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Post by Jorge on Jan 17, 2017 9:40:09 GMT -5
Just a quick update for those following the project. I managed to get one more traffic file done - National Airlines out of Florida and up to New Orleans. So far using the plane from FSDesign, but I'll work on a paint for the AI L-10. So far, so good.
I also went through the DDL and DLH traffic that Willy sent (THANK YOU!!!!) and have Tempelhof pretty much humming. I had to download a few aircraft, but they are multi-LOD as I had thought so now we have AI FW-200, Ju-90, He-111C, and the venerable "Tante-Ju" flying in and out of Berlin. I'm currently using the default D-AQUI paint that comes with John's Ju-52 for AI with the exception that I added another aircraft cfg section so that it uses the twin-blade model from Breitling instead of the three-blade model. Once I can get around to getting more time I'll create a "from-scratch" revamp of Willy's files using the time-tables I now have.
I've also gotten full timetables from Air France, Imperial Airways, and Pan American for 1939. After looking through them I found I can corroborate what I have for Cubana, Mexicana, and Panama Airways since they were part of Pan Am at the time. Just a matter of having time myself.
I'll post pics when I can since I'm going to switch providers here for the pictures. It appears that with a Yahoo account I can get a better experience from Flickr so I'll start using that one for the main pic storage. The old pics will still be properly linked to the old site, however, since I don't want to make those links dead.
Thanks for all the help and more to come!
Jorge
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Post by Jorge on Jan 17, 2017 9:41:30 GMT -5
if your interested, when you get to 1935, I have Braniff, TWA, National, Pennsylvania-Central, Western, and United flightplans coded and ready to go. I believe they're ready, ill double check. anyway, their yours if you want 'em. SURE! I'd be happy to use them now, if you'd let me. It's just a matter of changing a few things here and there rather than coding the monsters! Jorge
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Post by jagdflieger on Jan 21, 2017 15:26:37 GMT -5
What a great time in aviation to model.
This will demand a separate installation of FS9 on my computer.
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Post by Jorge on Jan 22, 2017 20:42:00 GMT -5
Just a small update for the weekend with more shots. I messed around a bit with Willy's files and managed to replace the Ju-52's with the AI by John. I added another entry in the aircraft cfg file so that the texture for the D-AQUI was now using the HB model instead. Other than that, it's pretty much his traffic file. Thanks Willy! I still plan on adjusting some of the DLH plans, but thanks to his work it won't (at least shouldn't) be that difficult to update. I also dug around my external hard drive and found the old Croydon work I was doing a while back as well as some of the old Baghdad West work. I managed to dust some of the cobwebs off the Croydon one and in about and hour or two finished what appears to be a decent version, but I'll let you be the judge. There are 14 parking spots at 20m in diameter, all on the "hard" surfaced area near the hangars and the terminal. I might add some more in the grass by the periphery if needed until I can do a version of Heston later on for some of the other traffic. Same for Gatwick. Berlin is based on an old 1930's map combined with the AFD image from John's Flickr treasure-trove. It still needs some work - especially in SBuilder. The terminal is the one from the 1962 scenery placed in the "retro" 1939. I decided to go with the "finished" look since I'm hoping to get some changes done in order to incorporate dirigible traffic for 1935. In all, there are 50 parking spots at 20m in diameter for all kinds of commercial air travel on the main ramp area. Finally, I was able to code some traffic for Imperial Airways (using the airline code IAW for now) with the DeHavilland 91 as the primary aircraft since the tables pretty much said "Frobisher" class for most of the traffic. The British Airways Lockheed was replaced, for now, with more DH91's until I can do a paint for the AI L10 as a stand-in or just use the FSD bird like I did with National in the Florida-New Orleans run. The only thing I'm missing from the IAW runs are those that are outside of London (Africa, Asia, Oceana) and some of the other code-shares domestically such as Railway Air Services out of Croydon. I know they used DH89's and we have an AI version of that aircraft, but I still haven't gotten to downloading the textures for it yet ... so ... for now I found some RAS textures for the default DC-3 that I had in the external drive that I'll install when I get the chance and use them as a fill-in for now. Enough rabble, I'm shutting up now and let the pics have the floor. One thing I wanted to do is set up albums with all the map and/or data I can get so that everyone who wants to get access to my data can do so. That way everyone who wants to do something can get access to the material, everyone's on the same sheet of music as far as how to make the airports in general so the basic stuff looks the same, and if anyone wants to work on the AI they can have access to the Excel workbook I'm using as well as the format of the AIFP timetable text file and the pictures of the timetables themselves which are from Airline Timetable Images. As long as there are no copyright restrictions, that is. I just thought it would be nice to have a "one stop shop" if you will. I also wanted to share these tidbits of info. Too bad I don't speak German (Mein Deutch ist Klein) but from what I've been able to garner this is a treasure trove: www.pennula.de/index.htmI rummaged around and managed to find AFD's from the 1930's for most of Europe and the colonies, along with a complete section with a 1930's AFD for Poland, so I'm guessing LOT will be covered! Let me know what you guys think about all this and if you have any input, as always, please let me know. Regards, Jorge
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Post by jwh on Jan 23, 2017 17:38:40 GMT -5
Hope this isn't a dumb question, but will the Croydon scenery work in FS2004?
Thanks John
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Post by warbaby on Jan 23, 2017 19:03:38 GMT -5
I'm really looking forward to this Jorge, I can't stand my default GW traffic.
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Post by Jorge on Jan 23, 2017 23:18:53 GMT -5
John,
I've been trying to reply for a few minutes now and keep getting bumped off the forum and having to log back in, but to answer your question, yes it's for FS9/FS2004. I'm not sure if you have FSX, but if you do and are willing to give it a shot please let me know and I'll send you the stuff I have for Croydon. I'll have to wait until I get back home in a few days. Like the old song says, "On the road again"!
Jorge
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Post by Bjoern on Jan 27, 2017 9:04:11 GMT -5
The new models on the Restauravia site might come in handy: restauravia.fr/
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Post by jwh on Jan 29, 2017 17:49:47 GMT -5
Hi Jorge Trust you are safely back home now. I only use FS2004 and would dearly appreciate the Croydon scenery as a nice alternative to Heathrow or Gatwick. I do have an old, fairly basic Croydon scenery installed but it is marginal to get a DC-3 in and out of the airport.
My email address, if that is the best way to send it, is: jwhsatoptusnetdotcomdotau
Many thanks in anticipation.
John
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Post by Jorge on Feb 2, 2017 11:02:05 GMT -5
Hi Jorge Trust you are safely back home now. I only use FS2004 and would dearly appreciate the Croydon scenery as a nice alternative to Heathrow or Gatwick. I do have an old, fairly basic Croydon scenery installed but it is marginal to get a DC-3 in and out of the airport. My email address, if that is the best way to send it, is: jwhsatoptusnetdotcomdotau Many thanks in anticipation. John John, You'll have it by COB today! Jorge
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Post by agent0archer on Apr 29, 2019 13:37:26 GMT -5
Ugh, I hope this project isn't dead.
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Post by Tom/CalClassic on Apr 29, 2019 13:41:32 GMT -5
Jorge visited the forum around 2 weeks ago, so hopefully he can let you know its status.
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Post by Jorge on Apr 29, 2019 16:04:06 GMT -5
Nope, not dead, just SLOW ... I actually fly for a living, so between a shortage of pilots and family I haven't been able to put as much into this as I would like. Also, I'm now trying to place this for FSX:SE and later. I'm in the process of trying (operative phrase, "trying") to update the Mike Stone B-314 into FSX native using Tom's tutorial and MCX. I've got a very basic plane with bump and specular mapping as well as a static VC and some camera views, but it's a slow process. I'm also trying to teach myself xml in the process and have managed to make a few gauges using a combination of Aces and regular FS9 code (Notepad++ for that one) which I'm placing onto a panel I made based on images from a CD that is supposed to be for R/C use. So far, so good. I'll post some images when I get the chance. If I'm able to get up to speed with GMAX I'll see about making a very simple VC with some gauges on the panel for VC flying.
As for the retro project of Platinum Wings, so far I've been able to eliminate the airports, navaids, and objects from the FSX setup by moving the default AFX, NVX, and OBX files into a backup folder. When I need to backdate or work on an area I just reload the files back to the original folders for the work, then take them out again for retro scenery. I've managed to recreate the Range Route AMBER-7 by using regular NDB's along with some "fill-in" NDB's. The trick is that you tune two (2) ADF radios to the one closest and the one that is next on the route. You then fly the aircraft with any dual-needle RMI making sure that you have both needles superimposed on each other. If you have a crosswind, the needles will be superimposed, just offset to one side or the other. With the "fill-in" NDB's you have no more than 100 nm between stations, so you are always within 100 nm of two stations. When you get to the next station on the route you turn to the heading where the next one is and tune the other radio to the next NDB and superimpose the needles again. Not the most efficient or realistic, but it gets you from one NDB to another in a straight line if you can keep the needles on top of each other. I've only done it from Newark to Boston via Hartford, and it seems to work well.
Speaking of NDB range, I managed to decipher (I hope) the mysterious 200000 number in the signal strength section of the default DC-3 radio. If you treat that as meters, you divide the number by 1852 meters per nautical mile and come up with about 107.9 nm (200000 / 1852 = 107.9). I'm trying to code something with the element (C:fs9gpsWaypointNDBType, NDBType) call-up so you can have multiple signal sections. The NDB types are divided into 0 = None, 1 = Compass Locator, 2 = Homing, 3 = Medium Homing, and 4 = High Homing. The goal is to have the signal meter give you the strength (hence distance by interpretation) based on the type of NDB. The type 2, for example, has a range of about 25 nm in real life. The max value for this one would be 46300 instead of 200000. In theory, you can make it so that different types of NDB are picked up at different ranges as in real life. Not sure about the atmospheric bounce or other anomalies, but at least we would have something that was more realistic which we could use in both Platinum Wings and the CalClassic era. I'm trying to do the xml for that one in Notepad++ so it would work in FS9 as well. Still haven't figured out how to properly use the gps call-up code on that one, though. If any of you have any input I'd gladly accept it.
There are a few other things that I'm trying to do with the project as well. For example, I created a "generic" airfield that is standardized using the SDK and scenery xml to create a base template. Everything is off the ARP as per it's coordinates in the sim, so all the items that can be placed with bias are done that way using a bmp file I made where 1 pixel is equal to 1 meter (since the sim seems to be default to meters). The base file has default runways, taxiways, taxi spots, buildings, etc, all throughout the field based on bias for X and Z as per the SDK. I still haven't figured out a way to get the bias to work with aprons, otherwise there would be default aprons as well. If anyone has any ideas how to do those without lat/long for the vertices I'd appreciate any input. Anyway, I take the generic file, open the xml with ADE, then add the coordinates for the aprons and any other things that I couldn't add via bias such as excludes for objects. I also add any terrain excludes I can think of, but I'm starting to lean towards SBuilderX instead for that part. I'm going to use this generic template for all the airports that we don't have AFD info for. I'm using the info from John's website for the 1939 layout. It's the same info I used to backdate Croydon and Berlin, for example. In short, if it's not on John's website or not on a map I can find it's getting the generic layout.
Another thing I can say that I can at least to retro landclass for the U.S. fairly simply using SBuilder since I got the landclass map feature to work on that one as well as on the FS9 compatible one. The main leg-work is on the map itself using a graphics editor (I'm using a 1:250,000 scale map from USGS you can download with geo-referencing). What you do is assign colors and landclass codes to what you want in SBuilder making sure that you use those same colors on the bmp you make in you graphics program. You then save it as 32-bit (saving as 24-bit and then converting to 32-bit with imagetool seems to work as well) and add the geo-referencing again. Finally, you import to SBuilder with the landclass map option. When you run the "make" option you have you get a bunch of tiles covering the entirety of the map you just imported. There are always a few areas that don't get covered for whatever reason. You then only have to fill in or modify those small areas that may not have been covered with the map. The main thing is to make sure the map is 32-bit and that the RGB numbers for the colors you pick match, otherwise it won't work.
There are a lot of things I'd like to do that I either started to do already or that I've put on my "to do" list, but with work and everything else it's slow going. That, and I'm not much of a social media guy, so I only post when I think there is something I can contribute. I scan the website quite a bit, just don't sign in that much unless I'm posting or trying to reply to something.
Hopefully I haven't gotten to the point where I lost most of you around paragraph two, but like I said, I don't really post that often. If anyone wants to get what I have so far for the B-314 as well as the Midway scenery for FSX I've been slapping together for this project please let me know and I'll send it.
Thanks for the interest and, again, I'll post some pics when I can.
Regards,
Jorge Miami, FL
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Post by jwh on Apr 30, 2019 6:15:04 GMT -5
Hi Jorge Had a read right through this thread and I found the note from early 2017 that you had sent me the file for Croydon. As I had never installed the scenery I pulled my old computer out and fired it up and upon checking through the old emails found yours. Do not know how I missed it back then but have just installed the scenery and it works fine in FS2004. Can get the DC-3 in and out comfortably compared to the earlier Croydon. So I am saying a belated thank you for sending the file and a humble apology for not thanking you much earlier.
John
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Post by Jorge on Apr 30, 2019 12:16:03 GMT -5
All, As promised, here are a few shots of the B-314 work I've been doing for a while. Unfortunately, all other work on PW has slowed down for obvious reasons. The scenery was made with SBuilder and using default buildings from default FSX libraries. Here is a shot from the Astrodome position on the upper side just aft of the engines and centered on the wing. b314_pmdy_10 by Jorge Rechani, on Flickr Next is a shot from the Captain's position in the VC. It's static and meant - for now - just to give the user something to pan around in. I believe that by isolating the panel area in MCX you can then make planars (one or several) for the gauges, which you can then merge into the interior model with MCX and get working VC panel(s). We'll see. b314_pmdy_08 by Jorge Rechani, on Flickr Here is a shot of a work in progress radio based on the images I got on CD. It's of an SP-600 radio by Hammerlund and is accessed by Shift+3. As you can see I managed to get some code to work for the signal strength, but haven't done the needle yet. In window mode the text is much clearer. If the code works as it's supposed to, the range in meters (signal strength you see in the screenshot) goes up and down depending on distance and based on the inverse square rule. This is part of the sim, so nothing I made up or coded here. I'm just trying to get the thing to give us more realistic reception. Sitting on top of the NDB on Midway the thing read about 136700, which is close enough to the max power of 138900 in the code. This corresponds to the NDB Type of "3" which is Medium Homing, or about 75 miles. I haven't done any flight testing to see if this is true. In the distance you can see the Midway scenery I made. It is supposed to be a representation of the island around 1940 or so, and as a result the real airbase should not be there. I kept it since I plan on putting Paul Clawson's Navy biplanes doing touch and goes somewhere down the line as the project moves along. b314_pmdy_07 by Jorge Rechani, on Flickr Here we have a shot of the Flight Engeneer's panel with associated radio equipment. The FE panel is accessed by Shift+2. In the aircraft it was behind the First officer and the radio operator and faced to the right. The radio operator was just to the FE's left and faced forward. I put the two SP-600 radios up top since I wanted to keep the pop-ups to a minimum for the user. The top left one is ADF 1 and the one on the top right is ADF 2. Only the top left works at this time, and this is an earlier shot before I did the custom frequency dial and figured out the masking process for xml code. On the bottom left you have the electrics panel where you have the radio master switch, de-icing switches, etc. The real aircraft had a way of measuring the amount of water in the fuel tanks up on the wing, but I think I'm just going to leave that as eye candy on this gauge. Below this is the left generator panel with amps and volts. Only engines 2 and 3 had generators, with the box for the number 3 generator on the right hand side. Above the right hand generator is a Bendix Radio model ARN-7. This is eye candy for now since I haven't finished the SP-600's yet. My plan is to use this one as the basis for the radio ranges, but we'll see. Based on the same code I used to (hopefully) get the signal strength to work I hope to get the range stations to work as well. My plan is to move the unit up and to the right so that I can add the image of a book or binder between the unit and the FE panel. Upon this I plan to place a mouse area that you click to get to a "book" that gives you the information for the ranges in the states. I'm hoping to work this along the lines of Tom's Notepad, but for radios. Finally, you have all the regular gauges you would find on a flight engeneer's panel. In the middle left is the Hallicrafters CA-2 "Skyfone" comm unit that was installed in the 314. The gauge will have the kilocycles on the face as shown, but the tooltip will read the Mhz frequency such as 121.9, 127.25, etc. I hope to add a switch or something that will allow the user to use the same "face" of the radio to tune in the "commercial" stations that I plan on adding around the world to simulate radio stations. For now the plan is to just have the morse call letters such as "KCBS" or "WNBC" for the US. They would be regular NDB's with the signal strength based on the power output which I hope to do with an xml formula if possible. Again, this will be down the road a ways. b314_pmdy_06 by Jorge Rechani, on Flickr Here we have a view from the FO's position. Again, it's static with no frills. b314_pmdy_09 by Jorge Rechani, on Flickr Here is the main panel with the SP-600 open and sized to a smaller size with the mouse. The power light actually works on the top right via the avionics (radio) switch located on the FE panel. Here you can better see the custom dial for the frequencies. The band knob and the tuning knob as well as the audio switch (labeled limiter) all work for now, as well as the tooltip on the signal strength meter. b314_pmdy_05 by Jorge Rechani, on Flickr The main panel for the 2D view. The flap switch up top as well as the light switches to the left of the mags work. The ASI and the VSI work as well, as do the MP and RPM gauges above the AP. To the left of the AP you have top to bottom: OAT in C, Zulu Time, flap position indicator, and hydraulic pressure. Again, hydraulics in the aircraft.cfg file are mapped to the number 2 and 3 engines. To the right of the AP you have top to bottom: Local Time (have to edit the panel image to reflect this), OAT in F, and another OAT in C. In the real aircraft you had three OAT in C. I replaced the one above the Fahrenheit because I couldn't figure out how to change/swap the zulu and the local on the left hand side. If anyone can do this I would appreciate this and would remove the need to edit the panel background on the right hand side. Below the AP are the AP trim settings for the gyros, but in this panel this is where I'm putting the trim settings for roll, pitch, and yaw. I still need to code the AP, directional gyro, the turn indicator, the horizon, compass, mags, starter switches, etc. I'm basing most of the gauges on code from the default DC-3, Trimotor, and Vega from FS9. If anyone is willing to help I'd be grateful. The red switches on the right are the "guarded" start switches, with the selectors on the left and the mags and master ignition in the middle. Haven't done the throttles, props, or mixture yet. b314_pmdy_04 by Jorge Rechani, on Flickr This ia a shot of the outside showing the lights, specular, and bump mapping. Props are a work in progress. I haven't gotten the landing and taxi lights to work properly yet, however, since they only get dimmer or brighter when you turn them on or off. b314_pmdy_03 by Jorge Rechani, on Flickr The land airport on Eastern Island. Coral base with vegetation of various forms. Coral ramp area with coral backing on the runways and steel mat runways on top. Shorelines have working waves. b314_pmdy_02 by Jorge Rechani, on Flickr Here we see Sand Island with the Navy concrete ramp area for seaplanes, the breakwater and docks for Navy ships, the PAA dock and ramp area beyond that (dirt square area), and the cable company compound and docks just beyond that as you follow the shore counterclockwise. The island is a coral base with vegetation on top and then roads and default objects. The PAA hotel (Gooneyville Hotel) is a default, tropical hotel that seemed to work well with the era. This is just behind the left-most navy hangar on the seaplane ramp area. As for the B-314, here you can see the benefit of specular highlighting when combined with bump mapping. The passenger windows appear 3D. The bump mapping for the seams is based on the default paint kit gray/black lines that Mike released years ago as base blanks. b314_pmdy_01 by Jorge Rechani, on Flickr Well, that's all for now. I'm hoping to get some updates done within the next few days before going back to work. It took a while to get the screenshots followed by the uploading, so it may take a while for the next set. I'll do what I can, however. I'm hoping the coding that I'm slowly learning can help to create an FSX version of the radio ranges, create commercial radio stations, and also add HFDF stations to the sim. With the base bgl files out of the way it's like populating the earth after a "Land of the Lost" episode, however. Not sure how to ID the commercial radio stations around the world yet, but down the line we can hope to use EditVoicePack to make custom ID's you can play via Dawson's sound gauge such as, "This is the BBC, London" for example. We'll see. I plan to work on Wake next, then Guam, then Treasure Island and Alameda, and finally Manila. The reason for this is that the islands are simpler to do in SBuilder than the areas that are land based. Thanks for the interest and hope to get something more to you folks soon. Jorge Miami, FL PS: The 2d panel should work with FS9 once I change the Aces gauges to regular xml standard. That's part of the progress. The plane, however, is FSX. Not sure if the cfg file will work in FS9, but it's something I plan on testing down the road once the FSX stuff is done.
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