I would like to create thermals for FSX to use for gliding.I have tried those available for FS9 but they do not work. [for me] and I get grey blocks when viewing from "front view".Would someone be prepared to help me through this process. I have some basic knowledge but will need ALL the help I can get.Richard.

Try going over here for some help:http://www.virtualsoaring.org/scott s..

Thanks Scott, have got all that stuff, but it does not tell you how to create your own thermals.Regards.

OK. I'm not a thermal maker, but this is the little I know, maybe it will get you started:You need the FSX deluxe version with the sdk. When you install the sdk, there is documentation on the thermals. But, the problem is it is in various sections of the documents, so you have to search for it. There is defined in FSX the concept of "thermal" and "ridge lift".1. There is a thermal "autogen-like" fileThermalDescriptions.xmlThis file will create thermals that are based on the underlying landclass definition. You can edit this to change the amount and characteristics of the generated thermals.2. You can create scenery thermals and ridge lift using bglcomp scenery commands. These "triggers" are set for specific geo positions.3. You can inject thermals using simconnect.4. You can inject thermals and ridge lift as part of a mission using the mission editor.If you use FSX sp2, you can use the CumulusX! program to auto-inject thermals and ridge lift for you. You just need to setup some parameters, start it up and it takes over from there.scott s..

Hello Scott, many thanks for your reply.I have had a brief look at the items you have suggested and I think it will take me some time to get my head around them, if at all but I'll try.Why are things always so technical and full of gobbledee gook.If only authors would give simple and easy instructions and preferably with an example.As for CumulusX I have tried many times to get this working and for some reason it just doesn't work for me.I keep getting the dreaded "CumulusX has encountered a problem....etc"I have followed the instructions implicitly but it will just not run.If there is anything else you can think of which may help I would be obliged.Thanks againRegardsRichard

I suggest starting with the bglcomp and build some scenery thermals. I did do one ridge lift as a test: I think I tried doing vertices with lat/long instead of bias, but that didn't seem to work, so the hard part was converting the lat/long into appropriate x/z distances.scott s..