Training runaways

[Guest R_Driscoll]

Well the Railway is finished - you will have to come and meet my Waterloo some time. But I'm holding off uploading for the moment, taking some time to touch up the older London scenery models a bit - stretch London Bridge, fix little bugs etc. In that way when I upload it, you will automatically install the improved scenery models without having to go through the complicated process of loading FLED, removing the old models, installing the new, reloading FLED, placing the new models in their correct location and orientation, all of which is a bit of a hasslehof. So please be patient! Anyway, the market is deluged with new packages and models at present!Also thanks to Ansgar's help, I have been rebuilding the component MIP's for runways. Progress so far:I have made replacement MIPs in high detail for all components of the runway. By high detail I mean 256x256, rather than the old 128x128. This includes some tyre marks, and a false 3D-textured surface (to look more like asphalt). Its darker, has edge and centre markings, plus of course the sectional markings such as the piano keys in separate MIPs. The numbers were created in a proper font rather than my wobbly painting directly with a paint brush, and graduated sections from light to dark marking have been developed.This was used to rebuild the Heathrow 27L/09R runway. I flew into Heathrow last night, with mixed results: - the visual impact was much improved, and the feeling of being on a runway was more realistic. Blending of colours (Anti-aliasing - two days ago I couldn't sspel it, now I yuse it) improved the effect considerably. - the framerates dropped badly. I'm running a 500 MHz machine - some of you guys with faster machines will cope I think. But the graphics engine is drawing 4 times as much runway, and it shows. - one section was out of alignment with the others - I made a mistake in painting and it mars the effect - I have to redo this section.Future work: - blended edging (as used in the McChord taxiways) so that runway merges with terrain - small fixes to images - release a version for developers to use in making their own runways - release minimum size upgrades to the main airports - I mean release upgrades, not complete packages, just as I did with the last major upload for Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick. - develop a concrete-based version (this one is asphalt).RobD.

[Guest jonpoint]

Rob,Sounds great! Do you want to send me a new texture to try out? I accept the framerate issue but I'd like to know how it would affect a medium-speed PC. As you know, I cut short my overtexturing of parts of Seattle because of this - but then I had a 366MHz PC! I tried putting my overtextures back into Clare's Valley and, whilst unfinished, it looks better than hi-res terrain (1 pixel per metre is better than 1 per 4 metres eh?) and I still get 12-15fps. Of course, without it and in OT, I usually get 20-25fps but that's OK!PS Don't forget to 'stretch' the fonts! Standard practise that I've seen is to double the height (but leave width alone). This makes it possible to read it when you're close enough to switch to the nearest taxiway... er, sorry, alternative runway ;)PPS Last night I was checking the logbook recording with the Dash8 and was on final to SEA when I was told to go around again (gotta remember to lower my AI settings) so I turned out, lined-up with the off-ramp and landed on the apron, rolling right up to the parking spot! I'm beginning to agree with you here, I think our landing fees should be waived if we avoid the runway altogether. BTW, according to the logbook, I landed OK and that's all the FAA knows about :-lolJon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************

[Guest Ansgar]

Dear Robert,very good to hear! I

[Christopher Low 5,332]

How do you guys live with such ancient machines ? :-)Chris Low.

[Lars Peter 0]

Some of us still use "Fred Flint" computers.:-hah Lars Peter.P.III-60010GB.HD.256mb.RAM.:-wave

[Guest R_Driscoll]

Having an older computer was a great help in making Stonehenge - somehow Stonehenge felt just right and appropriate on the old machine.But wasn't Stonehenge a sort of computer (astronomical computer) anyway? Looking at the diagrams for Stonehenge, there is a data bus (straight lines coming into the CPU (central processing unit), off to the right a similar small circle indicating parallel processing, probably for their graphical interface, and there's the famous optical link power supply (the sun). Pity some of the keyboard's fallen over.I think I just proved Stonehenge is a more modern computer than my own. Bother. I'm off to the local quarry to get an upgrade. YabbadabbaDOOOOOOOOO.Jon, thanks for your offer! I would appreciate someone else's comments and advice. I hadn't realised about the numbers needing to be stretched - that's a good point. I will put together a package tonight and send it to you.And thanks Ansgar - I am sure you are right. It is better to wait and get it right. I added night lighting last night, and mostly it works OK but I made the trains too bright so I will do them again. Less bright night light's right (sorry about that) - eine kleine nacht licht.RobD"Is your computer henge compatible?"

[Guest Ansgar]

Geeez come one Chris,I have the "most modern computer" in our house! My father is working up to now with my FIRST computer:A IBM-XT with 4,7MHz !!!-> 64kByte RAM which I upgraded to 256kByte (really kByte not MByte!)-> no HDD!!! But therefore 2x5,25" diskdrives (one disk with 360kByte for the whole MS-DOS Operating System!!!!)-> hercules graphics-card for the monochrome green monitorUnbelievable or ? The "dam**ed" thing is running and running... no sign of the big age of more than 25years now ;-) :-)But HEYYYY you can dream of to start your OS from a single 360kbyte floppy without any HDD-drive => thats a record now!So why should I buy a new computer if everything is running so far? *ggg*Greetings ;-) :-)Ansgar

[Guest R_Driscoll]

Almost finished - but I have to go away for a few days so can't upload yet.RobD