Delay

I now have to advise that there will now be a definite delay in the release of the Biff. I was going to release a beta version of the biff this weekend and finalise it during February. However after noticing negative criticism of others for releasing a product early and finding myself mentioned in a debate at the Aerodrome forums over the Biff's textures I decided to take some extra time on the textures. I was originally going to release the beta with a set of basic textures with full textures following in the final. Given that I find myself involved in a debate on my textures, in an essentially untextured model before it is released, I feel that it is best to be satisfied before I release the Biff even to testers.

This week I have largely been involved in damage modelling and fixing things here and there with various LODS. I work largely with 3DS Max 8.0 and export to Gmax via a script called BFF and then to CFS3. I have fixed a couple of VC modelling glitches and I am in the process of re-assembling the LODS and new damage endcaps in Gmax for export to CFS3. Hopefully this is the last time I have to go through this process as animations have to be created in Gmax rather than Max. There are invariably some materials to be re-initialised and parts to be renamed due to a parsing bug in BFF. I also modelled a 112lb bomb and pylon during the week which I now have to make functional in the game.

Apart from the above and textures, the flight and damage models require much testing and refinement also.

All this has resulted in a few work sessions finishing at 1:00AM which does catch up with one after a few days. The resulting fatigue combined with the setback mentioned in my previous post also contributed to the decision to delay until ready.

I apologise to anyone who is eagerly awaiting the Biff (if there is anyone?) The Biff will be ready when it is ready. Hopefully the delay won't be too long.