hey all..

just got everything installed and patched to 4.11m

my rig can handle alot and would like to know of any config.ini tweaks that would give best eye candy. I've got resolution set to 1920X1080.

thanks!

Rig:
AMD Phenom II 980BE overclocked to 4.2ghz
8 gigs Ram
eVGA gtx 460 overclocked
TrackIR 5
Win 7 64bit
CH Products gear

backup your conf.ini and replace the opengl section with this one:

[Render_OpenGL]
TexQual=3
TexMipFilter=3
TexCompress=0
TexFlags.UseDither=0
TexFlags.UseAlpha=0
TexFlags.UseIndex=0
TexFlags.PolygonStipple=1
TexFlags.UseClampedSprites=0
TexFlags.DrawLandByTriangles=0
TexFlags.UseVertexArrays=1
TexFlags.DisableAPIExtensions=0
TexFlags.ARBMultitextureExt=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineExt=1
TexFlags.SecondaryColorExt=1
TexFlags.VertexArrayExt=1
TexFlags.ClipHintExt=0
TexFlags.UsePaletteExt=0
TexFlags.TexAnisotropicExt=1
TexFlags.TexCompressARBExt=0

TexFlags.TexEnvCombine4NV=1
TexFlags.TexEnvCombineDot3=1
TexFlags.DepthClampNV=1
TexFlags.SeparateSpecular=1
TexFlags.TextureShaderNV=1

HardwareShaders=1

Shadows=2
Specular=2
SpecularLight=2
DiffuseLight=2
DynamicalLights=1
MeshDetail=2
VisibilityDistance=3

Sky=2
Forest=3
LandShading=3
LandDetails=2

LandGeom=3
TexLarge=1
TexLandQual=3
TexLandLarge=1

VideoSetupId=17
Water=4
Effects=2
ForceShaders1x=0

PolygonOffsetFactor=-0.15
PolygonOffsetUnits=-3.0

Uh, not quite. Change all stipples to 0.

Stipple is a performance improving method for slower computers. It affects shadows negatively. Instead of using nice alpha blending on the polygon shadow, it uses a stipple pattern. If you want the "best" eyecandy, disable stippling.

http://wiki.polycount.com/TransparencyMap

This thing doesnt seem to play a role in my games visual appearance, I just tried with 0 and 1 and shadows looked the same, no pattern..maybe its for older cards.

btw this is from the manual:

Polygon stipple: Emulates shadow transparency in the absence of a stencil buffer.

Attempt stencil buffer: Utilize stencil buffer. The stencil buffer is used to make shadows
translucent, etc. It mostly works in 32-bit modes. It often produces a dramatic drop in the
frame rate on a number of older video cards. Recommended for GeForce3.

how do you get 1920x1080 res, I just found my 1946 DVD!

Interesting. I missed that part.

Will try TexFlags.PolygonStipple=0. I suppose there is no need for it in this day and age.

Thanks.


EDIT: Might be a placebo effect, but the overall image sharpness has gone up for me. Anyone else seeing this?

You need to edit the conf file manually.

[window]
width=1920
height=1080
ColourBits=32
DepthBits=24
StencilBits=8
ChangeScreenRes=0
FullScreen=1
DrawIfNotFocused=0
EnableResize=0
EnableClose=1
SaveAspect=0
Use3Renders=0

Also if you are running windows 7 do not put it into the Progrm Files folders since you can have problems with Windows extra protection keeping you from altering the file.
By creating a Games folder you can bypass the extra security.
C:\Games\Ubisoft\IL-2 Sturmovik 1946\


Wide Screen Monitor Distortion: http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3405440/Wide_Screen_Monitor_Distortion.html#Post3405440


Wheels

thanks all, finally got all the patches and conf.ini squared away , does 1946 always need the cd in the drive?

That depends on what version you bought. The European version required it to be left in the tray I am told but the US version, which I have, does not require it to be left in the tray.


Wheels

What about TexCompress? I had mine set to 1..Good idea?

No. Texture compression = sacrificing quality for FPS. Set it to 0.

Mine was the Canadian version, which appears to be the European version, does the old nocd rts.dll work?

My did, just dropped it in, like in the old days and it was all fine..
my problem is getting thrown back to desktop frequently

Thanks for all the info guys. This is a great starting point for those of us who have been away for awhile. It would seem to me that the next eye candy one would look for besides aircraft skins would be some of the terrains that I have seen in some of the screen shots. How do we incorporate some of these?

Also, sound mods would be nice. I have been spoiled by the 109E's sound in Cliffs of Dover and would like to have something similar to that if possible.

Thanks all!

Aurelius, have you tried the SAS site? There you will find all sorts of terrain and sound mods, and much more. Also, you can download from there, a huge all-in-one add-on called DBW (Dark Blue World), which contains all the stuff you are looking for. You will also need a download called UP3/RC4, but they explain all that.

+1 on that.

I loaded up Dark Blue World along with the Plutonium Max Effects mod and the results aren't just out of the park, they're off the freaking planet. Everything is better. The eye candy is up by a factor of 10. Some of the maps are FSX payware quality.

And it's all free!

Thanks for the info on those leads on additional IL-2 Goodies

Eye candy?

Haagen-Dazs!

As the op, I too am back after a lay off. My but the elves have been busy! Absolutely amazing what this community has accomplished. Thx

BF

Very cool.


Wheels

Best way to avoid the disk being needed is to buy the version from gog.com, it is legit and fully protection free. When I purchasd mine it was at version 4.09, I think it has been updated since then. You can download as many times as you want, no activation etc.

Unless on special it is normaly US$10.00

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/il_2_sturmovik_1946

Well worth the expense.

Regards MarkL

Just a quick question regarding these INI tweaks, what would be the minimum PC requirements to be able to enable all at once.
Is a dual core enough.

I have an E8500 3.1 Dual core with XP SP3 32 bit 8 gig ram and a ATI HD 6870 1 gig video card. I seen to remember years ago only Nvidia cards could handle some of the tweaks like water. Is this still the case?

Is my PC good enough to be able to add all the INI tweaks?

The obvious thing just try unfortunatly is not possible as the only flight sim I have at the moment installed is OFF phase 3.

I am thinking of reinstalling IL2 1946 soon possibly after an upgrade. I am tossing between a PC upgrade and a new Thrustmaster Warthog.
In Australia both are going to cost about the same.

Could anyone able to have all the tweaks enabled and getting good FPS let me know if my PC is still up to the task.

There are no new sims coming out soon that I will be buying. The old ones are still being supported so well I will stick with them for awhile to come, so I will only upgrade the PC if I really must.

Cheers MarkL

for the best eye candy, dont use any kind of texture Compression. set it to TexCompress=0. and set TexFlags.TexCompressARBExt=0 as well.

if youre having problems with mod maps freezing/crashing than the fix is to activate texture compression (advice from UP3 site):

@ Tolwyn

Thanks for the tip. Setting my config.ini to TexFlags.PolygonStipple=0 dose make a difference. At first I couldn’t see any difference just looking at the shadow of the plane. But when I dropped a bomb I noticed that the shadow from the smoke of the explosion had a checkered pattern to it when I had my confin.ini set to TexFlags.PolygonStipple=1. But when I changed it to TexFlags.PolygonStipple=0 the shadow from the explosions smoke was much smoother and the dissipation was much more transparent. So setting TexFlags.PolygonStipple=0 is definitely the way to go.