AbortedMan answers your questions about IL2:BoS/Press event!

[AbortedMan]

I have a big write-up in progress/planned, but I'm falling out of consciousness due to traveling back home all day...but I'll be answering any questions anyone may have (like the tiny details) about IL2:BoS here in this thread when I wake up.

 

Leave your questions and I'll answer them if I can!

Edited July 27, 2013 by AbortedMan

[Hunziker]

Sounds a bit silly, but does the gun noise emulate the preview video?

What I mean is do they have that dull thud da da da da da when you fire.

Is there an accurate difference between cannon and MG's

 

Thanks,

Hunziker

[=BKHZ=Furbs]

Tell me about...(if they were in the demo)

 

Tracers.

Hit affects.

Clouds.

Loading times.

UI.

Smoke and fire.

AI.

Coms(Radio chatter)

 

And anything else you can think of.

Edited July 27, 2013 by Furbs

[FlatSpinMan]

Gun sounds are placeholders from RoF, according to Hooves and Mastiff's vid debriefing.

[FlatSpinMan]

Were there many ground objects in the missions you saw?

 

Were there any prop objects on the ground to add to the realism - crates, barrels, tents, etc?

 

Were there different schemes for each model? Were the skins blanks plus decal-type markings?

[AbortedMan]

Sounds a bit silly, but does the gun noise emulate the preview video?

What I mean is do they have that dull thud da da da da da when you fire.

Is there an accurate difference between cannon and MG's

 

Thanks,

Hunziker

Not a silly question at all...I was actually curious about this myself. The dull "thud-thud-thud" in the videos is representative of the sound you'd hear from a distance while the aircraft was firing, I believe, though I didn't get to witness any 3rd person distant machine gun fire while in-game. From in cockpit, the weapons sounded more loud and crisp as you'd expect. The 109's weapon system definitely had a placeholder sound, I'm not even super familiar with all of RoF's weapon sounds, but you could tell the 109F's MGs and cannon sounds didn't quite make sense. The LaGG3's MG, on the other hand, sounded just like the LaGG3 in the trailer...very "metal-to-metal-BANG" type of a sound like a set of machine guns should. Again, it could have been a placeholder from RoF as I'm not ultra familiar with all of RoF's weapon sounds, but the LaGG3's trigger sounded great.

 

MGs and cannon were bound to the same button, so we couldn't make out the difference in damage effect or sound, really. 

 

Tell me about...(if they were in the demo)

 

Tracers.

Hit affects.

Clouds.

Loading times.

UI.

Smoke and fire.

AI.

Coms(Radio chatter)

 

And anything else you can think of.

 

Tracers

This is one of my top priorities to scope out for the demo. I'm not a fan of how they did tracers in RoF, so I was biting my nails when I pulled the trigger on the hands-on BoS demo. Unfortunately, I don't think the tracers were complete in the pre-alpha we played. They are definitely a different graphical effect than in RoF and look appropriately sized, but while firing and looking through the gunsight in BoS, you could see the "+" shape from the rear end of the tracer graphic at certain angles. From outside, the tracers are spot on. Great speed, size, length, lighting effect...very well done. The main part though...they don't look inaccurate and all over the place as in RoF. Your rounds fly straight (with the proper arc) and your weapon system actually feels as though it is properly and securely fastened to your aircraft.

 

Hit Effects

This may be because of my horrible aim (and the drinks were free), but I didn't see any explosive-flash type hit effects on enemy aircraft...only smoke puffs that you'd imagine you see from such an impact. Actually, come to think of it, there were no explosions modeled at all in the pre-alpha demo, aside from the Katyusha rocket ignitions (even so, there were no rocket impact explosion assets yet). I've always been displeased with how RoF handled hit effects on aircraft (realistic or not) but you can tell BoS is headed in the right (satisfying) direction. Remember though, this was a pre-alpha...many assets aren't implemented yet.

 

Clouds

Clouds seemed similar to RoF. Flying through a white cloud in the middle of a frozen tundra gave an effect as you'd expect...white. Everywhere white. No condensation or engine over-cooling effects yet, though. For the most part the pre-built missions we played were clear skies, so big cloud formations weren't seen...or at least noticed by me. A cool new addition to the graphical engine is the low snowy/foggy haze you notice when looking to the horizon. Mostly noticeable above trees and forests, you can tell the areas of terrain are representing a difference in temperature/weather effects with the haze clarity in different places. Very subtle, yet effective. Very cool.

 

Loading Times

Loading times were quick, less than 15 seconds for the single-serving missions we were playing. I'm not sure what the system specs of the machines we were playing on were exactly, but from clicking "Proceed" to in-cockpit was markedly quicker than RoF is now.

 

UI

The UI was identical to RoF...buttons, colors, options, all RoF style. The background featured a rotating presentation of your last played aircraft in a dark room (I don't think the background was modeled yet).

 

Smoke and Fire

I saw no fire in the pre-alpha demo. Trailing smoke on damaged aircraft was very nicely done. You can definitely tell between venting liquid and venting smoke. The smoke animation is smooth and natural as you'd expect and sticks around for a while. Smoke from the Katyusha rocket launch is impressive. Big full plumes of smoke trailing in an arc, visible from 10,000ft+ in the evening is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Ground units will be very visible and part of the flying experience if they're dumb enough to keep their lights on/fire from the cover of darkness.

 

AI

The AI in the demo weren't too involved in the easy-mode missions. They pretty much just flew straight. In the "ace" labeled missions they were a little more conscious, but still pretty easy. I never got shot down in the time that I played, as the AI had a laser focus on their first target and only their first target...they wouldn't fire at me once engaged with my wingman. I think it's safe to say the AI wasn't 100% implemented yet, though there were some defensive routines running. Upon receiving my MG rounds and taking damage, you can see the reaction of what the AI pilot was trying to do, but then realizing his aileron is stuck or gone and putting it into a spin, sending his aircraft just over my canopy in a puke inducing tumble followed by a prompt bail-out. (3rd person bail-out animations are awesome, by the way).

 

Comms

There was radio chatter aplenty in the demo. Though I didn't speak Russian or German, so I don't know what was being said. It sounded authentic as if it was actually a 1940's radio. No subtitle text was accompanying the audio that I could see. The sounds weren't intrusive or repetitive at all, as they are in some games. I'm not sure if it was my AI wingman talking or a nearby airbase/spotter. I completely forgot to ask or fiddle around with buttons to see if there was a commandable comms system for AI or airfield ops.

 

 

Lighting

Loft gave a quick ad-hoc demo of some points of interest that were very, very awesome. My favorite was how the landing light on the LaGG-3 lit up the terrain as you came in at low altitude. It looked simply awe-inspiring from all angles. Also a very cool thing, which I'm not sure why this hasn't been done before in a sim, is the cockpit lights are now visible by other players when dark/close enough. So read that map with caution, it could give your position away!

 

Were there many ground objects in the missions you saw?

 

Were there any prop objects on the ground to add to the realism - crates, barrels, tents, etc?

 

Were there different schemes for each model? Were the skins blanks plus decal-type markings?

 

Ground Objects

TONS of ground objects! Like 4 different kinds of truck columns, T-34's, StuG's, Panzers (I think), other tanks (I'm not a tank buff), and an array of light armored vehicles (both sides), Katyushas...most of them all moving in columns at once in the evening map we were shown/demo'd by Loft (Hooves has a cam video of it, pester him to put it up). At least 50-60 units were on the ground moving or firing at once in the missions we were shown. Headlights were on on some of the trucks and you could see them from altitude. Headlights also interacted dynamically with the environment and looked very realistic. The level of detail is ridiculous. I'm really very surprised at how hi-poly the ground vehicle models are for an aircraft simulator...and no "popping" of models on vehicles or trees!

 

Props

The villages had realistic layouts and detail. Houses looked like houses, not just boxes with pointy tops. Fences lined the roads and trees were strewn about. They looked very convincing that these were small villages in the middle of a frozen tundra. I didn't get a chance to fly over any factories or bigger city type areas, but I heard others did and were impressed. The comparison pictures in the event presentation looked fantastic. At the airfield, Loft showed us a camo-net cover for the aircraft. At close distance, the shadows interact with the holes in the netting and project the proper shadow image on the snow. Beautiful. There was a primitive looking camo-net covered tower near the runway that looked very well done as well. Someone asked whether there were more variations on towers and I believe Loft replied with "about 4 different types of towers" (could be incorrect, like I said, the drinks were free). Loft also noted as he panned by them, that there were only hard-cover hangars, the actual permanent building type, at one airfield at the time of the Battle of Stalingrad...so don't expect airfields with tons of amenities. 

 

Skins

As far as I could tell, the same paint schemes you've seen in the weekly updates are what we saw in the pre-alpha. I imagine they will follow true RoF style and allow community skin packs along with official ones as well, though.

 

Keep the questions coming...this is much easier than just spilling out a stream of conscience onto the screen, and probably more interesting.

Edited July 27, 2013 by AbortedMan

[AbortedMan]

Here are my first hands-on impressions with Hooves on camera (It's really hard to talk and play a game you've been waiting ages for, by the way):

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QWlhoix6YU&feature=player_embedded

 

Apparently I'm dumb and cannot figure out how to properly embed the video, but here's the link.

Edited July 27, 2013 by AbortedMan

[LuftManu]

Really thanks for the Answer , man, I hope we can see more footage , like you said, Thanks for the video and the explain, also thans to Hooves

[=BKHZ=Furbs]

Cheers for the anwsers!

 

A few more off the top of my head...

 

View range of the landscape when up high?

What was the landscape like down low, any stutter? realistic feeling of speed?

Did you take any hits? hit sound? affects in cockpit?

 

Cheers.

[LuftManu]

Sorry for another post before you respond, here are some real questions

 

Are the colors right? I mean, I remember the Great feeling of the Clod sunset, and viewing the video I saw a nice blue sky,gave me some good feelings

 

Salute and thanks for your time!

Edited July 27, 2013 by =RDS=Manu_vc

[=BKHZ=Furbs]

Sorry for another post before you respond, here are some real questions

 

Are the colors right? I mean, I remember the Great feeling of the Clod sunset, and viewing the video I saw a nice blue sky,gave me some good feelings

 

Salute and thanks for your time!

 

 

Have a look at this vid...

 

[AbortedMan]

Cheers for the anwsers!

 

A few more off the top of my head...

 

View range of the landscape when up high?

What was the landscape like down low, any stutter? realistic feeling of speed?

Did you take any hits? hit sound? affects in cockpit?

 

Cheers.

 

View Range

The view range was absurdly far. It was literally as far as the eye could see in the daytime with no popping of anything coming into view, it just came into the world as it naturally would at the speed and visibility that it naturally would. This was a big surprise to me, as I didn't think the Digital Nature engine could do that yet. The evening time mission had appropriately less visibility due to the obvious nature of night time and fog that settles in during dusk hours, but it was all intentional, and not a slave to any limitations of FPS or draw distance.

 

The views up high still included everything you could see below, so there were no missing assets. Most notable during Loft's quick demo when he took control of the free, mouse controlled camera and took it up, up, up...probably around 25k ft, you could still see the fences, houses, all the trees, and no unrealistic draw distance "fog". The only thing that disappeared were the lights from the truck's headlights. I'm assuming the demo systems were pretty beefy, I'm hearing they had ATI 7890s (?), but not sure.

 

FPS/Stuttering

Absolutely zero stuttering at all when flying down low, or making a quick dive from high alt to the deck. The only stutter I noticed during the whole demo was when Loft quickly panned over to the 12 Katyushas all firing at once during the night mission.

 

Feeling of flight/speed

This is captured AMAZINGLY WELL and is everything I hoped it would be. I still regularly play IL2:1946 and, on occasion, a bit of CloD SP and the feel of BoS is easily on par with both. Those that have been playing War Thunder lately, as I have, can attest that a bad feeling of flight ruins the hell out of a flight simulator type game. No worries about that here.

 

Taking hits/Damage

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any damage from enemies, other than those damn anti-aircraft trees! In Requiem's write-up he noted that he took some cockpit damage and noticed dials and gauges being destroyed...you may want to ask him.

 

When hitting AI you can actually see their attempts at dealing with their "new" flight characteristics after taking damage then just saying "screw it" and bailing out. So I imagine the damage effect is pretty pronounced.

 

Sorry for another post before you respond, here are some real questions

 

Are the colors right? I mean, I remember the Great feeling of the Clod sunset, and viewing the video I saw a nice blue sky,gave me some good feelings

 

Salute and thanks for your time!

No apologies needed, keep the questions coming!

 

Colors/Temp

I imagine a lot of thought went into trying to turn a drab, black and white terrain into something interesting...1C/777 succeeded, imo. The colors greatly assist with the feeling of a vast, vast, (vast), and harsh terrain for a pilot ditching their aircraft. During the day, the sky is blue and bright against the white snow below, with the reflections on the frozen parts of snow drifts appropriately bouncing the sun at you. The evening/sunset looked very well done with the addition of the "snow/fog haze" that is in the pre-alpha. A pinkish hue was just over the horizon painting the sky as it does in the late-late hours of the day. There was a bit of "banding" in the different color shades and around the moon, but Loft noted that was a point of improvement and it is being fixed. I know what you're talking about when you mention CloD sunsets and I have no doubt BoS will capture the same feeling.

[71st_AH_Hooves]

I only have one question.  

 

How on EARTH can two GPS's right next to each other give such different readings...   And I heard there was a tunnel simulator, demo'd by you after the event..  

[71st_AH_Mastiff]

I only have one question.  

 

How on EARTH can two GPS's right next to each other give such different readings...   And I heard there was a tunnel simulator, demo'd by you after the event..  

that was classic when you guys told me that! I could just see some cop, or HS, "why is this car going back and forth threw this tunnel?"

[LukeFF]

Were the skins blanks plus decal-type markings?

 

I asked Loft about this, and he said they're still deciding how to go about this. In other words, it's not yet decided if the game will use a decal system like the original IL2.

 

My guess (based totally on my own supposition and no hints from 1CGS) is that we'll have default skins with national insignia only, upon which tactical markings will be applied.

[Hunziker]

Thank you ever so much for answering my questions and for reassuring me personally. Still a little unsure of myself here ,despite being one of the original game's  old timer brigade.

and for your further interesting feature discussions and point clarification throughout this post.

 

Just to let you and others who were there and had the chance to do this for the community , it is appreciated.

 

H

Edited July 28, 2013 by Hunziker

[SYN_Vander]

I asked Loft about this, and he said they're still deciding how to go about this. In other words, it's not yet decided if the game will use a decal system like the original IL2.

 

My guess (based totally on my own supposition and no hints from 1CGS) is that we'll have default skins with national insignia only, upon which tactical markings will be applied.

I hope so Luke! Now is the time to implement such a feature as there aren't that many aircraft in the game. But it will be difficult to retrofit a decal system when a lot of aircraft models have already been developed. When making the 3d model you have to account for the decals unless it's possible to implement a system where decals are added as a filter layer to the aircraft texture upon loading of the model in the game?

[Laser]

Have a look at this vid...

 

 

Wonder how many actually clicked on the above link   (as the forum, at least in my case, didn't show a preview and it was so easy to miss)

 

^ "Loft" Demonstrates some of the latest BoS lighting

Edited July 28, 2013 by Laser

[Uufflakke]

You guys noticed that car lights shine through canopy frame and wing?

 

I suppose it is not the BoS lighting LOFT is referring to.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2013 by Uufflakke

[=BKHZ=Furbs]

Spotted this question from "Zimmi"

 

"will there be some sort of turbulence effects when chasing an enemy plane at close distance?"
 

[71st_AH_Hooves]

You guys noticed that car lights shine through canopy frame and wing?

 

I suppose it is not the BoS lighting LOFT is referring to.

 

 

 

 

 

DOnt quote me, but those may be the ground target indicators.  I cannot quite remember if thats what they looked like, but I do remember them being small dots.  But either way GREAT EYE, any small things like that need sharp eyes to find so they can be fixed!   good work!

 

Ill have a look at some of the other footage i Have of me hitting a ground target.  But i think that footage was from one of the day missions.

Edited July 28, 2013 by Hooves

[LuftManu]

Thanks for the video! The lightingh looks fantastic, Great job of the Team, The lights remind me of the Lights of Arma 3, Great job

[flyingjulez]

Have you asked them about Oculus Rift support?

Edited July 28, 2013 by subzero

[FlatSpinMan]

Thanks for writing this up, AbortedMan. Hearing from guys like ourselves is always comforting.

 

I so hope they implement a decal system - it gives so much more flexibility, albeit at the cost of some historical variation.

[Recon]

Question: In the trailer they show strafing the ground targets and the 'spray' animations that occur.  Is that 'real' to the game or just some video editing?

[ITAF_Lynx11]

What kind of PC hardware were they using for those videos? 

[Racoon]

Does the plane structure suffers from torsion like in RoF ?

[AbortedMan]

Have you asked them about Oculus Rift support?

Hooves started many conversations during the press event with Loft and Jason about the OR and how awesome Hooves thought it was. Loft and Jason just received their dev kits, and they seem very receptive to the idea, but no announcements or info has been released yet.

 

Question: In the trailer they show strafing the ground targets and the 'spray' animations that occur.  Is that 'real' to the game or just some video editing?

I'm not exactly sure about to which you are referring...the "spray" meaning the dust and smoke/steam coming from the train? Unfortunately I didn't partake in any ground target missions or train strafing, but I did notice lots and lots of dirt and snow being kicked up when I shot the ground. You can see this in my "first look" video linked earlier in this thread.

 

What kind of PC hardware were they using for those videos? 

I'm not sure what the specs of the computer they were using were, but I hear the video cards were a single ATI 7890. They also had a triple screen setup that ran just as beautifully as the single screen systems and their towers/innards looked identical from the chassis window, but again, I'm not sure.

 

Does the plane structure suffers from torsion like in RoF ?

I don't believe it was in the pre-alpha just yet, but I would guess the structural nuances that are in RoF are sure to be in BoS.

 

 

Spotted this question from "Zimmi"

 

"will there be some sort of turbulence effects when chasing an enemy plane at close distance?"
 

No info on that that I could find at the press event, but I remember a Friday update that showcased the dev team going up in metered aircraft to demonstrate the effects of vortices and other wind turbulance for use with in-game data.

[Freycinet]

Just one question: is it true that Loft and Jason got into a fight over that redhead booth babe they were both seen snogging at different times during the evening, and if yes, what repercussions do you think it will have for their future cooperation on the sim? ;-)

[Zorin]

Just one question: is it true that Loft and Jason got into a fight over that redhead booth babe they were both seen snogging at different times during the evening, and if yes, what repercussions do you think it will have for their future cooperation on the sim? ;-)

 

How I disapprove of "booth babes", they are only there for nerdy guys to stare at titts.. I mean, how low can both sexes fall to enjoy something like that? Don't get me wrong, I don't mind good looking people to present a product, but they really have to prove to me that they know what they are talking about/selling or otherwise they better stay home and don't bother me.

[71st_AH_Hooves]

How I disapprove of "booth babes", they are only there for nerdy guys to stare at titts.. I mean, how low can both sexes fall to enjoy something like that? Don't get me wrong, I don't mind good looking people to present a product, but they really have to prove to me that they know what they are talking about/selling or otherwise they better stay home and don't bother me.

Jesus man, I swear you wake up in the morning and are like  "AH WTF is this AIR im breathing, this is garbage, I want pure oxygen, or im not breathing anymore"    for god sakes quit complaining incessantly, its getting SUPER old.

[Jason_Williams]

Just one question: is it true that Loft and Jason got into a fight over that redhead booth babe they were both seen snogging at different times during the evening, and if yes, what repercussions do you think it will have for their future cooperation on the sim? ;-)

 

I'm happily married. :-) They were nice ladies.

 

Jason

Play nice everyone or I'll start deleting stuff.

[leitmotiv]

To me it looked like guys manage to teach some of "booth babes" how to play, maybe well see them in game in MP

[9./JG52Lopp]

Thanks for all the info. Really want this Sim to do well!

[Mastermariner]

The vids are great and Lofts impersonation of Borat is just priceless.

 

Master

[Pupo]

You guys noticed that car lights shine through canopy frame and wing?

 

I suppose it is not the BoS lighting LOFT is referring to.

 

 

 

 

 

this is defenetly a bug, since i've noticed all over the videos. some city lights also appear to the frame. For some reason this bug is omnipresent in every early development game i've seen. BF3, cliffs of dover also had(have) similar problems with object been seen throw cockpits, terain, clouds etc. I also had a friend who studies CS, he was developing a 3d open GL pacman, he spent a lot of time tryign to fix a similar bug, where lights would cross throw walls in special ocasions.

 

This is the bigest bug i can spot in a ALFA release. So i guess its really good.

[150GCT_Veltro]

The russian pilot detail is insane, a lot better than RoF! (4'27'').

 

Great work guys!

[79_vRAF_Friendly_flyer]

The russian pilot detail is insane, a lot better than RoF! (4'27'').

 

Great work guys!

 

Yeah, the pilot model looks really good!

[Flanker15]

Some good infos here, thanks AM.

[eklund]

Sorry if this can be found somewhere else.

 

Did they mention anything about how the game will be distributed? I read somewhere that they would not use steam. Do you have any information regarding this?