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NEW
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My apologies for not posting this sooner, but other distractions have been keeping me away from the simple chore of updating webpages. More than likely its just my character to have too many fingers in the pie at one time and it is a constant juggle on my priority list. Unfortunately, although it can also be looked at the other way, updating these webpages is not high on that list. I'll try to keep things paced a just bit quicker in future but will not guarantee that will happen. MARCH 07, 2006 ----- After several prodding e-mails I went back to review this project which I suspended awhile back due to some issues I was having with the design interfaces. Since then these interfaces have come a long way, but obviously it has left me playing catch up. The good news is I am catching up with it, the bad news is it has thrown many of my old traditional concepts out the window so the learning curve steepened. Not to mention there are several other projects which are demanding the exact same learning process. As most of you know my macros are not GMAX. I have over the years been using NOVA and NOVASIM exclusively, however Raphael for his own reasons has closed the site and no longer supports the program. My guess is that it will no longer see support in the future and eventually we will all be forced into the GMAX or some other compatible program. Its the fear I live with working on these projects that they are usually always going to be somewhat behind the times. |
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The next issue I had to deal with was the Airport for Windows interface. Over the last couple of years the programmers have been working on a new program called SceneGenex. It is similar to Airport but overs newer features that were incorporated with FS9 and the release of FS10 next year. Most prominently it uses an XML base rather than the Scasm compiling of the past. Thankfully you or I don't have to get into that ball of wax and thankfully there are some great minds working on those issues. However it did create some newer considerations on my end and threw a whole lot of concepts out the window. The early versions really created nightmares as it took what I was using and made them incompatible. Improvements by the programmers and research on my end has changed that course and I am now progressing again in that area. Now comes interelating SceneGenX and AFCAD, they are compatible but eventually everything that AFCAD does will be incorporated in a different way in the source files. Less files for you as a user to deal with. This does not mean you are locked into it. It simply means that I will be to visually incorporate taxiways, and parking within the source files completely eliminating the need for me to continually edit two programs for any changes relating to traffic directional flow on the airport design. I havent got to that stage yet but getting closer. The parking and taxiways work fine but getting them to interact with my runways is the real issue. For now I do what I can in SceneGenx and then simply connect up what doesnt connect within an AFCAD file. You may see early releases with both the Airport bgl and the Afcad bgl being needed. Down the road hopefully the Afcad will become optional to the users who want to customize that area. By the way AFCAD, if you open the airport bgl will read everything that is included up to that point. At this point you have to manually enter the runway nodes and connect them to the taxiways. The biggest issue I am having though now with SceneGenx is the footprints on the macros. This is obviously causing probs with rotation and positioning of the macros. Over the weekend I developed a work around but it will be several weeks before all get positioned properly. One of the reasons is I used satellite photos from GoogleEarth to place the runways and taxiways and found that several of the terminal macros where not exactly accurate dimensions. This means I have to tweak each macro as I go and I am taking this opportunity to also improve the textures and improving them to help frame rates. My work in the railroad project has definitely taught me a whole lot more about textures than I knew before, although lighting techniques are completely different. Should be a bonus though and allow for smoother running of the files. The big question on everybody's mind right now is when will I release a Beta version. On that I am not sure as so far I have just finished the basics needed to start building back up the airport. I have the runways and taxiways completely in now so things will probably move along faster. Some of your suggestions have been incorporated thus far;
As always I am open to suggestions and I do try to reply to all e-mails, but like these pages I am time constrained into replying. I normally will take all suggestions and add them to a to do list to and incorporate them eventually so do not hesitate to contribute by emailing them to me at pmainville@sympatico.ca . Sorry it took me so long to pass on this news and I will as I said earlier attempt to be a bit more pro-active on keeping this information up to date on this site. Once again thanks for all your support, it goes a long way to making this a wonderful project to work on. Finally a tidbit of news I just heard was that the Ottawa was rated the #2 airport in the world by passengers last year. |
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Gone Alpha Click here to go directly to the latest version of the scenery. This scenery is compatible with FS20042using a slight bit of ingenuity, however I will not support FS2002 installations as I have no way of doing so anymore. |
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September 25, 2002 |
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June 24, 2003 |
OTTAWA SCENERY PROJECT
FS2004
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September 25, 2002 I have started this project to a follow up of my Detroit Metro project. The goal here is to bring the Ottawa airport up to current standards while maintaining good flying qualities. Due to all the construction of the new terminal this might be on-going but I want to have a working model up there shortly. As you can see above, the majority of the new terminal has been completed, although some textures need adjusting along with some of the dimensions. I'll be picking away at it for the next few months and hopefully have some form of a beta out by next month. |
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| November 18, 2002 Well here's the first beta release cyow30.zip . Slow going process as work is consuming a lot of my time. |
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| November 30, 2002 Well here's the first update beta release cyowud1.zip . VIP Hgr, DND Hgr and NRC hangar added. Military ramp is in place now also. |
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| January 12, 2003 Beta release No. 2. NRC Wind tunnel about 90% done. North Field is partially in. Created the overpass on the Golf taxiway. Ottawa TACAN is now operational. RCMP hangar in place. cyow30up1.zip . |
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| March 1, 2003 As time progresses, things seem to be falling into place and the project seems to be moving right along. Thanks to all of you who have volunteered to help and all of the Beta testers comments out there. I've been slowly integrating some of your ideas into the project. Over the last month my concentration has been on the downtown area. In particular pretty much on both sides of the river. I think you'll find the layout very close to the real city although there is still lots of tweaking needed in the canal/lock area. Playing with the mesh around there is a real bear and time intensive. I'm at a point if I change something it throws something else off so basically I've decided to put in the structures and to tweak the mesh at a later date. Bit of a learning curve going on in that area also. Parliament Hill is almost complete now. Few more stabs at it and it will be finished. North Field is pretty much in place now at the airport, and really haven't done much tweaking as I'm waiting for a few photos to come in to finish off the textures. On the to do list yet here is;
So as you can see the plate is still full and thanks for your patience. There are two separate zip dowloads, CYOW30up3.zip contains the airport area files and OTTMod1.zip contains the downtown area. |
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May 24, 2003 Big Update. Lot of texturing tweaks and should run a bit smoother. Added some new gates to the new terminal and did some work around the taxiways and aprons. I have now included Carp and Rockliffe in separate zips. Just don't add them if you don't want them. Same goes for the downtown. Bgl's as usual in the same scenery folder and all the textures go to the main texture folder. Note copy and replace the old ones cause I spent a fair bit of time tweaking some of them with new lighting techniques I learned. Thanks for all the feedback so far and will be getting to some of the ideas hopefully in the near future. For a useable Afcad file using runway 32 <<<click here>>> If some of you are missing some of the earlier textures and have white polygons showing up you may have to add these additional textures. Note there is also a zip within this zip that needs installing into your main texture folder called golf.zip.
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June 24, 2003 Was able to squeeze a few hours to concentrate on updating the textures and gates at the old terminal over the last month, in hope to put some closure on that end of the product. You will also notice that I have added night lighting to the terminals and the Shell Aerocentre ramp along with a sign. Also did some work around the runways installing the localizers. They still need some tweaking but the rough edges are there. Think I finally got the localizer working properly on runway 32 so that it doesn't coincide with the old runway. Let me know if it is still giving people problems. On the download you will notice the primary bgl for the Ottawa airport is now split into two bgls. CYOW30.bgl contains the workings of the airport, while CYOW30B.bgl includes the surrounding area. You do however need both unless your willing to live without some of the tarmacs or parking lots. CYOWup5.zip Textures can be downloaded now from here, Textures.zip , Additional Textures , and Golf.zip . I also have started working on a master texture list to cut down on the troubleshooting that I have to undergo each time I release one of these betas. You probably will need to go out and get the Nova and NovaGold Textures, and Airport program textures available at Avsim and Flightsim.com . I do have a beta Afcad file for the airport. This can be downloaded from here CYOWAfcad . Once again thanks for all your comments and suggestions.
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August 13, 2003 Getting closer. Hopefully will be adding an FS2004 compatible version here on the site soon. Things are progressing pretty good and have most of the airport problems licked. Expect an Alpha release next month of the airport and then I can concentrate a bit more on the city and the other airports. Lots of great feedback coming in and the amount of beta testers has been increasing daily. This scenery was a well kept secret for awhile but the amount of users is surprising me. Thanks for all your comments they are making this hobby worthwhile. A note to FS2004 users yes it does work in the program, however I recommend it to be in its own folder outside the addon folder. This means you will have to manually edit your world airport files. |
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 February 09, 2004 |
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February 09, 2004 I apologize for the lack of updates lately but time constraints were a big issue leading into the New Year's. Some of the issues I was dealing with are now water under the bridge and I am now able to set aside some time for updating the web pages, and more importantly concentrating on moving this project along. My KDTW scenery has been released although there are several issues that need to be addressed with it. My plan is to work on those issues while moving this project ahead. I have also revived my KRUT project as new technology is now available in the XML area that makes it possible for me to do so. Couple of new updates to programming have changed how I do things dramatically and I have been spending a lot of time studying and searching forums for answers to my questions. Hopefully I got some of them right and am implementing the changes here on this project. This is another reason for the lack of updates. Thanks to those of you who have e-mailed me and also those of you who posted on certain forums with offers of help. I probably will be turning to some of you in the near future as my concentration on this project increases. My main concern over the last month has been on the taxiways and has sidetracked me with the Traffic issues. One of the reasons I don't go hog wild over getting the traffic right is that I feel that this a personal taste issue and exclusive to our personal needs. In fact I have found that I spend too much time worrying about it that takes valuable time away from the meat and potatoes of the project. In regards to Traffic Stepehn Nicholson has offered to help in that area and I will be turning to him shortly in that area in hopes he will produce an pretty accurate AFCAD file for the project. Steve and I will make that available here on the site in the next few weeks. I will also be posting an update once I have all the building placements correct and then my attention will turn on making the textures more realistic. I am also working on signage and markings but that is secondary at this point to the taxiways and buildings. Hopefully I can have a prototype Scenery ready in a few months with a possible release to the general public shortly thereafter. |
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April 10, 2004 |
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April 10 , 2004 Ok so I'm a slow worker. Not really, just far too many projects on the go here. Not too mention too many distractions as the weather begins to finally improve. So what is new? When its been a long time since I posted any update and far too long since I posted any upgraded files. I'm sorry that I haven't since there is so much interest in this project, however I think I might be just a little too picky for a Beta version and want the project to have a more finished look before releasing. Right now though I want to change the status of this project from a Beta to an Alpha for several reasons. 1) I think its ready and there has been an outpouring of suggestions and point outs that have improved the project. 2) Programming is on the eve of a big change in the near future and it might be the last project that I do in this style. 3) Because of these programming changes I do need to move on and educate myself on the new processes. One of the big problems right now I face is having to interface with the new and the old while attempting to learn new tricks of the trade. The drawback in this much of the new programing is just that new and there's not a lot of info out there yet to assist in the learning process. Nor has the programing developed to where its at a level of foolproofness needed to keep the designs accurate without having to go back and re-design everything with each step. The products I am continuying to use for design for the most part is the Airport program which has been developed to my understanding about as far as it will go. It has served us well over the years thanks to several key individuals such as Pascal Meziat and Tom Hiscock. Why is it changing? The answer is pretty simple designing is just moving on to a new phase from SCASM based to XML based. Its probably gotten easier for us designers with the burden of the effort now coming on the program designers. I might add here they are doing an excellent job of it also. The other big note here and probably one of my favorite beefs at the moment is just where the Traffic end of things is going. I personally feel this has been a major distraction to most of us designing as its an area where the designer has little or no control of the input or the outcome. These programs are user friendly and I still believe that they are user customizable and although I am going further with each release with their implementation, I don't really see them as part of the product. For instance if aircraft are taxiing slightly off a centerline or an aircraft is parking at the wrong gate well then these programs are user friendly enough for people to adapt them to their personal taste and not the mission of the scenery designer. I could easily spend hours measuring the inches off the yellow line an aircraft is and never be satisfied with the result. Personally I'd rather spend my time correcting a texture or shaping an object improving the looks and feel of the airport rather than where Flight 123 is taxiing around the airport or whether its parking at the gate fractions of a degree off the real life heading. Ok enough of that rant and rave and yes I do appreciate the great work products like AFCAD, and TTools have given the flight simulator world. Without them life would be bland and the product that we spent hard earned bucks on called FS2004 would not have been worth the price tag. Now on to the meat and potatoes and probably more importantly why you are here. I've improved some of the elevations around the airport which certainly gives the approaches more interesting qualities. Specifically on the approach to 25 you should now have a true feeling of the drop off at the end. No its not dramatic but its in keeping with how it looks in real life. Unfortunately there are some new meshes that aren't that compatible in the area. I have one for the Northeast US and whenever I use it the airport winds up being on a 1,000 foot plateau. Obviously doesn't add much to the realism but not taking away from the author its great in its territory. In short be wary of using this product with mesh scenery, but not in the thought that it will cause conflicts, it just will take away from the realism. Pretty much the taxiways have been straightened, improved as well as the terminal designs. Lots of work went in to the eastern area of the Bravo taxiway up to the Golf taxiway. Major improvements to the FAB and FDX ramps including some night lighting. Golf taxiway is workable, but I still need to work on the overpass there and hope to get to that shortly. NRC wind tunnel has been re-added and the polygon counts have been improved so its not such a major hit on the frame rate. Its not 100% accurate in sizing but a far cry from what I had there earlier on in the project. Added a lot more of the NRC buildings and improved day and nightime textures. Also included some of the base housing into the scenery so that area doesn't seem as void as it was, expecially with winter textures. Many of the centreline and taxiway lines are now freshly painted along with a new technique I'm using to include signage at the airport. There are still portions yet to do in these areas but I think you will find them a vast improvement over what was there before. Sorry to say I took out the static KFA 727 out of the project. The reason is that I have personally replaced it with an AI aircraft on my system. I have left the First Air static 727's in though along with the DC-3 by the Alert hangars. Lee Swordy's AFCAD has allowed me to work on the ILSes so some improvement in these areas as well. Although I believe the ILS on 32 is still slightly to the left of the centreline it is much closer than it was earlier. The AFCAD also should correct any start location problems you might have. I have no way at this time to support earlier versions of Flight Simulator, i.e. FS2002, FS2000, FS98 anymore so this project has gone strictly FS2004. Enjoy! PJM Installation instructions: If you have a previous version of the sceneries please remove them from your scenery folder to avoid any duplicity and possible overlapping of scenery. The bgl files in the zip have all been updated and there may be some outdated bgl's that can cause problems. Simplest solution is to delete the Scenery folder and start with a fresh new one. All of the texture files should be downloaded into your main scenery folder. If the process request you to overwrite some of the textures do so as a lot of the files have been updated or tweaked from earlier versions. Ensure that your FS9 World library is pointing correctly to the folder where the scenery is located. If you have had to repoint the scenery you will need to exit the program and restart it for the exclude and bgl files to take.
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Wow! Seems like months since I did the last update, maybe thats because that's my normal pattern, but here is another which incorporates some of the great ideas I received from several of the Beta users. When you get positive feedback it certainly makes the project easier to improve and definitely facilitates organizing my workload. Once again thanks for the great support you are showing this project. On to textures. Yes one of my big problems is keeping them all organized. Always seem to be leaving one or two out of the updates and it definitely helps when you let me know they're not there. Part of this problem is due to the design process when I create the macros. It is not always definite that I will stay with the textures that I originally placed on the macro as oftentimes I will replace them with newer improved or better fitting textures as time progresses. I'm getting into a habit now of listing them in a text file so I can keep better track of them. The system is not that foolproof however so please send me an e-mail if there is a problem with one of the buildings not showing correctly. Make sure to note the location and as much detail as you can so the communication process works more efficiently. A few have gone errant due to this problem and it winds up taking several attempts before the problem is sorted out. It is extremely difficult for me to tell as I will have the textures included on my computer, so I will have no way of knowing just what is on yours. Ok time to streamline the Installation process here a bit as I changed some of the way some of the files are located on my system. Note these are optional and advanced users probably have their own way of doing things. I will as always give some limited support and direction in this area. Installation If you have never worked with my scenery then you might want to spend a few moments here.
Note to AFCAD users: The AFCAD file included is tailored for my own use and may not coincide with the traffic you have installed on your PC. It will however eliminate aircraft taxiing on grass areas and parking halfway or inside the terminals. I suggest that you customize this file to your own personal needs and use and unfortunately outside of adapting it to work with my scenery I will not spend time in supporting issues, such as aircraft taxiing off the centerline or parking too close in to the terminal or too far from the gate. AFCAD is a great simple program to use and these issues are too numerous and individualistic for me to control. Lee Swordy's documentation is excellent and the support forums are numerous in this area. The last step you will have to do is to get the program to recognize the scenery in your scenery library.
Basic instructions and I apologize for any assumptions I might have taken in their discourse. Hopefully for the most you have made some sense of these instructions and are off an running. Couple of notes on this version; NAVAIDS - The Uplands TACAN has been de-commissioned however it will remain in the scenery as long as FS is supporting it. I don't have a way of deleting it and it does no known harm to leave it operational. If you tune 108.8 on your NAV radio you will still receive DME info for the airport. However in real life DME is now obtained from the ILS/DME on runway 7 which I have now added on the Frequency of 109.50. There is no DME on rwy 32 as this information is obtained by tuning NAV1 to 110.20 and NAV2 to 109.50. This set up should work correctly within the scenery. GATES - I have optimized the Gates to correctly allow space in traffic. For the most part I believe they are in the final positioning and should allow for the appropriate space of the aircraft. I wideneded the area at Gate 19 to now allow two Dash Eights to be parked there. I achieved it by sliding Gate 20-21-22-23 down a little bit on the old terminal. I may still have some adjusting to do in that area. Especially around Gate 20. STATIC AIRCRAFT - I reinstalled the PCL 727 into the static area of the Shell FBO and moved the KFA parking over in the AFCAD. Only drawback to this is I get two KFA 727's at most times there due to my personal traffic but it does happen in real life at times. FUTURE WORK - My concentration now will begin focusing on the night textures and on the North Field in the GA area. Enjoy and Happy Contrails, |
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I probably should have released this version weeks ago but it seems each new tweak brings about an improvement overall and some adjusting elsewhere. My goals on the last release was to get the night lighting and North Field 98% complete but people have been making some great suggestions and most have been implemented so far.
I did tweak most of the North Field buildings and added a lot of the parking lots around the airport. Most around the terminal are macros also which makes them a little harder to custom fit than polygons but I had no choice as I needed to play around with the mesh to get the Golf taxiway bridge in. I keep my fingers crossed that it shows on other systems cause most of the flattens that I needed to use to make it work were custom fits. One minute it was too big an area and everything floated, the next it was too small and everything was underground. Fairly close to being in the final positions on my end. Hopefully everyone reports the same on it. Note: Roads do disappear in some places but for the most part are showing up well. Some are macros also, these actually float about a meter above the tiles so they show up properly.
Adjusted the Navaids again in the AFCAD and tweaked most of it up a bit more. Added some additional parking at the NRC and RCMP Hangars. There are a few G/A additional parking areas on the grass portions of the north field also. Aesthetics have also been improved in the old base area with some housing and base facilities that still exist.
FUTURE WORK - Includes revamping tower area and improving night lighting. My target date for release will be appropriately July 01, 2004 thanks to all your help. Happy Contrails and Enjoy, Installation If you have never worked with my scenery then you might want to spend a few moments here.
Note to AFCAD users: The AFCAD file included is tailored for my own use and may not coincide with the traffic you have installed on your PC. It will however eliminate aircraft taxiing on grass areas and parking halfway or inside the terminals. I suggest that you customize this file to your own personal needs and use and unfortunately outside of adapting it to work with my scenery I will not spend time in supporting issues, such as aircraft taxiing off the centerline or parking too close in to the terminal or too far from the gate. AFCAD is a great simple program to use and these issues are too numerous and individualistic for me to control. Lee Swordy's documentation is excellent and the support forums are numerous in this area. The last step you will have to do is to get the program to recognize the scenery in your scenery library.
Basic instructions and I apologize for any assumptions I might have taken in their discourse. Hopefully for the most you have made some sense of these instructions and are off an running. Note: if you updated this prior to June 5th then you will be missing some textures. File was re-posted with those textures included on the 5th at 7:36 eastern.
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