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Replacement file for the seasons.bgl file to match reality a bit better

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One thing I find very annoying is how the seasons in P3D shift at rather unrealistic dates at least here in Sweden.

 

This is a test I did with P3Dv2 but I'm pretty sure it's still the same in P3Dv3 and as you can see the difference between when P3D thinks it's a particular season looking at the date is quite different to what you will actually see in the simulator. For instance you will get snow on the trees already the 1'st of Nov.

 

Winter looking at textures starts 1/11
Winter looking at the date in P3D starts 22/12

 

Spring looking at textures starts 1/3
Spring 
looking at the date in P3D starts 21/3

 

Summer looking at textures starts 1/5
Summer 
looking at the date in P3D starts 21/6

 

Fall looking at textures starts 1/9
Fall 
looking at the date in P3D starts 22/9

 

I learned this is all controlled globally based on the seasons.bgl file found in the ...\Scenery\Base\scenery folder and the only way to change this behavior is to use a custom local file that will then override this for a particular area.

 

Does anyone know if such a replacement file for the northern part of Europe exists?


Richard Åsberg

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Interesting how there's not a single reply to this one.

 

I would like to think this is something bothering more people than just me and considering how much is solved by this talented community if no commercial developer is interested I'm surprised no one already found a way to address this issue.


Richard Åsberg

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I'm surprised by how big seasons.bgl is.  I thought it would be like timezones.bgl, with just a bunch of quadrangles with dates, but it's massive, so must contain some other global matrix of data (like the lc and population density files).  Do you know the structure of the file?


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Sorry, have no idea about the details behind this file or how it's structured but thanks for the link Jay!

 

I'm no developer of any kind so not sure how much I will understand from what I read but at least I will check it out.

 

As for Orbx you are correct Jay, some of their regions (maybe all of them?) have a local seasons file that will override the default one discussed here. Actually it was over in the Orbx forums I was told about this global file and how it controls the seasons.


Richard Åsberg

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Thanks!

 

Checked both links out but as I suspected even if I understood some of what I read I wouldn't have a clue how to actually change anything to better match the dates in my initial post in this thread.

 

As I said previously I am a bit surprised no one already came up with some kind of modified/tweaked seasons.bgl file considering how many other tweaks there are out there for pretty much anything you could think of.

 

Maybe it's because this problem is primarily for the part of the world where I live and do most of my flying while the seasons match better in other parts of the world.


Richard Åsberg

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We can all just use different date and pretend that is the right season.  All of this is pretend anyway.  Lol. (joking)

 

Great find on this file, even I wondered about this.


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Given Holger Sandmann is a contributor in that thread, it wouldn't surprise me!

 

Thanks for the links.

 

IIRC I think Holger was the guy who told me about this over in the Orbx's forum.

 

We can all just use different date and pretend that is the right season.  All of this is pretend anyway.  Lol. (joking)

 

Great find on this file, even I wondered about this.

 

Actually that's what I've been doing every now and then to get the global textures to match reality a bit better but I always wished they would match better "out of the box" so you don't need to mess around setting incorrect dates just to get realistic textures around you.

 

Edited to add that you can also have another issue with airport scenery that will change its textures on more realistic dates vs how P3D seasons are changed and then you get a mismatch between the airport scenery and the global textures that you might not be able to fix by resetting the date because then the local airport scenery will be incorrect instead and vice versa.

 

So...I'll keep my fingers crossed someone with the right skills find this thread and decides to do something about it. I for one would be more than happy to pay for a modification of the seasons.bgl file that will make the seasons switch on more realistic dates. I even suggested Orbx should consider such an addon/fix but as I recall it that suggestion went unanswered so I'm not holding my breath for them to come up with something in this regard.


Richard Åsberg

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Basically, the process of making more precise seasonal changes is similar to creating an updated mesh. The difference is that detailed, free digital elevation data exist for much of the globe. Seasonal variation needs to be generated with an algorithm. That algorithm needs to be based on latitude, altitude and even proximity to large waterbodies. The data are out there and it's been used by ORBX and others to revise small regions. The whole earth appears to beyond the scope of anyone's abilities, probably because costs could never be recovered.

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OK, that makes sense and thanks for the interesting input!

 

So maybe rather than having someone do the whole earth wouldn't it make sense to divide it in parts that you could sell to people interested in a specific region just like you do with other kind of products such as mesh as you mention but also other type of texture and scenery add-ons such as night lighting etc etc.

 

As I already said I find this a rather important part of the overall experience of the sim and again...I'm surprised no one already picked this one up. Or maybe the cost to get the correct data would be much higher than what you could expect to earn selling your product and then I understand why there are no products around.


Richard Åsberg

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I had some internal discussions with ORBX staff about a related issue and that was the frozen lake setting in Vector and I forwarded to  them some research articles  (before I retired, I worked in the field of environmental computer simulation) on how to develop the algorithm for when lakes and ponds of certain sizes, altitudes and latitudes freeze and thaw. After discussing  the level of effort needed to make that approach work in FSX and P3d, I realized what a thankless task it was to take environmental datasets and convert them for use in a flight sim. It would be one thing if the potential client base was either large or plush with money (like for example the military), but the flight sim community isn't either these days.

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Thanks for sharing Jay and I guess that's the answer why we haven't seen any freeware nor payware alternate seasons.bgl files on a more global basis.


Richard Åsberg

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Saw fall colors on arrival to Tampa FL this morning(?????)...I agree, 9/1 is way too early even for northern latitudes.  Not sure why it would show up in FL at all!!


Eric

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