[Released] Shump & Chunilna Creek - Alaska Backcountry Airstrips (FSX/P3D)

[Rotornut44]

This scenery is a Work in Progress.

Shump is a private backcountry airstrip that I have been working on for the better part of this year. The scenery will feature a decent size photoreal coverage area (I have yet to calculate the full extent) containing two airstrips: Shump (AA00) and another nearby airstrip that is unlisted. [I have yet to find any public information on this second airstrip, so if anyone knows any locals, drop me a PM!] Both airstrips feature hand-placed, dense, native trees, vegetation and shrubbery. SODE is also being utilized to allow for environmentally-dynamic features, such as: Windsocks, Rain Puddles and Ambient Sounds.

A lot of R&D has gone into this scenery. It's still a ways out from release, but I'm hoping to have it out before Q2 of 2020. (Which, is a very generous estimation as I'm shooting to have it out way sooner than that.)

Edit: Release date is TBD. MSFS as well as other things have slowed down progress. Hell or high water, this scenery will be done this year (2021).

 

[Rotornut44]

I took a few weeks off since I ended up working myself into a burnout. However, I got a chance to sit down this afternoon and begin working on winter textures for the scenery objects. I started with the rocks as a test since I have never made winter textures beyond that of simple vegetation. This is the second revision since I wasn't entirely pleased with the first. For only my second attempt, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

There's a little cleanup work to do around a few seams, but other than that, I think this rendition will be final.


Winter (Left) / Summer (Right) | Ignore the out-of-season vegetation. It's not been done yet.

 

[scotth6]

It looks great!. Very detailed strips.

 

[Rotornut44]

It looks great!. Very detailed strips.

Thanks! This is definitely going to be my most detailed project to date. For what I would like to do with it, it's still pretty basic.



Here are a few photos from the last two days.
All of the vegetation winter textures are now complete. I experimented with creating a snowy rendition of my previously completed shed model. I may be a little bias, but I think it looks fantastic. (Maybe some revisioning to the snow splatter along the bottom?) I also fixed the campfire model I had been struggling with for the last month.. It's lower poly and better looking than the model I used previously. I'm planning to eventually add some dynamic lighting to it. The icing on the cake, you might say.

Lots to do still.. In the words of Mike Patey: "Back to work!"

 

[Marc L]

I love Backcountry Flying, I can't wait to see this ^^

 

[Rotornut44]

Some shots from yesterday. "Testing" some of the lakes in the scenery.

Beside the two airstrips, the scenery will also include docks on five lakes for floatplane operations. Some lakes are more challenging than others. So far I have been testing in the Fairchild 24W and Beaver, however I have yet to try all of the locations. It's worth noting that there are several more (Potentially landable, yet not tested) lakes in the scenery, the five mentioned above are the only ones I have found to have docks. I am also considering putting in a fictional helipad or two for my fellow rotor nuts.

 

[Marc L]

Will it be for FSX too? I can test on FSX if you need

 

[Marc L]

Where You All See Gravel Bars.... I see (potential) Runways <3

 

[Rotornut44]

Will it be for FSX too? I can test on FSX if you need

It will be for FSX (SE Included), P3Dv2.5, P3Dv3, P3Dv4, and P3Dv5.

I still include v2.5, because that's the format I use for v3, so it doesn't cost me anything other than some extra scripting to include.

I'll have some more information on Alpha/Beta testing when I get closer to that point. For now, I'll make a note for you, but only a few are going to get in each cycle. I may do the Alpha in-house as that's where the bigger bugs will be. Then the Beta users can be the fine-tooth comb.

Edit: Updated to include P3Dv5 in the list of supported platforms.

 

[Marc L]

No problems I can't wait to see more pics

 

[Ahunterg95]

Will be keeping a keen eye on this one @christopherbritton Your work looks incredible and detailed bush strips will go down a treat amongst the community!

Just having a look through your website also, quite the talent! Best of luck for the rest of this project

Big yes to gravel bars as potential runways @Marc L

Andrew

 

[Marc L]

@Ahunterg95 Raw Bush Flying

 

[Rotornut44]

Will be keeping a keen eye on this one @christopherbritton Your work looks incredible and detailed bush strips will go down a treat amongst the community!

Just having a look through your website also, quite the talent! Best of luck for the rest of this project

Big yes to gravel bars as potential runways @Marc L

Andrew

Thanks for the encouragement.

I must admit, I'm in a bit of a rut at the moment with this project. While most are at home right now, I'm fortunate enough to still be working. However my job eats up pretty much all the time I have in a day, so it's all I can do to put in a hour here and there. I'm dedicated to getting this project finished, but I find the deadlines I set for myself slipping each week. Fortunately, I'm going to start having more than one day off soon, so I should be able to start getting a solid day or so of development in again each week.

Oh, how I miss all that spare time I had over the winter.

 

[Rotornut44]

Hi all,
Looks like it's time for a small update. Unfortunately, with work, progress has been quite slow. I've spent most of my spare time in the last few months working on getting other sceneries ready for P3Dv5, as well as a new mesh release in my Alaskan Mesh series. However, I have been taking a break from all that these last few weeks to focus on getting more models done for this scenery. Modeling is pretty much the only thing slowing me down on this project right now.

I used to only work in Sketchup, but have recently found myself utilizing both Sketchup and Blender, which I have a serious love-hate relationship with. I work a lot faster in Sketchup when it comes to making low-poly building models, but although it's a pain in my rear, Blender is great for tweaking UV Mappings and generating Ambient Occlusion, which I used to do by hand in PhotoShop. It's just getting through that transition point (from one program to the other) that's the bottleneck. Luckily, Blender is very intuitive. And I totally don't have to revert to a previous save or anything multiple times.. (The last two sentences are clearly sarcasm, you know, in case you didn't know that)

Anyways.. Here's all the progress I have made in two weeks. Averaging one model a week at the moment. Still.. idk, a half dozen to do. I could probably find more hidden away in the bush if I keep looking, but I think I'm just going to focus on the important ones for the time being. Will save that ambition for another week.

 

[Ahunterg95]

Looking so good @christopherbritton! The speed isn't an issue, the main thing is that you achieve it in your own time and don't end up hating it! I can only imagine the pain of changing programs...

Screenshots are really looking great, you are certainly capturing that wild feel of the strip. It is all looking great!

 

[jencas]

Lookin' brilliant!

 

[Marc L]

Its Amazing !!!

 

[Rotornut44]

Thanks guys. This has definitely been one of the more fun sceneries to work on. The larger coverage area is definitely adding to the work, but in the end I think it will be worth it. It wouldn't be a bush scenery if there weren't plenty of off airport locations to land. Took the afternoon yesterday to do a refresher flight with the Milviz Porter. Threw together a quick video of what a departure and landing into the Shump airstrip looks like. Will make one for the river airstrip eventually, but want to get a little more work done on it, as well as removing some building and aircraft footprints from the PR first. Until then, back to work!

 

[Rotornut44]

Got another more simple model done. This one only took a single day to model, map and texture. I did use this morning to make some refinements and get it placed though. I also worked on the river coverage area's underlying vector, as it needed to be matched up to ORBX Vector for a more seamless transition from the scenery coverage area. I will later go back and do this for stock vector data as well, so I can add a control panel option for compatibility.

I'm hoping to get started on the next model after the holiday weekend is over. Only two more to do for the river airstrip, then I can start working on lake cabins and ect.

 

[EduHir]

Very nice!
Looks so romantic