IL2 Series Flight sims

[ibex333]

I bought IL:2 Sturmovik, because it got great reviews and because I like the whole WWII vibe and flight sims in particular. Trouble is, this damn game is barely playable. I got a pretty good high end PC with a good GFX card, good processor, and lots of ram. My joystick is Microsoft Sidewinder Precision 2 that I bought back in 2001.
This game is so extremely hard, that is a big trouble just to take off or land!! I never even got a chance to get to any dogfighting. There are so many buttons and controls in the menu, that I completely lost in all this craziness. If it was this hard to control a plane during WWII, I doubt anyone would be using planes in the 1st place.
The reason why I made this post is because I'm hoping that some of you guys own this game and can shed some light on this for me. Mabe my joysic sux?? I thought it was pretty good. Mabe theres some way of making the controls more comfy? I find it hard to believe that a game can get such good reviews if it's barely playable.

 

[DT4K]

I got the demo because of all the good reviews and gave up after an hour or two.
All I can say is that it's supposed to be a more realistic flight sim, so maybe it just takes a lot of practice and learning before it gets fun.

 

[dighn]

Originally posted by: DT4K
All I can say is that it's supposed to be a more realistic flight sim, so maybe it just takes a lot of practice and learning before it gets fun.

ditto. this game is for the more hardcore flight sim players.

Originally posted by: ibex333 If it was this hard to control a plane during WWII, I doubt anyone would be using planes in the 1st place.

planes are not easy to fly. that's why you need a lot of training to fly one

 

[weeber]

Is this the original IL-2 or the sequel, Forgotten Battles?

Anyways, yes it's a tough simulator, hang in there and you'll get a hang of it. The key to remember is that you can't just throw the joystick all around and expect the plane to respond well. This is especially true if try to pull hard back on the stick and keep it in your lap. This will stall your plane out everytime. You're going to have to ease into turns until you figure out what the plane can and can't do.

Good luck

 

[notfred]

Do you understand the definition of the word simulator? It is supposed to simulate flying an actual airplane. If you've never tried to fly an airplane, it's a lot harder than driving a car. They require you to go to ground school and fly for 40 hours with an instructor before you're even allowed to take the test to get a license to fly a little tiny single engine propeller plane. Military jets are far more complicated than those small airplanes. Flight sims are supposed to duplicate that.

If you have no interest in flying real airplanes, you probably won't like very many flight sims.

 

[ibex333]

Well I understand that it is a flight sim... But is it reasy so damn realistic? Could I possibly fly a real WWII plane after playing this?
Actually, I made this post to hear from you guys if this sim is really as hard as I thought to learn. I can see now that it is, and I shall keep trying, because I do like this game/sim, no matter how hard it is to learn. By the way. In your opinion, is my joystik stated above ok for this game, or you have much better ones?

 

[CrackRabbit]

IL-2 is a very tough sim, but it also has options that you can turn on and off to fit your flight skill.
I had to turn off spins because I wasn't a skilled enough pilot to keep from going into them.
Play with the settings a bit find where you are comfortable at and enjoy it, once you get the hang of flying turn on the more advanced stuff.

 

[Farmer]

I feel ya; sims are the only games where you find yourself not having any fun not because you dont win, but because you cant play.

Well, also keep in mind that it probably is not your fault entirely. Remember that most hard-core simmers have decent flightstick/throttle/pedal setups, not just a flightstick. That is a pretty steep investment in itself.

Also, RTFM! read the documentation! Like everyone has stated before, Il-2 is pretty damn close to being a study sim. Modern F-15 pilots are required to memorize a 460-ish "Dash One" manual as best as possible after receiving basic flight training outside of the F-15. Even with this familiarity, it still takes hundreds of flight hours to become a competent, battle-ready pilot. Now, the Russians had considerably less training during WWII, but dont expect to just jump into a plane and know how to fly it without doing anything.

If you like WWII aerial combat but dont want the hassle of learning an airplane inside and out, flight, pick up a copy of MS CFS3, or, if yer in the mood for ultra-arcade, pick up BF-1942 and fly the planes on there.

 

[CrackRabbit]

Originally posted by: Farmer
I feel ya; sims are the only games where you find yourself not having any fun not because you dont win, but because you cant play.

Well, also keep in mind that it probably is not your fault entirely. Remember that most hard-core simmers have decent flightstick/throttle/pedal setups, not just a flightstick. That is a pretty steep investment in itself.

Also, RTFM! read the documentation! Like everyone has stated before, Il-2 is pretty damn close to being a study sim. Modern F-15 pilots are required to memorize a 460-ish "Dash One" manual as best as possible after receiving basic flight training outside of the F-15. Even with this familiarity, it still takes hundreds of flight hours to become a competent, battle-ready pilot. Now, the Russians had considerably less training during WWII, but dont expect to just jump into a plane and know how to fly it without doing anything.

If you like WWII aerial combat but dont want the hassle of learning an airplane inside and out, flight, pick up a copy of MS CFS3, or, if yer in the mood for ultra-arcade, pick up BF-1942 and fly the planes on there.

MS CFS3 Ticked me off to no end, the mission objectives vague and/or were near impossible to complete. The worst of it was that I would be flying and my planes engine would stall for no reason and I could not restart it leaving me to bail or coast in for a crash. :|

Edit: You might want to look into Spaceflight sims such as Descent: Freespace 1&2 or X-Wing Aliance

 

[biostud]

If you can find Crimson Skies it's an action dogfight game. It's a bit cartoonish (not real planes), but if you wan't fun dogfights in non jet planes it's nice.

 

[effee]

The only flight sim i play is FS2004

 

[ibex333]

Thanx for the input. I shall stick to IL2, and learn it, as much as possible with my Precision 2. This way, I'll know that at least I tried before completely giving up. Originally I gave up on it really fast after understanding just how much steps are involved in takeoff and landing.

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: notfred
Do you understand the definition of the word simulator? It is supposed to simulate flying an actual airplane. If you've never tried to fly an airplane, it's a lot harder than driving a car. They require you to go to ground school and fly for 40 hours with an instructor before you're even allowed to take the test to get a license to fly a little tiny single engine propeller plane. Military jets are far more complicated than those small airplanes. Flight sims are supposed to duplicate that.

If you have no interest in flying real airplanes, you probably won't like very many flight sims.

actually the requirement is 40 hours total time to take the test, but you can solo as soon as you're ready. I soloed in about 15 hours.