Let's talk about NZ in Aerofly FS2...

[toprob]

This is just musing at the moment, but I do have some ideas on how this could work, with a lot of help. It's a bit of a confusing jumble in my head at the moment, but I'll try and make sense of it. At the moment I'm committed to the 'multi-sim' project which began with the Kickstarter funding, and FS2 is certainly the top contender as far as I'm concerned. I originally said I'd work towards a complete NZ photoscenery base, and I had begun this, with a bit of help, including IPACS themselves. However I did tell IPACS that if there was any sign of Orbx working in NZ, I'd drop out, as I'm too... well, one person... to compete with that. Now, Orbx have kind of announced a True Earth NZ, so I've basically dropped that idea.

Still, there's still plenty I could be doing, and I do plan to work on NZCH for Aerofly in the short term. At the moment, this would probably include the same area of photoscenery which the Prepar3d version has -- a slice of central Canty, bordered by the Ashley and the Rakaia rivers, through to the foothills. That's assuming that Orbx don't rush into NZ, otherwise it'll just be NZCH.

SO...
there's no reason why a group of people couldn't work on some Aerofly projects, separate from Godzone/Real NZ, but with me contributing. I'm not talking about making any/much money from this, more of a freeware venture, but there's no reason why anyone couldn't work on some payware stuff either.
My initial idea at the moment is Wellington. I've already used this area as a kind of 'test' area, although much of what I've done I hope to redo taking into account what I've learnt from my mistakes. This may or may not include NZWN, there's no reason why it shouldn't, depending on the commitment from the 'team'. Otherwise I'd be keen to do a payware NZWN if necessary. Those who want to get involved might have their own ideas of which area to do, and to what extent, hence this thread to get some ideas.
This idea kind of crystalized this week after Charl's iron-clad promise of a contribution (subject to one infinitesimal condition:) and it suddenly struck me that I could at least share some of my 'test' projects, to get the ball rolling. So I'd already decided to offer Charl a look at Wellington, anyway, so it makes sense to bring this whole thing up for discussion.
I have previously shared the scenery with a couple of developers who were keen to help, but have since dropped out. If anyone is interested, let me know. I have been planning on redoing the Wellington photoscenery, but at the moment I'm a bit busy, so it may be the test version only in the meantime.

[MichaelBasler]

Now, Orbx have kind of announced a True Earth NZ, so I've basically dropped that idea.

Rob, do you have a quote for this? While I follow the ORBX forums I must have missed it.

In one way this would be a fine playground for you to implement your airports, or perhaps even city scapes. I would buy a new version of your now obsolete Supercity Auckland immediately.

Kind regards, Michael

[toprob]

Here's John's post on the Orbx forum.

Auckland has always been in the back of my mind, but there have been a couple of developers who have mentioned to me that they are working on a photoscenery. Time does seem to be getting on, though, and I don't know if any progress has been made. Back in the Supercity days, the aerial imagery we had available was 2.4 m/px, which was not great -- the default FSX was 1.2m/px, so going to photoscenery actually lowered the resolution. These days, we have imagery up to 7cm/px, and a lot better quality than the old days, without cloud cover etc. So Auckland would be one great project!

By the way, I am hoping to have a Aerofly FS2 'test' Coromandel (imagery, mesh, some cultivation) ready shortly, if anyone is interested in trying this out, let me know.

[MichaelBasler]

Here's John's post on the Orbx forum.

Auckland has always been in the back of my mind, but there have been a couple of developers who have mentioned to me that they are working on a photoscenery. Time does seem to be getting on, though, and I don't know if any progress has been made. Back in the Supercity days, the aerial imagery we had available was 2.4 m/px, which was not great -- the default FSX was 1.2m/px, so going to photoscenery actually lowered the resolution. These days, we have imagery up to 7cm/px, and a lot better quality than the old days, without cloud cover etc. So Auckland would be one great project!

By the way, I am hoping to have a Aerofly FS2 'test' Coromandel (imagery, mesh, some cultivation) ready shortly, if anyone is interested in trying this out, let me know.

Thanks a lot, I missed the little note indeed. I would take it with a grain of salt, though, as JV quite often changes its mind, even with projects much further into development.

While Supercity Auckland was gread I agree the clubfoot was ground imagery resolution, even at its time.

I have a working AeroflyFS2 Installation so I could try Coromandel. I am not familiar with RW Coromandel, so I could only test if it works technically and if I find glitches, though.

Kind regards, Michael

[toprob]

I would take it with a grain of salt, though, as JV quite often changes its mind, even with projects much further into development.

Cheers, Michael. The trouble is I can't take the risk, I wouldn't attempt to compete with Orbx. If there's even a small chance of a TrueEarth NZ, I'd rather put my time into other things.
The Coromandel scenery isn't really a current project, it is just an early experiment, which could just as easily be shared with those who are keen to see at least some NZ scenery in Aerofly. It does have its faults, the imagery is simply the stuff I colour-corrected for Prepar3d, but it should have really been re-colour-corrected for Aerofly. That's one reason why I've changed my mind about offering Wellington first, the Coromandel is a bit less funny-coloured...

[toprob]

Thanks to Mike (emfrat) doing the work figuring out how the cultivation areas work, I've redone the cultivation to hopefully fix the display issues. If these files get the ok from Mike, I'll send the link to those who already have the scenery, and update the full package if anyone else wants it. All this does is divide the cultivation into two, so that it should now display continually from the top of the peninsula down to Thames.

As I've said, this is a very early test scenery, still a lot of work to do, as I just used the Prepar3d images and masks, which cause some issues in AFS2 -- the water mask is an issue, and the colouring needs to be tweaked a lot. I have no idea what makes 'good' colouring for AFS2, so I'll just need to try a few different things, but this won't happen until I've finished NZCH!

I am considering a working holiday this year, visiting all the Coromandel airfields....

[jpreou]

Get in touch with Rick Watson in Thames; sure he'd like to fly you around!

[emfrat]

Thanks to Mike (emfrat) doing the work figuring out how the cultivation areas work, I've redone the cultivation to hopefully fix the display issues. If these files get the ok from Mike, I'll send the link to those who already have the scenery, and update the full package if anyone else wants it. All this does is divide the cultivation into two, so that it should now display continually from the top of the peninsula down to Thames.

And after a lot of work ending in a brilliant result on Sunday, I got out of AFS2 and shut that machine down, using this machine to write up a report. I finished it this morning and PM'd it to Rob. Started it again, and found it was making a liar out of me - AFS2 took about 2 mins to get me to the flight setup, and when I clicked start, it put me where I last was but with no cultivation until I was overhead Whangamata, from Whiritoa. At that point Tony-next-door arrived for the homebrew quality checks, so I closed AFS2 but left the machine running.. After a couple of beers, I started AFS2 again and got the instant load with proper cultivation that I had seen on Sunday. There must be some sort of cacheing going on, which is lost once the machine is turned off.
Mike

[Splitpin]

I love it when you scenery gurus chat among yourselves ....as Ian would have said "its all jibba jabba to me" ...except he wouldn't have, because he was one of you

[emfrat]

I love it when you scenery gurus chat among yourselves ....as Ian would have said "its all jibba jabba to me" ...except he wouldn't have, because he was one of you

Marty, that's quite a compliment. Rob has kindly said that I can post the link to my test report in the forum, for those who use AFS2 and can add some ideas. I am no guru
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-a2vG- ... W1WWj/view

Be aware that that things have changed slightly since I sent my report to Rob.

Mike

[emfrat]

Ok, current state of play on the report:
I wrote it in Wordpad, in portrait, and sent it up to my gurgledrive. Google decided to change it to landscape and shrank the font to fit. Best not to try and read it online, download it and use Wordpad, which comes with Windows, or Open Office, or whatever you prefer.
With regard to the AFS2 quick start:
Clicking Start, without changing anything, will take you to your last flight situation, much the same as MSFS allowed you to load your previous flight.
This is done by AFS2. Last night you were flying around somewhere and then managed to land. AFS2 will remember that so you shut down your 'poota.
Next day, you launch AFS2 and it might be 2mins before you see the selection screen. If you click Start you should get yesterday's flight situation, but you may not have the cultivation related to that. At this point, if you exit AFS2, then come back in, you will probably see all the cultivation for your start location.
That seems to be a Win10 caching thing.
Today I was trying to get an airport to work as I wanted, so I was in and out of AFS2 to check my changes. I found I could duck out of AFS2, edit the tsc file and get back in with a quick start - but if I stayed out longer, and fiddled with more files, the quick start stopped working, almost certainly because the W10 cache had over-written the earlier stuff. Don't really know, but that is what it looks like.
ATB, Mike

[emfrat]

Gave myself a break from trying to adapt Cloudport airfields to new locations. On the IPACS forum, I found there was info on converting FSX/FS9 airport bgls to put into AFS2. This does not put the complete airfield into AFS2 (although it looks as if it could be persuaded to); what it does do is get the airfield on the map in the location screen, and when you select it, you get the diagram to pick your start point, and you are then placed 'on the photo'. The first one I tried was Lawrie's NZTH, and it worked like a charm. Then I tried VLC Whitianga, which didn't, and then old FS9 Coromandel Airfields from AF2, which didn't happen either. So I tried two airfields I had made - Waiheke didn't work, but Ruawai did! Still trying to find differences to see why, but my brain went past its use-by.
This is all to do with having buildings and trees when clicking Start takes you to the last recorded situation. At the moment, I have a runway and tower at Whiritoa beach, so Whiritoa shows up on the location screen but the diagram is no good, and restarting from there I get no autogen or cultivation until I have flown 2nm North.
Yesty I had plenty of unused bandwidth, so I downloaded about 5.5GB of 10m mesh for Norway, and FSCloudport has about 20 airfields for Norway, so I got some of them, too. I am quite sure we will soon see a good photo overlay for the mesh, and cultivation won't be far behind.
Things are starting to move in the AFS2 community

ATB