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Would anyone like to contribute some 3D items to the OpenSceneryX project? There's a new release nearly ready to go with some nice new features, but could do with some new content too. We are also keen on full library merges, if there are any library owners out there. To find out how to contribute, all the info is here. I hope you are all staying safe and well. Austin G.

Hi all, there is a new release of OpenSceneryX out. The installer application has not changed, so if you still have the installer on your machine, just re-run it and it will update the library to the latest. If you have deleted the installer, grab a copy from the OpenSceneryX website. Here are the changes: Version 4.4.0 28th March 2020 New scenery objects in this version: Incorporated some new items from the SAM Seasons SDK Library by the SAM team into OpenSceneryX, which includes: Spring seasonal variants for all FlyAgi's vegetation. A set of dirt and grass ground polygons. A set of snowy lines and polygons. A collection of snow pile objects (which only appear in snowy conditions). OpenSceneryX's first decal! The decal is a snowy overlay to add detail to textures in snowy winter conditions. Note that the SAM Seasons SDK library is not fully incorporated, because it contains a lot of content that is not relevant to OpenSceneryX such as the colour variations that are specific to SAM. Modified scenery objects in this version: Updated to latest release of the SAM Seasons SDK Library, including: Updated summer, autumn, winter and winter (snow) textures. Improvements to some forests. First phase of work to ensure all textures have DDS versions: All facades done. All lines done. All polygons done. Moved CT-114 to subfolder to avoid problems with documentation category. All forests of boats are now only drawn on water surfaces. Other changes: Added support in the Library for season switching using the xEnviro Plugin. The website has been updated to include decals. For deep snowy winter season, we now fall back to standard snowy winter season variants to provide snow when deep snow variants are not available. For Terramaxx deep snowy winter season, we now fall back to deep snowy winter and standard snowy winter season variants to provide snow when Terramaxx-specific deep snow variants are not available. Updated the Backup Library to v2.7.0

Ok, so after some experimentation, X-Plane does barf if I install a version of OpenSceneryX that references the xEnviro seasonal map PNGs, but the OSX installer is now more intelligent - it now checks for the existence of these PNGs before allowing xEnviro mode to be enabled. Those changes are done and ready for the next release. Thank you for your help Magnus.

Ah yes, if I owned xEnviro

Thanks Magnus. I still need to do some testing and the final approach will depend on how X-Plane behaves. Are you able to send me some sample PNGs generated by the plugin?

Ok, I'll do some testing as I suspect X-Plane will throw errors if those PNGs are referenced before they exist. This would only happen the very first time the sim is loaded with xEnviro enabled, but even so it wouldn't be a good user experience. I do like the idea of using the PNGs, but do you think good results would be achieved using the original plan instead (i.e. env/surface dataref, detecting values == 2.0 or == 3.0)?

I imagine it’s not an easy task, but it’s good to hear you’re looking at it. I’ll therefore build in support for swapping OpenSceneryX season using xEnviro datarefs for the moment, I can always switch this off in a later release if you work out a way to apply dynamic snow. Another question - are the seasonal map pngs created by xEnviro (eg X-/resources/seasons/region_hw.png) before X-Plane loads libraries? Ideally I want to use your maps but only if they are available by the time OpenSceneryX loads. Would you also be able to send me some examples so I can test using real images?

Hi Magnus and Happy New Year! I really like your dynamic approach to snow and definitely see this as being the way forward (rather than switching textures) as it allows for very flexible, variable and changing snow cover. Of course I would like to ensure OpenSceneryX works well with xEnviro too. So a question: Are you planning on dynamically applying snow effects to objects, forests, polygons, lines etc. that are loaded from 3rd party libraries? I'm considering adding support for your env/surface dataref, detecting values == 2.0 or == 3.0 and switching to snow covered versions of OpenSceneryX library items in those cases, but this is pointless and would also undermine your approach if you are intending to apply dynamic snow to everything. Let me know your thoughts, Austin G.

There's a minor 4.3.1 bug-fix release of OpenSceneryX out, to fix a couple of broken DDS textures. Just re-run the installer, or if you've deleted the installer, download a new copy from www.opensceneryx.com.

There is a new version of OpenSceneryX out, v4.3.0. Here are the release notes: New scenery objects in this version: Incorporated latest additions from DT Library by Darrell Thompson into OpenSceneryX, including more asphalt ground polygons and a dry grass ground polygon. Incorporated latest updates from FlyAgi's Vegetation Library by FlyAgi, including specific seasonal textures when used with the new seasonal support in Scenery Animation Manager. Modified scenery objects in this version: The spring and winter (no snow) forests were showing with a white 'halo' around them, which has now been fixed. Discovered that the build process wasn't always copying both DDS and PNG textures if they were both available. As a result, many more objects now have DDS textures. Corrected a number of the polygons which contained invalid commands. Other changes: Added support for season switching using the Scenery Animation Manager plugin (SAM). When delivering winter seasonal variants, we now prioritise specific snow / non-snow variants over default winter variants. This ensures, for example, that you will always see a snowy variant if you are using a plugin that requests snowy assets (provided there is a snowy version available for that item, of course!). Improved the documentation for the asphalt surface polygon variants which are designed to be used over the top of opaque asphalt to give a more weathered look. 3D previews of objects, lines, polygons and forests are now displayed on the website. Also, to accompany the new library version, there is a new installer too, which has the following changes: Added support for season switching using the Scenery Animation Manager plugin (SAM). New application icon. Improve button and drop-down menu layouts on Linux. The Spanish and Catalan translations have been updated, thank you to Haris Amiel. No longer use an internal web browser to show the license - open the default web browser (e.g. Edge, Safari, Chrome) instead. Memory leak fixed on Windows. May have been causing the installer to hang towards the end of large installs. Grab the new installer from www.opensceneryx.com.

There is a new version of OpenSceneryX out, v4.2.0. Here are the release notes: New scenery objects in this version: A mobile boarding bridge suitable for regional commuter aircraft. A new set of five seasonal volumetric grass forests, in a variety of heights and colours. Two new forests of volumetric flowers. Modified scenery objects in this version: Incorporated updates from FlyAgi's vegetation library - forests and objects no longer cast shadows because they look ugly on vegetation and also cause a hit on framerate. The deep winter texture variant for FlyAgi's vegetation has been replaced with a new one with less of a blue hue, which fits better with e.g. xflyer's Winter Mod. The previous 'bluer' deep winter texture is now used when TerraMaxx is selected as the season mechanism, as the colour works well with TerraMaxx's textures. Other changes: Major new feature: Core X-Plane® forest overrides. OpenSceneryX now has the ability to replace all core X-Plane® autogen forests with FlyAgi's high definition versions, this is optional and can be chosen on install. This feature does most of what FlyAgi's Vegetation Global Trees package does, except it does not replace any core X-Plane® textures in the 'Reources' folder. The website now provides more information about facades in the library. Fixed 'Missing object' errors for the 15 items excluded from RE Library. Also, to accompany the new library version, there is a new installer too, which has the following changes: The library now includes the ability to override core X-Plane® forests with HD forests from OpenSceneryX. The installer now gives the user the choice of whether this should happen. Fixed "The parameter is incorrect" error which was thrown when running the installer in Hebrew. The installer now remembers your preferences even if you switch language. The installer now has an Italian translation, thank you to Matteo Lorenzini. The Russian translation has been updated, thank you to Murat Vishnyakov. The Dutch translation has been updated, thank you to Gerrit-Jan Rebel. The French translation has been updated, thank you to Olivier Faivre. Grab the new installer from www.opensceneryx.com.

We have just released an update to the OpenSceneryX installer, which fixes a couple of bugs that users were experiencing: Text in the main panel is now easier to read when using dark themes on Linux. The installer is now more robust when a network error occurs during file download – the download will be retried which should cope better with problematic and unreliable networks. Get the new release from www.opensceneryx.com

A new version of OpenSceneryX is out. If you already have the latest installer, just re-run it to get the latest updates. If you don't have the installer, download it from the website here. Here is what's new: New scenery objects in this version: Added all flags from Flags of the World by Mr 3D and Chris Noe into OpenSceneryX. Note that the versions included in OpenSceneryX are rotated 90° from the originals, to conform to the standard of being aligned with the wind when placed at 0° (default) rotation. Added all flags from Flags of the USA by Mr 3D and Chris Noe into OpenSceneryX. Note that the versions included in OpenSceneryX are rotated 90° from the originals, to conform to the standard of being aligned with the wind when placed at 0° (default) rotation. Added missing temperate conifer forests from FlyAgi Vegetation library. Modified scenery objects in this version: Replaced Finland and UK flags with new versions from Flags of the World, which no longer need a plugin for the animation. As a result of this, these flags are now correctly oriented to the wind when placed at 0° rotation (default). IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have already used either of these flags in a scenery package, please ensure the rotation is reset to 0°. All the new lines added from DT_Library in v4.0.0 were missing their normal textures. These have now been added. Other changes: Support upcoming feature of WED to lock the rotation of an object to a specific angle (e.g. for objects that rotate in the wind). All existing objects in OpenSceneryX that rotate in the wind have had this attibute added, to lock them to 0° rotation. Object dimensions are now interrogated directly from the model, automatically. All objects in the library have had their dimensions injected into the documentation. All items with seasonal variants can now have multiple seasonal screenshots in the documentation, displayed as an image carousel. Here's a nice example. All objects have had seasonal screenshots generated, but forests probably won't as screenshots have to be created by hand for those, and it would ba a mammoth task. Updated the Backup Library to v2.4.0 Added a couple more simHeaven export paths for wind turbines for use in their packages. The website descriptions of the Hawker Seafury and Supermarine Spitfire were swapped over. This didn't affect the library, just the documentation. The website description of the B29 Superfortress claimed it was a B17 Flying Fortress. This didn't affect the library, just the documentation. All documentation pages on the website now include tooltip hover help for lots of the information provided, giving more information about each item and links through to the official X-Plane® documentation where appropriate - just hover your mouse over the ⓘ icons. All documentation pages on the website that contain dimensions now have both metric and imperial values (metres, feet and miles as appropriate).

A big new release of OpenSceneryX is out - version 4.0.0 with some major new features. You will need the new installer v2.5.0 which can be downloaded from the OpenSceneryX website. New scenery objects in this version: Incorporated DT Library by Darrell Thompson into OpenSceneryX, which includes a large set of markings suitable for small to medium airports. einstein has contributed seasonal variants (autumn and winter without snow) for the original OpenSceneryX tree forests. This enables autumn and winter (without snow) for any sceneries that use originl OpenSceneryX forests, as well as most of the individual plant and tree objects. madmaxland has contributed a spring seasonal variant for the original OpenSceneryX tree forests. This enables springtime for any sceneries that use original OpenSceneryX forests, as well as most of the individual plant and tree objects. FlyAgi has contributed seasonal variants (autumn, winter mild and winter deep) for all his vegetation forests. Modified scenery objects in this version: The runway closed 'X' marking has been replaced by an improved version from DT Library which includes normals. Some aircraft, both jets and props, are now incorporated into the X-Plane® static aircraft system. Fixed missing TEXTURE_NORMAL in oil fired power station. Other changes: Major new feature: Support for seasons. OpenSceneryX now exports seasonal regions compatible with core X-Plane, the Four Seasons plugin, the TerraMaxx plugin and the xAmbience plugin. Seasonal support is optional and can be chosen on install. Note that we only support seasons for library contributions that have seasonal alternatives. Major new feature: Support for injecting OpenSceneryX items into X-Plane® built-in libraries. This can be used to enhance the X-Plane® automatic object placement and autogen. This is optional and can be selected on install. Currently some of the OpenSceneryX aircraft are exported to be used for static aircraft around airports. Updated the Backup Library to v2.2.0 The library still includes the Backup Library but it is now separate and the installer gives the choice of using or not using it. The website now provides more information about lines in the library - layer group, layer offset, line width and whether the line is mirrored. The website now provides more information about objects in the library - whether they have multiple LODs, custom lights, named lights, parameterised lights, spill lighting, whether the object tilts on uneven ground and whether it emits black or white smoke. Also, objects are marked as 'animated' automatically now, by directly examining the .obj file for animation commands. Markdown is now supported for all descriptions of items. This is automatically converted to HTML for publishing on the website. Many descriptions that were being squashed down to a single paragraph have been rewritten using Markdown and tables, e.g. many of the polygons, making them far more readable.

OpenSceneryX 4.0.0b4 is out. You do not need to download a new installer for this version, just re-run your existing one. Beta 4 Changes Realised that many seasonal variants of vegetation objects are identical or nearly identical to each other, so did a full audit and removed all variants that don't have noticeable differences. Reduces the number of objects in the library by over 2000. Beta 3 Changes Modified the integration with Four Seasons plugin to fix snowy winter textures and to implement new 'patchy snow' mode in latest Four Seasons. Beta 2 Changes Implemented fix to make OSX 4 work with OverlayEditor. Fixed missing TEXTURE_NORMAL in oil fired power station.

Heh, for the same reason - such an enormous variety in the use of OpenSceneryX, combined with different plugins and X-Plane configurations, its hard to say what bugs I’m looking for. Some key things: The main one is actually with the static aircraft switched on, because this is the first time OSX injects anything into the core sim. I’m looking for anomalies in placement or type of static aircraft. Secondly is the general display of vegetation in various seasons. I’m really aiming for consistency between your chosen seasonal plug-in and OSX vegetation - if you are seeing autumn elsewhere, I would like OSX to show autumn vegetation too. Finally, I’ll investigate anything anomalous (like the LOD behaviour you have reported in the other thread). Sorry for being a bit vague, I believe everything fundamentally works, it’s just I can’t be sure it works across a huge variety of installations.

It could be there is an inconsistency of LODs between forests and individual trees in OpenSceneryX, or an inconsistency between OSX and default X-Plane vegetation, or an inconsistency with another library. Do you know where each set of trees comes from - are they both OpenSceneryX? Send me a link to the airport if you prefer.

Fixed, closing this one.

Fixed, closing this one.

Ok, that's good news, thank you for confirming. Closing this issue report now it is resolved.

Got some input from the X-Plane team, and it turns out that REGION_ALL doesn't exist after all! So I've built a new release that uses a different mechanism. Just re-run your existing installer, and re-test the new version, including in OverlayEditor.

It's as I thought - OE doesn't understand the REGION_ALL statement in the library. Which is not particularly surprising as it's not documented anywhere and seems to have been implemented and disseminated by rumour and magic. I heard about it via other seasonal packages and the Four Seasons plugin. So, not too sure what to do about this. I am using REGION_ALL consistently with other packages that use it, but because it's not documented, I don't know how it should behave under all circumstances. So it's a little tricky to implement the "correct" behaviour in OE. I'll see whether I can get any more info out of the X-Plane team.

Right. I think what's happening is this. When implementing seasons (using REGIONs in the library), because of the way libraries work we have to put all the seasonal overrides first in the library.txt file, and the main bulk of the library comes at the end after a REGION_ALL directive to tell X-Plane that the remaining items should be shown in all other cases. It sounds like OE doesn't understand that everything after a REGION_ALL should be generally available and is therefore ignoring everything. Ok, simple in theory but I bet it's not going to be quite so simple to fix OE I'll take a look and see whether it's within my skills. For the moment the advice is to disable seasons in OSX before building scenery if you want to use OE.

Could you try something for me: Re-run the OpenSceneryX installer, and disable seasons, then let the installation complete. Then re-run OE and see whether that makes a difference. I have a theory in mind…