As I mentioned in a earlier post, after being one of those Microsoft FS for life guys vowing to never buy x plane.... I bought x plane the other day. I've been seeing too many stunning pictures and learned of a very promising 737 due out, that I couldn't sit back and not give it a try at least. Well after anxiously tracking the package, it looks like it will be here tomorrow, but I digress.

Since ordering I have been spending hours reading and looking up x plane stuff, like sceneries and features. One of the things I read over and over again is OSM. I understand it is openstreetmaps and it is basically Wikipedia in map form. It uses people to map streets, rivers, coastlines, ect ect. Now for the questions

1) I understand that x plane 10 scenery by default already uses OSM for all vector data? And does this get updated by LR with updates, or is it up to the user to update their sim when things get added in OSM?

2) I saw an interesting scenery project called simheaven. Does this include OSM data, or does it only provide the scenery and works under the OSM data already in the sim?

3) I also see OSM2XP mentioned a lot, what exactly is this? From what I gather it is simply a converter tool?

 

Sorry if these questions seem a bit "noobish," I've been using Microsofts FS since my dad got me FS2000 and have learned the ins and outs of FS, but x-plane is a whole knew beast to me. So please bear with me as I'm sure this is just the beginning of my question posts on this forum. I look forward to exploring x plane and seeing what it has to offer, I specifically can't wait to see the night lights I've heard so much about

Hi Adam and welcome to the world of XPlane. It's quite a bit different at first, with a few nice surprises and frustrations along the way, but once you get used to it you'll enjoy!

 

1) OSM data is being continually updated. LR publish recuts of the data along with other updates. Downloading new data from SimHeaven is another way to keep up to date.

 

2) SimHeaven publish updates occasionally to their data so it's worth keeping an eye on their site, or someone is bound to tell us here when new updates are out. You can choose whether to have just their data, or add it to LR's data. TBH I'm still not sure myself how SimHeaven's OSM data and LR's differ. You'll notice some areas are very well covered (France for example) whereas others are very patchy (unfortunately the US).

 

3) I think OSM2XP is just a converter, but there are other users like TonyWob who'll be able to clarify.

 

Make sure you also start the long but rewarding task of downloading AlPilotX's HD mesh V2. Links in the must have sticky.

Hi Adam, Just to clarify the answers from ScotchEgg

 

1) OSM is used in two different ways. LR use OSM to generate coastlines, roads, rivers, train lines, but doesn't use it for individual buildings. The data from SimHeaven is actually individual buildings and forests and is separate from what LR provide. The scenery provided by alpilotx is basically a high-definition/updated version of the scenery provided from LR (and highly recommended)

 

2) SimHeaven is basically just using osm2xp to generate addon scenery containing forests, buildings and some additional objects such as churches, masts etc. You can run this on top of the data that LR provide.

 

3) Yes OSM2XP is just a converter. It takes buildings and forests from OSM and generates scenery. It's best to actually just use the one's from SimHeaven, as he made some modifications to fill out empty areas with autogen, as well as fixing a few bugs in OSM2XP related to large forests. N.B. OSM2XP does not update roads, coastlines and other vector data, it only does buildings and forests. Presently, if you want updated roads etc we need to wait for LR to do a recut, or for alpilotx to release a new mesh.

 

So in summary

 

- LR use OSM to produce basic scenery such as roads, powerlines, coastlines

- OSM2XP uses OSM to add individual buildings and forests

- SimHeaven runs OSM2XP for you and provides the downloads. It takes days to generate Europe yourself, so recommend you just use the ones on this site

- Alpilotx's MESH v2, is an updated mesh, it uses OSM for roads, powerlines as LR, but is up-to-date and higher definition.

 

Hope this helps

I could really use some guidance.  I fly X-Plane 10 (Win 7 Pro 64 Bit) almost exclusively VFR in the Cessna 172 in the Southern Arizona, Southern Colorado and SE Alaska areas (I am not bright enough to use the jets and more complicated aircraft).

 

About the only custom scenery I have is Inside Passage and Final Frontier and some very outdated Phoenix AZ area photoscenery.

 

I am getting elderly (74) and I really have trouble following scenery, mesh, photoscenery, OSM etc. and how to use them properly.

 

I have downloaded some of the V2 HD mesh from apilotx (just the SW U.S. and SE Alaska areas) which seem to improve the default scenery greatly.  The SE Alaska mesh seems to confict with Final Frontier a bit in that there are trees in the taxiways at PAPG which all goes back to normal when I remove the SE Alaska mesh (not a big deal to me).

 

I keep seeing references to files to download photoscenery from simHeaven.com.

 

Forgive me but I really get confused as to what I can install, cannot install that conflicts with other downloads, scenery, mesh etc.  I understand what mesh is, I understand what photoscenery is but I just do not understand what can and cannot be installed without conflicts.

 

I purchased urbanmaxx extreme V2 3D yesterday hoping it would improve some building placements in remote areas of Colorado that I like to fly over but it did not do so.  I realize it is "Urban" maxx so I did not really expect it to make much of a difference but it was cheap so I though I would try it out.

 

When I installed the apilotx mesh I see that it placed it's entry last in the scenery_packs.ini file.  The Urbanmaxxextreme is the first entry in the scenery_packs.ini file.  Does it make a difference where they are placed in the scenery_packs.ini file?

 

Sorry to sound so dumb but I really get confused in what I can and cannot do with mesh, scenery etc.

 

Thanks for patiently reading and any input.

 

John

Hi John

 

Mesh v2 adds objects in places where previously there weren't any objects, so if a scenery designer didn't use exclusions when doing the scenery, then trees will appear in the middle of runways, etc. Either the author will issue an update, or you can add edit the scenery yourself and add exclusions (using WorldEditor WED).

 

Regarding photoscenery from simheaven. This out of the box will conflict with the mesh scenery in that if it has a higher priority than the Mesh v2 scenery, it will use the mesh which is part of the photoscenery instead. If the mesh is higher priority than the photoscenery, then the photoscenery won't work. However, luckily simheaven has provided patches to the photoscenery to upgrade the mesh inside it. I believe the last 2 posts on the front page there explain what it is.

 

With regards to Urbanmaxx Extreme. I don't actually think priority matches, but generally the mesh is placed below airports and other addons, e.g. Lowest would be mesh, second would be OSM scenery, and third would be airports. Texture packs shouldn't conflict, although I don't have Urbanxmaxx Extreme so I'm not 100% sure.

 

For information about the OSM sceneries available, please see this sticky http://forum.avsim.net/topic/430976-scenery-and-openstreetmap-osm-faq/

Hi Tonywob

 

Thanks for the very informative reply.  It was a great help in understanding things.

 

The last question I have is about the scenery_packs.ini file.  Does X-Plane 10 read it from bottom to top such as the FSX/P3D scenery file does?

 

I see that zzz_hd_global_scenery2 is at the bottom of the file where UrbanMaxx Extreme is at the top.  Several airports and scenery files are in between them.

 

Thanks again for your insight.

 

John

 

 

The last question I have is about the scenery_packs.ini file.  Does X-Plane 10 read it from bottom to top such as the FSX/P3D scenery file does?

 

You're welcome. It reads so that items at the top are higher priority than items at the bottom. Originally they were sorted alphabetically, hence why you see "zzz" at the beginning of the scenery name. This is a clue it should be at the bottom of the file and priority

Thanks everyone for the replies, and the sticky that you started Tony is very nice. I'm installing x-plane as I type and can't wait to start tinkering with it!! Good thing it's the weekend...now I just need to get the misses out of the house...

? So, does it matter in what the order the files are in in the folders (Custom Scenery and Global Scenery)

? What's the function of "scenery_pack.ini" file...

? So, does it matter in what the order the files are in in the folders (Custom Scenery and Global Scenery)

? What's the function of "scenery_pack.ini" file...

scenery_pack.ini file determines the priority of the Add-ons in the Custom Scenery Folder.

First it should contain all the Airports and City Sceneries, then the OSM maps and finally the photosceneries and mesh files. Libraries like OpenSceneryX can stand wherever you like. If you have two sceneries for the same airport the airport higher in the scenery_pack.ini file will be painted above the other airport, or it will block the lower airport if exclusion zones were used.

A new object in the custom scenery folder will be entered in the first position to the scenery_pack.ini file.

Thank You Thank You....