It's mid Spring in the Bernese Oberland :-(

[TheFamilyMan 286]

Crud, seems that the satellite imagery used to build the Bernese Oberland area of Switzerland (e.g. Wengen, Grindelwald & Lauterbrunnen) was shot in mid Spring, such that all its beautiful lush green scenery and picturesque villages are covered in snow; not to mention the meh rendering of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau.  Yeah, this is a flight sim so I should not worry about that, but still what a huge disappointment (at least for me).  What seems extra ironic about using mid Spring is that it neither has good snow for skiing nor the beautiful scenery for tourism, both which are big draws for that area of Switzerland.  Oh well, so much for my rant...back to flying.

Edited September 8, 2021 by TheFamilyMan

[steve310002 1,198]

I have to say the new Swiss mesh and autogen is excellent. And the satelite scenery crisp at least even if not the best season in places.

[7neophyte7 30]

Yeah, wat a huge dissapointment.

My first test flight after downloaded WU6 starting at the Sphinx at the Jungfraujoch, which I visited a couple of years ago, and found it nicely modeled. When I fly further to Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, still snow alle over the place😞. Only from Interlaken the snow disappeared. It’s a pity because it’s one of the most beautiful locations in the world.

Overall I’m satisfied so far with the update.

[jer2929 91]

54 minutes ago, TheFamilyMan said:

Crud, seems that the satellite imagery used to build the Bernese Oberland area of Switzerland (e.g. Wengen, Grindelwald & Lauterbrunnen) was shot in mid Spring, such that all its beautiful lush green scenery and picturesque villages are covered in snow; not to mention the meh rendering of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau.  Yeah, this is a flight sim so I should not worry about that, but still what a huge disappointment (at least for me).  What seems extra ironic about using mid Spring is that it neither has good snow for skiing nor the beautiful scenery for tourism, both which are big draws for that area of Switzerland.  Oh well, so much for my rant...back to flying.

i was flying there yesterday and was also a little disappointed that everything was covered in snow. I then realized that it was actually just live weather causing the issues, not the satellite imagery.  I preset 'few clouds' and boom. All the excellent terrain mesh and cities showed up without snow.

For some reason live weather was bugged yesterday. For instance, Interlaken was covered in snow. I checked out some webcams, and Interlaken is not at all covered in snow. It's summer!

[Shack95 2,680]

9 minutes ago, jer2929 said:

i was flying there yesterday and was also a little disappointed that everything was covered in snow. I then realized that it was actually just live weather causing the issues, not the satellite imagery.  I preset 'few clouds' and boom. All the excellent terrain mesh and cities showed up without snow.

Yes, that's the problem. Procedurally generated snow doesn't look that good on steep rocky mountains as the screenshot below illustrates. Imagery and mesh in Switzerland are actually excellent.

[jer2929 91]

I was AMAZED. I took out the drone and zoomed right up to the edge of the mountain. Most mountains in the sim, with a little luck and skill, you can land on pretty much any steep mountain because when you get close, its still pretty rounded. Not anything in Switzerland anymore. The mesh has to be 10-20cm where I was looking. Every little dimple, crease, and jagged edge was showing up.The only issue now I see is the morphing. Every LOD pops as you get closer, right down to the 10-20cm LOD. I so wish there was like a 'cross dissolve' transition between LOD's. Would make it much less jarring, I'd imagine. Oh well. One step at a time. Great Dem!

[AnkH 2,293]

It is the bugged snow coverage when using live weather. No idea what goes wrong this time, but using a preset and all snow in the Berner Oberland is gone (unless you add it manually of course). I simply do not get why there is snow when using live weather, as even the meteoblue snow coverage map does not show any snow coverage atm. Just another thing they do not get right in this sim, starts to get slightly annoying tbh...

[fppilot 4,444]

1 hour ago, jer2929 said:

I then realized that it was actually just live weather causing the issues, not the satellite imagery. 

I had a similar experience over the western Rockies on the way from Denver to San Jose.  There were white areas on the surface on areas like plateaus that just do not have snow cover this time of year.  I was at 12,000 ft so it was difficult to tell if it was snow or not, but too white to be anything representative of the terrain of that area.  I also had some turbulence on my final approach to KSJC that was not supported by any weather that had occurred in the prior 24 hours. 

[TheFamilyMan 286]

 

9 hours ago, AnkH said:

It is the bugged snow coverage when using live weather. No idea what goes wrong this time, but using a preset and all snow in the Berner Oberland is gone (unless you add it manually of course). I simply do not get why there is snow when using live weather, as even the meteoblue snow coverage map does not show any snow coverage atm. Just another thing they do not get right in this sim, starts to get slightly annoying tbh...

Thanks for the heads up on this.  As you mentioned, I used a weather preset and the snow was gone.  And BTW, that area is breathtakingly done in MSFS (without the snow), Bravo!  Too bad the waterfalls are missing, but I can live with that. I totally recant my comment on the mountains, they are crisply and realistically detailed and look as I remembered when I visited that area 4 years ago (though not in an aircraft).  The phrase "Thought I died and went to heaven" perfectly describes being there IRL (there's me standing before the Jungfrau).

Edited September 9, 2021 by TheFamilyMan

[Mace 1,972]

38 minutes ago, TheFamilyMan said:

 The phrase "Thought I died and went to heaven" perfectly describes being there IRL (there's me standing before the Jungfrau).

Did you take the cable car to the Schilthorn?   It's near there.

I visited that area in 2002 and went all over the place.  I have a similar shot in front of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau in the background, only it was in the winter.

[AnkH 2,293]

Cable Car to Schilthorn or even the train ride up to the Jungfraujoch is a total rip-off, made for tourists. I was once on Jungfraujoch and once on the Schilthorn and certainly never go a second time. But the places are scenic, for sure 😉 

[Shack95 2,680]

49 minutes ago, AnkH said:

Cable Car to Schilthorn or even the train ride up to the Jungfraujoch is a total rip-off, made for tourists. I was once on Jungfraujoch and once on the Schilthorn and certainly never go a second time. But the places are scenic, for sure 😉 

Absolutely, it can get painfully touristy there and the prices are off the charts, but the scenery is beyond description. The best thing to do there is hiking. There‘s some really nice trails in the area that aren‘t very busy (the more demanding the less people) which offer some amazing vistas.

[Shack95 2,680]

Double post

Edited September 9, 2021 by Shack95

[TheFamilyMan 286]

I agree, those two destinations (while impressive to say the least) are shameless touristy money grabs akin to the like priced "excursions" which surround the cruiseliner industry.  As mentioned above, if you got the time, hiking is the best way to take in that area.  I'm glad that MSFS does it justice.

Edited September 9, 2021 by TheFamilyMan