Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: whels on November 24, 2004, 02:45:58 PM

Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: whels on November 24, 2004, 02:45:58 PM
these are nice.

The biggest advancement in 2.02 will be graphics. With the new terrain stuff in place, you’ll see improvements in that area and 2.02 will add a new and expanded library of graphic effects. Sudz has been working on this and he’s already produced a lot of cool stuff. He’s got a new fire effects in place, water splashing off of the PT boat, vehicles kicking up dust trails, guns making smoke puffs when you fire them, tank turrets getting blown off, spent cartridge casings coming out of the ejection chutes on a plane or kicking out the ejection port on a manual position, smoke coming out the exhaust stack when you start up, a lot of stuff like that. As a whole, his work will add a tremendous amount to the immersion factor as we’ve been getting by with some pretty dated effects and lots of missing ones.
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: oboe on November 24, 2004, 02:50:32 PM
Agreed, as long as they aren't FR killers or are optionally selectable.

I think the 'dead' objects are going to be great, too.   Finally when a town is destroyed, it won't be flat and empty.   Lots of rubble and broken building foundations....
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Arlo on November 24, 2004, 02:55:33 PM
(http://www.vegalleries.com/hbopc/46flint02.jpg)
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: SunKing on November 24, 2004, 03:32:47 PM
Bring on the eye-candy!
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: StarOfAfrica2 on November 24, 2004, 03:37:51 PM
ROFLMAO

Leave it to Arlo to have not only a link to a picture of Barney Rubble handy, but an AUTOGRAPHED one.  

You have WAAAAAY too much time on your hands man.
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Arlo on November 24, 2004, 03:40:59 PM
Neh. I am a master of the search engine. ;)
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: SLO on November 24, 2004, 03:55:05 PM
sounds great whels, might even bring back some folks who left...

hope so anyways...
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Pongo on November 24, 2004, 04:28:13 PM
They should do the puff of extra exaust when the throttle is firewalled as well.
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Westy on November 24, 2004, 04:43:19 PM
That is good news Whels!  HTC has added a lot of things the players have wanted. Can't wait to see more GFX effects such as exhaust smoke. Stil hoping to see cowl cooling flaps someday ;)  
 I'm of the "raise the bar " tribe and look forward to improvments in not only eye candy but gameplay.  
 That being said the most notable item for me was Pyro saying, "Once HT finishes up work on the terrain system, his time will be spent almost entirely on ToD development and we expect that to start progressing very quickly. ...

WoOot!

:)
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: whels on November 24, 2004, 05:23:27 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Westy
That is good news Whels!  HTC has added a lot of things the players have wanted. Can't wait to see more GFX effects such as exhaust smoke. Stil hoping to see cowl cooling flaps someday ;)  
 I'm of the "raise the bar " tribe and look forward to improvments in not only eye candy but gameplay.  
 That being said the most notable item for me was Pyro saying, "Once HT finishes up work on the terrain system, his time will be spent almost entirely on ToD development and we expect that to start progressing very quickly. ...

WoOot!

:)



Baaaaaaaaaaaaa Westy,


i think HT raises the bar the right way,  alittle at a time.
he raised it alot from AH1 to AH2  and got alot of complaints.

so alittle here, alittle there is better.

TOD will have #s for a month or 2 i think, then dwendle down to
CT levels unfortunantly.

whels
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: jpeg on November 24, 2004, 06:03:24 PM
Whels I agree about the TOD numbers, I'd rather have HTC spend time on stuff for MA and planes in general.



Quote
Originally posted by whels
Baaaaaaaaaaaaa Westy,


i think HT raises the bar the right way,  alittle at a time.
he raised it alot from AH1 to AH2  and got alot of complaints.

so alittle here, alittle there is better.

TOD will have #s for a month or 2 i think, then dwendle down to
CT levels unfortunantly.

whels
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Kweassa on November 24, 2004, 07:21:01 PM
No mention of hitsprites..

 Arrrrgh!!!
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: AaronM2 on November 24, 2004, 09:59:01 PM
hehe hope it starts to look like IL2 :)
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: MOIL on November 24, 2004, 10:24:03 PM
Quote
Originally posted by SLO
sounds great whels, might even bring back some folks who left...

hope so anyways...


with puzzled look on face Some people left?
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Mitsu on November 24, 2004, 10:58:52 PM
Water splash, Hit stripes, Smokes, Vehicle Smokes, Detailed clouds, Clouds layers, Water animations, and more realistic sky color?
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Kweassa on November 24, 2004, 11:02:46 PM
Sky color can be changed easily Mitsu. Its in the arena settings.

 I've suggested a few settings but I guess  the sky in Texas looks different than the one I see here :D
Title: Maps
Post by: mettech on November 25, 2004, 08:10:05 AM
We need more maps...
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: moot on November 25, 2004, 10:19:54 AM
not Sudz's just job, but some snow'd be nice.
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Glasses on November 25, 2004, 02:41:38 PM
I'd like to see hit sprites for when an AP shell hits or an HE shell hits, and ton of crap flying off planes as you strike them.

progressively "Fodgering  the wulf" as far as  performance is concerned .


Yes, indeed yes
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: WMLute on November 25, 2004, 07:14:28 PM
let's just hope they remember to allow us to turn all the junk off!
Some of us can barely fly in the MA as is, let alone if they start stuffing it w/ more eye candy.

ALL sounds like neat/great stuff!! I can't wait to build my new computer so I can SEE it all.   But PLEASE make it all optional.
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Vulcan on November 25, 2004, 09:51:03 PM
Quote
Originally posted by MOIL
with puzzled look on face Some people left?


Heheheh moil, hows your halftrack towing going ;)
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: gatt on November 26, 2004, 07:12:57 AM
Quote
Originally posted by oboe
Agreed, as long as they aren't FR killers or are optionally selectable.


Bring on better graphics!

And a better graphic engine.

Actually on my system Pacific Fighters at "excellent" settings run smoother than AH2 :rolleyes:
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: dtango on November 26, 2004, 09:22:31 AM
Here's the issue.  IL2/FB has bar none set the new standard for graphics in flight simulations without a noticeable performance hit for typical systems.  The difference between graphics in AH vs. IL2/FB is to the point that it's quite noticeable with the AH graphics is looking dated.

I'm glad to hear HTC working on the graphics!

Tango, XO
412th FS Braunco Mustangs
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Kaz on November 26, 2004, 11:42:09 AM
In addition don't forget this part:
Quote
We also have a lot of optimization to do to the terrain shapes when they are viewed from a distance. We’re not very efficient in this area at the moment and that takes up some extra frame-rate. This is something that we’ve wanted to get done for awhile but we’ve had to wait until the shape/object structure was reorganized.


They're working on it. :)
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Gixer on November 26, 2004, 02:18:05 PM
Quote
Originally posted by dtango
Here's the issue.  IL2/FB has bar none set the new standard for graphics in flight simulations without a noticeable performance hit for typical systems.  The difference between graphics in AH vs. IL2/FB is to the point that it's quite noticeable with the AH graphics is looking dated.

I'm glad to hear HTC working on the graphics!

Tango, XO
412th FS Braunco Mustangs



Bar none for flight simulators? True if your only compaing combat flight sims, but if your including MS FS2004 then it dosn't even come close.



...-Gixer
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Arlo on November 26, 2004, 02:40:04 PM
1: Smallish download and lean and mean coding.

2: Still supports more players than IL2 could wet dream of.

3: Still has the best flight model around.

4: STILL has people leaving ... and coming back ... because they obviously don't really find anything better.

5: Is working on improving the eye candy to appease the "if it ain't got good eye candy it's craaaaap" crowd .... that ... ahem ... keep coming back to the source. It's the "green grass" factor vs. the "content" factor. As long as the latter outweighs the former ... then there's not really a problem.

6: Boxing gloves work as well as pom-poms.

7: It's good to have a game still online that doesn't require the absolute highest dollar top end of the computer industry hardware to play it for a month before it upgrades again.

8: Some people will never be happy. Eh ... oh well .... keeps the pc engineers in bidness.

9: New planes (and vehicles and boats and stuff) ... or ...  prettier dirt puffs when the barn strafer misses the target. Tough choice there.

10: Cheapest game on the market with the most bang for the buck.

Thanks HTC. You still set the standard for the big pic. Makes for a great game with a long lifespan in spite of what a few seem to think. :aok
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Gixer on November 26, 2004, 03:23:53 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Arlo
1: Smallish download and lean and mean coding.



I've never understood why this is important or classed as a "feature". When more and more people are on 256k connections or faster and even dial ups can use applications allowing you to restore from where you left off, whats so important about being under 100mb? 80mb is considered pretty small these days. Most game demos or even film trailers are way over 100mb.

Maybe 5 or 10 years ago it was a good point but I just don't see it today even for the dial up user.




...-Gixer
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Arlo on November 26, 2004, 03:38:02 PM
"More and more" ain't all. In fact, it's not even the majority yet. So think again. Trust me, it keeps more than a few of the "greener grass" crowd less prone to go to the trouble of downloading 250 megs of gorram patches just to be disappointed and come back to the real deal. Even the download/resume applications ain't really worth the trouble. And that's a good thing. :D
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Skuzzy on November 26, 2004, 03:42:50 PM
Gixer, did it ever occur to you to think of the other end of the pipe?
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Furball on November 26, 2004, 03:49:34 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Skuzzy
Gixer, did it ever occur to you to think of the other end of the pipe?


when i had dial up, i used to just leave computer on overnight using a download manager.

He has a point, things have changed.  And you can order AH by CD can you not?

Might be an idea for HTC to do a customer survey - when you log on it asks you connection type, bandwith, CPU, graphics card etc.
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Arlo on November 26, 2004, 03:59:36 PM
Listen to the Skuzzymeister. On top of that .. think beyond just the download.
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: straffo on November 26, 2004, 03:59:54 PM
Furby you forgot HTC has to pay for bandwith too.
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Gixer on November 26, 2004, 06:19:33 PM
Quote
Originally posted by Skuzzy
Gixer, did it ever occur to you to think of the other end of the pipe?



Yes.



...-Gixer
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Arlo on November 26, 2004, 06:24:45 PM
And yet it's not important? I mean ... to more than just you.
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: onions4u on November 26, 2004, 08:07:17 PM
As long as we don't get a big hit on frame per second I don't care but rather have smooth game play than fancier graphics
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: dtango on November 26, 2004, 08:15:19 PM
Quote
Gixer Wrote:
Bar none for flight simulators? True if your only compaing combat flight sims, but if your including MS FS2004 then it dosn't even come close.

I have both as well.  IMHO IL2/FB is slightly better than FS2004.  To be honest I expected much better effects in FS2004 but it fell short of my expectations.  Here's how I would rate them:

Aircraft 3D Models: About Equal
Airports and Landmarks: FS2004
Terrain Texture: IL2/FB
Environment (clouds etc.):About Equal
Cockpit Model:IL2/FB
Aircraft Effects: IL2/FB

I also recognize that the difference could be my system as well.  I'm just running a pretty run of the mill P4 2.0 Ghz PC with a Radeon 9800.  Nothing really fancy.

Arlo:

I used to think the same way you do.  The latest sets of games from IL2/FB to HL2 have really opened my eyes to the progress that is being made and it's painfully evident to me that there is a very noticeable difference in what the "norm" is now.  And the incredible thing is that you don't have to have a super-duper high-end system to achieve good performance.

Tango, XO
412th FS Braunco Mustangs
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Gixer on November 26, 2004, 09:15:22 PM
Quote
Originally posted by dtango
I have both as well.  IMHO IL2/FB is slightly better than FS2004.  To be honest I expected much better effects in FS2004 but it fell short of my expectations.  Here's how I would rate them:

Aircraft 3D Models: About Equal
Airports and Landmarks: FS2004
Terrain Texture: IL2/FB
Environment (clouds etc.):About Equal
Cockpit Model:IL2/FB
Aircraft Effects: IL2/FB

412th FS Braunco Mustangs


FS9 in it's boxed version is pretty much as you say I agree. But the box version is just the start to build on. As you can take it way past that with just a few addons.

FS9 you can add a real world terrain mesh covering the globe. And most of all with ActiveSky real world weather, nothing adds more to the flightsim experience then real life weather.

And after alot of study and practice you can fly something as complex as the RFP742 over Vatsim in near zero visibilty and still plant it on the centerline. :)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/davest/B742%20First%20Flight%20ENZV-UUEE/Clipboard13.jpg)



...-Gixer
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: DYGCaps on November 26, 2004, 10:21:13 PM
Agree with most here..if they have new eye candy it should be optional somewhat...My fps can drop low enough as it is.
Title: WOW AH2 2.02 details
Post by: Mitsu on November 27, 2004, 12:30:43 AM
Will Sudz simulate a falling plane after bailout?
and I hope to see vaper trails/contrails. :)