Friday 2009-10-23 Screenshots Update discussion thread

[Oleg Maddox]

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

[Snuff_Pidgeon]

.

[Snuff_Pidgeon]

computer specs?

[trO]

Possible release date?

[lbuchele]

computer specs?
Yes, the one you are using now , even if not the final specs, only for satisfy our curiosity about what kind of machine we will need in the future.

[msalama]

What can I say? They look great. What kind of computer do you run the game with, and what are the minimum specs for a smooth gameplay?

[NSU]

The Alpha Screenshots look fine :-)

My ask:
The top of the steep coast, you can make more smoothly?

[Tree_UK]

Hi Oleg, Thanks for the update, the spit cockpit is stunning. Some of the land detail shots appear to be in the Pacific theatre, is this for future releases or just a general overview of what the new game engine is capable off? The water/sun/clouds etc are amazing.

[Feuerfalke]

VERY nice shots. The detail especially on the planes is amazing especially in cockpit.

I also like the approach on the trees!

The cliffs look great as well, though this shot is not for the benefit. Ingame you won't notice it probably, but on the shot you can see the tiling of both, texture and structure. ;)

[Antmano]

Cockpit and planes look nice. Little bit of anti-aliasing and they should look great.
Colors for the ground where quite bright.

Does the multisample anti-aliasing work in SOW for the water edges, cockpit gauges and other places where it didnt work in IL2 ? Supersampling works in IL2 but its rather heavy.

[luthier]

What kind of computer do you run the game with, and what are the minimum specs for a smooth gameplay?

I'll answer for Oleg. He was horribly late for an appointment as he was posting the update, so he ran off as soon as he hit Submit.

The screenshots were taken on several computers, mostly on an Intel Core 2 2.66GHz with 2 Gigs of RAM and an NVidia 8800 GTX and a Athlon 64 3800+ 2.0 GHz with 2 Gigs of RAM and an NVidia 260.

We can't tell you yet about minimum specs for release, it's too early for that. Those are usually determined towards the end of a beta test.

[Feathered_IV]

Looks like Oblivion a bit. Always wanted to strafe those blighters in Cyrodiil...

Edit: Thanks Luthier. Good to know :)

[Feuerfalke]

Thanks for taking the time to answer us, luthier!

Considering it's still alpha, it looks extremely promising. And that's just scratching the surface. I'm looking forward to some more details on what's under the hood. ;)

[ZaltysZ]

It seems No AA was used and probably no (or too little) AF. It is likely that with higher AF, landscape textures will look way sharper. Now they are too blurry.

Question to Oleg:
Currently market of LCDs is getting flooded with wide gamut displays and they show too saturated colors in non color managed environment. If I recall correctly, OpenGL has extension which lets to use color management on textures. Maybe it is possible to make this extension available as optional, so that owners of wide gamut LCDs could play with exact colors this game was intended to be played?

[David603]

I'll answer for Oleg. He was horribly late for an appointment as he was posting the update, so he ran off as soon as he hit Submit.

The screenshots were taken on several computers, mostly on an Intel Core 2 2.66GHz with 2 Gigs of RAM and an NVidia 8800 GTX and a Athlon 64 3800+ 2.0 GHz with 2 Gigs of RAM and an NVidia 260.

We can't tell you yet about minimum specs for release, it's too early for that. Those are usually determined towards the end of a beta test.
And you can get a steady framerate with those graphics settings on a mid range gaming PC like one of the ones you mentioned?

[Avimimus]

Hello Oleg,

Given the increased quality of terrain: have you considered consulting ecologists?

It could be relatively easy to develop rules for vegetation at different altitudes. Using data from SoW's weather engine it might even be possible to take into account rainfall.

At smaller levels of spatial ecology could be shown in textures (although this is probably doable simply by having references and an artist with a good eye).

Glad to hear your feeling better.

-Avimimus

P.S. It would be good to leave some engine support for being able to look away from the gunsight while in a gunner position. The decision not to fully model gunner positions makes sense in most cases. However, for modelling the night war it could become important.
P.S.S. Does the SoW flight model still function at atmospheric pressures greater than 1 atmosphere?

[zxwings]

Wonderful!

[TheGrunch]

*shrug* Looks like the IL-2 engine with grass, some self-shading and bit more bump-mapping, to be honest. Doesn't look like there's anything different about the particle system, for example. It'll be more interesting when we get some more information about the inner workings of the sim, certainly.

The aircraft, though! Beeaauuuuuuuutifully detailed Spitfire and 110! :grin:

[|ZUTI|]

I just have one question about the water. Can't find that video from 1946 feats CD that was showing waves hitting the beach and that video was stunning. From the pics, it seems that water is not what was shown back then. Please, don't get this wrong. I know it's still alpha and It is indeed very nice. Still, can we have some pics in the next update of the beaches? I'm very interested in that, what can I say. Planes, specially cockpit that is show are spectacular.

[luthier]

It seems No AA was used and probably no (or too little) AF. It is likely that with higher AF, landscape textures will look way sharper. Now they are too blurry.

There's no AA on those shots because they use HDR, and right now you can't do both.

Question to Oleg:
Currently market of LCDs is getting flooded with wide gamut displays and they show too saturated colors in non color managed environment. If I recall correctly, OpenGL has extension which lets to use color management on textures. Maybe it is possible to make this extension available as optional, so that owners of wide gamut LCDs could play with exact colors this game was intended to be played?

SoW no longer uses OpenGL

[ChrisDNT]

The lighting in the cockpit looks amazingly realistic, the feeling of "being there".

Aircrafts are simply perfect.

As always, I could mention some minor criticism against the colors of the landscapes which don't look really "British", especially on the coastal area.
Maybe some tweeking in this sector could be useful.
Perhaps less "Velvia'ish" colors (they look too much vivid) and more "Kodachrome" ones ;-)

[Feuerfalke]

There's no AA on those shots because they use HDR, and right now you can't do both.

You mean you can't do both or in general with SoW? Because other games and graphics cards can AFAIK.

SoW no longer uses OpenGL

Interesting. Good decision, IMHO.

[150GCT_Veltro]

The Alpha Screenshots look fine :-)

My ask:
The top of the steep coast, you can make more smoothly?
More green color difference for the forest and meadows?

+1

Seriously, what is this? An update about a pre-alpha multiplayer map? I was waiting for Britain not for Jurassic Park.

http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0101.jpg

Bird of Prey land looks so good.

[F19_Klunk]

looks great.

I am a little concerned about the VERY vivid colours though on these screens. I understand that you are tweaking this which is good in my opinion as the colours are very heavy, especially the Green grass... looks lika a whole other palette than that used on the planes/cockpits.

thanx for the update, looking forward to more, expecially specialeffects :)

[F19_Klunk]

SoW no longer uses OpenGL

Now THAT is interesting news

[ChrisDNT]

As I've often said it on many sim forums, the best solution would be to have gamma and colors settings available directly within the game setup, this way everybody could choose one's own prefered rendition.
Guys making some photography know probably for instance the Fred Miranda's photoshop actions which automatize Velvia, Kodachrome, Fujichrome finishes. Something like that availabe in the game setup would be so cool !

[lep1981]

As always, I could mention some minor criticism against the colors of the landscapes which don't look really "British", especially on the coastal area.
Maybe some tweeking in this sector could be useful.
Perhaps less "Velvia'ish" colors (they look too much vivid) and more "Kodachrome" ones

1.- The first screen with the spitfire's cockpit looks amazing. Incredible textures and lights all around.

2.- I concur on the above quoted criticism about the landscape, as Oleg said, those colors might not be definitive, so I'd advise to make changes in the landscape colors too. The green looks TOO green (it feels like some kind of cartoon or kid's game). Making the landscape look real should be VITAL for the overall look of the sim and of course the feeling of immersion in the action and eviroment. I trust Oleg will do a great job fixing this.

3.- The airplane models are great, even thought it looks like the could receive minor improvements (maybe textures) but overall they look very very good.

4.- I love the trees now, NO MORE IL2 INVISIBLE TREES!!... if any of you used to go very low on the deck during the action... you might have crashed with those lol... for those who don't know what i'm talking about: in IL2 the tree layer can be seen perfectly from above, BUT if you get to the same level you just get to see a 1px line, and if you're not aware... boom! :evil:

5.- I'd love to know how is going to work the damage system for airplanes. Some detailed (within the boundaries of possible) explaination about it would be great considenring the possible improvements/changes that might have been done to this point.

Conclusion:

Oleg, I'm glad to see progress in BoB after such a long time, and I'm eager to keep seeing improvements and progress and hopefully.... a final release date ;)

[zakkandrachoff]

Hi Oleg, very very nice job
BF110 was fantastic, and cockpit spit too!!!!

buth, terrain... i dont know...
i expect some like birds of prey terrain
http://canalgame.com/images/Image/OLGA/IL%202/Foto+IL-2+Sturmovik%20+Birds+Of+Prey.jpg

buth very nice job on the planes!!! is amazing

[Baron]

Love the cockpit shot and the Bf-110.

As for the colors of landscape im sure thats not how its gonna look in the end, this "I'm a professional photographer as well, so perfect visual presentation is a very important goal for me" tells me Oleg knows what needs to be where and so on. Even if it will the user can make it look pretty much the way he likes anyways.

Color settings in game is a very nice idea btw.


P.S. Just understood that the map used in those screenshots is a map for online DF. Nice to know we wont have to use just one (channel map).

[Abraxa]

Cockpits and birds look amazing.
The landscape... well maybe that's England after half century of global warming. ;)

[Golden_Eagle_FM]

Thank's Oleg for the pictures. Your latest ones were 5 months ago. If now you keep posting them every week I will start to believe that BOB is for real. I take your word for that.

The picture numbered ........0116 looks very cartoonish in terms of color, contrast etc.
Some effort is needed for the cliffs to be more realistic. In general for landscape I agree with comments that have been already made. You should consider that everybody uses LCD screens and these have the tendency to have more saturated colours (as a visual impact) then plasma or CRT screens.

Airplanes seem perfect. Internal view of the cockpit of the spit is marvellously realistic. There is an immersive feel. On the external side they are beautifully detailed but too perfectly painted. The real ones were never perfectly painted, maybe only at delivery time. They had immediately, dents, scratches and chipped paint, oil and exhaust traces etc. This is true also for trucks, tanks, and in general for all military gear as it was made not to last too long anyway.
I think all objects should show some wear and tear. Hope this will not be neglected.

Last but not least please show us the picture of pilots and soldiers. How do you model humans. In IL2 it was an extremely crude polygonal model with boxed faces etc..
When we are on the ground in the airfields then they will contribute immensely to the immersion factor of a living world.

And if they are even animated (maybe with scripts that could be chosen in the FMB) then you reach for the absolute Flight sim title again.

Keep up the good work and posts.

Gold

[luthier]

Regarding the colors, read Oleg's post please. That's one of the primary areas we're working on right now.

In a next-gen sim like BoB, changing colors everywhere is not very easy. It's not just going into a texture and playing with hue - saturation. There's a complex lighting model in the engine that takes the environment and colors it with the sunlight passing through the atmosphere, which in turn is effected by the weather, time of day, altitude, etc. It's a complex system with lots of variables. To give you a rough example, if you just take the grass texture and make it greener, it may look good at noon from 1000 feet on a clear day, but it'll look horrible at dusk from 10,000 in a fog, etc.

So we're still fine-tuning the in-game lighting, but rest assured most of us own a good pair of eyes, and we're well aware of the direction this needs to go.

[csThor]

The cockpit and the planes are looking very good (that cockpit shot nearly made my jaw dislocate -can't wait to see the thing in motion). Concerning the environment I think it's safe to say "It's just an early Alpha." The first shots of Il-2 I ever saw had little in common with the later product so I guess the same applies here.

BTW Ilya - Did you get the rather lengthy document I wrote a few months back? Oleg asked me to do this ...

[F19_Klunk]

...

So we're still fine-tuning the in-game lighting, but rest assured most of us own a good pair of eyes, and we're well aware of the direction this needs to go.


even though I wasn't really worried, that sounds very reassuring. thank you

[luthier]

Seriously, what is this? An update about a pre-alpha multiplayer map? I was waiting for Britain not for Jurassic Park.

Can't the developers have ANY fun?

[csThor]

No, Ilya. Developers are supposed to be solemn and serious and shouldn't even know what laughing is. ;)

[ECV56_Guevara]

Oleg and team: about the radars seens in those lovely screenshots, and regarding that DT is working on it for Il-2, will be functionals and operables in Bob?
That spit over the wood is wonderfull
thanx for the update!

[THE ERASER]

These screenshots are fantastic! :shock:

Especially the Cockpit shots and the BF110 shot. :shock:

But the fresh, green grass, cries out for cows, so where are the cows? ;) :grin:

Thank's for the Update! *Big thumbs up*

[Igo kyu]

I liked the text on the aircraft, but the overall paintwork looked too glossy to me, they ought to be somewhat matt. The matt paint on some plastic models probably overdoes the mattness, but the purpose is camouflage, shiny is usually wrong for camouflage.

I didn't like the way the cliffs ended just before sea level, when there is a beach below a cliff often the beach extends quite a long way out to sea at low tide, and the sea washes the cliff face at high tide. Tides around the UK vary from place to place between 1 or 2 metres up to 12 metres difference in water height between high and low tide, and even then, "spring" tides are much higher than neap tides (12 metres is a spring tide, with a neap tide at that place being around 7 metres high ( with the relative low being about 4 metres high (for a difference of about 3 metres))).

I look forward to the release of SoW, I suspect the decision to drop OpenGL is a good one.

[Lucas_From_Hell]

Well, I liked the map, anyway...

As Ilya pointed out, developers must have some fun once in a while.

I won't comment on the textures, as it's an Alpha, anyway...

But, holy ****, the Spit and the 110 look AWESOME!

As our bad-humoured friend spoke about Jurassic Park, could you guys model some dinossaurs after the rest is done? :mrgreen:

[mkubani]

Looking good. Ilya, how is the water transparency done? Would it be possible to see a blurry hull of a ship 1-2m below water line? Or a more practical example, would it be possible to spot a submarine in periscope depth?

[luthier]

Looking good. Ilya, how is the water transparency done? Would it be possible to see a blurry hull of a ship 1-2m below water line? Or a more practical example, would it be possible to spot a submarine in periscope depth?

We can't show you everything in one week! We gotta space it out a little bit. There's a lot of cool things to show, ships being one of them. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, let's just wait until Oleg is ready to show our gorgeous looking floating targets.

[Lodestone]

Looking good. Ilya, how is the water transparency done? Would it be possible to see a blurry hull of a ship 1-2m below water line? Or a more practical example, would it be possible to spot a submarine in periscope depth?

I would love to know this too.

The prospect of an update every week is very exciting. Engine looks great, although I suggest a trip into your nVidia cp to turn on some anti-aliasing. That shot of teh horizon was a jaggie party.

Very excite!

[Baron]

Despite the "critisism" i think i can speak for most when i say that ingame screenshots is a giant step forward uppdate wice.

Thank u very much and looking forward to seeing more.


Btw, Igu Kyu, at sertain angles camoflage paint where infact glossy. Thats just how light reflects. Irl matt finishes never stays completly matt, u only need to wipe it down once and it becomes more glossy. Not counting dirt and wheatehering of course.

[C6_Krasno]

Thanks a lot for the update Oleg !

[6S.Manu]

Thanks for the screenshots!

I've only two questions for the devs (PS: and no!, devs can't have fun when we are suffering like junkies :D ).

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.

[GF_Mastiff]

I'm very sorry to here Open GL is out of the picture? To me Open GL was more 3D than Direct X$...More spacial awareness and more depth.. Love the water especially the white caps..http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0117.jpg Cant wait to be apart of the multi international MP beta test team...With Win 7 out are you guys moving over in that direction yet? Also in the shading is that self shading?; are we going to see the shadows of the pilot in the cockpit, on the ground when parked, through the cockpit, is the pilot head going to move as well translate to the shadow? (i.e. Lock on FC)

[Bearcat]

Good stuff!

I imagine the shadows will move in real time with the sun? (I still remember the jaw dropping day when I first got IL2 and had a DF map up to practice take offs.. I set it up to the time of day ... in the afternoon.. I was called away and got back to my PC later that night.. and it was dark on the field.. I almost fell off my chair.. :))

What were the settings at for those shots? Were those lower or medium graphics settings, or were they maxed out?

Will there be reflections in objects? Like for instance say in a polished metal skin.. would we see reflections? The lighting looks superb...

[Feuerfalke]

Moving incockpit shadows have been shown in a short movie even with the old engine. Don't know if it's in the news-thread.

[Bearcat]

Moving incockpit shadows have been shown in a short movie even with the old engine. Don't know if it's in the news-thread.

Yeah.. but I mean on the ground... I can just see the shadows getting longer as the day progresses into evening.. ;) I wonder if the sky will rotate as the night progresses.. (Not a far fetched notion considering the source of this sim..)

[JtD]

Thanks for the update, it already is very nice to look at! The cockpit is really looking great!

I also have a question regarding to sound, will the speed of sound be modeled or will it go everywhere in no time like it is in il-2?

Keep up the good work!

[Feuerfalke]

Yeah.. but I mean on the ground... I can just see the shadows getting longer as the day progresses into evening.. ;) I wonder if the sky will rotate as the night progresses.. (Not a far fetched notion considering the source of this sim..)

As you posted, they did in IL2 - why should they abandon that?

I didn't find the cockpit shadows-video in the news, but there are two videos that show dynamic daylight lighting in the editor.

[genbrien]

I know it's a little detail, but will exhaust blurr modeled ingame?
And will tire flatened a bit when on ground. In Il2 and other sims, when the plane is onf ground, wheels always stay perfecly round, wich is quite unrealistic, considering the type of tires plane was equiped in that time.
But as said, it's just details :rolleyes:;)

*btw, amazing shots, worth the ait for me, keep up the good work :grin:

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

Ok, no openGL, I can live with that. Is SoW going to be DX10 or DX11? I'm hoping DX11, cause the DX11 tessellation is just incredible!

[Foo'bar]

Let's hope that the quality of the engine sounds will correspond to the quality of the graphics ;) even with non-highend sound cards and speaker systems. Give your best Rudolf! :D

[Forgottenfighter]

I don't know how to thank you Oleg. It looks absolutely unbelievably fantastic. The shadowing, it's glorious. And that Bf 110, and the water and the cliffs and the Spit and and......What can I say, I believe this sim will be huge hit for years and years. And to think it's only in the Alpha phase.

Good luck Oleg, and I am delighted to hear you and your son have recovered.

Bye.

[erco]

Amazing! Thanks for the update!

The first shot of the Spit cockpit is so very close to being real. Will there be support for nVidia's 3d feature? If there is, I think we may have hit the jackpot.

Also, the lighting, the way the light looks under, and through the clouds, is very very good as well. It looks like you folks have got the light right. The reflection off the Spit and 110, where it varies according to the surface, excellent!

An observation: The Spit exterior is simply too smooth, too homogenous. The light reflecting off the surface ought to highlight the topography of the surface -whether it be rivet lines, wavy skin, or access panel edges. The 110 looked better, so maybe it's the angle of reflection or the model.

To me, the shot looking up at the sun has the sun flare too large. Your setting sun looks beautiful.

I like the clouds, you guys have nailed how clouds look close up- that wispy diaphonus edge. I am less satisfied with how the more distant clouds look. That soft edge should give way to, depending on the cloud type, a hard, more defined edge. In some cases, that hard edge would be correct at closer range as well, again depending on the cloud type. I absolutely love the shot with the low sun angle and how that highlights the 'shape' of the cloud- stunning!

Love the water in some shots, less so in others. You nailed how the sun reflecting off water looked from altitude in IL2, and it looks better here. Understanding we're looking at Alpha shots, but the shorelines aren't busy enough to me. There ought to be more detail at the water/land interface, when you're close enough to see it.

I was discussing ROF with a friend, and I told him that while ROF was fine, a very good looking game, it still looked like a game. I expected that SOW would be the first flight sim to look like the world, not a game. It looks like I was right.

Again, just amazing, can't wait to fly it!

[MD_Wild_Weasel]

Thankyou oleg and team , first impressions of the spitfire cockpitt are absolutly amazing truely worth goin on my desktop! LOL. Screen shots of the planes seem to be looking rather plastic in appearence. Is this due to the weathering model your introducing and that she is fresh from factory?
Also any news of whereabouts in the next decade this masterpiece will be released or expected to be released? Coz im dying to fly in that bloody spitfire and shoot me down some luftwhiners! :grin:

[ivagiglie]

Thanks for update Oleg, cockpit, planes and shadows are surely a huge step forward compared to IL2.

Now the complaints, you can't make something better if you receive only positive feedback, can you? ;)

The rest doesn't seem to me like a big improvement, different maybe but not much more realistic... the ground looks nice from the cockpit (pic100) but then we switch to SuperMario64 with pic101 and pic116.
Trees look better but won't be possible to make them worse than IL2... and still they look a little "sticked on" the background, need to see how they look dynamically though, that's the important part.
And where did some little bump mapping go in pic105?

Ok, ready to be bashed by your devote followers! :grin:

To be clear: with us IL2-junkies on this forum it's going to be easy anyway, we'll buy whatever you come up with, me in the first row :)


One question: any plans to improve on planes visibility? I mean, on IL2 we're forced to play at low resolutions to spot other planes in a better way.
You probably shouldn't give the advantage to people having higher resolutions but shouldn't be the other way around either.

[jctrnacty]

Hi Oleg, you are my hero. The screens are fantastic. I like the planes and amount of detail on the ground units. I wount talk about the colours because I know you are not blind and will correct them.

Absolutely fantastic, cant wait for full version.

I hope you will use directx 11 too.

[proton45]

Now THAT is interesting news


+1

[Chivas]

http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0147.jpg

This screenshot of the smoke is most impressive. It seems we will have large areas of smoke instead of a few small columns.

[msalama]

Thanks for all the answers Ilya. It's really heart-warming to see the project still going ahead full steam :) Do you guys happen to have any estimates for a release date, BTW, or is it still too early for that?

[JG27CaptStubing]

Curious if the new engine will use Direct X now that DX11 is available. I know Oleg is partial to OpenGL.

[Chivas]

Curious if the new engine will use Direct X now that DX11 is available. I know Oleg is partial to OpenGL.

See Luthiers post above... SOW will not be using OpenGL

[fuzzychickens]

http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0100.jpg

With that screenshot, I can image a shadow of a 190 in the middle of that sunny area across my cockpit dashboard - then everything goes black.

Kudos to the first person to do a SOW movie with that sequence of events.

[Tvrdi]

Oleg already said colors are not final but I will say....the grass is too green, give me more grass....hehe....thanks for the update...see you in in the sky in march 2010 Oleg......

[zakkandrachoff]

The screenshots were taken on several computers, mostly on an Intel Core 2 2.66GHz with 2 Gigs of RAM and an NVidia 8800 GTX and a Athlon 64 3800+ 2.0 GHz with 2 Gigs of RAM and an NVidia 260.

.

I am so glad for this information., I have a Quad 9400 and i was thinking all the time on a change for a Quad more powerful and do a crossfire whit 4890.

I thing that in not bad the three design, buth in the screenshots don't have shade... i thing. And Will be fine that Oleg upload sreenchots of England, Whit Farms,little towns, towns, and demarques terrains and aisled little forest like is really Europe, not pics of "jurassic park" that something said. buth All of All is very nice, buth we want see Europe, scenario like Birds of Prey buth whit the machine of Storm Of War. I hope Oleg do a second upload one of this days whit England.
And more pics of aircraft and cockpits on game:rolleyes:
again, very nice work kameraden oleg:cool:
(sorry my english)

[BadAim]

Sweet. Better than Viagra.

[*Buzzsaw*]

Hello Oleg

Glad to hear you and your son are feeling better, flu is such a time waster for those who are working hard. And we all know how hard you work! :)

Wonderful shots of the sim, it really gives you a sense of how detailed it will be.

Especially in the overhead shots looking down, you really get a sense of what is below you, no more squinting and going to max zoom to spot things. The difference between this Sim and IL-2 is that you are really going to feel like you are flying about a real ground, with real vehicles and terrain below.

The whole sim is going to be so much more immersive for that reason. It will be approach photo-realism in that sense.

As far as complaints about the cleaness of the planes, I think if you compare the 110 and the Spitfire in the overhead shots, you can tell one has the weathering in place, the other is obviously the clean 'new' model.

I would agree with the comments from some that the terrain colours are almost too bright, but I am sure you will be adjusting those values.

Thanks for these pictures, we are eagarly waiting for the next update.

[choctaw111]

Will there be dynamic shading on the ground surface and clouds? Everything is better than what I was dreaming about.
Thanks for your hard work Oleg. You are making so many people happy.

[Tree_UK]

Oleg could you tell us what stage of completion the sim is currently at, we know it was 80% finished in June, do you think you will make the BOB anniversary in 2010 like you mentioned previously?

[slm]

Great to see the new pictures, especially the Spit cockpit. I hope you can make the graphics so that nearby planes look brighter and sharper than the terrain far below. Some examples here:

http://www.taysideaviation.co.uk/wmslib/Content_image_medium/G-WEND_in_flight_90x125.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Color_Photographed_B-17E_in_Flight.jpg/800px-Color_Photographed_B-17E_in_Flight.jpg

This less bright ground rendering gives you good effect of altitude and makes it easier to spot planes.

[hiro]

Thanks for the update, Oleg, Ilya, CS, and others helping the dev team.

S! ~S~


This is awesome. I likey likey. Its good.



Anyone notice in 104 n 105, they got icons turned on? :) 103 / 106 has no cockpit (get all the ego runners upset LOL)

maybe this is closer than we think?



In regards to colors, I kinda like it. The shadowy gray influenced over realisitic graphics is over done for other games. Here for the screenshots, the shadows and shading is well done. I know lots of guys are looking for Pixar here, but this is a game and not everyone has 16x cores to run high end. It's good to know that Oleg & crew are still working on it.

I like how the 110 the edges of the guns catch the light but the nose itself doesn't.

Will planes have moving shadows as they turn / maneuver and light movement as it passes from cockpit surfaces?


Water detail is great as well as the volcanic representation of some of the pictures.

Trees are good.


Some questions.

I know there's going to be moving sun shadows related to the time of day.

Will there be object movements and detail?

Like I remember my dad's friend over jungles by the A-1 skyraiders sometimes they'd fly past and the bird's scared would fly up but get tossed back down by the prop wash.

Or will trees / flags move with the breeze or palms swaying in gale type winds? Or waves breaking.

Might tax some of the weaker systems.



Along the same lines, will there be damage representation and will it be permanent or temporary? (like in FPS's corpse disappear and bullet holes go away after a few minutes to keep frames down . . .)




Jurassic Park, LOL, don't give ideas. SOmeones going to make a mod where its Warbirds vs Jurassic.

I like the details. I just hope the sound matches, like others have said. Like hit up Duxford and get engine sounds, work with restored old machine gun fanatics. The graphics of IL-2 I could understand but with 24 bit sound and real restored planes / weapons at the airshows, IL-2's sound was lacking.




I was laughing at the ghostrider Spitfires. They didn't have a 109, like I wanted, but the cockpit detail on the Spitfire just blew me away. It's like looking into a real one! And I know all planes will get such attention, so its all grand!

Anyone notice the gunsight was subdued? I wonder if you have to turn on gunsights like WW2 pilots had to switch from cruise to combat readiness?


(Hopefully FW 190 front cockpit is modelled correctly when that theater / theatre is released :) j/k )

[DoolittleRaider]

...
"The screenshots were taken on several computers, mostly on an Intel Core 2 2.66GHz with 2 Gigs of RAM and an NVidia 8800 GTX..."

Wow! Maybe I won't need an upgrade at all for BofB!!!
My current rig:
Dual core E6700 Cpu 2.66 Ghz
4GB DDR2 800Mhz
BFG 8800GTX w/768MB Graphics card

[flyingbullseye]

I'll answer for Oleg. He was horribly late for an appointment as he was posting the update, so he ran off as soon as he hit Submit.

The screenshots were taken on several computers, mostly on an Intel Core 2 2.66GHz with 2 Gigs of RAM and an NVidia 8800 GTX and a Athlon 64 3800+ 2.0 GHz with 2 Gigs of RAM and an NVidia 260.

We can't tell you yet about minimum specs for release, it's too early for that. Those are usually determined towards the end of a beta test.


Fair enough that you can't say exactly what the specs will be as we all know that things change. But, any chance posting the fps, especially the minimum at least with those two rigs?:D

BTW, OM, thanks for the awesome update, my jaw hit the floor when I saw the first one showing the spit pit. WOW!!!

Flyingbullseye

[sport02]

for me it's the best beautiful cockpit I have seen and it's look as a 3D view , simply fantastic !!

also I like on the screen 168 ( bf110) how lighting take a realistic aspect to the wing ( not perfectly plane ) and to the cockpit with the subtle shadow on the nose plane

about lighting , reflections between objets will be implanted or not ? for exemple the sea reflect on the plane .


as you say the colors are not final for grass , tree , water , sky , but what about look or texture for tree ? because even with other color I d' ont like the trees ( and I d' ont see how it's look near them )

for exemple in this screen we have more details for trees :

http://www.imagup.com/pics/1256408654.html

as you say I hope that the nature will be fine as the spitfire cockpit in the futur , perhaps it 's the most difficult to render ( as human texture )

[VF-51_Cobraj]

Are the shots in DX10? Will this be able to run in DX9.0c and DX10? I'm assuming no OpenGL will be used.

I have an i7 920, with SLI, will quad cores and SLI/CrossFire enhancements be an option in setup?

Regards,

=Cobraj=

Cobraj@AirGroup51.com

[zakkandrachoff]

Great to see the new pictures, especially the Spit cockpit. I hope you can make the graphics so that nearby planes look brighter and sharper than the terrain far below. Some examples here:

http://www.taysideaviation.co.uk/wmslib/Content_image_medium/G-WEND_in_flight_90x125.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Color_Photographed_B-17E_in_Flight.jpg/800px-Color_Photographed_B-17E_in_Flight.jpg

This less bright ground rendering gives you good effect of altitude and makes it easier to spot planes.

look this pics old upload of storm of war battle of britain of c company of 2007 or 2006,. i cant remember
trees and europeans scenary
http://static.gamesradar.com/images/mb//GamesRadar/us/Games/S/Storm%20of%20War%20Battle%20of%20Britain/Bulk%20Viewers/PC/2007-01-26/PCG171.scoop_bob.gen1--screenshot.jpg
http://www.laneros.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=81933&stc=1&d=1170782892
i want sreewnshot of that scenary buth whit the new planes. will be the best of the best. i cant wait.
sorry post 3 times on a day. this is very nice
(and is diferent and many tipes of trees that i can see)

[Robert]

Since when did 1940 Spitfires have "Windows Pointers" in the cockpits? :D

Thank-you Oleg. The update is appreciated. I am truly impressed with the level of detail, and I can't wait to see how the developement unfolds. I'm REALLY looking forward to continued updates..... just like the old days.

Our Rennaissance is here guys. Enjoy it. Soon we'll all be flying myriads of great flight sims. Thanks again Oleg.

[wjc103]

Oleg,

In looking at the screenshots, it's hard to tell but have you changed the beach areas? In some previous WIP videos we saw some amazing wave action and beach renderings, will those be omitted in the final version?

Thanks, looks great.

[TheFamilyMan]

Bravo! Thanks for the update; it's so refreshing to see what's going on! Any chances that we'll be able to see some movies from this work in progress?

Those black bars that appear to be shadows on the wing of a Spitfire are puzzling.

[erco]

Perhaps the machines used for the screenshots weren't powerful enough to render the scenery at max and also do the aircraft?

[Snuff_Pidgeon]

Bravo! Thanks for the update; it's so refreshing to see what's going on! Any chances that we'll be able to see some movies from this work in progress?

Those black bars that appear to be shadows on the wing of a Spitfire are puzzling.

Those are not shadows, the two bars were actually added to the wing surface in real life.

[SlipBall]

All very nice indeed...Standing by here, waiting for that beta tester draft notice

[Spinnetti]

Curious to know more about the switch from OpenGL... I thought that was the better performing technology?

[ECV56_Lancelot]

Great update, this really show good progress on the sim. I'm still shocked by the spitfire cockpit shot, its GREAT for an alpha. The rest looks very good als but with the expected tuning needed for an alpga software.

Like very much the forrest with difereng kind and hights of trees.

My questios would be:

1) All the trees will be collidable?

2) Seccond the question about seeing the hull of a ship below the waterline, or a submarin close to the surface?. It would be cool to be able to have partial sunken ships near the shores, with most of the ship below the waterline. :)

3) The drums. Are they individual drums put together or a single object all together?. Would they explode, burn when shot or bombed?
Or even thrown away if a bomb falls and explodes near by? Physics engine i'm asking here? Something like we see on todays FPS.

4) Great model of the engish fuel truck. Is there a similar model with the hose deployed to put them near an aircraft and make it look like its chargin fuel?. I know this is too much :D

5) Finally some serious smoke column on the 0147 pic :), not the classic thin cigarret smoke column we are all get used to on out beloved simulators :(

6) Something that seems nobody notice? We have CURVES ON ROADS
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0126.jpg

Is this mean no more of the old angular "elbows" on the roads like we have on il-2?
Also we will be able to have moving vehicles inside the forest?

7) A wish for an update comment. Will there be more complex damage model on bridges?. Not just one bomb near by and bye bye bridge?

Looking foward to the next update ;).

[mazex]

Thanks for update Oleg, and I'm very happy to finally see some ingame shots. The terrain definitely looks good enough for a flight sim, especially as there is no "fog after a few kilometers" like those console arcade flight games use to be able to crank up the ground detail...

The planes are beyond good enough - so stop working on them ;)

Now that we have finally seen the ground - lets talk new features in the game!

Good luck with the project! /Mazex

[Blakduk]

Great to have some early shots of what the game will look like!
I'd be really pleased to see a picture with characters (such as pilots in their seats, drivers in the cars etc).
Are there plans to have 'high gore' type characters in the game?

[Flyby]

Oleg, or Luthier
Why the decision not to go with OpenGL? Inquiring minds want to know (it might be educational).
Flyby out

[Thunderbolt56]

In those pics, the aircraft props are not turning. Are the aircraft images overlayed on the landscape or are those some actual "in-game" shots?

[metro163]

will TrackIR be supported in BOB？ If so，I will buy one now.
PS：Any suggests for the peripherals, like HOTAS, TrackIR, etc....can't wait to pre-purchase some.

[proton45]

Curious to know more about the switch from OpenGL... I thought that was the better performing technology?

+1

[dflion]

Thanks Oleg and Ilya for the update pics.
From my amateur photography perspective I have made the following observations of each jpeg.

Jpg0100 Spitfire cockpit – excellent cockpit reproduction, very clear ground detail from cockpit windows (high depth of field), all shadow effects are excellent.
Jpg0101 Extinct Volcano – Distant airfield, trees, fields, earth rocks, water reflections, clouds are reproduced in high detail with excellent visibility to the horizon (high depth of field) I noticed there were no cloud shadows over the land mass.
Jpg0102 Covered vehicle – Excellent detail, good shadow effect, long grass, distant trees and house look very effective and much more realistic than IL-2. High cloud effects very good.
Jpg0103 Red & White check control tower – Good detail and shadow effect relative to the sun’s position.
Jpg0104 Airfield wooden tower – good detail and shadow effects, very crisp and clear distance details of trees, airfield and aircraft line-up. I like the airfield ‘depth of field’ effect, it looks very realistic.
Jpeg0105 Petrol drums – good shadow effects, long grass looks good (though a bit too bright green). Again the distant airfield and trees are very crisp and clear with the ‘depth of field’ effect.
Jpeg0106 Radar Tower – Excellent detail and shadow effect from midday sun.
Jpeg0108 Large radar towers with water and cliffs – Water looks excellent (though no shoreline wave action). Cliff detail and shadow effects are very good.
Jpeg0110 Line of vehicles – Excellent tree shadow effect with patches of sunlight – again excellent ‘depth of field’ showing tree varieties and their shadows to very good effect.
Jpeg0111 Water, Cliffs, Clouds and Hills – Water looks much more realistic, cloud types look excellent in late afternoon sun with very effective shadow effects.
Jpeg0112 Fuel truck and different grass types – Excellent attention to detail with truck and contents. Grass types look very good, though colours are a bit vivid.
Jpeg0113 Fuel hose truck, airfield buildings and aircraft – excellent detail on truck, buildings look like typical WWII types. Distant aircraft line-up and trees very crisp and clear under noon sun.
Jpeg0116 Flying shot – Excellent cloud and shadow effects with excellent water and ‘white caps’ effects. Very good distance clarity of land and cloud shadow effects.
Jpeg0117 Spitfire top view (1) Excellent aircraft attention to detail (surface rivet detail) with excellent shadow and Perspex canopy sun effects. Water underneath more realistic with ‘white caps’.
Jpeg0126 Spitfire top view (2) Same aircraft description as above. Tree and ground detail very realistic with excellent shadow effects, a huge improvement on IL-2.
Jpeg0130 Volcano setting sun and clouds with water reflections. Spectacular sun, cloud types and reflective effects – very photo realistic.
Jpeg0131 Sun, cloud, land and water effects – A great grab showing very photo realistic effects.
Jpeg0147 Spitfire smoke and shadows – very realistic smoke effects with very good shadow/sunlight effects on Spitfire.
Jpeg0168 Me110 – Excellent shadow and canopy sunlight effects with very good sun and water reflections. Again a very photo-realistic grab.

Summary – Some colours are a bit bright which is obviously still a work in progress.
Overall, the attention to detail is excellent. Looking forward to the next release.

DFLion

[blottogg]

Lancelot beat me to it...curved roads! Other terrain features Other things I noticed were vertical cliffs (ask the guys doing Mod maps of Dover how easy that was in the Il-2 engine), forests that look like forests (from any angle), self-shadowing cockpits, airplanes and ground objects, and grass. The smoke shot and clouds look like a huge step up from Il-2 as well. Looking at the Spit gunsight has me wondering if I'll be able to adjust range/wingspan settings in-game. I know most of this has been announced months earlier, but seeing it all rendered in-game is still great. Glad to hear you're feeling better Oleg, and thanks for the eye candy.

As far as the fresh appearance of the aircraft, Oleg has mentioned in the past that persistant weathering will be a feature of the sim. Unless that has changed, expect to see shots of it in-game in the future. As Ilya said, they can't show us everything at once, especially while they're still coding it all.

As a request for the next update, are there any rivers with bridges on the test map? I'm curious to see how riverbanks are done in the SoW engine. I'm also curious how indirect lighting will be handled in SoW. In Il-2 I'll frequently turn on the instrument lights during the day to see them, in part because there isn't much indirect light thrown on to them. The shots here look better, at least in noon daylight.

P.S. I'm glad to see the RSU (Runway Supervisory Unit, aka "the box", pic 103) is included, having spent more than my fair share of time in one myself. Will poor performing pilots in campaigns be relegated to the RSU to perform gear checks (with the binoculars included) until their performance improves?

[nearmiss]

Will SOW support the nVida 3D?

[Waldo.Pepper]

I don't have any questions, or sadly anything constructive to say. I am impressed I guess but not blown away. I hope I get blown away about SOW one day but so far I am not. I guess maybe I am expecting too much. (Hopefully this is not old man syndrome.)

[Viking]

Thank you Oleg for the uppdate!

I have no complains as I know that all is from WIP and it will look better in the end.

Happy to hear that you intend to restart the regular friday uppdates.
You will recive a lot of whining, complaints,demands, suggestions etc but please keep in mind that its beacuse we all love and care for Il-2 and the new baby SOW.


Regards

Viking

[Feuerfalke]

Oleg, or Luthier
Why the decision not to go with OpenGL? Inquiring minds want to know (it might be educational).
Flyby out

Considering the possibilities especially of DX10 and 11, this is the better choice to make full use of modern hardware. As I and some other people posted before, some things are also a lot easier to accomplish under DX. DX10 and 11 have native support of multiple CPUs and GPUs and can also render more efficiently to multiple-monitor-setups than the simple desktop spreading of XP. Of course you can do the same under OpenGL, but it's simply more work, which means precious time that can now be used for more important tasks.

[Tvrdi]

There's no AA on those shots because they use HDR, and right now you can't do both.

SoW no longer uses OpenGL

HS....hehe I remember the early interview with Oleg about BOB SOW...he said how opengl is a much better choice for BOB SOW than DX....never mind

so it would be DX9?

[FS~Hawks]

Well done the pic's look really grate and i cant wait to jump in and fly around for a look.

Well done good job and good to see you.

[rakinroll]

Man, those ground details very good. Thanks...

[luthier]

The switch away from Open GL took place a while ago. There had been two camps at Maddox Games, the pro-OpenGL camp and the pro-DirectX camp, for a while. Eventually the arguments of the pro-DirectX camp won over, so the switch was made. It wasn't a particularly dramatic event, just a logical evolution of opinion based on a bunch of boring technical details.


Regarding the colors, once again, this is work in progress. Oleg specifically said that it's being worked on, that it's not final. So please think of it as a glass half full.

A lot of features go through this annoying development phase where it takes forever to get them perfect. It can take 3 days to build a feature to 90%, and a month to get it to 100. That's where we are with the visuals. It's a hugely complex system with lots of components, each at a different stage of completion, so at this particular time it happens to result in the picture we're seeing right now. Glass half full, guys, glass half full.

A bunch of smart, talented, experienced people are coming to work every day to work on the graphics. Oleg is constantly breathing down their necks and hounding them over each tiny detail. The visuals are a HUGE priority for him personally, huge. Have a little faith in the man.

[Feuerfalke]

You can see it's WIP in several areas, but it's VERY promising IMHO.

Of course some colors look to bright, the textures too blury, especially at some distance, but if you take a look at picture 0116, you'll notice there's barely any atmosphere rendered at all beyond the clouds. You can see the sharp horizon in between the clouds.
Once haze is enabled and set up correctly, it will probably blend colors and textures nicely.

IMHO it's even more obvious looking at the Spitfire and the Bf110. It's simply some layers switched on and off. While the Bf110 shows the reflections and bumpmaps, the Spitfire has switched those off and shows how detailed the textures are.

Long story short: The screenshots are not what the game will look like, but what makes the differences.
That's also true for the trees - it doesn't mean they will stay like that, but rather like: "hey, we don't use layered textures to show forests, but individual trees!"

[dflion]

A bunch of smart, talented, experienced people are coming to work every day to work on the graphics. Oleg is constantly breathing down their necks and hounding them over each tiny detail. The visuals are a HUGE priority for him personally, huge. Have a little faith in the man.

Well said Ilya, I can really understand Oleg's 'attention to detail with the visuals', he wants the 'best of the best' and a flight sim that will last into the future.

Keep up the outstanding work.

DFLion

[Chivas]

Thanks Luthier...Visuals are very important to me aswell. You can have the best FM possible but if it doesn't look right, it kills it for me.

I can't imagine how difficult it is to bring all these features {FM, DM, AI, Moving Weather Patterns, Cinematic Terrain, and aircraft } together with playable frame rates.

[SlipBall]

luthier(quote)
The screenshots were taken on several computers, mostly on an Intel Core 2 2.66GHz with 2 Gigs of RAM and an NVidia 8800 GTX and a Athlon 64 3800+ 2.0 GHz with 2 Gigs of RAM and an NVidia 260




Did the Athlon system have a desent frame rate? I ask because I'm running a slightly stronger Athlon system now...and it would be nice to not have to do an up-grade

[Tree_UK]

Oleg do you plan to show any 'In game' shots of SOW in the near future, for example a formation of heinkels or a screen shot of a dogfight over England, something where we can get a true picture of what your creating. I know you said these recent screens were 'in game' but they appear to be WIP shots rather than shots taken from a running game.

Many Thanks.

[SlipBall]

Oleg do you plan to show any 'In game' shots of SOW in the near future, for example a formation of heinkels or a screen shot of a dogfight over England, something where we can get a true picture of what your creating. I know you said these recent screens were 'in game' but they appear to be WIP shots rather than shots taken from a running game.

Many Thanks.


?...they seem to all have (grab) in file name...I think that they are in-game shots

[Tree_UK]

oh ok, I meant from the battle of britian aspect the original concept of the sim.

[Lucas_From_Hell]

EDIT: Nevermind.

Well, got your point, Tree.

There was a 110 and a Spitfire. I'm happy with just that :mrgreen:

But yes, I would also love seeing those Heinkels all around (but I don't know if the computers used would hold it steady with some 100 bombers and gunners and bombs and England and everything else).

As someone said, there's one thing I would really love to see: the shadow of a 109 over that Spitfire cockpit. THAT would be awesome.

[Tree_UK]

"Let there be whining: And there was whining." :rolleyes:

Ok edited my reply, i'm glad you can see what i'm asking.

[SlipBall]

oh ok, I meant from the battle of britian aspect the original concept of the sim.


Yes I would like to see England from above as well

[Lucas_From_Hell]

Misunderstood you on the first post, sorry. Already edited it :grin:.

It's just that your comment sounded a bit strange at first, but then you clarified it.

EDIT: I'll stop editing, we're both writing way too quickly here :mrgreen:

[Tree_UK]

Misunderstood you on the first post, sorry. Already edited it :grin:.

It's just that your comment sounded a bit strange at first, but then you clarified it.

EDIT: I'll stop editing, we're both writing way too quickly here :mrgreen:

No worries Lucas. :grin:

[Flyby]

Considering the possibilities especially of DX10 and 11, this is the better choice to make full use of modern hardware. As I and some other people posted before, some things are also a lot easier to accomplish under DX. DX10 and 11 have native support of multiple CPUs and GPUs and can also render more efficiently to multiple-monitor-setups than the simple desktop spreading of XP. Of course you can do the same under OpenGL, but it's simply more work, which means precious time that can now be used for more important tasks.
Aha!! As I suspected! It was educational. :D Thanks Feuerfalke.
Flyby out

[jctrnacty]

I have a bad feeling, that this game will take rest of my free time :grin:

I Hope they will support DX11 as it is DX brakethrough like DX 9 was.

[Lucas_From_Hell]

Going a bit off-topic, is DX 11 already out, and what's actually that different between it and older versions?

[luthier]

luthier(quote)
Did the Athlon system have a desent frame rate? I ask because I'm running a slightly stronger Athlon system now...and it would be nice to not have to do an up-grade

It's way too early to gauge frame rates and specs. Many things that will be eating up FPS in the final release aren't yet running at full capacity. Most others are yet to be optimized, meaning they're eating up more FPS than they will in the release.

The framerate we get on these specs today doesn't matter. No one can guess now at the framerate we will have in the release under what graphic settings. I could say what framerate we hope to have on this machine in the release, but a lot of people have a very twisted idea of what Work In Progress means, so I won't.

?...they seem to all have (grab) in file name...I think that they are in-game shots

They are indeed. The build is very stable and there's a lot more going on that what you see on the screenshots.

[Lemmi]

Considering the possibilities especially of DX10 and 11, this is the better choice to make full use of modern hardware. As I and some other people posted before, some things are also a lot easier to accomplish under DX. DX10 and 11 have native support of multiple CPUs and GPUs and can also render more efficiently to multiple-monitor-setups than the simple desktop spreading of XP. Of course you can do the same under OpenGL, but it's simply more work, which means precious time that can now be used for more important tasks.

But this means i have to switch to vista or 7, (which is probably the same except for DX) and this is a big MINUS for me.

[tagTaken2]

A promising start to what I hope will be regular updates. There's been a couple of great sims come out recently, and I'd wondered if maybe subject matter of BoB might be a bit tired, but the moment that first Spitfire cockpit shot opened, I've got all my previous excitement back.

It's way too early to gauge frame rates and specs. Many things that will be eating up FPS in the final release aren't yet running at full capacity. Most others are yet to be optimized, meaning they're eating up more FPS than they will in the release.


Il-2 seemed to be pretty optimized code, have faith that BoB will be scalable in terms of graphics. Either way, I've got $1500 set aside specifically for new PC on release :)

[zapatista]

Hi Oleg,

thx for the new screenshots, it's great to see the work in progress

the spitfire cockpit looks amazing !!

this shot interests me the most, with a low flying aircraft looking down at a road (altitude +/- 250 meters ?)
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0126.jpg

in real life from a small aircraft at 1500 meters above an open road you can still see individual cars clearly standing out as moving or stationary object on the open road. this is historically what ww2 pilots reports they used in hunting for ground targets, and anybody in real life can easily confirm this by flying in a small aircraft over a road (as i am sure you have many times)

in il2 this has sadly been a big weakness, and you have to be at +/- 250 meters altitude to have a hope of spotting a truck or tank. this means you have to fly MUCH lower and slower then in real life to spot or track your ground targets (giving you much less visibility to the sector you cover, and more vulnerable to ground fire)

could you PLEASE keep this in mind with BoB as you finalize the tank/truck distant LoD models, and compensate for a flat 2D pc screen trying to model a distant 3D object by making these smallest LoD models stand out more against the background textures (instead of blending in to much) ?

the new ground vehicles look great in closeup right now, but we will need to be able to see them from 1200 to 1500 meters to :)

[Feuerfalke]

But this means i have to switch to vista or 7, (which is probably the same except for DX) and this is a big MINUS for me.

If you want to benefit from multiple cores you have to do that anyway. ;)

[Insuber]

It's way too early to gauge frame rates and specs. Many things that will be eating up FPS in the final release aren't yet running at full capacity. Most others are yet to be optimized, meaning they're eating up more FPS than they will in the release.

The framerate we get on these specs today doesn't matter. No one can guess now at the framerate we will have in the release under what graphic settings. I could say what framerate we hope to have on this machine in the release, but a lot of people have a very twisted idea of what Work In Progress means, so I won't.



They are indeed. The build is very stable and there's a lot more going on that what you see on the screenshots.

Luthier,

I really appreciate your answers, thank you for taking the time. I liked most of the pics, and particularly the lighting fx and the shadows.

The Spit cockpit is incredible, I've never seen such a photorealistic object in a flight sim ... it makes even the Il-2 best cockpits look shamefully poor. The workload on the game programmers must be enormous, I can better understand now why so much time to develop BoB ...

Ground objects are very detailed, but the wooden surfaces (e.g. control tower) are not too natural, they need improved texture/color IMHO. The control barrack is beatiful, with objects inside, with their shadows and lights.

The truck below the tree shadows of pic110, with light spots from branches, is gorgeous ... I can't imagine how CPU consuming is it though, if it will dynamically updated.

I noticed that clouds are of different types and height in the same area, is the weather system dynamic ?

Smoke looks greatly improved from Il-2, is there some sort of particle management ?

Planes are good, rivets and doorbays and all ... too good if they will be the same in-game.

Terrain is VERY WIP IMHO ... so no comment on that. But trees look promising.


For a WIP it looks promising indeed. Keep up the good work, it looks like you're closer to the goal.

Best regards,
Insuber

[Flyby]

Going a bit off-topic, is DX 11 already out, and what's actually that different between it and older versions?
I found this DX11 vidoe link over at [H]ard OCP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F6zSgtRnkE
what do you think of DX11?
Flyby out

[Lucas_From_Hell]

Holy ****!

It looks awesome!!

But it somehow remembered the graphics of Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway.

[jctrnacty]

Going a bit off-topic, is DX 11 already out, and what's actually that different between it and older versions?

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3507

[Avimimus]

My questios would be:

1) All the trees will be collidable?

2) Seccond the question about seeing the hull of a ship below the waterline, or a submarin close to the surface?. It would be cool to be able to have partial sunken ships near the shores, with most of the ship below the waterline. :)

3) The drums. Are they individual drums put together or a single object all together?. Would they explode, burn when shot or bombed?
Or even thrown away if a bomb falls and explodes near by? Physics engine i'm asking here? Something like we see on todays FPS.

4) Great model of the engish fuel truck. Is there a similar model with the hose deployed to put them near an aircraft and make it look like its chargin fuel?. I know this is too much :D

5) Finally some serious smoke column on the 0147 pic :), not the classic thin cigarret smoke column we are all get used to on out beloved simulators :(

6) Something that seems nobody notice? We have CURVES ON ROADS
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0126.jpg

Is this mean no more of the old angular "elbows" on the roads like we have on il-2?
Also we will be able to have moving vehicles inside the forest?

7) A wish for an update comment. Will there be more complex damage model on bridges?. Not just one bomb near by and bye bye bridge?

Looking foward to the next update ;).

I hope you don't mind, but I think I remember answers to a few of these:

2) Underwater will be modelled (ongoing jokes about Oleg doing a diving photography sim aside)

3) An interview a year or so ago reported tests of the physics engine which showed barrels being blown by a shockwave and bouncing off a wire fence. However, if you look closely the two nine barrel packets have identical rotations for the barrels - so they are placed as a single object at least. My guess is that the engine has more capabilities than we will see (or have the processing power to run) in the initial release. Maybe, Luthier or Oleg could drop a hint?

6) Yes, curved roads (and railroads) have been confirmed for a couple of years. :D Oleg, is also using a new system that encodes some information for the AI as part of the texture map pixels - so tanks will be able to know how to go between trees and head down those little English footpaths (possible in theory at least).

As for the others, I have no idea. I've heard the some larger ground objects will have more than two damage states but that most buildings will be simplified considerably when compared to vehicles. I for one would love to see a more advanced damage model for bridges, trains and ships.

It would make a good update. Fingers crossed ;)

[JVM]

Hello Oleg!

Thanks for this much expected update!

I loves everything in it knowing that it is by no means final...however I am (just) a bit worried:
Some of the cloud renditions are beautiful mainly by virtue of lighting and certain nice cloud shapes use (central part of 130) but as far as images 101, 111, 116 & 131 are concerned am I mistaken or are we still in the IL2-type last generation clouds?

I am too much of a RL pilot not to be overly sensitive to and knowledgeable about the cloud shapes, textures and sheer beauty...
No simulation so far has ever been able to render proper clouds, of which bases are most often flat and shapes very sharply defined and complex from afar and becoming fuzzy on closing range...The clouds shown are OK on the last criteria, completely wrong on the first (cotton ball effect against cauliflower effect to summarize drastically)!

I am absolutely persuaded you know very well about this and I just would like to be confirmed that the cloud/weather part is the one visuals-related topic you will want to keep veiled until very late in order to blow everyone (and RL pilots, and FSX simmers, and...and...!) out!

Thanks again you and your team for your work!

JV Masset

[zakkandrachoff]

someone know how is the link to the Oleg full gallery?
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/4503/grab0004h.jpg

is in http://forums.games.1c.ru/ buth i dont know russian languaje.
i junt want see a little more. nothing more...;)

[Bearcat]

As you posted, they did in IL2 - why should they abandon that?

I didn't find the cockpit shadows-video in the news, but there are two videos that show dynamic daylight lighting in the editor.

True.. but to tell the truth.. I never noticed the shadows move.. Maybe it is because even in long missions I am basically on a flat area or the ToD is closer to noon and I just didn't see it...

[Necrobaron]

Very nice, gentlemen!
________
1YoungGerda (http://www.girlcamfriend.com/cam/1YoungGerda/)

[mazex]

someone know how is the link to the Oleg full gallery?
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/4503/grab0004h.jpg

is in http://forums.games.1c.ru/ buth i dont know russian languaje.
i junt want see a little more. nothing more...;)

Nice find! This image is better than any of the ones posted here! Me like!

A nice thing while reading stuff into this image, there must be a plane behind him firing as the damage seems to have occurred in the air (viewing the messages about damage and time compression etc)... They are at least firing on each other in the air then, and damage occurs to different sub systems like it should...

/Mazex

[Flyby]

Oleg,
1- Once (or even before) Sow_BoB goes into beta testing, will the testers be allowed to post in-game videos as was done with DCS Black Shark? Screen shots are ok, but a video goes a long way.
2- Can we have a few screen shots depicting multiple aircraft over either French or English territory, or even over the Channel (from an altitude of about 4k meters)?

if ya don't ask, they can't tell ya "no". ;)
Flyby out

[Abbeville-Boy]

someone know how is the link to the Oleg full gallery?
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/4503/grab0004h.jpg

is in http://forums.games.1c.ru/ buth i dont know russian languaje.
i junt want see a little more. nothing more...;)




no sand beach = no swimsuit women:mad:

[airguitarist]

The prospect of using eyefinity with this game is very appealing, any chance it's supported?

Also which DirectX versions can we expect to be supported?

[zakkandrachoff]

are that 3 pics,
i cant find any more
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/5598/grab0003t.jpg

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/184/grab0000e.jpg

[krz9000]

the attentionspan in this forum seems to be even shorter then on youtube, doh.

first: oleg tells us that the colors are to be tweaked...and then i see one post after another that the colors are ALL WRONG. why so many people these days need to open their mouth if they have nothing to say.

this update is clearly an engine demo and not to show off the recreation of britian in its true colors.

you should point your attention to:

- normalmaped landscape and game objects
- hdri lighting
- (hardware) geometry instances (trees, grass)
- lots of cloud particles
- great attention to details from the modelling team
- curved roads (based on projected splines?)
- landclasses for terrain?
- realtime shadows with self-shadowing even on alphatextured geo (grass)
- great view-distance
- clever LODs (e.g. grass only visible when it makes sense)

hdri lighting alows for great lighting changes and affects the complete scene. at sunset everything gets a orange hue, at noon a more blueish look.

seems like there are also post-fx like object-based motion-blur. (camera motion-blur too?)
add in some vignetting and a DOF and things will look very good.

dont let youself be fooled by the crazy colors you see here. the features that make a great render are all there it seems...and this is much more important then to show a landscape that looks like britain. (content can be done by the comunity if it might suck,...the core engine not)

so lets be happy and not fall for pointless topics/wishes like vegetation grow based on weather data...doh, its nice to see olegs creation inspire people but wishes should stay reasonable i think. the holodeck is not around the corner...and oleg is not trying to build it anyway.

my questions:

- do clouds cast realtime shadows
- will there be volumetric effects? (sunbeams through clouds,...)
- do you plan to show lots of situationbased post fx e.g. wounds that cause blurred/darker/reddish vision or stronger vignetting, stronger blurring of the vignette with higher speeds?
- are instanced geometries collisionobjects (trees)


ps: i created a google wave for STORM OF WAR you can find it by searching for "group:storm-of-war@googlegroups.com"

[Desode]

I just want to start by saying Thanks Oleg for these screen shots, it looks like its really going to be yet another great sim.

As for my question, I understand you have always made your games to be able to run on different levels of pc's and that is a wonderful thing and I'm sure this one will be no different.
However,
My question is, does the game engine have the abilty to specifically take full advantage of a quad pc ? I know a few of the next gen game engines are being designed to take full advantage of a quad core processor, so I'm wondering if this new game engine is designed with that in mind also ?


Keep up the Great work ! DESODE

[PVT.Roger]

Thanks for the update Oleg. The Spit cockpit surpassed any idea I had of what we would be getting. Incredible detail.

I'll be looking forward to the weekly update. It'll be fun to see how the game changes over the next year as you build to the release.

:grin:

PR

[mazex]

are that 3 pics,
i cant find any more
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/5598/grab0003t.jpg



Nice! That looks like the same village as back in 2007 (?) - but it has evolved! Love the smoke from the chimneys and the shadows cast by the 3D objects. Not sure if I like the blur effect, but that is hard to judge on a still picture. The houses are also to light I think? The shadow side of a red brick English home should be rather dark on an image like this I think (at least it would look good I think). All such things are naturally WIP, but hey, this is a comment thread for the pics so... After they have tuned the colors and shading bit and added some additional effects (haze etc) it will be even better!

/Mazex

[Reisman]

The cockpit, planes, ground vehicles and clouds look great. Water/beach doesn't look as good as in that early video and the ground detail/lighting isn't on par with Birds of Prey yet but this is still WIP so I know that'll change. My only concern is if the other maps have flat terrain like this one, but I guess they don't...

Big thanks for the update, keep up the good work!

[Bloblast]

Aircraft look fantastic absolutely the best in the business.

But for the colours used for ground and ground objects I have my doubts.
And I wonder how London will look like in the game.

In comparison with other games:

IL-2 Birds of prey, the ground of this game is really good:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23/bloblast/il-2-sturmovik-birds-of-prey-200904.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23/bloblast/IL2_Sturmovik_BirdsOfPrey_05.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23/bloblast/0031.jpg

New game from ??? posted on SimHQ:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23/bloblast/Shot3.jpg

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23/bloblast/Shot7.jpg

[Insuber]

the attentionspan in this forum seems to be even shorter then on youtube, doh.

first: oleg tells us that the colors are to be tweaked...and then i see one post after another that the colors are ALL WRONG. why so many people these days need to open their mouth if they have nothing to say.

this update is clearly an engine demo and not to show off the recreation of britian in its true colors.

you should point your attention to:

- normalmaped landscape and game objects
- hdri lighting
- (hardware) geometry instances (trees, grass)
- lots of cloud particles
- great attention to details from the modelling team
- curved roads (based on projected splines?)
- landclasses for terrain?
- realtime shadows with self-shadowing even on alphatextured geo (grass)
- great view-distance
- clever LODs (e.g. grass only visible when it makes sense)

hdri lighting alows for great lighting changes and affects the complete scene. at sunset everything gets a orange hue, at noon a more blueish look.

seems like there are also post-fx like object-based motion-blur. (camera motion-blur too?)
add in some vignetting and a DOF and things will look very good.

dont let youself be fooled by the crazy colors you see here. the features that make a great render are all there it seems...and this is much more important then to show a landscape that looks like britain. (content can be done by the comunity if it might suck,...the core engine not)

so lets be happy and not fall for pointless topics/wishes like vegetation grow based on weather data...doh, its nice to see olegs creation inspire people but wishes should stay reasonable i think. the holodeck is not around the corner...and oleg is not trying to build it anyway.

my questions:

- do clouds cast realtime shadows
- will there be volumetric effects? (sunbeams through clouds,...)
- do you plan to show lots of situationbased post fx e.g. wounds that cause blurred/darker/reddish vision or stronger vignetting, stronger blurring of the vignette with higher speeds?
- are instanced geometries collisionobjects (trees)


ps: i created a google wave for STORM OF WAR you can find it by searching for "group:storm-of-war@googlegroups.com"


+1.

Ins

[henriksultan]

Looking really god Maddox, keep working hard on that game and I can promise you that this is a sure buy :grin:

Thanks for the update! :)

[HFC_Dolphin]

All I can say is that visuals seem fantastic.
This cockpit, oh my, what a joy :)

I'm really looking forward to know more about other important parts of the game ;-)

[MorgothNL]

Its prob just me, but I think this game looks pretty bad :confused:.
I've been playing Il-2 1946 a lot over the years, and lately also some BOP on xbox. I almost preffer the way the 1946 planes look :confused:. When I see the outside picture of the spit, I think it looks strange, it looks like it does not belong in the surroundings and it looks fake.

Also the ground, just looks lame to me. The ground in BOP is insanely great, the ground in 1946 is very basic. But I actually like the 1946 ground more the the sow ground. The sow ground looks like the ground of a old adventure game :confused:.

I'd rather see a BOP port to PC. And after porting, just improve the flight models a bit to be more like 1946.

I reallllly like the first screen of the cockpit:http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0100.jpg

but the 2nd screen just makes me laugh:http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0101.jpg

http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0126.jpg <-- in those spit exterior screens, you can see every moddel layer or something :S. anyways, I think it just looks weird :S. Also the lighting looks strange

I think I read somewhere that lighting etc was still getting improved? so if thats the case, than by all mean ignore the comments about that


Dont get me wrong, If the gameplay is better than that of 1946, Its the game for me, but the looks of the game kind of anoy me

[SlipBall]

MorgothNL(QUOTE)
but the 2nd screen just makes me laugh:http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0101.jpg



I think that that map is intended to be a on-line furball quick action map...but I understand what you are saying, you are seeking realism, and are a simer at heart, as am I

[Lucas_From_Hell]

Morgoth, that's probably because we've got used to those weathered skins on IL-2. Check Oleg's news topic, it has some pictures showing how weathering will work.

It will look better after some sorties, don't worry :-P.

Plus, if you don't like the defaults, you can make your own skins, as we're used to do on IL-2.

And, at last, it's not even beta, and if I got it right, the graphics are going to look way better than now.

[nearmiss]

MorgothNL(QUOTE)
but the 2nd screen just makes me laugh:http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0101.jpg



I think that that map is intended to be a on-line furball quick action map...but I understand what you are saying, you are seeking realism, and are a simer at heart, as am I

Looks like a scene from Shrek.


http://mediaspin.com/blog/wp-images/shrek3.jpg

[MorgothNL]

And, at last, it's not even beta, and if I got it right, the graphics are going to look way better than now.

thats what im counting on and expecting :). I dont need it to look anywhere near the graphics of BOP. But I just want it to look 'realistic'... not strange like it does now. Like I said 1946 works for me in sense of 'realistic'. Just in the way that it all looks 'correct'... wich the screens of sow do not.

I'll be waiting for new screens, I do hope it is indeed very much pre-beta, and this is just to give us an idea.

[mazex]

In comparison with other games:

IL-2 Birds of prey, the ground of this game is really good:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23/bloblast/il-2-sturmovik-birds-of-prey-200904.jpg


Scheisse! Thougt it was a real image at first ;) But the horizon is only a few kilometers away and then you can add a lot of stuff. But still, SoW is a long way from this (and a long way from release too ;)).

[Lucas_From_Hell]

Am I the only one that thinks BoP graphics are too exaggerated? Images are a bit blurry, there's that dark ambient all around it, perfect for a console simulator, aiming for a younger audience, or those fighter pilot romances, but I don't think I would like it on Storm of War. It's supposed to be REAL. Tell me, when you take a plane for vacation, a business meeting or something, the view you get is anything close to what you see in Birds of Prey? It may look good, I agree, but it isn't very photorealistic. I didn't mean to offend anyone, it's just my opinion.

[fuzzychickens]

A port of BOP to PC with nothing but FM fixes would still be about as bad as the console version. They have a lot to fix.

1. The way the difficulty selection is setup sucks (only 3 options).
2. Sim mode is broken because you can just keep checking the map to avoid being bounced
3. No dedicated server option (as in the community being able to setup dedicated servers, not the developer). The multiplayer is just poorly done all around.
4. The damage model in BOP is overdone hollywood style effects - the one in 1946 is still way more satisfying when you tear a plane apart.
5. Scoring in multiplayer - no requirement to RTB to collect full kill points. The requirement in 1946 to RTB improves gameplay. Players fly cap to control airspace over bases for those landing. In BOP, you just fly until your plane explodes.
6. They clearly intend on using one cockpit for all variants of a plane like in BOP. The subtle differences in a series in the interior of planes in 1946 made that game amazing - the attention to detail is part of what makes 1946 enjoyable.

Also keep in mind, this port they are doing will essentially be using a flight model that is around 10 years old. SOW will have a much more advanced flight model.

I'm sure the graphics will be improved and I'm almost certain the textures on the planes are not representative of final versions.

[fuzzychickens]

Am I the only one that thinks BoP graphics are too exaggerated? Images are a bit blurry, there's that dark ambient all around it, perfect for a console simulator, aiming for a younger audience, or those fighter pilot romances, but I don't think I would like it on Storm of War. It's supposed to be REAL. Tell me, when you take a plane for vacation, a business meeting or something, the view you get is anything close to what you see in Birds of Prey? It may look good, I agree, but it isn't very photorealistic. I didn't mean to offend anyone, it's just my opinion.

Good point, the "lighting" is off or something. They should adjust that a bit.

[kalimba]

Well, I think this could be one reason why we are a bit ...disapointed...by the new update....
If we compare what we got in the past updates, and what we have now...
The "ingame" objects look , lets say, not as good as the other ones...

Ingame:

http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0104.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0106.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0110.jpg

Old updates:

http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/vvv-03_01.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/vvv-03_03.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grass.jpg

So it looks like a step backwards....I am not saying it is...But this is what we got after months of waiting...
:rolleyes:

But lets give a chance to Oleg and his team, and cross our fingers !:grin:

Best regards to the IL2 fans...

[Pankratz1980]

Ingame:

http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0104.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0106.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0110.jpg

Old updates:

http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/vvv-03_01.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/vvv-03_03.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grass.jpg

So it looks like a step backwards....

Good point.

The cockpit looks simply AMAZING. I mean it, AMAZING - photorealistic.
Models of Spitfire and 110 are very nice, but look a bit like they're made of plastic right now (alpha footage, so that's understandable).
The ground, however, looks very disappointing - but it's WIP, so here's hoping it will look just as good as in Birds of Prey, if not better.

I hope you'll support DX11.

Overall, thank you for the updates, looking forward to future ones.

[Feuerfalke]

Well, I think this could be one reason why we are a bit ...disapointed...by the new update....
If we compare what we got in the past updates, and what we have now...
The "ingame" objects look , lets say, not as good as the other ones...

Ingame:

http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0104.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0106.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0110.jpg

Old updates:

http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/vvv-03_01.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/vvv-03_03.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grass.jpg

So it looks like a step backwards....I am not saying it is...But this is what we got after months of waiting...
:rolleyes:

But lets give a chance to Oleg and his team, and cross our fingers !:grin:

Best regards to the IL2 fans...


The old pictures are taken from editors, the new pictures are taken ingame.

That's no step in any direction, that's two different pairs of shoes.


@ Bloblast screenshot from BoP:

It does look good because of three things:

1. It a finish game, not WIP as SoW.
2. Because of No 1 it has enabled filters, as opposed to the screenshots OM posted.
3. It's concentrated on Hollywoodgraphics.


If you'd strip the filters from BoP, it won't look much different.



But at least you support Oleg in one point he made earlier on: If he'd post pictures from the unfinished product, everyone would complain, because it wouldn't look like the finished product. Seems he knows his community pretty well after all. ;)

[CRO_Adriatic]

Really nice update!
Nice smoke, cliffs, sunset, cockpit, threes, glass reflection, sun, clouds, shadow...

I would like that from cliffs to water are only 1-3 meter of ground , and also rock terrain, but ok if it is imagined as sand beach...

Cockpit is too good. If you ask me, weather model is more important than visual, but to sell it, it haves to look great, I hope you will find some middle point of that :)

[kalimba]

The old pictures are taken from editors, the new pictures are taken ingame.

That's no step in any direction, that's two different pairs of shoes.


That is true...So ? Still, the editor pictures look better than the ingame...
And we all assume that the ingame should be as good or even better ...Don't we? Look at the cockpits...They do look as good....:cool:

So, if your are talking shoes now, beeing married for 16 years, I can assure you that you would NEVER persuade your wife that the cheapest pair does look as good as the expensive ones by saying: Honey, it's not that they're not looking as good, they are just different pairs of shoes....";)

Salute !

[Tree_UK]

Guys we really shouldn't pass any judgement on what we have seen so far, they are just some examples that Oleg has posted to show that work is in progress, obviously like feuerfalke has said there is more work to do, I dont think for one minute that the landscape we are currently seeing is anything like finished. Concentrate on the Spit cockpit - wonderful.

[SlipBall]

As someone who has spent his whole life approaching land from the sea, a sand beach is a necessity to look realistic...more white paint Oleg:-P

[mazex]

Am I the only one that thinks BoP graphics are too exaggerated? Images are a bit blurry, there's that dark ambient all around it, perfect for a console simulator, aiming for a younger audience, or those fighter pilot romances, but I don't think I would like it on Storm of War. It's supposed to be REAL. Tell me, when you take a plane for vacation, a business meeting or something, the view you get is anything close to what you see in Birds of Prey? It may look good, I agree, but it isn't very photorealistic. I didn't mean to offend anyone, it's just my opinion.

I agree, they are using a too broad pencil while drawing - but that's the whole console concept... Larger than life. We nerds just want it as dull as it is IRL ;) (but not duller like Dragon Rising!)

[kalimba]

Guys we really shouldn't pass any judgement on what we have seen so far, they are just some examples that Oleg has posted to show that work is in progress, obviously like feuerfalke has said there is more work to do, I dont think for one minute that the landscape we are currently seeing is anything like finished. Concentrate on the Spit cockpit - wonderful.


You are absolutely right. I am very confident that the finished game will look superb. I have great respect for Oleg and his team.
I was just surprised by the number of negative responses following the new update, and wondered why.
So my conclusion was that we were used to get, during the last 2 years, very nice looking screens from planes, terrain and objects. I compared the new screens with the ones we had seen for sooooo long and found that the quality was...hum...:confused: different. That could explain the "emotionnal " reaction :(.......Otherwise, we would have had only positive reactions...Would'nt we ?;)
So lets move on and wait till Oleg says " Its finnished ! " Then , and only then
we will be able so criticize his work...
Salute !

[philip.ed]

+1 kalimba ;)

[BadAim]

I agree, it's only natural that the first in-game shots will be less than those taken from the rendering engine, especially when you consider the machines used for the shots. They are in no way representative of the best that will be available to us when BOB comes out. It's way easier for a 'puter to display a static render in it's creation engine than in a dynamic game engine.

As many have pointed out, check out the really cool new features like self shadowing, and the attention to detail and let the rendering stuff like color saturation slide..... those will be fixed as the game progresses.

Above all......"patience grasshopper......"

[airmalik]

Appreciate the update Oleg.

A big immersion killer for me is the smeared oil paint look of the ground textures present in all sims. No matter how detailed the object placed on it, it looks fake and loses any sense of scale. Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to improve this? Some sort of procedural 'roughening' of textures as when you view them up close?

[Oleg Maddox]

We don't pan to have cartoon picture like on this shot.

Hi Oleg, very very nice job
BF110 was fantastic, and cockpit spit too!!!!

buth, terrain... i dont know...
i expect some like birds of prey terrain
http://canalgame.com/images/Image/OLGA/IL%202/Foto+IL-2+Sturmovik%20+Birds+Of+Prey.jpg

buth very nice job on the planes!!! is amazing

[Oleg Maddox]

Cockpit and planes look nice. Little bit of anti-aliasing and they should look great.
Colors for the ground where quite bright.

Does the multisample anti-aliasing work in SOW for the water edges, cockpit gauges and other places where it didnt work in IL2 ? Supersampling works in IL2 but its rather heavy.

There is HDR (High Dynamoc Range) and several new modernest technologies that are in contradiction with anti-aliasing

[Oleg Maddox]

I have a bad feeling, that this game will take rest of my free time :grin:

I Hope they will support DX11 as it is DX brakethrough like DX 9 was.

Currently for DX9, DX10 and DX11 in all of them there are difference in graphics

[Oleg Maddox]

It seems No AA was used and probably no (or too little) AF. It is likely that with higher AF, landscape textures will look way sharper. Now they are too blurry.

Question to Oleg:
Currently market of LCDs is getting flooded with wide gamut displays and they show too saturated colors in non color managed environment. If I recall correctly, OpenGL has extension which lets to use color management on textures. Maybe it is possible to make this extension available as optional, so that owners of wide gamut LCDs could play with exact colors this game was intended to be played?

NEW LCD types are not too saturated... real thing is that old LCD was out of neccessary range for saturation and deep of colors
Its why we now look to some old digital photos as it is so suturated on new LCD....
Author of such shots tried to saturate on old LCD... then we get now resul of too saturated colors and some time contrast on moder LCD that have more right range of all these things.

[Oleg Maddox]

The lighting in the cockpit looks amazingly realistic, the feeling of "being there".

Aircrafts are simply perfect.

As always, I could mention some minor criticism against the colors of the landscapes which don't look really "British", especially on the coastal area.
Maybe some tweeking in this sector could be useful.
Perhaps less "Velvia'ish" colors (they look too much vivid) and more "Kodachrome" ones ;-)

That will be later. Technolody that we are using should be tuned finally, then we need to correct the saturation for this technology. The thing only around this.
Its why I told that don't take in account these colors in the head of dev. update.
Even scales of some trees and grass will be other.

[Oleg Maddox]

+1

Seriously, what is this? An update about a pre-alpha multiplayer map? I was waiting for Britain not for Jurassic Park.

http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/grab0101.jpg

Bird of Prey land looks so good.


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?
2. Terrain there isn't bad, yes. But we have already better in detail with the close look. Remember, I told not only about controlable aricaft in future....

[Oleg Maddox]

1. I liked the text on the aircraft, but the overall paintwork looked too glossy to me, they ought to be somewhat matt. The matt paint on some plastic models probably overdoes the mattness, but the purpose is camouflage, shiny is usually wrong for camouflage.


2. I didn't like the way the cliffs ended just before sea level, when there is a beach below a cliff often the beach extends quite a long way out to sea at low tide, and the sea washes the cliff face at high tide. Tides around the UK vary from place to place between 1 or 2 metres up to 12 metres difference in water height between high and low tide, and even then, "spring" tides are much higher than neap tides (12 metres is a spring tide, with a neap tide at that place being around 7 metres high ( with the relative low being about 4 metres high (for a difference of about 3 metres))).

I look forward to the release of SoW, I suspect the decision to drop OpenGL is a good one.

1. If you was watching the old DVD-video in the pack of 1946 release with two DVDs then you should remeber that we have unique technology: weathering of aircraft. The aricraft arriviong from manufacture is new... then in time - old with weatherd surface, matt, without paint in some places, etc...
The technology we have in some items never used in any game before.
We will begin to sho such thing when it will be ready and tuned. But at the moment all aircraft will be new and without markings (that also would be weathering in time)

2. There is the beach, like you tell. I selected the point of view especially very low... until we will finish the smooth transition between too different textures. Because some would tell that is isn't so nice :).
The water is traspatent. From underwater you may see something.

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg and team: about the radars seens in those lovely screenshots, and regarding that DT is working on it for Il-2, will be functionals and operables in Bob?
That spit over the wood is wonderfull
thanx for the update!

Radars are working and will play great role in a gameplay doesn't matter single of multi.

[Oleg Maddox]

Despite the "critisism" i think i can speak for most when i say that ingame screenshots is a giant step forward uppdate wice.

Thank u very much and looking forward to seeing more.


Btw, Igu Kyu, at sertain angles camoflage paint where infact glossy. Thats just how light reflects. Irl matt finishes never stays completly matt, u only need to wipe it down once and it becomes more glossy. Not counting dirt and wheatehering of course.

Very well said about everything.
Especially about diffeent adngles to the surface, painted in camoflase. Something even on matter surface we may see the reflection of clouds in real life. Its what we are doing in technology.

[Oleg Maddox]

the attentionspan in this forum seems to be even shorter then on youtube, doh.

first: oleg tells us that the colors are to be tweaked...and then i see one post after another that the colors are ALL WRONG. why so many people these days need to open their mouth if they have nothing to say.

this update is clearly an engine demo and not to show off the recreation of britian in its true colors.

you should point your attention to:

- normalmaped landscape and game objects
- hdri lighting
- (hardware) geometry instances (trees, grass)
- lots of cloud particles
- great attention to details from the modelling team
- curved roads (based on projected splines?)
- landclasses for terrain?
- realtime shadows with self-shadowing even on alphatextured geo (grass)
- great view-distance
- clever LODs (e.g. grass only visible when it makes sense)

hdri lighting alows for great lighting changes and affects the complete scene. at sunset everything gets a orange hue, at noon a more blueish look.

seems like there are also post-fx like object-based motion-blur. (camera motion-blur too?)
add in some vignetting and a DOF and things will look very good.

dont let youself be fooled by the crazy colors you see here. the features that make a great render are all there it seems...and this is much more important then to show a landscape that looks like britain. (content can be done by the comunity if it might suck,...the core engine not)

so lets be happy and not fall for pointless topics/wishes like vegetation grow based on weather data...doh, its nice to see olegs creation inspire people but wishes should stay reasonable i think. the holodeck is not around the corner...and oleg is not trying to build it anyway.

my questions:

1. - do clouds cast realtime shadows
2. - will there be volumetric effects? (sunbeams through clouds,...)
3. - do you plan to show lots of situationbased post fx e.g. wounds that cause blurred/darker/reddish vision or stronger vignetting, stronger blurring of the vignette with higher speeds?
4 - are instanced geometries collisionobjects (trees)


ps: i created a google wave for STORM OF WAR you can find it by searching for "group:storm-of-war@googlegroups.com"


Almost nothing to add! You have the Eye like Eagle!

Answer your questions

1. Yes.
2. Probably. Depending of time before release. At least we have all in technology to make it looking realistic. And we have already 3D search lights :)
3. plan, but i don't think that lots :)
4. Each teee has collision. There are now just one type of trees and they are not like voted in the past by community one of the graphics settings.

[Snuff_Pidgeon]

Wow! thanks Oleg.

[csThor]

Can't help but being biased - any pics of the 109? A nice large cockpit shot perhaps? I'm in need of a new desktop background. ;-)

Oh BTW Oleg - you have mail.

[Oleg Maddox]

Looks like a scene from Shrek.


http://mediaspin.com/blog/wp-images/shrek3.jpg


Hmm.... I'm sure that this map will be one of the most playable in online later.
Reading sugguesions of thousands users in the past for online gameplay we did it then(Ihave great compilation of users suggestions on my PC, accumulated for a long life of Il-2 on the market. Also this map will show most of the features for third party map creators... Don't you think about it?
This online map demonstrating already too much that no one sim had in the past and probably long time will not have.... Adn I especaiily don't show all things on this map that we have there for demostration of 3D engine features that never was present in any sim and are useful also for the ground-water-underwater based gameplay.

When I posted first in game shots of Il-2... some said that there isn't nothing new.... Then I begun to post later new and new shots of development progress and same these guys begun to say that it is too beatiful that to be real thing in the game.... The Il-2 then became N1 WWII sim in the world...

[Oleg Maddox]

Can't help but being biased - any pics of the 109? A nice large cockpit shot perhaps? I'm in need of a new desktop background. ;-)

Oh BTW Oleg - you have mail.

Soon. Currently we are inserting it in engine. Not all gauges are working yet...

[Majo]

Where is the war?
Where is the storm?
Why there is no soul in this game and looks like any other 5 years old directX game?

With over 80% of the game finished... :cry:

I am trying really hard to avoid any sarcastic comments about the "teletubbies",
the "middle earth" and so on...

Regards,

[Baron]

Thank u very much Oleg.

The shot of the Bf 110 is the best yet (not counting spit cockpit, curved roads, clouds, etc etc.) with the sun glare and sun shining through the cockpit.

Very nice, and keep em coming.



Btw. I remember Luthier said he could post the fps count u had on the 2 pc u used to take the screenshots but he wouldnt, for obviouse reasons. By all means feel free to pm them just to me, ill keep em safe. ;)

[HFC_Dolphin]

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,

[Skoshi Tiger]

The water is traspatent. From underwater you may see something.

Does this include water rising over our canopy when we have ditched our plane in the channel? ;)

Thanks for the screen shots, comments and all the effort you have been putting into this sim.

[Oleg Maddox]

Where is the war?
Where is the storm?
Why there is no soul in this game and looks like any other 5 years old directX game?

With over 80% of the game finished... :cry:

I am trying really hard to avoid any sarcastic comments about the "teletubbies",
the "middle earth" and so on...

Regards,

Another one "specialist"....

[ZaltysZ]

NEW LCD types are not too saturated... real thing is that old LCD was out of neccessary range for saturation and deep of colors
Its why we now look to some old digital photos as it is so suturated on new LCD....
Author of such shots tried to saturate on old LCD... then we get now resul of too saturated colors and some time contrast on moder LCD that have more right range of all these things.

Yes, this is true if photos aren't color managed and displays aren't calibrated and profiled. The same goes for games. If game is not color managed and you tune colors on monitor which color space coincides with sRGB, you will at least get over saturated colors on ARGB (Adobe RGB monitor). This is because simple RGB values does not mean any particular color until color profile is applied. If no color profile is applied (a.k.a. no color management), then RGB values are mapped directly to color space of used device. Different devices (i.e. displays) has different native color spaces, so you will see different color reproduction on different devices without color management. Most LCD displays coincides with sRGB color space, however never larger displays (24''+) often have wider color space (i.e. ARGB). I own one and see correct colors in color managed applications, but not in games. For example, in IL2 I see too green grass, too red tracers, because it was tuned for sRGB display. It is not just "too", but sometimes it is "neon" like colors. :( If IL2 was color managed, I would see correct colors as they are seen on sRGB display. Would be great if SoW was color managed. :)

EDIT: As I said before, OpenGL has some extension for color management, but I don't know if something like this exists for DirectX. Anyway, it should be possible to tune colors on calibrated sRGB display and then make game to read color profile of display on startup and alter color curve (gamma ramp in DirectX?) by using information in that profile.

[Oleg Maddox]

Does this include water rising over our canopy when we have ditched our plane in the channel? ;)

Thanks for the screen shots, comments and all the effort you have been putting into this sim.

Maybe. At the moment cant say you. If to make it cool there it should repeat all frames of all cocpits/canopies in the game. that is really great work to make such animation for each aricraft. In short - don't know currently

[Snuff_Pidgeon]

will there be explosions, electric fires, sparks inside the cockpit when hit?

[Tree_UK]

<Red Card for Nearmiss> your Shrek joke went down well with Oleg. :grin:

[Feuerfalke]

Another one "specialist"....

ROFLOL

1:0 for Oleg :o

[Oleg Maddox]

will there be explosions, electric fires, sparks inside the cockpit when hit?

Like in cinema? No. We don't plan unrealistic effects. But something will be.

[ZaltysZ]

will there be explosions, electric fires, sparks inside the cockpit when hit?

You have forgotten the light at the end of dark tunnel. ;)

[Snuff_Pidgeon]

.

[150GCT_Veltro]

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?
2. Terrain there isn't bad, yes. But we have already better in detail with the close look. Remember, I told not only about controlable aricaft in future....

Ok Oleg i understand what you say, but you have to understand that after so many years.......

What do you think about Rise of Flight's terrain (textures, trees, grass ecc. ecc..)? I don't care a lot about SoW cockpit, aircrafts ecc. ecc. because i know they will be superb, but i'm really afraid about terrain. What you say is right, but those Jurassic pics are really terrible......however.

What is your personal task about SoW's terrain, first of all considering DX10, DX11? What do you ask to yourself about its quality?

[Oleg Maddox]

Ok Oleg i understand what you say, but you have to understand that after so many years.......

What do you think about Rise of Flight's terrain (textures, trees, grass ecc. ecc..)? I don't care a lot about SoW cockpit, aircrafts ecc. ecc. because i know they will be superb, but i'm really afraid about terrain. What you say is right, but those Jurassic pics are really terrible......however.

What is your personal task about SoW's terrain, first of all considering DX10, DX11? What do you ask to yourself about its quality?


Il-2 engine and then game + engne was in development 4 years. Then it was modified in time several times.
BoB - is way more complex engine, several times more complex. Need more time for development that to get the product line with the life not for just one season, but for several titles at least. From the beginning there, like in IL-2 in the past, we need to put so many features-modules, that to satisfy the meets 2010-2015 at least.

In the header of dev update very clear is done what I think about colors of the terrain in this dev update from the point of veiw of a professional photographer (you may try to find my photo website). Even these Jurrastic colors, like you said will be tuned. It is said already in other answers of Luthier and me.
On the current modent we did technology, but using old, prepared for old variants of engine textures. They simply can't be right with all these nature lights effects that we are modeling in the engine, just cockpits textures and partially aircrafgt with cars, etc are already tuned for the new engine. Ground, water, etc - later. It is large, but simple work to change source colors of textures.
At first we show that everything is going, flying, shooting (but with special development traces-placeholders, why I will not show it, same with explosions, flame... its way i did show just smoke on the back ground byut don't show the source of the flame producing so great size smoke.)

[Blakduk]

I noticed a couple of small things in the pictures of the Spitfire- in grab0126 the aerial seems to be slightly detached from the fuselage. The shadow doesnt touch the base.
Also, the shadow of the fuselage on the wing in both grab0126 and 0117 seems slightly jagged, it's something i have never seen in a render before.
The gunsight in grab0100 looks quite dark. I assume that's a result of the cloud behind it. It may be that will be too lifelike and will be too difficult to see the aiming reticle in certain angles.
I love the cloud effects in grab0116- the changing shadows on the clouds are awesome.
My jaw dropped when i saw grab0111- it looks uncannily like a render i did back in the 1990's with a raytracing programme.
The lighting through the clouds in grab0130 is a quantum leap from Il2. The translucency of the clouds and apparent volume are astonishing. I can hardly wait for a video of flying through them.
It seems SOW might be real after all ;)

[Feuerfalke]

The big cloud of smoke already gave me some smiles: Mr. Maddox is teasing us like in good old days of IL2. :grin:
Showing just enough to drop our jaws on the table and beg for more. Looking forward to some more screenshots.


@150GCT_Veltro:
Considering the "superb" detail in the cockpit, what makes you think that the external detail won't catch up to those high standards? :confused:

[proton45]

I'm really curious to see whats coming.... :)

[Oleg Maddox]

1. I noticed a couple of small things in the pictures of the Spitfire- in grab0126 the aerial seems to be slightly detached from the fuselage. The shadow doesnt touch the base.
Also, the shadow of the fuselage on the wing in both grab0126 and 0117 seems slightly jagged, it's something i have never seen in a render before.


1. It is possible in some places during movement and taking shots. it is shadow "detached", but not the mast of antenna. Its normal at least for now. Sure you may see such things in many other games and notice even more such things with shados, clipping, etc... Usually it isn't problem of a program, but hardware.

2. Sure you saw it in other games. As more complex shadow - more compleх optimization. When it is in movement you almost can't notice that jagged line. However on the shot it may happens due to just one frame. In short words - you will see it better in movement, as well as other features.

[Oleg Maddox]

The big cloud of smoke already gave me some smiles: Mr. Maddox is teasing us like in good old days of IL2. :grin:
Showing just enough to drop our jaws on the table and beg for more. Looking forward to some more screenshots.


Something like this :)

[Dano]

Something like this :)

You big tease :D

[Abbeville-Boy]

any plan for voice command to AI as in other older games

[JVM]

Hello Oleg!

Not sure that you have much time to check all the thread content so I post the link to my question:

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpost.php?p=113817&postcount=130

I would be happy to have your take on this...

thanks,

JVM

[Oleg Maddox]

Hello Oleg!

Not sure that you have much time to check all the thread content so I post the link to my question:

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpost.php?p=113817&postcount=130

I would be happy to have your take on this...

thanks,

JVM

They are other type of technology as you may see on other shots with sun. However there will more different looking types in final.
Modeling of behavior and look of real clouds at the same time - very complex task. As well as modeling of different weather conditions in diffeent parts of region that you may meet during flight, especially if tit is connected to the other parts of the game.
So, I don't think that we'll see the modeling of all airstrems near and inside the clouds in 100%. We ma be just be close to simulation of them. And we are doing that thing. that was one long work and I don't think that all parts meet final release of BoB (in future maybe), because of too great impact to processor calculations, doing to many tasks simultaniosly.

[Oleg Maddox]

any plan for voice command to AI as in other older games

We don't plan to make it ourselves. In the past we have the game with 100% recignized commands (after training) but most never used it even it was working good.

many parts of source code will be open, so any third party developer may use their modules with adapting to our themselves.

[Oleg Maddox]

Please pay anttention: I would like to point one important thing.

The map of England, France, etc - the region of battle.
We will show such things just some time before release. The same way as it is doing others.


So when I will see some posts regarding it, I simply will ignore them. Just because I pointed it already.

[Feuerfalke]

I don't remember if the final decision has been made: Will SoW have ingame communications like teamspeak, mumble or similar means?

[Oleg Maddox]

I don't remember if the final decision has been made: Will SoW have ingame communications like teamspeak, mumble or similar means?

We will have like in Il-2, however reworked and user friendly in use, but this will not excluding external program use

[AdMan]

Impressed with the planes/vehicles

not so much with the maps, very unnatural and cookie cutter looking. :(

after seeing the BOP mapping I was hoping for something equally as beautiful.

[Feuerfalke]

We will have like in Il-2, however reworked and user friendly in use, but this will not excluding external program use

That's great!

This will add a lot to multiplayer-experience. Looking forward how you implemented it.

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.

[Tanimbar]

Hello Oleg,
Imagery is fantastic and very promising. Thanks.

As you know, sound is critical for immersion, especially for those of us lucky enough to visit somewhere like Duxford or have grown up with the sound of Spitfires flying overhead (sometimes).

Could you produce a few sound examples - possibly a Spitfire on flyby? But, please don't do that if the sound system is not yet complete - that would just cause people to moan.

Regards, Tanimbar

[Oleg Maddox]

Hello Oleg,
Imagery is fantastic and very promising. Thanks.

As you know, sound is critical for immersion, especially for those of us lucky enough to visit somewhere like Duxford or have grown up with the sound of Spitfires flying overhead (sometimes).

Could you produce a few sound examples - possibly a Spitfire on flyby? But, please don't do that if the sound system is not yet complete - that would just cause people to moan.

Regards, Tanimbar

Tuning of sounds will be more more later. Currently all planes sounds almost the same way with small differences of rpm/min, size of propeller and its type.

[Tbag]

Thanks for all the info Oleg, it is much apprechiated!

One question regarding the trees: This screenshot was released a few month ago:

http://fooblog.mexxoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/021.jpg

Is this just another LOD of the trees you showed in your latest update?

Thanks, Martin

[Oleg Maddox]

Impressed with the planes/vehicles

not so much with the maps, very unnatural and cookie cutter looking. :(

after seeing the BOP mapping I was hoping for something equally as beautiful.

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.

[Oleg Maddox]

Thanks for all the info Oleg, it is much apprechiated!

One question regarding the trees: This screenshot was released a few month ago:

http://fooblog.mexxoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/021.jpg

Is this just another LOD of the trees you showed in your latest update?

Thanks, Martin

There is some bug in trees leaves. So simple answer. Simply we put last time so-oooooo much in our engine and as the result something was damaged in old code.
I think it will be corected in time. Trees will look by other than on old and on new shot by a program.

[150GCT_Veltro]

On the current modent we did technology, but using old, prepared for old variants of engine textures. They simply can't be right with all these nature lights effects that we are modeling in the engine, just cockpits textures and partially aircrafgt with cars, etc are already tuned for the new engine. Ground, water, etc -later. It is large, but simple work to change source colors of textures.

It's ok now, i perfectly understand what are you talking about. Take you time and give us the best you can. We'll be here to give you feedback about next terrain updates.

Thank for your answers.

[robtek]

Oleg,
i really admire your serenity regarding some of the posts here. :-D
Please continue your great work and surprise us.

[|ZUTI|]

Sorry Oleg to bother you with this again, but just found the video of waaes hitting beaches:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Xe6f6ZzGs

Simple question: how much of this seen on that video will be in BoB?

Really don't know why, but after I saw that video, it just stuck in my head. I know all the rest will be first class but I just need to know about waves and beaches :)

Cheers.

[Tanimbar]

Tuning of sounds will be more more later. Currently all planes sounds almost the same way with small differences of rpm/min, size of propeller and its type.

Thanks Oleg.

Would you please write a few words on how important sound is to you, for example, is it as important as the imagery, and whether or not you will try to create realistic, real-life sounds?

I realise that most of us do not know what the sound is like in a cockpit; that we don't appreciate how altitude and weather conditions alters the 'native' engine sounds; and, finally, that many of us think that the flyby sound is similar to the cockpit sound. Therefore, how are you going to manage our expectations of what you can produce and do you already think you will have a problem?

Regards, Tanimbar

[Oleg Maddox]

Sorry Oleg to bother you with this again, but just found the video of waaes hitting beaches:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Xe6f6ZzGs

Simple question: how much of this seen on that video will be in BoB?

Really don't know why, but after I saw that video, it just stuck in my head. I know all the rest will be first class but I just need to know about waves and beaches :)

Cheers.

this is from first variant of BoB engine based of deep modification of Il-2 engine. Then we dropped Il-2 based source code and did from zero all things that to be on horse in future for a long time.

Il-2 engine was already limiting us in some ways (still not now, but will do it in real not so far future)

I think we will have the waves in BoB. Maybe looking better. the code now is other for water,becasue it is trasparent now, comparing to that video.

[|ZUTI|]

Thanks a million.

[KOM.Nausicaa]

Thank you for your outstanding work Oleg. As a person working in movies and 3D programming I know how difficult it is to make work in progress 3D pictures understand by the client/audience. Most people just don't know how to "read" them and come very quickly to false conclusions. You are damned if you don't show anything and you are damned if you show it. It's a difficult situation...!

About SoW BoB: I have full trust in you and wish you strength for the "final line."
And if you give the possibility in multiplay to assign someone in a bomber to be "observer" - I think any bomber needs "observer", just like in tank - I will be more than happy.
(PS: I mean a "observer" must have possibility to look out of different spots in bomber, even online)

Thanks for the hard work !

[Oleg Maddox]

Thanks Oleg.

Would you please write a few words on how important sound is to you, for example, is it as important as the imagery, and whether or not you will try to create realistic, real-life sounds?

I realise that most of us do not know what the sound is like in a cockpit; that we don't appreciate how altitude and weather conditions alters the 'native' engine sounds; and, finally, that many of us think that the flyby sound is similar to the cockpit sound. Therefore, how are you going to manage our expectations of what you can produce and do you already think you will have a problem?

Regards, Tanimbar

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.

[Oleg Maddox]

1.Thank you for your outstanding work Oleg. As a person working in movies and 3D programming I know how difficult it is to make work in progress 3D pictures understand by the client/audience. Most people just don't know how to "read" them and come very quickly to false conclusions. You are damned if you don't show anything and you are damned if you show it. It's a difficult situation...!

2. About SoW BoB: I have full trust in you and wish you strength for the "final line."
And if you give the possibility in multiplay to assign someone in a bomber to be "observer" - I think any bomber needs "observer", just like in tank - I will be more than happy.
(PS: I mean a "observer" must have possibility to look out of different spots in bomber, even online)

Thanks for the hard work !

1. You are perfectly right!

2. Online code for BoB is completey other than Il-2 now. :)
We also did even special observer for the online competitions....

[Sunchaser]

Oleg, thank you for IL2 STURMOVIK.

It looked great 8 years ago and has improved with each upgrade.

I really appreciate the time you are spending here and hope the sniping and nit picking will not cause you to decide it is just not worth the bother to update us.

Looking forward to Storm of War.

[Bloblast]

Hi Oleg,

Do you have WIP screen(s) of London city?
Really curious how it looks at the moment.

[Tanimbar]

We never had a problem with sound using proper level of sound cards and speakers for which it was designed.

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.

Thanks.

Does this mean that you do produce a 'perfect' sound on an expensive audio system and then have to degrade it, i.e. limit the dynamic range, to make it playable on cheap systems? If so, would you consider publishing a list of 'approved' sound systems/cards for the 'perfect' sound when SoW goes gold?

regards, Tanimbar

[Feuerfalke]

Hi Oleg,

Do you have WIP screen(s) of London city?
Really curious how it looks at the moment.

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpost.php?p=114317&postcount=208

[NSU]

Thanks for your answers, I'm sure "Storm of War" surpass "IL-2 Sturmovik" :-)

[Jaws2002]

Thank you very much sir for the screens and all the news.:)


There's one think I would like to see a bit different in BOB. One that i considered a bit dull in IL-2. The color of the sky.
In Il-2 the sky had the same color on all maps. absolutely no variations what's or ever. I see right now in this BOB screens, the sky looks about the same. After i travel a lot in many many different places on this planet, i know that the sky can look dramatically different from one place to another, from one day to the next. What we had in IL-2 looked like a hazy sky over a rather polluted city. when you get away from big cities and the weather is good, the sky is clear blue. You can't compare how the sky looks over LA with how it looks over Bora Bora, Moreea, Cabo San Lucas, or many other places without polition. Here the sky is just blue. clean blue. The sky color is determined by a lot of factors including temperature, particles in suspension, humidity, time of day and many other factors. That's why there are so many variations.
Please if possible try to introduce a bit of variation and don't be afraid to make the sky blue from time to time.
The same thing with the ocean water color. You posted screenshots of some beautiful exotic island, but the water has the color you normally find close to some busy port. In a place like the paradise island you made, I would like to see naturally clean blue water I saw in so many places I went wile working on Princess Cruises ships. This island map you are working on would look gorgeous with some really tropical looking water and sky around it.

Edit: I just noticed in another post the sky sea and land textures weren't yet fine tuned for the new engine. So take my coments more as a sugestion.

[Schuetz]

Thank you for this update, Oleg!

I`m sure that SoW will set a new standard in WWWII combat sims as it had IL2 done!
Thank you for your great work and the patience to answer questions from users.

[Robert]

ROFLOL

1:0 for Oleg :o

Another one "specialist"....


I like that. LOL Instead of Luftwhiners we can call them Luft-specialists.

Thanks for the updates and communication Oleg. It's much anticipated and even more appreciated. Keep up the great work.

AND the team's work is also greatly appreciated. It's easy to overlook them and not think twice about the many hours hunkered down over a computer screen making this flight sim.

Kudos.

[igitur70]

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

[Feuerfalke]

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

130° of view on a 17" screen - now that's what I call a fisheye.

http://archive.bigben.id.au/tutorials/360/background/images/circ_fisheye.jpg

[philip.ed]

Oleg, any iput on how particle effects will be moddled in the game? For instance, in Il-2 now there is a mod for bouncing tracer, so could we be seeing something like this in SoW?

Also, any input on how clouds will change; as I remember from seeing a video from the first version of SoW where it said that clouds would be able to change form, so it would be possible to have a clear day turn over-cast etc ?

:D many thanks for being so helpful, we take too much for granted when we moan about regular updates. I am not aware of a site that has such good customer support as far as gaming goes ;)

EDIT: I have just seen luthiers post, so I assume bullet ricochets will be taken into account :D

[Lucas_From_Hell]

Question about weather:

Do you have plans to set the weather to each day according to weather reports from that time? It might not sound reasonable at all, but it's just (way too much) curiosity :-P

[JtD]

Regarding the sound of il-2, I've replayed videos I recorded at Duxford and the sound sent shivers down my spine, then I fired up il-2 and it sounded like, well, not nearly as good. I can make it sound ok, but need to tune my sound system for it, and at these settings, nothing else replays well. So, it's not all in the sound system.

I've also played loads of racing games and none could match the sound I've heard on the racetrack, it's something very hard to reproduce on a computer. Unless you want to be at war with your neighbours. :D

[Arrow]

Regarding the sound of il-2, I've replayed videos I recorded at Duxford and the sound sent shivers down my spine, then I fired up il-2 and it sounded like, well, not nearly as good. I can make it sound ok, but need to tune my sound system for it, and at these settings, nothing else replays well. So, it's not all in the sound system.

I've also played loads of racing games and none could match the sound I've heard on the racetrack, it's something very hard to reproduce on a computer. Unless you want to be at war with your neighbours. :D
But you have to take in account sound from cockpit and sound when standing out. I sat in Mig-29 by engine test and I can tell you that it is simply incomparable, what you hear outside and inside cockpit. The same goes for prop planes, the sound inside is much thinner than outside. I think that Il2 models inner sound quite well. The problem is just that it uses internal sound in external views only in "externalized" way. But mods are doing just the opposite - they put external sounds taken from external sound sources into cockpit that is not realistic, but you get more realistic sounds outside. I personally prefer the current solution as I fly only from cockpit and do not use external views.

[Lucas_From_Hell]

But you have to take in account sound from cockpit and sound when standing out. I sat in Mig-29 by engine test and I can tell you that it is simply incomparable, what you hear outside and inside cockpit. The same goes for prop planes, the sound inside is much thinner than outside. I think that Il2 models inner sound quite well. The problem is just that it uses internal sound in external views only in "externalized" way. But mods are doing just the opposite - they put external sounds taken from external sound sources into cockpit that is not realistic, but you get more realistic sounds outside. I personally prefer the current solution as I fly only from cockpit and do not use external views.

I have nothing to add. You just said everything.

(And by the way, did you recorded the MiG-29 sounds? I've heard it from outside and I have to say, it's one of the most beutiful noises I've EVER heard. It's almost musical!)

[fuzzychickens]

There is HDR (High Dynamoc Range) and several new modernest technologies that are in contradiction with anti-aliasing

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.

[RomBinDaHouse]

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?
2. Terrain there isn't bad, yes. But we have already better in detail with the close look. Remember, I told not only about controlable aricaft in future....


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.

[Flyby]

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

[KOM.Nausicaa]

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

No it's not. It's based on project specifities. In Oleg's case, and inside the specifity of his project, the engine and foundations have to be done first. That is what most people don't realize when they complain about the relation time (years) versus visible (tangible) updates (screens/vids). They imagine game-making is like putting bricks on top of each other and in the end you reach a certain height and the "wall" is finished, but that is not how it works. In reality the big part of the work is invisible and un-showable in the context of a forum like this.
For me, the time Oleg's team took without visible updates is actually an indicator how new, if not revolutionary, the engine running this thing must be. It raises my expectations and trust instead of weakening it. Of course, I am also someone who expects a simulator and not a console game I should add.

[SlipBall]

<Red Card for Nearmiss> your Shrek joke went down well with Oleg. :grin:



He was given a week off to think about it:-P

[Tree_UK]

He was given a week off to think about it:-P

:grin::grin:

[ECV56_Lancelot]

Originally Posted by Majo
Where is the war?
Where is the storm?
Why there is no soul in this game and looks like any other 5 years old directX game?

With over 80% of the game finished...

I am trying really hard to avoid any sarcastic comments about the "teletubbies",
the "middle earth" and so on...

Another one "specialist"....

I wouldn't even bother on wasting time answering that!, but i don't want to tell you what to say, its your choice after all.

[Romanator21]

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.

[fuzzychickens]

Hey, the pterodactyl on the second photo with the goofy beak did not enter service until the one on the left was retired by an asteroid strike!

I would appreciate you paying more attention for historical accuracy! :!:

Also, surely the hump on his beak is exagerated which ruins his foward visibility, in real life visibility was much better. Please remove that portion of his beak.

[Avimimus]

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

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.

IMHO, I was recently part of a project where I was asked to look into the possibility. There are no surviving animals that flew like Pterosaurs and it is very different to infer how they flew. Gradually, research is building up (eg. models showing that a quadrupedal take-off jump worked for most species - not a running or cliff based take-off), but it will still be several years before it is feasible.

;)