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/images/notams/notams19/open0401.jpgWe have just released a new version of the library. The installer application has not changed, so if you still have theinstaller on your machine, just re-run it and it will update thelibrary to the latest. If you have deleted the installer, grab a copyfrom the OpenSceneryX home page. Here are the changes: 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 web site 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 v2.7.0Best wishes to everyone, I hope you stay safe and well in these tough times. Source

/images/notams/notams19/open0401.jpgThere is a new version of OpenSceneryX out, v4.3.0, which includes3D previews of objects, lines, polygons and forests which are nowdisplayed on the web site. You can also preview all seasonal variantswhere they exist: /images/notams/notams19/osx1204/osx-2.jpgRelease 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 newinstaller 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 the website home page:www.opensceneryx.com

Austin Goudge Interview OpenSceneryX Conducted by Dominic Smith Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk to us, Austin; the team and I really appreciate it. No problem, it's a pleasure! OpenSceneryX is probably the most well known X-Plane library to date, and one that has grown is size over the years, but could I start by asking you how it all began? Well it all started with X-Plane 8, which I think was released in 2004. This introduced the concept of libraries and Laminar started using them widely themselves within the sim. Scenery package authors could also use these built in Laminar libraries, but they were very limited in scope and there was no third party collections that could fill in the gaps. So each scenery developer had to start from scratch and either build their own complete set of items (including most airport furniture, vehicles and static aircraft), or go hunting around and asking others for permission to use theirs, or just steal them without asking. This is not only inefficient for authors, it's also inefficient in X-Plane too - if two very similar objects are modelled twice by different people for nearby airports, they both have to be loaded into the sim with separate textures and models, using twice the video card RAM. There were a few discussions about this at the time on the x-plane.org forums, and eventually in 2006 I decided that it was time to try and work out a solution. With fantastic help and support from many others both at that time and since, "The Library" (now "OpenSceneryX") was born. With so many objects now contained within OpenSceneryX, how is the library organised? Carefully You've highlighted one of the challenges of running a library like this - the structure. I came up with the top level organisation into item type (object / facade / forest etc.) very early on and that has worked well. Beneath that however, things have not always been straightforward and the structure has evolved over time as more and more content has been added. This has also had to take into account an important feature of much of the library content - texture sharing between items. A few mistakes have been made - why on earth are airport buildings in /objects/buildings/airport while all other airport stuff is in /objects/airport for example?! Well the answer is gradual evolution - something that seemed sensible at the start might not have turned out quite so sensible in the long term. One main goal though is backward compatibility - if an author has used a library item when they built their package in 2010, then an OpenSceneryX update in 2019 must not break it, even if stuff has moved around inside the library. Austin, one of the things many designers think about is copyright, and how their object might be used. With this said, how do you go about ensuring the developers rights are protected? You've pinpointed another big challenge. After a big discussion at the start about what type of copyright could be applied to the library, we agreed that one of the Creative Commons licenses would be appropriate. We also agreed that we can't stop payware authors using the library. I know this is contentious* so I make it very clear how the library works when designers contribute their content. In practise, few payware authors have referenced OpenSceneryX because they would risk pillory by the community unless their package is outstanding in its own right. The other side of this is I also need to protect myself against accusations of copyright infringement. This involves very carefully checking everything that is contributed to the library, including models (which may be derived from other models) and textures (which may be derived from other textures), to ensure nothing has been illegally copied and that all contributors have given permission to distribute their work. I have declined many contributions because the contributor couldn't prove who the original authors were. There are no exceptions to this - every item has to have all its original authors credited. * I won't get into the detail of why we can't restrict who uses the library here, as its related to the technical details of how libraries work, but in summary, copyright infringement boils down to who distributes the copyrighted work. If a designer has made objects for FSX/P3D, can they also add to the library, or are there limitations? If they own the copyright on the work, or get permission from the original authors then it's absolutely fine to contribute items that have come from other sims. There are a number of tools out there that allow you to convert between the different formats. Why do you think it is that third party libraries have become the norm in X-Plane and not so much on the other popular platforms? I am not very involved in the other simulators - always being Mac based, one of the main reasons I got into X-Plane in the first place was that for a long time (apart from MSFS, which was discontinued in the 90's) it was the only non-combat sim available. Knowing the X-Plane community though, I have always been impressed by the 'hands on' attitude. A large number of X-Plane users like to get their hands dirty fiddling with the sim, aircraft and scenery. Also, the built-in airports were quite minimal in detail for a long time. For these reasons, I think a large section of the community has jumped into scenery building as a hobby, and libraries are a great resource and time saver for these developers. The flip side is that the X-Plane community seems to be quite altruistic, so large numbers of designers are willing to contribute their work back to OpenSceneryX for free. Hosting the library must be quite a challenge, especially as OpenSceneryX is provided free of charge, so is there anything the community can do to help with the project? Hosting something as popular as OpenSceneryX has its challenges - both the Library and web site used to be on a single server but it got completely overwhelmed so nowadays it's on a multi-tier architecture, including CloudFlare, AWS CloudFront, AWS S3 and Linux servers at Rackspace. Although the library is now approaching 8TB of bandwidth / month and 85,000,000 requests per month (which equates to 32 requests / second, 100% of the time), Cloudflare is our saviour - I cannot sing their praises highly enough, without their free plan the hosting would cost an additional £700 per month, and the project would be dead. Even so, the library has cost money every year so far to run. Despite being very hesitant to do it, I have had to put advertising on the web site to partially bridge the gap, which means I'm only £10-£20 in the red in an average month. However the library will never be commercial - that would fail every contributor who has donated their work, past and future. So all I would ask is that if you like and use the library, a PayPal donation goes a long way to helping out! Lastly Austin what plans do you have for the future of the project? Now that the library has support for seasons built in, I would like to extend this to as much of the content as possible - imagine all buildings had snow on their roofs in snowy deep winter? I'm always looking at ways of improving the online library documentation. At the moment I'm investigating ways we could display 3D previews of all content on the web site, instead of the simple flat screen shots we have currently. I want to improve the ease of using OpenSceneryX inside WED and OverlayEditor - for example the hierarchy oddity I mentioned above could be solved if the same category was published to both /objects/buildings/airport and /objects/airport/buildings, so it wouldn't matter which path the user used. I have been discussing producing a version of OpenSceneryX for the Aerofly FS 2 flight sim (OpenSceneryA perhaps?), with one of the key members of the FS2 community. I believe this would benefit both flight sims as two communities would be actively contributing to the library. Recently, some very generous members of the community have donated entire libraries of their own to OpenSceneryX. Merging libraries is a major task, as I have to be careful to support all the previous library paths, but it's worth it as every merged library is a fabulous boost for OpenSceneryX. I'm therefore very open to any more offers of full library merges in the future. And finally of course, I'm always looking to expand the library with more contributions from the wonderfully talented artists in the X-Plane® community. Many thanks Austin, and the team and I wish you all the very best with the OpenSceneryX project! To find out more about OpenSceneryX, head on over to: www.opensceneryx.com

/images/notams/notams19/open0401.jpgWe have just released a new version of the OpenSceneryX library -4.2.0. Here is the list of changes: 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 web site 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 newinstaller 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 fromwww.opensceneryx.com.

/images/notams/notams19/open0401.jpgA new version of OpenSceneryX is out. If you already have thelatest installer, just re-run it to get the latest updates. If youdon't have the installer, download it from the web site homepage.Here is what's new: New scenery objects in this version: Added all flags from Flags of the World by Mr 3D and Chris Noeinto OpenSceneryX. Note that the versions included in OpenSceneryX arerotated 90° from the originals, to conform to the standard of beingaligned with the wind when placed at 0° (default) rotation.Added all flags from Flags of the USA by Mr 3D and Chris Noe intoOpenSceneryX. Note that the versions included in OpenSceneryX arerotated 90° from the originals, to conform to the standard of beingaligned 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 theWorld, which no longer need a plugin for the animation. As a result ofthis, these flags are now correctly oriented to the wind when placedat 0° rotation (default). IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have already usedeither of these flags in a scenery package, please ensure the rotationis reset to 0°.All the new lines added from DT_Library in v4.0.0 were missingtheir normal textures. These have now been added.Other changes: Support upcoming feature of WED to lock the rotation of an objectto a specific angle (e.g. for objects that rotate in the wind). Allexisting objects in OpenSceneryX that rotate in the wind have had thisattibute 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 dimensionsinjected into the documentation.All items with seasonal variants can now have multiple seasonalscreen shots in the documentation, displayed as an image carousel. Allobjects have had seasonal screen shots generated, but forests probablywon't as screen shots have to be created by hand for those, and itwould ba a mammoth task.Updated the Backup Library to v2.4.0Added a couple more simHeaven export paths for wind turbines foruse in their packages.The web site descriptions of the Hawker Sea Fury and SupermarineSpitfire were swapped over. This didn't affect the library, just thedocumentation.The web site description of the B29 Superfortress claimed it was aB17 Flying Fortress. This didn't affect the library, just thedocumentation.All documentation pages on the web site now include tooltip hoverhelp for lots of the information provided, giving more informationabout 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 web site that contain dimensionsnow have both metric and imperial values (metres, feet and miles asappropriate).OpenSceneryX is free and will always remain free for everyone to use. However, if you do use it, please consider giving a donation to offset the direct costs such as hosting and domain names. Source

/images/notams/notams19/open0401.jpgWe have just released a major new release of OpenSceneryX, version4.0.0. You will also need the new installer v2.5.0, so please downloadthat from the home page. Here is the list of new stuff: 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 v2.2.0The library still includes the Backup Library but it is now separate and the installer gives the choice of using or not using it.The web site now provides more information about lines in the library - layer group, layer offset, line width and whether the line is mirrored.The web site 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 web site. 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 is free and will always remain free for everyone touse. However, if you do use it, please consider giving a donation tooffset the direct costs such as hosting and domain names. Source

/images/notams/notams19/osx0108.jpgHappy New Year! To celebrate 2019, here's a new version ofOpenSceneryX. Highlights: New scenery objects in this version: Incorporated FlyAgi Wind Turbine Library by FlyAgi into OpenSceneryX, which includes 40 animated wind turbines in a variety of heights and styles.Incorporated FlyAgi Vegetation Library by FlyAgi into OpenSceneryX, including:A set of 'forests' of volumentric grass, in a variety of shades.A set of 'forests' of volumetric flowers, vines and shrubs.A large set of 265 higher definition forests.An additional Acer (Maple) tree, in a variety of heights, using the same high definition texture as the new forests.An additional two Quercus (Oak) trees, in a variety of heights, using the same high definition texture as the new forests.A Corylus (Hazel) tree, in a variety of heights, using the same high definition texture as the new forests.Thank you Agi for offering this merge, it is really appreciated.Modified scenery objects in this version: The USA Hawaiian forests were empty and using a blank texture, which has been the case since they were first added. We now use pacific_lowlandinstead, as the closest match.Added TILTED attribute to all appropriate objects so they follow sloped terrain. Affects aircraft, vehicles, some furniture and some people.Other changes: Removed all unnecessary EXPORT_BACKUP lines for RE_Library backup library.Third party libraries are now exported using EXPORT_BACKUP instead of DEPRECATED EXPORT entries. Means that if both OpenSceneryX and the source library are installed, the source library takes precedence, which is important when it is still being actively maintained and updated and may be ahead of OpenSceneryX.Replaced the Backup Library with the latest v2.0.0 version.Individual screen shots generated for all European forests.Individual screen shots generated for all US forests.Added a set of simHeaven export paths so they don't have to copy actual objects out of OpenSceneryX on installation of their packages. These new paths will be used in the next releases of VFR Landmarks and X-Europe.Now write a version.txt file containing the version number and date into the library folder, for utilities such as xOrganiser to use.As always, if you already have a recent version of the installer,just re-run it to update your install. If you need a new installer,grab it from the home page. Have fun with the new stuff, and a huge thank you to all thecontributors. Source Download OpenSceneryX v3.2.0

/images/notams/notams18/open1019.jpgIt's a massive new release of the library, with almost 1,000 newobjects. Here are the full release notes: New scenery objects in this version:Incorporated most of RE_Library by Richard C Elliott (einstein at the .org) into OpenSceneryX, which is about 900 objects. There are too many to list individually here, but the collection includes offices, radio installations, vehicles, hangars, fire stations, control towers, terminals and visual control rooms. Thank you Richard for offering this merge, it is hugely appreciated and expands the scope of OpenSceneryX considerably.IMPORTANT NOTE 1: Certain iconic objects from specific airports were not included because OpenSceneryX, by design, does not contain world-unique objects (for example, the old EGCC Manchester International control tower). If any designer has used these objects, they will disappear. To fix this, airport designers will need to include these objects directly in their scenery packages. Richard has given permission to use his objects directly in this way (see the documentation in the RE_Library package) but as a courtesy it might be polite to drop him a note to let him know.IMPORTANT NOTE 2: Some objects that were very similar to others were merged, for efficiency.IMPORTANT NOTE 3: Because OSX requires all vehicles to be facing North with the tip of the nose at the origin, The RE_Library fire engines will change position and orientation. I'm afraid the only way to sort this out is for airport designers to tweak the placements of these objects and release new versions of their airports.IMPORTANT NOTE 4: Some of the control tower objects in RE_Library were combinations of specific office blocks and specific Visual Control Rooms (VCRs). For efficiency, these have been replaced with the equivalent office blocks (without VCR), so airports that have used these will need to be modified to have a VCR placed on top of the office block. However, this has the added advantage that many more building / VCR combinations are now possible.Four Supacat SUV600 fire vehicles, based on Land Rover 6_6 chassis.A set of fire training rigs in a variety of colours.A set of churches in two sizes and a variety of construction materials.A fuel hydrant hatch polygon.A collection of metal sheds.A pair of white and yellow bollards.A hotel.A school / play-centre.A wooden bungalow.A pair of concrete barriers.A small orange cone.A hut constructed from a shipping container.A set of shipping containers in various sizes and textures.A small office constructed from a shipping container.A wooden airport security building.A wooden clubhouse.A GPU unit.A wooden airport terminal building.A wooden hangar with a house attached.Two baggage carts.A baggage cart tractor.A small tug.A 27m concrete control tower.A selection of fire extinguishers, standalone and in cabinets.A complete fuelling installation, including underground tanks, pump, lights and signs.A flood light.A collection of warning and emergency signs for use around fuel installations.A refuelling pump station.Underground fuel tanks.A set of fuel drums.A set of gable markers in various colours.Two metal garages.Two metal glider boxes.A grandstand for a sporting event.A set of 5 metal hangars.A further set of 28 metal hangars.A set of 6 larger, more complex hangars.A pair of wooden parking barriers.A 250m radio mast and a 30m radio tower.Three small metal huts.A set of 56 plastic and galvanised tanks in a variety of sizes and colours.A toilet facilities block.A set of green waste bins with lids in various colours.A McDonalds® fast food restaurant.Modified scenery objects in this version:All legacy X-Plane v7 objects have been converted to v8. The only objects affected were the animals.Fishing boats 1, 2, 3 and 4 were not pointing North. These have been rotated 90 degrees to conform with the OpenSceneryX standard. Apologies for any problems this may cause with existing scenery packs.None of the Robin DR221 aircraft were pointing North. These have been rotated 90 degrees to conform with the OpenSceneryX standard. Apologies for any problems this may cause with existing scenery packs.The small yellow, white and red/white cones have been replaced with improved models.The existing 12m shipping container was rotated 90 degrees to standardise across all shipping containers. Apologies for any problems this may cause with existing scenery packs.Other changes:Two invalid lines were fixed in the backup libraries (RE_Library and world2xplane library).Added support to include external libraries within OpenSceneryX, which provides the ability for libraries to be merged. Items in external libraries are published to their original paths as well as new OpenSceneryX paths.All deprecated paths are now exported into a DEPRECATED section of the library file, so they no longer show up in WED.Refreshed design and branding in library docs and developer pack docs.All processing for legacy X-Plane v7 format object files has been removed. The v7 format is no longer supported by OpenSceneryX.Re-compressed a bunch of the PNG textures that gave the best saving in file size.Developer documentation PDF now contains clickable screen shots and titles to take you to the online docs for the item.web site now shows a carousel of the latest additions to the library, with screen shots and links.Source Download opensceneryx.zip