I would like to thank the Wayward team for all their help and hospitality at ECTS. They were extremely generous and put up with me and my questions for about two hours!

Graham Davis surprised me because he remembered my name from the list of names that were to be put into B-17 from Bombs-Away. That showed me that Wayward really were reading posts and listening to those interested in B-17, amazing in this day of big business!

On Tuesday I went straight to the B-17 II booth. I was really eager to find out as much as I could about the sim. I had introduced myself to Ken and Graham on Sunday. On Tuesday Ken was demoing the sim today as on Sunday.

The first thing that strikes you about B-17 (as you can all guess) are its fantastic graphics. You really can't compare it to anything you've seen before in terms of PC sim graphics in my opinion. It was like a next generation engine, or even a revolution in the way graphics are presented, superior to anything else in every way.

Ken was flying the P-51 Mustang when I arrived and the 3D cockpit was incredible. I described in an earlier post how I initially thought the in-cockpit graphics were pre-rendered and I really did think so, it was just too detailed and the rudder pedals!....., I wish everyone could have been there and seen them.

The whole cockpit gave a great sense of depth, as if you were almost in the cockpit yourself. You could almost put your hand through the monitor and grab the control stick or push the rudder pedals; and I'm not exaggerating.

It's difficult to compare to any previous cockpit, but even very good cockpits tend to give you a flat feeling, and you know you are staring at a computer monitor. But panning around the cockpit was silky smooth, and there is more detail in the 3D cockpit of the P-51 than in almost all the 2D cockpits I have seen, no question. Once you have panned around you get this sense of being in a 3d world and it changes the feeling from that flat monitor world most sims have.

Ken described how 'every' switch in the cockpit worked (although at the time not everything was implemented.) I had asked him how bomb releases were controlled so he panned down to the armament panel. I was quite surprised with how much information and how many options were available to the pilot.

The panel was very detailed and had a 'worn' dark metal finish. It was very well presented. I am not used to flying WW2 sims, I've only ever had one and a half, that is the old B-17 sim on my Amiga and Dogfight, which wasn't a true WW2 sim as you could choose aircraft from different era (hence the 'half.')

I can't remember all the controls available in B17 II but I think there were options to select the pylons used, the release settings, i.e salvo, single, pairs and the master arm, and more. I was expecting just a simple arming and weapon select switch; I didn't realise how much control the pilots had over armament in a WW2 fighter.

I asked Ken about the B-17's armament control, so he switched aircraft from the P-51 to the B-17 and described how it worked. If I remember correctly, the armament panel was at the bombardiers station. In the B-17's bomb bay, bombs are arranged on the side walls and the middle of the bay. Ken explained that there were four sets of bombs, one set on each of the side walls and two sets in the middle of the bay. Bombs attached to the walls are said to be the 'external' bombs and the ones in the middle of the bay are the 'internal' bombs.

The player has the ability to select whether they want to drop the internal bombs, the external bombs or both internal and external. (I think there was also the ability to drop in pairs or salvo.) Ken continued to explain the dynamics of the Norden bombsight and how there were two modes avaliable, unfortunately I can't remember the difference between them.

Go to Part II: Dropping In

He opened the bomb bay and started tracking a random spot on the ground. A few moments later he pickled the bombs and switched to the bomb bay view and we watched the bombs fall to earth. It was incredible, the general purpose 500lb bombs all gave a traditional wiggle as they fell away from the bay. They fell many feet before they stabilised.

I had a ridiculous grin on my face as I watched. I was like a small child in a sweet shop, I really couldn't help it. Ken explained how the different ballistic properties of the bombs had been modelled and that at release they all exhibited different flight characteristics, he said that the incendaries would tumble continuously until impact (I can't wait).

Moments later there was a brilliant flast of light that lit up the ground and surroundings below as the bombs impacted and exploded. The explosions were gloriously detailed: they sent dirt and fragments up into the air in a wide cone shaped pattern. It was very realisitic and with extremely impressive special effects, by far the best bomb explosions I've seen modeled. Then Ken showed me the brown craters in the earth, scars of our attack.

He switched to the view of the waist gunners compartment. The compartment was beautifully rendered, and very detailed. There were two gunners present, one in the foreground and one in the background. They were both very detailed, especially their oxygen masks, faces and head covers. Ken had chosen the gunner in the foreground so he was highlighted with a bright white outline.

Then Graham pointed out the details I had overlooked. I was very surprised as he showed me the dynamic shadows the gunners were casting in the compartment. He explained that the crew were all motion captured and they had added some animation to them to get them just right.

At that time Ken was demonstrating how the crew acted when the guns jammed. He fired the gun until it jammed and the waist gunner shouted that his gun was jammed, so Ken gave the command to fix it. The motion captured gunner proceeded to bang and shake the gun and pull some kind of device along the side of the gun.

I was stunned, the whole event happened so smoothly as the gunners animation was very slick and life like. Graham was telling me that they had a full scale model fuselage of the B-17 built, with all of the handles and other grips in place. They had then used motion capture techniques to capture the movement of a member of their team in the full scale fuselage, grabbing onto the various overhead bars etc that enable the crew to move more easily around the fuselage and into different compartments.

By now, like me, you are astonished at the lengths Wayward have gone to!

I was still conversing with Graham, and he had mentioned the multiplayer aspects of the sim. He was gesticulating how great it would be to see one of your friends playing the position of waist gunner, slewing the waist gun up, down, left and right. He certainly did make it sound like a truly exciting prospect. He said that B-17 will allow the use of voice comm hardware, so players can talk directly to one another. The system will take a low priority among other tasks, so will be delayed by maybe a second or so.

The 3D models are unbelievable, simply and truly unbelievable. I was standing beside Ken admiring the marvellous B-17 with it's unpainted silver finish. At ECTS B-17 was running at 1024 by 768 on a PIII 500 TNT2. Frame rates were non existent, in the sense that there was no rate at all. It was running very swiftly, I'd guess at 30 plus FPS. Ken was panning around the aircraft showing off all of its details.

As he continued to pan around the nose of the B-17 I stopped him, "Wait a second, are those the crew members in the nose I just saw?" "Yes" Ken replied. He zoomed in and sure enough I could see the bombardier and navigator through the plexiglas nose and side windows, both going about their dutes. They were in full 3D and moved about their stations. WOW!

I just stepped backed and laughed, there were no words to express my impressions. The amount of work these guys have put into this sim is so great it's quite ridiculous. Ken continued around the aircraft, along its fuselage and pointed out one of the waist gunners at his station, aiming a 0.50-calibre machine gun.

Again the gunner was a fully articulated 3D motion captured model. He rotated the view so that the underside of the Fortress was visible and then activated the bomb bay doors. Although there was a lot of noise at the Hasbro booth I'm certain I heard a whine of gears and hydraulics as the bomb doors opened. The operation was extremely smooth and very realistic.

B17 Nose

In B-17 II anything that opens and closes on the aircraft, i.e bay doors and undercarriage, is animated very accurately and realistically. I've seen other sims where the lines marking these panels usually appear blurred at first, then when activated, i.e undercarriage deployment, they darken and become clear and thin, then the door opening sequence will commence with them already being slightly open.

B-17 II displayed very smooth transitions from closed to open and vice versa. I saw a great deal of detail in the bomb bay. Iit was empty as Ken had dropped the bombs previously. It was painted light green and had visible bomb racks and other details surrounding it.

The P-51 Mustang is an amazing beast. I was curious at first as to why it was always Ken's choice of aircraft to fly, but after spending some time watching it and a little time flying it, it was quite clear why. The more I saw of the P-51 the more I liked it.

First of all it looks magnificent. Like the B-17 it had a silver unpainted finish, and there was some kind of graphical technique present which made the aircraft skin glisten and shine as the sunlight reflected off it, giving it a true metallic feel. I could see lines marking individual panels which were held in place by visible textured screws.

There were also small labels over parts of the fuselage, indicating the instructions for maintenance, warnings etc. as on the real aircraft. Graham showed some mean reflections coming off the spinning propellor blades, as sun light passed by them.

One feature that I had seen the first day I was at ECTS in B-17 II was the detailing of the aircraft control surfaces. As usual Ken was flying the P-51, performing rolls and loops, dives and turns and all other kinds of aerobatics. During this performance I noticed in the outside view that you could see part of the cross section of the wing and aileron as it moved up or down. In other sims I've flown the ailerons, flaps and other control surfaces are usually flat when viewed from the side.

I told Ken about this, so he switched to the virtual cockpit and panned to the right, until the right wing came into view, then executed an aileron roll. I was quite amazed with the level of detail Wayward had put into the aircraft, seeing a clear side on view of the silver aileron shining, as the sun glinted off it was something else. This was one of the small details that really stuck with me.

Under the wings the P-51 had clear and nicely modeled weapon mounts. The pilot and the cockpit of the P-51 could be seen from the outside views. They were both very detailed, particularly the pilot.

Ken was telling me how all the buttons and switches in the aircraft functioned realistically. He panned to the left hand side of the cockpit, and there were some switches on a console by the pilot's right arm. He flipped a switch. Graham D had been watching and explained that that switch operated some kind of air scoop or exhaust port. Ken reverted to the outside view and my eyes popped out of my head. To my astonishment a small port had begun to open below the P-51. It was situated just to the rear of the hump underneath the aircraft.

Unfortunately I can't remember exactly what the function of the port was, but I 'think' Graham mentioned it was related to engine performance. These guys really loved showing off their sim and you could tell. Attention to detail was overwhelming. This is a true B17 simulation, and not only a combat simulation.

The machine guns on the P-51 are awesome, let me tell you. They are not just textured holes in the leading edge of the P-51, but are proper 3D barrel ends. Ken started shooting off some rounds to display the artwork they had done on the weapons. It's a real shame you couldn't see it because it was something crazy. The muzzles lit up as rounds came spewing out of the guns.

They fired symmetrically from left and right wings, but each wing fired a different gun each time, so the muzzle blasts would stutter from one gun to the next. The shells were yellow orange tracers with a brilliant wavey effect to them, and each tracer left behind it a very subtle white trail of smoke, an awesome experience. Ken flew the P-51 onto its back and continued to fire. Meanwhile Graham pointed out to me the golden shell cases being ejected out from ports underneath the wing. Fantastic.

I had been talking to Graham and he told me about some of the special effects they had incorporated when firing the guns onto various surfaces. To demonstrate Ken crashed the invulnerable P-51 into a lake and opened fire. Spouts of water shot into the air and fell back down. On the lake surface the water rippled, shimmered and swirled and slowly dissipated, it was very nicely done.

I must have been at the B-17 booth an hour and a half when Dominic and Andrew Walrond appeared. Graham introduced me to them and we shook hands, unfortunately I didn't meet Iain Howe.

Ken wanted to demonstrated the high fidelity flight model Wayward had introduced. He was flying in a formation of three B-17's and was the lead aircraft. Switching to the right waist gunner positon, he aimed the machine gun at the engine furthest left on one of the B-17's in the formation and opened fire.

I noticed a wicked grin on his face (I would'nt want to be around in a multiplayer session with him on the end of a 0.50). The B-17's left engine caught fire and began to trail thick black smoke. Ken then aimed at its vertical tail and rudder. The damage graphics were not in place at ECTS but Graham and Ken explained that scars would appear around the aircraft, fuel tanks in the wings, spars and other structures would become visible in the event of damage and that the damage model was dynamic, so damage would happen where the aircraft was hit and would be visible there also.

As Ken shot at the B-17's rudder I knew its A.I pilot was fighting for control of the aircraft, because I saw the ailerons reach full deflection as he suddenly applied full right stick. His attempts were in vain as the B-17 veered to the left and fell out of formation. It fell away behind us and passed from our right to left, still banking, heading for the ground.

"Imagine flying in a formation of B-17's in multiplayer with friends in other aircraft, and having one fall out of formation due to damage like that...!" were Grahams remarks. He was right, the prospect was very exciting. Thinking about it sent a shiver down my spine, it would be awesome.

Flight Models

I went over to Dominic and asked him a few questions about the flight models. "We've modelled the aircraft fully," he explained. He told me how it was possible to stall the aircraft in multiple ways. He said it was possible to stall one wing, different parts of the wing at different times, etc. I was most impressed.

Dominic displayed how he had tried to perform a negative-G outside loop in an aircraft (possibly the P-51.) He was inverted and had pushed the stick full forward aggressively which caused him to stall. He explained that to perform such a maneuver you have to be gentle and not use as much stick as he had tried.

From our earlier interview: "We have engine torque, ground effect, wind, gusts, prop wash, turbulence. Control surface trimming, altitude/pressure/temperature effects. G effects on engines. Propeller/speed/efficiency models, ground effect, compressibility. Fly low over the airfield and dip the wing onto the grass - see what happens! We have belly landings and ditching on water. Lower the gear and feel the drag, feel the nose drop. Raise the flaps and feel the nose drop. Transfer fuel from left to right wingtanks and feel the pull to the right."

"We consider the flight models an absolute key issue and we believe we have modelled them to the highest level of detail yet. There are too many factors to list here, but here are a few… Pilots arrive at a "power" rating for their engine by manipulating not a "throttle" but the aircraft's Propeller Speed, Fuel Mixture, Manifold Pressure and Supercharger speeds. That means that the engine itself loses no power as altitude increases, but the supercharger will need to be cranked down because as the air gets thinner the relative pressure inside it will increase - effectively reducing the power output.

"Then we have the fact that we don't simply slap on a fuel weight for the Mustang. We know where the tanks are, which you've been using and, therefore, whether your aircraft is developing a lean away from the standard centre of gravity.

"The above are a sample of the detail we've gone into - just about everything has gone in there, and we've stuck to first principles where possible, rather than artificially fudging "effects" for events. Another good example is control surface damage. If you strip 32% of the skin from our Mustangs Port Aileron it's rate of roll will be properly affected…"

I flew the P-51 for a short while and it felt very crisp and responsive. It was silky smooth, you could control it very accurately and perform precise moves. The ground rush down low was sensational. If you can compare the flight model of a jet sim and a prop sim I 'think' that B-17's flight model is probably on par if not better than Flanker 2.0's. Now that's saying something, especially coming from me, an avid jet and Flanker fan.

Terrain

The terrain graphics engine in B-17 are superb, I'am not going to even try and attempt to compare it to other sims because you can't. The level of depth is absolutely incredible. The approach Wayward have taken makes perfect sense to me. I have always been interested in low level ground attack missions, so I favour non-photographic terrain.

As Graham explained to me the problems with photo terrain, "it looks good high up but down below it's a blur and affects the sense of speed the player has." With other sims featuring photo terrain, the terrain 'looks' realistic from high up, with B-17 not only does the terrain look realistic from all altitudes, it 'feels' realistic too. I believe this is were B-17 will succeed at all levels, its FEEL.

The best comparison I can make to B-17 is of a picture in World Air Power Journal volume 21 summer 1995, the one with the F-15E as the main story. If any of you have this book turn to page 58, you'll see a picture taken from the rear cockpit of the Strike Eagle.

The aircraft is barrelling down a valley and you can see the clouds above casting a shadow on the valley floor. In the bottom right of the picture you can see trees and other vegetation casting shadows on the ground, that is the exact effect you see in B-17. I am not saying B-17 was photo-realistic, I'm saying that the 'effects' present in B-17 make it the closest thing to reality you can get, it just feels so right.

Let's say you're playing a racing sim or a flight sim when the aircraft in the sim is on the ground. If you select an outside view and see no shadows under the aircraft or car, it just doesn't seem to feel right no matter how detailed they or their surroundings are. This is one of the big differences between B-17 and current/upcoming sims, this is where Wayward have done it right.

In the B-17 forum at combatsim.com someone wrote about how the terrain in B-17 switched resolutions depending on aircraft altitude. This was true, but in my opinion it wasn't that much of a problem for me. I spoke to Ken and Graham about it and they explained that they had just incorporated the terrain graphics engine into the sim for ECTS and that B-17 was still 'PRE-ALPHA'!

I continued to talk with Graham and he began to explain the details of their terrain system. The current system has a resolution down to 20cm, but it can go a lot furtherm he told me. This accounts for the tremendous sense of speed down low. Graham continued to explain how some other sims used tiles which were large and blurred down low, therefore somewhat nullifing the sense of ground rush.

Other sims have detailed low-level terrain but higher up it can be seen repeating. B-17 has fantastic terrain graphics both high up and down low.

Ken reset the the mission and was placed as a B-17 on the ground. The first thing I noticed was the level of detail present on the grass. Wayward have even applied bump mapping to the grass and it makes a hell of a difference. It gives the ground depth and an earthy texture, making it much easier to judge the distance from the ground. He started running the engines; their start sequences were impressive.

As the engines started, a white jet of smoke shot out a short distance behind, then swirled and spread in a vortex like fashion, before dissipating. Whew, it looked very realistic.

The B-17 taxied with others following behind it onto the runway. Ken throttled up and the B-17 began to trundle down the runway, building up speed all the time.

We're approaching takeoff speed now. Ken panned to the left in the cockpit view, so we could watch the ground and surrounding, as the bomber continued to accelerate. Even on the ground you easily felt a genuine sense of speed, as the ground and some hills to the left raced by. The B-17 seemed to simply roll into the air, it was so smooth and graceful and I watched the earth fall away, mesmerised. Graham pointed out some details on the ground, such as pigs on a farm.

In the air Graham explained how there were no sharp edges in the terrain, everything was created to be smooth. The roads didn't kink sharply as we are used to in other sims and the base of hills were not straight lines that connected to the rest of the landscape, everything was curved and flowed very naturally, it was very picturesque.

I took control of one of the waist guns. The machine gun had a natural metallic look, which like the exterior of the aircraft reflected light realistically. They looked so right, they gave you the feeling both in look and control that they were very dense, solid and beefy. Not to say they were sluggish to use, on the contrary! They were very easy to slew and aim, just perfect.

I pressed the trigger and was greeted by the most fabulous gun sounds ever. They had some kind of metallic ring to them. It's quite difficult to describe but it was very good.

After this I went over to talk with Andrew about what Wayward had accomplished with B-17 II and my thoughts on it. I told him that we were all asking the wrong questions with B-17. Instead of asking has it got this or that and how is this or that modelled, we should be asking: "What HASN'T B-17 modelled?" With the superchargers, starters, hydraulics etc... what has been left out? He just laughed.

I asked some questions about Wayward Design and how it was formed. Andrew was one of the guys responsible for the physics in B-17 II. He talked to me about the damage model and how it will be possible to have bombs drop on another aircraft in tight formation, breaking off parts of wing, tailplanes etc, and how the dynamic damage model was being developed.

Andrew told me how he had modelled a jeep that could be driven and some ground crew for the aircraft, plus other vehicles which moved around the airbase. He said that the team had a lot of fun racing them around the airfield. He also mentioned that he had modeled an F-14 Tomcat and that it was the best aircraft he had ever seen in a sim! So that's what those guys get up to! Hopefully he will send some screenshots of it.

Andrew and Graham then pointed over to the monitor where Ken was displaying the P-51 on the ground. "Have you seen the ground handling?" Graham asked. He motioned me over to check it out.

Ken was taxiing the P-51 and as he was doing so he weaved left and right and applied the brakes. I was gobsmacked. "Is there anything Wayward have not put into this sim?" I thought. The dampers for both the main and tail gear pistoned. As Ken turn right with a bit of speed the aircraft tilted to the left, causing the right suspension to extend and the left to contract.

He took the P-51 off the smooth taxiway and onto the grass. I could see the bumpiness of the grass fully modelled as all the dampers jounced up and down. The small tail wheel of the Mustang was very impressive because unlike the main wheels which just move up and down simply, it had a hinge mechanism.

For those sim enthusiasts with wives who make it difficult to play sims, trust me B-17 II is going to be your lucky break. When your wives see it they are either going to be so dumbstruck by its looks that they beg to join in and play, or they'll see that it's so awesome they'll simply up and leave, because they'll know instantly there is no way they could get you to even turn your head away from your screens for a second! B-17 is that great, either way you win.

I went back and continued to talk with Andrew. I was telling him how I just couldn't understand how Wayward managed to produce such a sim, it was really amazing. Graham was nearby and told me that their next project will feature low-level air-to-ground attacks and the B-24 or 25 will be available to the player. The area will be a mountainous region around sicily and Graham mentioned that it will be possible to see troops landing on the beach from their sea vessels! Also I was told that the graphics will be further updated to look much better than in B-17 II, with the possiblity of higher resolutions than the current 20cm!

The guys at Wayward all had smiles on their faces. They knew they had something very special with B-17 II, and they loved showing it to eveyone. If the the devil is in the details, the Wayward team have a tail, two horns and an evil grin. I was very happy to be there that day and watch the most detailed flight sim every take to the skies and be among a very dedicated group of people and great bunch of guys.

Graham had previously given me Wayward's card and as I prepared to leave (reluctantly) both Andrew and Graham invited me to visit the team anytime at their studio in Bristol. They said they would give me a grand tour, show me the material they've gathered to create B-17 II and the progress of their work.

That was the icing on the cake, I was overwhelmed, I couldn't believe that the creators of B-17 II: The Mighty Eighth had invited ME! to see what goes into B-17, DAMN!. I thanked them all, shook hands and left. What a day, what an unforgettable, magnificent, awesome day.

Thank you again Wayward, Graham Davis, Ken Hall, Dominic Robinson and Andrew Walrond for your time and help at ECTS.

For our lengthy interview, go to B17 II Interview.