6 minutes ago, Phantoms said:

Will V2 require version V1 with the older FS models to still be present?

No, V2 is MSFS native format and will be independent. No need for V1 anymore.

1 hour ago, Waldo Pepper said:

If you check Orbx,  you can download their Channel Island vessels pack for free.   It should not conflict,  but will replace a handful of the default fs20 models with orbx models.    They have wake effects as well.

 

I've been using the channel islands vessels pack along with the old global shipping traffic with no issues whatsoever.  That is until SU5.

1 hour ago, fakeflyer737 said:

I wish ASOBO would fix the lake elevation bug. 

In the mean time,  Henrik stated that he intends to release a pack for the US / Canada Great Lakes.   

Apparently he is able to place ships on routes in the lake without issues,  but,  if he adds routes which allow them to sail out of the lakes and into rivers they slowly begin to sink into the water because rivers in FS20 have some weird elevation issues.

11 hours ago, Waldo Pepper said:

Just a heads up,  I've been beta testing Henrik's Global Shipping Mod V2 for the last week.

Version 1 consisted of  models from the prior versions of FS.   In V2,  all of it's models and textures have been fully converted to MSFS 20's native format. 

I haven't seen Henrik around here in a while,  and I'm sure he is quite busy, so I'm taking the liberty to inform you all that the initial public release of Version 2 will released by Henrik this Saturday!

These ships look fantastic and I've noticed no substantial performance delta.  Really happy about this.

The initial release will not contain smoke or wake effects.   Henrik would like to include effects in this release,  but it would require additional man hours and he would rather get the pack released now because V1 has performance issues for everyone.  They will be added shortly after the initial release  

Terrific news,  imo.

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/global-ai-ship-traffic-v1-for-msfs/368369/1072

 

Great news, paid off to just be patient.

I have one question about smoke and wake effects. Is this something that has to be added to each boat model individually, or is it XML code or what? I have seen a video on the Effects Editor for the SDK. Is that how it is done, applying a smoke effect and tweaking it with the Effects Editor?

48 minutes ago, dobee51 said:

Great news, paid off to just be patient.

I have one question about smoke and wake effects. Is this something that has to be added to each boat model individually, or is it XML code or what? I have seen a video on the Effects Editor for the SDK. Is that how it is done, applying a smoke effect and tweaking it with the Effects Editor?

He has to add the effects to each ship individually.  He estimated approximately 100 man hours (to add smoke to all the ship's he's updated so far (700 ish),  If I remember what I read over there.    Makes sense to me,  because different ships have different exhaust stacks.  Here's one of the shots he posted with smoke added.   He posted other shots with his wake effects,   which are cool because they track the ships as they change heading.

Quote

Simple answer. No, not possible. It requires entering all model files and do further manipulation and it will only delay the project. Right now we want to launch the package ASAP to have users back with ships but without texture mix-ups, stuttering and other performance issues. Doing a temporary fix will require at least 100 additional man hours.

Little things like better ships and smoke add immersion for me.    

For added immersion, the shipping mod ranks right there with PuffinFlight’s chimney smoke in his “WeLoveVFR Region 2 (Europe)” freeware.  https://flightsim.to/file/16674/we-love-vfr-region-2

All his objects are placed using data obtained from authorities such as the FAA,  NOAA, etc.

I'm looking forward to Puff adding cooling towers,  something he is working on.   And,  he is in the process of adding smoke effects to his Region 1.

 

Quote

 

Do you like flying VFR and watching the World below you? Do you sometimes feel that something is missing? We Love VFR is here to help you. We Love VFR is a free add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator that adds thousands of new VFR-friendly objects. In this beta version, you get communication, radio, and tv antennas, chimneys, radar domes, construction cranes, and satellite/radio telescope dishes. I have plans for many, many more.

I spend countless hours developing this, so donations are very appreciated, but not mandatory 😉

If you don't like smoke effects, or they kill your fps, first of all, report it, but then you can switch them off by removing the "chimney_smoke.bgl" file from this add-ons scenery folder.

Region 1 (Europe and North Africa) is here »

• Almost 200 000 objects were placed in region 2
• Coverage of North and South America and part of Oceania
• In this version mobile communication, tv and radio antennas, chimneys, radar domes, construction cranes, and satellite/radio telescope dishes
• Probably the first use of visual effects in scenery add-on. Yup, we have smoking chimneys (still experimental)
• Puffin AI* - correct placement and appearance of objects**
• Incorporated data from FAA, NOAA, and other national authorities
• Over 100 custom models
• Lower spec PC friendly
• Much more planned
• Yes, I know there are no cooling towers. Next update hopefully.

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 20214 yr by Waldo Pepper

https://flightsim.to/file/2605/we-love-vfr-region-1

 

Edited September 2, 20214 yr by Waldo Pepper

In case anyone wonders,  a few weeks ago Henrik was approached by a handful of talented people who all offered to bear some of the workload.   Due to this assistance,  Henrik was able reach an earlier release date.   He'd been working on his project alone.  At least that's the way I understand the situ.

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Thank you Henrik, along with everyone helping you transform this for MSFS!

Thanks:D
Knud who is retired haven’t had many hours idle since we started the conversion, I have spent almost all my leisure hours; Lagaffe has taken his share with the effects; Walter is working creatively on the next upgrade version already;… And again even if not all the old designers and contributors are involved at the moment - some simply got tired of the challenges of having to constantly go back to upgrade to new requirements and tools - they all have an important role in having created all these models and make them available for all to use for free.

 

https://www.flightsimulator.com/june-24th-2021-development-update/  -  WeLoveVFR Region 2 was mentioned by Asobo in July Dev Update.  (How I found out about Puff's mod)

I so wish in years to come, when the SIM has matured a bit - you will be able to model a ship, pop it in the water and particle effects take care of wakes etc. No need to create artificial effects like this.

LODs, this needs looking at with regards to sea traffic. Leaving EGGD yesterday and flying towards the river Severn just north of Clevedon I could not see any boats/ships in the water - until I was right on top of a sail boat which appeared out of nowhere - that’s not realistic all.

So looking forward to this Saturday's release!   Thank you!

Good morning...

Release will be this afternoon 😄

Edited September 4, 20214 yr by KL791

On flightsim.to?

I'm away atm so will have to wait a few days before I can download this excellent addon.  Still, I suppose that if there are any bugs to fix, you lot will find them before I do.  

I have really missed global shipping over the past few weeks.

Will the new version have much effect on framerates and load times ( Native msfs models should be more efficient, but might take a while to load?).

20 minutes ago, jarmstro said:

On flightsim.to?

Yes 😄

But first in the late afternoon CET

 

4 minutes ago, cianpars said:

I'm away atm so will have to wait a few days before I can download this excellent addon.  Still, I suppose that if there are any bugs to fix, you lot will find them before I do.  

I have really missed global shipping over the past few weeks.

Will the new version have much effect on framerates and load times ( Native msfs models should be more efficient, but might take a while to load?).

They are quite lite - these models were conceived in their original version to be AI and converting them to gltf format from MDL just makes them lighter, so no visible load time.