hey guys, been playin microsoft combat flight for quite some time and finally got a computer that will run il2

What should I be looking to do now as far as updates, I see there is a 4.08 and a 4.09 version, do I need 1 before the other? What are some other must have mods? I really enjoy flying the HE111 and hopefully there are some good mods involving that or any high altitude bombing campaign would be great.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to some great times and great advice from all.

Se The Nugget's Guide.. For the mods I suggest you go to All Aircraft Arcade.. Just Google it.. Wecomeaboard.. better late than never..

First of all welcome to a great game and matching community, ubiNewbie.

Patches for IL-2 have always been incremental, so yes. You need 4.08m first. At that point your game is compatible with most online servers.
Online play is done through Hyperlobby. You can download the client from the site, install it and run it to connect online. The manual is in the menu to the left on the hyperfighter site, so is the download. Select "Forgotten Battles" in the game list. Not IL-2 Sturmovik (that's the original 1CD game).



Once you have the game upgraded to 4.08m (It will show the version in the lower left corner above the "Loading..." message on game start-up) it is best to copy the main game folder /IL-2 Sturmovik 1946/ and everything in it over to another location. The 4.08m version can be played from there and is completely independent. You can then upgrade the original location to 4.09b1m (the 4.09m beta). This will add some great maps and objects. If you have one of the later graphics cards, I would also install the latest beta dll's of march 2008.
I don't use mods myself (they are not official), so I will leave that for others to answer.

ubiNewbie wrote:

and hopefully there are some good mods involving that or any high altitude bombing campaign would be great.

I should think you'll want to learn how the game works before you start modifying the code! Using a mod for any game contains a chance things won't work right. You're starting to run before you know how to crawl in my opinion

What you want is a campaign for the HE 111. You don't need mods to install a campaign. The game is designed so that campaigns can be built and shared

I agree. One step at a time.

Before moding I would make sure your graphics card is optimized for IL2 (graphics card settings, ingame graphics settings, conf.ini file lines) to make sure you are getting the most frames per second possible. Some mods will really slow things down so make sure you start at the best speed. Check out the technical pages on this site and others (AAA-IL2 technical help section). Its easier to figure this out before moding.
Then make sure your controls are set the way you like. There are tools available here.
After a while of fine tuning then start moding. Always make copies of files (conf.ini, load.ini, static etc.) before moding them and keep them in a safe folder somewhere. Do one mod at a time and test ingame, if ok then another mod. This is in case something is wrong and you will know what caused it and correct. Easier to figure out. Stay away from betas for now. You can get to them later when you know where files are and what they do.

Good luck and have fun

thanks for all the responses guys, I have been flying sims for at least 10 years and though this game is a bit more challenging (as far as the flight goes) I am not having that difficult a time. I have had it installed for about 2 weeks and flying everyday so its not like I installed and came running over here.

I have had it with dogfighting, just did that on CFS2 since it came out, game never sat stagnant for more than a month before I dusted it off and added a new mod to it. And yes most of the time these mods would not run correctly but I would just remove and install something else. Never even attempted to use campaign builder on CFS2 cause it was way too confusing.

I dont want to be as careless with this game, dont want to clutter with a bunch of crap but I didnt buy this game to dogfight or strafe ground targets either.

I read about patch 4.09m and not sure if my computer has the balls to hang with it, here are my specs

amd athlon 64 x2
1 GB
nvidia geforce 7600gs 256mb
gigabyte ga m55sli-s4 nforce4-sli chipset with 7.1 audio
xp pro

the game runs absolutely flawless and the graphics look great, granted I have never owned a game that needed this much hardware before, CFS2 ran on my crummy home computer just fine. I just purchased this computer from a friend and have not changed any settings on the graphics (not like I know what needs to be changed anyway)

In closing, I do realise this game is way more complex than any other sim I have had but I am willing to take the time and hopefully in time, with lots of practice, and advice from you guys, I will become a valuable asset to the community.

Patch 4.09b1m is not more demanding than 4.08m or the stock game. You do have an option to increase visibility distance in good weather, but you don't have to switch that on if you dont want to. Increasing your RAM to 2GB will give a lot better performance.

Hi UbiNewbie

It's been said already but,
Welcome to M4T anyway

Here's some good starter material

> IL2 Manager

> IL2 Stab

> IL2 Joystick Utility

Depending on what kind of stick you have,
here's a link to the profiles page
> Joystick Profiles


Dll's > Dll's Page

Knowledge base search


As for the Mods that are out there,it's best to truly fly this game for a bit at 4.08 or 4.09.Play some missions and campaigns,load some custom skins and get use to the file structure as it is nothing at alll like the MS Flightsim file structure.I have and still do fly cfs2 online and FSX.Had all ms flight sims as they came out.

Theres almost 300 flyable aircraft to fly,and a lot of maps to see.There an abundant amount of single missions campaigns and coops.

Coops can be played off line and by yourself.Just go into multiplayer and set up a coop for yourself.This way you can choose which aircraft you would like to fly.

If after a whole lot of fun,you need more.Go ahead and mod.Be very carefull with reading readme's and followingthem to theletter.Otherwise your game will CTD.Stick to self installers only,untill you become a (.ini) filemaster...or CTD Blues will happen.

The mods are nothing simular to the mods available for cfs2 and 3 or FSX.
There unique to this game.Really only adds a little better sound a few smoke and flash eye candy.There painting buildings different colours and such.A few aircraft,like you need another with almost 300 to fly as it is.A few more maps ,but hey...theres quite a few already

As a long time CFS Fan,Welcome to M4T
The best download source for IL2 on the Net.
The most friendly place too I might add,evryone is awesome here.

Cheers AT

Edit>

well my joystick is a logitech extreme 3D pro, not exactly the choice of most (or any for that matter ) but between the 8 available programable buttons and what I have mapped on my keyboard I am able to navigate fairly well and should only get better in time. 1 thing I cannot figure out to save my life, and it is probably the dumbest question ever, but after I drop my bombs how do I view my target?

I honestly have no intentions of online play (at this time or at least till I get much better) and usually only play campaigns so is it worth going to 4.09m?

For me it definitely was. The Slovakia map alone was worth it, and there is a LOT more than that.

1) Fly

2)Make Missions

3) Make Skins

4) Learn Combat

5) Make Movies

My point is there's plenty to learn, you'll never get bored.

ubiNewbie wrote:

well my joystick is a logitech extreme 3D pro, not exactly the choice of most (or any for that matter ) but between the 8 available programable buttons and what I have mapped on my keyboard I am able to navigate fairly well and should only get better in time. 1 thing I cannot figure out to save my life, and it is probably the dumbest question ever, but after I drop my bombs how do I view my target? I honestly have no intentions of online play (at this time or at least till I get much better) and usually only play campaigns so is it worth going to 4.09m?

I used to use the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, it's not a bad stick, or better to say there are worse on the market.

About viewing your target, if you hit F7 it will go to an outside view padlocked onto the nearest ground target. You need to have "No External Views" disabled in the difficulty menu, of course.

If you have only just got the game there is no real rush to get the mods save that for when you get bored with the original.

4.09 however is a must have.

I agree that 4.09 is a must have.

There are training tutorial (video tracks) in the game that will show you how to use the bombsights and all that. (I think you must assign keys to the bombsight functions though)

The IL2 Full mission bulder is not that hard to learn.

The He-111H6 can carry torpedoes, so you might have some fun with that.

Stay away from mods until you have a grasp of the file structure, and the way things work. There is so much that you can do with this sim it boggles the mind. Beware though, every different aspect of the sim is a can of worms. It is best to specialize in one area, or you won't really get much done.

I am a campaign builder. Others are primarily skinners. Others specialize in online happenings. Some people are just amazingly talented and can do all, relatively efficiently.

I don't know of any He-111 campaigns, but I know that there are a few Ju-87 and Ju-88 campaigns. Both of these aircraft are very fun to fly, and VERY challenging to complete missions in.

Good Luck and welcome to the community. In the future if you get a better computer, dogfighting with the proper tactics will not be out of your reach.

By this time, an answer has been found for any problem that you will have, so don't hesitate to search the Knowledge base here, or post with a question.

B50

Heck ive had this game for 3 years, and im still discovering new stuff about it, of course i could have read the guide, but there is still alot of maps i havent flown on, alot of planes i havent tried, and definately alot of material on here that i still intend on downloading, campaigns etc.
Heck, i didnt even know the planes had a mirror till last week. duh.
As far as modding the game, i dont really see the reason for doing that, like i said, there is sooooooo much to do and so many missions and campaigns to download and fly, its entertaining enough.