Wow... I mean WOW!!! Horizon's VFR Gen-X smooth as silk...

[Guest]

Man, I just can't believe what just happenend. I almost thought I was dreaming! I have a 3 year old computer (P4 3.0 HT, Radeon 9800 Pro, 1 Gb Ram) and have lots of fun with FS X, even though fps usually is around 5-20 (depending on where I am: usually not around large cities ;)). But 5-20 is okay with me. Up to now...Even though I'm not a big fan of photorealistic scenery (because shadows are in the textures and so is perspective, which can give some really ugly results) I though I'd give the demo of Horizon's VFR Gen-X a try.My normal scenery settings are:Level of detail radius: MediumMesh complexity: 50Mesh resolution: 152Texture resolution: 2Water effects: High 1xNow the VFR Gen-x demo has high res textures and mesh, so I though, what the heck, let's crank that up. So I set it to:Level of detail radius: LargeMesh complexity: 100Mesh resolution: 10Texture resolution: 1Water effects: None (since water is burned into the textures)I started a flight with the Ultralight, the perfect aircraft for VFR (and also slow enough to prevent too much blurring) and... WHAT? It was smooth as silk! I couldn't believe my eyes! On my old computer this demo is running great! Although I usually limit fps to 25 I managed to set it o 75 now without ANY problems (no blurring)! Awesome! Even after skweing the textures were loaded within a few seconds! To me it seemed A LOT faster than it takes the default FS X textures to load after skewing! And all that with 100 mesh complexity!Okay, I miss the autogen etc. but from a nice height (doesn't even have to be THAT high) you don't really need that. Heck, it will only stand out too much! (Although I like it that 3D objects will be added later on... ;))Man, flying above this scenery with such smoooooooth fps is really GREAT! Specially with the Ultralight. And the region the demo provides is large enough to have fun for some time to come.Here are some pics (although they really, REALLY do no justice to what you see when it's all moving smooth on my computerscreen!!!):http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b302/JvanE/HVFR6.jpghttp://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b302/JvanE/HVFR3.jpghttp://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b302/JvanE/HVFR4.jpghttp://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b302/JvanE/HVFR5.jpgHere's what I mean with things looking not so good when you see them from the 'wrong' side (although again these pic don't show it too well, really: they are too small):Not so nice:http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b302/JvanE/HVFR2A.jpgVery nice:http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b302/JvanE/HVFR2B.jpgNot so nice:http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b302/JvanE/HVFR1A.jpgVery nice:http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b302/JvanE/HVFR1B.jpgStill, the all over feel about this scenery is WOW! Awesome! And I never ever expected it to run so smooth! The res of the textures is just great. Yes, it could be even higher but compared to what FS9 add-on textures offered this is AWESOME!Only problems is that when I go back to default FS X fps will clearly be lower... Ah, well, a new computer will hopefully fix that next year. ;)

[Guest Langeveldt]

It's what happens when you get rid of autogen..PPL - Algoa Flying Club (Port Elizabeth, South Africa)FS5, FS98, FS2000, FS2002, FS2004, FSX user :)

[Bray 1]

Pardon my ignorance but when you say water is 'burned into the textures' does that mean the water is static...no motion or waves?ThanksBill

[Guest robmuzz]

Until they have full autogen, I'm not impressed. It looks like one of those kiddies play carpets.

[Guest tango_d]

It's a fantastic product for sure. And living in this area, it's fantastic to see this as a pre-release demo...I think i read over at their website that they're gonna go for release end of November now, but with 5M mesh !!Now that will be something !!Glad you're enjoying it too....RegardsEddyNorth Wales - UK

[Guest tango_d]

As it is on the Demo - yes, but I think they (Horizon) are modding it so you can choose....real or combination of both FSX effects and real colours etc.RgsEd

[Guest]

Up to now I had the same reaction after only seeing screenshots...These shots were taken while I had my default res of 1024x768. And they are made smaller in Photoshop too. I bumped up the res now to 1600x1200x32 and it still is smooth as silk (on my aged computer!). And it REALLY looks a lot better when it is actually moves at high res in front of your eyes! These shots, as said, really do no justice to what you see in FS X itself!But this kind of scenery is something you like or don't like. I didn't really care about it either, until now. I've fooled around with photorealistic scenery in FS9 but can't remember getting such awesome fps. And I also got blurries ALL the time. Mind you, with textures that had much lower (hence very awfull) resolution (which made me decide to return the package...). Seems FS X and/or Horizon Simulation did get something right! (Although flying the Ultralight helps preventing blurries too, of course.)

[Mike_G 3]

I agree completely - I installed the demo and think it is the best scenery I've ever seen in FS. Also, I found that even when flying low the detail in the scenery still stands up.Looking forward to the full product!Mike

[Bray 1]

>As it is on the Demo - yes, but I think they (Horizon) are>modding it so you can choose....real or combination of both>FSX effects and real colours etc.>>Rgs>>EdThanks...it really looks good.Bill

[Guest]

I just panned around, which I don't do too often because fps drops big time than, and ii usually becomes a slide show (until you've settled in a view) but also that is smooth! At 1600x1200x32! Pardon my enthousiasm, but this is looking so incredibly beatifull!!! This is a must buy for me (when I get my new computer next year, because right now I don't have HD room enough to install this scenery...). And things will only get a lot better when the 3D objects are added and 'real' water.Man, this is too good to be true...! :)P.S. I just alt-tabbed from FS X at 1600x1200x32 to this topic and looked at the pictures again: they look almost awfull compared to the ingame scenes! ;) It looks a lot sharper ingame, but even when it doesn't, it somehow looks realistic because everything moves. If you know what I mean. You really got to give the demo an honest try at high settings because these static pictures don't give a good impression.

[Guest fatboysim]

They look great on my computer which is not as good as yours - athlon 2000+. I've decided (at least until I cave in) to spend the money I might have done on hardware on this instead for England and Wales. I'd only be spending the hardware money again in 6 months time anyway, and this product won't age so fast.