Welcome aboard nugget!! With all the new blood in here I thought it would be a good idea to post this and leave it up for a few weeks..

While this guide can be used with any 1C IL2 product version it is written with IL2 1946 in mind.

BEFORE PROCEEDING ANY FARTHER YOU MUST HAVE A JOYSTICK TO EFFECTIVELY FLY THIS SIM.


I personally recommend either SAITEK or CH. Both brands can also be purchased from Go Gamer.com at a reasonable price. Whatever stick you choose or wherever you choose to get it, make sure that it has some kind of rudder control on it.


OK YOU NUGGETS.... LISTEN UP!!!!


This sim is going to do one of two things to you. It is either going to spark that rise to the challenge fire in you... making you want to master it.... or at least invest a lot of time trying. Or it will frustrate you so much that after a few attempts you will put it back on your shelf and go back to whatever it was that held your interest before you decided to see what the hubbub was about. I cant help you if you chose the latter. However if you choose the former... then read on.

First.... find out what version you have. Keep in mind that the versions are NOT compatible. The series is as follows.

IL2 Sturmovik - The original sim. It is not compatible with any of the later versions and is patchable to v1.22ov. A milestone for sure, and a classic for a collector... but if you want to fly NOW with people there are not a lot of servers that run IL2 left. It is 6+ years old.

Forgotten Battles 1.0 - Originally conceived as an add on for IL2, it wound up becoming a seperate stand alone product in it's own right.

The Aces Expansion Pack AKA FB 2.0 - As the name says an add on expansion pack bringing in more planes and enhancing the move west. (Bear in mind that IL2 started out as an Eastern Front sim..).

Pacific Fighters AKA FB3.0 - This is where things get.... confusing for some... Pacific Fighters can be installed as a stand alone sim (FB3.0) with just the Pacific content... or it could be merged with FB 2.0 (FB3.0merged ). Many people came here after buying PF and installing it as a stand alone... but most of them came around and wound up getting the other parts and merging the sim.

After PF came out there was a major patch for the sim that brought it up to FB 4.0 and a few more that eventually brought it up[ to 4.04...from there on out all upgraded versions were the results of the add ons..... There were patches throughout all the versions.. but IMO they aren't worth mentioning since the final incarnation of the sim 46... is what I recommend that you get if you have anything other than that. That includes the FB GOLD, or the Ultimate Flight collection, or that combo CD set that had FB,the AEP & PF all on one CD. 46 is the way to go.. but just for the record so that you know.... the addons after FB3.0 were:

Pe-2.... an add on that only works on FB3.0m. Originally it was going to only be released in Russia... but after much weeping and gnashing of teeth... it was released online. Pe-2 brought the sim up to FB 4.05m

Sturmoviks Over Manchuria... and IL2 1946 were originally planned as separate add ons... but after the release of Pe-2 and the whole Boonty Box copy protection fiasco.. it was decided to hold off on the release of these two products until they could be released together... which brings us to:IL246. PF standalone can only be patched as far as 4.04.. there are no more patches for PF standalone after that. All patches and updates are for the merged version of the sim ONLY.

The IL2 1946 DVD contains IL2 FB, The AEP, PF, _{and the} Pe-2, Sturmoviks Over Manchuria and 46 add ons _{*There will be only one desktop icon}

It is highly recommended that you forgo any other version of the sim.. and get the 1946 DVD then patch it to 4.08m. To get the 4.08m patch go to the link provided. Download the patch and install it. When you boot the sim in the lower left hand corner you should see v4.08m in red letters. Run a quick mission briefly to insure that the sim will load properly. Once this is done you can then install the 4.09Beta1 patch or 4.09b1m as it is known. This patch is not the final 4.09 patch, but it does provide a few fixes and some STUNNING new maps. Again... boot up the sim and check to make sure that v4.09b1m is what loads up once you install the patch and again.. run a quick mission to insure that it loads properly. There is also a new default skins addition that goes with the new patch. You can get that HERE. You MUST have the 4.09b1 patch installed before you install the new default skins. 4.09b1 is different from 4.08 in the sense that it has no self extracting file. Simply take all the files in the patch and extract them directly to your IL2 46 folder. If you have an older version of Forgotten Battles bear in mind that 46 installs to a different folder so you don't have to worry about overwriting anything. If you already have a stick profile or custom skins/missions etc... in that older installation then just copy your Paintschemes,Missions,Records,Users, config file into the 46 folder.

For more general info on the evolution of the sim go to the front page and look in the left hand corner just under the IL2 logo for NEWS and 1C Maddox Games.

Now...... Nugget... listen up!!!

You can choose to do this any way you want to .... This is just one method..... it might not work for you.... but try it.. I guarantee you that if you do it this way... in 30 days you will be better off than just doing it on your own. Feel free to come to the forums at anytime to ask some of the more experienced members for advice. After this is all said and done if you want a more formal training regimen... I highly recommend that you check out the Joint Ops Virtual Flight School ... the link to which can be found in my sig.. along with the Sturmovik Essentials thread.


Preflight
1-Go to CONTROLS and make sure that you have the following functions mapped, either to a key on your keyboard or on your stick or that you know where they are in the case that they are already mapped:

*Chocks**
*Tailhook**
*Wing Fold** *
*Radiator
*Canopy Open
*Supercharger > <
*Mixture > <
*Prop Pitch > <
*Toggle Engine (toggles engine on/off) *
*Select All Engines *You can also assign Unselect All Engines as well, although I really haven't had to use that function yet.
*Left Engines
*Right Engines
*Dive Brakes
*Trim-All 3 trims (rudder,aileron & elevator) are good to have but IMO rudder and elevator are a must.
*Weapons 1-4 Machine guns, cannon, rockets & bombs.

*I recommend making these functions multi key. In other words make it so that it will take 2 hands to perform them. That eliminates the accidental execution of them. Nothing like folding your wings in flight to ruin a mission for you.
Also All of the views...F1-F5 and FOV WIDE,NORMAL & GUNSIGHT. (These are preset I believe so just know where they are).

There are other functions in the controls menu as well. However they are not essential at this point for you to function efficiently in flying the sim. Look at them later and decide what you will or will not need. Also make sure that you see the note on trim in Hands on Phase one.


2-Go to the Quick Mission Builder>go to the difficulty screen. On that first page the only thing that you should DESELECT (meaning the light will be out) is Limited Ammo. Hit Next in the lower right hand corner and another screen will pop up. On that page DESELECT - Cockpit Always On,No External Views,No Icons,No Padlock,No Map icons,No Minimap Path and No Speedbar. All else should have a light on. Then click BACK 3 times.

NOTE: Some of these settings are temporary just so that you can remove some of the frustration factor from the sim, however you should NEVER EVER fudge on flight settings. Keep the flying portion of the sim as realistic as possible as far as stalls & spins, torque & gyro, flutter, wind & turbulence go. Where you can bend things is on the settings like external views and icons etc. Some might say eliminate CEM (Complex Engine Management)* as well but I think that is a bad idea... It is best to get used to how the plane will perform in it's fullness and if you want to fly online, not many disable CEM or Separate Engine Start*. In the beginning these changes will help you immensely in getting used to the sim and how it works. As you get comfortable you can and should tighten things up a bit. I still use externals and icons although I very very rarely fly outside of the cockpit (As in no cockpit around you at all) and I like to set my icons extremely tight... so that they show up much closer than the default settings.. but for now this is good to learn on.

*For a more detailed tutorial on CEM, including flying Multi Engined Aircraft and using trim see The CEM guide @ M4T. I recommend that you take the time to go through this material before you take to the skies. Consider this a part of ground school.
**Needed for carrier based aircraft. Chocks must be released before you can take off from a carrier.

Now that you have done all that Preflight stuff, we can begin with the the hands on Phase of getting you up in the virtual skies.

Hands On Phase One
Go to Multiplay>Create New Server>(Make sure Gametype is Dogfight)>Create>2>Dogfight 4 or 5 (Which should be Dogfight for 2 armies winter or summer). Select a base..... For this part of the exercise select a base in the rear... any one will do.. pick a plane (I recommend that you consider either one of the La-5s, a A6M2 or a Hurricaine MkII initially.. and stick with it until you at least get through phase one, then consider the plane you want to fly on a regular basis and if you are comfortable with it switch to it and stick with it until you get to phase 4.. then you can experiment more if you like.)> select arming. In the arming screen set your fuel to 100% set gun convergence *** to 300 for both for now. Hit fly. You will find yourself on the Tarmac... start your engine... taxi to the runway and take off. Fly a circuit around the airfield and land. Practice trying to do touch and gos... almost landing... fly around in the sky... turn dive.... if you crash hit escape... then refly... and do it over and over until you can get up... fly around and land reasonably well. Once you can do that and you are comfortable go on to Phase 2.

***


Hands On Phase Two
Go back into the same multiplayer DF (DogFight) server that you have been using, but this time select a base closer to the front..as in closer to the bases of the opposite color. Select your plane. Select a weapons load.... hit fly. Take off... go to the nearest enemy base and try to bomb it. The flak will be tough. Very tough. This practice will help you to learn how to take off with ordinance.. which if you set things up correctly should be different from a clean take off... it will help you to practice ground attack. It will help you to practice landing a damaged bird.

Hands On Phase Three
Go into the QMB (Quick Mission Builder), set up a QM. For this first one make your enemies rookies and put them in inferior aircraft. Use all the enemy slots. Initially ONLY IN THE BEGINNING for this phase, go back to the difficulty screen and make yourself invulnerable. Do that until you start to get more hits... but be aware when you are getting hit and try to still avoid it. You will have unlimited ammo... but don't spray and pray. Now you can practice your air to air gunnery. Pay attention to how the bullets behave. The numbers in the icons are in kilometers. 1.00 is 1K, 2.50 is 2.5K etc.. therefore when you see a plane at .30.. that is 300 meters... the convergence number you set earlier. Don't shoot when they are too far away. When you get used to the 300 meter convergence then change it to 200-275. When you find yourself getting more accurate then change the conditions.

Hands On Phase Four
Remove the invulnerability.... and instead of using all the enemy slots use just two. Keep them rookies and in inferior planes though. When you get comfortable with that or ready for the next level of challenge upgrade the enemy planes... maybe give yourself a wingman... you can go through that cycle until you are competent enough to at least handle yourself. AS you cycle up with upgrading the enemy planes upgrade their skill level too... add more... add more wingmen for yourself.

By that time you will be well on your way. If you do this over say... the next 14 to 28 days... you will only suck as bad or pretty near as bad as the rest of us....

This procedure is not set in stone, once you become more familiar with the sim you may want a more immersive method and there are other options however there is no full startup procedure modelled in IL2 1946.

Other tips..
Check out the config guide at M4T. Using it or any one of the utilities like IL2 manager or IL2 stab will let you turn off various features like the AI chat text or the hudlog. The hudlog is the thing that tells you where your throttle settings are etc. I highly recommend that whatever plane you fly get used to looking at your gauges and the relationship they have with the throttle settings and prop pitch. Prop pitch will usually effect the RPM.. while the throttle will effect your manifold pressure. There is a link to all the cockpit gauges that can be found in the Essentials Thread linked in my sig, as is the M4T database. Also pay attention to where the virtual representation of your throttle stick etc are too.. you would be amazed at how thet helps when locked in the pit.

OTHER PERIPHERALS
Rudder pedals.. though not a must... they do add to the immersion and if you are more than just a casual simmer they are not to be left out of your rig. While car pedals can be used... rudder pedals are the best way to go. The options there are Saitek, CH & SimpEd.

I have no experience with the Simpeds.. but I hear they are the best out there.. they are also the most pricey. I have used the CH & Saiteks. I replaced my CHs with Saiteks... the CH pedals are good.. but the Saiteks offer a wider stance, adjustable tension and IMO are smoother. The Saitek products can be found reconditioned at the link losted or at GoGamer.com at a decent price.

Track IR
Without a doubt one of the best pieces of hardware for flight simmers since the joystick. If I had to choose between getting TIR or pedals... I would not choose one over the other but I would say get the pedals first.. since they are more conducive to good flying.. IMO both are essential. You dont have to have them to fly.. but they help a great deal and if you can get them by all means do so. Even if it takes a few paychecks. One of the best ways I have found to really get a handle on TIR is to set up a QM with you and a bandit.. don't give him any ammo... at least at first... and just shadow him.. he will try to do all sorts of evasives.. stick to him like glue... roll... yo yo... but keep him in sight... it will really get you used to using the TIR basically a virtual head.. and the plane. Then you can practice combat...


Also you can give Zeus Cat's Training Campaigns a spin. Very good if I must say so myself.

In addition hit the Sturmovik Essentials Link in my sig... lots of good stuff there. Particularly at Sim HQ and Mission4Today...

Here are just a few of the GREAT user made utilities that in my opinion make this sim even more enjoyable.

In Pursuit: An Online Pilot's Guide to Aerial Combat
Neural Dream's Aircraft Reference Guide Also contains cockpit gauge refernces
Hardball's Aircraft Viewer an online version of the guide basically.. both are very good.
Uber Quick Mission Generator A utility that will allow you to make much more diverse quick missions using more maps ond with more options than those found in the Quick Mission Builder.
Mission Mate A mission building utility similar to The U.Q.M.G. but different. IMO both are good and deserving of a place on any FB simmers HD. I think MM is a bit easier to use.... but The UQMG has other features that make it a must have as well.... better to have and use both. You will never need the QMB again.
IL2 Manager 5.0 This utility will allow you to make certain adjustments within the config file.. like graphics setting etc. on a gui. While it is highly recommended that you learn where these things are in the config file, once you know that... easy and quick is the way to go. It also has a stick editor which will allow you to set up different profiles for your joystick sensitivity settings.
IL2 Stab 6.3 Similar to IL2 Manager but without the stick editor and with a Diary feature.
VAC- Voice Activated Commands - This utility is very similar to SHOOT.. it allows you to interact with your PC and thus the sim with voice commands. Very useful in coops. A bit tricky.. but a good program.
Sniper's Corner a nice utility to help get the angles aspect of A2A gunnery in your head - Gunnery at AW.C-A good explanation of the tool and what is does. Also this entire section at AW.C is a really good resource. Also consider the RAF Gunnery manual and some of the EXCELLENT tutorial videos on Dart's Page on all things from skip bombing to wingman tactics.
ACM - Short for Air Comabt Maneuvers - This program will show you a short video of various combat maneuvers.... yo yos, immelmans etc. It is a very usefull tool.
Dart's Training Videos One of the single best resources for fundamental combat training short of going to Joint Opsin this community. Dart's lecture delivery on the videos only adds to the overall quality. Even for die hard vets of this sim... if you have not checked out these videos do so. Skip bombing & determining range from the gunsight were two of the most helpful ones for me.

There are tons more to be found here: M4T Downloads from skins & missions to full blown campaigns and some very useful utilities. Some excellent guides on everything from setting up your hardware to mission building can be found here: M4T Knowledge Base.


For online play use Hyperlobby
Just download the client, then once you download and install the client it should put an icon on your desktop. When you click that icon you will go to a screen that looks similar to below:

Only there will be no callsign in the window. Pick a callsign for yourself. and enter it. Choose this wisely as this will be the name that you will be known for better or worse on HL. Select a password. Notice a small square to the right of the password box. That is so that Hyperlobby can remember your PW and you wont have to type it in each time you connect. There is also a feature where you can have HL automatically connect you once you hit the icon. I prefer to not use that feature. I prefer to hit connect. If you decide to have HL remember your PW MAKE SURE YOU WRITE IT DOWN SO THAT IN THE EVENT OF A HD CRASH YOU CAN STLL USE THE SAME CALLSIGN. Make sure that you enter the Forgotten Battles room NOT the IL2 or Pacific Fighters room. Hit connect.
Hyperlobby will ask you to direct it to your 46 folder on your PC which in most cases is C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\IL-2 Sturmovik 1946. Once you do that it should load up to a screen that will look like this:


Note that the dogfight rooms are the ones on the left.. the coop rooms are on the right. The difference between the two types of missions is that in a Dogfight Mission all of the pilots are live, and there are no moving AI objects such as ships, which limits the amount of ordinance you can carry from the deck of a ship since it isn't moving or planes etc.. In COOP missions however it is different. The ships and vehicles can move so you can take off from a moving carrier and thereby carry larger loadouts, and the opposition that you will face, as well as the friendlies on your side can be any mix of live and AI pilots depending on the mission and the amount of people/available slots in it. The open mission rooms in the middle can be used for anything. To find more rooms hit the General Room panel and more rooms will pop up in a drop down menu. There are two players lists... one lists the players who are in Hyperlobby but not flying, the other lists the plots that are in a server.. It will also list who the hosts are, indicated by a H to the left of their name in the ingame players list window. To select a server simply mouse to it and click it. By L clicking on any DF room you can see who is in it and what the server settings are. Once you L click on a DF (dogfight)room you can enter it by pressing Join This Game. In the case of coop rooms it is a little different. Before the host launches you will see the list of pilots entering the room in the coop window. Just L click and your name will appear in the room. When the host launches the Hyperlobby window will minimize and the sim will boot.


[color=yellow]Getting into Hyperlobby Coops through the back door[/color]
Once the host launches a mission in Hyperlobby, you can still join the coop room if you know who is in there (as in from your friends list or the in game players list) by L clicking on a player's name and then hit show player info. Once the black box with the players list and the server settings appears, if you hit TAB+_ENTER you can join the room still (AKA as entering through the back door) as long as the host has not hit FLY. After the host hits FLY you cannot join a coop server until the coop mission has ended. The numbers on the right side of the DF server windows are #of players in server/# of slots available in the server. The place where you would type the chat is in the black bar on the bottom. What I have stated here is just a bare snapshot tutorial of Hyperlobby. There is a more in depth Hyperlobby Manual fully explaining the features of the program, a FAQ list and more on the Hyperlobby website listed above.


Communicating online
Most of the people flying in Hyperlobby use either Teamspeak or Ventrillo for realtime voice communication. I personally prefer Teamspeak myself. Just download the client software and install it. You will need to know the IP address of the host comms sever before you can enter it. For a very well written article on comms read Roger, Out!
TeamSpeak Rules of the Road by Frank "Dart" Giger over at Sim HQ.

Here is a link to Skycat's Newcomer's Guide @ Sim HQ. There are some things in there that I cover in more depth here.. but other things that I don't cover at all so it is worth a look see. Between these two threads you should be well on your way.

Between here, Mission 4 Today, and Sim HQ you should have more than enough in the way of resources to be well on the way. There are dozens more resources available and many of them can be found in the Essentials thread that is highlighted at the bottom of my signature.



Straighten Up!!!!
Fly Right!!!!!!!!

~!S!~

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bearcat99,

_{Skycat I took the liberty of editing this post of yours because it was right under the guide and your other postwas just so darned good...}

After newcomers learn what functions they should know and what 'user defined' keys they need to assign, they can look here for ideas for customizing the key map.

Using the Multiplayer dogfight maps for offline practice is a great tool. Quick Mission Builder gives you airstarts but when you use the Multiplayer area you have to start out on the ground. I prefer the later numbered dogfight maps (the Summer Mountains under Mission Type 4 for example) because they have really nice scenery.

Two more links: First, a newcomer's guide to updating the 1946 DVD -- this is sequential guide with links that will help new players update the game to the latest official version and also add several more free dynamic campaigns.
Second, if anybody is coming to this series from versions earlier than the IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 DVD (especially IL-2 Sturmovik, Forgotten Battles or Pacific Fighters) here is a Patching Guide with direct links.


SKYCAT'S ADDITIONAL TIPS FOR NUGGETS
I'm going to demonstrate a few controls and guages worth knowing within the game. I'll use the F4F-4 Wildcat for these reasons:
1. It has simple gages that are similar to those of many other aircraft in the series, especially to the other American fighters.
2. It has elevator trim, aeleron trim and rudder trim.
3. It has folding wings, an extending tailhook, opening canopy, wheel chocks and manual landing gear: all features that need to be 'user defined' in the Controls menu in order to use.

For the purposes of this demonstration I used the following stock Single Mission:



You might want to ensure that your difficulty options match mine so that maps icons, speedbar and other features are visible on your monitor:
Difficulty screen 1
Difficulty screen 1

Launch the mission and you should be on an aircraft carrier. Let's take a moment to familiarize ourselves with the Wildcat's features:
1. Folding wings. This toggle has to be set by the user. My key command is ALT+F. (This feature might be used in online wars but not really necessary for single missions.) _{It is highly recommended that you define this control with a two key function (like ALT+F), this will prevent accidental wing fold at the wrong time... like when you are in the air. ~Bearcat99}.

2. Tail hook. This toggle is also defined by the player. I use 'H' as my key command. You'll need this hook to catch the arresting wires when you land on aircraft carriers.

3. Opening canopy. Again, this feature must be defined by the player. My chosen key command is ALT+C. This feature is most useful when used in combination with raising the seat ...

4. Seat raise. Once again, this feature must be defined by the user. My personal key command is ALT+S. When the canopy is open and you are toggled out of the gunsight view (Shift+F1 by default) you can raise your seat to see over the nose of the plane a little better. This makes carrier take-offs and landings a bit easier because you can see more.

5. Tail wheel lock. I believe this toggle needs to be defined by the user; there may be a default command though. I use 'T' as my key commmand. When your tailwheel is locked, your takeoffs and landings will be more controlled because your tail won't be fishtailing around.

6. Wheel chocks. This feature needs to be defined by the user, and it will affect all of the carrier-based planes plus some other aircraft in PF. The basic idea is that there are invisible chocks against your wheels so the plane won't roll off of the pitching carrier deck. No matter how much throttle you apply, you won't break free of the chocks; you'll have to use the 'Chocks away' toggle. My chosen key command is simply 'C.'



Start the engine. Lower the flaps a little. Apply full throttle and release the chocks ... hopefully you'll be soon be airborne and not floating in the drink. With most aircraft you would be able to raise the landing gear by using the 'G' key. The Wildcat is different however; you'll need to manually raise the gear using a user-defined key command. My personal keys are 'U' to raise the gear and 'Y' to lower it. With both functions you'll have to continuously tap the corresponding key until the gear is fully in place.
In the Wildcat the landing gear handle will turn clockwise as you hit your chosen 'manually raise landing gear' key.



I've changed the 'Speedbar' in the bottom left corner so that now it reads in Miles Per Hour and feet instead of meters and kilometers. You'll have to define a key to toggle the measurements; I chose the 'K' key.

Notice the position of the artificial horizon indicator as it relates to the actual horizon in front of the plane. The center of the gage represents your plane; if it is above the moving line your aircraft is climbing and if the center is below the line you are descending. Simple, huh?



It's always nice to know which direction you are heading. The highlighted box in the Speedbar is a quick and easy readout that matches the gyro compass on your panel. Compasses have 360 degrees so 90 degrees is East, 180 degrees is South and 270 degrees is West. The Speedbar readout of "HDG 75 deg" corresponds to the panel compass' position between 6 and 9, so we're travelling roughly North-East. Now look at the map in the upper right corner: Our plane's icon (the white one) is pointed almost North-East.



Now look lower on the instrument panel and you'll see another compass. This one has a waypoint indicator (the parallel lines with barbs at one end) to show you the way to your next waypoint. Notice that the heading indicator needle is pointing in the direction the plane is actually going but the waypoint indicator is pointing to where you should be going. Your next action will be to turn the plane until the needle is lined up with the indicator and the needle's pointed end is aimed in the same direction as the barbs. In this particular case you'd then be heading North-West (or approximately HDG 320 degrees).



A few minutes later, and notice that we've passed the first waypoint and are now headed towards the next waypoint.

Are we ascending or descending though? Remember what I said earlier about the Artificial Horizon indicator; the center of the gage is above the moving line so we are ascending. To determine the angle that we are climbing, look at the climb indicator a little lower on the panel. If the indicator's needle is pointing to zero we are flying level; if the needle is above the zero our plane's nose is pointed upwards. The further the needle is from the neutral point of zero, the steeper our plane is pointed toward or away from the ground.



Let's check our altitude. The Speedbar says 5,500 feet and so does the altimeter on the panel...read it like a clock. In this case the long hand is hundreds of feet and the short hand is thousands. Some gages have a third needle that shows increments of 10,000 feet (or whatever unit is used by that nation).



Now all we need to know is how fast we're going. We can easily see our Indicated Air Speed in the Speedbar and also read the airspeed indicator gage. Both will give you the same measurement. However, it is important to tell you that Indicated Air Speed (IAS) is affected by higher altitudes and you won't be getting a True Air Speed (TAS) reading. In other words, the reading on the gage is close to your true ground speed but it is not exact. In real life you'd have to make some corrections to achieve accurate navigation or level bombing operations.

I was going to continue with an overview of 'trim' but this thread explains trim and illustrates it with a screenshot.

How much trim you need for each axis (aeleron, elevator, rudder) will vary as you change speed and altitude. In real aircraft trim would also need to be continuously adjusted as fuel is burned and the weight of the plane changes. A properly trimmed plane will almost 'fly itself' -- at the very least, you won't have to move your joystick a lot to keep the aircraft flying straight and level.

Many planes in the game are only adjustable along one or two axes, usually at least elevator trim which lessens the nose from wanting to go up or down on its own. I assigned the NUMPAD 8 key as elevator trim negative (aka, nose more down) and the 2-key as elevator trim postive (nose more up). Tap these keys to even out the balance of your plane along this axis.

You may have noticed that planes usually want to keep banking to the left on their own. This is because of torque from the engine. Using aeleron trim (if it is available) will help balance the wings out so that one isn't dipping lower than the other. The keys I have assigned for this are NUMPAD 4 for aeleron trim left (more 'weight' on the left wing) and NUMPAD 6 as aeleron trim right.

Only a small number of planes in the IL-2 series have rudder trim. Most American planes including the Wildcat have this feature. If your rudder isn't neutral, your aircraft will want to fly in a slight turn or skid all the time. This will not only slow down your air speed but also might throw off your aim when you are shooting. I use NUMPAD 1 for rudder trim left and NUMPAD 3 for rudder trim right. Use the slip ball indicator on the instrument panel to keep your rudder neutral.

I said at the beginning of this demonstration that the Wildcat F4F-4 has all three trim axes available to it. Furthermore, the trim controls are all animated in the Wildcat's cockpit so you can visually see that adjustments are being made; look to the pilot's left just aft of the throttle quadrant. Elevator trim is a hand crank; aeleron trim is a green wheel with a scalloped edge; and rudder trim is a red and white dial. Portions of these controls are visible in my screenshots above.



Now we'll review the gages used for monitoring the engine.

Let's look at the area I marked with the purple box. The first gage, marked Manifold Pressure, tells you how much power your engine is delivering to you. The increments represent units called "inches Mercury" or inches Hg. When you first take off in the Wildcat you'll probably be using full throttle so the indicator's needle will be at approximately 50" Hg, or about where it is in the screenshot. As you ascend into thinner air the needle will start indicating less available power because there is less oxygen going to your carbureator. In the Wildcat you can switch to higher Supercharger stages as you increase altitude. This will push more air into the carbeurator, thus giving you more available power. Changing stages will make the Manifold Pressure needle advance a few inches Hg. You may have to define keys for the Supercharger stage advance/decrease feature; I use the +/- keys.

The next gage is for engine RPMs. In the screenshot above, the needle corresponds to 100% propeller pitch. If you decrease your prop pitch you'll see the needle move away from the 3,000 RPM mark and towards the 2,000 RPM mark. (Reducing prop pitch is mostly used to conserve fuel on really long missions.)

The small gage to the right is your air temperature gage. I noticed that the needle started towards the right of the gage at take-off and gradually moved all the way to the left as I climbed to higher altitudes. My assumption is that the gage is measuring ambient air temperatures.

Directly below the air temperature gage is a cluster that shows fuel pressure, oil pressure and oil temperature.

It's a little difficult to explain how to make these gages useful to you within the game. In real life, pilots would carefully monitor all of these gages to operate their aircraft at specific power settings for given situations. Consider this page from a real P-47 training manual:



See this link for tips on engine management in the game.

I noticed that the Wildcat is not as prone to overheating as some other planes in the IL-2 series. I kept climbing at 110% power and 100% prop pitch, and the Engine Overheat warning text only appeared twice. I was able to cool the engine to Normal very quickly by backing off the throttle to 100% and opening the radiator a little.

I think the Radiator Toggle key is 'R' by default. In the Wildcat the radiator toggle opens the cowl flaps (on the nose of the plane) in increments. You can see the flaps open outward in the aircraft's external model. There is also a lever in the cockpit (under the RPM gage) that is animated when you change radiator positions.
* Opening the radiator causes drag and will reduce your airspeed.

I've drawn a green box around the Fuel Main Tank Contents gage. I believe the purpose of this gage is self explanatory.

Since we're familiarizing ourselves with features available on the Wildcat, I thought I should mention a few more 'user defined' features:

The Wildcat is one of the aircraft that has a mirror in the cockpit. You'll need to define a key in order to toggle the mirror on and off. My personal key assignment is ALT+M.

You may notice in the linked screenshot that the instrument gages are illuminated green. I don't recall for certain if you have to assign a toggle or if there is a key assigned by default. My personal command is 'L.'

Another set of lights that can be toggled on and off are the navigation lights. Again, I don't remember if there is a default command to toggle them, but I use the 'N' key.

You can activate wingtip colored smoke. This doesn't have much purpose in combat except to taunt other players online, but it is useful for training and aerobatic demonstrations. I use the 'S' key to toggle the smoke on and off.



I'll wrap this up with a screenshot that shows the instruments with the cockpit light toggled on. My real purpose is to mark some additional gages that I didn't cover earlier: the clock and the oil temperature gage. You'll find a clock in most cockpits in the game; having a timepiece in real operations allows the pilot to calculate his waypoints based on distance vs. airspeed.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Skycat_2,

sheezzzzzzzzzzzzz! i need more coffee. i downloaded zeus cat's training campaigns from mission4today, and none of them would open. HELP!!!

You need to follow the instructions I included in the readme file.

The Straight_From_the_Farm folder needs to be directly in the UN folder. Get rid of the Straight Farm folder and move the Straight_From_the_Farm folder to the UN folder.

The same thing needs to be done with the single missions.

Here is how the campaign folder should be installed. You will notice that the Straight Farm folder is nowhere to be seen.

Missions
----- Single
----- Net
----- Campaign
------------- IN
------------- RA
------------- RN
------------- UM
------------- US
------------- DU
------------- GB
------------- RZ
------------- JA
------------- UN
---------------------- Straight_Down
---------------------- Straight_From_The_Farm
---------------------- award
---------------------- award0
---------------------- award1
---------------------- award2
---------------------- award3
---------------------- award4
---------------------- award5
---------------------- etc.

in the event that you cannot OPEN his files, they are compressed... You will need a program like winrar (www.winrar.com) to extract/open them...

Some people are having problems getting the campaign to run. When installing the campaign, please do the following:

A) Unzip the downloaded file.
B) The unzipped file will have 7 objects in it.
...1) Thumbs (this is for the jpeg file - ignore it)
...2) Straight From the Farm Briefings - text file (for those without MS Word)
...3) Straight From the Farm Briefings - Word version
...4) readme file - read this before installing!
...5) Farm - a jpeg file - ignore this
...6) Straight_From_the_Farm folder
...7) Practice folder

C) Read the readme file
D) Print the briefings using either the Word or text file.
E) Copy or move the Practice folder to your Missions/Single/UN folder
F) Copy or move the Straight_From_the_Farm folder and its contents to your Missions/Campaign/UN folder.

When installed correctly, the campaign folder structure will look like this:

Missions
--- Campaign
------ UN
--------- Straight_From_The_Farm

My computer just won't take it, it keeps lagging while i play. I can't barely take off without a lag, i have to use autopilot to take off because of lag. my pc has 20 GB free space, is that enough, or is it something else?

Available HD space would be the least likely culprit. More likely your problems are caused by a lack of RAM or processing power. Your video card might be overworked also.

Consider:
1. How much RAM do you have? 1GB was recommended with XP, but Vista may require slightly more.
2. What kind of processor do you have?
3. Are you running background applications? For example, an antivirus program.
4. How much onboard memory does your graphics card have?

Begin by reducing your in-game video options; don't try to run the game at Perfect settings. Reducing the terrain lighting will help overall performance, for example.

Consider the map you are using. Some maps are very large (like Gulf of Finland) and have many special objects. Others maps are either small in size or relatively sparse in objects, so they are easier on your CPU overall.

If you are flying a DGen based 'dynamic career' your problem may be caused in part by having too many planes and vehicles populating the map. There are lines you can add to your conf.ini that will reduce the number of air and/or ground objects. As I recall, you have edit in (at the end of the conf.ini) the following:

[DGen]

and then below that add the lines you want that will customize DGen campaigns. You can reduce the rate of fire for the AA guns, for example. I minimize the number of planes that are generated, and I can change the ground vehicles/AA guns to suit the map:

AirIntensity=Low
GroundIntensity=Medium (you can also choose "High")

hey all <S>

Flying online a bit more and wondered to myself - 'La-7's? WHERE?' then i died.

I was flying the F4U-1D and the only advantages i've ever been able to calculate over the La-7 was dive speed, dive acceleration, zoom climb and the ability to 'put on the brakes' (i.e. speed brakes, better flaps). I realize that these are pretty good advantages and that this is what makes the hawg more fun to fly than my old spitty, but what performance advantages do i have over an La-7? (I've downloaded hardball's viewr and 'Il-2 Compare 4.07)

now for the calculations. La-7's empty weight is about 5,816 lbs. and its wing area is 188 sq ft. Wingloading is therefore, 31 lbs/sq ft.

The F4U-1A has a weight of 8,873 lbs. and a wing area of 314 sq ft. Wingloading is therefore 28.2 lbs./sq ft. (im assuming the F4U-1D is slightly lighter due to the abcence of wing fuel tanks). Why then does the La-7 turn SO much tighter? Yes, the power loading is 0.31 hp/lb (la-7) vs. 0.25 hp/lb. (F4U) but the Spitfire XIV also has a power loading like the La-7 and still turns a lot worse than the Spitfire IX. Or are these comparison sheets on Hardball's and the 'Il-2 Compare 4.07' comparing a/c when they are average TO weight/fully laiden?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

(P.S. just a few random F4U questions not too important -
1) best radiator settings for given altitudes... what are they?
2) Err the F4U-1/A's had fabric covers on top and bottom of wings. when the F4U-1D came in withmore rocket tabs, where the under surfaces now fully metal-covered?
3) The Pratt & Whitney R-2800-8W that powered the F4U-1A/D was a TWO-speed SINGLE-stage superchared engine correct? I'm not too sure because apparently, i have 3 supercharger settings.)

hi,i just baught il2 1946,and i want to get online,but cant get on,do i need a patch,im a nooby on flight sims,so ill be easy meat to all you aces out there,if you cant help do you know who can?.cheers for you time....

When you do get to playing online the Ubi utility's about useless...I'm a tyro to online flight combat, but it's pretty clear the action's found through the Hyperlobby utility (probably included somewhere in the above links) at http://hyperfighter.sk/

Check it out!

Nice guide Bearcat, but I just sorta went crazy in QMB for a while and look how I turned out

Ive been trying to hook up online to play IL2 FB but neither ubisoft or hyperfighter.sk is working. Am I the only one having this problem? Need help thanks.

Go to this page and download and install the Hyperlobby client.

http://hyperfighter.sk/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=2