EU Netherlands TrueEarth - alpha shots!

[NoLonger]

8 hours ago, Mike707 said:

I love how the new tech looks and the thought of flying over real terrain and accurate autogen interests me greatly. That gives the user much more to explore. Day one purchase for me.

 

I think (and hope) most people will think this way.  No matter what country Orbx would have chosen for this new tech, I would have bought it anyway! I am just very excited they those the Netherlands!

[sun_king_135]

Thanks for the answer, John Venema. I hope it's okay, if I ask more precise, if Germany is also scheduled for the photo scenery upgrade and if it is also scheduled for X-Plane 11?

 

The reason being Germany is my home country. Therefore I appreciate your patience and answer.

 

Kind regards.  

[Benny]

14 hours ago, J van E said:

I am just wondering how many people are interested in my flat country.  But well, maybe a lot of people are very interested in this new tech and approach and they will all get it, no matter what country it is. 

 

Exactly, I will purchase it but because of the new tech. And I will probably wait for the AF2 version.

 

I have no real interest for flat region

Ben

[John Venema]

Just to address some questions about loading, performance, texture blurring etc. I just installed an alpha build and flew a bunch of circuits around EHAM and Amsterdam city.

 

- It looks absolutely fantastic!

- Loading is very quick

- Performance very good (30-40fps most weather, GA aircraft, most sliders maxxed)

- No texture blurring at all (P3Dv4.1)

- Great performance in VR with Oculus Rift (not getting 45fps but no need to use ASW, it's smooth enough).

 

 

[NoLonger]

[sightseer]

18 hours ago, J van E said:

 But well, maybe a lot of people are very interested in this new tech and approach and they will all get it, no matter what country it is. 

 

that's pretty much where Im at.  I just want to see the new tech.  The Netherlands sounds like a fine place to start to me.

 

and John - that second shot is awesome.   

Edited November 3, 2017 by sightseer

[Mike707]

 

3 hours ago, John Venema said:

Just to address some questions about loading, performance, texture blurring etc. I just installed an alpha build and flew a bunch of circuits around EHAM and Amsterdam city.

 

- It looks absolutely fantastic!

- Loading is very quick

- Performance very good (30-40fps most weather, GA aircraft, most sliders maxxed)

- No texture blurring at all (P3Dv4.1)

- Great performance in VR with Oculus Rift (not getting 45fps but no need to use ASW, it's smooth enough).

 

 

Stunning visuals and excellent news related to performance. Cannot wait to give it a go in VR.

[stevefocus]

Looks amazing JV can't wait for release.

[tdavart]

I've always been impressed how Orbx can put photo-tiles together with autogen and make it look so natural. None better. However, can't say I would have been eager for a Netherlands region, but with this new method I'm in. Will make for some great sight-seeing flights, in spite of the flat terrain. I would love for you guys to redo England with this, it deserves it. I would buy that in a second. And can you imagine Hawaii??!! Just one request, can you make sure to use area appropriate static aircraft at the upgraded airports? (no Frontier Dash 8's)

[Nirgal76]

Very beautiful...but so flat

[steeveoh]

Just stunning guys!  I've purchased and tried so many addon sceneries.  Now I use ORBX products exclusively in my sim.  Can't wait to add this one too!

[norfolk mike]

As someone who was born in Eindhoven, and has visited family there for many years, obviously I have a personal interest in this region which will influence my  purchase. In fact, I didn't think I would buy any more 'regions', because whilst I can appreciate the craftsmanship and passion involved in making them,  landclass based scenery just doesn't excite me...that much.

 

I  had to ask myself, if this 'new tech' had been applied to a region I had no prior interest in exploring via a flight sim, would I still buy it, and the answer would be yes.

 

Personally, I'm a photoreal junkie, and I suppose (for me) the difference would be this; If I fly (OrbX) from Compton Abbas to Old Warden in the A2A Cherokee, it undoubtedly looks lovely, given the dawn or dusk light, haze and 'soft clouds' (from REX). The flight can evoke a nice feeling, and as a PPL holder since 1986, it does have a certain realism/familiarity about it.

 

However, if I were to do the same flight over a photoreal England, that too has a 'realism' to it, but in a very different way. In OrbX I tend to 'feel' the surroundings, whereas in photoreal, I tend to pay more attention to them, whilst acknowledging the fact it feels maybe a little sterile in comparison. Maybe it lacks spirit, I don't know, but its probably the point where photorealists and OrbX'ers often part company.

 

Genuinely, I like both, but on a recent flight from a photoreal Netherlands, over a photoreal Belgium and into a photoreal France, with the autopilot set, at 5000 ft, I found myself totally immersed in the landscape, in a way you simply cannot using land class scenery. Its hard to describe, but you look down on houses, farms etc, and ponder the daily lives of the 'invisible' people down below, you look at the rail tracks that will be taking commuters into work, and somehow you just feel more connected to it. Anti photorealists will point out that once you've seen your own house, you've seen it...big deal, but its not my own house I'm particularly interested in, its everybody else's!

 

Ah, but its a flight sim, not a Google Earth app they'll say, but please, behave! Flying can be, and often is all about switches, knobs, charts and ATC, with the landscape being just a peripheral 'thing' outside of your zone of concentration. It can also be quite spiritual, where you can ponder things about the outside world in a way that few non aviators can really appreciate, and that's quite a privilege. A glimpse of an old world war two hardstand, a Napoleonic battlefield, a castle on a remote hilltop when seen from the air can give you a sense of history, space and time like nothing else, and then you hit a piece of aerial photography taken in the autumn, abutted to a section taken in the spring, and the illusion is ruined!

 

I'm genuinely excited about this 'new tech'. It'll merge the best of two worlds, and finally, the separate elements of flight will be brought together. Okay, for reasons of practicality we may never see a complete world, let alone a complete continent, but for GA flights, I'll take quality over quantity every time! And if OrbX then decides to create photo real destinations such as the Greek Islands, the Balearics, Canaries, I'll be downloading a KLM livery for my PMDG 737 and basing myself at Schiphol!

[Hans Bodde]

28 minutes ago, norfolk mike said:

 

Flying can be, and often is all about switches, knobs, charts and ATC, with the landscape being just a peripheral 'thing' outside of your zone of concentration. 

 

Like probably more people over here, I fly in real life as well. One of the main reasons is because I love the way the world looks from up there. I mostly fly gliders to escape knobs, switches and noisy stuff, so I can enjoy the actual flying

[norfolk mike]

Gliders look fun! I'm not sure you'd get me up in one, but I can appreciate the perspective! I live close to the RAF base at Marham (UK), and during the summer months, its not uncommon to see gliders performing lazy turns overhead. It looks so peaceful, but last year, my illusion was shattered! I don't know if its a common thing (I've certainly not seen it since, or before that day), but two 'gliders' shot over my house propelled by what I can only describe at 'jet packs'! They sounded amazing, but quite a contradiction .

[NoLonger]

2 hours ago, norfolk mike said:

I'm genuinely excited about this 'new tech'. It'll merge the best of two worlds, and finally, the separate elements of flight will be brought together. Okay, for reasons of practicality we may never see a complete world, let alone a complete continent, but for GA flights, I'll take quality over quantity every time!

 

Great post!

 

Recently I've been flying over FTX (landclass) regions with Google in my iPad active so I can look for pictures of how things actually look like down there. Not to compare the overal picture of it (which obviously doesn't look too real) but to get an idea of how the houses look and which POI's there are. It makes the generic landclass come alive because I can imagine how it looks down there in real life and I sort of place those Google pictures on top of the generic scenery. This greatly enhances the experience and turns a very generic area into a unique one. Well, with this new tech things REALLY are coming together! Can't wait for the release!

Edited November 4, 2017 by J van E

[Hans Bodde]

4 hours ago, norfolk mike said:

, but two 'gliders' shot over my house propelled by what I can only describe at 'jet packs'! 

Jet sustainers! they're getting more common, and yes - the are noise buggers. Here is a JS1 (=pr0n with wings) with a sustainer.

 

 

 

[RALF9636]

On ‎02‎.‎11‎.‎2017 at 1:04 PM, John Venema said:

 

Some of them. Pacific Northwest (excluding Canada) will be the first. We are looking into other new USA regions being photoreal as well.

 

 

 

These are fantastic news!

I have always been hoping for full regions in FTX quality with full photoreal coverage. I would happily say goodbye to the landclass system forever even if the products will cost a lot more due to the costs of the imagery.

 

Any chance for Germany being updated to full photoreal?

 

Edited November 4, 2017 by RALF9636

[alex330]

Those previews look fantastic!

 

May I suggest something for the "hard winter" season:

In the Netherlands there is hardly a full snow or ice cover, even in the hard winter months - just like in the adjacent countries

Even very cold days with temperatures below 0°C don't nessecarily mean much snow, it's more like this.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ac/bf/3e/acbf3e626f142bcd55b0295f9f89e650.jpg

A "patched" look with patches of snow as well as brown/green areas might be more suitable,  if the photo processing allows something like that.

[pmb]

5 hours ago, RALF9636 said:

 

Any chance for Germany being updated to full photoreal?

 

I would toss 250 € into a kickstarter photoreal Germany project by ORBX. Take me on my word.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[Sundancer]

Alex, you are driving me crazy....! 

This is my favourite sport in winter season, but unfortunately it is so seldom that we can skate over the frozen lakes and canals.

WIth so often lack of 'natuurijs' we have to go to the artificial icerinks, but we do have many of them ;-)

 

You are right with the snow coverage.

 

Cheers Fred

[alex330]

Hi Fred,

no offence intended

I'm living in Germany, near Cologne.

It's quite flat here, and we've got the same snow problem.

 

Cheers, Alex

 

[mgr]

Hiya,

 

Screens looks already very good!!!

 

Maybe needless to say, all accurate information on the current Dutch Airports can be found here:

Civil:  http://www.ais-netherlands.nl/aim/

Military: https://english.defensie.nl/topics/milaip-military-aeronautical-information-publication

 

Some pointers:

- EHGG (Eelde, Groningen Airport) runway 01-19 will be deactivated from dec 2017, will become a taxiway.

http://www.ais-netherlands.nl/aim/2017-10-26-AIRAC/eAIP/html/graphics/eAIP/EH-AD-2.EHGG-ADC.pdf

 

- EHOW (Oostwold) no in the standard FSX database, became a offical ICAO airport few years ago.

http://www.oostwold-airport.nl/

http://www.ais-netherlands.nl/aim/2017-10-26-AIRAC/eAIP/html/eAIP/EH-AD-2.EHOW-en-GB.html#AD-2.EHOW

 

- As mentioned EHLE, Lelystad airport will be expanded, current state and state of end of the year can be found here:

http://www.ais-netherlands.nl/aim/2017-08-31-AIRAC/eAIP/html/eSUP/EH-eSUP-2017-07-en-GB.html

 

- Deelen AB (EHDL) main runway is for the most part deactived, yet the northen part is complety new and active (even got a ILS installation):

https://www.google.nl/maps/@52.0594139,5.8741169,3189m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

If more detailed info is need, just give a call.

 

Regards,

 

Marcel

 

 

Edited November 5, 2017 by mgr

[jellef]

On 2-11-2017 at 6:47 PM, Neil Hill said:

Hi Jelle,

 

Yes, EHLE is included but not the extension.  If Eugene can get updated PR for that extension area I'll be glad to do it but without the updated PR it would just look wrong.  If anyone's interested there are currently 25 airports and 13 gliderports in this Netherlands "region".

 

Cheers, Neil

Hi Neil,

 

We have some information available about the extended runway, new taxiways, etc. Also pictures of the new terminal builing and a number of interesting links. Most of the written information is in dutch, but where necessary I can translate. If you are interested it's best to send this by personal mail. Please let me know.

 

Cheers, Jelle

[Rimshot]

6 hours ago, mgr said:

If more detailed info is need, just give a call.

 

Good points Marcel. In case they are missed, maybe good to post them in this thread as well.

 

 

Edited November 5, 2017 by Rimshot

[hansmatthys]

Hi John,

 

I would be so pleased and I am sure a lot of Belgian ORBX fans as well, if you would be so kind to include BELGIUM into this release.

The images above are really amazing!

Wonderfull work been done.

All credits to you and your team.

Thanks for considering this if you want ....

Regards,

 

Hans

[sim123]

should be nice if luxemburg will be added too, then you have all Benelux as full region what bring nice complete coverage

together with united kingdom and Germany.

 

 

[NoLonger]

Well, if you add Belgium and Luxembourg you might as well add France too. And Spain maybe...? Portugal? Africa? 

 

Just kidding.  

[RALF9636]

17 hours ago, J van E said:

Well, if you add Belgium and Luxembourg you might as well add France too. And Spain maybe...? Portugal? Africa? 

 

Just kidding.  

 

Sure, everyone wants "his" country in that quality. You Dutch guys are lucky - looks like Germany had the bad luck to be the last region without the new photoreal technique...

 

So I will be ready for some flights over the border to NL soon ...

 

 

[fly2012]

Not really new this technology, Flugwerk is using it for Austria HD and it looks stunning indeed.  Too bad im not able to use both of them in one sim. Tried everything, no chance.

[kiki]

The more I look at these pics, the more excited I am.

 

This can be a big steps forward in our hobby. I wish we would have a real opportinity to fly gliders (in a realistic way) above these sceneries!

[JimNZ]

I'm looking forward to seeing all these fine Dutch citizens in Clogs, holding tulips in one hand while lined up, with a finger in all those dykes

 

Seriously, beautiful as always.

Jim.

Edited November 7, 2017 by JimNZ

[Sundancer]

Yeah...and we are wear wooden shoes 

Nevertheless, there are still some eldery farmers wearing them and of course the tourists in Volendam......

 

Cheers Fred

 

[Mikael Cedergren]

I like how the communicy come together like this to help Orbx out in making the best product possible  Personally I find that I learn a lot as well about the Netherlands from following this thread. Very nice!

 

Mike 

[Sid]

2 hours ago, mikced76 said:

I like how the communicy come together like this to help Orbx out in making the best product possible  Personally I find that I learn a lot as well about the Netherlands from following this thread. Very nice!

 

Mike 

 

Likewise...feel the same Mike. Educational, constructive, friendly and fun all in one place  Really nice thread indeed! 

[Wim Butte]

Hi John, I'm the Dutch guy you met at Cosford last month and I was very excited to hear from you about your plans for the release of photoreal scenery for the Netherlands. The Alpha pictures look even more exciting! 

 

Yet I would like to make a comment. I happen to live in an area on one of the pics. This area is called " Spaarnwoude ' and is very near Schiphol. It is a rural area with only a few farms and some free standing houses. I noticed on this particular picture 4  relatively large white industrial buildings which in reality are not there. As I said only farms and houses. I am attaching the pic with markings. I realize this is not even beta yet and I hope my small contribution will help to make the final product as good as it can get! Thanks! Wim

[mquaedflieg]

On 04/11/2017 at 9:14 PM, alex330 said:

Those previews look fantastic!

 

May I suggest something for the "hard winter" season:

In the Netherlands there is hardly a full snow or ice cover, even in the hard winter months - just like in the adjacent countries

Even very cold days with temperatures below 0°C don't nessecarily mean much snow, it's more like this.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ac/bf/3e/acbf3e626f142bcd55b0295f9f89e650.jpg

A "patched" look with patches of snow as well as brown/green areas might be more suitable,  if the photo processing allows something like that.

Even this is a lot of snow for the Netherlands, showed circumstances are maybe once a year for a week or max a fortnight.

[PatrickZZ]

On 1-11-2017 at 4:15 PM, J van E said:

 

I think it's the Netherlands only. I do have to say I wonder how things will look near the border when photoreal meets FTX Global, specially in places where you are bound to see a lot of Belgium or Germany, like around Susteren in Limburg where the country is rather small. Maybe the photoreal will pass the border a little everywhere...? But well, I am sure the Orbx team will make the transition smooth.  

 

That's my concern as well. Maybe we can get some screenshots of the border areas. So far all screenshots have been of the Randstad region in the west of the Netherlands, I'm curious about the east and south. Specially where you can see the border between photoscenery and landclass.

 

For example, some screenshots at Weeze airport looking from the Netherlands. I know Weeze is located in Germany but extremely close to the Dutch border and very popular with the Dutch people. Will the border be obviously visible or will it be smooth? So far that question has not been answered.

[NoLonger]

5 hours ago, PatrickZZ said:

Will the border be obviously visible or will it be smooth? So far that question has not been answered.

 

Well, I think Orbx is capable of making the transition smooth, at least with Global and also with FTX Germany. I actually hope some parts of Belgium and Germany will be photoreal too because, in addition to what I posted, my concern isn't only what you will see when you are flying near the border: the country is so small that you will probably be seeing a lot of Belgium and Germany even if you are flying (high) further away from the border! Flat as it is, you usually can see a long way into the distance.

Edited November 12, 2017 by J van E

[Sundancer]

Furthermore, the very south of The Netherlands, called "Zuid-Limburg" is one of the most beautiful parts of our country. Actually it is the only part that is 'un-Dutch' so to speak. 

I agree that this part needs extra attention for a smooth transition.

 

Fred

[NoLonger]

2 hours ago, Sundancer said:

Furthermore, the very south of The Netherlands, called "Zuid-Limburg" is one of the most beautiful parts of our country. Actually it is the only part that is 'un-Dutch' so to speak. 

I agree that this part needs extra attention for a smooth transition.

 

Fred

 

Yes, I think it is impossible to fly there without seeing Belgium or Germany all the time.