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Post by timmo on May 24, 2008 17:18:43 GMT 12
Hi guys, Simmers on NZFF and ARNZX will probably know about these anyway but I thought I may as well spread the word here as well  These are all Freeware scenery addons that Ive made for NZ for Microsoft FSX to enhance VFR flying. These can all be downloaded from www.avsim.com (you will need to sign up to access the file library) Motiti Island  White Island  Mayor Island  Whale Island (Hi Resolution terrain and Imagery)  Mount Tarawera (and surrounding lakes including high resolution 5m mesh)  Rotorua Bath House and Government Gardens  |
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Post by timmo on May 24, 2008 17:33:38 GMT 12
Coromandel Aerodrome  |
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Post by stu on May 24, 2008 17:43:07 GMT 12
Cool ... you've probably already mentioned it and I've missed it but where do I download the scenery from? Cheers, Stu  |
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Post by timmo on May 24, 2008 17:56:18 GMT 12
Whakatane Airport (my ex-local) This one is a work in progress  |
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Post by timmo on May 24, 2008 17:58:02 GMT 12
Stu- Ive updated the first post which tells you where to get them from. You can also go to www.flightsim.co.nz to find the links directly (save you having to search through the extensive Avsim library) |
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 24, 2008 19:53:55 GMT 12
Fantastic looking graphics. I'm not a flight simmer (yet) so can you please give me some idea of how you create these realistic looking graphics? Are they based on lots of aerial photos, etc? Or drawn from scratch?
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 24, 2008 19:58:08 GMT 12
Was the Whakatane Airport building designed by a kindergarten teacher? ;D
I reckon the Rotorua museum looks excellent!
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Post by timmo on May 25, 2008 4:02:44 GMT 12
Dave: It depends: The scenery that replaces the default synthetic world aproximation is based on GIS aerial photography so its a fairly easy task to convert into FSX: Reproject to WGS84, add blend and watermask and populate with autogen vegetation.
The buildings (I.e the Government Gardens etc) usually start with me taking lots of photos at ground level;tweaking them to give them a consistent scale; then using the XY measurements off a georeferenced aerial photo to calculate the Z dimension and modelling from there.....its mostly 'science', partly 'art' but usually dimensions 'make sense' in terms of XYZ ratios so once you have the XY you can fit the Z without too much mastication.
It is a pretty impressive sim engine...even if you just consider the terrain engine and ignore the flight dynamics/AI air traffic/AI road traffic/AI airport Traffic/AI boat traffic/weather engine/ stellar engine/ATC engine/3d object engine etc
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Post by stu on May 26, 2008 12:25:49 GMT 12
Got Tarawera in FSX now thanks, now to work on the rest  For some reason, I can't seem to make my FSX look as nice as FS2004 ... especially the aircraft. Probably need to spend more time on it. Cheers, Stu. |
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Post by Bruce on May 26, 2008 13:47:45 GMT 12
Must be some Aerobatic tailwheel DC-3 Pilot thinking its a Citabria or something.... I wonder who? |
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Post by stu on May 26, 2008 14:24:23 GMT 12
Important lesson No.1: DC-3 is not very aerobatic Had this been the real world, an extra crater would now be found on top of Mt. Tarawera  In the sim, this unsuccessful attempt at a roll out of the vertical in a DC3 - note position of control surfaces - was followed by a much more successful stall, wallow, splat manoeuvre. They're also not very good at inverted flight  Part of the joy of a flightsim, you get to try things you wouldn't even think of doing in a real plane ;D Cheers, Stu. |
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Post by timmo on May 27, 2008 15:01:22 GMT 12
Download the service packs if you havent already- They make a huge difference
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Post by John L on May 27, 2008 17:42:53 GMT 12
Bugger.
Does this mean I have to upgrade from FS 9 - just when I was getting it close to great.
I'll still stick with CFS2 for my "shoot em ups" though - the boys from Simouthouse have turned out some brilliant upgrades for that.
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Post by Dave Homewood on May 27, 2008 18:31:31 GMT 12
Rotorua Bath House and Government Gardens You know, if I could get graphics as good as this that were all set up to look like NZ did in WWII, rather than present day, I'd become interested in flying in the simulated world. The buildings above were of course there then and were in fact an RNZAF convalescent home. But I'd love to see those excellent backgrounds of Woodbourne, Omaka etc done in WWII styles. |
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Post by timmo on Jun 3, 2008 10:32:55 GMT 12
No reason why you cant!...
Ive always thought that flying 'in the past' in full colour is a bit of a weird one: Im not sure if your brain would consider it more realistic to fly in black in white since most of our 'knowledge' of WWII comes from black and white film.....but that isnt how the people saw it of course...
I wonder how many young kids thought the 'olden days' where black and white haha
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Post by steve on Jun 17, 2008 19:22:50 GMT 12
For some of you computer whizzes out there I believe a flying in the past project would be a real buzz especially when you consider all the photos available on this site for reference. Could existing freewares be adapted by making more farmlands and downscaling the towns etc. Maybe the colour could be reduced to give the image of aged frames?
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