Guest Writer Fred "HeinKill" Williams reports on the latest version which has entered Beta.

http://SimHQ.com/_air14/air_505a.html

Nice writeup, HeinKill! As if I don't already have too many flight sims, you have to wave this beaut in front of me! sheesh

a nice article.

i admire the dedication of the BOB Developers Group to improving this great sim!

Perhaps the last BOB2 patch?

Looking rather special.

Going to have to break out the CDs again and reinstall. Great looking stuff.

Oh, I don't think so. There's life in the old girl yet...

The following pipe dreams have been bandied about by the BDG and you never know:

- Malta (A2A and BDG stalwart Osram built the foundations of a Malta map a while back.)
- New kites (there was a flying - pink - Gloucestor Meteor being toyed with once)
- Other projects using the BOBII ('Merlin' codebase) engine: Flying Tigers was a concept in development, shelved by A2A 'for now'

Privately, the BDG did discuss whether Cliffs of Dover might mean the end of interest in BOBII, but that hasn't been the case because while it does many things well, CoD does not deliver on life-like AI, or a dynamic campaign engine. So if you want a BoB based sim that actually allows you to simulate the Battle of Britain (!) BOBII remains your best choice.

H

Nice writeup, thanks. I just wish they could implement some higher poly cockpits with self-shading (same as was done to Falcon BMS). The landscape and sky are fine, but the pits show a bit of age. I'd pay for that.

Excellent write up HeinKill and truly demostrates (for myself) why BoB II WoV has never been off my HD since I purchased it. It never ceases to amaze me what the BDG group will improve upon next to add to an already top notch, comprehensive BoB simulator. BoB II WoV isn't as loaded with eye candy like Il-2 CLoD but she sure has much more substance at this time.

Very nice Heinkill, and a congrats to that team - reinstalling!

Nice writeup, you cannot but admire the dedication of the BDG.

Nice review Heinkill!

I haven't installed WoV since I moved to my new rig but this is likely to prompt me to do so. Any anticipation as to when the new update will come out of beta?

One suggestion: you indicate that the screenies don't have autogen on and so the scenery looks barren (it certainly does).

Do you think you could take a screenie or two of Portland and/or Manston with autogen on for comparison purposes?

Also on that topic, does autogen create a big frames hit? Is that why you didn't/don't use it, or did you simply want to highlight the new historically accurate buildings?

Thanks,
C_G

Hi C-G

No, for the Dev work BDG types tend to turn off the eye candy so they can see what they are doing when they are placing small objects! When I get the new merged code beta I will take some more shots with autogen trees enabled. On my machine autogen trees at max density (there are three density settings) cause a 5 fps hit. I usually fly with trees at medium.

H

Thanks for the reply. I'm very impressed with the new objects (Brighton's pier and Canterbury are gorgeous!) and the dedication of the BDG team is remarkable... I've heard a lot of good things about the AI and I'll probably install it again just to experience it.

I never really gave WoV a decent chance (about 3 years ago) as I was really into IL2 at the time.

Thank you HeinKill for this excellent tasty teaser!

I can't wait for 2.12 to hit my hard-disk (although I'll have to) The updates to this wonderful flight-sim and strategy game look absolutely fantastic.

There's so much substance to BoB WoV, enough for years of immersion, thanks to the original Rowan's BoB, the improvements brought by A2A, and the indefatigable wonderful work of the BDG.

I may just get this game... Cliffs of Dover was such a disappointment :\.

Fafnir_6

Great work Heinkill and the BDG team. Look forward to the update.

Nice write-up, thanks!

Can't wait for ver 2.12 to get released.

I would suggest to carefully consider what disappointed you about CoD. Was it the gameplay experience, or lack of it? In that case, BoBII 2.12 could fill that gap because what it has in spades, is depth of gameplay - the AI, the campaign, the immersion factor.

But if CoD disappointed because it wouldn't run on your rig without graphic hiccups, and you hoped for something more photorealistic in a sim from 2012, then BoBII won't deliver because one thing the BDG can't achieve miracles with is the BoBII look and feel. It is what it is...and always will be because the gfx quality reflects its age.

I think the best way to explain is thus. I have both sims on my gaming machine.

I use CoD for the occasional online game (I do a bit of boom and zoom and swat a couple of unsuspecting Spits in my 109 until I lose height, lose the fight, or buzz through the ATAG server in a Heinkel or Ju88, surprise someone who thinks they are in for an easy kill by pulling my special Heinkill(R)Hammerhead manoeuvre and swatting them with one of my MG15s, get shot down shortly thereafter and then go kick the dog.) Or I spend a few hours designing and testing a new offline mission, put it online, and then write up an AAR or two. I love the gfx, I love the full mission builder, I love the spontaneity of the online game. I love the whole land war, air war, real sim feeling of being there that only CoD can give. Want to get that 'real cockpit, flying a 109, while the war rages outside' feeling?

CoD. (And the Operation Sealion mission pack, of course!)

I use BoBII when I want a serious dogfight. I set up a 9 vs 9 quick mission in BOBII and spend the next 20 minutes fighting to the death against the best PC dogfighting AI ever created. Or (mostly during those long Nordic winters) I start a campaign, pick one of my favourite units (JG 26 or 54 Sq) and play dead is dead, seeing how many missions I can stay alive before some random AI swine with a lucky shot (of course, never my own poor awareness) kills me dead. In literally hundreds of campaigns, I have won a couple of dozen, beat the Brits in a world record (for me) 12 days, and been deaded the other 80 times and each time, I love it. You want to know what it was like to be 'one of the few' climbing out of Manston in your Hurricane IIb on full boost with a 100+ raid coming down on you like the hammer of Thor?

BoBII.

So it is horses for courses.

Thanks for the overview, Heinkill. It looks like BOBII has what I'm looking for: Immersive campaigns and better sounds. I do experience chunky gameplay in CloD but word around the campfire is that there should be a patch out soon that should fix the performance issues. I'll wait until it's out before trying CloD again (with your operation Sealion, of course :)). CloD just feels so empty right now (few missions and no dynamic campaign). I'll faff around with it for a bit after the patch is out but likely put it away after that. Where do you get BOBII? It's not on Steam or gog.com.

To be honest my recent flight simming has been Rise of Flight (not WWII)...Such an awesome sim...

Cheers,

Fafnir_6

Details here

Wow, Great News and review by Heinkill Got my blood up for BoB II. Found ths Vid over at U tube Normal war footage, But the people making comments about aircraft are the guys that flew them ! A true little Gem from the past.

http://youtu.be/93XIwIsUA2E

All I can say is that the beta testing is a blast.

If anyone is interested in signing up for some beta testing of this baby, we could use a hand!