IL2 Sturmovik - Nausicaa's Hints and Tips Thread
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Thread: IL2 Sturmovik - Nausicaa's Hints and Tips Thread

  1. #1
    Nausicaa
    Guest

    IL2 Sturmovik - Nausicaa's Hints and Tips Thread

    [marquee]:typing: IL2 Sturmovik - Nausicaa's Hints and Tips Thread :typing:[/marquee]

    Hello all,

    due to some unfortunate server crashes we had lost some database and among it was a series of helpful stickies with "Hints and Tip"s about IL2 Sturmovik.
    I thought it would be a good idea to start something like this again. It's not possible to put everything in a single post, there is no space and I wouldn't have time to write it in a single go. So I thought the best would be that I add information about various aspects of the sim everytime I can spare an hour or two. This will be a thread with tips in it as it goes along - of course you are all welcome to ask questions in between

    Ok for the first two subjects I thought we'll look into two basic set-ups for IL2. 1) Many of us have Vista now as operating system, and 2) many have widescreens. Both were not around when IL2 was originally created back in 2000/2001. Luckily IL2 works just fine with both of them and here some hints how to do it:

    IL2 "1946"

    So you have your new IL2 Sturmovik "1946" disk. For those not in the know, you should only get the 1946 edition, not "IL2 Forgotten Battles", not "Pacific Fighters", not the "IL2 Complete Edition", just "1946". Don't buy anything else. "1946" is the only true complete edition out there. It was released after the misleading "IL2 Complete Edition" and has more content than the latter. "1946" regroups the original IL2, the Ace Expansion Pack, Pacific Fighters, the addons "Pe2", "IL2's over Mandschuria" (never released in the west before) and many more. It also contains all official game patches until version 4.07. Furthermore this is the version you need if you want to play against others. IL2 1946 comes on a DVD. The price should be fairly cheap by now in most countries.

    Installing IL2 1946 under Vista

    As the release of 1946 was prior to Vista, there have been problems reported to install it. Don't worry, it works just fine and this is how:

    Insert the IL2 DVD. When the pop up window comes up do not choose "autorun" or "autoinstall". Several people (me included) have had the problem of a spinning disk without anything happening. Instead, choose "explore disk content" and go to the IL2 Sturmovik root folder. There, find the "a.exe" and double-clic. IL2 should now install just fine.

    Running IL2 on widescreens

    IL2 comes with a native 4:3 aspect ratio, as widescreens didn't exist when it was first released. There is however a workaround to fix this which enables the widescreen view without distortion. You'll get a proper image, however, infos like target markers, radiochatter, or in flight map cannot be pushed out of a invisible 4:3 aspect ratio "barrier". Cockpit and "game world" will however be proper 16:10 aspect ratio. If you enable widescreen the IL2 splashscreen and menu will have black parts left and right. This is normal, so don't worry if you see it. It actually means you have successfully enabled widescreen. Once in game the black bars will dissappear. This is how to enable widescreen - it requires a little hand editing of in-game files, but it's really easy:

    > Go to your IL2 Shturmovik 1946 root folder.
    (easiest way is rightclicking on your game icon and choose Open File Location)
    > Find the conf.ini file
    (Vista does not always display the type of a file, so it could be called "conf".)
    > Double click the "conf" or "conf.ini" file to open it
    (it should open in notepad, if not assign notepad to it. Right click on the file, choose "open with" and select "notepad")
    > Edit the first section of the conf.ini file, called [window]
    And this should look like this, or similar:

    [window]
    width=1024
    height=768
    ColourBits=32
    DepthBits=24
    StencilBits=8
    ChangeScreenRes=1
    FullScreen=1
    DrawIfNotFocused=0
    EnableResize=0
    EnableClose=1
    SaveAspect=1
    Use3Renders=0

    Here is short explanation about what it does, from Dieg777:

    [window]
    this describes how windows displays the game on screen

    width=1024
    resolution width in pixels set in display properties settings tab in windows

    height=768
    resolution height in pixels set in display properties settings tab in windows

    LCD native resolution not included as an option in FB/AEP/PF Enter your screen values here and Save and start your game.... (if you later open the IL-2 Setup and close it by clicking OK it will change the resolution to 640x480 16bit, unless you change it to something else via this IL-2 Setup.) You will need the following values as well

    change SaveAspect=0
    ChangeScreenRes=1
    EnableResize=0

    ColourBits=32
    resolution colour set in display properties settings tab in windows. Can be 16 or 32

    DepthBits=24
    Z buffer usage can be 16 or 24

    StencilBits=0
    Set in driver section of Il2FB hardware setup. Can be 0 or 8

    All the above deal with image quality. The higher the numbers for width and height then the more pixels will be used in the same area therefore the image will be more detailed. The larger the number of bits then the more detail there is per pixel so better image quality

    ChangeScreenRes=1
    allows the screen resolution to be changed in game. Can be 0 or 1

    FullScreen=1
    forces display to be full screen and not in a window. Can be 0 or 1

    DrawIfNotFocused=0
    setting to 1 allows watching the IL2 window in the background, while Alt-Tabbing out of the game. Quite useful for playing co-ops - if you crash and wait for the next mission to start, you can put IL-2 in the background and keep an eye on the mission progress, but at the same time start ranting about "my fav plane is porked" on the forums.

    EnableResize=0
    Enables user to change window size. can be 0 or 1
    must be 0 to allow lcds to fill screen

    EnableClose=1

    SaveAspect=1
    Forces 4:3 picture aspect. Can be 0 or 1

    Use3Renders=0
    Allows use of up to 3 screens. Can be 0 or 1


    Allright, in order to set IL2 to display widescreen, we first have to know the native screen resolution of our screen. By the way, it's generally not recommended to run your LCD widescreen on anything else than it's native resolution. That results in loss of sharpness, bad colors, and a generally "smeary" look!
    :help:

    Ok lets say we know our native resolution and it's 1440x900. We will just type this values in the [window] section of our conf.ini file. We'll also force the game to display other than a 4:3 aspect ratio. For this we set SaveAspect to "0" and EnableResize to "0":

    [window]
    width=1440
    height=900
    ColourBits=32
    DepthBits=24
    StencilBits=8
    ChangeScreenRes=1
    FullScreen=1
    DrawIfNotFocused=0
    EnableResize=0
    EnableClose=1
    SaveAspect=0
    Use3Renders=0

    Done ! :kiss:

    Next step is:

    > Save the edited conf.ini file by selecting "save". Do not select "save as" !
    (it might be that at this moment your UAC pops up in Vista (User Account Control) To prevent this from happening, turn the UAC off prior to any changements in IL2, or run your computer as true Administrator.)

    > Start the game and fly around in beautiful widescreen
    !

    So far for the first tips, hoped you enjoyed it. More to come up soon.

    Happy editing !
    :typing:

  2. #2
    redriver6
    Guest
    i have also recently found out by experience that you can either disable UAC or put the Ubisoft/IL2 folder outside of 'Programs' and it will work.

  3. #3
    Nausicaa
    Guest
    Hello Redriver,

    thanks for making the thread sticky !

    indeed, there are several ways to get around the UAC. You can either disable it or copy the file you want to edit out of the game folder to, lets say, your desktop. You can then edit and save it. Throw it back into you game folder and select overwrite. The UAC will not react when doing this.

    (BTW instead of overwriting a file it's always safer to keep a copy somewhere so you have some back up. Just telling this here to anyone not so used to edit game program files)

    To temporarily disable the UAC, do this:

    > click the main vista start button on the lower left

    > go to Control Panel
    (Control Panel opens in a pop up window)
    > click on "Security"
    > click on "Security Center"
    (a new pop up window appears)
    > Expand "Other security settings" by clicking on the arrow on the right
    > Turn off User Account Control
    (Vista will issue a warning, ignore and proceed)

    A yet another way is to be true Administrator of your computer. It's more ment for people that want the UAC permantly to "shut up." :caked:
    This is a bit more complicated. Do not proceed if you don't feel safe doing it !

    Enabling True Administrator in Vista (thanks to Greg Shultz for the help with this)

    > click the main vista start button on the lower left
    > right-click on the "computer" tab in the menu
    (a drop list appears)
    > select "Manage"
    (the UAC will warn you, ignore and proceed)
    > in the new pop up window, expand "Local Users and Groups" on the left
    > click the "Users" folder
    > click the "Administrator" account
    > click "More Actions" under "Administrator" in the actions panel and select "Properties" from the context menu
    > When you see the Administrator Properties dialog box, clear the Account Is Disabled check box and click OK.
    (Now that the Administrator Account is activated, you can also work with the account in the User Accounts tool in the Control Panel.)
    > set a password
    (The Administrator account has a blank password by default, so the first thing you should do is set one)
    > With the Administrator account selected, click "More Actions" under "Administrator" in the actions panel and select the "Set Password" command.
    (A warning pops up. Proceed if you feel safe about what you are doing)
    > fill in the Set Password dialog box and click OK.
    >Logg out and logg in again and you will see the new Administrator icon
    (To log on as Administrator, click the icon and enter the password.)

    Congratulations, you are now the true Administrator of your computer. Use only with caution !

  4. #4
    Nausicaa
    Guest
    Allright peeps, sorry for the long delay on the next post. It got rather busy in my life but anyway.

    Ok, the first two posts had the subject "installing IL2 1946" and "editing it to widescreen".
    Now, presuming we follow a kind of chronological order for a newbie to IL2, lets look at the "patches."

    But first a reminder: Get IL "1946", not any other version of the game ! (see upper posts)

    Some explanation about the word "patch" first. Mhh, has Wiki something to say about that? Lets see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patch_(computing)

    A patch is a small piece of software designed to fix problems with or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing bugs, replacing graphics and improving the usability or performance. Though meant to fix problems, poorly designed patches can sometimes introduce new problems (see software regressions).
    Allright and here we have a problem: The word "patch", though commonly used to describe the various updates 1C Maddox Games has brought to the public over the years of IL2's existence is actually quite wrong. Oleg's patches, although they fixed some bugs and changed some behavior of the game mechanics contained always a lot more than this. In fact, every single one brought new items to the game, like planes (obviously, this is a flight sim!), vehicles, ships, ground objects, maps, skins (tons of them) missions, and various other features that can change the simmer's experience very much. IL2's patches have transformed the game radically over the years. (And every single one has been given for free to the fan base, often involving months of painful and time consuming developpment by Oleg and his team--we should have a thought for that !) So what about the word "patch" then? It's rather misleading and we should better talk about free official add-ons.

    So you have IL2 1946 installed. Its time to patch the game. When launching the first time 1946, you will see in the lower left corner of the splashscreen "vers. 4.07". Since the release of the game "1946", two new patches have been released, 4.08 and 4.09.

    Links for download:

    Patch 4.08 :http://www.ubi.com/US/Downloads/Info.aspx?dlId=2176
    Patch 4.09 :http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=10276


    Please note: Patches have to be installed in the above order !

  5. #5
    Nausicaa
    Guest
    Ok here is a question someone on the forum recently asked, so I thought I add it to the sticky thread:

    How to add music to the game, like music to hear while flying?

    It's really easy and here is how:

    Go to the Samples folder in your main IL2 directory. In there you'll find 5 other folders: Crash, InFlight, Intro, Menu and Takeoff.

    Crash: plays music when crashing airplane (after being shot down f ex)
    InFlight: Plays music while flying
    Intro: Music for splashscreen
    Menu: Music for main menu in game
    Takeoff: Plays music when on runway before take off.

    Just take music (*wav file) and throw them into the folder you wish. In game, in the Sounds and Music menu, enable to play sounds InFlight on Takeoff and during Crash. (you'll find some buttons there )That's it!

    The Menu, Intro and Takeoff folder contain already some default game music. You'll see there a lot of files, like ".de", "ru" etc. Those are the default music by nation, f.ex: "de"= Deutschland, "ru" = Russia etc etc. You can change those too ! Just take the music you like, rename the music of the nation you fly most (since this is the music you will hear most) to some back up, like "ru" to "ru.bak" (bak stands for backup, but you can rename it to whatever you like) , then rename the music you want to play to the official name "ru". That's it, you just replaced the default game music with your own choice!

    Btw: Putting radio chatter *wav files into the InFlight folder will make you hear radiochatter during flight ! This is a very nice option. You can find some radiochatter files to download here on SOH or on other sites, like www.mission4today.com

    Enjoy !

  6. #6

    Unhappy the IL2 1946 AAA Mod 254 MB

    I tired installing this mod, the instructions said to replace the IL-2 1946 exc with the new one which I did, when I strated the game there was a flash of the new mod screen and then it crashed, I cannot figure this out, I tired to E-mail the author (jlg79@msn.com and it came back undeliverable...any suggestions that I am doing wrong?


    Thank You

    Casey

  7. #7
    redriver6
    Guest
    was it over a fresh instal of 1946? and what version was it patched too?

    there are a couple of different versions of the AAA mod....probabaly the best thing to do is ask someone at AAA..

  8. #8
    Chr1st0pher
    Guest

    PATCHES

    Hi

    Glad to know that IL-2 is still popular, I love it. I have bought the 1946 version and given away my old stand alone versions. I have found that the 1946 version doesn't seem to run the same as the original. Auto pilot doesn't always work right and some missions seem to start and finish inthe middle of nowhere,but, I still think it's great.

    However! I am a novice when it comes to patching, when you say "unzip", I did it years ago, but when you say direct it at the "root folder", I am not sure how to do that?

    I have a i7 920 cpu, 6gb ram 750gb hdd and an Nvidia GTX 275 and I run WIndows 7 64 bit so I am sure the system wont be a problem.

    Could you supply a blow by blow account of "Patching" the sim? I am sure there must be other oldies like me, (62 yrs young) who would love to get the best from the game but simply don't have the hands on experience of how to go about it.

    Hope you can help

    Chris

  9. #9
    redriver6
    Guest
    Chris the root folder for IL2 1946 is where the game installs on your hd...it should look something like this:

    C:/Programs/Ubisoft/1946

    if i remember correctly the patches will automatically install to that location unless you have installed them in a different place on your hard drive...

  10. #10
    I have a 3rd HD (G available to install 1946. Any reason not to use it for 1946? Or do you have a better suggestion as to where to install it? Note, I'm on Vista64.
    "If it ain't broke, fix it until it is"

  11. #11
    redriver6
    Guest
    i don't know of any reason why that wouldn't work...i had it installed on a external hd once...and it worked....don't know about Vista64..i'm using Vista32 but it works fine.

    in fact i have three different installs of 1946..

  12. #12
    Well, IL-2 1946 installed but it won't run on my Vista64 rig. Initially I would get a small spinning disc with arrow for a few seconds on the desktop after clicking on the Desktop Icon but it would disappear after a few seconds and nothing else. Disc in tray or not, no difference. The app .exe in the folder won't start it either.

    Oh well. I uninstalled it. I can't seem to find any related folders on C but I notice a x86 folder titled SecuROM that appears to have been installed at the same time as 1946. I can't seem to send it to the recycle bin. Registry shows a cryptic message about not deleting the associated keys.

    Anyone know what this is and how to remove it? Or am I stuck with it until I reformat? I did a search on the net and it appears to be a copy protection program. Aside from FSX and Word 2003 and a DVD collection data base program plus the OS I can't imagine it being there as a result of anything but this attempted IL-2 install.
    "If it ain't broke, fix it until it is"

  13. #13
    Oldwigg
    Guest

    IL 2 Folders

    Quote Originally Posted by redriver6 View Post
    i have also recently found out by experience that you can either disable UAC or put the Ubisoft/IL2 folder outside of 'Programs' and it will work.
    I have found out that a simple "copy" of any folder of IL 2 or PF will run. Thus you can make as many setup changes you would like and have them all working. However the cd/dvd should be in the drive.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by FLighT01 View Post
    Well, IL-2 1946 installed but it won't run on my Vista64 rig. Initially I would get a small spinning disc with arrow for a few seconds on the desktop after clicking on the Desktop Icon but it would disappear after a few seconds and nothing else. Disc in tray or not, no difference. The app .exe in the folder won't start it either.

    Oh well. I uninstalled it. I can't seem to find any related folders on C but I notice a x86 folder titled SecuROM that appears to have been installed at the same time as 1946. I can't seem to send it to the recycle bin. Registry shows a cryptic message about not deleting the associated keys.

    Anyone know what this is and how to remove it? Or am I stuck with it until I reformat? I did a search on the net and it appears to be a copy protection program. Aside from FSX and Word 2003 and a DVD collection data base program plus the OS I can't imagine it being there as a result of anything but this attempted IL-2 install.
    FlighT01, I had the same problem and was able to resolve it with 2 small steps, 1 I set the programexe file to run in Compatibility Mode as Windows XP SP2, and I discovered a dll issue, which I corrected by replacing the installed one with a dll from the Ultra pack 2.01. I can send you the dll if you want to reinstall and a quick cheat sheet on the compatibility mode if you need it, just drop me a PM.

    As for the rogue folder, it is the copy protection for IL2 and there are a couple of ways to remove it, you should be able to just delete the folder and files if you boot your system into safe mode and use My Computer to navigate to the Program Files (X86) folder while in safe mode - that is the easy way and what I did.

    If you want to try IL2 again I highly recommend installing it in a folder outside of Program Files or Program Files (X86) so it is not caught by UAC, it makes life so much easier - I installed it into C:\games\IL2 and it works great.
    Regards,
    Mike "Ears Hopin" P.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    Freedom , everyone enjoys it, very few defend it. - If You Won't Stand Behind Our Troops then feel free to stand in front!

    _________________________________________________
    "Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right!"

  15. #15
    I have tried the adjustments given to the conf.ini file, but I cannot get my IL-2 1946 to go to full screen. Is there some othe method I could use? Thanks.
    Do not fear the enemy, for they can take only your life. Fear the media far more, for they will destroy your honour.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by stoney View Post
    I have tried the adjustments given to the conf.ini file, but I cannot get my IL-2 1946 to go to full screen. Is there some othe method I could use? Thanks.
    What size is your screen? Please post a copy of the changes you made to the config.

    Joe

  17. #17

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