Learn how FSX vector scenery improves roads, coastlines and rivers, what it cannot fix, and how to solve duplicate or missing features.
Yes. In FSX and FSX: Steam Edition, vector scenery can redraw and reposition roads, railways, coastlines, rivers, lakes and other mapped features. It improves geographic accuracy where its source data and exclusions are better than the defaults, but it does not sharpen ground textures, add terrain elevation detail or guarantee bridges and moving traffic.
What does vector scenery change in FSX?
Vector scenery controls the horizontal route and shape of mapped lines and polygons placed over the FSX terrain.
| Feature | What vector scenery can improve | What it does not automatically add |
|---|---|---|
| Roads and railways | Routes, junctions, classification and alignment | Moving vehicles, trains or suitable three-dimensional bridges |
| Coastlines and islands | Land-and-water boundaries and shoreline placement | Sharper water textures or corrected aerial imagery |
| Rivers and canals | The route and, where polygon data is supplied, the mapped width | Flowing water, depth or detailed banks |
| Lakes and reservoirs | Position, outline and sometimes water elevation | Correct surrounding terrain heights |
Coverage depends entirely on the package. Some add-ons contain only roads, while others combine hydrography, railways, dams, exclusions and bridge objects. The Southern Africa regional package combining roads, rivers, coastlines and transport features is an example of broader vector coverage.
Better source data usually produces more convincing VFR landmarks, but newer or denser data is not automatically more accurate. A road can still be offset, a river can reflect a different survey date, and a coastline may conflict with an airport or photographic layer created from another dataset.
How is vector scenery different from mesh, landclass and photo scenery?
Vector, mesh, landclass and photographic scenery control separate parts of the FSX world and cannot be substituted for one another.
| Scenery type | What it controls | Use it to correct |
|---|---|---|
| Vector | Roads, railways, rivers, shorelines and water polygons | A mapped feature following the wrong route or boundary |
| Terrain mesh | Ground elevation | Incorrect mountain, valley and slope shapes |
| Landclass | Generic urban, forest, agricultural and other surface classes | Towns, woodland or farmland appearing in the wrong areas |
| Photo scenery | Aerial or satellite imagery drawn on the ground | Generic textures that do not resemble the actual location |
A mistake we see often is installing higher-resolution mesh to fix a misplaced road. Mesh changes the height beneath that road, not its horizontal position; our guide to choosing FSX terrain mesh without confusing it with vector data covers that distinction.
Texture replacements can make roads, fields and water look different without moving them. In the familiar Orbx terminology, our comparison of Global textures with Global Vector data explains why those products perform different jobs.
Why is my FSX vector scenery missing or duplicated?
Missing coverage, an inactive scenery area, conflicting add-ons, incorrect priority or absent exclusions cause most vector scenery problems.
- Confirm the package covers the feature. A roads-only layer cannot alter rivers or coastlines, even if its description calls it a regional scenery upgrade.
- Check the folder structure. The area activated in the FSX Scenery Library normally points to a parent folder containing a
Scenerysubfolder, with the relevant.bglfiles inside it. It does not have to be installed under the default Addon Scenery directory. - Verify the simulator destination. Boxed FSX and FSX: Steam Edition use the same basic scenery system, but their installation directories differ. Older installers can detect the wrong edition and place files in an unused FSX folder.
- Disable overlapping packages temporarily. Parallel roads, doubled shorelines and two river courses usually mean that more than one replacement is active over the same area.
- Correct the scenery priority. Local airports and city corrections normally need higher priority than regional vector scenery, regional layers higher priority than global replacements, and add-on replacements higher priority than the relevant default layers. Follow the package's specified internal order and use our detailed FSX scenery-priority guidance when several add-ons overlap.
- Keep the supplied exclusion layers enabled. Priority cannot compensate for a replacement package that fails to exclude unwanted stock roads, water polygons or shorelines. If an add-on separates exclusions, roads and water into several entries, disabling one can expose the default data underneath.
- Separate position faults from elevation faults. If a shoreline has the right plan shape but produces cliffs, trenches or raised water, investigate terrain mesh, water elevation and nearby airport flattens rather than the coastline route alone.
After changing the Scenery Library, allow FSX to rebuild its scenery index before checking the same location again. Test one layer at a time; changing vector, mesh and airport scenery together makes the cause much harder to identify.
Why does a corrected road still not match photo scenery?
A corrected vector road can disagree with photo scenery because each layer may use imagery or mapping from a different date and source.
The old road printed into an aerial image is part of that image and cannot be erased by a vector exclusion. FSX may therefore display the new vector road over a photograph that still shows the previous route. Coastlines have the same problem when photo scenery uses an old or inaccurate water mask.
Does vector scenery add bridges, traffic or better textures?
Vector scenery does not automatically add bridges, traffic or higher-resolution textures, although a package may bundle those features separately.
- Bridges: A corrected road centreline does not create a suitable bridge. The scenery must include a bridge object or compatible bridge data.
- Road traffic: Moving vehicles require a traffic-enabled road network and an appropriate FSX road-vehicle setting. A visually corrected road may carry no traffic.
- Road and water textures: Vector data primarily controls placement and classification. The visible surface may still come from the default simulator or a separate texture package.
- Terrain detail: Vector rivers and roads follow the underlying terrain. They do not increase mesh resolution or repair an incorrectly shaped valley.
When is an FSX vector scenery add-on worthwhile?
Vector scenery is most worthwhile for low-level VFR flying, coastal operations and photographic scenery where misplaced roads, rivers or water boundaries are easy to see.
A regional package is usually the better choice when one flying area needs detailed correction. A global replacement offers more consistent coverage but may be less precise in a particular locality. Use one principal vector dataset per region, then add compatible local or airport corrections at higher priority rather than stacking several unrelated replacements.
If the problem is an incorrectly shaped mountain, install suitable terrain mesh instead. If cities and forests occupy the wrong areas, investigate landclass. If the geometry is acceptable but the ground looks generic, photographic or replacement textures address that problem more directly.
Does vector scenery affect FSX performance?
Vector scenery can affect performance, but feature density and traffic-enabled roads matter more than the vector label itself.
Dense road networks, complex shorelines and moving road traffic increase the work FSX must process. Compare the same saved flight with the suspect layer enabled and disabled; if traffic-enabled roads are responsible, reducing the Road Vehicles setting may help without removing corrected rivers and coastlines.