What the clouds should look like in CoD. Video of clouds at altitude with Fighters
 

When it was announced 'many years ago' and I spoke with Oleg there was talk of most of the Graphics being place-holders. The Atmospheric effects were heavily mentioned, all of it being accurately generated, clouds would be huge, there was the possibility of flying through cloud layers.

Watch this video and imagine flying in that environment with your WW2 aircraft.

Watch especially as 22 seconds as the aircraft plunges through a cloud layer and comes out the other side......that is what I want! I want to believe I am in the air. I want an environment effect that says...you are in the clouds! Check out 50-seconds and look at that cloud layer as the aircraft skims over it! Another example of what the sky needs to be like. Not fluffy cotton balls!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYUUwlyAHf0

This is an amazing video showing what clouds look like.

We all know what clouds look like. They are an integral part of the sky we fly in. They were used to evade and surprise the enemy. They need to be effective and not fluffy balls of cotton.

Can we please see something that shows us environmental effects? Rain, Snow, Cumulus, Cumuli Nimbus......just something rather than 'place holder' again!

Weather was a constant problem in England....it rains....a lot! I live here. Today is Grey, yesterday was Grey.....but above the clouds....it is Sunny. Show us something that says....CoD has Weather!

I just want to believe that so many years in development has created the 'New' IL2 and not an expansion pack!

I am not asking anyone to be on my side, I just wish to share my Opinion and back it up with video that shows what clouds look like at altitude when they exist!

Cheers, MP

Just in case you didnt know MP, the video is from :

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421974/

Thanks. Currently tracking it down. Awesome footage

These are more like real cloud, no flat billboards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnRyK_qwG40

But would make dx10 minimum requirement.

Well, Les Chevaliers du Ciel is a crap movie (Luc Besson production), but the visuals are pretty nice.

About the clouds, I haven't yet seen a game with good clouds yet. But the best skybox with nice volumetric lights are in Red Dead Redemption (best sky GodRays around).

Have you guys ever seen the "Real Enviroment Xtreme" for FSX?

I think it is wonderfull and the fact that it gets updated by real data
on fixed intervals makes me love it even more!

http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/i...-54-18-269.jpg


more Screenshots here

http://www.flightsimworld.com/forums...owtopic=175883

FSX clouds just flat billboards, no volume, no lighting, no shade.

Mystic,

Lovely video! I hope that someday I'll be able to fly in a sim that can look that good. Hopefully that sim will be IL2-COD.

If not at release then hopefully the sim will be successful enough to see it develop up to that stage. I'm willing to put up with the place holders until it has time to mature. (I honestly doubt my current PC could handle it at present)


Cheers and thanks for sharing!

I like the way they look as well, but as others have said these are only 2D photos of real clouds without volume.

In short, they are perfect for a civilian sim but not good for a combat sim where we need 3D clouds, since they have a tactical use as well. For example, how can the game know when i'm inside the cloud if the cloud is 2D and how does it relay that information to the other guy flying against me online? With a 2D cloud i might think i'm inside the cloud and safe, but the other guy can see me just fine, etc. That's why 3D clouds are preferred in combat sims.



Which kind of FSX clouds? ;)
The default FSX clouds ARE indeed volumetric ones. The clouds on Gaga's post are not default FSX clouds, they are from a 3rd party add-on and they aren't volumetric.

FSX default clouds bundles of billboards, not true volumetric.