Normandy Early Access Discussion

[Vitormouraa]

The new GUI looks great!

[Esac_mirmidon]

What is deferred shading, and what impact on perfomance it have?

[Vitormouraa]

What is deferred shading, and what impact on perfomance it have?

 

I've been talking to a friend of mine, which is testing Normandy, and as far as he can tell, deferred shading has no impact over the performance of the game. Turning off that option, you'll be using the old (current 1.5) rendering system.

 

Btw, here's a link if you want to know more about it.

[Nirvi]

The new GUI looks great!

 

Serverbrowser too :thumbup:

[Vitormouraa]

Ouch, that's awesome, please ED, release this new GUI into the 1.5. :D

[Esac_mirmidon]

Obrigado Vitormouraa ¡

[cichlidfan]

Ouch, that's awesome, please ED, release this new GUI into the 1.5. :D

 

Better to concentrate on the merge than adding features to v1.5, IMHO.

[OnlyforDCS]

Wow, a server hosting a Normandy Map! Pretty cool that you can also see the Nevada servers.

Oh boy o boy. I'm excited. The easier visibility is the thing Im looking forward to the most. Can't wait really. :)

[Yurgon]

Serverbrowser too :thumbup:

 

Awesome, these are great new features! :thumbup:

[Vander]

Hi everyone. It looks like the Normandy map will be great! I have now turned my eye towards DCS.

As soon as Normandy map is out I will create a 10 mission coop campaign for our squad (Syndicate). Of course I'll upload it as well when the bugs are ironed out .

I already like the mission editor very much, specially the ability to quickly test a mission from the editor. However, I find that the current (static) objects for creating target areas are few and often very old (Lock on???) with low polys and ugly textures. Can someone with early access show a little bit of what kind of objects will be available to serve as ground targets? Think warehouses, HQ, airfield objects etc. Much obliged!!

Edited April 30, 2017 by NineLine
Removed reference to other sims

[X93355]

One thing that I do think needs some work is the transition from the grassy terrain to the sand, along the coastline. It is entirely too uniform, in many cases it parallels the waterline exactly. Coastlines just don't evolve like that. They might appear to be parallel at several thousand feet but not at fifty.

 

Thanks for posting all the pics cichlidfan. One other thing to add to your suggestion, what about down-wash effect on the grass? Does anyone know if this effect is going to be modelled?

[Torso]

Questions about current state of lighting in the map.

 

The cockpit lights are illuminating the surrounding terrain and external plane model. If you then switch to external view, no illumination is going on, not even as it should be seen that indeed the cockpit lights are on, in the cockpit. You know what I mean? You can see this in the livestream vid below at the start. when he is messing with the lights.

 

 

Does this seem right to anyone? Does not seem correct to me at all.

It is like the in-cockpit the lighting just emits to everything in the area, with no restrictions when in-cockpit, and then from external views it does not even exist, even in the cockpit itself where it should be seen from external view illuminating, emitting a glow at least to the pilot/cockpit some what..etc.

Also, the landing gear lights look great projected now on the terrain, but from in cockpit and external views it looks like a physical cone is attached to the plane and sticking out from it. It literally looks like a physical object almost versus..light.

 

Finally, light is not cast on water and it does not reflect lights, from the planes.

 

Anyone know what I am talking abut here?

 

Will these behaviors be addressed? Are they currently even on a list to be addressed? I know, WIP, pre-alpha, etc. But curious if we can expect to see the above fixed in a timely manner.

 

 

Other than those issues, looks good. Looking forward to it.

Edited April 30, 2017 by Torso

[NineLine]

You already answered yourself. Lighting and all is very much a WIP.

 

Questions about current state of lighting in the map.

The cockpit lights are illuminating the surrounding terrain and external plane model. If you then switch to external view, no illumination going on, not even as it should be seen that indeed the cockpit lights are on, in the cockpit. You know what I mean? You can see this in livestream vid at the start. when he is messing with the lights.

 

 

 

 

Does this seem right to anyone? Does not seem correct to me at all.

It is like in cockpit the lighting just emits to everything in the area, with no restrictions when in cockpit, and then from external views it does not even exist, even in the cockpit itself where it should be seen from external view illuminating, emitting a glow at least to the pilot some what..etc.

Also, the landing gear lights look great projected now on the terrain, but from in cockpit and external views it looks like a physical cone is attached to the plane and sticking out from it. It literally looks like a physical object almost versus..light.

 

 

Finally, light is not cast on water and it does not reflect lights,

 

 

Anyone know what I am talking abut here?

 

 

Will these behaviors be addressed? Are they currently even on a list to be addressed? I know, WIP, pre-alpha, etc. But curious if we can expect to see the above fixed in a timely manner.

 

 

Other than those issues, looks good. Looking forward to it.

[Blade_meister]

Some more pictures here. Enjoy:thumbup:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/4354528/re-dcs-normandy-1944#Post4354528

 

S!Blade<><

[BlackLion213]

 

Do you know what "Cockpit Global Illumination" means?

 

Is this the option to retain cockpit shadows while turning off exterior shadows (or flat shadows)?

 

-Nick

[Nirvi]

Do you know what "Cockpit Global Illumination" means?

 

Is this the option to retain cockpit shadows while turning off exterior shadows (or flat shadows)?

-Nick

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I think with the option activated, your cockpit will be illuminated by outside lightsources. (Sun, Anti-collision lights, flares,...)

 

€: I can do another stream today, will test this option.

Edited April 30, 2017 by Nirvi

[Vitormouraa]

Obrigado Vitormouraa ¡

 

Here is an example: Left side is using Deferred shading, Right side isn't.

 

 

Pic:Jabbers

[Sporg]

While I love these night shots, I have an objection:

There should be no lights in the windows on a WW II map.

 

During WW II there was heavy curfew and having the tiniest light escape from the windows was a punishable offence.

All should be totally dark.

 

I hope it is a switchable option in the Mission Editor, or is planned to be?

 

In England yes, blacking out lights was a thing, but not all way through the war. 1944 onwards there wasn't a full blackout unless an alert was issued.

 

I don't know if that applied to France as well though, considering majority of the map is Normandy and it wasn't the subject of late night bombing raids like England was.

 

Yes there was a blackout in Europe during the war, certainly there was in Belgium, my father in law who was a teenager during the war confirmed it.

 

Strictness of the blackout might vary indeed- but I would be very surprised indeed if the Germans allow the french fully litt windows at night- and specifically not after Allied forces had landed.

 

Here is some documentation from the book: The Crash of Ruin. American combat soldiers in Europe during WW2:

 

 

Yes.

 

I was noticing it, because even if I was born some 20 years after the war ended, I grew up among people who remembered it vividly, including my parents.

And I also read quite a lot about "the dark years", as it was called in Denmark.

 

My impression from reading was that the curfew on any kind of lighting at night was mainly aimed at disturbing/confusing aerial navigation as much as possible. Secondly at naval navigation as well.

With few navigation aids at the time, lights from cities etc. could give vital clues about position to aircrews, so removing any light would make it harder for them to navigate reliably.

 

I also doubt that the Germans would allow any kind of lighting on the coast of Normandy, especially in a time where everyone was expecting an invasion.

Even as far away as Denmark this curfew was in place and upheld by local guards, that would contact people who had a light leak out from their covered windows.

 

One of the celebrations after war end was to rip out the hated black covers and curtains from the windows and burn them in the streets.

Another celebration, that lasted for many years, was to put candle lights in the windows on liberation day, both for the symbolic value of light overcoming darkness, but also for the very real joy of being free to have lights shine out from one's windows again.

 

This last part is why this issue means a bit to me.

Darkness, not only from the mental stress, but also physical, was a very big part of living during the war.

And the relief from finally being rid of it was equally big.

Edited April 30, 2017 by Sporg

[shagrat]

Video is better... ;)

 

 

Working Link.

[poderoso]

Hi everyone. It looks like the Normandy map will be great! I have now turned my eye towards DCS.

As soon as Normandy map is out I will create a 10 mission coop campaign for our squad (Syndicate). Of course I'll upload it as well when the bugs are ironed out .

I already like the mission editor very much, specially the ability to quickly test a mission from the editor. However, I find that the current (static) objects for creating target areas are few and often very old (Lock on???) with low polys and ugly textures. Can someone with early access show a little bit of what kind of objects will be available to serve as ground targets? Think warehouses, HQ, airfield objects etc. Much obliged!!

 

Hi Vander,

 

Great to hear that you intend to do some missions again. I really enjoyed your RoF missions!

 

I tried to make some shots of the objects around an airfield, hopefully this gives an idea:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Pointe du Hoc:

Edited April 30, 2017 by poderoso

[Vampyre]

Love the ships.

 

[Brigg]

wow they look awesome :thumbup:

[Jabbers_]

[Rangi]

Has anyone tried doing mass bomber formations? I would love to know how the framerates are with 50 odd bombers in the air.

[Screamadelica]

How stable is everyone finding the Normandy alpha release?

Is anyone having any major problems?

I just wanted to check on this before I commit to a major download with Australia's blindingly slow download speeds.

Or would it be better to wait a couple more weeks for the release version?

Cheers, Scream.