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MSFS24 Custom aerials in MSFS2024

OK, so now I got rid of the poping tiles thats good. But still the default aerial blends over.

 
Hi Fiideell:

The fade-in of default aerial imagery on top of your custom aerial imagery may be occurring due to LOD display priority.


When we make custom aerial imagery, FS' SDK compiler makes a range of LOD tiles it is 'able' to ...based on source resolution.

A minimum resolution of Zoom Level 20 in source imagery is needed to allow display at higher display priority than MSFS default.

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/cant-fix-the-clouds-tile-pictures-msfs.458049/post-921170

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/aerial-images-airport-background.448431/post-851410


What was your resolution (in 'Zoom level') of the source aerial imagery used for making your own custom aerial imagery tiles ?

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/aerial-images-airport-background.448431/reply?quote=851410

theisomizer said:
So this is appears to be one of the quirks of the new system, the screen space error metric works a little differently. You have to generate tiles all the way up to the max LOD already present in bing maps or the local sim data to prevent this from happening. I don’t think it is a static 20. This can be a different value in different parts of the world.

Turn on the terrain tile debug tool in dev mode and then you can see what the highest resolution is there, and then if you don’t have imagery up to that lod you will have to supersample and tile it yourself.
Click to expand...

NOTE: ("supersample" = 'up-sample' / 'over-sample')


If you can not find a BING native Zoom level of 20 or greater, then "up-sample" them to 20, as rhumbaflappy describes here:

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/terrain-data-sources.450679/post-871049

rhumbaflappy said:
Bing Aerial Imagery Tile Sources:

http://a0.ortho.tiles.virtualearth.net/tiles/a0302222013313312130.jpeg?g=9
(can be a0 to a3)


(can be t0-t7)


(a secure https)


Some areas have imagery at level 20, but many areas have imagery at lower levels. The above has imagery at level 19 max.

You can make 20 level tile2 from a 19 level tile.

In a paint program, enlarge the 19 level tile to 512x512, then split the tile by quarters.

0302222013313312130 is the 19 level quad.

o each quarter, add 0, 1, 2, or 3... Northwest quad is 0, northeast quad is 1, southwest quad is 2, southeast quad is 3

View attachment 67790

so the southeast level quad becomes quadname 03022220133133121303
Save each quarter as the {quadname}.png

(Not sure if the sim requires PNG or if a JPG is fine.)
Click to expand...


Assuming you used Zoom Level 20 or greater, that would allow your custom aerial imagery LOD display priority at low Altitude.

At a higher Altitude, the user camera is physically at a greater distance from the ground; MSFS then displays lower LODs / MIPMAPs.


LODs and Zoom Level are approximately correlated with user camera distance to determine display priority for terrain tiles.

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/flattens.425495/post-633002


Perhaps if you do not supply instructions to the SDK compiler, it may only make higher LODs / MIPMAPs for lower Altitudes ?

That might mean the SDK compiler may not make lower LODs / MIPMAPs of custom imagery for higher Altitude display. :redflag:


If we need / want to replace MSFS default aerial imagery, we must replace all default tiles with our own custom LODs / Seasons.


I have not yet tested this, but AFAIK, rhumbaflappy has; that may be why he instructs FS' SDK compiler to also make lower LODs.

rhumbaflappy said:
What I do is to use QGIS to make a GeoTiff of the imagery. I can then create a batchfile to automate the processing of the GeoTiff to a project output.
C59_Aerial.zip

Just double-click on CompileGeotiff.bat and wait for it to finish. The GeoTiff image appears in a field east of C59.

I made minimum 13 and maximum as 20.

View attachment 89199

Bash: 
rmdir .\TestTiles /s /q
rmdir .\Packages /s /q
rmdir .\PackagesMetadata /s /q
rmdir .\PackageSources /s /q
rmdir .\_PackageInt /s /q

tools\GTiff2Tiles\GTiff2Tiles.Console.exe --input art\Hello.tif --output TestTiles --minz 13 --maxz 20 --tms FALSE -c mercator

tools\tiles2bing.exe TestTiles /o PackageSources\CGL\aerial_images /y google

xcopy "tools\CGLBuilderConfig.xml" "PackageSources\CGL\"

tools\fspackagetool.exe C59AerialProject.xml

pause

The batchfile uses GTiff2Tiles to make the Google tiles, and tiles2bing to make those tiles compatible with MSFS. The tools are included in the link. Just edit the batchfile and your project's XML to get your aerial from a geotiff.
Click to expand...

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/finally-aerial-imagery.448513/

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/t...eate-custom-aerial-scenery.448680/post-910545

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/aerial-imagery-question.458692/post-927292

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/tiles2bing-problems.457437/


PS: SASPlanet outputs an assigned Zoom Level 20 GeoTIFF; it does the needed 'up-sampling' before export in BING Map view.

LKSZ_SASPlanet_Export_GeoTIFF.jpg


One can edit a copy of rhumbaflappy's example to make a workflow for one's own custom GeoTIFF source file aerial imagery: :idea:

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/t...eate-custom-aerial-scenery.448680/post-918028

GaryGB
 
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Hi, yes that is a nice catch. Ive been experimenting whole day today, created new CGL with high resolution LOD 20 using QGIS and this is what I got.

My map in QGIS
1756135805969.png


In sim:
1756135847166.png


There is clearly still the default map overlay appearing
1756135888255.png


Im running out of ideas. I might share my step by step procedure in QGIS but idk if it would be for any help.

Anyway thanks for everyone trying to help :)
 
Glad to see you are getting closer to achieving an even higher resolution aerial imagery CGL. :)


If you share your step-by-step process in QGIS, it may allow others to see how you performed your procedure.

It is possible that since rhumbaflappy is familiar with QGIS, he may be able to offer additional feedback to deal with the "Mask".


Additionally, rhumbaflappy may be able to offer further help implementing a transparent aerial imagery background.


I use Global Mapper, but it is likely rhumbaflappy uses Paint.Net with GeoTIFFs to make transparent aerial imagery backgrounds.

GaryGB
 
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Ok, I give up.

This is the best I could do. But still I am not able to overwrite the brown field on the left side of the RWY.
My orto:
1756223579717.png


In sim:
1756223647819.png


Default:
1756224136207.png


 
Last edited:
Thanks for the heads-up on that thread; it does indeed look like rhumbaflappy is aware of this issue.

Rhumbaflappy states that it can only be altered by aprons or polygons with transparency.

Now we need to find out what rhumbaflappy meant by that:

* 'What' type of "Aprons"

...and:

* 'What' type of "polygons with transparency" ?



It would also be interesting to see if this tutorial by Mamu (aka Federico Pinotti) has been updated to correct for that in 2024 ?

https://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/cant-fix-the-clouds-tile-pictures-msfs.458049/post-921170


The tutorial above by Federico Pinotti (aka "mamu") on YouTube shows how to create a Grass replacement Polygon via a Material 'close' in color / texture pattern, which can be further edited to match its color to that of underlying default MSFS MSVE (aka "BING") PR imagery:

The segment on that method is at 22:40 elapsed time.


GaryGB
 
This is really, really off-topic, but there are some extremely interesting archeological remains in that airfield overhead. Some of them have the footprint of neolithic roundhouses, some have the footprint of animal enclosures and others have the footprint of small tumuli. Where is it?
 
DragonflightDesign said:
This is really, really off-topic, but there are some extremely interesting archeological remains in that airfield overhead. Some of them have the footprint of neolithic roundhouses, some have the footprint of animal enclosures and others have the footprint of small tumuli. Where is it?
Click to expand...

https://m.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12033120


"Iron"-ic, isn't it ?

Usually old airfields become modern residential areas.

At Sazena, a prehistoric residential area may have become a modern airfield. ;)


Stay tuned for the movie: :laughing:

Hollywood = 'Encino Man'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encino_Man


Chechia = "Albedo Man" ?

GaryGB
 
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