New Beta Patch 06/09/2011

[Badgerton Smedly]

Gents

It's not been worth posting much until the next fix was in view, but here it is.

As before I'd not suggest using the Beta, so wait until the steam patch is applied.  It weighs in at around half a gig and contains the following:

MAIN
* Drastically reworked graphic algorithms dealing with in-game color;
* Rewrote the sound engine from scratch;
* Added three new multiplayer maps: Steppe (medium), Fields (small), and Scimitar (small);
* Updated multiplayer GUI to allow users to easily select a position in an existing plane.
* Added two new aircraft - Bf. 109 E-4 and Bf. 109 E-4/B. These two are equipped with MG/FF-M cannons and so make use of the famous Minegeschoss.

AIRCRAFT - MAIN
* Reworked routines for gyro bombsights;
* Removed allusion to Engine 4 from He 111 model;
* Improved memory consumption for multi-crew aircraft;
* Airborne status is now checked correctly even if the aircraft in question departed prematurely;
* Landing status should be applied correctly when ditching in water;

VISUALS
* Reworked bombardier cockpits in aircraft so affected (He. 111 and Ju. 8 to accomodate new Lotfe gyro routines;
* Small caliber bullet hits on the ground now show difference in material being hit;
* Modifications in Blenheim's damage visuals;
* Added a range of visual SFX for higher-caliber guns;
* New bombsight visuals in Blenheim bombardier's cabin;
* Returned the famous Il-2 stall sound effect;
* Doubled the distance at which the tracers can be seen.

PHYSICS & A.I.
* Increased Lotfe bombsight gyro operational limit to 15 degrees of aircraft roll / pitch;
* Lotfe type bomb sight now stabilizes aiming platform to horizontal plane;
* Removed sudden jump in view angle when viewing through Lotfe ocular and moving bomb sight elevation for the first time in the flight;
* Increased side slip input limit to +/* 30 degrees for the Lotfe bomb sight;
* Made Kurssteuerung mode 2 for level bombers. This mode will also stabilize the aircraft in level flight;
* Reworked motor startup routines to accomodate new options available in the new sound engine;
* Adjusted ricochet angles on firm surfaces;
* Redesigned bomb sight in Blenheim and made it easier and more realistic to use;
* Blenheim bomb sight plane is now adjustable to reflect changes in plane AoA in level flight. Correction is applied automatically over a period of sustained flight and can compensate up to 3 degree changes in plane attitude;
* Fixed issue where overstress would inflict damage to airframe regardless of the Vulnerability difficulty setting.

NETWORK
* Changes to bombs' detonators setup will now be carried over once applied without the need to rejoin the server;
* Increased Lotfe bombsight gyro operational limit to 15 degrees of roll / pitch. This will give more tolerance to aircraft maneuvers as strict limits put too much obstacle to communication between bombardier and pilot while playing on-line;
* When flying as a bombardier, you should now use "Aircraft - Drop Ordnance (Bombs)" key (instead of "General - Fire Current Weapon" key) to drop bombs. This will remove confusion of on-line bombardier players who could not drop bombs using the key we're accustomed to.

AIRCRAFT - MISC.
* Decreased bombsight altitude indents by ten times. This will give you more control of the altitude input and make bomb sight aiming more precise;
* You can now switch off the boost cut-out control in Spitfires.

There's a fair bit of change in there namely the sound fix, but will it increase the frame rates?...... nothing has been said so news from the beta tests will tell.

Incidentally, there was a Steam CoD update on 30th August of ~20mb but no one knows what it was for 

I'll report back on noticable advances with the new patch once it goes live on steam and I've had a play.  Realistically though, I don't think that this will be for a couple of weeks.

Toodle-pip!

Badger

[CFC_Conky]

So, how is CoD working with the new patch?

[Badgerton Smedly]

It's still being beta tested Conky old fruit.  I've not has a look at it as I always like someone else to deal with such things while I take receipt of the approved version!!    All going well, it should be out tomorrow (23rd Sept).  I'll report back with my findings a few days after.

Feedback has been pretty consistent from those intrepid beta beaters!  Bearing in mind that the code is apparently not 'optimised', a few have said that they've experienced a small drop in FPS which won't please many, but they are waiting for the approved patch to come out before making a final judgement.

Realistically I don't think that they will rework the graphics engine before a new war theatre is release (e.g. the Eastern Front) so the game will still only use a maximum of 50% ram and 20% processing power. FSAA and general graphics optimisation just won't be there, so unless you have a mid-high spec machine it won't run too well.  I hope to be proven wrong, but I just can't see it.

I know that many Chuffolites have older machines, so I'd welcome some feedback on how things do run for them once Steam has made it's delivery.  Also, there are certain items to switch off at the moment which I'll run-through here early next week.

Toodles for Now!

Badger

[CFC_Conky]

Thanks for the gen Badger, my machine is a few years old now, two I think, with a dual-core processor but the mb will take a quad-core so mu upgrading may not be too expensive. I'm still running XP but will eventually set up a dual boot widget so I can also boot to Win 7.


Pip, pip,
Conky

[Badgerton Smedly]

Still no news on the patch release Chaps.... anyone would think that there isn't a war going on!

I'll post on this thread when it's here.

Toodles

Badger

[Badgerton Smedly]

The 5th Oct saw another Beta released for rig testing by the masses.  Still no word on expected delivery and Matron is getting restless.

I nominate Palmtree to keep her occupied in her boudior until either it's released or he is. Who seconds me?

[=CfC=Father Ted]

Given that PT is not  a Cloddite, I think that's a tad harsh.  Patch is being Steamed onto my PC as I type this - fingers crossed that It'll give us all a game we can play!

Ted

[Badgerton Smedly]

But Ted, I've seen PT on the CloD servers, but I must admit I don't know how involved he is with the game! 

Aye, the patch should down load to everyone hitched up to steam.  I'll post a new thread on setup and changes this evening, but I can say now Ted that the actual graphic performance side hasn't been reworked at this stage, so it's not going to give the huge FPS increase that many want.  That apparently is priority no 3.... 

More later.....

Badger