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Flying

User guide › Flying

The start order

X-Plane looks for scenery only when it starts, so OrthoStreamXP must be running before X-Plane starts.

The Home page has two ways to start:

Button What it does
Start and fly Starts OrthoStreamXP, waits until the scenery is ready, then starts X-Plane for you. This is the easiest option. While OrthoStreamXP runs, the button reads Start X-Plane.
Start Starts only OrthoStreamXP. Start X-Plane yourself afterwards.

Turn on Start when OrthoStreamXP opens if you want the scenery to start every time you open the app.

If X-Plane was already running when you started OrthoStreamXP, Home shows Restart X-Plane. Quit X-Plane and start it again to see the photos.

The Home page

The Home page

Before your first start, Home shows How it works: start OrthoStreamXP, start X-Plane, fly.

From top to bottom:

  • Status card. Shows whether OrthoStreamXP is stopped, starting, ready (Photo scenery is ready) or in use (Flying with photo scenery). The Start button becomes Stop while it runs. The dot at the bottom of the sidebar shows the same state on every page.
  • Notices. Tuning suggestions, updates and problems appear here, each with a button for the next step.
  • Last flight. A report on your most recent flight, shown while OrthoStreamXP is stopped (see below).
  • Session figures (This session while it runs, Last session after it stops): how many textures X-Plane got, how many of its reads got the real picture, how many textures are being built now, and the download speed or the number of picture tiles downloaded.
  • X-Plane. Waiting for X-Plane until X-Plane sends the aircraft position, then Connected with the aircraft's position and speed. Paused or in the menu means X-Plane has stopped sending it for now. There is nothing to set up in X-Plane: OrthoStreamXP finds it on the same PC by itself.
  • Quality. Your current preset, with a Change quality link.
  • Scenery packages. The packages shown in X-Plane while OrthoStreamXP runs.

During the flight

  • Load your flight as usual. OrthoStreamXP builds the textures X-Plane asks for, and follows your aircraft to build the scenery ahead of it.
  • A new area takes a few minutes the first time. Until its pictures arrive, X-Plane briefly shows a blurrier version of the ground. The next time you fly there, the area comes straight from the cache.
  • Sharper presets take longer. The quality cards in Settings show roughly how long a new area takes to load.
  • Stopping. When you finish flying, quit X-Plane first, then click Stop in OrthoStreamXP. OrthoStreamXP finishes the textures it is building and removes the photo scenery from X-Plane. If you close the window while OrthoStreamXP runs, it asks first, because X-Plane would lose the photo scenery.

After the flight: the flight report

When OrthoStreamXP stops, Home shows a report of the flight. It starts with a verdict:

  • Smooth flight: the scenery was sharp, or nearly so.
  • A few blurry moments or Often blurry, with when they happened. Blurry moments at the start come from X-Plane loading the area and clear as soon as the pictures arrive. Blurry moments in flight mean new scenery came into view faster than its pictures downloaded; if that happens often in one place, a lower quality or the tuning suggestions may help.

Then the figures:

  • Flight: distance and duration. Only the time X-Plane sent the aircraft's position counts, and moving the aircraft to another place is not counted as distance.
  • Sharp scenery: the share of X-Plane's texture reads that got the real picture straight away. Lower values mean more blurry moments.
  • Downloaded: data downloaded and the peak speed. Less data means more came from the cache.
  • Textures built: new textures made for X-Plane during this flight.
  • A chart of download speed and textures built over time, with blurry moments marked in red.
  • A map of your route, with the places where the scenery was blurry.

Tuning suggestions

After a flight of 10 minutes or more, OrthoStreamXP checks how the scenery kept up on your PC and connection.

  • If your preset suits your setup, Home says so, for example Extra suits your PC and connection.
  • If changes would help, Home shows Tuning for from your last flight. It lists each suggested change and why it would help. Click Apply to accept the changes or No, thanks to ignore them. Nothing changes without your OK.
  • After a shorter flight, Home shows Fly a little longer for tuning.

You can undo the tuning at any time in Settings › Tuning.

Next: Settings