Professional use of the simulator

[localiser]

every new version (of MSFS) ran slower than the previous version

I can't comment on the technical aspect of the computer graphics, but having been in the full flight simulator recently and "taxiing" around the scenery at a big airport, even there I noticed some stuttering of the graphics occasionally.

When doing procedural work with PSX there's really no need for visuals, but if you do want to get an appreciation of the local terrain etc then on a budget set up a Jeppesen/LIDO chart and Google Earth on an ipad normally do the job 

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

I almost feel like we may want to go for two separate scenery generators that in some way are swapped at particular moments in a flight.

During ground ops and until about 100 ft altitude, we need a detailed nearby simulator that gives you the correct ground clues: tarmac, signs, buildings of the airport, other traffic, cars, whatever. To navigate an airport on the ground, you need a car view. Nearby everything, tapering off quickly beyond, what, 100-200 meters.

When you clear 100 ft, you can switch to futher out as you are now flying to not hit anything: aircraft and mountains, possibly a few landmarks, but not really much more. As you climb the detail can go down while the horizon stretches further until you have the typical 37,000 ft level where you see everything but it looks like nothing.

And then while coming in, switch to ground view only below 50 knots to not screw up your approach and rollout.

I wonder what current scenery generators have up their sleeve of these tricks? It is such a basic idea that it should be available today, right?


Hoppie
not a scenery sim guy

[United744]

This is something I wonder about sims today: they draw the scenery from the aircraft position outwards, REGARDLESS of the altitude of the aircraft.

The result is it is drawing trees, cars, buildings, that are below the aircraft and can't be seen.

They need to draw the scenery like a donut, so when the aircraft climbs, it is over an ever-expanding hole in the donut, until the inner edge reaches the visibility distance, then stops drawing completely.

In X-Plane, I don't have any scenery beyond ~2 NM - it doesn't make sense. By the time I get to the end of a runway, I still have 2 miles of scenery ahead!

Until I get to about 400 ft, I'm too high to really appreciate it anyway. I'm much more interested in the fluidity of the horizon and the runway environment.

Interestingly, the night time visuals appear to be unaffected by the scenery detail (road lighting, etc).