Friday 2010-03-26 Screenshots and Discussion Thread

[imaca]

Originally Posted by mark@1C

It's hard to tell what's wrong, because they are nice as some people said, in a sense. But the feeling of something wrong does exist, it is not the correct atomsphere fit for the war, it's not a battlefiled, it's a place for afternoon tea...

Im beginning to suspect this is the reason WOPs overly dark and grungy look is popular with some.
It seems many people can't get their head around the fact that "battlefields" and "afternoon tea" take place in the same time space continuum.

[KOM.Nausicaa]

The impression of "wrong" arises because you look in close up at chunks of generic created landscapes. This can hardly be avoided - after all it's a flight sim.

The problem with trees and other vegetation is, simply said, that they are very hard to be done right in 3D. It's an insane amount of work to do a good looking tree (from afar, but even more so from up close) in 3D, and it becomes very quickly polygon hell. Unacceptable polygon numbers for a game that has to render things in real time. Hence the popularity of optimized libraries like Speedtree or other tree generators. There are lots around for just that purpose. I am quite frankly rather impressed by those trees - they look really convincing for a tree that is obviously heavily simplified in polygon complexity. It should be no problem to put other species onto the map. The question is just how many Oleg is willing to buy for diversity purposes. (and maybe they are already there, you just don't see them on the selected screenshots).

[KOM.Nausicaa]

PS: I forgot to mention that Oleg and team have without doubt to modify the trees after purchase. I am fairly certain they are not usable as they are "out of the box". They just deliver a good template. So it still stays work.

[RCAF_FB_Orville]

Hi all. According to the "Royal Horticultural Society Gardeners Encyclopedia of Plants & Flowers" the most common trees in England are;

The Common Oak - Quercus Robur
The Ash - Fraxinus Excelsior
& The Beech - Fagus Sylvatica

All large trees growing well over 20 metre plus.

Alas, I am not a master of all things Arboreal.....but that's what they say. I thought the Sycamore would be there too. I am from the North East of England though, we really need some posh git from the Home Counties to set the record straight . You should see some of the trees in County Durham, they look like skyscrapers relative to this 'Bonsai' affair lol.

I agree that it is very important to get this right however, as it has to look like England. These are of course all WIP people, so give them a break.

I would say the Royal Horticultural Society would be the definitive source on these matters, without doubt.....So check them out!

[AndyJWest]

There would be a lot more Elm trees then than there are now - since almost wiped out by Dutch Elm disease.

[RCAF_FB_Orville]

Originally Posted by AndyJWest

There would be a lot more Elm trees then than there are now - since almost wiped out by Dutch Elm disease.

Great spot Andy, you Tree Geek! Well before my time, (child of 1976 lol) I don't think I have ever seen an Elm in my life. Was it mass Elm Tree Genocide? Those bloody Yanks, its all their fault .

There again, I might have walked past one yesterday....its not like I pay much attention, lol. *Note to self, must pay heed to all the wondrous Flora and Fauna of this Green and Pleasant Land *TM*

10/10 Inspector Clouseu!! Bring back the Elm!! 1c games could be the Resurrection, and the Life.....

[AndyJWest]

Actually, I'm not much of a tree geek, Orville, but the list of British species reminded me of the loss. If you want to know more, Wikipedia, as always, is a good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elm

Personally, I'm not to bothered about getting the precise tree species right, I think it is more important in a CG landscape to get variation in fauna than worry about minor details.

I suspect Oleg may be tearing his hair out at the details we are nit-picking over, and possibly considering setting the next SoW in antartica - penguins have no internet access.

[Ernst]

Ohhh! How much misunderstanding for and about a "tree"? Hehe... Nice effects anyway, i would aprecciate it.

[major_setback]

Originally Posted by AndyJWest

I suspect Oleg may be tearing his hair out at the details we are nit-picking over, and possibly considering setting the next SoW in antartica - penguins have no internet access.

Just in case:

[Igo kyu]

Originally Posted by RCAF_FB_Orville

Hi all. According to the "Royal Horticultural Society Gardeners Encyclopedia of Plants & Flowers" the most common trees in England are;

The Common Oak - Quercus Robur
The Ash - Fraxinus Excelsior
& The Beech - Fagus Sylvatica

All large trees growing well over 20 metre plus.

Before "dutch elm disease", the Elm was a lot more common, and may have been the most common.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_elm_disease

Circa 1967, a new, far more virulent strain arrived in Britain on a shipment of Rock Elm logs from North America, and this strain proved both highly contagious and lethal to European elms; more than 25 million trees have died in the UK alone.

@ AndyJWest: