Developer Diary, Part 151 - Discussion

[Rjel]

I don't think I'll bother flying over Stalingrad or Moscow ever again after this is released.

Amazing.

I'd have to agree. Stalingrad and Moscow won't be seeing much action for quite a while. These screenshots look great.

[THERION]

Wow! Looking great - tremendous work! I love it.

 

Thank you very much...

[kissklas]

Holy cra...bsticks!

 

This looks fantastic.

 

Is the sea just in game shaders? Lighting on the surface looks great! So, good work on shader and maps there! And tesselation!

 

Also the fir trees... and everything else... I love this game.

[II/JG11_ATLAN_VR]

LOVE IT  

[Mmaruda]

I just saw the Facebooks... I am in awe. I really am! With all the great things in the pipeline and the recent updates (A5 is my waifu now) I think we are in for a great year.

 

However, and I hope the devs read this as this is important:

 

Dear Devs,

 

Our relationship has been a mixed bag. I loved you, then I was disappointed, then I was angry and you were angry. But I have managed to calm down enjoy what we had and you saw that and got more involved. You have done real good, righted the wrongs and promised to give more and I also promised to give more and happily handed over the credit card. And we are both happy now and love is blooming and you do your best to nurture and grow this fruit of our relationship and I do my best to keep it safe and take good care of it and not crash it flying low over treetops at max angle of attack. So please, we have come this far, the world is our oyster now and it seems that nothing can this wonderful thing... Anyway, what I am trying to say here is, you'd really have to try very hard to screw anything up at this point, so please don't. Divorce lawyers are quite expensive these days.  

 

Anyway, jokes aside, great stuff. Looking forward to flying over them mountains - fast, low and at max angle of attack. Don't worry, I got this. And I'm sure you got this as well.

 

:fly:

[Goanna1]

These first map screen shots, and ships/water, should definitely help sell the Battle of Kuban to more sim-pilots out there in cyberspace.

Good move guys--I can't wait till we get more tempting landscape images and ships.

[JG4_Sputnik]

Perhaps "it's just OK" wasn't the most productive or useful comment. As an artist and someone who creates 3D assets, not to mention a long time customer who sees the quality of what is being produced, I found your comment less than useful and far from necessary given those gorgeous screenies.

 

Sure, have an opinion, but next time, consider politely asking a specific question about the area that concerns you.

As it stands - you had that coming.

 

Hope this helps

 

 

Haha I saw that coming from a mile! But think about that, the fact alone that there are some people (me for example) that don't automaticaly praise every single screenshot the devs put out is a value itself - it shows that they might not be solely "bautiful, best devs and best screenshots ever seen" but there are also other opinions which are exactly worth the same your opinion is. Believe it or not. Can be hard for some people to understand that, that's why I explain it to you. You're welcome

 

I think the lighting and especially the trees do no look as good as I've thought they would. As I've said, I'd imagined a bigger leap from BoS to BoK. If that was smart or realistic is debatable   If I like something very much then I write that - and there's much to like on BoS and BoM. That's not the point.

There are too many people like you on the internet who don't understand that there can be different opinions without fighting. Everything that is not the mainstream opinion is an attack (on what exactely?) And I don't let this forum become property of such "toxic" people like you. So that's one more reason I'll be staying.

 

Other than that, good job devs, as I've said, the rivers to me look better than in "other sims". Looking forward to see more of the new map.

 

Cheers

 

@von Luck; thanks for trying 

[JG300_Olrik]

Wow! Beautiful !

[kissklas]

I think the lighting and especially the trees do no look as good as I've thought they would. As I've said, I'd imagined a bigger leap from BoS to BoK.

I think this is due to the contrast between ground and tree texture. The normal map might be a bit strong on the ground too. Realism is a pain in games. Uncanny is only a step away what ever you do.

 

I think it looks brilliant for what it is. The entire region is modelled and populated with vegitation, the sea has a fantastic shader(and volume physics? Or is that coming in the Pacific?).

 

Lighting in my eyes look really good.

[Gambit21]

the fact alone that there are some people (me for example) that don't automaticaly praise every single screenshot the devs put out is a value itself

You should consider the reality that most of our praise is genuine rather than "automatic"

Using that term you're basically saying that our encouragement and kudos are basically mindless and therefore meaningless. Yet your non "automatic" response is of substantial "value" Excuse me while I GUFFAW. Words matter - choose the right ones.

 

I'm not going to dignify the rest of your silly typing with a response.

[216th_Jordan]

Thats an epic job! Brilliant work! I will love to do low level flights there

[Jason_Williams]

Knock it off Sputnik and Gambit. You are both out of line.

 

Jason

[Gambit21]

Thats an epic job! Brilliant work! I will love to do low level flights there

Used to love creating missions where you come in low over the water and pop up over the mountains and into the valleys beyond to attack convoys and such. Looking forward to re-creating those missions this new map.

[LLv44_Damixu]

Are we going to have torpedo loadouts on some bombers to knock these war barges down? =D

[HippyDruid]

Looking pretty. 

I like the ships very much. As already mentioned - I hope we can pilot a couple of them one day.

 

Good work dudes!

[=38=Tatarenko]

It's all fantastic but those new rivers are breath-taking. Can't wait. IL-2 country

[Beazil]

I saw the update wasn't a version update and briefly I was disappointed.

 

Then I saw the screen shots. And I thought those look pretty damned good.

 

Then I thought about flying through that terrain or dropping bombs on those boats in vr.

 

Then I wished it was a patch thread again.

 

I also thought about some of the other planes coming with Kuban, and got excited again. Yes, life is an emotional roller coaster over here. Thanks for giving us these development updates with all the busy work you do.

We have a lot to look forward to.

Thanks for the update.

[Finkeren]

Are we going to have torpedo loadouts on some bombers to knock these war barges down? =D

Not for BoK initially, but they are coming as part of development of the first Pacific chapter amd might (mind you, I said "might") retroactively be added to BoK.

[Missionbug]

I think what always impressed me the most with the Il-2 series is just how well the time of day is portrayed in all of the iterations of the game be it the original, Clod or this one.

 

The original maps were and still are terrible apart form a few notable exceptions such as Slovakia and a few others but that feeling of where you were at any one time be it summer, winter, 

night or day made up for it in the immersion factor and that I think is still true here with what we see in this latest update.

 

The ROF maps never quite impressed me, although the addition of the Channel map brought that really amazing water effect that seems to be what is in the pictures presented in this update.

 

Making anything for this genre is always a very difficult and painful undertaking, whether doing it for a living or modding it, those of us that heap praise on this particular venture have experience of what the development team do so maybe we better understand that nothing will ever be perfection unlike most of the customers who expect just that.

 

You are dammed whatever you do, I guess, it will never be up to a standard some imagine it should be but if you look around at other games it comes very close to what is already out there on various other platforms.

 

Should there be critique, yes, certainly.  Keep them on their toes and stop them getting all high and mighty by all means but give credit where it is due, this particular game I think is going in the right direction and is better than most for the money we have had to pay out.

 

Anyway, let us see how this thing progresses as the year goes on, it is looking good so far even if not quite up to the expectations of some.

 

Wishing you all the very best, Pete,

[dhillr]

Great work guys. Rivers, mountains and valleys.. I miss them.

[Mastermariner]

Coming along nicely, but the water is too much like ‘chrome’ (been there, seen that). Otherwise the most important graphic feature of a air-sim when it comes to attacking ships is the ships wakes as they will give away speed and course.

 

 

Master

[Beazil]

Oh but that water tho.... if the channel tech we saw was any indication of what we might be in for, this is gonna be schweet.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Beazil

[Danziger]

The detail of the rivers and streams looks way more fine tuned and realistic than before. I can't wait to be on a ship plowing through a stormy sea

[pilotpierre]

Thumb up troopers

Edited March 11, 2017 by pilotpierre

[Feathered_IV]

Fantastic work. It really does look great to me.

 

Looking at that top-down view of the landscape, I can't help but think what an amazing job you would do of the Markham river in New Guinea!

Edited March 11, 2017 by Feathered_IV

[Avimimus]

That is really beautiful and technically marvellous terrain work!

 

The map looks really promising.. I just hope for some driveable torp boats like the G5s.. ever since the channel map I´ve wanted boats!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In8deQTpu5U

 

I know right!

 

This almost seems possible given th fact that:

1) they have a hydrodynamic model from Rise of Flight,

2) the G-5 was actually based on a scaled up airplane float, and

3) there is already programming for driveable vehicles.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Avimimus

[Pail]

 

 

Not for BoK initially, but they are coming

 

That's a bit disappointing. So we get new water but nothing that interacts with it ?

 

I said elsewhere https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/28013-moar-h16-loadouts/?do=findComment&comment=449399 that we should at least get parachute mines/air dropped sea mines. I think they would be an interesting variation and not incredibly difficult to

 

implement...

 

Imagine trapping the destroyer or other vessels with sea mines....

[AndyJWest]

A driveable G5 torpedo boat would certainly be nice. Though tricky to use:

 

The two torpedoes were carried in troughs set into the rear deck in a manner derived from that used by the British WW I-era coastal motor boats captured by the Soviets during Russian Civil War. The torpedoes were shoved out the back of the trough by an arbor with a bell-shaped head that was activated by an explosive charge, but the torpedo motor was not activated until a wire trailing from the boat snapped, giving the boat time to turn away from the target. This launching system was very light, but it required additional training to properly aim the torpedo and prior coordination when making massed torpedo attacks to prevent the boats from ramming each other or the torpedoes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-5-class_motor_torpedo_boat

 

Despite its obvious self-torpedoing potential, I'd suggest it would make a worthy addition to BoK if the developers ever feel like 'testing the water'. 

[Finkeren]

That's a bit disappointing. So we get new water but nothing that interacts with it ?

 

I said elsewhere https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/28013-moar-h16-loadouts/?do=findComment&comment=449399 that we should at least get parachute mines/air dropped sea mines. I think they would be an interesting variation and not incredibly difficult to

 

implement...

 

Imagine trapping the destroyer or other vessels with sea mines....

It's a question of ressources. The devs had to lay out a plan for the development of BoK that made sense financially and some things were bound to be cut.

 

Making things like torpedoes and mines interact with water might not be the hardest thing to do, but it is still a teach that doesn't exist in the sim yet and would require time and manpower to make.

[AndyJWest]

I don't think that droppable sea mines would get much use in-game: they were normally deployed in shipping lanes and intended to sink ships long after the aircraft had gone. Not only would trying to sink a ship by dropping mines immediately in its path be unhistorical, it would be rather pointless, since if you are going to get that close you might as well use bombs or torpedoes.

[Pail]

My point is that sea mines should be really easy. We have a cargo parachute (I think). They would not generally be visible in the water and work on proximity... Not at all comparable to torpedo mechanics.

 

The Heinkel 111 H16 needs something to do besides fail at level bombing ships...

 

@AndyJWest ...for some reason the quote/copy thing isn't working... The other discussion I linked has a link to historical use of parachute mines in the area. http://www.military.com/Content/MoreContent?file=PRbatcher2

 

What you are saying is unhistorical is entirely up to the mission maker.... Mines are so you don't have to go quite so close...and you don't necessarily expect to see the result.

[Pail]

A perhaps relevant thing is that "These were in actual fact Sea mines, but it was quickly discovered by the Germans that these weapons could also be effective on land based targets as "blast" bombs."

 

http://www.ww2airdroppedordnance.com/german-parachute-mines---bombs.html

 

And from wikipedia "After the parachute opened, the mine would descend at around 40 miles per hour (64 km/h). If it came down on land, a clockwork mechanism would detonate the mine 25 seconds after impact. If the mine landed in water it would sink to the bottom. If the depth was greater than 8 feet (2.4 m), water pressure and the dissolving of a water–soluble plug would deactivate the clockwork time-detonator, and activate an anti-shipping detonator. These were initially magnetic detonators but later, acoustic or magnetic/acoustic detonators could be fitted.

[=EXPEND=Capt_Yorkshire]

cool.

[Pail]

.....And if I could harp on it a little more...

 

It gives the potential for different kinds of objectives ie block shipping channels, search patterns with a secondary objective of dropping mines, missions that people who are 'inefficient' with level bombing can complete effectively (thereby encouraging people who might not fly bombers normally to give them a go.... without being a re-supply mission...)

 

It adds potential to the game and enhances its product differentiation.....

Edited March 11, 2017 by Pail

[Froddi_VR]

Looks very good! Will be fun to fly over such terrain! And im looking forward to some anti shipping action.

[andyw248]

Are we going to have torpedo loadouts on some bombers to knock these war barges down? =D

 

It seems some of these destroyers got knocked out by Stukas.

[Riderocket]

Amazing

[Cybermat47]

(A5 is my waifu now)

 

A-5-chan is best grill.

 

[Feathered_IV]

I don't think that droppable sea mines would get much use in-game: they were normally deployed in shipping lanes and intended to sink ships long after the aircraft had gone. Not only would trying to sink a ship by dropping mines immediately in its path be unhistorical, it would be rather pointless, since if you are going to get that close you might as well use bombs or torpedoes.

Droppable sea mines would work well if points are awarded more for placing them in the correct location, than un-historically dropping them right on top of a ship.

[lurch9494]

Brilliant progress as usual guys! Kuban is shaping up to be something special ☺