I enjoy flying the Orbx AYPY Jacksons New Guinea experience package with all those challenging Kokoda bush strips. Sadly, once you fly out of the immediate AYPY area one is faced with the rather poor default landclass for this beautiful location. This, despite having FTX Global and Vector which I realize doesn't touch the dreaded default landclass including those nasty yellow sand mountain textures. Is anyone aware of any freeware and/or payware landclass for New Guinea? I realize Orbx intends to ultimately release landclass for Asia but this seems to be far off yet. Any leads or suggestions would be most appreciated.
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The Staff of SOH
New Guinea Landclass
- Thread starter fuzz1
- Start date
BendyFlyer
Charter Member
Fuzz1, no apart from what you have that is it, although I presume you have the Holger Mesh for PNG from ORBX as well, that helps a bit more. There are very few airports with a a bit of change of surroundings near by but that is all. There was some earlier stuff done but it will not work in FSX.
PNG is actually a difficult project because of the terrain so a generalised LC does not really work for PNG and it really needs a specific landclass. The other issue is water textures which are very unrealistic for around the coast. The Southern section is too tropical blue whereas in reality it is a bit a dull grey to blue and round the northern side deeper blue etc. Some areas are not properly mapped at all such as the Island of Samarai on the East Coast which used to be the PNG capital before WW2 but it is basically non existent in FSX. It would be a big undertaking to get this one right, although inland in the Highlands is not that bad visually.
PNG is actually a difficult project because of the terrain so a generalised LC does not really work for PNG and it really needs a specific landclass. The other issue is water textures which are very unrealistic for around the coast. The Southern section is too tropical blue whereas in reality it is a bit a dull grey to blue and round the northern side deeper blue etc. Some areas are not properly mapped at all such as the Island of Samarai on the East Coast which used to be the PNG capital before WW2 but it is basically non existent in FSX. It would be a big undertaking to get this one right, although inland in the Highlands is not that bad visually.
Thanks for the input. I looked at the Scenery Tech offering but it covers such a wide area I'm concerned it may conflict with my Orbx products, including the Australia and NZ regions that I own. Ideally I'm looking for something JUST for New Guinea that would work outside the Orbx areas already covered. BendyFlyer, I hear you; I did make an honest effort to search for such scenery and thus far nada, hence my appeal here. I would also agree with your comment that the inland areas are not too bad. Wish I could get rid of the yellow sand mountains and hills as a start however. Oh well. BTW I use Freemesh which appears to work well and is more detailed than the Holger Mesh for PNG.
BendyFlyer
Charter Member
Fuzz1, I have a keen interest in PNG and basically wanted quite a few sim models specifically for PNG (Twin Otter, Otter, etc). If it helps here is what I have and have found over time for PNG in addition to the ORBX Vector, Global:
First I have particular focus on the CalClassic era or 1960s and earlier. If you get all the packages from Cal Classic you will find in their Asia Pacific Pack quite a few PNG airports including Moresby which by the way are very good renditions of the airports of the period the only one I don't use is Rabaul because it now ceases to exist. The additional bonus is that if you get their AI stuff you will also find they have done a very good coverage of airline schedules traffic etc for that period, so not unusual to have DC-3, F27's Electras etc out and about when you fly in that area. But not everybody's choice. I have spent about two years backdating FSX because that is the era i am interested in and the sort of aircraft I muck about with. ORBX can also come up with some surprises.
If you want to tie some of this together the Emerald Groups Solomon Islands scenery is good (combined with the WW2 stuff available via SOH) and OZx's Torres straight is also excellent. Little about for the Indonesian side alas.
Anyway here is what I have for info:
aimoe,
boram,
emirau island,
frieda river,
Garden Island
Green Island
nadzab
Peleliu Island
PNG Airports Pack (AYBK, AYCK, AYDU, AYGA, AYGN, AYGR, AYKA, AYKI, AYKM, AYKV, AYKW, AYMD, AYMO, AYNZ, AYPA, AYTB,ATYK, AYWK)
Plus what is in the Cal Class Asia Pacific Packs as well. (Nadzab, Lae Rabaul, Madang, Port Moresby)
In addition I have the ORBX addon - Tapini.
First I have particular focus on the CalClassic era or 1960s and earlier. If you get all the packages from Cal Classic you will find in their Asia Pacific Pack quite a few PNG airports including Moresby which by the way are very good renditions of the airports of the period the only one I don't use is Rabaul because it now ceases to exist. The additional bonus is that if you get their AI stuff you will also find they have done a very good coverage of airline schedules traffic etc for that period, so not unusual to have DC-3, F27's Electras etc out and about when you fly in that area. But not everybody's choice. I have spent about two years backdating FSX because that is the era i am interested in and the sort of aircraft I muck about with. ORBX can also come up with some surprises.
If you want to tie some of this together the Emerald Groups Solomon Islands scenery is good (combined with the WW2 stuff available via SOH) and OZx's Torres straight is also excellent. Little about for the Indonesian side alas.
Anyway here is what I have for info:
aimoe,
boram,
emirau island,
frieda river,
Garden Island
Green Island
nadzab
Peleliu Island
PNG Airports Pack (AYBK, AYCK, AYDU, AYGA, AYGN, AYGR, AYKA, AYKI, AYKM, AYKV, AYKW, AYMD, AYMO, AYNZ, AYPA, AYTB,ATYK, AYWK)
Plus what is in the Cal Class Asia Pacific Packs as well. (Nadzab, Lae Rabaul, Madang, Port Moresby)
In addition I have the ORBX addon - Tapini.
Bendyflyer, that's an impressive beautification program you've undertaken for the area, and thanks again for your effort in providing useful info. For my purposes, I'm content with my present PNY airports and strips, mostly Orbx enhanced ones, which provide a solid base for the type of flying I do there; mostly bush strips and regional hops between airports. I'll likely also pick up Tapini one day to add to the collection. But my present interest primarily remains that of attempting to eliminate the default landclass eyesores rather than collecting more airports and AI. As you said before, the nice areas in PNY really do look pretty good with FTX Global and Vector. I've since looked at the Scenery Tech product in some detail but remain on the fence. I've seen a number of comments that it's hit and miss on how it works with Orbx Global as some of the landclass textures called can be rather funky...I understand the ST product is designed to be used with default FSX scenery textures. And yes, I have Torres from Ozx and agree it's very nice. I've since learned that good quality satellite imagery is apparently lacking for the area, hence a reason we likely don't see more high quality landclass products there. I don't know much about scenery manipulation but wish there was some simple way of swapping the sand mountain textures for something less horrid, as a temporary solution. If anyone here knows how to do this I would certainly appreciate your sharing the knowledge. *********PS. I do know how to use paragraphs when writing but for some reason my carriage return key is not recognized in the forum reply window and cannot seem to create a new line or paragraph. Is there a setting that fixes this? *********
BendyFlyer
Charter Member
Fuzz1. Undertood. Over time I have found that the best fixes have come from FTX Global and Global Vector for most general locations (that you know). I won't bore you with the details but one significant issue with FSX is that it had a lot of errors and the more remote the area became the worst they got (well in stands to reason the data to do it is lacking in the first place etc.) A good quality mesh is the next thing. For example I have different meshes for different places depending on what takes my fancy (not the whole globe). Then there are LC's which add the textures to over lay the mesh. A very good mesh will do wonders to even an average LC.
With PNG the only mesh about that is worthwhile is Holger mesh. The others are less accurate and detailed in the mapping. But the issue you have is how textures or LC is then applied. I agree there are parts of PNG that are well completely unrealistic for example grass covered steep hillsides which are actually covered in very dense vegetation and similarly the many rivers and streams at the bottom of valleys etc which are not good at all. I do know there was a package about (several I think 3 parts) that offered alternative rock mountain textures that would be applied to mesh generally all over to give a more realistic appearance. I no longer use it and have deleted it but from memory it was on FlightSim.com. There is also an alternative country road texture package about which I use which makes rural area roads a lot more realistic as well.
Other than that you could try a program called instant scenery which would allow you to change textures for specific locations but alas for big areas you have to have a LC set or do photo realistic scenery. Either way is a massive job but the critical issue will occur - to do this you need something to work with and once you get into remote areas such as PNG you find google is not your friend (they do not have good stuff either) and one is also limited on the geosatellite map data etc that has been done. Even Orbx have restricted their efforts so far to basically a couple of valleys and ridgelines up to Kokoda from Port Moresby and Tahini. Until then your stuck with what you have.
With PNG the only mesh about that is worthwhile is Holger mesh. The others are less accurate and detailed in the mapping. But the issue you have is how textures or LC is then applied. I agree there are parts of PNG that are well completely unrealistic for example grass covered steep hillsides which are actually covered in very dense vegetation and similarly the many rivers and streams at the bottom of valleys etc which are not good at all. I do know there was a package about (several I think 3 parts) that offered alternative rock mountain textures that would be applied to mesh generally all over to give a more realistic appearance. I no longer use it and have deleted it but from memory it was on FlightSim.com. There is also an alternative country road texture package about which I use which makes rural area roads a lot more realistic as well.
Other than that you could try a program called instant scenery which would allow you to change textures for specific locations but alas for big areas you have to have a LC set or do photo realistic scenery. Either way is a massive job but the critical issue will occur - to do this you need something to work with and once you get into remote areas such as PNG you find google is not your friend (they do not have good stuff either) and one is also limited on the geosatellite map data etc that has been done. Even Orbx have restricted their efforts so far to basically a couple of valleys and ridgelines up to Kokoda from Port Moresby and Tahini. Until then your stuck with what you have.