I just got in from work, so let me start with your first question. Masking with the technique I use will not interfere with Flight Environment or any other addon. You may choose to mask shorelines differently to suit your taste or to better conform with an addon, but in no way will it be a problem.As far as overlapping is concerned, FS9 loads by priority. This is why you can place an airport bgl file in the same folder as your addon scenery and the airport will still show. For example, I have been working on Aruba. I did the photo-real scenery first, and then altered the airport (TNCA) with AFCAD and all of the bgl files work nicely together. You can overlap the photo-real scenery in the same way. What I do to determine which parts of which tga files are used is to outline them with different colors and then take an in-game screenshot for reference. This helps me from having to edit areas that are ultimately not used. Of course you will need to do this make sure you keep a copy of the original tga images so that you do not have to download them again prior to compiling your scenery again.And lastly, I am not certain about how your loading times will change. I must assume it is based largely on your system specs and FS settings, but I am not very knowlegeable of this.-Jeremy

All,I am uploading my manual to AVSIM tonight, so hopefully it will be in Monday's files. The manual includes the following with illustrations to walk you through each step:- Maps2bgl installation- ini file setup- utilizing GE- utilizing VE- alterntive online maps "how to"- dowloading and compiling images- editing tga images and editing tips- Masking- MS-DOS Batch file help- Alpha Channels- using Birdseyeview for images- error resolution- special tips, tricks and moreI hope you will all find this manual useful in creating ultra-realistic photo-real scenery with Maps2bgl.NOTE: A special thanks to Gunnar D

Gunnar, excellent job, and without the problem of downloading tiles during flight. However, I'm forced to use only Google Earth as source (MS Virtual Earth has not enough detail). In GE 4.3 I get more detailed terrain for my hometown (Bucaramanga, Colombia) than in 4.2, i.e., I have some terrain detailed in 4.3 that is not detailed in GE 4.2. The problem is that (until GE stopped giwing me tiles) Maps2BGL downloaded the older, low-detail tiles. Is it there any way of forcing Maps2BGL to download the newer tiles?Best regards from ColombiaLuis MiguelPS: I saw something curious with Maps2Bgl and GE. As long as I keep Maps2bgl as a foreground process, I can download with no problem. When I switch to another task, it says "Downloading not possible". Can somebody confirm this, please?

Hallo Luis,the tiles are loaded from Google Maps. The map versions are not identical always. You can try the parameter in the maps.ini (v=26) to increase:SERVICE=g*****.*** VERSION=&v=26The download closes comes likewise from the service. I work already on one capcha module. I will publish that soon.

Gunnar,What is the minimum and maximum number that can be used for parameters? Is a higher number always more detailed, or just in certain instances?-Jeremy

Hallo Jeremy,the newer version have always a higher number. the lowest will be from there the 26. One must try the highest number out.

>All,>>I am uploading my manual to AVSIM tonight, so hopefully it>will be in Monday's files. The manual includes the following>with illustrations to walk you through each step:>>- Maps2bgl installation>- ini file setup>- utilizing GE>- utilizing VE>- alterntive online maps "how to">- dowloading and compiling images>- editing tga images and editing tips>- Masking>- MS-DOS Batch file help>- Alpha Channels>- using Birdseyeview for images>- error resolution>- special tips, tricks and more>>I hope you will all find this manual useful in creating>ultra-realistic photo-real scenery with Maps2bgl.>>NOTE: A special thanks to Gunnar D

Finally got my water mask to work. I was merging or 'flattening' the layers after I created the mask on the alpha channel which negated the mask effect, I think. Once I simply saved the *.tga file after filling the mask on the alpha channel with black, everything worked fine.Still having trouble with the program glitch that creates water textured borders along the eastern (and sometimes southern) border of the created scenery. It appears to be related to the overlapping of scenery areas. If I give priority to the scenery area adjacent and to the east of a given scenery area, I don't get the water band. I'm still getting some random appearances of the water band scattered throughout the scenery areas, so I'm still trying to figure out the conditions that cause this.Tawni

Hi,I revised both versions. As the most substantial improvement I inserted a Capcha module for one map service.FS9-Version:http://www.g-daehling.de/fs2004/modules.ph...&op=view&lid=17FSX-Version:http://www.g-daehling.de/fs2004/modules.ph...&op=view&lid=18

Gunnar,It's not in the library yet. I messed up and forgot to add contact info to the file. Unfortunately, I am dealing with a horrible virus right now that my anti-virus software can't fix. I am going to reinstall Windows shortly and hopefully get the manual uploaded very soon. I guess it's a good thing though now that you have an updated file I can edit the manual as necessary. My apologies for the delay, but my frustration is directed at the &%#$& who gave me the virus. p.s. If anyone knows how to get rid of a SubSeven Trojan, feel free to let me know. McAfee and Norton couldn't do it.

http://www.swatit.org/customers.html. Made by hackers to get rid of hackers!

After a zillion hours of compiling, modifying and recompiling, along with all that tedious water masking, I needed a break. So, I went for a quick trip from Santa Ana, CA out over Lake Elsinore. The sights were so familiar from my real flying days, the experience was sublime.Ultimate Terrain was good, but this is the cat's meow. My enjoyment factor of FS9 just went up by a factor of ten with your program, Gunnar. Thank you so much!Tawni

Hi,Just tried v1.8. Haven't had a chance to get it into the sim yet, but this is all I get in the scenery.inf file. I wonder how the rest of the tiles get read? There are over 800 of them...[Destination]DestDir = "C:FSMaps2BglTemp"DestBaseFileName = "temp"BuildSeasons = 0UseSourceDimensions = 0NorthLat = 33.651123046875WestLong =-117.94921875SouthLat = 31.7285156250001EastLong =-115.6640625[source]Type = CustomSourceDir = "."SourceFile = "15_000000.tga"Lat = 33.6512082992051Lon = -117.94921875NumOfCellsPerLine = 2049NumOfLines = 1707CellXdimensionDeg = 4.29153442382813E-05CellYdimensionDeg = 4.29153442382813E-05ScaleinMeters = 1Hope this helps,--Tom GibsonCal Classic Propliner Page: http://www.calclassic.comFreeflight Design Shop: http://www.freeflightdesign.comDrop by! ___x_x_(")_x_x___

Hallo Tom,you must start the .bat in the maps2bgl main directory. This BAT start the compile process of the scenery.Jeremy wrote also a very good manual:http://library.avsim.net/search.php?Search...=root&Go=Search

>Hi,>>I revised both versions. As the most substantial improvement I>inserted a Capcha module for one map service.>>FS9-Version:>>http://www.g-daehling.de/fs2004/modules.ph...&op=view&lid=17>>>FSX-Version:>>http://www.g-daehling.de/fs2004/modules.ph...&op=view&lid=18>