Horizon VFR Photo Scenery for FSX

[RAF_Quantum]

Hi,

If you are thinking of buying this software to enhance FSX you can pop onto the Horizon Simulations web-site where you can buy each of the three volumes currently available for £29.99 each or all three as a bundle deal for £69.99

alternatively...........................pop over to Play.com and buy them for £17.99 each:

http://www.play.com/Games/PC/6-/GenreBr ... &ob=rating

Rgds

John

[DaveB]

As an addition to Johns post.. DON'T go to JustFlight for a similar offer. They don't have Part3 in yet and won't ship until it comes in (due at the end of this month.. or so they say) ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[ChrisHunt]

Also read the forums at Horizon before laying out the hard-earned. Some users experience significant stutters when using Horizon's Generation X. Most appear not to have problems but it's worth checking before buying. Also useful to see screen shot comparisons between the Horizon and Just Flight products.

For the record I have severe stutters with Gen-X and cannot use it until I upgrade (although I have no problems at all with FSX without Gen-X enabled).

Regards,
Chris

[Trev Clark]

I agree with what has been said, I get stutters after about a minute and they really muck up the whole joy of this product. FPS are good or better than default, but the rough ride given by the stuttering ruins this. Also do not fly anything faster than 100 kts. or you will get blurring. Having said that I did a trip from Goodwood to Lands End with just a road atlas when I first bought it, that was quite fun.

[DaveB]

Chris..

You've made a point there re Horizon and JF VFR as I'd assumed they were the same thing (as I'm sure did my assistant manager who's currently waiting for it to arrive) :o Oh dear.. I'm going to have to break the bad news now :roll:

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Trev Clark]

Hmm, I thought they were the same (Just Flight often just re-package things) but I am now not sure.

I am certain that the Getmapping source will be the same and the screenshots look very similar http://www.justflight.com/img/screensho ... NCPX-L.jpg


However, why not try the 100mb demo available here http://www.justflight.com/product.asp?pid=204# (at bottom of page) and try it out first!

[DaveB]

Hi Trev,

He's had this pack on order for weeks now (FSX+VFR1,2 and 3) at a price comparable to the Horizon offer some months back (hence why I thought it was the same stuff) and it's only when he emailed to see where it was that he got a reply that part 3 wasn't ready and I became a little suspicious as I have part 3 sitting 2ft away from me :roll: We've had a look on JF and they most definately aren't the same thing.. JF's VFR is 9m mesh as opposed to 5m mesh from Horizon and the spec reads you need 12gig free for each area and Horizon's is 35gig. He's going ahead with the purchase (especially after I'd showed him my st..st..stuttering FSX with GenX) and if it runs better, I might buy it myself!! Better to have original 2002/04 VFRPhoto quality scenery that runs well than either the default poo or speech-impared GenX The blurb says that they've used the latest digital images for it so we'll see. I'll report back when it finally arrives and he's installed it. Latest est for part 3 is 21st Sep (last week.. it was 14th Sep!) :roll:

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[DaveB]

Sorry for dragging John's HU on the Horizon software slightly off track but I hope you'll see the diversion is a natural one given what's been said above

I've downloaded the JF Demo and given it a quick run.. a comparison of the default and JF areas can be seen below..


My initial impressions were of the overwhelming brilliance and inaccuracy of the default textures plus the rather blue/green tint of the JF scenery but if you spend a little time over the demo area, it's actually not that bad and the blue/green tint isn't so obvious. I've not tried to 'up' resolutions and settings as advised in the JF blurb so what I saw could look much better (notwithstanding the colours of course) but given that the UK doesn't look like Tuscany at any time of year and the fact it ran very well, I'd take the JF option over the default any day. There's always a danger that a 'full' load will have adverse effects (as the poor folk who tried the Horizon demo.. found it worked well so forked out for the full version only to find it st..st.. stutters!) so I'm gonna sit tight and see how it runs on Lee's system.. when it all arrives

Provisionally.. it looks better than the default and not quite as good as Horizon but runs a quantum leap better. We shall see ;-)

ATB

DaveB :tab:

[Trev Clark]

I wonder if the JF is actually 1 metre resolution, if not that would explain the difference in size, having said that I only have Vol 1 of Horizon and it covers all of Sothern England from Essex to S. Wales.

Just put it back into FSX and since SP1, I think it might have got worse! I am only getting 19 FPS (with stutters down to 12) when I can get 20-24 with default in open countryside now.

[DaveB]

Trev..

This is the blurb that comes with the demo..

To get the best from the scenery you should go to the FSX Display Scenery
options screen and make the following selections.

"Level of Detail radius" should be set to Large
"Mesh Resolution" should be set to 10 m
"Texture Resolution" should be set to 1 m
"Land detail textures" should be ticked
"Water effects" should be set to High 1.x or High 2.x

To uninstall the scenery either run the installer again or select the
Just Flight VFR Real Scenery Demo entry in Add/Remove programs

The scenery is located around Coniston and Windermere in the Lake District.
To reach it either fly NE from Barrow in Furness (Walney Island - EGNL) or
go to the FSX load flight dialog and select the supplied flight which will
start you on the water in a Beaver floatplane.

This demo area is just a small section of a series that covers the whole of
England and Wales in 4 volumes. It contains 1m per pixel photoscenery and
10m mesh


The photographic images and terrain elevation data provided in this product
are supplied purely for use with VFR Real Scenery within Microsoft (TM)
Flight Simulator X. They remain copyright of GeoPerspectives™ and may not
be used for any other purpose.

ATB

DaveB :tab: