Livermore with Google Earth airborne

[Guest Pieter]

Livermore in FU2 was my FU favourite training spot, although I live in a kingdom far far away, I know that area, at least the directions to fly to most airports like the palm of my flight simulator paw ;-)So this is how the satellite view looks:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/177660.jpgAnd this is the view from the Google SR22 (and one can try the "Viper" or F16 Falcon) fly-pass over the airport:http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/177661.jpgI couldn't make the landing as there is no way to look around from within the cockpit - and only a HUD, sensitive controls, but the scenery looks awesome from up high and I finally could manage a landing at Half Moon Bay as I could align with some landmarks!Pieter :-abduct

[Guest fu3]

Pieter,That's neat! I'm going to look at that ;)If only we could nut-out a good physics modelling system without the copyright hassles :-roll There are a lot out there, but most have more drawbacks than good points. I've tried about 7 different types in FGFS and none made me happy, even though some could be made to produce the right 'numbers'. Funny, the easy part now is the terrain look and feel with the modelling being the bad part - unlike FU3...Meanwhile, something you do not get with online maps - my (much) edited night lights!Moonless Seattlehttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/177664.jpgEarly morning, out of Aero Plaza (gonna be in trouble with the neighbours) towards Gray AFB (gonna be in trouble with everyone...) http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/177665.jpg:-waveRegards,Jon Point

[Guest Pieter]

Great stuff! Now that's how lights should look in the night!BTW, I mentioned that there wasn't a way to look around via the Google cockpit, which is not fully true, I just meant that it is extremely difficult to look around and fly with closely the same keyboard set for views and elevator/aileron! However, after finally mastering the mouse as flight controls I could make a number of good approaches to the other airports I visited, using the keyboard for view directions and mouse for flying.Now if we can get the Google earth scenery into FU3 that would be utterly cool! Pity about the green/brown "patches" when the satellite took the pictures so that one has summer and winter in the same spot :-lolPieter :-abduct

[Guest fu3]

Pieter,I have yet to master the Google controls as well. Lucky one just skids across the ground :-lolThanks for the tip ;)This that I'm toying with IS a flight sim that does/will do exactly that. It can handle it's own models database, or use GE Community. Can't seem to get both at once. It's pretty open-format, so everything else has to be 'converted'. The auto-gen will be hard to key with all the colour variations over the different seasons i.e. you'll get desert in Winter :-lolA long way away :-rollGetting the GE terrain and scenery into FU3 would require a major re-write of the engine - which we don't have the source to :-( The first problem would be map referencing i.e. FU3 uses its own system, with offsets for each region, based on a matrix of tiles numbered AAAA through Axxx etc. In that sense, it's just too different. I'm not saying it couldn't be done - I just have no idea how.One of the 'secrets' of FU3's flight experience is 'random, lumpy air'. Imagine the air you are flying through as a fluid with random variations of viscosity. FU1/2/3 do this like magic, thanks to Seamus' trickery. Wish we had access to it :)Regards,Jon Point

[Christopher Low 5,332]

I would be very interested in expanding the San Francisco region terrain. There are some airports to the north and east that would be great to have (Sacramento International, Stockton Metropolitan, Merced Municipal etc.)

[agtim 0]

Hi Pieter,yes you can get Google earth into FU3 but that need a bit of work ;-)see the library: Seattle Expansion Toolkit expandseattle.zipTexture from Google and elevation mesh by NASA SRTMon a similar way you can expand San Francisco or build a totally new region as demonstrated with UKS and Switzerland. All this take a lot of time and diskspace.here are video samples of FU3 flights over Switzerland

:-wave Andre

[Guest Pieter]

Hallo>yes you can get Google earth into FU3 but that need a bit of work ;-)>All this take a lot of time and diskspace.What shall I say? Sigh... (long sigh) I've tried quite a bit designing (for myself - none reached stable enough conditions to release anywhere in public) with FU scenery. I actually updated Salt Lake City airport way down there in the "dark green void" of the very low resolution outer terrain. ;-) I could eventually fly from either Seattle or San Fran to Salt Lake with the Jet - although with limited ATC.In general I like to fly, so it is more of a hobby for me to try all sorts of stuff in the virtual airspace of any simulator (hence Google ;-)) than spending that much time "outside" the aircraft with whatever design projects. So I don't want to trap myself again in not flying. It's like when my children were small and we started on a puzzle or a LEGO block project - it keeps on and on... just one more to add. :-) So for me the flying is the fun part of simulators, others rather prefer and like the designing and trying out of the end product more than the actual love of aircraft and their handling in the virtual airspace... I sometimes rather load my oldest X-Plane version (where the outside view of aircraft doesn't even show the landing gear) to try yet another impossible approach in the worst weather I can conjure, than to load FSX :-rollPieter :-bluegrab

[Guest fu3]

I know what you mean, Pieter - for some months this year, I only flew in FU3 and left my WIP folder alone. It was from so much flying that I'd made a list of things to work on.In any case, I try to temper my tinkering with a nearly equal period of flying ;)And, with FU3, testing takes on a whole new realm, when you add FU3 weather. A bit of snow should make things interesting...http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/177695.jpgWhere am I now? 5 minutes later, the snow turned to sleet, and now its raining and foggy :-lolhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/177696.jpgNow what was I testing? :-waveRegards,Jon Point

[Christopher Low 5,332]

That's one fast glider, Jon. It's certainly faster than my Beechjet ;-)

[Guest fu3]

156kts?It actually does 146 at cruise but you can get a bit more in a dive...I was just levelling-off after dropping down to try and see the ground :-lolBut yes, it IS a fast glider. Cruise in the S6 is close to VNE in the S10-VT :-eekAs a fellow sightseer, you'd probably also enjoy being able to fly everywhere at 55kts and land in impossible places, although I appreciate that you aren't a fan of small props!Regards,Jon Point

[Guest Pieter]

>As a fellow sightseer, you'd probably also enjoy being able to>fly everywhere at 55kts and land in impossible places,>although I appreciate that you aren't a fan of small props!He-he, but we must remember Chris, as always, does the impossible; he can really fly anything beyond slow ;-) :-lolHmm, now see what you made me do... now I will have to check if my Salt Lake City airport is still functional, maybe I can post a snapshot of the airport as I fixed it.Pieter :-abduct

[Guest fu3]

"now I will have to check if my Salt Lake City airport is still functional, maybe I can post a snapshot of the airport as I fixed it."Please do. I still use OT a lot ;-)Regards,Jon Point

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Jon,Where did you get the idea that I don't like small prop planes ? I used the Beechcraft Baron in FU3 for a long time before "discovering" the Beechjet, and I also like the Mooney TLS Bravo.As for the S6 being a "fast" glider, I was referring to the fact that 156kts is much faster than the cruise speed of my own personal Beechjet (around 115kts). Even my Lufthansa 747-400 doesn't fly much faster than your glider :-eekI'm sure that I've said this before, but flying the Beechjet at small prop plane speeds enables me to take a good look at the scenery (particularly since the Beechjet's swept back wings allow an uninterrupted view through the side windows), and yet still enjoy the relatively "heavy" feel of a jet, and that magnificent simulation of reverse thrust after touchdown. No other plane comes close to matching that combination of attributes.

[pastorpilot 0]

Friends,I have tried and tried but I can't get my Ms Sidewinder to work in the Goodle Earth Flight sim. It indicates that the joystick is enabled and recognized within the sim, but I still can't make it work.Has anyone else been successful?Thanks, Steve

[pastorpilot 0]

Andre...When I opened the Google Earth/Sky flight sim for the first time, I discovered the textures look just like your Switzerland program. You were REALLY ahead of the time, weren't you? Still loving it.Thanks,Steve