IL2 Cliffs of Dover

[hobby]

During the past few days I have been watching a selection of films on YouTube made by the 'Air Combat Group' and others of online combat in the IL2 Cliffs of Dover (Clod) combat simulator. The quality of some of these films is astounding - one involved 73 RW sim pilots flying down the Mall, others some superb editing of online fighter operations during the Battle of Britain with RW pilots flying for each of the opposing sides.

The game when initially issued had many bugs but has been modified to produce a most realistic simulation by a group of enthusiasts called "Team Fusion."

I have tried to get hold of a copy from Amazon.co.uk but the cupboard is bare and I can't find a website from which to download the base game before I attempt to add the various mods made by Team Fusion.

I suspect that the game is played via "Steam" but I don't know whether that is so. I have no experience of "Steam" and would welcome guidance from any forum member who has played this game or who knows the ins and outs of playing online.

"Team Fusion" own the 'Air Tactical Assault Group' whose website is http://theairtacticalassaultgroup.com

Numerous Cliffs of Dover films are available on YouTube. I am sure many members will enjoy watching these films.

The game is about to move on to the air war in the North African Desert and the general Mediterranean area 1940 plus.

I should appreciate the website address from which the base game may be downloaded.

[Airspeed]

Hi Hobby
The following is from my personal experience of having Steam on my set up for a few years.
Gurus may be able to tell you that it affects this, that or the other, but I see it as like putting petrol in your car, or trying to do without fuel.
"Steam" is an on-line vehicle for playing games.
At least some of those games can be played "off line" but the default is to log in and play whilst connected.
To play any of the games, you need Steam installed on your machine. Steam itself is free.
Steam will check to see that your installation is up to date every time to fire up your computer (though you can turn it off, but when you are 6 weeks behind, it will take ages to check for possible missed updates)
It's on both our machines here, as the Grandsons use it extensively.

According to what I've just read about Team Fusion, their mods are essential if you want to play using W8 or W10. The original support apparently ceased, and you can't use CoD "raw" after W7.

You can buy IL-2 CoD from the Steam page below, for US$50 or thereabouts.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/63950/
Oh, btw, combat sims show very little mercy, there's no popping out for a quiet cruise to view the scenery!
Good luck!

[Nigel H-J]

Hi Hobby, I bought Cliffs of Dover last month from the Steam Site, you have to create an account before purchasing it and once you have installed it then go for the updates, from memory I think there are five updates in all. Remember that after installing the first patch run COD and have a fly around then exit and install the second patch then run the game again. Do this for all patches otherwise they may not work properly.

You will also find that you have to log in to steam to play COD but you do not need to be on the internet as it will give you the option of starting 'offline' so you can then select any single player mission and get yourself shot down

At the moment I have huge problems with my computer and it will not re-install win7, it now just gives two options shutdown or restart Presently doing the only think possible and erasing the C: Drive through DOS before I am able to re-install Win7 Thank goodness for Windows 7 Forums.

Anyway, hope to be back up and running early next week. PaulC does a lot of flying with COD and maybe we could all get together and fly as a wing!

Regards
Nigel.

[hobby]

Many thanks to Airspeed and Nigel H-J for their helpful advice about Steam and 'Clod'.

I just have some difficulty in understanding why Steam exists!! What advantages are there for the user? Does Steam store a user's copy of a game thus dispensing with the need for the gamer to install the game files on their own computer saving what could be enormous amounts of space on a gamer's hard drive?

I recall seeing an advert on the US Amazon.com for IL2 Cliffs of Dover at about $10.

I have nil experience of online flying at present so I think that I shall have to undertake some hours of training.

Can any forum member with experience of "Cliffs of Dover" tell me whether they enjoy playing this simulation? At $50 a go it might be an expensive nightmare for some!

It was interesting to see that one could play offline with 'solo' missions - in WW2 language the RAF always used the word 'operations' rather than 'missions' - that word seemed to arrive with chewing gum and nylons in 1942 when the USAAF arrived in the UK (or GB or England as it was then known).

Continuing research for the present and looking forward to flying online in the future in company with other forum members.

[Nigel H-J]

Hi Hobby, for a start if you purchase from Steam it may well be cheaper than from Amazon equally, if you lose your DVD or it gets damaged the product can be re-downloaded from your 'Steam Account' Rather like Just Flight or FFS. They hold your copy for you but you install all of it onto your computer. If you go to the ATAG Forum they are a very friendly bunch and will go out of their way to help or answer any questions you have.

Secondly, in the ATAG Forum you will find plenty of files that give additional single player 'combat missions' so do download them. Be warned though, you have to find the enemy by keeping a good lookout, one member had said that he took off and could not find the enemy but in real life scenarios during the Battle of Britain there were times a squadron was scrambled and came back after not seeing anything! So realism is the name of the game.

Regards
Nigel.

[blanston12]

I have a steam account, I find it very convenient as a way to manage the games on my machine, you can add/remove/update software without having to find those disks you bought years ago and have a hard time remembering where you put them last. Its an app store very similar to what you would find on your apple or android phone/tablet. If you move between computers of different operating systems, if you bought a game for your windows machine and its available for apple or linux it can install them also.

Biggest downsides for me is first you have to be online to start playing and second if you want to patch any of the binaries you always run the risk that a new update will overwrite them.

I have FSX-SE and X-Plane I got through steam and have never had any problems with it, and (at least for X-Plane) you don't have to worry about having to leave the DVD in the drive all the time to be able to use it.

[Nigel H-J]

Biggest downsides for me is first you have to be online to start playing

Hi Joe, you don't have to be on-line to play it, if you start COD with no internet connection there is a box somewhere bottom right hand side that says start-offline or something similar. I often start it when I have not connected to the internet so hopefully you should be able to do the same as I don't always connect to the internet (it only sidetracks me)

Regards
Nigel.

[Airspeed]

Agree with the above.
As I said initially, "At least some of those games can be played "off line" but the default is to log in and play whilst connected."
All you do is click "Play off line" when asked to log in.

Those $10 versions may well be the old, old version like mine. Might reinstall it to see if it still goes, though I think that it won't take the Fusion updates, 'cos it ain't Steam.
They may also be copies, or worse still, copies of the "free" versions touted on the search results.

[Nigel H-J]

Hi Mike, there is nothing to say that you cannot use the updates regardless of how old your disc is, install and then go and get the updates but don't forget to start the game and fly after each update is installed otherwise it won't work properly.

Good luck.

Regards
Nigel.