New Aircraft

[nzms]

Rob, I think it would be best to tell you that I have already reskinned an A320 in the Spirit Airlines livery, and it is on the DLS:
Airbus A320-232 Spirit Airlines (KUID: 510748:1345)
Airbus A320-232 Spirit Airlines static (KUID: 510748:1346)

However, I have not reskinned an A319.

Maynard

 

[Rob725]

Cheers for the heads up Maynard,

You've been quiet for a while.

I probably should have checked for existing models before I started. I started on the A319 so no harm done. Spirit also have/had(?) a blackish "Pixelated" livery now as well. I was thinking of doing an A321 in those colours (and maybe an A319 for good measure).

Also. This is what Vulcan was talking about in his recent post. One of the requests was from me... An A30 Wedgetail. He's built in a few extras from the base B737 model. I won't spoil it and leave it to him to explain when he releases it.

 

[papou]

Hello

Welcome back, Ian, I think we should like your new models..

The serie of Boeing 707 with Braniff colors have been uploaded, as well as this DC3 of the same company. I'l try to continue with some US oldies of this type; there were so many users!

Also I uploaded this 707 from Air Seychelles which was in my HD since some time.

Pascal

 

[TheWaluigiKing]

Can i suggest a Pacific Southwest Airlines 727?
http://www.airliners.net/photo/PSA-...0206152/&sid=f753fab404961b968163d9910b98dec5
http://www.airliners.net/photo/PSA-...0435496/&sid=f753fab404961b968163d9910b98dec5
http://www.airliners.net/photo/PSA-...1289748/&sid=75229084c97da8cf5350dc2ca9c9cb6c

 

[Rob725]

FLASHER UPGRADE

Pascal,
Nice work as always!

Before I get engrossed in the Spirit Airlines re-skins, I thought I would share some information passed onto me by Vulcan.

Some of the older aircraft models including :- A10, A380, B737, B747-400, Cessna Caravan, Concorde, F-111C, Gulfstream, Hercules (non-startup versions), & Twin Otter (non startup version); were built with “corona” type red & green lights. In the later versions of Trainz (and maybe earlier versions as well), these coronas either don’t flash or flash very slowly. To rectify the situation, Vulcan’s later models use “Aircraft Flasher” meshes that are much more realistic.
The existing models out there that are either Vulcan originals or re-skins by one of us are fairly easily upgraded to the newer Aircraft Flashers. It all comes down to a few lines of code in the “config.txt” file.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with editing assets, this won’t be much help. To get up to speed you’ll need to be using content manager to open the asset for editing.
The line of code needs to be changed by editing the config.txt itself. I tried to change it using Content Manager/Content Creator but it didn’t work.
The aircraft with the older coronas will have a paragraph of code that will look similar to this example of a B737.

effects {
flasher0 {
kind "corona"
att "a.corona1"
texture-kuid <kuid:-3:10112>
frequency 0
directional 0
object-size 0.15
}

flasher1 {
kind "corona"
att "a.corona2"
texture-kuid <kuid:-3:10110>
frequency 0
directional 0
object-size 0.15
}

flasher2 {
kind "corona"
att "a.corona3"
texture-kuid <kuid:-3:10112>
frequency 0
directional 0
object-size 0.15
}
}
}

The 3 names highlighted in red will need to be retained so either copy the section of code to a blank notepad file or write them down. Please note that there may be more than 3 flashers & the additional names will need to be retained also.
The old paragraph of code needs to be replaced by the following.

effects {
flasher0 {
kind "attachment"
att "a.corona1"
default-mesh <kuid2:60238:1000021:1>
}
flasher1 {
kind "attachment"
att "a.corona2"
default-mesh <kuid2:60238:1000023:1>
}
flasher2 {
kind "attachment"
att "a.corona3"
default-mesh <kuid2:60238:1000021:1>
}
}
}

I’m not going to spell out how to cut & paste or how to arrive at the new paragraph of code. Needless to say, if there are more than 3 flashers, some common sense needs to be taken to ensure they are all replaced. The red text in the new code (above) needs to be identical to the red text from the original paragraph. You’ll notice the code is quite different with the “kind” changing from “corona” to “attachment” & the call up line for the kuid being quite different. There are also a 3 other lines per corona deleted.

Save the config.txt file, commit the asset & job done. See simple! :hehe:

I’m going to sweep through my own re-skins changing out the flashers before uploading the new versions to DLS. There’s no reason why those of you playing at home can’t do the same for particular aircraft that you use in your models. I suggest that the other re-skin guys (seems like only Pascal at the moment) look at changing out the flashers before releasing new re-skins for those aircraft.

 

[papou]

Thanks Rob,
I'l have a look to this "flasher" story and will make the changes to my assets. In parallel, I will have to update the build N°.
It may take some time, so please be patient.
Pascal

My last assets have just been approved, so, too late for now.

 

[Rob725]

Pascal,

Your 707 & DC3 models should be ok. Only the aircraft I listed in the previous post have the old flashers.

Rob

 

[vulcan]

The Wedgetail and the Grumman have been approved, should be available in a day or so.

Rob is correct, the light attachments in the older models were called a.corona0 etc, because I used the Auran corona, not very realistic. You may notice in recent aircraft the attachments have been changed to a.marker0, just make sure you use the correct name for the model you are changing. Make sure the red and green flashers are on the correct sides of the aircraft, if it comes out wrong, just swap the kuids over. You should also add these kuids to the kuid table, as they are new dependencies for the older model, something like this.

corona_green <kuid2:60238:1000023:1>
corona_red <kuid2:60238:1000021:1>

Rob and I discussed flaring of the aircraft on landing or takeoff, it currently uses the V key for the flaps, and the B key is a startup functions, so we run out of keys to use. I also need to try to keep some consistency for the keys and trigger numbers I use for aircraft functions.

I have left the Wedgetail with operating flaps, if I flare the model I have to use an invisible shadow, as you cannot animate shadows to follow the movement of the aircraft . I am less than impressed with the shadows for trainz models, the very low limit of 1333 polys is not good enough to make a shadow that correctly follows the complicated shapes of the aircraft, hence the jagged grey areas on the sides of the fuselage, representing a cast shadow. Again, having to use an invisible shadow loses some realism as well. I guess we have to have compromises.
Ian

 

[Rob725]

Remember that the port (left) side is red & the starboard (right) side is green.

I have just uploaded "New Versions" of the following Boeing 737 & 747 aircraft that are my re-skins.

<kuid2:590184:100138:2> Boeing 737-200 Air Canada Tango
<kuid2:590184:100144:2> Boeing 737-500 United Airlines (2012)
<kuid2:590184:100106:3> Boeing 737-800 Alaska Airlines
<kuid2:590184:100146:2> Boeing 737-800 United Airlines Eco Skies (2012)
<kuid2:590184:100143:3> Boeing 737-800 United Airlines (2012)
<kuid2:590184:100150:2> Boeing 747-400 United Airlines (2012)

These versions have the upgraded flashers & should be available on DLS in the next couple of days.

Oh & this is what Ian means about the KUID table located in the config.txt files.
I simply added the two lines in red (from Ian's post). I suspect the 3 lines above them could be deleted (the old coroana kuid's) but Ian would have to confirm that.

kuid-table
{
enginespec <kuid2:60238:51019:1>
enginesound <kuid2:60238:53012:1>
hornsound <kuid2:60238:54021:1>
interior <kuid2:60238:55015:2>
icon0 <kuid:-3:10164>
bogey <kuid:-10:149>
0 <kuid:-3:10060>
1 <kuid:-3:10112>
2 <kuid:-3:10110>
corona_green <kuid2:60238:1000023:1>
corona_red <kuid2:60238:1000021:1>
}

 

[vulcan]

Quite right Rob, the two coronas can be removed (1 and 2 above). Some comments on upgrading:

In upgrading my assets to a minimum build 2.9 (to upload to the DLS), you will need to remove the category-era and category-region tags, these are now obsolete. The icon0 tag is also to be removed (two places, including the kuid table, item 0 above). The icon0 was the green tick appearing in the Surveyor menu indicating an industry asset, one that loads or unloads goods or passengers. I found this useful in locating such items, but Auran have deemed it superfluous to requirements now.

You will also notice that if you obsolete an asset by increasing the version number in the kuid, (say version 1 to version 2) you cannot use the old asset again. Should you find your new asset is unsuitable, and you want to go back and re-activate the obsoleted asset, deleting the new asset will not recover the old. It is locked as obsoleted in the CMP. You would need to give it another new version number (say 3) to use it again.

The config contains a tag category-keyword. This is where you can add words that indicate information that can be searched in Surveyor, eg

category-keyword "aircraft;dc10;douglas;britishairways"

If you reskin you might want to alter or add words here. They need to be single words (no spaces) separated by a semi colon and lower case. Words in the Username tag do not need to be added, as they are already searchable.

Ian

 

[jcardana]

Remember that the port (left) side is red & the starboard (right) side is green.

When I joined the Navy here's a little trick I used to remember...

Port and Left go together because they both have four letters.
Right and Green go together because they both have 5 letters.

 

[Rob725]

A30 Wedgetail

The new A30 Wedgetail is now approved on DLS.
Ian I hope you don’t mind stealing your thunder. Since you posted some shots of the C-2, I figured I’d do the A30 since I asked you to build it.
I’d love to say I had more of a hand in this one but there isn’t much left of the 737 re-skin prototype I sent you to kick this one off.

The Wedgetail is based on a Boeing 737 but has a number of fins & bumps that turn it into the modern & Aussie equivalent of the E-3.
This Aircraft is an Airbourne Early Warning & Control aircraft (AEW&C) operated by the RAAF.

Ian has made a great deal of effort ensuring these bumps are all included in the new model with some wonderful attention to detail.

He’s also added a startup function to the A30. It includes an opening door & a retractable ladder.

The “Welcome aboard” horn sound has also been replaced by a more appropriate military announcement.

Another great job Ian!

All in all, not a bad likeness.....

 

[Bhorton]

how is the wedgetail used, because I know on the e-3, it uses a spinning radar, but what about the wedgetail.

 

[papou]

Hi Bhorton

This radar does not rotate.
You may have a look to this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Electronically_Scanned_Array

Pascal

 

[H222]

I'm waiting for that little grey plane on the right :hehe:

Jamie

 

[TheWaluigiKing]

How about a Baby Boeing 747 aka 747SP instead?
Is it just me or does the #1 engine look like it's going to fall off?

 

[Rob725]

I'm waiting for that little grey plane on the right :hehe:

Jamie

You mean the Globmaster Jamie?

It's not s big as the C-5 Galaxy but can land in many more places with shorter runways. They even showed us a 3 point turn at Pearce a few months back.

The trademark lifting capacity could have something to do with the wing area.

 

[Rob725]

The Spirit Airlines A319 is coming along nicely. The tail colours still need to be done & there's a bit of work around the wing/body bulge to be cleaned up, but it's getting there.

 

[vulcan]

Thanks for the pics of the Wedgetail Rob.

The Dassault Mirage is now available. It is the IIIO version used by Australia, thanks to Pascal for testing and picking up some fixes.

This has the usual animations for military, tail flares, tyre smoke, drag chute, missiles firing, gun sound, and automatic afterburner.

Only one set of missiles fire using the B key, these are products so you can replace them and the fuel tanks shown below - use the ? button in surveyor to choose from a selection.

I have added the flaring capability, a delta wing is rather unstable at low speeds and relies on a high flare angle.

I have mentioned before the problems of shadows. I have included a shadow model with this one, even though it cannot follow the flaring attitude, you can see the shadow showing on the top of the wings above, a small compromise. I feel it adds to the high nose landing to have a shadow showing on the ground.

I make the aircraft mainly for dcc operation, I feel it is nice to actually fly the aircraft. Experimenting with the Action Trigger (kuid:76656:24050) on the track you can land the aircraft correctly without too much work. Place triggers like this and set the approach speed about 160 kph:

On the landing approach place a trigger set to 3 (or use V key) to flare the aircraft (lift the nose);
At the touch down spot, place a trigger set to 4 for tyre smoke;
A little further, place a trigger set to 5 for the drag chute (this automatically vanishes after 12 seconds);
Now place a trigger set to 3 to drop the nose;
Further down the track trigger setting 9 will stop the aircraft.

Have fun.

Ian

 

[pilotaustin41]

I love it. Have you tried flight simulator?