Fix missing buildings in X-Plane 12 after HD Mesh by correcting scenery_packs.ini order, restoring overlays and resolving base-mesh conflicts.
Buildings usually disappear after installing HD Mesh in X-Plane 12 because the base-mesh package sits above airport, landmark or autogen overlays in scenery_packs.ini. Move HD Mesh below every overlay. If the package supplies terrain only, restore or add a compatible building-and-road overlay; terrain mesh alone does not create those objects.
Why does HD Mesh hide buildings and scenery?
X-Plane divides scenery into base meshes and overlays. A base mesh defines the ground triangulation, elevation, coastlines and often land classification. Buildings, airport objects, landmarks, roads and forests may come from separate overlays, although some mesh packages bundle part of that content.
For each scenery tile, only one base mesh is selected. Packages containing objects that should appear over it must have higher priority in scenery_packs.ini. Once X-Plane reaches the selected base mesh for a tile, lower-priority scenery cannot be layered over it.
The word “HD” refers chiefly to terrain data density; it does not guarantee detailed towns or 3D buildings. Our explanation of how mesh, overlays and orthophotos perform different jobs covers this distinction in more depth.
How should scenery_packs.ini be ordered?
Place airports and all object overlays above HD Mesh, with competing base meshes arranged according to which terrain source you want X-Plane to use.
- Close X-Plane. Editing the file while the simulator is running can result in your changes being overwritten.
- Back up the configuration. Open
X-Plane 12/Custom Scenery/scenery_packs.iniin a plain-text editor. - Find the HD Mesh entry. It will normally resemble
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/[mesh folder]/. - Reorder the packages. Unless a package supplies different instructions, use this broad top-to-bottom structure:
- Custom airports and airport enhancements
*GLOBAL_AIRPORTS*- Landmarks, city packages and regional building overlays
- Road, forest and other object overlays
- Orthophoto base meshes
- HD Mesh and other general base-mesh packages
- Save and restart X-Plane. Load the same location and compare it with the previous result.
If orthophotos are installed, our practical scenery-priority example for orthophoto and overlay packages shows the same layering rule. X-Plane can place newly discovered folders near the top of scenery_packs.ini, so review the file after adding scenery.
Library packages containing only shared assets do not gain visual priority by being moved upwards; they simply need to be installed and available. Deleting scenery_packs.ini is also not a complete fix. X-Plane can rebuild it, but it cannot reliably determine the intended role of every third-party package.
What if buildings are still missing after reordering?
If the order is correct, compare the symptoms below to identify whether the mesh lacks overlays, conflicts with another base mesh or contains an incomplete tile.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Custom airports and landmarks also vanish | HD Mesh remains above overlay packages | Move every airport and overlay entry above the mesh |
| Airports remain, but towns are empty | The selected mesh does not include suitable autogen, and no separate building overlay is active | Enable a compatible overlay above the mesh or remove the mesh |
| Orthophotos disappear | HD Mesh has won the base-mesh conflict | Place the orthophoto package above HD Mesh for those tiles |
| Only one or two tiles are affected | The package lacks coverage or has a missing or damaged DSF tile | Check its coverage and reinstall the affected package |
Log.txt reports missing objects or libraries | An overlay dependency is absent or incorrectly installed | Correct the folder structure and restore the required library |
Temporarily disable the mesh by changing its line from SCENERY_PACK to SCENERY_PACK_DISABLED, then reload the same airport. If the default buildings return, the problem is confirmed as mesh content or priority rather than an X-Plane graphics setting.
Check that the scenery folder is not nested one level too deeply and that its package root contains the expected scenery data. Our folder and installation checks for downloaded X-Plane scenery explain how the correct structure should look.
A legacy mesh can load without being a good X-Plane 12 replacement. Its terrain definitions and bundled autogen may have been created for an earlier simulator generation, so check the package's stated compatibility. If buildings return when it is disabled, using X-Plane 12's default Global Scenery may be the cleaner solution.
Can HD Mesh and orthophotos be used together?
They can coexist in Custom Scenery, but they cannot both supply the active base mesh for the same tile.
- Put orthophotos above HD Mesh when you want photographic ground textures; the orthophoto package's mesh will win inside its coverage.
- Keep HD Mesh below orthophotos so it fills regions where no orthophoto tile is installed.
- Keep building, road and forest overlays above both so those details remain visible.
Ordering cannot combine the elevation geometry from one base mesh with the textures from another. If two packages cover the same tile, the higher-priority base mesh is used and the lower one is ignored for that tile.