Visual
flying in FSX just got a whole lot more real
It has been quite some time now since we first saw
photographs of the ground imported into Flight
Simulator. The last Incarnation of the sim, FS2004,
featured photo real ground textures at some of its more
detailed airports.
Many add-ons have come out since then, free and at a
cost, but all feature the same problem. The resolution
that FS2004 allowed ended up with many of the textures
looking very blocky. The terrain elevation data also did
not allow for hills to be portrayed as they should be.
However, along came FSX, giving the developers the
possibility of super high resolution textures over large
areas. 1m elevation data and 7cm texture resolution.
Immediately we say 2 major developers announce that they
planned to create super high res ground photos for
Britain, in direct competition with one another, Just
Flight and Horizon Simulations.
Just Flight took their data form Infoterra, and Horizon
Simulations took theirs from a better known name,
Getmapping. After many forum posts across several forums
as to who’s was better, Horizon released theirs.
Unfortunately though, in the rush to get it out, they
neglected to include some of the features they said they
were going to with the original release – Night textures
and water bodies. They did however release the scenery
with the promise that they would.
Just Flight on the other hand waited. When they finally
released their Volume 1 (Horizon released all 3 volumes
at once, Just Flight are releasing one volume at a time)
it did include Night Lighting and Water bodies.
It’s not hard to write well over 3 pages of review
arguing for or against each product. However everything
that would be said, you have probably already heard on a
forum somewhere. So its time to stop mentioning Just
Flights name, and focus on Horizons rendition of the
Scenery.
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Milton Keynes.
Every building can be picked out! I even saw a
baseball diamond I used to train on. |
I got my hands on a copy of Horizons product way back in
December last year. Volume 2 was installed onto my hard
drive long before SP1, and I got flying. Well, I say I
got flying, the original version of the disk to me
several hours to install due to some very buggy
installation software. And even then after several hours
of installing, hitting OK at the wrong moment would
cause it to become corrupted and you would have to start
all over again!
Thankfully Horizon knew about the problem, and posted
instructions about how to install it correctly, before
releasing a patch to the install on their website. After
I installed SP1 I re-installed the VFR scenery using the
new setup and it went perfectly fine. Its simple too –
simply run the disk via the setup program, rather than
directly form the DVD ROM.
The installer offers several options, including the
option to install night textures that don’t exist. You
can only get the feeling that Horizon released this disk
prematurely. Although I understand why any developer
would release a product that they knew was going to be
popular earlier than scheduled, Horizon should have
waited for the night textures to be complete. Or, at the
very least, removed these options form the install menu
(as well as the mention of night texture in the Manual
and on the box), as it looks extremely unprofessional –
and is basically false advertising.
The other options on the install menu are really useful.
The 3 Volumes that Horizon Sell, Volume 1, Southern
England/South Wales, this volume, and Volume 3, northern
England/North Wales, can be installed in any order, and
each is then broken down into 3 separate areas. Options
to save hard disk space by reducing the resolution of an
area from 1.2m/pxl to 2.4m/pxl will have an effect on
how the sim looks – but can prove extremely useful, if
you never fly in Wales for example, then reducing the
resolution for the area will stop hard disk wastage.
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There are lots of
disused airfields to explore…. |
…but this one
appears to still be in use – although not by
aircraft. I would be interested to know why all
those cars are parked on the runway. |
The DVD ROM box contains a user manual, full of
information about setting up FSX, how to improve
performance within FSX, and in general tips of how to
enjoy the scenery. As I said, there are errors due to
the fashion that the package was released, but the
majority of the manual is welcome information. Due to
the massive amount of dada included on the 3 DVD ROM’s
(the box states that there are 4) there is no option to
buy the package as a download product.
Of course regardless of how well a package installs, the
proof is in the pudding, and only once you have flown
about for a while will you learn why when FSX is coupled
with high res ground textures, the lines between
simulation and the real world get blurred.
Getmapping’s data when used in FS has been criticized in
the past for being too colourful. Purple hills, orange
fields and red roads all received complains from the
media, and more importantly, customers.
So I expected to see much more of the same when loading.
Surprisingly despite the overwhelming strength of the
colours that the data includes, the number of oddly
coloured areas is minimal. In some areas the data used
is far superior to other areas – Norfolk being probably
the best example of this within Volume 2. Its not that
the resolution is decreased, but the colours become much
brighter. Orange seems to be a reoccurring theme.
Thankfully these areas are minimal. Not only that, but
the areas of that colour are merged with the areas that
appear in more believable tones, with absolutely no
recognisable border.
Although I cannot speak for the other two volumes,
Volume 2 cased a substantial problem within FSX that so
far has been acknowledged, but not fixed by Horizon. The
entirely of the area covered appeared underwater in
FSX’s map and GPS terrain view. Although it has no
impact on the fact that you can land on land, it is a
very ugly situation indeed; and one that should be
amended very soon.
Runways that have been placed by FSX do not necessarily
line up with the ones that the VFR scenery draws onto
the ground. This creates what has been termed ‘ghost
airports’. Not only will there often be another runway
alongside the one you are attempting to land on, but
much of the airport elevation data for the airports is
higher or lower than the mesh that horizon include with
the package.
UK2000 are working very closely with Horizon,
and as a result their merges are seamless. |
The good news is that Horizon Simulations have teamed up
with UK2000 Scenery to start fixing the problem with a
series of Airport’s that flatten the land around the
airports, getting rid of the cliffs, and align the
runway with the ground image.
In exactly the same way that the previous version of the
VFR scenery did not offer seasonal textures, neither
does this version. Images are taken from the
spring/summer/autumn months in the UK and as a result,
even though there is eftively only one season, I
think that the colours do not distinctively say “this is
summer” or “this is winter”, and so you will not feel
that you should be flying in clear skies when it is
overcast in December.
One of the
surprises that Horizon announced just before
release was that they had upgraded the
planned 10m mesh to a 5m mesh, and what a
fantastic decision they made! I was totally
amazed to see a railway valley opposite my
house represented in full detail.
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And when flying along
road I travel nearly every day, I could pick out rise
and falls in the road with ease.
The scenery is very flat when at ground altitude. This
is simply because of the lack of autogen. However, I
found that when flying at 3000ft the flat landscape was
non existent and such was the level of detail in each
house and building it comes to life. Even up at the
higher altitudes I was enjoying the landscape, the trees
and bushes along the edge of fields being a particular
highlight for me.
If, like me, you begrudge still not having autogen
available, then Horizon have been regularly previewing
one of the upgrades that they plan. The 3D objects demo
(for the demo area/volume 3) is available on their
website, and the full release will hopefully come later
this year. Not only this but Horizon also has plans to
release ultra-high resolution towns and cities, at 60cm
resolution free. And I thought the 1.2m resolution was
stunning!
Although I have mentioned many things that don’t make
this product sound any good, I would certainly say that
for any UK VFR flyer, this product really is a must
have. The superb resolution of the textures, the hours
you can spend finding all the little Easter eggs (race
meetings, words on the ground, closed airports), the
detailed terrain mesh all make this one hell of a
product.
If Horizon go ahead and produce what they have promised,
I cannot see myself leaving the UK in FSX anytime soon.
Something I rarely did in FS2004 – look out the window –
has become the only way to fly for me in FSX.
Mulletman's Generation X Photo Gallery - Click on thumbnail
for full size picture |
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UK2000 are working very closely with Horizon,
and as a result their merges are seamless. |
There is a
distinctive colour change here, but I defy you
to find the line between them. |
The scenery looks
stunning as it stretches away into the distance. |
Getting closer to my home – Great Horwood.(on
the road that I live on). |
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You might be
amazed at what is around your home, here Winslow
is in the distance (my home town) . |
And this is
Winslow itself – My house is in this shot,
although I’m not telling you where!. |
The railway
valley I spoke of in the review.. |
Milton Keynes.
Every building can be picked out! I even saw a
baseball diamond I used to train on. |
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VFR flying is
demanding when the terrain is shrouded by cloud. |
Slightly too far
out here – but the band of scenery across the UK
is clearly visible. |
Birmingham
Airport and the NEC. One of the better aligned
airports. |
Some 3D landmarks
have been kept, although the rest of the autogen
is gone. This is Birmingham town centre. |
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A merge near Aylesbury. You can see the Bucks
County show going on in the centre of the
picture!. |
An area of
missing ground detail. Whatever area you are
over will disappear from Map view. |
Another overview
of the scenery stretching into the distance. |
Luton Airport,
with some ghosting going on. |
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Sharp cliffs put
Luton on a plateau. |
Another border
merge near Luton. The FSX cars should work on
the scenery, everywhere. |
There are lots of
disused airfields to explore…. |
…but this one
appears to still be in use – although not by
aircraft. I would be interested to know why all
those cars are parked on the runway. |
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Snetterton racetrack, in
Norfolk. A small meeting appears to be going on. |
A more famous racetrack close to
my home. Yet another meeting seems to be happening here. |
The Majority of volume 2 is
quite flat, however venture over to Wales and the terrain changes dramatically. |
An FSX bug is causing these
lines across Afon Mawddach. A fix is available on AVSIM. |
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Look at the level
of detail on the ground! |
Aberystwyth.
Britain’s Amarillo. |
Shadows form the
original photos are cast over the scenery. In
some cases this is pleasing, in others it’s
unrealistic. |
Looking out of
the window and seeing the rocks is far more
daunting that looking out onto the default
terrain textures! |
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