An update from Buzzsaw regarding the current status of TFS, VR, Truesky and the graphics update.
"Hello All
I hope everyone is enjoying a beautiful Spring after this strange winter.
Team Fusion continues to make great progress towards completing the Visual Update as well as TF 6.0, our next DLC. We are also working on other DLC's in the development schedule.
The implementation of VR, trueSKY and Speedtree continues to make excellent progress, the many bugs we have encountered adapting these programs to the unique CLIFFS engine designed by Oleg Maddox has been a challenge but we are systematically addressing the bugs and issues and resolving them.
We have had a number of externally generated obstacles to overcome lately, one of which has delayed our release of patches and updates, both for the VR Beta and the release patch of BLITZ and TOBRUK.
This is the necessity for Team Fusion to take over responsibility for adding releases to Steam, and adding a Code Signing Certificate to our releases. What is a Code Signing Certificate?
To quote Wiki:
Code signing is the process of digitally signing executables and scripts to confirm the software author and guarantee that the code has not been altered or corrupted since it was signed. The process employs the use of a cryptographic hash to validate authenticity and integrity.
This is a requirement for all publicly released software which interacts with common 3rd party programs like Microsoft Windows. These programs require a guarantee the software which they interact with is not carrying viruses or other hacks.
In the past all TF's releases published by 1C used code signing software provided by 1C... but obviously 1C can not do that anymore. It was a bit of a surprise to find Fulqrum has decided they want TF to take over more responsibility for publishing releases, including uploading to Steam and adding the Code Signing Certificates. This has to be done with every single patch or update, no matter how small.
As prequisite for the purchase of Code Signing Software, the proprietary company requires proof the purchasing company and its executives are in good standing... this required TF to provide notarized documents, as well as encrypted details to Digicert, the author of the Code Signing software and have these verified by Digicert. And finally our programmers have to install the software and learn how to add the certificates to our releases.
This is the reason the community and the VR Beta have not seen any updates or releases in the past month or so. And this has also delayed some of our planned announcements.
The second factor is TF's role and our business relationship with our new partner Fulqrum. At this point it is clear there will be a number of changes, including as mentioned above, re. additional technical responsibilities for TF re. publishing releases, but also in addition some changes regarding the methods and systems to promote TF's work and releases... with Fulqrum at this point, indicating a willingness for the process to be more open and less hidden.
But all of this is still in discussion, so I can't be specific about exactly what changes will occur. All I can say is that Fulqrum has proven to be a very accomodating and friendly partner and TF is optimistic we can move forward.
All of the above discussions have been complicated by both the departure of Jason Williams, who was TF's main liaison and the gatekeeper for all our efforts and PR, and who continued in this role for a period under Fulqrum before leaving, and his replacement by Fulqrum staff, which has seen quite a few new faces appear in the partnership role... sometimes for a short while before being replaced by others. This has required restarting the process twice, and unsurprisingly, lengthened the discussion period needed to determine what if any, potential changes in the relationship of TF and its Publisher might be useful.
To summarize: TF continues to move ahead with our work and we are optimistic about the future.
As a final note, I will leave you with one image from our work in progress on an aircraft engine. This will be a bit of a puzzle for those new to this forum, but for those who are veterans, no surprise... since the aircraft this engine will power has been known as being a part of the TF 6.0 release for several years. Still a bit of puzzle for those who like clues. Note, the engine is obviously not finished... as can be seen from the fact only one of the cylinders has textures, and parts which are important for damage purposes are missing. Still viewers can get an idea of the detail to which the CLIFFS game and the TF 6.0 release does go. We do this because our very detailed damage model... which in the case of engines, could see the surrounding panels shot away, and various engine parts damaged or destroyed."
