Hello, I just picked up FS2004 (after having FS2002, FS2000, and FS98) and am wondering which scenery add-on is the best bang for your buck. I've searched around the net, and there seems to be a great many scenery packs that overlap.My primary interest would be in a pack to upgrade the general layout of the land, as the default scenery seems awfully flat. Next to that, my interest would be area of the northeastern United States (primarily the NY/NJ/Philadelphia area).Any comments or suggestions welcome. [email protected]

Welcome to the forum Mike, first off, get a galaxy membership from FSGenisis.net, it's mesh and will make your landscape true to form. As for that area, I'd suggest the Flightscenery Rhode Island project, truely state of the art scenery. http://www.flightscenery.com/news.htmAlso suggest Aerosofts Manhatten scenery, just as amazing, but a little harder on the frames. http://aerosoft-shop.com/Regards, MichaelKDFWhttp://www.calvirair.com/mcpics/mcdcvabanner.jpgCalVirAir International

A few weeks ago we had a thread here about favorite scenery add-ons. Try to find that because that was pretty complete.Herrie

As far as the Northeast is concerned, that is the major area I fly, particularly around KASH, Nashua, NH.Depends on if you want freeware or payware.for Freeware (I think all of this is on AVSIM) - Justin Tyme's Mesh packagesFreeflow NE (Scott Gridley)Freeflow AT (Scott Gridley)Long Island CoastlinesNY LakesNY BridgesMaine Coastlines (Jim Keir)KBOS 1.1 (George Grimshaw)Canada RoadsI have a bunch of other freeware, but these are the major ones for the Northeast that I have, not including a bunch of airports I have found.For Payware I have -FSGenesis US Landclass (A must)USA Roads (A must)American Data Rails, Roads, and Streams (I turn off the roads, I like the accuracy of USA Roads better (It makes a big difference to me))Others I plan on getting in the future - FSGenesis Galaxy MembershipUltimate Terrain (Canada, USA (not out yet))Flight Environment (?)Flight Scenery RIWell, that's a start anyway

Guys, Can you explain to me what is the difference between FSGenesis "conventional" (mesh) sceneries and the so-called "US Landclass" ?I've never used add-on sceneries but would like to start doing it, and I'm a bit unsure what to do.I've seen the 76m and 38m sceneries there and am inclined to use them, but then I've seen this Landclass and I didn't know what to do as that seems to be some new thing, even though I wasn't sure what kind of coverage does it have.There is also an "FS Global" package that seems to be the same kind (mesh) but with global coverage...Would appreciate any light.

Freeware Usa 38.2 m terrains by R. Taburet Freeware roads scenery united states - R. TaburetUsa waters R. TaburetCanadians terrains R. TaburetFreeware Alaska R. Taburetvery good scenery !thanks

It greatly depends on the area that you like to fly. For me I like the soutwest uSA and i have a no. of commercial airports in that area. It also depends if you like flying jets or GA etc.There is a plethora of scenery add-ons freeware and payware, most of them very good. It's a matter of choice.

Mesh is elevation data, your hills and mountains, valleys and plains.Landclass describes what that terrain actually is.Is it barren rock, desert, forest (and what kind of forest, pine or oak), urban or farmland, etc.Best you'd use the two together (and in fact this is what FS does, FSGenesis and others provide more accurate representations of data giving more details than plain FS does.Mesh comes in different detail levels. The number (76m, 38m, etc) gives the distance between the data points, therefore the level of detail.76m mesh cannot show anything that's smaller than 76m in diameter. Or if the datapoint happens to be on top of that terrain feature it will be shown as 76m in size even if it's smaller.38m mesh is similar but the smallest terrain feature it will show is 38m in diameter, so about 1/4 the size of that shown by 76m mesh.The default mesh Microsoft provides is about 1km over most of the world, better in the US (not sure of the exact number, something like 150m) with spot areas of higher detail still (like the Grand Canyon which defaults to I think 76m).Landclass comes in similar detail levels though landclass authors don't usually advertise the fact :)

Appreciate the explanations. I kind of figured some of that already...Install mesh + landclass, ok.But... what will "landclass" do ? Tell FS what kind of default pattern (tile) to display in each particular coordinate ?Do I still need to a photorealistic scenery "on top" of one of them or both of them ?I guess I don't know how to put it all together.BTW, I don't care for detailed airports and their "objects". I more interested in being able to enjoy the western scenery, as well as flying over new areas to me like New Zealand, or Florida, both of which I will be flying in real life in the future.

Two more things I will purchaseActiveSkyFlight1 Flight EnvironmentThomas

When you say you will be flying, how so? As a passenger? As a pilot?As a GA pilot, I find the "detailed airports and their "objects"" to be extremely useful, as long as they are accurate (I stay away completely from the fictitious airport scenery). It is just so much better for realism to have an accurate airport. I very often practice my flights in MSFS before I do them and feel that it really helps. Granted, I've only got 220 hours, but the help I've received from practicing VFR and IFR procedures in MSFS is immense.Thomas

Yes, in real life, I'm an experienced pilot, Thomas. I will be doing a lot of flying in Florida professionally and I will go for a flying vacation in NZ, hence I'd like to "take a look around" before I actually go there.If the airports have buildings, hangars, fuel trucks is irrelevant for my "use" and "enjoyment" of FS, that's why I'm mostly interested in having accurate relief representation, as well as the scenery overall.I've seen photorealistic sceneries of all kinds, and I guess they all need either a "mesh" underneath or a "landclass" or both...Didn't quit get that yet.

>But... what will "landclass" do ? >Tell FS what kind of default pattern (tile) to display in each>particular coordinate ?>yup. It tells FS what texture to put where on the ground>Do I still need to a photorealistic scenery "on top" of one of>them or both of them ?>Photoscenery replaces the landclass and often contains its own mesh.But remember it's very resource intensive, often contains only a single season, and usually works well only at a very narrow range of altitudes.I'm myself not impressed overall with the stuff. I've a decent sized machine with a ton of RAM but if I fly over photoscenery with anything faster than a C172 it all blurs into a large grey mass because the machine can't keep up loading the textures (and that despite 1.5GB RAM and UDMA 100 and 133 harddisks).

Ok, I finally got it then.I'll be playing around with mesh and landclass then...Thx a bunch for your patience.

A great place to look for scenery is a list site by Heather Sherman here at Avsim http://fly-heather.avsim.net/. It's sorted by location.