Florida Landclass Scenery
By Victor Knight (7 November 2002)
S2002 saw a big improvement
in land textures over those in FS2000. Some 112 different scenery textures
were implemented in FS2002, so that different countries, and areas of
countries, didn't always all look alike. However, the textures are still
far from perfect; cities and towns have become forests, and swamps have
become communities. Microsoft, it seems, pays little heed to what belongs
where, just so long as it looks good.Quite a small group produces flight simulator. It would seem Bill Gates could forgo a little lunch money, and hire a couple of programmers to make things a little more lifelike, (like in as real as it gets)! But he doesn't, and that is why he is very rich, and we are very poor. It's not the salaries he's saving; it's smart marketing. Leaving much to be desired ensures we will all be standing in line, ready and eager to part with our hard-earned cash for the next version. It also ensures thousands of users will check into FlightSim.Com for updates and improvements. It ensures simulation enthusiasts will keep producing wonderful add-ons for us all to appreciate and enjoy. If FS2002 were perfect, none of this would happen. The flight simulation community would not exist. Having purchased the perfect flight simulator, we would soon get bored with it and turn our attention to something interesting, like embroidery. Heck, there wouldn't even be a need for any reviews, so "thanks," Bill!
Two such wonderful contributors to our less than perfect hobby are Joe
Watson and Bob Brown. Together, they have produced "Florida Landclass
Scenery." Six files that completely transform the state from a blob of blah
to the wonderful, vibrant, sun-drenched, humid and overcrowded place that
it is.
Bob Brown is a flight simulator enthusiast and real-world general aviation pilot. He also pilots sailplanes, which earns my respect, as that's something I would never do. I always believed flying an airplane with no one shooting at it was hog heaven, but I now realize I like engines, too. A professional geographer, and Florida resident for many years, Bob has used his expertise to convert the National Landcover Database files to FS2002 landclass scenery files for Florida. Together with Joe Watson, who did much of the work updating urban areas, the duo has plotted what different regions actually are; such as business district or residential, their position, and density. This forms the basis for the landclass scenery. To ensure up to date accuracy, satellite images and aerial photographs were also used.
It should be mentioned at this stage, we are virtual pilots who fly in a
virtual world. Do not expect to be able to pick out your street, or your
house. What this scenery aims to do, is make flying across Florida a more
realistic experience. It is possible with this scenery, however, to find
your way around using an atlas. Joe believes the best feature of the
scenery, "is what you don't see." He recommends a flight along US 70 from
Okeechobee, just north of the big lake, and follow the highway to US 27.
Turn north, and follow the road all the way to Avon Park. I took this
flight, and it was a big improvement having the landclass scenery
installed. I was able to follow highway 70 easily to Placid Lakes, turn
north over US27, and follow this road to a perfect approach at Avon Park
Municipal Airport.
Much work is needed to create scenery which, from the air, preferably low and slow, appears to be real. Real not only in terms of being lifelike, but with everything in its right place. With Florida Landclass scenery installed, instead of square grids in different shades of green and tan, you will find houses, streets, shopping malls, and golf courses. That's right, golf courses. Florida is home to millions of retirees who, having escaped the frozen north and not having become flight simmers or embroiderers, play golf. Golf courses are very visible from the air, and we can now finally see the fairways and sand traps as on a real flight. This is where Joe Watson applies his magic. Noted for his previous add-on files making several cities of the Southeast more realistic, this project was his biggest challenge to date.
The State of Florida is much larger than many realize, so this was a big
project from the beginning. To produce this scenery, the state was divided
into six separate sections, and these all had to fit seamlessly together. I
undertook the task of reporting to you, the folk who really matter, how
well they did. And let me tell you, I gave this scenery a real workout.
I came to Florida on vacation to escape the cold weather 35 years ago, (everyone in Florida has run away from something), and haven't left yet. I've lived on the East Coast, and on the West Coast, and in between. I have many relatives living in Florida, and using this scenery I made a virtual visit to them all!
The Tampa Bay area is very realistic, and I gave this area a lot of attention as several of the files connect there. Great job guys, it all comes together beautifully. Traveling to Tallahassee, the only part of Florida with terrain higher than my stack of monthly bills, I continued along the panhandle to Pensacola. Now, by road or using default FS2002 scenery, this stretch, hundreds of miles long, is about as boring as an old maid's sex life. Florida Landclass Scenery makes it far more interesting. The small towns appear where they should, and I appreciated such detail as many houses being clustered around lakes, which is where the developers like to build them. I had my trusted FSNavigator program active, so I knew precisely where I was at all times, and the scenery is spot on. The scenery gives an excellent impression of what flying over Florida is like. I went looking for the mouse, but it's difficult as this is landclass scenery, and the mouse's home was originally swampland. 275,000 acres of it purchased on the sly in 1965 for a mere fifteen million dollars. This is still quite a bit more than I paid to house my granddaughter's hamster, but I guess it's paid off.
 Landclass scenery |
 Default scenery |
A trip to Key West was interesting. I was a good virtual pilot, and flew
the entire length of Alligator Alley using IFR, (I followed the road), at
3000 feet. I didn't see any alligators, or the fence that runs alongside
the canal for miles and miles and should be named after Senator Bob Graham,
as it goes on forever. Come to think of it, I didn't see the canal either,
maybe in a future release. See what I mean about marketing? However, thanks
to the Florida Landclass Scenery, I did see the little communities that are
present there. When I switched back to the default scenery, they vanished.
The first pair of screen shots illustrates this. The Florida Keys, too, are
quite accurate. Almost to Key West, I spotted a balloon at 14,000 feet.
Guess this is an Easter egg, but it looks like a WWII barrage balloon
painted in festive colors. The highly populated East Coast of Florida is
superb. It was here that I tried the scenery at night. I was delighted with
what I saw. The effect was enhanced with the use of FS Group's night
textures.
To install this scenery, you may put Florida Landclass into your FS2002 Addon Scenery folder, pull up the Scenery library, and add the area in the normal manner. I used this method, as I wanted to be able to alternate between the add-on and default scenery for reviewing purposes. If you use this method, do not create a texture folder, as it won't work. You may also extract the files directly into FS2002 using "folder options," whereby the scenery will install itself, or extract the file directly into the FS2002/scenery folder. The latter two methods are recommended, as having flown across Florida with the landclass scenery installed, there is no way you are going to want to return to the default version.
Some landclass packages replace the FS2002 world scenery texture files, and it is necessary to back up all of your existing files. This is not the case with Florida Landclass Scenery. It consists of six .bgl files, created using the Landclass Assistant program by John Cillis, and may be treated as any other add-on scenery file. The file size is quite small, and it is an easy download and install. There is no detrimental effect on frame rates and I found no conflict with autogen scenery, although I did move the slider back a little.
Don't look for snowy winter textures, this is the Sunshine State, and Joe Watson and Bob Brown have done it proud. I appreciate them sending me six preview copies (they were always tweaking). Thanks are due also to the beta testers, Dexter Thomas, Don Mosher, and Rob Abernathy, who helped make this a truly valuable add-on file.
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