Regions, coverage & resolution

[ellis.russ.1]

Hi Justin,

Very glad to see that you are back in the FS terrain mesh cockpit! I took a hiatus from flight sim for several years, but I am also very glad to be in the FS cockpit too! Way back, in July 2010, as a GalaxyPlus member, I received the DVDX Media Package which, for FSX, consisted of 10 disks as follows (I also rec’d. for FSX 2004, but do not use):

a) World Terrain Mesh ‐ 76m
b) US Terrain Mesh, East ‐ 9.6m
c) US Terrain Mesh, Plains ‐ 9.6m
d) US Terrain Mesh, Rockies ‐ 9.6m
e) US Terrain Mesh, West Coast ‐ 9.6m
f) Alaska‐Hawaii Terrain Mesh ‐ AL: 38m, HI: 10m
g) Canada Terrain Mesh ‐ 19m
h) Mexico Terrain Mesh ‐ 38m
i) North Atlantic Terrain Mesh
j) Northern Russia & Siberia Terrain Mesh

At the time, I also purchased the FSX NextMap Europe Special Bundle ‐ 10m for European Terrain mesh.

With regard to terrain mesh, I would like to make my new FSX installation as current as possible. It is also my wish to have the finest resolution mesh possible for the areas that I enjoy flying in the most:

* USA
* Alaska (yes, part of USA lol, but it seems to be treated differently in terms of packaging)
* Europe
* Australia
* Caribbean Islands
* Canada

Without regard to pricing discounts for previous memberships (I wish to support you and your great new TopoSim venture (welcome back, yaayyy!) in any way that I can, so I do not seek special pricing and/or freebies), please advise as to which of your new TopoSim products I should purchase toward having the absolute most fine resolution mesh that I possibly can for the areas that I enjoy flying in mentioned above. I am embarrassed to say that I am a tiny bit confused regarding your wonderful new product range:

1) I would like to purchase the “Planet Earth Bundle”, but will this accomplish what I seek in terms of finest resolution mesh(es) available (9.6m US, 10m Europe, 10m HI, etc.)?

2) Should I also purchase your “North America – Caribbean Islands” package?

3) Are there specific packages, in addition to the Planet Earth Bundle that I should get for Europe, Australia, Canada and Alaska & Hawaii to have the finest resolution meshes you have available for these particular 5 areas? I am particularly concerned for the area encompassed by the Tongass Fjords addon, and I recently read the TopoSim forum post that addresses that relationship. With regard to Australia, I use the Orbx Australia region for which Holger Sandmann has produced his “Holgermesh for Australia” terrain mesh. Would it be more advantageous to not use his mesh, and to use one of your products for Australia in combination with the Orbx Australia region?

What are the advantages to using your new TopoSim products versus your wonderful, previous FSG range?

Finally, the 8 FSX Media disks mentioned above (a ‐ h, above, excluding i‐North Atlantic and j‐Northern Russia) produced 124 .bgl files @ 24GB total. I had placed all 124 files into a single “consolidated” folder which I then directed the FSX Scenery Library to include/addon. The Europe NextMap bundle produced 25 .bgl files @ 10.7GB total. I also placed these files in a separate, single consolidated folder when I then similarly directed the FSX Scenery Library to include. Would you recommend this approach for your new TopoSim products?

I am so very sorry about bombarding you with these questions, but I have recaptured my enthusiasm for this wonderful hobby, and getting my feet wet again has been a tiny bit of a bumpy process: relearning things, reacquainting myself with FSX concepts and program mechanics, etc. However, I am trying to get myself back up to speed as quickly as I can. It is all starting to come back to me as I continue to re‐immerse myself in FSX.

Thanks so, so much for your patience and for taking a peek at this post. I very much look forward to your thoughts regarding all that I’ve mentioned. But most of all, I look forward to using your terrific new TopoSim products! And once again, congratulations on being back in the terrain mesh pilot’s seat!

Very best regards, Russ Ellis

[Justin – Toposim]

Hi Russ

Welcome back!

The Planet Earth Bundle offers globe-wide LOD11/19.2m resolution. Additionally, United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, and New Zealand are LOD12/9.6m resolution.

The Caribbean is included in the Planet Earth Bundle at LOD11/19.2m resolution.

The UltraMesh product line takes the resolution down to LOD14/2.3m or LOD13/4.7m. UltraMesh coverage right now is confined to the United States, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, and Alaska. The Antarctic Peninsula is in production and will be released sometime late Winter/early Spring 2019. More Ultramesh coverage is in the pipeline as I acquire more LiDAR data.

Yes, the latest UltraMesh Alaska was engineered for the ORBX products and Tongass Fjords compatibility.

Regarding Australia, you’d probably want to stay with Holger’s mesh. You could try it with Toposim and if there are artifacts, simply rename the TOPOSIM_DEM_Australia_*.bgl files to have a .bgx extention.

The whole Toposim Continents collection has been engineered and organized by country, state, or province, which are then further collected into Regions, Continents, and Hemispheres, in addition to the whole collection – Planet Earth Bundle.

The old FSG stuff was made with older, now obsolete source data, and was more or less an apprenticeship and journeyman endeavor, while Toposim is a fresh start, rebuilt-from-the-ground-up refinement drawing on 20 years of experience.

With the exception of the old FSG NextMap Europe, you’ll want to replace the old FSG stuff with the new Toposim stuff.

Installation is manual but simple. All the downloadable .zip files have a standardized folder structure, so simply unzip them to the same location. This will create a Continents subfolder under the main TOPOSIM folder. Subfolders under the Continents subfolder are organized by continent, i.e., “NorthAmerica,” “SouthAmerica,” “Europe,” “Africa,” etc. All the states, countries, national regions, provinces for the various continents are consolidated into their own scenery subfolders.

Then simply add those continental subfolders to the Scenery Library. Then go fly . . .

I think I’ve covered all your questions. If not, let me know . .

Thanks again

Justin
Toposim

[ellis.russ.1]

Hey Justin,

Thank you! And thank you for the terrific reply!! Yes, very informative… you answered all my questions wonderfully, thank you again.

You indicated that the latest UltraMesh Alaska is engineered for the ORBX products and for Tongass Fjords compatibility. Does that mean that I need not make the changes per your 12/17/18 suggestions in your reply to Tom in his Tongass Fjords forum post here?

Installation of FS Addon Tongass Fjords

I look forward to purchasing the Planet Earth Bundle today!… and perhaps an UltraMesh region too!

Best regards, Russ

[ellis.russ.1]

Hey Justin, just a quick question for you:

For Alaska, does it make sense to install both the “North America – Alaska” bundle, and the UltraMesh Alaska bundle, or just the UltraMesh Alaska bundle only?

Thanks again, Russ

[Justin – Toposim]

Hi Russ,

Yes, UltraMesh Alaska is standalone and does not require the TOPOSIM Continents original version.

Thanks

Justin

[ellis.russ.1]

Many thanks, Justin…

Regards, Russ

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