An Interesting Future for Outerra

[CyberMike 18]

 

 

Yes. Its a simple plane right now.

 

Do the instruments in the Mig work? I cannot recognize it in the video.

Also environment reflections? What about free updates if I buy it now for 15$? If not I might wait a little.

Thanks

[HiFlyer 9,359]

Do the instruments in the Mig work? I cannot recognize it in the video.

Also environment reflections? What about free updates if I buy it now for 15$? If not I might wait a little.

Thanks

The instruments don't work. (well in the cessna a few do) In that way, it's even more basic than Aerofly. Outerra right now is basically interested in completing its basic world. Clouds, weather, rivers, trees etc, then moving onto the more detailed things.

 

Yes, purchasing Anteworld gets you free updates. You can even download the entire world and its biomes (less than 15 gigs) so that you can explore without having the world need to load on the fly from the server. (another group recently completed another world to explore, a recreation of middle earth)

 

Right now you can do things like add roads and buildings, import objects, play with the settings and various included vehicles, and if you are knowledgeable, dig into the program itself. There is a growing library of user added vehicles and structures.

 

When/if this ever hits Steam, I'm pretty sure the modders will go berserk.

 

 

[Murmur 3,941]

When/if this ever hits Steam, I'm pretty sure the modders will go berserk.

 

Why didn't developers publish it on Stream? Looks like it could give Outerra some momentum going.

[HiFlyer 9,359]

Why didn't developers publish it on Stream? Looks like it could give Outerra some momentum going.

They seem to be very fastidious about not promising anything more than is actually ready. In their own opinion there need to be other parts of Outerra completed, tested and stable, before they feel they can release it completely. They want to incorporate rivers and streams, probably from OSM and associated data as well as roads.

 

They want to complete their cloud system and have it hooked correctly into the rendering/lighting pipeline. Right now the trees are billboards, and they have a 3D tree system they are now accelerating to completion. They don't like the current CPU usage which is not as optimized as they want.

 

They also want to get a lighting system other than the sun implemented. Sibwings designed a plane for the system, but wanted some sort of DRM apparently, and it seems they don't feel they have gotten that far yet, etc.

 

My impression is that they adamantly don't want to sell any snake oil or get ahead of themselves.

 

Still, there is a lot to play with. There is a whole section of the forum devoted to models users have imported, from buildings to ships to even trains.

 

In this thread you can see how open they are about what they are trying to get done, and some thoughts about a kick-starter. http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=2456.0

 

As an aside about potential, I remember when I first saw the trains, I immediately thought "Train Sim!!"  :lol:

 

[HiFlyer 9,359]

Ya' know what? I was wrong. I tend to fly low and slow, and the Mig 29 never interested me. I flew it around maybe once or twice and forgot about it, but now, after Cybermikes question, I pulled it out and took a serious spin.........

 

Number 1. The instruments do seem to work at least as well as the Cessna's

 

Number  2. What a rush!!!!!

 

I flew down into the Grand Canyon at full burn, the canyon walls flashing past so fast I could almost feel the G's as I twisted and turned, and after a moment I realized I had an absolutely enormous grin on my face. I can't remember the last time I suspended disbelief so completely in a sim and just went WOW!

 

Add in some nice river valleys and complete the clouds, then add multi-flyer and they have an instant market. I can't even imagine what it must be like flying with Occulous rift in Outerra, but I was working up a serious case of Vertigo even without it and am doubly impressed.

 

When this is released and becomes whatever it decides to become, people are going to look back at previous sims and think of pong, at least visually.

[mgh 89]

It's worth remembering that there are other similar applications. A simple search finds 17 - including Outerra.

 

 

Artifex Terra 3D

Ogre3D

heightmaps

Bryce

Grome

Houdini

Outerra

Speed Tree

Terragen

freeware

Terra Vista

Presagis

SEGen Server

Presagis

UNiGiNE

VistaPro

Vue

World Machine

[HiFlyer 9,359]

Yup, I've actually looked at a lot of those at one time or another. Some are more advanced than Outerra for specific defined purposes, many less in that they lack important details. Some really only do terrain, with no real (or only rudimentary) vehicle capabilities.

 

Some verge on vaporware, since there has been no significant advancement in ages, only promises that never materialize. Some are aimed at professional markets and have no more interest in us than Microsoft does and likely never will.

 

Yet as I mentioned before, there is a proliferation of the technology, and a convergence of capabilities and tools that makes me think that things are reaching critical mass. Outerra has a team that seems ambitious, skilled and determined, while the program itself is young enough to be molded rather easily to flight related simulation, without having congealed into any one specific mode or purpose that might exclude this tiny a market.

 

Yet.

 

For various reasons they are heading in the same direction, so there's little reason not to thumb a ride.

[mgh 89]

UNiGiNE has an interesting ship and helicopter simulations

 

http://unigine.com/products/valley/

[HiFlyer 9,359]

NEW OUTERRA UPDATE!

 

Version 0.8.1.4444

• animated character FPS/TPS mode (key 8, full version only),
• updated object material system, environment reflections
• env map created at startup, added alt+F8 shortcut to recompute them at run time and after location jumps
• builder move operation keeps the height above terrain, shift keeps height above sea; moving objects in builder doesn't jump into pivot, ctrl to move vertically, shift to lock to radius from center, alt - rotation around z, alt+ctrl - pitch, alt+shift - roll
• sandbox keys inherit ufo controls
• sandbox object z-rotation is done in world space
• builder - hold shift to place a non-persistent object, ctrl to place vehicle as a static object
• RFP depth buffer used on cards/drivers that support the required GL extension (all Nvidia cards, AMD Catalyst >=13.12), faster & fewer artefacts
• driver version error box with a clickable link to the latest drivers for the current vendor
• enabled MSAA on newer AMD drivers, added warning about MSAA and <13.4 AMD drivers
• disabled object rendering for AMD <12.10 drivers because of crashes
• updated intel version check & warnings
• faster startup - preloading starts during the login
• flight path recorder using the speed vector for tangents instead of the look vector
• fixed ambiguous sea_level entries in world.cfg
• water rendering fixes, better sun&atmo reflection (TODO: break wave pattern)
• water splash when firing to water
• fixed joystick axis detection
• fixed possible crash on malformed data from non-standard HID devices
• removed clamp on vehicle suspension code that caused sinking on too soft springs
• fixed truck steering wheel
• ufo basic movement actions merged with fps actions
• fixed ufo camera able to sink into ground when starting from atmo & fast
• boats unbraked by default
• added boat wake foam
• fixed vehicle parking when controlled by joystick
• fixed crashes on ~ key for aircraft settings
• fixed dirt roads
• removed old lukla runway code
• catching memory exception & displaying out of memory msgbox instead of a crash
• added global scattering modifier to atmo (can be used to reduce haze)
• white balance effect reduced with dwindling atmo density (fixes weird colors from space on the day/night boundary)
• fixed ocean color on the dark side of planet
• fixed fog on trees, grass, water
• oculus enabled by default if present
• stereo SBS mode fix
• fixed video capture buffer allocation when disk can't keep up
• fixed video recording when wait for vertical refresh is off in drivers
• fixed initial refinement check
• fixed -demo mode to not check the terrain data updates
• fixed crash when version server doesn't respond in time
• fixed openAL performance issues on invisible objects
• disabled smoke on older NV cards

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

Looks like a nice update. Lots of stuff added.

 

By the way, while looking up info on Outerra, I noticed they're using OpenGL 3.3 which is a little old and meant for DirectX 9 hardware. Have they said anything about moving to OpenGL 4.x which is much better and supports all DirectX 11 functionality?

[HiFlyer 9,359]

UNiGiNE has an interesting ship and helicopter simulations

 

http://unigine.com/products/valley/

 

I like UniGiNE, and the demo and video have been posted a few times. My concern with that engine is draw distance though. My impression is that it's more suited to FPS and MMO type games, but I could easily be wrong. I'm keeping an eye on it. When Aerosoft was looking at engines for a possible sim, at least 100 miles draw instance was a must. (and a round earth)

Looks like a nice update. Lots of stuff added.

 

By the way, while looking up info on Outerra, I noticed they're using OpenGL 3.3 which is a little old and meant for DirectX 9 hardware. Have they said anything about moving to OpenGL 4.x which is much better and supports all DirectX 11 functionality?

 

I think they have been held back by weirdness in Amd drivers. You'll see that the update mentions AMD a few times, and not necessarily in a good way.......

 

X-plane has had some issues with them as well.

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

I think they have been held back by weirdness in Amd drivers. You'll see that the update mentions AMD a few times, and not necessarily in a good way.......

 

AMD drivers have never been good with OpenGL, which is why I never recommend AMD when someone wants to use OpenGL applications or Linux. Though I think that the very brief support they provide would go towards newer OpenGL version actually...

 

Also I made a mistake above, OpenGL 3.3 was meant for DirectX 10 hardware. But still, we've had DirectX 11 hardware for 4.5 years, so I think it's high time Outerra moved to a newer OpenGL version.

[HiFlyer 9,359]

They probably will when everybody's drivers allow. I've wondered from time to time if stuff like that is holding up X-plane 10.30 as well, since that update supposedly makes the jump to open GL 4.x and they have to keep their AMD and Linux users happy too.

Eh. Or maybe that has nothing to do with it at all.

 

.....................................................................................................................

 

As far as the update: Nice job!! First impression is that the "pivot" effect that made the planes fly a bit like X-plane is gone, as well as what I was thinking of as an Outerra "Torque Bug" that tended to pull me to the left.

 

The Cessna is now a lot more stable, and flys kind of like you would expect of an FSX or MS Flight Plane. Less trying to stay in the air and more instrument and scenery watching.

 

Still playing with the settings..............

 

Flying in Alaska and looking down its hard not to smile. I could easily Imagine being in a snow-speeder searching for Imperial Walkers. All I need is a shield generator in the distance..........  :lol:

 

Instruments seem "clearer" somehow. Not exactly sure what changed......... (maybe the higher AA)

 

There are some additional livery's for the Cessna. Nice to have.

 

Some unfamiliar pop-in of the trees, which seem denser, I will have to play with the settings. (Didn't I already say that?) 

 

All the fun and excitement of a new flying experience.

 

 

 

[James Bennett 52]

Is this pretty intensive on GPU? I only have a 2GB GTX 760.

[HiFlyer 9,359]

Is this pretty intensive on GPU? I only have a 2GB GTX 760.

You're fine. I had no problem at all on my 1.2gb 560 much less the 770 I have now. (while eyeing a Titan)