More realistic smoke and fire effects mod by Stonehouse.

[Mysticpuma]

This is not my mod and is subjective.

I asked if anyone would be able to make a mod that would reduce the unrealistic smoke effects in BoX to a more 'natural' and authentic version.

This is in game and unmodded and personally it frustrated me because having looked at guncam footage, this is pretty rare to see, a catastrophic black smoke oil fire.

@Stonehouse decided to take on the challenge and reduced the effect significantly enough to make it look realistic while retaining the effect that catastrophic damage had occurred.

This Mod isn't mine and I wish to reiterate that, but the effects are great and it can be downloaded here. All credit to the author.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/p76fbt9g6gjywzy/2076295059_mpeffects.zip/file

 

Original thread here:

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/82663-would-anyone-be-able-to-take-a-look-at-aircraft-deep-black-fire-smoke-effect-files-please/

 

[Hopper64]

I can’t remember if this mod includes bullet hit effects on aircraft. Does it? Thanks for posting!

[Cardolan]

How about having these links for mods pinned?

It is a  pain to navigate in two forums in search for download links and as far as I understand, the link to this mod here is only available in this forum.

[AcesDarthBubu]

Thanks for the mod, i like that it solves the issue of smoke column visible over cloud layers. 

[Mysticpuma]

Born out of the frustration of thick, super black, opaque smoke, skip to the 8m 40s mark in this video and it's clear that even when there is catastrophic fire, the super thick black smoke BoX has, is very, very rare:

 

 

Edited December 26, 2025 by Mysticpuma

[Cardolan]

Have been trying this mod and it seems much more realistic than the stock smoke.

However, there is in my opinion one situation where this mod comes lacking: It is when an airplane desintegrates due to enemy firing. As it is right now, the effect is much tonned down and the destroyed plane simply disassembles midair without an explosion of any kind. Just a puff. In this particular case, I think the situation would warrant something more dramatic.

These are just the 2 cents of a very grateful flier to the modder, of course. If this could be improved it would be great, otherwise, thank you for this mod @Stonehouse.

[Stonehouse]

This wasn't something I was actively working on although Mysticpuma had some thoughts about thinner fuel and coolant leaks in the old forum that I said I would investigate when I have time spare.

Problem with your request is there are quite a few different aircraft explosions ranging over everything from bomber fuel tanks to ammo boxes, so it is difficult/impossible at my end to correctly associate the correct efx and epl files with your description.

Have you tried recording a track of the situation you are concerned with and then try running the track with mods off and this mod on to see if there is a difference from the stock effect? If there isn't then it is an enhancement of the stock effect rather than something related directly to this mod as it stands.

If nothing else, the track might give insight into the possible effect animations involved. 

Considering the number of ways an aircraft can explode in the air and that I've no way of being sure which you mean and barring clues you might get from a track you would need to tinker with each explosion type. This would involve a lot of time I don't really have at present. The coolant leaks and fuel leaks are a much easier task which is why I said I would look at it in spare moments.

Adding new units to the Additional warships mod, working on an EMG mod with Kraut1 for Off_Winters Tunisia mod and beta testing for IL2 pretty much takes up all my spare time at present plus just like you guys I do like to actually fly or play a game sometimes.

Anyway, I will keep the suggestion in mind. A track would help make it a little easier though when you have time yourself.

Edited December 28, 2025 by Stonehouse

[Cardolan]

Thank you for the prompt answer.

On second thought, I saw another explosion a few minutes ago and it seemed ok. Not spectacular, but.... ermmm... realistic.

So, probably I posted too fast yesterday.

Thank you again for your range of very good mods!

[Mysticpuma]

On 12/28/2025 at 1:57 AM, Stonehouse said:

This wasn't something I was actively working on although Mysticpuma had some thoughts about thinner fuel and coolant leaks in the old forum that I said I would investigate when I have time spare.

Problem with your request is there are quite a few different aircraft explosions ranging over everything from bomber fuel tanks to ammo boxes, so it is difficult/impossible at my end to correctly associate the correct efx and epl files with your description.

Have you tried recording a track of the situation you are concerned with and then try running the track with mods off and this mod on to see if there is a difference from the stock effect? If there isn't then it is an enhancement of the stock effect rather than something related directly to this mod as it stands.

If nothing else, the track might give insight into the possible effect animations involved. 

Considering the number of ways an aircraft can explode in the air and that I've no way of being sure which you mean and barring clues you might get from a track you would need to tinker with each explosion type. This would involve a lot of time I don't really have at present. The coolant leaks and fuel leaks are a much easier task which is why I said I would look at it in spare moments.

Adding new units to the Additional warships mod, working on an EMG mod with Kraut1 for Off_Winters Tunisia mod and beta testing for IL2 pretty much takes up all my spare time at present plus just like you guys I do like to actually fly or play a game sometimes.

Anyway, I will keep the suggestion in mind. A track would help make it a little easier though when you have time yourself.

Hi Stonehouse, while browsing through the old mod forums, I found this by LizLemon. The longer smoke/vape trails.

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/39332-mod-longer-smokecontrails/

I wondered if this was linked to the third page of the original thread I made about smoke effects, where I posted the visual effects of smoke/vapour trails extended the faster the replay is?

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/82663-would-anyone-be-able-to-take-a-look-at-aircraft-deep-black-fire-smoke-effect-files-please/page/3/

[Stonehouse]

11 minutes ago, Mysticpuma said:

Hi Stonehouse, while browsing through the old mod forums, I found this by LizLemon. The longer smoke/vape trails.

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/39332-mod-longer-smokecontrails/

I wondered if this was linked to the third page of the original thread I made about smoke effects, where I posted the visual effects of smoke/vapour trails extended the faster the replay is?

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/82663-would-anyone-be-able-to-take-a-look-at-aircraft-deep-black-fire-smoke-effect-files-please/page/3/

I'll have a look during this round of post patch updates but will prioritise things like AI gunnery sorry, as they have a wider impact. A quick look at LizLemon's old mod and I do see some commonality so it may well get closer to what you were talking about.

[Stonehouse]

Some progress. Petrol leaks thinner and longer.

 

[Mysticpuma]

3 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

Some progress. Petrol leaks thinner and longer.

 

Looking really good :)

[Stonehouse]

V2: Slightly less wide and longer flame for fuel tank fire, more differentiation between initial fire and developed. Engine fire a little longer and also the dark oily smoke from the engine fire is a bit longer. There is a fair bit of reuse of effects components, so I've had to modify epl files and use custom effects components (basically copies of stock, tweaked and given a new name) to try to isolate the impact of changes.

Note there are 4 different arg/epl combinations for engine fires for petrol engines plus 4 low and 4 high speed jet engine fires. 5 combos for petrol tank leaks plus same again for jets, 5 for petrol tank fires plus 5 again for jets plus fire in the fuselage/cabin, radiator steam/coolant leaks, oil leaks, drop tank leaks and fires (never used). 

I have not touched anything for jet aircraft. Before asking about other effects, the issue is that I have no reliable way to invoke a particular effect. Other sims I own have or used to have an animation viewer where I could see the args used for a model, select a particular argument and set it on or off and view the corresponding animation on a model. I don't believe we have anything similar. This means very much a long process of trial and error making a minor change and then watching a track to see what the impact is - if any. Rinse and repeat. I say if any because the damage in the recording may not set the specific arg on so the animation of interest doesn't trigger. Hope that makes sense.

You can see that the second attack triggers a very small white vapour trail from the trailing edge of the wing near the back of the engine nacelle - I'm not sure if this is a new petrol leak or perhaps a minor coolant leak or engine damage. It seems to me that the inner fuel leak trail gets a bit thicker as well. 

 

[Mysticpuma]

4 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

V2: Slightly less wide and longer flame for fuel tank fire, more differentiation between initial fire and developed. Engine fire a little longer and also the dark oily smoke from the engine fire is a bit longer. There is a fair bit of reuse of effects components, so I've had to modify epl files and use custom effects components (basically copies of stock, tweaked and given a new name) to try to isolate the impact of changes.

Note there are 4 different arg/epl combinations for engine fires for petrol engines plus 4 low and 4 high speed jet engine fires. 5 combos for petrol tank leaks plus same again for jets, 5 for petrol tank fires plus 5 again for jets plus fire in the fuselage/cabin, radiator steam/coolant leaks, oil leaks, drop tank leaks and fires (never used). 

I have not touched anything for jet aircraft. Before asking about other effects, the issue is that I have no reliable way to invoke a particular effect. Other sims I own have or used to have an animation viewer where I could see the args used for a model, select a particular argument and set it on or off and view the corresponding animation on a model. I don't believe we have anything similar. This means very much a long process of trial and error making a minor change and then watching a track to see what the impact is - if any. Rinse and repeat. I say if any because the damage in the recording may not set the specific arg on so the animation of interest doesn't trigger. Hope that makes sense.

You can see that the second attack triggers a very small white vapour trail from the trailing edge of the wing near the back of the engine nacelle - I'm not sure if this is a new petrol leak or perhaps a minor coolant leak or engine damage. It seems to me that the inner fuel leak trail gets a bit thicker as well. 

 

Looking really impressive. The only noticeable issue I see is the width of the fire, but I have no idea how large the actually fire is on the aircraft, so it could be a representation of the amount of fuel alight. Would it be possible to see the effect on a single engine aircraft?

[Stonehouse]

Unfortunately had a CTD around the end of this recording so I suspect I've pushed a value too far and will need to see if I can find the issue. 

[Mysticpuma]

I like the results.....the fires a bit..... outrageous though 😁

[Stonehouse]

28 minutes ago, Mysticpuma said:

.the fires a bit..... outrageous though

Lol yeah. Probably the source of the CTD. I gave the same setup another try last night. Got an engine fire on a P51. As it dived down and was about to hit the water I got almost a nuclear fireball effect before it CTD'd again. Very weird. Will keep tinkering...

[Stonehouse]

Had to back off on the epl files, which is odd as I have used the method elsewhere with great success. I'll keep investigating as I like to isolate my changes from the stock game components if I can to avoid unintended knock-on's. 

 

Anyway, try testing this and see if it is any good. Not sure if there are still CTDs hiding in there so wouldn't use it if the mission is really important to you. Purely beta testing version.

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/zdwfjmkmp5j64vj/mp_effects.zip/file

[VISHNU]

16 hours ago, Stonehouse said:

Had to back off on the epl files, which is odd as I have used the method elsewhere with great success. I'll keep investigating as I like to isolate my changes from the stock game components if I can to avoid unintended knock-on's. 

 

Anyway, try testing this and see if it is any good. Not sure if there are still CTDs hiding in there so wouldn't use it if the mission is really important to you. Purely beta testing version.

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/zdwfjmkmp5j64vj/mp_effects.zip/file

HI @Stonehouse, just downloaded this, and think this mod is awesome, but for some reason, it lags out my VR and totally crashes IL2.   I've tried 2 career missions with the same result.

[Stonehouse]

52 minutes ago, VISHNU said:

HI @Stonehouse, just downloaded this, and think this mod is awesome, but for some reason, it lags out my VR and totally crashes IL2.   I've tried 2 career missions with the same result.

I don't have VR and not getting any visual lagging or tearing or anything but last night I did have a CTD with it again after a while. Obviously still has gremlins within that need fixing. All this stuff is like working blindfolded so can't promise anything other than I will keep tinkering. It may not be possible to go further than the original version back at the top of this thread. I've always found that to be reliable.

[VISHNU]

1 hour ago, Stonehouse said:

I don't have VR and not getting any visual lagging or tearing or anything but last night I did have a CTD with it again after a while. Obviously still has gremlins within that need fixing. All this stuff is like working blindfolded so can't promise anything other than I will keep tinkering. It may not be possible to go further than the original version back at the top of this thread. I've always found that to be reliable.

Well, keep up the great work Stonehouse, I appreciate all your hard work modding this sim to be better.  Please post if you think you got the gremlins out.    I'll check out the version at the top.

[Hopper64]

Thanks for your efforts Stonehouse. Much appreciated. One of the things I still see as something that could be improved in the base sim is what you are working on currently plus bullet strike flashes to both airborne as well as ground targets. I am not seeing those hits in either category especially if I am strafing a rail yard. You see those brief flashes routinely in gun cam footage from WW2. Thanks again for all you do!!

[Stonehouse]

3 hours ago, Hopper64 said:

plus bullet strike flashes to both airborne as well as ground targets.

There are a bunch of hitflash related textures in the stock particle effects. These are tied to projectiles and shells not the aircraft effects. So, you should see them. There are some in the Ju52 video a few posts up around the 1 min mark. 

[Hopper64]

1 hour ago, Stonehouse said:

There are a bunch of hitflash related textures in the stock particle effects. These are tied to projectiles and shells not the aircraft effects. So, you should see them. There are some in the Ju52 video a few posts up around the 1 min mark. 

Thanks. I will check that. Appreciate all you do!

[Stonehouse]

Don't think there are CTDs hidden in this one but can't be absolutely sure. They seem to have been related to me trying to tweak the fires themselves. Anyway, see if this seems better. Reworked the petrol tank fire smoke too.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/qb8z4xk6gv4nic7/mp_effects_-_WIP.zip/file

Edited February 6 by Stonehouse