Distant mountains. Cloning method vs conventional method?

[ARG706]

I've got a small route sitting in my MSTS folder for mucking around with. I was just wondering if anybody has used the 'clone distant mountains from existing dem data option' in DEMEX? Obviously this would require that many more tiles be generated in order to enable faraway distant mountain viewing. Are there any benefits from using this methods compared to the normal DM methods?

[leveritt]

I was just wondering if anybody has used the 'clone distant mountains from existing dem data option' in DEMEX? Obviously this would require that many more tiles be generated in order to enable faraway distant mountain viewing. Are there any benefits from using this methods compared to the normal DM methods?

Actually the cloning option is from "Std Terrain", not DEM data. I've used this option several times, but the only truly compelling reason is if DEM data doesn't exist, if for instance the std terrain was not generated from DEM's.

An example would be 3DTS's Cambrian route, both releases. They look like this after cloning DM terrain and then texturing distant mountains/oceans with MOSAIC.
http://forums.flightsim.com/vbts/showth ... 1#poststop

My most complex project that was approached in this way was the textured distant islands/seas for SeaView5.

No matter which option you choose, the resulting DM tiles will have the exact same complexity. A DM tile covers the area of an 8x8 array of std tiles, and is therefore 16,384 meters on a side. DM tiles are covered by a 4x4 array of terrtex's, resulting in a single terrtex (terrain.ace by default) covering the area of four std tiles. DM terrain mesh is reduced by a factor of 24, resulting in a mesh spacing of 192 meters versus the 8 of std tiles. I wish it were more complex, but it will never be...

Since to do DM generation using either option requires a registered DEMEX, install the Beta02.
http://www.digital-rails.com/supportfor ... .php?t=333
If you have at least one std tile existing, never go back into the RGE. "Route quad-tree editing is now included - tiles can be added, removed, created and deleted from the route's quad-tree in both Standard and Distant Mountain modes. The Start Tile may also be re-defined for a route."

regards,
charlie