[OT] Probably one of the most impressive flight sims ever built [56k warning]

[Starlight]

At least as far as theaters and terrain realism:

 

http://earth.google.com/

 

I'm not a fan of the satellite-photo-textured terrains (like fighterops, F4) but this one is really amazing...

 

this is an overflight of Aviano AB, Italy, and its surrounding mountains (where I also went to ski some years ago)... I find them just breathtaking!

The amazing thing about these textures is that they're so high-res that they're realistic until you drop at about 200 feet (just do "Eye altitude" - "elevation" and you'll find your height above terrain). And it's all in 3D. If you fly over some American cities you'll also find the 3D bodies of most buildings...

 

These jpegs also don't do justice to the feeling you get while "flying" above GoogleEarth's terrain. And also, Googleearth is not optimized like a sim (you still have to download from the Internet all the imagery and also the textures don't show up at their highest detail at some distance).

 

Anyway I think such technology could bring good news in the near future for the flight sim environment. I've already seen similar textures for a FS2004 expansion representing the Alaskan terrain.

 

However, check these out:

 

 

 

[Prophet_169th]

OMG.

 

What would it take for someone to get that terrain with LOMAC AFM.

[Conuk]

bah.. downloads stopped - looks good :)

[504 Wolverine]

Is this anything like NASA's World Wind?

[VapoR]

This looks really great, I especially like how the forests look. No sim to date has gotten them to look like that. Take it just a little further and some bumpmapping to that and WALLA, you got great terrain!!

[Trident]

The trouble is, as soon as you approach those forrests and buildings up close you will find them to be flat. Not to mention that the images for those textures are probably commercial and thus outrageously expensive.

 

I for one still think LOMAC has the best terrain textures in any flightsim to date. It's the terrain mesh that needs to be improved to stay competitive, IMHO.

[Starlight]

The trouble is, as soon as you approach those forrests and buildings up close you will find them to be flat. Not to mention that the images for those textures are probably commercial and thus outrageously expensive.

 

I for one still think LOMAC has the best terrain textures in any flightsim to date. It's the terrain mesh that needs to be improved to stay competitive, IMHO.

 

I partially agree with you, but the point with google-earth is that some of the textures have such a high resolution that they are realistic until you are REALLY close to the terrain (200-800 feet). And if you enable the buildings, you see that 3D buildings pop up from the textures (even if some are a bit misplaced, there seem to be an error-offset)

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, apart the lack of 3D buildings, the land textures are definitely good. This is an approach at Aviano AB, less than 200 ft. The runway is still really good (apart those 2D-postcard-style F-16s ;) ).

 

 

 

 

This is the countryside around former Hahn airbase, Germany

 

 

 

And this is the airbase

 

 

 

 

 

Even if the downloads have been stopped for a while, you can still enjoy the same textures on http://www.google.com/maps -> satellite. You won't have the 3D view but the textures are exactly the same.

 

Yes it is something like Nasa World Wind, but the 3D view is overall better, some of the textures have a much higher resolution and the hills/mountains are much more accurate (in NASA World Wind terrains were a bit distorted even if their ratio was x1.0)

[SUBS17]

Those look nice but Lockons terrain is still better because the ground objects and trees are 3d objects. Also does this terrain feature civilian traffic? Maybe in lockons successor they could use a combination of the two methods to make a better map.

[Russianfish]

I have some Mega-city terrains for MSFS 2K4, they look very simuliar and include textured 3d objects Plus you can fly over them!

 

 

 

[Shaman]

Thanks a lot for info! I've downloaded Earth Google. Great app, it has a lot of information.. and seems it will be very useful for me :)

[TucksonSonny]

My personal opinion is that between 30m and 60.000 meter Lock On/FC 1.1 is superior modeled terrain against everything but MS FlightSim2004 has some nice terrain scenery available too. (Switzerland scenery)

:rolleyes:

[Arizona]

Interesting thread. Even got the Piancavallo ski runs.

 

While Aviano looks good, Hahn didn't seem to capture the hill the whole base sat on.

 

Arizona

[Trident]

That Switzerland scenery shows precisely what I keep harping on about the terrain mesh. Mountains and terrain in general look a lot less triangular than in LOMAC (which is great otherwise, beats the *default* FS2004 scenery hands down). It's all in the resolution of the elevation data, that FS addon is 19m while LOMAC is 30 IIRC.

 

19m or better should be the reference point for ED (not for 1.2 but for the next big project), their textures are already pretty much as good as they'll ever need to be. Add dynamic terrain shadows (also found in FS2004 I think, need to check with regards to LOMAC) and 3D trees like in Il2 and you'll get eyewatering results :D

[TucksonSonny]

That Switzerland scenery shows precisely what I keep harping on about the terrain mesh. Mountains and terrain in general look a lot less triangular than in LOMAC (which is great otherwise, beats the *default* FS2004 scenery hands down). It's all in the resolution of the elevation data, that FS addon is 19m while LOMAC is 30 IIRC.

 

19m or better should be the reference point for ED (not for 1.2 but for the next big project), their textures are already pretty much as good as they'll ever need to be. Add dynamic terrain shadows (also found in FS2004 I think, need to check with regards to LOMAC) and 3D trees like in Il2 and you'll get eyewatering results :D

 

Of course load times in Lomac/FC are better (perfect) than MS FS2004 with settings on Max with 1600x1200!

 

Flying over with a helicopter or with a jet over Mach 1 @low attitude makes a difference.

I think that mountains in Lomac need more pylons/details and I agree trees can better too!