WHAT IS TILEPROXY?

Created as FREEWARE by Christian Buchner, it's a real-time interface between Microsoft's Flight Simulator X and the Internet. It will download photo-terrain textures from online map services by acting as a proxy server and file format converter. This tool turns your Flight Simulator into an interactive 3D map browser unlike anything you have experienced before. In FSX resolution levels of up to 30cm per pixel can now be achieved. It may also be used with Flight Simulator 2004 (FS9) though texture resolution is limited to 4.75 meters per pixel, (as pictured above...still very nice!). With the latest version (Beta 7) Dual Core (and above) PC's now experience very fast load times in FSX. For older machines, FS9 will enjoy faster load times than FSX however. Recent versions of TileProxy now also include global water masks so FS water bodies and shorelines, with the usual reflections and FS water effects, are present!

Many flight simmers may tend to shy away from trying it because it appears at first to require too much setup. This really isn't the case. Once you've done the initial setup you're always only two clicks away from flying real life photo based ground textures anywhere on Earth where there is good online coverage available at the map servers that TP is configured to use. To make it even easier, I will supply a pre-configured ProxyUser.ini file here to get you going. Because of EULA issues concerning the use of online map textures the ProxyUser.ini file is not configured by default to direct itself to the online map sources, so we as "End Users" must therefore configure it. You can use my pre-configured ProxyUser.ini and get going right away. You should only have to edit it if you want to change map servers, or experiment with the increased resolutuion levels available in FSX. The rest of the setup isn't that tough at all, and anyone can be up and going in a matter of minutes by following the five simple steps outlined below. It's not as complicated as it looks. When you have the time I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you read the entire TileProxy Manual. and you'll learn more about TP than you'd ever want to know.

HOW FAST DO TILES LOAD, AND HOW FAST CAN I FLY?

Increasing the ground tile loading speeds while flying has been the major challenge in the evolution of TileProxy. The program must download and convert thousands of JPG's on the run, convert them into bitmaps and load them into FS as you fly. Tile loading speeds may vary greatly depending on a variety of factors including your PC hardware and internet connection speed, and most importantly, how high a resolution level you are requesting TP to download. Each increased resolution level increases the number of tiles requested by the program exponetially. Balancing this "bottleneck" with the power of your system is the key to getting satisfactory results. With previous versions of TP Beta in FSX, speeds of more than 80-100 knots, would "outrun" the texture loading rather quickly, causing recurrent blurries. Now, thanks to Christian's brilliant programming, if you have a Dual Core or better machine, the latest (Beta 7) version of TileProxy enjoys faster tile loading in FSX than previous versions. Speeds of up to 150 to 200 knots have been reported by users using very fast machines with robust hardware and speedy internet connections. Your mileage may vary.

DOES TILEPROXY CHANGE MY FS INSTALLATION SO I CANNOT RETURN TO MY DEFAULT CONFIGURATION?

No, not fundamentally, if you If you choose to fly normally (i.e. without TileProxy active) you can simply boot FS without starting TP first and fly with all default scenery, autogen, etc. But TileProxy does ask if you wish to alter your FSX.cfg and FS9.cfg files so as to maximize tile loading performance and graphics when using TP and I recommend you accept them. These changes, though minor, are described here and are mostly changes to the adjustable sliders in the FSX user interface display settings, but a few are not, and may cause minor differences in the way your default textures are displayed, so it's a good idea to back up your FSX and FS9 CFG files before installing the program. Then , If you experience differences in default ground texture behavior because of the minor tweaks TP adds to your .cfg file, you can of course just switch to the default CFG file you've backed up. (Personally, after using TileProxy I cannot go back to flying with default ground textures so it hasn't been an issue.)

Also, the FS9 scenery.cfg is backed up at install and TP world scenery areas are added to it. See this page for more details.

Should you choose to uninstall TileProxy, there's a handy uninstaller right in the programs menu that will remove the program entirely.

MANY THANKS TO THE AUTHOR...

Christian Buchner has done a great job of creating and programming TileProxy, works tirelessly to perfect and improve upon it, has spent untold hours helping many users on the forum with advice and help, and has, without the slightest financial reward, succeded in offering us a truly revolutionary way to enjoy FS. Through his exuberant work, VFR enthusiasts in every corner of the global Flight Simming Community can at last experience the true meaning of  "As Real As It Gets". Thanks CB!.

Ready to go? Lets see if I can walk you through quickly setting it up right. It's really only 5 simple steps. Forgive me if it seems a bit wordy but the extra information herein is intended to be as thourough as possible, to avoid potential problems, so don't be discouraged, it's pretty much a piece of cake. This should get you going:

It is essential that you have a reasonably high speed internet connection to run TileProxy. A 2 Mbit/s internet connection or faster is recommended. Attempting to use TP with anything near a 56k dial-up connection speed is mostly a "no go" proposition.

During install TP backs up your original .cfg files, and then alters a few settings in them to improve TP performance, but rest assured, should you choose to uninstall TP in the future, the TP unistaller restores your original FSX.cfg and FS9.cfg to their original state. You can always fly without TP engaged and still enjoy the FSX and FS9 default scenery as usual, but if you experience slightly different performance due to the minor changes the TP installer makes, you'll have the backups on hand. For more information on back up file locations, and a list of  the .cfg changes TP makes, see this page.

Windows Vista Users: TileProxy seems to functions well with Vista, although some users have reported a few kooky problems, and a few just could not get it to work, period . It's recommended you disable the User Account Control (UAC) as outlined here.

Windows XP users: You should have XP Service Pack 2 installed, as the driver builds on the Filter Manager which is part of XP SP2 only. NET Framework 2.0 is also a minimum requirement.

FSX users: You should have the FSX Service Pack 1 installed, as TileProxy has been integrated to work best with it.

FS9 Users: See This Page Before Installation

A. Open the downloaded zip file and install the program by double clicking the "TileproxyInstaller.exe" and follow the prompts. You should accept the installer's default location (in the FSX root folder) for the main 'TileProxy" progam folder. If you do not have FSX installed then direct the installer to place the installation in your FS9 root folder.

The installer will then ask you to confirm where you wish to install two other folders. They are the "TileProxy Photoreal World" folder (the converted bitmaps FS uses) and the "Cache" folders (the downloaded JPG's from the map servers). Some users put these on secondary drives or partitions to prevent fragmentation of their OS drives, and this is recommended but not manditory:

First, specify where you would like the "TileProxy Photoreal World" to reside. This folder is created inside of the folder you specify in the address box.

Secondly, specify the "Cache" folder name and location where you'd like TP to store the downloaded JPG cache (like "F://TPCache" for instance). The name and location you choose will be created by the installer on the drive and location you choose to place it. Wherever you decide to place these folders, make sure after installation that the "TileProxy Photoreal World" texture folder exists in the location you specified, and it has that exact name, because the TP driver expects find a folder of that name in that location.

(Important: If you have elected to place your "Cache" folders anywhere else but the default C drive location, remember to edit the location entries in the pre-configured .ini file you will download in step 2. The installer usually does this, but since you may wish to use my pre-configured Proxyuser.ini you'll have to do it manually. See the "Important" note in step 2. If you decided to place them in the default location at "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games" you will not have to do this.)

B. I recommend you accept ALL the default graphics settings during install, especially the radio button for the FSX "'Terrain Resolution" of 1.1 meters/pixel for FSX. Higher resolutions are experimental at this time (see Tip 4 of "Tips and Troubleshooting" below) and can really bog down your machine. You can change all of these settings anyway at a later time in the ProxyUser.ini file if you wish to experiment later.

C. When finished you will find a new group of TileProxy shortcuts in your Start Menu. Familiarize yourself with them. There are links to start TP, clean your TP World folder, a Cache Manager application and more. More information on these may be found in the TileProxy Manual.

Why do you need this file? The ProxyUser.ini file is the heart of TP and contains most of the configuration information that TileProxy uses to function properly, set LOD parameters, water mask parameters, and determine which map service is to be used. Because of EULA issues, the TP ProxyUser.ini is not configured to operate by default without a few simple modifications (the map server URL's). The link above contains two completely "ready to go" .ini files (one each for FS9 and FSX) that will have you up and running in a flash.

Important: If you decided you'd like your Cache folders on another drive instead of their default location you'll need to edit a few entries in the ProxyUser.ini file: See This Page For Instructions.

Now, simply place one of the ProxyUser.ini files (for the FS version you want to fly, i.e. FS9 or FSX) in the main TileProxy root folder. Backup the original if you wish. I've included both versions because they differ slightly the way they're configured. You'll need to switch them out of the TP root folder if you decide to switch FS versions, so keep copies of each on hand.

The default location for the ProxyUser.ini file is C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Microsoft Flight Simulator X\TileProxy.

Before you fly, you'll want to check to make sure the area you want to fly is well represted with reasonably sharp resolution and natural looking aerial or satellite photos. My INI files are currently pre-configured to use Yahoo Maps as the texture server (Yahoo Maps has very good resolution and color consistent coverage of most of the continental USA and many other locations abroad), so if you verify your area has good coverage at Yahoo Maps you can skip this step and go right to Step 5 and get to flying! 

If your not sure, take a moment and do a brief online reconnaissance to find which map service best covers the area you wish to fly. You can then make the appropriate edit to the ProxyUser.ini file. To check your preferred location's coverage, here are links to the 4 Services TP can currently use:

August 17th, 2008 NOTE: Google Maps (for some reason) recently changed the URL's to their satellite map servers (see top of page) and have apparently not updated their "maps" web site (or something) because the satellite textures aren't displaying there right now. But, if you have Google Earth installed, you still can use it to see the Google coverage available.

GOOGLE MAPS at: http://maps.google.com/
MSN VIRTUAL EARTH at http://maps.live.com/
YAHOO MAPS at http://maps.yahoo.com/
ASK MAPS at http://city.ask.com/city

www.flashearth.com lets you compare all 4 services in one handy browser window. Again, the pre-configured .ini file supplied here is already set to use Yahoo Maps as the online service, so if you want to try that no modification to the .ini file is needed.

If you wish to change map servers: See This Page For Instructions

>> Before starting anything you should disable your virus software and any active firewalls. I can't emphasize this enough. These often stop tiles from loading for many users.<<

Important and Useful "Monitoring" Tip: When using TP it's best to start FS in "windowed" mode rather that full screen so you can keep an eye on the TP loading screen in case of errors. To start FS in windowed mode boot into FS first (like normal, i.e. without TP engaged), go to windowed mode ( View Menu: uncheck Full Screen), and then shut it down that way. Then it will boot again in windowed mode rather than full screen. This way you can monitor the TP DOS window to see how many tile are loading per second and be aware if any errors are being generated. Also before starting up, it's recommended you read the tips outlined in the "Tips and Troubleshooting" section below.

Ready to go?

A. Start TileProxy from the START>ALL PROGRAMS>TILE PROXY> START TILEPROXY menu link, and wait for TileProxy to Boot up (in a DOS window). It will generate some lines of text and then stabilize, ready to go.

B. Then boot FS and load a flight. Now wait a while. Depending on which version of FS you're using it may take 5-15 or more minutes to download all the textures from the internet and load them into FS (longer usually for FSX than FS9). Be patient. The FS loading bar will slow at around 36% when tiles begin to download. This is normal. Go wash the dishes, walk the dog, whatever. If you've configured everything correctly it should load your flight soon enough.

TIP 1 - FPS Limiter vs. Performance!

In FSX, The LOWER your FPS limiter is set the better TileProxy performs. 12-18 FPS is recommended.
In FS9 , conversely, the HIGHER your FPS is set the better TileProxy Performs. Setting the FPS slider to "Unlimited" is recommended.

TIP 2 - Tile Loading Speed Issues

Increasing the ground tile loading speeds while flying has been the major challenge in the evolution of TileProxy. Tile loading speeds may vary greatly depending on a variety of factors including your PC hardware and internet connection speed, and how high a resolution level you are attempting to download. With previous versions of TP Beta in FSX, speeds of more than 80-100 knots, would leave you "outrunning" the texture loading rather quickly, causing recurrent blurries. Now, thanks to Christian's brilliant programming, if you have a Dual Core machine, this latest (Beta 7) version of TileProxy enjoys faster tile loading in FSX than previous Beta versions of TileProxy. Still, If you find tiles are not loading as fast as you fly, either decrease your airspeed, pause occasionally to allow the texture   loading to "catch-up", or decrease the resolution one level by lowering the "max_lod=" .ini value by one factor. Alternatively, you can also switch over to FS9, which, though lower in tile resolution (4.75 pixels/m) may perform more swiftly, allowing for faster flight. Remember though to switch to the FS9 ProxyUser.ini file before doing so!

TIP 3 - Try The Moving Map

TileProxy Beta 7 includes a "Moving Map" that displays tile radius and resolution levels as you fly. This function has caused occasionally crashes in FSX for some users, especially when attempting to switch to full screen. I've therefore disabled the DX9 "Hooking" technique in the FSX and FS9 ProxyUser.ini file I've supplied here to minimize hassles in getting things up and running for new users. If you'd like to try the moving map to see if you experience crashes edit these three lines in the FSX ini file:

"enable_hooking=No" > change to > "enable_hooking=Yes"
"enable_dx9hook=No" > change to > "enable_dx9hook=Yes"
"enable_movingmap=No" > change to > "enable_movingmap=Yes"

TIP 4 - Trying out the 60cm and 30cm Super High Resolutions in FSX

For some system gobbling eye-candy, if you have a fast computer with robust harware and you'd like to try out the new high resolution levels available in FSX: See This Page For Instructions

TIP 5 - "Help, I've Got All Black Tiles!"

This is a sometimes seen problem with Beta 7 and FS9, and there's a handy work around: See This Page For Instructions

If that doesn't work (or if your problem is in FSX), check to see if you have left TWO sources selected in the ProxyUser.ini instead the required ONE as outlined in step 4 above. Shut down TP and FS, then comment out the extra one with a "#" sign, and repeat step 5 and you may be OK.

If that doesn't work, shut down and reboot TileProxy and FS again and see if the problem clears. This has worked for some users. A few black tiles are also an occasional and random issue while flying, and the problem seems to vary from rig to rig. Also make sure the area you are flying in is covered with tiles of good resolution in the first place by checking the area first at the map service your using's on line web site. If not try changing to another map service with better high level resolution and coverage. More information is in the TileProxy Manual and various posts in the TileProxy Forum.

TIP 6 - Use "Level Mapping" to increase the diameter of high resolution areas around your aircraft.

Tiles are loaded around your aircraft in concentric "rings" of decreasing resolution. The ProxyUser "level_mapping" entry is a feature that allows you to remap any zoom level of the map tile service to another level. You can entirely skip certain zoom levels or you can substitute specific zoom levels for others. This parameter expects a comma separated list of numbers. The total number of values you have to specify MUST be equal the total number of allowed zoom levels (within the min_level and max_level range).

In the first example none of the default levels (9 thru 17) have been changed. Because no levels have been "re-mapped" the result would be the same as using no level mapping at all:

min_level=9
max_level=17
level_mapping=9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17

In the following example, level 9 to 11 display normally, whereas level 12 and 13 are substituted for zoom level 14. Levels 15 to 17 again display normally:

min_level=9
max_level=17
level_mapping=9,10,11,14,14,14,15,16,17

As you can see, there are a potential variety of "mapping" strategies you can try to your liking. Be cautious though, because increasing more than a few of the highest resolution levels to lower levels can kill performance as the number of tiles and their loading times increase exponetially. To turn off level mapping either remove the entry or comment it out with a "#" sign.

TIP 7 - More Tips

Guidelines and suggestions for increasing and tweaking your TileProxy performance may be found toward the end of the TileProxy Manual in the sections entitled:

" Some Frequent Problems and Solutions",
" Troubleshooting and Maintenance", and
" Improving Terrain Loading Performance in FSX"

TIP 8 - Avsim's TileProxy Forum has more tips, recent TileProxy discussions, and more:

http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=284&page=

TileProxy author Christian Buchner monitors the forum and has provided a great deal of support for TP users there. Occasional praise is welcome too, so don't be shy if so inspired. For his continuing hard work to provide, as freeware, the single most revolutionary FS program to date...we are all very gratetful.

TIP 9 - Read The Manual!

Answers to many, many questions can be obtained from the information compiled in the TileProxy Manual. Christian has allowed me to provide the online version and the "quick links" at top of the page can swiftly direct you to the many topics contained within it. Again, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you take some time and read it in it's entirety. You'll know everything you always wanted to know about TP and more.

Hopefully this tutorial will get some folks up and running without a hitch. Yup, there's finally a real world we can explore.

Happy Landings! - Ed Truthan Email: edtruthan@gmail.com