The very first IL2 demo....as this website launched partly in memory of the OG game.

[Mysticpuma]

The original demo of IL2 Sturmovik was uploaded to Mission4today a long time back, but as this forum has been created due to the anniversary of it.... here's the OG link:

https://www.mission4today.com/index.php?name=downloads&file=details&id=3564

[LuftManu]

We've come a long way for sure! Thanks for sharing MP.

I remember trying this demo on my brother's PC. It ran at like 20 fps with the lowest settings possible. But in my mind I was blown away! 

[Dash,Polder]

Remember getting the disc in a gaming PC magazine that month, installed it and the initial take off of the P-39 in the heavy rainfall had me instantly hooked, that classic whine of the 39 and sound of rain picking up in intensity as the speed built.  I could smell the rain.

[kraut1]

I can remember I was the first time in the forum in autumn 2000, 1 year before IL-2 was released.

At this time my absolute favorite flight simulator was European Air War by Microprose.

[Avimimus]

I remember buying a magazine to get the copy of the demo... then convincing my fiddle teacher to let me install it on his machine... the FPS was terrible but beat the 2 fps on my home computer... I somehow used the keyboard to put a 37mm round from the P-39 into the engine of a Fw-189 and watched the engine be torn off and fall away...

People today don't realise what a step forward that sim was.

The forum was full of people diving to tear off the main landing gear of the P-39 and then do touch-and-goes with just the front wheel and marvelling at how the aircraft would gradually transition in its loss of lift (they could then throttle up and raise the tail again). The physics was unheard of - and this was even before the update (AEP era?) that doubled the number of physics calculations and increased the fidelity of the flight model. Also, people were really impressed by having damage to a wing lead to reduced lift for it!

We were also shocked by the frequency of development updates, the fact that the devs interacted with people, and the amount of free post-release support - it was really game changing... things which today are assumed (or even treated as being an entitlement) but were really innovative then.

It was such a big deal I think a couple of people named their kids Oleg.

Another thing which is often forgotten is how the tech bubble had led to the purchase and then disbandment of almost all flight simulator product lines. CFS3 was in development around the time Il-2 was, and was released slightly after... and I think Jane's USAF came out slightly after as well... but basically flight simulators died out except for Maddox Games and Eagle Dynamics... two Russian companies which rebuilt the hardcore flight simulator. The one other survivor of that era was X-Plane (and I think one of the professional glider simulators).

[15[Span.]JG51Costa]

I remember flying the Demo against a guy called Oleg! 😅

[Jaegermeister]

5 hours ago, Dash,Polder_Colonel said:

Remember getting the disc in a gaming PC magazine that month, installed it and the initial take off of the P-39 in the heavy rainfall had me instantly hooked, that classic whine of the 39 and sound of rain picking up in intensity as the speed built.  I could smell the rain.

I got the same disc out of an issue of PC Pilot and loaded it on my laptop computer at work. I still remember trying to take off in the same P-39 you mentioned with keyboard commands and wrecking over and over again. I have been looking for a better sim experience ever since and still have not found it.

[Avimimus]

Here is a game: How many differences can you spot between this demo and Il-2 1946?

I also saved some copies of old pre-release trailers and screenshots from 1999 somewhere...

[AEthelraedUnraed]

I remember picking up the then brand new MSFS 2004 shortly after being enthused by my first ever flight as a 12 year old kid. Fast forward a couple of months and a friend showed me a copy of IL2: Forgotten Battles. I remember being sceptical at first - how could some small studio no-one ever heard of, trump mighty Microsoft - then being instantly hooked when I played it.

Been there ever since. It's been a bumpy ride, but I fondly recall those early days of rushing my homework so that I could boot my PC and fly 🙂

[Charger]

When i bought the OG Il2 when it first came out i couldnt understand why it played so awful at like 15FPS. Then i read on the box about something called a graphics card? Never heard of it!

That game also taught me basic windows explorer. I loved making missions and campaigns - and to do so you had to get deep into windows folder structure. 

Oh and having to figure it all out without google. 

Thanks Oleg

 

EDIT: - i downloaded the demo but my PC shat the bed when i tried to install it. Probably due to 4k monitor. I might keep trying a bit later just for old times sake. 

Edited November 25, 2025 by Charger

[SYN_Vander]

Still remember the original demo. My system wasn't really up to it, but boy was I impressed with how the aircraft actually seemed to have mass. Just taking off already felt more realistic than anything I had seen before...

[E69_julian57]

I found it at a street market stall, and the first thing that caught my eye was the game cover and seeing an IL-2, an aircraft I knew but hadn't seen in other simulators at the time.
And I was hooked.

[tattywelshie]

On 11/24/2025 at 8:54 PM, Avimimus said:

I remember buying a magazine to get the copy of the demo... then convincing my fiddle teacher to let me install it on his machine... the FPS was terrible but beat the 2 fps on my home computer... I somehow used the keyboard to put a 37mm round from the P-39 into the engine of a Fw-189 and watched the engine be torn off and fall away...

The FW189 - I don't know why but that aircraft was synonyms with the original IL2 game , maybe because it must have been the first time it was ever modelled in a flight sim.  

[Kettensaege]

I remember the Good old Days too. Over the years there are more than 5 discs with the old il-2 Laying around here. 
Wonderful Times.

I always wished there will be some Wonder, which keeps il-2 Original, just with new Graphics and not tries to invent the wheel again, wishful Kids thinking.

[SYN_Speck]

On 11/24/2025 at 1:54 PM, Avimimus said:

... the update (AEP era?) that doubled the number of physics calculations and increased the fidelity of the flight model. 

I didn't get in at the very beginning, but I remember that huge patch. 3.00? It took the FM "off rails" and wrecked my marksmanship, which has never recovered 😔

[Jaegermeister]

On 11/27/2025 at 1:47 AM, Kettensaege said:

I remember the Good old Days too. Over the years there are more than 5 discs with the old il-2 Laying around here.

I have a few sets of discs still kicking around, probably at least 12 with various versions I got at different times. I wish I still had the original demo disc just for the nostalgia.

Spoiler

 

 

Edited November 29, 2025 by Jaegermeister