Lemonade Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 What has always bothered me in 3D tactical war simulators, was the sprite smoke/dust that lasted for only two or three seconds since its birth time. I never understood the decisions that creative directors made (or whoever made them) to make those effects so short livin'. Even Theatre of War with its absolutely astounding artillery effects (both sound-wise and graphic-wise) had the sprites lasting only for several seconds. But here we have, the CMBN game nearing its grande premiere. Finally VAARs have been posted and I must say, I'm really impressed by the sprites' lifetime, that are much, much longer than in any other 3D wargame I've ever had the pleasure to play. The long lasting dust being risen by the intense shelling finally felt real, but... the sprites are so low detailed... It kinda' worries me a bit. Is that because of the VAARs coming from an early Alpha/Beta version of the game to be released, or is it their final appearance? And the sprite animation of the fire coming out from tanks' barrels looks appailing. Please, don't get me wrong. I don't want to flame or anything. It's just the details of those two visuals don't convince me at all. PS. And for God's sake, why is arty smoke white when it hits the ground? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panzermartin Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Drifting smoke effects I think are fine. All the rest SFXs need some improvement. Burning tank hulls - Columns of "candle" fires/smoke, instead of engulfing fire and more dispersed smoke. Explosions - Smoke and kikcing dirt is nice but the same old explosion bitmap ruins it imo. Gun firing FX - Bitmap needs some trasnparency and something to make it look less like taken from Doom 3D. My 2c.. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted May 3, 2011 Author Share Posted May 3, 2011 Also, I have some observations on sound FX I'd like to share with the community. The most repetitive disadvantage of most of the modern (old or whatever) combat games I can point out, is DEVs devotion to use a one or two real world sound samples for each sound effect. It was the case in Close Combat series and I think it's safe to say, it's the same with the new CMBN we all grogs are waiting for. The truth is, that listening to the same sample (or two/three samples), after the weapon/explosion/or-whatever has been fired/heard, can lead to serious health problems (baldness and other serious **** outta frustration...). The sounds of war are a music for some people, especially for armchair generals who have never seen the real combat stress, like me... (but who saw the WW2 combat from our ranks anyway?). That's why I beg ya Battlefront, please record as many real weapon samples as you can before you release the game. There are so many working WW2 guns out there and many weapon shootouts in the US each year... Or at least, leave us a possibility to mod in more than one sound sample per weapon/explosion/AFV gun fire/grenade explosion, etc. P-l-e-a-s-e? PS. Same with infantry/crew voices... BTW, will it be possible to mute infantry (unit) voices? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narsus Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Particle effects seem to be the weak point in the graphics shown, it's not complete yet so maybe it will get better. I don't care really, game looks solid.... I know explosions with lots of particles nose dive a video card, that might be a reason too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted May 3, 2011 Author Share Posted May 3, 2011 I don't want to be rude, but the particle count is the least concern of modern (or even not-so-modern) video cards. But the truth is that it's not about the particle count at all. A good looking explosion could be done in several particles, each textured with a nice, well thought, sprite sequence rendered in any 3d app. PS. That, plus some volumetric smoke. Ok, that would impact the performance a little, but I think it's safe to assume this impact would be barely noticeable. (Can't say for sure as I don't really have much experience with game engines) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narsus Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 Maybe I should have said my Video card. I only speak from experience, the more particle effects going on screen at the same time the more slow down I get. From what I understand of it, you have a high amount of bitmaps on a bunch of polygons all requiring some sort of programmed physics model for them to follow. maybe someone else can say more on the subject. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClarkWGriswold Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 PS. And for God's sake, why is arty smoke white when it hits the ground? What color should white phosphorous smoke be, other than white? :confused: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemonade Posted May 3, 2011 Author Share Posted May 3, 2011 Are you sure that Jerry ordnance falling on those poor US sods in the village shown on the video was WP? I'm sorry but I didn't quite pay my attention to narration... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClarkWGriswold Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 The Germans were shooting both regular HE artillery and smoke shells. The former made big brown dust clouds that dissipated rather quickly. The latter made large white smoke screens that hung around and blew according to wind direction and strength. edit: Here's a picture that clearly shows the difference. A minute or two after this the dust is more or less gone (it was raining in the VAAR) but the white smoke persists and drifts with the wind. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.