NEW ADDITIONAL FEATURES IN WOFF BETWEEN HEAVEN & HELL II
... and much more you will discover when you fly with Wings: Over Flanders Fields Between Heaven & Hell II.
FEATURES IN WINGS OVER FLANDERS FIELDS: OFF BETWEEN HEAVEN & HELL II
New features added into BH&H2 (since WOFF PE);
Note some of these have a large impact with a substantial effect on game-play and immersion - the bar keeps moving up! The list below are
mostly brief descriptions of much more
detailed changes;
1)
AI 'Landing' or 'Going Home' are now more aware of enemy activity and react accordingly with 'Urgent Defense' on 'close proximity
threat detection' even before a potential attacker shoots etc.
They do not assess any Morale Factors hence its an Urgent reaction.
Note: Aircraft may still sometimes not 'see' the enemy approaching and then may still not react.
Note2: Aircraft that are Landing - if they are On Beam (Final Descent/Glide path to runway/field) then they will not abort the Landing -
they will always Land.
The variables for reaction to 'close proximity threats' when 'Landing' or 'Going Home' are:
1) Skill
2) Weather/Visibility
3) Do they actually spot the attacker?
4) Fuel and Ammunition status
5) Craft type
6) Health (Craft and Pilot damage states)
2)
AI in 'Transit' now ALWAYS scan for 'close proximity threats', this is irrespective of the Transit 'Search Intercept' waypoint directive.
Search Intercept is a long range scan directive and is only performed if they AI are directed to do so in the mission file.
Close Proximity Threats are a short range scan - these are now always carried out.
Note: Aircraft may still sometimes not 'see' the close proximity threat approaching and then not react.
The variables for a reaction to 'close proximity threats' when in 'Transit' are:
1) Standard Fight 'Morale Factors' (extensive eg: Numerical Odds of the two flights, Altitudes, Directions, AI Morale, AI Skill, Aircraft
Type, Distance from Frontlines etc etc)
2) Weather/Visibility
3) Do they actually spot the attacker? (human error die roll).
4) Fuel and Ammunition status
5) Craft type
6) Health (Craft and Pilot damage states)
3)
A2S: Fighters doing successive passes will now U turn closer to the target eg 'airfield attacks'and or 'balloon attacks'
4)
AI 'Taking Off' are now more aware of enemy activity and react accordingly with 'Urgent Defense' on 'close proximity threat detection'
even before a potential attacker shoots etc.
They do not assess any Morale Factors hence its an Urgent reaction.
Note: Aircraft may still sometimes not 'see' the enemy approaching and then may still not react.
Note2: Aircraft must be in 'Formup' stage of takeoff before they will react - they cannot react when on the field, climbing out or
leveling off - for obvious reasons.
The variables for reaction to 'close proximity threats' when 'Taking Off' are:
1) Skill
2) Weather/Visibility
3) Do they actually spot the attacker? (human error die roll).
4) Fuel and Ammunition status
5) Craft type
6) Health (Craft and Pilot damage states)
5)
Fighters should now no longer endlessly chase an opponent that is 'running' and cannot be caught up to/intercepted.
6)
Fixed an issue with Boom and BoomF manoeuvres at low level that would see the attacker often crash into the ground or dive inverted.
7)
Improved Collision Avoidance routines especially with regard to fast fighter boom attacks on slow moving targets - NOTE! Collisions will
still occur just as in real life due to pilot error!
Because the AI are autonomous they might also turn in the same direction to avoid each other - just as in real life.
8)
Implemented dynamic air turbulence which makes each craft look more real as the pilots jostle to keep formation individually - varies
each mission with some overriding criteria:
1) Depends on local wind speed - and weather patterns
2) Clear days may be turbulent or smoother
3) Gets worse in cloud
4) Tends to 0 as Altitude above Ground tends to 0 below 300m
Improved in cloud air turbulence.
Implemented an extra workshops setting that allows player to have wind affecting AI aircraft but not his own aircraft.
9)
AI will now spend more time in 'A2A_Seek' looking for targets in A2A before going to A2A_Formup, also revised the limits on number of
attackers per target.
10)
AI that are in A2A_Formup now 'check tail' to defend against potential attackers.
11)
Improved formation target selection criteria when scanning skies to prevent chasing targets that are 'running' at medium range or
greater, or re-engaging targets that have already been given up on in A2A (cannot catch - see 5)
12)
Revised Speeds at which craft explode when flipping over - craft should now be less likely to explode - also improved pilots survivability
in 'on ground' crashes.
13)
Ground proximity now has less of a bearing on AI reaction to threats.
14)
Aircraft will now start fighting for a period of time before doing morale checks to prevent immediately switching out of A2A and
running.
15)
Reduced frequency of 'all 4 wing' failures.
16)
New Improved Ground Avoidance code (as featured in WOTR).
17)
Fixed an issue with the throttle control that would sometimes occur in Ground Avoidance routine.
18)
Ground avoidance pitch control now has sliding gain that increases with increasing proximity to the ground, once an aircraft is below
the GA threshold altitude.
This gives a smooth control action and avoids 'jerky corrections' once an aircraft does go below GA threshold. eg in 'run home low'
situations.
19)
'Z function' now includes ASL and AGL altitude display.
20)
Reduced probability of seeing enemies at night.
21)
Flak Gun targeting angles revised.
22)
Collision damage physics and effects associated with ground objects, scenery objects, terrain, and other aircraft overhauled and new
effects implemented and or revised.
23)
Progressive damage now modelled for main wings - AI and Player
24)
All aircraft range/durations adjusted to be as near to actual as possible.
25)
Vastly improved scenery textures.
26)
Improved facility tree textures and rendering.
27)
Many improvements in main terrain blending and overlays. Much more natural layouts.
28)
Revised fence and telegraph pole scenery objects.
29)
N11 gear oscillation issues on landing resolved.
30)
Fixed an issue that prevented the Fe2b from engaging in fights correctly.
Revised model to simulate fixed gun capability for real Dogfighting.
31)
Implemented a new mission replay function. Added various controls and features to filter out information and focus on player or other
details.
32)
N12 Category changed from Fighter_Bomber to Tactical_Bomber
33)
'Trainable gun' Gunners are now only inhibited by rate of pitch/roll change and G Force - not static Pitch/Roll
34)
Trainable gunners now park their guns if there are no longer any targets nearby.
35)
For AI pilots, or autopilot the “Tacs Go Home” tactic is now switched to 'climb' if on enemy side of lines and the aircraft has taken a
certain amount of damage.
36)
Fighters now break off attack and leave targets that are heavily damaged and or too low.
37)
Trainable Guns now no longer target Trees, Buildings and Tents etc
38)
Fighters will no longer try to engage other aircraft that are a lot higher up in altityde than they are (opponent alt difference/range
dependant).
39)
Fighters will now do regular morale/continue? checks in A2AF mode.
40)
Revised aircraft resupply rate and made it worse for German squads as war progresses to a close.
41)
Players can now click the aircraft icon and see the aircraft stats when in main enlistment screen.
42)
Squads that are 25 miles or less from the front lines now focus operations on the front line sector nearest them where possible.
43)
A+B flights are now sometimes combined - all fly in B Flight:
German: 6/1917 onwards: they may combine both flights into B as one large flight quite often - as player, and as an enemy flight that player
may run into if he is not German.
Other Nations: 6/1917 onwards - if A Flight is not allocated then B Flight is often now larger.
44)
Frequency of operations revised and more intense during battles.
45)
Enemy squads encountered are now more likely to be the squadrons in the immediate vicinity along the frontlines.
46)
Rank Modifications:
1) On enlistment in any squad 2 pilots are ranked low - one high and the rest are middle ranks
2) Halved all prestige points to slow down promotion of AI and player.
47)
1)
When receiving aircraft upgrades squads are now allocated full complements of the new craft rather than sometimes receiving
only partial complements, and having all the old replaced craft removed.
This avoids the player being penalised for an upgrade and having incomplete aircraft complements directly after the upgrade.
Note reserves are not always supplied but will be put on order as needed.
2)
Upgrades now occur irrespective of spares holding.
48)
Implemented the facility to override/change Scenario Weather.
49)
Wheel Gear on all Aircraft can now be damaged in battle, on impact, or overstressed in hard landings - individual DM for Left and Right
gear.
50)
Revised Lewis Guns - can now be reloaded (Ctrl+Shift+G) each craft has the historically correct number of drums and rounds.
51)
Lewis Guns on Foster mounts can now be Lowered (Ctrl+G) and Raised (Shift+G) - Gun must be fully lowered to Reload!
52)
Lewis Guns that are on Foster Mounts that are not fully raised cannot be fired.
53)
Built in Engine Rocker arm animation axes as well as Engine vibration animation axes.
Engine Vibration occurs:
1) At Stall
2) At Overspeed
3) At low RPM
4) when engine damaged
54)
Built in pilot head animation for player craft - Externally pilots 'scan the skies' and craft controls:
1) Shakes/Dither noise when engine/prop is turning
2) Faces forward when shooting.
3) Reduces scanning activity when injured and head slowly droops more as progressive injuries occur.
55)
Built in simplified head animation for all AI craft - faces forward when shooting.
56)
Revisited Collision Avoidance and improved.
57)
Player Pilot head now shakes from wind buffet even when looking straight ahead i.e even with no active 'look' animation being
processed.
58)
Support for Historical Ace Rank and Ace Aircraft is now incorporated and used for both the player squadron and all AI squads. Supported
file name structure is:
'Ident'Rank.txt and 'Ident'Craft.txt and the files must reside in their relevant sub folder under the main Aces folder.
These folders are called 'Aircraft' and 'Ranks'
'Ident' can be:
1) AceID number eg GermanAce01Rank.txt and GermanAce01Craft.txt
2) Ace FirstName and LastName (from main 'Nation'Ace File) with no spaces. eg ManfredAlbrechtFreiherrvonRichthofenRank.txt and
ManfredAlbrechtFreiherrvonRichthofenCraft.txt
3) AceFile Recordline(10) ace kill file name: (xxxKill.txt) eg : MvRkill.txt MvRRank.txt and MvRCraft.txt
59)
Ace Aircraft slots (3) are now allocated by Rank - either from the Rank file (if existing) or as interpolated from the Aces Rank in the
main ace file - Recordline (17)
60)
AI squads 'regular pilots' now use their three slots of aircraft differently from mission to mission, and is rule based. eg Esc 62 (dual role
Self-Escort squad) will sometimes be seen using Strutters or Fighters
61)
Both Ace Rank and Ace Aircraft (including skin specification) historical Database files now supported, in order to track Ace Rank and
Aircraft over time and allocate these as per historical research.
If an Ace is using an Aircraft from this Aces database, it is indicated in the main campaign GUI - "Active Airman" - next to the Ace's
aircraft type by a '(*)'.
62)
Player can now elect to override the aircraft allocations that are normally based on the AI pilots Rank. This is done in the Aircraft
Inventory/Workshops interface accessed from the main Campaign GUI.
Overrides are visible in the main campaign GUI - "Active Airman" - and are indicated by a '(!)' next to the AI Pilot's aircraft type.
The player can only override normal AI Pilots - NOT ACES.
Note: Overrides remain in place until the craft selected by the player for the AI pilot is no longer available to the squadron historically
i.e when they get sent back as trainers.
63)
Player can now elect to override his own aircraft allocation that is normally based on his Rank provided the squad has alternative craft
historically assigned.
This is done in the Aircraft Inventory/Workshops interface accessed from the main Campaign GUI.
Note: Player craft overide is available to the player until the craft selected by the player is no longer historically available to the
squadron i.e when they get sent back as trainers.
64)
Aircraft allocations are now shown in more detail on the main Campaign GUI - "Active Airman".
Indications are now included such as when there are insufficient aircraft to assign to the pilots (the Pilot then cannot fly), whether the
AI pilots craft is in for repair (the Pilot then cannot fly), and how long it is before it will be fixed etc.
If an AI Pilot cannot fly due to lack of default aircraft, or because of aircraft in for repair, the player can override the AI pilots allocation
as in 63) and provided there were other types of craft available to the squad historically,
and they are available in store, the AI Pilot can be rendered fully active again.
A tally of 'Grounded' pilots is displayed to the player.
Note: Aces always have aircraft available to them and thus are always equipped irrespective of losses or damage sustained.
65)
Implemented the ability to 'Restore' a deceased pilot's Squadron in the Pilot Dossier GUI - Logs/Claims/Victories are all reset to 0 -
player has to set up a new name rank dob etc.
66)
Optimised the Squadron complements to better reflect historical squadron levels - Existing Squad pilots will automatically adjust to
historical squadron levels over time (pilots will transfer in or out each day)
Note: British Squadrons actually had 3 Flights - we only simulate 2 Flights: A and B and this moment in time thus British Squadron
Complements reflect numbers for two flight capability and not three!
67)
Squadrons now attempt to always put up maximum complements from 1917 onwards.
68)
Player Squadron State is now implemented.
The Squadron state is either:
'Operational'
'Working Up' - preparing operations at forward airfield.
'Forming Up' - for example at St Omer waiting for squad members to join (normally only for a few days).
'Settling In' - after a transfer to distant airfields.
'Deploying' - commonly to France
'Departing' - going to an Airfield in England closest to the coast of France to 'Deploy'
or
'No Operations' - due to loss of aircraft or other historical issue that prevented the squadron from operating on that specific day historically.
This status is displayed top left of main Campaign GUI.
This only applies if Campaign Mission Frequency in workshops is set to Historical - any other Campaign Mission Frequency setting
overrides this functionality (O/R)
Squads that are not operational, due to one of the above reasons, will now no longer appear as an enemy squad or other friendly squad in the
mission region of ops.
This is irrespective of workshop settings.
69)
Player Squad, if not 'Operational', now performs mundane chores e.g. test engines and or rigging or hone flying skills as opposed to
actual sorties if player selects next mission.
Duty Roster states that no operations are being flown by A or B flight.
This can be overridden in workshops see 70) or player can advance time: T+.
70)
Alternative Target Types options have been extended where possible. E.g. Patrol Behind Friendly lines has up to 4 alternative target
types. Others may have 2 or 3 or 4 depending on mission type
71)
Improved font scaling on widescreen monitors.
72)
Revised Squadron Transfers - if the squadrons new Airfield is greater than 100 miles distant the transfer takes place via road.
73)
Dramatically Improved Scenery and greater variations in trees and variations of blending - all seasons
74) Player aircraft will now play a sound when flown overspeed.
75) Revised Theatre : Terrain Textures, Landclasses, LSO, MOS, and Global layers - all seasons - Done
76)
New Hi Res Maps for runtime and UI for improved navigation!
77)
WOFF/OBD Theatre now extends to the whole of the mapped region, as opposed to just the WW1 campaign region - for possible future
expansions
78)
Player Airfield is now instantiated as a unique field and now has the ability in the future to have unique buildings as well as
construction activity from time to time.
79)
Player Airfield is now populated with player squad aircraft.
80)
Lewis Drums: Number of Spare drums are now indicated in HUD.
81)
Implemented vibration sounds when aircraft is vibrating at low idle speeds
82)
AI improved Landing.
83)
Rain intensity now varies from mission to mission. Also some rain has a misting affect from light to dense to reduce effective visibility.
84)
Implemented 'Goggles Effects' for player when in VC view - complete with dynamic rain effects, oil, blood, and cracks, dirt build up -
can be switched on and off in workshops or adjusted for visibility, for superb immersion
85)
New cloud and vision code so Air formations that are in A2A pursuit mode will no longer continue to chase enemies that are obscured
in/by cloud (cloud fog check), and thus no longer visible.
Note: - Enemies are only spotted when there is a clear LOS to them - IOW only when they are visible (cloud fog check) - but this
change now checks visibility constantly as the pursuit takes place/unfolds! Now you can try to run and hide in a thick cloud to lose a chasing
enemy.
86) Player Airfield Attack Missions can now sometimes have Bombers (as well as Fighters previously) preparing to take-off as the attack starts.
(GAI - MissionEnemyFlight)
Many more changes - including all 80+ aircraft revised and updated, some extensively, for example:
Aircraft Changes for BH&H II
All craft with Inline engines have new or improved engine models complete with new
appropriate pushrod animations (where visible).
New improved blurred rotary engine in all rotaries and improved blurred prop hubs.
Improved cowl and front fuselage metal reflectivity on rotary aircraft. All rotaries and some inline have new oil splattered or dark inner
areas.
New animated pilots and observers added to all aircraft and in virtual cockpit views where appropriate in 2 seaters.
New gun models added to some aircraft.
All tail skids improved with new textures applied and some with model improvements.
Gear modelling improved for all aircraft, with new damage model added for individually breakable gear.
General virtual cockpit vibration added to all aircraft, and to all observer gunner views where necessary.
All Aircraft also have animations added to individual needles, compasses, control columns, and various other items in many such as pump
handles.
Fuel Pulsators have new animation and new liquid effect.
External vibration animations added, including vibrating engines, guns, exhausts.
Be2c, Be2c HD, Be2 Early, Be12, Be12 HD all have new cowl / front fuselage sections plus improved exhausts and other parts - all with new
individual metal textures including new and fully animated RAF 1A and 4A engines.
Se5, Se5a, Se5a Viper, new radiators (with DM) and many other model improvements.
Exhausts improved with new design and textures, new HS Engine, new inspection windows and the inspection openings under the fuselage
have been added complete with internal details.
Lewis and Drum animations added for new Lewis drum rotation when fired and reload effect for aircraft that use Lewis.
RE8 newly designed front fuselage section with new inline engine and high res textures.
Albatros DII brand new external model (with new aircraft “skins” or textures by James ‘OvS’).
Albatros DI new model updates to cowl and fitting (with new aircraft “skins” or textures by James ‘OvS’).
Additionally almost all aircraft have had some new parts or improved areas, including some improved level-of-detail parts.
New wind sound added, prop whines, and wires, vibrations
FE2b added features to use the new fighting ability from code.
Adjusted some eye-points to more realistic or useful positions where possible.
Flying, landing and other wires appearance changed to more metallic grey on many.
Other changes to aircraft include ability to use new code features associated with the flight experience in aircraft ;
New wind sound effect in flight.
New visual and audio dive effects including vibration of aircraft when over speed,
Wires singing at higher speeds and dive speeds, as we reported in pilot memoires,
Prop whine increase with speed.
Idle vibrations and sound effects.