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CRS
Official Chat Event - 4/13/00 This is a log of the fourth
official World War Two Online chat event that took place April 13th, 2000.
Chris "Mo" Sherland and Roger "Frying Tiger" Long
were the guest speaker, with Tongue moderating. The topic of discussion
was the new terrain. Mo: These are a peek into what the terrain will end up looking like in WWIIOL. We are going for maximum density as economically as we can get it. Some of the single standing trees you see in these shots are only 6 triangles (polygons)! The art department has been going full steam to get this stuff looking good and performing well. This afternoon I was editing the Normandy area and putting the beaches and river mouths in from a battle map from 1944, and it was eerie how the terrain was coming together…I walked on Omaha beach today…It was wild. So, next thing we are on to is man-made objects for the terrain, and getting it all together. But I thought it was a good time to show you all (notice that I did not use "y'all" there) what we were up to. Are all airfields going to be laid out the same? No, there will be at least a few different types. Small, med, large, grass fields, cement RW fields etc.
Any word on the state of foxholes, craters, and other dynamically created objects? No additional information. We'd like to do it, but we haven't had a chance to work on that part of the terrain system yet.
Will soldiers and pilots be able to walk the entire terrain, if we want, when you have the dynamic engines completed? Yes, you'll be able to walk the whole thing. But get ready to lose your job and friends,,,it's 1400X1700KM :)
Have you started water at all? Nope. We are going to be
knee deep in it by E3 though
Any thing happening with weather effects????? Just the design. We have working clouds and will show them when we get more weather features done. We are planning on rain, snow, mud, wind, and various levels of overcast...all dynamic as we can get em.
The new shots look great - looks like infantry will get to hide as promised... Will closer terrain be rendered in more detail? Or will the tree I'm hiding behind still only be 6 polys? Only 6 polys. But it has a texture that makes it look much more complex than it is. We're dealing with literally thousands of objects in view at all times, so we have to be very economical... we can do a few detailed objects, or a LOT of simpler ones. Our goal is to get tactical fun, even if it costs a bit in prettines.
How "permanent" will the terrain be changed by stray bombs or tank fire, or say an offshore bombardment...an offshore bombardment could really eat up dirt. All buildings will have various damage levels and that will be effected dynamicaly by combat damage and the re-supply/convoy system. As far as shells and bombs hitting, they will leave crates for sure, but there will be a limit to how many we can display for all the players. They will "go away" if no players are within range.
If weather affects an area will that cause an area of ground to be, say, more muddy and difficult to tread through? Yes. The terrain will be effected by weather, and that will have an effect on vehicle mobilty for sure.
Will the dust and bedris kicked up by a shell or bomb be represented, and if so for how long? There will be debris and dust, but the duration will probably be a lot less than real life, since each explosion will take up a lot of particles... that being said, we will make sure that smoke hangs around for a realistic amount of time.
what about shrapnel? if a grenade goes off near a tree in the forest, will the tree send bits of wood to act as its own shrapnel and possibly injure soldiers around it? There will be a "particle" system in place that throws shrapnel out with obvious effect. I like the idea of bits of trees flying around :) We'll see how much pressure we can put on the particle system before we get into performance issues. We really want the game to perform well.
Do you want a shot of malibu and coke? Yes
Will we be able to climb trees? We've been discussing it... it might be too silly with our low-poly trees, but if we can come up with a cool way to do it I would like to see it go in.
will we be able to change the resolution choosen dynamically..a keypress to go from 1024 to 800 if system starts chugging? We have other dynamic features to get performance boosts during gameplay. resolution settings will be done out of game. There will be a fairly high degree of flexability available to the player to tweek display performance.
will there be any wx forecasts up or will it just be pilot observations before he flies into the wx storm? We are planning on a dynamic system, that I can't tell about...we want it to be a surprise...let's say you';ll be able to forcast weather in WWIIOL as easily as checking the paper :)
On the issue of display performance, will terrain in WWIIOL use something like Flanker 2's popup features? Yes. We'll have terrain reduction and agressive mitmapping, as well as very agressive LOD shifts to keep performance up. You'll be able to set a target frame rafe and the program will dynamicaly shift these systems to keep the target rate.
Will you model anything smaller than trees, such as bushes near structures; or larger boulders where applicable? Yes, all of the above :)
Will wwii support T&L? Eventualy.
Can an oz throw the large boulders at people him not like? Morecons that ozcan do what ozwants. But in WWIIOL players won't be able to pick up boulders :(
will mountains be sharp-edged as in the screenshots, with flat surfaces, or will they be rounded out? that is soley determined by the size of the individual terrain squares. The "smoother" the mountains, the shorter the vis distance, the smaller the terrain, and the lower the frame rate. We're pretty happy with this compromise, you may not be.
Will tanks and other vehicles bog down in thick mud? Yupski
someday will we be able to chop down trees for roadblocks? I do that everyday :) But that's in South Fort Worth :P Not sure about transforming objects on that level in the game. For now I'd have to say Nyet!
Have you guys started modeling `water' in the terrain yet? e.g. Rivers? If so, how soon will we see something which shows this? Yes rivers are in, and coasts too, we'll get some shots of that out after the chat :)
What other aspects of the game would you like to see ready by E3? heh, all the stuff from the programmers I need to finish the art work! Seriously, I want the animation for the ground troops to be working and the ship models to be started.
Will there be stationary "big" guns that anyone can take control of during the game? Yes. Standing artillery will requier a rank level to operate. But players will be able to man them for sure.
No question here but wanted to say excellent work so far and hope your E3 showing gives WWIIONLINE the attention it deserves. Been hyping this game to my squad m8s and others :) thanks, we appreciate it!
Will roads be a faster way of transportation or will all terrian be the same? Much faster. All the different terrain featues will have seperate "friction" co-eficiants. Roads will allways provide the fastest mode of transport...especialy when they are covered in ice!
To put a more serious slant on my previous question about waves & surfing, will the actual variable terrain of the waves affect the pitch & roll of vessels? yes! we will have a full hydrodynamic model, with waves and their effects... it's just that we are probably going to have to take some shortcuts to get the visual effects looking tolerable.
Will troops who have to jump overboard be able to float in the water with lifepreserver type devices, and if they can could they be resuced by a passing plane? Yes.
Will roads be malleable by action, to reduce the friction coeffecient? (eg constant wear, artillery, gunfire, etc) probably not, but they will be affected by weather and temperature conditions, as well as craters and the like.
What will your display be showcasing at E3? Closed beta gameplay or videos or pictures of me or... Pics of you sixxo...some you've never seen actually :) We are going to show beta-level stuff there as well.
Will different types of pillboxes be modeled? Like concrete, steel, sandbag ect? yes
do rivers have depth and current? Yes. Drive a tank in them and you'll sink...drive a battleship up one and you'll beach.
Will there ever be typhoon-strength storms, for example in the South Pacific, which can capsize boats or knock people overboard? hmm, how much fun would that be? (grin). It will be possible... perhaps if you annoy us enough... (g,d,r)
I know that to resupply with fuel and ammo vehicles will have to go to a base. Will trucks and tanks be able to carry supplies for troops near them? i.e. use them as support vehicles? Yes. Trucks are going to be the most important vehicle in the sim...HEAR ME FOLKS!! DRIVE TRUCKS IF YOU WANT TO WIN!!
Will bridges be present? yes, different types, sizes and structural strengths.
Search lights at night? We want them...haven't tackled night lighting yet, but it's on the list.
Will some bridges be prone to collapse if a tank drives over it? Hehehe, that's a cool idea! Not sure, right now we have no plans for that. But I'm inspired by that one.....very fun :)
Will some bridges be prone to collapse if a tank drives over it? Hehehe, that's a cool idea! Not sure, right now we have no plans for that. But I'm inspired by that one.....very fun :) Will commanders be able to place pillboxes, in effect transforming terrain? I say commanders because not every Joe Schmoe could make a pillbox. Or are pillboxes predefined. That's something we have discussed, but it would be more like a construction project, requring time and a resource flow. I think that will be a goal we will be working for... the other option is to submit your plans to us and we build it for you. So something like that will come, probably not right away tho.
the new ground vehicles in AH are terribly vulnerable... how will it be different in WWIIOL? The ground vehicles in WWIIOL will be as vulnerable as they were. I have not driven the AH vehicles online so I can't really compare. There are going to be a LOT OF HIDING PLACES in WWIIOL's terrain though.
The attack on Omaha Beach you it will be in the game? we're not limiting you to historical actions... and you will be able to perform amphibious invasions... you'd better hope you pick a good spot and got a lot of guys, because it will be tough!
Will one side be advised of a new weapon availible for their adversary or..will they have to find out the hard way ie, first appearance of the FW over the channel? They will have to find out. It's going to be a lot of fun.
Are you always going to be fogging things out with distance, or just reducing detail with distance? or removing distant objects from sight alltogether? all of the above.
Will tanks be able to generate smoke as cover? Either to protect friendly troops behind the screen or to disguise their postioning? Yup, we are going to have a smoke round for tanks, arty, and morters.
Since weather will affect terrain will vehicle recovery be possible? Most likely just for ships.
There has been much discussion as to special historical missions for us to engange in, any word on that? We will make room for special events to happen, but in seperate temporary theaters. The main theaters will be left to evolve naturaly and never reset.
can terrain obstacles be "engineered" away, or will we be limited to existing roads and passes? limited to the pre-defined terrain at first... it's unlikely we can let the players rebuild the terrain without much greater bandwidth than we have available.
Will there be precious resource areas, such as the virtual Ploesti oil fields, which if bombed heavily enough or taken by an enemy can cripple the side which owns it? Yes and no. There will be factories and industrial areas as they were in the 40s. And hitting them will cost the other side for sure, but oil vs metals vs other materials are going to be treated as an agrigate.
Fires?? Will it be possible to start fires! Like lighting a tree on fire??? Yes, but only on buildings and other significant structures.
Will `Major' cities have the appropriate landmarks in them? e.g. Eiffel tower, etc? Or just an arrangement of generic buildings over a given area? Both
Will there be canopy cover for ground action from planes overhead. Yes, that's what you're seeing in our screeshots we just released.
Will the engine's particle system allow for tanks and vehicles to be flipped over by a nearby explosion, granted there is enough force? Yes. That is not a product of the particle system, but it's going to be in there. That's the kinetic damage model.
How will the British radar installations be handled? Can u affect their early alert sytem by destroying them? Yes
how are you planning on handling the framerate loss when flying low over a dense city? you will be able to set how much detail you want to display, and the engine will attempt to maintain the set frame rate by simplifying stuff on the fly. We are also paying close attention to the object desnsity, so that this isn't as big a problem as it has been in other sims.
Have you been able to impliment any grass of verying height? Nope. It's too costly doing a poligonal rendered world. But we have some ideas for doing tall crops and such.
what about tanks flipping over if they get on to steep and angle? Already happens... it's pretty amusing, since they don't take any damage yet!
How effective is ground navigation and hiding behind hills against radar? most WW2 radar couldn't pick up ground vehicles, so that won't be a big deal... I'm sure we will get terrain masking for aircraft and ships however.
if players can remove detail, won't that affect vehicles ability to hide? We looked into that one very hard. We have a system worked out to retain cover.
Will there be tread and tire marks on roads, grass and dirt???? yes
Vapor trails? I hope so. No promises, but we're planning on it if we can make it work.
just wanted to say ..everytime the rats open their mouths I hear great stuff that skill ,experience and risk taking have built Thank you. From all of us.
As per MAD's question, how long will tire marks last? most likely you will be able to set if you want to see them and how long they last. As with changing the terrain, we can't leave a lot of stuff lying around for people to have to be told about without using a lot of bandwidth.
Will you give me the honor of achieving my goal of 10 questions answered? please? NO WAY!
Does your system which retains cover for vehicles from low-detail front-end's also allow for silhouetted concealment? Yes we have a system in place for that.
Are you planning on modeling the SdKfz Kleines Kettenrad? the Little halftrack motorcycle from SPR? Oh, yeah. It won't be in the first go-round, but we all like it here too, so you'll see it eventually!
Will Weasel's account be flagged as "killshooter = always on"? Of couse snail...could there BE any other setting for him?
How will respawning work? Sheesh...that's a big question. Gotta break that one out. Ask with more detail on the forums and I'll get you some info
Who do I have to kill to get on the Beta :) Tongue
Thanks to Mo and Frying Tiger for taking the time to answer our questions, as well as Tongue, Rafter, Ramp, and the rest of the Playnet.com staff for setting this all up once again. Special thanks to Kevdog for his work on a Perl script that makes editing this log a whole lot easier! |
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Playnet
Inc., World War II Online, WWII Online, and Cornered Rat Software, are
trademarks of Playnet
Incorporated.
Copyright 2000 Mike DelPrete
"Booya"
