Speed trees

[Sethos 4,336]

5 hours ago, SunDevil56 said:

Any associated performance hit..??

Not that I've experienced or heard of.

[SunDevil56 183]

10 hours ago, jabloomf1230 said:

How's this for better SpeedTrees?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/obll34yr3zm5cba/Darker SpeedTrees.jpg

Definitely an improved look, nice work...👍

[jabloomf1230 2,445]

I want to add some comments about ST and performance. The 3D tree versions are only active when the user's viewpoint is close to the models. Billboard (planar) trees are used at distance. The result is that at higher altitudes, performance with STs is about the same as with either the default P3d4 or add-on (ORBX, Terraflora, etc.) replacement texture sheets. ST uses mipmapped 1024 texture sheets for the billboard trees.

Another factor is that most big airports are not situated in forested areas, so the ST performance hit is not that noticeable at ground level.

LM increased the variety of ST types to several hundred in 4.5 to accommodate more species and seasons. My personal favorites are the various palm and palmetto types which sway in the tropical breezes.

For those of you who use ADE to update airports, all the ST types are placeable, including a 3D grass model which looks a whole lot better than billboard versions. Unlike autogenerated vegetation, any manually placed models will not change seasonally. This limitation can be overcome by either using multiple BGL files for the ST objects or if SODE is used to vary the tree model.