An Interesting Future for Outerra

[Bjoern 1,157]

Well there is an old saying about people who say something isn't possible often being interrupted by people who just go ahead and do it........  :smile:

 

We can hope,,,,,,,,,,

 

ATC plugin, AI plugin, nav database plugin, weather plugin, airports here, airports there, airplanes to the level that spoilt MSFS'ers are willing to switch in the first place, cities, landmarks, stuff in MSFS but which I forgot to mention.

 

The graphics engine and physics is one thing, whatever else makes a flight simulator is the not-too-small rest.

[simmerhead 885]

Yep, they're a long way off. Microsoft had 100+ people working on FSX and FS11 back in the day. But there are other ways to do it. If they made a good SDK a lot of the scenery and aircraft could be left to the freeware scene. Then they could have a small team like X-Plane to work on the engine and plugin interface. Also they should make an in-game addon store and take control over all third party developments and installations with automatic updates etc.

[Noel 4,502]

Yep, they're a long way off. Microsoft had 100+ people working on FSX and FS11 back in the day. But there are other ways to do it. If they made a good SDK a lot of the scenery and aircraft could be left to the freeware scene. Then they could have a small team like X-Plane to work on the engine and plugin interface. Also they should make an in-game addon store and take control over all third party developments and installations with automatic updates etc.

The thing that strikes me is that if this engine is fundamentally so different and so robust, why hasn't it been scooped up and developed all the way to the complete product?  LM has a giant annual budget and to me from the outside Outerra looks like a magic solution to the simulation environment in its efficiency however I know it's not complete.  Especially for a corporation like LM which wants to develop a larger than just flight based simulator world.  Something doesn't add up!

[foxfiles 0]

To answer in a simple way, I think that this company does not want to follow the usual milestones that a similar start-up company would follow...
They know pretty well that if they want to accelerate their growth, and deliver a product or a minimum proto-product, they must express a clear plan and start to fund raise.
My opinion, so far, is that they still want to work at their "rythm" with no much pressure.
Problem is that without sufficient resources at work, their development is much too slow and people start to be disappointed.
(or maybe they think they can sell their technology or be "purchased" by a big company)

[simmerhead 885]

The thing that strikes me is that if this engine is fundamentally so different and so robust, why hasn't it been scooped up and developed all the way to the complete product?  LM has a giant annual budget and to me from the outside Outerra looks like a magic solution to the simulation environment in its efficiency however I know it's not complete.  Especially for a corporation like LM which wants to develop a larger than just flight based simulator world.  Something doesn't add up!

 

The LM-team is a pretty small one and I think LM wants to keep it that way. Microsoft had an off the shelf product ready that only needed some fine tuning to suit LM's needs. Among many things ESP came with a SDK, 3D object library, 24000 airports and ready made vector and mesh data for the entire planet. Outerra was hardly anything back then, and is still an engine in progress. If LM wanted there are other off the shelf products that would be better. Bohemia Interactive makes a pretty good one that could be tailored towards flight faster than Outerra.

[jjjallen 37]

I wonder how many FPS FSX could do if it only had the Outerra features in some of these demos (it wouldn't look as nice for sure).  On the other hand it would be nice to see Outerra fully dressed out for an Aviation Sim.

 

Regards

jja

[Noel 4,502]

The LM-team is a pretty small one and I think LM wants to keep it that way. Microsoft had an off the shelf product ready that only needed some fine tuning to suit LM's needs. Among many things ESP came with a SDK, 3D object library, 24000 airports and ready made vector and mesh data for the entire planet. Outerra was hardly anything back then, and is still an engine in progress. If LM wanted there are other off the shelf products that would be better. Bohemia Interactive makes a pretty good one that could be tailored towards flight faster than Outerra.

Do you have a sense of how P3DV2 'performs' compared to Outerra, if you look at for example the exact same level of detail, right on down to the fractal behavior you seem to see in Outerra where the closer you get the more detail you see?  I know they appear to be apples and oranges but if you could design that sort of behavior to display in P3DV2 how would it compare performance wise?  I guess that's impossible answer, but I still don't have a sense of the total efficiency of the engine design between the two.

[simmerhead 885]

Do you have a sense of how P3DV2 'performs' compared to Outerra, if you look at for example the exact same level of detail, right on down to the fractal behavior you seem to see in Outerra where the closer you get the more detail you see?  I know they appear to be apples and oranges but if you could design that sort of behavior to display in P3DV2 how would it compare performance wise?  I guess that's impossible answer, but I still don't have a sense of the total efficiency of the engine design between the two.

 

I'm no expert on programming, but I think the programs are fundamentally different from the ground up. I think it would be easier to build a new sim than try to make P3D do what Outerra does.

[HiFlyer 9,359]

New Update: Basler Turbo BT-67 By Levi Cires

 

http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=2539.0
 
NOTE: The script isn't optimized, and for sure it can be done better. I'm not so good making scripts, so it's opened to any suggestions and changes.

Update:
(March 29, 2014)

• Sound Improvement:
  Exterior:
    - Engine [Left & Right sharing the same sound]
    - Engine shut down [Left & Right sharing the same sound]
    - Turbo [Left & Right sharing the same sound]
    - Turbo shut down [Left & Right sharing the same sound
    - Blades/Brumble [Left & Right sharing the same sound]
    - Gears [Left & Right with unique sound for each]
    - Flaps [Tweaked Gain]
    - Wind
  
  Interior:
    - Engine [Left & Right with unique sound for each]
    - Engine shut down [Left & Right with unique sound for each]
    - Turbo[Left & Right with unique sound for each]
    - Turbo shut down [Left & Right with unique sound for each]
    - Blades/Brumble [Left & Right sharing the same sound]  <---- Same sound file used for exterior.
    - Gears [Left & Right sharing the same sound]
    - Flaps
    - Wind
    - Cockpit
• Opened sunshade.
• Propeller disks:
  - Blurred disks for low RPM.
  - Blurred disks for high RPM.
• Minor geometry fixes.

[simmerhead 885]

Thanks Devon! If Outerra "doesn't happen" I'm gonna quit this hobby!

[HiFlyer 9,359]

The Bismarck in Outerra. WIP

 

Added by forum member M7

 

Here's the Bismark. It's a pretty big model, 800000 faces that I download from sketchup 3d warehouse. The author's nicknamed is Corporal. I also added the seaplane Adaro AR 196 (Neil Wilson is the author of this one).

I did some textures for the ship but they are mostly tiles mapping. Would have been nice to bake in some occlusion mapping, would have help to get contrast on the shady side. 

edit: last modified march 30th
-Gun turrets (380mm) animation 

 

http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=2528.0

 

[HiFlyer 9,359]

 

 

On the other note, after seeing how well outerra looks from the space (and even better on surface of course), I wouldn't mind seeing some space game (or sandbox) based on this in the future. Kerbal Space Program with outerra-like planets? Yes please!   

 

http://www.moddb.com/games/eveworld/   :Whistle:

[HiFlyer 9,359]

And an interesting tidbit about clickable cockpits. http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=2579.0;topicseen

[HawkDsl 50]

And an interesting tidbit about clickable cockpits. http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=2579.0;topicseen

 

"Actually, the goal is to use all this for a prototype aircraft for the demo that can be used for Kickstarter simulator campaign, and we are looking at how this can/should be done."

 

Goose Bumps. Got Em!

[HiFlyer 9,359]

A lightly foggy day......

 

 

And some experimental lighting.