As a newcomer to the FS world I see a lot of mention of add-ons to provide a more 'realistic' experience. I'm not talking here about aircraft add-ons but rather the ones which affect the realism of the world in which we 'fly'. I've seen reference to mesh, textures, scenery, weather etc. which leave me somewhat confused. So can someone explain what mesh and textures are and how they relate to scenery? Do I have to have a mesh add-on and a texture add-on?If I want to enhance the default FS2004 scenery, with its 'blocky' buildings and indistinct ground features what should I be looking at? What would be the recommended add-on(s) for FS2004. I've read about REX Extreme - would this get over the 'blocky' buildings and indistinct ground features? Does it cover all of the terrain/airports that default FS covers?And where do scenery add-ons fit into the picture? And airport add-ons?Sorry if these are obvious questions but, as I said, I'm confused :Thinking:TIA

So can someone explain what mesh and textures are and how they relate to scenery? Do I have to have a mesh add-on and a texture add-on?

Mesh querry:http://forum.avsim.net/topic/302426-mesh/

Okay, here goes...Mesh is basically the wireframe geometric model that makes up the shape of the terrain (i.e the shape of all the hills and valleys in the FS world. so it is quite literally like a wire mesh that has been bent into the shape of the terrain, as you might perhaps do when making scenery for a model railway layout). So a higher resolution mesh will be a more accurate representation of all the undulations of hills and such. Many terrain meshes use data from a Space Shuttle mission which was flown a few years ago which mapped the terrain height of the earth's surface using signals bounced off to the Earth's surface with I think a laser system. By default, FS9 (aka FS2004), does not ship with data at that resolution, so you can buy add-ons meshes which do use that and other satellite data, and that will give you more accurate terrain as FS will then use a mesh at a higher level of fidelity. Where this makes things not equal with regard to the data available, is that naturally, the US Space Shuttle mission was more concerned with getting data for the US and some of its potential enemies too, since that data would be of most use to the US, and it is understandable since it is the US taxpayers who funded the thing. This is also why data for terrain is generally more freely available for the US than a lot of other places, because the US Government takes the view that since US citizens paid for that data to be obtained, they should be able to have it if they want to. So you do find that US add-on meshes often are more freely available, because developers don't have to pay to obtain that data. In a lot of other countries, the Governments are not quite so philanthropic, and you have to get your hand in your pocket to get their data on terrain heights!Textures are the image files that are draped over a three dimensional model to give it its photographically realistic appearance. So where terrain is concerned, such images are draped over the mesh to produce something which looks like the Earth, as opposed to simply a geometric mesh, which is what you would see if the textures were not present. Again this is where we have to thank satellite, Space Shuttle and aerial reconnaissance for the info, and the same thing applies with regard to that data's availability as it does for terrain height mapping that is used in creating meshes. Things such as Google Earth use that kind of data, but in the case of scenery for FS, it has to be cut up into square blocks called 'tiles' in order to be applied to the mesh. This means that simply draping a flat satellite image over a pointy mountainous mesh is not always going to work well, as the texture will stretch and distort, so even if a scenery developer has some good satellite imagery to use, they will often have to photographically retouch it to make it work better, and they may have to touch it up to remove clouds from such satellite images, since not every satellite image is taken through a beautifully clear cloudless sky. Of course, photo-editing software such as Photoshop makes this a relatively simple (if lengthy) process these days.Scenery will generally be referring to 3D models of buildings or some such, for example an added or enhanced airport which replaces the generic buildings which come with FS. Such scenery packages can consist of modeled buildings plonked onto the default terrain with textures mapped onto the three dimensional models in much the same way as terrain textures are mapped onto a terrain mesh, but the better sceneries will often fine tune the surrounding mesh to a very high resolution too, in order to very accurately represent the actual terrain at that location in high detail, so that the modeled buildings sit in believable terrain. They can either use satellite imagery for the surrounding landscape, or custom created textures which have been painted. Other details such as trees and vegetation may be placed as three dimensional models as well as the improved buildings too of course. Thus, an add-on scenery might contain several elements: custom 3D models of buildings, custom textures, and custom terrain mesh tweaks. Then you also have other scenic add-ons such as those related to the weather. These again can contain multiple elements, but there are basically two important ones: the Cloud Set, and Weather Engine. A cloud set is (as you might guess) a set of images of clouds which FS uses to display as clouds in the simulation which you see in the sky when flying around, FS has a cloud set by default, but you can buy improved ones which broaden the range and detail of what FS can display to make the skies look nicer or more realistic. But that is only half the story. FS uses what is known as a weather engine to generate how those cloud sets are used, by interpreting weather data, either with preset themes, settings you dial in yourself, or by downloading a METAR from the world wide web (METAR is an abbreviation of Meteorological Aviation Report, which is an hourly-changing set of information used to describe what the weather is doing at a specific location).So, you can buy programs which tart up the weather in FS. For example REX (Real Environment Extreme) is a package which contains a vastly improved cloud set, an improved weather engine, some improved airport textures and some improved lighting effects, making it a program which is kind of a one stop shop makeover for FS. Alternatively, you can buy an improved weather engine, which contains no cloud sets or textures, but will do a fantastic job of interpreting the ones you have (either the default FS ones, or some add on ones you might have bought). One such program is Active Sky, which does a great job of creating realistic weather for FS and adds quite a lot of cool features and capabilities to FS9 in particular (look out for a review of that coming soon on Avsim by the way). What that means is, you might, as a lot of people do, chose to buy REX for the improved textures, but not bother using its weather engine or the default FS weather engine, and instead buy Active Sky for its weather engine, so that you had the best of both worlds, i.e the improved textures of REX, and the improved Active Sky weather engine to actually make the best of those cloud textures that come as part of REX.Hope that helps a bit.Al

HelloSomething like this post by Chock should have been pinned to the top of the forums years ago.Mods, would this be possible?

Mesh querry:http://forum.avsim.n...ic/302426-mesh/

Thanks for that - I'll combine it with what Chock has written to round out the picture.When extra mess/textures etc are installed, how does FS know to use them i.e. ignore the default files?

Okay, here goes...<mega snip>Hope that helps a bit.Al

Al: many thanks - that's a very comprehensive answer. I'll study what you say and examine the link that boeingsta has provided.Would I be correct in assuming that these add-ons are installed in their own folders (as opposed to overwriting default FS folders)?

Generally speaking, add-ons for scenery are installed in the FS-add-on scenery folder rather than the default scenery folder, so they don't clash and won't overwrite default stuff. You can then enable or disable them in the scenery library interface of FS. Most of the time the installation process will do all that for you, so the vast majority of scenic stuff is pretty much 'plug and play' as far as installing it goes, but occasionally you have to manually enable things, although if that is the case, there will generally be a read me file or some other documentation with the thing which explains how to go about that. So it doesn't require any really involved know how to do that kind of thing, it is largely a case of nothing more complex than browsing for the add-on scenery in the scenery library options of FS and then checking a little tick box.Where REX is concerned though, it actually has its own interface which allows you to cherry pick what you do and do not want it to install and use (and that's a lot of options because it does so much). When you've chosen your preferred options, you save that choice as a preference and REX then installs it for you whilst making a back up of your default files (it's a pretty big program though because you get A LOT of stuff with it - around 5Gb worth of files if I recall correctly - so it can take a few minutes to complete that task). REX is a lot of bang for your bucks.If you want a scenic add-on which globally improves the ground (since REX is largely about improving the sky, although it can make the default airport tarmac and grass and water textures look better too), then I'd recommend checking out either the Ground Environment or Ultimate Terrain series of add-on packages (of which there are several for Europe and the US), all of which can significantly improve the default terrain in FS.Al

Al: thanks once again. It doesn't sound quite so intimidating now. I'll check out the options for add-ons that you have mentioned.

Im my opinion the best add-on to add better visuals overall that I have ever purchased is ground environment pro, I have lots of other enhancements but in my opinion if I can only have one to add to my sim i would choose GEPro. It changes the whole "world" of fs and not just one part of the world.Definetly check this out and I know it would add to your experience.

Remember, though, that there is a price for enhanced realism, beyond that which hits your credit card.A computer can only do so much every second. It depends on the processor, the amount of memory, the bus speed, the video card, and a host of other factors. Some of these add-ons will have a significant impact on the number of times the machine can cycle through all of its tasks every second, known as the "frame rate." When FS2004 was first introduced, it was "pushing the envelope" in terms of what most people's desktop machines could do. Now, machines are better, and FS2004 is less of a challenge for them.So, when you look at recommendations for upgrades (or when you provide recommendations,) it's important to consider the frame rate impact.