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Friday, November 29, 2013

BoB Developers group looking at a Malta map?

Rumours emerged this week that members of the BoB Developers Group, responsible for updates to the BOB II Wings of Victory sim, are looking to restart work on a Malta map and landscape.

Work on a Malta map was begun several years ago and a working map with simple textures was created but not progressed.

Could there be a race now between the BOBII BDG and Cliffs of Dover's Team Fusion to see who can be the first to come with a fully fledged Malta/Mediterranean map?

It would require that either team could show they are able to import both new maps, and new aircraft (1941 and 1942 variants of the major combatants) into their games.

The BDG would appear to have the best chance, as they have access to the Wings of Victory source code, thanks to cooperation from the developers, A2A, while Team Fusion has yet to secure that sort of collaboration from 1C.


Real Merlins over Malta in 2011...will they fly again in BOBII?


DCC WWII Bf109 cockpit

DCS WWII is shaping up to be the future WWII sim to beat, if we can judge by the early screenshots and news being released.

Why?

Unlike competitors, it will feature highly sought after USA aircraft types like the P-51D and P-47C. Also, unlike competitors, it is being launched on a proven sim platform (DCS World) but with enhanced graphics.

DCS Eagle Dynamics has a fanatical obsession with modelling in minute and accurate detail, its flyable aircraft, as evidenced in the DCS P-51 and its many modern era aircraft releases.

Behind the project are the two names which brough the legendary IL2 sim series to life: Ilya Shevchenko and Oleg Maddox, a further guarantee of obsessional attention to detail and accuracy.

Finally, the fan base is already there, as could be seen in the success of a recent Kickstarter fundraising project which easily met its fundraising goal earlier this year.

Now the devs are showing pictures of the finished Bf109 cockpit.

 

DCS WWII making big advances

From the latest update by project lead Ilya Shevchenko:

On the Normandy front, the landscape is moving along. We’ve increased the amount of details on the landscape and worked a bit more with the woods. The woods are now a separate single object which makes them both easier to place and a lot easier on performance.
We’re also creating a few more stand-in buildings. The design process has us place a lot of blue box stand-ins, simple shapes that denote where the buildings will be, which will later be replaced with detailed buildings of the same dimensions. Replacing blue boxes with these more detailed stand-ins is an intermediary step that allows us to better fine-tune the look of city blocks. The texture is obviously temporary. Once we place a bunch of these together we can experiment with damage modeling and the general aesthetics.
On the airplane front, we decided to hold off on screenshots today. When things are unfinished, they just don’t look that great, and while many of you will perhaps call us too pessimistic, we’re just not comfortable with showing these unfinished intermediary steps.
The P-47 cockpit is beginning to look rather good. We greatly improved the instrument panel. It’s virtually complete now, and it looks a lot more like the real thing. We had to redo a huge chunk of it compared to the previous screenshots, and the gauges now have the proper bezel as they should on the P-47D-30. We’ll be finishing it up next week and polishing it and inserting it into the game engine the week after that, so hopefully there’ll be something cool to show the Friday Dec 6th.
We’re also progressing on the biggest success story of this kickstarter, the Me.262 cockpit. Being what it is, we again want to hold off on showing the very early stage. The modeler making it is the most resistant to showing unfinished work out of everyone working on the project. We’ll see what it looks like next week. Definitely very eager to show you guys what we worked so hard to put into the project!
The 109K external is also almost ready to be shown. Again, we made a very hard choice to hold off on those screenshots because we’re going to have something a lot more impressive next week.
Anyway, this is where we are across the board so this is slightly painful to write. Hopefully this week is the least amount of screenshots we’ll ever show. Everything is moving along, and as things get closer to completion there’ll be a lot more stuff to show. Especially once we have the 109 visuals in the engine. That’ll begin a very exciting stage for the project.
Finally, on the web development front, I know a lot of you are very anxious. This is taking a lot longer than anticipated but the end result will also be a lot more comprehensive than we originally intended. We’re moving along with the backer web functionality and making sure it’s both clear and easy to use. The intended end result will allow all project backers, kickstarter or paypal, to log in to the project site and to see their own personalized management screen. It will show you the exact number of rewards you’re eligible for based on your pledge amount. It will show you the rewards you have currently selected along with their status (shipped, in progress, etc). For any unfulfilled rewards, it will allow you to swap them out or enter additional details. We’re working very hard to make sure it’ll be easy to use and to understand, while also being full-featured and problem free, allowing for example such a range of options and easily specifying user accounts for friends you wish to gift additional licenses to, or specify different shipping addresses for several copies of the same aircraft manual, etc.
We’re working extremely hard to have it working as soon as humanly possible, and hopefully we’ll have some screenshots as well as the ETA for the site ready very soon.
Thank you for your continued interest in the project!

BOBGAMEHUB no longer covers IL2 Battle Stalingrad

Our apologies, all posts and information related to IL2 Battle of Stalingrad have been removed and this blog will no longer provide any news related to this project.

We direct our readers to the independent SimHQ website for unbiased/uncensored information about BoS.

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/forums/366/1

We point out to our readers that the official developers website forums of 777/1C Studios are heavily moderated and any critical posts or threads on these forums are deleted or censored by the developers. You should not expect fair or balanced views on the sim from the developers own website.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Cliffs of Dover under 10USD on Gamersgate

http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-IL2COD/il-2-sturmovik-cliffs-of-dover

Some cynics might say that is still overpriced (!) but in that case they haven't played the game since it  got modded into a mightily playable and enjoyable WWII sim by Team Fusion and the REDUX teams.

Get it while it's hot!


Pic the sim...

A little competition... which Sim is this screenshot from?

Image

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Screenshots: WiP on Team Fusion update 5.0

They still need to fix a few unexpected side effects of their work in update 4.0 to Cliffs of Dover but that doesn't deter the creativity of Team Fusion when it comes to bringing new objects and maps into the game for update 5.0. That work is accelerating and they showcased some of the work in a recent update at the ATAG forums.

On show were subs, battleships and tweaks to their Autumn maps. Bets so far have been that the team is working on maps and objects for the Mediterranean theatre, and on show in this update was the HMS Rodney (which can double for HMS Nelson for those who want to use it in an Atlantic scenario) and uBoats in Med camouflage.

Missing? Well if you were hoping to see new aircraft in the game in the immediate future, you may be disappointed. There were no new kites on show. The team has been able to create variants and change the loadouts on existing airframes but have yet to show any work underway on putting new aircraft into the game, even at an AI/bot level. But this is one of the biggest challenges for modders working without access to the source code, so naturally will take longer.


HMS Rodney/Nelson? Clearly the future lies in the Med for Team Fusion...
File:HMS Nelson during gunnery trials.jpg
German subs...nice new targets

But maybe that Battleship is the HMS Nelson and we are looking at the Atlantic?
File:HMS Rodney after refitting at Liverpool.jpg
And what is the vessel here in the foreground? Single turrets up front and back, just two guns...a pocket cruiser? And whose? These look German to me...


Time will tell. If you know, leave comment!

Clue...




Friday, November 8, 2013

Team Fusion already working on hotfix to patch 4.0 to Cliffs of Dover

It is only a couple of weeks old but Team Fusion is already working on a hotfix to their latest patch of Cliffs of Dover.

Welcomed by most players, the new patch brought some new objects and features, better GFX performance and flight models, especially for online play.

But it wasn't a completely smooth release and a few small bugs crept into the code. TF counsels patience with these:

It does not make any sense for us to release multiple patches over a short time... it just confuses installs for newer players, and makes for much more work for all of us in TF.

I understand your concern about the Merlin overheat, but there are also many other issues which players are concerned about, as for example AI behaviour, the fact the AAA guns cannot be manned, etc. etc.

So we will wait till we have all the issues addressed and then release the fixes together.


To be hoped these fixes aren't delayed until patch 5.0 though, some of them are real fun killers, like the AI problem which makes single player missions unplayable in patch 4.0 

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Battle for Malta mission pack 2 released: mission pack 3 preview!

Valeriy Kucheraviy (V@sOK) and Fred Williams (Heinkill) have released the next chapter in their Cliffs of Dover mod, Battle for Malta.


The Luftwaffe arrives!

This now takes the Malta Mod to 20 missions, covering both the Italian attack, and now the arrival (then departure) of the Luftwaffe in early 1940.

You will be able to either fly for the RAF, defending against the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica, or the Luftwaffe, as part of Fliegerkorps X attempt to destroy the RAF as a prelude to invasion.

All missions are of course based on historical events of Jan to May 1941.

Screenies from Chapter 2

261 Sq Hal Far






7/JG27 takes off from Catania



Malta convoy en route to Grand Harbour



On patrol for torpedo boats



JG27 engages



StG 2 convoy attack



JG27 on a sweep out of Sicily





Flak bite



Strafing run, Takali



Scramble under fire





LG1 on target approach





Precious fuel explodes



Flak strike





StG 1 over Grand Harbour















_________________________

DCS WWII looking for community manager

Position vacant: part time bilingual (Russian/English) public relations manager to oversee communications between a new flight sim startup and a whiney never-satisfied group of obsessive compulsive detail freaks.

Sound attractive? Then send your resume to Ilya Shevchenko of DCS WWII. More details in his project update, below.

Hey folks,

Sorry for a lapse in updates. I am almost comically plagued by internet issues on my trip; could make for a nice story all by itself. Almost considered doing a write-up, but perhaps in a couple of days when there’s no trace of bitterness. Catching a plane home tomorrow afternoon, where a nice PC with a nice Ethernet cable awaits. The things we take for granted.

Anyway, while I was incommunicado, the rest of the team has been hard at work.

We’re going to do a combined update on a bunch of fronts.

The 109 cockpit, shown earlier, is virtually completed. It’s scheduled to be done by the end of next week. Here’s a teaser shot.



We’ll do a full photoshoot once it’s finished and checked.

The 109 external is not nearly as far along. We actually ran into a bit of delay with it, and we’re working double time to catch up. The 109 is still scheduled to be the first new RRG plane to be completed, in time for the closed alpha.

The first step of making an external model for a DCS plane is to make its engine. Even though it’s not something you really see, this is what’s traditionally done first before the rest of the aircraft is built around it. We had an issue with blueprints and references that had us redo a portion of the model, and the engine is generally extremely detailed and elaborate, so we’re about a week behind schedule. The engine is generally modeled and mapped, so we’re ready to proceed with the rest of the aircraft.



I am walking a very fine line here between keeping the fans and the artists happy. This is something I’m sure most of you did not think of at all, but the 3D artists making these models feel very connected to them and have a sense of personal pride, so asking them to show clearly unfinished models is always met with some resistance. I’m not the kind of boss who says “just shut up and give me the model to screenshot.” So, in this case, just like with the 109 pit, we have a modeler who really hates the idea of showing unfinished, “crappy” (in his words) WIP. He really asked to delay showing the engine until it’s shiny and perfect, so this is our compromise.

Please consider this as a general showcase of our attention to detail.

The flight model and the weapons and all the physics stuff for it has been in the works since July, but it's using the P-51 as a stand-in for now. We're rather far along with our physics model of the Bf.109, but obviously that's not something that can be shown with screenshots. We'll probably do some detailed lengthy videos once the 3D model is put in place, in the run-up to the alpha.

Next, we have the current state of the P-47 cockpit. Again, slightly behind schedule there, but really working hard to catch up. No deadline jeopardized, just a bit of an extra crunch in the middle of the project. We expected to just reuse P-51 gauges for the Jug, but ended up having to redo most from scratch. We currently have the canopy framework, the dashboard, and the gunsight, all done from scratch for our brand new P-47D-30. All await the delivery of the last set of factory blueprints for a final accuracy check.






Lastly, here’s where we are with the landscape. Been doing a lot of technical engine-related tasks. Redrew all the roads and crossroads. Redid the canals. Redid the flooded areas once again. Played a whole lot with the trees. Generally the terrain is beginning to look more detailed, but still a long road ahead.






Now, the most important thing I’ve realized over the past two months is that if I was my own employee, I should fire myself as a community manager. I barely have any time to do it, and it creates a very poor impression. Now that we’ve finally received our kickstarter funds (by the way, yay) I really need to hire a more professional community manager. I’ll get busy once I’m back home this weekend. Of course, ideally it would be a member of this community. It would most likely be a salaried part-time position, and the qualifications would include a passion for flight sims, understanding of aviation, and good communication skills. I don’t know if it’s realistic to hope for someone who’s fluent in both Russian and English, but English fluency would definitely be a must, while Russian would be a huge plus.

If you think you might be a good fit based on this preliminary announcement, email luthier1@gmail.com