posted 10-16- 04:23 AM               

1) made a total hash of the textuers...I forgot to change all the references to the B17F folder, so anyone running a plain metal B17g got some very odd looking planes!

2) there are some odd collision effects noticed by Commando, who got no impact damage onthe plane he hit when he tried an air-to-air collision with 2 B17's. He flew through the back of one and only his ship took damage. HELP! There are inertia boxes that take hits when you shoot them....so is this a body point thing?

3) The BIG ONE. Commando ran the plane at a higher resolution than my framerate challenged machine does and he noticed some unpleasant shading effects. Well, I tried to cure it in AC3D last night, but could only do so by merging and re-smoothing. This screws the textures on the multiple objects all stuck together on the fuse. It looks like to fix this would involve a new fuse model.

IS IT WORTH THE TIME AND TROUBLE TO DO THIS

you tell me.

If I do the fuse, I will do the engines too. And change the nose guns to a proper B17F pattern, without the extension pieces and staggered too. This may involve a few more poly's but I hope to simplify a little some of the internal work, and to use far fewer textures on the inside. Having spent a while peering inside B17's this weekend, they were pretty dull places!

Also, I want to be able to look down the fuse to the tailgunners position. You could for real!

So, it's up to you lot what happens next.

If you can live with the current version, great. If not, then it's new model time.

Decision Date: FRIDAY NIGHT

posted 10-16- 06:11 AM               

I was going to say 'as long as your still getting pleasure from it' type thing but then I realised that most of the 'pleasure' comes from the satisfaction of a completed job and your mates saying 'well done!'

So it's up to you....I'll be here waiting though...with a nice coldy for your troubles

Cheers

posted 10-16- 08:06 AM               

If you want, I would be happy to add glass reflections to the B17 for V2, I think that would be sweet!

------------------
-Sv =FC=

WWI in SDOE!

posted 10-16- 09:59 AM               

B-17II dropped the ball badly when they left out multiplayer. Now we have multiplayer! So, we have the chance to have a great B-17, maybe as good or better than the one in B-17II, in our game.

posted 10-16- 10:31 AM               

Since this is such a big project and such and important plane, why don't we have a group of people working on this plane?

posted 10-16- 10:38 AM               

1) Fix the problems with my initial release as currently posted in the downloads section (sort the fuse and try to fix the collision thing and get the textures right!)

2) Release an Ultimate B17. This would involve a new fuse and engines, killable gun positions (all of them) visible crew members and every DM trick in the book. God help the framerates!

I hope by doing a new model to claw back some of the damage, since the B17 is messy as hell to work with. There shouldn't be that many textures and odds and ends cluttering up the model.

Also, from what I have learnt first time around, this will in effect be 2 planes. An inside and an outside. The inside will be less curvy, and textured fairly uniformly, with a few highlight objects such as O2 bottles and ammo racks etc. The fuse will be properly hollow, with bulkheads only where they shold be. Hopefully, this should lessen the framerate hit a little, though a fairly rapid fall off of detail may be required.
The ball turert has got to be re-done anyway! it is horrible!

There may be an interim version if the added extras get done.

Any body know what kills framerates the most?

posted 10-16- 02:23 PM               

I don't think its only poly anyway. I think its alphas and AI stuff, kinda a mix of alot of things but not mainly polys as some people might think.

I did a test and put 9 lancs in a mission sitting on an airfeild

with them all in view i was getting 9 FPS

Then i removed all the lods except the lowest one. So all the planes in the mission were only showing with the lowest poly versions.

I still only got 9 fps.

So that makes me think that the FPS killer is other stuff then graphics.

Also when you turn away from those 9 high poly and low poly lancs you still have a really low FPS, the game is still thinking of them but can't see them, once again you have to say that the polys arn't the problem.

posted 10-16- 02:25 PM               

Oh yeah about the Ultimate B 17, yes that would rock, But still be carefull about FPS, switchout all the high detail stuff as soon as it wouldnt' be visible.

posted 10-16- 03:24 PM               

It says something if SODE has the best B17 in the business -- go for it.

posted 10-16- 03:35 PM               

One thing you may want to consider is that there are a lot of features on other planes that are "neat" but would be great if they became standard. The sliding canopies for one seemed to take hold, but they aren't exactly realistic in a fort. There was one plane, for example, that was released recently with control surfaces that could be damaged so that all you saw was the burnt out ribbing - the surface was gone. It would be awesome to include that as a part of an engine catching fire - flame damage the trailing edge of the wing immediately behind it! Another idea... you know how those WWI planes have damage textures? What about doing those for the B17 so that they're similar to some of those damaged fort screens from B17-2?

Just a few ideas...

posted 10-17- 03:38 AM               

1) new model, less chunky
2) Make the inside a seperate .SM
3) Crew the gun positions
4) Add every damage modelling trick the SDOE boffins out there are busy dreaming up!
5) Smoke on startup....saw the real thing for the first time, and wow....lots of smoke!
6) Opening pilot window...starts open, DOF tied to key press
7) all gun positions killable. Pref with imjured crew model.
8) Interior objects damaged...smoke etc. Need to know if this works or if the exterior polys effectively 'stop' bullets. Could still do this from fuse damage. You know, bullet hit, panel fire...can't see...could be fun.

Spanky, you are right about the team aspect. I will model her, but I will definitely need help for any FM changes and a kick ass texture will need to happen at some point. Help may be needed for some of the DM stuff that is happening out there. So, here is THE PLAN!

1) Fix the Alpha release so it is playable
2) Start the new model
3) REcruit a team of volunteers to show B17II fans what they are going to miss! With no multiplayer options for their sim, I reckon their ain't much that they can do that we can't!

p.s. Top man Spanky! That framerate test tells me poly's don't have that much of an impact, and that means PROJECT ULTIMATE B17 IS READY FOR TAKEOFF!

posted 10-17- 05:17 AM               

I guess it depends on the skill set of the team you get together....but that seems like a big job to tackle.

Why not do it in 3 phases ie:

Phase 1 - the outside - mods 1,4,5 & 6.

(release beta 1 - await feedback - take a break)

Phase 2 - the inside - mods 2,3,7 & 8

(release beta 2 - await feedback - take a break)

Phase 3 - final tune ups & release

Just my 2c worth.....

Cheers,

posted 10-17- 06:39 AM               

Keep us posted with screen shots galore. Please.

PR=FC=