New LOD 7 Mesh by Rhumbaflappy!

[Jagdflieger]

18 LOD 7 files for the WHOLE WORLD!

Up and ready to download now.

[p14u2nv]

Thank you very much Sir! I installed your 4 mesh files and I can't believe my eyes and on a small 1.7 laptop with integrated graphics too! I used the FS9 files converted by Stiz and it is as every bit as good or better as my FS9 is.

Is there any way to determine while file covers which area(s) in your world coverage? All I'd want is the US only, preferably just the east coast and Alaska.

Thank you again Rhumba

[Wulf190]

Humm, I'm ganna have to give these a spin over the STRM mesh from simviation I have been using...:woot:

[Morton]

Mesh LOD5, LOD7... is there any compatibility issues or recommended use of these new files together with SDC's Euro install which i believe many CFS2 users now finally managed to install??

Mort

[Devildog73]

Same question as Morton.....

I have dl'd and will install in my Pacific theater first.
I don't want to do something to MTO this close to getting the Tuskegee Airmen finished.

[rhumbaflappy]

As far as SDC's euro project, his files have flattens that will alter the mesh to fit the FS2004 watermask files he used as reference, so it should work fine...

...but in the long run, SDC's files need to be replaced because FS2004's watermasks are of poor quality. For now they are OK, but eventually, they'll have to go.

I don't think anyone should try to pick and choose which areas to use... it's an integrated world set. dem4km, the LOD5 mesh and the LOD7 mesh should all be used, It's about 1.2 Gb total disk space, and can be used for CFS2, FS2002 and FS2004 ( I think... ). The visual results will be worth it.

If you have space to download all 18 files, then yolu have space to use them unzipped... the zipping only saves about 5% file space, as the BGLs are already compressed.

As far as the default watermasking and airfield locations/elevations... many of them are wrong as well. New flattens can be made to the mesh, but it would be better to make new watermasking ( which I'm going to do ), and new airfields ( or at least new flattens ). I think here is Area16n sloping flattens that can be used to blend in the airfield so the flattens are not so abrupt in bad cases.

Dick

[p14u2nv]

Ok Dick thanks for the response to my question regarding defining any specific areas. All I fly in is the Pacific realm and now it is simply a drop your jaw visual experience. I never thought CFS2 could look so real as it does now for me. For me so far this is, simply put, the best add-on resulting in the biggest over all change to the sim scenery I have installed so far.

And to think this is from your hard work and freely shared too? Thank you again very much.

Pat

[bearcat241]

....And to think this is from your hard work and freely shared too? Thank you again very much.

Ditto!....well done, Dick. :ernae:

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi all.

This is the 'CST4' or LOD2 designations:

[Morton]

Thanks for the explanation, think i got it. Cant' wait to try it. :applause: And i understand from above there's more coming. It's a new era for CFS2! Will it never end?

Morton

[langereis]

Hi,

Where should the folder "DEM scenery" placed? (I have placed it in my main CFS2 folder).

I tried to activate this folder into the CFS2 Scenery Library (setting, add area) but by me it does not work:
See the scereenshots please.

Who can help me?

Thanks in advance

[Wulf190]

Hi,

Where should the folder "DEM scenery" placed? (I have placed it in my main CFS2 folder).

I tried to activate this folder into the CFS2 Scenery Library (setting, add area) but by me it does not work:
See the scereenshots please.

Who can help me?

Thanks in advance

Did you create a scenery folder and place the bgls there with in the DEM scenery folder? Everything else seems to be correct from what I'm able to seen from your screen shots.


This mesh is fantastic! It really improves things, and looks just about as good as the SRTM mesh from simviation. The Simviation mesh does have a 'slight' detail edge over this mesh, but Rhumba's DEM7 mesh interacts better with with add-on airstrips. For example at Chi Yingkwanjai useing the SRTM simviation mesh there is a nasty mountian wall at the departure end of the runway, with Rhumba's mesh you can now depart the runway and miss the terrain.

[langereis]

Hi Wulf190,

Yes I did (I have made a folder named it "Dem scenery" and copied all the bgl.files of LOD7_01 to LOD7_18 included in this folder.
Then I have copied the new created folder into my main CFS2 folder.

:help:

[stiz]

create another folder inside that one called "scenery" and put all the mesh files in there :wavey:

[rhumbaflappy]

I checked out FS2002 and FS2004.

Not only do these files work, but they look as good or better than the default mesh files ( as I suspected ). The FS2002 and FS2004 detailed meshes are just oversampled Gotopo30 data... not based on the more detailed SRTM data.

I deleted all my default mesh for those sims and placed the dem4km, the LOD5 and added LOD7. Looks good. No problems.

Dick

[langereis]

Rhumbaflappy,

Thank you; it works!
:ernae:

[rhumbaflappy]

Just out of curiosity, I deleted all the mesh from FSX, replaced the dem4km,bgl, and added the folder with LOD7 mesh... so that's the only mesh in the sim.

It works.

Dick

[xavierb]

:applause::applause::applause:

[Blue Devil]

Just out of curiosity, I deleted all the mesh from FSX, replaced the dem4km,bgl, and added the folder with LOD7 mesh... so that's the only mesh in the sim.

It works.

Dick

Thanks RF, ...outstanding effort.

Do ya think the same "only mesh" trick will work w/ CFS2?

(got enough antiquated stuff in the progie as it is, ...don't need useless and space eatin' scenery)

Thanks again.

[rhumbaflappy]

Thanks RF, ...outstanding effort.

Do ya think the same "only mesh" trick will work w/ CFS2?

(got enough antiquated stuff in the progie as it is, ...don't need useless and space eatin' scenery)



That's the idea. Get rid of stuff we don't need and isn't up to par.

These files are derived from the best free data, and are made to quality standards and double-checked with Microsoft's tools to insure they are the best LOD5 and LOD7 mesh available for CFS2, FS2002, FS2004, and are probably better than the default FSX.

It's a good base mesh set to build your CFS2 setup on. And it's free.

Dick

[kelticheart]

......This mesh is fantastic! It really improves things, and looks just about as good as the SRTM mesh from simviation....

First of all many thanks to Rhumbaflappy for this great new effort at improving CFS2!!!


:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:


Am I understanding correctly that Rhumba's mesh can be used together with SRTM mesh (or FS2002 world mesh, as they call it) from simviation?

I have been using SRTM for a while now, and the elevation changes from the stock mesh is quite dramatic but it impacts the framerate negatively as well.

Now, how the two mesh sets together will impact framerate?

I haven't checked the Pacific yet, as I am not done downloading all the LOD7 files yet. I just installed the new dem4km file, all the LOD5 files and deactivated all other addon mesh. I only have Rhumba's files working,
I then took a test flight in Southern England over the Hawkinge-Dover area.

I am pleased to report that there's no need for flattening switches around Hawkinge aerodrome anymore, but I
noticed immediately the high cliffs overlooking the Channel produced by SRTM mesh are gone. I have never had the pleasure to visit England, but all the pictures I have seen of the South Eastern English coastline show very high cliffs ovelooking the sea.

Assuming Rhumba's files are supposed to correct all CFS2 mesh errors, does this mean SRTM mesh is incorrect as well or should I wait to get the entire LOD7 set before seeing the English Channel high cliffs back again?

Cheers!
KH :ernae:

[Jean Bomber]

First of all many thanks to Rhumbaflappy for this great new effort at improving CFS2!!!


:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:


Am I understanding correctly that Rhumba's mesh can be used together with SRTM mesh (or FS2002 world mesh, as they call it) from simviation?
.......

from simviation?.......Burn them, they are toxic :toilet:

The best never made for cfs2 are these news :friday:


Thanks Rhumba

JP

[sc7500]

This should satisfy even MY need for detailed ground scenery !

I have one question, tho ~ and it's probably just due to advanced CRAFT on my part...

What Landclass is recommended to make this a total immersion package ? Or will the stock CFS2 textures be adequate ??

TIA
SC
:kilroy:

[Ravenna]

I don't think anyone should try to pick and choose which areas to use... it's an integrated world set. dem4km, the LOD5 mesh and the LOD7 mesh should all be used, It's about 1.2 Gb total disk space, and can be used for CFS2, FS2002 and FS2004 ( I think... ). The visual results will be worth it.

If you have space to download all 18 files, then yolu have space to use them unzipped... the zipping only saves about 5% file space, as the BGLs are already compressed.


Dick

Rhumba,
Just so I can be confident I have all of this right: Are you saying that it is preferable to install all of your LOD5 and LOD7 files in each CFS2 installation on my HD? In my case that would be 1.2 Gb x 5! Do you know what would happen if one added dem4km and the LOD7 files for a specific theatre of operations as shown on your map?
Many many thanks for all your hard work and for sharing your expertise.

[Rami]

This is awesome work. Thanks, Rhumbaflappy! :ernae:

[rhumbaflappy]

Rhumba,
Just so I can be confident I have all of this right: Are you saying that it is preferable to install all of your LOD5 and LOD7 files in each CFS2 installation on my HD? In my case that would be 1.2 Gb x 5! Do you know what would happen if one added dem4km and the LOD7 files for a specific theatre of operations as shown on your map?


You can use the same scenery folder in 100 different installations. In your case, one scenery folder 5 different times. In fact, I'm currently using the same LOD7 scenery folder for CFS2, FS2002, FS2004, and now FSX. One folder, used multiple times for different 4 sims. I haven't tried it with FS2000... yet.

I did recommend placing the LOD5 mesh in the default folder to replace what's there in the '/scenerydb/world' , plus add what should have been there. That's a cost of about 70 Mb additonal space for each CFS2 installation. I don't think that's too much.

I agree with Jean as far as ditching the simviation mesh... it's not good. Too many errors and huge gaps. A case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing. It can degrade the sim's mesh quality.

Here's my advice: use the whole LOD5 and LOD7 mesh sets and get rid of all other mesh. Within a few weeks I'll also have an LOD9 mesh plus watermasking for all the default areas of the sim. That would be 'pacxxxm.bgl' files, plus hopefully the default detailed shorelines, streams, etc...

Then we'll be able to completely replace the '/scenerydb/world' folder with a much more accurate view of the world.

With the LOD 9 mesh, I don't think you'll find a better set for CFS2, payware or freeware. Anything over LOD9 would just be wasted on a combat sim, and might even be a waste for FS2004. Some people want to see every bump and pothole in the world, just like some guys like to see rivets on the planes. But at 200 mph with a zero on your tail, rivets don't mean much. Besides, above LOD9 would require SRTM 1 arc second DEM data not available except for some areas of North America.

Dick

[Pen32Win]

Last night I worked with the PNG area and found that if you deactivate pnga19.bgl and pngb9.bgl (just add .orig to the file name) it will allow Rhumba's LOD 7 to fill in the bad spots of Western PNG (West of Alexishafen) and you'll still have the LOD9 for the Eastern Portion as well as New Britain/Rabaul.

It really looks really good around the Wewak/But Airdromes.
It seems to be a good mix. That is until his new LOD9 and Land/Water Class is completed along with the shore flattens.

Thanks Again Rhumba!:ernae:

[Jean Bomber]

...... Within a few weeks I'll also have an LOD9 mesh plus watermasking for all the default areas of the sim. That would be 'pacxxxm.bgl' files, plus hopefully the default detailed shorelines, streams, etc...

Then we'll be able to completely replace the '/scenerydb/world' folder with a much more accurate view of the world.
....
Dick

Hi Dick ,
You 'll completly refresh this(se) game(s) ,that you're doing will completly change our world and that surely will need new upgrades of many existing sceneries ,and give idea for some future news.Really great :friday:,a must have ,the reference mesh standard.

Ravenna ,
about your five installs the easymultiinstall.zip could solve your hd space issue, I admit that the read me is not "easy" :173go1:but ...correctly installed all work fine,even the MB. it could be easy to upgrad it for more TO and to work on some others files and folders in the game with the knowlendge and all the new stuffs that we have today for this sim.

JP

[Jagdflieger]

Wow! That LOD 9 mesh sounds like it'll make this old girl look like she's got make-up, rouge and lipstick on, world wide.

[Smashing Time]

I don't see any difference between the defaut (first pix) and the LOD7 (second pix). It is loaded as instructed. ???:kilroy:

[Morton]

When this has settled, maybe we can expect a revision of your excellent Euro Install guide Rami? :wiggle:

Morton

[bearcat241]

I don't see any difference between the defaut (first pix) and the LOD7 (second pix). It is loaded as instructed. ???:kilroy:

Hmmm....Smash, your instruments and target displays in those pics are almost identical...only a 22 secs or so between the shots according to your clock, and your heading and altitude are nearly the same in both, not to mention that your target pointer cones also have the same bearing. Where did you find the opportunity to unload the QC session with the default mesh, reload the sim, activate the new mesh, exit the sim and reload the the sim again with the same QC session???? Maybe your scenery activation technique is in need of a little tune-up.

Morton, the only major change i can see necessary in the tut would be to replace instructions for adding Josiah Haut's mesh with instructions for Rhumba's Dem7 package.

Check out Lasanga PNG...loaded with Rhumba's mesh and coastal flattens active:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/bearcat241/Demo%20shots/0027.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/bearcat241/Demo%20shots/0026.jpg

[Wulf190]

First of all many thanks to Rhumbaflappy for this great new effort at improving CFS2!!!


:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:


Am I understanding correctly that Rhumba's mesh can be used together with SRTM mesh (or FS2002 world mesh, as they call it) from simviation?

I have been using SRTM for a while now, and the elevation changes from the stock mesh is quite dramatic but it impacts the framerate negatively as well.

Now, how the two mesh sets together will impact framerate?

I haven't checked the Pacific yet, as I am not done downloading all the LOD7 files yet. I just installed the new dem4km file, all the LOD5 files and deactivated all other addon mesh. I only have Rhumba's files working,
I then took a test flight in Southern England over the Hawkinge-Dover area.

I am pleased to report that there's no need for flattening switches around Hawkinge aerodrome anymore, but I
noticed immediately the high cliffs overlooking the Channel produced by SRTM mesh are gone. I have never had the pleasure to visit England, but all the pictures I have seen of the South Eastern English coastline show very high cliffs ovelooking the sea.

Assuming Rhumba's files are supposed to correct all CFS2 mesh errors, does this mean SRTM mesh is incorrect as well or should I wait to get the entire LOD7 set before seeing the English Channel high cliffs back again?

Cheers!
KH :ernae:

I haven't noticed any big impact at all on frame rate, but then again I'm running a 3.0GHZ C2D with a 8800GTS 512, and 4GB of PC8500 memory so I'm not the best guy to ask:caked:...

[Wulf190]

I agree with Jean as far as ditching the simviation mesh... it's not good. Too many errors and huge gaps. A case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing. It can degrade the sim's mesh quality.


Dick

I'll do that. I'll admit, for free mesh covering all the world the simviation mesh works well, but if Rhumba is making LOD9 mesh that will cover the whole world too, well its time to trade up on the simviation mesh. :woot:

[rhumbaflappy]

Just a few pics to show the differences between LOD 5, LOD7, LOD9.

74072

74073

74074




Note the FPS drop... that's why LOD9 may not be good for everyone's computer, and will limit combat... adding flattens would make this much worse.

Dick

[AGAS 5]

Thanks dick, that's a great comparison between the different LODs .... pictures say a thousand words.....


mind you..... 500 FR..... what tha !!! :Banane08:


Pete

[kelticheart]

You can use the same scenery folder in 100 different installations. In your case, one scenery folder 5 different times. In fact, I'm currently using the same LOD7 scenery folder for CFS2, FS2002, FS2004, and now FSX. One folder, used multiple times for different 4 sims. I haven't tried it with FS2000... yet.

I did recommend placing the LOD5 mesh in the default folder to replace what's there in the '/scenerydb/world' , plus add what should have been there. That's a cost of about 70 Mb additonal space for each CFS2 installation. I don't think that's too much.

I agree with Jean as far as ditching the simviation mesh... it's not good. Too many errors and huge gaps. A case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing. It can degrade the sim's mesh quality.

Here's my advice: use the whole LOD5 and LOD7 mesh sets and get rid of all other mesh. .....


ROGER WILCO RHUMBA!

I'll be patiently downloading all the LOD7 files and wait until I have all of them installed before reporting anything else.

And thank you very much for your great patience in taking all of us by our hands and explain step by step what should or shouldn't be done!

To Bearcat:

HOLY MESH, BEARCAT! Your screenshots are simply wonderful!! Are you using Pactex2 textures? Yours seem a tad darker than both Pactex sets.

Cheers!
KH :ernae:

[bearcat241]

LOL...no Stef, its a set friom Stiz's PTO textures. After so many years on it, i got bored with Pactex and needed a little "change of scenery".

[kelticheart]

LOL...no Stef, its a set friom Stiz's PTO textures. After so many years on it, i got bored with Pactex and needed a little "change of scenery".

Thanks Bearcat, is the water texture from Stiz's PTO also?

Cheers!
KH :ernae:

[bearcat241]

Uhmm....i'm not sure but i think its pactex water...the one with wave caps or something. But its a temp setup, because i want to reinstall a Pacific blues/pactex coastal combo in the near term.

[Smashing Time]

So what clock? I just took this and every thing is the same.

[bearcat241]

I was saying that its odd that your instrumentation is almost identical in both pics, particularly the clocks - they only show a 22 sec difference between shots. And these two pics are supposed to represent two different mesh installs in two sim sessions. I was wondering how you installed the mesh - did you exit the sim after activating the new mesh or did you go right back into your QC session for a look first? You have to exit the sim first and reboot it to let the library database update. Then go to a new FF or QC session for a look.

Another thing is your SCENERY DENSITY, it should be at "extreme dense" to take advantage of high LOD mesh.

[oldwheat]

How about some type of K.I.S.S. tutorial for those of us who are now scratching our heads re- linking the new mesh to multiple installs, deleting old mesh files ( & which ones), etc.

[Smashing Time]

I was saying that its odd that your instrumentation is almost identical in both pics, particularly the clocks - they only show a 22 sec difference between shots. And these two pics are supposed to represent two different mesh installs in two sim sessions. I was wondering how you installed the mesh - did you exit the sim after activating the new mesh or did you go right back into your QC session for a look first? You have to exit the sim first and reboot it to let the library database update. Then go to a new FF or QC session for a look.

Another thing is your SCENERY DENSITY, it should be at "extreme dense" to take advantage of high LOD mesh.

Yes I am rebooting the sim but I don't notice any 're-building database' dialog???

[bearcat241]

Smash, one more thing to try: move the Dem7 install all the way down atop Default Terrain. Also keep in mind that area detail in reality is very important too when thinking sim mesh. Dick and others may know the technical terminology for it, but if the area you're flying has no serious topographical detail to highlight in reality, you won't see anything different there in sim world either, even with LOD 10 mesh. Try another location for testing, like New Guinea's interior where you have a lot more hills and mountains to see.

[Jean Bomber]

The Stiz's texture are very nice ,I'll dwld them .....
Smash ,22 secs to set up a scenery ,wow !......:caked:
To use your mesh with several cfs2 installs and with fs8/9/x is possible to put your mesh scenery folder outside the games folder in C:\fsMesh ,for example,and set up it in each game .
or ....lo

.... pictures say a thousand words..........:Banane08:



here some pics about the multiinstall and the link to dwld it .
http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/syb2.cgi?section=cfs&file=EasyMultiinstall_101.zip

JP

[Smashing Time]

well her's two more pix of Munda
first one is with the new LOD7 & 5 with all settings maxed.
the second is the default scenery. Its a brand new clean install. with a
GeForce 8800 GT

[Pen32Win]

Howdy Smash!

The reason they still look the same is that the stock LOD9 Mesh has priority over Rhumba's LOD7. Munda is an area covered by the stock LOD9 Mesh.

Do this, shut down CFS2. Open CFS2\SCENEDB\World\Scenery.

Locate "solomon9.bgl". Change it to "solomon9.bgl.BAK".

Now start up CFS2 and post us a shot from the same location as your last two. You should see a difference.

[Smashing Time]

That did make a difference - for the worse!
is that correct? I'm confused:isadizzy:

Where do I go to see all this spectacular new scenery?
All I wanted was to get CFS2 back up and see all the improvements after 9 years.
Thanks for your help Pen32Win & Bearcat241

[bearcat241]

oohh... :faint: ...better stick with what you had before....

[Pen32Win]

The area's that will be improved are the areas where CFS2 doesn't have any LOD9 Mesh. I just wanted you to see that it is working. That there is mesh there. It's just LOD7 Mesh and not LOD9 which is more detailed. We're in a bit of a Catch 22 with the stock LOD9 Areas at this moment. I've left all of my stock LOD9's in place with the exception of 2 (posted on the prev. page.) that cover the West end of PNG. That's basically to the west of Alexishafen. Remember the drop off there? Everything west of that was just rolling hills. It'll improve areas like that as long as you deactivate the incomplete LOD9 BGL's.

With the areas that already have LOD9 mesh it won't help them much if at all, even in areas where the LOD9 Mesh is incomplete like the gap between Gasmata and Rabaul. I tried deactivating the stock LOD9 BGL for that area and it turned out it was the same LOD9 BGL as the PM area. So I reactivated it until Rhumba gets his new LOD9 Mesh completed. You have to do a little give and take with those areas right now.

The DEI, Philippines, Formosa, Japan, MN, CBI, all of the Americas, Africa, Europe.... You name it as long as there's not LOD9 mesh there it'll improve it. Here's a great example. I'm in the Alps. With and Without Rhumba's Mesh.

[Smashing Time]

:eek: woosh! I'm getting old...have to go to bed now...
but I did cruise over here...
thanks Pen

[kelticheart]

Howdy Smash!

The reason they still look the same is that the stock LOD9 Mesh has priority over Rhumba's LOD7. Munda is an area covered by the stock LOD9 Mesh.

Do this, shut down CFS2. Open CFS2\SCENEDB\World\Scenery.

Locate "solomon9.bgl". Change it to "solomon9.bgl.BAK".

Now start up CFS2 and post us a shot from the same location as your last two. You should see a difference.

Howdy Pen,

I am almost done downloading all Rhumba's LOD7 flies (LOD7_17 right now....:jump:) and I am preparing CFS2 for the new makeup. I went in my PTO theatre and moved to a "Deactivated LOD9 stock CFS2 mesh" subfolder all of the *.bgl's with #9 in their filename, as suggested by Rhumba's instructions.

I noticed there are other *.bgl's with #9 in their filename combined with other numbers, say, for example, xxxx239.bgl. Should I move those files out of scenedb\world\scenery as well?

I have no problems with my ETO theatre because I have a separate scenedb\world\scenery folder cleared of all of the PTO *.bgl's. Less stuff loaded in memory, more fps!

YEAH! Onto LOD7_18 at last!

You seem to know exactly what area each *.bgl file covers. Could it be, please, possible having a list of the world area covered by each stock *.bgl filename?


Cheers!
KH :ernae:

[bearcat241]

You guys should check out Mt Fuji and the surrounding mountainous 5 Lakes area in Japan...nice terrain detail. BTW as texturing goes, it looks better with Stiz's textures than Pactex in my opinion.

[Pen32Win]

I flew over Everest last night, turning the LOD7 on and off. What a difference....

Howdy kelticheart;

I tried deactivating all of the stock LOD9's and was not happy with it. My personal choice. So I just deactivated the ones where the LOD9 was incomplete and it did not conflict with other "Good" LOD9 areas.

Actaully I don't know all of them. This was a trial and error process with a little critical thinking thrown in. I know that the stock LOD9 BGL's have the name of the general area to start with and end in "9". For PNG there are 6 or 7 of them. I then selected a series of air fields from E to W.

In New Britain , Lukanai, Gasmata, Cape Goucester.
In PNG MB, PM, Lae, Alexishafen, Awar, Boram, Tadji, Hollandia, Wakde.
Then one at a time I turned them off looking for the results I wanted.

I can't get into filename detail with you right now. I'm on a machine with no CFS2.

[crashaz]

Someone get some pics of Bataan and Corregidor. I am downloading this weekend. :woot:

[Pen32Win]

Flew out of Bataan two nights ago. It's not LOD9 but it's a whole lot better than LOD5.... Flew around Manila and up to Clark......

Are you turning Green yet Crash? LOL

I know, I'm evil and should be destroyed...:icon_twi:

[rhumbaflappy]

The stock LOD9 may look better in areas because it's oversampled... bumpier. When I get new SRTM-based LOD9 for these areas it will look much nicer.. but at a framreate cost over LOD7.

I'm having good luck with making LandWaterMasking with Slartibartfast. I needed to alter the positioning of the masks as Jim Keir made a math error in positioning. I'm also experimenting with trimming the mesh to the coast, thereby eliminating the need for flattens. It works at about 98% or better.

By not using flattens, the framerates will just be consumed by the mesh, and that may make LOD9 OK for combat with a good computer.

It's all about the number of triangles used by DirectX7. If you use LOD9, they have 16x the triangles of LOD7. If the mesh uses the SkipZeroBlocks directive, then vacant LOD9 blocks should use LOD7 or LOD5 mesh in those areas... which is what I'm doing with this set. Holes in this mesh will be filled by coarser mesh. That means over open ocean, the sim is looking at big LOD5 triangles, rather than many tiny LOD9 triangles.

Standard LOD9 mesh with flattens could use many times the triangles than the set I'm making. And we get a new watermasking that reflects something closer to the real world as an bonus.

Of course that new water won't match the poorly placed default beaches...

Dick

[blohmundvoss]

Hi Rhumba

Well, we 're certainly seeing the Senior Sim being rebuilt from the ground up - and pretty much literally with this new mesh.


As far as SDC's euro project, his files have flattens that will alter the mesh to fit the FS2004 watermask files he used as reference, so it should work fine...

...but in the long run, SDC's files need to be replaced because FS2004's watermasks are of poor quality. For now they are OK, but eventually, they'll have to go.



I appreciate your comments about SdC's LWM files. Does this also mean that the FS2004 source files he uses for the roads, railways and rivers will also be incompatible with your new physical world? (I'm guessing the answer is 'yes').

Cheers
BuV

[rhumbaflappy]

SDC's roads and rails would be alright I guess... and maybe the streams. The waterpolys and beaches wouldn't.

Dick

[OBIO]

So, once I get all these packages downloaded....the Dem4Km one, the LOD5 ones and the LOD7 ones...they should go where? I plan on using the mesh in CFS2 and FS2004, so a centralized install of these files would be great. A simple HOW TO for those of us who are mesh-challenged would be greatly appreciated.

OBIO

[Fibber]

I have been following this thread with keen interest. I have SdC textures loaded and now put in Rhum's mesh. In my ETO I now have rivers that flow upstream and roads that are really impassible. I firmly believe that I want to do Rhums mesh and maybe Stizs textures. However, when I go to my 'Scenerydb' and try to deactivate the SdC items I get the rasberry from the game and a message that ' ---- is necessary and unable to remove'. Now how do I go deactivateing the scenery without a full redo of the theater?

[PSULLYKEYS]

Super Rhumba!!:friday:

A whole new world! Thank You!

Fibber: You deactivate SdC's stuff in the sim by going to settings scenery and removing it. (don't forget the global exclude)

Another way is to remove what you don't want. I had difficulty with the rivers/roads in the Alps so I removed 949150 and 950150 stuff from the folder.Don't forget to remove the filelist! A new one will be generated.

Here is what I figure they mean - I'm sure there is a more qualified person on the forum to correct me.

949150cst_8 = coastline
lwm_3 = land water mask
rd_8 = roads
st_8 = streams
rr_8 = railroads (only on the newer "squares")

You can selectively remove what you want. Good Luck!

[Fibber]

PKEYS;
that is the problem! I have gone to the SceneryDB and using the remove key , try to remove it. That is when I get the rasberry and the file is essential and can't be removed message! It has me stumped, as to remove it using Windows REALLY screws it up.

[Pen32Win]

In your root CFS2 folder find the scenery.cfg.

Open it with NotePad.

Find the scenery entry for the one that's giving you problems.

Does it say "Required=True"

If so change it to "Required=False"

Save it, close it.

Go into the CFS2, open the Scenery Library and try to delete it again.

[SPman]

So...with Rhumba's new mesh, :woot:, is all the scenery that goes before usable?

Or, do I put off getting a new computer, with multiple installs, until everything settles down......

You gotta love the old game.........

[Fibber]

Pen;:wave:
that did the trick. Thank you!:wavey:

[Pen32Win]

You're Welcome.:rapture:

[Fibber]

Can anyone give a short statement/guidance on the difference on the two areas in the scenery.cfg titled area.*** and layer=***. Is "layer" the desired location in the .cfg and the area the actual location?

[Fibber]

:help:Is this new set inclusive of your previous works of cfsasia , africa etc. or should these be used also in conjunction with the new work.

Getting verrrrrrrrrrrrrry confused here.

[OBIO]

Just installed the new mesh kit in FS2004...replaced the stock LOD5 and the DemSum4Kmthingie file and set the LOD7 files in a stand alone folder...and WOW! The difference this mesh made is amazing. Can't wait to check it out in CFS2....and really can't wait to check out the LOD9 mesh.

OBIO

[kelticheart]

Super Rhumba!!:friday:


Fibber: You deactivate SdC's stuff ......

Hi Psully,

I didn't deactivate a single thing from SdC's stuff and my ETO works just fine.

Last night I took a test flight over Southern England shoreline, from Hawkinge to Tangmere, and I did not notice any conflict between SdC's ETO addons and Rhumba's mesh. SdC's shorelines, water masking and coastline flattening are all there in place.

What I saw, and it immensely pleased me, is a gentle rolling of cliffs and hills immediately behind, just like one can see in real life pictures of this area. Simviation world mesh grossly exagerates elevation peaks, making them all jagged.

Moreover, my airfield sceneries, my Chainhome radar scenery and my VFR objects like British Cathedrals, which needed before flattening switches in the scenery.cfg because they were "sunk" into Simviation's mesh, do not need them anymore.

The only flattening switch I kept is for Martin Wright's Cliffs of Dover, otherwise they sit on top of Rhumba's mesh and they appear as floating in thin air.

TO PEN32WIN:

Thanks Pen for your clarification! I am saving all pages of this thread for future reference.

Cheers!
KH :ernae:

[PSULLYKEYS]

Thanks Kelti, you are right, I'm thinking ahead.. when Rhumba releases his new water masks..the existing looks pretty good with the new mesh, but the new masks will make obselete all of Rhumba's former water packages and sadly, the coastlines of the areas already done by SdC.

I was almost finished a package for the SdC coastlines, rivers, roads and RRs that enabled you to choose 6 different (3 eur and 3 med) textures for the coast as well as rivers and riverbanks. Doesn't seem needed now. Oh well, much better than watching sitcoms on TV!

My avitar is the rocky coast. Below - some Med sand and European sand.

[rhumbaflappy]

Regarding SDC's work:

If you wish to keep those files, they will work with my stuff. Just place them in a scenery folder structure that is greater than my watermasks and mesh. His files will then use my mesh, and his masking should override my masks.

Eventually, SDC's work should be redone, as his work was a port of FS9, and we actually need new work based on my masking. FS9 used poor data for terrain.

The reason my masks will be better, is that they are based on the SRTM mesh and the mesh will be coastally trimmed to fit the masks ( eliminating the need for flattens ).

SDC was right to build his work in LOD5-sized sections, as this makes replacing easier.

Dick

[Fibber]

I am going to sound like a idiot here but I am starting to feel like Costello in the famous "whose on first " skit.:faint: Can anyone give me a idea of the hierarchy ( like say a screen shot) of the proper hierarchy for all these SdC, Rhumbaflappys work, and 2TAF/Achims airfields? :wavey:

[PSULLYKEYS]

Ah Fibber: please go to SdC's site and find the directions: A picture is worth more than my feeble words.

http://combatfs.homeip.net/cfs2coast/InstallationInstructions.htm

Rhumba: OK, I'll finish them up and post. perhaps they would be useful to other coast makers. I just wish instead of 1/4 of a bmp it was 1/2, the overlapping would permit rocks and waves offshore and a better blending to the existing land mass.

Waitaminute! I'm beginning to think like FS9!:help:

[bearcat241]

....Waitaminute! I'm beginning to think like FS9!:help:

:icon_lol: You too huh?!?!....i thought it was just me! :mixedsmi:

[Morton]

Originally Posted by PSULLYKEYS http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/images/soh/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?p=106095#post106095)
....Waitaminute! I'm beginning to think like FS9!:help:
:icon_lol: You too huh?!?!....i thought it was just me!



Yeah, In a couple of weeks we are flying around like bloody tourists sighteeing. Combat what?


Mort :focus:

(No really, i love what's happening to CFS2!)

[kelticheart]

Thanks Kelti, you are right, I'm thinking ahead.. when Rhumba releases his new water masks..the existing looks pretty good with the new mesh, but the new masks will make obselete all of Rhumba's former water packages and sadly, the coastlines of the areas already done by SdC.

I was almost finished a package for the SdC coastlines, rivers, roads and RRs that enabled you to choose 6 different (3 eur and 3 med) textures for the coast as well as rivers and riverbanks. Doesn't seem needed now. Oh well, much better than watching sitcoms on TV!

My avitar is the rocky coast. Below - some Med sand and European sand.

Nice pictures Psully!

I wish I could say the same about my ETO/ MTO coastlines, since I always had the problem shown below, where the coastline does not follow the land texture properly in several places.

SdC at the time was not able to explain why this is happening and I tried all landclass textures available, all with same same result in the same spots.

I just learned to live with it, but I truly wonder, after so many experiments gone bad, why I saw many wonderful screenshots posted about SdC's Euro shores when in my pc the shorelines, every so often, stay away from the land and create these weird "lagoons".

Please, upload your shore textures anyway!

Cheers!
KH :ernae:

[PSULLYKEYS]

To all you CFS2 casual scenery flyers, heh heh...: I just uploaded the package. When you see the work you must do, well, I guess I'll start running now!:running:

Kelti: I believe your problem is caused by you not having the SdC excludes in the proper order in your scenery cfg. Make sure you have them all!

Please go the link in the post I gave to Fibber above and be sure they are selected and in the proper order! That should fix it. I had a similar problem a way back...wish I would have seen your earlier post!:sleep:

Morton: When you watch the plane you just smoked crash into the sea near the shoreline,It'll look better..maybe! BTW, SUPER skins,keep em coming!

[PSULLYKEYS]

OK, first view of my winter set, you know I had to make one. Goes nice with SdCs one EURE square.

This ones for Ravenna: Mike, just reach down and pluck an ice cube for your drink on a hot day!:wave:

[erafitti]

Hi all.
Somebody knows that zone of the world includes each one of the BGL.
I want to make an installation with the scene that corresponds to the PTO only.
A greeting and many thanks.

[OBIO]

You all want to see some nice mountains using Rhumba's new mesh....take a flight around Mt. McKinley....absolutely stunning.

OBIO

[kdriver]

Thankyou very much Richard Ludowise.

The mountain ranges are fabulous. I'm looking forward to LOD 9. Hopefully the Colorado River gorge at the bottom of the Grand Canyon will show up with LOD 9. Are there any downloads for the Colorado River itself - it disappears downstream of Lake Mead.

CFS 2 is starting to make the civil sims look irrelevant.

Kevin

[waco]

Since I'm new to addons to CFS2, please correct me if I did it wrong. I unzipped the LOD 5 and LOD7 files, copied them and pasted them to the DB/world/scenery filed, over-writing when asked. I also pasted the dem4 file into scenery.

Also earlier, I had tried to add the BOB campaign but kept carried an error about missing German aircraft and couldn't fly the campaign. What gives with this? I used the auto installers.

[Ravenna]

OK, first view of my winter set, you know I had to make one. Goes nice with SdCs one EURE square.

This ones for Ravenna: Mike, just reach down and pluck an ice cube for your drink on a hot day!:wave:

Wow...looking great Sully! Now if only some of that snow coated the Victorian countryside last week.
As soon as I finish sorting out my PTO scenery problems I'm going back to Europe for some serious coastal landscaping. The more I think about it, the more I feel that the "little mods" by Kelti and Sully lift this sim into another dimension.

:applause::applause:

[highpockets]

LOD 5,LOD 7 etc etc. Foreign language??
To us novices, yes. Had to look it up on the web Aha, Level of Detail! Still not sure what to do with the default scenery in the SceneryDB/World /Scenery folder. Does the new mesh go after or above FS2000_Props in the library?

[kdriver]

waco & highpockets

I have all mesh scenery - default, new LOD 7, and all other add-on mesh with a higher level of detail than 7, installed in the ...\SCENEDB\world\scenery folder. Everything appears to be working well with good frame rates.

I used to have add-on mesh in a separate folder directly above the ...\Scenedb\fs2kprop folder until I followed Rami's excellent scenery tutorial and moved it to the ...\SCENEDB\world\scenery folder.

I could not detect any difference to the end result.

Regarding waco's missing aircraft; if the aircraft is indeed in the aircraft folder, open the panel and sound configuration folders with Notepad and check whether these components are aliased to an aircraft which you do not actually have in the aircraft folder. If this is the case, some minor editing will fix the problem.

Kevin

[highpockets]

Thanks for the reply. How do you determine the LOD of a particular mesh you may decide to load? Is it in the zip file description? I am not sure I have been using anything other than the default mesh in my installs. I may have Josiah Haut Euromesh in my ETO install. I will have to look. I have his file for Lybia downloaded, but not yet installed in my MTO .
I do want to use some of the flatteners , waters, coastlines, etc. and these are textures, I believe that go after the mesh, right ?
Jim

[Rami]

I have really noticed a marked increase in detail here, guys. This is outstanding stuff, Rhumbaflappy.

I almost asked after installing the LOD7 mesh why there were still "holes" in certain areas, not realizing that the LOD 5 mesh needed to be laid underneath it. Oops!

[rhumbaflappy]

I used to have add-on mesh in a separate folder directly above the ...\Scenedb\fs2kprop folder until I followed Rami's excellent scenery tutorial and moved it to the ...\SCENEDB\world\scenery folder.


Actually, the LOD7 mesh should be in a separate scenery folder structure directly above the ...\Scenedb\fs2kprop folder in the Scenery Library! This way you can access this mesh from each instance of CFS2 in your computer without havng to have 1+Gb added to each install! This allows a single scenery folder to service multiple CFS2 installations.

The LOD5 mesh should be in the ...\SCENEDB\world\scenery folder of each CFS2 install. It replaces what should have been there in the first place.

Dick

[Jagdflieger]

As Rhumbaflappy suggests, I also put my mesh, airfields and other shared files in:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS Scenery

This way they stay organized as well as accessible. To access them from any installation:

1. From the opening screen, select "Settings"
2. Select "Scenery Library"
3. Select "Add area..."
4. Use the drop down menu and select "Microsoft Games"
5. Select "CFS Scenery"
6. Select the location and then scenery that you need such as the LOD 7 Mesh
7. Activate the scenery in the normal manner through the Scenery Library.

This saves an inordinate amount of hard drive space and works very well. I believe Jaxon has a small tutorial on the subject at his web site.

For this situation, I've put Rhumba's new LOD 5 mesh into each CFS 2 installation (replacing the original MS mesh) per the instructions and then made a seperate LOD 7 folder in the CFS 2 Scenery folder for the LOD 7 mesh for each installation to draw from. The LOD 7 mesh needs to be activated in each CFS 2 installation.

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi all.

What Jagdflieger posted is the right installation of these files.

Dick

[Fibber]

Hi Jag;
I follow your post but am interested in the scenery hierarchy in the "scenery library" that also seems to perplex a lot here. You posted this screenshot. Could you do one without the overlay? As they say "one picture=1000 words".

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=75056&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1234274944 (http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=75056&d=1234274944)

[kdriver]

Rhumbaflappy & Jagdflieger,

Thanks very much for the above information. I did not realise you could access scenery from a common source - you learn something new everyday on this forum.

Going a step further, if I edit the scenery.cfg file, changing all the "Required=TRUE" entries to "Required=FALSE", can I have one single external SCENEDB folder for my multiple installations of CFS2? Having a single SCENEDB\inf and SCENEDB\weapons folder would make things easier when installing add-ons.


Highpockets

The level of detail for each add-on mesh is usually in the associated "readme" file. I have all the Josiah Haut, Rolf Keibel, Jean Bomber and Yosi Japan mesh as well as selected world mesh from Simviation. I also have all of Richard Ludowise's (rhumbaflappy) coasts, water, etc, and Sander de Cocq's Europe scenery.

I suggest downloading Rami's scenery tutorial from the Utilities section. It is very comprehensive, showing the scenery heirachy.

Cheers,
Kevin

[Rami]

Kdriver,

You mean like this?

[General]
Title=CFS2 World
Description=CFS 2 Scenery data
Cache_Size=10M
Clean_on_Exit=TRUE

[Area.001]
Title=Default Scenery
Local=scenery
Active=TRUE
Layer=2
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.002]
Title=Terrain
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\World (ETO)
Active=TRUE
Texture_ID=1
Layer=1
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.003]
Title=CFS1 Library
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\library
Active=TRUE
Layer=3
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.004]
Title=Airport Facilities Data
Local=Scenedb\AFDFiles
Active=TRUE
Layer=4
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.005]
Title=Scenery Ships
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\Ships
Active=TRUE
Layer=5
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.006]
Title=Aircraft Weapons
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\weapons
Active=TRUE
Layer=6
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.007]
Title=Vehicles
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\veh
Active=TRUE
Layer=7
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.008]
Title=Effects
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\fx
Active=TRUE
Layer=8
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.009]
Title=Runways
Local=Scenedb\runways
Active=TRUE
Layer=9
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.010]
Title=Buildings
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\inf
Active=TRUE
Layer=10
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.011]
Title=FS2000_props
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\fs2kprop
Active=TRUE
Layer=11
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.012]
Title=DEM mesh
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\DEM mesh
Active=TRUE
Layer=12
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.013]
Title=Coastlines
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\Coastlines
Active=TRUE
Layer=13
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.014]
Title=Coast Flatten
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\Coast Flatten
Active=TRUE
Layer=14
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.015]
Title=Global Exclude
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\Global exclude
Active=TRUE
Layer=15
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.016]
Title=SdC's Europe Landclass
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\SdC's Europe Landclass
Active=TRUE
Layer=16
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.017]
Title=SdC's Mesh
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\SdC's mesh
Active=TRUE
Layer=17
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.018]
Title=Europe enhancements
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\Scenedb\Europe Enhancements
Active=TRUE
Layer=18
Required=TRUE
Remote=

[Area.019]
Title=AtlanticWall
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\AtlanticWall
Active=TRUE
Layer=19
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.020]
Title=EuroTargets
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\EuroTargets
Active=TRUE
Layer=20
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.021]
Title=CFS2 BoB Scenery
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\CFS2BoB
Active=TRUE
Layer=21
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.022]
Title=B-17 Bases
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\SCENEDB\B-17 Bases
Remote=
Active=TRUE
Required=FALSE
Layer=22

[Area.23]
Title=Norway
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\SCENEDB\Norway
Remote=
Active=TRUE
Required=FALSE
Layer=23

[Area.024]
Title=France
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\France
Active=TRUE
Layer=24
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.025]
Title=England
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\England
Active=TRUE
Layer=25
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.026]
Title=Germany
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\Germany
Active=TRUE
Layer=26
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.027]
Title=Denmark
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\Denmark
Active=TRUE
Layer=27
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Area.028]
Title=Other airfields
Local=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\CFS2 Scenery\scenedb\Other airfields
Active=TRUE
Layer=28
Remote=
Required=FALSE

[Fibber]

:ernae:

Rami; as usual you came through!:wavey: I have mine that way but wanted to be sure.:rapture:

Now how do we go about with the one scenerydb for multipe installs especially with different airbase.dat's?

[Rami]

Fibber,

You really can't. My Med install has to have local scenery, because I don't need to have bases in Tunisia when I'm flying out of Scapa Flow.

[Fibber]

Rami;
Thanks, that is what I thought but sometimes, it seems, that some posts can give you the perception that it can be done.

[kdriver]

Rami.

I was proposing to make ALL the area entries "Required=FALSE". The first 11 areas are by default "Required=TRUE" and I was thinking if they were hand edited in the scenery.cfg file, then the whole SCENEDB folder could be shared by multiple installations.

The entire world scenery, both default and add-on would be kept in this one shared folder. You would only activate the scenery pertinent to that particular theatre of war for each CFS2 installation, i.e. no need to activate Scotland in your MTO installation.

Kevin

[kdriver]

Fibber

Regarding airbase.dat files.

I have three identical airbase.dat files for my ETO, MTO and EF installations. I only have scenery pertinent to each theatre activated. The unused airbase.dat entries, e.g. Kursk in my MTO installation, do not cause any problems.

Kevin

[OBIO]

I have an install of CFS2 going again....going to use this install as my master copy and will get it set up with effects, textures and Rhumba's new mesh...then burn the whole shebang to DVD as use it for future installs...just copy and paste as many times as I need.

Have the LOD5 files placed in the World/Scenery folder and the Dem4km.bgl file placed in what ever folder I found it in (can't remember now....getting old and the memory is starting to go).

Have the LOD7 files set up to share amongst installs...and FS2004. I have added it to the CFS2 scenery using the Scenery Add Screne......but have no idea where is should be moved to in the list. Does it go at the bottom just above stock scenery, someplace in the middle, at the top?

This is the first mesh I have added for CFS2.....I'm a painter, not a gardener.....so have no clue!

OBIO

[Ravenna]

Obio,
I've put the LOD7 mesh just above "2002 Props" in the scenery library and so far it looks fine.

[Ghostrider]

Or Delaware, in say, your Massachusetts installation!:ernae:

GR

[kelticheart]

I have an install of CFS2 going again....going to use this install as my master copy and will get it set up with effects, textures and Rhumba's new mesh...then burn the whole shebang to DVD as use it for future installs...just copy and paste as many times as I need.

Have the LOD5 files placed in the World/Scenery folder and the Dem4km.bgl file placed in what ever folder I found it in (can't remember now....getting old and the memory is starting to go).

Have the LOD7 files set up to share amongst installs...and FS2004. I have added it to the CFS2 scenery using the Scenery Add Screne......but have no idea where is should be moved to in the list. Does it go at the bottom just above stock scenery, someplace in the middle, at the top?

This is the first mesh I have added for CFS2.....I'm a painter, not a gardener.....so have no clue!

OBIO

Let me help you Obio,

all addon meshes should always be placed just above the default terrain at the bottom of CFS2 scenery library.

It's #2 lowest priority, as it should lay "underneath" everything else like addon water, addon coastlines, coastline flattens, airfield sceneries and so on.

If you think about it it makes sense, the ground sits underneath everybody else's feet.

I hope this helps. :wavey:

Cheers!
KH :ernae:

[OBIO]

Thanks Keltic....that does make sense. Through pure dumb luck, that is exactly where I ended up putting the new mesh....and boy oh boy, does CFS2 look amazing! Looking forward to seeing what the new LOD9 mesh does for this grand ol' sim.

OBIO

[SPman]

Do you need the LOD 5 files, if you're installing the LOD 7 files?

[Jean Bomber]

Yes ,you already have lod5 mesh in your game ,these better replace the default and add some news in area where they missed in the game

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=9744



JP

[Optix]

Hmmm....Smash, your instruments and target displays in those pics are almost identical...only a 22 secs or so between the shots according to your clock, and your heading and altitude are nearly the same in both, not to mention that your target pointer cones also have the same bearing. Where did you find the opportunity to unload the QC session with the default mesh, reload the sim, activate the new mesh, exit the sim and reload the the sim again with the same QC session???? Maybe your scenery activation technique is in need of a little tune-up.

Morton, the only major change i can see necessary in the tut would be to replace instructions for adding Josiah Haut's mesh with instructions for Rhumba's Dem7 package.

Check out Lasanga PNG...loaded with Rhumba's mesh and coastal flattens active:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/bearcat241/Demo%20shots/0027.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v85/bearcat241/Demo%20shots/0026.jpg

Bearcat,

These screens look outstanding!! Mine doesn't look near as good. I have two questions.....could you possibly post your scenery cfg so I can check it against mine? I know there may be different entries, but I'm more concerned with the order especially where I put the DEM7 mesh in relation to the rest. Also, what version of Stiz's textures are you using? I believe he has version 1-4 in the add-on section. Thanks in advance!

Optix

[bearcat241]

Optix, i really didn't do much of anything more than add everything according to Dick's instructions. I already had a great mesh work done by Rolf in this area for a long time:

CFS2/FS2002 Western
New Guinea Mesh v1.4
High-resolution, hand edited mesh
for West New Guinea in the
former Dutch East Indies.
LOD 9 3.75 arc second resolution.
The single bgl file covers
the entire area.
By Rolf Keibel (VF2_Rolf)

(available at Simviation)

I keep Rolf's mesh in a combined PTO/Asia mesh folder named "PAC-INDOCHINA MESH", which you will see in my scenery file. But i didn't disable this pre-existing mesh per Dick's instructions. I just put Dick's in the folder listed as "Worldwide LOD7 Mesh" and moved this folder below the Pac-Indochina folder in the ladder. This puts it as Layer 2 just above the Default Terrain Layer 1 and makes my Pac-Indochina mesh Layer 3.

[Optix]

.....for the quick response. :jump: Hate to be a pain, but do you recall which version of Stiz's texture ?? :help: Thanks!

Mike

[bearcat241]

....v3....and the fix that should be downloaded with it.

[safn1949]

Fellas I hate to sound stupid...but here goes.I unzipped the mesh to a separate folder and have tried to install them into the scenery library but it doesn't recognize the folder.I know I am making a simple error,but don't realize what.I have the LOD 7 scenery folder in the addons folder. I am in the process of making 3 installs and I have a ton of hard drive (850 gigs) space so I have the LOD 7 copied to each install:help:

[olaf1924]

first have a folder named lod7 inside that have a scenery or texture folder with the actual lod7

[safn1949]

first have a folder named lod7 inside that have a scenery or texture folder with the actual lod7


Thats what I have and it doesn't see the scenery folder for some reason.

[Fibber]

Kdriver;
Thanks for the comeback. I have no problem with the different airfields in one .dat. Where I have been getting perplexed is that some of the new airfields use the same identifer number , Not the runway numbers , several times. ie; ID=8064 etc. They also are named different so it is hard to make one ETO airbase.dat encompassing ALL of the add-ons airbase. That is what is confusing me. My PTO and Korea are working great.

[kdriver]

Fibber,

I see what you mean now. That can be a problem.

I decided a few years ago, before the flood of new European/Med. bases, when I was using CFS 1 bases imported into CFS 2, to go with one common airbase.dat file for the ETO, MTO and EF installations.

I now have to check for duplications when I add to the airbase.dat file. Thanks to Rami's great efforts there aren't many. If there is a duplication I try to change the number of the airbase which is not being used in a mission or campaign.

Back on the subject of the new LOD7 mesh and the scenery heirachy:
All my CFS 2 installations are now served by one single addon scenery folder containing all my scenery sub-folders including mesh; and one single SCENEDB folder containing all the default sub-folders except for SCENEDB\world.

This not only saves disk space, but makes adding new scenery, weapons, vehicles, etc less of a chore.

Kevin

[safn1949]

OK,I got it handled.I was tired last nite and was overlooking the obvious,thanks for your help.:friday:

[rich12545]

I'd like to join everybody in thanking Dick for this mesh. Just phenomenal and I'll be adding it to cfs2 and fs7 when they arrive later this week.

It will be interesting to see the size of the lod 9 program. FSGlobal 2008 for fs9 is about 99% or so lod 9 and it's 13 gig.

[MAULET]

I would like to install only the files from pacific... whith number do I have to downloads...? I mean... some simmers like CFS2 for ETO also... but as for me I use for PTO only... I love the wonderful landescapes which CFS2 provides
Thanks
Jose

:wavey::wavey:

[rhumbaflappy]

It will be interesting to see the size of the lod 9 program. FSGlobal 2008 for fs9 is about 99% or so lod 9 and it's 13 gig.

That FSGlobal mesh might work in CFS2... it depends on the version of resample used. My mesh has some adjustments to the ocean coasts to help minimise the need for flattens, and it includes some special files for the earth's mountainous areas that normally have voids in them... otherwise it's SRTM based.

The watermasks I'm making are much better than the defaults of CFS2, FS2002, FS2004... and in some cases FSX.

I am worried about the mesh file sizes! I'm also making an LOD8 mesh that might just have to do the job, unless the LOD9 really adds to the look without harming the framerates. The LOD8 is also trimmed to eliminate ocean flattens.

Dick

[Jagdflieger]

Richard,

Don't worry about the size, as long as they are in a size that is downloadable. By converting to one single LOD 9 package for all my sims, I'll save a lot of hard drive space in the long run, both in active use and in the library.

[Rami]

Agreed. :ernae:

[OBIO]

Rhumba

Don't worry about the size of the LOD9....unless it results in issues with uploading and downloading for most folks. I have a brand new 250gig HD going in as a dedicated sim drive, a 120 gig external for archiving, will be adding a 160 gig external HD for archiving once the funds free up a tad bit (come on tax returns).

I do like the idea of the LOD 8 option is case the LOD 9 proves to be a frame rate killer for some folks. The LOD 7 has done wonders for CFS2 and FS2004....I am really looking forward to giving the LOD 9 a try.

OBIO

[Smashing Time]

Optix, i really didn't do much of anything more than add everything according to Dick's instructions. I already had a great mesh work done by Rolf in this area for a long time:

CFS2/FS2002 Western
New Guinea Mesh v1.4
High-resolution, hand edited mesh
for West New Guinea in the
former Dutch East Indies.
LOD 9 3.75 arc second resolution.
The single bgl file covers
the entire area.
By Rolf Keibel (VF2_Rolf)

(available at Simviation)

I keep Rolf's mesh in a combined PTO/Asia mesh folder named "PAC-INDOCHINA MESH", which you will see in my scenery file. But i didn't disable this pre-existing mesh per Dick's instructions. I just put Dick's in the folder listed as "Worldwide LOD7 Mesh" and moved this folder below the Pac-Indochina folder in the ladder. This puts it as Layer 2 just above the Default Terrain Layer 1 and makes my Pac-Indochina mesh Layer 3.

Bearcat.OK I don't get it I have the same setup as described but how come it looks totally different. It goes out of focus within a short distance.

[bearcat241]

Yeah Smash, i see it...but its not a scenery hierarchal problem that i see there. Its your graphics settings mucking up the sharpness of the picture. The CFS2 library setup is fine. You'll need to spend some time fine-tuning your GPU settings both inside the sim's settings and outside the in Windows desktop settings (or your graphics card's system tray tool). Also FYI, all of my posted screenies here get a single sharpening pass in a paint program before i upload. In spite of my old, tricked out GPU, i still get great clarity in my sim graphics already. But the sharpening pass makes the pics even better.

[trasno]

but... which is the difference between Lod5, Lod7, etc? I donwloaded both LOD5 and LOD7 mesh... Which is the meaning of all these?

Trasno

[Jean Bomber]

but... which is the difference between Lod5, Lod7, etc? I donwloaded both LOD5 and LOD7 mesh... Which is the meaning of all these?

Trasno

Dick has posted some gifs that explain how looks mesh lod 7, 8 ,9 in the game
lod5 mesh already exist in the game these news replace and are better the cfs2 default

thttp://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?t=11250han

[OBIO]

but... which is the difference between Lod5, Lod7, etc? I donwloaded both LOD5 and LOD7 mesh... Which is the meaning of all these?

Trasno

Transo

The difference between the various LODs is the amount of detail that the mesh injects into the scenery. The higher the LOD, the more detailed the mesh becomes. LOD5 mountains, for instance, will be rounded looking, LOD7 and they begin to be more pointed with sharper cliffs, more defined valleys, LOD9 mountains are even more realistic in appearance with more definition and detail.

Higher LOD meshes do pose one significant disadvantage over lower LOD meshes.....the higher the LOD, the more negative impact they have on frame rates. More detail takes more RAM, more processor, more video card resources to draw.

OBIO

[trasno]

thanks Obio, now i understand it.

Trasno

[safn1949]

I installed and was flying around and the mesh was correcting itself as I approached a section of terrain,I went back and cranked up the scenery full blast and it looks great.It was weird,it looked like the ground was alive and breathing there for a while.:friday:

[dog1]

are we supposed to delete the default mesh before installing LOD7?
dog1

[bearcat241]

Smash, i just thought of something more after another look at your pics. Post a screenie of your in-sim hardware and image quality settings. Better yet, just make sure all sliders are maxed and all boxes on the right are selected.

[jhefner]

The watermasks I'm making are much better than the defaults of CFS2, FS2002, FS2004... and in some cases FSX.

Dick;

Speaking of FS2002 -- I had no problems at all installing the LOD7 mesh in FS2004 and CFS2 on a newer machine, and FS2002 and CFS2 on an older machine.

However, when copying the LOD5 files to the World scenery folder, I noticed that CFS2 and FS2004 asked me if I wanted to replace the existing files (I replied yes), but go no such message when copying the same files to FS2002. I am a guessing the files had a different name in FS2002; are there some files I need to rename/move to make the LOD5 mesh the default?

My son and I flew together for several hours through the Grand Canyon using FS2002 and FSHost on machine, and FS2004 on the other. It was a pain trying this before because the mesh was different; this time, it was great, with everything exactly the same in both simulators. Only gotcha was a ridge appeared on the canyon floor in FS002 a couple of times; but may have been a mapping error due to the machine working so hard. Otherwise, it was a blast; thanks!

We also have CFS1 on both machines (I know, way too many simulators), and I assume none of this is usable with it? I noticed there is no button in the settings for adding scenery.

-James

[rhumbaflappy]

Hi james.

These files won't work in CFS1... the fs mesh system hadn't been invented at that time. They should work in FS2000, CFS2, FS2002, FS2004, and FSX.

I thought FS2002 had the same naming system as the rest of the sims.

Dick

[jhefner]

Hi james.

These files won't work in CFS1... the fs mesh system hadn't been invented at that time. They should work in FS2000, CFS2, FS2002, FS2004, and FSX.

I thought FS2002 had the same naming system as the rest of the sims.

Dick

Thanks, Dick. I went and looked in my World/Scenery folder in FS2002 one more time last night; and all the files had a 2009 date stamp on them. And as I mentioned, the scenery looked the same in both FS2002 and FS2004. So, it must have been confusion on my part.

Thank you for your patience, and for such a great addon. Went flying around more familiar territory closer to home last night; and was amazed that even the more gentle rolling hills in the Dallas/Fort Worth area were modeled accurately. Throw in the photo scenery, and it is "as real as it gets."

-James

[B17Sam]

These files won't work in CFS1... the fs mesh system hadn't been invented at that time. They should work in FS2000, CFS2, FS2002, FS2004, and FSX.

If the new mesh works in FSX, will anything in FSX improve CFS2?

[OBIO]

If the new mesh works in FSX, will anything in FSX improve CFS2?

During the short time that I had FSX installed, the only thing that I found to be worth having was the sound pack for the Grumman Goose. I don't think that anything in FSX, other than sound packs, will work in CFS2...and if they did I would not call it an "improvement"

OBIO

[B17Sam]

:amen:The wife won it online for racking up points playing her silly games. Otherwise I wouldn't have it. Still don't have it installed. Regards, Al

[Fibber]

Hi;
away for a week in Nevada ( in time for their recent snow!!) and want to get up to speed on the changes. So far we have the new DEM, LOD 5 and 7 and Rhumba is working on 9. Is that right?
Also, I know that he posted what to delete somewhere but can't seem to relocate it. Right now I am on a borrowed computer enroute home and want to make sure I am up-to-date on Rhumbas excellent work! THANK YOU SIR!!!:kiss::ernae:

[B17Sam]

I think you mean Rhumbafloppy's reply about 1/2 way down page 2 in this thread.

Al

[minuteman10]

~S~ Rhumba....I started playing around with my FS 2004 a couple of weeks ago and tripped across this thread. I downloaded and installed your mesh scenery and added Lennart's textures. The results were nothing short of astounding! I live in the vicinity of Cape Cod and have been flying the bay non-stop. Your work has created a whole new sim experience....my wife will probably be leaving me shortly....so I guess I owe you two "Thank you"'s!

[Greystone]

I want to ask the same question as Maulet: Which of the 18 LOD7 zip files would be appropriate for the original CFS2 operations area? Be nice if the 18 files had a specific designated arena to make the determination.

[Greystone]

I want to ask the same question as Maulet: Which of the 18 LOD7 zip files would be appropriate for the original CFS2 operations area? Be nice if the 18 files had a specific designated arena to make the determination.