Hello everybody,The last couple of days I have been fiddling around with the terrain settings in the fs9.cfg file.I had modified settings which worked well for me , but after purchasing Switzerland Pro and looking at the Mega scenery site I wanted to be sure that I have understood everything right and maybe your experiences and advices can help me and others.Let's start :Terrain_Error_FactorThat is the Mesh density settingTerrain_Min_Dem_AreaThat is the minimum you can set the mesh densityTerrain_Max_Dem_AreaThat is the maximum you can set the mesh densityTerrain_Max_Vertex_LevelThe mesh resolution. How much "mountainpoints" you can see18=every 150m 19=every 75 m 20=every 37m 21=every 19mHowever I have read that Fs2004 cannot render 21, although some addons this setting adviceTerrain_texture_Size_ExpThis the textures Size setting.Low=6 Medium=7 High=8Terrain_Autogen_DensitySpeaks for itselfTerrain_Use_Gradient_Map1=on 0=offThis has to do with being able to see cliffs in the coastlineTerrain_Extended_Textures1=on 0=offThis turns on/off the extended texture ring, meaning being able to see textures in the far distance detailedTerrain_default_RadiusThis is how far from the aircrafts point seen the textures will be sharpened.This is a ring around the aircraft.Terrain_Extended_radiusThis how far from the aicrafts point seen the textures will be shrpened when Extended Textures are turned on.Again as a ring around the aircraft.Terrain_extended_LevelsHow many rings there are around the aircraft.What interests me are the last 4 entries, the MipMap setting and the Maximum Texture Load ( set with the Global Scenery Quality )Default cfg fileTerrain_Extended_textures On/off as you desireTerrain_Default_Radius 2.5Terrain_Extended_Radius 4.0 Terrain_Extended_Levels 1MipMap 3 Maximum_Texture_Load 512 ( Global set to High )My modified and many times recommended settingsTerrain_Extended_Textures 1Terrain_Default_Radius 4.5Terrain_Extended_Radius 9.5 Terrain_Extended_Levels 3MipMap 4 ( for me as Wideview flyer 5 )Maximum_Texture_Load 512 ( Global set to High )Mega Scenery Settings ( I call it Photorealistic settings, so also Zwitzerland Pro )Terrain_Extended_Textures 1Terrain_Default_Radius 9Terrain_Extended_Radius 9Terrain_Extended_Levels 1 MipMap 8 Maximum_Texture_Load 1024 ( Global set to maximum )As you can see the differences between My cfg and the Mega cfg is that on my pc with Extended Textures off my Texture detail Radius is less wide. With it on it is about the same.Why Mega is advising tha the 9 and 9 I do not exactly understand.This is meaning that with Extended Textures on of off the ring around the aircraft with detailed ground scenery is the same.However I have read at the Mega forum that they adised someone with blurry textures to turn the Extended textures off.To me that is not logical.In my cfg file my maximum texture sharpening ring is 3x 9.5=28.5So perhaps that is the same as Extended Lvels to 1 with Terrain Extended radius to 28.5.That would mean more sharp textures in the distance than with the Mega settings.Offcoarse also more framerate eating. The other point is the Maximum_Texture_Load setting. ( Global Quality Setting )Maximum is 1024x1024 textures which can be loaded and High is 512x512.I am not exactly sure what this does.Changing scenery quality can be done with the teraain Texture Slider.There you can set the ground scenery quality to Low , Medium or High.So how do can those two be compared or not ?I have tried Swizerland Pro with Max load to 512 and 1024 and cannot see any difference.These are all some thinkings about setting the best values in the fs9.cfg file.I am sure that many people like to read your ideas and experiences with this.Thanks in advance,

The Max Load setting is for aircraft and building textures. It won't change the quality of ground textures, which is why you don't see any difference with the Swiss Pro scenery.I always leave the Mipmap setting at 4, and control the mipmap levels through my video card's LOD setting. For Nvidia cards and certain driver sets, that may mean applying Rivatuner's negative LOD patch. I find I have textures as sharp as I want them to be without some of the performance loss Microsoft's higher mip levels seems to cause.I am hard pressed to see the differences these entries make:Terrain_Default_Radius....Terrain_Extended_Radius....Terrain_Extended_Levels....It's been posted since FS2002 how various settings change the sharpness of textures, but the difference is much more subtle than a change in the LOD, IMHO. But what it does do is use up more RAM--considerably more--once you tweak it away from the defaults. This does risk stuttering and blurring if you run low on RAM. The best way to tweak these is to change them, cycling through the various options, without changing anything else. Go with what works best for you, but I suggest sampling image quality and performance together with a long flight so you know memory issues aren't causing problems.I always enable Terrain_Extended_Textures--I wouldn't fly without them and fps impact is minimal on all but the most ancient of video cards.-John

Gerard,I've attached a zip file that contains some textures with colored mips that may help you with testing these valuesTerrain_Default_Radius=Terrain_Extended_Radius= Terrain_Extended_Levels=Unzip to a temp folder and read the two text files and look at the included .jpgs for an explanation. I'm not sure how clear my explanation is, but you can use the textures to make up your own mind.If you have further questions, you can post here and I'll try to help if I can.http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/77724.zipKurt M

>The Max Load setting is for aircraft and building textures. >It won't change the quality of ground textures, which is why>you don't see any difference with the Swiss Pro scenery.>>I always leave the Mipmap setting at 4, and control the mipmap>levels through my video card's LOD setting. For Nvidia cards>and certain driver sets, that may mean applying Rivatuner's>negative LOD patch. I find I have textures as sharp as I want>them to be without some of the performance loss Microsoft's>higher mip levels seems to cause.>>I am hard pressed to see the differences these entries make:>>Terrain_Default_Radius....>Terrain_Extended_Radius....>Terrain_Extended_Levels....>>It's been posted since FS2002 how various settings change the>sharpness of textures, but the difference is much more subtle>than a change in the LOD, IMHO. But what it does do is use up>more RAM--considerably more--once you tweak it away from the>defaults. This does risk stuttering and blurring if you run>low on RAM. The best way to tweak these is to change them,>cycling through the various options, without changing anything>else. Go with what works best for you, but I suggest sampling>image quality and performance together with a long flight so>you know memory issues aren't causing problems.>>I always enable Terrain_Extended_Textures--I wouldn't fly>without them and fps impact is minimal on all but the most>ancient of video cards.>>-JohnHi John,"try on long flights"Good advice as always for anyone who makes changes to settings.Just to refresh..."It's been posted since FS2002 how various settings change the>sharpness of textures, but the difference is much more subtle>than a change in the LOD, IMHO."That really depends on your display settings and screen resolution as was pointed out when this was all hashed out to see the benefits of those settings -Lod has to be enabled at video card driver level in conjuction with high screen resolution, as FS LOD only effects objects not terrain.Take care.

Hello guys,Thanks for the suggestions.Kurt , I already have downloaded your file and will experiment with that.thanks again,

I'm interested in your findings as well. I applied the tweaks from long ago to FS2002 and saw quite a big difference in the terrain detail but have yet to apply any tweaks to my FS9 config..