News- 100 miles visibility

[Simmo W]

Do we need 100 miles visibility? Better ortho views up close versus broader vis? I personally find the current visibility ok, if we could have better global DSFs. At least more news is trickling out..

Sounds like a big job still to go. Place your bets on release date! 25 June (2011! .. Non-beta) my guess.

http://xplanescenery.blogspot.com/2011/01/100-mile-visibility.html

[Kesomir]

nice catch

[dan]

Of course we do. Don't be silly

But yeah, it sounds like they have a long way to go still... Just hope they don't rush it either having to drop a feature or gradually introducing it over several versions. Been waiting so long for version 10 so what is another 6 months as long as the quality isn't sacrificed or features left out...

[Simmo W]

Of course we do. Don't be silly

But yeah, it sounds like they have a long way to go still... Just hope they don't rush it either having to drop a feature or gradually introducing it over several versions. Been waiting so long for version 10 so what is another 6 months as long as the quality isn't sacrificed or features left out...

Ha, yeah, we should get it all, 100mls of Reno quality scenery, globally. Each update will take a year to download and cause the lights to dim, even worse when we load it up to our Core i12s! Yep, will prefer a carefully planned and tested release, won't uninstall 9 until we know 10 works well. But d be happy with 50miles if I get intelligent AI dinosaurs

[Paraffin]

Here's the thing about 100 mile visibility. There are some parts of the world where there are geographic landmarks that really define the area, and it doesn't look right without them. I live in one of those areas: Puget Sound near Seattle, which is dominated by Mt. Rainier.

On a clear day, I can see Mt. Rainer 100 miles away at ground level, let alone up in an airplane. The whole Puget Sound area just doesn't look right, without it. With X-Plane's current visibility limits, Mt. Rainier doesn't look at all realistic. You can't even see it until you're already flying close to the foot hills. You never get to see the classic postcard image of the mountain. Same thing with Fuji in Japan, Popocateptl in Mexico, or any other distant, clearly visible landmark mountain.

Ideally, there would be a way to have X-Plane recognize prominent landforms like this, and display them at a distance without having to draw everything out to 100 miles. But that's probably not going to happen. It's easier to use the brute force approach, and just force visibility out to 100 miles.

[Malchaeus]

Paraffin, that's it exactly. I live in eastern Colorado, and to not see the rocky mountains until you reach the front range foothills is weird. Greeley might as well be in Nebraska.