Hi,I was wondering if I missed this release? A few weeks ago I remember hearing about its imminent arrival, seeing a video etc., but have been away from FS due to personal things... was eagerly awaiting it as I can't fly without the original Florida landclass from this great team.Any info appreciated, thanks!Joel

Here's the current list of Movies of FFFL:http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/FFFLwStearman.wmv(AKA Dex's Test1.wmv)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/free_flow_florida.wmv(The original 62mb preview by Dex)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/portmayacca.wmv(Bob shows off the Port Mayacca area...)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/Trum...ternational.wmv(...and Trump International GC).http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/airboat.wmv(Bob's video of Joe's cool AI airboats in the 'glades)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/Texa...Titles_Logo.wmv(Bob's original hot-dog landing on an OP)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/Newopldg.wmv(Due only to FPS issues, Bob's new warm-dog landing on an OP)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/C-17_0001.wmv(Dex's C-17 traffic movie) We are still working on it. It is coming down to the wire though. Currently I'm adding traffic to the Mississippi river. Last week we added some AI airboats to the area south of Orlando. There are some Airboat rental area down here and it just wouldn't be Florida without Airboats running around.Joe WatsonBob BrownScott Gridley

The scenery is in beta right now and should be released within a month or less. I also should point out that the airboat in the video was designed and created by Michael Richards and the airboat trail airboat paths were done by Joe Watson.Our approach to improving the scenery set for Florida has evolved fromthe original Freeflow approach to a hybrid of that method and extractionof GIS data. We now have a very accurate set of shorelines, lakes,andcanals derived by Scott's Freeflow method combined with very accurategolf course locations, citrus groves, offshore oil platforms and otherlandmark features. The accuracy of the new scenery is quite remarkableand when combined with addon road data such as American Data or USARoads the detail is stunning. The extent is big too covering the areafrom the Mississippi Delta in Louisiana across the Gulf Coast toJacksonville and down to the keys.Hopefully it will not be much longer. We are going through an intensive review of the landclass scenery, and a detailed GIS extraction of golf courses for accuracy. I have actually had to digitize in a number of new golf courses that were not in the original GIS data we extracted. Be sure to view the Trump International video clip for a good example.Scott Gridley provided an extremely accurate lake and ocean shorline database to use as a base. This, as you all know, required a complete rework of the ports of Miami and Fort Lauderdale.Our goal is provide a highly accurate base of water bodies, shorelines, and landclass upon which many of the very talented scenery artists in our community can build there work.Finally, this is to be a freeware release. No one on the team wants any money for this work. None of us has ever wanted to make money from our scenery work. I think that even though it is going to be free the quality is going to be quite amazing since we are using highly accurate data from the USGS, Florida DOT, and various other accurate GIS databases.Here is a screenshot of Key West looking to the west.Bob

Hi Joel. No, you didn't miss it. We are coming down the home stretch. I would say we should be ready for release within a month. There is a thread at http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...52041&mode=full on the scenery. Thanks for your interest. We working hard to get this out. It is really going to be nice. The other thread has a screenshot and I will be happy to post more if there is interest in doing so.Bob

Thanks Joe for adding that. You beat me to it.

Thanks for all the info, you've got me drooling even more now! Can't wait, and I do hope you will be accepting voluntary donations for all your hard work, even if just to a charity of your choice.Best,Joel

Hello hello !You guys are doing great work here - lived and played on the water in this area for a few years - what you have with the Free Flow Florida is just beautiful - thank you thank you :)Wondering if (and I may have asked in another thread on another forum) you guys can do what locals call Stiltsville - a few homes on stilts off the southern tip of Key Biscayne - really cool to see from the water and Key Biscanyne park - I bet they would be kinda cool from the air too.thanks again for developing this - I'd like to buy you guys some Shrimp Bisque or Conch chowder and maybe some ham croquettes for lunch :)Kelly

We agree that this would be a worthwhile addidtion and an important landmark for the scenery. At this time we are not getting involved in detailed development of GMAX objects but hope that with an accurate base to build on some talented scenery desigers will use our base as a foundation for more detailed objects like this and a myriad of other objects that need to be added. But after this is released the shorelines will be dead on and there will be an accurate base to build on. One area that Scott is working on is a detailed inventory from GIS data of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Platforms. He is working closely with the Hovercontrol guys who are doing some amazing GMAX oil platform objects. Scott is manipulating GIS data for exact locations and types of these platforms. Maybe someone will work on some ojbects for Stiltsville and we can place them in a future release or they can place them and add them in to the Base scenery. We will be more than happy to work with them and plan to include a developers kit to go along with the base scenery to aid this kind of add on.Scott, Bob, Joe, Dex

Hey Fellas,I would be happy to try to add on this and other things I know about from the area - I'll study up on GMAX and see what I can come up with :-waveReally looking forward to the release - Just did a VATSIM flight from KMIA to KMTH - took some screenshots of the so-so MS scenery and incorrect coastlines and landmasses MS modeled. It will be nice to have more realism. Thanks.CheersKellyEDIT: PS Cool beans with the Gulf oil platforms - now if I could only fly one of those things in FS. (Helo) :)

>Hey Fellas,>>I would be happy to try to add on this and other things I know>about from the area - I'll study up on GMAX and see what I can>come up with :-wave>>Really looking forward to the release - Just did a VATSIM>flight from KMIA to KMTH - took some screenshots of the so-so>MS scenery and incorrect coastlines and landmasses MS modeled.>It will be nice to have more realism. Thanks.>>Cheers>>Kelly>>EDIT: >>PS Cool beans with the Gulf oil platforms - now if I could>only fly one of those things in FS. (Helo) :)Excellent. We hope to get this kind of response after the scenery is released. We believe that with the new and more accurate shorelines and water bodies people will be encouraged to create more add on objects and scenery sets to further enhance the base scenery. Any particular area along that route into the keys you would like to see a screenshot of? Maybe I could post one that matches your favorite using the new scenery.

This is one of the new additions to this scenery. This shot is a freighter going up the Mississippi to New Orleans.This is whats holding this up now.Joe W.

Joe has been working very hard on the AI traffic for the scenery. The freighter going up the Mississippi is just one of the many AI surface marine traffic vessels Joe has added. It sure brings life to that area. It is really neat to watch the ships working their way up the new accurate channel. Way to go Joe and thanks for posting that screenshot.

>This is one of the new additions to this scenery. This shot>is a freighter going up the Mississippi to New Orleans.>This is whats holding this up now.>Joe W.I should point out that Joe's statement that he is holding up the project is not true. There are a number of activities underway right now that have to be completed prior to release. Scott has been working for a couple of days on the installer in order to make installation as easy and seamless as possible. There will still be some manual steps but the process has been simplified a lot thanks to Scott's hard work. He is also working on a major road and bridge network for those who may not yet have one of the commercial road add ons. I am probably the biggest bottle neck because I am reviewing the over 1,000 golf courses in Florida and hand digitizing in those that were missing from our first data extract. All of this work is tedious and time consuming but I think you all will be quite happy with the scenery set when it is released. We also plan on publishing a developers kit to make it easier for people to create their own addons. Ian Thatcher of FS-Shipyards.net has been working on some custom ship and barge traffic for the scenery as well. He has been extremely helpful in this aspect of the scenery. I believe Joe and Ian have been corresponding via email a fair amount. A heads up to you all. Some of the addons that you might have could possibly be mislocated after the install of our new scenery since the new shorelines and water bodies will be much more accurate than the ones provided by Microsoft in the default scenery set. This may require a bit of extra work by those developers but in the long run it will be worth it to have a more accurate scenery set that stretches from Key West north to Jacksonville and west to the lower Mississippi Delta area.I just did not want Joe to shoulder the burden of the schedule alone. I also wanted to share the current status and what is being worked on by the team.

Here's the current list of Movies of FFFL:Getting quite a collection! Great stuff guys...http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/FFFLwStearman.wmv (AKA Dex's Test1.wmv)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/free_flow_florida.wmvhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/free_flow_florida.wmv (mirror) (The NEW, Updated, original 62mb preview by Dex)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/portmayacca.wmv (Bob shows off the Port Mayacca area...)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/Trum...ternational.wmv (...and Trump International GC).http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/airboat.wmv (Bob's video of Joe's cool AI airboats in the 'glades)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/Airboat2b.wmv (The new Airboat with animated dog...and some amazing helo pilotage)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/Ai_Airboats01.wmv (A new AI airboat movie)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/Texa...anding_Logo.wmv (Bob's NEW Updated original hot-dog landing on an OP...)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/Newopldg.wmv (Due only to FPS issues, Bob's new warm-dog landing on an OP)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/C-17_0001.wmv (Dex's C-17 traffic movie)http://cobweb.dartmouth.edu/~gridlock/Delta_Tanker.wmv (Bob pilots a cargo vessel up the river!)

Hi Bob,Well sure if you have a free moment.How about Marathon (knight's key) or Ocean Reef yacht club area - that would be cool to see. Can't tell you how happy I am to know you guys are working with this. I fly VATSIM recently and it seems Miami ARTCC is online not so often (can't blame them - so much to do - nice wx and all) - I'd be willing to bet a dollar to a donut, when Free Flow Florida is released, more and more folks will find themselves discovering the VFR fun down there.Best Regards,Kelly