Quote:
Originally Posted by Igo kyu
This is mistaken I believe, there have been more stand alone DVD/CD versions, the original Sturmovik was stand alone, the Complete Edition DVD was stand alone, it included stuff that had been released before, but some of the content was download only before that time, and if you installed that DVD as the only copy, it would run.
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"IL-2 Sturmovik" should be regarded as different game than the famed IL2 series most people play now. "IL2 Forgotten battles" is sequel (not addon or expansion) to "IL-2 Sturmovik".
The hole series went so: "IL2 Forgotten Battles" (stand alone), then "Aces Expansion Pack" (not standalone, required FB), then "Pacific Fighters" (standalone or merged with FB+AEP; standalone incompatible with merged), then Pe2 (not standalone, required FB+AEP+PF), then "Shturmoviks over Manchuria" (not standalone, required FB+AEP+PF+Pe2), then (in fact together with previous) "1946" (not standalone, required FB+AEP+PF+Pe2+Manchuria). Almost at the same time "IL2: 1946" was released, which of course was standalone as it was FB+AEP+PF+Pe2+Manchuria+1946 inside one DVD. There was some other DVDs like "IL2 Forgotten Battles Gold Pack" which included FB+AEP and "IL2 Sturmovik Series Complete Edition", which included FB+AEP+PF, however I see them only as re-release of old product.
In any way, the point is not about releases, but about modularity (or lack of it). For example, PF and FB+AEP+PF was not compatible (people owning merged version could not join pure PF servers), the same with Pe2 addon (FB+AEP+PF and FB+AEP+PF+Pe2 differed only in quantity of aircrafts and maps, still however FB+AEP+PF+Pe2 could not join FB+AEP+PF). Oh, and the patches. FB+AEP+PF had some nice patches, from which aircrafts from different theatres of war benefited, however these patches could not be applied nor to FB, FB+AEP or PF alone. So, the idea of IL2 series: "you will get free updates only until next addon is released". This is different than in DCS or RoF, which are modular. For example, in DCS you will get engine updates for free until the end of series (even if the whole engine is rewritten), only new aircrafts will cost to you (but you will get updates even if you don't buy new aircrafts).