Hi,for those of you who can't be without beautiful sky colors from FS9:1. Install the sky colors you want into FS9. 2. Go to main FS9texture folder3. Copy all sky_*.bmp files that have to do with sky to a temporary folder somewhere - let's assume it's c:temp - 140 files!4. Copy Imagetool.exe to this temporary folder5. Go to dos mode (select RUN from start menu and type: cmd)6. navigate to this temporay folder: cdtemp7. type: "Imagetool -32 -nomip *.bmp" without the quotes8. Copy all 140 files into your main FSXtexture folder (C:Program FilesMicrosoft GamesMicrosoft Flight Simulator XTexture)A few pics with FE skies and FE clouds in FSX taken at LJLJ with full autogen, UT AI ported to FSX, all the tweaks applied including renaming default.xmshttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/159336.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/159337.jpghttp://forums.avsim.net/user_files/159338.jpgAthlon 64 3500+ATI X850XT PE1GB RAM (Ya, I know!) :)Regards,Jure

Nice screenshots, looks good. Thanks, I'll be giving this a go right now. I would like to let you know that I have 247 files in the 'Texture' folder of my FE modified installation of FS9 that begin with 'sky_*.bmp'.And I'm just curious, how did you learn that you needed to run the ImageTool command on the files? Reading the FSX SDK, or was it something else?Do you need to do the same ImageTool command for the FE cloud textures? And what are their names? I have files in the FS9 Texture folder that start with 'cirrus_*.bmp', 'cumulonimbus_*.bmp', 'cumulus*.bmp', 'cumulus_*.bmp', and 'stratus_*.bmp'. Would that cover all of the FE cloud textures?Cheers,Jim

I just wanted to mention something I find curious about your screenshots. In that first one the sun is still up enough to where it's fully visible, yet you've got night lighting on the ground textures. In the second shot, the sun has almost set behind the hills but there doesn't appear to be any night lighting on the ground yet. Something to do with the difference in the coloring and/or amount of light in sky regardless of how high up the sun still is?Interesting...Jim

Quite honestly I think ACES did a brilliant job on the FSX sky textures. They look as real as when I look out my window. Simply brilliant.My point is I probably won't need any upgrade as I simply can't see how the sky in FSX can be improved.James

Hi Jim,thanks. :)As for the sky_*.bmp files... go to the texture folder,sort by name, reverse order. Sky textures are all bunched together.You want these ones:sky_sunset*.bmpsky_presunset*.bmpsky_predawn*.bmpsky_postsunset*.bmpsky_postdawn*.bmpsky_noon*.bmpsky_morning*.bmpsky_midnight*.bmpsky_dawn*.bmpsky_afternoon*.bmpAll in all 140 files.Run Imagetool like this: imagetool -? and it will open a new window with all available switches and commands. I think I read on this forum about it. It's so long ago that I forgot. It should me mentioned in the SDK, though... :)I simply looked at FSX and FS9 sky files in Imagetool and noticed that they were in 32bit and 24bit, respectively. Clouds you want in DXT5 format, at least these two files:Cumulus01.bmp Cumulus02.bmp I use DXTBmp by Martin Wright, here: http://fly.to/mwgfx/Very useful program, you can save these two files in DXT5 formatThe rest of the clouds you can simply copy from FS9 to FSX:stratus*.bmpcumulus*.bmpcumulonimbus*.bmpcirrus*.bmpcldcn*.bmpcld*.bmpI am not sure about dusk/dawn lighing, there have been some threads about it in the forums, namely, that lighting doesn't "come on" before night. On the other hand, I tend to agree with James... FSX sky is beautiful! But sooner or later I will want some variety, I am quite sure. ;)Jure

Hi Jure,Thanks for the help/info. I'm have DXTBmp by Martin Wright and am familiar with it. I'll get the clouds moved over now thanks to your help. :)The default FSX sky is pretty good, but I think it could use the FE textures. When flying at dusk and while it moved into nightime, I saw green in various and fair portions of the sky. The FE textures should clear that up.Thanks again,Jim