Description
NEW VERSION 1.2 ! Compatible with World Update 12 - New Zealand
NZKI - Kaikoura; South Island, New Zealand
Version 1.2, March 2023
Installation:
Just copy the tgd-nzki folder into the community folder of Microsoft Flight Simulator
About this scenery:
Custom made scenery for Kaikoura Airport, located on the east coast of New Zealand´s South island about halfway between Christchurch and Blenheim. I visited the airport in January 2020
and took a whale watching flight there with my family; Kaikoura is one of the best places in NZ to see large whales like sperm or blue whales. We were captivated by the beautiful
location that is Kaikoura, with the beautiful coastline of the Kaikoura peninsula and the towering mountain ranges just a few miles behind. I took a lot of photos around the
airport (though not specifically for scenery creation purposes) and so it was a logical step to try to create a rendition of this airport for Flight Simulator.
This is my second scenery after the release of my NFTO scenery in October last year. The project was considerably larger than my previous effort, and took a lot more time to complete
than I initially expected. I originally intended to create custom models only for the main buildings and use default objects for the rest of the scenery, but it just didn´t look right
this way so I also modeled a lot of smaller objects and assets to recreate the overall look and feel of the airport, and though there is still room for improvement I think I largely
succeeded in creating a scenery that is relatively close to the real world.
Features:
- complete rework of the default airport with aprons, runways and parking
- custom models and textures for the main buidlings and some smaller assets (fences, signs, clutter objects), combined with some default objects
- some custom ground materials for runway decals and walkways
- extensive rework of the vegetation around the airport (removed unrealistic high trees and replaced by small trees, bushes and shrubs as in the real world)
- some minor adjustments to the Kaikoura peninsula (some elevation corrections and removal of trees on the tidal pools and flooded rocky coastline
- Animated whales, dolphins, seals and whale watching boats (all custom models, no additional libraries needed)
Known issues and limitations (to be improved in the future)
- some texture flickering / aliasing of the high detailed fences and balcony railings from further away, gets better as you get closer
- secondary grass runway immediately adjacent and parralel to the sealed runway not included as a selectable runway because the two runways are so close together that it´s nearly impossible to select the correct one on the world map screen. Grass runway however is still visually represented by marker boards, cones and some subtle marks and tracks on the grass
- some signs where not readable from my on-site photos and thus I head to guess what they might read ;-)
- only default windsocks so far, to be replaced by custom (pure white) windsock as soon as I learn to export animations and conditional behaviours into MSFS
- some minor buildings and assets not featured due to missing resource photos (not clearly visible on my photos and those I found on the internet)
- only rudimentary night lighting. The real airport doesn´t allow for night operations (no runway or taxiway lighting according to original charts) so I decided to not spend too much time on tweaking the night lighting, which admittedly is not the strongest part of this scenery
I hope you enjoy this scenery and I will continue to improve it in the near future as my skills and knowledge of Blender and the SDK improves.
Charts for reference:
Kaikoura Aerodrome operational charts: http://www.aip.net.nz/pdf/NZKI_51.1_52.1.pdf
NZKI - Kaikoura Airport (Custom-made scenery)
Experience the beauty of Kaikoura Airport in New Zealand with this custom-made scenery for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Version 1.2 now compatible with World Update 12, featuring custom models for buildings, ground materials, and vegetation, as well as animated wildlife like whales and dolphins. Explore this picturesque location on the South Island with enhanced details and realistic elements.
User Reviews
8 reviews
Location
More Information
Version History
V1.2 ; 05.03.2023 - World Update XII - New Zealand Compatibility and more - moved ALL objects, runway, aprons and polygons to match the new aerial image introduced with World Update XII - added runway numbers 23/5 to the runway (have been added to the real world runway since visited the airport in 2019) - added helicopter starting location - added some additional clutter objects - perimeter fence now better matches the real world - removed airport flatten to take advantage of the new mesh provided with World Update XII. Small elevation differences of the real airport (like the windsock sitting on a small hill) now are also present in the scenery - added additional custom container and small shed next to the South Pacific Helicopters Hangar - new hard surfaces that have recently been added to the real airport recreated in the scenery (e.g. sealed road leading from the Wings over Whales building to the eastern hangar) - Custom "Air Kaikoura Aeroclub" C172 added (Model: "Cessna 172 Skyhawk" by William Thompson (3dwarehouse.sketchup.com)), repainted in Substance painter - added second Wings Over Whales GA-8 Airvan ("KBZ" registration) - added second windsock (still default, future update will include custom windsock) - added some default, static 3d People (future update will contain custom animated 3d people) - added more marine wildlife : small group of orcas near the peninsula, seal colony with lots of static (and a few animated) seals. Known issues: Some of the animations seem to lag increasingly after a few repetitions, making the movement look a little weird - I still haven´t found out how to fix this, but I´ll investigate further One of my betatester noticed a square "mesh hole" near the Wings over Whales building, which doesn´t appear on my other testers or on my system. If you also notice a hole there, please write a comment so I I can see what might be the cause fo this
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Comments(37)
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Log In9 months ago
7 months ago
over 2 years ago
about 3 years ago
Hello everyone, one of my Betatesters informed me that the windsocks at NZKI have fallen victim to the Infamous 180 degree Bug, meaning that they are facing in the exact opposite direction than they should. I must habe overlooked that when I released the update. Anyway, I already corrected this in the next build, which I will release in a few months with additional content, but if anyone is in dire need of correctly facing windsocks just leave a comment and i'll Release an interim update just for the windsocks
about 3 years ago
Phantastic stuff! That new version is great work again! :)
about 3 years ago
Awesome thank you so much for updating.
about 3 years ago
new update - all good - no square "mesh hole" near the Wings over Whales building on my end.
about 3 years ago
!!! IMPORTANT NOTICE !!! Hello everyone, I just downloaded the new World Update XII - New Zealand and checked my scenery, unfortunately the new aerial has caused all objects and ground polygons to be displaced by a few metres. I´ll correct this and release an update for NZKI within the next two weeks. Until then, I´d recommend removing NZKI from your community folder cause it will look terrible at the moment.
about 3 years ago
Hi Fabian, do you use ORBX New Zealand mesh? Give it a try without it!
about 3 years ago
Although I own the Addon Mesh, I haven´t installed it on my development laptop and it still looks displaced. Strangely enough, even Asobos own default airport doesn´t match the underlying aerial, you can clearly see that the runway, aprons and buildings are a few metres east of their respective footprints on the aerial image.
about 3 years ago
Good to hear, I look forward to the next release.
about 3 years ago
If all goes well, it will be out on Monday (German Time 😜)
over 4 years ago
This was such a fantastic airport to fly in to. The attention to detail is astounding. Please make more NZ airports!
over 4 years ago
Thanks, working on my home airport in Germany right now which is a whole lot more work than I ever expected and will probably take another few months. After that I'm planning a large update for Kaikoura. More NZ airports not planned at the moment because I don't have any reference photos beside the few ones available on Google for any other airport than NZKI which is the only one I visited myself. If anyone can provide on site photos I may consider doing more, however my time is very limited so anything larger than Kaikoura would be too much. Cheers, Fabian
almost 5 years ago
This has to be my favourite mod ever. The animated whales and dolphins are fantastic. Brilliant for low level whale watch vfr flights.
almost 5 years ago
Thank you, I'm finishing another scenery right now but after that I'll get to work on a major update for Kaikoura. I've got tons of ideas to further improve the scenery, the only thing thats really disappointing is the low quality satellite imagery for that region.
almost 5 years ago
Now it works;thank you!!