I'm one of those spoiled rotten kids that prefer to pay others to work for me (grin)! By the time I've been online long enough to download all the stuff I need for making such scenery myself, I will have spent more on the telephone bill than those CD's would cost me. Jaap Verduijn.

fair enough, but one hour to make the isle of wight is a fair old while. if you've got the patience and time, then go for it - i'd rather be flying!

>You can simply go to the getmapping site - download photos - >get the scenery sdk - and compile areas you like - it took >me less of 1 hours to do the whole of the isle of wight! Ray: what and how did you download from the getmapping site?I can see how to save a bitmap file of an example 'low resolution'sample for a given postcode. Is that sufficient or is there somewhere else on the site which is a better source of data?Any chance of putting your Isle of Wight on the AVSIM library?Cheers, John.4m NW of EGHI (Southampton UK)FS2002 Standard on Intel PIII 733 MHz, 256MB with 32M GeForce2MX graphics and Windows ME.

RaySomeone else asked "are you going to upload this Isle of Wight scenery to Avsim?" Lets all see the result of your 1 hour. I'm very interested.

It's quite funny how photographic scenery is now being called "The future of flight simulator". It has been in Fly! and Flight Unlimited for years. In fact, when FS2002 was new, everyone said that the Autogen and new high res generic textures were a "step up" from photgraphic scenery...not flaming anyone, just an ovservation.

So Fly! had photographic scenery covering large areas? I remember FU 's scenery being marvellous & FS2K2 is only now catching up with many features of that sim. But, FU only covered a small area of the world - I think seeing high quality non-generic scenery covering the entire planet is a way off, but it is the future.

FS2002 lags behind many previous releases of sim program, FU (oops !) Fly, sure they had photorealistic textures, Falcon 5 has AI models up to 20+ F16's all lined up without a huge hit on frame rate and 3DS models as well. Longbow..still the premier helicopter sim,shoot em up, all how old now?MS 2002 is not the be all and end all, in fact it was old before it was released. VFR, sure it's good and a credit to it's designer, it's just too early and far to expensive in the grand scheme of things. Dont be suprised to see Microsoft doing the same in the next but one release.Got my fireproofs on...!George

Well, I don't completely disagree with you. I came to FS2000 from FU3 (Looking Glass, RIP - sadly missed) and frankly I was disappointed. It was only the stunning array of addons that made it worthwhile. FS2k2 has caught up pretty well - it is a good all-rounder. What do we want from a simulator? I suppose ultimately we want a complete and convincing representation of the real world. I look forward to a sim where the models are accurate to last detail, the scenery is virtually indistinguishable from the real world, the weather model is more advanced than the current met office simulations, birds are a hazard, and your computer is somehow hard-wired to your brain to create the sensations of flight you feel in real life. Hey, some of it may well happen in our lifetime!

Microsoft know the success of Flightsim range is dependant on the availability of the add ons. A bit of a cheek realy, :-fume but thanks to some very talented people out there, ;) they've made an average piece of kit good. It's just a pity some of the commercials dont do the same.They're the ones who's brains need wiring up....to the mains (some of them !)The thing is Rats, is 2002 a game or a simulator ? I know the Real ATC flights were dogged in review, (unfairly I thought)However, they are a challenge and you do get a score at the end, it's programs like Real ATC that make 2002 more of a simulator as it emulates "real" flight and for the gamers....a score !Ratsarse....what a name ! :-beerchugGeorge

Hi George,Agree to a point.Now, for the first time, you can really do some real VFR navigation, and not rely on VORs, GPS etc. Now, if people are interested in simulating flying in the SE UK, they can go the extra mile and purchase charts and (God forbid) a whiz wheel, set up real world weather, and experience the thrills of becoming "temporarily unware of position" :).Yes it is expensive. But you are paying for a significant enhancement to the simulation experience, just as people pay hundreds of

>>Ratsarse....what a name ! :-beerchug >>George Sadly, I've had to change it...maybe my new username should have been 'the P___ Artist Formerly Known as Ratsarrse' :)I don't think it does really qualify as a game as such, but MS try to sit in the middle ground by making a simulator that's not too intimidating for the casual gamer. I don't know Real ATC, but I have FSMaintenance which adds some 'game' elements, i.e. financial management and maintenance, the real advantage of which is you get wear and tear and random failures.The big advantage of the Photographic Scenery is, Richard_H pointed out, you can now practice your cross country navigation by dead reckoning. As a student pilot, I do have the charts and the whizz wheel. So I can go through the whole flight planning process and then actually do the flight as I would in real life. My biggest fear in real life is getting lost, so any practice where I can safely get lost without wandering into an Easyjet 737's flight path is good practice.

Ahhh Mrs H, God love her, what a generous soul she didnt know she was....Hmm, it's interesting how this is panning out. I find I can "fly" with MS using OS maps, the roads are roughly where they need to be, I use an Aerad low level chart (CAA ones as well) and a Pooleys to practice VFR and IFR low level. I've created VRP's to look out for ect ect. The way I see it is..(here we go) I want to see my reference point as a physical point, i.e. A power station, a brick works ect as I would in my rented Piper.From the screenies I see I can only benefit by being directly overhead and banked. I suppose it's horses for courses on what you want. I must say though from the screenies I've never seen the South visibility look so good at 2500 feet ! :-lol :-lol George

You cant use that it's mine.....I trademarked and copyrighted it..along with 50 of my other pals down the Wonky Donkey.......

"eggs & black puddings for breakfast"You forgot bacon, fried bread, mushrooms, tommys, nice cup of tea and a kiss for good luck....where you been !Georgy ("burp") porgy

I have the product on order, soon to arrive, and appreciate the features others have noted.But check-out the novel use I expect to make of it--As an American, visiting UK for the first time, I intend to arrive somewhat oriented! (In fact, I'm thinking travel agencies are missing a good bet, if they're without this software.)Though I'm licensed to fly, I'll not do that in UK, but figure on being fully "at home" during my land journey from Southampton to London!Thanks for the useful info, and best wishes to all!!Larry H.