Friday 2010-07-16 Dev. update and Discussions about the update ONLY!

[fireflyerz]

Yes

[whatnot]

The best set of screens I've seen so far and the first ones with some AA finally which make them look extra gorgeous! Fantastic work and these combined with luthier's teasers made the wait even tougher than before! Gimme gimme gimme!

Some comments:

1) Fire is quite ok to my eyes and it must be frustrating to see dumbass beavis & butthead comments like 'xyz sucks' after the devs go through the trouble providing these luxury updates. Comparing the flames to photographs the biggest difference I see is that the 'white highlight' (or whatever it's called in the heart of the flame is too large and bright white.

2) My gut feeling is that every single WW2 aviation nerd looming around these forums will crap their pants and run to the store to get minimum three copies of BOB SOW when it's released even if it would costs 300€ / piece and has a DRM that kills 30 DVD drives an hour and requires 1Gb connection and latency < 1ms. LOL @ the 'I won't get it unless it has x copy protection. No one will buy that bluff, not here atleast

3) If the ground would look as good as the skies it would be too much to handle for us waiting for the release. Interested to see what kind of wonders the finetuning will do the terrain.

[Immermann]

I don't think there's any AA on these screen shots. It's just the blue-greys of the sea that sometimes gives the same effect on the edges of the planes.

[imaca]

Originally Posted by Immermann

I don't think there's any AA on these screen shots. It's just the blue-greys of the sea that sometimes gives the same effect on the edges of the planes.

Yes there is.
If you right click - open in new window - you get the full res. Zoom in on the shots and it is obvious to see.

[Immermann]

No there isn't.

[philip.ed]

The birds in that video look really good. I'd love to see something like that in SoW.

[tagTaken2]

I'd just like to see SoW.

Seriously, aren't a lot of us losing sight of the bigger picture? A next gen combat flight simulator with realistic flight models, modd/expandability and a good campaign?

I have to assume some of the requests, such as falling leaves and different bird types, are taking the piss. If you want to pay for fripperies such as these in an addon, fine. But if details like this are causing release delays, I wouldn't want to be an investor in 1C.

[Splitter]

Originally Posted by philip.ed

The birds in that video look really good. I'd love to see something like that in SoW.

With birds and the mocking deer (seriously, they look at you and smile) in X-Plane, there is a bit of a performance hit. And they are a little too common as I took three bird strikes in 10 flights which is statistically REALLY bad luck lol.

I wouldn't want the performance hit that comes with tracking bird's positions and then the graphical representation of flapping wings. I guess it would be cool to be able to switch birds on though.

Also, as good as X-Plane's flight model is, it isn't perfect. Better than any combat sim I have played for sure, but not perfect. Graphics for X-Plane 9 would be TERRIBLY disappointing to what the folks are expecting with SoW. Lakes with sharp corners, no real ground detail, randomized buildings in cities, etc.. Of course, X-Plane covers the whole world (and Mars lol) while SoW will have MUCH smaller maps.

Having said all of that, the only thing that X-Plane is really missing is combat. The flight model is so good that I could live with the graphics if they incorporated a good combat sim. The good news with all of that for companies like 1C is that the owner of X-Plane has no interest, apparently, in producing a combat sim.

So if you want a really good flight sim with a tremendous flight model, check out X-Plane. If you want a really good combat sim...like I do...well, here we are waiting anxiously for SoW. While I enjoy and have learned a lot from flight sims, there is nothing like a good air combat sim .

I guess my prejudice toward gameplay, damage models, and flight models over graphics comes from my interest in flight sims.

Maybe Laminar and 1C should merge just to make me happy? lol

Splitter

[caprera]

Originally Posted by whatnot

dumbass beavis & butthead comments like 'xyz sucks' after the devs go through the trouble providing these luxury updates

I prefer to call it a "direct critique" and i explained also why i said that.

Surely more helpful than noob pointless cheering for every screenshot shown that even can't recognize AA or HDR like you....so please spare me.

Originally Posted by caprera

I prefer to call it a "direct critique" and i explained also why i said that.

Surely more helpful than noob pointless cheering for every screenshot shown that even can't recognize AA or HDR like you....so please spare me.

I totally agree with caprera. It's more helpful to give critique instead of always telling it's awesome.
Because in the end when the product is out it's you guys that recognize it's actually not that good/ realistic.
If you tell the developers that everything is perfect, why should the they change anything or go on improving?