SU16 FINAL VERSION! GET IT NOW BEFORE MICROSOFT DECIDES TO FIX IT AT THEIR END!!!!

Ok, I'm mentally too exhausted to write much else for now, except to say SU16 made an absolute mess of it. There are now a total of 3229 exclusion polygons that needed to be draw to fix something that could easily be achieved at the dev's end if they set their mind to it. I know there are many other issues that need fixing, but still. After you finish the download, please head over to the official forums and vote for a bug report I have created, that also outlines what needs to be done at their end. PLEASE!

https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/water-in-dry-salt-lakes/736413

---

SU16 UPDATE UPDATE: Since my initial post-Su16 release I've come to realise that SU16 has cause a lot more problems than I originally realised. After wading through the US SW and Mexico and found a lot of re-typing of masks as well as plenty of previously untouched dry lakes now filled with water, I had a closer look at Australia. And sure enough, there are:

A. Lots and lots of new masks that will need to me unmasked;

B. Mask that I previously fixed had their "water type" changed, which means the correction no longer works.

There is a lot of randomness to all this. The amount of work required is also quite substantial. The Australia mod covers about 10x as many corrections as either the SW US or Mexicon. I've decided to slowly work my way through it, but it won't be a massive multi-day effort on my part. I will work on it for an hour here or there when I get bored with other things. Appreciate you patience.

SU16 UPDATE: PLEASE NOTE: Microsobo in their infinite wisdom have applied new inland water masks as part of SU16. This means there are now additional areas of water where there shouldn't be any. I've corrected some of these in this version, but I have no plans to trawl through the entire continent to find these new aberrations. However, I'm happy to add the necessary fixes if they are pointed out to me by users of this add-on.

MSFS 2024 Notice. I've done some rudimentary testing of this add-on in MSFS2024 and encountered no issues. As a matter of fact, some of the dry lakes look quite a bit better with it than in 2020. If you encounter any issues please let me know.

Ahhh, Australia ... the land of a thousand lakes!!! Oh, wait, that's Finland, or Minnesota, or something ... but Australia?

Well, according to MSFS, Australia's Outback is full of pristine, sparkling blue, freshwater lakes. They're everywhere, just have a look. Jump into your favourite prop at Ayers Rock (YAYE) and head north for 10 Minutes, and you'll get to Lake Amadeus ... a veritable boating paradise! No? Well, no! It's actually a dry salt lake. It hasn't seen standing water in living memory. The early British explorers were smoking something illicit when they called those things "Lakes" (I guess akin to Erik the Red calling that big chunk of ice a little west of Reykjavik ... Greenland!)

Anyway, this has been a bugbear of mine since my first MSFS flight back in August 2020. That was before we even had float planes! Now, I was hoping that WU7 would finally deal with this issue, but alas, it has not. So, I've just spent the better part of a day hovering around the driest continent on earth (never mind Antarctica for now) and sponged up all that excess H2O that doesn't exist in real life.

Notes:
- I've taken a fairly broad brush (or should I say big sponge). There are thousands of those buggers. If I've missed some, let me know. If I've emptied your favourite billabong, let me know.
- The removal of the water has left some of the larger lakes with irregular textures (e.g. bad colour correction). I guess Azure gets lazy under water. It's sometimes noticeable from high altitudes, but this bothers me less than a huge lake where there isn't one, but ymmv.
- Some of the exclusions are very large in area. Lake Eyre alone is 9,500 km2 (3,700 sqm). I don't know if this has a performance impact. I haven't really noticed anything, but if someone feels several hundred exclusion polygons have an impact on lower end systems, then please feel free to let me know.

- I'm guessing that I've place 1000+ polygons. Obviously I can't check every single one in the sim, so if you see anything funky, let me know.

Anyway, enjoy some real Aussie Outback flying, and leave your lifejackets at home!

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

Australian Salt Lakes Fix

Explore the vast Australian Outback with the Australian Salt Lakes Fix add-on. This mod removes the inaccurately portrayed freshwater lakes in the sim, replacing them with the dry salt lakes characteristic of the region. Enjoy a more realistic flying experience over the Australian landscape with corrected water bodies and textures. Perfect for those wanting to immerse themselves in authentic Australian aviation adventures.

Version History