Grand Canyon

[Ssnake]

I guess SB2 will inspire some virtual battlefield tourism...

http://www.steelbeasts.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php&set_albumName=album12

[OddBall]

OH.......MY........GOD, I'm speechless. That looks soooo beautiful. 8)

[Floydii]

nice... now all there needs to be is some tanks, trees, and infantry hiding in the creekbed at the bottom....

[dejawolf]

and shadows

[BlackDeath]

W-H-A-O-U!!!!! Too beautiful!!
I WANT STEEL BEASTS 2 NOW!!!
Though I know the more I wait, better the game become!

By the way Ssanke, when do you post other screenshoot' SB2's tanks??

[OddBall]

By the way Ssanke, when do you post other screenshoot' SB2's tanks??

If you build it, he will come!

Ssshhhhhssssshhhhhh....Sssssshhhhhhssssshhhhhh.... .Sssssshhhhhsssssshhhh...

[Sean]

Thanks Al and Nils. :-)

[OddBall]

Thanks Al and Nils. :-)

Thank you Sean. :twisted:

[Ratseal]

Geometry reminiscent of the Terra engine used in MC2. Looks great. Depending on the tool, adding shadows and other features is relatively easy. If this is Terra, the water effects will be a knockout!!!!

[Hell_Hound]

Lovely. :)

Thanks for the taste.

[Black-6]

Very nice - I can imagine a pair of Frogfoots screaming down the canyon.

[eageleye]

Gunner Tank Fir..... OH SHI...... DRIVER STOP!!!!!!!!!!


OK THIS WAS JUST A CHEAP WAY OF GETTING MY NEXT RANK

[Bluewings]

very nice ! :P

Just a question : if you 're on top of a mountain by clear weather and looking around , how far can you see in SB 2 ?
Can you see a tank far before to be in range to fire ? how far away ?

Good work E-Sim ! :thumbup:

Cheers . :3starsk2:

[PS-SCUD]

GF......betcha filled your diaper looking at that :wink:

[Lone*star49]

...

:arrow: Looks like those that wanted aviation in SB2 got their wish...hehehe j/k


:!: And eSim created the Mountains, the Valleys, the Rivers.. and it was GOOD


LS :helmet:

[attackrat]

:hallucine:

...Christ on a bicycle.

That is some gorgeous scenery. It makes me miss the Southwest. I love the detail of the pebbles on the riverbed: you gents really are artists.

Looks like Christmas comes early this year!

[BlackDeath]

By the way, how looks rivers in SB2???
Can we see water flowing or does it look like in Steel Beasts 1????

[Ssnake]

Just a question : if you 're on top of a mountain by clear weather and looking around , how far can you see in SB 2 ?
Up to 5,500m - just like SB1. Since the longest ranging anti tank weapons - ATGMs - have a range of five kilometers, we need to render this as the "minimum max distance". Add 10% to allow the units to pick up a target, and you get 5.5 klicks.

Tall mountains pose a little problem though since a really tall mountain could be seen from a much farther distance, so its omission beyond the 5.5km render distance could cause disorientation. I'm not sure how we will solve this.

[OddBall]

If user wants more eye candy, will there be an option for pixel shadered water? I understand it's not really an important feature and reduces frame rate, but it does give more eye candy. ;)

[Bennewitz]

What disturbs me is the last screenshot:
the waters`strong >adhesion-effect<

the `river` someplaces sticks a to the valley-sides curving its own surface.

One would rather try to hide a tank beneath a watersurface instead of parking in a hole with a rather quickly-done blue paint-job.Talk about immersion...
SB-water automatically flattens out its surface, but the `liquid` does not give way to (=supports) a 60 ton vehicle.
In SB1 the adhesion-effect is especially noteable in an `island`-type-landscape where you see `Water-bumps and hills`bulging in the middle of the sea around you. It is still more or less blue painted landscape, not liquid.

But OK, its hardly game-relevant and has been discussed before(is somewhere on the list).
If SB2 has higher screen-resolution I`ll buy it.

[mapman]

Very, very nice!!!

Last time I visited the Grand Canyon there were thunder/lighting storms in the afternoons. Will the SB2 weather generater include this as well?

Will there be flash floods in the canyons to wash away the unsuspeting enemy with a 150 foot high wall of water?

Does it come with Donkeys and other wild life?

Sorry...got carried away!

[attackrat]

What disturbs me is the last screenshot:
the waters`strong >adhesion-effect<

the `river` someplaces sticks a to the valley-sides curving its own surface.

One would rather try to hide a tank beneath a watersurface instead of parking in a hole with a rather quickly-done blue paint-job.Talk about immersion...
SB-water automatically flattens out its surface, but the `liquid` does not give way to (=supports) a 60 ton vehicle.
In SB1 the adhesion-effect is especially noteable in an `island`-type-landscape where you see `Water-bumps and hills`bulging in the middle of the sea around you. It is still more or less blue paintet landscape, not liquid.

But OK, its hardly game-relevant and has been discussed before(is somewhere on the list).
If SB2 has higher screen-resolution I`ll buy it.

This has been mentioned, and AFAIK improved water rendering and treatment is very high on *cymbal crash* The_LIST. *thunder* So we should see much better rivers by the time the game ready to ship.

[attackrat]

Very, very nice!!!

Last time I visited the Grand Canyon there were thunder/lighting storms in the afternoons. Will the SB2 weather generater include this as well?

Will there be flash floods in the canyons to wash away the unsuspeting enemy with a 150 foot high wall of water?

Does it come with Donkeys and other wild life?

Sorry...got carried away!

As a hiker who nearly got an aerial view of the Grand Canyon courtesy of those damn trail-hog jackasses, I certainly hope to hear "Gunner, HEAT, mule train!" at some point in SB2. :twisted:

[smogover]

Sigh...... am having these visions about the awesome scenarios we will all be able to create in SB2 that take full advantage of the spiffy new graphics..... now if only Werewolf would continue his "The Art of Scenario Design" book, I might gain the knowledge to join in the fun :)

[PS-SCUD]

I'll probably spend about 10 hours just driving off cliffs, and down mountains now that we have them.

[Gunfighter]

GF......betcha filled your diaper looking at that :wink:

PS, I'm already at the river, cleaning my haunch. :mrgreen:

It was messy. I need another set of Pampers. :hallucine:

[mapman]

My wife has been bugging me for years to get her a Hummer (which is way out of our price range). Now I can let her drive one on SB on and off road!

Yippee!!! and for a few tens of thousands of dollars less!!

Ssnake...will hummers be fully modeled?

We can create off road obstical course races for hummers with tanks taking potshots at us while we try to negotiate the course!!! :shock:

[PS-SCUD]

There is an easy way to pick up an extra 20K MM.....sell a kidney, you've got one to spare! I think hummers go for about 50k though.....so mabey you should sell an eye, or if your feeling lucky, a lung hehe.

[Ssnake]

Ssnake...will hummers be fully modeled?
There is no such thing like a "full model". A model, per definition, is a simplification of a complex concept or device. If the model includes everything, it is no longer a model but a second copy.

:P

[BlackDeath]

There is no such thing like a "full model". A model, per definition, is a simplification of a complex concept or device. If the model includes everything, it is no longer a model but a second copy.

Of course....So your SB2 hummer is a rather model or rather a second copy?

[mapman]

Ssnake...will hummers be fully modeled?
There is no such thing like a "full model". A model, per definition, is a simplification of a complex concept or device. If the model includes everything, it is no longer a model but a second copy.

:P

That is a fancy way to avoid the question :shock:

Let me rephrase:

Will I be able to drive a hummer from the inside at high speed over cliffs listening to my favorite CD and stopping from time to time to aim TOWs up some T80's rear?

[BlackDeath]

:?

[Ssnake]

Will I be able to drive a hummer from the inside at high speed over cliffs listening to my favorite CD and stopping from time to time to aim TOWs up some T80's rear?
Technically, yes.
You may not be able to take place behind the steering wheel, though. 8)

[Bluewings]

It is now largely admited that we will have naturals obstacles in SB2 tanks cannot pass . Good .

But what about Troops ?? :roll:
Any decent Commandos , Marines or Legionnaires can tackle a cliff by climbing it .

So my question .
.................................................. ...

Ssnake , I think we should and must see High Mountains from far away . At least 10 kms . To implement it seems pretty easy to me : height is the key . Everything over let say 3000m high within 10 km should appear as a light blue/grey "shadow" in the horizon . You do not need to compute anything between 5.5 km and 10km .

Cheers . :3starsk2:

[Gunfighter]

It is now largely admited that we will have naturals obstacles in SB2 tanks cannot pass . Good .

But what about Troops ?? :roll:
Any decent Commandos , Marines or Legionnaires can tackle a cliff by climbing it .

So my question .
.................................................. ...

Ssnake , I think we should and must see High Mountains from far away . At least 10 kms . To implement it seems pretty easy to me : height is the key . Everything over let say 3000m high within 10 km should appear as a light blue/grey "shadow" in the horizon . You do not need to compute anything between 5.5 km and 10km .

Cheers . :3starsk2:

But if implementing that causes a delay with SB2, DO NOT, I SAY AGAIN DO NOT, delay anymore.

BW, good suggestion about Troops rappelling and climbing those cliffs. I hope that MILAN/ERYX/KORNET carriers can do direct top down attacks from those sheer canyon walls. With that ability we can recreate the Rangers doing Normandy's Pont Du Hoc. :P

[mapman]

Forget rappelling! Hang Gliders and Parachuttes baby!!!!!!!

[Gunfighter]

Forget rappelling! Hang Gliders and Parachuttes baby!!!!!!!

No Aircraft in SB2 Remember? Otherwise, Al might be mounting 7.62/50 cals on those gliders and firing RPG29s when those troops base jump from the canyons. :shock:

[Ratseal]

man, dropping a hint about SB2 is like dripping blood into a pirahna filled river and then splashing about. We got to find a way to broaden that appeal to more people - maybe send free copies (unpiratable) to various armor units...

More sales equals more R&D $ for new features! Come on SB2 Gold!

[Hell_Hound]

Will I be able to drive a hummer from the inside at high speed over cliffs listening to my favorite CD and stopping from time to time to aim TOWs up some T80's rear?
Technically, yes.
You may not be able to take place behind the steering wheel, though. 8)

So I can't use my force-feedback wheel and pedals to control the Humvee? :mrgreen:

[dejawolf]

It is now largely admited that we will have naturals obstacles in SB2 tanks cannot pass . Good .

But what about Troops ?? :roll:
Any decent Commandos , Marines or Legionnaires can tackle a cliff by climbing it .

So my question .
.................................................. ...

Ssnake , I think we should and must see High Mountains from far away . At least 10 kms . To implement it seems pretty easy to me : height is the key . Everything over let say 3000m high within 10 km should appear as a light blue/grey "shadow" in the horizon . You do not need to compute anything between 5.5 km and 10km .

Cheers . :3starsk2:

that will lead to the mountains disappearing at 9.9km and magically reappear at 5.5km. :idea:

a more realistic way to implement this would be to render anything beyond 5.5km
as a single, big, static image, and redraw it at a smaller rate the further away it is.

say, any landscape beyond 5.5km would be rendered every 5th frame,
landscape at 10km would be rendered every 30-40th frame etc.

the easiest thing would simply be for everyone to buy super computers which allowed rendering of universes, and taking up football fields, and every game maker would suddenly be without limits. watch out god!

[Bluewings]

What about that ... 8)

Cheers . :3starsk2:

[Hell_Hound]

Also very nice.

Are we supposed to be seeing it? :shock:

[mapman]

It is the pic from the Swedish Army Sight.

[BlackDeath]

A mix between SB and SB2?

[Bluewings]

I believe it's SB 2 Pro .

Ssnake ?

Cheers . :3starsk2:

[Ssnake]

There is no such thing as "SB 2 Pro". There's Steel Beasts Professional, and Steel Beasts 2. Both share a common code base, but are tailored to different jobs - training or entertainment. Sweden is evaluating SB Pro, of course. Much of the development that we put into SB Pro will emerge in SB2 as well, just like most of the artwork to make SB2 look pretty goes into SB Pro to improve the graphics quality. But despite the similarities, they're two different product families.

[Bluewings]

rgr that .

Thanks Ssnake .

Cheers . :3starsk2:

[attackrat]

Mm-hmm. *takes notes*

Mr. Ssnake, can you comment on the extent to which the terrain will be affected by in-game action? Will we see cratering, chewed up turf, tracks, and such?

[Dewman]

You know what I would like to see as an X-mas teaser ?? The Map and Mission Editor section of SB2 for us to use. Maybe get a headstart on making some 4 lane Hwy's and corn fields :)

[attackrat]

You know what I would like to see as an X-mas teaser ?? The Map and Mission Editor section of SB2 for us to use. Maybe get a headstart on making some 4 lane Hwy's and corn fields :)

Seconded!!! 8)