Today, we are happy to bring you, in collaboration with Boundless, a set of exclusive previews showcasing the most-ambitious project yet by the team, Dublin Airport (EIDW) scenery for X-Plane 11.
While the development is still progressing, Lewis from Boundless was generous enough to give us some exclusive insight into the development of this highly anticipated scenery as well as answers to our intriguing questions about the development.
The Previews
Boundless shared six different screenshots with us. Each one of them shows a different part of the scenery. Ranging from terminals and hangars to car parks and other public areas of the airport.
Terminal 1 and Hangars
In the first screenshot below, we can see two hangars that are located behind Terminal 1, just off the engine test site 4. It is mainly used by the local maintenance facility at the airport.
The second image shows the buildings of the Dublin Airport Garda and Emirates offices. These two are located right next to Terminal 1, which is nowadays primarily used by Ryanair as their main hub. The pillar with ropes behind this building is a bridge connecting the Terminal 1 entrance with the airside.
The third screenshot also depicts a part of Terminal 1. It shows an in-depth look at the entrance of Terminal 1. There is a rather big parking area right next to this terminal used for quick stops to say goodbye to your friends and family.
Terminal 2
Terminal 1 is not the only part of the airport the developer has provided us with previews of. We have also received previews of the more iconic, and very important, Terminal 2, which is more recognisable by the flight sim community.
The first screenshot that originates from the area shows the CarPark entrance. The terminal is connected to this facility, so getting into the terminal is comfortable.
Equally important are two previews of the airside at Terminal 2 with Airbus A321 NEO which Aer Lingus uses for its transatlantic flights, i. e. to Washington D. C.
In the first picture, the developer previewed a variety of ground vehicles that the scenery has to offer. These include catering vehicles, as well as stairs, or Swissport luggage trolleys.
The testers most likely made these two screenshots right next to the AerLingus lounge, at the gate 400L.
Exclusive information about the development
As mentioned in the introduction, we asked Lewis a few questions about the development of this scenery. This is going to provide you with some interesting facts about the development of the scenery.
Q: Why do you think Dublin is your most ambitious project yet?
Well, there are two main reasons. Our attention to detail and the sheer size of this as a project! The largest airport we’ve modelled to date is Stansted, but this is a whole new challenge. The number of ground detail required, as well as the complexity of the buildings (look at the shape of T2!) mean that as a relatively small team, we were definitely feeling ambitious when we took this on.
Q: Do you think that the Dublin scenery is going to change the way you are developing the sceneries? If yes, how?
Yes absolutely. Previously, a scenery would usually be developed by one of us, or maybe two – but we’d rarely have more devs than that working on one project. With Dublin, that way of working just isn’t an option. It’s a real team effort because we have 4 of our devs directly involved in the work (as well as other members of the team testing the scenery and getting preview shots etc) In all honesty, this way of working has been great fun, because nobody ever feels like they’re on their own, it’s certainly brought our team closer together too.
Q: Did you come across any bigger challenges during the development of the scenery which would be worth mentioning?
Of course! With any airport, we do our research. Of course, the scale of Dublin means that we had no choice but to face some challenges as they came. One particular difficulty is the actual ground markings, each one needs to be modelled individually to match its real-world counterpart. We’ve already modelled, textured and placed around 200 custom markings, but we’ve still got a lot left. We’re estimating the final number to be near 650!
Q: Are there any revolutionary, interesting, or unique features of the scenery you would like to point out?
Of course we’ve got loads of features we are excited about. We will be sharing these in more detail very soon, but one of our favourite examples is our full custom traffic (both landside and airside). We’ve textured and modelled so many custom vehicles based on what we’ve actually seen at the airport, and the result is that the entire scenery is really brought to life.
Some more information about the scenery
In addition to this information, the developer told us the current availability of Dublin Airport sceneries for X-Plane 11 has partially influenced them to develop this specific scenery. An equally important fact is that it is a rather natural progression for the developer to continue with airports located on the Emerald Isle. This is because they have already created a scenery of Kerry, Shannon and Knock for the same platform, all located on the island.
Lewis also mentioned that they are going to make the scenery “future-proof”. This essentially means that the team wants to have all assets finished. The buildings and other facilities found at the airport that are currently under construction will be depicted as finished in the scenery.
Even though the developer wants to make this scenery as close to reality, they see it rather as a nightmare to bring the current state of the airport, as there is currently a lot of construction ongoing at the airport in real life. This would mean constant updates, which is not effective neither for the developer nor for the end-users.
The team at Boundless feels very confident about this scenery. They think that the attention to detail made by the lead developers is going to be impressive, mainly for the people who are willing to explore the scenery and those who have been to Dublin and seen the airport in real life.
If you’d like to learn more about this scenery, you can check out our other articles here.
