Friday 2009-10-23 Screenshots Update discussion thread

[zxwings]

We never had a problem with sound using proper level of sound cards and speakers for which it was designed.
The changes for some aircraft using mp3 from video samples isn't right. maybe it is nice for someone, but it is done without 3D enviroument that we had in Il-2.
I listened some mods that recommended me to listen and what I found? 2D sound using one-two samples.... and damaged sound of other aircraft.

Of course we can take the sound from handheld camcoders and put it in sound engine, but it will be incorrect from the point of view what pilot hear, what people on the ground hear, and what you may hear simulating the position (camera) outside the plane in air.

It is too early to ask me what we will have. However in many inerviews I told that we will have other sound engine working even on a cheap sound card and speakers

100% copy of each aircraft we can't make. We can make just some things that are close and simulate in 3D binaural sound that no one sim has or had (partially had Il-2).

By simple words we will have compessed in dynmaic range sound that to get it working well on any type of sound-speaker system.
In Il-2 was wide dynamic rage, that not all sound systems was able to play right.

:) Hopefully the sim pilot in SOW will no longer hear the engine sound of a six o'clock enemy fighter who is secretly approaching him. ;) In the current IL2, there is no stealth in this respect.

[zakkandrachoff]

nice pterodaktulos

ask for oleg.
How is going to call all the Series Of Storm Of War.?
Ej: Storm Of War - Battle of Britain, Storm Of War - Korea, Storm Of War - ...

[Skoshi Tiger]

IMHO,
There are no surviving animals that flew like Pterosaurs and it is very different to infer how they flew.

No doubt it was either the quad-20mm cannons that led to the extinction or that they were extremly tasty.

Sorry for going OT but I couldn't help it.

[Feuerfalke]

No doubt it was either the quad-20mm cannons that led to the extinction or that they were extremly tasty.

Sorry for going OT but I couldn't help it.

Sorry, but you're wrong.

It's perfectly obvious the remaining pterodactyls mutated into creatures like Rodan and attacked Japan:
http://sportsmansdaily.com/thescrum/wp-content/rodan.jpg

[Oleg Maddox]

This screens was over year before release (IGN published it on June 6, 2008; released sept-4-09):

http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/879/879845/il-2-sturmovik-birds-of-prey-20080606105209197_640w.jpg
http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/879/879845/il-2-sturmovik-birds-of-prey-20080606105227774_640w.jpg

..not only screens but also gameplay videotrailers was presented.

2all - it based on project priorities which things are finished\polished first in development stages.

Dear RomBinDaHouse,

They used original code of Il-2, if you don't know. We give them it. They wasn't need to make everything from zero. Isn't it different case? To rework say 3D model of aircraft to add polygons on some details, to make more greater size textures doen't means to make greatest technical and historical research that to make original 3D model. Loking on the models of SoW i'm personally sure that I can say that a lot of people, historian writers, cinematograph, etc will use OUR sim for the reference and modelling for the cinema some aerial battles (like it was already with Il-2, but now it will be on a 10+ times higher level at all and will looks at least in air close to real picture). I'm sure that nobody also would put in a single sim so much love to aviation on the whole market. Everything that currently do others as new fligth sims - its not for years, its just flyby...

Also we are not using technologies like do it others - demo, then upgrade nad upgrade more and more. We make many things in parallel and then do complete compilations more close to beta.

Also you show me pictures, that are not looking like the photo, but looking like the painted picture, that of course has some style of painter(s), but not like real picture that would see the human eye. Trust me :)
In our case - we would like to get the most photographic quality of the whole image on monitor from differnet angles of view and distances. The goal is to get the best looking sim for a long time, how it was with Il-2 when its born.
Also we make a constructor, that many other developers will modify with new content... this absolutely other comparison to the console games.... or ported from console to PC games... :)

Just try to think about info I giving you in my message.

[imaca]

The more I look at that 110 the more amazed I am, not just the reflection off the canopy and the canopy framing shadow on the nose, but the panel detail on the wing, the small panels between the nacel and fuselage show shadowing and high lighting of very high realism, the panels even look slightly uneven as you would see on a real aircraft. Awesome.
Video will be jaw dropping.

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg, just curious, have you seen how Polyphony Digital solves anti-aliasing jagged edges on PSP version of Gran Turismo.

They didn't use anti-aliasing (too processor hungry), they used something like one pixle shift between frames that reduced the jagged edges when game is in motion.

Is anything like this a possibilty for SOW?

http://www.gtplanet.net/why-gran-turismo-psp-looks-so-good/?

There is an article of how PD reduced the jagged edges without using antialiasing.

It is known technology from specialized TV processors.
However in DX11 - there is no contradiction between anti aliasing and HDR technology. We simply currently working in DX10. And As I know in new version of DX10 also will be something that will remove that contradiction. Not sure.
This is small thing that we will put in attention more later becasue it is not the most important things in development tasks.

[Oleg Maddox]

The more I look at that 110 the more amazed I am, not just the reflection off the canopy and the canopy framing shadow on the nose, but the panel detail on the wing, the small panels between the nacel and fuselage show shadowing and high lighting of very high realism, the panels even look slightly uneven as you would see on a real aircraft. Awsome.

I posted couple of screen shots, including this one on the photosource forum.
Photographers, even professionals were thinking that this pic is a photo... and didn't understand why the props ar stoped... they were thinking that it was taken by some accident with aircraft... they discussed it for some time untill I told them it is computer image of real time rendering.

[AdMan]

Please read all my posts.

As the aswer you: In my opinon, these who know me from the time of Il-2 development would understand that to make so good quality of aircraft and vechles means that we will have equal quality of envirounment in future.
The main standard set the planes, then for the ground standard set the vechicles.
Same was with Il-2. It is easy to make comparison of tanks and cars with the ground envirounment in Il-2, that to imagine what we plan to have with the ground, etc in SoW.

Simply there would be such logic, as I undersand the normal logic myself.

If what you are saying is that when it's all said and done the terrain will knock the socks off anything seen in SoW and make me drool on my keyboard then that's great and I trust what you say is true.

[Feuerfalke]

Yes, I think that DX10 (and 11) remove the problem with HDR and FSAA. Of course that also needs a graphics-card that supports it, but DX10-cards are already available for a while, so it's not gonna cost a fortune.

On a personal note: I honestly don't give a damn about the BoP-Screenshots posted. As posted before, the graphics are way to Hollywood and it never was intended to be a flightsim in the literal meaning of the word. If you go for graphics and nice effects go for BoP or HAWX. Neither is a real competitor for SoW.

Doesn't mean either game is bad - it's just comparing apples and oranges.

And when in doubt, I prefer a high degree of simulation over graphics anytime.

[Oleg Maddox]

Hello Mr. Maddox, thx for answering our questions.

May I ask you whether you and your team have found a way to significantly widen the pilot's field of view (up to a natural 130° or so)?
Did you implement the TripleHead2Go set ? Will there be any option to simulate that widened view on a single wide screen (even if to sacrify two third of the image's height) ?

Thanks

TripleHead2Go we plan to support. Matrox sent us everything. But we will do this implementation in final, because it isn't the main goal of the sim. It is nice feature and nice for representations.

As for 130 degrees of view - that will be very unrealistic. We already going for compomise always with the computer games - we make wider basic angle of view. This thing distort the feel of distances to the object, but make the wider angle. However with make more "close up" like should see that distances the human eye. This is compromize in every game.

[Oleg Maddox]

And when in doubt, I prefer a high degree of simulation over graphics anytime.

I think we should have both :)

And in additional excellent online gameplay... ;)

[13th Hsqn Protos]

S~! Oleg

Thank you for fighting to keep S.O.W alive. :!:

As usual your aircraft cockpits are the best in the industry.

Not going to talk about terrain screenshots publicly at this point except to say ........ 2gb video cards are going to be pretty common soon. I have one now. You can put a lot of textures in that buffer. ;)

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg,
I've read that Sow_Bob is coded to use take advantage of multiple-core processors. I've read that Intel will release a 6-core processor in the future. Is the SoW coding limited in the number of cores it will or can make use of? Is a hyper-threading CPU an advantage?
Flyby out

4 core is working now

[Oleg Maddox]

S~! Oleg

Thank you for fighting to keep S.O.W alive. :!:

As usual your aircraft cockpits are the best in the industry.

Not going to talk about terrain screenshots publicly at this point except to say ........ 2gb video cards are going to be pretty common soon. I have one now. You can put a lot of textures in that buffer. ;)

We already put a lot non-pixelated textures with the clouse up look.

[Oleg Maddox]

nice pterodaktulos

ask for oleg.
How is going to call all the Series Of Storm Of War.?
Ej: Storm Of War - Battle of Britain, Storm Of War - Korea, Storm Of War - ...

The first we should finish and release all things around BoB. This is a basis. Basis of engine, basis of features and basis of upcoming features and titles. As well as it is basis of our own and third party add-ons industry.


We really make something other than Il-2, but learning experince of Il-2.

[Oleg Maddox]

http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae325/rboiko1/grab0168.jpg?t=1256600392

http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae325/rboiko1/ptero1.jpg?t=1256600423

Are pterodactyls out of the question? :grin: I would very much like to see pterodactyls in the game. (With a realistic Damage model :-P)

Thanks for the update, I have no criticisms, I understand it is a work in progress and good things take time.

We did seagulls. Almost like pterodactyls and shouild be dangerous in the collision with any aircraft.

[SlipBall]

The first we should finish and release all things around BoB. This is a basis. Basis of engine, basis of features and basis of upcoming features and titles. As well as it is basis of our own and third party add-ons industry.


We really make something other than Il-2, but learning experince of Il-2.



Have you settled on a different engine name, or will it remain SOW???...do you still expect a release at the time that you stated...hope so:grin:

[Feathered_IV]

It's wonderful that you are here talking to us Oleg. I'd really like to ask, will you consider making a quick-save feature that can be used in missions? Work and family commitments make it impossible to enjoy a long mission in one sitting. Trading saves with friends would be a great thing too. Almost like sharing tracks, but better. :)

[13th Hsqn Protos]

I think we should have both :)

And in additional excellent online gameplay... ;)

1. Does that mean we have better netcode for S.O.W ?

2. Will the Game UI have any new online communications tools such as irc built in or some type of instant messaging or friends tools?

3. What if anything can you reveal at this time about support for squadrons? I feel that IL2 online play was severely hampered by the 'dogfight' mentality as opposed to a more coop or mission oriented style of play. Will there be more support for squadron play?

4. I know you will scream at me ..... but will onliners finally be rid of the offliners. Will there finally be separate installs ? (Protos dives to avoid Olegs cannon fire)

Seeing you here reminds me of the Golden Age of IL2 the FB days :grin:

[Feuerfalke]

I think we should have both :)

And in additional excellent online gameplay... ;)


Well, in this case graphics aid realism, which would be the prefect optimum, of course :grin:


But I'm personally also maybe most interested in the second line you noted. As I posted before, it's the things you don't see on screenshots that makes the difference and I'm really interested what things you came up with to enhance online gameplay, internet code, stats and hit-detection, scores, shared kills, etc. My personal dream: Killmarkers on the plane and ability to apply "personal markings" to your plane. Well, and of course multicrewed bombers, ground control / tower / radar manable by players, .... :grin:

[Oleg Maddox]

It's wonderful that you are here talking to us Oleg. I'd really like to ask, will you consider making a quick-save feature that can be used in missions? Work and family commitments make it impossible to enjoy a long mission in one sitting. Trading saves with friends would be a great thing too. Almost like sharing tracks, but better. :)

At the moment I can't say. Really in flight sim it is usually impossible, becasue if you stop aircraft with the certain FM then when you strt agian the aircraft should remeber all the things: AI action at the last stage, speed-maneuver, target if is, a so many other parpameters.... The problem it is in air, not on the ground and at start of the saved gane parpameters will be changes, even if you save all above things.... This a bit hard to explain.

[Oleg Maddox]

1. Does that mean we have better netcode for S.O.W ?

2. Will the Game UI have any new online communications tools such as irc built in or some type of instant messaging or friends tools?

3. What if anything can you reveal at this time about support for squadrons? I feel that IL2 online play was severely hampered by the 'dogfight' mentality as opposed to a more coop or mission oriented style of play. Will there be more support for squadron play?

4. I know you will scream at me ..... but will onliners finally be rid of the offliners. Will there finally be separate installs ? (Protos dives to avoid Olegs cannon fire)

Seeing you here reminds me of the Golden Age of IL2 the FB days :grin:

You have too many questions.

4. No. it will be one game. But signle play based on multiplay engine inshort words

[Feathered_IV]

At the moment I can't say. Really in flight sim it is usually impossible, becasue if you stop aircraft with the certain FM then when you strt agian the aircraft should remeber all the things: AI action at the last stage, speed-maneuver, target if is, a so many other parpameters.... The problem it is in air, not on the ground and at start of the saved gane parpameters will be changes, even if you save all above things.... This a bit hard to explain.

It's okay, I understand the complications and appreciate that it is the reason no other flight sim has done so in the past. I'd hoped for such a feature though as it would add so much extra scope to how one can enjoy a sim.

[13th Hsqn Protos]

You have too many questions.

Ok Ok .... (Protos is RTB)
No more questions until next update :grin::grin:

Spasiba

[OSSI]

Will there be a Bf109 in the Game?:-D

[jctrnacty]

hi Oleg , I know you don´t like this question and will answer when it´s done. But can you tell us at least approximate time of release?

Thanks

[Tree_UK]

hi Oleg , I know you don´t like this question and will answer when it´s done. But can you tell us at least approximate time of release?

Thanks

Oleg seems to be avoiding that one, with the game still being in Alpha I doubt very much SOW will make the BOB anniversary, more early 2011, maybe Oleg can shed some light on this later.

[Oleg Maddox]

Will there be a Bf109 in the Game?:-D

For what? No! Bf109 there we don't plan!

We plan Bf-109E in several modifications.

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg seems to be avoiding that one, with the game still being in Alpha I doubt very much SOW will make the BOB anniversary, more early 2011, maybe Oleg can shed some light on this later.

Really I told that. We need to release in 2010. Not later

[Tree_UK]

Really I told that. We need to release in 2010. Not later

Thanks oleg, but you did make the same quote for 2009!! :grin: Anyway good luck.

[philip.ed]

Really I told that. We need to release in 2010. Not later

That's great news oleg! Any answer to my previous question? :grin:

[Dozer_EAF19]

For what? No! Bf109 there we don't plan!

We plan Bf-109E in several modifications.

LOL! Good to hear your voice (?) again Oleg!

I have a very pedantic point to make though - the Germans didn't use '-' in their aircraft names, it was 'Bf 109E' not 'Bf-109E'. It's the Americans who use the '-' (P-51, F-22 etc)!

[Feuerfalke]

Thanks oleg, but you did make the same quote for 2009!! :grin: Anyway good luck.

The funny thing is, under normal circumstances you'd say: Hey, you told us last year, why should we believe you this year, but with this release the opposite is the case. With each announcement done, the chance rises dramatically that the new date will be it ;)

Going to be a great year for Flightsimmers. DCS:A-10C for the high-tech needs, SoW for challenging dogfights. :cool:

(No, I didn't forget about RoF, but right now, the only (non-MMO-game-) must-be-online game I know dramatically lacks multiplayer-playability and they have pushed them down the to-do-list even further. :rolleyes: )


Oh, and I vote Dozer for the smart-ass-prize ;)

[ZaltysZ]

I have a very pedantic point to make though - the Germans didn't use '-' in their aircraft names, it was 'Bf 109E' not 'Bf-109E'. It's the Americans who use the '-' (P-51, F-22 etc)!

Heck with that '-' :) At least it is BF109 and not Me-109 ;)

[Skarphol]

Thanks oleg, but you did make the same quote for 2009!! :grin: Anyway good luck.

We got a little clue about release date on page 18 of this thread:

1. First of all would be good to read the header of dev. update. I will show Britain when it will be ready. Don't you think that others also didn't show the map a year before release?


So I read this as the game will be out in about a year. From now. And with a little wishful thinking: Maybe less..

Skarphol

[KOM.Nausicaa]

Really I told that. We need to release in 2010. Not later

I think Oleg means he really needs to release in 2010 for economic reasons. I don't think it can be pushed any further.

[Oleg Maddox]

LOL! Good to hear your voice (?) again Oleg!

I have a very pedantic point to make though - the Germans didn't use '-' in their aircraft names, it was 'Bf 109E' not 'Bf-109E'. It's the Americans who use the '-' (P-51, F-22 etc)!

I know this. Same with Russians in WWII time in many documents.
But we will make as it is now most common.

[Oleg Maddox]

I think Oleg means he really needs to release in 2010 for economic reasons. I don't think it can be pushed any further.

Perfectly right

[Oleg Maddox]

Thanks oleg, but you did make the same quote for 2009!! :grin: Anyway good luck.

What i can tell about this. Last couple of years I had hard times in my team.
No increasing of my team, but it was neccessary. Someone didn't understand it...
And happened what should happened - increasing the time.
Also I was need to fire several people and to hire new. And soon will be more new from the game industry I hope.
However with current amount and level - I see the real light. Simple with more people we may make more that I want myself :)

Also could be other situation - something that I promised(not the main things) may not happens in the release, but a bit later. Same was with Il-2 some time. But you always got what I promised in general.

[Tree_UK]

What i can tell about this. Last couple of years I had hard times in my team.
No increasing of my team, but it was neccessary. Someone didn't understand it...
And happened what should happened - increasing the time.
Also I was need to fire several people and to hire new. And soon will be more new from the game industry I hope.
However with current amount and level - I see the real light. Simple with more people we may make more that I want myself :)

Also could be other situation - something that I promised(not the main things) may not happens in the release, but a bit later. Same was with Il-2 some time. But you always got what I promised in general.

Thanks for that Oleg, its good to hear things are back on track, and thanks again for an honest answer.

[zapatista]

TripleHead2Go we plan to support. Matrox sent us everything. But we will do this implementation in final, because it isn't the main goal of the sim. It is nice feature and nice for representations.

As for 130 degrees of view - that will be very unrealistic. We already going for compomise always with the computer games - we make wider basic angle of view. This thing distort the feel of distances to the object, but make the wider angle. However with make more "close up" like should see that distances the human eye. This is compromize in every game.

hi oleg,

but will you support multiple monitors without triplehead2go from matrox ?

with the newer gfx cards we can use 3 or more monitors at the same time, without using a matrox 3H2go. for ex using one big widescreen in the middle, and a smaller 19' or 17' on either side to improve peripheral view (this is an economical way for many of us to add more lcd monitors since many of us now have upgraded to bigger widescreens and still have some older smaller lcd's around, or can buy them on the cheap)

but BoB would need to be able to support that, for ex central 27' monitor = 60 FoV, with a 19' in landscape mode on either side adding 30 FoV for each of those , producing a total of 120 FoV over the 3 monitors side by side.

this is already possible in some current games released in the last 2 years, i hope you allow us this function in BoB as well.

[Oleg Maddox]

hi oleg,

but will you support multiple monitors without triplehead2go from matrox ?

with the newer gfx cards we can use 3 or more monitors at the same time, without using a matrox 3H2go. for ex using one big widescreen in the middle, and a smaller 19' or 17' on either side to improve peripheral view (this is an economical way for many of us to add more lcd monitors since many of us now have upgraded to bigger widescreens and still have some older smaller lcd's around, or can buy them on the cheap)

but BoB would need to be able to support that, for ex central 27' monitor = 60 FoV, with a 19' in landscape mode on either side adding 30 FoV for each of those , producing a total of 120 FoV over the 3 monitors side by side.

this is already possible in some current games released in the last 2 years, i hope you allow us this function in BoB as well.

maybe. I put such things in secondary importance, becasue of not so wide distribution.

[HFC_Dolphin]

Regarding the release of the game, I think Oleg couldn't have been more clear.
He NEEDS the game to be out the soonest possible, so he can get back a portion of his investment.

When it comes to huge companies time may not be crucial, but in a small company like 1C:Maddox, every delay costs a lot to the owner. Both in terms of money and personal time with family/friends/etc. I don't think that Oleg can sleep well knowing that game is not in the market yet.

That's why I think we should all give him some rest and wait, knowing that Oleg ABOVE ALL wants the game released soonest possible.

And when it is released, I wish him a nice trip to mountains :)

[Oleg Maddox]

And when it is released, I wish him a nice trip to mountains :)

And underwater trip :) to some place where I can get white sharks shots

Thank you. Long time wasn't anywhere....:(

[tagTaken2]

Great to hear from you again, Mr Maddox.

I hope force feedback is supported well in BoB. Very important to me :)

Is there any news on SoW: Korea, while you are here...

[SlipBall]

And underwater trip :) to some place where I can get white sharks shots

Thank you. Long time wasn't anywhere....:(


From shark cage I hope...you look too much like Russian seal to the shark's eyes :grin:

[Forgottenfighter]

To all of the people who keep saying that Birds of Prey looks so great, I know I am not an artist but I think the picture on the right is closer to real life than the exaggerated colors of BoP.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq177/BayonetGuy/BOP.jpg

Have faith in Oleg. I can tell from the alpha shots that this sim will be stunning when it is complete, so have patience. Thank you Oleg.

[Oleg Maddox]

Great to hear from you again, Mr Maddox.

I hope force feedback is supported well in BoB. Very important to me :)

Is there any news on SoW: Korea, while you are here...

Korea at the moment hanged. First BoB. All peole work only over BoB

[335th_GRSwaty]

Thank you for everything Oleg!!

[philip.ed]

Oleg, will the clouds change shape? So a good day could turn overcast?

Also, will the engine support hundreds of aircraft in the sky at the same time like Battle of Britain 2 Wings of Victory does?

Lastly, will there be a dynamic campaign; so the abilty to fly back to base, refuel, re-arm and then take off again whilst the battle is still raging?

Thank-you for being so helpful :D

PS: one more question, sorry I can't stop myself! You once asked me to e-mail you with information on barricaded fields; a measure which farmers and other people employed to stop luftwaffe airmen landing. Because I have been very busy and haven't had the time to research this properly, did you ever find anyone to do it? And will it be modelled? Such a feature shouldn't be too hard to model, and would certainly add to the immersion :D

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg, will the clouds change shape? So a good day could turn overcast?

Also, will the engine support hundreds of aircraft in the sky at the same time like Battle of Britain 2 Wings of Victory does?

Lastly, will there be a dynamic campaign; so the abilty to fly back to base, refuel, re-arm and then take off again whilst the battle is still raging?

Thank-you for being so helpful :D

PS: one more question, sorry I can't stop myself! You once asked me to e-mail you with information on barricaded fields; a measure which farmers and other people employed to stop luftwaffe airmen landing. Because I have been very busy and haven't had the time to research this properly, did you ever find anyone to do it? And will it be modelled? Such a feature shouldn't be too hard to model, and would certainly add to the immersion :D

please look interviews on simhq.com
I don't plan to tell more now. Especially when some info still secret.

[Feathered_IV]

Also, will the engine support hundreds of aircraft in the sky at the same time like Battle of Britain 2 Wings of Victory does?


Ah, I wonder about that too. Il-1 series is more for skirmishes. Large fleets do not work so well. Rise of Flight is a next gen sim but can only handle a dozen or so aircraft before it starts to slow down. I hope SoW will not suffer from similar limitations.

[Feuerfalke]

To all of the people who keep saying that Birds of Prey looks so great, I know I am not an artist but I think the picture on the right is closer to real life than the exaggerated colors of BoP.

http://i445.photobucket.com/albums/qq177/BayonetGuy/BOP.jpg

Have faith in Oleg. I can tell from the alpha shots that this sim will be stunning when it is complete, so have patience. Thank you Oleg.

Probably somewhere in between, but you are right - the saturation, but especially the contrast is much too high. When you have a blinding noon sun above but can barely see anything inside your cockpit, somethings definitely not right.

http://www.tractionpr.com/1C/IL-2%20Sturmovik/il2_sturmovik_birds_of_prey_02.jpg


@ OM:
You can take pictures of a Black Shark in Russia :grin:


Just don't play sharkbait!

Maybe you can share some shots you made after your vacation ;)

[Oleg Maddox]

Probably somewhere in between, but you are right - the saturation, but especially the contrast is much too high. When you have a blinding noon sun above but can barely see anything inside your cockpit, somethings definitely not right.


Maybe you can share some shots you made after your vacation ;)

Also vigneting is the things that shouldn't be. I understand as photographer that some time vigneting makes the pic looking better and sometime using vigneting myself on the photos, but all the time... "simulating" fringe region of eyes - it shouldn't be done because just of this... :)

I can't post myself here the link to my photo website to show undewater and other shots. It would look like advertizement.

However I plan to post there with evaluation of EOS 7D (Canon again gave me new camera for the personal test) some shots from our office nearest time. :)

[Nike-it]

I can't post myself here the link to my photo website to show undewater and other shots. It would look like advertizement.
:)

Then I can do that;) Maddox Art (http://www.maddoxart.net/)
Enjoy guys.
(but all discussions about it in the "Other Topics (http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/forumdisplay.php?f=117)" section please.)

[HFC_Dolphin]

Oleg likes Dolphins :D

[NSU]

Hi Oleg

can you clear your private messages in this forum? ;-)

[Feuerfalke]

Also vigneting is the things that shouldn't be. I understand as photographer that some time vigneting makes the pic looking better and sometime using vigneting myself on the photos, but all the time... "simulating" fringe region of eyes - it shouldn't be done because just of this... :)

I can't post myself here the link to my photo website to show undewater and other shots. It would look like advertizement.

However I plan to post there with evaluation of EOS 7D (Canon again gave me new camera for the personal test) some shots from our office nearest time. :)

Yes, I noticed the vignetting myself. I think it's misplaced in a PC-game - the field of view is narrow enough on a monitor and especially in a simulation the player's focus will not always be in the middle of the screen, so the vignetting is wrong all along.

EOS 7D - Wow! Now that's a nice cam. Looking forward to pictures of your office, though you probably won't use much of the 7Ds features for that ;)

I recently started with my little EOS 1000D - got to say that I'd probably go for a EOS 500D if I had to make the choice again, but it's a nice camera for a start - what it can't do, I make up with photoshop :grin:

Er, okay, let's get back to topic ;)

[Oleg Maddox]

Hi Oleg

can you clear your private messages in this forum? ;-)

you forgot my email?

personal message board overloaded each day when I clear it. :( Ok will try right now.

[KOM.Nausicaa]

Wow very nice !! Now I have a totally different question to Oleg, not flight sim, but about camera knowledge, haha. As a matte painter for the movie industry I am looking for a low price range digital camera that makes good high res pictures and has a large memory - any ideas Oleg? (sorry guys couldnt resist to ask the man)

[Oleg Maddox]

Hi Oleg

can you clear your private messages in this forum? ;-)

I did. But please asap. I think there will be again full very soon

[Oleg Maddox]

Wow very nice !! Now I have a totally different question to Oleg, not flight sim, but about camera knowledge, haha. As a matte painter for the movie industry I am looking for a low price range digital camera that makes good high res pictures and has a large memory - any ideas Oleg? (sorry guys couldnt resist to ask the man)

To great question.
If you only can post such a question on my russian forum there - I would ask. The problem there is you use traslator there is not ability to register on the forum... you need to use russian form, then write english. Have no time to make it working right. Ot to make other message board there.
And yes... I answer and put ther new content only at home.

[Oleg Maddox]

Yes, I noticed the vignetting myself. I think it's misplaced in a PC-game - the field of view is narrow enough on a monitor and especially in a simulation the player's focus will not always be in the middle of the screen, so the vignetting is wrong all along.

EOS 7D - Wow! Now that's a nice cam. Looking forward to pictures of your office, though you probably won't use much of the 7Ds features for that ;)

I recently started with my little EOS 1000D - got to say that I'd probably go for a EOS 500D if I had to make the choice again, but it's a nice camera for a start - what it can't do, I make up with photoshop :grin:

Er, okay, let's get back to topic ;)

Yes lets back.

PS. Use Canon's Digital Photo Professional tools supplied with your camera and RAW format and then I'm sure you will enjoy you camera more time before to move to more expencive, say EOS 5D mark II or EOS 7D. Only these Canon's camers make sense to move to the next level.
However, I'm using Nikons most time.

[NSU]

ok you have the PN :-)
i have only a very old E Mail adress from you

[KOM.Nausicaa]

To great question.
If you only can post such a question on my russian forum there - I would ask. The problem there is you use traslator there is not ability to register on the forum... you need to use russian form, then write english. Have no time to make it working right. Ot to make other message board there.
And yes... I answer and put ther new content only at home.

I will try to register there :-)

[Feuerfalke]

We should open another thread on this ;)

Well, back to topic: I know what you meant about the eye for the right looks now - SoW will look awesome :grin:

[Oleg Maddox]

1. We should open another thread on this ;)

2. Well, back to topic: I know what you meant about the eye for the right looks now - SoW will look awesome :grin:

1. Only on my own forum. Not here.
2. Yes. Thank you.

[HenFre]

Hello Oleg

Good to see you back here again :grin:

I just have 2 quick questions for you:

- Will the player be able to make humans (such as groundcrew on airfields and soilders) move around the ground like you can do with vehicles in il-2?

- Will the player be able to animate the humans. Like making their arms move and such?

[philip.ed]

Oleg, thanks for being so helpful.

Is there a chance of seeing more in-game shots this friday?

Also, you mentioned that colours etc are not permanent in regards to the terrain. Are the textures we are seeing here actually going to be used on the map of britain?

[philip.ed]

Hello Oleg

Good to see you back here again :grin:

I just have 2 quick questions for you:

- Will the player be able to make humans (such as groundcrew on airfields and soilders) move around the ground like you can do with vehicles in il-2?

- Will the player be able to animate the humans. Like making their arms move and such?

You can drive vehicles in il-2?! :confused:

[HenFre]

No philip.ed. Perhaps I did not describe the question clearly enough :confused:

In the editor in il-2 you can control vehicles through waypoints and I was just wondering if this would be possible with humans in SOW:BOB.

[Oleg Maddox]

Hello Oleg

Good to see you back here again :grin:

I just have 2 quick questions for you:

- Will the player be able to make humans (such as groundcrew on airfields and soilders) move around the ground like you can do with vehicles in il-2?

- Will the player be able to animate the humans. Like making their arms move and such?

Scripted animation of human at the moment under quesrtion. Too much work.
At first we should finish pilots and crew of bombers. Then the guys on the AA artillery. then we will see.

In the release we don't plan controlable vehiclles by players. However I wrote that it is possible future of the project. We put in code the feature of use it in future :)

[Oleg Maddox]

No philip.ed. Perhaps I did not describe the question clearly enough :confused:

In the editor in il-2 you can control vehicles through waypoints and I was just wondering if this would be possible with humans in SOW:BOB.

If there will be humans walking around then probably yes, like the cars also would be possible

[philip.ed]

No philip.ed. Perhaps I did not describe the question clearly enough :confused:

In the editor in il-2 you can control vehicles through waypoints and I was just wondering if this would be possible with humans in SOW:BOB.

Ahh, that makes sense :D

I'll tell you what would be a real immersion factor in SoW. If ever a BoF addon was made, how cool would it be to land to find the airfield completely destroyed and to have some erk shouting 'get in the bloody truck!'. Then you can get in the truck, be driven to another airfield and start operating from there. I've never played a game, apart from maybe BoB2 WoV, where I have had to move airfields because my one was too badly damaged.

This brings me on to another question: oleg, will airfields have the ability to be damaged to the extent where there are bomb craters on the field, and even unexploded bombs? ;)

[proton45]

God, I'm having fun reading this stuff...thanks Oleg!!! :) :)

[philip.ed]

God, I'm having fun reading this stuff...thanks Oleg!!! :) :)

Same, I keep on refeshing my browser as it says that oleg is still online ;) LOL :-P

[150GCT_Veltro]

About multiplayer.

Would be possible have a different (improved) score system, where we can register also factories, airfields, arbours ecc. ecc. as destroyed targets or better area?
This feature could be usefull for online events and not only for BoB. For ex, blue must destroy 75% of London industrial area, and red of course must defend the same area. This should be possible in a dog server with a time limit.

Actualy in SEOW campaigns we do it putting a car inside the factories, hangar, house, fuel depot ecc. ecc..

[Feuerfalke]

blue must destroy 75% of London industrial area

Destroy... 75%... :shock:

I didn't know Germans had nuclear bombs in BoB.



It was posted before that BoB has completely different scoresystem. Since static emplacements like radars, airfields and bunkers are now a priority target, as opposed to the primarily CAS and tank-busting on the eastern front, I bet static objects will be an important part of this new scoring system.

[150GCT_Veltro]

Destroy... 75%... :shock:

I didn't know Germans had nuclear bombs in BoB.



It was posted before that BoB has completely different scoresystem. Since static emplacements like radars, airfields and bunkers are now a priority target, as opposed to the primarily CAS and tank-busting on the eastern front, I bet static objects will be an important part of this new scoring system.

75% is an example......

Yes, so: can we scored an idustrial (generic) area? When you say static objects, are you talking about the static objects we already have on the map as default static objects?

[luthier]

Also, you mentioned that colours etc are not permanent in regards to the terrain. Are the textures we are seeing here actually going to be used on the map of britain?

I'll answer that while Oleg's out.

The textures are WIP. Some are placeholders, other are not. Once the colors are fixed, the non-placeholder textures will be used in the main gameplay map.

I want to explain the thought process behind the map you're seeing right now a little better. It wasn't a "let's make a little slice of Britain" kind of thing. It wasn't a "let's make the most gorgeous map we can" kind of thing. It was a "let's make a map where we can stretch out various textures, test various options of 3D cliffs, and have a large variety of terrain types dumped together for quicker debugging."

That's how a lot of things are done in development. You need intermediary steps on the long arduous climb to perfection. This map is one of those steps.

[Feuerfalke]

75% is an example......

Yes, so: can we scored an idustrial (generic) area? When you say static objects, are you talking about the static objects we already have on the map as default static objects?

Well, as posted it's just my bet. But I'm pretty sure somehow it will be implemented. Now, if it will be triggers or special win-markers that need to be destroyed, I don't know. But I still bet it will be possible in some way.

[philip.ed]

I'll answer that while Oleg's out.

The textures are WIP. Some are placeholders, other are not. Once the colors are fixed, the non-placeholder textures will be used in the main gameplay map.

I want to explain the thought process behind the map you're seeing right now a little better. It wasn't a "let's make a little slice of Britain" kind of thing. It wasn't a "let's make the most gorgeous map we can" kind of thing. It was a "let's make a map where we can stretch out various textures, test various options of 3D cliffs, and have a large variety of terrain types dumped together for quicker debugging."

That's how a lot of things are done in development. You need intermediary steps on the long arduous climb to perfection. This map is one of those steps.

Thanks luthier, that makes perfect sense. Can I ask, when designing your textures for britain/france, are you using historical photos when possible? For example, will you be attempting to perfectly replicate the actual fields and roads that exist? So for example, if I was flying around kent I could use the roads to find my way back to, say, west-malling...? ;)

Thanks for being so helpful though. I know I have a lot of questions ;)

[furbs]

i hope they use the photos i was asked to take back in 2004(or 5 cant remember now)...i took about 60 pics of pre-war houses, pubs, farms and other stuff. cant wait to see if some of them made it into SOW :)

[drafting]

Beautiful work, Oleg and Luthier! The 110 screenshot is especially amazing... Very true to life. I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, too! :grin:

Since it's now possible to open canopies, etc (I may be wrong?), I wonder if it'd be possible too to have more complex 'bail out' sequences?

Bailing out is a pretty desperate and sometimes violent ordeal, and it'd be incredible if your view point could kind of 'leap' out of the cockpit and 'spin' away from the plane instead of just popping into a 3rd-person perspective of the pilot in his chute.

Also, up till now, you know that you're getting out if your plane's high enough and you hit the 'bail out' key, but in real life it might be impossible due to high speed, g's, or violent spinning... Maybe add a little fear into hitting 'ctrl-e'? :)

I remember a patch added to European Air War long ago that added 'realistic' bail outs, and it was a pretty scary ordeal. You definitely weren't assured of making it out alive if you weren't straight and level, and it made you wonder about bailing out long before you were missing a wing, tail, and engine and were fluttering to the ground.

[philip.ed]

Beautiful work, Oleg and Luthier! The 110 screenshot is especially amazing... Very true to life. I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, too! :grin:

Since it's now possible to open canopies, etc (I may be wrong?), I wonder if it'd be possible too to have more complex 'bail out' sequences?

Bailing out is a pretty desperate and sometimes violent ordeal, and it'd be incredible if your view point could kind of 'leap' out of the cockpit and 'spin' away from the plane instead of just popping into a 3rd-person perspective of the pilot in his chute.

Also, up till now, you know that you're getting out if your plane's high enough and you hit the 'bail out' key, but in real life it might be impossible due to high speed, g's, or violent spinning... Maybe add a little fear into hitting 'ctrl-e'? :)

I remember a patch added to European Air War long ago that added 'realistic' bail outs, and it was a pretty scary ordeal. You definitely weren't assured of making it out alive if you weren't straight and level, and it made you wonder about bailing out long before you were missing a wing, tail, and engine and were fluttering to the ground.

That would be cool. However, from the screens it is clear that we won't be able to see the pilots arms, legs, torso etc. It would be a bit odd to have the process in 1st person without seeing these features. I'm not sure though, it could work....;)

[AdMan]

I'll answer that while Oleg's out.

The textures are WIP. Some are placeholders, other are not. Once the colors are fixed, the non-placeholder textures will be used in the main gameplay map.

I want to explain the thought process behind the map you're seeing right now a little better. It wasn't a "let's make a little slice of Britain" kind of thing. It wasn't a "let's make the most gorgeous map we can" kind of thing. It was a "let's make a map where we can stretch out various textures, test various options of 3D cliffs, and have a large variety of terrain types dumped together for quicker debugging."

That's how a lot of things are done in development. You need intermediary steps on the long arduous climb to perfection. This map is one of those steps.

Thanks for the insight. As an artist I've learned not to show WIP that doesn't look complete (even if it's not) because the natural response from people is to get worried if they don't understand the process. Knowing the purpose of this particular map I can now better see what is being tested.

[AdMan]

grab0130
these clouds look amazing!

[zapatista]

hi Oleg,

thanks for your previous answer

Q: about dynamic campaign and aircraft available at airfields

1) will destroying enemy aircraft parked on the ground affect the aircraft the enemy pilots can "select" at that airfield ?
2) will fresh aircraft re-supply to front line airfields be modeled in the campaign timeline, eg
- every X time the factory production can produce X number aircraft type A,B,C and those become available at regular interval to be flown to airfields for us. if more enemy aircraft are destroyed then they can produce, this affects aircraft available at that specific airfield (forcing pilots of that team to use more rear located airfields, and hence need more flying time to the frontline which further weakens their team)
- if all 109's at an airfield are destroyed on the ground, the german pilots should not be able to select 109's at that airfield, and after X time some fresh factory 109's could be flown in to that airfield and become available
3) will new aircraft resupply to airfields be modeled by AI flying in these aircraft (which means the enemy would see those resupply flights to, and could intercept them)
4) if aircraft are damaged at an airfield, either because a pilot landed a damaged aircraft or some aircraft were damaged by an enemy attack, will those aircraft be "repaired" on the ground in XYZ time and gradually become available again ? (major damage to aircraft would mean dead aircraft, less damage could be gradually repaired)

thx for all your hard work on BoB, it is very exiting to see the continued development coming together at this stage :)

those type of factors really affect immersion in a sim, because the actions from each team have a direct effect on the opposing teams fighting ability

5) if some of those campaign features are not immediately available, is this part of your game engine that will be "open" for your fanbase to work on themselves so they can put time and effort into those aspects of the game to ?

[BadAim]

Thanks for the insight. As an artist I've learned not to show WIP that doesn't look complete (even if it's not) because the natural response from people is to get worried if they don't understand the process. Knowing the purpose of this particular map I can now better see what is being tested.


I remember a similar problem when installing concealed vertical rod exit devices in brand new double doors. (my buddy the glass guy had recieved the doors four weeks late on the day that the customers were supposed to move in and they weren't prepped for the hardware, hardware that was never designed to be field installed by the way)

It was the hardest thing to explain to everyone that the job was 89% prep work and that once the doors started to sprout lock parts the job was nearly done. Sure enough an hour after I screwed in the first mounting stud I was hanging the doors.

To be fair they were moving several million dollars worth of medical equipment in the back while I was trying to get the doors finished in front. So a suppose a little panic was in order from people who don't understand the process.

[F16_Petter]

Thank you Oleg & Co for the nice updates.
Here are a couple of questions.

Q1. Could you please tell us something about light rendering in SoW regarding "after sunset" that means nighttime. As of now, I have not seen any PC simluator that simulates pitch black night conditions.
(only real "industrial" full flight simulators at the academy).

Take IL2 versus reality for example, there is no way that you could navigate in the air @ 23:35 on a Octobre night in Europe region without instruments. You would not see the horizon, or anything at all.. unless perhaps three conditions applied:
A) Lots of groundlights giving away the contour of terrain and horizon.
B) Altitude was 65.000 feet and above and you might get a glimpse of dawn or sunset far far away.
C) There is moonligt or bright stars and you are flying over the artics..

In IL2 I cannot recreate any night time condition where it is difficult to see the ground or navigate... regardless of time, season or location.
The only time I get problem navigating is when I am above overcast or when flying inside a cloud. (ofcourse)

So to get back to the question, please tell us something about differances with IL2 and SoW regarding night conditions.

I know that there are many "experts" out there that would like to wave off this question by just saying..
"well, during world war 2 they never flew at night, or they did very seldom because it was so difficult.. so why even bother making this realistic.. its just a waste of developer time... its not worth it, its not interesting bla bla bla."

All I wish for is a combat flightsim where it IS difficult or nearly impossible to fly during nighttime.
:)


Q2. Regarding CEM. etc... Will it be possible to select feeding from different fuel tanks in the planes that have this ability? (tank selector valve)

Thank you very much for the efforts you are putting into this simulator.
Best wishes from a cold and very dark Scandinavia.
;)

[jocko417]

Hi Oleg,

Lovely shots, very excited. I have a question about your Spitfire model, it has chord-wise stiffeners installed above the main wheel wells, I had thought these weren't installed until later in the war, predominately on Spitfires involved in dive bombing, due to stresses involved during high g pull outs. Photo evidence would have it that the average Mk I/II Spits did not have them during the Battle of Britain, although they could have been retro-fitted after the battle as the airframes aged. The Spit Mk I at the IWM in London has them, but also carries late war roundels which suggests the stiffeners were added later.

[Romanator21]

All I wish for is a combat flightsim where it IS difficult or nearly impossible to fly during nighttime.
:)


I think the biggest problem is for computers at home: It's nearly impossible to see anything in night conditions in the game if the room the monitor is in is sunlit, or otherwise bright. This is also a concern with the glossy monitor screens that seem to be more common these days. Making a pitch black environment would just turn the screen into a mirror for some folks unless they had the luxury of playing in a darkroom. It's not always possible if you have a family or roommates that need the light :)

[wannabetheace]

Then I can do that;)

Thanks a lot :)

[Snuff_Pidgeon]

I was wondering if rain and snow was going to be added and how would they be modelled? I would luv to see rain landing on my canopy and wings.

[Oleg Maddox]

Hi Oleg,

Lovely shots, very excited. I have a question about your Spitfire model, it has chord-wise stiffeners installed above the main wheel wells, I had thought these weren't installed until later in the war, predominately on Spitfires involved in dive bombing, due to stresses involved during high g pull outs. Photo evidence would have it that the average Mk I/II Spits did not have them during the Battle of Britain, although they could have been retro-fitted after the battle as the airframes aged. The Spit Mk I at the IWM in London has them, but also carries late war roundels which suggests the stiffeners were added later.

Maybe some part didn't have it, however in manufacture design description it is present for MKI and up. It is probably the same thing like in SU with aviation - by manufacture design description all aircraft had radio station, however in reality many of then hadn't in 1941 due to lack of details or due to fact that some pilots removed it especially (both things were present)
We can't make so many small diffences for each period of war or life of the plane in one squadron. Say in case of radio call we would need to make way more complex system of radio chatter code... But we need universal system for the whole period of war... Such contradictions some time very hard to solve. Just for example.

For the spitfires as I recall we did two types of proppeller and pitch regulation. This is possible and must be, becasue type of prop changes the behavior of aircraft at climb, acceleration and as a result - in dogfight.
Such things are very important for the flight and as a result for the gameplay. We try to go by this way at first learning experience of Il-2 gameplay.

[Oleg Maddox]

I was wondering if rain and snow was going to be added and how would they be modelled? I would luv to see rain landing on my canopy and wings.

Snow is absent in BoB and in engine at the moment. Snow will be only when we will model real winter.
It isn't so hard to program feature, but not neccesary now

[Oleg Maddox]

Thank you Oleg & Co for the nice updates.
Here are a couple of questions.

Q1. Could you please tell us something about light rendering in SoW regarding "after sunset" that means nighttime. As of now, I have not seen any PC simluator that simulates pitch black night conditions.
(only real "industrial" full flight simulators at the academy).

Take IL2 versus reality for example, there is no way that you could navigate in the air @ 23:35 on a Octobre night in Europe region without instruments. You would not see the horizon, or anything at all.. unless perhaps three conditions applied:
A) Lots of groundlights giving away the contour of terrain and horizon.
B) Altitude was 65.000 feet and above and you might get a glimpse of dawn or sunset far far away.
C) There is moonligt or bright stars and you are flying over the artics..

In IL2 I cannot recreate any night time condition where it is difficult to see the ground or navigate... regardless of time, season or location.
The only time I get problem navigating is when I am above overcast or when flying inside a cloud. (ofcourse)

So to get back to the question, please tell us something about differances with IL2 and SoW regarding night conditions.

I know that there are many "experts" out there that would like to wave off this question by just saying..
"well, during world war 2 they never flew at night, or they did very seldom because it was so difficult.. so why even bother making this realistic.. its just a waste of developer time... its not worth it, its not interesting bla bla bla."

All I wish for is a combat flightsim where it IS difficult or nearly impossible to fly during nighttime.
:)


Q2. Regarding CEM. etc... Will it be possible to select feeding from different fuel tanks in the planes that have this ability? (tank selector valve)

Thank you very much for the efforts you are putting into this simulator.
Best wishes from a cold and very dark Scandinavia.
;)

1. Can't say you all details at the moment. the night should be tuned as all these things with the wathe conditions, movement of clouds, type of clouds, etc. Technology existed, but need fine tunings its what the part of my guys doing. I only can say that all these things are far of representation such things in Il-2, however I don't remember other WWII sims that was making better than in Il-2...

2. Possible. Even to start separate gasoline engine of air compessor for the brakes with exhaust of gazes under the pilot seat in Italian bomber posssible... However when I saw that it was done already by programmer, I said for what? Do you think somebody will use it or even know about such a feature of Br.20? His answer was - its fan and crazy! Then I told and how we will model the bad feel of crew due to exhaust gazes in a cockpit? :)

[Oleg Maddox]

Thanks luthier, that makes perfect sense. Can I ask, when designing your textures for britain/france, are you using historical photos when possible? For example, will you be attempting to perfectly replicate the actual fields and roads that exist? So for example, if I was flying around kent I could use the roads to find my way back to, say, west-malling...? ;)

Thanks for being so helpful though. I know I have a lot of questions ;)

We use historical photos, however we don't plan to make full copy of real things. It is almost impossible. Is possible to put modern sattelite map and forget about everything and don't even make different buildings ans special dedicaded areas... its what make most others now.
That to make so great non-pixelated ground and great detail from the air or on the ground we need to go for compomises - there will be tiled hand made textures, but in such amount that you probably will be unable to see the tile even from high altitude.
Also we have unique textures that by our technology (next generation of similar in Il-2 and that still nobody as I can see don't have) we can put in different places and you will not see any bad edges, trasitions, etc...
Some historical buildings/areas of course are some copy of real, but there are a lot of other buildings that are generic for some area and we use it to build cities/regions. This is common technology in all games, even when you heard that it is a total copy..
Roads: As you may see on screenshots they are not like in IL-2, but also not like in other games. about this you will know more later. I can't tell all secrets at the moment.

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg, thanks for being so helpful.

Is there a chance of seeing more in-game shots this friday?

Also, you mentioned that colours etc are not permanent in regards to the terrain. Are the textures we are seeing here actually going to be used on the map of britain?

Probably I will show some other things.

[Viking]

Thank you for your participation and this thread. Reminds my of the good ol ORR years ago.(SOB!)

I have a couple of q:s for you;

Q:1 Will BOB be 32 or 64 bits?

Q:2 Will it support physiqs? (spelling?)

Q:3 Will it support multi cores?

Q:4 Will it support Dx 11?

Regards from a hot and humid Thailand

Khun Viking

[Oleg Maddox]

Thank you for your participation and this thread. Reminds my of the good ol ORR years ago.(SOB!)

I have a couple of q:s for you;

Q:1 Will BOB be 32 or 64 bits?

Q:2 Will it support physiqs? (spelling?)

Q:3 Will it support multi cores?

Q:4 Will it support Dx 11?

Regards from a hot and humid Thailand

Khun Viking

For some questions I already did answers

1. probably. Not sure. Non standard yet for all.
2. Hardware manufacturers asking us, but we wont at the moment untill all will be as a standard. Too much time development for doubtful advantage and unclear future for some of these technologies.
3. yes
4. yes

[Oleg Maddox]

Thanks for the insight. As an artist I've learned not to show WIP that doesn't look complete (even if it's not) because the natural response from people is to get worried if they don't understand the process. Knowing the purpose of this particular map I can now better see what is being tested.

I think we was need to show something... because people was too many times asking.
And I hope many clever people were able to see what we have already in our hands and may understand how it will be in future.

[mungee]

Thank you for the Friday update, Oleg - it looks like I can really look forward to my Fridays again.

I am not wanting to say too much - I can see that you are getting loads of suggestions (some good, some totally impractical I would imagine!).

My questions to you are:

- will the AI aircrafts' speeds be "toned down" - it was always a real battle for me to catch up to my squadron/flight ... usually I did that as we were about to reach the target - hehe!

- a few "immersion-givers" eg flocks of birds - such things definitely help with immersion!

Thanks again to you and your team foe what you give us ... speaking for myself, IL-2 (and the add-on's Forgotten Battles etc) has provided me with 1 000's of hrs of enjoyment.
.

[Oleg Maddox]

*

You did correction when I was correcting myself :)

[Viking]

Sounds good!
Hoping for 64 bits as I belive that is the future.

If my investments in Russian oil turns out prosperus I will invite you to a diving trip here in the Andaman sea.

Regards

Khun Viking

[13th Hsqn Protos]

:grin:

[Oleg Maddox]

Thank you for the Friday update, Oleg - it looks like I can really look forward to my Fridays again.

I am not wanting to say too much - I can see that you are getting loads of suggestions (some good, some totally impractical I would imagine!).

My questions to you are:

- will the AI aircrafts' speeds be "toned down" - it was always a real battle for me to catch up to my squadron/flight ... usually I did that as we were about to reach the target - hehe!

- a few "immersion-givers" eg flocks of birds - such things definitely help with immersion!

Thanks again to you and your team foe what you give us ... speaking for myself, IL-2 (and the add-on's Forgotten Battles etc) has provided me with 1 000's of hrs of enjoyment.
.

In Il-2 original when the missions were hand made we was making tuning for such thing as a "waiting circle" were it was neccessary... however in dynamic campaign in most cases it wasn't present, but if you are good with aircraft control of engine and optimal climb - then there shouldn't be real problem to catch the whole your AI group.

No blood and pices of animals.

[Oleg Maddox]

Sounds good!
Hoping for 64 bits as I belive that is the future.

If my investments in Russian oil turns out prosperus I will invite you to a diving trip here in the Andaman sea.

Regards

Khun Viking

Ok. Would be happy!

[SlipBall]

Oleg with the game being so close, and no press reports. It seems to me that 1C would have to be the publisher, is that the case. Will the game be offered via both download & hardcopy, thanks

[FAE_Cazador]

Hello Oleg from Spain! Thank you for your great job and your kind attendance to this lot of questions from we fanatics of the IL-2 !

One question, may be asked before what IMHO not answered yet:


Will SOW have a different kill counting system than IL-2, including shared kills between several pilots which have hit and shot down an enemy plane?

Now in Il-2 some people shot to planes with a bailed pilot, or burning or even set in pieces, stealing the kill to the first pilot who get that. Last hits on a plane give the kill to the last pilot to hit, so this kill-stealing is producing argues, badwords and bad feelling in online battles. This is an important point to have a good playing atmosphere on line.

Added: It would be helpful that in the above mentioned cases, (shooting a bailed, burning or destroyed plane) the kill stealer does not get any credit for that kill.


Thank you very much and come on !

Sorry my not too good english.

[genbrien]

Hi Oleg!
I want to say thx for taking time to answer all those questions, I'm always hitting the refresh button to see if you say something new and exiting!

I just want to know(I'm sorry if the quetion was already asked), when we bail out, will it be like in Il2 when you pass through the plane, or you must place the plane as to not get struck by the tail ?

And do you think that the new Ati5870(single or crossfire) is powerfull enough to play SoW at Max setting ?

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg with the game being so close, and no press reports. It seems to me that 1C would have to be the publisher, is that the case. Will the game be offered via both download & hardcopy, thanks

I don't know. Its not in my "area"...
However I'm sure that everything will be Ok with publishing.
And in my opinion Internet now is way better way to advertize anything.... especially when developers speaking directly to users, to old and future. :)
As I recall I was one of the first if not the first in the world who did the Friday update online system - talking to users, listen their needs, etc... Its happened the year before Il-2 orignal release when I begun to make such updates on Blue Byte board. Thomas Hertzler, CEO of Blue Byte said me that he need to copy and make such system for all his developers, looking for my experience :) And thanks him he was always understanding me from a half word. We are still in good contact with him. For sure the term "Friday development update" and "Oleg's Friday development update" about my updates said online in particular Thomas Hertzler.

[Oleg Maddox]

75% is an example......

Yes, so: can we scored an idustrial (generic) area? When you say static objects, are you talking about the static objects we already have on the map as default static objects?

We have completely different to Il-2 score system. Maybe we will change something in one or other side during tunings of gameplay, but for now I can say that we have way more features to collect scores for most objects.

As for shared kills - yes we will have it.

[Oleg Maddox]

Hi Oleg!
I want to say thx for taking time to answer all those questions, I'm always hitting the refresh button to see if you say something new and exiting!

I just want to know(I'm sorry if the quetion was already asked), when we bail out, will it be like in Il2 when you pass through the plane, or you must place the plane as to not get struck by the tail ?

And do you think that the new Ati5870(single or crossfire) is powerfull enough to play SoW at Max setting ?

Bail out we didn't make yet becasue we haven't yet finished pilots. We have some ideas how to make it, but can't say them right now.

I really think that if you are witing only for our title, then don't by newst card. Better to ait when they will be cheaper at least. And to buy if planned just before release of BoB or a bit later :)

[Dano]

Oleg, how playable is the sim right now? Are you all having dogfights in the office at lunch time or is it in a state where it's not playable other than for strict testing purposes?

Maybe it's why you had to fire some staff, they spent too much time playing! :)

[Oleg Maddox]

I saw somewhere above the question about craters on the airfield. Didn't find. Or maybe it was on russian forum.. simply tired.
Yes it will be. They are technically flat, but looking completely 3D due to used for this purpose technology. And of course you may damage the gear or aircraft completely there.
They will have tunings in editor for the "time of life" - this is neccessary for the gameplay - for sinlge and especially for online. Craters are important element of gameplay.

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg, how playable is the sim right now? Are you all having dogfights in the office at lunch time or is it in a state where it's not playable other than for strict testing purposes?

Maybe it's why you had to fire some staff, they spent too much time playing! :)

We don't play yet multiplay. Also just 4 aircraft and they are not fully tuned.
I think we'll begin to play ourselves more in spring
But for now - implementation al of the things that we did completely, for the ground and for the air. And for the sea/rivers of course.
And during that time we tune and tune. from damage to AI.
On my PC I can dogfight bf109 or spit, drop bombs from BR20 or Stuka. However its a time when I see the implementation of the first ready explosions and smokes, part of ready sounds, etc...
Everythng simultaniosly in tuning.

[schnorchel]

Hi Oleg,
amazing by what you and your team done on this Saga!
My Q is, Does SOW can have a feature that as the more kills the player do the system will allow he can equipt some unique or special devices on plane. like rear view mirror, more well polished plane which can make player's AC a little bit faster than others same type ones(Maybe 2km-3km/hr faster), or a telescope that like Galland used to identify enemy more easyly? maybe this feature can be introduced in Net campain in a reasonable way?

[Oleg Maddox]

Hi Oleg,
amazing by what you and your team done on this Saga!
My Q is, Does SOW can have a feature that as the more kills the player do the system will allow he can equipt some unique or special devices on plane. like rear view mirror, more well polished plane which can make player's AC a little bit faster than others same type ones(Maybe 2km-3km/hr faster), or a telescope that like Galland used to identify enemy more easyly? maybe this feature can be introduced in Net campain in a reasonable way?

No. The it will be looking like arcade (console) game.

[Darkbluesky]

Hi Oleg

Thanks for the news and for the human and honest answers. That is top quality in the industry, no matter what other could say! Thanks

I have just known that SOW will be DirectX10/11, that is wonderful news for the subject of my question:

I would like to know if you are doing it in a way to be compatible with nvidia 3D Vision technology (stereoscopic gaming product that converts in real time any DirectX game to stereocopy). Maybe nvidia contacted you about that. Nvidia is giving support to developers to make their games compatible. Maybe that could help.


The old IL2 was working in OGL and excellent settings max, with old stereoscopic solution from nvidia, but that product (old stereo solution I mean) was really poorly supported. Nevertheless I couldn't imagine to play IL2 in 2D (or flat 3D if you want), so amazing is IL2 with real depth... The new one (3D Vision) is completely different in terms of marketing and reliability. It is much more supported by the market and nvidia.

In general (and theoretically) it only needs "a fraction" (or not!) of the work that could cost to implement other techs (for example phyXs which you said you were already doubting about it...)

Thank you very much!

PS I am personally VERY satisfied that the next WWII flight sim is developped by you, because I admire your professionality and honesty, as anybody can see by reading your posts. Quite rare to find today. That is.

[Feuerfalke]

More great news than I can count.:cool:

Craters on the runway - hooah!
Shared kills - yeah!
Complex scoring - awesome!

And in my opinion Internet now is way better way to advertize anything.... especially when developers speaking directly to users, to old and future.

So true.


I'm really looking forward to see alll those awesome details coming together in a great simulation.

And again thank you for taking your time to answer all our questions. I don't know if you invented this level of communication, but it's definitely a rare sight that the leading developers take so much time to talk to their communities like you and luthier do. Thank you very much for that!

[Oleg Maddox]

Hi Oleg

Thanks for the news and for the human and honest answers. That is top quality in the industry, no matter what other could say! Thanks

I have just known that SOW will be DirectX10/11, that is wonderful news for the subject of my question:

I would like to know if you are doing it in a way to be compatible with nvidia 3D Vision technology (stereoscopic gaming product that converts in real time any DirectX game to stereocopy). Maybe nvidia contacted you about that. Nvidia is giving support to developers to make their games compatible. Maybe that could help.


The old IL2 was working in OGL and excellent settings max, with old stereoscopic solution from nvidia, but that product (old stereo solution I mean) was really poorly supported. Nevertheless I couldn't imagine to play IL2 in 2D (or flat 3D if you want), so amazing is IL2 with real depth... The new one (3D Vision) is completely different in terms of marketing and reliability. It is much more supported by the market and nvidia.

In general (and theoretically) it only needs "a fraction" (or not!) of the work that could cost to implement other techs (for example phyXs which you said you were already doubting about it...)

Thank you very much!

PS I am personally VERY satisfied that the next WWII flight sim is developped by you, because I admire your professionality and honesty, as anybody can see by reading your posts. Quite rare to find today. That is.

First of all thanks you for you warm words. Really my honesty was always a problem in my life... Especially in soviet time...

If NIVIDIA will give us that hardware later, then I don't think that to implement the page of their souce code would be too complex. I personally have great experience in steroscopic images both in photo and computer. In the past we were one of the very first developers that supported VFX-1 and I-Glasses helmets and stereo gogles. But it was born probably too early.

[Darkbluesky]

Thanks for the quick and kind reply!. Glad to hear that you like and have great experience on stereoscopy. I like it too!

According to what I know the stereo images are created by the driver, thus only some "good practices" in the way the 3D rendering is done should be considered...but I am not a developer, so I am not completely sure.

If you don't mind I'll link your answer in a topic in the nvidia 3D vision forums. From time to time Andrew Fear (person in charge of 3D Vision product inside nvidia) appears and answers/reads, etc, so maybe I could "awake" them and make them to contact/supply you with the needed...

[Oleg Maddox]

Thanks for the quick and kind reply!. Glad to hear that you like and have great experience on stereoscopy.

According to what I know the stereo images are created by the driver, thus only some "good practices" in the way the 3D rendering is done should be considered...but I am not a developer, so I am not completely sure.

If you don't mind I'll link your answer in a topic in the nvidia 3D vision forums. From time to time Andrew Fear (person in charge of 3D Vision product inside nvidia) appears and answers/reads, etc, so maybe I could "awake" them and make them to contact/supply you with the needed...

NVIDIA in direct contact with us. Currently they want us implement the separate support of CUDA.
However its not a time when we may spend additional great time to work with it even it is possible. But we are in constant contact and they never told me about new steroscopic item.
Anyway any implementation of such things as steroscopic should go only when everything is clear and we may spend additional time. Maybe even after release. Because I'm sure there will be add-ons. Not like in the past, but will be. Something will be free. Something - not. The project is too much time and money engrossing due to its complexity.

[Tree_UK]

Hi Oleg, its good you expect the game to be released in 2010, can I ask at what point of the development do you plan to start creating the campaigns for BOB, is this something you do after beta test? Also is it possible you could give us some insight into how the Campaigns will differ from Il2. I wish you luck it sounds like you have a massive amount of work to complete. :grin:

[Oleg Maddox]

Please discuss here. On Monday I will read and maybe answer some questions about only posted shots.

He-he.... seems you got answers way more than promised.....

[Darkbluesky]

But we are in constant contact and they never told me about new steroscopic item.

LOL Incredible :grin:...I guess nvidia is too big and they fight in several different fronts :). Well, but the product exists and is called 3D Vision. They know about it (and it is normally available in Russia as it is in Europe or America)

Completely agree, the basic/important things are the first. Moreover I remember some other games released patches for stereo support (at the time of the old stereoscopic solution) even after release (LockOn did that, and the first Blazing Angels too)

I'll post in 3d vision nvidia forums anyway to make people be aware SOW:BOB.

I can hardly believe "talking" with you. Thanks a lot for all you do and for being as you are.

[Oleg Maddox]

Hi Oleg, its good you expect the game to be released in 2010, can I ask at what point of the development do you plan to start creating the campaigns for BOB, is this something you do after beta test? Also is it possible you could give us some insight into how the Campaigns will differ from Il2. I wish you luck it sounds like you have a massive amount of work to complete. :grin:

Really my thoughts about campaign now changed. I don't think anymore that single play campaign is so importnat thing in a modern fligth sim (or speaking common - in any game). It doesn't means we stop it. It measn that we will try to put more gameplay features into online modes... and all of them will be based on the special BATTLE ENGINE that we are almost finished in development (with the possibility to increase features in future) its a complex system that allow to get the modes of gameplay from the only one universal gameplay engine in which are present elements of many known types of online and single gameplay of very different games. Just for example we may use it for deathmatch like in shooter, of for constant cooperative play... Constant cooperative gameplay means that in single play we may use it just for one gamer... How this mode (single play) will looks in final - I don't know 100%. We know what should be. But I wont say everything now. Already told too much about online :)

However simple Il-2 style dogfight we will keep for novices and their trainings ;)
But I thin bomber there also will be playable as multicrew. Don't know if we will keep the name for this as dogfight.... :)

Everything I told here in code is ready as alpha, except sigle play campaign based on this code. We will begin tunings of this code when we will have way more objects implemented in the sim.

[Abbeville-Boy]

Really my thoughts about campaign now changed. I don't think anymore that single play campaign is so importnat thing in a modern fligth sim (or speaking common - in any game). It doesn't means we stop it. It measn that we will try to put more gameplay features into online modes... and all of them will be based on the special BATTLE ENGINE that we are almost finished in development (with the possibility to increase features in future) its a complex system that allow to get the modes of gameplay from the only one universal gameplay engine in which are present elements of many known types of online and single gameplay of very different games. Just for example we may use it for deathmatch like in shooter, of for constant cooperative play... Constant cooperative gameplay means that in single play we may use it just for one gamer... How this mode (single play) will looks in final - I don't know 100%. We know what should be. But I wont say everything now. Already told too much about online :)

However simple Il-2 style dogfight we will keep for novices and their trainings ;)
But I thin bomber there also will be playable as multicrew. Don't know if we will keep the name for this as dogfight.... :)

Everything I told here in code is ready as alpha, except sigle play campaign based on this code. We will begin tunings of this code when we will have way more objects implemented in the sim.





i wish for 24/7 online war that i can join and play when time permits. that to me would be great, and i could have impact on the advance of my army

[Oleg Maddox]

i wish for 24/7 online war that i can join and play when time permits. that to me would be great, and i could have impact on the advance of my army

Probably its one of possible modes :)

[Abbeville-Boy]

:grin::grin::grin::cool:

[Foo'bar]

Oleg please start FTP transfer ;)

[Forgottenfighter]

I was wondering, after the release of SOW BOB do you plan to develop the later years of the war, as it is in IL2? Like, are you going to model all of the WW2 air war, or just the Battle of Britain? If it is too soon to say that is no problem, I understand. Thank you.

P.S. Your photography is magnificent ;)

[philip.ed]

I saw somewhere above the question about craters on the airfield. Didn't find. Or maybe it was on russian forum.. simply tired.
Yes it will be. They are technically flat, but looking completely 3D due to used for this purpose technology. And of course you may damage the gear or aircraft completely there.
They will have tunings in editor for the "time of life" - this is neccessary for the gameplay - for sinlge and especially for online. Craters are important element of gameplay.

Oleg, that was me :D Thanks for your answer.

Does this mean that in SoW's dynamic campaign, an airifield can be bombed to the extent that the squadron will have to move airifields? If so this would be really cool :D

[Foo'bar]

When seeing the latest screenshots I was asking myself wich kind of spinning propellors planes will have in SoW. Like one can see in RoF there are real 3D objects wich is looking very realistic from side view. Latest SoW shots don't show any propellors at all so I think they will come later. At least I hope that there won't be the flat spinning propellors wich we know from IL-2.

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/9554/propellors.jpg

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg please start FTP transfer ;)

Its all the time... 49 % :(

[JVM]

Hello Oleg!

Talking as we are about missions and campaign, I just would like to give here an extract of an old thread initiated by "Feathered IV" which has just recently surfaced; I do not like too much the way this thread evolved with time but the initial post had interesting views concerning modes/missions which would add a lot to game immersion:

"What if other mission perameters were coded in? What other options could we get?

Maybe instead you'd like to pilot a Lysander for SOE. Fly over to France at zero altitude in the dead of night. Alone in the dark, you would struggle to find 'that little field' marked on your map and glide into it, engine off so as not to alert the Jerries.

Perhaps you'd rather fly a Storch, evacuating wounded from the combat area. Or maybe spotting for the artillery? What if you could give directions and targeting information to ground units?

What about unarmed photo recon? Take your Blenheim across to France to take photographs of the invasion barges. Photographs that the campaign generator can judge and pass you on.

Coastal Command perhaps? Why not have a crew that can actually call out the sightings of distant ships and other objects and give an intelligent description of their range, type and heading?

Or nightfighters with AI radar operators that can actually guide you to the kill?

Wouldn't you like to try to fly a danerously overloaded Ju-52 into the icy landing strips of Stalingrad one day? Or a C-47 over the Himalayas?"

I think creating (or being able to create) missions like this (or even integrating them into a campaign) would add immensely to game's interest!

Do you think it will be possible in the SoW series?

Thanks a lot,

JVM

[Oleg Maddox]

When seeing the latest screenshots I was asking myself wich kind of spinning propellors planes will have in SoW. Like one can see in RoF there are real 3D objects wich is looking very realistic from side view. Latest SoW shots don't show any propellors at all so I think they will come later. At least I hope that there won't be the flat spinning propellors wich we know from IL-2.

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/9554/propellors.jpg

Don't worry, we have better. Just problem currently to show it on a fixed screen shot... because we have the image of really rotating 3D model with visible pitch changes... But we will solve this problem when taking screen shots and even in video, when frame rate video capture isn't the same as in game.

[Oleg Maddox]

I was wondering, after the release of SOW BOB do you plan to develop the later years of the war, as it is in IL2? Like, are you going to model all of the WW2 air war, or just the Battle of Britain? If it is too soon to say that is no problem, I understand. Thank you.

P.S. Your photography is magnificent ;)

If it will succesfull - why not? I would say that it will be neccessary :) That to get back invested great money in engine and the first game on its engine.

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg, that was me :D Thanks for your answer.

Does this mean that in SoW's dynamic campaign, an airifield can be bombed to the extent that the squadron will have to move airifields? If so this would be really cool :D

Somthing like this. But trasfer isn't implemented yet. Campaign code is on initial stage. The code of campaign isn't too complex. Complex is tuning of all features possible there...

[Foo'bar]

Don't worry, we have better. Just problem currently to show it on a fixed screen shot... because we have the image of really rotating 3D model with visible pitch changes... But we will solve this problem when taking screen shots and even in video, when frame rate video capture isn't the same as in game.

Wow! Thank you.

[Oleg Maddox]

Hello Oleg!

Talking as we are about missions and campaign, I just would like to give here an extract of an old thread initiated by "Feathered IV" which has just recently surfaced; I do not like too much the way this thread evolved with time but the initial post had interesting views concerning modes/missions which would add a lot to game immersion:

"What if other mission perameters were coded in? What other options could we get?

Maybe instead you'd like to pilot a Lysander for SOE. Fly over to France at zero altitude in the dead of night. Alone in the dark, you would struggle to find 'that little field' marked on your map and glide into it, engine off so as not to alert the Jerries.

Perhaps you'd rather fly a Storch, evacuating wounded from the combat area. Or maybe spotting for the artillery? What if you could give directions and targeting information to ground units?

What about unarmed photo recon? Take your Blenheim across to France to take photographs of the invasion barges. Photographs that the campaign generator can judge and pass you on.

Coastal Command perhaps? Why not have a crew that can actually call out the sightings of distant ships and other objects and give an intelligent description of their range, type and heading?

Or nightfighters with AI radar operators that can actually guide you to the kill?

Wouldn't you like to try to fly a danerously overloaded Ju-52 into the icy landing strips of Stalingrad one day? Or a C-47 over the Himalayas?"

I think creating (or being able to create) missions like this (or even integrating them into a campaign) would add immensely to game's interest!

Do you think it will be possible in the SoW series?

Thanks a lot,

JVM

I think most will be possible, including Himalayas itself.
But probably that will do third party.
Our goal to make the good basis for the future upgrades and changes, including best work from third parties. It is more heavy task than to make just single one season/christmas game.

In this point of view MS FS reached great result with third parties. And instead, shown degradation with the MS CFS with third partie's chaos. Our goal - to learn experience of both MS sim series and our own experience with Il-2 series and to make the system that will be long life-able with the great and right support from third parties... which would not damage fair online gameplay without cheating. So some control from our side we will keep of course.

[Forgottenfighter]

If it will succesfull

Of course it will be successful ;), thanks for the reply.

[KOM.Nausicaa]

Wow -- this is a true information fest ! I think we get more than enough compensation for the long silence. Thank you Oleg !

[Feuerfalke]

Wow, you truly know how to make us HOT for your new product. :grin:

Will SoW have Onlinestats, Budylists, voting systems, ingame serverbrowser etc? (probably going too much into details here ;) )

Well, I can't tell you how glad I am that the focus turned to multiplayer, now. It really is a major factor for longterm playability and a living community. Two thumbs up, especially since being rather frustrated with other titles like... well, RoF has already been mentioned so without the intention to go OT, I just don't understand why a purely online-playable game has no dedicated server, no possibility to join running sessions, etc. and I absolutely have no idea, what made neoqb think patching up multiplayer gameplay is a secondary objective and pushed it back even further down the line... :rolleyes:

[philip.ed]

Somthing like this. But trasfer isn't implemented yet. Campaign code is on initial stage. The code of campaign isn't too complex. Complex is tuning of all features possible there...

Ok, thanks for that oleg ;)

Oleg, have you seen the 'real-environment' addon for FSX? Basically it adds clouds which can change forms etc Would something like this be implemented into SoW?

Also, ddn't you once say that SoW could (in the future) be a basis for all upcoming flight-sims, so that there may be a chance it could have civilian add-ons etc...? ;)

[philip.ed]

Oleg, would any future add-ons to SoW be co-ordinated by your team? Or would anoyone be able to do what they wish? I ask because I have always felt that the desert-war hasn't been modelled to its best in any flight-sim, so a northern - africa addon to SoW would (IMHO) go down really well.

[KOM.Nausicaa]

Hello Oleg,

this is a minor thing and not really important, I realize. But still I was curious about it:
The Luftwaffe installed at one point little floating metal pontons/islands throughout the channel in an attempt to keep the losses down of pilots in water. The idea was to get to a ponton so that you could wait there to be rescued by water plane or friendly ship.
Did you know this and have you thought of modelling them?

Not important feature I know, but was curious to ask.

[Dano]

Probably its one of possible modes :)

:D

Oleg, you've entertained me for years with the IL2 series, can't wait to be further entertained by the Storm of War and see how it develops over it's lifespan like IL2 has done, thank you, keep up the great work :)

[philip.ed]

That's a good question kom. It would also beg the question of whether, when a pilot is shot down, they will be able to make their way back to base. I'm not asking for SoW to include 1st person elements (i know we'd ask to much to have to ability for a luftwaffe pilot to shoot his way back to Germany) but it would be nice for the player to have a bond with their character and the ability to create a history, so if you were playing a SP-campaign for the RAF, if you were shot down near to France, you may be picked up by the Germans and it could be the end of the war for you. On the other hand, if SoW was really successful and there were add-on packs, it would be cool to have the feature when the allies liberated france for the player to be able to get back to his squadron and fight again ;)

Oleg, will OTU's be modelled in SoW? Could the player have the option to retire to one after the Battle of Britain, or train in one beforehand? :D

[Oleg Maddox]

Ok, thanks for that oleg ;)

1. Oleg, have you seen the 'real-environment' addon for FSX? Basically it adds clouds which can change forms etc Would something like this be implemented into SoW?

2. Also, ddn't you once say that SoW could (in the future) be a basis for all upcoming flight-sims, so that there may be a chance it could have civilian add-ons etc...? ;)

1. We have even air streams modeled near/in clouds, near different surfaces, etc
I can't name it as a real-envirounment, but almost sure we model more things.

2. Civilian are possible now. But third pary will need also to make nvigation and radio call system for civilan planes for our sim. For this part the source code will be open.
So I think first time we will see some sport civilian aircraft from third party... :)

[SlipBall]

I'm very excited about the multiplayer news as well. The full time running great war would be awesome...will be fun to watch my beloved 109 change and weather, over long time of the war:grin:

[philip.ed]

1. We have even air streams modeled near/in clouds, near different surfaces, etc
I can't name it as a real-envirounment, but almost sure we model more things.

2. Civilian are possible now. But third pary will need also to make nvigation and radio call system for civilan planes for our sim. For this part the source code will be open.
So I think first time we will see some sport civilian aircraft from third party... :)

Great news, thanks. :P

[KOM.Nausicaa]

That's a good question kom. It would also beg the question of whether, when a pilot is shot down, they will be able to make their way back to base. I'm not asking for SoW to include 1st person elements (i know we'd ask to much to have to ability for a luftwaffe pilot to shoot his way back to Germany) but it would be nice for the player to have a bond with their character and the ability to create a history, so if you were playing a SP-campaign for the RAF, if you were shot down near to France, you may be picked up by the Germans and it could be the end of the war for you. On the other hand, if SoW was really successful and there were add-on packs, it would be cool to have the feature when the allies liberated france for the player to be able to get back to his squadron and fight again ;)

Oleg, will OTU's be modelled in SoW? Could the player have the option to retire to one after the Battle of Britain, or train in one beforehand? :D

here is information and pictures of the Luftwaffe rescue buoy:

http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/ttt07/rescue-buoy.html

[philip.ed]

here is information and pictures of the Luftwaffe rescue buoy:

http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/ttt07/rescue-buoy.html

That's really interesting. Is there any evidence of them being straffed or bombed by the RAF (or even coastal command)?

[KOM.Nausicaa]

That's really interesting. Is there any evidence of them being straffed or bombed by the RAF (or even coastal command)?

I don't know, and I don't know what happened to them during later years of the war. But quite a few were installed throughout the channel.

Scan from book:

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n12/privateer_2006/udet1.jpg


http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n12/privateer_2006/udet2.jpg

[HFC_Dolphin]

Since I see that you reply to other issues, besides the screenshots, I'll bump this question.
It would be great to know how DM and the behaviour of damaged planes will change compared to IL-2.



I know it has nothing to do with screenshots, but anyway worths asking:
Is the Damage Model ready?
And, will it be complicated so we can "feel" various different "difficult" cases in getting back home when hit?

Thanks,

[philip.ed]

Great info, thanks.

I think that one of the things we have to consider, and that oleg had hinted at, is that no-matter if all of the stuff makes it into the sim; there is always the chance that it will via third party addons ;)

[Feuerfalke]

1. We have even air streams modeled near/in clouds, near different surfaces, etc
I can't name it as a real-envirounment, but almost sure we model more things.

2. Civilian are possible now. But third pary will need also to make nvigation and radio call system for civilan planes for our sim. For this part the source code will be open.
So I think first time we will see some sport civilian aircraft from third party... :)

Now that brings some new perspectives for the IL2-airracing-community :cool:

[Oleg Maddox]

Hello Oleg,

this is a minor thing and not really important, I realize. But still I was curious about it:
The Luftwaffe installed at one point little floating metal pontons/islands throughout the channel in an attempt to keep the losses down of pilots in water. The idea was to get to a ponton so that you could wait there to be rescued by water plane or friendly ship.
Did you know this and have you thought of modelling them?

Not important feature I know, but was curious to ask.

I didn't know it. However we did special aircraft, that was in service over channel especially for this purpose - save the shot down pilots from the water.
And if everything will be of with all other things then we may see in BoB how it works for a single gameplay.

[Oleg Maddox]

Now that brings some new perspectives for the IL2-airracing-community :cool:

Yes, I was thinking about it too... but don't like to pay licence for Red Bull...
So it is possible, but by third parties. Why not, if it is possible in the game?

[Oleg Maddox]

Since I see that you reply to other issues, besides the screenshots, I'll bump this question.
It would be great to know how DM and the behaviour of damaged planes will change compared to IL-2.

When I will begin to show damage. It will be better to tell with the samples.

[AdMan]

I think we was need to show something... because people was too many times asking.
And I hope many clever people were able to see what we have already in our hands and may understand how it will be in future.
Yes, I understand and thank you for the update and especially for this thread.

Is there anything you can tell us about what is planned or in development as far as the user interface and game features? Now that the IL-2 brand is on console and flight sims in general are gaining popularity again there will likely be many newcomers to SoW and the genre, a major criticism of IL-2 was it's presentation and learning curve that comes with the genre in general. Is there any plans to include some kind of in-game training or training mode? Perhaps a flight school that will teach new pilots the basics of aviation and the planes they will be flying? I guess this also includes how single player missions will be presented.

I understand if it's to early to give any answers, but anything new would be great.

[JVM]

I think most will be possible, including Himalayas itself.
But probably that will do third party.
Our goal to make the good basis for the future upgrades and changes, including best work from third parties. It is more heavy task than to make just single one season/christmas game.

In this point of view MS FS reached great result with third parties. And instead, shown degradation with the MS CFS with third partie's chaos. Our goal - to learn experience of both MS sim series and our own experience with Il-2 series and to make the system that will be long life-able with the great and right support from third parties... which would not damage fair online gameplay without cheating. So some control from our side we will keep of course.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply...we are a long way of talking the screenshots themselves, aren't we? Thanks again for accepting to deviate so much from your initial intentions!

JVM

[ZaltysZ]

I didn't know it. However we did special aircraft, that was in service over channel especially for this purpose - save the shot down pilots from the water.
And if everything will be of with all other things then we may see in BoB how it works for a single gameplay.

Would be very nice if that airplane was flyable by players and they could rescue other pilots. Not every person can be combatant in flight sims like this. I personally know few people who like just to fly around, because combat is too difficult to them and so, rescue/transport planes would be opportunity for them to do something "useful" in multiplayer.

[Bloblast]

I didn't know it. However we did special aircraft, that was in service over channel especially for this purpose - save the shot down pilots from the water.
And if everything will be of with all other things then we may see in BoB how it works for a single gameplay.


Yes see picture attached, would be cool to have them:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23/bloblast/udet1.jpg

[Darkbluesky]

Would be very nice if that airplane was flyable by players and they could rescue other pilots. Not every person can be combatant in flight sims like this. I personally know few people who like just to fly around, because combat is too difficult to them and so, rescue/transport planes would be opportunity for them to do something "useful" in multiplayer.

IMO, that is a VERY good idea. I like it, no!, I love that idea!, and if it could be done, that would increase the feeling of being part of a team much, much more than only being "one more" of an squadron.

Personally, if I was a downed pilot, knowing that I depend on some real guy to rescue me (or not), would make me feel more like being part of a "real" world, and more respectful with other people/colleagues...

[empeck]

Civilian are possible now. But third pary will need also to make nvigation and radio call system for civilan planes for our sim. For this part the source code will be open.
So I think first time we will see some sport civilian aircraft from third party... :)

Cool!

I have two questions (as FSX 3rd party developer ;) ).

1. Will turboprop aircraft be supported?

2. Will 3rd party devs be able to make new maps?

[FAE_Cazador]

IMO, that is a VERY good idea. I like it, no!, I love that idea!, and if it could be done, that would increase the feeling of being part of a team much, much more than only being "one more" of an squadron.

Personally, if I was a downed pilot, knowing that I depend on some real guy to rescue me (or not), would make me feel more like being part of a "real" world, and more respectful with other people/colleagues...

I just read in the book "KG200 the most secret german unit" about one pilot of german Dornier Do-24 from a "Seenotstaffel" who had saved more than 90 lives of german pilots from the sea, by the end of the year. He is really a great Hero ! Much more than others having taken hundreds of enemy lives , even if it was in the name of King and Country.....

Unfortunately he died in a senseless suicide attack to the russian bridges across the Oder and Neisse rivers in 1945, with his full of explosives Do-24. But this is another story.

Sea Rescue missions, as well as cargo missions in C-47/Ju-52or dropping agents or weapons to Maquis in Lysander, would give a really new approach to what is flight simulation....

[jocko417]

Maybe some part didn't have it, however in manufacture design description it is present for MKI and up. It is probably the same thing like in SU with aviation - by manufacture design description all aircraft had radio station, however in reality many of then hadn't in 1941 due to lack of details or due to fact that some pilots removed it especially (both things were present)
We can't make so many small diffences for each period of war or life of the plane in one squadron. Say in case of radio call we would need to make way more complex system of radio chatter code... But we need universal system for the whole period of war... Such contradictions some time very hard to solve. Just for example.

For the spitfires as I recall we did two types of proppeller and pitch regulation. This is possible and must be, becasue type of prop changes the behavior of aircraft at climb, acceleration and as a result - in dogfight.
Such things are very important for the flight and as a result for the gameplay. We try to go by this way at first learning experience of Il-2 gameplay.

Thanks for your quick reply Oleg, to avoid any confusion I'll restate my original intent as simply as possible: I don't believe ANY Spits should have stiffeners over the wheel wells, circa 1940. They were added as modification 532 (dated July 16 1942) and were only a temporary measure until they started using thicker panels over the wheel wells during wing skin construction. Any surviving Mk I airframes you see today that have the stiffeners would have had them added two years after the BoB.

Also, I don't think the majority of Spits had gun barrels that protruded from the gun ports during the BoB, they had been replaced with a shorter barreled version that allowed the ports to be taped over, due to lack of gun heating on early Spitfires. Any photos I've seen of Spits with the longer barrels are all pre-war photos.

[FAE_Cazador]

I would add also Recon Missions, and according to this:

Might be the possibility of simulate taking picture shots from a Recon Plane over the target, and have them shown?

Like if you took a PrintScreen, but of course looking down like in a bombsight. Imagine you take the Bombing Sight from IL-2, you retire the numbers and circles and simulate a photo camera visor (sorry I don't know the correct english words ), and press a key for a screen shot, being stored in your computer , and able to be sent later to your mates/headquarters, and depending of the success of the mission, to produce an influence in further missions of the campaign.

We do it now very roughly in the On Line campaigns like AirWar, just dropping smoke from planes (T-Key) when flying over the target, to simulate taking pictures. Then, from the report of the mission, a parser program calculates the distance from these smoke points to the target and situates more or less ground objetives there for the next bombing missions to do.

Remember that not only ex-bomber planes were used for Recon, there were Spits, P-38, etc Recon versions.

What can not be expected from the fantastic SOW engine, coming from an expert Photographer like you ! Lets call this Air Camera "Olegmatic" ! :) :)

[Oleg Maddox]

Cool!

I have two questions (as FSX 3rd party developer ;) ).

1. Will turboprop aircraft be supported?

2. Will 3rd party devs be able to make new maps?

1. With the release - no turboprop engines. But in future - yes, possible.
2. Yes, but small size. Big size maps - license or we will do ourselves for our puposes. Its our brad for the next title. Because I know what all will do.

[|ZUTI|]

Hey Oleg. In retrospect to your last answer about maps. Can you perhaps let us know what small means? The size limit. If you have already decided, that is.

Thank you once more.

[csThor]

No full-fleshed offline campaign? :sad: :cry:

[AdMan]

anyone know what the vehicle in grab0113 is?

[6S.Manu]

WoW!

Thanks Oleg to be still here. I don't know if you missed my questions because you can't answer now, but I was afraid to reask the same thing... but since this is now a kind of chat (really appreciated!) I ask again:

1) Dots' system: the planes' camos were made to protect the plane from above enemies, but also from below (skyblue camo under the wings). Now in IL2 this is a great problem for the pilots who are searching for contacts below, since these can't be see clearly (try against hurricanes...) but instead you are a big black dot on the sky if they look at you.

Usually they could see planes above only by the reflection of the sun on their lucid surfaces (like on the 110's screenshot).

Have you resolved this "problem"?

2) Is doppler effect working now?
Is it possible to go close at 6 o'clock of an enemy without alerting him with your engine? He should lightly listen to our engine only when we pass in front of him or at his side (he has a working engine at 50cm in front of him..)

Thanks again.

[empeck]

1. With the release - no turboprop engines. But in future - yes, possible.
2. Yes, but small size. Big size maps - license or we will do ourselves for our puposes. Its our brad for the next title. Because I know what all will do.

Thanks for replies. Do you already know how big is small map?

[ChrisDNT]

Two new (at least to me) screenshots here...

http://www.checksix-forums.com/showthread.php?p=972760#post972760

Even if the ground and houses textures are still WIP, a photographer'eye will immediately acknowledge the photorealistic 3D potential of the render engine !

[ChrisDNT]

@Oleg, Luthier or the dev team : thinking of the game textures, has anybody ever thought (of course, if it is technically possible) to paint the textures with dozen of millions of polys with softwares like ZBrush or 3D Coat and then bake them on the objects with a simple color map ? If this can be used for dragoon skin or troll heads, it could perhaps be used too for fields, cliffs or houses ?


http://images.google.com/images?q=zbrush&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=81voSvu6EYunsAbhjbGSDg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CCwQsAQwBA

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=3d%20coat&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

[HB252]

Hi very good work.

I got a simply question: and the pilots?

In the shots they arent there. why?

And other question: in game there are ground personal o blaksmen (luftwaffe)?

Thanx for hard work.

[F16_Petter]

2. Possible. Even to start separate gasoline engine of air compessor for the brakes with exhaust of gazes under the pilot seat in Italian bomber posssible... However when I saw that it was done already by programmer, I said for what? Do you think somebody will use it or even know about such a feature of Br.20? His answer was - its fan and crazy! Then I told and how we will model the bad feel of crew due to exhaust gazes in a cockpit? :)


I was thinking it could be useful for other airplanes in future, as I understand the SoW engine will be used for future releases other than Battle of Britain.
(If I understood you correct earlier in other interviews)
For an example...
Lets say the P51 has ability to select what tank to empty first and it changes weight and balance (performance and stability) of the aircraft, I do not know to what degree these things are modelled in the SoW flight model but it was just an idea. There are other examples of aircraft that you wanted fuel in the wings for as long time as possible and center or auxilary tanks were emptied first. Also vice versa situations existed.

Not all aircraft featured self sealing fuel tanks, so some aircraft that get fuel leak could use this feature to select leaking tank as main fuel source to minimize fuel spill.

Again, I do not know what aircraft are being included in BoB or other sim from you, its just an idea for the future.

Thank you for your quick response.

[Dano]

@Oleg, Luthier or the dev team : thinking of the game textures, has anybody ever thought (of course, if it is technically possible) to paint the textures with dozen of millions of polys with softwares like ZBrush or 3D Coat and then bake them on the objects with a simple color map ? If this can be used for dragoon skin or troll heads, it could perhaps be used too for fields, cliffs or houses ?


http://images.google.com/images?q=zbrush&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=81voSvu6EYunsAbhjbGSDg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CCwQsAQwBA

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=3d%20coat&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Loving the sun glints off the canopy, should make spotting aircraft a lot easier depending on your position :)

[6S.Manu]

I was thinking it could be useful for other airplanes in future, as I understand the SoW engine will be used for future releases other than Battle of Britain.

Tempest? :D

Your programmer is right Oleg, we fans are crazy!!!

Poisoning, freezing... we want it all.

[AdMan]

Oleg, one more question. Can I ask for a comment on how you feel about the way shadows are casting onto the grass textures and how close the screen shots of the grass shadows are to the final. I believe I heard before you mentioned the grass will interact with wind, correct? If so, I'd imagine this has presented a certain challenge as far as ray-traced shadows on the grass.

Thanks

[zakkandrachoff]

Two new (at least to me) screenshots here...

http://www.checksix-forums.com/showthread.php?p=972760#post972760

Even if the ground and houses textures are still WIP, a photographer'eye will immediately acknowledge the photorealistic 3D potential of the render engine !

christ, this is a amazing found! absolutly nice. Nissi Stuka. Oleg don´t need change anithing! is perfect, threes, terrain, very nice.:cool:

http://i80.servimg.com/u/f80/12/20/20/81/grab_010.jpg

http://i80.servimg.com/u/f80/12/20/20/81/grab_011.jpg

Buth I only Hope is C1 don´t puth only internet playable game like rise of flight:(. I don´t have all the time internet...:(. Put all anti pirate passwords script or wathever, buth dont puh only internet game, pls.

[akdavis]

Hi Oleg. Great to see these progress images. Very exciting! I have a few small questions:

1. I see right side "messages" text are still present (although maybe this is for development only). Will there be an option to turn off "kill" messages like "enemy tank destroyed" (which I find to be an immersion killer), while retaining engine management messages like throttle percentages (which I find necessary due to lack of tactile feedback in a sim)?

2. Will credit be given for damaging but not destroying ships, bridges and other important targets that might take multiple sorties to destroy?

[Reisman]

Two new (at least to me) screenshots here...

http://www.checksix-forums.com/showthread.php?p=972760#post972760

Even if the ground and houses textures are still WIP, a photographer'eye will immediately acknowledge the photorealistic 3D potential of the render engine !

Now THOSE are great shots - photo-realistic plane and faithful colors, my slight disappointment with the original batch of screens is now gone for good... :)

[13th Hsqn Protos]

Really my thoughts about campaign now changed. I don't think anymore that single play campaign is so importnat thing in a modern fligth sim (or speaking common - in any game). It doesn't means we stop it. It measn that we will try to put more gameplay features into online modes... and all of them will be based on the special BATTLE ENGINE that we are almost finished in development (with the possibility to increase features in future) its a complex system that allow to get the modes of gameplay from the only one universal gameplay engine in which are present elements of many known types of online and single gameplay of very different games. Just for example we may use it for deathmatch like in shooter, of for constant cooperative play... Constant cooperative gameplay means that in single play we may use it just for one gamer... How this mode (single play) will looks in final - I don't know 100%. We know what should be. But I wont say everything now. Already told too much about online :)

However simple Il-2 style dogfight we will keep for novices and their trainings ;)
But I thin bomber there also will be playable as multicrew. Don't know if we will keep the name for this as dogfight.... :)

Everything I told here in code is ready as alpha, except sigle play campaign based on this code. We will begin tunings of this code when we will have way more objects implemented in the sim.

S~! Oleg,

As promised Sir, no questions till next update ..... but I am compelled to make small comment.

This has got to be the most important post you have made about gameplay and engine objectives and overall game ethos in several years.

I have been screaming at poor Dimitry (CrazyIvan)-he screams back :)) about this for years now ........ May your online war and its tools be blessed by the Patriarch !

Please excuse me sir, I must go and cry from happiness now.....


* Cant wait till next summer

[Bloblast]

Two new (at least to me) screenshots here...

http://www.checksix-forums.com/showthread.php?p=972760#post972760

Even if the ground and houses textures are still WIP, a photographer'eye will immediately acknowledge the photorealistic 3D potential of the render engine !

Stunning pictures!
The sun glares on the plane is fantastic. Ground looks fanatastic as well. I see similarities with the Slovakia map in IL-2, which I like. Good job.

[SlipBall]

Yes beautifull looking map...the farm field looks so real aswell, I hope that the objects list has a few items to place in backyards and fields

[Feuerfalke]

You call this an early alpha primarily for technical aspects? O-M-G!

:shock:

[AdMan]

christ, this is a amazing found! absolutly nice. Nissi Stuka. Oleg don´t need change anithing! is perfect, threes, terrain, very nice.:cool:

Buth I only Hope is C1 don´t puth only internet playable game like rise of flight:(. I don´t have all the time internet...:(. Put all anti pirate passwords script or wathever, buth dont puh only internet game, pls.

looks pretty good, I think the terrain will look even better when completed.

[furbs]

now them 2 screen shots are stunning!

[Lucas_From_Hell]

O-M-F-G!!

After looking at these last screenshots, I don't think I'll like the game...

The thing is, I'm not sure if I could shoot these aircraft... It would be a crime to even scratch them, in the way they are modelled :-P.

Absoluteley great work. The sun reflecting on the cockpit glass, looks perfect. The terrain looks better. And you guys still say it's not even close to what it will look, and it will be much improved :shock:?!

Looking foward to next friday already :grin:!

[JG4_Helofly]

Incredible pictures! If you didn't know it, you would think these screenshots of the planes are real photos.

Just one question if I may:
What about the human physical factor in SOW? Will pilots get tired when exposed to high g forces or will it still be possible to fly extrem evasive manoeuvres for hours?

Thanks for the great work!

[Forgottenfighter]

The thing is, I'm not sure if I could shoot these aircraft... It would be a crime to even scratch them, in the way they are modelled

Yes, the planes are so perfect you will have to model pilots, so we can land, get out, polish our windshields and clean off any dirt :grin:

[philip.ed]

Yes, the planes are so perfect you will have to model pilots, so we can land, get out, polish our windshields and clean off any dirt :grin:

Isn't that what the erks are for? or don't yo trust them? :D

WOuldn't it be cool to land and have the airmen run over to your plane and guide it to your spot, or to even land with a smoking engine and have a fire-truck rush to the scene....:D

I need to stop dreaming! ;)

[flyingbullseye]

Oleg another question about the campaign, sorry if I missed this with all the replies.

Is there any chance that you are or may think about working with a third party team such as Diadalus team or other you have contact with to create the offline campaign in order to save time and put more of your focus towards other aspects of the sim?

Excellent job answering all the questions the last few days, it speaks volumes of your dedication to the sim and the community.

Flyingbullseye

[Dano]

Just noticed that the prop is visible in those two shots as well :)

[SlipBall]

Another interesting thing about this thread, is that Oleg is here every day talking to us, for hours at a time...the game must have progressed quite a bit and afforded him more free time

[proton45]

Another interesting thing about this thread, is that Oleg is here every day talking to us, for hours at a time...the game must have progressed quite a bit and afforded him more free time

...would be nice. :)

[yogy]

No full-fleshed offline campaign? :sad: :cry:

Christian, you misunderstood it: The Singleplayer will be there, but as a "Multiplayer with only one player".

Example: Look at DCG today: Multiplayer(Dogfight) is based on Offline, so it has certain disadvatages. This is due to IL2 basically being a singleplayer game. In future, playing offline will be like having a Multiplayer-Game with all planes controlled by AI. So, I guess no big differnce for someone who always plays alone.

[Baron]

This is how is SHOULD be, no matter how many times u come to this forum in a day there is allways somethimg new about SoW. Info on game, screenshots....movies. "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" (joking, i know its sometime of before that happens) :)


Love the new screenshots btw.


P.S The two pics showing the oildrums and truck, can somone confirm its not just somone on the net altering colors in PS or something.

[proton45]

P.S The two pics showing the oildrums and truck, can somone confirm its not just somone on the net altering colors in PS or something.


Have you been following the up-date's Oleg has been posting, http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=2040 ...unless someone is impersonating Oleg (and very well) I think we can safely assume that Oleg is posting the "real thing"...

[Baron]

Sry, confused the forums, i was talking about theese: http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/23110283/m/5211050008/p/1 (close to the bottom of the page.)


Quite differant colors i would say. ( grab0105 and grab0112 in Olegs update)


Apparently from a russian site.



Just wondering, not trying to start a conspirecy thread ;)


Gut feeling tells me they are fake, the colors i mean. On the other hand, the russians get to see things before we do ;)

[Dano]

They've been in Photoshop so it certainly looks like they're just edited versions, but it does give a good comparison of what is possible with just hue, saturation and colour settings, let alone all the light parameters and other graphics engine tweaks available to Oleg and co.

[Baron]

They've been in Photoshop so it certainly looks like they're just edited versions, but it does give a good comparison of what is possible with just hue, saturation and colour settings, let alone all the light parameters and other graphics engine tweaks available to Oleg and co.


Yes it does and i think getting it as close to "right" as possible from the start is very important compared to IL2 as we wont be able (as i understand it) to change those settings on the screen ourselfes the same way we can in IL2, due to dynamic lighting and so on, without messing somethingelse up (making it look wrong)

Not hard to imagine how much work it really is.

[KOM.Nausicaa]

Another interesting thing about this thread, is that Oleg is here every day talking to us, for hours at a time...the game must have progressed quite a bit and afforded him more free time

I dont think he has free time at all - he is just gentle making it up for the long period of silence.

[luthier]

They've been in Photoshop so it certainly looks like they're just edited versions, but it does give a good comparison of what is possible with just hue, saturation and colour settings, let alone all the light parameters and other graphics engine tweaks available to Oleg and co.

If you'll notice, it's not an in-game screenshot, but a cropped screenshot of a desktop with BoB running in a window. That's why it went through Photoshop, because the person who took the screenshot didn't exactly want you to read the game code in the other window. The shot wasn't modified in any other way. You're seeing WIP terrain as it progressed since last Friday. Changed lighting, updated shaders, modified terrain textures, different HDR presets, etc.

That's not final either, there's still a lot more of work to be done. But I'm glad you guys like the progress.

[Feuerfalke]

I'd like to add, that all the screenshots we saw look like they were made via windows-screenshot (CTRL-PRINT). You can sometimes see parts of the open window.

It's a bit naive to think the first thing they implemented was an ingame-screenshot-function that catches HDR-effects as well, just to give us some perfectly "unedited" screenshots. ;)

[Oleg Maddox]

If you'll notice, it's not an in-game screenshot, but a cropped screenshot of a desktop with BoB running in a window. That's why it went through Photoshop, because the person who took the screenshot didn't exactly want you to read the game code in the other window. The shot wasn't modified in any other way. You're seeing WIP terrain as it progressed since last Friday. Changed lighting, updated shaders, modified terrain textures, different HDR presets, etc.

That's not final either, there's still a lot more of work to be done. But I'm glad you guys like the progress.

I would add here.

I never post screenshots in dev updates with something corrected or painted over the image. NEVER. they can be cropped in editor like that Bf110, but not edited in any way.

[Oleg Maddox]

Another interesting thing about this thread, is that Oleg is here every day talking to us, for hours at a time...the game must have progressed quite a bit and afforded him more free time

Simply Luthier (Ilya Shevchenko) is here now in our office in Moscow. And help us very much in many items of development control. We didn't find here in Moscow any other guy, that would be so helpful... so we invited Ilya from USA. It seems he like it :) However it is hard for him to be so far from his family in USA.
And Its why i'm here :)

Ilya is very interested in high quality project... Because our other prject with his own team - Korea - is his dream :)

Simpy I want you all to understand who is Luthier now.

Ok, I'm finishing to read this thread. We will continue in the next separate to other update, that I probably release tomorrow.
Now I'm back to work.

PS. I'm also happy to be back and speaking to all/with all/reading good realistic suggestions, etc.

[lep1981]

Hi Oleg,

Thanks for all your explanations about SOW and the development of the game. For what you've said about the terrain and the rest of the details I think I feel ok myself... a bit more relax even though I'd love to go out NOW and buy SOW lol... but it's ok. You said the that terrain will match the spitfire's cockpit graphic wise, so I speak for myself and maybe for a few more others in this forum, that's garranty enough to expect top notch quality in SOW ;)

Have a great day!

[335th_GRSwaty]

PS. I'm also happy to be back and speaking to all/with all/reading good realistic suggestions, etc.

Same here!!!
Thank you very much!

[13th Hsqn Protos]

PS. I'm also happy to be back and speaking to all/with all/reading good realistic suggestions, etc.

We are very happy to have you back as well. This project is turning on final approach and we are all praying for a good landing.

[csThor]

Oleg

Can you ask Ilya if he downloaded the file (I sent him the link yesterday)? It's quite heavy on my tiny webspace so I'd like to have it off ASAP. Thx.

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg

Can you ask Ilya if he downloaded the file (I sent him the link yesterday)? It's quite heavy on my tiny webspace so I'd like to have it off ASAP. Thx.

he is out of office today till Monday.
You can write me with the link, if it is asap.

[AdMan]

The adjusted grabs look great, the shadows on grass look much better imo.

[<George>]

Keep going oleg and thank you,
but make as a favor please,avoid as much as possible the cartoon animations that birds of prey has,try to make it more realistic and sorry if i am wrong but from the pictures that we have seen already the trees are the only deferense from the IL2 game and its ghost trees,the extra lighting and the extra colours i think dont give the feeling of an other level of grafhics.

[csThor]

he is out of office today till Monday.
You can write me with the link, if it is asap.

Roger, will do.

[MrForshter]

Hello, Oleg!

Planes on given pics are amazing))

Could you please answer if there will be "real" fire in the game? Will it spread around wooden planes? Will there be burning fuel pools on the water and land after plane crash? Fire spreading in towns from building to building etc.

PS: Thanks for il-2)

[Dano]

If you'll notice, it's not an in-game screenshot, but a cropped screenshot of a desktop with BoB running in a window. That's why it went through Photoshop, because the person who took the screenshot didn't exactly want you to read the game code in the other window. The shot wasn't modified in any other way. You're seeing WIP terrain as it progressed since last Friday. Changed lighting, updated shaders, modified terrain textures, different HDR presets, etc.

That's not final either, there's still a lot more of work to be done. But I'm glad you guys like the progress.

I would add here.

I never post screenshots in dev updates with something corrected or painted over the image. NEVER. they can be cropped in editor like that Bf110, but not edited in any way.

Sorry I think we're talking about differrent shots here, we weren't talking about the shots with the Stuka, which have me drooling at the mouth btw, it was these two here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daniel.clarke17/SOW01.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daniel.clarke17/SOW02.jpg

which apart from the colours are identical to two shots posted by Oleg last Friday but appear to have been edited.

[imaca]

hi oleg,

but will you support multiple monitors without triplehead2go from matrox ?

with the newer gfx cards we can use 3 or more monitors at the same time, without using a matrox 3H2go. for ex using one big widescreen in the middle, and a smaller 19' or 17' on either side to improve peripheral view (this is an economical way for many of us to add more lcd monitors since many of us now have upgraded to bigger widescreens and still have some older smaller lcd's around, or can buy them on the cheap)

but BoB would need to be able to support that, for ex central 27' monitor = 60 FoV, with a 19' in landscape mode on either side adding 30 FoV for each of those , producing a total of 120 FoV over the 3 monitors side by side.

this is already possible in some current games released in the last 2 years, i hope you allow us this function in BoB as well.

maybe. I put such things in secondary importance, becasue of not so wide distribution.
Just like to add my thanks, for time you have given to this forum Oleg.
Also please be aware of ATI "Eyefinity" multi-monitor tech. Perhaps same as Nvidia? because:
"DisplayPort is actually the enabler behind all of this. Unlike DVI, DisplayPort doesn’t require a dedicated clocking source for each output. So, all of the chips in ATI’s Evergreen...have the capability built-in to drive as many as six DisplayPorts....
Also support may be easy ? because according to ATI website:
"# ATI Eyefinity technology works with games that support non-standard aspect ratios which is required for panning across three displays"
so it soulds like support for large multi-monitor resolution is all you need.

[AdMan]

Sorry I think we're talking about differrent shots here we weren't talking about the shots with the Stuka, which have me drooling at the mouth btw, it was these two here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daniel.clarke17/SOW01.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daniel.clarke17/SOW02.jpg

which apart from the colours and smoothing are identical to two shots posted by Oleg last Friday but appear to have been edited.

those look like simple saturation and contrast/brightness values have been adjusted in PS, and taking a closer look the overall image looks too dark

my guess is it was adjusted by someone who would like it to look like BoP...just a guess :)

[Feuerfalke]

Sorry I think we're talking about differrent shots here, we weren't talking about the shots with the Stuka, which have me drooling at the mouth btw, it was these two here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daniel.clarke17/SOW01.jpg
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daniel.clarke17/SOW02.jpg

which apart from the colours are identical to two shots posted by Oleg last Friday but appear to have been edited.


I think your post was somewhat misleading.

The pictures you are refering to are not the original pictures, but altered and reposted versions. This altering was done by the poster, though, not by Oleg or his team.
So, while you were right that these shots were altered, the context was wrong, as the previous posts you replied to were about the original screenshots that have only been resized and cropped.

Honestly I don't think that the altered version you linked looks any better, especially not for a sunny day.

[philip.ed]

You might be right Ad-man, but for a summertime in here in Britain (especially when looking at the records from 1940) then those fields colours are correct. In 1940 they had one of the hottest summers ever, so realistically not everything should be bright green ;)

[ECV56_Guevara]

Thanks a lot Oleg and Luthier for the feedback.
Another question: What kind of interaction betwen ground units/objects could we expect (i.e. will be Driveable vehicles, human AAA, radar station, ground crew...?)?
thanks in advance

[Dano]

EDIT: Oh wait, I see what I did lol. Sorry all, I should have made that all a lot clearer.

[philip.ed]

Thanks a lot Oleg and Luthier for the feedback.
Another question: What kind of interaction betwen ground units/objects could we expect (i.e. will be Driveable vehicles, human AAA, radar station, ground crew...?)?
thanks in advance

Lokking back on all the posts, Oleg said SoW won't ship with driveable vehicles but they will be available for third parties to work on ;) This is subject to change though; nothing is 100% certain yet ;)

[KOM.Nausicaa]

I think Oleg made it clear that he is back to work and stopped answering here. He spent three full days non stop on the forums.

[ECV56_Guevara]

I think Oleg made it clear that he is back to work and stopped answering here. He spent three full days non stop on the forums.
Peace man, I didn´t read that, this forum moves so fast!

[AdMan]

You might be right Ad-man, but for a summertime in here in Britain (especially when looking at the records from 1940) then those fields colours are correct. In 1940 they had one of the hottest summers ever, so realistically not everything should be bright green ;)

sure, I think we can all agree the grass in those screens is a tad too bright. But the person who adjusted those screens seemed to go a little extreme with the contrast, brightness, and desaturation. It's reminiscent of the styling of BoP - of course realism over style seems to be the philosophy of BoB, like someone said before it's simply too dark for a daylight scene and the washed out colors looks more like an old photo rather than how the eye would see it. the extreme darkness of the shadows makes it look like there is no ambient light. something like this would be a little more believable:

http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz278/pixelhunters/grab0112photoshopadjustedcopy.jpg?t=1256817632

compared to http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daniel.clarke17/SOW02.jpg

[philip.ed]

sure, I think we can all agree the grass in those screens is a tad too bright. But the person who adjusted those screens seemed to go a little extreme with the contrast, brightness, and desaturation. It's reminiscent of the styling of BoP - of course realism over style seems to be the philosophy of BoB, like someone said before it's simply too dark for a daylight scene and the washed out colors looks more like an old photo rather than how the eye would see it. the extreme darkness of the shadows makes it look like there is no ambient light. something like this would be a little more believable:

http://i835.photobucket.com/albums/zz278/pixelhunters/grab0112photoshopadjustedcopy.jpg?t=1256817632

compared to http://homepage.ntlworld.com/daniel.clarke17/SOW02.jpg

That looks great! And it would beg the question of whether changing seasons etc will be modelled in SoW. Or even, if a field was set on fire, it would stay like that in game.

My only gripe with the shots of the grass is that in some places it looks quite high. The field behind is fine because it's a crop field, but the airfields wouldn't have grass that high ;)

[Feuerfalke]

That looks great! And it would beg the question of whether changing seasons etc will be modelled in SoW. Or even, if a field was set on fire, it would stay like that in game.

It won't stay like that in game either way, because we are STILL talking about the ALPHA - don't know how many times this has to be said. :confused:

This is what one of the first technical testversion looks like - we're not talking about a release candidate or something. ;)

[nearmiss]

1) It would be nice to see some soldiers in some cockpits,trucks and stuff.

2) Would also like to know if there was some petrol in barrels for proper explosions and fires.

---------------------------

3) What about the power of the .303s? The .303 is nothing like the cannon of the 109-E. Not much kill power in the .303s, which could make it very tough playing on the Brit side.

---------------------------

4) Hope the SOW isn't going to be like the recently released WWI sim (RoF) that is all played online, even single player. There are still large parts of rural America,where broadband is not possible. There are options, i.e, satellite, 3G and 4G in some areas, but the service is too expensive for game playing.

[philip.ed]

It won't stay like that in game either way, because we are STILL talking about the ALPHA - don't know how many times this has to be said. :confused:

This is what one of the first technical testversion looks like - we're not talking about a release candidate or something. ;)

No I realise that feurefalke, that was why I said that those re-satureated pictures looked better as it shows what can be done. ;)

[philip.ed]

Nearmiss, you are right about the .303's but they were fairly effective in the Battle of Britain because the luftwaffe weren't using armour plating on all planes at that stage (well, at least the heinkels anyway). As long as a pilot got in close, a good 3-4 second burst could do the job. If anyone has played BoB2 wings of victory then the .303's in that are perfectly recorded. Although, as you said, they weren't that good (I've seen pictures of heinkels which have landed with hundreds of bullet holes from the .303's) they are wrongly recorded in il-2.

[Feuerfalke]

Soldiers? Here you go:

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g260/restranger/air_341a_008L.jpg

;)


Since it has been a long time:
http://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g260/restranger/

[philip.ed]

They do look good; it's nice to see that they are all brothers as well ;)

[Lucas_From_Hell]

Feuerfalke, if I remember, Oleg stated that they would look even better than these ones. I think he said something about they looking like improved versions of Men of War soldiers.

But it was a long time since I read this, so I might be wrong...

[Feuerfalke]

Feuerfalke, if I remember, Oleg stated that they would look even better than these ones. I think he said something about they looking like improved versions of Men of War soldiers.

But it was a long time since I read this, so I might be wrong...

All these screenshots are WIP.

And to my personal experience almost anything looks better, when it's finished than when it's still being worked on. No matter which models and textures will be used, they will most likely look a lot different in the release ;)

[AdMan]

That looks great! And it would beg the question of whether changing seasons etc will be modelled in SoW. Or even, if a field was set on fire, it would stay like that in game.

My only gripe with the shots of the grass is that in some places it looks quite high. The field behind is fine because it's a crop field, but the airfields wouldn't have grass that high ;)

Changing seasons would be awesome, especially will grass, trees, etc. I really do hope they make a comprehensive single player/career mode so things like that are possible. Typical multiplayer is usually based on playing on a map for a certain amount of time, then the round ends and go to the next.

I share some concern with grass height but more from the standpoint of how it look s from the air. In this screen some of the long grass kinda looks like green claw marks, like a cat came along and scratched green mark on the screen (if that makes sense) http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0103.jpg

can't really judge it by one still screen, especially if the grass will be moving in the wind, have to wait to see it in action before I critique it.

[KOM.Nausicaa]

Changing seasons would be awesome, especially will grass, trees, etc. I really do hope they make a comprehensive single player/career mode so things like that are possible.

Mhhh...guys, the BOB was from June to September 1940. Summer. While waiting I recommend to some to read some books about this battle. ;-)

[Feuerfalke]

Mhhh...guys, the BOB was from June to September 1940. Summer. While waiting I recommend to some to read some books about this battle. ;-)

:grin:

[Lucas_From_Hell]

Nausicaa is right about the Battle of Britain. It's in the summer. It would be totally non-sense to see a winter map there.

But considering they might use this map again if any other add-on is focusing on the Channel front, it would be interesting to have one.

On Battle of Britain, well, it would be interesting to see only a slight change, from spring to summer and from summer to autumn.

[philip.ed]

Mhhh...guys, the BOB was from June to September 1940. Summer. While waiting I recommend to some to read some books about this battle. ;-)

Yes, but the weather changed dramatically between those two times. At the start, most days were wet and overcast whilst spetember saw some of the hottest days in years. I'm not sure where you are from, but one would easily see the difference between this in the terrain in Britain; at the start of july (the battle began on the 10 of july, so not in june ;) ) it would be a lot greener for starters and things would be getting browner by september as the grass started to wilt ;) I have read a lot on the Battle, and whilst there wouldn't be much in way of seasons, I suggest you read more on the battle to get a feel for changing weather conditions which would affect the terrain :D

[AdMan]

Yes, but the weather changed dramatically between those two times. At the start, most days were wet and overcast whilst spetember saw some of the hottest days in years. I'm not sure where you are from, but one would easily see the difference between this in the terrain in Britain; at the start of july (the battle began on the 10 of july, so not in june ;) ) it would be a lot greener for starters and things would be getting browner by september as the grass started to wilt ;) I have read a lot on the Battle, and whilst there wouldn't be much in way of seasons, I suggest you read more on the battle to get a feel for changing weather conditions which would affect the terrain :D

besides isn't this engine going to expand beyond the BoB? Haven't been following the developemant as closely as others but from what I understand this is the foundation for further expansions like IL-2 was.

[AdMan]

Mhhh...guys, the BOB was from June to September 1940. Summer. While waiting I recommend to some to read some books about this battle. ;-)

Really I just want a kick ass sim to play ;)

[Lucas_From_Hell]

I guess Feuerfalke is very close to be hired by Oleg as his secretary :-P