announcement Introducing TrueEarth Washington for P3Dv4+

[Ed Correia 4,261]

TrueEarth US comes to P3D!

 

 

 

This next-generation of scenery development for the US is packed with unique features, immeasurable detail and a huge variety of places to see. In the heart of the Pacific Northwest, Washington is a picturesque state full of natural beauty and breathtaking terrain that gives you a real sense of purpose as you explore the environment.    

 

Expanding on the successes of our TrueEarth products, TrueEarth US Washington brings the latest scenery technology to one of our most-requested locations. From the rugged isolation of the Cascade Mountains to the hustle of downtown Seattle; from the arid beauty of the Inland Empire to the temperate serenity of the coastal maritimes, TrueEarth US Washington encapsulates some of the most dramatic scenery packages ever and is available now in Prepar3D v4 & v5.

 

TrueEarth US Washington includes a host of many of the features and content from the X-Plane version. From the 900+ custom-modeled landmarks, through to the millions of accurately-placed buildings and trees, this scenery faithfully recreates one of the true homes of global aviation. 

 

Expect to see a release very soon!

 

Features

• 66,574 square miles (172,428 km²) of hand-corrected, crisp aerial imagery
• 944 custom-modeled 3D POIs!
• Over 332 million trees placed correctly based on detailed land use and high-resolution height data
• More than 4.5 million buildings at their correct height and location where data is available
• Major Cityscapes for Seattle, Bellevue, Victoria, Tacoma and significant buildings added to Everett, Olympia, Spokane, Kennewick and Yakima
• VFR landmarks such as masts, wind farms, churches, power-lines, and lighthouses are all accurately placed.
• Hand-placed and custom modelled 3D landmarks throughout the scenery such as bridges, skyscrapers, stadiums, cranes, tanks, piers farms, and monuments – this is especially noticeable in city areas
• Sharp and detailed Ultra-HD 10-meter mesh brings out stunning detail in natural features such as mountains, coastlines and valleys
• Superb watermasking along the entire coastline and most rivers and lakes
• Beautiful summer imagery with exquisite night-lighting

 

For more details on the coverage area, please see the attached kmz file which can be viewed in Google Earth. You will note that the coverage area does not match the actual size of Washington state due to the different grid systems used by P3D & X-Plane.

TE Washington.kmz

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Will Westlake 2]

Absolutely stunning!! As someone who lives in the PNW, just across from Washington State, this makes me very pleased :D

[paddler 360]

I have been waiting for this!

[BrianV 461]

Beautiful news from the early morning. As real as it gets, this will shine in P3D v5.

[Manu1985 292]

Amazing news! Will we have PBR effects on autogen buildings like in x-plane?

[JosefK 12]

First, the YouTube being I live in Washington State and have flown as an Alaska Airlines passenger out of SeaTac:

a) At 0:21. that's Mt. Rainier not Mt. Baker.

b) 1:33 is the Tacoma Narrows Bridge

 

Second, I'm just tearing up here.  This is REAL.  This is why I love flight simming, and I'll love it not just flying low-level routes in a DC Designs Growler but also GA & commercial.  I can't wait to see what you did or didn't do with OLF Coupeville and so many other places around the state special to me & my friends like Ross Dam, the Baker River Dams, Paine Field, and Victoria.  I remember when I had photoscenery and then Orbx airports, freeware airports & more on top in FSX - that was painful on the frame rates and remember FSX has a 4 GB RAM limit.  At least I have 12 GB of RAM now and 2 GB of VRAM - this is the year I spend $2XXX on a new computer to upgrade that.

 

Third, how is this going to work with the Orbx airports I love like my top 3 favs Skagit, Anacortes & Seiku?

[Dario 3,510]

Wow!!! That’s amazing news. 

[Marek2704 2]

How about Drzewiecki Design Seattle Airports and Seattle City?

[pmb 1,001]

Thanks, I've been waiting for this for months.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[shasta62 6]

GREAT !!!

[dfloth 4]

Fantastic!!!

 

I'm ready to push the "Buy Button" now! :-)

[paulk 374]

This is great news.

 

May I ask if the screenshots above were taken with P3d V4 or V5?

 

Ive just upgraded to V5 and find the performance and colours/shaders soooooooo much better than V4. Did the Orbx team notice similar?
 

 

[stiletto2 232]

Awesome news!

 

Rod

[ChriKa 3]

Will there be a HD and a SD version? I'm interested in the installation size. I'm running out of disk-space. 

[mikee 3,643]

Great news , looking forward

Which FTX Regions do we have to Uninstall when we Install True Earth US Washington ?

Mike

[kcarl96 2]

12 minutes ago, mikee said:

Great news , looking forward

Which FTX Regions do we have to Uninstall when we Install True Earth US Washington ?

Mike

I'd Imagine it would only be PNW Region if you have it installed

[mikee 3,643]

Just now, kcarl96 said:

I'd Imagine it would only be PNW Region if you have it installed

I have all of them installed !!

Maybe Pacific fjords or Northern Rockies as well !!

[Steve Colbert 596]

8 hours ago, paulk said:

This is great news.

 

May I ask if the screenshots above were taken with P3d V4 or V5?

 

Ive just upgraded to V5 and find the performance and colours/shaders soooooooo much better than V4. Did the Orbx team notice similar?
 

 

My experience as a beta tester has been that P3DV5 (the latest version incorporating the "hotfix") works incredibly well with this scenery...and the others to come...vs. my experience with P3Dv4 - my specs are in my signature and for whatever reason my Dell stock non-gaming runabout that I added the GTX 1070 struggles with v4 (Orbx or not) but thanks to the new coding that uses the graphics card to share the load it's a smooth locked 31 FPS for me - your mileage may vary, of course.

 

As for colors I don't recall but in my opinion it looks fabulous under the experimental advanced weather and with the latest version no running out of video memory, not even in downtown Seattle.

 

Hope this helps...

 

Steve

[Aussie123 231]

Summer only I notice.

Not the 5 seasons. I guess it is the perfect time of year to release it.

What does it look like if you set the date to mid winter?

[Steve Colbert 596]

12 hours ago, Marek2704 said:

How about Drzewiecki Design Seattle Airports and Seattle City?

 

I've tested the DD "Seattle City" without any issue that I've noticed....the ortho coloring between the airports doesn't match Orbx's exactly of course, but not objectionable and I'll leave them installed.

 

I find the Orbx POI to look great and better than the DD in my opinion and these also provide excellent performance so I haven't and won't install the "City" part even though I own it (it might work though).

 

Steve

[JosefK 12]

Just now, Steve Colbert said:

 

I've tested the DD "Seattle City" without any issue that I've noticed....the ortho coloring between the airports doesn't match Orbx's exactly of course, but not objectionable and I'll leave them installed.

 

I find the Orbx POI to look great and better than the DD in my opinion and these also provide excellent performance so I haven't and won't install the "City" part even though I own it (it might work though).

 

Steve

 

As a transit fan and someone who rides Sound Transit + owns Seattle City - the Orbx stuff @Steve Colbert does have the Sound Transit light rail yard in SoDo, Seattle yes?

 

Thanks!

[fltsimguy 327]

"TrueEarth US Washington includes a host of many of the features and content from the X-Plane version. From the 900+ custom-modeled landmarks, through to the millions of accurately-placed buildings and trees, this scenery faithfully recreates one of the true homes of global aviation."

 

 

Wondering, is there any difference between the much earlier XP11+ version and this release for P3D4+? The way that this is written "seems" to suggest there might be but I'm thinking not.

Bryan

Edited May 12, 2020 by fltsimguy

[paulk 374]

1 hour ago, Steve Colbert said:

My experience as a beta tester has been that P3DV5 (the latest version incorporating the "hotfix") works incredibly well with this scenery...and the others to come...vs. my experience with P3Dv4 - my specs are in my signature and for whatever reason my Dell stock non-gaming runabout that I added the GTX 1070 struggles with v4 (Orbx or not) but thanks to the new coding that uses the graphics card to share the load it's a smooth locked 31 FPS for me - your mileage may vary, of course.

 

As for colors I don't recall but in my opinion it looks fabulous under the experimental advanced weather and with the latest version no running out of video memory, not even in downtown Seattle.

 

Hope this helps...

 

Steve

Thanks Steve I also have a GTX 1070

[Jetpilot82 3]

Hello Orbx,

 

I would really appreciate an info, when you are going to release California North and South for P3D?  particularly now, as you just announced Oregon and Washington.

When Fs2020 is out, hopefully this autumn, me, and I belive the most other people wouldn't buy it anymore.

 

Cheers

Marc

[F737NG 658]

6 minutes ago, Jetpilot82 said:

Hello Orbx,

 

I would really appreciate an info, when you are going to release California North and South for P3D?  particularly now, as you just announced Oregon and Washington.

When Fs2020 is out, hopefully this autumn, me, and I belive the most other people wouldn't buy it anymore.

There won't be a release date from Orbx until they are nearly ready to make them available for sale.
The release order for XP11 was Washington, Oregon, North California, Florida and South California. Given that the previews suggest that WA and OR are nearly ready, I would expect that it will be the same path for P3D.

Please don't blackmail them into rushing the TE products out. I think everyone would prefer that the team do a good job on converting and optimising them for us to have have great performance and no OOM VRAM CTDs in v5.

If you want TrueEarth California in P3D, you'll probably have to wait a few months more. If you think that's too long, you'll have an even longer wait for MSFS.
I'm excited about these as anyone else, but chasing developers for releases never works out well for anyone. [/rant]
 

[regis902 4]

Also wondering if there will be an SD version.  That’s what I bought for X-Plane and it suited me well.

[pmb 1,001]

1 hour ago, regis902 said:

Also wondering if there will be an SD version.  That’s what I bought for X-Plane and it suited me well.

 

As far as I know there are no SD versions for Prepar3d as the overall size is much smaller than the corresponding X-Plane counterparts because Prepar3d uses a higher compression.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[carlosqr 4,767]

17 hours ago, Steve Colbert said:

 

I've tested the DD "Seattle City" without any issue that I've noticed....the ortho coloring between the airports doesn't match Orbx's exactly of course, but not objectionable and I'll leave them installed.

 

I find the Orbx POI to look great and better than the DD in my opinion and these also provide excellent performance so I haven't and won't install the "City" part even though I own it (it might work though).

 

Steve

Yeap I think there is no longer need for DD city

Thanks Steve

Cheers

[carlosqr 4,767]

17 hours ago, Aussie123 said:

Summer only I notice.

Not the 5 seasons. I guess it is the perfect time of year to release it.

What does it look like if you set the date to mid winter?

I think that for flying other seasons we would have to disable TE WA so we can fly the PNW 4 seasons

At least that is what I find most logical

Cheers

Carlos

[paddler 360]

2 hours ago, carlosqr said:

I think that for flying other seasons we would have to disable TE WA so we can fly the PNW 4 seasons

At least that is what I find most logical

Cheers

Carlos

Particularly for flying in areas with five distinct seasons, such as Canada and northern US I like to have that option. Using SIMstarter NG P3D I set up options to allow for TE in the summer and Orbx regions in the seasons that I want. In UK it is not as much of an issue.

[andy1252 2,672]

looks great, but a quick question @Ed Correia, will the existing PNW etc airports be supported with this? I'm hoping they'll just drop straight on top - that really would be the icing on the cake.

[stiletto2 232]

On 5/12/2020 at 4:11 PM, mikee said:

Great news , looking forward

Which FTX Regions do we have to Uninstall when we Install True Earth US Washington ?

Mike

 

On 5/12/2020 at 4:24 PM, kcarl96 said:

I'd Imagine it would only be PNW Region if you have it installed

 

Since PNW extends well North of the TrueEarth US Washington coverage area until it reaches Orbx PFJ, I would think PNW users would have to leave PNW installed to continue Orbx region coverage of the Vancouver Island area including most of Larry Robinson's great work (CAE3, YRC, CAG8, CAC8) as well as Squamish (CYSE) and West Wind (7WA3).   I think Larry's CAX6 is inside the TrueEarth US Washington coverage area so that brings up the question on whether CAX6 wiil work properly if TrueEarth US Washington is installed over PNW?

 

Certainly need some guidance from Orbx on this.....

 

Rod 

[John Dow 1,221]

1 hour ago, stiletto2 said:

 

 

Since PNW extends well North of the TrueEarth US Washington coverage area until it reaches Orbx PFJ, I would think PNW users would have to leave PNW installed to continue Orbx region coverage of the Vancouver Island area including most of Larry Robinson's great work (CAE3, YRC, CAG8, CAC8) as well as Squamish (CYSE) and West Wind (7WA3).   I think Larry's CAX6 is inside the TrueEarth US Washington coverage area so that brings up the question on whether CAX6 wiil work properly if TrueEarth US Washington is installed over PNW?

 

Certainly need some guidance from Orbx on this.....

 

Rod 

 

You won't need to uninstall PNW as long as the scenery ordering is correct.

 

And TE Washington does not precisely cover Washington State, the name is to reflect the area on which it is based, it covers almost the entire state but not quite, due to limitations in the source imagery.  There will be a coverage map available when the product is released if you feel you need to check the exact coverage.

[stiletto2 232]

Are you saying the KMZ file provided in the preview announcement , which shows the borders of the area, is not accurate?

 

Rod

[pmb 1,001]

37 minutes ago, John Dow said:

 

And TE Washington does not precisely cover Washington State, the name is to reflect the area on which it is based, it covers almost the entire state but not quite, due to limitations in the source imagery.  

I don't think most people are worrying about some rural area at the boundary but if Vancouver will be included or not. And this can be certainly negated.

 

I will buy TE Washington for sure, but I am less than happy the iconic city of Vancouver having been left out again, even though we know the reason, no need to repeat it.

 

I squeezed in Holger's and Jon's excellent but vastly outdated Vancouver3+ until Prepar3d4.5, but am not inclined to repeat that exercise once more. Even more as Prepar3d5 is far from stable even using compatible addons.

 

Kind regards, Michael

 

[F737NG 658]

39 minutes ago, pmb said:

I don't think most people are worrying about some rural area at the boundary but if Vancouver will be included or not. And this can be certainly negated.

 

I will buy TE Washington for sure, but I am less than happy the iconic city of Vancouver having been left out again, even though we know the reason, no need to repeat it.

 

I squeezed in Holger's and Jon's excellent but vastly outdated Vancouver3+ until Prepar3d4.5, but am not inclined to repeat that exercise once more. Even more as Prepar3d5 is far from stable even using compatible addons.

The prohibitively high cost of acquiring the imagery is the reason (for those that don't know) why there is no photo scenery planned for north of the 49th parallel.

@pmb There is a developer working on YVR, YHC and the city.
It's been a long wait since Vancouver3+, but hopefully TE WA and this Vancouver product brings this part of the world in P3D kicking and screaming into the 2020s.
 

[carlosqr 4,767]

50 minutes ago, pmb said:

I don't think most people are worrying about some rural area at the boundary but if Vancouver will be included or not. And this can be certainly negated.

 

I will buy TE Washington for sure, but I am less than happy the iconic city of Vancouver having been left out again, even though we know the reason, no need to repeat it.

 

I squeezed in Holger's and Jon's excellent but vastly outdated Vancouver3+ until Prepar3d4.5, but am not inclined to repeat that exercise once more. Even more as Prepar3d5 is far from stable even using compatible addons.

 

Kind regards, Michael

 

You're right?

Would Vancouver+3 would work in TEWA?

I wouldn't like to drop it despite it is dated

Is there a way to encourage Holger to update it? City scene Vancouver 2020!! wow

Cheers

Carlos

[carlosqr 4,767]

4 minutes ago, F737NG said:

There is a developer working on YVR, YHC and the city.

who is it please?

[pmb 1,001]

5 minutes ago, F737NG said:

 There is a developer working on YVR, YHC and the city.
It's been a long wait since Vancouver3+, but hopefully TE WA and this Vancouver product brings this part of the world in P3D kicking and screaming into the 2020s.

 

Thanks for the hint, that would be too good to be true. I only believe it when it's on my disk, but we can dream, can't we?

 

Anyway, I am happy we get TE Washington done for P3D.

 

Kind regards, Michael

[carlosqr 4,767]

6 minutes ago, pmb said:

 

Thanks for the hint, that would be too good to be true. I only believe it when it's on my disk, but we can dream, can't we?

 

Anyway, I am happy we get TE Washington done for P3D.

 

Kind regards, Michael

Found it

But would it be compatible with a TE product

 

 

 

Well checking the map it is outside the TE coverage so won't cause anomalies I would say

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by carlosqr