MR PI GSL Update

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I have finished at least a rough draft of Clark Field... Is it up to standard? It is part of the project to convert MR's Philippines set to GSL It took me a while to re-learn FSSC and MR's Tutorial, but I think I go t. I will clean this up a bit, then work on the other Manila/Luzon bases

 

[aussie]

Hi Shadow Wolf,

I'm sure the GSL version will be a great addition. Keep in mind MR liked historical accuracy and there was no trees at Clark at the time. Just my humble opinion but maybe just GSL the exiting objects and don't add anything extra that wasn't in his originals. I do however look forward to the new GSL versions of his wonderful PI bases.

Cheers
Aussie

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Yes, sir:

I made another error besides overdoing it with trees; I mistakenly added another taxiway on the eastern side. I figured: What the heck? It gives me space for storage and barracks areas. So I left it in. As a result, my rendition is larger. Keep in mind, this is the first time I've built a base since 2014, so I'm a bit rusty. My technique and results will improve as I go.

Having recently re-watched "Air Force" I kept the impression of a fairly dense overgrowth around the perimeter and forest objects seemed appropriate for the dark green and rough-looking areas in the background texture areas of MR's scenery. I used an overhead screenshot to try to identify what objects were used, placement of revetments and structures as closely to the original as possible.

Years ago I was told/read that more than 150-175 FSSC macro objects and structures can cause frame rate problems. As for GSL, you can use as many as 300-350 before similar F/R drop off. Maybe that is another reason for the lack of trees and other objects in the PI scenery as compared to MR's later GSL creations. One must remember there is a lot more great objects to choose from now, than when MR PI was originally done.

 

[kdriver]

Hi SW,

This is a good project. Rami converted Darwin to GSL by simply replacing the macro objects with their GSL equivalents as Aussie mentions.

In case you haven't noticed, the Philippines, along with a number of MR's earlier works, are pre-Rhumba water masks. The airfields are based on stock scenery and will work with the addition of Rhumba's earlier water and coast files. The GSL scenery for Manila city and port is also based on stock scenery.

If you go with Rhumba's water masks you may find some coastal airfields, as well as central Manila, will be inundated.

Cheers,
Kevin

 

[Rami]

Reply...

Kevin et al,

Yes, that's correct. I also used a similar technique for remaking Captain Kurt's 354th Fighter Group missions into GSL. That turned out to be a giant pain in the keyster, (in some cases, I had to individually place over 1,200 trees) but it got done.

As a way to honor MaskRider, I am joining forces on this project; I will begin working through the airfields in the next few days and putting a new layout on top of the .bgl representation and save the layout. Then, Kevin can provide a "clean" bgl file with the objects removed. The layout is then used to make the airfield into GSL. It's time-consuming, but really straightforward.

The other obligation is to make sure that to make sure everything on MaskRider's site is up at SOH.

 

[RWILLS]

Yes, sir:

I made another error besides overdoing it with trees; I mistakenly added another taxiway on the eastern side. I figured: What the heck? It gives me space for storage and barracks areas. So I left it in. As a result, my rendition is larger. Keep in mind, this is the first time I've built a base since 2014, so I'm a bit rusty. My technique and results will improve as I go.

Having recently re-watched "Air Force" I kept the impression of a fairly dense overgrowth around the perimeter and forest objects seemed appropriate for the dark green and rough-looking areas in the background texture areas of MR's scenery. I used an overhead screenshot to try to identify what objects were used, placement of revetments and structures as closely to the original as possible.

Years ago I was told/read that more than 150-175 FSSC macro objects and structures can cause frame rate problems. As for GSL, you can use as many as 300-350 before similar F/R drop off. Maybe that is another reason for the lack of trees and other objects in the PI scenery as compared to MR's later GSL creations. One must remember there is a lot more great objects to choose from now, than when MR PI was originally done.

I've found that too many GSL objects seem to affect Mission Builder. I did a Battle of Britain install a while ago, which had a huge amount of GSL objects and found that although mission builder still worked, unit ID numbers then seemed to start at more than 10000 and this prevented missions from working.

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Updated Clark

I fixed my errors and took out the forests and most of the trees. I plan to go next to Bataan Strip and Nichols, Main and Auxiliary strips.

Go for it Rami! I'm taking overhead screenshots of MR's base and using the airbase.dat info, reconstructing them from scratch. Using screenshots from the originals, I try to duplicate object types and positioning.

 

[kdriver]

I've found that too many GSL objects seem to affect Mission Builder. I did a Battle of Britain install a while ago, which had a huge amount of GSL objects and found that although mission builder still worked, unit ID numbers then seemed to start at more than 10000 and this prevented missions from working.

When missions are edited MB reassigns higher ID numbers. In order to get missions to work, I've had to hand edit missions with IDs over 10000, substituting the IDs with lower numbers.

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I finished (to my satisfaction PI Nielson Airport in Manila. Next is Bataan, Nichols and the rest of the Luzon Bases... I tried to keep Nielson as close to MR's original as possible.

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

As stated above, I have completed the Clark and Nielson bases and I'm currently finishing up Bataan-Cabcaben and Nichols. I am not doing the GSL layouts for them until later, just the base texture. Nichols is almost done and Bataan is finished. The sister base for Bataan, Cabcaben is being "textured.."

Once I finish these bases on Luzon, I will work my way south in the MR PI 1 package Is anyne else helping in this project or am I a Lone Ranger? Seems to me that a few months ago several of us agreed to start a redo of the Philippine bases into GSL. Is that help still available?

 

[kdriver]

Hi Greg,

If you don't want to build all the bases from scratch, I can give you MR's Philippine bases without the API scenery objects - just the background bitmap, runways, taxiways and gas pumps. I haven't substituted the APIs with their respective GSL objects.

Kevin

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Hi Greg,

If you don't want to build all the bases from scratch, I can give you MR's Philippine bases without the API scenery objects - just the background bitmap, runways, taxiways and gas pumps. I haven't substituted the APIs with their respective GSL objects.

Kevin

Wow! That would be great! It would save a lot of painting time. You have my email, right?

 

[kdriver]

I don't appear to have it anymore. Would you mind sending it by PM?
Cheers,
Kevin

 

[Captain Kurt]

I promised to help too. I can start once I get back from vacation

 

[aussie]

As stated above, I have completed the Clark and Nielson bases and I'm currently finishing up Bataan-Cabcaben and Nichols. I am not doing the GSL layouts for them until later, just the base texture. Nichols is almost done and Bataan is finished. The sister base for Bataan, Cabcaben is being "textured.."

I can help out too,

I have the GSL layout done for Bataan, just need to do her sister. Only took about 20mins to do. I left the api objects there and just placed the GSL objects over the top. I'll remove the api's later or Kevin could send me the versions he's done already to save me reinventing the wheel.

Cheers
Aussie

 

[aussie]

Hi All,

Cabcaben's layout is done now too and I've ran them through GobCheck and they were split over 4 gobs.

Cheers
Aussie

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Hi All,

Cabcaben's layout is done now too and I've ran them through GobCheck and they were split over 4 gobs.

Cheers
Aussie

As stated above, I have completed the Clark and Nielson bases and I'm currently finishing up Bataan-Cabcaben and Nichols. I am not doing the GSL layouts for them until later, just the base texture. Nichols is almost done and Bataan is finished. The sister base for Bataan, Cabcaben is being "textured.."

Once I finish these bases on Luzon, I will work my way south in the MR PI 1 package Is anyone else helping in this project or am I a Lone Ranger? Seems to me that a few months ago several of us agreed to start a redo of the Philippine bases into GSL. Is that help still available?

I too finished the ground textures for Bataan-Cabcaben yesterday. I decided to wait on the GSL layouts for a few... The texture for Cabcaben needs some work,though.

Here they are now:

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

I promised to help too. I can start once I get back from vacation

Roger Captain.

 

[aussie]

Hi Shadow Wolf,

That looks nothing like Chris's bases, I'm not actually changing his layouts as they're fine just how they are. I am purely updating the objects to the GSL versions and not adding anything extra to them.

Cheers
Aussie

 

[Shadow Wolf 07]

Let me clarify what I am doing: I took overhead screen shots of Maskrider's bases, Then, using his airbases.dat data for coordinates, elevation, runway orientation and ADF/NDB frequencies I created a runway in FSSC. Next I used the overheads to lay out the taxiways, roads and cleared areas as close to the originals as possible, keeping in mind my old, unsteady eyes and hands . Next I used MR's bases as a guide for the textures. I don't know how to remove the apis, so I am zooming in and trying to visually identify objects/structures and have been using only LW, MR and stock objects in my GSL.

The resulting bases are as close to the originals as I can make them. The screenshot below shows an overhead of MR's Bataan and mine (on the left) You can see the coast line "migration" resulting from utilizing Rhumba's meshes in both. True, this is probably a longer, more demanding way of doing it, but I enjoy the challenges of the process. and it adds a personal touch to the project - not to take anything from Maskrider's grat, but 18 year old work.

I am taking the rest of this holiday weekend (U.S. Independence Day) off from scenery building. in hope we can reach a consensus on how to proceed.

Cheers:

Shadow Wolf 07