Are the winter and hard winter textures both needed? Or do you install one or the other?Reason I ask, was flying last night, and had white squares or 5 sided figures covering the ground, and they really didnt blend with other areas with snow...........I'm thinking it was either a low cloud deck below me (activesky 2004) or those textures.

Both. FS has 5 seasons!Allcott

When is winter vs hard winter then?

Hard winter is used when it's snows in areas that typically don't have snow accumulation, for example the US southern Great Plains states. Winter textures show brown foliage while hard winter textures are mostly white.

That's good to know! I always thought that hard winter had stuff like frozen lakes and rivers, vs. winter which was just snow covered. Learn something every day! Sometimes, I unlearn things, requiring that I learn at least two things some days...