Afrika Korps scenery?

[MCDesigns]

My fav WWll aircraft is the P-40 and the A2A bird has lots of hours on her. I have always been fascinated by the war in Africa (second to the Pacific), partly due to the TV show Rat Patrol when i was a kid, but also after researching it in college for a paper.

Anyhoo, I have some objects ready and some ideas and wanted to gauge some interest. I don't own any of Mikes (Flight replicas) german aircraft, even though they look amazing, but was curious how many do fly them or any other Axis aircraft and in what areas.

I have a few photoreal areas in Tunisia that I blended with the default awhile back that I planned on airstrips/camps and in addition to the German objects shown here I have American in the same quality as well as some British objects also. Here are some of the german objects in MCX, I also have some tents, crates, barrels and camo nets and other figures. For the American side I also have a drivable willys with .50 cal (yes, like Rat Patrol, LOL)

Anyhoo, this is just one of my smaller projects I have had on the backburner for awhile that I dig into when I need a break from bigger projects, any interest in this?

11925

[Butcherbird17]

You got my interest:applause: It would give me a reason to pick up the MilViz stuka, and also a place to fly the
Alpha/Virtavia He 111.

Joe

[robert41]

Yes, always interested in WW2 scenery.

[stovall]

Always interested in your quality type WWII objects. I have a bunch already but don't remember seeing these. Would love to add them to the collection. :encouragement:

[Marvin Carter]

YES! me too!!!

[Roger]

Those look great! Count me in too.

[huub vink]

Great! I do fly a lot of Axis aircraft in the FSX desert. The A2A Bf109, the old GC Bf110E (beta), The Classics hangar FW190, just to name a few. FSaddons has a nice Storch which fits very fine in the desert and Manuele Villa's Italian aircraft work quite nice in FSX.

So I'm really looking forward to your scenery!

Huub

[norab]

add me to the list:jump:

[robert41]

Yes, always interested in WW2 scenery.

A few German aircraft that I use in FSX.
Alpha He111.
Ground Crew 110.
CR1 Do335.
Classic Hangar 190's.
Milviz Ju87.
O Fisher Ju52.
Flight Replica 109K.
A2A's 109, 190's.
FSAddon Storch.

[Stickshaker]

Count me in! I'd very much like to fly FR's BF-109F's over the desert!

[Fulbert]

I'm following...

For those who are interested, I made (with SAMM) some static WWII german aircrafts.

--> https://e-nautia.com/disk/download.php?id=5550341

[Flyboy208]

Bring it on Michael !!! Mike :ernaehrung004:

[Obie311]

I too would like some Afrika Korps scenery. Your work on military objects and scenery is superb. Love your Kubelwagen. I was also weaned on Rat Patrol. Don't forget the British SAS Jeep and Chevy desert lorrie.

1199811999

Check out the jerry cans on that jeep and don't forget the PSP ramps for getting out of the sand.

[huub vink]

I already have the perfect vehicle to explore your scenery :encouragement: (Lionheart's Kubelwagen from the Valkyrie package)

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f116/Huubs_Pictures/20140902_1_zpse094fdd8.jpg~original (http://s46.photobucket.com/user/Huubs_Pictures/media/20140902_1_zpse094fdd8.jpg.html)

Cheers,
Huub

[MCDesigns]

Thanks for the replies guys, nice to know I am not alone on this.

Some might thing the biggest obstacle would be the objects for for me it's the environment, Tunisia is a big country, LOL. I have looked up battle areas and troop movement maps to try and find good locations for camps and airfields. My test areas i did awhile back are great and plenty big for driving around, but really need to be bigger for flights for the immersion IMO. Unfortunately the quality of sat imagery for the area and filesize are my biggest obstacles. Also, Tunisia has some great terrain that would benefit from detailed mesh. I use FSGlobal ultimate, but really need to learn to make my own for projects (can't keep asking Mark to do it, LOL)

I started making my own effects and hopefully I can get some proximity explosions working, would add to the immersion.

I have no interest in getting FTXGlobal, but I know a lot of users are on that bandwagon and was wondering how different does Tunisia look compared to default since I might have to blend my files with it at some point.

Huub, nice Kubelwagon, I always felt inspired looking at Bills scenery for that release.

[doublecool]

Great thread,

MCDesigns Afika Korp thread title and huub vink mention of a vehicle to explore MCDesigns scenery
(Lionheart's Kubelwagen from the Valkyrie package)

So with a little reminder by MCDesigns and huub vink, I try'd Lionhearts fs9 Bucker Bu 181 Bestmann from the Valkyrie package

1204612048
12047

always liked the little beasty :wavey: and finally got her working

[MCDesigns]

Had the day off today and after running some errands and working on my bigger projects, I managed to get a little more done. I am also almost done with 2 versions of an M4 sherman and a Horch Kfz.15 Staff Car.

last night I found a site with a ton of WWll North Africa b/w photos and it gave me some good ideas. The main reason this project appeals to me creatively is that it doesn't incude full airports, I hate modeling WWll buildings and hangers because I can never find good reference material.

12062

[huub vink]

The models look really good Micheal, however one small remark. The Swastika on the fuel truck runs the wrong way around. Lionheart's Kubelwagen has both sides mirrored, which is why a you can't put the Afrika Korps markings on the doors.....

As I said before I really VERY pleased that you started this scenery!

Cheers,
Huub

[MCDesigns]

Thanks for the info Huub, will see about fixing that.
Small update, here is a preview of some of the new objects. Got a few more to do then the fun part, LOL.

In working on the ground I have run into an issue. Granted at runway level the photoreal method works best for originality and ambiance, but in the air without doing a really big area of photoreal and even then finding a way to try and make it blend is a tough call I am finding out. I have been playing with both methods and both have pros and cons.

I run with default textures, have no interest in FTXglobal, partly because most of my actual flying is over photoreal, the others reasons we won't get into.. Blending sand dune photoreal over default is tough, mainly because of the yellowish tint default has which kinda ruins the photoreal when color matching. Amazingly enough, even at 30 cm p/pixel, there really isn't much detail to be had in sand dunes except at altitude, LOL. I tried the landclass/vector way with changing the landclass with autogen and using default dirt runways with ADE and that worked fairly well, but lacked in originality and again I have no idea how this will look with FTXglobal, does it change the look and the autogen?
When I look at desert airfields in old photos, there isn't much there, some aircraft, some tents, some vehicles, some areas with camo netting covering weapons and vehicles and the scattering of boxes, equipment and people, so conveying that ambiance while on the ground is important to me. I have thought about going the ground poly way, but that is alot more work and won't work in the latest version of P3D using the old FS2002 way. Anyone can place objects, this is about creating a scenario with me.

Any ideas on what you guys think or want with the ground is welcome

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1041x550q90/540/RsObkt.jpg

[huub vink]

After carefully reading your post and looking at the default desert and comparing it with the photoreal Death Valley desert, I came to a conclusion you might already have made. From a short distance the default textures look good enough to use. From altitude the default sand textures look reasonable as well. The only thing I really hate in the default desert are these black straight lined which should look like roads....
The difference between photo real textures and default textures is too large use to use it in a reasonably small area.

So like you already suggested, I think using the default textures is most probably the easiest and will most likely give the best result in the end.

Just my personal opinion of course,
Huub

BTW the "new"vehicles look great again! I love the Horch :encouragement:

[MCDesigns]

Thanks Huub, I actually think I got it to work. i did a large chunk of desert in Libya, and set the airfield down in elevation so that you can see the sand dunes around you, this way it doesn't kill the immersion at runway level and there is plenty of photoreal around to drive your tank or jeep and still be immersed. I did blend the photoreal with the default even though i didn't want the yellow tint, but I also upped the contrast more to bring out the dunes, so that worked out for this allied base. Then I found a nice oasis in Algiers and added it to my base photoreal and added some subtle other color changes and tire markings going around the base in the sand and it looks fairly decent. I also opted for a ground poly runway as it just needed that much detail, I'll deal with the P3d thing when it comes up.

Now I gotta come up with a battle scenario. I have some wrecked versions of the tanks and the dodge 6x6, some with fire effect. If I can just get proximity explosions to happen when the plane flys over, it will look like tank fire.

[stovall]

Thanks for the info Huub, will see about fixing that.
Small update, here is a preview of some of the new objects. Got a few more to do then the fun part, LOL.

In working on the ground I have run into an issue. Granted at runway level the photoreal method works best for originality and ambiance, but in the air without doing a really big area of photoreal and even then finding a way to try and make it blend is a tough call I am finding out. I have been playing with both methods and both have pros and cons.

I run with default textures, have no interest in FTXglobal, partly because most of my actual flying is over photoreal, the others reasons we won't get into.. Blending sand dune photoreal over default is tough, mainly because of the yellowish tint default has which kinda ruins the photoreal when color matching. Amazingly enough, even at 30 cm p/pixel, there really isn't much detail to be had in sand dunes except at altitude, LOL. I tried the landclass/vector way with changing the landclass with autogen and using default dirt runways with ADE and that worked fairly well, but lacked in originality and again I have no idea how this will look with FTXglobal, does it change the look and the autogen?
When I look at desert airfields in old photos, there isn't much there, some aircraft, some tents, some vehicles, some areas with camo netting covering weapons and vehicles and the scattering of boxes, equipment and people, so conveying that ambiance while on the ground is important to me. I have thought about going the ground poly way, but that is alot more work and won't work in the latest version of P3D using the old FS2002 way. Anyone can place objects, this is about creating a scenario with me.

Any ideas on what you guys think or want with the ground is welcome

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1041x550q90/540/RsObkt.jpg

Micheal, three suggestions the Sd KFZ 251, the Panzer IV Ausf G, and the SD KFZ II Sanderkraftfahrzeug. This last vehicle was the workhorse carrying troops and artillery pieces. Some German artillery guns would be good also.

[strikehawk]

You know Piglet did a LRDG Chevy truck back when he was making things for FS9, although I could never get it to work in FSX I'm sure that if it could be made to function it would be a blast to drive in a good North Africa scenery package.

[huub vink]

Piglet's Chevy works fine in FSX, however it only displays on the top half of the screen, while the lower half is black. I think this can be solved. However as I won't be close to my flightsim computer for at least a week, I can't try to solve this puzzle.

In addition to Tom's post, I think the German scenery definitely needs a few AA 88mm guns.......

Cheers,
Huub

[norab]

to get the LRDG Chevy to display properly, go to the Panel.cfg file and at the very bottom you will find this

SIZE_X=8191
SIZE_Y=3366


change it to

SIZE_X=8191
SIZE_Y=6143

that should get you full screen

[huub vink]

Thanks Norab!

[MCDesigns]

Thanks Norab!

+1, I forgot about Piglets LRDG, loved it back in the day.

Small update, here is what you will see flying over the first Allied base. I still need to tweak the photoreal (add water, tweak the autogen, etc), but you get the idea. In the image are 8 U.S. soldiers, 2 British soldiers, 2 pilots, several 6x6 carriers, several jeeps, 2 types of camo netted covers/tents, sandbags, fuel barrels, 2 willys, 2 static P-40's, 2 static Spitfires, one static C-47, and some tents. Outside the image are some shermans, artillery placements, some more soldiers and sandbag areas. FPS are good, so you can add more if you want. Ideally I would love for someone to create a working AFCAD and add some AI aircraft, but that is beyond my time and knowledge. Looking forward to the German bases, should be fun, LOL.


https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1280x677q50/538/B1Ka9j.jpg

[norab]

looks great

[Flyboy208]

Wow !!! Mike :ernaehrung004:

[roger-wilco-66]

A little late to chime in, but this is great, Micheal!
I'd love to see a ww2 Africa scenery. Your static models are exceptional.

I made a lot of new 3D models for the Solomon update, if you want to use any of them, I'd be glad to contribute!

See
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/AAD_y_8n-P8aSEsy9S7vAHBfa/Scenery-Objects#/


Cheers,
Mark

[Stickshaker]

Very nice indeed!

[huub vink]

On the tiny screen of my smart phone it already looks great. Can't wait to get home in the weekend and see it on a normal size screen.

[Marvin Carter]

Michael thats prettt cool!!!

[AnotherOneJustGreat]

Loving this, too! A place for the P-40 to feel at home, I feel there isn't much love for it around the Solomons (judging from the disparaging comment in Jolly Rogers ;) ).

Any good books about the air ops in the African theater?

[Francois]

Hi, I am (partly) back...... and found this thread upon perusing SOH. Great stuff Mike !!! Maybe you, Mark and I can share some of our work to 'populate' other WW2 areas as well? Having said that, YOU guys are the ones with the skills, I just have ideas mainly.... :biggrin-new:
Hoping to get back to my D-Day work soon.....

[roger-wilco-66]

Loving this, too! A place for the P-40 to feel at home, I feel there isn't much love for it around the Solomons (judging from the disparaging comment in Jolly Rogers ;) ).

Any good books about the air ops in the African theater?

Re the P40 and the Solomons - there were a lot of them stationed there, in the later stages mostly operated by ANZAC forces. They were mostly used in ground support roles.
I like to fly it in that arena!

Cheers,
Mark

[huub vink]

As said it looks great, however one small comment. I think after the lessons learned at Pearl Harbor the aircraft would not be parked aligned this way. One good strafing run would destroy the all...

As the pictures below show the Germans parked their aircraft in a circle or protected by sandbags. I assume the allied did the same.

Cheers,
Huub

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f116/Huubs_Pictures/Small_MeBf109_zps3b536679.jpg (http://s46.photobucket.com/user/Huubs_Pictures/media/Small_MeBf109_zps3b536679.jpg.html)

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f116/Huubs_Pictures/bf109e7trop_043-farbfoto_zpsaf1761ab.jpg (http://s46.photobucket.com/user/Huubs_Pictures/media/bf109e7trop_043-farbfoto_zpsaf1761ab.jpg.html)

[Francois]

While looking for my Normandy ALG's I found these too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_African_airfields_during_World_War_I I

[MCDesigns]

As said it looks great, however one small comment. I think after the lessons learned at Pearl Harbor the aircraft would not be parked aligned this way. One good strafing run would destroy the all...

As the pictures below show the Germans parked their aircraft in a circle or protected by sandbags. I assume the allied did the same.

Cheers,Huub


Huub, very valid point and one I actually thought over. in my mind I also took into account what we (most) do in FS, we fly the plane, most from the cockpit. The main purpose of most scenery is to create a believable immersion into that moment at that place in that time, right? So basically when designing you want as much focus on your view from the cockpit since this is what most will see. Thus, if I did the paced out circles with sand bags around the place, the main thing you see when loading a flight is the sandbags around you, at least till you taxied out LOL. I figured starting a flight with statics on either side, a few vehicles and personnel in view would work better for FS. If a majority agree with the circles and sandbags, I can make this happen with the starting point at the furthest landing area so you can taxi past all the others, just let me know.

I wanted to do more camo netting over objects since i see that alot in images, but in order to "drape" the mesh around an object, the mesh needs to be of a higher density/poly count to get realistic looking folds and then to decimate it after so it is small enough in polys to work is a fine line.


Francois, great link, thanks for that. I had a few of those, but there are lots more to explore.

[roger-wilco-66]

That's exactly my credo, Michael. We scenery designers are a bit like film regisseurs, who design a scene so it has the most satisfying impact for the onlooker. Sometimes we don't have all the liberties we need because of compliance to the real world, but in the case of ww2 field sceneries we can or must use our imagination and work with impressions we get out of old photographs or written accounts rather than stick to the few "hard" informations we have on hand.
Regarding the placement of aircraft on airfields, I have the impression that on many fields, regardless of the nationality of the operators or the whereabouts of the field, the aircraft and installations were scattered over a large area around the airfields to avoid multiple damages in case of an attack. We could stick to that that in the scenery design, but the scene would get boring and empty. My own approach is to saturate the immediate area with much diversity where the action is, and fade the scenery population out toward the edges.
Expecially with photoreal ground, where we can draw the ground by hand, we still can give the scarcely populated area some nice details like tracks, vegetation or other ground textures to make the area interesting and diverse when looking from above. We also can "terraform" the ground with elevated flatten polys or even a custom mesh. What I'm trying to say is that these airfields are not only comprised of static objects, other elements also can be put to work.

Cheers,
Mark

[MCDesigns]

I hear ya Mark, problem with this one is, it's in the desert with nothing but sand all around, LOL I actually added the ossis the way I did to give something of a frame around the objects so that when at ground level you had some visual cues in the immediate distance.

I actually broke out the rat patrol DVDs last night to see if I could get anymore ideas, LOL Seems the more I watch the shows, the more historical inaccuracies I find, LOL. I wish there was a video documentary on the North Africa campaign. I have a DVD set on Crusade in the pacific which has some amazing footage in it from the PTO.

[huub vink]

When you do a search on "Afrika Korps" on You Tube you will find some interesting titles.....

like:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd0BKkbtV4E

You're explanation is your previous post is clear. I would say go for circular parking an leave the sandbags out....

Cheers,
Huub

[huub vink]

Another interesting title.....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TKybFZ_bs0

[MCDesigns]

sweet Huub, downloading both as I type, thanks for the info.

As for the scenery, been playing with it a bit after work and I think I have a good solution.

[MCDesigns]

If we could only have "all" of Tunisia in this level of detail :banghead:

After some more research, seems the biggest push against Rommel was in Tunisia so I had to see what was available in decent sat imagery. This is color matched to the default and using some free mesh I found at Simviation, not to bad. What you see is about 1/3 of the total PR. The spot under the P-40 is a great spot to add an Afrika Korps supply convoy :rocket:

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1036x519q90/742/YogNMO.jpg

[ST0RM]

Michael,

This is shaping up quite well. Looking forward to release. Thanks for your time.

Jeff

[MCDesigns]

Thanks jeff, I am trying real hard to find a stopping point, bujt I keep getting new refences and trying different things, the bane of scenery design, LOL.

[roger-wilco-66]

Hi Michael,

if you want, I can provide a high res mesh for that scenery! I just need some reference what area should be covered.


Cheers,
Mark

[MCDesigns]

Hi Michael,

if you want, I can provide a high res mesh for that scenery! I just need some reference what area should be covered.


Cheers,
Mark

That would be outstanding Mark.
As for reference, ideally Madanin, then north to Sfax, in Tunisia, the area in between these across to the Algiers border. If you can go bigger and even into Algiers, that would be great, but I know that depends on data and file sizes.

BTW I have a
Type 97 Chi-Ha Shinhoto tank, some japanese soldiers and an artillery set if you want it for the Solomons.

[TuFun]

Very impressive work Michael! This shaping up really nicely.

[roger-wilco-66]

That would be outstanding Mark.
As for reference, ideally Madanin, then north to Sfax, in Tunisia, the area in between these across to the Algiers border. If you can go bigger and even into Algiers, that would be great, but I know that depends on data and file sizes.

BTW I have a
Type 97 Chi-Ha Shinhoto tank, some japanese soldiers and an artillery set if you want it for the Solomons.


Michael, I'll check the mesh and come back!

As for the tank, great stuff, I'll be happy to use it. Thanks for the offer. I wanted to expand my own static model work toward the japanese side, but have not done so yet due to time limitations. I also have a toyota truck and that small japanese jeep in the pipeline. Moreover, I still have not found a practicable way to model bipeds in 3dsmax without spending weeks on a single object. Oh well. I guess modeling humans belongs to the upper league of 3d modeling.


Cheers,
Mark

[roger-wilco-66]

Hi Michael,

would that cover the area (poly) ? If yes, I can produce it, ETA by the middle of next week!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58324394/images/ak-scen-mesh.png

Cheers,
Mark

[stovall]

Mark, I am having some fun with this myself. A mesh of the detailed area would be great to have. The downloaded mesh from simviation is ok but your mesh would be fantastic. I speak from experience here. Count me in.

[MCDesigns]

Hi Michael,

would that cover the area (poly) ? If yes, I can produce it, ETA by the middle of next week!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58324394/images/ak-scen-mesh.png

Cheers,
Mark

Actually Mark, the area you mapped out is where the current bases are, but the area with the larger photoreal and where i plan to move them to is in this image. The area surrounded in yellow is the minimum area needed, bigger, especially north-western into Algiers would be better. Thanks again!!

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/688x652q50/673/Pu2pkB.jpg


BTW Mark, watched your video in the P3D forum, WOW, great stuff!!

[roger-wilco-66]

Thanks Michael.
I'll see that the mesh cutout matches or exceeds your image!

Cheers,
Mark

[roger-wilco-66]

OK, here we go.
I expanded the area up to Algier / Tunis and along the coast into Lybia a fair bit. It is roughly 2000 km square / 254425 sq km. Should be enough for flying some lengthy missions :-) I snooped around and found no anomalies. The lower image (height exaggerated) is the area where the coast bends to the north, it seems geologically interesting - looks like an ancient flow valley that starts in a lake system farther inland and shaped the landscape toward the coast.

If you give the GO!, Michael, I'll resample it into a BGL.

Cheers,
Mark

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58324394/images/ak-scen-mesh.png

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58324394/images/ak-scen-meshcut.png

[Francois]

Wow !!! This is going to be good ! :-)

[huub vink]

Thanks for all your efforts guys. This will be great!

Huub

[roger-wilco-66]

I just noticed that there's even a future scenery update in the mesh. The Palegian Islands are also covered, Lampedusa, Linosa, Lamione and the fabulous Pantelleria. All valuable Axis assets during the war.
Malta is outside though, but it would be easy to add.

Cheers,
Mark

[stovall]

Oh please add Malta, Mark. A great place to fly the Ju-87 and Spitfire. Looking good.

[roger-wilco-66]

OK, Tom, did it. The mesh for Malta is included :-)

Cheers,
Mark

[MCDesigns]

LOL, there you go Mark, give the people what they want, LOL Fantastic job on the mesh, thanks so much.

Well it looks like Rommel, will be well represented in FSX, so it's a good thing you are adding Malta. Here are a few more objects, got a few more on the list and I can focus entirely on the scenery.

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1037x590q90/908/HFBOtm.jpg


I get so side tracked testing the scenery. I made the other Willys with the .50 cal drivable and with FSRecorder had 4 tracks tooling around the Allied base and then did 3 tracks of the A2A P-40 doing fly overs and man it was something to experience from the ground and the air. I will place all the static aircraft in a separate bgl in the hopes someone will find/make some AI WWll aircraft and do some AI for this scenery once released.

[MCDesigns]

Getting closer, LOL. Mark (as usual) has done an outstanding job on the mesh, very detailed and even makes the default textures look good.
Was testing the main allied base in Tunis and took a pic, couldn't resist running it thru a PSD filter, LOL.

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1280x569q50/911/cmSsuN.jpg

The jeep is drivable, but it's mainly for scenery testing at this point, but it will be included.

[Francois]

LOVE your objects !! Great stuff !! It will take me only 10 years to come up with one........ Oh, and I can throw away the beginnings of my Sherman now ....

[huub vink]

Great stuff again Michael! The US base looks very nice.

Cheers,
Huub

[Stickshaker]

I'm really looking forward to this!

[ZsoltB]

+ 1

:applause:

[MCDesigns]

Thanks guys, appreciate the support.

I just finished placing all the objects on the main Axis base. As it stands, we have amazing mesh from Mark that covers most of Tunisia and the islands. You have 2 main airfields, one Allied, one Axis in central/northern Tunisia and you have 2 desert bases, one Allied, one Axis more southern. All 4 have photoreal textures under them, the larger bases have a pretty big area and it will blend fairly well with the "default" around it, but with Marks mesh, there is lots of detail, so it's kinda hard to see when it starts and stops even without the blends. I know Mark is trying some things also to enhance the landscape and experience further. I have left to finish the photoreal, blends and night textures and autogen and that part will be done.

I have also included 2 convoys along roads for both Allied and Axis, one each pulled over, the other each with some destroyed vehicles and burning fires. If I can figure out a shell explosion effect, I will do a tank/artillery battle scenery, but that relies on the effects or it's just a bunch of tanks in a pasture, LOL.

Also the static aircraft are in a separate BGL, in the hopes someone makes some low poly AI warbirds and some flightplans. I use FSRecorder, but would love actual AI.

I have made saved flights in the default cessna in a parking spot at each airfield that willl give you a good scenic view of the scenery when you start your flight. From that starting point you can change planes and create your own saved flight scenario.

Since there are 2 ways to experience scenery, by ground and by air, I have tried to take into account both POVS, Granted with the detail in my objects, the ground perspective has a few more pros, but with the photoreal and my artistic licenses on the base grounds, I feel the air perspective is pretty viable also. So far I have made about 70 unique, fairly detailed objects for this scenery and performance is great, so users can always add more if they want. Average object poly count is around 6k each, with the ones around/over 10k having LODS. Drawcall is minimal with most vehicles having 2, one for glass. Textures are quality though, I always start with 2048x2048, users can always resize if needed.

Here is a quick fly-over of the main Axis airfield. You can see in the forefront the off loading area where the soldier is standing watch on Rommel's Storch, LOL., With the tank area behind it and in the back is the airfield. There are also Pak-40 spots as well as Flak 88 batteries. No autogen here yet, but will be added.

https://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1037x617q90/538/VHaLKO.jpg

[stovall]

Oh yes!!!! Thanks Michael.

[Butcherbird17]

Man that's really looking good Michael. As for AI, John Young has a few ww2 a/c that could be used for both sides.

Axis
Ju-52
Hispano Buchon (could stand in until some true E, F and early G model AI 109's are made)

Allied
C-47
B-25D (comes with the J model package)
Hurricane
Spitfire MkVb

These could populate the airfields until more period AI a/c become available. All come with paintkits and could be
painted up in period markings, just need a painter with some time on his/her hands. All are native FSX models.

Joe

[MCDesigns]

Nice call Joe. Just searched flightsim.com and saw the files, now just need someone to create an AFCAD (once released) and some flightplans and then get some of these painted up nice and weathered and sand blown, LOL. I was watching a video from a B-25 group in Africa and it showed the wear and tear the sand had on the planes and the paintjobs.

Really surprised none has come out with an easier app for generating ai flightplans, especially for vehicles also using simconnect. With all the little apps we have for FS, a simple interface to define a route and then select the simobject or objects and then create that track.

[WarHorse47]

Time to :bump: this project. Looking forward to seeing the latest developments. :jump:

[huub vink]

To be honest I was wondering if there was any update as well. However I didn't dare to ask as I didn't want to look greedy......

Mean while I'm still preparing to explore this scenery. As you know I have a weak spot for the aircraft of the bad-boys......

Cheers,
Huub

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f116/Huubs_Pictures/20141024_MC202_1a_zps911df1fa.jpg~original (http://s46.photobucket.com/user/Huubs_Pictures/media/20141024_MC202_1a_zps911df1fa.jpg.html)

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f116/Huubs_Pictures/20141024_MC202_1b_zps64aef5e3.jpg~original (http://s46.photobucket.com/user/Huubs_Pictures/media/20141024_MC202_1b_zps64aef5e3.jpg.html)

[MCDesigns]

Is that a Macchi Huub? If so, where?

Thanks for the interest guys. I had to do some work on a commercial project for another community and I got a little sidetracked with my modern military one I am working on also, but it's coming. i am finishing up the photoreal parts and trying to figure out how to package it since some parts are rather big in file size. Mark has some things he is working on for it, but he is in Austria right now, so no FS till he gets back. Then I will have him beta and hopefully then it will be ready.:dizzy:

[huub vink]

Thanks for the update Michael! Sometimes its difficult to remain patient :untroubled:

The aircraft is indeed the beautiful Macchi MC.202 Folgore. It is the FS9 model done by Pietro Zazzetta & Manuele Villa, which works fine in FSX as well. When my memory is still correct I only changed the cockpit window textures and the prop spin textures.

You can find them here:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?67208-AerMacchi-C-202-Folgore-(Lightning)-Expansion-Pack-I-zip

and the second package here:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/local_links.php?action=jump&catid=6&id=13707 (download link)

and finally the Veltro can be found here:

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?71570-AerMacchi-C-205-Veltro-(Greyhound)-MVG-zip

Cheers,
Huub

[MCDesigns]

Thanks Huub. I have always liked the Macchi, had one in CFS2 that I flew quite a bit. Off to check that one out.

Yeah, nobody wants this finished more than me, got too many other projects I need to work on and after spending so much time with it already, I am ready for a temporary change of scenery so to speak, LOL. One of the publishers I do digital artwork for handed me a commission and I have to have proofs done for him by the 10th, not to mention the holiday season coming up with my day job. So many things to do, not enough hours.:running:

[huub vink]

Hallo Michael,

Gibt es schön etwas Neues? (Is there already any news?)

Bis bald!
Erwin........

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f116/Huubs_Pictures/GeneralRommel_zpsab83bfd9.jpg~original (http://s46.photobucket.com/user/Huubs_Pictures/media/GeneralRommel_zpsab83bfd9.jpg.html)

[ST0RM]

Any updates?

Thanks,
Jeff

[huub vink]

Michael hasn't been at the SOH for quite a while. So I guess he is involved in things which keep him away from "Afrika".

Cheers,
Huub

[familton]

Is this Afrika scenery available and if so where and what zip name. Thanks, Bob.

[roger-wilco-66]

He's probably occupied with other tasks, I also haven't heard of him for a while.

[Edit: PM'd him]

Cheers,
Mark

[familton]

HI Mark. OK. Too bad. Regards, Bob.

[YoYo]

Any update or news from author? :wavey:

[Cees Donker]

Wow! This was almost before I came to the dark side a year ago! Count me in!

:jump:

Cees

[Bookman1960]

I am curious if there was any updated information about this project?

[roger-wilco-66]

His last post in this thread was the last one he posted ever since on SOH.

I couldn't establish any contact with him, I really hope he's OK.



Cheers,
Mark

[IanP]

Not what you're after, I know, but as a filler, my QLAB, QLAQ (Luftwaffe) and L113 (RAF) sceneries are all in North Africa...

Mike's would be better than mine, so I really hope that he is just otherwise occupied and can return to the fold here when he's done. :)

Ian P.