Combining Orbx Australia v2 and OZx in P3D

[MM 422]

Setting up a combination of Orbx Australia v2 and OZx in P3Dv4

The basic idea is to use Orbx Australia v2 (AUv2) with its enhanced scenery landscapes and mesh as well as "Neil Hill" renditions of airports. We want to combine this package with the existing OZx airports. The main problem here is that the new more accurate mesh doesn't exactly match the old Holgermesh on which OZx was based. And we need to eliminate some conflicts between AUv2 and OZx. (A few ignorable problems will persist.)

Installing Orbx Australia v2 (AUv2).

After the installation, be sure to update any payware and freeware Orbx airports (through Orbx Central). Then go to each airport's configuration panel (again in Orbx Central) and where possible set it to AUv2 by ticking the appropriate box.

OZx Installation for P3Dv4.

If you don’t have OZx installed, then you want to download and install it. If you already have it, along with the OZx Library converted for P3Dv4, then skip ahead.

You can find the OZx files to download here.
[https://orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/166374-ozx-v30-v31-v32-v33-v34-v35-and-libraries/ ]

Please take the time to do this installation of OZx methodically, and in sequence. The process is more tedious than difficult. You should install both OZx and its FSX libraries as instructed. (You will discard those FSX libraries, but it is a good idea to follow the instructions without taking shortcuts.)  Eventually, you will have OZx v3.5 Scenery and OZx Libraries v1.2.

And you will have also downloaded directly the OZx Converted P3D Libraries from the same source as above. (These were converted by Jorge Roldan of the OZx community.]

In your P3Dv4 folder, you should have a folder named OZx. Inside it you should have folders for OZx_AUS and OZx_LIB. (You might also have Extras, Scripts, and User_Docs.)

Take the OZx_LIB (the FSX library) and save it elsewhere. Replace the folder with another folder OZx_LIB that includes only the Converted P3D Library. The Converted P3D Library thus replaces the FSX library rather than augments the FSX library. (The extra stuff from FSX won't be useful.)

(You can later move the main OZx folder somewhere else if you like. But for the moment, leave it inside the P3Dv4 folder.)

Fixing the main conflicts between OZx and Orbx AUv2

Having installed both OZx and Orbx AUv2, you can just fly the combination and put up with the conflicts. A good number of OZx airstrips and AUv2 airports do not conflict at all. However, for many airports you'll get the buildings, towers, and objects for both the OZx and AUv2 sceneries. As well as a few elevation anomalies. Neither OZx nor AUv2 has a properly-coordinated exclude function. Happily for the community, a team of OZx guys has figured out a way to fix many of these problems.

The basic strategy is to use a combination of the OZx scenery  with the buildings, objects, underlying photoreal surfaces, and runways  – with the elevation and location of the AUv2 airport. (The OZx renditions are typically much more characterful and closely representative of the actual airport than are the AUv2 versions. But tastes may vary.)

The OZx guys (with some help) have produced a batch file that will fix something like 95 percent of the conflicts. Go to the Orbx Community Addons forum at this page
[https://orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/175939-ausv2-ozx-fixer/page/2/]
and scroll down to post #78 (August 5, 2019).

"bruce e" provides a link to the most recent version of the "OZx Fixer v-9E1".
[https://www.dropbox.com/s/jfucdbetcqpm3ai/OZx_AU_Repair_v-9E1.zip?dl=0]
Please read his explanation.

First, you want to make a BACKUP COPY of your ORBX Scenery folder and your OZx Scenery folder. (These are not too large.) You then extract the batch file and run it by double-clicking the "OZx_AU_Repair_v-9E1.bat" file. This works so quickly and smoothly that you may not think it has worked. (Check to be sure.)

The commands ask you to enter the full path for the AUv2 scenery folder and the OZx scenery folder. You might be careful to enter the correct path when asked.

[The guys recommend that you have the OZx folders in your main P3Dv4 root directory and AUv2 in its default state. Otherwise, the quick fix may not work. Our limited experience indicates that the batch file does work for some non-standard installations as long as you give the proper path to the AUv2 and OZx folders. Just check to be sure that it has done the job for your setup.]

You will now have a plenty-workable combination of nifty OZx airports along with the newly-developed AUv2 scenery. The conflicts will have been mostly handled. And you will have many OZx airstrips that are not modeled in AUv2 and a good number of AUv2 airports that are not modeled in OZx.

OZx airport locations.

For those who are new to the OZx packages, you may fine this set of bgl files very helpful. They are the locations of the airstrips that, when active, allow the simulator map/GPS for FSX/P3D as well as navigation programs (such as Little Nav Map) to read the locations and place your aircraft on those airstrips.

The work is by Bliksimpie and it was previously hosted at the now defunct OZx site. This small file is temporarily available on DropBox here.

The author suggests placing the collection of bgl's in your Addon Scenery/Scenery folder. You might put them anywhere that will always be active.

(Little Nav Map users should reload the P3Dv4 library after adding the Bliksimpie files. Without the reload, the new locations will not show up.)

Special Fixes.

It may be that we need to develop special fixes for our specific routings. Look for more information either in this thread or via email. If you have further suggestions about how to make this process work better, please add them below. Thanks.

Thanks to the artistry and hard work of the many OZx authors who have given such a wonderful gift to the community. And a special salute to Jorge Roldan, Graham Eccleston Craig Hanley and "bruce e" for their dedicated efforts to bring the OZx work forward to P3Dv4 and AUv2.

MM & jt_williams
December 2019

[MM 422]

An explanation and illustration of the OZx "fix"

The main pattern is for each conflicted pair: (i) to alter the OZx airport by renaming the CVX files to "xxx.bgl.off". Then (ii) alter each AUv2 airport by renaming the ADE and objects files to "xxx.bgl.off". The result is an airport that uses the design and objects from OZx and the CVX placement from AUv2. We have tried this manually for several conflicted airports, and the fix works pretty well.

 [Messy details ahead. Please do not read this if you are not interested.]

To illustrate the process, we can go through what happens if you do all this manually. Take the airport for Maitland YMND, which has a representation in OZx and in AUv2. The former is more interesting although the latter is a reasonable approximation.

(i) - You would open up the */OZx/OZx_AUS/Scenery folder. Then search for "YMND" and find 5 *.bgl files. The one you want to touch is the "CVX" file, in this case "icr_YMN_CVX.bgl". Turn it OFF by appending ".OFF" to the name of the file.

(ii) - Then you open up the */ORBX/FTX_AU/ FTXAUv2_05_SCENERY/Scenery" folder. Again search for "YMND" and find 3 files. "FTX_AUS_YMND_objects.bgl", "ADE_FTX_AUS_YMND.bgl" and "ADE-FTX_AUS_YMND_CVX.bgl". Disable the first two (2) files by appending ".OFF" to the name of the file. You will retain as active only the third file: "ADE_FTX_AUS_YMND_CVX.bgl".

That is all. The advantage of the batch file is that it does this automatically for the relevant airports where there is a conflict between OZx and AUv2. (And a few cases receive special handling.) If you like, you can read the batch file code to see what is happening.

[End of messy details.]

Note that you might want to do something very similar for the extra airports done after OZx v3.5. Highly recommended are the excellent renditions by OZx members such as Craig Hanley and Robert Fluke. In each case, you will follow the basic strategy outlined for Maitland above. In addition, Graham Eccleston has offered some special fixes for tougher cases. For additional details, please consult the specific threads in the Orbx Community Scenery Addons Forum.

MM & jt_williams
December 2019

[RobF2 150]

Has anyone recently worked through these steps for P3DV5? I'm starting the process of getting the OZX files and libraries together as described from v3.0 onwards.  

Anyone happily running Orbx AusV2 and OZX together - still workable as per P3Dv4 hopefully?

[kingchiro 4]

Yep. Installed in P3D v5.

I have checked a few airports and seems to have 'taken', so far all good.