Well, school is in session for most across the U.S., so I thought it appropriate to give you all a report card on a few ground texture options that I've had the pleasure of using.
I was an early and long-time user of Bird's Eye View (BEV). A few years ago, I wanted a "change" and started using Ground Environment Professional (GE Pro). I have spent most of today loading and evaluating two more ground texture options - FS9 EVO v2 and ORBX converted for FS9.
The grades and opinions given are MINE and MINE ONLY. You may agree or disagree, but do it nicely as I certainly realize the subjective nature of this report card. In other words, no tests were given to the participants!
ORBX Converted for FS9 : A+
Far and away the winner. Excellent coloration and meshing of the terrain tiles gave the most "realistic" experience under all weather conditions. Seasonal changes were close to spot on in my view and reflected what I have seen in my travels across the U.S. Very little repetition of tiles with plenty of well-done and well-placed autogen buildings and houses. The city tiles were the best that I have encountered. They were sharp and gave the impression of more autogen than there was. Great 3-D effect, even at "lower" altitudes. When all was said and done, I'm keeping it on my PC, along with my favorite clouds and water. I'm really impressed. Textures must be manually entered with nothing being automatically saved
GE PRO : A
I have really been a fan of GE PRO the last few years. I really have enjoyed the ability to change the "coloration" of its many components. I found that many "night" lighting schemes are too "orange" for my taste. GE Pro allowed me to "whiten" up the lights to the level that I "see" when I have flown at night on "real" aircraft. The texture coloration is probably a tad more to my liking than ORBX, but only after considerable tweaking of the coloration/lighting effects. Has very good autogen and stream size/coloration was very realistic. Kinda sad to put it aside for now, but one must move on. Very easy user interface that will not only save your previous texture set, but also allows you to save your "favorites". This allows you to load various scenarios without going through all the options each time.
Bird's Eye View : A-
A little more repetition observed than the two offerings above .... BUT .... a tremendous amount of options with regard to the tiles used. Streams, cities, suburbs, tress, tundra, mountains ..... you can select and change them all at will with a very elaborate user interface. It performs very much like GE Pro. Graphical representations of the tiles to choose. Coloration was not bad at all, even though you can not "change" the hue. I really enjoyed it and probably would not hesitate to add again if I need another "change of scenery".
FS9 EVO V2 : B
I want to like this product very much. I am impressed with the amount of work that Sascha has put into it. It's a great improvement over the "default" ground textures .....but
This is more of a work in progress and needs some "tweaking" in order to be not so distracting (from the sensation of reality).
Firstly, it has the best night textures (3-D lights), bar none! Unfortunately, this comes at a price ..... a very big price, namely frame rates. Frame rates that drop into the low "teens" at times. There is a "light" version, but it only adds a few fps, still often resulting in a "choppy" ride. Since the lights are encoded into the tiles themselves, one can not disable them, except for removing EVO entirely. The author is very dedicated to try to resolve the situation, but currently is not able to remedy. The coloration is a little too "cool" (bluish) for my taste, but is not that far off from being what I consider being "realistic". The representation of streams is the biggest turn-off in my opinion. The are HUGE ..... as large as rivers. This makes them looks very weird and unrealistic when crossing an arid region, or coming out of mountains. The other choices are MUCH more realistic. This is a game-breaker for me as I really couldn't keep my eyes off these "things" while observing the terrain. Autogen representation of buildings were very well done, but I found the houses to be all square with flat,red/reddish hue roofs. They reminded me of looking down at a monopoly board (except for the flat roofs). This was a visual turnoff to me also. I feel that this product is a "grade" below the others .... but it's closing in rapidly to the top runners.
Well, I have spent quite a bit of time on this little "project". My wife is wondering what is going on and I'm sure she thinks my time at the keyboard is due to more illicit activity. It's time to shove off and let so you ponder the grades for this course.
gwillmot
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