What Big Thing Do You Want Most for UE Next?

Just curious what people would like to see next for their favorite WWI flight sim.

Direct x 11 got my vote. But more planes would be nice. Italian and Eastern fronts? Yawn.

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Hellshade, you have one glaring omission on your list of choices: le Aviation Militaire Belge. GASP!!!

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I'd really love to see the aircraft that are noted as missing from squadrons in the game, such as the FK8, Dolphin, Siemens-Schuckert, etc.

Eastern front, NO, no market for this front, we all see the disaster on the Sikorsky WW1 game, no buyer for this front.
Italian front, sure I would like to see, but also here to much effort and no extra buyers, then ok here a go again: better to go for the Belgium air force. :-)

More planes, lots of planes already, to keep the effort for OBD low, I do prefer as
-] There are planes listed in red when using squad deployment in the campaign mode and of course I would like to see those planes in the game, but I wonder if we can use substitutes added to get rid of that red not to be use planes.
-] Go for easy meal: introduce the engine variants, think of the SPAD scouts or as a base the SPAD two seaters. Combine the D7 wings and the Dr1 fuselage to create the Fokker D6 as a sample.
Zeppelin, I think it is rather boring to fly this object, so I think no extra buyers despite lots of effort it will cost.

Multiplayer, I can not remember that the OFF3 multiplayer was crowded, but time do change and maybe new players do like it, I do not know, for me only limited use so a NO only from me.

So yeah, voted #1, but if converting, Ankor, why not skip DirectX11 and go straight for the last DirectX12, the few Win7 users could stay to DirectX9, eventually they have to move to Win10-64bit.

I voted Italain and Eastern Front because that would include those crazy Austro-Hungarian airplanes... right?

Seaplanes and appropriate careers for them...

Whew. This was tough.
Of course we need more planes: Sopwith Dolphin, Alb 2-seaters, etc.
Of course we need DX 11 with 3d clouds. Bet FPS would go up.
But ultimately I chose “Other” as I would like to see the Campaign Engine fine tuned a bit: 3 flights for the Allies, Flight and Kette integrity, better mission waypoint selection, better AI (not tougher but smarter), etc.

I’ll pay for all of the above though except multiplayer and Eastern/Italian fronts. You can keep those thank you.

Agree with Duke, but voted before I read his response.
This was tough, was in the same train of thought.

But Voted for DX11 and Clouds (but not VR) as the cloud flicker is now the biggest graphic issue after removal of the blue triangle.
There are so many planes now, it is hard to enjoy them all, but would like to see a few of the missing ones.
And agree that while the AI is great, it seems to have a few quirks.

No interest in Italian or Eastern Front.
No interest in flyable Zeps.
Single Player is WOFF's claim to fame - Unless it can have some sort of on going war, co-op missions, etc, I see no point in competing with ROF/FC in Multiplayer.

As noted, I would love to see some of our more glaring gaps filled - Alb C class, Halb CLII, LVG CV, Roland DVI, Pfalz DXII, Shorthorn, Gunbus, Dolphin, Big Ack, Noop X two-seater, SPAD XI, Salmson
And, continue adding to the landscape with aerodromes, landmarks, iconic structures and towns.
Cheers,
shredward

Precisely why I included the final option - Other (specify below)

X2.. my exact thoughts (surprised? LOL!). There are a ton more planes that can be added to fill- in and expand the sim further... and yes. The Belgian Air Force is a must with the Hanriot HD-1 required.

Not an easy vote. I chose more planes because there are still some important gaps to fill in.
But another option (If possible) Would be multi-core cpu support. This way the heavier air activity would become playable with less stuttering. Dont think multiplayer Would have enough players to support it. And italian and eastern front? Think its better to finish the western front first.

Just voted for DX11 and volumetric clouds gents', although there is something charming about the flat, intersecting clouds currently in use too. My no. 2 vote would go for more plane types, with a distant third vote for Italian/Eastern fronts - not much need for those since there isn't as much interest in them. Don't get me wrong - I love my obscure theaters and strange aircraft but RB3D and more recently FE2 already more than cover those obscure fronts - and WOFFue seems to be more western-front based anyway so it's best that it focuses on further development in areas where it excels. Speaking of more aircraft types, what happened with some (beta) tests that were happening to import the Morane-Saulnier type N from FE2 into WOFFue? Any news on that front?...I think there was some testing of Longhorn/Shorthorn types as well....

Happy flying,
Von S

I’m so torn. I really want to welcome that third decade of the Twenty-First Century with new graphics in WoFF afforded by DX11, but I’m sceptical about those 3D clouds. Every other sim I’ve seen that uses them doesn’t look that great. Just a shapeless mass of cotton. I’m more excited about all other things that DX11 could do better. Better smoke and more of it. Imagine entire section of front covered with columns of smoke, with little impact on frame rate. Mustard gas. Animated rain droplets on the windscreen that leave streaks. Better bullet trails with that vortex rifling effect. Better fire effects. The possibilities are endless, but I went with new selection of airplanes. I don’t care about the Zeps, or driving them. The new airplanes don’t even have to be flyiable. I’m more interested in a greater range of targets. The number and selection of planes is WoFF’s strength. Besides, why couldn’t we have DX11 and eat it too? While AnKor performs magic with the graphics, core OBD team could concentrate on the planes. What’s wrong with that?

A legitimate concern - personally I don't mind the WOFFue clouds at all, they seem to have volume but are very crisp too - in FE2 we have DX10 clouds (volumetric) and it has been a pain trying to get them to look realistic finally (semi-transparent, varied, etc.) - previously they were like the cotton balls you mention.

Von S

All the 3D clouds I've ever seen in any flight game other than WOFF look like "#@*&".

I fly through 3D clouds in WOFF all the time (I have cloud fog" on), and they look fine just as they are (they actually look like paintings)

If OBD is going to put **** 3D volumetric clouds in the next version of WOFF, I sure hope they give us the option of keeping the excellent clouds we have now.

I too voted for more planes. So many two-seaters to be had, The SPAD A.2 is an oddball favorite, as well as the XI and XVI. Vickers Gunbus, Altabros C.I, C.III, C.V and C.VII,

I voted for online play.

This has to be the most important thing in my view. We have enough planes ( never enough ) etc, but it would be great if we could actualy wage war together.

One very small addition important to immersion: allow transfers to Home Establishment within the career.

Support for the Ravcore Javelin (Gladiator) stick... It doesn't recognize buttons (well , only 1 or 2). Maybe a rebuild of the controller interface ?

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Oh yeah, that.

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Better communication. I believe the game would be vastly improved by having more communication options with the AI. For instance, flare signals, These commands FROM the AI flight commander and a way to alert my AI squadron mates with these signals whether I am or am not commanding the flight, such as a wing waggle and direction indicator to let them know where I see an EA, whether they decide to ignore me or not. I think the graphics are just fine and I'm not that crazy about playing with people, I' agree with Stache, single player is one of the best things about WOFF. I like my AI squadron mates..

A late war balloon gun would be great too Santa...I've been good.

That was my vote either.

All well founded observations. I would enjoy seeing all of that with a DX11 upgrade. It would make the war even "grittier".

honestly, more planes to fill out the gaps would be plenty for me! (I loved the old fully-modded RB3D Western Front Patch... and this gaming experience is in the same ballpark. there were some things that the WFP did better... but in general WOFF has the advantage of years and technology in its favor. the fact that WFP had something like 200 aircraft was really nice.)

now that I'm finally getting a chance to fly training missions for the French I was really hoping that French pilots would train on a -French- plane.

there are some aircraft I would love to see that aren't in the game yet:
the Voisin III
the MF.11 (which served extensively all over the world)
the Farman F40
the Morane Saulnier N (with deflector plates or interrupter gear)
the Salmson 2

either the LVG or Albatros family of two-seater families would be nice.

I guess Direct X11 would be cool... but I'm pretty happy with how the clouds look right now. I saved up on got a pretty powerful box that can run everything on the highest settings and still run smoothly. so I'm pretty pleased with how everything looks right now. did a flyby of Amiens Cathedral and it looks pretty good.

I know it's way off topic... but I still have all those thousands of RB3D files saved away and it would be fun to tackle those again. I couldn't get the old RB3D mods to work on Win10. is there a trick to getting it?

Yes it can run on Win10-64, if I may interupt here. Go to the Steam RB3d section, for downloading the .exe file that you will need for running RB3D. Lots of info can be found on Steam regarding RB3d.

If I may also interrupt briefly, please see this website that has a modded RB3D patch ready for Win10 installs:

https://www.replaying.de/files/red-baron-3d-windows-10-edition-download/

On a more related note, I'm happy with my vote for DX11 but would add that volumetric clouds are not a priority (in fact I prefer them in their current form). DX11 could of course be used for other, enhanced damage effects, fires, etc. - this I think is an area where DX11 would really excel in WOFFue.

Happy flying,
Von S

Italian front! Imagine flying in all those mountains and valleys! Austro-Hungarian airplanes!
Flying boats and hydroplanes would be very nice too.

If it’s seaplanes you want plenty of such operations on the northern French coast/Channel. Real combat ops.

thank you dutch and vonS for your replies. I must confess... that about every other time I see the word "DX11" I find myself thinking it SHOULD be "D.XII"!

This.

IMO, multiplayer would ruin this sim. I opine it would descend into "fair" and "evenly matched" pew-pew-pew planes/mindsets for both sides and, if like other sims, dictate development along those ahistorical lines. A lot of WOFF's appeal to me is that it is NOT MP and not slaved to that mindset. I'd bin the sim immediately if MP were introduced. OBD has enough to do with the SP portion as it is.

Just a heretic thinking - who is going to implement this poll winner feature? I suppose OBD will have a lot of work with WOTR at least for the next 5 years.

I mostly agree. if they were to make an MP version I would insist that the flight model and damage model not be changed. it's very good.

based on experience on multiple sims and forums - you've described what always happens for nearly ever sim. the prevailing demand is that they get transformed from a combat flight-simulator into a good online-game experience. part of the WWI experience is based on the constantly shifting balance of power in favor of one air force over another. there were many scenarios where it wouldn't have been considered good 'gameplay' balance... but would have reflected a historical reality. (case in point, lousy tactics played a much bigger role in "the Fokker Scourge" and "Bloody April" than any particular aircraft-vs-aircraft match-up)

a lot of the time this complaint about the gameplay balance being unfair is really more of a veiled complaint about inexperience vs experience. the sad truth is that a guy flying a Nieuport 17 with only 90 minutes of flight time is probably going to lose to the guy who's got 80 hours of time on a Roland C.II.

the other problem is that a lot of casual players want the match-up outcome to reflect historical tendencies - with no accounting for experience, situation, and skill. you'd see this with the P-51 (or insert name here). since it was widely regarded as the best fighter of WW2 and used by the side that "won" the war.... this means it should always win, right? but when you look at the speed difference between the P-51D and the Bf109G6 it's only a 10% difference or so. this marginal speed difference isn't so much that it can overcome a serious gap in experience, skill, and tactical advantage from one player to another.

my online experiences in RB3d open servers wasn't that great - so I stopped visiting them. they just turned into big mobs of turning battles. everybody picked three or four planes and that was it. (Fokker D.VII, SPAD XIII, SE5a, Sopwith Camel, Fokker Dr.I). everybody would just hang out around one airfield spawning over and over again and shooting each other down endlessly. people were more obsessed with their kill-to-loss ratio than actually flying a variety of aircraft. and you would find this on nearly every server. it actually got pretty boring.

that being said, my online experience ended up being pretty good with the "Flanders in Flames" RB3d tournaments...basically a dead-is-dead style tournament that would focus on specific historical periods of the war. I think they migrated over to "Rise of Flight". I remember the players were uniformly fun to play with. yeah, we'd get a few gripes about something being too good or not good enough... but, once the tournament sessions started they'd put the gripes aside and play the game. compared to the regular open servers, it was a much better experience. so for those people who like online fighting I would hope that those squadrons are still out there: JG1, Black Haze, Jasta 5, RAC, Escadrille 124 probably aren't still around... but I remember them being good folks. if I ever go back to rise of flight I'd probably re-enlist in JG1 Richthofen just like old times (hopefully).

the reason I bought THIS game is because of the extensive offline features. I don't really want to be REQUIRED to connect to the server to do something as basic as fly all by myself in the place of my choosing. don't get me wrong, "Rise of Flight" looks like it would be a great experience... but I don't like the idea of being forced to connect to a server to even play the game. like RB3d, one day they might not support the servers anymore.... and then you've spent money on a game you can't even play!

I generally try to avoid making things that look like "#@*&"
How much I succeed is another question though.

That definitely looks promising Ankor!

I certainly wouldn't complain about those 3d clouds, AnKor. If anyone can do it, you can. Rare combination of skill, talent and passion.

I voted , like many other for planes, I think the logical step would be to fill in the gaps of the missing plane sets. ( Flyable or AI controlled ) This approach would endeavor to bring about a more complete and robust game. Later down the line, add more bells and whistles

Ankor, think PR is right on this, I only dislike more the moving straight cloud lines as being see on this RR video at 3:26. In WoffUE sometimes they will go from one side of the screen to the other site. Which I think looks rather clumbsy.

A little OT, but IS there a "next" for WOFF UE? After all, "ultimate" implies an end--that's the definition of ultimate. I.e., the best/last. What comes after ultimate--the ultimater? And is there time and are there resources for concurrent development of WOFF NG (Next Generation) while the next WOTR phase is being developed?

+1.
Ref.to my post here

There is a WOFF UE 1.48. I see no reason why there couldn't potentially be a WOFF UE 2.0. At least I can still hope for that.

I dunno Dutch and PR, those WIP clouds look pretty amazing to me. I'd love to have the opportunity to fly through them without the popping and flickering that we sometimes get now. Perhaps there could be a Workshop setting for 2D/3D.

We have not stopped/ended WOFF development. Yes we have been working round the clock on WOTR that doesn't mean we don't want to do more on both...

Good news about WOFF, Pol. Thanks for the horse's mouth confirmation.

For those who do not know, WOFF has had 3D clouds from the beginning, as illustrated here:
[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/cx649urdz7z198z/WOFF%203D%20Clouds%201.jpg?dl=0[/img]
[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/y0uxy0zt47cqoe1/WOFF%203D%20Clouds%202.jpg?dl=0[/img]
[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/9c9bmwq9b73xa2y/WOFF%203D%20Clouds%203.jpg?dl=0[/img]
[img]https://www.dropbox.com/s/jkxn0blo89rci51/WOFF%203D%20Clouds%204.jpg?dl=0[/img]

The Belgian air force would be a natural addition to WOFF. They are well documented, and wouldn't even require any map changes. I'm sure many people would love to fly the Hanriot scout too!

The Italian front would be something never properly done in any flight sim. Of course it would involve considerably more work than the Belgians.

But also a big risk when introducing the Italian front, could be at the cost of lots of labour and only a few buyers. BTW, I do not see that many screen shots from players that are flying in the montains from Alsace.

For the Belgium airforce, there is even no need to wait for the Hanriot, lots of planes that are already in the game. But an extra plane is always welcome.

Ι voted for DX and 3D but I think the addition of planes would be a more feasible option (I'm not interested in player controlled Zepelins)

If WOFF fliers are like me they would buy anything added to this SIM! So... developers... don't discount an Italian Front! It would be cool to be an observer in a balloon or a flight crew member in a Zeppelin or Schütte-Lanz airship (passenger role). In the balloon you might take to your 'chute when attacked but in the airship...

Oh, the humanity!

You can't fault the man for wanting it all, but I'm sure we all know that is not likely to ever happen in most of our life times..... Oh well, we have a lot to be thankful for with what we already have!

True story. WOFF UE already has far more than i could have hoped for when i first started looking for another WWI sim all those years ago. That never serms to stop us for hoping for more though, does it?

Well, if you believe Pol, WOFF development transcends hope and is actually a certainty. So, they have to develop something, right? Let's shoot for the moon!



Yeah, I know, blah, blah, blah on why it can't/shouldn't be done. Duly noted. Now, zip it and go away so OBD can get started.

Coop multiplayer would be the bee's knees! Either as pilot/gunner or flying planes within the same squadron. I have a few buddies that I game with on the weekend and that keeps my flying time down. We are currently in ARMA, but if WOFF or WOTR had coop, there's a very good chance I could get them on board...

Oh, and the option to fly all the way from WOFF to WOTR in a single flight would be AWESOME!!!!

I know this kind of ships will be introduced in Wotp :-)

WOTP!!!

Right, Saturn V rocket it is.