Author Topic: skins, and there use after the big skin update (Read 973 times)

SELECTOR · « **on:** January 02, 2005, 05:24:49 PM »

ok a while ago there was mention that skins would be completley revised at a certain point. Being a keen skinner i love doing the skins and seeing them used in the game.
My question is if i submit a skin will it become usless after a certain update, or will the skins be auto-maticaly be used for the updates?
If they are to become usless is there any chance in letting us have some voids of any planes that have been completed so we may work on some skins even if the update isn't in the game yet..

thanks in advance:aok

Greebo · « **Reply #1 on:** January 02, 2005, 05:52:04 PM »

Apart from the new B-24 and the Ki 84 any skins you create will almost certainly be rendered obsolete when HTC update it. The new skins use fewer tiles to save video memory so will have a totally different layout and usually a poorer resolution.

OTOH they include stuff like wheel wells and are being created with skinning in mind, with less mirroring and stretching.

thebest1 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 02, 2005, 08:53:15 PM »

oh man the KI84 looks bad close up also

Kev367th · « **Reply #3 on:** January 03, 2005, 02:27:40 PM »

I mentioned this "reduced" number of tiles some time ago.
For both fighters and buffs we are going to be working with effectively 1/2 the area

.
Said at the time I thought it was a mistake.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #4 on:** January 03, 2005, 03:20:08 PM »

Not a mistake. A resource issue. Nothing is free. Until everyone has 256MB video cards (give it a good 3 years), resource management must be done.

SUPERFLY explained this issue a while back.

Kev367th · « **Reply #5 on:** January 03, 2005, 04:19:51 PM »

There I go again, me and big size 10's in my mouth.
The reason was explained to me and it made sense, 'mistake' was probably an incorrect word to use.
256mb?
This only if you are running 1024 size textures?

SELECTOR · « **Reply #6 on:** January 03, 2005, 05:32:01 PM »

so basicaly the people who have spent money upgrading there machines to get the most out of HiTechCreations AH2 are gonna be penolised because Mr 2 week free trial has to use his mommys 1980s PC? now thats how to keep people happy..

Fruda · « **Reply #7 on:** January 03, 2005, 06:02:11 PM »

Developers shouldn't have to keep their games out-dated and obsolete just because a small minority has old computers.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #8 on:** January 03, 2005, 06:41:36 PM »

Woah folks. This has little to do with that. Games,..all games,..have a budget in terms of how much can be displayed at any given time and maintain a playable frame rate.
If we did not manage that budget, even players with very high end cards would not get suitable performance.

Fruda · « **Reply #9 on:** January 03, 2005, 06:51:28 PM »

I know exactly what you're talking about. The sad thing is that most people don't.

Kev367th · « **Reply #10 on:** January 04, 2005, 10:35:34 AM »

Yup, but isn't that the whole idea behind having detail sliders, texture size options etc?

So that lower end systems can still play it, while allowing the high end stuff to really get the most out of it.

Thats why I could understand the reason for single skin files in the new models, but not the logic. Surely the player would just turn down some settings?

Superfly · « **Reply #11 on:** January 04, 2005, 12:21:35 PM »

actually the majority of players in AH don't have state of the art computers. So we are actually catering to the majority.

Kev367th · « **Reply #12 on:** January 05, 2005, 08:09:57 AM »

Think we understand that.
What seems to be (at least by me anyway) misunderstood is -
If the players have the capability to 'dumb' down the settings, e.g. eye candy, textures sizes etc, why was it still needed to go to 1 file for the external skin?
Rough calculation would indicate that even with only 1 external file you would still need a 512mb or larger, not a 256mb card to cache everything.
So I can't see where the 256mb card explanation is valid.

Please understand these are not criticisms, just would like to understand.

I'll admit I cache my textures (1024 size) in main memory but then again I use an Athlon 64, so very little latency. With everything running I have 300mb left out of 1gb (Win 2k + AH2).

One quick question...do you use LODs?

Before I get what is LOD's from the general users - look here...
http://home.sprynet.com/~drawlins/AI_aircraft/AI_aircraft.html
An explanation by some of the best modellers for FS2004 - Aardvark. Shows just how much work people like Superfly put into creating the models.