Much larger airports

[Fireman_DJ]

Feature request title:

Much Larger Airports

Description:

I use the “larger airport” option with it’s 2x3 plots of land, but in trying to build a realistic airport I ALWAYS run out of usable space.

I am asking for a 5x5 or larger world to build in.

You may be concerned about hurting PC performance, however whether crammed together or spread out the performance will be similar.

If people want to cram more into the new space, then they should be permitted to do so based on their hardware’s capability without arbitrary limits.

Why it should be implemented:

The world isn’t large enough, that alone should be reason.

[andyc]

Hi

Larger maps force players to build big (as you want to do). But that requires a lot of performance which is over the minimum specifications of the game. Many players would get a lot of performance issues then.

I am not sure that the availability of additional land tiles can be programmed dependend on the player’s hardware. There are too many factors for that and I have never seen any game doing that.

If you have good hardware, it is always possible to increase the map size manually. It is not supported but it works pretty good.

How to make a world bigger

This is the shortened version of this will show you how to make a world larger than the defalt 700x700. step 1: open up ACEO as normal, make a new game, save it. call it something original so it’s different than you’re other saves step 2: open up your JSON file editor, if you don’t have one download one off the internet. i used one called “Ultra Edit” step 3: when you try to find the file, you want to type “%appdata%” into the “pc” part of file explorer (i have a windows 10, i’m sorry mac u…

[talisman56]

I find that the more items that you can place either above ground level (departure areas, airline lounges, cafes, shops etc, or below ground (passenger transit areas, airside vehicle parking, etc) the smaller the terminal footprint and the more space for runways, taxiways and stands. By the time I get to the 6th build area, the game is starting to slow down on my PC, anyway.

[Fireman_DJ]

That’s why there is a minimum requirements and a recommended requirements.

I’m happy for it to be a toggle option, tucked away in the menu with big warnings saying it may affect performance.

But why should I be limited because some people have slow computers?
Should I underclock my 5950x to 2.0Ghz and disable all but four of it’s cores? Should I remove all of my 128GB of 3200Mhz RAM and replace it with a single stick of 8GB 2333Mhz?
Should I swap out my 3090 for a 1650?

Just because somebody else doesn’t have a great computer?

Did we all forget why PC’s have adjustable graphics (and in some cases, physics) settings and consoles don’t?

I don’t want my terminal hidden below ground, I want a realistic airport.
And I don’t want to be forced to resort to json editing to do it.

Larger maps do not FORCE people to build larger, that ALLOW it.

The “bigger map” is already an optional feature that players must opt in to.

I’m not asking for a new feature, or for an old feature to be replaced. Just for the existing selection options to be expanded upon and if it’s deemed needed, a performance warning added, so that we have the choice as to how to play the game.

I personally would love for EVERYTHING except some baggage conveyors to be on ground level or higher, like so many airports are. Because in real life, digging down is expensive while building up is not only cheaper, but also more imposing and impressive.

[Fireman_DJ]

Yep, I think I need to edit a little more then just the JSON, (that’s 3440x1440 resolution) and 3100 for X and Y axis of the world.

Hence the need to native support.

[Olof]

@Fireman_DJ

Larger maps do not FORCE people to build larger, that ALLOW it.

“Make it bigger and they shall build” - Myself, just now…

Unfortunately your perspective does not translate to the most common type of player that do not have great insight into how computers work. Setting a minimum and preferred requirement specification for a game like Airport CEO is extremely hard considering how the player scales the performance impact themselves, as opposed to for example a linear story game where you’ll always know where the game’s most performance impacting section is.

If we enable a player visible super sized option then people will play that setting and expect the game to run well despite the huge loads we’ll put the simulation engine under. You are correct that it does not force anyone to build it as big but people do not think like that, they don’t go “since my computer only reaches about half of the recommended specifications I will refrain from filling the entire map” and it would not be fair by us as developers to expect them to. Instead we’ve limited the size of the map to a sort of reasonable “large but not too large” considering the game’s specification - but still made it possible for those who want to try on even larger through file modification. I’ve seen a few complaints about us as developers not providing support for those types of airports too but it is in fact because the systems are not designed to run those massive types of configurations, i.e. the logic is not scaled to cover hundreds of thousands of passengers and we simply have to put a limit somewhere.

[Fireman_DJ]

Don’t take this as a complaint against the devs.

I’ve worked in airport maintenance including major upgrade projects, granted only at a regional airport size, so I understand the complexities of an airport, let alone simulating individual aircraft, baggage and humans.

As seen by the screenshot, editing manually isn’t support and has issues.
An unlock setting, either tucked away in the settings (along with a performance warning and even a “support not available” warning) or even as a hidden setting that must be unlocked via editing the game settings file.

To be honest, editing a save game file to get more real estate without having to buy another block of land feels like cheating to me.

Progressively over time, the communities average computing power will increase (because who is still using a 486 as a main computer these days) and demand for larger maps will increase.

Actually, I’ve just had a thought. Can you release an “experimental” branch where the only difference from stable / experimental is “super large” maps are an available option? Even if you just make it a 3x4 or 3x3 grid.

I know I’m sounding a little pushy, but there have been so many “issues” with the game, such as single runway direction, that you are overtime overcoming and the game continues to grow.

I know there are limits as to what you can do, what will benefit the most and other priorities.
But allowing larger maps would also give us room to include potential new features, such as a maintenance yard (with vehicles that enter stands and runways to do repairs, maintenance and even deal with some emergencies), helicopters and helipads etc.

While not admitting to computer piracy in any way, the simple fact that I choose to pay for this game in order to support it and the devs is my way of saying that you have made a good game with great potential.

Actually, that’s another idea.
Can you implement it as a DLC, that has it’s own higher system requirements?

Just throwing up options, because I’d gladly buy that DLC.

[andyc]

The map “ends” at 2000x2000. Everything else will be blue. Imagine it as ocean.