Non-Friday 2010-05-24 Dev. update and Discussion Thread
 

Hi,

last two week we were too busy. So there was missed two Friday updates (however I never promised myself to post them each Friday :))
I plan to take very short vacation in end of the week, so would like to post Non-Friday update. Hope you'll like it.

The backlighting of the clouds in #4 is fantastic.

Stuff like that really makes for a 'big sky' effect.

Awesome pics, Thanks Oleg.

Especially the attention to detail you can see in the closeup shot of the Bf-109.

If there had been some AA applied to the shot, you could almost believe it was a photo, not a in-game screenshot.

:)

Additional shot
 

First shot with ground - grass was switched off. I escpecially selected inclined surface that to show buildings - they are placed correct, not like many Il-2 buildings in the past "hanging in air" in the same situation.

Second and third shots - there are "wireless" pillars. Don't worry.. really they are with wires. Simply not everywhere yet.

And later will be more details on such real time rendering pictures... maybe even as graphics option. Because all these fences, bushes, etc, that making picture more real, eating too much in a fligth sim, when we are rendering a lot of them on the really great size surfaces and with much greater vsisble distances, comparing to other genres of the games.

number 4 does look way real :grin:

Really we are going to get photographic quality in air in most details and from the birds flight altitude looking on the ground. But final quality of the ground from that point of view will be shown more later. Should be solved some glitches with new advanced features.

oleg have you shot anyone down yet? :grin:

№4 photo is amazing, Oleg!

Also , it is first time we see flame trail from aircraft (on #2 image).

Could You show flaim trail, explosions next time please? :) Tracers images will be appreciated too.

wow nice screenshots!!!!

Hi Oleg!

Thanks for the update! ;)

Two questions:
1) HDR was disabled, right?
I think that HDR would give us a fantastic quality picture (like one of the 110's screenshot posted long ago)

2) The flames from the bomber are really really wip, right? :|

Awesome Oleg.

Thanks for this unexpected but awesome update! And for the red MG-T!
Edit: I just noticed the ring for the mooring rope under the wing tips of the 109!

right...now thats a update!! just fantastic.

1. Enabled. The lights effects you saw on 110th shot is due other direction of the sun rays. And it isn't HDR but other technology.
2. Yes, it isn't final. Smoke is close to final, flame - under construction-tunings we should get it looking always good undepending of movement speed.

Very nice pictures !! I assume they are in-game screenshots, aren't they?
Are they still DirectX9 or have you already switched to DX10 or 11?

A question for lovers of vintage British cars.....

Is it a Morris, or an Austin, or something else?

to put the finishing touches to the first srceen I can' t imagine without a moving pilote , also :

may be animate pilote with trackir or hat , or others features ?

thanks

Stunning stuff, Oleg!

Many thanks.

[1st post here! :) ]

...

Oleg, It looks familiar to me ! :):)



http://users.teledisnet.be/web/mfe39...nvertible3.jpg





MG TA

http://www.mgcars.org.uk/pics/blakeney49tc.jpg
...

:shock::shock::shock: Wonderful!!! I wanna fly it now, I can't wait!!!

Thanks for update 8-):D8-)

just a quick question...the pilots...they look a bit relaxed(sitting back and comfy in the seat)...will they change how they look from just flying along to fighting?

ie...seat lowered and leaning foward looking more like in combat?

Deja vu all over again.

...



;) :):):)

...

Amazing in-flight screenshots but may I add some nitpicking, please?
The rear aerodynamical cone on the antenna wire of the Emil in in the wrong direction!...
;-)

Nice work, guys!

although something doesn't look quite right with the pilots... can't quite put my finger on it...

Spitfire pilots don't lower their seat. By the Battle of Brittain, most frontline Spitfires had been fitted with the two step rudder pedals. In combat they moved their feet onto the upper step which raised their legs about 6 inches.

Cheers!

but you get my point? they look a bit too relaxed?

all AI are relaxed and confident, they are in their natural environment :grin:

After I'm done shooting down a half dozen or so Huns, I'd love to take one of those MG's for a spin. Perhaps down to the local pub to hoist a pint or two.

All kidding aside, I love what you've done with the place. SOW is really starting to look like a cohesive world, rather than a collection of bits and pieces.

Well done, and thank you.

Yes. I suspect that if was ever in combat I would be absolutly crapping myself from the time they pulled me clawing at the door frames of my billet to the time I dove from the cockpit and kissed the ground! ;)

Cheers!

Hi Oleg and temaworks guys!!

Simply great work again :grin:

Thx for show us BF - 109!! :-P (it seems a bit clean ! )

Can you say us the Pc´´s features for run the game like planes shots? (no grass :grin:)

A lot of us are waiting for it for buy a new PC or buy some new parts.

I know only now : minimum 4 GB Ram :grin:

Thx Oleg and enjoy your vacation !!

Beautiful shots, can't wait to see some with anti-aliasing.

Is this the same car model Douglas Bader drove?

Very very nice, best update by far. :grin::grin:

Thank you, dynamic shadowing looks great! Can't wait to see it in moving.

Nice shots!! Finaly we get to see a bit of in game "atmosphere!" :)

S!

Nice shots. The Bf109E looks damn cool and menacing. Lighting looks nice as well. Seems DM is also WIP on that 2nd picture with Sissyfire missing engine cowling and having bullet holes in places that would make a pilot worried ;) Now if there would be a wallpaper of that Bf109E :D

Bring it on!!!

Something that jumped out at me, scale, that spit looks big, not like previous sims where ground objects always seemed too big and aircraft too small, no idea if it's right but :D

Amazing but needs better default skins.

Very nice screenshots, bf109 does looks good! After seeing MG TA i wonder if germans will have their BMW 328 roadsters etc.? :)

Hi Oleg.
What about game conference ?

Hi Oleg,

If this will be the in-game detail and the framerate will not be a slide-show, I'm amazed. Bravo.

Insuber

Game conference was nice.
One of the photos from there:

http://maddoxart.net/index.php?optio...atid=10&id=301 The photo is for boys over 18 age! ;)

Brilliant update!
Maybe you should always do them on a Monday :grin:
That said, Abbeville-Boy asks a rather interesting question, so have you shot anyone (human) down yet in SOW? ;)

Just planes and some cars. No human or AI animals was killed by me.

Thank God she has a innie....thanks for nice update!

Great update Oleg, some of those effects look amazing.

Regarding smoke, from looking at guncam footage, I don't think I've ever seen smoke look as thick as that shown in screenshot #3. Is this still very much WIP? As that smoke, whilst looking brilliant, seems too thick: a bit like the smoke in WoP. ;)

Those clouds look amazing in number-4 as well, but in the other pictures they look quite blurred, in comparsion to say this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...0px-Clouds.JPG

Wow! Thanks for the update! Things are starting to look better and better!

Fantastic...the game is looking better & better!

Nice work Oleg, and whole Maddox Games.

Got the cash put aside already. Will you sign the covers if we take the train to Moscow? ;)

Thank you Oleg, great ground details.

Incredible update- I love the Spit doing the flyby! The world that you guys are creating already looks substantially more 'real' than most other games. Can't wait to see the finished product.

I'll echo Phillip- the clouds are amazing, but they're still not quite right, are they? I've taken hundreds of pictures, and some video, of various cloud formations while flying. At altitudes from the surface to 40,000+. I'm sure you have an extensive library of such shots, but if you need anything, I'd be happy to send some along.

Fisrst of all we don't plan to model the mother-earth all weather effects. It is simply impossible even if to make just one total simulator of clouds with all of millions types....
We will have just several. And with them we model airflows near, under over, etc...

As for the smoke. The thing you have seen isn't final, but close to it. Anyway we don't plan to repeat the things that are done wrong.
Also we don't plan holywood in that item.

that makes perfect sense, besides the clouds already look great, and I like the smoke

Thanks for that Oleg. Regarding clouds, clearly you are on-to something regarding the particle effects, but I think that they are looking too much like Il-2 in normal light effects. For instance, I think that you have the potential to create something really awesome here, so I hope that they are still quite WIP. Because the earlier video of SoW (the version based on the Il-2 engine) showed some clouds which IMO looked better like these (in normal light that is).

:-P

My first post here although I've been looking in the window for a long time...

Great pics!

Please tell me that there will also be great aircraft engine sounds...PLEASE!
I will pay extra just for that.

Fantastic pictures!
Are screenshots 4 and 5 taken at the same flyby, only some milliseconds apart? The sky looks so different with those angles. It is truly amazing. I will be flying around for weeks, just looking!

Skarphol

about flyby , in Bob I would like to have the possibility to change parameters yourself in game , for exemple :
- change the altitude of the movie camera . ( under , over the plane or at the same altitude )
- movie camera leave its position for the next only when you want .

I see absolutely nothing to complain about. The ground shots look incredible. The possibility of fences and hedgerows will really take this one step further than pure flight sim.

The clouds may look somewhat flat in the second frame, but we've seen other examples showing really great clouds, so it just has to do with light and angle. The color of the sky in the fifth shot is also great, and the aircraft look photographic, not overdone in color and weathering. :)

It looks nearly done, (maybe just a few months more? :grin: ) but how is the progress on the "invisible features"? (AI, FM, etc). What will be the final map area?

We have more than was shown in that old video.
Simply the work of artists should be added. Not now. Currently low priоrity in therms of the full project complexity.

Will be.

Yes, I understand. That's what I found odd because these clouds didn't seem up to the standards I was expecting. Having said that, the particle physics of them astounded me in the 4th picture; maybe you have to be in the air to appreciate it better? ;) Because the spitfire in the clouds video looked amazing :D

It's great to see it all coming together. I hope the clouds will see significant improvements concerning their visual representation though.

Thank you very much Oleg and team :)

I personally loved picture #5 which for me is the most photo-realistic I have seen so far.. It reminded me off the same feeling that I got when I saw the first pictures of Il-2..

Keep up the good work :grin:

Many thanks be for that, Oleg! Hurray!

One of the biggest immersion and reality killers for me are poor engine sounds.
I don't want to fly a fighter that sounds like a Cessna or my neighbour's lawnmower!

On these screens and some shown before bf 109 looks too artificial compared to other planes I've seen. I guess it hasn't got a proper 'weathering layer' yet?

And I really hope for animated pilots/gunners in cockpits.
There's an in-game video, the one where spitfire is attacking a do 17, where you can see bomber crew - which is being shoot at - sitting still, like they're made of wood.
It reduces the overall effect a bit IMHO.

Apart from that - I'm amazed.

Thanks for the update. It shows some things that members have been asking for: large screenshots. Air-to-air action. Smoke. Flames. Some damage...

You and your team seem to have got the lighting just right, especially on the aircraft. Also the blue sky is the perfect colour.

Keep up the good work!!

Ah heck, Oleg, you're quite right about the futility of modelling the sky! I guess I've gotten so used to you folks pulling off the incredible that I never imagined that it would be too big a project.

Still, if anyone could do it, it would probably be you guys...;-)

I'll be very interested to see the finished product.

The lighting effects in these shots are just gorgeous! All these shots are photo-like.

Nice cockpit :evil:

Can we be confident in a release this year?
Do you think a recommended system spec is close to release?

Very nice Oleg, damage modelling looks superb in the pics. Im very curious about the elements of the gameplay, whether there will be similar game types in MP as IL2 had.
I will let the Queen know you are well.
Have a nice vacation. :)

Oleg,

thx for the update !

the new screenshots look great, looks like it is all coming together :)

that 109 in close up looks absolutely stunning, incredible detail. it also has a solid look to it that makes it look very "real". the long wait for this type of quality in sim aircraft has made it all very worth while, the end product is fantastic, magnifico !! dont let the "rivet counters" on this board delay you with issues about minor technical details that can be altered later in a patch when more clear info is available (eg for an antennae position, or an instrument on the panel)

amazing you were even able to make the wire wheels for the english sports car, it looks great !

couple of quick questions:

1) will we still have cars/trucks/planes making "tracks" in the grass on airfields and fields when they drive over it, like you showed in an early screenshot 1 or 2 yrs ago ?
and will those tracks in the grass gradually disappear, for ex gone in 24 hrs time ?

2) will we be able to fly some "non combat" missions with some of the aircraft that affect overall gameplay ? in particular using VFR navigation to get to specific targets, such as:
a) photo reconnaissance over enemy territory, and then make the result photo's available in the mission briefing rooms for all other pilots to see ? some old il2 fans would really enjoy the challenge of an unarmed but high risk flights like that over enemy territory as an alternative to dogfighting. if their efforts are then productive and helping the side they are flying for online, and get recognition for the benefit created from their mission, some people will really enjoy just that aspect of the "sim world" in BoB
b) fly supply missions to heavely damaged airfields to help them rebuild faster then "default rate" for repairs (many airbases in the south of england were under constant attack for some months, and the ballance between out-of-action and operational was very fine, which could have been a deciding factor in the BoB outcome had goering not switched his attacks to london),
- or also to provide supplies for ground troops by flying into forward airbases near the front (those forward airbases were constantly being created near forward moving troop lines to keep getting supplies to them in the european theater as the frontline moved forward/backwards).
- one perfect example for this was Stalingrad and the airbridge that the germans tried to keep open, the rate of supply planes arriving directly affected the ability to fight on the ground, and russian combat aircraft were constantly hunting for those supply aircraft in the sky. it would be great if in BoB we can fly some type of missions like that already, but flying the cargo aircraft's side !
c) fly to rescue downed pilots, either from the sea (by landing near them on the water in a float plane), or by landing near them in a field where they have just landed by parachute

those types of missions were an important part of real life aviation in ww2 and so are part of an "aviation combat sim" environment . in my opinion it would take very little effort/time to implement, since all elements are already in the sim. a little "lateral thinking" in mission creation for BoB, and making sure some minor elelments are coded into the game from the start, can attract a whole new element of customers, people that are between air-quake and ms-flightsim types in temperament, and they would enjoy many hrs of flightsim to fly just such missions. it would give the sim an added realism that does not exist anywhere else (maybe an idea for Luthier to look at ?). many of those missions were also dangerous because there are plenty of enemy and friendly combat aircraft flying in the same sectors, and you could/can get bounced anytime.

please consider :)

~S~

I would like to thank the whole team for what they have done. VERY excited about the release, (when you get to it), thank you for the update pics.... Fantastic... Now go to save the money for a new machine to take full advantage. The time you take now to get all of the bugs oout will be well worth the wait. :P

Hello Oleg, hope you get a chance to reply to this before the break!

Just wondering if you could give the movie-makers and screen art makers any details of Camera/track recording and video options that may be up-coming in SoW?

Cheers, MP

I absolutely agree - this type of cloud lighting really takes immersion to the next level. Will it be possible to show sunbeam effects too? Now that would be amazing, but I suspect too difficult to achieve? Here's what I mean ...


Keep up the great work and thanks for this great update.

PPanPan

in a recent update thread here somebody commented on possibly seeing that effect in one of oleg's recent screenshots, so it might be present

hopefully oleg himself will comment to confirm/deny :)

Thanks Zapatista, I hadn't seen that thread. As you say, hopefully the Great O will confirm, not deny!

PPanPan

I had the impression that we have seen some kind of sun beam in this screenshot

however, it has not been confirmed they actually were...
I hope as well that this feature will be included!!!! :grin:

cheers
Schallmoser

BTW, congrats Oleg and team for your great work!!!

oups you guys are too quick for me...;)
sorry for double info.

cheers
Schallmoser

The sunbeams are quite a common feature in FPS games these days.

wow! glad I'm over 18! She can go "postal" on me any time! :D BTW, when I pressed the translate button, the page opened up with a few more selections. Guess which one interested me more! :D
Congrats on the progress. The smoke above the Spit looks great. The ground shots are looking great too. How much detail are you turning down to get smooth frame rates now days? (I think you've probably coded SoW for a PC of 2025 spec-ulation)!

enjoy your vacation. try not to think of work! ;)
Flyby out

Thanks, Oleg, for another wonderful update.
These screenshots are amazing.

Hi Oleg,

thanks for the update. Hope we can take off this year. Sure the most asked question ist that one for the release date.

So i don´t ask for the date, but is 2010 reasonable?

Thanks

Domian

And in SoW apparently. If I recall one of the first development updates showing in engine shots (of the "pterodactyl" island) had them...

Go look, find, be merry ;)

Is it just me, or do the Spitfire look awfully dark compared to the 109?

The ground shots look great! Some hedgerows, and it will start to look like "Foils War"!

Like the photo-recon idea. Would be really good if something like this could be done.

Not sure if air-resupply was that big an issue in the Battle of Britain. Most replenishing of fuel, ammo, supplies would come through the road network. The big (and important !) exception would be supply of replacement aircraft which were ferried from the factories to the RAF bases by ATA (civilian) pilots many of whom were women. Believe the planes were unarmed, and that the pilots' skills were not always that highly regarded by regular RAF airmen!

Take your point though about having these kinds of factors built into the campaign engine - useful in Stalingrad-type scenarios.

Bones thrown high and low! Lovely!

The ground shots have really become good now - just as promised when we saw those first lime green shots that made quite a few here shaky...

I just try to imagine if I could send that me-109 shot back to myself in front of my Spectrum 27 years ago... I never would have believed it ;) I was dreaming of loading screen image quality back then :)

Awesome stuff...Loving #4

Any chance of seeing some birds? that would fun to see at takeoffs :o

Mazek,

A tear dropped from my eye when I read the word Spectrum ... I remember the first "flight sim" on it ... the steady fart sound from the spectrum "speaker" ... it was a wonder then.

Wow... the lighting in that shot with the clouds & the tail ended 109/Spit are great!!

I think this is maybe one of the best updates so far. Why? Well, we've seen a lot of very well done isolated items so far, but not much of the big picture. These screenshots are beginning to capture the sum of the parts, the living, breathing world that SoW looks like it's going to be.

I can't even begin to describe how impressed i am, great job! ;)

imagine if it was the video of those sceenshots :grin:
that would've been epic :cool:

1 question though....
Will the electric lines be breakable? or as soon as we touch the wire we will go boom?

Keep up the good work! looking forward to fly'n this sucker. ~S~

Stunning, with one small nitpicky detail.

I work on antique cars for a living, so this got me right off. The T series MG model is far too wide. These were very narrow cars.

I know, I know, it's a flight sim, but the devil is in the details...

1936 MG TA...

Track, front and rear is 45 inches (1145mm)

Overall width is 56 inches.

There is a reason the entire T series were called "Midget".

Sorry Oleg, I realize it's a trivial thing, but it's what I do.

Extreeeeeeeeeemly good pictures - I look at the trees and the grass, and I can not believe - they are so real! Oleg, please can we see a Hawker Hurricane vs Bf-109? The Hawker Hurricane is the main Battle machine of the RAF.
~S

Now THAT'S a landing "strip."


Great update Oleg, and crew. It's been amazing to see glimpses of small details along the production cycle. And now those details are coming together into one cohesive unit. The "works in progress" are becoming "working progresses."

Thank you Oleg for every update.

I have memories of Duke Nukem Forever, its good to see fresh updates of this sim.

Keeps the dream alive.

Thanks for the link Schallmoser. Yes, I see what you mean. There do appear to be faint sunbeams present. Now ... what about moonbeams?! And talking of which, let's hope on moonless nights, the sky really will be properly dark, unlike IL2 (although I know 4.10 may fix that).

PPanPan

Hi Oleg! I have some questions:
1)Will be shakes in cockpit made by engine running (bigger shakes when lower RPM and faster frequency tiny shakes on bigger RPM)?
2)What about starting engine? Will be "one click" (hope no) or full procedure starting?
3)Will be big shakes when taking-off from grass runway?
4)What is expected date of realase Storm of War: Battle of Britain?
Greetings!

#4 is a good question :-)