Rethinking MSFS 2024

[toprob]

This post was meant to be about MSFS 2024, but it went off-track quite quickly so I've moved it to off-topic.
At the moment MS24 is going through a common phase with new sims -- updates are normally one step forward and two back. This definitely happened with 2020, but I was a bit more forgiving back then. Now I'm just starting to lose interest in the sim, although once 2024 gets to the same level of development as 2020 I'll come back to it. The main issue, as I've said, is that it doesn't display my own aerial images on any airports. This only seems to affect a few developers, so there may be a solution, but I've run out of ideas for the moment. Sure, I could build airports without my own background images, but this has always been such a bit part of my idea of what a good NZ airport should look like. NZ is so lucky to have the LINZ site, which continually updates all their data including aerial imagery, and allow it to be freely used and distributed.

Back last century the early LINZ imagery was quite low resolution, at 2.5 metres per pixel, and the simulator only displayed 4.8 m/p, but it formed the basis of the early Godzone CD-based scenery. Without LINZ, there wouldn't be any Godzone stuff. Now we get a lot better quality and resolution, so it just doesn't make sense to me that it won't work in the new sim.

Anyway, time for a new hobby. Again.

I've also packed the model railway away, as it just takes up too much space and although my grandson loves it, he's too young to take care with it, and bits keep getting broken. The layout of the house here just doesn't give me many options, there's a workshop downstairs, but it's a bit cold in the winter, and is attached to a flat, which is normally tenanted. However now my son and daughter-in-law have agreed to put my ex-wife in the flat, as she's separated from her husband. I seem to be the only one here who thinks this is not a great idea, but maybe that's just me.... By the way, we have a new baby in the house, I have a new grand-daughter. We also have my son's mother-in-law visiting from California, so the house is quite busy.

One thing I've always wanted to try is astrophotography. These days the advent of cheap 'smart' telescopes has rekindled my interest. I've been delaying pressing the 'buy' button, though, as I really wanted to make sure that I had the ability to see the sky with my old, cataract-affected eyes, and the patience to process the images. This week I took my DSLR outside with a tele-zoom lens, and tried to image the Orion nebula. My first effort was hopeless, with poor focus and over-exposed. The second night was a bit more successful, although I need to work on exposure. Basically, I take a lot of images (50 is about my limit, but 1000 would be better, I just need an intervalometer to press the camera button for me) with a one or two second exposure, and use software to 'stack' them into one image. I was thrilled to actually see the nebula (very small as I was too scared to go to full zoom on the lens), and I even caught a glimmer of the nearby Flame nebula, which is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud complex. This includes the Horsehead nebula, which I don't hold out much hope of imaging with my SLR, but maybe one day with a telescope.

The weather forecast for last evening was great, so I was hoping to do the exercise again, with tweaked exposures and higher zoom, but I watched the clouds roll in, and by 7pm it was raining. This did make me think how much this hobby would depend on the weather, no matter how much you spent on equipment...

So, now I know that I can make out things in the sky, I need to choose a telescope. One option is the Seestar S50, a little smart scope which you control with an app, and it does all the work of finding and photographing deep sky objects. These cost just under NZ$1000, so quite good value for entry-level. The only issues I have are the camera resolution -- basically HD, 1920x1080 sensor, which seems dismal by today's standards. And they don't shoot planets. This is a big issue for me, as i really, really want my own nice photo of Jupiter one day. To do this would take a lot bigger scope, and a lot more money.

The system I'd want starts at about $4000, and I could attach my DSLR for photos. This system is able to track objects, so it would do a good job, but it is still a huge investment for me. There are a lot of bits and pieces I'd need, which all add up. At the moment there's a couple of second-hand options on Trademe, which could save a lot of money, so I might see if I can get one of these. If not, I may grab the Seestar and play around until another bargain shows up. I've always been bad at spending money, but I guess I could afford to go bigger if I relaxed the purse-strings a bit.

Anyway, if none of this works out I'll go back to MSFS:)

[deeknow]

the main thing is the "thinking" part of "re-thinking" .. always impressed that you are able to direct your energies to new and interesting pursuits, more power to you, and your star-gazing lens

BTW, re the background imagery and LINZ, how do/did the guys building P3D projects get away in the past w distributing pay-for stuff that seems to be lifted out of Google Maps or Bing?

[SA227]

Crikey, so much in common

I too packed up my large HO scale railway and now that room has become the F18 sim room with a fixed based sim for the DCS F18. It's 80% complete.

And a few years ago I decided to get back into star gazing after seeing some of the photos taken by one of our Christchurch based Captains who is into astrophotography big time. I bought a Celestron 8 inch cassegrain. I have attached my nephews fancy digital camera to it and got a reasonable shot of the Orion Nebula without stacking. It tis an expensive hobby and when doing my research one of things things that seem to be repeated is that it doesn't matter what scope you get, it will spend 95% of it's time sitting inside due to weather

[toprob]

BTW, re the background imagery and LINZ, how do/did the guys building P3D projects get away in the past w distributing pay-for stuff that seems to be lifted out of Google Maps or Bing?

Google has been known to come down on some developers, but most are probably too far under the radar. I know that Microsoft had a big clampdown on people uploading Google photogrammetry for 2020, and I have thought that this might be one reason why custom aerials are becoming a no-no with 2024 -- MS may need to be careful if their users are grabbing data from everywhere else but Bing.

Crikey, so much in common

I too packed up my large HO scale railway and now that room has become the F18 sim room with a fixed based sim for the DCS F18. It's 80% complete.

And a few years ago I decided to get back into star gazing after seeing some of the photos taken by one of our Christchurch based Captains who is into astrophotography big time. I bought a Celestron 8 inch cassegrain. I have attached my nephews fancy digital camera to it and got a reasonable shot of the Orion Nebula without stacking. It tis an expensive hobby and when doing my research one of things things that seem to be repeated is that it doesn't matter what scope you get, it will spend 95% of it's time sitting inside due to weather

Yes, the scopes I'm looking at are Celestron Nexstars, one 6" and one 8". They are both 'Evolution' models, with app-controlled tracking mounts, and auto-aligners. The 8" might be a bit of an over-kill for me, though.
Last night I found that my SLR could shoot up to 10 frames from one click, which makes it a lot easier to get plenty of frames for stacking. Here's an image from last night (cropped and JPEGed for the forum), using 60 x 2 second exposures. I zoomed out a bit with my tele zoom as my first attempt put the nebula perilously close to the edge. Here I've tried to include the Flame and Horsehead nebulas, in the bottom right, but these a just too faint with these settings. They show up as a faint smear to the right of the big star, at the top of Orions Belt. This is something I'd love to try with a telescope.
Last night was beautifully clear, but looking at the 10-day forecast we may be lucky to get one clear evening. Tomorrow I'll bid on one of the scopes I'm after. If I'm successful, then I have to go shopping for a lot of bits and pieces:)

[Fozzer]

Every time I look at the photographs of the sky above me at night, I never fail to wonder at all its magnificence!
Every tiny microdot is a Sun just like ours, both larger and smaller, each with rocks surrounding it, just like our Planets!
Everything is so far away in time and distance that all we can ever do is gaze up at it...and dream!
The enormity of the Universe and our location within it is breathtaking!

"There's life out there, Jim"....
"...but nothing like the stuff in my back garden"

What a wonderful world we live in!

Paul.... :UK: ...Egland....some distance from Alpha Centauri... .... .... ....!

[cowpatz]

The thing is Fozzer many of those stars and planets no longer exist. It’s just the light still travelling here.
It’s all beyond human comprehension…….well this human anyway.

[toprob]

Yes, that bright star -- Alnitak -- in the bottom right of the image above is 736 light years away, so I have no clue where it actually is compared to where it appears in the sky, or even what the citizens of that solar system are up to. Hopefully nothing evil. If I ever manage to see galaxies, then that's a different scale again. I'm aware, though, that the northern hemisphere gets all the best galaxies:)

This morning I bought a second-hand Celestron Nexstar Evolution 6 plus a StarSense AutoAlign system for half the new price. I'll need to pick it up from Taupo, which is a bit of a drive for me. I've made a list of things I'd need to get the best out of it, but I don't need to get it all at once! I've started with what I need to attach my DSLR and automate the shutter. That should let me spend a few months playing with it, before I decide if I really need an astro camera, or something else horrendously expensive.

[SA227]

Cool. I have the 8" nexstar SE. I did initially make my own dew shield and used a hairdryer on low to extend viewing times but have since splashed out on a dew heater.
With the standard mount I'm really limited to about 10 sec exposures. I would love an equatorial mount but can't justify the huge cost at present

I'm 8 miles south of Auckland airport and the only light pollution I get is in fact from the airport. Makes viewing of Saturn and Jupiter quite spectacular. I did manage to see Neptune a few weeks ago as well.

[toprob]

Yes, I have an EQ wedge at the top of my list, as it would mean I could photograph the darker deep sky objects, but it isn't a priority until I know that I'll actually use the scope often. The wedge is likely to cost NZ$1000, but currently hard to find in stock anywhere, which is a good thing I guess.
At the moment the money I've spent is almost a year's hobby budget, but hopefully in 12 months I can look at what sort of equipment I could really benefit from.

[SA227]

Jacobs digital up here on the North Shore are excellent to deal with and have the wedge in stock for NZD999.

I agree, research, research, research and then ponder a bit.

[toprob]

Yesterday I drove up to Taupo, stayed overnight lakeside, then went to pick up the telescope from the middle of nowhere. Following Google Maps, I drove up a dirt road, decided it wasn't getting my anywhere, and tried to turn around, hitting a little concrete fence post. Luckily I was still able to drive home, but the car's gonna get a trip to the panelbeaters.... So add a $500 excess to the price of the telescope.

Set the scope up tonight when I got home (no manual included), everything looks and works great for a second-hand trade-me deal. It comes with an auto-aligner camera, which I want to use with the Celestron skyportal app, but although my phone connected to the scope's wifi, the app wouldn't connect. Took me most of the night to get it sorted, so it isn't properly calibrated and aligned yet, but I managed to spend some time slewing around the sky and looking at stuff.

Hopefully now that my app is working I'll be able to align it next fine night (tomorrow?) so I can just choose objects using the app and the scope will automatically centre and track them.

I've got a couple of things arriving from Amazon.au to help with connecting my SLR to the scope, and controlling multiple exposures etc. I have a very pretty excel worksheet showing a list of things I want to buy, complete with prices and priorities, but I think I've got plenty to be going on with for a while.

[toprob]

Spent another evening trying to align the telescope, but still no joy, too much moon and not enough stars. Still, a couple of observations -- I caught an airliner overhead, directly through my field of view, just the lights fore, aft and wingtips. Amazing experience.
Still awaiting a lot of Amazon orders to help me attach my DSLR to the scope, but in the meantime, I just stuck the phone up to the eyepiece:

I see that my scope's bigger brother, the 8" Evolution with StarAlign is relisted on Trademe, quite a bargain at $3300.

[Charl]

it doesn't matter what scope you get, it will spend 95% of it's time sitting inside due to weather

Our dark night sky has morphed over the years into an ever-narrowing slice bounded by the onward march of the lights of Progress.
So on a recent trip to the SI thought we shouldn't miss Tekapo's Dark Sky Experience to the Mount John Observatory.
We had read the place has a Bortle Scale of 2 plus a 1.8m telescope, largest in NZ.
We only had the one night free, and sure enough the clouds came over 10/10
Went back the next morning to take the picture for the photo album.



They kindly refunded us 50% of the ticket price.

[SA227]

My scope takes a bit to align as well. I don't have the app integration so have to manually align 3 bright objects and let the handset do its thing. Most of the time the alignment is pretty good but occasionally it screws it up.

I had forgotten about Tekapo. Must put that on the list. Thanks for that.

[toprob]

My scope takes a bit to align as well. I don't have the app integration so have to manually align 3 bright objects and let the handset do its thing. Most of the time the alignment is pretty good but occasionally it screws it up.

I had forgotten about Tekapo. Must put that on the list. Thanks for that.

I've been doing some research today, I managed to update the scope's firmware (so easy, just connect the PC to the scope's own wifi and run the update software) and I reinstalled the laser scope just in case I have to resort to that. I actually downloaded the telescope's manual, as it didn't come with one, and that helped a lot:) When in doubt...

Last night's attempt to align was a dismal failure, first there were twenty minutes where it couldn't find any stars because I hadn't taken the lens cap off the alignment camera:) I managed on about the 5th attempt to get the necessary 4 alignment points, then the app crashed and I lost alignment.

Tonight if it stays fine I'll give the autoalign one more go, then use the normal manual align process if that doesn't work. That way I get to actually choose the stars I want to align on, rather than have the autoalign camera try and look directly at the moon, or into the forest surrounding this place. We do live in a kind of natural amphitheatre on the side on a hill, so only North-ish up to the southern zenith with Crux etc is usable.

Here we have the Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve, which is just over the Rimutaka hill, but not a great drive in the dark. I do want to check out Whitemans Valley, which is far enough away from the Hutt and reasonably open to the sky, only a 20 minute drive. I would rather get it working here, though, because the scope is a pain to transport!

[cowpatz]

Ever thought of getting into RC model flying Rob?

[Fozzer]

Ever thought of getting into RC model flying Rob?

Me...distant memories...

Balsa wood, glue, propeller, and a long elastic band... ...!

..... ...!

Paul.... :UK: ...England... ...!

[toprob]

Yes, I remember building a radio controlled glider with my son, lots of standing around on windy hills. Not for me.

[cowpatz]

Yes, I remember building a radio controlled glider with my son, lots of standing around on windy hills. Not for me.

Yes, there is that windy hill aspect, but it’s nice to get out in the fresh air. There are other RC disciplines such as thermal gliding (no windy ridge just a bungee or winch launch). Then there is normal fixed wing and helicopters. All are getting much easier to build and fly with ARF (almost ready to fly) models or kit/plan builds. The electric flight aspect has come on leaps and bounds and sure takes the mess and fiddle factor out of glow or petrol engines. Rob I imagine, with your artistic talents, that building them would be as much fun, if not more, than flying them. Of course being part of a club has that social aspect with some great companionship, chats and laughs to be had.
There must be an RC club somewhere in Lower Hutt to take a looksy at.

[toprob]

A quick update on my MSFS issue from the top post -- I posted the bug report on 8th March, so exactly 2 months ago. This week I heard from Asobo, who requested one of my projects to test, and they couldn't make it work either. So now it is an officially logged bug, and may get a solution. Fingers crossed.

However my astrophotography obsession may take me over, it's a beautifully clear day today, and I can only hope that it'll stay that way into the evening. I have my telescope as prepared as I can get it, I've read all the manuals, got the intervalometer attached to my camera and working. The only thing I don't have, which Amazon.au insisted was going to be delivered today, is the thingie to attach the camera to the scope. Again, fingers crossed.