Friday 2011-01-21 Dev. update and Discussion

[Sturm_Williger]

Originally Posted by ElAurens

I think we have yet to see anything close to the release candidate ground textures.

Call me a fanboy optimist if you want to, but I firmly believe that we are going to be stunned by the visuals in Cliffs of Dover.

And the mechanics of the sim will be even better.

Couldn't agree more, Oleg has always pushed the bar, always.

[Mad G]

Originally Posted by The Kraken

It's the low sun that reduces the terrain brightness/colour saturation, and the terrain relief is more visible that way. We've seen similar shots before:

This is very good!

[ChrisDNT]

Why are all the screenshots not of the same quality of the one published by the Kraken ?

The fear of getting too many customers ?

[HenFre]

I think this is the best movie from IL-2 Sturmovik: CoD that I have seen so far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EvpTp12IcM

Watch the movie in HD and look at how the Cliffs of Dover rise up and how great the overall terrain looks..


Edit: Spelling

[Triggaaar]

Originally Posted by ChrisDNT

Why are all the screenshots not of the same quality of the one published by the Kraken ?

We haven't been receiving screenshots from a marketing machince, we've been getting them from Oleg. While part of the reason he's been giving us update threads may be to help build interest in the sim, I think he also likes sharing the development with a community that he has an affinity with. Add to that the fact his main role is not releasing screenshots (he's plenty busy with everything else) and you see he's been showing work in progress, often at low detail settings. I think he's also stated that he deliberately wanted to keep some surprises back, and that might include the desire to hold back some eye candy.

If a Friday update doesn't show much new, it's easy to complain we haven't seen anything interesting that week - imagine if we get the game on release day and everyone feels they've seen nothing new, that they've already seen it all in update threads. It would be anti climax.

Instead Oleg has managed to show us some interesting developments (eg tracer smoke, mission builder etc) without spoiling the big event when we finally get the game.

Lastly, Oleg hasn't needed to show those on this forum how nice the game will look. We all know it will be nice, and we'll all buy it anyway. It's the rest of the market that need to see how good it is, and they really should be trying to put some finally quality clips together for them.

[AdMan]

Originally Posted by Tree_UK

Adman, what game is that 2nd shot taken from, it looks gorgeous?

it's just called Gloster Gladiator, many of the games graphics leaves a whole lot to be desired but you can tell they dedicated most of their time on the terrain and the sky although it is likely a satellite image



still, I think satellite texture gives that look you simply cant achieve by placing objects. Maybe a combination of both techniques can be developed at some point.

the new engine does have tremendous lighting, maybe it will be the games strongest feature next to the planes themselves, and lighting can work wonders, it really is the key to realism. I'm sure at high res with full lighting and a good altitude/angle you will still be able to get some fantastic looking screenshots that come close to tricking the eye

However It seems it will continue to be one of the weaker aspects of the il-2 brand, not due to lack of trying. The moving grass is a great innovation, the attention to laying out towns very similar to how they were at the time, and the detail of the objects themselves are all great but laying them out by hand to make a realistic terrain is just too daunting of a task. Too hard to replicate the organized chaos that is nature and human civilization

[ElAurens]

Satellite imagery is a major failure in a WW2 combat flight sim for a couple of reasons.

1. There are no satellite images from the WW2 period. Any photos from space are just plain wrong in details.

2. Satellite image ground textures only look good from a distance. If you are taking off or landing, or involved in low level work of any kind the obvious pitfalls of this approach are all too obvious.

[Coen020]

Originally Posted by HenFre

I think this is the best movie from IL-2 Sturmovik: CoD that I have seen so far:

Watch the movie in HD and look at how the Cliffs of Dover rise up and how great the overall terrain looks..


Edit: Spelling

Dude have you even seen this trailer?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z469H...layer_embedded

Near the ending you can see the great ground textures here much better.
also watch this in 720p

[rfa]

Originally Posted by HenFre

I think this is the best movie from IL-2 Sturmovik: CoD that I have seen so far:

Watch the movie in HD and look at how the Cliffs of Dover rise up and how great the overall terrain looks..


Edit: Spelling

Nice!

...and a WX coded Hurricane? A big "Woot" for historical markings! ...in this case No. 302 (Polish) Squadron.

[Lensman_1]

Originally Posted by HenFre

I think this is the best movie from IL-2 Sturmovik: CoD that I have seen so far:

Watch the movie in HD and look at how the Cliffs of Dover rise up and how great the overall terrain looks..

Good as it is I can't help noticing an obscene amount of video stuttering and the eventual total lockup of the PC. It's running VERY roughly on that machine. Also the inputs to the stick seem to have far less effect on the aircraft than I would expect.

Having said that: what impressed me most was the shadows in and around the cockpit. Note the port wing with the shadow of the Hurricane's canopy on it and the dynamic shadows in the canopy glass and the console. Sweet!