Slai

Thanks for the mipmap clue. I converted the DDS to PNG which stripped off the mipmap and then used Xgrinder to get back to DDS. I published a fix along with performance enhancements on the org- http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/37478-san-diego-buildings-integration-pack/

No dev team is scheduled to clear out accumulated tech debt unless it can be tied to a commercial deliverable. VR is a perfect opportunity to do so and you can sense in Ben's blog that he is excited to do so. I am enthused about this imitative because VR has a way of amplifying the sense of realism such that if there are issues, it causes people to throw up. My hope is once the sim is good for VR, it will mean that the "smoothness" (Ben's word and much more important than FPS) fixes will give that sense of realism, air and not flying on rails for both VR and regular monitors. Only Laminar can bring this to the sim. After that, provide a solid API and leave most of the rest to third parties.

Nice representation until you fly out of the overcast area at which point the sim freezes for a cloud redraw and then the overcast is suddenly gone (I stopped upgrading at v3 but don't think this has changed).

Yes, released! - http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/36109-us-west-real-life/

I am developing a completely new scenery that among many improvements, handles this particular issue. The problem is that the SimHeaven scenery uses animated objects as well as assigning a high priority to 1000's of turbines. I mark as low priority, 1/3 are not animated and 1/3 are blank objects. Release expected in the next 2 weeks: http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/forums/topic/105685-usa-west-real-life-development-on-final/

I was a very enthusiastic supporter of SMP from day one but after paying for upgrades through SMP3 + RWC (dubious as a separate product) and now getting bombarded with emails to pay for an upgrade to SMP4, I feel used and have zero loyalty for that product and developer now (still admire the developer's talent and devotion to Xplane). I don't think SunDog has any appreciation that many people were just supporting the developer in the early days with an immature product that I tried out but never really used. It is still a bit like that today although if starting now the full price of SMP4+RWC is fair. And yes, Sesquashtoo, v4 should never have been a paid upgrade and now I am on to XEnviro.

My understanding is that Xplane 0.45 uses the "uncorrected" default flight dynamics for any .acf earlier than Planemaker 0.45. That would be the case for all aircraft (those with and without plugin tweaking is irrelevant) and makes sense to be fully backwards compatible with all aircraft. Xplane 0.45 will use the "corrected" default flight dynamics only for those .acf saved with Planemaker 0.45 or greater. Thus, I would think the dc-3 needs to be saved with Planemaker 0.45 to instruct Xplane 0.45 to use the "corrected" default flight dynamics. Otherwise Xplane 0.45 is designed to use the "uncorrected" default flight dynamics for the dc-3 .acf

For sure keep the white_clouds.lau file. It is one of the best features and is compatible with RTH if you make the above changes. It makes the clouds a bit brighter and whiter in the day and makes sure the clouds are dark before sunrise and after sunset.

Compatibility with Real Terra Haze 3.0 Instructions: 1) Remove art_controls.lua Extensive controls found in Real Terra Haze 2) Remove light_tweak.lua Extensive controls found in Real Terra Haze 3) Edit night_light_transition.lua Find: MaxScaleFar = 0.80 Repl: -- MaxScaleFar = 0.80 Find: MaxScaleNear = 0.50 Repl: -- MaxScaleNear = 0.50 4) Edit RTH_3.0.lua (currently b2, should not change with final release) Find: set( "sim/private/controls/clouds/ambient_gain", 1.0 ) Repl: -- set( "sim/private/controls/clouds/ambient_gain", 1.0 ) Find: function st_def_lights() Add below: MaxScaleFar = lites_vars[lt_set][5]*lmult Add below: MaxScaleNear = lites_vars[lt_set][6]*lmult

Correct. To be exact, the plane (not you in an external view) has to be 1500 feet (coded as 700 meters in the script) above the runway or terrain.

The Papi lights are affected by the light transition controls so in order not to affect landings the plane must be 1500 feet above ground level in order for the lighting effects to kick in.

10.3 with Night light transition, white clouds, and Real Tera Haze LUA scripts are fantastic together. Really like the blue to gold to red to purple haze transition. PAPI lights are on, then the runway lights come on, gradually all the city lights, and finally the stars! Too bad does not work with SkyMaxxPro. Really miss the cloud color transitions that come with the X-plane default shaders.

I for one am most excited to hear hints about all the changes "under the hood"- Ben's graphics changes to core engine and fog effects, Austin's 100+ code commits to the flight model, hints of extensive 3rd party API hooks. This is what will make the magic of immersive flight happen. Maxx, Alpilotx, Simheaven, World2XPlane and others are doing amazing work LR could never have the resources to do in house. Most is available today and once you fly ZL 17+ photosceneries, it is hard to go back to autogen.

There are some nicely textured NYC buildings actively being developed and posted to the org. The Aerosoft package converts well so its hard to imagine why they don't release this for Xplane. Drzewieckis has great coverage of all the boroughs but the textures are not so great. Following is a mashup of all the above:

Grand Tetons- New textures are great. Orthophotos draped over the new mesh are quite stunning as well.