Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: Strollin on December 11, 2012, 10:20:23 AM
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Posted this in another thread but I wanted to see what other people think of the clouds...
"I must say that (before they were shut down due to whine) the new clouds were absolutely orgasmic!!!! Sure I lost about 25 FPS however was still playable for my semi-low end system. HD radion 4600/ 4GB Ram/ 2.81ghz processor.
I believe that the clouds add so much more realisim to the game even though they may cause a lot of frustraition to bombers attempting to line up on a target or to pilots who loose the enemy in the clouds only to be greeted with him on your six. I believe they will change game play entirely and I can't wait to see how it turns out
+1 for the clouds.
Maybe we could get the Icons to dissapere or decrease with cloud cover? Similar to tanks with engines off or under a tree?"
~ Trollin
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I cant play in the MA at all because of the clouds
:cry
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I cant play in the MA at all because of the clouds
:cry
Even with graphics turned all the way down?
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I have yet to see any clouds :(
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I cant play in the MA at all because of the clouds
:cry
That doesnt make sense you can disable them.
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I have yet to see any clouds :(
HTC disabled them due to whine on 200. It's pretty freaking sweet, I was in a P-51 hiding in the clouds and waiting for a break to reveal a low contact. They never saw it coming :D
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Keep the clouds!!!
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unfortunately HTC has to decide if they want people to upgrade their hardware, or if they have to stay on current graphics level 4ever
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Being able to disable clouds will make them pointless. No one in their right mind would have them on as they could be a significant disadvantage. They should be forced on or removed altogether. If you can gain an advantage by turning off stuff like engine sounds, ground clutter and other visual effects, people will do so.
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<sigh> never saw them. Hear they looked great tho.
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The are still active in the 10,7 sector.
Some players went from about 30 fps to less the 10. This is unacceptable, and I have no idea why they would impact someone so drastically, so I wish to find out why before turning them back on.
HiTech
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:huh :huh :huh I vote YES for clouds. :aok :aok :aok :banana: :banana: :banana: :neener: :neener: :neener:
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Even with graphics turned all the way down?
yes i only get a frame rate of 7 with it turned all the way down
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I never bothered to mess with it but can they be turned on for offline play?
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Thought the clouds were significant improvement. Sorry they are turned off but it is understandable. Hope they comeback albeit a time or two they played against me.
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The are still active in the 10,7 sector.
Some players went from about 30 fps to less the 10. This is unacceptable, and I have no idea why they would impact someone so drastically, so I wish to find out why before turning them back on.
HiTech
Rgr bossman, really looking forward to playing in the fluffy stuff again!! Maybe ya can code the icons in there while your at it ;)
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so I wish to find out why before turning them back on.
Are clouds now an arena setting, like wind and fuel burn rate? Or are they still an uploaded weather file? I'd like to see them, and it would spawn up a custom arena or play around offline if it's now an arena setting.
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Uploaded weather file, which can be done in an active arena.
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Gotcha. :aok
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The sun hurts my eyes. :frown:
Can you turn it down until we get clouds blocking it? :pray
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Screenshots? Instructions for offline use (if possible?)
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I have yet to see any clouds :(
+1 I patched and logged in last night especially to see clouds, but I was disappointed :(
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Anyone happen to have screens of them?
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I think I'll have to play around with the cloud editor again...and perhaps try to create some kind of document with cloudtype samples.
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Offline use would be good... Gonna have to practice a little bit I think. The cloud factor will ultimately change people's strategy for how they fight. First time in awhile something like that has been put in :rock gonna have to play with which clouds I will be able to hide out of sight in...
I can't visualize it now like the movies.. A set of bombers off to a field with nothing but a couple of clouds around. All clear right? We'll suddenly 3 FW's appear!!!
..sweet.
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The clouds were amazing. Some great fights in them yesterday over TT. Will have to see if I saved any footage of it. Was not expecting them to go away so quickly. :cry
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The clouds were amazing. Some great fights in them yesterday over TT. Will have to see if I saved any footage of it. Was not expecting them to go away so quickly. :cry
I think I have one saved. Will check when I get off work.
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CLOUDS!!! :x :O
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n101/Latrobe_2006/ahss0-4.png)
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n101/Latrobe_2006/ahss1-4.png)
(http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n101/Latrobe_2006/cloud.png)
Frame rates did take a hit, but was able to keep at or above 60 for the most part. Also, clouds don't show up in AHFilm viewer in full screen mode. :(
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CLOUDS!!! :x :O
<image removed>
<image removed>
<image removed>
Frame rates did take a hit, but was able to keep at or above 60 for the most part. Also, clouds don't show up in AHFilm viewer in full screen mode. :(
OMFG !!!! :x :banana: :aok
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I have yet to see any clouds :(
This, and I've been looking too.
I knew I upgraded my PC this year for a reason, dernit. :devil
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Found the new clouds. Used them to evade a P-51D that was determined to get a Mossie 16 scalp.
They were very much nicer and had no performance impact on my computer. My computer is nothing remotely new, Athlon 64 X2 4400, WinXP Pro, 2gb of memory and a 512mb nVidia GTS 250.
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Yeah, I haven't seen any sort of performance hit from the clouds yet.
The new environment mapping, self-shadows, and bump-mapping, otoh, lol. ;)
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we were playing a couple nights ago when all the clouds disappeared. I checked & it was all across the map....? :headscratch: :old:
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we were playing a couple nights ago when all the clouds disappeared. I checked & it was all across the map....? :headscratch: :old:
They were present over the center island today.
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Some more cloud screens
(http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s436/coolkassill/clouds.jpg)
(http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s436/coolkassill/clouds2.jpg)
(http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s436/coolkassill/Clouds3.jpg)
Close call with a 38 diving out of the clouds...
(http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s436/coolkassill/Clouds4.jpg)
I stumble upon a 47. He makes a run for the clouds but it's too late...
(http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s436/coolkassill/clouds5.jpg)
I can say for a fact though, the screens don't do them justice. Was flying with some squaddies and a few times they were barely 2k and completely vanished. then all of a sudden tracers are flying across your nose from a high 5 o'clock position and an enemy comes at you from no where. Some blood pumping fights I tell ya. :old:
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The new clouds are amazing. The most realistic yet.
Folks having issues are running their machines beyond their ability.
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Hnnngggg
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I am stuck out of town for another month and can only access the BB. Clouds look great. thanks for the post Latrobe. Hopefully the clouds will turned back on by the time I get home. Xmas is coming gents upgrade those computers :D Did anyone film their dogfights in the clouds?
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Hmm dunno if I have film but will check.
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The are still active in the 10,7 sector.
Some players went from about 30 fps to less the 10. This is unacceptable, and I have no idea why they would impact someone so drastically, so I wish to find out why before turning them back on.
HiTech
They did not impact my machine. I turned bmp on and off in sector 10,7 and had no noticeable difference in frame rate. Note: I didn't see the actual FR. it may have dropped, but from 60 to 50, where I couldn't tell the difference)
The new clouds are awesome. I hope the issue can be resolved and they can become SOP. :aok
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Folks having issues are running their machines beyond their ability.
A general and incorrect statement. I have a top of the line machine and last night when the clouds suddenly appeared over TT island, my frame rates dropped by 15 FPS in the clouds. It didn't effect me as it only brought down my FPS to 60FPS but there was still a significant drop of FPS. Got the FPS I lost back by disabling bump mapping for the clouds.
ack-ack
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A general and incorrect statement. I have a top of the line machine and last night when the clouds suddenly appeared over TT island, my frame rates dropped by 15 FPS in the clouds. It didn't effect me as it only brought down my FPS to 60FPS but there was still a significant drop of FPS. Got the FPS I lost back by disabling bump mapping for the clouds.
ack-ack
Yeah agreed, as I posted above, my FPS dropped by 20.
Top of the thread. Anyone know if there is a thread with how to build a decent comp? Too expensive for me to have someone do it for me. Thanks!
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Top of the thread. Anyone know if there is a thread with how to build a decent comp? Too expensive for me to have someone do it for me. Thanks!
Simple answer:
A good video card is probably the most important thing for gaming, but you do want the best CPU and memory you can afford.
Slightly more detailed one:
For raw power nVidia cards are the best, however Radeon isn't THAT far off the mark, and tend to run cheaper as well. Be careful with dual-PCB nVidia cards, though. They run HOT, even if you don't overclock (I had to UNDERclock my GTX 295 AND run it at 100% fan power to prevent overheating, and even then it's a bit dicey). If you go with a dual-core nVidia you really want the single-PCB version, if one's available.
AMD processors do still offer the best value for their power, but once again, if you want raw power go Intel. So far at least, it doesn't seem the new Bulldozer architecture has done much to close the performance gap, especially now that Ivy Bridge and the tri-gate transistors are hitting the market.
RAM is a bit more tricky, though I've had a lot of luck with Corsair.
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What do the clouds look like with bump mapping off? Just like before?
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Thought the clouds rocked saw them in TT Mon and Tues night a little abrupt the way they come and go but awesome, this older systems does well but much turned off or down in graphics...............I vote keep them when HiTech finds a fix for frame rate issues.
HL
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A general and incorrect statement. I have a top of the line machine and last night when the clouds suddenly appeared over TT island, my frame rates dropped by 15 FPS in the clouds. It didn't effect me as it only brought down my FPS to 60FPS but there was still a significant drop of FPS. Got the FPS I lost back by disabling bump mapping for the clouds.
ack-ack
You rarely add anything significant to the game without affecting frame rate a bit. The clouds are not game ending. Folks can turn down the grahics a bit more.This game does not require a top of the line machine. It can actually run on machines that are far below any top o the line rig. The question now is...... who has the oldest slowest rig that still plays AH.... and when will he/she upgrade so that HT can make improvementsin the game.
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What's the minimum spec's to play the sim these days with clouds? Sounds like a work in progress. Are the clouds of IL2 quality? I never have a problem with IL2.
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What do the clouds look like with bump mapping off? Just like before?
the only difference with my ati card was that they appeared more whiter / opaque.
With them on more like a dark grey rain cloud. I took off yesterday when the sun was low and got a feeling that it was about to rain.
+1 to small pockets of rain and some droplets running down the windshield :D
HT is it possible to turn them on away from TT? For me that area when busy slowed the frame rates down anyways. Would like to compare it at a normal fight.
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Many, many, moons ago, in an MA far, far away......
One Saturday morning HT was playing with the weather.....FOG!
Used to be a map where the clouds were on the deck on a few high alt bases.
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I have yet to see any clouds :(
Yesterday morning, Messiah and I were stalking a couple of High Ponies over TT island when the curtain dropped :uhoh I absolutely love it! The sky was thick as cotton candy! I was forced to fly my plane almost solely by instruments. Unfortunately, Rooks decided to knock out HQ at the same time so the only indication of other pilots was over range and channel vox. I finally, decided to dive out of them, after hearing reports of enemy sightings again. It was a hoot! :x I think I finally succumbed to the relentless influx of new fighters to our location. I believe I got a couple of kills, but honestly, it was just that much fun that it really didn't matter. :joystick:
Also, the new horizon looks amazing. :rock
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Many, many, moons ago, in an MA far, far away......
One Saturday morning HT was playing with the weather.....FOG!
Used to be a map where the clouds were on the deck on a few high alt bases.
the ports on smpizza still have fog.
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Were the clouds up on this last Sunday? I recall that during "sunrise" and "sunset" periods (defined as being about 30% of the time) the clouds I was seeing at that time seemed to retain the light, such that the ground sky contrast viewed from GVs was unbearable (during said "sunrise" and "sunset" periods). This was in the GV-bowl area on the central island of ndisles.
MH
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a big +1 :rock
I took a huge FPS hit but immersion factor with the clouds was incredible. :old:
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At one point on TT tonight the clouds were overhead (I was in a tank) and as two missions approached the middle (rook/knit) I could hear people mentioning frame rate hits.
The clouds looked great but from my perspective they didnt hurt performance.
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Guys, upgrade your gear so we can have the clouds back.
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Some wicked clouds last night over 68. I think I went through the biggest one yet. Felt like an eternity flying through. So thick I was strictly gauges as to whether I was going up down, left or right. :aok
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Almost had a sweet bounce of a 110 out of the clouds between 68 and 69 last night, but we weren't QUITE both in the right spot at the right time to pull it off.
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Hey HT, the problem with the clouds might be the fact that they have no LOD at all (video memory issues).
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The are still active in the 10,7 sector.
Some players went from about 30 fps to less the 10. This is unacceptable, and I have no idea why they would impact someone so drastically, so I wish to find out why before turning them back on.
HiTech
Maybe they exaggerated their frame rate drop. ;)
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Wow!! Flew through my first clouds today. Really well done HT. They are a huge improvement on the old cloud system. I sure hope you figure out what causes some people to lose a lot of fps; I'd hate to have to go back to the old assorted flat plate clouds again.
However, I don't envy you the task of figuring out how to get AH to perform well on wildly different computer/software configurations that people use. It must be a nightmare. I know that oddities can crop up: on my system if I turn on Local Water Reflection I lose 4 fps, if I turn on Bump Map Buildings I lose 1 fps, but if I turn them both on I lose 27 fps!
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New clouds are very cool. I love it. :)
I wanna see contrails/vapor trails in AH someday... :pray
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Man they do look soooo gooooooooood!!!!! As mentioned already this does so much to put more realism into the game.
I have already seen multiple planes climb up INTO the clouds to get away from enemy aircraft and aaa fire alike.
My fav is when the mountian's and clouds meet, nothing like seeing a tank appear right in front of you.
Also cant wait to see a carrier task fleet come out of a fog bank right off the coast of a base, will look sweet.
WTG HTC! :rock :salute :aok
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i even had trouble with the old clouds and with the new ones when they were fully enabled i had i average frame rate of 7 so the clouds are cool its just forvsome people it take up to much resorces my comp especially
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I still have not been able to find any clouds. Is there a map/location that I can check out in offline mode?
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I still have not been able to find any clouds. Is there a map/location that I can check out in offline mode?
Load up "ndisles" offline or in a custom arena. There are clouds over the central island. While flying near them, check you frame rates (ctrl-i) and go to the advanced graphics options and see how they look with cloud bump mapping on and off - and the effects on you frame rates.
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My fav is when the mountian's and clouds meet, nothing like seeing a tank appear right in front of you.
To paraphrase "The Far Side":
"What's a tank doing way up here in a cloud bank?"
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Load up "ndisles" offline or in a custom arena. There are clouds over the central island. While flying near them, check you frame rates (ctrl-i) and go to the advanced graphics options and see how they look with cloud bump mapping on and off - and the effects on you frame rates.
Did like you said, but I still haven't seen the clouds yet. I took a break from AH, so I've just been tooling around offline. Looks like I'm just gonna have to come back online for a month to get the full feel :airplane:
BTW, I had an FPS of 59 before I changed my settings to enable clouds and the full update. Now I'm in the 30's without even seeing the clouds :uhoh
(http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/l575/shotgunneeley/ahss1.jpg)
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It's very possible that you need to download the latest version of the terrain. I think you should be able to find it somewhere on HTC's website. If you haven't been online for quite some time, you don't have the latest terrain version.
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shotgunneeley - reduce your Environment Map slider, then consider reducing the Shadow Texture Size to 512.
Both are frame rate killers.
Once that's done, you should be able to increase both your Ground and Object Detail Sliders to 4 miles, plus, you may be able to Enable most of your enhancement checkboxes.
Frame rates can vary greatly from terrain to terrain and even within the same terrain. For instance, choose ndisles and open off-line. Choose a P-51 or Bf-190a8 and go to field A-59 and spawn NE. That will give you just about the worst frame rate you will find in an MA terrain at this time. Spawn in a different directions or go to another field and compare fps.
Of course, the usual disclaimer applies, your mileage may vary.
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Environment mapping is a frame rate destroyer, definitely don't turn on full updates
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Environment mapping is a frame rate destroyer, definitely don't turn on full updates
Yeah, I keep mine at only two notches from the right. With my old eyes, I still haven't figured out what it's supposed to do.
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Guys, upgrade your gear so we can have the clouds back.
As soon as your check is posted in my account I'll be glad to go get another, I would say $2500 should cover it :salute
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Guys, upgrade your gear so we can have the clouds back.
some of us cant do that genius
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Yeah, I keep mine at only two notches from the right. With my old eyes, I still haven't figured out what it's supposed to do.
If you're flying something really shiny (something with a bare metal skin) it puts reflections on the skin, also the cockpit.
Flew in the MA today and I loved the clouds for the time they were up over the central island. Didn't really get to fly in or above them though as the fights were pretty low.
I did take a frame rate hit but it was still flyable
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If you're flying something really shiny (something with a bare metal skin) it puts reflections on the skin, also the cockpit.
Flew in the MA today and I loved the clouds for the time they were up over the central island. Didn't really get to fly in or above them though as the fights were pretty low.
I did take a frame rate hit but it was still flyable
Thank you for that. I appreciate the info and I'll look for it now. :rock
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As soon as your check is posted in my account I'll be glad to go get another, I would say $2500 should cover it :salute
Was thinking the same thing. Imo i would think that that a good handfull oc Ah players dont have the extra cash to spend a thousand dollars or more on a good system.
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Was thinking the same thing. Imo i would think that that a good handfull oc Ah players dont have the extra cash to spend a thousand dollars or more on a good system.
At some point people need to upgrade their computers to handle newer games and graphics.
My current gaming machine is 5 years old... a Q6600 with 4gig ram.
I upgraded to a video card from newegg a year ago (Radeon 485X) for $60.
I run in 1080p (1920x1080), use detailed water/terrain/water reflections/bump mapping/1024 shadows/2x anti aliasing--- pretty much everything on but the object reflections, and get between 30-60fps (all depends on the number of aircraft in the vicinity).
Works ok for me, but I find it hard to believe people expect to be able to play a game efficiently on hardware older than mine. Note: I'm not making this a contest of "post how old your computer is", just making a point :)
I built a quad core machine about 6 months ago to run network based applications and backups for the house. Cost a total of $129.00. Utilizing extra HDs laying around the house, that system plus a $60-$100 video card from today should get you into the 21st century.
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At some point people need to upgrade their computers to handle newer games and graphics.
Works ok for me, but I find it hard to believe people expect to be able to play a game efficiently on hardware older than mine. Note: I'm not making this a contest of "post how old your computer is", just making a point :)
Carrie, Our administrators computer is 1 year old. She would have a fps of 10 with the clouds 30 with out. It is not age, but a video card bottle neck. Long ago we made the mistake of pushing the limits of what system specs are. It almost put us out of business until we modified the code to be able to run on lesser machines. It is not that existing players would not up grade, but rather anyone who would try and the get crappy performance, would not become a new customer.
HiTech
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It is not that existing players would not up grade, but rather anyone who would try and the get crappy performance, would not become a new customer.
That's fair. I have a business laptop that runs Aces High like trash, so I don't play on it. :)
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I really wanted to see these new clouds. So, last night I launched the NDISLES map in a CA. Eureka! There they were, right over tank town! I flew a couple of hops checking them out from multiple directions and angles. They look awesome! I did keep an eye on my Frame Rates, (CTRL-I), and they weren’t that bad, but then I've got a monster video card; a "Radeon HD 6970 2048MB". I spent some time trying to get over the cloud bank - did you know that thing goes to 42,000 feet! Then I flew into the bank and put myself into a tail spin while in the cloud column. I wanted to do a "In the Bag" vertigo test.
Finally, I zoomed down to the base of the cloud bank. Much to my surprise, entire column had drifted over to the mountains near the mouth of the volcano, the one between A-1 and A-43. I was buzzing the tree tops while in the clouds, when something strange happened…
The Clouds disappeared!
I had a momentary frame rate hit, the computer stuttered, and the pop, they were gone and there was nothing but clear blue skies. I'm not sure if this is a bug that needs to be reported, or, if the clouds had just hit the end of some weather file. I waited for another 45 minutes, but they never came back.
Any thoughts on what this could be?
InCrypt.
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I't sounds like they hit the end of their path, they come back about 1 hour after they are removed.
HiTech
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The Clouds disappeared!
I had a momentary frame rate hit, the computer stuttered, and the pop, they were gone and there was nothing but clear blue skies. I'm not sure if this is a bug that needs to be reported, or, if the clouds had just hit the end of some weather file. I waited for another 45 minutes, but they never came back.
Any thoughts on what this could be?
InCrypt.
Clouds have a lifespan. They are programmed with: when to start (after the terrain is loaded), where to start, direction and speed of travel, size and number of clouds, altitude min and max, where to stop, how long after "death" before they respawn. They disappear once they reach the end of their run from their programmed start and end points. If a specific "respawn time" is not given, I think the default is something like 1 hour.
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I't sounds like they hit the end of their path, they come back about 1 hour after they are removed.
HiTech
I thought it might be something like that. Not knowing the re-spawn time defaulted to an hour is what threw me.
Question:
Are there any other maps that have the current 3D clouds, but over a larger area, and last for a longer duration? I want to do some "Cloud training" with my squad, so we're intimately familiar with how clouds affect tactics, and am looking for a place that will fit that bill.
Thanks again!
InCrypt
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I quite like them. I wish they weren't still the flat texture and were actually a smoke effect, but I bet it's probably something to do with keeping them available to those with lower spec. These one do seem to do a much better job at fooling the eye though than the previous ones. Good job!
Wiley.
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I quite like them. I wish they weren't still the flat texture and were actually a smoke effect, but I bet it's probably something to do with keeping them available to those with lower spec. These one do seem to do a much better job at fooling the eye though than the previous ones. Good job!
Wiley.
Smoke effects are also flat textures, and done the same as clouds are.
HiTech
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I'm guessing this might cause many computers to explode, but is it possible to have these flat textures turn to always face the player face-on?
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I haven't spent a whole lot of time in the smoke from a carrier, but I've never noticed the flat edges you see when you're inside a cloud looking out at specific angles. Odd.
Wiley.