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Buildings HD Explained


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Buildings HD Explained

 

Since it seems that there is a bit of confusion as to exactly which buildings will be improved by Buildings HD, we’ve decided to put together this guide to make sure everything is clear.

 

Buildings HD is a worldwide Autogen Building Upgrade

  • Buildings HD improves the appearance of autogen buildings worldwide.  Autogen buildings are the generic buildings that populate the landscape in flight simulator; they make up the majority of the buildings that you see while flying.  They are used in default terrain, addon landclass scenery like Orbx regions and OpenLC products, and are frequently used in photoreal scenery like that which surrounds Orbx airport addons.  Autogen buildings do not represent specific real world buildings; they are generic buildings that simulate the appearance and style of buildings for a particular region.
  • Buildings HD also improves the appearance of generic skyscrapers and office buildings.  These are the tall buildings that appear in city centers in FSX and P3D, but do not represent specific real-world buildings.
  • The new textures are based on real photos taken from many locations around the world, in the actual locations that they represent in the sim.  The developers visited many countries during development of BuildingsHD to take source photos, resulting in very realistic and believable buildings throughout all regions of the globe.
  • New night textures are included to create a much more realistic new night environment, with realistic glowing windows, lighted shop fronts, and uniform brightness across all buildings.
  • Autogen also includes some more complex 3D buildings and structures to add detail and variety to the landscape, and Buildings HD updates those too.  It includes a complete overhaul of the autogen.bgl object library - Over 400 new building models for water towers, gas stations, fast food restaurants, apartments, shopping centers, farm buildings, religious structures, and more.
  • Buildings HD can be used with or without other Orbx products.  You can use it with a completely default FSX / P3D installation, with any combination of Orbx products, and also with other 3rd party scenery.  In all cases, it will update most of your autogen buildings worldwide (although some buildings will not be affected; see below).

 

What buildings are not affected by Buildings HD?

  • Airport Buildings - Buildings HD will not change the appearance of airport buildings, with the exception of some terminal textures at default airports that are also used for non-airport office buildings.
  • Custom Buildings - Custom scenery objects are not affected by Buildings HD.  These are usually objects placed in scenery to represent specific real-world buildings.  By default, each major city usually contains several custom buildings, such as the Empire State Building, MetLife building etc in New York, Eiffel Tower and Louvre in Paris, etc.  These buildings will not be improved by Buildings HD since they are custom buildings and not autogen.

 

Will Buildings HD improve buildings in Orbx products?

Yes, Buildings HD will improve the autogen buildings seen in almost the entire Orbx product catalog.

This includes all of the autogen buildings seen in:

  • Global BASE
  • OpenLC Europe, North America, and South America
  • Regions:
    • North America: PNW, CRM, NRM, PFJ, SAK, NCA, SCA
    • Australia V1 and V2
    • New Zealand North and South
    • Europe: NOR, ENG, WLS, SCO, IRE, NIR
  • Airports: Houses and small buildings in the surrounding area are usually autogen, and thus will see an upgrade.

 

Which Orbx products will not be upgraded by Buildings HD?

  • TrueEarth regions - The TrueEarth regions make heavy use of custom buildings, which are not upgraded by Buildings HD.  However, some houses, roofs, and small structures may see improvements.
  • Germany North and South - The Germany regions use custom autogen textures carefully made by Frank Schnibben and it was decided that they would not be replaced by Buildings HD.
  • CityScapes - Our cityscape products make heavy use of custom buildings, which are not upgraded by Buildings HD.  However, some houses, roofs, and small structures may see improvements.

 

Here are some screenshots showing Buildings HD with some Orbx regions and airports:

 

Australia V2 - Outskirts of Sydney shown with new HD buildings

18-85eb3c687e36f8d55087df98f80b2a75.jpg

 

OpenLC North America - New HD industrial buildings outside of Calgary, AB, Canada

18-6aceccbcbfbeb7e52b06d9feea8a2326.jpg

 

KRDD Redding Municipal Airport - Buildings HD houses on approach to Redding

18-dcad240053083f9f11aa3492d67dbc17.jpg

 

NA Southern California - Autogen buildings in Los Angeles, on approach to KLAX

18-6519877051823d94e785e0228c6f1e25.jpg

 

 

 

Here is an example of "custom" buildings in Los Angeles.  Most of the tall buildings shown here are custom buildings, and thus are NOT modified or improved by Buildings HD.  (Some of the medium-sized buildings are "generic skyscrapers", which are improved by Buildings HD):

2019-6-25_20-26-20-5.thumb.jpg.be3512c69c2d21db4cba0f81e509ccd2.jpg

 

We hope this helps to clear things up!

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Thank you for this clear and complete explanation and for the time and effort to do so.

 

But I have a qestion:

I plan to do some exterior renovation works to my house the next mounth... Which look my home sweet home will have in the new orbx's autogene world: the old or the oncoming one ?

 

Cheers :D!

 
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7 hours ago, JOE DYGAN said:

But I have a qestion:

I plan to do some exterior renovation works to my house the next mounth... Which look my home sweet home will have in the new orbx's autogene world: the old or the oncoming one ?

 

Cheers :D!

 

 

Sorry Joe, your house will look like the old one until Buildings HD V2  ;):D

 

8 minutes ago, Secret Sphere said:

What about the VAS effect on FSX/FSXSE with 4096 textures?

 

We haven't seen any VAS issues in testing, but I don't know what kind of addons the testers were using with FSX.  With the larger texture sizes, combined with other intensive addons, there's the possibility of running into VAS problems; it all depends on what other addons you're running.

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20 minutes ago, Scott Armstrong said:

 

Sorry Joe, your house will look like the old one until Buildings HD V2  ;):D

 

 

We haven't seen any VAS issues in testing, but I don't know what kind of addons the testers were using with FSX.  With the larger texture sizes, combined with other intensive addons, there's the possibility of running into VAS problems; it all depends on what other addons you're running.

I´m running FSX:SE in 1024 resolution with loads of intensive addons but have managed to stay just inside the 4096 VAS limit so far. Would be great with a 1024 or at least 2048 option.

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Wow Scott  you have done a fantastic job and as soon as i get my internet and my flight sim set up i will be buying and what a improvement  and a big thanks for all your hard

work and it has taken you sometime to complete the sim will look fantastic and it is all down to you my friend regards EMM

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33 minutes ago, Jackietools said:

How about New York City? Will the Freedom Tower be properly represented? East coast cities could use some help with accuracy. Thanks.

 

Hello,

it has been pretty clearly explained what the product does and does not do.

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7 hours ago, Jackietools said:

How about New York City? Will the Freedom Tower be properly represented? East coast cities could use some help with accuracy. Thanks.

 

Hi Jackietools, Buildings HD does not add or improve specific real-world buildings; it's a replacement for the sim's autogen (generic buildings that populate most of the FS world).  The first post I made in this thread explains it all pretty well I think :)

 

Cheers,

Scott

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  • 3 weeks later...

hi. At a risk of looking a bit daft here, in true earth GB p3d if I crank up or lower the sliders for autogen these are the buildings that will be improved with this addon or were these textures modified when tegb was installed along with the custom buildings

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4 hours ago, sherpavan said:

hi. At a risk of looking a bit daft here, in true earth GB p3d if I crank up or lower the sliders for autogen these are the buildings that will be improved with this addon or were these textures modified when tegb was installed along with the custom buildings

In the original post the following was indicated:

Which Orbx products will not be upgraded by Buildings HD?

  • TrueEarth regions - The TrueEarth regions make heavy use of custom buildings, which are not upgraded by Buildings HD.  However, some houses, roofs, and small structures may see improvements.
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