Can I edit photoscenery

[Rocky_53 1,605]

Let me first apologise if this has already been covered, but I can't find anything that I feel answers my question, which is... is it possible for me to somehow change the Just flight scenery of UK. By that I mean primarily, increase the contrast? I would really like to explore in VFR some of the UK scenery, which I don't find successful using GEX and UTX or indeed satisfactory. I recently purchased the Horizon Gen X scenery for the south of England, mainly off a few screenies and what others have said.. what a mistake! I find it hideously unrealistic. Very hard contrast, magenta and purple fields, overblown colours, no water maks, I really am amazed that there are so many users of this scenery. I moved across from the Just Flight scenery off the back of all these recommendations. After having compared the two, I MUCH prefer Just Flight VFR as it is so much more natural looking, except for one thing, I find the colours lacking in contrast, ironicallly, one extreme to the other! So what I would like to do, if at all possible, is to simply increase the contrast of the JF scenery. I have no experience of this at all, zero, nada, zilch, so please don't laugh if it's a dumb question! I am proficient with PS4 and use it daily in with my work, so not sure if this is relevent or not. Help as usual fellas very much appreciated, cheers.

[GaryGB 10]

Hello:IIUC, you are referring to this package:http://www.playhoriz...o&products_id=2FSX SDK format photoreal imagery and terrain texture tile placement info are both in the same CVX vector BGL files and cannot be edited.Besides the fact that it would be a rather challenging job to edit such imagery properly even if one had the ability to access it (which we thus far cannot due the encryption locks on that FS data BGL format), it is easier to simply adjust one's monitor signal output from the video card via a utility for your NVidia video card.This may be done through the NVidia and/or other 3rd party utilities to adjust Gamma, Brightness, and Contrast to your liking.Most such utilities for a PC video card change the signal output to ones monitor monitor rather than modifying one's actual Windows display color balance etc., so this is not a problematic thing to do.Personally I use and prefer very fine dot pitch CRT Trinitron-type monitors, so my settings are usually numerically different than are required for LCD monitors; but in general, one would first decrease Brightness, then increase Contrast, and lastly... fine tune the overall appearance of highlights and shadows with a slight boost of Gamma.FS is a "3D" mode application, which is to be distinguished from the other "Desktop" mode in graphics profiling with one's display utility of choice.I personally prefer to leave the video card manufacturer utility settings for both 3D and Desktop at "normal" default parameters, then I use a 3rd party utility called "PowerStrip" which allows creation of profiles for each application, from which custom settings then load automatically when a profiled application (ex: FSX.exe) is loaded into RAM and running; it then reverts to the Desktop default settings when that application exits.IIRC, one can also do this at least manually with RivaTuner, ATI TrayTools etc.IMHO, PowerStrip is particularly good at making FSX look even better when used in conjunction with Shade for FSX; I believe one can achieve the same graphical effects (or better !) as provided via the ENB Series Mod with this 'combined' approach... without actually using the ENB Mod and all the "gotchas" which that package involves.BTW: The "application profile" created by PowerStrip can also control (if desired) display parameters for pixel resolution, color bit-depth, individual overclocking of video VRAM and/or GPU engine, and color balance as described above.PowerStrip is also written in Assembler, is very small and efficient, and is capable of controlling many other things for one's video card (if one gives it permission to do so...as it is highly configurable).http://entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtmBut for the budget conscious, most visual parameters can be controlled for FS and other programs by using a utility which adjusts Brightness, Contrast, and Gamma signals to one's monitor for the "3D" mode in Windows.Hope this helps ! :smile:GaryGB

[Rocky_53 1,605]

Cheers, thanks for the reply Gary. You confirmed my initial thougths really, I just wanted to make sure. Certainly some room for thought... thanks again.

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Hello Howard,You cannot extract the source from the bgl in order to edit the image, but you can easily make better photo-real textures yourself. It is quite easy to do and does not take very long. Of course, you will want to balance the levels and change colors and contrast, but that will give you a much better result. Please see the following tutorial, available in the Avsim library:Make photo-real ground textures in Flight Simulator Xhttp://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fsxsd&DLID=140539Best regards.Luis

[GaryGB 10]

Hia agina;Luis makes a good point that the best solution is properly corrected textures (and the tutorial above is indeed quite helpful... many thanks agauin, Luis ! ). :wink:If one could access photoreal imagery for the UK that is free or affordable, one might just consider making one's own custom land class scenery.I suppose a drawback to merely adjusting one's monitor display of terrain textures that have not already been adjusted to match the FS color palette, is that textures properly matched to FS' color palette for other scenery objects such as autogen trees might not match with the ground; worse yet, they may appear even more glaringly mis-matched after changing the monitor output color balance to compensate for "poorly corrected" terrain textures ! :Whistle:IMHO, preliminary pix of UK Treescapes Volume 8 (South Scotland Treescapes product) by Earth Simulations illustrate this risk as seen here:http://www.earthsimu...4bc3c73af7f8387Hope this helps a bit more when contemplating one's UK photoreal scenery options ! :smile:GaryGB

[GHD 21]

It is quite easy to do and does not take very long.

I think it would take a very long time. The area of the UK is about 244,000 square kilometres.George

[Rocky_53 1,605]

Thanks for the advice fellas. Gary, I did get my hands on Treescapes, but sure, as you say, the colour is so off when combined with the other scenery. The trees are so, well, very green if you know what I mean, not natural IMO. I do find it extraordinary with these sceneries that someone has been unable to get a realistic rendition of the countryside. I mean they have the material, presumably photographs in some form or another, all they have to do is get someone who is used to working in photography and colour management. OK I don't understand the process of converting the photographs, but at some point the photographs must be available to edit in some form. I mean the Gen X scenery IMO is completely unrealistic. Here are a few pics, just in case anyone wishes to spend their hard earned cash on it...BTW pics 3 and 4 are Just Flight VFR, IMO much more realistic and preferable, it's just that in some areas it lacks serious contrast.