Questions about Ultimate Terrain and GEPro

[OBIO]

Okay...looks like a green light to purchase Ultimate Terrain is in the works....my B-Day is one month from today and the wifey poo asked me what I wanted...not needed...wanted. So, I told her that a nice payware upgrade for FS9 would be nice since I have this new super computer to run it on. Heck, I might even be able to get a green light for GEPro for Christmas.

So...my questions.

When using UT and GEPro...is there still autogen? Trees, farm buildings and such. I do most of my flying down low and like seeing the autogen.

Can UT and GEPro be used on multiple installs of FS9? I currently have three heavily modified and heavily stocked installs, with a fourth install on the horizon....my installs are getting very very plane heavy and need to thin them out a bit...a fourth install will be in order.

OBIO

[aeromed202]

Can't say 100% but I believe neither has its own autogen but both work with the FS one. UT does coastlines, roads and such where GE does ground textures with some additions of towns and the like, sort of like a landclass file, and I think Pro includes sky textures. I got just the GE as the freeware sky and cloud sets are so good. I'm sure you'll be happy with both, especially flying your stomping grounds over accurate roads. I have found the authors helpful with any questions and had to re-DL them twice after crashes. I think multi-game installs are OK but they will say for sure. Can't remember if the install path was set or editable. The caveat to these parcels is that they have dynamic aspects which make them useless for keeping 'copies' for back up. They get installed and arrange themselves to work as an integrated part of the game. I used to keep a copy of the main texture folder for example but having these addons sort of makes that idea moot. But the enhancements are worth it.

My wife 2 years ago stunned me with a gift of a new graphics card. Even though it was the wrong one for the slot, I was very happy that she thought of what I wanted. Usually she just poo-poos my little escapes to the clouds.

[OBIO]

aeromed

Will contact the authors about the multi-install aspect. As long as they can be used for multiple installs and they work with the stock autogen, all seems good.

Yeah...I know what you are saying about the freeware clouds and sky packages....Pablo Diaz really nailed them with his packages.

At least your wife surprised you with a graphics card...something you are interested in. Last year for my birthday, my wife suprised me with a model ship, made by a prisoner at the prison my sis-in-law is a Corrections Officer at. The model is made out of paper, thread, small peebles, white glue and is stained with coffee...yeah...coffee. When it is humid and damp, my office/sim room smells like cheap burnt coffee.

OBIO

[Cazzie]

Have no worries with either OBIO. GE Pro is world coverage, UT is for only the US, Canada/Alaska, and Europe. Of the two, get UT, nice landclass, good work overall, well worth the $$$. They place their own autogen, but it does not interfere with what FS9 already has. You will love UT-USA. Even better if you use Justin's FSGenesis 38-meter DEM mesh. With UT, IFR (I Follow Roads) flying will be a piece of cake. :>)

Caz

[AndyG43]

Have no worries with either OBIO. GE Pro is world coverage, UT is for only the US, Canada/Alaska, and Europe. Of the two, get UT, nice landclass, good work overall, well worth the $$$. They place their own autogen, but it does not interfere with what FS9 already has. You will love UT-USA. Even better if you use Justin's FSGenesis 38-meter DEM mesh. With UT, IFR (I Follow Roads) flying will be a piece of cake. :>)

Caz

Yep, inclined to agree with this. I've got the FSGenesis/UT combination (all three UT packs) and my main install looks tremendous. I'll be interested to hear how you get on with the multi install approach, certainly something I need to sort out for the FSG stuff at a minimum.

[rich12545]

With UT you'll want to get QLRsomething at Flight 1 forum. It fixes misplaced stuff. Plus do a search on avsim and flightsim for "ultimate terrain" to get more fixes and a lot of other stuff. UT places roads and water correctly so many things will be out of place. And you won't want to use it with retro programs like golden wings or silver wings since it makes them look too modern.

And what happens when you start getting into payware is you keep going. Like someone mentioned the FSGenesis USA landclass is great with UT. But it's $20 so you might as well get the year download package to get the roads program and all that mesh. Not only LOD 11 but all the buffer stuff. Makes a huge difference. And if you get GEPro you really need ActiveSky 6.5 because they go together. With current weather you can then install the sky, clouds and ground textures to match the weather. It's awesome. And for water I think zinertek is the best I've seen. The whole thing will give you an entirely new and better flight sim experience. But it'll cost.

[Cazzie]

OBIO, here is a screen capture from Google Earth of Danville, VA and a screen capture from FS9 with FSGenesis 38-meter mesh, GE Pro, and UT-USA.

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Caz

[modelr]

I concur on the FSGenisis mesh. Get the entire package, all of it. Then put it in it's own folder, and point your scenery configs from each install to the same folder.

As for UT, use it for your modern installs. You can turn off the roads and even sections of autogen if you want for use in your older stuff, but some of the sceneries will still be out of place. Do what rich12545 said for corrections. These are necessary for corrections to different sceneries not made for UT, but which are especially found in the default and earlier stuff. Most sceneries made in the last couple years are made to work with UT.

[OBIO]

Having flown some more...and taken a lot of screen shots.....I have found that I am quite happy with the way my sim looks. I don't fly around cities and towns...so having them look all pretty isn't a concern. IFR flying isn't my cup of tea since I really don't understand how people can fly IFR without being very familiar with landmarks and rivers and such....and since I do 99.99% of my flying in places I have never been to, IFR goes out the window. Could my sim look better with UT...yeah....but at a price that I am simply not comfortable paying. If UT were the only way to improve FS9 from the stock look, yeah, I would be more inclined to shell out the money...but since I have a number of freeware packages that have my installs looking pretty darn great....I think I will keep my money.

I may shell out some money for some higher level FSGenesis mesh for those parts of the country that I do the bulk of my flying in. Oregon, Washington, Alaska, the South Western corner of Canada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado...places with mountains and valleys and canyons. Arizona, Nevada. Definitely not Ohio....Ohio sucks for flying over!

I have the FSGenesis 38m mesh for all of the US....maybe some of the 19m mesh to improve my favorite flying/crashing areas. If I save my B-Day present money, and combine it with my Christmas present money....that will get me a 1-year subscription to FSG and I can download to my heart's content.

OBIO

[rich12545]

Obio, that's a good idea. In addition, for no extra charge, you'll be able to download the USA landclass and a very nice roads program. And don't forget to get all the buffer mesh. Be prepared for long downloads. Over 50 gig if you get it all but worth it. And Justin is still making more.