14 minutes ago, virtuali said:

That wasn't the freeware mesh I was referring to. I was referring to this one:

I thought so.

But the by country freeware meshes that Troglodytus has put out on Flightsim.to all use the new method.

So in the end it probably comes down to the source material used to determine which is better.

He updated the Italian Alps with a higher resolution of the Dolomites and these strangely come with numerous issues, that go beyond the fact that for these kind of mountains you'll need the Frank Dainese approach of a custom 3D model. I have seen all kinds of anomalies in this higher resolution mesh that weren't there in the 20m version. Like the Tre Cime and Monte Pelmo being oddly misshaped, a strange spike on the southern slope of the Marmolada and more.

 

So better resolution is definately not everything. The accuracy of the conversion is also important.

Edited May 25, 20215 yr by Farlis

Very cool to hear that there now is a freeware tool available that can be used to create these heightmaps. Having seen the amount of good (and to be honest, not so good) freeware that have been created over the last months I would think that countries that have made high res data available would be released in this format in quick succession. I know many European countries offer this data for free, but I am not sure about the rest of the world. 

3 minutes ago, Farlis said:

He updated the Italian Alps with a higher resolution of the Dolomites and these strangely come with numerous issues, that go beyond the fact that for these kind of mountains you'll need the Frank Dainese approach of a custom 3D model. I have seen all kinds of anomalies in this higher resolution mesh that weren't there in the 20m version. Like the Tre Cime and Monte Pelmo being oddly misshaped, a stange spike on the southern slope of the Marmolada and more.

It's likely a problem of the source data, and to be aware of the possible issues.

Switzerland is bordered by 4 countries ( 5 if you count Liechtenstein ), and at least 3 of them ( Italy, France and Austria ) can pose significant challenges if you are trying to do a mesh for "just" Switzerland, because in MANY cases, the border runs *exactly* across the mountain's water divide so, if you mix-up data with different quality/resolution from different countries, you will end up with problems across all borders.

That's why the Matterhorn in the default scenery looks so bad, as if it was cut in two: it lies exactly at the border between Switzerland and Italy so, most likely, two not properly matching dataset were used.

We took care of this, and pre-processed the mesh at the borders to include data from bordering countries too, but since the data source is also coming from the Swiss government, the two datasets were matched perfectly so, even if half of the Matterhorn ( and so many other mountains ), is not in Switzerland, it still looks good and even, and you'll have a very hard time figuring out when our scenery ends.

 

9 hours ago, virtuali said:

There are two meshes for Switzeland available on flightsim.to, one is part of the Alps, which is made as .CGL, another one is just Switzerland and it's made using the same method we used, that's why that one has probably managed to protect airports.

Thanks for clarification, so basically you just gave me the reason why I see no need in buying any payware addon mesh, as long as the freeware does not use the .cgl method 😉

2 minutes ago, AnkH said:

Thanks for clarification, so basically you just gave me the reason why I see no need in buying any payware addon mesh, as long as the freeware does not use the .cgl method 

Sure, if you don't mind:

- the original data source used, which ends up in different results, even at the same "nominal" resolution.

- the fact our mesh is available in both 10 and 20 meters resolutions.

- the extra processing to ensure there are no issues at the borders.

- the extra database of landmarks POIs.

Just like it's wrong to look at "just" the nominal resolution to compare a mesh to another, it's equally wrong to see "just" the method used ( .CGL vs .BGL ) and assume they are just the same, and it's also wrong to assume that, just because a freeware mesh is better ( or worse ) than a commercial one, automatically means ALL freeware mesh are better ( or worse ) than commercial ones.

The main issue with using the .CGL method, is the file format hasn't been entirely figured it out, people at fsdeveloper are still investigating it without any help from Asobo, and it's just too risky to do a commercial product using that method.

Making mesh has never been our business, we made Switzerland because it's our home country, and we didn't want someone else to mess with our already released Swiss airports ( at least offer some alternative ) and we are not expecting to make much money out of it, since when you buy a commercial mesh, you are basically paying for bandwidth, which on freeware sites is paid with ads.

1 hour ago, AnkH said:

so basically you just gave me the reason why I see no need in buying any payware addon mesh, as long as the freeware does not use the .cgl method 

That depends on the source used.

The freeware meshes can only use data that is also freely available. But not all countries provide the high-def datasets for free.

For me this is an interesting product, for many of the reasons listed by the developer. Yes there are good freeware alternativer (I have Troglodytus' version). I guess it comes down to how much time one spends in that area. Also how much one is willing to spend. I find myself flying a lot around the Alps - not just Switzerland - in many different aircraft. It's probably the region that I've spent most time in, not just in MSFS but also in other simulators. 

I like the way the developer is very involved and provides in-depth info - definitely a plus in my book. It certainly adds to the credibility and seriousness of the developer. 

Ideally I would like (and would pay for) a version that covers the whole European Alps. 

26 minutes ago, Cpt_Piett said:

Ideally I would like (and would pay for) a version that covers the whole European Alps. 

Me too. Virtuali, any plans for the rest of the Alps? 

53 minutes ago, saifs said:

Me too. Virtuali, any plans for the rest of the Alps? 

Would be great, yes!!!

Does anybody happen to know if the SDK allows custom imagery? Some areas in Switzerland look awful, it‘d be great if a modder or 3PD could import imagery from eg Swisstopo and fix the ugly patches.

1 hour ago, Shack95 said:

Does anybody happen to know if the SDK allows custom imagery? Some areas in Switzerland look awful, it‘d be great if a modder or 3PD could import imagery from eg Swisstopo and fix the ugly patches.

It does and has been for a while. There is a 3 layer lod correction for the Schwäbisch Hall area available on flightsim.to

 

But that of course will just clutter your storage space, like in the olden days, before the cloud. 😉

Just been going over some of my many replays of flights in the Alps. I did the flights prior to installing the various mesh editions. Although things have certainly improved, in terms of terrain, resolution, one thing continues to bug me. 

That is the very poor default LOD, even set at max in the menus. Especially up at altitudes, it becomes very distracting with the blurring of (not too) distant scenery. Without this the immersion would have been top notch. Now it's like a constant itch and source of frustration. Been thinking of making a separate thread about this - gathering feedback and opinions as to whether there might be ways to remedy this. 

I do have a reasonably decent system. But increasing the LOD beyond the max in the menus will quickly bring my system to its knees... 

TL;DR: I'm all for high-resolution terrain meshes - but even more I desperately seek a way to increase terrain LOD.

Edited May 26, 20215 yr by Cpt_Piett

1 hour ago, Farlis said:

It does and has been for a while. There is a 3 layer lod correction for the Schwäbisch Hall area available on flightsim.to

Great, thanks for the info.

1 hour ago, Farlis said:

But that of course will just clutter your storage space, like in the olden days, before the cloud. 😉

Yeah, true, but for some select places I‘d still be prepared to sacrifice a few GBs. 

USD 10.99 price conversion over at SimMarket for this product. FSdreamteam.com has it for USD 9.99. Support the developer AND save a buck.

19 minutes ago, Twenty6 said:

USD 10.99 price conversion over at SimMarket for this product. FSdreamteam.com has it for USD 9.99. Support the developer AND save a buck.

Never buy from SimMarket period.  Shady operators.  Never getting a penny of my cash.