Developer Diary, Part 51

[Freycinet]

I like the new Stalingrad map - buildings (remains) are no longer only black & white".

 

Ah, I'm glad to hear they made that change. I wonder who suggested that...  ;-)

[Italiaviper-lupi]

Blur effect is orribile!! With trackir it's ugly..

Please remove it

[SimFreak]

Few notices after 1 hour;

City no longer pops up.

Fire looks nice....

smoke look even better! 

Motion fuzzines looks very nice when in a spiraling dogfight.  I think I'll keep it for now...

 

AI crashing = small freeze and smoke instantly disappears.

[dburne]

Stalingrad does indeed look much better.

[Bussard_x]

All my controls are messed up suddenly. Can't get the defaults back. Any one else same problem?

[oblongmushroom]

my update size is 545mb

[1./KG4_Blackwolf]

I'm just going drink steady till mp comes out

Right with you..Cheers mate!    I guess I got to go check out the new stuff this week. I'm still drinking though!

[dburne]

Engine in the Lagg definitely has more horsepower in the cold weather, I can get that thing up to around 265 before wheels leave the ground...

 

Also regarding the spotter, I get a message on where the tank is initially on starting the ground attack run, but that is it, no further messages that I have noticed, nor any confirmations on kills, etc...

Edited January 31, 2014 by dburnette

[falstaff]

Can anyone post a shot or two of the updated Frey-I mean-Stalin-grad....?

 

I'm curious to see how they have addressed the palette (more ochres, hopefully)

 

If only all such matters were so, err, black and white...

[No601_Prangster]

Can anyone post a shot or two of the updated Frey-I mean-Stalin-grad....?

 

I'm curious to see how they have addressed the palette (more ochres, hopefully)

 

If only all such matters were so, err, black and white...

New version of the Stalingrad map showing the Tractor Factory.

 

[falstaff]

Thanks Prangster, that looks very good and much improved...

 

I also like the calm and measured way the devs are actively responding to suggestion/criticism. We can only guess at their allocation of resources, and list of prioirities, but it seems very sane to me.

[Nankeen]

Spotters give great information on enemy location.

The exploding planes, WOW!.

 

Has any one else noticed?:

*Planes (badly damaged) seem gradulally break up when out of control and free falling

*More debris from disloged plane parts

*Not all dislodged parts from arail combat remain.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Pilots:

The Russian pilot looks as if he does not have a mean bone in him any where.

The German appears to look angry

 

 

 

=Boomerang=

[Nankeen]

Att: Benz

Hello,

I use a T1600 M, all was good this end with the update.

[vx111vx111swift]

It seems as though you increased the frame speed to increase air plane speed. This causes evreything to blurr out on my PC. When the game signs into the cockpit of plane all is blurred for a second. then the skin of plane blurs out from winter skind to the skin I chose.  Head movement inside cockpit blurs out surrounding area. Movement has to be very slow with head.  I believe it was much better  prior to this update.  If it were just the actual increase of plane speed it would be ok. But evreything is sped up to the point of blurring out.

 

Other then that it is a masterfull game . You guys are the best.   Please do not take this in a negative way .It is just what i am experienceing.

 

thanks

[FuriousMeow]

It seems as though you increased the frame speed to increase air plane speed. This causes evreything to blurr out on my PC. When the game signs into the cockpit of plane all is blurred for a second. then the skin of plane blurs out from winter skind to the skin I chose.  Head movement inside cockpit blurs out surrounding area. Movement has to be very slow with head.  I believe it was much better  prior to this update.  If it were just the actual increase of plane speed it would be ok. But evreything is sped up to the point of blurring out.

 

Other then that it is a masterfull game . You guys are the best.   Please do not take this in a negative way .It is just what i am experienceing.

 

thanks

 

You are mistaking a few things as one.

 

The blurry cockpit/skin/skin change is texture caching and application. It's been there since the beginning and has improved a lot but still not instantaneous.

 

The blur when moving your head is associated with the motion blur that was just added. This effect can be removed.

 

I myself, don't see much of the motion blur. Maybe it's less with faster video cards.

[Feathered_IV]

 

New version of the Stalingrad map showing the Tractor Factory.

Excellent stuff. Thanks! I'm really glad the textures were modified. I thought I was going to have to get the GTP extractor out later on and do if myself. Can't wait to see if the 109 looks any different. The texture for the tread plates on the cockpit floor really needed some attention and it'd be great if they were improved.

[ST_ami7b5]

The "motion blur case" proves clearly that every patch needs at least minimum info.

If it was stated in DD that it can be turned off unchecking the "cinematic camera" a lot of negative responses would be prevented...

 

I like the new Stalingrad map and my fps are decent even in "ultra" settings.

Edited February 1, 2014 by ST_ami7b5

[III/JG11_Tiger]

I'm just going drink steady till mp comes out

So no change then?

[III/JG11_Tiger]

I have to agree with you, ROF allows us to shut this off. Why are we being ignored, this sim is unplayable with the graphics the way they are.

 

Why buy into what is clearly an alpha build if you were expecting a completed product with no issues this early on, just wait for the full release and then complain to your hearts content

[chiliwili69]

Motion blur can be turned off:

Thanks Jaws!  the motion blur dissapeared!

Don´t know what was the purpose to put it ON by default.

I have a modest GTX650 and the motion blur is quite awful. I don´t know if in faster video card the effect is less awful.

You have a fast rig with good video card and it is still anoying for you

[72sq_Iva]

Question for the Devs:

is the weather implemented to be identical all over the map? (that was the case with IL2, also the wind, doh!).

The Stalingrad map is going to be huge, thinking a little bit forward for future expansions as well, it will really be a pity to have such a static behavior.
Please think about implementing possible variations from these early stages, it'll be more expensive to do later.

Even something as simple as a small size 2D matrix with the relevant weather parameters (that can be interpolated between those points) would allow spectacular variations in mission content almost for free.

Here's a graphical representation of the map to make this clearer, let's assume we divide the full map in a 3x3 matrix and thus have 9 sectors, named A to I:

+---+---+---+
| A | B | C |
+---X---+---+
| D | E | F |
+---+---+---+
| G | H | I |
+---+---+---+

So you start the mission and set the weather parameters in the various sectors, let's say sector A has strong northern wind and clear skies, while E, let's say 100 km away, has calmer easterly wind and is overcast. When my plane is at position X, halfway between A and E will simply find interpolated weather consisting of a NNE wind and broken clouds.
(In addition you need to have "virtual" sectors to make transitions from sector center to the map borders smooth as well, in this case you'll need a 5x5 matrix, but the simplicity of the approach remains the same).
 

[Freycinet]

The "motion blur case" proves clearly that every patch needs at least minimum info.

If it was stated in DD that it can be turned off unchecking the "cinematic camera" a lot of negative responses would be prevented...

 

I like the new Stalingrad map and my fps are decent even in "ultra" settings.

 

Also, we could all pretend that it is a flight sim and that we will have to fiddle just a little with settings. Where would all the fun be in flight sims if we didn't have to experiment with settings?

 

It is early access, the development phase, thingas are not perfectly documented yet, the info came out in the forums after half an hour.... - Do we really need to get our knickers into a bind over this?... Pffff... Some people must have absolutely no problems in life to get annoyed over this... 

[novicebutdeadly]

I'm not sure where to post this, so I figure here is as good a place as any.

 

I have looked forward to BOS since I heard about it, the delays whilst a little annoying I do understand. I would rather have a prolonged development/ delay and have a game that when it is fully released is awesome.

 

However that changed with this last update.

When using "normal" level of difficulty, you are greatly hindered in engaging the enemy by a BIG yellow circle, that unless you are within 100m completely obscures the enemy aircraft.

 

That and the next issue is sadly and very disappointingly the reason that after doing just 2 sorties I will not be playing anymore this week. To me the game is unplayable.

The next issue is in relation to the changes made to the engine power output, and lets be honest the changes to the Lagg's flight model. 

It seems that old il2 issues are re-surfacing, that is the over modelling of soviet aircraft.

 

 

 

 

[Emgy]

press H to disable GUI

[II./JG27_Rich]

Spotters give great information on enemy location.

The exploding planes, WOW!.

2014_1_31__21_47_50.jpg2014_1_31__22_52_49.jpg

 

Has any one else noticed?:

*Planes (badly damaged) seem gradulally break up when out of control and free falling

*More debris from disloged plane parts

*Not all dislodged parts from arail combat remain.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Pilots:

The Russian pilot looks as if he does not have a mean bone in him any where.

The German appears to look angry

 

2014_1_31__22_39_46.jpg2014_1_31__22_50_9.jpg

 

 

=Boomerang=

Been saying this for months Boomerang

 

Edited February 1, 2014 by II./JG27_Rich

[=GM=GJL2]

The motion blur effect is great! I hope that ROF will have this soon !

[novicebutdeadly]

The yellow circle has already been acknowledged as a bug that will be fixed.

 

 

But surely you have some charts, or the anecdotal evidence from a book you once read, to back up this claim?

 

 

 

I openly acknowledge that the game developers have access to more information, I don't at any point claim to have more than them.

 

However, I have yet to read a report that the Lagg 3 was anything but an under powered horrible aircraft to fly (which is why they changed the engine to the M82 radial engine creating the LA 5)

 

Yet the latest update is the exact opposite of this.

 

The latest update seems to have not changed the 109's performance in regards to the cold weather (I didn't notice any improvement, has anyone?), yet dramatically improved the Lagg's performance.

 

 

I honestly hope to be proven wrong, but all things being equal, if the Lagg's performance in cold weather is improved, than logically so should the 109.

 

Cold air being denser will improve the volumetric efficiency of both engines.

 

 

As a slight aside, did the soviets solve the negative g issues with their carburetors like the Brits did? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[=38=Tatarenko]

1. If it was so crap, how come they kept building and flying it for 3 and 4 years respectively?

 

2. This version has only 2 guns, not the 5 of the early version and is much lighter.

 

3. It really is underpowered and rubbish. You are up against rookie unaggressive AI. When you fly against a human you'll see. Just now I let one above me and he did everything right but I just flew away and climbed above him easily enough then shot him down. Really good human opponents (VikS, Stoyanov) are still an absolute handful in the LaGG but against most you can handle 2 LaGGs in a Messer.

 

Don't just the LaGG by the alpha yet. It has strengths for sure but the Messer is WAY better.

[novicebutdeadly]

1. If it was so crap, how come they kept building and flying it for 3 and 4 years respectively?

 

2. This version has only 2 guns, not the 5 of the early version and is much lighter.

 

3. It really is underpowered and rubbish. You are up against rookie unaggressive AI. When you fly against a human you'll see. Just now I let one above me and he did everything right but I just flew away and climbed above him easily enough then shot him down. Really good human opponents (VikS, Stoyanov) are still an absolute handful in the LaGG but against most you can handle 2 LaGGs in a Messer.

 

Don't just the LaGG by the alpha yet. It has strengths for sure but the Messer is WAY better.

 

 

1. After 1942 production only continued at 1 factory (every other factory producing the La 5). From what I have read in the role of a ground attack plane it performed well, as a fighter it sucked. So perhaps for that reason the plane was kept in limited production.

 

As soon as Stalin was shown the La 5 he ordered that the aircraft receive top priority and any Lagg aircraft still at the factory to be converted to the La 5

 

2. the weight savings done, didn't do much to improve the aircraft, what it needed was a better engine which it eventually got (unfortunately for the Germans)

 

3. Up until the last update I never had any issues in a dog fight against either 1 or 2 Laggs.

 

To me it seems that the 109 F4 has being tuned to a hot desert, and the Lagg has being tuned for the cold weather.

 

 

Just out of curiosity, is the ai starting higher now?

Edited February 1, 2014 by 907-novicebutdeadly

[dburne]

 

3. Up until the last update I never had any issues in a dog fight against either 1 or 2 Laggs.

 

To me it seems that the 109 F4 has being tuned to a hot desert, and the Lagg has being tuned for the cold weather.

 

 

 

Perhaps they have just not got around to tuning the engine in the 109 for the cold weather...

[Alfred_Tupper]

1. the same reason the T-34 was built with a 76mm gun for such a long time, likewise the M4 Sherman with the 75mm; production lead times, retooling issues etc etc - sometimes you make do with numbers instead of quality.

 

and novicebutdeadly has weighed in with the facts - bravo.

 

2. I am usually wrong but never heard of a 5 gun version of the LaGG 3 - only 3 guns.

 

3. Bloody weather

 

4. Hurray for RoF and BoS!

[SYN_Mike77]

Yesterday was the first time I was able to shoot down two Me109's and had any cannon shells left!  I don't think the Lagg is any more difficult to handle than it was last week.

[Emgy]

 

 

3. Up until the last update I never had any issues in a dog fight against either 1 or 2 Laggs.

 

 

 

This might be due to AI updates, not necessarily engine power.

For example the fishtailing AI got fixed a few updates ago, without announcement, and last week I thought the novice AI fought better.

 

Maybe ZG26 can re-do their acceleration tests now, to compare with their old tests of the 109 and lagg.

Edited February 1, 2014 by Calvamos

[FuriousMeow]

The biggest issue I have right now is that reputation button. I've accidentally clicked it twice and can't undo it.

 

The LaGG becoming uber is quite the joke.

[DD_bongodriver]

like that wouldn't get trolled

[ST_ami7b5]

Seems to me that machineguns have stronger FFB effect (shaking) than cannons...

Edited February 1, 2014 by ST_ami7b5

[DD_bongodriver]

I'm not convinced guns made the stick shake at all, it's annoying, last thing I want when taking a shot is to have my aim ruined by it.

[LLv34_Flanker]

S!

 

 

 You are correct Bongo. The Bf109 pilots I spoke to said you could only feel the recoil in the plane, but it did not shake your stick. Another issue were the planes with extremely big guns like P39 and some LaGG and Yak variants that had their aim thrown off by the recoil. Still no stick shake though.

[JG1_Vonrd]

At what altitude do the contrails start? Took the 109 up to 8600 M and still no contrails. It seemed that it was pretty much at service ceiling. I cooked the engine trying to get higher. Are the contrails only modeled for the Lagg?

[Volkoff]

At what altitude do the contrails start? Took the 109 up to 8600 M and still no contrails. It seemed that it was pretty much at service ceiling. I cooked the engine trying to get higher. Are the contrails only modeled for the Lagg?

 

I think that contrails are still in testing and were not ready for this access period. 

 

  MJ