Does the FSW scenery engine / model allow tor sloped runways, given the base mesh for an airfield ?

 

I am very much hoping for this. I will still play it over FSX without, but this is my biggest gripe with FSX.

I don't know how sloping runways would be implemented. Base mesh usually isnt high resulouton enough to have a smooth rolling runway. I've got some 1m mesh and even that gives a bumpy result. 

A dev really needs to model it in 3D I think

The only issue is that AI don't respect them platforms and travels through them.  So if the AI (and other sim objects like vehicles) just respect platforms then that would be a good solution. 

From a few more pictures made available, it doesn't seem like we will see sloped runways / taxiways in DTG's FSW.

Not a show stopper for me, but given the trend, so far very acceptably supported by Aerofly FS 2 and Flight Gear ( for years... ) and also ( although not so effectively IMO ) by X-Plane..., I would expect that a new product emerging from native MS FSX  and specially ESP code should move a step ahead ( ? )

From the release announcement I don't get the feeling the terrain/scenery subsystem received very much attention, beyond updating the airport/nav data and reworking textures.

I'd be thrilled if they could at least fix autogen popping and increase the detail distance without killing performance. Hopefully we'll see something in a second release.

 

Navaid / airfield updates are always welcomed anyway....

 

I'd be very surprised if the discussion of sloped runways hadn't come up in internal meetings between Orbx and Dovetail.  Orbx already has a number of sloped runways/taxiways in their payware products so its quite possible and Im sure they'd like an easier way to accomplish it.

What I feel should be noted is that Orbx have included their Global textures as a default starting point.  We have no idea what Orbx may be planning for the future in FSW.

 

This may well have come up in meetings but implementing it is a very complex and time consuming process. We all have to remember this upcoming sim will be an infant to start and we will need to watch it grow. Something I am looking forward to.

 

I also don't expect to see sloped runways in the 64bit version of P3D.

No sloped runways in either P3D or DTG FSW will be good for keeping users with multiple sims, like Aerofly FS 2 or X-Plane, or even Flight Gear, which have long provided such features.

These can be used for more visually realistic operations, specially at highly detailled airfields.

DTG Martin spent a lot of time reiterating that whilst DTG had lots of plans for FSW they were working on a timescale of three years or so for these enhancements. Consequently the initial release would not meet people requirements at initial release and he fully expected that many with existing investments in FSX, P3D or X-Plane would stick with those products at the initial release of FSW. He did however hope that people would keep an eye on FSW's progress rather than shooting it down in flames at initial release.

Judging by many posts since the announcement it appears that those messages have either been missed or, more likely, ignored. I do have to say though that DTG have not helped matters by effectively closing down communications since the initial delayed release last year, having to be pushed to say anything in the first few months of this year, and then another botched, last minute delay in announcing the EA release.

Getting belatedly back on topic I fully agree with 188AHC that there will be no sloped anything at initial release. Whether it ever turns up is something we shall have to wait and see.

with the outdated FSX terrain engine - it will be very hard to get sloped runways; it will require a major update of the terrain engine code.

Sloped runways can be a double edged sword.  I have both FSX and XP11.  Certain airports in XP11 the runways are so sloped and uneven its absurd (Yeager in Charleston, WVa. is one I've encountered) and obviously bugged (yes, you can turn off sloping in XP, but one would rather not have to).  So, sticking with flat runways may be the best choice for Dovetail if they don't have confidence they can implement sloped runways well.

It is possible to create sloped runways in FSX. The drawback is that AI will not use them correctly. MS used the concept of what's termed an Airport Flatten, which is a polygon that is at a fixed altitude. The reason was that at the time, terrain mesh resolution was pretty low. These days that's changed with 3rd party mesh products and utilities  like Terrain Sculpter:

http://stuff4fs.com/newpage.asp?Folder=TS

But it's really not worth the effort since you have to limit the airport flatten to the ramps, aprons and taxiways and then draw your own runways from scratch. It's a lot easier to just use XP11, but then the AI aircraft is pretty  weak even for flat runways.

3 minutes ago, jabloomf1230 said:

It is possible to create sloped runways in FSX.

One learns something new every day :-)

All hail the Minister of silly walks!