Outerra Version 0.8.4.5244

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Hi Devon,

 

May I ask...again maybe...what is it that makes the engine so efficient, if it is indeed?  Is it 64 bit yet?  Is it more multi-core friendly?  How will SLI work w/ it?

 

Probably Outerras biggest advantage is that its a modern engine designed to take full advantage of todays hardware from the beginning and has no legacy components to hold it back. A second might be the fractal and procedural based nature of the engine. The simple fact is that a lot of the "world" of Outerra actually isn't even "there" in the sense of many programs we're more familiar with.

 

Essentially Outerra is a compact, rule based mathematical/fractal construct, running primarily on the GPU. (Check your GPU while Outerra is working, and you'll find it fully utilized in most cases.)

 

In a way, its the refinement, advancement, and end result of some very scholarly work in a lot of places literally for decades on the design of procedural worlds, and owes a good bit spiritual heritage to a technical demonstration called "Proland."

 

How efficient is it? The Proland technical demonstrations generally ran on old core2 duos with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 at 1280x720 resolution. Our current sims would laugh hysterically at something so low powered. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Proland

 

The way its designed is going to present possibilities for things we've simply never experienced before. Users changing the terrain with a few clicks: adding roads and eventually waterways with a few more. A "living" world, where the environment responds to temperature and other environmental factors, and can change on the fly. Snow in Outerra can advance slowly across the land, based on season, climate, temperature and other factors....

 

Roads are always level unless you "tell" them not to be. Trees "know" not to grow in certain places..........

 

For those who may have missed it, here is some (incomplete) background on Outerras internals that might be useful.  http://forum.outerra.com/FMX/presentation/

 

About 64bit, here is the word from the developers.

 

It's 32bit at the moment, but it's going to be 64bit in the near future. There are ways how to manage it on 32bits for a while, but it would be unnecessarily complicating the matters.

 

Is that a big enough Wall'O text? 

[Noel 4,487]

Probably Outerras biggest advantage is that its a modern engine designed to take full advantage of todays hardware from the beginning, and has no legacy components to hold it back. A second might be the fractal and procedural based nature of the engine itself. The simple fact is that a lot of the "world" of Outerra actually "Isn't even there" in the sense of many programs we're more familiar with.

 

Essentially Outerra is a compact, rule based mathematical/fractal construct, running primarily on the GPU. (Check your GPU while Outerra is working, and you'll find it fully utilized in most cases.)

 

This presents possibilities for things we have never experienced before. Users changing the terrain with a few clicks: adding roads and eventually waterways with a few more. A "living" world, where the environment responds to temperature and other environmental factors, and can change on the fly. Snow in Outerra can advance slowly across the land, based on season, climate, temperature and other factors....

 

Roads are always level unless you "tell" them not to be. Trees "know" not to grow in certain places..........

 

For those who may have missed it, here is some (incomplete) background on Outerras internals that might be useful.  http://forum.outerra.com/FMX/presentation/

 

About 64bit, here is the word from the developers.

That is really fascinating--so much more elegant compared to the model of pasting pre-written terrain textures over mesh, then depending on shaders etc to morph this into something believable.   I would have to wonder in spades how long it will take before this methodology is adapted by a big company intent on building a killer simulator.  It seems like SLI would be fabulous w/ this engine.

 

Thanks!

[HiFlyer 9,343]

That is really fascinating--so much more elegant compared to the model of pasting pre-written terrain textures over mesh, then depending on shaders etc to morph this into something believable.   I would have to wonder in spades how long it will take before this methodology is adapted by a big company intent on building a killer simulator.  It seems like SLI would be fabulous w/ this engine.

 

Thanks!

 

Looks like you responded while I was policing up and refining my post. 

 

Anyway, one of my main fears is that some Goggle type big money company will see the possibilities and gobble up Outerra while the sim community is still sitting on the fence and before we can lock in the basics of a flight sim to the point that its a no-brainer for any potential new owner to complete that functionality.  :(

[Noel 4,487]

Looks like you responded while I was policing up and refining my post. 

 

Anyway, one of my main fears is that some Goggle type big money company will see the possibilities and gobble up Outerra while the sim community is still sitting on the fence and before we can lock in the basics of a flight sim to the point that its a no-brainer for any potential new owner to complete that functionality.  :(

Quite frankly I'm amazed LM who it would seem is in it for the long haul didn't gobble up Outerra already.  Maybe they are eyeing it...

[Acetone 34]

Quite frankly I'm amazed LM who it would seem is in it for the long haul didn't gobble up Outerra already.  Maybe they are eyeing it...

 

When you are working with a platform, it's hard -even impossible- to jump back to an other one if it's already established. They already have P3D, and Outerra is a completely different architecture. Personally, I would love to see a more community oriented evolution, and it's pretty much what's happening currently. Devs improve the engine and implement tools, users create (majority of) the content.

 

We just need more modders jumping aboard

[Noel 4,487]

When you are working with a platform, it's hard -even impossible- to jump back to an other one if it's already established. They already have P3D, and Outerra is a completely different architecture. Personally, I would love to see a more community oriented evolution, and it's pretty much what's happening currently. Devs improve the engine and implement tools, users create (majority of) the content.

 

We just need more modders jumping aboard

Yes of course Outerra is a totally different architecture--that's the main point.   LM has the resources ($45B annual revenue, $3B profits FY13) to do whatever they need to w/ a flight simulator platform.   On the surface Outerra appears so much more elegant and scalable w/ the sort of capital LM has to work with and if they are truly in it for the long haul they could embrace Outerra's engine and run away w/ it, or so it appears. 

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Yes of course Outerra is a totally different architecture--that's the main point.   LM has the resources ($45B annual revenue, $3B profits FY13) to do whatever they need to w/ a flight simulator platform.   On the surface Outerra appears so much more elegant and scalable w/ the sort of capital LM has to work with and if they are truly in it for the long haul they could embrace Outerra's engine and run away w/ it, or so it appears. 

 

Actually, I'm more surprised Dovetail isn't salivating at the concept.

 

One unified engine for all of their sims; one target for all of their programmers and artists and......

 

Train sim would be a no-brainer in Outerra.

 

Flightsim? In progress.

 

Fishing simulator? Every location in the world available to be enhanced to higher detail and included. I included that picture of a woman standing by a weedy lake deliberately.   .

 

Truck simulator? Yes. 

 

Bus simulator? Duh.

 

War simulation? See TitanIM.

 

Underwater? I've already requested the inclusion of a well lit deep sea exploration vessel (Seaquest DSV will do) so I can explore the Marianas trench. Unfortunately the new lights apparently don't illuminate underwater geography, yet.

 

Racing? Check.

 

What else? In my mind, its almost a certainty that once Outerra reaches a certain state of completion, somebody will try to ###### it.

 

Edit: And once again the word-filter attacks. Replace that word with "Grab"  :huh:

[Noel 4,487]

Actually, I'm more surprised Dovetail isn't salivating at the concept.

 

One unified engine for all of their sims; one target for all of their programmers and artists and......

 

Train sim would be a no-brainer in Outerra.

 

Flightsim? In progress.

 

Fishing simulator? Every location in the world available to be enhanced to higher detail and included. I included that picture of a woman standing by a weedy lake deliberately.   .

 

Truck simulator? Yes. 

 

Bus simulator? Duh.

 

War simulation? See TitanIM.

 

Underwater? I've already requested the inclusion of a well lit deep sea exploration vessel (Seaquest DSV will do) so I can explore the Marianas trench. Unfortunately the new lights apparently don't illuminate underwater geography, yet.

 

Racing? Check.

 

What else? In my mind, its almost a certainty that once Outerra reaches a certain state of completion, somebody will try to ###### it.

 

Edit: And once again the word-filter attacks. Replace that word with "Grab"  :huh:

OMG yes!   Salivating!  What a super cool idea of fractalizing the entire thingie!  Sounds truly next-gen approach.  Now if only Steve Jobs were alive and as addicted to FS as I am!

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Its been a long road! Lot of doubters and people saying "Ho Hum, its been years, and its still just a tech demo........."

 

But there is such a thing as critical mass, and Outerra is reaching it. Be there, or be square. 

 

Hats off again to Tom, for being open, and having the foresight to start an Outerra forum for Avsim. I suspect this is going places.

 

http://forum.outerra.com/index.php?topic=3140.0

 

[Pugilist2 878]

Nice video.  Outerra is looking good so far.

[laserit 93]

Great posts as always Devon

 

Will or does Outerra have multiplayer capability?

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Great posts as always Devon

 

Will or does Outerra have multiplayer capability?

 

They've spoken on it, but nothing definite. My suspicion (nothing more) is that that might end up coming from the military side.

[Acetone 34]

Will or does Outerra have multiplayer capability?

 

As far as we know there are already various multiplayer elements in dev:

 

• A dome setup, using six computers

 

 

The whole setup used several computers linked together in a LAN, three of which were used to render the dome - two of them driving 2x3 projectors (5760x2160 screen on R7970) , and one the remaining 2x2. Several additional networked computers were used for other displays used within the simulator, including a smaller dome in front of aircraft cockpit.

 

• TitanIM seems to already have basic multiplayer capabilities, as you see in the persentation video above, there is a multi-crew heli simulation with at least one pilot and one gunner:

(1.08min)

 

Cameni (lead Outerra dev) said that these solutions are not fitted for a commercial version since they are mostly LAN based and are absolutely not cheat-proof. I think Outerra will need several years of developement before the release of a fully working multiplayer, I just hope we will be able to have a simple solution before

[wolke85 150]

Brilliant screenshots and videos here!

Outerra is really moving on perfectly!

Awesome!

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Brilliant screenshots and videos here!

Outerra is really moving on perfectly!

Awesome!

 

The release of the F117-A conversion comes on the 3rd anniversary of the release of the Outerra tech demo. Its been a lengthy, and some would say quite slow road, though not really when you look behind the scenes at how long these things can take.

 

The thing is, that its been very much like building a house. You watch the framework go nowhere apparently for months, as the foundation is laid, and then suddenly, in a flurry its halfway done.

 

Recently, Outerra has been like that. Slow progress with work going on behind the scenes, and then suddenly, in a flurry, the announcement of TitanIM, the release of the terrain and tree shadows to complement the existing object shadows, the release of the Alpha clouds and lightning with realtime ambient occlusion, followed quickly by the release of the F117-A (with a working Drogue chute!) and the first attempt at a working MFD...........

 

In the works are more sophisticated FDMs, road and water updates, missiles, refinements of the clouds and vehicles, the switch to 64bit...... and more, not just from the developers but with the developers, as the team of talented modders continues to grow and contribute.

 

There is an awful long way still to go, but Outerra is getting its feet beneath it now, and I suspect its next year is going to be a wild ride.

 

As things come through, I and others will try and keep more casual watchers up to date! 

 

Meanwhile, if what I am seeing holds true, and some long-term issues in recording Outerra (openGL) video are going away, expect the dam to break for a lot of eager would-be Outerra videographers, which should start getting the word out there even faster.

 

Stay Tuned!