Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Open Beta Test => Topic started by: Skuzzy on September 04, 2015, 02:41:27 PM
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New version up (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,374684.0.html)!
Puffy Puffy Bang Bang! A Dick Van Dyke classic!
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Started in this:
Mode 1024
Fonts Small
FoV 105
Started out in offline mode and everything worked fine. Went to online and chose the Euro 2015 arena to look at clouds. Entered fine, looked at clouds from the ground which didn't drop my FPS into the teens this time. Exited to enter the Steal the Flag arena to look at clouds. Entry hung at the red bar loading everything, and it looked like my FOV had been auto set to 80. I had to pull up the task manager which caused the game to shut itself down.
Restarted the game and my FOV was at the default of 80 and fonts at Medium. I reset the fonts to small and the FOV to 100 to see if the FOV change was some algorithm that tested for best response like the Mode detection. Turns out leaving Fonts at medium is easier on my eyes which I did after testing offline mode. I thought fonts had some effect on Icons and the HUD display Alt\IAS. Wish I could make the Alt\IAS fonts a bit larger.
When I tried to exit offline the screen hung in the tower with the exception that if I moved my mouse, the desktop arrow now moved around in the left had side of the screen disappearing at the clipboard. The game mouse arrow was frozen on the clip board. I took a screen capture to show the two mouse arrows. Funny thing about Alt_S, that captured the front end choice menu clip board for choosing Online\Offline and the ahlogo.jpg.
Restarted the game and online I went with medium fonts and FOV 100. I entered and exited all arenas with no problems. But, I could only find clouds now in the far distance and not as thick as before the auto force change to FOV 80.
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The file texerr.txt recorded the following:
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF 3DSingleScattering
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF transmittance
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF atlaspfire
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF atlashits
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF atlasgndhit
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF atlaswspray
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF atlasptfire
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF atlasflaka
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF atlasflakb
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF atlasflakc
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF atlassprite
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF atlassmoke
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF atlasleaf
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF atlasdebri
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF atlascasing
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF BLKOUT
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF BLOOD
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF HOLE1
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF HOLE2
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF HOLE3
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF HOLE4
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF HOLE5
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF HOLE6
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF HOLE7
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF HOLE8
Could not load ERr = FFFFFFFF HOLE9
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New version up (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,374684.0.html)!
Corrections/Updates:
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Action: Clouds no longer disappear with bump mapping disabled.
Action: Remove Anti-alias slider from video config.
Action: Fixed a possible CTD when clouds were being removed.
Action: Changed some cloud lighting equations.
Action: Made Greebo happy.
Action: Clouds should no longer spin, when you roll, flying certain directions.
Hey!
The rest of us want to be happy too! :bhead
:P
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Updated Patch 73 fine w/ no issues.
Went in Capture the Flag arena fine. Went on runway in Spit MkIX & while rotating thru POV's noticed screen flashing intermittently vertically when at 3 o'clock & 9 o'clock up viewing positions.
Went back to tower & hit quit button, game hesitated then went to arena screen but screen was minimized instead of maximized. Rest of quit function was normal.
Immediately went back into the game after this back into the same arena & back on the runway & tested....all working fine now. Went up & flew around for some time & all was fine w/ FPS at 59-60.
Landed & went to tower w/ no issues, hit quit button & game closed out normally all the way to the desktop. Tested this again w/ all working fine & game closed out fine..........
Could have been something on my end but got no error messages at all so I don't have a clue.
Came back later & on startup I noticed the Europe arena & double clicked on it to open it............
Game started to upload the arena terrain files then got the famous error message "ahalpha.exe not working properly......Windows will close this application" so I hit the close button to get to desktop then immediately go back into the game into any other arena just fine w/o issue but when I try to go back into the Europe arena, the popup comes up asking if I want to resume the upload, I hit yes then the error message pops up again & I do the same thing to get to desktop........rinse & repeat.......
Will continue to look into this.............
:salute
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Online game Capture the Flag arena:
Windows 8.1 Pro 64. When quitting the online game 1st time after update game screen froze but windows mouse icon became active except in area where startup screen would be. Control-Alt-Delete / Task Manager got me back to windows desktop but startup screen disappeared.
Rebooted computer and the online game began to work normally.
Offline game works normally.
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Online game:
Windows 8.1 Pro 64. When trying to download steal the sheep and Europe terrains ahalpha.exe crashes to desktop right after or as download begins.
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It worked that time for offline. No CTD Thank you.
Coogan
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Quote Scuzzy: "Test the new anti-alias settings."
On my system Patch 73 fixed one AA problem that Patch 72 was showing. The Catalyst Control Center (CCC) has three settings for AA control: Override application settings, Enhance app settings, and Use Application settings. Then there is a separate area to chose AA method, i.e. MSAA (multisample AA), adaptive MSAA, and SSAA (supersample AA). With Patch 72 selecting Use Application Settings or Enhance App settings with AH Post Lighting off would seem to cause the performance penalty of using SSAA yet the resulting image would have no AA applied at all. In Patch 73 there is still no AA at all with Post Lighting off and Use or Enhance CCC settings, but then there is no performance penalty on fps. Example: Use Application Settings or Enhance Application Settings and SSAA gave 19 fps in Patch 72 (with no AA of image) and 41 fps in Patch 73 (also no AA). (Of course, on my system, even using Override in CCC choosing Post Lighting in AH seems to ignore all CCC hardware AA settings, even with AA on in AH. The AA image quality using AH Post Lighting AA on my system is poor and appears low resolution. It seems the only way I can get hardware AA working is to turn off Post Lighting and use Override in CCC.)
I really hate aliasing, especially the dynamic flicker that it causes as you move about, so I always run with hardware AA set to 4X SSAA. However, it might be possible that my ancient system is not going to be able to handle AH3 with SSAA. For example, when using the Europe 2015 terrain my system hard crashes to a reboot very quickly after starting to drive or fly, and sometimes even just in the tower.
E8400 @ 3GHz, 4GB RAM, Radeon HD7870 w 2GHz (AH alpha says ~ 1G used), Win XP 32bit, 1920 x 1080, AH texture size 4K.
715
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715,
If the "flicker" that you refer to is what I suspect, try this one step. Under "Graphics Detail" clipboard menu in game, check the box labeled, "Disable Detail".
See if it does not do the trick. All other in game stuff on or dialed as you please, except I really insist you use the in game "Enable AA".
Tell me what you think after that.
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Are there no clouds available offline, or am I doing something wrong?
I installed the complete game and only have ndisles availabe, but no coulds.
Coogan
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The different maps get downloaded for offline use when you log into that arena online.
The puffy clouds are not always visible. The cloud demo I posted started under clear blue skies.
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Ok i went in and tried the guns in the CV ... When you click on the back double 5 inch battery it puts you in the front one and visa versa.. able to replicate this on my other rig as well..
LawnDart
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715,
If the "flicker" that you refer to is what I suspect, try this one step. Under "Graphics Detail" clipboard menu in game, check the box labeled, "Disable Detail".
See if it does not do the trick. All other in game stuff on or dialed as you please, except I really insist you use the in game "Enable AA".
Tell me what you think after that.
The flickering I'm referring to is probably not the flickering you're referring to. Also, "Disable Detail" is a non starter on my system: it makes the ground look horrible with big white blotches.* Also the AA quality is no different than what I mentioned for AH AA in my original post.
The flickering I'm referring to is standard aliasing. Aliasing is not just jagged edges. It's way more complex than that. It is analogous to digitizing audio signals at too low a frequency causing sub-harmonics that aren't present in the original signal. Think of a 3D render of a black and white checkerboard tiled floor out to the horizon. In the distance, when each tile becomes smaller than the pixel of the display, the render engine will make either a black or white pixel depending on how the tiles line up with the mapped position of the render pixel. This leads to a Moire pattern that is unreal. And if you very slightly change your viewpoint, by, for example, moving, the Moire pattern changes drastically and rapidly depending on how the screen pixel lines up with the 3D detail. That's the flicker I refer to; small details flicker in and out of existence. What should happen in real life for the checkerboard is the tile that cannot be resolved should just be rendered gray. AH has no checkerboard floors, and it no longer has the chain link fence that did the same thing, but the alias flicker does still show to a lesser extent on objects with fine detail like the radar tower or the vines hanging from the trees.
AA techniques try to approximate this averaging by rendering the 3D image at much higher resolution than the screen then averaging a bunch of pixels together to make a single screen res pixel, i.e. the display pixel. That way a bunch of black and white hires pixels will average to a gray pixel on the display. (This is Super Sampled AA). It uses a lot more memory and is, of course, slower.
Yes, that is way more info than anyone else on the planet wants; I seem to be a bit weird in being annoyed by aliasing and the dynamic flicker caused by aliasing.
*correction: it only does this when I first select "Disable Detail" in game. If I get out of the program and come back in (either via exit or via Alt-Tab) the artifacts are gone. (The ground is kinda boring with Disable Detail though ;) and for some bizarre reason it often stops the trees from blowing in the wind.)
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Man I am loving me some clouds!!! :x Did notice my FR dropped from 60 to 44 inside the clouds, but hey they look great!! I guess that leads to the next question, are we going to have weather forecast for extended Bombing runs, you know "scattered at 18k, overcast at 22k, upper winds 20 knots SSE" ? :devil
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Offline, at p21, in tower. Double clicked to take me to another airfield. In tower, pushed f3, then f5, this showed me at the port again.
In the hangar on the cv, the LVT's are visible as if they're in the water.
Probably doesn't matter as they wont show on line, but the wheels on the m3 / m8 are spinning in the CV hangar.
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Using TrackIR and looking to rear side view shows a cloud layer rotating with head movement. I don't see it when using hat or keypad views, snap or pan.
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Still noticed that when I view outside the cockpit in the 10 oclock position, that the gamma seems to rise, until I return to the front view or any other view. At that position it returns to the original setting. It does not do this when Post Lighting is disabled.
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That is intentional
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Was wondering bout that as well................
:salute
Went on Microsoft's site & reloaded Directx 9.0c runtime again then ran the Alpha again & all arenas workied just fine but when I tried the Europe arena again I got the "ahalpha.exe has stopped working" error again so it's not a Directx issue...........
Running out of ideas from my end...........
:headscratch:
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Was wondering bout that as well................
:salute
Went on Microsoft's site & reloaded Directx 9.0c runtime again then ran the Alpha again & all arenas workied just fine but when I tried the Europe arena again I got the "ahalpha.exe has stopped working" error again so it's not a Directx issue...........
Running out of ideas from my end...........
:headscratch:
Sounds a lot like a bug in my system
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Went back & tried to go into the Europe arena again & when the popup came up that asks if you want to resume the download I hit "no" just to see what would happen.......got the same error again as I would if I hit "yes"..................
FYI.......................... ...
:headscratch:
Only have experienced 2 other issues w/ Alpha in the past..........1 was on my end w/ running TransAA at the driver level, the 2nd a reinstall of Directx 9.0c fixed it, so since this is the 3rd issue for me does this mean that I have to go stand in the corner & count to 500?
:D
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patch 72, game would not exit without entering task manager
patch 73, Europe map gets a crash trying to load map. alpha.exe.................... ...
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Went in Capture the Flag arena today & checked graphics settings in Graphics Detail................
Reset the EM slider from All back to 1 (had did this yesterday testing..........).....
Noticed that the screen flickered when I clicked on this setting so for grins I clicked on the slider bars of the other settings & noticed the screen also flickered when I did this...............
I have never noted this behavior in the Alpha before.........
When I clicked on the checkboxes I did not see a screen flicker..........only when I clicked on the slider bars.
Went on the runway & noted the clouds are back & also noted the FPS dropping approx. 15-16 FPS from 59-60 (44-45 FPS).
Went back to tower then hit quit & game cycled to the arena selection section but my screen had froze on the tower section & would not move.......I could hear the AH music in the background but the screen graphics were stuck on the tower graphics.
So I hit the 3 fingered salute (Ctrl+Alt+Del) & before I could pick any of the selections I heard the AH music stop playing (as if the game had shut down fully) so I hit cancel & sure enough the Alpha had shut down....no error messages at all.
:headscratch:
I went right back into the game to the same arena. to the tower screen then right on the runway, looked around then back to the tower screen w/o a hitch then hit the quit button & all shut down then w/o a hitch...........?
:headscratch:
Folks, unless I'm missing something & am off base here it seems to me that there is something about the new cloud coding that is throwing things off kilter as when it is present I strat seeing some weird behavior on my box.........when the new cloud coding isn't present in the arena I note no issues happening...................
This seems to be most prevalent when my box 1st loads the new cloud coding......after this then it appears to settle down & operate OK......?
I just had a thought..................... :old:
I just found out recently, thru messing around w/ my vid card's driver settings thru CCC while flying AHII, that the driver is applying driver-level AA method setting even though I have the driver set to "use the application settings" setting for AA Mode & AA Sampling.
The AA method settings (multisampling(MSAA), adaptive multisampling(CFAA), supersampling(SSAA)) are still being applied to the graphics (I noted this thru flying around in AHII at a certain airfield where a LOT of action was happening then exit the game & look at my AB graphs of my vid card's vitals--I noticed the GPU usage% dropped or rose according to the driver AA method level selected, even though I had the driver AA Mode & Sampling settings set to "Use Application Settings".......
Thru the same method I also know that the driver AA Mode & Sampling settings "Use Application Settings" are active as I could lower & raise the AA level in AH Video Settings & note the GPU usage% following these settings as well............
So what I might be seeing is a code clash between the Alpha code trying to tell the driver to render 1 way vs the driver code's setting trying to render another...................may be due to a break in the AMD code stream that should turn off any driver-level AA when the AA Mode is set to "Use Application Settings"....
I can't test this due to the CCC not providing a setting in the AA method selection menu to turn off driver-level AA so the driver HAS to still be applying some driver-level AA & this could be the culprit..........?
I know y'all have just fully enabled FXAA in the Alpha which is post processing shader applied AA & so it should not be an issue........................ ..but y'all also did remove the AA slider in Video Settings........this game coding is what the vid card driver was reading, right? Maybe an issue here......................... ..........?
Something you might check for..........................
:headscratch:
PS--If this is crazy thinking then just put me in a corner along w/ a case of beer......................... A&W, please?
:D
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That is intentional
Ok, I just thought it was some kind of bug. :banana:
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No problems updating, could log on all arenas and also log out without issues.
Took a look at all planes in CV hangars on Mission Arena. It looks like almost all of them sink more or less into the deck! On C13 (bish) many of them had one or more rolling wheels, a feature I could not reproduce on other CV's where they were sunk into the deck. On some planes the wheels seemed to roll backwards, on others forth. The CV's I checked were C13, C20, C31, C41, C54 and C62, plus the British one on the Europe map. The planes and vehicles that looked perfectly OK:
B29
B5N2
Bf 110's both
C-47
C.202
C.205
D3A1
I16
Il2
Jagdpanther
La-5
La-7
M18
Me 163
Panther G
PT Boat
Seafire
Spitfire Mk V
Spitfire Mk XIV
Tiger II
M4's, M8 and Sherman were otherwise OK except for their wheels were rolling on C13, the track staying in place.
Hurricanes, P51D and SeaHurri were levitating a couple of inches above the deck based on their shadow.
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Patch 72 installed ok (did not try running it as straight upgraded to 73).
Patch 73 installed ok. Opens ok, trying to download Europe map causes crash to desktop. Trying to load any other arena causes the screen to stall at "Loading textures" and go to black screen and back again repeatedly without further loading. Very difficult to end task.
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so today I uninstalled the alpha and downloaded the entire alpha thru 73 and reinstalled.
I still cannot load the euro map server, ctd.
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so today I uninstalled the alpha and downloaded the entire alpha thru 73 and reinstalled.
I still cannot load the euro map server, ctd.
See post with a link to the eur2015 terrain.
Is a downloader bug at the moment.
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Online Europe
Taking off in B24's, on climbout noticed the elevators on the lead bomber indicating "up" while the drones did not. When I leveled off, lead bomber elevators responded and everything look fine. Minor issue just thought you might want to know.
Also noticed that when you are in the bombardier position, selecting "U" does not switch you from looking straight down to calibrated position or back to straight down again.
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with textures down to 1000's number used video memory is below 500 for my settings but the shadows are blocky, mixed with the nervous shake of the shadows the trees shadows become psychoticly annoying and is a distraction in the cockpit. at 4000's textures the shadows are not so blocky and the nervous twitch seems to be slowed.
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See post with a link to the eur2015 terrain.
Is a downloader bug at the moment.
this fixed load of euro map.
Very orange,
hud shows when outside cockpit,
clouds load funny when entering map, 59fps and they load by large areas, stepping across the sky. using +1000mb of vram.
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Euro 2015 Staged Missions.
AMD HD6770 1G GDDR5
This card just doesn't have the Band Width or Shaders for clouds at this time.
If your card has 1G or less ram, don't try playing the missions in 4096. It is possible offline and in the other arenas. With clouds and 30 or more drones, it's slide show city. 2048 may even be a stretch.
In 1024 Mode with the defaults all on, the mission flights were very low FPS. Clouds were not worth joining the missions. I finally had to do the following to have playable FPS when not near or in clouds.
I will venture players with Godzilla class graphics cards will be fine no matter what Hitech throws at them. You guys are very fortunate.
Graphics Options Disabled
1. - Environment Map
2. - Other Planes Skins
3. - Ground Clutter
4. - Clutter in flight
5. - Post Lighting
FPS with the above disabled.
Ground - 40's
Flight below clouds 2kft-3kft below layer - 50's-60
Flight in clouds - 16-19
Flight above clouds 2kft-3kft above or away from layer - 50's-60
Tower - 30's
Hanger - 20's
Clouds still have diagonal streaks.
Memory Max usage during session.
Memory detected - 1010Mb
Max used - 616Mb
Fortunately the missions only flew for a moment in clouds. If the combat was in clouds, even with everything disabled and turned down to the minimums, I would not be able to play. I tested that at the HQ on the England side.
I'm not sure if the periodic event of my screen going black was due to a game malfunction or due to the fact the game pushes my card's temp 80-90+ C. I logged graphic card stats to review what happened to the card during bugs and screen malfunctions. Each black screen event was after a 90+C period. Two of them took place in the clouds. AH2 only pushes my graphic card to 75C at the most.
Clouds right now remind me of why Hitech said he wouldn't implement rear view mirrors. At this point I would never follow anyone into clouds, the slide show would make me a sitting duck for a Godzilla class video card.
Note about the AI fighters: Slowing down to force an AI to overshoot will get you rammed and dead from a collision.
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went looking for clouds, found none.
New card, sheep map, all settings default but enviro slider at 0. 2048 text selected
using 1GB of vram.
AA is exceptional, will no longer need sweetfx for AA. I mean its GOOD!
fps 59 rock solid, never dropped even when flying thru trees.
shadows exceptional, no flickering just changing with view point change
trees exceptional
entering hangar used to cause fps drop, no more
hud appears outside cockpit view
nothing jittered or jumped, Need to fly a packed arena now to see how all those plane objects from others affect my puter. AH I feel you need to arrange a time where a whole bunch of us can log in and fly close proximity to each other.
how do I find clouds to fly thru?
pics with AA enabled
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AA is exceptional, will no longer need sweetfx for AA. I mean its GOOD!
Are you referring to the in game AA check box available when you don't disable Post Lighting?
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Are you referring to the in game AA check box available when you don't disable Post Lighting?
yes
pics AA disabled
my vid card has all AA disabled in profile, strictly games AA, FXAA.
Got a run thru the clouds in sheep map. WOW! Bombers are gonna be able to hide, clouds will force low level bomber runs.
Comment I have is that from a distance the clouds appear like a bag of cotton balls. Flying thru them is like the real thing, close up they are the right stuff.
I lied cloud run was in the flag map not sheep. Sheep map ctd now. Hit the ah3terr file in load and crashed.
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yes
pics AA disabled
my vid card has all AA disabled in profile, strictly games AA, FXAA.
Strange; on my system vid card AA is significantly superior to in game AA.
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D'ld new eur2015.res file & put in Alpha 3dterr folder...................
Went in Alpha & Europe arena loaded up w/o issue now................ :aok
Hopped in a mission but didn't get any action as the others had cleaned up the sky of bogies but I tried to pull my slow Hurri into formation w\ a flight of 6 P51's flying in pairs but I either overshot due to smash or when I barrel rolled to drop some E to mesh the formation started turning & I fell out of pace trying to turn to stay w/ them...............
:D
The graphics were clean & beautiful. There's something I've noticed w/ the Alpha when it comes to the game's flight performance vs AHII..............the Alpha handles the FM's IMHO MUCH, MUCH better than AHII does to me. I know that Hitech & crew ain't touched this part of the game code (yet) but it looks & "feels" pretty obvious to me when comparing flying around in both versions.............
I'm guessing this is part of the reward for the Alpha using the Shader 3.x graphics model as more CPU cycles are available to actually run this part of the game coding as opposed to AHII but anyway I'm LIKING that!
:aok
Now if they say I'm hallucinating then I don't wanna come down off it!!!!!!!!!
:D
:salute
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Only reason I prolly even notice is cuz I have been using SweetFX with its AA options. I have been flying AH3 quality look awhile with it.
It may be monitor quality, or vid card quality????????
The new terrain engine really does allow for more interactive objects. ie grass, trees, and the skin detailing for the ground is way better.
I was so impressed, flying thru the clouds, banking left and viewing left. The look of the snow dotted mountain terrain thru the clouds, looking thru a glass effect with the sun going down. IMPRESSIVE! I been flying as a passenger since I was 5. Looked out from plane many times, I'm reminded of that in game now.
Sadly I bet most will turn the new stuff off in order to not get a new vid card and/or better system. Money's tight for most I'll bet.