Concept for a Tileproxy Next Generation

[Guest cbuchner1]

Hi,I've been pondering over this concept for quite a while now. The basic premise is:-drop the file system driver (tileproxy.sys). No more signature and antivirus trouble.-directly hook into Flight Simulator's file I/O (not hookers, but hooking!)-deliver color-coded ground tiles to the simulator that encode their geographic coordinate (essentially encode the file name as graphics)-hook the DirectX 9 API-on every texture upload to the graphics card, look for the color coding and when found keep a handle on this texture-in the background load all textures that flight Simulator has been requesting (and some area around it, for good measure)-replace the textures at run time with updated versions from the InternetWhat's the big advantage?I will be in control over when to update the textures. Flight Simulator is out of the loop.I can update textures really fast, possibly even adding extra effects such as cloudshadows.Also I want to run some texture processing on CUDA or OpenCL (watermasking,scaling, filtering, postprocessing)All of this is just a nifty concept. But a working implementation would completelyrock the house.Who's with me ;) nah, just kidding. I am a lone warrior in programming.And Dear Microsoft, I still hate you for shuttering ACES.

[yarnevi 0]

So we should have something by next week then ?? Are we talking Tuesday or Wednesday ?? Hey, while you're at it, how about a super fancy GUI - in that case I am willing to wait until Thursday.Now stop surfing the web and start coding...

[Guest Anubis]

I'll toss a few ideas - and by the way, hats off for the work you have done, it is simply wonderful. Since when I discovered TileProxy, I always fly with it:1) LODs and Service Providers:I think that if the user configures TileProxy to create tiles at LOD x and the Service Provider is unable to provide images at the same level, then TileProxy should simply not create tiles at that LOD and re-use the next best LOD available. Flying again over the same area with another service provider that has better imagery would then improve the situation. Apologies if it is already working that way, there are many things in TileProxy which I do not understand.2) Static Tiles: It would be wonderful to explore the possibility to obtain permanent (static) tiles hich could be offline post-processed: I am thinking to add AutoGen and Season/Weather/Day-Night effects. Night flying is a problem, but since I discovered UTX, the problem has found a solution: UTX provides street lights.3) Color change at the boundary:While flying I can see an area around the aircraft where all the tiles have a certain brightness and beyond that circle, the brightness level of the other tiles is totally different. This difference can be clearly perceived right now: any way to make less perceptible to the eye (for example a similar way the earth/water transition is handled)?4) Airports 'Fence':Around the airports there is a fence that delimit the airport area. I believe it is a TileProxy artifact as I hadn't see it before. Any way to make it slightly different? Right now it is kind of gray-white, but sometimes I think that a different color (green or red) would be nicer. Maybe make the color and the mesh configurable in the INI file, so everyone can choose what he/she likes.5) Make TileProxy agnostic to the Service Provider:Divide the world in areas and for each area, query offline the service providers available and find out which one is providing better imagery (in terms of highest LOD available). Once done, use this matrix as a big Look-up-Table and switch dynamically service provider when moving from an area to another. This matrix could be produced offline by another application, so it can be updated periodically.Again, thanks for what you have done and if there anything I can do to help (I used to code quite a lot, my work is now different but I remember things...) let me know!Anubis

[markturner 0]

That is very exciting Christian, and any help that we could give you are most welcome to..... ( such as it is!) Loyd has made some great progress in working out a process to generate permanent scenery using tileproxy and also a great tool for working with the scenery - kind of like the cache browser, but on steroids!! Some of the concepts might be of use in the proposed next iteration. Great to see you around again, Cheers, Mark

[markturner 0]

I'll toss a few ideas - and by the way, hats off for the work you have done, it is simply wonderful. Since when I discovered TileProxy, I always fly with it:1) LODs and Service Providers:I think that if the user configures TileProxy to create tiles at LOD x and the Service Provider is unable to provide images at the same level, then TileProxy should simply not create tiles at that LOD and re-use the next best LOD available. Flying again over the same area with another service provider that has better imagery would then improve the situation. Apologies if it is already working that way, there are many things in TileProxy which I do not understand.2) Static Tiles: It would be wonderful to explore the possibility to obtain permanent (static) tiles hich could be offline post-processed: I am thinking to add AutoGen and Season/Weather/Day-Night effects. Night flying is a problem, but since I discovered UTX, the problem has found a solution: UTX provides street lights.3) Color change at the boundary:While flying I can see an area around the aircraft where all the tiles have a certain brightness and beyond that circle, the brightness level of the other tiles is totally different. This difference can be clearly perceived right now: any way to make less perceptible to the eye (for example a similar way the earth/water transition is handled)?4) Airports 'Fence':Around the airports there is a fence that delimit the airport area. I believe it is a TileProxy artifact as I hadn't see it before. Any way to make it slightly different? Right now it is kind of gray-white, but sometimes I think that a different color (green or red) would be nicer. Maybe make the color and the mesh configurable in the INI file, so everyone can choose what he/she likes.5) Make TileProxy agnostic to the Service Provider:Divide the world in areas and for each area, query offline the service providers available and find out which one is providing better imagery (in terms of highest LOD available). Once done, use this matrix as a big Look-up-Table and switch dynamically service provider when moving from an area to another. This matrix could be produced offline by another application, so it can be updated periodically.Again, thanks for what you have done and if there anything I can do to help (I used to code quite a lot, my work is now different but I remember things...) let me know!Anubis

Hi Anubis, I can answer one of your queries, the ring of different colour tiles is caused by level 13 tiles, which are derived from satellite imagery, instead of aerial imagery and are usually very different in colour. It is possible to make TileProxy use imagery from level 14, to avoid this.Cheers, Mark

[Guest Anubis]

Hi Anubis, I can answer one of your queries, the ring of different colour tiles is caused by level 13 tiles, which are derived from satellite imagery, instead of aerial imagery and are usually very different in colour. It is possible to make TileProxy use imagery from level 14, to avoid this.Cheers, Mark

Hello Mark,Do you mean to use level_mapping? Right now my settings (for the service currently in use) are:min_level=11max_level_17color_hack=nocolor_level=0and:max_lod=15as in Europe I have been unable to so far to find places mapped at a better resolution.If I understand you correctly, I should swap level 13 with 14 by adding something like:level_mapping=11,12,14,14,15,16,17right?Anubis

[markturner 0]

Hi Anubis, that is correct, :( :(

[Guest Anubis]

Hi Anubis, that is correct, :( :(

Hi Mark,I tried this evening, but it does not work and I can't understand why. Looking at the picture from above (F12 view) I can see three different areas:1st circle of tiles, highest resolution, lower brightness 2nd circle of tiles, lower resolution, higher brightness 3rd circle of tiles, very low resolution, can't see it at all when flying, it is too far awayThe boundary I described before is between the 1st and the 2nd circle Settings:min_level=11max_level_17color_hack=nocolor_level=0level_mapping=11,12,14,14,15,16,17Any idea about what I am doing wrong?Anubis

[MortenS 0]

Great to hear you got the spirit back :DLove Tileproxy, and as long as the textures are available, I'll use it.

[lliaudais 2]

1st circle of tiles, highest resolution, lower brightness 2nd circle of tiles, lower resolution, higher brightness 3rd circle of tiles, very low resolution, can't see it at all when flying, it is too far awayAny idea about what I am doing wrong?

You are only thinking too large, I think. If you have to go into top down view and zoom out to see the "third" ring you refer to, you are looking outside the limits of the "detail scenery" range of FSX. There is no scenery out there, just that super low resolution background image of the worldYou almost CAN'T see the change between the ranges when you are there - except between 13 and 14. "Replacing" 13 with 14 just means the "coloration" of the inner group of tiles - specifically, level 14 tiles, are used to make the ring (level 13) just outside the inner set (level 14 - 17). And whichever way you fly, you are going to be making them 14's, then 15's etc anyway. And whatever you make into 14, 15, 16,17 today, will still be there tomorrow. It doesn't evaporate; the more you fly the area, the more tiles you will have at the higher resolutions.And those airport fences are part of FSX airport definitions, not Tileproxy. They are not present at every airport.Loyd

[1st fltsimguy 468]

LOL...my staff call me a computer geek because I know a lot about computers but compared to this conversation I am wet behind the ears.I have no idea what the heck you folks are talking about, but it sure sounds like your excited.cheers.

[Guest Anubis]

...You almost CAN'T see the change between the ranges when you are there - except between 13 and 14. "Replacing" 13 with 14 just means the "coloration" of the inner group of tiles - specifically, level 14 tiles, are used to make the ring (level 13) just outside the inner set (level 14 - 17). And whichever way you fly, you are going to be making them 14's, then 15's etc anyway. And whatever you make into 14, 15, 16,17 today, will still be there tomorrow. It doesn't evaporate; the more you fly the area, the more tiles you will have at the higher resolutions.And those airport fences are part of FSX airport definitions, not Tileproxy. They are not present at every airport.Loyd

Hi Loyd,Yes, you are right about the fence I made some tests with and without TP on a few airports and the fence is always there. Most probably it is -to me- more noticeable with TP due to the fact outside the airport everything is flat!For the brightness issue, I can't understand it completely. After introducing level_mapping, I can still see the brightness difference at the boundary between the first and the second circle of tiles, however it seems a bit less noticeable now.Cheers,Paolo

[Petraeus 147]

It's great to hear that you're still on the case, Christian. For me, Tileproxy is the one single FSX add-on that most enhances my FSX experience. And whilst "You don't have to be ill to get better", it's very good news that you are plotting even further improvements.My own modest suggestion; when night falls, can Tileproxy 'switch off'? The detail is no longer visible, and that way we'll get the FSX default (or Ultimate Terrain) lighting patterns, which are all that's needed. Conversely, as the day dawns, can Tileproxy 'switch on'?Regardless, I'm looking forward to whatever further innovations you come out with.

[Guest Anubis]

...My own modest suggestion; when night falls, can Tileproxy 'switch off'? The detail is no longer visible, and that way we'll get the FSX default (or Ultimate Terrain) lighting patterns, which are all that's needed. Conversely, as the day dawns, can Tileproxy 'switch on'?...

I have UTX (Europe) and TileProxy and I can see at night some lights patterns on the streets.Paolo.

[Guest cbuchner1]

Investigating a library called EasyHook now. Seems to be very capable and provides means to hook pretty much anything to any kind of code (managed or unmanaged). And it's free.