Game version 4.701 discussion: Next Gen Clouds, DFW C.V, Yak-1b in 4K and other improvements

[Avimimus]

6 hours ago, Beebop said:

ADDENDUM II:

I do agree with our CO, the snow is waaay too blue.  See attached.  Velikiye Luki winter, 8:30 AM:

I think it should be a lot lighter, closer to the snow that tops the revetments.

 

It looks right to me.

 

One of the things I've actually mentioned to people is how the team made the winter correctly blue-tinted. This was actually a major update (around the time of Battle of Moscow I believe?) made by the team to add the blue colour - and I remember thinking 'it finally feels cold'. Honestly, the only people I trust to do winter right in video game art are Russians (and maybe some Scandinavians or Canadians).

 

Anyway - At mid-day the snow will sometimes appear white, and on really dark days (i.e. days where flying would be difficult - such a blizzards) the snow can look grey. However, it is almost always blueish tinted here in Ottawa. Even during midday - any area in shadow will appear blueish... and that only increases on clear days or towards afternoon.

 

On the other hand, I've had long discussions about whether the England is as green as Team Fusion makes it... so I suspect my knowledge of colours which don't have to do with snow may be quite limited  But I do think they have the colour correct - at least if Moscow's climate is like Ottawa's.

 

  

2 hours ago, BlackSix said:

Yes, I've updated all my free and paid campaigns. In all missions, the most optimal cloud cover was selected, close to the original idea, some routes above the clouds were fixed and many more small improvements were made.

 

Also I know that both tank campaigns have been reworked.

 

That is impressive! Thank you for all of the hard work (and the same goes for any other campaign designers).

Edited December 9, 2021 by Avimimus

[Thad]

14 hours ago, Jade_Monkey said:

Lovely update as usual?

 

Also thanks for the small but welcome changes for the mission editor?.

 

 

I know I'm getting ahead of myself but this has been a highly requested feature by a small vocal minority (including myself): Will the farmstreads be spread out thoughout the continent and will there be specific ground textures around them? Or will they have the generic farmland texture we see in existing maps?

 

New objects for Battle of Normandy
12. European farmsteads “town_eu_small”

 

 

Salutations,

 

After a brief investigation in the editor, I noticed a LOT of additions to the Blocks, Blocks Detail sections. This looks promising for mission builders. It appears that the developers are going to be giving us the graphic tools we need to create and place needed objects on maps that lack historical towns, villages and cities.

[LukeFF]

It's really cool to see in more detail now the dreary weather that prevailed over Western Europe during the fall 1944 battles. Can't wait to see what it's going to look like on the Normandy map. ??

[Spidey002]

Loving the new clouds and atmosphere!

 

What used to be long and boring flights from airfield to target have become beautiful and scenic!

A dreaded flight through the cloud ceiling has become a joyous romp among the clouds!

 

On the flight home, I loved the pockets of sunlight in the middle of the rainstorm.

 

I didn't even mind waiting my turn as I circled the field to land (I usually cut in front of one of the AI pilots).

 

And all of this without a hit to FPS. Somehow, my FPS is better!

 

Well done!

[AEthelraedUnraed]

  

6 hours ago, Beebop said:

ADDENDUM II:

 

I do agree with our CO, the snow is waaay too blue.  See attached.  Velikiye Luki winter, 8:30 AM:

I think it should be a lot lighter, closer to the snow that tops the revetments.

 

11 minutes ago, Avimimus said:

It looks right to me.

 

One of the things I've actually mentioned to people is how the team made the winter correctly blue-tinted. This was actually a major update (around the time of Battle of Moscow I believe?) made by the team to add the blue colour - and I remember thinking 'it finally feels cold'. Honestly, the only people I trust to do winter right in video game art are Russians (and maybe some Scandinavians or Canadians).

Indeed, much of the "white" we see when looking at snow looks that way because it's interpreted as such by our brain. Everyone who knows a thing or two about photography knows about white balance, and what difference it can make. A good example is the following image, from this site: https://learn.zoner.com/restoring-white-snow-in-your-pictures/

 

You can see that the snow on the left is quite blue, not too dissimilar to the snow in IL2. This is basically the "real" uncorrected colour that our eyes register. The right half is what our brains think they see, after they've corrected for the white balance.

 

It'll be interesting to see how it'll look in VR. My presumption is that your eyes will adjust to the new white balance so that the snow looks white, while the blue tint will still convey the coldness of the scene.

[7bhp_Mk]

The new clouds look incredible. Performance also seems very good for me with no noticeable stuttering or loss of fps. But I am unfortunately having issues with whole formations of clouds just appearing and disappearing. It seems to occur every 10km or so and has done so on every sortie I have flown since the new update. Is anybody else experiencing these issues? Amazing update, otherwise...

[Beebop]

Interesting AEthelradeUnrae.  Thanks for that.  More informative than bitching I shouldn't post because it's my game issue.

Your reply is very helpful.  ?

Edited December 9, 2021 by Beebop

[Voidhunger]

Some combinations of clouds together with the rain look incredible, also game seems very fluid in GPU part.

I wish they can make such improvements in CPU part of the game some day.

 

Anyway new clouds are beautiful !  Well done !

[grcurmudgeon]

40 minutes ago, AEthelraedUnraed said:

You can see that the snow on the left is quite blue, not too dissimilar to the snow in IL2. This is basically the "real" uncorrected colour that our eyes register. The right half is what our brains think they see, after they've corrected for the white balance.

 

Sounds like a topic for an episode of Brain Games, unless they've done it already (there is definitely one amazing one on the perception of color that is fascinating...)

[JG4_Qetzalcoatl]

11 hours ago, =GW=Hansliu said:

Good job

However, the new cloud seems to have some problems in some aspects. If you look at the edge of the cloud closely, there will be grid like things in the translucent state. I don't know why.

My graphics card is 1060, the game picture is high picture quality, and the cloud setting is also high.

 

A teammate has also problems with grid pattern at the edge of the clouds. We both have an AMD graphic card. But I can´t reproduce this effect with my PC. We compared our graphic settings but found no clue... Cloud setting is "extreme".

 

Edited December 9, 2021 by JG4_Qetzalcoatl

[SCG_motoadve]

1 minute ago, JG4_Qetzalcoatl said:

 

A teammate has also problems with grid pattern at the edge of the clouds. We both have an AMD graphic card. But I can´t reproduce this effect with my PC. We compared our graphic settings but found no clue...

 

Same here with a Nvidia 3090

[Guster]

The new clouds look amazing, and performance seems perhaps a little better than before.

 

Well done!

[[ER]Nordseefischer]

I couldn`t open the bomb doors from the DFW with "N".

And they are missing in the bombsight "V" too.

[King_Franky]

I read a lot, but I cannot find the answer...

 

The new cloud setting, can it be activated/deactivated? And if yes, how?

[dburne]

Just had a go with a PWCG Mission for the first time in a while.

New clouds are gorgeous and the rain affect in this mission was really good!!

[Blitzen]

It mentions having to save/recover  third party  missions lost after this new update. Since this has happened with quitea few updates over the years I do wonder whether when the new GB BoN planes coming down the pipeline( eventually,) we'll have to go through this rather long process again several times in the near future.Its not a really big deal but it is a little time consuming...?

[BCI-Nazgul]

Snow can be a little blue, white or grey it just depends on the sky conditions.   I'm speaking from many years of skiing experience.

[JimTM]

17 minutes ago, King_Franky said:

I read a lot, but I cannot find the answer...

 

The new cloud setting, can it be activated/deactivated? And if yes, how?

 

You can adjust the clouds in the Quick Mission Builder by clicking the Weather and Time button at the bottom of the mission building map.

 

You can adjust the clouds in the mission editor. See Sketch's post.

Edited December 9, 2021 by JimTM

[Rustedgun]

Spectacular! I mean it. The beer is in the fridge... take the rest of the day off.

[King_Franky]

34 minutes ago, JimTM said:

 

You can adjust the clouds in the Quick Mission Builder by clicking the Weather and Time button at the bottom of the mission building map.

 

You can adjust the clouds in the mission editor. See Sketch's post.

Thank you for your answer, but this is not what I mean, I don't create missions or use QMB.

 

When I fly a mission, single or in a campaign, scripted or not, is there an option to activate/deactivate the new clouds?

Or do I need some special settings in the options?

[ilmavoimat]

1 hour ago, [ER]Nordseefischer said:

I couldn`t open the bomb doors from the DFW with "N".

And they are missing in the bombsight "V" too.

They open automatically when you press the release.

[JimTM]

8 minutes ago, King_Franky said:

Thank you for your answer, but this is not what I mean, I don't create missions or use QMB.

 

When I fly a mission, single or in a campaign, scripted or not, is there an option to activate/deactivate the new clouds?

Or do I need some special settings in the options?

 

No, not that I am aware of. 

Edited December 9, 2021 by JimTM

[King_Franky]

6 minutes ago, JimTM said:

 

No, not that I am aware of. 

Ah ok, nevertheless, the clouds are looking great.

[[F.Circus]MoerasGrizzly]

So, the only big problem with this update for me is that now that the skies basically look like MSFS, the ground stuff looks kinda dull in comparison

 

Well done folks

[rowdyb00t]

1 hour ago, JG4_Qetzalcoatl said:

 

A teammate has also problems with grid pattern at the edge of the clouds. We both have an AMD graphic card. But I can´t reproduce this effect with my PC. We compared our graphic settings but found no clue... Cloud setting is "extreme".

 

  As far as I can tell it’s part of the new cloud tech. It is on all the cloud designs. 

[LeLv30_Redwing-]

11 hours ago, rowdyb00t said:

   I would say it’s in the sky file. So remove the whole thing. Hopefully that fixes it. 

I'm having the same problem with the new clouds and in fact with Mods On-option without any mod, where is this sky file exactly located?

Edited December 9, 2021 by LeLv30_Redwing

[rowdyb00t]

12 minutes ago, LeLv30_Redwing said:

I'm having the same problem with the new clouds and in fact any mod, where is this sky file exactly located?

Programfiles/IL2/data/graphics/sky

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, [ER]Nordseefischer said:

I couldn`t open the bomb doors from the DFW with "N".

And they are missing in the bombsight "V" too.

 

The bomb doors were held in place by bungee cords. 

[LeLv30_Redwing-]

11 minutes ago, rowdyb00t said:

Programfiles/IL2/data/graphics/sky

Oh, you meant the folder, not a file! Yes, everything is working great again! 

[IckyATLAS]

4 hours ago, JG4_Qetzalcoatl said:

 

A teammate has also problems with grid pattern at the edge of the clouds. We both have an AMD graphic card. But I can´t reproduce this effect with my PC. We compared our graphic settings but found no clue... Cloud setting is "extreme".

 

 

Here two of my cloud images, and they have no such artifact on the cloud borders. Card is an Asus RTX 3090. Settings are Extreme for clouds and all other settings are to the max. Antialising is set to MSAA x4. Display is full 4K.

 

 

1) Image taken through the Yak9 glass cockpit:

 

2) Direct image taken from the outside:

Edited December 9, 2021 by IckyATLAS

[Avimimus]

42 minutes ago, LukeFF said:

The bomb doors were held in place by bungee cords. 

 

True of the Blenheim too, right?

[fjacobsen]

Regarding the DFW in VR....

 

The default view in VR in the front seat is to the left in order to line up with the gunsight.

This is great for shooting, but is it possible change to a view that is centered looking straight ahead ?

I doubt pilots would have flown with posture offset to the left an entire flight.

 

Can it only be changed by saing current view with F10 ?

[ATA_Vasilij]

Hi devs, 

 

since this update, Landing on the land outside the road or airfield with gear up (closed) is impossible. The pilot always die. Even if the landing is totaly smooth on the minimum speed. 

It behaves like pilots have NO seatbelts. But in reality they were fastened with seatbelts very strongly.

It was intentionally or is it a bug ?

I think with smooth landing the surviving should be possible.

[THERION]

On 12/9/2021 at 11:09 PM, ATA_Vasilij said:

Hi devs, 

 

since this update, Landing on the land outside the road or airfield with gear up (closed) is impossible. The pilot always die. Even if the landing is totaly smooth on the minimum speed. 

It behaves like pilots have NO seatbelts. But in reality they were fastened with seatbelts very strongly.

It was intentionally or is it a bug ?

I think with smooth landing the surviving should be possible.

 

Really? Strange, because I just had to ditch twice the last hour during some test flights in the advanced quick mission builder. I didn't die.

Edited December 12, 2021 by THERION

[Vishnu]

3 hours ago, King_Franky said:

Thank you for your answer, but this is not what I mean, I don't create missions or use QMB.

 

When I fly a mission, single or in a campaign, scripted or not, is there an option to activate/deactivate the new clouds?

Or do I need some special settings in the options?

The clouds are what they are.   Out with the old, in with the new.

[Toots_LeGuerre]

 "Strange, because I just had to ditch twice the last our during some test flights in the advanced quick mission builder. I didn't die."

 

Me neither when I stupidly ran out of gas in the longest range fighter in the game--a P-51--and bellied in a quarter mile short of the runway.

I had opened the canopy, but it slid shut from impact. But I wasn't hurt at all. 

The plane, other than a bent prop, didn't look too bad either.

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

6 hours ago, Rjel said:

I typically do a complete reinstall after a major update too. I agree it usually makes the game seemingly run better for me also. It’s on the agenda for this evening. 

Every update? I haven’t had any issues with an update for years. I do a complete install about once a year, just cuz.

[FuriousMeow]

45 minutes ago, II/JG17_HerrMurf said:

Every update? I haven’t had any issues with an update for years. I do a complete install about once a year, just cuz.

 

Both seem like a lot. I'm running the same install from the BoS release, that's also been copied to a couple SSDs plus going from an i7-4770k to a 5800x cpu change, and have had no performance or update issues. There was also Win7 to Win10 update somewhere along the way.

[Rjel]

1 hour ago, II/JG17_HerrMurf said:

Every update? I haven’t had any issues with an update for years. I do a complete install about once a year, just cuz.

 

1 hour ago, FuriousMeow said:

 

Both seem like a lot. I'm running the same install from the BoS release, that's also been copied to a couple SSDs plus going from an i7-4770k to a 5800x cpu change, and have had no performance or update issues. There was also Win7 to Win10 update somewhere along the way.

No, only after a major update like this or when a new theater is completed. It really isn’t as complicated as some suggest. Download a new install when I’m at work or overnight. Copy over my saved files and go. Works well for me and as least to my mind does improve performance. Chalk it up to personal preference. 

[I./JG52_Woutwocampe]

Hmmm apparantly the clouds killed the wind because now in campaigns the indicated wind speed is always 0 m/s.