When is AH going to improve the water texture?

[Sunka]

So many people saying..its not about GFX (this is a flight Sim ) not about eye candy they say.
Well the GFX updates on here are a joke when it comes to online game.
HTC is a snail next to most (successful) games.
So you go ahead and say its not about better eye candy,in the meantime 5 players i know have stoped paying including myself.
So HTC has you guys defending em till the end,in the meantime HTC player base gets smaller and smaller.

[leitwolf]

OP brings up a perfectly valid point, gets apologetic vets all worked up and defensive.

Hit bullseye?  

[madrid311]

Last night somehow my water texture got turned off and we were invading an island. We were noe. It was hard to tell how close I was but managed to stay close enough not to get yelled at. Then after The sortie I turned it on and was amazed at how it looked. I was impressed. It's fine like it is for air combat and sea battles. Jmho. Peace

[Slate]

    Screw the water can we lower the trees please. 

    I need the "Terrain Terrain" alarm. 

    I too have plunged into the sea in fights as have many. I choose to learn to avoid it mainly by glancing at the altimeter.

   Anyone know what the real ocean looks like at 300+ mph? 

[Fulcrum]

Been thinking the same thing.  It's not like we're touring and taking photos.

- oldman

Says you.  

I'm always taking breathtaking photos!    

Here is a shot I took recently!



Not only is it amazingly cool I'm upside-down, blazin' away at the other plane....but the graphic engine is so lifelike I almost got airsick!  I'm tellin' ya...open your eyes guys!  Live a little and enjoy the scenery!

..

Huh?  What?  You mean.....  Wait...that's not..?  Oh.


Nevermind.

[TDeacon]

Here's what I see (note video memory...).  It is pretty easy to see how close I am - note the difference in appearance with distance.  What's yours (OP) look like?



MH

[dedalos]

Not sure about the texture but the taste  after being in it so many times I can confirm that it is too salty. Totally unrealistic if you ask me 

[Fulcrum]

                                                                                                                                      ^                                                       ^
                                                                                                                                      |                                                        |
                                                                                                                                      |                                                        |
                                                                                                                            (Dedalos) AAAAAAAGGHHHH!!!!                  (Me)  PEW! PEW! PEW!
                                                                                                                                      *crash burn die*                                  *maniacal laugh*


 

[titanic3]

Here's what I see (note video memory...).  It is pretty easy to see how close I am - note the difference in appearance with distance.  What's yours (OP) look like?

(Image removed from quote.)

MH

Looks like a 5 year old threw blue paint on the ground.

[Changeup]

I agree with craz, visual depth perception is very hard with detailed water turned on until right up close.

+1

[MrRiplEy[H]]

I brought the issue of animated water up a long ago. Back then the main problem was that the animated water texture was uniform on the perfectly flat bed of sea. From flight it looked like an ants nest instead of a sea with waves. The totally unrealistic view is a result from a total lack of large waves in the sea combined to a small animated tile repeating on the seabed which portrays 'waves'.

Other sims have more variation in the sea animation which enables you to have depth perception:

[TDeacon]

<snip>
Other sims have more variation in the sea animation which enables you to have depth perception:
<snip image>

"Depth perception" on a computer monitor is simulated by a scale object whose size changes in proportion to the viewing distance.  Don't we have that with our water texture now (see my image above)?  Admittedly, it isn't photo-realistic, probably for frame rate reasons, but that's not the OP's point.  It would be useful if he could post a screen shot of what he is seeing.  

MH

[MrRiplEy[H]]

"Depth perception" on a computer monitor is simulated by a scale object whose size changes in proportion to the viewing distance.  Don't we have that with our water texture now (see my image above)?  Admittedly, it isn't photo-realistic, probably for frame rate reasons, but that's not the OP's point.  It would be useful if he could post a screen shot of what he is seeing.  

MH

The problem is (or at least used to be) that the tiling used for animated water was really small. This made the seabed look like a uniform crawling bunch of pixels that had no focal point untill you got too close to pull up anymore. If you look at the waves in the attached picture you'll notice that it has much larger waves which seem to actually rise up from the surface and produce shadows etc. which enable players to have an illusion of approaching water while diving down.

I would imagine that bump mapping larger waves on the current sea would make a world of difference.

[Arlo]

[TonyJoey]

Coincedentally, the only pic you show where you are diving at the ocean, the sun reflection is there, aiding depth perception. Show it in a spot without the sun's reflection and you'll see how difficult it is without looking at the altimeter.