Definately has potential.

[fscott]

I just tried WBIII and must say that it will be very healthy competition for AH. One area that WBIII excels far beyond AH is the the cloud effects.  I think AH will really need to revamp the clouds. The feeling is utterly amazing which has to be seen to be believed.

Before the flamethrowers start, unlike others, I think ANY WW2 flight sims are welcome. I've never understood why people get so defensive about "their" flight sim if a new comes out, even in beta. I think we should all be fortunate that companies are willing to put time into making WW2 sims rather than the more popular 3D shooters and arcade crap like Quake.

I welcome WBIII. Although many things are very familiar such as the flight model, this may be a welcome standard to some of us old WB diehards.

fscott


[This message has been edited by fscott (edited 03-15-2001).]

[Ice]

I don't have a problem with WB's introduction of their new effort, however, regarding loyalty to a particular sim, WB's and IEN don't deserve my loyalty. In comparison to the customer service and frequency of upgrades and overall growth of AH, IEN has fallen pitifully short of the mark.

Now I realize I'm in the minority, and that loyalty regarding these sims may not be high on most peoples list. I will choose to remain with those who have made the effort to support my hobby and will not support a company who milked its player base until AH began to get in its pocket deeply enough to warrant a change.

BTW Fscott...how long did you fly WB's prior to joining AH?



------------------
Ice
13thTAS

It's not the Big that kill the Small, but the Fast that kill the Slow!

[StSanta]

Heh, I supported AH even during the three months or so I dinnae fly.

Checked WBIII out; a bit of a disappointment, was hoping they had fixed the roll inertia problem. Planes still feel very sluggish, beyond what you'd expect from normal physics.

AH is my home.

------------------
Baron Claus "StSanta" Von Ribbentroppen
9./JG 54 "Grünherz"


"Live to pull, pull to live"

[Ripsnort]

Its beta guys!  Remember AH in V.34?  I shelved it til V44 came out.

[Cobra]

Off-Topic maybe??

When I upgrade my system, I'll check it out, but please post this news in OT.

Cobra

[sky_bax]

"Planes still feel very sluggish, beyond what you'd expect from normal physics"

Come on kettle!  

I mean really.

Torque ring a bell?

AH / WB FM discussions are worn out. Both are very good, neither is superior.

How many drastic changes did the AH FM go through in the past 18 months. Yet every one along the way was caled "realistic"

They are sims, good ones.

What ever you want to tell yourself is ok.

WBIII just broke the chains for on-line flight sims in many areas. It`s great for those of us who love flight-sims. If you can`t be honest with yourself, then I don`t know what to tell you.

[Graywolf]

The clouds I've seen in WarBirdsIII. although pretty from a distance lacked any sort of depth. Instead they seemed like a (very well done) version of the same 2D clouds we're seen in flightsims for four or five years. I certainly wouldn't class them as anything new.

Clouds in real life have volume in three dimensions. You also can't see through most of them. Remember fog is pretty much low level cloud. Inside a real cloud you often can't see as far as the wingtip of a 747, nevermind the ground.

The WarBirdsIII terrian engine looks like it has some potential though. From a distance you get a nice rolling hills effect, the view distance is good and it blends out into a nice blue haze in the distance well. It does have a few minorbugs at the moment (it tends to get all 'spikey' when you get close, I find it very hard to judge altitude correctly).

The plane models seem to have a high polygon count, but somehow seem out of proportion and cartoonish (compare the two FW190-D9s and see if you can see what I mean). The colours used don't seem to help much being a touch on the garish side. It's almost as if the dimentions for the Aces High models have been taken from technical drawings while the WarBirds ones are 'best guess' from lots of photographs. The amount of detail also varies a lot between the different models compare the complex undercarriage of the F4F3 with the simple sticks of the Hurricane.

Something in the way they're shaded doesn't seem too right either they look sort of plastic. The envionment map on the aluminium planes while an interesting feature only adds to the problem. Real planes just don't reflect like that.

Some interesting progress, but still clearly a beta (I've tried to avoid comenting on bugs for now). Possibly worth keeping an eye on, but it has a long way to go yet.

Right now it has the old flight model which is a real turn off for me (and I played WarBirds for years). Everything seems somehow in slow motion and the planes just don't feel responsive, yet at the same time respond too quickly and too smoothly for me.

Like I said, worth keeping an eye on, but for now that's it

------------------
Graywolfe <tim@flibble.org>

[Eagler]

what about game controllers? Does it have the support options AH has?

thanks

Eagler

[Westy]

"WBIII just broke the chains for on-line flight sims in many areas. "

 You're kidding me. Like what?

 Sky bax is like the kid who got a new toy to try out and then runs to the other play ground to see what the other kids think of it. And he's miffed because doesn't hear praise or "wahoo's"    

 -Westy
 

[miko2d]

 

Originally posted by fscott:
I've never understood why people get so defensive about "their" flight sim if a new comes out, even in beta. I think we should all be fortunate that companies are willing to put time into making WW2 sims...

 I guess you are new in the on-line flight sim world, fscott if you say so. No flame here - each one of us was a newbie, so here is a brief refresher.

 Many of us watched the development of CK/WB/AH for many years and have a very personal opinion on the company currently known as iEN and that opinion is very bad.

 They bought a good sim developed by Pyro & Co.
 They almost run the company into the ground with failing off-line and on-line projects (Raider Wars?).
 Then they decided to move the company office to another state. They most likely thought that the original creators should drop everything and move with them to NC. This way  they lost the original crew who moved on to make a new game AH - everything that WB3 was promised to be and more, with fraction of resources in a record time.
  Everything that HTC crew did in AH, they could have done even sooner and better if they were not forced out from iEN (IMOL) and had support for their vision.

 iEN managed to get another decent crew - Mo and the rest and lost that one also, just when they got familiar with the code left by previous guys. Those guys quit and went to make WW2OL. I am not optimistic about the success of their project because of the scope and intended audience, but those guys sure can program a game.

 Now they have Hotseat as the lead designer/developer. He is a consultant, not even an employee of iEN. There was a few ugly stories with his forum shut down and him extending/not extending the contract.

 So instead of having the same people working on the new game with adequate resources, we have two working and one upcoming sim - with fractured community. That does not even count a few crappy $10/month sims.

 If you think that competition is always good and the more sims the better, you are very mistaken. With three sims they will not have enough players to fill the arenas. There is a lot of bad will and slander flying around. All would have to lower prices and make less money and eventually may go out of business. And when that happens, do you think that the best one will remain? No, it's the one with the deepest pockets. iEN could make crap and persist for years with no profits. HTC or CRS may not be able to.
 Competition is (usually) good in commodity business, which on-line flight simming certainly isn't.

 People who view any move by iEN with suspicion have ample reasons to do so based on their past history.

 Hope that helps.
 <S> miko

[Ripsnort]

   

Skybax:WBIII just broke the chains for on-line flight sims in many areas.

So has AH, but you personally have been in denial since you are closely associated with WB's.    

I'll bet you'll see alot of what AH has implemented into WBIII, along with a few of their own unique enhancements.



[This message has been edited by Ripsnort (edited 03-15-2001).]

[hblair]

 

Originally posted by sky_bax:
WBIII just broke the chains for on-line flight sims in many areas. It`s great for those of us who love flight-sims. If you can`t be honest with yourself, then I don`t know what to tell you.

Ok, I'll bite. In what areas have they *broken the chains?*  

I haven't tried it, and don't have any plans too, nothing against their game, just happy here.

I just can't help but recall in the past (year or so ago) when they were developing WBIII when they wouldn't release any pics of the 3d models. Then HS begged and pleaded with Littman, got a pic or two of the planes released. But hell no! No pics of terrain! It's waaaaaay too good (!?) to let the competition see! NEVER!!!

Then a few months later HS somehow burst through the red tape and let the people behold the glory that would be WBIII!  

Like I say, I haven't played it, but I think HS plays everything up to be absolutely unbelievable! Then you see it and you think, "Whats the big deal here" <scratches head>

Then you have HTC, They don't live on the boards, seems they spend their time producing the game. They don't slam the other guys game, they just make their's better.

I'm happy right here, thanks.  

---------------

This is not intended as a slam, just a neutral observation ( I played WB's for 1.5 years before coming here)

[LePaul]

...I'm sorry, I thought this was the Aces High BBS, how did I get here in the Warbirds Discussion?

 



------------------
Paul J. Busiere

Aces High Arena handle:  BD5Pilot
 http://bd5.checksix.net
BD-5 "T" (TurboProp) 90% complete, first flight in 2001 (We hope!)

[Ripsnort]

 

Originally posted by sky_bax:


WBIII just broke the chains for on-line flight sims in many areas.

Can you give me specifics?  I know that alot more features will be 'turned on' as time progresses, but so far I've seen them follow the leader, AH:
~Implemented clouds
~DT's are now available
~More gun load out and bomb packages

and a question...do they have an inflight recorder?



[This message has been edited by Ripsnort (edited 03-15-2001).]

[CptTrips]

>and a question...do they have an inflight >recorder?


8 player H2H server?

Terrain Editor?