21 replies to this topic

[Mr. Schutte]

Plan: To create payware quality scenery for Grand Cayman.

Step 1: Surroundings, FS2004 has created an aweful landscape for Grand Cayman, being bare with a few trees here and there, the actual Cayman being very built up with large office buildings and houses here and there, from the picture below, I need to;





I would like to replace the default land textures with ground textures like that of final approach in to Miami. Roads, tree, and buildings, I will then build on top of that.

*I don't need to change terrain, only texture.

Would apprciate the help for this.

Step 2

Plan: To create a landable surface for a helicopter. I have created an object in EOD, which I want to be able to land on, please look at the picture;





As you can see, I sink right through, I want to stop on the wooden part.
Help with this would be greatly appreciated.


Requirements: Good on frames
                      Freeware programs
                      Lots of help




Thanks guys, really would love some help here  

[TaterSalad]

Hey mate, please check your pm's. I have a very rich offer for you.

[Mr. Schutte]

Thanks CASONF, anyone got any advise for this project? I really want to start now. Very siked about it!

[TaterSalad]

Jonathon Schutte, on Jan 17 2006, 12:26 PM, said:

Thanks CASONF, anyone got any advise for this project? I really want to start now. Very siked about it!

Take it slowly, don't let your excitement take over. I want to speak with you on MSN when you can

[Mr. Schutte]

I still would like some advise on how to make landable helipads.. and the rest if you could please.. TCY? NEBODY?

[TechnicolorYawn]

You need to create a platform. This can be done in Gmax by making a flat plane of the right size and shape and attaching a platform object to it.

Have you used Gmax at all?

[Ruahrc]

i would really recommend looking at changing the terrain for the islands if your project is to be payware.  The bar for payware projects is quite high and you might not get many sales if your payware addon is very simple and low-key in scope.  Unless the shorelines you show in the above pics (FS9 default?) are very close to the real thing (haha fat chance).

You can do this by getting some satellite photos (google earth, terraserver, etc) and using ground2k4 to draw lwm/vtp polys to correct the shorelines.

2 questions:

1) if this is your first scenery project ever, I would recommend trying to make some freeware first.  If you really want to make a cayman islands payware, then maybe create some smaller sceneries of other areas so you can learn the processes and tools required- then go back and create your payware cayman islands once you have a good grasp on scenery design.  Creating good quality scenery is not easy and it will take some practice.

1) Freeware programs.  Is it legal to use freeware programs to create payware products?  Do most freeware programs come with freeware-only clauses in their user agreements?  I have always wondered this myself.  I know of a few programs which you must liscence in order to legally make payware with- and obtaining data from sources such as google earth and/or terraserver to make payware... do you not need to first purchase the data from them?  For example if you were making a photorealistic scenery using images from google earth and/or terraserver- you would furst have to pay for that data, otherwise your payware scenery would be in violation of their copyrights.

I suggest doing some more research on these things.

Ruahrc

[Mr. Schutte]

Thanks alot guys. TCY I have not used GMAX, I am using EOD and Groundmaker to place objects. Ruahrc, this is probably my 6th project, I've done for Cayman already, not payware quality, Cayman Brac, Little Cayman, Norman Manley, West Palm Beach Intl....

Thanks for the advise, Google Earth has crappy, blurry images of Grand Cayman so I can't use that.

[Mr. Schutte]

Finished the landing pad, a simple fix to that.





But still looking for advise on how to change the coast to include canals, and replacing the default landclass tree texture to suburbin..

[Mr. Schutte]

Ok.. Seeing as this isn't going soo well with advise, could anyone tell me how I could keep a bit of scenery from a download, but delete the rest? Say I only want to keep the terminal and delete everything else..

[TechnicolorYawn]

It depends how the author has made the scenery. Some authors split up each part into different bgl files, in which case its a case of trial and error to just find the bgl file containing the bit you want and keep that. If they have everything in one file, or the bgl file with the part you want contains other parts that you don't then theres not a lot you can do - you can't decompile a scenery bgl and change the contents.

[Mr. Schutte]

Thanks Techni, what I have done is deleted my add-on scenery (originally made for FS2002) and created an area as you suggested using excbuilder. So now I have an apron, with all of my AI traffic, I Have altered the AFCAD so as everything is now perfect, but now I want to place my own terminal,( designed for FS2004) into the game. But the problem now arrises, I think that when I try to put it in, it is being taken out again by excbuilder... Is there any way I can get excbuilder to only remove the default scenery, but allow Add-on's to be built on top of it, I am looking for a brickwall that I placed, but it isn't showing up insde the excluded area :|

Help as soon as possible would be greatly appreciated.

[Vikjet]

you are great to do scenerys mate!

[Mr. Schutte]

Viktor., on Jan 21 2006, 06:19 PM, said:

you are great to do scenerys mate!

   Thanks.. lol

Any help on my question anyone?

[Mr. Schutte]

As you have all scene, asuming you all look in the screenshot forum aswell as this one, you will notice that I have almost finished the airport scenery

Quick question for TCY or anyone else with experience, which program (freeware) will allow me to create I think the word is "Dynamic" or moving objecs in the game. For example, I would like a little car to drive around the airport perimeter.

Easy to use
Freeware
And a link please

Thanks alot!

[TechnicolorYawn]

It can be done with the Gmax animation tools, though I'm not sure how.

[PiP]

That's a great Project.

You can do the canal and forests rework in EZ-Landclass easy as pie. Its a good bit of kit! It'll use the Textures that FS uses so it'll use whatever texture set the user has, be it default or payware!!!

[IBtheSarge]

Not sure on the problem with excbuilder as I haven't used it.  One thing I did experience with a different program back in my earlier design days was a conflict based on the file date/time stamps.  If my exclude was AFTER my placement, then everything was excluded, including the new object(s) I placed.  I had to make sure that the date/time stamp on the exclude was earlier than the date/time stamp on the object placement file.

How are you placing the terminal? what format did you export it as?  BGL, MDL, API?  Each has a different method of placement.

As for the canal, can't help you there; I haven't gotten into LWM creation or modification -- yet -- only manipulating the default landclass with EZ-Landclass.  You can use EZ-Landclass to do what you want to do with the trees; that's how I got rid of "suburbia" around Plattsburgh AFB and Loring AFB and put the trees and ground cover back the way it really is.

Checked the screenshots .... good job!  (BTW: provided you don't get carried away with it, the development forums are okay for posting screens of projects in work.  The regular screenshots forum would be where you would post "in-use" scenery shots -- i.e., released, installed and being used in an FS flight.)

Oh, one other note:  you may want to check around for a flag/flagpole by Jeff Stanyer; it animates the flags based on whatever FS9 is using for ground wind conditions.  It's an animated API and all you have to do is replace the flag BMP with whatever flag you want to be displayed; the animation is built into the API so the texture used doesn't matter.  If you want to display three flags, put the API into the scenery three times with a different flag for each one.  You'll have to make copies of the API and give each a unique name, then go inside the API file itself and change the name of the flag texture.

Edited by sarge, 25 January 2006 - 01:30 PM.

[Mr. Schutte]

Thanks Sarge, r u positive it is Jeff Stanyer? Only I haven't found any search results with that name...

[IBtheSarge]

Jonathon Schutte, on Jan 28 2006, 06:08 PM, said:

Thanks Sarge, r u positive it is Jeff Stanyer? Only I haven't found any search results with that name...

Yep; Jeff (or Jeffery) Stanyer, out of Vic-Sim (aka RSend Software).  Let me see if I can find you a link; if all else fails, we'll get together in another medium and I send it to you.