active Gold Coast Cityscape

[macca22au]

The GC cityscape is excellent, congratulations to Orbx and all involved in its development.

 

As a local there are a number of details I would bring up, but for most of you that would seem tedious.  I'll ask the mods if they would like some of these brought up by PM.

 

However the P3D airport selection list does not include YSPT, Mason's Field, the Southport Flying Club, but it is there.  The rendition is excellent, but might have been enlivened by some cars and parked aircraft, otherwise it is really accurate but a bit too dead, even though it is a deadish place in reality.

 

It is an excellent spot for circuits, so it can be found 16.7NM no-rnor-west of YBCG on a bearing of 323M.  Well worth it and an integral part of the GC scene.  

 

There is also a field at Jacobs Well YJCW  which is fun to visit too. It is known as Heck's Field, and has the JCW VOR right next door.

 

[John Venema]

If you send your bug/missing features to info@orbxsystems.com it will be given directly to the development team for inclusion in a patch, thanks for the feedback!

 

YSPT will be developed fully by Matteo using 7cm source imagery and including the sloping runway, as part of his YBCG package.

[macca22au]

JV: it dawned on me that the one missing element everywhere is a lack of boats and marinas.   All the canal estates have pontoons and boats dotted through them, and there are marinas running from the SE corner of the Broadwater all the way north, boats permanently anchored.

[John Dow]

3 hours ago, macca22au said:

JV: it dawned on me that the one missing element everywhere is a lack of boats and marinas.   All the canal estates have pontoons and boats dotted through them, and there are marinas running from the SE corner of the Broadwater all the way north, boats permanently anchored.

 

True, but it was probably a decision to retain frame rate friendliness that limited the extra details that could be included.  If it was a toss up between the extra vegetation that was added, or extra marinas etc. the vegetation is much more imprtant to set the scene.

 

Good idea to consider for an update if it turns out to be possible.

[Gregory Perrier]

4 hours ago, macca22au said:

JV: it dawned on me that the one missing element everywhere is a lack of boats and marinas.   All the canal estates have pontoons and boats dotted through them, and there are marinas running from the SE corner of the Broadwater all the way north, boats permanently anchored.

Fully agree even if  sound files could be dropped in at airports that don't have them it really brings the airport to life. I was thinking maybe nature sound files eg birds and maybe cars etc.

[macca22au]

John Dow, I am not disagreeing to be negative, but boats and the GC are synonymous. The Broadwater is a boaty’s paradise.

 

JV: I flew out of YBCG today, and realised just how much work is being done in preparation for the Commonwealth Games. A full-scale taxiway to join Twy A and D is nearing completion, a major parking area for large aircraft to the south of the main terminal (in white concrete) looks finished but not marked,  and a small extension to the approach end of Rwy 32. Still no jetways, though.  And the ILS will not be commissioned. Should be a real shambles over the games period.

[macca22au]

PS, there is a NOTAM on the changes.  Just Google.

[John Dow]

I think the airport is already fairly well complete as far as imagery and layout are concerned.  Unfortunately once imagery is sourced and paid for, the options for modifying an airport are very limited.  My guess is a mid 2016 representation.  It's a perennial problem in the flightsim world unfortunately, especially when pesky local councils and airport owners decide to upset the status quo in the name of progress!

[akriesman]

On 2/26/2018 at 1:03 AM, macca22au said:

 

 

On 2/25/2018 at 4:43 PM, macca22au said:

JV: it dawned on me that the one missing element everywhere is a lack of boats and marinas.   All the canal estates have pontoons and boats dotted through them, and there are marinas running from the SE corner of the Broadwater all the way north, boats permanently anchored.

 

I know this is an older thread.   But, I think this is a good question that needs an answer.   John (Dow) is correct with his answer.    Performance is one of the reasons while the marina and boats placements are focused on the main waterways.   The intent was to create all the major marinas and areas where large groups of boats are usually present.

 

As you know, there is a lot of buildings and objects in this scenery.    The frame rates still hold up well because of the proprietary logic that was used.   This logic combines large groups of contiguous objects into a single object before compiling.   This allows hundreds of clustered buildings to be rendered as a single draw call.

 

This logic can only be used on the Non-POI buildings that make up a vast majority of this scenery.    Library objects, like boats, are not as frame rate friendly as the custom buildings.   So, the focus was made to make sure the major marina areas were populated with docks and boats in order to keep the frame rates higher.    While performance is indeed part of the answer, there is even a bigger reason.

 

The 2nd part of the answer simply has to do with the scope of the project.    Adding perhaps thousands of private docks and boats to all the small inlets would be a big task.    In order to provide this type of dense scenery, at the current sales price, a lot of custom automation is used to expedite the building placement in this scenery.    Hand drawing all those small private docks and hand placing all those small boats would be a real time consuming chore.   

 

So, the original question is a valid one.    But, it is a question of trade offs.     I have been currently working on a new set of low-polygon boats that will have the ability to use the same low draw call clustering logic currently used by the buildings.    This will eliminate the future need for traditional library object boat placement (smaller private boats),.    However, for the GC area, this still leaves the issue of having to hand draw all those private boat docks   That  would be a big chore.    And, a group decision would have to be made as to whether or not to take on that large task.

 

Thanks,

Allen