SF2: North Atlantic

[Gr.Viper 131]

Anyone lock onto an ASM yet?

Locked onto six at once but got no hits. Intercepting Kitchen is like shooting flying buckshot using a blowpipe loaded with live bumblebees.

[MigBuster 2,884]

And this is why I don't understand the fps drop, no rivers, no forests no cities yet my fps are cut in half or more, on the other hand I can run for example Stary's Germany with 1024 tiles no problem...go figure...both in NA btw.

 

 

Might be something to do with the noisenormal terrain bmp if it still uses that - because changing mine on older terrains chopped FR and made the ground shimmer - but also made the ground more detailed - probably need a better gfx card now.

[+Brain32 265]

OK people I just took my existing HUD.ini from old install that has debug info checked so I can see the polycount...anyway..

 

Scene is at the same altitude, a full 90deg left view from the cockpit of F-14A:

 

Iceland over some mountains: a bit over 3 600 000 (that's three milion six hundred thousand) polygons

 

Germany(stock) over the city and a river: a bit over 130 000 (one hundred thirty thousand) polygons

 

So basically, bland Iceland terrain has about 3,5 milion more polygons....

[FastCargo 412]

That might explain it...

 

FC

[+Stary 2,427]

So basically, bland Iceland terrain has about 3,5 milion more polygons....

or scientifically 27.6 the times of Germany map

Edited March 10, 2012 by Stary

[FastCargo 412]

I guess the issue is that TK's terrain doesn't do 'scaling'...ie go to a lower mesh resolution when farther away...

 

So I wonder if there is an 'in between' setting to maybe get better 3rd party terrain but not quite the frame rate hit.

 

FC

[Stratos 3,188]

Don't have the game yet. And I have a couple of questions.

 

- Where the enemy (soviet planes) take off? NO Mig-21 variant can fly and fight from USSR to Iceland. Is there a airfield on Iceland for them?

 

- Do the AI Yak's take off and land back from the Kiev?

 

Thanks!

[Gr.Viper 131]

Don't have the game yet. And I have a couple of questions.

 

- Where the enemy (soviet planes) take off? NO Mig-21 variant can fly and fight from USSR to Iceland. Is there a airfield on Iceland for them?

 

- Do the AI Yak's take off and land back from the Kiev?

 

Thanks!

Soviets are given the Eastern half of Iceland with a few airfields. MiGs start there. Bombers come from off-map.

 

Yaks start and land on Kiev, but at the moment they tend to roll off the deck and crash on take off.

[squid 21]

so far any clues maybe what controls the color of the sea ?

[+Brain32 265]

I guess the issue is that TK's terrain doesn't do 'scaling'...ie go to a lower mesh resolution when farther away...

 

So I wonder if there is an 'in between' setting to maybe get better 3rd party terrain but not quite the frame rate hit.

 

FC

 

Yup that's what I'm wondering too and that's why I'm itchy for the cat extractor because, and I might be too confident and not at all modest for a hobby max user but I think I can do better than this...I mean really 3,6 million polys and that's just the part that renders at "near" horizon setting? The whole terrain mesh probably has a billion or even several billions of polys...

 

In the mean time people try adjusting Terrain Detail setting because as per the ReadME:

 

Terrain Detail -

Controls how detailed the terrain appears at various distances.

Low: Terrain is represented as a simple mesh.

Medium: Terrain shows more hills and valleys.

High: Terrain is at highest detail.

 

Considering the ultra-high detail of the iceland I don't see you guys loosing much in visuals while you may get major performance improvement, I'm off to test that now, will report on it.

[+Stary 2,427]

North Atlantic Drift does...

[MigBuster 2,884]

Note the F-14 radar write up in the Manual folder (note the symbols for IFF)

 

 

Using the Radar on F-14A

F-14A carries the AWG-9 radar, the most powerful radar of its time. The radar was desgined specifically for fleet defense, and when used with the AIM-54 Phoenix missiles, it can engage up to 6 enemy bombers at once at range of almost 100 miles. There is no raw radar display in the pilot's cockpit, instead, there is TID (Tactical Information Display), which shows not only the target detected by the radar, but also all the targets detected by nearby airborne early warning aircraft.

 

There are three selectable modes available: Search (Range-While Scan, or RWS), Track-While-Scan (TWS), and Air Combat (Vertical Scan Lock-on, or VSL) modes. Single Target Track (STT) mode is entered by the radar system when a target track is established. All radar modes display the same top-down, birds-eye view of the battlespace in front of the aircraft, up to 400 miles display range.

 

 

 

 

Search Mode

Search mode has the widest search volume and fastest search time, but only shows minimum information regarding targets. Target can be designated using the "Next/Previous radar target" keys, and the "Acquire selected target" key can be used to transition to STT mode unless AIM-54 missile is currently selected, in which case the radar will switch to TWS mode instead.

 

Track-While-Scan (TWS) Mode

TWS mode displays additional information about the currently selected target and is used for engaging multiple targets simultaneously with the AIM-54 missiles. Radar in TWS mode scans slightly smaller volume than in Search mode, and radar elevation is automatically centered on the currently highlighted target. Different targets can be selected using the "Next/Previous radar target" keys. When the AIM-54 is selected, up to 6 targets may be designated using the "Acquire selected target" key. When the first target is designated, a number "1" appears next to the target. And each time a different target is designated (by hitting the "Next/Previous radar target" to go to next target and then hitting the "Acquire selected target" again), next number in sequence is assigned ("2", "3", "4", etc), up to the number of AIM-54 currently carried. When an AIM-54 is fired, it automatically aims to the next target (designated "1") and the sequence is cycled down by one (so "2" now becomes "1", "3" becomes "2", etc) for the next missile, allowing the pilot to fire all 6 missiles at 6 different targets at once. When other weapons are selected, the "Acquire selected target" key switches to STT mode instead.

 

Single Target Track (STT) Mode

STT mode displays the all the same information as the TWS and is used to guide the AIM-7 radar-guided missiles. While in this mode, the radar does not search for any new targets, but new targets can still show up on TID if detected by the airborne early warning aircraft.

 

Auto Acquisition Mode

 

Radar in Auto Acquisition mode scans straight ahead and vertically from 0 to 40 deg above the boresight line. It automatically locks on to the first target it encounters in its vertical search arc, and switches to STT mode.

[+Brain32 265]

OK people everybody that has performance issues gather up!

 

I just tried it at low, it still has 1 300 000 polys but ofcourse runs much, much smoother, you can set it to low without concerning about how will it look as with 10x the detail of old SF2 terrains it still looks great...

 

I got 10 fps more btw...

[Gr.Viper 131]

On F-4 your left-hand Maverick camera can give you an external shot of your ECM pod.

[FastCargo 412]

OK people everybody that has performance issues gather up!

 

I just tried it at low, it still has 1 300 000 polys but ofcourse runs much, much smoother, you can set it to low without concerning about how will it look as with 10x the detail of old SF2 terrains it still looks great...

 

I got 10 fps more btw...

 

Outstanding...so it sounds like it's not so much anything new per se in the terrain engine as the pure amount of polygons being shown on screen. I'd imagine flatter terrains would do better, yet still allow the newer texture details available.

 

FC

[+Brain32 265]

Outstanding...so it sounds like it's not so much anything new per se in the terrain engine as the pure amount of polygons being shown on screen. I'd imagine flatter terrains would do better, yet still allow the newer texture details available.

 

FC

 

Yup not just flatter but even hilly ones if go for less complexity, for example if we retain the complexity of the old SF2 terrains it will be as if nothing happened performance wise.

 

That is if there are no other hidden stuff in new terrains.

 

Also there's a horizon distance option we can play with...

[Gr.Viper 131]

That is if there are no other hidden stuff in new terrains.

Like buildings and runways no longer sinking into it as you move away.

[+Brain32 265]

Like buildings and runways no longer sinking into it as you move away.

 

Naaah that's just clipping...

[+SkateZilla 49]

The CAT extractor doesnt work on new CATs :(

[+KnightWolf45 1,147]

Tk i will put a new one in a fewe days for just play the game and have fun let CSI work for later

[squid 21]

OK people everybody that has performance issues gather up!

 

I just tried it at low, it still has 1 300 000 polys but ofcourse runs much, much smoother, you can set it to low without concerning about how will it look as with 10x the detail of old SF2 terrains it still looks great...

 

I got 10 fps more btw...

 

i confirm. works even with middle. Combined with very far distance i got improved eye candy with old performance

[Gr.Viper 131]

Naaah that's just clipping...

Are non-180 runway numbers new?

[+ianh755 196]

Ref Tomcat Roll - Anything below 0.91mach at sea level is fine, above that and the sluggish roll issue occurs on my stand-alone install.

 

Ref Map issue - The zooming in "fix" doesn't work on recon missions, maybe as you haven't done the recon of that part yet????

Edited March 10, 2012 by ianh755

[+Stary 2,427]

it's not so much anything new per se in the terrain engine

FC

 

besides it being brand new engine...

[+JonathanRL 974]

For you who have not played it yet, I can tempt you with the fact that a five minute long video review will be up within three hours :)