All images are in 4K, with the sharpness increased by 30% using the sharpening function available in the Nvidia Control Panel.
This setting provides better images, however my system ( 3090; Intel I9-11900k ) suffers from some throttling, although it doesn't disturb the smooth flight phases. I'll see if I can further optimize my system.
Scenarios consist of default weather, default mesh and classic OpenLC ORBX and UK/Australia ORBX regions. Plus various 3-party airport scenarios.
The birds used are the default Robinson R22 and the JF Cessna C152.
EGGD Bristol
EIDW Dublin
LIPX Verona Villafranca
Sidney
Even the old scenarios benefit from the new lighting system. Here Aerosoft Vilnius X and Split X, with conversion in progress.
EYVI Vilnius
Note the new buildings included in P3Dv6 that align perfectly with the photoreal of the city of Vilnius. However these buildings still seem not able to exclude the self-generated objects placed under them. I think this feature will be added later.
Everyone looks amazing, but what's wrong with the clouds?
All clouds look like they are placed on some plane surface, giving them somewhat flat side at the bottom. Do you find it strange or is it just me?
I agree with you that the clouds are extremely basic and certainly room for improvement.
I opened this post to show how the new lighting system interacts with the scenarios.
I have not written about the weather system display, of which I have used the default settings ( fair weather ).
For example, FSX's default cloud layout and shape was more or less the same.
With ActiveSky P6 the rendering of the clouds improves, but currently I don't really like the "sandstorm" effect that appears on the horizon.
Well, another thing I'd like to see improved is the surface of the water, seen from afar.
Thanks for the images. I have Verson 6 having come from Version 5.4.
The images all look good. I agree about the Version 6 clouds. I am not impressed having come from using REX SkyForce/Active Sky in V5.4.
I have purchased the new Active Sky 6 and it improves things a lot, over the default. I do have to use the cloud thinkness set to '0' otherwise they look terrable flat-bottomed objects.
Can you tell us how you transferred your ORBX Version 5 material over to Version 6?
Hello, yes, I gladly share and exchange information on how to use Orbx products also in P3dv6, at least in the way I thought of doing.
It's a little complicated to explain, but easy to do.
It takes time, patience and attention.
Don't be in a hurry and think about the result.
It also requires that you have already installed the Orbx products in a folder external to P3dv5, the so-called OrbxLibrary.
Here you will find a folder named p3dv5.
Create a new folder and name it p3dv6.
So you will have two folders in OrbxLibrary: p3dv5 (where all Orbx products are already installed) and p3dv6, currently empty.
In the p3dv6 folder you need to create a new folder for each Orbx product, naming them exactly like the ones in the p3dv5 folder. Just a simple copy and paste. In each created folder you have to insert the relative add-on.xml file and only this, copied from the respective folders in p3dv5. Again a simple copy and paste. Open this file with Notepad and change the path of each element ( Effects, Texture, Scenery, etc ) and the path and layer only for Scenery elements. The path must point to the folders already present in p3dv5. For example, to find the path to the OrbxLibrary\p3dv5\NA Central Rockies\Effects folder, open the related Effects folder located in OrbxLibrary\p3dv5\NA Central Rockies\Effects , right-click on a .fx file, select Properties and copy the path. Then paste the path into the add-on.xml file in its folder at OrbxLibrary\p3dv6\NA Central Rockies\Effects. And so for each element. It takes time, but it's a simple copy and paste. To order products with layers, you can do it manually (like I did) or use special programs. Also take into account any other Scenery, Mesh, Landclass, Airports etc present in Documents\Prepar3D v6 Add-ons and those added within the simulator, when ordering the layers.
I forgot to mention one important thing.
Use the Orbx autogen files instead of the original ones (which you will have to copy and save in a separate folder), otherwise you will only see the buildings, but not the vegetation. The most important file is default.xml.
Thanks for that explanation. Just what I was looking for.
I have a few favorites, out of about 60 Orbx scenery packages, that I would like to transfer, while Orbx gets its act together, and updates Orbx Central to include V6.
I'll try and get brave enough tomorrow and tackle the task. Ordering or layering should be interesting particularly the object libraries etc. Are there any default P3d V6 scenery folders that I should turn off? (Australia etc?) or is just placing Orbx's version on top enough?
No, I didn't touch anything from the original P3dv6 install, except the autogen mentioned above.
Orbx scenarios should already contain area-related exclude files.
In P3dv6 I saw that the size of the default Perth.bgl and Sidney.bgl files increased, but that shouldn't be a problem.
The scheme I followed to order the layers is this:
-Default Terrain Layer=1
-Default Scenery Layer=2
-Orbx Libraries lclookup Layer=3
-Orbx BASE Pack Layer=4,5 and 6
Then Elevation Stub for OpenLC and airports,
AI Traffic
Base scenery 0000
Base scenery 0001
and so on.
After the default Global, Generic & Vehicle Libraries area I started with Libraries.
Then I put the OpenLC Continents, then OpenLC Regions and finally cities and airports.
I don't know if it's the perfect order, but so far I haven't encountered any particular problems.
Remember to enter the Discovery Path in the add-on.cfg file located in ProgramData\Lockheed Martin\Prepar3D v6.
Start by entering a few scenarios at a time, run the simulator and check the results.
