Animated airfields in BOS BOM BOK

[IckyATLAS]

Here is a question that I am not sure belongs to the Mission Editor forum, because it is related to the BOS, BOM and BOK campaigns and missions. If wrong thanks to move it.

 

My question as follows. With the mission editor I have made some prototype airfield animations. Then came the following question to my mind.  Is it possible to add an animation layer say airfield animation by us to an existing campaign of missions. This is mainly that campaign designers will focus on the airfields that are part of the missions or the campaign. I noticed however that the other airfields were just empty. So if instead of going to the planned airfields you would go and land somewhere else, ally or enemy airfield, it is very dull, as it is just an empty place. 

So if we start enriching the campaign by say animating airfields outside the scope of the campaign but in a logical way according to the armies positions, but it could be villages too, is it doable by us in a way or another or is it impossible.

[CanadaOne]

Hopefully the ghost town atmosphere of the airfields in the QMB, where I fly, will be fixed. First class maps, really great,  but they might as well be on the moon given how barren they are.

 

To be honest, I don't understand why the airfields are so lifeless. Isn't populating (some of) the airfields in the QMB something that would take the Powers That Be about an entire minute to do? It would certainly breath some life into things.

[Wolf8312]

It's a trade off between visuals and performance no doubt, and selfishly as someone who plays VR I want as high performance as possible. Populated airfields will only drive up system demands and as it is I'm very happy with BOS performance.

 

I don't want them bringing in things that will only make the game more demanding. I know what you mean though because I sometimes think theres no point even taxiing because there is nobody even there and it kind of breaks the immersion. I want people rushing up to my plane to congratulate me, and a bustling airport that feel's as if it's welcoming me home.

 

But to be honest as it's a flight sim I think if there was a lot going on, it would only be jarring on account of how robotic it would all look.  I think its just something that flight simmers have to get used to, and is another reason why developers need to start catering for multi-core CPU's. But even then I would argue they are best focusing on the game performance itself.

 

Racing sim games, with those awful cardboard cut out crowds are galling as well, but sims just don't model people very well as I think the dev's must realize it would kill performance or just waste time/resources perhaps. I actually think the BOS's player models are actually quite good for a simulation.

 

But maybe I misunderstand, what you would like to see in airports and villages, is it mainly people working on planes etc?

 

 

 

Edited March 5, 2018 by Wolf8312

[CanadaOne]

I'd be happy with some static planes and vehicles. Just enough to give the place a lived-in look. Like you said, you land and there's nothing at all going on and nothing to see. No fun in that. If one day we get a QMB option to "animate airfields" which would give you more objects and maybe some "road traffic", that would be great.

 

One of the nice things about FSX and DCS is when you take off or come in for a landing and when you're up just a bit you see vehicles moving around. Makes for some good flying fun.

[ShamrockOneFive]

There are actually animated people who can walk around an airbase. Some multiplayer servers do it, many single player campaigns do it, and the current Campaign missions have them too. The QMB does not. QMB has always been more about quick into the action to try something out and then done. The better immersion is found when using one of the other modes.

 

There are definitely issues with having too much going on. You can script triggers so that things start when the mission starts and then stop when you leave the airbase area and then start again when you return. That helps for sure.

 

Also there's just placing things around to make it look like a functioning airbase even without the motion. The cost on that is almost nothing so placing some aircraft around with boxes and revetments and so forth is no big deal. It's the jeeps driving around and presumably the guys walking about that start to eat performance a little bit. Done sparingly it gives a good impression without being a worry.

[CanadaOne]

I'll have to fly some more campaign missions and see what there is to see.

 

I bought the Blazing Steppe campaign but I've barely touched it.  Maybe I'll try it again and see if there are any built up airfields that look nice.

[dburne]

I would certainly like to see some animation in the airfields, - planes and people moving around, etc.

However would need to have a graphics option to tune the amount or ability to turn off, for those that would need to due to performance issues.

Obviously they  have a lot bigger fish to fry, but someday I would not mind seeing it.

[No601_Swallow]

As an old FSX player, who got stupidly large kicks out of animated airbridges and the like, I also love a well-dressed airfield. Given that "campaign" (as opposed to "scripted campaign") airfields often have lovely runway lights and spotlights, a little more scenery should be (should have been?) possible. Certainly many bespoke SP missions and scripted campaigns have lovely airfields. Taking one in the ME and then just slotting together SP encounters based on that airfield in the ME is very straightforward. If you ask (nicely!) in the mission building forum, someone can probably bash a mission out for you. I'm sure most of the active mission builders have templates for airfields. I know I do.

 

[By the way, one of the CloD developers shared a beautiful - if insane - script for ground vehicles to attend a landed plane at an airfield. The script itself was literally thousands of lines long (if I recall correctly) but the vehicles even varied depending on damage/injury to the plane. Of course, we never quite got it working properly - it really wasn't designed for MP missions, but great hilarity ensued when the ground vehicles ploughed through stopped aircraft on their way to their target planes.]

Edited March 5, 2018 by No601_Swallow

[=gRiJ=Roman-]

This would be a great step forwards ... I still remember the old Pluswave for the old Il2 1946. It was legendary. 

[Gambit21]

7 hours ago, IckyATLAS said:

Here is a question that I am not sure belongs to the Mission Editor forum, because it is related to the BOS, BOM and BOK campaigns and missions. If wrong thanks to move it.

 

My question as follows. With the mission editor I have made some prototype airfield animations. Then came the following question to my mind.  Is it possible to add an animation layer say airfield animation by us to an existing campaign of missions. This is mainly that campaign designers will focus on the airfields that are part of the missions or the campaign. I noticed however that the other airfields were just empty. So if instead of going to the planned airfields you would go and land somewhere else, ally or enemy airfield, it is very dull, as it is just an empty place. 

So if we start enriching the campaign by say animating airfields outside the scope of the campaign but in a logical way according to the armies positions, but it could be villages too, is it doable by us in a way or another or is it impossible.

 

Hi Icky,

What do you mean you've "made animations"? You mean that you've placed airfield objects yes?

 

Second there is no "overlay"  - it's either part of the mission logic or it isn't.

 

Third as others have said, populating every airfield on the map would be costly with regard to CPU resources, especially with regard to multiplayer. Single player more is possible but you still have to be sensible.

I tend to stick with what the player will be exposed to during that mission.

 

[Cpt_Cool]

3 hours ago, CanadaOne said:

I'll have to fly some more campaign missions and see what there is to see.

 

I bought the Blazing Steppe campaign but I've barely touched it.  Maybe I'll try it again and see if there are any built up airfields that look nice.

 

On the second mission, I shot down like 3 he 111s, but I took some fairly serious damage. I got close to the airfield, but I wasn't completely sure i was at the right one, but I saw a jeep driving along the runway and planes parked about, so I figured this must be it and nailed the landing (they would'nt insert all that extra stuff for the wrong airfield right? Plus my plane was dying fast so I didn't spend enough time studying my map). Mission Failed. I assume I was executed for being the military equivalent of the student who shows up at the wrong classroom on the first day of school.

[IckyATLAS]

3 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

 

Hi Icky,

What do you mean you've "made animations"? You mean that you've placed airfield objects yes?

 

Second there is no "overlay"  - it's either part of the mission logic or it isn't.

 

Third as others have said, populating every airfield on the map would be costly with regard to CPU resources, especially with regard to multiplayer. Single player more is possible but you still have to be sensible.

I tend to stick with what the player will be exposed to during that mission.

 

Not only placing objects (unfortunately the library is small compared to what we had in the previous IL2 series), but also having moving vehicles along the base, as well as AAA, night projectors etc. The animated objects, vehicles, AAA etc. start when an aircraft enters a zone around the airfield. In this way the CPU is more loaded but only when you are at close distance or gun firing range if you are a foe to the airbase. It would be nice if we had even static models of various airbase people.

[Gambit21]

26 minutes ago, IckyATLAS said:

Not only placing objects (unfortunately the library is small compared to what we had in the previous IL2 series), but also having moving vehicles along the base, as well as AAA, night projectors etc. The animated objects, vehicles, AAA etc. start when an aircraft enters a zone around the airfield. In this way the CPU is more loaded but only when you are at close distance or gun firing range if you are a foe to the airbase. It would be nice if we had even static models of various airbase people.

 

Yes - that is placing objects/vehicles/mission logic.

Just wanted to be clear on what you meant by "animating"

 

This is certainly possible, although static objects cannot be spawned and must always exist. Then just spawn a vehicle or two via a check zone.

 

I have this done already for a number of the Kuban airfields.

[CanadaOne]

57 minutes ago, IckyATLAS said:

 . . . (unfortunately the library is small compared to what we had in the previous IL2 series), . . .

 

Oh man, the library in the IL2-BAT mod had thousands! of objects. I built many a splendiferous airfield with all manner of lighting and traffic and eye candy. Then I'd just spend an hour or two doing takeoffs and landings (and blowing it up at times).

 

Tons o' fun.

[ShamrockOneFive]

Some demonstration of what is already happening in the series and is very doable. There are very good models of people walking around airfields and manning gunner stations when you get up close with the camera. Even at a distance you can see people walking around the airfield if they have been setup.

 

 

 

 

Granted they are just milling about most of the time (except that second guy who is running for his virtual life) but if they are setup I find it gives much needed ground activity. Add these guys in and the odd jeep or truck driving around and you have airfield activity!

Edited March 6, 2018 by ShamrockOneFive

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

The thing is, they don't even need to be animated. I always come back to this video when the topic turns to dead airfields. Go to 1:50. The first time I saw it I was like, "YES!" Not a single person or vehicle is animated but it is a thousand times more alive than what we have currently in BoX. Hoping Mods On solves this but a couple dozen different official static figures and a few more static vehicles seem necessary as well. You can bring the airfields to life for a negligible performance hit with lots of maniquins or get an actual performance hit with relatively few animated dudes walking around aimlessly. A good mix of the two is probably best.

 

 

Edited March 6, 2018 by II/JG17_HerrMurf

[CanadaOne]

Sweet! Nice video.

 

Hopefully the ghost town maps will be something that's fixed one day in an update.

[IckyATLAS]

17 hours ago, II/JG17_HerrMurf said:

The thing is, they don't even need to be animated. I always come back to this video when the topic turns to dead airfields. Go to 1:50. The first time I saw it I was like, "YES!" Not a single person or vehicle is animated but it is a thousand times more alive than what we have currently in BoX. Hoping Mods On solves this but a couple dozen different official static figures and a few more static vehicles seem necessary as well. You can bring the airfields to life for a negligible performance hit with lots of maniquins or get an actual performance hit with relatively few animated dudes walking around aimlessly. A good mix of the two is probably best.

 

 

Excellent. Just the moment the plane is rolling for takeoff, you can see people on a hellcat wing a jeep with people around. Its all static but how lively it is after all. We need this. Hey devs, we have enough planes for the moment. For the cost of modeling a new plane (probably 100k$ per plane at least) you can build a library of people and objects to populate villages and airfields. Same for sea ports. It is much less complicated than modeling an airplane with all the aerodynamics etc.. You need some rest after BOK and so some simpler work. Don't you agree  

[Gambit21]

Murf is right, but it doesn't hurt to have a truck or two driving along.

What I really want for Bodenplatte are things like bulldozers, engine hoists, those gigantic dually maintenance trucks...and you know...junk.

Things that make it feel like an airbase abandoned in a hurry by the Germans.

 

Here's how I do it.

A few shots of the player/squadron airfields from the A-20 scripted campaign.

I can't show you actual A-20 shots yet, but here's some early screenies from the public build when I was building/testing it with the Pe-2.

 

 

[CanadaOne]

Sweet!

[IckyATLAS]

Very nice. You are right. We need junk, and broken (cannibalized airplanes, crashed airplanes parts, etc.) stuff.

[Talisman]