X-Plane 10 HD Mesh Scenery v2 released!

[Jbcarey]

People is starting to share the files via torrent. You can find them here (not all the files yet): http://jbcarey.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/hd-mesh-v2-find-torrents

 

thanks for the "share"... 

[OlaHaldor]

Too bad it requires an account at Flightsim.com.

Ignorant, lazy, whatever. I just don't want to make another account just for a couple of files.

[Mario Donick]

Too bad it requires an account at Flightsim.com.

Ignorant, lazy, whatever. I just don't want to make another account just for a couple of files.

 

 

55 GB is surely not "just a couple". Anyway, for lots of the files you can use the torrents for downloading.

[alpilotx]

55 GB is surely not "just a couple". Anyway, for lots of the files you can use the torrents for downloading.

My words ... I think, many of you greatly underestimate what it means to distribute 55 Gbytes to thousands of users!

Just to put it in perspective: it took me almost 3 days to just upload it .... and more than a day for flightsim.com to check / prepare etc. the files for distribution.

 

I also received a mail from flightsim.com, where they have stated, that these downloads have blown away all bandwidth  records they have previously seen ...

[greggerm]

I also received a mail from flightsim.com, where they have stated, that these downloads have blown away all bandwidth records they have previously seen ...

 

Not surprising - these files (*and the total size of the entire set) is larger than anything they've ever hosted I'm sure. Andras - I plonked down my $30 for a flightsim membership because of the headaches with a normal download. Once I get my full set of files, I'm considering joining the torrents as a seed.

 

When I first "installed" it, I was quick to notice few differences.... hey, that lake hasn't changed much.... wait, I added that river and its still not here... WAIT?! WHERE'S MY OSM WORK!!?!  GAAAAH!

 

...aaaaaaaaand then I realized I didn't install it correctly (*forgot the "earth nav data" folder). Oops!

 

Fixed, relaunched, and aaah - better.

 

I'm pleased with the resolution which is being utilized for OSM rivers, shorelines, and lakes. I didn't expect the recut to take some of these smaller items into account, thinking they would be filtered out, but alas - most of them are indeed present in the sim. I'm still fetching various files for the regions I did a lot of OSM work in, but around my hometown, it seems pretty clear that the improvements are there.

 

Impressive work. It certainly does bring a lot more of the underlying scenery up to life. I'm going to explore it a bit more, especially in areas I spent a lot of time on in OSM. Of course, seeing these improvements only makes me itch more for the ability to do this sort of (DSF file) scenery generation on our own, as it's very fulfilling to see all the changes take form in the simulation.  Well done.

 

-Greg

[alpilotx]

Hi Greg,

 

I am happy you found your way around yourself but don't worry, you are not the only one who made this mistake ... Of course, some kind of installer might have helped to avoid pitfalls like this, but then again, that would have added a big dev overhead for me (especially, if i wanted to support 3 OS-es ... argh). So, I decided, that - hopefully halfway - clean installation instructions are much more platform independent .

 

And let me thank you for you countless OSM additions ... for sure they made quite a difference in many places! And thats why I urge everybody with some "free time" at hand, to join the OSM bandwagon !

 

About more dynamic scenery re-cuts .... i would not like to promise anything there. Yes, there are plans, but god nows when they will be implemented (or in which way etc.).

[AtomicFrawg]

Alpilotx,

 

I was also very happy to see the Water runway I added to KARA and the Lakes I added near KLFT. However, I have seen an issue pop up. Where we have salt domes in south Louisiana, x-plane now shows large towers of earth. Is there any way to fix this? Load up at KARA or KLFT and you will see them to the south and south east.

[gthomas]

Looks good. Two caveats, so far.

 

The scenery seams to treat all OSM power lines the same: A 3 wire line shows up as a towering high tension monster--this is kind of weird when it's at the end of a runway. This could be filtered and corrected in a future update.

 

The second is a problem for scenery  developers. If the dsf for an airport contains data that corrects roads around the airport, a new version will need to be created for users who also use this mesh. I see no way around this.

[alpilotx]

Alpilotx,

 

I was also very happy to see the Water runway I added to KARA and the Lakes I added near KLFT. However, I have seen an issue pop up. Where we have salt domes in south Louisiana, x-plane now shows large towers of earth. Is there any way to fix this? Load up at KARA or KLFT and you will see them to the south and south east.

As usually, I do not edit or otherwise tamper the source data manually (I only do large scale, algorithmic transformations etc. as necessary). If those "towers of earth" are in the raw elevation data, then they are there ... could you at least point out - via some link in net to picture - what exactly you would expect to see there ("salt domes in Louisiana" are new to me ... I admit, never heard of them).

[alpilotx]

The scenery seams to treat all OSM power lines the same: A 3 wire line shows up as a towering high tension monster--this is kind of weird when it's at the end of a runway. This could be filtered and corrected in a future update.

First of all, this is something you should also send as a feature request to Ben Supnik. Until now, there is only one type of power line art asset in X-plane ... thus, its hard to distinguish them. Second, if I should one day correctly represent them, its also very important that the OSM data is tagged correctly. Often the power lines are just tagged as is, without additional information about what type they are .... (in OSM for example you can add tags about the voltage etc. .. that could help a lot).

[AtomicFrawg]

As usually, I do not edit or otherwise tamper the source data manually (I only do large scale, algorithmic transformations etc. as necessary). If those "towers of earth" are in the raw elevation data, then they are there ... could you at least point out - via some link in net to picture - what exactly you would expect to see there ("salt domes in Louisiana" are new to me ... I admit, never heard of them).

 

This is a salt dome from the air. FYI This is Avery Island Louisiana (Where Tabasco hot sauce is made)

http://www.marshmission.com/newsletters/12322.jpg

 

The dome is really an underground feature.

http://geology.com/stories/13/salt-domes/salt-dome.jpg

 

It seems the way they are rendering, the underground data is showing above ground.

[gthomas]

First of all, this is something you should also send as a feature request to Ben Supnik. Until now, there is only one type of power line art asset in X-plane ... thus, its hard to distinguish them. Second, if I should one day correctly represent them, its also very important that the OSM data is tagged correctly. Often the power lines are just tagged as is, without additional information about what type they are .... (in OSM for example you can add tags about the voltage etc. .. that could help a lot).

I meant no insult.

 

I made the OSM edit in May of 2011. It shows 3 lines. At that time I saw no designation available other than Power Line. I changed it today to minor_line and, since I do not know what the voltage is, removed the voltage listing (in 2011 the potlatch editor did not present a voltage option.)

 

I brought this up because, unlike all of the other 333 changes, which I made to OSM around the airport, this singular power line is, in fact, suppressed in the default scenery. The other changes are all reflected in the scenery. Also, all of the other high power lines in the area are there.

[alpilotx]

Yes, there was a change in the way OSM features are handled ... this was like a "strategic decision" by Ben Supnik. From now on he doesn't remove any OSM base vector data at airports (only directly at or around runways or taxiways). The idea is, to leave all these features in, so that airport developers have more freedom to decide what they want to leave in from OSM and what not (for more freedom when they integrate it with the airport). Maybe power lines could have been left out of this scheme ... maybe not. Well at least as a quick fix, you could use some small exclusions at the place to remove "unwanted" vector features

[chris k]

I have a mirror setup now on the ISDG Server:

 

http://isdg.com.au/downloads/xp10_hd_mesh_v2/

[alpilotx]

Thanks Chris! I added the link to my download page!

[alpilotx]

This is a salt dome from the air. FYI This is Avery Island Louisiana (Where Tabasco hot sauce is made)

http://www.marshmission.com/newsletters/12322.jpg

 

The dome is really an underground feature.

http://geology.com/stories/13/salt-domes/salt-dome.jpg

 

It seems the way they are rendering, the underground data is showing above ground.

Oh ... how beautiful .... not. Oh yes ... these are the joys of having gigantic amounts of raw data, which one person can never look trough (in detail) in a lifetime. These definitely look like some "nice" spikes in the raw elevation data ... great great. I don't even have an idea how to quickly fix (without hand editing ... which I never do). So, I hope you can live with that for the time being, as I can't promise any quick fix for it.

[chris k]

Thanks Chris! I added the link to my download page!

 

Thanks - No problem.!

 

My Bandwidth is your bandwidth. =)

[AtomicFrawg]

Oh ... how beautiful .... not. Oh yes ... these are the joys of having gigantic amounts of raw data, which one person can never look trough (in detail) in a lifetime. These definitely look like some "nice" spikes in the raw elevation data ... great great. I don't even have an idea how to quickly fix (without hand editing ... which I never do). So, I hope you can live with that for the time being, as I can't promise any quick fix for it.

 

hehe, I think I am just going to remove the tile for the time being. I do thank you for your time to look into it.

[JohnMAXX]

Thanks - No problem.!

 

My Bandwidth is your bandwidth. =)

Awesome!  Now this is why I love X-Plane!

[Jim Kallinen]

Premium membership to Flightsim.com paid off. Have all 55gb installed and it looks great, Thanks Andras.  And even better with John`s clouds.

[scubajuan_new]

I concur with JohnMAXX, Is amazing how quickly people stared helping others by creating the torrents, indexing them, seeding, hosting mirrors , etc. I am sure tons of people are already enjoying the full HD Mesh V2 already and more will come. 50+ GB of FREE magnificent scenery update is no simple thing. As Andras stated, the logistics to get this out, plus the large and growing community which recognise and appreciate the work of Alpilotx, rushing to get the update, word of mouth spread faster than gun powder.
I am very grateful and proud to be a part of this generous, helpful, friendly, knowledgable community. No wander why X-Plane is thriving

[Domestos]

Hallo...

a) What's the difference between this and the Simheaven continent sceneries?

Do I need both or will they interfere?

c) Major thanks to Alpilotx and all you out there who make stuff like this... the difference you make to the hobby is invaluable, Thanks!

 

Domestos 

[Mario Donick]

Hallo...

a) What's the difference between this and the Simheaven continent sceneries?

Do I need both or will they interfere?

c) Major thanks to Alpilotx and all you out there who make stuff like this... the difference you make to the hobby is invaluable, Thanks!

 

Domestos 

 

a ) SimHeaven offers two types of sceneries: (1) photo sceneries, mostly for Europe, in non-HD resolution and/or an older (v1) HD-resolution;  (2) OSM sceneries for all continents.

 

b ) You can use the new HD mesh (v2) together with (2), but not with (1). Some time in the future, the photo sceneries might be upgraded to use the v2 mesh.

 

c ) +1

Edited November 26, 2013 by Mario Donick