UK guys - Looks like we need to roll our own

  • John Venema has made it pretty clear that photoreal scenery of the UK is prohibitively expensive and that we won't be getting UK scenery from Orbx (and therefore presumably from anyone) for a good loooong while. So, it looks like us UK folk need to roll our own. With that in mind could I encourage IPACS to give a final push to making Goeconvert as simple, automated and bullet proof as possible? The focus seems to have shifted to cultivation but we're now dependent on this tool/process. I'm reasonably progressed on the learning curve but others are behind. Please:

    1. Include the Geconvert helper as part of a best practice workflow, or write your own if you don't want to be dependent on a 3rd party
    2. Max out the error reporting in simple language so we don't need to guess and test as to why certain areas come out blurry or have other problems
    3. When the time is right facilitate the sharing of cultivation files and 3d scenery elements

    One other thought is that if we're now dependent on Geoconvert then a smaller simple download that includes all of what is needed and none of what isn't would be useful for people who need to get into this for the first time.

    If you can't give us UK scenery please make it easier for us to make our own. The folks in Norway are in the same boat.

    Thank you... and thank you for Colorado and tireless debugging and everything else you're doing during your 29 hour days.

    Phil

    P.S. I put this in General rather than Geconvert as it needs general visibility

  • Where's tonywob at? His UK scenery for X-Plane is really great.

    As for ortho-imagery, UK is mostly not too bad, just the occasional cloud and season-difference. It's a shame it's too expensive for Orbx, and especially a shame for Norway. That's the downside to photoreal scenery. Ah well, P3D is still here.

    - Ashley

    P3D v4 / AFS2 / XP11 | Intel i7-4790K oc'ed @ 4.6GHz | 16GB RAM | 8GB Nvidia GTX1070 | Windows 10 64-bit | Oculus Rift

  • Where's tonywob at? His UK scenery for X-Plane is really great.

    As for ortho-imagery, UK is mostly not too bad, just the occasional cloud and season-difference. It's a shame it's too expensive for Orbx, and especially a shame for Norway. That's the downside to photoreal scenery. Ah well, P3D is still here.

    Strange how JV calls it a ridiculous amount of money. Maybe we can persuade him to kickstarter it !

    I'm new to flightsim with FS2. Do you think we can be more optimistic then about 3rd party UK scenery?

  • Maybe if there is high success with AFS2 and Orbx's addons for it he might open up to it. Otherwise it's a shame that some countries charge so awfully much. Clouds and season-texture changes in orthoimagery is a bit of a killer. I'd rather landclass than that.

    Maybe we could Kickstart a flight-sim scenery dedicated satellite so we can own our own orthoimagery, hahaha.

    - Ashley

    P3D v4 / AFS2 / XP11 | Intel i7-4790K oc'ed @ 4.6GHz | 16GB RAM | 8GB Nvidia GTX1070 | Windows 10 64-bit | Oculus Rift

  • I too am dissapointed that orbx won't being doing uk and Norwegian scenery as its too expensive both have some of the most beautiful scenery in the world so looks like geoconvert is the way to go, I have looked at geoconvert read over the tutorials but still get confused on using this software maybe some video tutorials would help I prefer learning From videos rather than going through confusing manuals ok the videos may take some of ipacs valuable time but if more people could benefit from them a lot more geoconvert scenery could be done, also it would be great if user created scenery could be made available for download.

    Jim

  • Well,

    have a look at youtube and you will find several tutorials abouts geoconvert, runway creation and more stuff.

    For example:

    External Content www.youtube.com
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

    Rodeo

  • I would love detailed UK/London scenery & airports and would happily pay/contribute to anyone who would focus on that as a project.

    I can just about create a few tiles with geoconvert but anything further than that is outside my knowledge.

    It's a shame no one is working on UK/England wide scenery & airports at the moment but hopefully this thread will inspire someone to start.

  • ...I can just about create a few tiles with geoconvert but anything further than that is outside my knowledge....

    Hi,

    so you did already the first step.

    Please download the airport design package for AC3D and have a look at the included PDF.

    These are very short and preliminary, but may give you an idea how to go on.

    Next steps could be:

    Design an airport without graphics

    Download openstreetmap.org data and run scenProc to create buildings, lights, and trees.

    Use AC3D as a cheap tool for 3D construction and runway layout.

    Rodeo

  • Honestly I would love to but I really don't have the time, patience or understanding.

    I work in property development but software & mildly complex instructions are too alien for me!

    On the other hand, I would love to pay you to make some UK scenery and London airports! 8)

  • I just re-installed photo scenery for the whole of the UK into FSX. This product series was made by Playsims several years ago, in conjunction with GetMapping. Somebody thought it was NOT too expensive an undertaking back then. This IS possible folks, it's just a matter of co-ordinating the players, finding the pieces, etc. If we want it bad enough, it is do-able.

    - Kenneth

  • I know that some of us, maybe more, from down-under,sympathise with you in the UK and Norway. We too would love to see more scenery/Airports for the whole Country.

    All I can say is good luck, we are on your side, hoping, hoping and hoping.

    Jim (All Blacks, world champions).

    Computer: PB Gaming 62000 Skylake Core i5 6600, Quad Core 3.3Ghz with Premium Cooling, 16GB DDR4 Gaming Ram, 250GB SSD, 2TB HHD, N'VIDEA GTX 1070 8GB GDDR5, DIRECTX12 Gaming Graphic's Card, VR Ready, Windows10 Home Edition, 64bit, 2 x 24" Widescreen HDMI 1080p VDU's

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    Amateur Radio Station: ZL2BMH

  • Because I was one of their first developers (25 years ago), I still have connections to the owner of PC Aviator (Megascenery), and to Just Flight. Let me make contact and see if we can get them interested in add-on scenery packs for Aerofly FS2. Maybe it's time to consider re-entering this industry after all.

    - Kenneth

    Edited once, last by KJKsimmer (November 2, 2017 at 7:08 PM).

  • Because I was one of their first developers (25 years ago), I still have connections to the owner of PC Aviator (Megascenery), and to Just Flight. Let me make contact and see if we can get them interested in add-on scenery packs for Aerofly FS2. Maybe it's time to consider re-entering this industry after all.

    - Kenneth

    Best reply I could have hoped for! Would love you to get involved and make contact with those guys. Let us know what they say and thank you.

  • This is great news. I wonder if there's a way us UK guys can show our level of support for UK scenery. Someone did a plugin survey a little while ago I recall.