Vfr scenery for fs2004

Hello all. I've just returned to simming after a longish break, and I have fs2004 installed, together with VFR Terrain by Horizon Simulation, and Just Flight's VFR Photograpbic Scenery for the whole of the UK. I've got many downloaded aircraft to suit my particular (pre-war) interests, and I'd like to stick with fs2004 if possible, but I would like to upgrade the visual experience in vfr. Are there any better scenery upgrades available nowadays, giving a less blurry low-level experience? Everything seems to be focussing on later generations of flight simulators, so am I stuck with what I've got? Many thanks!

Try Flight One Ground Environment Pro II and FS Genesis UT Europe.

 

Thanks, Larry. I'll do some research into those suggestions.

Hi Rayburrow,

 

I used to use VFR scenery with FS9, and although it was ok at height, the

lack of autogen scenery took away any sense of realism when closer to

the ground :(

 

I like to fly low and slow in the 1940s - 1950s era, and for me the best

scenery for that is Golden Wings with the brilliant Radio Range navigation

add on, it really gives me a sense of realism and immersion.

 

Golden Wings does mean a second FS install, but the instructions are all

included and it is a simple exercise to carry out. You can find Golden Wings

at Lyn and Bill Lyons website by following the link below. There are loads

of regressed airports and aircraft available for the pre war era.

 

http://www.thefreeflightsite.com/GW3.htm

 

You can find the brilliant Radio range on this site, just type in rr40.zip and

have a look, if you like to fly pre-war, you will probably like this, it has a

steep learning curve, but seems to me to be very realistic, I love it:)

 

Just sharing a few ideas that I have found and enjoyed a long the way,

 

cheers, and happy simming,

 

Richard

Edited June 7, 2019 by HPR7 mad!

I second the recommendation of GE Pro. It installs easily, covers the entire world, and is basically a "set and forget" mod. Downside is it lends a certain sameness to the landscape - all forests look alike, all farmland looks alike, etc. But this is offset by the added detail and a faux 3D effect that looks very nice as long as you are above about 2k ft. It is also compatible with all LC files. It's best to use GE Pro as a base and layer other custom scenery above it (there are always exceptions, I had some photoreal airports for Japan that stood out like bright postage stamps against GE Pro until I disabled all but the airports themselves).

 

As mentioned you will not get satisfactory terrain representation below about 1k-2k ft due to limitations of the system. It would require virtually everything being rendered as a 3D object with high-res textures, and a system capable of putting all that on the screen quickly enough.

Thanks jgf, I've looked into GE pro, but it doesn't answer my needs for a more detailed photographic scenery for the UK, and Europe, unfortunately.

The problem I've found with most photoscenery is that it looks great from 10k ft or higher, but is quite disappointing below 5k ft. Add to that there is apparently no way to create "transition cells" to blend the photoscenery into other scenery, so you have these glaring lines of demarcation (as mentioned about the Japanese airports), and I rarely use it.

 

If you can find it, there is a nice, free, photoscenery of Belgium and Luxembourg, but it's a true resource hog (not as bad as BlueSky scenery, but that is only for the SW US). There's a beautiful payware Switzerland, not cheap but worth it if you fly that far south.

Thanks jgf, I've looked into GE pro, but it doesn't answer my needs for a more detailed photographic scenery for the UK, and Europe, unfortunately.

 

Limits with Photoscenery:

1: Doesn't have variation with seasons - so no spring, autumn or winter textures. Absolutely kills the UK which has quite signifincant variation according to seasonality and no hard winter `fifth season` variation

2: Poor resolution at VFR levels - the very levels you will be flying at, as JGF says

3: Flatness of landscape requires better mesh, and still has no `sticky-up` bits so vital to navigation. `Turn at VRP for train station or cooling towers`

4: No variation in roads or railways - they are all fully exposed, which is not how things are in the real world.

5: Demarcation with scenery adjacent in location, but taken on a different day, or even different season.

Hi Rayburrow Check out my freeware site it’s not photo scenery but upgrades the whole of FS2004 worldwide to bring it more into this decade. It will not interfere with any photo scenery you have installed apart from making its look clearer and bring thing like airports into view from a much greater distance, my tweaks will also improve the visual experience and running of FS9. Links below "I ony repond to email requested"

Howard

 

Web : http://biggles11.wix.com/the-natural-world

Mail : biggles11@btinternet.com

Howard's TNW 2019 rocks!

It's awesome stuff, and VERY worthy of a try!