Friday 2010-06-25 Dev. update and Discussion Thread
 

Hi,

Some new shots
part 1.

Those He-111's are looking excellent Oleg!

part 2

On the first couple of shots: Hurry drops the fair shadow on to another plane.
On the last shot - look for the covering of MGs...

This is great game! This is more then life!

#3 is bordering on photorealistic!

Thanks Oleg!

Looking execllent! Love the 111's, and the pilot bail out looks very good

great stuff there, Oleg. Well appreciated, and very much looking forward to the eventual release. BTW, still working on the smoke from the guns, I see (because of their absence from the Hurricanes that are discharging shell casings). Deciding on the best look? Nice work on the gun covers too!
Flyby out

Wow, great shots Oleg.

Now, the fire station is getting me excited. Can we expect moving doors? Does this mean fire trucks will be AI, and activated on an airfield when there is an incident?!

Great, great stuff.

Thanks

PPanPan

Thanks for the shots Oleg. We saw some early developement shots of the Westland Lysander, the Defiant and the Autogyro. Will those planes still make it into SoW:BoB?

Neat. Those tactical codes on the He 111 are just placeholders, right? If not they're far too large. I can provide the official regs from Luftwaffendienstvorschrift if you need them.

Great screenshots!

Loving the cockpit glass shine and the water in all pics! And an FW-200? Good to see new planes I haven't seen shots of yet or in a long time.

Question about the first screenshot of the fire crew. If we bomb or destroy buildings near the fire station, will the trucks come out to the fire and try and put it out? Or if you crash at the airfield they show up to put the fire out?

I only ask because in the shot it looks like the trucks can move out of the garage. That would be really cool.

Shot number three? whats the big black cloud under and behind the Hurricane? Also shell casings?

Also shot four, in front of the Hurricane, looks like smoke puffs from flak possibly?

Looking awesome :D

Nice shots. Can some parts like worn panels etc. in a campaign be replaced by new ones?

Wow !
 

:shock:

Also there seems to be an issue with the placement of the cable (I've no idea what it is...) between the tail of the Hurricane and where it attaches to the mast on the fusilage, appears to be different in a couple of screenshots?

Indeed great update. Hard to pick a favorite shot among them.

Two question that come to mind:

1. The building in the first shot is one of Foobars and is clearly a German building, yet it does house British vehicles. Is this just a result of a random mix or do you plan to use his buildings out of context?

2. The shadows from other planes and the whole environment, will they be drawn on the inside of the cockpit as well? So in cockpit view, say we taxi along a line of trees, will the shadows of the leafs and branches be visible on the inside of the cockpit?

cool update :-)

seriously that would be :mrgreen: for us....
but that would be :cry: for the PC

beautiful shots. Love the shadow of the Hurricane on the He111.:-P

THank you.:o

Thanks Oleg.

Yeah we're just making sure all sorts of different options work.

Bah, what happened to the screenie Luthier?

Beautiful, just beautiful. You guys get the light right, that makes all the difference in the world. I cannot tell you how eager I am to see this game in motion.
Thanks!

What screens? There were never any screens!

Thanks for the nice update -- I have full confidence this sim will be great.

Lies! :D

I saw it and you know it, don't make me dig through my temporary internet files for it now ;)

This game is looking beautiful.

But a couple of things; the smoke in the second pic (part 1) doesn't look very good IMO (so I can see this aspect of the sim being quite WIP) and I also think that the landscape is looking quite blurred from the aerial view.

But I'm just knit-picking, this sim is looking absolutely beautiful. Those hurris are drop-dead gorgeous.

Will there be smoke from the gunports, as well as the shell-casings which we can see? ;)

Cheers Oleg it's all looking sweet - I can't wait for this sim to come out. I just hope my rig can handle it :)

excellent:

- shadow casting between planes!
- reflections of planes on other plane-surfaces
- light-bloom fx
- lots of cloud particles

...yummi yummi yummi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XccWm...feature=autofb

I guess that is exactly one of those 'things' in the user options to gain higher FPS -- blurriness vs sharpness of the ground can perhaps be adapted to your system in the config. That would be a neat idea actually.

Maybe Oleg can say something about this ?

fantastic
 

Thanks oleg some brilliant shots,hope the game will be out in october if not before,cant wait to get my hands on it

Something else I just noticed in the bailing out shot. There are no crew members left inside the plane, at least I can't make out any, but the hatch on top of the cockpit section is still in place. That is odd, cause that would be the hatch the cockpit crew would use to get out.

Why is that? Still WiP?

These were taken on my low-end machine, which I purposely keep crappy so that we can ensure better FPS. I could have been taking prettier screenshots, but I'd rather release a better product! So yeah, it just cannot load highest-res terrain textures, so that's why you see all that blur.

Once again some absolutely stunning screenshots. Looking really good.
The bailed out crew member looks like he is tumbling in the air, much more realistic than it is now in IL2.

Just wondering though, the Hurricane pilots seem to be positioned quite far forward in the cockpit. Would a strapped in pilot not be held further back in his seat? Sorry if that looks like nitpicking.

Keep up the good work.

And the specs of said 'low-end machine' are? Pleeeeeaaaaaaaaaase :D

If the oil cooler gets hit
 

Will the oil that drips look dirtier if it has been in the plane longer?
Will my crew chief have blond hair, will he be clean when I arrive back from a mission and dishevel when I take off for one?
Will my squadron commander smile at me if I get a kill? If I get 4 will be be jealous?
Will we see large Vs of Geese migrating, will they hurt my plane if I hit them?
Can I have a squadron mascot? Will it like me more if I feed it or get more kills?
If a Lanc lands at a fighter strip, will it put ruts across the grass?
Will German pilots get lost and land at my airfield, can I fly their 109 on the next mission?
If I bail out over england, will the peasants chase me with pitchforks.
If we wipe out the RAF, will the army try to cross on a clear day? Will the RN sorti to stop them?
If I bomb an intersection, will the buses be late?


Great pictures Oleg and team, looking forward to the FLIGHT SIM

Nice update !
Just a question, no linked to the update : will the mission files will be of the same kind than IL2 (text files easy to write/modify for an external program) ? I suppose so, but it doesn't hurt to ask ;)

BLoody hell, so this is what it looks like on a low end machine? You guys are magicians.

I really like that drop shadows and the side view of the spinning prop. Really well done!

Yes,yes,yes,post the specs!

Ilya, three questions:

1.Will the position of the noseart/numbers/"decals" be hard-coded for each plane or can the positions be altered depending on the skin (like a textfile with "decal" positions for each skin)?

2. It was mentioned ages ago that planes can visually age but also that the performance deteriorates with age of the aircraft. Are those two indepedent variables?

3. Can system failures be triggered by the mission builder?

Cheers

Tbag

:):grin::):-)

+1:grin:

I like how the gun port tape is intact on the non fireing plane, and open on the firing plan. that is just decadent.

Even if he says what he means by 'low end machine' (opinions on what that is can differentiate) -- it would just mean that you can make that screenshot...not that you can fly against 150 HE 111's in the sky at the same time ;-)

We can't right now. Some people will take this too far and start making upgrade decisions, and then we'll get blamed once the final specs are announced.

And fine, it's not exactly a low-end machine, it's a mid-range machine with an old video card.

I'm assuming you're all so eager to ask about my crappy machine because you're going to run BoB on an older weaker setup. To put things in perspective though, the original Il-2 when it was just released coudn't do 60 FPS at max settings even on the most bleeding-edge machine of the day. We are magicians here, but we do need proper equipment for our magic.

Thanks Oleg, I see some fixes have been made. ;) Do we get to order the train tickets soon? :rolleyes:

So Luthier, are you suggesting that this may be the case also with SoW? I mean, obviously, no-one really expected it to run on the same systems Il-2 runs on excellent settings on. That's be silly :P

However, it depends how you rate the graphics. Will SoW on low/medium be equal to Il-2 on the highest settings ;)

I could tell you, but we'd rather blow you away with a screenshot once the time is right.

Don't see much reason to separate them, the mission builder is already extremely complex, and I can't even think of a gameplay reason to split up the two parameters. We'd need to add a whole bunch of extra parameters to each plane's properties, because of course a single "performance" slider woudn't do - you'd want to individually set quality levels for all sorts of different things, which is what triggers are for.

Which I believe answers your third question:

Looks great guys, so nice to see the accuracy in the high polygon models, like how the gun ports of the Hurris are just above the chord line of the wing, not at dead center of the leading edge.

Dano is right, looks like the wire doesn't attach to the radio mast correctly yet.

As for the pilot's position in the cockpit, looks ok to me...

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1188/...54d78b8d_b.jpg

That FW-200 looks nice, with all the Hurri shots I'm thinking CAM ship campaign! After the sim is released would you guys be able to add the ability to have Hurris launched from ship catapults to protect merchant shipping? Would give us something else to do after the BoB besides cross-channel rhubarbs while waiting for the next theater in the SoW series. :mrgreen:

Is that a black pall of smoke in the background of screenshot 3? Would it be from a bombed target or aircraft?

Thanks a lot for the answers! Looking forward to be blown away :)

This is getting better and better and better and better!
I think that even our highest expectations will be surpassed by miles in every aspect!!! :grin:

Thank you so MUCH Oleg, Luthier and the whole team!!!

Just as most of us I'll need a miracle to find the money to do SOW justice :( once it is out.
But hey, you're magicians, right? :grin: :grin:

Amazing as always.

The textures are DDS format with mips (which are a set of smaller and smaller versions of the same texture - for those, who don't know), the graphics engine selects a certain mip depending on the size of the object, or distance to it. This is adjusted by graphics settings of the game and the video driver. Theoretically, you may switch off mip-map use and have only highest resolution textures everywhere in game. Offcourse, if your HW will be able to swallow it. :grin:

Thank Oleg and luthier!!

And there was me thinking I'd imagined it ;)

The image with the shot up Hurricane has got me wondering, if a pilot is PK'ed will they visibly slump in the cockpit???

Cheers and thanks for the great update!

Please! I deleted those for a reason.

Sorry, gone now.

+1 on the squadron mascot ;)

Lots of squadrons had them and it would make a great minigame to have a pet dog or pig that you have to avoid running over and feed periodically.

On a more serious note having persistent weathering or damage on a plane would add quite a bit. I'd love to get machinegun impacts all over my plane and have the textures in subsequent missions show "patches" over the spots where the bullets had hit. However, this may not be worth the programming effort. It might be good for bomber campaigns though (where crews served on the same aircraft for most or all of a tour).

Check 3:14 of this vid:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBCns...ayer_embedded#!

S!

Nice shots, once again.

This is a very informative movie.
Re-arm and refuel in under 8 minutes, eh? That is better than I would have thought.

As for the update, I say that it is just truly extraordinary!
Thank you Oleg for your continued dedication to make the best sim ever conceived.

Have a look at this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v211/silver-2/3.jpg

IMO this is how some of England should be looking, and notice the fact that the tree-trunks are so obscured.

Thanks for the pics Oleg. The quality of your work is simply stunning.:shock:

Something new to me was the way the skin has been torn up around the cannon holes in that hurri - 3D damage effect...amazing.

In my opinion the aircraft skins are perfect - colours, weathering, lustre. The aircraft look so solid and real now. You really feel like you could reach out and touch them. The glass reflections make a big difference too.

I don't know about you guys but I'm going to be quite happy just sitting back and watching these beautiful machines in action. For me it's like history coming alive.

Well done guys, you really deserve an award for this ground breaking masterpiece.

One quick question please: Will the aircrew figures be seen gripping gun handles and yokes etc? I guess the modelling of this would be too difficult but you never know.

You are aware that you've just issued a challenge? ;) How's Roman, BTW. Already grey and shaking, cursing my name every day? :mrgreen:

Great update!
 

Great update as always!
Nice pics and cool effect, the covering "tape" over the MG's.

It would have been cool playing SOW:BOB in 3D^^

They are fantastic but is the spinner on the Hurricane a little too blunt or rounded off at the tip?

Maybe not. There seems to be different ones but here's one that is very close. They range from very pointed to quite rounded.


http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/diaries/images/hurricane.jpg

The lighting engine is just superb! :grin:

I had the same question. Looks like maybe that's smoke from a sizeable fire on the ground? Maybe? If so, nice.

Looking good!

What version of the He 111 is that in those screenshots?

(KG 51 markings on He 111s during the BoB? Eh, not so ;) ).

Already answered ;) Its like the GB squadron codes on the RAF aircraft.

Should be a Heinkel He 111 H-3. The H-3 was the first to have the MG FF in the Bugstand. Though it could also be a H-4, but I would need to see the underside of it to tell. What is actually odd though is the ventral gondola, which only has a gunner station at the rear, which would point to a H-1.

Lets hope Oleg or crew can clear this up.

KG 51 was heavily involved in the BoB.

Only that they didn't operate He111 during BoB.

That depends how you define "BoB". The Germans understanding of that is very different. KG 51 operated He 111 at least early in Summer '40 and at shipping raids in the channel were conducted from mid May on.

Stab = relocated to Paris with Ju 88 by 20.6.40

I. = converted to Ju 88 by 10.5.40

II. = set-up with Ju 88

III. = converted to Ju 88 by 20.6.40

IV. = set-up with Ju 88

Now, with BoB beginning in July 1940, there is no chance to see a He111 of KG 51 during this campaign.

My first thought also was that it doesn't look very English, especially with that roof. I agree that it looks like Foo'bar's modelling style. Foo'bar, is it German?
Maybe it is a French fire station? We haven't seen many (or any?) French buildings yet.

The house is very much German.
But I wouldn't take that very seriously. I think it's just an example to give us a screenshot. Doesn't worry me at all.

Zorin -- I am very knowledgable about the BoB. Just to say this first. ;-)
The BoB beginning in July (10th) is very much a british definition. You will find very different view in Germany. Anti-shipping raids were conducted immediately after and even during the French campaign, and yes, 51 was equipped with He 111 during that time, until almost end june 40.

Some early ones were quite round. I have always liked the Airfix 1/24 scale Hurricane, it has this type of spinner.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y18...jpg?1277515052

http://hsfeatures.com/images/hurricane1sk_11.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...g?t=1277516125

My source on the He 111, Manfred Griehl's book published as part of the Luftwaffe Profile Series by Schiffer, says that initial production H-3s had only one gun in the ventral position and that the later H-3/R-3 added an additional ventral MG 15 or MG 131. So, it could be that what we see in the screenshot is indeed an early production H-3. The question is, when was the R-3 mod authorized?

Oh my poor VGA...

Look at the details of that house.Imagine a city like London with thousands of high-res buildings like that.

There where two type of spinners on the early Hurricane. The original spinner was produced by de Haviland and quite small and pointy. This is the spinner you will see on the IL2 in-game Hurricane Mk.I. Due to shortage, Rotol propellers/spinners originally designed for Spitfires where also used. These where large and blunt and actually a bit to large for the engine housing. The result was oil splashing on the windscreen. An oil-catcher ring was installed on all Hurricanes to counter it.

With the introduction of the Mk.IIb models, a new spinners was made. This new spinner was longer than either the old de Haviland or Rotor, and was made to fit the Hurricane properly. The oil-catcher ring was retained though. If you look at the Hurricane Mk.IIb or c in-game, you will see this new longer spinner and the oil-catcher. We don't have a Rotol spinner Hurricane in L2.

Here's a picture of some Sea Hurricanes. The one closest to the camera has a Rotol spinner, the others have the older pointy de Havilands.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Hurricanes.jpg

Actually I have a Rotol in my Il-2; it depends which version of the game you are playing, if you get my drift ;)

I know, I'm the one who made the default skins for that bunch. I should have picked my words more carefully.

*slaps head* stupid me! :D

I would think engine changes would have some effect on seperating visual deterioration from performance. Would it outstrip other factors (reskinning a badly patched tail. Replacing bent ailerons. New prop. A run through the car wash), who knows? Current solution works for me.

Yes it is a german fire station, built in 1934. MG is trying to take over as much of my buildings for BoB as possible. But since SoW will hopefully face more theatres later nothing will be built for nothing ;)

Great pictures and wonderful to see how SoW is progressing.

One thing that caught my eye particularly is the sea in the Condor shot. Water has come a long way since IL2, looks totally realistic. Great work !

Well, I hope that doesn't mean that we will see German buildings in England. It will look terrible! To English eyes they look completely wrong, and it is immediately noticed.


I thought Jutocsa was working on fire stations - I sent him some images (only from the net) a long time ago.

Really all that is needed for a model is to put a couple of red doors on any building:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2158/...8d747f59b2.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._station_1.jpg

..or for a small one. The one on the right here:

http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z...jpg?1277562621

or

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...uk_-_45813.jpg

Better images:

http://www.google.se/images?hl=sv&cl...ord&tbs=isch:1

or

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/48/11...1f243f481f.jpg


--

I don't think so ;)

Thank you for clearing the subject up about the Hurricane spinner Friendly_flyer and major_ setback

Wow, they even had a fart regulator. Those British thought of everything! :grin:

This is getting better and better. Now, i just hope that by "mid-range PC with an older GPU" luthier means a previous generation quad core with a late series nVidia 8800...this would make my i7 920/Ati 4890 look more than adequate for running it. Or he could mean an i5 with an Ati 4870/nVidia 285 range GPU, in which case the performance difference wouldn't be that huge and i'd have to scale down on some detail, because i'm just engaging in wishful thinking :grin:

In any case, i'm glad to see that a mid-range PC running SoW can reach an acceptable compromise between performance and visual quality. In fact, that's exactly what i used to do back in the day when i couldn't run IL2 at max detail...i would use max detail on aircraft and low on the ground textures.

Message to Olaf and his Crew... I think you are the definition of Genius...
Thank you for all of your hard work!

Sharpness of the ground from more then birds fly altitude will depends of video card memory.

On the PC where these shots are done it isn't enough currently.