As a longtime FS'er I'd like to get this clarified once and for all :-)Where there is a landclass scenery file included with an addon scenery what is the correct meaning of "priority", bearing in mind that the FS Scenery Library is listed the opposite way around to the Layer No.s in the scenery.cfg file. Example: is the following extract from a scenery.cfg correct or should it be the other way around? (I've omitted the square brackets around Area)Area.041Title=PhuketLocal=d:PhuketActive=TRUELayer=41Remote=Required=FALSEArea.042Title=Phuket LandclassLocal=d:PhuketLCActive=TRUELayer=42Remote=Required=FALSEIn the Scenery Library the order will be reversed with the Phuket Landclass showing ahead of the Phuket in the list.Pat

Important here are the "layer=" entries. The "Area.nn" lines are only section headers and number the different sections.My tip is to always keep the numbers in "layer=" and "Area.nn" the same. That keeps the scenery.cfg file clean and readable. Any other way leads to much confusion and bears many potential error causes.2nd, I recommend some 3rd party tool to fiddle with scenery.cfg and to not do it within FS itself: FS can easily mess up the numbers in the "layers=" and "Area.nn" lines, and bringing them back to order by hand is a painful task.I use the wonderful config tool from Hans Hartmann (downloadable from the library, don't know the exact name now) for everything I need to do with scenery.cfg, which allows full control over that file and is very easy to handle. It has some nifty features like renumbering, re-ordering etc.The "layer=" number describes the priority of a given "Area.nn" section. The higher the number, the higher the priority, easy.In general, scenery in this context can be devided between "scenery" (that's scenery objects like buildings, AFCADs, landclass, waterclass, vector objects) and "mesh" (that's elevation data). And, higher priority (=greater number in "level=") basically means higher importance and thus has normally precedence.But there are some exceptions to this rule: in areas with mesh having the same LOD, the one with LOWER priority rules the others out. And where different files with same LODs in one Area.nn exist, the one which comes first in the alphabetical order wins.Landclass is another difficult type, even after experimenting long times with it, I didn't find a general rule what FS does in areas with overlapping landclass. The outcome is always a mix of them, and the result depends on the priority in scenery.cfg. But never one has absolute priority, making the other "invisible" like it can be the case with mesh files.So, my advice is to take care mainly of the mesh files: place general areas in the highest levels, and add-ons below, making it possible for them to overrule the general areas. And, take care what add-on should precede others by placing them in even lower levels.All other scenery is not that important to look for, I personally order them after their purpose (e.g. roads, waters,...), and much of the ordering here is personal preference (see landclass above).After all, my experience is that one can never be completely sure that some view looks exactly like it's supposed to be, especially when having many areas in scenery.cfg.Hope this helps.Andreas

Hello Just thought i would second that recommensation for Hans Hatrmanmsprogram SCM2004 Scenery management utilityGreat little program, also have a look at Flightsim Manager by Rana Hossain, this can also create scenery sets and enable/disable the complete set which can be useful. this is a freeware that could easilybe payware and the support from Rana is first class.

Thanks, Andreas, for your very interesting and informative comments.I always add scenery manually myself to the scenery.cfg. I have not used the Scenery Library thingie since it messed up my scenery.cfg in FS98.Pat

Since scenery.cfg is that important (exclude= and flatten= switches which are hardly recoverable once lost), I always make a copy of it when everything works fine. This file and terrain.cfg are very important files.Manually editing scenery.cfg is way too error prone and a waste of time (how do you insert an area?). Let one of the tools do it for you!Andreas

Hi Andreas,>>Manually editing scenery.cfg is way too error prone and a waste of time (how do you insert an area?).I have to completely disagree with you on this point. This is the SAFEST and SUREST way to do it. You have full control.My way of installing an addon scenery is simple:1. Read the author's README file :-)2. Install the scenery to the appropriate folders, say. E:PhuketSceneryTexture. I keep my addons out of the FS folder.3. Open the scenery.cfg file. Copy and paste the last Area shown and just change the Area/Layer/Name/Path.That's it. Takes all of 20 seconds. It has never, not even once, failed. I only have one or two flatten/exclude lines and they are for sceneries I designed myself. Virtually all addon sceneries nowadays do not have these lines.If I need to insert an area (which I don't recall having to do more than a couple of times) I just whip an earlier one out and move it to the end.I keep a very tight reign on my scenery.cfg and always keep several copies because it's the one thing that will really screw up your FS if not "nurtured".My only area of uncertainty was the "priority" bit which you have very kindly fully explained.Pat

Its the other way round.Regards,

??? Don't understand.The priority is defined by the "layer=" lines in scenery.cfg. The higher the number, the higher the priority, the more importance the area has.Some tools kind of "invert" the sequence of areas when they display them in a list, don't remember if that's true for FS' internal scenery configurator as well (don't use it that much). And some call the areas "levels". This inversion is only visual, the true layering is visible in scenery.cfg or tools which interpret the layering properly.Andreas

Pat,you're free to use whatever you like. I can give only recommendations based on many hours of experience.And I bet you're faster with a tool when it comes to inserting an area or re-ordering ;-) (something which I do frequently).Andreas

Andreas,I spend very little time on my scenery.cfg. I just add and go and have never "re-ordered". On the other hand if you're regularly maintaining your cfg file then I can see where the tools you mention would come in very handy indeed.What is the theory behind "re-ordering"? Am I missing something by not doing it?Pat