Remove plateau effects from air fields

[Bob F 0]

What addon mesh does the most effective job of removing the plateaus from airports. I currently have Extreme Landscapes, but most of the airports are elevated. I am primarily interested in the Western US.Thanks for any suggestions.

[Andydigital 93]

FSGenesis as far as I am aware is the only product that attempts to remove the plateau's around most airfields in the US (and now the north Atlantic) apart from small strips etc. It does this by removing the higher quality mesh (i.e. leaving the default mesh in place) in a small 1 kilometre or so area around each airfield.

[yankeegolf3 52]

hi,Is there a tool or a tip which eliminates this ugly plateau effect?thanks

[Andydigital 93]

There are tools to do it yes, but, unfortunately each airport can take many hours to make the adjustments needed, it cannot be done automatically, you have to do it all by hand. Cutting out holes around the airports in the higher quality mesh leaving the default mesh behind is quicker than making a custom blend mesh for each airport but it's still got to be done manually and it's a slow process.

[Guest LCSims]

... Cutting out holes around the airports in the higher quality mesh leaving the default mesh behind is quicker than making a custom blend mesh for each airport but it's still got to be done manually and it's a slow process.

All things considered, they would take about the same time. But one offers better visuals than the other. Making a blending file also allows for proper placement of an airport, while "hole cutting" only allows the existing, default location to be used.Placement, elevation and blending can do a lot to eliminate or reduce the plateau effect with higher resolution mesh.

[Guest firehawk44]

FSGenesis as far as I am aware is the only product that attempts to remove the plateau's around most airfields in the US (and now the north Atlantic) apart from small strips etc. It does this by removing the higher quality mesh (i.e. leaving the default mesh in place) in a small 1 kilometre or so area around each airfield.

FS Genesis is the developer of Extreme Landscapes (although it is sold by Acabus) so maybe you'll find fixes on the FSGenesis site.Jim

[lliaudais 2]

I don't know how many airports need to be adjusted but (at least) it's not all of them.Say maybe 5 to 10 thousand that matter to more than just the one 'simmer' that lives close to it?A monumental task for one person (or even a few) but since there appears no other resolution to the whole scenery/terrain issue (as in the next version of FS) it is not impossible to at least IMAGINE an interim solution...Taking a clue from the Seti@Home (and similar) distributed computing projects, how long would it take 500 or 1000 people from the FSX flight simulator community who care enough to learn the skill? Not distributed computing but collaborative computing. I can see committing myself to doing 5 or 10 in the next year. Who knows, maybe a utility would be forthcoming to view the internal data of a terrain bgl graphically and click-adjust specific points and re-save. Recall how dramatically FSUIPC, Traffic Tools and AFCAD changed the world of Flight Simulator.When there is a 'NEED'. someone usually steps forward with a solution. These are the 'Great Ones' of real life.Loyd

[Andydigital 93]

If you are that commited to doing it yourself you would already know its not an easy task, I personally went down the SBuilderX route. Each airport is different, some blends can take upwards of 8 hours to do (if you are me, perfectionist) and the surrounding terrain is particularly complex. I think 15000 airports is still on the low side I would estimate it at more like 20,000 that would require blending. I've only done about 7 in the last 2 years or so and my blends are only any good if you have a 5 meter resolution mesh of the UK.

[Bob F 0]

FS Genesis is the developer of Extreme Landscapes (although it is sold by Acabus) so maybe you'll find fixes on the FSGenesis site.Thanks JimI remember that it was designed by FS Genesis, but since it was sold by Acabus, I doubted it would be updated. It came out very early in the FSX cycle, so I'm sure there have been some improvements since then. I think I'll buy the V.2 mesh from FSFenesis and give it a try.Thank you all for your suggestions.

[yankeegolf3 52]

If you are that commited to doing it yourself you would already know its not an easy task, I personally went down the SBuilderX route. Each airport is different, some blends can take upwards of 8 hours to do (if you are me, perfectionist) and the surrounding terrain is particularly complex. I think 15000 airports is still on the low side I would estimate it at more like 20,000 that would require blending. I've only done about 7 in the last 2 years or so and my blends are only any good if you have a 5 meter resolution mesh of the UK.

HiThank you guys, I think I will put up with the plateaus :(

[=Hollywood= 0]

HiThank you guys, I think I will put up with the plateaus :(

To be honest by the time it would take to fix all 24,000+ airports in FSX to remove the plateaus the next new flight simulator will likely be already here and supporting sloping runways...So the question is why waste all that time and energy?

[cmpbellsjc 2,963]

To be honest by the time it would take to fix all 24,000+ airports in FSX to remove the plateaus the next new flight simulator will likely be already here and supporting sloping runways...So the question is why waste all that time and energy?

What next simulator? Do you know something we don't? Or are you talking about Aerosofts attempt?If I was going to fix any myself it would probably only be about 5 or 6 that I frequent. I could care less about 24,000 of them since I only visit about 30 at the most on a regular basis and maybe 5 to 6 are in need of repair.

[=Hollywood= 0]

What next simulator? Do you know something we don't? Or are you talking about Aerosofts attempt?If I was going to fix any myself it would probably only be about 5 or 6 that I frequent. I could care less about 24,000 of them since I only visit about 30 at the most on a regular basis and maybe 5 to 6 are in need of repair.

I know of several, but think about it this way... 24,000+ airports would take how many years? Maybe 5 years to do completely and properly... In that time there would definitely be a new sim...I do give kudos to Justin though for his hard work and dedication for the stuff he's doing as it's really hard work...

[Bob F 0]

I downloaded FS Genesis Terrain V.2 this weekend and that solved the plateau problem for me. The plateaus didn't bother me much until I started using the Photo real scenery from Sim Savvy. That really brought FSX to life , but the plateaus ruined the realism for me. The scenery is for the entire Western US and I think it is outstanding and adds a lot of realism. Check it out at www.sim-savvy.com/. The colors are a little off in some areas, but Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Wyoming are right on.