X-Plane 11 Screens

That the X-Rotors AW139? Still on my want list…

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You should wait until the update before risking $30 for the AW139.

Fortunately I think @NEVO’s shots are of the free Bell 429.

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That’s correct, free 429, very nice module.

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Yeah, I think someone made a GTN mod for it too for those that have the RXP GTN (probably one of my favorite add-on purchases ever…it is really good)…

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So the quick and dirty on this. I used Ortho4XP version 1.30 to do this. I think it can still be found HERE

Once installed, go into Ortho4X > Binary and launch Ortho4XP_v130.exe

Under the settings menu (the wrench icon) I have the following set:

Things to note: high_ZL airports TRUE

and set you Custom Overlay SRC to your X-Plane Global Scenery directory. I think this is where Ortho4XP goes to build the roads and buildings overlay that will put all that stuff over your ortho imagery.

By not putting anything in the Custom Scenery Dir box, the program does NOT automatically send the generated tiles to my X-Plane directory. I like to move them myself.

Next go to the GLOBE icon and this is where I select all the tiles I want to create. For my Machmell area, I chose a whole bunch of tiles all around the area since I might want to wander quite a bit away from the scenery area. Holding shift and clicking your left mouse button allows you to click multiple areas at once. Just be aware, the more you click, the bigger the resulting set of tiles is going to be with regards to total size. It is pretty easy to eat up a couple hundred GB using this tool…

You’ll see I’ve selected everything under the Batch Build Tiles menu since I want Ortho4X to do everything. If you select the items under Erase Cached Data, the program will download the imagery, make the tiles according to what you’ve selected under Batch Build Tiles, output those tiles, then delete the base data it downloaded. In case something screws up, I like to keep the imagery/temporary data that is used to build the tiles since downloading the data is a large part of what takes so long to make these tiles (it can take hours…!).

You have several directories under Ortho4XP where this downloaded data is stored - Masks, Orthophotos, OSM data, Geotiffs, Elevation Data, etc… The actual created tiles when everything is complete will be under the TILES directory. Those files will be named something like: zOrtho4XP_+02-077 or something. The numbers change based on the LAT/LON of the tiles you are creating. Simply move those newly created folders to your X-Plane/Custom Scenery folder.

Ortho4XP also creates overlays that put the street and building data over the scenery imagery. Those are output to the yOrtho4XP_Overlays directory and you can move that entire directory to your X-Plane/Custom Scenery directory as well.

This is important, when you next fire up X-Plane 11, those new files (the zOrtho4XP ones) will probably be placed at the TOP of your scenery_packs.ini file. So the scenery will load with JUST the satellite imagery, but probably no buildings or runways or cars or roads. Close X-Plane, then go back into scenery_packs ini and manually cut and move all the ortho files below the custom airports, object libraries, overlays, etc…but OVER any custom mesh stuff you might have (like zzz_uhd_global scenery).

I would highly, highly, highly suggest you try Ortho4XP with a test of maybe a small island or something with just one or two tiles selected until you get it figure out. There is no sense having your computer render for 10 hours on a big batch of tiles if you are doing it wrong. Start small and experiment first, then commit to building larger batches of tiles.

Some or all of this could be wrong too. So consider that. And I’d refer you back to @fearlessfrog’s excellent and more coherently written guide:

and Fridges even more updated guide:

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Dammit! :crazy_face:

Initial thoughts, it looks decent on the outside. The cockpit is simple. Start sequence is simple (Battery, Fuel, start switch). Simple systems means the frame rate is very good. The scaling of the pilot figures is definitely slightly off, as Chris previously mentioned. I put in a squawk on the AOA tech support forum over at the Org. I would recommend waiting until they have had some time to work on it a little more, but it is fun to fly.

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Thanks @BeachAV8R! The effort of writing that was not in vain. I’ve been meaning to proper render the area around Blairstown and the farm where I practice for years. I built the airport and was happy with that but was unsatisfied with my ortho work. I am looking forward to giving it another go.

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This is what my Blairstown area looks like using those default Forkboy Ortho packages for that area. The airport is obviously just a strip…no custom 3D buildings or anything…

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I could probably add this to liven it up a bit…

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That’s a nice Blairstown! Certainly better than mine. But my Ortho build was unsuccessful. Maybe I was running into the same problem you had with confusion over how this relates to the HD mesh. All I get is a satellite photo and additionally 2 tiles are Fall and the other 2 are Summer, creating a nice, ugly seam.

Forgot the yOrtho… Duh! :crazy_face: I just need to find a better photo service than Bing that sticks to one season. Otherwise, it looks a lot like home! Thanks

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Hey great…! Yeah, I haven’t experimented with the other imagery sources. I’ll bet you could find better. (Something, something MSFS2020)…

That’s just what I wanted. Thanks again, @BeachAV8R! I used “USA2” as the source.

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I just had a response on the AOA tech support forum… they agree about the pilot scale and will fix it in 1.1. :+1: :+1:

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@BeachAV8R, another question… How did you get such high tree density in the shots of your “Forkboy” ortho a few posts up?

I can’t answer for Chris, but I use xTreme Trees (both East and West)…

There is also ExoFlora, but I haven’t tried that.

You know, I don’t know…but looking at my scenery_packs.ini I see a couple entries that might be a clue.

Custom Scenery/HD Forests/
Custom Scenery/us-forests/

Given that HD Forests is listed above the us-forests entry, I’m gonna guess that is the one depicted and is probably this one here:

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Playing in Colorado after installing Forkboy’s ortho scenery.

And then a VR run through the Mach Loop, also in the Red Hawk, sporting a pretty neat retro paint job.

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That Red Hawk is a sweet looking bird. Hope it matures a bit and I’ll pick up…

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It really is fun to fly, and while not at the Just Flight Hawk standard, it is very fluid in VR. Something to tear down the valleys with just for the sheer joy of flying low and fast.

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