Realistic view distance

[Guest w2sjw]

Guys,I've been using a max view distance of 70mi with a cloud draw distance of 60mi. I've got a darn good feeling that's no where near realistic!Can anyone recommend a 'realistic' sight distance, and then a good cloud draw distance to go with as a starting point?Thanks in advance!Scott

[Johan_Dees 84]

Here in the Netherlands we are happy with 20 nm.. but Fs dont allow such low visibility.I guess about 50 nm is much real, or lower.JohanA LITTLE LESS CONVERSATION, AND A LITTLE MORE ACTION PLEASE!HELP:http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=238882

[Hornit 3]

In the sim I use 30-40 miles for mormal everyday good weather vis. I simulate a hazy day with 20. The vis in the sim does not match with reality IMHO. In the real world you cant see more than 40-50 even on exceptionally good days. I also recommend john Cillis "Soft horizons" mod. Makes a far more realisitic haze effect and horizon view.Hornit

[555_HH 1]

hi,in connection with active sky, i use 29nm as view distance, which gives no cloud pop ups in the distance as well as a "softy" haze horizon. hope this helpscheers,harald

[LAdamson 240]

While everyone so far, is thinking 20-40 miles is good; 60-70 out here in the wide open blue skies of the west is a good starting point! :D But you might need 100-120 to be a bit more realistic!Nearly every day, I can see mountains that are approx. 60 miles away from my back door. If they didn't cover what's behind them, I could see farther.......at ground level, not to mention the advantage of altitude.L.Adamson

[psolk 3,040]

Mt Ranier is over 100 miles from Seattle I believe but on a clear day you can see her just fine... It looks like the mountain is 10 miles away... My big issue with the 29nm limitation is if I understand it correctly, you wil never see in FS what you see in the r/w which is Mt. Ranier from Seattle....-Paul

[Guest Peter Sidoli]

20 to 40 miles may be typical in certain areas of the world but 50 to 100 in other areas especially those that have dry air rather than wet or polluted air.Also remember that even in the poor vis areas climbing into the high flight levels and sometimes into the not so high flight levels can change all that.You are then faced with 100 mile vis.Here I have shown a picture taken from a seneca five which I took over an inversion.Below vis was 4000 metres above prob about 80 to 100 milesPeterhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/149879.jpg

[windycloud 30]

I know a lot of people limit visibility to a lower number than 60 miles with the aid of activesky. But personally I think a setting like 29 miles is just way too low. You get a FS world that's FOREVER hazy. The higher you fly the more so it looks. That's just not how it is in real life. But on the other hand, the realism of high visibility is not really achieveable in FS. Try a clear day with view distance set to 100 or more, you'll see the edges of detailed ground textures as they reach their max draw distance. It's all a matter of trade-offs. I set view distance to 60 miles and cloud draw to 40, then I force visibility to 59 in activesky. I do use 100% 3D cloud with maximum coverage for the look.That setting works well enough for me.Jason

[Guest trekfan]

Is cloud draw an option in active sky?

[JSkorna 137]

Hi,Cloud draw distance is in FS04. We can set the minimum and maximum visibility.Hope this helps,Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Development TeamActive Sky V6 Proud SupporterHiFi Beta TeamRadar Contact Supporter

[Tabs 2,790]

>Mt Ranier is over 100 miles from Seattle I believe but on a>clear day you can see her just fine... It looks like the>mountain is 10 miles away... My big issue with the 29nm>limitation is if I understand it correctly, you wil never see>in FS what you see in the r/w which is Mt. Ranier from>Seattle....>-Paul>58 miles from downtown, much closer from other parts of the city... It also juts up from sea level to 14,000 feet, which is really what makes it look so huge!

[FlyingsCool 3]

For us low and slow drivers, 29 miles is actually pretty average visibility distance around here in the northeast US. I can very rarely see Mt. Washington from KASH, and I think that is about 60 miles away. I can remember one flight from KASH to KPWM and back where, from the ground, it looked like beautiful clear blue sky looking up, but as soon as I got to 5000 ft, I could barely see the ground. I had to ask flight following ATC for a lower level to 2500 feet just so I could see the ground because visibility was so bad vertically, and not much better horizontally. And when I landed, it still looked like a beautiful clear day from the ground.Given that, I'll take the performance improvement I get, and really do find it realistic for me. But I do understand it is not like this everywhere. And even here, there are days when you can see 60 mi occasionally.Thomas[a href=http://www.flyingscool.com] http://www.flyingscool.com/images/Signature.jpg [/a]I like using VC's :-)

[Guest martin842]

I may be mis-remembering this, but I recall standing at a viewpoint in either Bryce Canyon or Zion National Park and looking out over a vast American landscape. According to an information board next to me, a mountain in the view was 200 miles away. Yet it looked as if it were just down the road.Of course, this was at groubnd level.Martin

[LAdamson 240]

>I may be mis-remembering this, but I recall standing at a>viewpoint in either Bryce Canyon or Zion National Park and>looking out over a vast American landscape. According to an>information board next to me, a mountain in the view was 200>miles away. Yet it looked as if it were just down the road.>>Of course, this was at groubnd level.>Most likely Bryce, at the end of the scenic loop 15 miles or so past Ruby's Inn. You can see so much, and so far, it's hard to take it all in! GA flight over the areas of Bryce Canyon, Zions, Lake Powell, Monument Valley, Canyonlands with Dead Horse Point, and skirting the Grand Canyon is just as "GRAND" and as panaramic colorful as it get's! Southern Utah & Northern Arizona.....yipee!L.Adamson --- I fly for the scenery... :D

[Guest martin842]

Yes, now that you mention it, I recall the loop at the end of the drive.The whole area would be fabulous to fly around, for real and in FS, though 'tis a pity no one has done a Monument Valley scenery for FS (as far as I know).Martin(Sorry, getting a bit off-topic here.)