Need advice for sceneries

[claviermichel 0]

Hi,I am getting confused with the amount of programs claiming to enhance the basic FS9 sceneries. Can you guys guide me as to what is essential to improve the visual terrains, waters, lights, etc.What I am mostly (but not exclusively) is anything which covers the Asian continent.Thanks for your advicesBest regards

[JayDub 0]

Good Day Michael,After many years of using various freeware textures and scenery for FS9 I made somemajor purchases last month..... They totally transformed the simulation for me and myinstall is very large with 447 entries in my addon scenery file and a total program size ofover 40GB...... I have no knowledge of any major Asia enhancements but did see a very bigimprovement in other areas........The programs I purchased and installed are

[Guest Jeffhew]

Hi Michael,I agree totally that GE and UT are excellent programs. With Ground Environment, I would recommend the Pro version. Upgrading the FS9 world can be done with just a few packages. First, FSGenesis has a nice mesh package for FS9 for about $40 US. http://www.fsgenesis.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvcNext I would look at ActiveSky v6.5 for a complete weather overhaul.http://www.hifisim.com/as6.php?title=AS6.5%20DetailsThen GEPro and UT. You might also consider the Bird's Eye View packages if you fly in the US and Canada. They are Excellent.GEPro won't touch your water textures though so you'll need Flight Environment for that. In the US and Canada, the BEV program will give you some nice water textures. All of these can be found here:http://www.flight1.com/There are also a number of freeware packages here in the AVSIM library that might suit your needs. Real Environment comes to mind as one of the more complete packages. FSGenesis has a number of mesh files for free here as well if you want to try them out. For lights, you should search for nicks light fix or airport environment.This is a nice all purpose scenery list to help cut down your search time.http://walhalla.mine.nu/fs2004.phpHope this helps.Regards,Jeff

[claviermichel 0]

Hi,Thanks to both of you guys. One question: Is there any compatibility problem installing several packages from different vendors at the same time, say FS genesis with UT or GE pro? does the installing of several products really add something or do I have to choose between one of the three (UT, GE Pro or FS Genesis)?Anyway thanks again for your replies.Best regards,

[Guest Jeffhew]

Well, all of the payware packages I mentioned, I use on every flight. Except for Flight Environment, I don't have that one. That said, there are patches that are necessary in some cases but, all are readily available and easy to apply. You just have to follow the directions. Back in the old days, my attitude was, "if I have to look at directions, the program wasn't written very well." I'm older and wiser now. My wife's opinion notwithstanding.I use UTUSA, GEPRO, BEV, and ASv6.5, on every flight. I've never had a problem. You may experience an issue when using UTUSA and the FlightScenery Portland and Rhode Island sceneries. I think that's been dealt with too though. Just a water class issue.One nice thing about my setup is I can leave an airport outside the US with GEPro textures and arrive in the US with a completely different texture set. Works really nice. The developers of all of these packages seem to work really well together when it comes to resolving conflicts and enhancing compatibility. Their collective customer service has always been quick to address customer issues. Access to GEPro is even built into the ASv6.5 interface. I think you're more likely to find conflicts between these and some freeware packages. Though, I'm seeing more and more that the prominent freeware developers work hard to assure compatiblity with these packages as well. Many sceneries that were made for the FS default scenery now have patches to match them up with UT textures. Anyhow, FSGenesis, GEPro, ASv6.5, and UT seem to be the prefered setup for a majority of simmers.I promise the difference will be extraordinary when compared to the out-of-the-box FS9.Best Regards,Jeff*EDIT* About FSGenesis; this is the mesh that basically defines the shape and contours of the land. It sits under everything else you see. Once installed you shouldn't have any need to do anything else with it, ever.Jeff

[claviermichel 0]

Hi again,You convinced me! Thanks for your detailed advices. I am getting FS Genesis, Ultimate Terrain and Ground Environment pro today. I will stay away from other programs (Freeware) for now. I may want to add the water texture progran too at a later stage.Sorry to bother you again but I wonder whether there is a specific order to install these three programs. Ie should FS Genesis which you said is a mesh only program be installed first then the others or it does not matter?ThanksBest regards,

[Guest Jeffhew]

Sure Michael, no bother at all. FSGenesis can be installed at any time. It will have no impact on GEPro. With UTUSA, there is a patch that you need to run after both are installed but the order of installation is of no concern. I think the same holds true of the other UT products as well. Make sure you read the instructions. Most UT patches need to be run with all options set to on or it won't update correctly. As a general rule, I install sceneries from largest scope to smallest.This is how my install went:1. FSGenesis2. ASv6.53. GEPro4. BEV5. UTUSA6. Local sceneries and individual airports. Just a couple of caveats though. You're going to want to install everything all at once and go flying. Resist this temptation. Install one at a time and fly for a while. Get to know what it's doing so that as you install other packages, changes will jump out at you, and problems can be addressed with an educated idea of why they occured. Also, make sure after each install that you check for updates. The nice thing about downloadable add-ons is that most are already updated to the current version. It doesn't hurt to check though. With FSGen, just install it and take a quick look. The improvement will jump out at you. I install those packages in their own file folders just for the sake of organization but the default installation works fine too. Some of the installation programs for FSGen may not look like they're working. They ARE working and it does take a bit of time to install the files so be patient. Lastly, try all the options of each product as they all can overlap a bit in scope. For example, you may find that you prefer the clouds in GEPro over ASv6.5 or vice versa. Maybe the GEPro lighting strikes your fancy more than UT. Knowing what each will do will let you set up a unique environment for yourself. Have fun. You could spend a lifetime (and a fortune if you're not careful) tweaking, tuning, and adding on to Flight Sim. Don't overlook the great freeware scenery available in the library. Some of my favorites are sceneries from Holger Sandmann (I hope I spelled that right), George Grimshaw, and Mach1 Design Group.I'm sure others will jump in with their recommendations as well.Best of Luck,Jeff*EDIT* BTW, I saw an ASIA mesh at the Flight1 store. This might conflict with FSGen or it might not. There are some Indonesian sceneries here http://walhalla.mine.nu/fs2004/indonesia.html but I've never used them.Jeff