Dev Blog #72

Today, we will continue our discussion of the vast topic of the environment. However, this time we will examine in more detail the most important component for aerial combat. Previously, we looked at some background elements that create atmosphere but are not so directly involved in aerial combat. Now, we will dive directly into the essence, into the sky. For military aviation pilots, the sky is the battlefield. Perhaps the most beautiful of all, but still, it is the place where the most intense and critical moments occur, where everything is decided.

Yes, the ground surface is part of aerial combat, affects visibility, and, in some cases, when the fight descends to the ground, even terrain folds and mountains have an effect, but this is not the main battlefield. The main one is the sky. Where the sun shines from, where the wind blows from, how the cloud cover forms, what precipitation there is, how much — all of this dictates the conditions of combat. Clouds are an important tactical element, especially during the Korean War, when aircraft radar had not yet advanced enough to detect enemy aircraft directly. It’s just you, your eyes, and the sky. By using cloud cover wisely, you can change the course of the battle even against a superior opponent. And if this element is not implemented in the simulator at a modern level, even if everything else is done excellently, the overall impression is certainly diminished. Therefore, we have put considerable effort into improving the visualization of the sky and clouds in our new project, Korea. IL-2 Series.

We have already described in detail the new physical module for rendering the firmament and atmospheric volume in Dev Blog #7. The rendering system, based on ray tracing and a physical-mathematical model of atmospheric light scattering, has produced truly impressive results. But since then, many of you have noticed that there aren’t many changes compared to Great Battles. Only in the last six months have comments like "Now these clouds are great!" appeared. And this is indeed true, because according to the development plan, the refinement of clouds fell on the final stage of the project. And now, as the release approaches, you can see almost the final results. And they are truly impressive.

Speaking of the volumetric cloud rendering technology, for now, the IT industry hasn’t come up with anything new. This technology, with various variations, is now used by almost all flight simulators and beyond. But details make all the difference: how this technology is applied, what fine-tuning elements are used, etc. Within this technology, it is extremely difficult to balance the requirements for cloud detail and performance with the simulator’s combat aspects, such as target detection against cloud backgrounds, within cloud layers, and others. In civilian flight sims, the latter problem does not exist, so they can afford to increase the level of detail significantly. However, thanks to a significant evolution of our graphics engine, we have also found ways and resources to increase the rendering detail of cloud cover and improve several aspects of its lighting.

But technology is only a foundation: nothing is possible without it, and without its skillful application, there will be no result either. We have spent a lot of time re-evaluating our approaches to the art direction of the simulator’s environmental components, including clouds. The structures of cloud formations, their shapes, and distribution maps have been revised. Now they are, firstly, more