Abuse that Looking Glass Programmers have to endure

[Guest juvat2]

The only time I get "slow-downs" is when I fly through smoke. I slow way-way down if, having flown through the smoke, I fool around and slam into the crippled aircraft I had just toasted.:-( Heh-heh.

[Christopher Low 5,331]

"I just can't get into the game, because even with a fast system it just chugs along"One comment about Jane's Attack Squadron from the JAS forum. Er........I don't get it. Hennie states that JAS runs very smoothly on his Pentium III 450, and that certainly ISN'T a fast system in 2002. So who is right ?Who would YOU believe ?Please bear in mind here that the person responsible for the above statement is known as "xicatblows" on the JAS forum. I think that says it all really.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest]

Hi all,Chris, I assure you that JAS runs as smooth as if not smoother than FU2 (yes, FU2) on my system. The aircraft also has a very nice feel to flying it, not overly easy to fly. When you roll it, the momentum takes over and you have to counter react to stop the roll in time - this I like a lot.It is NOT compatible with the Rage ATI video drivers though - it works but it flickers between high and low detail modes. It seems like no cure is available as yet for this. Nividia works perfectly though! So flying on my powerful laptop has to take a back seat for now...Funny, it flies as smooth on my PIII 450 with fantastic graphic detail(Nividia graphics card). I like the smoke when starting the aircraft and the vapour trails above 20 000 ft. It also has working 3D (virtual) cockpits which is nice, although not nearly as detailed as the pics I saw for FS2002 - put the possibility is there to become like this.I am confident that soon the scenery and aircraft will be adapted for FU3 - I would like to see the P38 in FU3! Also, the P51 flies a lot better in the air than ours! Surely the basic 3D models could be converted for use in FU3. Then one can crypt the flying behaviour from JAS physic editor files. And the posibilities go on and on...The buildings on the ground looks a bit boring and I have not seen any trees as yet - I'm sure that this could be changed in the future.The scenery is similar to combination of FU3's high detailed and outer terrain textures mixed together.Juvat, thanks for the links - I'll check them out. Yes, the Ansgar and Jokke of JAS seem to be Shadowjack and Blade indeed! They are both excellent programmers and seem to be in contact with the original programmers which makes all sorts of things possible for the future.Regards,Hennie

[Guest]

Hi Chris,You'll find this interesting - Part no.1 - HennieWhy we play JAS......... Status: DefaultDetails: I approched Berlin today, we were one of the last groups over target, it was already on fire when we were on the bomb, i looked through the norden holding the ship steady for the 20secs (20secs in JAS) before the release bombs light came on, then whizz as the bombs left the bay, i mean whizz the noise they make is great! , with FLak everywere(using my FLAK sounds) a B-17 in my Sqn got hit, it was a real Memphis belle moment, the 17 was from above me it got hit between radio room and waist gunner position and the plane broke in two like a match stick, it when spinning down, i watched it go down and even found myself counting the chutes! 1,.... 2,....3,....4,..............................................On the way back FW190's made an apperance and let themselves be known! Slicing through our formation head on, and blowing bits of my plane off as they went past, they then took a slow climb to the right to attack the mmmmmm, a Sqn from the 303rd wow were lead Sqn low group on the mission, i could do nothing as i watched the now specs zooming through the 303rd, and then seeing one of there ships go down in smoke,MadaboutsimsArtificial Intelligence Status: DefaultDetails: The enemy AI (and the AI in general) is very good. They will sneak up on you undetected and blast you out of the sky with far more regularity than in Il-2. They also appear to use Thatch Weave manuvers effectively, and appear to radio their wingmen for help (just turn on the enemy radio option) if you stay on there tails for too.The friendly AI is also very good. They listen to your radio commands and actually shoot down enemy planes (unlike EAW or CFS2). They will provide assistance or clear your tail when requested. They are also good at hitting ground targets.Fishbed77Damage Modelling Status: DefaultDetails: I flew a mission on a B-24 as a gunner, and had a blast. Seeing the actual hits on all airctaft during these battles (with the zoom in on targets) is pretty incredible.Also, I strafed a tank about 3 times with many hits and it didn't explode. I then dropped a bomb close to it, and it smoked. The 2nd near bomb hit, took it out. This was nice.Blade124Structures Status: DefaultDetails: Saw a nice touch. Flying over a town saw a factory with stacks and smoke was coming out of it. Also saw a v2 rocket launching site. Buildings look great with max settings. Stanger_S7Train Busting! Status: DefaultDetails: I set up a mission and added a train to see what would happen I added some rolling stock and some flak flat cars. I set up a set of waypoints so it would go around the airfield.I took the ME163 up and attacked the train and it attacked me! I finally got in a good shot and it exploded just like in the gun camera footage. A bunch of smoke and debri flew into the air and I flew through it all.The trains can be steam or deisel and sound very good, even in stereo as they go by.There are so many objects to use, ships, trains, trucks, tanks, etc. A virtual toyland!Warbirds

[Guest]

Part 2:Why I like Jane's Attack Squadron... The AI is really good - I'm suprised no one has mentioned this yet! Your wingmen follow orders, actually shoot down enemy planes (unlike EAW or CFS2), and clear your tail when asked. They attack ground targets effectively. The enemy AI is very good at sneaking up unnoticed and nailing you (unlike Il-2). The terrain is great- both up high and down low. It actually looks like Europe (unlike the mudlands of WW2 Fighters). Torpedoes! - MS CFS2 really should have had them better integrated. Flyable bombers with manned positions - and with a simpler, better, and more usable interface than B-17II. The frame-rates are ultra-smooth on my machine -(1 gig, Geforce 4). The tracers and other special effects look good enough - I love the reflections off of the aircraft at a distance! The flak is excellent. The view system is simple and effective (kind of a mixture of WW2 Fighters and EAW, which has the best in the business in my opinion). The radio comms list is extensive, the wingmen actually listen to you, and the in-game radio transmission sound very good! The ability to tune enemy transmissions is a nice touch. - I believe you can do this in Il-2 also. The sound is good - I saw someone complaining about it earlier. What's the problem? Listen the the sound of the Spit's MG/cannon combo. It's awesome. The engine cylinders also knock as the engine shuts down - very realistic. The radio comms sound great. They remind you that many of these pilots were 19 and 20 year-old boys. The physics and damage model is very good- close to the same league as Il-2. I love releasing a burst of MG fire and watching the holes walk their way across an enemy aircraft's wing. Aircraft graphics- I've heard a lot of complaints about these. It appears some of the aircraft were completed by different people at much later dates. Granted, the Spitfire is a funny color and the P-47 is downright messed up, but some of the planes look excellent - the Dora, the P-38, the B-24, and especially the Ju-88, which looks far better than the one in Battle of Britain, and quite similar to the one in Il-2. Flight models - while the bombers are iffy, some of the flight models are quite good. Like the aircraft graphics, I think this is a result of the sim's protracted development. The Fw-190s feel almost just like the ones from Il-2. I have never noticed such a similarity between sim flight models before. Fishbed77General Appreciation #2 Status: DefaultDetails: it was with some hesitation that I picked the game up. Well, I am glad to say, I really really like it. The first thing I noticed is the great force feedback effects. The sound effects, particularily the guns are swell, they remind me a lot of the meatwater sound pack for EAW. The graphics have to be seen in motion to be appreciated. I didn't think the game looked to great from the screens I had seen on the web, but once things are moving along they look great and you don't really notice the low poly aircraft. The terrain is also excellent, the best I have seen in a sim to date. On top of all this, it is a very fun sim to fly. I haven't played a sim since f18 on my old Amiga that felt this right. This is not to say that the planes and flight models are 100% accurate, but rather that it feels right and they are fun to fly. The virtual cockpits are also excellent, with the exception of the angular cockpit frames and oddly distorted looking gunsites I would have to say that they are right up there with Janes WWII and Il-2 virtual cockpits. I am pleased to say the game runs smoothly with all details maxed on my machine at 1600x1200 on my Athlon 1.3 GeForce 256, and the only problem I have ran into is the engine and gun sounds cutting out after playing the game for a while. I think this may be related to my older MX300 soundcard though. Anyways, I am glad that this game made it onto the shelves!BTW, for you low end machine owners, I installed the sim onto my Dad's Celeron 466 with a Radeon card and I was surprised to see that it ran smoothly at 800x600 res with the details cranked and clipping set to medium.loafer87gt

[Guest]

Part 3: - Last part - Hennie - I KNOW, I KNOW: This is a FU3 forum!!!General Appreciation #3 Status: DefaultDetails: The most important things about this game for me, right now, are: It is based on the ETO-=my favorite theater. The bomber stuff is a hoot. It seems to have all of the fun stuff that got left out of B17 II with none of the tedious crap. The graphics are not that great in static situations, but in a dog fight what I see out of my cockpit looks as close to actual real gun camera footage as I have ever seen in any WW II sim, bar none. It has has run very stable on my system. I find my self at the end of the work day looking forward to getting home and firing up an instant mission or two. I haven't felt that way about a sim for a great while. Forward ObserverNight-time turret lighting Status: DefaultDetails: the lighting effects in the lancs tail turret are sooo coool at night. MadaboutsimsBoom 'n' Zoom A.I. Status: DefaultDetails: just had a lot of fun wiith JAS, quick mission 4 Fw-190s vs 3 P-47s & 2 B-17sran very slow at first but then it seemed to just load and all went fine Damn good AI P47 was B'n'Z first time ive seen AI do that! And as soon as i turned for home hear he came down and then striaght back up circling me. And the odd occasion i did get on his six then he would just dive and because its a p47 would out dive me and then use the speed to zoom back up to B'n'Z ing!When he did finally get me i laughed as he caught me unaware flying striaght and level for a second, he put a long enough burst into me to blow off my tail, that because of the speed, went stright back and hit his left wing, soaring it off. i went down in flames, he bailed.the AI is the best I have seen. Planes attack bomber formations correctly. Bommbers break off and head for home if damaged. Wingman actually listen to you.I have seen several things happen in JAS that I have never seen in a sim before. More supprises every day and more to come!MadaboutsimsFlying while your crew fight for their lives Status: DefaultDetails: on the bomb run, looking down the norden, steady steady, i hear the crew calling out incoming, then i hear the cry of the 50 cals starting i can do nothing, but fly the plane slow and steady for 20-30 seconds, what a feeling it gives, being sooooo helpless as the rest of the crew fight for their lives! WOWOWOWOWOWOW. also heres a pic from an earlier mission , this displays what happens when a FW190-A8 makes a high dive at you aiming for the front of the plane. note: front missing bullet right in pilot's window and BLOOD! most of top turret missing MadaboutsimsGetting that large-scale-raid feeling Status: DefaultDetails: ok chaps here is a great tip that really adds something that i personally missed in b172. The sense of lots of bombers, rather than just your formation.Ok make the mission but change your formation to say 2-4 planes, then add another group of bombers but maybe a little lower and to the left of again a low number 2-4 then do it again but a high group, and agin but a group that is rather close to you right or left.I also usaully add a group in the distance too, so that all i can see is them glowing specs, it really adds to the mission to order fighters to attack certain bombers too, for example i had the first 2 FW190's attack the group of to my lft in the distance, as i watched i could see the odtracer fly in the distance, the bit of smoke and when one b-24 went down, it looked really good, i nearly said to my self there goes a 91st This whole thing just adds to the whole its not going to happen to you feeling that so many bomber crews said they felt, plus it is more like being one plane in a whole rather than a lead ship of one formation.Madaboutsims

[Guest]

I have agree with Hennie there. FU3 was waaaaay ahead of anything Micro$oft had in it's works. As we all know cruising next to one of the fully developed CBs does make one feel small and humble as in real life (especially when the turbulence hits! :-zhelp WHOA MULE!!!). The programmers should not be made to feel responsible for decisions made by management.

[Christopher Low 5,331]

Hennie,Thank you for the detailed review ! I am really tempted to order JAS, just to see what it is like from my own personal viewpoint. In fact, I would like nothing better than to like it, and then go straight to the JAS forum with some (virtual) ammunition under my belt. We are all too familiar with people that post critical messages for no reason other than to annoy the rest of us...........AND hit the development team below the belt.By the way, thank you for pointing out the nicknames of Ansgar and Jokke on the JAS forum !Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Christopher Low 5,331]

Hennie,I believe that I misunderstood you. I had assumed that you were stating that "Shadowjack" and "Blade" really WERE Ansgar and Jokke ! After reading your post again, you seem to mean that these two are the EQUIVALENTS of FU3's Ansgar and Jokke. Am I correct here ?Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest]

Hi Chris,"Shadowjack" and "Blade" really are JAS's equivalent of our Ansgar and Jokke. Sorry for any misunderstanding. I see you've started posting on the JAS forum. Good!Regards,Hennie

[Guest]

Hi all,I take back everything I've said about the JAS scenery being a mixtrure of FU3 high and outer terrain scenery!With this sim, you must be extremely careful not to form impressions too soon. After flying a few missions and flying very low when returning home, I now have to say that the JAS ground scenery (terrain) is as good as if not better in every respect than FU3! I still don't like the buildings, but these can be changed.The haze used for the weather is excellent. The missions fun, fun, fun and the AI intelligence superb! When I first observed the way the aircraft fly whilst the crude autopilot is in control, I doubted the physics, especially the landing part. But after doing the take-offs, landings and most of the flying myself, I've discovered the flight characteristics to be excellent in all of these conditions. It seems like selecting autopilot puts the aircraft in some arcade flying mode in order to control it - don't be fooled by it!I am really, really liking this game more every moment and soon I'm going to start to contribute towards it in the same way I did towards FU3. (That should tell you how good this sim is!)So go ahead all of you, get it. You'll like it. But don't be to hasty to form your opinions, first experiment a while. I gurrantee you'll love it in the end.Regards,Hennie