Adding satellite imagery to FS9

[hawk_eye1975 1]

I'm still new to fs9, but have been pulling here out trying to follow online tutorials for adding satellite imagery to fs9.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a simply explained tutorial or can someone on here explain the software needed and the process?

 

Many thanks in advance

[WingZ 547]

I'm still new to fs9

Firstly: Good on you, and Congratulations!

Did you have a look at Ed Truthan`s guide?

http://www.edtruthan.com/tileproxy/tutorial/

 

There's also a dedicated forum for Tile Proxy here on AVSIM

http://forum.avsim.net/forum/284-the-tileproxy-project-forum/

 

It can be frustrating, but fun as well.

 

But unless you want a specific photoreal area to identify local landmarks, I have found it more satisfying overall to install a good set of textures and autogen, like GE Pro.

Not to mention sascha's epic work underway at present.

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/408107-how-did-this-guy-do-it/?p=2670135

[Armowings 1]

I suggest FS Earth Tiles. It allows you to get satellite imagery from Google, Yahoo, and Bing. It's a nice free program and I found it easy to use.

[Jeff H 63]

I agree with WingZ.   Photo real scenery is really nice, but it does present its' own unique set of challenges.  On the plus side, photo real scenery provides a variety of scenery that just can't be matched by the regular texture products, i.e. Ultimate terrain, GE Pro, Sascha's work that's due for an upcoming release, etc.  This is due only to the limited set of textures that FS can use, so with the commercial products, a city or farm in Massachusetts is gong to look the same as a city or farm in SoCal.   Sadly, though there are a few, there aren't a whole lot of really good commercial photo scenery packages for FS9, so you do need to create your own more often than not.  Photo real gives you much more variety in what you see during a flight, and pretty much eliminates the repetitive textures you would see, especially if you're flying at altitude.  And obviously, it also provides local scenery and landmarks that you would normally see on a real world flight in any locality, so flying by pilotage is a lot more fun and realistic.  On the other hand, photo real also has limitations.  There's no autogen, no night textures, no seasonal textures, they can cause issues like blurry textures and the file size for just a single state can take up several gigs of space.  There's also the issue of source material not always being consistent.  By that I mean that satellite imagery isn't always consistent from area to area as far as when it was taken, so you can end up with one set of tiles that were created in the fall, and an adjacent area that might have been created in the summer.  There's also a bit of a learning curve to creating it, as well as a lot of trial and error.  Some of these shortcomings can be overcome with additional work on the tile sets, but it's very time consuming and beyond the scope of this post.  If you enjoy the process of creating your own scenery and can live with the inherent shortcomings, then it's definitely worth the time and effort.   I'm currently working on the state of Massachusetts using FS Earth Tiles (FSET).  I find it to be a very good program to use and the results I've seen have been pretty good so far.  I'm writing all of this not to dissuade you, but just so you go into the process with your eyes wide open and with a realistic set of expectations.  My advice is, as WingZ said, to get your world populated with a good set of commercial packages first, and then work on your own photo scenery for the areas most important to you as you get more familiar with the inner workings of FS9.  As far as tutorials and step by steps, you should spend some time exploring the various scenery creation forums here on AVSIM.  It's not a subject that lends itself to learning everything in a day.  There's a lot to learn to be able to create scenery and it has taken most of us substantial time and effort.  One other thing you should consider is downloading the FS9 SDK and read through the material that pertains to scenery. 

Welcome to AVSIM and to FS9!! 

 

Cheers,

Jeff

[hawk_eye1975 1]

Thanks to all for replying,

I have to admit, i've recently become an ADE JUNKIE!!!!!

 

That pice of software is fantastic, as long as you don't begger it up installing "EditVoicePak" !!!

 

As for the sat images, its for VFR flying my local area and for my eldest who wants to learn to fly from my local airfield, where i learn't. Thought it might be usefull to start picking out visual markers etc.

 

I think i might leave it for now, and come back to it when i've got to grasp with FS9 a ittle more, as Jeff said above.

 

Off to get my ADE fix

 

Thanks again to you all

 

Peter

[Jeff H 63]

ADE is a great program.  Building airports is probably how most of us started with scenery creation and ADE is the best freeware going for that.  What airport/area are you looking at for the photo scenery, Peter? 

[hawk_eye1975 1]

Compton Abbas airfield and R.A.F. Lyneham both in Wiltshire, England

[Jeff H 63]

Oh cool.  My family goes back to that area several generations ago.  The Dorset area, specifically.  Just figured I'd ask.  Thought maybe you might get lucky and there was a commercial package lingering around somewhere.   :smile:  

[hawk_eye1975 1]

No such luck there !!

[WingZ 547]

I think there was an Alphasim RAF Lyneham - certainly there's a freeware one in the library here, which might save a bit of effort:

 

Category: Flight Simulator 2004 - Scenery RAF Lyneham   

 

File Description:
This scenery is offered as a gift to the Flight Sim community by Team SDB. The scenery is self-installing and includes accurate airbase arrangements and appropriate static aircraft.

 

Good luck with the ADE thing, can get addictive...

 

I've had varying results with FSET.

It is the easiest certainly, but I think I get triggerhappy with autogen and it fails to show up quite often as a result!

[hawk_eye1975 1]

Thanks Wingz, I'll have a look

[kiwiflyer45 123]

UK2000 RAF Southern Airfields (I think that's the name) had RAF Lyneham and a number of other RAF stations in that area. I don't know if they still sell it but you should be able to get it somewhere... It's an older product and doesn't come close to their current standards but better than nothing and you could then vastly improve it with ADE and photorealistic ground textures etc.

Cheers

Ian