Iwo Jima Scenery Coming Along

[roger-wilco-66]

no, but I do see a few B-25's!

Still desperatly hoping for Vertigos B-25...

Cheers,
Mark

 

[warchild]

no, but I do see a few B-25's!

B-25s, B-29s, C-47s, P-51s and P-61s appear to be all there was in those pics..

 

[Sundog]

And a Catalina. 4th pic, between the two B-29s.

 

[warchild]

Damn but you got good eyes Sundog.. Nice catch on that cat..

 

[stovall]

Iwo Jima on Final

We have a B-29 static and most objects are placed and ready. All we are waiting for is the P-61 Black Widow. If that becomes a problem, we will release without and then post an update. Here are some pics. The first is a P-51D on final into Motoyama Two.

 

[jankees]

Looking real good there!
I was wondering though...is it possible to do something about the colour of the terrain?
Iwo was all volcanic very dark almost black rocks, now it seems so...normal, almost pastoral.
I think the terrain, including the airfields, nieeds to be greyer ordarker?
What do you think?

 

[stovall]

Totally agree Jan, The southern half has the black volcanic texture. The northern half has a different color. This land class and terrain was produced by Roger Wilco 66 (Mark). He produced it with a special program that uses Google Earth. It is the island of today with all the correct shorelines and features. If the color of the northern half can be changed to a darker color Mark will know. I will send him an email about your request.

Even if it is not possible to change the color, it looks so much better than the FSX default. Actually it is the island of today with the WWII airfields.

Thanks for the input Jan.

One other thought, I thought I would paint the Iwo Jima P-51D Black Rube but have not found the cowling insignia for the right side. I have the insignia for the 47th Fighter Squadron but unable to find the one seen on the right cowling. Any ideas?

 

[roger-wilco-66]

I also agree with Jan. The landclass texture (default FSX) looks a bit light, but the darker part is as dark as it gets without altering it.
Actually, IJ had and still has green parts, but it was very much blown away during the invasion. I'll try to find another one for the parts that look sandy right now. As for the lava rock texture, there's not much that I can do. Maybe I'll try to offer a modified, darkened texture file for it, which can be exchanged for the default one if a user feels the need to. But keep in mind, those changes are global in FSX.
@ Tom: you'll have to adjust the airfield background accordingly, I'll give you an note which texture class I used.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[stiz]

L
Iwo was all volcanic very dark almost black rocks, now it seems so...normal, almost pastoral.
I think the terrain, including the airfields, nieeds to be greyer ordarker?
What do you think?

I still question the "it was just ash all over" view of Iwo (not questioning what the beaches were like!) considering it had a villiage, a population of 1018 and even a sugercane farm. When you look at pics of the pre war build up and afterwards you can see bushs, shurbs, whats left of trees etc. Mind you how much of that was left after 3 days of almost constant shelling and then being burnt is anyones guess. But if you look at pics of it now its what you'd class as sorta green http://www.iwojima.com/today.htm

 

[stovall]

Thanks for the quick response Mark, For me if there is something you can do with the sandy areas that would be great. If not it looks great the way it is. The southern area in my opinion look very much like volcanic textures and are dark enough. Making the sandy areas darker will just be icing on the cake or should I say island.

We can include a darker FSX texture file in the download for those who absolutely need everything darker but as Mark says it will change all those particular textures thoughout FSX which is something to be avoided.

Thanks Mark for looking into this, what you have provided for us already is absolutely fantastic. Very much appreciated.

 

[stovall]

Stiz, great shots of Iwo Jima today. This is essentially what Mark has provided us for the island terrain. From the black and white pictures of the post invasion what wasn't blasted away by gunfire and flame throwers was run over by tanks and other vehicles. There were some shrub and small tree survivors which I feel are realistically provided by the autogen scenery (very sparse). Thanks for the input.

 

[roger-wilco-66]

OK, I made some adjustments, how's that:

View attachment 54071


@Tom: I've mailed you the two LC files!
Problem is, that all landclasses with vegetation have either a greenish or sand background. Nothing as dark as volcanic soil, pebbles or rock. Even the so called "black sand beaches" in FSX look way too brownish and light.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[Meshman]

Land class textures can be modified to what ever you want them to be and then place them into a localized folder, to be called by a land class BGL file. This way they won't have any global effect. New autogen files can be made to reflect a more sparse layout, again being placed into a local folder structure.

 

[mal998]

OT

Mark,
I heard back forn John Stinstrom and he will be helping me sort out the elevations on Wake so at some point in the future we will be able to add that base to Iwo ( hopefully).

 

[stovall]

OK, I made some adjustments, how's that:

View attachment 54071


@Tom: I've mailed you the two LC files!
Problem is, that all landclasses with vegetation have either a greenish or sand background. Nothing as dark as volcanic soil, pebbles or rock. Even the so called "black sand beaches" in FSX look way too brownish and light.

Cheers,
Mark

Look great Mark, this should do it for color post invasion May - July 1945. This is another pic to illustrate. I wish there was a way to change the taxiways and aprons but FSX does not permit this. I have check ADE till blue in the face and there is no way. Still look great for a place to fly our P-51D Mustangs. We will be testing over the next couple weeks and then it will be released. Guy Diotte is working on a P-61 Black Widow. His B-29 looks great and has absolutely no hit for FPS.

 

[roger-wilco-66]

Land class textures can be modified to what ever you want them to be and then place them into a localized folder, to be called by a land class BGL file. This way they won't have any global effect. New autogen files can be made to reflect a more sparse layout, again being placed into a local folder structure.

Ahhh nice hint, thanks Meshman. Seems like I didn't read all of the SDK documentation. I'll check that for sure, since this is also an issue in the Solomon scenario.


Cheers,
Mark

 

[stovall]

Beta Testers Make Big Difference

We are progressing nicely, the beta testers have given many great ideas and the scenery continues to improve. A very important addition is one I tried early on and was very unhappy with the results. The use of steel mats which were definitely used on the island did not look good on my first trials. Since Mark changed the entire island to volcanic terrain they now look fantastic and remove the contrast problem with the dirt aprons and taxiways. Here is a sample. The P-61 Black Widow is coming along so we are making progress. Here is a sample of the steel mat taxiway near a P-51D that crash landed. Nothing serious, the pilot survived to fly again. Notice the C-47 landing near by.

http://

 

[stovall]

Getting Very Close to Finished

Here is another update for Iwo Jima. The P-61 Black Widow from Guy Diotte has been added and looks great. Here are a few images.

Supplies Arrive

Radio Station above Motoyama One

P-51D Gets Tune Up

Pilots Ready for Flight

Complete Repair Facilities

Defense Motoyama Two

More Marines Arrive

Complete Flight Line Motoyama Two

Night Fighters Ready For Evening Flight

Biggest Concern B-29 Crash is Fire

Control Tower Motyoyama Two is the Brains

Fighters Need Fuel

Guy will eventually be making a static C-47 for us. We may have to add later but she is coming.

 

[Crusader]

Wow Tom ! I can hardly wait for Iwo . What an outstanding job you and the other team members have done with this project . Special meaning for me as my Dad(RIP) was there with the USMC and told me many stories . You and I talked about this a while back .

Rich

 

[Bomber_12th]

Here are a few screenshots of mine, from while testing out an earlier version of the scenery. The latest work looks even better!