Don't know if this is possible, but how do you extend the range that TP will render tiles? As you can see in this picture, the range in front of me that TP is rendering tiles is not very far. Is this the normal range? Is this something that level mapping would eliminate? I have already set my level of detail range slider in FSX to large, but it doesn't render tiles very far out in front of me.Thanks....

Don't know if this is possible, but how do you extend the range that TP will render tiles? As you can see in this picture, the range in front of me that TP is rendering tiles is not very far. Is this the normal range? Is this something that level mapping would eliminate? I have already set my level of detail range slider in FSX to large, but it doesn't render tiles very far out in front of me.Thanks....

Sure it does!FSX manages terrain/scenery/surface textures in "Rings" of consecutive resolutions. The outermost consists of level 10 imagery and goes out almost to the horizon.. depending on your altitude. About half that diameter is the next ring of level 11 imagery, and the third inward, of level 12 imagery and the fourth inward of level 13 imagery. That's where you see the color change: level 14 comes from a different source and is typically a different color. Then inside those are other increasingly smaller rings with level 15, then 16, then 17, and 18, and 19 (if such exists where you are). TP is darn well rendering out to the horizon -- you probably see the color change as if it were the end - it isn't. That low res stuff 'out there' won't be brought up to the higher res level until YOU go out there and FSX needs to portray it at a higher resolution. After that, it will be there and will be available. The color change between 13 and 14 is very obvious with service 1. Service 3's low res stuff is greener and closer in general appearance to the high res imagery so that it is not as obvious where that transition is.If you do a top-down view, you may be able to see the transition from photo tile to generic but I guess that would be subject to some variables - I'm not sure; it's been I while since I looked for the 'edges'.When next you start the sim, look at the top-down and you should see the darker high res stuff where you flew before; that's pretty good evidence that it's doing what it's supposed to.Service1 KPIT area above?... looks awful familiar; been up to Beaver Falls yet?Loyd

So what you're saying is that once I get most of my home area cached really well, this obvious difference will become less obvious? That might explain why it didn't seem so obvious when I was flying in another direction last night and it was the same direction I had flown on a previous test flight. Now if you are saying that level 14 is the odd color, could you use level mapping to eliminate level 14 and replace it with another level that matches the color better?So if I understand you correctly, in theory I could fly back and forth from top to bottom of an entire state and cache the whole thing and I would basically have an entire photoscenry package for that state. I know this is an unrealistic thing to attempt, but in theory is that possible? Yes, that is KPIT area with Service1. I like the look of it better than Service3. Just seems a bit brighter and more colorful.

I get it now. I took what you said and started messing with my level mapping setting and now I understand how to get the transition layer extended far enough out to where it's barely noticable. I'm using these settings for now:min_level=10max_level=19map_version=401level_mapping=10,11,13,15,15,16,16,17,18,19I know you told me in another thread that i'm really only using 10-17 with a max=15 setting, but I left the 18 and 19 in there because they didn't seem to be causing any issues. I might get a little crazy and try something like 10,11,15,15,16,16,17,17,18,19 and see just how bad FSX performs with those settings. I imagine it's going to cause a bit of stuttering and loss of performance, but what they hey. It's worth a shot.I'm slowly starting to understand how all this stuff works. The explanation about the rings was awesome. Thanks for taking the time to explain that.

I was correct. Using level mapping=10,11,15,15,16,16,17,17,18,19 did induce stuttering, especially when banking, but man was it cool to see for a brief period of time. Wish my system was capable of seeing this all the time. I can't see any transition to lower quality on the horizon. I'm going to have to come up with some level mapping settings that get me close to this now that i've seen how good it could look. Maybe it was a bad idea to try this. :)

I was correct. Using level mapping=10,11,15,15,16,16,17,17,18,19 did induce stuttering, especially when banking, but man was it cool to see for a brief period of time. Wish my system was capable of seeing this all the time. I can't see any transition to lower quality on the horizon. I'm going to have to come up with some level mapping settings that get me close to this now that i've seen how good it could look. Maybe it was a bad idea to try this. :)

Just a little clarification...There is a visible color transition at level 14... everything 14 and above is likely from the same source (aircraft vs satellite). To get the APPEARANCE you are looking for, you only have to extend the 14 into the 13 or possibly the 12 (as I see you did). But to reduce the load somewhat, leave 15 and above alone. as in 10,11,14,14,14,15,16,17(,18,19)You will HAVE TO 'fly the region' to actually make it hi res, but so long as the mountains 12 miles away LOOK the same, if you don't actually go over there, it'll be just as good.A low res scenery tile (14) is about 22k in actual size. A high res tile (17) is 1.4M, and a 18 scenery tile is 5.6M and there's about a thousand within 12 to 15 miles of you. Keep this in mind when you start just flying here and there and don't forget to keep an eye on the free storage.And that IS an awesome view!Loyd

I've not used Tileproxy for a while now as I got some UK photscenery and don't have enough hard drive space for that and TP. New System coming at the end of Feb though and TP will be back. I think it's actually better than the Justflight Real Scenery actually, save for the lack of a good mesh (i'm going to try the VFR mesh with TP and see how that goes - should be awesome).Just a couple of comments here though:1. I see that you are both quoting 10 numbers in the level mapping settings whereas I have 11 numbers9,10,11,12,14,14,15,16,17,18,19That's about as much as my system and loading time patience will take.2. I found some mileage inincreasing the LOD radius in the FSX.cfg here. 5.5 or 6.0 is good for me, but I'm expecting to go a bit higher with the new system.Adding a mipmap setting to the fsx.cfg also has some mileage. Everyones system is different and you need to experiment here but 3 or 4 gave better performance at the expense of bluries, 7 or 8 was crisper and I settle between 5 and 6.Finally, I found that the 1.33 setting for FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION was good and seemed to help, though it seemed to cause problems around detailed airports with low framerates.Add to that a bit of overclocking of the CPU and GPU and it all runs great.I have my TP cache stored on an external HD, so won't have to rebuild that, but wouldn't even consider running TP via a USB drive - far to slow.IAN

Ian,

New System coming at the end of Feb though and TP will be back.

I can imagine you are deliciously anxious to get the new system in, up, and running. I will try not to be too jealous.

I see that you are both quoting 10 numbers in the level mapping settings whereas I have 11 numbers9,10,11,12,14,14,15,16,17,18,19

Yes, many readings of the User Manual, SDK scenery documentation and a few tests of various configurations have me convinced that FSX displays scenery (tiles, terrain, imagery or whatever you want to call it) from resolution/scale 160m/pix (LOD8-level10) to a max ( depending on the slider position in FSX) of 0.6m/pixel (LOD17-level 19). That is 10 levelsTileProxy is able to 'manage' the imagery SOURCE for these 10 scenery rings/ranges as seen in the console display 'ovals'.Having NO level_mapping statement is precisely equivalent to: 10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19 and if this is the setting you would choose, it's just as effective to comment out the statement and let TileProxy just do its default thing...At the same time, this configuration is only what Tileproxy is making available; if I have 5m resolution set in FSX then I'll only see up to the 4.8m/pix imagery anyway, even though TileProxy has done the higher resolutions as I instructed with the ini setting.What I found with the actual testing that I could never grasp before:min_level=7max_level=19level_mapping=7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19 is a "syntactically" valid setting; TileProxy will not complain or crash.But I observed that ONLY the LAST 10 elements were used. I got tiles from 10 up.level_mapping=7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19Until I put one of those first 3 inside the range that TileProxy was utilizing:level_mapping=7,8,9,9,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19Then TileProxy DL'd level 9 as a substitue for level 10 for use in outermost low-res 'ring 1'.It saves space in 'tilage' for that one level to use 1/4 as many 9's as 10's... which is the main reason for substituting down at the low-res end. But if you are downloading additional tiles with the 18,19 entries that you don't, can't, or rarely use, then it's like having a wad of century notes fall out of your pocket when you bend over to pick up a penny from the ground. I'd rather 'manage' the high-detail end and let the 'small stuff' fall where it may.

Adding a mipmap setting to the fsx.cfg also has some mileage. Everyones system is different and you need to experiment here but 3 or 4 gave better performance at the expense of bluries, 7 or 8 was crisper and I settle between 5 and 6.

Oh, thank you! Thank you for that comment. My new install (12 hrs old) was so horrible on Win7 that I was about to pull out what little hair I had left. When I read your post this AM, I went to check and I had the mipbias statement on the XP side but hadn't added it yet to the new config. It makes a world of difference. A little shimmery at most settings (unlike the XP display) but that may be because this enviroment (64bit) has different video drivers and I'll have to check into that once I'm sure this whole thing is stable and otherwise tuned up.

Finally, I found that the 1.33 setting for FIBER_FRAME_TIME_FRACTION was good and seemed to help

This, I thought I understood, was useless in SP2 or maybe it was Windows 7 or something... I haven't put any FFTF or bufferpools statements in the new cfg either yet.Come back and 'visit' more often.Your comments were MOST appreciated this morning.Loyd

Good info here to add to my testing list. One thing, where in the fsx.cfg file should I put the mipmap entry?

Good info here to add to my testing list. One thing, where in the fsx.cfg file should I put the mipmap entry?

[DISPLAY.Device.ATI Radeon HD 4800.0]Mode=1280x1024x32Anisotropic=1MipBias=6 // <-------------- ri 'chere[DISPLAY.Device.ATI Radeon HD 4800.1]Mode=1280x1024x32Anisotropic=1MipBias=6 // <--------- 'n here tu ----multiple entries if you use multiple monitors.Loyd

Hi Guys,When I reinstall TP, I will give a little more thought to the level mapping and refer back to this topic.As far as the fiber rate goes, I'm using SP1 only so it perhaps does have some value to me, though my understanding is that it shouldn't in SP1 either - it certainly makes a diffrence if I set it too high. Never had any success playing with the bufferpools setting though.I think someof the success I have had with TP is purely trial and error. Some of the stuff I do, I don't really understand but I give it a go on the basis that if it makes no diffeence, I just remove or reset it.IAN

Hi Guys, I have been away to the coast for the weekend and just caught the end of this. Flyin Joe, one thing, I would not bother with using level 19, ( or 18) Honestly, level 17 is all you need, ( equivilant to 1.2m res) just check out some of my screenies in the forum. using 19, will use 8 times as much space on your drives as level 17 and make the files larger more difficult for FSX to process quickly. Plus, I doubt you evr see much imagery actually available at that res. So, even if you download the odd bit now again, Tile Proxy will render all tiles at that size, but from lower res material, so you are getting level 17 tiles anyway, but wasting loads of processing power and space. Check using flash earth where you plan to fly, to see if they have high res stuff there. I guarantee, the best you will get in 98% of places is level 17.Cheers, mark

I have already gone ahead and changed all my min-max to 10-17.Something I got wondering about today when I was flying without TP and it might sound stupid, but is there any way to do some kind of level mapping tricks when FSX loads default textures, i.e. not TP textures?

So far as I know, there is nothing you can do to the default except extend the range to have detailed 'texture' a little further out.The FSX.cfg parameter that corresponds to the terrain range slider isLOD_RADIUS=3.500000The slider adjusts it from 2.5 to 4.5You can manually set it to 5.5 or 6.5 which a number of people do, but each time FSX saves the cfg, it retsores the coded max of 4.5. But it only takes a few moments to set it if you make a link to it. Actually, you probably should have links to all the important files that you might want to edit or just view: such asScenery.cfgFSX.cfgStandard.xmlCameras.cfg Your Aircraft folder, the World Scenery folderand someplace for lots of notes..In fact let me recommend a new folder just for this stuff on the desktop; after you arrange it, you make it a tool bar and all the important stuff is always at your fingertips... none of the "I forgot where to find my (whatever) file".Could look something like this when it's done.Loyd

Here are some relevant extracts from my Proxyuser.ini file:max_lod=15preload_min_lod=9preload_max_lod=15[service Example 1]min_level=9max_level=19map_version=373level_mapping=9,10,11,12,14,14,15,16,17,18,19color_hack=Nocolor_level=13bulk_extend=50Now that works perfectly, but if I remove 18 and 19 from the level mapping and use a setting such as:level_mapping=9,10,11,12,12,13,14,14,15,16,17It's really awful. I thought that by limiting the max_lod to 15, that limited the levels loaded to 17 in level mapping, but that certainly doesn't seem to be the case. It seems that I am seeing 30cm textures even though max_lod is 15. This actually seems to tie in with something Christian said to me in a thread a few months back about forcing 30cm textures.IAN