Huts and Helipads of NZ

[AhunterG]

Long time, no post...

I just thought I would share the work of topgunsi (Simon) here, where his work should be right at home, if not already known of amongst NZFF members.

I only recently became aware of his talent, efforts and contribution to Scenery development for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.

At this stage, I have a few of his freeware releases for NZ and really enjoy them!

https://flightsim.to/profile/topgunsi
https://www.topgunsi.com/general-clean

[Charl]

I bookmarked this at the time, and finally got round to having a look at the most southern edition of Huts.

Dusky Sound: the helipad is not the fixed kind!



And some of the huts purport to have a helipad, presumably for something a little smaller than the H145



The Lodge has something a little more formal



Generally they are all but impossible to find, so you need some instrument help and sim assistance by swithing on Points of Interest



Above all, you will get to know all the bits that work on your helicopter, it's that kind of environment.
Great fun.



EDIT: ZK-HEP is actually an MBB-Kawasaki BK117 B-2
Close enough for these purposes.

[AhunterG]

Great screenshots Charl, I'm glad you are out enjoying them!

Such great scenery to explore and perfect for helicopters.

My only complaint is the download sizes... Rather than a unified scenery library for the common scenery objects, many of the packages contain similar/the same common scenery objects and textures, which end up duplicating with each scenery package. I think for the dev to resolve it though would take a lot of reworking.

Other than that, the quality and enjoyment is brilliant!

[Charl]

Good to see you back, and sorry that it took all of 6 months to get to this!

My experience of libraries hasn't been all that good - they often trip over each other, and when you troubleshoot a scenery it isn't always clear where the problem lies
Having a self-contained scenery does away with the interaction problem generally.
In any case these days storage is cheap and internet speeds ever faster, and the huts package is smaller than most single aircraft folders!

Thanks for finding these, I've pinned the post so one can come back when looking for even more huts.

[Charl]

So I was tickled that there is such a substantial body of work out there, utterly and iconically New Zealand.

The chap in question is Simon Clark, and he is pretty keen on the outdoors, both in the flesh, and in the sim.
And he has flown the Lama into a bunch of his creations, so I don't have to make the movie!
I will come back to this I'm sure, as it is quite a comprehensive trip.
Simon is a pretty dab hand on the rotorwing too, because he is doing the flying with right side of brain, for the purpose of looking out for the scenery. It's how you ride a bicycle.

Watch on youtube.com

[deeknow]

So GOOOOD !!! ... huts and scenery look fabulous, what's the photo-real/auto-gen he's talking about? is that a freebit addon to MSFS or payware?

Cool vid but tough to watch (does he use a VR headset) if prone to motion sickness

[AhunterG]

So GOOOOD !!! ... huts and scenery look fabulous, what's the photo-real/auto-gen he's talking about? is that a freebit addon to MSFS or payware?

Cool vid but tough to watch (does he use a VR headset) if prone to motion sickness

Yeah, I'm not a fan of watching VR videos. Not so much motion sickness, just the jumpy/unstable nature of how it presents...

I think it's a way of simplifying things from a development perspective. I am fairly sure that every hut has been custom-made and textured from scratch to this point, meaning quite good quality. If it's the Photoreal and Photogrammetry that he's talking about it may cut down production time.
Photoreal textures had been used a lot in FSX/P3D, then many started moving to PBR for MSFS, but I'm pretty sure it's more labour-intensive than using real images of the actual building. I think Photoreal can still have PBR treatment but maybe not quite as detailed as full PBR.

I'm not an expert, just know little bits and pieces. I think various developers use different techniques resulting in more or less realistic outcomes.

[Charl]

VR yes, one does tend to bob around as if there is no camera attached to your head!

I will delve further into Simon's work, I gather it was a bunch of freeware projects which evolved into the payware above.
There are other packs, too.
I've downloaded some of the freeware stuff from fs.2 but having difficulty figuring out where they are!
I'll build a Hut Spreadsheet maybe which should keep me quiet for a bit.

I gather there is better mesh deployed around some huts, and after WU IV, photogrammetry which has to be removed for the sceneries.

Always an opportunity for a screenshot, here's fruitlessly looking for the hut at Tekapo

[AhunterG]

This can be found on Simons Website: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewe ... 381442&z=6

[deeknow]

Thanks guys. That map a goodie to bookmark. Soon as I can spot for a new SSD I'll be back into MSFS (maybe 2024 by then). Can't wait to zoom around some of our old IRL fishing/hunting spots in the North Island, P3D is so-so in that regard.

[Naki]

Nice series...I have doing some back country flights myself in a STOL aircraft around NZA's airfields located in Fjordland...will post them when I get a chance

[Charl]

These huts and small sceneries are a treat, but there can be some frustration about identifying what's where.
So I have embarked on a little annotation to help with future journeys!



In the pic bottom right, it says: Entry next left.
(Seems the fidelity has somehow been lost between Flickr and the forum?)
Sure enough, down the road there it is.
This stops vehicle/helicopter unintended positional conflict.**
It also shows the approach glide path over the powerlines, which in the model are hardened.
I found this out the hard way.



** This is aeronautical language, used instead of saying Crash