Friday 2010-08-06 Dev. update and Discussions

[easytarget3]

Originally Posted by Robert

What are you comparing it to? The only Flight Sims that have been released in that time are Black Shark, and Rise of Flight. (correct me if I'm wrong) If you're considering First Person Shooters, then you don't understand the complexity of flight sims verses FPS.... or any other genre for that matter.


There's only so many CPU cycles to go around. Some not quite perfect looking trees that won't get too much of a notice in the heat of battle GLADLY take a back seat to my airplane's FMs and enemy AI.


I fly RoF, and while I'm very pleased with the terrain and cityscapes the buildings have a tendency to look like paper cut outs. The trees rotate as you fly around them.

IOW. No game will master every detail. For 2010, I think this looks great. Perfect? No. But it's called a WIP for a reason.


I'd like to be a fanboi extrordinaire, but I find I'm only a fanboi fair to middling.

agree 100%

[Flanker35M]

S!

Cockpit of that He-111 and Blenheim look very nice. Thanks for the update and have a nice weekend.

[Avimimus]

Guys even the lower LoD trees have trunks - they just happen to be realistically thin trunks. There is something of an issue with the tree textures though (I guess this will be like in RoF - stunning graphics except for the trees which look like cut-outs due to having to turn down the settings?)

Originally Posted by dali

if anyone of you is going to notice the exact height of the trees during the flight or even fight, I buy him a pint.

It is actually very hard to assess the height of a tree from the ground. Talk to any forester and get them to show you their tools.

I (and most other people) used to be under the rather silly impression that tanks were larger than fighter aircraft. I say - go outside and compare the heights of building to the heights of trees - if your in the desert or on the plains your trees will be short - if your in a wet environment your trees will be four times higher than in a relatively dry one.

I live in a mesic (ie. not dry, but not wet) environment and one tree species (under ideal conditions) can reach 70 metres!

[Derzasi]

Hi Luthier,
some people are complaining about the trees,
well I think their are ok, just the shadows of the trees seems to be of a solid object, some rays of light usually passes thru the leaves and the spots on the ground make the shadows less dark...
Just my 2 cents....
Derzasi

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by Feuerfalke

Interesting. How do you present "drooling-stuff" without using graphics?

I think he means videos showing off the technical aspects of the simulator. Things like operation of the aircraft, AI command system and the like.

For example, a video where a flight of blenheims is skimming the deck on the way to a low level run against a luftwaffe airfield in occupied France. The gunners call bogies (ie, unidentified contacts), but the player doesn't want to give away his position just yet. The command menu pops up: entire flight->gunners->hold your fire. The enemy interceptors fail to spot the low flying bombers.
A few miles down the road, another flight pops into view and the AI gunners again call bogies. As the contacts move closer the AI gunner screams on the intercom "bandits 6 o'clock high, closing fast", so he's identified them as enemy. Depending on crew experience or a randomized script, he might even identidy the type.

The player keeps on, until the AI gunner cuts in again "bandits on attack run,permission to open fire?". The player pops up the command menu again and selects entire flight->gunners->fire at will. He could order aimed fire, so that gunners only fire when they are sure they'll score hits, but that lets the enemy get closer as well, or he could even order barrage fire, so that the gunners try to deter the enemy from getting closer by spraying up a wall of fire.
On top of that, you could have short/medium/long range fire orders of each of the above modes, or you could instruct each gunner, from the entire formation down to vics, finger fours, elements and individual aircraft to do a different thing. So, there would be 3 different fire modes that could be combined with 3 range modes and a global hold/open fire toggle order. You could have the gunners throw barrage fire at close range, or aimed fire at medium range and you would be able to set you preference in advance and control when they start doing it all by issuing open/hold fire commands.

Personally, i would be drooling quite a bit if i saw something like this

[maclean525]

Everything I see in these screen shots requires no extra work in my opinion and is more than ready for version 1.0. The terrain especially is very rich looking and I would be more than happy if my retail version of SOW had the terrain looking like that. It goes without saying that the cockpits in SOW are just absolutely incredible.

Nice work guys, and anxiously awaiting the release!

Originally Posted by LukeFF

Tree-whining, this week's flavor of criticism.

If you didn't say it I would have.

Thanks for the great shots and careful explanations Luthier. Despite the criticisms SoW will be studied and copied by future sim developers IMAO.

[Avimimus]

I guess Luthier will have to remove the trees for next week (just like the effects for this week)

[choctaw111]

Everything is looking better and better.
Thanks for showing us these.

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

Originally Posted by Avimimus

I guess Luthier will have to remove the trees for next week (just like the effects for this week)

Criticism needs to become more constructive and I'll let an old Taoist parable explain why:

In the state of Ch'u, a housebreaker became a soldier under the General Tzu-fa, a man known for utilizing the abilities of others to a remarkable degree.

A short while later, Ch'u was attacked by the army of the state of Ch'i. Tzu-fa's men went out to counter the attack, but were driven back three times. The Ch'u strategists exhausted their minds while the enemy forces grew stronger.

At that point, the housebreaker stepped forward and asked for a chance to work for the defense of Ch'u. The General granted his request.

That night, the housebreaker sneaked into the Ch'i camp, entered the general's tent, and removed the curtains from the bed. Tzu-fa sent these back the next morning by special envoy, with a note which explained that they had been found by some men who were out gathering firewood.

The following evening, the housebreaker removed the Ch'i general's pillow. The next morning, it was returned with a message like the first.

On the third night, the housebreaker removed the general's jade hairpin. It was returned the next morning.

That day, the Ch'i general called his officers together. "One more night," he warned them, "and it will be my head!" The troops were ordered to break camp and return home.

So next week, no tree, after that, no more Friday Updates!