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  • Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.

    Post 16 Update

    Post 17 Warning

WIP: FSX Solomon 1943 -- long --

WIP Status:

I'm busy with Halavo Seaplane base on the Florida Islands right now. I'm quite unsatisfied with the coastlines and the missing Islands of Tanangboto and Gavutu. This has to be corrected, but I first have to learn about coastline correction and island building.
I also want to place some static PBYs on Halavo, and repainted a PBY as a black cat. But the black (i defined it as a dark grey) shows quite glossy, does anybody have a hint on how to get rid of that? I think it has something to do with the alpha channel and the type of file (dxt-x), but I'm not sure.

Cheers,
Mark
 
Mark, you may already know all this stuff. But I was looking back through my freeware file and noticed these tutorials by Luis Feliz-Tirado, all from the AVSIM file library:


Category: Flight Simulator X - Scenery Design
Make photo-real ground textures

File Description:
It is very easy to create your very own high-resolution, custom (photo-real) ground textures. This document explains the concepts and techniques and illustrates the use of SBuilderX with which you can quickly and easily download aerial images and make this type of scenery. So, why hesitate? Make Flight Simulator scenery as real as it gets! Very sorry - no support of any kind is offered. Please do not write. For any questions, please post in the Avsim Scenery Design Forum.



Filename: make_photo-real_ground_textures_in_fs_x.zip
License: Freeware
Added: 21st November 2009
Downloads: 9602
Author: Luis Feliz-Tirado
Size: 2143kb


Category: Flight Simulator X - Scenery Design
Make Scenery with the Object Placement Tool


File Description:
The Deluxe version of Flight Simulator X contains a very easy-to-use tool for placing scenery objects visually within the game. Unfortunately, the Microsoft developers neglected to tell anybody. This document contains an illustrated explanation of this tool and how to use it. My most sincere apologies - I am unable, for lack of free time, to offer support of any kind. For questions or problems, please post in the Avsim scenery design forum.



Filename: making_scenery_with_object_placement_tool.zip
License: Freeware
Added: 22nd November 2009
Downloads: 1603
Author: Luis Feliz-Tirado
Size: 673kb

Category: Flight Simulator X - Scenery Design
Terrain Design

File Description:
Terrain Design for Flight Simulator X

This simple illustrated document explains the basic concepts in Flight Simulator X terrain, and how to change them using SBuilder for FS X. Make new water bodies, roads, vehicle traffic, airport flattens, remove autogen, add more detail - anybody can do it easily and quickly.
My most sincere apologies - I am unable, for lack of free time, to offer support of any kind. For questions or problems, please post in the Avsim scenery design forum.



Filename: terrain_design_for_flight_simulator_x.zip
License: Freeware
Added: 14th December 2009
Downloads: 11361
Author: Luis Feliz-Tirado
Size: 3991kb


Category: Flight Simulator X - Scenery Design
Using the Autogen Annotator


File Description:
The Autogen Annotator is a powerful tool for modifying the autogen of default ground textures or adding autogen to custom (photo-real) ground. This document illustrates the use of the tool, and includes a pictorial guide to all autogen object types. Very sorry - no support of any kind is offered. Please do not write. For any questions, please post in the Avsim Scenery Design Forum.



Filename: using_the_autogen_annotator_264833.zip
License: Freeware
Added: 21st November 2009
Downloads: 760
Author: Luis Feliz-Tirado
Size: 8930kb
 
MCDesigns said:
... I did a collection of WWII objects and scenery for the donationware corsair project here for FS9. It's been my intention to recompile them for FSX and do a series of WWII airfields also focusing on as realistic visual experience ...
Click to expand...

And I'm still waiting on your converted ww2 vehicles MC ... unless of course I missed the announcement that they've been converted and stuck in a library somewhere ... :icon_lol:
 
David,

thanks for the head-up. In fact, MCD already gave me some hints on that matter, and I think this will be the way to go - although this will mean that I have to start from the beginning and I will have to develop new skills along the way. But I think the result will be worth it - I already started.

Cheers,
Mark
 
OK, so here we are. I finished almost all of the airfields I wanted in ADE. Look for example at Segi here as an attachment. The layout is quite authentic (based on original maps), but the coastline is horrible, the original landclass sucks, and the small islands everywhere are missing.
Back to the drawing and planning board.
I already corrected the landclass by overlaying satellite images on New Georgia and Kolombangara - see the attached images. I think that looks good now.
I now will correct the coastlines and add islands, based on satellite images (lot of work). That will be from Guadalcanal to southern Bougainville.
I also will reconstruct all the airfields photoreal - that means draw them by myself upon old maps and photos. Now that is quite a heap and never has been done before by me. So please bear with me. I have to learn a lot of stuff along the way. Since I am new to the matter, things might take a little longer. But I want to see this become (virtual) reality.

Cheers,
Mark


PS: as Virgil is quoted:

Possunt, quia posse videntur.
They can because they think they can.
 
Mark, this is going to be fantastic.

While Mark is working on scenery, maybe the rest of us can work on traffic. I'm doing boats (though we can still use more models). What about planes?
 
welll, now that i stupidly deleted my first reply, lets try this again..

SBD's and P-40s from munda are confirmed,
PV1's are confirmed with no location given
PV-1Ns are confirmed for Espiritu Santo
F5F-5N night fighters confirmed with no location given
P-70 Havocs confrmed on New guinea

I'll keep looking for others as i know there were P-61s, B-26s, A-26s, P-38s and a bunch of others there as well..
 
warchild said:
welll, now that i stupidly deleted my first reply, lets try this again..

SBD's and P-40s from munda are confirmed,
PV1's are confirmed with no location given
PV-1Ns are confirmed for Espiritu Santo
F5F-5N night fighters confirmed with no location given
P-70 Havocs confrmed on New guinea

I'll keep looking for others as i know there were P-61s, B-26s, A-26s, P-38s and a bunch of others there as well..
Click to expand...

Ondonga Airfield should get the VF-17 F4Us as well as the VP-12 which were based there till 1944.

Would be cool

Cheers
Martin
 
Welll, PV-1s are ventura's and may have something left over from fs9, but the rest i dont know about..
 
dswo said:
Anyone know where we can get low-poly AI models for these?
Click to expand...

I've seen F4Us in some WWW Pacific Missions from Ron Jeffers

We might need to ask him if he is willing to support us. I have a couple of nice missions which i bought from him for FSX. He might even be able to produce some mission packs to make a good combination out of this nice project.

I would say that taking an FSD2 FS9 Model will work nicely in FSX (No DX10) without too much frame hit. Of course if the model is not a fully detailed A2A release.

http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/syb.cgi?section=vintage&file=JollyRogers.zip F4U1 VF-17 by Mark Rooks
http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/syb2.cgi?section=props&file=SPBY5a.zip Catalina by Mike Sone



Cheers
Martin
 
Units based around the Solomons in 1943

Thanks for the contributions everybody. Work is going on daily and I might release a "beta-version" in the very near future.

Just for the record, and as a baseline for which units and which aircraft operated during 1943 (and only then) in that area, here is a compilation of what I have found (Source: www.pacificwrecks.org et al ). If anyone has an addition to make, I would gladly edit it in the post.


Guadalcanal
Bomber 1 / Henderson Field
USN
VF-5 (F4F), VC-40 (Avenger), VMSB-131 (Avenger),
VF-26 (F4F), VF-27 (F4F), VF-28 (F4F)
CAG 11 (Carrier Air Group 11)
VF-11 (VB-11), VB-21(SBD), VT-11 (TBF Avenger)
CASU-11 (Carrier Aircraft Service Unit)
VS-54 (SBD, OS2U)
USMC
VMTB-233 (SBD / TBF)
VMF-122 "Wolf Pack" (F4U)
VMF-124 (F4U)
VMSB-132 (SBD)
VMSB-143 (TBF)
VMSB-144 (SBD-3)
MABS-1 (Marine Air Base Squad-1)
USAAF
44th FS
38th BG, 70th BS (B-26)
42nd BG, 69th BS (B-26, B-25)
42nd BG, 75th BS (B-25)
38th BG, 70th BS (B-25)
347th FG, 67th FS (P-39)
42nd BG, 390th BS (B-25)
RNZAF
3 Squadron (6 x Hudson)
1 Squadron (PV-1) replaced 3 Squadron

Bomber 2 / Carney Field
3th AF :
42nd BG, 390th BS (B-25C)
307th BG, 371st BS (B-24D)
307th BG, 424th BS (B-24)
307th BG, 372st BS (B-24D)
307th BG, 370th BS (B-24D)
5th BG 394th BS (SB-24)
USN Units
VB-106 (PB4Y)
VB-101 (PB4Y)
VB-102 (PB4Y)
VB-104 (PB4Y)

Bomber 3 / Koli Field
13th AF, misc units

Crash Strip
none

Fighter 1 / Lunga Field
VMF-123 (F4F)
VMF-124 (F4U)
VMF-212 (F4U)
VF-38 (F6F)

Fighter 2 / Kukum Field
USAAF 13th AF:
347th FG, 68th FS
18th FG, 12th FS (P-39, P-38)
347th FG, 339th FS (P-38)
USN
VMF-124 (F4F)
RNZAF
15 Squadron (P-40)
14 Squadron (P-40)
16 Squadron (P-40)

Florida Islands
Halavo Seaplane Base
USN
VP-12
VP-14
VP-24 (PBY Catalina)
VP-44
VP-54
VP-71
VP-74

Santa Isabel
Rekata Japanese Seaplane Base
E13A1
F1M2
A6M2-N
F1M2 Petes
Chitose Air Group (five A6M2-N Rufes and nine E13A1 Jakes)
Other ships provide two more F1M2s, two E13A1s and nine E7K2 Alfs.

Russell Islands
Renard Field / South Field
347th FG, 67th FS (P-39,P-38)

North Field (Banika Field, Sunlight Field)
USMC
MAG-21 HQ
VMF-124 (F4U)
VMF-213 (F4U)
VMF-214 (F4U)
VMF(N)-531 (PV-1)
USN
STAG-1 (TDN's drones)

Seaplane Base
PBYs

New Georgia
Segi Airfield
925th AAA AW BN
47th Construction Battalion, C company
VF-38 (12 x F6F)
VF-40 (12 x F6F)
VF-33 (24 x F6F)
Fotos of F4Fs in Segi also exist, SBDs got serviced there at a CASU outfit

Munda Airfield
USN
VC-24 (SBD x 24)
VC-40 (TBF)
VF-33 (F6F)
VF-38 (F6F)
CASU 14 (Carrier Aircraft Service Unit)
VB-148 (PV-1)
VB-140 (PV-1)
USMC
ComAir New Georgia
VMSB-236 (SBD)
VMF 124
VMF-213 (F4U)
VMF 214 (F4U)
VMF 215 (F4U)
VMF 221 (F4U)
VMSB-142 (TBF)
VMTB-143 (TBF)
USAAF 13th AF
307th BG. 370th BS (B-24)
307th BG, 371st BS (B-24)
307th BG, 372d BS (B-24)
307th BG, 424th BS (B-24)

Ondonga Airfield
American Units
VMF-216
VF-33 (F6F)
VF-17 (36 x F4U)
MABS-1 from Henderson Nov 43 - May 26, 44 to Munda

RNZAF
15 Squadron (P-40) C.O. SL S.G. Quill
18 Squadron (P-40)
14 Squadron (P-40) C.O. SL J. H. Arkwright
16 Squadorn (P-40)
17 Squadron (P-40)

Kolombangara
Vila Airfield, not used by allies, destroyed
Japanese aircraft stationed there:
B5N Kate
G4M1 Betty
D3A2 Val
A6M3 M32 Hamp
A6M2 Model 21 Zero

Gizo
Seaplane base Gizo USN PBYs

Vella Lavella
Barakoma Airfield
VMF-221
VMF-212 (F4U)
VMF-214 "Black Sheep" (F4U)
VMF-215 (F4U)
VMF-321
VF-40 (F6F)
VMF(N)-531 (PV-1 Ventura)


Ballale
Ballale Airfield Japanese Navy

IJN) Japanese Naval Units Based at Ballale
2nd Carrier Division (Vice-Admiral Kakuji Kakuda) HQ in Rabaul, staging base for Guadalcanal attacks on Ballale
Zuiho Sentouki-tai (18 A6M)
251st Kokutai Detachment
702nd Kokutai Detachment (G4M1 Betty)
705nd Kokutai Detachment (G4M1 Betty)
204th Kokutai Detachment (A6M Zero)

(JAAF) Japanese Naval Units Based at Ballale
11th Sentai (Ki-43-I)

Base Defense Units
18th Construction Group
6th Kure Chinjufu (Talahashi Group - 3 x 12cm Guns, Kanehara Group)
7th Yokosuka Chinjufu Miyake (4 x 7cm Guns)
13th Anti-Aircraft Group (Imoo Group)

Bougainville
Kahili Airfield Japanese Navy
Units based at Kahili (Buin):
Navy 11th Air Fleet
201th Kokutai (A6M Zero)
204th Kokutai (A6M Zeros detachment)
582nd Kokutai (D3A Val detachment)


Kara Airfield
??? Unit, A6M3 Zeros
 
Awesome inventory and work! Shame - again - that there seems to be no way to convert to FSX any CFS2 models - both ships (e.g. Usio-san's great period warships) or aircraft - e.g. many of the above a/c perfect for AI e.g. F4U, F4F/F6F, Dauntless, TBM, P38, B25, P40 et al + Paul Straney's Hudson in RNZAF colors could be sourced from SOH Donationware or CFS2 freeware. I had most of these buzzing around the Slot in my FS9 custom built AI but they come out invisible in FSX.:rolleyes:
 
Expat, I hear you on the "Usio-san's great period warships" issue. If he could recompile - in my technical understanding this is all it takes - the GMAX models to FSX standards we could use the ships in the scenario. That would be a real great addition.
I won't even talk about all te aircraft that are out there.. would be nice AI models...

Mark
 
Status + pictures

Well, after a hard days (evening, rather) work redoing the coast line of New Georgia around Munda I was surprised and thrilled to see a convoy of supply ships heading for the docks. Thanks to David (dwso). Awesome! At least.
I then took "PushPush" and started a patrol flight to Vila / Kolombangara, Vella Lavella (beautiful island, indeed), to have a look at Ballale and the tip of Bougainville, where I was greeted with a barrage of Flak from a surface vessel (thanks again, David!) ! We're going the right way.

In the next couple of days I will release a test-version, with three or four airfields, and the complete revised Solomon landclass. Hang on, and please test it.

Cheers,
Mark
 
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