Very first impressions

[Venge]

This is awesome!
Now I am by no means knowledgeable when it comes to tweaking my FSX to look nice for NZ. Frankly I suck and did not have any addon mesh or anything.
Having installed VLC I am truly amazed at the difference and accuracy! Not only is Whangarei not surrounded by desert but I could head off for a couple of minutes cross country in a 172 and recognize the hills and fly to where I know my house must be.
Simply amazing, and is going to take my flight simming to a whole new enjoyment level.

[Ian Warren]

Chris . yeah ! thing i noticed were forest and tree plantation,s , the area s that stick out in your mind looking up a crest or a hill , something you see every day .

[russhart]

I flew around Auckland with night settings and all lights on. What a magical experience. Even looking south from the CBD I could see the motorway lights over the Manukau Harbour and they were twinkling just like in real life. The combination of RealNZ Auckland and VLC is simply superb. On my first look I believe that this is far superior than the Orbx product (based on my flying experience around Australia) and I can't wait to fly all around NZ.

[GlennAV8R]

Very very cool. Done a fresh install of FSX and VLC and absolutly stunning. Milford Sound sits perfectly and just flew over Christchurch at dusk and simply amazing. Now to reload all my photoreal. Thanks Timmo and Robin. Would suggest those that are having problems with old files affecting elevations etc to bite the bullet and do a fresh install of everything, will be worth it in the long run.

[Venge]

Still blowing me away.
Tonight I took off from Whangarei followed the roads south to the hills and then headed off west to Kiapara Harbour. Followed the harbour up to Ruawai and found the tiny little airstrip where I did my first solo flight.
Never realized just how accurate things were going to be. People going for their PPLs in NZ would be well off getting VLC and flying their cross country trips in the digital world before doing the real thing.

[toprob]

QUOTE (Venge @ Sep 2 2010, 09:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

...
Never realized just how accurate things were going to be. People going for their PPLs in NZ would be well off getting VLC and flying their cross country trips in the digital world before doing the real thing.

This is one feature which is difficult to get across before people actually get their hands on the scenery and fly it, but to me this is one of the main strengths of VLC. It is all very well making something pretty to look at, even beautiful, but what people want to see flying their own country is realism. The single-minded way in which Tim has put realism above all else has given real-world pilots a brilliant tool which has uses which are yet to be discovered, but I'm amazed that the final scenery turned out to be so beautiful as well.

[Scupper]

Yeah. It's fantastic.

Just flew from Auckland to Wellington (with all the RealNZ scenery packs) and Wellington looks awsome, - more so than before for some reason even though (if I understand right) it sits on top of VLC. Might be because I tweaked some settings.

Generally though, everything just looks right, and flying without that feeling of disappointment is so great. The mountains are beautiful.

Well done, guys!!!

[toprob]

QUOTE

Just flew from Auckland to Wellington (with all the RealNZ scenery packs) and Wellington looks awsome, - more so than before for some reason even though (if I understand right) it sits on top of VLC.[/quote]

Just to clarify here please, do you put the RealNZ sceneries above the VLC programme within the FSX scenery library?

Thanks Dave

[Nzeddy]

QUOTE (frostynz @ Sep 3 2010, 06:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just to clarify here please, do you put the RealNZ sceneries above the VLC programme within the FSX scenery library?

Thanks Dave

Yes.

[toprob]

Hi Dave
Priority really only becomes an issue when you are mixing different landclass products. Real NZ scenery will work with VLC whatever the priority. However there are some reasons why priority should be a consideration, and these are covered in the manual.

[frostynz]

thanks Guys, your correct Rob, it doesn't seem to make any difference. Out of interest it made no difference whether I enabled or disabled the Scenery Tech Indo/Pacific landclass either.

[Venge]

Ok, here are my a 'bit further on' but still early opinions.
VLC has changed the way I play this game. Before I pretty much took off, auto piloted + time compression to near my destination airport and then dropped out of time compression. Now I hardly touch time compression and never fly in straight lines. I find myself flying low through the terrain following rivers or valleys etc. For me simming in nz has gone from a 'been there done that' feel to now realizing there is a more accurate and completely different NZ to explore.
Lovin it, and thanks again for VLC!

[toprob]

QUOTE (Venge @ Sep 10 2010, 09:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

VLC has changed the way I play this game. Before I pretty much took off, auto piloted + time compression to near my destination airport and then dropped out of time compression. Now I hardly touch time compression and never fly in straight lines. I find myself flying low through the terrain following rivers or valleys etc. For me simming in nz has gone from a 'been there done that' feel to now realizing there is a more accurate and completely different NZ to explore.

Yes! This was something which happened during the beta testing process, I'd think 'hey, that looks interesting...' and head off into the hills to explore.

[Galp]

WOWEE!!! just got VLC installed and have been exploring...First of all went to Milford sound to check out the 'fix', was most impressed by the water colours & the mountain reflections, spot on! Next, as I live in Nelson I took off from NZNL to have a look at more familiar territory. in the past there would be multi storey buildings on Tahunanui beach and on the iconic Nelson boulder bank which protects our harbour, not at all realistic... But now with VLC I am very pleased to find that even with all the FSX sliders maxed out, there were no buidings at all, fantastic! much more realistic. It is now much nicer when flying 'low & slow' because of the realistic roads rivers etc with such attention paid to close up textures & details. A big thankyou to Timmo and all the developers of VLC, the best $75 I have ever spent!!
PS I am using an FS9 version of Nelson Airport [partially converted for FSX I believe this was made by Ian Warren, so Ian if you read this, what are the chances of a full upgrade of NZNS to fit VLC? [paywear, of course]

[NZ255]

QUOTE (Galp @ Sep 11 2010, 12:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

But now with VLC I am very pleased to find that even with all the FSX sliders maxed out, there were no buidings at all, fantastic!

What do you mean by that? No tower office buildings where there should be houses?

[ZK-MAT]

He means that there were no autogen buildings in an area that has no buildings in real life, where in the past buildings would pop up everywhere. Mt Maunganui used to have tower blocks on it in FS9 default for example lol.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (Galp @ Sep 11 2010, 01:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

, so Ian if you read this, what are the chances of a full upgrade of NZNS to fit VLC?

I do have a CD full of photos Nick Beatty send me covering Nelson airport , his home town never got around to redoing , caught in other areas .

[Geoffhop]

Brilliant effort by the designer and extremely subtle with colours and seasons. It is NZ as I know it! So much better than what the Orbx people did with Australia which is rather brash with it's colour.

I had some weird autogen buildings initially until I realized I needed to switch off the Aussie Orbx stuff using FTX mode!!

Thanks for the quick delivery of the CD noting you are all in earthquake mode in Christchurch.

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE

So much better than what the Orbx people did with Australia which is rather brash with it's colour[/quote]


Errr... have to disagree with you there.

Having flown 100s of hours real world over central OZ, the colours
out there ARE brash, or as I would prefer to describe them, vivid, different, dramatic or whatever.

Here is a recent screenie I took during a multiplayer flight west of Alice Springs.
Trust me, it really does look like this out here !!!




But......NZ has overall a more softer look, particularly the North Is.

And compared to default, I have to say VLC would seem to be a great improvement.

Cheers

TonyM

Last edited by TonyM on Sat Sep 11, 2010 8:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Ian Warren]

Tony , best way to put it .. one thing i say , your eyeballs arent painted on - use them !