IL2-Korea Appreciation thread

[Jade_Monkey]

I wanted to start a thread to share the little surprises that the game has, with the goal of appreciating the hard work and love from the devs, dedicated to getting the smallest details right.

I have been vocal about some gripes with VR performance but that does not mean I don't like the game. I think it's a big leap from GB and cannot wait to see the career mode and all future releases. 

Having said that, here are some small things I was surprised by:

• I crash landed when strafing an artillery target and ended up sliding close to the soldiers and hitting one of them on the back with the wing. Instead of just doing some generic death animation, or not having collision to save performance, the soldier flew off in the air and was launched like a ragdoll.
• The fuselage damage from being hit on the F84 tail section had protruding piece of aluminum flailing with the wind.
• A wingtip droptank was hit by flak and started leaking and spraying. I jettisoned the droptank and the animation continued to leak as the droptank was falling out of the sky creating sort of a comet ☄️ 
• "Hidden gem" airfield: Kangwon in grid (2532-7). Located atop a hill and surrounded by a cliff, this rural dirt strip is the most charming place in the map so far. Additionally, a dam is located just at the end of the airfield, and you will fly over it on takeoff and landing. On the other side of the strip, the airfield starts rolling down hill, so you need to be very careful to go slow and brake well ahead of time, or you will have to taxi back to the caponiers uphill.  10/10

 

Edited July 16 by Jade_Monkey

[BlitzPig_EL]

The landscape in the mountainous spine of Korea is just stunningly done.  The details everywhere are great.

[Dash,Polder]

Minor grips aside I could spend days in it just delivering weaponry on deserving targets, the dynamics are fantastic.  I lost my mustangs right wing everything outboard of the U in USAF but some how managed to keep control on the climb out, trimmed and coaxed it back to the field and survived what you could call a landing.  You don't run into that kind of fun or challenge so well done and convincing very often, I'm loving it. 

I was shocked to see the crumpling and denting on the scoop and belly on my Mustang after a gear up ditch, looks so real.  Or one time I landed hard and after parking light wispy smoke and some sparks began showering out from behind and under the instrument panel, amazing.  Or that time I took a hit from a tanks Dshk machine gun and it blew the ammo panel clean off my wing.  Or that time I saw this foreign object debris flying up around my nose in an F-84E wondering what the heck was that, it was my nose tire disintegrating.   

They put tons of fun in there, amazing stuff, it's so diverse and deep, its hard to get a repeat.

[BlitzPig_EL]

I've had the sparks from the instrument panel as well.  Amazing detail.

[FuriousMeow]

I blew a tire on landing. I had some damage but nothing indicating landing gear hits and it wasn't a hard touchdown. In fact the tire decided to shred itself halfway down the runway after touchdown, just saw a cloud of dust off to my left and some object fly by then had to hold the plane straight with right brake. Wasn't until I stopped, then tried to taxi and it behaved even stranger I went to external view and saw I was less one tire.

There's lots of neat details that show a lot of effort and love went into this, and considering the time frame with what there is so far its impressive.

[AndreiTomescu]

First of all I appreciate Jade's idea of making this tread. 

After soooo much criticise, some sunshine is good.

I was in a Mig, fighting my life for with a Sabre, veteran AI level. Head on pass, I got a lucky shot from the big mamma cannon. 

Range was about 300 m. 

I manage to hit the slow time button, and saw what happened: the way that plane's belly disintegrated was incredible, so complex and detailed. Then all those lovely debrits got their target, 'cause I flew right into them. Another complex disintegrating process.

 

Edited July 17 by AndreiTomescu

[YoYo]

Of course. I've been saying for a long time that the simulator is excellent in many respects (it's simply important that the performance doesn't block these very experiences and allows you to enjoy it 100% ). Not only is it a significant step forward graphically, but it also has a lot of "little touches". The airports themselves look very good, with walking airport crews and aircraft. And here's an interesting tidbit, since we're talking about "eye candy."

I was once taxiing in an F-51D and an airport crew member walked right up to my wingtip. What happened? He fell to the ground and didn't get up. So there was some kind of "contact point" between the aircraft and the human model; he didn't just ghost through the plane. And the most interesting thing is that he most likely died as a result (so we also have a DM on the human crew model, just wow!).

I also believe, although I initially had mixed feelings about choosing Korea as the theme instead of PTO or European theater, that it was a brilliant choice 👍. The IL-2 Korea filled a huge gap since the days of Mig Alley. It's a great atmosphere, and there will definitely be something to do here for years to come. I was supposed to study the F-100D, which recently launched at DCS, and the F-14B(U) is about to be released, but I'm sticking with Korea for now. I don't regret a single cent and I'm counting on your continued support (especially in terms of performance). Cheers! 👌

[LuftManu]

Il-2 series is awesome. The little details, ground attack depth and many other things are a great step up from GB! 

See those B-29 dancing with MIG-15 and Sabres?
Now imagine B-17s crossing the Channel in a huge formation or hunting ships over the Pacific with this detailed DM on them.

 

Yes! 😄
 

 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

I know there are many people who think otherwise, but for me VR is simply awesome. Yes, there are some small glitches (for me, the most bothering one are the cockpit textures that sometimes drop to low res for a few seconds). But in general, it works fine for me. I have similar performance as in GB, but with better graphics. The feeling during the Black Thursday mission when you're approaching the massed B-29s from above, is just great.

[AndreiTomescu]

Master LuftManu found a statement from Boss Han that says visible improvement regarding fps over cities and...under bombers 🙂  is coming with the next patch

[Avimimus]

Just a quick note here: I have removed a post about installation problems.

I did this because it is off-topic. We have an entire subforum for technical issues and another subforum for suggestions. We can allow this one thread to be for appreciating the sim...

[Drewm3i-VR]

I have not played Korea yet, but I am grateful the devs are keeping IL2/cohesive combat flight sims alive! I will always be grateful for Great Battles as well!

[Husar]

Non-static (dynamic) ground vehicle damage physics are a great addition!

Edited July 18 by Husar

[pr0x]

The game is fantastic despite its flaws. I can't remember the last time I played a game this much. VR is incredible once you find the right settings.

It's going to be a real banger if they can iron out the bugs, career mode lives up to the expectations and if more people start playing multiplayer with SRS.

[LukeFF]

You guys are in for a real treat with career mode. 🙂 It's a big change over that in GB. 

[Viking1]

Love the way the vehicle convoys scatter when the first rockets are falling.. and heading home while the sun is setting I"m remembering the feeling I sometimes get in MS flightsim - that sometimes I go back to the game just for its raw beauty. Many great moments!

Edited July 18 by Viking1

[AndreiTomescu]

17 hours ago, LukeFF said:

You guys are in for a real treat with career mode. 🙂 It's a big change over that in GB. 

well i've put my best hopes into it . 

So far this early access showed us a next level into FM, DM, graphics, and hopefully, AI.

Now, we're waiting for what really matters long term : content.

From what i've seen in blogs, this Career mode will be, not only different, better, that the GB one (that i couldn't use, due to lack of "live" world around, and having scripted campaigns....) but also a hole combined flight sim/tactical strategy game ! Can't wait for that.

I really hope that @Snipermanx (i understood he's the leading the career mode development team) has @BlackSix on his team....

And going back to this much, much needed appreciation thread, well, i really appreciate the work all you guys did into the project: your efforts are truly seen and .....appreciated, despite the pressure, criticism, and even hate (on the wordwideweb, not here) displayed. All this not deserved, imho.

"Life is a lemon and I want my money back" says Meat Loaf.

Well, some of us like lemonade, since it's Early Access juice, and i'm sure the Release will bring us ....honey ! 

[Aapje]

On 7/19/2026 at 12:07 AM, LukeFF said:

You guys are in for a real treat with career mode. 🙂 It's a big change over that in GB. 

I hope so, because it looks like Pat isn't going to fix things for Korea.

[FuriousMeow]

Loaded up Drop Tanks on a F51, just to see what would happen. After a few passes some rounds hit my left DT. It started smoking heavily then caught fire. Dropped the tanks and watched it smoke and stream fire falling away to the ground continuing my run.

Another round I could see smack either the armored windscreen or the frame. No visible damage but the instrument panel, throttle and other items began shaking about. Wasn't sure what was going on, reduced RPM and MP and kept going until I ran out of ammo and rtb'd. Decided to dive on the way back to see if that had any influence on the shaking parts, ended up getting more damage. Instrument glass shattered, armored glass had a star burst, and fuselage showed damage. After landing while taxiing, throttled up and even more damage occurred, more star burst, canopy blew out, extensive fuselage damage. I'm not sure if this was a bug, or the damage I took resulted in something causing significant vibrations that could eventually tear the plane apart. I stopped the engine to check the props if they showed any damage that could cause vibrations but they looked fine, so not sure what was going on. Don't use tech tips or HUD so no way to know what was going on from that. Pretty cool though if that's intentional and supposed to be rough vibrations causing damage over time. 

Edited July 20 by FuriousMeow

[GiftGruen]

After beeing more on the critical side, loosing a lot of nerves with fiddling out optimal settings for my equipment, I can now take part in the 

Appreciation thread

What I like, really like ...

• Cockpit graphics, especially pilot body and 'weathering' effects are simply great. A big step forward!
• ground textures ( only if using landscape x4 !) are way more beutyful than in IL2 BoX
• clouds, sun, atmosphere. Flying high, seeing the slightly curved horizon and following formation condense stripes. Gosh. A wet dream.
• Beautyful. DOT.
• The new engine seems ( i have no measurements, just an impression ) to be more 'robust' with a bigger number of AI planes. At leaat that's my impression after Mig15 training session #4 which has quite a numereous planeset.

Yes, there are issues with performance ( probably escpecially in VR ) and quite a beefy rig is needed.

But, in general this visual engine is a big big step forward in comparison to L2 BoX. Korea is not my favourite scenery, but thinking of Pacific wars with this engine ( or maybe also Flyig circus or Battle of England 😉 ) is an orgazmic dream. Simply.

 

I also like some ( minor ? ) changes

• Control setup. I always needed Joystick Gremlin for BoX.  Not yet for Korea. I did not yet understand all the options but it feels quite good.
• I like the 'lobby' with plane manuals that show clearly which controls you need to map
• fast forward to next waypoint. 
• There are more graphics settigs you can change now without restarting the complete game

 

All in all, while still having some critics regarding performance, while still not understanding some of the graphicl options which seem to do the opposite of what they are supposed to do ( or partly simply do nothing) ) I am happy now that I am part of the Early Access. The bunch of additinal grey hair, dear Dev team, take as a present 🙂

 

Disclaimer: beeing able to walk around with my pilot and look for korean girls is a funny feature, maybe. Doesnt catch me at all. This is not an adventure game, is it ? But, hey, if some of usare happy because of this ... 

Edited July 20 by GiftGruen

[Viking1]

v 003

Taxiing  back to the stand in the F51 after a long flight, thinking about women and beer, one of the flight crew saluted as I taxiied past!

Then the other guy walked right through a parked aircraft LOL

Second mission was distracted by a large black cat on my lap managed to do a donut with my F51 not far down the runway. Before I could get oriented NO2 plowed into me. Hmm a lot of aircraft parts scattered around. Along comes No 3. Now we have two broken birds and a third one on fire. I may not be a squadron commander by noon.

Edited July 22 by Viking1

[Dash,Polder]

Whipped past the new American Flag on the pole near mid runway and could see it was the 48 star flag, holy smokes.  Anyone else see the river current and white caps from its rapids?  Looks amazing.  Flying one of the servers tonight I could see napalm strikes on a hillside a few miles back at eight o'clock, it was impressive.

I've identified my crew chief, it's Robsin Greene.

 

[AndreiTomescu]

update 0.03 : looks even better, runs much faster, new content is really high class.

also, the strategy game included in career mode is quite complex. didn't expect this level. 

the future is even more promising

11 hours ago, Viking1 said:

Then the other guy walked right through a parked aircraft LOL

oh,my, God, you were drinking on the job!!! 🙂🙂 

[MJones]

Congrats to everyone.  It's working.  I was already impressed but was holding my judgement until career mode dropped.  Got to do a few missions in CM and am loving it!

5 hours ago, AndreiTomescu said:

also, the strategy game included in career mode is quite complex. didn't expect this level. 

Exactly.  It's a secondary theater level game now.  I didn't know what to expect.  Great stuff.

[AndreiTomescu]

1 hour ago, MJones said:

I didn't know what to expect.

joking, but true:

when my wife was pregnant with our first son, she obliged me to read several books. One of them was called : "What to expect when you're expecting"

Truth to be told. me neither. But so far the Career is like none before, the kids are great, 🙂 so....... awesome ! 🙂