I came across these posts to hide the roads in X-Plane to allow the roads in the ortho to show.  However, these don't appear to work in XP-12.

https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/137541-transparent-road-and-autogen-textures-for-photoscenery/#comment-1321173

https://melb00m.github.io/Transparency4Ortho/

Has anybody used these tools in the past / with XP-12 and can advise?

I have found a great way to remove autogen roads from areas where you have good Ortho4XP tiles!  Those with more X-Plane experience than me probably already know this addon, but it easy to install and doesn't remove or rename any default files.  As a bonus, it slows down AI traffic to 70% speed so the vehicles move more realistically.   The author says you may pick up a few FPS because the autogen roads are not being generated.

Download the zip file (under the CODE dropdown) here.

On a windows PC, all you need to do is copy the xroads.exe file from the downloaded zip into your main XP12 directory and then run it.  It creates an 'xroads' directory in your 'custom scenery folder.  Required default files are copied into this 'xroads' directory.  When you run XP12, 'SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Xroads/' entry is generated - this entry is left at the top of the file.

That's all you need to do.  If you want to remove this addon you just remove the 'xroads' directory and remove the scenery_packs.ini entry - your autogen roads will reappear.

Screengrabs below show a more natural scene without autogen roads.

21 minutes ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

I have found a great way to remove autogen roads from areas where you have good Ortho4XP tiles!  Those with more X-Plane experience than me probably already know this addon, but it easy to install and doesn't remove or rename any default files.  As a bonus, it slows down AI traffic to 70% speed so the vehicles move more realistically.   The author says you may pick up a few FPS because the autogen roads are not being generated.

This is huge. Autogen roads looked out of place in orthos. Will definitely try this out

53 minutes ago, Baber20 said:

This is huge. Autogen roads looked out of place in orthos. Will definitely try this out

I have used Ortho at ZL17 everywhere and this resolution is enough to show detail in the roads when VFR at a couple of thousand feet.  The autogen roads on the side of mountains were really ugly!

1 hour ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

you want to remove this addon you just remove the 'xroads' directory and remove the scenery_packs.ini entry - your autogen roads will reappear

general tip, if you want to kill a scenery pack for testing you can stick a _DISABLED on the end in the ini

SCENERY_PACK_DISABLED Custom.....

Nice find, I had one of these but it wasnt quite as easy to use/install or as effective, and I handnt got round to adding it to 12 yet either 

It would be good if the Ortho guy updated his program to: 1) include option to download tiles only (no mesh) 2) include option for transparent roads, 3) improve shore lines where possible.