announcement Announcing Himalaya Mesh for Microsoft Flight Simulator!

[Orbx]

 

We are pleased to announce the next instalment of our successful Microsoft Flight Simulator mesh product line - Himalaya Mesh.

 

Known for its characteristic features of soaring heights, alpine glaciers and jagged peaks, the Himalayas (or Himalaya which is derived from the Sanskrit words of snow abode) is home to the highest mountains in the world. 

 

Himalaya Mesh has been carefully blended from 3 different sources resulting in a crisp 10m resolution to give you a truly unique experience in the area. This is also by far our largest in terms of coverage area with an installation size of just over 20GB. 

 

Like our other Microsoft Flight Simulator mesh products, Himalaya Mesh is a 100% self-contained product with no changes made to the default mesh or any other files. With virtually no noticeable performance impact, each LOD is consistent without any blurring and minimal LOD morphing when flying over the mountainous terrain of the Himalayan ranges.

 

As always, pictures are worth 1000 words and we have a selection below of the Himalaya Mesh compared with the default currently seen in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coverage area

 

 

 

[BradB]

WOW !! . 

[Mawson]

How about an Australia mesh?

[mikee]

Super !!!

Please Consider Andes for a future release !!

[wolfko]

15 minutes ago, Mawson said:

How about an Australia mesh?

 

For the Nullarbor?

[Andrew Hunter-Graham]

So great to see the comparison images @Orbx, really appreciate the transparency of what the product does and how it compares to default!

[Scott Harmes]

2 hours ago, wolfko said:

 

For the Nullarbor?

 

There are some lovely (low) ridges across the Nullarbor 

[TigerTigerM]

Looks stunning.

Default/OHM flip flop is an excellent way to show the OHM impact.

I don't understand the coverage map.

Could you superimpose country boundaries on it?

Not sure what the orange, green, blue coloration means.

Is the coverage the whole image or certain parts?

TTM

[Dmytro Krykunov]

39 minutes ago, TigerTigerM said:

I don't understand the coverage map.

Could you superimpose country boundaries on it?

[wolfko]

54 minutes ago, Dmytro Krykunov said:

 

So it actually covers a much larger area than only the Himalayas. 

 

Edited November 9, 2021 by wolfko

[sleightflight]

Looks very nice, I think I will have to get this when it releases. 

[Captain Lars]

Fantastic thing.

[TigerTigerM]

5 hours ago, Dmytro Krykunov said:

If I interpret your grid correctly & the 10m resolution in the product is going to be applied from Pakistan, up to Kazakhstan, across to Mongolia & down through China, back to Pakistan via India, including everything in between, then that is a massive area benefitting.

If that is the case, perhaps it should be called something like 'Himalaya & Central Asia mesh'.

 

TTM

 

[Stillwater]

That seems to be a good starting point for OpenLC Asia!

[BradB]

35 minutes ago, Stillwater said:

That seems to be a good starting point for OpenLC Asia!

Never say die will you guys .

[Nico71]

You could have added the tiny rest of China, too! 

[Anthony96]

Amazing 

[Mawson]

On 11/9/2021 at 2:39 PM, wolfko said:

 

For the Nullarbor?

Wow you have no idea of the topography and how big Australia is given you live in a postage stamp country 1/100 th of the size of Australia . Your lack of geography  is duly noted. 

 

[Mawson]

23 hours ago, Scott Harmes said:

 

There are some lovely (low) ridges across the Nullarbor 

Very low ridges,  though I think falling off them would cause a lot more than a skinned knee!

[wolfko]

6 hours ago, Mawson said:

Wow you have no idea of the topography and how big Australia is given you live in a postage stamp country 1/100 th of the size of Australia . Your lack of geography  is duly noted. 

 

 

My dear friend Mawson,

first of all, my wife is Australian.

Secondly I am teaching geography at a local college here in Innsbruck 

Thirdly before starting teaching I have been in the travel industry for almost 30 years, most of the the time working as product manager for Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific Islands for a wholesale company. 

And I have visited Australia more than forty (40) times so far and have probably seen more of this beautiful country of yours than you have.

Cheers, Wolfgang

 

PS: nice shot of the Bungle Bungles. BTW have you ever been there? I have been there twice. Both times doing heli flights among other things. Since you are a heli pilot IRL, have you been my pilot then by any chance?

Edited November 10, 2021 by wolfko

[wolfko]

On 11/9/2021 at 10:00 AM, Scott Harmes said:

 

There are some lovely (low) ridges across the Nullarbor 

 

So a "sensitive" mesh would have its benefits.

[Stillwater]

7 hours ago, Mawson said:

Wow you have no idea of the topography and how big Australia is given you live in a postage stamp country 1/100 th of the size of Australia . Your lack of geography  is duly noted. 

If Wolfgang would´t have reacted so fast, I would second that: In years of forum presence he has shown detailed knowledge of the surface of our planet (and the 10 kilometers above).

[Mawson]

10 hours ago, Stillwater said:

If Wolfgang would´t have reacted so fast, I would second that: In years of forum presence he has shown detailed knowledge of the surface of our planet (and the 10 kilometers above).

I have travelled the world extensively in real life and I have met very few people in the Northern hemisphere that truly understand the nature of the Australian Continent unless they have spent time travelling on it or over it or through it.

 

There is simply nothing to compare in the Northern hemisphere and one of the things have I learnt  when flying with  Northern Hemisphere trained pilots is that they find our VFR maps very hard to read from the map to the ground as the topography is so different and what we see as a feature in Australia would not even be marked on a VFR map in the Northern hemisphere.

 

So a more detailed mesh that allows a more nuanced topography would be much appreciated by those of us that fly VFR in our sims in Australia. I guess that is why Orbx started from in providing more detail in our delicate Australian topography before they became international in their approach.  

Edited November 11, 2021 by Mawson

[Mawson]

[dominique]

A very welcome product and I am glad it covers not only the central Himalayas but also the Tian Shan and the Altai massifs, Northern Burma, Pakistan, Kirghizistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan. It wouldn’t interest me otherwise.

 

I have made quite a few flights in these regions. MSFS ground imagery makes flying there a memorable experience if you like flying rough and high terrains , geography and history (Silk roads, the Hump, the NW Frontier etc.)  . The mesh is often good but not always and could be better anyway.

 

20 GB is an ouch! for my capped bandwidth but I look forward to it.

Edited November 11, 2021 by dominique

[jean marc]

great idea these mesh for msfs 

 

Edited November 11, 2021 by jean marc

[Seanmo]

On 11/9/2021 at 6:22 AM, Dmytro Krykunov said:

 

Whoa! What a mesh! I mean 20 gigabytes makes sense now!

Is this the largest area Orbx has ever "covered" in one product?

[dominique]

Maybe a complement to my post.
 

The nice screenshots upthread should not let you think that this is all about great landscapes over peaks and ridges. Looking.  And then what ? You can’t spend your life gaping at Mount Everest ! 
 

This is about flying  !

For millenia, this region has been inhabited and crossed by trade roads in the valleys and the high altitude plains (yes, there are plains too ) and deserts.
 

It has been and still is, for geographical reasons,   a strategic buffer disputed between the Russian and British empires then now between China and India.

 

The aircraft have replaced the dromaders and there are quite a few airports. Some easy, some not...  Most really interesting.  A multitude of flights.

 

Set up your Neofly FBO in Gilgit, Leh, Dibrugarh, Dushanbe or Putao, you’ll see.

Edited November 12, 2021 by dominique

[TigerTigerM]

On 11/12/2021 at 3:25 AM, dominique said:

Maybe a complement to my post.
 

The nice screenshots upthread should not let you think that this is all about great landscapes over peaks and ridges. Looking.  And then what ? You can’t spend your life gaping at Mount Everest ! 
 

This is about flying  !

For millenia, this region has been inhabited and crossed by trade roads in the valleys and the high altitude plains (yes, there are plains too ) and deserts.
 

It has been and still is, for geographical reasons,   a strategic buffer disputed between the Russian and British empires then now between China and India.

 

The aircraft have replaced the dromaders and there are quite a few airports. Some easy, some not...  Most really interesting.  A multitude of flights.

 

Set up your Neofly FBO in Gilgit, Leh, Dibrugarh, Dushanbe or Putao, you’ll see.

Off to the Hindu Kush!

If the mesh is as good as the New Zealand product, then I anticipate seeing improvements in not only the high mountain peaks , but also for low hills & anywhere there is vertical differentiation across an area.

I noticed that in NZ.

TTM

[dominique]

2 hours ago, TigerTigerM said:

 

If the mesh is as good as the New Zealand product,  

 

The problem is that the default mesh quality is not consistent. I have just flown from Srinagar to Kargil through the valleys. It is quite good in the first half,  not so good to frankly bad around Zojila pass  in the second half.    

[porsche]

On 11/10/2021 at 8:29 PM, Mawson said:

I have travelled the world extensively in real life and I have met very few people in the Northern hemisphere that truly understand the nature of the Australian Continent unless they have spent time travelling on it or over it or through it.

 

There is simply nothing to compare in the Northern hemisphere and one of the things have I learnt  when flying with  Northern Hemisphere trained pilots is that they find our VFR maps very hard to read from the map to the ground as the topography is so different and what we see as a feature in Australia would not even be marked on a VFR map in the Northern hemisphere.

 

So a more detailed mesh that allows a more nuanced topography would be much appreciated by those of us that fly VFR in our sims in Australia. I guess that is why Orbx started from in providing more detail in our delicate Australian topography before they became international in their approach.  

For difficult to read VFR maps/charts you should give Canada a try, in winter, north of the tree line. First time i did that was in the late  1970s in my rotary wing days long before gps. That said sometimes the machines would have an ADF and sometimes they actually worked.

 

Edited November 14, 2021 by porsche
addition

[Mawson]

On 11/14/2021 at 10:09 AM, porsche said:

For difficult to read VFR maps/charts you should give Canada a try, in winter, north of the tree line. First time i did that was in the late  1970s in my rotary wing days long before gps. That said sometimes the machines would have an ADF and sometimes they actually worked.

 

 

Same problem different temperature!  A friend of mine flew a helo in Antarctica before GPS and given the high latitude the compass was virtually unusable , is that a problem in the high Canadian lts?

 

[porsche]

12 hours ago, Mawson said:

 

Same problem different temperature!  A friend of mine flew a helo in Antarctica before GPS and given the high latitude the compass was virtually unusable , is that a problem in the high Canadian lts?

 

The magnetic north pole is south of the physical north pole. It's located in Canada north of Resolute Bay (CYRB). As far north as i flew personally was Resolute. Did medivacs out of Iqaluit (CCYFB) on Baffin Island - month in, month out - with a king air200 in the late 1990s and Resolute was a far north as we'd go. You can get large difference in variation in a short time depending on your routing so that's why flight planning is done in degrees true. In the 200 the company had installed (in addition to an astro compass)  a Sperry HSi that was said to precess less than a degree per hour. Factor in convergence and you had a great tool for high arctic flying. When lined up on the runway before takeoff you'd adjust the HSI to the true heading of the runway. Other than Iqaluit which used degrees magnetic till 40nm out everything was degrees true. Id set my Sperry hsi in true and the F/Os in magnetic in case atc on departure needed to separate traffic by VOR separation. Once into airspace using degrees true he/she would then reset their hsi to true.

 

It was good flying there. Baffin is mountainous and back then before gps for approaches was commonly available most approaches were an NDB - the community airport NDBs back then were powerful.......though all used the gps for backup, wink, wink....if enough satellites were present. The last time I was up there was 2011 when employed by the fed gov't and as part of my duties when I could get out of the office was flying a king air 90 which was equipped well. Retired now.

 

Would have liked to seen Antarctica as the company had work there.

[Ant1975]

Any idea of release date for this peeps?

[Ed Correia]

11 minutes ago, Ant1975 said:

Any idea of release date for this peeps?

 

5pm today AEDT

[Ant1975]

Superb! Thanks Ed!

[IXOYE56]

Nice! It looks just as good as the NZ mesh, a must buy for me.

[TigerTigerM]

'Himalaya & Central Asia' Mesh. Where have I read that before?
BVFM product. (Brilliant value for money)

I think the coverage map in the DK post November 9, 2021 should be added to the product page screen shots to show the magnitude of the coverage. If I was not interested in flying in the Himalaya, but in other regions, say Afghanistan, then the coverage map would open my wallet.

NBMB: (No brainer must buy)

TTM

Edited November 16, 2021 by TigerTigerM

[Ant1975]

Just took off from Jomson, its all superbly crisp, so much so it felt 'wrong' at first, but you quickly adapt.

 

The only question I have is that I still see 'patched' satellite imagery in certain places, did this not get replaced? Its not a deal breaker or anything, just curious. But overall very pleased, great job.

[BritishAvgeek]

Hi everyone! If you're looking to purchase this but want to see a few reviews first before you commit to 20GB of crisp mountainy goodness, come and take a peek at my first look review video, with an approach into Paro!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q90pijrVl4