Tried Tileproxy Yesterday

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I thought I'd post some pictures tonight that show off the settings I use.... These are a good mix, and the goal of my Tileproxy settings is for the scenery to look seamless to the horizon.-Johnhttp://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=260341

[markturner 0]

*I know this sounds like a horrible idea, but the loading algorithm of tileproxy is different than normal fsx scenery, so set the maximum LOD to medium or low for me Tileproxy renders the outer rings of scenery first if its on high so the terrain near me is very blurry, Low Level of Detail Radius updates much faster

Hey Gman, which lod radius setting are you referring to? The one in the FSX .cfg, or one the ones in the proxy user .ini?And what troubles did you get using TBM400? cheers, Mark

[gman! 1]

Hey Gman, which lod radius setting are you referring to? The one in the FSX .cfg, or one the ones in the proxy user .ini?And what troubles did you get using TBM400? cheers, Mark

I tried TBM 400 yesterday and did not get any problems, but Phil Taylor recommends that you never set the bandwidth that high, because cards today only have around 60-90GBs of bandwidth. I am not sure how the TBM line is mesaured though (i.e. MB, GB, KB etc).Anyway, I finished testing my PC and I am thoroughly satisifed with it, even though I was very happy with it at stock :(. I did my final overclocking on my phenom and ended up @ 3.0GHz, from 2.2 GHz stock. Since the only difference in the Phenom 9*** series are only clock speed and unlocked multipliers. I basically have a CPU faster than a 9950, and 400 MHz over the 9950 as well. 800 MHz up from the stock 9550! I am thinking about doing an around the world flight with Tileproxy in FSX now, I think it would be really cool. I was thinking about the Cessna 172, but its a tad slow without the right conditions, and I think the Mooney or Baron is a better choice. I favor the Mooney over the Baron 58 though because I like fast single engine props :(

[Guest simjunkie]

OK. I'm sold. I've flown in Indianapolis w/US Cities Indy, and in Lower Sequoia National Park in Calif.. Simply breathtaking!The only (minor, IMHO) drawbacks are: long load times, have to remember to disable NOD32, no night textures, no autogen (doesn't matter above 2000ft). No big deal at all, I can fly at night w/GEXn and addon scenery packages have autogen that works and blends in perfectly...better than the default. And it makes the sim fly smoother! I have evertthing set to max I think, 30cm LOD, LOD radius = 8.0, 100% scenery complexity. So I get long load times but it's well worth the wait.I can't believe this is free! So far it works perfectly for me. Many thanks to the author for this marvelous app.-jk

[markturner 0]

You guys are 100% correct,, it is superb once you get it running right. The learning curve is pretty steep, but there are some very clever and helpful guys at the tile proxy section of this forum who have been helping me. I am still tweaking to get the best combination of clarity and load times so will advis eof results when sorted.But yes, Christian is a seriously clever guy, its brilliant!!cheers, Mark

[gman! 1]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I am also tweaking Tileproxy as well and its running great @ 60cm and 30cm! I am experimenting with converting on the same drive and converting between different drives (2 separate hard disks, which can reduce bandwidth than just using 1 HDD) to see what performance I get, I will report back if I get good results! I too want to say thanks to the developer of this awesome program, because flight simulator is so much better now, especially water blending with corals :(. The real scenery is also very sharp and there are no signs of any synthetic/fake scenery with weird blending! FPS is also the best! Thank you very very very much!!!

[Guest dogmouse]

Hey Gman,Just wondering, but what are your settings to get the reefs visible, if you wouldnt mind providing that info?I havent dabbled (yet) with that setting. I have REX, but TP seems to step on it, in regard to reefs...that is...i dont see them anymore. Thanks for any input or comment.Rich

[Guest j0nx]

Gman I live 5 miles from khef, come over here and install this tileproxy for me and configure it! It's a pita to figure out! :)

[markturner 0]

Hey Gman, it would save me an awful lot of time and plenty frustration if you could share your .ini file with me dude. I have been experimenting with various recommended settings, using mainly service 3 in the western united staes. However the time factor is a problem and also no matter what I do, I still cant get it load as quickly as I would like. When it loads, it looks superb, but I cant figure out the right combination of settings yet. I am also just learning how to make photoscenery as well, as well as run a business and keep my family obligations , so time is of the essence!!! so any help you give by supplying some settings that work for you would be much appreciated.Cheers, Mark

[gman! 1]

Gman I live 5 miles from khef, come over here and install this tileproxy for me and configure it! It's a pita to figure out! :)

lol, keep testing!

Hey Gman,Just wondering, but what are your settings to get the reefs visible, if you wouldnt mind providing that info?I havent dabbled (yet) with that setting. I have REX, but TP seems to step on it, in regard to reefs...that is...i dont see them anymore. Thanks for any input or comment.Rich

Make sure to do this to get Coral Reefs and other features near shores...In the ProxyUser.ini file make sure to set your water exactly to these settings!!water_mask=Onwater_blending=Onwater_smoothing=Offblend_distance=1500.0

To the last post here is my ProxyUser.ini file! :smile:## Start a line with # to comment it out.# Turn your text editor's Word Wrapping OFF for editing this document.## Read the manual for help with configuration. Do not contact the# author about the configuration for particular services. Thank you.#[TileProxy]# Enable or disable worldwide photographic scenery coverage (Yes/True/On to enable)master_enable=On# Write a logfile to disk.  In recommend to only turn this on for debugging purposes.# When using FSX RTM or FS 2004, the logfile may grow VERY fast and affect performance.#logfile="C:\logfile.txt"# If you have concerns about possible copyright violations by caching JPEG and BMP tiles# on your hard drive, this switch is the solution. By enabling diskless mode, Tileproxy# will not store a single tile on your hard drive. Expect higher network usage though.# Note that offline mode will depend on tiles being available in the cache.diskless_mode=Off# Offline Mode - No network access will occur (Yes/True/On to enable)offline_mode=No# Resolution limiter: 17 = 30cm/pixel, 16 = 60cm/pixel, 15 = 1.1m/pixel, 14 = 2.3m/pixel, 13 = 4.75m/pixel# Lower resolutions load faster, but are visually less appealing. The 30cm resolution may only be feasible# if you have at least 2GB of system memory.max_lod=16# The following two settings allow you to tune Tileproxy to not preload specific LOD levels. This can# be used in conjunction with third party scenery products like "FS Altitude" that provides data only# up to a specific resolution. If you place this scenery higher than Tileproxy's world folders in the# scenery library then it will have precedence over Tileproxy for the specific LOD levels that it# contains. You can then instruct Tileproxy to not preload these low resolution LOD circles because# they are not needed anyway.# Lowest LOD ring to automatically preload tiles for. Must not be lower than 8.preload_min_lod=9# Lowest LOD ring to automatically preload tiles for. Must not be higher than 17.preload_max_lod=16# The maximum number of tile contexts that Tileproxy will send to the filter driver. A context# is essentially a very fast buffer for graphics data sitting in kernel memory that delivers# data right into FSX. Each tile context can hold an entire LOD 8...15 tile. Higher values# mean more use of your precious kernel memory though. The maximum number is 512. Lower if# you run out of RAM during flight and the PC starts to use the paging file a lot.max_contexts=512# Generate Water Mask. This brings back shader-rendered water and allows# for the use of planes with floats (Goose, Beaver, etc...). If you turn this# option off, you get the Tileproxy behavior of Beta 5 and earlier versions.water_mask=On# Recommendation: FSX users: Use water_blending=on, water_smoothing=off#							to get soft land/water transitions##				 FS9 users: Use water_blending=off, water_smoothing=on#							to get hard land/water transitions which#							Tileproxy tries to match pixel-exact against coast-lines##				 Combining water_smoothing and water_blending is discouraged.#				 It's slow and gives weird results.# Use blending techniques to create a soft land/water transition with some# transparency effect near the shoreline. Compatible with FSX only.water_blending=On# The distance in meters that you want land/water blending to extend from the# shore line. Larger values require more processing. Large values are now possible,# useful values are up to 2000 meters. Very high values may be detrimental to water# mask resolution. Loading speed however remains mostly unaffected by this setting.blend_distance=1500.0# The rate at which terrain is blended into the water color. 1.0 means a linear# blending, values > 1.0 blend faster. Values < 1.0 blend slower. This works# similarly to a Gamma Curve. An exponent of 2 gives a quadratic blend function,# an exponent of 0.5 results in a square root behavior.blend_exponent=1.0# The minimal and maximal transparency of the water. The lower you choose the min value,# the more reflective the deep water will be. The higher the max value is chosen, the less# reflective the water will be directly at the shore line. The reflectiveness transitions# linearly from max to min throughout the distance given by blend_distance from the shore.# Allowed values are between 0 and 1, and alpha_min should be smaller than alpha_max or# things may look weird.# The following alpha_min values will not give you any dithering artifacts on all-water tiles,# so the use of these is recommended. It is multiples of 16/239 (rounded up slighty)# 0.0700, 0.1339, 0.2009, 0.2678, 0.3348, 0.4017, 0.4687# 0.5356, 0.6026, 0.6695, 0.7365, 0.8034, 0.8703, 0.9373alpha_min=0.2678alpha_max=0.7# The water color in hexadecimal RGB notation. Prefix with #. This should be blue# or greenish blue or some shades of brown, depending on your preference.# Values of #000000 are discouraged when using water blending - it will result# in weird behavior at the shorelines.water_rgb=#000D1A# Try to smooth land/water boundaries by trying to match the water mask to the image content.# This is a a somewhat experimental algorithm.water_smoothing=Off# The decision threshold for water/land when water_smoothing is enabled. 0 means everything# will be turned to land, 1 means everything turns to water. Chose some value inbetween.water_threshold=0.50# Maximum number of bytes allocated to BMP graphics tiles in RAM at any time (0 for unlimited)# The value below states 150 MB.cache_bytes_limit=150000000# Maximum number of BMP tiles to cache in RAM at any time (0 for no limit).cache_tiles_limit=200000# The currently active service is configured here. Only ONE active source please.# The other source statements should be commented out.#source=Acme Globe Servicesource=Windows Live Bing Maps#source=Service Example 3#source=Service Example 4# The sources you want to be able to switch from the GUI menu.# Separate the list entries with | and enclose in quotes. Make sure the# names specified here are valid services which are defined below.# You may want to rename the services according to your preference,# but make sure you replace all occurences of the strings.menu_sources="Service Example 1|Service Example 3|Service Example 4"# Experimental API Hooking section. Disable if you see strange crashes and effects.# Currently we only have the DirectX 9 hook. More hooks are planned.enable_hooking=No# The DirectX 9 hook enables the moving map overlay. More features are planned.enable_dx9hook=No# A flag whether to show the moving map overlay initially or not.enable_movingmap=No# Dimensions and overlay colors of the moving map. Positions are percentages of the screen.# Width and Height refer to the full 512x512 pixel texture used for the map. To get a round# map circle, the ratio of width and height should match your screen's aspect ratio (e.g. 4:3)# Radius is given in the map texture's pixels where one pixel represents a LOD 15 tile. A# radius of 0 disables the round stencil and shows the entire 512x512 texture. Color is given# in a hexadecimal ARGB notation. movingmap_alpha=255movingmap_color=#ff000000movingmap_xpos=88movingmap_ypos=15movingmap_width=60movingmap_height=80movingmap_radius=60## Here begin the service specific configurations## This is new when you specify captcha_module## On encountering HTTP 302 redirects the captcha module will send Internet Explorer's cookies# stored for the specified service domain to the web server. It will also display whatever web# page the service redirects you to. This could be a page requiring you to enter a so-called# captcha. After entering the captcha correctly, the resulting session cookie will be stored as# a permanent cookie (expiration 1 day) in your IE Cookies folder and sent to the service on# subsequent requests. You will then be able to use the service as long as you wish, given that# you correctly enter the captcha dialog which may nag you once every 20 minutes or so.# # Explaining the captcha_config arguments:## cookiedomain from captcha_config specifies the domain name for which cookies are stored.# This might be the service name plus a top level domain like ".com"## cookieurl specifies a HTTP url from which an identifying cookie will be retrieved first, if# no existing identifying cookie is found. This may be required sometimes to make the captcha# dialog appear in the first place. This could be the service's front page URL (e.g. a search# engine)[Acme Globe Service]cache_folder=C:\TileProxy Cache & Scenery\cache.acmenetwork_module=libnettilemodule_config="conn=20|rate=2.0|verbose=0|server=http://server*.acmeglobe.com|path=/terraintile?pos=%s&v=%v|quad=ABCD|balance=0123|agent=Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; The TileProxy Project)"captcha_module=captchaformcaptcha_config="cookiedomain=acmeglobe.com|cookieurl=http://www.acmeglobe.com"min_level=9max_level=17map_version=1color_hack=Nocolor_level=0bulk_extend=50[Windows Live Bing Maps]cache_folder=C:\TileProxy Cache & Scenery\livemaps.service1network_module=libnettilemodule_config="conn=20|rate=2.0|verbose=0|server=http://a*.ortho.tiles.virtualearth.net|path=/tiles/a%s.jpeg?g=%v|quad=0123|balance=0123|useragent=Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)"min_level=9max_level=18map_version=330level_mapping=9,10,11,12,14,14,15,17,18,18#level_mapping=9,10,11,14,14,14,15,16,17,18,19   even more radius in HQ (12,13->14)color_hack=Yescolor_level=13bulk_extend=25[Service Example 3]cache_folder=C:\TileProxy Cache & Scenery\cache.service3network_module=libnettilemodule_config="conn=20|rate=2.0|verbose=0|server=http://us.maps3.yimg.com|path=/aerial.maps.yimg.com/img?x=%x&y=%y&z=%z&v=%v&t=a|useragent=Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)"min_level=5max_level=18map_version=1.9level_mapping=10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,17,18,19color_hack=Yescolor_level=13bulk_extend=25[Service Example 4]cache_folder=C:\TileProxy Cache & Scenery\cache.service4network_module=libnettilemodule_config="conn=20|rate=2.0|verbose=0|server=http://mapcache*.ask.com|path=/sat/%Z/%X/%Y?partner=|balance=1234|useragent=Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)"min_level=9max_level=19map_version=1color_hack=Nocolor_level=12bulk_extend=25

Make sure to test 60cm before 30cm! (I set this for you) You also may want to have two ProxyUser.ini (one setup for 30cm and one for 60cm) somewhere on your HDD, that way you can test quickly! BTW: I have FSX on my D: drive, (where my Photoreal Textures are) and my cache on my C: Drive (I found that the performance was a bit better, probably because all the load is not 1 drive during conversion of the jpgs). If you have two separate drives you may want to try this out as well, all you have to do is change the:cache_folders in the [service Example.x] line to wherever you like and it will still work with no reinstall. What you cannot do is move the Photoreal folder somewhere else, without a reinstall.Also to everyone else you can change the name of the [service example.x] line to whatever you like, if it makes it easier for you to manage, and organize the cache folders. Just make sure to change the

#source=Acme Globe Service#source=Service Example 1#source=Service Example 3#source=Service Example 4

To the name you put in "[service Example x]For example I set the [service Example X] line to [Windows Live Bing Maps] therefore, #source=Service Example 1 in the scenery activation line becomes #source=Windows Live Bing MapsHope it works well for you!

[Guest dogmouse]

BEAUTIFUL !!Thanks G!Will try it out tonight.Best,Rich

[Guest j0nx]

I'm gonna make a solid push to figuring this out once and for all this weekend. I want to be able to fly over my house! Thanks for the ini G!

[Guest dogmouse]

I'm gonna make a solid push to figuring this out once and for all this weekend. I want to be able to fly over my house! Thanks for the ini G!

good luck j0nx, and dont give up! I swear, its worth every hair you pull out trying to get it to work :-) Once you have it, it changes the whole mood of FS. You'll see.Rich

[FlyAndFight 37]

I agree that it's worth any fustration in setting up, but if you follow the excellent online instructions, you'll be flying over your house in no time! ;)My only problem is my rather slow internet connection speed. I'll be boosting that up soon and I'm sure it will make a "world" of difference in regards to tile loading. Presently, flying anything faster than the Cub will yield blurry textures, as they try catching up...

[gman! 1]

I agree that it's worth any fustration in setting up, but if you follow the excellent online instructions, you'll be flying over your house in no time! ;)My only problem is my rather slow internet connection speed. I'll be boosting that up soon and I'm sure it will make a "world" of difference in regards to tile loading. Presently, flying anything faster than the Cub will yield blurry textures, as they try catching up...

I agree that its worth it's just VERY fustrating, for a few minutes in a 200 kt plane the scenery will be crisp, but after a while it starts getting blurry and gets very frustrating!!!!EDIT: I'm sad that it had to come to this but I just uninstalled Tileproxy because of how long it takes for the scenery to show up in FSX, and I miss my seasons and trees. I still have the installer on my hard drive incase I change my mind, I'm sure I will come back to it soon. I'm just very tired of tweaking FSX, I want to spend more time flying, and hopefully the next version of tileproxy will maintain hard disk space...