There has been allot of great mesh designed for FS2k2 and 2k4. Most notably the mesh for the Glen Canyon area and Washington state... I say this only because we have two great landmarks there, The Grand Coulee Dam and The Glen Canyon Dam. I have yet to see Microsoft and/or any mesh designer address the problems there. Why create mesh and leave out elevation points around the greatest landmarks in the area. How many of you fly around Las Vegas without visiting the Hoover Dam, no one... I would think everyone loves flying east from Vegas to see the Hoover Dam in all it

I do not know for sure but I suspect that the whole Hoover Dam area is probably created in GMax which is a whole different kettle of fish to creating Mesh

Hi Dillon,I must admit I don't really like the "tone" of your message but I'll answer it anyway:Ozzie is correct, add-on mesh and add-on dams are two very different things (the "kettle of fish" phrase is strangely fitting as fish are always the losers when a dam goes up). Add-on mesh only depicts the earth's surface but anything built on top (or into it) has to be modeled with a 3D design program like GMax.In most cases, and certainly with the major dams, the raw mesh data will actually incorporate the shape and elevation drop at a dam site. No mesh designer will "leave out" elevation points. With your examples, the problem is that the external dam models incorporate flatten files that lead to the visual problems with add-on mesh installed.I'm not a 3D designer but in my mesh/scenery projects I have tried to utilize the raw mesh data to give a very simple representation of hydro dams. Basically all I do is flatten the water above and below the dam and then paint in a concrete-colored polygon (see below), sometimes with an autogen bridge as a "crown". Again though, this is NOT part of the add-on mesh but an additional scenery file with Ground2K4. There are a few add-on files available that include GMax dams but I don't know of one that includes Grand Coulee dam. Peter Vibe's Canadian Mountains airfields package includes a very clever rendition of B.C.'s Mica Dam, modeled with LAGO's FS Scenery Enhancer. Unfortunately, one needs the licensed version to fully enjoy the dam.In summary, there's lots of opportunity for people who really want to see dams and dearly want to contribute to the community ;-)Cheers, Holgerhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/75681.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/75682.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/75684.jpg

Hi Holger, BTW I have downloaded all your mesh/scenery projects, they are excellent, thanks for you great works!ThanksChris Willis[link:fsw.simflight.com/FSWMenuFsSim.html]Clouds And Addons For MsFs

Both dams are there in the default scenery, but need to have some work done in the way of flatten and maybe some water at Coulee. I've never done any mesh, but I would think trying to to make it match and "touch" existing scenery would be a real headache. The mesh designers may correct me, but my understanding is the mesh I'm using is 32 meter between reference points, to get it match up with the existing dams would take like 1 foot between points?I'm also assuming those humps at Glen Canyon are part of the dam object it's self?Glen Canyon is kind of a cool effect from the back side.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/75706.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/75709.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/75711.jpg

Howdy,Chris, thanks for the kind words - much appreciated!Larry, I assume all those pictures are with FSG or FSFreeware mesh installed? I don't think it's necessary to have more detail in the source data. As I mention above, the US NED data would be sufficiently accurate to show the terrain detail. What interferes with a better display is the position and elevation of the dam models (notice that Glen Canyon dam sits way too high, and, yes, those "humps are part of the GMax model) and the inaccurate shape and elevation of the default water bodies. To get these and other dams "in shape" one would have to redraw the lakes and rivers (with Ground2K4 or a similar tool), remove the current dam, and replace it with a better model that fits in size and shape (potentially, one could decompile the default dam placement bgl to adjust the elevation but I'm not positive about if/how that works).Cheers, Holger

Thanks also Holger for the response... My words above was not meant to offend in any way, I just didn't realize what was involved to get the Dams to look as they should. Hopefully someone will add to the awesome pioneering work you've already started and address this issue with key landmarks like the Grand Coulee and Glen Canyon Dams. Wish I could do it myself but my talent doesn

You're correct, Holger.I've been toying with Coulee, MS placed it where there should be a bridge. It should be slightly east. Yes, I'm using FSG, there is actually an elevation line where the dam should sit ( the water level at the time?) . I have placed the dafault dam there and it fits very nicely. Now I'm seeing what I can do with Roosevelt lake behind it.I wasn't suggesting mesh designers should have that kind of detail in the source, more the opposite; it isn't realistic to expect mesh to be created around scenery. Been meaning to tell you what an incredible job you and Johan van Wyk did on Victoria Falls. Awesome work. You done good, gentlemen. Thank You.Larry