April was a dry spell in new screenshots, but May brings a little bit of new info.
First off, a new aircraft – I may be wrong, but it’s a Van’s Aircraft RV-6A. I think this is the first kit plane represented in the history of Flight Simulator. Very nice!
This shot also shows the water – it is about the same as FSX water, but seems to have more texture. The earlier previews have shown the improvements in lighting, and this shot shows this off nicely:
The terrain shadowing itself is quite obvious, as well as the subtlety of colour in the clouds and horizon. The colours are less bright, and more realistic. Some people have compared it to the effects given by REX under FSX, which may be a good comparison. I’m looking forward to seeing Table Mountain casting its shadow over the city bowl.
The biggest improvements are obvious in the terrain rendering. The algorithm for texturing the terrain finally takes slope correctly into account, so that cliffs faces and other close to vertical areas are textures separately, making the terrain more geologically plausible:
Finally, the details: The resolution of the textures is much higher, the colours more subtle, and the vegetation casts a little shadow under itself onto the terrain. The surf also is much higher resolution, extending further into the water texture, giving a great effect:
Looking good! Can’t wait to see all these goodies animated together.
i can’t wait too, looks a very nice new sim.
i hope new animations like hangars, or more stuff… let’s wait.