Developer Diary, Part 178 - Discussion

[Uufflakke]

I'm on my mobile telephone so I seriously had to zoom and squint to tell if that was a screen over Kuban or a real photograph.

 

Exactly my thoughts after watching the image on my tablet.

[Yakdriver]

These clouds will turn Il-2 into a deadly game of hide and seek.

I´m [edited]
XD
 

what are swedish meatballs?
Saab Tunnan?
*confused*

Edited November 4, 2017 by SYN_Haashashin

[SvAF/F16_Goblin]

Great update as usual As a Swede I really like the skin :D

[F/JG300_Gruber]

I just noticed on the P39 screenshot that the shadow of the upper cloud is also projected on the cloud below it.

 

Just awesome !

[[APAF]VR_Spartan85]

It's cloud-ception

[dburne]

Wow, the clouds look amazing!

 

Really looking forward to this along with the increased rendering distance!!

[LLv24_Zami]

Looks great, as usual!

[scrapmetal]

Clouds are one of my favorite features of this game. Immersion in VR would not be the same without it. I'm beyond excited to see the improvements in the next update. Thank you very much!

[HenHawk]

Almost time to delete reshade/sweetfx from my game folder? Looks fantastic!

[ER*Wumme]

These clouds will turn Il-2 into a deadly game of hide and seek

I hope WOL and  other servers will implement this great , new feature. 

Finally our bombers will have the chance to escape..

Now only waiting and spotting at 5000 m and killing machines at lower Level will be history or at least more difficult .

 

Han and Team : Great update ,  VR and now different cloud layers ,wonderful

Edited November 4, 2017 by JG54Wumme

[SC_Manu653]

No and no ! Really 2 layers of clouds !

 

I'm thinking already how hard will be to hunt sneaky fighters between 2 layers of clouds.

 

In fact it will be totally a new environment for fighting.

 

Thank you Dev to bring more depth !

[ITAF_Rani]

Great like always !!

[1/JSpan_Wind75]

Again a great job from the entire 777 team.

 

One of the things that I have always liked about RoF and this new saga of IL-2 has been the graphic quality that makes it believable to fly in its landscapes. Yes, I like these improvements in the graphics and their visibility.

 

Those of us with somewhat outdated equipment, like mine, will have to change PCs? Well, it takes a while to move the sim with agility as it is now. Will there be an option to lower the visual quality in the configuration panel?

 

A great job!! 

[MadisonV44]

Great Update, multi layers clouds is a great improvement and it opens a great new variety in the gameplay for sure ! Many thanks for the hard work described in the last developers diary !!!!  

 

By the way, will this fix two visuals bug related to clouds that we have today ?  

1 - flickering of high resolution of the planes over clouds

2 - concentric effects of the sky dome that appears in 2.12, see here :  https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/12255-graphics-models-and-maps/?p=497533

[Jaws2002]

 

 

It is interesting to note that we were able to recreate one of the real life effects - the Earth projecting its shadow on the opposite to the setting sun part of the sky).

 

 

Great news.  I remember talking about this lighting effects back before the game was release in this thread:

https://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/200-natural-light-atmosphere-rendering/

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are third party programs that could do all the natural light scattering effects, for the game. CLOD uses one such a third party software. 

 

Here's a little video that shows how it works on a globe like map:

http://www-ljk.imag....64b69/video.avi

 

 The problem is that CLOD map is round like a globe and BOS map is flat. I don't think those programs work with a flat map. The soft shadow projected by the planet looks good. I bet there was a lot of work to trick the lighting engine to work around the flat surface of the map. I'm really curious to see how it feels flying around at dusk and dawn . 

  This was one aspect of CLOD that is still unmatched in flight sims. I think some of the new space sims have now this effects. 

 

 

 

The second new feature is related to the look of the bare metal parts on various aircraft - in the future, we plan to make planes that weren't painted and had a polished or matte aluminum finish. The metal parts on lend-lease planes P-40E-1, Spitfire Mk.Vb, P-39L-1 and A-20B and Italian MC.202 ser.8 (which also has a bare metal skin) will look even more realistic and authentic.

 

We had this effects in ROF. Good to see them coming back.   It's sad it took years to bring the game back in it's natural direction. 

Edited November 4, 2017 by Jaws2002

[keeno]

Beautiful!

 

Looking absolutely stunning.

 

Thanks

[Albino]

I rarely jump into the dev-diary discussion anymore because there's little unique praise I can offer. However as of today, all the major items on my private wishlist of improvements has been addressed. What with the layered clouds, increased draw distance and new campaign system (not to mention all the other work done to date) all I wish for now is the continued success of the product. 

 

1CGS/777 have steadily transformed their engine into a state of the art piece of technology. I hope that it forms the basis of many new IL-2 theatres, and perhaps some tank, jet or ROF2 products in future.

 

Well done team. When the budget allows, IL-2 will be a major driver for me to upgrade my rig and adopt VR.

 

Regards

 

Albino

[19//Moach]

Just amazing...  Absolutely breathtaking

 

 

If I may voice it, however, I do have one small critique about the general look of the water surfaces. 

 

Beautiful though it appears, I find that there isn't enough shadow to the water, especially at distance.   The highlights are indeed thoroughly convincing and very water-like, yet there is an "ethereal", almost fantasy-like quality to it, for there are no darker shades where the crevices between the rippling waves catch and trap the light.

 

In other words, it looks a tad "too soft"  in my opinion. Almost mirror-like at distance, the water looks similar to what one sees in photographs taken from ten kilometers above, but at an altitude at only one or two.

 

this picture illustrates my point:

 

 

Note the shade produced by the ripples.  This photo appears to have been taken shortly after takeoff, at an altitude roughly somewhere around 2km up.   These are the altitudes most action in our MP games tend to occur at (dogfights quickly end up on the deck, whenever prolonged) 

 

This illustrates my observation that the ingame water does indeed represent the highlight effects well enough, yet the shadows seem somewhat underdone, giving out an overly calm look to waters even when they are somewhat rougher.  

 

These ripples are quite elusive, however.  When photographed in still, they tend to under-represent themselves, whereas in motion they are somewhat more perceptible.  They are also quite significantly "deeper" when viewed at a shallow angle, such as towards the horizon and/or at lower altitude.

 

 

It's a subtle thing.  Very subtle.  Overall, the game's water is quite amazing to behold as it stands, yet it is only almost completely life-like.  The ever-so-slight "undershading" of the ripples makes for an unreal, magical quality to them.  Something more strongly sensed than seen perhaps.    

 

 

 

Anyways, great work so far.  I'm basically nit-picking at this point, of course. Trying to get "more perfect" out of near-enough perfection.

Edited November 5, 2017 by 19//Moach

[Raptorattacker]

The metal effect is a brilliant upgrade. Being a skinner I can already feel the creative juices a-flowin'!! Thankyou guys.

[Fish]

That screenshot of Yak cockpit taken at dusk... fantastic!

Am I the only one to notice some random smudges on plexiglas?

It could be fingerprints or dried rain drops, makes it look like a photo.

Great job!

[DD_Arthur]

Another great dev diary.

 

Enhancing the clouds is very good news and does this mean we'll be able to skin this?

 

 

[Freycinet]

what are swedish meatballs?

Saab Tunnan?

*confused*

 

[Field-Ops]

I wana see the Sweede skin added for the Machi Officially now 

[ITAF_Rani]

Historically speaking could be interesting to see the new bare matal skin for the upcoming Bf109 G6.

 

Here the story:

http://falkeeins.blogspot.it/2010/04/kurt-gablers-jg300-bf-109g-6-natural.html?m=1

Edited November 6, 2017 by ITAF_Rani

[A_radek]

 

The inner välfärd in me is growing big now.

 

When will we get the glorious Swedish air force during WW2? J 22, Saab 21, Saab B3 and Saab B17.

 

 

What map would this be? 

[Raptorattacker]

Another great dev diary.

 

Enhancing the clouds is very good news and does this mean we'll be able to skin this?

 

 

Now I'd be up for a bit of metallic skinning... or should I say 'Aluminial'?

I wana see the Sweede skin added for the Machi Officially now 

Why dontchya do one? 

[ITAF_Rani]

Ok I modify the post

[Styx13]

Yes, great job. 

 

But for me the carreer mode (and maybe the correction of the AI) is more important.

 

Graphically the sim is already far the best ever created.  

[PatCartier]

Hi all,

is it possible to know an even approximate date of release for the metallic skins ?

[Wedgewood]

Just amazing...  Absolutely breathtaking

 

 

If I may voice it, however, I do have one small critique about the general look of the water surfaces. 

 

Beautiful though it appears, I find that there isn't enough shadow to the water, especially at distance.   The highlights are indeed thoroughly convincing and very water-like, yet there is an "ethereal", almost fantasy-like quality to it, for there are no darker shades where the crevices between the rippling waves catch and trap the light.

 

In other words, it looks a tad "too soft"  in my opinion. Almost mirror-like at distance, the water looks similar to what one sees in photographs taken from ten kilometers above, but at an altitude at only one or two.

 

this picture illustrates my point:

 

 

Note the shade produced by the ripples.  This photo appears to have been taken shortly after takeoff, at an altitude roughly somewhere around 2km up.   These are the altitudes most action in our MP games tend to occur at (dogfights quickly end up on the deck, whenever prolonged) 

 

This illustrates my observation that the ingame water does indeed represent the highlight effects well enough, yet the shadows seem somewhat underdone, giving out an overly calm look to waters even when they are somewhat rougher.  

 

These ripples are quite elusive, however.  When photographed in still, they tend to under-represent themselves, whereas in motion they are somewhat more perceptible.  They are also quite significantly "deeper" when viewed at a shallow angle, such as towards the horizon and/or at lower altitude.

 

 

It's a subtle thing.  Very subtle.  Overall, the game's water is quite amazing to behold as it stands, yet it is only almost completely life-like.  The ever-so-slight "undershading" of the ripples makes for an unreal, magical quality to them.  Something more strongly sensed than seen perhaps.    

 

 

 

Anyways, great work so far.  I'm basically nit-picking at this point, of course. Trying to get "more perfect" out of near-enough perfection.

 

I think it depends on the Dev's intent on how the Sim world should be perceived.  Photographs have much more contrast than real life and shadows always seem much darker when photographed.  The average camera has only 12 stops of Dynamic Range from pure black to pure white while the human eye has 20 stops.  This means that a soft scene with very light shadows can appear to be contrasty with dark shadows when photographed.  If the Devs were to try to mimic the world as if it were photographed than it wouldn't appear to be realistic to the eye as there would be much darker shadows and much brighter highlights.  On another note if the devs soften the contrast for a more HDR(high dynamic range) look it will seem more like what we would see with our eyes but would not match any photographs.  also keep in mind that the black and white level in photos are adjusted to give a pleasing image but not necessarily an exact representation off what our eyes will see.  If you stand in front of a shadowed treeline with a back lit sky you can still see details in the shadows on the treeline with your eyes.  If you take a photo of the same scene the treeline will be very dark and sometimes entirely black due to the low dynamic range of cameras.

 

So the big question is, are the Devs trying to represent a "real" or "photographed" world.

Edited November 29, 2017 by Wedgewood