homepage Forums Air Combat & Civil Aviation IL-2: FB, AEP, PF Newcomer's Guide: Updating 1946 DVD

Ok I did it.

Why do I feel like I just bought Pandora's Box?

After sitting on the sidelines for for the better part of 6 years watching this sim develop, I figured it was high time to see what all the hype has been about. What better opportunity than now with Il-2 '46 as the culmination of all at $10/pop?

Skycat,

Thanks for using your editorial skills to spell this out. There's a lot of material here. I plan on taking small sips with this one.. like a fine cognac..

BP (Okland)

Do you mean IL-2 Shturmovik Stab? Then version 6.3 is what you want. You can download from Mission4Today.com

You only need to open port 21000 UDP to host, if you want to join a game you don't need to open any port.

Skycat
Some info on setting up Mat Manager in Vista 64bit in this thread. You might want to add it to the Mat Manager section of your guide

http://www.simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2338891&page=1#Post2338891

Unstickied, but merged with the "Essentials" thread. And a bump to the top.

The links to the 4.09 beta have been added.

Hi Skycat,

I just installed 1946 and the 4.08 patch. I want to try the 4.09 beta, but I have two questions.

How can I run this at 1680x1050? I see that IL-2 Shturmovik Stab Version 6.3 will do that for me, but should I use that mod, another mod, or should I do it myself in config.ini (haven't even looked there yet). Also should I do it now or after 4.09.

Second Question; should I use the skins that were released with 4.09 or EnJoyrPatchA_skins (190 Mb), or both?

Thanks for this fantastic guide.

1. I've never used IL-2 Stab so I don't know how it works. I assume that it makes changes to your conf.ini. If this is correct, it wouldn't matter if you use Stab or if you edit your conf.ini manually. The other part of the question is that it doesn't matter if you make the change before or after the 4.09b1m patch because the 4.09 beta doesn't touch (overwrite/replace) your conf.ini.

2. The new default skins that can be added with the 4.09b1m are just that--default skins. They are hardcoded into to game so that if no custom skins are selected for a particular aircraft the default skin shows instead. The skins in Enjoyr's patches are custom skins and are used in the campaigns. They can also be used in online dogfights or in QMB or selected by the player in offline missions...but they are not new default skins. You can install all of Enjoyr's skin packs if you wish along with the new default skins pack.

Great!

I'll edit the conf.ini - did so to 1680x1050 and I get black bars on the sides. It also shows the resolution as 640x480x16 in the Menu/hardware setup/video mode selections box - I guess this is normal.

Now I'll install the 4.09 patch and then new default skins and then follow the rest of your guide - getting enjoyr skins at the right time.

The EnjoyR skin patches are essential to install together with the EnjoyR DGen patches. Without the EnjoyR skin patches, the campaigns added by EnjoyR patches for no add-ons or others, will launch but will not show the intended/correct skins.

The skin patch from 4.09mb is a default skin patch, so as Skycat said, all these are complementary and do not overlap with each other.

One thing to be careful of. Set all video / sound options in game first before editing the CONF.INI manually, to change screen resolution say. If you do not, the game will reset values to values it knows about thus undoing your changes if you go back into that section of the GUI.

If using Stab, that is why I recommend after installing game patches:

1. Install patch.

2. Run game IL2SETUP.EXE

3. Change settings in game (like high detail, excellent detail etc etc).

4. Then run Stab and go into Options and select OK to reset CONF.INI (screen resolutions etc)

Just a quick DGEN question...
I have IL2-1946 patched to 4.08. If I add Enjoyr's DGEN update to it, then will I have many more campaigns AND single missions to fly? Or does that just improve the campaign part of the game with alot of new campaign options to fly? I am a little confused on what you get with the updated DGEN download. I am trying to get some more single missions to fly as that is what I am using to get practice time in with the different aircraft.

Thanks, Tracy

The Enjoyr patches are exclusively to add more (many more!) DGen dynamic campaign options. And by that I mean you'll see new theaters and time periods that are not included with the stock install of 1946. You'll see dozens of new career options added to your game and that really becomes hundreds of new campaign possibilities.

However, the Enjoyr patches do not add single missions.

Try browsing Netwings, Mission4Today and CombatACE for single mission downloads.

Generally speaking, if you have 4.08m installed you can play almost any single mission ever made. The obvious exceptions to this are missions created for the new maps in the 4.09m beta; new maps added by community mods; and sometimes the oldest missions that were written for the first version of IL-2 Sturmovik, curca 2002.

Thanks Skycat...one last question
I have an older 24 inch monitor I bought used back when 24" monitors retailed for $500 to $600 new. I have enjoyed the hell out of it, but now after 12 years it is showing its age.
The IL2-1946 sim runs kind of dark on it. Is there anywhere in the Config ini where you can boost the brightness ?? There isn't anything in the game options unfortunately. Unfortunately I am probably the ONLY person with this problem but I am hoping there is somewhere where you can increase the brightness level.

Thanks again,
Tracy

I don't think there is such an option available through the game. I think the closest you can come to controling the gamma and contrast via the game is to play with the objects and landscape lighting under the Video Options in the Hardware Setup area.

There may be a utility you can download for your brand of graphics card though. For example, Riva Tuner will allow you to adjust brightness output if you have a Nvidia card.

Skycat, question, I have 4.08, Ostfront, and BOE...So in looking at M4T, I found the B patch, but can't seem to locate the A patch, except for the one for No add ons? Do I need the A patch, if using add-ons? Thanks

Cloud

Oops, after checking the archives, found PatchA was already on the B download. Thanks.

Does the Steam version of 1946 auto-update? Can you mod the Steam version?

+1. Several people I know looking at grabbing it, and I don't know what to tell them. Well, I told them get the DVD if they can find it, but I'm a crotchety old disc hoarder.

so is the beta the last patch? i didnt install i t then waiting for the final version...

Bummer, the uberdemon site seems to be down (for quite a while already now) . So its virtually impossible to get a hold of the UQMG + update (even M4T link their download to the original files on Uberdemon's site).

SkyCat, would it be possible for you (or anyone else) to temporarily upload the needed files ('UQMG 5.0.32 Full Release for FB+AEP+PF' and 'Upgrade 0016, version 5.0.44') somewhere? Like RapidShare or something like that, whatever suits you best.

Cheers!