Very first impressions

[Johnno]

Just downloaded VLC and its marvelous.

Flew down around lake te anau, intending to do a lap of the kepler track - I walked it about 20 years ago.

I wasn't sure what valley the track walked down, but I spotted an area the track goes through known as the "big slip" - in 1984 a huge landslide left a big area (probably 50 acres) on the valey floor cleared of vegetation - this is modelled in VLC!

Great job guys, NZ has possibly the most diverse types of landscapes in the smallest area in the world, and VLC really brings NZ to life with perfect detail.

[Ian Warren]

John , this one thing i picked up on how this landclass really throws you you into a different world , some things that you recall , least how see saw them 20 years back , as good as it is still requires a little work but its the major stand out features that VLC has done so well .

[GlennAV8R]

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Had a fly around Ruapehu and the Desert Rd last night, absolutly stunning. The detail is fantastic, perfect for VFR. Screenshots dont do it justice. I took off from Waiouru, flew around Ruapehu and back. Blown away. Thanks again guys.

[IslandBoy77]

And the view from our friend GE:

[Chairman]

Wow !

[Ian Warren]

Great compare Peter , Glen , we will see a further series and one for the screenshot compo

[Timmo]

QUOTE (IslandBoy77 @ Sep 15 2010, 01:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And the view from our friend GE:

GE in summer, FSX in the deep of winter I might add

[IslandBoy77]

QUOTE (Timmo @ Sep 15 2010, 05:24 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

GE in summer, FSX in the deep of winter I might add

Yep - GE can't do snow. Perhaps someone can post the VLC summer as a direct compare? Not trying to bag VLC - was just interested in the diff: love VLC!

[spongebob206]

VLC is outstanding to date.

Love the area around WU and WN.


Might head south.

Cheers Guys

[GlennAV8R]

]

QUOTE (IslandBoy77 @ Sep 15 2010, 06:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep - GE can't do snow. Perhaps someone can post the VLC summer as a direct compare? Not trying to bag VLC - was just interested in the diff: love VLC!

Summer view of Tongariro and winter view of Ruapehu.

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[Scupper]

[attachment=323:Whatipu.jpg]

[attachment=324:Piha.jpg]

This is an area I know pretty well, - out west of Auckland, Whatipu and Piha. They're with the Supercity scenery but seem to look a lot more realistic with VLC. The VLC mesh has made Lion Rock stand out nicely, - I think this is superb scenery, - it's just what the places look and feel like.

[Ian Warren]

Scupper , all you need now is Chris Brisland s brilliant NZFF Catalina paint

[Scupper]

Cool! Just found it, - thanks for the suggestion!

[Rotordude]

I would like to add to this thread on my first impressions. Please do not take this as a gripe session.

On the release of VLC I jumped straight in and purchased the product, it installed flawlessly and away I went started flying out of some of my real life favorite spots. The WOW factor just did not hit me, the screens were not what I was seeing in the advertising and promotional blurb that was being posted around the forums....... WHY? I was asking myself, it looked hideous and patchy I did not want to use this product it was ugly and that was my thoughts being nice.
What turned out was I have FSscene and GEX North America with GEX Europe installed. I disabled FSscene and things did improve a lot, but not to what was ment to be. GEX made NZ look nice but not real, still patchy and was still very messy in most areas.

I was not going to give up as the GEO of this product was fantastic, flying over a known area and knowing exactly where you are is awesome to say the least.
I had to go on a mission, install FSX on another computer so I could get access to the default MS textures. What I done was copied over all the series 2b textures into the VLC texture folder making sure not to over write the custom bitmaps.
That was when VLC and New Zealand in whole just POPPED out it was gorgeous, fabulous, there was New Zealand in all its natural simulated beauty.

If I was to give VLC a mark out of 10 at the initial beginning I would have only gone a 2 to 3.
Once all the default textures were in place VLC got the big 2 thumbs up and a 9.99995 (10 being perfect, and no one is)

If I could make a recommendation it would defiantly be to include an option to install what ever default textures VLC calls into the VLC texture folder so people don't get the heart sunk feeling I got of thinking I had just burnt $65.00 of hard earned cash. It will make the package larger but would be worth it most defiantly.

Timmo this is a world class definitive product and I have falling in love with it, orbx probably wont be getting any money from me in the near or far future.

Very happy now after a bit of hard graft, I tip my hat and give you a standing ovation

Pete

[Timmo]

I'm glad you got it sorted in the end Pete- Some questions if I may (not having FsScene or GEX installed)

Do either of those packages give an easy way to disable the textures in them? Or is the only way to uninstall? If so, approximately how long does an uninstall/re-install take?
Do these packages make backups of the default MS textures? If so, what is the path to these?

As you've probably figured out, replacement texture packages can really mess things up. Good packages should give an easy way to turn them off without a full uninstall, but a lot of the earlier addons didn't do this (I guess on some kind of assumption that they would be the only addon used?)

[Rotordude]

Hey Tim sorry about the late reply. The GEX installers have a backup system and those files go to the Root of FSX in a GEXn-Backup folder, sorry I cant give you the FScene folder as that has been fully deleted (was one of the "I wish I didn't purchase) packages.

I cant see any way of disabling the GEX in the setup application, but you do get the option to backup. unfortunately for me the backup was a mix of FScene and default textures. GEX is way to good to remove it makes the world look awesome and did so with NZ with the Red Baron NZtopo but not entirely accurate.
Best way was to use the default ***b2***.bmp textures and copy them into the VectorLandClass\texture folder. Simple and nice fix for the price of some drive space.

[spongebob206]

What more can I say

VLC sooo classy.

As real as it gets just got better

[nzav8tor]

One thought on this great product...

Real NZ Wellington features a little plug for the Red Baron scenery on a bill board, is this going to be updated to advertise VLC?

[toprob]

QUOTE (nzav8tor @ Sep 23 2010, 05:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

One thought on this great product...

Real NZ Wellington features a little plug for the Red Baron scenery on a bill board, is this going to be updated to advertise VLC?

No, it's fully paid up till the end of the century...

[SgtPepper]

I recently bought VLC, a fantastic addition to my growing flight sim interest... next major outlay, real NZ collection... Cheers