Simheaven photoscenery no longer available

[Humpty 751]

Please generate Switzerland for me

[deetee 164]

Sorry to hear this but understandable. I hope the OSM and W2XP sceneries will stay online in the long term, they are are a great service to Euro XP users.

[alpilotx 505]

Sorry to hear this but understandable. I hope the OSM and W2XP sceneries will stay online in the long term, they are are a great service to Euro XP users.

Yes, I think this will be the case, as SimHeaven (Armin) still wants to commit his work / creativity to the community. Its only the photoscenery which he wanted to remove from his "responsibility".

[scotchegg 4,170]

Couldn't they be shared by torrent?

[tonywob 4,768]

 

 

Couldn't they be shared by torrent?

 

This has already been discussed on other forums, and the answer was no. This opens up a whole can of worms with regards to file sharing, etc.. Additionally, the files from Simheaven can't be redistributed as the users on the site agreed when downloading them, even though they're no longer available.

 

Of course, there is nothing stopping someone from creating their own photoscenery using g2xpl and hosting the files somewhere, but the amount of storage and bandwidth needed is prohibitive.

[marty2756 65]

Is there any limitation regarding regions with g2xpl ? I would like to create south america photoscenery

[MarioDonick 752]

Is there any limitation regarding regions with g2xpl ? I would like to create south america photoscenery

 

Once you have the full version of g2xpl, it works anywhere. The easiest way: In X-Plane, you go to the airport where you want to have photo scenery and start g2xpl from within X-Plane. And then you wait. Wait. Wait. Wait ... restart X-Plane and voila, you have photo scenery.

 

Just beware that g2xpl relies on popular map services (Google Maps, Bing Maps) to download the needed photo textures. Sometimes users will be banned from these services when downloading too much, as this is against the licenses of these services.

[Humpty 751]

A VPS server at godaddy is around 30USD and a dedicated would be around a 100 not counting the storage and the bandwidth. And the kind of data that is with simheaven is tremendous. Heck V3 alone is around a 100 , can't imagine W2XP / OSM / Photo Z16 17 18 wow too huge.

 

The problem is with the simmers including me I don't read too much , heck I have harrassed Tony so many times regarding W2XP LOL.

 

Now no more Photo Scenery for me too as I am loving v3 with Hires textures.

[User72 28]

Once you have the full version of g2xpl, it works anywhere. The easiest way: In X-Plane, you go to the airport where you want to have photo scenery and start g2xpl from within X-Plane. And then you wait. Wait. Wait. Wait ... restart X-Plane and voila, you have photo scenery.

 

Just beware that g2xpl relies on popular map services (Google Maps, Bing Maps) to download the needed photo textures. Sometimes users will be banned from these services when downloading too much, as this is against the licenses of these services.

 

Google ban pretty quickly. Bing don't ban afaik.

[marty2756 65]

Google ban pretty quickly. Bing don't ban afaik.

(Thanks Mario)

I saw there is a texture download limit option in g2xpl ... planned to avoid this... as I suppose google has better quality than bing... anyone knows whats the daily limit for google ?

[User72 28]

Daily limit for Google is very small, there is supposed to be workaround but it seemed more hassle than it's worth as you continue to hit the limit with every reset operation. Quality varies but Bing is every bit as good as Google and once set up you can just run g2xpl and forget about it until it's done and the scenery is automagically in your sim.

[Comanche 417]

I played around with G2XP for the last year or so. It does get addicting and easy to use.  However, A lot of the scenery I downloaded, didn't look all that great. NY, for example looks like mud everywhere. Even at LOD 18, its not very impressive.  Other photo scenery's I've downloaded, didn't do it for me either. I guess its just not my thing, but I did give it a chance. 

I also didn't like when the photo scenery ends or begins. It does not interface well with surrounding scenery and looks horrible.

 

When I removed it, My frame rate improved dramatically and I was surprised how much the default autogen and textures have improved. Combined with Mesh V3 and Real Terra haze, and I'm a much happier simmer now.

 

I had some Megascenery in FSX and that didn't impress me either. Looks OK from 2000' and higher, but down low, I felt like a fly on a Renoir painting. Just not my thing, but people seem to love it. Go figure?

 

Rob 

[Kosty 1]

What a pity! I really love the photosceneries because I like to fly VFR low & slow. In combination with World2Xplane it looks awesome in my area. I really appreciate Armin's work and am grateful and thankful for his improvements of XP10.

For me Simheavens photosceneries are the most important and most used scenery add-ons for X-Plane 10!

I really hope there will be a solution to have them back!

[mdavis 10]

I think it's both a matter of taste, and the altitude at which you fly. Photoreal scenery for me (in FSX) was far too limited in scope and far too expensive in terms of either money and/or disc space.

 

I fly a lot of lower V-routes and single engine GA all over the globe and since I fly somewhere different each flight, photoreal scenery is not a good deal for me. If you fly for a VA or like to fly repetitive routes (FS Economy, etc.) or out of the same airport frequently, I can see trying to add photoreal scenery to those areas where it is most likely to be re-used.

 

I have not used W2XPL but it sounds like a great product for those who prefer photoreal. I'm just loving the new HD mesh 3 and don't plan on moving from it.

[ohsirus 241]

Time for MegaScenery Earth to step in and bring some of their Ultra-Res cities to XPX.