Friday 2010-11-12 Dev. update and Discussion
 

Dear friends,

As promised, here's the Igromir 2010 demonstration video with all Russian texts translated into English.

Please note that the video was made with some decreased plane texture settings, lower light scatter rendering and reflections. Many visual and sound effects are from last month's deprecated beta.

We had to decrease some setting in order to get a consistent frame rate for video capture. However we now have a new method of converting video directly from an in-game track, so this problem is also solved and we can use maxed out settings for recording smooth high-definition video.

So I'll also give you an example of a direct render from game into your preferred codec. Some effects are especially slightly enlarged for only this short presentation so you can see them better in comparison to reality:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye_VY1aV3Zg

Igromir 2010 video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z469HXN0hlQ

Direct links to download:
http://www.1cfiles.com/IL2_CliffsofD...leLighting.avi
http://www.1cfiles.com/IL2_CliffsofD...nical_Demo.mp4


Attention:
I'll try - but I can't definitively promise - to release additional short videos in future updates. We will be interspersing videos and screenshots in the future as well since videos take a lot of job time to produce.

Night shot:

Thanks!

We have a title:
IL-2 Sturmovik Cliffs of Dover

..Gasping....

Many thanks, those cliffs and the landscape look spot on

nice Moon :)

nice to see it in better quality

do i hear on 2:15 german voices?

Thank you very much! Can't wait till your ready to release it!

That stuka video was made with decreased plane texture settings, lower light scatter rendering and reflections?! Wow! I mean, really, WOW! Excellent work, Oleg & team. That looks beautiful!

My ohhh my

Read carefully, the IGROMIR video was recorder with reduced settings.
The stuka video is here to show how it should look ...

Excellent as always Oleg, can't wait? 2011 mkay? :)

Nice I look forward to the moment where I can purchase and install it, as well as the new computer I will get for this :).

Kudos
Hunger

This is looking sooo good Oleg. Thanks for posting.

Just one small but important point ... I don't think the cliff tops had trees on or near them in 1940. Today, the cliff tops just have plain green meadows, with no vegetation.

The frame rates were lovely and smooth and the detail over the built up areas was amazing. Everything's looking just superb.

PPanPan

:grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::grin::g rin:

a-w-e-s-o-m-e!

Thanks a bunch. :cool:

To remove is more easy than to insert :).
we will check with the map of diferent vegetbles and trees.

Sorry! My excitement got the better of me and I posted before watching the second vid.:p I see now and was coming back to edit my post. Yes, I can't really imagine it being better than how it looks in the stuka one. Excellent!

OUCH!!!! my jaw hit the floor.

Looks utterly amazing.

Kudos to you and your team Oleg & thanks for taking the time to post.

Everybody: for Stuka video go to youtube and watch it there in HD , and full screen.....it's worth it !

Thanks Oleg for another fantastic update! It looks amazing ! (and at one moment I saw some haze hanging in the river valley, I love that hehe :D )

Amazing! Respect for this work, man!:cool: Thumbs up.

Thanks Oleg, glad it's easier to remove than add!! ;)

Also, please check the beaches below the cliff. I don't think there are any trees/vegetation there too - just plain white shingle (stones).

I hope the show went well last week.

PPanPan

Nice videos, effects on stuka are lovely, and terrain too, when we will see come fina effect for fire and smokes???

Oleg i really like your job, this new game will be the best sim ever produced

All we need now is a release date and official website.

This game still feels like it's a long time to release...

But I still love you Oleg !

It looks just fantastic. Is "Cliffs Of Dover" the new title?

No words to describe the beauty of this sim,
simply amazing work, I can't believe my eyes from what I've just seen...
Holy moly! Thx guys, can't wait to buy me some copies of this one ;)

THX Mr. Oleg.

For the level bombing we will have references to know the position of objectives in relation to sea level? So to set up properly the bombsight and be accurate?

THX

Wow, I love the way the city is already built, it does not grow when you fly to it. I thought that I saw some trees growing, but I'm not sure, it could be the light. Really great looking. Thanks

Stunning! "From the creators of award winning IL-2 Sturmovik." The box needs this on the cover at the very least. Watching the videos took me back to the old CFS2 days when a Russian team offered stunning cockpit addons for the game.

That train sequence! Foo'bar because of you I'm going to become a train watcher :)

Edit: watching a second time it sunk in how powerful that "Cliffs of Dover" title is. It's subtle but effective and in the long run the title will be defined by the quality of the sim. Not to over analyze but "Cliffs of Dover" just feels right somehow. Maybe the "Battle of Britain" title has seen too much use already.

For me watching the Hienkel gunner actally manning the gun instead of being a human figure with the gun moving on its own as in the old IL2 is proof that this is the "Mother of all flight sims." Like the low flying Tigermoth, a possible internal dig at Microsofts new sim???
Well worth the wait no matter what the name.
I was happy when i watched the Cliffs of Dover trailer, the Stuka one is just, just the best I have ever seen.
The river reflect light in the distance, the fact that details, objects and lighting effects are visible from such great distances is perfection. :):):)

I'm not sure if this has been asked or if it's common knowledge yet but could anyone tell me what resolution the aircraft skins are going to be? I think skinning for this new sim is going to be something special! :)

Lovely video! The atmosphere is stunning!

I love the good old il2 FW190 engine sound used as a place holder. ;)

Something tells me that even with this amount of details of London, it will be easier to get good frames in SoW than over Berlin in Il2. ;) The technical evolution is magnificient!

BR
Simon

I was just think how much that sequence looked like the Microsoft video, and then the Tigermoth got shot down :) :cool: ;)

Mr Maddox,

This is my first post although I have followed IL2 developments since 2001. I have been heavily dissappointed everytime something else came out, i.e. MSCFS3, etc.

No matter how old the IL2 engine is, nothing frome any other source has been able to compete remotely for many reasons, primarily the dedication of you and your team.

The updates for SOW (or whatever it will be called) show that you are the Michalaengelo of the development world and no amount of marketing by others can change that.

Salute.

2048x2048 :)

Quality control the IC way.
 

Once again we see what type of quality control Mr. Maddox wants and produces. Thank you IC team as well for your production talents. My only complaint is that this Fridays update only makes us want more. The description of this weeks update I had to read twice. I want Oleg back lol. (superb as well)

Thanks again Oleg!

holy smoke... thanx a BUNCH!!!
looks amazing and if this is beta I can only imagine the end product!

well done sirs (all of u in that cramped office) :D

Amazing ! :grin:

The mobile phone videos we saw previously let us know we were in for a treat, but it looks even better than I expected. :cool:

Not at all sure about "Cliffs of Dover" though. :(

Mind blowing.... :cool:

2048x2048.

But, it's complicated.

We have split up the paintscheme, the actual colors, from the rest of the texture - the rivets, the panel lines, the weathering, etc. The user texture is just the colors, i.e. your experience as a texturer is like simply coming up to the finished plane with some paint and a paintbrush, not actually re-riveting it or moving panels around.

So the user texture can actually be a smaller resolution, 512, even 64x64 and still look all right-ish since the riveting and the weathering on top of it are 2048x2048.

I couldn't have put that better mister... well said indeed :eek:

Thanks for the info, luthier. That sounds like a clever way to do it. Previously, re-riveting was always a job in itself.

Can the weathering layer be altered slightly to get varations on the skins or must those be added to the scheme layer?

Fantastic stuff Oleg :) Any chance of coming to Duxford for Flying Legends 2011? It would sell by the truckload.

This is beginning to look seriously good ! :grin:

Btw as much I dislisked the static screenshots of the terrain, as much I'm beginning to like the terrain in motion (special mention to the sea, looking really real) !

Cities are top too !!!

I don't know yet what we'll give the user access to. I don't see the need to alter the weathering per se, and the disadvantages probably outweigh the benefits.

We just got really tired of seeing the offensive or the really, really ugly user skins on Il-2 servers. And if we open up the riveting and the weathering and all the rest, then we doom the rest of the community to the same.

Point taken.

I know what you mean. There are great skinners and not so great skinners.

It is very nice to see that ecology is being taken into account.

Ideally, placement tools should allow transitional areas between different vegetation types.

It would also be very nice to have a tool which took into account the slope of the ground and whether it is concave or convex (important for matching plants to drainage ponds vs. exposed hill tops).

In any case - it is more than brilliant, as usual.

Does it means that it is going to be more bandwich friendly, and we can play online easily with custom skins?
I hope the cuestion is understandable, sorry for my poor English.

S!

Nice videos. That Bf109E cockpit and Bf110C just stole the show :D

Yes that's precisely the idea.

Something simple like "green plane with red wings" can really be 64x64 with almost no difference visually from a 2048x2048. You really only need higher resolutions for smaller details like fine mottling or something like that.

Even with that, I'm hard pressed to imagine any paintscheme that really needs 2048x2048, if you delete the rivets and all the other details. Most paintschemes don't have anything near the detail the size of a rivet.

Give 'em time, Ilya. I'm sure someone will find a use ... :-P

That tech demo has me grinning like a little boy. :cool:

Oleg,

The second vid is amazing. You have done it! Photo-realistic! I must go no and clean up the drool that is all over my keyboard. Please, please try to make the release happen as soon as possible. I applaud all the hard work of you and your team. This new sim, whatever it’s called, is light years beyond anything that has been done or will be done.
:!::!::!::!::!:

Excellent idea. Now every noob can create skins much easier, even me :-P !

Real Pro's should then be able contact MG if they have an improvement on the rivetting&Co so that improved patterns can introduced (in forthcoming free patches :rolleyes: ).

Hey MicroSoft, this biplane video is from an actual piece of software that will be released in the near future...so take THAT! lol.

If Oleg and team did not mean for the video to be a little dig at "Flight", then.....it was still great :).

The lighting effects on the Stuka are unbelievable. The white cliffs of Dover are going to make me feel like I am there when playing this sim. Just WOW!

Splitter

Wow that video was breathtaking! Looks great Oleg and team!

So nice to see a video that isn't from a cell phone :)

The plane sounds that did sound new (internal) and the gun noises sounded much improved over IL2. Very exciting!

Flying over water, the cliffs, and over cities looks so real and immersive, I can't wait!

Want, want now is all I have to say :)

What is this click sound coming in igromir vid at 2:56 and 2:59?

He's out of ammo I think. There isn't anymore bullets to feed threw and I think that's the click of the firing mechanism.

You must be joking ! :confused: It's a FLIGHTSIM !!!

Oleg, I'm running out of superlatives... :grin:
... that's really ...
well photo-realistic...

what else to say :)

You promised it, you did it!!!

MANY THANKS to you Oleg, Luthier AND the rest of your team!!!!!
I'm a happy guy :):):):)
cheers,
Schallmoser

Fantastic!

+1

I just can't wait to hold this Sim in my hands... :!: :grin:

Oleg,
wow of course. Amazing and very exciting.
Luthier, thanks for the description. Those of us who wanted a little bit different colour but couldnt dream of handling making a nice skin really appreciate it.

Decision at Dover would be a better name.

Dear Oleg, you have reached perfection.
Thank you for EVERYTHING.

uuhm, I have to say that IMHO Decision at Dover screams turnbased strategy to me for some reason:), but then again thats my opinion..
I like Cliffs of Dover as it is THE place I think of when I hear things like
Spitfire, Hurricane and ofcourse Battle of Britain which happens to be the subject of this first release..

Absolutely love the look of this sim in motion, and I can't wait to get my hands on it:)


ps. If it would not be to much to ask, when the Tiger Moth hit the water I noticed that there was no big ripple effect on the water, so the question is simply if that is because it has not been implemented yet, or because of the graphical settings?

That looks very nice. As has been said before, and today, please check the existance of trees at the bottom of the cliffs. It looks really strange.

I can not wait. But then I have no choice, so I will :)

Everything looks fantastic. . . but I was wondering about the flames.

When looking at the flames with the aircraft in front of in them, there is a bright white outline of the plane structure. Is this from lower settings being used or something that still has to be ironed out. To me it looks like someone photoshopping the aircraft in front of the flames without blending it properly, or is it the reflection from the flames on the edge of the aircraft surfaces?

Everything else looks amazing, just wondering about that one issue.

I still remember the story of a bush pilot who was suffering vertigo - he figured out which way was up by looking at the orientation of a Caribou. The Caribou was above him. Patterns of vegetation can add variety - they can also be useful for navigation.

We model rivets with such detail - why not model the world they exist in? If we just wanted to model flight we would have the calculations with neither planes nor landscapes...

It isn't that hard to build a tool for altitude, latitude, concave vs. convex rules (compared to the other stuff Oleg is doing). Of course, it isn't a priority. I'm just impressed enough by what Oleg is already doing to let my imagination run wild.

Everything just looks stunning.:cool:

Can't wait to get my hands on the stick again.

everything looks great but i hope they update the soundengine and the camera systems...i cant stand to see these strict attached cameras anymore. pls add a random wiggle and loose momentum to it

Amazing work Oleg and team. The lighting effects are incredibly real and compare well to real period photos. Here's a few piccies for comparison. Love the ripples in the skin BTW.:grin:

Can some of our resident Lufwaffe experts enlighten me on the use of flat paints on german aircraft of this period please? I know many Allied aircraft of the time featured VERY flat non-specular paint that was specially designed using angular pigment particles to scatter light and prevent skin sheen/reflections. Just look at the belly of a wartime Lancaster as an example.
This paint would only develop a sheen in areas that had been rubbed or had oil/grease contamination.

I'm hoping our Spitfires and Hurricanes have a nice drab non-reflective finish much like my wartime jeep. Anything more glossy will start to look like a modern day warbird with low maintenance satin or gloss paint. Any chance you could confirm this please Oleg?

I'm not familiar with German finishes but the shots below clearly show quite a reflective surface on the Stuka which is replicated beautifully in SoW. Did all German aircraft have a satin finish like this?

Completely off the mark
 

:confused:

Isn't that exactly what Oleg is doing, modelling the world the planes exist in? Just because Oleg doesen't model every flower and bush that exist in England and put them in their right spot doesn't mean he just as well should skip modelling airplanes, horizon, landscape etc. Your reasoning is completely void of logic.

Wow, that really is a good way to allow individual paint schemes while decreasing dramatically the mass of files to be spreaded by server. Bravo!

I would buy this game JUST to see the effects!!

I am to the point I do not care if I cannot play it! LMAO

Wow ! thanks for the video Mr Oleg. My favourite bit has to be inside the Bf 109e cockpit as well as the others. Its so accurate, I love how you can see the top of the canopy framework , really looked like the camera was inside the cockpit.
Cant wait to see the on my pc.

Can I just say that you're team has done an astounding job with this. Visually, this looks absolutely groundbreaking IMHO for an early demo-and that really is great to say.
The terrain looks beautiful too, any preconceived doubts that I had have gone out of the window seeing this.
I'd love to see a smog around London and the majoy industrial cities...would this be possible? Not just for visuals, but it would make bombing missions for the luftwaffe (and also the RAF on the other side of the channel) all the more interesting.
Seriously, this looks great. If one were to be picky, it's just the effects and the clouds that might need more tweaking, but considering this is just an early demo-clip I have little doubt that perfection in these areas can be reached ;)

Excellent work. I hope that, for you, you feel your efforts have been worthwhile. I can't stress enough how pleased I am seeing this, and I know others who are even more astounded than me.

Thankyou team. I'll point out that I'd have waited another 5 years for a game that looks this good. I have no doubt the gameplay will echo this.

Just..WOW!

Dear Mr. Oleg and Team

If you can,PLEASE make us an great Christmas Gift, and release this greatfull Big Simulator Game in this New Great Dimension.
These are the only words which I would say to you and to your great Team.
It`s only and only.... AMAZING





WWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
LLLLLLLOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEE
YYYYOOOOUUUUUU AANNDD YOUR TEAM.




Have a nice Weekend, and thanks for this Update about this Great Simulator



MfG


Towarisch

As the development progresses Oleg, would it be possible to see some kind of random delay between an engine getting hit and a fire developing and spreading with different intensities of smoke too perhaps?

This would really add to immersion for me. While it is nice for kill confirmation, I'm hoping we won't always see immediate black smoke and fire every time you hit an engine in the same place.

This is just a minor niggle. I'm seriously impressed with what you've shown us recently. Hope the show was a great success.

Amazing stuff Oleg! This is what we dreamt of... I have to admit I had my fears a year ago or so when the first landscape shots arrived that the graphics engine was a bit dated due to many years of development - but how nice it is to be proven wrong!

And by the way - don't let mr Miyagi have the Stukas for training his apprentices any more ;)

EDIT: I have now looked at that last part 20 times with a big grin where the Spitfire pilot opens the canopy over the town... Will probably hit 100 later tonight ;)

Cool. Confirmation of at least the second beta stage. Moving right along. ;)

...



Thanks Oleg and Luthier for these amazing videos.



Some questions about the benefit of coloring/riveting/weathering of the future BoB skin.

1. Will the static planes available in the future BoB Full Mission Builder (FMB) be "skin-able" ?


This is the point.

Now that the internal structures of some of the player/AI aircraft will become available, like on this screenshot.

http://users.teledisnet.be/web/mfe39146/Panels3.jpg

http://users.teledisnet.be/web/mfe39146/Panels5.jpg




2. Will it be possible to represent some partialy or fully boned static aircraft ?

This nice opportunity will add some atmosphere/immersion to an airfield scene if aircraft worked in maintenance or damaged due to combat became visible as on the pictures below.


http://users.teledisnet.be/web/mfe39146/Panels4.jpg


http://users.teledisnet.be/web/mfe39146/Panels.jpg


http://users.teledisnet.be/web/mfe39146/Panels2.jpg

...

I'm going out trying to get my hands on a CH joystick...

Well, rather my point was that the level of detail on airplanes is also well beyond what is necessary for a basic simulation (64x64 textures would work fine etc.)

I agree that it probably isn't very important for England. But, some countries do have very complicated terrains (eg. extensive marshlands, or major changes in elevation) which can have very different types of plants at different elevations etc.

It may not matter now - but it could become extremely useful for modelling some parts of the world.

P.S My argument in the post you refered to is excessive precisely because it applies logic - it is devoid of common sense though.

+1
What I should have said.

excellent vids, absolutely first rate.
very good point actually. travelling over flat areas that vary between dry and marshland would, without proper vegetation, be indistinguishable. however, one can be landed on, t'other ditched in.

Questions for Oleg
 

Hi Oleg,

thanks for the latest update.

Can I throw a couple of questions at you (they missed out on the last Friday update)?

Will SoW use Tesselation?

Will there be adjustable turbulence at various altitudes? What we get in IL-2 seems to be quite coarse/rough. I'd like to see more use of turbulence but I think the mission builders leave it out because it is too coarse/crude especially for upper layers.

On the Tracer question, there were 'flame' type tracers which IceFire showed so well in his post last Friday. There were also the spiral (vortex?) smoke types but the third type the RAF used did not 'trace' the trajectory but gave a visible 'splash' on impact to confirm correct aim. It was called "DeWilde" ammunition and was very popular with the pilots. Will we have that?

Will the undercarriage modelling be better in SoW? Even when I pull of a 'greaser' in an IL-2 Spitfire there is a good chance it will still bounce around like a drunken turkey. The Oleo compression doesn't seem to be modelled too well (sorry). I asked a friend about this who travelled a lot in a 2 seat Spitfire (and flew it en-route) and he said that it might bounce in the direction of flight on landing but it wouldn't usually 'wobble' very badly laterally. It isn't only the Spit though.

Hope you can help

Oh btw, no, there aren't trees on the Dover Cliffs beaches and the cliffs have a more serrated vertical look to them than the soft undulating surface you show - but I really don't care as long as it gets released soon :)

I just can't belibe the atention to detail visible in this video.:o Some sequences look like taken from a real world video.:o
Looks like things are moving at a much faster pace now. Whenever you guys think is ready is fine by me. I'll be ready with money in hand.

I see one of the next addons will be "Battle for Moskow". I have one question. Are you going to model planes involved with the fighting around Moskow only, or will introduce more planes used on the Eastern Front?

What I'd really love to see modeled at this new standards is the IAR-80/81 family. Any chance to see this planes in the Battle for Moskow addon, or at some point in the near future?

Thank you.:grin:

Oleg wrote:Will this feature be available in user versions, so BoB filmmakers have more resources at their disposal?

té mais
tityus

I think the cliffs of dover a good example of change in elevation, we also saw a low- res photo from an online map with mountains, the tops didn't have any trees and the lower parts did. So if I have understood you well enough everything can be modelled.
And sow is not a basic simulation, it's a highly detailed flight simulation.

Fantastic update, it looks absolutely great! The amount of houses and details really amazes me.

Has anyone noticed the gorgeous sea mist along the cliffs in the Tiger Moth sequence?

Then the misted valley/estuary behind the 109?

This bodes well for the inclusion of smog effects over cities.

I'm sure they'll iron out the bug associated with white outlines when on fire. It may even be a low res youtube issue. Anyone?

If this is 'early display version with limited features', we're in for some good immersive stuff.

Superb.

Well,I'm glad that the trolls stopped to say that SOW is the same thing that IL2 ,finally.
Possibly with fear to be too ridiculous at this point.

Wonderful clips. I really like what was shown. The Tiger Moth in the early morning haze was really showing off the lighting well. The wing outside the Spit's cockpit looked beautifully textured and detailed.

Observations:
1:10/1:11 - Splash in the sea. One would have expected an expanding ring (texture) that would have disolved in 3-4 seconds.
2:43/2:44 - A halo around the aircraft, when smoke envelopes the plane
3:17 - Cockpit in the mirror has some flashing happening. Shadow or canopy.

If that's all I can "complain" about, it's great and beautiful. Ready for 'Gold', as it would not stop anyone buying it. :)

Excellent, thank you Oleg.

NVIDIA stock is up 5% today, even though all the indices are down. ;)

I noticed it, but you have certainly touched on something here :D I hadn't thought of this myself. Excellent suggestion I must say. The only thing to consider is how this smog looks. Is it just like a fog? or is it heavier and blends with the clouds?
When I went to Cairo 2 years ago, there was a heavy smog there. It looks like a fog, but it's weird as it only falls around the city; so when I stood near the pyramids looking onto Cairo, the city was covered, but the smog quickly dissipated into nothing. As I said, it bears resemblance to a fog, but is a lot dirtier. I'm not sure how it would look from an aerial persepctive.

Well, something like this I'd imagine (a quick google-images search)
http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=en...=&oq=&gs_rfai=