[WIP] Solomon 1943 V.2.0

[Pips]

Superb effort. The Solomons has come alive.

[roger-wilco-66]

Just a few wip images on Munda. Almost done with the tile, just a few adjustments left, mostly on the blendmask.
I'm not satified with the green patches between the runway and the taxiways as well as Kokengolo Hill. From old photos I gather that these were barren earth, leftovers from the battle actions. I have to find a texture that gives a good match.
Also, some of the autogen has to go. But it's getting there..







BTW, I still love the A2A/AF F4U Corsair. It's a very photogenic aircraft, and Jan's repaints for it are most excellent if not stunning.

Cheers,
Mark

[Bomber_12th]

You do such an incredible job with these scenery projects, Mark! Excellent job of the texture adjustments and blending with the Munda photo scenery section!

[dswo]

I'm coming to this late but, WOW!

[YoYo]

Where I can take Solomon v.1.0 ? I cant find here/ Flightsim / Avsim.

[MudMarine]

Now that I have FSX up and running again, I'd be more than happy to test V.2.0 for you!

[stovall]

Yo Yo, I believe the Solomons package was withdrawn. You will not find it on any of the usual upload sites. Please be patient as Mark is working hard to wrap the new version up. I won't be long now. The wait is going to be well worth it. Hang in there!!

[roger-wilco-66]

It's coming along nicely, despite some hickups. I scaled up the Rabaul photo tile to get a higher resolution out of it, expecially because of the hand-drawn Lakunai airfield. Looks nice now!

I also finished working on a high resolution mesh for Vanuatu, or the New Hebrides as it was called back then (all islands including Espirito Santo and Efate), which will be included the upcoming release, but not with the historical airfields yet. I'll release those as an addon, otherwise I probably can't meet my own deadline for the release prior to mid August.

Here's a few images from working on the digital elevation model:

Espirito Santo:

Attachment 69597




Efate:

Attachment 69598

[P38man]

Love this thread and the previous one.

Really looking forward to it.

[trucker17]

same here....But wish it was finished....My corsair is feeling left out.....:mixedsmi:

Also if you have not heard.....Vertigo studios, has their CV-6 Enterprise in game and testing.....Should make a great addition to the Solomons scenery....
Here are some screens of it so far.





:salute:

[roger-wilco-66]

Hey Guys,

I write this from Sydney, Australia and some might figure now that I wasn't able to get the Solomon release ready prior to our departure from Germany. That's right, unfortunatly. It'll have to wait until the end of September when we return to Germany.

But to my fellow simmers here I'm delighted to announce another "release" - we married here in Sydney yesterday and it was a fantastic experience on the shore of Kirribilli in front of Sydney's wonderful skyline on a beautiful and warm day.

With that, all the best,
Mark with family

[GypsyBaron]

Congrats Mark and family!

Sydney is a wonderful place to be for a wedding or, for that matter,
any other reason :salute:

Paul

[MartinM]

Hey Guys,

I write this from Sydney, Australia and some might figure now that I wasn't able to get the Solomon release ready prior to our departure from Germany. That's right, unfortunatly. It'll have to wait until the end of September when we return to Germany.

But to my fellow simmers here I'm delighted to announce another "release" - we married here in Sydney yesterday and it was a fantastic experience on the shore of Kirribilli in front of Sydney's wonderful skyline on a beautiful and warm day.

With that, all the best,
Mark with family

Congratulations from Switzerland !!

[fliger747]

Glad you are enjoying Sydney, going to be there again for a few days next month. Chance of having a preview of this for some flight testing of Harpoon?

Regards. T

[fliger747]

Down angle of the outboard shafts with the propelers extending below the bottom of the hull a bit strange. About the only ships I have seen with props extending below the hull were destroyers which needed the prop diameter to utilize the power available. I always thought that Hornet, Big E and Yorktown had a single rudder, will have to check on that. Such a setup vastly complicates drydocking and causes other issues with deep draft ships.

Certainly dual rudders can do a lot to reduce tactical diameter, the Iowas were very good in this respect for that reason. Much better than the Alaskas with a single cruiser type rudder.

Anyway, be great to have some more high quality FSX early WWII carriers!

T

[trucker17]

Congrats Mark......The solomons i know will be worth the wait....enjoy while you can....:salute:

[roger-wilco-66]

Thanks guys, the trip is fantastic, now we stay around Brisbane for a couple of days.
As for the Solomons, the project has gotten very complex, almost like a second job. But it is almost finished, so I expect that it can be released after the vacation in Oz.

cheers, Mark

[trucker17]

Thanks guys, the trip is fantastic, now we stay around Brisbane for a couple of days.
As for the Solomons, the project has gotten very complex, almost like a second job. But it is almost finished, so I expect that it can be released after the vacation in Oz.

cheers, Mark

Great to hear about the solomons.....Enjoy your time their....

[P38man]

Congratulations from me too.

[robcap]

Wow Mark!!
First off, congratulations!
Second, looking forward to the new scenery!! A lot!!
Trird: I just returned from a holiday with the family on Australia's east coast, from Sydney to cape Tribulation. So I envy you being there now ;-)
If possible, try to do a sailing/snorkling trip in the Whitsundays. Go with Silent Night, a nice racing sailing ship, great crew, great excusions and snorkling, you won't regret those 2 nights at sea, with the 2 great days on each side (afternoon, full day, morning). I did it with the family, and didn't regret it!

Cherio, Rob

[roger-wilco-66]

Hey,

thanks, guys (mates, hehe), for the whishes, much appreciated. Back again now after 5 weeks in Australia. Rob, we've been to the Whitsundays and it - again - was like paradise. Been there for the second time now. We went with Mantaray cruise to Hook Island and Whitsunday for snorkeling, as well as whalewatching with another boat. We also went all the way up to Cape Trib. Unfortunatly, I missed visiting the Caboolture vintage aviation museum with their flyable Mustang, Boomerang etc. But there's always a third time :-) We're thinking about relocating anyhow....

As you can see by the screenshot I enjoy flying around the Solomons for the first time in five weeks, now I can get back to work on it again!

Cheers,
Mark

[robcap]

Great stories, Good times in OZ. and great screenshot! Looking forward to the release.

Cheers, Rob

[roger-wilco-66]

I decided to make Barakoma, Segi and maybe Ondonga also photoreal. Had some problems with scenery objects there and wanted to build them from scratch. Might as well paint them then, I thought...

Here's a shot of a very early development of Barakoma. Colors have to be matched, as well as the blend mask for the shoreline. But the geography is OK now, also the basic layout of the airfield as well as the painting of the runway (did that in GIMP).





Cheers,
Mark

[Roger]

Great stuff Mark

[robcap]

Unfortunately, pics seem to be missing.

Cheers, Rob