Review: The Team Fusion Mod for IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover

Review by Fred "HeinKill" Williams with comments by I.F. "Sokol1" Oliveira

http://simhq.com/_air15/air_547a.html

Very nice review fellas

Excellent.

I have really liked this mod. It actually has me up and flying the game again.

Cool review! I never got into CloD due to the horribly negative reaction.

As someone who might occasionally fire up IL-2 '46 (with the DBW mod) for some quick action (either A/A or A/G), is Clod + the TF Mod now worth the $12 I can get it for on Amazon?

Very nice work!

I agree about the conf.ini settings (or optional variations). I personally prefer the original Il-2 Cliffs of Dover colours/lighting. I'm hesistant to install the patch prior to the old colours becoming an option.

I've always disliked how these omnipack force other people's tastes on you. It is a reason why I only used the simplest activators for Il-2 mods. However, even SAS's activator has grown into an extensive mod pack...


My 2 cents:

Next time around it'd be interesting to contact Team Fusion and see if they've made any attempts to contact 1C Game Studios... One of the BoS Q&A's suggested that they hadn't but that such a conversation ought to happen - so I'd be interested in hearing an update.

It would also be interesting to find out if a loadout screen fix will be possible.

Thanks for the review guys, I hadn't tried out the TF mod but will certainly take a look at it now.



Malibu, I consider myself one of the lucky ones who held off from CLoD until after the final release patch, so I missed out on all the grief.

But, I picked up CLoD in a Gamefly sale (Steam key purchase) for 2.50 Euros, then installed Heinkill's superb RAF Redux Campaign which completely replaces the dire stock RAF campaign, and I have been having a total blast with that.

So, my advice would be to pick it up in the next sale, skip the stock campaigns, install the TF mod and Heinkill's Redux campaign, and go with that. You won't regret it.

Campaign d/l here:-

http://bobgamehub.blogspot.co.uk/p/cliffs-of-dover-missions.html

Just out of interest, would like to know what the legal situation with modding IL-COD is. First of all, is it? Secondly, are there any limits to what can/may be modded? Finally, any way to ensure same modded version is played in an online battle (i.e. no cheats)?

MAC

I love the mod and I think Heinkill's article is great and well written. Thanks for reviewing the mod. I have seen allot more people that I don't know coming over and flying the game now. The Storm of War Sunday Missions with squadrons and staffels from around the world have been awesome and full. Get out there and join a squad and fly with us!

I think it may be time for me to reinstall clod and try this out, I think in only the final release did I get proper colours for inside the cockpit. Looked like spectrum colour clash and put me off learning the game.

Good review. I like what has been done and I agree on most points, the "reflection" quality is subjective in reality those kinds of reflection are bright and sharp, how the game registers it is not completely realistic looking and seems to remain on screen too long but it serves the purpose and hopefully it can be improved in the next sim because much as CoD has been improved I hope Jason and his crew would be interested in what the community accomplished and as a way to illustrate what the community "wants" to have rather than fancy features that end up being parsed out. Over all CoD looks much better and even when I've flown for an hour and not seen another aircraft and returned on vapors to a perfect landing it has been exhilarating to fly and I find myself with sweaty palms and not breathing quite right till after it's over. Some of the things that I really enjoy are the colors which look more natural, and looking back over my shoulder and seeing the exhaust trail painting out behind me, I can still get random failures if I push it too much but not while I'm on my take-off roll like I used to. It's one thing to have a Sim that gives you all the tedium of having to manipulate switches and levers on your computer screen with mouse gestures or key presses but it's quite another to play a game that's fun and competitive and gives you an experience, finding that sweet spot in-between the two is where the real target should be and CoD does in some respects RoF also. I hope the next iteration in the series will start out with this in mind.

Neat review, I'm sold

That said, if starting from a fresh CloD install (No settings or anything to worry about) do I just install Clod, and then install the Mod, and then start setting up the game (controls, display, etc?)

For me, it's a case of 'nevermind anything else about this patch, does it actually run on Windows 8 at all?'

Since stock CLOD doesn't, and I see one of the test machines (the laptop) had Win 8, I assume it now can actually run again?

Yes



And yes.

(There is actually a very simple workaround for stock COD to run on Win 8. A couple of files you just drop into your game folder.

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=36078

But the mod also enables CoD to run without these.)

PS freakin hate Win8.

I thought so too.. Nice work there ATAG.. I came to the CoD party late anyway for hardware reasons but I found it better after the last official patch and I have not even installed the ATAG patch yet.. That review will be very good for helping me get past that.

Bearcat, you will not regret it.

Really good balanced review. Agree pretty much with everything Heinkill said. Thank you again for your insight.
Clod is really maturing with this mod and the Atag guys deserve a medal.

If another patch further develops graphics and other options, i can see this becoming the de facto ww2 sim.

I have now dipped my wings into multiplayer and boy is it nerve racking on full realism. Height is everything. I have now even got a headset as it it vital to talk to wingmen just like in reality.

Happy flying

Dang it, I am definitely going back to being more contrarian in future reviews. How am I supposed to crack the 1,000 views on my review comment thread (which every self respecting reviewer aims for) unless I generate controversy, angst and even the occasional hate mail?

(We really screwed up on this review Sokol.)

H

No worries Heinkill, and if it makes you feel any worse i held back from getting Clod until reading your original blog review and several others on Simhq!
I'd hate to think you would rest on your laurels so you really must try harder next time!



Thanks goodness the banana forum is quiet these days.

Thanks for the review.

I like the idea of flashes of light glinting in the distance, although it struck me as odd at how they came across in the attached video. The winking lights came from a formation of aircraft (?) flying straight and level, surely glinting should be rare or longer lasting in that instance. Glinting as it appeared in the video was, to my mind, if seemingly too frequent, closer to the winking that you might expect from manoeuvring aircraft occasionally catching the sun of reflective surfaces.

I also have to add that, as excellent as the game is becoming, even more so with the Mod, I still feel that it should be easier to maintain a visual on other aircraft. At the moment they seem to shimmer into the ether at ranges that they should still be easily discernible. Despite the excellence of the Mod it still curbs my full enjoyment.

Good balanced review.

Just one thing:

"TIP: Apparently the sounds are best heard if you turn up the volume fully on your system, and then adjust loudness through the in game settings menu."

Actually its the other way around. You need the game volume at maximum or you risk missing some sounds like bullet strikes on the airframe. Then you have to go to the Windows sound Mixer (white speaker in system tray) and reduce the CoD sound level. I have my general volume sounder at around 55% and have to reduce the CoD volume to about 18% or be deafened in the cockpit and to hear other applications like Teamspeak (a must in multiplayer). This is something to do with the way Steam handles the sound settings and always sets it to the general System level for CoD. TF aren't able to change this (well, not so far).

You need to do this every time you restart CoD unless someone has a vbs script I can add to my start up vbs file (DxTeak, Teamspeak, TS Notifier, Launcher) to do this for me?

klem
(AKA 56RAF_klem)

That makes more sense!

Mini patch now available:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3773946/Team_Fusion_mini_Patch#Post3773946

Addresses elevator sensitivity on HEIII and BR20,lack of D601 overspeed, Spit MKI VP pitch operation, prop lever animation in HEIII,JU88

We have, but they have ignored us.

Ironic considering they seemed upset about it in one of their developer diaries. Maybe you should ask them if they are ever going to respond to us

Hi Luke! You can crawl back in your hole again.

http://www.sukhoi.ru/forum/showthread.ph...l=1#post1992797

Guys, cool it in here.

If you want to discuss, please do. But don't start tossing stuff back and forth in the SimHQ forums.

HeinKill,

excellent review, and a well balanced overview of the new ATAG patch

with the "unrealistic joystick control" issue causing some of these larger planes to disintegrate when flying at high speed, i think the reply from the TF mod advisor is pretty accurate, our joysticks allow us way to much power/strength in controller input, compared to what a real pilot could do under similar speeds/compression in real life.

the answer perhaps lies in the comments of one of the real ww2 fighter pilots who tried an earlier version of il2 a few years ago (posted at ubi ). the pilot commented he really liked many aspects of the "simulator game" and he thought overall the virtual aircraft behavior was pretty good, but he said the joystick control during flight felt very unrealistic because in the game any small movement had an immediate and major effect on control of the aircraft (and hence the aircraft responded with immediate major movements, even if the pilot would not in real life have had the physican strength to do it), yet in real life during flight the stick movements were usually fairly large to make a major change of direction (and not as twitchy). the person interviewing him then significantly altered the controller setting for the joystick in game so it would represent this, and on the next il2-flight the old pilot saw that new behavior as being much closer to the real experience

maybe a similar joystick profile can be produced for CoD, and it wouldnt then allow for these unrealistic major high G maneuvers that stress an aircraft beyond its mechanical tolerances so suddenly. i dont think it would be popular with the point-junkies online, but it would make the whole experience more realistic

Thorough, well balanced review HeinKill.

As a long time WWII combat sim junkie in remission, loading the Team Fusion mod, REDUX and LW REDUX, has been like, well attending an AA meeting in a Scotch museum. All that it took were a couple of bomber intercepts with the accompanying Emil furball, and I am drinking it all in like a longshoreman. Family neglected, guitars gathering dust, and workouts be damned, it feels good to be back in the saddle.

IMO:
- As a civilian pilot, the glare looks pretty good to me, especially compared to the hazy late summer skies that we get in the Southeast US. Worst near dusk. It might not be exact, but the effect is right on.
- The mini patch reduced some of the pitch sensitivity in the HEIII and BR20.
- Call me strange, but I actually like the new sound of the .303.
- My relatively moderate spec rig got a very noticeable fps improvement.

with this patch and the redux campaigns it finally sorted.. I flew into London the other day on a (rare) sunny spring day and coming in over the Thames Estuary I did actually think yes, it now does look a lot more like this. Brilliant!

Great article but the fact is no graphic improvement will ever fix the biggest problem with this sim.The lack of a campaign system.Its really sad that Olegs team slacked on that and only gave us 2 story based sets of missions and called it a campaign.Their biggest mistake was not carrying over the system for this from IL-2 1946 gold.This is also a good reason why the older IL-2 has outlived this newer title.When are these developers going to listen to consumers.Because of this I will never buy this title.1946 with mods,remains on my hard drive.

Totally agree 1C just never 'got' how important single player mode is in a sim. It frustrated the heck out of me that time after time you would read stats saying that most simmers play single player, not online, and even Oleg acknowledged that, yet they delivered an abortion of a campaign. The mission builder is great, but without dynamic campaign capabilities anything user create is going to be limited. Branching campaigns are possible, but not much used eg if event a) then next mission a), if event b) then next mission b)

Desastersoft has gone some way toward working around the campaign engine limitations - their Galland add on has good random elements, which improves the playability of campaigns.

I won't say devs aren't listening though. Some are. I'm very encouraged by the discussion around single player focus in the upcoming IL2 Battle for Stalingrad.

http://forum.il2sturmovik.net/topic/603-developer-diary-part-xv/?hl=campaign#entry11222

H

Way back I remember an interview with Oleg (think it was on SimHQ) where he commented on the simplicity of the BOBWOV campaign code...

Well, I've spent a lot more time in the modded version now.

Just wanted to note Team Fusion took note of concerns about bomber wing loadings and wings snapping off in level flight and have adjusted or desensitised the stick inputs to avoid this, in a mini patch.

I love the factory fresh skin look and contrails. Ysterday on an escort mission I was able to spot incoming Spitfires by their contrails and pick them up at low level by their glinting perspex. I still feel the sun glare is a tad overdone but it really does add to immersion.

What do others think now that they've tried it...are you using the mod? Or have you gone back to the stock version?

H

Isn't BoS being done by 777 studios? Cos they've gone a stellar job with the single player career mode.

Rise of flight doesn't have a dynamic campaign nor does it have an accurate campaign, all flights in Bcareer are much below realistic altitudes, every mission has units that simply spawn in when players cross a trigger point which causes stutter and alerts you to enemy presence, Jason has openly said "if you want accuracy go play PWCG(Pat's campaign generator, much more realistic) but pretty much everything down to the size of flights, number of planes in the air, the way ai pilots piss their lives away each mission, the arbitrary leaderboard garbage and the atrocious AI.

BCareer in ROF is nowhere near stellar, we'll see how BOS turns out but I have my doubts it'll be any better than ROF's and since they're using the same engine there are major limitations to the number of AI that can be in a mission without causing the actual speed of the gameplay to slow down, meaning it's unlikely flight size will be near historical amounts without major changes to the engine.

I haven't spent enough time in the RoF betacareer mode to judge, though your comments explain why it is still 'beta' after nearly two years.

It does seem that some things in BoS will be 'one step forward, two steps back' compared to Cliffs of Dover:

- more focus on single player mode / but according to you not a great career mode
- more PC friendly code / but not the same graphical standard as CoD judging by latest cockpit screenshots (love the clouds though!)
- strong focus on historical accuracy including airfield layouts / less ground detail due to landscape limitations of the RoF engine
- AI which uses the same flight models as the player / but (unmodded) is regarded as suboptimal by many players

But we can't have it all...I am still looking forward to a developer like 777 bringing us their take on WWII aerial combat. I think it will be a nice addition to the IL2 Sturmovik legacy.

H

I just hope they make the necessary changes to at least have the major factors of the war in place and a more realistic ground war(another of ROF's major faults.)

Hard to imagine a Stalingrad game without detailed ground war objects moving around, but true I haven't seen much news from 777 about that.

It shiuldn't be hard to do. DCS does autonomous road traffic that doesnt eat up resources.

More detail on the campaign game here!

http://forum.il2sturmovik.net/topic/710-developer-diary-part-xxi/

H

Im am still getting micro stutters,even with the mod:-(

Me too. I could probably cure it by dropping gfx settings but framerate is ok. I get the stutters when there are explosions, even if they arent onscreen. Or when aircraft spawn in missions with spawning.

So TF has done some great work, but there is no magic cure for some of the old irritations.

H