Today we’re going to talk about global changes to the creation of landscape surfaces, and we’ll demonstrate the improvements that players will be able to see in all the familiar ground locations.

We recently discussed our new algorithm for landscape relief detail (displacement mapping), that we’re planning to introduce to the game after the release of War Thunder update 1.77. However, the biggest change that Dagor Engine 5.0 will bring to the game is a new technology for creating surfaces in locations for ground battles. We have reworked the technology for creating landscapes in War Thunder in order to enhance the level of detail and realism in their component materials. So, in addition to the previously existing normal textures, translucency and albedo coloured textures, we are introducing a detailed roughness map, ambient occlusion maps and a ground type map (such as grass, sand, dirt, etc) allowing us to enhance the shading quality while adding a whole new level of ground detalization.

This required us to improve the landscape of all the game’s current locations in the current update. It’s a tremendous amount of work and we believe that it was worth the effort: familiar landscapes now look completely different thanks to the new realistic land and ground. Take a look at the level of landscape detail we have managed to achieve:







And for the any new locations, changes in technology will allow us to achieve even more detailed and diverse surfaces.

We should also point out that the new technology for creating landscape surfaces, together with displacement mapping, display the operation of tank suspension with a new level of detail. Before, the suspension worked only for fairly large objects: boulders, borders, and bumps. After the release of War Thunder 1.77, we will be able to see the suspension working on less uneven ground like ruts, features on dirt roads, and broken ground. It will look like this:
https://youtu.be/eKoF_MFF_Jw
The changes to the technology for creating landscapes are global in nature, and they will function on all graphic settings in the game. Now even people playing on slower PCs with ultra-low graphics settings will notice a big difference in the landscape detail:

Check out the original Dev Blog on the Official War Thunder Forums!