P3D v4 Global Mesh Suggestions Please

[WB_FlashOver]

Hello fellow simmers,

I'm enjoying my FTX Global Base and Global Vector except for the terrain elevation errors. I've been looking at Pilots FS Global 2018 or possibly FS Global Ultimate. One is really expensive and the other is really REALLY expensive. I can swing either one but only if it is worth the cost in $$ and does not cost in FPS too much.

I trust the pilots here as simmers for the exceptional and am interested in your reviews if you own either of these.

Thanks much

Roger

[patful]

My understanding has always been that the mesh products cause the elevation problems. I own neither of those, had LCSims USA 10m in FSX and loved it, no frame rate hit. Lance even went to the trouble of correcting elevation errors. I didn't manage to get his Canada/Alaska before his website disappeared, so I'm looking for mesh myself, full North America for P3D this time. I've heard good things about Toposim, but don't want to deal with elevation issues.

[crippy]

So would buying an Orbx product, produce elevation issues? such as inaccurate field elevations? (Just curious I've never owned orbx products but I'm interested)

[WB_FlashOver]

So would buying an Orbx product, produce elevation issues? such as inaccurate field elevations? (Just curious I've never owned orbx products but I'm interested)

Good question crippy! I was understanding that FTX Global Vector fixed inaccurate airfield elevations. However, they didn't fix the surrounding mesh to match the correct airfield elevation. So, what I have is airfields in big square holes in the ground. I purchased Vector for the beautiful shorelines and road depiction (this was a great improvement) but I'm not happy with the mesh. The biggest problem I have is that now other areas have water running up on the side of hills and random humps and holes all over.

Here is a picture of 45OR. You see the huge hole and pond on the right a good 50 feet below the river. The airfield is where the road on the right comes up out of the hole onto the flat spot and is about 30 feet below the surrounding terrain. The scenery prior to FTX Global Vector but after FTX Global Base did not have this issue as stock scenery did not either.


So, I'm at the point of un-installing Vector and leaving Global Base (which I do really like!) or look for a global mesh to fix these AND stock scenery mesh issues (if that is possible). FlightSimStore.com has PILOT'S - FS Global Ultimate - Next Generation FTX on sale for $90.00 AUD (regular $120 AUD). Even on sale at $71.04 USD that is a lot of money to spend without reviews from simmers and not just the creators of the software.

I hope someone can give some advise here. Thanks
Roger

[Mickel]

There have always been elevation issues. There were/are plenty of air strips in trenches in default FSX. If the mesh is correct and the airfield is wrong you're going to have an issue, or vise versa. You can play around in Vector AEC to exclude, or not, various airstrips from the correction function. Might be worth playing with that before uninstalling Vector (which does add so much to roads and coastlines). I gather there is a manual way to change the airfield elevation to match the mesh if that's considered an acceptable solution (ymmv). Sorry, I'm no expert on this front.

FTX Global can't introduce elevation errors - it's simply a new paint job over whatever you've got underneath. Ditto Open LC with land class. Regions generally have their own integral mesh and everything should line up as well as can be expected. Vector sort of can in that if it shifts a river to the 'right' spot and the mesh is 'wrong' then it won't match.

[WB_FlashOver]

Thanks Mickel,
Yes, I've seen my share of bad scenery areas in default FSX but Vector seems to have added many many more issues. I did play with the AEC function and it did fix the airfield but the surrounding elevations are still dorked up. My trouble is that I rarely fly to the same airport or even in the same area. With the whole world to explore I see no reason to not do so. I mainly fly the Connie or B-17 (still waiting for the 17 in P3Dv4) in touring the world. It's not very nice to plan a 4-6 hour flight only to find your destination airport sunk 30-50 feet deep in a craves and unlandable. Sure I can fix that airport once I attempt to land but will most likely not be back there.

You are correct on what Vector offers. The shorelines are much more accurate and not all boxy with squared lines and the roads are way more accurate as well too.

Cheers
Roger

[Mickel]

I feel your pain... I used to use Air Hauler a lot (largely default FSX days), and groaned whenever I got to my destination to find it sunk impossibly deep. Beavers can do steep approaches, but not that steep.

I use an older version of the Pilots mesh. Unfortunately, I can't really give you a before and after comparison. I'll go find 45OR and get a screenshot for you. However you'll need to bear in mind that I've got Orbx PNW, so it might look completely different. brb...

[waynelp]

Greetings, Looking at my P3dV4 scenery of the airport 45OR with ORBX Global and VECTOR this is what I see. Just a little different than yours.
I had the Pilots FSGLOBAL X but did not like the elevation flattening it did for the airports and then Vector really messed it up.
Now I just have ORBX Global and Vector I use the Vector tool and it does a fair job at "fixing some airports.





This is the Vector tool setting. It needs to be run after installing some scenery add ons



Thank You,
Wayne l Pierce

[Mickel]

With PNW and its custom mesh.




Will re shoot with PNW off and the Pilots with Vector on.

[Mickel]

Yep... the airfield is missing, but that's because I didn't rerun the AEC tool and this scenery config is set up for tubeliners, so I don't really care about the grass strips. It gives you an idea about how the mesh looks. This is Pilots 2010 FTX compatible mesh. You can see the airport flattening that Wayne is talking about.

[crippy]

So would you all recommend just FTXGlobal? And maybe trees etc? Do they have less problems than Vector?

[WB_FlashOver]

Men, thanks for looking into this and for taking some screenies with your setup. it seems nobody has the weirdness that I'm seeing. It's not just at this airport either. I'm seeing messed up stuff other places as well. I tried messing with the AEC again and that dorked up my 45OR BGL's for AEC and APT so that took some finagling to get it back online

My P3D v4 is a pretty clean install with only A2A Constellation, ASP4, FTX Global Base, FTX Global Vector and FTX TreesHD. I just disabled all scenery entries with Vector in the name and here is the screen shot. Elevations are back to normal and more of what you all are seeing with the nice river and ponds being the only "missed" objects.



I think I will run this way for a while and keep watching the threads over at FTX. Most of what I've seen over there have been explanations and reasons and less of helpful "do this to fix that". I'm not complaining about them so please don't think that's the case. I just think there is room for improvement with Vector and was wondering about a global mesh that could fix all this.

Thanks again
Roger

[Mickel]

So would you all recommend just FTXGlobal? And maybe trees etc? Do they have less problems than Vector?

Nope. It depends what your motivations are. If you hang around the US then you won't need a mesh (default is good enough), and probably don't need Vector (unless you really want it). If you fly around Africa, Central or South America, you're more likely to be wanting all that as the mountains are not the rolling mounds depicted by default, and rivers/roads etc are otherwise only kind of there, if you're lucky. It's all about compromise (as always). The odd airport here and there elevations might bother you less than shapeless mounds. I've flown in to Addis Ababa a few times. It sits in an unsightly dip (big enough to get an MD-11 in and out of though), but I tolerate that as the mountains more than make up for it. If you only fly up and down the US west coast then you get the regions that stretch from Anchorage to Tijuana. The compromise you have to make there is to your budget!

I hope the Orbx forum is able to help you out Roger.

[patful]

I know I can't sway the diehards, but UTX has no elevation problems at that location, not the waters or the airport.

[crippy]

So would you all recommend just FTXGlobal? And maybe trees etc? Do they have less problems than Vector?

Nope. It depends what your motivations are. If you hang around the US then you won't need a mesh (default is good enough), and probably don't need Vector (unless you really want it). If you fly around Africa, Central or South America, you're more likely to be wanting all that as the mountains are not the rolling mounds depicted by default, and rivers/roads etc are otherwise only kind of there, if you're lucky. It's all about compromise (as always). The odd airport here and there elevations might bother you less than shapeless mounds. I've flown in to Addis Ababa a few times. It sits in an unsightly dip (big enough to get an MD-11 in and out of though), but I tolerate that as the mountains more than make up for it. If you only fly up and down the US west coast then you get the regions that stretch from Anchorage to Tijuana. The compromise you have to make there is to your budget!

I hope the Orbx forum is able to help you out Roger.

Thank You!! I always though the mesh and Auto gen was decent, even at medium settings in North America {Where I always fly} You just saved me a ton of $$$! Would you recommend a Tree upgrade such as Orbx Trees or any others you can think of? I've always been a bit let down by the tree model.