91 replies to this topic

[wynthorpe]

spam3d, on Oct 23 2010, 11:39 AM, said:

Yes lets just be friends and not bicker...theres only a small amount of us who use this forum lets see if we can all get along and make it the friendliest section  

Numbers do seem to of dwindled on here some what!

[Atomic_Sheep]

wynthorpe, on Oct 19 2010, 01:36 AM, said:

Now this is what a runway and taxiways should look like! Chesk out the undulations! (I know this is an old feature but it adds so much).

To me X-Plane night time looks a lot better than FSX night time i.e. it's actually night... but I think in that picture something definitely lacks... I'm almost certain it's light pollution... I've got a feeling it's not really brightness of the lights, I think X-Plane presently lacks stuff like bloom effects and other fancy effects which would make all the lights a little closer to real life and give that light pollution feel. Yes the way you take night photos makes them brighter than what everything is at night, but I think that there's certainly room for improvement. It's not bad though.

Like the basics are mostly there, it's just how they're executed that's creating that feeling that somethings missing but I think lighting and colours is probably the hardest thing to get right and I haven't seen any game get it right to date so I'm not really complaining. I think the best lighting and colours that I've seen so far would be Metro 2033.

Can't wait to see what the AI looks like in X-Plane and what the ATC sounds like, that's what I'm really looking out for!

Edited by Atomic_Sheep, 23 October 2010 - 11:33 PM.

[Atomic_Sheep]

Yep, just tried X-Plane 9 Demo and looks like there's no volumetric lighting? Well all the little lights appear to be just 2D textures? I think if X-Plane swaps to more 3D light rendering it will look awesome but obviously that will kill video cards coz that's a lot of lights and I suppose you can't not render stuff that's off screen because light is erm... light? and it continues to shine regardless of weather its on screen or behind you.

[CaptainG37]

I'm confused.  Are you saying that if you set up a flight at noon in Sydney, that the X Plane lighting system will continuously render the lights in and around the night area of the globe even if you are flying in complete daylight?
Can you explain how light is light in a computer program?
As far as I'm aware, light is lines of code which is graphically represented on the monitor by the computers video card. The video card draws what is needed and leaves out what it doesn't need.

[Spam]

If the light is a texture im sure you can get replcement ones...ill even make them if you like.

[Atomic_Sheep]

Well, as far as I understand it, whatever you see out the front window of your plane gets drawn and everything behind you doesn't (at least to a great extent in flight simulators) to save computer resources which is why if you look behind you all of a sudden, it takes a second to load all the textures etc. Using that logic, it should be obvious that a light source that is behind you, will not get calculated and hence there won't be a light source which will reduce the overall light pollution? Logical?

[CaptainG37]

no.  Lighting doesn't work that way.
You're thinking too much in the real world and not in the virtual world.
Have a read of this.  It might explain it a little better.

http://www.gamedev.n...sity2/page3.asp

The way lighting works in XP 9 is not with light in the simulator at all.  It's all done in the 3D program by adding a light source, baking the light and shadow into the texture and then adding it to the sim with an ATTR light ratio in the objects texture that has the light affecting it.  
V10 will have a better lighting system and a more efficient and realistic lighting algorithm.

Here's an example of the add on I made.  Pay particular attention to the transponder light.

http://xplane10.file...0-xpdr-comp.jpg

That is not light.  It's a texture made using a light source in the 3D program.

Edited by CaptainG37, 24 October 2010 - 10:11 PM.

[Spam]

updated new installment! http://x-plane.com/pg_news.html

VC looks awesome!

Edited by spam3d, 27 October 2010 - 02:23 AM.

[Atomic_Sheep]

I'm quite impressed with the models of X-Plane 10 although overall they still look like high resolution versions of FS2002 in some respects whilst appearing to be more advanced than FSX in others so I don't know. Visual models of the aircraft are quite nice though, can't complain about that... not as awesome as I've seen some aircraft but certainly not an eyesore as was the case in X-Plane 9. I'm getting more and more excited about 10, I think part of that is my imagination going nuts with a perfect sim pictures which I know won't happen but I dunno... looks promising all in all. If they have a good, solid ATC engine which can beat the current FSX ATC and which can be worked on, then that will probably seal the deal for me. I'm getting rather sick of FSX performance issues and constant crashes. Pretty much the only thing that I hate about X-Plane at the moment is the autogen... just not enough diversity in my opinion, the cars and all look good with the lights and stuff, but the way that the highways sings are plopped... well I dunno... just doesn't look very real. Well I suppose that wasn't the only thing... everyone always whines about how crap FSX water is... well personally I prefer it to X-Plane water which is waaaay too reflective and dark... if you get REX in FSX, then the water looks absolutely stunning... not perfect but pretty good... I think that's another area that X-Plane definitely needs to work on. Also... wish there was more addons for X-Plane!!!

Edited by Atomic_Sheep, 27 October 2010 - 07:24 AM.

[Peter797]

Well those GA Virtual Cockpits look beautiful.

Now I want to see some Heavy VCs. 747 VC please

[CaptainG37]

Peter797, on Oct 27 2010, 11:34 PM, said:

Well those GA Virtual Cockpits look beautiful.

Now I want to see some Heavy VCs. 747 VC please

Still working on it.  Should be out by sometime mid '11

Edited by CaptainG37, 27 October 2010 - 03:59 PM.

[seat183]

That is very impressive ^^!

[Peter797]

@CaptainG37 Why would it be out by '11 if they're supposed to release X-Plane by december and the 747 is supposed to be in it..

[CaptainG37]

Peter797, on Oct 28 2010, 08:22 AM, said:

@CaptainG37 Why would it be out by '11 if they're supposed to release X-Plane by december and the 747 is supposed to be in it..

I never said it was a default aircraft for XP10.
You asked for a 747 VC.  You didn't specify whether it should be default or not.
It's a payware 74/2 I've been working on for about a year.
You will never see a default heavy for any simulator with every detail of the real cockpit faithfully reproduced in 3D.

[Spam]

I do hope they put a half decent cockpit in the 747...i don't expect it to be amazing just relatively realistic.

[Peter797]

CaptainG37, on Oct 27 2010, 05:30 PM, said:

I never said it was a default aircraft for XP10.
You asked for a 747 VC.  You didn't specify whether it should be default or not.
It's a payware 74/2 I've been working on for about a year.
You will never see a default heavy for any simulator with every detail of the real cockpit faithfully reproduced in 3D.

Not what I'm asking for. I just want a VC in a default xplane10 747

[CaptainG37]

Peter797, on Oct 28 2010, 10:50 AM, said:

Not what I'm asking for. I just want a VC in a default xplane10 747

Ok, put it this way.  The default 747-400 for x plane 10 will have a better VC than the FSX default 747-400.  Seeing as I know the developer who is making it.

Edited by CaptainG37, 27 October 2010 - 06:57 PM.

[Peter797]

WOOOT. Thanks for the info

[Mohammad]

So, um, when is the release date exactly?

[CaptainG37]

Officially, sometime between now and December 31st.