Friday 2010-12-31 Happy Hew Year Dev. update and Discussion

[1.JaVA_Sjonnie]

Originally Posted by kristorf

I don't think its whining, just commenting on something that could so easily be overlooked.
Just look at the RAF roundels in IL2 (I know its an old game etc.), I would hate something so basic to ruin the appearance of some beautiful aircraft

OK point taken, it's not whining on your part. My remark is more about the fact that Oleg has pointed out previously that even the colors in the screenies are WiP so my thought was that maybe some of the remarks here about colour were by people who have overlooked that. As you said, things can sometimes be easily overlooked.

My guess is that the end product will show correct colours. How could Oleg not be striving for that?

[philip.ed]

WIP, understandable, but it's odd that a colour (which looked great before) has now changed. Consequently, one would be under the impression the team had thought it inadequate, so in this case posting that it looked wrong is perfectly understandable just my two pence. I think it's a lovely update, and it's great to see that the team is putting so much into details like this.
What I'd love to know is if we can, for the RAF, select the size of the letters and the different roundel-placements for the skins. I have yet to see an update showing the large lettering which 32 and 610 squadron used.

[jocko417]

Originally Posted by philip.ed

What I'd love to know is if we can, for the RAF, select the size of the letters and the different roundel-placements for the skins. I have yet to see an update showing the large lettering which 32 and 610 squadron used.

Good point, I'm hoping that the markings placement isn't as rigid as IL-2's was, Aces did some great work with his MAT program but there were still limitations.

I'd like to see a markings option of "code letters only" for user made skins with the roundels already painted on. I've noticed that the markings are not completely opaque so you do see a bit of the panel lines showing through. This is nice, as IL-2's markings always looked like big stickers applied over top rather than actually painted onto the aircraft skin. This is not a dig, IL-2's markings were ground breaking in 2001, this is just ten years of perspective talking. If they placed the sim-generated markings under the panel lines/rivets and weathering layers that would probably be most realistic.

As for more choice, the first year of the war was a very confusing time for RAF markings and finishes since the 'official standard' changed often, and it took time for maintenance units and squadrons to catch up. There were many different styles of nationality markings wrt size, colour combinations, and placement. Also, there were as many as 8 different under surface finishes, from the black and white special ID markings to the many non-standard colours substituted for "Sky". The airplanes didn't really start to look uniform until the battle was over. What you see in the screenies is what would have been standard, reality varied quite a bit at individual squadron level during the battle.

Seeing as how we are getting serials for each airplane as part of the markings, I'd like to see the RAF practice of 'A' and 'B' camo schemes (basically mirror images of one another) used according to odd and even numbered serials. Odd serials wore the A camo style, even the B.

If BoB gives us all this I'll be very impressed.

Well, this NERD hat I'm wearing is getting a bit heavy so I guess I'll take it off. Sigh of relief from all readers.

[MD_Titus]

tbf the markings in 4.10 are a vast improvement, look a tonne better since.

[glue]

Originally Posted by jocko417

Good point, I'm hoping that the markings placement isn't as rigid as IL-2's was, Aces did some great work with his MAT program but there were still limitations.

I'd like to see a markings option of "code letters only" for user made skins with the roundels already painted on. I've noticed that the markings are not completely opaque so you do see a bit of the panel lines showing through. This is nice, as IL-2's markings always looked like big stickers applied over top rather than actually painted onto the aircraft skin. This is not a dig, IL-2's markings were ground breaking in 2001, this is just ten years of perspective talking. If they placed the sim-generated markings under the panel lines/rivets and weathering layers that would probably be most realistic.

As for more choice, the first year of the war was a very confusing time for RAF markings and finishes since the 'official standard' changed often, and it took time for maintenance units and squadrons to catch up. There were many different styles of nationality markings wrt size, colour combinations, and placement. Also, there were as many as 8 different under surface finishes, from the black and white special ID markings to the many non-standard colours substituted for "Sky". The airplanes didn't really start to look uniform until the battle was over. What you see in the screenies is what would have been standard, reality varied quite a bit at individual squadron level during the battle.

Seeing as how we are getting serials for each airplane as part of the markings, I'd like to see the RAF practice of 'A' and 'B' camo schemes (basically mirror images of one another) used according to odd and even numbered serials. Odd serials wore the A camo style, even the B.

If BoB gives us all this I'll be very impressed.

Well, this NERD hat I'm wearing is getting a bit heavy so I guess I'll take it off. Sigh of relief from all readers.

It looks as if it's just an overlay texture, which is superseded by the bump map of the plane's rivets and details, which will give it depth.