Christopher Low

I have now installed Nool VDGS (which I thought was already installed), and run the batch file to identify which airports are supported. However, IniBuilds EGLL London Heathrow is not one of them. I checked on the internet, and it seems that IniBuilds no longer offer Nool VDGS support for this airport. I would need to install GSX, which I have no intention of doing. Rather disappointing ☹️

I do not see a Nool VDGS folder in my Community folder....

Yes, but that is exactly what we get with photogrammetry, and the results are less than satisfactory. I still think that 3D models of specific landmarks, plus AI trained to replicate standard houses/other buildings/circular oil tanks etc as standard 3D models would be the best solution, but quite how much processing power that would take is anyone's guess.

That last screenshot brings a tear to my eye. It shows almost the entirety of the high resolution scenery region in Flight Unlimited 2 (apart from a small section down to South County airport). That included a (very basic) version of 2O3 Parrett airfield, but it was a great simulator for its day. EDIT: I see that South County airport is now known as San Martin.

I see that UK2000 is classed as a "Supporter" of the show. I do not know what that means exactly, but as a UK2000 beta tester, I do not mind being considered as "mobile UK2000 product support" over the weekend. In fact, I would love to talk to anyone who has questions or issues with respect to UK2000 products 👍

Maybe they thought that exhibiting in the shadow of a real Concorde would be asking for trouble! 😉

I do not use GSX, so we can rule that one out. VDGS works at some of my payware airports, so there must be one system that works automatically after the airports are installed, because I have never done anything to get this to work. I will have to follow Rob's advice, and see what happens.

It would have been fitting, considering that the vast majority of the stalls are going to be under and around a Concorde!

I mean payware or hand crafted airports. I do not use default airports.

It is much more significant with the nose gear. This disappears at much closer range than the main undercarriage. I see this frequently, and it makes AI aircraft look like the modern mechanical equivalent of the Tyrannosaurus Rex with its puny arms! Some of the business jet models are affected so badly that they float off the ground with no undercarriage at all at even moderate distances from the observer.

Interesting. Will this utility also enable modification and addition of AI parking spots? That would be very significant.

That MAX 10 is a stretch too far in my opinion, although I did have a similar view of the 737-900 at first, but now I like it! 🙂 It seems that the shorter versions of aircraft are becoming less popular these days. A total of 389 units of the Boeing 737-500 were built, but only 69 units of the 737-600. Now Boeing are struggling to receive orders even for the longer 737 MAX 7. Airbus built 667 A330-200s, but so far only 13 units of the A330-800 NEO have been ordered. A shame, because I rather like the short versions of airliners, but they are rapidly becoming extinct!

How do I get the VDGS system to work at IniBuilds EGLL London Heathrow in MSFS 2024? In fact, how do I also get it working at some other airports? It seems that I have active VDGS at a handful of my payware airports, but those same boards are dark and empty at others. What is the difference?

I back up my Community and Steam Official folders on a regular basis.

Yes, I would love to be able to add objects to existing airports, and (more importantly) be able to add/modify AI parking spots. In other words, Airport Design Editor for MSFS 2024.

Too many options for my liking. Just give us a proper ATC environment in the default simulator that works in offline mode with our AI model and flightplan packages of choice.

The floor plan is now available for the UK Flightsim Show. It seems that most of the stalls are going to be in the Concorde hangar, so this should be one amazing sight! https://fsimuk.bfsg.club/exhibitor-floorplan/

To be fair, there is a lot more to this issue than just the landing gear of AI planes. For the first time today, I noticed the LOD culling on an entire AI aircraft as I was taxiing in at BIKF Keflavik. The AI plane was parked directly ahead of me, and facing directly away from me. I noticed that I could not see the tailfin, and the rear of the aircraft looked a bit "indistinct". A few seconds after that, the tailfin magically appeared from the quantum world, and that indistinct rear of the plane became more clearly defined. I also noticed an airport building "shimmer" out of the corner of my eye when I was taxiing in at the IniBuilds version of EGGW Luton. In fact, that was probably something to do with the textures, as I have seen many examples of that happening at multiple airports in both MSFS 2024 and MSFS 2020. A good example would be the IniBuilds version of LDDU Dubrovnik, where the jetway attachment sections of the terminal building switch to a lighter shaded texture as I get close to them (they do this in sequence as I pass the terminal). A similar thing happens to the fuel farm just west of the terminal building. A really obvious example of this happens at the IniBuilds version of EGGW Luton when on final approach to runway 07. The detailed version of the DART railway terminal only appears at very close range. Prior to that, it is a very basic grey and black autogen type building that looks about as much like the real DART railway terminal as I look like Marilyn Monroe. I have already informed IniBuilds about this (because it is so obvious and unrealistic), so hopefully something is eventually done about it. EDIT: IniBuilds have a stand at the upcoming UK Flightsim Show, so I will probably wander over for a chat about the issues at several airports that I have mentioned to them over the past few months 😉

Does it improve the animations of the AI planes when landing, departing and taxiing? Does it prevent daft situations where planes are using opposite ends of a runway at the same time? Does it work properly in offline mode? That is what I would want to know.

https://vector-sim.com/

I have the screen resolution set to 1920x1080, but I also use DSR1.5x which increases that to 2880x1620.

Is this "big bounding box" hack also used with the entire aircraft model (rather than just small parts like the undercarriage)? My AI planes are all static these days (as the movement and coordination of AI traffic in MSFS 2024 is nonsense with default ATC), so I never get to see what the AI planes look like when arriving and departing.

The screenshots posted by JetClipper VR above illustrate the kind of thing that I see on my PC. You can see that many of the airliner models parked at the gate are floating without any visible undercarriage, and the aircraft ready for departure have missing nose gear. That is clearly visible, and therefore needs to be addressed.

I noticed it to some extent when taxiing in at EGLF Farnborough ten minutes ago. I looked at a line of business jets parked on taxiway Delta, and I noticed missing nose gear on the more distant aircraft. However, I also noticed that a small Cessna Citation parked somewhere in the middle was floating without any visible undercarriage at all. I think I have seen this before, so it is possible that this particular model suffers from it to a greater extent than most (which could simply be due to the fact that the component parts of this aircraft will naturally be smaller than the larger business jets and airliners). I will keep observing as I fly to different airports, and note the extent of the problem with different aircraft models.

That's a fair point. I just find it odd that floating AI planes is not a bigger issue for some people. However, we are all different, so your comments are noted 👍