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Combining Static Orthophotos with Streaming

This combination is particularly suited for hybrid players — users who want to enjoy their home airports in highest quality while also occasionally exploring new regions. For an overview of the different player profiles, see the Introduction to Orthophotography.

The principle is simple: Ortho4XP generates high-resolution, local tiles (up to ZL19) for preferred flight areas, while a streaming solution (e.g., AutoOrtho) handles global coverage for all other regions. X-Plane's scenery prioritization ensures that local Ortho4XP tiles automatically take precedence over streamed textures.

The benefits of this combination:

  • Home regions in maximum resolution without internet dependency
  • Spontaneous flying anywhere in the world without pre-generation
  • Optimized storage usage — local storage is only used for the most important regions

Setup

1. Generate Ortho4XP tiles

First, generate Ortho4XP tiles for your preferred flight areas. Recommended settings:

  • Zoom level 17–19 for maximum quality
  • Enable overlays unless SimHeaven is used
  • Image sources include Bing and Google

2. Configure scenery_packs.ini

The correct order in the scenery_packs.ini is crucial — Ortho4XP tiles must be listed before the streaming entries so they take priority. The following example shows the configuration using AutoOrtho (for other streaming solutions, adjust the directory names accordingly):

SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/yAutoOrtho_Overlays/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/zOrtho4XP_+47+011/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/zOrtho4XP_+48+011/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/z_ao_eur/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/z_autoortho/
Area Ortho source Zoom level Note
Home airports (50 km radius) Ortho4XP ZL17–19 Maximum quality for approach and surroundings
Main flight routes Ortho4XP ZL16–17 Corridors along the route
All other areas Streaming ZL16 (default) Automatic, no preparation needed

Troubleshooting

Overlapping tiles: When multiple ortho sources exist for the same region, the order in the scenery_packs.ini determines priority. Ortho4XP entries should always be listed before streaming entries.

Performance issues: Too many high-resolution Ortho4XP tiles can increase loading times. In this case, reduce coverage to the most important regions or use lower zoom levels.

Using Ortho4XP Meshes with Streaming

Ortho4XP can generate not only textures but also meshes — more precise elevation models. These meshes can be combined with streamed textures to achieve better terrain representation without having to store local texture data.

Examples shown using AutoOrtho

The following directory structures and scenery_packs.ini entries refer to AutoOrtho. The principle is identical for other streaming solutions — adjust directory names accordingly.

Benefits

  • Higher resolution terrain representation
  • More precise topographic features (mountains, valleys, coastlines)
  • Improved airport topography through Ortho Patches

Ortho4XP Settings for Mesh-Only Generation

To generate meshes only without textures, set the following parameters in Ortho4XP:

Parameter Value Description
skip_downloads Enabled Skips image download
skip_converts Enabled Skips DDS rendering
Build Mesh Enabled Generates the elevation model
Build Overlays Disabled No overlays needed
Build Imagery Disabled No textures needed
Mesh level 1–2 Higher value = more detailed terrain

The remaining parameters are detailed in the Ortho4XP chapter.

Directory Structure

Ortho4XP generates three directories per tile (e.g., zOrtho4XP_+51+00): Earth Nav Data, terrain, and textures. Since AutoOrtho mounts each directory individually at startup, adding them separately would increase initialization time.

Therefore, the contents of all tiles are consolidated into a single directory:

Custom Scenery/z_autoortho/scenery/aa_zortho4xp_meshes/
  • The aa_ prefix ensures the directory is read before the ao_ directories
  • Name conflicts during copying can be safely overwritten (identical masks)

The scenery_packs.ini is adjusted accordingly:

SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/yAutoOrtho_Overlays/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/z_autoortho/scenery/aa_zortho4xp_meshes/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/z_ao_eur/
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/z_autoortho/

The aa_ directory must be listed before the ao_ directories so that Ortho4XP meshes take priority.

Increasing Mesh Resolution with LiDAR Data

As described in the Ortho4XP chapter, LiDAR data can further improve the resolution and accuracy of terrain representation. The LiDAR data from sonny.4lima.de offers high resolution for various regions.

See LiDAR Data Integration in the Ortho4XP chapter.

Conclusion

The combination of static generation and streaming provides a flexible solution for X-Plane users who want both highest quality in preferred regions and worldwide coverage. The key lies in the targeted selection of Ortho4XP regions and the correct prioritization in the scenery_packs.ini.