Project Wideawake International: Ascension Ultra

[wehaveaproblem]

update: Beta is currently under way, and chugging along at a realistic pace.

The latest dev stuff starts in post 242:
http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?p=402187&postcount=242

So it is without any further ado that I'm starting a dev thread for the new Wideawake. I have dropped a few nuggets of info here and there, and my blog has seen some pics and so forth, but it's time to track the dev proper.

Wideawake International Ascension Ultra sees many changes, improvements and enhancements to the original WIN, and is designed to use the new 2010 features also. It will therefore only be 2010 compatible. The main intention is to make a base that has everything one would need for ground based operations. It is not just a stastic base like the current WIN, but a far more advanced and active addon. Unlike WIN I have made less concession to poly counts and textures however, so it will certainly be more demanding on cpu/gfx cards. It is all-in, with bells and whistles, and I do not attempt to restrict that.

The first main change is the combined functionality of using a .cfg file and a vessel, combined into one base. This has allowed me to explore many new features due to vessel functionality, have crisper textures, yet maintain ground shadows. Face has been doing a grand job coding the back end, which will interface with orbiter through a module and an MFD.

So, now let me break down what the base will consist of:

BUILDINGS:

• ALL NEW TOPOGRAPHY - A single mesh for the whole island, with a texture 4x as large as the previous one. The island is now more accurate with regards to scale and geography.
• TURNAROUND HANGARS (TA Hangars) - These are large capacity hangars designed to facilitate the quick processing of vessels. Each has animated doors and a functional cargo gantry crane, as well as UMMU management. It has the capacity to support 3 light DG class vessels or one Super Heavy XR5 class vessel.
  
• LAUNCH FACILITY AND MISSION CONTROL (LFMC) - The LFMC is where all winged launches take place. The facility offers animated doors and beacon guidance functionality, as well as fueling and passenger (ummu) functionality. This is where vessels do their final pre-flight checks, load passengers and fuel, then launch to the stars down the shielded Launchway. The MC is largely cosmetic, although it does have an accessible control tower.
  
• VERTICAL LAUNCH SITES 1 & 2 (VLS) - Technically part of the LFMC, yet seperate from it, is the VLS facilities. There will be 2 launch towers, modelled in a similar fashion to 'Slick 6' at Vandenberg. It will have any required animations, lights and eye candy as necessary.
  
• STORAGE HANGARS (LS & HS Hangars) - There are three groups of storage/maintenance hangars on the base. Light hangars for DG class, Heavy Hangars for XR5 class and auxiliary hangars for overflow and atmospheric flight aircraft.
  
• LEASE HANGARS - there are 6 light and 3 heavy hangars that can be rented by players, as is possible in the current WIN
  
• AIRPORT-As with WIN, AU has an airport for atmospheric flight processing. It will have limited functionality, although UMMU management will be possible.
  
• CARGO MANAGEMENT DEPOT (CMD) -This facility is for processing all the incoming/outgoing cargo – think storage container dock area style functionality. Although it is undecided how actually functional this will be beyond eye candy.
  
• TOWN and PORT - WIN is finally getting a port! As with the cargo depot, functionality will likely be very limited, but the addition is still needed to complete the 'full picture' of WIN. To accompany the port, the adjacent town is being developed in a Dubai mass-dev stylie
  
• ORBITER RACING LEAGUE HQ (ORL HQ) - As WIN is the historical home for ORL, there will be a new hangar/HQ facility built purely for this endeavour.
  
• Miscellaneous Buildings - To go with all of the above will be various other static/cosmetic structures, in the form of a heli-terminal, advertising billboards, office space, car parks, garages, radars and the like, to help bring the base to life.
  
• RUNWAYS - As before, there are 2 main runways and a dedicated Launchway. 13L/31R is 45m wide, 13R/31L is 90m wide. Both have a usable 14ft+ of runway length, with additional overrun. The Launchway is similar length, but is now shielded to avoid anyone trying to land on it and to contain engine exhausts/ launch accidents.... It also feels really cool bolting down it!
  
• TAXIWAYS - The taxiway layout has been carefully designed and considered to facilitate easy flow and movement around the base. All are fully lined and lit, as well as having accurate and appropriate signage to guide you around.
  
• ROAD NETWORK - There is also a full road network for UCGO vehicles to travel around, which will have appropriate signage for navigation

MODULE & MFD:

• ASCENSION TOWER MFD (and orbiter module)-This lies at the heart of the base's operations, and is the interface through which to control the base's functionality. Once the module is activated the mfd will become available and the base will automatically load.
  
• BUILDING CONTROLS – Each building will have it's own control room, from where any functions of the base can be operated. These functions can also be controlled through the mfd from another vessel or location.
  
• TAXIWAY GUIDANCE LIGHTS – select your location, select your destination, and the taxiway lights will strobe the route you need to follow to get where you are going.
  
• CARGO CRANE – the TA hangars have a fully operational gantry crane, for the management of payloads and cargos.
  
• RUNWAY LIGHTS – request a landing at a given runway through the mfd to activate the relevant landing lights. This also applies to take-offs for conventional vessels and Launches from the LFMC.
  
• BEARING REQUEST – request a bearing from the control tower and they will direct you to Ascension.
  
• ACTION AREAS – although not directly related to the MFD, the hangars will have action areas for ummu on the ground to control door animations.
  
• UMMU MANAGEMENT – the mfd can be used for crew management, transferring crew and passengers from one structure to another, into or from a vessel, or from or onto the ground (selectable deployment areas).
  
• LOD CONTROL. - The module will also control the bases loading, with staggered LOD to limit cpu use as far as possible. So if you are nowhere near the island, your cpu won't be rendering away for no reason. And as you get closer, detail will be rendered as appropriate. There may also be some functionality to manually switch on/off certain elements of the base to help slower computers.

And to wrap things up, here are some random work-in-progress pics:

He is a layout map of the Base.

I'll keep this thread updated with significant updates, but my blog will probably get more incremental updates.

As ever, all questions, feedback, ideas, suggestions are very welcome.


WHAP

 

[Carmen A]

Wow this is absolutely fantastic. While the present WIN resembles a present day air/spaceport, this one is definitely 22nd Century and beyond

I love the holographic looking taxi guides (lovely at night!) as well as the architecture. I also note we dont have any more strange buildings (VAB) at the end of an active runway. More efficient now

Here come some suggestions to allow everyone to use WIN Ultra as a transglobal hub as it should be :3

- Ownership of vehicle hangars and facilities (company logo) - give each major VSA a set of facilities? Like, ownership of a hangar, crew quarters and technical facility each. This will make the virtual world of Orbiter stand out, and grant exposure to the many great VSAs out there doing missions like real astronauts.
- Lighthouse - while it's a bit strange a request, how cool would it be to see searchlights stabbing into the night sky and illuminating the base facilities at night? Orbiter's local lights really dont take up much CPU resources, even my old 1.6ghz was happy with local shadows on all the time.
- Capital ship facility - Future research into contragravity ships will require a hardstand for very large spaceships that unlike past designs, are able to hover and make planetfall. Arrow freighter dock could just be a huge parade square and some guidance towers somewhere in the open space near the mountain - think Zeppelin landing field and hangar!
-Preprogrammed UCGO buses and support craft - optional but for demo scenarios of your new base, I can help to plot vehicle routes, etc.
- Social area - Inside the passenger terminal have a space for UMMUs to gather and chat? Have pictures of Orbiter spaceships, portraits of OF/H administrative staff, etc.


Lastly.. the most epic

Offshore space beacon.
What is it?

Basically an oil rig with powerful beacon lights pointed at the sky (can use BIG searchlights for these), the idea is to be able to do a visual approach on the base with a crippled spacecraft even at night and with no instruments (or inexperienced pilot). How cool is that, if you can see WIR Ultra from orbit?

And with that, this is our Orbiter MMORPG. Not really real time yet, but its the world united

 

[Fabri91]

Really looking forward to this! It brings bases in Orbiter to a whole new level.

 

[Scruce]

I :jawdrops: when i saw those pictures, youre taking bases to a whole new floor :thumbup:! Do you have a release date?

 

[wehaveaproblem]

I love the holographic looking taxi guides (lovely at night!) as well as the architecture. I also note we dont have any more strange buildings (VAB) at the end of an active runway. More efficient now

They look even nicer when strobing along a route
And as to the VAB on the current WIN.... that runway is only for launches, it shouldn't be landed on. But it was the confusion this idea created that made me generate the new LFMC and shielded launchway... no confusion now!

- Ownership of vehicle hangars and facilities (company logo) - give each major VSA a set of facilities? Like, ownership of a hangar, crew quarters and technical facility each. This will make the virtual world of Orbiter stand out, and grant exposure to the many great VSAs out there doing missions like real astronauts.

As with the current WIN, facilities will be available for rent. AIA will own some of each kind of building, but the rest will be available to players. And again this will change various signs around the building accordingly. It is possible that this will be controlled through the mfd, but don't quote me on that.

- Lighthouse - while it's a bit strange a request, how cool would it be to see searchlights stabbing into the night sky and illuminating the base facilities at night?

oh I hadn't actually considered a lighthouse, it could easily become part of the port facility... I shall add it to the 'possible' list.[/quote]

- Capital ship facility - Future research into contragravity ships will require a hardstand for very large spaceships that unlike past designs, are able to hover and make planetfall.

now... this is on the drawing board, in theory. I wanted to sound the idea out with other orbinauts before doing it. We don;t really have any capital ships designed for atmospheric flight available, so I'm not sure if it's worth it.

-Preprogrammed UCGO buses and support craft - optional but for demo scenarios of your new base, I can help to plot vehicle routes, etc.

Now that's quite a cool idea. How does it work? is it a UCGO feature, or...?

- Social area - Inside the passenger terminal have a space for UMMUs to gather and chat? Have pictures of Orbiter spaceships, portraits of OF/H administrative staff, etc.

haha, well there will be a modelled terminal lounge in the LFMC, but I'm not sure I'll take it further. Although I do plan to add some more 'human touches' around the base, such as posters and pictures etc.

Offshore space beacon.

Now that I'm not so sure about. The base at night is pretty visible, at least from a sensible approach distance. And a scenario where all systems are down at night is rare, so not sure if it warrants a galactic-lighthouse.

And with that, this is our Orbiter MMORPG. Not really real time yet, but its the world united

Well the plan is to make a home from home, a real(ish) feeling place, not just a pretty island covered in hollow shells. So I suppose it does lend itself to (MMO)RPG. 'World United' is a nice phrase, it is a nice idealistic dream that is reflected in the 'International' part of AIA and Wideawake.

 

[Bonanza123d]

I like it. I want to know about the release date. We also need to test this base on the OMP (Just in Case) to see if there is any bugs that needed to be addressed in online use.

 

[Face]

I want to know about the release date.

Tuesday, definitely.

 

[wehaveaproblem]

I like it. I want to know about the release date. We also need to test this base on the OMP (Just in Case) to see if there is any bugs that needed to be addressed in online use.

Ask anyone who has been on this forum for any length of time and they will tell you that release date is Tuesday.

edit: (re: faces post) SEE!

As for ORL/OMP, that will be tested as a closed beta after the general closed beta.

 

[Bonanza123d]

Well, i cannot wait to test this bad boy out. I see less hangars, are you adding more ATM?

 

[Carmen A]

Hehe thanks for answering the suggestions

Capital ships - We have a modified Arrow for OMP interstellar ops - we put Firefly drives on her so we can make it to interplanetary destinations in real time (no time accel in present OMP version). We also operate Fireflies although this is no longer an officially supported OMP ship. This does warrant a "starship" facility as the Firefly is.. huge.

Oh well, we just need a big landing stage. Big concrete area that is for normal Orbinauts, some sort of parade square with strange low buildings around!

Lighthouse - would be nice. Lol galactic lighthouse. when making one of my early videos I noticed you can actually spot the landing lights from orbit at minimum FOV :3

 

[Arrowstar]

Dang.

DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG.

WHAP, you have done it again! That looks brilliant with a capital B. Any chance that the upper floor of that control tower-looking structure can allow for UMMUs walk on it (and by extension, get up there somehow) so realistic tower operations might be conducted?

Great work! As always, looking forward to Tuesday.

 

[Bonanza123d]

Hehe thanks for answering the suggestions

Capital ships - We have a modified Arrow for OMP interstellar ops - we put Firefly drives on her so we can make it to interplanetary destinations in real time (no time accel in present OMP version). We also operate Fireflies although this is no longer an officially supported OMP ship. This does warrant a "starship" facility as the Firefly is.. huge.

Oh well, we just need a big landing stage. Big concrete area that is for normal Orbinauts, some sort of parade square with strange low buildings around!

Lighthouse - would be nice. Lol galactic lighthouse. when making one of my early videos I noticed you can actually spot the landing lights from orbit at minimum FOV :3

We can land next to the terminal. :lol:

 

[wehaveaproblem]

Capital ships - We have a modified Arrow for OMP interstellar ops - we put Firefly drives on her so we can make it to interplanetary destinations in real time (no time accel in present OMP version). We also operate Fireflies although this is no longer an officially supported OMP ship. This does warrant a "starship" facility as the Firefly is.. huge.

lemme DL take a look at the arrow and the Firefly and give it some thought...

Any chance that the upper floor of that control tower-looking structure can allow for UMMUs walk on it (and by extension, get up there somehow) so realistic tower operations might be conducted?

Cheers mate. To your question. You can just see the tower room in one of the pics, it is transparent glass, so can be seen through. I'm not sure what the deal is with elevated ummu platforms, impossible probably, but at the least it will have a fixed camera position in the tower. It will function like a cockpit, so mfd base control and looking around will be possible.

 

[Carmen A]

We can land next to the terminal. :lol:

"Arrow Ten to tower, request permission to land"
"Arrow ten this is W.I.N. Tower we ain't got no space for your ship"
"Erm, better make some space we're coming down right on top of you!"

*insert scenes of mass panic*

 

[Bonanza123d]

lemme DL take a look at the arrow and the Firefly and give it some thought...


Cheers mate. To your question. You can just see the tower room in one of the pics, it is transparent glass, so can be seen through. I'm not sure what the deal is with elevated ummu platforms, impossible probably, but at the least it will have a fixed camera position in the tower. It will function like a cockpit, so mfd base control and looking around will be possible.

Sweet. I call Mission Control (ATC)!

---------- Post added at 06:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:52 PM ----------

"Arrow Ten to tower, request permission to land"
"Arrow ten this is W.I.N. Tower we ain't got no space for your ship"
"Erm, better make some space we're coming down right on top of you!"

*insert scenes of mass panic*

:lol::lol::lol:

 

[Arrowstar]

Cheers mate. To your question. You can just see the tower room in one of the pics, it is transparent glass, so can be seen through. I'm not sure what the deal is with elevated ummu platforms, impossible probably, but at the least it will have a fixed camera position in the tower. It will function like a cockpit, so mfd base control and looking around will be possible.

Yeah, that's great! I guess I hadn't considered that option before, but in retrospect all I was actually looking for was a camera position that could look out the window anyway. Thanks!

 

[wehaveaproblem]

it's one of the many benefits of vessel bases

 

[Bonanza123d]

it's one of the many benefits of vessel bases

Wait then that means that we can put one of these "bases" on the moon.

 

[Carmen A]

When I think of a vessel base I visualise a derelict Shuttle A with makeshift tents over the top and the cargo containers are turned into bars and seating booths

 

[Bonanza123d]

Yea. I can't wait till tuesday. If we need a TS, i have a spare one ready to go.