I never got a chance to play IL-2 in 2001 but in the last couple years I did get to enjoy Birds of Steel (Xbox 360) which me and my sons (10 and 8) really enjoyed. We didn’t have the cash for 2 more 360s so we could play together but I saw IL2 1946 on GOG.com on sale for $5 and low and behold—it is basically a better version of Birds of Steel w/o the pretty graphics. Win! And since the kids only have old Netbooks IL-2 1946 is perfect.

Admittedly, we had put off the purchase because we had issues with the old demo, concerned multiplayer wouldn’t work, and the mods scene is confusing. As it being a full sim it seemed a big step up from BoS on the 360. But we are glad we jumped in because our first couple games (quick matches) were just as much fun as BoS. I feel a little better after reading Nugget’s Guide http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/392-nuggets-guide-getting-ground-il2/

I only have a couple games under my belt and haven't started coop yet so I have some questions. I know a lot have been discussed but as a newbie specifically looking at Coop with some kids on Netbooks and only 2x sticks but 3 PCs I hope you can overlook them if they seem too obvious.

# HSFX. I downloaded but did not install. The kids’ netbooks will likely just barely run Vanilla. Am I right to understand if I run HSFX on my PC I can still connect with my kids’s Vanilla installation?

# Netbooks and HSFX. As the kids have netbooks should I just skip the mods altogether? Or can the visuals in HSFX be dialed all the way down to Vanilla and they get the extra content?

# Mouse Controls. I saw a video on YouTube for “JoyMouse.” Before we try it is there a better solution? We have 2x USB flight sticks so one kid gets a mouse L For our purposes Fly-By-Wire like Warthunder is fine.

# Coop. What is going to be the best way to set this up? Find a server online or peer-to-peer? Is this going to be a hurdle with the router (new ISP required we use their watered down router so not sure how much I can change).

# Quick Action Coop Recommendations. Right now the boys just like seeing other planes, especially bombers, and shooting. Some recommendations of built in scenarios where we could pick off some bombers together would be a great. I want to get them hooked even more before I introduce them to the joys of carrier landings J

# Mixed team Coop? Does IL-2 have missions where you can have real players on both sides? We are tentatively planning to get 4 more friends involved and it would be fun to mix up the teams a little bit (even if it is just 1 player and AI vs. 6 players and AI on an objective scenario).

# What maps would you classify as mountainous? In BOS and other games (like BF1942) I always really enjoyed missions/maps in areas with mountains where terrain came into play.

# What is the best/easiest way to create scenarios for coop? The in-game tool seems clunky. It looks like the 4.12.2 patch (which GoG comes with) has a tool TD incorporated—is that the right way to go or is there a better route?

# My Saitek (AVBR-02, PC and 360) has essentially 2 HAT switches, one at the base and another on the stick top. The bottom switch controls the camera and the top the Z and Y axis. Any advice on what I should set these to do?

# Trim. Not as easy to set as the BoS on the X360. But I notice all my planes wanting to climb.

# Anything else I need to know? Any advice for the best way to have fun and enjoy the game is appreciated. I like the “sim” aspects but not so much the bazillion keys; the boys just like the old planes and shooting things down. We are looking for a fun experience that we can keep simple enough to maybe get some of our other friends with boys there age involved in.

If you want to download coops etc, then try looking here Mission4Today

Otherwise, the Full Mission Builder (FMB) in the game has everything you need to build your own missions. There is an enhanced FMB available, but it is not too different to the stock version. You can have humans on both sides of coops, or all on one side. No limitations really.

It is not a great idea to run different versions of the game in the same coop. HSFX, like most other mods, can have its graphics dialled down as far as you want.

Sounds like the best thing for you to do right off is to set up your home LAN and run coops peer to peer. The default IL2 port number is 21000. Then, if you want to include people outside your home in your coops, you can run that peer to peer as well. You do not need to go through an internet server to host or fly multiplayer coops.

Cheers,
4S

The Nugget's Guide To Getting Off The Ground In IL2

Try our site www.sas1946.com for more info on HSFX/online game mode.

I think we need to get the guy up to 1946 V. 4.12.2 first.

THEN throw some MOD options at him.

Three people have replied and no one has answered your questions yet! What is this place coming too??


# HSFX. I downloaded but did not install. The kids’ netbooks will likely just barely run Vanilla. Am I right to understand if I run HSFX on my PC I can still connect with my kids’s Vanilla installation?

** No. The versions all need to be the same for multiplayer mode to work. Having said that there is a program (JSGME) which can swap HSFX and other MODs in and out at will.


# Netbooks and HSFX. As the kids have netbooks should I just skip the mods altogether? Or can the visuals in HSFX be dialed all the way down to Vanilla and they get the extra content?

** My suggestion would be to start with vanilla and add sprinkles later. The vanilla version is great all on its own. HSFX adds a pile of content, but save it for another day.


# Mouse Controls. I saw a video on YouTube for “JoyMouse.” Before we try it is there a better solution? We have 2x USB flight sticks so one kid gets a mouse L For our purposes Fly-By-Wire like Warthunder is fine.

** My suggestion would be to hit kijiji or ebay or whatever "used.com" you have where you are and find a cheap used stick for $20. There will be much more harmony in the room and the kid left out with the mouse won't get annoyed for being shot down all the time.


# Coop. What is going to be the best way to set this up? Find a server online or peer-to-peer? Is this going to be a hurdle with the router (new ISP required we use their watered down router so not sure how much I can change).

** There is a perfect solution to this. It is a program called Hyperlobby. You each have this client on each computer which hooks you all up together while one hosts the mission. As said above, get your coop missions from mission4today.com, and download/install them into missions/net/coop/country folders, or when you are more familiar with the game, you can make them yourself in Full Mission Builder.


# Quick Action Coop Recommendations. Right now the boys just like seeing other planes, especially bombers, and shooting. Some recommendations of built in scenarios where we could pick off some bombers together would be a great. I want to get them hooked even more before I introduce them to the joys of carrier landings J

** Try the single mission: Russian / IL2 / Blackdeath mission. I NEVER get tired of that one. I think it was once used as a benchmark mission for people tweaking their videocards back in the day when videocards were limiting.
With some instruction, you can turn it into a coop or a multiplayer dogfight mission too.


# Mixed team Coop? Does IL-2 have missions where you can have real players on both sides? We are tentatively planning to get 4 more friends involved and it would be fun to mix up the teams a little bit (even if it is just 1 player and AI vs. 6 players and AI on an objective scenario).

** You bet. Hyperlobby can get you all together in the same mission (or you can all hook in together by IP address).
A popular way to do this, other than by coop, is to host a "dogfight" mission. In this style of mission, everyone can pick a plane of their choice, on a side of their choice, and jump into a mission that includes AIs flying around. You do this by the host choosing a "dogfight" style in the multiplayer menu, then selecting a mission from the following menus.

A lot of people form virtual squadrons and fly either coops or dogfights with other virtual squadrons.


# What maps would you classify as mountainous? In BOS and other games (like BF1942) I always really enjoyed missions/maps in areas with mountains where terrain came into play.

*** In Full Mission Builder, there are scores of maps (even more with HSFX). Some are dead flat, others quite mountainous. Try Hawaii or Slovakia. There are some other smaller fictitious maps which are mountainous.


# What is the best/easiest way to create scenarios for coop? The in-game tool seems clunky. It looks like the 4.12.2 patch (which GoG comes with) has a tool TD incorporated—is that the right way to go or is there a better route?

*** There is an automatic coop/campaign generator with the game. The programming for it has not been updated in a very long time.
Its OK for solo use, in my opinion. The better way is to hit Mission4today and download entire coop campaigns that have been lovingly crafted over the last decade by the game's community.


# My Saitek (AVBR-02, PC and 360) has essentially 2 HAT switches, one at the base and another on the stick top. The bottom switch controls the camera and the top the Z and Y axis. Any advice on what I should set these to do?

** You got me stumped there. I've never mapped anything to my hatswitch (MS Sidewinder).


# Trim. Not as easy to set as the BoS on the X360. But I notice all my planes wanting to climb.

** Climbing is good!! Certainly better than the alternative.
I have trim mapped to some keyboard buttons. Having said that, not all planes have trim. Others only have trim on some surfaces and yet others have trim set by the ground crew before flight and are not changeable in game. Some people get worked up about trim. I don't worry too much about it, unless I'm trying to squeak the last 3 kph out of my plane because the entire enemy air force is behind me and gaining.


# Anything else I need to know? Any advice for the best way to have fun and enjoy the game is appreciated. I like the “sim” aspects but not so much the bazillion keys; the boys just like the old planes and shooting things down. We are looking for a fun experience that we can keep simple enough to maybe get some of our other friends with boys there age involved in.

** Keep the pointy end of the plane going forward.
** A good landing is one you can walk away from. A GREAT landing is one where they can use the plane again.
** SimHQ is a good place to ask questions. I know I did.


~Flatlander

Thanks for the feedback everyone. We are loving IL-2 1946!

We like it so much we had a friend and his boy over to play it. They loved it, too, so I bought them a copy. We are hoping to play some LAN this weekend--but we are having connection issues. See below. But before that:

# We are on v.4.12.2 -- GOG comes with 4.11.x I believe and also has the 4.12.2 patch. Pretty easy to setup!

# Game plays great on an AMD E-350 Netbook (max settings, 1366x786 resolution).

# Game run about 30fps on an Intel Core2Solo Netbook (GPU settings don't seem to help much, likely a memory bottleneck).

# Mouse controls? Meh. Picked up 2x more flight sticks. Kids are happy.

# I had to reinstall IL-2 on my PC. I had installed the HSFX mod but I couldn't see a difference and the game was crashing when I used JSGME to turn the mod off.

# We are going to hold off on mods for now--the game is loaded with content.

# Most of our time has been playing Quick Missions.

# The tutorials we did were different from BoS on the Xbox 360. In BOS you actually get to fly and it gives you instructions whereas the IL-2 ones we tried we just watched. For as watered down new games are many newer games have better in game guides (more interactive, voice instructions, etc.) Not a complaint but an observation about the pros and cons of older PC sims: super deep and detailed but less consolidation. Even some of the same missions feel VERY different. In BoS the time between, say, "doing a routine perimeter" check in Pearl Harbor was very short in BoS on the X360 but much longer in IL-2. It is interesting to see the differences. I prefer the extra challenge of IL-2 and for the kids I am thankful I can help them into Autopilot and speed up time 8x to get to parts more interesting to them.

# I get weird triangles in my clouds on my PC (i7 with Nvidia 660M GPU) but not on the Core2Duo/Nvidia 8400 laptop, AMD E-350 netbook, or Intel Core2Solo 1.4GHz netbook. I installed new drivers but that did not resolve the issue.

We are having some challenges connecting, even with Hyperlobby. We can get each PC connected to a different game but we cannot join the same game, even on someone else's server. I have been working over Nugget's guide. http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/392-nuggets-guide-getting-ground-il2/

Also had issues connecting directly Peer-to-Peer via IP:21000. Tried both the local router IP (197.xxx.xxx.xxx) as well as the real IP. I haven't tried having the first PC to connect to the host as :21001 and the next as :21002.

Question: It seems I need a little troubleshooting guide for IL-2/Hyperlobby beyond what is at the Hyperlobby site / Nugget's guide. Any recommended reading?

Reply #1 Ya, I get that too sometimes. The graphics engine is showing its age after 12 years.

#2 I doubt the issue of port 21000, since you can each enter a game in hyperlobby.
Port 21001 and port 21002 won't work. They are not like IP addresses.

I'm guess it has more to do with your home network or maybe your fire wall.
Do you have static or dynamic IP addresses for machine on your network?
You may need static.

Last ditch effort, try - http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Netgear/FR318/IL2-Sturmovik.htm
for whatever router you have.

Good luck.
Let us know how it goes.

Good luck in your flights, and Welcome to the SimHQ board too!
Fly safe!

I was able to remove the artifacts bug in the clouds (which looked like a narrow triangles jettisoning out in all directions) by changing the LOD bias in the GPU settings.

We also have LAN working well. We sometimes get really bad lag though, which is surprising as a am hosting on a 2.4GHz i7 with 8GB of memory. We switched from LAN to DLS/Cable and it seems to have helped some. It seems if I get in a game first it runs smoothest. Disabling Java also helped. Any other tips would be nice. (The 3 other PCs are all older if that makes any difference; all play the game fine in solo).

I have been dabbling in missions from Missions For Today but still having a hard time finding an "inviting" coop map with a lot of action. A lot of missions are historical. We did like the Pearl Harbor map someone did. A lot of planes although most are flying very high and are swooping in for a single bombing run and running away so not a lot of action. I am dabbling now in making my own missions for our upcoming LAN with friends but any recommendations will be tried It is too bad that QMB couldn't be used for Coop maps or Dogfight.

Oh, and IL-2 is a lot of fun. What a great game!

You can copy the QMB "maps" to the "coop" or "dogfight" folder in the "Missions\Net" folder and with a few little tweaks get them to work just fine. Main thing to know is that the player box should remain unchecked for any Coop or Dogfight maps you make. This way the host won't be limited to that particular plane in the Coop missions.


There used to be a site called "FMB Tutorials" by Flying Nutcase but sadly it went down about two years ago. The good news is that the content of the site was uploaded to Mission4Today's Knowledge base just last year.
FMB Tutorials @ M4T: http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=Knowledge_Base&cat=95
Several of the tutorials include a short video, less than ten minutes, explaining the process to you. After watching and reading Flying Nutcase's tutorials in the KB at M4T and how to use the Home Base tutorial by Beebop you should be well on your way towards understanding and using the features in the FMB.

Using The Home Base In The FMB: http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=Knowledge_Base&op=show&kid=458

When you get a little more familiar with the basics of the FMB there are several other mission building tips in the KB too.
Campaign and Mission Building: http://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=Knowledge_Base&cat=40


Welcome to the addiction.


Wheels

Hi all,

Is it possible to play multiplayer scenarios with IL2 Sturmovik 1946 anymore?

Reading all the stuff is confusing.

I have bought Ostfront as SimHQ highly recommended it and will probably buy more of these kinds of
add ons.

Any help would be appreciated,
Thank you in advance,
Stefos

Yes, but your question is confusing. Are you asking whether multiplayer games are being hosted by others somewhere online? Yes there are, including dogfight servers and coops. Hyperlobby is still active, and various squads are hosting their own events.

Alternatively, you can build your own events and host them yourself.