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I've never before spent just $10 on FSX with such good results. The US landclass product from FS Genesis makes a huge and lasting difference to my sim experience.
Who?
FS Genesis are much better known for their many mesh products. But tucked away in a corner of their catalog is a single landclass-only product for FSX, and for United States only. I missed it before now. Many thanks to N404_mike for bringing it to my attention. We were flying the Monday Mail Run over the barren high altitude stretches of Wyoming, and he was seeing settlements by the I-80, that I knew to be there in real life, but which neither default FSX (that I was running) nor FTX Global and Vector (that several others were running) were displaying.
What is landclass?
Landclass contains the details of what each piece of the landscape is used for. Think of it like a zoning map. Is a particular tile a town, or a forest, or desert, or steppe, or grassland, etc.? It's the landclass that tells FSX what textures to display at any particular point and whether or not (and how) autogen scenery ought to kick in. It doesn't matter how good your textures are - whether they're from FTX Global, or default, or some other product - without a good landclass telling FSX what it should be displaying, your experience may fall far short of simulated reality.
Doesn’t FSX have a landclass file already built-in?
Yes, it does. But, from my experience, it falls short of what I want.
What difference does a landclass add-on make?
See for yourself. Here are some screen shots, deliberately set to clear weather, summertime, daytime. The first in each pair is with default FSX landclass only. The second is with FS Genesis landclass active.
In all of these, I have scenery and autogen sliders set fully to the right (and my frame rate set to unlimited). I've kept all the "red letters" on so you can see frame rates for yourself.
You can click on all pictures to see the full-size shot.
KAPA
Here's my home airport, Centennial (KAPA) in Colorado, short finals for the ILS runway 35R. I was always disappointed with the way FSX rendered the airport's surrounding areas as semi-desert scrub with few buildings. It's not like that; I should know I live here! With the FS Genesis US landclass active, it looks MUCH more like the real thing. It was worth $10 just for that alone!
Without FS Genesis US landclass:
With FS Genesis US landclass:
KLGA
Overflying LaGuardia (KLGA), New York, and looking toward Manhattan. The areas around New York city center (Queens, in this case) are not, in general, delightful garden suburbs, as default FSX landclass would have you believe! With the FS Genesis US landclass active, it's not as pretty, but it gives a better feel of urban sprawl.
Without FS Genesis US landclass:
With FS Genesis US landclass:
KRWL
Inbound to Rawlins (KRWL), Wyoming, at the end of the Monday Mail Run, following Interstate I-80 over the barren high wastes. This is what first caught my attention. The town of Sinclair is not large, but it is missing entirely from default FSX landclass. Wyoming is a sparsely populated state, so even the smallest habitations stand out in reality and I feel you should be able to see them.
Without FS Genesis US landclass:
With FS Genesis US landclass:
And this is a Plan-G map showing my position relative to Sinclair and Rawlins when the above screenshots were taken:
Does using a custom landclass impact frame rates?
That depends. If you have autogen set very high, like I do, FSX may display more complex autogen scenery with FS Genesis landclass active, especially in urban areas. That - for me - seems to have a very small impact on frame rates, yes. You can see for yourself in the screenshots. But I'm running a high-end Alienware laptop and fancy graphics card, so my results may not be what you would find.
What about the rest of the world outside the US?
If you're using FS Genesis US landclass as your only landclass add-on (like I am at the time of writing), then that will kick in only for the US. Outside the US, FSX will switch back to its old default.
Does it interfere with products like FTX Global?
As far as I'm aware, no. It shouldn't. N404_mike was running Global and FS Genesis US landclass. The landclass, whether default or FS Genesis, is merely telling FTX what textures to use at any part of the map. That is happening already for you. It should only make it more accurate. Disclaimer: I am about to purchase FTX Global and Vector and I'll tell you for myself when I have them!
Where did FS Genesis get their data from?
They say:
Does it take long to download? Is it a complicated install?
No. And no. It's a really small download - less than 3 Mbytes - and so very quick. It has an easy installer. Just check very carefully that the address you are installing to is the correct one. It will prompt you for that, but check it carefully. It should be:
If it's that small, is it worth $10?
In my opinion, yes. Easily. The difference it makes is huge.
Would you recommend purchasing GS Genesis US landclass?
If you fly a lot in the US, YES! I am recommending it (though of course not insisting on it) for all my Monday Mail Runs from now on.
Where can I get it from?
Please go here: http://www.fsgenesis.com/us-national...roject-for-fsx
Who?
FS Genesis are much better known for their many mesh products. But tucked away in a corner of their catalog is a single landclass-only product for FSX, and for United States only. I missed it before now. Many thanks to N404_mike for bringing it to my attention. We were flying the Monday Mail Run over the barren high altitude stretches of Wyoming, and he was seeing settlements by the I-80, that I knew to be there in real life, but which neither default FSX (that I was running) nor FTX Global and Vector (that several others were running) were displaying.
What is landclass?
Landclass contains the details of what each piece of the landscape is used for. Think of it like a zoning map. Is a particular tile a town, or a forest, or desert, or steppe, or grassland, etc.? It's the landclass that tells FSX what textures to display at any particular point and whether or not (and how) autogen scenery ought to kick in. It doesn't matter how good your textures are - whether they're from FTX Global, or default, or some other product - without a good landclass telling FSX what it should be displaying, your experience may fall far short of simulated reality.
Doesn’t FSX have a landclass file already built-in?
Yes, it does. But, from my experience, it falls short of what I want.
What difference does a landclass add-on make?
See for yourself. Here are some screen shots, deliberately set to clear weather, summertime, daytime. The first in each pair is with default FSX landclass only. The second is with FS Genesis landclass active.
In all of these, I have scenery and autogen sliders set fully to the right (and my frame rate set to unlimited). I've kept all the "red letters" on so you can see frame rates for yourself.
You can click on all pictures to see the full-size shot.
KAPA
Here's my home airport, Centennial (KAPA) in Colorado, short finals for the ILS runway 35R. I was always disappointed with the way FSX rendered the airport's surrounding areas as semi-desert scrub with few buildings. It's not like that; I should know I live here! With the FS Genesis US landclass active, it looks MUCH more like the real thing. It was worth $10 just for that alone!
Without FS Genesis US landclass:
With FS Genesis US landclass:
KLGA
Overflying LaGuardia (KLGA), New York, and looking toward Manhattan. The areas around New York city center (Queens, in this case) are not, in general, delightful garden suburbs, as default FSX landclass would have you believe! With the FS Genesis US landclass active, it's not as pretty, but it gives a better feel of urban sprawl.
Without FS Genesis US landclass:
With FS Genesis US landclass:
KRWL
Inbound to Rawlins (KRWL), Wyoming, at the end of the Monday Mail Run, following Interstate I-80 over the barren high wastes. This is what first caught my attention. The town of Sinclair is not large, but it is missing entirely from default FSX landclass. Wyoming is a sparsely populated state, so even the smallest habitations stand out in reality and I feel you should be able to see them.
Without FS Genesis US landclass:
With FS Genesis US landclass:
And this is a Plan-G map showing my position relative to Sinclair and Rawlins when the above screenshots were taken:
Does using a custom landclass impact frame rates?
That depends. If you have autogen set very high, like I do, FSX may display more complex autogen scenery with FS Genesis landclass active, especially in urban areas. That - for me - seems to have a very small impact on frame rates, yes. You can see for yourself in the screenshots. But I'm running a high-end Alienware laptop and fancy graphics card, so my results may not be what you would find.
What about the rest of the world outside the US?
If you're using FS Genesis US landclass as your only landclass add-on (like I am at the time of writing), then that will kick in only for the US. Outside the US, FSX will switch back to its old default.
Does it interfere with products like FTX Global?
As far as I'm aware, no. It shouldn't. N404_mike was running Global and FS Genesis US landclass. The landclass, whether default or FS Genesis, is merely telling FTX what textures to use at any part of the map. That is happening already for you. It should only make it more accurate. Disclaimer: I am about to purchase FTX Global and Vector and I'll tell you for myself when I have them!
Where did FS Genesis get their data from?
They say:
The FSGenesis US National Landclass Project for FSX uses as source data the latest, most highly-refined dataset available to bring the FSX depiction of landuse to the most accurate possible within the confines of the current terrain engine. This product is derived from the 2001 National Land-Cover Database for the United States (NLCD 2001), produced by the Multi-Resolution Land Characterization 2001 (MRLC 2001), a US federal consortium designed to gather an updated pool of nationwide Landsat 5 and 7 imagery to create a second-generation National Land Cover Database.
As in the real-world, this landclass product is a "living" project, meaning that it is in constant evolution. As new, more recent data is discovered, and as local end-user feedback comes in, changes are made and free updates become available.
As in the real-world, this landclass product is a "living" project, meaning that it is in constant evolution. As new, more recent data is discovered, and as local end-user feedback comes in, changes are made and free updates become available.
No. And no. It's a really small download - less than 3 Mbytes - and so very quick. It has an easy installer. Just check very carefully that the address you are installing to is the correct one. It will prompt you for that, but check it carefully. It should be:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Addon Scenery
and it will install it in the Scenery folder underneath that, creating one if it's not already there.If it's that small, is it worth $10?
In my opinion, yes. Easily. The difference it makes is huge.
Would you recommend purchasing GS Genesis US landclass?
If you fly a lot in the US, YES! I am recommending it (though of course not insisting on it) for all my Monday Mail Runs from now on.
Where can I get it from?
Please go here: http://www.fsgenesis.com/us-national...roject-for-fsx
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