On FS.com theyve posted some new pictures of the new version of flightsim.One of them looks really interesting.Its of a vickers vimy over I think over the UK looking at the textures on the floor. But they are almost like the VFR scenery textures as you can see a railway terminus with railway lines etc. Its like looking at a aerial image and not just various mapped textures. Maybe some Cities will have satellite or aerial imagery.Hmm what suprises are in store for us...Heres a link to the pic.http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds?$=main/no...03/acof0212.htmCheers Craig Kiltie

I don't know how anyone can look at ANY of those shots and not be excited over the new version - it looks phenominal!!

We've already got photorealistic textures in some places, for example Chicago between Meigs and O'Hare, or yesterday I was surprised to see some in Hong Kong. But let's hope that MS have increased the size and amount of areas with these textures!Another interesting thing is the first screenshot I know of that shows a cockpit view. Textures and gauges look much better than in the current default planes. I'm really hoping for some technological advances here, because until now most freeware VCs are not very pleasing to look at - which is not meant to be an offense to freeware authors (!!!!!), but rather a statement about how hard it seems to be to create a good looking, sharp 3D cockpit. Well, we'll see ...Just my 2c (EUR),VOlker :]

>I don't know how anyone can look at ANY of those shots and >not be excited over the new versionHi. I am excited about the new version, and do look forward to the many new features and enhancements. Still, notwithstanding all the "How dare you complain" sentiments I see from so many folks in these threads about the new FS, I do have concerns and reservations, and I'm a bit disappointed about some aspects that seem to be substantially unchanged for this next version.Unlike some, I think you can indeed learn a lot from screenshots of an upcoming release, what with each picture being worth hundreds of words of description and all that sort of thing. Take the high resolution picture of the J3 Cub over Portland for example: When I look at that shot in its full size, and scroll into the lower left corner, I see autogen buildings whose lower left corners are embedded in the ground, so it looks to me like that particular limitation from FS 2002 will still be present in the new version. I see patches of ground that are lit, but that lighting appears to be coming from under the ground, sort of like a disco dance floor lit up from below, and the effect appears exactly as I remember it from FS 2002.When I scroll to the right I see the tall office buildings appear to have exactly the same textures as most of the downtown buildings in FS 2002 appear to have, and the edges of the buildings are clearly not straight (perhaps that's distortion caused by compression). So when I try to fly through a downtown area in a helicopter, as I sometimes used to do in Manhattan's concrete canyons, it seems to me that the realism won't be that much different the next time around. In short I don't see much difference in the ground textures, the trees or the water in the new version, and I would have thought those would be some of the easier aspects to enhance.While I'm really looking forward to experiencing the new clouds and weather effects, in many of the shots the lighting and coloring of the sky and clouds don't strike me as being very realistic--and that's the case with that shot of Portland. Mind you, I love that curtain of haze and rain that appears behind the office towers.I expect some members of the core of solid supporters will regard these kinds of observations as being "way too picky"; personally I think that realism depends on an accumulation of attention to fine detail, and as I track the development of LOMAC--which is also due out this summer--it seems to me that it's that attention to detail that has so many people so excited about its release in the LOMAC forums.But as I said, I'm still looking forward to the next version of FS, and I'm very glad for all the advances that it will have; however, in a remarkable feat of intellectual dexterity that some will not be able to grasp, I am simultaneously rather disappointed that certain basic elements will probably not be improved.

Remeber, this is only the Alpha version we're seeing. Give it a few months before you pass final judgement.Dave