Oleg Maddox's Room #1

[Monterey]

Oleg had mentioned earlier on about the possibility of landing, then refueling/rearming/repairs. I think he also mentioned you could get out of the plane and jump into a fresh one...if there was one available.

[Deliverator]

Dear Oleg.

I'd like to say a very important thing about guncrew on bombers.
There are missions where you want to go stealth, and not to make noisy shots. In IL2 if you want to do so, you have to waste all ammo of guncrew, beeing after that easy to kill if enemy spots you.

I'd like to know if in BoB, player will be able to control the guncrew, giving them orders like strategic games: Attack at will, only attack if attacked, or do not attack anyway. If this isn't planed to be implemented in BoB, i wish you consider the idea. I think this one is a must have control.

Regards

[Feuerfalke]

Dear Oleg.

I'd like to say a very important thing about guncrew on bombers.
There are missions where you want to go stealth, and not to make noisy shots. In IL2 if you want to do so, you have to waste all ammo of guncrew, beeing after that easy to kill if enemy spots you.

I'd like to know if in BoB, player will be able to control the guncrew, giving them orders like strategic games: Attack at will, only attack if attacked, or do not attack anyway. If this isn't planed to be implemented in BoB, i wish you consider the idea. I think this one is a must have control.

Regards

That is very easy to do in IL2: Switch to the gunner-station and disable the automatic control. If you have also disabled the automatic-switch, the gunners will remain silent until you activate them.

I know it's only a workaround and barely useable for larger bombers, but it is a very handy thing for flying a Ju87 or BF110.;)

[BadAim]

Will aircraft fatigue be modelled. By this I mean will planes lose there edge over time, slowly losing the pristine handling they had when new.
Basically i am asking will all hurricaines (insert any plane type here) handle the same no matter how long the are in service.
on that point will realistic plane maintance be modelled. Ie if a plane is damaged in the morning sortie will it be avaliable for the afternoon sortie or will the squadron be one plane short as they would have been in real life.
The Battle of Britain was all about destroying the RAF, it would seem logical that this would be modelled into the game, pilot and plane shortages that is... :)


That's an interesting question, I just read where the guy's that flew with Tommy Maguire said that he flew his P38's so hard that after a while they'd fly sideways because he'd twisted the airframe up so badly. It'd be cool to see this type of effect ingame.

[Feuerfalke]

That's an interesting question, I just read where the guy's that flew with Tommy Maguire said that he flew his P38's so hard that after a while they'd fly sideways because he'd twisted the airframe up so badly. It'd be cool to see this type of effect ingame.

IIRC it was stated that you had the choice to refly in another plane or to refuel and rearm without repairing damage.

We will have fatigue from damage modeled - that was already confirmed. How deep it goes we'll probably see when BoB is released. For now at least it was confirmed that pulling a hard turn with a damaged wing like you do in IL2 will do further damage or rip the wing off. :cool:

[41Sqn_Stormcrow]

Do we know about balistics of bullets how they will be modelled?

In IL2 you can cause as much as damage from a far distance as you do when close (provided that you hit). I think bullet velocity should decrease with distance and dispersion should increase. What about bullet drop?

[Feuerfalke]

Do we know about balistics of bullets how they will be modelled?

In IL2 you can cause as much as damage from a far distance as you do when close (provided that you hit). I think bullet velocity should decrease with distance and dispersion should increase. What about bullet drop?

I'd really like to see that test or the basis on what you make the assumption, that bullet-speed and damage done is not decreased by distance in IL2.

[Mysticpuma]

anyway, about that 4.09 release date......... :cool:

[41Sqn_Stormcrow]

I'd really like to see that test or the basis on what you make the assumption, that bullet-speed and damage done is not decreased by distance in IL2.

Well, I just observe that some guys shoot at large distances > 1500 feet and manage to kill your engine or to punch holes in your wing ...

[proton45]

Well, I just observe that some guys shoot at large distances > 1500 feet and manage to kill your engine or to punch holes in your wing ...

I'm not sure what type of ammo is being shot at you but a cannon shell could still have lethal velocity (and damage potential) at 450meters (=1500 feet)...

[Feuerfalke]

I'm not sure what type of ammo is being shot at you but a cannon shell could still have lethal velocity (and damage potential) at 450meters (=1500 feet)...

I wonder why he stated distance in feet? You mean yards, perhaps?

Effective Range of a Cal.50HMG is stated with 1800-2000m. That is up to 6000ft and 2200 yards. AFAIK the range of an MG131 is roughly the same.

[C6_Krasno]

What does "effective" means ? The bullet reaches the target, the dispersion remains under a given value, the bullet can go through a given width of steel ?

[Feuerfalke]

What does "effective" means ? The bullet reaches the target, the dispersion remains under a given value, the bullet can go through a given width of steel ?

IIRC the Cal.50 bullet in WW2 could penetrate up to 16mm of hardened armor plate at 600m. A while ago I also read a report from Janes about firing special AP-rounds being able to penetrate up to 1 inch of steel-plates at 2000m. It should be noted, though, that these numbers dramatically decrease, if the armor is angled.

The effective range is the distance where it can still be fired aimed and has a high chance of killing a person. Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock, who used a modified M2 HMG in Vietnam for sniping, engaged his enemies at 1500 to 2000m. His record was an aimed shot over 2280m.

[Deliverator]

That is very easy to do in IL2: Switch to the gunner-station and disable the automatic control. If you have also disabled the automatic-switch, the gunners will remain silent until you activate them.

I know it's only a workaround and barely useable for larger bombers, but it is a very handy thing for flying a Ju87 or BF110.;)

You are right, it goes well. Thanks :grin:

[41Sqn_Stormcrow]

I was just wondering since I know that bac in ww2 it was common practice to go as close as practicable. Well, if the cal .50 can penetrate a steel plate from 2000 m ...

could you post a link where I could read this kind of information. It interests me very much. Yet I still would like to know if velocity and altitude drop due to drag and gravity is simulated or not - just by curiosity ...

[JG27CaptStubing]

This guy did a pretty good job putting together some assumptions all based upon data he has collected. As I started to go through his descriptions it seemed to be very logical and well thought out.

He references quite a few documents and books to back up his thoughts...


http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/WW2guneffect.htm

[Feuerfalke]

You are right, it goes well. Thanks :grin:

It's just a workaround, but I use it a lot, to sneak in and out. Online I also set my bomb-delay to the maximum value. It gives you a little advantage for your escape if you are on a server that reports when targets are hit.

@ 41Sqn_Stormcrow

As I posted, this shot over 2km was with a special AP-Ammo that was AFAIK not available in WW2.

For in formation about the ranges and deflections of Cal.50s I can recommend the book about Carlos Hathcock (German: "Todesfalle"). There are some really stunning reports and a lot of information about tactics and weapons used by snipers in Vietnam and beyond.
Due to his success with the Cal.50, it was further developed as a sniping-ammo and therefore a lot of testing was conducted by the USMC. The tests mentioned are directly from that test. It's been quoted a lot of times. At least I found it after 10 seconds via google.

I'd also like to say that it is not a general rule to get as close to the enemy as possible. It depends a lot on what you are fighting and with what weapons you are engaging. What is true for a 109 against a P51 is not necessarily true for a FW190 with gunpods against a formation of B17s. Remember, effects from cannon-shell explosions are not reduced by range.

Here's some nice data on ammo used, accuracy over distances and penetration values:
http://www.inetres.com/gp/military/infantry/mg/50_ammo.html

Also check out these charts from WW2-testing:
http://img59.exs.cx/img59/919/ap19az.jpg
http://img59.exs.cx/img59/9960/ap23wz.jpg

[Feuerfalke]

This guy did a pretty good job putting together some assumptions all based upon data he has collected. As I started to go through his descriptions it seemed to be very logical and well thought out.

He references quite a few documents and books to back up his thoughts...


http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/WW2guneffect.htm

I thought about posting a link to that, too, but it caused some heated discussion at the Zoo a while ago. I must confess I think it's quite logic, too.

[41Sqn_Stormcrow]

Thanx a lot!

[robtek]

@stormcrow

if you watch the tracer in il2 you see that the ballistic is simulated.

[ABC123]

You don't have to copy it due to just IL2 46 could be one of the best ww2 online sims out there if you set it up. Just let them marry it with Armed Assault and Il2 46.. wala you would have one of the best ww2 sims on the markets MMO style .. then RIP WWIIOL.

:cool:

[major_setback]

....

Quite frankly the Su-26 is more a proof of concept than the autogyro. I don't want to cling to this example too much,though, as I'm talking about a general principle here. As I said above the core of a historical simulation is its attempt to simulate historical air combat. Any other ... derivated use ... is and has to be secondary to historical accuracy. Such use can be derived from a historically correct base, but a historically correct use cannot be derived from a fundament made of "KeWl" objects which aren't historically relevant.


I don't see the Su-26 as just 'proof of concept' or 'Kewl object'.
It is an important inclusion for gaining the interest of those who are mainly orientated toward General Aviation aircraft. There are people who will buy SoW:BoB just for this aircraft knowing Olegs reputation for accurate modelling (look at the price of some third party add-ons for FSX, some cost more than '1946'). More importantly third party devlopers will (probably) use the SoW engine to make GA sims when Oleg releases his third-party tool set allowing aircraft and limited map modelling. This isn't a minor inclusion, it may well lead to GA add-ons that out-sell combat related ones (probably requiring users to buy a SoW title to host the add-ons).
The Su-26 model's performance can be compared to real world aircraft performance. It will prove the accuracy of Olegs modelling, as well as giving him a bench-mark when calibrating amounts of turbulance/wind/buffeting/ground-effect etc. for the game.
The involvement of third parties in making add-on releases (especially General Aviation types) will determine the sucess of the game series IMHO.
It don't think it will take too long after the release of the third party tool-kit before we see a Red Bull air racing add-on.

[csThor]

I still think it's a proof of concept as I suspect MG has a full set of performance data on the Su-26 so it can crosscheck its physics routines against the known data. The use as stunt and air racing plane is a secondary but welcome addition to them. IMO, that is. :)

[DuxCorvan]

Myself, I'm longing for watching the effects of MG FF on a Su-26... :P

[csThor]

"Air Race? We ain't flyin no stinkin Air Race here!" <takatakatakatakatakatakatakatakataka>

http://forum.epluribus-unum.de/images/smilies/smiles/Drogar-EvilGrin(DBG).gif

[Skoshi Tiger]

"Air Race? We ain't flyin no stinkin Air Race here!" <takatakatakatakatakatakatakatakataka>

http://forum.epluribus-unum.de/images/smilies/smiles/Drogar-EvilGrin(DBG).gif

I don't know. It might be kind of fun to have a Reno style pylon race with fully loaded 50 cal's!

[wjc103]

Will there be missions for the Lysander? As in dropping life rafts for sea rescue, but especially (maybe later on) dropping off spies and supplies to resistance on the continent?

[steppie]

Hi
I have a wish list for some thinks I would like to see added to IL2 or for bob. Being a keen map builder I’m finding it harder to make map different mission because of the restriction that are in the mission build setting.

Will it be possible to be able to make grass field into rolled grass airfields that you can take of and land from with out having to use the mesh airfield that are in the Il2 game as they have a bad result if you try and taxi off them.

Can all spawn location be marked on the airfields in mission builders and be able to move these spawn points or added.

Can all ambulance have a negative score? This will help to make map were bombing accuracy is important and at present you have to use your own side trucks and they get attacked by the flak and some server will kick you for bombing your own side

At the present the airfield can be attack and damage but they get repaired in a sure time. Is it possible have a run way and taxi way set up as target and have a set time for there repair and get point for this.

Destroyer, aircraft carriers and destroyers, will it be possible to have the gun on those ships be destroyed with out having to sink the ships. This mean that if I bomb or strafe the ship them some of the AA gun should be destroyed. At present all the gun keep firing till the ship is destroyed.

Will it be possible to have a setting so if you chose to that the ship so will not attack ground targets but still attack aircraft to be used as a flak ship?

Be able to Skin stationary aircraft in dog fight missions.

Can RAAF making be added to stationary aircraft list?


Can you build a fly aircraft call a boomerang? It was the only design and built fighter the Australia made.
http://www.aarg.com.au/boomerang.htm

[Ploughman]

Further to Dux's desires for the Su-26, will the Su-26 have a full damage model?

[SlipBall]

I'm wondering if the SU 26 will have its ejection seat :cool:

[wjc103]

Question about sound and AI in the new game:

Anyone who has been to an airshow I think would agree that an airplane buzzing by you sounds much different than if you were in it.

Given the new ability to man AA guns how good will the sound be for planes taking off buzzing by, and all the sounds of ground crew etc?

Along the line of manning the AA guns will you be able to command people on the ground to re-load ammo or change burned out barrels, how complex will that interaction be if at all?

[LukeFF]

Oleg, will radio comms between the AI and the player be improved in SoW? Currently, when playing as the flight leader, the AI will just fly off and start attacking an enemy instead of altering the player to the enemy's presence. Often the first hint that the enemy is around is when one of the player's AI mates asks him to clear his tail or that he shot someone down.

[philip.ed]

Oleg, will radio comms between the AI and the player be improved in SoW? Currently, when playing as the flight leader, the AI will just fly off and start attacking an enemy instead of altering the player to the enemy's presence. Often the first hint that the enemy is around is when one of the player's AI mates asks him to clear his tail or that he shot someone down.

Luke, I think I read somewhere in an interview with Oleg that this would appear in the game. It may be in Mysticpuma's interview with Oleg.

Oleg, in the Battle of Britain you may know that farmers and members of the home guard barricaded their fields so that luftwaffe pilots couldn't land there. Unfortunately this wasn't so good for RAF pilots who needed to "prang their kites"! lol:grin:

Will this be modelled in SoW? (sorry if this has been discussed before)

[yakaddict]

Hi to all. I just signed up to this forum (little late I know) but have been flying the il2 series since the original. Im often seen on hyperlobby and used to be on ubi (with other names), and a total fan of the series. Oh, thank you oleg for making a game of the great fighters of the forgotten front. Much appreciated. Enough of that though. Two factors comprise me, I love the series and dont have much money. Shortly I will be purchasing a new computer (a gateway p-6860fx). My decision may vary but its not the point. What I really want to know is if it will run storm of war. I know this is possibly an impossible question to answer, since it may divulge details of the game, and oleg may not yet be sure. Still, if anyone has any idea Id greatly appreciate their feedback, as I WILL buy the game and I NEED a computer. If its worth anything that computer can run Crysis on high at about 25 fps give or take (yea I know its irrelevant and I dont care much about it but its the heaviest game ever so I use it as an example). Any ideas at all? Either way, thanks!

[Feuerfalke]

The "heaviest game ever" runs on a 600Euro PC with high settings.

Since the notebook you want to buy has 4 Gig of RAM, a good CPU and a 8800M GTS you should be able to run Crysis pretty good.

If you want an answer for Storm of War, or at least it's first release: Battle of Britain: Since the Alpha is currently put together nobody knows exactly, including Oleg and his team, how well it will run on a PC or what hardware is needed. He stated a while ago, that the goal is to make BoB run on rather good settings on a PC that runs IL2 at perfect settings. So far, that's all we know.

[Thunderbolt56]

It'll run it no doubt. The question is how well and at what settings?

[robtek]

@Thunderbolt56

This is obviously a question which can´t be answered until SoW:BoB is released.

Thinking before typing might help to avoid such mishaps.

Sorry, no offense intended, but i couldn´t hold it back.

[Feuerfalke]

It'll run it no doubt. The question is how well and at what settings?

Magic Eightball says:

http://blog.larrybodine.com/MerchantGould8Ball640.jpg

[Chivas]

There will be enough option settings that any decent PC should be able to run BOB SOW at reduced settings with playable frame rates. IF it doesn't they are in for a terrible hurt on sales and bad press in the forums. I will be upgrading my PC's many times during the life of the SOW series to max out the experience as features are added. Those who could care less about eye-candy and other features can set options required to plaud along with an average system.

[41Sqn_Stormcrow]

Not sure if this question was asked already but please could we have crewed planes instead of ghost planes? That is put crew members including pilot in it? It looks so ghostly when sitting in a two seat cockpit (and looks bad in IL2 movies).

A bit more chatter among crew members would be great, too.

[yakaddict]

Thats all I needed to know, thanks. I will be replacing the laptop in like 2 years, so by then it wont matter how heavy bob is. I just want to make sure it will run it as its first realease, dont feel like being left in the dust. Another question, I think I know, but since it keeps changing, what is the (current) release date? And yes, I know "all release dates are subject to change" "all release dates will be changed";)
Thanks again.

[Bobb4]

Asking what game system will run on is pointless.
After the Alpha stage they begin beta testing which takes many months. During the beta testing many incarnations are made, ideas improved, discarded etc.
Once all the above has been done and they are happy with the basic project they start optimising the game to run on the lowest machine it can.
This also takes into account current drivers from the big two GPU card manufacturers.
This optimisation goes on even after the product has gone gold and really never ends.
Features will be added as the various phazes of SOW are introduced.
Each new feature will require more bang for your buck.
The orginal Il2 ran on perfect settings on my ATI 9550 many moons ago.
Now I have a 8800gt and the current incarnation IL2 1946 runs fine on perfect settings except i am now running it on 1440 x 900 resolution where as on my ATI the settings were 1024 x 768. If I tried to run Il2 1946 on my old ATI system I doubt I could even get medium settings.
So moral of the story, wait be patient and you will find out when it hit's the shelves.
Until then buy whatever you need to play what you want to. Oleg has proved in the past that he makes his games perform well on low end machines.
Try flying Lomac (Lock-On Flaming Cliffs) and you will realise how backward some flight-sim code is.
On my not-so uber system i am at stages reduced to flying on medium settings and that sim is over three or four years old :grin:

[mondo]

I have a question regarding servers:

Will there be a better or mo usable server interface for SoW? Like a web interface or GUI console? Will there be a dedicated co-op server as well?

[Bobb4]

The E1 saw service as did the E3 and E4. Will the progression of the 109 be modeled into the offline and online campaigns?
For example the E-3 was replaced by the E-4 (with many airframes being upgraded to E-4 standards starting at beginning of the Battle of Britain) which was different in some small details, most notably by the modified MG-FF/M wing cannon and by improved head armor for the pilot.
The starting at the beginning of the battle would indicate that squadrons may have been upgrade as the battle continued??? And as the modified MG-FF/M wing cannon had more explosive power than the E3's standard modified MG-FF wing cannon it would impact heavily on the realism of the sim.
I am sure you have more important things to worry about right now but when you have the time, I was just wondering?

[Nemo]

Dear (уважаемый) Oleg!
Keeping in mind last initiatives of NVIDIA and ATI on physics acceleration by means of G280 and R700 what can we expect:
improved craft effects (flame, exhaust);
improved combat effects (bursts with numerous particles, smoke);
improved weather effects (mist, rain)
AND CAN this initiatives REALLY INCREASE FPS as applied to BOB?
With best regards and respect to your great work, Nemo

[georgysb]

I'm not sure if my question is original, but I'd like to ask Oleg whether or not stereo video mode will be fully supported in SoW? Almost all of modern games can be runned in stereo mode, but if those games r not developed for it, u will have some small but irritating problems for example with aiming. The only thing is needed is that all the inscriptions appearing on screen wouldn't be affected by stereo splitting and the last: when player "sticks to aim" he should see the sight-cross only with one eye, it's quite easy!

[Avimimus]

The E1 saw service as did the E3 and E4. Will the progression of the 109 be modeled into the offline and online campaigns?

If I recall correctly, from past discussions here on the forum, there was a mixture of production-line/upgraded aircraft in the squadrons, which in turn produced a variety of intermediate forms.

If SoW:BoB support mixing of different types of aircraft in the same flight (ie. having a Bf-109 as the wingman to a Bf-110), then the new tools could easily allow the 3rd party to create more variants.

[Iggle-Piggle]

Further to Dux's desires for the Su-26, will the Su-26 have a full damage model?

I seem to remeber that sometime in the past Luthier has indicated that this is so.

[1.JaVA_Sharp]

another one; during the summer of 1940 the Uboats had their first happy era. will the sinking of ships in the Atlantic lead to less fuel (or other things) available?

[Zorin]

just a reminder, another month has past, perhaps we'll see some new pictures soon

[Zoom2136]

Just a request for SOW...

I don't think this as been ask before so here it goes.

Presently we only have one stick setup profile available in game. If someone want to change profile he has to drop of game, select a new profile (swaping files or manually changing setting) and come back in again. Could it be possible to have multiple stick setup available. Maybe a stick setup that is link to a plane type/variant that could be selected when you choose your plane. The way I picture this:

A) In a control menu like we have now in iL2, have the option to select the plane for which we want to edit the stick controls (pitch, yaw, roll, etc.) (i.e.: Spit Mk1);

B) Have the option to edit one or more "user defined/pilot" stick setup profile(s) were one could enter is prefered value for stick sensitivity, filtering, limits (kind of what we have now with iL2 (but maybe more detailed));

C) Have the option to link the plane (Spit Mk1) to either a "default" profile or to the edited "user defined/pilot" profile so that each time that this plane is selected in game the proper stick setup "file" is loaded;

D) Give the option to edit the "default" stick setup that is applicable to all plane. This "default" stick profile would be more of a universal stick profile that is applicable to all planes rather then a profile the you can't edit. It would be loaded by "default" unless the user as choosen to have a custom (or edited) profile link the the given plane (in this example the Spit Mk1).This would give us greater flexibility and would help alot as different plane sometime need very different stick setup (in terms of sensitivity, filtering, limits).

So to recap this would allows us to customize a general profile (default profile) available to all planes... And fine tune some profiles that are specific to planes that we fly most often. Also being having them link to a plane means that when you change plane (i.e. a Spit Mk1 for a BF109-E3/4) in a server (or campain) your stick profiles get automatically switched without you having to do anything. Most importantly you don't have to drop out of the game.

If one was to push this idea further, all controls could be specific to given aircraft (made to work in a similar fashion to what was explained above)... not just the stick basic 3 axis. This could help guys that fly single, twin or four engine aircraft from the same setup.

Hope this help,

[Tree_UK]

just a reminder, another month has past, perhaps we'll see some new pictures soon

Well Luthier apologized for not communicating with us more often and promised regular updates/news etc. Its been a month since then so i would expect to hear something soon, but then again.......:confused:

[KG26_Alpha]

Hi 1c team/Oleg,

Would it be possible in BoB SOW to have active front lines in dogfight/coop missions, where mission targets are achieved and the front lines actively move during the mission to indicated captured/lost territory.

This would/could work along side the "triggers" that will be a feature in mission building then win loss scenario missions made by the host can be used instead of the limited/overcomplicated campaign engines currently present, that control the map results from the log output file.

At the moment the "Red/Blue Won" needs an overhaul but nothing as complicated as the Dgen Ngen or Lowengrins DCG.

Cheers

[Thunderbolt56]

The mission victory parameters as they are currently are not coded by 1:C. Rather they are added programs that individual servers run in the background (FBDaemon and ServerCommander). Having an in-game programmability like this would definitely be cool and, at this point, it is a rarity to fly on any online server that doesn't run one of these. I'd like to see it added too with some more real-time dynamic capability...and moving vehicles/ships.

[KG26_Alpha]

Hmm you miss the point methinks.

FB Deamon and IL2SC are just dedicated server GUI's.

Im asking 1c to use the triggers they have planned for BoB mission building to incorporate moving front lines during the mission all this means is the front line markers get an AI ability to move when set triggers mission events occur, and not using Ngen Dgen DCG to compile the next map from the log file output.

This could include airfields becoming active for either side as territory is captured, and in df servers timeout on af's so you can land rearm closer to the action once mission parameters are met.

So active real time front lines first for me please :)



Cheers

[Bobb4]

Just a simple question :grin:

[nearmiss]

Just a simple question :grin:

Yes!

[JG52_Wolfen]

Hi guys, i don't know if Macchi planes will be included in new SoW, if yes do you need material about them ?, what kind of materials do you need ?,

Pls tell me what you need, i can ask in AerMacchi directly if possible to give you informations, pictures, scheme etc about these plane.

Ciao
Massimo "JG52_Wolfen"

[Tree_UK]

Luthier have you forgotten how to communicate again? You did say you would drop by every 2 weeks or so.:rolleyes:

[C6_Krasno]

Luthier have you forgotten how to communicate again? You did say you would drop by every 2 weeks or so.:rolleyes:I don't remember him saying this, in fact he rather said things like that :

"There's really no point in bickering at this point. Work is ongoing. The proof will be in the pudding. I can write here back and forth for hours, but it'll just be rehashing the same old points. We have nothing to do with the console game. Oleg's team is working as hard as they can. The game is extremely complex, and I would even say it's much more revolutionary than Il-2 was in its day. And It'll come out when it's ready."

"You don't need to apologise, we know exactly how you guys feel, and it's us who really should be apologising for keeping you in the dark. I mean, I wish we could release shots and videos and stuff, it's just we're not at that point yet. So we've all just gotta hold on.
Trust me, everyone on this side is as interestng in releasing this sim as any of you in playing it. It just takes time."

"The problem with work in progress is that it's a work in progress. Things are released when they're ready. What possible reason do you think can anyone have to withold things? Alpha screenshots aren't shown at this time because they're alpha screenshots. A sim is a huge number of different components, which all need to come together in the end. Look up some shots from IL-2 alpha and compare them to release shots for a rough comparison. They look like two completely different sims. And the situation today is different than in the pre-Il-2 days. Even though some of you may feel different, it makes little sense to release things that may be unrepresentative of the final result right now - especially after so long a wait.
When things are ready, of course we'll be happy to share them with you. I've been roaming around Oleg's office all this week (and they worked all day Saturday too), and if I can get some of you to take my word for it, things are looking great. There's a crazy amount of really exciting things being done, things never even attempted by anyone before. The sim, on virtually every level, is head and shoulders above everything else.
Oleg and team are trying to build a benchmark sim for many years to come. This is why it's taking a long time. Il-2 lasted all these years because the initial work put into it was solid. Same thing is being done here. Making a masterpiece is hard back-breaking work.
I know it's hard to remain patient in the dark, but what can I say, things will be ready when they're ready.
As we get closer to release, Oleg promises to release more things more often, just as the case was eight years ago, as we were approaching the release of the original Il-2."

[Tata]

Good answer Krasno ;)

[Tree_UK]

Listen guys, you don't have to apologise or explain anything. I understand exactly how you feel. There's been a break in communication, so this is a natural development. We need to work better on communicating with you guys. It takes a while to (re)-establish rapport. I can't speak for Oleg, but I personally will try to communicate more, and hopefully after a while we'll all be on the same page.


He also said this but we have not heard from him yet. Is that a good answer or what Tata.

[C6_Krasno]

"Listen guys, you don't have to apologise or explain anything. I understand exactly how you feel. There's been a break in communication, so this is a natural development. We need to work better on communicating with you guys. It takes a while to (re)-establish rapport. I can't speak for Oleg, but I personally will try to communicate more, and hopefully after a while we'll all be on the same page."
Can't see the words "two weeks", nor any promise.

[Tree_UK]

"Listen guys, you don't have to apologise or explain anything. I understand exactly how you feel. There's been a break in communication, so this is a natural development. We need to work better on communicating with you guys. It takes a while to (re)-establish rapport. I can't speak for Oleg, but I personally will try to communicate more, and hopefully after a while we'll all be on the same page."
Can't see the words "two weeks", nor any promise.

[C6_Krasno]

See two weeks anywhere ?
He says there have been a break, and he give reasons : there is nothing to say, but "we work hard".
End on this topic.

[Avimimus]

Look, guys, calm down.

Oleg has made one statement that didn't turn out true for the Il-2 series (but which will eventually be realised in Bob). So, his statement about always delivering is almost 100% correct. On the other hand Luthier predict two or three features that didn't turn out, and thus, is about half as reliable as Oleg but still more reliable than 99% of us. Furthermore, Luthier never stated that he will always deliver on what he says.

Finally, to my knowledge, he never said he would give us lots of updates & really soon & that they would fulfil all our wildest fantasys & that these updates would include a flyable demo &... All that he said was that he would try to improve communications and keep in touch with the community.

My recommendation: Find something else to do. There are plenty of things out there including people & trees & books &...

[Bobb4]

Yet still no word on Storm of War from either Ubisift, 1C Company or Maddox Games?
Anyone heard anything yet, was expecting at least a stall or even a new mention by the big guns :grin:

[Redtail]

Any chance of using vista 64 bit architecture, so we can access full 8 Gig memory on next rev?

Thanks.
Ian Fraser

[Redtail]

Any Chance we will be able to use 64 bit version of vista? So we can access a full 8 Gig of memory.

Thanks

Ian

[Bobb4]

Yet still no word on Storm of War from either Ubisift, 1C Company or Maddox Games?
Anyone heard anything yet, was expecting at least a stall or even a new mention by the big guns :grin:

And Ubisoft stay mum...
For a product with a September 2008 release date according to IGN, the silence speaks volumes...
Lets reset the clocks for a September 2009 release.
For crying out loud ubisoft are boasting about their tweenie girlz game range and cannot even throw us flight simmers a bone?

[Tree_UK]

My friend is a senior buyer at a big gaming store in the UK called 'Game', he was invited to a Gaming Convention and had a meetings with several folk from Ubisoft, he asked them about Storm Of War and how it was coming along, he said they just looked at him blankly as none of them had ever heard of it!!:confused:

[proton45]

My friend is a senior buyer at a big gaming store in the UK called 'Game', he was invited to a Gaming Convention and had a meetings with several folk from Ubisoft, he asked them about Storm Of War and how it was coming along, he said they just looked at him blankly as none of them had ever heard of it!!:confused:


Here comes the people freaking-out... :)

[Bobb4]

Here comes the people freaking-out... :)
It's not about people freaking out, its just Oleg announced that 4.09 was on hold until a major milestone was achieved in SOW.
Since then we here nothing which is no surprise.
But E3 is where the latest to be released, near to be released and top products are advertised to the industry.
The fact the SOW did not even feature in the Ubisoft presentation means one has to have serious doubts they are still the publisher.
Or if they are, they definately are not prepared to put their name on it just yet.
That brings us back to when and if the product will be released.
If Ubisoft say nothing and they are the publisher then it definately will not be coming out this year or early next year or they would have punted the game to retailers and fundi's at E3 for the free press and marketing.
If they are not the publishers then we have to ask, now what?

If SOW is still over a year away then for crying-out loud finish off 4.09.
Some of us are not so young, hell the way this product is extending it's release date I expect my grandchildren to be playing it :grin:

Some news, any news would be better than development shots or pictures of planes, no matter how good.

As for not wanting to give too much away becausae the competition might one up us, well that is nonsence. Name me any manufacturer other than Maddox doing a realsitic WW2 flight sim or that has one in even early development? There are none.
So am I freaked out about nothing, most likely yes, but then I am tired of reading "We are so busy we cannot spare the people to work on 4.09 rubbish" when in game development terms SOW may be nothing more than in pre alpha stage. and at least a year or two away from release :grin:

Give us 4.09 with a dedicated server software and take your own sweet time with SOW.
Damn this year i was really hoping :(:(:(

[Tree_UK]

Here comes the people freaking-out... :)

Im not freaking out buddy, i am just posting what i was told, this information is not trying to suggest that SOW is not happening, however it does suggest to me though that its not going to happen any time soon. Obviously if some of the UBI guys who are selling their latest products have not heard of SOW then it would appear the sim is some way off.

[Bobb4]

Yes!

?????

[Nike-it]

Just a simple question :grin:

SoW is not presented on E3 2008.

[Chivas]

I think the pressures to complete BOB are so great that they arn't entertaining any thoughts of completing the free 4.09 patch at this time. So relax, eat right, get your blood pressure down, and you may survive to fly 4.09. Of course when BOB SOW is released many will have no interest in a IL-2 patch. ;)

[Zoom2136]

Well I for one could not care less about 4.09... just let the MODDER have there fun... Oleg and crew can keep all their energy focused on BOB as far as I`m concerned. This sim had a good run but its time for iL2 to roll over and die... and let the new kid on the block take over... Hell a new franchise means fresh cash coming in... no sence spending money on a dying horse... let it die...

Any of you went to business school? From a lot of posts on here I would guess not...

I love freedom of speech don`t you...

[proton45]

Im not freaking out buddy, i am just posting what i was told, this information is not trying to suggest that SOW is not happening, however it does suggest to me though that its not going to happen any time soon. Obviously if some of the UBI guys who are selling their latest products have not heard of SOW then it would appear the sim is some way off.


I never said you where freaking out.

[Vigilant]

SoW is not presented on E3 2008.
Thanks for stepping in Nike-IT, that was very timely :)

[Feuerfalke]

Well I for one could not care less about 4.09... just let the MODDER have there fun... Oleg and crew can keep all their energy focused on BOB as far as I`m concerned. This sim had a good run but its time for iL2 to roll over and die... and let the new kid on the block take over... Hell a new franchise means fresh cash coming in... no sence spending money on a dying horse... let it die...

Any of you went to business school? From a lot of posts on here I would guess not...

I love freedom of speech don`t you...

+1 :cool:

[Bobb4]

Well I for one could not care less about 4.09... just let the MODDER have there fun... Oleg and crew can keep all their energy focused on BOB as far as I`m concerned. This sim had a good run but its time for iL2 to roll over and die... and let the new kid on the block take over... Hell a new franchise means fresh cash coming in... no sence spending money on a dying horse... let it die...

Any of you went to business school? From a lot of posts on here I would guess not...

I love freedom of speech don`t you...

- 1

A new franchise? Yes when it arrives it will be a cash cow, but until then?

I see the official/unofficial release date has been extended again into 1st Quarter 2009 :grin: Now even if you didn't go to business school you would consider that a bad thing.
But as you went to business school oh wise one please, a product months if not years past its first official release date would be called? Vapourware? Long live Duke Nukem Forever :grin:
Just kidding, we all know its coming, Oleg promised and thats good enough for me :rolleyes:

[Zoom2136]

- 1

A new franchise? Yes when it arrives it will be a cash cow, but until then?

I see the official/unofficial release date has been extended again into 1st Quarter 2009 :grin: Now even if you didn't go to business school you would consider that a bad thing.
But as you went to business school oh wise one please, a product months if not years past its first official release date would be called? Vapourware? Long live Duke Nukem Forever :grin:
Just kidding, we all know its coming, Oleg promised and thats good enough for me :rolleyes:

Just the fact that you are all still hanging here and biatch at every chance you get means that you will poney up the $$$ when BOB comes out to buy it... So no arm done as far as 1C is concerned...

Let me tell you a little secret from a VERY WISE guy that did go to business school.... its how you decide if you go forward or not with an investment (or project)... from a financial point of view... its what we call NPV (net present value) analysis... This means that AS OF RIGHT NOW... if the cost of completing BOB is 1$ less then the present value of all future benefit expected to accrue to 1C... BOB goes forward... If not you shut the mother down... Its as simple as that...

As you can see... the further you are down the road... the less costs you have to incure to finish the product hence less chance of it being canceled... Its just BASIC finance. Past costs ARE NOT RELEVANT. Hope you enjoyed this little finance 101 course.

Technicall problem are another issue all together though...

[Tree_UK]

Just found all these release dates, it is amazing where do they get these from, surely they dont just pluck them out of the air? :):)


http://www.gamershell.com/news_30305.html
http://il2mdb.montydan.com/the-storm-of-war-trailer
http://uk.pc.ign.com/objects/827/827819.html
http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/sim/stormofwarbattleofbritain/index.html
http://www.tothegame.com/pc-5590-storm-of-war-battle-of-britain-for-pc.html
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/stormofwarbattlebritain
http://www.gogamer.com/Storm-of-War--Battle-of-Britain-PC-Coming-Soon_stcVVproductId5640272VVcatId444781VVviewprod. htm
http://www.gamestats.com/objects/827/827819/
http://videogames.barnesandnoble.com/Video-game/Storm-of-War-Battle-of-Britain/e/2000003130689
http://www.gamedaily.com/games/storm-of-war-battle-of-britain/pc/game-main/list/
http://www.2404.org/news/912/Storm-of-War:-Battle-of-Britain-officially-announced
http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&sql=1:50756

[robtek]

@Tree_UK

and why not????

it´s easier and more popular to proclaim: i know ..... , even if its pure inspiration, then to say: i have no clue.

even pure fiction might become reality by accident.

[Vigilant]

Just found all these release dates, it is amazing where do they get these from, surely they dont just pluck them out of the air? :):)
Well if you can't dazzle them brilliance, baffle them with BS..and it works :lol:

[Windturbin]

Question for Oleg...............

For home pit builders SOW needs two things IL2-1946 does not have.

1) Option gun sight, nose and propeller view. In IL2-1946 the F1 key toggles the options of Cockpit, no cockpit etc. But those who are sitting in a physical (or home made) cockpit need only to see the gun sight, the nose of the aircraft, wings and the propeller, where the instrument panel and floor normally are should just be blacked out when looking down. And this view needs to have its own keystroke command to activate it (no toggle from one view to the next).

2) Physical Instrument \ gauge compatibility.

There are more and more people these days taking flight simulation to the next level, building pits around thier favorite sim. IL2 and SOW are hands down the best flight sims available with the exception of the fore mentioned!

FSX has made these features available, I believe it is the EXTRA 3005 that has the nose and prop view and pysical instruments are readable by the ms sim.

Oleg, will you, or have you considered these options for pit-builders?

for more info....http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=3613

[robtek]

@windturbin

for your No. 1: You do know that this option is only usable for offline play? Otherwise it must be restricted to "no cockpit" - server and then the people with the home-cockpit will have the disadvantage.

[Bobb4]

Some questions for Oleg
I am sure you are bored with answering the same questions over and over again, so I hope these have not been asked before.

Will the distances flown in the real Battle of Britain be modeled? Or will the map be a small version of the real thing?

Will SOW BoB be released with a ready made online campaign similar to or incorporating aspects of either ADW or warbirds of prey or both?

Il2 Commander and programs like it were created to deal with the online needs of the community. Will SOW already have such an interface program on release or is it expected that third party developers will create it?

In later incarnations of Il2, cockpits could open etc. Will this feature be available on all plane types in SOW. Will I be able so slide open windows on bombers (ones that could historically be opened in-flight of course)? Reverting back to the opening of cockpits, will sound change, currently whether I open the cockpit on a Hellcat or not it makes no difference. There is no change in sound, wind blasting in, louder engine noise etc.
I am not sure if the increased drag is modeled either in Il2, which brings me to my last question, will drag caused by wind-resistance either by open cockpits or plane damage be modeled.

Thanks in advance

[Zorin]

Both 1C Publishing EU and Ubisoft will be at the Games Convention in Leipzig this august, so there might be hope to see something.

[41Sqn_Stormcrow]

I don't know if this is already posted somewhere. Unfortunately I haven't seen a bug dedicated thread either. So apologees if I am wrong in this section.

Me and some others have to report a bug that seems to happen particularly on a few new maps like Kiew or the new dessert map. I don't know if other maps are concerned or if the maps are the reason for it.

Up to now this bug hasn't happened to me offline but then I am mostly an online flyer.

The bug is when you're on a map somewhere playing. Suddenly the mission transfer screen appears. No way to return to the current game. One has to stop the mission and the game.

It would be nice if this bug could be fixed with the next Patch.

[Krt_Bong]

I have one request for Oleg and devs, would you please give Server side controls to set Default markings in SOW. Yes, I realise that it will be just the BoB in the first installment but it's concievable that should other countries markings show up later we will have people choosing something other than the correct markings for the theatre. This is already kind of a problem in full real servers, so if it can be locked by the server to have only Brit marks on Brit planes and so on it will make Server-admins job easier.

[Zoom2136]

I have one request for Oleg and devs, would you please give Server side controls to set Default markings in SOW. Yes, I realise that it will be just the BoB in the first installment but it's concievable that should other countries markings show up later we will have people choosing something other than the correct markings for the theatre. This is already kind of a problem in full real servers, so if it can be locked by the server to have only Brit marks on Brit planes and so on it will make Server-admins job easier.

Yes and this could be made per plane type... say Spits - British... P51s - USAF... etc...

[scooby200245601]

First have to agree with trying to keep a pleasant atmosphere by respecting eachother and giving due considerations. This is just part of being an adult or at least something I was brought up to believe.

Anyway on to my question. I have heard rumors of an Improved version of IL2 1946 in the works. If so maybe they're working on compatibility issues. I hope they plan on adding more planes and Campaigns such as BOE, The Last Days, Return to Honor, maybe even an Aleutian Campaign as well as adding missions for the P-36 at Pearl Harbor. After all they did participate thereby earning recognition.

There's another issue that I hoped they'd look into...

In CFS2 you don't have to fly the default aircraft you can select one from your hanger and play a customized "what if" scenario. I like to play the role of combat test pilot lending a hand in different campaigns while evaluating aircraft combat performance for the developers. For example: I selected a Spitfire MkIXc during Battle of Poland even though it was well advanced aircraft it was pitted against overwhelming numbers which made a better test through actual battle conditions. Sometimes I'd steal advanced Enemy Fighters. Anyway there's a lot of directions one can go with this game. If you find out anything let me know via email: scooby200245601@yahoo.com

Thanks, tim

[Sita]

Hello Dear Oleg!!!
I have a lot of questions... but i try to be brief... And to be limited all in pair...
From your last answers it became known that the Life in air station will be more saturate ... I mean also occurrence of planes not on a strip and in formation
, and respawn on parking/in hangars...
As hearings go as people will be present in air station... Mechanics/refuellers...In general the ground personnel from Battalion of Air field maintenance (БАО)...
Here in connection with revival of a life in air station I had a question... And whether will be Red and Green Rockets... Resolving Take off or landing?... Very often happens that coming back after suicide mission on Il2...going to landing and already on, up to automatism to the fulfilled scheme, You make landing approach...
And here like already now should contact with grounds... but no!!!... There was a chassis from for damages has not left.... And here impact.. The screw in a spiral..., etc... And if during this moment the red rocket, warning about that landing gear has not left.. Then gas in a floor.. And leaving on a following circle... I understand that if with a green rocket on start to understand simply enough... That with Red rockets will be more complex... As well as with Signallers on Aircraft carriers...
And from here a following question... In the some Simulator are present Aviadispatchers... If I am not mistaken in series MSFS they are... the workplace of the Dispatcher is represented... And it supervises over flights... In fact in SoW it can be too...And even it is very necessary ... And in Online especially... We shall tell the observant tower Is represented... In sense the camera on this tower... And at the person which there to be, have binocular ... And that opportunity... by press buttons in air Fly up red or green rockets
... It is possible to supervise over take off/landing...
For Online it is especially actual, sometimes happens terrible accident at take off or at landing...
For example Pilot which have brought down, could push on this tower.. Instead of to throw out from a server... Though employment honourable in my opinion and as punishment is not has gone... And if we shall tell to it to fasten an opportunity of inclusion and deenergizing of illumination of a landing strip and illumination in air station... in night time...


Time Probably will operated anti-aircraft artillery
... That why to not be such?...



( Excuse me for my English...And if it was more than once discussed )

[Tree_UK]

Dont hold your breath for a reply! :)

[Sita]

Dont hold your breath for a reply! :)

I breathe deep as i can :D
if it was told to me ...

[Bobb4]

Dont hold your breath for a reply! :)

That is totally unfair, of cource there will be a reply. Just not one from Oleg :rolleyes:

Me thinks he is busy doing what developers do when they have nothing new to report :grin:

My guess is this entales staring blankly at the monitor and mumbling "Tree must die" forms part of this process, that and compiling hit lists of everyone named "Tree" in the UK :)

So relax and wait for all the answers to roll in. My guess is it will be done in 'Two Weeks';)

[Tree_UK]

2 weeks sounds good! :):)

[=GI=Joel]

I Think if someone teamkills in an online game they have to sit out and man the flac or aaa etc. But just in case people enjoy it, give them the option to select those when choosing aircraft...

Thanks for a great game..... ~S~

[Meusli]

In the current game, taxing your aircraft in full cockpit mode really hinders your view. I know that there is going to be 6DOF implemented which will help, but are there going to be other things to help like AI ground crew on your wing or maybe a small box in the corner showing a view in front?

[JG27CaptStubing]

The short answer is learn taxi like the real guys do it. Yeah leaning out would help but the real answer is Tail draggers zig zag on the taxi way

[Meusli]

The short answer is learn taxi like the real guys do it. Yeah leaning out would help but the real answer is Tail draggers zig zag on the taxi way

I know what your saying, but its still a game we are playing and aircrew on wings giving directions was common I thought.

[6S.Manu]

Did you see the flash advert about Leipzig on the top right corner of the page? No SoW...

I'm starting to lose my hopes...

[ECV56_LeChuck]

Did you see the flash advert about Leipzig on the top right corner of the page? No SoW...

I was going to say exactly that... But I do have faith in SoW. Maybe we just need to wait more time. But hey!! enjoy 1946!!

[Tree_UK]

2 weeks so im told.

[Bobb4]

2 weeks so im told.

Lol, sigh!
It is impossible to release a product that is in it's pre-alpha stage of development in two weeks??? Who did you get your information from :grin:
The rotter was toying with your emotions.
Oh it was me... Well it goes to show even the greatest minds can be wrong :grin:
My own theory goes something like this...
It has been delayed because of Open GL 3. DirectX 10 and you can add any other reason here __________________.
The moral of this little ditty is as they say in the SA Army "Hurry up and wait!"
It will arrive on Monday, and this is based on statistical research that most new games are delivered instore on Mondays. Now pick a week, month or year to add to this conclusion and you have a 99% chance of being wrong.

[Tree_UK]

lol :grin::grin:

[nearmiss]

I hope this is the correct thread.

A couple suggestions for OLEG for the SOW:

1) In the FMB I would like to see the Player flight NOT be assigned to waypoints. The player flight should be able to do things ON-THE-FLY and not be constrained to flying over specific waypoints precisely in order to advance to the next waypoint. The player should receive orders like an actual briefing and fly according to the briefing to target areas. This could be done with event areas where the player is given a heading, and can receive additional heading information from ADF, or other comms.

2) The AI would fly by waypoints as usual, but it would be nice to have the ability to have alternate waypoints for AI resulting from triggers.

3) It would be a great tool to have Translucent Canopy/cockpit frame rails to offset the fact we have no peripheral vision ability. I'm not talking about NO frame rails. I talking about the regular frame rails are visible, but the player can see through the rails. The floor side panels, instruments, back headrest all would be opague. THe player could not see through those things he could not normally see through, just canopy frame rails.

I say translucent, because even with 6 DOF when you move your head side to side it is not possible to get the same visual effect as a real person gets because of stereoscopic peripheral vision. I would certainly prefer this arrangement over the HUD, which is totally "StarWars".

This would not take way from the fliight experience, because flying the late model P-51, P-47 and several other planes with fulll clear canopies is available now and isn't a CHEAT.

IMO, the big frame rails that are constantly in your way visually don't add to immersion. If you just look at the screen with the big frame rails in front of you it is common to have less than 30% visual. One of my friends that plays other war games said, "That is so stupid looking at the screen and not being able to see what your doing". I agree with him.

So, maybe a switch to Translucent canopy frame rails, a switch to canopy frame rails... this shouldn't be any problem at the programming level to provide. I can make translucent frame rails in photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, etc. for MSFT CFS2 cockpits and it's hardly any work at all.

Thanks for all the work you've done.

[rpgielow]

Lol, sigh!
It is impossible to release a product that is in it's pre-alpha stage of development in two weeks??? Who did you get your information from :grin:
The rotter was toying with your emotions.
Oh it was me... Well it goes to show even the greatest minds can be wrong :grin:
My own theory goes something like this...
It has been delayed because of Open GL 3. DirectX 10 and you can add any other reason here __________________.
The moral of this little ditty is as they say in the SA Army "Hurry up and wait!"
It will arrive on Monday, and this is based on statistical research that most new games are delivered instore on Mondays. Now pick a week, month or year to add to this conclusion and you have a 99% chance of being wrong.

I have heard that SOW was cancelled.

[Tree_UK]

Yes a lot of online gaming stores are advertising it has canceled. My friend here in the uk buys for a chain of gaming stores and he too believes this now to be vaporware simply because the guys he deals with at UBI have either never heard of SOW or those that have say it has been cancelled. He isn't a fan of flight sims and i have told him about this website and UBI's involvement but he keeps repeating what hes been told.

[Bobb4]

I have heard that SOW was cancelled.

If SOW was cancelled then 4.09 would have been released by now and we would be playing IL2 1947 already :grin:
The fact that we are not indicates that development on SOW is clearly going ahead as planned.
Obviously Oleg's plan includes keeping you and me in the dark.
Live with it :(.

@ UKTree I am assuming your friends in Ubisoft are high level and not just company reps... Reps notoriously are always the last to know.
They normally only get told stuff when items are close to going gold as they need to prepare/predict customer demand etc.
Until then they are busy selling other Ubisoft products and have very little interest in projects a years or so from completion. :grin:

I would worry if top sites like IGN and Gamespy/Gamespot start saying it is cancelled.

IGN say:
Exclusively on PC
Release Date: December 30, 2008
MSRP: $49.99
April 1, 2008
Unreleased

Gamespot say:
Genre: WWII Flight Sim
Release Date: Q1 2009

and Gamespy:
Published by Ubisoft
Release Date: Q4 2008

[Tree_UK]

Yeah he is high level Bobb but it is more than likely that he is talking to Reps at the other end, he hasn't asked the question just because of me, he told me he has had a lot of inquiries in store about SOW because of the release dates that have been banded about on other gaming sites. A lot of people thought it was already out. His opinion is that from the response he has had that the game is dead. I dont personally subscribe to that but it does show that the communication on this product is poor at all levels, or that the software is still a low priority because of the stage of development.

[proton45]

Yeah he is high level Bobb but it is more than likely that he is talking to Reps at the other end, he hasn't asked the question just because of me, he told me he has had a lot of inquiries in store about SOW because of the release dates that have been banded about on other gaming sites. A lot of people thought it was already out. His opinion is that from the response he has had that the game is dead. I dont personally subscribe to that but it does show that the communication on this product is poor at all levels, or that the software is still a low priority because of the stage of development.



Or they could be keeping security tight on this one... :)

Or they could be holding off on promotion because they want to see what features and specs will make the initial release (time compromises, budget compromises, ect...)

[Duper]

So let me see.. SOW was canceled. Is IL-2:Birds of Prey taking BoB's place? ..or id I miss something.

[96th_Nightshifter]

So let me see.. SOW was canceled.

Not as far as we know or as far as Oleg is concerned.

Is IL-2:Birds of Prey taking BoB's place?

No - different game, nothing to do with Oleg and Co.'s BoB

..or id I miss something.

No more than the rest of us :)

We are all in the dark here, everything is speculation unless it comes from Oleg or Luthier as far as I am concerned and they have made it quite clear that it is not cancelled and that they are hard at work on their projects i.e "SOW:BoB" for Oleg and "Project Galba" (Korea Game) for Luthier

[Duper]

LOL Thanks Shifter. I've bounced all over the web the last couple of days looking for something solid. I appreciate the reply. I wasn't going to read through all 112 pages of this thread to find my answer. I did read through about 8 or 10.

It seems that Birds of Prey is for the X-Box. and that's out Q1 or 09.

Ok, so I'll wait with the rest of ya. lol

Thx Oleg and your crew for hard work all these years. (despite community whining griping and arguing! ;))

[Tvrdi]

Oleg are you still in the country?

[JG52Uther]

Oleg are you still in the country?

What country? You have a choice of four.

[zapatista]

If SOW was cancelled then 4.09 would have been released by now and we would be playing IL2 1947 already :grin:
The fact that we are not indicates that development on SOW is clearly going ahead as planned.

what kind of logic is that ?

if we havnt heard anything about BoB, and oleg and Co cant be bothered to do 2 hrs work to finalize the 4.09 patch in a 12 month period, i'd say its more likely they closed the office and all went home.

[GF_Mastiff]

problem Zap is that it will take more than 2 hours they need to rebuild the server side and recompile all the new mods added, if they include those.

[LynX_SPb]

In the il2 it is impossible to fly on bombers with full crew in most popular dogfight mode online. And even in coop missions gunners takes connection slots which can be used by other pilots...

Is it possible to implement in BoB proxy-type connection for gunners, like this:

PILOT_PC as proxy for GUNNER_PC connect scheme

GUNNER_PC________PILOT_PC____________________GAME SERVER
GUNNER_PC________///.........................//////////////
GUNNER_PC________//........................./ Other PILOTS, with any number of gunners onboard
GUJNNR_PC________/........................./ gunners dont take gameserver slots
........................................../
GUNNER_PC________PILOT_PC________________/
GUNNER_PC________///
GUNNER_PC________//
GUJNNR_PC________/

So B-25 with full gunner crew will take only one slot on server, with same traffic as fighter with single pilot.

This will also exclude GUNNER_PC connection problems from server handling, only PILOT_PC, as gunner proxy, will try to reestablish connection.

Such proxy type connection for gunners can greatly reduce load on gameserver, and would allow to use manned gunners on bombers in any type of gamemodes, without the risk to overload server, and free more slots for pilots.

Also such proxy-type GUNNER_PC connection, makes possible to create free flightsim demo version, with limited ability to join only as gunners onboard of a friend bomber -- owner of full version, without costly control devices and overloading gameserver.

Such full online experience can encourage much more ppl to buy full version of flightsim, and helps online flightsim community to grow even larger.

[Tvrdi]

What country? You have a choice of four.

Oleg sir, are you still in any of those countries? Oleg sir, do you have a publisher for SOW? Oleg sir, is the BOB: SOW actually a dead project?

[Bobb4]

Oleg sir, are you still in any of those countries? Oleg sir, do you have a publisher for SOW? Oleg sir, is the BOB: SOW actually a dead project?
Of course he is :grin:

As for Ubisoft they are no longer the publishers of the game.
This has been estabilshed by countless threads and the total lack of any denial fom any 1C Official/Admin.
I doubt the project is dead but then I cannot prove anything else either :grin:

[Daiichidoku]

would like ask Oleg;

will all planes have compressibility/critical mach/aileron reversal etc addressed?

will SOW have a 'points' system, and if so, will it be customisable for server/game host?

[Feuerfalke]

Bobb4 is correct.

I am now publisher of SoW.

That is a fact, because there is no instant protest from 1C or admins.

I am also ruler of the world. This has been established in many threads as no world-admin has protested. The silence from all other wanna-be-world-leaders over the last years also confirms that, so there can't be any doubts left.


@ Daiichidoku

You forgot the word "again" in "would like ask Oleg"

[JG52Uther]

Bobb4 is correct.

I am now publisher of SoW.



Well I have to say you are doing a sh*te job then! Release some updates for Gods sake!
What the hells wrong with you? Are you insane? We want news Feurfalke!
;)

[Feuerfalke]

Nah.

I have 243 Screenshots and the finished game on my PC. Maybe I'll release a short movie before christmas, if I find the time, or I give Oleg the permission to do so. Poor guy - he drops me 2 emails per day, asking me to publish the news that BoB was finished 6 month ago, but I just don't let him. That's just so much fun.

And currently I'm just enjoying to read the forums and read comments about people who really, really are not going to buy my game.

And when I release that movie, they'll give their firstborn just to fly for 5 minutes. LOL

[JG52Uther]

Good for you Feurfalke ,you tell the ungrateful rats who have the temerity to ask for updates!
It is good isn't it,I only tried the early alpha version with Oleg and Ilya at Birmingham,but I reckon with a bit of work it will be nearly as good as il2 modded.

[Feuerfalke]

Well, the modded IL2 is better, of course - well, at least the bunch of guys I pay on this forum will keep telling you. You got the mods, I'll keep the game. ;)

You know, as long as Oleg hoped to release the game officially, he had to ban the mods, of course, but now I have the game and everybody else is enjoying the mods, there's no need for that any longer.

You're happy, I am happy, so what?

[wjc103]

In SOW, how will muzzle flash be represented? Will it be more realistic? It seems that how it is represented in game now is a bit exagerated (too much like a flame thrower). From period gun footage (or even modern high caliber gun fire footage) it would seem that yes, there is sometimes visible flames, but really they are much more subtle in real life, and in daylight are mostly just puffs of smoke.

Also will the tracer contrail be a bit more realistic (or the graphics more detailed) as well?

[Tree_UK]

You should get a reply within the next 2 weeks.

[=gRiJ=Ander]

Some questions here:

Will be possible to de-rate engines (as a future example, i was thinking about limit Me109G to 1.3ata until oct 43) as advanced option/server admin command?

Can you explain something about CEM?

About skins, will be available a metal finish (reflection maps?)?

Tell us about online modes, some type of Aces High like arena would be cool.

S!

[Foo'bar]

AFAIK planes will have both bump (normal) maps and specular maps as well. Somewhere I've read about it.

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg sir, are you still in any of those countries? Oleg sir, do you have a publisher for SOW? Oleg sir, is the BOB: SOW actually a dead project?

Everything still is fine. Simply summer and I took finally vacation... Usually they were too short in the past or wasn't in principle.

See the last development update:

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?p=48512#post48512

[Oleg Maddox]

AFAIK planes will have both bump (normal) maps and specular maps as well. Somewhere I've read about it.

Right

[Meusli]

Oleg, could you please tell me if the Sunderland is a flyable aircraft or AI. Many thanks for the update!

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg, could you please tell me if the Sunderland is a flyable aircraft or AI. Many thanks for the update!

AI, But we are making as well these AI model the same quality as flyable. And we will offer tools for advanced third party developer that to make any plane flyable without us...

So I expect that there will be many flyables later after the intial release... and BoB will be growing even more than Il-2 series :)

[Meusli]

AI, But we are making as well these AI model the same quality as flyable. And we will offer tools for advanced third party developer that to make any plane flyable without us...

So I expect that there will be many flyables later after the intial release... and BoB will be growing even more than Il-2 series :)

Well the fact that the propellers are 3D shows that the level of detail that will be included into AI planes is above the normal things developers do and that flyable aircraft from these models should be quite quick.

Also will these be free addons or are small payments expected to be involved?

[Feuerfalke]

Awesome news and the detail of the pictures is just stunning.

The soft shadowing looks stunning real and I'm amazed how much work you and your team put into the models. Looking at that, I don't dare to think about the level of detail you will put into the rest of the game, to meet the photorealistic standard you put up with that.

Just wow. :shock:

[Bloblast]

Oleg,

You are speaking about a "new engine".
What do you mean with this?
Starting all over again with all objects?


"the final release…. Which isn’t soon really…. "

So we have to wait for September 2009 ???

[Feuerfalke]

Don't panic. SoW is the new engine. ;)

But even if the models were all completely finished, you'd still have to make all the effects, put it together and make it a full game, with GUI and all that.

They have an alpha now, so we're on the way, but it doesn't mean we're close, yet.



Patience.


Doesn't matter if it will be this year or next year - it will be awesome and it's better to not rush it out of the door.

[ECV56_LeChuck]

Cockpit Self-Shadowing... thanks Oleg, I wans´t sure if your team will incorporate this feature. Amazing Stuka details... very GREAT work

[fireflyerz]

:arrow:Hello Oleg , just wanted to say , the update of the flight models is about what I expected , what Has impressed me though is the new texture of the grass , if this is an indication of the new map to come , I cant wait , I know from what youve said theres a long way to go , but still ... I cant wait.:grin:

[Novotny]

Thanks for the update Oleg!

[MB_Avro_UK]

Hi all,

I'm impressed. In fact, I'm more impressed than someone who is exceedingly impressed!

The aircraft put any other sim to shame.

The vehicles and 88 are superb.

And as a bonus we have confirmation that all is well with the development of SoW.


Oleg for President !!

[96th_Nightshifter]

Thanks for the update Oleg :)

[Ironman69]

Oleg, is the Flight Model finished for BoB, or still a work in progress "Beta" stage? Can you update us on the status of 4.09m final ? Thanks

[Bobb4]

Dear Oleg
In the past you have refered to multi-manned positions in at least the Tigermoth trainer and if I am not mistaken the bombers as well.
That I still hope holds true. My question is will your fellow crew members be modeled.
IE if I am the pilot of a J88 will I be able to see an animated rendering of my front gunner as in the current H111 or will I be flying an empty plane as is the current state of affairs.
As you seem to have entered the early Alpha stage I was wondering if you have any idea what sort of system will be needed to get the best out of SOW?
Without giving too much away, is there anything in the sim that will truly rock our socks-off. By this I mean, either something us simmers have never seen before or something that is of a standard so high other developers will spend years catching up :grin:
And by this I do not mean the graphics, as they are already out of this world I am refering to any snippet of news about the actual sim.
Your ground models seem almost online of war-ish capable and I am sure a ground war and air war could be seemlessly created, would this be possible?

Lastly will the player have the opportunity to strategically direct the air war in say an improved BOB2 type interface in single player or will their role be restricted to only flying within a dynamic environment?:grin:

[Bobb4]

http://www.theghostfiles.org/ any comment on release date quoted on this site. The guy claims to have actually spoken to Oleg???

[Oleg Maddox]

http://www.theghostfiles.org/ any comment on release date quoted on this site. The guy claims to have actually spoken to Oleg???

Yes, he was spoken to me. However I told that it is my hope, if everything will going Ok without any serious development technical problems. :)

[mazex]

Yes, he was spoken to me. However I told that it is my hope, if everything will going Ok without any serious development technical problems. :)

Well, I guess that no one here will be upset if it ends up in Q4 2009 -as long as it get's released. Anyway - it's better to know what your goal is than dreaming of Q1 2009 that some of us have done ;) IL2-1946 still has a lot to give. Pushing my luck a bit here - is i possible that we get the final 4.09 patch this year?

/Mazex

[Oleg Maddox]

:arrow:Hello Oleg , just wanted to say , the update of the flight models is about what I expected , what Has impressed me though is the new texture of the grass , if this is an indication of the new map to come , I cant wait , I know from what youve said theres a long way to go , but still ... I cant wait.:grin:

This temporary made texture is for tools. In the sim the grass is 3D and moving due the wind.

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg, is the Flight Model finished for BoB, or still a work in progress "Beta" stage? Can you update us on the status of 4.09m final ? Thanks

In General finished. But we didn't tune for each aircraft well yet.

4.09 still don't know when. My guys really to busy that to switch back to Il-2 even for some time.

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg,

You are speaking about a "new engine".
What do you mean with this?
Starting all over again with all objects?


"the final release…. Which isn’t soon really…. "

So we have to wait for September 2009 ???

New engine means the absolutely new 3D engine, ground fhysics and flight coding, AI and even how it looks in general.... Simply everything....
There is only experinece of Il-2 development behind, but the 90+% of code is completely new. The other 10% also with changes.

[Oleg Maddox]

Dear Oleg
In the past you have refered to multi-manned positions in at least the Tigermoth trainer and if I am not mistaken the bombers as well.
1. That I still hope holds true. My question is will your fellow crew members be modeled.
IE if I am the pilot of a J88 will I be able to see an animated rendering of my front gunner as in the current H111 or will I be flying an empty plane as is the current state of affairs.

2. As you seem to have entered the early Alpha stage I was wondering if you have any idea what sort of system will be needed to get the best out of SOW?

3. Without giving too much away, is there anything in the sim that will truly rock our socks-off. By this I mean, either something us simmers have never seen before or something that is of a standard so high other developers will spend years catching up :grin:
And by this I do not mean the graphics, as they are already out of this world I am refering to any snippet of news about the actual sim.

4. Your ground models seem almost online of war-ish capable and I am sure a ground war and air war could be seemlessly created, would this be possible?

5. Lastly will the player have the opportunity to strategically direct the air war in say an improved BOB2 type interface in single player or will their role be restricted to only flying within a dynamic environment?:grin:

1. It isn't finally decided. We have some part of code ready for animation of pilots and crew, but it will depends how much time we will have that to spend our resources for that. Can't say in 100% yes. If there will be no room for that work we will drop it for the next title release of SoW series.

2. Even at Beta isn't possible to define finally required sys. specs. For the best out of BoB probably there will be no such PC on the market at release... like it was with the first release of Il-2.... However eve without best out it will looks superb. Simply we should think about future becasue we plan for SoW series long life, not less than for Il-2 sries, if not more. We plan to make series that will cover agin Il-2 modelled battles as well as some never modelled in any game...

3. I hope everythng :) from the general graphics to the gameplay, from Ai to the FM, from the sky to the ground... as well as never seen before some of gameplay features, like it was offered with the first Il-2.... At the time of Il-2 release there were some many features that was release in a game for the first time in world in princile. Many others copied ideas from Il-2...

4. With the release of BoB there will be player controlable AA-guns. Even in sigle play if you like to create such a mission... This feature at first will show the features of our new game-sim engine... as well as it could be direction of parallel development or third party development... At lease I can say that the quality of ground modeling is with the idea in mind to use it for the future interesting features of the gameplay... so smart answer....:)

5. There will be possible two types of campaing.... One is dynamic with the possibility of managment in a squad and higher. But there will be no feature of High command that could change everything in a war.. Dynamic campaign will be more or less close to history.
The other campaing mode - it is a sequence of single missions, that possible to make very precise from historical point of view. I can't say right now will be such fully developed by us campaign inside the sim with the release, but at least it is possible. as well as there will be some amount of historical single missions right with the release. Anyway we again will offer more than any other developer of flight sims in that item...
Also the campaign systems will be open for thirs party modifications or even for inclusion of own ENGINE of campaign. This will be ture for both sinlge and online gameplay campaigns.

We simply learned all requests of users for some years of Il-2 life... The best that we can do - will be there.

Hope I gave some info for the brain here :)

[Oleg Maddox]

In SOW, how will muzzle flash be represented? Will it be more realistic? It seems that how it is represented in game now is a bit exagerated (too much like a flame thrower). From period gun footage (or even modern high caliber gun fire footage) it would seem that yes, there is sometimes visible flames, but really they are much more subtle in real life, and in daylight are mostly just puffs of smoke.

Also will the tracer contrail be a bit more realistic (or the graphics more detailed) as well?

muzzle flash... Video and especially film camera can't register on their 24 (and in WWII often 10 to 16) frams per second many of light changes that happens when the gun fires... As well as the specific of sencitivity of film and its dynamic rage that can't registed fire as we can see in real life.
So in Il-2 it was done in the last versions more real than you think...
And I haven't seen yet in a sim more real tracers... If you mean color - they are all by a tracer specifications docs of WWII shells/bullets for each country that we modelled.

At night the fire/flash leight of 20 mm cannon could be even more than 2 meters...
At day it is the same but visible less and even more less on the film (in short words).
At flight it depending of speed... But anyway it is present. The differences of leight we plan to model in flight and on the ground, at day and at night.
The difference at the day/night time was done in Il-2 for the for the first time in the world in game industry. Try yourself to check it....

[Oleg Maddox]

Also will these be free addons or are small payments expected to be involved?


This is a question for some interview..... I will keep this info the the magazines :):):)

I only can say you right now... that yes we will have sometime free add-ons with new features, like it was with Il-2.
But other info - till the right time. Everything will be fine :)

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg sir, are you still in any of those countries? Oleg sir, do you have a publisher for SOW? Oleg sir, is the BOB: SOW actually a dead project?
See my answers above. I'm sure we are still Ok :)

[Tvrdi]

See my answers above. I'm sure we are still Ok :)

I see that now...thank you for that...you are alive....best wishes to you and the team in your current project....we will wait like we always did (from the IL2 demo)...for good things...and girls

[Oleg Maddox]

I hope this is the correct thread.

A couple suggestions for OLEG for the SOW:

1) In the FMB I would like to see the Player flight NOT be assigned to waypoints. The player flight should be able to do things ON-THE-FLY and not be constrained to flying over specific waypoints precisely in order to advance to the next waypoint. The player should receive orders like an actual briefing and fly according to the briefing to target areas. This could be done with event areas where the player is given a heading, and can receive additional heading information from ADF, or other comms.

2) The AI would fly by waypoints as usual, but it would be nice to have the ability to have alternate waypoints for AI resulting from triggers.

3) It would be a great tool to have Translucent Canopy/cockpit frame rails to offset the fact we have no peripheral vision ability. I'm not talking about NO frame rails. I talking about the regular frame rails are visible, but the player can see through the rails. The floor side panels, instruments, back headrest all would be opague. THe player could not see through those things he could not normally see through, just canopy frame rails.

I say translucent, because even with 6 DOF when you move your head side to side it is not possible to get the same visual effect as a real person gets because of stereoscopic peripheral vision. I would certainly prefer this arrangement over the HUD, which is totally "StarWars".

This would not take way from the fliight experience, because flying the late model P-51, P-47 and several other planes with fulll clear canopies is available now and isn't a CHEAT.

IMO, the big frame rails that are constantly in your way visually don't add to immersion. If you just look at the screen with the big frame rails in front of you it is common to have less than 30% visual. One of my friends that plays other war games said, "That is so stupid looking at the screen and not being able to see what your doing". I agree with him.

So, maybe a switch to Translucent canopy frame rails, a switch to canopy frame rails... this shouldn't be any problem at the programming level to provide. I can make translucent frame rails in photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, etc. for MSFT CFS2 cockpits and it's hardly any work at all.

Thanks for all the work you've done.

1+2) Waypoints are neccessary. Another spech that they should be defined in briffing... and as well as dynamically changed waypoint due to command using radar data for exaple. Triggers will be.

3. No.... transparency of frae details will make visible other things... construction fuselase, engine, etc... Simply we model it by another way than others in arcade games or the games that say that they are simulators of ground battle but the models there ar far from what we say now is most realistic for the current period.
Also on the sceen you see by two eyes. So the comparison with steroscopic view in life and like you mean by one eye isn't right. We simply will have more complex movement of the neck-head-body of the pilot than in Il-2.

[Oleg Maddox]

Look, guys, calm down.

Oleg has made one statement that didn't turn out true for the Il-2 series (but which will eventually be realised in Bob). So, his statement about always delivering is almost 100% correct. On the other hand Luthier predict two or three features that didn't turn out, and thus, is about half as reliable as Oleg but still more reliable than 99% of us. Furthermore, Luthier never stated that he will always deliver on what he says.

Finally, to my knowledge, he never said he would give us lots of updates & really soon & that they would fulfil all our wildest fantasys & that these updates would include a flyable demo &... All that he said was that he would try to improve communications and keep in touch with the community.

My recommendation: Find something else to do. There are plenty of things out there including people & trees & books &...


Currently Luthier and his team is more busy with BoB (help for us in development of some parts) than with Korea. There are many things that we usually order on the other side... in this case we ordered some of the planes to be finished by them as well as 3D models of ships and some other.

Korea can't moves forward without us. Simply becasue it is based on SoW series engine.

[dflion]

5. There will be possible two types of campaing.... One is dynamic with the possibility of managment in a squad and higher. But there will be no feature of High command that could change everything in a war.. Dynamic campaign will be more or less close to history.
The other campaing mode - it is a sequence of single missions, that possible to make very precise from historical point of view. I can't say right now will be such fully developed by us campaign inside the sim with the release, but at least it is possible. as well as there will be some amount of historical single missions right with the release. Anyway we again will offer more than any other developer of flight sims in that item...
Also the campaign systems will be open for thirs party modifications or even for inclusion of own ENGINE of campaign. This will be ture for both sinlge and online gameplay campaigns.

We simply learned all requests of users for some years of Il-2 life... The best that we can do - will be there.

Hope I gave some info for the brain here

Good to hear from you Oleg (the Boss) - my brain is working overtime. I am very pleased to see that you are continuing the ability to create historic campaigns - I have enjoyed doing the WWII historical research to create a campaign from close to actual events and re-living what you have read (so many times) in the IL2 flight simulator - it looks like it will get a whole lot better in SOW - BOB.
Can't wait until the release, especially seeing all the new aircraft and third party campaign engine. To you and your very devoted teams, keep up the very excellent work, it will be more than worth the wait.
DFLion

[Oleg Maddox]

I see that now...thank you for that...you are alive....best wishes to you and the team in your current project....we will wait like we always did (from the IL2 demo)...for good things...and girls

Thanks :)

[philip.ed]

Oleg, quick question: Will you model barricaded fields in SoW? As you may know, the home guard and farmers barricaded their fields so that luftwaffe pilots couldn't land their aircraft in case of an invasion. Unfortunately this proved to be rather annoying for RAF pilots who wished to do a forced landing, but were met by large wooden obstacles, and tree trunks!

Any thoughts?

Regards,
P

[timuppet]

Hi Oleg,

For your next sim. Is it possible to introduce some physics characteristics for the pilot ??? :idea:

When you create your character for playing a campaign a number of characs are rolled.

Such as :

eyes sharpness bonus or malus to spotting (being able to see the enemy farther, being able to recover from sun blindness quicker)
Physical strength bonus or malus to shake the stick (less strenght and you'll have difficulty to keep turning fight for long time, with more muscles being able to manoeuver at hight speed better)
specials aptitudes such as great stamina (offering a better resistance to wounds) or a better support of g turn and black out

I know it can be considerde too RPG but as an option can be fun. With a option like this there's even more diferences between to pilots flying the same plane.

Historicaly the great aces are special, physically, mentally or have specific technics to diferentiate them from the others.

P.S. excuse me for my bad english:lol:

[Tree_UK]

Hi Oleg, you may have read here several discussions regarding Ubisoft, i have spoke to Ubisoft in the UK and they have very little knowledge of SOW and are adamant that they are not the publishers, its not that important on the scale of things but it does seem strange that they are proclaiming that they are not and will not be involved. Can you shed any light on this?

Many thanks

[philip.ed]

Oleg, in Il-2 Sturmokik 1946, the tracer for the .30 cals on the hurricanes and early spit models is very unrealistic IMHO. The colour is correct as you've mentioned, but if you watch gun-camera videos from the Battle of Britain, the spitfires and hurricanes have smoke on the tracer, like on the Bf-109 models in Il-2.

Any thoughts?

Regards,
Philip

[Oleg Maddox]

Hi Oleg, you may have read here several discussions regarding Ubisoft, i have spoke to Ubisoft in the UK and they have very little knowledge of SOW and are adamant that they are not the publishers, its not that important on the scale of things but it does seem strange that they are proclaiming that they are not and will not be involved. Can you shed any light on this?

Many thanks

Ubisoft is a large company. As I know in Ubi Uk all guys new. And the old that even know me personally were moved in the main office or in another companies. Another one thing - I was in UK Ubisoft office almost 3 years ago... Yes we are working "too" long, but we all would like to get really good thing. And... date of release on different sites of BoB was many time anounced... But I knew it only when it was published there.... Officially BoB was never anounced when it will be released. Usually just hope when... and almost always - TBD.
What I can say really - we are working hard... and BoB will be done doesn't matter of anything in possible future :)

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg, in Il-2 Sturmokik 1946, the tracer for the .30 cals on the hurricanes and early spit models is very unrealistic IMHO. The colour is correct as you've mentioned, but if you watch gun-camera videos from the Battle of Britain, the spitfires and hurricanes have smoke on the tracer, like on the Bf-109 models in Il-2.

Any thoughts?

Regards,
Philip

It depending of type of bullets. In Il-2 we don't model all of possible amounts. We select just one of possible for certain type of wepon on that or another aircraft.
So you may see in color films from different theatres even for one type of weapon very different type of tracers, also that was changed some time several times during the war.

[dflion]

1+2) Waypoints are neccessary. Another spech that they should be defined in briffing... and as well as dynamically changed waypoint due to command using radar data for exaple. Triggers will be.

Oleg, could you give us a little more detail here, if possible?. example - will a radar vector give you the ability to change a waypoint in-flight?

DFLion

[Tree_UK]

Ubisoft is a large company. As I know in Ubi Uk all guys new. And the old that even know me personally were moved in the main office or in another companies. Another one thing - I was in UK Ubisoft office almost 3 years ago... Yes we are working "too" long, but we all would like to get really good thing. And... date of release on different sites of BoB was many time anounced... But I knew it only when it was published there.... Officially BoB was never anounced when it will be released. Usually just hope when... and almost always - TBD.
What I can say really - we are working hard... and BoB will be done doesn't matter of anything in possible future :)

Thanks for that Oleg, like you say it doesn't matter on the scale of things its just a little annoying to see some online sites taking pre-order payments when they have no real information or confirmed release dates.

Thanks for shedding some light on this, and good luck with the project.

[dflion]

In General finished. But we didn't tune for each aircraft well yet.

4.09 still don't know when. My guys really to busy that to switch back to Il-2 even for some time.

I know your situation is very resource driven to fall back to the final 4.09, though after seeing the Slovakia Winter map I am feeling very sad for that development team - what about the community 'chippimg in' for some overtime payment?

DFLion

[Oleg Maddox]

1+2) Waypoints are neccessary. Another spech that they should be defined in briffing... and as well as dynamically changed waypoint due to command using radar data for exaple. Triggers will be.

Oleg, could you give us a little more detail here, if possible?. example - will a radar vector give you the ability to change a waypoint in-flight?

DFLion

We model all structure of HQ that receive information from the Radar and give then commands to ground AA-artillery, to planes, etc. and if you recieve this information in Air then you should redirect your flight according given info. We try to model it with the precise of that time... so it will be not so precise like in modern time. You even may miss the target by altitude or so... like it was in reality, reading recalls of British pilots.

German radars will work by other way. They used it for another purpose.

[Oleg Maddox]

I know your situation is very resource driven to fall back to the final 4.09, though after seeing the Slovakia Winter map I am feeling very sad for that development team - what about the community 'chippimg in' for some overtime payment?

DFLion

I din't say it is canceled isn't it?

[Oleg Maddox]

Thanks for that Oleg, like you say it doesn't matter on the scale of things its just a little annoying to see some online sites taking pre-order payments when they have no real information or confirmed release dates.

Thanks for shedding some light on this, and good luck with the project.

Yes, I saw it several times and noticed about it Ubisoft in the past.

[KOM.Nausicaa]

Hello Oleg,

thanks for the update, and congratulations on the absolutely superb aircraft and vehicles.

I have three questions:

1) It was said a long time ago that AI would not be able to look "behind" means that their vision is limited by actual cockpit. Is this still planned?

2) It was said also long time ago that AI will not be able to look through clouds, or less good looking at night. Is this still planned?

I think both those things can revolutionize offline playing. For example, diving in clouds for escape, was, as you know, first thing to do for lonely bomber for example.

and

3) do you already know how much % of a city, like London f.ex will be "generic" buildings, and how much historic (real) buildings? Do you plan to match more or less actual street layout ?

Thanks and lots of courage for your project. I have 3D/Design company myself, I probably know what you life is. :)

Thanks---

[Oleg Maddox]

Hello Oleg,

thanks for the update, and congratulations on the absolutely superb aircraft and vehicles.

I have three questions:

1) It was said a long time ago that AI would not be able to look "behind" means that their vision is limited by actual cockpit. Is this still planned?

2) It was said also long time ago that AI will not be able to look through clouds, or less good looking at night. Is this still planned?

I think both those things can revolutionize offline playing. For example, diving in clouds for escape, was, as you know, first thing to do for lonely bomber for example.

and

3) do you already know how much % of a city, like London f.ex will be "generic" buildings, and how much historic (real) buildings? Do you plan to match more or less actual street layout ?

Thanks and lots of courage for your project. I have 3D/Design company myself, I probably know what you life is. :)

Thanks---

1. Confirmed
2. Confirmed no "radars" across the clouds
3. We will have several very precise copies London building, but other things - most generic... But from above the streets, etc will looks close to the map of 1940 that we have.
To make a full copy of London would take large time... it is impossible... or possible if we will drop the main thing of simulator... :)

[Thunderbolt56]

Thanks for the update and the consistent clarification of many things that have been on many people's minds.

Things look VERY promising from where I'm sitting.

:)

[csThor]

*Ahem!* Mr Maddox has mail ;)

[kammo]

Just registered myself to come say that keep up the good work Oleg and the whole team. Thank you also for the update and taking time to answer the questions.

:) :)

[Oleg Maddox]

*Ahem!* Mr Maddox has mail ;)

I know.

Simply haven't time yet to answer you.

yOUR SIGNS WE DON'T USE YET, BECASUE THERE ISN'T THE MECHNISM YET TO PLACE IN THE RIGHT POSITION. So we used the "old" skin that was done for the check how it looks/ This skin is done long time ago. Before you sent me materials

[Monterey]

Oleg,
Thanks for the updates.

One question....Will the AI still be able to make those impossible maneuvers like they do now? I mean the instant flips, turns, etc... It gets very annoying. I hope they will behave more realistically, and be subject to stalls, blackouts, redouts, etc...

Thanks again.
Monty

[philip.ed]

Oleg, thankyou for taking the time to answer my question about tracers, and everyone elses question-we are truly thankful.

One thing though, have you considered modelliing barricaded fields (in england) as these were very common in fields in south east england during the BoB, as the threat of a german invasion lingered.

regards,
Philip.

[HenFre]

Thanks for the update Oleg :-)

I just have a few questions for you regarding the modablity of the game.

I'm a 3D modeler myself and was wondering if it will be possible to model say a french car or a french town house and then include them in the game? If so how will this be done?

Regards

Henrik

[Feuerfalke]

Thanks for all those informations and even more for taking the time to answer all our questions!

Considering the detail we see in the screenshots, I bet something like sharing skins online is getting a bit harder with BoB. Is it still planned to have such a system?

On the other hand, looking at my netcache-folder, there are many custom-made nosearts and squadron-insigna. Knowing that many planes from all sides had such personal markings, wouldn't it be an option to support the noseart-concept for all planes and make them work independently from skin-downloading?


Besides that, it was repeatedly asked, wether airborne radar and radio-navigation will be implemented. I remember a statement where you said SoW will be capable of simulating both systems, but looking at the Beaufighter, it would be interesting, if this will be included in the initial release, too?

Again, thanks for taking the time to post so many interesting news for us!

[csThor]

I know.

Simply haven't time yet to answer you.

yOUR SIGNS WE DON'T USE YET, BECASUE THERE ISN'T THE MECHNISM YET TO PLACE IN THE RIGHT POSITION. So we used the "old" skin that was done for the check how it looks/ This skin is done long time ago. Before you sent me materials

Roger. Oh and your capslock is stuck ;) :mrgreen:

[Freycinet]

Hi Oleg,

For your next sim. Is it possible to introduce some physics characteristics for the pilot ??? :idea:

After Oleg shaved off his moustache, I lost hope that we will have Adolf Galland correctly modelled...

[T}{OR]

Thank you for the time answering our questions sir.

I have a couple of my own questions too - speaking from a bomber pilot's view, will AI gunners now take into account friendly bombers flying in formation? In IL2 when we do formation flying online, often there is a friendly kill from one of our bombers in the formation.

You mentioned that gunners will differ from one to another by their skill level, but will they also interact more with the pilot, something like 'bandit 5 o'clock, coming in'?


Also will it be possible to hop into someone elses bomber on DF servers to take copilot seat, or at least a gunner position? No matter if this option will be for coops only, it will help a lot in training pilots how to fly formation and not to mention different formation positions which in IL2 are impossible to fly since we can't use copilot's seat (I know Ju88, He111 and RAF bombers had a single pilot, but this may be a good reference for the future :)).


And last question - how much more complex will be using the bombsight compared to IL2? The biggest lack of automation release in IL2 for me is that it can't be used for online formation bombing because everyone will hit area behind the leader, no matter how close they fly in the formation.


For example in B-17II The Mighty Eighth, old game by Microprose, Norden bombsight had a small red light on the bombsight which would light up second or two before the sight would release the bombs - is it possible to model something like that in SoW (not sure what historical reference here is, to my understanding Loffte bombsights used by Luftwaffe were very similar to Norden)? :)



Thor

[Dano]

Will you buggers leave Oleg alone so he can go work on it please :)

[Oleg Maddox]

Thanks for the update Oleg :-)

I just have a few questions for you regarding the modablity of the game.

I'm a 3D modeler myself and was wondering if it will be possible to model say a french car or a french town house and then include them in the game? If so how will this be done?

Regards

Henrik


Write this copy of message to pf@1c.ru
I will answer you there.

[Meusli]

I too would like Thors questions answered especially the co-pilot help in the bomber as Thor will probably tell you. :)

[brando]

1+2) Waypoints are neccessary. Another spech that they should be defined in briffing... and as well as dynamically changed waypoint due to command using radar data for exaple. Triggers will be.

Oleg, could you give us a little more detail here, if possible?. example - will a radar vector give you the ability to change a waypoint in-flight?

DFLion

If I understand Oleg's reply correctly, then we should be pleased to see that the team is attempting to model the imprecision of radar at the time of the Battle of Britain. Hopefully they will find a way of moving what could be called a 'floating' waypoint on our flight maps - though I hope that the maps will be somewhat different from the knee-pad version used in Forgotten Battles. This particular battlefield was much more local than the vast Russian steppe or the emptiness of the Pacific. Vectoring by radio was the rule of the day, based on the calculations (and inspired guesses) of the plotters at Fighter Command HQ.

[wjc103]

Oleg, thank you for your answers. Much appreciated.

[Avimimus]

Oleg,

Thank you for the details and replies (and also for taking a deserved vacation).

One little question: Tactics involving larger co-ordinated formations were popular in air war that took place on the Western front. In particular I am think of things like German and British squadrons avoiding combat and attempting to outclimb each other and gain a group advantage before attacking (or entire formations suddenly breaking off and retreating).

Has there been any thought to an "flight leader" AI that could give orders to more than one aircraft?

Best wishes,

-Avimimus

[GhostFiles]

Here is a zip file you can DL to view an Archive Film of the P-51 Muzzle Flash. As you will see, the flash and smoke extend a few feet, and it's daylight.

"http://theghostfiles.org/maddox/p51MuzzleFlash.zip"

GF

The estimated release date of B.O.B. will save me from building a new PC. By Sep '09, there will be new Mobo's, CPU's, Video Cards... Judging by the detail of B.O.B., current hardware may not survive.

P4 3.4Mhz
X1950Pro
2GB Corsair PC3200 Dual Chnl

[crazyivan1970]

Woaa, Oleg had a field day here :D

[BadAim]

Thanks Oleg, you rock.

[mazex]

muzzle flash... Video and especially film camera can't register on their 24 (and in WWII often 10 to 16) frams per second many of light changes that happens when the gun fires... As well as the specific of sencitivity of film and its dynamic rage that can't registed fire as we can see in real life.
So in Il-2 it was done in the last versions more real than you think...
And I haven't seen yet in a sim more real tracers... If you mean color - they are all by a tracer specifications docs of WWII shells/bullets for each country that we modelled.

At night the fire/flash leight of 20 mm cannon could be even more than 2 meters...
At day it is the same but visible less and even more less on the film (in short words).
At flight it depending of speed... But anyway it is present. The differences of leight we plan to model in flight and on the ground, at day and at night.
The difference at the day/night time was done in Il-2 for the for the first time in the world in game industry. Try yourself to check it....

Well, I've fired thousands of 7.62 rounds with the M240 which should be rather equivalent to the .303:s in the Spitfires and Hurricanes. Just as Oleg says - the actual size of a muzzle flash from an MG is very hard to capture on film. On an M240 it feels like it is 50-70 cm long and 20-30 cm wide. It looks a LOT larger than it does "in the movies"... When you fire blanks it gets even worse - it's like a giant fireball in front of the M240...

It is however very hard to capture these on film... We tried it a lot but it does not look nearly as "cool" on a video as it does IRL :) I'm sure that everyone that has fired a real MG can chime in on this.

EDIT - another thing, the MG:s in many fighter planes during WWII did not have effective flash suppressors from what I know. That ought to add quite a lot to the muzzle flash intensity...

/Mazex

[GSpector]

I think the Sims are awesome in many ways and from what I am reading here, they are about to get better.

I just have 1 suggestion in regards to the Career aspect, more Decorations.

It seems many sims stick to the same basic 5 Medals to earn, granted IL-2 has covered many more Countries then any other sim and that's great but what I would like to see (someday) are Ribbons for achievements, not just for valor.

I might be asking to much for a view of Pilots wearing the decorations like MicroProse did in F-117a (aka F-19) Stealth Fighter way back in 1988.

I figure medals are ok for Aerial Victories, but what about longevity of the career, or ground attacks?

Even Campaign Ribbons after completing say 10 or 20 Missions in 1 campaign would be nice.

Russia, Germany, United States and other Countries had a lot of decorations back in WW2.

Since just about everything on BoB SOW will be new, will this to be expanded upon?

[Spinnetti]

Just catching up after being away from this forum for a bit. I'm excited as anybody about the new release, but reading all this, an analogy popped in my head:

Oleg is a mother with 10,000 needy babies, all trying to suckle at once.. He can't feed you all! lol...

I'm on a project now that is the usual development model... A date was set, so we are going to deliver much less than the design called for. I'm happy he is doing the design right, and pushing the date out instead!

[Oleg Maddox]

Here is a zip file you can DL to view an Archive Film of the P-51 Muzzle Flash. As you will see, the flash and smoke extend a few feet, and it's daylight.

"http://theghostfiles.org/maddox/p51MuzzleFlash.zip"

GF

The estimated release date of B.O.B. will save me from building a new PC. By Sep '09, there will be new Mobo's, CPU's, Video Cards... Judging by the detail of B.O.B., current hardware may not survive.

P4 3.4Mhz
X1950Pro
2GB Corsair PC3200 Dual Chnl

Read please the comments of mazex above. He tell you the same like I tried to explain.

[Feathered_IV]

Hi Oleg, nice to see you are still around :)

I'd like to ask if you are able to provide the ability to save the game in-flight.
It isn't really possible to get the most out of the games with the type of lifestyles most of us lead. Not without sacrificing work and family.

Being able to fly a six-hour bomber sortie for example, in real time but spread out over a couple of sessions would be a great thing for the single player experience. We wouldn't be slaves to the short-hop missions or the time-skip key. If players could share and exchange save points too... Well, you can imagine the possibilities. ;)

[HenFre]

Write this copy of message to pf@1c.ru
I will answer you there.

Thanks Oleg. Allready sent you a mail.. ;-)

[GhostFiles]

"Read please the comments of mazex above. He tell you the same like I tried to explain."

I understand Oleg. I guess you can compare this to any muzzle flash. (From a rifle for example), whereby it cannot be seen in daylight, but produces an orange fireball at night.

Flash Hiders: WWII aircraft had Flash Suppressors? (Flash Hiders only disperse the flash when you are looking down the barrel,) which allows the shooter to see through the flash. When looking at the barrel from the side, the flash hider does nothing. I would like to see the reference to WWII aircraft having flash hiders.

GF

[Oleg Maddox]

Hi Oleg, nice to see you are still around :)

I'd like to ask if you are able to provide the ability to save the game in-flight.
It isn't really possible to get the most out of the games with the type of lifestyles most of us lead. Not without sacrificing work and family.

Being able to fly a six-hour bomber sortie for example, in real time but spread out over a couple of sessions would be a great thing for the single player experience. We wouldn't be slaves to the short-hop missions or the time-skip key. If players could share and exchange save points too... Well, you can imagine the possibilities. ;)


I was asking about this feature our developers. It isn't promised, but maybe. Simly now we need to save even more data than in Il-2... and in Il-2 it was way more than in any shooter.

[Oleg Maddox]

"Read please the comments of mazex above. He tell you the same like I tried to explain."

I understand Oleg. I guess you can compare this to any muzzle flash. (From a rifle for example), whereby it cannot be seen in daylight, but produces an orange fireball at night.

Flash Hiders: WWII aircraft had Flash Suppressors? (Flash Hiders only disperse the flash when you are looking down the barrel,) which allows the shooter to see through the flash. When looking at the barrel from the side, the flash hider does nothing. I would like to see the reference to WWII aircraft having flash hiders.

GF

Yak-9K had recoil compensator working on the partial redicrection of muzzle flash. It was also reduced by this way the muzzle flash itself. Without this recoil compensator the recoil was some 3,5 tons force, - with compensator about 1,5 tons. Muzzle flash was reduced from 3 meters to almost 1,7 meters (measurements were taken on a day light for muzzle lash.

On some experimental German planes in the end of the war also used such recoil compensators.

Registartion of the size of the muzzle flash on film camera depending of the shutter speed and spectral sencitivity of the film.
With speed more than 1/16 sec muzzle flash sometime was registered completely on some types of films. For the gun MK108 it will be up to two metrers size in flight on the speed of 350 km/h.
On the same speed on Il-2 the muzzle flash size of 23 mm cannons is 1,7-2,3 meters leight
And it is is present even on a daylight black and white film :)

Really it was discussed in the past and some modern military guys confirmed this...

One developer did traccers like on gun cameras, that are looking like letter S.... This developer didn't make the research why the gun camera registered such effect... and simpy copied it in a sim... but it was incorrect. Just for example.

[Oleg Maddox]

Thanks Oleg. Allready sent you a mail.. ;-)

I will answer later. I'm not at office... I'm typing from home. A bit sick. My job emails I can read only in office. Please wait a bit

[Feuerfalke]

Good to see you are still around, to answer all our questions!

I already posted a few, but I of course got another one or two:

Will SoW have an ingame VoiceOverIP-included? It would be really cool to combine these functionalities with the simulation of the radio-system. :cool:

Also an ingame-server-browser or at least one, that is distributed with the game would be really helpful. Has this been considered, yet?

[HenFre]

I will answer later. I'm not at office... I'm typing from home. A bit sick. My job emails I can read only in office. Please wait a bit

Sorry to hear that you are sick. Hope that you get well soon :)

All the best..

Henrik

[csThor]

I will answer later. I'm not at office... I'm typing from home. A bit sick. My job emails I can read only in office. Please wait a bit

*snort*

We got something in common then. I'm home, too ... mononucleosis (wherever I caught that one).

[ChrisDNT]

"Really it was discussed in the past and some modern military guys confirmed this..."

I've been an AA gunner in the Swiss army: for years, I shot during military courses with 20mm AA canons and saw many times too 35mm canons firing.

I never saw, even at night, flames in my gunsight.

In fact, flames can be seen (and not always, depends of the shutter time, exposure and weather conditions) on pictures or videos, but there are almost invisible to the human eye, because the flashes are too fast and very transparent too.

[ChrisDNT]

Btw, it's simple logic, do you think the technical services of any air force would accept a weapon system whose firing would annoy or even block the aiming of a pilot or a gunner?

[Oleg Maddox]

Good to see you are still around, to answer all our questions!

I already posted a few, but I of course got another one or two:

Will SoW have an ingame VoiceOverIP-included? It would be really cool to combine these functionalities with the simulation of the radio-system. :cool:

Also an ingame-server-browser or at least one, that is distributed with the game would be really helpful. Has this been considered, yet?

Voice telephone? However in Il-2 the user interface for this features wasn't good.
Yes we plan. Because it is really good for the recording of tracks :)

We plan to make some browser. But probably it will be separate program from which you will be able to star the sim with automatic connection to selected server.
We had such things in the past in our previous (before Il-2) games.

But this program will be not the program that will replace others, that works fine with Il-2.
It will be in additional, if user prefer.

[HenFre]

*snort*

We got something in common then. I'm home, too ... mononucleosis (wherever I caught that one).

csThor in Denmark we call that illness for "Kissing sickness". So have you kissed someone recently that could be the possible colpret? ;) Get ready for 6 months of no alcohol and being fatiqued all the time. great fun :cool:

Oleg I have seen that models of planes and vehicles have hinges that can be manipulated. Is this also a feature that the player will be allowed to use? Like opening hatches on a tankturret or opening the cockpit of a fighterplane?
And will this feature also be applied to human figures? So the player will be able to position the arms and such of the body?

[Oleg Maddox]

"Really it was discussed in the past and some modern military guys confirmed this..."

I've been an AA gunner in the Swiss army: for years, I shot during military courses with 20mm AA canons and saw many times too 35mm canons firing.

I never saw, even at night, flames in my gunsight.

In fact, flames can be seen (and not always, depends of the shutter time, exposure and weather conditions) on pictures or videos, but there are almost invisible to the human eye, because the flashes are too fast and very transparent too.

Partially agreed about transparency at day.
As for the WWII time there are enough recalls of gunners that was blinded at night from their MGs firng in enemy.

You also should take in account that the changes in modern guns and the evolution (better to say revolution) in gun powder changed a lot of things even in muzzle flash due to more greater speed of "powder" combustion :)

But really if you will take a look on modern camera shots of some terrorists shots - the muzzle flash is great from even 7,62 mm Kalashnikov :).

I personally also many times fired from guns (sigle and many) at everning time and almost always got partial blinding. The hunter gun of 12th caliber (with is like 20 mm cannon) that I used often in the past gives the same effect... And amount of powder in a cartrige there is more small than in 7,62 AKM cartridge....

[Feuerfalke]

Voice telephone? However in Il-2 the user interface for this features wasn't good.
Yes we plan. Because it is really good for the recording of tracks :)

We plan to make some browser. But probably it will be separate program from which you will be able to star the sim with automatic connection to selected server.
We had such things in the past in our previous (before Il-2) games.

But this program will be not the program that will replace others, that works fine with Il-2.
It will be in additional, if user prefer.

Cool! Sounds great.

:grin:

[Oleg Maddox]

csThor in Denmark we call that illness for "Kissing sickness". So have you kissed someone recently that could be the possible colpret? ;) Get ready for 6 months of no alcohol and being fatiqued all the time. great fun :cool:

Oleg I have seen that models of planes and vehicles have hinges that can be manipulated. Is this also a feature that the player will be allowed to use? Like opening hatches on a tankturret or opening the cockpit of a fighterplane?
And will this feature also be applied to human figures? So the player will be able to position the arms and such of the body?

From the beginning we are making all things openable... I dopn't know how many of these features will go in final reelase... but as with Il-2 this means we will modify the code that to use the BASE input at initial development. With the release we will have AA-guns controlbale by player... this is intersting for Online, but it will also works in a single missions, if you only like to create such.

And as I told... the code will be partially open in terms of modification with the use out of normal fixed parameters and code servers...

In time I think we may see even U-boat controlable :) The water is transparent in engine.

[Thunderbolt56]

...You also should take in account that the changes in modern guns and the evolution (better to say revolution) in gun powder changed a lot of things even in muzzle flash due to more greater speed of "powder" combustion :)

But really if you will take a look on modern camera shots of some terrorists shots - the muzzle flash is great from even 7,62 mm Kalashnikov :).

....



The point about modern powders is one of the biggest differences. Most of the weapons 70 years ago used cordite as it's combustible in closed cartridges. Today's modern smokeless powders, while still producing flash, burn much more efficiently than good 'ol cordite and produce a smaller, faster-burning flash.

As far as the in-game voice possibilities, I'd love to see something if able to be done without causing too much of a performance hit to the sim itself. Obviously the IL2 in-game voice attempt didn't pan out completely and TeamSpeak is still an excellent free alternative either way.

Personally, I'd really like to see a spartan user-friendly server-finder included for online play, but that's just me. Hyperlobby is a great service for the genre, but a bit klunky with limitations and not the most user-friendly proggy out there. I don't like the chat function in a server-finder. It just becomes another forum for 12 year olds to taunt one another. ASE was the best IMO and now I use XFire. I have no doubt that an included server finder would be a better alternative to either of these.


TB

[NSU]

Hello Oleg,

I have some questions regarding the multiplayer:

Will it be possible to change the inflight briefing during the game and will it be possible to paint the flightroute and mark objects on the map?
If so it would be helpfull to add an option to send that customized map to all other squad members during the game.
I also wonder if there is a chance to display own jpg's on the briefing screen (like air recon, notes or tactical maps).
Will the player be able to conquer airports and does that influence the support or reinforcements?

I do have some more questions regarding the mission editor:

Is there any chance of changing the ingame maps, to add markings or notes visible to other players?
I'd like to add a video to the briefing to present the map in the old fashioned "wochenschau" style will that be possible?
And last but not least, is there some sort of trigger so that a sound file (like a radio message) will be played when the player activates the trigger?

Thanks in advance

Best regards

NSU

[Monterey]

U-boat controllable? Now you're talking my language. :)

Is there a reason you skipped answering my question?

Hope you get to feeling better soon.

[csThor]

csThor in Denmark we call that illness for "Kissing sickness". So have you kissed someone recently that could be the possible colpret? ;) Get ready for 6 months of no alcohol and being fatiqued all the time. great fun :cool:

Same here in Germany (and my parents asked the same), but no - that's not the source. Single by choice and conviction. ;)

[Oleg Maddox]

Hello Oleg,

I have some questions regarding the multiplayer:

Will it be possible to change the inflight briefing during the game and will it be possible to paint the flightroute and mark objects on the map?
If so it would be helpfull to add an option to send that customized map to all other squad members during the game.
I also wonder if there is a chance to display own jpg's on the briefing screen (like air recon, notes or tactical maps).
Will the player be able to conquer airports and does that influence the support or reinforcements?

I do have some more questions regarding the mission editor:

Is there any chance of changing the ingame maps, to add markings or notes visible to other players?
I'd like to add a video to the briefing to present the map in the old fashioned "wochenschau" style will that be possible?
And last but not least, is there some sort of trigger so that a sound file (like a radio message) will be played when the player activates the trigger?

Thanks in advance

Best regards

NSU

This old biker always ask many questions :)

I can't say yes to all your questions. Recon maps we would like to make and it is in plan. However I don't know if it will be in release. The format of brief is HTML... so theoretically there is possible to use recon map and send to others across the map. But it will depending of many factors, so I can't tell you 100% yes.

As for the capture airfield.... we plan several online modes in additional to what we had in Il-2... Also can't say you final features


As for changes of map... don't know yet all features that will go in final. You know I never promise when I'm not sure, if you are NSU that I know...

Video in gif or flash player format probably will be possible in a brif. I don't know which type of HTML we will use in final. You know there is going the new version of HTML in future... Proabbly we will stay with the current for a long time. So if to make everything manually for single missions - then you probably may use all features of current HTML version :). If automatic - then just limited amount of features... However the engine of campaign (doesn''t matter single or online) will be open for modifications. Or even someone may developm completely own. We will give access to that item of code for modifications that will not damage the fair online gameplay.

You will be able to put on the map trigger with sound message with the defined radius of action.

Hope everything answered clear enough. :)

[Oleg Maddox]

U-boat controllable? Now you're talking my language. :)

Is there a reason you skipped answering my question?

Hope you get to feeling better soon.


I can't try to find your question... There is too many pages.
If you'll repeast right now - I will try.

[NSU]

Thank you for your answer, sounds very good.

und meine NSU fährt sich immer noch gut :-)

Best regards NSU

[Monterey]

Oleg,
Thanks for the updates.

One question....Will the AI still be able to make those impossible maneuvers like they do now? I mean the instant flips, turns, etc... It gets very annoying. I hope they will behave more realistically, and be subject to stalls, blackouts, redouts, etc...

Thanks again.
Monty


Old biker here too. :)

[Oleg Maddox]

Oleg,
Thanks for the updates.

One question....Will the AI still be able to make those impossible maneuvers like they do now? I mean the instant flips, turns, etc... It gets very annoying. I hope they will behave more realistically, and be subject to stalls, blackouts, redouts, etc...

Thanks again.
Monty


Old biker here too. :)

I can't say... Its relative thing of the player-pilot experience. My guys and me can shoot any AI fighter enemy...
Stall, black outs, redouts was a limit for AI even in Il-2. Simply they are robots and calculate it way faster than you.

[Oleg Maddox]

I can't say... Its relative thing of the player-pilot experience. My guys and me can shoot any AI fighter enemy...
Stall, black outs, redouts was a limit for AI even in Il-2. Simply they are robots and calculate it way faster than you.


Probably the right name for AI would be predictable calculation with 100% precise.

In BoB we will have more complex AI behaviour that will be more "humanized".

However before Il-2 there was no one sim with "humanized" aircraft AI like in Il-2...

[Monterey]

I can shoot them down too. What I mean is, the AI can execute maneuvers that would send my plane crashing down. The 180 degree instant turns...and I mean instant, is one example.

[Feuerfalke]

In time I think we may see even U-boat controlable :) The water is transparent in engine.

That was the first thing that came to my mind, when I saw those riverbeds being modelled in those magazine-scans quite a while ago. :grin:


Can you give us a hint about the airborne radar? I remember a previous statement, where you stated this will be possible in SoW, but you were not sure wether this will be in the initial release. Looking at the antennas on the Beaufighter, has the decision been made in the meanwhile? ;)

Same was for radio navigation, if I remember that quote correctly.

Thanks.

[Oleg Maddox]

That was the first thing that came to my mind, when I saw those riverbeds being modelled in those magazine-scans quite a while ago. :grin:


Can you give us a hint about the airborne radar? I remember a previous statement, where you stated this will be possible in SoW, but you were not sure wether this will be in the initial release. Looking at the antennas on the Beaufighter, has the decision been made in the meanwhile? ;)

Same was for radio navigation, if I remember that quote correctly.

Thanks.

Airborne radars (onboard) will be only on AI aircraft with the release.
We don't plan to model with the first release night fighers. Too much work for the too small effect in gamplay. The first thing is important that will be economicallyy right in development.

However I do think in future if the BoB will be successful, then we may work over such things as well. As well as third party developers.

[Oleg Maddox]

I can shoot them down too. What I mean is, the AI can execute maneuvers that would send my plane crashing down. The 180 degree instant turns...and I mean instant, is one example.

Never saw myself AI instant turns that I can't repeat myself going by their trajectory.

However it is explained as well above about their precise.

Some time AI with level of Novice also crashes in a stall in dogfight...

[T}{OR]

Thank you very much for your info on th game sir.

I'm not sure if you spotted my qestions among so many of them so I'm reposting mine. I hope you don't mind. :)

Thank you for the time answering our questions sir.

I have a couple of my own questions too - speaking from a bomber pilot's view, will AI gunners now take into account friendly bombers flying in formation? In IL2 when we do formation flying online, often there is a friendly kill from one of our bombers in the formation.

You mentioned that gunners will differ from one to another by their skill level, but will they also interact more with the pilot, something like 'bandit 5 o'clock, coming in'?


Also will it be possible to hop into someone elses bomber on DF servers to take copilot seat, or at least a gunner position? No matter if this option will be for coops only, it will help a lot in training pilots how to fly formation and not to mention different formation positions which in IL2 are impossible to fly since we can't use copilot's seat (I know Ju88, He111 and RAF bombers had a single pilot, but this may be a good reference for the future :)).


And last question - how much more complex will be using the bombsight compared to IL2? The biggest lack of automation release in IL2 for me is that it can't be used for online formation bombing because everyone will hit area behind the leader, no matter how close they fly in the formation.


For example in B-17II The Mighty Eighth, old game by Microprose, Norden bombsight had a small red light on the bombsight which would light up second or two before the sight would release the bombs - is it possible to model something like that in SoW (not sure what historical reference here is, to my understanding Loffte bombsights used by Luftwaffe were very similar to Norden)? :)



Thor

[Oleg Maddox]

Ok,

I must drop today my computer...
So prepare really right questions for which I CAN answer on monday.
Please not so much and please do not repeae already answered earlier.

Nice weekend to your all!

[Oleg Maddox]

Thank you very much for your info on th game sir.

I'm not sure if you spotted my qestions among so many of them so I'm reposting mine. I hope you don't mind. :)
I will try to begin on monday from your questions.
If I will forget, remind one more time. :) I did right questions

[NSU]

hi Oleg

for the german radio speech, i send you a E Mail :-)

[JVM]

Hello Oleg!

I am perfectly happy with the questions of the others and your answers.

There is however one question which has been nagging me thince one year now! I will just repost it as in November 2007:

"Did you by any chance read the small document I try to send to you in August 2007 (to your personal MG address, via Luthier/RRG and on paper at MAKS 1C/booth)?...just curiosity...I believe that some of my statements in this paper were not completely without interest, especially as far as Luftwaffe airfields in France during BoB were concerned... "

Thanks for your time and dedication,

JVM

PS: If need to I can send you my small document again, just tell me where...

[=gRiJ=Ander]

One developer did traccers like on gun cameras, that are looking like letter S.... This developer didn't make the research why the gun camera registered such effect... and simpy copied it in a sim... but it was incorrect. Just for example.

This is the zigzag tracers do on guncams? somebody knows why this happens?

Just curious.

[Dano]

This is the zigzag tracers do on guncams? somebody knows why this happens?

Just curious.

It's been known for ages and is caused by the camera shaking.

[VMF-214_HaVoK]

Im certain this was probably already asked a long time ago, but I dont know your answer.

During online games with humans vs humans will the pilots head look where the player is looking. Meaning...if Im in a scissors duel will I be able to see my opponents head following my aircraft if he is doing so. I thought I noticed this with AI long ago but to be honest in the past 7 years I have spent little time mixing it up with AI.

Having such a feature, although small, brings tons of immersion to the table for me.

Thanks,

S!

[proton45]

Im certain this was probably already asked a long time ago, but I dont know your answer.

During online games with humans vs humans will the pilots head look where the player is looking. Meaning...if Im in a scissors duel will I be able to see my opponents head following my aircraft if he is doing so. I thought I noticed this with AI long ago but to be honest in the past 7 years I have spent little time mixing it up with AI.

Having such a feature, although small, brings tons of immersion to the table for me.

Thanks,

S!

I suppose it could help indicate weather or not a pilot see's you sneaking up on them... :)

Death graphics (of a slumped over pilot or gunner) could help you figure out if you killed the pilot or not.

[ECV56_LeChuck]

Lots of questions... but as always happens to me, I can't remember anyone...

ok, here goes one:

Will be possible to set in the planes random or pre-defined malfunctions?? For example, when in an online war the aicrafts get worn and as a result of this, the failure percent increases.
How complex is going to be the procedure of starting the engines? (you said earlier that it might be more complex)
Will it have more realistic effects on starvation of engine, and mixture control??
How will the engine handle the flaps? Will it follow the historical procedures of every model or will it have 2 or 3 levels of predefined angle flaps?
How will the monitor resolution and "points of aircraft" (contacts at distance) work?? Today lot of people don´t use high resolution because they "don't see the contacts"...
Can we get out of the planes and walk? (At least, in the start of the mission)
Will be more data written in eventlog.lst?? It´s very useful to create dynamic campaings.

Thanks Oleg!!

[Blackdog_kt]

It's been known for ages and is caused by the camera shaking.

I think tracers like that appeared in B17 The mighty 8th. I really liked them, but i never thought of the logical explanation behind the effect, so another question pops to mind...if i shoot i will be seeing straight lines, but is it possible to render S lines when we playback a track?
Of course this is not a really important thing, just eye candy, but this sim is looking like it will contain a whole lot of impressive effects, so why not.

As for the modding issue, i'm very glad that the new game is made with an open architecture. This way people can add things into the game without the need to "hack" the whole code and open up FM/DM to modification. It will be really nice to have varied theaters and operational environments, i'm especially looking forward to RAF's night bombing campaign, luftwaffe nightfighters and primitive radio devices to use.

The news about the HTML briefing is very encouraging as well, now imagine if we could also edit the briefing in some online modes.
We could have an online mode that will play on a big map and one side tries to conquer the other, or meet a certain objective set by the map maker.

Then each team would break down this objective into individual strategies and missions. Some players would set up missions for other players to fly and influence how the frontlines move.

Just imagine that we need to know the situation in the frontlines so we can order CAS missions. Someone types a small text outlining the mission and maybe even gives a basic flightplan and all this is in HTML. I read the mission brief and select "copy mission to pilot's notes" and another editable sheet opens up where i can modify my flightplan, loadout and maybe even make some notes that i can see inside the cockpit when i fly (for speeds and altitudes for each waypoint, since these are not visible in WWII era navigation systems). In short, i prepare my mission just like a real pilot would do and i'm doing it online, against other players with the time ticking away against me.

I take my nice blue photo-recon mosquito and make a good run over the front, taking photos of anything i might find. If i manage to land back at a friendly base, i have my film processed and i can see some black and white screenshots of the area i photographed. I mark the targets on the photos and place them on the team's bulletin board for the rest of my guys to see, so they can then plan the ground attack missions that we need to fly. And if the attack is successful, our troops gain a little ground on the front. Sounds good?

[mazex]

Video in gif or flash player format probably will be possible in a brif. I don't know which type of HTML we will use in final. You know there is going the new version of HTML in future... Proabbly we will stay with the current for a long time. So if to make everything manually for single missions - then you probably may use all features of current HTML version :). If automatic - then just limited amount of features...

Hi Oleg!

Wouldn't it be better to have the missions, including briefings etc in xml? If you want to show the briefings as HTML you can just add an xslt file for parsing the briefing part. That way all mission briefings will follow a specified format - but let mission builders add their own xslt:s if they do not want the standard format.

Example xml (start of it - indentation lost pasting it here - full code in a zip at the bottom of post):

<sow-mission>
<briefing>
<meta-info>
<name>JG51-7</name>
<mission-date>1940-09-07 18:35</mission-date>
<version>1.0</version>
<creator>Mazex</creator>
</meta-info>

<images>
<region-images>
<region-image id="1" filename="region1.jpg">The London docks area</region-image>
</region-images>
<mission-overview-images>
<ov-image id="1" filename="overview1.jpg">The intended route</ov-image>
</mission-overview-images>
<recon-images>
<r-image id="1" filename="recon1.jpg" target-id="1">Target 1 - Recon image showing the football factory at XXX</r-image>
<r-image id="2" filename="recon2.jpg" target-id="2">Target 2 - Recon image showing the football yard of the team that beat Maj Molders sons soccer team in 1936 at XXX</r-image>
<r-image id="3" filename="recon3.jpg" target-id="3">Target 3 - Old image showing the ship that we added to this briefing for fun</r-image>
</recon-images>
</images>
...

Using a very simple xslt to parse it giving this look (just an example without the right WWII look etc. - not using all the xml data available like strategic map images etc, I did not have the time...)
http://web.telia.com/%7Eu55702101/unspec/sow_xslt_screenshot.jpg

Full "code" download here (xml+xslt+css+images) (http://web.telia.com/%7Eu55702101/unspec/SOW_XSLT_Briefings.zip)

Please observe that the xml structure is just an example. There should be a lot of other attributes in it!

This is just a suggestion, but I really think that XML should be more "future proof" than HTML. If you later decide that you do not want to use HTML rendering of briefings, just show the info from the xml in the "thick GUI". Want to search all missions on disk that have a certain author? No problem... Someone wants to do a custom mission/briefing editor? Just follow the xml spec and you can make a WYSIG editor for it... There are many advantages in my opinon vs HTML.

What do you think?

EDIT: For interested people not familiar with xml/xsl - just unzip the file above to a local directory and double click the file "briefing_mis123_camp4.xml" to do a local inline xml/xslt transform in you browser (you will hopefully see the page above). The tag <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="jg51_campaign.xsl"?> really shouldn't be there but it's simple for easy local testing. The data is in the .xml file and the html formatting is done in the .xsl file... If you open the file "briefing_mis123_camp4.xml" in a text editor (right click -> open with notepad) you will see that it actually contains xml data and not HTML. It's the row <?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="jg51_campaign.xsl"?> at the top that does the magic. It tells your browser to create HTML output bu using the specified .xsl file as a template for interpreting the xml data (for output). Maybe not the best explanation in the world ;)

/Mazex

[proton45]

Hi Oleg, it's nice to see you kicking around the clubhouse again (sorry your not feeling well)...

At the moment I have just one little question about "off-line" mission building. Will we be able to add "AI" objects that suffer from "battle damage"? Let me give you an example...I have always wanted to add an "in-flight" B-17 (that had 2 engines leaking oil and burning) to an "off-line" mission...right now that is not possible. Right now, if you want to make an off-line mission with wounded straggling bombers limping home as you and "AI" team mates B&Z them to death, you have to set their flight path through a FLAK barrage or something (their is no practical way of doing it) and hope that a few of them get hit. Also it might be nice to be able to set damage on AI aircraft carriers or battleships...
Thanks Oleg, and hope your feeling better soon. :)

[Chivas]

Hello Oleg

I know the Refueling and Rearming question has been brought up long ago, but I can't remember if you've shown much interest in modeling it. Pilots in the Battle of Britain sometimes flew 4 or 5 sorties in a day, maybe even attacking the same bomber stream as it flew back from targets. I've found the refueling and rearming feature very emmerive in other sims and miss that capability in IL-2. I know its possible to fake it and hit refly on-line and stay in the same mission, but I don't think its possilbe off-line. I've just started flying off-line again for the first time in years and can't remember, lol.


~Salute~

Chivas

[C6_Krasno]

Hello Oleg

I know the Refueling and Rearming question has been brought up long ago, but I can't remember if you've shown much interest in modeling it. Pilots in the Battle of Britain sometimes flew 4 or 5 sorties in a day, maybe even attacking the same bomber stream as it flew back from targets. I've found the refueling and rearming feature very emmerive in other sims and miss that capability in IL-2. I know its possible to fake it and hit refly on-line and stay in the same mission, but I don't think its possilbe off-line. I've just started flying off-line again for the first time in years and can't remember, lol.


~Salute~

Chivas

Fuel rearm - will be. Repair - some sort.

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showpost.php?p=26804&postcount=116

[Feathered_IV]

Hi Oleg, hope you are feeling better. ;)

I'd like to ask if SoW will feature bailing out in first-person perspective?

The current style of Il-2 and previous sims is for the "camera" to jump to an external perspective - right at the moment of greatest immersion. It tends to destroy the atmosphere more than a bit. As I'm planning on getting shot down a lot, it's something very important to me! :)

[C6_Krasno]

Hello Oleg !

I got 10 precise questions about SoW from other simmers, I hope you didn't yet answer them...

-About the servers, you said that we'll "probably" got server dedicated softwares. Can you say if there will be one for coop ?
-In the FMB, could we get a tool to see easily the range of artillery, for ex. ?
-Will we be able to get in a coop after the beginning ?
-Will we be able to open independantly the oil radiator and the glycol/water radiator ?
-Will mission makers be able to define a probability for a plane to have a precise breakdown (hydraulic 5%, engine 10%, etc... ) ?
-Will we be able to set a reference pressure for the altimeter ?
-Will flares (red, green) from control tower be modelised ? For example, will a plane approaching for landing with gear up got a red one ?
-Will IA ground (or sea) objects try to avoid attacks (by scattering, for ex.) ?
-Will triggers in the FMB include some probabilities ? (a trigger which have 30% chances to work, for ex.)
-How many clouds layer will be modelised ?


And as a bonus if you don't mind, a more private one : Could you tell us what are the three features of which you are the more proud ?

[SlipBall]

So many great question's answered by Oleg...I hope that this put's end to concern of worried people, that SOW was cancelled. :)