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Cushmans, first flight....


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Hi guys

I just want to say that this scenery is fantastic!!!!! After a short walkaround and a quick flight, I have to say "AMEN"!!!!!!! The fps are just amazing, the Cafe Latte in the bar is cheap, just $2.50. You have outdone yourself again, where will this end!!!! The people flow just adds so much life into the scenery.

If one could only wish, then it might be a scenery from Europe, but still, hope is the last to die.

Good luck in the future and all the products coming from you, I will by them all!!!

Jack J Jackson

a Swede in Spain

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Hi guys

I just want to say that this scenery is fantastic!!!!! After a short walkaround and a quick flight, I have to say "AMEN"!!!!!!! The fps are just amazing, the Cafe Latte in the bar is cheap, just $2.50. You have outdone yourself again, where will this end!!!! The people flow just adds so much life into the scenery.

If one could only wish, then it might be a scenery from Europe, but still, hope is the last to die.

Good luck in the future and all the products coming from you, I will by them all!!!

Jack J Jackson

a Swede in Spain

Many thanks, Jack. Would you mind if I quote your post on my site?

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Not at all Sir!!!!!

In fact, after a little longer test flight, I am, if possible, even more impressed!!!!!!!!!!!! Have posted a few postings on some forums where I am a member. (Flightsim.no, Livewire Airlines among others).

I use TH2GO (3 monitors + one extra monitor) and the flight feeling with this scenery is incredible!!!! Can't wait for the next step from you guys at ORBX.

Keep up the good work and for sure, I will ALLWAYS be one of the loyal customers.

Jack J Jackson

the Swede in Spain

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I completely agree with jack, I've just posted my review on the flightsim store..

Cast from the mind of a genius ..it's hard to imagine it's not for real !!

I've also posted a few pictures in the screenshot forum as well.

Thanks again Bill

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Fantastic Bill, thanks so much for all your effort and all the folks at orbx that help make all this possible. Great airfields to practice short field landings and takeoffs :blink: Makes you want to move up there to live!

Any chance some sounds like they have at KORS might be added in the future? Couple birds singing maybe :lol:

Cheers

Martin

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Fantastic Bill, thanks so much for all your effort and all the folks at orbx that help make all this possible. Great airfields to practice short field landings and takeoffs :blink: Makes you want to move up there to live!

Any chance some sounds like they have at KORS might be added in the future? Couple birds singing maybe :lol:

Cheers

Martin

Thanks, Martin. Yes, adding sounds is on my to-do list for a Cushman update. I'll let everyone know more about that when the plans are firmed up.

Bill

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I also fell in love with this airport. Its such full of live. I miss only two things, first some ambient sound and second one or two more people at the float plane base.

But anyway this is the Airport I like most. Very well done.

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Really??

I must be lost..

After all the peons of praise on this thread.. I bought it.. :(

I can only say I was disappointed. Very.. Compared to Kors or the Darrington or Contrete munis.. this is pretty empty.. and the surrounding scenery is.. ditto...

For anyone flying a helicopter.. well in comparison there's almost nothing to see..and little to do.. yes.. the people are 'flowing' but after you've cruised up and down the runway a couple of times its over...

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Really??

I must be lost..

After all the peons of praise on this thread.. I bought it.. :(

I can only say I was disappointed. Very.. Compared to Kors or the Darrington or Contrete munis.. this is pretty empty.. and the surrounding scenery is.. ditto...

For anyone flying a helicopter.. well in comparison there's almost nothing to see..and little to do.. yes.. the people are 'flowing' but after you've cruised up and down the runway a couple of times its over...

I admit, I've been spending so much time in development lately that I haven't had a chance to fly much in the other Orbx sceneries. Can you give me some examples of the kinds of things you like to "do" when flying? We're already planning some upcoming enhancements to KCMW, and I'm happy to hear any suggestions you might have for added features.

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I think I know what wehyam wants to say. I also enjoy to pick my Dodosim 206 and just fly short above the scenery trying to hover when there is an interesting fassade or whatever. And of course in a city even a small one there is much more to see. Also Kors have those harbors and whatsoever.

I havent been that much at Chushman and the surrounding havent impressed me that much. But the airport itself is those with the most fantastic ambience I think. Its full of live making a very vivid impression.

I have to take a closer look at the surrounding scenery. Then I will also love I am sure.And tomorrow the weekend starts. I am looking forward to take a closer look at those great scenery.

@ weyham Give it a bit more time. I am sure you will find great details :)

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I think I know what wehyam wants to say. I also enjoy to pick my Dodosim 206 and just fly short above the scenery trying to hover when there is an interesting fassade or whatever. And of course in a city even a small one there is much more to see. Also Kors have those harbors and whatsoever.

I havent been that much at Chushman and the surrounding havent impressed me that much. But the airport itself is those with the most fantastic ambience I think. Its full of live making a very vivid impression.

I have to take a closer look at the surrounding scenery. Then I will also love I am sure.And tomorrow the weekend starts. I am looking forward to take a closer look at those great scenery.

@ weyham Give it a bit more time. I am sure you will find great details :)

There's a tremendous amount of natural beauty in the area, and I think the PR highlights that nicely. If it's cities (or even towns) you're looking for, you won't find many of them here. If, flying a chopper, you take away the landing challenges presented by Bear Gulch (and even KCMW if you come in from the right direction), then I can see how you'd feel a little nonplussed. On the other hand, it's a great area for bush planes and float planes, so maybe try switching to one of those for a while and see where it gets you.

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You are right. This area is made for my little Piper Cub. But yesterdays try wasnt like sightseeing. I got Sarah (Heidi sister , all Accusims know what I am talking about) onboard and she took tons of luggage with her. It was hard work to get the Cub with floats airborne :P

As I said tomorrow I will take my time for sight seeing.

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I admit, I've been spending so much time in development lately that I haven't had a chance to fly much in the other Orbx sceneries. Can you give me some examples of the kinds of things you like to "do" when flying? We're already planning some upcoming enhancements to KCMW, and I'm happy to hear any suggestions you might have for added features.

Hey ho Bill.. I do three kinds of 'flying':

1) For years and years..circuits on difficult strips and weather conditions: essentially learning how to fly.. Bush plane fantasies in Inside Passage, Vancouver+, PNW, Tongass Falls ete etc.. So please more, and more realistically ‘rough’ the strips are the better. Sand bars even.. I remember getting some beautiful breakthrough Orbx Oz scenery a long time ago.. the runway went round a hill!.. or was it in X-plane? :)

2) Navigation across beautiful scenery using VFR charts and proper flight planning.. VOR backup etc but essentially VFR.. beautiful scenery and sunsets etc.. ditto the above. BUT it has to be close to the ground/mountains. Good for the soul but the mountains shouldnt be slab sided 'cliffs'.

3) Helicopters. Only a month or so.. kerb crawling round interesting places like Darrington.. KORS etc learning to control it is the aim, but a very important contribution to the overall enjoyment is the detailed scenery. Like the guy waiting outside the portaloo !! no complaints about Darrington, concrete or Kors..

Cushman satisfies 1) Ok the details around the strip are really good (and the gulch? Excellent too but there's not much of it) but the terrain around the lake is really disappointing, even ugly.. looks like industrialisation and deforestation on some not very natural (quarry) terrain.. Too many 250ft trees too. So there’s not much for the wannabe helicopter pilot here I’m afraid.

Nevertheless, now I’ve given up flying (really), what I’m really waiting for is the helicopter equivalent of IL2 and Over Flanders Fields. The ‘homage’ simulation of the Huey in Vietnam.

Maybe it’s still too raw; but I’m practicing for it; putting my Dodo-slick down in the ‘hot’ LZ behind the trailer selling burgers, landing in the drug store car park etc.

I suppose it's a mix of the need for interesting and skill developing challenges in eye- candy immersing scenery. Hmm.. B)

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Hey ho Bill.. I do three kinds of 'flying':

1) For years and years..circuits on difficult strips and weather conditions: essentially learning how to fly.. Bush plane fantasies in Inside Passage, Vancouver+, PNW, Tongass Falls ete etc.. So please more, and more realistically ‘rough’ the strips are the better. Sand bars even.. I remember getting some beautiful breakthrough Orbx Oz scenery a long time ago.. the runway went round a hill!.. or was it in X-plane? :)

2) Navigation across beautiful scenery using VFR charts and proper flight planning.. VOR backup etc but essentially VFR.. beautiful scenery and sunsets etc.. ditto the above. BUT it has to be close to the ground/mountains. Good for the soul but the mountains shouldnt be slab sided 'cliffs'.

3) Helicopters. Only a month or so.. kerb crawling round interesting places like Darrington.. KORS etc learning to control it is the aim, but a very important contribution to the overall enjoyment is the detailed scenery. Like the guy waiting outside the portaloo !! no complaints about Darrington, concrete or Kors..

Cushman satisfies 1) Ok the details around the strip are really good (and the gulch? Excellent too but there's not much of it) but the terrain around the lake is really disappointing, even ugly.. looks like industrialisation and deforestation on some not very natural (quarry) terrain.. Too many 250ft trees too. So there’s not much for the wannabe helicopter pilot here I’m afraid.

Nevertheless, now I’ve given up flying (really), what I’m really waiting for is the helicopter equivalent of IL2 and Over Flanders Fields. The ‘homage’ simulation of the Huey in Vietnam.

Maybe it’s still too raw; but I’m practicing for it; putting my Dodo-slick down in the ‘hot’ LZ behind the trailer selling burgers, landing in the drug store car park etc.

I suppose it's a mix of the need for interesting and skill developing challenges in eye- candy immersing scenery. Hmm.. B)

I'm not sure I heard anything in there that I could use as a new feature, but I'll defend the terrain around Cushman. First of all, it looks nearly exactly like the real thing, thanks to high-res terrain mesh and some excellent real-world ortho imagery. And yes, there are a bunch of cut blocks because this is the real-world PNW, not some wilderness fantasy. Trees get cut here, usually in large rectangular blocks, next to which are some seriously tall Douglas Firs. If you think the trees are too tall, you haven't had much experience in the real PNW - we grow them big here. I'm baffled by your comments about the terrain mesh, as I'm not seeing the sort of terracing that I think you're referring to as "quarry" terrain. If the terrain bothers you, then I'm not sure there's much I can do about it, as it's a faithful reproduction of the region as-is. Seriously, if you think this is ugly, I'd love to see where you live... :unsure:

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Now I am getting real angry. <_< I wanted some sigthseeing at cushman and also test ASX. So I got into a plane and started. Meanwhile weather has loaded and I couldnt see the prop.

But later I will adjust sunshine and make a tour with my Piper Cub :D

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Now I am getting real angry. <_< I wanted some sigthseeing at cushman and also test ASX. So I got into a plane and started. Meanwhile weather has loaded and I couldnt see the prop.

But later I will adjust sunshine and make a tour with my Piper Cub :D

LOL, yeah, the weather is kinda crap here today.

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So, I did it. Flew a little round with the piper having sunshine :)

It appears to me very authentic. It is not the most beautiful scenery but as you said it is real world PWN. The logging sites looks very realistic with its little pathes in it and the not that clear shaped geometry. Those sites look a bit like missing terrain in PWN but not in your scenery. I also had some nice sights with those mountains one one side and the plain on the other. But the most fantastic thing I noticed today was the approach at Bear Gulch. That is a great feeling flying towards this little cleard stripe with the sea in front and the mountains behind.

Thumbs up, I am really impressed. There are many things improved in comparison to the other Orbx-sceneries I know.

I will have lots of fun in those area. Thanks for your effort and have a nice weekend :)

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OK Bill,

I've been on a photo shoot...But I 've got to work out how to post them..

The immediate vicinity of the strip is great. high resolution, lovely detail, realistic scenery and some nice touches round the corner (the camp/huts etc but see below).

Problem is 100 metres away the illusion is destroyed.. high resolution coarse and unrealistic and, I'm afraid, ugly. Maybe it is photo realistic googly imaging what ever, and the sharp edges and plane surfaces amongst it is standard PNW fare.. but the contrast is so marked...

I've seen the grass on the side of the runway.. so now I want it like that on the side of the hill! I've seen the textures on the runways why not similarly on the roads.. The camp huts region?.. why isnt the grass there like the grass by the runway.. why not have similar grass at the edge of the lake.. why arent the paths and roads with realistic 'textures' like the runways? And so on..realistic sand bars!

The trouble is that you guys have opened the box.. raised expectations.. Motor racing video games have gorgeous atmospheric graphics .. In the 'old days' .. when Chicago had that airport by the lake.. when the scenery was wire frame... (remember Elite?)..

I remember posts on forums sneering about 'eye-candy'.. Yes well now we want both realistic flight models (what ever it takes) and eye-candy..

and you Bill can do eye-candy.. I remember when Orbx first came out(was it OZ blue).. The word was that the closer you got to the ground the better the detail... Well now you can see textures kicking in as one gets closer.. of course there are limits.. but the computer power is there and increasingly.. and the techniques too.. and I felt you could have made the meadows around Cushman lake just a little prettier and the edges of the lake just a little more fractal and 'realistic' (at least at the top end)... BUT enough already.. what do I want for £21..

By the way I live in Sheffield UK. About 1 mile from the Peak District National Park.. It's an area of medieval(earlier and later) industrial waste land! BTW I spent a year in Eugene Oregon.. I've seen trees down the pacific coast.. and in Willamete..Mt Bachelor too!

regards...

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OK Bill,

I've been on a photo shoot...But I 've got to work out how to post them..

The immediate vicinity of the strip is great. high resolution, lovely detail, realistic scenery and some nice touches round the corner (the camp/huts etc but see below).

Problem is 100 metres away the illusion is destroyed.. high resolution coarse and unrealistic and, I'm afraid, ugly. Maybe it is photo realistic googly imaging what ever, and the sharp edges and plane surfaces amongst it is standard PNW fare.. but the contrast is so marked...

I've seen the grass on the side of the runway.. so now I want it like that on the side of the hill! I've seen the textures on the runways why not similarly on the roads.. The camp huts region?.. why isnt the grass there like the grass by the runway.. why not have similar grass at the edge of the lake.. why arent the paths and roads with realistic 'textures' like the runways? And so on..realistic sand bars!

The trouble is that you guys have opened the box.. raised expectations.. Motor racing video games have gorgeous atmospheric graphics .. In the 'old days' .. when Chicago had that airport by the lake.. when the scenery was wire frame... (remember Elite?)..

I remember posts on forums sneering about 'eye-candy'.. Yes well now we want both realistic flight models (what ever it takes) and eye-candy..

and you Bill can do eye-candy.. I remember when Orbx first came out(was it OZ blue).. The word was that the closer you got to the ground the better the detail... Well now you can see textures kicking in as one gets closer.. of course there are limits.. but the computer power is there and increasingly.. and the techniques too.. and I felt you could have made the meadows around Cushman lake just a little prettier and the edges of the lake just a little more fractal and 'realistic' (at least at the top end)... BUT enough already.. what do I want for £21..

By the way I live in Sheffield UK. About 1 mile from the Peak District National Park.. It's an area of medieval(earlier and later) industrial waste land! BTW I spent a year in Eugene Oregon.. I've seen trees down the pacific coast.. and in Willamete..Mt Bachelor too!

regards...

We can go around and around about what I could have done. My overarching design philosophy has always been that FS scenery is akin to building a movie set. You show the most important places, the "hero" objects, if you will, in the highest detail possible, with resolution dropping as you go outward from areas were a user is likely to be up-close. The goal is to minimize the immersion and enjoyment without tossing performance in the crapper. As it is, the "coarse" 1m/px terrain (based on the USGS NAIP dataset, and definitely NOT Google's) takes up almost 750MB of the installer. The native resolution of the orthos was 50cm/px, but that would have clocked in at nearly 3GB for the same area when finished. So I made the decision to upgrade the terrain in the immediate vicinity of the airports to 25cm/px (KCMW) and 12cm/px (Bear Gulch) for better legibility. The idea is that once you're away from those areas, you'll be flying, and thus otherwise occupied. If you want to land a chopper in one of those far-flung meadows, then have at it, but understand that that's not how the scenery was designed.

Could I have placed grass along every mountain road you might decide to land on? Sure, if you wouldn't mind waiting another year or more for the scenery. Could I have done the lake in ultra-high-res on the chance you'd want to take a virtual fishing expedition? Sure, but the installer would have been nearly as big as FSX itself, which wouldn't have been very accommodating to those with limited bandwidth each month. Could I have modeled the surface of each of the roads the same way as the taxiway and runway at BG and KCMW? Er, no, actually. That tech requires a completely flat surface in order to work.

I'm sorry you're having such a bad time with the scenery, but I stand by my design decisions.

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Can't please everybody (no matter how hard ya try). Maybe with nearly a Gig download you just naturally expect to see a lot more of something. It's there of course via the ground textures.

I wasn't expecting anything like a Concrete Muni when I pre-purchased this. It was more of a "character" airport for me. Small, out of the way, with a charm of it's own. And I pretty much got what I was hoping. I guess I am hoping if there is an update, maybe a little more "junk". The hangar at Bear Gulch is too clean inside, ha! How 'bout some hay for them horses? But you can "push pixels" until you are blue in the face or or fps drop to zero. I think the planned ambient sounds will add a lot to the immersion.

I woulda liked even a runway that wasn't flat (screw the AI this time around ;) ). But like I said, can't please everyone... even one who really likes it like me.

Clutch

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Can't please everybody (no matter how hard ya try). Maybe with nearly a Gig download you just naturally expect to see a lot more of something. It's there of course via the ground textures.

I wasn't expecting anything like a Concrete Muni when I pre-purchased this. It was more of a "character" airport for me. Small, out of the way, with a charm of it's own. And I pretty much got what I was hoping. I guess I am hoping if there is an update, maybe a little more "junk". The hangar at Bear Gulch is too clean inside, ha! How 'bout some hay for them horses? But you can "push pixels" until you are blue in the face or or fps drop to zero. I think the planned ambient sounds will add a lot to the immersion.

I woulda liked even a runway that wasn't flat (screw the AI this time around ;) ). But like I said, can't please everyone... even one who really likes it like me.

Clutch

The horses have been hungrily munching it down, but if you look in their feeder (that round green bin in their pen) you'll find some hay remnants in the bottom. ;D

Nobody's talked about it, but there is one non-flat runway in the scenery, as it happens on the only real-world airport of the lot: the strip on N. Rubio Drive. Fly along the west bank of the Hood Canal starting at the elbow. A couple of miles up, you'll see a clear scar cut out of the trees atop a hill overlooking the water. That's the runway. If you land there and taxi west, you can even follow the "taxiway" (if you can call it that) around a bend to the left and wind up at the house of the guy that owns the strip. We had no info on this particular landing strip, so it's just sort of there, but it's a hell of a challenge to land on if you're up for it.

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Bill, I'd like to praise you for choosing that location. The approaches look amazing and the go-around therefore is too. Also, when starting at those two nice spots (taking some burgers with you), the next big airport and tons of smaller ones aren't far away, so you can hop over there, change planes and fly on.

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It sounds to me like some people just don't like the type of area that's been modelled here; but there was plenty of information and pictures available to inform your purchasing choice Weyham.

The area was chosen, and the resulting simulation of it is as high quality as ever, further pushing the bar. It's beautiful and my new part-time base (nothing will push me permanently away from Darrington!).

It's a bit 'spoilt' in my opinion to moan at the developer because you personally find the area that's been modelled dull and ugly .....

talk about subjective!

Beautiful work Bill.

B)

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It sounds to me like some people just don't like the type of area that's been modelled here; but there was plenty of information and pictures available to inform your purchasing choice Weyham.

The area was chosen, and the resulting simulation of it is as high quality as ever, further pushing the bar. It's beautiful and my new part-time base (nothing will push me permanently away from Darrington!).

It's a bit 'spoilt' in my opinion to moan at the developer because you personally find the area that's been modelled dull and ugly .....

talk about subjective!

Beautiful work Bill.

B)

+1

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Subjective, indeed! I've heard from two people who don't care for that area, which is fine. It's just amazing to me, because I think it's rather beautiful, even with the cutblocks. In real life, wide swaths of virgin forest are amazing (and vanishingly rare these days), but in FS I prefer the land to be a little less homogenous. All those trees covering everything gets a little monotonous. That's just me, though. ;)

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:lol: Bill, Cushman Meadows is a magic spell.

Now, i wonder, isn't the time to dig for some seclusive dangerous airfield in the

vicinity ? That might be a great stop. Something near lake Quinault or Forks in the north-west ? Let me explain my metaphysical problem. I can't bear more than 20-25 minutes flying on my Lancair. Then i need a stop. And i already got all the others sceneries in Washington.

By the way, a quick question (before bat...), any tip on Anacortes ?

happy week !

Dom Mason

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Subjective, indeed! I've heard from two people who don't care for that area, which is fine. It's just amazing to me, because I think it's rather beautiful, even with the cutblocks. In real life, wide swaths of virgin forest are amazing (and vanishingly rare these days), but in FS I prefer the land to be a little less homogenous. All those trees covering everything gets a little monotonous. That's just me, though. ;)

As I said it is not the most beautiful area ( in real life) but what makes this scenery superior is that it feels very authentic. Even at those logging sites there are little pathes and the not that regular edges. This make me feel like flying in aa area which is worked on. I especially enjoy those hills at Cushman with the cutover tops. When getting them into sight I know its just a little more to those tasty burgers ;)

And to be honest even with those cutover areas it is a very fascinating region with its own charme.

Edit: If it looks like I dont like this area that much this is because of my not so good English. Most of the time I read English papers about Geodynamical issues and fluid dynamic stuff and there you dont get to know the English terms for descriping the charme of landscapes etc. ;)

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Nobody's talked about it, but there is one non-flat runway in the scenery, as it happens on the only real-world airport of the lot: the strip on N. Rubio Drive. Fly along the west bank of the Hood Canal starting at the elbow. A couple of miles up, you'll see a clear scar cut out of the trees atop a hill overlooking the water. That's the runway. If you land there and taxi west, you can even follow the "taxiway" (if you can call it that) around a bend to the left and wind up at the house of the guy that owns the strip. We had no info on this particular landing strip, so it's just sort of there, but it's a hell of a challenge to land on if you're up for it.

Heads up on this one, I flew out of Cushman's last night with the FRAPS running and found the strip and landed. The footage is in the can, all it needs now is for me to edit it into a watchable version and I'll post it in the videos forum. Hopefully later today.

See this thread for the video: http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/32590-cushman-meadows-dirt-strip/

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It sounds to me like some people just don't like the type of area that's been modelled here; but there was plenty of information and pictures available to inform your purchasing choice Weyham.

The area was chosen, and the resulting simulation of it is as high quality as ever, further pushing the bar. It's beautiful and my new part-time base (nothing will push me permanently away from Darrington!).

It's a bit 'spoilt' in my opinion to moan at the developer because you personally find the area that's been modelled dull and ugly .....

talk about subjective!

Beautiful work Bill.

B)

+2

Mr Bill - I love Cushmans. Maybe Im just easy to please or something but there is just something about a little airstrip with an entry over the water. It turns me on.

I did come in over the land one time but I much prefer the water approach (and the trees make the other way difficult).

anyway...it ranks right up there with my favorites. Im very glad I bought it. I like to go from S30 towards KKLS and up to KCLS and then to Cushmans. I also go from Darrington

to Cushmans. Its just fun flying.

nice work. I like the dam area and also that marshy drainage area nearby. I notice youve added little houses and boats and piers along there too. and the people at the airport are fun.

Theres a lady up on the stack of shipping containers who keeps pointing at things. and the dude who walks in a circle(and then vanishes!)--thats funny.

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