Quick question about using vector with fat regions

[JasonW]

Hey folks

 I just picked up Vector, if you have for example NCA and install vector does it add anything to the region that wasn't already there? I was under the impression that roads, bodies of water and road traffic were already covered when you installed regions like NCA. I ask because I had a pretty good balance sitting at KSFO but after installing vector I've lost about 8 fps which at ksfo hurts. Just wondering if there is something vector added to the area that maybe I can disable. Thanks.

[wedge1047]

Hi,

Vector is for use with Global base and NCA is a `full fat ` region. The full fat regions are complete and need nothing else. Global base is a full replacement for the default sim textures and vector and the open LC are enhancements for Global.base.

 

You need Global Base installed before you can use vector ,

 

Cheers Reg

[JasonW]

Yeah, I have global base also. So youre saying vector hasnt added anything to the NCA area that would bring down frames?

[Stewart Hobson]

1 hour ago, JasonW said:

Yeah, I have global base also. So youre saying vector hasnt added anything to the NCA area that would bring down frames?

Jason, try turning off Secondary and Tertiary Roads, and Railroads in Vector when you fly NCA/SFO and see what happens to your fps.

[Jiri Kocman]

8 minutes ago, Stewart Hobson said:

Jason, try turning off Secondary and Tertiary Roads, and Railroads in Vector when you fly NCA/SFO and see what happens to your fps.

 

I have disabed all vectors road as sometimes vectors roads ares drawn thru landclass or autogen buildings without any sense. From my experience Vectors have about 25% impact to my performance while all stuff enabled, but I try to measure it only at non fat region.

[Stewart Hobson]

Just now, Jiri Kocman said:

 

I have disabed all vectors road as sometimes vectors roads ares drawn thru landclass or autogen buildings without any sense. From my experience Vectors have about 25% impact to my performance while all stuff enabled, but I try to measure it only at non fat region.

I agree!  I try to remember to disable Vector when I fly in the Full Regions like NCA, which is very often these days.

[JasonW]

Thanks guys, I will give your suggestions a try.

[gaab]

I think we should get an official (I mean ORBX) statement in these points.

 

And (as Vector is officially supported by ORBX), should not this kind of "action" be directly supported by FTX Central when switching between Full Fat Region and Global (if needed)?

 

Cheers - Gérard

 

 

[Nick Cooper]

I'll put this in the Vector Support forum for you.

[Holger Sandmann]

Hi guys,

 

as mentioned previously (and in the manuals) the FTX Regions exclude any and all scenery components in their coverage area meaning Vector, UTX, or whatever other add-on you may have for the overlap area (and at lower display priority in the scenery library menu!) won't display at all. Thus, no need to deactivate their entries in the scenery menu. The only thing that FSX/P3D itself doesn't allow to fully exclude are those pesky airport elevation files, which is why only the respective FTX Region versions of those files should be active while the Vector versions (AEC tool) or others need to be deactivated.

 

Cheers, Holger

[fltsimguy]

1 hour ago, Holger Sandmann said:

Hi guys,

 

The only thing that FSX/P3D itself doesn't allow to fully exclude are those pesky airport elevation files, which is why only the respective FTX Region versions of those files should be active while the Vector versions (AEC tool) or others need to be deactivated.

 

Cheers, Holger

 

I don't understand this comment Holger.  I have just bought and installed Vector also Friday Harbour (of course as you might guess). 

 

Firstly, I guess I'm supposed to run the auto-configuration procedure ID'd in the Configuration tool...although it doesn't say anything about that in the manual that I could find.

Secondly, what do you mean "or others need to be deactivated"  is this something I'm supposed to do in addition to running the auto-configuration, or do you mean that this is why one should run the auto configuration to solve those pesky elevation files.

 

I spent I ton of time trying to figure out why my Venezuela was messed up after installing Vector...I don't want to have to keep reloading FSX and testing every area I fly to sort out elevation issues and such.  As it was last night I found an elevation conflict with S31 that was related to VicPlus install.  This all takes away from actually flying and more time in fixing.

 

Bryan

[JasonW]

1 hour ago, Holger Sandmann said:

Hi guys,

 

as mentioned previously (and in the manuals) the FTX Regions exclude any and all scenery components in their coverage area meaning Vector, UTX, or whatever other add-on you may have for the overlap area (and at lower display priority in the scenery library menu!) won't display at all. Thus, no need to deactivate their entries in the scenery menu. The only thing that FSX/P3D itself doesn't allow to fully exclude are those pesky airport elevation files, which is why only the respective FTX Region versions of those files should be active while the Vector versions (AEC tool) or others need to be deactivated.

 

Cheers, Holger

Thanks for the reply Holger. So if I understand correctly, nothing from vector should be causing my sudden fps loss in the KSFO area? I only ask because this area has ran fine for me until I installed Vector and I havent changed any other settings. 

[Holger Sandmann]

Hi there,

 

@ JAsonW: given that KSFO is about 50 miles from the southern boundary of NCA it's possible that some of the Vector components are loaded for the areas outside of NCA; you can cross-check that by temporarily deactivating the four main Vector entries in the scenery library menu. None of the Vector features will be displayed within the NCA coverage area.

 

@ Bryan: it's been like this since the original release of FSX that airport files with conflicting elevation data cannot remain active at the same time without causing display issues; and, yes, that's a royal PITA! At least Vector provides a tool to scan all active scenery folders and automatically deactivate its own airport files if it detects another third-party (or Orbx) version of that airport. What I meant by "others need to be deactivated" is if you have conflicting third-party airports in addition to Vector since the Vector AEC tool, for obvious reasons, only deactivates its own files.

 

Cheers, Holger

[fltsimguy]

58 minutes ago, Holger Sandmann said:

Hi there,

@ Bryan: it's been like this since the original release of FSX that airport files with conflicting elevation data cannot remain active at the same time without causing display issues; and, yes, that's a royal PITA! At least Vector provides a tool to scan all active scenery folders and automatically deactivate its own airport files if it detects another third-party version of that airport. What I meant by "others need to be deactivated" is if you have conflicting third-party airports in addition to Vector since the Vector AEC tool, for obvious reasons, only deactivates its own files.

 

Cheers, Holger

 

Too funny! the royal you know what. 

 

OK I see now.  All I can say is fortunately I know a lot about scenery in general and how it works.  I know where to look for offending files and such. Heaven help the newbie's.

[Stewart Hobson]

On 12/15/2015 at 9:20 AM, Holger Sandmann said:

Hi guys,

 

as mentioned previously (and in the manuals) the FTX Regions exclude any and all scenery components in their coverage area meaning Vector, UTX, or whatever other add-on you may have for the overlap area (and at lower display priority in the scenery library menu!) won't display at all. Thus, no need to deactivate their entries in the scenery menu. The only thing that FSX/P3D itself doesn't allow to fully exclude are those pesky airport elevation files, which is why only the respective FTX Region versions of those files should be active while the Vector versions (AEC tool) or others need to be deactivated.

 

Cheers, Holger

Thank you for the clarification, Holger--will keep this in mind in the future.

[Aviara1985]

But there are regions like Australia, which don't fully exclude Vector. When Vector is active it will cause morphing ground textures around Sydney. Deactivating it obviously resolves it. But unfortunately this feature will be lost when flying e.g. from Sydney to a FTX Global only area. Even more fun is when one would fly YSSY - AYPY where one shouldn't forget the corresponding config. Or is there some other solution I haven't found yet?

[DAVIDF4]

Maybe we could have something  that automatically disables ONLY the naughty vector elements when selecting the Oceania region and automatically renenables them when selecting other regions or global/hybrid.  
The less time I have to spend remembering to switch bits and pieces of configuration on and off, the more time I can actualy enjoy flying over the scenery.
It's disappointing when you realise you've just accidentally short changed yourself after flying for a while in a wrongly configured area.
Thank you,
Dave.

[Stewart Hobson]

Hello, Dave.  Look up "SimStarter" and try it out.  You can configure it to run Australia with Vector disabled, or run Europe with Vector enabled, etc. 

[DAVIDF4]

Thank you Stewart.
Reading the documentation now.  A very comprehensive utility I must say.

[Rimshot]

On 15-12-2015 at 8:17 PM, Holger Sandmann said:

At least Vector provides a tool to scan all active scenery folders and automatically deactivate its own airport files if it detects another third-party (or Orbx) version of that airport.

 

Holger, does this mean it is necessary to run the Vector configuration tool after installing Orbx regions and airports? And when running the tool, does it matter what the active region is in FTX Central?

[Holger Sandmann]

Hi there,

 

indeed, each time you add a new airport/scenery add-on, regardless of whether it's by Orbx or another developer, you should run the AEC scanner so that Vector can identify overlaps and deactivate the Vector version. To capture all of the Orbx airports in Regions and stand-alone versions, FTX Central should be set to either Global/hybrid or one of the regional groups (Europe, NA, Oceania).

 

Cheers, Holger

[Rimshot]

Thanks Holger. Just to be absolutely sure (I'm not certain how to interpret your 'either...or'), when you set FTX Central to Global hybrid mode when running the AEC scanner you scan all addon airports worldwide, Orbx and non Orbx. Is this assumption correct?

[Stewart Hobson]

4 hours ago, Rimshot said:

Thanks Holger. Just to be absolutely sure (I'm not certain how to interpret your 'either...or'), when you set FTX Central to Global hybrid mode when running the AEC scanner you scan all addon airports worldwide, Orbx and non Orbx. Is this assumption correct?

That's my understanding, yes.  Nevertheless, there are a few airports which you must manually exclude the AEC because the tool doesn't pick up the discrepancy.  For example, you can run the tool all day until Sunday, but you'll still have to manually exclude KSEA and KDEN, for example.  Expect Holger to give the definitive answer however.

[Holger Sandmann]

Hi guys,

 

according to the sticky post about the AEC tool -- http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/75538-airport-elevation-fixes-and-using-aec-read-this-first/ --  it only scans active scenery folders (those with the checkboxes ticked in the scenery library menu), which is why with an FTX Central setting of Global without hybird -- when all airports and regions are deactivated -- the scan would be incomplete. Hence my point of using either Global/hybrid or one of the regional groups to ensure that all Orbx regions and airports are active.

 

And, yes, there appear to be a few airports that don't get picked up and need to be added manually; no idea why that's the case either. That's where the option to save one or more custom profiles comes in handy.

 

Cheers, Holger 

[Rimshot]

6 hours ago, Stewart Hobson said:

That's my understanding, yes.  Nevertheless, there are a few airports which you must manually exclude the AEC because the tool doesn't pick up the discrepancy.  For example, you can run the tool all day until Sunday, but you'll still have to manually exclude KSEA and KDEN, for example.  Expect Holger to give the definitive answer however.

 

Hmmm, when I ran the AEC tool it had no problem excluding KSEA...

 

Thanks again Holger for your reply.

[Stewart Hobson]

4 minutes ago, Rimshot said:

 

Hmmm, when I ran the AEC tool it had no problem excluding KSEA...

 

Thanks again Holger for your reply.

Interesting.  Do you go with the default PNW version of KSEA, or with an addon?  If the former, I would expect the AEC tool to find it.  An addon, I'm not so sure.

[fltsimguy]

I just checked and I have KSEA in the disabled list.  I have Taxi2Gate version of KSEA, so I guess its working properly, haven't checked to see yet.

[Stewart Hobson]

3 hours ago, fltsimguy said:

I just checked and I have KSEA in the disabled list.  I have Taxi2Gate version of KSEA, so I guess its working properly, haven't checked to see yet.

Hey, Bryan.  Yeah, I've had the tool correctly alter some addon airports' elevations, KDEN being the prime example.  There's a freeware Albuquerque KABQ that is corrected as well, so whatever method it uses, it seems to work well.  Nice that it even works on addon airports.

[Rimshot]

18 hours ago, Stewart Hobson said:

Interesting.  Do you go with the default PNW version of KSEA, or with an addon?  If the former, I would expect the AEC tool to find it.  An addon, I'm not so sure.

 

I have no addon for KSEA, so it was indeed the default PNW version.