NZCH Christchurch City Photo and OSM2XP Scenery

[chris k]

Heya

Thought id split this into a different project/thread.

As mentioned to Andy, I'm now working with Benny (of OSM2XP fame) to do new conversions of New Zealand OSM2XP data; and at the same time sliding orthophotography underneath the newly generated scenery.

Here's a few screenshots of what Ive been able to accomplish so far:

I will also be editing the OSM2XP converted files, and trying to replace OSM2XP generated objects with more specific X-Plane objects (i.e. towers, water tanks, fuel storage tanks, etc..) Although OSM2XP gets the object outline and height generally correct, a human touch always helps =)

- CK.

Edited March 3, 2012 by chris k

[larjeet]

Tried it out today Looks good Chris 30 FPS solid with clouds in the sky . I think I have things tweaked with the new BETA just as long as I dont run HDR . heres a screenshot I took

Edited March 3, 2012 by larjeet

[chris k]

Beta 0.1 Release

Download: See 0.2 Beta below

- CK.

Edited March 4, 2012 by chris k

[chris k]

0.2 Beta Release - Sun Mar 04, 2012

Beta 0.2:

- Removed all original "white edges" from the original GeoTIFFs from beta 0.1- All alpha'ed out now.

- Fixed the seashore on the east coast all the way up. Nice and smooth now.

- Did some alpha cutting on the major rivers and ponds, so that X-Plane rendered water show through.

- Got Banks Peninsula (the dead volcano south of the city) looking good now.

Still to do:

- Still got some white edging showing up very small on some northwest tiles, some type of graphic artifact I'll check out for next release.

- Not all rivers done with alpha yet, so some show X-Plane water, some show the ortho water (east of the city).

- Wigram Airbase (now closed) needs it's runway/taxiways fixed to line up with the orthos

- Need to put forest exclusions around areas where XP10 trees are showing through buildings and in empty fields in parks, where there's no trees.

- Need to change the OSM2XP forests to be denser - probably will just re-do them by hand for now.

- Re-check certain tiles if they really need alpha, as dropping the alpha channel drops the VRAM usage in half.

Warnings:

We're up to some serious VRAM usage with this package + the OSM2XP building enhancement + the NZCH Airport Photo Scenery

Now sits at 1.2Gb of VRAM use (ouch!). I'll need to optimize this.

If you drop your texture resolution from "extreme" to "very high" (one step down), you're back in ~500Mb VRAM territory and all is fine.

Don't even try this scenery (with the others) without Texture compression enabled. You'll blow your card up =).

i.e. Use Texture Compression! (you have been warned)

Download:

See Beta 0.3 Release Below

Enjoy!

- CK.

Edited March 6, 2012 by chris k

[GrahamH]

Thanks Chris.

[sichars1968]

Hi Chris

I always run with Texture Resolution set at 'very high', would you advise texture compression at this setting when using these files or only for those that run at 'extreme'?

Very nice looking screenshots.

Cheers

Simon

[chris k]

Hey sichars,

At 'very high' you should be OK... should result in about 500Mbytes (give or take) of VRAM usage with all 3 sceneries loaded. (NZCH Airport, OSM Buildings and the Area Photoscenery). Check your VRAM Usage in the "rendering settings" window, and ensure you're not blowing the card's RAM =). I can comfortably run it at 'very high' on my 512Mb Video Card.

It's the people who use "extreme" that really need to enable it - as we're at 1.2 Gb *with* compression. Only if they have a 1.5 or 2 Gb VRAM Video card would they be able to run uncompressed. =)

I used DDS DXT5 compression on the orthos, so even if you have compression enabled, it'll still look very good (as I pre-compressed them at 'best quality' using Ben Supniks own 'Xgrinder' tool; which results in great (yet lossy) compression)

Ben has a nice blog on the use of DDS in X-Plane 10, and the good quality results you can get: http://developer.x-p...-in-x-plane-10/

- CK.

Edited March 4, 2012 by chris k

[sichars1968]

Hi Chris

Thanks for confirming that, I will download and install when I get the chance.

As I said screenshots are looking really good, keep up the good work.

Cheers

Simon

[chris k]

March 06, 2012

Beta 0.3

- Fixed all Rivers, now are transparent (so water can be seen through the orthophoto)

- Fixed Wigram Air Base Runway/Taxiways (NZWG) to line up

- Changed OSM2XP "round buildings" into OpenSceneryX Fuel tanks of various sizes in Lylleton Harbour, as well as the eastern beaches/river area.

- Various small fixes in the water, removed speckling from earlier alpha conversions, etc...

- Vairous Tile Optimizations with Alpha/no-Alpha DDS compression

Still to do:

- Still got some white edging showing up very small on some northwest tiles, some type of graphic artifact I'll check out for next release.

- Not all rivers done with alpha yet, so some show X-Plane water, some show the ortho water (east of the city).

- Wigram Airbase (now closed) needs it's runway/taxiways fixed to line up with the orthos

- Need to put forest exclusions around areas where XP10 trees are showing through buildings and in empty fields in parks, where there's no trees.

- Need to change the OSM2XP forests to be denser - probably will just re-do them by hand for now.

- Re-check certain tiles if they really need alpha, as dropping the alpha channel drops the VRAM usage in half.

Warnings:

Uses 1.2Gb of VRAM at "extreme resolution" with compression. Careful of blowing your memory and getting "Bad Alex." ( click here for the explanation )

If you drop your texture resolution from "extreme" to "very high" (one step down), you're back in ~500Mb VRAM territory and all is fine.

Downloads: See 1.0 Release below

Let me know how it all works out for you guys.

Enjoy!

- CK.

Edited March 7, 2012 by chris k

[chris k]

Both released now:

Area Photo 1.0: http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=15967

OSM2XP Buildings 1.1: http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=15929

- CK.