Good read!

I bought Outerra many years ago when you could basically take a truck, plane and walk around for transportation. Even then it was incredible how optimized it was and i had great performance on my half-decent computer with 560 Ti. 
 

Count me in on the kickstarter project aswell.

 

Regarding the flightsim-community. Sure it's small, but i think we're growing as for now. With MIcrosoft pulling out but other companies buying the code to further develop it, i think we're heading the right direct. With the amount of credits LM has gotten for P3D it seems to me like it can be tough to challenge them. But if someone is supposed to do it, it's you guys!

 

P.S

Flightsimmers tend to spend lots of money on hardware and software

D.S

I think you should take the same approach like Laminar took with X-plane 10. They released a demo with KSEA airport and the surrounding scenery with a very basic atc and weather system and a few set of planes. 

I would back it, I want to see as many new sims as possible.  I don't want a one or two horse race anymore.  We had that and look where it got us today.  We need fresh ideas, fresh directions.  I am not a programmer I have no art skills but a kickstarter will still let me help even if its in a small way.

I remember seeing the first videos of Outerra on YouTube and being gobsmacked, but TBH 7yrs of the same Alpine scenery has left me wondering if there's really that much else to the engine.

 

I would recommend putting together a demo that closely models a real area with several different landclasses including a built up city. I think another snow-capped-mountains-and-evergreen-forests demo won't add much to what we already know...

 

The first steps towards that may already be in progress. By the users. If you look at the Outerra forum, there has been a recent explosion of object models added, not to mention the in-progress conversion of the World2xplane objects. And this is done by hand just with the fairly rudimentary tools we have available now.....

 

Excuse me while I go change my pants.

An in formative and realistic post from the Outerra developers - far more realistics than Outerra's protagonists

 

 

Nothing was said that was startlingly new. The same has been said repeatedly in various ways by numerous people in the Outerra forums over time, Including Cameni. The potential that many have always seen remains unchanged.

... absolutely true Devon!

 

The first steps towards that may already be in progress. By the users. If you look at the Outerra forum, there has been a recent explosion of object models added, not to mention the in-progress conversion of the World2xplane objects. And this is done by hand just with the fairly rudimentary tools we have available now.....

 

 

... a great screenshot!

Nice! Next thing I'd be interested to see would be weather...

Nice! Next thing I'd be interested to see would be weather...

+1

... Outerra devs are certainly on it, but as Rome wasn't built in a day, why should this be the case with Outerra :wink:, but sure:

Waiting for it all certainly ain't easy!

But if we keep showing our support continuously then maybe some progress will be achieved faster.

So let's stay tuned and before i forget:

Here is some preview of clouds (early stages) in Outerra:

 

http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=2148.0

Fascinating post; I'm very interested to see where Outerra goes!

I am all for Outerra becoming the next sim platform and I would fully support a kickstarter!!

 

The best thing for the developers and for the userbase is to look at the mistakes of other sims such as FSX, X-Plane and Aerofly and learn from it. Don't start with placing objects all over the Outerra globe just to find out that it could be better done proceduraly for various reasons. And, more importantly, to not repeat the same mistakes that FSX, P3D and X-Plane did: placing a sheer amount of 3D objects on the globe without really being able to optimize it. Wouldn't it be better if Outerra generates "Autogen" such as as houses proceduraly as compared to placing 3D models? This would be in line with the general trend of Outerra of proceduraly generating objects such as trees and streets, better for performance and was and is one of the main culprits of both FSX and X-Plane.

I'm not an investor of any kind nor a gambler but I would be happy to throw up $100 or so just to see what I envision becoming the simulator to beat them all become a reality. I imagine there are more like me who see the potential and would be happy to support you in whatever way they may be able. Thanks for contributing, I really hope you make your fortune on this endeavour so that the rest of us may enjoy the fruits of your labour.

I urge the addon devs to get involved even if it's only to publicly state that this is something they are keeping their eyes on for the future with an eye to developing for, as where the devs go goes the community. Such a contribution from as many of the devs as possible would garner huge support for the kickstarter and essentially allow it to become reality whilst creating a source of future revenue. It's win win for them with nothing to lose that I can see.

I similarly urge the community to question the devs on this and make them aware that this is something they would want to see come to fruition, the community can lead the devs as much as the devs can lead the community. Ask them in their fora. Take the lead. A groundswell of interest needs to be created and can be easily given some of what we've seen of the development.

I am all for Outerra becoming the next sim platform and I would fully support a kickstarter!!

 

The best thing for the developers and for the userbase is to look at the mistakes of other sims such as FSX, X-Plane and Aerofly and learn from it. Don't start with placing objects all over the Outerra globe just to find out that it could be better done proceduraly for various reasons. And, more importantly, to not repeat the same mistakes that FSX, P3D and X-Plane did: placing a sheer amount of 3D objects on the globe without really being able to optimize it. Wouldn't it be better if Outerra generates "Autogen" such as as houses proceduraly as compared to placing 3D models? This would be in line with the general trend of Outerra of proceduraly generating objects such as trees and streets, better for performance and was and is one of the main culprits of both FSX and X-Plane.

As for procedural generation, that might actually be the way the Outerra designers go, but as X-plane found out, there is demand for customization, so that Rome doesn't look just like New York! The current tools even in their early state, allow users to easily add roads, probably rivers eventually: definitely unique houses and local things like mountain trails, bicycle paths and even streets not currently covered by OSM.

 

Not to mention out-of-the way dirt strips.......

 

With that sort of accessibility to the design process (you can already see it in action with Levi's planes, Bombers FDMs and Acetones city building, among others) I think users will go wild very early with Outerra and there will be very robust efforts to fill in the world, in detail.

 

Just the ability of anyone to lay streets and runways within seconds at will, will be revolutionary.

By the way a targeted Google search for Outerra in the last month shows Levis A380 video cropping up all over the place. We know (or we should!) that Outerra is not a flight sim, but unless you're a complete skeptic, its hard not to see the potential. Lets hope all this extra mind-share in the community and elsewhere leads to something good.

 

Lots of new people are starting accounts over at the Outerra site, and I bet demo downloads are through the roof, and those beautiful new planes as well as Acetones scenery surely have a lot to do with that. Great job!

It's great seeing the world2plane models starting to crop up into outerra, my concern is the scaling compared to the trees, I know trees are big, but they just seem to dwarf the buildings.

 

 

I know trees are big, but they just seem to dwarf the buildings.

 

Wasn't the same issue seen in FSX initially if I recall, where the trees were exaggerated in size? Either way, until we are able to place our own trees and different types, this is something that can't yet be controlled. Most of the houses I added to the library following the simple rule of "Number of stories * 3m + foundation + roof" which works well and seems to follow the OSM guidelines for 3D objects