Vector Land Class vs Combo Scenery of NZ

[Scupper]

I don't know a great deal about how scenery works, but...

I have the Godzone FSX collection and Supercity, which are truly fantastic. The abrupt change north and south of Auckland into Texas-type light brown scenery is a big problem for me though and I want my NZ to be greener and more realistic.

Seems like Combo Scenery of New Zealand,...

http://www.simpilotshop.com/index.php?page...=com_virtuemart

... is a great way to achieve a more overall realistic look, including roads, rivers and mountains.

Trouble is, it looks like the NZ Vector Land Class is likely to appear soon, ...

http://flightsimtopo.freeblog.co.nz/

... and that looks great too (though presumably without accurate roads etc) and I'd hate to waste my money (if I buy the combo) for the sake of a month or two. I understand my Godzone scenery will sit nicely on top of the Vector Land Class, which mainly changes the underlying default stuff.

Either way, I can't wait to get a proper New Zealand , but does anybody know how the two (Combo vs VLC) will compare? If I have Vector Land Class, would it still be good to have the Combo Scenery? How are they likely to dovetail with each other?

[toprob]

From the VLC website:

QUOTE

Properly classified roads and freeways for the whole country[/quote]
...plus rivers and streams.
'Roads and Rivers' was designed for FS2004, and was revolutionary in its day, but VLC is FSX from the ground up. Let me know where you live and I'll show you your street....

[NZ255]

No, VLC has everything you get in Roads and Rivers (with up to date data) and more.

[Scupper]

QUOTE (NZ255 @ Apr 15 2010, 10:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, VLC has everything you get in Roads and Rivers (with up to date data) and more.

Darn, - now I'll have to wait.

Rob, - I live in Springfield Rd, Western Springs, Auckland. It would be very cool to see the road if you can manage it.

Many thanks.

[ZK-MAT]

QUOTE (toprob @ Apr 15 2010, 10:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Let me know where you live and I'll show you your street....

Longview Drive, Papamoa

[toprob]

QUOTE (Scupper @ Apr 15 2010, 10:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Darn, - now I'll have to wait.

Rob, - I live in Springfield Rd, Western Springs, Auckland. It would be very cool to see the road if you can manage it.

Many thanks.

I was planning to do this first thing, but I got side-tracked flying Mt Cook Tekapo Omarama, real weather, REX2, VLC... Did I say I was a fan?

Anyway, here's a rough comparison. Note that the default FSX has a great road dataset, which is another reason why 'Roads and Rivers' make such a difference in FS2004 -- the roads it adds are now part of the default NZ.
Here's default Auckland:


...and VLC:


...and Real NZ Supercity:


Papamoa dips out big-time with default, as at about 500 metres wide it is well below the resoluton of 'standard' landclass, at 1.2km:


...but VLC's vectors can define much smaller areas:


Another Real NZ shot, although Tauranga is the weakest photo scenery outside the airport area.


One thing which makes VLC great for me, is the impression of distance on the horizon -- in the default (top) you could be seeing any generic view anywhere in the world, but with VLC you just want to fly up there to have a look...

[pilotgallagher01]

QUOTE (ZK-MAT @ Apr 15 2010, 10:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Longview Drive, Papamoa

My friend lives down there! Red Toyota Corolla lol
Mite have seen you drive past

[ZK-MAT]

You've sold me Rob! I think I will put up some comparisons of my current FSX and FS9 of our area to see the difference.

Pilotgallagher ... we're at the Milford by the Park end of Longview, can't say I have looked out for a red Corolla, but I have a white Mazda SP23 that's usually in the middle of our drive

[Ian Warren]

The best compare is your eyeball , The best scenery is one that can tell you your home , the other scenery is the one you recall , to be able to place landmarks from half a century back and say Oohp's .. jezz that still there .. VLC on its own , Hmm , how many people buy a book or a mag and study a photo in front off them ,

You then place a photo real scenery following Robins compare , I'm in no dou,t the both go together , I say this because Robin has spent so much time blending areas even to match the default , to have VLC come in and mesh/blend .

I dont want to loose the photo real ... but there are areas that simply cannot be correctly covered unless we have Tim's VLC ' Vector Land Class ' ..... the country is so dynamic , Heck have the oppitunity to try and compare , check regions ... now requires the eyeball , its surprising when your told what to look for in your backyard , you will find it .

[Scupper]

Wow, - thanks for that, Rob.

Clearly, RealNZ plus VLC is the way to go.

So, - erm... when's VLC going to be available?

[markll]

Dammit WHEN IS THIS COMING OUT!??!?!???

Got to have it! I do most of my flying out of NZPP (with Robin's Godzone NZPP) since I live almost right next door, but there is a really noticable difference between the photoreal coverage and the default bits that I'm assuming the VLC will make better....

/me: jealous of all you beta testers...

[Ian Warren]

QUOTE (markll @ Apr 16 2010, 09:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

jealous of all you beta testers...

Jealous , nah , you would be surprised how much work , well not so , to pause study , look again , study .. not sure , build .. yeah maybe , tonight we found (multiplayer) fliers a point now requires a lotta work to fix or to figure what went wrong , they don't have the beta ( that pee's them sometimes when i comment ) but these are area s you find in FSX , could it be an affect caused by third party or was it .. what , something we did ?

I look at the Virtual NZ (Godzone - RealNZ and VLC ) in a way that betters anything you can buy , I compare and at times choke , many are not up to scratch or to any standard , i like to compare this to many products , fact is , when its done , your going to like it !

[Timmo]

QUOTE (markll @ Apr 16 2010, 08:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Dammit WHEN IS THIS COMING OUT!??!?!???

Got to have it! I do most of my flying out of NZPP (with Robin's Godzone NZPP) since I live almost right next door, but there is a really noticable difference between the photoreal coverage and the default bits that I'm assuming the VLC will make better....

/me: jealous of all you beta testers...

haha I realise it must be a real PITA waiting but I'm reluctant to set a firm release date just because whenever I do, I discover things that I think will be easy to do but then turn out not to be.

Case in point- In the beta, the inland water is screwed because I had to revert to the older style draped water polygons. In order to fix these I need to create a whole terrain model covering the country which, obviously, is a big job. It does have the upside of adding another product to the VLC list (i.e. a 20m mesh), but it takes time (This particular job is close to completion though- I may even have it finished this weekend)

We are certainly getting near the end though-Robins texture work is looking really good I must say.

So, patience is still needed- It will result in a better product

[markll]

QUOTE (Timmo @ Apr 17 2010, 01:52 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So, patience is still needed- It will result in a better product

Fair enough - its just damn hard watching from the outside, and seeing the excellent results you've managed to achieve so far, yet still not being able to us it myself! Keep up the good work tho, and you can be sure I'll be buying it as soon as you DO release it!

QUOTE (Ian Warren @ Apr 17 2010, 02:15 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Jealous , nah , you would be surprised how much work , well not so , to pause study , look again , study .. not sure , build .. yeah maybe , tonight we found (multiplayer) fliers a point now requires a lotta work to fix or to figure what went wrong , they don't have the beta ( that pee's them sometimes when i comment ) but these are area s you find in FSX , could it be an affect caused by third party or was it .. what , something we did ?

I look at the Virtual NZ (Godzone - RealNZ and VLC ) in a way that betters anything you can buy , I compare and at times choke , many are not up to scratch or to any standard , i like to compare this to many products , fact is , when its done , your going to like it !

Hi Ian, actually, I'm acutely aware how much work goes into these sorts of things...I do commercial software development for a living, and so I know only too well just how much work goes into finding and ironing out the bugs in a product before releasing it! I've been involved in more seemingly endless test-fix-restest-fix again-retest again cycles than I can remember!!

[waka172rg]

QUOTE (markll @ Apr 17 2010, 05:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Ian, actually, I'm acutely aware how much work goes into these sorts of things...I do commercial software development for a living, and so I know only too well just how much work goes into finding and ironing out the bugs in a product before releasing it! I've been involved in more seemingly endless test-fix-restest-fix again-retest again cycles than I can remember!!

WOw HAhaha

[tdale]

So, patience is still needed- It will result in a better product


Where/what site(s) will it be available?

Are you expecting weeks or months? (Not trying ti tie you down, just hoping to get a ballpark)

[Timmo]

Initially it will be available from Windowlight.co.nz but we are, of course, looking into other online stores and boxed products.

I would like to say weeks, but realistically, it will be longer than that

[Adamski]

Please, peeps ... don't force them to speed up/cut corners

Ask anyone who's bought the latest in the Silent Hunter series (SH5) ... it's *appalling*!!!! A classic case of the "get it out of the door" syndrome.

I've beta-tested a few sim-related products in the past and there's nothing worse than a deadline

[cowpatz]

Actually the Airsimmer A320 Basic wins that competition hands down.

[AndrewJamez]

I heard on FS Break that air simmer's airbus pro version has being stopped, they are starting a whole new build to some insane level of detail, problem is it took them 6 years to release the basic version so what now?? thery are srewed