Make Runways Cleaner/Sharper

[bustr]

Then they will really have problems with the landing part, since some runways can be seen until it's too late.

Coogan

Took long enough to get down to this as the real issue. And then the real wish is more along the line of wanting to be able to see the runways from farther out as entities that stand out from the background in razor sharp relief. And this wish has been recorded by shilo a few months ago.

Wishing for a cosmetically pleasing runway to your sensibilities will probably not fly. Showing a need for a change in a standard object is your up hill battle since making the change is a bit more involved than you realize. No one is getting lost and never finding the runway or they would be in here complaining, nor are very many not landing safely due to it.

[100Coogn]

Took long enough to get down to this as the real issue. And then the real wish is more along the line of wanting to be able to see the runways from farther out as entities that stand out from the background in razor sharp relief. And this wish has been recorded by shilo a few months ago.

Wishing for a cosmetically pleasing runway to your sensibilities will probably not fly. Showing a need for a change in a standard object is your up hill battle since making the change is a bit more involved than you realize. No one is getting lost and never finding the runway or they would be in here complaining, nor are very many not landing safely due to it.

I wished for "Cleaner/Sharper" runways.  Can you not comprehend?
If you don't like the wish, so be it.  Kick rocks and push on.
For now, lay your purse down, I ain't biting.

Coogan

[100Coogn]

Runways look like oil-paintings...  They don't fit their surroundings.





Coogan

[Chalenge]

Runways look like oil-paintings...  They don't fit their surroundings.

Coogan

My observation was that the blurriness is a little excessive, like a mipmap (MIP map) that went just a little heavy. If that is how it was done for AH3, then it's a matter of the graphic not reducing properly on powers of two (usually how mipmaps are done). If that's the case HTC can fix it by doing custom reductions, which will follow their own rules.

100Coogn was right in bringing it up, in my opinion.

[bustr]

This is the runway with all the sliders to the right and maximum fog\haze range set to 19 miles at 07:30am.

The closer to the default settings, the closer to the runway you have to be to get clarity. It's one of those tradeoffs so the low end machines can play the game. One of the interesting things about graphics is the contrast of colors and textures and how they stand out or disappear. If you setup a mile long corridor of grass off the end of the runways, the contrast makes the runway stand out. If you pack trees in all around the field, you will not see the runway until you are almost on top of it. If I put my graphics back to the defaults at 4096, my graphics looks more fuzzy look like yours.

The biggest difference with our pictures is your runway is asphalt and mine is concrete which stands out better. The super large airfield and the small airfield have this contrast problem due to the runway color. In low light conditions the darker color will not show up until you are on top of it even with grass contrast to make it stand out. You start noticing these small details when you have to visit all of the 150 or so field objects you place on a terrain. So as a rule all runway ends on my terrain have a mile of open grass to help players get oriented in low light conditions.

[Owlblink]

I am more concerned about the bases that have aircraft launch on headings that don't have runways.

^This!

It's down right lazy that on several fields, usually cross cardinal headings, it spawns you off of a runway. Bad enough some runways have a building off the end of it… If the point were anything like encouraging taxiing then just have a hanger spawn, not a missleading "runway".

Secondly, 262s and such need to spawn off the large runways on fields and not smack in the middle facing a building!

[oboe]

^This!

It's down right lazy that on several fields, usually cross cardinal headings, it spawns you off of a runway. Bad enough some runways have a building off the end of it… If the point were anything like encouraging taxiing then just have a hanger spawn, not a missleading "runway".

Secondly, 262s and such need to spawn off the large runways on fields and not smack in the middle facing a building!

I know I've been spawned in hardstands on some of the larger fields - is that what you're talking about?  I thought it was kind of cool to have to taxi to the runway after start up.

[bustr]

It was nice of Waffle to show off his super large airfield with two of the fighter spawns setting you on hard stands. It seems to be a purpose driven feature. All bombers 4\2\1 engine do not show those two spawn buttons. But, the storch which is found in the bomber list does have them active.

So instead of pulling out the virtual Mossberg and letting fly with "double ot vitriol shot". Wish list for Waffle to disable those spawn buttons for the sake of unsuspecting players fighter perks. Waffle did a masterful job on that field.

[Tilt]

I think that hard surfaced runways should be as least as visible as the trees that are adjacent to it.

Their profile is over blurred on approach.......again in comparison to local trees etc.

[bustr]

To be honest, it looks like a mechanics issue with how the AH3 environment engine generates the ground and the clutter polygon mesh. Everything painted on the ground is blurred or interwoven at the color border with the same mechanic as you see the runway edges. I found if I turn off reflections, shadows, clutter and clutter from the air. At 7:30am on zoom the runway stands out and the runway ends have small silver buildings that shine in low light. Wonder if that is a concession to no runway lights. It's a bit more of a hassle in AH3 finding and landing at fields in low light conditions. Zoom alleviates that.

[Owlblink]

I know I've been spawned in hardstands on some of the larger fields - is that what you're talking about?  I thought it was kind of cool to have to taxi to the runway after start up.

I am not sure what hardstands are but I fail to see the point if they are labeled as a "runway." Replace said button with something like we have for the hanger and at least it would be honest. While I enjoy taxiing from time to time, the whole point of a runway spawn and auto takeoff system (I do manual by default) is for those who do not wish to do such things. If the game is moving away from that then it needs to be honest about it and not spawn you on a runway headed for a building collision in auto take off, or misslead players into thinking there is a runway spawn that in reality is not there.

At the end of the day we want to attract new and returning players, not add further frustration to the dangerously-small existing player base with missleading airfields and runway spawns.

[oboe]

I am not sure what hardstands are but I fail to see the point if they are labeled as a "runway." Replace said button with something like we have for the hanger and at least it would be honest. While I enjoy taxiing from time to time, the whole point of a runway spawn and auto takeoff system (I do manual by default) is for those who do not wish to do such things. If the game is moving away from that then it needs to be honest about it and not spawn you on a runway headed for a building collision in auto take off, or misslead players into thinking there is a runway spawn that in reality is not there.

At the end of the day we want to attract new and returning players, not add further frustration to the dangerously-small existing player base with missleading airfields and runway spawns.

A hardstand is a parking spot for a plane, usually just off a taxi way.   

Excellent point about them being mislabeled as Runway spawns, and whether or not that works with Auto-takeoff I don't know - I don't think I've tried taking off directly from there.   I wonder what happens for a new player if he has auto takeoff enabled and spawns in a hangar?   I could see that being a problem too.

Good points, Owl

[bustr]

Hard stands are common airfield lingo for ww2 military fields. A parking pad......

Depending on how the terrain builder orients the super large airfield, it looks like the hard stand spawns will change on the clipboard spawn pad. The terrain builder can orient any square object like an airfield to the four cardinal directions.

Below you can see a screen capture of a super large airfield. The yellow arrows are the two hard stand parking pads that fighters spawn to. The arrow points in the direction your fighter's nose will always face when you spawn on that pad. The red lines are the full and un obstructed take off lanes you have. You won't get a 262 with full fuel or most fighters with heavy jabo load outs off of there because of trees. You will get normal fighters off those hard stands.

I suppose this is where someone pulls out the "triple ot 50mm rage shot" and shoots off about the BS inconvenience and the game has to be changed or something like that. In all the time I was testing this base from two years ago I never knew Waffle opted for the hard stand spawns. Took about 10min offline to identify them and map the take off lanes from them. Guess that's why initially I thought they were a fighter entry point object misplacement. Nope, these are Waffle nuggets.......

[oboe]

I think it would be awesome for scenarios to have a group of pilots each spawn to their own hardstands, all clustered with a general group of hardstands.  Then we get to roll out and taxi to the runways as a group.

Would be great if the tower shot off colored flares too, though with comms I dunno why that would be necessary...just cool.  Historical, immersive...

[Vraciu]

Jeez... of all things to complain about!!
I used to fly quite a bit and I have never seen a runway
as trim and manicured as that picture 

Guess you didn't fly into a lot of places I've been.

There is obviously variation but, overall,  airports are kept pretty well trimmed up.