Screenshots

[ZsoltB]

[Tim-HH]

What Tim said !

Hey Tim !,

Do you have it !? We didn't even dare dream about quality like this, didn't we !

Cheers,
Jan

Hi Jan,

yes, absolutely! I already liked the FSX and P3D versions. But it is impressive to see how PMDG was able to improve the quality even further. Now it is truly a work of art

Greetings
Tim

[ZsoltB]

[ZsoltB]

[ZsoltB]

[Manschy]

That's quite cool, Zsolt!

[Bomber_12th]

[Tom Clayton]

I decided to take the whole family on a vacation to Knoxville, so I loaded up the Caravan (no pod version) and headed west. The weather was "partly thunder" most of the way, so I decided to keep it 5K for altitude. If you go to Google Maps and draw a straight line between the two fields and switch to Terrain view, you can see that some of the terrain gets close, but I was above it the whole way. There was one point where I decided to go to 5500' out of an abundance of caution, but I think I would have cleared everything anyway.


Leaving Greensboro



Radar Alt. still had me well above the ground. (I did hear the "500" warning at another point...)



Douglas Lake, with the I-40 and US-70 bridges featured very nicely...



The Tennessee, Holston, and French Broad rivers all meet at the point you see on the left of this pic.



Lined up on final with just a small crab and otherwise smooth air.

[jankees]

jk6176 by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

jk6177 by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

jk6179 by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

[Bookman1960]

[Bookman1960]

[K5083]

This weekend I happened to discover the "4 Seasons Pack" by Bijan Habashi, of which v5.1 was released today on Simmarket (where you should buy it) and the MSFS Marketplace (avoid - the encryption messes up the install of this mod).

This is an integrated version of various vegetation mods that Mr Habashi has released over the past several months. To put it simply, it transforms the landscape in wonderful ways, and if you are a low and slow VFR scenery peeker like me, you should consider getting it.

There are several features of this mod, and broadly speaking, it breaks up the monotony of MSFS vegetation in 3 ways. Firstly, on a local basis, it introduces many more shades of green to the trees, making any landscape look more realistic and interesting. Secondly, it puts regional and climate-zone-appropriate trees where they belong, introducing many new tree types, from magnolias to giant saguaro cacti, greatly increasing the distinctiveness of different environments. This includes specific special trees where they belong, like rhododendron forests in China or stands of giant redwoods in California. Thirdly, it introduces seasonal variation, from blossoming spring fruit trees to autumn color.

The modeling and placement is impeccable. (Well, okay, people have pecked at it. But it's very good.) You know how we have skinners like our own John Terrell, who make repaints for planes based on extensive research and close-up familiarity with the real planes? Well, Mr Habashi is the John Terrell of trees. John makes skins to please rivet counters, and Rijan makes trees to please leaf counters. They look great whether beside the runway 100 feet from you or miles away in the landscape. Mr Habashi is constantly updating his app, he is active on avsim and the official forum, and he usually response to quieries within hours. He has a fantastic attitude toward suggestions and criticism, never gets huffy or acts like you owe him gratitude for taking your money for his mod. A true gentleman and he puts an amazing amount of work into constant updates. I believe at the moment he is working on doing some sub-seasons, like late spring and early summer, and custom projects like where to add cypress trees.

So here are some quick shots from today, showcasing landscapes improved by this mod. I went back to spring to catch the cherry blossoms in Washington DC; explored some fall color in Peru at around the same time; and cruised over my neighborhood, enjoying just the right sprinkling of blooming fruit trees among the other spring leafage.

August

[Navy Chief]

Scenery? What boat?? NC

[Bookman1960]

"...Scenery? What boat?? NC..."

Scenery is default NYC

Yacht is my personal project [hopefully shareable soon] which I was able to finally get into the game.

My lesson learned after I got my drivable ship in MSFS? "don't always believe what forums 'experts' say can't be done" -- keep your dream alive and find a way!

[Navy Chief]

"...Scenery? What boat?? NC..."

Scenery is default NYC

Yacht is my personal project [hopefully shareable soon] which I was able to finally get into the game.

My lesson learned after I got my drivable ship in MSFS? "don't always believe what forums 'experts' say can't be done" -- keep your dream alive and find a way!

Now that is just way too cool! Your yacht reminds me of the one in "The Final Countdown" movie. NC

[Bookman1960]

"Splash the Zeros! I say again...Splash the Zeros!"

[Bookman1960]

Another delightful diversion from this past weekend...

K-28 by George Diemer

Truly stunning in MSFS

[Bomber_12th]

So much cool stuff in these recent posts!

Bookman, I love the vintage 1920's style yacht! I do hope you'll be able to share it when completed. George Diemer's dirigible looks very good in MSFS too. Hearing that name again, I can't help but think how cool it would be to have a new Sikorsky S-38 and S-39, built with all that MSFS has to offer, to go exploring Africa with like Martin and Osa Johnson.

Jan Kees, that black & orange paint scheme on the Mallard is by far my favorite I've seen yet. For a color scheme like that, I very well might end up having to purchase that addon.

August, thank you for the heads-up on the "4 Seasons V5.1" addon, it looks very well done! In addition to the larger variety of tree species, I also latched on right away to the leafless trees displayed in the winter screenshots, which will definitely add much more realism when flying over my neck of the woods come the months of November through March. I was just browsing Simmarket a couple weeks ago and I couldn't believe the volume of products on there that I had absolutely no clue of.

[Bookman1960]

Couldn't agree more!

Still working on this lovely old gal but...

So much cool stuff in these recent posts!

Bookman, I love the vintage 1920's style yacht! I do hope you'll be able to share it when completed. George Diemer's dirigible looks very good in MSFS too. Hearing that name again, I can't help but think how cool it would be to have a new Sikorsky S-38 and S-39, built with all that MSFS has to offer, to go exploring Africa with like Martin and Osa Johnson.

[Bomber_12th]

I didn't realize you had been working on bringing the S-39 into MSFS. It is looking quite good too!

Here are a few screenshots I took the other day in Peru, exploring the ancient 'Palpa Lines'. Unfortunately the resolution of the aerials is too low to be able to see the smaller, more charismatic anthropomorphic drawings. These are just some of the geoglyphs that can seen flying all around the area in MSFS (others I didn't take screenshots of).

[ZsoltB]

[jankees]

jk6226 by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

jk6224 by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

jk6220 by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

jk6223 by JanKees Blom, on Flickr

[Bookman1960]

[Bookman1960]

[Bookman1960]

A Classic