Part 8 >
Welcome back to the ninth main progress update for the SWL-120. The main topic of this post is the new landing gear, although there are also three other topics. These three topics are the improvements and details I've added to the wing, some progress on the liveries, and my new graphics card.
New Graphics Card
Two years ago I built myself a new powerful gaming PC. All the components were top-of-the-line, except the graphics card, being just an RTX 3060. I did this partly due to budget constraints and partly because of my use case. This served me well for two years, and I've recently upgraded it to an RTX 4070ti. As I'm making lots of complex 3D models (the entire plane is somewhere from 20,000 to 30,000 raw SP parts with some external 3D modelling), I wanted to make sure my GPU was not the bottleneck.
Problem solved.
Wing Improvements
While I did finish the wings over two years ago, I decided to make some improvements to the model, adding even more details and fixing a few small bugs.
The changes since two years ago are listed below:
- Fixed some small panel gaps with the trailing edge wing paneling.
- Added wing rib ends.
- Added additional rivets to the labels on the spoilers.
- Added vortex generators to the leading edge of the outer section of the wing.
- Added no step lines and text to the surface of the wing.
In a real plane, the wings and fuselage are made of up ribs and spars (also called the skeleton). The ends of the wing ribs are visible in real life when the flaps are extended and the spoilers are raised, so I modelled some ribs and added them to my wings.
The new rivets are the ones in the below image which form a U shape attached to the rivets on the outline. In real life, these attach the spoiler skin to a hydraulic piston.
Vortex generators, aside from being some extra details, have an actual purpose in real life. They improve the lift and decrease drag on wings by generating small vortices of turbulent air.
The no step lines are self-explanatory; they inform maintenance personnel what areas of the wing are safe to step on.
For additional teaser images of the wings, please view this forum.
Landing Gear
Over the two years of the SWL-120's development, I have kept remaking or upgrading certain parts, such as the interior, wings, engines, cockpit, landing gear- oh wait I've basically redone the entire plane. A few things are here to stay, such as the cockpit, and now the landing gear. Technically this is the third edition of the landing gear, since I rebuilt part of the retraction mechanism in a landing gear overhaul many months ago. I decided to remake it again because I felt it just wasn't up to my current standards. Additionally, the retraction sequence relied on several random codes I stole from other landing gear, and was broken entirely when I updated my hydraulics system.
When I was making this new landing gear, I had just a few rules:
- Make it detailed and realistic
- Ensure no moving parts blatantly clip with other parts
- Keep the mass and position of core parts like wheels the same
- Write your own damn code lol
- Part count? What's that?
I'm pretty sure I've followed those rules, especially the part count one. The main gear alone (literally just the gear doors, gear, and a tiny handful of wing panels around it) is over 1700 parts! The core reason why I don't care about part count is I modded it. After I built my complex landing gear, I exported it and went through my standard part modding process to add each static body back as one mod part. This reduced the staggering 1700 parts down to a meager 164. You can view my two videos on remaking the landing gear here and here
Just look at the results.
Liveries
As of writing this update, I have one finished livery and three other planned ones. The finished one is the Snake Air livery (credit to RepublicOfCursedPlanes) for the design, and the three planned ones are Lava Airways, Qantas, and Delta. These liveries are/will be entirely modelled outside of the game, so I guess liveries are mods-exclusive.
Different Versions
As I've explained in the past, the SWL-120 will feature several different versions. The current planned versions as of writing this post are below. There will be three public versions and a few unlisted versions.
Please note all versions will feature an "autostart" similar to the SWL-10's easy mode.
- Main Version | Full thing. It uses mods to reduce the technical part count of over 24000 to just 2000.
- No Mods | Full plane, but no mods. It's a cargo version, with no windows or doors, and the engines are slightly simpler, with the N2 and N1 components (aside from the front fan) being removed.
- VR Edition (Flying Cockpit) | Just the cockpit and essential "physics parts". Meant to be used in VR where you spend the entire flight in the cockpit. I had plans for this to be curated, however the cockpit is like 90% of the performance cost, so I think this will simply be a version for lower-end devices.
Release Dates
Not sure yet. I was hoping for Christmas this year in the last progress update, but I really don't think that'll happen. I think it might be Christmas 2025, but I'm not promising anything (rebuilding half the plane several times doesn't help either).
TLDR
I got a new graphics card (RTX 4070ti) to render 3D models easier. In addition to fixing some small issues with the wing panels, I have added more details to them. I have also built some insanely detailed landing gear with a combined part count of over 2000. Most of these details were then modded into a few mod parts, dropping the part count down to just a few hundred. I've also started work on the liveries for this plane, and have finished the Snake Air livery.
FAQ
Q: How many parts does this have?
A: The parts are spread out across several files, but when I assemble a "test fit", it's just 2000! (that does use mods though, so estimate 3000+ for the no mods cargo version)
Q: How many FPS can I get?
A: It depends on what computer you have, but as of this update I get 25FPS on an overclocked i9-11900K and RTX 4070ti. It's all about single-core performance and some GPU, so if you can get a better single-core performance than me, you might get a better framerate than I do. I get 144FPS without the cockpit, and 50FPS with the cockpit by itself. I would also like to note that if I remove the cockpit screens, I get nearly 50FPS with the full plane so far.
Q: gib releas date when
A: Not sure yet, as I've said above I only want to provide the highest quality parts, so I'm taking my time.
Q: Mods? What about no mods?
A: I'm making two versions. One uses a custom mod to reduce the part count from over 30000 to about 2000, and the other has no interior and is a cargo version. You can read more about this in the fifth progress update.
Q: How do I fly this?
A: I am making a technical manual and a checklist. The manual explains every single control with labelled diagrams, and the checklist essentially tells you what to do with those controls. If I have enough performance, I will also code some sort of autostart feature.
Video Links
Forum Links
These are the three teaser forums I posted while the nose gear was still in development.
@Sense2 I can't easily explain that in a comment (It doesn't help that I haven't started the SWL-120's navigation screen either), sorry. You'll want to use <pos> and <voffset> tags with latitude and longitude to start with.
@PlaneFlightX so like how do i implement those waypoints into a map? like on the "Screen" ive uploaded
@Sense2 If you mean my waypoint map, here you go.
is it possible of i can borrow your waypoint information and attempt to put it in my map?
@ThatRandomCouchPotato same
T, Even though I won’t be able to run it