Board index FlightGear Media

Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Screenshots, videos, sound recording etc. taken in/with FlightGear.

Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby vnts » Thu Oct 29, 2020 9:19 am

Update: http://wiki.flightgear.org/2020_LTS_Kef ... post_draft

This is a draft page for news posts to be added. Descriptions of improvements to aircraft and features (with screenshots) since 2018.3 can be added.

To add a description, just click edit, create a section, and type.

James said he is looking to do updates at weekly intervals following the release with content from there. If there isn't enough content multiple things could be combined if there are screenshots readily available.

----

The 2020.3 LTS is very close to release. According to the ML a few teething issues are to be cleared up, then a soft release to sourceforge is planned, followed by updating the homepage, telling news sites etc.

Thorsten used to do writeups replete with artistic high settings screenshots - on both the homepage, on flightsim.com. He also kept the flightsim.com forums updated. He has been busy both with RL and the covid19 situation AIUI. It's easy to take that level of exposure for granted, but as he's been busy the last of the updates was 2018-ish.

There is a subforum on flightsim.com dedicated to FG, that Thorsten also used to update (glancing at it, it seems there is interest after reading the existing posts, and people are asking questions) [1]. (It probably wouldn't be out of place to copy posts of updates of big releases to there while posting to this forum).

The editor for flightsim.com has been trying to get in touch to do an article covering the last 2-3 years of developments for FG according to Alex Barrett on the ML.

James has said he is willing to do final review and add to the homepage writeups the community might put together on the wiki (trying to spread the work Thorsten used to handle), or otherwise hand over to him.

To get something started, I began two announcement posts on the wiki - one is a tour announcing the featured airport, Iceland, and FG settings to enjoy Iceland (enough points there to meet the minimum for a post), the other is for a post going through major features:

http://wiki.flightgear.org/2020_LTS_Kef ... post_draft

http://wiki.flightgear.org/2020_LTS_air ... ntro_draft (Update: Done)

The main things at first are the points. The points I've written are a start/placeholder (as best I can since I've used FG intermittently over the last years and is still somewhat new). Please don't hesitate to modify or add.

Update: The idea with the new post draft is to recieve descriptions of changes since 2018.3. James plans release bits of it once every week, with some respective screenshots. Each homepage update post would focus on a feature, aircraft (or a group of aircraft if there isn't enough material I guess). So if people involved could add some sections, James could create posts from them (which means there's no big hurry(?) once one or two posts worth is submitted).

AIUI James is talking to the flightsim.com people, and there will probably be a release post that will build off the news post and use screenshots from there, and maybe a deeper article on developments over the last few years at a later date.

Others new and updates beyond that focusing on major features, or project status listing major efforts underway, can follow eventually.

----

Screenshots

Thorsten has given permission for his Iceland screenshots to be used under CC-BY-SA-4.0, so that covers about 3-4 Iceland ones. I don't have that many of Iceland lying around, other than a few shots showing improvements recently. The ones I do have are in FGUK helicopters I was flying at the time not in FGAddon, it doesn't really matter if they are not in FGAddon. A lot of my screenshots were from when I knew even less about FG and settings, or had haze etc. turned down to show something clearly, or had high FoV as it was tempting to do a wide-view, and weren't particularly artistic. I'll try to take a few quick screenshots of Iceland at least with the UFO over the next few days if no one beats me to it. There maybe some in SOTM for a bit more detail on features, depending on what people want to write, or maybe just write about the ones there are screenshots for.

I can upload screenshots to the wiki that people post here if not familiar with the wiki upload process, provided CC-BY-SA-4.0 permission is given, it's also possible to just add the link to the wiki and I or someone could contact the person for permission.

Kind regards
Last edited by vnts on Tue Nov 03, 2020 10:55 am, edited 3 times in total.
vnts
 
Posts: 409
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2015 1:29 am

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby GinGin » Thu Oct 29, 2020 1:34 pm

Very nice initiative.
Indeed, we need to show the best of that stable version.

And seeing the increasing quality through the last SOTM, there are some nice things to show :)
GinGin
 
Posts: 1580
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2017 11:41 am
Location: Paris
Callsign: Gingin

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby eatdirt » Thu Oct 29, 2020 5:43 pm

In case if it of some use, some shots over Iceland with the UFO and Earthview:

Image

Image

Cheers,
Chris.
eatdirt
 
Posts: 1012
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 3:06 pm

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby erik » Fri Oct 30, 2020 12:21 am

Some screenshots from the updated materials for Iceland (Updated):

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


Erik
Current: Parachutist, Paraglider, Pterosaur, Pilatus PC-9M and variants, ERCO Ercoupe, Fokker Dr.1, Fokker 50, Fokker 100
Less active: Cessna T-37, T-38, Santa Claus. Previous: General Dynamics F-16. Worked on: Wright Flyer
erik
 
Posts: 2244
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:41 pm

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby vnts » Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:23 am

Thanks

Never seen Iceland with the the super high quality textures (needs a torrent client?) and whatever else is needed before:)

Reading the ML James is looking at a 2020.3 LTS release and update in the next 5-10 days (unless there are new issues).

Sourceforge has been updated with release builds (but I think there are still more fixes coming): https://sourceforge.net/projects/flightgear/files/

The idea with the features is to use content the community adds to this page: http://wiki.flightgear.org/2020_LTS_Kef ... post_draft . Articles focusing on changes to features or aircraft can be released at weekly intervals (or when ever people involved have some time to write a short description of updates since 2018.3, and there are a few screenshots).

I can maybe do something for the compositor since I've been following development in detail - but that's more suited as an upcoming feature piece much later (since the version released is mostly for development testing right now). The heli's with updates I've flown in the last two years with somewhat limited time in 2019 aren't in FGAddon (the EC130 had some updates, and had the FGUK H130 update integrated, but the EC135 update still might be waiting to be integrated), or the updates aren't in FGAddon like the aircrane, which is a pity as I have a bunch of screenshots.

Kind regards
vnts
 
Posts: 409
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2015 1:29 am

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby erik » Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:27 am

vnts wrote in Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:23 am:Never seen Iceland with the the super high quality textures (needs a torrent client?) and whatever else is needed before:)

No, I've updated the Iceland materials file yesterday (both for 20202.3 and next).

Erik
Current: Parachutist, Paraglider, Pterosaur, Pilatus PC-9M and variants, ERCO Ercoupe, Fokker Dr.1, Fokker 50, Fokker 100
Less active: Cessna T-37, T-38, Santa Claus. Previous: General Dynamics F-16. Worked on: Wright Flyer
erik
 
Posts: 2244
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:41 pm

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby vnts » Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:32 am

Oh I see! I haven't seen them before either then :mrgreen: I take it the overlays definitions are still operational?

I will download and see later

(I meant Iceland in Earthview, as I haven't seen Iceland with the really large textures yet).

Kind regards
vnts
 
Posts: 409
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2015 1:29 am

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby erik » Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:44 am

vnts wrote in Fri Oct 30, 2020 10:32 am:Oh I see! I haven't seen them before either then :mrgreen: I take it the overlays definitions are still operational?

Sure, I just improved on them, removing tiling and obvious land-class borders and by adding steepness variation.

Erik
Current: Parachutist, Paraglider, Pterosaur, Pilatus PC-9M and variants, ERCO Ercoupe, Fokker Dr.1, Fokker 50, Fokker 100
Less active: Cessna T-37, T-38, Santa Claus. Previous: General Dynamics F-16. Worked on: Wright Flyer
erik
 
Posts: 2244
Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2007 2:41 pm

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby legoboyvdlp » Fri Oct 30, 2020 12:42 pm

I've a number of screenshots; they're relatively lower resolution unfortunately; I haven't figured out how to upscale screenshots yet. It's mostly screenshots with different weather configurations, also some volcanoes in the Jan Mayen / Iceland region.
I'll edit this post with a selection of the best but here's the album:

https://imgur.com/a/qgPCW8r


Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
User avatar
legoboyvdlp
 
Posts: 7981
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2014 2:28 am
Location: Northern Ireland
Callsign: G-LEGO
Version: next
OS: Windows 10 HP

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby GinGin » Fri Oct 30, 2020 4:08 pm

Outstanding shots !
GinGin
 
Posts: 1580
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2017 11:41 am
Location: Paris
Callsign: Gingin

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby GinGin » Sat Oct 31, 2020 11:30 am

That is a good idea to condensate our best screens here actually, and to avoid to look everywhere.
Some of my screenshots.

I will update this week end the Space Shuttle part of the 2020 wiki page and Earthview ( or maybe @EatDirt as you were well into the changes :) )


Interior

Image

Image


Exterior

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
GinGin
 
Posts: 1580
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2017 11:41 am
Location: Paris
Callsign: Gingin

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby eatdirt » Sat Oct 31, 2020 2:25 pm

I cannot stop saying it, the last one is so close to real photo, it is absolutely amazing!! This one should absolutely be put on display somewhere!!!

At some point, you should share your magic Gingin, a wiki on "Shuttle best shots: how to" :)
eatdirt
 
Posts: 1012
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2018 3:06 pm

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby vnts » Sun Nov 01, 2020 4:16 pm

Agree, and also add anything new to the existing screenshot Howto :mrgreen: (I still don't know the exact setting to tweak the cloud culling optimization so the new cloud bases don't render without clouds).

@GinGin You should add the screenshots to the High settings category. Then it's possible to just point people doing drafts for homepage, or editors of sites like flightsim.com to the collection. Maybe there should be a new very high settings category for the best shots :)

For the release announcement there should be a shuttle interior screenshot somehwere. I was thinking of using this screen [1] as the closing shot with a saying the LTS is 'coming in hot', but maybe a shuttle take off shot saying LTS is 'launching' will also work :mrgreen:

@legoboyvdlp The resolution doesn't matter as the blogs have a smaller space for the screenshot anyway. I uploaded to wiki, and added to the ALS category.

@Erik: I found a nice story about DC-3s on this site while adding your screenshot to the Iceland tour page:

https://flugblogg.is/2018/12/23/how-dc3 ... the-plane/

It was a regular flight of the US Army DC-6B to Reykjavik when the plane encountered bad visibility and strong wind over Iceland. The conditions were so bad that the plane did not manage to reach the destination. The crew decided to perform an emergency landing on top of Vatnaökull, the biggest glacier in Europe. Four days the crew were fighting for their lives, meanwhile, rescue teams from Akureyri and Reykjavik were trying to reach the landing spot. When the weather allowed, the militaries send a DC-3 on ski from Keflavik airbase to save the people. All onboard, but they could not take-off again. At this moment the first rescue team arrived and took them all to Akureyri. The DC-3 was left abandoned on the glacier.

The winter came, and the plane was still there. Then Icelandic airline Loftleiðir requested the US army to sell the plane. The militaries had decided to shake off the frozen plane for about one dollar. The Icelanders came with a bulldozer to the place, where the plane was supposed to be, but saw nothing. They put a tent, started to dig the snow and found the plane. It was taken under the snow when a storm came, so the people had to hide inside the tent. After a couple of days, when the weather went down, it turned out that the plane had disappeared under the snow again. They had to dig it up again, then pulled with the bulldozer down from the glacier. On sand they performed a basic check of the DC-3 systems, to find out that there is still some charge in the batteries and fuel in the tanks. They tried to launch the engines and the plane became alive without any problems. So, they just took off and flew to Reykjavik. Loftleiðir used the plane a lot for local operations for several years, but later the plane left Iceland and ended somewhere in the Philippines.


Kind regards
vnts
 
Posts: 409
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2015 1:29 am

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby GinGin » Sun Nov 01, 2020 5:57 pm

Thanks :)


You should add the screenshots to the High settings category.


Done, under High settings category.

For the release announcement there should be a shuttle interior screenshot somehwere. I was thinking of using this screen [1] as the closing shot with a saying the LTS is 'coming in hot', but maybe a shuttle take off shot saying LTS is 'launching' will also work



Nice idea.
A combo of both, coming in hot and launching soon :mrgreen:

For launch, I got other ones

Image

Image

Like EatDirt, the one I prefer for launch is the STS 1 above with white clouds in the background


@EatDirt: I created an Earthview category on wiki, could send me your best Earthview shots, and also the link to download your last hd textures ( I will write something about Earthview)
GinGin
 
Posts: 1580
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2017 11:41 am
Location: Paris
Callsign: Gingin

Re: Updates on FG homepage and flightsim.com

Postby vnts » Mon Nov 02, 2020 12:42 pm

@GinGin there is a "Screenshots of Earthview" category already http://wiki.flightgear.org/Category:Scr ... _Earthview

Some quick screenshots of for the drafts, with Iceland OSM2City from wiki [1]:

Keflavik, xDraconians' work on art installations:

Rainbow:
Image

Image

The jet nest:
Image

Image

Surtsey:
Image

Viewed from Heimaey island:
Image

Herdubreid table mountain:
Image

2 sun dogs visible, to add to legoboyvdlp's screenshots of scattering by ice crystals. Volcanic desert, with rivers carrying meltwater from glaciers:
Image

Caldera with a lake at the center:
Image

Reykjavik OSM2City:
Image

Image

Image

Iceland looks fantastic.
:mrgreen:

Kind regards
vnts
 
Posts: 409
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2015 1:29 am

Next

Return to Media

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests