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  1. Scenery Review : Belluno-Southern Dolomites by Frank Dainese and Fabio Bellini This is the third of five sceneries that will cover the Dolomite Mountain Ranges in the eastern north of Italy. This new area covers the Belluno- Piave River Valley and Val Agordina areas, that are positioned directly south and west of the Drei Zinnen National Park, and then the Cortina - Cadore region. Here are the three regions... Each region backs on to the other with the Drei Zinnen (red) top east, then Cortina - Cadore (yellow) and now this new Belluno (Purple) zone, so in areas there is an overlap of one over the other, obviously you need them all in the three packages to get the whole set of overlapping views seen here in this review. Belluno Belluno is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is located about 100 kilometres (62 miles) north of Venice, Belluno is the capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomites region. With its roughly 36,000 inhabitants, it is the largest populated area of Valbelluna. It is one of the 15 municipalities of the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park. These very extensive Frank Dainese and Fabio Bellini sceneries are not super detailed in a perfect reproduction of a township, the main focus is usually on the landscapes and the highly detailed mountains, but in this particular Belluno package the main focus is on the township of Belluno and the general area around it and the Piave River Valley and Val Agordina areas. All the objects in Dainese and Bellini sceneries are custom made, but are mostly generic, however there are a few items like the The Duomo (Cathedral, 16th century), with the 18th-century bell tower designed by Filippo Juvarra that are custom for this scenery as is the Belluno Railway Station. So there is a very Italian feel to the whole thing, and from a flying perspective the whole scenario does work very well. Perched high over Belluno is Schiara (2,565m) - (Italian: Monte Schiara) and the most visible of the southern Dolimites and reproduced here in great detail and is part of the National Park of the Belluno Dolomites. Far west of Belluno and the only other peak visible from the Piave River Valley is the Piz di Sagron (2486m) and close to the famous Cereda Pass. LIBD: There is only one airfield (Grass) in the Belluno scenery and that is Belluno Airport, the airport is also known as Arturo Dell'Oro Airport. There is a genuine Italiano feel to the airport, if you could call it that, as in reality it is just a collection of motley old hangers. But the signage and detail is very good. There is one grass runway 05/23 - 812m (2664ft) Grass at an altitude of 1,240 ft / 378 m ASML. HLIBD: To the east is a H Pad in front of a huge storage/maintenance hangar... Belluno - Pieve di Cadore There are several routes out of Belluno, the first one we will look at is too the northeast to Pieve di Cadore, Pieve di Cadore is part of the Cortina - Cadore scenery so of course a lot of the views shown here include that package. Also I have jumped ship to the X-Trident Bell - 512 from the Bell 407, as the 407's sound doesn't work here in v11.50 (DreamEngine). We are still in the Piave River (also known as Fiume Sacro alla Patria or the "Sacred River of the Homeland"), but now becoming a deep valley going northeast... Once above the valley floor you can see the volume and huge range of the custom objects throughout this scenery package... there are altogether 14,000 buildings positioned manually and reconstructed as in real, Churches, public buildings, soccer stadiums, hospital and even cemeteries over an area of 1200 sq. Km. The Piave River is very well represented along the valley floor, the detail is far better than earlier more basic valley floors which I didn't think were realistic enough for such high-grade scenery, but this is now really good and an excellent step forward. Looking ahead you can easily see the deeper Dolomite mountain chains with Drei Zinnen now poking up, but as you go in deeper and the valley closes in around you they disappear again. All the river side villages and comunes are represented including... Pian di Vedoia, Soverzene, Fortogna, Desedan and Provagna.... as you reach Longarone, look right as if you blink you will miss it.... the infamous Vajont Dam. The Vajont Dam was completed in 1959 in the valley of the Vajont River under Monte Toc. On 9 October 1963, during initial filling, a landslide caused a megatsunami in the lake in which 50 million cubic metres of water overtopped the dam in a wave of 250 metres (820 ft), leading to the complete destruction of several villages and towns below, and in the disaster created 1,917 deaths. The flooding in the Piave valley from the huge wave destroyed the villages of Longarone, Pirago, Rivalta, Villanova and Faè and turned the land below the dam into a flat plain of mud. the Vajont Dam is now disused. Note the village of Casso up to right of the dam, Casso has been reproduced in the scenery for the pretty village it is. The Zoldana Valley off west from Longarone is also represented in detail... Past Castellavazzo the Piave valley around Termine di Cadore and Ospitale di Cadore then the route narrows considerably, and you start to swing the chopper around though the tighter valley sides, and it is fun flying if you can hack it as the width of the valley gets narrower and more bendy after twisty bend. Snaky, snaky as you twist through the valleys, then around Rivalgo it gets really tight as the Sass de Mezzodì (2036m) towers above you ... ... finally around Perarolo di Cadore it opens out and around one final bend there is Y junction with the Monte Zucco directly ahead... ... look left in a glance and there is Pieve di Cadore with the towering Monte Antelao (3263m) behind, this is a short cut valley to Pieve di Cadore, but I am going right, it is tighter (in fact extremely tight) but it brings you out on the reservoir by Corte Longo and Domegge... .... follow the reservoir forward and it takes you up the Auronzo Valley (Drei Zinnen) and here you are now in Cortina - Cadore territory as Pieve di Cadore is left up on the hill. Note from Pieve di Cadore is now looking south it is a different perspective because the view has now been filled in and notably the Piz di Sagron, other major points from the Cadore Valley like Monte Civetta and Monte Pelmo are also very different with the adjoining Belluno package now in position. Belluno - Alleghe The main thrust into the Belluno mountain areas is via the La Valle Agordina, but there are two routes in, the main one of which we will follow through the La Valle Agordina and another route that still joins up at Agordo, the second entrance is via lago del Mis a short way east. Both entrances are framed by the Schiara and Piz di Sagron that we have already noted. Depature is again from Belluno Airport and we head west over the township of Bellluno itself... ... then you turn sharp north. The entrance into the La Valle Agordina is quite hard to see, a hint is that it is the valley without the water. It gets tight very quickly in the La Valle Agordina and you are very soon twisting and snaking between the steep walls... Not far into the valley and to your right up high is a side view of the Schiara, but your eyes need to be forward if you don't want to fly into the valley walls... ... a last turn and up and high to the left is the Pala Group of the Dolomites located near the village of Agordo which is represented on the valley floor. Note to your very far left as you come into the wide Agordo valley is another view of Piz di Sagron. Pala group and is known locally as Il Pizzòn, meaning Great Peak, And included in the ranges are some significant peaks including: Vezzana, (3,192m), Cimon della Pala, (3,184m), Cima dei Bureloni, (3,130m), Cima di Focobon, (3,054m) and the Pala di San Martino, (2,982) and Monte Agnèr (2,872m). The range also includes a large plateau (altopiano delle Pale), spanning for some 50 km² between 2,500 and 2,800 m and is an empty rocky extent. There are a few valleys to explore right around the Pala Group, but we will do that later. Directly opposite and to the east of Agordo is the San Sebastiano chain that includes San Sebastiano (2488m), Monte Tamer (2547m) and Moschesin - Moschesin Castle (2499m)... ... behind Monte Tamer further east is again Monte Antelao in the Cortina - Cadore package. Notably in Agordo is another of the significant amount of Football (Soccer) fields, and the original headquaters (now in Milan) of the Luxottica Group S.p.A. which is represented here. The Luxottica Group is an Italian eyewear conglomerate and the world's largest company in the eyewear industry with brands including Ray-Ban, Persol, and Oakley. Leaving north from Agordo there is a choice of valleys to pick from? The one to the west takes you past the base of Monte Agnèr... but fly on north and... .... up again to your right is Monte Civetta (3,220m) which is a prominent and major mountain range of the Dolomites and the north-west face can be viewed from the Taibon Agordino valley, and is classed as one of the symbols of the Dolomites. But first up high to your left is Lastìa del Framónt This is not the best view of Monte Civetta as that is from our destination at Alleghe, So it is more tunnel valleys and complex route choices north... ... until you reach Alleghe, which is situated by a picturesque lake. Note the brilliant X-Plane v11.50 reflections on the lake! There is a H Pad here HEALL at Alleghe... ... and the backdrop of the sheer north-west face of Monte Civetta while landing is astounding. Certainly one of the highlights of the Belluno package, you can only see the excellent detail in the Civetta range with the Moiazza area as the group of summits just South and East of the Civetta peak. Note in the background Monte Pelmo and again Monte Antelao in the Cortina - Cadore package, and you can see like at Pieve di Cadore the reverse view from the Cadore Valley the significance of the filling out of the view from both angles. Alleghe - Marmolada - Agordo This is a wide loop around Marmolada and the Pala Group which both represent the north and western boundaries of the Belluno scenery. Notable is that the western side of this area dips deep off the package, but I expect another of the last two of these Dolomite sceneries to cover this area of Bolzano, Departing north out of Alleghe there is an obstruction of a high set of power lines that are stretched right across the valley, so you have to gain altitude very, very quickly if not to fly through them, in fact there are loads of powerlines criss-crossing the valleys all through this scenery.... ... a lot of altitude is required anyway, as you can't stay low in the valley of where we are going to next. Not far north of Alleghe there is cross of valleys, we are going to go west along the Val Pettorina, which is a very tight left turn... ... turn right however into the Fiorentina Valley and it takes you right up to the base of Monte Pelmo (Cortina-Cadore), the valley in objects however has now been filled in and makes Pelmo now more accessable than from the east... the view of Monte Pelmo is very good as you can get far closer to the mountain... the village of Selva di Cadore is also well represented. All the villages along the Val Pettorina are represented, and the detail is very good, they include; Saviner di Laste, Rocca Pietore, Sottoguda-Palue and Malga Ciapela. But although the view is nice, you have a serious need to climb higher all along the Val Pettorina from 3,500ft to 6,500ft. Almost at the end of the Val Pettorina you have to take another hard turn left, but looming large in your windscreen is the magnificent Marmolada! Marmolada (3,343m) (Queen of the Dolomites) consists of a ridge running west to east and the highest peak in the Dolomites. Towards the south it breaks suddenly into sheer cliffs, forming a rock face several kilometres long. On the north side there is a comparatively flat glacier, and the only large glacier in the Dolomites (the Marmolada Glacier, Ghiacciaio della Marmolada). the ridge is composed of several summits, decreasing in altitude from west to east: Punta Penia (3,343m), Punta Rocca (3,309m), Punta Ombretta (3,230m)etres (10,600 ft), Monte Serauta (3,069m) and Pizzo Serauta (3,035m). The cross and memorial is represented at the summit as is the aerial tramway goes to the top of Punta Rocca. Views are sensational even by X-Plane standards as the Cortina and even the Drei Zinnen sceneries are all clearly visible, including the Fanes group and Fanes Plateau. The Lago di Fedaia is located at the foot of the Marmolada Glacier. You can of course fly around the full base of Marmolada, but in reality this is where the boundary of the scenery ends (until the next package)... You can still loop around the valleys as they are interesting and great for flying low(ish)... .... you can at Moena turn into the Passo di S. Pellegrino that will take still around the full circle base of Marmolada, but it also takes you directly back to Alleghe via the Val di Fassa. However I continued down to Predazzo and then a hard left and back into the Belluno scenery down the Val Paneveggio... the Pala Group now comes back into view but from the western aspect. Lago di Paneveggio is spectacular with the X-Plane v11.50 reflections (really loving the Vulkan reflection feature in this scenery?) But past the Lago there is really no easy pass or valley to slip though, so my choice was to get up close to the Pala Group and go up and over (it is the left turn here) to the Primiero valley ... ... from this angle the highest peak in the group, Cima della Vezzana is extremely impressive. A huge amount of work has gone into recreating these iconic Dolomite peaks, is as noted that the DEM data that is used and it is then further corrected with 3D graphics programs. Subsequently the textures were then applied in 4K resolution which are obtained from high definition photos. The positioning on the modified mesh is very accurate and respecting the dimensions and the main morphological characteristics of the terrain. And as the Dolomites are mountains with unique characteristics as they come with their large vertical and smooth walls. Heading south and on the western side of the Belluno package down the Primiero valley and next into view comes San Martino di Castrozza which is a major Dolomite ski resort... there is a H Pad located here: HSMC ... but it is time now to head back to Agordo, so bit further along the Primiero valley left turn at Fiera di Primiero puts you back in the La Valle Agordina. On the left you get another and more closer and significant visual aspect of Piz di Sagron from the Valle Agordina as the range is set to the south and close to the Piave River Valley. Further down the valley going west a familiar view opens up with San Sebastiano - Monte Tamer mountain groups as you arrive back at Agordo... Agordo has a H Pad HEAG by the Vigili del Fuoco (Fire Station), it is a tricky landing over a fence, but still doable. Lighting Overall lighting is not the main aspect of these sceneries... there is lighting of course, but it is mainly just housing (window) and the odd street lamps to create an alpine village feel, but in this package there quite a bit of it, so every major valley is lit... With Belluno being the largest township of any Dainese and Bellini sceneries there is of course far more here, and it looks quite authentic at night and works very nicely in recreating the valley effect, odd buildings or the main significant custom scenery objects and the many football (Soccer) fields are also well lit in the scenery. _________________________________ There is one airport and 11 H pads in the scenery, which is significantly more here than most other provided landing areas in Dainese and Bellini sceneries, provided are: LIDB - Airport - 46.1632024 012.2453913 – BELLUNO CITY HLIBD - HELIPAD - BELLUNO AIRPORT HELHB - HELIPAD – 46.13908690 012.2001516 –BELLUNO HOSPITAL HELLG - HELIPAD - 46.2721585 012.3034299 – LONGARONE HSMC - HELIPAD - 46.2631061 011.7960794 – S.MARTINO CASTROZZA HEPR - HELIPAD - 46.1694772 011.8224303 – VVF PRIMIERO HEAG - HELIPAD - 46.2789449 012.0309167- AGORDO HEALL – HELIPAD - 46.4119874 012.0159586 – ALLEGHE HEFL – HELIPAD - 46.3561542 011.8715286 – FALCADE HEAR – HELIPAD - 46.4957027 011.8718972 – ARABBA HERV – HELIPAD - 46.4159242 012.1566844 – Ref.VENEZIA HECFM – HELIPAD - 46.4369182 012.1221237 Ref.FIUME LIDB - Airport – BELLUNO CITY Set to the east of Belluno township is LIDB Airport. Unusually a real replication of an airport as most Dainese and Bellini airports are mostly fictional. Single grass runway 05/23 - 812m (2664ft) is complimented by some authentic designed hangars and mostly default objects. HLIBD - H Airport - BELLUNO AIRPORT Set on the eastern end of the Bellnuo Airport in front of a large service hanger HELHB - H BELLUNO HOSPITAL Great Medi helipad outside the Belluno Hospital, easily found and nice approaches. HELLG - H LONGARONE Placed next to the fancy Football Stadium and Sports Centre in Longarone, the approach is singular and difficult because of the trees and house. HSMC - H S.MARTINO CASTROZZA The most western H Pad in the shadow of Cima della Vezzana at San Martino di Castrozza in the Primiero valley. Approaches are very clean. HEPR - H VVF PRIMIERO This remote H Pad is in Primiero, which is directly in front of Pale di San Martino (Pala Group - Between Fiera di Primiero and Agordo). Approach is singlular down the valley but worth it. HEAG - H AGORDO H Pad is by the Vigili del Fuoco in Agordo, with a tricky fence and approach. HEALL – H ALLEGHE Right on the north edge of the lake, it is an extremely spectacular approach in from over the lake. HEFL – H FALCADE Deep central in the Val di Fassa between the ranges of Marmolada and Pala Group is Falcade, Trees and buildings on the approach from the west, but wide and open from the east. HEAR – H ARABBA At the northern foot of Marmolada, Arabba (Marmolada ski resort) it is the most furthest north position of the Belluno scenery, hard to find as it is in a lost valley called Cordevole valley. It is however a good place to go north or east into the Cortina - Cadrone areas. Slight incline but good approaches to the H Pad. HERV – H Ref.VENEZIA On the foothills of Monte Pelmo (southeast) this is a refuge H Pad. The H Pad is set out on an extreme slope, so it is extremely difficult to land or takeoff from. HECFM – H Ref.FIUME This Refuge is also on the foothills up the Fiorentina Valley of Monte Pelmo (northwest), this is another refuge H Pad. Note: if either HERV or HECFM Refuges don't appear, then remove the (D3H)_Exclusions folder? The folder is for x-europe or ortho4xp use. Most of all the refuges in the Belluno areas are represented, including: Coldai, Tissi, VII ° Alpini, Carestiato, Scarpa, City of Fiume, Venice Ref and more. _________________________________ Summary This is the third of five sceneries from Frank Dainese and Fabio Bellini that cover the Dolomite Mountain Ranges in the eastern north of Italy. This new area covers the Belluno Valley and Val Agordina areas, that are positioned directly south and west of the Drei Zinnen National Park, and then the Cortina - Cadore region. Areas recreated in this scenery package include: Belluno city , Longarone + Vajont dam, all the many valleys including: Agordina, Fiorentina, Zoldana, Cordevole, Piave, Prmiero All the numerous mountains and glaciers are all very highly created mesh from DEM data 3D graphics programs, and the Hi-Res textures are all in 4K resolution. The focus mountains are simply excellent in their 3D reproductions and the highlights are Pale di San martino (Pala Group), Schiara, Marmolada, Civetta, Moiazza, San Sebastiano (Tamer), Sass Set, Sagron. These excellent representations of iconic mountain areas of the world are for exploration, sightseeing or just plain exploring... and you could throw in a bit of geography as well. All are highly detailed of the areas they represent and the mountain ranges are of course the stars and the focal point. With this Belluno extension you do have a question that arises in that does it stand alone as a scenery by itself? That is big question to now answer unlike the former Drie Zinnen/Cortana Packages. Personally I can't see this package fully working effectively without the Cortina-Cadore extension as part of the same landscape, as the two Cortina/Belluno do heavily intertwine together at many points and boundaries, and the visual aspects from both sides of each scenery are duly both affected, together there quite outstanding in many viewpoints, and also now showing the truly huge landscape of the Dolomite area that is now visible. Hugely popular and yes I love these amazing and hugely detailed and now extensive sceneries that can change your perspective of an iconic area and allow them to come to life in your simulation world... Highly recommended, so three down and only two more Dolomites to go! ______________________________________________________________________ Yes! Dolomites 3D Belluno-Southern Dolomites by Frank Dainese and Fabio Bellini is NOW available from the X-Plane.Org Store here : Dolomites 3D - Belluno - Southern Dolomites Price Is US$24.95 Customer who already own Dolomites 3D- Drei Zinnen Park or Cortina can get this new scenery for $5 off. Please go to the original invoice for coupon code Features 1200 sq. Km of scenic Mountain Scenery Belluno Airport LIDB - Extremely detailed over 10 Heliports in strategic sites. Belluno city , Longarone + Vajont dam, many valleys: Agordina, Fiorentina, Zoldana, Cordevole, Piave, Prmiero ... Over 20,000 buildings positioned, with many buildings rebuilt. 10 3D models: Pale di San martino, Marmolada, Civetta, Moiazza, San Sebastiano (Tamer), Sass Set, Sagron ... All the vegetation mapped Inserted hundreds of polygons / textures to reproduce the photo-realistic terrain Reproduced the main skilift-plants, in particular the Marmolada with 3 sections. Reproduced all the main refuges in the area: Coldai, Tissi, VII ° Alpini, Carestiato, Scarpa,Città di iume, Venice Ref. ... WT3/Traffic Global: Your joking of course! no, you are on your own here Requirements X-Plane 11 Windows, Mac or Linux 4GB VRAM Minimum - 8GB+ VRAM Recommended Download Size: 600-950 Mb Release and Review version 1.0 (15th May 2020) Installation Download scenery file size is download 635.20mb and with the full installation installed in your custom scenery folder as there are Nine install folders in the order below in the .INI File (included and the listing below also includes the Drei Zinnen/Cortina packs):  SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1A_DOLOMITI_3D_Part1/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1B_AIRPORT_LIVD/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1C_CableWay_Dolomitti1/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1D_PUSTERIA_Comelico/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1E_MISURINA/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1F_AURONZO/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D1G_Exclusions/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2A_DOLOMITI_3d_Part2/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2B_AIPORT_LIDI/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2C_CableWay_Dolomiti2/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2D_CORTINA/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2E_CADORE/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2F_CRODALAGO/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D2G_Exclusions/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D3A_DOLOMITI_3D_Part3/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D3B_CableWay_Dolomiti3/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D3C_AGORDO_ALLEGHE/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D3D_BELLUNO_Piave/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D3E_VAL_CORDEVOLE/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D3F_VALLE_PRIMIERO/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D3G_Zoldana_Fiorentina/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/D3H_Exclusions/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Dolomiti2_lib/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Dolomiti_SIRX_VEGETAZIONE/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/MESH_DOLOMITI1/ Total scenery installation (Belluno) : 2.05gb connector scenery (D2G_Exclusions- Highlighted) is IMPORTANT in its position in the scenery order .ini to make sure there is a perfect transition between the two packages. Documents One manual with notes ______________________________________________________________________   Scenery Review by Stephen Dutton 17th May 2020 Copyright©2020 : X-Plane Reviews  (Disclaimer. All images and text in this review are the work and property of X-PlaneReviews, no sharing or copy of the content is allowed without consent from the author as per copyright conditions) Review System Specifications: Computer System: Windows - Intel Core i7 6700K CPU 4.00GHz / 64bit - 32 Gb single 1067 Mhz DDR4 2133 - ASUS GeForce GTX 1080 8Gb - Samsung Evo 512gb SSD Software: - Windows 10 - X-Plane 11.41 and tested in v11.50b6 and b9 Addons: Saitek x52 Pro system Joystick and Throttle : Sound - Bose Soundlink Mini  Plugins: None Scenery or Aircraft - Bell 412 XP11 by X-Trident (X-Plane.OrgStore) - US$35.95
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