PhotoScenery Confusion?

[Preston Martin]

Hello Friends, I am a new FSX convert who is loving the X-plane world!  I have begun adding in scenery from Tom Curtis, Al Pilot, and SimHeaven.  On the SimHeaven website FAQ they state: 

 

"Note that HD mesh files work only when there is no photo scenery active in this region, as photo sceneries have their own mesh, derived from standard x-plane dsf or from hd scenery mesh."  

 

Now I am confused, because the photosceneries come with there own mesh, but then they have a subsection that states:  

 

"HD Mesh v2 for photo sceneries ZL16/ZL17 for X-Plane 10.25 and up, derived on HD-Mesh v2 published by Andras Fabian, brings a higher resolution base mesh, much more detailed elevation profile and landclass data."   

 

On Andras site, he states they can not be used together, but there are no adverse reactions if you do.  I don't get it.  I want to use Al Pilot HD Mesh, as it will actually download.  On America South ZL17 from SimHeaven, the download stops halfway through the 11.1gb download.  Very frustrating!  

 

Do any of you have a sloution?  I fly the West Coast US mainly, so this is the area I am most interested in.  Thanks in advance, -Woog

[Preston Martin]

Sorry About the blue bars, no significance, just couldn't get rid of it...... -Woog

[Cameron]

SimHeaven comes with it's own mesh. X-Plane cannot load two base mesh (HD and photoscenery) DSF files for the same area, so the statement you read and have pasted here is accurate. It appears to me that SimHeaven has ALSO created an additional patch or option at some point which uses the new V2 HD mesh rather than whatever they used in prior time. In order to use it you would need to download these files directly from them, not from Al Pilot.

 

More information here.

[Preston Martin]

Thanks Cameron, Would I be correct in thinking that I would need replace the .dsf files located in the Earth nav data folder of the Photoscenery itself then to accomplish this?  With that said, Al Pilot HD mesh covers entire regions, where as the SimHeaven is only 1x1 tiles.  I should still probably leave the HD mesh loaded below my Photo stuff for a seamless transition to non photoreal coverage areas?  The color blending is actually really nice for the Seattle Area.  

 

Of Course I will purchase WA State when you guys get around to updating it to the "Enhanced level" of color saturation and detail.  All the work I am trying to accomplish with freeware, will be done by you guys already...... -Woog 

[MercuryMat]

A small explanation about meshes: only one mesh could be loaded for each tile. Normally you'd put the AlPilotX HD v2 AT THE END of the scenery_packs.ini file, so the meshes load AFTER the sceneries (photo sceneries), cause is supposed they are loaded before the hdv2 meshes.

So...the hdv2 meshes cover the North America and Europe, not the rest of the world, but this is not important in the economy of coupling them with SimHeaven photo sceneries...

What you have to take care is the fact that ALL SIMHEAVEN'S PHOTO-SCENERIES PUBLISHED AFTER 1 JAN 2014 ARE BUILT OVER HDV2 MESHES (where available...), so if you load one of this sceneries you'll load a photo-scenery perfectly compatible with hdv2 meshes (remember to put it before hdv2 meshes in scenery_packs.ini).

The fact is: if you load a photo-scenery not built on hdv2 meshes, it will load without problems but, even if you have hdv2 meshes for the same tile, those will be not loaded. In practice: alpilotx meshes function well with default global scenery, but if you want to use a hdv2 photo scenery you MUST built it over this meshes. SimHeaven did that and I suppose it is still uploading updated photosceneries at this time...

Put a hdv2 mesh inside a no-hdv2 photoscenery it is not a good practice because, mostly when there is some coastal line or lakes or something with water definition, there could be a wrong representation of the photo textures. SimHeaven made a DELTA package to correct this behavior with pre-2014 sceneries and then he made another package to correct some sceneries that had different coastlines and so the missed some textures.

About transition: photosceneries are loaded OVER global scenery (and the VRAM is really stressed...) so it does not really matter what mesh are your using, may be the transition will be a bit abrupt due to photo textures connection with global textures.

So what I suggest you is to simply download a 2014 version of SimHeaven files and load it before the hdv2 mesh in the scenery_pack.ini.

Sent from Mad iPad's Tapatalk

[Preston Martin]

Thank you Mat.  The texture coloring of the Default/HD2 mesh scenery is really close to the shade used on the PhotoScenery of Seattle.  There is a discernible line, but it appears as more of a resolution shift, than a distinct color change.  If I can figure out how to rearrange errant trees, and place some warehouses and such, I would like to publish a more accurate version of my local Puget Sound area.  Something based off of the SimHeaven tile.  Maybe even add my house as a "First" 3d building project.  I live near a really odd shaped lake, (Tapps) and have a few Air Ranch type neighborhoods near by me, at the base of Mt Rainier (30 miles E SE).  The Pac NW, what a great place to fly and live!