is HTC capable of the level of detail of IL2FB?

[Octavius]

I haven't been able to find any 1.2beta games at HyberLobby.  How can I check what version the game is before attempting to enter?

I'd also love to try the only wars.  Maybe when 1.2 comes out.

[LLv34_Camouflage]

Originally posted by Octavius
I haven't been able to find any 1.2beta games at HyberLobby.  How can I check what version the game is before attempting to enter?

I'd also love to try the only wars.  Maybe when 1.2 comes out.

Usually the "game info" screen has the information. If there is no mention, then it is 1.11.  The beta is usually referred to as "1.2rc01".  RC as in release candidate...

Of the online wars, VEF is still 1.11, but VOW uses 1.2rc01. The official 1.2 patch will hopefully come soon. 1.2rc01 is already an improvement over 1.11.

There are separate rooms for VOW and VEF in HyperLobby. Press the "general room" text in the center of the HL screen, it will open the menu to the different rooms.

Camo

[fffreeze220]

Hell yes. IN 1.11 Germans where nothing then victims. I dunno what Oleg drank before he changed the 109's flight modell in 1.11. In 1.12 its way better.

[AKcurly]

Originally posted by Citabria
this isnt a graphics thing so much as an immersion and accuracy question.

AH is clearly ahead of IL2 in individual aircraft performance accuracy though il2 is gaining fast  and in terms of actual flight model il2FB has surpased ah in areas of low speed handling and high speed effects.

will ah2 bring htc back ahead of il2 in these areas?

Fester, I believe the problem lies here: HTC has repeatedly stated they do not want to produce a box game.  They want their game to be available via download.

Some of the guys (in this thread) have suggested that Natedog & Superfly can't produce the type of graphics required.  That's utterly ridiculous.

HTC simply doesn't want to turn their game into a 600 meg download.  Dale has said that numerous times at the con.

curly

[mold]

Originally posted by AKcurly
Some of the guys (in this thread) have suggested that Natedog & Superfly can't produce the type of graphics required.  That's utterly ridiculous.

I agree.  In fact, I'd bet that they start with high res models and cull them down to the game level.

Originally posted by AKcurly
HTC simply doesn't want to turn their game into a 600 meg download.  Dale has said that numerous times at the con.

Awwww come on.  Who wouldn't be willing to download a beautiful 600 mb game?

[Octavius]

I tend to agree with mold

600mb is most likely an exaggeration, but for many out there with broadband, a download of that size is a drop in the bucket.

And if you're still on dial up, well, a CD could be mailed to ya.  

Just sayin' if HTC is purposely keeping it down for that reason alone, then blah.  There's plenty of room to inflate.  HT does wonders with code and keeping the size down considerably, but if sacrificing size means easier coding and/or for throwing in other neat effects, then by all means, increase the size.  I have a large HD thats waiting to be filled [with other material besides pr0n].  

Of course, that ^ is all speculation.  I'd like to know HT's take on the matter.  For now, I could go either way... Curly can also be correct.

[Magoo]

Just do like Air Warrior used to do - have a low res download to keep it small so the modem guys don't complain and have upgradeable options via download for the eye candy.

Magoo

[214thCavalier]

They did in fact use to do that but think about it, it doubles the work load on a small dev team.

[Ack-Ack]

Originally posted by Octavius


Just sayin' if HTC is purposely keeping it down for that reason alone, then blah.  There's plenty of room to inflate.

It's no problem with subscribed players either downloading or getting a CD mailed to them but those that want to download the game for the 2 week trial might change their minds when they see an extremely large file to download.

Maybe HTC could do what WB used to do (don't know if they still do, haven't played WB since '99) and offer both low-res and hi-res models that can be downloaded seperately.


ack-ack

[AKS\/\/ulfe]

It wouldn't be worthwhile for HTC to make a game that was 600MBs.

It has to be downloaded from somewhere, that bandwidth costs money, 600MB x [number of users] = a lot of lost revenue.

HTC could surpass Il2:FB in the FM (IMO, it won't take much beyond improving what they have with the first AH), but to get to the graphical level of Il2:FB would be a huge hit in the package size.

The total size of Il2:FB's 3D models for all objects/aircraft/vehicles/maps plus the map's textures totals 830MB. Thats without adding in downloaded additional aircraft textures and the other files required to run FB.

It really isn't about being capable, HTC is more than capable, its just about being feasible.
-SW

[LLv34_Camouflage]

A large 512x512 aces high terrain is somewhere around 5 megs in size.  A wild guess, the Gulf of Finland terrain (the biggest) in IL2FB is probably somewhere around 50 megs in size.  The best terrain makers in AH are capable of creating almost as much detail in their AH terrains as is in FB.  The limiting factor is pretty much only the amount of work it takes to place all the objects.

I'm sure that with the new more detailed textures, the terrain team will be cranking out some pretty damn nice terrains for AH2.

Graphically, the biggest differences between IL2FB and AH2 are IMHO the lighting, sky, water and weather effects. Improving the lighting effects alone would make a huge difference in AH2.

Camo

[vorticon]

Originally posted by LLv34_Camouflage

Graphically, the biggest differences between IL2FB and AH2 are IMHO the lighting, sky, water and weather effects. Improving the lighting effects alone would make a huge difference in AH2.

Camo

precisely...if you could take a look at some of the old posts on the ah2 forum where  lighting effects were added...the difference is astounding...

[Citabria]

damage ffects are also getting insanely realistic in il2 future release of BOB from them is gone over the top and modelled the entire internal structure of the airplane lol.

talk about attention to every last detail.

ah2 has a serious competitor in the realism department. AH used to be the most realistic flight model in my opinion as well but this opinion is changing as well especially after flying the horid ah2beta fm which i hope is not what will be used in ah2

[Nod]

That thing can fly...........oh yea thats realistic:D

[mold]

Originally posted by Citabria
damage ffects are also getting insanely realistic in il2 future release of BOB from them is gone over the top and modelled the entire internal structure of the airplane lol.

Now, THAT seriously kicks ass.  I think that, from a theoretical perspective, such detail should be feasible in an MMP game like AH, as well.  These kinds of calculations are done client-side, anyway, so the fact that there are hundreds of other players should not be a limiting factor on the damage model (or on the flight model).  But, perhaps such detailed modeling takes a lot of computing horsepower, and perhaps HTC doesn't want to limit the scope of the game to only people with fast P4's--such a concern might be less applicable to a boxed sim.