First off, if you using W2XP files...you can NOT also have UrbanMaxx textures also in play. 

 

I found that UrbanMaxx totally destroys the w2xp format and placement.  

 

I removed my UrbanMaxx folder...and took a flight around British Columbia...and my jaw dropped.  I am now ONLY going to run with any W2XP_OSM-AG or HD generated scenery (thanks Tony!)...for this is what you get....WOW!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think that I died...and went to Tony Wob 'simHeaven'....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following shots are near Petawawa, Ontario, Canada....with the new w2xp Canada_osm_ag file driving XPX.35...I don't even recognize the 'old' osm driven sim!  This is like having just purchased a newly upgraded version. Simply fantastic depictions.... I mean...look at this...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The town of Petawawa...so easy on the eyes....wow.

 

 

 

 

Could you post the direct link to where those are?

Would love to try

Could you post the direct link to where those are?

Would love to try

Here you go, Turbine:  

 

Grab all of these country files...especially USA and Canada...wow...

 

http://simheaven.com/?page_id=3260

 

You need the World Models as well....and follow the instructions, if you haven't had any experience with W2XP files and format.

Well, my final shot of this flight.  I need to make a statement...

"I have no idea what has happened between the 1 year old OSM files I had driving XPX.35 for the countries of the United States of America...and Canada.  What ever they were...they produced generic, repeating, computer graphics...that LOOKED like generic, repeating, computer graphics. 

 

Since loading in OSM converted by Tony Wob's W2XP program (which was pre-generated by SimHeaven (link above in this thread)....an entire flight simulator has been regenerated as well. I have both ORBX 'Global'...and now W2XP's OSM data's driven version of Global Textures (and landclass placement that OSM also renders), and after three hours of flying over Canada...different provinces...after that time flying over different States...it is my opinion, that the most believable GLOBAL rendering...is NOT to be found in FSX or P3D...NOPE...it is to be found by an W2XP OSM (data)_ag driven XPX.35 graphics engine. What is created, is non repeating, a huge vast, MOST BELIEVABLE topography, I have ever seen in a flight simulator.

 

I felt for the first time...that I was TRULY...truly flying a flight path over real...plausible terrain. I have no idea what mechanics are behind my XPX.35 TOTAL transformation...post W2XP/OSM_ag/hd file injection...but...what ever version of this OSM is translating out to the stellar graphics...that of the roadways, the trees, Tony's artwork....OMG!   I would buy this any day over ORBX Global, for real-world plausibility...and this just fell into my lap!  I love what ORBX does...I do like Global very much...but THIS....OMG...I could have flown for hours and hours.....  This/These global depiction(s)...farm fields...the roadways, and street placements with fabulous building and housing graphics upon them (blows FSX/P3D and UT out of the water!)...the forests..and their placements....clear out to the horizon...is the most real visage...I have ever seen to date in a flight sim...and to think..that I only recently had tried out Tony's project...and what it did for not only XPX...but in my view...real world depiction...over all.

 

Tony...congratulations, man.....wow.....XPX.35 has the most realistic landscape of them all....now. After hours of joyful flying...Tony...your project driven by the latest OSM files, is the RING to rule them all. Bravo! Bravo!"

 

I most highly recommend that everyone try this out...and judge for yourselves....

 

 

 

 

Mitch 

Hi Mitch,

 

 Could you please post some shots of Las Vegas and Phoenix?

Still the question remains (to make things fair) ... how much of what you show is because of the OSM scenery, and how much comes from below (the base mesh scenery ... which ever you use). Because OSM alone can not do everything you see in some of the "natural landscape screenshots" you show above (yes, it can - maybe - tune forests ... but even those are still partially quite lacking in Canadian OSM data ...).

Agreeing with Andras and not wanting to knock the original poster (Who is only complimenting the scenery ), but I'd say 90% of the scenery is simply the default or HD Mesh v3 which looks great in this part of the world (So all compliments here should go to Andras). The buildings are X-Plane's default autogen except the few I see which have come from W2XP. In Canada at least, there is some areas with good forest coverage (so the forests might be from W2XP). But there is very little building data in this part of the world except for the major cities and towns.

Tony, and Andras...the only thing I did from having, to be honest...really lousy looking terrain, forests, fields, etc...from the OSM data that I had installed for about 12 to 18 months...and never changed it...was to download SimHeaven's latest OSM, that was processed by Tony's W2XP format.

 

What you see in all my pics on this thread, is beyond that install.  I had NEVER seen farms, rivers, streams, towns, villages, their formats, forests, tree placements, etc...such as I have now.  It is quite the realistic scene...so much so..that I'd pick this hand's down, if I had to only have one 'Global' look for my flight simulator.  

 

Yes...Andras..those are your fabulous mountains...but Tony...everything else...is yours.  It is (I believe), how your W2XP 'logic' when parsing OSM data...is what later gets played out as landclass...and holy ****...is it totally realistic.   So...if there is not truly too much difference in the 'data' from what I had installed as raw OSM for Canada, from a year ago..to what I have as OSM data in play now......then...yes...whatever your program does to the OSM calls...is what you see...

 

No matter though...it is spectacular.  I was flying in parts of Ontario, yesterday...that looked as real...as a photograph would be...farms and fields how they should look...waterways....town orientation(s)...etc.   

 

You can take the 'bow' on that....   Your new OSM W2XP 'global look'..coupled with Andra's HD mesh...and it is the one-two...simulator knock-out punch ....  ))

 

P.S. Tony and Andras....before any of the W2XP OSM_ag files now in my XPX.35...the forests were abysmal....blotches of trees, here and there...no natural look to them...their placements..etc.  Now....just look at that landscape...WOW!

 

Mitch

Hi Mitch,

 

 Could you please post some shots of Las Vegas and Phoenix?

Sure I will...and will post the grabs on this thread.  You won't see too many 'farm rurals'...lol...but lots of sand...

Still the question remains (to make things fair) ... how much of what you show is because of the OSM scenery, and how much comes from below (the base mesh scenery ... which ever you use). Because OSM alone can not do everything you see in some of the "natural landscape screenshots" you show above (yes, it can - maybe - tune forests ... but even those are still partially quite lacking in Canadian OSM data ...).

Andras..I use your HD mesh....

Most important thing Mitch is that you are enjoying the scenery, and getting excellent results :-)

 

The latest version of OSM for Canada is more detailed than it was a few months ago. Everyday several tiles of data are being imported into OSM for Canada, and the areas that have been imported contain forests, and other bits of information that can be used. It's not complete coverage yet (and I think it might be a while off yet), but the improvements are there.

 

I also believe (and correct me if I'm wrong Andras), that Andras used the same vector data (that is currently being imported into OSM) in HD Mesh v3 for lakes, roads, forests. etc.. So you will also being see better data in HD Mesh v3 as well. 

 

Either way, it's good times for this part of the world for data, and I'd expect it to only get better.

I also believe (and correct me if I'm wrong Andras), that Andras used the same vector data (that is currently being imported into OSM) in HD Mesh v3 for lakes, roads, forests. etc.. So you will also being see better data in HD Mesh v3 as well. 

Yes, indeed water data should be from the same source (CanVec) which is slowly imported into OSM (thats why I switched to the "original" source when it comes to water in Canada ... because OSM is still far from completed) . Other vector information (raods / railroads) is taken from OSM.

 

But, as you see forests 8and every othe landclass info) is NOT take from OSM (I never take forests / landclass data from OSM) but from other, complete (with complete regional coverage) sources. Which in Canada comes from "Canada, Land Cover, Circa 2000" .... and this data source should be quite accurate. Of course, it is never as perfect as completely vector based forest info ... but this is also because of the way the (Laminar) scenery generator creates the mesh scenery: for forests (because its treated as a landclass) it generates ground texturing AND the 3D forests in a way that they are visually synced (so 3D forests should cover more or less exactly the areas on the mesh, where we put forest ground textures). ... The other way around this also means, that the detail (shape) of 3D forests is constrained by the detail in the mesh (to make them both stay in sync).

 

In the default mesh, these forest stand are grossly simplified (and even in HD mesh Scenery v2) .... but in HD Mesh Scenery v3 I did go to great lengths to represent as much detail from the source (forest / landclass) data s possible (and tolerable in size / detail)l. So, usually, HD Mesh Scenery v3 based forests should be quite accurate (but of course, never as perfectly detailed as in areas where good vector forest data exists .... but which is not the case everywhere in Canada).

 

Maybe these three comparison images help to see this (a little bit at least) ... how the forest detail (much smaller scale variations etc.) improves over the different scenery generations (while it also shows the improved water data):

 

Default:

 

HD Mesh Scenery v2:

 

HD Mesh Scenery v3:

 

There are quite a few more similar comparisons here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/101666907909842492197/HDMeshSceneryV3FINALComparisonShots?authuser=0&feat=directlink

This is a very interesting technical discussion between you, and Tony, Andras...and is explaining to me, for what I am seeing, and SO MUCH enjoying to fly over.  I wanted to make one mention though...that some of the fabulous forested reaches...were in relatively flat, Petawawa, Ontario.  Before those W2XP files injected, they were 'here and there'...stunted, blah, blah.

 

Now...they look as the area looks...so I don't know exactly what those files are doing, as XPX.35 reads them...but whatever it is...a conceived event...a fluke...things coming together...whatever it is....KEEP DOING IT, you two!

 

WOW!, and with  much thanks.  XPX.35 has never looked better...in one man's opinion...never!  Thanks for all these initiatives, and this is said to everybody that has had a hand in where XPX.35 is today.  Wonderful!  :Applause:  Simply, wonderful!

Tony...you and Andras say there is no LandClass data in OSM files.  Or that is what I think you are saying, right?

 

But here is the question...if there is no landclass data...how in the world, can I follow a major highway west out of KFNT...towards the east coast of Lake Michigan, and see a constant global changing, like here, mid-state, out from KFNT (Flint-Bishop).   There is no terrain, and forested area around Flint-Bishop like this...but there is where I am flying....right now.  Since putting in the W2XP files...I can follow any landmark highway system, with NO repeating terrain.  I am doing that right now with this screen grab. This is fabulous.  Nothing is getting repeated...towns...streets...orientation(s)...nothing.  I have never seen this before.  I am so enjoying now...grabbing a highway at 2,800 to 3,500 feet AGL...and just going with it...seeing 'what comes up'.  

 

That is exactly what I doing in this flight. So...if there is no landclass in OSM driving the complete scene updating and rewrites...WHAT IS...doing this?  I don't get it....obviously.  You can't find this within 15 miles surrounding the airport, just off I-75. Nope....

 

 

 

Here I am a further 15 miles west of the last shot...look at the complexity of the scene...different neighborhoods, the commercial and farm complex out in the center distance of the shot...always changing..never repeating...and this is not landclass in action?   I dunno......and BTW...I have to compress these shots 10 percent or greater, before I can get them accepted for upload. Too bad...they are crystal clear on the monitor... :(

 

The textures you seen on the ground are not from W2XP, they are part of the mesh and can't be changed without rebuilding the mesh (or swapping out the textures in a library). The roads are from W2XP, and the forests could be from either (If they are in OSM, then they'll be from W2XP)

 

The autogen is part of HD Mesh/X-Plane (Although the next version of W2XP will now also place autogen), but if there are buildings in OSM then W2XP will hide X-Plane's default autogen and place the buildings. W2XP will also do other things to the scenery, such as place shrubs around farms or ponds, small trees in residential areas and clip roads going through forests.

 

So, you're likely getting a combination of both mixed together to produce some variation. If you used the same area with photoscenery, you'd see more clearly where the details are coming from.

The textures you seen on the ground are not from W2XP, they are part of the mesh and can't be changed without rebuilding the mesh (or swapping out the textures in a library). The roads are from W2XP, and the forests could be from either (If they are in OSM, then they'll be from W2XP)

 

The autogen is part of HD Mesh/X-Plane (Although the next version of W2XP will now also place autogen), but if there are buildings in OSM then W2XP will hide X-Plane's default autogen and place the buildings. W2XP will also do other things to the scenery, such as place shrubs around farms or ponds, small trees in residential areas and clip roads going through forests.

 

So, you're likely getting a combination of both mixed together to produce some variation. If you used the same area with photoscenery, you'd see more clearly where the details are coming from.

Ok..here's another example,  just west of my last shot, is a bend in the river...and as in real life, you will get a greater forested build up in a bend..as there is a slowing down of the water, and more of it per linear meter. Just as expected...here it is, in depiction, as in a real life scenario!

 

Thank you Tony, for taking the time with me, to explain the 'underlay' of XPX. Thanks!

 

Mitch

 

 

It's very likely the forest is actually inside OSM, as well as the river (or in the CanVec data), both will be there in real-life, and I bet if you get out a VFR chart, you should be able to navigate using the rivers, roads etc. Since both sceneries use real-life data, they should line up and work well together :-)

 

Also, have you installed Andras's treelines and farms?, this is another nice addon which will add some variety to the scenery