Search the Community

A few screen shots of EAWPRO's Supertrees II in action. Supertrees was originally released as a standalone addon at Sandbagger's to replace the 'ugly' forrest models and single trees with tree clumps, providing the game with roughly 4 times as many trees. It's been widely copied into many different addons over the years and most likely you also have a version or variant in your game. Supertrees II uses newly designed tree models which now have 25 trees in a single 3DZ, making it another 100% model using all 255 available polygons. EAWPRO can use two of these in a single object slot. This now again doubles the number as each treeslot contains 50. Here's a few screnshots of how it looks in the Final Cut. Notice the maxed out view depth on the tiles which also causes objects to remain visible from above the clouds! VonBeerhofen

It still had some room for improvements so I added more rigging to keep the crows nest more stable and added 3 machine guns on the aft balcony and arrestor wire, hope that's the right terminology. Plz correct me if I'm wrong, :D I still have some room left so maybe I can cram something else in. VonBeerhofen

Making good use of EAWPRO's shadow files: VonBeerhofen

The Arabian teahouse. Naaaah, it's just a further development of a much older 3D model with a minor adaptation of the skin in use intended for Eastern theatres like my Suez addon. A less extravagant skin is in the works and the model may change again later, like some additional sunscreens or a tower. Will keep you posted! VBH

It's taken quite some time as Covid-19 stagnated manufacturing of 3D models and anything EAWPRO, but I'm not about to give up and finally found some extra energy to start work on the 4th citymodel for the Italy addon. Shown here still using lores textures and not entirely a 100% model yet. There's still about 35% unused space in the model which allows for dreaming up some extra nice details. Devellopment is carrying on, although somewhat more in the background, sorry. VonBeerhofen

for Flyright's V1 conversion. As you can see in this picture the model was constructed the oldfashioned way from the V1 , which shape is still visible because back then it was the only way to create something new. All the old polygons and nodes had to be left as is to keep the rendering sequence intact. Essentially it's still a V1 with all it's parts still present but set to invisible except for the parts which were needed for the blimp. The result is that in the editor and in the game the model uses space for 145 polygons and 147 nodes and it's filesize is not much smaller then the actual V1, 4.73 Kilobytes. Due to the changes to the V1 model and not being able to recalculate a new Rendering Sequence this model never worked very well in the game, as sides and tailsurfaces disappeared depending on the viewing angle, a valliant effort for those days nonetheless This next picture shows the fixed model with a newly calculated rendering sequence, all unwanted nodes and polygons were removed, an anchor line attached, the stabiliser wings were straightened, the messy tail was remodeled to give it a more accurate shape and the model was prepared for further improvements, i.e. a 12 sided version with appropiate 3D stabiliser wings instead of just flat polygons. As shown it consists of just 73 polygons and 71 nodes resulting in a filesize of only 2.96 kilobytes. This new model is stable as a rock, takes up less memory and renders almost twice as fast, where ofcourse framerate is always an important asset in any flightsimulator as AI intelligence and reaction times are directly linked with it. The next two pictures show the model in action. Notice that the difference with the old version isn't very big, the difference mainly lies in the stability of rendering the model and viewing it from all angles and ofcourse 2 kilobytes removed from one model will hardly impact framerates. It does however become more significant when dozens are visible in the same frame and taking into account that in a single screenshot a few hundred 3D models will be visible, some very complex, the overal cleanup will have a dramatic influence on framerates, loading times, CPU and GPU use and frees up memory for more complicated models, like the upcoming 12 sided version currently being develloped, a shape which can NEVER be derived from ANY model created for EAW in the past! VonBeerhofen

Told ya it can be any shape. This is what the 100% 3D models are all about. Call it a super tweak, but one that's really working. It's about fixing other 3D models which have R/S issues, which is about 99% of what's out there. You have to take my word for it that it's 100 working and when finished I'll proof it too. But I guess those who're working with 3D models don't really need that proof, right? VonBeerhofen

8 hours to unravel it's R/S secrets and 8 more to tweak the model into a light fleet/escort cariier. From here the model can be turned into any carrier class or split up into a multipart model. As a single 3DZ it can be a moving interdiction target (not landable) as well as a static target in harbours or alongside the coast. This is just a start as the model will be turned into a 100% model and It's texture will be upgraded soon. VonBeerhofen This picture shows the R/S check of a beached carrier with a few additions already :) The model will be added to PTIV as the new EAWPRO exe has freed a slot for an extra ship.

The Reichenberg was the first and last plane I created in 2010, but with some recently acquired knowledge I felt the model should benefit from it, hence II. The initial model had it's cockpit more integrated into the fuselage but pictures show it was more of a small cubicle on top of the body. The old version also only used 6 sides and now 10. It may be further improved someday but for now this is where it stands. Weapons wil be added later too. As usual a rock solid R/S, new skin, semi 3D pilot (as in the Ohka) and dashboard (not visible yet in this picture but it's already there). VBH

Using a very old texture design which used to be UHR (= 512 x 256) redesigned for standard texture size 256 x 256 in 8 bit. 3D model may still change as it was selected from my base library of models. Another one may be more impressive, you never know. VonBeerhofen

Found this in an old FXEXE install and almost forgot it needed just a bit more work because of harddrive issues in the past. A few more details will be added and texture mapping may still change a little. 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 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

8 bit texture in 256 x 256 pixels and fully working R/S: Object may still undergo further enhancements, plenty of room left! VonBeerhofen