Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[CaptSopwith]

I just wanted to leave a quick note of thanks to the SAS group here for making BAT.

I've played around with IL-2 1946 now since it came out back in, what was it, 2006? I've played through some campaigns here and there but generally didn't feel like IL-2 quite grabbed me. My first WWII sim was European Air War and I was (and am) mostly a WWI flier. I play WOFF:UE regularly and I've picked up WOTR - their latest addition to the WWII sim genre. I've had vpmodpack installed for quite some time and I've enjoyed it, but there were still aspects of IL-2 that didn't quite hit the immersion spot for me (we all have our own tastes, so that is by no means a slight against what is a remarkable sim both in its scope and its execution).

I tried to play around with CUP when it launched but, it sounds like I fell into the camp that couldn't quite make it work and I didn't stick with it for long - RL was also insane at the time and my time constraints were significant.

But I came across BAT this summer and decided to try it out.

Man am I glad I did.

BAT utterly transforms IL-2 - particularly the WAW era. All of the sudden, IL-2 just clicks with me. I love the new menu music (I'd be curious to know what these songs are, they are quite evocative), the new sound pack really makes the sim feel grounded in reality. And the visuals? They are on another level. Flak bursts look like they are out of some WWII gun camera footage, the aircraft looks positively photo realistic, the cockpits look more polished than I've seen, and the overall impact of the world around you - people milling about, vehicles driving on airfields, proper BoB era taxi and takeoff procedures in Monty's campaigns, all of it adds up to completely immerse me in the sim. In fact, it's all I've been flying now for a few weeks and I have to force myself to walk away from the computer at the end of the night to actually get some sleep.

I'm also super impressed with the other eras as well. I fired up the Jet Age and jumped into an F-86 Sabre and all of the sudden I felt like I was flying Rowan's classic, MiG Alley for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Scrolling through the campaigns available for BAT is another tantalizing experience. So much great stuff to add to all of the modules. I'm already working on building up The Golden Age (I remember playing a mod for Flight Simulator 2004 by that title I believe and thoroughly enjoyed it). Once I added on the WAW DGen addition, along with the latest version of DCG - IL-2 becomes a genuinely limitless flight simulator. It's remarkable.

I cannot even begin to comprehend the sheer ungodly amount of work this took. The mods, the updates, the ability to work past the game's inherent limitations in Java, and then making sure it all works together without breaking the game, and to make it so dead simple to install and run. I'm floored guys - really I am.

I know it was and remains an insane amount of work, so the least I could do was spare ten minutes to write this up. I'm so thankful for your work on this amazing addition to IL-2. The sim is now fully in my favorite category and it's now a sim I visit regularly and look forward to flying again often.

Thanks again chaps!

Cheers! 

[rollnloop]

You wrote it better than I could, but I'll echo it fully 

[JG51_Ruski]

I'll add my thanks also..Well said Captain

[Alfie Noakes]

+1

I concur entirely...... I would also add that if it were not for modders from sas1946 & the BATMEN...... there would not be ANY Dawn of Flight / WW I action.....

 YE GODS

I think I will have to lie down in a darkened room for a moment 

Cheers

Alfie

[DarkBlueBoy]

Completely agree Captain. Well said. It's a humbling amount of work undertaken by some very talented folk to make BAT what it is and continues to develop into...

[Flying H]

Totally agree to al what is said, and I send a thought to Simon who started this project a while ago!

[spad42]

I join my congratulations with yours Captain. I'm french and if I can read your text, I'can't express my gratitude to SAS like you.

[K5083]

I'll add my praise to the chorus.  The BAT project is both the most ambitious and successful grassroots thing I've seen in a flight sim, and the reason I am back into flight sims lately after several years off.

August

[duffys tavern]

I have to say thanks, as well. I can't begin to imagine the amount of time and just plain hard work that goes into BAT and everything works. "Hats off" for a job well done. Please keep it up.