Part 9 >

Welcome back to the tenth main progress update for the SWL-120. The main points of this update are the completely overhauled interior, the new cockpit screens, and the autopilot. There are also a few random items as well which are new since the last update.

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Modding Improvements

As of two and a half years ago, many parts of the SWL-120 are mod parts, which allows me to have insane levels of detail with a low part count and good performance. These mod parts were all simple static models with no scripts, at least until a few months ago. I was working with MVC on some scripts for our upcoming Car Parts mod, and noticed a few improvements I could make to my own mod parts, especially the engines with their reverse thrust airflow vanes (48 parts per engine). I was able to combine the 24 reverse thrust vanes, reverse thrust cowling, and engine cowling into one part with an input controller using scripting. I also added a button to show an engine cutaway view, instead of manually swapping mod parts. The two engine fan stages (N1 and N2) are one combined mod part, instead of two mod parts and four rotators.

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Other mod parts such as the interior have been simplified in a similar fashion, with all the galley latches and doors for the front galley being part of one mod part with an input controller, instead of many mod parts and control bases.

New Interior

One of the main highlights of this post is the completely brand new interior, with insane levels of detail and even some intractability.

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The way this redesign happened is I was showing MVC some images of the SWL-120, and he offered to 3D model some seats for my interior since the old ones (the ones in this mod) were a little simplistic. Since I had to reexport the interior from SimplePlanes to remove some parts related to the old seats, I decided (as you do) to completely remake the entire thing. I actually redid it twice, the reasons for which I will explain below.

While this interior may look pretty good, the scaling of everything was a little weird in virtual reality, so I scrapped the entire thing (aside from the seats, of course), and remade it.

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This new interior has every little detail possible, including crew jumpseats, two fully modelled crew rest areas, and even a full interior in every bathroom (the door for each one can be opened too!)

As mentioned above, many of the mod parts in this interior have several static bodies which are moved using scripts, instead of my old method of using pistons, rotators, and control bases to move one mod part at a time. For example, the 106 overhead bins are one mod part with 106 input controllers (yeah that's a lot lol). Oh yeah, I forgot to mention each overhead bin can be opened individually.

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Cockpit

I've probably made a few random changes and bugfixes as well since the last update, but the two main new items are the modded cockpit screens and the autopilot/autoflight system.

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Previously, the cockpit screens on the SWL-120 were simple label screens, using lots of label markup and Funky Trees code to recreate a basic primary flight display (PFD). This looked and functioned fine, however it is insanely laggy and I could do better, especially since half the plane is mod parts and I now know how to script stuff.

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To briefly explain the technical side of these screens, the way they work is by moving a bunch of images around on scaled Unity cubes and other models. For example, the altitude tape on the PFD is a texture moved vertically on a scaled Unity cube. The tape isn't actually very long, and I use some FT magic in its input controller to "reuse" sections to make it appear like it is continuously moving. The same concept applies to the speed tape and the speed and altitude numbers.

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The navigation screen took me a lot longer to make, mainly due to its content. It features a topographical map of every supported piece of terrain, in a moving map format. Not only that, but the islands displayed on it change based on what is configured in the FMC settings, as not everyone uses the six supported mod plugin maps, much less at the same time.

The way this map works is by moving images around in the x and y positions, and changing the image as the plane moves across the map. I made a grid of overlapping images, as this is much more efficient than having an absurdly high resolution image of the entire map, especially at higher zoom settings (that's right, you can zoom in and out of this map too).

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This is the autopilot panel.

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Of course everything works. Not only can you adjust the speed, heading, and altitude, but you can actually adjust everything you see. This includes the advanced autoflight system.

Remember that complex FMC I made a couple of years ago? It's actually useful. If you correctly enter information into the various pages and create a flight plan, the aircraft will fly entirely by itself, only needing interaction when on approach.

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Center Panel

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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 four 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 approximately 2500.
• 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. The nose gear bay is also very basic due to the lack of 3D modelled mod parts, and the cockpit screens are labels instead of mod parts.
• 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.
• VR Edition Mods (Flying Cockpit) | Same as the VR edition, but with mod parts in the cockpit, just like the modded version.

Release Dates

Not sure yet. 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 almost completely remade the SWL-120's interior, with new seats and a redesigned ceiling with overhead bins that open individually. Each bathroom is fully modelled with an opening door. There are two crew rest areas, one at the front and one at the back. I also added an advanced autopilot/autoflight and modded cockpit screens with insane levels of detail.

FAQ

Q: How many parts does this have?
A: The full plane with cockpit has xxxx parts, and the version with no cockpit and full interior has xxxx parts. I should note these versions both have mods, and the no mods cargo version (with slightly different cockpit screens) has xxxx parts.
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 also get 144FPS without the cockpit.
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 the finished plane still runs reasonably smoothly, I will also code some sort of autostart feature.

Video Links

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Forum Links

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