MSFS20/24 CA21 Limberlost Ranch Dev Update 4

Limberlost Ranch is a Work In Progress for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 & 2024. You can see the full development history of this addon over at FSDeveloper!

I had to put a brief pause on this project when MSFS 2024 Sim Update 2 came out in order to push out some updates and finish up my native release for Bald Eagle Airfield. However, with all of that behind me now, I have continued to push forward on this project.

A lot has happened in the last month, and with this project being ongoing off and on for the last 3 years, I had to spend some time getting back into the flow of things. The biggest task by far has been getting the Ranch House done. I’m still not there, but it’s getting closer. The model is about 90% complete. It needs some missing details added and the interior still needs some polishing still. I now have it in the sim with some paint on it just to see how things look and to fit it to the terrain. All subject to change of course.

I had been debating for a long time on this model if I wanted to do an interior or not. Doing Parallax in Blender is a bit of a pain, and I also don’t have any Parallax textures that would work for this building. Which means they would have to be modeled out and rendered anyways. So, if I’m going to do all of that work, I decided I might as well make a low poly 3D interior.

It doesn’t need to be high poly and the textures don’t need to have super high texel density. I’m also not filling it up with clutter, but trying to do just enough to fill out the space. It’s not being made with interior navigation in mind, but to be seen from just outside the windows. To give a bit of true depth behind those big glass windows and sliding doors. Although, I still textured everything so that it looks good up close (for those who like to wander through interiors).

I’ll save interior screenshots for when all that starts to come together a bit more. There are still a handful of interior models I want to make, and thus the living area is a bit sparse right now, with only a sectional couch. I will throw in a day/night shot of the master bedroom though as it is the most complete area of the interior!

Since I have started back on this project, I also failed to report on the updates to the Hangar door. This change was actually made over a year ago. The last time I worked on the project. I’m just now remembering to show it off.

I had originally painted a yellow stripe on the front of the doors, but after going over references again, I discovered that the stripe I was seeing wasn’t paint, but those semi-translucent panels that let a bit of light through. So, the doors got completely remodeled for that and the backlighting inside of the hangar now adds quite a bit to the ambience!

Alongside that change, I also added a door that I had missed on the left side of the hangar, and the general exterior also got some more detail added. Floodlights were added to the left and right exterior walls, a small addition on the back wall, and on the right side some electrical conduit and a sliding door that was missed when I originally created the model several years back.

My project over the weekend here has been starting on some of the additional building models I need to complete for the project. The first one on the list was the old barn on the property.

I was originally flirting with the idea of doing an interior as well, but I ultimately decided to keep this one low poly. I only had a couple source photos to work with and none of them showed an interior. Not even a glimpse from the outside. Now, I could have made something up, but also, does it really need an interior? Not really. I’ll pull my creative freedom card on this one.

Besides all this, I have started to place some models around the scenery. Trees, some clutter, fences (which take a bit of effort since this is all on the side of a hill). I have also been adjusting the terraforming to fit all of the models I have placed. An ongoing process…

Lots of little things which will eventually bring the project together.

That’s all for now though. It’s time to get back to work!