Land of the Morning Calm- part I

[user2]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jan-02-02 AT 09:38AM (EDT)[/font][p]I don't have any screenshots just yet, but keep reading...


Just curious. Has anyone in this forum even been to South Korea within the last few years? I've lived there for about 1 year several years back. I have lots of photos of South Korea, 2 photo albums, both 2 inches thick, mostly in places with lots of buildings and people...

...which brings me to my next point. In a realistic sense, South Korea is home to about 46 million people (and that was back in 1997, could be higher now). when I'm flying over Korea in the sim, you'd think it was home to about 20,000 people or something. What I know to be as the "Land of the Morning Calm" must be the "Forgotten Land" to Microsoft. They must've spent more time building up North American scenery and places people visit more frequently, like Rome, Tokyo, London, New York. I thought Seoul was big. I believe it's the world's 7th largest city (correct me if I am wrong, please- my facts are pretty outdated).

You may have heard that the Koreans are known for building "up" and not "out", for example, the city of Los Angeles (they've got that place spread all over). And with that in mind, that could've been Microsoft's intent (although I haven't done Japan yet), but then again, there would be higher buildings, or more denser ones at that.

For those of you that have been there in real life, you'll definitely see what I mean, if you've gotten around to see most of the country.
-Some places are very accurate, like the Kyongbok Hwy 1,
especially the thickly wooded areas between Suwon and Seoul.
Taegu is very accurate, as it was in FS2000. If you also
happen to be flying there and want realism, set visibilty to
a very low setting, about 3-10 miles. This is normal in
Korea due to air pollution in many areas. In areas near Seoul,
I like 3 mile visibilty as it gives the sky a pink and hazy
look, makes really cool looking screenshots.
-And then for the inaccurate places. Seoul is much larger than
what it is in the sim, as it extends south of the Han River (in
the sim it stopped at the river on the northern shore). Suwon
is quite large and pretty much has mountains around it, and if
you're at the top of one of them you can see the city on 3
sides of you. To the south of Suwon, there is a town called
Osan (not to confused with Osan AB), and then the base (but
there is a town around the base), then pyongtaek, than R-511
(otherwise known as Camp Humprhey's, where I was stationed),
than Chonan to the South. There are a lot of rice paddies in
these areas, but where there are hills there are mostly pines,
not barren land as it appears in the sim.
Also I believe Chon-ju is way off- I thought that was due east
of Kunsan, but I may be confusing it with a city of a similar
name.
-I haven't checked out much of the east in the sim, but have
liked what I've seen so far. If only they put the heli-pad
for Pilsung Range near Taebeksan on there--bonus points! bonus
points!

Microsoft did a pretty good job on the eastern end though. And the scenery is as spectacular as it is in real life.

And by the way, the only place in Korea I know that has palm trees is Cheju-do (Cheju Island). :-hmmm

With all of those wonderful thoughts in mind, stay tuned for screenshots- maybe I'll even throw in some real stuff to give you who haven't been to Korea a good idea of the land and terrain, and what you can compare it to in the sim. Give me a day or two. I'll take requests of a certain area in Korea for the time being if you'd like, just let me know.

:-wave

Ciao Ciao!
From the beautiful Italian countryside,
Scullmaster

[user2]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jan-03-02 AT 03:01AM (EDT)[/font][p]BUMP! ;-)

No special requests? Anyone...anyone? (Buhler? Buhler?)

Here's the plan. I'm looking at posting at least 3 pics, doing a comparison with the real look. So as soon as I get home from work and get on FS2K2, what you should expect to see is a real photo versus a sim photo of the exact or adjacent location. Here are the areas you can expect so far:

1. Suwon-Seoul; thick wooded area off hwy 1 as seen in real
photo
2. Seoul center or thereabouts-
3. Osan and vicinity- you'll see a big difference
4. particular area I believe is south of Wonju (I have a real photo of this place but I need to research this in the sim and on a road map of Korea)
5. screenshot of Taegu and surrounding mountains (sorry no real photo available for this one).

I will try my best to recreate the event as it was (we're talking 1996-7, so not too far back), using appropriate seasons and weather conditions (nothing fancy...but...)

Although I don't know of many Naval facilities in Korea, I felt that the appropriate aircraft of choice for the occasion would be the historic Corsair model. Not only does it give me outstanding fps, but it looks and sounds awesome.

My estimated completion goal for this project is Friday (will be morning time in North America, afternoon in Europe).

And if you really enjoy this first installment, I'm thinking about doing one for the area for which I currently live, the northern Italian countryside, circa Aviano.

More to follow...don't mean to keep you waiting but I'm sure the hype is good. Have a great new year folks.

Ciao Ciao!
From the beautiful Italian countryside,
Scullmaster