Brand
new to the Microsoft flight simulator is add-on scenery using terrain mesh
technology giving the flight sim world the texture or shape of the real
world. This is the same technology that Microsoft used to create the original
world in it's release of Flight Simulator 2000 both standard and professional
versions.
Those
readers using FS98 must understand that the world created in this version
is based on a ground level of zero and everything that rises above that
level is made using polygons to simulate the shape of the earth. In FS2000
the ground level of the world is based on actual terrain heights and therefore
is not flat. The shapes of the earth are created using digital information
available for the entire globe thanks to satelites and other sources for
digital information.
When
FS2000 was released, in order to allow the simulator to run in slow computers,
that is, any computer with less than 128 meg of RAM, a cpu chip of less
than 400 Mhz, and a video card without 3D capability, the terrain complexity
was much reduced. This made for areas of the world where there is no shape
other than coast lines. I'm referring to islands specifically. This is
extremely disappointing for Caribbean flyers given the real world beauty
of this part of the planet.
Microsoft
finally released an SDK for FS2000 covering scenery and terrain which discloses
the technique used in creating the scenery as well as some tools needed
to accomplish the making of bgl files for the simulator. The SDK isn't
written in the clearest fashion and if you are interested in making terrain
in your area it will take some work to decipher the method used. I found
it interesting that once you create your first terrain scenery using their
methods you realize that the SDK could certainly have been written to make
the task much easier to understand.
When
the terrain mesh scenery first hit the net I grabbed it, installed it and
then flew my favorite plane around in it. It was a dramatic improvement
over the standard world found in FS2000 which in turn is a dramatic improvement
over FS98. To be able to fly in your favorite area of the world and to
see the mountains and valleys the way they are in the real world is quite
thrilling. But, no islands except a few of the larger ones have shape.
I contacted
scenery designers, Chris Fisher and Eddie Denney regarding how to create
bgl's using the SDK information and tools. I tried several levels of complexity
and the results were very interesting. I must tell you up front that in
order to get the most out of using terrain mesh scenery you MUST have a
worthy computer. One of our pilots has a Pentium P-III, 900 Mhz with the
hottest video card out today and gobs of RAM on board. He is experiencing
NO stuttering or slow frame rates when using the scenery. I am running
an AMD K6-3, 400 Mhz with 128 Meg of RAM and a Viper 550 video card. I
get stuttering or computer pausing ALL the time while using this scenery.
A few lucky souls have slower computers and are able to run this scenery
pretty effectively but they have just compiled the right combination of
parts to accomplish this. It is not the norm.
The
scenery world in the 'off the shelf' FS2000 simulator appears to be compiled
at a level 6 of complexity which means that digital information of the
earth is taken at every 611.5 meters (1.5 miles) of distance and from this
model the shape of the land is formed. This means that islands with less
than a few miles of land surface will have so little information of offer
the model that the land comes out flat in the finished bgl. Compiling your
own terrain will allow you to make the complexity to fit your computers
ability and may certainly improved what is available in the stock simulator. |