Which Scenery file in FS9 and FSX is which>?

[Guest B52Drivr]

Hello All, some of you out there who are scenery experts, do any of you know how to determin which scenery file belongs to what city, town, and such?Such as Meridian Mississippi, USA in both FS9 and FSX?Wondering if such files could be transplanted from X to 9.BestClayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"

[GaryGB 10]

Hi Clay:As far as Meridian MS, it's inside files for FSX scenery area QMID level 4 (LOD 2) grid# "0302" located under [FSX install path]Scenery0302Scenery; these files are in a new format that won't work with FS9.What enhancement is it that you would like to see in the FS9 Meridian MS area... regional terrain mesh, water bodies (vector features) scenery textures and autogen (landclass), airport upgrade etc?There are a number of general USA and regional add-ons for FS9 that might provide you with what you want to see, and although I haven't seen a Meridian, MS airport add-on here in the file library at AVSIM, there might be one out there somewhere on other FS websites.Perhaps if you tell us a bit more about what you are seeking, we might offer additional suggestions if FS9 is where you wish to spend your time right now.You might also wish to inquire here:http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=123Hope this helps! :-) GaryGB

[Guest B52Drivr]

Hello Gary, And thanks for your reply. Wow, that was great info. What I am looking for is just what comes stock with FSX. The Meridian scenery looks from the air like it is photo or satellite imagery, as it is very close to real. Most everything is in the proper place.I am interested in also Key Field, Meridian regional airport and ANG base, and Meridian NAS a few miles down the road from Key Field. FS improvements for it to be realistic would be nice, and I have NOT seen anyone upgrade them. It is my home field now and I do a ton of flying out of there. Also, I have all but given up on FSX presently, and reinstalled FS9. I find that now FS9 runs fantastic, holding a steady 50 FPS just about all the time even using Mega scenery and flying the DF 727.I'm running a P4 3.4 OC'd to 3.66, with FS9 on a seperate HD. I'm using a ATI X1950 Pro, running 2 monitors, and 4 Gigs of Ram on an Asus P4C-800 e Deluxe MB. Granted it's old tech but it runs great.anyways, that is my setup and desires, if you make scenery, how about a project? Best to you and yours, Clayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"

[Guest B52Drivr]

Gary,I also wanted to jump in and ask how you found this information . . . unless, of course, it is some secret. I'm not a scenery guy so a bit of help would be nice.BestClayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"

[GaryGB 10]

Hi Clay:Since at least FS2000 (FS7) each version of the FS Terrain SDK comes with TMFViewer which graphically displays the contents of certain FS data files (BGLs); one can see a section of the USA and zoom in visually to get an idea of what is covered in each FS file.It was quicker in this case to refer to the documentation as to which geographic coordinates correlated with the Meridian MS area in the FSX (Deluxe version) SDK HTML document "Terrain and Scenery" in the "Base File Information" subsection.However, it is otherwise possible to read the BGL file headers with special utilities to determine their geographic coverage areas.One would not normally contemplate directly editing the terrain files from FS whether authored by MS-ACES or Flight1's Ultimate Terrain so I am not sure why you would want to know which files pertain to your Meridian MS area of interest.One would normally use additional layers of files which exclude, substitute, append or otherwise change the display of the "final rendering" of information in the FS default scenery files provided by FS using SDK methods. It is also possible to reassign elevations with flattens and custom 3rd party terrain mesh, modify airport information, AI traffic etc. all using SDK or 3rd party tools.If for some reason you did want to learn about which files pertain to major infrastructure for an FS area, the easiest way would be to download and use Jim Keir's LWMViewer 1.x (or if you have the right hardware, try LWMViewer 2.x)http://www.jimkeir.co.uk/FlightSim/LWMViewer.htmlhttp://www.jimkeir.co.uk/FlightSim/LWMViewer2.htmlIf the primary focus for your activities is the joy of flying, with minimal time to thus be spent on a major FS SDK learning curve to do highly customized scenery development and modding, I can suggest a couple of tools (compatible with both FS9 and FSX input/output file formats) for quick, user friendly FS scenery and airport customization with live, "inside-FS" previews of one's work.For scenery object placement, you could look into Flight1's Instant Scenery (IS) by Konstantin Kukushkin:http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=instscenAnd I'd also consider for modding / building airport features, Flight1's Airport Facilitator (AFX) also by Konstantin Kukushkin:http://www.flight1.com/products.asp?product=afxv1The Support Forum for these products is here if you would like to get a feel for these user friendly products:http://www.simforums.com/forums/forum_topics.asp?FID=31There are of course alternative tools in the payware and freeware area which can do comparable tasks, each with its own pros and cons, and we owe a debt of gratitude to the many devoted and generous FS developers who have / are working on these.I have suggested the above as a convenient and less overwhelming pair of easy to use tools which can generate professional looking results with a minimum of learning time.A recent example of some work by "newbies" to scenery design was posted here (along with a link I inserted to a handy site showing online thumbnails of FSX scenery objects available inside default scenery library files for placement in FS):http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...28640&mode=fullThere are numerous other discussions on these topics which might be of interest as one learns about these topics in forums such as (only 2 of many!):http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=123http://www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/index.phpThank you for your invitation to be involved in your project, however I have a rather major ongoing commitment underway with learning the FS SDK (in both FS9 and FSX!), and a major scenery project which will be keeping me busy for quite a while.But I wish you success with your Meridian MS FS scenery project, and I think that with the increasing number of fine utilities now for FS9 and FSX scenery creation/modification, you will find that you might just be able to get things set up more to your liking soon! :-) BTW: FS9 has a lot to offer, and I enjoy it as much or more than FSX; however I must say that with your systems specs, you should be able to run FSX with good results. I would look into various system tweaks for FS9 and FSX to turn off un-needed services and processes, FSX (basic) configuration tweaks, and disabling unused add-on sceneries and aircraft (including their *.dll files in the modules folder etc.) when they too are not in use to minimize load times... and maximize performance; you'd be amazed at the processing power being "stolen away from FS" (any version) by a non-optimized system and un-necessary background services in the Windows subsystem.PS: With 4 GB RAM available, you could also run FSX with the "/3GB" expanded application memory space option (normally limited to 2 GB without the /3GB switch turned on); this is particularly important to those with video cards (AGP or PCIexpress) that have 512 MB or more of VRAM, and generally for simmers that fly heavies or a lot of add-ons during a flight scenario. Kind regards,GaryGB

[Guest B52Drivr]

Gary,Thanks a ton for all that information . . .I'll have lots to look up to get into scenery. Again, your time is very much appreciated.Best and Happy holidays,Clayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"