I've been exploring Africa by installing all the WoAI packages I can find (preferably obscure or extinct airlines) and following the various flights. A recent flight from HSSS to HSSJ (Juba, South Sudan) revealed the Nile to be flowing in an "aqueduct" 3000' above the surrounding terrain.  I had installed FreeMesh Africa and decided to try a different mesh scenery - AfricaSRT at simaviation- with the same result.  I can't imagine the difficulty and intensity the labor involved might be, but it occurred to me that MS may have made rivers and lakes resistant to change by the current mesh methods since they are usually flat and level, unlike the surrounding terrain.

I've flown a floatplane and landed at various points near HSSJ and the elevation is 1800 or so ... Google Earth suggests it's 1500 or so ... the elevation of the airport,  Given how flat the terrain is in that area of Africa, it baffles me why the river should be 3000' above the terrain ...

Anyway, any suggestions for African mesh, other than the high-priced FTX Global and those mentioned above? (does it address all of Africa?).

 

as you surmise, each of the water bodies are given a single altitude value and in many cases their default elevation was adjusted to match the inaccurate default FSX mesh. thus, when you put in an accurate mesh the water level is wrong.

not sure if there's much in the way of free options unfortunately. a quick google search turns up a few freeware africa scenery packages but they seem more localized to specific countries or areas.

ftx vector (not global) updates the water/coastlines to more accurate levels and adds significant detail and more bodies in general. i've found it works pretty well in conjunction with freemesh for africa. i don't spend a ton of time flying around those areas so i can't really speak to how thorough it is but i've not really noticed any problematic areas in the flights i have done there. obviously this package does have a cost involved so you'd have to decide how much of a priority that is.

cheers,-andy crosby

 

 

 

Hi! I've just flown the Nile from where FSX decides to switch from a stripe on the terrain to a navigable body of water (north of Kako Keji, South Sudan) to where the 1800' elevation descends to the the 1500' of the surrounding terrain (just north of Juba).  The river actually flows downhill! I was able to stay on the surface in my amphibian and the elevation changed from 1800 to 1500 ... fantasic!  I can't understand why then didn't do it sooner since the ground elevation to that point was around 1500!  I think I have a new project ... navigating the Nile to find the breakpoints where the elevation changes.

I guess I've become a bush pilot ... bored with regular airline routes (after years of VAs, I went with air-source.us which posts real world routes but have grown bored with that ... so, I've gone to AI and started with the military routes, modifying the airports with military activity using ADE so that the planes can land and taxi (they poof if there's no mil_combat or mil_cargo parking space or if there's no link from the runway to the taxiways).  I love flying in bad weather and mountainous terrain - Norway is super on both counts and, of course, South America and the Andes not to mention Alaska.  Europe in the winter is great for zero/zero conditions.

I'm not ready to spend the cost of FTX Global or Vector but will keep looking.  In the meantime, I'll be trekking the Sub-Sahara! lol

Thanks for the response!