How about no new models for AH for a while

[MadBirdCZ]

Originally posted by MANDOBLE
1 - More polys = more textures = much more work for two people.
2 - Most of polys are actually hidden for the player's eye while flying into the cockpit. External models need to be good for 200 yards or more, not necessary to model the details noticeable from 1 yard, this is not practical, consumes a lot of HTC work and FPS.
3 - Too much polys = much less FPS.
4 - Good textures are much better than a zyllion of polys.

1 - Not true -> if the model has more polygons it can use same texture asl song as the basic shape and surface outlines are same

2 - Most polygons are hidden when in cockpit -> True, but you need the polygons becaquse you dont have just 2D pit so you need them to be able to move your head and see your plane.

3 - True but greatly depends on game engine and HW accel utilization

4 - Not true unless you use a lot of bumpmaps, multitextures, transparency and filtering stuff -> doable on GFX card with HW. But low poly model is still a low poly model. I hate to compare AH to any other game because no other game uses the same engine so to compare then is not a right way to go. But lemme asure you that better textures take a lot more memory than better 3D models... The model has few kb but textures (basic, bumps, alpha etc.) are in compared to size of models HUGE!

And please keep in midn that the DL size of AH is still way under 30MB. How do you think would other sims look like if you give them limit on 30MB?

I personlay like the way AH looks now. Of course I would like to see it to look like IL-2 and have planeset and strat system of AH but then we are not talking about 30MB... So for now lets just whine along and see what nexst versions of AH will bring... And Im sure HT didnt showed us all the cards hes still hiding in his sleeve

[MANDOBLE]

I would be very happy paying for a 3 CDs boxed version of AH and then suffering 10-20Mb patches every two months, just like IL2.

If this is not possible, I would be happy also having several optinal downloads. Do u remember the individual plane download of WB? This may be a way to have simpler versions of the actual planes/objects and then being able to choose which one to use. I'm sure there are a lot of potential players whose computers simply cant handle so many polys per object. Some of them would be happy customers even having only a monochrome wireframe world, but they can't play getting 2 fps into a lancaster cockpit.

In my particular case, what I appreciate of a plane is what is seen from 100 yards of it. In the other hand, what I can see clearly all the time is the terrain, the cities, the mag. plants, the sea, etc.

I really dont need to see the exhaust tubes of the lanc engines, but I really need to see if the LANC I sprayed is on fire or not, for example.

Finally, the actual models/sky/sea/terrains are too dark to really appreciate any details at more than 200 yards. The F6F for me is only a dark shape even at 100 yards, no matter if it has been done with 10 or 10000 polys. Most of the time I cant even know where is the tail and where is the engine. Our day time is dark also, no sunny days in AH with bright sea. It is like having the sun at twice the distance or half the intensity.

Look at the picture posted by Mathman here:

F6F vs N1K2

Can you really appreciate any detail in the F6F or in the N1K2? almost none at all in the F6F and none at all in the N1K2. Look at the sky in a clear day (real sky), does it look like the present in the picture, not at all for any day hour (too dark and too intense) ?

[Wilbus]

New DM! New DM! New DM!

[Superfly]

Mandoble that's what LOD's (Levels of Detail) are for.  At set distances, we make it so the model changes to less polygons/detail.  At a far away distance planes are really nothing more than a few flat faces with the basic color of the plane.  If we didn't do LOD's, your fps would be next to none.
MadBird is right.  More polys doesn't necessarily mean more textures.  It's more about making our set texture limit work with all of the polygons we push.

[MANDOBLE]

SUPERFLY, I know about different amounts of polys used depending on the distance. What I mean is that what really matters is how a plane is seen at 100 yards or more and that using a really bunch of polys for plane appearance at 10 yards is not really important but may have a big impact in FPS for the pilot of that plane.