Graphics engine improvement

[CopyCon 1]

I also wrote that polygon count is the less important thing in games, polygon count does not make game better, but somehow game developers think that it actually is. There is many other things much more important than polygon count that takes most of CPU/GPU power.

True!

Its far to often that game designer use models that arent fully optimized. Just look here:

http://home.wnm.net/~bgriff/MW_BretF.html

Look at the bottom of the page. This guy made the original models (to Morrowind) even better, with lower polycount :-)

[Goeth 0]

What i want from ofp2 engine is decent water, water where you can swim and see. I think this is not an impossible request since all new engines manage to do it. And this is not just eye candy, it would be really useful.

Of course there´s many other things that should be fixed but this one is important and top of my wishlist.

[Balschoiw 0]

I think DirectX9 water will be used in OFP2. At least I hope so.

I want to have all the nice effects of circles , bullets and vehicles water in a real way of pushing away water and such.

But I´m pretty sure it will be implemeted.

Here are some other things I´d like to see. Deformable grass that bows down when you step on it.

Deformable bushes, bushes that exist of different parts. When you run into one, little branches could break away and drop to the ground.Of course with sound so it offers a nice feature for MP maps where you want to do a stealthy approach. Same goes for going prone in a bush. If you do while standing in bush, parts of bush should be flattened. When you approach bush prone no harm should be done to bush. According to the way you choose to use bushes you can benefit by going in there unnoticed or making a big noise and dammage to bush when you don´t be careful.

The whole dammage system of OFP 2 world should be very different to OFP1 where you only have

1. alive bushes, houses, trees

2. dammaged bushes, houses, trees.

In fact there should be a step in between.

1 a . Partly damaged or transformed.

Or at best

1b. Direct dammage depending on dammage done to object,

like burning trees, ripped of branches, dropping leaves, holes in walls, burnt inner rooms, parts of roof flying off, etc....

I hope you get the idea. Right now it´s like black and white. To focus on the "grey" of objects would be nice.

[bn880 5]

Or at best

1b. Direct dammage depending on dammage done to object,

like burning trees, ripped of branches, dropping leaves, holes in walls, burnt inner rooms, parts of roof flying off, etc....

I hope you get the idea. Right now it´s like black and white. To focus on the "grey" of objects would be nice.

Stop it! You are getting me all excited. I'm suppost to be angry today not excited.

[Postduifje 0]

Indeed, it does sound very tasty

[Goeth 0]

Here are some other things I´d like to see. Deformable grass that bows down when you step on it.

Deformable bushes, bushes that exist of different parts. When you run into one, little branches could break away and drop to the ground.Of course with sound so it offers a nice feature for MP maps where you want to do a stealthy approach. Same goes for going prone in a bush. If you do while standing in bush, parts of bush should be flattened. When you approach bush prone no harm should be done to bush. According to the way you choose to use bushes you can benefit by going in there unnoticed or making a big noise and dammage to bush when you don´t be careful.

Aah that would be very nice. I assume you´ve played H&D 2, there was really nice tall grass in that game, in one mission you had to assault enemy trenches on tall hill which was covered in tall grass, sherman and infantry advancing and tall grass folding under their tracks and boots...very nice atmosphere. Went a little offtopic here but yes it would be nice.

[Balschoiw 0]

It would add new fun to MP also. Imagine tracking a trace of enemy through high grass, hearing some *knack* behind you when a branch is broken off or things like that.

I know that it is pretty demanding to do such but I am sure it would add another extra fun and realism to have the environment more flexible.

Imagine animals, that will be most likely in OFP, making sound in woods nearby and you are frightened as hell because you are on enemy grounds. Then some deer shows up and vanishes again

Endless possibilities you see.

[freddern 0]

I'm getting very exited while reading these suggestions. How awesome is ofp2 going to be if they realy makes it kick ass good (wich I think they are planning on doing.)

Aye BIS WE LOVE YOU!!

[Pathy 0]

Hmm yes well these are suggestions not definates. Hopefully BIS can confirm some features but until then im not getting my hopes overly up (dont want to be severely dissapointed when there isnt a totally interactive environment.....)

[joltan 0]

I think most of this will probably have to wait for OFP3 (due to be released in 2008, preorder at Amazon.com NOW!). But even if only some of the suggestions would be possible to implement in OFP2 it would be awesome!

[Friedchiken 0]

Well, for this sequel, I'd like to put another vote for graphics that are used for work.  I want a focus on large playing grounds and tons of cover opportunities.  Something like FarCry but the graphics are focused on enhancing gameplay and don't detract valuable cpu cycles from ai or places to hide behind.

EDIT:: I mean make the graphics engine more efficient and scalable.

[morgus 0]

I am affraid that nice idea with grass that bends and leaves trails by broken bushes etc is now rather too hard even for nowadays hardware. Imagine mplayer game and then amount of info needed to be sent to every player on the map.

I'd stay with better explosions/particles/grass and better reflecting water. Some animals from time to time, and wind blow that makes trees/grass swaying. Some realism like adjustable sniper scope and weapon jamming. Even wound and damage detection was okay in OFP1 and is in my opinion enough. You are shot in leg, you cant walk etc. Maybe in choppers there is no difference when you shot the tail rotor or bottom of chopper. When tail rotor shoot, chopper should spin, and give an opportuninty for a better pilot to land somehow. But things like water diving or giving other soldier a pack of cigarettes are in my opinion not as needed in war game as these above. There should be some barreers, because soon we will want to take broken boots from soldier's feet because they stink (default by "alt+b"), and to be able to smash simulated mosquito on the neck (default by "alt+s")

Not with that technology yet.

The worst thing is that probably people from BIS are not reading these suggestions at all.

[Baron Hurlothrumbo IIX 0]

I am affraid that nice idea with grass that bends and leaves trails by broken bushes etc is now rather too hard even for nowadays hardware. Imagine mplayer game and then amount of info needed to be sent to every player on the map.

No it is not. H&D2 does it.

OFP already damages bushes etc when they are run over, its a small step, given well enough optimised models.

[morgus 0]

God damn, probably you all here know about this game, but for me - it is the best achievable graphics and mood in games:

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/stalker/screens.html?page=336

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/stalker/screens.html?page=337

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/stalker/screens.html?page=331

If THE SAME graphics would be used in OFP, I would be happy. Now we need to pray that BIS will be as close in mood/realism as these screens from stalker.

[ArchangelSKT 0]

Yes STALKER looks very good imo , back on topic I wonder if the fact that it has been stated that the Islands / maps in OPF2 will be larger then in OPF then I hope we get some higher mountains / peaks .

I don`t remember how high the highest point is in OPF but I hope OPF2 will beat it

[debug2112 0]

In relation to Maps.

I would like to see world (regional) maps.

This is not hard to do, as you could break countries such as Germany, France, or any other, into regional sections that are Clock-Speed and Bandwidth friendly. You may anywhere from 5 to 50 sections per country/nation, and yes it would require an extra CD for these, but it would be worth, and would spawn a growth in end users.

////////////

As for water that was mentioned earlier. I am seriously surprised that BIS didn't take a hint from Delta Force and model their water, or a close representation of. It was a good game for its time, not too graphics flashy, however you could swim, parachute, etc.

You don't need a lot of flashy graphics, just decent graphics that promote a semi-realistic atmosphere/environment.

Paper-bag houses are a no-go, having the transform into a choice of 1 - 10 ruins depending on struture size would be nice and Cpu friendly.

[DracoPaladore 0]

Have people suggested anything about the trees yet? OFP seems to have this geneveral thought that all trees are exactly lined up in rows and are all the same height

[Mr. Snrub 0]

Yes STALKER looks very good imo , back on topic I wonder if the fact that it has been stated that the Islands / maps in OPF2 will be larger then in OPF then I hope we get some higher mountains / peaks.

OFP2 will use terrain-streaming, which will do away with the limitation of using islands. The playable area will be incredibly big indeed.

[rambozo 0]

Sorry I overlooked this thread before. Funny it was at the top. Anyway.

I would like to suggest:

1. Normal Mapping

2. .dds file support

3. Truform

Normal mapping would be great for simulating high detail models. Ive been playing with it lately, and its very cool.

I don't care for the paa and pac formats. Seems that its impossible to avoid texture compression or dithering artifacts. It would be nice to use the directx texture format with dxtc.

And Truform. Truform is cool but seems you have to impliment it right. Rainbowsix3 Ravenshield shows good support for truform. Its easy to tweak buy using proper smoothing on your models. If proper smoothing isnt used then the objects will become bloated. If proper smoothing is used then the model will show seams. But ATI has info on avoiding these seams. There is a .m file format that they use that fixes this. I think truform could work very well in conjunction with normal mapping.

[Derek Baker 0]

Quote[/b] ]I don't like OFPs "gloomy" look and their ground textures..

Hopefully OFP2 can look like S.T.A.L.K.E.R or something.

from here

[jantenner 0]

im sorry i cant read trought the whole thread so things may have been said

what id like to see improved in ofp2:

better weapon efx, explosions, damage models, flying debris

a ironview like for example in call of duty which actually shows how you take the gun up and look thru the ironsight

but keep it black/dark like in ofp1

and bis, have a look at far cry, in this game when you get hit you get a blurred black/white image for some seconds. would be nice to implement it, so that you also get this if for example a heat round explodes near you

[jantenner 0]

and a death cam which replays the action when you were hit

[Homefry 0]

Have people suggested anything about the trees yet? OFP seems to have this geneveral thought that all trees are exactly lined up in rows and are all the same height

I agree totally, there needs to be more variation in size and shape of trees.

[BoweryBaker 0]

how about sparks when bullets hit metal objects. Sometimes bullet holes. Better damage effects instead of crumpling. The blackness is cool.

[Jinef 2]

Well I've done a lot of water activities and if you are dropped from a helicopter into the north sea, you can't see much below you, just dark muggy blackness.

However if your swimming in the med you can easily see and be seen.

So instead of having standard transparency and textures for water, maybe have it customisable in relation to the climate the terrain is representing.

It would make combat divers or such hard to use in clear water at daytime as airborne units could see them.

Oh and Fish is a must, maybe a shark or two on guard mode also ;)