Few is the operative word. In my case I am less interested in single airports and most interested in cities.

 

Where I live, there's no scenery for FS. The best sceneries and tools are only available for X-Plane:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/363752-vfr-test-flight/

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/387521-flight-above-jarny/

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/382432-c208b-grand-caravan-in-lorraine/

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/389918-beechcraft-duchess-near-metz/

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/368108-sbach-300-xtreme-fun/

 

In the USA, the situation might be different.

In the US the four best sceneries are converted sceneries by a manufacturer that supports Xplane. They look magnificent as shown in the video above and are a new high for any sim. Why they are not made for Xplane when they obviously " convert" so well has me scratching my head.....

Why they are not made for Xplane when they obviously " convert" so well has me scratching my head.....

 

Most flight simulation enthusiasts (including most FS add-on developers) don't know X-Plane. Most of them only spent 5 or 10 minutes in a X-Plane 8 or X-Plane 9 demo and went back to FS where they know all the keyboard shortcuts and where they don't need to get used to something different.

 

The biggest "market share" is still FS2004 and FSX, so here's the money. The X-Plane community is growing faster and faster. The situation for add-ons like this might change in the future. Aerosoft has already made a few products for X-Plane:

http://en.shop.aerosoft.com/eshop.php?action=catalog_list&s_group_id=026&s_language=english

In the US the four best sceneries are converted sceneries by a manufacturer that supports Xplane. They look magnificent as shown in the video above and are a new high for any sim. Why they are not made for Xplane when they obviously " convert" so well has me scratching my head.....

 

I was always expecting some companies to be more aggressive about those conversions. In other markets they often talk about the "killer app" that takes a product over the line to becoming a "must purchase" item, but while Laminer itself seems to be putting some peddle to the metal (in their traditional areas of focus) many developers seem to be kind of standing around, almost as if waiting for something.

That is what I don't get.... Aerosoft supports Xplane-their scenery converts to Xplane-why are they not putting it out for Xplane? A package like "Xplane cities" -containing their already done works? It looks stunning in the video above, and Xplane is sorely lacking here..

That is what I don't get.... Aerosoft supports Xplane-their scenery converts to Xplane-why are they not putting it out for Xplane? A package like "Xplane cities" -containing their already done works? It looks stunning in the video above, and Xplane is sorely lacking here..

 

 

I agree, this would be a great addition to X-plane and much needed. I would gladly buy these products again, to get an official X-plane version of these sceneries. I even sent Mathijs Kok an email a few months ago asking if these packages would ever come to X-plane, along with some screen shots of these city sceneries working in X-plane to show how easy it would be to port them to X-plane and make some money while also helping X-plane grow. I never got back a response.

 

However, in thinking about it, it’s not fair to blame Aerosoft. These city scenery packages may be made by other developers who either don't want to bother with XP or don't know what’s involved and figure it would be too much trouble. Aerosofts hands may be tied, but I sure hope they try to port some of this over. Airport scenery is great, but I would like to see more scenery for large cities and landmark buildings etc. OSM is great for autopen, but too generic for major city areas.

 

Rob

That is what I don't get.... Aerosoft supports Xplane-their scenery converts to Xplane-why are they not putting it out for Xplane? A package like "Xplane cities" -containing their already done works? It looks stunning in the video above, and Xplane is sorely lacking here..

 

Well one thing is that US cities, with the lack of night textures (and very low tesolution textures generally) would probably fare poorly if ever actually converted. It would mostly be of value for people who already owned it for FSX and were curious how xplane would handle it.

 

I can't even imagine how much effort to do a top-notch conversion of New York would be, but I bet it would pretty instantly become the most popular Xplane scenery ever, very close to the killer app I mentioned, if it really really took advantage of xplane tech rather than just a straight conversion.

 

But as I said, for all the excitement here (sometimes) development interest from anyone other then XP stalwarts feels strangely muted to an outside observer.

Converted New York and Detroit are shown in the video above and I think they look spectacular.

Converted New York and Detroit are shown in the video above and I think they look spectacular.

 

Then a question for anyone who has seen the conversions up close (I have only seen long distance still shots and very quick cut scenes) how well does XPX traffic (Highways and etc including cars and streetlights) integrate with these conversions?

Roads look great-in fact Detroit even shows the people mover. Now with the new autogen in the latest version it is the most realistic experience over a city I have ever experienced in a sim.

Roads look great-in fact Detroit even shows the people mover. Now with the new autogen in the latest version it is the most realistic experience over a city I have ever experienced in a sim.

 

Good to know. In most of the sceneries I looked at, the road system tended to be cut off pretty abruptly just as it hit the boundary of the add-on, so I was left with the impression it would be the same or worse for an unofficially converted scenery.

 

I wish I could find better pictures showing this on converted New York, for instance.

Good to know. In most of the sceneries I looked at, the road system tended to be cut off pretty abruptly just as it hit the boundary of the add-on, so I was left with the impression it would be the same or worse for an unofficially converted scenery.

 

I wish I could find better pictures showing this on converted New York, for instance.

 

I'm not sure if this is what your looking for, but I took some shots of converted FSX Aerosoft city scenery up close and further away. It does fit in nice with the default scenery and roads but not perfect. There are some places where a road may lead into a building, but Ive seen that with the same scenery in FSX. All in all, it looks great from the sky and even up close in some places, but does not have the same clear resolution the default autogen buildings have. I imagine if Aerosoft were to officially convert it, It may look better.

 

Rob

 

NYC (downtown I think)

 

NYC

 

NYC

 

Detroit

 

Indianapolis

 

Indianapolis

Oh lovely is that updated XPX ? wow, that would eat the GPU for breakfast / brunch / lunch and dinner.

Oh lovely is that updated XPX ? wow, that would eat the GPU for breakfast / brunch / lunch and dinner.

 

64 bit X Plane

GTX 560

4GB RAM

i5

Objects set to "Extreme"

25 fps in the cockpit

21fps in the exterior view

 

 

 

 

64 bit X Plane

GTX 560

4GB RAM

i5

 

 

You better get a stronger GPU I think you will need it you should also upgrade to 8GB to smooth it out I guess.