VonBeerhofen

The Italian theatre is slowly getting the right atmosphere. This is the first of two special historic models. VonBeerhofen

Today EAWPRO broke the 10.000th freed bytes barrier and celebrates 15 years of uninterrupted online flying! Current bytecount: 44.442 bytes changed of which 10.092 were removed from the gameloop by means of optimising code in Assembly language. VonBeerhofen

Hi Claudio, great to finally meet one of the founders of the EAW modding community. I'm a great admirer of your work and I thank you for the insight you've given me personally with your notes and explanations on the workings of EAW. A big S! to you Sir! VonBeerhofen

You tell me m8, perhaps they're incapable of creating something themselves. I'm just saying that it's dangerous and irresponsible and that steps have been taken to prevent it, as a service to the EAW community. VonBeerhofen

Yep, since I have more time now I'm working very hard on implementing code which should prevent irresponsible and unauthorised use of my work. Fact is that anyone hosting a program of which they were not part in it's devellopment and therefore also have no idea how it will behave in a certain environment, are putting their own and other people's computers at risk when hosting it against the author's explicit and multiple warnings. It's a very sad thing that such warnings were taken as a threat. It is inevitable that progress will not stop because of this behaviour and with every step I make the program will get further and further away from anything which relates to v1.2 or even older versions. This is a new game and it works differently, I wish it wasn't like that but it just comes with the territory, like it or not. VonBeerhofen

Some people may not fully grasp the idea behind EAWPRO so here's an explanation. EAWPRO started life as a pure hack into the EXE's hexadecimal code before the release of any source code and early versions were meant to work with the OAW filemanager. At some point an assembly listing was created, which just happens to be my preferred programming language and with the Source Code in my posession things really began to take off. During the Launchpad's existence many pilots came by to fly with us and for years I tried to help them with installing but due to limited computer knowledge and/or intelligence more and more pilots gave up inspite of my step by step guidance develloped over a period of at least 5 years. We're talking dozens and possibly close to 100 pilots who gave up. So a different approach was needed to allow those pilots an easy way to come on board, which is where the idea behind EAWPRO was borne. A simple means to upgrade to a better version of EAW and compattible with both older and newer operating systems and an unchanged user interface to allow a seamless transition from one to the other. Nothing was changed in the selections or anywhere else which needs further explanations, pictures or manuals as it's all still the same as in v1.2. Inspite of this many enhancements were incorporated which are controlled through the standard user interface and a few less obvious changes were made to the EAW.INI, which when not changed have no real influence on the game's performance. These are like the hidden features which had been present in v1.2 untill they were discovered round 2000. Their default setting is probably best but explanations to these alterations are available on Mark's website. Install instructions do not differ from a v1.2 install other then that the EAWPRO upgrade needs to be added to a clean copy of EAW and you just start the game as you always have. No additional software, choices or regestring Visual Basic components or anything else. You don't have to learn anything extra in order to get the impovements EAWPRO provides. Hence there's no further directions needed other then those which relate to getting the game to work with various operating systems and/or hardware which is the same as for any version of EAW and well described at Mark EAW's website. A short recap, extract the EAWPRO addon into a clean version of EAW and enjoy! EAWPRO is tested to work with computers dating back to the year 2000 and minimum requirements are the same as described in the original EAW manual but a PIV @ 1Ghz, 256MB memory and a 32MB videocard will result in very acceptible framerates due to the optimised assembly code. VonBeerhofen

Huh? Nothing to add to my comment either, :) VonBeerhofen

What current environment? This guy is just asking for help and offering his for free ! VonBeerhofen

Right, there'll be plenty of differences in the roofs and shapes of buildings when finished RiBob. 6 entirely different city block models go a long way in terms of diversity, :) Just look at the above pictures. VBH

Hi RiBob, Plants are no problem in general but when on buildings it usually just on the drawing and not fully 3D to save framerates and memory. Often they come with the photographs I use but sometimes the drawing scale doesn't leave much detail. For those still interested here's an altitude shot of Rome as it stands now: VBH

Pictrures shown only relate to the object itself, not it's placement in the picture or the used sky sets or terrain tiles or other visible obkects. There's just too much stuff in my game at once which may be still experimental which has caused quite some controversy in the past elsewhere. You may understand that I'm not going to remove these things and portray the most ideal situation, it's simply too much extra work, so don't pay attention on it. It only shows how hard I'm working on getting things done and make it all come together nicely. How's this for you RiBob, just to show one of the possibillities of this new Italian city block, which is still using the stock textures but will soon be transformed to my own drawings. It's about the 3D model, not the drawings, or the people running around, :) VonBeerhofen

Hi RiBob, Rather then testing the objects where it belongs I used a tree slot for it and that's not where it's supposed to be. It's a city object and is supposed to sit on a city tile but it saves time when a tree is replaced. You don't have to search to find the object as cities are sometimes hundreds of miles away. Hope that explains it. VBH

What would an addon be without the right atmospheric buildings to get you properly in the mood of things, only 1/2 as good right? So as in all my addons new cities are build trying to capture that atmosphere. In this light a new colorfull MedTer building set is under devellopment and this is a first try of the first city model out of 5 or 6 or so. A new model with appropiate R/S and just a start to use every polygon and node 3D models will allow. These objects are a real pita to build when done right, but this isn't my first try. Ofcourse the texture is what makes or breaks the model, and a lot of time is spend on gathering the right (copyright free) pictures and mold them for use in the game, or if necessary construct it from my parts and buildings database, which is growing fast. I'm sorry for the low quality picture and distortions to prevent unauthorised use of my drawings, I hope there's sufficient left for an impression of what's to come This is the first finished MedTer city block out of 6 to come. These proofed to be a little more problematic then I thought but it got there in the end. In total I spend 100 hours on this creation, including gathering textures, and it's still not finished yet. The toughest part, getting the rendering sequence to work is done but now the detailing starts. VonBeerhofen

Another new object for the Italian mountains. I have no idea how to place them yet but at least I flew through a viaduct, :) VonBeerhofen

What can be achieved (graphics heavy content!) when your heart is in it. One of EAW's challenges to me has always been to make objects look as solid, strong and realistic as they are and it's not easy to do within the limitations of the game. Harbours for instance aren't just a few lines on a terrain tile but solid structures with a lot of objects and defenses. Plane shelters aren't waver thin polygons but solid concrete, often up to 1/2 a meter thick. Canons on ships don't sit on the side of a turret but are protruding from the front, pointing at the enemy. Without control over the dreaded rendering sequence it never looks right, stuff disappears behind the 3D model or displays in front of it when it shouldn't or switches on/off like a nervous object which doesn't know what to do. It limits any creation in that smaller details have to be left out because it makes these problems worse to a point that it really gets annoying. So I came up with EAW's equivalent of CFS2's 100% 3D models, objects which use every available bit of space in the 3D models and sometimes surpass it's limitations. In the past 10 years I've build a lot of these 100% models which, when properly combined, create pretty realistic environments. The city models were expanded, resulting in more buildings per object and photographic skins to make em look even better. New models were build trying to capture the atmosphere of remote towns and villages in other countries, essential to make an addon campaign like Italy work. These models are way more complicated then a plane's fuselage or a two engined wing or a tailpeace, even though they also have their own challenges. The time invested in these objects is simply staggering, as at the time my knowledge about solving R/S problems was not very great but vastly improved over time. The problem wasn't really in building the models or creating the skins but in solving every rendering issue as the model progressed and learning why it was such a problem. Creation times went from over 6 months for a single 100% model to less then a week full time today. Every new object has got these issues when not being a simple cube but something with curves and various angles. One wrong placement of a node or polygon and things no longer work as they should and it's time to call in the 3DZ detective. The problem is different every time and not something you can spot at a glance unless you've come across this problem before. If you haven't it becomes a wild guess, and it gets worse when the model has 5 or 6 such issues. Even today some problems, even though solved, remain obscure as to why they're happening but as opposed to wings and fuselages there is more freedom to move polygons around, I mean if a sunscreen doesn't work over the restaurant then you can always move it elsewhere and with a bit of luck get a proper result. Still, the issue needs to be examined and solved if you want to stick to your original idea as moving the polygon isn't a solution but a bodged fix which doesn't teach you anything. So here are a few of these solved problems in my collection, which I think add just that touch of realism which has always been missing because Pentium 3's were simply not fast enough to display these models at reasonable framerates. Amogst these objects are also tanks, trucks, ships, weapons and defense structures like Belgian Gates and Czech hedgehogs, pilboxes, barbed wire, trees, bushes and crops, etc. etc. Von Beerhofen BTW rather then destroying one of my own bridges a replica of the Antheor Viaduct is close to being completed, the proper way as a 100% 3D model with a fully working R/S, as it's an object which will suit the italy addon and give it the right atmosphere!

A minor tweak on an older model from 2010 and wehey an Italian bridge and checkpoint. Texture will probably still change as it looks too much like the old version, and perhaps I'll add some tank obstacles too: It does belong in this same category of solid looking objects. VonBeerhofen

a completely new tree design which can be used for other coniferes as well. Criteria for the build was first of all to get something different for Italy but also something which is as light rendering as the stock tree models in EAW, like my other tree designs. It will allow to put the model into rows of trees but also a large number into a clump of trees ( twice as many as the stock design and 4 times as many with additional shadow replacements). Since the model is so sleek I've put two different textures into a single drawing for some extra variation (only one shown). VonBeerhofen

Not sure if above pictures will autimatically update when they're changed in my FTP site, so here's the final? object from most angles after adding some extra details and meticuously mapping the texture: VonBeerhoffen

Somwhere at an idyllic location near Cote d'Azur, :) Hires model 256 pixel texture in 8 bit for the Final Cut addon: VonBeerhofen

Yep, they were the first Code Group and Paolo had some good knowledge about programming. It's too bad I didn't get to meet him in person as he left soon after I was invited by Capt. Kurt to join them. He also was an assembly language programmer and could have helped me to get going in 2000. Couldn't make much sense of hes source code for Studio, too much Spanish remarks. It also remained vague to me which Macro Assembler he was using, without that program you can't do a thing with the code. I might be able to do more today but the later version in Visual Basic is already more advanced and probably much easier to reprogram too. Not saying I will have a go at it though, too busy with EAWPRO right now and it would take a lot of work to figure that code out too. VBH

Wehey, you're probably right there Mark. That stuff is slowly fading I'm sorry to say, but it's cool to see those old masters still getting recognition eh? VBH

Great, I have a few ideas for Studio. That DOS version is probably Paolo Morais's version written in assembly. It had some text in Spanish if I recall correctly. As for loosing any of those programs, I have multiple backups here should there be a problem at some time. I would however print out a full directory, or copy it's text into notepad so you can still retrace what was were but perhaps you already have done so. VBH

The card isn't as bad as you think lol. It's capable of displaying EAW at 1920 x1080 but it's not very fast by design that's for sure. The screenshots were taken with it but it doesn't display as good on that card as it does with the computer I'm using now. VonBeerhofen

Gerwin, It's a personal choice, it's not set as it would slow down my old gForce2MMX when we're battling it out online. My view is that a tileset shouldn't have 3D objects drawn on them at all, that's what the 3D models are for. Still, with these models being switched of at not too far distances it does help immersion a little. It's not close to a realistic world and merely a game. Being a modder from the C64 era, I agree with Jelly's view that graphics don't really always improve gameplay. I've played many C64 games which were later graphically enhanced but those games were still the same as the old C64 version, they only looked a little nicer but didn't bring anything else to the table. EAW is about flying over continents and essentially it's possible to shrink the EAW world into just a small theatre which is crammed with all the objects and tiles this game can handle, thus improving it's graphics. But such a small theatre would be like a kind of IL2 and take away what EAW is all about. There isn't anything wrong with that approach and several attempts have been made already, to me they're boring and I quickly run out of interest when I polay them because you can only revisit such addons again and again but you don't have sufficient choice to keep you interested. EAW kept my interest for nearly 20 years now and a small theatre rarely kept my interest for more then 2 missions. I never revisited them either. It doesn't change anything in the fights themselves, but it's OK when people have fun with them for two days or even more, but it just doesn't have my interest unless there's a real difference with the 308 taget locations the stock game is capable of and where each one has it's own strategic challenges. Besides that, all full addon worlds have another 308 of such targets and I'm still interested in playing those after 20 years, if only for the various flightmodels they use and the impact of them on both AI and human skills, but they have way more then just that. VonBeerhofen

There are tilesets which are 4 times higher in resolution Stratos and use 512 x 512 or UHR textures. Add to that the capabillity of true color and those problems should no longer be much of an issue. There is a downside though, first of all loss of FPS, depending on the power of the system in use and how an OS deals with the program, since true color tiles in 512 take up app. 16 times the space of most 8 bit sets. Another issue is distance shimmering, which depends on the GPU's power and the way it reads the tileset. Lores tiles in the distance aren't always used by all videocards but they can cure that problem partially and improve FPS when in use. So it's a bit of a trade off really. A huge tileset may well be a good solution but then again who's going to create a world using 1000 tiles or more and make the drawings for it. Maybe in a few years from now such a set could be finished and a TM created for it. I'm not going to create it for sure, even though by now I have around 1000 tiles ready for various purposes. I guess I'm used to these issues and it has never bothered me much, my weight lies on dogfighting and groundpounding in EAW, plenty of choices to fly other sims which make use of more modern technology but I never found one which gave me as much fun as EAW does, also ofcourse because I do not have the source code for them, which is 75% of my fun. VonBeerhofen