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Post by warwickairport on Nov 17, 2012 7:42:28 GMT -5
Hello,
I have developed a renewed interest in flight simulation, particularly in regards to Golden Wings and FSX. I know that the topic of combining these platforms has been discussed several times over the years and elsewhere with the commonality of this discussion that it would take a lot of work to make a Golden Wings FSX.
Based on my reading of this discussion, and research about Golden Wings, FSX, and FS9,I wonder if it would be feasible to import the Golden Wings landclass, based on a Fs9 landclass by FSGenesis, to backdate the landclass in FSX to a 1920s through to a late 1930s appearance. I raise this scenario because I know FS9 landclasses are exportable to FSX. I know that Holger, the developer of the Misty Fjords scenery, created a guide on how to replace the landclasses for the various regions in FSX with FS9 counterparts. Following the successful importation of the Golden Wings landclass, the mesh in FSX would remain because it supports more LODs I believe. Related to the issue of the mesh, I know that the world is round in FSX whereas in FS9 the world is projected as if it were a relief map on an otherwise flat surface. I am not a FS modeler. Does what I propose seem feasible to obtain the rudiments of the foundation of a Golden Wings FSX? I am particularly interested in feedback, suggestions, etc. in response to my hypothetical scenario from people who have who have experience with FS scenery modeling.
Sincerely, Walter
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Post by warwickairport on Nov 18, 2012 9:00:32 GMT -5
Hello again,
Could I subsitute the autogen models, textures, etc. from Golden Wings into FSX? How would I go about the conversion process? I am curious to find out what exactly is the relationship between the autogen and landclass if any? I know that obviously not all of the 24,000 + airports can get backdated. Not even Golden Wings claimed to do that.
Sincerely, Walter
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Post by Tom Constantine on Nov 18, 2012 20:10:55 GMT -5
The FSGW3 landclass should work fine in FSX. The best way to install & test it is to make a landclass folder. Inside that folder, make a scenery folder BUT NOT a texture folder. Put the GW landclass in the scenery folder and activate it the way you would activate any other addon scenery. As for layering, it should be just below the Addon Scenery in the scenery library. Autogen is not directly related to landclass. Autogen is related to textures and textures are placed by FSX where landclass specifies. I hope that is clear. In order to accomplish what you want to do on any kind of scale, you would need to create a new texture set. Perhaps not every scenery texture but certainly all urban and suburban textures. Autogen textures would also need to be changed so that modern buildings are retextured to look like 30's buildings. As you can see, it is a massive chore. Bill estimated it would take 2-3 people several years to accomplish. He retired. I worked on a small area of Eastern Maine and had no satisfactory results. I retired. At least two teams had announced a start but were never heard from again. I suspect they retired. What can be done with a little effort is to "sort of" backdate a rural area. You can use tools like ADE (freeware) or Instant Scenery (payware) to modify runways and taxiways and to place airport buildings that have a Golden Wings look & feel at a few airfields in a nice rural area and stay away from cities. I did that with an area in Northern Maine (sadly lost in a hard drive crash along with 17 sea plane bases) Since the hard drive crash I have retired completely from scenery work and I no longer tinker with anything. I have Orbx Pacific Northwest scenery and a few small planes and that is all I need nowadays. Good luck with your project. Please let us know what you accomplish and be patient, you might even draw a crowd
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Post by warwickairport on Nov 19, 2012 10:11:51 GMT -5
Hi Tom,
Thank you for your comprehensive message which I find helpful.
Prior to getting your message, I spent a large part of the day on Sunday trying to find all of the Golden Wings landclasses for the entire world. I thought that by adding to the FSX Scenery/Base/Scenery folder the FSGenesis landclass, which I think originally came with Golden Wings, that I would be able to backdate the United States landclass to a 1920s to late 1930s appearance. Checking out La Gaurdia and Teterboro airports, I notice that the worldlc.bgl still retains its modern uber urban appearance. Do you know which file(s) Bill and Ian Thatcher used to mask the modern landclasses with a 1920s to late 1930s appearance?
Just to clarify, I haven't committed to a formal project to create a Golden Wings FSX. I am just researching about the feasibility of such a project and to tinker with files.
Sincerely, Walter
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Post by Tom Constantine on Nov 19, 2012 17:35:25 GMT -5
The land class is not the solution. New York City is a city regardless of the era. What you need to find and change is the TEXTURE set. What Bill & Ian did in their respective regions really had nothing to do with landclass and everything to do with textures. You will need to find and replace modern urban textures with textures that are more representative of the 30s. You will need to locate and repaint and/or replace modern autogen objects with objects more suited to the 30s. When Bill did the US and Ian did Australia, they created new texture sets to replace the default. THAT is what 80% of Golden Wings and 100% of Silver Wings actually was, a replacement texture set. The problem is this. In FSX there are approximately 4 terrain textures for every one texture in FS9 and they are a different format. To backdate urban areas I estimate you would need to find and replace 128 and possible 256 textures just for terrain around urban areas. There are also over 100 autogen objects although not all would need replacements. some of the unique buildings in NYC could be excluded but would need to be done individually. Next you have the problem of the post war airports. In GW3, Bill covered them up with ground polygons. That can still be done but due to the curvature of the earth feature of FSX, it might take a dozen separate polygons for a big airport all done by trial and error to avoid plateaus and pits. I gave up on KBGR after several frustrating hours. That's about all I can tell you about it. It was a long time ago and my memory isn't as sharp as it was back then. The best solution I have found is to retain a nice clean FS9.1/GW3 install for the times when I want to go back to a simpler age. It still looks pretty good. Hi Tom, Thank you for your comprehensive message which I find helpful. Prior to getting your message, I spent a large part of the day on Sunday trying to find all of the Golden Wings landclasses for the entire world. I thought that by adding to the FSX Scenery/Base/Scenery folder the FSGenesis landclass, which I think originally came with Golden Wings, that I would be able to backdate the United States landclass to a 1920s to late 1930s appearance. Checking out La Gaurdia and Teterboro airports, I notice that the worldlc.bgl still retains its modern uber urban appearance. Do you know which file(s) Bill and Ian Thatcher used to mask the modern landclasses with a 1920s to late 1930s appearance? Just to clarify, I haven't committed to a formal project to create a Golden Wings FSX. I am just researching about the feasibility of such a project and to tinker with files. Sincerely, Walter Attachments:
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