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Knight55

TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL Setting

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Hi,I am using FS2004 with the Ground Environment add-on. This is the only scenery add-on that I have installed besides additional airports. What should I set the TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL to be? I have been using 21 as a setting but I am not sure if this is correct. Thanks in advance for the answers.

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I believe that the default setting is 19. Unless you have added some higher resolution terrain mesh, then there is not much point in changing this setting. Ground Environment has no effect on terrain mesh, it is a texture add-on.


Graeme Butler

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Some additional airports such as, the 'Fly Tampa', 'Flight Scenery' airports and 'Vancouver+' reccomend a setting of 21. It all depends what else your running too?


Dave Taylor gb.png

 

 

 

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Hi,I used to use the 19 setting but I tried the 21 setting based on a recommendation by someone on the net and some of the scenery such as hills and valleys became more detailed. I only have 2 add on airports but they are both freeware. I am also using the Real Environment Pro freeware. I am considering changing the setting to 20 to see if that will help with performance without reducing the image quality.

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Guest TomOOO

Use 21 which gives a 19m resolution for the textures. The texturesare drawn at lower resolution if you use LOD 19 and do not lookso good.Tom

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HelloTERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=21 has no effect on textures whatsoever.TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL concernes only the resolution of any addon mesh you happen to have installed.TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=19 is for 76 mtr meshTERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=20 is for 38 mtr meshTERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=21 is for 19 mtr meshMesh and textures are two very different things and along with landclasscombine to make up the visual image of the landscape.Mesh providing the height of the various points in the terrainLandclass controlling which textures are displayedTextures then cover the mesh as set out in the landclass file.If you have no third party mesh installed , setting TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL=21 will make zero difference apart from a few areas of FS9 which got higher detail mesh than the default

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Guest TomOOO

Although this parameter is used for the mesh, it does effectthe textures used in GEpro - have tried it and found that reducing the parameter does effect the resolution of the texturesused from the GEpro database. I tried reducing the LOD since I only have a 76/38 mesh for the world sothough I did not need this parameter at 21 - and my textures lookedpoor, so set LOD back to 21 and the textures were good again.Tom

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Guest JTEK99

Tom:Whoa. I find that hard to believe since, like the poster above, I have heard that mesh only affects the resolution of the MESH, and not the overlaid textures. It almost makes no sense. I wish Peter Wilding could elaborate on the phenomenon you're experiencing because I simply can't see the TERRAIN_MAX_VERTEX_LEVEL setting altering the overall look of the textures.

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Guest TomOOO

This may of course be a function of the GEpro texture enginelooking at the LOD to determine the texture quality to send tothe renderer - Ie may only effect GE.... since the default texturesfor Europe are so bad in FS9 it doubt I would be able to tell anyway what resolution these are being drawn :)

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Hi folks :-)Interesting re Mesh/GEPro, I use a world mesh, 76 mtr, and GEPro and have TMVL at 19, if I try 21 and get the higher LOD figure for texture drawing would this not affect how my 76 mtr mesh is drawn in FS9...?cheers,Steve

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Guest Yak Yak

there isn't a GEPRO "texture engine." GEPRO is a collection of very well made textures, which replaces the default. All the calculations and "rendering" is done via FS9's engine. When you install GEPRO, all it does is copy textures and autogen files...nothing else. My guess why some might think a setting of 21 might result in higher res textures is this (again, just a guess, but true for other games i've worked on): FS9 uses an "extrude" method of generating terrain elevation. Basically, it reads a b/w image, and either black or white can be set as height. Depending on the slope or angle of the terrain, it uses different textures. (this is also why there are no "negative" shapes in the terrain, such as a cave). Many games use this method to avoid strange textures (such as a grass field), appearing on cliffs. So on setting 19, a mountain will appear very round, with gentle slopes. In this case, FS9 uses "grass texture" for the entire mountain.On setting 21, more details are generated, thus creating sharper peaks and valleys. The slope is now much more defined, and FS9 decides to use "grass" for the smooth areas, "cliff textures" for angles higher than say 40 degrees, and "shear rocks" for anything higher than 65 degrees slope. Thus, on setting 21, you will see more texture variations, which might look like sharper textures, but in reality, the texture res is the same. btw, landclass and seasons are also used to determine which textures to use, but i don't think they can over-ride the slope/angle formulas.*edit* and photo-sceneries over-ride all; that's why they take so long to load. -feng>This may of course be a function of the GEpro texture engine>looking at the LOD to determine the texture quality to send>to>the renderer - Ie may only effect GE>.... since the default textures>for Europe are so bad in FS9 it doubt I would be able to tell>>anyway what resolution these are being drawn :)

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Hi feng :-)Ah right..! thanks for the insight there, I have had my TMVL @ 19 after reading many times that this should be the correct setting for a 76 mtr mesh but after reading your notes its more logical to have MVTL 21 to get a better render in how the textures are used, if I make any sense there *:-* anyhow I will try MVTL 21 and see how it pans out.cheers,Steve

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