Hello everyone,
Is this the same Sturmovik 1946 that Amazon is selling and everyone is raving about? On their description page is says:

"STURMOVIK: 1946 also includes all of previous Il-2 series content in a single simple installation thus bringing themost respected anthology flight simulator to an unmatched 229 flyable aircraftand over 300 total aircraft on one DVD!"

So does this release from GOG have all the previous content they are talking about? I am happy with my purchase either way but I wanted to know if I should buy that one as well? Upon starting the game for the first time the interface looked really old (much older than what I expected when the release date says 2006).

Thanks for your help

Yes it is. IL2 1946 is all of the expansion packs for IL2 rolled into one. Add the mods and the game is mind boggling big.

Thanks for your reply. Do the mods do anything to update the graphics or are they more about new aircraft/missions?

This is the whole shooting match, that includes the last patch 4.09m. With this you're ready for anything, online or offline.
The next patch 4.10 is still in development and the community is waiting for it.
The mods mostly deal with missions and aircraft availabe.
There are other mods such as hsfx, and UP2.01 available, but I don't use them because they increase the game size for me to the point I can't fly. I run a stock pc with just nVidia 6150 graphics.

I prefer the UltraPack 2.01 as the server I fly on uses it.There are mod packs, and then there are mods. Mod packs are made up of many mods, some airplanes, some graphics, some maps, some cockpits, effects, ground objects. Inos of stuff. You can load them singly or in small packs, or go for one of the big mod packs.

There are two main mod packs out right now, UltraPack and HSFX (History Special Effects (I believe)). They are 90% the same. HSFX is more historical in that it requires engine warm ups among other things. It is possible to have both installed, but UltraPack needs to be installed first and then you can enable.disable HSFX

This is the UltraPack site:
http://ultrapack.il2war.com/index.php

However, the best directions (with links to the needed files) for me to install it is here:
http://www.warbirdsofprey.org/index.php?topic=6951.0

Please not there is a patch for the downloaded version from STEAM of IL-2 1946 else it will not work. I do not know if this applies to the GOG version as my copy of IL2 is from the DVD.

HSFX Mod can be found here:
http://www.242sqn.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1780