16 minutes ago, Noel said:

Cool.   How does it compare to MSFS 2020?  

It doesn’t, honestly. The version in Xplane still looks like 8K Minecraft lol

11 minutes ago, V1ROTA7E said:

It doesn’t, honestly. The version in Xplane still looks like 8K Minecraft lol

Ahh, that xplains it 😉

3 hours ago, Noel said:

Ahh, that xplains it 😉

Eh the high version is decent.  Not quite as nice as most MSFS textures....but still pretty good.  

12 minutes ago, ryanbatc said:

Eh the high version is decent.  Not quite as nice as most MSFS textures....but still pretty good.  

Is this a texture like MSFS with real looking scenery, or a map with the Xplane type scenery wallpaper laid on ? The video I saw of it,  it didn't look anything like MSFS.

 

At some point streaming the type of scenery MSFS streams will probably become much cheaper and so more accessible to the other sims and I hope it does as it bodes well for simming's future.  But for now MSFS reigns supreme and is about to get supremer!  Go MSFS!

2 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

Is this a texture like MSFS with real looking scenery, or a map with the Xplane type scenery wallpaper laid on ? The video I saw of it,  it didn't look anything like MSFS.

 

It's the same technique as MSFS.  Background aerial imagery, with autogen buildings/trees on top.  What's important though, for XP, is to run the SimHeaven overlays, which help tell what type of buildings go where on the aerial imagery.  Without the SH overlays it can look really bad.  SH stuff is free though, and not difficult to install.  With MSFS, 'Azure/Blackshark' is doing this pairing automatically.  

I'm running the free version here with XP which only allows for Medium quality - I've seen High in these areas and indeed the clarity is a bit improved.  As I said, the MSFS clarity wins in most USA areas - I've not tested outside of USA yet.  But for XP12, this is a huge leap over the default which is nasty! 

Here's two XP12 shots just overall so you can determine if it's for you, and then a closer look to see how the overlays actually work to place the houses and buildings in the correct locations (obviously its not perfect but it's pretty dang good!)

And then MSFS shots in the same area.  I tried to get similar times of day and aspect ratios... but it won't be spot on of course.

**Just a note** before people says "oooh the textures are not as sharp in XP12  - well yes - but that's mostly because I'm on the free "medium" setting and also I've moved my view far away from my aircraft, which I forgot reduces the clarity a bit to save bandwidth.

xp12_2 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

xp12_3 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

MSFS_1 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

MSFS_2 by Ryan Butterworth, on Flickr

 

13 hours ago, Noel said:

Cool.   How does it compare to MSFS 2020?  

It can very much depend on the source data but in general it's not as pretty.

If you're familiar with Ortho4XP generated scenery it's pretty much the same as that just auto generated on the fly.

Edited August 20, 20241 yr by Matchstick

17 hours ago, Bobsk8 said:

Is this a texture like MSFS with real looking scenery, or a map with the Xplane type scenery wallpaper laid on ? The video I saw of it,  it didn't look anything like MSFS.

 

Satellite scenery looks the same in both Sims.

22 hours ago, Noel said:

Cool.   How does it compare to MSFS 2020?  

I tried it in the early days, but it wouldn't work.  Now I have a new PC I must try it again. I use the MSFS version on every flight and am very impressed with it.

I took the following screen shot in XP12 on my old computer.  Be great if the XP version allows high resolution.

I use MSFS 95 percent of the time these days because HDR looks great, but XP12 doesn't support it. SDR looks too flat to me now.

Edited August 20, 20241 yr by MrBitstFlyer

28 minutes ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

SDR looks too flat to me now

We've been thru this before recently but I'm really surprised you haven't noted just how fabulous the Details Filter + setting Contrast around 75-80% in NCP.  Not in the slightest bit 'flat' and almost indistinguishable from HDR10, only better here.  I find this is perfection including brightness of the cockpit dash but w/o the any overcooked areas one has poor control over using HDR10.   And it's not because I am not looking at an OLED display, though perhaps those doesn't work as well w/ Details+Contrast.

On 8/19/2024 at 11:33 AM, Cpt_Piett said:

In some places Apple maps pro is significantly better than Bing maps

Apple maps is my default for MSFS these days.  I find it to be the most consistent when it comes to colour and has significantly better visuals than Bing or Google in a lot of the more remote areas.  The pro license was worth the money to me for this alone.

1 hour ago, Noel said:

We've been thru this before recently

We have indeed. And it seems superflous for me to reply, but I can't help it. HDR IMO has many advantages vs SDR, and cannot be compared to SDR + the details filter. Advantages include a much higher dynamic range (goes without saying) ie brighter brights and darker darks, as well as more vibrant colours. It's possible that these effects are more pronounced on an OLED display. Not sure if @MrBitstFlyer was involved in the recent discussion - if not, sorry for the tag. 

Edited August 20, 20241 yr by Cpt_Piett

1 hour ago, Noel said:

We've been thru this before recently but I'm really surprised you haven't noted just how fabulous the Details Filter + setting Contrast around 75-80% in NCP.  Not in the slightest bit 'flat' and almost indistinguishable from HDR10, only better here.  I find this is perfection including brightness of the cockpit dash but w/o the any overcooked areas one has poor control over using HDR10.   And it's not because I am not looking at an OLED display, though perhaps those doesn't work as well w/ Details+Contrast.

When I had an SDR display, I made good use of those filters to maximise what an SDR monitor can produce.  I must have posted hundreds of screenshots showing how Reshade or Nvidia filters can improve the display 🙂 I upgraded to a 600 nit monitor that made all previous filters redundant - more brightness and higher dynamic range built in.  I saw no blown out areas after I tuned the display with the Microsoft HDR tool.  My new 1000 nit monitor is yet another step up in brightness and doesn't need to use the HDR tool.

I fully understand you saying 'Not in the slightest bit 'flat' and almost indistinguishable from HDR10', because filters can massively improve the display, but they can't reach the same brightness levels as HDR10 whatever is used. 

 

 

1 hour ago, The Moose said:

Apple maps is my default for MSFS these days.  I find it to be the most consistent when it comes to colour and has significantly better visuals than Bing or Google in a lot of the more remote areas.  The pro license was worth the money to me for this alone.

I do agree with you. I still prefer to use use Google Maps because I find the detail levels of textures to be higher.  However, Google maps colours can be awful in certain areas!

2 hours ago, MrBitstFlyer said:

I tried it in the early days, but it wouldn't work.  Now I have a new PC I must try it again. I use the MSFS version on every flight and am very impressed with it.

I took the following screen shot in XP12 on my old computer.  Be great if the XP version allows high resolution.

 

I use MSFS 95 percent of the time these days because HDR looks great, but XP12 doesn't support it. SDR looks too flat to me now.

That's not the xp map enhancement though right?  That's straight ortho on your local disk drive?  The app thing won't give out that high res of data at least none that I can find.... maybe immediately near the airport but elsewhere its blurry.  Your image there looks like ZL18 or 19 ortho tiles.