Quote:
Originally Posted by proton45
Is that the only way?
I wonder if their might be a way to digitally model each of the engine sounds more accurately? I don't hate the idea of synthesized engine sounds...I just think that they could have spent some more time modeling the various characteristics of each engine.
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It's not the only way of course (in case you didn't notice from my posting habbits, i happen to like options even if i don't use them, someone else might and that's good for the community
).
That is another can of worms though, since to get really accurate synthesized sounds would either need:
a) A dedicated engine sound module that does CPU crunching physics work on the background in real-time according to what's going on in the game. This is obviously the ideal solution, but i doubt we have the hardware to run it on top of everything else that's inside CoD.
People said that on the current, un-patched Russian version the complex engine management has a noticeable effect on the performance of the game. Add up to 300 individually damageable components per aircraft, some of which with inter-dependencies to simulate sequential failures, and it's getting up to a lot of processing load.
I've actually seen something like this on a youtube vid, the player scores hits on a spitfire, the spit starts emitting smoke and the left side exhaust stacks emit orange flames (ie, the left cylinders only are running rough with too much fuel in the mixture). After a few seconds the Spit starts streaming another couple of smoke trails, catches on fire and goes into the Channel.
This is obviously going to tax our PCs a lot. On the other hand, i do believe that this is the optimal solution in the long run. Maybe it's something to keep in mind for the future.
b) Doing the same thing as above but only for engine sounds and not in real-time. In such a case, this would entail coding that sound engine as a dedicated stand-alone platform and using it as a sample creation suite.
This would not be completely dynamic, but it would allow the developers to record accurate engine sounds that would be up to the job in most regards and integrate them into the game by replacing the previous sound-set.
Essentially, it's like making a dynamic engine for the engine sounds but using only the output sound files over a range of predetermined conditions. It's a good compromise overall but once again, it's specialized work that would take quite some time to develop.
However, keep reading if you want, because there are other ways too that will enable the users themselves to take the matter in their own hands
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fafnir_6
It seems to me that there are two camps here. One group is happy with the stock in-game sounds of IL-2 while the other desires and pushes for the modded sounds from the likes of Jafa and Tiger33 (this has been true since the beginning of Il-2 modding). I belong to the latter group but I can respect the viewpoint of the stock purists. It is becoming increasingly obvious to me that you cannot easily reconcile these two camps. In light of this, I say that the Cliffs of Dover devs allow for modded sounds to be selected by the user (thanks Azimech for the idea). Include the the stock sounds as default for the purists but have a switch in the sound setup that will make the game look to an alternate(user-defined?) sound sample folder. Standardize the file structure of this alternate location to make sound modding easy and let the users decide how their game sounds. Sound files will not compromise the integrity of the game as far as gameplay is concerned. I believe now that this is the only way to make everyone happy and that by doing this, the sounds issue that began with IL-2 in 2001 will disappear forever. I hope this approach is taken by both the Cliffs of Dover devs and by DT for the original IL-2.
Cheers,
Fafnir_6
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This is the best of both worlds. I too fly IL2 with mods and i would like a way to change what's activated from within the game instead of running separate versions.
I think the only think we need to do is wait. They will be releasing an SDK for Cliffs of Dover a few months down the line and everyone will be able to create new content. This is part of the "open to mods" strategy they adopted and their effort to create a 3rd party industry around their engine.
The way i see it, the optimal way to handle this would be to have a mods folder within the main installation folder, where each mod is placed in it's own sub-folder.
Then, mods could be made server-enforceable just like difficulty settings by using a very simple and streamlined software logic. Having an on/off switch for every single mod (ie, the way it is for realism options) would be a very time consuming task to do and compile updated lists for.
Instead, it could work like this: all mods off unless mod_name=(any of the server's compiled list of accepted mods).
This means that i could just install whatever i want in that mods folder and still fly on all servers with one installation/version.
This could also help loads in managing scripts if the scripting tools (confirmed in the manual but not yet released because the documentation is not ready yet) end up getting used a lot by the community: you could have scripts that would be giving too much of an unfair advantage in multi-player but be fine for single player, scripts for arcade-type gameplay (like all-seeing radar) and scripts for full-real gameplay.
Imagine for example being able to code a separate command menu to manage your AI crew in bombers (just like the TAB radio menu we have, but for AI inside our own aircraft). You might be able to instruct your gunners on how to fire (fire at close/long/medium range, fire for effect or only take aimed shots, etc), have your navigator give you steering instructions and ETA based on current speed for user selectable waypoints on the fly, or calculate endurance and range based on your current power settings and fuel on board, have your crewmen call out contacts, etc.
Overall, i believe things are looking good, we just need to wait for the SDK release and its documentation.