http://members.shaw.ca/sjdickson1968/fsx_landclass2a.avi (4.4MB AVI)The video shows that most of the central and western US and much of Canada have been turned into an enormous, nearly featureless desert in this latest iteration of FS. Improved landclass files are needed desperately.

Absolutely ... we have nice textures to WORK WITH, but the stock landclass is quite bad. As far as eye candy or even accuracy, enjoyment would leap ahead greatly once someone - or some outfit - puts out improved landclass files.

I agree, North America looks terrible. I love the quality of the textures, but anywhere I fly, it just doesn't look right. Way too much sand. In some areas, the Rockies look like huge sand dunes. When I flew out of Kamloops BC, I could have sworn I was back peacekeeping in the Sinai Desert. Northern Ontario looks much the same. I don't know what they were thinking when they chose that texture for northern North American areas. The stock landclass for FS9 was not the greatest, but was better than what I am seeing in FSX. Maybe someone can redo the offending texture?Bill

the only thing I can think of is... rushed to shelf. What is so unfortunate is these are areas with the MOST coverage and they're a step backwards compared to FS9, I cant even imagine what places like Eastern Europe, Russia, Asia, and Africa look like.

That is extremely horrible... I remember in a thread someone had protested hown a carabean island looked like a desert, while it is not and gave a google earth reference. The answer he got was very unkind, something in these lines:Forget google earth; just enjoy the (FSX?).I am sad!

Has anyone tried FS Genesis FS9 landclass with FSX?

Wow!I just popped Google Earth open as a point of comparison - All I can wonder is what could have happened - even it the product were "rushed", I don't see how an error of this magnatude can be there; I mean, there is VERY fertile terrain throughout the areas shown as being arid.What the heck?Are you sure this isn't a bug?---Andrew

North America as well? No worries guys, Europe is the same. MS did this in anticipation of global warming ;-)

>North America as well? No worries guys, Europe is the same.>MS did this in anticipation of global warming ;-)>>Yes, the North Italy is like Sahara desert! But MS has never seen a picture of Rome? Or Florence? Or Venice? Or Pisa? I think no!

Hi all,I suspect that the cause for this unfortunate misrepresentation of the real world is a combination of issues.We were told that ACES tried to generate a much more accurate land classification system but had to abandon the effort due to technical issues and staff reassignments. Instead, they decided to focus on enhancing the number of regions, making changes to the slope-determined switching of ground textures, and developing a brand new set of high-res seasonal textures based on satellite or aerial imagery.Thus, the basic global land cover/land use classification remained the same as for FS9 and is a derivative of the source data that can be found here: http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/glcc/The classes used are the Olson "Global Ecosystems Legend" - http://edcsns17.cr.usgs.gov/glcc/nadoc2_0.html#olso . Note how many class names coincide with the land class names given in the FS9/FSX Terrain SDK documents.Unfortunately, the source data themselves are too general and often inaccurate (parts of Alaska, including super-wet Sitka, are classified as "semi desert" and many alpine regions in the Rockies and elsewhere as "bare desert"). I assume that ACES decided to find the best photo sources for each Olson class to faithfully represent the respective "theme" and thus ended up making the errors in the source data much more apparent than with the hand-drawn textures we know from FS9. What to do? Well, the straightforward option is to use different (local) source data to provide better matches of the new textures with the real-world land cover. A good start is to use existing FS9 land class files - see http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...d=358535&page=6 and http://forums.simflight.com/viewtopic.php?t=49134 - though most of these will need to be re-compiled to adjust for changes in some of the class-to-texture mappings. Unfortunately, making accurate land class files for larger areas is a very involved process that requires lots of manual editing. Thus, it'll be a while before good quality land class files will be available for FSX. I agree, however, that it's something to look forward to as the new ground textures are much improved over the FS9 4-m res versions.Cheers, Holger

>We were told that ACES tried to generate a much more accurate>land classification system but had to abandon the effort due>to technical issues and staff reassignments. Instead, they>decided to focus on enhancing the number of regions, making>changes to the slope-determined switching of ground textures,>and developing a brand new set of high-res seasonal textures>based on satellite or aerial imagery.How did it happen then that landclass is significantly WORSE than in FS9?See screens:EPWA Real:http://www.evolveai.com/forums/attachment....=1&d=1161111295EPWA in FS9:http://www.evolveai.com/forums/attachment....=1&d=1161111196EPWA in FSX:http://www.evolveai.com/forums/attachment....=1&d=1161111196#####?

Hi there,can't see those images because I'd have to sign up for the forum.Again, while the global land class file is essentially the same the textures are completely new and apparently more faithfully represent the Olson classification, which means the errors in the source data become more visible.There may be other factors as well, especially for suburban and urban areas, which ACES added to the Olson classification from different sources.Cheers, Holger

Once again reinforcing my opinion that the poor guys from ACES have been yet again strangled by the management of M$Wot a surprise!

You think North America is bad; you should see the UK.

Yes, it works. Just drop the fsglc_us.bgl into the sceneryBASEscenery folder.But it won't change the textures themselves, just where the textures are displayed.-------Justinhttp://www.fsgenesis.netHigh Quality Scenery for FS200x