Dev Blog #83: Visual Effects

[LukeFF]

Picture this: you bank into a turn, lock your target in the gunsight, and see not just a flash, but a genuine shell impact: sparks, smoke, shrapnel, and burning debris. Now, every type of ammunition leaves a unique signature, so you’ll know exactly what caused the damage.

Read about other visual effects, such as explosions, mid-air collisions, and other in-game events coming soon, in the article on our official website: https://media.il2-korea.com/news/dd_83

[BlitzPig_EL]

Wow, that looks great!

[Aapje]

Are the bombs in the video supposed to be incendiary bombs or high explosive? Because if it is the latter, then I don't like them at all. High explosive burns really quickly and thus generates a flash that is so fast that it is typically impossible to see with the human eye. So the explosive effect is the shockwave and what it moves, plus smoke.

There is currently a complete lack of material displacement. A bomb would typically embed itself into a ground or structure, and would then explode, sending up a geyser of material. The current bombs effects produce only fire and smoke.

Now, I can see that it might be challenging to implement that, as the material displaced would depend on what is being hit, so the bomb effects would have to be different for hitting soil, buildings, water, or ships. However, some more diversity in bombs effects could really liven up the sim.

[Jade_Monkey]

"In addition to the release changes to the most important and frequently used effects, we are planning other changes in this area of the project. These will affect a range of effects that are less common in the current state of the project, but whose importance will increase with the launch of the first expansion." 

 

Would these be water related effects by any chance? 🤔

[BlitzPig_EL]

Steam from catapults?

[LuftManu]

Looooooking great! 🙂 Great work, team!

[Husar]

Really impressive work! The new visual effects are a noticeable step forward, especially the different impact effects for various ammunition types, the improved explosions, and the added attention to detail. These kinds of improvements make combat feel much more immersive and satisfying. Great job to everyone involved!

I hope you'll also apply this new technology to bullet and cannon shell impacts on the ground and terrain. Right now, ground impact effects are still one of the weakest visual elements during strafing runs. More realistic dust, dirt, debris, and impact effects would make attacking ground targets far more convincing and would perfectly complement all the other VFX improvements.

[Husar]

1 hour ago, Jade_Monkey said:

"In addition to the release changes to the most important and frequently used effects, we are planning other changes in this area of the project. These will affect a range of effects that are less common in the current state of the project, but whose importance will increase with the launch of the first expansion." 

 

Would these be water related effects by any chance? 🤔

That would be fantastic if it includes water-related effects.

I hope the developers are also planning to revisit the sea surface rendering. Right now, the water often looks too flat, especially from medium and high altitudes. The water color is also too uniform, making the surface appear flat and featureless from the air. In addition, the sun's reflection is only convincing from a very limited viewing angle. A more dynamic sea surface, with realistic wave visibility, natural color variation, and sunlight reflections across different altitudes and viewing angles, would greatly improve both the sense of realism and the ability to judge altitude over water.

It would also be great if different sea states based on the Beaufort scale were represented more accurately. Calm seas, moderate waves, and rough conditions should have clearly distinct surface characteristics visible not only at low altitude but also from several thousand meters, just as they are in real life.

 

[KillerBee]

Really like all the effects and I would make a request for Willy Pete explosions as well as conventional explosions as WP was extensively used during the Korean Conflict.

 

 

[Husar]

The new particle VFX look very promising. I also hope that the improved performance of the new particle system will allow for more realistic smoke and dust effects from explosions and destroyed objects.

 

Right now, the smoke plumes are often too small and disappear too quickly. It would be great to see larger, denser, and longer-lasting smoke columns that remain visible from much greater distances, similar to real battlefield footage. Likewise, bomb explosions should throw up much larger and more persistent dust clouds, especially when striking dry ground, making explosions feel more powerful and authentic.

 

Besides looking more realistic, these effects would also provide valuable visual cues for pilots, making the battlefield feel more alive, dynamic, and easier to read during combat.

 

BTW static objects destruction VFX  for example parked planes should also be updated hopefully.

Edited July 29 by Husar

[actionhank]

On 7/29/2026 at 2:25 AM, Husar said:

It would be great to see larger, denser, and longer-lasting smoke columns that remain visible from much greater distances, similar to real battlefield footage. Likewise, bomb explosions should throw up much larger and more persistent dust clouds, especially when striking dry ground, making explosions feel more powerful and authentic.

This was always one of the areas where i understand (and appreciate) the attempt to keep frame rates and system loads acceptable in sims, but so often when you hit targets it's almost impossible to find where you just attacked because by the time you've rolled off and turned back around most flight sims just have a charred wreck model to replace whatever vehicle you destroyed.

It would be nice to see options you could select to allow fires and smoke to linger a bit longer. Napalm looked pretty cool from the videos I saw of Early Access, but it would be cool to have the ability to select options for things like smoke and fires, and flak clouds hanging around for longer. If a plane gets shot down and crashes with a decent amount of fuel, you would expect there to be some smoke and fire at the wreckage that lasted for a while. Same with attack runs on buildings or vehicles full of flammable things like ammunition or fuel. I absolutely understand that they want to be mindful of the performance hit, but it would be great if there was some sort of slider or graphics option you could experiment with to adjust those kinds of things.

DCS kind of worked around it by making a placeable item in the mission editor that could produce small-to-large smoke or smoke/fire, but that required you to either place it just to give some ambience in the mission itself, or to create a script that would place the item when certain targets were destroyed.

[Husar]

19 minutes ago, actionhank said:

This was always one of the areas where i understand (and appreciate) the attempt to keep frame rates and system loads acceptable in sims, but so often when you hit targets it's almost impossible to find where you just attacked because by the time you've rolled off and turned back around most flight sims just have a charred wreck model to replace whatever vehicle you destroyed.

That was certainly true 10 years ago, but nowadays particle effects are much better optimized and are no longer a major performance bottleneck.

[Levadas]

Will you be able to see through bullet holes? Yep it's minor detail, but still. Some times when you hit wing, for example, you get quite wide entry point, but you can't see the other side or internals. Is in fact realistic that you can see only darkness through small bullet holes, but through huge ones it's a bit strange. 

[AEthelraedUnraed]

5 hours ago, actionhank said:

DCS kind of worked around it by making a placeable item in the mission editor that could produce small-to-large smoke or smoke/fire, but that required you to either place it just to give some ambience in the mission itself, or to create a script that would place the item when certain targets were destroyed.

IL2 works the same, both in GB and in Korea. Of course, it does require the mission creator to place the effects there, as well as know where the object is in the first place.