FS2002 landclass NOT compatible with FS2004?

[JimmiG 244]

I installed some landclass today, but after installing Pacific Northwest by Neil Hill I noticed some odd things.Landclass files from FS2002 are definitely NOT compatible with FS2004. Take a look at these shots:FS2002 with Pacific NW Landclass (this is the way it should look in FS2004):http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/28936.jpgFS2004 with Pacific NW Landclass (not correct!):http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/28937.jpgDefault FS2004 Landclass (not accurate):http://forums.avsim.net/user_files/28938.jpgAs you can see, there's a big difference between FS2002 and FS2004 when using these files. The area covered with houses is much bigger in FS2004. The landclass, when used in FS2002, is very accurate, but in FS2004, it doesn't look realistic at all. Also note how inferior the default landclass in FS2004 is, with just trees and forest all over the place.The overpopulation is present everywhere throughout the area the landclass covers. I went up to Tacoma Narrows (Seattle area) and the area was overpopulated too! North of the airport, the whole place was covered with houses. It seems like wherever there were small towns and villages in FS2002, there are now huge populated areas in FS2004, when using the same landclass.I don't know anything about the inner workings of landclass files, but something must have changed in FS2004 with regards to how different kinds of terrain are defined. I don't know if other kinds of terrain are also different, such as forests, fields etc. etc. (there are many, many different kinds of scenery textures in FS).Anyone else who has both FS2002 and FS2004, have you experienced anything similar with other landclass files? Do you have any idea how to fix it, short of modifying the landclass files?I hope this is easy to fix or it's just some specific problem with this landclass. Maybe I did something wrong when installing it? Are there any differences in how you install scenery in FS2004?

[John_Cillis 2,406]

The issue isn't an incompatibility per se' Here's something you can try....Locate and backup FS2004's worldlc.bgl--that contains all of the default landclass....Copy FS2002's worldlc.bgl in its place...Landclass "blends" new updates with the default. You can have the same texture chosen with completely different results depending on the underlying default....-JohnP.S. Some bmps have changed, but I haven't seen any gotcha's yet in terms of what I choose with LCA vs. what I get....

[JimmiG 244]

Did landclass "blend" with the default in FS2002 as well?Won't replacing the FS2004 worldc.bgl with the one from FS2002 affect areas that use default landclass?Is there no way to diable the default landclass at only specific places?

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I'm realizing now I misunderstood the scope of the scenery update you were applying. I believe now it does replace the default landclass. I wrote the first reply in the context of the type of landclass work I do. Many of us who've written landclass tools are aware of a method that allows us to do "spot" updates of specific areas. I could take your example shot, for instance, and change it even to a desert without hurting the surrounding landclass updates.What I think you're the victim of (and myself too) is this:~Microsoft changed some of the default textures which landclass uses~The method how landclass is blended may have changed.Within landclass updates themselves, the sim blends the textures to make things more realistic. Otherwise you'd have a city suddenly and give way to farmland. Not often realistic.... If you take this grid of points in a landclass update:f f ff c ff f f"F" stands for farm, and "C" stands for city... You'll see the city overlap and blend with the adjacent farm areas. This is true whether the landclass is default, an update, or a combination of the two. With my program and a couple of others, landclass designers can say "generate city textures at this point, and don't touch anything else". We do that by feeding MSFS a special value, which basically says "leave things as they are where the landclass here is concerned". Using this feature, we can layer landclass, so you can essentially update an update without having to own the source. When that happens, the sim blends our update with whatever's "next" in the landclass layers. Worldlc.bgl is always at the bottom, so to speak.I don't know how technical you want to get, so I guess what I'm saying is there may be differences, but you may be able to try out my tool, or Dick's, or Russ's, and fix the areas that are of real concern.You could try my suggestion with the worldlc.bgl.... I don't know how the update you've installed works with the default--depends on whether they wrote new landclass values for the entire area, or just small areas using the feature I just mentioned. You will see the default landclass change in FS2004. If you don't like what you see, you can also just restore your backed up file and go back..... -John

[Guest DaveKDEN]

I've found add-on landclass files really generate a performance hit for me. Might be because they were designed for FS2002. Hope so as I enjoyed the added realism they offered in FS2002. For now, I'm using the default FS9 landclass.Dave

[Guest cw1011]

I'm using the FS Genesis Landclass file for the entire USA - and have no problems with it, nor have seen any real hit on frames. Is it possible that the textures themselves have changed and appear more dense than the FS 2002 ones? Colin

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Hello Jimmi,The previous version of Flight Simulator was not shipped with all ground textures. This means that land class assigments often used the same ground texture even if the land class was different.The Flight Simulator Development Team has now shipped a greater variety of ground textures, so the appearance of your ground may very well be different (as your screen shots show.)It is a relatively simple matter to correct the land class to reflect what you believe should be the correct ground. Use John Cillis' Land Class Assistant (available in the AvSim library) - very easy to use.Best regards,Luis