Actually I’m very appreciative and grateful that you’re working to improve WOFF. Overall WOFF delivers on its promise of an immersive sim. For immersion, there is no other WW1 sim out there that compares to WOFF in its current state of WOFF PE. So, I can only imagine what awesome improvements will be coming in the new version. I am looking forward to purchasing the new version as soon as it comes out.
Edit: I was asking because Hellshade is a beta tester.
No worries orbyxP thanks. It was just as you didn't mention anything in the main previous posts so stood out .
Further to your questions actually they are all pretty much rare or eliminated. Creaghorn has been flying for some months and says he has not so far seen a ground crash in low level dogfighting. It has similar new code as we did for WOTR there. Obviously broken / killed craft will crash as before. Also, as ground avoidance is new code, and with the dogfighting manoeuvre change, they will behave differently so you will have a new experience.
14 December 1917 Jasta 6 campaign patrol. 3 different segments of the same patrol. Among the interesting things to note is in the 2nd part of the clip (which I apologize, I apparently forgot to put a faded transition to, so it's just jumps straight to it), I decide to go after an enemy aircraft that's heading in for a landing. Not only does he go right into defensive fighting, but moments later another landing aircraft circling above also breaks from landing mode and boom and zooms me to clear me off his buddies tail. They are all working together better than ever and many of the few remaining weak points in the AI have clearly been addressed. Enjoy the clip!
Fantastic stuff, thanks Hellshade and of course Pol for your insight into the new version. Looks and sounds absolutely brilliant. One last question if I may? Does it incorporate WOTR,S ground fog and mist, the early flights in that sim are beautiful at times..thanks
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.
Yes this all looks and sounds amazing!!!! Thanks for the continued info and showcasing - can't wait!
However, I guess I am a little concerned about the framerate and general flow - what is it like with BHaH II compared to PE? Also are tweaks written in/applied in-house similar to VonS's graphic mods (which really help for PE)?
Well it's been a full day of near nonstop flying. Girlfriend is coming home soon but he's a few extra pics Pol has been kind enough to allow me to share.
My impressions are overwhelmingly positive. Even after... (wow)...over 10 nearly straight hours in the cockpit flying lots of different types of aircraft, I'm not only not bored of it...I want to fly even more (maybe after a pizza!) So many good things but here are a few of my personal favorites so far.
1. Weather effects like rain never get old. I used to hate flying in the rain before, so much so that I turned it off. Now, with the water effects on the goggles turned on, the immersion of it just draws me in every time. 2. Easter egg sound effects keep popping up and they are great. Wind in the wires. Creaking airframes during landings. Busy ground crews shouts before takeoff. I think some of the older sounds may have been redone as well, but not 100% sure. 3. Mission Replay is awesome. After the mission is over, you can see just your flight, all aircraft or everything and watch it all get plotted out moment by moment. Really gives you an appreciation for how much is going on in the sim around you. 4. Performance seems just as good despite all the extra goodies going on. Not sure how they managed it, but somehow they got more without seeming to cost the CPU / GPUs more. That's purely subjective. I didn't run a bunch of tests. I just didn't notice any degradation in performance from WOFF PE. 5. Damage modeling is greatly improved. Not one 4 wing explosion yet...but I did clip both left wings off an Alb once! It all just looks and performs much more realistic now. Nothing is 100% but I think everyone's going to be really happy with the quality improvements. Just feels more satisfying. 6. Rear gunners are in the war and active but also not snipers. I flew an Fe2b and set it to autopilot. When we got jumped by Albs, the AI made great defensive moves and the gunner took a lot of reasonable shots at nearby enemy targets despite rarely flying flat and level. 7. Its so immersive, even the simple stuff is genuinely enjoyable. Doing anything in the rain (takeoff, patrol, dogfighting, landing). But even without the weather effects, the way the plane engine shakes, the sounds. Everything just feels more real and you don't want to skip past it.
What don't I like? Well I'm in beta so I'm not going to say. But what I will say is the 2 things I noticed were very nitpicky in nature and at least one of them is probably easily fixable. It's just an all around a big leap forward with no real steps backwards. And they are still working on it. The pics really don't do it justice. The tracers might look too big in the screenshots possibly, but in the sim when flying, they are spot on. When everything is in motion, the world just comes together so nicely. Well, until the bad guys show up...but it wouldn't be much of a sim without them so no complaints!
Again thanks Hellshade, One thing the OBD lads do do and thats listen to its community. Hopefully the things you're not quite happy with will get sorted
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.
Yes this all looks and sounds amazing!!!! Thanks for the continued info and showcasing - can't wait!
However, I guess I am a little concerned about the framerate and general flow - what is it like with BHaH II compared to PE? Also are tweaks written in/applied in-house similar to VonS's graphic mods (which really help for PE)?
6. Rear gunners are in the war and active but also not snipers. I flew an Fe2b and set it to autopilot. When we got jumped by Albs, the AI made great defensive moves and the gunner took a lot of reasonable shots at nearby enemy targets despite rarely flying flat and level.
NOW you're talking Hellshade......that's a HUGE improvement.
I'm as excited as a very excited person, who has special reason to be excited
Enjoy your Pizza
Last edited by Albert Tross; 02/25/2111:25 PM. Reason: Politeness
"A great deal of an aeroplane could be holed without affecting its ability to fly. Wings and fuselage could be—and often were—pierced in 50 places, missing the occupants by inches (blissfully unaware of how close it had come until they returned to base). Then the sailmaker would carefully cover each hole with a square inch of Irish linen frayed at the edges and with a brushful of dope make our aircraft 'serviceable' again within an hour."
Last edited by VonS; 02/26/2107:25 PM. Reason: Edited post.
~ For my various FM/AI/FPS/DM Mods. for First Eagles 2, WoFF, RoF & WoTR, and tips for FlightGear, recommended is to check over my CombatAce profile (https://combatace.com/profile/86760-vons/) and to click on the "About Me" tab while there. ~
1. The exploding 4 wings breaking off at the same time
2. Escaping a dogfight by flying at treetop level because AI won’t fly that low
3. AI crashing into the ground when dogfighting below about 1000 ft
Hi, I'm testing BHaH2 for months now
1. Not sure if eliminated completely but I haven't seen that in a long long time
2. AI is way smarter now in that because the ground avoidance is completeley new, thefore how they behave when chasing you at low level. I can tell you so much. Running at treetop level is no guarantee for escaping anymore. I was shot down quite some times until I figured that some "old ways" do not work anymore. I would describe it in a way, that they behave at low level how probably most humans would behave, as a good mixture between safety and attacking.
3. I haven't seen a groundcrash during a low level dogfight once in all those months. Not a single one.
Regarding observers, they are influenced by g forces and hard maneuvers. They won't be able to shoot while getting thrown about in their seat. But that doesn't mean they only shoot when flying level. E.g. they can shoot during flying a curve etc. because they are not thrown about and g forces are not too high to prevent shooting during those sequences. Also Twoseaterspilots will try to give the observer a good aim. Of course there are different qualities and skills.
Regarding some patches which reduce distant eyecandy etc. to improve performance etc., i think for most it won't be necessary. BHaH2 is optimized better than ever. WM has done some miracles. I'm flying with all settings on highest and with highest air activity and still have no drops in performance.
Regarding large dogfights, yeah, that can absolutely happen. The footage in my vid was from campaign. If two large flights clash together and probably one or the other also joins in, there can easily happen furballs of 30 or more AC. And still, I haven't experienced any decrease in performance.
Blue triangles eliminated guys? Do my eyes deceive me or was there some on Hellshades last vid, I hope it is my knackered eyes
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.
If we can please leave the talk of mods at this stage probably best to wait until release. Some may prefer more eye candy and some will prefer more fps or whatever. We have made optimizations to balance things - given there is a lot more going on vibrations head and other anims etc but obviously we can see how it goes.
Regarding large dogfights, yeah, that can absolutely happen. The footage in my vid was from campaign. If two large flights clash together and probably one or the other also joins in, there can easily happen furballs of 30 or more AC. And still, I haven't experienced any decrease in performance.
Cheers
I have been in several of these and they are amazing to witness and be a part of. The noise of engines as planes dive screaming past you along with more frequent gun chatter and the un-nerving experience of tracers zipping past your head makes it feel quite claustrophobic at times. More than ever, too, you will be presented with choices of "Do I finish off the guy I am saddled up behind or break off to save my ally who's being chased by one or more enemy aircraft?" If you keep labels turned off so planes are easily lost in the clouds or against the scenery below, it can cause a little bit of paranoia.
I have also noticed they are smarter about how they run away. More than once I was chasing an enemy who was running for home but I was flying the faster plane. As I was gaining but still too far to begin shooting, sometimes they would break hard left or right to re-engage, knowing apparently that running was a losing strategy.
I have also noticed they are smarter about how they run away. More than once I was chasing an enemy who was running for home but I was flying the faster plane. As I was gaining but still too far to begin shooting, sometimes they would break hard left or right to re-engage, knowing apparently that running was a losing strategy.