AI-package - the next generation!

[agtim 0]

hi Jon,was not very hard, 1. hexview of the file defining lines of same shape and count it.2. inserting print statement in the perl script to see what is written into aimodel.dat. :-wave agtim

[Guest effyouthree]

Andre,I know, it's just that I find it hard to jump between ideologies very quickly. As you are aware, ever since Rob taught me how to make models, I've never stopped (except when creating the odd plane or 2). Helping Ansgar with the AI was interesting but I always left the aimodel.dat file alone as we had to be able to share our changes during development. Now we have the planes, sounds and specs, it's time to attack the datfile ;) I'll still leave it to Jokke and Ansgar though, as they're already somewhat more experienced and I don't know what I could offer to the group.Many times I have thought of concentrating on other aspects of FU3 but, as I'm more useful doing what I know, I haven't really discovered much - unlike your efforts with scenery and terrain. For example, I was trying to follow Jim's efforts in OT but was constantly distracted by my own projects. I'm sure there is still much we could do, terrain-wise. For example, I'd love to know how the night lighting works in relation to ground textures, so we can have night lights in UKS, as well as modify the existing Seattle and Sanfran regions for better realism (like remove the strange lights from taxiways and runways etc). All I need is to understand how they're generated and extracted - I would be happy to devote some months to this! I assume that they are like the model night lighting in that they are simply an overlay file that is displayed on top of the day textures. From this, they must have the same resolution as the day tiles and therefore must also use the same packing format. So, just as one can create nightmips from daymips, maybe (with a LOT of work but I don't mind...) it's not too hard. For example, if I could extract the day tiles, I can write a script that highlights the points of interest (roads, houses etc) whilst 'blacking out' dense forest and water. This would only be a starting point but, as the night tiles use very few colours, it shouldn't be too hard. I've tried doing overlays using 3D models with nitemips but having large areas covered by models kills the framerate :-(This probably all sounds dumb to someone who knows better but I'd love to play with this aspect. Just can't wait to fill-up those highways, add some street lighting and remove some weird lights. Then there's UKS. As much as I love it, my favourite flying times are dawn and dusk and it gets annoying having to advance the time so the lack of lighting is believable! Even more so when you're near an airport as they are lit-up and look weird in the dark surroundings. If you have any ideas that I could use to start the investigation, please let me know. I have downloaded all your tools over time and have played with terrain height adjustments but not the texture tiles. :-waveRegards,**************Jonathan Point**************"I'd rather be down here wishing I was up there than up there wishing I was down here"

[Guest effyouthree]

Oh!And night lights for Switzerland too!Which reminds me, how can I get a later version of Switzerland? After seeing your previews, I'm longing for some more mountain flying ;)Regards,**************Jonathan Point**************"I'd rather be down here wishing I was up there than up there wishing I was down here"

[agtim 0]

Hi Jon,Same problems here, too many different sections are still undiscovered in fu3 and I jump from model to terrain, to AI ...The night tiles are not so simple to do. I had a first look months ago then I stopped - too much work and I have use it very seldom.Switzerland is growing slowly... its far to be ready will post a screenshot later this week and - will have adsl soon good for exchange. :-wave agtim

[Guest Quaxo]

Hey... I just noticed this thread... Do NOT touch the Ryanair livery! ;) It's thanks to their cheap fares that I could afford to visit England (3 times) and France and Sweden, so... Just do NOT remove it, ok? At least, leave a special AI version for the UK - where Ryanair belongs... ;)Cristian

[Christopher Low 5,354]

If Cristian does not want Ryanair to go, then who am I to argue ? ;-)Chris Low.