Chasen's upcoming Retro Airports previews
Jun 10, 2021 16:14:51 GMT -5
aleck, smiley, and 5 more like this
Post by chasensfo on Jun 10, 2021 16:14:51 GMT -5
Working on several Chinese airports, basically any airport that closed after 1997 (sorry, there were actually a few but not needed for my project) I'm planning on either backdating or making from scratch. In some cases, airports that closed from 1999 onward are still active as military bases, yet not included in P3Dv4+! Likewise, some rather busy airports are not included at all (meaning new or old, such is the case for Shantou, for example), while others like Kunming have been closed since 2012 yet the default airport is the old one! What a mess, I have no idea why China has been so neglected by the Microsoft\Lockheed franchises. The good thing is, in the cases of PEK\SHA for example, the airports have not really been updated since FSX and still are very out of date, thus much closer to the 1990s than real life LOL. For the airports I didn't make from scratch, I added tons of details to bring them closer to 1998 and re-did the parking from scratch in some cases. I also made all the jetways and buildings "NORMAL" scenery complexity as none of these airports should overload your PC. Note, because of all these airports that closed, many of your AI planes will be flying to nowhere unless you change the codes to the modern airports of install my scenery. I forgot to do most of the airports on the few released Chinese airlines for 1998, but I'll update them soon. I think it's like 8 airports or something that differ from today that I've noticed so far, and I need to make 6 of them. I don't think aviation has exploded in any country in the last 20 years like China, airports the size of FAT are suddenly the side of LAX. Crazy.
Anyway, here is a preview of what I've got so far, mostly with 1994/5 traffic since the Chinese carriers are all done for that time period:
Bejing (PEK\ZBAA)
T2 opened in November of 1999, basically 2000, at which time T1 was closed for a few years. I have made a 2003 version with T2 and T1 both up and running and all "newer" parking, but these shots are for 1998 with T2 mostly built but not in service yet and limited parking leading to very crowded aprons. The default scenery for PEK isn't bad, but sadly the entire terminal complex (T1, T2, both towers, ect) is one big object. I'll make a pre-1998 version (T2 was built fast, didn't even start until early 1998) when somebody cares enough to delete T2 from that object file one day. Almost done with this one, will be released soon. NOTE: GSX bridges almost never work with SODE even after re-installing SODE so many times...any help appreciated, SODE works at all my non-GSX bridge airports. I will go back and add dynamic lighting to these eventually after release in an update.
Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA\ZSSS)
Had just 1 runway and 1 terminal, with the vast majority of flights parking on remote stands and surprisingly little in the way of buildings and infrastructure. Lots of cargo, and got several foreign airlines that didn't serve PEK, especially stuff from other parts of Asia. Almost done, all the parking is complete but I feel like it needs something else, too bad all the ramp vehicles would kill FPS.
Guangzhou Baiyun (CAN\ZGGX)
I got the FSX scenery for this airport successfully converted to work in P3Dv4\5 and more or less re-did the airport. I added the asphalt lining all the taxiways and ramps, got rid of a fake taxiways inside the ramp area and replaced it with proper apron links with no visible lines for most of it like real life (the airport was a mess to get around), added the vehicle roadways, added the all the taxi signs and named the taxiways (yes, they didn't do that before LOL), corrected the size of the 4 international jetway gates to fit 777s or smaller instead of 737/A320 only, corrected some surfaces, added the China Southern maintenance parking (they also worked on China Eastern and Shenzhen Airlines), flipped around some spots that were backwards, and created all known re-life parking and taxi paths. Sadly, as cool as this is, the best thing about ZGGX was the high high rise apartments lining the airport and crammed up to the fence line. In flattening the area for this scenery, the developer turned off all the autogen in the area...so it's like being in rural forest instead of the middle of a huge city haha. Any help with landclass or un-doing that autogen masking is appreciated. I included shots of how the scenery looks without my ADEX and also one issue I can't figure out, which is the freeway that now runs through the former airport lighting up at night although it is properly hidden in daylight. China Sothern flew a daily 772 CAN-HKG-CAN back in 1998, by the way, plus 737s and Airbuses. It'll be fun to try it out.
Hangzhou Jianqiao (HGH\ZSHX)
Most of these older Chinese airports were once pretty much Air Force Bases with a passenger terminal, such as ZSHX. Many airports back then had fighters lining the taxiways and runways, must have been one hell of a sight. This airport, though still active as a base with no ICAO code, is not included in FSX/P3D. I made it from scratch using default objects with only Google Earth to go off of as I couldn't find any photos, as is the case with most of China outside the 3 largest cities in the 90s. For some reason, with this airport and Shantou Waisha (SWA\ZGOX), though I did save the object file and the airports first worked in the sim, now the buildings are not loading. I asked the ADE creator for help, we'll see what I did wrong. For that reason, no screenshots of ZGOX were taken, but I do have a few of ZSHX. Both will be released when I figure out what the issue is with the buildings. To accompany these airports, I plan to make Chinese C-130 and MIG fighter plans to fill up the spots and have the jets fly around to the joint use airports frequently.
I also did Kunming Wujiaba (KMG\ZPPX), but as it is the stock version and myself and anyone else who switches back and forth will have the new ZPPP installed as well, I need to change the ICAO code. I saw how to do this, but for some reason, the "Raw" editing function won't work in my ADE...so I can't change the code. Otherwise that one is also ready for release. Here are the ADE shots at least of the 2 airports I don't have screenshots from:
Anyway, here is a preview of what I've got so far, mostly with 1994/5 traffic since the Chinese carriers are all done for that time period:
Bejing (PEK\ZBAA)
T2 opened in November of 1999, basically 2000, at which time T1 was closed for a few years. I have made a 2003 version with T2 and T1 both up and running and all "newer" parking, but these shots are for 1998 with T2 mostly built but not in service yet and limited parking leading to very crowded aprons. The default scenery for PEK isn't bad, but sadly the entire terminal complex (T1, T2, both towers, ect) is one big object. I'll make a pre-1998 version (T2 was built fast, didn't even start until early 1998) when somebody cares enough to delete T2 from that object file one day. Almost done with this one, will be released soon. NOTE: GSX bridges almost never work with SODE even after re-installing SODE so many times...any help appreciated, SODE works at all my non-GSX bridge airports. I will go back and add dynamic lighting to these eventually after release in an update.
Shanghai Hongqiao (SHA\ZSSS)
Had just 1 runway and 1 terminal, with the vast majority of flights parking on remote stands and surprisingly little in the way of buildings and infrastructure. Lots of cargo, and got several foreign airlines that didn't serve PEK, especially stuff from other parts of Asia. Almost done, all the parking is complete but I feel like it needs something else, too bad all the ramp vehicles would kill FPS.
Guangzhou Baiyun (CAN\ZGGX)
I got the FSX scenery for this airport successfully converted to work in P3Dv4\5 and more or less re-did the airport. I added the asphalt lining all the taxiways and ramps, got rid of a fake taxiways inside the ramp area and replaced it with proper apron links with no visible lines for most of it like real life (the airport was a mess to get around), added the vehicle roadways, added the all the taxi signs and named the taxiways (yes, they didn't do that before LOL), corrected the size of the 4 international jetway gates to fit 777s or smaller instead of 737/A320 only, corrected some surfaces, added the China Southern maintenance parking (they also worked on China Eastern and Shenzhen Airlines), flipped around some spots that were backwards, and created all known re-life parking and taxi paths. Sadly, as cool as this is, the best thing about ZGGX was the high high rise apartments lining the airport and crammed up to the fence line. In flattening the area for this scenery, the developer turned off all the autogen in the area...so it's like being in rural forest instead of the middle of a huge city haha. Any help with landclass or un-doing that autogen masking is appreciated. I included shots of how the scenery looks without my ADEX and also one issue I can't figure out, which is the freeway that now runs through the former airport lighting up at night although it is properly hidden in daylight. China Sothern flew a daily 772 CAN-HKG-CAN back in 1998, by the way, plus 737s and Airbuses. It'll be fun to try it out.
Hangzhou Jianqiao (HGH\ZSHX)
Most of these older Chinese airports were once pretty much Air Force Bases with a passenger terminal, such as ZSHX. Many airports back then had fighters lining the taxiways and runways, must have been one hell of a sight. This airport, though still active as a base with no ICAO code, is not included in FSX/P3D. I made it from scratch using default objects with only Google Earth to go off of as I couldn't find any photos, as is the case with most of China outside the 3 largest cities in the 90s. For some reason, with this airport and Shantou Waisha (SWA\ZGOX), though I did save the object file and the airports first worked in the sim, now the buildings are not loading. I asked the ADE creator for help, we'll see what I did wrong. For that reason, no screenshots of ZGOX were taken, but I do have a few of ZSHX. Both will be released when I figure out what the issue is with the buildings. To accompany these airports, I plan to make Chinese C-130 and MIG fighter plans to fill up the spots and have the jets fly around to the joint use airports frequently.
I also did Kunming Wujiaba (KMG\ZPPX), but as it is the stock version and myself and anyone else who switches back and forth will have the new ZPPP installed as well, I need to change the ICAO code. I saw how to do this, but for some reason, the "Raw" editing function won't work in my ADE...so I can't change the code. Otherwise that one is also ready for release. Here are the ADE shots at least of the 2 airports I don't have screenshots from:
