Jul 25, 2024
B-17 Flying Fortress : The Mighty 8th Redux - patgarret77
Update 1.0.12 - Memphis Belle
B-17 F 41-24485 'Memphis Belle' was named after pilot Robert K. Morgan's sweetheart, Margaret Polk, who lived in Memphis Tennessee. It was one of the first B17's to complete 25 combat missions, after which it was returned to the United States to help sell war bonds. It inspired two films, a 1944 documentary, and a 1990 feature film. It was restored in 2005 and is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio
Watch The New Update Showcase Video
New Features
New B-17
We’ve modelled a brand new B-17, with the top level of detail coming in at just over 50,000 polygons.
To achieve this, we had to make numerous behind-the-scenes improvements including reconstructing the original model and rig from the compiled version, and then upgrading the import/export tools and pipeline by an order of magnitude.
The enhanced B-17 model contains a whole host of new and upgraded features, including:
Cheyenne Tail Turret
Just like the 8th Air Force, we’ve upgraded our G model B-17 with a Cheyenne tail turret for better visibility and increased effectiveness!
Upgraded Texture Damage
We’ve upgraded the dynamic texture damage system to improve performance and visual impact. The fuselage damage now supports transparency so that you can see into the B-17 through the holes, and we’ve added dynamic texture damage to glass surfaces as well.
Physical Damage
In addition to upgrading the dynamic texture damage, the B-17 can now display the results of catastrophic damage using physically modelled damage components. These represent sheared off wingtips, tailplanes and holes punched through the airframe - ratcheting up the tension of nursing home a wounded aircraft!
Historical Liveries
We’ve added new 4K textures with unique markings for each bomb group. Depending on the mission start date, either olive drab or natural metal finish (NMF) skins will be used (with March 1944 as the changeover date)
Serial Numbers
Each B17 will now display their unique serial number on their vertical stabilizer (tail fin).
Dynamic Crew
The crew will now turn on and off on the exterior model as they assume or leave their positions.
As an added easter egg, we’ve used the original high-definition (at the time) character models from the compartment views of the original B-17 as our crew on the new plane’s exterior view.
Rendering Improvements
We’ve also added new pixel shader functionality to the engine, improving the specular highlights on the aircraft and paving the way for normal mapping in a future release.
Optimized Graphics Settings
We’ve adjusted the graphics settings to allow users with older graphics cards to continue to experience the game.
PLEASE NOTE: The default settings are currently set to the BALANCED setting. Users with modern graphics cards should set them to DETAIL to experience the new updates in all their splendour.
Damage Modelling
- This controls the dynamic texture damage system (includes the nose art and tailplane serial number features as well).
- The default setting is currently BALANCED. There is currently no difference between BALANCED and DETAIL.
- Setting it to SPEED will reduce VRAM usage by disabling texture damage modelling entirely.
General Quality
- This controls texture size in game.
- The default setting of BALANCED offers HD (1080p) textures.
- The DETAIL setting offers the full 4K textures.
- Setting it to SPEED offers the lowest quality, minimum VRAM usage (for users with older video cards).
Thank you for your continuing support, enthusiasm and feedback as we continue our journey with B-17 Redux. Good luck out there and we’ll see you in the air!
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