Hell Hawks over the Bulge

[kalerider1]

Surprised there is no link to this excellent campaign in the new forums.

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/64521-official-historical-campaign-hell-hawks-over-the-bulge/

The voice overs alone make it well worth playing. Wish there were more campaigns with custom voice overs, as it adds an extra level of immersion, though I appreciate it's going to be a lot of work.

I did have a couple of issues in the few middle missions where we returned to the same area - where the flight lead kept flying into the ground. Though I could still complete the mission by rtb.

Edited April 29 by kalerider1

[Kubert]

The author of this campaign is no longer active. His campaign Havoc over Kuban could use update too. I wrote to him on the old forum year ago, but he has no intention to come back and update anything. Bugs in campaign Havoc over Kuban are mostly caused by mountainous terrain. I hoped at least his Hell Hawks campaign survived test of time. Sad to hear there are issues as well, since I didn't play it yet, but it is on my list for this year. 

Edited April 29 by Kubert

[kalerider1]

In which case the right thing to do would be to stop selling it as paid content. That's disappointing to hear about Havoc over Kuban as I've already bought it but not played it yet.

[Kubert]

Yes. Campaigns should be fixed or removed from the store when they break. 

[AndreiTomescu]

1 hour ago, Kubert said:

Hell Hawks campaign survived test of time.

Now it does ! 🤗 Good thing to be posted here. thx, @kalerider1! Completed this Hell Hawks about 1 yr ago, no game braking bugs, and it was very good. Made me feel like a little cog inside a big war. Very good.

1 hour ago, kalerider1 said:

The voice overs alone make it well worth playing. Wish there were more campaigns with custom voice overs, as it adds an extra level of immersion, though I appreciate it's going to be a lot of work.

Try the Ruspoli at the Gates of Odessa (free, but O&L module plus Macchi collector needed) by @Vendigo. especially now, since it's a HUGE sale on store. And YES, custom voices are A LOT of work. really are.....😇

Also the free Niemen Normandy campaign (Les Chevaliers de Normandy) has some good custom voices, also some of @Jaegermeister's extraordinary works, like Gestapo Hunters and the Hornet's Nest have (both also on sale, i think)

Oh, and also Hurtgen Forest and Lighting Strikes campaigns also have some custom voices.

[kalerider1]

Thanks for the suggestions @AndreiTomescu. Will be sure to check them out.

[kalerider1]

If any campaign makers out there ever need voice overs with a British accent drop me a line. Happy to be a volunteer voice "actor" 

[Jaegermeister]

On 4/29/2026 at 5:24 AM, kalerider1 said:

Surprised there is no link to this excellent campaign in the new forums.

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/64521-official-historical-campaign-hell-hawks-over-the-bulge/

The voice overs alone make it well worth playing. Wish there were more campaigns with custom voice overs, as it adds an extra level of immersion, though I appreciate it's going to be a lot of work.

I did have a couple of issues in the few middle missions where we returned to the same area - where the flight lead kept flying into the ground. Though I could still complete the mission by rtb.

As @AndreiTomescu mentioned, Gestapo Hunters, Hornet’s Nest and Battle of the Hurtgen Forest all make fairly extensive use of custom audio files, although they do not require completely turning off the in game radio transmissions, and do not replace wingman transmissions.

You are right, it is a lot of work to add recorded voice tracks, and it creates other issues with mission design, which is why it is not done more often. With recent improvements in AI voice generation, it is not nearly as difficult now because it is basically impossible to tell the difference between real and AI voice recordings. Trying to get real humans to record voice tracks that cannot be updated later is a large task just by itself.

@kalerider1, If you can be more specific about the issues you had with the leader flying into the ground in Hell Hawks, I might be able to look at it. I would need to know exactly which missions, and what time and location it occurred. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to replay the whole campaign just to see if that might happen. Even then I may not be able to do much, because changes made to the AI have made them fly lower, but increased the likelihood of hitting terrain at higher map elevations. The altitude limitation for AI applies to altitude above sea level, so if you put the mission flight path over higher altitude areas, it’s possible to make the AI fly below hilltops and other terrain features. That is what was done with Hell Hawks, to provide the effect of low altitude attacks. I’m going to guess your flight leader crashed into a hillside after attacking enemy vehicles in a valley. That could only be fixed by completely rewriting the mission in a different location and I cannot do that. It’s also not in any way historically unrealistic so I’m not even sure it needs to be fixed.

The issues with Havoc over Kuban only apply to the AI formations landing at 1 coastal airfield in the last 3 missions (if I recall correctly). The player can still land the aircraft to complete the mission. This is a bug with the map design, and applies to all aircraft at the airfield. I have previously reported the landing bug in the appropriate thread and format. All other bugs in the Havoc over Kuban campaign have been corrected as far as I know.

I have not started threads on these Scripted Campaigns because I am not the author. I only made some limited technical corrections in the past and did not fundamentally change any mission design components. If I was asked to make further corrections, I would consider it.

[kalerider1]

On 5/2/2026 at 2:53 PM, Jaegermeister said:

As @AndreiTomescu mentioned, Gestapo Hunters, Hornet’s Nest and Battle of the Hurtgen Forest all make fairly extensive use of custom audio files, although they do not require completely turning off the in game radio transmissions, and do not replace wingman transmissions.

You are right, it is a lot of work to add recorded voice tracks, and it creates other issues with mission design, which is why it is not done more often. With recent improvements in AI voice generation, it is not nearly as difficult now because it is basically impossible to tell the difference between real and AI voice recordings. Trying to get real humans to record voice tracks that cannot be updated later is a large task just by itself.

@kalerider1, If you can be more specific about the issues you had with the leader flying into the ground in Hell Hawks, I might be able to look at it. I would need to know exactly which missions, and what time and location it occurred. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to replay the whole campaign just to see if that might happen. Even then I may not be able to do much, because changes made to the AI have made them fly lower, but increased the likelihood of hitting terrain at higher map elevations. The altitude limitation for AI applies to altitude above sea level, so if you put the mission flight path over higher altitude areas, it’s possible to make the AI fly below hilltops and other terrain features. That is what was done with Hell Hawks, to provide the effect of low altitude attacks. I’m going to guess your flight leader crashed into a hillside after attacking enemy vehicles in a valley. That could only be fixed by completely rewriting the mission in a different location and I cannot do that. It’s also not in any way historically unrealistic so I’m not even sure it needs to be fixed.

The issues with Havoc over Kuban only apply to the AI formations landing at 1 coastal airfield in the last 3 missions (if I recall correctly). The player can still land the aircraft to complete the mission. This is a bug with the map design, and applies to all aircraft at the airfield. I have previously reported the landing bug in the appropriate thread and format. All other bugs in the Havoc over Kuban campaign have been corrected as far as I know.

I have not started threads on these Scripted Campaigns because I am not the author. I only made some limited technical corrections in the past and did not fundamentally change any mission design components. If I was asked to make further corrections, I would consider it.

@Jaegermeister thanks for the detailed reply.

It's been a few months since I played the hell hawks campaign, so I can't remember exactly which missions the flight leader crashed in other than it was a valley (like you said) where we returned to at least two or three times to attack vehicle columns. Somewhere in the middle of the campaign. Sorry I can't be more specific. If I get time I might look at playing the campaign again. If so I'll be sure to update here.

I've bought Gestapo Hunters and Hornets Nest, and I look forward to playing them.

If I had more time I'd be very interested to try making campaigns myself. I used to enjoy making fairly complex coop missions in the Arma 2 editor for me and friends to enjoy. So I appreciate all the work you campaign makers do. Keep up the good work.