Kono kanji…

I just had to say hello to my friend Godlo!

Both Wings of Prey and Apache Air Assault (from Gaijin Entertainment) work well with SoftTh 2.05, there was a trick or two to getting everything working on my system.

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I think I lost some hair getting this to work, and it took a while… but I finally got IL-2: 1946 to work nicely with my SoftTH triplehead setup.

I am using:
Il-2 Sturmovik 4.09m (with or without mods, also works with 4.101)
San’s FOV changer v1.0.6.9 RC
SoftTh v1.09 rc1

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These public domain books were gathered together (by RAF_Louvert, I believe…) for ease of downloading and are for the enjoyment of all. I originally got them from the Combat Ace site.

WWI Aviation Books, Set 1

Biographies, Diaries, and Personal Writings:
14,000 Miles Through the Air, by Captain Ross Smith, c.1922
Air Men O’War, by Boyd Cable, c.1918
Fighting the Flying Circus, by Eddie Rickenbacker, c.1919
Guynemer, The Ace of Aces, by Jacques Mortane, c.1918
Luck on the Wing, by Major Elmer Haslett, c.1920
The Flying Poilu, by Marcel Nadaud, c.1918
Aircraft Mechanics Handbook, c.1918
How To Fly, by A. Frederick Collins, c.1918
Orders, Decorations, and Insignia, by Colonel Robert E. Wyllie, c.1921
The American Air Service, by Arthur Sweetser, c.1919

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This is simply a list of the resources I have come across that have helped me get a bit better at WWII flight sim dogfighting. Although they are for different games (or real-life) they are useful resources for WWII dogfighting and understanding gun convergence and how the sights work and how to use them accurately.

Documents:
Target Range and Gun Convergence
Bag the Hun – (RAF Gunnery Manual)
Schiessfibel – Similar to Bag the Hun
WWII Air Combat – A quick guide to common WWII dogfighting maneuvers
In Pursuit – A Pilots Guide to Air Combat
Boom and Zoom Tactics
IL-2 Series: Fundamentals of Gunnery

Training Videos:
Gunnery Training Video – Bag the Hun
Various training videos, I recommend: “Using the gun sight to determine range”

Some advanced reference stuff:
Air Navigation – Army Air Force Training Manual
Instrument Flying 1 Basic (without Radio Aids)
Instrument Flying 2 Advanced (with Radio Aids)
Instrument Flying 3 Army Air Forces Instrument Approach System
Pilots’ Information File
Spin Recovery Quick Guide
Engine Cheat Sheet

Like many, I am eagerly awaiting IL-2: Cliffs of Dover… it got delayed a bit longer so I decided to see if there were any BoB themed campaigns for IL-2: 1946 that looked interesting and I came across: Battle of Britain IL2DCG by Lonestar67. It uses IL2DCG to generate dynamic campaigns during the Battle of Britain (and it requires either UP or HSFX) using Cannon’s beautiful channel map.

I really can’t say enough good things about this campaign, you can fly for England or Germany (of course) and the Polish 303 squadron is also playable. There are recon, fighter, and bomber campaigns available and since it uses IL2DCG no 2 campaigns play out the same. Flying the Spitfire MKI over the Cannon’s channel map while trying to fight through the Bf109′s and 110′s to intercept a flight  of JU-87′s is quite a challenge!

Original release threads appear to be here and here. The campaign is available for download at Mediafire [mirror].

I know that PC FPS games are geard towards keyboard and mouse, but sometimes I’m tired and/or lazy and just want to play Source games using an XBox360 (wired) controller… Well Here is my custom config, I use it with Synergy (a Half-Life 2 COOP Mod), Half-Life 2, and Half-Life 2 Deathmatch (hl2mp), it should also work fine with Obsidian Conflict (another Half-Life 2 COOP Mod).

I was bored so I made a little graphic showing what all the buttons do, they are also commented in the joystick.cfg file if you need to edit anything (the basic controller setup does not do all the wonderful things in the picture, you need to use the advanced controller setup for that).

I have included custom scripts so you can do as much as possible using only the controller to save from having to press anything on the keyboard (after the server MOTD that is).

Installation is easy, simply edit the (or create a text file named) joystick.cfg (which lives in the game’s ‘cfg’ directory) and enable gamepads (in game options) in the game and you should be all set.

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Just some utilities, mods, and programs for IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 that I have found useful.
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Yet another online racing game I am looking forward to, Test Drive Unlimited 2 (from Atari) is going to start beta testing soon (you can apply for the beta here).

It will attempt to blend single player and multiplayer gameplay to create an evolving/dynamic massive online world. I expect Test Drive Unlimited 2 will have an online mode similar to the previous game (so plenty of police chases and races through scenic Ibiza and Oahu), Test Drive Unlimited.

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In a recent post I mentioned that I’d been playing the free MMORPG, Project Torque (PT) for a while and that it may be updated soon… Well that happened just the other day (the new build is called Julia) and I can definitely recommend this game to anyone who likes racing games (and as always it’s free to play).

It includes simulation and arcade physics and various game modes (and I guessed correctly… the game modes have changed with this build): vs. Race, Battle, Return the Flag, Thunder Alley (fast oval track draft racing), Explorer, and Team Capture the Flag. They have added a new interface and more tracks as well! (Tokyo tracks are now set at night instead of day… A great atmosphere for street racing). A couple of game modes were removed, but hopefully we will get them back in a new build.

You can find more information out at the Project Torque site and forums, you can download Project Torque here.

Project Torque is published by Invictus Gaming and run by Aeria Games in North America and Gamigo in much of the world.

UPDATE: This game died… It has been replaced by Heat-Online which uses the same code-base and has many of the features from PT.