Fun Time

Airhawk14 · Post by **Airhawk14** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 8:15 pm

The sunday coops last sunday were fun. Im hoping to comeback and fly next friday and sunday this time. The first mission I was killed. The second I just got lost. How do you guys navigate around like that? I guess i've always relied on a map with icons on it. Also does anyone have a link they could send me to that site that has a picture of all the plane cockpits and labeling their instuments?

-Thanks
See you guys next friday or/and sunday

AltarBoy · Post by **AltarBoy** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:09 pm

Well, you could follow those dainty-looking lights from other airplanes.

:FI:Sneaky_Russian · Post by **:FI:Sneaky_Russian** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:18 pm

Glad you could make it. It took me a while to get used to full real online ( think I maight have flown off the map on some of my first missions.

Cockpit references

:FI:Skippers Nav Guide

http://uk.geocities.com/fisneaky/ + other stuff here, tracks etc.

And dont forget this little goldmine:-

Helos Goat Skies Site

:FI:Noter · Post by **:FI:Noter** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 9:34 pm

Man...I still get lost as hell. The key is to follow someone who knows where they are going. The second key is to pray that that person who says they know where they are going, really knows where he is going (see Helo and McBiggles

). Keeping in formation with the group is the big one. Once you're up focus on staying with the group, the rest will fall into place.

Flushing, MI, GM country, you're Eastern time zone. You should really try and hook up with us on Friday nights at 9. Being the young whipper snapper you are that may cut into your social life, but if you can make it I'm pretty sure you'd have a good time. I grew up in Detroit suburbs Ford country.

AltarBoy · Post by **AltarBoy** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 10:47 pm

I usually just follow the wing leader. Most chaps turn on their Nav lights so that'll help. Using the target's bearing is also helpful. Opening your canopy and yelling HELP! sometimes work.

But Sneaks good links. Was just to lazy to look for them.

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 11:00 pm

.... to ask Ground Control too! Always useful in fine-tuning your estimated bearing!

AltarBoy · Post by **AltarBoy** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 11:08 pm

Right on, Badger!

Airhawk14 · Post by **Airhawk14** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:01 am

Thanks for the help. My original plan was to follow someone but a plane broke down on takeoff and it took me a while to get around. I also have one more question:

My IL2 works great except sometimes when flying it will go really slow and mess me up. I know this will happen online, but it is happening offline to. I was coming behind a plane to fire(offline), and it went slow, screwed my shot, and I lost him. Any suggestions on how to make it move better? Witch is better for speed: DirectX or Openg. What screen resolution should I have?

AltarBoy · Post by **AltarBoy** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:43 am

OpenGL m8. Direct X has lousy shadows. I play at 1280x960x32 resolution all depends on your graphics card and the size of your monitor screen. Not too sure what you mean by slow. Perhaps your settings are much too high for your system. Try lowering them until you get a right balance of quality and speed. If you can give us some specs that may help. I suggest if you have time practice offline a lot until you get the hang of things. If not I'm sure the m8s here can help you. Heaven knows they know more than I do.

:FI:Sneaky_Russian · Post by **:FI:Sneaky_Russian** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:23 am

Close proximity to aircraft, ground objects etc puts a bigger load on the graphics engine so if your rig is borderline performance wise it will notice more. Having at least a Gig of ram will help this (expect it if you have less).

As AB says fine tune your settings for performance. What graphics card are you using (i seem to remember something or other on-board), also if the CPU is less than 2Ghz you'll probably have a few "slide show" moments.

Thw other thing to bear in mind is to shut down all unnecessary programs (MSN etc.)

:FI:Nellip · Post by **:FI:Nellip** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 12:41 pm

Airhawk14 wrote:. How do you guys navigate around like that? I guess i've always relied on a map with icons on it. Also does anyone have a link they could send me to that site that has a picture of all the plane cockpits and labeling their instuments?

-Thanks
See you guys next friday or/and sunday

Navigation is a bit tricky with no map icons

The way I do it is to look for map features on the way to the target (if its a land map anyway

) and try and fly from one to the next all the way there and then all the way back. Features might be towns, railway lines or roads, the shape of forests, bends in rivers etc. Once you get the hang of this it is pretty straight forward. Also make a note of the vector to and from the target or patrol area in the brief and then the route back to base.

It also is a good idea to try and stay in formation - some of us old hands might know how to navigate and even if we get lost more pairs of eyes to spot features helps

Hope this helps.

Nellip

:FI:Blue2 · Post by **:FI:Blue2** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:40 pm

Yeah, I'm pretty sure we all spend some time lost online, Airhawk. I sure do. I blame it on the simulated terrain - just looks "all the same" everywhere to me (makes a good excuse anyway!). It's usually much easier to recognize landmarks from the air in real life. Also, even if you knew where you were 3 minutes ago, it doesn't take much distraction before you can lose your bearings. So, take all the good advice above, especially what AB said about offline practice. Sure you can follow other guys, but sooner or later you'll have to find your way someplace all alone, & that day the practice REALLY pays off! Also study the stuff in the links, and just realize it'll take you a while to get the hang of it.

By the way, I think using landmarks to find your way is called "pilotage." Usually that's mentioned in the same sentence with another term, "dead reckoning," which means using math (time, distance, and speed equations) together with your direction (heading) to figure out how long it should take to get from one landmark to another along your route. (That's right isn't it, Falcon? Or anybody else?)
Hope to see you on a Friday sometime soon.

Blue2

:FI:Sneaky_Russian · Post by **:FI:Sneaky_Russian** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:30 pm

"dead reckoning,"

's right, from an old nautical term "deduced reckoning".

You might find it handy to print this and sticky it to the side of your monitor:-

I find a clear 360 deg protractor handy on screen with the briefing screen maps too!

Il2 maps are divided (mostly) into 10Km squares (correct me if I'm wrong someone), so you can work out speeds (in kph) and timings from there.

Differences in TAS and IAS should be taken into account (but thats a whole subject in itself) there is a table on the FB and the'46 disc in the "Manuals" folder. Having mis-placed my slide rule and dividers a quick guestimate will do for the purposes of IL2

Airhawk14 · Post by **Airhawk14** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:09 pm

Thanks for the help. Also with opengl my game runs a lot better.

Fun Time

Fun Time

And don't forget....

Re: Fun Time