BeaverDriver Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 G'Day all. For the first time I've been flying around many of the newly acquired fat airports near Seattle in the PNW area. I've been noticing that things seem to be awfully brown. Very few of the fields seem to have crops in them making the ground look more like early Spring to me. I'm wondering if I am having an issue with the seasonal textures for the region or if I might have something else installed somewhere that is overriding these textures? My computer and sim time are set to the current date. Please have a look at the screenie below: Notice how very few of the fields seem to have any crops growing in them at all. This seems to extend over the entire region with only the well treed/forested areas in the mountains appearing green. Is this correct for July? Contrast the shot below taken near Reading, PA with Global and Vector installed: This tends to be a little more like what I would expect for this time of year, especially given that the U.S. northwest tends to be a pretty wet area (albeit less so in summer, but it's definitely not a dry region). Basically I just need to know if what I'm seeing is correct. If not, then I'll start troubleshooting at my end, starting with other installations that might be conflicting. Many thanks. Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorvay1971 Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 This could be a core issue (and/or function) with FSX. Remember, FSX gives you the ability to specify your season as Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Once you have done so, FSX will call upon the textures associated with that particular season. I doubt it is a fault of ORBX as they just "enhanced" the textures (FTX Global) to look better than stock FSX. I suspect with the upcoming addition of OpenLC North America, they may rectify this issue. I would agree that when flying during a particular time of year in different parts of the US (or even the world, for that matter), it would be nice to see the overall rural scenery look more accurate to that time, but then you would have to account for several different types of data collected over the years, like rainfall, agricultural growth, etc. and that would seem to be a major pain in the butt. I suppose that as long as the scenery looks close to accurate, that should be all that matters. Sorry, I probably didn't address your issue correctly, but what I stated above may be some food for thought. Do you have "the big three" installed (FS Global Mesh, FTX Global, FTX Vector?) If so, then your scenery should be showing correct, according to how it was all designed. -Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Sandmann Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Hi Glenn, those dry summer textures are by design and, back then, we did quite a bit of research on seasonal changes in the PNW agricultural areas using airphotos from various dates. The PNW is well-known for having dry summers (it's actually the reason why the coastal forests are not formally classified as rainforests even though some areas receive more annual rainfall than tropical counterparts) even though it varies from year to year; this year seems likely to be even drier than normal. Attached below is one of those reference airphotos we used and it matches quite well with your first screenshot. It was taken in May yet there already are plenty of dry-looking fields and it only gets drier as the summer progresses. Obviously, we are restricted by the FSX seasonal system meaning the summer textures have to represent both the beginning and the end of the dry period, including whether fields have been harvested already. Here's a link as to the specific months a given seasonal variation appears throughout the PNW coverage area: http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/18695-pnw-textures/?p=162697 Cheers, Holger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jabble Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Hi Glenn, I was going to have a look, but those screenies are a little small to make out the coords - can you type them out? Edit: Ah, Holger's answered it already! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeaverDriver Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Thanks Gents. @Holger - thank you for looking into this for me. That satisfies my curiosity on this and I believe I have the proper textures showing given this. Appreciate your time. @Jim - Yup, everything installed. My assumption is Global and Vector will be overridden by the full blown PNW region anyway so there's not likely to be anything of those showing through at this location anyway. @jabble - it's pretty much anywhere in the Seattle to Oregon area, as long as you aren't in the mountains (the clear cuts are a whole other matter and look extremely convincing - I've seen a few too many of those things IRL). Thanks for your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fltsimguy Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Hi Glenn, those dry summer textures are by design and, back then, we did quite a bit of research on seasonal changes in the PNW agricultural areas using airphotos from various dates. The PNW is well-known for having dry summers (it's actually the reason why the coastal forests are not formally classified as rainforests even though some areas receive more annual rainfall than tropical counterparts) even though it varies from year to year; this year seems likely to be even drier than normal. Attached below is one of those reference airphotos we used and it matches quite well with your first screenshot. It was taken in May yet there already are plenty of dry-looking fields and it only gets drier as the summer progresses. Obviously, we are restricted by the FSX seasonal system meaning the summer textures have to represent both the beginning and the end of the dry period, including whether fields have been harvested already. Here's a link as to the specific months a given seasonal variation appears throughout the PNW coverage area: http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/18695-pnw-textures/?p=162697 Cheers, Holger Which is all the reason why I live in this region, and you should see it this year, it looks golden brown more like southern California. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeaverDriver Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Yeah, that really surprises me. I have a minor in Physical Geography and I would have sworn this region would be super lush and green. It's always rather neat when one learns something new, and I did today so it's a good day. Enjoy the heat wave . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holger Sandmann Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Hi guys, here's a Flickr album from a local GA flight I was a passenger on about a month ago. The fields and meadows are still fairly green but you can already see how non-irrigated areas were starting to turn golden, as Brian mentions: https://flic.kr/s/aHskdvGGCg Cheers, Holger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fltsimguy Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Nice tour Holger, thanks. Looks like a perfect flight up island and back, with lunch and pie in Qualicum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorvay1971 Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Thanks Gents. @Holger - thank you for looking into this for me. That satisfies my curiosity on this and I believe I have the proper textures showing given this. Appreciate your time. @Jim - Yup, everything installed. My assumption is Global and Vector will be overridden by the full blown PNW region anyway so there's not likely to be anything of those showing through at this location anyway. @jabble - it's pretty much anywhere in the Seattle to Oregon area, as long as you aren't in the mountains (the clear cuts are a whole other matter and look extremely convincing - I've seen a few too many of those things IRL). Thanks for your time. So if you follow the "flow" in the ORBX manual, then you should be good to go. You should also note the section in the manual about setting FTX Global correctly (dependent on where you fly). -Jim Hi guys, here's a Flickr album from a local GA flight I was a passenger on about a month ago. The fields and meadows are still fairly green but you can already see how non-irrigated areas were starting to turn golden, as Brian mentions: https://flic.kr/s/aHskdvGGCg Cheers, Holger Thanks for sharing Holger. That is an impressive album of beautiful shots. -Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voyager Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 Beautiful photos Holger! A very nice place indeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeaverDriver Posted July 7, 2015 Author Share Posted July 7, 2015 Really cool stuff there Holger! Hey, maybe put Qualicum on the Orbx "to-do" list ? Nice area and a good location (my preference would be for Port Hardy, but hey, either would be great!). I do see what you mean with the textures. Very interesting stuff here. Thanks again. Oh, almost forgot - love the sign, "This aircraft is operating with a deferred defect..." . Funny, when I was flying passengers commercially in 185's and Beavers, I heard people saying that a lot. Strangely, they were looking my way when they said that. I'm sure it was just coincidence . Thanks again all for the help. Much appreciated. Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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