FSX Photoreal Scenery -- Colorado, a Preview

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Finally creating scenery for my Colorado project.  These shots were taken in Northwest Colorado....  The project will span the entire state when finished in one or two days and the package will be about 4GB....

 

Enjoy,

 

Best Regards

 

John

 

 

 

[Ted Striker 338]

Looking promising John. How large of a resolution are you able to get with this process?

Ted

[captain420 3,099]

Nice, how do you create your own photoreal scenery? Is it a lot of work?

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Looking promising John. How large of a resolution are you able to get with this process?

Ted

 

You can get the max res FSX supports, depending on the scenery source.  I balance resolution and bgl size so my resolution approximates what BlueSkyScenery offers.  It allows for faster loading of the textures and more importantly, faster creation of the scenery.

 

John

[HLJames 2,568]

Lookin good!

 

HLJAMES

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Nice, how do you create your own photoreal scenery? Is it a lot of work?

 

I use FSEarthTiles.  It's free, and easy to use except where coastlines are involved.  When it comes to coastlines there's a few different methods to work with them--I prefer just using an exclude, which can be done within FSEarthtiles.

 

Regards,

 

John

[Ted Striker 338]

 

 

You can get the max res FSX supports, depending on the scenery source. I balance resolution and bgl size so my resolution approximates what BlueSkyScenery offers. It allows for faster loading of the textures and more importantly, faster creation of the scenery.

 

Sound good John. I downloaded the program to do this last weekend but haven't had the time to try it yet.

 

Ted

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Sound good John. I downloaded the program to do this last weekend but haven't had the time to try it yet.

 

Ted

 

Here is my FSEarthTiles.ini.  It's set up so I can easily switch between FS2004 and FSX....  I just choose the sim from the dropdown:

 

_____________________________________________________________

 

#       FS Earth Tiles   Version V1.03b

#

#  ****.***   you need to replace this with a service base address.

#  %s         In the URL %s is the placeholder for the later on service access filled in Tile code

#

#  hint: Check Tile Proxy Project forums to figure out working service configurations

#        Also mind that a service URL often contains a map version number that you should update from time to time (try and err)

#

#  check the user documentation (UserDocu.rtf) for help with the parameters in this file

#

#-------------------------------------------------

# WARNING!

#

# Earth Services have copyright on their material! That means you may not distribute sceneries you create that includes such material!

# You are also not really allowed to download such material and use it in FS or elsewhere without the permission of the services.

#

# Also note that some services will not like you accessing their informations in this for them uncontrolled way

# and temporary block and ban you.

#

#-------------------------------------------------

 

 

#--- Services Configuration ---    # you can add up to 9 Services entries

 

 

 

[service1]

ServiceCodeing = 0123

ServiceUrl = http://a1.ortho.tiles.virtualearth.net/tiles/a%s.jpeg?g=104 #you need to replace the * with a service base url

ServerVariations = a0,a1,a2,a3 #Server variations that all have to contain the same Tiles

 

[service2]

ServiceCodeing = 0123

ServiceUrl = http://a1.ortho.tiles.virtualearth.net/tiles/a%s.jpeg?g=104 #you need to replace the * with a service base url

ServerVariations = a0,a1,a2,a3 #Server variations that all have to contain the same Tiles

 

[service3]

ServiceCodeing = xyz

ServiceUrl = http://us.maps3.yimg.com/aerial.maps.yimg.com/img?%s&v=1.7&t=a # You need to replace both groups of ****.***

ServerVariations = a0,a1,a2,a3 #Server variations that all have to contain the same Tiles

 

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1) AppleWebKit/535.11 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/17.0.963.83 Safari/535.11

 

 

[ProxyList]                            

direct                                 #use the word "direct" in the List to mark a connection without Proxy, otherwise add proxies if needed

 

#---FS Earth Tiles Start up default values---

 

#--- FS Compilers ---

FSXSceneryCompiler       = resampleFSX.exe              # Date/Timestamp on this resample should be at least 9/5/2006

FS2004SceneryCompiler    = resamplefs2004.exe           # Date/Timestamp on this resample should be at least 3/2/2004

 

[FSEarthTiles]

 

WorkingFolder            = Y:\fsearthtiles\work         #working space folder.  I use a drive separate from my FSX or FS9 install drive

SceneryFolder            = Y:\Photoreal Scenery         #scenery folder. Note it stores the files in the texture and scenery Sub-folder (texture only used with FSX)

 

UseCache         = Yes

BlankTileColorRed     = 0

BlankTileColorGreen     = 30

BlankTileColorBlue     = 35

DownloadResolution       = 1             #-4...8

 

StartWithService         = Service2

SelectedSceneryCompiler  = FSX           #choose: FSX or FS2004  

AreaSnap                 = Tiles         #Off/LOD13/LatLong/Tiles/Pixel, IMPORTANT: Select LOD13 for FS2004 to avoid water borders!

CreateAreaMaskBmp        = No            #if Yes Area Mask Bitmap will be created that are used for Blend and Water and Seasons. (note FS2004 does not know blend)

CompileScenery           = Yes           #Yes = Compile the Scenery, No = Download the Area only.

AutoReferenceMode        = 3             #  1..4 only active if AreaSnap is not off

                                         #  1 = match exact Area Dimensions, 2 = allow to go one large, 3 = maximum freedom in going larger, 4 = div. single units

CompressionQuality       = 40            #  Quality will affect size of photoreal scenery.  High quality will consume huge volumes of disk space and cause blurries

Zoom                     = 4             # -4...18   Zoom for map.  Zoom in to see if photoreal scenery is supported at that level for service being used

                            

 

AreaDefinitionMode       = 2Points

NorthWestCornerLatitude  = 43deg 25min 30.16sec north

NorthWestCornerLongitude = 125deg 16min 41.63sec west

SouthEastLatitude        = 41deg 55min 39.84sec north

SouthEastLongitude       = 123deg 18min 53.47sec west

 

 

__________________________________________________

CreateWaterMaskBitmap      = Yes

FS2004KeepTGAs             = No   

KeepAreaInfFile            = No   

KeepAreaMaskInfFile        = No     

KeepAreaMaskSeasonInfFile  = No     

KeepAreaEarthInfoFile      = No   

KeepSourceBitmap           = No    

KeepSummerBitmap           = Yes  

KeepMaskBitmap             = No   

KeepSeasonsBitmaps         = No

 

FSEarthMasksTool          = FSEarthMasks.exe

#FSEarthTiles add on Application for generating Water Masks and seasons.

#Make sure it is in the FSEarthTiles folder and not missing.

 

 

#--- Third Party Tools ---

UseAreaKMLFile                  = No                         

UseScalableVectorGraphicsTool   = No                          #yes = Starts the SVG Tool for every Downloaded Area (Only if CreateAreaMaskBmp is on)

ScalableVectorGraphicsTool      = C:\Program Files\Inkscape-0.48\inkscape.exe    #Used for Drawing Water and Blend Vectors creating a .SVG File

 

[Ted Striker 338]

Thanks John. I copied that and put it in a text file for future reference.

 

Ted

[EngineRoom 205]

Looks pretty nice. I remember from back in the days of TerraScene for Fly creating your own scenery can be pretty fun, not to mention addictive!

[A320FAN 370]

Very nice!