uff, so many topics to follow

Anyway, it's good cockpit shadows finally arrived. They shoudn't be too heavy on nowadays hardware and they give a much better feeling with the cockpit itself

New screenshots:

 

barrel_owl

New screenshots:

 

Woof. When I saw the first image I thought you were joking. Beautiful shot.

Thanks.

I don't know what the DTG Flight School version of FTX Global looks like "close up", but the FSX version looked awful in a YouTube video that I watched recently of my home airfield (EGNL Barrow-in-Furness Walney Island).

Christopher Low -

the FSX version looked awful in a YouTube video that I watched recently of my home airfield (EGNL Barrow-in-Furness Walney Island).

 

I fly to Walney a lot in X-Plane and FSX. While it can't compare to the very localised features of Orbx England, I think it's light years ahead of X-Plane's default land class, certainly for the UK where all farm fields seem to be sharp edge angular US crops. I think Barrel_owl's first image above I is a brilliant example of general UK scenery, straight out of the box.

 

At the end of the day, they're giving us a decent Orbx base land class across the planet. I have no complaints.

Another advantage is when they release the full sim we will be able to upgrade to Orbx vector and LC for less a lot less money.

The full version of the sim, which I am waiting for will indeed be interesting.

Anyone notice how detailed the underlying mesh seems to be?
I may be too used to X-Plane (not a detailed mesh, 300 meter resolution?), but looking at the first shot of the DA-42 above, the undulating scenery is REALLY apparent.

 

There was a complaint a little while ago when one of the Youtube videos showed the airport in Dallas with an apparent cliff around the edge. I didn't care about the cliff (runway height to ground data disparity), all I could think about was how tight and detailed the cliff edges were B)

It looks very pretty in carefully selected scenes but I've never been a fan of photo scenery. You're still going to have the problems of no seasons and everything looking a bit / very wrong if you fly at any time of day or weather conditions other than the original satellite pass that took the photo.

 

The problem with that for me is that at this point FSX and derivatives look just as wrong IE, 'mismatched jigsaw puzzle'.

 

When choosing between them, for me, I guess it comes down to which particular rendition gives the strongest suspension of disbelief, and makes me get that "You are there" feeling.

 

For me that comes from the visuals just as much as the veracity of the button pushing, and truly high quality (high resolution) photo-scenery done well can be stunning, keeping in mind its shortcomings, Just as FSX-type scenery can be stunning given its shortcomings.

 

Aerofly FS 2 will come with about 20 flying lessons (flying through hoops?) and seems destined to have by far the better visuals as well as a much wider choice of planes. I've already purchased Flight School for curiosity' s sake, but I suspect I'm going to end up having much more fun and continued interest with Aerofly FS 2

 

https://www.aerofly.com/aerofly_fs_2/index.html

The problem with that for me is that at this point FSX and derivatives look just as wrong IE, 'mismatched jigsaw puzzle'.

 

When choosing between them, for me, I guess it comes down to which particular rendition gives the strongest suspension of disbelief, and makes me get that "You are there" feeling.

 

For me that comes from the visuals just as much as the veracity of the button pushing, and truly high quality (high resolution) photo-scenery done well can be stunning, keeping in mind its shortcomings, Just as FSX-type scenery can be stunning given its shortcomings.

 

Aerofly FS 2 will come with about 20 flying lessons (flying through hoops?) and seems destined to have by far the better visuals as well as a much wider choice of planes. I've already purchased Flight School for curiosity' s sake, but I suspect I'm going to end up having much more fun and continued interest with Aerofly FS 2

 

https://www.aerofly.com/aerofly_fs_2/index.html

 

No helicopters, no sale. 

 

Okay, I know that's just me, but frankly I'm not impressed by what I'm seeing on that link. Orthophotos just fall apart when you get low enough. I mean, look at this image, in particular the "marina" on the right:

 

https://www.aerofly.com/aerofly_fs_2/images/aerofly_fs_2_screenshot_04.jpg

 

I can only recognize that this is supposed to be a marina because my pattern recognition is good enough to kinda-sorta recognize it. 

 

For me, that's not good enough, given current technology and what other sims are capable of doing with modern hardware. Even if autogen might not show the boats there, at least I can see the docks and nearby buildings in 3D with a sim that uses Open Street Map data. The days of orthophotos are in the past, for those of use who enjoy flying in the dirt. Or those of us who want things to look realistic outside the airports on final approach. We're not all airliner pilots who don't care what the world looks like outside the airport ramp.

I can only recognize that this is supposed to be a marina because my pattern recognition is good enough to kinda-sorta recognize it. 

 

For me, that's not good enough, given current technology and what other sims are capable of doing with modern hardware. Even if autogen might not show the boats there, at least I can see the docks and nearby buildings in 3D with a sim that uses Open Street Map data. The days of orthophotos are in the past, for those of use who enjoy flying in the dirt. Or those of us who want things to look realistic outside the airports on final approach. We're not all airliner pilots who don't care what the world looks like outside the airport ramp.

 

I see your point. The difference for me is that the current FSX (nearly random) Jigsaw puzzle landclass doesn't strike me as all that much better nowadays except when somebody like Orbx goes in and painstakingly handcrafts it. Plus, as an X-plane fan you doubtless know of the many good photo based scenery's out there further enhanced by things like world2Xplane.

 

So far (and that could change) looking closely at all the Flight School videos to date, I have to admit to not being all that impressed with the resolution of the ground textures. and looking really close I see some pretty severe LOD pop-in. Does it kill the product? Nope, because at this point I just consider it a common malady of MS-based flightsim tech.

 

Next-gen its not.

 

Just have to adjust my expectations accordingly.

Somehow it *STILL* looks like FSX/P3D to me. I pre-purchased it, can't wait to feel it and see how much different it really is.

 

I hope they improved more than just the looks, can't wait to try it

Nuno, that makes two of us :-)

 

Although I believe I can really enjoy the lessons, I see it more as a "proof of concept" of DTG's upcoming Flight Sim. That will be the true alternative for the available, by then, offers....

Agreed. I bought it for that reason exactly: I want to have an early look of what the new Flight Simulator might look like and feel like.

 

These are good times for the simulation world, and we do need some development injections

 

Um abraço José!!

 

 

Why is everybody so addict to shadows ? 

 

Because we  aren't actually flying, visual and sound cues become much more important to enhance the simulation.  Shadows play a huge role in the immersive experience.

The visuals as they stand are certainly not the great leap I'm hoping for for the full sim. They're certainly good enough to drop $15 or so on to support further development, but nothing to write home about.

 

What I am really pleased with so far is DTG's attitude, and the positive signs that are there in Flight School at the moment. They're showing us how things are progressing in a very transparent way. They don't mind vloggers showing all the warts of alpha builds. They're being the most interactive I've seen any developer of their size. They're making changes in their builds based on community feedback. They're making sensible partnerships and committing to more, including giving dev tools to the community.

 

If I can get back to an environment which allows me to fill the world with ORBX quality scenery, rendered smoothly with all the other bells and whistles like ASN, global traffic AI, all seasons, REX etc., I'll throw more money at the full sim than I have on any sim so far.