• Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.

    Post 16 Update

    Post 17 Warning old domain name stealing credentials

  • Special Server Maintenance

    Just when you think you have everything running some what better...

    You get a message from the Hosting company. Short story they need to move us to a new server. I have been working with them to plan a good date for all concerned. Here is what we have come up with as a schedule.

    1. November 4th 17:00 -5UTC shut off the forums and start backup proceedures. During this time there will be no access to the forums or the Resource Section.
    2. November 5th Continue with Backups and download same until complete.
    3. November 6th 7:00 turn over server to hosting company to move system to new server
    4. November 7th - 8th restore backups and upgrade forum software.

    If all goes well we should be back online on November 8th.

    To keep you updated we will post updates on AVSIM forums.

    Thank you for your support.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 1935

Well, the updates do not only fix bugs, they also feed in new satellite imagery or replace parts of the ground texture which were not covered by satellite or aerial imagery before. As well as improved DEM data. Generally, this is to be welcomed, of course. The sim is not designed for historical sceneries, and the SDK does not provide easy tools for controlling vector or imagery data (e.g. removal or addition of roads / vector data or landclass data). FSX / P3D was much more flexible in that regard.
Didn't realize that they "do not only fix bugs". Improvement is always a good thing. My friend the other day said it was designed for "tubeliners" that is evidenced by all the Airbus that came with my version. It has beautiful graphics which is why I kept using it but am going to forget trying to create scenery. Just going to fly and enjoy it.
 
Around eight years ago, when I was still full steam on scenery creation on P3D, I made a video, just for fun. It had a made up story and the landscape in the scenery had to be adjusted to serve that.

1. Story - Air America, operating in northern Laos. A customer, a CIA field officer, requests to check the road from from L22 in the middle if the Plain of Jars, which is going to LS-20 Sam Thong, and ending at LS-20a Long Tieng. Fly as close and low to the road as possible. The customer probably puked, but at least both side door were open :)

2. Make a little movie with the scenario, one with music from back then and one without.

FSX/P3D did not have the road in the sim, but still exists today and is available as Opeen Streets map vector data. So back then I downloaded the vector data, took the part which I needed and fed the lines into P3D. Since there was no texture for the road, I created it, which was a bit cumbersome, but it worked pretty well as you can see in the video.

Regarding MSFS 2020/24, just to prove the point:

- Feeding in vector lines like roads into MSSFS 2020/24 is not possible anymore
- Obviously, making a vector road with custome textures is also not possible. You have to stick to what the sim provides you.
- Vector roads are covered with a texture which deviates from the ground image - that can look ugly. There is a trick to overcome that, but not on large distances. Too cumbersome and it has it's drawback, like the effect on vegetation.

Today, the overall scenery looks much better and I made L22, LS-20 and LS20a with all the better knowledge I have. In todays MSFS scenery I will have to get rid of the sim road because if I don't you will see all kinds of Toyota Camrys etc racing across the road (which they don't, of course) and the vector texture look horrible. But I'll make an update on that flight. I am sure some elements will not look as good with the less control as I had back then. I am going to give it a try anhow.

Old Video with music:
(I got into a lengthy trouble with YT with that because of the music, but they never pulled it)....

[Edit]

I tried that flight with Taog's Huey today in MSFS 2020 and got lost a few times, because there are so many roads today which weren't there back then (and also not in FSX/P3D). Oh well, sort of proves the point, but it still was fun, despite the fact that I suck at flying helicopters. Was still fun though.
The scenery is much better after all! Let's see.

[/Edit]

Cheers,
Mark
 
Last edited:
Back
Top