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Thanks for the help. I'll see what I can do.
Also, will this P3D native poly accept shadows? I am aware that the ground poly produced the old way will not accept shadows.
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P3D v2 Colorado Springs Airport (KCOS)
- Thread starter UnitedExpress4180
- Start date
Thanks for the help. I'll see what I can do.
Also, will this P3D native poly accept shadows? I am aware that the ground poly produced the old way will not accept shadows.
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In my testing I haven't found any issues with it accepting shadows, though I have noticed that some aircraft landing lights don't illuminate some layers. Still haven't been able to solve this yet.
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Well, sad news. After grappling with the new ground poly for the last few weeks, I decided to stick with the FS8 ground poly. Reason being that in my testing, I have discovered that while creating P3D ground polys is feasible, it is not pleasant to do. I got it working, at least partially, however my ground poly ended up having too many layers, and the height offsets started to become unacceptably noticeable. Not only that, each layer has to be tinkered with incessantly to get it properly aligned with the rest (for some reason, horizontal offsets occur with some layers. Haven't been able to figure out why). Moreover, I discovered that the root of an issue I was having with dawn/dusk shading was the normal maps I had created for the pavement. I found that if I removed the normal maps, the issue went away, but it is a tradeoff that I'm not too excited to make (for what it's worth, I suspect that this may actually be a problem with P3D's new lighting system, as I've found that ANY models I add a bump map to exhibit the same error. However, after reinstalling FSX to test in an older version of the sim, I discovered that in FSX the error does not occur. At least, not nearly to this extent). All of these issues, in my opinion, are either solvable or can be ignored considering the added visual appeal, however getting the modern ground poly to a point that I'm satisfied with it has been so time-consuming that it's holding back further progress, and I've simply run out of patience, so I've shelved the idea for now and have reverted back to the FS8 model. I still plan on adding specular or bump effects as a layer on top of the ground, however this will be further down the road. Beyond that, I would like to return to the P3D ground poly, however because of the amount of time it takes to get it right, I probably won't do it until after the project has already been completed.
That being said, I encourage other developers to try it. The results certainly look good enough to justify experimenting with it, but I'll tell you now, you could easily spend a month tinkering with things before you get it looking just the way you want it
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That being said, I encourage other developers to try it. The results certainly look good enough to justify experimenting with it, but I'll tell you now, you could easily spend a month tinkering with things before you get it looking just the way you want it
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Two little preview shots:
East face of the SkyWest Airlines hangar. Still a work in progress, I have some additional texturing to do and have a few pieces of the model that I have yet to add.
East face of the SkyWest Airlines hangar. Still a work in progress, I have some additional texturing to do and have a few pieces of the model that I have yet to add.
jtanabodee
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Sad news about the P3D native ground poly. However, it looks very good so far. I think the hangar needs some wear and tear stains a little bit.
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It seems that I may have given up too quickly on the next-gen ground poly after all. A few days ago I responded to a thread over at the Lockheed website regarding the removal of support for FS2002 ground polys as of P3D v3, and one of the devs for P3D replied with a bit of information on the new system they created for creating ground polys moving forward. By sheer chance I happened to see it, and it turns out there was only one reason why I couldn't get it to work: I had z-write turned on (apparently you need to turn that off in order for the z-bias to take priority). So, I went back and tried again, and I'm excited to announce that it's now working flawlessly!
Everything nice 'n' shiny. Not final, of course. I got rid of all my specular textures after I scrapped the idea last time around, so I just enabled the basic specular properties for all the materials to make sure it was indeed working.
To make certain everything was totally flat, and not offset like I failed to notice the first time I tried this, I carefully examined the shadows to make sure there was just one, completely flush shadow on the ground. I'd like to point out, this shot was taken with shadows enabled for objects with no-shadow tags. Because there are still no shadows visible from the ground markings (even after examining from various angles for several minutes to make sure I didn't miss anything), this is a strong indication that the polys are indeed flush to the pavement.
Final shot. I flew around for a while high above the airport to look for any signs of z-fighting, and after twenty minutes I had not encountered any. Here's a picture from just south of 31. You'll notice that everything appears properly layered, and there is no longer any texture bleeding/blurring.
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So, to sum it up: the verdict is in. After a week of uncertainty, I've decided to stick with the P3D ground after all. Now, I want to reiterate, this does not work in FSX. The z-bias variable was only added in to the SDK with the most recent release, and as such, FSX does not contain the code needed to utilize it, so attempting to use the new ground poly in FSX results in extreme z-fighting. In the interest of maintaining compatibility, I'm developing this in tandem with the FS2002 ground for people still using FSX, but people who use P3D will be able to use this with all the new effects after all.
Everything nice 'n' shiny. Not final, of course. I got rid of all my specular textures after I scrapped the idea last time around, so I just enabled the basic specular properties for all the materials to make sure it was indeed working.
To make certain everything was totally flat, and not offset like I failed to notice the first time I tried this, I carefully examined the shadows to make sure there was just one, completely flush shadow on the ground. I'd like to point out, this shot was taken with shadows enabled for objects with no-shadow tags. Because there are still no shadows visible from the ground markings (even after examining from various angles for several minutes to make sure I didn't miss anything), this is a strong indication that the polys are indeed flush to the pavement.
Final shot. I flew around for a while high above the airport to look for any signs of z-fighting, and after twenty minutes I had not encountered any. Here's a picture from just south of 31. You'll notice that everything appears properly layered, and there is no longer any texture bleeding/blurring.
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So, to sum it up: the verdict is in. After a week of uncertainty, I've decided to stick with the P3D ground after all. Now, I want to reiterate, this does not work in FSX. The z-bias variable was only added in to the SDK with the most recent release, and as such, FSX does not contain the code needed to utilize it, so attempting to use the new ground poly in FSX results in extreme z-fighting. In the interest of maintaining compatibility, I'm developing this in tandem with the FS2002 ground for people still using FSX, but people who use P3D will be able to use this with all the new effects after all.
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Yes, the polys need to be corrected for curvature.
Also, I'm not sure if you already know this but there's a rather important detail that I previously overlooked. The z-bias actually is supposed to use negative values, where the top-most layer of the ground poly (for example, runway skids) would be at, say, a value of -4. Every layer below it would be a more negative value. For instance, the runway paint would be at -5, taxi lines would be at -6, base concrete would be at -7, etc. Part of my problem earlier was I tried using z-bias values as though I was working with ASM layers. It turns out that z-bias is not only negative, but it also only needs to decrease by 1 level for each layer as opposed to 4 per layer as with FS2002 ground polys. It also appears that the valid values are all between 0 and -100.
Also, I'm not sure if you already know this but there's a rather important detail that I previously overlooked. The z-bias actually is supposed to use negative values, where the top-most layer of the ground poly (for example, runway skids) would be at, say, a value of -4. Every layer below it would be a more negative value. For instance, the runway paint would be at -5, taxi lines would be at -6, base concrete would be at -7, etc. Part of my problem earlier was I tried using z-bias values as though I was working with ASM layers. It turns out that z-bias is not only negative, but it also only needs to decrease by 1 level for each layer as opposed to 4 per layer as with FS2002 ground polys. It also appears that the valid values are all between 0 and -100.
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Strange regarding positive z-bias values. Perhaps it's just an issue with the current SDK but it isn't possible to use those in 3DS Max for some reason. But, I suppose whatever works.
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Work on the airport stalled out a bit in July, but I've been back at it since I got back from Oshkosh and have been making steady progress. The last couple of days I have been experimenting with the lighting along one of the runways, and now I moved on to placing lights all over the airport. Take a look...
I've been using the standard ADE lights in the previews before now, but in the last few days have upgraded to BGL objects (for taxiway/runway/approach lights) and custom effects (for animated lights). These are already running under the SimObject Display Engine, which has allowed for conditional visibility during IFR conditions and precipitation, in addition to time of day.
I've been using the standard ADE lights in the previews before now, but in the last few days have upgraded to BGL objects (for taxiway/runway/approach lights) and custom effects (for animated lights). These are already running under the SimObject Display Engine, which has allowed for conditional visibility during IFR conditions and precipitation, in addition to time of day.
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Credit for the name goes to Ryan (aka COFlying1), who last I checked will be using the same one.
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Spent the last day building the jetways. Finished modeling this morning, and started the texture work. It is still a LOOOOOOOOOOONG way from complete, but it's starting to look the way it's supposed to. Here's a quick look:
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Hello again!
Been a while since anything was posted in here. I want to say now that this project is not dead. It was stalled out for a few weeks in September due to things at school, and only in the last two weeks or so have I been able to work on it again.
At the moment I don't have much new stuff to share, however I'll be releasing some new previews in the next few days on Flight Path's new Facebook page, which can be found here. Stay tuned!
Been a while since anything was posted in here. I want to say now that this project is not dead. It was stalled out for a few weeks in September due to things at school, and only in the last two weeks or so have I been able to work on it again.
At the moment I don't have much new stuff to share, however I'll be releasing some new previews in the next few days on Flight Path's new Facebook page, which can be found here. Stay tuned!
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Looking good so far!
-Ryan
-Ryan
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Work progressing slowly.
(Note: I don't actually know what's under that overhang, I had to make a random guess.
Final shot for now, showing the custom roof textures I've been working on. Each one of them is hand painted, meticulously replicating their real-world appearances, dirt and all.
(Note: I don't actually know what's under that overhang, I had to make a random guess.
Final shot for now, showing the custom roof textures I've been working on. Each one of them is hand painted, meticulously replicating their real-world appearances, dirt and all.
jtanabodee
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Looking very good. Shadow in 3dsmax make it realistic. Are you planing to get those shadow on the texture?