You already got it but for anyone else who happens along when searching to resolve a similar problem.
Here is the order I have and which works well:
- airports
- airports
- airports
- libraries
- libraries
- X-Plane Landmarks - something
- X-Plane Landmarks - something
- yOrtho4XP_Overlays_HDv4 (Please Read Below)
- z_Ortho_Something (Please Read Below)
- z_Ortho_Something (Please Read Below)
- zzz_hd_global_scenery4 (Please Read Below)
The mistake I have made more than once is a double entry in Scenery_Packs. As the list gets longer, it gets easier and easier to lose control. There are easier ways to manage it but I do it by hand and accept the occasional frustration when I screw it up. Usually the best solution for me is to erase scenery packs, load XP, quit XP and reorder the important bits which are the ones I appended with “Please Read Below”. Those are the only folders that are layered and therefore the only for which the order is important. yOrtho4XP_Overlays are where you have to make a choice with Forkboy2’s file. He usually gives you a choice of four to place in this folder. Chances are, if you have the improved HD mesh, you will want to use “yOrtho4XP_Overlays_HDv4” from AlpilotX. That folder should already exist. Unzipping Forkboy2’s version onto your existing version will not overwrite yours. It will just add the pertinent overlay data that comes with the new Ortho you’ve just downloaded. But without it (or if it is below a mesh), you get no objects, just the underlying mesh and paint. The “paint” is the “z_ortho_…” file. That’s why it’s so big. If it is on top of any overlay in Scenery_Packs, those overlay items will not be placed. The very bottom is the Alpilotx’s "zzz_hd_global… (or similar). The mesh. Also big but not AS big is the ortho stuff. It is there to fill in the gaps where you may not have a seemless Forkboy2 set of orthos and their accompaniment of a more accurate mesh.
So this is actually very intuitive. If you were sculpting the planet you would first sculpt a ball and add mountains and valleys (elevation data). That’s the mesh. You would then paint pretty shades of green, blue and brown. That’s the ortho. Finally you would overlay it all with roads, objects, trees, people and airports. That’s the rest. You wouldn’t put clay on top of the paint. But Scenery_Packs sometimes will.