Team Fusion Friday Update January 3rd 2014 - Testing still continues for v4.01

[Mysticpuma]

Hi everyone, Happy New Year

Looking back at 2013, Team Fusion made a huge impact with it's Mods. With the release of v3.00 and v3.01 it was great to see the community support gradually increase and aviation fans returning to what we consider to be the best WW2 Flight Sim currently available.

On the day we announced that v4.00 was to be released Team Fusion members watched the ATAG forums steadily fill up with visitors and we hit just short of 900 visitors in the run up to it's release, all online and waiting for v4.00 to hit the forums.

So now we start the New Year and behind the Team Fusion doors, many advances and improvements have and are being made. The new theatre is progressing well as are the objects and new aircraft and it's amazing to see how talented the members in our small team really are. As of yet, we are still not prepared to announce the Theatre or new aircraft/variants/flyables as there is still some work to be done that is crucial to their success, currently that's being worked on and is the final stepping stone in moving forward and us progressing much more efficiently

Please appreciate that the last two-weeks have been, as they have for many, a time where we take the Christmas break and relax. I know, everyone wants us working non-stop...but blimey, we just took some 'chill out' time

That said, some of our members didn't! We are very keen to get v4.01 out to the Community and there has been a lot of work ongoing to fix bugs brought on by v4.00 and also new features that are to be included. Yes, not only have we been fixing bugs, but also adding even more features. In the next week I hope to have more details about the new features but I feel happy in saying that take-off and landing will be much more realistic than before with a complete revision of the ground handling. More details will be released soon, but behind TF doors, many aircraft have been lost on the digital runways in an effort to bring this feature to you...

As always, it's difficult to show you what has been done because so much of it is in the coding and inside the engine than is easy to visibly represent. Hopefully as we get nearer to finishing testing, v4.01 will be online very soon....but as this will most likely be the last release before v5.00 (many months off), we want to make sure it is as complete as we possibly can before it goes live. When it does though, it will be announced here.

So, here are a few images to keep you interested until the next update, cheers, MP/TF

All images are current Work in Progress. Depending on bugs found and issues raised they are not guaranteed to be included.

Current contrail effects which have the right-angle effect at certain points:

TFWiP-Before-1.jpg

New effect (not for v4.01) is under testing. Sadly there does seem to be a bug with it, but it is something we are keen to look at as it looks much more natural.

TFWiP-Before-2.jpg

New altitude Hedgerow effects:

TFWiP-Before-3.jpg

Low altitude Hedgerow effects. Again, this is very WiP and is only just being looked at. Sadly the hedges cause approx. 9fps drop when set on maximum. This isn't acceptable and that is why it is still WiP and not for v4.01. It's nice to show you though that we are looking at ways of enhancing the landscape but not releasing fps decreasing features unless we can make them optional or we can improve the fps.

TFWiP-Before-5.jpg

Some new textures just enhance terrain and sharpen it at distance for Summer Map

TFWiP-Before-6.jpg

More WiP on one of the new models being worked on

TFWiP-Before-7.jpg

Currently experimenting with texture effects. Heavily bombed area?

TFWiP-Before-4.jpg


As always, please feel free to discuss the update here and share it. We can't promise to answer questions about development, but we do like to try and be as open as we can where possible

Cheers, MP

[RupertVonHentzau]

Great!

The "Team" surely deserved a christmas break. Still: Cannot wait for the release of 4.01.

[Sandy1942]

Excellent news! Especially I liked effect with a landscape covered with craters. This effect can be used in the editor?

[Muffin]

Oh the crosswind landings with a shot up bird will be fun

[dburne]

Thanks for the update Mystic!
I hope all you guys had a wonderful holiday, and got some quality time to yourselves!

As always it is looking great, eagerly looking forward to this update!!

[trooph]

@Last picture.
It looks more like a moon...

THanks for the update great work waiting for 4.1

[reflected]

Fantastic news about the ground handling! Can't wait to try it.

[DUI]

I really like the Friday Updates - always looking forward to them.

Thanks for the information!

[priller26]

Always good to hear what is new and in the offering potentially for the future! Thanks.

[Skoshi_Tiger]

Currently experimenting with texture effects. Heavily bombed area?

TFWiP-Before-4.jpg

OK! The cats out of the bag with this one Mystic!

New theatre will obviously involve attacking the secret Nazi moon base!


Looking really good guys!

[9./JG52_J-HAT]

Thanks for the update. Can't wait for 4.01!

Skoshi, you nailed it, the new theater has got to be it Iron Sky, anyone?

[9./JG52 Jamz Dackel]

The craters are not craters from what I see as they are all raised and not sunk... they are alien domes

[Chivas]

The craters are not craters from what I see as they are all raised and not sunk... they are alien domes

I do like the overall look/randomness of the craters, but I do agree the lighting/shading might be reversed and appears to show more of a domed effect rather crater effect. Not sure if its a time of day/angle of the Sun effect where the light is coming from straight above? My artistic days are behind me.

[9./JG52 Jamz Dackel]

I do like the overall look/randomness of the craters, but I do agree the lighting/shading might be reversed and appears to show more of a domed effect rather crater effect. Not sure if its a time of day/angle of the Sun effect where the light is coming from straight above? My artistic days are behind me.

If you look at where the sun is shining on a 'dome' the most, and also what way the larger shadows are being cast tells you where theesun is in the sky which would naturally put a shadow on the other side, look at them again and your see they all look raised bar a few

[heinkill]

The craters are not craters from what I see as they are all raised and not sunk... they are alien domes

Area 51.

That Hurricane just popped through an Einstein Rosen Bridge thingy and is about to be shot down by an F22.

H

[ATAG_Colander]

Area 51.

That Hurricane just popped through an Einstein Rosen Bridge thingy and is about to be shot down by an F22.

H

That reminds me. There was a movie where a modern carrier traveled through some kind of storm and ended up in WWii with Zeros
Don't have a clue on the name though.

Edit:
The Final Countdown
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fin...own_%28film%29

[DUI]

Here we go:



Edit: Damned, you already found it on your own.

[heinkill]

Going waaaay OT here...


If you like that kind of thing (I do!) then the Axis of Time trilogy is the stuff for you...start with 'Weapons of Choice: World War 2.1' where a UN peacekeeping fleet is zapped back to 1942. Not just about modern vs 40s weapons platforms, but also about modern vs 40s politics and attitudes - 'women? officers? on a warship?!'.

http://www.amazon.com/Weapons-Choice.../dp/0345457137



Axis of Time trilogy[edit]
In 2004 he published the alternative history Weapons of Choice, the first in the Axis of Time trilogy, a series of Tom Clancy-like techno-thrillers. Many writers from those genres appear as minor characters. It was published by Del Rey Books in the United States, and by Pan Macmillan in Australia.
The series tells of a multinational peacekeeping force from the early 21st century being taken back in time to 1942, where its presence completely changes the course of the Second World War. In August 2005, the second book, Designated Targets was published in Australia. Publication in the United States followed in October 2005.
The third and final book in the trilogy, Final Impact, was released in Australia in early August 2006, and was released in the United States in January 2007.

[Ioshic]

Guys, you are the best!



can't wait for all the new things coming!

[Oersted]

Great news on the ground handling, can't wait to try that!

I am not too keen on your hedgerows approximation. 3D hedgerows block the view of the roads from most angles and that effect is totally lost with just a flat texture hedgerow indicator without volume. I think it looks worse than the current landscape from both high and low. I believe that if you want something like hedgerows you have to go full in and have a real 3D structure, which is probably beyond the current ability of PC computing power for nice big maps like the Channel Map.

[Mysticpuma]

Hi Oersted. It's a pain that's true. Currently we have hedgerows working....BUT....they hit the FPS too much at this current time

Imagine having a 'solid' 30-fps and then adding hedgerows takes you down to an unplayable 20-fps. The main aim at the moment is working to make sure most computers are capable of running it (which is why all the particle effects were re-written so you can fly in smoke now!

All is work in progress and the images I share are just to show that we are working with features......it's just not guaranteed they will be successful. Similarly, looking at 2D representations of the hedges from altitude is great, low down, it's obvious they are drawn......it's a pain isn't it?

[Meaks]

No need to apologise MP there are a lot of us COD veterans that have been here from the release of this sim and we appreciate the standard you have been able to gift us so far,you guys will get there in the end,and the majority of us die hards are patient

[Ekko]

@Last picture.
It looks more like a moon...

THanks for the update great work waiting for 4.1

it looks like my skin in my face when i was in the age of 16-23

thank you for the update TF

[Oersted]

I wonder if low-impact 3D hedgerows couldn't be made with some texture wizardry like the original Il-2 forests with three stacked textures and see-through alpha channels...

[Stig1207]

it looks like my skin in my face when i was in the age of 16-23

thank you for the update TF

Sorry to hear that, Ekko, especially those years of your youth, that's a tough break.

[Ekko]

Sorry to hear that, Ekko, especially those years of your youth, that's a tough break.

Just a joke i have soft oiled skin with no craters

[Stig1207]

Just a joke i have soft oiled skin with no craters

You bast....okay, I'll just have to shoot you down for that.

[heinkill]

This one will go into the category of waaaay OT, and probably waaaaaay TMI as well...but it is on topic for zits.

I never used to get them bad, but when I did, they were monsters. Had a girlfriend when I was about 17 was silly enough to attack one on my shoulder when we were standing on a bridge. Nearly blew her into the water.

H

[ATAG_Ribbs]

BOOM HEADSHOT!

[Mysticpuma]

And now back on topic please!