Italy Sceneries

[aeromed202]

I chanced to fly near Mt. Vesuvius today and, what a surprise, one of the most famous volcanoes on the planet was the usual FS Mt. Blobius. After much searching I found a nice cache of Italian scenery at the link below. Just trying out the Vesuvius file alone made a huge difference so I can't wait to add some more from there. Many thanks to Signor Mazzokan. Maybe everyone knows about this but thought it was worth a post.

http://mazzokan.altervista.org/index.htm

[Naismith]

Another link added to my favs. Thank you.

[hawkeye52]

My minimal Italian tells me that this "is entirely photo-realistic scenery". I do not have any photo-realistic scenery installed because I do most of my flying at relatively low altitude and my understanding is that photo-realistic scenery is best viewed from "fly-over" heights.

What do you opine: is photo-realistic scenery worth-the-effort for flight at 3-5,000 ft AGL?

- H52

[falcon409]

My minimal Italian tells me that this "is entirely photo-realistic scenery". I do not have any photo-realistic scenery installed because I do most of my flying at relatively low altitude and my understanding is that photo-realistic scenery is best viewed from "fly-over" heights.

What do you opine: is photo-realistic scenery worth-the-effort for flight at 3-5,000 ft AGL?

- H52

If you plan on flying and not landing. . .photo scenery is pretty impressive, especially when color corrected to a realistic representation of the area. Understand though that photo scenery has no autogen to speak of, so the closer you get to the ground, the more it resembles a dead planet, lol. I have some, but never use it for that reason.:salute:

[Sunny9850]

Looking at the descriptions in the download tab at least some of these regions actually have autogen, so this will definitely go on the list of sites to check out.
Otherwise I agree with Falcon that photo scenery definitely is of limited use.

Stefan

[beana51]

Yes great stuff.....you may want to try MT.ETNA,an active volcano in Sicily ,Italy'
along with MT.Vesuvio


Both work well with Italy Mesh by Pietro Mauri.



I use these in FS9 and FSX...spectacular eruptions,and in season.,FR Friendly..

File: etna_season.zip
Author: Fulvio Mazzokan
e-mail: mazzokan at gmail.com
http://mazzokan.altervista.org/

File: etna_photoreal.zip
Author: Fulvio Mazzokan
e-mail: mazzokan at gmail.com
http://mazzokan.altervista.org/


File: Vesuvio.zip
Autore: MAZZOKAN
http://mazzokan.altervista.org/
e-mail: mazzokan at virgilio.it


These along with NAPOLI Bulidings,and LIRN,NAPOLI Airport,Capodichino,why bring on the PIZZA,and the CHANTI....CIAO!!

[hawkeye52]

Thanks Falcon. You put into words what I was thinking. I realize now the author was warning us when he states "non-autogen" or something to that extent.

Really too bad: I have a grandson in Italy and he gets a kick flying the sim when he visits. A nice landclass and mesh would be welcome.

- H52

[hawkeye52]

Sunny & Beana -- thank you both. You posted while I was typing!

- H52

[beana51]

HAWKEYE,your grandson may wish to see this part of MT.VESUVIO History....A worthy adversary in WW2...this field is where the ancient city Pompeii was buried.,some 2000yrs ago...some things never change.....Vin

http://www.warwingsart.com/12thAirForce/Vesuvius.html

[beana51]

Got Me on a roll Hawkeye...here in FS9.....

[hawkeye52]

Hey Beana, thank you for the terrific link! Actually, I remember years ago seeing pics of the B-25s affected by the eruption.

The sceenies are very good, but I presume you are NOT using MS default scenery. Can you tell us what mesh, etc.?

Getting back to the link, there is a pic shot from above which shows a B-25 flying over Vesuvius. The plane's image is small but I thought I could distinguish the inscription on the wing...OMG! It is the one-and-only "Finito Benito, Next Hirohito" !!! Ever since a thread was started a few days ago regarding Mike Stone's B-25 and new skins were being promised, I thought I should try to locate the old National Geographic issue that has a full-color overhead pic of that B-25. It would make a unique subject for a willing painter. Thanks again.

- H25

[rich12545]

I've tried different kinds of photoscenery including Blue Sky and Mega. At first it looks impressive but the lack of autogen and some of the strange colors along with blurryness prompted me to take it all out. FSGenesis now has 19m mesh for all of Europe, the US, Canada, Turkey, the middle east and is working on more. That with GEPRO is, imo, far better.

[beana51]

Thank you sir,I was a young kid then,and I remember the incident,it was "HOT" news around the table..Most popular plane,what with the Dolittle raid and stuff!Also do you remember ,The Empire State Building Plane Crash . B-25 Bomber Hits 78th Floor, July 28, 1945??..I do,was there.

B-25s were always in the news then.In the Sim the MAAMS model is tops!


....Years later I climbed that Mountain,and looked down that big hole..still smokes....I asked the people there,were not they afraid??? and the Shrug their shoulders and say "CHE SERA SERA."..what will be ,will be....CIAO. nice shooting the breeze with ya!.Vin!!


At FIGHTSIM....just search LIRN NAPLES!...Ditto at AVSIM...Mr.Fulvio Mazzokan,True artist... good stuff hidden there.

[aeromed202]

I'm right with everyone on photo-real or especially hi-res stuff. I've tried several and always been left with a frown because of the low level blahs-no trees, no buildings, low FPS and always with an all over grainy/lavender hue. I figured that was something to do with my hardware. Too bad because the screenies always looked great. So when I put in Vesuvius I was surprised because it was not like what I found with the rest. The colors looked believable and I even saw some trees. Then I put in the AutoGen file and am still evaluating but so far no big frowns. It looks like picking out certain sceneries will be the way to season FS to taste.

[aardvark62]

Personally I love my photoscenery. Guess it's really a matter of personal preference.
I would highly recommend to all above comments try any FranceVFR's photoscenery product - the colours are excellent and they all have full, custom, autogen.

A.

[ThinkingManNeil]

The seasonal photoreal scenery for Mt. Etna is quite good IMO; it has some of the best representations of small scoria (cinder) cones, lobate flow scarps for Aa-type lava flows, and general colouring and depiction of volcanic features that I've seen in FS2004; I'd love to see Fulvio Mazzokan, the creator of the Etna scenery, tackle the Kilauea/Mauna Loa/Mauna Kea volcanic complex and Haleakala Crater of Hawaii, Iceland, Paricutin and the Michoacan volcanic province of Mexico, the Chaîne des Puys/du Puy-de-Dôme complex of the Auvergne region of south central France, and Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho (I've had a deep interest in volcanoes since I was a kid).

It's a shame that meshes can't be updated periodically to reflect dynamic changes in terrain such as volcanic features as Mt. Etna is undergoing a rather spectacular eruption episode right now (Volcanologist Borid Behncke's YouTube channel) and it's summit has undergone some significant changes.

N.

[beana51]

Yes Sir!..that would be wonderful...a living ,breathing ,thinking Sim reflecting world changes...in terrain,weather,and events.....Who knows??..we come this far,could be some not to distant Sim will do just that......shades off a holodeck....stuff of Si fi Dreams...YET?? one never know do one??

[Wing_Z]

I thought I had photoreal loaded for Naples, but this does look more like GE Pro.





I'm not unhappy with it, but would be nice to see some screens of the PR to compare.

[beana51]

Looks beautiful to me!..."WILL THE REAL NAPOLI PLEASE STAND UP"....the views change hourly there...This area has been painted by artists for centuries..all get it...well almost..so to in the Sim i guess..true for any scenery in life or depictions....here I show MI.ETNA,along with MT. Vesuvius....CIAO!and Thanx!..Vin!

[Wing_Z]

:salute: Good shots, thanks...
I think she's about to BLOW!

[hawkeye52]

Yes Vin, I remember the B-25 / Empire State building "encounter". I too was a kid at the time, living in Queens, where we could see the Empire State bldg from our windows. Of course, we did not see the impact as the top half of the bldg was shrouded in fog -- which as you know is why the crash occurred in the first place. But as you can imagine, it was all over the newspapers, especially the Daily News. The two aspects of that tragedy that most "stuck" in my memory were that one of the engines penetrated an elevator shaft and plummeted down into it; the other was that one of the poor souls aboard the bomber was a serviceman hitching a ride. Talk about bad luck!

- H52

[beana51]

Yes Hawkeye,took the Third Ave, ell,from East Harlem, to go see the damage..Got to 34st,but tough to get crosstown to 5th Ave...yes of course..Fog the culprit!!..Daily News,the Daily Mirror,and the Journal American..news papers covered that well.In the movie houses RKO PATHE' news showed all.

The Empire state Building!....was a great place for a cheap date, up on the 102nd floor, observation deck,now closed,and the 82nd floor....no big deal then,free,and they did not yet install the iron rails to prevent the nuts from jumping!....The innocent world before terrorists,but there were home grown nitwits running around!.I think" KING KONG" did more to make this bldg. famous than any other thing....Thanx for the memories..Vin

[hawkeye52]

I remember my first time at the top of the Empire State Bldg. It was in the summer of '48 just a few weeks before we left New York. My Dad had already gone, so my Mom and I were doing all the sights -- E.S., Statue of Liberty -- all the stuff you can do any time you want, but never seem to get around to -- until there is a deadline.

Speaking of dates, in the late '70s I took a gal to the top of the WTC; it was NOT cheap!!!

- H52

[beana51]

No it was not cheap,or free....so much change in the 60s and the 70s...the rest is history....But looking at the nickle,the Buffalo nickle,in the Slots on the ell train stations ,as it was magnified is a pleasent memory...so too a 3CT stamp...not pleasant was making$ 50. a week...and the depression,pre- WW2!!...stay well

[nigel richards]

I fully understand people shying away from photo-realistic scenery beacause of a lack of autogen.

Don't!

For those wishing to have both; its really very simple, rewarding and fun!

First get hold of the autogen placement tool Agent X (supplied with the also freeware UK VFR pack). This is a freeware tool specifically designed for autogen placement on photo-realistic scenery.
A very flexible and accurate tool, Agent X allows you to precisely place trees, buildings, houses and objects onto the photo-realistic scenery tiles.
This means you can literally place exacly where these objects should be. The program even allows you to place areas of forest, rows of houses etc. and allows you to specify single or multi-storey buildings. It includes moving, flying flocks of birds, animated grazing animals, moving tractors etc.

I found this very useful for airports I regularly fly from. I usually download Satellite tiles for about twenty square miles in the vicinity of an airport, colour correct if neccessary then get blasting away with the autogen. The results can be spectacular!

You'll have fun!