As I'm using HD meshes where possible I'd like to delete the default scenery but keep the default gateway airports.

 

Can I just go ahead and delete the dsf files from the Earth nav data folder in the global scenery folder?

Yes. The Gateway airports live in Custom Scenery, so you can delete the default scenery without any issue. Remember to use the latest XP10 installer to remove your scenery.

Yep, safely deleted with gateway airports intact. Thinking about it I guess I'm going to have to download the default mesh every time I want to update the gateway airports?

Gateway airports have nothing to do with Mesh. Completely separate folders and files. So "messing" with the default mesh will not affect your gateway airports in any way.

(by the way, why do you delete default Mesh when you can have HD Mesh in parallel? Only reason I could understand would be to save disk space.)

Yeah, I'm trying to save every gigabyte I can. There's no way of downloading just the airports, right?

Does HD Mesh replace all of the default mesh or do I need to keep some of it?

How would you keep "some of it" :smile: . When you always only have one(!) DSF file for one(!) 1x1 degree area, then  you either can keep it in full or replace / delete it in full. And X-plane also only show one mesh at once (never mixes or something like that) ... and the one you see is always the one with the highest priority (and as HD / UHD Mesh is always - in a way - above default Meh, you will get that, while default does not even gets loaded)

 

And more on Mesh a few threads below this one:

• http://www.avsim.com/topic/498605-mesh-in-x-plane-has-extra-features/?p=3516077

Or if you're asking if you can replace the worldwide base scenery with HD, that's not (yet) the case. You will at least have to keep the regions for which HD mesh/scenery is not available (Africa, most of Asia etc.) if you want to fly there.

OK - that makes sense.  How would one know which files to keep?

 

PS  I'm coming from the FSX/P3D world which speaks a different language.

Why "replace" ??? Replace is really only an option if you definitely need to save every possible GByte (but then flight sims are not the best option anyways :smile: )

 

Normally you install the HD or UHD Mesh Scenery (or even both) in parallel to the default Global Scenery in the Custom Scenery folder. Then based on the priority X-Plane will load which ever has highest prio (or exists at all) in any given location.

 

And if you still want to replace the Global Scenery default files directly (which is OK, but I do not recommend that): then naming schema of folders and files is identical (because the names include the geographic position of the DSF which it covers ... that's why it stays identical across different mesh products) so you can simply drop in the Global Scenery and overwrite files where ever you have a HD / UHD one.

 

One CAUTION. the XP11 Global Scenery was created with a much newer version of the Lamianr scenery generator (which I use to for HD / UHD mesh) and thus might have a few little features especially in cities, which make them look a tad better (new way of autogen layout, some special road types for Europe etc.) . So, in urbanized regions HD Mesh Scenery v3 / UHD Mesh Scenery v1 might not look as good as the XP11 deful global Scenery (in natural regions - everything non-urban - however you definitely should get better results with HD / UHD Mesh).

 

And also, the XP11 Global Scenery uses newer data than HD / UHD Mesh (but especially mesh and landclass placement is at much lower resolution).

OK - thanks for the good information!