Comments on: Plausible, Realistic, Procedural and Algorithmic

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 13:52:39 +0000

Show, don't tell.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:35:42 +0000

Gentlemen,

I justify spending time with this simulator by the fact that I am dynamically admiring someone's work of art. For example, it amazes me how much cloud shadows on the ground scenery add to the feel of what you guys are trying to capture, regardless of how far away I can see trees.

Keep up the good art, and I look forward to v. 10.

Curtis

By: Benjamin Supnik

Benjamin Supnik — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 21:06:23 +0000

No – the sandy desert is _neither_ realistic nor plausible. It's unrealistic because there isn't one here. It's not plausible because it would completely contradict all other aspects of the local ecosystem. Even if you didn't know what NE is like, you'd see the desert and go "WTF"?!? 🙂

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 20:56:49 +0000

"A giant sandy desert would not be plausible for my location."

Won't be realistic, but plausible it will, right?

By: Benjamin Supnik

Benjamin Supnik — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:23:22 +0000

Folks:

http://xplanescenery.blogspot.com/2010/10/will-x-plane-10-have-x.html

Everything not in 10.0 is in the 'figure it out after 10.0' ships bucket. So:

– Dunno what we'll do.
– Not gonna think about it until 10.0 ships.

By: kaminari

kaminari — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 16:02:38 +0000

Anonymous' question about the sound architecture is a good one. I don't think it has changed very much since XP5. And while it's rather decent, its lack of plausibility (let alone realism) has always bothered me.

I can actually recall JetPilot on the Amiga (a terrific military sim released late in 1996) being much more advanced in the sound department, with Doppler effects, sonic booms and engine sounds being rendered differently according to the aircraft speed and the camera position (for outside and inside views).

Nils' fantastic BK117 has been updated recently with a custom sound plugin which massively blows XP out of the water. The experience is so radically superior to the standard sound model that flying with any other aircraft feels like a regression as far as immersion is concerned.

By: simmo

simmo — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 06:48:03 +0000

More great info and background Ben! Outerra is great but people don't understand it's come far too late in your processes, plus I don't know if it's even been tested within a meaty game/physics engine to see that it doesn't have FSX circa 2006 performance.

I don't know if everyone realises the sheer scale of what you are doing- a GLOBAL Simulation, that covers every part of the world. I've spent months tweaking scenery for KMMH, one tiny part of the world, but the base sim is just a massive scale. Compromises must be made- Eg with the new Reno and UK photosceneries coming out, the massive storage requirements hit you (all of UK IN 'only' 15 DVDs). People can't expect photorealistic terrain at that resolution for the world.

As ever, best of luck.

Simon W

By: dancepuppy56

dancepuppy56 — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 02:10:44 +0000

The issue of art and algorithmic is at the point of the join, it is getting great art to fit in at the right point.
A great custom Airport scenery is ruined by the flat monopoly board around it, most times the connection roads go nowhere and there is no city around it to connect to, so believability goes out of the window with it, no matter how good the scenery is, worse is like NYEXPRO, many Xplaners got this to work, but for me it was the best day in my Xplane life when it went in the trash, so again the issue is how to fit in say the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty (2 3d icons) that we recognise as NYC, and fit them into an algorithmic world, and doing it seamlessly and for real.
Flightime56

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 22:11:51 +0000

One question. Is there anybody on Laminar Research who cares about upgrading to the appropriate sound architecture in XP10? Real aviators know how important is to have high quality sound cues...

regards
leveld