IL-2 Sturmovik: Storm of War

Nilton · Post by **Nilton** » 28 Sep 2007 10:35

LBR_Barkhorn wrote:Ja li q essa capa não é a verdadeira... e o cara q o Oleguia tinha contratado pra fazer a capa original bateu as calçoletas...

Ele podia pedir para a comunidade simuleira fazer um concurso entre os pilotos virtuais para a capa...

Post by **21_Sokol1** » 30 Sep 2007 00:05

Nesta absoluta falta de informação sobre o SoW:BoB, se sai, quando, se esta parado, se foi cancelado... Tem gente usando a imaginação:

Hi

I got the following mail today. Interesting!

*************

Dear Simon

This article has appear on the Japanese website for Tokyo Game Show 2007. I think you will enjoy. Pls excuse transnational mistakes, I have make my older sister to translate!

Storm in a Tea Cup: Battle of Britain preview
Company: 1C
By Kazushito Hirai
Chiba City Tokyo September 20 2007

Like something from a bad spy movie, my contact from 1C told me to meet him in the south-west corner of the Makuhari Messe meeting hall at 1pm and ‘come alone’.

I was meeting him to preview a hot new flight game called Storm Of War, but which I have chosen to call Storm In A Teacup – but more about that later!

You may be asking why all the secrecy? So was I, but the answer is that my source at 1C, who has to remain anonymous, had sneaked a preview copy of the game over to Tokyo on their laptop.

Why? According to him there is a conflict between distributors UbiSoft and developers 1C which is delaying progress on the game to the great frustration of staff at both houses. They believe they have something special and all that stands between them and gaming history are the lawyers on both sides of the dispute. Developers who should be working on Storm of War have been diverted to other projects while the dispute is being worked out.

Well, do they indeed have something special? All I can say after my super secret preview is, ‘Kichigaijimata!’ (Japanese for crazy).

But first, to the caveat: the laptop which my contact and I used in a nearby Starbucks is no ordinary gaming machine. It was an Alienware Area 51 m9750, with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processors, a 512MB NVIDIA® SLI Dual 7950 GTX card, and 4GB of dual channel 667MHz DDR2 Memory. My contact actually apologised for the rig, warning that it was not sufficiently powerful to enable him to show the game performing at full potential.

So what did I see?

Well it may surprise some readers to learn my first mission was not in a Spitfire flying out of Kenley, but rather I started the game at Ursel airfield in Belgium in the cockpit of an Italian biplane!

I would say this is typical of the ability of the developers at 1C to model the lesser know sides of the conflict. The role of the Corpo Aero Italiano is barely recognised in the literature and I willing to guess that most readers would not even realise that some 200 Italian aircraft, comprising bombers, fighters and transport aircraft, participated in the Battle.

The mission started on the runway at Ursel behind the stick of a Fiat Cr42, and the first thing I noticed panning around the aircraft was that the world around me was busily at war. Ground traffic rumbled past the airstrip (detail on the vehicles is surprising for a flight sim, with the appearance of independently sprung suspension wheels and tracks), motorcycle riders and passengers in sidecars sped by, flak gunners swivelled in their positions, and just as importantly, our flight was waiting for a Br20M bomber to land and taxi from the runway so that we could take off. Our mission was to escort a raid of Br20Ms for a daylight raid on Ramsgate Harbour. I chose to fly the entire mission using compass and radio (tower) assistance for navigation, but there is also an autopilot option which certainly would have made it easier to rendezvous with the bombers and the rest of the escort (Fiat G50 bis) in the early morning light.

I can only say that the modelling of the Cr42 Falco was exquisite. As in real life I was crammed into the left hand side of the small cockpit, with scuffed leather lining the tiny glass windshield ahead and clear air to either side. To line up my eye with the gunsight I had to ‘lean’ over – difficult enough when sitting still on the tarmac, so I could imagine how much fun it was in the heat of combat! (There is an auto-align view for the non-purists.) All controls could be operated manually and levers and gears could be heard clicking into place as I operated them.

In flight, the Storm of War Falco ‘felt’ heavier than the Falco in IL2. I cannot be more precise than this because I did not have the two side by side to compare them, but it was more ponderous in the roll and more reluctant to get up to cruising speed (a modest 400km/h). My source assured me the flight model was more authentic than in IL2 and that IL2 pilots would have to relearn nearly every aircraft they were familiar with from that game due to the next generation authenticity of the aircraft in Storm of War.

This was certainly the case for my next mission in a Bf109e but more on that later!

You will also be wondering about the weather and cloud effects observed in flight. I am sorry to say that while they are close to the quality seen in FSX, that realism comes at a price – when flying through heavy cloud, or later when attacking a busy British airfield, even the Alienware machine began to struggle and there was visible stuttering.

In my heart I was a little disappointed at the weather in the game, as ‘real weather’ effects were one of the big promises made by 1C. The clouds look fake/cottony and I have to say, similar to CFS3 clouds, from a distance. This is not the case up close, where they are as, or more realistic, than FSX and the multilayered effect of different layers and types of clouds at different altitudes is quite breathtaking. I did not experience any bad weather, but I did experience quite challenging differences in air turbulence at different altitudes and my little Cr42 was given a sudden shove upwards by a wind gust as we hit the British coast, which nearly made my stomach queasy!

The modelling of the landscape, which my contact told me could not be shown at full fidelity due to the limitations of his laptop, was quite stunning at all altitudes. I departed from ‘the script’ during my first mission and went sightseeing around the Kent countryside. Ramsgate’s tiny harbour was beautiful in the morning light and I could see waves lapping at the breakwater. As I flew south along the long straight Kent coast I could again see waves breaking on beaches, and the occasional military emplacement. I turned inland, and quite by accident almost immediately found myself over the RAF Manston airfield. My contact told me there were no British aircraft set up yet in this particular mission but the airfield was fully populated and so I could not resist swooping down to see what damage my Falco’s awe inspiring twin 12.7mm machine guns could do.

If you are expecting Hollywood style visual effects from Storm of War you will be disappointed. I failed to set anything alight with my tiny Bredas, and though I made visible holes in a hangar, nothing at all was smoking as I pulled up after two gunnery passes. Which is, as a purist in these matters, all I would expect from such a lightly armed biplane.

This was quite a contrast of course to what I saw when I returned to Ramsgate. The BR20M bombers had made landfall, and the little square shaped harbour was a mess. Shipping (mostly fishing boats) was burning or sinking. A couple of warehouses were ablaze. A line of parked trucks was also smoking, and each truck seemed to be showing individual damage.

I am ashamed to say that at this point I collided with the ground! I had inverted my aircraft to enable me to better observe the damage at Ramsgate and was unable to roll upright before a wingtip hit a tree and my mission was over. My contact asked me whether I would like to restart but as we only had limited time available I opted for a dogfight mission.

This mission started in the air, with me in the cockpit of Werner Molders 109 E4 over Dover. Again it was exquisitely modelled, and I cannot express the delight one gets from seeing the detail of these aircraft – Molders Emil was perfectly represented with the yellow nosed JG51 livery, a snarling Eagle in a circle on its cowling, and most delightful of all, several rows of ‘kills’ marked on the tailplane to reflect Molders earlier successes in Spain and France.

The mission started paused, allowing me to pan around the sky, and observe the two Rotte in my Schwarm in a perfect finger four formation. I could not however immediately observe any enemy aircraft, which my contact assured me were in visual range. I took his word for it and returned to the cockpit and started the mission. Desperately scanning the skies I could still see nothing, when suddenly my wingman called, “Indianer niedriges sechs!!” (fighters six o’clock low) and surely enough there was a flight of 6 brown and green Hurricanes rising up from below and behind us, quite visible now that I knew where they were.

My 1C friend told me the commands for ordering wingmen to attack, but I was pleased to note that the second Rotte, as per 1940s Luftwaffe doctrine, was independently breaking to engage, while my own wingman stayed with me. A small tick to 1C for the fidelity of this behaviour.

And it was here I got the most pleasant surprise of the entire experience – as I shoved the throttle forward on my Emil, there was an almost physical response and I could swear I felt my chair move forward with it and my head snap back! The Daimler Benz gave a stomach rumbling growl. It is hard to describe but the feeling is visceral, which is a sign that there is some serious physics modelling at work. Guns and cannons are modelled on the stick and I quickly armed these. As I snap rolled to bring the Tommies into my sights, my wingman struggled to follow me, which I regard as positive, because if the AI slavishly cloned my manoeuvres it would be highly unrealistic. However as I closed on the first Hurricane I noted my wingman as about 200 metres behind me, in a good supporting position.

My cannon and MG hits were clearly visible on the Hurricane’s wing, and though it did not send him down, I saw my attack cause him to break from his own formation and try to flee the battlefield. Again, my wingman stayed with me as I used the Emil’s diving energy to gain altitude again and survey the battlefield. We were no longer outnumbered, my Schwarm having converted altitude to advantage and there was one smoking wreck on the landscape – a Hurricane – and one damaged and fleeing, leaving 4 vs 4 in the air. The other Rotte was engaged in a turning fight with two Hurricanes, while the other two were trying to gain altitude to confront myself and my wingman, so I released my wingman to attack the portside Hurricane while I focused on the starboard side enemy.

In this head on pass I was very interested to see if the enemy would blindly drive straight at me, at what distance it would fire, how realistically it would behave in the pass and what manoeuvre it would use to re-engage after the pass, given that it would have extremely low energy at its disposal. To me, this would be a good example of whether 1C had achieved any advances over IL2 AI, where I must say the range of tactics available to the AI aircraft is quite limited, and some of the choices made by the AI are wholly inappropriate to the aircrafts energy state.

I was not disappointed. The Hurricane did not drive straight at me, but kept a steady bearing about 10 degrees off my nose, before kicking some rudder in about 200m before we closed and spraying my path with lead. I took some hits to the cowling and port wing, and opened fire myself, but the Hurricane rolled on its back and dove diagonally away. In doing so it disappeared beneath me, where I could not see it, it regained energy so that it could again climb to gain altitude, and by rolling on its back it showed the AI ‘pilot’ was also paying attention to the Hurricane’s propensity for the Merlin engine to starve for fuel under positive Gs. Beautiful.

I stayed high, and panning around my aircraft, I saw the Hurricane’s hits on my fuselage had been perfectly modelled, with shell holes in neat line across my cowling and the wing root of my port wing. I could also see that my engine was now leaking glycol, and so I reluctantly turned for home.

By now we were over the Dover Cliffs and these are nicely modelled, though a little too uniformly white for my tastes. If you look at Dover Cliffs on Google Earth you will see they are almost grey white, not toothpaste white with grey wrinkles, which is how they appear in Storm of War. The Just Flight VFR FSX modelling of the English coast remains the benchmark in sim landscapes of this part of the world.

My engine temperature began to climb over the coast despite how well I thought I was nursing the engine, and within sight of the French coast and at about two thousand feet, the engine seized and stopped with a metallic grinding sound. The sound effects in Storm of War contribute hugely to the experience of flying the aircraft and give real cues to the health of the aircraft and its engine.

I had a choice of trying to put the Emil down on a short and not very wide strip of beach, or try to find a flat field to land in. This is where I learned that 1C has been very diligent in using real world ground height modelling, and the flight model for the Emil in Storm of War is a new animal compared to what it was in IL2. What seemed from 200 feet to be a long flat green field, turned out at 200 feet to be rolling ground comprising grass and sand. Thank goodness trees were not modelled (these were an option that had been turned off due to the performance restrictions on the laptop).

I completely misjudged the balance needed to get my Emil’s tail down with this new flight model, and bounced horribly on landing, and when my wheels met the earth again, my undercarriage collapsed and I nosed into the turf, ending up on my back, with my pilot suitably dead. I should have chosen the beach and a wheels up ditching!

That was all we had time for, and despite my promising my contact that I would swap my Toyota Noah for his laptop, he declined and rushed away with a worried and furtive look on his face.

So, my conclusions?

Firstly, may I say, death to all lawyers. If it is indeed legal wrangles that are keeping this game from being born, then I hope they choke on their ramen.

Secondly, what I saw is a generational leap in quality over the IL2 series in two respects – the landscape, which is very high fidelity, and the damage modelling and overall graphic quality of the aircraft. The fidelity of the livery on the Molders 109E4 was simply stunning and on a par with anything that, for example, Shockwave has done for the MS FSX series.

There has also been a generational improvement in the AI, as illustrated both by the observed behaviour of my own wingmen, but also by the tactics used by enemy combatants. In flight tactical changes are fluid, and believable, and were entirely appropriate to the tactical situation.

Finally, there are the flight models. If I can say it in one sentence, they enable you to better judge the physical momentum and energy state of your aircraft by its behaviour in the air. This has always been the element missing from flight sims because they cannot model (without sophisticated hydraulics) the feel of the aircraft in flight. Storm of War comes closer to this than IL2 through greater modelling of small clues like head bobbing, vision blurring, cockpit shake, airflow over the airframe and audio cues from the airframe and engine.

In chatting, my friend also revealed some of the gameplay elements which are close to completion, but there was nothing new to report there. There will be a variety of historical missions, solo campaigns in which the player will progress from wingman to flight and squadron/staffel leader, and a strong focus on the online play (up to 32 players) which is the real strength of the IL2 series.

As I watched my friend disappear into the dark streets of Chiba City I made a small prayer that his little legal Storm in a Teacup would soon turn into Storm of War, and delight the thousand of flight simulation fans out there who I know are waiting.

Sokol1

Nilton · Post by **Nilton** » 01 Oct 2007 13:01

Com base neste teste aí, qual seria a configuração ideal para rodar o Bob?

MaGOid · Post by **MaGOid** » 01 Oct 2007 13:38

Nilton wrote:Com base neste teste aí, qual seria a configuração ideal para rodar o Bob?

Um PC melhor que o necessário para rodar Crysis @ 100FPS

20_Kyrodus · Post by **20_Kyrodus** » 01 Oct 2007 14:35

S!

Nilton, o Sokol fez questão de destacar a configuração do PC que rodou o jogo:

"It was an Alienware Area 51 m9750, with Intel® Core™2 Duo Processors, a 512MB NVIDIA® SLI Dual 7950 GTX card, and 4GB of dual channel 667MHz DDR2 Memory."

E a grande "piada" foi o comentário a seguir dizendo que não era suficiente para mostrar todo o potencial do jogo...

SP!

Shinke · Post by **Shinke** » 05 Oct 2007 15:08

S!

Se sai o BOB ou não, não sei...mas eu queria tomar banho nestas praias!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3Xe6f6ZzGs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqpCx8MdNss

Será possível?

Abraço

SP

Post by **21_Sokol1** » 15 Oct 2007 13:07

O TioOleg apareceu lá no novo forum da 1C e disse que devera dar notícias do SoW:BoB com mais frequência ~ a cada 3 semanas.
Mostrou umas fotos do BR-20M.
-Todas portas se abrem, a rampa para a torreta traseira inferior pode ser abaixada pela IA ou pelo player.

http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/BR-20M_05.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/BR-20M_07.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/BR-20M_08.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/BR-20M_09.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/BR-20M_10.jpg
http://files.games.1c.ru/il2pict/BR-20M_12small.jpg

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/

Sokol1

Nilton · Post by **Nilton** » 15 Oct 2007 13:23

Dá para perceber a espessura da chapa no detalhe da porta!!!

Só fico imaginando onde isso vai rodar suave...

Gutierrez · Post by **Gutierrez** » 15 Oct 2007 15:57

Pra que abrir a porta meu Deus do céu????? :-? :-?

20_Kyrodus · Post by **20_Kyrodus** » 15 Oct 2007 17:13

S!

Pra que abrir a porta meu Deus do céu?????

Acho que servirá para dar mais realismo às animações de ejeção da tripulação.

SP!

Post by **21_Sokol1** » 26 Oct 2007 09:47

Mais nóticias do Tio Oleg(gário), muitos "talvez":

"Hi,
first of all I would like to say that amny questions you are asking too early. Simply if you'll can't find my answer for your question, that measn that I wont answer it now... but maybe later...when I will know that it is or it is better than I want myself.

Evgeny wrote:
Well, the next portion of your questions to Oleg. Please wait till he answers and then comment.

1)I was wondering if changing the view position using 6DOF will move the pilot's body as well? In real life pilots often tried to hide behind the airplanes engine when attacking bombers.

Yes a bit. In a limit of the belts. But with options of complexity probably.

Evgeny wrote:
2)Regarding 4.09:

Can u assure us that there is a check on the il2fb.exe so people that havn't original version cant join online sessions?

First off all, that to make new check for that we need simply to rewrite too many things, icluding even file structure. It is simply impossible to make such a great job when we are totally busy with BoB...
I can't promise now... but my guys in research what is possible by minimal human/month busy schedule...
Say "Thanks" guys who did it... and who do not understand what they did for online community...

Evgeny wrote:
3)1. Will radio navigation be included and what maps will you have in game?

Yes. Map is one. And probably several small special online maps.

Evgeny wrote:
2. Will icing on the wings be considered?

Probably. It is in our plan, but not in major priority.

Evgeny wrote:
3. WHAT will change on the engine (and fuel) management side?

I can say that there _will_ be changes.

Evgeny wrote:
4)In BoB will we be able to identify and located planes, trucks, tanks from the correct distances when looking out of the cockpit of our aircraft ?

I do think it will depending of the power of your home computer. The system of LODs it totally new.

Evgeny wrote:
5)Will there be a Damage Model more precise (I remember some sayings about that), and which will be sensible to the time, or the G for exemple ? I mean, when my wing is hitted I cannot take too much G, and if I do, the damage spread and I can break my wing more easily.

Will be. But I wont say all things now.

Evgeny wrote:
6)What about shaders in game, how that would be used, and what about HDR lighting, will some sort of that will be used?

I don't discuss technology terms. Many things already is, many will be.
Shaders we use very much in Il-2 Smile

Evgeny wrote:
7)Just a quick question regarding the size of the map. I believe that you have stated, that the map will cower to the north of London, but how much of France or Belgium will be modeled? Will German bombers be able to takeoff from inland bases or do they simply spawn in the air?

No Germany. The map is too detailed that to make it even greater than we will have.

Evgeny wrote:
Cool1. In IL2 almost all on-line pilots forced to fly at low resolutions (1024x768 usually) for best view (ground HQ at 8000m ), in Bob:SOW this problem continue?.

Fist time I read such... Really I know other picture...

Evgeny wrote:
2. In IL2 with some configurations you're capable ear sounds of others planes, explosions at ten milles... (whitout last **** cheats). Host in SOW has option of configurate sound for all players? (as one swith "real sound")

Thisd means incorrect configurations of sound panning. And simple panning of some cheapest sound cards its own drivers... In Bob we are going by other eway and have own panning, instead of manufacture driver's panning.

Evgeny wrote:
9)I would like to ask if we can expect better Force Feedback support in SoW? It would be great to have better immersion of flying.

Really any real pilot would say you that what called FF on Joystick has nothing common with real situation.... Really they woukld say you that without that FF would be more correct comparing to real life...
I don't know what we will have with FF... But probably this item will be open in source code for third party development.

Evgeny wrote:
10)Awhile back there was some talk about a trainer aircraft for Bob.....my question is if this is true, would it also be possible to take the co-pilot seat in any of the games bomber's during on-line play......the co-pilot could do trim, or take over if the pilot is killed

True. What will be in online modes in terms of this question I will not tell till final. Its a big secret at the moment.

Evgeny wrote:
11)Any plans to include the Dewoitine D.520??? (It’s formidable little fighter with nose-mounted 20mm Hispano (+ 4 MGs) - comparable to bf109E for potency/performance (apart from direct fuel-injection)...

We - not. But third party will be able to do it in time themselves.

Evgeny wrote:
12)Can it be possible to have planes explode more realistically when ground pounded? Currently they turn black and simply lean to the left or right.

I do think that in Il-2 the most realistic explosions on the market of the sims.. In BoB will be better.

Evgeny wrote:
13)Will BOB have similar support for the 3 Views option currently used in Il-2 for multi-monitor support? This is the Use3Renders option.

Probably. Hwever it isn't in a list of first things to be developed."

Sokol1

Post by **28_Condor** » 26 Oct 2007 12:36

S!

Really any real pilot would say you that what called FF on Joystick has nothing common with real situation.... Really they woukld say you that without that FF would be more correct comparing to real life...
I don't know what we will have with FF... But probably this item will be open in source code for third party development.

Mais uma razão pra deixar os joys sem FF atraentes

SP!

Gutierrez · Post by **Gutierrez** » 26 Oct 2007 17:51

Traduz de forma que os nativos e caboclos perguntadores de plantão entendam

Post by **36_Killer-Ants** » 26 Oct 2007 18:29

S!

Vão deixar o código da programação do FF aberto aos outros programadores.

K-A

Post by **21_Sokol1** » 10 Nov 2007 21:42

Criando clima para o Sow:Bob - clip do filme "Laddie son of Lassie",
Blenheim (na verdade FAIRCHILD BOLINGBROKE - cópia licenciada montada no Canada), em missão de reconhecimento.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTYLFzlPUgo

Sokol1

IL-2 Sturmovik: Storm of War

Sai ou não eu nao sei, mas...