What are some must have addons for fs2004 ?

[ViperPilot2]

I would like to know what this "Global Texture" will do to the Sim in general, aside from the "Download it and find out" sort of answer... Thanks! 

[JSMR]

44 minutes ago, ViperPilot2 said:

I would like to know what this "Global Texture" will do to the Sim in general, aside from the "Download it and find out" sort of answer... Thanks! 

Makes it look great! Textures sharper. Different cloud options. Sky. Grass. Airport textiles etc. 
 

There’s several packages out there. I use a combo of them both. In my several different FS9 versions I use a combination of those, Voz, Aime Leclercq. One or two others. Depends what I want to see and the landclass I guess. 
 

 

[ViperPilot2]

18 minutes ago, JSMR said:

Makes it look great! Textures sharper. Different cloud options. Sky. Grass. Airport textiles etc. 
 

There’s several packages out there. I use a combo of them both. In my several different FS9 versions I use a combination of those, Voz, Aime Leclercq. One or two others. Depends what I want to see and the landclass I guess. 
 

 

 

Many Thanks for your Response! Think I'll give it a try! 

[JSMR]

Backup!! Alway backup. 

I rename the scenery / world / texture to something else, drop in the original tecture folder then overwrite with the new textures. 
Also those phototexture bgl thingies if you have any - the long name ones- have to be copied in as well otherwise you'll get a ctd if loading at one of those airports. 

I also rename the main texture folder - or any other folder when trying new files - and do the same. Or copying it then overwriting. You can see what is better or worse etc. 

[Airbasil_1]

2 hours ago, JSMR said:

Backup!! Alway backup. 

Highly recommended indeed! 
I just lately had one of the worst experiences ever, as I had a complete Crashdown on all of my external HDD's where I backed up my Addons... 6 Terabye of Data... --> considdered a complete loss of Data... irretrievable... unfortunately... 

truly a horrible experience as most of the Addons i had, are not downloadable or even buyable anylonger as of today!
This crash and loss of data, moraly even lead me to a complete let go and stop flightsimming and maybe have a lookout for another hobby in my life...  

[JSMR]

Oh no. So sorry to hear that. 

Must be a bad HDD failure then? 

[ViperPilot2]

3 hours ago, JSMR said:

Backup!! Alway backup. 

I rename the scenery / world / texture to something else, drop in the original tecture folder then overwrite with the new textures. 
Also those phototexture bgl thingies if you have any - the long name ones- have to be copied in as well otherwise you'll get a ctd if loading at one of those airports. 

I also rename the main texture folder - or any other folder when trying new files - and do the same. Or copying it then overwriting. You can see what is better or worse etc. 

 

"Phototexture" bgl's? Never heard of those. Could you please elaborate further? 

[JSMR]

1 hour ago, ViperPilot2 said:

 

"Phototexture" bgl's? Never heard of those. Could you please elaborate further? 

Yeah the airport photo long name bgl thingies. 
000333301122221 < super long names like that. 
Some add-on airports have them. 

[ViperPilot2]

1 hour ago, JSMR said:

Yeah the airport photo long name bgl thingies. 
000333301122221 < super long names like that. 
Some add-on airports have them. 

 

I downloaded it, but will hold off installing it until this Challenge flight gig is over. That 'long name' .bgl deal is also spooking me somewhat. I don't have any Payware Airports installed so I'm gonna have to investigate further.

 

It may have been mentioned before, but remember that the freewarescenery.com Links pointing to Scenery that can be downloaded here are all dead because of the big changes here, so you'll have to get them from the File Library.

[jgf]

11 hours ago, loki said:

one doesn't need to actively protect copyrights

 

But if you do not you will have little sympathy from the courts when you do decide to take action.  You cannot just walk away from something and return years later claiming your rights (they are still yours of course), the court's attitude will be, "if it is so important, where have you been all this time?"  The best you can hope for is a "cease and desist" order for whatever is currently taking place.  On the other hand, if you maintain a consistent attitude, even if only writing letters of complaint,  you are "active" in trying to protect your rights.  Courts love precedent and history.

[jgf]

4 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

remember that the freewarescenery.com Links pointing to Scenery that can be downloaded here are all dead because of the big changes here, so you'll have to get them from the File Library.

 

And remember we still cannot search by file names, so we play a guessing game of "what keywords will find this file?"

 

 

[JSMR]

13 hours ago, ViperPilot2 said:

 

That 'long name' .bgl deal is also spooking me somewhat. I don't have any Payware Airports installed so I'm gonna have to investigate further.

 

 

Dont be put off by it. Even some freeware sceneries have them. I think they're only the ground photo scenery files some designers use around airports. An airport might have a dozen or more of these bgl and agn files.

 

The point being that if you changed the current texture folder name as a backup to save it, and added in the original texture folder and overwrite those with these 'orbx' textures, any airport that uses them (long name bgls etc) wont load. It will be a ctd. 

So I usually just copy the folders ( texture-copy) as a backup  and then overwrite the main texture folder that is being used . Any issues then I can go back the copied one. 

Not much can go wrong. Just copy these :
1. scenery/world/texture

2. fs2004 texture 

They're the ones mostly likely to be used with updated textures. 

 

So it will look like this 

FS2004 main folder:

texture-copy < what you've been using

texture < overwrite with any new textures you want to try

 

scenery/world:

texture-copy < what you've been using

texture < overwrite with any new textures you want to try

Back up all anyway to some other place. 

 

 

[defaid]

Are the phototexture bgls those that end in ***Su.bgl? They are not only extras with some addon airports. The naming is also used in VFR photoscenery packages and if you use TCalc, you'll find the names are not random but part of FS9's -- for want of a better description -- terrain grid.

 

I think they end in Su or Wi or Fa (or something else for spring?) because FS9 will load seasonal photoscenery textures just as it does landclass. The only place I've seen anyone create the seasonal alternatives is in a massive free Italian photoscenery set where Etna gets more snowy or less snowy depending on the time of year.

 

There may also be ******Su.agn files with them. Copy them too else you'll lose any autogen that is associated with that photoscenery tile.

 

D

[defaid]

7 hours ago, defaid said:

Are the phototexture bgls those that end in ***Su.bgl? They are not only extras with some addon airports. The naming is also used in VFR photoscenery packages and if you use TCalc, you'll find the names are not random but part of FS9's -- for want of a better description -- terrain grid.

 

I think they end in Su or Wi or Fa (or something else for spring?) because FS9 will load seasonal photoscenery textures just as it does landclass. The only place I've seen anyone create the seasonal alternatives is in a massive free Italian photoscenery set where Etna gets more snowy or less snowy depending on the time of year.

 

There may also be ******Su.agn files with them. Copy them too else you'll lose any autogen that is associated with that photoscenery tile.

 

D

 

Sorry: the drawback of being elsewhere again.

 

******Su.bmp and *****Su.agn

 

The creator is Fulvio Mazzokan and he's covered pretty well all Italy for free in many large uploads. Go to the download portal and search for 'Mazzokan'. For Etna, there are five 'seasons', a lightmap and autogen in the texture folder and one bgl to rule them all.

 

[FS10inator]

On 9/19/2023 at 6:03 PM, JSMR said:

I contacted the ORBX guys when I first heard about it many years ago. They told me it had nothing to do with them. It wasn’t their product and even it it was, it wouldn’t work in FS9. 

And that was enough for me to download it and use it. 

 

 

This is new to me. I do suppose that the Orbx name was just used because of its popularity, but I digress. Anyways, I've just omitted the Orbx name from that entry in my add-on list.

 

Unfortunately, I still don't know who made the textures, so "author unknown" still remains.

 

BTW, my list is loosely based on that FS2004 visual addon video tutorial by Josh (Short Final), which explains the whole "ORBX" thing.