Developer Diaries – New Graphics

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For now, only in Russian (thanks to Maiorboltach from RU community for posting it)

(Edit: fixed with English version)

 

 

In it (apart from video):

- at the time WG went out, models had 8000 polygons, more advaced models had 18k, but now, models will have 50k or so, with the most advanced ones over 100k
- there will be round roadwheels (no more octagonals)
- explanation of new shaders
- night maps, weather effects and thick smoke failed to make it to the game because of the FPS drop
- constantly snowing maps with reduced visibility (300 meters)
- dynamic weather (triggered by server, if for example snows 5 minutes in battle, reducing visibility)

50 thoughts on “Developer Diaries – New Graphics”

  2. I don’t care how pretty they make the game, it’s still not fun. In WT, I play for fun and unlock planes in the process. WoT however is centered around grinding and nothing else, which is absolutely horrible for a game. It just isn’t fun. I know the game inside out and have been playing for a while, but it’s rarely fun, it’s just one long grind.

      • I know, but I keep trying to have fun since I think “Maybe I’m just doing something wrong”, but I rarely actually enjoy it. Well, lately I’ve been enjoying more when I just ignore the grind and play for playing. Still, I think it’s wrong that I have to deal with the issue of not enjoying something that’s made for entertainment.

        • “I think it’s wrong that I HAVE TO deal with the issue of not enjoying”

          Jesus Christ, are you a troll or are you actually that deprived of responsibilities in your life that you feel compelled to play games you don’t enjoy to fill your empty hours?

        • Just change your mindset – the problem is there. Play for fun and consider grinding as a side effect of playing, not the other way round.

    • The answers pretty bloody simple. Go play Warthunder. If you don’t enjoy a game, stop playing. You have to be pretty stupid to think “Hey, with my precious spare time, I’m going to grind a game I don’t like”.

      Come back when you have a valid complaint.

    • If this game wouldn’t be fun, I dont think that more than a million players would play it in the same time :)
      But of course it’s not made for everyone, so just choose what’s best for you.

  5. Oh boy, about six times the polys on average? Along with presumably higher-res diffuse and normal maps?

    My old 5870 accepts your challenge, WG. Though it’s probably going to get its ass kicked.

    It…it might be time to NOT use max settings anymore. Sadness :<

  7. Weather changes? Another RNG nerf to viewrange dependent tanks? Will it mean actual decrease of viewrange by certain percentage or lowering maximum spotting distance / drawing distance (hardly)? Or will it be visual-only with no effect on gameplay? If its the former, are they mentally challenged?

    • …you do realize that weather would be implemented in a global fashion, right? If you have trouble spotting them, they’re likely to have just as much trouble spotting you.

      Viewrange dependent tanks will actually become more important because they’ll become more useful to the team; scouts for example will have to get a lot closer to spot, but it’ll be just as difficult for the enemy to see them. Meanwhile, all their teammates who can’t see jack due to the weather will receive the enemy’s positions and be able to open fire.

      I foresee a lot of justified whining in the future because MM doesn’t always assign scouts to both sides, and in bad weather they’ll be quite useful.

      • I know that decrease in view range would apply both ways, for the hunter and for the prey :D. But for example if weather halves the viewrange, 500m long viewrange Centurion I with binoculars would have 250m vierange and already almost blind 330m IS-3 would have 165m. Prior to the change Centurion could fire on IS-3 for 170m (well, minus 60m, because max spotting distance is 440m) without being spotted in ideal conditions, and after the viewrange change it will be only 85m. The damage inflicted on the IS-3 will be therefore lower (more precisely halved), and Cent would be more easily roflstomped by the IS-3 in CQB. You may call it a camping-prevention measure, but all those glass cannons and fragile tanks would be significantly weakened in 1 on 1 situations.

        Sure, scouts and spotting would really be much more important.

        Oh yeah, i really am a view range abusing bitch with almost every relevant tank equiped with either coated optics or binocs and appropriate crew skills :D.

  8. Let’s see how fucked up the FPS are going to be thanks to the game using 1 out my 6 cores…

  10. So, as I understood from the video, we won’t see any night battles in close future, because they were scrapped as too much resource eating.
    But that heavy snow on the other hand, is probably going to do some nasty FPS drops too.

    Anyway – looking forward to my new shiny Tiger and M103.

    • Well, you understood wrong. It’s not the resource thing, it’s “I can’t see even a single peace of …” one

  11. Well I am not too convinced more polygons are a good thing. They will need to optimize performance accordingly.

    MWLL had some severe issues in that department.

    • Most modern cards are optimised towards raw triangle pushing power, and since the meshes are not deforming, it’s not an issue how many polygons you have, but how you’re using those.

  14. DAT. SNOW. O_o Awesome. Well I think it’s a real mistake to drop weather conditions/night battles. This could really bring a lot of fun to playing the game. I’m totally delighted with winter Himmel/Ruinberg on fire – this sure took less effort to create instead of brand new maps, and I still feel like playing something new.

  15. OK I died at 100k polys. Bullcrap, total bullcrap.

    Normal mapping? …The game already had that, how do you think all the dents and little metal surface detail are made? THey had normal mapping since before 2011 even…

    WG is just making a trailer talking about random graphics stuff to impress people who know nothing on the subject.

    • ‘WG is just making a trailer talking about random graphics stuff to impress people who know nothing on the subject.’

      truth betold, it worked on me :)

      on the other hand, you still can see the models are more detailed, i will try to print out one with my 3d printer

      • The point is they are just lying. The biggest AAA titles have never had 100k polygon models but suddenly little old free to play WoT has models that have never been done before ? ..especially on an engine that can’t even handle that many.

        Bullcrap, as i said.

          • not big enough to bring about next-next-next gen

            100k polygons(plus textures, effects, decals, additional geometry and everything else that goes into a game) kakto kazah ;), is not do-able in any practical sense, unless they want WoT to just be a motion picture.
            It pisses me off, because Wargaming basically said, HEY GUYS, GRAPHICS STUFF, while just bs-ing completely and people would actually believe them. They jut spread wrong info..
            A not-so-true boast for the public to make themselves look more ahead with the tech than the competition..
            If they do actually make a 100k poly model/s i guess they would release that patch with a free shipment of SerB-powered super-next-gen stronk PC’s.

            • Are you unhappy with the advancement of time? There are PS4 games with 100k polygon models planned (e.g. The Order: 1866), and we all know that there is PC hardware much more powerful than what is in the PS4.

    • They might be using bump mapping currently. Normal mapping is similar to bump mapping, but not entirely identical.

      Also, they seem to be saying they’re doing it in a different manner. Previously, they may have done it manually as separate artwork, but now it looks like they’re creating very high poly models and automated tools to create normal maps to be applied to the models used in the game.

      Basically: They are using more automation, because they made it clear their artists were struggling with the ever-increasing amount of artwork that needed to be done.

      . . . and what’s the issue with 100k polys? They could be pushing long-needed engine optimizations with the upcoming updates, and a modern video card can certainly handle it.

      • Normal mapping is a subset of bump mapping… The way it is now, most of the normalmaps used now seem to be 2d-generated, with the exclusion of organic-looking things like turrets, which are just baked from a rudimentary highpoly. The new normapmaps look like they’re fully baked though, so that’s new.

  16. Aaaaaand from now on i will happily camp at the base, because “why scout if we won’t see any of them anyways?”
    Scouts had piss-poor viewrange and camo already. Now they will be clay pigeons.

  17. Looks like Wargaming is using NextEngine 3D Scanner HD. That $3000 a piece and by looking at Barnacules Nerdgasm video showcasing the scanner, man it takes so long even to scan something small as a remote. But it’s still a pretty cool piece of hardware. It may take long to scan, but it’s still more accurate and better than having to create the object manually from scratch.

    Those Wargaming guys scanning the big tank parts must have some nerves of steel. Someone tell them to try something faster and for big objects, such as Go!Scan 3D. $30.000 !! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbynoIMFe0Q#t=23

  20. Good to see they’re finally doing a lot with graphics and visual quality. Normal maps can really help out a lot with the detail.

    However, their explanation about the capabilities of PCs back when the game was first released was a bunch of bull, sorry. Their engine has long been known to be poorly optimized, and games were using normal maps even back when WoT was first released. Other games looked as good as or better than World of Tanks in 2010 – we were well into the era of games that were trying to compete with Crysis.

    • They won’t be requiring you to use the new models. You’ll still be able to adjust things down if your system can’t handle it.

      That being said – even a $50 video card would be an upgrade . . .

      If you start saving now, you should have some money for a new video card when 9.0 is out.