Textures for VFR

[jefferysitz]

Ever since FS2002 the VFR capabilities of the stock install have not been too good. The roads are usually there but starting in 2004 and getting worse in P3D the towns are difficult to find even from 1000 or 1500 ft agl.

 

Does anyone have a suggestion for something that would make vfr flying a little easier? Mostly a different texture for towns, more buildings in towns, etc? I really don't know much of the market or what to even look for.

 

Is there anything in P3D that would help for that matter? I just wondered if there were a slider that would draw more scenery objects in densely packed places. Away from the cities, it seems that the autogen just randomly puts out trees and buildings without really grouping them in any way.

[jmig]

Depending on where you want to fly, the FTX/Orbiz scenery packages are perfect for VFR. Orbiz also make a general building/tree replacement package that works within PD3.

[Jim Robinson]

What you need is some addon landclass, it's like a map that tells the sim which type of ground texture to display at a given location, i.e "Small city suburban grid wet", or Large city suburban non-grid dry" or "Mixed coniferous forest", etc. The default landclass is pretty plain, they didn't depict every tiny little town, an addon landclass will fix that to a degree. I use FSGenesis US Nat'l Landclass Project for FSX but of course that only covers the US, it's also a bit dated I think. "SceneryTech" is a name that comes up a lot in landclass discussions. You may have a look at that. Also any FTX/Orbx regions will come with excellent landclass (and dozens of other enhancements) but the coverage areas are relatively small.

[jefferysitz]

I have and use the FSGenesis mesh, but I take it that the landclass is something different.

 

95 percent of the time I am flying at 2-4 thousand feet in the lower 48 states. Yes, that sounds like what I need, for VFR flying you need all those small towns for navigation.

 

I can't afford a huge amount of money, so I would be looking for a product with most of the 48 states that will just allow me to navigate. It doesn't have to be beautiful.

[jefferysitz]

Just checked FSgenesis and they have a 1.2 km landclass for $9.95 US. I am considering getting because the price is right and it should play well with my FSGenesis mesh. The mesh works fine on P3D so hopefully the landclass would too.

 

I am also thinking about the Scenerytech as well though because their North America is only $18.95 and looks very good from their pictures.

 

Anyone have experience with either of these?

 

Anyone use either of these in P3D?

[lnuss]

I have and use the FSGenesis mesh, but I take it that the landclass is something different.

 

Yes -- mesh shows all the hills and valleys, river beds, etc. while landclass says this is a town, this is a city, this is a forest, this is desert, etc.

[Jim Robinson]

I have the FSGenesis LC and it seems pretty detailed, if anything small cities are played up a little more than they shoud be but it does make VFR navigation easier. It did a good job of depicting my home state (Idaho) in FS9 and later FSX. Now I have FTX Northern Rockies (NRM) and Central Rockies (CRM) for my state with mesh, textures, landclass, hydro polys, roads, traffic, etc. and that covers up the FSGenesis but when I fly out of the NRM/CRM coverage area the FSG LC is layered underneath so it shows for the rest of the US (using FTX Global ground textures/autogen).

 

Jim