Deciding between Pilots FS Global Ultimate and the freeware FreeMesh X 2.0. Don't care about price, just realism. The FreeMesh I'm familiar with.  Was wondering which had better LOD? I know with FreeMesh the US is LOD12 and LOD10 I think over the rest of the world. 

I have the same question. Currently using FreeMesh but considering FS Global Ultimate. According to Pilot's website, their mesh is varying from LOD8 to LOD14 depending on terrain type. The question for me is whether the LOD10 to LOD12-14 difference would be visible and breathtaking enough to justify the cost.

I like the Pilots FSGUX. Suddenly table top flat plains in the mid-West are no longer flat but are beautifully undulating as in the real world.  I recently made a trip in a DC6 from Corpus Christi to Eagle Co CO, flying only as high as i had too and it was a real visual treat. From the coastal plains through the Texas hill country then up the Caprock Escarpment over Lubbock and North over the Llano Estacado high planes and the second largest canyon in the country, the Palo Duro. Finally reaching the foothills of the Central Rockies and climbing to 14500 for a visual into KEGE Eagle Co courtesy of Orbx.  What a great trip and not possible without a truly good mesh that reveal the subtleties of the terrain.

Dan, do you know what the LOD is for the US with that product? Does it say in the manual?

Pilots mesh is very good, but most airports have at least some elevation issues (at least in the US southwest where I mostly fly).  I got tired seeing them so just add each airport I fly into to the AFM tool.

9 hours ago, gregda said:

Pilots mesh is very good, but most airports have at least some elevation issues (at least in the US southwest where I mostly fly).  I got tired seeing them so just add each airport I fly into to the AFM tool.

What is a AFM tool?

41 minutes ago, B777ER said:

What is a AFM tool?

AFM is Aerodrome Flattening Meshes, the free tool Pilot's provides to correct airport elevation issues

I thought FTX Vector AEC was supposed to take care of airport elevation issues, if you own FTX Vector, as Pilot's FSGUX is said to be compatible to FTX. Now, FTX AEC is for FTX Vector users and Pilot's AFM is for non-Vector users, or will you have to use both of them...? While AEC works (if it does) automatically, AFM does not and has to be invoked manually on a per-airport base after detecting an issue, which I find a real pain.

Kind regards, Michael

 

I use Vector also and after running the Vector elevation correction tool I still see many airports with the problem.  They are not like you see when not-running the Vector tool..like runways stuck in some massive canyon.  They are usually just the entire airport elevated slightly higher than the surrounding terrain.  But a huge immersion killer so yeah its a pain...and I just add each airport to AEM before I fly there.

I took the decision and bought FS Global Ultimate Next Generation. It's expensive but I can say that it was worth the money. What you get is a very believable terrain now, that is a real game changer to me. The diversity of the elevation is astonishing to look and fly. I was using FreeMeshX before, which does a good job of course updating the default mesh, but as I understand, the approach of FS Global is to use a smarter way to assign LOD resolutions. So, there is not an assigned LOD for a whole continent, but they have an algorithm to assign higher LOD for mountainous areas and lower LOD for flat terrain, which makes sense to keep the storage requirement and performance desirable. This seems to me to produce higher resoltions than FreeMeshX on interesting terrains, that I really appreciate. I can't quantify that as it was a visual comparison, but I would definitely recommend it. 

24 minutes ago, Daedalus said:

I took the decision and bought FS Global Ultimate Next Generation. It's expensive but I can say that it was worth the money. What you get is a very believable terrain now, that is a real game changer to me. The diversity of the elevation is astonishing to look and fly. I was using FreeMeshX before, which does a good job of course updating the default mesh, but as I understand, the approach of FS Global is to use a smarter way to assign LOD resolutions. So, there is not an assigned LOD for a whole continent, but they have an algorithm to assign higher LOD for mountainous areas and lower LOD for flat terrain, which makes sense to keep the storage requirement and performance desirable. This seems to me to produce higher resoltions than FreeMeshX on interesting terrains, that I really appreciate. I can't quantify that as it was a visual comparison, but I would definitely recommend it. 

Thank you sir, you made my mind up. Will purchase this on my next day off. Is it 1 big installer file? Does that AFM tool come with it?

59 minutes ago, B777ER said:

Thank you sir, you made my mind up. Will purchase this on my next day off. Is it 1 big installer file? Does that AFM tool come with it?

No problem! :) Glad I could help a little. It's a 72 GB download, split in 19 files that you download and unzip after. After unzipping, there is a single installer with easy steps to install. The AFM tool is freely available on their website. I haven't experiment with it yet, I'll use it when I see any problem. I saw a layering problem in a FlyTampa airport so far, but after I run the automatic FTX Vector configuration tool once, it was easily fixed. I'm sure you will enjoy it and appreciate the new terrain :)

I bought FS Global 2018 FTX Compatible in September for $70; for P3Dv4; was this the wrong mesh? Do I need to get UNGen? And have to pay full price for it? Thanks for any help with this. I do have lots of airport elev problems even after running AEC.

1 hour ago, B777ER said:

Thank you sir, you made my mind up. Will purchase this on my next day off. Is it 1 big installer file? Does that AFM tool come with it?

There is an updated AFM tool that you have to download from their web site after first logging into your account.  The advantage of the AFM vs Vector AEC (also done by Pilots for Orbx) is that AFM provides a gradual slope between surrounding mesh and the airport flatten and usually looks really good.  The only negative I've seen and it is minor is water bodies or lakes nearby are not adjusted so under certain conditions you can have a lake in a sink hole.  Otherwise it is an excellent tool.

At KEGE the runway is way higher than the airport.  Tottally off.  Even after re running the vector tool and adding a lost bgl then re running the tool. No change.