacking-retreat-mode....

I'll post the next sorties in a separate thead when it happens...

Smedly - Out

Tally Ho All!

I know that many amongst us have tried previous versions of Clod with varying levels of success, so I thought it worth raising a topic to review it and try to offer a Q&A slant on the thing.  I've watched the 1C Forum boards everyday over the past year for word of improvements (official and not beta), so I'll try to pick out the note worthy bits which you can look into later.  There's a fair amount of wool and fog around it all because it appears the Dev team started on BoM (Battle of Moscow) as soon as they finished the initial release of Clod which has meant limited accurate gen has been released.

I'll cover an overview of what is important from a playabiity perspective and then it would be worth everyone who's had a dabble putting in their towpenneth worh to help others get set up.

A worthy question to answer before I start is "Why bother?"  Well the IL2 franchise is the only worth while venture out there which is evolving into the next coding architecture to keep up with certainly what the masses want and what PC/technology can offer.  The current IL2 offering is great and works fantastically over all machines now, but what will come next and offer that next little extra and scalability?  Well, not Clod, but as BoM is said to install over it, then the future is pointing this way.

Right, to the Briefing Tent!!  I'll break out the subject grouped by notable 'Game Features/Changes' and then 'Set-up Notes'.  These are all based on off-line experience at the moment - I go on-line tonight (before Downton starts).

Final note - Excuse the first draft typos, I'll edit them later.

'Game Features/Changes'
AI Performance:
• The Tie-Fighter like performance has been sorted out in the latest patch, so you won't have to deal with 109's pulling turns at 15g. The squad AI is certainly more intelligent now and this has been helped by them actually following the limited commands there are available to give.

Visual Stuff:
• The colours and textures have been toned down somewhat as have the tracer effects. Not the end of the world and I'd be interested to see what people think.
• The game's (AA Antialaising) has not been optimimised in the graphics engine, so tweaking is required.  I'll touch on this later.
• Clouds and smoke are still a problem because of the way the smoke particles are rendered on screen.  Your FPS will take a hit but that can be limited in the settings.
• The mission set up screens are still terrible.  The 3D model of your chosen kite is poor. 

Game Play Stuff
• I've still got to get into the new features on offer but the are more versoins of AC available based on octane levels.  I'm sure that this is just online so I'll cover that another time.
• TrackIR and the general 6FOD works well. 
• As mentioned, AI is certainly smarter and yesterday a 110 certainly didn't want to give up on me where as before they were a little more shy.  On the down side my wingman got a bit over familiar and took a section of my starboard wing off when rejoining formation.  Hmmm that smacks of old Il2 behaviour I think!


'Set-Up Notes'

Right, this is the important bit.  NOTE!!!!!!  The settings in game do not offer the diverse changes in set-up that you think, in fact some do not really do anything.  I'd recommend that you look on the 1C forum to get the detail but follow the general guide below.  Feel like it's a waste of time because your rig isn't new?  It doesn't matter!!  Top end kit won't give you much over 2 or 3 year peices of kit!  There are guys out there running this game on core Duo machines with 4 gig of ram.

So on the in-game settings:

• Detail Levels: Set everything to MEDIUM to start with.
• Switch the SSAO (i think its called) and Epilepsy jobby OFF.
• Forest amounts to very low (this is not medieval England any way)
• Buildings to Low
• Building details to low.
• Keep effects to medium

To test the setup play a track (hurri vs he111) over water and see what FPS you are getting.  It's not just about FPS, look at stutters too.  The game is terrible at managing VRAM (on your card), so you have to allow for this in the settings. When you're happy with the 'over water' track then run the Black Death' track and see how it performs.

Right, for those with ndivia cards, there is some work you can do there.  Remember the tweak guide I posted a while ago?

http://www.tweakguides.com/NVFORCE_6.html

If you have a SLI set up then e-mail me and we'll set you up a profile and how to get that working.

Remember the old IL2 rules: If you apply settings on your card then don't apply them in-game and vice versa.  I'll post some screenies with the settings a bit later.

As mentioned, I'll go on-line and get kicked around there tonight to see how the flight models compare.  I'll use the Spitfire 1a and Rotol Hurricane.  Can't abide those BLue crates, so that'll have to be another time.

That's all for now.  Let Us know how you get on by posting here. 

Good luck!

Badger

.... of use of the word 'Pootle' in Bluey's Bar. Shocking really!

"Matron call the Master-at-Arms"!!

Tally Ho Gentlemen!

We'll I've had a play, I've tweaked some wibblies and I hope to share some developments with you in this topic, which I'll add to over the next day.  Please excuse the typos, I'll take them out in later reviews etc.


Right, what's new? The 1C post by 'Luthier' covered it and as I have it in my last post, I won't repeat is here, I'll include more of an overview.

• Well the game is certainly using more RAM.  Still only between 55% & 60% but it's better
• The sounds are much better!  I've still got to play around with the sound but the 109 sounds mean!! 
• Visual optimisation?  Not much better unfortunately.  As I mentioned previously, it sounds like much of the visual physics will be recoded and from the patch release post it looks like it will be done in anticipation of the next sequel.  Yes that's right, we'll have a progressive movement towards further theatres of war, which to be honest is ok as it means increased performance etc.  They have said that their FPS related patch will mean an increase of ~50% to most so it looks like they know what the issue(s) is.
• Stability.  The overall stability is much better. I'm getting an average of 40 FPS on the 'Black Death' track with no stutters which is good.  Others are reporting microstutters, but I think that's down to the existing under use of the hardware.

More to follow....

Badger

Gents

It's not been worth posting much until the next fix was in view, but here it is.

As before I'd not suggest using the Beta, so wait until the steam patch is applied.  It weighs in at around half a gig and contains the following:

MAIN
* Drastically reworked graphic algorithms dealing with in-game color;
* Rewrote the sound engine from scratch;
* Added three new multiplayer maps: Steppe (medium), Fields (small), and Scimitar (small);
* Updated multiplayer GUI to allow users to easily select a position in an existing plane.
* Added two new aircraft - Bf. 109 E-4 and Bf. 109 E-4/B. These two are equipped with MG/FF-M cannons and so make use of the famous Minegeschoss.

AIRCRAFT - MAIN
* Reworked routines for gyro bombsights;
* Removed allusion to Engine 4 from He 111 model;
* Improved memory consumption for multi-crew aircraft;
* Airborne status is now checked correctly even if the aircraft in question departed prematurely;
* Landing status should be applied correctly when ditching in water;

VISUALS
* Reworked bombardier cockpits in aircraft so affected (He. 111 and Ju. 8 to accomodate new Lotfe gyro routines;
* Small caliber bullet hits on the ground now show difference in material being hit;
* Modifications in Blenheim's damage visuals;
* Added a range of visual SFX for higher-caliber guns;
* New bombsight visuals in Blenheim bombardier's cabin;
* Returned the famous Il-2 stall sound effect;
* Doubled the distance at which the tracers can be seen.

PHYSICS & A.I.
* Increased Lotfe bombsight gyro operational limit to 15 degrees of aircraft roll / pitch;
* Lotfe type bomb sight now stabilizes aiming platform to horizontal plane;
* Removed sudden jump in view angle when viewing through Lotfe ocular and moving bomb sight elevation for the first time in the flight;
* Increased side slip input limit to +/* 30 degrees for the Lotfe bomb sight;
* Made Kurssteuerung mode 2 for level bombers. This mode will also stabilize the aircraft in level flight;
* Reworked motor startup routines to accomodate new options available in the new sound engine;
* Adjusted ricochet angles on firm surfaces;
* Redesigned bomb sight in Blenheim and made it easier and more realistic to use;
* Blenheim bomb sight plane is now adjustable to reflect changes in plane AoA in level flight. Correction is applied automatically over a period of sustained flight and can compensate up to 3 degree changes in plane attitude;
* Fixed issue where overstress would inflict damage to airframe regardless of the Vulnerability difficulty setting.

NETWORK
* Changes to bombs' detonators setup will now be carried over once applied without the need to rejoin the server;
* Increased Lotfe bombsight gyro operational limit to 15 degrees of roll / pitch. This will give more tolerance to aircraft maneuvers as strict limits put too much obstacle to communication between bombardier and pilot while playing on-line;
* When flying as a bombardier, you should now use "Aircraft - Drop Ordnance (Bombs)" key (instead of "General - Fire Current Weapon" key) to drop bombs. This will remove confusion of on-line bombardier players who could not drop bombs using the key we're accustomed to.

AIRCRAFT - MISC.
* Decreased bombsight altitude indents by ten times. This will give you more control of the altitude input and make bomb sight aiming more precise;
* You can now switch off the boost cut-out control in Spitfires.

There's a fair bit of change in there namely the sound fix, but will it increase the frame rates?...... nothing has been said so news from the beta tests will tell.

Incidentally, there was a Steam CoD update on 30th August of ~20mb but no one knows what it was for 

I'll report back on noticable advances with the new patch once it goes live on steam and I've had a play.  Realistically though, I don't think that this will be for a couple of weeks.

Toodle-pip!

Badger

For those budding Budding CoDlings out there, we are aware of a patch which should be Steamed to you in the next 2 weeks (yes, 2 weeks) which will address the FPS and some of the sound issues. Link to the 1C Nana post is below.

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?s=4e79ec98512e4a429cb9690d4c13fc3b&t=25222

I'll post back with findings, once it's here.

Poot-poot!

Le Badger