FSX Ground Textures For USA And Canada By FScene

By Bill Stack
7 April 2010


Screen shots by FSscene

Ground textures are a major factor in making a flight simulator seem realistic. They're made from thousands of program files in the simulator's scenery folder. Some texture files make urban areas, some make forests, some farmland, and so forth. For flight simmers who feel that default textures in Microsoft Flight Simulator® are inadequate, replacement textures are available from various developers.

Replacement ground textures for enhancing several areas of the FSX world have been made available by FScene. These areas include Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, and USA/Canada. Each area is a separate product, with USA and Canada being one product.

Textures for these areas had been previously released by FScene for FS2004. FScene's textures packages available for purchase from the Flight Sim Pilot Shop contain installation programs for both versions. I installed and reviewed the FSX version because reviews of the FS2004 versions had already been done on FlightSimCom. I focused on the USA/Canada package because it covers such a large area with many types of geography and ground textures but other versions will have similar features.

FScene heralds the following among many features of its textures:

Mountains, forests, jungles and deserts take on a new 3-dimensional feel
Countrysides are subtly transformed and urban areas look more urbane
The world's continents are improved across the four seasons as the generic ground textures are replaced with more realistic ones
There are matched replacements for all four seasons
Their textures do not affect default or add-on airport areas or add-ons for roads, rivers, traffic, clouds, or autogen objects

PURCHASE FEATURES
Instant download from the Pilot Shop	YES
Installation program	YES
License key required	NO
Copyright agreement required	YES
Uninstall program included	NO
Installation instructions included	YES

COMPARISONS OF FSCENE'S SEASONS
Autumn	Winter	Spring
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Autumn	Winter	Summer
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Autumn	Winter	Summer
Niagara Falls, USA & Canada Border
Autumn	Winter	Summer
Capilano Lake, British Columbia, Canada
Autumn	Winter	Summer
Stow, Massachusetts, USA
Screen shots by Bill Stack

Instructions

The instructions are provided in an HTML file. They're very clear and concise, and they include screen shots of what the file-folder structures should look like. Even computer novices should be able to follow these simple instructions.

Installation Method

An installation program quickly installs all the needed textures file into the FSX Scenery folder.

FScene recommends manually backing up the default FSX textures before installing the FScene textures. "Due to the complicated FS-structure," they explain, "FScene can not offer an automated uninstall." Their installation instructions recommend that users back up the default FSX ground textures before installing the FScene textures. Users would then be able to uninstall the FScene textures by entirely deleting the Texture folder containing the FScene files and renaming the backup folder to "Texture." Copying the more than 8,300 original files for backup took more than 25 minutes on my computer — it might take more or less on other users' computers. The actual installation of FScenes' textures took less than one minute.

While those default files were copying to another folder, I wondered if this process could be simplified by renaming the default Texture folder to "Texture Backup," making a new "Texture" folder, and installing FScene's files into the new "Texture" folder. But once the FScene file were installed, I found that their files do not overwrite all the default textures files, so my supposed method would deprive the simulator of needed textures files. Oh well.

MANUAL PAGES

From FScene

Looking Closely at the Textures

To compare FScenes textures to the default FSX textures, I made 74 screen shots at 20 locations during different seasons. After making one set of 37 shots with the FScene textures activated, I exited FSX, renamed the textures folders to make the default files available to FSX, then I reopened FSX and made a companion set of screen shots. The companion shots were from the same locations, altitudes, and viewpoints. I made scenes in urban and rural areas because FScene said urban areas looked "more urbane" and countrysides are "subtly transformed."

As seen in my comparison screen shots, FScene's textures are slightly different at some locations and very different at others. Most of the differences seem to be in the color brilliance outside of urban areas. It's visible in my screen shots of urban areas such as Miami, Florida, and and Los Angeles, California, and it's obvious in my screen shots of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Capilano Lake, British Columbia. Moreover, when you look closely at the green areas in the comparative screen shots of Halifax, Capilano Lake, and Burbank, some of the landscapes are definitely different.

For the "new 3-dimensional feel," promised by FScene in its product description, I flew around several locales in a Cessna 172 at low enough altitudes and airspeeds to see the textures and 3D effects closely. Again, I found more differences at some locations than others, and no differences in some areas, with the differences primarily color brightness.

Because FScene promises better shading in its product description, I looked closely at shading while their textures were active. Frankly, I didn't see any shading that's better the default FSX.

With nothing being said in the product description about night effects, I looked at FScene textures during dawn, dusk, and night. Colors of lighted areas seemed slightly greener with FScene's textures compared to FSX default textures.

Water seems to be unaffected, as I could find no differences at all.

As promised in the product description, the FScene textures did not slow down my simulator.

I emailed three pair of comparison shots to FScene with questions about the differences between them. Rudd Faber of FScene affirmed that the best results would be found outside the cities. He also referred me to patches available on his website. In response to my followup question, he said the product would not be updated to reflect the patches because "after April 2009 all packs have been updated."

BASIC COMPARISONS OF TEXTURES
Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Summer, FScene	Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Summer, FSX
Cincinnatti, Ohio, USA, Summer, FScene	Cincinnatti, Ohio, USA, Summer, FSX
Los Angeles, USA, Summer, FScene	Los Angeles, USA, Summer, FSX
Miami, Florida, USA, Summer, FScene	Miami, Florida, USA, Summer, FSX
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Summer, FScene	Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, FSX
Capilano Lake, British Columbia, Canada, Summer, FScene	Capilano Lake, British Columbia, Canada, FSX
Burbank, California, USA, Summer, FScene	Burbank, California, USA, FSX
Screen shots by Bill Stack

NIGHT COMPARISONS OF TEXTURES
Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Summer, FScene	Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Summer, FSX
Phoenix, Arizona, USA, Summer, FScene	Phoenix, Arizona, USA, Summer, FSX
Smoky Mountains, Tennessee, USA, Summer, FScene	Smoky Mountains, Tennessee, USA, Summer, FSX
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Summer, FScene	Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Summer, FSX
Screen shots by Bill Stack

Summary

Flight simmers who are dissatisfied or disappointed with Microsoft's default ground textures will find some relief from FScene's enhanced ground textures. As seen in my screen shots, FScene's textures for USA and Canada are more vivid than default FSX textures in nonurban areas than in urban areas. I was unable to sense the "new 3D feel" promised in the product description. Some buyers who posted reviews liked it, and others didn't. Satisfaction seems to be a matter of how much more realistic and appealing a scenery looks when colors are brighter. Installation itself is easy, but users should be prepared for a lengthly backup process, which is optional anyway but wise nonetheless.

Bill Stack

Learn More About FScene's Textures for FSX

Read the review of FScene for FS2004