LAGO TerraMesh Europe 2002

By Victor Knight (21 October 2002)

Above ground pool?

With each release of Microsoft's Flight Simulator, the ability to fly VFR, spotting familiar landmarks, becomes more plausible. However, the simulator's high standard has me wanting more and more. Just can't get enough of that candy!

Terrain in the US, including Alaska, seems to be very real and largely accurate, but when I venture to my native Britain, the scenery appears to be non existent. Bearing in mind the great number of flight simmers in the

Bleriot approaches Dover

UK, many of whom make tremendous contributions to our hobby with great add-ons, etc. surely they must feel short-changed. No doubt the rest of Europe feels cheated, too.

As an example, I recently opted to recreate Louis Bleriot's first flight across the English Channel, which took place in 1909. A visit to the Golden Eagle Squadron web site provided me with a wonderful Bleriot XI created by Joe LoGrasso and Bill Lyons. I was even able to download the flight itself! Firing up FS2002, I found myself sitting in this wonderful

FS2002 Default Gibraltar

vintage plane, in pouring rain, aimed towards Dover. Halfway across the Channel, I naturally began to look for the famous white cliffs. Imagine my disappointment when I realized they did not exist! The coastline was as flat as Twiggy's chest. Not believing God created the cliffs after 1909, I was convinced British flight simmers had been given less than their fair shake of the FS world.

Still looking for a satisfying VFR experience, I decided to fly to Gibraltar. In real life, flying into the airport at the rock is quite something. No way could that big old chunk of real estate not be there. And indeed it was there, but only a shadow of its real self; not much more than a pimple really. There had to be a better way, and I discovered it with Lago TerraMesh Scenery 2002.

TerraMesh Gibraltar

The TerraMesh scenery is available for much of Europe. It is broken down into several different areas, and I began with the files for England and Wales. One word of warning: these files are HUGE! (The complete set of Europe is 1.2 Gigabytes), but they are well worth the downloading time involved. As a senior citizen who has to make choices between prescription drugs, flightsim add-ons, and food, the low price of less than $5.00 US for each area made these files a "must have." Purchase on-line is uncomplicated, and the required "key" to use the program is e-mailed immediately upon payment.

Installation is simple and straightforward, and a manual is provided using Acrobat Reader. This document gives excellent advice on frame rates and some interesting history on the development of the mesh. The programming is

Raised airport effect

by Thierry Pignot, and his skill definitely brings the British Isles to life. Flying Bleriot's crossing a second time, with TerraMesh installed, the cliffs at Dover appeared as they should, a little over 400 feet high. Thrilled at the wonderful new terrain, I just had to download the file for South Spain, which includes Gibraltar. Sure enough, the rock is now the correct size and shape, and I can live with the VOR planted in the rock's face!

There are some other unusual effects, too. Airports created in FS2002, are placed on rectangles at one altitude. If the real life airport is on a slope, usually the highest point is used throughout. This causes some problems for the TerraMesh which is 98% accurate. The effect is something like having the airport on a raised platform. This does not happen at all

Flying low and slow

airports, and the few where it does is a small price to pay for the superb scenery. I also noted some strange bodies of water, some even looking like above ground swimming pools! I suppose the reason is similar to the step effect at some airports. There are some plusses, too. In FS2002, Autogen scenery places objects according to the terrain, and the accurate mesh creates some pleasing effects.

LAGO advises you fly low and slow to fully appreciate just how beautiful this scenery is. For sightseeing I like to use the wonderful Tiger Moth collection by Lynn and Bill Lyons. In VC mode you get a unique "beside the plane" view that is just perfect for exploring, and explore you will. The TerraMesh scenery does a lot more than add a few lumps and bumps to the countryside, it brings it alive! There are wonderfully satisfying depressions in the ground for example, that really gives the scenery a sense of depth. No longer will you look at a mountain and think, "Seen one, seen 'em all."

Airport closeup

Minimum system requirements are given as Pentium II 500 MHz, with 128 mb of RAM. I tested the scenery with a Pentium III at 700 MHz with 256 mb of RAM. With the frame rate target locked at 15 fps, the scenery loaded and ran as smooth as silk. Words cannot express how wonderful this product is, if you love VFR flight in Europe, TerraMesh by Lago is a great buy.

Victor Knight
VictorKnight@msn.com

Visit publisher LAGO at http://www.lagoonline.com

Visit Golden Eagle Squadron at http://windrfters.com/