MSFS Freeware Released! - Dortmund for the MSFS

[Christian Bahr]

Hi, Happy New Year everyone!

Our next MSFS project is coming up in the new year: My hometown Dortmund. All buildings/objects will have both PBR material and PBR textures. The scenery becomes a full-fledged PBR add-on

The Westfalenstadion in Dortmund should of course not be missing

Culture also needs to be taken care of: the theater in Dortmund. It combines opera, ballet, philharmonic music, drama and theater for children and young people

Harenberg City Center

St. Reinoldikirche

Big Tipi in the Fredenbaumpark

The Dortmund Westfalenhallen 1-8, in the background the Florian TV tower and the former Telekom office tower can be seen

The Emergency Hospital (Klinikzentrum Nord) has a landing pad for rescue helicopters. The scenery would be well prepared for helicopters in the MSFS

Most of the buildings/objects are already finished, but other, perhaps somewhat less important, buildings in Dortmund will follow. The Hengesen-Oherdicke airfield, which is located a little south of the EDLW airport, will then be completed

 

[Christian Bahr]

It continues rapidly ...

In the meantime, more 3-D models have been completed

Dortmund Central Station

The site of the former Gneisenau colliery in the Derne district

The Hörder Castle on the Phönixsee

The IKEA warehouse. The three wind turbines are still missing, they are currently being manufactured as dynamic wind objects

The Schwerte transmission tower

In addition, the clocks at the Old Port Authority and for the Reinoldikirche are changed as simobjects, so the local time is then displayed on these buildings.

 

[Christian Bahr]

It goes on ...

There was extensive preparatory work to be done! The textures of Dortmund Airport had to be summarized and the 3-D models were brought into the MSFS glTF format. And new PBR textures had to be created. Placing the models with the Scenery Editor was then a great pleasure

Before there are pictures of the EDLW airport, here are a few thumbnails of the Hengsen-Opherdicke airfield included in the package:

Die animierten Personen werde auch in diesem Projekt auf das Wetter, die Jahres.- und Tageszeit reagieren

Some time ago the runway markings were renewed at the airfield. Therefore the old runway markings will be replaced later by new runway markings.


At the moment, work at Dortmund Airport is making good progress. The markings on the ground look good and the 3-D models also come into their own. The airport aerial photo has a resolution of 15cm. But see for yourself ...

The markings consist partly of a projected mesh and the other part of painted lines

Your own taxi light model with the new Asobo airport lights

The Asobo Airport lights not only come into their own. The lights also have a long range of vision! Thanks to @Sasa for the nice tip

Authentic taxi signs with signs of use

One of the bigger challenges at Dortmund Airport is the elevated GA area of the old terminal. It will probably be solved with terraforming and an adapted GA 3-D model. We'll continue with that soon ...

 

[Christian Bahr]

Hello and good morning

Some of the ground markings in EDLW still had to be completed. Here is the preliminary final result:

Animated ground traffic should not be missing at any airport. Because it is precisely he who ensures a scene that appears lively. Here is a picture of a PathFollow-Animation consisting of a pulling cart and several baggage carts:

More on that later ...

 

[fabs79]

Christian, is the cart with the path follow animation a Simobject or a standard scenery object? I'd like to create objects following paths for my own scenery but I haven't been able to successfully export an animated model as a Simobject.

 

[Christian Bahr]

The train trolley and the baggage trolleys are currently still animated PathFollow objects. But if we implement animated ground traffic as a WASM module, then the vehicles have to be SimObjects. So all ground vehicles will later be made into SimObjects.

 

[fabs79]

OK thank you. Could you tell me how the path the object needs to follow is defined and what the xml looks like?

 

[Christian Bahr]

Could you tell me how the path the object needs to follow is defined and what the xml looks like?

In the 3dsm file for Dortmund Airport the path looks like this:

However, it is planned to run the ground traffic later via a WASM module. The vehicles will then follow their route directly and very precisely using coordinates (waypoints).

Here are a few explanations about PathFollow Animation:

 

[Lagaffe]

Ho, this part with a WASM module seems very interesting ... for me

 

[fabs79]

In the 3dsm file for Dortmund Airport the path looks like this:

View attachment 72820

However, it is planned to run the ground traffic later via a WASM module. The vehicles will then follow their route directly and very precisely using coordinates (waypoints).

Here are a few explanations about PathFollow Animation:

Thank you Christian, I'm using blender but the basic workflow is similar. Two questions remain : how do you set the speed at which the objects travels along the path? By the duration of the animation or by setting a speed in the xml file? And Is it possible to combine a Follow Path animation with a looping animation cycle, like a rotating beacon on the object or a walk cycle of a character?

 

[Christian Bahr]

We cannot discuss the questions here, the topic is too complex for that. Another place would be more suitable, for example here: Animated Ground Traffic - PathFollow Animation Object

 

[Christian Bahr]

Hi!

I would like to show you the work of the last few days. The topic: Intelligent ground traffic based on a WASM module

The unique WASM module developed by Oliver has very different properties. For example, this means that the vehicles controlled by the module drive an assigned route and have proximity detection.

First, a route was created using the GIS software ArcMap from ESRI


In the further process, the coordinates of the nodes were calculated, which then became a report and which were then ultimately output as latitude and longitude ...

At the very beginning, the vehicles did not follow the specified route exactly, which is why this led to unwanted collisions with static objects. However, it later became clear that the speeds of the intersections had to be determined very precisely. From then on, the vehicles drove relatively precisely along their route.


As I said, the vehicles have proximity detection. This means that they stop automatically when you approach them with your own aircraft. The vehicles also have collision detection - they collide with static objects. In addition, the vehicles have now been created as SimObjects, so they have a steering angle of the wheels when cornering. In addition, the wheels turn depending on the vehicle speed.

Here is a little video that shows one of the finished vehicles ...

The AI logic can be expanded later. In this way, ideas relating to the time of day, the seasons and the weather could also be implemented. And just think of the great opportunities for meaningful tasks for animated people in MSFS

 

[Christian Bahr]

An important problem with WASM controlled AI ground traffic could be solved

It's about the inaccurate cornering of the AI ground vehicles. There were large deviations when cornering, so that the vehicles came into oncoming traffic, which looked very ugly. It is important to know that the MSFS seems to be when it comes to so-called braking points. What is meant is that the individual nodes have to be reworked in such a way that they generate a low cornering speed for the vehicles. Here is an example of how part of the AI-controlled ground traffic at Dortmund Airport now looks like:

In addition, initial experiences with animated people as SimObjects are being gained, which are also controlled via the WASM module:

 

[Christian Bahr]

If you are interested in knowing how to create animated ground traffic based on a PathFollow object, you should take a look here: Animated Ground Traffic - PathFollow Animation Object

 

[Christian Bahr]

Good morning

I'm currently in the process of putting the finishing touches to the Bahrometrix Living People who are up to mischief at Dortmund Airport. In addition to the usual gloss properties of the safety vest, the skin and the objects that are worn by the people, they should be given a certain shine in the eyes by applying specially prepared textures. The intention behind this is that the people appear a little more lively:

One of the three people who take care of security at the airport

So far, 4 animated people are ready, they were created as SimObjects and can therefore be used flexibly. Among other things, they can be controlled via a WASM module. So then a few people walk around the airport area while other people linger at their location

 

[Christian Bahr]

Hello

After the topics of animated ground traffic, animated people and animated animals have been dealt with, it goes on to another, very important topic: Exact height data (mesh). In all likelihood, there will then be a 5m elevation model that will cover the entire Dortmund city area:

Before (MSFS Default)

After (5m LIDAR Mesh)

The elevation data were derived from 1m LIDAR data.


Before

After

The next step is to test whether the very precise data can be used to create an exact profile of the runway (Sloped Runway)

 

[karlo922]

You already know this tool? https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/msfs-toolkit-by-nool-aerosystems.452363/

 

[Christian Bahr]

Yes, I know the tool

 

[Christian Bahr]

Good Morning all.

Following up on the last article on the elevation profile of EDLW Airport, there is good news. It was actually possible to map the entire airport area using very green elevation data (Many thanks to @Paavo ). The elevation data comes from a laser scan of the earth's surface, or LIDAR for short. Here is a picture from my GIS software ArcMap:

The profile of the airport site will consist of current 1m LIDAR data from 2020. The runway already included these LIDAR terrain points - so it doesn't just follow the terrain:

For better illustration, the runway profile - top left in the window - is heavily overdrawn


A few pictures of the rest of the airport area ...

Another big issue and hurdle was the elevated GAT area at Dortmund Airport. Here it was possible to design the surface in such a way that it is passable and AI air traffic also takes place on it:

In the past, it was not always technically possible to allow AI air traffic to take place in a raised area. In Dortmund and in the MFS this is now possible

Here's an early try ...

A plane was created in 3dsm and a texture with a blend mask was mapped onto it. In the MFS, the plane was precisely positioned and so that no transition between the terrain and the 3-D model is recognizable, the color of the texture was adjusted in later post-processing.


Overall, the elevated GAT area consists of 3 design techniques: LIDAR elevation data, 3-D model and terraforming polygons ...

The texture of the GAT area will be further processed. On the one hand it has to be retouched and on the other hand new lines have to be drawn.

Before we continue with the little things at Dortmund Airport, we are working on LIDAR elevation data for the Hengsen-Opherdicke airfield. New roof turrets (slope markings) and a new picket fence are then also positioned or created there

 

[scotth6]

Simply amazing detail. It looks great, and more and more like the real thing.