Getting ready for VLC...

[Adamski]

QUOTE (toprob @ Aug 25 2010, 10:50 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

... just a few days away from the release of VLC

Ooooooh!!!! Stand by your beds, folks!!!

Slightly off topic, but sort of relevant ... I hope there's time to add to the documentation (if it's not in there already) info about all the permutations of VLC and other landclass, autogen or scenery add-ons - and how to set them up layer-wise etc. I'm thinking in respect of:

1) Default MS mesh
2) Red Baron Topo
3) Other sceneries (including RealNZ)
4) Other "photoreal" sceneries
5) Other landclass

.... and maybe the relationship(s) between topo, landclass, autogen, photoreal tiles etc. It's all been covered here, I think, but all over many different threads and none of them (I think) say it all comprehensively.

[toprob]

Thanks, I've split this post away as you've asked some very good questions. Let's see if we can come up with some very good answers...

Some scenery types can co-exist, some may cause difficulties, so it would make sense to deactivate any other addon topo, landclass or elevation mesh. However you don't need to do anything to disable any default scenery.

In most other respects, FSX does a great job of layering in a sensible manner, and you should be able to just activate VLC and fly.

However since VLC can be seen as a 'base' scenery for New Zealand, it makes sense to allow developers to produce their own local additions, which may include minor landclass alterations. To make this easier, the VLC installer will relocate the VLC scenery within the Scenery Library, to better represent this type of broad scope. It will place VLC with a priority just after Addon Scenery. You will get a choice whether or not to have the installer edit your Scenery Library, as some people prefer to do this themselves. In this case, the manual will include suggestions as to priority. However the scenery will work great just addiing to the Scenery Library as normal.

FSX normally (I think this may depend on SP releases) displays photo scenery over any landclass, regardless of priority, which is what makes the most sense. This means that rather than worry about priority within the Scenery Library, it is simpler to just de-select any photo scenery when you wish to use the new landclass.

There are some additional issues with photo scenery, in that some blend very well with VLC, and some not so well. With Real New Zealand scenery, the main offender is Real NZ Marlborough. I am working on a replacement photo scenery component, but I don't know how long this will take.

Others may have some seasonal issues. In these cases I may supply instructions on how to disable the photo textures during winter, to allow the airports and other addon scenery to work with VLC.

Future projects may deal with this a little differently -- one idea is that photo areas which are obviously out of season are placed in a season-specific scenery folder, which can be activated during the appropriate months. (Manually activated in the Scenery Library.)

[Adamski]

Thanks for the answer(s) ... just a double check:

QUOTE (toprob @ Aug 25 2010, 12:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Some scenery types can co-exist, some may cause difficulties, so it would make sense to deactivate any other addon topo, landclass or elevation mesh. However you don't need to do anything to disable any default scenery.

I have Red Baron Topo and the Roads & Rivers extension installed. So I need to disable *both* of those?

QUOTE (toprob @ Aug 25 2010, 12:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There are some additional issues with photo scenery, in that some blend very well with VLC, and some not so well. With Real New Zealand scenery, the main offender is Real NZ Marlborough. I am working on a replacement photo scenery component, but I don't know how long this will take.

I have all your sceneries - including Marlborough. What sort of "issues" do you mean? Minor glitch or mega ugly?

I'll be buying VLC in a moment (to show loyalty and support as well!) ... but just wanted to find out what the "gotchas" are

[Ian Warren]

'Oh' VLC Christmas time ........................................Thank you Tim 'Timmo' Barnes

[dbcunnz]

QUOTE (Adamski @ Aug 31 2010, 01:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the answer(s) ... just a double check:


I have Red Baron Topo and the Roads & Rivers extension installed. So I need to disable *both* of those?

Hi Adam I have the NZ VLC installed and I have placed it between the RB Roads & Rivers and the RB Topo the RB Topo being the top one that way the VLC over rides the RM Roads & Rivers but the RB Topo loads and you get all the small airstrips if you put the VLC below the RB Topo it doesn't load the small airfields as I found out when I flew into Awarowa but by moving the RB Topo up above the VLC the Awarowa airfield showed up so had a land and take off from it although it has a couple of mounds across it

Doug

[Adamski]

QUOTE (dbcunnz @ Aug 31 2010, 02:58 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi Adam I have the NZ VLC installed and I have placed it between the RB Roads & Rivers and the RB Topo the RB Topo being the top one that way the VLC over rides the RM Roads & Rivers but the RB Topo loads and you get all the small airstrips if you put the VLC below the RB Topo it doesn't load the small airfields as I found out when I flew into Awarowa but by moving the RB Topo up above the VLC the Awarowa airfield showed up so had a land and take off from it although it has a couple of mounds across it

Thanks Doug - that's exactly the sort of info I need!

BTW - never did find the time to say *thank you* for the Argosy etc. (I love it!!!). It's been really hectic lately - hardly any time for simming. I even missed entering last month's screencomp - so it must be bad!

[Timmo]

VLC includes all those airstrips as well so if that was the only reason you wanted to keep the RB turned on then there isn't much point

[frostynz]

Hi Timmo,

product looks great mate from my brief look ... well done!

I have Scenery Techs landclass for all areas as well as FScene. Do I put VLC above or below the Scenery Tech Landclass? .... also do you know if FScene alters what you have created?

Finally, do I retain the RB Mesh, but delete the Topo, or does your software include the mesh as well?

Sorry mate, probably a string of useless questions but that is my trademark

Regards Dave

[toprob]

To clarify -- there is really no reason to retain the RB topo or mesh, and they should be deactivated, otherwise you will get very unpredictable results.

As far as other landclass scenery is concerned, it would make sense to put broader coverage scenery -- such as all the world, or South Pacific, or whatever -- at a lower priority (down the Scenery Library list in FSX) so that it will display outside New Zealand, but show VLC in New Zealand.

The VLC mesh was going to be offered separately, but as some of the VLC features -- the lake and river elevations, for instance -- are tied to the mesh elevation, it wouldn't make sense to use a different mesh.

[russhart]

Just downloaded VLC and while most of my questions have been answered in this topic, I still need some clarity on how VLC will impact (if at all) on Ultimate Terrain and Ground Environment X?

The instructions advise on Orbx and NL2000 but doesn't mention any others, so before I go ahead and install, can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks

[Timmo]

QUOTE (russhart @ Aug 31 2010, 01:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just downloaded VLC and while most of my questions have been answered in this topic, I still need some clarity on how VLC will impact (if at all) on Ultimate Terrain and Ground Environment X?

The instructions advise on Orbx and NL2000 but doesn't mention any others, so before I go ahead and install, can anyone enlighten me?

Thanks

UTX seems similar to VLC so most of its data should be contained within its own folder/s but according to the GEX website they do replace some autogen textures which means there is a risk of backing up and overwriting non default textures- I don't have these product so am not 100% on how they are setup.

Generally- If there is a config tool which allows anything to be switched off/disabled in another addon, then it is recommended that this be done before installation of VLC. The main area of concern is with autogen and ground textures- If non-standard textures are present when we back up files (only three of them so the risk isn't huge) then the VLC config tool will switch between those textures and not default.

If you wish to be on the safe side, make a back up copy of the three files (the only ones that we touch) in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Scenery\Global\texture\* called veg_Palm1.dds, veg_tropical1.dds, veg_tropical2.dds which will at least allow you get back to a pre VLC state (from which you can fall back to a pre UTX and GEX state using their uninstallers). True default textures will have creation dates around mid 2007- non-standard textures will have later dates.

* that is the Vista 64 bit path, for XP the path will be something like C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\Scenery\Global\texture or wherever your FSX installation is.

[Venge]

What about REX2. The installer asked if I have any configurable programs that alter the textures, does REX2 fit into this category?
REX2 does water if I recall correctly.

[Timmo]

REX2 shouldn't be affected

[russhart]

Timmo, thanks for the clarification. I must confess I couldn't wait for a response and ended up doing exactly as you have advised with GEX (but not the 3 files). Boy am I impressed. I spent a couple of hours flying at 2000ft around Auckland and in a word - stunning I can't wait to fly around the rest of the country.

I'll check out the US and Europe with GEX re-enabled later.

Great job!!!

[Adamski]

Well ... install went smoothly - no problems. However - I do have a couple of questions regarding priority:

1) In the manual, it states:

C. Using the Move Up/Down buttons on the right of the dialogue box, move both the Vector Land Class and Vector Land Class Terrain entries so they sit just above the default scenery items such as 'Propeller Objects', or 'Global, Generic & Vehicle Libraries'. 'Vector Land Class DTM' should be moved so it sits below 'Vector Land Class'.

Checking my list immediately after install, I see the DTM file was *above* the Land Class file. Which is right? Does it make any difference?

2) I de-activated my Red Baron stuff - which included Roads & Rivers - but I see that I'm missing a fair few bridges in some areas. No great loss, as they're generally pretty ugly, but I wonder what else I may be missing (?).

3) I did a test-flight around Milford Sound and found I still needed to use the flatten on NZMF strip - otherwise it sat on a 500m high "extruded" plateau. Does VLC use its own elevation data?

A spectacular piece of work, though - congratulations!

[Timmo]

Nope it doesn't seem to make any difference...it is more a preference of mine so that things sit logically in the scenery list (i.e in the sim, landclass sits 'on top of' the terrain' so I put it above the DTM and below any other addon scenery items). In my test install, because my addon scenery folder was at the top of my list, VLC is installed at the top too and it still seems to work ok, however, it should be as low as possible so that when people release smaller airports (that may include additional roads or landclass tiles etc) that VLC sits underneath them and doesn't override it.

In the release notes (at the bottom of the Readme file) it mentions that the bridges are still default- I'm intending to include fixed bridges which will include all these little ones- I just need to finish the script that will do it.

When installing VLC, did you leave the 'Install Milford Fix' ticked on? I've just updated the first post in the Bugs list which should explain things

[Adamski]

QUOTE (Timmo @ Sep 2 2010, 04:49 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nope it doesn't seem to make any difference...it is more a preference of mine so that things sit logically in the scenery list (i.e in the sim, landclass sits 'on top of' the terrain' so I put it above the DTM and below any other addon scenery items). In my test install, because my addon scenery folder was at the top of my list, VLC is installed at the top too and it still seems to work ok, however, it should be as low as possible so that when people release smaller airports (that may include additional roads or landclass tiles etc) that VLC sits underneath them and doesn't override it.

In the release notes (at the bottom of the Readme file) it mentions that the bridges are still default- I'm intending to include fixed bridges which will include all these little ones- I just need to finish the script that will do it.

When installing VLC, did you leave the 'Install Milford Fix' ticked on? I've just updated the first post in the Bugs list which should explain things

Thanks for all the info/help, Timmo. It all seems to be working fine (either way) ... just wondered.

As to Milford Sound - I'll drop that here and dive into the bugs thread(s). I did tick it, but probably didn't have the flatten disabled when I installed VLC. Just re-enabling the flatten fixed it for me.