On The Glideslope

Photorealistic Scenery In X-Plane

A viewer was kind enough to gift me photorealistic scenery for a good portion of the world as a holiday gesture. I’ve been able to install most of it, and here’s a quick iPhone video below. As you can see, X-Plane is able to place autogen buildings and vegetation and lights ON TOP of photorealistic scenery, something that Prepar3D is unable to do. When paired with accurate street-level data / mesh and the World2XPlane objects and mapping, it’s a pretty awesome combination. Here’s a quick video illustrating it in SoCal. I tried my local field this morning, and it’s now an uncannily realistic experience flying into and out of my neck of the woods. Thanks so much to that viewer!

Basement Fly Guy

5 responses to “Photorealistic Scenery In X-Plane”

  1. peter mclaren Avatar
    peter mclaren

    Aloha, I am interested in your opinion. I a fan of your web site and have followed you (in the back ground) for-quite awhile.
    OK, my question is: Do you think the new X-
    Plane is better than FSX Steam and why?
    Also will all of my many investments in add ons work in X plane, I have many of Orbx stuff..
    Thanks ,peter mclaren

    1. N15JG Avatar
      N15JG

      Hi Peter and thanks so much for reading and commenting. For me, it’s not even a comparison. I preferred Prepar3D to FSX because of its continuing development and graphics, and I prefer X-Plane 11 to Prepar3D. Why: No memory crashes, great user interface, huge amounts of free add ons, and visually it’s absolutely stunning. It does not do as well at AI aircraft and ATC, so if those are important to you, consider that a factor in your decision.

      But that’s just me, and you might download the X-Plane 11 demo and see if you like it yourself. It places you at Seattle, which has lots of great scenery that is similar to that which you can get through add-ons (as I did). But you are choosing to leave your ORBX stuff behind, and most of the FSX stuff does not cross over. That said, there are ways of brining over airplanes and airports. I’ve not done this, but you might do some research online and see what you learn.

    2. Michael Fread Avatar
      Michael Fread

      Any chance you will share that scenery?

      1. N15JG Avatar
        N15JG

        Sorry, Michael, but no. It was a gift, and I do not have permission to share it. But is SO easy to make it in Ortho4XP there is no reason to not roll you own. That’s what I’ve been doing and it’s incredibly easy.

        1. Michael Fread Avatar
          Michael Fread

          Understandable and I know the data is large. It’s just a shame nobody is sharing US data in a torrent or even selling hard drives preloaded with the data like they do with emulated game roms that amount to several tb.

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