Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Guest pwheeler

Ground Environment 1.06 update available

Recommended Posts

Hi Tom,"FTX Mode will replace some generic scenery files with it's own, not the least is the autogendescriptions.spb, and the default.xml files, with a much larger one then default, so it could potentially affect your performance."The reason those files are larger is that they include custom autogen definitions for the FTX autogen. The process for doing this is documented in the FSX Autogen SDK. These definitions are used in the FTX area only so FSX ignores them elsewhere. In other words your concerns about potential performance impacts are unfounded.According to the SDKs adding custom data to the global files, like terrain.cfg, autogendescriptions.spb, and default.xml is the proper method. What the SDK conveniently ignores is what's supposed to happen if several add-ons use this approach. One option is to write an installer that adds the information in a "neutral" fashion, meaning without changing any existing modifications. That works well until a user makes his/her own changes or re-installs FSX or any of the service packs and everything gets reset to default (witness all the "where's my water?" posts here and elsewhere. FTX uses the alternate approach, which is to switch back and forth the files that require changing. Either approach has its drawbacks; a clever programmer who comes up with fail-proof code for dealing with global files stands to make a lot of money. In the meantime we're lobbying ACES to please allow, in FS11 and beyond, for stand-alone local additions to these global files. Cheers, Holger

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi HolgerWhen i fly in Europe using UTX Europe, i have to turn FTX mode to off before flying, otherwise the UTX scenery in Europe gets all messed up. Are you saying there is a way i can use UTX Europe without having to disable FTX? Or is there a way to turn FTX mode to OFF in-flight if i want to fly from Australia to Europe?Can you explain?Thanks.


Alvega

CPU: AMD 7800X3D | COOLER: Cooler Master MasterLiquid 240L Core ARGB | GPU: RTX 4070 TI Super 16GB OC | Mobo: ASUS TUF GAMING X670E-PLUS WIFI |
RAM: 32 GB Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5 6000MHz PC5-48000 2x16GB CL36 | SSDs: WD Black SN770 2TB NVMe SSD (WIN11), WD Black SN850X SSD 2 TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 NVMe (MSFS), Crucial MX500 2TB (Other stuff) | CASE: Forgeon Arcanite ARGB Mesh Tower ATX White | Power Supply: Forgeon Bolt PSU 850W 80+ Gold Full Modular White 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Nick_N

HolgerWhen someone of authority makes a statement that insinuates their product will provide seamless results with others (or default) and will not affect the area outside of its intended use in real time flight, I take that persons word for it. Of course it was not mentioned to acomplish that may require turning off the feature for autogen changes, and, it was also not mentioned if a user may not own a large area covered by FTX, if they fly out of that area they may not be able recover the normal scenery without stopping the flight.It is understandable something may change in development however that was not posted six months ago.At the same time I also understand there are limitations and there will be things that must be done to accomplish goals. I am in no way against that, on the contrary, if it provides the user with a better experience I am all for it.Your on/off comparison is a bit off base.. We will not be replacing textures with ones that will make, in example, a mountain forest turn into a desert. If the original texture is in fact a mountain forest, we will replace it with a high def mountain forest and therefore the only thing the user may find is if they fly from the Alps in Europe to the Andes in South America without stopping, there may be very high res mountain forests mixed in with the lower res valley defaults however that is only temporary until we complete SA as part of the 3rd and final installment, Oceania.We have already received feedback about that from Europe flyers and thus far, they like the very small overlap from the USA because it looks much better than default. In that, they are getting a small upgrade until we complete Europe, not anything that would cause a defined look to many elements to change and create a feeling of something completely out of place.What GEX will not do is completely change autogen and/or other elements outside of its coverage area. Although spot hi res textures may bleed into another location, the autogen and all other elements will remain exactly the same.GEX requires no switch. It will provide coverage of a large enough area whereby I doubt there will be any serious issues surrounding spot texture upgrades showing in another section of the world and at the same time it will not change the definition of another area, its autogen, trees, or any of the other elements as we complete the world with a target of the end of this year, possibly sooner. My only question was, can the changes FTX makes to autogen and other areas that are very obvious, be switched off/on

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Nick,as for my comparison being "off base" I'm just going by what the FSX land class tables tell us. For example, how can GEX provide custom textures for South America without providing a front-end switcher as per your statement in this thread: http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...topic_id=435281South America (Regions D and Q) does not have a single specific texture set in FSX out-of-the box and the hard-coded nature of the lclookup.bgl means that you can't just make your own and name them according to the region. It's pretty much the same for most other regions across the planet; all of Africa offers seven specific default classes and all of Asia eight. Unless you plan on using the GEX North America Region B textures for the remaining classes throughout those areas you have no choice but to employ a mechanism similar to FTX. Which, I'd like to emphasize, is not a bad thing ;-) And it's not a new discussion either because similar questions were asked with the release of BEV, GE, and FScene for FS9.Anyhow, the answer to your question is available on the FTX website and in the Region BLUE document: the FTX mode switcher cannot be used during a flight. If you want to do a cross-continental flight and have UT-X installed you should let the UT-X configurator add its custom entries to the terrain.cfg file (meaning you leave FTX Mode ON and run each UT-X configurator once). Any other changes with FTX Mode ON are very minor and probably require a screenshot comparison to be noticeable; and they are listed in the FTX FAQ as well. Cheers, Holger

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest UlfB

>We have already received feedback about that from Europe>flyers and thus far, they like the very small overlap from the>USA because it looks much better than default. In that, they>are getting a small upgrade until we complete Europe, not>anything that would cause a defined look to many elements to>change and create a feeling of something completely out of>place.>Yes, that's true. I'm waiting for good European textures. I believe GEX will be first followed by Lennart Arvidsson ScanTexture. FTX is sure good looking. Superb! I've never flew over Australia before, but it's becoming a habit nowadays :-) But I don't think we will see any FTX textures for Europe before the release of FSXI, to be honest. Three more zones to be release for Australia. Then a couple of zones for North America.Nick, any progress report on GEX Europe?Ulf B

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Nick_N

A switch will not be required for GEXWe replace the default textures with exact defined matches Aces specified for type and will tweak them like we did in the USA to blend correctly between the coverage areas so they work with no switch involved. Just as I removed the need for the SW mod and brought the desert to life without changing other areas. That is our goal and what we are striving for in design for the most simplistic installation and use. The method worked for the SW, it will work with the rest.And if there ever is a need for a GEXn texture reload as you mentioned, which I do not see that happening at this point in development, there is a method to do that and not require the user lose their flight, in game, with a very short pause and without exiting the flight or the sim.And thank you for answering my question about "in-flight" change and that it's not possible to run the tool to restore the autogen files without exiting the sim. Not everyone uses UTX so that purchase and custom setup for FTX use is an option too I guess.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Nick_N

I stopped to post in this thread... I can continue to post or go back to workLOLIts in progress.. we are throwing some new ideas about higher res graphic source data for highlighting elements of the textures back and forth as we work on autogen placement. I cant discuss any more right now.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

HolgerI didn't have the chance to try that yet, but i will. Thought you were talking about another method, though.And thanks for answering the question about changing FTX mode in-flight.Cheers.


Alvega

CPU: AMD 7800X3D | COOLER: Cooler Master MasterLiquid 240L Core ARGB | GPU: RTX 4070 TI Super 16GB OC | Mobo: ASUS TUF GAMING X670E-PLUS WIFI |
RAM: 32 GB Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR5 6000MHz PC5-48000 2x16GB CL36 | SSDs: WD Black SN770 2TB NVMe SSD (WIN11), WD Black SN850X SSD 2 TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 NVMe (MSFS), Crucial MX500 2TB (Other stuff) | CASE: Forgeon Arcanite ARGB Mesh Tower ATX White | Power Supply: Forgeon Bolt PSU 850W 80+ Gold Full Modular White 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

>Hi guys,>>while it's always a good idea to set FTX mode to OFF while>installing or upgrading add-ons there's no requirement for it>in this particular case. FTX doesn't affect any of the>textures and autogen files that GEX uses and vice versa.>>Cheers, HolgerThank you Holger for this clarification.Best regards,David


Best regards,
David Roch

AMD Ryzen 5950X //  Asus ROG CROSSHAIR VIII EXTREME //  32Gb Corsair Vengeance DDR4 4000 MHz CL17 //  ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4090 24GB OC Edition //  2x SSD 1Tb Corsair MP600 PCI-E4 NVM //  Corsair 1600W PSU & Samsung Odyssey Arc 55" curved monitor
Thrustmaster Controllers: TCA Yoke Pack Boeing Edition + TCA Captain Pack Airbus Edition + Pendular Rudder.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The reason those files are larger is that they include custom autogen definitions for the FTX autogen. The process for doing this is documented in the FSX Autogen SDK. These definitions are used in the FTX area only so FSX ignores them elsewhere. In other words your concerns about potential performance impacts are unfounded.Actually not unfounded, however in this case the FTX files actually improves performance in other regions. My tests which I ran at different airports, (JFK, and SEA for 2) show a consistent increase of about 3-4 FPS when FTX Mode was on vs it being off. These tests were ran With no weather and traffic, and no animation, as to not skew the result. So barring any visual problems in other areas, that so far I haven't detected, I think I'm just going to leave it on, except when installing major updates like GEX. FTX Mode Offhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/186469.jpgFTX Mode Onhttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/186470.jpg


Thanks

Tom

My Youtube Videos!

http://www.youtube.com/user/tf51d

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest pwheeler

Hi,just wanted to say that I'm running both FTX, UTX and GEX and I have not encountered any problems at all running them all side-by-side. I have not needed to switch FTX mode off at all. I installed GEX 1.06 with no problems. The only problem was after I installed FTX and having to run the UTX setup tools to put the UTX entries back into the terrain.cfg.I think that the worry about turning off FTX mode is unfounded. I've encountered no performance problems or any visual problems. As long as you are careful about installing addons then there is no problem. UTX for example adds its entries into the terrain.cfg rather than replace it so FTX mode does not need to be switched off when it's installed. You only need to worry if the addon actually replaces the files that FTX replaces and as far as I am aware none of the major addons do that.Personally I think the GEX approach and the FTX approach actually compliment each other. GEX can provide a value-for-money base for the world and FTX can provide enhancements for your favourite places. I doubt there are many out there who will be able to afford FTX packs for the entire world as it will come to a huge amount of money, not to mention that FS11 will probably be out by the time FTX completes the whole world.When you combine GEX with UTX it really is on a par with FTX in my opinion.Paul

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...