Posts by larrylynx

Yep 15*15 is the UV units I use, you can do what ever suits the runway, apron etc. Runway and taxiway textures are normally a repeatable map, I use the default ones as they are well made. What I have done is to add a 1 pixel line around the edge to give the impression of a boundary, just erase bits of this line to make it look better so its not so in your face.

Adding decals and grunge as I call it are 2 different things. Decals for taxi lines, bay markings etc are added as per the tutorials, it works very well. I also add another decal which are priority 8 and 9, the highest so last applied, which is the grunge layers. This can include tyre markings, oil spills, tarmac repairs, concrete colour changes etc. I do however apply the tyre markings as a separate decal and map for better placement and more detail, This way you can do 2 tyre markings for individually ends if you wish. As these are normally a single bitmap for a large are they do look blurred in FS2, hence the reason for adding other decals as per the tutorials, its great for grunge not taxi lines etc

Background image is normally the fset image at a high zoom, do remember if you plan to upload the airport to the website you will need to remove this image from your project as IPACS will not allow it. If you have followed the instructions about vertex colouring the background image will not show anyway.

Not sure if FS2 uses mipmapping on ground textures..one for the developers to answer

Best tutorial is the written one for max

There is also a post by Antoine about things appearing misplaced in FS2 if you wonder why this may happen to you

Steve

Hi Antoine

I also find this sort of error. I have noticed the images of the UK tend to be taken at a slight angle as they get more zoomed in, making the ground polygon texture I use to build appear slightly warped and sometimes rotated slightly.

I position some tall helper objects (see attached, I used 5 in total) to help align things so they are correct in FS2 and then warp my image I use for building which is normally more zoomed than the normal fset stuff to help align things in the modeling program so they are then correct in FS2.

Steve

Hi Easton

Follow the instructions as outlined in the various tutorials for the airport poly, it works.

Forget making several 4K textures and trying to stitch them together. At ground level they are pretty useless and as you approach they really don't add to anything, again, follow the excellent tutorial. As for taxiways, a single texture is probably best, I use 15*15 mts repeat in the UV ( not uv-unwrap just standard uv), maybe down as far as 10*10. You can make the airport mesh with runways, aprons, taxiways and then detach these to separate objects. Do your UV-ing at this object level then re-attach. remember to re-weld all the verts so its a single mesh again. This way gives you easy access to UV-ing and it keeps it all when you re-attach. I apply a single background bitmap, use this to make the runways, taxi, apron and background and then detach. You will need to add an individual material ID from a multi-subobject texture to each set of polys. In the up-coming Leeds Bradford I'm using 7 or 8 texture slots in the multi-subobject material so don't think you just have to use the amount suggested in the tutorial. Use bump mapping to give that extra feeling at ground level but don't over do it. Specular can be ok but I found on EGGP it caused massive glare as its all east/west, so tried to remove it.

You can add a transparent png over all the runway, taxiways and apron as one large 4K texture to add extra detail ( yep uv-unwrap for this). ie grime and tarmac repairs, concrete bay colouring etc. must be a transparent PNG. I used a copy of the airport mesh just remove all the background and keep it as a single 4K texture, see attached

Steve

Hi jan

You forgot..retreating blade stall..... flap back......delta angle........interconnection between main and tail rotor height causing roll.......lifting bodies........dis-symmetry of lift along the length of the blade....induced lift...ground effect.....vortex ring .....and the list goes on.... but most important of all.......the sloppy link

that's the one at the controls

Hi Jan

Any point in starting a thread, lets make a helicopter

Steve

You could also use JOSM and plant them yourself. I did this for EGGP, you can also remove any unwanted ones in the OSM files. Save them as a TOC file and included in the TSC file,

Steve

Thanks Dave, you nearly brought a pensioner to tears...only nearly.

yep taking a break, already hard at it with Leeds Bradford then mmmm which one next

steve

Thanks for all the comments, much appreciated

Thats the beauty of FS2, you can add or take away parking to make things just how you like it

Steve

Hi guys

Unable to upload a replacement eggp_liverpool.tsc file so here are the amended figures

<[tmsimulator_parking_position][element][1]

<[vector2_float64][position][-2.8496003 53.3368800]>

<[float64][heading][267]>

<[string8][name][Parking Position #2]>

>

<[tmsimulator_parking_position][element][2]

<[vector2_float64][position][-2.83733192 53.3365992]>

<[float64][heading][260]>

<[string8][name][Parking Position #3]>

>

Will try to upload a new file to IPACS

Steve

Thanks, will have a look at the parking a little later, thought I had got them right, perhaps an incorrect file got attached.

Steve

Hi Uk Lovers

EGGP now available to download and big thanks to Jeff for making this possible

A320 and 737-800 models are reproduced with the kind permission of ProsimAR.

I will eventually add people when time and energy permits, better night lighting and animation when available in FS2.

Thanks to FS2 for making a great sim

Steve

HI

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated.

All static aircraft do indeed cast shadows. I think its purely a trick of the light (pardon the pun), EGGP likes directly east west so the sun can cause shadows to appear short. I also noticed the specular on the taxiways appears very strong in the morning and evening as the taxiways line up directly with the rising/setting sun, I even deleted the specular textures but it still seems to shine through.

Steve

Hi UK lovers

I uploaded some new files to Jeff on Friday with some updated textures for the apron grime/tarmac bays etc so I guess we may be able to try this airport out fairly soon. Some screen grabs to whet the appetite.

Also Leeds Bradford progresses, ignore the tower blocks they are simple to help with setting up the scenery

All the best

steve

Forgot to add one more thing to try

make sure you have linked child decals to the main decal object and that you did select all of its children when exporting, been there done it

Hi

Check the following,

decal priority, plus naming ( very important ) and don't forget the 2 underscores

ie name_decall__priority1

If cloning objects be careful it doesn't add extra zero's ie priority1 becomes priority002

can use from 0 to 9 as far as i know

Also if you use a png they tend to make things semi transparent, i always use BMP for buildings and decals but I do use a PNG for adding dirt and concrete/tarmac bays or colour changes when you don't want to add multiple textures. My Leeds Bradford decal material has 12 textures in a multi sub object texture, so far, so don't be too scared to add more than the 3 or 4 suggested by IPACS.

Steve

Hi

it has been suggested a few times before that we should have a dedicated forum to scenery design and perhaps now another for aircraft design. Nothing worse than trawling though endless entries about things not connected with what you search for.

Also, and I know you guys are busy, if you want more people to develop aircraft for you you really need to introduce some user friendly tools. Developing for p3d/fsx is relatively simple, set up animation in the 3D package apply some code ( or use the supplied modeldef.xml) and the compiler does the rest. Many talented people are going to be lost if you don't . What may seem obvious and easy to the developers (mostly coders) is like rocket science to the rest of us. Not a criticism just a cry for help we can understand.

Steve

HI

I would love to make a Helicopter (Lynx AH1 of course) some time but at the moment I am trying to populate the UK with some airports but I applaud your efforts. EGGP waiting for upload and EGNM underway, yep a long way to go.

If I may make a suggestion. As you are learning the ins and outs of the TMD file perhaps you could start a thread with your observations, tricks and tips. maybe then people might follow your lead and join you.

Steve

From my experience an object is placed by its pivot point ( red,green,blue axes) and also rotated around the same. Ensure this axis is at zero in the up/down plane else your object may disappear below the ground level. The axis doesn't need to be dead center as you can place it where you want but its best to keep it there

Some large buildings may also appear to float at some of the corners if the ground is sloped, best to move those corner verts down slightly, just remember your textures also move so a door for instance may look too short

Steve

Must be a combination of a sticky keyboard and my old eye sight, so I do apologies to all at IPACS

Hi you UK flyers

EGGP had been with APACS for 2 weeks now awaiting evaluation, so just a heads up it may one day appear.

Already hard at work on Leeds Bradford, at least we can then do a round robin

Steve