West coast south of Auckland

[Scupper]

Blustery weather again today but no rain so loaded real weather into REX (Overdrive). I find real weather does a far better job than I can in producing realistic clouds but if there's any rain it plays havoc with my catalina's old engines, - they just don't like to get wet.

So, took off from Auckland International (which is currently as flat as a pancake, - must find a proper NZAA), climbing over Manukau Harbour, a left turn and heading south, - haven't really explored down there much. The coast is stunning where it's in the Supercity scenery, and it's interesting to see what happens when it changes to VLC, - I love VLC but the whole country can't be as gorgeous as Supercity. You can see the transition below.



Climbing, very slowly, we eventually got into some good cloud at about 4,500 feet:



It was, like , everywhere.



... then there was a bit of a hole in the cloud...



and suddenly the cloud broke up and there was Raglan.



If you know Raglan you can make out the airstrip, - the light coloured bit between the built up area and the river mouth. Bit hard to see because by now we're at 5,500 feet. I love these clouds though, - I remember in my first MS flightsim they looked like anvils floating in the sky. Remember that?

Must remember to clean the cat's windows...

[Ian Warren]

Great Screens , damn you gotta love that Cat and real world weather

[Scupper]

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Sep 24 2010, 10:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Great Screens , damn you gotta love that Cat and real world weather

Cheers, mate. The Cat is fantastic but the B377 you mentioned somewhere sounds great too so that might be my next big prop.

[Adamski]

Yep ... great screens alright. Reminds me I haven't taken my Cat out for a while!!!

I'm also a great fan of REX/Real weather. It makes every flight different. Usually, that is ... the past three months it's been rain, rain, rain ... plays havoc with my framerates!

[Ian Warren]

As shakey as Canterbury is at the mo , I fly the Cat around there , the Bearcat i mean, the weather here is nearly summer

[happytraveller]

Is that first shot a real photo or a screenshot......very atmospheric and great deteil.

Real world weather really makes the difference, always makes it interesting and often some great effects. First screenshot wins the prize though,

smooth landings.

[AndrewJamez]

The REX real weather engine is far far superior to the FSX one. It couldnt find the weather if it looked at a metservice forcast its that useless. The REX real time weather engine on the other hand is just amazing. It pretty much gets the weather and visability etc pretty right even for local conditions. I fly with it on all the time (except when theres force 5 winds and rain for 3 freakin weaks on end.)

[Scupper]

Happy,

The first screen uses photorealistic scenery from Real NZ Supercity (Auckland) on the left of the pic. It covers a pretty huge area but it eventually runs out as you go north or south. If you don't have Vector Land Class, the transition to default Texas-like FSX scenery is very abrupt and disappointing, but with VLC you hardly notice unless you're studying the coast like I was. The VLC is on the right of the first pic.

These scenery packs have made the game much more immersive for me, - you actually feel like exploring the country just to see what it looks like.

I highly recommend 'FSX selection' (which includes Supercity plus Wellington and others) and Vector Land Class, which cost a total of $165. You can find them here:

http://windowlight.co.nz/store/index.php?m...d5e9216e4418288

If the link doesn't work just search for Godzone Virtual Flight.

[ardypilot]

Terribly realistic screenshots, the blend of VLC and photoreal there is the best I've ever seen!

Yesterday sure was nasty- quite a fun route to fly is low level down the west coast to Raglan at 700 feet or so:

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (Scupper @ Sep 25 2010, 12:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Cheers, mate. The Cat is fantastic but the B377 you mentioned somewhere sounds great too so that might be my next big prop.

The Cat is Superb , the B377 is truly amazing and a good education in operations with the types , you really become a test pilot and doing go-rounds , keeping everything working is simply so much fun .

QUOTE (Trolly @ Sep 25 2010, 12:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Terribly realistic screenshots, the blend of VLC and photoreal there is the best I've ever seen!
Yesterday sure was nasty- quite a fun route to fly is low level down the west coast to Raglan at 700 feet or so:

Andy , pleased you posted those photos , it really puts the Real into Virtual !