Got 3.1 running now and it looks good thanks to all for their various insights on whether or not to proceed w/ installing 3.1.   I've admittedly lost patience for 'fixing' problems w/ flight simulators so from hence forth will try hard to stick w/ the edict of only installing software that is confirmed to have a completely effective P3D V3 installer.  No will be moving files here and there, modifying config files, etc to make anything work.  I was more risk tolerant in the past but those days are over now.

 

So do we have an HD mesh product that is for all practical purposes plug and play and is the best out there?  I am confused on what LOD really constitutes what, for example some comments I've read will say that some mesh starts as 76m and is up sampled to a higher resolution, or something along those lines.  So I'm wondering if there is a native HD mesh now a/ a completely automated installer for 3.1, and comments regarding degree of problems w/ airport/lake etc lack of flattening for the USA/North America areas.   FWIW, I don't use FTX Vector, but do use FTX Global & several US regionals from FTX.

 

Thanks in advance

There is a P3D version of Pilot's FS Global2010, which has a dedicated installer, but I've seen quite a few problem areas, when it comes to elevation. There's also a specific version to work with FTX Global.

Lately, I've been using FreeMeshX (you can find their stuff in the freeware forum). Lot of places are much more detailed than FSG2010, especially in flat landscapes there's a lot more going on, but it doesnt have any isntaller at all. Still, it's very easy to install, just copy the files to any drive and add the area folders in the scenery library, that's it. And I must say, so far I havent seen any elevation problems yet...

Best thing is, it's free, so you can buy yourself a nice aircraft instead.

+1 for FreeMesh.  Can't beat it.

FreeMesh it is.  I just dl'd the two North America files and will give it a whirl.  Thanks all  :smile:

Scratch that, reverse it!

 

I decided to first try FSGenesis V2 which I have the disks for by copying the .bgl files in their respective scenery folders and manually adding them to Scenery Library.  No difference whatsoever over P3D v3 w/ FTX Global, except when I landed in Las Vegas heinous elevation problems--giant sinkholes between the runway and taxiways!  Lucky I landed w/o getting sucked in!

 

This makes me think FreeMesh may not offer much over default.  I base this on the fact the entire North American size of both files was little more than what was on FSGenesis' single disk for just the West Coast.

 

Seems from what I read FS Global Ultimate for the Americas comes in at a high LOD unless I'm not interpreting that correctly:

 

We completely changed source material:

- SRTM to NED/CDED (some mix before)

- Large Areas are rendered in LOD12 (Grand Canyon, all significant mountain ranges of the US etc)

- Local Areas LOD14 (had to be limited due to data size)

- Mexico done in LOD10 (looks like LOD11 though!)

- Canada in LOD 11, which makes a dramatic difference to default (esp north 60°)

The Americas comes on 6 double-layer DVDs with still both versions (FSX and FS2004) in the box.

 

What do you make of this?

This makes me think FreeMesh may not offer much over default.  I base this on the fact the entire North American size of both files was little more than what was on FSGenesis' single disk for just the West Coast.

 

Well, you have to keep in mind of the design objectives. FreeMeshX -  North America only contains Canada and Greenland as stated in the release announcement. So it will be smaller than a 10-m or 19-m USA mesh.

 

FreeMeshX - USA is under development, as it is a separate thing due to the differences in resolution, dataset, and challenges that it brings. If you're looking for just USA improvements, then there are many, many options out there.

 

FreeMeshX Global is really designed to bring the rest of the world (or most of it) up to the 38-m resolution standard that USA currently enjoys, and this makes it AFAIK the most comprehensive, high resolution mesh global dataset out there for any consumer-oriented flight simulator.

We completely changed source material:

The Americas comes on 6 double-layer DVDs with still both versions (FSX and FS2004) in the box.

- SRTM to NED/CDED (some mix before)

- Large Areas are rendered in LOD12 (Grand Canyon, all significant mountain ranges of the US etc)

- Local Areas LOD14 (had to be limited due to data size)

- Mexico done in LOD10 (looks like LOD11 though!)

- Canada in LOD 11, which makes a dramatic difference to default (esp north 60°)

 

 

What do you make of this?

 

SRTM is the terrain data collected by the Space Shuttle during STS-99. For a while, it was 3 arc-second (90 m)  resolution, but NASA released 1 arc-second (30 m) data in its entirety last year. FreeMeshX is based off this new SRTM data.

 

NED is the U.S. terrain dataset, and it's very high res, 1/3 arc-seconds (10 m), and it's pretty clean and easy to compile. Problems arise when trying to use 10-m mesh data because the flat airport limitation of FSX/P3D on uneven terrain creates airports pits and plateaus.

 

CDED is Canadian data. It's a roughly 30 m dataset. Canada in FreeMeshX - North America is based on this CDED database.

 

The LOD is just another name for the resolution. LOD14 is 2-m data. Very limited. LOD12 (10 m) is basically what you get if you compile the NED database.

 

LOD10 (38 m) is great, but it is offered nowhere in the stock terrain except for the U.S. FreeMeshX brings most of the world to LOD10 which can lead to huge, dramatic improvements in many neglected portions of the world. It could have been compiled to LOD11 (19-m), but I would consider this a waste of space. You would basically be trying to up sample 30 m data to 19-m.

 

LOD9 (76 m) is what most of the SRTM based terrain meshes use. They take the 90 m, 3-arcsecond SRTM data and compile it to 76-m resolution. FS Genesis and FS Global typically use this 90-m data for the majority of the world in their global sets.

Bar none - OFX US mega mesh is the best - not much money and will be free but not sure when - wish they made it for the world but hey US is where I fly most so thats good

 

I own all of FSGenesis products by the way - I have compared them and ofx is a better mesh

 

http://secure.simmarket.com/ofx-simulation-ofx-usa-mega-mesh-fsx.phtml

 

 

http://www.ofxsimulation.com/

 

 

 

I decided to first try FSGenesis V2 which I have the disks for by copying the .bgl files in their respective scenery folders and manually adding them to Scenery Library.  No difference whatsoever over P3D v3 w/ FTX Global, except when I landed in Las Vegas heinous elevation problems--giant sinkholes between the runway and taxiways!  Lucky I landed w/o getting sucked in!

 

 

Do you have ORBX Southern California?  If so find the file called ADE_FTX_SCA_KLAS_elevation_adjustment.bgl in your Scenery\World\Scenery folder and rename it to ADE_FTX_SCA_KLAS_elevation_adjustment.bak.  That should fix the Las Vegas issue.

 

 

 

 

 

Do you have ORBX Southern California?  If so find the file called ADE_FTX_SCA_KLAS_elevation_adjustment.bgl in your Scenery\World\Scenery folder and rename it to ADE_FTX_SCA_KLAS_elevation_adjustment.bak.  That should fix the Las Vegas issue.

 

 

Thanks for that.  I could not see any significant difference in the quality of mesh in FTX Global w/ and w/o FSG mesh, so I think I'll just skip it until something substantial develops.