PREVIEW video: X-Planeplane10 HD Mesh Scenery v3 (region: Canada)

[alpilotx]

There is a first preview - this time a video on youtube (instead of "just" screenshots) - for the next, "version 3" of the HD mesh Scenery "series". Planned release is around the end of 2014.

It will be more of an evolution - instead of a revolution - over the current "version 2" bringing:

• many fixes (see known issues list on my website for HD mesh Scenery v2)
• landclass improvements
• increased resolution (yes, the mesh res will increase a bit again)
• and most importantly fresh OSM (openstreetmap data) from autumn 2014.
• additionally, in Canada, instead of the OSM lakes it will use CanVec based lakes (which should bring a more or less complete and consistent lake/river coverage in that region - OSM still has quite a few gaps in that area).

The coverage will most likely not go outside the current coverage and will still "only" cover North America, Europe and Japan. The main reason is still - as most of you might already know - that there is still no good, consistent, free, usable, high resolution landclass data outside the listed regions. As soon as this changes (and I can get hold of such "good, consistent, free, usable, high resolution landclass data") I will also extend the coverage.

 

By the way, should you be one of the few users, who are contributing to the OSM project, I would say you have about 4 weeks to add stuff (things of relevance are: water features and road / railroad network) you would like to see in the coming HD Mesh Scenery v3 (one exception - for now - is water data in Canada, which will be substituted by the CanVec data for now)!

 

[cabnz1]

Thank you very much I will watch the video now.

One question - will New Zealand get the same update?

Kind regards,

Craig

[PinkJackal]

what about the FPS with the new resolution??

[alpilotx]

Thank you very much I will watch the video now.

One question - will New Zealand get the same update?

Kind regards,

Craig

NZ Pro is NOT part of the HD mesh Scenery line (neither is it mentioned in the list) ... its a more special scenery, as its based on a bit different data sources and has some other special features (the overlay scenery with custom made objects etc.). Neither do I see enough reasons for NZ Pro to be updated (its already quite good as it is ... and can be enjoyed as it is ... now ).

[alpilotx]

what about the FPS with the new resolution??

There is always a price ... and it depends on a lot of factors. On high powered machines, you will not see a big hit (just like it was with HD Mesh Scenery v2), but with mid range machines, there is always a thin line ... which can lead to massive deterioration when you cross it .... but can still be good if you stay on the safe side. For example RAM or VRAM usage can be such a thin line (you are good as long as you don't exhaust it, but will get in trouble if you overstretch) etc. ...

[cabnz1]

NZ Pro is NOT part of the HD mesh Scenery line (neither is it mentioned in the list) ... its a more special scenery, as its based on a bit different data sources and has some other special features (the overlay scenery with custom made objects etc.). Neither do I see enough reasons for NZ Pro to be updated (its already quite good as it is ... and can be enjoyed as it is ... now ).

Thank you for your reply

I completely agree, NZ Pro is perfect just the way it is - I enjoy it greatly. The question was more out of curiosity not because I thought NZ Pro needed it.

Thank you again and look forward to your HD Mesh Scenery 3 update.

Cheers,

Craig

[Tom Knudsen]

Awesome news, looking forward to it, ps what resolution is the mesh now in meters

[alpilotx]

Awesome news, looking forward to it, ps what resolution is the mesh now in meters

After so many years ... you should know better X-Plane has an irregular mesh, thus there is no such thing as a fixed resolution of the triangle mesh.

But the source raw DEM (raster) data is still the same 90m data (which is completely sufficient until now in 98% of the cases.

[Tom Knudsen]

Thanks, thats was what I meant. DEM data of course

[alpilotx]

But let me add, that there was at least a tiny "fix" to the DEM data too ... In a few places in the USA (mostly Louisiana) there are some odd spikes in the landscape. Those were already fixed ... (and will thus be fixed in v3).

[Tom Knudsen]

Cool, keep up your excellent work, looking forward to seeing pics from Norway in due time

[alpilotx]

Cool, keep up your excellent work, looking forward to seeing pics from Norway in due time

Norway will have its share of "tuning" too ... the number of forests will be reduced Just a few weeks ago a user told me, that there are too many forests on the Shetlands (where in reality there is almost no single tree on the entire island(group) ). After a little investigation it turned out, that there is a landclass type in the original source data (CORINE from the EEA) which I "wrongly" translated into the X-Plane world ... which resulted in some woody wetlands instead of grassy wetlands (the difference is, that the first one also gets some forests planted on top). Now this is - in the data - already fixed ... and will also affect large regions in northern Norway / Sweden / Finland etc. ... So, in the end there will be a bit less forests (but in the sense, that this will bring the scenery another step closer to "reality").

[Tom Knudsen]

Noticed that my self on sveral occations. Same goes for all the missing rivers or streams down from and on the mountains

[alpilotx]

Noticed that my self on sveral occations. Same goes for all the missing rivers or streams down from and on the mountains

Well, there will be more rivers, if there are more rivers in OSM .... But there is also a technical limitation, that X-Plane still can't render all type of rivers ... especially the small, steep ones are still a problem and would look worse if included than if we leave them out. This will need a new tech in the render engine (kind of "draped" water, for really thin, small streams of water) but this won't come in the near future ... So, I will not promise you, that you will get all of them.

[Tom Knudsen]

See that, best case would be textured rivers painted in like static but visible streams. But since x-plane textures are if not mistaken generic, it could be rivers everywhere correct?