Friday 2009-11-20 Screenshots Update discussion thread

[Kurfürst]

Just one quickie :

It would be nice if some reflections, sun shining on the plexiglass would be present. The shadows on the instruments are nice, but the plexiglass somehow lacks life-likeness... its like in Il-2 completely transparent.

If possible, some distortion of objects where the glass curves would be nice... it would make the feeling of the aircrafts motion far more believable!

Third, the weathering/aging of the cockpit instruments and the cockpit in general is nice, but it would be great if not only the external view would show such an effect, but also the the cockpit instruments... all the screenshots I've seen show only greatly used cockpits, where the paint is chipped etc.. in reality, many of these planes were practically brand new, fresh from the factory, and lifespan at the frontline for aircraft was only a couple of dozen hours.. they simply did not have time to age so much. So greatly weathered cocpits looks a bit unrealistic, and it would be possibly better if the instruments would weather only gradually to brand new to used one... I take this is simply solved by gradually overlaying brand new/used textures?

[philip.ed]

Originally Posted by Kurfürst

Just one quickie :

It would be nice if some reflections, sun shining on the plexiglass would be present. The shadows on the instruments are nice, but the plexiglass somehow lacks life-likeness... its like in Il-2 completely transparent.

If possible, some distortion of objects where the glass curves would be nice... it would make the feeling of the aircrafts motion far more believable!

Third, the weathering/aging of the cockpit instruments and the cockpit in general is nice, but it would be great if not only the external view would show such an effect, but also the the cockpit instruments... all the screenshots I've seen show only greatly used cockpits, where the paint is chipped etc.. in reality, many of these planes were practically brand new, fresh from the factory, and lifespan at the frontline for aircraft was only a couple of dozen hours.. they simply did not have time to age so much. So greatly weathered cocpits looks a bit unrealistic, and it would be possibly better if the instruments would weather only gradually to brand new to used one... I take this is simply solved by gradually overlaying brand new/used textures?

To an extent I agree, but I think the modelling of the canopies already looks good from these pics IMHO. If you look at the internal shots, you can see the tinted reflection from the gunsight. Now that is a nice feature!

[nearmiss]

Been watching the WW2HD on History channel.

One thing that has always been an issue. Everything is too pretty and pristine in the IL2 and SOW pictures. When I view the old war films there are no pretty or pristine battlefileds.

Progressive destruction, if possible would make a difference. By progressive, I mean a timeline of destruction. Not mission only, but if battle destroys a town it stays destroyed throughout timeline of campaign.

Airbases, roads and railways could be repaired within the campaign and in some cases they should be repaired during the mission.

The US Navy seabees built and maintained airbases very quickly. They had bulldozers and equipment to fill bomb holes within hours on airbases. They also used the mesh strips and replaced sections very quickly.

All armies on all battlefields, I'm sure scrambled like crazy to make airbases servicable first and roads second. Especially, when they had aircraft in flight that would soon return.

Roads and railways were critical for ground traffic movement so they were also repaired within days. Buildings were not reconstructed, they were left as is until after the war.

I don't know what it would take for creating such a progressive destruction package, but progressively destroyed towns and other infrastructure are a big part of the viewing experience. War machinery that was destroyed should also remain, except on runways, road and railways. Damaged war machinery was just pushed to the side or in heaps at airbases, roadways and railways. The war carried on.

We do have burned out sections in IL2 in town areas, which works well enough for the towns. The burned out sections do have to be reconstructed with each mission over the same towns.

Anyway, not trying to solve the issue with what I think should be done. Just trying to explain what I meant by progressive destruction.

[T}{OR]

Love the bomb 'cradle' on the last shot.

[AdMan]

Originally Posted by Kurfürst

Third, the weathering/aging of the cockpit instruments and the cockpit in general is nice, but it would be great if not only the external view would show such an effect, but also the the cockpit instruments... all the screenshots I've seen show only greatly used cockpits, where the paint is chipped etc.. in reality, many of these planes were practically brand new, fresh from the factory, and lifespan at the frontline for aircraft was only a couple of dozen hours.. they simply did not have time to age so much. So greatly weathered cocpits looks a bit unrealistic, and it would be possibly better if the instruments would weather only gradually to brand new to used one... I take this is simply solved by gradually overlaying brand new/used textures?

this I can agree with, to only have cockpits that look like they've already survived a war and none that look fresh from the factory would be a little disappointing

[mark@1C]

Originally Posted by nearmiss

Been watching the WW2HD on History channel.

One thing that has always been an issue. Everything is too pretty and pristine in the IL2 and SOW pictures. When I view the old war films there are no pretty

This is part of my view about Realistic Soil and Dirty enviroment,especially The Ground.
To say it again and further more.
Some of my first impressions of the ground scenery,an EA SIMS 3 city, an Enhanced LEGO city,and so on.
BOSS,I noticed that you have done the work excessively focusing on every Single object.When we put them alone,it looks great.But when we put them together,something wrong.
It seems that Things are simply added into a scenery,just like a theatre stage scenery.But Things should be mixed,to build a Living Enviroment,not simply a stage scenery.
Maybe,modeling single object is your first step,and modulating whole enviroment is the next step.

[Sprain]

Yes yes, the graphics are astounding. But what about the gameplay? We don't need another Rise Of Flight destined to be forgotten.

"The gameplay's the thing"

[Chivas]

Originally Posted by Sprain

Yes yes, the graphics are astounding. But what about the gameplay? We don't need another Rise Of Flight destined to be forgotten.

"The gameplay's the thing"

I wouldn't write-off ROF just yet. ROF was released as a work in progress, and will be improved as time goes on. We will be very lucky if SOW isn't released without a lot of features delayed. I can see both these sims having very long lives with constant updates over the next 10-15 years.

[AdMan]

I think peple are panicking way too much. Everything that I've seen that is even close to complete looks amazing, especially going back and looking at all the screens and vids then combining them is quite impressive.

as far as reflections on the gauges, they can bee seen in this vid, and this isn't even in the engine yet. So I'd imagine they will reflect well when hit by direct sunlight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJHz3TnehmY

[sport02]

the look of the forest is very good but generally with forest we only see the crown or the top of the trees , the look is more like cauliflower for exemple , and we have complete trees with all branchs only on one face in the edge of the forest