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British Isles MeshPublisher: TaburetReview Author: Paul & Hilary MortSuggested Price: $18.99/images/fsc/wbicons/pilot-shop-buy.pngWelcome to a new product from Taburet- British Isles Mesh for X-Plane 11. For this article, I thought itwas time to step up to the plate (mainly out of sheer curiosity), andcompare this mesh wizardry with the default elevations and textures ofX-Plane 11. We will be exploring the four elements of this package,that being: City, Country, Mountains and lastly Coasts, and findingout if it is indeed an improvement, and if so, by how much, from whatX-Plane 11 provides by default. InstallationAt first, I had two things on my mind. Would I have to overwritemasses of files and back them up, and also, how much drive space wouldit take to accommodate the package! The answers to both my questionswere 'no' and 'not much'. Having downloaded and unpacked the software, I was provided withfour folders, namely Mesh XP British Isles, Mesh XP British IslesBuildings, Mesh XP British Isles overlays, and Mesh XP British IslesTrees, which were simply copied to the Custom Scenery folder ofX-Plane 11. One important thing to do/remember, is to move the folderstructure of the scenery_packs.ini, so that the four above folders areplaced below all your custom airports. The drive space required forall four, was in the order of 1 GB. With installation complete, it was time to boot up X-Plane 11 andgo flying. Cities /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_m5006858.jpgTo check the cities of this package, there is no bigger city in theUK than its capital, London! Selecting runway 27 of EGLC London CityAirport, which faces this vast metropolis, I was ready and eager totake to the skies. On takeoff, I was expecting to see quite a fewbuildings, but not on the magnitude on what I was about to experience!Extracted from the latest Ordinance Survey mapping, were literallythousands of buildings of every type, from skyscrapers to warehouses,offices to houses, there was so much to see - even into the distance.Expecting my processor to melt at any moment, I checked the frame rateof X-Plane 11 to find an amazing 20 FPS. The flight was both smoothand with zero lag; a real credit to the developer! Now I know what you're probably thinking, what kind of supercomputer does this guy own? Well actually, by today's standards, it'squite modest... Intel i5 3.10 GHz processor with an Nvidia GeForce GTX650 graphicscard and 16 GB of RAM. The quality of the Taburet buildings is perfectly acceptable, withgood texturing all around, but I remember thinking on my first flightthat to me, the roof colors of the buildings looked strange in theirred, brown, green and orange texturing. But with further use, I cameto realise that they were actually more discernible than the defaultbuildings at an altitude of 2,000 feet and above. As you can see fromthe numerous screen shots, even with X-Plane's default ground textureset, it is a marked improvement. However, to get the very best out ofthis package, a freeware or payware photo scenery would bepreferable. /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_753301ad.jpgCityscape of London This first category then, Cities, was a test of their quality,quantity and also performance, which I'm pleased to say, all passedwith flying colors. CoverageBefore moving on to our next category, let's take a break fromflying to discuss the coverage of the scenery offered in thispackage. /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_m45ff86d1.jpgAs you can see from the above, with the exception of southernIreland, the whole of England, Scotland and Wales is included, withthe Shetland Isles and the Scilly Isles also being present. Climbing back into the cockpit once more (this time in the DiamondDA-62), it was time to buckle up and head off into the sunset toexplore our next category, Country. One thing I would like to mention is that when using X-Plane toexplore any scenery, I always like to know where I am. The X-Plane 11default moving map leaves a lot to be desired for in terms ofgeographical information (local landmarks, etc.), and so I use the free'Little Nav Map'utility, which is a moving map and flight planner by AlexanderBarthel. All map screen shots used in this article, were taken fromAlexander's wonderful program. CountryFor this section, I used our GPS in the DA-62 to fly across apicturesque part of England, from Beccles Airport (EGSM) to BurnhamAirport (EG13) both in the county of Norfolk (a total of 43miles). /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_4003395d.jpgI remember the day when I first acquired X-Plane 10; I could flyfor miles and not see any buildings. That has all changed withX-Plane 11 and Taburet's British Isles add-on; everything is prettymuch spot on when referenced against the moving map. The small townof Beccles is represented with enough domestic and commercialbuildings to satisfy any virtual pilot. This is where theaforementioned roof colors come into their own, with domesticbuildings having terracotta colored roofs and commercial onesincorporating blue, green, red and yellow. I now like this idea, asit allows me to discern different types of buildings at altitude.According to the developer, all roads, rivers, forests and even pondsare rendered in their correct geographical locations, and after seeingthe difference this add-on makes with the improved buildings I don'tdoubt it! /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_m6aac59db.jpgTown Of Beccles Now it was time to test out the accuracy of the object placement.Our moving map shows us to be crossing the A146 Loddon Road with theRiver Yare curving to our right... /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_m18b61e4f.jpgAnd in the simulator... /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_ec69a3d.jpgAfter spending a great deal of time comparing POI (points ofinterest) on the moving map to those in the simulator, I can honestlysay that they they are all correct! Just past the city of Norwich, my faithful map tells me there arestretches of water to my left named Costessy Pits, a local fishingarea according to the internet. /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_263262d6.jpgAnd there it is... /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_3495446.jpgCostessy Pits So I think the package has been proven to be accurate. Even whenusing X-Plane's default ground texture set, they are a markedimprovement. As mentioned earlier, those using a photographic overlayof the area will see additional benefit. Before we look at the mountains, I just need to tell you all thatwe landed safely at Burnham Airport! MountainsFor this next section, I decided to test this scenery over the LakeDistrict, a beautiful part of England and home to England's highestmountain, 'Scafell Pike'. This time around, I used the X-Plane 11 Beechcraft Baron, andheaded south from Carlisle Airport (over Ullswater Lake), and down tothe town of Ambleside. This enabled me to take in some of England'smost attractive scenery. Upon nearing Ullswater, I was met by somebeautiful and convincing terrain, with the A592 running alongsideUllswater Lake. The contrasting light and shade of the hills was breathtaking, withscars of rock running down their sides. /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_679c7d4d.jpgUllswater Our next port of call was the popular tourist town of Ambleside.En route, I could see Taburet's forests clinging to thehillside... /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_m4cadb2d1.jpg /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_m2f44a55e.jpgRight on cue, we fly over Ambleside, entrance to the famous LakeWindermere... I must say that the topographic relief of the hills and valleys inthis package is nothing less than stunning, and once again thelandmarks (both natural and man-made) are all where they should be.Both the relief and building textures are a big step up from thedefault offerings! CoastalFor the final leg of our epic journey, the plan was to take off fromSaint Just Airport at Lands End, on the rugged but beautiful Cornishcoast. I was to use the BEA DC-3, with the journey taking me northalong the West Coast of Cornwall to the Pendeen Lighthouse, across toSaint Ives and finally, to our planned destination; Penzance. As soon as I departed from Saint Just, the quality of the meshshowed itself one more time. The relief of the coastline, the valleysand cliffs sloping steeply down to the sea was simply a delight tobehold. /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_2bacdfa3.jpgOur Coastal Route /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_m466a2697.jpgStunning relief Of The Lands End coastline My final leg into Penzance allowed me to take in the beautifulviews of the long white sandy beaches, along with the holidaydestination of Penzance in the distance. /images/reviews/britmesh/t/britmesh_html_7311d908.jpgPenzance beach and town ConclusionThis completes our four tests of Taburet's British Isles Mesh XP. Did it make the grade? The answer has to be a resounding 'yes'!In all my testing, I experienced no unsatisfactory frame rates,stuttering, or anything of that negative nature. The enhanced buildings and their associated textures look good, andare all located in their real world locations. This package enhances both a vanilla installation of X-Plane 11(default ground textures) and also those who use a photographicoverlay. I myself use only a vanilla install, so for users of thelatter, the experience will be even more pronounced! For those wanting to try out some freeware photographic scenery,head here: http://zonephoto.x-plane.fr/Cartes.php RequirementsThe following are the recommended requirements by the developer: Flight SimulatorX-Plane 11 ComputerCPU: Intel Core i5 6600K at 3.5 GHz or faster RAM: 16 GB Video Card: DirectX 12-capable video card - 4 GB VRAM1.4 GB hard drive spaceCost PriceThe current price of the download version is...US $18.99, GB £13.62 AUS $24.95 All in all, I find this package works very well in improving allaspects of the default X-Plane 11 scenery, and so I award it9.5/10. I hope this review has been both informative and interesting topotential buyers of this package. /images/notams/notams18/tabu0413.jpg Regards Paul & Hilary Purchase Taburet - Mesh XP British Isles for X-Plane 11
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/images/notams/notams18/tabu0413.jpgMeshXP British Isles is compiled using 30 m resolution elevationmodels. We used highly detailed hydrological data to rebuildcompletely the hydrological scenery to very high details, in shortwords every lake; river; pond; canal is now rendered in thescenery. This mesh also feature highly detailed Autogen buildings andvegetations; positioned as in the real world. It can be used on its own or underneath photorealistic scenery. Itis fully compatible with London XP; and NightXP packages. Use X-Plane11 default Vectors ie roads, landlass. Hydrology, buildings data areextracted from from the latest Ordnance Survey data. This is an XP11terrain mesh. Coverage: England; Wales; Scotland. All MeshXP packagesare designed to fit into each over to provide continuous coverage. AllMeshXP scenery work in Windows and Mac. Purchase Taburet - Mesh XP British Isles for X-Plane 11