Sound APIs

This update includes some new exclusive screen shots as well as information that wasn't available for our last update in August. My primary interest as I began this update was in terrain graphics and sound and graphics APIs in B17 II.

First, Andrew Walron responded to my question on sound APIs, and then I culled some detail from one of our forums.

"A3d gives us access to the Aureal's Wavetracing technology via a standalone API that sits on top of either Aureal's Vortex chips or DirectSound. Wavetracing involves "rendering" geometry that affects the properties of individual sounds according to position.

Oh My God. We haven't told you about the sound have we ? You will not *believe* how good those Wrights sound, starting, gunning up during takeoff, busting a cylinder. The sound guys at Microprose have done a wonderful job for us. We are using new techniques to model the sounds of the individual components: cyinder, tappet, prop etc. It sounds out of this world.

Four Wrights slightly out of sync. Heaven. And the 50cals. I don't know what to say... Better upgrade your sound cards as well guys. Stick an MX300 on your list, and some BIG speakers... We have put so much effort into the rest of the game, there was no way we'd accept second best in the sound department."

AMD and 3dNOW, DirectX

"We expect to have optimizations for 3DNow and Athlon in critical parts of the engine. The full scope of these will be determined as we get further into the optimization and tuning process.

"B17 II was originally designed for version 6.1a of the DirectX APIs. However, with the release date pushed back to January, 2000, we can now take advantage of the new features in DX7, including hardware accelerated transform and lighting!"

Random Failures

Andrew Walrond from Wayward posted that he has decided that B17 II will need an option in the front end for random failures. "What random failures, with probabilities, would you like to see? Assume 0.0=never, 1.0=always, then 0.5 will give a failure roughly ever other mission, 0.25 would give a failure roughly every 4th mission etc."

A.C. posted a suggestion to further refine the frequency of failures, breaking it down by systems, thus...

• Power
• Engine 80% reliable(20% chance of failure)
• Turbo 95 % reliable
• Prop 97 % reliable
• Fuel 98 % reliable

• Autopilot 90% reliable
• Gear 95 % reliable
• Flaps 98 % reliable
• Bomb Doors 98 % reliable
• Bomb release system 98 % reliable
• Bomb Salvo(Mechanical) 99 % reliable
• Bombsight 100 % reliable (Complete failure if Electrical system failure)
• Electrical system 96 % reliable
• Hydraulic system 95 % reliable
• Control system 99% reliable
• Communications system
• Interphone 95 % reliable
• Radios 92 % rel;iable
• Oxygen system 97 % reliable
• Turrets 97% reliable
• Pitot static system 99% reliable (unless pitot heat neglected when appropriate)
• Wheels/Tires 99% reliable

I like the direction A.C. suggests. Failures divided by system and in accord with expected actual frequency. The options toggle could then be ON/OFF and ON would mean a realistic possibility of failure in a given system. This could be further increased with system age, so that a B17 that survives 25 missions will actually have a higher probability of random failure in some systems than a newer unit.

Tie this in to a global REALISM setting so that users who select MAXIMUM realism now have realistic probability for random failure ON by default.

More on Flak

Posted at Bombs-Away.net: "In a scramble to find a book to read on the plane I stumbled across ... "THE MIGHTY EIGHTH" by Gerald Astor. In reading the book I noticed reference to different forms/methods of flack defense ...i.e. barrage, box and lead. Will different methods of flack defense be modeled?"

From Iain Howe at Wayward:

" Obviously we’re working hard to ensure that Flak, like every other sound in the game, is as realistic as possible. We really want to incorporate some kind of “Crack-Thooom” noise in for the flak, just to add to the sense of horror you get watching the bursts walk towards your aircraft. Obviously they will get quieter as they get further away from the aircraft and louder as they get closer… We’re also going to use the “stones at a tin-can” sound effect for when the bursts are close enough that shrapnel is reaching the aircraft."

Not everyone agrees that close flak bursts should be heard and not only seen. But JANE'S and others have taken an interesting approach to this issue. In WW2 Fighters there was a setting in the front end preferences for a player to choose "REALISTIC" or "ENHANCED" sound effects. It would be nice to have the same option in B17 II for those who want to an enhanced sound environment to make up for the SA limitations of a PC monitor.

When you bring up this image notice the detail and shadows on the ground. Incredible! The reason the impact looks so different than other examples we have seen is that the actual soil colors and explosion effects are all modeled here, not just a generic puff of color and flash of light.

These two images are astonishing. When I first saw them I could see how some could believe we are looking at rendered images.

This shot is incredible. Bring up the larger version by clicking on the image above to see the shadows on the floor, paint peeling off, bits of matter flying through the air with the shell impacts...The final shot below is a zoom in on one part of the image.