Is it real?

I just did my first flight-for-fun with Vancouver+ and FSX SP1 beta3.  From Vancouver Harbour (CYHC) I flew East across Burnaby, New Westminster and to Pitt Meadows before heading back to the city.  Then I flew over Grouse Mountain, and over to Howe Sound.  Over to Stawamus Chief, then back to the Harbour.  After landing in the Beaver at CYHC, I drifted towards Canada Place.

Greenhouses at CYNJ

For the VFR flyer, greenhouses are a familiar site in the Fraser Valley where CYNJ is located.  One very large one , more than 200m x 200m, is close to the flight path.  Here’s some screenshots.

Soundings update

Soundings has a few gigs upcoming:

Sunday, April 29, 7:30 PM, Victoria Folk Club (short notice!)

Sunday, May 6, 2:00 PM, Gabriola United Church, Gabriola Island (part of Dancing Man music festival)

Saturday, June 2, 8:00 PM, Fairfield United Church, Victoria, BC

Sunday, June 3, 7:00 PM, Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC

Visit the website for more details.  And no, we aren’t a choir, although we keep getting billed that way!  Join us for a mix of Dowland, Beatles, James Taylor, gospel, blues and some wonderful locally-written/arranged pieces.

FSX SP1 Beta3 posted

Phil Taylor reports on a new beta version posted for the testers, and tells a bit more about what’s happening.

Stirring the pot.

Owen Hewitt reports from Phil Taylor that FSX SP1 won’t be available April 30, as part of a rather silly tempest-in-a-teapot thread about AI performance impact in FSX and other sundries.  Owen provides a good summary, I suggest you read no further than that.

A note about settings used in Vancouver+ screenshots

To ensure your expecations for performance are properly set, here’s some of the settings used for screenshots.  Your performance may be better or worse.  The only shots where I would say (with my rig) performance is such that it’s not very flyable are with reflective water settings, and excessive default GA AI (used for testing).

• Ground resolution: vary from 30cm to 1m.  1m will be what we recommend.
• Autogen: varies from dense to extremely dense.
• Mesh resolution: 10m
• Road traffic: 10-30%
• Scenery Complexity: Extremely dense
• Water effects: from Low 1.x to Mid 2.x

I can’t reveal the FPS I am getting until SP1 is released.

Adrian’s at CYNJ

Today’s adventure was recreating Adrian’s restaurant.  Here’s some shots.

Click for hi-res version

Click for hi-res version

Click for hi-res version

CYNJ Tower

I’ve completed the model and day textures for the CYNJ tower,  just a couple of minor touches to add (like controllers!)

The funny issues that come up when modelling the world

Here’s an odd one: our newly constructed model of the Lion’s Gate Bridge accurately represents the real-world clearance of 200 feet (61 metres), per the Engineering drawings.  (See also this reference.)  The published height of the Island Princess (cruise ship kindly provided by Mitsuya ‘Hama’ Hamaguchi) is 204 feet (62 metres).  So how does the ship get to and from the Vancouver terminal?  I’m guessing, like US Navy carriers, it can only transit First Narrows at low tide.  So how do we represent this in the sim, which shows mean sea level?  Right now the top of the superstructure collides with the bridge!

Some CYNJ screenshots

CYNJ (Langley Regional Airport) work has largely consisted of working on the airport facility specification (AFCAD) and related information.  Aprons, runways, taxiways, taxiway signs, fencing, parking and other details are done. As well Holger has re-projected the airphoto for the area, and I’ve adjusted it to match surrounding textures.  Major building work will start next week.  Here’s some screenshots, with many aircraft for testing purposes.

Click for larger image.

Click for larger image

New addition revealed in Vancouver+ for FSX

Inspired by Kevin Herlihy (who contacted me over a year ago), we’ve been working on adding a new detailed airport to Vancouver+ for FSX: CYNJ, Langley Regional Airport.  Airport manager George Miller has allowed Kevin excellent access to the site for photography, and we are in process of purchasing high-resolution airphoto data from the Township of Langley.  We will provide photoreal models of major buildings and objects, and photoreal display of the airport area.  Runways and other maneouvering surfaces will be FSX standard textures.

The facility is currently adding new hangers, and turf runway 07/25 is temporarily closed during construction, and will be shifted in position slightly when re-opened.  We may be able to squeeze these changes into the release.

Home to 300 aircraft, I’m very pleased that we’ll be able to add this busy field to Vancouver+.

FSX SP1 beta 2 released to test team

Phil Taylor has announced the release of beta 2 to the team.  Downloading now.

Reminder: FSX SP1 will not support DX10

To correct some of the chatter out there, Phil Taylor has been clear in this post that FSX DX10 support will be in a separate release sometime after SP1.

Fun with sounds in Vancouver+

Holger’s been busy taking advantage of the new ability in FSX to attach sounds to effects.  So we know have waterfalls that roar, traffic noise on the bridges, and my favourite, seagulls and ocean sounds.  It’s surprising how much this adds to the immersion.

Customizing Shift+Z Information

Paul Lange has a useful post on how to customize Shift+Z information in FSX.  This function is used to display text information during flight.  You will need to modify your fsx.CFG file with a text editor, so be sure to first back up your old copy in case of error.  You can find in:

<drive letter>\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Microsoft\FSX\fsx.CFG

Note: I use RSSReader and it strips out some of the information in the pathname above: open in a browser to see the path properly.

A dearth of screenshots

Be assured that Vancouver+ development is continuing during FSX SP1.  We can’t screenshot until SP1 is released, but the team over the last 10 days has:

• prototyped the installer/configurator
• completed the unlisted fields
• tested and adjusted AI behaviour extensively, including modifying helipads to work in FSX (more to do there)
• finished the new hi-res industrial texture and created the autogen (this replaces more than 1,700 generic buildings in the FS9 version)
• corrected light effects and fine-tuned them where necessary
• worked on converting waterfalls (and adding sound!)
• completed traffic vectors for most major bridges
• installed the seagulls and added new animated hawks
• worked through a bunch of bugs
• done some performance metrics and testing
• created new road textures for the bridges
• improved the concrete texture on most bridges
• adjusted CYPK taxiway signs to match slightly changed AFCAD
• created new waterfront building in Vancouver next to the Callisto

Some info on multicore use in FSX SP1, and other news

With the Cone of Silence still firmly in place on betatesters, Phil Taylor has been good enough to release some hard info on multi-core usage in SP1.  He tells us that the software is designed to handle 2, 4 or more cores via a config setting, and explains some technical details, including the fact that hyperthreaded machines are treated differently than multi-cores.

He also notes that April 30 is still a possibility for release (the target was April), but there could be a delay.  He reveals that the 2nd beta drop of SP1 hasn’t yet occured.

Vancouver+ for FS9 easter egg

Well, Frank reminds me as we approach Easter that I never did reveal the Vancouver+ Easter Eggs.  The unannounced feature was animated birds at these locations.  Can you find them all?

<!– Point Atkinson –>
<!– Downtown Vancouver adjacent to CYHC docks –>
<!– Stanley Park – Lost Lagoon –>
<!– CAM9 – Harbour Air –>
<!– CAM9 – Seair –>
<!– CAJ8 Pitt Meadows –>
<!– Steveston (near the fishing docks) –>
<!– CAE5 – Whistler –>
<!– CAE7 – Harrison –>
<!– CYHE – Hope –>
<!– Reifel Sanctuary (very large flock here, nearly 100 birds, but close to ground and hard to find: this was the one I hinted at –>