Newbie needs some 2004 scenery help

[DelboyII]

Well New to COF at least!

I have just spent an entire weekend installing my preferred FS 2002 scenery files into COF, to no avail. The end result was a complete re-install of COF and a decision to come here and beg for help :-)

I live in Melbourne Australia, for those of you who do not frequent this neck of the woods the scenery support in all versions of FS is rudimentary to say the least. As always the user community have developed a number of really good add-ons, the problem is I cannot get them to co-exist with COF.

My biggest problem is that I have scenery offsets and duplicated buildings (in Melbourne for example using Rick Skinners Mel1/2 scenery I end up with two MCG - cricket grounds and two Rialto Towers, both slightly offset). Same problem when I try to install any of the enhanced scenery or airports for Sydney.

Tried moving the priority in the scenery layers, disabling individual layers etc but cannot obtain any useful results.

Anyone have a reccomendation for some COF compatible Melbourne or Sydney scenery? I have the following components installed at present, all downloaded in the last 2 days so should be most recent versions:-

Directory of G:\Software\Games\Flight Sim Add Ons\FS2004\New Folder\Installed

28/09/2003 06:38 PM <DIR> .
28/09/2003 06:38 PM <DIR> ..
13/05/2003 10:52 PM 752,622 afcad140.zip
27/09/2003 04:08 PM 631,233 aip210tx.zip
27/09/2003 04:10 PM 1,143,746 asd21txt.zip
28/09/2003 12:21 AM 61,000 asdtext.zip
27/09/2003 04:22 PM 1,707,687 autotreesgreen.zip
27/09/2003 03:53 PM 226,231 fs9nocd.zip
10/05/2003 06:10 PM 1,297,843 novagt1.zip
19/01/2002 08:03 AM 4,811,046 NovaTxt1.zip
19/01/2002 08:03 AM 81,674 NovaTxt2.zip
10/05/2003 06:08 PM 173,966 novatxt3.zip
28/09/2003 05:19 PM 6,345,816 oceaniaasialc.zip
27/09/2003 04:23 PM 1,774,427 victoria.zip
27/09/2003 04:10 PM 931,217 vodtex30.zip

Main scenery I have tried is Melbourne:-
13/05/2003 08:30 PM 1,460,908 msrrnds2_115396_115396.zip

Sydney:-

Sydney yssyv2.zip

I am also confused about whether I should install certain scenery combinations, for example 'mesh' or 'landclass', are these compatible with each other? With the add on scenery I am likely to use? Is 'SATPAC' a mesh or landclass scenery? Does it matter? Help!!!

Final cry for assistance, when trying to import an AFCAD file for Sydney Airport into the system I am told I am missing a file named "austeafd.bgl" file, same for some other airports. I have searched everywhere for this file on the net and cannot find what scenery it is included with, any ideas?

Confused....

Dereck

[towergeek]

[center]
Wow Dereck,

Sorry I don't have an answer for you, but I'll bump this back up to the front for you so maybe someone sees it.

Chuck


http://www.flightsim.com/dcforum/Use...4025062e3a.jpg

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http://www.alliedfsgroup.com/?RhZbkY...g247oufbfYr0nr

My Airliners.net Pics:
http://www.airliners.net/search/phot...k%20Slusarczyk Jr.&distinct_entry=true

[draky]

Wow lotsa questions can't answer em all but....

Forget trying to use AFCAD in FS9 - we are all waiting for the version to be released which will be compatible - presently you can't use the AFCAD designed for FS2002 in FS9. I think it's expected to be released in October - keep a look out for it here there's bound to be a forum party when it happens!.

Sometimes when you add scenery files you can get the doubling up of buildings, runways etc. This is usually attributed to bad design where the designer has not put in what is necessary to exclude or disable default scenery for that area. I see you have tried disabling some scenery and changing layers in the library which is usually the first line of attack. If this has not worked for you it may mean that you have at some stage put additional scenery folders/files in the main FS folder - I NEVER do this and NEVER change anything in the default scenery, even if the reame tells me to do so. It's always a good idea to keep all your additional scenery in the one folder - usually Addon Scenery and activate it from either the FS Scenery Library at the start of a flying session (remember in FS9 you now have to restart the sim to get the scenery displayed - a new feature!) of from FS Navigator's data base builder (only if you have installed FS Navigator of course!).

Even some of the payware products can have faults - I recently installed "Wonderful Rio" and the "Expansion" to see hotels floating in the sea!. This was cured by moving a file from the MD default after consulting with the makers.

Mesh basically looks after elevation values - the hills n stuff whereas landclass changes the actual look of the scenery as it is pasted over the mesh information. Opinions differ but I always put my mesh files low down on the priority list and land class just above them with the actual scenery stacked on the top.

A last piece of advice is to wait for the wonderful scenery developers to release items designed for FS9 - I know lots seem to work well when imported from FS2002 but you really can't expect miracles and all sceneries will not easily be transferred without causing some problems. I had this trouble until I recently got a new computer and decided not to put anything into my clean version of FS9 without first being sure it has been at least "said to be designed for FS9". I did notice s general degradation in the sim's performance with laods of stuff I plonked into it when going through those first few days with the new FS9 installed, patience is always a good virtue here!. It will all come to pass eventually.

Hope this goes some way to help you out - from another Ozzie over in Perth, still waiting for Westsim Design to release their long awaited scenery for this part of the land!.

Dave

[Barney]

Unlike what some would have you do, I suggest you place each scenery package/add-on in a separate folder system under the Main Scenery Folder. In other words for an add-on like Melbourne, create a folder called Melbourne with two subfolders: Scenery and Texture. Put the individual files in each folder as appropriate. Then activate "Melbourne" via the Scenery Library. Do this for successive add-ons.

By doing things this way, you are now able to isolate the sorts of problems you're encoutering. By enabling/disabling each of your add-ons, and then 'testing' the results in the sim, you can more readily identify the source of the conflict. While this will not guarantee that all will function, it will at least provide a starting point. You will probably still end up deciding upon a priority; that is, which to keep and which to let go in the case of a conflict.

Some (most?) add-ons use exclude files. These 'remove' default objects, etc. In order for them to work, the scenery area has to be prioritized above that of the default area. By dumping everything under the Addon Scenery Folder eg., these files may not be able to perform their task.

And as previously mentioned, in spite of all you try, adding items not FS2004-specific is a ##### shoot at best.