Reflections on flying over the USA

[Modlerbob]

Now granted I am only flying over the USA via a computer simulation but it strikes me how lucky those of us who live here are. The countryside is so beautiful and much of it is still covered by vast forests and beautiful grassy plains. The east coast has so much coastline with rivers and inlets from Florida to Maine. The west has the magnificent mountains and just a little desert. The middle east is a hotbed of radical people fighting over basically a desert. Africa has mighty deserts and steaming jungles. Asia is, well asia, beautiful but very crowded. I am very happy I live in America so I can play pilot on my computer.

[logjam]

If all you've seen of the rest of the world is via FS, you have a lot to learn my friend.

[Modlerbob]

Not exactly. And I was trying to keep politics out of my statement. North America, including Canada is a beautiful sight to behold and the view from my computer screen in FSX has reminded me of that beauty.

[Fozzer]

I find that the Flight Sim scenery of my England is very flat and rather boring which is the reason why I have been flying the USA Western Seaboard daily for the past 15+ years!
Highly realistic when compared to local terrain maps!
Such a spectacular variation in scenery from the Pacific Coast inward, to the Mountains and the Deserts!
Such a striking variation in scenery during a very short flight!
I generally find the USA East Coast rather flat and uninteresting again, so I rarely fly there....(Sorry, East Coasters!)... ...!

Installing a quality Global Scenery Mesh makes a vast difference, to make the scenery more realistic!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_ ... ted_States

Paul....FTX Global + UT USA, map, compass, and a Cessna 150 Aerobat explorer!..... ...!

[OldAirmail]

FLAT!

The UK?





Modlerbob, you're both right, and wrong.

The US has a staggering variety of scenic areas. But the rest of the world was short changed to one degree or another.



Back when MS developed FSX, 2006, computers were generally slower than they are now.

Another limitation was the hard disk size back then. A whole lot of people still had 500MB, and smaller drives.

In other words, MS was pushing it as it was. And a lot of people were gripping about the requirements at the time.


Added to that, MS had to decide when enough was enough. When was FSX good enough to start selling.

So they decided to do it this way - The US has the better mesh (elevation detail), followed by much of Europe. South America, and Asia, got the short end of the stick.

And most small islands (with a few exceptions) got the shaft.


As Mr Frozzer states, get a good world wide mesh.

I use FSGenesis - World Terrain Mesh. It may not be the best, but it's by FAR the cheapest GOOD mesh.

FSGlobal vs. FSGenesis

And if you want to try other areas of the world, a good mesh should be the first add-on that you buy.



And in so far as FSGlobal being slightly better than FSGenesis it's a moot point. The sceneries that I download usually have better meshes (and sometimes MUCH better meshes than FSGlobal).



FTX: Global, although expensive, helps to make the scenery that you fly over look more believable.

Note the choice of words. Believable vs photorealistic.

On top of that, FTX: Global was developed to fit the world area that you're flying over. IE - It'll be different flying over the USA, Asia, Africa, or South America.



On second thought, Paul You're right, "England" is relatively flat.

Flat but quite pleasant to fly over.




And if you go outside of England, you have places such Cairngorms in Scootland.






True. Not the Rockies. But enjoyable flying none the less.



Here are a couple of shots from one of my favorite islands - Madeira.







The US does have great areas. but there are other great areas too.

[Fozzer]

FLAT!

The UK?

Yep....

In England we have "low hills"....

We just have grassy humps in the scenery.

We don't have the Sierra Nevada mountain range, or the Rocky Mountains, etc, and a Grand Canyon look-alike cannot be found anywhere.
Deserts can only be found on the shore of Brighton...(when the tide is out).
Lush vegetation can mostly be found at the bottom of my garden during the early Spring.

Apart from that, the English countryside is quite nice.... ...!

Paul....Negotiating Nevada.... ...!

[Modlerbob]

You all still don't understand the point and meaning of my original post. It wasn't about the quality or lack thereof of FSX scenery.

[OldAirmail]

The US has a staggering variety of scenic areas. ....


.....


The US does have great areas, but there are other great areas too.

As you can see, I agreed with you.

But I don't limit myself to one area of the world.

But if you do, that's not bad. The US has just about everything, and more.



With our flight sims we can enjoy flying what we like, where we like, and for as long as we like. There is no right or wrong in that.

I now spend more time out in the deserts and bad lands of Arizona and Utah.

But I must have been blessed by a Gypsy's bone when young, because I want to travel the world too.

[ViperPilot]

modlerbob,

I understood the meaning of your post right off, and I do SO agree with your assessment!

[logjam]

I'm sure we all get the point Modler Bob. It's just that whilst the USA, Canada and the western world is a beautiful place and relatively safe to live. There is beauty in all of the Earth's marvellous places. Even the Sahara desert holds secrets that some of us will never see, or for that matter, even want to see. Australia to some is more beautiful than the Himalayas, or the Antarctic. Eastern Europe contains some of the most enviable man made structures and edifices, never mind the cradle of humanity. Yes every part of this Earth is worthy of acclaim to it's creator. Yet, some of us will never see any of it outside our own backyards so to speak. If it be for the efforts of spiteful and selfish human beings. Thanks to flight simulation at it's best, we are able to take in this ageless beauty, despite the efforts of the few. Let's all hope for the day when we can all appreciate 1st hand the beauty of the whole Earth in peace.

[OldAirmail]

Logjam, there's no way that I could have said it better.

[Modlerbob]

Somehow my last post never got posted. With the 4th of July coming up I guess I was feeling a bit of pride in my homeland. My heritage is from Scotland and Ireland which unfortunately I was never able to visit in person. I was fortunate enough to fly as a passenger over the USA when I was younger and even one trip to Japan. I agree that all areas of the whole world have unique vistas to behold but it just seems that north america is overly blessed with beauty.

[Fozzer]

The big advantage of the Flight Sims, is that if one is anchored in one particular place, (which may not be very nice!), the Sim gives us the opportunity to "fly" off to other places; and with the help of the Internet, Google, Wikipedia, etc, we can learn about all those magical, far away places!

That's what I do, every day!

Paul.... The Explorer!.... ...!

[Bass]

@logjam

[PhantomTweak]

Having been in the Corps a while, I have been all over the world, places nice nice and places not so nice. I have seen almost all of it except the poles, altho we DID stop in Nome on our way to teh Far East once...ANYway, I enjoyed some of it, and some of it, not so much. But what I think I've learned out of it all is that while there is infinited variety to the world's scenery and climates, it seems to me that California is a micro-cosm of it all. I don't care where you want to name, Other than the Poles, perhaps, it's there in California someplace! From the most arid, driest desert to the most humid rainforest, from a place a few hundred feet below sea level to a high peak...It's all in there someplace! And while none of it may be very large, it's all readily available in a fairly short travel time!. From my home town of Woodside, in the Bay Area, I could literally drive to anywhere in the state inside one day! And as far as flying....it's almost seems like a waste of time....ascend-descend, and you're there! Bada-boom! Try a trip in a 737 some time, between LAX and SFO. You barely make altitude before you start descent into SFO!

Yeah, I'm biased, having grown up there perhaps, but I can't think of hardly any other state that can say the same things...

Anyhow, I just wanted to toss my 2¢ into the ring! Hope you all have a great day and many more in the future, with fair weather, and following winds always! Unless, of course you're wierd, like me and enjoy thunderestorms...

Pat☺