We Love VFR - Region 1

Current Version 0.6.2 by PuffinFlight

Current Version 0.6.2
Initial Release 01. November 2020
Last Updated 29. May 2022
File Size 73.12 MB
Downloads 92,550
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Do you like flying VFR and watching the World below you? Do you sometimes feel that something is missing? We Love VFR is here to help you. We Love VFR is a free add-on for Microsoft Flight Simulator that adds thousands of new VFR-friendly objects. In this version, you get communication, radio, and tv antennas, chimneys, cooling towers, radar domes, construction cranes, and satellite/radio telescope dishes. I have plans for many more.

What's new in this update?
  • Reworked handling of construction cranes. Now we include only sites older than one year, but not older than 4. Also, verified all cranes near runways.
  • Added more accurate data for Austria with verified all smokestacks and all other objects over 100 m.
  • Added some more crosses in the Alps.
  • Fixed one of the smaller chimneys' LOD issue.
  • Incorporated data correction requests made by users.
Looking for America? Download Region 2 here »
What does We Love VFR include?
  • Over 150 000 objects were placed in region 1.
  • Coverage of all Europe, Africa, and part of the Middle East.
  • In this version mobile communication, tv, and radio antennas, chimneys, cooling towers, flare stacks, large and mountain top crosses, radar domes, construction cranes, and satellite/radio telescope dishes.
  • Smoke and steam effects for chimneys and cooling towers - wide and temperature dependant
  • Puffin AI* - correct placement and appearance of objects**
  • Included detailed obstacle data from 30 countries (list below)
  • Over 100 custom models
  • Lower spec PC friendly
  • Much more planned
Need power lines and ski lifts?

Be sure to check out fantastic add-ons by mamu82 like the latest Powerlines and Solar Farms! With We Love VFR and his add-ons you basically get a full VFR package for a great price of $0 ;)

How to install it?

Find your „Community” directory and just copy "a-puf-we-love-vfr-region1" there. That’s it. That’s it. If you’re updating my addon, remove the old version before installing the new one.
If you have a conflicting addon refer to the included ReadMe file.

If you don't like smoke effects, or they somehow kill your fps, first of all, report it here or on discord, but then you can download the "no effects" version of this add-on.

Warning: To get satellite dishes/radio telescopes you need to have installed "USA Points of Interest" by Asobo, from the official World Update USA. It's available in the marketplace for free.

It's not a beta anymore but I don't have much time for testing so...

...don't be mad if you see any errors, just report them to me so I can fix them ;) If you see an object that you know but its appearance, join our discord and report it there. I'll try to add/fix it for the next version. You can also join our beta testers team.

Countries with upgraded data (other countries use OSM data and manually added data from wiki or users):

Albania, Armenia, Bahrain, Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Croatia, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Gabon, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Mauretania, Montenegro, Niger, Poland, Portugal, Rwanda, Serbia, Spain, Slovenia, Togo

 

Known Issues:

  • in very rare cases there might be an office building instead of a chimney (I don't mean cooling towers, these are not implemented in the mod at all... yet). Same with office building in place of the demolished cooling tower. This is a case of mismatched data between Asobo and OSM and has to be fixed manually. Report it in comments or in discord.
  • most of my objects are switched off on photogrammetry to avoid conflicts. Unfortunately, photogrammetry boundaries are sometimes different than real photogrammetry coverage. Because of that objects that are close to photogrammetry areas might not appear at all. If you find an object like this, just report it to me so I can switch it on.


*Not really AI. Just quite complex conditions, but AI sounds a lot better.
**Depends on data availability.

Will this be compatible with xyz scenery?

Hard to tell. But it can be. My mod is more like autogen expansion, so authors of more local sceneries have to make their mods compatible. Unfortunately, I can't do that. But it's really easy.
The author just needs to add exclusion under his custom object and then you, as a user, need to make sure We Love VFR is higher on the list in the 'Content.xml' file. You'll find that file 2 directories above your community folder. This file tells the sim in which order it should load addons.

Mast/radome/chimney in xyz is not in your mod. Can you add it?

Most likely - yes. You can add it by yourself by editing OpenStrretMaps. More detailed instructions are available at www.puffinflight.com, or report in on our discord
You can also leave me a comment with coordinates and some more details (if it's a mast or chimney try to find out how tall is it).

Where America?
Why can’t I see obstacle lights from the distance? / Why there is a visible light but not on top of the antenna?

For now, MSFS SDK for lights is very limited. I can’t create a light that will have a source visible from a distance. On the other hand, I can’t remove those red, clearly visible lights that Asobo has put in place of antennas. As soon as they expand SDK, I’ll fix that.

Why do antennas look fuzzy from the distance?

That’s something in the sim graphics engine, that for now can’t be bypassed. Original sim objects act exactly the same. I try to prevent it a bit with LODs, but it won’t be perfect. Maybe the DX12 will fix it someday.

I don't like smoke effects. Can I remove them?

Sure you can. Just download the "no effects" version of this add-on,


Pretty empty over here.

  • Version 0.6.2 May 29, 2022

    Compatibility update for WU Italy.
    Added user's requests.
    Small adjustments around LOWI.

  • Version 0.6.1 April 22, 2022

    Better handling of construction site data.
    Added more accurate data for Austria.
    Added more crosses in the Alps.
    Fixed one of the smaller chimneys' LOD issue.
    Incorporated data correction requests made by users.

  • Version 0.6 April 07, 2022

    Hundreds of flare stacks with fire effects
    Large and mountain peak crosses in 4 model variants
    Reworked near airport objects handling. This led to a manual review of around 1200 objects
    Obstacle data for over 20 countries
    Manually verified all objects over 200 m tall
    Added more accurate data for Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Gabon, Hungary, Netherlands, Niger, Poland, Portugal, and Spain
    Slightly modified default height ranges for small antennas
    Change objects handling on photogrammetry. Lattice towers and masts will be shown if they have known height. All other objects won't be displayed.
    Changed effects generating script. In short - more smoking and steaming chimneys and cooling towers.
    Small tweaks and fixes here and there.
    Added users' requests and corrections.
    Updated OSM data.

  • Version 0.5.2b November 27, 2021

    Region expanded to Africa and part of the Middle East.
    Added ~1700 cooling towers.
    Model AutoGenerating System which gives over 100 variants for cooling towers to make them as close to real-life as possible
    Added smoke and steam effects.
    Rewritten exclusion handling.
    Added obstacle data for 22 countries so far (Albania, Armenia, Bahrain, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Mauretania, Montenegro, Niger, Rwanda, Serbia, Slovenia, Togo).
    Better airport detection and hundreds of manually verified objects around them.
    Countless tweaks, upgrades, and data verifying.
    Fixed 'jumping' effects bug for all effects.