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Reposted from the Delphi Flight Sim Forum courtesy of Jerry Luttrell/Dynamix.
"OK guys... since the cat is out of the bag after E3 announcements, here’s the official statement regarding Red Baron II, upgrades and Red Baron 3D. Hopefully, this will clarify any misdirected rumors and give you a good picture of what the future holds... and it holds lots of great stuff for Red Baron fans!
1) The “Free 3D Upgrade” has not changed from what you’ve been told. Here’s the “official announcement” on this patch:
“While an enormous amount of feedback and requests continue to pour in from gamers around the world, easily the most requested new feature is support for the ever-growing world of 3D cards. We at Dynamix are proud to announce that work is well underway for 3D support in Red Baron II... and the initial upgrade for 3D will be absolutely free!
Available in July as a direct download from the Red Baron II home page (as well as all major RB2 chat sites), the Free 3D Upgrade will include stunning new terrain graphics, new plane cockpits, new explosions and special effects and something beautiful as well as practical... trees.
True 3D objects, the trees add a whole new level to depth perception and altitude. Trees appear while flying at low level altitudes, providing a realistic addition to your visual judgment of ground proximity. But be careful! You can fly between the trees but if you get to close, you might find yourself missing a wing. For a preview look at some preliminary screenshots from the 3D Upgrade, point your web browser to: http://www.sierra.com/titles/rb2/index.html.
Included along with the new 3D features will be all changes included in the previous patches, as well as new improvements that are being made on a regular basis.
Initial support for the upgrade is planned to be for 3Dfx supported cards only, but discussions are on-going for Direct3D and Open GL support, which would open the 3D support to cards of all make. For the 3Dfx support, separate sets of artwork are being produced that will support 4 meg 3D cards (with standard 2 megs of texture memory) as well as enhanced graphical support for cards with additional texture memory.
And, because we know that not all of our hundreds of thousands of customers have access to the Internet for notification or downloading of the upgrade, Dynamix will be mailing a notification to all registered owners in June. The mailing will announce the details of the Free 3D Upgrade along with an offer to receive it via regular mail at no cost except shipping and handling fees.”
2) As has already been quoted, there will be a new retail version of Red Baron II, entitled “Red Baron 3D.” This will include everything from all previous patches (including the Free 3D Upgrade) as well as on-going tweeks to gameplay AI/FM/etc.
And, as was also quoted, this version will include a new client-server multiplayer feature for Red Baron, capable of supporting a large number of simultaneous players. Our initial testing indicates that this number may be as many as 100 players through the World Opponent Network (WON), but we can’t commit to a specific count until the game has seen Wide Beta Testing, which is expected to begin in late July.
We WILL NOT release this until it’s clean.
RB3D will include an NT-based server that players can configure and deploy themselves to host LAN or Internet based games. Dynamix will put at least one server in place to support the Wide Beta Tech Demo and we intend to leave that server up after the game ships. We will not charge for access to our server(s), nor will we charge anybody else for setting up their own servers.
Finally, as we’ve said many times in the past months, supporting our current customers and built-in audience has been foremost in our minds. To that end, there will be multiple upgrade paths made available for existing owners of Red Baron II to Red Baron 3D.
A. Everything in RB3D will be available for free, as a download in a single “Superpatch” as soon as the game is ready to ship (anticipated date of late summer). This will include patches 1 through 3 and the multiplayer upgrades as well as any other game play enhancements made. New printed materials are likely to be available in both text and Adobe Acrobat files for download as well.
B. As with the Free 3D Upgrade, Dynamix will be mailing a notification to all registered owners of Red Baron II, announcing the details of the “Superpatch” availability along with an offer to receive it via regular mail at no cost except shipping and handling fees.
C. Lastly, and most significantly, Dynamix will be offering a direct mail-in rebate offer for those owners of Red Baron II who purchase Red Baron 3D at retail. By mailing their Red Baron II CDs along with the original sales receipt of Red Baron 3D, customers will receive a substantial (if not entire) refund on the purchase price of the new retail package.
The details on pricing for this offer are still be worked out and will depend largely on as yet undecided “new printed materials and package contents.” Firm information on the direct rebate program will be announced in the coming weeks.
As you can see, our efforts and support for both our customers and products are extremely aggressive, if not unprecedented. We at Dynamix are utterly committed to delivering the best entertainment products in the industry. We DO listen to you, our customers. We place an extremely high value on your input, advice and critiques. And we’re dedicated to delivering you the service, quality, support and gaming experience that your buying dollars deserve.
Jerry Luttrell/Dynamix