It would be rather good if aircraft flight - especially when viewed in "follow me" mode or in the convoy information window's mini-viewport - were smoother. What appears to happen is that the viewport will track the shadow, which moves up and down with the ground level, rather than the aircraft graphic itself.
It would also help, I think, if aircraft were to fly higher over ground level. I spent some hours earlier to-day in an abortive attempt to improve smoothness in Experimental, and I noted that higher flying, even by a relatively modest amount, looked greatly superior to the current height. It would also mean that less adjustment of height would be needed over higher ground, which would again improve smoothness.
I understand that this has been discussed some time ago and issues were raised about possible clipping errors, but is the situation still the same now that we have double heights?
Yes; in fact it is even worse. Because higher mountains may make the error more obvious.
The jumping of the shadow is because simutrans does not know internally how to handle the diagonal slopes which the shadow passes.
(Wishlist time) aircraft could fly at different heights - early aircraft would follow the terrain whereas later ones might fly higher...
Ahh, yes, that would be splendid. Cosmetic, perhaps, but splendid all the same.
more realistic more enjoyable ;)