Pilots Notes for Cockpit Photos

[Charlo]

For each plane in the game, in the "Setup" area's "Pilot Stuff" tab you can enable the "Photo" option. This will then display in the cockpit of that plane a period-appropriate photo of a young woman.

The devs also allow us to replace the stock photos of young women with any other image, provided the image is saved in the correct places for each individual plane, with the correct dimensions, and saved in the .dds (DirectDraw Surface) image format.

The pilots notes for cockpit photos provided here are simply image files saved as .dds files that replace the individual .dds files for each plane that the devs provide - in this case, replacing the photos of a pilot's wife, girlfriend, or relative with data a pilot might type out for him or herself as a reminder for engine and aircraft management.

Here's an example  from the Ju87D3:

  <-- stock photo replaced by -->   

Background:

The original idea for these pilot's notes was first posted by SAS_Storebror at https://www.sas1946.com/main/index.php/topic,62612.0.html and at https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/55201-pilots-notes-for-cockpit-photos/ .

In the old IL2 forum I haven't seen Storebror post anything there since 8/26/2020. In the other forum he posted in December 2020 he would no longer update his mod. Since then, and because I admire and enjoy his original design and approach, I have  simply been replicating the look and feel of Storebror's pilots notes project, using his same approach and phrasing as new aircraft are released. 

I am authoring this thread in this new IL-2 forum with many of Storebror's originals, as well as my own personal pilots notes images I created as new aircraft are released, as errors are discovered in prior versions of these pilot's notes, as changes are made by the devs, and as engine variants are added.

Storebror was creative enough to provide five different font and language versions in his original posts above. But I am language-impaired, only fluent in English, so I have only been updating what he (and I) call the "PNCP Base Version". Thus, if you prefer the other options Storebror posted, you will have to download them from his above posts, and they will not include any aircraft released since about August 2020.  

When is a mod not really a mod?

This collection of Pilot's Notes for Cockpit Photos is not really a "mod", since it is allowed to be used in "Mods off" mode. This means it is a benign alteration to the stock game that you are allowed to use in any multiplayer server, since it is merely a way to display in a super-convenient format the same data provided for each plane in its "Briefing" page.

But in a way it is a "mod" because any time you update the game when a new version is released, these Pilot's Notes for Cockpit Photos get overwritten by their original photos of young women.

Thus, a lot of us use something like JSGME to easily swap out our pilots notes cockpit photos before we update the game, then swap them right back in after updating. You can do a web search for "JSGME" (Jonesoft Generic Mod Enabler) to download this free utility, and in the old IL-2 forum at https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/86222-managing-mods-with-jsgme/ you can read more details about using it.

We can not change the placement of where the pilots notes are displayed in any cockpit (only the devs can do that). Thus, in some cases, such as the Fw 190-A8 and Fw 190-D9, I rearranged the pilots notes to my own tastes so that I can now somewhat more easily read the important data. 

Remember I mentioned I am fluent in only one language? In some of the Russian planes pilot's notes, I include my own visual reference system to help me remember which gauge is RPMs, which is prop. pitch, etc. Ideally, that reference system is intuitive enough that I do not need to explain it here, but you can post in this forum if you'd like me to explain it.

Personalization

If someone wants to create their own pilot's notes that look like the Storebror's, here's a link to my blank version of the Pilot's notes page:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3wmoapkl9cuy0ik3eotnz/custom_photoBLANK.dds?rlkey=345wdfljgdvavz4bas7ms4kc4&dl=0

If you use Photoshop, here's a link to a .psd version of my Ju87D3 pilots notes (also displayed above), in which you can see how I use layers for each line or portion of data:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/9yfn5fei0x754mydyqwmr/custom_photo.psd?rlkey=smcmq5ndd0ksquvfrw3u23ame&dl=0

To open and save .dds files you may need a plugin, as I needed with my copy of Photoshop. I can't remember where I got my .dds Photoshop plug-in, but I think it is freely available via a web search. I happen to be using the Intel Texture Works v 1.0.4 plugin. I have heard that GIMP also has a .dds plugin, so perhaps you can find a similar plug-in with an open source photo editor that can open and save .dds file types. 

I'm just an amateur hobbyist with PhotoShop who flies in VR, so can't easily refer to external data while in a cockpit. Here are my own notes for creating your own personalized pilot's notes for cockpit photos:

- I use Veteran Typewriter as the font, with Strong chosen and usually 41 pt. or 36 pt. (for red I choose cc0000 and 46 pt.) My thanks to @marcobona for the font suggestion!
- Load Transparency as Alpha channel (the mip-maps option can't be chosen, so I leave it unchecked, and they are irrelevant in this usage)
- I edit the files as PhotoShop .psd files, then save them .dds files for use in the game
- When saving, I choose Texture Type: Color + Alpha, Compression BC3 8bpp (Linear), and no Mip Maps
- the .dds file for each plane must be saved as exactly this name: custom_photo.dds

Using the above, you can quickly teach yourself how to create your own versions of pilots notes for any plane. If you share it in this thread and I prefer it to Storebror's or my own, then I can incorporate it into my set of pilot's notes I will maintain in this thread. 

Download the entire "PNCP Base Version - Pilots Notes for Cockpit Photos" at this link: 

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/znmvwlu5tp5w8e3jxhug3/PNCP-Base-Version-Pilots-Notes-for-Cockpit-Photos.7z?rlkey=lo0f25igyv1upym9b50nkjwl5&dl=0

It's a rather large file since there are over 100 aircraft released so far.

I am sharing these via Dropbox as a .zip file, and it is JSGME ready. I used the free, open source 7-Zip application to create the .zip file, and I recommend that for unzipping / extracting it to its "PNCP Base Version - Pilots Notes for Cockpit Photos" folder. 

I then recommend using JSGME to apply this collection of pilot's notes, since as mentioned above, each time a new game update is released, they will all be overwritten by the game's stock cockpit photos. Warning: If you prefer Storebror's Russian fighter pilot's notes, then don't install mine from the above .zip file. You can see what any pilot's notes look like by opening them in a free image editor like GIMP or Paint.NET.

The above link and any links I post later in this form should always point to my latest versions of the Pilot's Notes for Cockpit Photos. Anyone is welcome to use them in any other mod or application as they see fit. 

If you prefer to manually save them into your game, save each airplane's pilot's notes into \IL-2 Sturmovik Great Battles\data\graphics\Planes\<plane>\Textures\ , where <plane> is the name of that plane, e.g. "P38J25", and do not include the <> symbols. If you look in your \IL-2 Sturmovik Great Battles\data\graphics\Planes\ folder you will see all of your aircraft listed there.  

(The above may be different for Steam users, so if someone tells me that difference, I will edit these directions with it.)

References

For the WWII aircraft, all data is simply taken from the plane specifications the devs provide in the game. For the Flying Circus aircraft, the data and ratings are from Appendix D in the old Rise of Flight User Manual at https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/82595-useful-materials-for-rise-of-flight/ . The ratings probably still apply for the Flying Circus planes relative to each other.

I also sometimes include things I learned from @Requiem 's Air Combat Tutorial Library on YouTube. 

At @lefuneste's https://forum.il2-series.com/topic/42-another-pilots-notes-for-cockpit-photos/ you can find an alternate pilots notes that you may prefer, and they display more detailed information. I greatly admire them myself! 

I also highly recommend @marcobona's "Flying Circus Airplane Details App" at https://forum.il2-series.com/topic/200-flying-circus-airplane-details-app/ and his "Great Battles Aircraft Details App" at https://forum.il2-series.com/topic/199-great-battles-aircraft-details-app/ . He may update those with new pilot's notes that I create as new aircraft are released and posted below.

 

Edited January 20 by Charlo

[Charlo]

Placeholder for possible future content 🤓

Edited November 24, 2025 by Charlo

[Charlo]

Details and instructions now added to original post, which also now includes a JSGME version of all of my Pilot's Notes for Cockpit Photos.

[Bulldog]

Thank you and very much appreciated, Charlo.

Bulldog

[Charlo]

After a great weekend of outdoor activities that kept me from my computer, late this Sunday evening I was able to look at our two new birds added in 7.001.

It turns out the Il-2 mod. 1944 uses the exact same engine and pilots notes as I've been using for the IL-2 mod. 1943, and the La-7 series 1 uses the exact same engine and pilots notes as I've been using for the La5 FN series 2, only with differently arranged gauges in my visual reference system.

Here's a link to my pilots notes for the Il-2 mod. 1944:a

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ulm15ckcvfz99kpmekh6r/custom_photo.dds?rlkey=rlefxq9m92mht70vvjdxokfly&dl=0

Download and save into \IL-2 Sturmovik Great Battles\data\graphics\Planes\IL2m44\Textures\

Here's a link to my pilots notes for the La-7 series 1:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/k7nyriygahf4s20onhbi3/custom_photo.dds?rlkey=svecjmps24cq095vo729k5ptm&dl=0

Download and save into \IL-2 Sturmovik Great Battles\data\graphics\Planes\La7s1\Textures\

All data is simply taken from each plane's specifications the devs provide in the game.

The entire "PNCP Base Version - Pilots Notes for Cockpit Photos" link in the OP now also includes these planes. Anyone is welcome to share the above images however they like.