Hello guys,

Some nice stuff coming soon in WOFF v2.0!

V2.0 has various new items, including support for some coming addons and campaign tweaks but one is integration of AnKor's new DLL into WOFF which we said some time ago would happen. AnKor has been adding some cool new features:

Several Drum rolls needed ...

One important one is Terrain Object lighting so now objects will have lit areas and also cast real shadows (which includes all trees to the distance! This includes long sunset and sunrise shadows, shadow areas of hills etc, bump mapping of some terrain and also.... real cloud shadows.

Just amazing to see it all in action.

Here my craft is in shadow of the cloud up high, but down below the sun is obviously pouring under the distant cloud and hitting the trees and snow below.

Flying down to the trees I get lit by the almost set sun! Very cool.

Also note there are some new screen shots on the website.

Ohhhhhh Yeah!!!!! Was just thinking this recently and here it comes!!

Awesome indeed.

Great Could it be that I have seen a Fokker E IV on those Screenshots on the WOFF Web-Site?

Absolutely looking forward to this!

Truly impressive stuff Pol. Obviously AnKor has been hard at work and it's clearly paying off. Can't wait to see the list of other new features in WOFF 2.0 as well. OBD once again proving they offer the best after the sale support anywhere.

Some more, no cloud shadows in this but shows the trees and terrain.

mmm E.IV you say .. maybe

I'm drumming away!

Superb as always!
Eagerly awaiting...

Good God you all!!!! Outstanding!!!

Fantastic!

*sings* "Don't care how...I want it NOW!!!!"

WOW, I must say awesome! The lighting effects in that first screenshot are really breathtaking!

So nicely all of this will be, please remember the Hardware Standards. They are too high in my Opinion, again.
I always will say it , and this is not only my personal Opinion: It is not normal with a 4x 3.4 GHZ Processor, a GTX 660 and 8 GB RAM to play with Stutters. Only WOFF can give me that bad Surprise, not even such bad Sims like Cliffs of Dover, which is a very bad Sim, without Mods. And I hate you for that Decision. Please Devs, give me back the Swapeffect_Copy_VSync, so that I can play smoothly and silk. That's all I want.

These lighting effects come at surprisingly little FPS cost
The main cost is GPU memory but if you have more that 1 GB as recommended by devs it shouldn't be a problem.

Swapeffect_Copy_VSync is not available in DirectX 9, but there is an equivalent option. I actually wanted to make it work long ago by substituting the old one with the new one, but was constantly forgetting about it (I'm forcing VSync through NVidia Inspector instead of config overrides).

I will make the new build compatible with this option and will also add a new setting in the d3d8.ini to enable VSync without using cfs3config (which is not available in WOFF).

Great job, guys! Making a fantastic sim even better. Very impressed!

MY. God.

Great stuff and makes you wanna

Terrific!!!!!!!!!

Incredible! You can even see the sunlight reflecting off the snow! And real cloud shadows! I could go on and on...needless to say, I'm impressed.

Very impressive!

However, I hope these improvements won't have a serious impact on performance.

Graphics improvement is great, but content would be better!

- better wind and turbulence effects including flying through clouds **Most Important**

- AI and player able to land and re-takeoff again. Especially, the AI.

- A string of missions which were actual offensives taken during the war.... maybe to give a purpose to flying other than just trying to survive.

Just to name a few.

Of course Lots of Content is coming as well but its payware - did you not receive the newsletter?
If not contact support and we will add you to the newsletter list.

Ankors new shaders have minimal impact on FPS with all testing thus far.

V2.0 at the moment will be a free upgrade but we may well revise that stance.

HTH

WM

I meant to add that DX8 or DX9 shaders can now be enabled and disabled in workshops as well as the user can manipulate various shader properties - more details will be made available at release.

Speaking for myself, if it turns out that the 2.0 upgrade is free, I plan on dropping more cash in the Donate til to OBD anyway but payware for a big upgrade is perfectly fine with me too. I know a lot of work must have been put into it and somehow you have to get something back for that.

I can't wait to see the official list of bug fixes, improvements and / or new features to WOFF 2.0.

Like Oldhat said, I do hope that a bit more turbulence "bounce" could be added to the flying experience. That would make it a lot harder to keep my gun sights on my opponent once I got them lined up. That would result in more missed rounds and make the combat even more challenging. But whatever it is that you guys do, I'm sure it will be well thought out and implemented as always.

WOFF V2.0 features list would be most welcome indeed!!

I think I also noticed some bump mapping along the roads that wasn't previously there.

Wow

We can add all sorts as long as we are supported. More content is in the Add-ons coming which we have shown and discussed in various places, and some in V2.0. We are a small team so need your support to continue.

What is important to one is not always to another but great add them all to the Wish list thread not this one.


Hasse, Performance? Well regarding the DX9 part, AnKor has made some superb additions and found smart ways to do it that may actually improve performance, or found smart ways to minimise resources uses. However if your PC is borderline? Nothing much is free performance wise in PC land.

Here is a Nieuport 10 on the edge of a cloud shadow. Note the scenery is also being updated by Winding Man, it is looking more and more real all the time.

Screenshots give you an idea, but don't really convey the atmosphere and how beautiful it looks with the dynamic lighting, and flying in and out of cloud shadow. Immersion factor went up another few notches.

Fokker fodder!

Amazing screenshots!
Hats off to OBD team and AnKor...



Edit: moved the "would like to see" part to the wish list thread.

Thanks.

Any wish list please post in the WISH LIST thread. I'll be moving any more posts posting what they would "like" adding.

This is absolutely stunning. I can't wait to fly for myself

This subject came up before regarding Ankor's nice work.
Do you have to gave Direct X 9 installed to use it?

My new system has a newer Direct X - can I, or do I want too, install DX 9 over it?
Assuming one has whatever issues with it will it be a Workshop option?

Can you have more than one version of Direct X installed?
Guess I am realizing I don't know much about it.

DirectX 9 has to be installed manually if you have a newer OS, like Windows 7 or 8. Even with XP, you may not have the latest version (and there are many different versions). As Ankor has suggested, you need to use the following link to download the latest version: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35.

This also installs previous versions of DirectX. As I recall, CFS3 runs on about DirectX 8.2.

Off to d/l. Thanks.
EDIT: With DX 9 installed Ankor's mod works just fine and does WOFF look sweet. And no FR loss.
Please include in 2.0.

Impressive stuff to say the least... looking forward to the release

WOW! great shots! thanks

Um,...I think I know the answer, but can´t resist,...any ETA for 2.0 guys?

The answer is always

I like that cloud shadow effect. It's subtle and natural looking. Nieuport 10 and Fokker E.IV look nice.

WM is also updating scenery for v2.0, this is Winter below. Spring will be improved too.

More pictures on our website.

All I can say it's so cool the waiting is almost unbearable.
Also, are you sure it's winter?

Rover, every time I see it I'm wondering the same.
However something tells me that the winter in France is different from the one in Russia

Yes those are Winter over England ! Don't forget in WOFF you have the base scenery for each season, plus for Winter it can also be no snow or snowing to varying levels.

Also note as always in these picture threads before a release = Work in Progress.

I'll second that...the waiting is unbearable but at least we never lose existing campaigns with updates.

Is the cloud mod going to be an official inclusion or were those the stock clouds?

I´d say, no. In fact, I HOPE they still work with the 2.0 update...

A couple of new screenshots @ http://wingsoverflandersfields.com/

Oh man, simply amazing.

Does this patch include new aircraft or are they coming in a separate expansion pack? Probably the latter, but I'm just curious.

I would have to imagine aircraft would be part of a paid expansion, but the Devs are the ones with all the answers.

Well yes that is what I meant of course if I was vague.

I haven't seen v 2.0 myself, but cloud shadows should be compatible with your mod. I'm doing all development on a clean install and haven't really tested with your modified clouds yet, but there's no reason for them not to work.

I'm running with ArisFusers clouds.

Thanks for the info.
After seeing the screenshots I was ready to give stock a try again.

Simply Gorgeous OBD Team! More excitement to look forward too! I do not have enough tissues to wipe the saliva away. Free ware or Pay ware my money is as good to help keep this train a rolling.
God speed on the next releases and thanks for keeping us on our toes day after day after day after day......

Some more pictures taken recently...

Pol;

These are amazing Sir! WM has been working hard I see!!

Oh, and for the rest of you,....don't ask! "Two Weeks!"

Scenery is looking even better, well done!

Two weeks!
Great...I was starting to wonder.
On a more serious note looking great as always OBD.
Just waiting to pull the trigger though I will say it's getting itchy.

Just gets better

one other

3 more

If only Woff was on RoF engine with its DM and FM....... that would be the best sim on the market ever :P

Here couple more I made while testing.

Stunning shots!

2.0 is going to be free?

If it does turn out to be free, speaking for myself only, I plan on dropping something nice in the Donate box again. Those shadowed trees and cloud shadows truly are spectacular. Stunning work gentlemen!

IMO Woff looks better than ROF.

Boy Creaghorn those sun in the clouds shots are truly awesome.

I agree..there is nothing from ROF I'd want in WOFF.

I wouldn't go that far as the flight models are superb in ROF.

Absolutely amazing. Looks like I'll be donating again soon

Same as Wolfstriked, I would take the flight models ! And of course the online multiplayer.

Some of those screenshots of the scenery are just stunning.

Are those pics atmospheric or what!

Waiting impatiently!

More great looking screenshots. It's amazing how far the game has come. Is it not 10 years next year (Christmas 2005 was Phase 1?)?

Still trying to figure out what plane that is. Does anyone know?

That's an Aviatik B.I. Sweet!

Back from my holidays, the beautiful screenshots are a nice "welcome"!
I hope those new landscape shadows will run well on my system - they make
everything look even so much nicer again!

Olham, nice to have you back!

Yes, good to see you back Olham

Some of these screenies look like real photos. Especially the BE12 and the winter landscape. Well done!!!

Is there a chance for 2.0 in november?

Thank you guys! Also nice to see you again, OvS!

Welcome back Olham:)

Not this coming weekend, but the one after, I should have off. Two whole days free. No pressure at all on the devs but I just thought I'd throw that out there in regards to a 2.0 release time frame.

Smooth, Hellshade!!!

I approve

I must have missed this the first time I read it. Once again, OBD goes over and above to give as many customization options as possible to the user. Kudos to OBD!

Either Bump Mapping has been added in V2.0 or WM has worked some truly amazing magic here because those fields rows look positively 3d. Stunning work gentlemen.

The immersion factor for 2.0 is gonna be unbelievable. That picture makes me doubt that's even WOFF!

It is indeed terrain bump mapping via AnKor's DX dll. WM and he have been working closely together and it's looking rather sumptuous. It's even better when you see it for real.

Here's some of the Gotha WM took today.

.. coming soon to WOFF.

Stunning art work

ArisFuser, Just two weeks to go!

Extremely impressive stuff gentlemen. The Gotha rear gunner looks quite menacing! Bump mapping and improved shadows. 2.0 and the next official Add-ons are certainly on my Must Buy list.

These pics have made the anticipation that much greater. Flawless work, guys.

I like the shadows on the house in the last pic. Looking good!

I really hope so, I only bought the game last week, I don't want to have to buy it again!... unless it's an "addon" price like $12 or something maybe. Not usual to pay for a patch. I wouldn't be surprised or mind if the new aircraft came as an addon though, I'd just hope that the new graphics improvements came free as a patch... I've already spent nearly $100 on WOFF this month!

That is true that it is unusual to pay for a patch. On the flip side, flight sims in general are a dying breed and WWI flight sims are all but extinct. They (flight sims) are highly complex things to build and are being sold to a very small audience, so in terms of "gaming", flight sims are just going to be more expensive. period. It's the only way to keep them flying...pardon the pun.

What I do know (and I can only speak for myself) is that I've never regretted a dollar I've spent with OBD. Long after other games / sims get uninstalled off my hard drive, I'm still flying OBD products. From the looks of how they are supporting WOFF, I will probably be flying it for many, many years to come.

OBD would not charge any money for just a patch, or I eat my leather helmet.
If they come up with something that costs money, then it will surely contain something
that will make it worth while. I guess if we had to pay the devs for all the countless hours,
before we could have WOFF, then it might hurt. I am pretty much sure, that they invested
far more time, love and energy than I we ever payed them back.


Ditto to that.
I cannot see any other company, which followed their aim to build a good WW1 sim
with so much determination, with such a long breath - and all that not fuelled
by large amounts of money coming from any investors during this long process.
I have the highest respect for such a determination and love.

Now that I think about it...I'm willing work for free as a Beta Tester for all of their upcoming products...including patch V2.0. No need to thank me, OBD. I'm just that kind of guy.



Okay, yeah. Or I'll just buy them. That's okay too.

I agree with Hellshade and Herr Olham. For my part, I have gotten more use, enjoyment, and value for the money from OBD products than any other games I have bought. I have never thought that they over sold the product. Unlike, some 40.00 dollar games that were actually Beta Versions or play it one time than retired to the closet.
In addition, I would like to mention product support and Advice ? from my fellow forum members. Ya cant beat that !

Low level flying will take on a whole new life. The setting sun on the tree tops are just mesmerizing! Not to mention the wiring configurations on the Gotha. This release is just as exciting as the original WOFF. I sentiment with Hellshades and Olham's comments about the OBD products.

Thanks again guys for your continued efforts to produce one of the best sims ever played. I have been flying at least once a week since the release and have not even tapped into nearly all its potential. Just started playing rear gunner position for the first time this week and think I found a whole new love for this sim.

I'm crying. You're the best!

Just give me the date and price

Hi Guys - there are no outstanding patches for WOFF Ver1.

What is up and coming is an Expansion to WOFF V2.0 and it is payware.

Here is the preliminary features list (Note we reserve the right to change this list etc):

1) Expanded Theatre: Terror Over England:

Fly Home Defence in England and defend your country against incoming Zeppelin and Gotha Raids - Day and Night - on the actual times dates that they historically took place.

Fly With up to 12 Accurately researched British Home Defence squadrons to choose from as well as with special Home Defence Machines.

Or Enlist in one of the Gotha IV Equipped Bosta squadrons in Europe near the Western Front, and fly day and night sorties against England, Paris and the French Channel ports.
Note: Night sorties by Bosta squadrons begin in early August 1917, as they did historically, prior to this they carry out day operations.

New additional Craft for this Theatre of Operations include:

Gotha IV complete with all fully rendered gunner stations
Zeppelin R Type (AI flyable only at the moment)
Zeppelin P Type (AI flyable only at the moment)
BE2C HD (Home Defence Type)
BE12 HD (Home Defence Type)

Note: If Flying in a Bosta with Gothas, night missions start in early August 1917 as they did historically - up until then the missions are day sorties.



2) Expanded Campaign Features:

Advance Time: by a day, a week, or a month to allow your squad to recover from a bad sorty - craft and men are replenished as appropriate, and a detailed summary tells you what took place for the period of advance.
Note Advancing Time only brings your squad more quickly back to full complement - it will not speed up transfer requests etc!

Leave Request Button: now implemented - if the player has served more than 15 days since last going on leave he may submit a request for leave.
Note the request button only appears after 15 days have elapsed since last leave approval.
There are now two leave types - 48 hour pass if days since last leave is less than 45 days or a 5 day pass if days since last leave is greater than 45 days.

Time Advance to next Historical Date: If the player is in a region where historical missions are taking place a 'Time Advance to next Event Date' button will appear to enable him to optionally fast forward time to the next historical event date.
Note: The player may or may not be directly involved in these events - this is a region criteria advance.
This button will not appear if there are no historical events in the region.

New Workshops settings: Encounters - High or Realistic to tweak the chances of encounters for those that want it.

Claims System Revisions:

If 'Log All' setting is not selected in workshops then no claims can be made for Quick Combat or Scenario Flights irrespective of Workshops Claims and Promotions settings.

Workshops Setting Claims and Promotions Normal:
A 'Make Claim' button is available in Mission Details page after every sortie - players must fill in a claim form by pressing the button himself when appropriate - there is no prompting to fill in a claim form.

Workshops Setting Claims and Promotions Easy:
The player is prompted and taken to the claim form to make a claim whenever he has an air victory.

Workshops Setting Claims and Promotions Easiest:
Claims are automatically made on the players behalf when he has an air victory - the claim form system is bypassed.

New: Night activity implemented in England to reflect actual night activity in WW1.



3) Improvements and Additions:

DX9 rendering option now built in via workshops to create dynamic self shadowing of aircraft, dynamic ground shadows for ground objects, cloud shadows - all varying with the sun angle and moon.
DX9 Terrain Bump mapping and Improved Sea rendering - with minimal cost to FPS (does use more memory).

External Camera Field of View now settable in workshops (DX9 shader enabled)

Night effects have been revised to render darker flak and smoke at night.

New Searchlights added to theatre where needed- England and now in Europe (dynamically lit if using DX9 shaders).

Additional targets for long range bombing activity implemented in England and France.

Night complements and air activity implemented to better suit actual war time night activity.

Modestly Increased Bomber and 2 seater Recce Air Activity in theater.

Modestly Increased General Air Activity in theater.

Revised and improved Cliffs of Dover Geographic terrain models.

All British French and German Squads overhauled to include for more historical craft.

Revised AI morale factors to reduce 'fight to the death' scenarios even more, and to encourage better self preservation.

Increased wind buffeting effects.

Some Terrain tile revisions and improvements.

'Newly planted Growing crops' terrain now implemented in Spring - England and Europe.

Distant Dots (of Aircraft) improved to more accurately resemble 'specks' in the distance with subtle colour change.



4) Extra Flyable Machines and associated Squadrons to ensure comprehensive campaign usage:


Aviatik BI
Aviatik BII
Fokker EIV (Twin Machine gun version)
Halberstadt DIII (Argus Engine)


5) In total 9 additional Aircraft are included in the Expansion.


HTH

WM

Great info! So Nieuport 10C1 will be included in a separate add-on pack, am I right?

Price, good sir! Price!

Amazing list of features. Can't wait for it.

wow wow i can't await anymore!

Looks like a must have!

I need new britches and am eagerly pressing refresh hoping to see it's release!

I've been pressing F5 since... erm... June 10 I believe, when first Gotha and Zeppelin screenshots appeared. And to be honest this patchnote wasn't any surprise to me because I saw it like 10 times already. In my dreams. But no, I'm not too excited about the release. Waiting is now part of my life

I think since it has been mentioned in the change list I can also show something:

Disclaimer (just in case): work in progress

Gee, there are somegreat things announced. I love to see especially this one (not that I didn't like the others though!):

There are a lot of great features, indeed. Can't wait for the release

....my guess would be on or around the date of end of WW1.

The Make claim button should be great, but in this case there must be no information about enemies shot down in mission details. Otherwise it doesn't make much sense. Right?

That looks fabulous AnKor! Thanks for sharing. The immersion keeps getting more and more complete.

And yes, lots of good stuff in the patch notes. I'm looking forward to increased wind buffeting. Make it harder to keep my aim on someone, and they on me!

Can't recall but $100 sounds close. If I were to divide the hours I have played WOFF by the money it would come out to almost nothing per hour. I call that one of the best bargains of a lifetime! Been to a movie lately?

Indeed....

WM

great to see this getting better and better!

Just imagining flying escort for them Gotha's.

Also,can you guys explain how much more wind buffet is coming.I ask because I found that wind buffeting in most sims to actually detract from the experience where for example IL2 it was just awful.I trust in OBD as when I got into a WOFF plane and noticed the buffeting it was perfect.IMO just don't overdo it as it can detract from the experience.

Another thing,of which I have not seen represented in pics is the snow covered terrain.Has work been put into making the snow covered terrain look better?I ask because I find the spring and summer terrains to be excellent while the snow terrains to be lacking.

Great shots and fantastic news WM i loved reading the extra features and Aircraft coming in Woff 2.0 Expansion.Im really looking forward to flying and attempting to bring down those Gothas.Im really looking forward to the wind buffeting effects i loved them in HITR,and IMO brings a new dimension of realism..Great work guys


@ WOLFSTRIKED:I have no doubt whatsoever when it comes to the wind buffeting.OBD will get this bang on if you ever flew OFF P3 without and then with HITR addon then you would have seen the difference pal.Itll be a great addition.

There won't be any escorts for Gothas, at least not when attacking Britain. The bombers did it alone.

The improvements sound great!

Adger,sounds great but begs the question why WOFF did not have it implemented already.After posting this sentence I wondered to myself if I am becoming a nagging nancy. Must add here that I have total faith in ODB.

Hasse,thanks for that info.Any idea why they flew alone?

The distance?