mikesflight

I am attaching a printout of a couple of metars from 2007 (even though it of course displays for the current year 2010)I mainly do development rather than flying nowadays so it is some months since I have actually flown. I still have jumps in changing as a new station reports a different set of weather conditions. I like having FSUIPC because of its flexiblility - I bought mine when I was tossing up whether to go with a weather program or not - went for FSUIPC and am quite happy. I am not one who insists that the weather must be right up to date but I do like having variable conditions over a period of time.CheersMike

I am sure that in the earlier days of FSX I had read a post that said FSMetar did not work in FSX and so never bothered to install it.Since reading this posting I have dug out my previous version (from FS9 times) of FSMetar and installed it in FSX. It works just fine.I have a registered version of FSUIPC.Make sure that in the weather setup on FSX you select "custom". This then links in FSMetar when you fire it up.I have many saved Metars going back to 2003 that had useful weather conditions for flying. I have tried two or three and they are responding well.I have used the Vatsim server for my updates because it is fast and reliable.Thanks for the posting on FSMetar.Hope this helps.CheersMike

I didn't think FSMetar ran in FSX - if it does then that's great.There is a pdf with the FSMetar download and it has the following which you key into FSUIPC if you are not a registered FSUIPC member:Product name: FSMetarKey: U90O 7AMH 4PAINote that it is U-nine-zero-O in the first setThese instructions were for the FSUIPC3 so I have no idea if they are still current.Try it anyway.CheersMike

HiI suggest you try a search on Wikipedia. I found a useful listing through there.CheersMike

Absolutely fantastic. Even in my wildest dreams I didn't think the forums would be able to be so well restored. Congratulations to you Tom and all your team for all you have done for us.CheersMike

Hi HenryI do have the Deluxe version of FSX10 and Instant Scenery and they certainly work well together. I'm not sure if you need the Deluxe version for Instant Scenery though. I also use SBuilderX for a variety of projects particularly when altering coastlines and adding in roads. The ADE program (Airport Design Editor - Freeware) is brilliant and does much of what SBuilderX can do but I find myself interchanging or combining depending upon what I am doing. I still use Instant Scenery as well, so from my perspective the three are essential and so far there is nothing that I have been unable to achieve.I would think that if you can pick up a copy of the Deluxe version with the SDK at a reasonable price then you will be delighted with what these programs can help you achieve.CheersMike

Hi BobThis will be a very difficult time for you and as one who has had cancer, and recovered, I wish you all the very best over these next months. Hang in there and stay positive. All the best.CheersMike

Hi LeenI think you will need to have the panel referring to one of the FSX default aircraft. I suggested C172 in my above example. Try it.CheersMike

Hi LeenFor FSX menu display you will need to add a Panel folder. You can either copy from one of FSX's default aircraft or make an alias panel.cfg with text such as [fltsim]alias=C172\panelYou will then find that the aircraft displays.CheersMike

Hi VernI always like to check that the textures for AI aircraft are going to display - surprising how many "errors" there are in some authors' configuration at times - to ensure that the aircraft is actually going to appear.Having any panel configuration is the easy way to have the aircraft show. Then I simply rename the Panel folder to No_Panel and the aircraft no longer displays and the selection does not clog up the system, With a new texture I then rename back to Panel, check out and return to No_Panel.CheersMike

Hi RobAdmirable that you are reading SDKs and decompiling, but you may create more problems for yourself than are necessary at your stage.For FS9 there is a simple, effective and much admired program called AFCAD for altering airports, frequencies, parking and so forth.Go to the Avsim library and look for AFCAD (the last version ever made was 2.2) and you'll have success in no time at all. It is supported with full documentation.CheersMike

Hi RickOne of the things you can try is to go to your scenery folder where the excludes are and with each xxxx.bgl simply append .NO or .HOLD (or whatever you wish) which will remove them from the compilation and you can quickly tell if there is an effect from those particular files.Don't forget to remove the additional suffix later on!If you are adding scenery models check the bgl(s) for those as well in the same way. It saves having to delete and rebuild things.CheersMike

Hi BillAs you already know there are many many airports with little or no scenery.I normally create AI aircraft but have taken a break for a while and have hooked into Instant Scenery; a great little investment and it pays huge dividends.I am suggesting that you might like to have a serious look at all it offers. There are plenty of EZ-scenery and Instant Scenery libraries to download from Avsim and other sites.Then you can extend to AFCADs, SBuilder, EZ landclass and even Gmax for scenery models. You will most probably find that so much time is taken up with scenery creations that there is little time left for flying!I have really been enjoying my diversion over the last few months and I hope that you too could achieve a similar staisfaction.CheersMike

Hi DavidThanks for the link. Unfortunately it is not what I am looking for.I am trying to update my airports internationally - example RJGG ,Chubu, Japan which was opened in 2006.I was hoping to find something somewhere that is a listing of newly opened airports.CheersMike

I have had no real success in finding a listing of newly opened airports since FS9 (2004) was created. I can pick up the occasional new airport but cannot locate and really useful site for my needs of those that have opened over the last five years.I have been able to find a listing of proposed future airports and proposed future expansions, both at Wikipedia, but not recently opened airports. Does anyone know of a site that would point me in the right direction?Many thanksMike

Hi LesThe critical point is to have your scenery under control from the beginning. As earlier postings have indicated you want to have a structure in your addon scenery where you can readily file and then access your creations.Lets say that you have your IS files being created in file "Addon SceneryMyCountry Airportsscenery" If you have saved your file there, then when you come to amend the file you will see the IS tab "Open Scenery" which is the key to your access for amending your creation. From that point on use the "move/delete" tab on IS once you have captured the correct object.Hope that helps.CheersMike

Well done Mike. Took the plunge and downloaded it and really enjoyed the quality of your work.Liked the low level pass and 360 roll of the Vulcan. Nice effects with the exhaust smoke and fine landing.CheersMike

Hi JohnMy sentiments exactly. I got excited when FSX came out, started developing aircraft for it but found too many problems for me and my system to contend with. Removed FSX and went back to FS9 which I really enjoy.I am present doing more flying than developing because I am getting so much pleasure from FS9. I finally bought FSUIPC rather than the free version, combined it with FSMetar (freeware) and download metars each day (store them on the computer). Downloaded Yohann Baptiste'd Europe LOD9 mesh (freeware) and made Switzerland my base. I fly my Pilatus PC6 all over the place 30-60 minute flights at reasonably low altitude AGL. Amend airports with AFCAD (to add in parking), use Jon Masterson's Library Object Manager (which taps into EZ libraries)to add in buildings and other objects, then GA Traffic to fill the parking spots, plus I have now added in a whole raft of ATC chatter as wav files and play them in the background as a playlist via Classic Media Player. I am in flying heaven.CheersMike

Very sad to hear this. I thoroughly enjoyed (and still do) Rwy12 and all it enabled us to do to enhance our scenery.My condolences to his family.Mike

HiI presume you are looking at .dds filesThere is a freeware dds viewer at Nvidia. I use this and find it very useful to examine textures for FSX aircraft. If you want to manipulate textures you will be wanting a different set of programs.This is a direct link:http://download.nvidia.com/developer/NVTextureSuite/wtv.zipCheersMike

HiThere is a utility called ACM (Aircraft Container Manager) which can be used unregistered to view the number of polygons (faces) on an aircraft model.The utility allows you to view each LOD involved and the polygons per LOD.There are many aircraft which have quite a high number of faces and they do take a hit on the PC. If the main model has in excess of say 3500 faces then it becomes unsuitable for AI.The more textures there are the greater the hit as well.Do a google on ACM and you should be able to locate it readily. If you don't have any luck post here again.CheersMike

HiFSX requires that all parts of an aircraft be textured. If not then they display as black. Up until FS9 we could create aircraft and for the last LOD use GMax colours (such as grey) for the fuselage. In FS9 they would display as grey, but not in FSX. The same is true for any part which was not textured via a .bmp file - shows as black in FSX.The only way that can be corrected is for each author involved to go back to their FS9 aircraft and re-texture the aircraft for the parts or LODs involved. There may not be many takers.Hope this helps you understand why the black displays.CheersMike

Hi ChrisThere have been quite a few threads in this forum about object placement - have you tried a search?Yesterday a new FSX file was added to the library at Avsim called making_scenery_with_the_object_pacement_tool This is an illustrated html file and should answer all yours and my questions too.CheersMike

HiIn FS9 there were one or more authors who created scenery with thermals for soaring.Yesterday I went and downloaded one of the smaller files to see if I could install it in FSX. I could. There are a series of bbbbbb.bgl files which you simply add into the appropriate FSX/scenery/area/scenery file. FSX will automatically detect them as they are not addon scenery. The file I selected to download gave me thermals over the Australian Queensland coast. They appear as large white solid crosses (not as elegant as the green spirals in the FSX missions).I set my weather up for summer and warmth and light winds.They did work, but I found that there effective area of uplift was quite narrow. That may be how it is in real life, but certainly much smaller than the FSX mission examples.(I also have to admit that I eventually used slew and F3 to get an altitude to really test them out).You may have more success than me. Search the library under FS9 scenery/soaring. There are quite a few files there. I cannot guarantee that there will not be any repercussions to your setup, so recommend you trail a small file first.CheersMike

HiI was going to place a posting here about the necessity of defragging after installation of FSX. I have always defragged my hard-drives as part of a daily cleanup routine, and found that the FSX installation resulted in one of the biggest fragmented partitions that I have experienced. It took the default MS program over 40 minutes just to defrag my simulation partition. It is now down to a daily 1.5 minutes, but is certainly worth doing regularly.Thanks for the links for the alternative defrag programs.CheersMike