The problem is that the SDK for Outerra is not yet ready. Otherwise surely some talented programmers would jump on Outerra projects.

A very legitimate point. I have seen them asked about that repeatedly, and unlike their replies to technical questions, the answers always seem a bit vague. If you watch over time, you get the impression of very talented developers that could probably make good use of more people, resources and probably organization.

 

Let's hope they do a kick-starter (with an aviation focus!) and that helps add a sense of urgency as well.

Edited February 22, 201412 yr by HiFlyer

New Update! (That was fast) 

 

Development version with biome colors and vegetation density support.
As usual, new features are available in the full version initially, later will get into the free demo version as well.

Changes:
Version 0.8.1.4457 (22 Feb 2014)

• mappable axis for camera rotation control (in addition to the mouse)
• ufo controllable smoothly by joystick
• default xbox mapping in secondary settings
• changed ufo modes with Rift - normal (free look), follow camera, flight (free look)
• new pkg format with unlimited length of mesh/material names
• fixed material name in COLLADA importer
• added log about HOTAS wa activating
• raw axes ignored in scan_event (HOTAS)
• video mode reset to 1280x720@60 after a failed attempt to initialize video mode
• fixed intel driver version detection, driver error boxes made always continuable
• fix for possible crash on invalid HID data
• fixed crash on exit with JSBSim querying height when app is quitting
• fixed crash in importer when object is not created
• hero gun fire blocked when running
• corrupted world.cfg & eng.cfg are moved to *.bak so that the next load succeeds
• fixed handling of corrupted default.cam
• fixed crash after world.cfg fails to load
•  

Suspension of disbelief.

 

Future clothing? (Its not only X-plane that has Jspahns!)  :lol:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remember those shots. I captured them when I was playing with the textures. These were individual ground and tree textures I made that were purely recolourised and retoned to match the seasonal variations. These do not reflect the Outerra method of handling seasons only the way in which Outerra manages the textures. In this case, Outerra applied whatever colour was in the texture i.e for the ground texture I applied white into them (at the time there was a number of placeholder texture types for the ground) and they gave the result above.

 

I'm such a fan and have been since I first laid my eyes on Outerra those few years ago and never looked back.

 

Nice, I really hope for the best for Outerra that it transpires and is developed into a multi use platform (there's a lot of interest in it's potential as a flight simulator)

 

Kelvin.

The problem is that the SDK for Outerra is not yet ready. Otherwise surely some talented programmers would jump on Outerra projects.

 

A very legitimate point. I have seen them asked about that repeatedly, and unlike their replies to technical questions, the answers always seem a bit vague.

 

Even with a big team, development of a game or a simulator based on a new technology or IP takes many years. Development of a whole new type of engine generally takes longer, not just because writing an engine is a huge task in itself. Before there's an SDK usable by third party developers with all the documentation and with all corners tested, there basically has to be a full game/sim developed by the engine writers, as a working proof of the concept, of which the SDK/docs are the byproduct (or the main product, depending what is the goal).

 

What we are telling to all interested parties that approach us is:

• it's possible to start developing a sim/game/app using Outerra (OT) right now, and develop it in parallel with the development of the engine
• given the state, the only way it can work in this stage is with our direct participation on the project, assembling a dedicated team that will work closely with us (the core engine dev team)

I can tell you that thus far there were two potentially large (multi-million $ project) inquiries for use of OT for a flight simulator, from companies that already have something to do with the flight simulation, and have a fairly big interest in appearance of an advanced simulator so that their business can thrive.

Although neither one is technically closed, in both the problems are/were with two things: the funding, and the (lack of) experience developing complex high performance software.

 

The funding - traditional investors are reluctant to invest into niche areas, or into something from which Microsoft pulled away, and they usually ask for unrealistic guarantees.

The other part is equally significant. Companies that are currently "only" producing content for existing simulator platforms are no software houses; not really capable of developing a complex SW like a simulator even if they had a good 3D engine to begin with. That could be clearly visible by the lack of deeper technical questions. Ultimately they would assess the business risks and back off, but still wholeheartedly support anyone who would attempt making such a simulator because it just widens their own opportunities.

 

On the other hand there's a handful of smaller independent developers who would like to see an OT-based simulator and develop for it, and together with crowd funding this looks like a better option to get the thing done to the satisfaction of the community. What we need to do is to prepare a prototype that can be used both to get the support of a wide array of content makers, and then also for the Kickstarter campaign, to ensure it will attract enough interest to be successful. Nothing is set in stone, of course, there are lots of details on how to best approach it, that have to be resolved first.

Additional Update!

 

Development version with biome colors and vegetation density support.
As usual, new features are available in the full version initially, later will get into the free demo version as well.

Changes:

Version 0.8.1.4459

• fixed COLLADA importer bug
• automatic detection of the rotation and steering axis in vehicle wheels
• fixed auto-parking brake

By the way, did an experiment today and created a nice place I'll call Devonburg. ^_^ I was curious about Outtera frame-rates with buildings in the scene, and just plopped down a bunch of them randomly. Result was a very smooth frame-rate, except when I turned on the video record mode where bad stutters appeared until I turned it off.
 
Very nice stuff, especially considering these buildings had massively Hi-res textures and were wayyyyyyy over-detailed for inclusion into an actual sim. How over detailed? Take a look! (And I had about 12 of these churches mixed in with the rest of these over detailed buildings)
 

 
And here are some pics. There were some intermittent shadow artifacts the outerra team will probably have to look into. but nothing shocking. All in all I was fairly impressed.
 

 

Now this thread is really exciting!

Hope that vitality keeps alive and vivid and eventually even helps becomming the Outerra-kickstarter campaign, once started, a huge success!

But for now i once again watch through some of these great viedos and screenshots shared here!

:smile2:

Edited February 24, 201412 yr by wolke85

Are those reflections on the building windows?

Looks good, a nice place to live with such a central park. :lol:

By the way, did an experiment today and created a nice place I'll call Devonburg. ^_^ I was curious about Outtera frame-rates with buildings in the scene, and just plopped down a bunch of them randomly. Result was a very smooth frame-rate, except when I turned on the video record mode where bad stutters appeared until I turned it off.

 

Very nice stuff, especially considering these buildings had massively Hi-res textures and were wayyyyyyy over-detailed for inclusion into an actual sim. How over detailed? Take a look! (And I had about 12 of these churches mixed in with the rest of these over detailed buildings)

 

It would be interesting to create a city with simplified buildings, but similar in scale to New York or Paris, and THEN compare the performance with FSX/X-Plane in similar conditions.

 

Also, when evaluating performance, let's remember that Outerra has not volumetric clouds at the moment.

 

However, it's clear that Outerra, thanks to the procedural/fractal concept, has a huge advantage in the performance/quality ratio, when evaluated in the "close-view" scenario (on ground, at low altitudes, near mountains, etc.). Remains to be seen how it would scale, in terms of performance, with object-dense scenery.

 

 

It would be interesting to create a city with simplified buildings, but similar in scale to New York or Paris, and THEN compare the performance with FSX/X-Plane in similar conditions.

 

I thought of it, but it would have to be a day when I was not feeling lazy.......... ^_^

 

What they really need to do Is hire some bored minecraft kids and let them go berserk.

 

I thought of it, but it would have to be a day when I was not feeling lazy.......... ^_^

 

What they really need to do Is hire some bored minecraft kids and let them go berserk.

 

 

WOW!

... really loving all that stuff!

Let's try our best to get Outerra flightsim-ready - ... and even beyond that later on then!

So:

Where is the "Kickstarter-ON" button to get the money needed altogether.

By the way:

Can't wait to see the minecraft kids going berserk

:wink:

Edited February 24, 201412 yr by wolke85

 

 

Can't wait to see the minecraft kids going berserk

 

Here's another one to give you a sense of scale..... 

 

Here's another one to give you a sense of scale..... 

 

 

Fantastic!

Really fantastic!

Thanks a lot for continuously adding more and more interesting info here in this great thread.

Really appreciated!

I keep popping over and reading this thread and find it both fascinating and exciting at the same time! I really dismiss a lot of the doomsayers and those who place reasons why something might not work. As with everything, no matter what, a journey has to be started and the bigger the goal the longer the journey! I have every confidence that if Brano and his team approach the same like minded entrepreneurs as themselves, those who have a vision and can see beyond problems and get excited at the end goal, then there could be an Outerra sim sooner than perhaps we think :smile:

On the other hand there's a handful of smaller independent developers who would like to see an OT-based simulator and develop for it, and together with crowd funding this looks like a better option to get the thing done to the satisfaction of the community. What we need to do is to prepare a prototype that can be used both to get the support of a wide array of content makers, and then also for the Kickstarter campaign, to ensure it will attract enough interest to be successful. Nothing is set in stone, of course, there are lots of details on how to best approach it, that have to be resolved first.

 

 

Hi Brano,

 

Do you have sense of what components should be present in the complete flight simulation core product, versus what components would require robust SDK's for?  How far out do you think you are from preparing a robust enough prototype?  I think coming up w/ a vision that really has thought thru what the core feature set would be to give the project a scope that virtually assures depth & longevity would be fabulous to get community input on.   If you look at XPlane you can find reasons the simulator has not fully attracted the biggest users set it could and hopefully the Outerra FS would address these areas up front in the initial mission statement.   The whole concept of fabulous complete core w/ robust SDKs spells a very long period of service life upwards of 10y if done well, who knows maybe much longer ;o)