The Forgotten Battles

[dayglow 2]

IL2/FB was written for Opengl with a dx wrapper added on, so Ogl mode is faster. Also there are some bugs in dx that causes icons to disappear at low alt. Also objects are harder to see at a distance.

The problem with larger maps is that FB uses a really high texture rez. 1024 or even 2048 for the landscape. That's why it takes so much memory is because the textures are so large.

COLINMAN

[Tovarish 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Col. Kurtz @ April 03 2003,23:56)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">About the big maps and perfomance issues Tovarish. You have to realise we are coming into a new age of technology. Soon I think it should be possible to have a detailed, good looking flight sim on a map that covers Europe (imagine if you could have both the Western and Eastern Front's with the option to change fronts if you were a German).

If Flashpoint can be a reality, so can be this flight sim I think of.

I demand that this game is built!

And who am I to ask of such a thing? A jumped up 14 year old whacked up teenager that's who, so everyone should obey my authority. Yet strangely, noone does...

Back to the drawing board...

Next plan, kidnap Oleg and the team amd force them to make me the game of my dreams. Whilst finishing their cool looking WWII RTS.<span id='postcolor'>

LOL I understand your enthusiasm but as a Computer Enginering student I have a pretty good idea of how the things you're asking for affect system resources. Maybe when we have 10 Ghz Processors we can have a game of the quality of FB that will span all of Europe .

In my first year I did a presentation on game AI, unfortunately I don't have the document here, so I can't quote it exactly (maybe when I get home), but my research showed that the system resources allocated for game AI have increased dramatically in the past 5 or so years, to the point where game AI now often takes up the majority of processing power. That's where I think your comparison of EAW and IL-2 fails...you just can't compare the AI, not to mention damage modeling, ect.

Besides, such a game means I would have to buy a whole new system, give me a break, I'm a starving college student with a P III .

[Col. Kurtz 0]

It's time for world dictatorship mode.

Stalin had the Industrial Revolution is the 1930's, well its time for the Computer Revolution in the 2000's. The goal is to push forward computer technology by 20 years in just 2 years. This may sound impossible, but every single computer speacilist/worker/designer shall be rounded up to push computer technology ahead. They will work 12 hours shifts six days a week. They will be payed nothing and will be housed and fed in camps. What shall be their motivtion? Before they were designing for money, now their doing it for their lifes! And once technology has been brought forward enough, every flight sim development team (excluding the ones who worked on CFS3) will be brought together to make me my game. I expect itmade within 2 months. With thousands of programers, modellers, skinners, map designers etc. they should be able to rise to the task. And what will eb the reward for them when this all ends? The whole world shall recieve one of these new computers and a copy of the best flight sim ever made.

Right, I think it is confirmed, I am a little bit crazy, but I assure you I wouldn't really do somethign as evil as what I stated above... I think its time I left these fair boards for at least half an hour and go and do some evil science work.

[Badgerboy 0]

I like his style. These death camps though, I can put you in touch with a guy who does a mean line in electro shock collars.

[Tovarish 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Col. Kurtz @ April 04 2003,00:29)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">This may sound impossible, but every single computer speacilist/worker/designer shall be rounded up to push computer technology ahead. They will work 12 hours shifts six days a week.<span id='postcolor'>

You mean we'll only have to work half-days?? Whee!!! Finally some time off!!! Viva la Revolución!

Honestly man, you have no idea, pretty soon the college is going to start charging me rent, and no, I don't live on Campus. I've lost count of the allnighters I've pulled in just this semester .

[KingBeast 0]

My girly just bought me FB and i must say im very impressed. I have IL2 and I just never really played it too much or enjoyed it that much but im having a lot of fun with FB, the Dynamic campaign really does it for me. The detail in the roster is nice also, the photos and such of the different pilots adds some personal feeling to the whole campaign. It was quite a shock when I saw our squadron ace get shot down, but I was secretly pleased because it meant i was a step closer to being the ace

Maybe I just didnt play IL2 very well but in FB i seem to be able to get into lovely ballet like dogfights, usually ending up with a couple of kills for me and more often than not a handful of lead in my fuselage

[MLF 0]

im getting back into IL2 before i think of getting FB, just a question what happens to my original IL2 when i get FB does it become obselete or can i play it with the graphical enhancements or is the campaign from the original broguht over to FB?

[Col. Kurtz 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Tovarish @ April 04 2003,10:45)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">You mean we'll only have to work half-days?? Whee!!! Finally some time off!!! Viva la Revolución! <span id='postcolor'>

Don't think I'm doing it because I'm kind, it's only because I don't want you all falling asleep on the job. And its' easier to manage, each day has two 12 hour shifts, one starting at Midnight and one at lunch so it's all orderly.

And another thing, their not death camps, I don't want the computer technicians to die, if they die then I cannot use their minds! Maybe some of the less abled ones could be sacrificed if need be, but the top ones must be kept working.

Back into the world of sanity, I have been wondering something. When playing FB I get what could kind of be called 'artificats' even though they are not. I'll be flying along when I might see a greend tracers flash up for a second. It will just appear out of nowhere then dissapear after a split second. And this is when there are no other planes. Sometimes it might be a black spot like a flak burst. It's just wierd, FB is the only game it has ever happened to me on, and it didn't happen in IL2. I am just wondering if anyone else experiances tracers flashing up out of no where then dissaperaring. I think it only happens in the cockpit view, and it ahppens quite a bit. Sometimes once every, lets say 10 seconds.

[Tovarish 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Col. Kurtz @ April 04 2003,01:39)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Back into the world of sanity, I have been wondering something. When playing FB I get what could kind of be called 'artificats' even though they are not. I'll be flying along when I might see a greend tracers flash up for a second. It will just appear out of nowhere then dissapear after a split second. And this is when there are no other planes. Sometimes it might be a black spot like a flak burst. It's just wierd, FB is the only game it has ever happened to me on, and it didn't happen in IL2. I am just wondering if anyone else experiances tracers flashing up out of no where then dissaperaring. I think it only happens in the cockpit view, and it ahppens quite a bit. Sometimes once every, lets say 10 seconds.<span id='postcolor'>

Are you positive you weren't taking groundfire? Hmm, maybe FB models random experiments on unwitting pilots using hallucinogenic drugs .

[Col. Kurtz 0]

It happens alot, even when I am flying on a map on my own, with no AA, enemy planes, tanks or any other form of enemy. And thing is, the green tracer looking thing doesn't move, it just hangs there. I might get a screenshot to point out what I'm yapping about(of course I'll probably solve the mystery in the process so there will be no need).

[Tovarish 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Col. Kurtz @ April 04 2003,03:25)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">It happens alot, even when I am flying on a map on my own, with no AA, enemy planes, tanks or any other form of enemy. And thing is, the green tracer looking thing doesn't move, it just hangs there. I might get a screenshot to point out what I'm yapping about(of course I'll probably solve the mystery in the process so there will be no need).<span id='postcolor'>

Never seen it

BTW, has anyone tried starting a campaign as an I-153 pilot? I just did since the I-16 seems a bit too well protected agaisnt MG's in this version....whoa, was I in for a few surprizes...first of all, no altimeter or spedometer!!! (But they were considerate enough to put in a clock ). That shocked the hell out of me, since it's a more modern design than the I-16. Makes flying without a speedbar very interesting, you really have to get a good feel for the plane, and guesstimate altitude to know when to change supercharger stages. Also, forward visibility is in my opinion much worse than in the Fw-190's, which made landing a real adventure...I pulled it off on the first try, only to hit the wheelbrakes too soon and flipped the plane onto it's nose. Hell, takeoff was an adventure in itself too! It took me half a dozen tries before I figured out a consistently safe way to do it...but once you're airborne and in a dogfight....this thing will outturn a Yak-3! Plus it's got the best low speed handling and most benign stall characteristics of any aircraft. It feels like a VTOL. My first kill came at low alt when a 109 I had shot up simply stalled and fell to the ground trying to evade me, and I was nowhere near stalling. It takes patience to score against 109's in such a slow plane, but once they get close and make the mistake of not extending, they're toast. I love it .

[Col. Kurtz 0]

Right, on the issue of the crazy flashing. I did two quick tests. One test I flew with no AA, and I saw no green or black flashes so I decided to crash my plane. It was quite amusing. I flipped onto my back on was on fire so I got out. My guy is running out when the plane goes up. He takes lets say one more step then dives to the ground, then becomes dead

I did a second test with AA, and whoa and behold the flashes came, but they aren't tracers fired from the AA cannons. For one thing, in IL2 tracers leave a white trail. These flashes do not do this. For a second point, the flashes were green, but the AA been fired at me was German and they were firing blue rounds. And I paused it, and I was still getting flashes. They dissapear too quickly to get a screenshot, but if you have every watched old footage, you probably have seen how there are random black 'spots' that flash up like little pieces of dust. These green flashes are like that.

But if nobody else has seen these, maybe I am just imagining it all. I just had idea, I could make a track of it.

*Edit*: It might just my computer been a whacky computer. I made a track of a mission where I incountered flashes, and upon playing the track I found flashes, but they weren't at the same places I had seen them when I originally played the mission.

[R. Gerschwarzenge 0]

Have you overclocked your video card? Maybe thats the reason for the artifacts.

[Col. Kurtz 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (R. Gerschwarzenge @ April 04 2003,18:28)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Have you overclocked your video card? Maybe thats the reason for the artifacts.<span id='postcolor'>

No I haven't, and as I said in another post, this is the only game it has happened to me in, and it didn't happen in the original IL2.

[Tex -USMC- 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Col. Kurtz @ April 04 2003,08:35)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (R. Gerschwarzenge @ April 04 2003,18:28)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Have you overclocked your video card? Maybe thats the reason for the artifacts.<span id='postcolor'>

No I haven't, and as I said in another post, this is the only game it has happened to me in, and it didn't happen in the original IL2.<span id='postcolor'>

Driver issue maybe?

[Col. Kurtz 0]

Maybe, but I think it all comes down to the aliens. They must have something to do with it

I have one solution: ignore it And if I ever meet the aliens responsible for tampering with my copy of FB, they will be making me my dream game and the computer to play it on, so there will be no need to inslave every single computer specialist. I'll get them to give me a few machines and games so I can A). Give them to people I like or B) Sell them at a huge profit ( we are talking about a game that is like OFP 9).

[Col. Kurtz 0]

I was just checking the IL2 Forums and came across a funny thread. It has pictures of people doing some crazy stuff. Someone got a P-39 going at a speed of near 1200km before hitting the ground. And I know supposedly the engine can't handle hieghts of over 10,000m, but there is a screenshot of someone at an altitude of 22,000m in the B-1.

Just goes to show that you can really push the boundaries in IL2.

[Badgerboy 0]

Above 10,000m is great. I got a BI-1 up to 23,450m, and speeds approaching 1500kph.

As soon as I came back down, physics kicked in, and nearly tore it apart.

[Tovarish 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Badgerboy @ April 05 2003,02:11)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">As soon as I came back down, physics kicked in, and nearly tore it apart.<span id='postcolor'>

I tried to do that once (to tear the BI-1 appart) I'm not sure how high I got, but I went into a 90 degree dive at full power....damn thing lost all control authority above 800km/h or so, and my Force-feedback joystick was jumping off the desk! Seriously, I thought either the joystck was going to break, or my wrist. Strangest thing is the plane eventually leveled itself out

[Badgerboy 0]

Its not swept wing, so when it approaches high speeds, drag builds up, and the tail forces the nose over. Once the speed bleeds off it returns to level flight.

Hopefully the Spit shall arrive soon, and all shall fall before me!

[Badgerboy 0]

Been playing multi on a map where vulching is encouraged!(People have to fly CAP over the field then)

Anyway, the Me262 is the ultimate vulchmobile! You can ingress where ever you want due to your high speed, and 4 30mm cannons and a RAM pack cause havoc.

And of the course, the best part being the high speed chases through the mountain maps! It was like the death star run!

[Tovarish 0]

Man, the Chaika campaign is intense! The Soviets did with it what they did with every fighter they considered inferior - used it exclusively for ground attack. Imagine your average IL-2 mission, only in a frabric covered biplane with no pilot protection, and only 2 FAB-100's. Good thing the damn thing is so agile, because one or two flak hits can easily bring you down. I must look like a bumblebee on speed to the AAA gunners shooting at me. One thing I'm really starting to love about the dynamic campaign - destroyed ground objects are still destroyed the next mission. Over the last 5 missions we have been attacking the same enemy airfield, and I've concentrated solely on taking out the AAA. I just took out the last gun protecting the airfield, and we are coming back to it once again . The enemy fighters are also causing us heavy casualties, but not as much as the flak was during the first few missions.

*edit* We totally wiped out the airfield on the next sortie. Only one bf-109 on the flight line survived, I jumped one of the two 109's scrambling and shot him down before he even retracted his landing gear, and the other one was kept busy by my wingmen while I went to work on the parked aircraft. We didn't shoot him down, but we took no losses ourselves.

[Jinef 2]

Okay i got it and it's fantastic, now i can't decide to use 1024 x 768 or 1600 x 1200 resolution. At 1024 x 768 the textures seem to, 'curdle' a bit and come slightly apart, also at distance a fighter looks no different from a bomber. At 1600 x 1200 there is no discernible performance drop but i can hardly see fighters until they are 4 kms away, and that's straining as well and everything is pretty.

What realism settings do you use, i have external views on and i don't use complex engine management, i use the minimap path and i have the midair icons off. everything else is set to realistic, i find it gives a good balance.

I have win XP with SB audigy 2, there is a small high pitch tone in the cockpit view but not external, do other people have this? i dled new drivers but no change.

Jinef

[Tovarish 0]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Jinef @ April 17 2003,16:03)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">i don't use complex engine management,<span id='postcolor'>

You shouldn't let complex engine management intimidate you. If you read the info for the specific plane you're using on the pdf manual, there isn't that much to it after some practice. In fact I find it fun to be able to play around with the engine settings to such an extent. Besides, I've also heard that the non-complex engine management setting is buggy, but then again, some of the supposed "bugs" I've heard mentioned......lol

[Aaron Kane 0]

Like Tovarish said, dont let CEM frighten you. I believe you can get a good bit of extra speed out of your ride with certain aircraft if you use CEM

I personally fly on normal settings. I used to fly full real, but I kept getting lost