Lunchbreak in Wellington FS2

[toprob]

I've been wanting to update this area based on my experiments with mesh and adding shrubs, but I can't really justify time away from NZCH at the moment.... but took some time over lunch to add a 5 metre mesh and the scrub vegetation using 'shrubs', which I showed in Coromandel a couple of weeks ago.

This also shows a downloaded third party airport... not a 'custom' job, but at least adds the runway. The next step here is to convert some airport buildings etc, and see how it looks.







When mesh goes bad... I have to remember that FS2 mesh differs from MSFS mesh, I always forget.


I updated my graphic drivers recently and destroyed the Vulkan support in FS2, dammit. But it still works with OpenGL.

[Charl]

Keep nibbling

Man that mesh is ... Creative.

[toprob]

Down lower, there's certainly a lot of trees/buildings!

[Charl]

So how's it work?
Are the trees/houses "cultivated" from a library?

[toprob]

There are four basic classes of trees in FS2 -- conifer, broadleaf, shrub and palm. You can select individual tree types as well, but at the moment I'm just assigning the first three classes to the LINZ data sets covering the different tree types throughout NZ -- Native (bush), Exotic (pine etc), and Scrub. This is processed using ScenProc, which was developed by Arno at FSDeveloper.com, initially to create FSX autogen, but he keeps on adding features!

The dataset from LINZ is just polygons the basic shape of a forest etc, so ScenProc fills it with points a set distance apart, and then plants a tree on each point. Individual trees -- the sort of thing you find in your backyard -- are hard to place in FS2, as there's no ideal dataset, and there's nothing like the FSX Annotator which lets you just click the photo to plant trees. Still, it isn't impossible, I just need to figure out how to do it. I've posted screenshots before of Canterbury, where I've also added lines of trees to the 'windbreak' dataset, which help to define Canty. I will add these to Wellington at some point, but it won't have as big an effect as Canty.

The buildings are from the LINZ Building Outlines dataset, ScenProc just plops a building down on each outline.

When I find time I might arrange to share this particular area (Wellington) so that people can experiment themselves. Obviously you want to have a crack, Charl:)

Yet to come are some more NZ-like building textures, but I'm not sure what the process is to add vegetation classes. Other features really depend on the data available -- it is possible to add street lights to match streets, and anything which has a data file could be considered -- in the same way that I added wind turbines to Wellington FSX, I could add them here if I had a model to place. This is similar to what Tim did with VectorLandClass, he took all the datasets he could find and built vector scenery, placed library objects etc. FS2 is very different as it relies on an underlying photoscenery, so whereas landclass vectors add ground textures plus autogen, FS2 just needs cultivation, but it can use the same datasets.

As I've said before, it is early days for FS2 -- there are a lot of features missing at the moment, but it still manages to look great with the limited features it has! Clouds are twitchy, the water is photo-only, weather is basic, and there's no AI, but all this will come over time.

[Charl]

Obviously you want to have a crack, Charl:)

Ayeee! I am wary of dipping the toe, as I would not attempt anything half-assed.
There was some grizzing about the SDK, too. I know how these things draw you in, and then EAT your life... I don't have the time commitment atm.

I wonder how ORBX does this? Hand-placed? Surely not, TE Netherlands is full of this stuff:

[Splitpin]

Rob ...stop teasing ...stop flying my plane (you haven't paid for the fuel for months) ...and.... finish the job.
Sort your stuff out man, for goodness sake ...we aren't here to hatch eggs...we need to fly Aeotearoa in AFS2 ....are we clear Mr Corn ?

[toprob]

Rob ...stop teasing ...stop flying my plane (you haven't paid for the fuel for months) ...and.... finish the job.
Sort your stuff out man, for goodness sake ...we aren't here to hatch eggs...we need to fly Aeotearoa in AFS2 ....are we clear Mr Corn ?

Stop leaving the keys in it then...
I was just thinking today, I really love my job, despite the poor return... I get to just try stuff that interests me. Finishing stuff is another matter, unfortunately.

Ayeee! I am wary of dipping the toe, as I would not attempt anything half-assed.
There was some grizzing about the SDK, too. I know how these things draw you in, and then EAT your life... I don't have the time commitment atm.

I wonder how ORBX does this? Hand-placed? Surely not, TE Netherlands is full of this stuff:

Yeah, when people ask me how to get started, I tell them to go back to 2002, and start small.
I'd say that everything in that particular screenshot is placed via some sort of topo data file. All the buildings would come from a 'footprint' file just like the 'building outlines' data that LINZ supply, and I used to place the houses in Wellington. Here in NZ we have a simple turbine points data file as well, so the turbines are the simple bits. The tower could be done that way, but might be a hand-placed model. Although 'hand-placed' in this instance probably means adding a point to a custom data file, and then processing it along with everything else.

[emfrat]

One of the things I like about AFS2 is the way they have encouraged a "development community" to get involved. Not just people like Arno and other FS Developers who have contributed so much to the simming community, but people not previously heard of, who have been creating tools for AFS2 like ScenProc, AeroScenery and so on, so that ordinary simmers without a Masters in coding can learn how to create something useful.
For instance one person who developed a way to add warning beacons to tall structures picked up by ScenProc has adapted it to model sports stadium floodlighting. Great stuff!

[NZ255]

One of the things I like about AFS2 is the way they have encouraged a "development community" to get involved. Not just people like Arno and other FS Developers who have contributed so much to the simming community, but people not previously heard of, who have been creating tools for AFS2 like ScenProc, AeroScenery and so on, so that ordinary simmers without a Masters in coding can learn how to create something useful.
For instance one person who developed a way to add warning beacons to tall structures picked up by ScenProc has adapted it to model sports stadium floodlighting. Great stuff!

haha, ScenProc is also developed by Arno
What would we do without him?