F.L.A.R.E. Revived

[Demo]

Like many of you I was excited about the FLARE project that Gio started a few years ago. When I hadn’t seen any updates on his site in a long time I sent him an email and we’ve been exchanging emails for the past few weeks. Gio said that due to real life taking priority, he doesn’t have the time to continue development on the FLARE project and we worked out an agreement for him to give me his files, PSDs, and method (guide) so we could continue and finish his project. Jammer, myself, and hopefully some others are going to pick up where Gio left off and try to finish this project. The goal is to finish it in the same look and feel he has it now, and then later us or others can improve on it even more with more photo-realistic tiles and/or more variation if needed.

Those who have tried know how time consuming it is to try and redo the tiles in Falcon, and it’s impossible for someone to say two years from now I’ll still be able to devote time to working on a project (which is what happened to Gio). Our goal is to complete the tiles as quickly as possible using Gio’s method and his PSD files. If for some reason we cannot finish or just get burnt out, we’ll provide all the files to the BMS team to do with them as they want so the files aren’t lost. Gio actually completed a lot. The vast majority of tiles are done as you can see in the video below. I could fly around for miles and not see a default tile. And since we have the PSD templates we’re hoping progress will be quick. We have no intention of selling the tiles or anything and will provide for free to BMS or here in the forum.

Gio provided all of his completed tiles - which include base textures, forest, farmlands, coast, cities, mountains, roads and a lot of other stuff. Also, he retouched 329 of the 3D object textures (i.e. buildings, ramp textures, etc…), and updated the weather textures (clouds, overcast, etc…) so that the match the look and feel of the FLARE tiles. I provided a quick video example below since I know many are probably curious like I was. I mostly hung around Kunsan, KOTAR, and Kimhae because I don’t have the time on a Sunday night to go all over Korea. I do want to point out that there are different areas with different tiles. I captured most of the same type of coastal/city tiles. The video doesn’t do the tiles justice… They look better in game. Gio did a really good job.

Jammer and I will post more examples and updates as we go. I think we’ll also try to mix in some photo-realistic tiles in some areas, such as the mountains for example because they provide more definition to the shape of the mountain like Fighting Falcon has shown. We think a balance of the photo-realistic (satellite) and what Gio did with FLARE is the best look and feel since the FLARE tiles look good at lower altitudes. Also, I do want to say after flying in Falcon with FLARE, it is not the end-all-be-all of tiles at all. It is a huge improvement over the default but this is still the same Falcon with the same terrain engine, limited trees, etc… so keep that in mind. You can only do so much. Gio did accomplish some pretty cool stuff though, such as his different types of water for rivers and lakes (not just using ocean water everywhere or painted rivers) and being able to see where the water is shallow. His textures are 1024x1024 and 2048x2048 only in specific locations, such as KOTAR for higher resolution. During my testing I haven’t noticed any FPS hits, but I’ve only gone up twice. Gio did not change the code/layout of any of the tiles to not effect the campaigns/paths and we won’t either. We’re going to use the default tile as the bottom layer and match the roads, cities, etc… like he did.

I think tiles have come a long way since Gio started FLARE, and tiles like Israel/BFS, the new Balkans under development, etc… have raised the bar. So I hope to use those as examples of ways to improve the FLARE tiles (i.e. mountains) so we finally have tiles in Korea.

It’s not my place to discuss what Gio’s situation is or our agreement on the files so please don’t ask. Will give more examples/info later! Thanks.
EDIT: Stupid youtube blocked it in Germany because of the music. I will re-upload a version without music (see below the pics). I show some areas at the end of the video that still had default tiles in there to try and show quick comparison. 720HD
http://youtu.be/DHBPxZ7dkXE

Edit: Here is the video without music. It’s still uploading/processing at the moment. Tomorrow I’ll do a 1080HD one…
http://youtu.be/R2RCnwv4N-o

[Blu3wolf]

don’t know what to say really… F.L.A.R.E. has been massively anticipated by the community. this could be great!

[Kuhprah]

Wonderful to hear that work is going so. So take the time you need and tell us when ist finished

[WynnTTr]

It seems F.L.A.R.E will never die. It’ll… flare… up in one form or another.

All we have to do is be patient, which for a flight simmer is something we’re used to.

[riboyster]

Awesome! We’re all really looking forward to this. Keep the WIP pictures coming!!

Also, what kind of missile is that? (the white/green one)
Are you running a texture mod?

[TAFFER]

Cooooooool.

[Chuckles]

Great news Demo. I can confidently say that all of us on the BMS board wish to thank Gio for his efforts. He is a true professional for allowing you to continue this amazing project. Falcon 4 just took a giant leap forward.

[Frederf]

Glad the work continues, very valuable stuff. Let me know if I can help.

[I-Hawk]

This are great news Demo! good luck man!

[Zaltys]

Woohoo! Thank you guys, it 's really appreciated!

[Ender]

Great !!!

[mykinge]

Excellent news!!

Good luck with the project!

Make sure you ask for help if you feel you are slowing down!

Pepe

[Cali]

Good luck, if there is anything I can help with let me know.

[Dee-Jay]

@I-Hawk:

This are great news Demo! good luck man!

+1!

[nove]

ooooooooooohhhhh yessssssss !!!

great !!!

NOVE

[phate]

magic woop woop

[dema]

Take your time,no rush and compliments in advance for the final result.

good luck !

dema

[WolfKeeper]

That sense of speed at low altitude at the 1:00 mark is amazing.

[Jona33]

@WolfKeeper:

That sense of speed at low altitude at the 1:00 mark is amazing.

Perhaps because the speed is x2.

[WolfKeeper]

I noticed that in other places but not at the 1:00 mark. Looked again and oops, you’re right.