B17 II: The Mighty Eighth

We have hosted around sixteen pages of coverage on B17 II to date, and most of our readers are more than familiar with this coming simulation. The visuals are very impressive, in fact easily the most impressive graphics engine yet seen on the PC. At E3 in Los Angeles we watched the aircraft rise and fall slightly on the thermals, an amazing effect when combined with conn trails or smoke. Resolution and object detail was simply stunning.

A few other effects caught my eye at E3: watching the gun turrets swivel from the outside view, with both guns firing, was impressive. As most of you will know, the graphics engine in EAW did not allow for this type of detail.

But for many this is all eye-candy, however delicious it may be. The heart of B17 II is a simulation with as much detail as Longbow II, but more aircraft to fly. In fact, B17 II breaks new ground by offering complete control of any station in the Flying Fortress, and motion captured animation to boot!

Me 109 in B17 II. Notice the shell casing.

That's right, you can occupy the pilots seat, and turn your head and watch the navigator at work. Or, you can leave the controls in the hands of the pilot while you as co-pilot scoot to the back of the aircraft to tend the wounds of a fallen gunner. Watch for this one in January, 2000, with full support for the new T&L engines under DX7. Click on the title above to get to our interview.

Visitors to ECTS in London are now coming back with reports that are simply astounding. One fan of Jane's WW2 Fighters, for example, has claimed that the cockpits in B17II are actually SUPERIOR to those in WW2 Fighters, so much so that he was convinced that they were rendered until he found he could click on them and watch switches move, and he could pan around the views!

Here is an excerpt from our forum based on hands-on experience at ECTS in London:

. "When I first saw it live, on screen I really couldn't believe it. Forget the screenshots you've seen because they don't mean a single thing. I had to pick my jaw off the floor as I watched.

"I spoke to two members of the team, one of them 'I think' was Graham Davis, I was so focused on the sim I couldn't remember. Graham (if that was Graham) displayed the 3D virtual cockpit of the P-51 I think it was. At first I thought to myself, "what's he chatting about, that cockpit is pre-rendered." Then he showed the working rudder pedals and I thought, "Ah, a pre-rendered cockpit with 3D pedals and switchs, clever move."

"Then he panned around and I was gobsmacked. Before I thought that Flanker 2.0 had the best looking cockpit, F2.0 cockpit was fantastic but the P-51 cockpit was unbelievable. I still do not understand how Wayward have managed to accomplish what they have.

Click for 1024x768.

"The external view showed the mosted detailed, most graphically pleasing planes of any sim or game I've ever played. The aircraft had a metallic shine on them which worked perfectly.

"Incredibly, the control surfaces had depth, so if you you made a turn and watched the ailerons, you could see a small cross section of the wing where the ailerons are cut out, that was one small thing which made a great deal of difference to me. It made me realise exactly how devoted Wayward are.

"I am definitely not the best person to judge the flight model of a WWII aircraft, however the P-51 felt fantastic, she was extremely smooth and more maneuverable that I anticipated. The plane was very responsive and just felt right.

"As I flew along I strafed a lake to see the effects from the shells and it was superb. You could see spouts of water shoot up into the air; the effects very well done. The terrain bump mapping was like none ever witnessed before, there is no point me attemping to describe it because I can't and I'd just run out of superlatives in trying to do so."

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Doug Johnson, Designer of Desert Fighters, is a personal fan of Aces of the Pacific (AOTP), and estimates that he may have flown a thousand hours in that sim. While there was much he loved about AOTP, there were weak areas that stood out to him, such as the flight modeling.

Dynamix Desert Fighters

Doug personally places fun before realism, yet his goals for the modeling in Desert Fighters will still place it beyond AOTP. "Fun" to Doug means such things as allowing users to paint their own aircraft, and a fully dynamic environment. It also means being able to impact the course of the war to the extent that a successful pilot can eventually rewrite history. Doug has confirmed that fidelity on high settings will please the hardcore crowd.

The sim will depict the struggle for North Africa which took place between March 1941, and May, 1943, though the sim will stretch the end date of the campaign to December, 1943. The heart of the campaign is the "Battle of Supplies" that took place in North Africa at that time. The ground war is modeled in detail, especially as it relates to supply convoys and ground support in the strategic environment of the North African desert.

Desert Fighters will feature 30 aircraft, with approximately 18 flyable models. Included in the simulation are some unusual aircraft, such as the Ju-87 Stuka, the Italian Macchi MC 202 and the French Dewoitine D 520, along with the Spitfire and the P-51 Mustang. Players will even be able to take the tail-gunner position in the Stuka. Yes, you will be able to paint your own aircraft and add your own squadron IDs.

Damage modeling will be at the level of Red Baron 3d but improved. Multiplayer support will be virtually identical to that of Red Baron 3d, Doug expects up to sixty virtual pilots in the air in a single online game. Desert Fighters is being produced by Mike Jones, look for it in October '99.

Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator II

Virtually nothing is known on this new title except that it is in development. I can speculate that we will see the addition of wingman and formation commands and greatly increased object detail. Furthermore, we might see a graphically oriented mission editor and new theatres of operation. Hey... maybe we will even see a Pacific Theatre!

Typhoon in Trouble

Fighter Ace II

I had a quick peek at this one at the Microsoft booth in LA. It was looking VERY good, comparable to many of the new generation graphics engines. However, the game was still relatively early in development and the cockpits weren't finished. Goals for realism are quite high, however, and the game will be configurable enough that it should please a wide range of virtual pilots.

Finally, we can't tell you anything about Rhino because the interview we fielded was never returned. And Rowan's Battle of Britain simulation is so early in development that no details have been released. It's set for Q2, 2000 so is not one of the nine for '99.

Needless to say, the experience of building the models and flight dynamics for the Mustang in MiG Alley will be useful in Rowan's next project, and since MiG Alley has a fully dynamic campaign system the following sim should also have one. Personally, I am looking forward to this one greatly! Once MiG Alley is out the door we will probably have more info on Rowan's next project.

Go to Part IV