Yet another update from the frontlines... 4.37 U3 progress
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Hello fellow Falconeers, it’s been a while. Again
After U2, we decided to take a longer release cycle for two reasons:
- U2 was good enough in terms of stability;
- Devs were all tired after several short release cycles.
And I’m glad we did that. Personally, I had the chance to go to Europe and meet in person some of my fellow coders and devs. I had a great week there and many thanks for my European friends who took some time to host me!
I also took some time away from Falcon, didn’t code much and only worked on reviews during this time. Which was great to recharge my batteries. But now I’m back to coding as well.
So, where are we?
First, I will talk about the two points that I consider critical for the U3 release.
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F15 dev keeps progressing, new radar modes, MFDs and HUD functionalities are all being worked on. From my side, I am working on the F15 radio, which is a bit different from the F16 one. There has also some nice additional work being done on the 3d cockpit.
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Database format change (from LOD to BML). This was one of my main concerns towards New Terrain, so the sooner we do this transition, the better. As usual, there are some bugs: transparency issues and wrong polygon orientation we are working on. But the database is mostly working and is already playable.
Is that all?
No, there are some other unrelated changes which are not key for this release but will be included as well. Bug fixes, as usual, but some features as well:
- fragmentation damage
- improved models
- campaign brain changes (this is a big one!)
- xinput support
- initial implementation of other aircrafts…
When?
I was expecting a release between June and July, but we still have some ground to cover. I think end of July is more reasonable, due to the F15 progress, but we will see. Again, no promises, this is a best effort estimate
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Thanks for the update AND all the selfless work you all put into this great sim.
Duke
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@Seifer said in Yet another update from the frontlines... 4.37 U3 progress:
- campaign brain chanegs (this is a big one!)
Oh, i’m waiting for this one !!!
DEV team, keep up the great work you are doing
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@Seifer said in Yet another update from the frontlines... 4.37 U3 progress:
I was expecting a release between June and July
No year set… could be this year, could be next year, but definitely 2-3 Falcon weeks!!
Thanks for the update and thanks to you and all the devs for continuing work on our beloved sim!
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@Seifer Very much-needed reassurance on the future of Falcon!
Will the LOD to BML database change have significant impact on theater developers?
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@Seifer
Thank you for this dev update always good to read it. Can you explain a little bit more detail what does the LOD to BML mean. Is it change the whole 3d model import process ? I mean if somebody want to make a new or upgrade model in 3dsmax , how can we turn into BML format instead of LOD? there will be a newer tool for that? Or any change to update the old one to work in newer 3dsmax version or Blender ?
Or IS it totally different from the modelling? -
Hey folks, I am no database expert here, so take this with a grain of salt.
With BML, we don’t have a single database anymore. All models have their own files. This makes updating a lot simpler, just rewrite the file, no need to rebuild the DB.
Currently, we have a tool to convert the whole LOD database to BML. But we also have a plugin that exports models from 3DS to BML directly if I understood correctly.
I will stop here, otherwise I may pass wrong information. But I guess other devs who understand better can complement what I said.
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Awesome stuff, @Seifer thank you for the update. So many great undertakings for U3.
Is this topic related to cluster bomb efficiency (or lack thereof)?
fragmentation damage
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A couple extra points on top of what @Seifer said:
BML generation 1 for 4.37
This will be a step forward in multiple ways:
- Better optimization of 3D rendering (far less resource intensive than LOD)
- No more compiled database (faster way to edit, update, change parents - this will still require people with proper knowledge as we will probably not document this too much)
- Less polygon limit constraints (higher 3D definition models)
- Better integration with Falcon BMS editor
There will be constrainsts though:
- Our tool ecosystem won’t be 100% ready to edit fully the models in BML (like changing texture as in LOD editor)
- There won’t be an exporter for BML v1 from 3DSMax
- There will be an alternative Falcon editor to enable 3DDB LOD to BML mass export
- The Falcon BMS editor will be able to manually convert LOD per LOD to BML
BML generation 2 for 4.38
This will be when the fun starts…
- PBR enabled models
- Textures directly in the parent directory
- A native 3DSMax exporter
There will be consequences though:
- PC specs to be reviewed
- Lots of disk space
- Textures and virtual emory management is a WIP (new terrain and PBR… lots of VRAM…)
- The legacy models will need time and community contributions to be updated and upgraded to latest standards (PBR especially)…
Hope that helps on the vision
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But remember,
Falcon BMS will be delivered in 3~4 falcon weeks -
I didn’t expect that so early! The “campaign brain changes” is the most interesting part of it
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Great news,
You guys never seem to sleep,
Dam sim just gets more sexy with each update.
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@jayb good question. I was asking me the same thing. Is something general or dedicated to bombs, missiles, etc…??
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@jayb this means that after a bomb explodes, it sends frags into the air, and will damage your aircraft if you are inside this bubble.
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@Seifer Oh holy seifer that part of the BMS development team, your skill and wisdom are divine, thank you for creating tools that allow us to advance in the digital world of simulation and improve our lives. May your light continue to guide us on the path of innovation and creativity. Amen.
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@VIPER-0 my Cuban friend, please be fair to the other members of this team, I’m just the spokesperson.
The tools aren’t mine, most of the code is not mine either. This is all team work.
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Thank you for such a succinct update. Looking forward to this update, but in the meantime I’ll continue to enjoy this masterpiece in VR
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@Seifer said in Yet another update from the frontlines... 4.37 U3 progress:
@VIPER-0 my Cuban friend, please be fair to the other members of this team, I’m just the spokesperson.
The tools aren’t mine, most of the code is not mine either. This is all team work.
Of course my old friend, it is a way of saying thanks for the update from the entire BMS team, remember that you were named Saint SEIFER, the patron saint of all the dispossessed and outdated of BMS, saint of the 3-4 falcon weeks .
greetings, take care and a hug.
For the entire BMS team, we don’t get tired of talking all day long on our communication channels here in Cuba about your great work and I tell my wing boys, hold on that this is going strong.
Thank you BMS team, without you this dream would not be possible. They have a bottle of good rum on my account for everyone.
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Thanks for the update news, and thank you and all the devs working to keep BMS going.
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Great news, and thank you for sharing them!