UHD Mesh Scenery v1 for X-Plane 10 released

[alpilotx 505]

After the successful release of "HD Mesh Scenery v3" last December, the new "UHD Mesh Scenery v1" tries to push the limits of the X-Plane 10 scenery engine even further.

The general characteristics of "UHD Mesh Scenery v1" are identical to those described in HD Mesh Scenery v3.

The main differences (and improvements) are:

• 30m resolution DEM elevation data instead of 90m DEM data.
• (once more) massively increased mesh density ... by roughly factor 2.5 to 3! This is not only beneficiary to the better representation of the higher res DEM data, but also - once more - improves landclass and forest detail.

Because of this, the "UHD Mesh Scenery v1" Scenery is very heavy on hardware resources and will only run smoothly on modern, higher end PCs. Its very important - before even considering a download - to have at least 16 GBytes of RAM and a modern / powerful GPU!

Covered Regions (see coverage on the download maps below):

• Europe - Alps
• USA - Colorado Mountains (parts of New Mexico)
• USA - Canyons and Mountains in Arizona / Nevada
• USA - Mountains in Montana (5x5 degree area)
• USA - Sierra Nevada (Yosemite etc.)

Picture of Europes Coverage:


Picture of USAs Coverage:

Because of the limited regions, the overall file volume is "only" 8.7 GBytes (spead across 5 ZIP files), and is available via the following sites:

• flightsim.com (with direct download AND very important: BitTorrent seeding)
• isdg.com.au
• aerosoft.com
• x-plane.org (coming later)

All informations, possible updates, installation instructions, and download links can be found here:

• http://www.alpilotx.net/downloads/x-plane-10-uhd-mesh-scenery-v1/

Here are the official screenshots accompanying the release of UHD Mesh Scenery v1. Just follow the links to my picasaweb albums:

• https://picasaweb.google.com/101666907909842492197/UHDMeshSceneryV1FINAL?authuser=0&feat=directlink

(all screenshots come in pairs - they are comparisons between UHD and HD quality! The first of each pair is UHD, the second HD - but there are also caption for each picture to make this clear).

I recommend all users:

• first start with one of the smaller regions (for example: Sierra Nevada). Download it, install it, test if it works and then get the other regions!
• Use BitTorrent (via flightsim.com) if possible, to avoid traffic congestion at the download sites!
• PLEASE take the time to read the short but important instructions! They help you (and then me) to avoid the most common mistakes!

Have a lot of fun!

Andras Fabian
www.alpilotx.net


PS: I would like to ask all users, who are fluent in other languages than English or German (and have time), to please spread this news in other forums / new sites

 

Screenshots

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Janov 2,383]

Totally awesome! Thanks for finally giving me a hard reason to get 16GB! ;-)

 

Thanks for your hard work!

 

Jan

[DocBird 79]

Wow! Nothing more to say ...

 

Thanks, Andreas, DANKE!

[twiggys 41]

Thanks Andreas for your continued contribution to XPX

[Guest Mik75]

Unbelievably beautiful! Your work is a real game changer for X-Plane, and you pushed the limits once more! I have my doubts that it will run on my machine, but nevertheless, thank you!

[alpilotx 505]

Thanks guys .... And indeed - even if its a pitty - its important that you judge your computers potential in advance (and don't load if there is little chance of having a nice experience).

 

The 16 GB RAM are really the hard factor ... without it, there are chances that you don't even get the scenery loaded (or at least go to swapping hell).

 

GPU is less critical, because here you can augment by tuning rendering settings (but neither does it make sense to download UHD Mesh just to the dial everything down in rendering settings ... which then ruins the show).

 

For everybody who is "unsure": I recommend you to try the "USA - Canyons and Mountains in Arizona / Nevada" region (yes, with the Grand Canyon) as this one turned out to be not so heavy on FPS (understandably: because you only have ultra dense mesh to render, but almost no cities, nor roads ... and even forests are rather scarce). With my GPU (GeForce GTX 780 with 6GB VRAM) I did often see -surprising - 50 FPS with almost the highest rendering settings.

[JonRD463 146]

The mere thought of downloading this to try out caused my computer to spontaneously eject the DVD drive and pop out a little white flag. I was wondering if someone could do me a favor and position themselves on the eastern shore of Swiftcurrent Lake in Glacier National Park, located in northwestern Montana and take a screenie at max settings. This is the location of the FSX "magic screenshot" that was released as a so-called "artists conception" of how FSX would look with Direct X 10.

 

For reference:

 

 

I took one in an earlier version of X-Plane just for poops and chuckles. Would be interested in seeing it with the UHD mesh. The closest airport is in Babb, to the east northeast.

[alpilotx 505]

Cool idea for some nice screenshots (its indeed a beautiful location) ... so this is my "quick" take on this:

 

[mdavis 10]

Thanks, @alpilotx. Now I can enjoy waiting a week while my poor DSL connection struggles to suck those beautiful files through the line. But I'll get them - someday.

 

Oh, yes. Thanks on behalf of the entire X-Plane community. As the kids say, "you rock!"

[tonywob 4,768]

Great work Andras. I've just done a flight from Carson City KCXP to Mammoth Yosemite KMMH. It's very nice scenery, the detail in the mountains is incredible and my FPS were good, between 25-30fps. It takes longer to load than normal and obviously uses more RAM, luckily I've got 16GB of it. I know this is the lighter of regions, but can't wait to try out somewhere closer to home, i.e The alps.

 

[Datalink 26]

Holy smokes those look awesome

[LAdamson 240]

This will be fun!  Every year, my wife and I would fly to Monument Valley (mid October), along with several friends who also took their airplanes.  Then on the second day, we'd fly to the Grand Canyon and Sedona, Arizona.  It's my favorite flying area, which was only a couple of hours from my hangar.  I like the way XP10 puts the sun's glo, onto the red rock at sunset.

[razalom 19]

Superb work as usual!

[Humpty 751]

 

 

between 25-30fps

 

 

LIAR LIAR

[tonywob 4,768]

 

 

LIAR LIAR

 

LOL. There's nothing else here, so it does. Add a couple of trees and buildings, and then it goes down.