ACTIVE Another Old Timer needs help - Flat buildings and AEC problems

[wa3pnt]

I'll try to be as brief as possible, but need to explain my situation to solicit recommendations for improvement.

 

New to the FSX realm, but not to computers.  System is i7-4790K @4GB, Poseidon GTX-780, 32GB Memory, 6 SSDs (3 pair in RAID0).

 

All my testing (for comparisons) has been done flying out of KPRC(Prescott, AZ) in and around the local area.

 

I had installed FSX UTX-NA, GEX-NA, and SceneryTech NA LC.  I also had Megascenery Arizona installed.  With these products I was pleased with the operation.  Buildings in the town had height, were level, and churches looked like churches.  The Yavapai County capital building looked like a capital in the center of the surrounding park.  The Casino/Hotel on a surrounding hill showed a multistory building.  KPRC airport elevation was correct, and level with the surrounding area.

 

I've been reading about the improvement of the FTX products, and decided to try them.  I first did a complete re-install of FSX to eliminate any incompatibility with previously installed products.

 

I purchase and installed ORBX Global, ORBX Global Vector, and Pilots FS Global2010.  I also reinstalled Megascenery Arizona.  Installations went without issue, and I installed the latest Library following installation.  I use the scenery priorities and placement assigned by each product.

 

Now for my issues:

 

Upon selecting KPRC (and also KSEZ, KIGM, and KLAS) I found the airport elevations to be off.  KPRC and KSEZ in a hole, KIGM and KLAS on a plateau.  I ran the Global Vector AEC Scanner, and then had to manually add the above airports to the disablelist and apply.  KPRC is no loner in a hole, but the eastern end of the airport is now on a plateau.  To correct this I had to uninstall Pilots FS Global2010.

 

All buildings have no height, and large buildings such as a Walmart follow the contour of the terrain (bend downhill with the land).  Prominent buildings such as churches and the Casino/Hotel are just a flat square.

 

What am I missing, or doing wrong?  I really want to like these products, but I've currently taken a big step backwards with respect to realism.

 

RodeoGeorge

 

[Holy Cheese]

Hi George,

you've got two separate problems going on here.

Firstly, if you are using photoreal scenery such as Megascenery, this overrides everything else in your sim and so you will not have any of the ORBX autogen showing - photoreal and ORBX do not play well together.

Secondly, you are seeing the problem of the way FSX makes its terrain - when using the Global mesh and Vector, Vector cannot correct for the fact that two ends of the airport do not have the same altitude in FSX. Airports in FSX have to be flat, the consequence is that you will see a slight plateau at one end of the airport.

Hope this helps to explain it a bit, though it probably won't do much to encourage your feeling of realism in the sim.

Cheers

Jack

[wa3pnt]

Thanks Jack for that input.

 

I need to point out that I have the Megascenery Arizona installed in both cases, and in the same relative location.  I follow the logic that ORBX autogen and the photo scenery do not play well together.

 

Since a picture is worth a 1000 words, I made a flight tonight using both the UTX and the ORBX scenery (thank goodness for Acronis Disk Image).

 

Here are the results.  The UTX Scenery is on the left, and the ORBX on the right in each set of pictures.

 

They are of a Church, the County Capital Building, and a Casino of a hill in that order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

RodeoGeorge

[GlennH]

It's the mesh plain and simple. This is a well known side effect of high Res mesh no matter who supplies it.

Default usa coverage is 38m and ms did a good job with the "flattens"

Ask yourself, do you really need higher res than 38m? I know I don't......

[Morten]

Could we please have some qualified comments from the developers on this issue..?!!

 

I have the exact same issue with NA Gold NCA. Not airports though, but cities completely flattened out.

Also having Pilots FS Global2010 installed which is highly recommended by ORBX. But not UTX or Megascenery installed.

 

Morten 

[Morten]

Well okay, in my case it seems that is only relevant in area within the new Yosemite addon...

[GlennH]

NCA region comes with its own custom mesh