+kendo353 Posted February 28, 2007 Posted February 28, 2007 Hi folks... the CA people have kindly given "Down in Flames" a whole forum to spread out in. i'll use this thread to keep you all posted on the project's progress, but feel free to start new topics, and polls of your own. Quote
+kendo353 Posted March 2, 2007 Author Posted March 2, 2007 Great idea. 'fates' suggested it. :) theres not too much to report at the moment, Smosh. I have to wait until after GDC for the new engine update. Cerebus06 is helping to flesh out the historical campaign data, and the personality system is coming along well. but the flight model is pretty much (forgive the pun) up in the air. JSBsim looks it will interface nicely, and GabiLaser said he may be able to help with that. Optimism level --> 95% Quote
+kendo353 Posted April 23, 2007 Author Posted April 23, 2007 Hi folks, enthusiasm undiminished. development still ongoing. features sorted... wingwarping. pilot personality system. pistols/rifles/shotguns in the cockpit. bridges and viaducts you can fly through. pathfollowing -> moving trains & truck convoys to strafe and bomb. improved physics and ground collisions. have a good summer, everyone. regards to the nice people. ken Quote
GabiLaser Posted April 23, 2007 Posted April 23, 2007 (edited) Hi folks, enthusiasm undiminished. development still ongoing. features sorted... wingwarping. pilot personality system. pistols/rifles/shotguns in the cockpit. bridges and viaducts you can fly through. pathfollowing -> moving trains & truck convoys to strafe and bomb. improved physics and ground collisions. have a good summer, everyone. regards to the nice people. ken Super Duper, Kendo! Nice to hear this :) Edited April 23, 2007 by GabiLaser Quote
catch Posted April 24, 2007 Posted April 24, 2007 Hi folks, enthusiasm undiminished. development still ongoing. features sorted... wingwarping. pilot personality system. pistols/rifles/shotguns in the cockpit. bridges and viaducts you can fly through. pathfollowing -> moving trains & truck convoys to strafe and bomb. improved physics and ground collisions. have a good summer, everyone. regards to the nice people. ken Looking good Ken Quote
+kendo353 Posted April 24, 2007 Author Posted April 24, 2007 cheers guys. i'm still waiting on the engine developers to fix heightmapped terrains before i can release anything you can play with, but everything else is progressing fine. i appreciate your support, and salute your humanity. Quote
catch Posted April 26, 2007 Posted April 26, 2007 cheers guys. i'm still waiting on the engine developers to fix heightmapped terrains before i can release anything you can play with, but everything else is progressing fine. i appreciate your support, and salute your humanity. No problem Ken. Personally, I just admire what you're doing basically all by yourself. Sometimes the human condition depresses me but I am lifted by your non-conditional enthusiasm and passion. No money no greed no power no ego no manipulation .... just the love of it. Now that's refreshing Quote
Smosh Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 No problem Ken. Personally, I just admire what you're doing basically all by yourself. Sometimes the human condition depresses me but I am lifted by your non-conditional enthusiasm and passion. No money no greed no power no ego no manipulation .... just the love of it. Now that's refreshing I've been away for a while but just want to echo Catch's sentiments :yes: :yes: Quote
+kendo353 Posted May 6, 2007 Author Posted May 6, 2007 I've been away for a while but just want to echo Catch's sentiments :yes: :yes: it's appreciated, people. being snubbed by the skin snobs left a nasty taste, and it warms the heart to discover that there's still human beings out there. i've been getting on with coding, gameplay, and the singleplayer campaigns. consequently, there isn't too much "new stuff" to show off at the moment. if you're flying a two-seater, you can jump into the gunners position and fire to the rear. the engine will also have support for DX9 built in soon, so people can choose which renderer they prefer looking at. slowly, but surely. Quote
catch Posted May 9, 2007 Posted May 9, 2007 Mmmmm love that Parasol Ken. Nice work ! Thanks for sharing the pics. I'm very sorry to hear you had issues with skinners. Keep smilin' and stay happy. I look forward to future developments of DIF. Quote
+kendo353 Posted May 9, 2007 Author Posted May 9, 2007 Hi Catch... Gr.Viper... There have been frustrating delays, because the BV engine developers are "indies" with bills to pay, and some features which i'd hoped would be in place by now, are still on the drawing board. but i believe they will be true to their word and deliver the goods. i'd considered switching the project over to a more suitable engine (Apocalyx, DXstudio, or XNA), but that would necessitate redoing much of the work i've put into the campaign backend, and learning a completely different way of doing things. which isn't really a viable use of time. i've been getting some in-depth mathematical assistance from a fellow "flight enthusiast" in Brazil. and to keep the progress flowing, i've been working on things which are achievable with the engine as it is now. still have every confidence, and i appreciate your kind words very much. cheers... Quote
+kendo353 Posted May 16, 2007 Author Posted May 16, 2007 been playing with balloons and flak this week.. still a way to go (obviously), but game speed is good.... this test level had 24 balloons, 144 simultaneous flak bursts, pathseeking ground units (a truck convoy), and 6 planes. one day the enemy will fly up and attack me... but not today... lol... they're just milling about on the ground looking confused. Quote
+Gr.Viper Posted May 16, 2007 Posted May 16, 2007 I like that flak-ridden sky And the Dh.2.. and the rest of the stuff! Quote
catch Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 Been away a while ..... good to see some excellent progress Ken Quote
briny_norman Posted May 30, 2007 Posted May 30, 2007 Good to see some pictures! I like that flak too. Kendo, how much are you planning to do with the terrain? Are we going to see hills and 3-d forests/villages, for example? Quote
+kendo353 Posted May 31, 2007 Author Posted May 31, 2007 Kendo, how much are you planning to do with the terrain? Hi Briny... i can import a DEM real world map, and split it up into chunks, or model tiled terrain using the BV engine, which has a very nice terrain maker with water. need a river, lake, or coastline? just carve it into the map... lol.... but at present it's too small for flight-sim requirements. i'm testing stuff out on a region approximately 10km, which is made out of traditional 256m tiles. the engine developers have promised full Level of Detail for terrain, but it hasn't landed yet. when that arrives... and i can apply a heightmap across the whole of the created landscapes... *anything* is possible. Are we going to see hills and 3-d forests/villages, for example? simple answer... yes. the engine handles LOD and distance culling for objects very well, so 3D forests are easy. but (as im sure you appreciate), it's a balancing act between everything you want to display on screen. everything is jostling for your video ram, and i'm keen to keep the framerate as high as possible. (the dude knocked this up in an hour) Been away a while ..... good to see some excellent progress Ken cheers, Catch. still got a lot of love for the subject. seven months down the road, and i'm still keen to fire it up each morning. lol... regards to you. Quote
briny_norman Posted June 1, 2007 Posted June 1, 2007 All sounds great, Kendo! With regards to the forests/framerate issue - I've always thought the IL2 solution was pretty brilliant. Forests look very realistic from above (which is where you'll be most of the time) and are extremely frame-rate friendly. I know a lot of people complain about the IL2 forests, but to me they are an almost perfect solution to the framerate issue - making it possible to have long stretches of dense, realistic looking "3-d" forests without having it eat up all your ram. I personally don't mind these kinds of "cheats" - the only times I notice the 2-d nature of the IL2 forests is when I crash into them. Otherwise they look great to me. Is the IL2 approach to forests something you have considered? Quote
+kendo353 Posted June 8, 2007 Author Posted June 8, 2007 Hi briny_norman. Is the IL2 approach to forests something you have considered? confession: i haven't played it. enclosed cockpits don't "do it" for me. I'm fairly confident i can knock up something decent with the tools i have though. forests can be removed or billboarded at distance, and i can have as many levels of LOD on the trees as i want. flying over a billboard forest of 200 trees, didn't seem to impact on the framerate, but 12 forests at once, did. I could feasibly have trees as detailed as those in twitch shooters, with every leaf modelled, but thats going too far for an air combat game, i think. I'll strive to make them look as nice as i can, and impact upon the framerate as little as possible. but i'm working on other areas of the game at the moment, and it's not something i've spent a great deal of time on. thanks for the suggestion though. cheers.. Quote
+Gr.Viper Posted June 8, 2007 Posted June 8, 2007 IL2 forest means a forest made out of three or four horizontal planes. Each plane has many green blobs (i.e. leaves, branches) and transparent space between the blobs. So when the planes are placed one over another with a little space between it does look great from above. Unfortunately, it looks appalling close up and whey you fly below tree-top level. They use the same kind of vegetation in Targetware -> Richthofen Skies. At least I saw something very like it there. But I still vote for separate trees... however simple, as long as they don't look all alike and face the same direction they look nice. Quote
+kendo353 Posted June 10, 2007 Author Posted June 10, 2007 IL2 forest means a forest made out of three or four horizontal planes. ahhh..i know what you mean. no, nothing like that. billboards in the far distance, and models, closer up. I still vote for separate trees... however simple, as long as they don't look all alike and face the same direction they look nice. trees done by a friend... quote: only the folliage (30 polys) is billboard here, not the trunk. I've made a little forest with some hundreds of trees, using level of detail to make it render faster. From about 70 meters, the 3d tree model is changed to a single poly plane with a .PNG showing a screenshot taken from the original one. A common technique. the FPS is completely OK even with the screen full of trees and leaf textures. Quote
catch Posted June 21, 2007 Posted June 21, 2007 (edited) I agree about those trees !!!! And I also agree to stay away from the IL2 method. In WW1 you don't fly as high as WWII and generally lose altitide during dogfights so (if you are still alive) you're slugging it out at ground level and IL2 scenery would look like ... well crap. Good scenery is in my opinion very important for WW1 flight sims but of course it's always a balancing act between quality and frames. A little trickery here and there doesn't hurt. But you've got a good handle on this Ken and once again I'm astounded by your progress and good taste ! Good to see you're still enthused and keep up the excellent work. All the best, Catch. Edit: looking forward very much to a demo :) Edited June 21, 2007 by catch Quote
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