US Army released video showcasing the new Block III Apache in a virtual training environment.
The video covers in a nutshell...
- Weight reduction
- Improved software upgrade pipeline
- Increased engine power 701-D engines and improved drive system
- Better digital battlefield intergration
- UAV commanding
- IFR certified instruments
- Reliability and servicing improvements
- RFI range triangulation
- Maritime classification
- Awesome new logo
Nice...
ReplyDeleteI wonder how they adressed the issues with stationary target clutter...
Clutter is something I'm familiar with. My wife keeps going on about it. Boxes everywhere.
ReplyDeleteToday our in-game Apache dealt with radar clutter on my test map by not returning ANYTHING at all except air objects. Oddly it works fine on every other map, very strange that.
We had to recently do an engine update to fix some culling problems, is probably related.
When not fire-fighting (chasing bugs in new code) the engines are something I'm currently working on, the power requirements and transmission so the new video brings home how much of a big deal it can be.
This is something one picks up from EMacy's Apache books too but brings home how it impacts mission planning. Which is good from a gaming point of view.
Just a bit tedious sat here crunching numbers and plotting graphs for days on end. Definitely a low moment in development.
their sim would have been a lot better if they used you and dave to make it. probably used ubi soft LOL.
ReplyDeleteI could see how stationary clutter could trick the FCR at times.... trees, rocks, shrubs, etc
It looks OpensceneGraph based, visually they don't really go for frills since tools might have a requirement to run on laptops.
ReplyDeleteI don't think our graphics are top-end but they are functional. I'm already secretly working (couple of hours a week) on the next gen game system we want to use for more than 10 times the amount of ground clutter and almost any map size you need. Think we solved the tooling and pipeline for that. Problem with large open maps for helicopter games is the need to populate them.
Just to comment on something you probably already know, radar has had to deal with backscatter ever since it pointed down at the ground. Advances in electronic signal processing were driven by this requirement.
There was a game dev who posted his code for filtering data from Nintendo Wii controller accelerometers. They have 2 of them returning motion data but using some F16 control code to filter and process the output he was able to pull more accurate motion information out of them.
It´s always interesting reading your blog, regardless it`s CH or some tech info. :-)
ReplyDeleteWould you pls so kind to elaborate (maybe in a separate post) how Fred and you are doing the FM? I´m disappointed from TakeOnHelicopters FM and still think that the DCS series offer the best helicopter FM at present.
I want to understand how masses are done in Leadwerks engine. Is it that all objects are affectet by gravity and all objects have it own mass or how is it done in general? The library he is using is doing calculations based on the blade element theory or a light version of this?
In a nutshell, Fred make a great FM and Leadwerks mucks it up. OK that's the short reply, here's a slightly longer one but I agree it's worth a long blog entry at some point in the future.
ReplyDeleteHis calculations come from works like Bramwell and Seddon. The body is broken down into a finite collection of forces that can be considered little boxes. The number of these boxes depend on how much fidelity you want. Every update iterates through all the boxes adding up the whole. That's a simplification as there's more going (it's a stepped process from what I recall). In theory you could break an F15 down into atoms if you had enough computing power but in practice you only need a few iterations. It's pretty unique, I've never seen another physics system like it.
The result depends on the quality of the dataset for the aircraft. As it is, since you can't slice up a real Apache with a saw and weigh each element you need to make assumptions about mass across all the parts of the structure. Usually tweaking and flight tests (typically by pilots of the real aircraft in FSX) can help validate.
I know Fred has examined TakeOnHelicopters beta (I haven't at all) his opinion I won't repeat except it was a detailed analysis of how it was probably coded. But it is a beta and subject to change. It would have been how I might have approached the problem (programmers solution).
If we had access to where they build the airframes and some laser scanning gear we could probably turn out some really high-end flight models for aircraft.
Less said about mass in Leadwerks/Newton the better. It's pretty basic, adequate for most simple games.
C'mon flex... I know ya want to... Ya know, write the engine code yourself from scratch.. LOL.
ReplyDeleteseems like leadwerks isnt really meant for a high-end flight model. the bird does look good in your demo vids though.
I agree with eagle eye that black shark is a very good FM... It always seems that the others can't make a good FM for helos.
since you're mentioning a new engine, have you found any out there that populate the maps with trees like ARMA does? or do you mean population in another way?
Thanks for youre answer Flex. Another OT question came to my mind, sorry:
ReplyDeleteYou still need a publisher? Have you asked the guys over at Aerosoft? You know, they "recently" "acquired" the independent Jet-Thunder project. And they not forcing you to release a unfinished product. Hmm, supposably you already have contacted them, and the answer was no?
Had quite a lot of publisher interest. I'm fighting them off with a stick.
ReplyDeleteI've read a few horror stories about indie projets getting snapped up. At this time I don't know how we would benefit from it. What we REALLY need is a business development manager, someone I can trust.
The team here is split on the self publishing idea. Myself am in two minds about it. What we really needed at the start of the project was capital, it would have sped up development enormously allowing me to work full time at an early stage instead of 14 hours a week.
As it is I now have to tack content on at the tail end of the project which annoys me because of what it means in practice. My daughter is like that, she'll spent hours on a drawing and rip it up if it isn't good enough.
As far as the 'new engine' is concerned, I think that is the time to deal with publishers or raise funding as needed due to the difference in scale. One of the restrictions of having larger world sizes is making them detailed enough AND having a game that keeps focus. We're not flight-simming where you're sight-seeing and flipping switches for the sake of it, we're combat-simming within a game. Our goal is to give purpose to flying around and pulling OR NOT pulling that trigger.
So a huge map requires a game behind it that justifies it, and the ability to decorate it with trees, buildings, roads, rivers. As you increase the square mileage that effort SHOOTS through the roof. It's easy to write that, but you can't stress how much work it is until you actually try it.
The next engine is not really an engine, it is more accurate to describe it as an architecture. It uses existing and mature technology and tools in a creative way. At the core of which is the ability to generate massive amounts of terrain procedurally on top of imported maps. Asynchronous loading of low level detail, and not bland sat maps with some shrubs on top. But a blend of splat and real world topography. The best or worst of both worlds. More I can't say as we've still got to glue all the parts into a practical application and we can't yet justify the costs or time to obtain the pro licenses for the tools needed to build a demonstration atm. But we know where we want to go next and how to confidently get there.
I still keep my eye on Outerra, it's got a way to go before the detail/performance is there to make a practical engine for our kind of game (and I stress "our"). But in future I think it will get there and be the 'IDS Speedtree' of terrain systems.
Brano recently let me play around with it and I'm very impressed with the principle. What is a HUGE step and one that probably goes unnoticed, is that it cuts out terrain prep time if you need to get a virtual map up and running in a simulation quickly. That can take technicians hours or days to fix up for a specific render system. Outerra just streams it in and you're away in minutes, just the topography mind but potentially a big deal if you need to look at something fast.
Everyone must be playing MW3? Can't say it's flying off the shelves in the local supermarket, even Battlefield 3 seemed to retain large stocks.
ReplyDeletePeople around here getting bored with these games?
Total War Shogun 2, now THAT's a game. It's got crazy amounts of campaign mechanics in it. My vote for game of the year but will probably go by unnoticed. (And it looks awesome on tripplehead displays).
Ok, I thought Aerosoft are a little bit different from other publishers. The project manager Mathijs Kok once wrote at the forums that JT is a project from the heart for the 2 main developers, so he or Aerosoft don`t want to force them. So, with you having the same attitude with CH it would be fit nicely. Additional you have so many more to show from CH and it will (so god will) very unique and you need the money... :-)
ReplyDeleteCurrently I´m addicted to BF3 (and BS2 ofcourse). :-D Yes, the shelfs are still full of the first, don`t know. For PC it may be the that it is only for Vista and higher.
Should I have a look on STW2 if it`s not my genre?
I just noticed on PlayStation Store Activision are pimping the annual subscription for Modern Warfare.
ReplyDeleteI might give BF3 a go when I can find it a bit cheaper. My problem is time, I tend to only get a few hours (if that) out of most games. The new Batman Arkham City game didn't grab me as much as I thought it would. Seems like too much going on at the same time which got me thinking about how to throttle CH campaign events.
I'm FlexmanUK on PSN if you're on that service. Although I tend to put in a few circuits on Gran Turismo these nights.
Shogun 2 is a lot of game for what you get, the depth of units, history and visual presentation. You do need to study the units and apply knowledge to counter an enemy. It's learning the weapons of war much like any serious combat sim and there's satisfaction when you do smash a vastly superior army using wits, timing and the right units. It's something you need to work at like learning to fly an aircraft except perhaps not as intensive. Intellectual gaming, although you do get the same table-top gaming snobs in that genre as you do with flight simulation. I also happen to love Japanese history which makes me more than biased with this game. Check out some YouTube vids and see if it's something that might interest you is the best advice I can give.
I`m not at PSN(don´t own a console), though I would like to play with you. I will have a look on some STW2 YT gameplay vids. A remote friend of mine plays this game also, but I´m not that interested in Japanese history, despite I like the movie Shogun. :-)
ReplyDeleteWhen I would give the RTS genre another try I think I would tend to Starcraft2... :-)
helo sims to seem to be the most demanding of any sims due to your need for such great detail...more so than any other sim. It is great to see the new terrain management systems coming out. Massive maps and good framerates,,,wOOt.
ReplyDelete