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[Plowshare]

Currently we have the ability to change the prop pitch using the keyboard in increments of 10% and 5%.

Could someone please make a mod to change the pitch in 1% increments using the "Increase Prop. Pitch" and "Decrease Prop. Pitch" commands on the command board. Or, make whole new commands so we could change the pitch in 10%, 5%, and 1% increments.

I'm using a Saitek throttle quadrant for prop pitch but not everyone has this and, quite frankly, mine sometimes isn't sensitive enough to change in 1% increments.

Bob

[MrMoonlight]

Hi Bob,

I suppose your request is as valid as anyone's, but in reality (and in our sim, we strive for realism, don't we?) no pilot cares about what the prop pitch is in percent. It's a meaningless figure. What you care about is the RPM of the engine. The majority of your pilot handbooks will usually express recommended power settings for certain flight regimes like "Economical cruise: 23 in. @ 2200 RPM" or something like that. There is no instrument in your cockpit that indicates % pitch...you only have an RPM gauge.

Even as a sim pilot, you should be more concerned with engine RPM than % pitch. In reality, too high a manifold pressure combined with too low RPMs can lead to detonation or even blow off a cylinder head or two (although this isn't currently modeled in IL-2, where you can run full throttle with your prop full coarse and no engine damage will occur).

Not saying your request is unreasonable...it just seems perhaps a bit impractical if you look at it from a piloting standpoint. If your RPM gauge reads 2300 with your "prop pitch" at 72%, then I don't think you'll see any visible change on the gauge by nudging it to 73%. It may be that the RPM bumps from 2305 to 2335, but even the best pilots whose ears are really attuned to the engines of their planes would have trouble distinguishing between the two settings.

Perhaps a mod that would display the actual engine RPM instead of the "Prop Pitch %" would make more sense. But my suggestion to you would be to get used to flying based on engine RPM and not worry to much about percentage of pitch.

Just my opinion as someone with actual piloting experience.

-Moonlight

[Sillius_Sodus]

While nice to have smaller increments, I try not to overthink the prop pitch; 100% for T/O, 90% for climb/most combat, 70%-80% for cruise with max throttle % not exceeding the pp %.

Good hunting.

[sniperton]

While nice to have smaller increments, I try not to overthink the prop pitch; 100% for T/O, 90% for climb/most combat, 70%-80% for cruise with max throttle % not exceeding the pp %.

Same here. And as far as I can remember from old flight manuals, the recommended prop pitch settings for various flight regimes were always given as discrete and fixed values (like 11.30 when the plane had a dial gauge to display it). One set the pitch and then played with the throttle to have the needed manifold pressure.

[MrMoonlight]

Same here. And as far as I can remember from old flight manuals, the recommended prop pitch settings for various flight regimes were always given as discrete and fixed values (like 11.30 when the plane had a dial gauge to display it).

There is a difference between a "variable pitch" propeller and a "constant speed" propeller (I'm not going to go into detail about it here...you can look it up if you don't know what it is). You're talking variable pitch. However, the vast majority of WWII aircraft were fitted with a constant speed prop, either with "auto RPM" (Bf-109, Spit, P-63) or "manual" (P-38, P-51, F6F), so I stand by my statement.

One set the pitch and then played with the throttle to have the needed manifold pressure.

Yeah, kinda like the tail wagging the dog. Which is why the constant speed propeller has been pretty much the de facto standard for complex pistons since WWII.

- Moonlight

[sniperton]

It was my experience with Il-2 aircraft. Anyway, the point is the same: there's no need there for fine tuning prop pitch.

[agracier]

Even as a sim pilot, you should be more concerned with engine RPM than % pitch. In reality, too high a manifold pressure combined with too low RPMs can lead to detonation or even blow off a cylinder head or two (although this isn't currently modeled in IL-2, where you can run full throttle with your prop full coarse and no engine damage will occur).

How does one gauge the rpm in Il-2? I really cannot seem to find any way to do so.

[greybeard]

How does one gauge the rpm in Il-2? I really cannot seem to find any way to do so.

Not sure to have understood, but should be the tachometer the RPM gauge you need.

This said, I 100% agree with MrMoonlight: the right HUD wording should be "RPM set" (or alike)! Right now, I'm thinking I could probably update a mod of mine (WEP abbreviation) to do so: that's enough replacing in "hud_log_ru.properties" two lines as follows:

PropAutoPitch            RPM setProp. Pitch: Auto
PropPitch                RPM setProp. Pitch: {0}%

meaning that percentage is the percent of the RPM of maximum power output for that engine.

I also agree with Sillius_Sodus; here follows a table showing some examples of WWII engines with their RPM's (real and in-game, plus some statistic):



The big misunderstanding in IL-2 is between "variable pitch" and "constant RPM", favoured by HUD misleading message. First one is not modeled in game (with notable exception of automatic props when they are switched to manual, by hitting Shift+0: only in this instance they become "variable pitch").

HTH

Cheers,
GB