Has BoB II Improved Since Release?

[vocatx]

I've been lurking around here for quite a while, and my curiosity has gotten the best of me. I notice no one has posted here in nearly two months. Has any progress been made to rectify the CTDs and other problems that initially plagued this sim? I have considered a purchase, but I am more than happy with FB/PF, and the problems suffered by early buyers really put me off. I might consider a purchase if I thought it would be worth it, but honestly, from what I have heard so far, I'm not too impressed.

[EURO_Snoopy]

Since release there have been 3 patches addressing the CTD's and other issues. The game has been made reasonably stable and has seen a few improvements.

Have a look on our WOV essentials page for patch details and download link

[1danny]

I got really Buzzed and ordered this last night..
ahh is it based on cfs3 or il2 or is it all together seperarate?
Guess i should have figured that outr first

[1danny]

DOH!

[EURO_Snoopy]

:?: I got really Buzzed and ordered this last night..
ahh is it based on cfs3 or il2 or is it all together seperarate?
Guess i should have figured that outr first

All together seperate

[1danny]

Yep It is different
.I like the scenery nor too sure about the dog fights.
I have a hard time seeing my tracers.
and the Campaign is making me dizzy.
When I feel like I am nodding off from the Silent Hunter 3. I stop and try it again.
It kind of reminds me of IL2 .

[MaXMhZ]

:?: I got really Buzzed and ordered this last night..
ahh is it based on cfs3 or il2 or is it all together seperarate?
Guess i should have figured that outr first

It is completely seperate.
Which is not at all a bad thing. Where IL-2 is rather weak in the campaign/single mission department WOV seems to excell with massive numbers of AI planes flying. It's no good online though - IL2 series is still king there
BoB II WOV is based on the old Battle of Britain by Rowan that first appeared in the 80's if I'm not mistaken. It was one of my first CD-ROM flight sims (on a vesa gfx card back then) and is now completely re-vamped. Should be a very good game indeed

[Seavee]

For the record I have no affiliation whatsoever with the BoB II Dev Group (most of whom are unpaid volunteers). I just own and play the game and work for a Bank, not a software company or distributor.

I am not here to knock one sim over another. Among the flight sims I have are the entire IL2 FB/PF/Aces series, LOMAC, Falcon 4.0. MSCFS3 with the Firepower upgrade + WM's scenery and many other mods as well as Battle of Britain II Wings of Victory. All these have strengths, all have weaknesses but none are perfect.

BoB II Wings of Victory is about to have a new patch released - version 2.04. It should be out sometime NOT LATER THAN June, '06 - probably much sooner.

Several significant CTD bugs have been fixed and there will be user modifiable weather (sea, sky, clouds) eye candy parameters, SIGNIFICANTLY improved AI code, multiskin, etc. Many of the bugs that were the cause of some of the negative reviews on its initial release have been fixed or substantially reduced.

There is a "test release" (Weather9) that is close to the final form of the upcoming 2.04 patch. Many testers have been using it now with excellent results.

The Weather9 release can be downloaded here: http://www.shockwaveproductions.com/bob_dev/Weather9.rar

You can read much more about the new updates here starting about page 80 of the thread: http://shockwaveproductions.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3678&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=1245

There are also a number of user mods that are already available as separate downloads that will likely be implemented in the 2.04 release as well. Excellent community user mods include improved terrain textures with satellite height-mapping of the actual terrain, sea fresnel, sound mods, enhanced bullet and tracer effects, pinups for the ME cockpits, radio chatter, etc. Many of the user mods can be found here: http://shockwaveproductions.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2840

Having played them all, I can tell you that my favorite by far is BoB II Wings of Victory. With the latest version and some of the free community mods it is extremely stable on my system. Yes, it has a limited number of different planes for you to fly (for the moment). Yes, it has no multiplayer (for now). Its existing strengths FAR outweigh these deficiencies and the future potential with this sim with its semi-open code is HUGE.

Do NOT be fooled by critics who will say the game is long in the tooth because some of its code is based on a game already a few years old (Rowan's BoB). There have already been significant updates with BoBII and it takes quite the PC to run it at the high eye candy settings. There is ALOT this game has in terms of eye candy that leaves other sims in the dust frankly. This game has very long legs as far as putting demands on your PC -even a relatively state of the art one like mine.

What this game has and is very very good because of it are:

1. Biggest sense of "immersion". It is hard to articulate what I mean here - I've heard it described as "soul" (try the game and you'll know what I mean). Some of the other flight sims out there now just feel too "sterile".

2. Extremely realistic flight models - landing and taking off in that Spit are truly difficult and seem very real.

3. The best implementation of force feedback effects for stalls, buffeting, bullet, impacts, etc.

4. A sense of "G force" that is modelled not just via FFE but visually at the same time. The game does this by implementing small changes to your POV within the cockpit in response to G effects. For example, in a negative G dive the POV will "float up" slightly - the way a pilot's body would try to float up against the straps in such a maneuver in response to the G forces. It adds greatly to the sensation of flight (as best as a PC can do it without a flight sim seat on moving hydraulic axes).

5. Excellent AI. It is very difficult to fight these AI in the higher difficulty settings. Almost as hard as some of the better human opponents I have come across in on-line play.

6. Beautiful terrain and almost photorealistic clouds, a very good sea effect. The sky hues, cloud effects and sea color will be able to be altered to a great degree by the user in the upcoming patch. See some screenshots here (scroll to the later paghes in that thread for the more recent effects): http://shockwaveproductions.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1732&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=450

7. Beautiful explosion effects - both on ground targets and watching shot down planes impact into the ground (you can see the "shockwave" effect as they impact into the ground).

8. Very good implementation of Tracker IR4 Pro with 6 DOF (this too adds greatly to the immersion).

9. Excellent campaign mode + the option for numerous "quick combat" scenarios. No frustrations due to palying against hackers who are cheating as is frequently found in on-line game play.

10. Huge formations of enemy and friendly fighter and bomber formation while still retaining good FPS.

11. Some parts of the game code are now semi-open so there is the possibility of significant community mods - similar to that available for MSCFS3 but not yet nearly as prolific (give it time).

All in all guys, if you like flight sims this game really is worth checking out. IMO it is the most underrated but truly excellent WWII flight sim out there at the moment.

A word of warning: The game right out of the retail box unpatched is very buggy. You MUST patch it and I'd strongly recommend using the "test release" already available as well as some of the excellent user mods.