I'm looking forward to seeing your new autogen algorithm at work. The default autogen from Laminar, which I've been waiting an eternity for improvements, has not has materialized (after waiting over 3 years) .. but your work on the upcoming 0.7  w2xp has me more impressed since you can now seamlessly merge real world data (from OSM or other sources) with procedural generated data to create something far more realistic.  

 

I can't wait till 0.7 is released.  

Wow I can now see my uncle's house in Scotland which is on the shores of a loch, so nice job mate! Never in any sim have I seen that.

 

A few flights between EGLL and the city saw AutoLOD culling most of the scenery, so I dropped the settings to 25-35 fps and saw more buildings. I did try it at 20-30 but a few stutters were introduced so I went back up to 25-35, a reasonable compromise. Once the buildings are optimised I should see increased LOD.

 

Once again great work. If only I had that photoscenery, but I realy don't want to spend hours downloading tiles.

 

 

but your work on the upcoming 0.7  w2xp has me more impressed since you can now seamlessly merge real world data (from OSM or other sources) with procedural generated data to create something far more realistic.  

 

With this scenery for the UK there isn't any autogen because every building exists in its real location. The autogen approach I originally did for the UK because of the lack of data in OSM, this was until the government made some basic buildings and other data available. I haven't done artwork for anywhere else, and it's an awful lot of work (which probably explains why LR haven't done it for every country in the world). Outsourcing this artwork creation is the only way it's going to happen IMO. Either way, the autogen algorithm will be in W2XP, but it still needs some work and won't/isn't in 0.7.0, sorry.

 

I've been hunting around for data for other countries, and either I'm looking in the wrong place and wrong language,  but not having much luck (Apart from New Zealand which has some good data from LINZ and even has detailed buildings for the cities). If anyone wants to search around in their own country and finds something I can use (and I'm allowed to use) then please let me know and I can maybe use it in a scenery.

Wow I can now see my uncle's house in Scotland which is on the shores of a loch, so nice job mate! Never in any sim have I seen that.

A few flights between EGLL and the city saw AutoLOD culling most of the scenery, so I dropped the settings to 25-35 fps and saw more buildings. I did try it at 20-30 but a few stutters were introduced so I went back up to 25-35, a reasonable compromise. Once the buildings are optimised I should see increased LOD.

Once again great work. If only I had that photoscenery, but I realy don't want to spend hours downloading tiles.

 

Yep, that's the good and bad thing about this type of scenery. It's very detailed, but can also be taxing on fps. There's not a a greal more I can do to optimise the buildings as they are already highly simplified in the data (as you can see with terraced houses), but I'll work on some more simplified models for the larger buildings. Also, I'm not sure what that AutoLOD tool is doing, but you'd probably get better results if you lower your object density settings or view distance. On my laptop I average between 20-30fps, with it dropping to around 10 in central London, and about 15 over Manchester, that's with 20km visibility and max object settings.

 

Also, yep, I'm surprised there aren't any good photoscenery producers for X-Plane. We have tonnes of stuff for FSX/P3D, but really nobody producing it for X-Plane.

Looks great! How does it handle coasts, i.e. piers, marinas etc? I ask since I'm in Sussex lol

 

 

How does it handle coasts, i.e. piers, marinas etc?

 

If they're in the data (OpenStreetMap), then it will show them.

Haven't explored in detail but what I have seen is great, particularly reduced flickering (virtually none) and you've taken out the crappy default riverbanks!!! I could kiss you just for that.

 

I would be interested to see the autogen tech supporting the gaps that are there in the OSM data so look forward to that, but it's a nice step forward.

 

The only negative is it really shows up some of the problems with the default textures (hedges cutting through default fields, sandy textures in many urban areas) so it might morgen a change in my aversion to photo textures.

 

 

I would be interested to see the autogen tech supporting the gaps that are there in the OSM data so look forward to that, but it's a nice step forward.

 

There are no gaps in this data, as it isn't using OSM. So there is 0 autogen :smile:, every building is in its real location.

 

 

 

The only negative is it really shows up some of the problems with the default textures (hedges cutting through default fields, sandy textures in many urban areas) so it might morgen a change in my aversion to photo textures.

 

Indeed. The problem is that this type of scenery does nothing for the textures, it just overlays objects on top of it. I'm sure with some time and patience a better rendition could be produced by modifying the terrain files and producing some more UK style ground textures, but this is a lot of work (in the art department). Autogen helps a bit because it sticks to roads and also includes some ground textures around the house, but it doesn't completely solve the problem. We need an ORBX to come along and work some magic :smile:

 

 

There are no gaps in this data, as it isn't using OSM. So there is 0 autogen , every building is in its real location.

Woah, it's got every building in the UK (apart from NI) in it...?

 

 

Woah, it's got every building in the UK (apart from NI) in it...?

 

Yep, which is why I released it as a scenery, as it can't be generated with World2XPlane

Looks great.  I haven't had time to really test it, and I'm not intimately familiar with UK, but I'll be doing a lot of flying over it in the coming days when I have a bit more time.

 

As always, @tonywob, thank you for your work and generosity!  :rolleyes:

Finally had a chance to spend a bit more time with it yesterday and blown away, really, by the boost in immersion it gives. It really does seem like every building I remember from the places I lived in the UK is there.

 

One thing I have noticed is that the buildings seem to be mostly the same height. Is that actually true of many city buildings in the UK or just a design issue with the objects?

 

Thanks so much for this Tony, great job.

Tak trzymaj Tony! ^_^

 

 

 

 

One thing I have noticed is that the buildings seem to be mostly the same height. Is that actually true of many city buildings in the UK or just a design issue with the objects?

 

Problem is simply that I don't know how tall the buildings are meant to be as that information isn't in the data I have. However, if the height of the building is in OSM then it will be used. So you may see some tall buildings such as tower blocks. I tried random heights but found it difficult to get it correct. Also, I'd say most houses outside of centres the UK are two-storey buildings.

This looks amazing! Still downloading so I'll try it out later. I understand that finding suitable data sources is very hard, especially for Ireland, but if you were to eventually come across one, I would love for you to generate Ireland in this kind of detail. There's no need for any new artwork either as it can share the same as the UK. I've had a quick search about but I don't really know what I'm looking for, I was wondering if Ordnance Survey Ireland would have what you need, but I'm not sure if their data is freely available.

 

Anyway, can't wait to try this out and find my house. Thank You!

 

 

I was wondering if Ordnance Survey Ireland would have what you need, but I'm not sure if their data is freely available.

 

I tried this and unfortunately I didn't find anything (Well not unless you have a couple of million euros to spare).