FS2k4 - sailplanes? Thermals? Ridge Lift?

[Guest bfindlay]

Anyone try this in the new sim? Have they 'reworked' the interaction with terrain/wind? Ie, if you are flying down the lee side of a valley, do you get ridge lift?Are there thermals anywhere? FS2k2 seemed to have this only in specific 'hot spots' available through the soaring 'adventures' - I am hoping it is more prevalent in this go around. Would love to try cross country sailing near where I live (Whitehorse)!

[Guest Paul_S]

I would like to know the answer to that question as well.I doubt MS have bothered to add more realistic wind and thermal modeling since most people prefer flying high performance jets.It's a pity because I really enjoy doing long, cross country, ridge soaring flights.Paul

[Guest SoarPics]

For FS2002 Max Roodveldt gave us a freeware program called Thermiek. It was easy to use, and with a little creativity one could produce any variation of lifts known. Hopefully, he'll update it for FS9.In the meantime, check out this site for more info on soaring withing MSFS:http://virtualsoaring.org/goto.htmlCheers,

[Guest Paul_S]

Yes, I know about Thermiek - which is a great piece of software - but do you know how long it takes to add thermals to entire mountain ranges like the Alps?! ;)It would not be hard to build ridge lift into the sim - the scenery already contains all the vector data required to module ridge lift and that would be the best place to do it.Instead we have to patch stuff on top of MSFS to get it to work.Paul