Another subscription preview...

[toprob]

Here's a scenery which I began a while ago for a contract which hasn't yet eventuated. So I thought I'd complete it and release it as part of the subscription. Still a bit of work to do, the water-mask is a bit rough, and some autogen to do. Some nice little FS airports within the area, too.

[Ian Warren]

WELL .. we Know exactly were we are , where in the Cor .. Coro .... Coronation Street scenery ... A blast from the past !

[NZ255]

First one Thames?

[toprob]

First one Thames?

Yes, No 2's Whitianga, and later on there's Pauanui. The area also includes the Coromandel aerodrome.

[Ian Warren]

I think one of the the biggest things, that Really really nails it and one off the the most outstanding features .. you get this with Doug's South Island West Coast is simply the Coast line , I finally got my 'Flight One Software' BAe-146 working last night so four years of NO looksies .. one of the first thing I was looking at .. At around 5000 ta 7000 thou feet and still in a default FSX cloud was ..... If I had one here who has never seen this type of scenery before , it would really blow their mind ..

I was going to ask Hanna today to stop in and have a look, again , she is now graduating as a teacher as a primary teacher... a one who teachers everything and is very open to idea's , the way this scenery is growing .. it is now getting to be a real educational tool .. Idea is approach it that way , if many pilots use it for Nav train .. why not visuals for Geography ...

[jpreou]

Awesome Rob, and really happy about Thames. Nice that you are releasing as part of the subscription, but just so you know; I'd have happily paid a few bucks for those. If you have a donate button, then I likely will.
Thanks for all your work.

[Fozzer]

I'll tell your what...

...that scenery!.... ...!

All of my low-level, GA, daily flights always take place in mid-summer, mid day, in clear blue skies with loads of sunshine....

..and those screen shots show lovely, bright, warm sunshine; something I have never been able to achieve with my FSX and FS 2004 scenery.

The Autogen trees are always dark green, even though the trees and the grass appear to be in the sunshine.

I have never been able to set the scenery to appear bathed in Summer sunshine, like the scenery in the above screen shots!

Increasing the screen/desktop brilliance doesn't seem to work.

I need brilliant sunshine with shadows, like it is in real life, in my FSX scenery!

I wonder if there is a way of increasing the overall "brilliance" of the Flight Sim countryside scenery down below...yellow fields, yellow trees, etc!

Sunny scenery always makes me happy!

Paul.... ...!

[toprob]

Cheers, Jeff. Eventually all the subscription scenery should end up as the base for a stand-alone 'product', but in the meantime, the subscription is a good way to get it out there and improve on the airports later.
If the contract ever eventuates, I'd get to visit all these places, so there's a very good chance that this'll be a great scenery one day. The aerial images are a bit blah, but rather than try and match anything colour-wise, I've done a one-off adjustment which works well for the Coromandel. However there are some weird colouring bits, which rule it out for a 'Real NZ' quality scenery.
In the meantime, I have a 'core' group of supporters like you, who have contributed more than others, some of them more than is sensible, and now there's the Dunedin prepay, I'm sure I've seen your order...
So anyone who wants to really help, encourage others to buy a subscription:)

[toprob]

....
I need brilliant sunshine with shadows, like it is in real life, in my FSX scenery!

I wonder if there is a way of increasing the overall "brilliance" of the Flight Sim countryside scenery down below...yellow fields, yellow trees, etc!

Sunny scenery always makes me happy!

Paul.... ...!

thanks, Paul. It sounds like you need Prepar3d, where you can get better lighting on autogen vegetation. However in these shots these are the old 'VectorLandClass' custom native bush textures, tweaked a bit for the modern sims.

[deeknow]

awww mate theres a couple of folks up North here I know that will be STOKED to see this, myself included.

[Fozzer]

....
I need brilliant sunshine with shadows, like it is in real life, in my FSX scenery!

I wonder if there is a way of increasing the overall "brilliance" of the Flight Sim countryside scenery down below...yellow fields, yellow trees, etc!

Sunny scenery always makes me happy!

Paul.... ...!

thanks, Paul. It sounds like you need Prepar3d, where you can get better lighting on autogen vegetation. However in these shots these are the old 'VectorLandClass' custom native bush textures, tweaked a bit for the modern sims.

Ta for the tip, Rob!

Whenever I look out at my back garden on hot mid-Summer days with a clear blue sky; and all the vegetation, etc, bathed in brilliant (yellow) sunshine and deep shadows in between, I think to myself, (as I do), I wish my Flight Sim (FSX) scenery looked like that as I skim over the tree-tops in my trusty Cessna 150 Aerobat!

Beautiful, realistic scenery at low level, and ground level, is always my wish in the Flight Sims....

.....(most/all of my daily flights are exploratory, very low level, map and compass, in small GA aircraft)....

...so maybe "Prepar3D" is the way to go, to achieve that?... ....!

I need hot sunshine to warm the cockles of my heart!... ....!

Paul.... ...!

P.S...its all in the mind...your know!... ...!

[buzzard2008]

Heya Rob a question for ya, I have been trying out Dovetail Games Flight school and have been very impressed with the 64bit Sim on my system. I'm wondering, will your scenery be compatible with the the full blown DTG Sim due out later this year?

[toprob]

Heya Rob a question for ya, I have been trying out Dovetail Games Flight school and have been very impressed with the 64bit Sim on my system. I'm wondering, will your scenery be compatible with the the full blown DTG Sim due out later this year?

Good question, I don't have a clue how the new sim will handle addons, though, I suspect that nothing currently available will be able to be just dropped in. Have Dovetail actually published any information about formats etc?

Plus a new sim will need to 'prove itself', if there's a great take-up then a lot of developers are going to get onboard, but FSX didn't just appear fully-grown, it needed a lot of development over the years to get it to where it was when Microsoft ceased development. It might be that it's worth waiting for a couple of years, if FSX/Prepar3d are still going strong.

I can't really see me spending any time on converting scenery for a new sim, there's just too much work to do on the current sims. Developers have had to re-work installers etc for Prepar3d, and I think that a lot of them were caught out by the sheer amount of work required. I know it took me months to redo all the Subscription installers, so it makes more sense to me to continue on with FSX/Prepar3d.

Of course the main thing will be the take-up -- there are not more than a couple of thousand New Zealand simmers who currently purchase scenery, so I'll go where my customers go.