harley desrosiers Posted November 1, 1999 Share Posted November 1, 1999 I also noticed that the trees rotate as does the smoke and the obj flags is this normal. Also could the obj flags be a tad smaller as they some times get in the way of viewing your units, could they maybe size the same as everyone else does but independently from the rest of the units. Also had a whole grid square of scatered trees burst into flames. It had a smoke column I assume it was smoke that set it off is this also normal. Does this imply that phopours smoke rounds can be used to start large fires. Quote "That crazy Muglan is dropping them all over the place". When I called in smoke with LoS to the target I must say the desperson was over a very large area and even off the map with both types of offboard arty 81mm and 105mm. Last Defense scenario playing as the Germans. Side note. Dreaming of you in 1992, X-ASL player. Thanks Harley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted November 1, 1999 Share Posted November 1, 1999 1. Hit shift-F to remove the objective flags. tree rotation= normal. 2. Nope but normal HE rounds can start fires. Rare but it happens. 3. LOL well your FOs and mortar teams aren't very good.. If you get Elite FOs you can watch them drop rounds on individual helmets BUT if you get a green FO you gotta be prepared for friendly casualties when you call in arty LOL (ok, I'm exaggerating but you get my drift) ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike W Posted November 3, 1999 Share Posted November 3, 1999 I had a round set a fire the other night. Will fire spread? Also, the graphic shows smoke drifting straight up, but in reality it sometimes drifts along the ground before dispersing. Is this simulated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krm Posted November 3, 1999 Share Posted November 3, 1999 I also had a HE start a fire. There was an infantry squad stuck in it at the time and I was wondering what sort of damage they suffer. Is it similar to the explosive force of HE? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted November 3, 1999 Share Posted November 3, 1999 Trees and smoke are actually two dimensional graphically. If they weren't, you would all need high end systems (very highend) because of all the extra polygons that would be needed So we use a very common "trick" called Billboarding. Basically it is a 2 polygon (or more) flat image, like a billboard. As you rotate it keeps itself aligned "flat" to the camera. If you don't look too hard you won't notice it Smoke dispersal is not something we can simulate graphically, so it would be a bad idea to simulate it in the game. Plus, to do it realistically we would have to make a very, very, very complex weather model to blow the smoke correctly around buldings, trees, hills, etc. Anybody a weatherman for a day job? Those guys use SGI worstations to do this sort of stuff Fire is limited to a single 20x20m tile I think there is a chance of it spreading, but can't remember. If there is, it is low and terrain dependent. Although the whole tile is on fire, a unit can survive in there for a little while. It is assumed that the area is too hot to stay in, but not instantly lethal. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingtiger Posted November 3, 1999 Share Posted November 3, 1999 Just another comment about the trees. nVidia (graphics card maker of the geForce 256) has a utility for viewing a single tree in 3d with limbs and leaves and a few balls circling around it. A utility is available for viewing this one tree on current systems and varying the complexity of the tree, i.e., number of limbs, leaves, etc. With my TNT2 Ultra and 128 MB Ram and other stuff I could bring my system to a crawl where the three lights were barely circling the tree and the frames were very choppy. Keep in mind everyone this is one tree and 3 little light balls circling. Imagine 100's of 3D trees and all those AFV's and infantry, etc. Just not possible. Period. Picture of the tree: http://www.nvidia.com/GeForce256.nsf/htmlmedia/transform_and_lighting.html I can't find the tree utility. Richard Kalajian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCrawler Posted November 3, 1999 Share Posted November 3, 1999 I like how the different objects in the game catch on fire, except when it's MY troops in the middle of it. Playing Last Defense last night, I had the remains of 2 squads and HQ in the small house that sits by itself on the right (from American perspective). The Tiger opened up with HE and the house burst into flames. Guess my guys didn't like this much and bailed out only to be mowed down by MG42 fire. Was pretty cool though... ------------------ Jon Johnson Steel Lightning Productions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guachi Posted November 3, 1999 Share Posted November 3, 1999 I had my 88 taken out when the scattered trees it was hiding in burst into flame from 60mm mortar. I don't know how likely an occurence that is, but I wasn't happy. Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los Posted November 3, 1999 Share Posted November 3, 1999 Steve, Is it just teh graphical representatin of eth smoke plum that blocks LOS or is there some radius around a smoke plum that effects LOS? Los (Not LOS) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted November 4, 1999 Share Posted November 4, 1999 There's a radius Los.. Roughly 20 m x 20m IIRC ------------------ ___________ Fionn Kelly Manager of Historical Research, The Gamers Net - Gaming for Gamers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sage Posted November 4, 1999 Share Posted November 4, 1999 'Course, we can't use billboarding for bodies 'cause that would look BAD. Or something. Thhhbbbbt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted November 4, 1999 Share Posted November 4, 1999 Exactly. Trees look pretty much the same from any direction, that's why it's feasible. Bodies do not look the same from every direction. Pretty simple when you think about it, heh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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