71 replies to this topic

[Skydvdan]

Quote

You obviously haven't noticed the addition to my sig ..... Check Six! Designs begins 1 Jan 06.

How many folks do you have working with you Sarge?  Good work so far by the way.  I've been swamped with work here at the squadron and haven't even been able to touch my project.  Couple that with my testing for TSgt.  But that's all done now and the wifes going out of town this weekend so I'll be on it.

Edited by Skydvdan, 23 March 2005 - 12:26 PM.

[IBtheSarge]

Skydvdan, on Mar 23 2005, 01:26 PM, said:

How many folks do you have working with you Sarge?  Good work so far by the way.  I've been swamped with work here at the squadron and haven't even been able to touch my project.  Couple that with my testing for TSgt.  But that's all done now and the wifes going out of town this weekend so I'll be on it.

Actually creating the project?  None .... guess you could call it "lone wolf productions" for now.  

I have quite a bit of input from the FB-111A Association and two other designers (one scenery, the other military AI and AFCADs); they've provided invaluable photographs that have permitted me to re-create buildings and textures.  I have scavers, mul and Taz standing by to do the final beta test as soon as I get all of the buildings created and placed.

Edited by sarge, 25 March 2005 - 12:05 PM.

[Skydvdan]

Quote

I have scavers, mul and Taz standing by to do the final beta test as soon as I get all of the buildings created and placed.

So you would recommend them as actual beta testers?  Are they free?  I ask because it never fails that you put out a few nice screenshots of a project and all of a sudden everyone wants to be a beta tester.  Even though most have no idea what's involved.

Edited by Skydvdan, 25 March 2005 - 04:05 PM.

[IBtheSarge]

Skydvdan, on Mar 25 2005, 05:05 PM, said:

So you would recommend them as actual beta testers?  Are they free?  I ask because it never fails that you put out a few nice screenshots of a project and all of a sudden everyone wants to be a beta tester.  Even though most have no idea what's involved.

mul is THE best beta tester I've ever had .... scavers follows the same protocols and both of their reporting formats is SUPERIOR .... Taz knows exactly what I'm looking for and produces good info and detail.

As for "free", that would have to be worked out with them individually.  But as far as I'm concerned, I've got three of the best scenery beta testers a designer could ever hope to find.

[IBtheSarge]

My apologies for taking so long with the re-opening of Pease AFB.  Another designer hooked me up with the FB-111A Association and, after letting the contact know what I was doing and why, I was FLOODED with information and photographs and diagrams and maps.  This project has taken on a life of it's own; and, as such, has involved EXTENSIVE macro design, texture creation, and massive changes to the ramp layout and building placement.

The scenery will be featured in a video-captured flight with the ALPHASim FB-111A at this year's Association meeting.  The designer that hooked me up with the Association is working up the repaints for the KC-135A's and FB-111A's that were assigned to Pease (using Rok Dolenec's freeware KC-135A and an AusSim F-111 for AI traffic).

Complete redesigns have been required for the T-hangars (capable of taking two FB-111A's inside with wings fully extended, or one KC-135A in a nose-dock mode), plus the parking spots/taxi lines for AI traffic to use and customized textures for the hangars.  A new control tower was designed and texturized; a Security Police guard tower was created/texturized for placement between the flo-thru shelters in the alert area; the "Mole Hole" partially underground Alert Crew facility was designed (involving learning some new skills in FSDS2); and a chain link fence has to be designed and texturized to enclose the alert area except for the access throat to/from the south end of the runway.

The fence is holding the project back at the moment as I'm experiencing difficulties in applying the transparent part of the chain link fence.  Once that has been worked out and 30+ sections of fence placed, the final beta package will be assembled and turned over to the beta testers.  (Until that happens, I'm also working on animating the 8 doors on the T-hangar so they will automatically open when an aircraft is in close proximity -- taxiing to the hangar or beginning a flight at the parking spots inside the hangar.)

Again, my apologies for the delay .... when I started the project, I had no idea it would develop into such a HUGE, accurate project.

[IBtheSarge]

Hopefully, mid-afternoon today (Saturday) will see the fence texture problem solved.  Mid-week (next Wednesday) should be spent putting the final beta test package together.

KPSM is back on track .....  

[IBtheSarge]

   Placing the fence sections now .... and this is REALLY gonna take some time.

1.  They are not being placed true N/S/E/W ... they are running along fractional * ' " both latitude and longitude.  Alignment is REALLY intense.

2.  A single run from the edge of the parking ramp to a point between the parallel taxiway and the aircraft parking spots in the alert area, maintaining wingtip clearance for aircraft that will be on both sides of the fenceline, will require nearly 50 sections of fence.  Then the fence has to turn 90* and run down to the point where the parking ramp matches up with the access/egress route for the alert area, then turn almost 90* and pick up on the other side of the "throat" and run to the back of the Mole Hole, then turn almost 90* and run to the back of the T-hangars, down and around the outside of the hangars, and then back to the original section of fence.

(Good thing I'm using XML to place the fence sections; there will be quite a large number of them, but with XML FS2004 only retains the polygons for the first section (11 polygons) in memory and simply mirrors those 11 polygons at the other locations.)

May not make the Wednesday final beta package target, but should be able to make next weekend.

[oddworld]

looks awesome sarge

[IBtheSarge]

oddworld, on Apr 11 2005, 09:01 PM, said:

looks awesome sarge

     Not yet ..... .... but getting there.

Chainlink fencing around the alert area underway, Security Police guard tower placed, Mole Hole placed, OMS t-hangars placed and parking spots/taxi lines to them placed, new control tower designed and placed, new fire/crash/rescue designed and placed.

Things to do yet:

1.  Finish placing the chainlink fencing.
2.  Replace the "heavy" hangars in the ANG area with the t-hangar/nose docks.
3.  Create/distribute the final beta test package.
4.  Make any adjustments necessary.
5.  Release the package.

[IBtheSarge]

Progress Report:

The initial run of fenceline, north side of the alert area, running from the ramp edge to a point half-way between the taxi line for the parallel taxiway and the taxi line to/from the south "throat" to the hammerhead, was just completed.

The fact that the base (and, of course, everything on the base) is not laid out true N/S/E/W causes problems when trying to place several objects that have to be butted up against each other and aligned correctly.  It's taken me this long to establish the latitude/longitude off-sets for each section of fence, as well as incremental heading adjustments, to keep it running straight.  But the first run is in, and the off-sets will be the same for any other fence runs that are perpendicular to the taxiway/runway.  After establishing a latitude off-set of -0.0506 seconds per fence section, a longitude off-set of +0.1138 seconds per fence section, and a heading adjustment of +0.1 degrees per 10 sections of fence, the line from the ramp edge to the turning point went in smoothly.  It took 80 sections to produce that one run of fence -- now you see why I HAD to solve that texturing problem so I could use my custom objects in an XML file; Microsoft displays all 80 sections, but only keeps 11 polygons in memory -- 29.8 frames per second with the system locked at 30.0 fps, virtually no impact on performance of the sim.

It's going to take at least another day or two to establish the off-sets and heading adjustments for the run to the south end of the ramp, but that will also establish the off-sets/adjustments for any other fence runs that are parallel to the taxiway/runway.

Sorry for making this post so detailed; but I want to be sure that -- within the limits of Microsoft's product (and there are MANY limits, unfortunately) -- I'm doing as much as I can for accuracy of what DOES go into the final product; it helps if I can see my descriptions in writing   .

One of those limits is the lack of proper scale that Microsoft used to create the "tradeport" version of KPSM -- the space simply was not provided for accurate placement of objects that used to be there on the airbase.  As a result, although there should be at least minimum wingtip clearance when taxiing near the fenceline, it may result in a tight squeeze.  I've turned off "collision" on the fenceline; this will keep Microsoft from "crashing" the aircraft when it's in close proximity to the fenceline.  I've also limited the height of the fenceline to 6 ft so if there are points where wingtip clearance isn't 100%, the user will not see his wingtip penetrated by the fence posts.  (Wingtip clearance shouldn't be a problem for the FB's, but it could have been a problem for the KC's.)

[clmax]

Hi Sarge,

Check the last post of this thread for working with long fences (reply #44).

http://www.aerodynam...379954;start=30

Hope it helps  

-Greg

[IBtheSarge]

clmax, on Apr 20 2005, 09:01 AM, said:

Hi Sarge,

Check the last post of this thread for working with long fences (reply #44).

http://www.aerodynam...379954;start=30

Hope it helps  

-Greg

LOL!!!!   That would work GREAT (for a fence around the house, i.e. a 100' run x 60' run .... it's easy to create a polygon, and another one facing the reverse, that's 100' long and then tile-texturize it).  It's a bit unmanageable to create one that's 800' long, another one 3,263' long, another one 1,212' long.      Believe me, I tried it .... you can't even see the bloody thing in the design program's window!  It's too big so the window has to zoom out so far to put it in the frame, all you see is a thin, colored line.

Plus, for the texturing, I have to have the fenceposts separate from the polygon containing the chain link so I can "break" the fenceline at key points and alter the angle of the run at various points to include/exclude certain terrain features and buildings along the edge of the ramp.

If I ever get to work on a base that doesn't require all the twists and turns, I may revisit that technique (it isn't that hard to do).  Thanks for the link ....