MonkeyIsland Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 (I tried to email this to the ED team, but it got bounced, so this is the only way to communicate) Hello, I've been enthusiastically watching the progress of Lock On: Modern Air Combat, and Lock On : Flaming Cliffs. I have seen the video's and screenshots of Lock On : Flaming Cliffs, and am looking forward to it's release. I think you guys are doing very good work on the project. I have noticed a few inaccuracies in the screenshots of Modern Air Combat, and Flaming Cliffs. The physical modelling of the aircraft is excellent though, as are ground objects. The inaccuracies I have noticed are as followes: 1. The lights on aircraft, specifically navigation lights have an unrealistic halo around the light during the day. The first picture below gives an example of this. The halo is huge. This is something that cannot occur during daylight, becasue the ambient light of the sun simply removes the halo. The second picture has been modified by myself, and shows a more accurate version of what a navigation light will look like during the day. There is only a very small halo. I have included photographs of fighters during daytime, showing an accurate picture of what lights look like during the day. One is of an F-15 and one of an F-16. 2. I notice in the screenshots that explosions are also somtimes shown as being transparent. I've included a few pictures to show that there is no transparency in flames or smoke. In some rare circumstances there may be, but I'm sure you will agree that no transparency looks more realistic, and dramatic. Obviously there is some transparency in smoke as it spreads, and smoke is modelled very well, but maybe experiment with making fire less transparent. Also, trees have no transparency. 3. I'm glad to see there will be more campaigns in Flaming Cliffs. After all, it is a good story that makes a simulation enjoyable. If you don't really know what you're fighting for, there is little point in fighting. If you made campaigns involving a western country, such as USA and Korea, or Even USA and Russia, or USA and China, with a story around it that included some real world events, I think that westerners would find the game even more appealing, and this would result in more sales, more money for you, and the ability to give us future improved releases of fighter simulators to enjoy. Including a flyable F-18 would certainly help as well. Keep up the good work, and I hope my comments and examples are helpful. I look forward to the release of Flaming Cliffs in Canada. Regards, Kryote. This image shows the unrealistic halo. This image shows my modified version, with the small halo. Unrealistic lights on F-16. Good aircraft modelling though. Photo. Notice the small halo. Photo - small halo. Picture from Flaming Cliffs website. Nice modelling, but flames are too transparent. Real world example. No transparency. Picture from Flaming Cliffs website. Flames are too transparent. Real world example. No transparency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanadaDave Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Personally I don't have a problem with either the halos or the flames. The human eye picks up light from a real source extremely well, and it stands out (hence the reason for things like daytime running lights on cars). This really isn't properly captured in photos or sims. The editing job you did is nice, but makes it look like the light is not on when in RL it very obviously would be. The flames are also a descent compromise, IMHO. Realistic or not, no transparency at all just wouldn't look right, I think. Beyond that, yes campaigns are good. The new movie intro type thing should allow for some very immersive campaings, both from the devs and from the community. Also, an F-18 or whatever in the future would be a great addition. I'm not holding my breath, though. CanadaDave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIOLOG Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Well, I think that these things will not be corrected, because ED team got their hands full with catching bugs... Introducing new features will probably introduce new bugs and prolong the release date. Also, I am not sure, but wouldn't making flames "fuller" increase load on the system? The bird of Hermes is my name eating my wings to make me tame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIOLOG Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 Lights might get corrected thou... The bird of Hermes is my name eating my wings to make me tame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonkeyIsland Posted November 25, 2004 Author Share Posted November 25, 2004 I know it ain't a huge deal. I'd prefer a stable game with efficient code above alll else. I just always notice those huge glaring nav lights. It just doesn't happen in the day. I don't think it will increase overhead, might decrease it since transparency is more intensive on CPU. I'd just like ED to experiment, and see if these small changes make things look better. But, I know they're busy campers right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ruggbutt Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 Grab Archer's Nav Light Mod at Biohaz. It takes away the halo and makes the lights look more real, the way that you portrayed them. LOMAN compatible too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonkeyIsland Posted November 26, 2004 Author Share Posted November 26, 2004 Grab Archer's Nav Light Mod at Biohaz. It takes away the halo and makes the lights look more real, the way that you portrayed them. LOMAN compatible too. Hmmm...Thanks for the info. Looks like there's useful stuff at BioHazard. I didn't know about it. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skywall23 Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 bump again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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