SimplePlanes 2 News

[p]A new day, a new blog post. This time, it’s about more environmental vehicles! If you missed the last time we talked about these, please check out Environments Part 3. Among other things, it goes over Emmanuelle Le Nouaille’s contributions to the game, which we’ll be going over more of here.[/p][hr][/hr][p]In the linked post (as well as in the first demo if you played it) you may have noticed that the sky around Driftwood Island is populated by little hot air balloons and even a blimp. These are fairly self explanatory; they float around, look pretty, and generally stay out of your way. What you might not have noticed is that they actually have physics and can be destroyed! If you hit one too hard, they’ll explode somewhat unceremoniously. But if you gently nudge them, they’ll actually give way and move in the direction you push them. If you want to, I’m pretty sure it’s entirely possible to push the blimp all the way to the ground. I’m not sure why you’d want to do this, but maybe it’ll be pivotal to some obscure speedrun technique discovered 11 years from now.[/p][p]
[/p][hr][/hr][p]Docked behind Kunimitsu Airport, you might have also noticed the yachts we showed off previously. Like the balloons, these also have physics! They bob with the water, but you can also push them around, to sometimes fairly silly results based on the antics we’ve already seen some people get into.
[/p][hr][/hr][p]On the southernmost end of New Yoke Island you’ll find something special: a train! Yup, you read that right, we have a train roaming around the area, traveling between two points of interest we’ll talk about later.[/p][p][/p][p]The train and its various pieces were modeled by Emma, with @RailfanEthan providing a lot of helpful knowledge for the details of its design, as well as the layout of the railway itself.[/p][p][/p][p]As you would probably expect, the train travels along a preset path, carrying important cargo to wherever important cargo is needed, and it does not care if you’re in its way. You can ride it though, in-case you manage to get Chad stranded on the railway. Or, if you don’t care for the \[redacted] economy (or for trainhopping Chads), you can use explosives or concussive force to derail the train and ruin fictional peoples’ days in your imagination.
[/p][hr][/hr][p]If you like what you're seeing, please consider wishlisting SimplePlanes 2 on Steam. If you'd like to see bits of these blogs early, consider joining our Discord Server![/p]

[p]A few months ago you got to see some of the capabilities of the brand new fuselage part in SP2. This next blog post will showcase some other bits we didn’t talk about, like the UI (which wasn’t ready at the time we first talked about these).[/p][p][/p][p]No, I don’t mean “slider” as in the type of burger (Chad probably doesn’t even know how to cook). Sliders are a UI element that you click and drag to do various things. The new fuselages make extensive use of sliders for adjusting all their fancy new properties, all neatly categorized into tabs to minimize the amount of scrolling you have to do. Alongside the sliders you’re used to for fuselage slicing, we’ve got sliders for:[/p]

• [p]Trapezium editing, from -100% and 100%[/p]
• [p]Corner radius, either for every corner at once or each individual corner, and in either absolute or relative units depending on whether you’re using the rounded or stretched option for a particular corner[/p]
• [p]Edge curvature, from 0-100% on all four edges individually[/p]
• [p]Nose cone roundness, from 0% (very pointy) to 100% (very blunt)[/p]

[p]With all of these combined, you can easily make some truly fascinating shapes with just a single fuselage, ranging from stealthy looking cross sections (just aesthetically; we don’t have proper radar cross section simulation at the moment, but maybe some day) to abominations that look so bizarre they’re probably throwing an error somewhere.
[/p][p]If you need more precision, you can also manually type in values via a text field, which leads nicely into something else…[/p][hr][/hr][p]Okay, that sounds like kind of a boring thing to put in a big ol header text but hear me out. Previously if you manually input values in the fuselage UI it would sometimes get rounded to some other number because of floating point shenanigans. This is annoying and confusing, so now values input into the fuselage UI are stored in decimal values rather than floating point, allowing you to input as many trailing digits after a decimal point as you want without it being rounded to something else in the UI. Note though that internally these values are still stored as floating point, so no extra physical precision is gained from this change, it’s only to improve the user experience so that numbers remain what you set them as.[/p][hr][/hr][p]A big frustration with the fuselages in SimplePlanes 1 was that they're just so heavy, leading many to use XML editing to significantly mass scale their crafts in order to bring their mass more in line with what they expect.[/p][p][/p][p]For SP2 we've taken a few steps to combat this.[/p][p][/p][p]First, fuselages are generally much lighter now across the board, using a different mass estimation that is hopefully more in line with expectations.[/p][p][/p][p]Second, slicing, corner radius, and the new edge curvature settings all properly contribute to a fuselage's mass now, meaning if you cut one in half it should weigh half as much rather than retaining the exact same mass as the original part.[/p][p][/p][p]These changes will hopefully reduce the number of instances where mass scaling feels necessary, leading to an overall more streamlined building experience.[/p][p][/p][p]Additionally, you may notice that you can now toggle whether a fuselage is hollow or not, rather than the hollow fuselage being an entirely separate part. You may also notice that doing this has no effect on the mass; this might seem like an oversight or a bug, but it is by design. Although the non-hollow fuselage appears entirely solid, realistically it's actually hollow inside which the mass calculations take into consideration. So the only real difference between the hollow and non-hollow fuselage is the end caps (or lack thereof), which is such a miniscule difference that we opted to just keep them the same mass. Also, making the hollow fuselage weigh less brings some potential performance concerns, as the comparatively lower mass could drive players to almost exclusively use hollow fuselages, which adds a lot of extra geometry.[/p][hr][/hr][p]So there was going to be another part of this blog post, but unfortunately we had to cut it out. Stay tuned, perhaps in the near future we'll fill the hole we left here...[/p][hr][/hr][p]If you like what you're seeing, please consider wishlisting SimplePlanes 2 on Steam. If you'd like to see bits of these blogs early, consider joining our Discord Server![/p]

[p]Our procedural powertrain system might seem like it’s just for cars, however it is anything but that. We are adding aircraft engines that can interact with powertrains in the same way the car engine can, using a brand new procedural propeller part you attach to the front (or to a driveshaft anywhere else!), and it all interconnects nicely to let you do just about whatever you want. You can power a car with an aircraft engine, or an aircraft with a car engine if you're so inclined. You can power multiple propellers with a single engine if you can connect it up with the proper driveshafts and powertrain parts. It’s all in your hands, and it’s something we’re really excited about.[/p][p][/p][p]The rest of the aircraft engine section of this post will be handled by Andrew:[/p][p][/p][p]We are starting with three distinct procedural engine types to cover the most popular styles.
[/p][h2]Flat Aircraft Engine[/h2][p]This is your bread and butter for general aviation. Compact, air-cooled, and lightweight, it’s perfect for small trainers or bush planes. It doesn't have the raw grunt of the bigger engines, but it fits where others won't and keeps your weight down.
[/p][p][/p][h2]Liquid Cooled V-Engine[/h2][p]If you want speed, this is where you start. Inspired by legends like the Merlin engine found in the P-51 Mustang, this engine is larger, heavier, and significantly more powerful.[/p][p]
[/p][h2]Radial Engine[/h2][p]Big, heavy, and absolutely full of awesome. This is for when you want to move a lot of air and look good doing it. It might not be the most aerodynamic or efficient option, but it makes up for it in sheer style.[/p][p]
[/p][p]The customization here is impressive. You can stack cylinders to your heart's content. We’re talking up to 3 rows of 9 cylinders each. That is a 27-cylinder monster capable of putting out over 1,000 horsepower without a supercharger.[/p][p]An engine is only as good as the thing it spins. The Propeller Assembly has been completely rebuilt to keep up with the new physics system.[/p][p]You still have all the customization you loved in SP1: blade count, diameter, blade width, and pitch. But we’ve added some new toys for the engineers among you. You can now adjust the Hub Scale for better visual integration with your spinners, and crucially, you can now adjust the Twist Angle.[/p][p]Real propeller blades aren't flat; they twist from root to tip to ensure the angle of attack is efficient across the whole blade. Now, you can fine-tune that twist to optimize your prop for climbing, cruising, or speed.[/p][p]
[/p][h2]Prop Physics[/h2][p]The new Propeller Assembly utilizes Blade Element Theory (BET) for its physics simulation. Instead of treating the propeller as a single disc, the game now breaks the blades down into multiple segments. It calculates the angle of attack, velocity, lift, and drag for each segment of the blade individually and sums them up.[/p][p][/p][p]If you pitch your blades too aggressively, you’ll feel the engine bog down and your RPM drop as the drag torque spikes. If you dive too fast with the throttle cut, you’ll see the prop windmill and actually add torque into the powertrain system.[/p][p][/p][p]It is a level of fidelity that simply wasn't possible in the first game, and when combined with the new procedural engines and powertrain, it makes flying feel more alive than ever.
[/p][hr][/hr][p]Let's move back over to car engines for a sec. A common way to add extra performance to your engine in real life is to mechanically force extra air into it. This is called a supercharger, and now it’s something you can have in SimplePlanes 2. There are a variety of different options to choose from, all affecting your engine’s performance in different ways. So experiment and see what works best for you! Note though that the content you’ll see here is still in development and is therefore subject to change.[/p][p][/p][p]I am admittedly not much of a car person so I’m not very qualified to explain what the different types of supercharger do, so Kevin is here to explain some of what you’ll see in the game in more detail:[/p]

[p]Twin-Screw Supercharger: In performance terms, equipping this will deliver an immediate and massive power boost across the entire rev range, but especially from a standstill. It’s the go-to for drag builds and muscle cars that need to launch hard.[/p][p]But a supercharger is only as good as the air it breathes. That’s where our new intake parts come in, each having a different impact on performance and visuals.[/p]

• [p]OEM Air Intake: This is your "stock" setting. It provides balanced, reliable performance with no frills and no penalties. It’s also the lightest option.[/p]
• [p]Cold Air Intake: The model features a wide, less restrictive intake pipe and a large, exposed conical filter with left, right and straight orientation. Its main purpose with its positioning is to draw in cooler, denser air from outside the hot engine bay. Equipping a CAI gives you a modest but noticeable horsepower gain. Cooler air is denser air, which means more oxygen for combustion. It’s a great supporting mod for your supercharger, helping it breathe easier and make more power efficiently.[/p]
• [p]Ram Air Intake: This one is all about aggression and aerodynamics. The key visual differentiator is the sealed airbox with a dedicated scoop or inlet in three variants, often modeled to integrate with the hood. It's big, it's mean, and it can give a serious boost to horsepower.[/p]

[p]Every filter, and every scoop you see in our models is there for a reason, rooted in real-world automotive science. Our goal is to make your customization choices meaningful, both visually and mechanically.[/p][p]
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[hr][/hr][p]If you like what you're seeing, please consider wishlisting SimplePlanes 2 on Steam. If you'd like to see bits of these blogs early, consider joining our Discord Server![/p]

[p][/p][p]Hello again! It’s been a few weeks since the last dev blog, as we took a break while you all were playing the demo (which we really hope you had fun with, we plan to do more in the future!) but we’re back with more.[/p][p][/p][p]We’re kicking things back off with something you may have already noticed a bit of in the demo: sound design. A lot of work has been done to make SimplePlanes 2 sound nicer than our previous games.[/p][p][/p][p]Due to this site not having a built-in video player, at the end of this post there will be a link to a YouTube video showing the subjects discussed in here.[/p][p][/p][p]To start, Andrew has given the user interface (aka UI) a total auditory makeover, with every interaction now having a satisfying sound to it. You’ll notice little mouse clicks and other diegetic noises as you navigate the UI, which helps a lot in making it feel nice to use. It’s hard to talk about this with words, so I’ll let the video do the rest of the talking.[/p][hr][/hr][p]Next up is the parts. Every sound emitted by parts in this game has received some much-needed love. In some cases this means simple processing improvements for existing sounds which you might or might not notice, and in other cases we’ve completely replaced sounds with new ones. All sounds now also fade with distance, such as the little clicks made by buttons in your cockpit.[/p][p][/p][p]One thing you’re likely to notice is the improvements to the Cannon part. Its firing sound is replaced by something that much more closely resembles what you’d expect a gunshot to sound like, but not only that; its sound also changes according to the properties of the part, so a relatively small autocannon is going to sound less powerful than a full-blown tank cannon. Perfect for letting other players in multiplayer know you mean business based on sound alone.[/p][p][/p][p]If you happened to check out the cockpit views of the stock crafts during the demo (if you didn’t, imagine I’m looking disapprovingly at you, because the cockpits are awesome), something else you might have noticed is that the first person view muffles audio now. By default, this is just a static effect that muffles all of the craft sound, but in your craft’s chair settings you can change the intensity of it. For the more advanced players, you can go a step further and use FunkyTrees to dynamically change the muffle intensity based on your craft inputs, allowing for sound to be muffled only when a canopy or door is closed.[/p][hr][/hr][p]As part of our effort to improve the overall immersion in the game, we’ve been working on environment sounds. As you might expect, these are sounds that play in the world that aren’t necessarily coming from the player and they help to make everything feel more alive.[/p][p][/p][p]To start, some parts of the map will have reverb, making all the sounds you hear loudly reverberate like you might expect in, say, the massive cave in Middleton.[/p][p][/p][p]Next, water is noisy now. When you’re next to a body of water you’ll notice a gentle sloshing from the waves, and when you go under there’s more sounds to, er, immerse you. I won’t apologize for the pun.[/p][hr][/hr][p]Video Showcase: [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][hr][/hr][p]If you like what you're seeing, please consider wishlisting SimplePlanes 2 on Steam. If you'd like to see bits of these blogs early, consider joining our Discord Server![/p]

[p]The SimplePlanes 2 Flight Demo is officially live! To participate, just go to the SimplePlanes 2 Steam page and click the “Request Access” button in the playtest box. The game will automatically be added to your Steam library so you can just download it and start playing! This demo runs until November 3, so you have all week to play.[/p][p][/p][p]As we’ve talked about before, this demo does not contain the building mechanics other than the paint tool, it is instead focused on the multiplayer sandbox aspect of the game on a small section of the map. You can try out all of the new stock crafts, repaint and texture them to your liking with the paint tool, race your friends (or blow them up), protect Driftwood Island from bombers and mechs, and probably also break the game in ways we hadn’t thought of.[/p][p][/p][p]When you enter a craft for the first time there will be a little quick start guide telling you the basic controls, as well as how to load crafts and start activities. We have a variety of activities in the demo, and we encourage you to try them out! To play with your friends, click the “FLY” button in the main menu and you can host or join a game. If hosting a private game, you’ll have to invite people through the Steam overlay (opened via pressing Shift+Tab). If somebody is being a nuisance in your lobby, the host can kick them via the player list (where you can also copy other players’ crafts if you want).[/p][p][/p][p]If you come across a bug, click the little bug icon in the pause menu to report it to us and we’ll take a look. Please make sure to provide clear instructions for reproducing the issue, if possible. Once you’ve played for a little while, you’ll be asked to fill out a feedback survey. Filling this out is optional, but doing so would help us a lot![/p][p][/p][p]Thank you so much for playing. If you enjoy your time in the demo, please wishlist the game as every wishlist helps us a lot. We hope you have fun, I’m sure some of the team will occasionally hop into random multiplayer lobbies to see what you’re up to.[/p]