One consistent theme on here is how FS9 has been radically improved over the years and now far surpasses anything we would have considered possible all those years ago when it was first released. I have been wondering if there might be someone who would be willing to do an upgrade of the autogen objects? (Payware or freeware).. It seems to me that with newer techniques we can now have beautifully rendered objects that have insignificant performance penalties.

 

With addons like REX and GE Pro etc we have a radically improved visual presentation - but with the same old clunky "default objects" littering the landscape...

 

I have no idea how difficult it would be, but figured it was worth seeing if we could get a discussion going that might inspire someone to give it a shot. I would be more than willing to pay for such an addon if it was well done. I know the FS9 market isn't what it once was - but it's still a strong enough market for people to continue releasing quality products and my guess is that almost every FS9er would want to buy this one - like REX....

 

Cheers

Ian

One consistent theme on here is how FS9 has been radically improved over the years and now far surpasses anything we would have considered possible all those years ago when it was first released. I have been wondering if there might be someone who would be willing to do an upgrade of the autogen objects? (Payware or freeware).. It seems to me that with newer techniques we can now have beautifully rendered objects that have insignificant performance penalties.

 

With addons like REX and GE Pro etc we have a radically improved visual presentation - but with the same old clunky "default objects" littering the landscape...

 

I have no idea how difficult it would be, but figured it was worth seeing if we could get a discussion going that might inspire someone to give it a shot. I would be more than willing to pay for such an addon if it was well done. I know the FS9 market isn't what it once was - but it's still a strong enough market for people to continue releasing quality products and my guess is that almost every FS9er would want to buy this one - like REX....

 

Cheers

Ian

 

Hi Ian

I would agree that is an excellent thought, although I have no idea of how easy or difficult this would be. In the past I have added upgraded autogen trees to FS9 although I cannot remember whether this was payware or freeware. Certainly much of the improvement in realism that we see with new scenery addons today is down the improved quality and quantity of autogen which developers include in their products and if this was to be extended to all of FS9 it would be brilliant. I would also agree that many of us would pay for such a 'makeover' but whether we will see such a development appearing for FS9 at this stage is questionable, I fear!

Kind regards,

Bill

Hello

I have used KoorbyGen lite to good effect in the past

 

http://library.avsim.net/search.php?SearchTerm=koorbygen&CatID=root&Go=Search

 

Filename: koorbygen_lite.zip

License: Freeware

Added: 12th October 2005

Downloads: 11114

Author: John Venema

Size: 1891kb

Auto-gen of FS2004 is way better than FSX fly around Minnesota and Wisconsin see church's, and old farm buildings primitive water-towers and electrical power states see none of it in fsx. If someone made a program to organize those auto-generated scenery into organized vectors with fs2004 some of us would buy it in minute or less. Newer not always better with some things :Chicken:

I think the holy grail in autogen is if someone can succeed in getting autogen to show over photscenery like say the Gottfried sceneries for the US.

 

Shez

Thanks for the responses guys. I really do think this is a viable project if we could attract the right person. I even find myself wondering if one of the professional developers could do it USING EXISTING MODELS they have already created for particular custom sceneries. Vegetation is one obvious thing, generic hangars and terminal buildings, office towers, churches etc etc. There are examples of all of these in various specific sceneries that are far superior to the defaults and have no significant impact on FPS. If they used items they have already developed, it might not be very time consuming to put a package together and make some money from the hours they have already invested.... I don't know how to get the idea out to the right people but let's all give it some thought. And if the same objects would work with FSX, it seems like a total no-brainer!!!

 

And if they could make the objects specific to particular regions - that would be bloody brilliant! Perhaps almost as radical an improvement as REX was...

 

Cheers

Ian

I've never looked into it, but I don't think autogen buildings are really models. You can't "place" an autogen tree by calling up it's GUID in an XML placement, for example. Again, I don't know for sure but I do know that you can make a building of any size and proportions you want with the annotator, which makes me think autogen is rendered on the fly from "commands" within the .agn files, rather than a result of calling up a specific model that's compiled into an object library somewhere. I'd guess these "commands" are likely similar to those you'd use in an XML script to define a generic building, where basically you define the length of the walls, the type and orientation of roof, number of floor levels, and what particular part of a number of pre-selected texture sheets to display on any given side of the building. I'd guess that the only possible modification a person could do would be to the textures, chances are probably good that you could replace 256x256 textures with 1024x1024 photoreal textures to increase the resolution somewhat, but I'd be surprised to learn of a way to actually change the 3D shape.

 

I've never done it (in FS9 anyway), but I believe you can also place library objects with the annotator which would be a possible solution, however since the .agn files are tied to the ground textures, there would be no way to make a drop-in replacement, .agn files associated with default ground textures wouldn't work with GEPro, FSScene, or BEV ground textures for example, the houses would appear out in the middle of fields, trees would appear in housing complexes, etc.

 

Jim

As Mad Dog recommends... :Applause: ...>>>

 

VOZ 1.8 (Freeware): As well as the fantastic seasonal colours, it also contains the marvelous Koorbygen buildings which fill my FS 2004 scenery!

 

They automatically replace all the default building objects (houses), and can be instantly recognised from the air, with their red roofs!

 

VOZ 1.8: Every FS 2004 addicts; "must-have" program! ...>>> http://aussiex.org/f...oz-18-complete/

 

I have purchased all the flight Sims from FS '98, up to and including FSX, as soon as they were released, but with the wealth of Freeware and Payware addons, FS 2004 still remains my Flight Sim of choice, every day!

 

I try out my copy of FSX now and again...but the pain doesn't last very long... :LMAO: ...!

 

Paul...FS 2004 + FS Navigator....+ LAGO FSE!..... :Bug: ...!

 

 

P.S. Recently purchased "Ultimate Terrain: USA and Canada".... Wonderful Stuff! http://www.scenerysolutions.com/ut_downloads_FS9.html

...and, so that you/I never get lost again!....>>> Plan-G (Free) http://www.tasoftware.co.uk/planG.htm

I'd guess that the only possible modification a person could do would be to the textures, chances are probably good that you could replace 256x256 textures with 1024x1024 photoreal textures to increase the resolution somewhat

 

This is precisely what Koorbygen lite is, BTW

 

Jim

it is not impossible for such add on to be developed, more and more fs9 products to be released.. i think it is likely

Its been suggested that sircraft developers have neared the limit of what is possible using the FS9 engine (so no "real" Airbus for example) but judging by the astonishing features and details available in recent sceneries (and not just payware - theres more and more freeware that makes a lot of current payware look like FS2002) it looks like FS9 is still a long way from maxing-out its possibilities.

 

And these visual improvements are not just for VFR or low and slow . I fly jets and I like to have realism at both ends of my flights, and not just at the terminal but good-looking and carefully-placed autogen, proper ground textures and carefully done non-default-to-default transitions - and all of this just gets better and better in FS9.

 

Whilst airplane developers have hit the wall with FS9, a lot of us - and dare I suggest - the majority of us - already have all the realism and systems details we can handle (PMDG MD11, iFly 737, the old but still worthy 767): so making FS9 look better is a logical and valid move forward.

I fly for fun, in part to see the world, in part to see "how planes work", in part to pretend to be a pilot, so I dont need hundreds of dolars worth of manuals, every failure scenario imaginable, or to bleat on forums about "why would a proper pilot want wingviews?".

 

So Im all for improving the look: eyecandy is important because it gives us one more degree of realism and immersion, and hopefully the seeds planted by people like kiwiflyer and others will bear more, and better-looking, fruit for us in the future.

my credit card agrees with you

My wife won't, but hell I do agree

My credit card is ready to do the lemming thing and fling itself off a cliff in company with the rest of you. I agree very much with the idea above that there are so many quality FS9 aircraft that there isn't a huge need for much more - not that my credit card won't do a kamikaze dive whenever something new does come along. But it really does seem that scenery is the area where there has been huge improvement and where the potential seems almost unlimited and is not "maxed out." (As opposed to FlashlsisMayia's! credit card) :Just Kidding:

 

There have been previous autogen replacement objects - trees, buildings etc - but they all seem to go back to the period around 2005. So I guess what I'm hoping for is someone using the current techniques that are giving us the amazing scenery products of the last year or two that are beyond anything we dreamed possible back in 2005 - and without any FPS hit...

 

As Northridge said - "eye candy is important" - I agree 100%. To me the term "eye candy" itself misses the point. The more the sim resembles reality then the more immersive it becomes. What "FS9.9" has shown is that the platform can be visually enhanced to levels way beyond the original product while retaining the other vital part of "immersion" - smooth performance... So what we see isn't just "candy" - it's a level of realism that tells our "eye" that what we are seeing is believable enough that we are willing to "suspend disbelief" and get involved in an experience that blurs the distinction between "real" and "pretend." (Okay, I'll stop being all philosophical now! LOL) Simple point is - if someone did a REX quality upgrade of the default objects, a lot of us will dive over the cliff, credit card firmly in hand.....

Re: Comment on wing views

 

OT but if you fly visual approaches in traffic patterns they help to estimate the time to turn on base from downwind and base to final especially for prop aircraft that do not have swept wings.