Now, Batching tiles, like a Banshee!

[Griphos 138]

I think the overlay problem may be because when I created a new overlay from the new directory, it created for only the one tile I had highlighted, not the whole set.  

I'm creating overlays for each tile now and will move and try them out to see if it worked.  

Any advice/help on the other issues, if there's anything to be done about them, would be appreciated.

[Griphos 138]

Yep, that was the overlay problem.  

I'm not sure the Ortho is worth it.  This set is 85gb!  Of course, that covers CT, RI and MA and all of Long Island.

And the tiles by themselves, while accurate, and decent resolution, look very flat.  Autogen over them does indeed help with the 3D perception, where hills and terrain variations are more noticeable.  But it does sort of mess up the fidelity.

So I took out the symbolic link and just flew the same area with default scenery enhanced with HD mesh v3 and the result, overall, is more convincing.  It just looked a lot more like what I saw last week while driving all around the area.  Sure, the houses and urban areas are only approximations, but they're decent approximations.  And the overall result just looks nicer to me.  Less a hodgepodge. 

If one is okay with the ortho imagery without autogen, as I know you are Sesquashtoo, then I can see using this tech.  It was neat to see just exactly what I knew to be there from my trip.  I flew low along the Black Hall river where I kayaked, and all the houses and the marina were right where they should be, and the river was quite convincing.  But, for low and slow where one does not really know the territory, and for those requiring the 3D depth of autogen to be satisfied, I think the default scenery and autogen is pretty darned good.

I think I'll run a set of tiles for southern Utah and northern Arizona still.  I think desert areas are probably where this tech shines best, and offers the most believable environment.  

I'm glad I've learned how to do it.  I've seen some very convincing Ortho in videos, mostly for Europe.  I'll continue to play with it some, I think.  

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

5 hours ago, Griphos said:

How might I clean the unused DDS and TER files after completing a batch?  Do I highlight the tiles in the map and do Step 3 again?  Or is there a way to do it manually?  

Thanks for your help.

You'd do it manually...with that box checked...just re-do step 3 (generate tile) and after it does...the last thing step 3 will do, is clean all unused files...

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

3 hours ago, Griphos said:

Well, I have some issues.  I flew the area I created, and although the resolution looks pretty good (17/19/2), there is no autogen except around airports.  I have world objects at max.  I originally created an overlay from global scenery when I created the batch.  But then I downloaded HD mesh v3 by alpilotx and ran the create overlay again pointing to that.  Could that have created a problem? I copied the resulting folder (+40-080) into my yOrtho4XP_Overlays folder in Custom Scenery. I have the overlay above the ortho in the scenery.ini of course.  

Also, there are ugly brown tiles which I suppose are due to images taken in winter perhaps.  Finally, the water masks look bizarre.  

Here are some images: 

I'd say that somewhere, you messed up the generation process. I have no tiles that have such a stark part of it, surrounded by green.  What source did you use?

Your water masks are definitely screwed up...

Something is wrong in the settings, I'd figure.

 

[Griphos 138]

I used USA_2.  Here are the basic settings I used, which are the default settings I think:

And on the map page where I did the batch build, none of the boxes were checked:

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.  I think I'll try to do the Faroe Islands using FO as source and see what happens

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

17 hours ago, Griphos said:

I used USA_2.  Here are the basic settings I used, which are the default settings I think:

And on the map page where I did the batch build, none of the boxes were checked:

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.  I think I'll try to do the Faroe Islands using FO as source and see what happens

I gave you a detailed, lol, guide to what to do..and then pressed a key combo and lost the entire post. The restore didn't capture it.  You set up is of course wrong to successfully generate a good visual tile. If you (and I'm not being a smart guy, truly) read the manual, it will describe each option...how to set it up...what to do.  Grab a coffee, and start reading. You'll be up in no time.   Good luck :)

[Griphos 138]

You're teasing me!!

Why would the default settings be all wrong for doing good tiles?  That seems counterproductive.  

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

2 hours ago, Griphos said:

You're teasing me!!

Why would the default settings be all wrong for doing good tiles?  That seems counterproductive.  

Because for instance, your overlay is not set up..and that does not come as a default setting. Such as that.

Also, Complex Masks and Inland Masks Griphos, also do not get set in the default .cfg file.

If you look at some of my posts for Ortho4XP, I believe that I have captured all my settings...and you can mimic them. Then, you will get the best composite tile that you could imagine!  Also, run with BI, USA_2, or GO2 for the first few times...and you will be most happy with the outcome.

 

You'll figure it all out, as we all did, that stuck with it.  There is a learning curve, for sure!  I am now, as I'm typing this Batching my first of Western Europe...France in fact...tiles around Paris, and Lyon!

 Cheers!

[Griphos 138]

I just read the manual again.  I read it carefully before starting my first tile.  I'm afraid I see nothing in it that makes me conclude I need different settings.  Although for relatively flat areas, like CT, I think I can lower the curv_tol quite a bit.  I'll experiment with that.  I can't find anything in the manual about complex masks or inland masks.  But those appear to just be check boxes without parameters, so I'll check them and see what they do.  

I did set up for overlays using apilotx's HD mesh, I just cropped that part out of the image.  I think I should check the "build masks" and "build overlays" boxes on the batch process page, though.  My way, I had to build the overlays manually one tile at a time after I was done.  It seemed to work, but perhaps the results are different if I let the batcher do it.  

I'll look around in your many posts and see if I can spot the ones where you show your settings.  I've read through quite a few of them before, but don't remember seeing any settings images.  

 

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

8 hours ago, Griphos said:

I just read the manual again.  I read it carefully before starting my first tile.  I'm afraid I see nothing in it that makes me conclude I need different settings.  Although for relatively flat areas, like CT, I think I can lower the curv_tol quite a bit.  I'll experiment with that.  I can't find anything in the manual about complex masks or inland masks.  But those appear to just be check boxes without parameters, so I'll check them and see what they do.  

I did set up for overlays using apilotx's HD mesh, I just cropped that part out of the image.  I think I should check the "build masks" and "build overlays" boxes on the batch process page, though.  My way, I had to build the overlays manually one tile at a time after I was done.  It seemed to work, but perhaps the results are different if I let the batcher do it.  

I'll look around in your many posts and see if I can spot the ones where you show your settings.  I've read through quite a few of them before, but don't remember seeing any settings images.  

 

You are trying very hard...and I'd be most happy to help you to success...

...I've sent you a PM message.

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

On 6/15/2017 at 11:07 PM, Griphos said:

I used USA_2.  Here are the basic settings I used, which are the default settings I think:

And on the map page where I did the batch build, none of the boxes were checked:

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.  I think I'll try to do the Faroe Islands using FO as source and see what happens

Here you go, but change my 'G' hard drive letter, to your own, where XP resides on your computer. Just place this location line in the white letter box, but changing my G to your needs, in the Overlay section of the set-up screen.

G:\X-Plane 11\Global Scenery\X-Plane 11 Global Scenery

Set up your two setting screens with the following, but change the BaseZoom Level zl rating, and the Base Source, to whatever your needs/likes are for tile generation. If you have already generated your Texas tiles as you have Griphos, also box-check Clean Unused DDS and Ter files as well. This will remove as the last tile generating process, all the prior source and z-rating files from that tile, and save you gobs of storage room for that tile or tiles... This is an excellent feature.

 

[Griphos 138]

Thanks very much for your help. I did a batch of three tiles last night for the Faroe Islands with basically these settings, except I lowered curv_tol to .5 (not very bumpy terrain) and set the mask width fo 20, since the tiles are mostly water. Got to go out of town today, but I'll post some images when I get a chance to fly it. I set the config for 17/19/2. 

I re-ran step 3 for all three tiles after the batch finished, as per your suggestion in another thread. It found at least one image it hadn't downloaded, and, of course, that gave the masks a chance to increase complexity, as you also talked about in that other thread. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how it came out. 

[nicksort 8]

I am glad that you will post your images.

[Griphos 138]

Well, it was a qualified success.  The airport integrated well:

The coastlines and water masks turned out well:

Some towns populated with autogen buildings and forests, but some didn't.  Like Leynar above.  But Vestmanna did for part of the town:

But not the part with larger buildings:

The main problem is that it's flat as a pancake.  I'm flying under 1500 ft AGL and should be flying into terrain, which goes above 2000 ft in this area.  I suppose this is because Ortho4XP couldn't find DEM data?  

It seems one little spot had terrain data:

It seems as if it's trying to draw relief in the distance, but when I fly there, it's flat:

So, I guess I need to find and download some DEM terrain data and run the batch again?  I set it to clean up, so hopefully, the relevant images are still there and I can just insert the terrain relief if I figure out how to do that.

The images, at ZL17, are pretty darned crisp, though.  There's not much on these islands but grass.  That's why I thought they might be a good test case.  I'm hopeful I can get them a bit bumpier!

[Sesquashtoo 2,846]

2 hours ago, Griphos said:

Well, it was a qualified success.  The airport integrated well:

The coastlines and water masks turned out well:

Some towns populated with autogen buildings and forests, but some didn't.  Like Leynar above.  But Vestmanna did for part of the town:

But not the part with larger buildings:

The main problem is that it's flat as a pancake.  I'm flying under 1500 ft AGL and should be flying into terrain, which goes above 2000 ft in this area.  I suppose this is because Ortho4XP couldn't find DEM data?  

It seems one little spot had terrain data:

It seems as if it's trying to draw relief in the distance, but when I fly there, it's flat:

So, I guess I need to find and download some DEM terrain data and run the batch again?  I set it to clean up, so hopefully, the relevant images are still there and I can just insert the terrain relief if I figure out how to do that.

The images, at ZL17, are pretty darned crisp, though.  There's not much on these islands but grass.  That's why I thought they might be a good test case.  I'm hopeful I can get them a bit bumpier!

Looks great...and as you figured...if it can't find DEM data...that's what happens..but the coasts and water is now killer!  Glad I could help....better start buying My Books...lol.  It's totally addictive...