Friday 2010-10-15 Dev. update and Discussion

[Insuber]

Originally Posted by Oleg Maddox

I think you don't take in account much more details that are in calculation to get just "a bit better" overal picture.

Lets begin from polygon count.

Compare details of tank in Il-2 and in BoB. This was cost several times increment of using power for each unit.
Now compare cars.
Now compare bridges.
Now compare roads
Now compare ships
Now compare planes. The last one is the most important in the fligth sim and here again like it was in Il-2 we have not compromisses for the ratio how it looks.. modelled functions and its damage model and modelled internals with all the listed above things alltogether...
Instead of some using our old models from Il-2 for their own sims with the little bit increment of polygons and size of textures (and repeating the same things that we did oursevlves with no info for details, some time even known for us wrong details(!) we are going with another goal - we try now to recreate planes outside and inside so close looking to real, that never was done before in any sim (even in add-ons for MS FS). And the masterpice is that its already used as a reference in some sources.... yes some time we are making non principal mistakes, but most are eliminated... or some tiome especiall make "mistakes" due to limits of technology
And we don't use some overdone effects that to represent them as used technology and show full illiteracy in some real laws....
And lets say that from the beginning we will offer more than others... its not just 2 or six planes flyable...
Did you count the amount of already shown ground units with its quality? Ah... maybe you don't like our wheels cars? Ok.... then just imagine Kursk Battle and its common polygon and textures count...
We think already now (or really much earlier) about future battles in a series. We think about common development in future of online gameplay together with thrid party....

Continue counting:

new more complex calcualtion for FM not just for several aircraft in air simultaneously
new way more complex AI not just for several aircraft in air simultaneously
new way more complex AI for the ground units.... for the hundres visible at once. The war continues on the ground... massive war if to compare to any other sim... (however I still can say it about Il-2 as well)
New features of the ground units...
Special AI for the AA defence on the ground...

Ok, I'm tired... there is something more to count.... that maybe isn't going in final release but will be as addition in future.

All these things recall increment by exponent of power that we need to use.... Just think about it.

Il-2 inspired at least 3 other sims... with continues... more or less directly based on our Il-2 source code or learning our source code.... Il-2 created some amount of new teams and even new companies...

Should I say that we are thinking about future, about our experience with Il-2 (superb, good and sometime bad....)

Who remember how was developed Il-2 and its series I think understand what I would say now. Hint: we are not making one season game...






You like Il-2. Thats good. You like the amount of things that is done there by us and third party? Thats also good But please take in acount that all these things were developed after the first original Il-2....

Now will be the first new original sim that will be more open for increment....

This message isn't just for you... Its for all who doesn't see the difference now...

We see the difference, don't worry Mr. Oleg ...

[Sutts]

>>Do you remember the game "Driver"?
>>They had a (quite small one) London map too.
>>And they also wanted to get it right.

>>They spent 1year and $1.000.000(or was it £?) just to get pictures for the >>textures of the houses along the road.

>>I jjust mention this so people understand the dimension of such a task.

I don't remember that one Swiss, I'll have to look it up. I agree it is a huge undertaking, even if the technology is capable of rendering such a large number of buildings.

I hope the city boundaries aren't shrunk since I like historical accuracy. I think I'd rather live with texture suburbs than an inaccurate map.

[rollnloop]

Dear Oleg, thanks very much for this update, i appreciate especially the insight on AI dialogues. I would appreciate a lot to have the ability to read subtitles on the lower part of the screen instead of the upper part, in order to still be able to see the world outside. The possibility to have these displayed white on a darkened back (a la EAW, FS) would be much appreciated too.

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/1146/land2.jpg

There are four things obvious to me in this screenshot:

1/I see pink/purple fields that look strange to my eyes. Maybe there are parts of england where they can be seen, but i hope it won't be the full landscape colored like this.

2/Edgerows are not there, there are highway wide roads instead, this does not look right either. If we can't have 3D trees on the edges, at least have green textures there, no grey highways.

3/Reflection on the cockpit (and other places) looks overbright and artificial, makes the whole aircraft look like a model kit with a big flashlight pointing it from a few feets behind the photographer. Is it HDR ?


4/Generally there seems to be many details on the ground, tweaking the bad won't as long or difficult as building the good of the whole scenery has been.

IL2 is my favorite simulator, and BoB will most certainly be too, but let's not repeat the colors problem from the former to the latter, for flight's sake. And please, please provide inside the game a gamma/brightness/color saturation setting, and the ability to turn HDR off.

Looking forward to seeing your next update, have fun with your son this week-end !

[Skoshi Tiger]

Hmmm! Being Red-Green colour blind I don't know if I'm qualified to comment on this, but I cant see any real pinks and purples. Maybe they've got a touch of Patterson's Curse in their fields?

[Oleg Maddox]

Originally Posted by rollnloop

1. Reflection on the cockpit (and other places) looks overbright and artificial, makes the whole aircraft look like a model kit with a big flashlight pointing it from a few feets behind the photographer. Is it HDR ?


2. And please, please provide inside the game a gamma/brightness/color saturation setting, and the ability to turn HDR off.

1. Agree. This should read our programmer that all the times disagree with me and say me that all doing by this way then we must too.... For this statement I always try to explain that we are not like all... we should be better...
Don't worry. It will be tuned.

2... I hate called HDR compression.... But we must have it...
Tuned with HDR and then when you switch off the picture changes too much in colors. So probably toi switch this OFF is not the good idea. But maybe it will be saved in final.

[d165w3ll]

Originally Posted by rollnloop

I see pink/purple fields that look strange to my eyes. Maybe there are parts of england where they can be seen, but i hope it won't be the full landscape colored like this.

Hedgerows are not there, there are highway wide roads instead, this does not look right either. If we can't have 3D trees on the edges, at least have green textures there, no grey highways.

Indeed, lavender is a crop in some parts of England (particularly Norfolk), though it is something of a niche crop. Not sure how widespread it was in the 1940s. Given the pressure for food crops, I imagine its appeal at the time would have been more limited.
http://www.norfolk-lavender.co.uk/pa...der-fields.php
Flax is another colourful crop.
http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-ima...ax-fields.html
Flax used to be more common in England than it is now.
So, while the bluish/purplish cast of some fields may appear odd, it is perfectly defensible.

The hedgerows, however, are a cucial part of England's landscape, particularly in the south (in the north dry-stone walls are more the rule (http://halfpie.net/article/152/dry-stone-walls)

Post-WW2 farming developments have resulted in the widespread 'grubbing-out' (destruction) of hedgerows, so what you see on GoogleEarth no longer represents the density of what you would have seen in the 1940s.

Being a relatively flat landscape, you don't often get the distant views in south-eastern England that you do in the mountains. One that struck me when I was about four is Farthing Corner just north of Hythe, in Kent. Here's am image I took this July (over forty years later). The role of hedgerows is unmistakeable. All over this part of Kent, the trees on both sides of the road meet overhead creating 'green tunnels' of surpassing beauty.