200k downloads: 🛩️ Thank You, Flight Sim Community!

[vbazillio 2,240]

Thanks to the incredible flight sim community for embracing my Microsoft Flight Simulator small freeware scenery addons. We've hit a milestone of 200,000 downloads! As an amateur developer, pursuing this passion outside my primary profession, which isn't connected to the world of flight simulation, this achievement means the world to me 😉

 

 

None of this would have been possible without the fantastic MSFS integrated scenery editor and, most importantly, the unwavering support from this amazing community. Your tutorials, forum posts, videos, user's feedback have been invaluable in shaping all these small projects.

 

Thank you for soaring alongside me on this exhilarating journey. Here's to countless more flights and adventures together! ✈️🌍 #FlightSimCommunity #MSFS #Gratitude If you want to discover my addons : https://flightsim.to/profile/vbazillio

 

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by vbazillio

[Car147 2,279]

Thank you for all the fantastic creations you have made for the community to enjoy!

[bigifooti 156]

Congrats! I did some of freewares stuff my own in the FSX and early P3D era(nothing like the your quality stuff). Back then I often got emails (because Avsim required an email in the readme file 🙂 ) how they appreciated the effort! It would be their local airport or their holiday destination they wanted to fly to. 

And it takes a lot of hours so, thanks 🙏(also to all the other freeware developer!)

[MarcG 2,985]

No need to thank us, we just need to thank you 🙂

[vbazillio 2,240]

 

48 minutes ago, bigifooti said:

I did some of freewares stuff my own in the FSX and early P3D era(nothing like the your quality stuff)

Believe me, it's way more easier todays than in the FSx/P3D era 😉

[cianpars 1,166]

23 minutes ago, MarcG said:

No need to thank us, we just need to thank you 🙂

Exactly what I was about to say.  Thank you so much for your efforts Vincent. Your work enriches all our flightsim experiences.

Do you build your airports from the SDK directly or use any intermediate software like ADE, blender, photoshop, gimp, etc?

[ega 98]

I noticed that I do have all your sceneries as per your list above - I love them all!

Thank you so much for sharing your fantastic work.

Kind regards

[vbazillio 2,240]

47 minutes ago, cianpars said:

Exactly what I was about to say.  Thank you so much for your efforts Vincent. Your work enriches all our flightsim experiences.

Do you build your airports from the SDK directly or use any intermediate software like ADE, blender, photoshop, gimp, etc?

Here's my flow. I may elaborate more if it's of interest (let me know but beware I'm an amateur!):

1. Choose an airport to build. Not that easy 😉 The airport may not be interesting but I flew there and have material (for example Lake Havazu), too complex for my skill (for example Torrance), too big, there's not enough data available, doesn't interest the community...
2. Collect information. My own pic or videos (I record a lot when flying in real), Youtube, Vimeo, Flickr, Google Search, Bing Map (Birds Eyes mode is awesome), Google Map, Street map...
3. ADE: to create in a blink of an eyes the structure of the MSFS project and packages. Once generated, I clean it manually with notepad+ and re-organized folders, output folders for my own taste, create my own package structure (material, model, services...)
4. MSFS Scenery Editor is 80% of the time spent. Modifying all apron object (the texture applied to the satellite image), setting all taxiway signs, taxiway lines, sometime terraforming (see Fallbrook which is a real challenge for me) and adding thousand of objects : replacing the AI generated buildings with more generic appropriate one but also all the fences all around the airport and hundred of small cones, trees, toolbox, opened hangars details, static aircraft...
5. Blender to create objects. It's rather fast after 3 years for specific taxiway signs and building signs that I love to put in my scenery With my skill it's take ages to create something basic like the Cafe at Kern Valley or all the buildings of Marble Canyon "town" and Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center
6. GIMP to deal with texture. It's one more of my weak skill. I really need to learn how to produce better quality
7. Back and forth between MSFS loading with the build scenery and empty folder for the scenery editor. It takes hours and hours of booting MSFS (and my MSFS is on my fastest NVME's 😉
8. Tests in Drone mode and several flights.
9. Public release on flightsim.to
10. Feedback analysis and get back to step 4 😉

I consider my airport never finished as satellite imaginary can be updated, new documents can be found, new feedback of users, new technics or objects appeared. That's why also there a lot of updates and versioning (not really smart here nor really any rational ;). Small airport can be create in a matter of week. For example, Fallbrook or Bowerman took me only 1 week (3 hours during night and very early in the morning before my job day starts). Other scenery can take 3 or 4 weeks. Don't forget it's only amateur work with basic generic buildings. And a longer project is not enough attractive to feed my own interest. If it's too long... it's boring.

Make sense?

Edited December 2, 2023 by vbazillio

[andy1252 3,871]

Thanks for all the wonderful work, Vincent. Much appreciated and valued.

[cianpars 1,166]

10 minutes ago, vbazillio said:

Here's my flow. I may elaborate more if it's of interest (let me know but beware I'm an amateur!):

1. Choose an airport to build. Not that easy 😉 The airport may not be interesting but I flew there and have material (for example Lake Havazu), too complex for my skill (for example Torrance), too big, there's not enough data available, doesn't interest the community...
2. Collect information. My own pic or videos (I record a lot when flying in real), Youtube, Vimeo, Flickr, Google Search, Bing Map (Birds Eyes mode is awesome), Google Map, Street map...
3. ADE: to create in a blink of an eyes the structure of the MSFS project and packages. Once generated, I clean it manually with notepad+ and re-organized folders, output folders for my own taste, create my own package structure (material, model, services...)
4. MSFS Scenery Editor is 80% of the time spent. Modifying all apron object (the texture applied to the satellite image), setting all taxiway signs, taxiway lines, sometime terraforming (see Fallbrook which is a real challenge for me) and adding thousand of objects : replacing the AI generated buildings with more generic appropriate one but also all the fences all around the airport and hundred of small cones, trees, toolbox, opened hangars details, static aircraft...
5. Blender to create objects. It's rather fast after 3 years for specific taxiway signs and building signs that I love to put in my scenery With my skill it's take ages to create something basic like the Cafe at Kern Valley or all the buildings of Marble Canyon "town" and Navajo Bridge Interpretive Center
6. GIMP to deal with texture. It's one more of my weak skill. I really need to learn how to produce better quality
7. Back and forth between MSFS loading with the build scenery and empty folder for the scenery editor. It takes hours and hours of booting MSFS (and my MSFS is on my fastest NVME's 😉
8. Tests in Drone mode and several flights.
9. Public release on flightsim.to
10. Feedback analysis and get back to step 4 😉

I consider my airport never finished as satellite imaginary can be updated, new documents can be found, new feedback of users, new technics or objects appeared. That's why also there a lot of updates and versioning (not really smart here nor really any rational ;). Small airport can be create in a matter of week. For example, Fallbrook or Bowerman took me only 1 week (3 hours during night and very early in the morning before my job day starts). Other scenery can take 3 or 4 weeks. Don't forget it's only amateur work with basic generic buildings. And a longer project is not enough attractive to feed my own interest. If it's too long... it's boring.

Make sense?

Thank Vincent.  Very useful information.  Having created a few sceneries for fsx it looks like a steep learning curve.  I think I will start with ADE as I used that for

some of the stuff I did in FSX and take it from there.

[bvdboomen 257]

Great work Vincent and you've managed to make a very large set of airports already.
Thank you and keep up the goed work!

[polosim 850]

1 hour ago, vbazillio said:

Choose an airport to build.

Thanking you for all your great work and effort, you are doing very well.
Could you suggest considering making a version of San Carlos airport KSQL ?

[Nemo 1,305]

My pleasure, Vincent. If some "professionals" had the same enthusiasm as "amateurs" like you,  that's what I wish ... Thank you!

[regis9 4,014]

Congratulations and thank you for all of your wonderful contributions to our hobby!

I love flying in SoCal and the southwestern United States generally…typically good VFR weather and now that it’s winter, daylight during my evenings since I’m four hours ahead.  Having all of your airports available gives me lots of choice in where I fly for short VFR hops.

How easy/difficult do you find ADE work in MSFS compared to P3D/FSX?

I used to do a lot of tweaking of gates, parking assignments etc in previous sims but have never really figured out how to do it in MSFS.

Edited December 2, 2023 by regis9

[btacon 1,807]

I truly appreciate the depth and quantity of your grace Vincent. May God Bless you and may He always remember your many acts of kindness. 
 

-B