royaltyinexile
-
Content Count
778 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Medals
Posts posted by royaltyinexile
-
-
Hi, guys,
Thanks for your thoughts (particularly finding those 'deliberate' errors ;))!
In short, I agree with BIS' decisions regarding auto-hover to date, and am surprised that BIS is considering altering these decisions at this late date
You can rest assured that any decisions we've made regarding gameplay are locked for release! However, we think it's fair enough to evaluate what we can do with feedback post-launch, particularly with such a user-centric subject as difficulty options.
We noticed much of the feedback from problems in the playable missions were associated with missing gameplay helpers like markers and gauge-hints (most often missing due to difficulty option settings).
The main focus of this post - and with new texts now in game - was to explain the 'current state' and make sure that the explanations were understandable. :)
Best,
RiE
-
How hard will it be for a person (like myself), who have never been in a helicopter and have no clue how to operate one, to play this?
There's a few things we've tried to do to support players such as yourself.
1. Difficulty
First off, there's the difficulty settings, so a player such as yourself should most likely select 'beginner'. This tones down a lot of the complicating factors associated with flying a helicopter, like the effect of the wind, or controlling your tail rotor. You can also use things like auto-hover to land, etc.
2. Tutorials
Secondly, there's our tutorials. These have been designed to first introduce you to what a helicopter is -- you'll be walking around it learning about what bits do what -- then get you up in the air, flying through a series of gates and the like, and finally moving onto thing like sling-loading and emergency landing.
If you want to read more about the tutorials, we made a blog post on the subject, and created a video too:
wQzGrvENJUM
How is the story in this game?
The story is all designed around civil helicopter gameplay. If you don't like the idea of flying helicopters - maybe the story won't be for you! ;)
3. Story
Particularly, the first few scenarios are designed to ease you in, and the tutorials are (optionally) integrated to the story too. There's as much support as we can put in, though it'd be naturally to face plant the chopper a good few times, I'd say.
Overall, the 'career' can be as linear as you like, just following the 10 or so 'core missions' -- or, you can build up your fleet of choppers and take on side contracts and optional missions (around 10 or so unique scenarios, some of which are completely dynamic), and take care of your helicopters' maintenance in your heliport (what we call the 'gameplay hub').
Below are some images from early design analysis, brushed up a little for a future blog post.
I hope that answers some of your questions. The fundamental point is - you will be flying helicopters. A lot. :cool:
You'll be given the information you need to learn how to fly and handle them, and a pretty decent range of things to do when you flying them, but at the end of the day, you'll be taking on helicopters! :o
Best,
RiE
-
Friends, Romans, Community, lend me your ears!
I come to bury this thread, not to praise it.
The evil that members do lives after them,
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with this thread.
-
We'll try to take another look, although I can't reproduce that myself right now.
Consider adding an entry to the CIT, too.
Best,
RiE
-
Expert mode could lock this option out, because it really is kind of a cheat.
Well, that's not going to make release, but it's certainly something we'll evaluate for post-launch support.
More likely, we'd tie it to a difficulty option, set is as disabled for expert, but not lock it out, as Auto-Hover - to some degree- is there to compensate for things we simply can't simulate, like the inner ear balance, etc.
Best,
RiE
-
Oh, and there's a typo.
Aha, yes.. just an, er... a TEST! To make sure you guys were.. uh.. paying attention!
:o
Best,
RiE
-
In the endless and weary road towards usability (surely the devil's work :p), we're going to be adding descriptions of difficulties beside the options.
We hope this will encourage people to think a little more about the difficulty they're on, and some of the - perhaps unforeseen - consequences of their choices!
Read more below; we hope they help people enjoy the game (even) more!
BEGINNER
This mode is designed for players that are completely new to either our game, to flying helicopters, or both!
Flight Dynamics: Many simulation helpers are at your disposal; several are active by default to help get you going - great for keeping you in the air!
Gameplay: Waypoints and tasks are visible in the 3D world, and you can activate various other visual aids - great for getting the job done!
Note: You can still configure various difficulty/ flight dynamics settings from their default values, so you can get started with as much or as little support as you prefer!
TRAINEE
This mode is designed for players that are either new to our game or to the higher-fidelity flight dynamics, but who are familiar with the general principles.
Flight Dynamics: Some flight dynamics helpers are disabled, although others are still at your disposal - great for getting a challenge from the flight model!
Gameplay: Some gameplay helpers are disabled by default, and working out what to do will be less obvious - great for getting a challenge from the game!
Note: You can still configure various difficulty/ flight-dynamics settings from their default values, although some will be locked!
If you're a veteran helicopter pilot, you might select this mode until you're comfortable with many gameplay features and conventions.
You can disable individual flight-dynamics helpers to give you the full experience, while retaining some of the gameplay guides.
EXPERT
This mode is designed for players that are experienced both with our game and complex flight models!
Flight Dynamics: Many simulation helpers are disabled and locked; you'll have to work to keep the bird in the air - great for getting the full experience of our new flight models!
Gameplay: Many guides are disabled by default; you'll have to study your tasks carefully and keep an eye on your instrument panel- Great for getting totally engaged with the tasks at hand!
Note: you can still configure various difficulty/ flight dynamics settings from their default values, although many will be locked.
You should play in this mode once you're comfortable with completing tasks and keeping the helicopter in the air.
Best,
RiE
-
I would suggest removing main rotor shadow over a certain RRPM.
[...]and the helo cockpit disappears/reappears frequently for me as well
In the latest version, the shadows are no longer drawn when the blades are spinning at full throttle.
As for the cockpit disappearing, I've only encountered that when my frame rate dipped below 20-15 fps, and not for a good few weeks, but we'll take a look. :)
Best,
RiE
-
The devs deemed fit to include it in the readme
Yes, we did indeed, and we're as usual indebted to our close ties with talented and dedicated members of the community.
I apologise for not making that clearer in the initial post!
Best,
RiE
-
Sometimes it seems to reset the difficulty setting. If I restart a mission it's sometimes on trainee level again.It's called noob-detection: we automatically scale it back down. :p
No that's actually not true. :) Are you getting this every time you restart a mission?
Best,
RiE
-
Did anyone else get an "Independence Day" flashback while flying toward the Seattle skyline?
I experienced this several times during development :D
I know it's a little remiss of me to start demanding things of the community, but a recent video we watched has great potential for Seattle... ;)
wTSc_yOYgSI
*back to work* :ill:
Best,
RiE
-
the full version of the game will not allow saving missions in the editor without at least one helicopter present ;)Well, everyone needs a helicopter explosion at the start of a mission.
ArbitraryHeli setDamage 1
:cool:
-
I have one hell of a time gauging where my skids are while landing. Especially with the massive dash of the 212.Any tips or pointers? (without trackir)
As well, how does does trackir help the situation? Do you get a good feel of Ur helis position? Examples...
With some simple scripts, it's possible to set up a camera source below the helicopter, then you can use PiP to get an actual picture of where the skids are to the ground.
On the light helicopter, with PiP enabled, you can see a small mirror which does the same.
We plan to use the same for helping out with things like sling load positioning, but, as the above post mentions, eventually getting a mental picture of your helicopter, and knowing where you are instinctively, is the way to take on helicopters :cool:
Best,
RiE
-
Welcome to the Take On Helicopters Pre-Order Beta!
Accessing the beta program is very simple; once you pre-order Take On Helicopters from one of our official Digital Download partners you are officially registered for the Take On Helicopters beta program!
Customers who’ve pre-ordered will receive a CD-Key via email, this CD-Key unlocks the Pre-Order beta as well as the full retail game, when it’s released on Thursday, October 27th.
The Pre-Order Beta offers a generous variety of content, including:
- A 30x30km section of our Seattle terrain (full size ~60x60km)
- Three singleplayer scenarios
- Three Time Trial courses
- Three Tutorials
- An MP scenario
- Our powerful 2D Mission Editor
For more details on there features, check out our official website
It almost goes without saying that this is the Pre-Order Beta build. The final Version will have more content, fixes, and optimisation! The Pre-Order Beta is similar to the Community Preview in that we aim to update the data when we can, partly based upon your feedback!
Feedback!
Below we've included a copy of the read me, which includes the latest 'known issues'. We look forward to receiving your feedback in this section of the forums, where you can discuss many different aspects of the game.
The Community Issue Tracker (CIT) is also kindly providing a project category to post issues to directly, which is useful for identifying/keeping a track of known issues.
The CIT is a community-organised and led initiative, which we've been able to use as a focus for identifying and fixing bugs for years, as always, our thanks and respect go to them for helping to provide and maintain this support!
===============================
***** Take On Helicopters *****
===============================
!!THIS IS THE PRE-ORDER BETA BUILD. THE FINAL VERSION WILL HAVE MORE CONTENT, FIXES AND OPTIMIZATIONS!!
Copyright © 2011 Bohemia Interactive. All rights reserved.
>>> www.takeonthegame.com <<<
Beta Contents
================
For detailed information about the contents of the pre-order Beta version, please visit: http://takeonthegame.com/take-on-pre-order-beta/
Please use English, even though other languages may be listed as available. Translations are currently in progress.
Known issues:
* Ambient road traffic may appear and disappear at crossroads
* A black circle on the terrain sometimes follows the player's position
* Sometimes Checkpoints are not triggered when flying through them
Please visit our community forums for troubleshooting any issues you may have, leave feedback or generally discuss the game: http://forums.bistudio.com/
Installation
============
System requirements:
--------------------------------
• Intel Dual-Core 2.4 GHz or AMD Dual-Core Athlon 2.5 GHz or faster
• 2 GB RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT or ATI Radeon 4850 with Shader Model 3 and 512 MB VRAM or faster
• Windows XP / Vista / 7
• DVD (Dual Layer compatible) for DVD version, 10 GB free HDD space
• DirectX®: 9.0c
Autorun (DVD version only)
--------------------------
When you place the Take On Helicopters™ DVD in your PC’s disk tray and close it, the Autorun application should start.
If it does not, you can find it on your DVD drive’s root folder (Autorun.exe). The Autorun menu gives you
several options, such as viewing the readme file, visiting the Bohemia Interactive website and of
course installing the game.
Setup
-----
To install the game, please follow the instructions provided in the setup process (TKOH_Pre-Order_Beta.exe).
DirectX
-------
If you encounter a problem installing DirectX during the installation, please update DirectX manually. DirectX February 2010 is required in order to run the game, you can find it at http://www.microsoft.com/directx
Troubleshooting
===============
Useful links:
-------------
Main website: www.takeonthegame.com
Developed by: www.bistudio.com
Forums: forums.bistudio.com (English Only)
Community wiki: community.bistudio.com (English Only)
Installation problems:
----------------------
- Please, make sure that you have the original DVD.
- Uninstall Take On Helicopters completely from the Startmenu.
- Manually erase all data found in the installation folder of Take On Helicopters
- Install Take On Helicopters from scratch again.
If at any point during a mission you become stuck, or the mission does not progress it is recommended that you restart the mission from the beginning.
If the mission looks too hard for you, restart it as well with lower difficulty or try a different approach. Missions can be played differently every time.
If you encounter any sound or graphical issues while running the game, please make sure you have installed the latest versions of your hardware drivers and try to tweak your audio and video options.
============================================================
Copyright © 2011 Bohemia Interactive. All right reserved.
Full end user license agreement is found in the game manual.
Updates!
Updates to the 'vanilla' Pre-Order Beta are available; however, they are limited to Sprocket users only, and are classes as 'experimental'. Read more about them here.
Check back here to track any new updates, but for now, we hope you enjoy Taking On Helicopters! :cool:
- A 30x30km section of our Seattle terrain (full size ~60x60km)
-
thanks for welcome, i read rules.so my question in English - when will be release time in Czech Republic?
The Pre-Order Beta is only in English, but there is full Czech localisation planned for release, October 27.
A full list of supported languages will be made available at launch.
Best,
RiE
-
To be precise, latest estimate is 1600 CEST, actually.
I knew I should have just said soonâ„¢ :p
Best,
RiE
-
Hi guys, we'll officially announce the release later this afternoon.
If all goes well, we estimate a ~1600 CEST release.
Best,
RiE
-
But my question is this: I saw the text about the "Challenges" and the procedural "Missions" that are generated there.
Are the same kind of procedural missions inherent in the career mode?
Progression in the 'Career' is a lot different in structure from our previous 'campaign-modes', like Operation Arrowhead, which is partly why it's not called the 'campaign'. We've tried to implement a new system with Take On, partly based on trying to cater to a range of player-proficiencies with helicopters, and partly because we weren't happy with blending gameplay with narrative in the old structure, and felt there was room for a little improvement.
Perhaps most significantly, the lynchpin of the new structure is the ‘gameplay hub’: the player’s heliport (Highland Park). Here, story missions and procedurally-generated challenges (as well as tertiary gameplay elements - such as a simplified system of helicopter upgrade/management) are accessible; each time you finish a single instance of a 'mission', you're returned here.
This means a players doesn't have to progress 1 > 2 > 3; rather, it'a more like A > h > C > h > B. The nature of this structure provides a degree of flexibility. A ‘core thread’ introduces gameplay via a simple narrative flow. Other threads may be optional, which, in turn, enables us to introduce more advanced (and prodecural) challenges for more experienced players at an earlier stage.
The 'challenges' are available outside of the 'career mode' too for those that just want to jump straight in - we're trying to avoid forcing people to wade through a story/ earlier introductory gameplay when they just want instant-access helicopter action!
I hope that's at least relatively clear. It's possible that we'll put together some devlog post of the matter more generally.
Best,
RiE
-
-
Yes, you will need to make sure you're using the appropriate helicopter for certain loads, as you can easily push the engine too far with overly-heavy loads, causing the engine to become damaged or entirely disabled.
Oh, and how did you come to find this out, I wonder.... :p
edit: jokes aside, we've got some new information about our rope simulation coming up in support of our Paris presence, i.e. soon..!
-
Am I right with presuming it's a module?No, ambient traffic is an engine-based solution, with options like draw-distance factored into the video options; other things, like ambient air traffic and boats, are module-based.
The number of cars to draw would be too expensive as a scripted solution. This represents a new low-level technology for us and, while there's still work to do, even in its current state it does a lot in terms of bringing the world to life!
Best,
RiE
-
Btw, video works, you need a ogg video compatible browser though ... FSF FTW ;)
C'mon, give him a break, his engine runs ogg, just his browser is obsolete! :p
-
Of course, almost all our efforts right now are being ploughed into finalising the game, but we do know how essential it's going to be to enable people to tweak and modify their own creations, be it missions, models, tweaks to areodynamics, and everything else in between.
We know we can do a lot more with our documentation, guides and tools, and that's something I want to see supported, as our games are (currently and potentially) fantastic platforms for dedicated modders.
While helicopters are hideously beautifully complex things, I also know that the flight sim community are hideously wonderfully dedicated people that deserve our cooperation.
Best,
RiE
-
Well, weh...Looks like their take on the OFP franchise has run out of steam.
inception: complete.
Take On Flashpoints? Hmmmmmmmmmm :D
Take On Video Settings!
in TAKE ON HELICOPTERS - GENERAL
Posted · Edited by RoyaltyinExile
Added some Video Memory clarification
Ok... over the next few weeks, we're going to take on the whale. Which whale you ask..? The big one. Real Virtuality's Moby Dick. Yup, it's Video Settings & Optimisations!
About
We want players to have a good starting point if they're not happy with their default video settings. We're not interested in squeezing out an extra frame here or there, or upgrading equipment. Rather, we're interested in helping people understand how to get the best from their set up without needing to resort to ancient black magic. That, of course, comes later ;)
I'll lock this thread, so it's clean and free of blood-stained arguments about SSDs, AMDs, and Ram-disks. But feel free to discuss and post your own experiences elsewhere!
General Information AKA "BIS wai u no give me moar framez"
To start with, it's worth pointing out that there is no 'ideal' configuration. The beauty of the options are their flexibility. It's unlikely that anyone can run everything completely maxed-out; rather, it's about setting up the game the way you're most comfortable with.
Some may prefer to fly with enormous view-distance; others, with highly dense objects or the best possible quality of textures. For example, I've included my personal set up below.
In general terms...
To be honest, part of the problem with handing to user so many options, is that he can really 'break' his experience. For example, say we let the player set 20K view distance, and hand controls over the textures and shadow draw distance and complexity (we do!). At even the recommended spec, you just can't handle setting all of these to max, and at the same time retain maximum texture quality. Indeed, our engine actively tries to detect a lack of resources, and scales back other aspects (such as picking which LOD to use), which can be often quite frustrating.
However, it's long been our policy to give the user the choice. That's certianly not to say we can't do more to optimise - that work is, of course, important and on-going - but, we feel that if we can provide the player with the tools to understand and tweak his game, he'll be able to set it up to satisfy his own subjective preferences.
RiE's Set Up
I like to fly in a certain way...
This means I'm going to need at least 6km of object-draw distance.
I don't care too much about further than that, so my visibility can sit pleasantly at 7km.
The biggest thing I can do to make that happen is setting Objects Detail to very high.
This will make sure all those frame-rate sucking trees are drawn. Mmm, leafy!
I'm going to set my terrain detail to high too, it just looks sharper and it isn't costing me much in terms of my frames between high and medium anyway.
I still get the feeling that they're volumetric, etc, but I'd rather use my frames elsewhere.
The same can be said for shadows, normal will do for me, although when I'm done tweaking my setting maybe I'll come back and see how many frames it'll cost to set them higher.
Well, I'm going to crank texture detail up to very high and set my 3D resolution to 114% (maybe I'll even come back and try to bump it to 150% later on).
Now I can glance down at my gauges and see them quite easily, without the need to zoom in.
It also means I don't have to turn AA up too high, as the added 3d resolution does some of the work for me. Also, my eyes aren't too offended by the occasional jaggy.
I want to fly at ~30 fps. It's what I'm used to, and it can deal with the occasional drop just fine.
I love PiP, it's such a cool thing for feeling engaged with the chopper, but I've got decisions to make, so I end up disabling it; it's up to me after all!
I'll turn it back on if a mission is using it, and I'll probably lower my view distance when I do that.
What? Well, I must be playing on a potato. What Ancient Evil runs such high settings?
System Information
------------------
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.110622-1503)
Processor: Intel® Core i7 CPU 950 @ 3.07GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.1GHz
Memory: 6144MB RAM
---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470
Display Memory: 4059 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1248 MB
Shared Memory: 2811 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Model: CG241W
Output Type: DVI
------------------------
Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives
------------------------
Drive: C:
Total Space: 76.2 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: INTEL SS DSA2M080G2GC SCSI Disk Device
Video Options Guide
Video Memory
Texture Detail
- But, it depends upon your 3D resolution
- If the 3D resolution is lower, there is less point having a high texture detail.
- If the Detail is low, MIPMapping is more aggressive,
- Mipmapping is a concept where textures are rendered in smaller resolutions, to save on the space req'd in memory
- But, it can cause objects blurring
- So if you have small graphics memory, or experience slow loading of textures (popping) try to lower this
Resolution/ 3D Resolution
- but, big screens are more demanding
- i.e. 1920x1200 on a big screen would require a lot from Graphics
- basically, if you suffer big FPS drops, try lowering this
- but its complicated !
- so you should keep this as native res to have a sharp icons
Antistropic filtering
- but, it shouldn't be set high unless you know you will have spare performance.
Anti-aliasing
- These settings have a big impact upon FPS.
- if you have high 3D resolution, you might need to sacrifice anti-aliasing if you experience problems
- conversely, if you prefer to see smoother edges, and seek to increase anti-aliasing, you should look to turn down 3d resolution
Terrain Detail
- But Clutter is instead GPU limited.
- Start with lower setting (although not lowest)
- Aesthetically, it will have a big impact, making the environment much worse.
- Lowest Setting will remove clutter, like grass and small rocks.
Shadow Detail
VSync
1) The GPU can idle after frame drawing done, resulting in lower power consumption, lower heat output, etc.
2) The frame is completely rendered - frames buffers are switched when scene is completely drawn, not only half or 3/4
Cloud Detail
HDR Quality
- Older GPUs have lower performance for "non standard" formats, with 16 bits per channel, 16bits float per channel or 32bits
- Some GPUs support 64/128bit formats but performance is very low.
PiP Detail
Very useful to enable in missions that use camera sources for gameplay.
Also ambient effects like mirrors in the light helicopter.
Can usually be enabled/disabled in the fly.
To be continued....
Minimum & Recommended Specs
With a game like Take On, where consistent smooth performance is critical to the enjoyment of the game, it's always important to bear in mind the min and rec specs.
Why? Well, the bottom line is, once you start getting below ~15fps, the simulation and the game begin to slide a little out of whack. Controls will not respond as you need. No one wants to fly that way, and it can also lead to critical (CTD) stability issues.
There a lot of dynamics to calculate in the background. There's a lot of game world to render. Not convinced? Just check out the difference in FPS between sitting in the chopper and stepping outside of it!
Take On Helicopters Minimum System Requirements
Take On Helicopters Recommended System Requirements
I noticed a great link to a comparison chart for graphics cards. Thanks to Ziggy for that one.
As I mentioned, I'm not interesting in debating hardware here, but being aware of what you've got, gives you an idea of where you can start with in terms of the video options, and the enjoyment of your game.
Similarly, whatever hardware you've got, I can't emphasise enough the importance of making sure you use it correctly. If you've not got an SSD, make sure your HDD is defragged. Streaming in huge textures in real-time can be a bottle-neck to anyone's perfect setup.
Look for bottle-necks to performance everywhere, having a 'monster-rig' is one thing, but you may find that one component in your set up is throttling-back your performance elsewhere. The video settings guide gives you information about which setting is dependent upon what.