Runway12 Object placer's home.

A sad day to the Flight sim comunity

Today we got the sad news that Seev Kahan had passed away.

Rwy12 Object Placer works fine with FS-X

After testing we found out that �Rwy12 Object Placer� works fine with FS-X. This was actually expected because Rwy12 is based on the relatively new XML format and all objects in the 40 contributed libraries are made with Gmax. Luckily, it also turned out that Microsoft did not change the GUID numbers of the default objects.

Latest news, "Ebenezer" found out that you can update a Rwy12 scenery (in FS-X) without the need to exit and reload the sim. Please see here;

http://www.sk-flightsim.com/tutorial_2/Adding%20Rwy12%20Scenery%20in%20FSX.pdf

FS-X and the new Microsoft Vista OS

Microsoft announced on Tuesday, March 21, 2006, that it would delay the introduction of Windows Vista for consumers until January, 2007. According to reliable sources at Microsoft ACES Studio, "Flight Simulator X is still on track for a holiday 2006 release and will be optimized for Windows Vista when Vista is released." The Vista delay means that the real attraction of FSX, which takes advantage of all the new Windows Vista graphics processing goodies - will also be delayed.

Ultimately, it means there's a lot of life in the trusty FS2004 yet. Recommendations are to wait and see what finally transpires with FSX and Windows Vista and not to jump at the first release of FSX for Windows XP. So far, nothing has been seen about FSX and Windows XP that makes it spectacularly better than FS2004.

A new Rwy12 Object Library - Eailway Wagons and Engines

We have a new Rwy12 library. This time railway wagons and engines. All made in gmax. You can download the Rwy12 file at avsim.com (jirpe_trains_01_v2.zip). The gmax source files are also available (jirpe_trains_01_v2_source.zip). Many thanks to Petr Jiricek for his nice contribution. Please go to "read more" for additional detailes

Congratulations

Congratulations to our friend David �Opa� Marshall for winning Flightsim.com�s October 2005 Developer�s Award . The award is given upon voters choice. The award was given for the very popular Tips & Tricks, which is published by David nearly every month. He is now at number 16. We strongly recommend this great upload to our readers.

gmax future

Brought to our attention by one of our supporters;

RE: News about GMAX being cancelled ... true or false ?
Oct 27, 2005 2:27:12 PM

Here is the reply of Autodesk (they asked me to post it).

Recently we communicated a plan to cease new development on Gmax and ramp down support on the current offering; this decision was based on multiple factors and data points, including diminished interest from games publishers. Since the announcement, more partners provided feedback that we are investigating � for this reason we are happy to announce that we will extend the previously communicated November 1, 2005 deadline and continue to make Gmax available to the active community.

Our plans still include a ramp down of support on this version of Gmax � the technology does not reflect the capabilities of the current 3ds max release, nor is it ready in its current form to take advantage of pending changes to the windows operation system that will be exposed with the Vista release.

We have heard your feedback and are formulating a revised transitional plan � in the interim we are again pleased to announce that we will continue to availability of Gmax for current active users.

Annie Normandin
Product Manager - Animation
Autodesk Media & Entertainment

(source Turbosquid gmax forum)

Rwy12 Object Placer Updated Documentation for V1.2

Uploaded yesterday at avsim.com (rwy12_tutorials.zip) and flightsim.com (rwy12tu.zip) a new updated set of documents, including the following; Installation v1.2, Rwy12 v1.2 tutorial, Rwy12 Object_Placer_FAQ and Rwy12_Create_library_tutorial. The FAQ is by David "Opa" Marshall and the others by Rwy12 team. We recommend to replace the old files with the new version.

Gmax support to be discontinued

Autodesk, who bought Discreet - the developer of Gmax, a few months ago decided to stop support for this freeware tool starting Oct. 6th 2005. Their intension is to offer game developers their own 3D Studio Max program, a tool that goes for $ 3,500.

Stoping support means; You can't download Gmax 1.2 from Discreet or TurboSquid and more important, you will not get an authorization code for the product if you find the download somewhere else or have to reinstall it on your PC for some reason.

In other words, keep your Gmax alive and working.

Replacing Gmax with another program is not easy because unless you have a "Direct X" exporter available for making the MakeMDL, you can't use the 3D models you make in FS2004. According to some posts in avsim forums, Microsoft includes exporters for 3DS Max and Maya (another expensive 3D program) in the Direct X SDK.

We all hope that the designer community will solve this problem, because otherwise we, scenery and aircraft designers alike, are in big trouble,

New version of rwy12 Q&A

A new updated version of David Marshall's Q&A for rwy12 v1.2 can be found here; http://www.sk-flightsim.com/tutorials.html

David will upload a PDF document as soon as you guys check this one

A new Rwy12 Object Library - 6 Object Collection

And another new Rwy12 library, YLGC Rwy12 Objects, was uploaded to avsim.com by Frank Salter (lakegrace_rwy12-objects.zip) on Sep. 26. The library includes 6 objects made for Frank's Lake Grace, YLGC, scenery.

Many thanks to Frank

This is already library #49