Some feedback on new maps and patch

[rolikiraly]

Well, the patch has been out for a while now, and it looks like there is no immediate hotfix coming (which could possibly cancel some of these points), so i guess i will share some of my impressions. I'm getting this out to see if anyone feels the same (or it's just me) and just to provide some honest feedback for the devs if they see this.

 

First of all, i really appreciate what the devs do in general, i usually find their business model, decisions and development directions very reasonable, especially in the last 1,5 years (not that i would have tons of options to choose from, if i didn't...). I'm also glad that seemingly most people find the new patch very enjoyable and impressive.

 

However, there are some some things in 3.001 that i personally didn't like too much. 

I can't comment on new planes as i don't have them, but they are nice (as usual) to look and shoot at. I don't know how overmodelled or OP the La-5FN really is, and at this point i shouldn't care too much as i'm probably just as dead against a competent pilot in a La-5 or Yak-1b. So no huge problem here.

Career mode is a long-awaited feature, i haven't spent a lot of time with it yet, but the intros and auto-generated faces are awesome (although more in a somewhat funny way  ).

 

The new Stalingrad maps are not my favourite, though. I get the idea that these are more realistic representations of the 'structure' of the landscape, but i feel, for some reason, the actual sensation of flying over a real landscape is somewhat compromised and worse than with the previous versions. Maybe it's about the colour of the grass (too greenish?), the way the trees (don't?) blend into the area, maybe it's just that such a featureless open terrain is hard to recreate impressively with a given technology. I don't know. Dare i say it reminds me a bit of IL-2 1946 terrains? And I don't mean that as an offense, i'm just trying to explain what i'm talking about.

Rocky surfaces are generally nice on the other hand, also autumn map feels better, maybe because of the colours (?)

 

Clouds : I'm not sure about them, i don't see improvement and the pixelation seems to be even worse but i don't have a properly founded opinion on this as i haven't tested it thoroughly.

 

And the performance. I was playing with mostly maxed out settings before, after the patch it's pretty obvious that higher horizon distances are not for me, but even with just 70 or 40 km, there was still quite a lot of stuttering. I checked the tricks posted after the patch release (4K on, no full screen), but they didn't completely solved it. Now i'm running with generally lowered settings and i have to say it's now looking worse than before with a still not 100% perfect performance.

It's not that it's totally unplayable or disgusting looking, just a downgrade for me which ideally shouldn't be the case. I still hope there will be some kind of magical fix for this, but i'm not sure if or when will this happen.

 

Spotting and identifying contacts against the new terrain background is harder than ever. At this point i can't decide if it's just the new map, or a combination with lower graphic settings and stutters that make it so painful to make out the silhouettes. Anyone else feels the same way?

 

(If anyone got through all to read this: don't worry, i don't plan on releasing Part II . But why don't you read some quality literature in the first place, if you have that much time?  )

 

Happy flying!

Edited March 31, 2018 by rolikiraly

[ShamrockOneFive]

Good constructive feedback IMHO!

 

I've been doing some flying over the new Stalingrad map and I have mixed feelings about it. My thoughts are generally positive but I have a few things that are sticking out in my head right now that bother me. The summer one looks awesome to me. I love the look, I love the feeling, I think it's superb. The autumn one looks great during high sun hours but in the evenings and mornings the trees are not blending well (I have default draw distance, I had to back off from 2x) at all. I feel like these things are tweaks and that overall the new upgrades are very very good.

 

I will say that in testing the draw distance seems to have made almost no difference. I can go to max and get the same frame rates at 40km. Other effects like the draw distance and sharpening seem to cause me more issues. Graphics cards, systems, and driver performance may vary but I'd try and see if you can push the render distance out and see if it has any effect. I am running a Core i5 6600, GTX 960 2GB, 8GB DDR4 so its relatively beefy system although I think I want a GPU upgrade.... whenever prices stop being silly.

[rolikiraly]

I have an 1050Ti that should be similar (although it was "the upgrade" in my case). 

Yep, i also experimented with the settings, but the problem is, i don't have time to test any possible combination to find the one that works. Honestly i'd rather be actually playing the game with its earlier graphics, than fiddling with the settings.

[56RAF_Roblex]

I also have a 1050Ti which is not actually a very powerful card.  I am still getting the 60fps I had before the upgrade without changing the settings (mostly 'High') but I had it capped at 60 so it could be that now I am closer to the cap.    All that is really a noticeable drop in quality is the clouds.    Visibility of aircraft against the ground is much harder but I don't see that as 'worse' just different and maybe even better as I always felt that spotting aircraft against the ground was a little too easy.  When you are 'up-sun'  then spotting low aircraft is actually easier as there seems to be more reflection from them.

[Danziger]

I like the new map textures for Stalingrad. I'm sure as always they will do a bit of twerking to get everything perfect. 

[seafireliv]

It is true that you can lose fighters against the background land, but I am torn on whether this is realistic or not. Maybe aircraft should reflect a little `shine` from sunlight (if it`s actually sunny) off the cockpit to give them away as it would be in reality?

 

I was watching a Napoleonic movie the other day where they used thousands of REAL men for soldiers in authentic gear and the amount of twinkling reflected light off their helmets  from the sun at long distance was amazing. it`s something that CGI programmers always forget to put on objects they`re trying to make look real.

 

My only other criticism of Stalingrad is the smoke stacks over Stalingrad is still not as high or as thick as the real thing.

[peregrine7]

1 hour ago, BorysVorobyov said:

I like the new map textures for Stalingrad. I'm sure as always they will do a bit of twerking to get everything perfect. 

 

Is that how the devs do it? I always wondered

[rolikiraly]

3 hours ago, 56RAF_Roblex said:

I also have a 1050Ti which is not actually a very powerful card.  I am still getting the 60fps I had before the upgrade without changing the settings (mostly 'High') but I had it capped at 60 so it could be that now I am closer to the cap.    All that is really a noticeable drop in quality is the clouds.    Visibility of aircraft against the ground is much harder but I don't see that as 'worse' just different and maybe even better as I always felt that spotting aircraft against the ground was a little too easy.  When you are 'up-sun'  then spotting low aircraft is actually easier as there seems to be more reflection from them.

 

It was too easy? You must be eating a LOT of carrots . I would say it was hard and now it's painfully hard. 

 

1 hour ago, BorysVorobyov said:

I like the new map textures for Stalingrad. I'm sure as always they will do a bit of twerking to get everything perfect. 

 

If they are about to twerk now, well i'd say they better just leave it as it is.  Ok you beat me to it peregrine

[Jade_Monkey]

Do we really need a separate thread for each person's feedback?

 

It would be more useful to have a centralized thread with each persons feedback for the devs, without any additional comments among posters.

[Finkeren]

I like that the West bank of Volga is now steppe, as it should be, but I agree with the OP that it does kinda take away from the sense of “being there”. Still an overall improvement though.

[sniperton]

I haven't flown Stalingrad since the release, so I don't have any opinion on it.

In other respects, I'm with the OP. I too have an 1050 Ti, and I too made the experience that the game became sluggish and stuttering even when the graphics is tuned down considerably. One may say I should have my hardware upgraded, but (1) I can't afford it in the present situation, and (2) people with much more beefy systems reported similar issues. It seems that 3.001 primarily needs a major overhaul as to performance optimization, something the devs have been quite good at in the past, and something they are hopefully doing currently. If so, my estimate is that it will take a few months until we can get back to the performance level we are accustomed to in the past, and I hope the devs will prioritize this e.g. against rushing out new content for BoBp. Thing is, the game in its current state feels to be compromised to some extent, and although the new content (sort of) evens it out in the short run, we should go back to the right track as soon as possible.

[Gambit21]

9 hours ago, Jade_Monkey said:

Do we really need a separate thread for each person's feedback?

 

This ^

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

I’m of the opposite opinion. I don’t mind multiple threads on opinions as long as the headers aren’t clickbait like; HORRIBLE, or Never Again, or I’m so Amazed, or somesuchs#!7

 

Good headers and well written opinions are always welcome even if they can get a little redundant after new releases and big patches.

[seafireliv]

Isn`t every thread here basically an opinion on the game?

 

You`re going to have a very empty\boring general discussion forum if you force them all into one thread.

[rolikiraly]

16 hours ago, Jade_Monkey said:

Do we really need a separate thread for each person's feedback?

 

It would be more useful to have a centralized thread with each persons feedback for the devs, without any additional comments among posters.

 

OK, but is there such a thread? The official 3.001 topic is anything but that.