FSDT Release V2 of KCLT for MSFS

[snglecoil 1,828]

As a Charlottean, this is a beautiful piece of work. I don't think I can hold off on buying it! No knock against the airport at all....but that generic Charlotte skyline in the background is a crime! C'mon Bing, get some Charlotte photogrammetry going!

[spearmint_flyer 579]

Has there been a solution to FSDT  re-download subscription if you want to download in the future the installers? I own more then 10 sceneries for other simulators and ever since MSFS came out  I either had to buy an extended download for an additional cost or in a recent loss of PC drive cannot download those installers again unless I purchase them again or be in their good graces before I can get the installers. 

AFAIK most if not all other developers have some sort of online portal/app or use Contrail where I can freely re-download the installers. Unless I buy the the market place where I can always te download it. So I truly am a head scratcher why if you’re buying directly from them I have to get this extended download. 
 

So has this been resolved yet? Seems silly that long time customers have to get an additional service just to re-download the licenses already owned. Just because they’re afraid of pirating.

[jes0811 1]

Very excited to see this and also the news on GSX progress for MSFS.  I’m in Charlotte this week visiting my daughter :)

GSX, ActiveSky, and ChasePlane are the 3 mods I would most like to have in MSFS.

 

[virtuali 4,421]

26 minutes ago, Alcides Segovia said:

AFAIK most if not all other developers have some sort of online portal/app or use Contrail where I can freely re-download the installers

We were the first to allow free, unlimited downloads without any "portal" or "app" or "login", years ago, and we are STILL doing that for all our FSX and P3D products. In fact, we ARE doing it for an MSFS product too, that is LSFB Basel, because that was a free update for P3D users.

Nobody did that when we started doing this: free, always available installers on our site with no login required, because in FSX/P3D we had a Trial version, which is currently not possible with MSFS.

Since we don't have a Trial for MSFS (yet), we are now relying on the redownload policy of the VENDOR you buy the scenery from (you never buy from us), which means:

- If you buy an FSDT product from Digital River, the download links there expires after 30 days. You can buy an additional download protection for 2 years, but we DO NOT suggest doing that. It's a service offered by Digital River, and we don't make ANY money on it. That's Digital River policy.

- If you buy an FSDT product from Simmarket, the installer is always available by logging into your account. That's Simmarket policy.

- If you buy an FSDT product from the MS Marketplace, the download/install is handled by the sim itself. That's Microsoft policy.

But the vendor own policy doesn't have anything to do with our own support. As of today, each and every user that contacted us because he lost the installer he bought from Digital River, has always been provided with another copy.

And no, it's not we "fear" piracy, is that downloads consume bandwidth we pay for every month so, we want to be sure pirates are not affecting our montly bandwidth bill.

And yes, we will update the Updater to provide the ability to install, not just update, since it's already checking the license, we only need to add the ability to install the scenery in the sim.

Edited November 24, 2021 by virtuali

[somiller 694]

Best support in the industry!

[V1ROTA7E 718]

2 hours ago, Rockliffe said:

I wonder why so many developers go to the extreme trouble of modelling interiors of terminals [...]

I wonder why they create the interiors at all! During my time of flying passengers, I can honestly say, i never even noticed the interior of the airport while sitting in the cockpit at the gate. It seems like a waste of resources, especially when a lot of this complex scenery can make lesser powerful systems crawl anyway. I could be a minority in this, but I truly wonder how many simmers seek full fledged terminals.

[virtuali 4,421]

39 minutes ago, V1ROTA7E said:

I wonder why they create the interiors at all! During my time of flying passengers, I can honestly say, i never even noticed the interior of the airport while sitting in the cockpit at the gate. It seems like a waste of resources, especially when a lot of this complex scenery can make lesser powerful systems crawl anyway. I could be a minority in this, but I truly wonder how many simmers seek full fledged terminals.

We tried to explain this so many times: we KNOW how to optimize a scenery and, this one in particular, has been optimized like never before.

When SU5 (first Xbox version) came out, Microsoft/Asobo started to be very insistent about using multiple LOD levels. Yes, we used it a lot in the past, usually for jetways and static plane models, but this is the first scenery we used multiple LOD levels basically *everywhere*. On Xbox, sceneries that don't comply with these rules will have objects automatically removed, because on Xbox ( especially the S version ), memory is limited and not user-upgradable.

So, the new wave of airport design in MSFS will be making more extensive usage of multiple LOD levels which, incidentally, adds to the developement time quite a bit ( modeling and testing extra LOD levels ), but it pays off big time in performances. And, it's now easier to work with after several recent updates:

- SU5 added very useful diagnostic tools that give us a very precise way to debug LOD levels, and they work even better with SU6 and 7.

- The MSFS official exporter for 3DS Max has a very nice way of speeding up the export in multiple LOD levels without making errors.

Almost every object/building in the scenery has multiple LOD levels, from a minimum of 3, up to a maximum of 9-10 for some objects like the custom taxiway side lights and the hi-speed taxi centerlines too, which now have full Dynamic lighting but, thanks to carefully optimized LOD levels, don't have any effect on fps. We also customized all the various ILS and Glideslope models, because we found the default models to be highly inefficient (too many polygons, with no LOD levels), so our models and way better looking from up close, yet are easier on the fps.

And the same, of course, is valid for terminal interiors. They are only visible in the higher quality LOD, but they disappear once you are moving away from the building.

The result is the scenery runs basically at the same fps as the default KCLT, with no comparison in detail ( default KCLT is really "default", since it's not an handcrafted airport ). The scenery author has a very old GTX 970 with 4MB of VRAM and last day we checked together the final build before release: he averaged about 24-25 fps, on High settings, at 1440p res, which is impressive considering his system. The default KCLT ran at 1-2 fps less, at the same settings.

Edited November 24, 2021 by virtuali

[V1ROTA7E 718]

Ok, fair enough. No performance hit, from what you're saying. But my question is why create interiors in the first place? It's not just you....FlyTampa, Drzewiecki, FSDG, FlightBeam, ORBX...to what end is it necessary to make interiors? I'm just wondering if there is a demand for it. If I had the option, personally, I'd disable every single interior. Unless it was obvious and necessary to have as an integral part of the scenery.

Edited November 24, 2021 by V1ROTA7E

[virtuali 4,421]

10 minutes ago, V1ROTA7E said:

Unless it was obvious and necessary to have as an integral part of the scenery.

In this case, it IS obvious and integral part of the scenery:

The main construction that happened recently at KCLT is the new Councourse A, and this is the building that has the most developed interior. Like many recent airport constructions, the building is almost entirely glass and, it has a very specific internal lighting that IS what makes the building recognizable at night, considering basically every light in the scenery is Dynamic so, to look from the outside (in the cockpit) as it should be, it must have the interior, Dynamic lights simply won't work as well if the interior was an empty space, what makes dynamic lights interesting is not the light itself, but the stuff that's being lighted by it.

Leaving out the interiors might be ok for less important parts of the airports, possibly using the fake parallax effects, but the new Concourse A is KCLT signature building, it couldn't be done in any other way.

Edited November 24, 2021 by virtuali

[snglecoil 1,828]

12 minutes ago, V1ROTA7E said:

But my question is why create interiors in the first place?

Why not? Some people appreciate it. And I’m betting the developer takes pride in the work.

[V1ROTA7E 718]

Ok, but here's an example. In the KORD scenery, which I enjoy very much, they have a half interior. A hallway with a 2D backdrop. I don't mind because I really don't see it. I remember one of the advertising points was the McDonald's employee behind the counter. I get it's a funny thing to put in there, but for how long... I really think there are different levels of
"pride." Two of the best scenery's ever created for any flight sim were FT Dubai and FB KSFO. Extremely light on performance, excellent texture quality. Neither had interiors. If interiors are easy to make, by all means, go for it. But there are other things that could be higher priority. If we had avatars where we could walk through the terminal, buy items in stores, interact with passengers...that'd be amazing, and yes, interiors would be huge. But we don't...so. Anyway, not gonna talk about it anymore. KCLT looks very nice.

 

[WestAir 2,522]

I love the interiors. In FlyTampa's Vegas pack, I used to work in LAS and appreciated the "trip through memory lane" just walking through T3 and T1. So many countless hours spent there in real life. That alone was worth the price for me.

You can also see into the gate when at the gate, especially at night. It's a huge added piece of immersion in a sim that practically sells itself on immersion. Don't change, Umberto!

Edited November 24, 2021 by WestAir
Clarification

[virtuali 4,421]

I might want to add a technical note which might clarify better:

MSFS supports "GPU Geometry Instancing", which means 3d objects created as "Instances" in 3DS Max will be exported to .gltf and will remain as instances (the file is much smaller that it would be otherwise if each copy was a real copy ) and, in the sim, only single copy of the object is uploaded to the GPU, which will be able to draw many copies of it on its own, very fast, because it's all done on the GPU.

This is most effective when you have LOTS of copies of a moderately complex object, which would otherwise kill the fps if the engine didn't support this kind of instancing ( as far as I know, FSX/P3D only support it for autogen buildings/trees ).

And what are the best suited candidates to benefit from Gpu geometry instancing ? Hundreds of chairs, lots of screen, lots of light fixtures, lots of structural elements like pillars/shafts that sustain a mostly glass construction, stairsteps, etc. Where we can usually find these kind of objects ? In the interior of a mostly glass terminal building...

Edited November 24, 2021 by virtuali

[sidfadc 1,344]

Got the offer email with a discount because I was an FSX/P3D user (was I? seems a long time ago....)  Thank you, nice touch.

Anyway took the plunge for 10 GBP, loading up right now going to do a little sector.

Edited November 24, 2021 by sidfadc

[Rocky_53 1,579]

5 hours ago, V1ROTA7E said:

I wonder why they create the interiors at all! During my time of flying passengers, I can honestly say, i never even noticed the interior of the airport while sitting in the cockpit at the gate. It seems like a waste of resources, especially when a lot of this complex scenery can make lesser powerful systems crawl anyway. I could be a minority in this, but I truly wonder how many simmers seek full fledged terminals.

I agree 100%