Phoenix - Simulating Art

[fly_ebos 1]

I saw on the main page that a photorealistic scenery of the Phoenix valley has been released. Anyboudy bought and tried it? Would you be so kind to share your views? Thank you!

[Tabs 2,790]

Interested as well - also wondering if they'd consider extending it down to the Tucson area...

[timest 473]

Hey guys:I am part of the beta team that helped with the process of this wonderful scenery. Being from Phoenix pretty much all my life I can tell you the scenery is very accurate and spot on :) Art did a magnificent job. I cannot imagine ever flying in the Valley of the Sun without it now. It's such a blast to approach any airport in the valley, its so much more realistic feeling. This has been a fun endeavor for me personally to be part of the beta team. I was also the first to buy it, and coming from the flight1 wrapper made it even more of a treat since I am so used to it :) Check out the website if you guys hadn't already done so, it has a lot of info, and screenshots to, especially in the forums. If you would like I can post some more screenshots, just advise me to do so and I will happily do it :)Take care,Tim

[fly_ebos 1]

Thanks for your reply Tim. Well my only concern is that maybe it just looks to photorealistic. Does it blend in well with the default scenery at the boundaries? Also, if you would be so kind to post some pics of KSDL and the integration with the Simflyers PHX-scenery.Thanks!

[timest 473]

>Thanks for your reply Tim. Well my only concern is that maybe>it just looks to photorealistic. Does it blend in well with>the default scenery at the boundaries? Also, if you would be>so kind to post some pics of KSDL and the integration with the>Simflyers PHX-scenery.>>Thanks!Hi Tom:Your question as to how it blends in at the boundries all depends on which textures you have loaded. But, as with any photoscenery you will always see some sort of "edge." Too bad MS doesn't let you blend in edges, some sort of limitation I imagine. I will post some photos for you at KSDL a bit later, gonna get some shuteye. But here is a screencapture out of the sim that our other beta tester Chad took last week. It shows very nicely how Simflyers integrates with the photo scenery. Art also worked with Simflyers to make it happen that way. Looks awesome IMHO. Look tomorrow and I will get those KSDL shots for ya :)RegardsTim :)http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/128819.jpg

[Guest artmartin]

Just got the product online last night so I doubt there's anyone in the general community yet that has any experience with it besides the beta testers. I'm as anxious as you are to know what people's impressions are of it. Bummer is I have to go to work in a few minutes. Going to be very tough staying on task there programming boring business programs when I know the baby I've been nurturing for the last year is making its first steps out in public. Thanks for the interest. Regarding the later posts - Tim's right. The edges where my scenery folds into the FS standard textures are a definite boundary. Problem is that the scenery encompasses thousands of square miles and the task of trying to blend those edges is monumental. The good news is, unless you're out on the peripherals, those edges are a long ways away and that minimizes the contrast. MS's desert textures have an orange tinge to them and the true desert color is more beige or tan. I am planning a future upgrade to this scenery so maybe that'll be one of the things I tackle. Right now though I'm very pleased with the results and hope you will be as well.Art

[fly_ebos 1]

Thanks for answering Art. Could you give me a rough description of the area coverd? e.g. is going as far as Casa Grande, Wickenburg, Coolidge... Are you having future plans for Arizona?Stay cool at work ;)

[Guest artmartin]

Tom, the scenery basically covers Maricopa County. It goes up North through Lake Pleasant, as Far South as Ahwatukee and Firebird Lake, East to Saguaro Lake and West to the White Tank Mountains. I've been talking a lot to developers that are creating the Tucson area and have kidded with them that we need to do a joint project of Picacho Peak. For now I need to kick back a bit so it's a bit premature to think of what's next. If I don't my family might change the locks. lol. The one thought I had was perhaps the Flagstaff area with it's beautiful scenery and magnificent peaks. It would be wonderful though to have that whole corridor between Phoenix and Tucson in photoreal textures. Not sure where there's a source of color aerial photos for those peripheral areas though. Certainly black and white shots are around but the task of hand-colorizing them would be pretty daunting.Art

[fly_ebos 1]

Thanks for defining the area. Didn't know there was a Tucson project either. Cool, I've used to fly alot into KRYN (IFR training).One other question though: how's the integration with Ultimate Terrain USA?

[Guest artmartin]

Tom, my beta testers assure me it fits well and that the roadway lights shine through the photoreal layer. One of my beta testers (timest) posted at least one screen shot of a night flight over the scenery with Ultimate Terrain installed. Sure you can find it on my forum.Art

[Guest bonjourmoi44]

Art, first of all thank you for contributing to our wonderful hobby. I have made several posts over the last few months regarding scenery for specific areas and Phoenix was indeed one of my must haves as I fly out of there a lot on Vatsim. My question is regarding the FPS. Is there a noticeable hit?

[Guest artmartin]

Cameron, I really haven't noticed much of a hit but I'll qualify that with the fact that as I was adding more and more to the scenery, the power and speed of my machine was also increasing. Really though, since the custom buildings I've added are all low-poly GMAX objects and, since the default scenery already has textures and autogen that have to be computed and displayed anyway, there really isn't much added to the mix. The only times I notice any minor stuttering is when I add in a very complex aircraft and very thick weather. Then again, I even noticed stuttering with those conditions without my scenery installed. I fly with the Simflyers KPHX airport installed, my slider set to maximum, FS Genesis 38.2 mesh, real world weather, and some pretty robust aircraft and I'm constantly above 20 FPS on a pretty fast mid-range gaming computer. My beta testers have been very happy with performance. We'll know more in the next few days as the general public starts giving input. So far it's been very favorable. Thanks for your interest.Art

[Guest bonjourmoi44]

Art, Thank you for the reply.

[timest 473]

>Thanks for defining the area. Didn't know there was a Tucson>project either. Cool, I've used to fly alot into KRYN (IFR>training).>>One other question though: how's the integration with Ultimate>Terrain USA? >>Hi Tom:Attached should convince you of the integration with Ulitimate Terrain :)CheersTimhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/128833.jpg

[fly_ebos 1]

Guys, I went ahead and bought the scenery. Just completed my first testflight and it really looks great. A little glitch with the installer, but that would be solved real soon Art said. (it only required the manual copy of the scenery folder + insert in scenery.cfg).It gives a new dimension to flying in the Phoenix Valley. One downside however is the boundary between the photoreal and the standard scenery. That doesn't look good but I believe this is a FS limitation.So go ahead and support this project, it's really worth the money and the support uptill now has been great!