Having a lot of air time with Xplane11 recently

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Although I fire up P3DV4 at least a couple times a week, I have to say most of my time is spent with Xplane11 since I licensed it last year about this time.  I think the main attractors are the Aerobask Eclipse, the Cessna 172, the Aerolight 103, the landclass, the mesh, and some add-on locations I've put in the sim.  I removed all my Ortho4XP scenery and only fly the default scenery, the landclass detail and autogen make it quite realistic for me, and night flights are a wonder as well.  I wish there were seasonal textures in the sim, and different sky variations by day, like P3D/FSX, but simulation is simulation and I accept what I have as faithful immersion.  After all when I travel in real life it is more for purpose than choice of season.  When I was a business traveler without fail I was sent to the coldest places in winter, like Edmonton, Winnepeg, Ottawa, Montreal, and the hottest places in summer, like Venezuela, and Mexico, and Florida.  I was nicknamed Mr. Ohio by my colleagues because I was sent to client after client there during the winter of 93-94, ringing in New Years in Dayton Ohio with snow all around.  The coldest place I ever went was Dryden Ontario, where my client drove me over a frozen lake to get me to my job site.  I flew into International Falls, MN and drove into Canada, and remember well the sign at the airport in International Falls "Icebox of America".

I've taken to exploring the less traveled parts of Xplane11 and was sad to see Greenland and Antarctica missing, although they have airports Thule in Greenland and Concordia in Antarctica are surrounded by water.  But there is still a lot of territory out there to be explored, I recommend the Aleutian Islands which I overflew once on a business trip to Japan in real life.

I am in no hurry for Xplane12 for Xplane11 exceeded my expectations in performance, substance and style.  P3DV4 did the same to its extent, but my more frequent flights are in Xplane11.  Today I flew the Aerobask Eclipse from Frankfurt to Heathrow and had a great flight.

John

[jt8d9a 1,881]

Great that you enjoy XP. Maybe that´s of interest to you: https://store.x-plane.org/Grand-Arctic-Scenery-V3_p_687.html

[John_Cillis 2,406]

26 minutes ago, jt8d9a said:

Great that you enjoy XP. Maybe that´s of interest to you: https://store.x-plane.org/Grand-Arctic-Scenery-V3_p_687.html

Thanks, may have to give that a try.  I've flown over Greenland in real life as recently as last year, returning home from London to Phoenix.  Overflew Greenland, then Hudson Bay where even in late June there were still icebergs in the water which I saw at altitude.

John

[Pugilist2 878]

Hi John,

Why did you remove all of your ortho4XP scenery? Disk space?

[John_Cillis 2,406]

8 hours ago, Pugilist2 said:

Hi John,

Why did you remove all of your ortho4XP scenery? Disk space?

Yes, mainly that, it was a tradeoff between loading Xplane11's worldwide scenery or OrthoXP.  Plus with my P3DV4 MSE Photoscenery I was basically double covered.  So when I want to fly over Photoscenery, it's P3DV4.  Everything else--Xplane11!

John

[olderndirt 2,295]

Orbx is poised with their first offering in a 3-part UK series.  Check it out, it's really good.

[ca_metal 2,021]

On 10/6/2018 at 12:16 AM, Cactus521 said:

Although I fire up P3DV4 at least a couple times a week, I have to say most of my time is spent with Xplane11 since I licensed it last year about this time.  I think the main attractors are the Aerobask Eclipse, the Cessna 172, the Aerolight 103, the landclass, the mesh, and some add-on locations I've put in the sim.  I removed all my Ortho4XP scenery and only fly the default scenery, the landclass detail and autogen make it quite realistic for me, and night flights are a wonder as well.  I wish there were seasonal textures in the sim, and different sky variations by day, like P3D/FSX, but simulation is simulation and I accept what I have as faithful immersion.  After all when I travel in real life it is more for purpose than choice of season.  When I was a business traveler without fail I was sent to the coldest places in winter, like Edmonton, Winnepeg, Ottawa, Montreal, and the hottest places in summer, like Venezuela, and Mexico, and Florida.  I was nicknamed Mr. Ohio by my colleagues because I was sent to client after client there during the winter of 93-94, ringing in New Years in Dayton Ohio with snow all around.  The coldest place I ever went was Dryden Ontario, where my client drove me over a frozen lake to get me to my job site.  I flew into International Falls, MN and drove into Canada, and remember well the sign at the airport in International Falls "Icebox of America".

I've taken to exploring the less traveled parts of Xplane11 and was sad to see Greenland and Antarctica missing, although they have airports Thule in Greenland and Concordia in Antarctica are surrounded by water.  But there is still a lot of territory out there to be explored, I recommend the Aleutian Islands which I overflew once on a business trip to Japan in real life.

I am in no hurry for Xplane12 for Xplane11 exceeded my expectations in performance, substance and style.  P3DV4 did the same to its extent, but my more frequent flights are in Xplane11.  Today I flew the Aerobask Eclipse from Frankfurt to Heathrow and had a great flight.

John

You should try this for Antarctica:

https://maps2xplane.com/the-sceneries/antarctic-sceneries/
https://maps2xplane.com/the-sceneries/subantarctic-sceneries/

Both free, and there are some aiports/aerodromes to download for free, just look on the discription.

For the north, besides the Great Arctic scenery, there's Svalbard Archipelago also:

https://maps2xplane.com/the-sceneries/arctic-sceneries/

[John_Cillis 2,406]

1 hour ago, ca_metal said:

You should try this for Antarctica:

https://maps2xplane.com/the-sceneries/antarctic-sceneries/
https://maps2xplane.com/the-sceneries/subantarctic-sceneries/

Both free, and there are some aiports/aerodromes to download for free, just look on the discription.

For the north, besides the Great Arctic scenery, there's Svalbard Archipelago also:

https://maps2xplane.com/the-sceneries/arctic-sceneries/

Thanks, I will add these to my suite of freeware airports and scenery and I know I will enjoy it!

John

[FlyBaby 659]

On 10/5/2018 at 11:16 PM, Cactus521 said:

Although I fire up P3DV4 at least a couple times a week, I have to say most of my time is spent with Xplane11 since I licensed it last year about this time.  I think the main attractors are the Aerobask Eclipse, the Cessna 172, the Aerolight 103, the landclass, the mesh, and some add-on locations I've put in the sim. 

Hi,

When you say "landclass"...what landclass are you using?

 

[John_Cillis 2,406]

1 minute ago, FlyBaby said:

Hi,

When you say "landclass"...what landclass are you using?

 

Xplane11's default landclass.  I find it much more accurate thanFS9, FSX or P3DV4 although my program here at Avsim, Landclass Assistant, can help with those programs.  Xplane11's Landclass is less repetitive as well, although sadly it is not seasonal and there is not a lot of snow where one would expect it, such as in the Sierras and along the Alaska coast.  But given its accuracy seasonal Landclass would make the program huge, which it already is, and for me it is the flying anyway that I enjoy the most. 

Since P3DV4 is where I fly over photoreal, West Coast scenery, Xplane11's default scenery makes me happy enough.  I wish the cities were more accurate in their appearance, I have had to add freeware scenery for places like San Diego, Phoenix, SFO, Washington DC that are covered well by P3DV4.  Also had to add the pyramids of Egypt and the sights there.  Still Xplane11 has something, it is the way the atmosphere is rendered, that makes it look more real to me.  I made an add-on called Soft Horizons for FS9 and FSX that tried to deliver the same thing, P3DV4 has improved the appearance of the atmosphere, but I feel Xplane11 just nails it although I wish vis could be extended to 150 miles, which we often have here in the Southwest desert.  For example, when you take off out of Sky Harbor as soon as you climb above 10,000 feet you can see the San Francisco peaks well more than 100 miles to the North, north of Flagstaff, Arizona's tallest peaks over 13,000 feet and they already have had snow, just last week!

John

[FlyBaby 659]

19 minutes ago, Cactus521 said:

Xplane11's default landclass.  I find it much more accurate thanFS9, FSX or P3DV4 although my program here at Avsim, Landclass Assistant, can help with those programs.  Xplane11's Landclass is less repetitive as well, although sadly it is not seasonal and there is not a lot of snow where one would expect it, such as in the Sierras and along the Alaska coast.  But given its accuracy seasonal Landclass would make the program huge, which it already is, and for me it is the flying anyway that I enjoy the most. 

Since P3DV4 is where I fly over photoreal, West Coast scenery, Xplane11's default scenery makes me happy enough.  I wish the cities were more accurate in their appearance, I have had to add freeware scenery for places like San Diego, Phoenix, SFO, Washington DC that are covered well by P3DV4.  Also had to add the pyramids of Egypt and the sights there.  Still Xplane11 has something, it is the way the atmosphere is rendered, that makes it look more real to me.  I made an add-on called Soft Horizons for FS9 and FSX that tried to deliver the same thing, P3DV4 has improved the appearance of the atmosphere, but I feel Xplane11 just nails it although I wish vis could be extended to 150 miles, which we often have here in the Southwest desert.  For example, when you take off out of Sky Harbor as soon as you climb above 10,000 feet you can see the San Francisco peaks well more than 100 miles to the North, north of Flagstaff, Arizona's tallest peaks over 13,000 feet and they already have had snow, just last week!

John

Thanks for the explanation. For P3D, I use all Orbx enhancements (global, vector, openLC) products for North America.

I am looking for something similar in XP11 for the east coast NA without having to go the Ortho route. From Atlantic City down through Miami, XP11 doesn't really represent the coastline very well with respect to the buildings. 

I do agree that XP11 has a better atmosphere, the 3D ground environment (no flat roofs, detailed roads and cars) makes low level HELI flights a dream, and the lighting is unmatched. 

 

 

 

[John_Cillis 2,406]

15 minutes ago, FlyBaby said:

Thanks for the explanation. For P3D, I use all Orbx enhancements (global, vector, openLC) products for North America.

I am looking for something similar in XP11 for the east coast NA without having to go the Ortho route. From Atlantic City down through Miami, XP11 doesn't really represent the coastline very well with respect to the buildings. 

I do agree that XP11 has a better atmosphere, the 3D ground environment (no flat roofs, detailed roads and cars) makes low level HELI flights a dream, and the lighting is unmatched. 

 

 

 

The autogen in Xplane11 is very good, with buildings displayed that mimic the local buildings of the area.  FS9/FSX/P3D's autogen is very unrealistic, placing strip malls and multistory apartments in single family home, residential areas.  One can change it thru landclass assistant or other programs but it is a grueling undertaking even though the landclass updates are small.  I made landclass assistant for those programs when I saw someone go commercial selling landclass and the means to update it for an extortionate amount, they were not the quality of Orbx.  I was on the FS9 beta and LCA was backward compatible to FS2002, and with the help of forum members here (I first used the wrong bitmap size, 256x256 when it should have been 257x257) I got a good program going, then someone followed with another good program.  But nowadays with Orbx, such programs are not needed anymore, given the time and effort, it makes more sense to pay their nominal fees for their great products.  But I use MSE in P3DV4 since I am a photoreal nut.  I used Ortho4XP in Xplane11 but it chewed up so much disk space and I fell in love with Xplane11's default scenery, ground animations, etc...  It just looks so real I think I am flying over photoreal scenery.  Austin has good artists at work for him and a great program that I still say, along with Lockheed Martin, saved our hobby from near extinction.  Without Austin's nudge when Microsoft pulled out of simming, Lockheed Martin might never had taken on simming for those of us who are flight students, especially, or pilots, those of us seriously into aviation.

John

[soaring_penguin 428]

For improved landclass without a huge FPS or memory penalty, I recommend HD mesh:

http://www.alpilotx.net/downloads/x-plane-11-hd-mesh-scenery-v4/

You can also try UHD, but a warning, my system can not handle it properly, in some mountain regions I get a huge penalty (but it can easily compete with ortho scenery for vistas).