On his blog, Frank Dainese has released new previews of his latest project for X-Plane; Cerro-Torre/Fitz Roy. Frank initially released Cerro Torre/Fitz  Roy/El Chalten as freeware for FSX and Prepar3D about 4 years ago, though he claims that the entire area surrounding the area of El Chalten will be rebuilt from scratch and therefore worthy of the payware price tag for the X-Plane edition.

Here are some comparison shots between the freeware FSX/P3D version and the new X-Plane 11 one:

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A frequently asked question about Frank and his sceneries regards the use of orthophotos - or rather, why he doesn't use them. He provides the answer further down in the piece:

"It has been written by someone (rare) that our scenery don't correspond to reality.

Answer: never claimed perfection, but only true-resemblance. There are no perfect scenery. Developing mountain scenery is much more complicated than simple scenery on lowland areas. .... and anyway our 3D models of the mountains are certainly more likely, compared to the mountains reproduced by the mesh + orthophotos. The orthophotos on the vertical walls are void, creating a faded and blurred effect. The use of orthophotos for scenery is very expensive and not feasible for "craft" developers, in many cases they are also poor quality or covered with clouds.

These are reasons for our decision not to use orthophotos in mountain areas, in addition to the cost. Also the addition of details like small airports, heliports (where they do not exist), have the purpose of increasing the fun of the simulation. In fact, the main goal is to have fun..."

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To see the new previews of Cerro Torre-Fitz Roy for X-Plane 11, see the blog post.

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