Cockpit Instruments vs. On-Screen Messages
      Read Instruments That Are Too Small
      Quick Measurements Conversions In Your Head
      The Sideslip Ball
      Prop Pitch and RPM
      Optimal RPM
      Manifold Pressure

   Don't Panic (and think '42')

   Don't let those instrument-filled cockpits scare you. All you have to learn is to recognize a few instruments that are the same on all planes. We can roughly divide them in 2 categories: flight instruments and engine instruments. The former are those that are found on any aircraft including gliders, helicopters, jets, zeppelins, whatever. Engine instruments on the other hand, measure what the engine is doing. I'm including the prop RPM in the engine instruments because it's driven by the engine, and because it's only found on prop planes.

Flight Instruments:
- Airspeed Indicator Some claim that this is "the most important" instrument... and that is definitely true on landing.
- Altimeter Measures altitude ASL (Above [mean] Sea Level) using air pressure.
- VSI (Vertical Speed Indicator), aka Variometer: Measures how fast your altitude (ASL) is changing, and in what direction (climb/descent).
- Directional Gyro and/or Magnetic Compass: Tells you where you're heading, your direction of travel relative to the North (the difference between geographical and magnetic north is irrelevant in game)
- Sideslip indicator, often referred to as "sideslip ball" or simply "the ball". Measures the alignment of the plane's longitudinal axis relative to the direction of travel.
- Artificial horizon and/or turn and bank indicator: Measures the bank angle of the wings relative to the horizon (or to an ideal perfectly flat ground).

Engine Instruments: While there are a whole bunch of instruments that measure "engine stuff", the most important
- Manifold Pressure Measures how much fuel is going into the engine.
- RPM (Revolutions Per Minute) aka Tachometer: Measures how fast the prop spins
- Oil Temp How hot the engine is. This is the measurement that triggers the 'overheating' message ( O/H in the immersion HUD Log). Warning: doesn't always work well. In some planes doesn't work at all, in some others it's grossly inaccurate... Best solution is probably to keep the overheating message enabled. (note: in jets the temp gauge measures the exhaust temperature)
There are other instruments that measure engine stuff but for now we need to worry only about Pressure and RPM.

   Use your instruments!

    Few things in IL2 annoy me as much as unnecessary on-screen messages: why the hell do you need a message to tell you that your engine is starting?

   Sure, you do have the option to disable those messages but then you wouldn't get some important info that cant be gathered in game the same way as it would in real life: our in-game cockpits have limitations such non-working gauges or inaccurate enough to be useless (many oil temp gauges have this problem), and more limitations are in the fact itself that it's a simulator, and other factors. Also worth considering that messages such as "enemy destroyed" and "friendly destroyed" are highly unrealistic but important for gameplay, while messages such as throttle % and prop pitch % are not only annoying but also counter-productive. These messages 'spoil' players. Many players, including some that are very good at the game, never learn how to read their instruments because they are used to the on-screen messages. On the other hand though, having a messages telling you that your throttle is now positioned at, say, 75% may be useful if you don't have any other way to tell. For instance if you use your keyboard to control the engine.

   The point is, some of those on-screen messages are useful and some are even necessary, but many of them are unnecessary and annoying and your only options are "messages on" and "messages off", all or nothing.
In the stock game, that is. We modded gamers have an extra choice.

 

Remove the silly messages and only keep the useful ones

 

   In our modded version we can modify the file that stores on-screen messages: we can make it display a blank line for messages that we don't want to see, and smaller, less invasive versions of messages that we want displayed.

   Fusion Pack users have a JSGME option available called IMMERSION_HUD-Log. Enable that to get smaller on-screen messages for *some* events and no messages at all for most events.
   It will take some time to get used to, especially if you are an old user and have always used the on-screen messages, but when you get used to actually read the instruments the realism of the gaming experience gets much better.

   But... those instruments are too small

   Easily fixed: the trick is to memorize 4 positions.
   When your instruments are too small to read, zoom in and have a closer look. Look what the instrument shows when the needle is in the 12 o'clock position. Then look what it shows when it's at 3 o'clock, 6 o' clock, and 9 o'clock. Memorize those values, and you're done.

 

 

   Once memorized the values at the 4 corners you don't need to read the numbers any more. When the needle hits for instance the 12 o'clock position, you know that it's showing 200 knots, much the same way as you read a clock without actual numbers but only lines on the dial.
   By the way, I used knots because those were the units used by that airspeed indicator, but there's no reason why you couldn't memorize the speeds in your favorite measurements.
   
   In the example above we have used the 4 "quarters" positions: 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock but you could use the 10, 2, 4, and 8 o'clock instead. Or both sets, memorizing 8 positions instead of 4. whatever works best for you.
   
   Now you can read instruments that are too small to be read, you have no excuses left for not using the Immersion HUD Log and not disabling the speed bar, so do that and start using the instruments.

   Input vs. Output

   Another problem with those on-screen messages if that they don't really replace the gauges anyway. What they actually replace is the visual feedback that you get when you look at the controller.
   
    On-screen messages (prop pitch%, power %...) represent the physical position of your input device.
    "Power: 50%" means that you moved the throttle half way up (or down), and it's not affected by the engine itself. Only the controller. In fact, the message "Power: xx%" would still show up if you change your throttle setting while the engine is off, much in the same way as in RL (and in game) you can still move the throttle back and forth while your engine is off.
   
   So, on-screen messages can be useful of you use the keyboard to control your plane, but if you have sliders for throttle and RPM you don't need a message to tell you that you moved the throttle: just looking at your throttle will tell you that.
   
   Instruments on the other hand, tell you what the engine is actually doing.
   Many IL-2 players refer to settings in term of Throttle % and Prop Pitch %: they would tell you that the a Corsair, for instance, climbs best at 95% power with 90% prop pitch, and that may even match the actual numbers... the problem is that it won't do that for long.
    As a matter of fact, the Corsair climbs best at 2550 RPM with 43.5 inches of pressure (according to this WW2 training movie), and in order to attain those numbers you will need to set your throttle to approx. 90% with prop pitch somewhere around 88 or 90%. However, you will often need to adjust those settings to keep the same RPM and pressure, especially as you gain altitude (less pressure) or when you slightly pitch up or down to adjust your climb speed (changes in RPM).

   Not convinced yet?

   If you still have doubts, try this quick experiment: Take an FW190 A series, take off with auto prop on (default setting), set the throttle to 90% and fly around for a while without changing your power setting. Don't touch the throttle. Perform some maneuvres like climb, level off, dive, turn, etc., and notice what the RPM gauge does (bottom right, marked U/min.).
   
   Now switch the prop controller to manual (I don't remember what the default key is. Look for 'prop auto' in the controls page).
   With manual prop, fly level and use the prop pitch control to attain 2500RPM.
   Fine. Now perform some maneuvers and try to make the RPM stay as close as possible to 2500, and never go any higher than 2800 or lower than 2200. Notice how low you need to set the prop pitch % sometimes. Also notice what setting it takes to climb at 250kph with 2500RPM. Not exactly the 100% power, 90% throttle all the time, huh?
   
   OK, that's pretty much it. By now you should be convinced that you cant use on-screen messages as a substitute for your instruments. You have to read the gauges to know what the engine is actually doing, as opposed to what you're telling it to do, shown in the on-screen messages. Now let's see some instruments.

   Manifold Pressure

    The Manifold Pressure gauge measures how much gas+air mixture is going into the engine, and therefore the closest on-screen message to it would be "power: %." but don't forget the part about input vs. output, or why you still need your instruments even tho you have on-screen messages enabled.

 

Manifold Pressure


'Man' or 'Pressure' on American planes, sometimes 'Manifold' or 'Manifold Pressure'


'ATA' on German planes


'Boost' on British planes


I guess you'll recognize the red/black thingy...


HADDYB (nadduv?) on Russian planes


'Pressione' on Italian planes

 

   And of course they use different measurements systems: kg/cm2 (kilograms per square centimeter) is the standard metric measurement used in most of Europe and Russia; the American measurement is in inches and it's also used by the Japanese... at least on some planes. Anyhow, what the figure mean isn't really important; what is important is that you know what instrument you should look at and what the proper figures for each maneuver are.
   For instance, a Corsair is supposed to climb with the pressure gauge showing 43.5 and that's all you really need to know. Those 43.5 may be inches, kilograms, or dollars, it doesn't change the fact that when you climb you want the needle to point right there. Capish?

    RPM = Prop speed

    RPM stands for Revolutions Per Minute, and it has nothing to do with overthrowing governments. This is the kind of revolutions where things go around in circles (insert your favorite Commie joke here).
   The RPM gauge tells you how fast your prop is spinning. 1000 RPM means that the prop turns 1000 times a minute. On most WW2 planes, props turn at speeds between 2000 and 3000 RPM, but there are exceptions. Generally, early war planes run at lower RPM, compared with late war planes.
   
    This stuff is important because each plane has its own optimal RPM settings for each situation: there's an optimal setting for climbing, one for cruising, one for combat (often same as climbing, but not always), there's an emergency setting that is usually limited in time (e.g. use for 10 minutes max), and there's also a 'never exceed' value, which means never allow the prop to turn faster than that. For instance, you want to lower your RPM settings when you're in a dive and the relative wind turns the prop. Also, throttling up too quickly on take-off your prop will overrev (turn too fast). In game, overrevving the prop on take-off doesn't damage the engine, but if you want to fly realistically just for the heck of it, you should keep the RPM under the 'never exceed' limit (often marked with a red line or a thicker line)

More info about prop settings can be found here (but don't expect much, it's just a couple of basic tips for newbs)

 

RPM gauges


Japanese RPM gauge


German RPM gauge marked U/min.


On most "English speaking" planes it's marked RPM (big surprise)


"giri" is Italian for "turns" or "tours", in this case "revolutions"

 

   Romanian RPM gauges are marked "Ture" and Russian ones ... well something like RPM in Russian. It doesn't really matter after all, because after a while you'll recognize the gauges by the way they move. Play with the controls a little bit, observe the gauges, and you will know what is what.
   
   On many Allied planes (including Russian), RPM gauges have 2 hands, short one for thousands and long one for hundreds of RPM. Axis planes have generally RPM gauges with only one needle.differently in planes from different countries. You will eventually learn to recognize them by the way they move, but in the meantime you can look in the Aircraft_Guide.pdf that comes with the game (it's in the main IL2 directory).

   Altimeter: how high over mean sea level.

   Real world altimeters must be adjusted according to weather conditions (atmospheric pressure) or they would show the wrong altitude. In game that's not modeled.
   Also, real world altimeters now measure in feet in most countries, but during WW2 only planes built in US and UK measured in feet, aircraft from other countries used meters. Now, I know that it's a PITA to use a measurements system other than the one you grew up with, but there's an easy trick to deal with the that problem (works with speeds and distances too).
   Click on the link to learn a nice trick to do quick conversions in your head (eventually learn to use any measurements 'natively', without needing to convert)
   
   All we need to note about altimeters is that US and UK built planes measure in feet, and that includes a number of planes used by "metric countries" such as Russia and Finland, so don't always assume that a Finnish plane would measure in meters (the Finnish Buffalo B239 measures altitudes in feet) but don't assume that all UK and US built planes measure in feet (the J8A, Finnish version of the Gladiator, uses a German altimeter that measures in meters).
   
   And it gets worse. Some AI planes converted to flyable use the 'wrong' measurements (not the ones in use in that country at that time) because they borrow cockpits from planes that used different measurements, so for instance the French built Morane 406/410 and the German built fw200 Condor use imperial altimeters.
   
   The bottom line: always make sure that you know what measurements your plane uses.
   And yes, you can skip the whole thing and just use the speed bar, but we are trying to use instruments as much as possible and on-screen info as little as possible, so the speed bar should be hidden.
   Speaking of which, while the altimeter reading pretty much matches the speedbar altitude reading all the time, this isn't always the case when it comes to speed indicators.

  

German Altimeter


British


Russian


American

   

   Most 2-hand altimeter count 10 for each complete turn, may be 10x100m (1000m per turn) or 10x1000ft (10,000ft per turn), but there were no standards back then, so you have Italian altimeters with thousands of meters shown on a smaller dial placed inside the main one, and Japanese altimeters where the short hand makes a complete each 5000 meters (the Finnish Buffalo does the same, only it measures in feet).
In conclusion, while in-game altimeters are really easy to handle (arent affected by weather), switching planes all the time can be kind of confusing. We gamers fly lots of different planes from all parts of the world, as opposed to RL pilots in WW2, who mostly flew one kind of aircraft during the whole war, sometimes 2. Very rarely 3 or more. So they could afford to assume that their instruments always worked the same way, we can't. We need to make sure that we know how to read our instruments.

   Airspeed Indicator

   Some pilots, both gamers and RL, claim that the airspeed indicator is "the most important instrument" in your plane, but all is relative...
While the airspeed indicator is an extremely important instrument on take off and landing (but not only), if we're flying over a mountain ridge in low visibility, the "most important" instrument is probably our altimeter. I mean, it's relative to what we are doing.

But speed indicators are very important, and not only on landing: planes climb best at one particular air speed, they have different turn radiuses ("radia"?) at different speeds, minimum speeds before stalling, maximum speeds at which they start to disintegrate.
Use your speed indicator to perform each maneuver as close as possible to the best speed for each maneuver, and your plane will perform better, sum your altitude and your speed to figure out how much energy you have, those are just a couple of things off the top of my head, with my limited knowledge.

Speed indicators are often marked with the measurements they use: mph, km/h, or knots, and even if they're not, identifying speed indicators just looking at the way the needles move isn't particularly difficult (in fact, it's fairly easy for most instruments once you gain some experience)
Russian speed indicators can be confusing as they have values in x10 kph, so the dial will read 10, 20, 30, etc. meaning 100, 200, 300 kph.
Most American planes measure in mph, but some measure in knots.
Most British planes measure in knots, but some measure in mph.
Japanese Navy planes measure in knots, and Army planes measure in kph. But there are exceptions.
German, Russian, Italian, French planes are all metric, and so are the planes built in Central-Eastern Europe. Most of them, anyway. And there are exceptions for some "frankenpits".

So, same old advice: make sure that you know how to read your instruments, and learn the quick conversions trick.

   Get used to it

   No, seriously, I mean get used to fly with the speed bar hidden and the Immersion HUD log on. I have been flying that way for years and i must say that it does improve the immersion quite a bit.