I hardly ever think about terrain mesh.  I guess my mind, generally, thinks "hilly enough".  Not a resounding endorsement of accuracy.  (Discovering, this morning, that FTX makes their mesh at 10m and then, further, discovering that my mesh slider was, somehow, still at 38m was an eye opener this morning.)

 

But, lately, I've been flying in more mountainous areas looking at them and thinking "Hmmm...not quite right."  I did some Googling about "mesh" and found that FSGenesis and FS Global Ultimate are the dominant products.  Still, there are precious few comparison screenshots between FSX generic mesh and their products that I could find.  So, I scratch my head...not sure if it's worth it or not.  (Why don't these guys do comparison shots for their products???)  Also, I've seen a few threads where people meander about it.  Seems that most people appreciate that FS Global Ultimate has finer detail but still prefer FSGenesis.

 

So, can someone help me (perhaps, others) out here?  Are they worth it?  How have they transformed your sim?  (If you make some screenies I could try to duplicate and post what I see from my sim.  The northeast US would be a good area since I have Orbx all over the west.)

 

Gregg

I'm not often one for taking screenshots, but if I recall correctly, somewhere on the FS Global site there was a bunch of comparison photos which shows the effects of different mesh products and resolutions on well known landmarks.  I'll see if I can't find it, or perhaps someone else here knows what I'm talking about...

I did find a review of FS Global "Americas" here....

 

http://www.avsim.com/pages/0411/Pilots/FSG.html

 

Honestly, from the review, it doesn't seem to be that much of an improvement on the US.  Some other parts of the world had significant improvement.  So...jury is still out...

Gregg

Default US was already 38mtr and Europe 75mtr.

Higher resolution mesh does look great untill it's time to land, then the airport plateaus ruin the immersion for me, hence I run the default mesh

I'm in a different category from "mad dog".  I wouldn't leave home without add-on mesh.  I'm more than happy to trade the occasional aircraft carrier type airport for the increased realism of mountain scenery from above seen from whatever low & slow I'm flying that day.

I'm in a different category from "mad dog".  I wouldn't leave home without add-on mesh.  I'm more than happy to trade the occasional aircraft carrier type airport for the increased realism of mountain scenery from above seen from whatever low & slow I'm flying that day.

 

Dan,

 

Where do you see some improvements?  Can you give me some examples?  I could Google and see what they look like RW.

 

Gregg

If you have spare time you can get really good mesh here especially Europe and Asia, USA not so good

 

http://simviation.com//fsx_terrainmesh.htm

 

I have them already (euro/asia/middle east) and happy to share if I knew how but its a big folder , 42 gigs

Hi  Gregg.  Right now I can't really show you a clear before and after example.  I don't have any screenies from my home area available ( I use the delete command a lot).  I live in eastern WV, near Lewisburg.  if you can look at Google Earth for that area you'll find an area that I feel is greatly improved by FSGlobal ( I used to use FSGenesis but I changed for no real good reason other than to try to help the world economic condition by injecting massive amounts of my own money).  Do a flight or two out of KLWB and check out your default mess and compare to what you see in Google Earth.  I think you'll see a great difference.

 

I find add-on mesh as necessary as a good wx engine

Hi  Gregg.  Right now I can't really show you a clear before and after example.  I don't have any screenies from my home area available ( I use the delete command a lot).  I live in eastern WV, near Lewisburg.  if you can look at Google Earth for that area you'll find an area that I feel is greatly improved by FSGlobal ( I used to use FSGenesis but I changed for no real good reason other than to try to help the world economic condition by injecting massive amounts of my own money).  Do a flight or two out of KLWB and check out your default mess and compare to what you see in Google Earth.  I think you'll see a great difference.

 

I find add-on mesh as necessary as a good wx engine

 

Thanks Dan.  Sounds practical.  I'll do some flying up there.  I've been wanting the Appalachians and the northeast to have solid realism.  It will be very interesting how those areas look after the Vector 1.2 and NA Landclass releases.  So many places to visit.

 

 

It will be very interesting how those areas look after the Vector 1.2 and NA Landclass releases. So many places to visit.

 

+1

I use FSGenesis,  They have various "products" at different resolution for some areas. One could have higher resolution for the same area depending on what specific FSGenesis "product" one has.

 

 

I use FSGenesis

 

Yeah, seems like FSGenesis is the preferred product even among people that have both (both?).  There is an 'FTX compatible' FS Global here...

 

http://www.flightsimstore.com/product_info.php?products_id=2648

Agree 100% with Dan  Accurate mesh is as important to me as a high end aircraft or weather program.    

 

It does become pricey for the high end products. I use 10m and 19m mesh for the planet, it runs into a few hundred pounds, for me it completely transforms the sim compared to default mesh.  

 

The issue with airport plateaus  can be easily solved by flattening any airfields affected.

I use FS Global 2010 mesh and it's a great product. Really adds something to when landing in mountainous areas. There have only been a couple times where I have run into the aircraft carrier airport effect as was posted above. However most of these issues can be resolved by changing the scenery order or by changing one of the airports files. 

"Yeah, seems like FSGenesis is the preferred product even among people that have both (both?).  There is an 'FTX compatible' FS Global here...

"

 

I use FSGENESIS have all of there stuff - will not fly without it but if I was to do it over I would go with thew your link provided IMO

 

Yes mesh is very important - much better immersion