Basic Keys for IL2 - What They Do

Public Forum. All are welcome

Moderators: Tiger, Space

User avatar
Colslaw
Lt. Colonel
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 779
Joined: 05 Nov 2007 01:32
Contact:

Re: Basic Keys for IL2 - What They Do

Unread post by Colslaw »

To start you want to be able to see the other guy, so here are the various keys and what they do

F1 Cockpit view Self explanitory
F2 External view I never really use this one as it moves around. But it is useful for checking markings
F3 Flyby RB's F7
F4 Padlock Enemy locks the enemy and you follow him like RB's F2
F5 Padlock Enemy ground ditto, but for enemy ground targets
F6 External Padlock, Enemy Air RB's F3 and is VERY useful. The switch is it will cycle through all enemy contacts within range
F7 External Padlock, Enemy Ground Useful for looking for ground targets
F8 Chase View RB's F5

DELETE Gunsight View Zoom in
END Normal View
PAGE DOWN Wide view Zoom out
Shft/F1 Toggle Gunsight Even more zoomed in, and/or telescopic sight if installed. On many aircraft the gunsight is not centered, and this will centre it as well

The keys I use the most are F1 and F8 for my flying as they are akin to just using F3 in a RB fight. F4 is very useful, but you have to be in the cockpit and have him in visual when you hit it, the same goes for F5.

You can use your mouse to look around and use the hat for some locking/view functions. I set my hat switch to be
push forward and it zooms in
pull back and it zooms out
push left and it is F4
push right and it is F5

the diagonals still work for looking around

OTHER CONTROLS - here are the basic flight controls needed
* means you have to set a key

I Toggle Engine I changed mine to Tab and also the numpad +
W BOOST (WEP) W gives you boost when you need it
F Flaps Up
V Flaps Down note that many aircraft have three stage flaps
G Gear Up/Down this only works for aircraft with automatic gear.
* Manual Gear UP mine was SHIFT/G until I set my numpad up as engine/flight controls
* Manual Gear Down CTRL/G you need around 30 presses to complete
R Cowl/Armour flaps Radiator usually five stages
B Wheel Brakes useful to stop or turn, watch out you or you may nose over
* Lock Tail Wheel makes it easier to takeoff, ,, mine was T
* Toggle Chocks can't move if chocks are in place. Mine was CTRL/C

Weapon One Machine guns Trigger or Enter
Weapon Two Cannon JS Button 2 or Backspace
Weapon Three Rocket JS BUtton 3 or SPace Bar
Weapon Four Bomb JS Button 4 or Alt/Space bar

These should give you a start at IL2. Eventually things like supercharger, Mixture and such come into play, but they aren't necessary in the beginning

One thing we found was that we were always repositoning keys after and even during each flight. I now have the following on my JS
Function button Keyboard
Weapon 1 Trigger
Weapon 2 Thumb button
Weapon 3 Button 7
Weapon 4 Button 8
Enemy Ground Button 5 F7
Friend Ground Button 6 SHIFT/F5
Next Enemy Button 3 CTRL/F2
Next Friend Button 4 SHIFT/F2
Chase view Button 9 F8
external Friend Button 10 SHIFT/F6
External Enemy Button 11 F6
Cockpit Button 12 F1

I also have my hat set as described above. I use the keyboard right hand enter key for my Gunsight toggle and it is right beside the JS so I can reach it while using other buttons.

I have also set my number pad up as my engine/flight controls with the following per row
Engine 1, Engine 2, Engine 3, Engine 4
Engines L, Engines R, Engines All, +
Fire ext, Feather prop, Airbrake, +
Man gear up, Gear, Man Gear Down, -
BRAKE, toggle tail lock, -

the + is the + key and is my engine start/stop
the - is the ENTER key and is my gunsight toggle so I can hit the telescopic sight in midst of a fight.

The extra keys I have alluded to are on the middle keys

Insert - Mix Up Home - Toggle coms Page Up - Supercharger up
Delete - Mix Down End - Elevator Trim centre Page Down - Super down

Shift Insert is Prop pitch up
Shift Delete is Prop pitch down

Arrow up/down - Elevator Trim
Arrow left/right - Rudder trim
Image
Lt. Colonel Colslaw
=AVG=

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot] and 65 guests