Question for my fellow x planers, as I am new to X Plane 10, and have spent the last few days downloading plugins, airport addons etc, I have just come across HD Mesh V3.

 

My question is, do I need to download all to get world coverage? as they seem to be at different resolutions.

 

 

My question is, do I need to download all to get world coverage? as they seem to be at different resolutions.

 

HD Mesh is split in different regions (and it does not exist for the entire world). The resolution is the same everywhere.

 

You have to download the tiles for the regions you're flying in.

HD Mesh is split in different regions (and it does not exist for the entire world). The resolution is the same everywhere.

 

You have to download the tiles for the regions you're flying in.

Cheers thanks Mario

Hi,

 

First: there is NO world coverage  :smile:  (where did you get that from?). Simply by looking at the official map, you will see what is available (and what not).

 

Second: there is not categoric "different" resolution between HD Mesh Scenery v3 tiles, although depending on the region they are usually based on different raw data sources, which can have some effect on the perceived resolution (but at least technically, they are relaitvely identical). There is only a real "resolution"/quality difference between HD Mesh Scenery v3 OR UHD Mesh Scenery v1 (where the latte is also covering far fewer and smaller regions ... for reasons)

 

Third: HD Mesh Scenery v3 and equally UHD Mesh Scenery v1 tiles are completely self contained as none of them brings its own artwork (all the scenery is using the original X-Plane artwork set ... for textures, autogen, roads etc. etc.). Thus it makes technically no difference if you install a single 1x1 degree, or a 10x10 degree folder (based on one of the ZIP downloads), or everything at once. I even encourage users (hey, this is even in the instructions under Warnings / Requirements ... does anyone care to read that :wink: ) to start with one ZIP at first, try it, and only continue with other regions if they like what they see and are SURE it works.

 

 

First: there is NO world coverage :smile: (where did you get that from?).

I have no idea lol

 

Many thanks for your info, and will read the web page again. Lot to learn. You are quite right, one at a time would be the way to go. After all, there is no rush. Once again, thank you.

Julian - I'd recommend trying the HD Mesh V3, with the photoscenery available via Simheaven (the photo stuff is on a French site I believe, but it's linked from Simheaven), for a specific area to begin with. 

 

Eg.... You can get the mesh for the UK and also the photscenery for the UK in a reasonably sized set of downloads.   That'll give you a good idea.   IMHO the HD Mesh needs photoscenery (or at least improved textures) to really get the best from it.     HD Mesh V3 and the photoscenery for the UK is fantastic - beats any of the payware content of this nature for the UK in FSX.......... and (thanks to people like Alpilot), it's free!  :smile:

JYW:

• Simheaven is not offering photoscenery for more than a year now? Because of possible legal reasons (its still not clear, if its really OK to openly distribute scenery based on Bing/Google imagery etc.) and because of the extreme download volume ...
• You CAN NOT COMBINE HD Mesh Scenery v3 (or UHD Mesh Scenery v1) with any other scenery on the fly! This is - possibly - a myth. X-Plane only and always allows ONE active mesh scenery at the same time. And as all the photosceneries you name are mesh sceneries too .... you either have one or the other active / visible (and if both installed, then the priority in scenery_packs.ini decides) at the same time in the same location. No mixing / merging / overlaying at runtime!

Still:

• You can get photoscenery from zonephoto.x-plane.fr which is - as far as I know - based on default Global Scenery. And it is also bringing its own mesh (so, no magical mixing with HD Mesh Scenery v3 is happening)
• You can derive your own photoscenery based(!) on for example HD Mesh Scenery v3 by using a tool like g2xpl ... Which re-tailors the mesh and replaces default textures with phototexture (from Google or Bing ... or what ever else). But it also gives you a new mesh based in many parts on the input HD Mesh Scenery v3 (oh, and before you think you might then freely distribute that ... you better read the very short license terms on my website and ask)
• You can generate an entirely new photoscenery mesh on you own with Ortho4XP (but you need much more knowledge here) ... and still you get a new mesh, which is on its own.

Just as a technical side-note: indeed, there is one way to have phototextures ON an existing mesh (yes, on HD Mesh Scenery v3 too). Its called overlay texturing. But this technique is not meant to be used at large scale (entire scenery tiles) because of its horrendous performance overhead. Instead it is meant to be used for small scale sceneries like airports. And this is the area where it is also used a lot (and nciely) ... as it allows the airport to overlay its local phototextures independently of the mesh placed below it.

but you need much more knowledge here

I think Ortho4XP is much easier to use than g2xpl... You basically just need to know the tile coordinates, download the height data and hit the buttons, one after another.

JYW:

• Simheaven is not offering photoscenery for more than a year now? Because of possible legal reasons (its still not clear, if its really OK to openly distribute scenery based on Bing/Google imagery etc.) and because of the extreme download volume ...
• You CAN NOT COMBINE HD Mesh Scenery v3 (or UHD Mesh Scenery v1) with any other scenery on the fly! This is - possibly - a myth. X-Plane only and always allows ONE active mesh scenery at the same time. And as all the photosceneries you name are mesh sceneries too .... you either have one or the other active / visible (and if both installed, then the priority in scenery_packs.ini decides) at the same time in the same location. No mixing / merging / overlaying at runtime

 

Thanks for the clarifications.   Clearly in my case, the mesh from the Photoscenery (which I did mention is linked on Simheaven, but hosted on another site - zonephoto.x-plane.fr) will have been displaying for the UK - and not your HD Mesh.    I (incorrectly) thought I was seeing both.

I think Ortho4XP is much easier to use than g2xpl... You basically just need to know the tile coordinates, download the height data and hit the buttons, one after another.

 

Yes but be prepared for some extra HD space... especially with ZL above 16...

I prefer 17 and up testing with it now downloaded my country and great performance and loading with w2xp_Europe and w2xp_Europe_net for roads etc..

Now to figure out how to combine zoom levels on the same tile?

 

cheers

 

 

ulian - I'd recommend trying the HD Mesh V3, with the photoscenery available via Simheaven (the photo stuff is on a French site I believe, but it's linked from Simheaven), for a specific area to begin with.

Thank you for your comments Bill. All helps in the learning process.

Alpilot, So you're saying orthophoto sceneries created using apps liek g2xpl or Ortho4xp are technically photoscenery with mesh built-in?

 

Because at the moment I have made my own custom orthosceneries using those 2 apps and also using HD Mesh v3 at the same time. All this time I thought that the photoscenery can be layered or stack on top of the HD Mesh v3. So just reading by what you said, you can only use one or another. 

 

What would happen if both the HD Mesh V3 and photoscenery were used in your scenery.ini file? Would it the photoscenery take priorirty over the HD Mesh v3?

 

I guess I need to go back to my custom scenery folder and delete all my custom ortho photoscenery, as they take up a lot of space, and the quality between regions is very inconsistent. I'd like to use HD Mesh v3 solely.

Aaron, have a read through this somewhat old sticky http://www.avsim.com/topic/430976-scenery-and-openstreetmap-osm-faq/ and this post

http://www.avsim.com/topic/442579-understanding-scenery-order/

 

As Alpilot says, this is a very common misconception. The above posts will explain what is going on :-)

What would happen if both the HD Mesh V3 and photoscenery were used in your scenery.ini file? Would it the photoscenery take priorirty over the HD Mesh v3?

I just simply re-quote myself (or you could have simply re-read it above :wink: ):

 

 

.... you either have one or the other active / visible (and if both installed, then the priority in scenery_packs.ini decides) at the same time in the same location. No mixing / merging / overlaying at runtime!

 

So, not even the priority is happening by magic, but simply by the scenery_packs.ini!

Guess I'll just stick to purely using HD Mesh v3 with default textures then. 

 

So ALL photoscenery, whether custom made or bought such as Real Scenery Oahu includes it's own mesh if I'm not mistaken?