Better Ground Textures

Features
1

With the release of the Global update, the appearance of this game/simulator was completely changed. High quality atmospheric rendering and satellite imagery for the entire planet has made Infinite Flight the best mobile flight simulation game by far. However, the best ground textures we can get at the moment are only 15m resolution. This is fine for people who want to fly airliners at high altitudes, but for those who prefer low level military flying, or just want to explore, the current ground textures can be somewhat disappointing. This is especially true when flying through areas of natural beauty. In many cases, this beauty is lost, as fine details and features are wiped from our view. The photos below are screenshots of the same location (A5 Pass, Wales), the first from Infinite Flight, the second from Google Earth.

Note that there is a difference in the FOV of each photo, however, the differences in the quality of ground textures should be immediately apparent.

Screenshot_20180216-105210
Screenshot_20180216-1052102048Ɨ1536 382 KB

Screenshot_20180216-105449
Screenshot_20180216-1054492048Ɨ1536 1.25 MB

Before you go ahead and say ā€œOne photo per request pleaseā€, take the time to consider how I am supposed to make a comparison without uploading two photos.

As you can see, there is quite a difference between the two. Improved ground textures would really make flying at low level much more exciting, regardless of the aircraft used. I am however also aware that high resolution satellite imagery is expensive, and may be difficult to implement for a variety of other reasons.

One way to reduce the financial cost, as well as the number of technical hurdles which may be encountered during development, is to only add ultra high resolution textures where they are needed. Scenic ares such as the Alps or Himalayas would benefit, as well as areas of low flying activity, such as the Mach Loop in Wales, the Lake District in England, the Highlands of Scotland and Death Valley in California. Improved scenery could also be added around major airports, to make the approach more interesting.

If this is something you would like to see implemented, please consider giving it a vote.

2

Your phone will freeze after take off with this such as high graphic.
You can play xplane 11 instead.

16 Likes
3

It doesnā€™t need to be Google Earth level textures, just enough to be able to make out roads, railways, rivers, houses etc.

18 Likes
4

While I agree with more detail and a better resolution (I like to fly VFR and find places I know), I think getting Google Earth-like detail is nearly impossible. It would require to much processing power.

Conclusion: I agree that we need more detail, but getting it like the real world is virtually impossible.

6 Likes
5

In order for this amount of detail to be added, a MASSIVE amount of storage and processing power would be used. Iā€™d be happy with the 15m resolution scenery we have now, as Iā€™d rather have that than scenery chunks repeated throughout the world in order to have roads.

3 Likes
6

Read my mind Allen. Way too much going on-Iā€™d love to see scenery but I recognize the limits (currently anyhow) of mobile.

7
  1. Todayā€™s devices are too weak for that quality
  2. Higher quality=Higher prices. Many ā€œrefuse to understand the circumstancesā€ people are already complaining about the price.

Besides, I am sure we will get better resolutions (10m then 8m and so on) as time passes.

8

The devs have already stated that they would like to increase the resolution but they have to start small and work up to it. Price alone for the image source may be the biggest hindrance.

14 Likes
9

Donā€™t they need to add the high quality to all parts of the world first?

2 Likes
11

I think the thing I find most annoying is that almost everything is brown. You can watch videos on Youtube of a beautiful lush green approach into the airport. That same approach is brown in Infinite Flight.

3 Likes
12

Iā€™d love to see this happen. The dilemma is that although the more detailed textures are out there, they will cost an absolute fortune.

They would probably need you to show them your money an put down an advance before they could purchase the textures and get it setup. You could be talking $ millions to get a global dataset and pay people to implement it, sort out the servers and backend stuff.

And the data transfer would be much higher, so watch your data plan get pummeled! Iā€™d be willing to put down a pre payment to see this happen, but I think it might be a long wait.

2 Likes
13

Have you tried changing the month / time of year? It makes a big difference.

1 Like
14

Now that, is something I can agree with.

3 Likes
15

That is true. Every time I do a high altitude photo shoot I set the time and date to 1200 on the 20th June. It creates better lighting. Do the opposite in the southern hemisphere.

2 Likes
16

Agreed. We need better ground textures a I usually do low level flight. If you have one of the newer devices, I think there should be a toggle for what quality you want the ground to be.

17

Let me just say how much are you willing to pay as having better textures would cost a fortune?

18

Everyone get as many as your friends to play infinte flight so fds get šŸ’µšŸ’µšŸ’µ to afford some of this šŸ˜.

1 Like
19

guys this doesnā€™t use processing power
this uses graphical processing power

20

If Iā€™ll be honest,

I think this would work if Infinite Flight was for PC computers.

21

Iā€™m pretty sure that infinite flight wonā€™t be compatible with many mobile devices with graphics that amazing