11.04.2017
We're happy to announce that update 2.009 is ready. The most important addition in it is the VR support. In addition to VR itself, graphics as a whole were heavily updated during the VR development, so everyone will benefit from this update. In addition, it contains many improvements and corrections in other subsystems of the sim.
06.04.2017
While the VR update testing is almost finished, we continue to work on Battle of Kuban aircraft. More than a half of the work on the IL-2 mod. 1943 flight model is done and the Spitfire flight model is in the works as well. 3D models of the A-20B Boston bomber and the Yak-7b fighter are being built according to the schedule and we just started the work on the P-39L-1. All these planes are remarkable, most of them have interesting construction and systems peculiarities. Today we'd like to show you WIP screenshots of the German strike aircraft Hs-129 B-2. The model itself is finished, 3D artists are working on texturing and damage visualization.
31.03.2017
First, let's start with a short overview of the current development progress. We prepare for beta-test of the new version 2.009 release candidate. Implementation of the Open VR API is nearly finished and we're 'polishing' the new features, including some that aren't directly related to VR. In the meantime, engineer department works on IL-2 mod. 1943 and Spitfire MkVb flight models, while artists are making 3D models of Hs-129 and Yak-7b.
Here comes the main hero of the today Dev Diary - IL-2 mod. 1943 aiming sight. Starting from early 1943, PBP-1 collimator sights were gradually replaced by simple VV-1 (Vizier Vasilyeva - first) mechanical sights on IL-2s. It is commonly believed that PBP-1 aiming sights caused many injuries during emergency landings that were especially frequent among Sturmovik pilots. While being very simple from a technological point of view, this aiming sight actually was more capable than VV-1 was.
24.03.2017
While we were preparing this Dev Diary, sad news arrived - Soviet test pilot Stepan Anastasovich Mikoyan who fought in the battle of Stalingrad passed away in Moscow at age 95.
It is very sad that such a veteran is no longer with us. We are grateful for his defense of the Motherland and his enormous contribution for aviation development.We are proud that we knew him and he helped us in the development.
17.03.2017
We continue to work on our VR implementation and it has posed some technical challenges and there will be some small limitations due to incompatibility between the VR API and our engine. It must be said that our engine was never designed to work natively with VR and the VR companies never designed their goggles and tech to work natively with a hardcore flight-sim with a custom graphics engine that includes gunner positions and bombsights. Remember that when it comes to WWII, only Sturmovik products actually have multi-crew aircraft with realistic gunner positions and bombsights - our competitors do not. So, this is new territory for VR in any hardcore sim. Overcoming some of these technical issues would require more time and custom work from us in addition to some new customization options from Valve and Oculus. How these smaller issues are resolved remains to be seen.