This looks interesting - Enhanced Airports MSFS

[edpatino 2,000]

7 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

Righto then.  The textures are definitely better all round, with less colour saturation for the lines, so more natural looking surfaces.  I never noticed any performance impact, and my PC is on the edge at 30fps, so I would have seen some stuttering if they affect performance I think.  

It is just surfaces and surface markings, no buildings.  Zinertek normally do a separate pack for buildings (as they did with FSX), but I think it would be of less use in MSFS due to the amount of people creating buildings and new textures anyway.  Plus the default ones are fairly good anyway, with no flashing hangar doors like there were in FSX!

The runway textures for the different types are also better, and apparently, the tyre marks are an overlay, so if MS / Asobo add more tyre marks to airports in the future, they will sit on top of the Zinertek textures.

I thought there was a problem to start with, as some lines and runway stopping points had jaggies, but I removed the new textures from the community folder and went back to default.  The default lines have jaggies in the same places, but the problem is with the Zinertek ones, they are yellow on black rather than yellow on the typically grey surface for default, so the jaggies look slightly worse with the yellow against the black surround.  Unfortunate, but not much can be done about that I don't think.

I tried Kerama in Japan, (to look at the pretty new water masks there), and that was fine (this is an Asobo default enhanced airport).  I tried Zell-am-See in Austria, a third party airport (Gaya) - all good, and finally a freeware airport just 20 minutes from Zell-am-see, Sankt Johann (LOIJ) by Sergio Del Rosso. 

Unfortunately Sankt Johann didn't look too good, as there was some kind of bleed through going on.  The runway was very patchy, like two sets of textures were battling it out, or one was bleeding through the other.  Once again, I removed the zinertek textures and tried it again, and the airport was fine again, so there is a little problem there.  I will email them and let them know - early days, and hopefully it is something they can fix.

Now if someone could just do something about those shimmering wire fences! 

Thanks for your review. Excellent!.

Cheers, Ed

[edpatino 2,000]

7 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

There is, you just use alphabetical order. 

If you want something to load after something else (so it takes priority), just put a 'Z' or something in front of the folder name to sort it to the bottom.  I have to do this with a few mods in the community folder to get the loading order right.  

PS.  Hey!  You might have just solved the issue with the freeware airport I mentioned (Sankt Johann by Sergio).  The new runway textures are in two folders starting with 'E' for enhanced.  The airport folder starts with 'S' for Sergio - they need to be the other way around.

I will put a 'Z' in front of the airport texture folders so they load afterwards and take precedence.  Zinertek may not have thought of this.  They would override anything in the official folder of course already. 👍

 

I have never done that before, maybe because all airports (and Mods, Landmarks and aircraft liveries, which have nothing to do with scenery textures) are somewhat independent from each other, so the loading order is not relevant. In this case, as you point out, maybe it is.

One question: when you add the "Z" in front of the airport texture folders, do you refer to the add-on name(s) in its main folder in the Community or somewhere inside that folder?. Could you please post a snapshot or small picture of your specific folder structure?. Good to know you raised the issue to Zinertek.

Thanks again, Cheers, Ed

[bobcat999 8,548]

36 minutes ago, edpatino said:

I have never done that before, maybe because all airports (and Mods, Landmarks and aircraft liveries, which have nothing to do with scenery textures) are somewhat independent from each other, so the loading order is not relevant. In this case, as you point out, maybe it is.

One question: when you add the "Z" in front of the airport texture folders, do you refer to the add-on name(s) in its main folder in the Community or somewhere inside that folder?. Could you please post a snapshot or small picture of your specific folder structure?. Good to know you raised the issue to Zinertek.

Thanks again, Cheers, Ed

Hello Ed.  I am just working on getting an online photo repository as it seems you can't just copy and past pictures directly into the forum (just like any other forum I believe), but it doesn't require a screenshot anyway, I can explain it with text - simple!.

Firstly, you are right.  If the add-onns don't interfere with each other in any way, you don't have to do anything.

Secondly, anything placed in the Community folder will ALWAYS take precedence over anything in the Official folder when there is some overlap of the same files. You probably know this, and it is what makes the Community folder such a good system, as you don't have to touch your Asobo originals! 

Thirdly, and now for the technical bit.  Alphabetical order in the community folder counts, as it affects the loading order, and the later items loaded will always take priority over the earlier ones (for just the bits where they overlap, or where the files are the same / same name)

So now I will give you an example that will explain it perfectly...

I bought the Piaggio 149.  It installed itself to the community folder as 'atsimulations-aircraft-piaggio'.  Now the default left and right cockpit camera views are slightly messed-up, but as happens in this brilliant community, within no time, a guy called Archet374 posted improved camera positions over at flightsim.to.  I dragged his folder into the community folder (it was called archer374-aircraft-piaggio_bettercameras) but next time I loaded the Piaggio in sim, then new cameras weren't showing 🙁.

But I figured it out straight away.  I quit the sim and looked in the community folder, and as you can see from the folder names above, archer374-aircraft-piaggio_bettercameras, was loading before atsimulations-aircraft-piaggio due to their alphabetical order.

So for speed, I simply put a 'z' infront of the camera folders name to force it down in alphabetical order, so it now looks like this z-archer374-aircraft-piaggio_bettercameras.  Hey presto!  Next launch - cameras working perfectly!  😁

Of course, it doesn't have to be a 'z' as long as it changes the alphabetical order.  And using dashes (-) to link the folder names without spaces seems to be a convention that everyone uses, so I am sticking to it. 

Just a side note, you can actually call the folders anything you want, as I believe MSFS uses the the manifest / layout JSON files inside the folders to know what to load, and for the later items, it only lets them take precedence for the individual files changed, so for instance, loading the Piaggio cameras didn't wipe out the whole Piaggio, only the files relating to the Piaggio cameras.  As no other Piaggio files were affected, it keeps the rest of the earlier files (such as textures etc.) as it doesn't see any clash.

I hope that explains it!  👍

Edited January 2, 2021 by bobcat999

[edpatino 2,000]

13 minutes ago, bobcat999 said:

Hello Ed.  I am just working on getting an online photo repository as it seems you can't just copy and past pictures directly into the forum (just like any other forum I believe), but it doesn't require a screenshot anyway, I can explain it with text - simple!.

Firstly, you are right.  If the add-onns don't interfere with each other in any way, you don't have to do anything.

Secondly, anything placed in the Community folder will ALWAYS take precedence over anything in the Official folder when there is some overlap of the same files. You probably know this, and it is what makes the Community folder such a good system, as you don't have to touch your Asobo originals! 

Thirdly, and now for the technical bit.  Alphabetical order in the community folder counts, as it affects the loading order, and the later items loaded will always take priority over the earlier ones (for just the bits where they overlap, or where the files are the same / same name)

So now I will give you an example that will explain it perfectly...

I bought the Piaggio 149.  It installed itself to the community folder as 'atsimulations-aircraft-piaggio'.  Now the default left and right cockpit camera views are slightly messed-up, but as happens in this brilliant community, within no time, a guy called Archet374 posted improved camera positions over at flightsim.to.  I dragged his folder into the community folder (it was called archer374-aircraft-piaggio_bettercameras) but next time I loaded the Piaggio in sim, then new cameras weren't showing 🙁.

But I figured it out straight away.  I quit the sim and looked in the community folder, and as you can see from the folder names above, archer374-aircraft-piaggio_bettercameras, was loading before atsimulations-aircraft-piaggio due to their alphabetical order.

So for speed, I simply put a 'z' infront of the camera folders name to force it down in alphabetical order, so it now looks like this z-archer374-aircraft-piaggio_bettercameras.  Hey presto!  Next launch - cameras working perfectly!  😁

Of course, it doesn't have to be a 'z' as long as it changes the alphabetical order.  And using dashes (-) to link the folder names without spaces seems to be a convention that everyone uses, so I am sticking to it. 

Just a side note, you can actually call the folders anything you want, as I believe MSFS uses the the manifest / layout JSON files inside the folders to know what to load, and for the later items, it only lets them take precedence for the individual files changed, so for instance, loading the Piaggio cameras didn't wipe out the whole Piaggio, only the files relating to the Piaggio cameras.  As no other Piaggio files were affected, it keeps the rest of the earlier files (such as textures etc.) as it doesn't see any clash.

I hope that explains it!  👍

Thanks for the explanation, very helpful without the need of a picture! (and yes, it's always difficult to post pics here at AVSIM and when strictly needed I use flickr.com. If you're curious enough, which I think you are, look for an old post from Poppet explaining the "how-to" in detail).

There's a new app for MSFS that was just released from Lorby-SI (Oliver Binder) named "Lorby MSFS Addon Organizer (PROTOTYPE!)" that I think would help to organize the way the add-ons in the Community folder are loaded up by the sim. I just downloaded it, and there's a short manual included. I was using a similar app from the same dev for P3D for years and it was really excellent, since in P3D the layering order of scenery is something vital (not as such as the new system employed by Asobo):

https://www.lorby-si.com/downloads.html

Thanks again for your help and valuable comments!.

Cheers, Ed

 

 

 

[bobcat999 8,548]

Thanks for that Ed!  👍  I have just downloaded it to take a look.  As doing this kind of thing manually is becoming a bit of a chore now with so many add-ons! 

As for my photos.  I have just found an old Microsoft OneDrive account that I don't really use.  I will see if hosting the pictures on there in the publicly accessible files area will allow me to bring them on to here.

[edpatino 2,000]

34 minutes ago, bobcat999 said:

Thanks for that Ed!  

Welcome.

Cheers, Ed

[sightseer 895]

2 hours ago, bobcat999 said:

running 4k at 70% scaling (100% scaling does no better though).

have you tried render scaling at something higher like 200 just to see what changes?  

It refines the detail (including artifacts like small vertical lines around cloud edges).  It makes the artifacts less objectionable and increases the amount of stuff you can see.  My system actually runs better at scaling 160.

[sightseer 895]

I had hoped that companies would figure out how to inject their own shader code into the new sim so that people could buy that companies clouds or trees or runways or whatever else there might be but so far that hasnt happened.  and I agree that we shouldnt collectively rule out the future by re-entrenching the FSX/P3D past (if we can help it).

Does anyone have an addon airport that modifies itself over time? for example does the grass change heights? do the surfaces or paint jobs (buildings or ground markings) change?  maybe add on developers could strive to introduce ever evolving scenery like Im hoping for. or maybe Asobo will eventually do it universally.

[Mike S KPDX 598]

numerical order is better in the community folder, more flexibility and more then 27 letters (English).  Mine is setup like 001, 002, ect

[Mike S KPDX 598]

I just now purchased, 8 minutes from the time I saw this post to firing it up in FS, about $15 US, very nice and well done, look good.  I only went to one default airport and one enhanced airport, no issues.

You may have seen my post about exactly this type of thing, the 'newness' and 'unused' look of the default texture about a month ago.  This is exactly what I was looking for and have no problem throwing a few dollars to the guy who reworked over 330 textures to make this.

[Flic1 1,015]

43 minutes ago, Mike S KPDX said:

I just now purchased, 8 minutes from the time I saw this post to firing it up in FS, about $15 US, very nice and well done, look good.  I only went to one default airport and one enhanced airport, no issues.

You may have seen my post about exactly this type of thing, the 'newness' and 'unused' look of the default texture about a month ago.  This is exactly what I was looking for and have no problem throwing a few dollars to the guy who reworked over 330 textures to make this.

Me too....I have had some of their stuff back in the day so familiar with them.  I don't mind paying a small amount for something that improves all default airports.  I only went to one airport to take a look and I was impressed as I never really liked the Asobo textures.  I think this is something REX should have hopped on right away instead of their WX thing. 

[EDDB2020 35]

The addon looks nice, no fps hit so far.

I just wish there was an addon for automatic enhancement of the poor airport lighting, e.g. simply placing some apron lights would be fine.

[Twenty6 694]

FYI

US$ 17.17 @ Simmarket

US$ 14.95 @ PCAviator.

Wait til Tuesday @ US$ 13.55 even tho I got a new stimulus check from the gov't.

[Glenn Fitzpatrick 3,799]

34 minutes ago, Twenty6 said:

 

Wait til Tuesday @ US$ 13.55 even tho I got a new stimulus check from the gov't.

Where did you see that price ?

[vcarlo 529]

1 hour ago, Twenty6 said:

FYI

US$ 17.17 @ Simmarket

US$ 14.95 @ PCAviator.

Wait til Tuesday @ US$ 13.55 even tho I got a new stimulus check from the gov't.

Be careful, I think you may be looking at a different product.  My search at PC Aviator does NOT show ZINERTEK - ENHANCED AIRPORT GRAPHICS MSFS