Pete_SMS

Sunday Beaver Update 9 Hi everybody, not a really exciting update today. Our daughter was sick this week and we had VERY little sleep and this meant VERY little development time. I hope I can make a mid week progress report with a few more updates. Otherwise you will get more next week. Hope you are not too disappointed after checking in to read some news.

Thanks for the link eaglewing. I had this document already.

Sunday Beaver Update 8 Hi everybody, Update Time and again no new pictures today. However, I hope I post a few before the next Sunday update. OK, what was going on this week.... A few things for the 3D model are and were still outstanding, but this will be no longer the case, hopefully by the end of the week. First thing was the prop texture and the the other was the pilot model. The prop texture is in place and the pilot is work in progress. So this is what I hope I can show during the next week. Other than that, I am going through cockpit and cabin animations again, because I had to restrucutre quite a bit, due to the support of external hardware. If the 3D is finished, two more liveries will be worked on and then all will be frozen. Then I will focus on the remaining technical part and I am looking forward to fully dive into it again. Stay tuned...even if you get bored by this update ...better than nothing, isn't it?

Sunday Beaver Update 7 Hi all, Another Sunday again and another update. No screenshots today, because most of the things I did were code and sound related. 3D model: A few minor changes and improvments had to be done on the external model, and I hope it can be called fixed and frozen now. Sound: I played around with the engine sounds for some time and have tried to further improve them by tweaking and mixing them, and I am pretty happy with the results, but still not done. Coding: Last week I was talking about support for external hardware like the Saitek Swith Panel, GoFlight etc. I said that I try to support this hardware, but that I also don't want to limit myself to stadard X-Plane commands and datarefs. I had a further and deeper look into this and might have found a way to support it, even if I use a lot of custom stuff. I started to code it and a few tests were positive. However, it will take me another day or two to finsish this and then the Beaver will go to the test team to check this. Hopefully, I can make them happy. It's not pure aircrat development at the moment, but this kind of support is important for me as well. So probably not super exciting news for today, but at least you know what I am doing. You all have a great Sunday!

Thank you for the nice comments from last week!

Sunday Beaver Update 6 Hi all, A new update today, however this week was a little slow. Lots of things going on besides X-Plane development, but there was progress. Tuning of the cockpit lighting is still ongoing and you will see the current state in the screenshots below. Maybe the post lamps have to shine a little brighter on the panel, but this needs to be checked. Some re-work on the external 3D model had to be done, because one of the animations did not work properly due to the mesh setup. However, this seemingly tiny change affected 4 obj files and was more work in the end than expected, but it is fixed now. I also had a look into supporting external hardware like the Saitek switch panel, radio stack and the GoFlight equipment. I figured that XP is not really supported by this hardware and that one always needs a plugin to make it work, which is a pitty. I also got the impression that this external hardware works most of the time, if the developer of an add-on aircraft is using the standard XP datarefs and commands. Custom commands or datarefs always involves some extra work. Well, I try to support this as much as possible, but I won't limit myself to standard XP datarefs and commands, just to make external hardware work, because it would limit me in my development, because a lot of things will be custom without using XP standard. What I will do though is that I will provide a list of custom datarefs and commands and also what they are used for in the cockpit, so users will have the ability to customize the hardware plugin scripts from Sparker for example. I also did some coding, but it was more cleaning up a few things, because I like tidy and maintainable code. That's all for this week and I hope you like the following screenshots:

OK...I have a screenshot and decided that I am going to show you a teaser for the cockpit lighting.

Sunday Beaver Update 5 Hi all, Another Sunday and another update. Just have to say that there will be no screenshots today, but I hope to show you more in the coming week. Even without any new screenshots to show, the last week has been pretty productive and I am happy with the progress. The livery you saw in my last Sunday update got some final touches, like some paint on the horizontal tail. That was missing last week, but we got the Beaver in the paint shop again and now the livery is finished. I continued on the animations and can say that the cockpit and interior is fully animated now. Some gauges are not driven by numbers yet, but they are showing the correct values if stimulated. The reason they are not driven by numbers yet is, that these will be driven by my own plug-in code. I could hook them up to some standard XP dataref's, but I am not going to do that, as most of the engine stuff is custom coded. Talking about sounds I can say, that all Beaver engine sounds (internal and external) are now available and they sound great. I will do some final touches and remixing over the coming weeks, but they are great already. Ground roll sound and wind is in place as well. The interior sounds, like the doors, pumping the flaps etc. will come a little later. Finally, I can add that we are now working on the cockpit and cabin night lighting and I hope I can show some cool screenshots in the coming week. So even without screenshots, I hope you enjoyed this update.

Yes, that is the new Stewart and it is awesome!

Sunday Beaver Update 4 Hi all, Well most of the week was spent with celebrating Christmas and spending time with family. However, the first high quality livery of the regular tire version was finished and you will see it in the screenshots below. Also more progress on external animations and some code. I decided to focus more on 3D and animations right now, and once everything is in place, I will continue with the more technical stuff like flight modeling and coding. Next, you should see some light texturing for the cockpit and interior. So stay tuned and I hope you enjoy the pictures below.

Sunday Beaver Update 3 Hello, It is Sunday and time for another update. As you know, I created the View Control System for the Beaver this week and I hope you enjoyed the screenshots so far. In addition, I continued with systems coding and the animations of the external model. The first livery is still WIP, but hopefully I can show something soon. Besides all the technical stuff, I would like to talk about the Beaver release today, and I can imagine that a few of you are interested in this. The full modernized Beaver package will include the regular tire version, the cargo version with bush tires and cargo door with the corresponding interior and the amphibious version. As I know a lot of you are really waiting for the release, I came up with a release strategy and it will be a two step release. The first release will be the regular tire version only, but of course it will have all the features and will have gone through the full test cycle. So don't expect a degraded version. It will be full payware quality! The second release will be the full package, with all the version mentioned above. I chose this approach, because I would like to get the Beaver into your hands as soon as possible and I don't want you to wait until the full package is finished. I know a lot of you are waiting for this aircraft and I want to give it to you. Again, it will be fully developed and tested and at the moment, I just concentrate on the regular tire version. The one you have seen in the recent screenshots. It will come with three liveries and a blank exterior texture, so you are able to create your own liveries. I hope that nobody is disappointed by "just" getting only one version at the beginning. Well, most payware aircraft just come with a single version. The full Beaver package will have 3 different versions in the end. Now, I would like to give a few more details on the pricing: ============================================================ Step 1 The regular tire version for a price of $24.95 Step 2 The full package, including all three versions mentioned above for a price of $34.95 ============================================================ As soon as the full package is available, the single version of Step 1 won't be available anymore. Customers can then only buy the full package. Launch customers who bought the Beaver of Step 1 will be able to upgrade to the full package of Step 2, for $5. So they pay $29.95 for a high quality aircraft which comes with three different versions, instead of $34.95. I really hope that you are happy with this approach and I think it is fair! Now we come to the release date: ============================================================ Step 1 The regular tire version will be available in Spring 2014 Step 2 The full package, including all three versions mentioned above will be available 2-3 months after Step 1 ============================================================ So here you have all the details and in the coming weeks, we can purely focus on the technical updates again. You all have a great Sunday and of course a Merry Christmas!

Hi Cameron, Yes, it has been a long time coming, but life doesn't always go as planned and you have to keep in mind that I do all this beside a busy full time day job, family, baby and other constraints. So I am happy to have reached this stage so far, even by changing directions from time to time. It is my first aircraft and I guess this is natural, if you learn along the way. You are right, I built my own C++ framework for development, as I usually prefer to code in this language and it was working fine. However, I didn't like the pain to compile for three different platforms. I even bought a Mac Mini, just to be able to compile my code for the Mac, but I didn't like the idea to also install Linux as well, even I like to provide the Beaver to Linux users. So like I said, it was painful and the code turn around times, when I did a single code change became annoying. I know there are workarounds like having two folders of the same aircraft, where you just swap .xpl files etc., but also this was annoying. Another developer suggested SASL to me and gave me a short intro and after trying it, I was hooked. I could implement my code within minutes and now I can re-load my plugin on the fly, without stopping a running simulation. This allows rapid development, prototyping and testing. I know that SASL has its limitations with respect to OpenGL, but since I am not into developing airliners or heavy avionics cockpits, there is absolutely no need for me. SASL also makes it very easy for me to implement GUIs and I just love it that way. Code encryption, if required, is a piece of cake and I can do it myself and the support for all three platforms is important for me as well, because I don't want to close the door for anybody, even Linux users might be a minority. So no stumbling blocks. It was more a question of ease of use, a more rapid and streamlined development process, which is just fitting my specific needs and my own customer support. I still prefer C++ over Lua, but I can easily live with it.

Just to give you a better feeling of what the views look like, I compiled a few shots. Internal Views External Views

Just wanted to share a mid week screenshot. It shows the view control of the Beaver, which is now in place and properly working. I implemented an IFR view. Just in case the sky is falling down and you really need to focus on your flight instruments. You can select this view by using the View Control or to get there fast, you just have to click on the tail number plate. By clicking on it again, you go back to the default pilot view. This view is also handy if you just want to practice you IFR flying skills.

Yes I do!

Sunday Beaver Update 2 Hi all, Here I am for another Sunday Beaver update. This week was mainly spent on the external aircraft model and textures and systems coding and prototyping. The external model high resolution color, spec and normal maps are finished and the Beaver is about to get the first livery. I should be able to show this very soon. Besides that, I made progress on the coding side, but had to do a few things again, as I was not happy with the initial overall result, but I am getting there. No worries! During the next days or maybe in a week, I want to talk a little bit about the Beaver release and my plans for this aircraft. I hope you will like what I am going to say. Especially the people who love this aircraft like I do. Not a lot of text today, but more will follow soon. I have the feeling though that you would enjoy a few new pictures. So here they are and I hope you like them...

Sunday Beaver Update 1 Hello all, as promised I will provide development updates more frequently now until the release. I plan to do it at least once per week and most probably on Sunday. So here it comes: This week work on the external model continued. A few objects had to be re-organized to make animations more easy and the normal and spec maps had their first iteration. They look good so far, but a few cosmetic changes need to be done here and there for the rivets. When this work is finished, the Beaver high resolution maps will get the first livery. I hope I can present the first picture in my update next week. If not it will come very soon after it. Besides that, I continued with cockpit and cabin animations and I would say that aprroximately 80% of the cockpit and cabin animations are done. The main work was on plug-in coding this week. I am coding the engine start-up behaviour so it will be as real as possible. So yes, you can count the blades until you switch the mags to both. In addition to that, I am coding my own physical models for Cylinder Head Temperature, Oil Pressure and Oil Temperature. I don't like the way it is handled in standard X-Plane/Planemaker. Inside Planemaker you can play with some numbers in order to get the instruments to show some reasonable numbers, but this has nothing to do with the specifc engine you simulate and it is also kind of a blackbox thing and I don't like that. I want to have full control in all conditions, and I can only have it by using a plug-in. So I am writing my own simulation here. You have too be careful to not run your engines hot on ground, while using too much power on a hot day. Also angle of attack will have in impact on the airflow which is cooling the engine etc. Not fully done, but I am getting there. My standalone electrical system is also almost finished. The X-Plane standard electrical system is not used anymore. I also implemented a more realistc battery charging behaviour. The only thing missing is the temperature effect on the battery. I am currently doing some research here and I am planning to simulate this effect as well. So you have to be careful if you run your starter on a cold day. The battery might drain quickly. Another thing I did was going through a few big audio recording files. A friend of mine did a recording session on a real Beaver for me and I am going through the material in order to extract and create some proper sound files, which can be used for the simulated Beaver and yes, I have that typical engine idle sound of the Beaver. Hope this was interesting for you and stay tuned for more...

I wasn't really able to work on the Beaver for the last ten months due to other life contraints, but things are picking up speed again. My plan is to release frequent development updates until the Beaver gets released. Probably, there will be an update on here every week from now on. As alway,s I have to thank you all for your patience and support, and I know it must be painful for all of you interested in the Beaver. One update I can give you though. In a few of my previous posts I mentioned that I am partnering with Khamsin. This is no longer the case. Please don't ask why or about details, because I won't talk about it. Communication issues, especially a language barrier and different philosophies can create contraints which do not help anybody in the end. So we both go our own way and this is absolutely OK. Khamsin is a great artist and I am sure he will continue to create beautiful looking add-ons. Does this mean a slow down for the Beaver again. Absolutely not! I promise, updates will come very soon! Stay tuned ...

DreamEngine is for sure very nice.

Having good sound recordings, coming from Arti, me or somebody else is one side of the story. Having a good sound engine that can make use of these high quality recordings is another story. I guess we all know that the default X-Plane sound engine is very poor, which means one has to either use one of the available 3rd party X-Plane sound engines or you code one yourself, in order to make use of high quality sound recordings. The Beaver is not using the default X-Plane sound engine and I got my hands dirty in sound plugin code so far. I fully agree that proper sounds can make a huge difference and can a lot of realism and the feeling of being there. So having a proper sound engine is one of the main points on my list, but it will evolve over time.

Hi Gary, Partnering with Khamsin is a great thing, because it allows both of us to concentrate at what we are really good at. Khamsin is a great artist, doing awesome 3D and texturing work and due to my background as a professional aerospace and flight simulation engineer I have a good knowledge and understanding of aicraft systems simulation, flight modeling and coding. So it will be a nice combination, because we complement each other. Also my opinion is, that for a one man development team it will get harder and harder to keep up with the quality and fidelity demands of current and future customers. So also here, me partnering with Khamsin is a step in the right direction, considering future development. And what is also important, we are interested in the same types of aircraft. Concerning your input on the wing setup, of course the Beaver wing is split up into several sections and I will try to make the stall and the general flight characteristics as close as possible to the real aicraft. I am in touch with several Beaver pilots, who have actually flown the Beaver for a good amount of time or are still flying it and there is also a former Beaver pilot in the test team. So far the high level comment on the flight model is "Yes, she feels and flies like a Beaver". Bush flying is one of my main interests when it comes to PC flight simulation, so you can be sure that I will try my best to make it as realistic as possible. Pete

Yes, I am aware of this project, because it is still the SoulMade Simulations project. OK, I have to give a little bit of background information: The Beaver project was already pretty far with respect to the 3D model and texturing, and it could have been easily released as payware. I guess my previous screenshot underline this fact. However, at the beginning of this year, I decided to completely redo the textures, as the interior had some minor blurry parts here and there, which I didn't like, and also the external textures were not up to today's high quality standard from my point of view. I wanted more detail. So the whole 3D model was reconstructed and so were the textures. However, the external model work slowed down significantly at some point and finally I asked Khamsin if he would help me finishing the Beaver. Gladly, he was willing to help. So Khamsin will now take care of the external model (uv mapping and texturing, improvement of the current external mesh structure etc.). In addition to that, he will do the light textures and the 3D pilot model. He will also help with cargo modeling and texturing and with cockpit/cabin texture adjustments for the cargo version. In general, Khamsin will take care of all Beaver artwork issues from now on. The cockpit itself, animations, the systems simulations, flight model and the general soul of the project remains on my desk. The screenshot you posted is the SoulMade Beaver 3D model which you have seen on my previous screenshots over the last two year. However, Khamsin did 3D mesh and uv map improvements and he also did the livery which you can see on the screenshot. Again, I am happy that Khamsin is supporting me on this project, because it allows me to focus on the general simulation of the Beaver, in my limited free time. Especially systems coding, flight modeling, cockpit stuff and the general strategy of this project. I can also annonuce a future partnership of Khamsin and me, and I am looking forward to it as it gives me more room to focus on the things I am really good at. I have to thank you again for your patience and your continuous support and interest. This is what keeps me motivated. Hopefully, this could clear up a few things and confusion.

Getting closer each day I just coded a plugin for the standalone electrical system. I was not happy with the X-Plane generic stuff, and now I am completely bypassing it and have my own electrical system. This gives me full control and it behaves exactly like I want it to behave and I can add as much fidelity as I like. My goal is to replace all X-Plane generic systems with my own custom code and also to increase fidelity and add extra features for these systems over time. Also the flight model will be enhanced by custom plugin code, although I am pretty happy with it already just using planemaker so far. Just a small update...and since a week things really calm down here and development should pick up speed again. The last 10 months have been quite a journey though, without X-Plane

To answer your questions with respect to XP9: Yes, XP9 is still planned. However, the initial release will be for XP10. The XP9 version will follow after it.

No worries, I didn't feel defensive. Thanks for asking and your continous interest. Just wanted to let you guys know why things move a little slower.