Global xplane 11 scenery ?

[Azzles86 2]

Hi all , i have a pc arriving next week and want to start getting into fligjt simmimg .. i want to get xplane 11 to get myself started .. and from what i gather the default scenery is awful .. 

 

i stumbled actoss an addon called s.f.d global , have seen some vids and looks really good .. cany anyone confirm if this sfd addon is worth the trouble .... just to note i don’t want to waste time with hd mesh v4 . Or anything , and also does xplane 11 come out the box with real world weather built in or is that an addon ? .. thankyou for your help . 

[Azzles86 2]

10 minutes ago, Azzles86 said:

Hi all , i have a pc arriving next week and want to start getting into fligjt simmimg .. i want to get xplane 11 to get myself started .. and from what i gather the default scenery is awful .. 

 

i stumbled actoss an addon called s.f.d global , have seen some vids and looks really good .. cany anyone confirm if this sfd addon is worth the trouble .... just to note i don’t want to waste time with hd mesh v4 . Or anything , and also does xplane 11 come out the box with real world weather built in or is that an addon ? .. thankyou for your help . 

 

[soaring_penguin 428]

Imo, both SFD Global and HD mesh v4 are needed to enjoy the scenery.

[Azzles86 2]

I’ve been reading up on the hd mesh and uhd is available too .. i’ve read forums that it eats your ram .. i have 16gb ddr4 will that be enough for uhd mesh ? 
 

processor i5 9400f 

graphics gtx 2070 super

[Azzles86 2]

Would you also consider terraflora from orbx for extra immersion ? More densely packed trees 

[soaring_penguin 428]

with 16GB, I would go for HD mesh. UHD mesh is nice, but takes around 20GB on my rig.

HD mesh is much better then default.

[soaring_penguin 428]

SFD Global comes with very nice and dense forests also. It is a good starting place to spend money to improve your scenery globaly. (everything from this author is excellent, he has many freeware projects, search for misterX on x-plane.org).

[Azzles86 2]

The auto gen is limited to a few areas in the world i believe ... but the textures are global correct so the whole planet naturally looks alot nice ? 
 

i’ve also read on that terraflora has a more realistic approach to tree placement , different kinds of trees in specific parts of the world and more densely packed ... so if i was to get fsd and terraflora , could i some how disable fsd trees and run terraflora so they both run alongside each other ? 

[soaring_penguin 428]

Yeah you could, but as you are beginning your journey in x-plane, I would advise against making things too complicated. 
I for one like what misterX did with FSD Global, including his trees.

[CFIJose 5,485]

22 hours ago, Azzles86 said:

Hi all , i have a pc arriving next week and want to start getting into fligjt simmimg .. i want to get xplane 11 to get myself started .. and from what i gather the default scenery is awful .. 

 

i stumbled actoss an addon called s.f.d global , have seen some vids and looks really good .. cany anyone confirm if this sfd addon is worth the trouble .... just to note i don’t want to waste time with hd mesh v4 . Or anything , and also does xplane 11 come out the box with real world weather built in or is that an addon ? .. thankyou for your help . 

SFD (ShortFinal-Global) is a must have for XP11, but if you really want to get the most of XP, I recommend ORB TE if you have the SSD space. The regions are remarkable.

[FoggyCaptain 1]

Hello everyone! I’m currently having the same situation as the OP. Time is passing slowly when waiting PC parts to arrive (hopefully in this week). During the wait I have done some research regarding my journey in the world of X-plane 11, and the start of this journey seems to be quite complicated. The default XP11 scenery will not be enough for me, so I need addons, but the amount of the addons makes my head spin. There is HD/UHD mesh, Ortho4XP, SceneryX, FSD Globals and tons of others. Of course there is also lot’s of forums, videos and reviews but thats another problem because everyone has own opinions. 
 

What do you think about my plan:

-UHD mesh v4 for global (32 Ram rig, should be enough)

- SceneryX for Europe

- Ortho4XP for areas that I will use most (Scandinavia & Western Europe)

- Night lights, trees ect freeware from x-plane.org

What other freeware addons I would need? (Freeware because I don’t want to pay 50dollars for sim and another 100 dollars for addons before I even know if I like the sim)

Of course the AI traffic and ATC is something that I need to invest some bucks (WT3?). But these are offtopic in this topic. Updated beginners guide would be needed for starting with XP11 😀 (The only one I found was dated 2017(?) so there has been plenty of updates to sim and addons, so not sure if everything is valid anymore).

For background: My last flightsimulator era was with FSX years ago. Now I have been excited about upcomimg MSFS, and on the forums everyone is talking about XP11 as the ”another sim”. So I decided to give fair chance to this another sim, that’s why I’m here right now. Hopefully I’m welcomed to here Avsim forums and can have good talks with you guys (even I’m not native English speaker).

[soaring_penguin 428]

Ortho4xp can be scary, I don't know your expertise. If you feel comfortable, by all means, try it, the result can be incredible.

SceneryX is only worth it combined with Ortho scenery.

I will stay with my recommendation: stay with HD mesh (UHD if your machine can handle it) and SFD Global. Then search on the org for a couple of airports you fly from regulary. 

Don't go too fast, there is a lot to learn and unlearn from your previous sim.

 

 

[mSparks 2,086]

My 2c

Probably best to think of XP11 as a giant train set the size of the world only for planes. All the default is generally good. Do not rush into plugins you will make life hard for yourself.

On 4/12/2020 at 6:06 PM, Azzles86 said:

The auto gen is limited to a few areas in the world i believe

the Autogen is based on OSM, quality has increased massively over the last few years, aside from some slightly low quality artwork (an update to this is in the pipeline aiui) buildings and roads probably wont be a huge concern.

But it does only really cover towns/cities and otherwise significant housing estates.

If you find your out in a field local airfield isn't covered, it is very easy (and something of a pleasure) to make it yourself.

Main thing that is missing is ground photo textures. This requires a bit of time to get to grips with Ortho4xp. Start here.

On 4/12/2020 at 5:39 PM, Azzles86 said:

Would you also consider terraflora from orbx for extra immersion ? More densely packed trees 

I would recommend OrbX True Earth GB and Florida if that is where you want to fly. The results are better than Ortho4XP (free global coverage) - but not enormously better.

You have a lot a opportunity with Ortho4XP to tune your scenery for the best balance between looks and performance.

On 4/14/2020 at 2:45 PM, soaring_penguin said:

stay with HD mesh (UHD if your machine can handle it) and SFD Global.

I wouldn't really recommend HD or UHD lightly. 32GB ram required to fly anywhere dense, and even then it can really hurt performance.

Some people can stomach the performance hit, many, including myself cannot.

SFD global

https://store.x-plane.org/SFD-Global_p_1060.html

Looks like a good choice but I haven't tried it myself. Trees are an issue in default so probably worth it just for that.

You didn't mention what plane/helicopter you wanted to start with/fly. Long or short haul I wouldn't start with buying scenery - local VFR you will have to open wed and make it perfect, long haul out of the UK you want Ortho4XP, flyng only UK or Florida you want OrbX TE.

Edited April 15, 2020 by mSparks