PTA and/or URP?

[WebMaximus 372]

I asked about this in another thread but will create a separate thread for this specific question as well because I really want to understand this.

I bought PTA the other day and tonight I also downloaded URP but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to use these two together or rather pick one of them for best results?

If you do use them together, in what order should you apply the changes? It would seem logical to me the last one you use and then apply your settings will override whatever you had before?

Should also mention I use ENVTEX...

I hope someone more knowledgeable can enlighten me! 

[GSalden 4,656]

I only use PTA. Why should I mix 2 programs ...?

[WebMaximus 372]

That was exactly my question, should you mix these or should they be used one at a time.

I've now understood though exactly what you're saying above and I'm now figuring out which one I will use (if any of them...).

So far I've tried PTA with the preset that comes with PTA called MattDavies_v1.1 and I also tried pta2-preset-thopat-2_1 praised by lots of people. Lastly I just tried URP 1.1.

The MattDavies preset looked really nice but looking at the sky and clouds when I was on the ground it looked almost too good...a bit like a beautiful oil-painting.

The Thopat preset seemed to be very dark during night time to a degree where I barely could see inside the cockpit.

URP so far might be the best one IMO but will need more time to play around with all this to know for sure which one I prefer.

Or maybe I just end up going back to default P3Dv4 

[Cruachan 705]

Hi Richard,

The PTA GUI is quite daunting (comprehensive range of tweaking options) and testing for each change made can be very time consuming, if not frustrating, as you try to get the balance just right. Why not just leave that side of things to those well practiced in such matters, have invested the time and effort and offer their Presets to the Community. I have. Everyone has their favourites and much will depend on where you live in the world and the colours you are used to seeing (as a side note, the same could be said for XP11). Correct monitor calibration is also very important if you are serious about optimising your results.

My own preferences can be found here: http://www.nzfsim.org/index.php?dsp=PTA&id=88&preset=25_04#89

Adam produces some wonderful Presets which produce very natural real world visuals. He lives in NZ and I in the UK (Scotland) so our real world experiences are close to being similar. I've been using his Presets for quite a while now and am always delighted with the results.

Using the same Sky textures as the creator of the Preset is also worth underlining as an incorrect choice can easily produce weird lighting effects. Adam explains all this on his website page. I'm sure this is why we read of so many users achieving inconsistent results.

My own preference is for ASCA clouds and REX4 TD Sky textures (Note that currently I am not using anything else from REX4 TD, although I do have another Theme for alternative sounds). I use ENVTEX but not for Sky or Clouds.

To help get you started, here are a few images:

N.B. Adam's recommended in-sim HDR (required) settings are applied automatically by his latest PTA Preset.

URP is not required as PTA handles everything you are ever likely to need shader-wise.

Regards,

Mike

 

[WebMaximus 372]

Super thanks for this very thorough answer Mike, much appreciated!

Will keep playing around with all different options trying to find what I like best.

I'll also try out the presets you recommend from Adam. Did some quick reading on his webpage and got the impression he really knows what he's talking about.

I've already realized messing around with these things is rather time-consuming but hopefully it will be well worth it in the end once you've found a combination you really like.