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Hello Mike, If you are a not a big fan of orthophoto (like me), I can highly recommend "Simheaven X-World". This would be a big step up over the default scenery. And there are good thinks comming...X-World Pro will be released within the next weeks (hopefully). I am eagerly waiting for this product. You can take a look at this topic: simHeaven X-WORLD Pro - SimHeaven - X-Plane.Org Forum Patric

have you installed FSUIPC? A good alternative for Aivlasoft EFB would be Little Navmap. Patric

Thanks for the info. So far i haven't thought about editing sceneries by myself. Perhaps I will take a look at the editor in the future.😉 Patric

Yes, the approach to EDDF on yesterday was so great. At first there was the really nice night lighting of the scenery of Frankfurt and surroundings as I left the cloud layer, and then I have experienced the great night lighting of the Frankfurt airport. OK, it seems like some outer parking areas are not illuminated correctly but the biggest part of the main airport area looks really great - and we are speaking of a XP11 airport.😉 I slowed down my taxi speed to take a look at the great lighting of the airport, and I have choosen one of the farthest gates - so I needed to taxi through the whole airport area.😉 Patric

Some impressions of my evening flight, I have just finished, by using the ToLiss A321 from LEAL to EDDF.

I know these two airports, but I have read many negative feedback from the Aviotek EDDF scenery. And in terms of EDDL - I am always unsure about this developer regarding a purchase. Moreover it is a XP11 scenery, and I am afraid the lighting on the airport is not working correctly. But I have bought the Aerosoft EDDF v2 (XP11 version) scenery a few days ago by using my reward points, and it is not that bad.😉 Patric

I can fully understand your situation because I was in that situation about a year ago. I was a hardcore MS flight simulator fan for the last 20 years, but at last year I was tired of the frequently releases of new city updates, photogrammetry updates and new missions. I have to say I was never a fan of orthophoto textures – to the contrary, I like syntetic textures more than orthophoto. I miss textures like “Ground environment” for P3D or FSX.😉 So I had decided to make a comparison between MSFS and XP12, and I had installed the XP12 Demo. I was amazed by the overall look of the lighting and the living scenery (e.g. trains) in XP12. Moreover the clouds looked more natural to me. In MSFS I always got the feeling that all clouds are based on cumulus clouds. Then the street lights – in XP12 there are really lamps and not light balls in the air. And that all was over a year ago by using the default scenery. So I had decided to switch over to XP12 completely. But I regularly take a look at the MSFS 2024 development – so about a week ago, as I reinstalled my MSFS 2024 version again. But it lasted not long for my decision to uninstall it again. The only thing that makes me thoughtfull, is the release of a new big airport for MSFS, which could be important for me (Aerosoft EDDF, EDDL). These airports look so nice. I wish the developers would create these airports for XP too. But then I think, the default gateway airports in XP12 are really looking nice. Take a look at the default airports in MSFS.😉 In MSFS I only used addon payware airports. At the end in XP12 you see progress of things you really need as a flight simmer like clouds, lighting, ATC with SIDs and STARs, great payware aircraft and so on. But I think I will further keep an eye to the development of MSFS… At the moment I am really satisfied with SimHeaven, GF2, Traffic Global and ToLiss. And there is one point that is really important to me – the simplicity of the installation of addons – simply copy and paste into the XP12 folder.😉 Patric

I am using SimHeaven and GF. You need to deactivate the forest-layer of all SimHeaven parts. I use the tool "xToolbox" for these operations. Moreover in the "scenery_packs.ini" place the GF layer between the SimHeaven vegetation layer and the other SimHeaven layers. ..... SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/simHeaven_X-World_Asia-6-scenery/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/simHeaven_X-World_Asia-8-network/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/simHeaven_X-World_Europe-1-vfr/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/simHeaven_X-World_Europe-2-regions/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/simHeaven_X-World_Europe-3-details/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/simHeaven_X-World_Europe-4-extras/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/simHeaven_X-World_Europe-5-footprints/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/simHeaven_X-World_Europe-6-scenery/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/simHeaven_X-World_Europe-8-network/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/Global_Forests_v2/ SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/simHeaven_X-World_Vegetation_Library/ ..... In XP12 I have "3D vegetation" activated. Patric

It seems to me that I have switched from MSFS to X-Plane on last year at the right time.😉 Especially almost every XP12 update brings new and cool features to the sim. Patric

from my last flight from EDDM to GCFV by using the ToLiss A330-900. I really like the atmospheric lighting and the clouds of the new XP12 Beta.🙂 Patric

In my eyes one of the best sceneries for XP12. I can highly recommend it. Patric

Exactly. That's what I thought immediately, too.😉 Patric

About one year ago I have switched from MS2020 to XP12. Up to now, and even after the release of MS2024, I did not regret this step. I have got the impression, that a little more people a interesting in XP on the last time. If this is really the case, I hope, that the developers will takes note of it and make more airports for this sim, although the gateway airports of XP12 are offered at nice quality. On yesterday I have realized, that Drzewiecki Design has just released KMDW for XP12 - Great!😉 Patric

OK, the valuation "great" is a little bit exaggerated, but I was never focused on photo-real textures. I would rather have new high quality ground textures for X-Plane 12. But if I could have AO at ZL18 everywhere, I think I would like this tool.😉 Patric

Subject "AutoOrtho"... I do not understand the fact people praising AutoOrtho everytime (@Franz007: Sorry😉). I have tried it two times, and everytime I switched back to the X-plane native + Simheaven scenery immediately. When using AutoOrtho the terrain is much to blurry. I rather have sharp non-photo textures than blurry photo textures. Moreover at an area around Hannover (Germany) I have got always a mesh error. This error was already present, when I made a scenery with Ortho4XP. But at Ortho4XP I can use the LiDAR Terrain Model for the mesh and so the mesh error is not present anymore. If I want to fly with photo real textures I prefer Ortho4XP for the departure and arrival airport region in any case. In my opinion X-Plane looks really great with the native textures in combination with Simheaven. Patric