Tampa Bridges in FS2004

Scott in Tampa · Post by **Scott in Tampa** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 5:20 pm

Very happy with the impressive scenery in FlyTampa, but I was hoping it would eleviate one problem I have with FS2004:

Taking off south at TPA, the first major landmarks that should be visible are the bay bridges (Courtney-Cambell, Howard Franklin, Gandy). These are very important for VFR near TPA, but for some reason, although they were in FS2002, Microsoft seems to have left them out of FS2004. (I have already thrown away my 2002 disks, so I can't try to take them from there).

Is it possible that a future update to FlyTampa could include those bridges, even if they're just the ones used in FS2002?

Scott

Post by **martin[flytampa]** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 6:23 pm

You're right, FS2004 is missing pretty much all brigdes. I'm not planning to include replacements in the main flytampa product for several reasons however, it is possible that I will do a freeware addon for it when I have some spare time.

Scott in Tampa · Post by **Scott in Tampa** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 9:59 pm

Thanks, that would be nice. The Tampa area isn't very realistic without them; I know it's not your fault, but I just can't understand why Microsoft would leave them out. I'm kicking myself for throwing away my 2002 disks, because there should have been a way to pull them off it, but I had no clue that FS2004 would actually take a step backward with the new version.

Scott

sulmer · Post by **sulmer** » Thu Feb 26, 2004 4:08 pm

I thought by now someone would have put them in there. Maybe you could throw in the Skyway and the Bayside. I use the Bayside when flying VFR into St. Pete. And its hard when there not there. Hell, I can even see if I can make them. They don't have to be perfect. Although the Skyway needs a pro touch. Would be nice if you could Martin.

scott

Scott in Tampa · Post by **Scott in Tampa** » Fri Feb 27, 2004 6:00 pm

Unbelievable! I had not yet realized that Skyway was missing too; that's nearly criminal. If I am remembering correctly, Microsoft did a decent job on that in FS2002 (I mean it's nearly a national monument), why in the world could that not even offer an option to include them in FS2004?!? That's it, I'm going on Microsoft's FS2004 site right now and see if I can get an answer (but I'm sure it's going to just come down to me learning how to make flight sim objects).

Scott

Post by **martin[flytampa]** » Fri Feb 27, 2004 7:39 pm

As far as I know Microsoft changed it's object code in FS2004 and most if not all bridges (and other objects) needed to be rebuild. Considering the amount of custom bridges (rather than plain looking autogen ones) I suspect they simple did not have the time to add them for FS2004. Maybe thats one of the things they're now working on for FS2006.

Pilot3033 · Post by **Pilot3033** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 7:08 pm

realizing that is this a very old topic, I thought I would add to the speculation. From what I have heard, the main bridge guy from FS8 quit/ got canned when working on 04. This is why may bridges are left out, or done partily. Looking at seattle, you can see that the brdiges actuall get elevated, then dive down to sea level then go back up again before land. It's quite funny. In other states there are bridges that are in pieces. And many of the auto-gen looking bridges end/begin in the water or are in weird spots. It's just something that we have to deal with

However, I am not going to let it ruin my FS experiance. Many landmark and famous bridges are in tact and done well, and many that are required for VFR and Visual approches are there. That is a plus I found. If a landmark in on a chart somewhere, then it is in FS.

Scott S. · Post by **Scott S.** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 9:01 pm

YES! If you haven't heard, early Oct '04, MS is releasing a free update to include 160 previously lost BRIDGES!

They claim to also have improved frame rates and support for higher resolution terrain.

Life is good.

Scott in Tampa

bigdogshark62 · Post by **bigdogshark62** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 9:47 am

Okay... So the patch didn't include the Skyway bridge. However, it's included in Toni Hiltunen's freeware St. Pete v5.2 scenery. Don't know what to say about the other bridges.

joerg_744 · Post by **joerg_744** » Fri Aug 12, 2005 9:39 am

I downloaded a freeware Florida Scenery, that has the Tampa Bay bridges. Also, all bridges in the Miami area and at the keys are present.

It's available at:

http://fs-freeflow.com/

Best regards,
Joerg

Ruahrc · Post by **Ruahrc** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:44 am

Pilot3033 wrote:...Looking at seattle, you can see that the brdiges actuall get elevated, then dive down to sea level then go back up again before land. It's quite funny. In other states...

Just thought I'd point out that this is how the bridges actually are in real life. The entry and exit points are kind of like ramps down to lake-level, where the main spans of the bridges are actually floating bridges. There is no structure below the bridges, they just float on the surface on pontoons or something.

Ruahrc

specialist · Post by **specialist** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 12:25 pm

Microsoft did add many bridges that were missing when they put out their 9.1 patch. However, I'm now using UT USA and unfortunately almost none of the default bridges align with UT USA except for a few bridges in New York City. By luck there are a few freeware bridges like the Golden Gate and others that are being use to build the scenery back up. Word is that someone is working on replacing most of the major bridges missing right now. Perhaps they can work on the bridges around Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bridges in FS2004

Tampa Bridges in FS2004

MICROSOFT TO RELEASE PATCH/UPDATE TO FS2004