Sorry, but difference in poly count makes a huge difference on the planes and the terrains. Never mind the much larger textures being put on those shapes. Some of our 3D models are over 20 years old now and limited to 1024 pixel textures.
How can this...

Be expected to compete well against this?

(Yes, I skinned both of these examples.)
That IL-2 Emil has a skin that is 4K.
And this is not even taking into account lighting and fire/smoke effects that hamper this game visually too.

AHIII is 10 years old now and it wasn't looking very fresh then either. Time for an update.
Well my point was distance of viewing the plane itself. Most times it takes your eyes to focus on poly (2 sec) is when you're on their 6 or winging. The terrain in modern graphics is stunning for sure. But at 2k out from an AC it's hard to notice the poly count difference.
There is no doubt in anyone's mind that we need a graphic update, but we've been saying that for what seems eternity.
Props on every plane, not just your own, makes a difference in graphic immersion. A pet peeve of mine.
There is a lot of headroom left for upping the graphics, even with slower/older machines.
I can whip out fire and explosion FX graphics in fairly short order. And frankly, the program I use, IMO they look more realistic than IL-2, which are also aging.
Even in DCS, I can still tell it's a game FX.
It used to be computer catching up with graphics, in our case it's the opposite.
Back in the day, we all had similar competitive graphics. You could chat about other games and game play was the issue. Today you can kill a game like ours with it because everything else has better graphics. That's a shinny hook to everyone. I honestly think, if we came up to competitive graphics those other games may lose some players,........ EXCEPT the sub gets in the way. The game play is just better here IMO.....even as dweeby as it gets at times.
We are beating a dead horse to a second death on the subject.
On 200 I was told HT is wanting to get back into it, but my response was I heard that frog fart in the water before,... Do it, or don't, but don't mislead us, that is a sin.
I'm just not sure Vulcan is the route. We trade DX stability for more options of other box games. Anyone can correct me, but I think for stability purposes it should stay DX. If ya want a more rounded game with Vulcan be ready for glitches. Pick your poison.
And here we are yet again folks. Pipe dreams. It's become an irritant to me and probably everyone.
You can't buy the dedication AH players have. Even the former players are still waiting, or they wouldn't be here.
What stands out to me in your comparison is the terrain more than the AC. Ya know how often you see that close up in the game>? Rarely.
It is what it is, until it's not anymore.
HT doesn't respond to shaming him into things. It seems it just has to be his idea to do so. If you shame him the answer is no.
It would be a rotten shame if we didn't get at least one last graphic update. <shrug><kicks rock>