Generic PTA testing scenario - suggestions please!

[Adamski_NZ 942]

The aim is to try and arrive at a test scenario for comparing PTA tweaks - which would have standardised textures for terrain, sky, clouds and water.

 

I'd like to try and create a downloadable archive that contains freely available textures for all these (so as not to fall foul of any copyright issues). However - my big problem is with terrain, as I'm totally committed to the full ORBX set (FTX Global etx. etc.), so even when flying outside an ORBX add-on area, I'm still in "FTX Global land". Disabling all of it to get back to default P3D is probably a no-no, as:

 

a] It will look terrible - and will hardly be a good test of PTA -  and

b] Hardly anyone flies in default P3D anyway.

c] I do a lot of work in ORBX and I'm simply not prepared to keep turning it off for PTA tweaking sessions.

 

So ... if there's no easy way around all this ... what would be the most suitable/popular FTX area to use? Suggestions please! My vote goes to NZSI or NZNI!

 

1) What suggestions do people have for a freely available **neutral** set of sky/could textures?

 

2) Any ideas if there are also (free) water textures out there we could use?

 

Of course, we'd have to contact the owners of any textures involved regarding permission to include their work in the archive (or we just include links).

 

Suggestions please!!!!

 

Adam.

[Eclair 0]

Here you are:

https://orbxdirect.com/demos

 

One of the deepest sky textures:

https://flyawaysimulation.com/downloads/files/18029/fsx-hde-sky-textures-v20/

 

I'm voting for Pacific Northwest and HDE2 converted sky textures!

[Cruachan 705]

Iceland and Pacific North West 'demos' get my vote.

I could, of course, easily install Tasmania if need be.

 

And then, of course, there is FTX NZNI and NZSI which I have as well but, sadly, not free.

 

Gennadiy Mamendov's Sky textures would seem to be a strong candidate.

 

Not sure about clouds but the latest AS2016/ASCA might be in the running as many of us (not me, at present, as I have been preferring those provided by ENVTEX) are using this combo. Also, I think once you have a cloud set loaded loaded dynamically the sim can be run with the Fair Weather setting without AS16/ASCA running and P3D will, I think, use the last set installed. Sometimes I find I have to switch temporarily to Clear Skies and then back to Fair Weather to get decent cloud coverage.

 

Free alternative Water textures? Sorry, can't help there.

 

Mike

[Adamski_NZ 942]

Mike - I see you also have FTX NZ ... so I'll kick off with one from there. I see you also have REX/TD, which is also handy. Seeing as water might be a problem, I'll create one over land only.

 

Adam.

[Cruachan 705]

Hi Adam,

 

Why not start with your last image posted in the other thread since that was what really got me going!

 

You asked me whether I thought the image appeared 'dull'. I wouldn'f go quite that far as I thought the lighting and colouration of ground textures were still impressive. However, when I saw your image with the bright, out of shadow, areas of snow I knew something was different.

 

Also, are we on the same page with P3D and graphic driver versions? Not sure how relevant these will be in the grand scheme of things but my previous great experiences using your Presets was with Prepar3D 3.4.9.18400 and driver version 376.33.

 

Regards,

Mike

[Adamski_NZ 942]

Thanks, Mike. I didn't see your last post before I got cracking with the one below. If you mean that snow shot, we could have a problem as we have clouds in that one - and I use FEX, which you don't have.



I've created an archive with notes and a saved scenario: http://www.nzfsim.org/index.php?dsp=dload&fname=pta_generic_test_01.zip

Here are the notes for it:

PTA Preset TEST Scenario 01
====================================

This one is just a "greens" test.

Required:
1) ORBX NZNI.
2) Default P3D Piper J-3 Cub.
3) REX/TD : REX Sky textures: Dawn: 22 Chill | Day: 14 Fair | Dusk 03 Dust.

Optional:
1) FEX cloud theme: When logged into the FEX server, try finding Adam P3dv3 PTA 20-08, author Adam Banks.
S38° 44.78' E177° 12.25'
Alt: +6088
Hdg: 266.1

1) Front/cockpit view, but with VC hidden (SHFT-1).
2) Default zoom (100%).
3) Save the file in TIF format for an uncompressed original.
4) Resize to 1280px 72dpi and save as JPG at around 75/80% quality.

P3D 3.4.22 19868

nVidia 378.49

 

Adam.
 

[Cruachan 705]

Hi Adam,

 

That's good, but before I get cracking on the content of your post above maybe I should say that I am starting to believe I may have jumped the gun on this one  :Shame On You:  Fired up P3d this afternoon (BTW, shouldn't you be in bed?!) and returned to my favourite 'Adam Preset Testing Area' which is North of ORBX Darrington (1S2), Washington State and could not believe what I am now seeing!!

 

 

 

I may have to eat humble pie. Still, let's proceed a bit further and I'll start by posting an image without making any changes to my current setup and see what transpires. Watch this space!

 

Regards,

Mike

[Cruachan 705]

Hi Adam,

 

Hope you managed to get some useful shut eye!

 

Here are my PTA Preset TEST Scenario 01 results. Hopefully should all be self explanatory:

 

Vegetation -> set to Cast Shadow (I had it unchecked and the resultant image was nothing like yours :mad: )

 

 

PTA_Generic_Test_01(Clear Skies ENVTEX) 1280.jpg

 

 

PTA_Generic_Test_01(Clear Skies REX4TD) 1280.jpg

 

 

PTA_Generic_Test_01(Fair Weather ENVTEX) 1280.jpg

 

 

PTA_Generic_Test_01(Fair Weather REX4TD-Skies and ENVTEX-Clouds) 1280.jpg

 

To my eyes, it would appear that the Sky textures, courtesy of REX4 TD, are producing images very close to what you are seeing. Water looks just a tad darker, however, and that may be because your Sky is slightly lighter in colour and is affecting the appearance of the whole scene.

 

Link to full archive which includes the original size TIFF images for closer examination:

https://personal.filesanywhere.com/fs/v.aspx?v=8d6f628b61616fafb49b

 

Regards,

Mike

[jimcarrel 688]

Sorry to be off topic but, Cruachan, I couldn't resist taking off from 1S2 in a beechcraft and following North thru the widest canyons following a large body of water thru the mountains, thru off and on snow showers. After about 40 minutes of wondering what I had gotten myself into, I broke out of snowy canyons into a wonderful expansive valley. CYHE was a well kept grass runway and looked like a glider club kept it up, also an immaculate large Golf Club area.

 

I started on towards CYCW, and ran into a large area of fog (I had thought to turn on pitot and carb heat) Seems I need to put this thing in the shop. Carb heat couldn't keep up, had to land in a large field where luckily there was nothing but large power lines. I had to shut down and sit around waiting for the thing to thaw out.

 

Finally got to take off and continued on to CYCW. This whole area doesn't look like P3D generic, must be an orbyx easter egg. A very nice place to fly around in, about 1 mile out from CYCW it happened again, loss of power. Looked like I was doing a good job of possibly making the runway when all of a sudden full power came up.

 

Again I apologize for off topic, but this trip may stick with me a while.... and Adams 20-10 preset was part of it.

Thanks for the idea of the trip.

[Adamski_NZ 942]

Wow, Mike - that's a cracker of a shot!!! I'll see what it looks like in mine! What time of day was it?

 

Adam.

 

P.S. I never sleep

 

EDIT: Just saw your pics, Mike - our first set of comparisons - well done! Your Pic #2 (with REX sky) does indeed look very like mine. The ENVTEX ones are significantly darker - but that just illustrates how even a subtle change of sky colouring can change the lighting of the whole scene. The setup is for 4pm (so we can get some decent terrain relief) but it's already getting dark by P3D standards, which appears to shift the onset of darkness forward by around 3 hours!!!

 

@Jim does the Beechcraft normally freeze up so quickly at 8500ft in winter?

[jimcarrel 688]

Very humid atmosphere (heavy fog) and a notch below freezing temps? I think I have frozen the DHC6 twotter a little easier. 

[Cruachan 705]

Wow, Mike - that's a cracker of a shot!!! I'll see what it looks like in mine! What time of day was it?

 

Hi Adam,

 

Thank you kind sir! Think maybe I've been over fussing? LOL!

 

Season: Fall

Time of Day: 3.30pm

 

Looks even better now, I think, with the REX4 TD Sky Texture selection (Dawn: 22 Chill | Day: 14 Fair | Dusk 03 Dust)

Really, I should be prepared to experiment more than I do.

 

Regards,

Mike

[Cruachan 705]

Hi Adam,

 

I'm really, really hooked on your latest 20_10 Preset and, as I type this, you will find me tucking into a very large helping of humble pie :im Not Worthy:

 

Just had to post these latest image captures. Everything is as before apart from the change in Sky textures listed in previous post #12.

 

The penultimate image was taken near CYCW (enjoyed reading your account, Jim) and the last while returning to Darrington Municipal in the evening as the sun was setting.

 

Dawn

 

 

 

Sunset

 

Not sure if you would like to continue with some further comparison tests, Adam, but I'm willing if you are :smile:

 

Wondering whether my Day skies should be a touch lighter? Odd as they did appear lighter in Post #8. Season: Fall. I note your image was taken in the Summer so perhaps that has something to do with it. Edit: Checked by changing seasons using your image and sky colour remains unchanged.

 

Regards,

Mike

[Adamski_NZ 942]

Mike - here's your PNW shot on my system:

 

 

I've also posted a 2nd TEST scenario: http://www.nzfsim.org/index.php?dsp=PTA&preset=20_10#tips

 

 

Again, I'm try to avoid water - so this one's more or a buildings/autogen test.

 

Adam.

 

[Cruachan 705]

Hi Adam,

Seeing definite differences this time around. Clear Skies: REX4 TD (Dawn: 22 Chill | Day: 14 Fair | Dusk 03 Dust)

Adam's Image Reprised


My Image


___________________________________________________________________________________________________________


pta_generic_test_02 (Summer, 7.00am)

Adam's Image


My Image


My images seem to be displaying less brightness, warmth and vitality as compared to yours. Funny thing is if I had not seen your images for comparison it's likely that I would have considered mine as being okay. I wonder what could be causing this to happen?


Supplemental Image: Same situation, volte-face to show Water(Sea)


Regards,
Mike