Status?

[diablo1]

ORIGINAL: Stridor

ORIGINAL: diablo1

Men don't die as a stand like they did before, but now die off individually and you often see their dead bodies strwen on the field.

Sweet! This was one of my biggest disappointments in the origional games. It just didn't feel right and took away from the immersion when their Tin Soldiers series had a hand that would at least come out and take one unit from the stands when enough kill points were amassed. THanks a lot for this.

Ok here is a little movie demoing a single death. These suicidal soviets are charging (Human Wave - this was an AI decision not mine [;)]) a group of PZIIs in order to engage them in close assault as there was no more anti tank assets to engage them at this stage.

This in and of itself is a new order available only to the soviets and opens up some new tactical possibilities.

Of course it is costly in human life as shown in the movie below.

Note: This was taken from a very old map which doesn't have grass enabled, so keep that in mind, we should have grass enabled on all maps by the time of release.

Enjoy

S.

Yes that's the way it should be. Looks real now. But, needed more movie! [:)]

[diablo1]

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

ORIGINAL: diablo1

Does Osfront take advantage of quad core machines? i7's 6gb ram? ATI5770 1gb HD graphics card?

Mine is a quad core machine and Von Staudt has a 6 core machine. As you might imagine the game runs very well on them.

Good Hunting.

MR

Ok since you have good machines will they run 10-12 units per squad on the maps great? How many have you tested?

[Mad Russian]

We haven't tested any of them. We are not taking PCO in a 1:1 direction. There are the two selections that Stridor told you about. IF others want more than that they could be modded. We've not.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Missouri_Rebel]

Not being one to nitpick, but it seems as those soldiers are running on ice. Their legs are moving fast but they are not gaining ground comparable to the effort put forth. Is this just an abstraction? Am I expecting too much? Or is it just plain odd?

mo reb 

[junk2drive]

Maybe you are expecting too much? This isn't an FPS. These men are on a charge order which is a fast move with no stopping for casualties. We do the best we can with animations.

EDIT I just watched it again 3 times and don't think it is bad.

[Mad Russian]

Anyone wanting to mod the animations to make them better can do so.


Not to nitpick either but you do want to play this game right? We've already spent 2 years on this update. It's already WAY overdue. We could keep adding features and making it better and there would be exactly 12 people playing it. We thought at some point the rest of you would like to play it too. To do that we have to stop making improvements and give what we have done to you.

That's where we are now.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Missouri_Rebel]

Yeah I get that it's not a FPS, a genre I do not play. Yet I have also just watched the movie several times again and the space covered by their 'fast movement' seems more like a brisk walk. Is this the fastest troops move or is there some kind of dash order? 

[junk2drive]

Maybe it is the angle of the video.

When playing the game in normal gods eye view the distance covered is fairly accurate for troops carrying a load.

[Missouri_Rebel]

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian

Anyone wanting to mod the animations to make them better can do so.


Not to nitpick either but you do want to play this game right? We've already spent 2 years on this update. It's already WAY overdue. We could keep adding features and making it better and there would be exactly 12 people playing it. We thought at some point the rest of you would like to play it too. To do that we have to stop making improvements and give what we have done to you.

That's where we are now.

Good Hunting.

MR

Well I am new to this game as that was my first post. I really don't care about the animations as much as I do about a ratio of time vs ground covered at the various paces. I don't think my questions/remarks were outrageous. It seems though that I have struck a nerve. [&:]

mo reb

[junk2drive]

Sorry if we sound defensive. Just trying to understand what it is you are nitpicking.

We hope to have the demo out soon so that you can judge better what you are seeing.

[Mad Russian]

ORIGINAL: Missouri_Rebel

Well I am new to this game as that was my first post. I really don't care about the animations as much as I do about a ratio of time vs ground covered at the various paces. I don't think my questions/remarks were outrageous. It seems though that I have struck a nerve. [&:]

mo reb

Nope you haven't struck a nerve. Sorry it came across that way. After 2+ years of working on the update though it's time to turn it loose. More features cost more time.

Since you're new, I'll tell you that there has been a PATCH promised for PCK for almost 3 years now. 2+ years ago we were asked to come and help do a patch and then start work on the next version of the game. About 2 months into that the original developer stopped being a company. Matrix had to acquire the game and reset everything from square one.

For those concerned with Matrix' commitment to the PC series that should tell you everything.


All during that time those of us they asked to work on the patch turned this into an update instead.

The infantry model of the game needs work. We know that. We've concentrated on making the interface better and game mechanics as much as possible for a PATCH. While Matrix was busy, and I do mean BUSY, we kept going because they were trying to get more help for us. At some point they realized we were doing it all and just let us go.

The infantry model is much better than it ever was before. It's not totally fixed yet.

So, for 2 years we've heard, IS IT DONE YET? THAT LOOKS GREAT BUT WHAT ABOUT THIS? THIS IS STILL BROKEN! and as I said, at some point we have to release what we have. We fully intend on getting the infantry right.

But, as I pointed out, someone may get tired of what the animations look like and mod them. That has happened with other games and once PCO is released I expect that to happen here as well.

There is normal walking, advancing which is more cautious and rushing forward which is less cautious. 3 modes of advance for infantry.

Maybe that's a better explanation to your comments.

Good Hunting.

MR

[benpark]

As far as the animations go, myself and Spellir have gotten to the point where we can change the animations. This is one of the most tedious and time consuming things as far as the graphics go.

I've made it my mission to get the infantry game in shape once the terrain is take care of (a never ending process in itself). Improved animations is one of the areas I am pretty obsessed with making better.

There are some new animations, I believe- Stridor would have to remind me what they were. Close assault (grenage tossing) may be one.

I believe that information needs to be relayed to the player through the graphic representation (or sound) of what happens under the hood- if a panzerfaust is fired by a squad, it's nice to see it. We aren't there with every little detail, but the overall impression is so vastly improved from the original, I find it unrecognizable.

Three things to bear in mind, though-

1. We are a "Dad's Army" working on the game- a volunteer force. We are pretty different in terms of most any other game development out there. We are all modders and tinkerers laboring for the joy of it, only somewhat organized so that we can get a good update out. This means we will get to stuff that isn't as pressing when we can.

2. The hard-code structure of the game is such that new animations can't be added- but those that exist can. That means you won't see figures jumping fences, etc. Just different "idle" poses, "walking" poses, etc.

3. This game isn't 1:1. A group of figures represents a squad/team. So doing certain things to the animations that make people think that it is 1:1 goes against the grain of the game. I like 1:1, but I also like this style of play. But they both require differing approaches, and the graphics of the game need to reinforce that.

[diablo1]

Ok in regards to 1:1 that many of us are probably going to mod ourselves or download someone else's. What happens or how will the game determine when a soldier should fall to the ground in death? I've see how it does with 5 units per squad. I'm just interested in knowing how it will react to 10-12 units per squad? Will it even work? Will it wait until it gets t to the 5th soldier and then 7 of them will fall dead?

[benpark]

No, they drop incrementally, so you may see 1 guy die or a few- depending on the severity of the casualties. Weapon scrounging is abstracted, so the heavy weapon is the last man standing.

As far as the game code goes, the difference between 3 men represented on screen and 12 is the same- the data that's input about it is the thing that makes it 12 men to the engine. Think of it being like a board game counter with a value of 3-4 (offensive-defensive). You make a bigger counter, and the values are the same to the game- no matter the size of the cardboard.

The good thing about the game is that it's fairly easy to change things if you can take 1/2 an hour to amend the text files. You could add another infantry figure to the "stand" of a squad in the XML file, and he would show up in the game if you didn't have any typos.

Making him run differently- that requires some skill in 3D animation and modeling. It depends on what you want to do- if you set your mind to it, you can really change a lot.

[benpark]

I certainly hope that people add more mod content to the game. The few of us on the team that have done the graphics work would like to see what people come up with.

[rickier65]

ORIGINAL: diablo1

Ok in regards to 1:1 that many of us are probably going to mod ourselves or download someone else's. What happens or how will the game determine when a soldier should fall to the ground in death? I've see how it does with 5 units per squad. I'm just interested in knowing how it will react to 10-12 units per squad? Will it even work? Will it wait until it gets t to the 5th soldier and then 7 of them will fall dead?

I haven't tested adding 10-12 inf models to a unit, but what is supposed to happen is a "rounded" percentage will fall with each casualty hit. As Ben said, this is abstracted and we aren't trying for a 1:1 representation so even with 10-12 models in the unit, it still only has 3 "step losses" before it dies.

thakns
rick

[diablo1]

ORIGINAL: benpark

I certainly hope that people add more mod content to the game. The few of us on the team that have done the graphics work would like to see what people come up with.

Did you add any female partisians? Female Russian soldiers? You do know there were female russian soldiers right?

[benpark]

Spellir may have made a model for them, but didn't.

You are talking to a 41 year old man who has been reading about the Soviet/Axis war since he was 8. I know about them, and that they are a very, very minor part of the big picture. I'm far more interested about adding Axis minor troops than female partisans.

[diablo1]

And once again the female gets descriminated against because of her MINOR part in a MAJOR effor. Personally I don't think anything or anyone was minor in that war. Every ounce of blood whether male or female wasn't minor when one of them was losing it.

[benpark]

I'm talking about what we have time to put in the game, not something you are imagining I said.