Photoscenery for X plane

[markturner 0]

Hi, I recently started simming again after an 18 month hiatus caused by building work. I have a new PC now and have decided to try X plane & prepar3D as well as FSX. 

 

I am a keen fan of photoscenery as opposed to the  generic landclass type ( I have lots of Orbx, but don't really like it). I have found only limited areas and makers of photoscenery for X plane on my initial searching, are there photoscenery users within the Xplane community here who can advise me of the best etc. Is it needed in X plane, or is teh scenery generall better than in FSX? And what about the mesh in FSX, great photoscenery is nothing without the vertical detail. How does that work in Xplane? 

 

By the way, I found simheaven, but it's not clear in the photoscenery section what they offer - they show different zoom levels, but no links etc to actual sceneries, just updates...... I am assuming OSM scenery is different from the photoscenery....

 

Thanks, mark

[tonywob 4,769]

Hi Mark

 

In my opinion, the default X-Plane scenery is better than the FSX default scenery, especially in terms of the mesh. You can also upgrade to a higher definition mesh from alpilotx.net for free, which really improves the coastline, rivers etc where available. As for textures, I find X-Plane's textures nicer, but there isn't enough variety and the scenery becomes boring quickly (If all flat).

 

Regarding photoscenery, well I tend to only use photoscenery if there is good 3D objects to place over the top of it (via World2XPlane, which is OSM scenery), otherwise it looks horrible and flat. In general, this means that photoscenery in most of Europe is pretty nice, but in the US it can look quite flat (Unless you try the cities, or mountain areas, which look great).  I guess it also depends on the type of flying you do, if you fly low-and-slow then the default X-Plane scenery doesn't cut it for me, it's just too boring and everything looks the same, but if you fly high and fast then it's great and accurate enough to use with charts, etc.. This is of course a matter of taste, and some people don't like photoscenery, and vice versa

 

Also, simheaven no longer offer any photosceneries for various reasons, but you can still get slightly older and lower zoom level photoscenery for most of Europe from http://zonephoto.x-plane.fr/index.php. Alternatively, you can get hold of an application called G2XPL for a small donation and generate photoscenery for anywhere in the world at a zoomlevel you choose.

 

Have a look at the FAQ on the X-Plane forum which discusses what the sceneries are, so you can get an idea.

[LAdamson 240]

My thoughts are the same as Tony's, when it comes to X-Plane's default (mountain) mesh versus FSX. It's better. I live and flew mountainous areas in real life, and I love this stuff!  I also started flight simming again, after nearly two years with a new system. And I really went for photo scenery as well.............in my prior simming days. It looked very lifelike from altitude, but of course would suffer at low altitudes. I'd often dispense with auto-gen in FSX too, because it was often too cartoony.

 

But............with the new setup, I'm extremely impressed with my ORBX scenery (differing thought, to the threads author), as it looks like a glossy photograph running with smooth frame rates in the 40's to the 80's in mountain country. It still looks good at low altitudes where photo-real goes to crap. From a different thread, I see that Tony is working on some ORBX type material for X-Plane. It's impressive, and I'd like to see more. 

 

All in all, I'm sure I'd still like photo-scenery, as well as other types than incorporate good looking textures for land class at low altitude, such as landing and taxi.

[Pugilist2 878]

Have been wanting good photo scenery for years in X plane with a zoom level of 18 or more and am thinking about trying G2XPL, but It looks sort of difficult to figure out.  G2XPL seems like the only option available for high quality photo scenery in X Plane.