Godzone Subscription Wellington + Flightbeam NZWN

[toprob]

I'm looking for someone who is happy to test a few things, to see if we can get the Godzone Subscription Wellington photosceney working well with Flightbeam NZWN. So if you own both, and are keen to help, please let me know.
As Godzone Wellington includes a 5 metre mesh, this may need to be removed, as it looks like Flightbeam just relies on a big flatten for the airport. This would cause edge 'cliffs'.
There is a bit of overlap with aerial images, unfortunately, so LOD-switching may be problematic. This may just depend on what people can put up with.
I don't intend to buy FB NZWN until I've released NZCH, so I can't test it myself.

[ranm]

Happy to help

already started moving files out of the GodzoneNZWN\scenery directory to see what is left. I have a bit of an issue with parking, mainly a dash-8 parked in the Sounds Air gate, but this could be related to the AI

just let me know what you want me to test and I will report back

Ran

[toprob]

Cheers, Ran.
Probably best to just deactivate GodzoneNZWN completely, the photoscenery is separate, and it is this which I'm keen to test.

EDIT: sorry, one small spelling error and really stuffed that up! Of course I meant to deactivate it!

[ranm]

sure, will try shortly and let you know

Ran

[ranm]

so as far as I can see, the scenery around the airport is OK. I do get heaps of horrible orange trees on top of the photoreal scenery on the hills around the airport, and the traffic is not 100% aligned with roads. there are some roads missing and issues with elevation around Frank Kitts park, Queens Wharf and Jervois Quay.

as requested I deactivated NZWN completely so no stadium or other noteworthy buildings.... reactivating the scenery without the airport objects seems to be OK too.

the main issues with elevations are around Island Bay, just south of the golf course - perhaps that's the edge of the FLightBeam scenery?

in general up close the photoscenery is wrapped around the mesh creating a wavy weird effect on roads, parks etc. strange watching traffic on the motorway going over the photorealistic bridges....

Ran

[toprob]

Ah, ok, I'd forgotten that the city POIs are all in the airport folder.... the problem is I'm thinking ahead, to when I can release the photoscenery finally. In the meantime I'll give some thought to existing users.
I wonder how much difference it would make to disable the elevation mesh? This is in the GZ9446Photo\scenery folder, and called a_Wellington_DEM_5m.bgl. In the future I'd just trim the mesh coverage to exclude the airport and peninsula...
The airport itself has a 2 metre mesh, and it's a shame it has to go.
This may be a long process, as I can't let myself be side-tracked too much while I'm trying to finish NZCH:)
It would be shame to lose this photoscenery, even if I've given up on a Godzone NZWN. I know I can't keep getting excited about photoscenery, if Orbx ever really do a TE NZ then it all becomes obsolete really. The goal is to have a consolidated base, rather than bits and pieces everywhere, and Orbx have the skills and resources to do this.

[scaber]

I do have both but, as I've upgraded my computer and am reinstalling everything, it's going to take a while to find where Godzone Wellington is to reinstall it. When I fo I'll give it a shot and see what happens.

[ranm]

I removed the mesh, which sorted most issues, though seems like the autogen is still glued to the 'ghost' mesh in places, which results in floating houses which only drop and align with the scenery when I get close. sorry, if this make no sense - its hard to explain. but if one stays over 1500 ft over the city it's not a big deal

I left the NZWN scenery activated, but only with the city objects. I think this is a good compromise.

Ran

[toprob]

Ok, that makes sense. Any future update of the photoscenery will include a trimmed mesh, then. Mesh in Prepar3d is still a problem, with LOD jumping -- normally the default mesh loads first, then you get a 'kick' as the higher LODS of the addon mesh are activated. This is one of those issues which I keep hoping a sim update will solve, because it does detract from the impact of a nicely detailed mesh. If you are seeing houses etc resetting their elevations, then this is probably causing it. Floating houses, on the other hand,are another issue, I think.

Thanks for the report, Ran, that really helps.

EDIT: I've just seen a thread on AVSIM regarding this mesh issue, which seems to be a problem with Orbx/Flightbeam in NZWN as well. At least it's being discussed, which may fire up LM to look at this in the future.

[ranm]

Thanks Robin. the houses are resetting their elevations so yeh...

I have managed to loose the Hawkings Hill Radar dome. any idea how to bring it back or update the scenery to place a dome on that hill?

Regards - Ran

[toprob]

Good question.
This really depends on what you used to see. Real NZ Wellington didn't have a dome, as this was already depicted in both VLC and Orbx NZNI. The VLC version was actually depicted by a default observatory object, whereas Orbx have a tableau which I call 'guarding the phallus', a couple of guys standing in front of a ball on a stick. Untextured on my sim, for some reason, which may be a good thing, if it was flesh-coloured I'd freak out... That's all in the spirit of humour, by the way, and in no way detracts from the admiration I have for Orbx! If I didn't have a go at them now and then, they'd probably worry that I had gone off them...

Any future full release of Real NZ Wellington will include a proper radar dome, probably, depending on whether or not I forget to include it.

EDIT: I'm not sure if it'll include Woofington's Luxury Dog Stay, just up the road, though...

[ranm]

he he he

well, there always SimDirector....

Ran

[toprob]

Although I'm pretty much committed to NZCH for a while (working towards X-plane and Aerofly FS2 versions for a while yet after the Prepar3d/FSX version) the Wellington photoscenery is still a real option. I have two kids living in Wellington, and they both are keen to have me visit. Ha, they'll learn...

I have said I'll visit after I release NZCH for Prepar3d, so if I plan it right I should get to see a lot of the place. I still have thousands of city photos, which I haven't even sorted through yet.

So Woofington's might actual be on the agenda!