Roman Design released CYYJ

[abrams_tank 7,473]

7 minutes ago, CapnCrunch said:

Thanks for mentioning that Bert. It was the one thing I wanted someone to verify because my system did struggle a bit with the YOW scenery, though that was with a lot of stuff dialed up pretty high. Now to go and get this!

Performance was good for Roman Design's CYYJ.  FYI, I don't have the Canada World Update installed though, because the Canada World Update was just really bad for the metro Vancouver area.  For me, the Victoria area in MSFS isn't really an FPS killer. CYVR is another matter though. Vancouver is a bit harsh on FPS so FSimStudio's CYVR gives lower FPS than Roman Design's CYYJ.  But I think FSimStudios said it's just the Vancouver area that is lowering the FPS in general, rather than their CYVR that is lowering the FPS by a lot.

Edited July 6, 2023 by abrams_tank

[CapnCrunch 90]

Yes, I think Vancouver can get a bit heavy on frames but it also depends on settings. I leave photogrammetry off, running FSimStudio's CYVR and the SamScene package for Vancouver. Decent results, usually.

The Canada update cities were a disaster as far as I could tell, so I don't have those installed. Took the POIs though which are OK.

[abrams_tank 7,473]

4 minutes ago, CapnCrunch said:

Yes, I think Vancouver can get a bit heavy on frames but it also depends on settings. I leave photogrammetry off, running FSimStudio's CYVR and the SamScene package for Vancouver. Decent results, usually.

Me too. LOL, we have the exact same scenery add-ons.

Edited July 6, 2023 by abrams_tank

[pmb 5,138]

As an off-topic sidenote: I've flown over Vancouver for years quite often in different sims. I recall classic renditions by Holger Sandman/John Patch etc. (was a beta for his Victoria) Performance over Downtown/the Harbor Area/CYVR was always marginal with ~15 fps and lower and stutters in FSX, later Prepar3d (given the machines from that time, of course).

It's the first time in MSFS that I can fully enjoy taking off from CYVR (FSimStudio) and heading North over Downtown and Stanley Park and Lion's Gate Bridge to West Vancouver and perhaps West to Vancouver Island. That's under VR(!) and a state of the art machine of course, but it's so much fun and a revelation. fps still go a little down from the 30fps set, but motion remains fluid nonetheless. Not to speak about the visual difference.

That said, it's high time MS repairs the WU PG mess they created for users not wanting to spend additional money. For myself, I bought and installed SamScene's rendition the day it appeared, I like all his creations very much.

Kind regards, Michael

[Bert Pieke 7,591]

1 hour ago, CapnCrunch said:

Yes, I think Vancouver can get a bit heavy on frames but it also depends on settings. I leave photogrammetry off, running FSimStudio's CYVR and the SamScene package for Vancouver. Decent results, usually.

The Canada update cities were a disaster as far as I could tell, so I don't have those installed. Took the POIs though which are OK.

Like you, I have disabled the Canada Cities, but I do leave photogrammetry on around Vancouver.  Together with Samscene Vancouver and cli4d-vancouver-part2-LOD20 (only), this gives me the best visual representation.

https://flightsim.to/file/41597/vancouver-improvement-mod

I used to live in Kitsilano as a university student, and the photogrammetry adds a lot in that area. 🙂

Edited July 6, 2023 by Bert Pieke

[Roman Design 344]

Hi everyone, I came here to write a post about yesterday's CYYJ release but it looks like this topic is already here and is very active, so why create another one? Anyway, thanks everyone for your kind words. This project took an immense amount of work, much more than expected, over the last 11 months. So I hope enough people enjoy it, so I can keep doing Canadian airports. I love doing that. 

To address a few points mentioned in this thread:

- The download issue is resolved, everyone gets their download. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any problems, but things are working great now. I missed a glitch yesterday - that's what you get when you work until 2am for the last 5 days straight including the long weekend, to try and finish the release...

- I had local sources that provided me photos of the area, the airport, the new terminal building, the aprons and buildings etc. to add to the info I sourced. I'm not naming them because not sure they'd want me to, but you know who you are and thank you so much for your help! As a result, I got as much detail as I could as precise as I could, within the limits of MSFS and common sense (well, sometimes beyond the common sense...). I won't directly compare with the competitor's airport, it's not my place to do that. But there are many details that are not immediately noticeable, here are just a few examples showing the level of detail I was aiming for:
 

• The police sruisers have authentic livery of "Victoria Police" with correct decals etc.
• The taxis are the most common model at the airport (Prius) and have authentic company livery including their phone etc. 
• No school buses at the ariport 🙂 On the other hand, there are BC Transit buses at the airpost and close to water terminal that have authentic livery including all the signage.
• ATC tower has interior with the actual CYYJ diagrams showing on the monitors
• There are detailed RVs at the RV rental business' parking lot, and there are a few BC Transit buses there - not sure why, but that's what real photos show, so there they are.
• There are deicing vehicles with CYYJ livery at the airport and inside a MegaDome hangar
• Animated Canadian flags actually respond to the wind direction, like a windsock, they are always face the wind correctly
• There are models for seats and structures for baseball park on approach and it's night-lighted - just because it would look nice when landing...
• Water Aerodrome has a start position at the dock (as pictured in this topic earlier) and Aerosoft Twin Otter in Harbour Air livery looks almost identical in front of my two static HA Twin Otters, so it would feel right at home.
• I placed 2 buoys hopefully at correct locations on the water - by analysing several landing videos.
• The dock start is also connected to an invisible "water runway" and via a taxiway road to the main airport network. So MSFS could spawn planes landing and taxiing. You can also ask ATC after landing to provide taxi instructions to the park and it should get you there, including the blue ribbon if desired, though I haven't tested that.
• I created many of the roof textures from flying my drone at some local commercial buildings after doing the research on Google Maps finding promising roods. I found most available textures inadequate or too bland, so made a couple of local trips and did some photos, and made seamless textures in Photoshop, then created normal, roughness and ambient occlusion maps and combined them for PBR materials.

The list can go on, but you get the idea...

- I am thinking about doing a pack of Vancouver Island helipads as there are a few and it would be a lovely area for realistic helicopter flying. There is a set of 4 helipads in Victoria harbour, there's another one next to a lighthouse on a rocky island, about 4 hospital helipads etc. Thre's also a small airport with 3 runways, and a couple of seaplane locations. Not sure there's enough demand to cover development time though. But I'm thinking about it.

Edited July 6, 2023 by Roman Design

[CoolDude 2]

Looks like another fantastic job!

I have one super minor request: could the number of colourful vehicles in the parking lots be toned down a little bit? Like in many third party sceneries, there are as many bright yellow/red/blue cars as there are black/gray/earthtone - more than you'd expect, to be honest - and the colourful cars look much brighter than you'd typically observe from a distance. I think it's a limitation of the the lighting system in the sim that makes them stand out and makes them resemble toys, a teeny bit immersion breaking in an otherwise spectacular-looking work. Only mentioning it because it's a really minor thing I also noticed at YOW.

[Bert Pieke 7,591]

Update... quote:

I have updated the file, it’s v1.1.1 now, and it has more consistent gate/parking names and fixed numerous MSFS elevation bugs (elevated lakes) around the airport area. If you go to your orders, you can download the new file.

[FBW737 518]

6 hours ago, Roman Design said:

I got as much detail as I could as precise as I could, within the limits of MSFS

I don't know about that Roman! You missed the Red Ercoupe parked on the right inside the hanger near the door into the flying club. The guy who owns it is a buddy of mine and he's mad as hell you left it out.🤔🤣

Edited July 7, 2023 by FBW737

[Midnight Music 252]

9 hours ago, abrams_tank said:

Performance was good for Roman Design's CYYJ.  FYI, I don't have the Canada World Update installed though, because the Canada World Update was just really bad for the metro Vancouver area.  For me, the Victoria area in MSFS isn't really an FPS killer. CYVR is another matter though. Vancouver is a bit harsh on FPS so FSimStudio's CYVR gives lower FPS than Roman Design's CYYJ.  But I think FSimStudios said it's just the Vancouver area that is lowering the FPS in general, rather than their CYVR that is lowering the FPS by a lot.

I switched from FSSim CYVR to FSDreamteam CYVR, because it is much better on FPS.  

Lee

[Roman Design 344]

31 minutes ago, FBW737 said:

I don't know about that Roman! You missed the Red Ercoupe parked on the right inside the hanger near the door into the flying club. The guy who owns it is a buddy of mine and he's mad as hell you left it out.

Well, if he can get me a 3D-model file that can be legally converted and used in my scenery - I will be happy to add it 🙂 

[abrams_tank 7,473]

3 hours ago, Midnight Music said:

I switched from FSSim CYVR to FSDreamteam CYVR, because it is much better on FPS.  

Lee

I also own FSDreamTeam's CYVR. It came out so early in 2020 for MSFS, and I didn't want to wait for FSimStudio's CYVR.

However, as a former Vancouverite, I do like FSimStudio's CYVR more. FSimStudio got a lot of little details right, that make their CYVR more enjoyable. From my memory of FSDreamTeam's CYVR, the cars were parked perpendicular to the terminal which is not accurate (in real life, the cars are parked parallel to the terminal and even then, it's temporary parking only for a few minutes to drop off passengers and luggage - you get towed if you park too long), and the Canada line for FSimStudio's CYVR is much better than FSDreamTeam's CYVR. There were a lot of other small details that FSimStudio got right, because of course, they are Canadians in the end and probably have better access to CYVR.

Don't get me wrong - I rate FSDreamTeam's CYVR very highly. I would probably give it an 8 out of 10 (and maybe I would recommend it to somebody that is really struggling with FPS).  For FSimStudio's CYVR, despite the lower FPS, I still like it more than FSDreamTeam's CYVR, because of the small details they got right.

Edited July 7, 2023 by abrams_tank

[CapnCrunch 90]

11 hours ago, Roman Design said:

I am thinking about doing a pack of Vancouver Island helipads

Hi Roman, that was me you were chatting with about a heli add-on in comments below the YYJ release trailer on YouTube. Sounds like you need some down time before you dive into anything new! Anyway, I hope it's possible but I think we all understand that it's a business.

Picked up YYJ yesterday, just waiting for the weekend to botch a few seaplane landings and explore.

[abrams_tank 7,473]

15 minutes ago, CapnCrunch said:

Hi Roman, that was me you were chatting with about a heli add-on in comments below the YYJ release trailer on YouTube. Sounds like you need some down time before you dive into anything new! Anyway, I hope it's possible but I think we all understand that it's a business.

Picked up YYJ yesterday, just waiting for the weekend to botch a few seaplane landings and explore.

I'm so happy that both seaplane terminals in Victoria are modeled now, with Roman Design's CYYJ and Sam Scene 3D's Vancouver City Times. And the seaplane terminals in Vancouver are also modeled with FSimStudio's CYVR 👍

I have a lot of fun flying Harbour Air flights between Victoria and Vancouver 👍

Edited July 7, 2023 by abrams_tank

[CapnCrunch 90]

It's kind of why I'm hoping to see more heliports/pads in this area. Helijet does scheduled flights and of course it's with IFR-capable helicopters. Doing runs from YVR-YYJ and up to Nanaimo would be great except Vancouver is the only place that has any realism with my current scenery. The other two - default at least - are just sadly lacking.

OpenStreetMap (Little Navmap) shows hundreds of pads all over the world but MS seems to have almost completely ignored them.