Xannepans creations

[art128]

Airport when... 

[[Delta ²k5]]

Sounds like we'll finally see some new, realistic airport buildings / setups  can't wait to see some progress

[eugenelavery]

Other than the tired SCAG terminals and a few futuristic Japanese terminals, the airport terminal is a vastly under-represented BAT.

[xannepan]

Boy have I got some surprises coming for you 

Currently trying to figure out how to include the airport in the AC airport controller. Airports can - unfortunately - not be released as individual plugins. It's a bit cumbersome. Still it'll be worth it once figure out how to mod.

[josh6]

 
Can't wait!!

[xannepan]

At this moment I am uploading a short video with a preview of my work on airports. The fine tuning phase takes much longer then I had hoped for. I can not make any promises on when it will be ready (maybe a few weeks maybe longer then a month).

http://youtu.be/MnlriU1VCWo

When ready the following items will be included (future expansions are possible):

- Dulles airport terminal. Included are three versions with different sizes representing a local, regional and international airport version. All are fully tuned with SC4PIM. The airports will be merged into the AC functional airports version. There will be no automatic stage upgrade for these airports. The version I will upload will contain jet bridges at the backside of the terminal. But for the purist among use the jet bridges (not a part of Saarinen's actual terminal) are optional.

- Three prefab runways with parallel taxiways (one fractioned angle) of approximate realistic size (which means they are HUGE! you can see them in the movie, but who complaints about small maps in sc4 these days      ). In the first release there will be no 45 degree diagonal version.

- Several taxiway connector pieces for the prefab runways. With these you will have flexibility in your runway layout. More connector pieces extending this flexibility are possible, but will not be included in the first release.

- Runways and taxiways are based on flat BAT models. The models are overhanging a 1x1 tile lot. As a result you can " transit enable " the taxiways by dragging roads underneath (one way roads recommended). With the taxiway plane generator you will be able to generate planes traveling from their airport apron to the runway and v.v.  The roads will be fully covered by the taxiway models, so you won't see them. As a result initial road placement requires some patience, but with the "draw paths" effect enabled it should not be too difficult.

- Taxiway plane generators (based on a LUA automata generator script), i.e. lots that you will have to plop along side your taxiways. They should not be placed close to other networks, unless you want planes driving through the streets of your cities or on your highways.

- Runway plane generators, i.e. plane generating lots that you will have to plop on top of your runways. Helper pieces for correct positioning are included. The runway plane generators are based one effect dir modding. Planes taking off and landing are sound enabled (note: occasionally audio suffers from an inherent game bug  ). At this moment the take off and landing paths are still to short, albeit significantly longer then the original maxis effects. There are also several really minor graphical glitches. Solving this has low priority for me.

- Multiple 3DS airplane models (a large range of boeing and airbus models by Sainry, and a constellation propellor plane by Voltaire). At this moment for each model only 1 or 2 texture skins are included. But there are place holder included in the effect dir mod, so anyone can extend the texture set without effect dir modding. For each model there are placeholders for 10 different textures. I will included a developers readme for texture modders/artists.

- Night lighting: all runways and taxiways are fully lit at night. I also included approach lighting system props which you can optionally place in front of your runway. The lighting system night-light array is based on effect dir modding.

- Several airport props (radar towers etc). Since the runways and taxiways are large overhanging models on 1x1 lots it sometimes is cumbersome to find back the small lot once the runway is placed. I used these props as visual indicators for the lot positions (so you can find them back for destruction etc).

- Custom menu icons.

- As usual, I will make all 3ds max models available, so anyone with modeling skills can extend the set. If anyone feels up to it, HD rerendering the run/taxiways in max 2013 will dramatically improve the model quality (I tried, but I don't have the time.. in 3ds max 9 rendering of a single runway piece takes 30 minutes, in 3ds max 2013 2 days. Given that a single runway is composed of 7 huge models I won't try again)

Final note: As this mod/plugin stretches the limits of what we can get out of this game, some inherent bugs will have to be accepted 

[art128]

Holy
Freakin'
God

[kelis]

Holy
Freakin'
God

There is not much more to say... AMAZING !!

[FrankU]

Holy ruminant! This ain't a joke? no 1st of april around the corner?

[mgarcia]

  AMAZING!!!!! I shouting!!!!!!

Awesome work.  Looking forward to it - I think it's time I get a new comp!

[jmdude1]

wow! from animals to auroras to airports to super awesomeness......you are a sc4 genius!

aside from the NAM team, I think you are providing some of the most interesting and exciting content for the game.

once again, you continue to amaze us.

[mave94]

Holy moly! Freakin' amazing what you're doing!

[Swordmaster]

FA runways at proper scale? Not even mentioning all the other goodies (among these, the nightlighting stands out for me). You're a god.


Cheers
Willy

[[Delta ²k5]]

Sounds and looks good, but I got some questions / suggestions:

Q: Are the new ariport lights steady? (i.e. the blue lights on the taxiways / lights on the runway) and are they updated too for the RMIP AC-Team Set in some way?

S: could you slow the planes speed down on approach and on taxiways? They seem to be kinda fast. Also it would be great if the planes come in more horizontal

Anyway really great work! 

[xannepan]

Taxiway lights don't flash.. I think it looks too distracting in the game. I did a bit of studying on taxiway, runway and approachlighting.. But I am not an expert, so let's say everything will be approximate realistic

Plane flight path tuning is extremely difficult, unpredictable and error prone. I won't be touching it again any day soon . Even now plane generation is still not 100% stable, with strange dependencies on rotation, lot position bulldozing near the generator etc... However the maxis planes suffer from exactly the same issues, so I don't thin it can be solved.

[NCGAIO]

.....any day soon . Even now plane generation is still not 100% stable,....

Maybe the Same problem suffered by the generation of automata for CAN-AM. It seems that putting plans with texture over the path somehow affects the stability of the "follow road"  in the script.


I gave up the Hippodrome animated exactly because of the randomness of the generation of automata ( racehorses ) on track.


An alternative to try would be to insert the texture through an effect ( eg building_footprint_ok) to see if the enhances the stability of automata

[xannepan]

@NCGAIO: I was actually referring to the flying planes, based on the effect dir ... the taxiway plane generator based on LUA script seems to work fine.

[Uzil]

I am literraly speechless... 

[gn_leugim]

are details like these that makes SC4 more and more worthy playing

[xannepan]

some in progress shots for the airport dlc (for free ;-)