Project Brighton Base 2011: An Upgrade to Orbiter's Brighton Beach

rodion_herrera

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Hi all, I haven't been back in a while, and since now I'm sort of in-between jobs I decided to have a go again at making a simple add-on, this time yet-another-Brighton-Base (graphics/meshes) Upgrade.

The reason behind this is I've been playing around with the XR series of spacecraft as of late, making lunar flights, and while landing at Brighton I kept wishing it looked "at par" with the XR2 or XR5 in terms of mesh and textures quality, instead of having the "stock" landing pads and that ever-familiar cylindrical building in the middle. I am aware there are lots of Brighton Base replacements in OrbitHangar, but I wanted one with LOTS of meshes. The result of my fiddling in the last twenty four hours is this work in progress.

It includes all new landing pad meshes, with some detailing around it. I then changed the central building to my own design (I call it the coffeemaker building, because I've been drinking a LOT of coffee while I working on this hehe). I retained the monorail, and in fact the monorail still goes inside the new building. I later plan to add a destination dome/building at the end of that monorail.


Here it is, early lunar morning. Each pad has a sort of access door, that leads to a "viewing area" (not really accessible right now, but I might develop this later), and eventually leads to a tunnel leading towards the FUEL, APU, LOX resupply area. I added details like pipes and hoses on the pad, to give that feeling/impression that you can refuel using the pads.


Another angle. As you can see, the border around the pad is no longer octagonal. I got tired of looking at those octagons when landing so I decided to make them fully circular. BTW, I used McWgog's Brighton Beach Tiles, and Ark's (?) low mountain terrain mesh around the new base, to enhance the look. I may (depends on time) make my own surface tiles and some mounds/low hills, so that I won't need to "borrow" anything from another addon to enhance the surrounding terrain.


Playing with lighting effects off the XR2's hoverthrusters on one of the structures I built around the pads.


XR2 about to land on Pad 3. To simplify matters, I actually retained the old landing pads, I just made them super super tiny, so that the VOR beacon remains the same for each pad.


Kara flying around the new Brighton using her jetpack. Note the monorail going into the central structure.




Uploaded with ImageShack.us
XR5 night landing...note that the base is still completely dark--I want to seek help with someone who knows how to script/program dynamic lights so I can use those instead of using "lighted" textures.

Among my plans is to do some simple animations around the base using Vinka's spacecraft3.dll, and perhaps some integration-work with UCGO, UMmu and others. My problem is time because like I said I am in between jobs, but I'm scheduled to be interviewed next week for a job at a local mini-planetarium in another city, but I hope to finish this before I leave.

It's clear to see that this addon will be quite mesh-and-texture heavy, so definitely not for older PC's. I might make simplified or optimized versions, but for now, this is for pretty decent PCs (I barely noticed any drop in frame rate on the PC I'm using).

Cheers! Comments and criticism welcome! :)

-RODION
 
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MaverickSawyer

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If we had a :drool: smilie, that would be my only reply. :)
Looks really nice! I would download that as-is if I had the space.
 

rodion_herrera

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Thank you MaverickSawyer. :) Oh btw, my plan is to put very minimal additional buildings around, because my idea is that most of the accessways and main buildings should be underground, which is why if you see each pad, the accessway tunnel towards the hub coffeemaker building actually dips into the ground--the idea is that it's generally safer to move around in the moon if you're below the surface using tunnels/accessways. Nonetheless perhaps a solar array nearby (of my own design) will be good, and perhaps some kind of comms setup. I originally planned to put some comms equipment on top of the coffeemaker but then I decided to keep that clear for some experiments with elevated landing pads later.

Here is a comparison, "advertisement-style" poster for the project...




BTW the inspiration for my new landing pad texture is Lego Space :) from my childhood days. Some Lego Space kits came with a "landing pad" and that's where I got the idea for the new pad image/texture.

-RODION
 
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Tex

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Oh wow, I'm in love! My favorite place to visit on the Moon is now 5 star resort!! Nice work, thanks!
 

rodion_herrera

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Oh wow, I'm in love! My favorite place to visit on the Moon is now 5 star resort!! Nice work, thanks!

I'm glad you like it so far Tex! I'm really enjoying making this, perhaps because it's been a while since I last made any Orbiter addons :lol:. I had to scour the forum these past few days for information and just to recall/refresh my memory on how to do this or how to do that, but it was fun! :)

I do need help though--anyone can point me to some tutorials/how to's on making localized lighting? Can these lights be then implemented using Spacecraft3.dll? Thanks!

-RODION
 
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Mandella

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This does look good! I'm always in favor of "sprucing up" models from Orbiter's early years.

:thumbup:
 

rodion_herrera

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This does look good! I'm always in favor of "sprucing up" models from Orbiter's early years.

:thumbup:

Thank you Mandella! I do need help though--can anyone point me to some tutorials or how-to's on making/scripting localized lighting? Can these lights be then implemented using or with Spacecraft3.dll? Thanks! I really love the effect of those lights on the pads/buildings at night!

-RODION
 

n122vu

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This looks really awesome! I will definitely be downloading this one!
 

rodion_herrera

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Well I just encountered a problem with UCGO's Arrow. I tried the autoland example and since UCGO has this tiny landing pad close to one of Brighton's default pads, the rear engine nacelles hit one of my refuelling buildings and tanks...



So it's either I move that UCGO Arrow landing pad/point, or move some of Brighton's pads elsewhere, and perhaps even make a LARGE landing pad for Arrow-class vessels...hmmm, choices, choices.

-RODION
 
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Aeadar

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I was just thinking that an 'outboard', larger pad for the Arrow might be nice.

This looks great! Thank you!:)
 

MaverickSawyer

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If you want the local light sources to work, there's an effect in the parameters tab. It's a real performance killer, though, and won't work for all computers.
:hmm: Isn't there a spotlight vessel somewhere?
 

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This looks amazing. Keep up the great work! I look forward to using this.
 

Tex

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I was just thinking that an 'outboard', larger pad for the Arrow might be nice.

:hesaid:

That would be great having a big pad just for the Arrow. :thumbup:
 

N_Molson

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Looks very good, and before I read your post I was actually thinking "hey, those textures / meshes remind me the XR vessels". So you obviously reached your goal :thumbup:

Have you considered making some normal maps for the D3D9 client ? Would be the final blow IMHO :lol:
 

n122vu

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I was just thinking that an 'outboard', larger pad for the Arrow might be nice.

This looks great! Thank you!:)

Another vote for this from me.
 

ghostrunner01

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Oh nice! About time someone updates that old base! I tried once but miserably failed.
 
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