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ATAG_NakedSquirrel
Dec-15-2014, 13:55
Rise of Flight is releasing a new update with a new plane "Ilya Muromets," a new Russian map, and long awaited FM tweaks. It sounds like it should be a good one. It will take them some time to release the updates apparently. The first one kicks off December 18 and there should be some subsequent updates over the next month or so. :salute:





http://riseofflight.com/Blogs/default.aspx
Rise of Flight: United Edition

Dear Pilots!

In the last 5+ years we've presented you over 40 massive updates, 30+ flyable aircraft, dozens of new versions and hundreds of fixes. And even after all this time, new players keep coming to ROF every day! We never thought that our very first project would remain that long in the stormy sea of the game industry and keep you interested. This is a fantastic success for us. Next year begins the 6th year of ROF and we think it will keep going strong. Thanks to everyone whose hands and hearts made this game possible! We'll be grateful to you, always.

Our small team has been on a long journey for last two years. We were busy discovering a new era - World War II. As you know, we’ve been working on IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad, which was been released this fall. Everyone in the studio was worried that we weren't paying much attention to Rise of Flight. But honestly, we just could not work on two projects of such scale simultaneously - there's only a few specialists capable of making flight-sims in the whole world, not to say in a little development team like ours. So, when IL-2 was released we sat down and started thinking about ROF. What can be done for players now? We read the emails and messages you sent us, studied players' comments everywhere on the web and came up with the decisions about what needs to be added to ROF.

A few months ago we announced the ILYA Muromets project in partnership with the Russian Historical Military Society and devoted it to the dawn of Russian aviation and Igor Sikorsky's plane in particular. We also launched an Early Access program for it recently. ILYA Muromets was initially designed to be a stand-alone product, but in response to requests by our customers, today we are changing that. This project has its roots in ROF and we received tons of requests, threats, bitterness and claims - all that to persuade us to add the bomber to Rise of Flight. Not everyone was able or willing to buy a separate product, but everyone wanted to try the plane in the big virtual universe that ROF provides. And we came to the decision to unite these projects, merge them into one game. All the IM content (the plane, map in three seasons and the historical campaign) will be added to ROF.

Thus, ilyamuromets.su and ilyamuromets.net will stop receiving new account registrations on December 11th. Personal accounts of all ILya Muromets users will be transferred into the Rise of Flight data base by December 18th. If the emails in IM and ROF are matching, all the content will be moved automatically. If you don't have a ROF account, then the IM account will be moved to ROF data base with all the IM content you own. In case if anything goes wrong and you need our assistance in merging the accounts, please, submit a ticket to our customer support, give them necessary information, and we'll get everything sorted for you as fast as we can.

Also, pre-order is going to open for Ilya Muromets bomber on riseofflight.com. The item includes the plane itself plus a historical campaign including 10 specifically designed missions.

Since the project is going to unite the two fronts (Western and Eastern) we've decided to update the free-to-play version of the game on our website. Starting with December 18th the free version will include 3 aircraft (SPAD 13, Albatros D.Va and the Nieuport 17 produced by the Russian Dux plant), and Western and Eastern front with 3 seasonal maps. Players can fly in all modes of gameplay for an unlimited time with these three aircraft without limitations: try it, let your friends try it too - the more the merrier.

Also the update on December 18th will be including many bug fixes that you have asked for along with some Flight Model tweaks that have long been requested by ROF users. However, FM tweaks are a very subjective topic and it has been our policy to try and stick to the research documents and technology we have at our disposal to lead us on this topic. And this issue is a source of never ending argument in the community and can really drive a wedge between us and our customers no matter how hard we try. However, we have taken into account the general comments on the forums about various FMs and attempted to tweak them to match the requests. But we need to warn everyone, changing FMs can lead to unforeseen technical issues and unintended consequences. The endless debates about flight models will likely continue no matter what we do or how hard we try to make it right. So, with that in mind, this is likely the last attempt to tweak existing FMs in ROF. We’ve given it our best shot and we hope you find them acceptable.

In addition we plan to upgrade the Rise of Flight website and forum using newer technologies and design solutions. This is scheduled for January 2015. A move like that requires a lot of time, all the more so because we want to keep and transfer all your posts correctly.

Throughout ROF’s existence, we've received many comments about the complexity or the controls in ROF aircraft and the need for a joystick to play. Some gamers have an interest in flying airplanes and even though they do not have a flight stick they still have desire to see the WWI planes in virtual action. As a result we are missing a clear opportunity. With the ILya Muromets we've started an experiment to try to implement mouse controls without simplifying the flight physics out. Player feedback from that experiment tells us that it was pretty successful. So, now we're planning to transfer the technology to ROF and apply it to all the planes in the game. This should help to attract new pilots which are very important to keep the aviation history of World War I alive in hearts and minds of gamers all over the world and grow the ROF community.

Our mouse control was specifically designed to not interfere with how each individual aircraft flies or their unique personalities. Our intention is not to make ROF easier, but to simply give a new input method to those that prefer it. They will die over No Man’s Land all the same. Pilot skill is STILL the most important factor in ROF aerial combat. Please welcome such new users with a Vickers or Spandau hand-shake!

All these updates will take us almost two months to be completed and released: we'll start on December 18th and plan to finish in January 2015. This renewal process starts today with transferring everything we made for ILYA Muromets project into Rise of Flight.

Thank you for being such a great and supportive community all these years! Long live Rise of Flight!

It is also the Holiday Season and we want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and Happy New Year wherever you are!

Mudcat
Dec-15-2014, 16:36
Why on earth did they need to include the fact that some people where whiners about the thing in this announcement...

Anyway, waiting to see what happens here, because of course I got IM when it came out and used a different email address and double fun, my RoF is through Steam... here's to hoping I don't somehow get screwed on this one :P

I'm sure they'll have enough people riled up though with bringing the mouse aim to RoF. Having tried it I certainly will agree that it will make it more accessible because it is indeed easy to use. Is it really on the same footing with using a JS and everything else... eh guess we'll find out.

ATAG_Septic
Dec-15-2014, 17:33
Thanks for the post Squirrel old bean, I've not received a newsletter from them yet.

This might actually be something I could try as I'm having difficulty using a joystick at the moment. I might give it a go and see.

Septic.

gavagai
Dec-20-2014, 00:47
So far I am enjoying this patch immensely. There is finally a reason to fly something besides the Camel and Dr.I in multiplayer.

SorcererDave
Dec-20-2014, 10:43
Does anyone know what the FM changes actually are?

Mudcat
Dec-20-2014, 11:40
Does anyone know what the FM changes actually are?

http://riseofflight.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=44725

5. Adjusted: Pfalz D.3a FM - Reduced of turn rate;
6. Adjusted: Pfalz D.3a FM - Speed increased;
7. Adjusted: Albatros D.3 FM - Speed increased;
8. Adjusted: Albatros D.5 FM - Speed increased;
9. Adjusted: Fokker Dr.1 FM - Speed reduced;
10. Adjusted: Fokker Dr.1 DM - Increased of left-top wing console durability to high-G loads;
11. Adjusted: Sopwith Camel FM - Speed reduced;
12. Adjusted: Sopwith Camel FM - Engine RPM reduced;
13. Adjusted: Sopwith Triplane FM - Speed reduced;
14. Adjusted: Sopwith Pup FM - Speed reduced;
15. Adjusted: Bristol Fighters FM - Climb rate reduced;
16. Adjusted: Bristol Fighters FM - Roll rate reduced;
17. Adjusted: Sopwith Dolphin DM - Increased of airframe durability to combat damage;
18. Adjusted: Nieuport 11.C1 DM - Increased of tail durability to high loads;
19. Adjusted: Nieuport 17.C1 DM - Increased of tail durability to high loads;
20. Adjusted: Handley Page O/400 DM - Increased of engine supports durability to combat damage;
21. Adjusted: Gotha G.V DM - Increased of engine supports durability to combat damage;

SorcererDave
Dec-20-2014, 16:16
Ah, cheers. I went to look them up earlier. Spent most of this evening trying it out and I really like it so far. Those rotaries desperately needed their engines nerfing. Now it's actually possible to fight a Dr.1 in an SE5a without resorting to head-ons.

gavagai
Dec-20-2014, 19:01
The unfortunate casualty has been the Sopwith Triplane. It had a great FM before that was universally admired. Now we're having a hard time getting used to the new one.

Kling
Dec-20-2014, 23:16
The unfortunate casualty has been the Sopwith Triplane. It had a great FM before that was universally admired. Now we're having a hard time getting used to the new one.

What changed with the Tripe gavagai?
(except for the speed decrease that is...which was correct... but what else?)

ATAG_NakedSquirrel
Dec-21-2014, 00:49
The rotray FM revisions are trash. They reduced the speed of the Camel, Sopwith Triplane and Fokker Dr.1 to 160-165kph

The Dr1 probably isn't too far off, a 110hp engine (Same engine as the N17, similar weight, should go roughly the same speed 165-170)

But the Camel and Sopwith Tripe were also dropped down to 160-165kph, both are now slower than the Halberstadt Floatplane with the same engine, because as we all know, float planes are faster than regular planes when you don't give two wet turds about programming your flight models.

Why are all of these aircraft the same speed as a 80hp Nieuport 11? and why is the Sopwith Strutter with almost 400kg on the Camel and Tripe with the same engine slightly faster? Because... vodka of coarse!

And don't worry, it's not all rotaries, they didn't bother looking at the Hanriot or D8 which now go 20kph faster than any of the other roataries because 777 completely forgot about them, or because they want to sell more of the Hanriot and D8 aircraft.

The Albatros speed was increased, but it lost most of it's flight characteristics. It no longer stalls or buffets and it now turns better, climbs faster, flies faster. The speed increase is nice but otherwise the plane feels like it is flying on rails

The Pfalz D.IIIa was actually nicely revised, they increased the speed and tweaked the flight characteristics. As were the Brisfits, which had their performance reduced.

But opver all the patch is a piece of garbage. It was hastily rushed out the door. There wasn't really any testing. There are some graphic errors and game crashes, and they might have spent 5 min total working on FM revisions before they compiled it and tossed it out the door.

They might make some revisions next year, but I wouldn't hold my breath

gavagai
Dec-21-2014, 08:46
I'm not surprised that you don't like the changes one bit, squirrel. Not all of your facts are straight, but I'm not going to argue the details. Suffice it to say that the major achievement in this patch is that the extensive planeset is no longer held hostage by two scouts..

SorcererDave
Dec-21-2014, 11:38
Suffice it to say that the major achievement in this patch is that the extensive planeset is no longer held hostage by two scouts..

Couldn't have put it better myself. It's not that they aren't formidable planes (and they still are post-patch. I flew both online for an hour yesterday and you can still rack up plenty of kills in them) but previously their performance was just plain ahistorical. Even Camel veterans were perfectly willing to admit that it was one of the slowest scouts of the war (I think V.M. Yeates described it quite vividly as being "unable to catch so much as a cold" if I recall), and yet pre-patch both those aicraft could do a 270 degree turn and still have enough E to prop hang for 5 seconds, or dive after a Spad and still remain in effective gun range for a good 30 seconds. It made flying online in anything other than the Camel or Dr.1 a thoroughly painful experience. Christ, even now, post-patch, if you join a game in which both of them are available, 90% of the allied team will consist of Camels and 90% of the Central Powers team will consist of Dr.1s, but thankfully now you can at least properly boom and zoom them.

RAF74_Buzzsaw
Dec-21-2014, 15:19
While I have spent many happy hours in RoF, if a Camel is only capable of 160 kmh, then it is too slow.

Speeds for the Camel's slowest model, (the one modeled in the game) should be 111 mph/179 kmh at sea level.

The faster Camels like the Bentley engined version were capable of 120 mph/194 kmh at sea level.

The problem with Rise of Flight's modeling... which has existed from the beginning, is the game does not model altitude performance very well, and especially the advantages the inline engine types had over Rotary engines at altitudes over 10,000 ft.

There was a reason Camel and DR1 Squadrons and Jastas were typically assigned low altitude missions, they performed best there, whereas over 12,000 ft/3500 meters, they incurred significant disadvantages. An Albatros performed much better than a Camel over 12,000 ft.

Historically, most fighter vs fighter combat after the fall of 1916 occurred at altitudes in the range of 15,000+ feet, something which rarely happens in the game. By 1918, aircraft were routinely climbing to 18,000 ft.

The big advantage of the Fokker DVII with the BMW IIIA engine, was the BMW engine maintained its performance better than other types over 15,000 ft, and it had a higher ceiling than the British types.

In RoF, the whole altitude performance paradigm has been shifted downwards too much... the DVII with the BMW gets a speed advantage over the SE-5a as low as 7000 feet, whereas in fact the DVII only gained its advantage over 15,000 ft historically.

I am not sure whether there is a flaw with the DN engine's ability to portray the performance of these aircraft, or whether the game designers decided no one would be bothered to climb to high altitudes, so they would shift everything lower.

ATAG_NakedSquirrel
Dec-21-2014, 15:56
I'm not surprised that you don't like the changes one bit, squirrel. Not all of your facts are straight, but I'm not going to argue the details. Suffice it to say that the major achievement in this patch is that the extensive planeset is no longer held hostage by two scouts..

You're right Gav. None of my facts were straight.

I looked it up and found out why a 130hp Rotary Camel and Tripe are slower than a 130hp Rotary floatplane and the same speed as a Rotary 1 1/2 strutter that has an extra 300kg.

It's because a group of programmers don't give a shit about FMs.