I was able to setup and configure FSEarthtiles to create photoreal scenery for P3dV4 even though it uses the FSX entry.  I used the tools from the P3DV4 SDK and imported them to the FSEarthtiles program folder.  Required a few tweaks of the config file but I was able to get it to work and create a small sample area of Napa, where I used to live.  I don't know if I will do any big projects but I would like to render the Phoenix metro area.  I have a lot of photoreal scenery on my old computer, but I have to have that serviced if I want to use it.  Otherwise I will be back to creating it again.

John

It is pretty cool to create something and then actually fly over it (or thru it or in it, ha!). I think we all tend to lean towards seeing our house, our town or our home airport when we start out developing or just flying.  Congrats.

11 hours ago, Cactus521 said:

I was able to setup and configure FSEarthtiles to create photoreal scenery for P3dV4 even though it uses the FSX entry.  I used the tools from the P3DV4 SDK and imported them to the FSEarthtiles program folder.  Required a few tweaks of the config file but I was able to get it to work and create a small sample area of Napa, where I used to live.  I don't know if I will do any big projects but I would like to render the Phoenix metro area.  I have a lot of photoreal scenery on my old computer, but I have to have that serviced if I want to use it.  Otherwise I will be back to creating it again.

John

Have you compared the quality to Megascenery Earth V3 or ultrares?  (these are the highest quality they have out, 4x is not higher).. i'm going through this myself right now.. i find that the size of fsearthtiles areas are usually huge compared to MSE.. ie: PA is around 50GB for MSE, at res1 in FSET its 380GB or more.. res2 around 98GB.. i thought res 1 looked closest, but for one state thats huge... what resolution are you opting for

3 minutes ago, theskyisthelimit said:

Have you compared the quality to Megascenery Earth V3 or ultrares?  (these are the highest quality they have out, 4x is not higher).. i'm going through this myself right now.. i find that the size of fsearthtiles areas are usually huge compared to MSE.. ie: PA is around 50GB for MSE, at res1 in FSET its 380GB or more.. res2 around 98GB.. i thought res 1 looked closest, but for one state thats huge... what resolution are you opting for

This is probably because MSE compresses their compiled bgls.  You have the option to do this as well in the FSEarthTiles ini file.  I've heard that setting the compression value to 80 is the best compromise between quality and size.  I'm not sure what size MSE uses.  But that's probably why the difference.

8 minutes ago, klamal said:

This is probably because MSE compresses their compiled bgls.  You have the option to do this as well in the FSEarthTiles ini file.  I've heard that setting the compression value to 80 is the best compromise between quality and size.  I'm not sure what size MSE uses.  But that's probably why the difference.

Ah nice, i didnt realize this setting.  edit: tried switching from 100 to 80, not much change, unless i didnt get the grid identical on reopening.

16 minutes ago, theskyisthelimit said:

Have you compared the quality to Megascenery Earth V3 or ultrares?  (these are the highest quality they have out, 4x is not higher).. i'm going through this myself right now.. i find that the size of fsearthtiles areas are usually huge compared to MSE.. ie: PA is around 50GB for MSE, at res1 in FSET its 380GB or more.. res2 around 98GB.. i thought res 1 looked closest, but for one state thats huge... what resolution are you opting for

I compress my scenery in FSEarthtiles to 90, it's a pretty decent compromise in quality and makes measurably smaller bgl's.  I tried the Megascenery Phoenix demo in P3dv4 and it would not display regardless of where I put the scenery and I even tried manually adding the scenery to my scenery.cfg, then tried placing the bgls with my other photoreal scenery.  No luck.  I won't risk purchasing the product, much as I would like to, only to have it not work in P3dV4.  I had to do some tweaks to get FSEarthtiles to work with P3D's SDK tools, had to do the same with FSX however.  I saved off my .ini file which supports Google Earth and Virtual Earth.  I got the settings from some website that had a tutorial on FSEarthtiles.  Never could get water masks to work in it however, I have to use the exclude option on the coastlines which is tedious work, for that reason I stick to inland areas when rendering my scenery. 

Also I use 2m as opposed to 1M.  Above 1000 ft. AGL the scenery looks fine, higher up, better still.

John

3 minutes ago, Cactus521 said:

I compress my scenery in FSEarthtiles to 90, it's a pretty decent compromise in quality and makes measurably smaller bgl's.  I tried the Megascenery Phoenix demo in P3dv4 and it would not display regardless of where I put the scenery and I even tried manually adding the scenery to my scenery.cfg, then tried placing the bgls with my other photoreal scenery.  No luck.  I won't risk purchasing the product, much as I would like to, only to have it not work in P3dV4.  I had to do some tweaks to get FSEarthtiles to work with P3D's SDK tools, had to do the same with FSX however.  I saved off my .ini file which supports Google Earth and Virtual Earth.  I got the settings from some website that had a tutorial on FSEarthtiles.  Never could get water masks to work in it however, I have to use the exclude option on the coastlines which is tedious work, for that reason I stick to inland areas when rendering my scenery. 

Also I use 2m as opposed to 1M.  Above 1000 ft. AGL the scenery looks fine, higher up, better still.

John

i have all my MSE sceneries working in p3dv4.. i had to make sure their entries were above FTX ones (i think).

1 minute ago, theskyisthelimit said:

i have all my MSE sceneries working in p3dv4.. i had to make sure their entries were above FTX ones (i think).

Maybe their demo just wasn't updated for P3dV4?  My homespun colorado scenery worked even though it used FSX's SDK.  It's here in the file library if you want to give it a try, it's eight downloads.  Took half a day to package up to stay compliant with Avsim's library rules but I got about 700 downloads for my effort plus a couple of thank you emails.

John

10 minutes ago, Cactus521 said:

Maybe their demo just wasn't updated for P3dV4?  My homespun colorado scenery worked even though it used FSX's SDK.  It's here in the file library if you want to give it a try, it's eight downloads.  Took half a day to package up to stay compliant with Avsim's library rules but I got about 700 downloads for my effort plus a couple of thank you emails.

John

Yeah ill definitely give that a shot.. is yours the 2014 one i see in the library.. was that also 2meter res (res2?)

11 minutes ago, Cactus521 said:

Maybe their demo just wasn't updated for P3dV4?  My homespun colorado scenery worked even though it used FSX's SDK.  It's here in the file library if you want to give it a try, it's eight downloads.  Took half a day to package up to stay compliant with Avsim's library rules but I got about 700 downloads for my effort plus a couple of thank you emails.

John

yeah, they have a new installer that works with p3dv4 (aside from the fact it drives the antivirus mad)

34 minutes ago, theskyisthelimit said:

Yeah ill definitely give that a shot.. is yours the 2014 one i see in the library.. was that also 2meter res (res2?)

Yes, I created it in 2014.  On a separate partition I have a folder called "Photoreal Scenery".  It has a scenery subfolder but no texture subfolder since there used to be an issue where MSFS would hunt for textures even though none are created.  I place the bgl's in the scenery subfolder then place the scenery at the top of the scenery library (or bottom of the scenery.cfg if you choose to manually add it).

Colorado was my first FSEarthtiles project, had a lot of fun with it, took days to render but the outcome was worth it.  In P3d, since last night, I have added the entire Napa Valley which I fly over with my trike ultralight, also in the library here.  P3d fixed a bug where the prop would disappear behind cumulus clouds on FSDS2 aircraft.  Love flying my trike since I've flown trikes real world, I pegged the flight dynamics down to a single place trike, hand coded the custom gauges in xml to match those of an ultralight, and got the sounds from a gentleman named Dean Scott who created the sound for his MSFS weedhopper add-on.  He gave permission for me to bundle the Rotax sounds with my trike, they are the most realistic I have ever found.

Just finished a half hour flight up my Napa Valley Photoreal scenery.

John

 

I purchased MSE California, I will see how that works, a gamble but I know they will provide good support given the user base here.  I'm installing it, once downloaded, in P3dV4.

John

Midway thru my download I did a check.  I had to manually add the scenery.cfg, the installer didn't support P3dV4.  I unpacked the bgl's and saw a sliver of California Photoreal when I zoomed out in spot view.  It's a long download process, not well managed, you have to select many links to install the scenery.  FSEarthtiles is arguably easier to deal with, but I will see where this goes.

John

 

13 minutes ago, Cactus521 said:

I purchased MSE California, I will see how that works, a gamble but I know they will provide good support given the user base here.  I'm installing it, once downloaded, in P3dV4.

John

Awesome. Did you make sure to get v3 not x4. X4 is pretty bad at least the region's I had 

Yes, got v3, it's a challenging process to download and manage.  They should bundle an installer that makes it easier.  The downloads are dragging on, but I will probably be finished with this by 2020 LOL.

John

14 hours ago, Cactus521 said:

I purchased MSE California,

 

Wow, did you try the great freeware photo sceneries from Blue Sky Scenery? They propose many Western US states including California.

Really higher quality than MSE payware IMOH. To me, MSE is probably the worst photo provider in our sim world...

By the way I'm working on a full autogen cover for California state.