Developer Diary, Part 47

[Freycinet]

For such a big city it looks so... empty.

But I guess you guys left a lot of buildings and details out for playability/ performance reasons?

 

During the winter fighting the city was just about empty of civilians. Also, every soldier who poked his head out would be in the crosshairs of an enemy sniper. Amazing screenies of this hallowed ground (for every Russian). Thanks and happy new year to the developers!

[kestrel79]

Looking very good. I like how wartorn the buildings look. Looks like a battle is going on there.

[LLv24_Zami]

Looks great! I have enjoyed BoS very much so far . Good work

[Phantom-103]

Thank You

[flyingjulez]

textures of the buildings esp. normal houses need to be higher. Other than that looks pretty good so far.

[skline00]

Thank you for extending the time to January 5, 2014. With the holidays it gets tough to find the time.

[rolikiraly]

Nice to see i'm not the only one playing RO2 here 

Map seems nice, with a bit more burning buildings it would be even better (now it's more like if it depicted the city a month after the battle)

Keep up the good work!!

[Bassly]

Looking good! 

[71st_AH_Hooves]

Def looking forward to playing on that large map. This is going to be a long 2 weeks until we see that. But at least i can try out that 37 mil cannon!

[JG4_Sputnik]

Looks good but a bit sterile imho. Looks like still the weekest part of the RoF engine is the landscape in general. I hope that some talented modders could add some more details and hand placed objects to it.

 

Its good to finally see the citty though, thanks and have a nice hollyday

[UberDemon]

I am truly amazed at the little details... the firing sequence on the engines... the pilot breathing...  the amazing graphics...  the vehicles (leaps and bounds from where the original IL-2 static moving vehicles were)...

 

little by little I am getting more excited about the full release.  The price for the deluxe early access was a little stiff, and I had to sweet talk the lady, but I got it... plus I realize this is a niche market, etc... glad to help the developers, but the price is a concern nevertheless.

[LukeFF]

Looks good but a bit sterile imho. Looks like still the weekest part of the RoF engine is the landscape in general. I hope that some talented modders could add some more details and hand placed objects to it.

 

It never ceases to amaze that, even though it's been repeatedly explained that the game is only 1/3rd of the way complete and is still in early alpha, that people are already calling for modders to fix things. 

[W_Braun]

Just boguht the game, LOVE IT, but one thing about the rudder though. Is the 109 rudder suppose to have that much authority?

[JG4_Sputnik]

It never ceases to amaze that, even though it's been repeatedly explained that the game is only 1/3rd of the way complete and is still in early alpha, that people are already calling for modders to fix things. 

I bet it doesn look much different in the release the game is 1/3 ready yes, but believe me the city is about 9/10. it just looks static as the RoF cities do, this wont change.

The overall look is set I believe, the same is true for the airplane models and trucks and stuff (wich are good to me).

 

I dont think it looks bad, i really like the textures on the ground but as I said, the city itself looks very lifeless to me (as they do in most sims btw). And some dedicated mods could build or place some objects that make the city more vivid.

So dont shush everybody who dare to not praise every little detail from the sim, thanks.

[71st_AH_Hooves]

Finally I got some hits on the tanks with that HUGE cannon! Shredded em like cheese man!!!   VERy cool.

Now time to get some HUNS!!! 

[Fodder]

Probably won't be popular saying this, but possibly the weakest release so far. The two cannons don't add much - I've not been able to kill a tank with the 37mm (should I be able to?) And it isn't necessary for the trucks. Still the extended access is very welcome. Be nice to get some feedback on various suggestions / complaints voiced here. Any plans to change the dot distance thing for instance?

 

Despite what I said above I'm still happy. Xxxx

[Tr.Gr.186_Schutze]

I hope in the final version there will be more smoke in city, more buildings, sounds of battle at low altitude. otherwise it looks very good and more realistical then cities in il2.

[71st_AH_Hooves]

Probably won't be popular saying this, but possibly the weakest release so far. The two cannons don't add much - I've not been able to kill a tank with the 37mm (should I be able to?) And it isn't necessary for the trucks. Still the extended access is very welcome. Be nice to get some feedback on various suggestions / complaints voiced here. Any plans to change the dot distance thing for instance?

Despite what I said above I'm still happy. Xxxx

I killed both the stug and the second tank (name?) In the column with that 37mm monster.

[Kuro-Nezumi]

High calibre weapons. OOOOOOOOOOOO! Tomorrow morning will be fun, hehehehehehehe!

[Fodder]

I hit the middle tank right up the back-side and nothing happened. Guess I'll try again tomorrow.

[BeastyBaiter]

Probably won't be popular saying this, but possibly the weakest release so far. The two cannons don't add much - I've not been able to kill a tank with the 37mm (should I be able to?) And it isn't necessary for the trucks. Still the extended access is very welcome. Be nice to get some feedback on various suggestions / complaints voiced here. Any plans to change the dot distance thing for instance?

 

Despite what I said above I'm still happy. Xxxx

 

I doubt they got much done this week. I honestly wasn't expecting anything new in this period, figured they'd all be on vacation.

[FuriousMeow]

 but believe me the city is about 9/10.

 

Why? You don't have any inside information otherwise.

 

The map design is not what gives the city life, it's the missions and their designers. That's the way it's always been done. You take any basic map and it's bland and lifeless in ANY game until you add mission parameters, AI units, etc.

 

Map making builds the basic sandbox, the activity/"life" within it is done by mission design and always will be.

Edited December 27, 2013 by FuriousMeow

[StG2_Manfred]

I hit the middle tank right up the back-side and nothing happened. Guess I'll try again tomorrow.

Same for me in they 109 with MG 151/20. And I also hit a tank with a 250 kg bomb directly into it's side. The explosion happened then a sek later when the tank was 1m away - nothing happened, the tank drove happily away. I'm not a bomb expert, but I would expect the tank to brake.

[[JG2]Surf]

I swear...circling the village in my LaGG 3, searching for moving ground targets, with the sound of the wind on the aircraft is pure simulation bliss. Got my first A/G kills on a group of trucks using the 37mm cannon. It was very obvious when those rounds hit, and the burning hulks illuminated the surrounding area long after the kills.

 

Now, all I need is pitch trim and a functioning VSI and I'm good.

[Emgy]

I hit the middle tank right up the back-side and nothing happened. Guess I'll try again tomorrow.

Maybe you already use it, but there's an option to exclusively load AP rounds, if you click the loadout textbox.

[Uufflakke]

Looks good but a bit sterile imho. Looks like still the weekest part of the RoF engine is the landscape in general. I hope that some talented modders could add some more details and hand placed objects to it.

 

Its good to finally see the citty though, thanks and have a nice hollyday

 

Stalingrad looks sterile because soldiers seemed to have cleaned up debris after bombardments?

I see damaged houses but no debris and rubble around. Just black and white scorched facades.

 

When it comes to talented modders they should hire or contact a guy like Canonuk. Mostly on his own he created in his spare time the huge and highly populated English Channel map for modded IL2.

Created literally dozens and dozens of objects and simulated human activity by adding things like the typical English phone boots, streetsigns and so forth. It all looked very lifelike.

Also his damaged houseblocks had debris in and around the houses. That was way back in 2009/2010.

Not to mention his WIP Stalingrad map with the grain elevator and tractor factory.

I don't know till how far the BoS Stalingrad map is at the moment but it can't be too dificult for the Dev team to add the debris and rubble.

Take a look at original WWII Stalingrad images and you see soldiers climbing up and down heaps of rubble all the time.

 

I do hope that a lot of objects will be added to the BoS map before release. To me personally it looks quite generic. And empty. For a big city.

 

Seeing it from the positive side: Launchday is in May 2014.

So a lot might change. Who knows.

Edited December 27, 2013 by Uufflakke

[beepee]

Looking great! And more weapons to play with = .

 

Thanks, and Happy New Year to all!

 

[Feathered_IV]

That Ro2 screenshot doesn't handle the snow too well.  It looks less than an inch deep and there's nothing on the roofs.  The BoS one looks a lot better in that respect.

[CCG_Pips]

That Ro2 screenshot doesn't handle the snow too well.  It looks less than an inch deep and there's nothing on the roofs.  The BoS one looks a lot better in that respect.

 

The RO2 screenshpy does not handle snow, because there is no snow on that RO2 map. Simply

[LukeFF]

I bet it doesn look much different in the release the game is 1/3 ready yes, but believe me the city is about 9/10. it just looks static as the RoF cities do, this wont change.

The overall look is set I believe, the same is true for the airplane models and trucks and stuff (wich are good to me).

 

I dont think it looks bad, i really like the textures on the ground but as I said, the city itself looks very lifeless to me (as they do in most sims btw). And some dedicated mods could build or place some objects that make the city more vivid.

So dont shush everybody who dare to not praise every little detail from the sim, thanks.

 

Right, so you know exactly what the map is going to look like when the game goes gold next year, and you somehow know the map is 90% complete right now. Got it. 

 

P.S. The only thing I'm "shushing" is these inane comments from people who somehow think that 35% complete game = game on release day. Not to mention, posting comments (especially at this stage of development) about how community mods would look better than what's been shown to us doesn't exactly encourage the team.

Finally I got some hits on the tanks with that HUGE cannon! Shredded em like cheese man!!!   VERy cool.

Now time to get some HUNS!!! 

 

Yeah, that 37mm gun is nice, but it requires a very steady hand. It looks really awesome seeing a panzer blow up behind you as you roll out from your attack run!

Edited December 28, 2013 by LukeFF

[blackbaron]

Thank you 777!!

[Zorin]

The resolution of the skins for the buildings looks really low and not having shadows does make it even worse. I hope there is still some room for improvement. Though the general layout looks quite convincing.

[Heywooood]

I hit the middle tank right up the back-side and nothing happened. Guess I'll try again tomorrow.

only way to kill tanks is with 8 x.50 cal from a P-47 - you bounce the shots off the road up under the tanks...its the only way

I'm sure I read that somewhere lol

this is pre-alpha release for founders and sits at 36% complete compared to public release - which will just be the beginning of a long term, ongoing development so...yeah - don't get 'em in a bunch just yet

 

The resolution of the skins for the buildings looks really low and not having shadows does make it even worse. I hope there is still some room for improvement. Though the general layout looks quite convincing.

[BeastyBaiter]

I've been able to kill all 3 types of tanks with the 37mm using AP rounds on the LaGG-3, just takes a few hits on the rear or side armor (maybe front too, didn't try it). The hard part is actually hitting them. As for .50's on a P-47, not one tank in all of WW2 was killed that way. It's just a myth. What probably happened is someone ignited a spare gas can strapped on externally and it caught fire doing no damage to the tank, but making the pilot think he blew it up. Over the course of 60 years the story got more and more exaggerated to the point we see today where 1x 12.7mm MG bullet could kill a tiger 2 by bouncing off the ground below into the still armored belly of the tank. Never mind the angles, energy loss, bullet deformation or the fact that it almost certainly wouldn't bounce anyways.

[JG4_Sputnik]

Why? You don't have any inside information otherwise.

 

The map design is not what gives the city life, it's the missions and their designers. That's the way it's always been done. You take any basic map and it's bland and lifeless in ANY game until you add mission parameters, AI units, etc.

 

Map making builds the basic sandbox, the activity/"life" within it is done by mission design and always will be.

@ LukeFF

 

Haha, ok... so the trees are also just 1/3 done? The snow is just 1/3 white, the wheels are just 1/3 round, the houses only have 1/3 of its windows...

Again: the GAME in its quantity is 1/3, not every single object. What they release to us is NOT 1/3, its "almost" done.

 

Listen: the devs ask for feedback, I and some others think the city looks a bit lifeless so we sound off, in a productive manner.

 

IMHO: this 35% thing is rather some psychological thing for us to have a number than a real value to relie on. Or do you know how many percentages is an air plane? How many is the FM? Effects? Textures? No? So therefore the 35% is rather worthless. A smart developer (which 777 is) would never show the real "real" % of the game to us. The devs could release a 80% game which is acutally 100% in their opinion (or the other way arround) and just say: you dont quite like it? Well its only 80% done! Its fine with me, the devs are pros and are doing an awesome job, but don't take this 1/3 thing too seriously.

 

Regards

Edited December 28, 2013 by JG4_Sputnik

[Freycinet]

Sputnik, you haven't 'sounded off' on the game, you have 'sounded off' on 6 screenshots of Stalingrad. How about we actually see it in-game before we start analyzing it? I don't understand this need to be 'first in' with analysis, but it obviously seems very important to some.

 

Also, all the 'expert advice' for the developers invariably involves piling more stuff on. More smoke, more rubble heaps, more shadows, more texture resolution, more, more, more... Well, the benefit for armchair analysts is that they don't actually have to make a sim with a workable frame rate and texture buffering that doesn't cause stutters. Only actual developers have to deal with such pesky little issues. Then there is also the whole issue of project management: are you going to let a top modeller sit and do rubble heaps for half a year, or should he move ahead with the summer map?

 

I think the screenies of Stalingrad look great. My only comment on this release is that the 37mm cannon for the LaGG could have a bit more oomph sound-wise. It seems a bit muffled to me.

[Asnf]

Thank you,and happy new year to all!

[ST_ami7b5]

Great map!

[LLv34_Flanker]

S!

 

 Nice update And lot of time to test now when the obligatory "winter festival" is over and back to normal

[SYN_Vander]

Great to see that the city has been modeled accurately. It looks very convincing from above.

I wonder though, were there absolutely no colors to be seen in the city? It indeed looks a bit sterile, shot in black & white?

 

The big smoke columns are a big plus. They will be very important to depict the battle areas!