August 6 2011 Development Update

[jimbop]

Just as well nvidia/ati hasn't spent time enabling support if the graphics engine is getting an overhaul. I suspect this is why there has been little emphasis on this since it probably became clear a while ago that more work on the basics was required before SLI optimization.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by Welshman

xfire does work but its a little buggy ,only way i have got it working was to uninstall the CCC ( control center only "or whatever its called now" )

then use radeon pro and create a profile for COD , i get double the FPS than with 1 card, only issue is with the prop , though this could be tearing so i still have to test with V-sync on .

Prop flickering was the same problem as in IL2 Sturmovik. AMD actually included a official fix in one driver, only to "unfix" it in the next.

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by Tree_UK

Maybe you should stick some of your red text under this, A man has to defend himself you know.

Your problem is that you take everything personally. I just pick a post to quote that fits the example-to-be-avoided at hand for the current thread and then address the issue globally, your case in this thread is no different: you just made a clear reference to keeping score in arguments (which leads to arguments for arguments' sake), you're going to get called out on it. It's happened to other posters too and they didn't take offence to it. If it's too much for you to take you can change your posting style accordingly and avoid similar incidents in the future.

At the end of the day things are very simple: there's some posting guidelines to follow, the ones who break them more often will get most of the flak and to be honest here, you're quite "prolific" in that regard

I'm not here to take sides but to call them as i see them and act in a manner proportional to each poster's behaviour.

I'm not on a power trip or personal grudge either since i could have just banned you straight away for breaking rule 14, but you're still here and i'm wasting time explaining how things work when i could just click a couple of buttons and go have a cup of coffee instead.


The tolerance displayed towards disruptive posters by the rest of the community is not to be perceived as a weakness but as a bonus and it's not to be taken for granted. If someone winds up people often enough then he's going to get some other poster replying in an aggressive manner when patience runs thin and a bigger share of the moderators' attention, it's not rocket science.

Thread clean-up performed, relevant posts moved to the arguments megathread in the pilot's lounge section of the forums.

Unfortunately, some posts with valid comments were also moved because they were either partially replying to inflammatory material or quoting it. Please take some time to narrow down the replies and quotes (you can delete parts of the quoted text before submitting in order to just leave the on-topic bits included) if you would like to prevent this.

[JG52Krupi]

Is this all really necessary?

Luthier has posted a great update, looks very promising do we have to derail it.

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by JG52Krupi

Is this all really necessary?

Luthier has posted a great update, looks very promising do we have to derail it.

Don't worry, we won't. Off-topic posts will be moved as necessary.

Once again, it's not about Tree and i don't really care about setting the sequence of events right, i was just having a slight jab at him to illustrate to him how his method looks to others and he didn't seem to like it, as he's still debating it. The "do unto others..." quote comes to mind here.

I have nothing against the guy personally speaking and i'll be glad to fly with him online sometime, but when moderating i'm not supposed to behave as a person with ties to past history.

In order to remain impartial i have to do it like a robot/automaton and just ask myself a few yes/no questions. Is this off-topic? Is this causing unnecessary gnashing of teeth? Does it break any forum rules? If the answer is yes to any of that i do what the admins in Moscow expect me to do so that things don't get out of hand

The thing is, i don't care about the name above the post. If it drags threads off-topic the posts get moved and i try not to look at the names so that my personal feelings don't cloud my judgement.

After all, i didn't move his initial, perfectly valid question. What i moved was the bickering that ensued and that included the posts of people who attacked him, so my conscience is perfectly clear.

I think Tree is a long-timer that most of us have gotten used to, but that doesn't hold true for much of the newcomers. That doesn't mean he should suffer for it. However it doesn't mean he gets preferential treatment due to his veteran status either. I'm not moved one inch by the "victim" rhetoric when his posting style (accepted by many of the old-timers) is regularly ruffling other people's feathers. If i allow him to do it to others, i'll have to allow them to respond in kind. And since i can't bother keeping score between them, i just follow the forum rules that globally disallow it. I hate double standards with a passion.

I also regularly move posts of people that i have very good discussions with in other threads and they don't think much about it. They know it's not personal and they know they have a separate thread to vent their frustration if need be (which is where the posts get moved to anyway), so i haven't really had anyone actively express any displeasure yet and it's not like they couldn't: it's pretty clear i'm not very keen on banning people, especially so on a whim, so everyone can have their say. In fact i'm quite often bending the rules and letting things slide.

On the contrary, my PM box is often overflowing with messages that are split 50/50 between people saying they like the current moderation and others saying they would like stricter measures taken. What i haven't seen yet is someone asking me to let things slide more than i currently do. It's like a polling service to be honest and since the community is happy the way things are (and in some cases wants it taken even further), it's my job to do it. This is not my forum, this is nobody's forum individually. It's OUR forum collectively and everyone should be able to use it in an enjoyable manner. The boundaries of my freedom of speech lie where it starts to encroach on someone else's freedom of speech. So i can't just go around saying whatever i want with no concern for others, because it's not freedom of speech, it's being an overbearing, annoying person.

So, i'm sorry if i displease certain people, but i don't intend to apply post-count and registration date criteria in how moderation is done. Everyone is equal here and moderation is applied on a case by case, post by post basis, regardless of the poster's opinions, affiliation and time spent on the forum. If anyone wants to do it another way be my guest, apply for a moderator position and have a go at it. Just keep in mind that between answering questions and moderating the forums i have almost no time left to fly a sim that on my PC and installation works flawlessly and delivers what i want it to. So, any takers?

[furbs]

And that's why were not moderators cheese

[philip.ed]

I have nothing bad to say about your moderation mate, save for your open-natured approach which invites criticism and (perhaps inevitable?) flame wars. I have done my fair share of moderation, and usually thread clean-ups would be carried out 'quietly' with PMs sent to offenders and contributers and then a message posted in the topic to notify of the clean-up. (or a seperate topic created to contain the 'bad' posts.
If things get bad, a seperate topic to discuss issues may be created...

But I can't see anything wrong with your decisions so far (unless of course you yourself are an advocater of the censorship poicy... )

Anyway, back on topic...

Originally Posted by Dano

<sarcasm>What? You're still working on it?</sarcasm>

Looks and sounds good, the first two comparison shots look to have lost some contrast though, they look a little washed out now, assume that this is due to a lack of tuning?

I had the same impression.

[r0bc]

All of this commie red text is starting to become more annoying and childish then most of the comments. Real classy.

[jf1981]

Originally Posted by luthier

Hi everyone.

Here’s what we’ve been doing, and what we’re planning for the nearest future.

The main areas of development are:

1. Graphics. Our graphics team is in the middle of a dramatic revision of our graphics engine. The new engine, still in alpha stage, is both faster and better looking. I won’t get into the technical details, but in a word it’s faster and more streamlined.
From the appearance point of view, the change is equally as dramatic but is easier seen. Colors are calculated differently, especially in terms of distance. I’m attaching some screenshots showing before and after. The colors are not yet tuned, and there are some other issues but we are much happier with the game’s visuals today than we’ve been for quite some time.

2. Sound. As I’ve mentioned earlier, we’re completely redoing our sound engine from scratch. The work is being done in three stages. Stage 1, alpha, where we test basic functionality with some bare-bones samples has been passed a while ago. Stage 2, beta, where we have all aircraft sounds complete, and have some bare-minimum sounds for other objects, is almost here. Stage 3, a complete sound engine with all object and ambient sounds, will follow.
What we have now is brand new DB601, Merlin, Mercury, and Jumo 211 engines in a new environment, infinitely more stable and supporting realistic sounds from dozens or hundreds of engines within hearing distance. Various secondary and tertiary sounds are also there – G loads, flutter, controls movement, etc. The aircraft feel alive, especially when you’re inside the cockpit.

3. Physics. We are doing a major rewrite of some portions of aircraft landing gear physics (i.e. landing, taxi, take-off) as well as major changes to our secondary physics (ships, vehicles, debris, etc).

4. Models. We have quite a few new aircraft variants in the oven, and our ground modeling team has finally finished a major task that perhaps too few people will appreciate. We’ve completed a huge library of historical German rail engines and cars.

Timeline wise, what we’re looking at is a beta sound patch in a minimum of 2 weeks, and at least a week of tests for that. The new graphics will also be included with it. The same upcoming patch will also include some new aircraft and most likely the German trains. Due to all new sounds, it’ll be one of the largest patches so far, but still way under a GB.

Thank you all for your support!

We'll be waiting for this.