Wanaka Update

[Charl]

I've been playing with some revised ground textures and AI flight plans for Wanaka, and thought I'd upload a sampler to test reaction.
Have a look at these, and tell me what you think.
Good honest criticism welcome.
EDIT: 14 June 08
Robin has very kindly updated the taxiway link to fit in with the runway, see below.

[Charl]

EDIT: Things move fast around here - Update2 moves the runway north to make room for GA to taxi between it and the fenceline

[kimz28]

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD..... I have just done a fresh reinstall of FS9 and all of my AI, I might go and do some work and come back later tonight and see if there have been any other updates..... (looking forward to see how Wanaka looks with this change)

[Florian_S]

Thank goodness I'm at work and not at home where I would have already installed v1 I look forward to installing when I get home Charl. (Perhaps it will be v3 by then )

Thanks for your efforts mate!

Cheers
Florian

[Charl]

Update3 alert! Did I say they moved fast?
Thanks to lightning fast feedback from the NZ Scenery Kid, mips added, and the scenery loads faster, and doesn't make dark squares in the distance!

[Florian_S]

Love your work Charl...

The ground poly is brilliant, the extra AI fantastic:


The Catalina doing the rounds is a very nice touch:


But one thing I picked up on is that due to the fact the runway was moved it no longer meets up with the taxiway.


Nothing I can't live with though..

Cheers
Florian

[Charl]

Would definitely be best if the taxiway could be blended - have to ask Robin.
Glad you found the PBY!
The rest is pretty scrappy: AFCAD, WB AI, I really wanted to get a feel if your sim handled the flock of Cessna's, and if the ground poly worked OK.
Thanks for feedback...

[toprob]

QUOTE (Florian_S @ Apr 25 2008, 02:11 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Love your work Charl...

The ground poly is brilliant, the extra AI fantastic:
The Catalina doing the rounds is a very nice touch:
But one thing I picked up on is that due to the fact the runway was moved it no longer meets up with the taxiway.
Nothing I can't live with though..

Cheers
Florian

Florian -- yes, as Charl mentioned the taxiway is part of my scenery, which he can't alter. I'll take a look at it next week and see if I can do a fix.
By the way, the 'dimples' in the hill above the airport suggest that you could benefit from a change in your TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL= setting in your fs9.cfg file. If you have the 20 metre mesh installed, then this should be 21.
I love the shot of the Catalina, could easily be real. The clouds are spot-on.

QUOTE (Charl @ Apr 25 2008, 08:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I really wanted to get a feel if your sim handled the flock of Cessna's, and if the ground poly worked OK.
Thanks for feedback...

The performance is great -- I was originally disappointed with the 'warbird' AI, as it stretched my system too much, but no problem with this.

[Florian_S]

QUOTE (toprob @ Apr 25 2008, 10:31 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

By the way, the 'dimples' in the hill above the airport suggest that you could benefit from a change in your TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL= setting in your fs9.cfg file. If you have the 20 metre mesh installed, then this should be 21.

Oops...yes, I did have it on 19! I changed it back from 21 for a few European flights I did. Thanks for pointing that out!

[Peppermint]

Ah I love it. Really gives it some more life when the date's set for warbirds. Still haven't found the Cat anywhere, and all the Cessna's pile themselves on the same spot just before entering the runway.

[Charl]

QUOTE (Peppermint @ Apr 27 2008, 09:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ah I love it. Really gives it some more life when the date's set for warbirds. Still haven't found the Cat anywhere, and all the Cessna's pile themselves on the same spot just before entering the runway.

Cat's among the pigeons...
AI do stack up at hold points, not entirely sure why, but the AFCAD is being totally made over in any event.

[Kahu]

Just tried out version 3, looks brilliant except I noticed the aircraft Wanaka PBY file had a cessna floatplane in it instead of the catalina.

Thanks for your work

[Charl]

Cat's in for repainting in V.3, gotta catch the rust...
Wonder if Jenks has the brushes out yet?
BUT she'll be back!
Meantime interested joyriders get the pleasure of a stock Cessna.

[ardypilot]

Love it Charl- works a treat:

[Charl]

Good! I'm glad about this, shows the HTAI models are worth the $ - any other model would've had the frame rates to single figures I reckon.
The stripe of the AFCAD incidentally will be lost in the next edition, perhaps the ground poly coud be squeezed to show a bit of a taxi track...

[Florian_S]

I also forgot to mention that the 10 or so Yak's included in the FP's are pretty cool too....It pays to install them as well

[Charl]

Errr, they're not supposed to be there yet!
Yaks are for airshow flypast, later!
Ah well...just playing a bit

[Florian_S]

TTools decomplier told me a little secret then

Well at least they are in the sim ready for later

[Jenks]

The brushes are still gathering dust I'm afraid Charl.

Much as I'd like to get started I still haven't got my new PC. Ordered, and paid for it, over a month ago now, but still nothing to show for it. There always seems to be another reason for it's delay when I ask the supplier... latest estimate is that they will get the last of the parts this Friday, but then they've still got to put it all together

[Charl]

QUOTE (Jenks @ Apr 30 2008, 06:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The brushes are still gathering dust I'm afraid Charl.
Much as I'd like to get started I still haven't got my new PC. Ordered, and paid for it, over a month ago now, but still nothing to show for it. There always seems to be another reason for it's delay when I ask the supplier... latest estimate is that they will get the last of the parts this Friday, but then they've still got to put it all together

Heh the number of times I've been promised something "on Friday"...hope it comes together, Steve!

Meantime, in the ongoing quest for a better Warbirds package, I have been doing a little research to lessen the performance hit they create.
Given there could be 40 aircraft visible, this is no trivial matter.
NOTE: This is a bit of a ramble, and may only be of interest if you're into AI performance - it's more of a note to self...
A clever flightsimmer called Alex Lester has posted a little AFCAD file (fs2004_fps_test.zip) in Kiribati, far from any interfering scenery, into which you plop 80 or so of the model under consideration.
This gives you an idea of how good or bad it is in terms of FPS hit.
I overflew the area in a Carenado Cessna, which itself consumes some resources, and tried various AI planes.



I used some of the well-known airliner models as a benchmark, and as you can see, they are pretty good.
Noteworthy is the fact that some of the Duxford Collection AI are massive frame hogs. (But we knew that).
I converted the FPS to a % of max available to the sim on my rig, and ranked them:



Good news, the Yaks are not going to create an issue, beating even the HTAI Cessna's!
We're home and dry with the Corsair, surpprised at how good the RNZAF 757 is.
Complete mystery why the CT4's are so high on the list, as they defintely cause stuttering in normal use...
And so on, down the list, A Spit, P40, P51, down to the Hurri which may have to drop off the list unfortunately.
The RealAir AI Spit did quite well.
Big disappointment was the Iris P40 bottom of the list, I've been using it in my sim in Fauville's repaint, but sadly, it is not useable for general AI, worse even than the RealAir flyable Spit.