P3D v3 WhiteDotSim VCBI Colombo (Released)

[Magnus]

As I solved most issues now I think I can 'risk' an official announcment on this one

Colombo is pretty much finished allthough still some work is left on the details (eg. apron objects, some advanced night lighting stuff, perimeter fencing etc.). But I think you can expect it in weeks rather than in months. And it will be freeware of course.

What do you think?

 

[n4gix]

Nice!

 

[scotth6]

It looks great. Nice work!

Cheers,

 

[Magnus]

Fixed some issues with the groundpoly and the waterchannel finally turned out the way I wanted it (3Dimensional)

 

[Magnus]

Bad News. Although everything works just as it should in my sim, all of my Beta testers reported Problems with the elevation (triggered by the 3D drainage channels). I hate having to return to elevation issues guys...

 

[Magnus]

After some serious headdache and testing it is time for good news again!!

With a new approach to the water drainage I could get all my beta testers to report the ground issues are being gone (finally!).
Additionaly, I could enhance the scenery with some cool new features, including realistic taxi & runway signs and 3D Grass. The grass will be optional as it might bring performance issues on some older machines, but if you have an up to date PC there will be absolutely no problem and I think it does really enhance the "feeling" at the airport. I also tested the GSX compatibility, and can report: everything works just as it should. Pushback works just fine and ends perfectly aligned with the taxiway Also did some tests with AI traffic which also works perfectly

So all problems are solved, and only a few additional things stand inbetween me and a release.

See yourself and feedback is welcome! How do you like it?

And some more shots by one of my beta testers:

I hope you like it and I am looking forward to any comments, critique and feedback!

 

[Ablai McKerrow]

Looks fantastic! Been craving a good VCBI. Well done!

 

[scotth6]

Absolutely stunning! Great news you have overcome the frustrating problems.

Cheers,

 

[jencas]

Terrific!!! Finally VCBI gets a fantastic looking scenery. Thanks a lot!!!

"Dat sieht man escht jeil us!"

 

[Magnus]

Update:
- Added the huge SriLankan Catering Building next to the taxiway

- Corrected the PAPIS to represent the real (dual) PAPI system

- Exchanged ground & waterchannel textures for better integration with surrounding textures & FTX Global

- Corrected the waterchannel's size and layout below the runway 22 approach to represent the real thing more accurately

- Added the Gate Designators in the afcad (Gate_A, Gate_B, etc.) as the Gates are displayed with designators on the official charts now

- Testet the scenery in combination with WoAI, everything works as it should, performance stays great even with 75%+ AI traffic

- removed the 3D-Grass as the performance impact was too high and I was not happy with a "low-poly" 3D grass option. For those of you with the high end systems I will include the 3D grass as an optional download though.

All in all it is coming together now and the "to do list" gets shorter and shorter. Your feedback is appreciated!

And ye, the taxiline in the channel's water is already fixed/removed

 

[Magnus]

Night lighting is the last point on my to do list and I am making progress Allthough I still have a difficulty with the correct rendering I am quit confident and once I've sorted that out this baby will be ready for release.

What do you think?

 

[dave hoeffgen]

Spectacular so far
How are you planning to do the light splashes on the apron?

 

[Magnus]

this is what I want them to look like:

The thing is, until now I only get it looking like this when using InstantScenery, but outside IS3 the blending doesnt work properly (as you could see in the initial post) .... If you have solutiouns to solve this... go ahead

 

[dave hoeffgen]

I think we are talking about different things. I meant the splashes on the ground, not the light beams. But the problem you are stating appears to be an alpha blending issue. With some settings it won't be visible in front of alpha'd textures.
You may have to play with the z test settings.

 

[Magnus]

Yes, I know, but as you can see there are ground splashes but they dont show up outside of IS3...

 

[Magnus]

@dave hoeffgen Maybe you can help me a bit, its the first time for me to attempt to create "advanced" night lighting >.<

So here's my model how it shows in MCX (with light splash as you see):

The light splash is on a plane 0.1m above the groundpoly, with following material settings:

So you mentioned I would have to play with the Alpha Z-Test level? Can you maybe briefly explain how different values affect the rendering in sim?

What would you try to "rise" the light splash above the groundpoly? The gp is done with MCX ground wizzard on priorities 17 to 36.

Your help is A LOT appreciated!!

 

[dave hoeffgen]

I'm not really an expert myself.
All I know is that never-1-false works fine in FSX but won't display in front of the GP when rendered in P3D.
Maybe try Greater Equal - 1 - true. How will that turn out?

 

[Magnus]

Tried it but couldnt notice a difference, light splash is still below gp :/ I guess I will have to do some more testing tomorrow

 

[mskhan1991]

First of all, I would recommend that you separate the pole 3d model from the light effects model..... reason for this is that you need to define properties for the light model that you dont need for 3d model of pole.

For example: For light when placing use the NoFog tag, so this way when there is reduced visibility your light won't turn on like a fire or an explosion effect.

Secondly use the light carefully, too bright can hurt your eyes during dawn and dusk, you just have to find a balance between the two.

If you follow the settings below plus what I mentioned about placement tag (NoFog) and place these objects separately, meaning lights in different and 3d poles in different files, you shouldn't have a problem.

Regards.

@dave hoeffgen Maybe you can help me a bit, its the first time for me to attempt to create "advanced" night lighting >.<

So here's my model how it shows in MCX (with light splash as you see):

............
The light splash is on a plane 0.1m above the groundpoly, with following material settings:

............
So you mentioned I would have to play with the Alpha Z-Test level? Can you maybe briefly explain how different values affect the rendering in sim?

What would you try to "rise" the light splash above the groundpoly? The gp is done with MCX ground wizzard on priorities 17 to 36.

Your help is A LOT appreciated!!

 

[KavindaJD]

Wow...that brings back some memories - I actually come from Sri Lanka and left from VCBI!
Keep up the great work!