Gaijin Entertainment has officially announced the upcoming Eagle’s Shadow major update for War Thunder, focusing on a comprehensive overhaul of the game's rendering engine. This update introduces several technical enhancements designed to improve visual fidelity across all vehicle types and environments. Players can expect significant changes to how environmental elements interact with both ground vehicles and aircraft, alongside improvements to atmospheric and water rendering.
Ground and Atmospheric Enhancements
A primary focus of the Eagle’s Shadow update is the complete reconstruction of the dirt and snow systems for ground vehicles. This new system is built from scratch to provide more realistic accumulation based on vehicle geometry. Furthermore, the update introduces a dynamic snow melting mechanic. In this system, heat generated by a running engine will gradually thaw snow on the engine deck, radiator grilles, and exhaust pipes. Similarly, firing the main gun will heat the barrel, causing any accumulated snow to melt away during combat.
Atmospheric visuals are also receiving a significant upgrade. The cloud rendering algorithm has been updated to eliminate repeating patterns, ensuring that every patch of sky is rendered with unique offsets and rotations for a more natural appearance. Additionally, the game will see the return of the godrays effect, enhancing the lighting quality during high-altitude flight.
Lighting and Vapor Effects
The update also addresses how light and environmental conditions affect gameplay visuals. Aircraft will now feature new humidity-based vapor effects, which calculate intensity based on speed, altitude, and angle of attack. For naval combat, the rendering engine has been updated so that water surfaces reflect light from sources other than the sun, including fires and muzzle flashes, which will now refract on waves and ripples.
- Rebuilt dirt and snow system: Ground vehicles now feature a completely overhauled accumulation model.
- Dynamic snow melting: Engine heat and gun firing now actively thaw snow on vehicle surfaces.
- Humidity-based vapor: Aircraft vapor effects are now calculated using speed, altitude, and angle of attack.
- Dynamic light reflections: Water surfaces now reflect muzzle flashes, fires, and lamps.
- Godrays return: The godrays effect is being re-implemented into the game renderer.
- Non-repeating clouds: The cloud rendering algorithm has been updated to prevent visual pattern repetition.
These changes represent a broad technical update to the War Thunder engine, aiming to provide more consistent and realistic visual feedback during intense combat scenarios across all platforms.