Hi, My name is Stephen and after months of hoping for a logical upgrade to FSX through P3d v2 (which has been giving me nothing but trouble since it's update to 2.1) I decided to try out the latest version of XP this past weekend...and all I can say is, WOW...totally unexpected. I had fiddled around with XP-9 (actually purchased the sim, installed then uninstalled) and the early release of XP-10 (same procedure), so I have to say that when I installed this latest version I wasn't expecting such a huge leap, but boy was I surprised. I've been spending the last few days flying around in XP and grinning from ear to ear and yelling to my wife, "Honey, you've got to see this!". There are way to many things about this latest version of XP to go into in this reply (nor is this the place) as to why I've made the leap, but without a doubt I am now a believer. Having always used Flight Simulation as a way to see parts of the world that I would never ever see in real life, (learning how to fly really has been secondary), my interest in how the sim looks graphically, in regards to reality, has always been keen. I've even worked a bit with FS9 ground textures and introduced a small package called BirdsEyeView (which by the way is still actually selling) in order to enhance the level of immersion so this Topic and the tool that is being developed is of extreme interest to me and I would like to help in any way that I can. I have a bit of a learning curve in order to catch up to you guys, but I'm more than willing to put the time in and since I'm retired I've got plenty of it. My interest would be in developing the United States, Canada and Central America. I could do just about anything (given the time to learn how...I'm a quick study), to include models of major buildings and landmarks as well as bridges. I could also provide the time and resource for compiling and processing to create files for distribution. Rather than dart around trying to find the necessary learning materials, if there are some good reference materials and tutorials from which I can glean the information needed to become an active participant I would appreciate your input. And of course, as we all know, there is nothing like jumping in feet first, so I expect I'll be delving into this very quickly. Finally, since I have all the major players in the same room, so to speak...I have a question regarding the drawing distance of objects. I've noticed that the objects/buildings being drawn to enhance the European areas using R2 and Europe Libraries (and to whatever extent OpenScenery), that many of these objects are not being drawn in any great distance from the aircraft, the opposite of objects being drawn when using XP default settings at max...which places these items miles from your current position within the sim making the view out the cockpit windows all the more real. My Windows PC has plenty of juice and since I'm not a real fan of pop ups, as it tends to draw away from the immersion...literally, is there a way to adjust the distance at which these items are drawn using a settings.txt or something like that? Please, if there is a way...let me know. I've also brought this subject up, of drawing distance, because if the distance is controlled outside the end users capabilities or it's not easy for the end user to adjust the drawing distances, I would highly suggest that future development of models not limit the drawing distance, but rather let the end user control that distance within the XP interface. I just recently upgraded my GPU to a 780 ti and there is a lot of power there and I have discovered that I can render just about anything XP can throw at me and still fly at an acceptable frame rate. My point is to not limit future capabilities of end users machines since the capabilities of even the future lower priced GPUs will soon out-perform the current higher priced ones. Final thoughts, I'm very happy that I've come across this topic and this group of people in my search to learn the ins and outs of XP's plausible world. I am already amazed at the huge sense of reality that comes when flying in the simulator as I have come across some scenery that literally has made my eyes go wide. The products that you folks have offered has made the immersion even more plausible and the development of the tool, which is the subject of this topic, will help to make it even that much better. I have noticed that there's a lot of work being done on aircrafts, airports, and the like, but it appears that there is only a handful of folks taking the time to develop scenery...so, again, whatever I can do, I'm here to help. There is little doubt that with the proper tools, skills and efforts that XP will surpass even the best scenery being offered to those other folks...who are those guys again? AND...it will be in focus and remain in focus for miles and miles of enjoyable flying! Cheers, Stephen
