3rd Party landclass recomendations

[blueridgeflyer]

Now that KDFW is released, I am wondering what 3rd party landclass suites the metroplex best?  I use SceneryTech NA 1.4 and one thing in particular that has been bothersome is the area just to the west of Ft Worth out towards Parker county.  There is an anomoly in scenery tech's landclass that makes this entire area urban rather than country rural.  Any suggestions for the region to layer above Scenery tech NA?

[virtuali]

Well, if you ask here, it couldn't be anything other than Cloud9 X-Class, which was developed by FSDT back then. The US version is probably the best, here's the Avsim review:

http://www.avsim.com/pages/1206/XClass/XClass.htm

You can buy XClass here, from the Cloud9 Web store link on the main page.

[cmpbllsjc]

I use SceneryTech NA also but I dont actually see it since I have MegaScenery Dallas installed.

I actually disabled MegaScenery Dallas once to see what it looked like with the GEX textures, but quickly re-enabled my photo scenery for the area so I can actually recognize land marks.

Why not try MegaScenery Dallas? You can find it at Fry's for around $15 and it blends pretty well with the new FSDT airport.

[blueridgeflyer]

Umberto, funny that you mention X-Class.  I had purchased the download version several years ago and lost the file before my Carbonite days.  Didnt feel like repurchasing the product just for another download link, which was the Cloud9 respsonse to my inquiry at the time.  So I purchased Scenery Tech instead based on some glowing avsim reviews.  Thanks for the shameless plug for X-Class though Haha;)  From what I can recall it was and is a fine product.

Sean, for some reason I have developed a snobbish aversion to Photoscenery.  Not sure why...perhaps its the static shadowing of the photographs, scenery transition seams, my own concerns as to how autogen is handled...  But I have seen several of your screenies in this forum that look really terrifc.  So maybe a trip to Frys over in Plano is in order for this evening.  Afterall who doesnt need to reasonable justification to go to Frys!

[cmpbllsjc]

Sean, for some reason I have developed a snobbish aversion to Photoscenery.  Not sure why...perhaps its the static shadowing of the photographs, scenery transition seams, my own concerns as to how autogen is handled...  But I have seen several of your screenies in this forum that look really terrifc.  So maybe a trip to Frys over in Plano is in order for this evening.  Afterall who doesnt need to reasonable justification to go to Frys!

LOL thats funny, I bought all mine (MegaScenery Dallas/Vegas/SoCal/Phoenix) at the Fry's on Plano Pkwy and 75, across from Love and War in Texas and RaceTrac.

Didn't know that you were a local also?

[virtuali]

Didnt feel like repurchasing the product just for another download link, which was the Cloud9 respsonse to my inquiry at the time.

Well, the Cloud9 response was *technically* correct because, the XClass scenery is not sold as Trial and it doesn't use the Addon Manager online activation. Which means, the download is not freely available like all other products, but is only available (like any other product that doesn't use online activation) as a temporary link after you purchase.

For those products, you are offered the chance to purchase at extra cost a sort of "download insurance" (Esellerate calls it EDS, Extended Download Service). You are obviously not forced to buy it, it's entirely optional but, if you chose not to buy it, it becomes your responsibility to keep a backup of the installer.

And that was the legally correct anwser...

However, we are more flexible which means, after we took over support for Cloud9 products in Nov. 2009, we got several requests from customers that lost their downloads for the XClass series, and all of them have been given a download link for free. You are welcome to ask for it by emailing us, in case you want to try again your past XClass purchase.

[blueridgeflyer]

Sean,

Yes sir a local indeed.  Born and raised in Dallas (Preston Hollow area to be precise).  Moved away to DC for a decade to launch the career and returned to Dallas area in the form of McKinney.  Glad to be back.  Yes Photoscenery snobbery is funny because there is an ounce of truth of it in the flight sim community.  I really do fear the scenery transition seam much like I fear touching the bottom of a lake!

Umberto,

Well this is certainly welcoming news. Yes I see that I purchased a XClass World eCD back on 09JUL07.  Do you know if the world version contains the latest version 1.03 of XClass USA?  I'll send the email detailing the purchase info.  Thanks for the flexibility!

[cmpbllsjc]

Sean,

Yes sir a local indeed.  Born and raised in Dallas (Preston Hollow area to be precise).  Moved away to DC for a decade to launch the career and returned to Dallas area in the form of McKinney.  Glad to be back.  Yes Photoscenery snobbery is funny because there is an ounce of truth of it in the flight sim community.  I really do fear the scenery transition seam much like I fear touching the bottom of a lake!

I'm not from here, but when I first moved to Texas I lived in McKinney for about 5 years, then moved to Plano to be closer to where I used to work. Funny though that I play golf pretty much every weekend in McKinney at West Ridge GC. If your a golfer, the guy that I play with and I play pretty much every Sunday morning around 7:15 - 7:30 at West Ridge if your ever interested in joining us? It's a pretty nice course if you haven't had a chance to play it, 6 par 3's, 6 par 4's and 6 par 5's.

On the MegaScenery Dallas the blend is not too bad where it meets the GEX/default textures. Frankly if I didn't live here I may have passed on it, but I enjoy photo scenery for places that I know or have lived. For other places I am content with GEX and a good landlcass since I wouldn't know what the real area is supposed to look like anyway.

[blueridgeflyer]

Sean, my golf game causes much consternation.  To be honest I havent picked up a club in years. I pretty much just stick to running nowadays.   I live right near Westridge in the Stonebridge Ranch just about where the crosswind/downwind point is for T31 when in south ops.  Never made it down to Fry's today to purchase Megascenery.  I think I will try my hand at X-Class landclass data and see how that works.  It wouldnt hurt to bring the Ft Worth glitch to the attention of the Scenery Tech folks either.

[cmpbllsjc]

Well Ryan if you ever change your mind your welcome to join us.

BTW, I have seen some pretty cool planes flying out of T31 on Sunday mornings when I am golfing. There is one guy with biplane who is out almost every Sunday morning buzzing around, plus I have seen some old war birds out there. Just this last Sunday I noticed an older Vietnam era jet parked on the south end of the runway. Looks like there are a lot of people with a lot of money in a/c at that little field. I noticed they repaved the runway recently as well. It would be pretty cool if someone like the guy who did that other little field northwest of DFW could do T31.

[blueridgeflyer]

Thanks for the invite.  Yes I know the bi-plane well.  I had also noticed the runway improvement while driving by the other day.  I like airports as much as the next guy, but I feel compelled to disclose displeasure with my friend Mr Decibal as he relates to old war birds.  I think our agent was smart to show our house to us on pure IMC days.  We simply had no idea.....

[blueridgeflyer]

Well, if you ask here, it couldn't be anything other than Cloud9 X-Class, which was developed by FSDT back then. The US version is probably the best, here's the Avsim review:

http://www.avsim.com/pages/1206/XClass/XClass.htm

You can buy XClass here, from the Cloud9 Web store link on the main page.

Just a quick update on landclass products...Just installed Cloud9 XClass & I find it much more accurate in the depiction of the region than other products such as Scenery Tech for instance.  The DFW area lies in the cross timbers region where forests (50 NM to the east) transition to the rolling prairies of N Texas.  About 30NM southwest of Ft Worth is the Texas hill country (extending southwest towards San Antonio) with its limestone bedrock that is populated with Texas live oaks.  XClass gets all of this right.  Plus the urban anomaly west of FTW that was mentioned in the OP is gone.