Question about Ultimate Terrain...and other vector installations.

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

I know that UT is a 'vector call' product, that will properly have FS9 call graphics such as water bodies, roads, etc to their proper positions and placements. Now here's the question...is a vector product such as UT, or Pilot's Vector that can also alter the way graphic tiles and elements are displayed within your sim, because of what is needed to be called up and rendered, or is that ONLY the pervue of a land class product such as G.E., or OpenLC (for ORBX usage) to have a certain tile rendered at the x/y position of view?

 

Just wondering if having the vector layer installed, has any bearing on what landclass will be dominant at live-time, point-of-view...

[GaryGB 10]

Hi Mitch:

 

The original Ultimate Terrain USA (aka "UT_USA") and its separate companion products for Canada / Alaska / Europe for FS9 is primarily textured vector polylines / polygons of roads and water bodies aligned to the real word (since they are derived by digitized tracing of ex: aerial imagery) from commercially licensed data sets such as used in mapping and GPS systems etc.

 

UT-USA also has night lights associated with some road types, and the polygons for water bodies also correct or approximate closely their elevations to the real world.

 

UT-USA also places some small tiles of ground texture coverage (land class textures) in certain locations such as golf courses, parks, large road embankments etc. and primarily around urban high road density areas; but that it is not really so extensive as to be regarded as a regional "land class" replacement product.

 

In areas outside such small land class coverage areas, the default land class system of texture tiles will be displayed according to the definitions of FS9 itself, or via any other add-on regional land class texture placement instructions in a land class BGL.

 

There are numerous local land class texture display instruction modifiers, and regional or nation-wide land class texture display instruction modifiers which also provide some custom textures for land class texture replacement for FS9 (ex: Ground Environment... the FS9 precursor to Ground Environment X aka "GEX").

 

There are instructions for how to "layer" or 'sandwich' the various popular land class add-ons in the FS scenery library GUI stack of layers ...in the UT-USA support forums at Flight1's "simforums" website.

 

 

Of course, where 'complete' replacement of land class takes place via custom photo-real land class (aka photo scenery), the usual display of the textured polylines / polygons and default or local land class  textures which are otherwise blended and displayed in FS at run time can NOT be displayed 'on top' of the photo-real texture tiles.

 

Because the texture type is different with photo-real tiles compared to the default land class texture tiles, the autogen associated with the default land class tiles also can NOT be displayed, and custom autogen annotation of the 'custom' photo tiles must be provided instead as *an.agn files in the \Textures folder which accompanies the photo-real tile placement BGL(s).

 

Thus. FS land class texture display instructions are generally implemented by BGLs different from those used to display vector content.

 

PS: Ultimate Terrain X (aka "UTX") is a expanded and enhanced successor to the vector data set used in UT for FS9, and IMHO, can often be used instead of ex: FTX Vector in 'some' parts of the world, to provide corrected and detailed roads and water bodies on top of (non-photo-realistic types of) default or replacement land class textures ...by placing specific UT / UTX vector layers at positions above other scenery in the FS scenery library GUI.

 

 

Hope this brief overview helps ! :smile:

 

GaryGB

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

It sure does Gary. You answered all my questions. Thank you very much!

Cheers!

 

Mitch