Developer Diary Monday seems to be the order of things for the 1CGS team right at the moment and we’ve got a good one that came in today. We have new screenshots and news about the DFW, new 4K Yak-1B skins, and talk about clouds and the next patch. There’s even a P-51B reference in there so you’re going to want to learn about this.

DFW C.V time in the light also new clouds coming soon

3,250 DFW C.V reconnaissance aircraft were produced between 1916 and 1918 making this one of the more prolific recon aircraft flying for the Germans in World War I. The type was multi-purpose with the ability to carry a small number of bombs and with agility that was considered good enough to be able to get away from some of the Entente types that it faced.

These new screenshots (plus several more on the developer diary) give us a taste of what is confirmed to be part of the 4.701 update which is planned for December.

Also on display in these screenshots? IL-2’s new cloud technology which Jason Williams, the Executive Producer for the series, reports is coming in December. He mentions that this is an initial release which suggests that there is likely to be further enhancements at some point down the road.

New Yak-1B 4K screenshots

It’s taken a few years but we’re finally at the end of the road as Martin “ICDP” Catney, Francisco (BlackHellhound1) and Marcus (Raptorattacker) have together contributed a massive number of 4K skins to the series. Community involvement like this has had a direct and highly visual impact on the visual quality of the sim and finishing off the Yak-1B with its own 4K skin set is the cherry on top.

P-51B/C news?

The wait has been long on the P-51B/C Mustang. This earlier version of the Mustang is almost an entirely different airplane with its own cockpit, wings, fuselage, and performance characteristics. It’s also coming with two engines, three gunsights, and two canopy styles. So when people ask me why this one is taking a bit of time, I think the ambitious nature of its development is at least part of the reason. The other being that the Malcolm Hood canopy was apparently short on reference materials and difficult to find information on.

So what’s the latest news? Let me quote the latest diary update directly:

The DFW C.V, Yak-1b 4K skins and our initial release of our new clouds will be in the upcoming 4.701 update later in December. Which we pray to all mighty Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Yahweh, Zeus, Lucifer, Cthulhu, Thanos, General Zod or whatever powerful deity controls its fate, please give us the strength to finish the P-51B so we can include it in update 4.701!

Jason Williams

I will suggest that they add Zeus, Hercules, Optimus Prime and the Flying Spaghetti monster to the list of deities that we may attempt to call upon to get the P-51B into Battle of Normandy in time for Christmas. And… if its not, we will wait for another day. That’s how these things work.

No matter what, the 4.701 update looks set to deliver some interesting new content to IL-2 and this mid-December update will be a welcome one. Read all about it and feast on some more screenshots on the latest developer diary!