IniScene Heathrow (EGLL) May Come to P3D

[jon b 2,041]

1 hour ago, SimeonWilbury said:

in my case it may even bring back memories from the one time I was privilaged enough to be able to fly on a 747 out of Heathrow in late 2019.

Just in time !

Those days are now sadly over.

Even after 20 odd years flying the 747 right up to the very last day I'd always spend a moment when either getting on or getting off to stand and stare at her from the terminal, a simply magnificent sight.

[Bunkie 43]

I was lucky enough to get to ride on BOAC's first revenue earning flight to Canada with their first 747.  A Conway powered 707 was scheduled, but had a significant failure, and the 747 was brought in on extremely short notice.  EGLL - CYYZ.   They said it was a training crew, and I can still remember that the cabin crew had a heck of a time trying to close the overwing exit - which had been opened to let in some fresh air (it was silly hot for the UK that day).  Finally, an incredibly impressive looking man with 4 rings on his sleeve came over to see what the problem was, had a good laugh, gave it a massive slam and pronounced all was well!  Every single member of the crew were so proud of their new toy...  That impressive man with the rings allowed this young kid to ride in the cockpit for a good part of the Atlantic crossing... "Look here" he said, pointing down out of the port side window.  That dot down there is the 707 you would've been on... we left an hour after, and will arrive an hour sooner... "That's just one reason why we love this thing"...    

Apologies to the Moderator - but this story does have EGLL in it, and after Jon B's comment, I felt I just had to share... 

 

[jon b 2,041]

18 minutes ago, Bunkie said:

the cabin crew had a heck of a time trying to close the overwing exit - which had been opened to let in some fresh air

Not wanting to go off at a tangent to the thread but I’ll just mention this as it may be of interest..

The 747 had an issue whereby if you had the overwing exit opened and then refuelled the aircraft the weight of the fuel in the wings actually distorts the fuselage and door aperture slightly and you won’t be able to get the door closed again ! 

 

[787flyer 633]

So returning to the topic of the IniScene EGLL scenery, they did release the MSFS version this week and here's the list of features provided.

Hopefully some of these will feature in the upcoming P3D version.

 

• 80+ custom modelled and textured POIs and buildings in and out of the airport boundary with accurate PBR texturing.
• 10,000+ custom iniScene car models scattered throughout parking lots outside of the airport boundary.
• Aggressive performance saving methods featuring LOD model optimization (Level of Detail) and meticulous optimization where possible throughout the scenery.
• Full Xbox compatibility and optimization when purchased on the Microsoft Store for Xbox.*
• 5 accurately-placed jetway variations with realistic PBR texturing and animations.
• Hand-made ground polygons featuring custom decals, dirt, taxi lines and ground markings.
• Over 430 custom made and hand placed taxi signs dotted throughout the airfield as in the real world.
• Main airport landsides with ground markings and lighting faithfully re-created.British Airways Concorde G-BOAB faithfully recreated and on-display before runway 27L.
• Over 2,500 individually placed accurately colour toned airport lights scattered around the terminals.

• Accurate logos and real-world decals scattered throughout the airport to promote a true to life feeling.
• Custom-created, accurate and known landside points of interest such as the landmark
• Emirates A380 and Turkish Airlines roundabouts.
• Hand-corrected, colour accurate ortho imagery.
• Hand-placed bespoke ground service equipment at each gate featuring over 2,000+ containers, 2,000+ cargo dollies and a plethora of various static equipment.
• Animated points of interest including radio towers and construction cranes.

 

Question: when it refers to "known landside points of interest such as the landmark", what is that referring to?

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Mr Filbert's video review illustrates the somewhat inconsistent level of texture quality and 3D model detail across the entire airport. Some parts of the airport look very good in that video, but others (like the bridges not blending smoothly with the terrain on each side) look rather crude and unrealistic. I do not see anything in that video that would automatically make me want to "upgrade" from the SimWings version in P3D.

Edited February 24, 2022 by Christopher Low

[Iadbound 211]

I note that iniBuilds, on its Discord channel, has announced that it is already working on some of the weak design areas and performance issues pointed out by reviewers and users.  Sounds like an updated to the MSFS version is imminent.  Hopefully, all of the work will make it into the P3D version, but they haven't said anything specific about that.  

[787flyer 633]

Apparently the night lighting is problematic for MSFS users so I read.

[Christopher Low 5,332]

I think the problematic part of the night lighting is that some areas do not have it! As an example, Terminal 5 is completely dark at night, but the developer has stated that this is being corrected.

On a side note, and partly in response to Jon's comment about preferring to see detailed interiors of terminal buildings rather than more obscure areas of the airfield, I would argue that we should be able to have both these days. Whilst I understand that Heathrow is a very large airport in a very dense scenery area, I would like to point out that framerates at the SimWings version of London Heathrow in P3Dv4.5HF2 on my mediocre i5 7600k @ 4.5Ghz/32GB DDR4-3600 RAM/6GB GTX 980Ti powered PC are more than acceptable @ 1080p resolution, and that is with ORBx TrueEarth GB South displayed in all of its glory, 100+ detailed AI planes on the ground, and 4x SSAA enabled....at night!

Of course, I do not have active weather enabled (calm winds and clear skies everywhere), and I generally limit shadows to my own plane, but I would prefer to sacrifice these to get maximum 3D model and autogen detail (Scenery Complexity and Autogen Density are set to Extremely Dense on my PC). Final approach to Heathrow is an awesome experience for me

 

Edited February 25, 2022 by Christopher Low

[787flyer 633]

On this last note, the developer has now issued an update for MSFS and the night lighting textures that were missing for T5 have now been added.

In addition updated ground textures and some AI issues were also resolved.

 

This all bodes well I think for a decent P3D version. What the performance will be, we will have to wait and see once this version becomes available.🤞

 

 

 

[cowpatz 243]

On 2/21/2022 at 10:59 AM, jon b said:

Not wanting to go off at a tangent to the thread but I’ll just mention this as it may be of interest..

The 747 had an issue whereby if you had the overwing exit opened and then refuelled the aircraft the weight of the fuel in the wings actually distorts the fuselage and door aperture slightly and you won’t be able to get the door closed again ! 

 

Yes I can confirm that from personal experience. 🤭

[BWBriscoe 116]

Is there any update on this for P3D?

[micstatic 4,309]

Haven’t heard anything. Heathrow isn’t that important to me. But I bought the sim wings one last week during the aerosoft sale. Got tired of waiting and hadn’t heard any news. 

[Iadbound 211]

Canceled.  https://forum.inibuilds.com/topic/5055-iniscene-development-update-june-2022/

[chapstick 2,757]

16 minutes ago, Iadbound said:

Canceled.  https://forum.inibuilds.com/topic/5055-iniscene-development-update-june-2022/

Incredible. Even with all the assets already made. 

[Christopher Low 5,332]

No great loss, considering that I am more than happy with the Aerosoft SimWings Professional version of the airport.