Mariopilot

Above All we have to thank Luis for his contribution. Your comments are really very much appreciated! Thanks!

...and another advice! Go join the guys at FSDeveloper.com Forums, that's the FS-Dev's hiding nest (see you there?)!

I have been in talk with the guy behind it... still need to find time to test it out! It is a land-class, and it covers the entire globe, so if you want more city detail this will do! (OSM covered areas will be higher in detail, but this may cover areas that OSM database missed?)

Thou Shalt consult P3D SDK! Generally, if an aircraft does not "use" specular or bump maps, they can not be added. Missing spec/bump texture files make the aircraft render incorrectly. If the aircraft does not ship with them, they can not be added... Just like FS9, diffuse (normal) texture contains an alpha channel that "should" add reflections (envmap). You can try add it if not there, but if aircraft becomes semi-transparent, remove it. You shall check texture.cfg (if present) as FS-X & P3D do fallback tricks so you can have a "common" texture folder and have single re-paints without repeating stuff as VC and bump/spec maps. This is where specular/bump map textures may be. Specular maps contain a color map for the shine (in FS-9, this is a color embedded in the model) and an alpha that dictates if the shine is "glossy" or "matte" (e.g. thin but bright or wide and gradual, think metal vs. rubber. Black alpha= metal, white alpha=rubber). If diffuse is black, no shine. Diffuse can be any RGB value. Bump maps are more complicated. There is a bump map plugin for photoshop, and then you need to juggle around the RGB channels and drop one in the alpha... do not remember how to now... you should try to google "FSX bump maps GIMP" or something alike... Final note DDS DXT5 is higher quality than DXT-3, better use that one! FSX (and P3d?) attempts to load a "BMP" file, if not found looks for "DDS". DDS may need to be flipped vertically. DXTBMP can do this for you... There is no strict naming convention for texture files, therefore a "_spec" or " _bump" file will not be picked up by the sim unless it is declared inside the MDL file...

I was originally going to post a curiosity shot from this flight, but it proved so scenic of a flight I took more shots for the memory! This got me started on the screenshots... must be a windi day and someone forgot to tie down !!! Let's hope out there for a smooth flight, and this not to be a sign of things to come...!!! FL300 above the clouds, sun is setting! Did not have a view like that in a while!! AS we keep on going, the clouds a re still here breathtakingly tinting with the setting sun's atmosphere... This is why we love flying! On our way down at about 5000 ft, breaking through the clouds into the lights of Paris! Turning on the glideslope... We are going to seriously need it!! Somehow, we made it... a bouncy landing in the turbulent weather... kept me t5oo busy for shots on the way down... visual with RWY26 occurred only 5 miles out... aircraft not equipped with auto-land!! FS)-Evo + OSM World Western Europe work great together... !!

So, the project is still alive, yes! I have been deeply entrenched in Photoshop doing backgrounds for cockpit panels, so this is what I show you today: 2D cockpit. So far the only working gauge is a partially completed ADI. It is a fairly advanced unit comprising a full turn coordinator... Side console, captain side. HDG gyro controls, HUD panel, oxygen mask... 3D details still missing. The area behind still needs modeling, but it is just a storage area... Virtual Cockpit. No working gauges yet.... textures still not done aside the panel itself... The pedestal panel. Throttles, radio, AP... Still lots to do here.... Overhead panel. Although most knobs are done (not functional yet) all switches are still not there... More to come in the future! Stay tuned!!

I have similar issues. The kneeboard does not pop up when I press F10... although F10 again makes the selection buttons show as they are clicked... panning also reveals where the "backgroundized" kneeboard went... if you try and drag it with the mouse it then shows properly... also pressing ALT to show the main menu affects things. Try pressing ALT and see what happens!

square lake borders are due to inland water-class at default landclass level. The mask-landclñass of OSM world South America tries to fix this, but making it more aggressive covers up landclass near all coastlines with a pattern of 2 different classes. FS has a strange way of rendering land-class in which a cell with a transparent neighbor is ignored and rendered transparent... I already "went over" by 2 px to compensate for this and sometimes it is already too much.... some others like above it is not enough... I with I could just decompile the default landclass and edit it up ....

Hi All! Edition #5! I have completed external textures! Next up is work on 2D & 3D cockpit! Let's begin! Overview! textures are very hi-res. The aircraft looks "clean" until you close up and all the panel lines come into view! a closer view! note that "cockpit" textures are incomplete! I will work on these at DVC level and dwonscale them for the external model Wing, gear, engine...overall "blown dirt" effect on the aircraft... a closeup of the deployed thrust reverser! This is not a "texture" but 3D reverser vanes! all out! similar to shot #2, but with engine running and flaps down! You can use the built-in air stair to climb aboard!! So you followed my advice on the previous image... virtual cabin! ....unless you prefer traveling on the cargo compartments!! Spoilers are up! Hope you enjoyed!!

Thanks!! I really hope so. This is a freeware project as always! Will ship in a FS-9 and FS-X version (true FS-X with bumpmaps etc...) I doubt it will be ready by the end of the year! Maybe 1st quarter 2016... I still need to get 2D and virtual cockpit done, finish texturing, prepare the documentation.... at least external model is almost complete (some animations need to be programmed accordingly to systems, as of now they either mirror default animations or respond to SHIFT+E for testing ...)

Thanks for the kind comments! very much appreciated!

Well, here I am at it again. The project is still alive and well, and today's updates are: A paint job for the tail fin! Same goes for the main gears.... painted RAT.... Nose gear textured... Retractable air-stair unit. This and all the doors and cargo hatches will be operable via the door/hatch status indicator on the overhead panel (original unit is only a display, but in-sim I plan to make the lights click-to-open door). Note that the texture needs to be still worked on... the red line along door/hatch seams is only a temporary aliment color in the textures... stair going in. almost retracted. Air-stair modeled according to original AFM drawings! The animation is also linked to the nose gear suspension so it compensates for changes in payload and it stays on the ground all time. work on the interior has begun. Although textures are mapped, they are to-do. They are here disabled for clarity... the full cabin area... still missing seats and details! Cargo areas are modeled too, but without textures they still look too awful for a screenshot Stay tuned for more!

A small update for the missing lakes above has been uploaded today. Some areas are not completely fixed, I will need to make a more aggressive landclass mask, but it will invade too much into land, so a no-go...

I have tried this in the past...my glasses were enough to upset it sadly... :( perhaps now thy made it better!

These have been identified as missing lakes. Landclass calls for water, but no LWM data is present --> square lakes. They appear to be all located near political borders, where I found lakes that should be sliced are instead eliminated by the Geofabrik system... I will attempt to recover them manually. As always, the update is due by the end of the month... Strange thing is masking landclass should have taken cvare of covering all internal lakes with terrain to avoid this...gotta check!

Nice of you to give coordinates! I'll check them out soon!

Indeed, Air Inter operated the only 10 built, and later added one of the two prototypes to the fleet. This is an older Air Inter livery. There will be a few included in the final package (due to be released on February 30, 2016 ). FS-9 and FS-X for who missed the previous two posts. The FS-X version will be FS-X SDK compiled, DX-10 compatible

Hi All! Third installment of the variable-frequency Dassault Mercure development newsletter! WE are at update #3 so far! I have been working on textures, and have the fuselage ready. That is, only the fuselage,parts such as antennas, gears and details still to do. Not to mention wings and tail surfaces. The fuselage is, divided into 4 lengthwise sections. Each section contains a L/R and a Top/Bottom texture. Totals 8x 1024 px textures for the fuselage alone. THis arrangement is a bit hard to re-paint but thanks to Photoshop and their arrangement I work on all of them in unison, as they align forming the complete fuselage sides and top/bottom areas. Photoshop takes care of exporting the single texture files from the 4096x2048 Photoshop project file! Each wing has its own texture. Engines fit both into one single texture, as do the horizontal stabilizers. Another texture takes care of the vertical fin, and a small tiny one for transparent parts. Screenshots now!! Hope you enjoyed!!

If you installed an aircraft, you can also remove it! However note: DO NOT delete default aircraft make sure they are not used by AI you may want to leave their gauges. Other aircraft may use them!

Thanks for comments Works on FS-X? great news! never tested it there

It has been a while when I first posted shots about this project. So much you may have thought the project was ditched... absolutely not! These has been a lot going on...! Again it will be a FS-9 and FS-X Freeware aircraft (FS-X edition to be DX10 compatible, do not even ask about P3D...). Let's get straight to the shots! General Layout! The model is fully mappede already, but since the textures contain only UVW map screenshots for now they look just awful, and I disabled them for the shots... Flaps & Spoilers. Everything animated with actuators included. Again for Flaps & slats, with jack-screws, guide rails and everything keyframed! Engine fans! Love these JT-8Ds!! Main Gear. Also check out the thrust reverser cascade vanes!! RAT. If it is 3D modeled, it will be in the systems modelling as well! For the Mercure the RAT provides only hydraulic back-up... Details of the nose. PItots, probes and windshield wipers. The latter are animated as well, and shown "fully out" in the picture. They will affect VC rain effect and will animate in 2D panel too... Tail detail, showing an open APU intake. I will figure out a way to get the APU functioning in FS... (FS-X has APU but it is junk...) Also, I have the Flight Dynamics at an advanced state (may be considered ready except for a few details like temp and press indications, easy to set-up) A few notes: Engines hold constant Nx % values for given throttle settings. E.G. set to Max Cont. N1 and forget. Most FS aircraft like to have RPM all over the place as you climb and accelerate... NOT here!! Engine power calculated from real data tables advanced aerodynamic predictors used (like DATCOM and AVL, with help of the Flight Dynamics Workbook). The Mercure does not feel "on rails" like a lot of FS airliners. It however flies smooth and gentle, but improper handling will result in oscillations. It was nicknamed "Le chasseur de Air Inter" for a reason: you can roll it, although this is a forbidden maneuver... Feels a tad under-powered during takeoff (same engines as 732 but heavier), but once the wheels are off, it CLIMBS. you can set max climb and hold 3500 FPM for a while All mach tables filled in. The more data I added, the better it behaved at altitude. A Dassault product it is! An aerodynamic marvel! Stall is 160KIAS clean, 110KIAS full flaps (numbers for full weight). Can land on fairly short runways, but the benefit is negated by the required take-off run... Stall behavior: gentle at start, just let go of the pressure. max AoA is 12° only, but not easy to reach! A mild wing rocking may be observed prior to stall (buffet). During turns a mild wing snap may occur. Force the stall and prepare for an unrecoverable flat spin ... Next up I will texture the external model, then work on the interiors. Last, the Virtual Cockpit, 2D panel, and gauges/systems! It may be a while again before you have more news on the project

I have never intended to use OSM airport polygons as they are going to mismatch default airports, that are generally a bit misplaced/shifted in one direction or the other... and OSM is always incompleter so that is a no-go... The OSM scenery is supposed to be above the default airport data according to the install instructions I think... so moving the default polys to the core may fix it? I think not so we are stuck woth the excludes...

Oddly enough I have not been able to see your pictures... but I have an idea... try moving the default AP* into the OSM core EDIT: i cannot see pictures due to a dropbox error... probably they belong to an account of yours and are not public?

I do not see how that solves the issue... you excluded VTP polygons, therefore excluded default airport polys, then added them back up? The problem is that the roads invading airport polygons may carry with them light poles, and IU have at times seen them cross the runway!! The excludes let the roads stay there but eliminate all unwanted objects... I do not get what your method does as you leave layers 6 annd 8 that we used for roads unexcluded... P.S. yes the Europe scenery is in the library as well , last update for it was released in October...

Problem is that excludes have to be rectangular... therefore I simply built a rectangle that spans the airport based on default FS airport polygons... I attempted dissecting the airports in parts with Scenproc and then do rectangles of the parts, but the output is too huge even if splitting in 4 chunks the polys... another technique is the "VTP exclude" that obliterates all choosen vtp layers in the LOD8 (was it8?) cells its polygon touches... no more autogen voids, but abrupt disappearance of all roads in proximity. All the access roads close to the terminals are gone that way... I did not like this at all therfore went for the object excludes... and sadly "library object exclude" does not work because vector autogen, although it comes from libraries it is seen as autogen and not objects... on the other hand the autogen voids are not always very noticeable... P.S. I may be unable to do work for a week or two as I just formatted my machine (no data has been lost however, and FS9 is already running better than ever)