Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: Herra Tohtori on February 11, 2010, 07:32:17 pm
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Picture tells it all.
(http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/9145/googleearthmyhero.png)
Someone at Google is seriously busting their asses to get this good modeling and mapping of cities.
I mean I can see my house modeled in the program, and I can identify it based on the curtains, if I didn't know the physical location of my room.
Then I can fly around and (with a bit of poking in program settings) can enable the buildings in the flight simulator.
Oh yeah, Google Earth has an in-built poor man's flight sim. You can get it started with Ctrl+Alt+A combo. It supports joysticks and I recommend using one, but if you have no stick, you can use the mouse as elevator and aileron. Throttle is page up/page down, and rudder is numpad zero and numpad enter. You can see a representation of all axis positions on the lower left, so it sorta helps if you don't have a stick. F lowers flaps, Shift+F raises flaps. G toggles landing gear.
It's fairly nice though especially on the mountainous areas or (as shown) above modeled cities. However, in their infinite wisdom google apparently thought that the 3D buildings take too much processing power so they disabled them on default; however as you turn the flight simulator on, you can enable them by bringing up the side panel with Ctrl+Alt+B, enable 3D models, then hide the side panel with Ctrl+Alt+B.
Flight model is nothing to be cheered at and there's no real lighting except the pseudo-kind you get from the shadows in the textures, but it's still better looking than Microsoft Flight Simulators even with add-ons - mainly because the frame rates are greater than five with this high scenery density on.
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:eek:
I will now be spending inordinate amounts of time on Google Earth.
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I am a crappy pilot
any tips?
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Use Google Earth the normal way?
No seriously, spend some time with it and you'll get used to it.
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This has been out a while....
I liked getting third party landmarks like Sub Pens, B2 airfields and area 51 :D
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Area 51? Is there anything there?
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I don't know i've never been :p
Have a look for it on google earth search.
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There's an airfield there, no UFOs floating about if that's what you mean ;)
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At least give us an alien crash site. :rolleyes:
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I am a crappy pilot
any tips?
Take it easy on the stick.
Buy a joystick, if you don't already have one.
Properly calibrate it.
Be born with the right genes. :P (Actually, co-ordination is something that can be improved with time and practice)
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Holy crap this is awesome!
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I wonder... can this be used on the Mars/Moon maps? Probably not compatible with Google Sky, but... it'd be neat...
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I wonder... can this be used on the Mars/Moon maps? Probably not compatible with Google Sky, but... it'd be neat...
Hey, we can finally fly that Noctis Labryinthus mission.
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How much google crap does it install if you download?
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Not too much I think.
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How much google crap does it install if you download?
I think just Earth and the updater unless you specify otherwise. Which I would, 'cause Chrome is awesome. :yes: So is Picasa.
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Area 51? Is there anything there?
Prototype stealth fighters and bombers were tested there (and since nobody had ever seen an B2 before, they called it Alien).
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Area 51? Is there anything there?
Prototype stealth fighters and bombers were tested there (and since nobody had ever seen an B2 before, they called it Alien).
Interesting to note:
Interesting to note: (http://images.google.com/images?rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS340US342&sourceid=chrome&q=northrop%20flying%20wing&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/YB49-2_300.jpg)
(http://davidszondy.com/future/Flight/FW%204.jpg)
(http://www.strange-mecha.com/aircraft/FW/xb35.JPG)
http://www.strange-mecha.com/aircraft/FW/Northrop.htm
That got canned during WWII 'cause Northrop refused to turn over development to a competing company that the government favored. Politics kills stealth bomber 40 years ahead of its time.
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That got canned because without sophisticated fly-by-wire to keep a flying wing stable there were perhaps 200 people in the world who could fly it. :P
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"stealth" in WWII would mean "invisible" (literally).
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Fighters could still see it if they got on top of it - and without computers doing most of the work it was extremely unstable.
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http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=71&page=1
I got my Area 51 add-on from here.
First time back since 2006, i see they have the ISS. :yes:
main search is here...
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/