Greetings,

 

This is my first post so please be gentle...

First of all, I want to clarify, I have done my research and watched a ton of YT videos. What I don't understand is Is the XP filesystem.  Here's my dilemma...I use Ortho4XP 1.3x. They suggest you create a folder called, 'zzz_hd_global_scenery4'. Then I watch YT videos on Ortho4XP and they don't do that; the zOrtho folders are directly in the Custom Scenery directory. Then, after watching a ton of videos I came across one that mentioned XP-Tools, so I could extract the, "mesh" or "elevation" file. NONE of the other videos ever mentioned this. 

After using XGrinder and pointing, Custom_Dem to the elevation raw file, now I have a zOrtho file in the XP-Tools folder! And, the contents are different than the zOrthoXP folders in zzz_hd_global_scenery4. Then there's the yOrtho4XP_Overlays folder. What should be in there. My point is, different videos have different setups and instructions. Rather than telling me where to, "click", is there a concise document that explains what all these files and folders do and how the folder structure works so I can do my own troubleshooting? Understanding all of the pieces would go a long way toward understanding how something works.

I'd really appreciate some guidance. Thanks!

 

AZBiker, RLP

As you did not state what you actually intend to do with O4XP, I assume that you just wish to generate some tiles. In that case, this video is pretty much to the point regarding the basics:

 

Since a lot of the other tutorial videos are outdated, way too long and/or contain ultimately superfluous information, here's some advice from my "Keep it simple" setup that has been working for me with O4XP for years:

• The "zzz_hd_global_scenery4" folder provides a refined mesh in X-Plane 11, and is absolutely not needed when using orthos because the ortho tile will have its own mesh after generation. So ignore any information pertaining to it. As far as I know, O4XP and HD Mesh use the same source for elevation data anyway. This means there's no point in wasting disk space and time trying to get the DEM mesh extraction working.
• An ortho tile will end up in a "zOrtho4XP_" folder (e.g. zOrtho4XP_+27-016). If you have set "[X-Plane base folder]/Custom Scenery" as the base folder or as "custom_scenery" in O4XP, the result will naturally be, e.g. "[X-Plane base folder]/Custom Scenery/zOrtho4XP_+27-016". Inside each tile's folder, there'll be an "Earth nav data", "terrain" and "textures" folder, with some assorted files.
• All "zOrtho4XP_" folders must be at the very bottom of scenery_packs.ini, otherwise all you will see in X-Plane is your orthos and no more autogen or airports!
• You can do away with the time-consuming overlays extraction step, because the process will merely extract the default X-Plane autogen trees and houses which have outdated data. Just use SimHeaven's much superior and free X-World instead: https://simheaven.com/
  The X-World folders must be placed above your "zOrtho4XP_" fdolders in scenery_packs.ini! (The same applies for the z_overlays folder, or whatever it is called, that is generated by O4XP, by the way.)
• As for good O4XP settings, you may need to dig around a bit as it's a bit of a matter of taste. I can post my settings/config file if desired.

Edited November 10, 20232 yr by Bjoern