FSX instability with TileProxy

[Guest Roadkill_321]

Hi. I am a newbie that has just recently discovered Tileproxy. I have fully read the manual and had limited success with this app.I have FSX SP2 running on Windows XP SP3. System specs are Intel Core i5-750 processor, 4GB DDR3 RAM, EVGA NVidia 9800GT, ASRock P55 Pro motherboard.I have been having problems with FSX crashing on loading terrain data. It gets to about 43% and will sit there and do nothing.I have LOD set at max 14, my bandwidth is set at 0.5 MB/s and I am using Map service #1.I can get things rolling if I go to desktop and shut down Tileproxy and then wait for the flight to load, then go back to desktop and restart tileproxy, but the scenery does not update after that.This has great potential to improve my experience with FSX as the default scenery basically sucks but would like to figure out what I'm doing wrong.Any ideas?Thanks John

[Guest Roadkill_321]

Well I guess I have solved my own problem. All that was required was patience.I started my flight from Yerevan, Armenia to Luhansk, Ukraine and then I left it and went to bed.I woke up this morning to find my plane circling the airport at Luhansk with all the scenery loaded.I only wish I had a faster connection to the net. :)ThanksJohn

[cianpars 1,163]

Yep 0.5 isn't fast enough by a long way.. However,once you have done a flight, the tiles are stored on your system and so will not have to be reloaded if you do the same flight again.IAN

[lliaudais 2]

I have LOD set at max 14, my bandwidth is set at 0.5 MB/s and I am using Map service #1.I can get things rolling if I go to desktop and shut down Tileproxy and then wait for the flight to load, then go back to desktop and restart tileproxy, but the scenery does not update after that.

If you ONLY adjust the lod_max in the "ini", you can reduce the resolution for areas that do not have 2m quality imagery and lighten the workload on FSX. If you "flightplan" your scenery in advance, you can fly at sim rate 1/2 with slower connection rates to give the scenery time to download and build.If FSX is running before TP (or TP shut down and restarted), you only have to "reset" the scenery library: open the scenery library dialog window and just click "OK" and it will "engage" TileProxy and reload the photoscenery.Loyd

[Guest Roadkill_321]

Thanks for the responses. I am slowly learning what each entry does in the ini file.I had another quick question, I would like to expand the area that will load tiles so I don't have the square blocks in the distance.For example, I am flying at 12,000 ft AGL and I see large squares of scenery immediately around me which look very good, but just beyond that there are large areas of smudged out landscape with definite square borders which is very distracting. I'd like to do a screenshot that would show a little distance, but it wouldn't look right the way it is now.Is there a setting in the ini file that I should fiddle with or is it something in FSX itself?Thanks againJohn

[lliaudais 2]

I would like to expand the area that will load tiles so I don't have the square blocks in the distance.

the only expanding you can do is INCREASE the terrain radius in FSX. Level mapping may give the appearance of improved resolution because of the source imagery, but scenery is made to fill FSX's resolution 'needs' at each scenery range.

there are large areas of smudged out landscape with definite square borders which is very distracting.Is there a setting in the ini file that I should fiddle with or is it something in FSX itself?

I think we need a modest-sized image of the problem you are having; it is difficult to diagnose without it. More than you might expect, FSX controls a lot of what you see even with TileProxy providing the scenery.[TERRAIN]LOD_RADIUS=4.500000TEXTURE_RESOLUTION=24 // 2m resolution This combination will show 2m resolution in an area about 5km across directly below you. But it gets blurry quickly if the Video Mip settings are not correct - I use[DISPLAY.Device.ATI Radeon HD 4800.0] < my video cardMode=1280x1024x32MipBias=5 <---------- I'm real blurry if this is not here in the fsx.cfgFSX recalculates/rebuilds/re-displays all scenery continuously while you are flying - starting at the most distant and working in to the center. If you move too fast for it or TP, things will get blurry also because there isn't enought time to get everything done before it has to be started over again.Scenery is built by TP to the 'needs' of FSX. If it can't download the imagery fast enough to make the scenery, it will make something with the best that is has available. There are two ways to attempt to deal with this.If you have a slow connection, you can increase the 'timeout' value in the ini file; Christian refers to this when addressing the issue of very slow connections with a phone modem.Another approach is to fly with maybe level 12 or 13 as a max in a 'first pass'. Fly the same area a second time at 14 or 15, then a final pass at 16 or 17. Something to realize in this regard: a 4.5 (slider max) setting for terrain radius will reach about 16 km in every direction at level 13, but only 8km at level 14, and 1km at level 17. To get the higher resolution to the "whole" area (whatever that is), you will need to fly a tedious series of parallel passes at 2km intervals or you will always have areas of lower resolution. Personally, I find the most effective way is to use straight East-West or North-South passes in slew mode. Some others take the time to create a flight plan to do the same thing... it's a personal preference thing.If you have the 'experimental' map enabled, you will SEE the imagery tiles that have been downloaded; if there are tiles missing at any scale, the scenery in that area will be of a lower resolution. TP will only make scenery at a given resolution if ALL needed image tiles are available - if they are not, then it will substitute the next-larger level that does have all the tiles available. This can give an obvious block of lower resolution on screen.You can also view downloaded tiles more accurately using the Cache Browser utility.Just be very mindful of the "delete tiles" button!So download speed could be an issue, Video settings could be an issue, TileProxy settings could be an issue, FSX settings could be an issue and flying speed could be an issue.A screenshot would be helpful, as would the precise location of the shot. If you are the only one with a problem at the location, the solution will be in your settings or system.Loyd

[Guest Roadkill_321]

Thanks Loyd for that informative reply.I figured out myself a least part of my problem. I had level_mapping commented out in the ini file. I now have level mapping set at"level_mapping=9,10,11,14,14,14,15,16,17,18,19"That improved it a lot. I also changed the max_lod to 17 to try and get a decent screenshot.This is what was in my FSX.cfg [TERRAIN]LOD_RADIUS=3.500000TEXTURE_RESOLUTION=25 [DISPLAY.Device.NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT .0]Mode=1280x1024x32Anisotropic=1AntiAlias=1MipBias=6I know that my download speed is an issue, as my ISP is supposed to supply me with 1 Mbs and I am currently stuck at 0.5 Mbs. (We are trying to sort that out.)I outfly my terrain quite easily at LOD=13 because of my download speed I think and also because I am flying at about 120 knots.I'll attach a screenshot of me over Luhansk, Ukraine to show you what I have so far. (I don't think it looks too bad now, but it was just for a screenshot, not for general use.)LOD is 17level_mapping=9,10,11,14,14,14,15,16,17,18,19 Thanks a lot.

[lliaudais 2]

What shows in your screenshot is all that is avaiable for Luhansk and most of the world. It is from imagery LEVEL 13 (20m resolution) and no more will be seen if lod_max is increased above 11. All you do with higher settings is increase the processing time as Tileproxy makes 'simulated' higher resolution tiles (at your request).You also increase the filesize of the scenery elements dramatically (4X) for each level increase without getting improvement in visual appearance.A 20m resolution tile is about 5k filesize; the same tile at 1.2m is about 1389k. If you tell TP to make 1.2m scenery it will do so regardless of available imagery - but only the closest scenery, of course, in accordance with FSX scenery ranges...When I fly an area that tops out at 20m; my settings are "economical":max_lod=11 <<----- this is the KEY control element; change to suit the max imagery available or to limit to a maxpreload_min_lod=8preload_max_lod=17max_contexts=512----------min_level=10max_level=17#_____________10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17__guide#level_mapping=10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17the level_mapping is set the same as default so it doesn't matter if it is on or off...Loyd

[Guest Roadkill_321]

Thanks Loyd, I'll try that. You've been a big help.