I just downloaded an addon scenery file for FS9. The readme said to "extract the folder to the addon scenery/scenery folder, then go to settings/scenery Library/ and add new, find the extracted folder and add it to the scenery library list. I did this, but when I put the new directory into the addon scenery/scenery directory, it wouldn't show up in FS. Only when I put all the bgl files in the addon scenery/scenery directory did the new buildings show up, but they lacked textures. The directions didn't say anything about textures so I just put the texture files into the addon scenery/texture folder. Now the scenery seems to work fine, but I never had to go to the settings/add scenery in FS9 afterall as the readme stated. Did I do this right, or should there be separate directories for the new scenery in the addon scenery/scenery and texture directories? In other words, did the extract folder directions mean the folder itself, or just the contained files? What is the proper way to add addon scenery? Thanks.

Hi FlapsWhat you have ended up doing will work fine, and doesn't need to be "added" as the ADDON SCENERY folder already has an entry in your SCENERY.CFG file.However, you don't necessarily want to carry on doing things this way as you'll lose track of what you have installed. That may not matter (I put a lot of small stuff in this folder personally in the same way that you have just done) but it's tidier to know what you have in case you need to replace or update it later.Your early mistake was putting your new folder into ADDON SCENERY/SCENERY. It should have just gone into ADDON SCENERY, alongside that folder's SCENERY and TEXTURE folders. Then it would have appeared as a separate listing in the SCENERY library within the sim, to be added accordingly.Am I clear? Shout if not. Once you get used to this, it'll be a breeze.Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

What I like to do is have a "test" scenery folder, that is always turned on in the scenery cfg file.Then any new scenery, I put it into the test folder, and try the scenery in FS, if I dont like it, I delete it, if I do, I then move it to a "consolidated" scenery file, e.g, I have all my UK scenery in 1 folder.I also have a little text doc in the folder to tell me what files related to what sceneryDan.

I have a problem with people who put all their add-on scenery into one folder. It's nice that you keep track of it with a text doc file, but I'm sure that most people do not do this. The best reason to keep scenery seperate is because eventually, you may wish to upgrade/remove that scenery. If you didn't keep track of it (like Dan does) then you wouldn't know which files need to be deleted. Also, sometimes you need to place one scenery package ata a higher priority than another to get them to work together properly. As a scenery designer, I occaisionally get emails from people complaining about "bugs" with my scenery which are really the result of a conflict between my scenery and some scenery that they installed previously. The most common conflict is Jan Martin's jetways, which he released as a package for several Asian cities, including Bangkok. After I released my Bangkok scenery, many people complained about the extra terminals in my scenery, which were really part of Jan's scenery. Usually this gets fixed with an email, but sometimes you get people who ar adamant that they never installed his scenery, or worse - they somehow managed to install it twice.So, I'm in favour of installing scenery to it's own directory. What about those auto-installers? They seem to be getting more common, but I'm not a big fan of those either.- Martin

Unfortunatly, when you have been getting a lot of scenery, you very quickly hit the area limit barrier.Once this barrier is hit, you cannot install anymore scenery, unless you start to consolidate it into specific regions.So, for me its a toss up between consolidating my existing scenery or not having new scenery or deleting my existing stuff.Auto-installers?, the spawn of the devil for me, I hate them, all I do is install them into a dummy folder and copy over the files then uninstall the files, nice and clean for me.If you do consolidate scenery, you really do need to keep track of what you have installed, as you have said, if you dont, come upgrade time it can become messy.Dan.

I fully agree with all those who say put addon scenery in a separate place - it make life much easier if something goes wrong.However - I just want to add a further comment. Unfortunately not all scenery comes correctly packaged for easy installation- or with easy to follow instructions.For FS9 to recognize addon scenery from a seperate location ( or the default FS9/addon scenery folder) the "NewScenery"(or whatever)folder must contain a folder called "scenery"(without quotes) plus - if applicable - a texture folder.So it is worth checking within the outer folder of any downloaded scenery that this is so.Only yesterday I d/l a piece of addon mesh that lacked any foldering(if thats the correct word for it).All I had to do was make the Outer folder( you can call this whatever you like as long as there is no conflict with previously installed scenery) and an inner called "scenery" drop the .bgls in there- place in my addon location and all was well.Please don't get the idea that I am in any way knocking the scenery designers who don't perhaps package it up in the usual way - I'm playing with scenery design myself- and it's very easy to forget that some people - beginners if you like- really do need step be step instructions.just my thoughtsDave

So you put all your mesh in different folders?, or am I reading it incorrectly.If I put all my mesh into separate folders, I would be in a right old mess.I have been combining scenery like this since FS2002, and have not yet had any problem what so ever.There will come a point where people will hit the area limit, and then the only thing to do is start consolidating.That is also the reason why I test out a particular scenery in my test folder first, to make sure everything is fine before I drop it in my combined folders.Don't get me wrong, I dont stick all my scenery in one folder, they are segregated into many folders, I have a UK folder, a France folder, a Germany folder, etc etc, so I still do have some control over it.Dan.

Not every single thing is separated Dan - just by area- EG: UK,USA, etc - much the same as you by the sound of it.The one I was referring to as an example was an Island group where I have not previously installed any kind of addon so it was kept totally separate. BTW Does anyone know what the Addon Scenery limit is in FS9?Dave

Ahhhh....I see.As for the limit, I "think" I hit the limit at about 200 areasDan.

That can't be right, Dan. I have 260 so far (including default areas) and it's not rejecting stuff yet. In FS2002 it was about 312 in total, if I remember. Dunno about FS9, though.Mark "Dark Moment" Beaumonthttp://www.swiremariners.com/newlogo.jpg

Hmmm....I'll have to check tonight.Dan.

In FS2002 it is a number just over 300. I'm still using 2002, mostly because I've got so much stuff customized that I just can't see going through all of this again until it's time to upgrade the hardware, which is marginal anyway.I frequently have problems consolidating sceneries, because there are file name conflicts. There were two sceneries for Ecuador uploaded a few days ago, which I put into the same folder, but I had to rename one of the TERMINAL.BGL files so there wouldn't be a conflict. That's easy with BGL's, but when there's a texture file conflict you can't do that.By the way, if you actively use Airport for Windows and have created multiple sceneries, you may be able to cut back your area count. Every time you add a new airport, a new area is created, but they all point to the same directory. You can eliminate all but one of these with no loss of sceneries.

Whatever - it'll take me til FS10 (if?) to reach that sort of figure . Right now maybe 40 max.Dave

In FS2002, the first 121 areas came with the package, so your first add-on would be at 122. I've only been seriously collecting sceneries for about a year and a half (after spending over a year on aircraft and traffic) and I've already had to consolidate twice.When I did go over the magic number, the results were ugly, by the way. I didn't get any obvious errors, and the sceneries I installed last were visible, but in large areas of the world the program would lock up at 100% CPU usage, whether I started the flight there or flew across the magic line. Once I tidied thing up, everything went back to normal.

Hmmm....my sim must be a wierd one then.My limit is 200 layers, if I try and add more than 200 layers it throws its toys out of the pram.Strange, as I remember 2002 was about 300 layer limitDan.