TFS 5 0 Map WIP - Halfaya Pass - Dawn footage

[ATAG_Pattle]

Hi all, We received a great response from the images released earlier this week.

Here is the video footage of a dawn flight over the same area.



This is of course, still work in progress, and missing quite a number of elements which will be in the final release, among them changes to anti-aliasing, changes to weather systems, dust effects as well as additional ground terrain objects like rock formations.

Cheers,

Pattle

[ATAG_Ezzie]

Great stuff TFS - thanks Pattle.

For those that may be unaware Halfaya Pass was one of the key battlegrounds during the war in the desert and both sides went back and forth thru this pass during 1940-42. Great to see if featured in the map!!

Here's a quick description from wikipedia- - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Skorpion

Halfaya Pass
The Western Desert, is about 390 kilometres (240 mi) wide, from Mersa Matruh in Egypt to Gazala on the Libyan coast. The Sand Sea 150 miles (240 km) inland to the south, marks the limit of the desert, which is widest at Giarabub and Siwa Oasis. In British parlance, the Western Desert came to include eastern Cyrenaica in Libya. From the coast, extending inland lies a raised, flat plain of stony desert about 500 feet (150 m) above sea level, 120–190 miles (200–300 km) wide, with the Sand Sea beyond. Westwards from Sofafi in Egypt, there are few places where the escarpment can be traversed north–south by wheeled or tracked vehicles. The Litoranea Balbo (Via Balbia) was the only paved road. Scorpions, vipers and flies populate the region, which is inhabited by a small number of Bedouin nomads.[3] Halfaya Pass is a gap in the escarpment near Sollum, about 1-kilometre (0.62 mi) inland. In Operation Brevity (15–16 May), British forces attacked through Halfaya Pass, against the desert flank of the Axis forces. The attack was intended to reach Sidi Azeiz beyond Fort Capuzzo in Libya and destroy any Axis forces met during the advance. The attack was repulsed except at Halfaya Pass, which was captured by the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards and then garrisoned by the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards (Lieutenant-Colonel J. Moubray), a squadron of Infantry tanks from the 4th Royal Tank Regiment (4th RTR, Major C. G. Miles), field, anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, with the 7th Support Group of the 7th Armoured Division on the southern flank.[4][5]

One example of the air war from 3 Sqn RAAF - https://www.3squadron.org.au/indexpages/kia.htm

Flight Lieutenant Charles Burton GADEN, service number 289, is buried at Halfaya Sollum War Cemetery, Egypt. Plot 22, row B, grave number 1. Age 24.
Son of Keith Burton Gaden and Olga Maude Gaden. Husband of Barbara Evelyn Gaden, of Ascot, Queensland, Australia. B.Sc.

Six Gladiators took off at 0800 on 13/12/40 from Gerawla to fly an offensive fighter patrol over the Sollum / Fort Capuzzo / Halfaya area. At Sollum they came across five Italian SM79 bombers (from 60a Squadriglia, 33o Gruppo Autonomo BT, escorted by ten CR.42s from the 9o Gruppo) attacking British vehicles.

Diving in to attack, Flight Lieutenant Gordon Steege claimed one of the bombers and a second 'probable'. Flight Lieutenant Chas Gaden (Gladiator N5765) was killed when his aircraft was shot down by an SM79 rear gunner. [The body of Flight Lieutenant Gaden was later found by the 7th Hussars, in his crashed Gladiator. He was buried beside the wreckage by Lieutenant J. Napier and later moved to Sollum War Cemetery.]

The escorting Italian CR.42 fighters then intervened. Steege became separated from the others, ran out of ammunition and returned to base at 1030. Flying Officer Lex Winten was hit in the right hand by an explosive bullet and baled out. [This was 3 Squadron's first-ever parachute escape in combat. Fortunately he landed near a British Army doctor.] Italian records show that none of the SM79s was actually shot down, but the C.O. of the 60a Squadriglia, Capitano Loris Bulgarelli, was killed in his cockpit while another of his crew was wounded. Bulgareri's SM79 and one other were classified as "heavily damaged" after returning to base.

Flying Officer Wilfred Arthur's Gladiator (N5752) was accidentally rammed by a CR.42 flown by Capitano Larsimont. The wings of the Gladiator collapsed and folded back along its fuselage. Arthur struggled to free himself from his oxygen tube and was then caught in the tangle of wing-bracing wires. Fortunately, at about 1,000 feet he broke clear and was able to deploy his parachute just before hitting the ground. [Later, back in the Mess, he produced the ripcord of his parachute, which meant that he didn't have to buy a round of drinks!] Larismont's CR.42 force-landed after the collision and was abandoned as a total loss, although the pilot was unhurt.

Flying Officer Alan Boyd claimed two CR.42s and his aircraft had its port flying-wire shot away, causing him to force-land. Boyd repaired his own Gladiator and returned to Gerawla at 1110. Flying Officer Alan Gatward was also forced down. Gatward's Gladiator was later recovered from the desert, but was so damaged that it was written-off.

Three other Italian fighters sustained some damage, but were able to return to base. The Italians thought that they had been attacked by ten Gladiators and claimed five shot down, plus one rammed, three more 'probables' and several more damaged. Actually, only six 3SQN Gladiators took part in the combat, but four were written-off and the remaining two had been damaged to some extent. It had been a 'black day' for 3SQN.

[ATAG_Ribbs]

Thanks TFS and thanks Pattle for sharing! Words can't describe! Stunning!

[farley]

Fantastic!

Can't wait....

Thanks all.

[Pienoir]

covering disbelief

Let's see where the camel poops are.

This is what was needed, given the large number of bigmouth unbelievers

It looks "spectacular"

[Mysticpuma]

First thing to say, great audio track by Joost, haunting cinematic and perfect for this video. (and v5.00 release).

The only problem now is that this shows how poor the original map is in comparison. The texture tiles in this map look much more detailed (even with sand).

The footage also looks very, very smooth (very rare stutter), almost looks like filmed at 60-fps?

I did notice the objects still popping into view (like the smoke columns) and wonder if there is any way of making the render bubble be less harsh so the objects fade into view rather than pop into view. Maybe use a similar system that allows the extended clouds to blend/fade into existence?
Great choice of time of day to show how gorgeous the new map is, texture work is exquisite and the environment/scale impressive too.
One suggestion I would make when creating videos, turn off info windows as this takes you out of the cinematic and also hit F10 so the mouse pointer disappears and doesn't activate mouse over text in the cockpit.
Great update.....would have been amazing of the video had cut to the Wellington cockpit instead of the Cr. 42....but it'll come.

Will be interesting to see this reshot with the new weather/cloud effects and see how the fps holds up, hopefully soon?

Really looking forward to the dust effects for this environment, especially the aircraft taking off (prop wash on the ground and water like the original IL2) and tank/truck trails as they drive across the sand. Would it be possible to have a visual representation of wind effects (doesn't have to be physx driven) just visually that may just show dust blowing around at ground level? Just features that make the environment come alive?

Anyway, cracking update, cheers, Mysticpuma.

[DerDa]

Last time there was an update for the landscape I compared it to a colourised original photograph from 1941 and wrote:
'we are getting there'.

Now,



b.jpg

c.jpg

we are there!!!

[RAF74_Buzzsaw]

First thing to say, great audio track by Joost, haunting cinematic and perfect for this video. (and v5.00 release).

The only problem now is that this shows how poor the original map is in comparison. The texture tiles in this map look much more detailed (even with sand).

The footage also looks very, very smooth (very rare stutter), almost looks like filmed at 60-fps?

I did notice the objects still popping into view (like the smoke columns) and wonder if there is any way of making the render bubble be less harsh so the objects fade into view rather than pop into view. Maybe use a similar system that allows the extended clouds to blend/fade into existence?
Great choice of time of day to show how gorgeous the new map is, texture work is exquisite and the environment/scale impressive too.
One suggestion I would make when creating videos, turn off info windows as this takes you out of the cinematic and also hit F10 so the mouse pointer disappears and doesn't activate mouse over text in the cockpit.
Great update.....would have been amazing of the video had cut to the Wellington cockpit instead of the Cr. 42....but it'll come.

Will be interesting to see this reshot with the new weather/cloud effects and see how the fps holds up, hopefully soon?

Really looking forward to the dust effects for this environment, especially the aircraft taking off (prop wash on the ground and water like the original IL2) and tank/truck trails as they drive across the sand. Would it be possible to have a visual representation of wind effects (doesn't have to be physx driven) just visually that may just show dust blowing around at ground level? Just features that make the environment come alive?

Anyway, cracking update, cheers, Mysticpuma.

The new clouds will be GPU based render and therefore won't affect FPS... in fact without the CPU having to do clouds FPS will improve.

[ATAG_Vampire]

Thanks for posting Pat, awesome! The theme music just sounds better every time.

I think the ability to navigate is going to become very important.

07

[Mysticpuma]

The new clouds will be GPU based render and therefore won't affect FPS... in fact without the CPU having to do clouds FPS will improve.

That's great news Buzzsaw, really looking forward to seeing the new lighting and weather effects not only in the Desert of Tobruk but in the skies of Europe too
Cheers, Mysticpuma

[Erpr.Gr.210_Mölders]

Stunning indeed! Can't wait to wear my tropical uniform!

[IIJG27Rich]

OH my god amazing...Bring it on!!!

[Kapteeni]

Looking good!

[Dazza]

On a related topic - maybe 10 years ago a family tree website email mentioned a Private Harold Lewis at Halfaya Sallum. Being my Mum's maiden name I asked who Harold was and learned for the 1st time of her 20 yr old brother in the Leicestershire Regiment killed Dec 10/1940 fighting the Italians in the area. The internet can be a valuable asset and through it I found his grave plot and a blog by a photographer who'd been there during his travels to document such little known, out of the way Commonwealth Cemeteries. Some 70 years after his death I got to show my Mum a picture of Harold's grave as she clearly recalled his Regimental friend coming to the house to return personal effects. Being one who's visited many war-sites and graves it made me think of remote cemeteries like this that have most likely never been visited by relations. Sad innit !

And now I've brought everybody down hehe.

Still, fab looking map. Amazing job. Looking forward to exploring it.

Dazza

[ATAG_Laser]

I think the ability to navigate is going to become very important.

07

Looks awesome Pat, but this ^^^ is going to be a major problem as far as I am concerned.

Thanks for posting

[Hyperus]

Thanks for posting Pat, awesome! The theme music just sounds better every time.

I think the ability to navigate is going to become very important.

07

I feel like it will be similar to the channel, you have a coastline with distinct details, like points and wide swings, as long as you dont fly too far into the desert it should be fine.

[Vlerkies]

Looks very good.

I did see some limited freaky textures briefly around the 1:50/4 mark. (minor)

Overall a sterling effort, really well done!

[Vlerkies]

Looks awesome Pat, but this ^^^ is going to be a major problem as far as I am concerned.

Thanks for posting

Fear not, a time piece and a compass (with some flight data) will take you exactly where you want to go precisely Laser.

[ATAG_Noofy]

Fear not, a time piece and a compass (with some flight data) will take you exactly where you want to go precisely Laser.

.. or stars and a sextant too

[Mysticpuma]

A few years ago TFS posted a picture showing the map that is being created. Would it be possible to repost it with a square drawn on it showing firstly the part of the map shown in the video and a rough idea of how much was flown over just to get a sense of scale of how big this map is?
Thanks, Mysticpuma.

[Salmo]

A few years ago TFS posted a picture showing the map that is being created. Would it be possible to repost it with a square drawn on it showing firstly the part of the map shown in the video and a rough idea of how much was flown over just to get a sense of scale of how big this map is?
Thanks, Mysticpuma.

Here you go MP, it's 420km from Derna to Sidi Barrani & the map covers from a little west of Derna to a little east of Sidi Barrani so (say) 450km wide. NB The map extends further south than shown in the picture.

TobrukMap.jpg

[Mysticpuma]

Thanks Salmo. This is a great representation of just how detailed this map is, how vast it is and just how big the task is.
Great work all of you

Cheers, Mysticpuma

[Mysticpuma]

BTW this is a great video shot during the conflict, check out the dust from vehicles just after the 4m 35 second mark. Really hope the aircraft and vehicle visual effects give us some difficult conditions like these?



Cheers, Mysticpuma

[Hyperus]

BTW this is a great video shot during the conflict, check out the dust from vehicles just after the 4m 35 second mark. Really hope the aircraft and vehicle visual effects give us some difficult conditions like these?



Cheers, Mysticpuma

and here i am wondering if the aircrafts own propeller will raise dust

[Blade_Meister]

Absolutely Amazing. Just can't wait. The music is phenomenal.
Please look at real RT communications. In this footage, "This is Commander, stay with me" , in the blue comms at the top of the screen. Really bad, not even close to real comms. "Red two, Red Leader calling, tighten up man!" Please research and put in some good Comms as CLOD is very weak and non historical in this area. Make it sound true to history and look true to history on screen please. These two(audio comms & text on screen messages) are two minor parts of 5.0 that if done wrong will cause a HUGE immersion killer for SPs. Please consider this seriously. Thank you.

S!Blade<><