Hard to say Chris, my favoured approach in these circumstances is to start with only one file enabled, then gradually enable them until you get to something you can't live with, then find a fix/workaround with various development tools K

Hi Again:

 

Whereas the OrbX FTX Scotland region scenery package reportedly recommends NOT using greater than 10 Meter resolution on the FSX scenery menu Terrain mesh slider, the OrbX FTX Sumburgh scenery package reportedly recommends using a 5 Meter resolution on the FSX scenery menu Terrain mesh slider.

 

 

Regarding the OrbX FTX Sumburgh Lighthouse Terrain Elevation Anomaly:

 

You may wish to first store a back up copy within a *.ZIP or *.RAR file, then disable display of this specific file:

 

[FSX install path]\ORBX\FTX_EU\FTX_AA_EGPB\scenery\cvx_ORBX_EGPB_Flatten_Sur.BGL

 

 

Although your described FS add-on milieu may give rise to  numerous variables arising from other installed scenery add-ons (which when all set "active", might contribute to terrain anomalies rendered by the FS terrain engine to deal at run time), the above procedure reportedly may remove the unusual flatten from underneath the OrbX FTX Sumburgh Lighthouse.

 

 

Although the OrbX FTX Sumburgh developers reportedly appear to have utilized triangulated "sloped" flattens with individual assigned elevations at vertex points in the above scenery, a "flat" flatten is apparently is rendered by the FS terrain engine at run time when cvx_ORBX_EGPB_Flatten_Sur.BGL is allowed to load.

 

 

One might wonder why the above scenario occurs if the scenery was substantially Beta-tested and vetted by experienced scenery developers prior to release. :wink:

 

Some may have raised questions in the past as to why certain add-on packages may prove "feature-limited" upon installation.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crippleware (aka "Crip-Ware")

 

 

However, there are so many variables that may exist on a FS end users system which might impact the resulting display in FS at run-time, it might be better for the benefit of the doubt to be given to both developers and end users alike.

 

Finding terrain anomalies should IMHO, compel courteous reporting of such anomalies at the official support forum for FS add-on packages, as well as in 'other' forums (such as this one), so that both developers and end users can undertake meticulous testing to identify causes and solutions to FS scenery anomalies ...for the good of the FS Community as a whole.

 

 

BTW: The scenery library object(s) for the Sumburgh Lighthouse reportedly did not include an extension of the bottom base(s) into the ground of the hillside, nor a "terrain skirt", so upon very close "on-ground" inspection, one might see beneath the flat bottom of the objects.

 

But AFAIK, the above apparently may eliminate most grossly visible objections at that specific location in this scenery when flying nearby.

 

 

Hope this helps ! :smile:

 

GaryGB

 Corrections / clarifications after AVSIM's (ridiculous) edit time-out...

[EDITED]
Although your described mix of installed FS scenery add-ons may give rise to numerous variables (which when all set "active", might contribute to terrain anomalies rendered by the FS terrain engine at run time), the above procedure reportedly may remove the unusual flatten from underneath the OrbX FTX Sumburgh Lighthouse.

And although the OrbX FTX Sumburgh developers reportedly appear to have utilized triangulated "sloped" flattens with individual assigned elevations at vertex points elsewhere in the above scenery, a "flat" flatten is apparently is rendered beneath the Lighthouse by the FS terrain engine at run time when cvx_ORBX_EGPB_Flatten_Sur.BGL is allowed to load.

[END_EDIT]


[EDITED]
Finding terrain anomalies should IMHO, compel courteous reporting of such anomalies at the official support forum for those FS add-on packages, as well as in 'other' forums (such as this one), so that both developers and end users can undertake meticulous testing to identify causes and solutions to FS scenery anomalies ...for the good of the FS Community as a whole.

[END_EDIT]

Gary,

 

Thanks for the detailed information. I had already identified an improvement to the lighthouse by disabling the file that you mention, but my main problems are the large chuck of default scenery visible when using the airport, and also the rather dodgy looking "cliffs" at certain points on the peninsula that look like someone has sliced down them with a giant knife. I assume that this isn't the case when using the package with FTX Scotland, so it's a bit of a puzzle (considering that I have mesh resolution set to its maximum detail level).

 

If I could solve those two problems, then I would be able to use the airport.

 

As for not identifying problems during the beta testing stage, the developers of ORBx airport packages have no interest in making them work with anything other than the FTX regions. The fact that most of them can be made to work perfectly with UK photoscenery with only minor tweaks is partly due to UK2000 CVX files being available for those particular airfields, and partly due to blind luck! Unfortunately, EGPB Sumburgh is in a different type of location to the rest of the ORBx UK "airport fleet", which has resulted in additional problems.

Hi Chris, are you running it with the OrbX FTX mesh or the GenX mesh under the airport terrain? I'm sorely tempted to buy it now - for the hours of fiddling around tryin to get it to work :p

Have you also tried PMing Lars? You may not receive official OrbX forum support but if you ask him nicely he may be able to give you a pointer as to what might be the best direction for you to head in? K

Your first question is rather interesting, Kevin. You would think that disabling the GenX mesh would result in the airport using the ORBx FTX mesh that is provided with the package. However, if I do that, I get a very strange result. In short, half of the "bulk" of the peninsula is missing, and some of the walls and buildings in the area short of the runway 15 threshold are floating in the air!

 

As for sending a PM to Lars, I assumed that they would have a similar view as JV with respect to using FTX airports with GenX photoscenery. I could be wrong though, so maybe it's worth a shot....

Ah but the scenery is expecting the FTX 10m mesh to be present so that it can 'fit' into it....your description seems to tally with only having the super detailed Sumburgh mesh active, leading to areas outside that being default terrain mesh and therefore incorrect? Have you activated the GenX mesh with Sumburgh to see if that gives a better result, or am I being thick and you've done that already? :p

rather dodgy looking "cliffs" at certain points on the peninsula that look like someone has sliced down them with a giant knife

 

Reportedly, the cutting of terrain down to mean sea level (MSL) is due to:

 

[FSX install path]\ORBX\FTX_EU\FTX_AA_EGPB\scenery\cvx_ORBX_EGPB_Flatten_MSL.BGL

 

FYI: When the above file is opened in:

 

[Microsoft Flight Simulator X SDK install path]\SDK\Environment Kit\Terrain SDK\TmfViewer.exe

 

...and the colored area surrounding the land is right-clicked, one can see the GUID for the vector type used in the object, which in this case is reportedly a "flat" non-triangulated flatten (as distinguished from a triangulated and "sloped" flatten with varying elevations assigned to the vertex data points or 'vertices'), and apparently is intended to impart a specific shape to the shoreline, while also flattening water levels to sea level at a single elevation of 0 MSL / 0 AGL by cutting off the edge of land near OrbX FTX Sumburgh airport.

 

 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc707102.aspx#TheShp2VecTool

 

"Airport Boundaries

 

Although this area is titled Airport Boundaries, these are used for a number of purposes, including flattening a surface and excluding certain types of data, in addition to defining airport boundaries.

 

{47d48287-3ade-4fc5-8bec-b6b36901e612} Flatten"

 

 

BTW: "Vector" objects in vector-type BGLs can modify terrain mesh (when created as either legacy format LWM BGLs or newer CVX BGLs) ...without themselves being compiled via FS SDK Resample as a standard terrain mesh BGL.

 

 

NOTE: A "flat" non-triangulated flatten usually has a single elevation value assigned to its vertex data points aka 'vertices (...even though TMFViewer does not allow one to see the actual elevation values associated with vector flatten objects).

 

A "sloped" triangulated flatten usually has varying elevations assigned to the vertex data points aka 'vertices' as described above.

 

 

TMFViewer will, however, allow one to see the values assigned to the terrain mesh grid elevation data points in legacy format and newer FSX CVX  format terrain mesh BGLs.

 

 

TIP: Try opening the various CVX BGLs in the [FSX install path]\ORBX\FTX_EU\FTX_AA_EGPB\scenery folder in TMFViewer to see what they do ...based on any (FSX default) GUID IDs which may be referenced in SDK documents. :wink:

 

 

Hope this helps a bit more ! :smile:

 

GaryGB

You're being thick, Kevin :smile: I need the GenX 5m mesh active to get a complete peninsula, although (as stated above) there are some anomalies with the terrain.

PM sent to the developer (Lars Pinkenburg). I am not optimistic that it will produce a positive result, but it's worth a shot.