A grudging respect for at least one part of AH2

[Westy]

To add to what banana said

AH II and I'm not but hopefully when TOD comes  .

There.  I said my peice without being bad nor negative.

[Tilt]

Originally posted by banana
CRS' graphics engine blows the AH2 engine totally out of the water.

Is it the engine or the quality of the rendering in your opinion.....

Terrain rendering quality seems "rushed" to me but the availability of an engine to place these transitions and objects on a undulating terraform using high definition skins (from 256 x 256 to 1024 x 1024 is how many times) seems to  point to massive potential.

Just what can a few guys do over night to fill it tho?

For me ToD will be a bigger jump than AH2 was from AH1 so I am not holding my breath unless HTC employ a specialist in this area. I am sure they don't need a specialist technically speaking..................... its just a time thing.

[Pyro]

I can understand a lack of enthusiasm for the graphics as that part is still mainly AH1 retreads at this point, but I don't understand the "grudging" part.  Seems rather silly to want to not like a game.

[ghostdancer]

Well as for the the graphical improvement of AH2 over AH1, I think its a wait and see situation. Right now, imo, HTC got out the the new version with the GM, DM, and FM changes / improvements.

They also put in place the new graphics engine. However, reskinning everything and working on making the graphics perfect or tweaking to them to the point that everyone goes WOW is incredibly time consuming. So I am guessing they released the game so that people can play instead of making them wait for all the graphic upgrades.

Sort of like building your house but waiting to move in until it is fully decorated. Most people move in and then start to decorate.

I think it will be an evolutionary process. Right now they have increased the textures ability to go up to 1024 .. big improvement over previous texture. But we have to make all new textures .. some of the planes have new skins at the higher texture rate some don't.

Same goes for the ground tiles used on the maps. They are still using the lower resolution textures.

As for the 3d objects I am sure (fingers crossed) that we will see tweaks and improvements to those too. As a graphic designer I am guessing that they still probably wanted to play around with the trees and the mirco environments .. I know I would .. but probably did not see this as a show stopper / preventing the release.

Hopefully they will also have additional 3D objects ready to go. After all if the new engine supports 3D trees (an object) I am sure it can support additional objects.

But all of that takes time .. so I think we went through the programming state, now we are in the hunt down and kill bug stage, and hopefully soon we will move into lets spruce the place up and start implementing the graphical updates that the new engine can support stage.

Just my two cents.

[NUTTZ]

Most of us understand the graphics are retreads. Soon as the new TE is released, some of us will hop right in and start reskinning and retiling. I really appreciate the explaination you gave on how the new tiles will work and I can see the  possibilies of new maps as opposed to the old maps. A big step in the right direction.

NUTTZ
waiting patiently for the new TE.

Originally posted by Pyro
I can understand a lack of enthusiasm for the graphics as that part is still mainly AH1 retreads at this point, but I don't understand the "grudging" part.  Seems rather silly to want to not like a game.

[LePaul]

Originally posted by Pyro
I can understand a lack of enthusiasm for the graphics as that part is still mainly AH1 retreads at this point, but I don't understand the "grudging" part.  Seems rather silly to want to not like a game.

Good to hear, I'll be back once the new tires are on  

[Wanker]

Originally posted by Pyro
I can understand a lack of enthusiasm for the graphics as that part is still mainly AH1 retreads at this point, but I don't understand the "grudging" part.  Seems rather silly to want to not like a game.

I don't know of anyone, especially a 5 year customer, who wants to not like this game.  I used the word grudging because  even though I have not been impressed with AH2 as a whole, I do admire the work done on the FM and gunnery.  

From a customer point of view, it's a simple equation. Is the product worth $14.95 every month or not? I don't think AH2 is worth even that paltry sum right now compared to the value I'm getting from other games I play and pay a monthly fee for.

That being said, I have not closed my account because I believe(or at least am hopeful) that it someday will be worth much more than $14.95.

Pyro, I think some of us who are disappointed in AH2 are so because of the high standards you set in the early days of AH1. There just isn't that same "wow" factor with AH2.

I'm sorry if you've taken this personally, because I do not mean you or anyone else at HTC any disrespect.  I know you guys are trying as hard as you can.  

It's sometimes hard for me to speak honestly as a consumer, without feeling guilty for saying things that might hurt the feelings of people I respect.

I've said my peace, now I'm going to retreat back into the woodwork and wait to see what happens with future releases.  

[Pyro]

Originally posted by banana
I don't know of anyone, especially a 5 year customer, who wants to not like this game.  I used the word grudging because  even though I have not been impressed with AH2 as a whole, I do admire the work done on the FM and gunnery.  

Nothing personal, I just found the use of that word rather peculiar.  To quote Inigo Montoya, "I do not think it means what you think it means."

[troxel]

I think the lack of enthusiasm you mention and unmet expectation is due to the fact that it isn't a new game.  It is essentially the same game, albeit a new, more capable engine, with higher modelling and an increase in features.

You said it early on, the bar was set high with AH1.  The feeling of playing WB and then coming over to AH1 for me was like going from Windows 3.11 to Windows 2000.  AH1 to AH2 is like going from Windows 2000 to Windows XP.  I guess the better things get, the harder things get to radically improve on without going a totally new direction.

I think everybody had their wish list of things.  For me, I was hoping to see higher polygon models of the planes I tend to fly and a bit more graphical detail around aircraft damage, and when I didn't, it was a little bit disappointing.  But once I got a chance to feel out the FM changes and gunnery model changes I was a bit more satisfied.

AH has always been a work-in-progress, so I suppose I'm just waiting it out.   Anyway, what do you expect from USCG engineering

[Tilt]

When visiting relatives with the kids they, the relatives, would always comment , in surprised sort of way,on how the kids had changed (grown, matured etc etc)
.......


Of course the kids from my view point had been getting daily "patches" each one so small it went un noticed............ I thought they were never going to "grow up". It seemed to be taking far too long untill someone else pointed out that it had already happened.


Small steps may cut down on the "WOW" factor but they are IMO the surest way to get there in the end.

[SirLoin]

The trees are what bothers me..They appear like layered 2d objects from headon..Is this going to be fixed or is it a setting problem on my end?

[DadRabit]

S!

same here sirloin, they appear as if they are being painted on as i fly along.  kinda annoying

[Eagler]

Originally posted by banana
Ok, ok. Fair enough. You make some valid points. I did try to point out that AH2 was not a total disaster.

But,  log onto WW2OL sometime and come back and try to tell me that their terrain/foliage is not the most realistic environment graphics you've ever seen.

ran into Beeger the other night and he told me to look at WW2OL so I d/l it and tried it offline - have the cd/key from when it 1st came out years ago

what's up with the flashing fire red/yellow trees until you get closer. they flash in and out. How can I fix that?

finally got a joystick half setup- not an easy task - and took off in a spit and 109 to fly around

the fm seems simplified to say the least

I'd like to see this great graphics engine but my ati 9800 must not be setup right

as for the trees/gv action in ah2 or ww2ol, I could care less.
I joined when it was "AcesHigh" minus any gv/boat action

a2a is where its at, the rest is just to bring bodies/$$$ that can't a2a into it

In closing, ah2 is a huge improvement over ah1, it will only get better and considering it didn't cost me a dime more, I think its a heck of a bargain

[Wanker]

what's up with the flashing fire red/yellow trees until you get closer. they flash in and out. How can I fix that?

You need to update your video drivers. Same thing happened to me with my Radeon 9800 Pro.