AC Aircraft

[thepokemaniac]

Wow, great work! I've been watching this process as a guest here for a while, and now its finally coming together. I can't wait for a release, and I'll say it again, the planes look great. 

Adam

[RG59061]

On behalf of the team, thank you very much for the kind word and for following us!

Voltaire is steadily working on getting the 747-8s lotted and once we have them done lotted, they are going to go in for testing and certification. Hopefully without the delays that have plagued the 787 an A380 over the last few years.

As for the Delta and Qantas liveries that you mentioned i_love_lamp, I believe that we are actually releasing a Qantas and Delta 747-400 in the second 747-400 pack. They won't be appearing on the 747-8 as neither airline has ordered the plane.

Thanks again to everyone who is out there, following on our work and posting here! We all really appreciate it and it keeps the team motivated and going.

The Airport Roads Project is almost completed, we are just finalizing a few details with SCAG and once that is done, we'll have it released.

Thanks gang!
RG59061

[Koekie01]

Looking very good. 

I don't recall ever posting previews of the 'extra' planes in this pack. Each airline will come with two extra versions - the first has no ground equipment or jetway, just the plane by itself. The second extra version features a supertug towing the aircraft:

How does that exactly look? No, I don't need a image (if you can show me one, I would love it  ), but one with jetbridges and a other one. How will look that one? Something like this?

http://maps.google.nl/?ie=UTF8&ll=52.30163,4.758314&spn=0.003726,0.010332&t=h&z=17

A sort of a parking for planes?

By the way, how is progress going?   

Good luck with the final steps, I'm sure it's worth waiting!

Koekie

[cogeo]

Excellent job here, but I feel the need to repeat an older recommendation (I won't say "request"): have you considered employing a modeller to make aircraft automata, instead of props?

Also does anybody know if it is possible to add (create new) aircraft automata instead of replacing an existing one?

[nekseb]

That would be very nice, if we had some more variations in our sky's.

If there would also a solution to make the way longer the airplanes needs to start and land at the runway...

[fafalone]

I don't recall ever posting previews of the 'extra' planes in this pack. Each airline will come with two extra versions - the first has no ground equipment or jetway, just the plane by itself. The second extra version features a supertug towing the aircraft:

On a related note, I'd like to request that at least one of the supertugs be available alone as a prop. They're really cool, and it would be neat to have them around the airport. Please consider doing this (or just sending the prop my way, even the version from the released 747s if you happen to have one lying around  ) if at all possible.

And of course, amazing work on the planes. The AC's releases made the airports my favorite part of the game by far.

[Koekie01]

Indeed. For the Joelyboy-911's upcoming hangar-project it would be very useful!

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=10557.0

And of course, amazing work on the planes. The AC's releases made the airports my favorite part of the game by far.

I think a lot of people think so. Including me!

Koekie

[joelyboy911]

Indeed. For the Joelyboy-911's upcoming hangar-project it would be very useful!

http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=10557.0

True, but the hangars are currently designed to swallow the AC Team 747 (already released) including the jetway, so its not necessary to wait for the sans-jetway models to come out

[Voltaire]

Replies

People have been asking for more 747-8 airlines... keep in mind (as RG59061 has said) I only choose from the real-world operators of each aircraft type. Boeing has not recieved many orders for 747-8 passenger models. Remember the strength of the 747-8 order book is Cargo.

Thanks thepokemaniac, cogeo, koekie, fafalone

Koekie, I'm not ready to show the lots with extra models yet (because we're still building them) but the idea of extra aircraft versions was:
- more variety in the overall look of the gates (but not making true remote stands, like the google maps link)
- people could easily build custom lots... for example the tug/aircraft prop on a taxiway, for a Mayor Diary airport photo.


cogeo, I haven't considered revisiting automata lately. However I have wondered before if our BAT models could be readily converted to automata, or we would need to start from scratch. I suspect that since each scene contains 20,000 - 70,000 polys, the BAT models would have to be drastically simplified.

I don't know that anyone has created a totally new aircraft automata from scratch... though it may be possible, since new car automata have been done.

nekseb, the aircraft takeoff/landing effect is stored in the effectdir, which (if I remember correctly) is a relatively difficult thing to modify. I'd agree that takeoff runs should be more than 8 tiles 



Currently I'm in the final prep stages of the lotting process. I've been saying that for awhile, but until last month I had no clear idea of the massive prop library we need. The new ground equipment comes in many varieties, customized for each airline... plus several airlines have more than one cargo container style.

The ground equipment you've seen (and more not shown yet) will be distributed as standalone props, including the supertugs.

Pics soon... I'm going to get a few final-build lots started this week.

[Koekie01]

First of all, I'm looking forward.
But there is one thing, maybe I get you wrong, but I still ask: Will the jet bridges be attached to the plane-props? Because I'm using since a week the Lot-tool and it was a sort of unpleasant surprise that the props were attached to the jet bridges in the old package.

But still, you're making wonderful work and I'm looking forward to it! 

Koekie

[Gilikov1994]

It's great to hear Voltaire,

Can't wait for it , sometimes I imagine how they'll look at my taxi/-runways ..
But how many planes will there be in the new package?

Wish you all the best,

- Giel (sorry for my english)

[cogeo]

BAT models are really hard to be converted to automata models, if at all. There's no "exporting" and LODs, you actually have to make the (real) final ingame model (3D object) yourself. And I doubt if gmax can do this, though I think that 3dsmax (w/o BAT) can. There are more special programs for this, like Milkshape.

A friend sent me a 380 model, and I was wondering if it would be possible to reskin it and have it flying in the sky. It would be nice, I think.

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough, I meant if it is possible to add new automata exemplars (instead of replacing/overriding), and have the game using them as normal aircraft automata, together with the ingame ones (ie extending the automata set). The game does contain models like the 767, 777, Avro, etc, then why not reskin them with real liveries?

[ShadeSlayer]

First of all, I'm looking forward.
But there is one thing, maybe I get you wrong, but I still ask: Will the jet bridges be attached to the plane-props? Because I'm using since a week the Lot-tool and it was a sort of unpleasant surprise that the props were attached to the jet bridges in the old package.

But still, you're making wonderful work and I'm looking forward to it! 

Koekie

Well, I can answer this one:

There will be three versions. A version with a jetway attached, a version without a jetway attached (and a supertug instead), and a straight plane without anything else.

[nekseb]

Replies

The ground equipment you've seen (and more not shown yet) will be distributed as standalone props, including the supertugs.

That's wonderful to read. So we have more variety for our own lot's and for the whole community. 

[Koekie01]

Well, I can answer this one:

There will be three versions. A version with a jetway attached, a version without a jetway attached (and a supertug instead), and a straight plane without anything else.

Thank you for your answer ShadeSlayer!

Good luck with the final steps Voltaire, you're doing a great job!

Koekie

[Voltaire]

Replies

Thanks ShadeSlayer, nekseb, Koekie

Gilikov, there are 11 aircraft in this set, you can see them in the Catalog thread: look for the "v3.8 pre-release" headings in the 747 row.

cogeo, the tricky thing with extending the automata set is that the effectdir must be modded. Not even the code gurus in the BSC have created a tool for modding the effectdir yet... leaving no possibility of a new automata flying around, or even fading in/out at the gate.

Re-skinning is another matter, it has been done several times. You can override just an existing texture (Lufthansa RJ85), or replace the s3d and textures wholesale (Braniff 707). Your A380 could replace the 767 for example... if you like, I can show you how.




I've been doing some work on the lots, just mock-ups to get a feel for how things look. Some of the lots will be full of vehicles, others rather empty. I started this variety of looks with the prefabs -- the goal is to bring more a more natural look to the terminal.

Of the five lot styles, type 2 is the most active-looking (and closest to our previous planes). This type 2 mock-up, with the Lufthansa 748, includes most of the new ground equipment:




You can see here, where a lot of my efforts last year were spent: retuning the new nightlight setup to look consistent with the original set.

I expect to have real lots to show soon, because production of the prop library is underway now.

[figui]

just WOW 

mauricio.

[Jack Bauer]

That's such a nice picture! It's still a picture but in a few years it is will be a real one across the airports of the world. The 747-8 is amazing among his "little brothers". I am looking forward the next pictures of the lotting progress.

[Gilikov1994]

thanks

- Giel

[Gwail]

cogeo, the tricky thing with extending the automata set is that the effectdir must be modded. Not even the code gurus in the BSC have created a tool for modding the effectdir yet... leaving no possibility of a new automata flying around, or even fading in/out at the gate.

We can made the new istances of the same automata type, after all. That way you can have many aircrafts / liveries at once - the game will pick randomly an instance from the range every time.