NewGRF (Air)ports - general discussion

[Ben_K]

It would also be great to have a skidd-style rotunda for parking 7 aircraft in the round (like at Gatwick) would be great.

The technical term is a 'satellite'. It would be good, especially as you could park planes at all angles round 2 terminal tile. One design that is even more genius, although probably of limited advantage in TTD, is what Geneva has. They are round satellites that hold 4 aircraft joined to the terminal by underground passages. The aircraft just taxi along side, the airbridge comes out, passengers get off/on, the airbridge pulls away and the plane taxi's away. Genius system!

Skidd, will the terminals that you are drawing be connectible? Its always nice when you can combine buildings to alter the designs.

[ThunderAI]

Looks like some good progress has been made on this grf set. I look forward to a test exe or a partial release sometime in the future.

- Is there any screen shots of the User Interface which builds these airports?

- Have you thought about giving each airport its own 'authority', rather than be owned by the transport company. Maybe make them an industry which are already built or you can fund. The airport could charge you a landing fee and other services.

Id love to see the entire airport structure developed into something terribly more complex than it currently is, but thats me.

[richk67]

I never noticed before that I didnt have screenies of the User Interface on here. They were in a separate thread about developing some of the graphics.

Here is one:

The user interface

Praningbury Transport, 23rd Feb 2013.png (42.53 KiB) Viewed 6439 times

Notice the minipic of the layout. The system can allow a different minipic per orientation, but since those havent been created, I just point the minipic to the same sprite.

This one also demonstrates the "transparent" grass. Basically if a sprite on an airport has the base grass sprite as its ground sprite, then the system checks to see what was there before, and uses that. So on desert, you get desert; on snow, snow; on tropical grass, tropical grass.

If you want to test it out and see what it is like, then download svn://svn.openttd.org/branches/NewGRF_ports and compile it. It includes 4 .grfs (airportsbasic.grf, airportsextended.grf, seaplaneport.grf, realworldairports.grf). The first two will load automatically, and the other 2 need to be manually added using the ingame interface.

[ThunderAI]

If you want to test it out and see what it is like, then download svn://svn.openttd.org/branches/NewGRF_ports and compile it. It includes 4 .grfs (airportsbasic.grf, airportsextended.grf, seaplaneport.grf, realworldairports.grf). The first two will load automatically, and the other 2 need to be manually added using the ingame interface.

I did a quick test and for whatever reason my concords are crusing around at the snail pace of 200 some miles per hour. Using Av8, I dont recall having that error before.

Looks like really great work. I did not see the waypoint markers, are they going to be making it into the system?

[Octopussy]

In Sim City 2000, When you build an airport (or a seaport) you define only the surface of expansion.
After the buildings and the runways are growing by themself with a proper algorithm.

Richk, is it possible for your FSM in OpenTTD to do the same outcome ?

[richk67]

No.

Next question.

[Roujin]

Next question.

When is it done?

(you asked for another question )


or rather, what do you think is the current status in percent?

[richk67]

Status is pretty much as described in the first post (link in my sig).

I think the largest roadblock is currently Animation. Until newstation animation is sorted, I cant re-use the routines within NewGRF_ports. This is an essential part, and I would not want it accepted into trunk without.

The other pre-trunk critical item is GRF variable support. My system currently no longer supplies the variable callback results needed for sets like Av8, that have different graphics for takeoff/landing.

All other items could be introduced later once it is in trunk.

This is only for Phase I though. Phase II (docks) and Phase III (road stations) would come considerably later.

In terms of %, I would say about 85-90% done. Animation is important, and the GRF variables useful, and those two would get it to a point I am happy with. If you ignore those 2 parts though (both arguably cosmetic), the system is 100% replication of current functionality, but with the extra NewGRF goodies.

[Digitalfox]

Status is pretty much as described in the first post (link in my sig).

I think the largest roadblock is currently Animation. Until newstation animation is sorted, I cant re-use the routines within NewGRF_ports. This is an essential part, and I would not want it accepted into trunk without.

In terms of %, I would say about 85-90% done. Animation is important, and the GRF variables useful, and those two would get it to a point I am happy with. If you ignore those 2 parts though (both arguably cosmetic), the system is 100% replication of current functionality, but with the extra NewGRF goodies.

And who is responsible ( works on ) for animation part??

[richk67]

And who is responsible ( works on ) for animation part??

Currently no-one, hence the problem. Peter1138 is having a sabbatical at the moment, (AFAIK), but I hope I can find someone who knows enough about newstation animation to help soon.

[ThunderAI]

And who is responsible ( works on ) for animation part??

Currently no-one, hence the problem. Peter1138 is having a sabbatical at the moment, (AFAIK), but I hope I can find someone who knows enough about newstation animation to help soon.

I wish I could be more help for you as the airports are 'very' imporant to me (IRL: I run a small regional airport in the midwest). Making the airports more realistic is an awesome undertaking and your updates are showing marked progress towards something I firmly beleive in. Unfortunitly my skills in computer programming are unrealted to anything C/C++ OOP. Ask me to program it in PHP or ASP and it would be done by now.

Is it possible to have a 'local authority action' that allows you to fund a 'city owned' airport which you (as the transport company) must pay a user fee for using the airport. The reason I ask is cause I know of no transport company that owns an airport. There is an accounting method to allow airlines which have a financial interest in the operation of the airport to make some management decisions about the airport, but whole ownership is unheard of.

In any event, a screen associated with the airport in which the airport sets a 'landing fee'/'user fee' and your aircraft has to pay it to use the airport would be something i'd find usefull. That money paid to the airport would allow the airport to grow in the future. No users means no growth of the airport, etc.

possible?

[5245jah]

Damm i still don't understand hoe to install these airports on the game

[ThunderAI]

Damm i still don't understand hoe to install these airports on the game

you have to download the source from the trunk and compile it. Build OTTD can do it for you rather painlessly

[Korenn]

Unfortunitly my skills in computer programming are unrealted to anything C/C++ OOP. Ask me to program it in PHP or ASP and it would be done by now.

I know this is OT, but if you're that good with php, making the transition to C / C++ should be a piece of cake. When you get down to it, the differences are pretty small.

[Snuk the Great]

Unfortunitly my skills in computer programming are unrealted to anything C/C++ OOP. Ask me to program it in PHP or ASP and it would be done by now.

I know this is OT, but if you're that good with php, making the transition to C / C++ should be a piece of cake. When you get down to it, the differences are pretty small.

As someone that made that step, yes the code is quite similar, if you are used to object oriented programming with php. But that still does not mean you write good C++ code though. Thats where I am sharpening my skills atm, or atleast when I have time. School and work keep me occupied a lot.

By the way, does anyone know some good, not to basic, C++ books? Something that covers makefiles or something. I always like studying from a book a lot better then following random tutorials on the net.

[DaleStan]

<DaleStan> ??books
<^britney^> Beginners: "Accelerated C++" (http://www.acceleratedcpp.com) | Advanced: The "Effective C++" series from Scott Meyers | Reference: "The C++ Programming Language" (Third edition) from Bjarne Stroustrup.

I can't tell you which, if any, cover makefiles, though. O'Reilly surely publishes something about make.

[Snuk the Great]

<DaleStan> ??books
<^britney^> Beginners: "Accelerated C++" (http://www.acceleratedcpp.com) | Advanced: The "Effective C++" series from Scott Meyers | Reference: "The C++ Programming Language" (Third edition) from Bjarne Stroustrup.

I can't tell you which, if any, cover makefiles, though. O'Reilly surely publishes something about make.

Thanks for your suggestions. The effective C++ series was already on my list, so thank you for your confirmation. The C++ Programming Language seems neat to, wasn't suggested to me yet. So thanks!

[richk67]

Glad that was solved. Can we now stay on topic please?

[5245jah]

you have to download the source from the trunk and compile it. Build OTTD can do it for you rather painlessly

Damm i still don't understand hoe to install these airports on the game

you have to download the source from the trunk and compile it. Build OTTD can do it for you rather painlessly

Pos

next question: where can i download that?

[richk67]

Why not try the first sticky thread in this forum?