Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2018 5:54:29 GMT -5
Jackylon - Thats good to hear. I know many will not have those products but I used ORBX global when it first came out because of the way it corrected the islands in the Pacific and other coastlines to their correct shape and profile. I looked at all the other techniques and they are all too laborious time consuming etc, so for a mere $40 or so why would you not get it if you can use it for those reasons alone, plus they fix up or tidy up a lot of landclass about particularly in out of the way places. Not perfect by any means but a whole lot better than the bog standard FSX was.
I only sim in the classic era so to be able to use all that wonderful Cal Classic scenery has been a major change in my sim use and enjoyment. About 90% of the Classic scenery works just fine, the only ones that have an issue tend to be because of the different mapping techniques used between the earlier sims and FSX and this is the case with airports only, two hard to shift them,not that you cannot but the objects will not move with it.
My fascination and enjoyment of the flying boats started me out on doing this. Bruce Kennewell did a huge amount of work here for earlier sims so it will be good to keep his legacy going I am pretty sure he has dropped out of the sim world altogether these days.
I am hoping to do this in 3 packages Europe and the Middle East, the Pacific and finally the Americas (last on my list at the moment). I guess if everyone has the Cal Classic libraries plus others such as the Ted Andrews RAF stuff they will be just about there but I will list the required libraries with each release. But ORBX is a must for flying boats alas. As for targets dates at the moment not until late January for the First, the February for the second and the March the third. But as you can see from the screenshots work is well underway.
|
|
|
Post by Erik on Dec 9, 2018 14:35:06 GMT -5
Lovely scenes Mike! That's quite some work you got done already. It will be somewhere in the future for me to use them but what's a few years more since the great flying boat era...
Erik
|
|
|
Post by Stromer on Dec 10, 2018 3:55:18 GMT -5
Great job! I look forward to the scenaries of hydroports for flying boats. I on this flying boat transported a lot of salt from Hamburg to Berlin ... )
|
|
|
Post by jacklyon on Dec 10, 2018 15:59:25 GMT -5
I think, for "world-wide", seaplanes scenerys, P3D with FTX Vectors, it's the best option. The sea look gorgeous on V4.x (and V3.x also), and we have coast and rivers, FTX Global solutions, are really nice, but, if we bought at full price, is expensive, hopefully they are two 50% discount periods, in the year (winter, and christmas) Ultimate Terrain series, is ok also.
For ground scenerys, it's depends... until we can have the same quantity of cc ai traffic, that on FS91 (and until we can show it at same time a lot of ai traffic, without a super computer and without get 2 frames second...), FS91 it's still the best option.
we can REALLY LOAD HEAVY FS91, nowdays, and all run OK with enough frames, we can't say the same thing for P3DV4, and even less, for older versions (FSX,P3DV1,2,3)...
Maybe with high end graphic card, and high end processors, i don't know.
I think, "heavy vintage CC ai traffic with good frames"... is one of the main reasons, i still develope for FS91 and not only for P3DV4.
That, and the huge quantity of already done nice scenerys...
But i can understand, that a lot of people, not interest anymore on FS91, and most developers not want continue to work for FS91.
For modern sceneries, for me, is not interesting, FS91, but vintage scenerys it's a little special world, and we have CalClassic..... (that change all!) (too many very nice aircrafts, scenerys, most of themp can't work yet, probably never, on P3DV4)
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2019 7:16:56 GMT -5
Well as I continue around the world slowly putting together more flying boat stops from the period 1936 to 1960. This is Tiberius, an old Roman Town on the Sea of Galilee that Imperial Airways used as a refuel and break stop between Alexandria in Egypt and Basra in Iraq. It is part of Israel today. I am slowly working on getting the afcads for all these places done so they can be pulled up from the Sim menu. Not as easy as I thought. So I guess apart from the nice screenshots it is a wip otherwise.
|
|
|
Post by Erik on Jan 11, 2019 18:00:41 GMT -5
Wow that looks great again, with fitting buildings and seaside promenade. Thanks for sharing, Mike.
Erik
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2019 2:53:10 GMT -5
Sunderland on the harbour at Nukualofa Harbor Tonga. Which is where they used to moor up when they came to Tonga. First is the American Wharf area Second is the view further east of the Queen Salote Wharf area. The Sunderland is a modified JBK Hythe done as RNZAF Q for Queenie. The package is available for upload at SimOuthouse for those interested.
|
|
|
Post by aerofoto on Jan 12, 2019 20:50:01 GMT -5
A very important marine port I don't see represented above (or I've possibly missed it due to "skim reading" .... apologies if I have missed it .... so little time available at the moment unfortunately) is Mechanics Bay, Auckland, New Zealand. Mechanics Bay, at Auckland Harbour, was New Zealand's principle marine air terminal/port from March 1937 and until September 1960 .... in fact with the GRUMMAN amphibian operations of NZ TOURIST AIR TRAVEL, MOUNT COOK AIRLINES, and SEA BEE AIR, it remained a marine air terminal and its Waitemata Harbour a marine aerodrome until 1991. PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS operated the first survey flight from California, USA, to Auckland, New Zealand (operated via Honolulu, Kingman Reef (the aircraft was serviced by a ship here), and Pago Pago/American Samoa) during March 1937, using a SIKORSKI S42B under the command of captain Edwin MUSICK. Musick Point (a coastal marine radio station today), located at Auckland, is named after him. Commercial flying boat services did not start though until December 1937 .... when both PAN AMERICAN and IMPERIAL AIRWAYS flying boats (the latter used a SHORT S23 from Southampton, UK .... operating via Karachi, Alexandria, Kisumu, Jonhannesburg, and Durban) arrived together at Auckland. PAN AMERICAN services were interrupted during 1938 after the "Samoan Clipper" exploded in mid-air after departing Pago Pago for Auckland .... this was the accident which killed captain MUSICK .... and it was August 1939 before this service was recommenced, this time using BOEING 314 CLIPPER flying boats (operating from San Francisco to Auckland .... via Honolulu, Canton Island, and Noumea) until December 1941 when all South pacific air services not in aid of military operations were suspended with the US entry to WW2. TEAL (now AIR NZ) commenced commercial flying boat services from Mechanics Nay, Auckland, from April 1940 but only flew the Tasman to Sydney, Australia .... although it did undertake important and lesser known reconnaissance flights out over the Pacific during WW2 .... but .... it was 1946 before regular commercial air services were recommenced again and in earnest. Evans Bay, Wellington, New Zealand, was later used by TEAL (as is featured above I see) to connect the NZ capital with Australia. Chatham Island (also featured above) services were operated by both TEAL and the RNZAF .... as monthly charters (supply and service flights) in support of the island community and on behalf of the NZ Department Of Island Territories. Again .... Auckland's Mechanics Bay seems to be "the big/main one" missing among the historic represented above .... given the other NZ inclusions Mark C BOG/CO
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2019 4:12:00 GMT -5
No have not forgotten Mechanics Bay. It is very difficult to do because of land reclamation in that harbour area in Auckland which has been ongoing for nearly 100 years now. The area where the flying boats went was basically filled in about mid 1960 and turned into a container terminal. Two challenges here. The first is cutting out the changed land (bearing in mind it has been like that now for nearly 50 years, that is predates any sim program land textures.The second is getting an overlay that works and looks ok for the area. So it is a WIP, I have tried a number of techniques but there is something sometimes about ORBX scenery that is acutely frustrating, no matter how many times you change it, it does not change. Anyway have not forgotten, it is a WIP. I may end up just adding in a realistic representation (which is ready to go) but it will be further out from the old shoreline than it should be.
As for Chatham Island did that one turned out looking great but I am using ORBX NZ and even though I have the new scenery files, have all the objects correctly placed, when you rerun the scenery update and indexing, it either excludes it or just ignores it. Not sure why and like Mechanics Bay there are some deeper software issues involved which will take a little work to overcome, if they can be.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2019 4:16:36 GMT -5
Continuing the travels around the globe. This time it is Rangoon or Yangon in Burma/Myanmar. This was an unbelievably busy and crowded river port in its heyday. I think this is pretty close, the trouble with these places is that it is very hard sometimes impossible to find any photographs at all involving flying boats operations especially for places like this which were effectively refuel stops. Period photographs give a feel for if what but a bit of poetic license is unavoidable. (Same with some of the highrise autogen - sigh just have to live with it).
|
|
|
Post by Defender on Jan 13, 2019 8:55:19 GMT -5
Mike,
If you're unhappy with highrise autogen it could be worth your while having a look at Tom's landclass tutorial on using LWMviewer. It's in his Classic Tips section. Tom and Mike have sometimes included revised landclass with scenery releases and I've used that programme to flatten London, not literally, just to create low rise autogen, or even just countryside where not a built up area in that era.
Bill
|
|
|
Post by Tom/CalClassic on Jan 13, 2019 10:37:13 GMT -5
I think LWM Viewer is only for FS2004 and he is using FSX?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 14, 2019 6:43:52 GMT -5
Yes I am using FSX no going back alas to 2004 even though it would be simpler some days. I have worked out how to get ADE to do an airport location based on a water runway which will save a lot of effort doing the Load a Saved Flight routine. I blame Bruce Kennewell for this. I really loved his work (it was all for 2004) but alas in FSX none of the locations matched with the exception of the Harry Flights which did (go figure) which was curious because 90% of the Cal Classic stuff has ported over with very few issues indeed.
IF any one knows if LWM viewer works I would be pleased to know. I have tried to use SBX builder which has a lot of promise but still have not managed to get it to read Google Maps correctly or at all for me (that is a plug in issue).
I am also beginning work on a whole bunch of Papua New Guinea locations that were serviced by Qantas and TAA from 1948 to about 1966. Rivers, lakes and coastal ports in amongst that lot but will be pretty bare as they were generally loaded and unloaded by locals with basically canoes and the only refuels were done at Moresby and Rabaul. One run from Moresby had nearly 10 sectors of about 30 mins each, not bad going in a Sandringham or Cat. They went into Lake Kubutu which is a 10 mile long lake basically in the centre of PNG, amazing!
|
|
|
Post by marcel de boer on Jan 15, 2019 10:49:09 GMT -5
Incredibly beautiful. Really enjoy this.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2019 2:39:25 GMT -5
This has turned out to be a bit bigger than Ben Hur as they say. But hopefully worth it in the end - whenever that may be. Really helps you discover the simulation world as well. Always finding little things here and there, especially Cal Classic stuff and you just think, wow.
|
|