FSGenesis Terrain Mesh Upgrade

As I mentioned in the previous Post, I recently purchased (at 50% off), a terrain mesh upgrade from FSGenesis covering North America, or at least the United States (or at least 48 of them). FSX has three levels of scenery detail. The first is the mesh, or the elevation data. FSX defaults to a mesh resolution of 38 meters. The FSGenesis product takes that down to 9.6 meters. The higher resolution should make the terrain, especially in rugged areas, more accurate and realistic. But is it worth it? I paid almost $30 for this (normally $60), so to test it out, I planned a sight-seeing trip around north Georgia.

I took off from Dalton and headed east for a fly-around of Fort Mountain. From there, I headed WSW towards the Pocket, and then north to Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain. On the way back to Dalton, I flew over Rocky Face. Here are the before and after shots over Lookout Mountain:

(before shot - click to enlarge)

(after shot - click to enlarge)

The main thing I'm noticing is that the default FSX mesh provides the road (Highway 52) with a pretty wide shoulder on both sides that's pretty flat. The new mesh narrows that down so just the road is flat, which is certainly more realistic, but sometimes the road actually appears on an angle, which is not realistic at all.

Can't really call that an improvement, and other than the road, I really couldn't tell much difference. I took several before/after shots at the Pocket, but none of them were quite the same angle or view, so none were good for comparison. Overall, I'd say the Pocket looked worse with the new mesh than it did with the default FSX mesh.

Next stop, Lookout Mountain:

(before shot - click to enlarge)

(after shot - click to enlarge)

The road up the mountain here shows similar changes, but the big difference in this shot is that the steepest part of the ridge, the rocky stuff, is clearly more detailed in the after image. In the before shot, it's pretty much a flat cliff, but in the after shot, there are ripples and variation in the outcroppings. That's definitely an improvement, although you wouldn't notice it except on a close fly-by like this.

On the way home, over Rocky Face:

(before shot - click to enlarge)

(after shot - click to enlarge)

Really can't tell much difference at all in these two.

I'll do more testing, including some fights out west where the mountains are bigger. The differences may be more noticeable there. I'm also curious to see the combined effect of better mesh with photo-real scenery. This mesh will cover the Grand Canyon for example, and I have the MegaScenery Earth data for that area, so the two together should be a significant improvement over the default canyon.

Before I move on the the landing at the end of the second flight, I just wanted to pat myself on the back for flying nearly the exact same flight plan in two seperate flights. Other than the Pocket area, I was able to get before/after shots of the three other areas from nearly the exact same point of view. Trust me, that's not easy to do!

OK, on to the landing. As I was about 7 miles out from Dalton Municipal Airport, I called in my intention to land on runway 32. Right after that, a Beechcraft called in from 10 miles on the other side of the airport, intending to land on the same runway. I was closer, but I would have to fly the pattern, turn 180 degrees and land while the Beech would be making a straight in approach. It was looking like we'd get there about the same time, so should be interesting.

As I established in the pattern (downwind leg), he was about three miles out, showing no indications he was going to give me the right-of-way. Not sure who should yield in this situation, so I decided to let him go first. Then I decided that I would let him pass and then cut in behind him and land as close as possible. I wouldn't do that in real life, but you can't get hurt in a simulator, so here goes:

(click to enlarge)

I saw him pass about three-quarters of a mile to the side of me, so I banked hard around and got behind him. The image above shows me on final approach with him about to cross the threshold, still in the air. (Normally, I wouldn't turn on final until he was down and clear of the runway). As I landed, he was slow and turning off onto the taxiway. If you look at my air speed indicator, you can see I'm still going about 50 knots:

(click to enlarge)

I had to swerve to the other side of the runway and cut around behind him to avoid contact, but I was able to get stopped and turn back onto the same taxiway he used and follow him in to the parking area:
He did a better job parking (on the lines), but I've got the better looking plane!