Vancouver+ and FSX

[newflyer777]

I've had Vancouver+ since it first came out and really enjoy it as I live in the Fraser Valley area. Just curious if an upgrade of Vancouver+ to work in FSX is likely after FSX comes out. I certainly am hoping.

[JonPatch]

Hi Martin,

Good question! Yes, we're hoping for the same thing! Committments are of course hard to make until we can reallly understand FSX, the changes from FS9 and the development environment, ie the Software Development Kits. So that'll be a while.

But philosophically, what I'd like to see is that we release a version of V+ as soon as possible after FSX that has basic compatibility.

Later, it'd be cool to have a version of V+ that takes advantage of new capabilities of FSX.

Depending on the effort involved we may choose to charge a fee for upgrade.

We are all watching FSX closely, and will keep you informed.

Jon

[newflyer777]

Glad to hear that you are considering it. That is good news. I certainly wouldn't object to paying a little more for an upgrade -- especially if it takes advantage of the additional features of FSX.

Thanks

[nigelgrant]

I tried importing my Vancouver scenery into the FSX demo and the results were quite interesting. To my pleasant surprise the buildings seemed to come in okay, in fact the textures seemed to be a bit more vivid. My CYVR buildings were all made with EOD or NovaSim, converted to API's, placed and compiled in Airport, so it looks as though there may be hope for earlier sceneries which are not XML related. And I wonder whether Vancouver might be one of the detailed airports being close to MS "home".

But at ground level, I am unable to make any kind of assessment since there is no FSX default scenery in place in that region. I imported Vancouver+ and all the buildings show and the North Shore mountains show up but without textures, but anything related to the ground does not have any textures to show yet.

The scenery library seems to work as before but the FSX demo scenery.cfg file in its default folder remains unchanged. I was eventually directed to the active scenery.cfg file in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\FSXDemo\Scenery.cfg.

I am really impressed with the water textures at St Maarten, and FSX is going to be a big leap forward to those who normally don't deal with addons.

Nigel
Vancouver

[JonPatch]

Thanks for the assessment, Nigel. It's early days yet to see how legacy compatibility will shake out. Hopefully it will further improve beyond what we see in the demo.

Jon

[JonPatch]

Folks, now that MS has released us betatesters from the NDA, we can be more forthcoming about FSX plans.

I emphasize that the implications below are for the beta only, and the compatibility for the final version could be quite different.

There are two issues here: (1) how quickly we can create a release that works in FSX, and (2) what's involved in another release that takes advantage of new FSX features, like faster photoscenery loading and new objects.

On (1) Making FS9 scenery work in FSX:

What works:
- support for the current method of land-water-mask (LWM) polygons
- landclass
- elevation mesh
- object placement and textures

What sort of works:
- aircraft AI works fine, although there is an issue with 1' water runways showing up, ie no longer invisible. This may or may not be fixed in the FSX final version
- water AI works, but there is an issue of conflict with the default water traffic. Default traffic wanders at will and cannot be selectively disabled: either it's enabled or the global water traffic file is disabled
- CYVR has been significantly improved in FSX, but there may be some conflicts to be resolved
- a number of very nice building models have been added to downtown Vancouver. Some we may use, some not. Regardless a bunch of new exclusion work needs to be done.
- we haven't seen bridges yet

What doesn't work (we'll get all this stuff to work, which may mean creating FSX-specific files, and this could take a while, or not):
- alpha channels work differently now: which means that a number of objects that use transparency may not show up properly. This include windows, but also the girderwork of bridges, like the Second Narrows
- some ship models have been changed: they look good, but are a different size
- this beta version does not support VTP lines, meaning that coastlines, roads, railways and other features that use this method will not work in FSX. It is expected that this will be supported in the final release, but we will see this at the same time as everyone else, so cannot guarantee or test functionality until then
- there are some other unsupported features, like untextured gmax objects, that may or may not be supported in the final release
- the flight folder structure has been changed. This may prove a challenge for addon developers to allow easy access to flights intended to match with a particular scenery
- FS9 elevated platforms do not work, so elevated helipads don't work.
- night textures (LM maps) on objects

On (2) Taking advantage of FSX new features:

- the final versions of the Software Development Kits will not be available until the final release, but rest assured a lot of folks on the beta team have been working hard on understanding the new capabilities, and upgrading tools. Of particular note: no gmax SDK has been made available as yet.
- until we have a good handle on these features, there isn't much to say on when or if an upgrade will be necessary.

Jon

[JonPatch]

I focus on my blog at http://jonpatch.wordpress.com for updates on development, in particular if you use a tag, you can see just relevant posts: http://jonpatch.wordpress.com/tag/vancouver or http://jonpatch.wordpress.com/tag/development for example.

Here's a summary:

- Holger and I are making good progress on our respective portions and plan to go to beta in few weeks
- Scot Fraser is doing the configurator/installer (his last contribution was on Glacier Bay)
- We've added some new features for FSX, including the Lion's Gate Bridge, Pattullo Bridge, Canada Place, CYPK photoscenery, new custom clearcut and other textures, highway traffic, and other bits and pieces
- This will be a new product, not an FS9 upgrade, so everyone will pay the same price, likely the same as the FS9 product
- Major buildings and bridges converted to new FSX format

Overall, it's been a large amount of work to convert to FSX, but the result looks great. Both Holger and I will be betatesters for FSX SP1, so we will ensure full compatibility, although we cannot talk about the beta process.

Stay tuned for more ...

Jon

[dsnowden]

Jon,

Any plans to include CYYJ, at least just the airport?

[JonPatch]

Nope, Don Grovestine does an excellent CYYJ for both FS9 and FSX. And at a great price!

Jon

[dsnowden]

Thanks Jon, boy does he ever I just downloaded it and installed it, It is top notch.

Thanks!

[JonPatch]

No worries . . .

[wildblueyonder]

Could you list the steps needed to import the scenery? I'm not familiar with FSX so I'm not sure how from the original FS9

[JonPatch]

Vancouver+ for FS9 cannot be effectively ported by the user to FSX. Is that what you wanted to do?

Jon

[wildblueyonder]

Yes, can I transfer the features that work?

[JonPatch]

Not in a meaningful way, sorry. We've had to spend many months redoing vast amounts of the scenery. Best we can offer is a 20% discount for FS9 owners for the FSX version ...

Jon