Project Merril C. Meigs base

[Notebook]

Going to try doing this in 2010 and 2016 simultaneous to understand the new surface tile/surface topography method.

Started it before Corn Ranch, but that was easier to finish, so back to this now.

Quick view, it may look familiar from some other simulator...

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/Image1_zps3edthike.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/0000_zpsyvb9rrhx.jpg

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/0001_zpsryexfwvw.jpg
N.

 

[C3PO]

Now there's a blast from the past.:thumbup:

 

[Urwumpe]

Then we also need the notable building from FS4 for properly feeling home again. :rofl:

 

[Notebook]

Sears Tower, but I think it chanfed its name?

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

Sears Tower, but I think it chanfed its name?

N.

Yeah, it is now called the Bruce Willis Tower. Also the Adler planetarium was pretty recognizable back then.

 

[Andy44]

I assume this is Meigs Field, as in the old MS Flight Sim default scenery? I can't view those photo links as they are just a giant mess of ads and popups. But I remember having a voice comm add-on for MSFS that would speak in a Stephen Hawking voice and give me the weather and active runway for Meigs whenever I started the sim.

 

[Notebook]

Photobucket has gone a bit bonkers recently, but there won't be anymore pics till they are needed. Meigs is a small field, and hopefully it will be easier to flatten than Corn Ranch, and simpler than Woomera.

N.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

"Notify controller on initial contact that you have information Bravo"

Ah I remember Meigs Field well. I spent many hours with it. I had 1.0 through 4.0 (before that I ran the Sublogic version on my trusty Atari 800XL), then I just kind of lost interest in it (USN/Persian Gulf had a bit to do with it).

By the time I was able to get back in it FS98 wouldn't run on my system, upgrading or building was out of the question because I had a kiddo taking up all my spare cash.

 

[Notebook]

Bruce Artwick was the one I remember, great stuff for its time:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft_Flight_Simulator

Seems its still going on Steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/379548

N.

 

[4throck]

Would very much like to see Meigs Field for Orbiter.

As others mentioned, it needs to have city buildings.
Those can be done using the default base objects and Orbiter Base Maker is your friend :hmm:

Have you located a good source of free/usable aerial imagery for the tiles?
There's a good USGC image on Wikipedia.

If you need any help, just ask!

 

[Notebook]

Thanks 4throck, all help appreciated!

Using Google Earth as the reference as always, besides the nostalgia of Meigs, its a small field, so good for practicing flattening for buildings. Of course, having a big city next door, there's plenty room for expansion!

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

Thanks 4throck, all help appreciated!

Using Google Earth as the reference as always, besides the nostalgia of Meigs, its a small field, so good for practicing flattening for buildings. Of course, having a big city next door, there's plenty room for expansion!

N.

Yeah... like adding Chicago O'Hare later. :lol:

Or make an add-on "The journey of the Blues Brothers" based on it. :lol:

 

[Notebook]

Odd you should mention that, Corn Ranch is a good base for the Independence Day desert traffic scene, Dan's vehicles would fit nicely in Chicago.

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

Well, its always funny to just choose a spot on Earth and then look around what events, real or fictional, happened next to it.

 

[4throck]

Using Google Earth as the reference as always...

I'm not with the copyright police :lol: , but may I suggest that you try to use non commercial imagery for the release?
For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meigs_Field#/media/File:Meigs_field_USGS_2002.jpg

Probably GoogleMaps will be fair use for Orbiter (and I don't think they care) but USGS will be better. After all, Orbiter's global tileset is based on Landsat.

And since I'm bringing this up, you can always use aerial images such as these (correcting for geometry of course):
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Aerial_photographs_of_airports_in_Illinois

Not that relevant for the US, since you have USGS coverage, but usable for elsewhere as an alternative to Google.

 

[Notebook]

I'll have a look at those links.

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[Notebook]

Had a look at those links, and I don't see how they will give the resolution needed.
I've always been uneasy about using Google Earth images, and this issue comes up every now and then.

I'm going to stop this add-on, and go back to my other project, the Westcott RPE test stand. Its mostly modelling and C++, and that's what I should be doing now.

If any hi-res public domain imagery starts appearing I'll go back to base making.

N.

 

[4throck]

Don't be put off by my mention of image sources!
Consider that just as "nice to have" if possible.

The image I linked from Wikipedia is the small version. If you open the "details" page, you get a 7000x7000 pixel image:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Meigs_field_USGS_2002.jpg

Is that enough :hmm: ?

 

[Notebook]

Yes, saw that.
Problem is I'd have to slice it, match co-ordinates, do other things I don't know about. Too hard. I have a system that works...most of the time.
http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k207/Notebook_04/0002_zps2vdugkig.jpg
A few pixels out there!

Its not you, Westcott is what needs to be finished. Meigs is just distraction activity.

N.

 

[4throck]

Good

For the sake of discussion, I use Orbiter Base Maker to save merged tiles as a single file and then import back the changed image.
The program takes care of all the splitting (for 2010 of course).