whats left of the clouds

[68DevilM]

read a bunch of posts asking where have the storms gone that we used to have in ah1.

heck im one of those people?

so HT whats the chances of getting them back, i mean theses are nice but i loved getting lost in them during a dog fight back in the days.

[JB88]

it seems to me that there is a simple fix to all of the terrain/environmental issues.

switching things up.

using random variables rather than constants which are so prevelant in this game.

cloudy days on maps from time to time...but not all maps...not everyday...it would be variable. by cloudy, i mean cloudy. pure grey. it happens.

what? you say that you couldnt do bombing runs? well, maybe for an hour you couldnt. again...it happened in the real world. just as night did.

are we really that picky?

snow covered maps. seasons existed then too. (though color was only beginning to appear in the world i am told) *
this is at least another quarter of the seasonal equasion no?


clouds. one of the most interesting things about looking at the sky is clouds...one of the most important items to making a sky realistic over a decent time frame - clouds.

dense. sparse. intermittent.

i would be happy just to have plain old average everyday ones from time to time. (variably)

oh...and mountains. not grassmounds. mountains. with timberlines.

the thing is this. i am getting bored of the lack of variety and i think that it would help to at least have a rotational event which would offer some sort of difference. its starting to feel much like the same room. different color. cheap movie. i have yet to see a new map in the time that i have been here.

again, i just dont see where this is really all that difficult to impliment, even if only experimentally...but i suppose there must be a good reason for HTC to keep avoiding the issue. maybe, just maybe some of us "scene people" will see the next release and be pleasantly surprized.

im not crossing my fingers as nothing that i have seen so far leads me to believe that anything truly major is coming.

i hope i am wrong. boy do i.

my hope is that HTC will fully engage with the skinners and the terrain makers who will no doubt they will do it for free, or for waivers. i have heard tell that it is happening more and more.

great!

until then, i am actively trying out other games to see what they offer and comparing them side by side to aces high to see how they stack.

might find one i like better.

heck, wierder things have happened on a car lot.

88

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* calvin and hobbes. "dad, what was the world like before they invented color?"

[SELECTOR]

cloud were great.. especially on the mindarno map.. they added a little stratergy to the hunters game.. guess thats why its been wiped

[Joc]

Definitly need more clouds, miss em a LOT

[Jackal1]

Originally posted by Joc
Definitly need more clouds, miss em a LOT

   Uhhhhhh   JOC........they are really talking about clouds. I know they are white and fluffy, but it is not a code word for sheep.

[BlueJ1]

I miss rain.


child-"Mommy why is that man wearing a name tag that says JOC?"
mother-"I dont know dear."
child-"Mommy why does he smell like grandma when shes out in the rain, ya know with her wool sweater on?"
Mother-"Yes, He does smell of wet wool, dont put your fingers too close he may bite."

JOC sir

[JB73]

weather is built into the map IIRC>

also, most of the small maps we are playing on were made a LONG time ago, hence the weather that was on them is not supported in AHII.

the weather on those maps was a sort-of random thing, variable placement of clouds and such.



i would assume that in the new TE with the object editer weather effects will be implemented, though i of course can not say for sure.

if it is not, i know there were bugs (some i posted in the bug forum) with the clouds in the picture above.

yes i agree weather was fun, and added to immersion, but i personally am not going to complain about it.

with the loss of "Ronni" HiTechCreations Inc. had to make some changes, and they are currently developing tons of new great stuff (if you keep up on your news forum reading). ther may be possible setbacks in some development because of these changes, but wow are people impatient.

how much "Coad" can a few people write a day? don't forget making tweaks / changes to current items in game.


some things take time to age, and get better the longer they take.

[rpm]

I really liked the weather fronts. Bring em back!

[Joc]

Hmmm I can see Im going to have to have a chat with Mr.Jackal and Mr.BlueJ,if the pair of you could meet me in my lair tonight for a errr 'chat'.......Ill supply the lanolin...

[Jackal1]

LOL

[BlueJ1]

[DoKGonZo]

What would help would be a more interesting sky-dome over the terrain. Basically distant clouds on the horizon which you can never get to. Sure would be better than this plain old blue sky. Or is there an option for this someplace I may have turned off?

[JB73]

Originally posted by DoKGonZo
What would help would be a more interesting sky-dome over the terrain. Basically distant clouds on the horizon which you can never get to. Sure would be better than this plain old blue sky. Or is there an option for this someplace I may have turned off?

thats a GREAT idea....
in my almost 3 years i have never seent hat mentioned

i love it, and can see it in my head.... GREAT idea!!!!!!

[JB88]

it is a great idea, though i would have taken that to be a given.  the sky is a dome so it would only stand to reason that it would exist 3 dimensionally as such.

in response to my distinquished colluege's arguements for patience with the folks at HTC...

i came into this game at the tail end of AH1 and when i think about it, there really havent been a whole lot of additions outside of bug patches and fixes or changes that would offer any real sense of forward movement in the graphical or immersion departments.

ok.  there were the addition of a few new rides.

and i think fire...yes fire too.

when i think about it, the most exited i have gotten was when the new skins arrived ... and those were done by players.

of course, my radar is tuned to what i can see, so i am not going to pretend to say that i understand the nuances that have occurred at every patch/bug fix.

now, im not suggesting that someone is slacking, but i am suggesting that someone there might listen to what a least a good chunk of players are saying and make some adjustments in the departments that are being mentioned over and over again.

i have read a few of hitechs old posts as well as skuzzy's and i have found that they are always very quick to answer questions regarding technical issues and gameplay, but rarely do they respond to issues of a graphical or immersive nature.  

interestingly, i was reading one where hitech was talking about how he saw the game from a broad perspective rather than a limited perspective.  he was reffering to newer players i think.

i guess im just not convinced that graphical elements are really a part of that perspective. when i think about it,  this is quite understandable as most of the coders that i know have little referrence when it comes to how things work visually.  
(note, i said visually, not dimensionally)

its just not in thier nature.  nor is linear formulaic thinking a part of mine.

but, i am looking at the mission statement here, which talks about "one game done right."

(while hearing all of this talk about TOD.)  

this game, so far as i can tell has neglected to keep its graphical and immersion levels on par with its modeling which are excellent.

so, i am offering my services.  

hitech.  i am a visual artist.  trained at one of the best schools in the country.  i have been a graphic artist, a fine artist, a creative director and have owned my own successful multimedia development firm.  i am currently on sabatical and have found my way into this strange world while i am creating work for an exhibition.

i understand these things and i want to help.

you know what you do.  

i know what i do.

if you want my help.  i am offering it.

cheap.

even if it is only a foray into the basics.

88

[DoKGonZo]

Sky domes are pretty standard fare for creating outdoor worlds. The trick in this case is the size of the world we fly in will likely impact the textures that need to be created - which in turn means that the koad will need to be able to grok variably dimensioned sky domes - possibly as repeating tiles - and render them in an attractive way.

Or HT could do something procedural and render the sky dome locally when the terrain textures are generated and cached. It's not really important that everyone's sky dome looks identical - only that the parameters are the same so everyone feels they're flying in the same part of the world.

(Actually ... procedural would be slick ... take a second or so extra at terrain load to build a new skydome and the world looks different every time you fly.)

Anyway ... I'm sure HT has a handle on the details. But when you look at the other games, the cloud-filled sky dome does add a lot to the feeling of realism.