RMIP-2 Airport Lots by Voltaire

[Voltaire 52]

    If you're looking for the ultimate in SimCity 4 airport design, search no further! RMIP-2 gives you the power to shape your airside pavement like never before. This series of detailed, real-scale, modular pieces fits together seamlessly to create custom airports of any size. And because all the pieces are U-Drive-It compatible, you can fly planes from your airport when it's finished!

    Originally released as a small set of runway markings in late 2005, RMIP-2 has grown into a complete airport pavement system, composed of five main groups:

Runways  - precision, non-precision and visual runways, navaids, and approach lighting

Taxiways  - diagonals and orthogonals, with many intersection types and seamless transitions to ramps & aprons

Aprons  - parking for small jets and planes, hangars for light aircraft, and taxi lanes

Ramps  - passenger gates with jetways or air stairs, passenger walkways, and lead-in lines

Grounds - taxiway signs, green chain-link fence with rounded corners, and plain grass filler

Due to its size and complexity (over 200 Lots so far), RMIP-2 is recommended for aviation enthusiasts wanting to spend time building a realistic airport.

Browse through the thread and see the project from its beginning -- there are many pics in here that never get posted in the STEX files or readme!

MAC and GNU/Linux Users, get your manual-install ZIP Files here

BAT & Lot Downloads

RMIP-2 Small Airport Edition Vol 3

RMIP-2 Small Airport Edition Vol 4

Automata & Prop Downloads

DC-7 Automata (all four)

Braniff 707 Automata (all five)

Original Text of First Post

---

Hello again, airport fans!

Just wanted to let everyone know I am still working on further improvements in SC4 airport realism, mainly in the area of Lot textures, but also a little BAT work. Here is a sample of what I've been working on lately:

These taxiways and a makeover of the small runways will occupy me in the near term, but I would like to extend the scope of my work to custom props for taxiway signage, and some tarmac-to-apron transitions.

Given time (weeks-months) I would like to completely re-make the light props, because I am tired of the sea of flashing lights which the taxiways turn into at night. My BAT skills are definitely novice-level, but I'm learning fast with the help of some great tutorials in the Omnibus. I will keep posting updates whenever I have a nice pic to show, and I may even release some lots in a few weeks.

Please leave comments - a high level of interest in these lots will definitely speed up production!

[toxicpiano 125]

very nice!

[jpj_starfleet 3]

Good Lord! those look great! the transitions and the yellow guide lines are the best, I was about to build my airport with your stuff but now I might have to wait for these!

[SamFlash 0]

Very nice improvement and very well done.  Thanks for taking the time to do it right and not rushing it to the STEX like others have done in the past. 

[kaji 0]

wow very nice voltaire.. i thought you'd been away doing other stuff but i see youve been busy... i got bored with the last airport pack and toxic has been busy... entirely not his fault =) so that looks like its on hold... HOWEVER...

 ive been playing around with my own pack and if you would still oblige my request then i can get you the details asap and wotever else you need... the preliminary work is done but its adding stuff... however as i said alot is done for your end, sizing etc etc and so im just throwing it out to you... seeing as you wana do apron stufff... why not mine

 

~kaji

[1dera3 29]

Whoa - that's SC4? Those are awesome; keep up the good work!

//1D3

[The boy formerly known as Evil Muzz 27]

Whoa, I've been meaning to ask the lot makers in SW to try something like that, those taxiways are amazing! Keep up the great work!

[inquisitor 0]

Looking very good, there. Practically photorealistic. Nice work!

[toxicpiano 125]

Date: 1/30/2006 3:11:52 PM Author: The boy formerly known as Evil Muzz Whoa, I've been meaning to ask the lot makers in SW to try something like that, those taxiways are amazing! Keep up the great work!

quote>

we have lot makers?!

[tchaos713 5]

@toxicpiano: Surely those wonderful airport pieces didn't just make their own lots...

But seriously, these look fantastic. My only request would be some taxiways with white lines rather than yellow, as the airport where I live has white (Standiford Field - Louisville International Airport). I'd also love to see some realistic signage (including ILS), although I haven't the foggiest about the correct way to set those up...

[DJGspinNhitz 7]

sweet, I can't wait to get these in my cities. great work

GQ

[joeynymets 19]

wow that look awsome! Great job!

[newyorkstate 6]

I like it! keep it up!

[allan_kuan1992 6]

Nice work... but the textures for the taxiway are a bit too bright....

Keep up the good work.

 

Allan

[shapedy73456 0]

Great!  You are the only airporter that ever gets anything anywhere.  You have great determination.

 

Allan, I see where you are coming from, but it could be argued what the proper texture is, as airports around the world vary based on age and such.

[Voltaire 52]

Wow, less than a day and already 14 replies... I guess I have another hit on my hands!

toxic, muzz, and kaji - thanks a lot, it makes me feel I'm doing this correctly when other airport-makers appreciate my work.

jpj_starfleet, you might want to build now anyways, because RMIP-2 is going to be multiple weeks in the making. Or maybe just construct your teminal area and put roads & streets as placeholders for the taxiways & runways. One hint though: build things in even-numbered lengths, because the shortest of the new lots will be two tiles long.

SamFlash, thank you - I believe that spending time on proper design and testing is just as important as making the textures, and I hope it shows in the lots I will release.

kaji, glad to hear you've made some progress, too! Go ahead and PM me with an in-game pic so I can get some ideas on how to proceed.

tchaos713, no need to worry about a separate set, because SDF has yellow lines, too. The FAA wouldn't have it any other way; regulations concerning tarmac markings are very specific. This is the intersection of taxiways G, L, and M near the main terminal:


(Virtual Earth satellite image \ enhanced to bring out colors)

Perhaps you're thinking of airport vehicle roadway markings? Those are white and also have a solid centerline.

As far as ILS hold lines, most airports (including SDF) don't use them, because they would be so near the runway hold line anyhow. I have elected to follow that pattern, because it makes my life much easier. And hold line placement will be sooo easy - the hold lines are built into the exit taxiway stubs!

allan you've got a good eye, the new tarmac-block texture is about 10% brighter than the standard Maxis old/weathered asphalt. I made it that way on purpose, so that there will be a visual break between a taxiway and the terminal apron. This better imitates what you see at real airports, especially older ones. The new texture also looks better alongside my concrete runways than the somewhat bluish Maxis asphalt.

1dera3, inquisitor, DJGspinNhitz, joeynymets, newyorkstate, shapedy73456, thanks for the positive feedback! Keep an eye on this thread, I hope to have a few more tidbits to show soon.

[jeanfred 0]

Suggestion from an aviation fan: Is there any possibility of making larger runways (3 tiles), but something more realistic than some airport pack's big runway (with 2 parallel uncentered centerlines).

 

Also, has anyone ever thought of making taxiway/runway signs?

 

ps: I'm very pleased to see hold short lines on the screenshot!

 

Keep up your great work! 

 

 

DX

CZUL ATC

[Voltaire 52]

jeanfred, it's nice to have someone knowlegable in aviation stop by! I'm glad you asked about the old-style runways... because I've already taken care of it: search the ST Exchange for RMIP or Voltaire and get RMIP 1.0, which has nice 40m concrete runways. Be sure to have SWAP 2.3 and its dependencies installed first, though.

About the signs - I want to make some custom props for the red/white and yellow/black signs, for intersections and hold lines. I might also make distance-to-go signs for runways. However, I will not be making surface-painted signs because it would triple the number of lots I'd have to construct.

A side note - the pic in my first post is too small to show it, but there are also intermediate hold position lines on the stub-ends of taxiway-taxiway intersections.

[jpj_starfleet 3]

Thank you for the reply Voltaire, I was wondering....I have not seen this mentioned in any other airport pack yet but my airport is an east coast airport north of NYC so I am going to need a Deicing Apron I was going to base mine on the one at Philadelphia, basically a parking area with deicing trucks Google Philadelphia Airport Think you could make this also?? Thanks.

[joeynymets 19]

no problem on the feedback, i will watch this thread. I think the texture for the taxiway looks great i dont think its too bright btw i think its just fine.

[GMT 389]

WOW

[Thut 0]

Great, great work especially the runway textures!!! Voltaire

 

But wouldnt it be better to change the grass on this lots. My god that grass is so plain and boring...

 

 

[Voltaire 52]

jpj_starfleet, I think that's a good idea - all cold weather airports need one of those; if I can scrape together some nice-looking props, I'll add it to the large runways set. And thanks for the link - it's nice when others do some research for me!

Thut, I agree with you, the Maxis low-wealth grass is very flat, but I have to consider visual compatibility with the current airport packs. That grass has been used by every airport-maker before me, so I'm kinda stuck with it.

Thanks joey and GMT! p.s. I may have to order a couple of signs soon, when I build the first RMIP-2 beta-test airport

[jeanfred 0]

While we're stuck with that grass... I have a request to modify its zoning. It's currently zoned airport, and that makes a lot of sence. But, in region view/transportation map, that makes the airport look like a blue blob. If zoned as park, we could see taxiways/runways/tarmacs and it would be great! lol   my two cents... take care!

Jeff

 

[tchaos713 5]

On second thought, you're correct. I do believe that I am thinking of the roadways...

Shame on me for talking about things I know too little about...

However, please keep it up!!!

[Voltaire 52]

I have taken a break from texture/lot-ing to fiddle with BAT for a while. Here's a 5-bulb ALS stand, and a small ground light I've made:



They're my first working night-lighted props. I need to polish them up; maybe I will even be able to build some nice lots with these.

Thanks tchaos, and don't feel too embarassed, it's questions like yours which keep me on my toes - it makes my lots better when I take time to research stuff like that.

jeanfred, I don't know if it is possible to modd the grass-only 'filler' lots into parks, yet still have them in the airport menu. There are 3 or 4 settings in the lot and building exemplars which control that kind of stuff, the trick is to find out which combination will work. So I'll have to get back to you on that one.

[jpj_starfleet 3]

Lights look good, if that goes real well are we gona see taxiway and runway desg signs next!! O BOY!

[kaji 0]

wow thats looking really good for what little bating experience you have.... congratulations on a job well done ... seing as your soo good at night lights you can lite my terminal for me now thats gonna take awhile.. hence the slow progres.. cant wait to see more....

~kaji

[Voltaire 52]

A follow-up to my last post:



This is a screenshot from inside gmax; it's a perspective view of the SSALR prop I am putting together. I already have a working MALS lot in one of my test cities. I am thinking of switching to this threshold light style, instead of the small 4-light groups. I plan to make an ALSF-2 soon, so there will be 3 options when doing approach lighting, which should be enough.

One problem I am having is that my zoom-3 renders are very pixelated where the lights are concerned - jagged edges and mis-alignment across the light trees. I may end up loading the props into the Reader to extract and edit the FSH images. Not looking forward to that.

kaji, I have just enough knowledge to do what I am doing, which (so far) does not include interior night-lighting. I understand from what I've read that it can get very complicated ... I don't think I'm ready for terminals just yet.

And yes, after the ALS stuff is done I will get to the sign props.

[kaji 0]

wow thats looking really uh.... realistic you'll have planes crashing into this thread soon as the lights loook so real.. they'll mistake it for a runway

hehe.. yea i have only touched the surface with the nite lighting ..there are still many details i want to add but its finding the time and hoping the comp doesnt giveout and die on me lol. back to the bat room i go

 

~kaji