Hi Jeff: If I edit only one bmp file, should I convert all the other bmp files into TIF format?
You should do this prior to converting it. Make sure that you follow the wiki tutorial on this as you need to convert the images to TIF after the alpha since the TIF retains the information for Aerofly.
Yes I have, I've used Ortho4xp in Xplane 11 in the same area and although it's a little more user friendly Xplane has this haze to it that I just can't stand, so on the whole I think my scenery looks a lot better in FS2😎
Ortho4xp X-plane scenery is even more blurrier than FSET FSX scenery, but X-plane 11 has better memory management than FSX so there are less cases not showing ground texture some distance away. AFS2 has better overall image clarity and better memory management. Wish GeoConvert can get better with more related development.
I used to make photo scenery with FSET for FSX, and Ortho4XP for X-plane. Now I am using GeoConvert to make the same areas of the same map source, and I found the ground texture to be clearer. The self made photo scenery of the other sims are blurrier and washed out in color. Have any of you noticed this improvement?
If I download a 0.5m resolution map with FSET, and I convert it to level 14, will I still get 1m resolution? So there is no sense to download a 0.5m resolution map if I only use level 14? Then why the wiki still suggest using level 14 or 15 for the 0.5m map?
No, level 0 covers the whole earth and has roughly 40000km/2048 per pixel.
The higher the level, the higher the detail, e.g. level 15 is roughly 50cm per pixel. I wouldn't recommend to use it, when flying at 500 feet or higher its hardly visible.
Have a look here please: https://www.aerofly.com/aerofly_fs_2/d…/sdk:geoconvert
Well the question then becomes: Why didn't Orbx Lowi cause such issues?
There is probably some other factor?
Orbx Lowi is of different scenery type from that of GeoConvert scenery. It may use the same structure as the other DLC.
This is the same conflict I have been talking about in this thread:
Geoconverter scenery conflicts with existing DLC
This always happens when a GeoConvert scenery is near or overlapping an existing DLC. Some stripes will appear within the DLC area. Jeff said this is due to the blend technique used for meshing the geoconvert scenery with default/DLC scenery. Whatever the cause, this is a serious problem and needs to be fixed.
I'd like to know the exact meaning of "level" too.
From my experience, I guess level means not the resolution, but the distance from which the ground texture will be shown. For example, with level 9, you can see the texture from pretty far away, but with level 14, you can only see ground texture when you are very close to the ground.
This is only my guess. If I am true, I'd also like to know how each level is related to the distance.
To get scenery levels to show at 0 -1 or -2 do I have to go above 14 in the tmc file.What do levels 12 13 14 and 15 display down to in resolution.
Oh that's great. I love you Jeff!
ILS and VOR are built into Aerofly FS2 already world-wide.
Or we make collectively create a database with growing number of ILS, VOR, NDB, etc. which is embedded into AFS2. That will eventually make AFS2 having all the nav data of the world.
With everybody actively making photosceneries and airports, it's not a dream we can fly all over the world in the near future. The future of AFS2 is really bright indeed. You are on the right road.
Or just add ILS, VOR, NDB information to any location within the GeoConverter scenery? We don't even need to make airport or runway ourselves if the resolution is high enough (-1 or -2) at the airport. That will make GeoConverter scenery really alive.
Everest. VE map, 50cm, level 11, 12, 13, 14.
The texture is really good, but the default elevation mesh is obviously not enough in this case. Looking forward to creating HD elevation mesh in the future.
The "black areas" Jetjockey10 mentioned is most likely missing texture from the source map service, and the "temporary lined areas" he mentioned is most likely the stripes we have been complaining about. Jeff said that this is the blend technique used for meshing the geoconvert scenery with default/DLC scenery. I really wish they are looking into this and get it resolved soon.
Display MoreYes , currently I'm testing the tool with patches of ground in the Geneva area touching the Swiss DLC, because it has all the technical challenges for photoscenery integration, and it touches a part of our Swiss DLC that need big improvements.
Therefore, I currently created a France\images folder, and if I was then to work on the German side of the Bodensee I would sure make a Germany\images folder. If I was to make several Länder in Germany, I would also make several folders not to mix them, otherwise you quickly have a mess...
GeoConvert and AFS2 absolutely don't care about the source of your pictures. You can mix them as you want. All it does is take pixels of the pictures you feed in, with the coordinates you feed in and compile georeferenced AFS2 Tiles.
You can make a ground scenery with your grandmother's picture if you want (;-)
Black areas are typically missing textures. When you fly by AFS2 loads higher LOD levels, just like mip mapping. There could by some missing/damaged texture in some intermediate compilation level. When you fly closer, a higher level gets loaded and the texture is available, but flying past it unloads from memory and the black tiles pops up again.
My 2 cents
Cheers
Antoine
What, Aerofly FS 1 has real water? Oh please...
I made a small area over San Francisco airport. It still has stripes outside it.
It's downloaded from VE, 0.5cm, level 11, 12, 13, 14. I have also attached the FSET coordinates:
I have actually tested overlaying geoconvert scenery directly over San Francisco DLC scenery and it worked perfectly, even over an airport. This isn't to say that there will be issues unforeseen. My advice is to just test a small area over an airport and see if it works for you.
You have a very clear description of the potential chaotic situation we are destined to encounter if there is no clear set of rule of scenery priority. What a mess it would be!
That's all the more reason why we users need to have the choice to control the scenery priority. I still suggest something like an .ini file which has all the names of the GeoConverter scenery folders whose order can be adjusted to determine the scenery priority, while all DLCs can be represented with just a universal name. Thus we don't need to know the name of all the DLC scenery folders, and this can make things much easier.
Display MoreUnfortunately not. Beyond the fact that hidding a bug is no fix, for the stripes not to show up you need a neighbouring scenery to show up instead. And as you noticed, the stripes are systematically "made" of neighbouring sceneries.
If you don't want stripes to show up, you'll need to replace them with another scenery, but then you just move the problem to the next border...
A kind of natural priority is driven by compilation level : a tile compiled in level 14 will show on top, instead of a tile compiled in level 13 at the same place, as soon as the tile level 14 is being loaded of course.
As you noticed, if you only compile your scenery in level 14, it doesn't show up until you fly close enough from the ground for level 14 to get loaded. Then it will probably keep displaying as long as that local tile of level 14 remains in memory.
That's why we have to compile in several levels, for the scenery to show up properly in all LOD levels.
When you overlap an existing DLC, you never know exactly in which levels it was compiled. Your tiles with higher compilation level will technically show up above the DLC, but there's no obvious rule for same levels.
For instance, if I create a scenery overlapping the Swiss DLC and compile it in the recommended levels 9, 11, 12, 13 and 14, usually it first displays instead of the Swiss DLC when I launch an in-flight situation (i.e. my scenery has obviously some priority).
When I fly towards my scenery zone, ground textures next to my aircraft get loaded in higher level and I can see tiles of the Swiss DLC pop up instead of my scenery. Either the Swiss DLC is compiled up to level 15 and the last level gets priority when loaded, or the lack of clear priority causes tough competition between two overlapping level 14 compilations, with unpredictable result.
The problem with the Swiss DLC is, the ground photo textures beyond the border in places like Geneva are artificially blurred, but compiled in the same levels as the rest of the DLC.
In other words, if we make a neighbouring French scenery to fit the Swiss DLC, the artificially blurred textures will always show up above.
The ideal solution would be IPACS to locally provide replacement ground textures without these patches of artificially blurred textures (they have the original orthophotos).
Otherwise, we need a way to force priority to the neighbouring scenery and overlap it in a way to hide those blurry patches of ground.
Cheers
Antoine
Hi Jeff, what's your computer specification?
My computer will crash when converting an area larger than 15nmx15nm, 0.5m resolution (0).
My computer is 16GB memory, CPU 4790k@4.2.
It will also take more than 6 hours to compile an area smaller than 15nmx15nm.
Display MoreI am thinking I would like to give FSET a try for fairly low resolution scenery so I can cover a fairly large area. Say 100 nm by 60 nm. I am thinking maybe level 9 or level 11 max. Is this too much to bite off in the beginning? Any ideas or suggestions?
This is the middle of Mississippi and it almost all woods, steams, and small lakes. A few small towns here and there.
Regards,
Ray
I think that setting priority of scenery to be shown can lead to the solution to the the current abnormal stripes showing around the GeoConverter scenery. It will disable the scenery you don't want to see, and eliminate the potential conflict.
I am most eager to see this feature also because I'd like to redo the existing DLC areas such as San Francisco. Good as it is, its color is bland, and its resolution is not enough. I just pulled the VE map of San Francisco area. Its color is much more vibrant, even though not so consistent, and the resolution is much higher. Just imagine the beautiful trees and buildings on top of the beautiful 50cm ground textures I made myself!
I will tried to find an online storage space to upload the scenery.
And it's easy to reproduce my scenery with the coordinates I have provided:
Coordinates: 7.00 46.00, 8.00 45.50
Level: 9, 11, 12, 13
Resolution: 0(50cm, and 1(1m).
I think this is a very urgent problem because it has appeared in all the high resolution DLC areas that is adjacent to the GeoConverter content. It even appeared in default low resolution terrains according to Trespassers. This will ruin the beautiful scenery made with GeoConverter and make it virtually unusable.
Thanks to you users who are carefully debugging this issue. It is now time for the iPACs devs to step in and help. Could one of you users provide a simple example that shows the stripes and provide it to the developers?
Thanks
Looks great! What's the resolution?
Ignore it. It's not accurate. You will roughly know the disk usage when you have done it several times.
