The next 'Real New Zealand' project

[toprob]

Rob , you really have to get over the hill and come and sort out my scenery ... bring Ian and Greg ... you fix , I'll work the bar

The secret to nice scenery is to get rid of all those messy aircraft -- so I wouldn't rely on me to 'fix' things.

[toprob]

One thing about Dunedin is that it gets cold in the winter -- whether or not to include snow textures is a big issue at the moment. I've always steered away from multi-season textures with photo-scenery, for two reasons -- first, the photos which the scenery is built from is nearly always high summer, but the main reason is the sheer size of the scenery files. Adding a season doubles the size of the download, and my scenery tends towards big downloads ever for a single summer season. For some reason adding snow makes a particular large seasonal file, which is about 30% larger than a non-snow season.
However, as I said, Dunedin gets cold in the winter, so I have to decide if this is first and foremost a photo-scenery, or a full-featured airport scenery, in which case it should have a winter version at least. (Adding all five FS seasons plus night is really out of the question here, as it would be heading towards a 10BG download.)
There are various options, such as offering summer/winter as a separate download, so that a 'normal' download might be 1.4GB or thereabouts, and a 2-season version might be closer to 2.5GB.
Anyway, still plenty of work to do on the scenery, but I've been having fun blatting around a snow-covered Peninsula. (The other side of the harbour is only partly painted with snow at the moment.)

[NZ255]

Brrr, that does look cool.

Isn't it annoying that hard winter photoreal isn't a thing. Oh FSX why do you do this to us.

[Ian Warren]

I think these day large file sizes come with the deal and now almost standard.

[toprob]

Cheers, guys. The snow-painting is algorithmic, but it does look nice as long as you don't try and analyze where it falls... If I do decide to go with snow, I may look at a way to have an elevation bias, which would involve building a mask from the DEM -- I love this stuff, helps my aging mind!

When I did the Subscription I did some work on figuring a maximum download size, and settled on 1.4GB. I know that there are plenty who would say, hey, I can handle any size, but most of us are stuck with 'average' internet, and I need to support this. Maybe in a few years -- when fibre is the norm -- this will change, but until then I have to stick to this limit. However offering an alternative photoscenery is still an option. It still can't be super-huge, though, as bandwidth is a major cost for my site, hence the 5-season version is unlikely.

I still have a couple of older scenery products in my store which are too big for freeware -- that is, the freeware download sites have file-size limitations. In the meantime, they remain payware, simply to cover the cost of bandwidth. File size is always going to be an issue, at least in my life-time.

[Ian Warren]

It is actually surprising how good d/load speeds are.. well least in the city areas and compared to many places world wide we are now and still getting better, another option for the customer is the "send a return memory stick postage" gets you to sell the scenery out there the customer get the benefit course get payed for the scenery.

[cowpatz]

It is actually surprising how good d/load speeds are.. well least in the city areas and compared to many places world wide we are now and still getting better, another option for the customer is the "send a return memory stick postage" gets you to sell the scenery out there the customer get the benefit course get payed for the scenery.

Yes I would like to see this as an available option for big downloads. It is not so much the data cap that is a problem but the horrifically slow download speeds at times when using copper......and the Netflix ondemand uptake is not helping. I can tell when the school kids are home. When I'm downloading a big file it virtually makes the net unusable for anyone else in the house.

Looking very nice Rob.

[Ian Warren]

Yeah , the old DVD has gone past its use by date, I sent a large file to South Africa via a memory stick, it took Simon a little while due to location and the postal services in Africa but he got it in two weeks ... so it is a selective idea for selling and ease to sell.

[cowpatz]

2 weeks??? did it go by ship or pigeon?

[Ian Warren]

2 weeks??? did it go by ship or pigeon?

I jokingly said to Si think it was Pigeon to OZ across the Continent via Camel and the rest off the way via Whale, ... I should check what part in South Africa he is in, I know moved closer to a city area, must be the SA postal service and the bandits , its going to be good to see the result of all that time and detail with the planned project.

[toprob]

I guess download sizes are getting bigger -- I just got a support issue reported about how the latest Orbx Libraries messed up Wellington, so I thought I'd better check it out. 1.3GB of Library updates! Hell's bells. And the server is so slow...

[Ian Warren]

Think the , "send return post" a memory stick/flash drive is an ultimate option cheap and all the info for a little time, tho some could really getting demanding and spit tacks .. the ole "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM" mentality ... I've bumped into a few of those

[MichaelBasler]

I guess download sizes are getting bigger -- I just got a support issue reported about how the latest Orbx Libraries messed up Wellington, so I thought I'd better check it out. 1.3GB of Library updates! Hell's bells. And the server is so slow...

Download from their Website. There are three alternatives (Google drive etc.) with vastly differing speeds. I choose MyFTX which (with IDM) got it within 15 min. Not full speed but acceptable.

BTW, sending sticks and stuff back and forth may be a nice idea, but you don't want to send me one to Germany, do you? When we paid a visit to NZ some years ago we sent some picture postards home which were forwarded over some obscure African state and arrived 3 months later. Say, most of them arrived.

I for one would prefer a clean 10 GB download, but of course I understand the issues at your end.

Kind regards, Michael

[toprob]

The Orbx download was pretty slow to start, but eventually it went full-speed, which brought the whole thing down in 20 minutes. So I didn't need to look at the alternatives.

[toprob]

July has been a slow month, development-wise, not only because I took a week off to visit my daughter. Since I'm not yet getting to the stage where I can see the end in sight, I've decided to get a bit more serious with Dunedin. I watched Misha and Alex's seminar on development issues at FlightSimCon, and although I knew all the pitfalls, I have fallen into a few of them with Dunedin, mainly because it was going to be a gateway to a more successful development business. But the seminar reminded me that it doesn't make sense to work on a project forever. I've cut back some of the 'features' which I've been aiming for, mainly the custom autogen buildings and vegetation, as these really would be better served with their own project -- trying to work this into a Real NZ scenery project is just adding too much extra work.

There are a few other features which will be reviewed to see if I've been a bit over-ambition, such as the winter textures, but I've yet to decide on that one.

This should result in a release date within 2016, rather than 2017 or 2018... 2019.... That's not an official announcement, I'm just saying that I have a goal in mind now.

Another FlightSimCon video showing an interview with John Venema reminded me too that I'm not trying to compete with Orbx -- he talked about developing Orbx into a company worth 50 million dollars (through commercial work, rather than the 'hobby' market which they service now), so he's already won:) I just want to be able to release a nice NZ scenery now and then, without having to go back to working for someone else.

[Ian Warren]

I just want to be able to release a nice NZ scenery now and then, without having to go back to working for someone else.

Great thing after a full re-install of FSX I have returned to Godzone/RealNZ photo real and VLC ... and now with all this new and old photo material I'm 50/50% , biggest thing .. if your installing time and time again , cuts out the elevation issues.

[cowpatz]

I watched Misha and Alex's seminar on development issues at FlightSimCon, and although I knew all the pitfalls, I have fallen into a few of them with Dunedin, mainly because it was going to be a gateway to a more successful development business. But the seminar reminded me that it doesn't make sense to work on a project forever. I've cut back some of the 'features' which I've been aiming for, mainly the custom autogen buildings and vegetation, as these really would be better served with their own project -- trying to work this into a Real NZ scenery project is just adding too much extra work.

There are a few other features which will be reviewed to see if I've been a bit over-ambition, such as the winter textures, but I've yet to decide on that one.

Having watched that video as well I can see how it is possible to fall into that feature/detail trap. Understandable given the level of detail that some developers are producing.
I think that I probably write on behalf of the majority of simmers in that the main focus is the airport environment and the detail/features could or should diminish with increasing distance.
It would be good to have an initial nice airport and then later release a "feature set" later if so desired.

[toprob]

Cheers, CP, I appreciate that.
Of course this doesn't mean that there won't be a few 'landmarks' around the place...

[Ian Warren]

Don't forget 'The Black Cat Cafe'

[emfrat]