[WIP] Solomon 1943 V.2.0

[roger-wilco-66]

I think I start a new thread about that.
Here's the newest accomplishments.
I thought the stock fx effects on smoke are to small, and too fps heavy once you try to enlarge them to make a decent smoke cloud of a bombed and burning area. Too many emitters and particles, and too much frequency in change.
So I employed stock cloud sprites, redid them in GIMP and made a nice, slow FX effect for them. The result is a large cloud, volumetric and slowly changing as well as moving, and best of all, almost no FPS hit. At least on my lowly system. The one you are seeing are going up to 3300 feet (black) and 2100ft for the volcano.
I also superimposed an orignal USAAF recon image of Lakaunai airfield on the landscape phototile, alpha-channeled it and colored it so it blends into the colors of the volcanic rock around it. Looks quite good, but I have to adjust the autogen annotation now.

If anyone wants to beta-test that I'd be happy to share this, to hear a few opinions or suggestions as well as some fps figures. This has to be carefully balanced, because it will become a very dense area.


Cheers,
Mark

66533 66534

[lazarus]

Cool! That looks much more the thing. The smoke effects do tend to be a bit of a frame hog. I was wondering about using cloud sprites for a kiloton range mushroom cloud, messing about with nuclear effects. I also got to wondering if there was a way to tag the flack and smoke effects to a nav 1 or 2 freq as sort of an IFF so you didn't get the @&?$ shot out of you by your own side. Anyway, looks good!

[robert41]

Looking forward to this Mark.

[Sundog]

That looks outstanding. Well done. :)

[roger-wilco-66]

Apart from Rabaul, I also did the Halavo seaplane base (famous for it's NZ PBY operations) on the Florida Islands next to Guadalcanal in photo
real and with a high res mesh. The whole bay, with Gavutu/Tanambogo, Tulagi, the Mokambo naval base and some smaller islands as well as the coastline is photoreal. Still working on the blend masks , but I'd say it's 90%.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58324394/images/Halavo-Seaplane%20Base.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58324394/images/Tulagi%2BMokambo.jpg

[stovall]

Looking great Mark, the Rabaul scenery is to say the least, terrific. Really looking forward to the release.

[Pips]

Am simply gobsmacked.:isadizzy: Brilliant detail, this is gonna be a keeper.

[jeansy]

thats looking better and better each time

[roger-wilco-66]

Thanks, guys. There's a nice photo documentary here: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=halavo Great images, and a source of inspiration for me.

Cheers,
Mark

[robert41]

Looking forward to this.

[P38man]

I am also very much looking forward to this.

Perfect place to fly my A2A fighters.

Stunning pictures sir :salute:

[fxsttcb]

Incredible! :applause: I've been drooling over this one for a while. I have my VMO-251 Squadron assembled and waiting(patiently).
Dunno what your future plans are, but, Espiritu Santo(Vanuatu) with Bomber 1 & 2 would be awesome. :salute: ...Don

[roger-wilco-66]

Yes, Espiritu is in the pipeline, and along with it Efate, the R+R island. These simply belong to the Solomons.
But it won't be in the upcoming release, I'll add it later. I want to be done with this before the summer break in August!


Cheers,
Mark

[huub vink]

The images look very promising Mark! I love the colours.

Cheers,
Huub

[fliger747]

LoOks like a great place to flight and operational test Milton's Harpoon!

T

[roger-wilco-66]

Nice idea, Fliger!

Well, the phototile work on the Florida Islands / Halavo is more or less finished. These blendmasks for the coastlines and expecially the reef structures are done. Best I could do with my novice capabilities.
I also placed the CV-3 Saratoga near the Tulagi harbor, don't know if she ever was there, but it is likely.

Some images (ignore the scenery objects, they sit on the old layout):

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58324394/images/Florida-Isl-1.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58324394/images/Florida-Isl-2.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58324394/images/florida-isl-gavutu.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58324394/images/Florida-Isl-sara.jpg
Cheers,
Mark

[stovall]

Beautiful Mark, simply beautiful.

[expat]

Anyone able to get USIO's superb WWII IJN ships to work as moving AI in FSX? I had them as stationary AI working fine in FS9 but seem to recall my experiments with FSX resulted in the models doing a no show and reckoned they would need some kind of FSX model conversion to work. It would be a fine add on to Mark's upcoming Solomon Islands scenery with these ships slinking in and around the Slot.

http://www.geocities.jp/usio_no_ibuki/ (http://www.geocities.jp/usio_no_ibuki/)

[expat]

. . Mark, whose Sara/Lex is that in the screenie above?

[roger-wilco-66]

Expat, not a problem at all with the Solomon ships. They are native FSX. The original Usio ships are not usable in FSX, because they are extended CFS2 models. FSX does not understand the damage model that is incorporated in the mdl file.

Extracting the static scenery ships out of the Solomon object library to make them AI is a fairly easy process.

Cheers,
Mark

Edit: That's Usio's Sara

[roger-wilco-66]

This is the last photoscenery that will go in the update. Munda airfield, New Georgia.
Early WIP, the phototile has to be worked on thoroughly (saturating, blending, drawing ground elements) autogen has to be annotated, scenery objects, etc). But it already gives a nice impression.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58324394/images/Munda-photoreal.jpg

[stiz]

fantastic stuff! :applause::applause::applause:

[robert41]

Awesome.

[P38man]

Ripper!

....much appreciated also.

[Roger]

Great stuff Mark:ernae:

[Pips]

Superb effort. The Solomons has come alive.

[roger-wilco-66]

Just a few wip images on Munda. Almost done with the tile, just a few adjustments left, mostly on the blendmask.
I'm not satified with the green patches between the runway and the taxiways as well as Kokengolo Hill. From old photos I gather that these were barren earth, leftovers from the battle actions. I have to find a texture that gives a good match.
Also, some of the autogen has to go. But it's getting there..

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58324394/images/munda-f4u.jpg


https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58324394/images/munda2-f4u.jpg


BTW, I still love the A2A/AF F4U Corsair. It's a very photogenic aircraft, and Jan's repaints for it are most excellent if not stunning.

Cheers,
Mark

[Bomber_12th]

You do such an incredible job with these scenery projects, Mark! Excellent job of the texture adjustments and blending with the Munda photo scenery section!

[dswo]

I'm coming to this late but, WOW!

[YoYo]

Where I can take Solomon v.1.0 ? I cant find here/ Flightsim / Avsim.

[MudMarine]

Now that I have FSX up and running again, I'd be more than happy to test V.2.0 for you! :icon_lol::jump:

[stovall]

Yo Yo, I believe the Solomons package was withdrawn. You will not find it on any of the usual upload sites. Please be patient as Mark is working hard to wrap the new version up. I won't be long now. The wait is going to be well worth it. Hang in there!!

[roger-wilco-66]

It's coming along nicely, despite some hickups. I scaled up the Rabaul photo tile to get a higher resolution out of it, expecially because of the hand-drawn Lakunai airfield. Looks nice now!

I also finished working on a high resolution mesh for Vanuatu, or the New Hebrides as it was called back then (all islands including Espirito Santo and Efate), which will be included the upcoming release, but not with the historical airfields yet. I'll release those as an addon, otherwise I probably can't meet my own deadline for the release prior to mid August.

Here's a few images from working on the digital elevation model:

Espirito Santo:

69597
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/58324394/images/Vanuatu-Espirito-Santo-DEM-3D.jpg



Efate:

69598http://dl.dropbox.com/u/58324394/images/Vanuatu-Efate-DEM-3D.jpg

[P38man]

Love this thread and the previous one.

Really looking forward to it.

[trucker17]

same here....But wish it was finished....My corsair is feeling left out.....:mixedsmi:

Also if you have not heard.....Vertigo studios, has their CV-6 Enterprise in game and testing.....Should make a great addition to the Solomons scenery....
Here are some screens of it so far.
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s495/trucker1762/untitled.png
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s495/trucker1762/1-1.png
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s495/trucker1762/2-1.png
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s495/trucker1762/carrier_7.jpg
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s495/trucker1762/4.png
http://i1054.photobucket.com/albums/s495/trucker1762/3.png:salute:

[roger-wilco-66]

Hey Guys,

I write this from Sydney, Australia and some might figure now that I wasn't able to get the Solomon release ready prior to our departure from Germany. That's right, unfortunatly. It'll have to wait until the end of September when we return to Germany.

But to my fellow simmers here I'm delighted to announce another "release" - we married here in Sydney yesterday and it was a fantastic experience on the shore of Kirribilli in front of Sydney's wonderful skyline on a beautiful and warm day.

With that, all the best,
Mark with family

[GypsyBaron]

Congrats Mark and family!

Sydney is a wonderful place to be for a wedding or, for that matter,
any other reason :salute:

Paul

[MartinM]

Hey Guys,

I write this from Sydney, Australia and some might figure now that I wasn't able to get the Solomon release ready prior to our departure from Germany. That's right, unfortunatly. It'll have to wait until the end of September when we return to Germany.

But to my fellow simmers here I'm delighted to announce another "release" - we married here in Sydney yesterday and it was a fantastic experience on the shore of Kirribilli in front of Sydney's wonderful skyline on a beautiful and warm day.

With that, all the best,
Mark with family

Congratulations from Switzerland !!

[fliger747]

Glad you are enjoying Sydney, going to be there again for a few days next month. Chance of having a preview of this for some flight testing of Harpoon?

Regards. T

[fliger747]

Down angle of the outboard shafts with the propelers extending below the bottom of the hull a bit strange. About the only ships I have seen with props extending below the hull were destroyers which needed the prop diameter to utilize the power available. I always thought that Hornet, Big E and Yorktown had a single rudder, will have to check on that. Such a setup vastly complicates drydocking and causes other issues with deep draft ships.

Certainly dual rudders can do a lot to reduce tactical diameter, the Iowas were very good in this respect for that reason. Much better than the Alaskas with a single cruiser type rudder.

Anyway, be great to have some more high quality FSX early WWII carriers!

T

[trucker17]

Congrats Mark......The solomons i know will be worth the wait....enjoy while you can....:salute:

[roger-wilco-66]

Thanks guys, the trip is fantastic, now we stay around Brisbane for a couple of days.
As for the Solomons, the project has gotten very complex, almost like a second job. But it is almost finished, so I expect that it can be released after the vacation in Oz.

cheers, Mark

[trucker17]

Thanks guys, the trip is fantastic, now we stay around Brisbane for a couple of days.
As for the Solomons, the project has gotten very complex, almost like a second job. But it is almost finished, so I expect that it can be released after the vacation in Oz.

cheers, Mark
Great to hear about the solomons.....Enjoy your time their....

[P38man]

Congratulations from me too.

[robcap]

Wow Mark!!
First off, congratulations!
Second, looking forward to the new scenery!! A lot!!
Trird: I just returned from a holiday with the family on Australia's east coast, from Sydney to cape Tribulation. So I envy you being there now ;-)
If possible, try to do a sailing/snorkling trip in the Whitsundays. Go with Silent Night, a nice racing sailing ship, great crew, great excusions and snorkling, you won't regret those 2 nights at sea, with the 2 great days on each side (afternoon, full day, morning). I did it with the family, and didn't regret it!

Cherio, Rob

[roger-wilco-66]

Hey,

thanks, guys (mates, hehe), for the whishes, much appreciated. Back again now after 5 weeks in Australia. Rob, we've been to the Whitsundays and it - again - was like paradise. Been there for the second time now. We went with Mantaray cruise to Hook Island and Whitsunday for snorkeling, as well as whalewatching with another boat. We also went all the way up to Cape Trib. Unfortunatly, I missed visiting the Caboolture vintage aviation museum with their flyable Mustang, Boomerang etc. But there's always a third time :-) We're thinking about relocating anyhow....

As you can see by the screenshot I enjoy flying around the Solomons for the first time in five weeks, now I can get back to work on it again!

Cheers,
Mark

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/58324394/images/p-38j-rabaul.jpg

[robcap]

Great stories, Good times in OZ. and great screenshot! Looking forward to the release.

Cheers, Rob

[roger-wilco-66]

I decided to make Barakoma, Segi and maybe Ondonga also photoreal. Had some problems with scenery objects there and wanted to build them from scratch. Might as well paint them then, I thought...

Here's a shot of a very early development of Barakoma. Colors have to be matched, as well as the blend mask for the shoreline. But the geography is OK now, also the basic layout of the airfield as well as the painting of the runway (did that in GIMP).

https://photos-2.dropbox.com/t/0/AADYaKDWgLMhuMujcv7BdLxRGBHBNuzTBfV3pNUOxUTlSA/10/58324394/jpeg/32x32/2/1349478000/0/2/barakoma-new1-f4u.jpg/gBv9bOxqY6gEs5zvfHaWQ0wfy1i6u-xyBzVG95hWoEo?size=1280x960

https://photos-3.dropbox.com/t/0/AABBLp9TKeO-JPGwJGkOZhp1OQPzHkiYa0cya8BOgF5Xqw/10/58324394/jpeg/32x32/2/1349481600/0/2/barakoma-new2-f4u.jpg/mNnHzy-VoH-ZfTX9fAECrG4t-SyT6pR-DBkT3VXqugQ?size=1280x960

Cheers,
Mark

[Roger]

Great stuff Mark:applause:

[robcap]

Unfortunately, pics seem to be missing.

Cheers, Rob

[roger-wilco-66]

OK, this was todays work. Still some blending to do, as well as placing objects and vegetation. But it's almost done!

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/41ZislcK5O/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/barakoma-new4-f4u.jpg




Good night,
Mark

[MudMarine]

I think I've been waiting for the Solomons V2 scenery as much or more than anyother FS product in a long time! It's my favorite place to fly; "The SLOT"!! Can't wait!!

[roger-wilco-66]

It's progressing nicely, Barakoma is almost done.

The AF/Navy flightline on the northern end of the runway:

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/DvXb-LIiYB/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/barakoma-new8-f4u.jpg


VMF-214 still seem to have some old F4U1a in operation:


https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/5fkuCUkDaH/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/barakoma-new9-f4u.jpg



Maintenance work:

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/jluDs6EeOa/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/barakoma-new10-f4u.jpg

But the 1c Corsair is already on the field:

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/foTlaUxDBy/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/barakoma-new11-f4u.jpg

Ready tents and tower:


https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/1AqrGM69vX/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/barakoma-new12-f4u.jpg

Maintenance area:


https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/_nX3XErr1Q/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/barakoma-new13-f4u.jpg





Way to go!

Cheers,
Mark

[expat]

Very nicely done Mark! Like the variety of a/c and objects. You are clearly striving for historical accuracy as well from what little I have read. This is going to be great fun.

[MudMarine]

You're killing me with those teaser shots!:icon_eek:

[robert41]

This is looking incredible.

[expat]

Much as I love all my NavAir birds and carrirer ops, I do like flying around these islands in David Copley's P-38, however, the Lightning (Flying Dutchman) in the screenie above just looks so right for the job with some nice paint weathering etc. Which model is it?

[roger-wilco-66]

It's the FSD P-38J Lightning, the repaint is one of many gorgeous works from Jan.

See
http://aussiex.org/forum/index.php?/files/file/1406-fsd-lockheed-p-38-the-flying-dutchman/



Cheers,
Mark

[roger-wilco-66]

The VMF-214 camp area Barakoma.

Note Maj. Greg Boyington discussing an upcoming raid on Kahili / South Bougainville with his boys.


https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/EQM5CPJCBp/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/vmf-214-camp-area.jpg

[stiz]

is the N ment to be backwards? :engel016:

[roger-wilco-66]

Good eyes Stiz! I wonder why I didn't notice that. I also saw now that the alpha channel around the Black Sheep sign seems to have a white edge.
Off to change it...


Mark

[trucker17]

It's the FSD P-38J Lightning, the repaint is one of many gorgeous works from Jan.

See
http://aussiex.org/forum/index.php?/files/file/1406-fsd-lockheed-p-38-the-flying-dutchman/



Cheers,
Mark

Great work on the scenery..Mark.....
I also have the FSD P-38....its the best version i have found so far....

[trucker17]

I had the opertunity when i was a kid to take a trip from Santa maria island to Vella-lavella....
At 14 years old i had two hero's......1st Division 3rd Battalion Marine Corps Lieutenant: Jay Will Teague( My Father), and Major Greg "PAPPY" Boyington.
So for me walking the old base was like the holy grail....
Sadly today nothing remains of the base....There are condos across the area now....

[MudMarine]

I had the opertunity when i was a kid to take a trip from Santa maria island to Vella-lavella....
At 14 years old i had two hero's......1st Division 3rd Battalion Marine Corps Lieutenant: Jay Will Teague( My Father), and Major Greg "PAPPY" Boyington.
So for me walking the old base was like the holy grail....
Sadly today nothing remains of the base....There are condos across the area now....

I got to meet Col. Boyington in 1985. He was visiting the Marine Corps base at Quantico Va. I'll never forget the conversation we had, he was a great guy who was thrilled to be amoung his fellow Marines once again. I got to "gril"l him on the F4U and the tactics they used in the Pacific to defeat zero's.......Semper Fi Col., your are missed!

[Taco]

Hi Mud, I agree, like you I met him in California back in the 70s, and like you we had a very nice and enjoyable conversation.

Taco (Jim)

[roger-wilco-66]

Barakoma is finished now. It took a bit longer because I had to rebuild around 30 scenery objects in GMAX from scratch (still around 4 to make).
The AFCADs work with AI flights, I already chased some Bettys with the Corsair around Vella Lavella.
Next is Seghi Point and then Ondonga (VF-17 !) and then the development is frozen.
On behalf of Greg Boyington, I collected some rare photos of him in various stages of his life here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/-45C49aovX/Solomon-Original-Images/Greg%20Boyington

There are really some good images of him there. You guys are extremly lucky to have met him, I'm almost envious.
On the other hand, I knew my grandfather (Ju-88 / He-111 pilot) and met Günther Rall and talked about Erich Hartmann with him :-)

[EDIT:] Trucker, to travel to the Solomons in person has become one of my main goals for the near future. Lucky you!

Cheers,
Mark




https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/68EhvksDJM/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-barakoma4.jpg


https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/tIiyB63nS8/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-barakoma-f4u-maint3.jpg


https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/8cDZhL37ys/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-barakoma-dusk.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/yF2i-09Cei/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-barakoma2.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/QqUVKr9UIM/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-barakoma-f4u-maint1.jpg

[Roger]

Fantastic!:applause:

[MudMarine]

I really don't think I'll ever fly anywhere else once this is released! Is it going to work in P3D? Or do I have to reload FSX (God, I hope not!). TY

[roger-wilco-66]

I developed it on P3D, but it should also run on FSX fine. Didn't try it yet, though. Could be that there's a performance penalty on FSX, since P3D appears to have a better grip on large sceneries / big phototiles.

Cheers,
Mark

[MudMarine]

I developed it on P3D, but it should also run on FSX fine. Didn't try it yet, though. Could be that there's a performance penalty on FSX, since P3D appears to have a better grip on large sceneries / big phototiles.

Cheers,
Mark

Thanks Mark,

I remember that now (P3D development)....I'm getting old and my memory is starting to slip! :icon_lol:

[roger-wilco-66]

After finishing Barakoma, I started on Seghi Point on New Georgia. More or less done now, except for some object placement and the usual AFCADs for AI traffic. GMAX is my friend now, so a lot of scenery objects keep pouring in from my own source :-) The airfield and the surrounding area on the phototile is the first that was entirely drawn from scratch in Photoshop. Not one pixel is from an aerial image. The resolution is quite high, 25cm per pixel.
Note the road grader, modeled after some old pictures. I have yet to paint the textures though, I just slabbed some colors on so it's visible.

The next and last airfield to do will Ondonga, home of the VF-17 Jolly Rogers, the famous F4U Corsair outfit.



https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/vJ6nbstV6h/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-seghi-airfield-new3.jpg

Road grader:

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/LdJfL6bSog/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-seghi-airfield-statobj7.jpg


https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/-ogjtT7zl9/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-seghi-airfield-new-closeup.jpg


https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/Q7hDbwpEYI/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-seghi-airfield-statobj1.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/8UqDNU0FhP/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-seghi-airfield-statobj10.jpg

[expat]

Fantastic stuff!

[Sundog]

Thanks for the update. It's really great to have some WW2 period scenery to fly warbirds from and I've really enjoyed your previous releases. :)

[MudMarine]

It is torture and it's name is [WIP] Solomon 1943 V.2.0!

PS is there still anywhere to get the "old" version? I should have saved it before I switched to P3D,,,,,,,,damn the luck!

[robcap]

A-MA-ZING stuff Mark, really looking forward to this!

Cheers, Rob

[P38man]

Truly breathtaking screenshots.

[roger-wilco-66]

Thanks guys! I'm quite pleased with the progress, and it's coming along fast.
Since Seghi was mainly populated by F6F Hellcats in the fall of 1943, I thought I should make a new maintenance area with a mobile engine / prop change mount with a pulley block (saw that on an old photo). Took me about an hour in GMAX. Once you get the hang of it, GMAX is really nice to work with and all these ideas quickly come into being.


https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/d3n1ydfkYR/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-seghi-airfield-statobj_maint.jpg

[Francois]

Nice !!!!! :wavey:

[MCDesigns]

Outstanding work Mark!! I truly love what you have done with the ground and the photoreal parts, very impressive! Nice gmax work, although I do see lots of familiarity though.

[MudMarine]

I don't think I can say "WOW" enough! WOW!

[roger-wilco-66]

Thanks for the motivating words! :ernae:
So this is the last airfield I'll make for this release. Here's a few impressions from the early development, but the rest will come fast.
I made a few new GMAX objects objects, among them a decent radio / signal installation with a short wave wire dipole antenna and some "real" US WW2 radio eqipment.
But what do I write, here's a few shots:



1. The VF-17 Jolly Rogers scoreboard - also the "real" thing from a photo I found on the net. I need to learn to make some good humans in GMAX, but that is really sort of an art which is not easily mastered, at least by me.

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/QZ1z9J9Zj2/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-VF-17-scoreboard.jpg




2. The VF-17 camp area


https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/NeJuga_yQt/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-VF-17-camp.jpg


3. The radio tent mentioned above (tent is by MCDesigns, rest by me)

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/UwCe8cVojT/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-VF-17-new-radiotent.jpg


4. The new tower made by MCDesigns, populated with crew members now (there will be a lot more objects around, looks a bit bare in the moment).

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/fSajI8Mopr/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-VF-17-tower-radiotent.jpg

5. Ira Kepford / VF-17 starting from Ondonga early in the morning. Autogen control work has to be done, as well as populating the airfield of course. The area to the right of the airfield will be the construction site for the second runway - with road rollers, road graders, CAT D7 bulldozers and so on. I'm on that stuff in GMAX right now! That scenery needs these type of objects, since these airfields were huge constructions sites fom the beginning to the end.

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/SuXeaJoRCW/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-ira-kepford-starting.jpg




Cheers,
Mark

[Sundog]

Wow! ;)

Seriously, looking great! I really love having period airfields to fly from. Thanks for all of your hard work you guys put into this.

[MCDesigns]

fantastic work as usual Mark, looking forward to it.

This might help as a reference and for textures on the new D7 dozer
http://kevinkronlundscollection.com/vehicles_for_sale/caterpillar_d7

[roger-wilco-66]

Thanks for the link, Micheal! There's a nice side-view which may help. My findings on decent textures for the construction equipment were a bit meager so far.

Cheers,
Mark

[trucker17]

Looking really great Mark.....

[roger-wilco-66]

A few WIP shots. I made new revetments in GMAX which are bump mapped and have wooden walls on the inside (I have seen that on photos). A few minor corrections on them as well as variations are still to be made. I also made custom vegetation so the airfield looks more like being cut out of the jungle. Last but not least, some fortified positions were constructed in GMAX to house AAA guns or similar things.
But it's coming close to the end. Using the bglscan and mdlscan tool - which is highly useful if you know how to use it and have a decent workflow for corrections - I'm about 80% through the correction process. There were some 600 errors in the scenery which come mainly from a hdd crash I had about a year ago that produced a mismatch between my libraries and object bgls. The nice thing about bglscan is that it gives you some total numbers of your scenery. In it's current state the Solomon scenario has 10006 (yes 10k) placed objects and 3644 effects, spread over 698 Islands (including Rabaul and the Green Island group).

Well, let's see what we have for christmas...

Cheers,
Mark

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/a5AR_DWM71/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-new-revetments.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/ksjDXfPs_P/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-new-revetments2.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/aJJxxj3O6q/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-90mm-AAA.jpg

[Roger]

Those shots look great Mark!

[Sundog]

You definitely get a medal for persistence at the very least. ;) Those shots look great, but were you nuked in the second photo, or is that BOB's shadow? :)

BTW, the new vegetation does give it more of a jungle feel. Nice.

[stovall]

Looking fantastic Mark, Looks like I will be flying my F4U Corsair quite a bit. Can't wait to give'm a try.

[Scratch]

I was just wondering what scenery I would add next, this is it! Outstanding work!!!!!:salute:

[roger-wilco-66]

You definitely get a medal for persistence at the very least. ;) Those shots look great, but were you nuked in the second photo, or is that BOB's shadow? :)

BTW, the new vegetation does give it more of a jungle feel. Nice.

Hehe, nuked. Yes that's ORBX Bob's shadow. Next to the Aerosoft Design tool one of the most useful little in-sim design helpers.


Thanks,
Mark

[warchild]

heh, p-61 or Sukhoi. doesnt matter to me. either way this scenery is looking fantastic and a definate must have as a home base..
Pam

[Francois]

Looking better every time I visit :-)

[MCDesigns]

The new improvements look awesome Mark! If you look at the first image with the new vegetation, I can see the block shadows from the new trees. In the material properties in Gmax, make sure you turn shadows off on the new vegetation, it will eliminate those.

[MudMarine]

This going to be one awesome add-on I just can't stop. Drooling. Imagine squadrons of axis and allied flying the SLOT looking for the enemy to get into a huge fur ball.

[roger-wilco-66]

The new improvements look awesome Mark! If you look at the first image with the new vegetation, I can see the block shadows from the new trees. In the material properties in Gmax, make sure you turn shadows off on the new vegetation, it will eliminate those.

Thanks for the tip, Michael. I thought I took care of that.
Unfortunatly, the default autogen vegetation of FSX / P3D is shadowed, so in order to keep these unsightly effects off the visible ground scenery one has to make custom objects.
I'll have a look at them again, I wanted to put some more lush green colored vegetation in them anyways (the custom objects you see now are a bit on the bright side and stand out too much compared to the surrounding autogen tropical rainforest).

Michael, your scenery objects also look great, by the way. Without those the Solomons would only look half as good.

Cheers,
Mark

[roger-wilco-66]

This going to be one awesome add-on I just can't stop. Drooling. Imagine squadrons of axis and allied flying the SLOT looking for the enemy to get into a huge fur ball.

Well, technically, speaking of the sim, that might be not so far away. There is an ominous posting from one of Lockheed's staff members that says that P3D will incorporate an own weapon subsystem in the next version. My hopes are high, needless to say.
As for the Solomons, the scenery design work itself is frozen now. I'm eliminating the error output of bglscan now and have a look at all the airfields to make sure they look as intended. That's a major task, if you look at the numbers.

Cheers,
Mark

[Francois]

When you need to take a little break from work, here's a video you might want to watch.

It has some relevance....... ;-) http://youtu.be/c_heqdlC7B4

(I discover all sorts of interesting stuff doing my Normandy research currently)

[CrisGer]

wow some great work going on here, i am going to keep watching. !!

[Francois]

While we're waiting and while Mark is beavering away, some more movie (in colour !) to watch : http://youtu.be/YIgpluBCzpI

[roger-wilco-66]

Nice videos, Francois. Love the laying of the steel matting, that must have been a horrible job under the tropic sun (or torrential rains).


Cheers,
Mark

[warchild]

Nice videos, Francois. Love the laying of the steel matting, that must have been a horrible job under the tropic sun (or torrential rains).


Cheers,
Mark

and dont forget the sand storms.. it surprised the hell out of us when researchin the p-61 liveries that many of those nice black paint jobs were literally sanded off bt the weather there.. those guys had it majorly rough..

[Sundog]

and dont forget the sand storms.. it surprised the hell out of us when researchin the p-61 liveries that many of those nice black paint jobs were literally sanded off bt the weather there.. those guys had it majorly rough..

..and I as learned recently reading up on them, the pumice from the volcano on Iwo.

[MudMarine]

Someday soon I'll wake up and Solomon's V2 will be ready to download and it will be a truely joyous day!!

[fliger747]

Surprisingly the worst "Haboob" or sandstorm I ever saw was in Sydney OZ. They can carry for some distance. A few years ago we had a "slot race" from Espiritu Santo to Rabaul, a lot of fun, we should have another one!

Keep up the good work!

T

[roger-wilco-66]

and dont forget the sand storms.. it surprised the hell out of us when researchin the p-61 liveries that many of those nice black paint jobs were literally sanded off bt the weather there.. those guys had it majorly rough..

hmm ...a nicely weathered paint job for the upcoming P-61...

[roger-wilco-66]

While sifting through the scenery for corrections (which is rather boring) I made some earth moving equipment in GMAX: variations of the Caterpillar D7 dozer and crawler, a road roller, and a LeTourneau "Carryall" and "Turnapull" (they had funny names these days) road scaper in varations. The road grader and a crawler shovel are still in the works.
Now the airfields can have a bit of the construction site atmosphere, which they had on historical photos.

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/R7eWylpuSz/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-letourneau-scrapers.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/stEQKpdZkq/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-cat-d7-dozer.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/ubjFBEnHGT/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-road-roller.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/AOqON1Pnpu/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-cat-d7-dozer2.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/XNF4LZKUvt/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-p40-1.jpg

[OleBoy]

Those look great!
I should stop messing around with GSU and learn Gmax. I could have a lot of creative fun. It's just that the learning curve is...is confusing for me.

[roger-wilco-66]

Those look great!
I should stop messing around with GSU and learn Gmax. I could have a lot of creative fun. It's just that the learning curve is...is confusing for me.

I'd like to encourage you to pursue that. I was fighting with GMAX for two years (on and off) until I hit the curve. There are a lot of good tutorials out there, which really helped. But once you understand the basics of GMAX or 3D Studio Max (expecially texture mapping), the sky's the limit :-) . I also found that happiness is a good texture set. You can make very good looking, but technically simple 3D models if you have good texture maps.

Cheers,
Mark

[stovall]

Fantastic images Mark. The equipment is the best I have ever seen. Looking forward to any new images and the complete package for sure. Good work.

[trucker17]

Looking awsome as always Mark......

[Francois]

While sifting through the scenery for corrections (which is rather boring) I made some earth moving equipment in GMAX: variations of the Caterpillar D7 dozer and crawler, a road roller, and a LeTourneau "Carryall" and "Turnapull" (they had funny names these days) road scaper in varations. The road grader and a crawler shovel are still in the works.
Now the airfields can have a bit of the construction site atmosphere, which they had on historical photos.




These look awesome !!!
I found a website focusing on Airfield Building in Normandy (after D-Day and they show many of the same equipment! AND all the airstrips and their location and layouts !

We can rebuild 1940-45 the world yet ! :applause:

[roger-wilco-66]

Thanks guys, glad you like it.
This probably won't be of much interest for non developers, but last night I had a major breakthrough with a problem I'm after now for over a year.
The Solomons seem to be just about the worst place on this planet to get decent GIS data (mapping, satellite images for reference, DEM data for the mesh) for. I made about 20 high resolution DEM meshes (19m-30m meter) for all areas that have airfields or prominent landscapes features like volcano calderas or numerous islands, but they are full of typical raw errors like spikes, holes and other anomalies.
Last night was the first time I had a fix on a stable workflow that lets me edit and correct raw satellite digital elevation models, keeping the geo reference and the WGS84 projection and bring the data back in the correct format for the FSX/P3D SDK resampler.

Now I have to go over the 20ish hd meshes. I almost dropped the idea of using them at all because I wasn't able to solve this until now.


Cheers,
Mark

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/S5b-RmOhLK/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1_A_New-Georgia-DEM-Anomalies.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/NrmHinsqyu/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1_A_New-Georgia-DEM-Anomalies2.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/E22IcDiVXU/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1_A_New-Georgia-DEM-Anomalies-corrected-rendova.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/ugVYtjOtaM/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1_A_New-Georgia-DEM-Anomalies-corrected-in-sim.jpg

[Francois]

That's cool !! :applause:

[mike_cyul]

Tremendous work! :applause:


Mike

[stovall]

I knew you could do it Mark, it was just a matter of time. Congratulations on solving the problem. Looking forward to what this will do for the final. Good work.

[MudMarine]

I just can't wait!!:jump::jump: But I guess I'll have to....

[MCDesigns]

Outstanding Mark! The HD mesh will really make a difference. What a fantastic package this will be when done. now you just need to find a way to use the VRS Tac Pack weapons package for WWII aircraft, LOL.

[Pips]

The detail you are putting into this scenery is simply outstanding! Mind boggling in fact! :jump:

[Sundog]

WTG Mark, I'm definitely glad you figured that out. The results look outstanding. :)

[Meshman]

Now I have to go over the 20ish hd meshes. I almost dropped the idea of using them at all because I wasn't able to solve this until now.

What's wrong with the first two pics? Makes night time flying more... adventurous! :isadizzy:

Now left wondering how good the tool might be at resolving the "ASTER problem"?

[roger-wilco-66]

Hehe, those spikes look quite monumental in-sim. Also some of the holes.
And yes, it solves the "ASTER-Problem". In fact, this __was__ the ASTER-Problem from the beginning.
I wonder why some areas are totally free of anomalies, like Bougainville or Rabaul. A blind guess is that the government of PNG paid NASA for a corrected DEM (Bougainville is a mining area and Rabaul is a critical volcano area, so there are reasons for that). The rest of the Solomons is a bloody mess, DEM wise. Probably nothing of interest there.

Here's the workflow:

source-Geotiff -> load in Daylan Leveller to correct anomalies -> save in DTED format (keeps geo-reference and wgs84 projection) -> open DTED in GDAL / Globalmapper etc and save as Geotiff 16bit integer -> resample with SDK -> load in FSX/P3D and drool :-)

Unfortunatly the Daylan Leveller only imports Geotiff. If it could export this format the whole brouhaha with the DTED/Geotiff conversion could be omitted. Since I bought the Software (it's a steal at 49 $) I'll file a request for that for the wish list.
Another nice thing about the Leveller is that you can create synthetic meshes with it, similar to WILBUR, but much easier and intuitive to work on (IMHO).

Cheers,
Mark

[Meshman]

The rest of the Solomons is a bloody mess, DEM wise.

Looking at the dates of the Solomons v1 release I see it's been a while. But I want to say there was an ASTER v1 put together before release? It showed similar night flying obstacles. V2 of ASTER is not much better than v1, from what I looked at. But maybe another satellite can be funded to give things another try... :mixedsmi:

Will probably whip out the credit card for Leveller later today. :santahat:

Looking forward to the release of v2 of the Solomons!

[CrisGer]

Is there a version of this scenery available.? i saw a note about Version 1? if so where can we find it? thanks

[roger-wilco-66]

V1 is not online anymore, you'll have to wait for the V2 release..
I'm about 90% done, I assume. The new mesh looks terrific, but I have to revisit the whole scenery for elevation errors (there are numerous flat polygons with elevations that have to be adapted to the new mesh).

Cheers,
Mark

[falcon409]

Matt, aside from the "Truk_1945" scenery is there anything else scenery-wise that's available right now? Seems like there was another scenery set besides the Truk Atoll and the Solomons. . .maybe I'm just dreaming that, lol.

[robert41]

Iwo Jima and Chi Chi Jima.

[Paul Domingue]

I've had V.1 installed for a long time along with the Wilson-Okamura Solomon Islands 1943 Naval Tracks and do most of my flying in the area. I can't wait for V.2. The pictures are excruciatingly tantalizing. :a1089:

[warchild]

heheh.. I've still got it installed.. Solomons are part of my favorite place in the world and the scenery adds immensely to the enjoyment..

[roger-wilco-66]

After Paul released his Duck in a not finalized version I thought a lot and desided that I'll follow him and make sort of a pre-release that is only available here on SOH for it's members.
I think that Pauls idea was great to connect this to the fund raising. Besides that, getting some inspirations from our members here will make the final version even better through help an suggestions.

Besides, the Solomon probably will never be finished 100%. I have tons of ideas to improve or add this and that and this all flows into the project. But at it's present stage it's mature enough to be released.

Cheers,
Mark

[falcon409]

heheh.. I've still got it installed.. Solomons are part of my favorite place in the world and the scenery adds immensely to the enjoyment..
I should have picked it up when it was released, but I wasn't interested then.

[falcon409]

Iwo Jima and Chi Chi Jima.
Downloading. . .thanks Robert:salute:

[Crusader]

After Paul released his Duck in a not finalized version I thought a lot and desided that I'll follow him and make sort of a pre-release that is only available here on SOH for it's members.
I think that Pauls idea was great to connect this to the fund raising. Besides that, getting some inspirations from our members here will make the final version even better through help an suggestions.

Besides, the Solomon probably will never be finished 100%. I have tons of ideas to improve or add this and that and this all flows into the project. But at it's present stage it's mature enough to be released.

Cheers,
Mark

Bring it on Mark ! I don't think you will get any disagreements here at SOH .:applause: I know now I need a lot of T & G's on short fields with the Corsair . Huge fan of your Solomon Islands . Wow , Truk , Chi Chi Jima , Iwo Jima and now your Solomon's Islands . Get out the war birds folks , we have a lot of island hopping to do .

Rich

[roger-wilco-66]

It'll take a few days to get it sorted for that, and write the documentation, but I'll bring it on.
This will also be sort of a psychological release for myself, for all that postponing has been bothering me a bit.

Cheers,
Mark

[Paul Domingue]

Slightly off topic but,
There is something I have been dreaming about for several years. A place for online flying of just WWII era aircraft, a place for people who like those wonderful recips and flying with other then AI aircraft. With this beautiful collection of Pacific scenery I think we could do that. If there are enough people interested maybe we could get DangerousDave to dedicate a TS channel for it and an FSHost area. Just a thought but I would love to see something like that.

[warchild]

Hey Mark??
Ummmmm Inspiration Maybe????

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k171/urushira/2013-1-27_14-51-49-329_zps4325927d.png

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k171/urushira/2013-1-27_15-21-25-429_zps6dcfcd3f.png

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k171/urushira/2013-1-27_15-24-55-801_zps316f6499.png

annnnd ummm, oh yeah.. I've also updated this lil guy..

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k171/urushira/2013-1-20_17-27-47-302_zps27d104d7.png

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k171/urushira/2013-1-20_17-13-15-227_zps0996e2d2.png

[falcon409]

Paul, those sceneries cover the length of about 2400nm of open ocean. . .plenty of room for everyone to cavort about in their favorite rides and explore the amazing scenery work contributed for our enjoyment. I think it would be relatively easy to set up a server for just that reason. . .sadly the servers aren't used to an eighth of their usefulness. Also having a separate channel on Teamspeak would be excellent and also quite simple to set up and utilize. I dislike having to type in a chat box while trying to fly. I would enjoy the prospect a lot.:salute:

[warchild]

Plus, theres that multiplayer replacement for fshost and gamespy which ive been flying on religiously for weeks now ( since the announcement here on soh ) and its pretty awesome.. would make multi player scenarios a piece of cake..

( somehow i forsee a great deal of flight modeling for japanese and american WWII aircraft in my future )...

[Francois]

Slightly off topic but,
There is something I have been dreaming about for several years. A place for online flying of just WWII era aircraft, a place for people who like those wonderful recips and flying with other then AI aircraft. With this beautiful collection of Pacific scenery I think we could do that. If there are enough people interested maybe we could get DangerousDave to dedicate a TS channel for it and an FSHost area. Just a thought but I would love to see something like that.

Somewhat LINKED to that idea, I myself have opened a website that is aiming to get dedicated to classic aircraft and their operations, with an emphasis on WW2 (since that happens to me my major hobby for the past 50 years too).

The idea is to make it a place of information of all things classic (FS) aircraft, combined with real world info, and revolving around a number of historic operations and their FSX (and other) presentations of them....... our first products (aircraft) were the start of this, but it is now slowly developing into a much wider site with free information and free downloads supporting our and other's products planned.

The first major project is Normandy 1944 that we are hard at work on..... like Mark is working on his Solomon Islands. We already are in touch for months and have received some awesome freeware models to complement our Normandy and other projects. Any freeware products WE make will also be presented on the site (currently working on an LCT and an LST).

Looks like we'll have a great 2013 coming for WW2 and history enthusiasts ! :jump:

[roger-wilco-66]

Holy cow, what is unfolding here!
I'm already at writing the documentation / installation instructions.


Cheers,
Mark

[Francois]

Holy cow, what is unfolding here!
I'm already at writing the documentation / installation instructions.


Cheers,
Mark

:applause::applause: LOL !

[Ian Warren]

Holy cow, what is unfolding here!
I'm already at writing the documentation / installation instructions.


Cheers,
Mark

Golly miss molly .. Mikes 'Flight Replica's' P-40 is going to have a real home along with 'Aircraft Factory's' Corsair with JKs paint .... now for the bad guys , Just-Flights little nimble Zero :cool:

[roger-wilco-66]

OK. This will be my last update here.
The next one will be the open Beta, like Paul did with his Duck.

I made a large load of new scenery 3D objects lately, like the LCM-3 landing boat and the very latest, the crawler crane. It comes real handy when crashed aircraft have to be recovered or Halftracks need maintenance!

Tonight will be the last scenery fiddling with the Florida Islands. Documentation is written. Relief is imminent.


Cheers,
Mark

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/oS9IflKuZV/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-barakoma-f4u-recovery2.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/5qTxI9Ehki/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-barakoma-f4u-recovery.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/sh/x0skkam7xu8zz8r/A-TkXPi3zG/Solomon%201943%20Scenery/1-ondonga-crawler-crane-ht-maint.jpg

[FentiFlier1]

Basically I'm wetting myself.

One thing that would be great to have is a map of some sort with the location of the airfields.

Owen.

[roger-wilco-66]

I'm wetting myself with a beer now :-)

I'll include all the original WW2 Solomon maps that I have in the documentation. This includes strip maps up to Rabaul.

Cheers,
Mark

[stovall]

Fantastic stuff Mark, you have become very good at GMax design. Love the crane crawler. Very much looking forward to the Beta.

[Sundog]

Will this install over the original, or should we remove it before installing the new beta? BTW, thanks, I'm really looking forward to this release. :)

[stovall]

Sundog, knowing the way Mark and I produce scenery, I would definitely remove all traces of the previous Solomon Islands program. Anything with the same GUID number will definitely cause trouble. We do our best to make everything completely new but residual files can cause unexplained problems. I have the original and will definitely remove all the scenery and objects completely. Hope this helps. If Mark has any comments they would be appreciated. REMOVE EVERYTHING FOR A CLEAN INSTALL.

[jdhaenens]

...and if anyone still has my old Barakoma scenery installed, get rid of it. There would be landclass, elevation model. and other conflicts that will drive FSX crazy! Mark has redone Barakoma with his own models and from what I see, it looks much better than mine did.

Jim

[roger-wilco-66]

As Tom wrote, the first Solomon version has to be removed completely. The second version is very different with it's custom vector elements (shorelines), photobackgrounds, mesh, a ton of new scenery objects and four locations (including Barakoma) are completely new.

Jim's separate Barakoma scenery (like other conflicting sceneries) should not be active at the same time with the new Solomon scenery, of course. One needs not to delete them, just don't activate both or keep an eye on the priorities in the scenery database.
Maybe a word to Jim Dhaenens here: I owe you a lot for letting me use your Barakoma scenery in the first version. Your work got me started on that all, because it showed to me that what I had envisioned can be done. I thank you for that.


Best,
Mark

[MudMarine]

OK, now when do we get to use it?:jump:

[AnotherOneJustGreat]

This scenery is amazing, thank you very much!

Finally a suitable playground for the Corsair, Wildcat and P-40...

[PRB]

Ok, I'm attempting to install this beautiful scenery. I've arrived at the part about modifying the terrain.cfg file, and my confusion meter is off the charts...

The instructions say to modify the DefaultTextureCount=XXX line in the [General] section of the cfg file, found at the very top of the file. I found it. All good so far.

This modification is to reflect the addition of three new sections. K. Got that.

Then the instructions say to find the LAST [Texture.XXX] section and ADD 1.

But wait. Is this the LAST section BEFORE I added the three new sections or AFTER? I assume AFTER. My new last section is numbered 385. So, 385 + 1 = 386.

BUT. The current value of the DefaultTextureCount=. At the top of the file, is 477.

Am I to change DefaultTextureCount=477 to DefaultTextureCount=386?

That doesn't “feel” right...

And since the instructions also say that messing this part up will result is doom, destruction, mayhem and tumult. You know, dogs and cats living together, that sort of thing. So I'm halted right here...

[PRB]

Ok, I think I figured it out. ORBX installed a butt load of new Texture sections, AFTER the Autogen sections. The last one WAS 476, which made the top entry of 477 correct. After adding the three new ones to the real end of the Texture section, I have a new value of 480 to the top line. Dang... :)

[PRB]

The sim still works. No giant marshmellow dudes wandering around or anything, so it looks promising. Do I have the correct shorelines working?

[trucker17]

The shorelines look good to me......

[roger-wilco-66]

The shortelines look OK to me, or rather as they should do.

Glad people still use it, but the scenery has really come into it's ages. I'll start to work on a new version as soon as I finish two other projects.


Cheers,
Mark

[PRB]

Good to hear about the coastlines. I messed that part up when I installed version 1 some time ago. Since that time I bought a new computer, and this was my first installation of either version in this FS install. This scenery is a lot of fun. Decided to fly out to Buka. Somebody really slammed this place. It wasn't me, it was like this when I got there! They were still a little sore about the whole thing however. The ships were shooting at me! Tracers, shell splashes, very cool! :)

[KellyB]

I missed something. Where might I download this scenery??

[PRB]

I got it from the "open beta" link in roger-wilco-66's signature. See post above mine here. I assume it was never officially released. Still nice.

[PhantomP]

Just wondering if is possible to set up any of the solomonislands1943traffic18 ships for carrier ops,and if so how would I go about it?Thanks,BTW this scenery is incredible,thanks for making it.

[roger-wilco-66]

Hmmm, since the ships from Solomon AI Boat Traffic by David Wilson-Okamura are normal AI ships it shouldn't be too difficult to adapt them for ai carrier ops.

[PhantomP]

Hmmm, since the ships from Solomon AI Boat Traffic by David Wilson-Okamura are normal AI ships it shouldn't be too difficult to adapt them for ai carrier ops.Yeah,I kind of figured it wouldn't be that hard,I just need a little guidance on it,Thanks thou.

[roger-wilco-66]

Maybe this helps:

http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?280354-Adding-ships-to-AI-Carriers


I used Vertigos Enterprise with AI carriers a lot, but don't remember exactly how I "called" it into the sim. Was easy and unspectacular. I think I did that within the running AIC application.


HTH
Mark

[PhantomP]

Maybe this helps:

http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?280354-Adding-ships-to-AI-Carriers


I used Vertigos Enterprise with AI carriers a lot, but don't remember exactly how I "called" it into the sim. Was easy and unspectacular. I think I did that within the running AIC application.


HTH
MarkThanks for the advice Mark,I have been reading in the different flight forums on how to do this,and I think I am getting the hang of it already.

[langereis]

Thanks for the advice Mark,I have been reading in the different flight forums on how to do this,and I think I am getting the hang of it already.

Hi Mark,

Have you the nice palms scenery (see attachment) already uploaded?

Kind regards,
langereis

[Dave22]

I always wondered about reviving this very old thread. While it's active, I'll ask if anyone has found artificial air traffic for the scenery.

I still use this wonderful scenery on a weekly basis, and always hoped for expansion.

[roger-wilco-66]

Hi Mark,

Have you the nice palms scenery (see attachment) already uploaded?

Kind regards,
langereis

Hi,

thank you for your interest. I didn't upload it yet, because it is part of a larger scenery where three land based airfields in close proximity are located (the Russel Islands, between Guadalcanal and the New Georgia Island group). The second airfield got stuck in the back burner :-( .

After around 10 years since it's creation, the whole scenery needs an update though, and I have made around 300 new 3d scenery objects to replace old ones or objects that were not made by me, and other countless changes and so on. I had my share of "my god, what have I done back then" moments, because the scenery is very complex and covers a huge geographic area. It would probably be the best to scrap it and start from scratch for most of the parts of it.

Best,
Mark

[expat]

One of my most cherished add ons for simming. Can't believe it goes back 10 years! Thanks for this Mark.