Weather EF2000 style!

1996 … 640×400 Software mode graphics and DirectX 3!

Still, weather modeling (by my definition) is a big reason I still play EF2000. Dogfighting and just flying in this stuff can be hazardous (while descending, a mountain might come out of nowhere), and dropping dumb bombs can be tough when you have to fly below it to see.

Selecting Poor Weather> …

Below the clouds …

In the clouds …

Above the clouds …

I’m sure DID had an improvement in mind with TAW but if we can ever get this far with it, I’d be happy! Just trying to be realistic. 🙂

And a favorite video …

http://198.65.10.229/DID/MiG-29.wmv

nice vid. I liked it. would’ve been nicer if the Russians were flying ’em.

say, got some more? Su-35 vids maybe? 😁

These are from Typhoon. The last one is about as far as I can get with the Icebreaker addon. 🙂

bored,
do you have Typhoon? And if so, do you see any files in there indicating some sort of dynamic weather?

Choosing state of weather in the starting menu is not the same as flying from nice sky into the weather front. It appears that only MSFS has that. Falcon4 4 has also some sort of weather mechanism which is possibly and theoretically possible in TAW because both of simulations have the clouds on entire map of the world. This is the 1st step and precursor to have weather.

Seems like every DID sim goes to color extremes, you either get a dark gloomy atmosphere or a bright happy one, not much in-between. The only break I get in TAW is when flying at night (which I prefer doing anyway, with any sim). The problem is when playing the campaigns, you can skip time to say … after 10PM (and before 6AM), but you’ll lose as you need to stay in there and get things done. Besides, I do like some daytime variety.

This is another area where EF2K is better than TAW, IMO. You can chose if your actions affect the campaign. If you choose no, to win or lose a campaign is more of a coin toss, you’re at the mercy of Wargen randomization. The advantage however is that you can fast-forward (8 hours at a time) and fly when you want to, both time-of-day and weather conditions. You can even completely setup your own strike packages without worrying about the progress of your campaign (for another thread). Maybe not as satisfying when you win a campaign but it adds flexibility and variety.

I wonder how DID was planning on implementing weather in the TAW campaigns? When you finish a mission, your next mission puts you back in the TAW world exactly where you left off in the last mission (unless you time skip), so weather randomization between missions would be weird. At 6:30 PM you would exit your mission in a thunderstorm, then at 6:35 PM you might start your next mission on a nice clear day. 🙂 If randomizing, which TOD would you change weather conditions (middle of the night being most reasonable)? A storm might instantly appear at midnight, but it would be no more weirder than the 6AM instant daylight we have now. 🙂

 …and this is also from Typhoon 🙂

Mark, I haven’t played EF2000 much … does it have a moving map?

Polak, yes I have the original Typhoon and the Icebreaker addon which also contains the original game.
The game has .dat files, which on the face of it are similar to TAW’s, i.e. they have an index at the end giving the file size and offset of each component, but there appears to be an additional layer of protection, so I haven’t been able to extract anything … although I haven’t tried too hard.

bored

does it have a moving map?

bored, you’re from the UK and you travel to Norway, play some EF2000, man!!! 😁

I prefer flying for the home team and TAW’s stealth game play is my favorite since …

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uGBLRMbDWgs

… but EF2000 is so enjoyable that I play it just as much. Although I never got Super EF2000 to play nice on any of my PCs (mostly sound issues), only the US version of Super (EF2000 V2.0). Even plays on Vista, but not so well with a CPU above ~2GHz (any OS), that’s the limit that a CPU slowdown utility will make the game jerky. I’m happy on a 1.7GHz w/XP, winThrottle at 50%. Also my new dual-core 1.6GHz laptop, and the ratio looks good on a 15.4" widescreen.

If anyone is interested let me know, if just to see what might one day be implemented in TAW (i.e. usable moving map at night).

Jolly07

nice vid. I liked it. would’ve been nicer if the Russians were flying ’em.

I never even noticed. 🙂

Jolly07

say, got some more? Su-35 vids maybe? 😁

up, how about some nice Su-35 propaganda (47MB, may take a while to load, suggest right-click/saving) …
http://198.65.10.229/DID/Su-35_Combat_Promo.avi

… and the propaganda counter-punch …
http://198.65.10.229/DID/Nothing_comes_close_320.mpeg

Something to be taken a little more seriously …
http://198.65.10.229/DID/SU-35.wmv

MGonzales

bored

does it have a moving map?

bored, you’re from the UK and you travel to Norway, play some EF2000, man!!! 😁

A simple yes would have been sufficient. 🙂

The manual wasn’t transferred (didn’t realise there was one) to the hard disk when I installed the game. I’ve just found it on the SEF2000 installation disk though.
I could have done with knowing this when I was doing the EF2000 extraction stuff some 18 months ago. My extractor (I think) worked in the same as way as Krus’s first extractor, i.e. you had to go through all the motions to extract the files. Looks like I missed a great deal … and I’ve forgotton how to do it now. 🙁

YES … sorry. 🙂

To everyone, anything you need EF2K-related is here …
http://www.simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/2162323#Post2162323

PM me for the rest.

mikew, is it correct to assume that DID used higher levels of protection with each release? For example, EF2000’s campaign files(s) are totally open, right (hello Strategic Command)? Yet not all of TAW’s campaign files are readable? I know there were some legal issues between then publisher Infogrames (and possibly DID) and a 3rd-party developer regarding a dynamic campaign generator for ADF (I believe), possibly encouraging DID to tighten access to parts of TAW? But then DID fully supported GTT so maybe not.

Typhoon added CD copy protection and requiring a CD to play, and possibly an additional layer of protection?

thanks for the videos, Mark. the first two were a bit sloppy, TBH.

I still wonder which one of the furious three (Su-35/7, EF2000 and F-22) is the best dogfighter.
after all that energy versus angles fighter reading I’ve done, I still have no idea which is best.
the EF2000 seems to have the lowest corner velocity. then again, the Sukhoi has thrust vectoring.

and I can still beat the shrapnel outta ’em, flying my F-22, which is somewhere in between in terms of dogfighting personality … 😕

oh, and Mike, don’t worry. give yourself time and it’ll all come back.

Polak

Choosing state of weather in the starting menu is not the same as flying from nice sky into the weather front. It appears that only MSFS has that. Falcon4 4 has also some sort of weather mechanism which is possibly and theoretically possible in TAW because both of simulations have the clouds on entire map of the world. This is the 1st step and precursor to have weather.

Well doesn’t it seem logical that the East -vs- West Palettes feature in TAW indicates that the TAW forecast predicts some very nice weather? (maybe similar to Typhoon)

DrKevDog

Well doesn’t it seem logical that the East -vs- West Palettes feature in TAW indicates that the TAW forecast predicts some very nice weather?

Unfortunately no.

East/West palette of the sky is only to differentiate the colors of the sky during the sunrise and sunset. Due to sunflare the coloration of the sky during the sunrise on the east is different than the west. Same applies to the sunset. As it stands now the color of the sky is the same all around the horizon.

Polak

Unfortunately no.

East/West palette of the sky is only to differentiate the colors of the sky during the sunrise and sunset. Due to sunflare the coloration of the sky during the sunrise on the east is different than the west. Same applies to the sunset. As it stands now the color of the sky is the same all around the horizon.

LOL … well just rain on my parade Mr. Smarty Pants, but I’m gonna find some weather in this stupid sim if it takes me forever … um, how long is forever? 😝

Polak,

I hope I didn’t come off a little too crisp. Yesterday was one of those days at work, you know, the Bad Day at Black Rock kinda day. Perhaps it spilled over into my comment and maybe a little of the shoot from the hip mentality … just a little testy on yesterday. At any rate, today is a new and beautiful day and thanks for your comments mate 👍

Do not be too sensitive my m8. If anything was I would had in the flash.

😁

DrKevDog

LOL … well just rain on my parade Mr. Smarty Pants, but I’m gonna find some weather in this stupid sim if it takes me forever … um, how long is forever? 😝

IMO, forever lasts until another sophisticated aerial campaign and flight simulation program comes along with a detailed flyable 5th generation stealth aircraft.

Speculation

We know MK made out well selling his studio to Sony. He’s now semi-retired, deciding to go back to his first love of making ultra-modern combat flight sims. He’s acquired all things DID from struggling Atari, and is at home working on the rebirth of DID, but at a more casual pace.

He realizes things will be different this time:

1. There won’t be half a dozen F-22 flight sims to compete with (although I suspect DID made the best F-22 sim by far, I can confirm if this when my copy of iF-22 arrives next week).

2. There won’t be constant comparisons to a new F-16 sim that’s supposed to be the be all end all of combat flight sims.

3. Flight simmers today realize that the dying genre is partly due to the fact that flight sims should cost more than a shooter, and paying twice for EF2K or F22 back in the day was in fact a bargain! And even the so-called hardcore flight simmer recognizes that a new Eurofighter or Raptor sim, done in DID style (relaxed but comprehensive) is good for the genre, maybe not on par with DCS and LP’s ultra-detailed and realistic simulations but MUCH better than anything you can find on a console.

/End Speculation.

<sigh> I think forever is going to last a really long time. 🙁 But I’m digging your attitude and determination, DKD! 👍!

The only simulation worth any wait is going to be perhaps LP’s whatever thats going to be. And perhaps that could be F22 flavor because why not? I know, that everybody is chattering about naval version, so F35 would be my final bet.

Polak

The only simulation worth any wait is going to be perhaps LP’s whatever thats going to be. And perhaps that could be F22 flavor because why not?

Because it’s classified? 🙂

Polak

I know, that everybody is chattering about naval version, so F35 would be my final bet.

Same with the F-35, I don’t believe LP would include a 5th generation aircraft (other than AI, and I’m surprised they did that). Falconeers would revolt, DCS fans would say, lol, Frugal’s would go into total chaos and Mower’s head would explode!

I believe the best we can hope for is that LP provides an SDK(?) to allow modders to create an F-22 (as is the case somewhat now with other Falcon flavors), but with proper avionics and capabilities (as best as we know them to be). Even Aeyes has a Eurofighter pit on his website, I believe an F-22 as well (at least at one time it was a WIP). So I believe some Falcon fans would welcome the idea, but I don’t think you’re going to see it from LP.

Although I look forward to LP’s upcoming flyable Hornet (my guess), the idea of flying an F-22, modeled at least as well as TAW, in Falcon’s world would be a dream. Not holding my breath though.