Missing buildings after HD Mesh in X-Plane 12? Fix scenery_packs.ini order and diagnose airport, autogen, overlay and mesh conflicts.
Buildings usually go missing after installing HD Mesh in X-Plane 12 because the mesh has higher priority than the airport, landmark or autogen overlays that place them. Put those overlays above HD Mesh in scenery_packs.ini. If towns remain empty, the mesh lacks suitable object data, so restore an overlay or X-Plane 12’s default scenery.
Why does HD Mesh make buildings disappear?
HD Mesh can hide buildings because X-Plane stops looking for lower-priority scenery after it selects a base mesh for that tile. Packages higher in scenery_packs.ini have priority over those below them.
A base mesh supplies the terrain surface, including its elevation, coastlines and land classification. Buildings, roads, forests, landmarks and airport objects may be supplied by separate overlay packages or bundled into a scenery package. The “HD” label describes terrain detail; it does not guarantee dense towns or complete 3D airports.
X-Plane selects one base mesh for each scenery tile. Once it finds that mesh, another base mesh lower in the file cannot contribute terrain or objects for the same tile. Separate overlays must therefore sit above the active mesh.
Some HD Mesh packages were authored for earlier X-Plane generations. Loading without an error does not prove full X-Plane 12 compatibility: an older mesh can replace newer default terrain and object placement with noticeably sparser scenery.
How should scenery_packs.ini be ordered?
Place every airport and object overlay above HD Mesh, while keeping HD Mesh below any orthophoto base mesh that you want to use.
- Close X-Plane. The simulator reads and may rewrite
scenery_packs.iniduring start-up, so do not edit it while X-Plane is running. - Back up the file. It is located at
X-Plane 12/Custom Scenery/scenery_packs.ini. Open it with a plain-text editor. - Find the mesh entry. It normally resembles
SCENERY_PACK Custom Scenery/[mesh folder]/. Use the actual package folder name rather than assuming every folder containing “HD” is a base mesh. - Arrange packages from highest to lowest priority. Unless a package has specific ordering instructions, use this broad structure:
- Custom airports and airport enhancements
- X-Plane’s special
*GLOBAL_AIRPORTS*entry - Landmarks, city scenery and regional building packages
- Road, forest, autogen and other object overlays
- Orthophoto base meshes
- HD Mesh and other general base meshes
- Check that required packages are enabled. An entry beginning with
SCENERY_PACK_DISABLEDwill not load. Change it back toSCENERY_PACKonly when you intend to enable that package. - Save and restart X-Plane. Load the same location under comparable conditions and check both the airport and surrounding town.
Our guide to installing and prioritising X-Plane 12 overlays explains how roads, forests, buildings and landmarks should sit above base scenery.
A mistake we see constantly is sorting every folder alphabetically. Folder names often begin with letters such as y or z as a reminder, but X-Plane follows the order recorded in scenery_packs.ini, not the folder window’s display order.
Library packages are different: they provide shared assets requested by other scenery and do not gain visual priority by being moved to the top. They simply need to be installed correctly and available.
Why are buildings missing at all airports?
If terminal buildings are missing at all airports, *GLOBAL_AIRPORTS* or the individual airport packages are probably disabled, below the new mesh, or suppressed by a higher-priority exclusion zone.
Runways and taxiways can remain visible while terminals, hangars and other objects disappear. This happens because airport layout data and visible 3D objects do not always come from the same scenery component.
- If default airports and custom airports are affected, move both the custom airport entries and
*GLOBAL_AIRPORTS*above HD Mesh. - If only default airports are affected, verify that the special
*GLOBAL_AIRPORTS*line is present, enabled and above the mesh. - If only one airport is affected, inspect that airport package for a missing library, incorrect folder structure or conflict with another local package.
- If city buildings remain but airport terminals vanish, concentrate on the airport package and exclusions rather than adding an autogen overlay.
Not every individual airport has detailed 3D buildings. A single sparse airfield may simply have no authored objects, but that does not explain buildings disappearing across all airports immediately after a mesh installation. Our airport-terminal troubleshooting checklist covers the airport-specific causes.
If *GLOBAL_AIRPORTS* is absent, back up and rename scenery_packs.ini, launch X-Plane once to rebuild it, then close the simulator and correct the resulting order. A rebuilt file is not automatically the right order for third-party scenery.
What if buildings are still missing after reordering?
Temporarily disabling HD Mesh is the quickest way to prove whether the mesh is responsible.
- Close X-Plane and back up
scenery_packs.ini. - Disable only the mesh by changing its entry from
SCENERY_PACKtoSCENERY_PACK_DISABLED. - Restart at the same location. If the buildings return, the cause is the mesh’s priority, content or compatibility.
- Restore the entry after testing, then reorder it or remove the package according to the result.
| Symptom | Likely cause | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Airports, landmarks and towns all return when HD Mesh is disabled | The mesh was above their overlays | Move every affected overlay above the mesh |
| Airports remain but towns are empty | No suitable building or autogen data is active | Enable a compatible overlay above the mesh or use the default X-Plane 12 scenery |
| Orthophoto imagery disappears | HD Mesh has won the base-mesh conflict | Move the orthophoto base mesh above HD Mesh for those tiles |
| Only one region or tile is affected | Missing coverage, a damaged DSF or a local exclusion | Check the package’s coverage and reinstall the affected scenery |
Log.txt records missing objects, libraries or load failures | An overlay dependency or folder structure is wrong | Restore the required library and correct the package installation |
Check the affected package’s root folder for its scenery data, commonly an Earth nav data directory. If that directory is inside a second identically named folder, X-Plane may be looking at the wrong level. Our downloaded-scenery installation checks show how to recognise nested folders, disabled entries and missing dependencies.
Also inspect the world-object density setting. A very low value can reduce autogen, but it does not explain why correctly installed airport scenery vanished immediately after adding one mesh package.
Can HD Mesh and Ortho4XP be used together?
HD Mesh and Ortho4XP can remain installed together, but only one of their base meshes can be active for any overlapping tile.
- Put Ortho4XP tiles above HD Mesh when photographic ground textures are the priority.
- Keep HD Mesh below the orthophotos so it can cover places where no orthophoto tile is installed.
- Place building, road and forest overlays above both so their objects can load over whichever base mesh wins.
Ordering cannot combine HD Mesh elevation geometry with another package’s orthophoto textures. The higher-priority base mesh supplies the whole base layer for that tile; the lower one is ignored. See our explanation of using Ortho4XP and HD Mesh without losing overlays for the correct package roles.