For those considering use of Tileproxy in FS9, it can be done and it can look fairly nice.  There's some things you can do to optimize the experience:

 

 

1. Limit Visibility to 30 miles.  In conjunction with my Proxyuser.ini, which is posted below, you can have smooth textures to the Horizon.  Also use an environment add-on like my freeware package, Soft Horizons or something similar.  Soft Horizons for FS9 can be found in the file library.

 

2. Limit FS9 framerates to 30fps or lower.  That will give the cpu rendering power to render the textures.

 

3. Set up a proxyuser.ini, Tileproxy install folder, and shortcut to the batch file within.  Note my proxyuser.ini uses a cache folder specific to FS9.  Otherwise, Tileproxy overwrites FSX cached files, in case you're using Tileproxy for FSX too which can cause delays in loading the right textures in FSX.

 

Here's a link to some screenshots for FS9 and Tileproxy together.  I am using Service Example 3 as my Tileproxy source.

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/411309-tileproxy-fs9-style/#entry2695196

 

FS9 will take a bit of time to load--this is normal, due to the quality of the textures used.

 

And below again, my proxyuser.ini

 

Best Regards,

 

John

 

___________________________ proxyuser.ini ______________________________

 

 

#
# Start a line with # to comment it out.
# Turn your text editor's Word Wrapping OFF for editing this document.
#
# Read the manual for help with configuration. Do not contact the
# author about the configuration for particular services. Thank you.
#

[TileProxy]

# Enable or disable worldwide photographic scenery coverage (Yes/True/On to enable)
master_enable=On

# Write a logfile to disk.  In recommend to only turn this on for debugging purposes.
# When using FSX RTM or FS 2004, the logfile will grow VERY fast and affect performance.
#logfile="C:\logfile.txt"

# If you have concerns about possible copyright violations by caching JPEG and BMP tiles
# on your hard drive, this switch is the solution. By enabling diskless mode, Tileproxy
# will not store a single tile on your hard drive. Expect higher network usage though.
# Note that offline mode will depend on tiles being available in the cache.
diskless_mode=Off

# Offline Mode - No network access will occur (Yes/True/On to enable)
offline_mode=No

# Resolution limiter: 17 = 30cm/pixel, 16 = 60cm/pixel, 15 = 1.1m/pixel, 14 = 2.3m/pixel, 13 = 4.75m/pixel
# Lower resolutions load faster, but are visually less appealing. The 30cm resolution may only be feasible
# if you have at least 2GB of system memory.
max_lod=13

# The following two settings allow you to tune Tileproxy to not preload specific LOD levels. This can
# be used in conjunction with third party scenery products like "FS Altitude" that provides data only
# up to a specific resolution. If you place this scenery higher than Tileproxy's world folders in the
# scenery library then it will have precedence over Tileproxy for the specific LOD levels that it
# contains. You can then instruct Tileproxy to not preload these low resolution LOD circles because
# they are not needed anyway.

# Lowest LOD ring to automatically preload tiles for. Must not be lower than 8.
preload_min_lod=9

# Lowest LOD ring to automatically preload tiles for. Must not be higher than 17.
preload_max_lod=10

# The maximum number of tile contexts that Tileproxy will send to the filter driver. A context
# is essentially a very fast buffer for graphics data sitting in kernel memory that delivers
# data right into FSX. Each tile context can hold an entire LOD 8...15 tile. Higher values
# mean more use of your precious kernel memory though. The maximum number is 512. Lower if
# you run out of RAM during flight and the PC starts to use the paging file a lot.
max_contexts=512

# Generate Water Mask. This brings back shader-rendered water and allows
# for the use of planes with floats (Goose, Beaver, etc...). If you turn this
# option off, you get the Tileproxy behavior of Beta 5 and earlier versions.
water_mask=On

# Recommendation: FSX users: Use water_blending=on, water_smoothing=off
#                            to get soft land/water transitions
#
#                 FS9 users: Use water_blending=off, water_smoothing=on
#                            to get hard land/water transitions which
#                            Tileproxy tries to match pixel-exact against coast-lines
#
#                 Combining water_smoothing and water_blending is discouraged.
#                 It's slow and gives weird results.

# Use blending techniques to create a soft land/water transition with some
# transparency effect near the shoreline. Compatible with FSX only.
water_blending=Off

# The distance in meters that you want land/water blending to extend from the
# shore line. Larger values require more processing. Large values are now possible,
# useful values are up to 2000 meters. Very high values may be detrimental to water
# mask resolution. Loading speed however remains mostly unaffected by this setting.
blend_distance=1500.0

# The rate at which terrain is blended into the water color. 1.0 means a linear
# blending, values > 1.0 blend faster. Values < 1.0 blend slower. This works
# similarly to a Gamma Curve. An exponent of 2 gives a quadratic blend function,
# an exponent of 0.5 results in a square root behavior.
blend_exponent=1.0

# The minimal and maximal transparency of the water. The lower you choose the min value,
# the more reflective the deep water will be. The higher the max value is chosen, the less
# reflective the water will be directly at the shore line. The reflectiveness transitions
# linearly from max to min throughout the distance given by blend_distance from the shore.
# Allowed values are between 0 and 1, and alpha_min should be smaller than alpha_max or
# things may look weird.
# The following alpha_min values will not give you any dithering artifacts on all-water tiles,
# so the use of these is recommended. It is multiples of 16/239 (rounded up slighty)
# 0.0700, 0.1339, 0.2009, 0.2678, 0.3348, 0.4017, 0.4687
# 0.5356, 0.6026, 0.6695, 0.7365, 0.8034, 0.8703, 0.9373
alpha_min=0.2678
alpha_max=0.7

# The water color in hexadecimal RGB notation. Prefix with #. This should be blue
# or greenish blue or some shades of brown, depending on your preference.
# Values of #000000 are discouraged when using water blending - it will result
# in weird behavior at the shorelines.
water_rgb=#000D1A

# Try to smooth land/water boundaries by trying to match the water mask to the image content.
# This is a a somewhat experimental algorithm.
water_smoothing=On

# The decision threshold for water/land when water_smoothing is enabled. 0 means everything
# will be turned to land, 1 means everything turns to water. Chose some value inbetween.
water_threshold=0.33

# Maximum number of bytes allocated to BMP graphics tiles in RAM at any time (0 for unlimited)
# The value below states 100 MB.
cache_bytes_limit=100000000

# Maximum number of BMP tiles to cache in RAM at any time (0 for no limit).
cache_tiles_limit=100000

# The currently active service is configured here. Only ONE active source please.
# The other source statements should be commented out.
#source=Acme Globe Service
#source=Service Example 1
source=Service Example 3
#source=Service Example 4

# The sources you want to be able to switch from the GUI menu.
# Separate the list entries with | and enclose in quotes. Make sure the
# names specified here are valid services which are defined below.
# You may want to rename the services according to your preference,
# but make sure you replace all occurences of the strings.
menu_sources="Service Example 1|Service Example 2|Service Example 3|Service Example 4"

# Experimental API Hooking section. Disable if you see strange crashes and effects.
# Currently we only have the DirectX 9 hook. More hooks are planned.
enable_hooking=No

# The DirectX 9 hook enables the moving map overlay. More features are planned.
enable_dx9hook=No

# A flag whether to show the moving map overlay initially or not.
enable_movingmap=No

# Dimensions and overlay colors of the moving map. Positions are percentages of the screen.
# Width and Height refer to the full 512x512 pixel texture used for the map. To get a round
# map circle, the ratio of width and height should match your screen's aspect ratio (e.g. 4:3)
# Radius is given in the map texture's pixels where one pixel represents a LOD 15 tile. A
# radius of 0 disables the round stencil and shows the entire 512x512 texture. Color is given
# in a hexadecimal ARGB notation.
movingmap_alpha=255
movingmap_color=#ff000000
movingmap_xpos=88
movingmap_ypos=15
movingmap_width=60
movingmap_height=80
movingmap_radius=60

#
# Here begin the service specific configurations
#

# This is new when you specify captcha_module
#
# On encountering HTTP 302 redirects the captcha module will send Internet Explorer's cookies
# stored for the specified service domain to the web server. It will also display whatever web
# page the service redirects you to. This could be a page requiring you to enter a so-called
# captcha. After entering the captcha correctly, the resulting session cookie will be stored as
# a permanent cookie (expiration 1 day) in your IE Cookies folder and sent to the service on
# subsequent requests. You will then be able to use the service as long as you wish, given that
# you correctly enter the captcha dialog which may nag you once every 20 minutes or so.
#
# Explaining the captcha_config arguments:
#
# cookiedomain from captcha_config specifies the domain name for which cookies are stored.
# This might be the service name plus a top level domain like ".com"
#
# cookieurl specifies a HTTP url from which an identifying cookie will be retrieved first, if
# no existing identifying cookie is found. This may be required sometimes to make the captcha
# dialog appear in the first place. This could be the service's front page URL (e.g. a search
# engine)

[Acme Globe Service]
cache_folder=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\cache.acme.fs9
network_module=libnettile
module_config="conn=20|rate=2.0|verbose=0|server=http://server*.acmeglobe.com|path=/terraintile?pos=%s&v=%v|quad=ABCD|balance=0123|agent=Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; The TileProxy Project)"
captcha_module=captchaform
captcha_config="cookiedomain=acmeglobe.com|cookieurl=http://www.acmeglobe.com"
min_level=9
max_level=17
map_version=1
color_hack=No
color_level=0
bulk_extend=25

[service Example 1]
cache_folder=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\cache.service1.fs9
network_module=libnettile

min_level=9
max_level=19
map_version=213
level_mapping=9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19
#level_mapping=9,10,11,12,14,14,15,16,17,18,19   more radius HQ (13->14)
#level_mapping=9,10,11,14,14,14,15,16,17,18,19   even more radius in HQ (12,13->14)
color_hack=Yes
color_level=13
bulk_extend=50

[service Example 3]
cache_folder=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\cache.service3.fs9
network_module=libnettile
module_config="conn=20|rate=2.0|verbose=0|server=http://us.maps3.yimg.com|path=/aerial.maps.yimg.com/img?x=%x&y=%y&z=%z&v=%v&t=a|useragent=Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)"
min_level=13
max_level=19
map_version=1.8
level_mapping=13,14,15,16,17,18,19,19,19,19,19
color_hack=No
color_level=0
bulk_extend=50

[service Example 4]
cache_folder=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\cache.service4.fs9
network_module=libnettile
module_config="conn=20|rate=2.0|verbose=0|server=http://mapcache*.ask.com|path=/sat/%Z/%X/%Y?partner=|balance=1234|useragent=Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; SLCC1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)"
min_level=5
max_level=19
map_version=1
color_hack=Yes
color_level=12
bulk_extend=50
 

Help me understand what you mean by your #3.

"3. Set up a proxyuser.ini, Tileproxy install folder, and shortcut to the batch file within.  Note my proxyuser.ini uses a cache folder specific to FS9.  Otherwise, Tileproxy overwrites FSX cached files, in case you're using Tileproxy for FSX too which can cause delays in loading the right textures in FSX."

 

I am running FSX and I just go the proxyuser.ini file found in the TileProxy folder under Microsoft/FSX to make any changes.

Are you saying to put the ini file somewhere else to protect something?

 

Would your ini file work in FSX?

Forgot to ask. Will Soft Horizons work in FSX?

Help me understand what you mean by your #3.

"3. Set up a proxyuser.ini, Tileproxy install folder, and shortcut to the batch file within.  Note my proxyuser.ini uses a cache folder specific to FS9.  Otherwise, Tileproxy overwrites FSX cached files, in case you're using Tileproxy for FSX too which can cause delays in loading the right textures in FSX."

 

I am running FSX and I just go the proxyuser.ini file found in the TileProxy folder under Microsoft/FSX to make any changes.

Are you saying to put the ini file somewhere else to protect something?

 

Would your ini file work in FSX?

Forgot to ask. Will Soft Horizons work in FSX?

 

 

Lots of questions...

 

There's a FSX specific Soft Horizons, which is meant for FSX.  It's in the Avsim library.  You can try it if you wish. 

 

The .ini file I posted is for FS9 only. I have two installs of Tileproxy, one for FS9 and one for FSX.  In each is an .ini file specific to the sim I want to use.  I have shortcuts to two batch files--one for FS9's Tileproxy and one for FSX's Tileproxy.

 

All the executables are kept separate.  Tileproxy installed itself in both places (FS9 and FSX) when I installed it.  After I examined the proxyuser.ini I realized I could separate the two instances of the application for each sim, so one doesn't touch the other. Many of us fly both FS9 and FSX.  I fly FSX for GA/VFR flight, and I fly FS9 for longer flights, with lots of AI, in the flight levels usually in the Avanti, my favorite FS9 aircraft.

 

I know it's hard to grasp.  It took me a while to work things out since my mind doesn't run at mach speed (the fun of getting older).  I'm here to help if you have any questions.  Every day I always allow myself an hour or two of my own time to enjoy the hobby.  So I am always watching the forums if someone needs help during those times.

 

Best Regards

 

John

Thanks for this John. I just pust FS2004 back in because of performance and not responding issues with FSX. Was wanting to throw TP back in. I too would like to have separate installs for FS2004 and FSX. Did you run the installer twice or just duplicate the install folders and point the FSX cache to a different location than the FS2004 cache?

Thanks for this John. I just pust FS2004 back in because of performance and not responding issues with FSX. Was wanting to throw TP back in. I too would like to have separate installs for FS2004 and FSX. Did you run the installer twice or just duplicate the install folders and point the FSX cache to a different location than the FS2004 cache?

 

I ran the installer for FS9 and FSX, and in the end edited the FS9 Tileproxy proxyuser.ini to point the Tileproxy cache to a different location.  I then made shortcuts to the .bat file in the FS9 Tileproxy folder to execute Tileproxy from there (so it would pick up the correct .ini file).

 

I'm not running Tileproxy any longer however.  I switched over to BlueSky scenery, since I mainly fly in the Southwest now.  It runs well and looks quite nice.

 

John

I have been off and on with using TP or any photo type scenery. I have tried TP and maps2bgl. The only issue I have had with TP is the download per second of the tiles. I seem to be stuck around 60-80. I an 1.8 MB line, should be decent enough.

 

When you installed for FS2004 how did you get it to add the photorealworld to the scenery.cfg? It automatically defaults to FSX.