Introduction
After the success stories of products such as Orcas Island, Misty Fjords, Tongass Fjords and VancouverPlus for FS9, it gets harder and harder to come up with innovative projects. But FSAddon Publishing is blessed with a very special group of developers. The best in their fields, really. And so, with the advent of Flight Simulator X, they set out once again to bring you astonishing IMPROVEMENTS over the basic simulator.
The FIRST in a new row of products is VancouverPlus - City and Landscape - for FSX
Some of the features
Made by Jon Patch and Holger Sandmann - it was Jon's brainchild - assisted
by a number of people, it yet again sets the bar at new heights for scenery
design in general. Vancouver+ for FSX covers the Canadian City
of Vancouver and its surrounding areas, but ALSO a large
part of British Columbia, stretching
north and east of the city, AND adds two complete and highly detailed airfields to the mix..
Vancouver especially has been painstakingly modelled by Jon, building
by building, and will most certainly evoke many "look at that's" from
the 'locals'. If you know Vancouver, you'll recognize its major buildings
and other landmarks. And the harbor and its facilities. And many more
things and places.
There is much more! Hundreds of bridges have been custom made, designed
with gmax, and put in their exact place, with roads, railroads and terrain
matching! Many other landmarks are strewn accross this 30.000
square kilometer area !!!
Holger Sandmann has done his magic again by creating an exact
copy of the real terrain, including the coastlines, lakes,
rivers and river beds, mountains and hills, forestry roads, glaciers
and such. And dams, waterfalls..... and even ski runs ! Check out the
famous Whistler ski areas !
To make sure you have also a place to FLY to - this is meant to be a flight
simulator software package after all - Jon has also built Pitt Meadows
airfield (CYPK) for you, now accompanied by Langley Airfield (CYNJ) a little further down the road. This is a fairly large airfield situated
to the east of Vancouver, along the Fraser River. (if you're curious, you'll
find the airport's
website right here and Langley is here).
More features
The MAIN things we have wrapped in this package are:
- The City of Vancouver in even more astounding detail than the FS9 release
- Downtown Vancouver/Stanley Park and Tsawwassen/Roberts Bank with 5 meter aerial photographs!
- The Airport of Pitt Meadows (CYPK), highly realistic
- The Airport and aviation museum of Langley Field (CYNJ), highly realistic too
- Both airports ground textures made with 30 meter aerial photographic textures
- 30.000 square kilometers of 'Holger Sandmann' scenery, showing BC as it really is
- Custom made textures, water textures, mesh, landclass, roads and railways and much more....
- AI cruise ships and other vessels making their way through harbor and sea
- Custom made AI aircraft and helicopters, with many liveries and AI flightplans
- 29 improved airfields in the region
- 7 seaplane bases, all AI capable
- 13 heliports
- 11 private airfields (see if you can locate them!)
- A custom made 'configurator program' that lets you tune the package to your desire and PC's capabilities
- A 59-page, very extensive manual, helping you with installation, navigation, (FSX)tuning and general enjoyment
Support and Other Contacts
FSAddon Publishing recently set up its very own Forums to provide you with news and support of our products.
VancouverPlus for FSX has its very own Support Forum where you can ask questions, ask for help, and let us know what you like and don't like about the product. You will need to REGISTER in order to post messages of course. Find the forum HERE.
With the original Vancouver+ Part 1 (for FS9) there was an enthusiastic group of people who set up a 'fan site' for the area. Many Canadian
simpilots have been waiting to get part of their 'home' constructed for
them, and Vancouver+ is no doubt a major step
in the right direction for them. The fan site, called
Vancouver Landings, is still there, set up on a seperate server
(provided by Silver Cloud Publishing) and being managed by David Voogd,
Dan..... etc. You will find
them here.
|
Here are some more of the many, many features that you will encounter in this add-on:
Landscape
- LOD11 (19-m) mesh of the entire project area with integrated FSX style multi-LOD (LOD5-11) buffer mesh files to maintain high terrain detail in the mid to far distance
- Accurate ocean and inlet water bodies, with shorelines; all saltwater shorelines have wave action.
- Accurate lakes and rivers, with shorelines where meaningful; all lakes and some rivers will be flattened to avoid water creeping up adjacent slopes.
- Lakes and rivers above 600m ASL can be made to “freeze” in winter.
- Water class (water colors) file with custom textures to depict differences in river colors (e.g., brownish Fraser, grayish glacial rivers, bluish others), lake colors (e.g., turquoise glacial lakes vs. dark blue others), and ocean colors (e.g., Fraser River sediment fans).
- Land class (land use) file optimized to represent the current distribution of urban areas, settlements, farmland, forests, forestry cut blocks, wetlands, alpine areas, etc.
- Custom ground textures for several land use types not present in FSX: small and large forestry cutblocks, industrial areas.
- Optimized autogen files (distribution of vegetation and buildings) for most ground texture types.
- A modified local set of default ground textures can be created (via configurator checkbox) to prevent the display of the “desert”-style default winter textures.
- Custom seasons file to more accurately control the spatial distribution of ground textures throughout the year (e.g., advancing or receding snow cover in the mountains).
- Accurate placement of the main glaciers and ice fields.
- Road network for the coverage area based on the GeoBase road data; major roads have FSX style moving traffic (optional).
- Railroad network for the coverage area based on railroad network data provided by Joel Gill.
- Power line network (utility corridors) based on topographic maps and satellite imagery.
- Custom textures for different shoreline types, streams, gravel bars, utility corridors, railroads, and the Vancouver Skytrain.
- Ski areas (ski runs and trail network) at Grouse Mountain, Cypress Bowl, Mount Seymour, Hemlock Valley, Whistler-Blackcomb, and Mount Baker. Most include ski lodges.
- Spray effect at the Cleveland Dam; includes sound effect.
Structures
- Custom Gmax buildings with photorealistic textures (photography by Nigel Grant and Emmett McRobie): Airport Square, Bentall V, Callisto, Canada Place, Cathedral Place, Electra, Flying Beaver Bar & Grill at Vancouver International Seaplane Base, Four Bentall (TD/Canada Trust Tower), Hotel Vancouver, Lafarge Cement plant, Library Square, HR MacMillan Space Museum, Marine Building, The Melville, Park Place, Provincial Law Courts, Qube, Royal Centre, Scotia Tower, Shaw Tower, Three Bentall (BMO Tower), Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver City Hall, Wall Centre. And in Burnaby: Metrotowers I and II, Metropolis at Metrotown (470 store shopping centre), Telus Building, Simon Fraser University Quad.
- Thousands of autogen hand-placed buildings
- Vancouver harbor structure
- Custom Cleveland Dam
- A smattering of MS generic objects: refineries, tank farms, buildings and structures of the Pacific National Exhibition in Exhibition Park
- Burnaby Mountain tank farm
- Point Atkinson lighthouse
- 200+ marine navigational lights
- False Creek and Coal Harbour marinas
- Many antennae
- Large greenhouses in Pitt Meadows, Surrey and Langley Township
- Fuel barges in Coal Harbour
- Peace Arch at Canada/US border
Bridges
- Major bridges, custom gmax. Road surfaces from aerial photos. Bridge models from Engineering drawings kindly provided by: British Columbia Ministry of Transport; TransLink Regional Transportation Authority; City of Richmond; City of Vancouver; Vancouver International Airport Authority.
- Vancouver: Lion’s Gate, Second Narrows – Ironworkers Memorial, Granville St., Cambie St., Oak St., Knight St.
- Region: Port Mann, Alex Fraser, Mission, Pattullo
- Sea Island Bridges (CYVR): Middle Arm, Dinsmore, No.2 Road, Arthur Laing, Airport Connector.
- SkyBridge transit bridge, linking New Westminster and Surrey
- minor road bridges, custom gmax: approximately 110
- rail bridges, custom gmax and FS generic models: approximately 60
Photoscenery
- 5m airphoto photoscenery
- Downtown Vancouver/Stanley Park
- Tsawwassen/Roberts Bank
- 30cm airphoto photoscenery:
Airports (corrected, new, or replacement)
Featured facility: CYPK – Pitt Meadows Regional Airport
- N49* 12.97' W122* 42.60'
- 40 custom buildings
- transparent tower windows
- three runways
- runways and taxiways adjusted to 20 cm air photo data, accurate to within 2m
- taxiway signs adjusted
- 30 cm photo scenery for airport area
Featured facility: CYNJ – Langley Regional Airport
- N49* 6.04' W122* 37.84’
- 41 custom buildings
- transparent tower windows
- two runways
- runways and taxiways adjusted to 10 cm air photo data, accurate to within 1m
- taxiway signs adjusted
- 30 cm photo scenery for airport area
AI Aircraft Models
The DHC-2 Beaver (32 repaints) is supplied in a new FSX version. Multiple models ensure that spray and wake effects are visible for all models.
An AI Bell B206L helicopter (11 repaints) flies custin routes. Flight Simulator X is not designed for AI helicopter use, so it flies somewhat like an airplane, with non-vertical takeoffs and landings.
|
