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4.8. CONFIGURING THE RENDERING OPTIONS 37
X-Plane can simulate orbital and sub-orbital flight using the Space Shuttle and other spacecraft.
If the box labeled draw hi-res planet textures from orbit is checked, X-Plane will display
high-resolution images of the Earth when simulating space flights. These high-resolution images
will typically be displayed at altitudes of 100,000 feet or higher. This has no effect on frame rate
except when flying above that altitude.
The runways follow terrain contours box should always be checked. This causes runways
and taxiways to follow the elevation of the terrain upon which they are drawn. In some cases, the
changes in elevation of the terrain may be very abrupt, which can make airport runways overly
bumpy. Unchecking this box will cause X-Plane to flatten the terrain under runways to alleviate
potential problems. This option has no effect on frame rate.
When the box labeled draw forest fires and balloons is checked, X-Plane will randomly
generate forest fires, which can be put out after scooping up water in a water bomber such as the
CL-415 Bombardier. It will also cause hot air balloonists to meander through the world when the
weather is nice. This option has a negligible effect on frame rate.
Checking the box labeled draw birds and deer in nice weather will put randomly generated
deer near the airport which may bolt across the runway and cause a collision. It will also generate
very realistic-looking flocks of birds, each of which is modeled independently and has its own
“mission.” Colliding with the birds will cause damage to the aircraft as well as engine failures and
other things, just like in reality. This setting has only a marginal effect on frame rate.
The box labeled draw aircraft carriers and frigates will cause X-Plane to put boats and
aircraft carriers in the water near your aircraft.
The box labeled draw Aurora Borealis will make X-Plane show the Aurora Borealis at night
when in the North.
4.8.2.2 Objects on the Ground
The number of trees, number of objects, number of roads, and number of cars determine
how many of each type of ground object are drawn. In general, the number of objects will have
the greatest effect on the simulator’s performance. Each of these options are CPU-intensive; if you
do not have a fast, multi-core CPU, you may want to leave them at the default.
4.8.2.3 World Detail Settings
The world detail distance controls how much detail to use when drawing objects and other
things in the X-Plane world, as well as how far away that level of detail should be used. You should
almost always use the “default” setting here, ensuring that what you see is what a scenery artist
intended. Lowering this parameter may improve frame rate on slower computers, though.
The airport detail setting controls how much detail is used in drawing portions of the scenery
at airports. It can have a significant impact on performance when flying near airports. The highest
settings will ensure that you see all there is to see around an airport.
The shadow detail setting controls how realistic the shadows in the simulator are. “Static”
shadows simply draw a flat, unchanging shadow of your aircraft on the ground below it. “Overlay”
shadows vary the shadow cast by your aircraft on the ground by the position of the sun in the
sky. “3-D on aircraft” shadows use X-Plane 10’s new shadow rendering to allow the aircraft to cast
shadows on itself as well as on the ground; this would be most visible with a high-wing aircraft.
“Global” shadows allow all objects, trees, etc. in X-Plane to cast shadows on everything else. Global
shadows, of course, are much more difficult to render; they are both CPU- and GPU-intensive. The