HD Mesh Scenery v3 for X-Plane 10 released

[alpilotx]

After more than a year, the free (donationware) HD Mesh Scenery v3 replaces the previous v2 scenery package!

Covered Regions (see coverage on the download map below):

• Europe (Canaries included)
• North America (USA, Alaska, Canada)
• Japan
• Hawaii
• NEW: Australia

The HD Mesh Scenery v3 is a complete replacement for the default Global Scenery in X-Plane 10 for all covered regions (it includes mesh, landclass, forests, road/railroad networks, all water features and autogen data)!

The v3 is an update of the previous v2 version (thus it includes all the improvements which were present there) and has notable improvements in the following areas:

• Australia as a new region has been added (with completely replaced, higher resolution landclass data)!
• Europe has received a complete overhaul - higher resolution, higher quality - of its forest data (part of the landclass information)
• Canada has received a massive improvement of its water features (replaced the partially - regionally - incomplete OSM water data with government data --> CanVec)
• Improved forest representation (better, more detailed reproduction of the raw forest landclass information) resulting in much more natural look of forests/forest variations in all regions
• Refreshed Oepnstreetmap (OSM) for all regions (except the before mentioned Canadian water data) to reference date 10th October 2014. This alone can improve many parts in the scenery.
• Used latest (September 2014) apt data for airport mesh smoothing / deforesting.
• Further increased the mesh resolution (by about 20-30%)
• Many other smaller / larger fixes listed here: http://www.alpilotx.net/downloads/x-plane-10-hd-mesh-scenery-v3/#Fixes-Imporvements-in-v3

Just like before, this scenery needs at least X-Plane 10.25 (or any later version) to work properly!

With all the improvements and new a region, the overall file volume grew to a new record setting 99 GBytes (scattered over 98 distinct ZIP files, each covering a 10x10 degree area). Luckily, this year a few more parties (whom I would like to thank!) joined in to help in the distribution process (with servers and bandwidth). They are:

• flightsim.com (with direct download AND very important: BitTorrent seeding)
• isdg.com.au
• aerosoft.com
• x-plane.org (will have files online in a few days)

All informations, possible updates, installation instructions, and download links (with a detailed dynamic map) can be found here:

• http://www.alpilotx.net/downloads/x-plane-10-hd-mesh-scenery-v3/

A large selection of screenshots can be found here:

• Normal: https://picasaweb.google.com/101666907909842492197/HDMeshSceneryV3FINAL?authuser=0&feat=directlink
• Comparison (default, v2, v3) : https://picasaweb.google.com/101666907909842492197/HDMeshSceneryV3FINALComparisonShots?authuser=0&feat=directlink

I recommend all users (especially those who are new to the HD Mesh Scenery v3):

• first start with one or two small regions. Download them, install them, test if it works and then - slowly, step-by-step - get more regions!
• Use BitTorrent (via flightsim.com) if possible, to avoid traffic congestion at the download sites!
• PLEASE take the time to read the short but important instructions! They help you (and then me) to avoid the most common mistakes!

Have a lot of fun!

Andras Fabian
www.alpilotx.net



PS: I would like to ask all users, who are fluent in other languages than English or German (and have time), to please spread this news in other forums / new sites

[Jose Almeida]

Hi Andras,

 

Great news; I am a big fan of HD Mesh since V1 and I can't wait to try this one.

I've already asked this question but here it goes again: Any chance of cutting HD Mesh for the Azores?

 

José

[alpilotx]

I've already asked this question but here it goes again: Any chance of cutting HD Mesh for the Azores?

 

José

This question - for different regions - comes quite often, so there is an "official" answer:

• http://www.alpilotx.net/downloads/x-plane-10-hd-mesh-scenery-v3/#Why-is-region-X-not-covered

But you never know what the future brings ...

[Viper04]

i'm seeing a new ssd in near future XD

[alpilotx]

i'm seeing a new ssd in near future XD

Not necessarily for this scenery ... I have two big SSDs but still rather put big scenery on my - even bigger - HDDs ... Of course, in some situations SSDs would definitely speed up scenery load time

[scubajuan_new]

 

 

Thanks again Andras, Just installed Europe and North Africa and is amazing, with the new assets recently released by Laminar, tree lines, dense forest, etc. Just did a quick flight around the Alps and was incredible. It really challenges the photo scenery form simheaven,  

[Jose Almeida]

Thanks again Andras, Just installed Europe and North Africa and is amazing, with the new assets recently released by Laminar, tree lines, dense forest, etc. Just did a quick flight around the Alps and was incredible. It really challenges the photo scenery form simheaven,  

 

Are you sure it changes simheaven's photo scenery? As I understand simheaven and hd mesh exclude each other for the simple reason that simheaven incorporates HD Mesh V2. If you have simheaven HD Mesh V3 should not make any difference or I am completely misunderstanding how it works.

 

José

[scubajuan_new]

I said CHALLENGE, not Change. I am sure simheaven's will upgrade to V3 mesh in the near future, just need time, first to download the whole enchilada , update their sceneries and then upload again. 

[alpilotx]

I said CHALLENGE, not Change. I am sure simheaven's will upgrade to V3 mesh in the near future, just need time, first to download the whole enchilada , update their sceneries and then upload again. 

Yes, SimHeaven will (start over the weekend) to update their scenery to HD Mesh Scenery v3!

 

Still, there are some pros and cons to both sides, which you should neither mix up, nor forget about!

 

HD Mesh Scenery:

+ much less storage space usage (because it only needs a limited set of default textures - compared to gazillions of tiny textures in photoscenery ... each patch of the planet needs its own, single picture)

+ consistent visual impression (no abrupt hue/contrast/saturation/blurriness/quality changes)

+ you can even winterize it (because a limited set of generic textures is much easier to "winterize" and replace - there are already some free options available)

- it has not the visual/reality quality like - good - phototextures (where they are good)

 

Photoscenery.

++ Looks fantastic, where it looks fantastic (not so much, where you get :"abrupt hue/contrast/saturation/blurriness/quality changes" )

- gigantic size (extreme use of storage space : thats the price you pay for each single patch of land needing its own texture)

- you can not - for example - winterize it for example (because no one can manually winterize gazillions of textures ... only an automated approach can help, but which usually leads to less optimal results)

[Viper04]

tooooo much space need!! lol

 

Xplane was installed on hdd first.... 3.. 4 min to charge a game with simheaven or hd v2, with w2xp 

on ssd 1min and half it charge... so it change a lot

 

my ssd is near empty... xplane is 100 gb now...  LOL

 

when 850 pro of samsung 512 or 1tb will go down in price i will download all this XD

[Jose Almeida]

HD Mesh Scenery:
+ much less storage space usage (because it only needs a limited set of default textures - compared to gazillions of tiny textures in photoscenery ... each patch of the planet needs its own, single picture)
+ consistent visual impression (no abrupt hue/contrast/saturation/blurriness/quality changes)
+ you can even winterize it (because a limited set of generic textures is much easier to "winterize" and replace - there are already some free options available)
- it has not the visual/reality quality like - good - phototextures (where they are good)
 
Photoscenery.
++ Looks fantastic, where it looks fantastic (not so much, where you get :"abrupt hue/contrast/saturation/blurriness/quality changes" )
- gigantic size (extreme use of storage space : thats the price you pay for each single patch of land needing its own texture)
- you can not - for example - winterize it for example (because no one can manually winterize gazillions of textures ... only an automated approach can help, but which usually leads to less optimal results)

 

My experience with V2 seems to give a better frame rate from simheaven than from HD Mesh on its own, for the same region; do you agree? Is there an explanation?

 

José

[alpilotx]

My experience with V2 seems to give a better frame rate from simheaven than from HD Mesh on its own, for the same region; do you agree? Is there an explanation?

 

José

Yes, I agree, and it is normal ... and it has good technical reasons. I have talked about it here:

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/452350-photo-or-default-scenery-what-is-heavier-on-your-fps/?p=3084932

 

Yes it makes sense! I think I wrote about it at some time (but not lately) ...

 

The reason is, that the default scenery (or similarly HD Mesh Scenery v2 - they are close relatives) needs to draw much more triangles than a photoscenery (derived from the same base mesh!). The reason is simple: with the landclass / generic texture approach we need a lot of overlapping triangles (where different terrain types meet) to make smooth texture blending possible (which only works if you overlap different textures and tell the shaders how to - smoothly - transition from one to the other). But this cost a lot of extra triangles. Whereas a photoscenery has no such transition issues as it just plain - extremely simplified  of course - paints the phototextures "as is" (they don't need such transitions, as they are visually already "finished"). So, you pay with a lot longer loading times (loading all the textures) , but you don't need "waste" performance on triangle overdraw. ... So, there is always a trade-off  (there is no such thing as "free beer" here).

[ansorgj]

Awesome News!

 

But how to get it? Are the torrents actually seeded anywhere? the flightsim tracker gives a "could not connect".

 

Going to try a zip file now ...

Edited December 20, 2014 by ansorgj

[chris k]

We at ISDG Is mirroring the files.

 

You can HTTP it from here: http://cdn.isdg.com.au/downloads/

 

or FTP it from here: cdn.isdg.com.au

[alpilotx]

AGAIN: please remember guys, that at the moment hundreds of users are doing the same, and the servers are all under high pressure! Under these conditions its "normal" that they can't provide perfect service to everyone at the same time! The flightsim.com admin already told me, that they are at very high, peak bandwidth usage ... and that they torrent tracker occasionally crashes (and he needs to restart it) ... UT they are working to improve the tracker ASAP

 

And in the end: remember, this is all free ... so, do not expect 100% availability at top speeds for all the time. Thats not possible ... So, be patient and all of you will get it at some point.

[Tom Knudsen]

Hi Andras

 

Love the detail in your new package, just love how all the new islands and bays just pop up.

But I have one question, somewhat more an issue than a question to be frank.

 

You said you are using openstreetmap as basis of the autogen. Did I understand you correctly then?

Anyway, might be and issue there, as I checked my home and found that no buildings are implemented in your packed, not even one.

 

Does it even to this or do I have this all upside down and the package includes only rivers, mesh and coastlines.

 

See pictures in sim

 

 

Se picture from openstreetmap (where I have placed a lot of buildings via the editor (previous edit)

[Tom Knudsen]

PS..

Latest sim 10.31

HDv3 Europe

 

Object set to max

[alpilotx]

Hi Tom,

 

I think I told this many time - but I repeat it - Landclass data (thus, the information about tows / city extents) does NOT come from OSM, but from the other raster landclass data. The reason for this is, that at the scale of the Global Scenery or HD Mesh Scenery v3 it would be very bad to rely on OSM landclass information (which is nice in some places, bad in others ... and very often completely non-existent!). Thus, the scenery can only be as accurate as my landclass data gives me back ... some towns might be in it, some not. So, I can't guarantee that each and any little town is covered by it. Sorry. This might improve in future landclass updates .... or not (again, no guarantee).

 

By the way, I do have a more or less complete list of data sources on my page (just in case, someone was interested) ... it might also give you a feeling about the complexity involved in this scenery work:

• http://www.alpilotx.net/downloads/x-plane-10-hd-mesh-scenery-v3/#Data-Sources-Acknowledgments

Edited December 21, 2014 by alpilotx

[Tom Knudsen]

 

I think I told this many time - but I repeat it - Landclass data (thus, the information about tows / city extents) does NOT come from OSM, but from the other raster landclass data

 

Thanks, you dont purhaps know which data or site contains this information?

 

What I miss is plolygon editing tool for changing geo lines and mesh shaping.

[alpilotx]

This data come from the EEA (European Environment Administration), and its their CORINE data-set (but not the newest ... I think I have the 2000 data-set ... and there is a 2006 data-set ... but which did little to urbanized regions). I also do not think there is any interface to change their data (they are governmental organization).

 

And for mesh editing ... well, there is an ongoing, new experiment to do this (though I am NOT a big fan of changing DSF --> the end product ... I always like to rather change the source ... but its not always open to you, the users, so I understand your wish to edit DSFs). But it happens over at the ORG, which I know you are banned from. Still, I would like to link to it:

• http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=81152&hl=

Code name: Mesh Remexe (is from some South American guy) ... and it can export some part of the mesh in a format, which you can then edit via via  Sketch Up ... and then the tool merges that changes back (it still seems to be very complicated and error prone to use).

[chris k]

I have updated the .torrent files being served off the ISDG servers to allow PEX and DHT -- thus if the main tracker goes down, we can still "find each other" using Dynamic Host Lookups and decentralized peering exchange.

 

http://cdn.isdg.com.au/downloads/xp10_hd_mesh_v3/Torrents/

 

I have 2 servers @ 1 Gbps/sec seeding the new hashes -- if you load these, do a "force recheck" on all your files, and your Torrent client will only download the parts it's missing.

Edited December 22, 2014 by chris k

[Jim Kallinen]

Would love to have a sit down with all you guys and have Beer.  Andras bring  the family and come visit anytime. You are the Best and bring Chris K along.

[AnonymousUser68]

Thankyou for your work Andras! Also thankyou to Chris for hosting the files! I have heard so many great things about HD Mesh and can't wait to see how it looks around my hometown!

[alpilotx]

Would love to have a sit down with all you guys and have Beer.  Andras bring  the family and come visit anytime. You are the Best and bring Chris K along.

Jim, should I make it to the States one day ... I should put you on my trip list .

 

On the other hand ... when it comes to beer, you should maybe rather visit me, as we (in the region where I live) have THE highest brewery density on earth. Don't take my words ... read Wikipedia :

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_in_Germany#Brands_and_breweries

(and yes, we definitely have a enormous number of different brands)

[Tom Knudsen]

 

But it happens over at the ORG, which I know you are banned from. Still, I would like to link to it:

• http://forums.x-plan...topic=81152&hl=

Code name: Mesh Remexe (is from some South American guy) ... and it can export some part of the mesh in a format, which you can then edit via via  Sketch Up ... and then the tool merges that changes back (it still seems to be very complicated and error prone to use).

 

Thanks, downloaded as we speak (and no, I am not banned from the .org)