The biggest problem I have with terrain in FSX is how unrealistic the Midwest looks from high altitude. Uniform tiles repeating as far as the eye can see. Does Global help disguise the repeating effect?

 

FSAltitude looks pretty good at altitude (the dry lakes in Australia look amazing) but is pricey for worldwide coverage, and when you come down, you still have the lackluster default terrain. You are also stuck with one season, and occasional glitches like snow where there shouldn't be.

 

 

 

 

Does Global help disguise the repeating effect?

 

No it will not, but when OpenLC gets released it will reduce the checkerboard effect. Or you could use UTX in combination with FTX global to help reduce the issue...

The biggest problem I have with terrain in FSX is how unrealistic the Midwest looks from high altitude. Uniform tiles repeating as far as the eye can see. Does Global help disguise the repeating effect?

 

FSAltitude looks pretty good at altitude (the dry lakes in Australia look amazing) but is pricey for worldwide coverage, and when you come down, you still have the lackluster default terrain. You are also stuck with one season, and occasional glitches like snow where there shouldn't be.

They why i use photoscenery like Mega Scenery v2 earth even if it flat does not repeat itself and provide vegetation where it should be.  The terrain is different in Lower Midwest verse the Upper Midwest.  During wintertime just revert back to default.  Doubt FTX will improve places like Minnesota or Iowa, Illinois much.

I suspected as much, given what FTX Global does, but wondered if it might have somehow mitigated the detestable pattern. Doesn't sound like it makes much sense for high fliers right now. Thank you for your responses.

I suspected as much, given what FTX Global does, but wondered if it might have somehow mitigated the detestable pattern. Doesn't sound like it makes much sense for high fliers right now. Thank you for your responses.

What's been said already here is true. Unfortunately it's the world we live in with FS. Always a compromise. Orbx looks good below 5000' where you can't see the repetition of the land class type scenery...but, it looks terrible at the flight levels. Default or Orbx will still contain the repetitive patterns all over. Their OpenLC may help that to some extent but still will come nowhere close to what Photoreal will for you there. Land class scenery will always not look good for high flyers. So, always the compromise. What's more important or what flaws can you live with from one to the other? That's always the question we have to answer...

A quality landclass will make a huge difference. Ultimate Terrain with a Scenerytech sandwich for rural areas is perfect for FTX Global.

UTX has done a pretty decent job on land class assignments. It messes with the vector lights in FXG, however, so if you like night flying you may want to avoid. 

 

There is a pretty good thread on the FTX site about different land class products: search for "land class scenerytech" and you should find it. I am hoping that the FTX land class assignments are as close to being as good as they are for the special regions (PNW, CRM, NRM, etc), as those are REALLY good.

What's been said already here is true. Unfortunately it's the world we live in with FS. Always a compromise.

 

The elephant in the room is: why the hey isn't someone marrying high quality autogen, both custom placed either as single objects or groups that reasonably closely, with photo real? This sounds like the real end game anyway. Is it maybe that at some point in the future technologies such as Google Earth might eventually get their in realtime? It's sure improved a bunch since its inception.

I've wondered the same thing, having autogen placed on photoscenery.  I suppose it's too labor intensive, because each object has to be individually placed in the exact, or approximate, location.  Sure, a developer could choose not to be too picky, but then they would get criticized by users for improper placement, and it all goes downhill from there.

 

I'm not too sure how Google Earth gets their 3d imagery, but hey, it's Google they have the money, staff, and probably get free contributions from the user community.  Everyone uses Google Earth, we are just a little niche community.  I'm sure the addon developers have considered a product like this, but it must be too costly.

A quality landclass will make a huge difference. Ultimate Terrain with a Scenerytech sandwich for rural areas is perfect for FTX Global.

 

But not for the Midwest United States, IMHO.  I just completed a series of very boring flights looking at repeating tiles, using UTX, FTXG and S-tech and Cloud9 X-Class landclasses.  Nothing made the flat lands look good.  Like others have mentioned, photoreal is the only way to go for flying up in the flight levels.  That or never fly west of Dayton OH.   Again, IMHO

I've wondered the same thing, having autogen placed on photoscenery.  I suppose it's too labor intensive, because each object has to be individually placed in the exact, or approximate, location.  Sure, a developer could choose not to be too picky, but then they would get criticized by users for improper placement, and it all goes downhill from there.

 

I'm not too sure how Google Earth gets their 3d imagery, but hey, it's Google they have the money, staff, and probably get free contributions from the user community.  Everyone uses Google Earth, we are just a little niche community.  I'm sure the addon developers have considered a product like this, but it must be too costly.

 

I'm pretty sure that's what France VFR are doing with some of their new tech - taking photoscenery and auto adding autogen. This video gives an idea of the end result:

 

Hopefully same thing can be implemented for vaster regions as I think it looks great.

Take a look at OpenVFR for those of you that fly in Europe. It's maybe the closest thing we have right now. They use OSM data(which isn't perfect) to create autogen in its real locations. You can add it to any photo real areas you have. I have their Norway and Switzerland products so far. Here is there website: http://openvfr.freyt.de/magento/

 

I've stated this in other posts related to this product...it still isn't perfect. In Norway for instance, there are lakes northwest of ENGM that are filled with trees. This is due to whoever made the OSM data for that area not "carving" out the lakes when they defined that area as being a forest in OSM. There's also places that aren't going to have any autogen or may be missing some buildings or trees. Again, all due to the underlying OSM data that they used to compile the autogen. But, still, it's better than nothing IMHO.

It can be solved by using photoscenery and automated 3D autogen (given that you can get hold of the raw vector data), but installing the tech into FSX can create several problems. France VFR for instance create problems for other products using custom autogen for the same region.

 

As long as you use landclass to display scenery repetition will be a problem. There is a very small number of autogen textures and autogen objects available in FSX considering the complexity and variation of the real world. 

 

 

Uniform tiles repeating as far as the eye can see. Does Global help disguise the repeating effect?

 

Quite frankly I prefer GEX US over FTXG in the US EXCEPT for the 3D lighting, which is why I'm keeping it installed.  Since I didn't uninstall GEX US prior to installing FTXG, but instead used GEX's 'disable' feature, I'm afraid if I reenable GEX US I will not be able to restore FTXG in the US without a complete reinstall.  The checkerboard effect IMO is much more prominent in FTXG, even in other parts of the country.  I'm hoping OpenLC helps.

But not for the Midwest United States, IMHO.  I just completed a series of very boring flights looking at repeating tiles, using UTX, FTXG and S-tech and Cloud9 X-Class landclasses.  Nothing made the flat lands look good.  Like others have mentioned, photoreal is the only way to go for flying up in the flight levels.  That or never fly west of Dayton OH.   Again, IMHO

 

UTX, Scenerytech AND Cloud9 landclass? Well there's your problem right there, you have too many landclass products competing with each other. And Cloud9 is the worst of the bunch, get rid of that and make sure to set the scenerytech between the urban and rural scenery.cfg lines like the utx forums say.