Microsoft Flight Simulator for Windows 95. How to Become a Scenery Manager! OK, so you're new to Scenery Management and want to understand how it works. I hope that this document will explain how it all fits together and will lift the mystique surrounding the Scenery Library. Please note that this document complements the extensive help in FS95. It does not replace it! 1. The Concept of Layering. Start FS95 and select World / Scenery Library. Clear the warning message and select Files. You will find several entries each one covering a specific part of the world. It may be a whole continent as is the case with North America or Europe or it may be as small as a local airport. You will notice that against each entry there is a Type column. This is either Global, Regional or Local. Here's a description of each of the three different types of Area. I'll treat them in reverse order the purpose of which will become apparent later. 1.1 Global The Global entry is the lowest layer and must always be last in the list. This contains the generic scenery for the entire world. Under no circumstances should you ever delete or amend the Global entry since all the default ground textures will disappear. 1.2 Regional Next are the Regional Areas. These are located immediately above the Global entry in Scenery Library. Examples include North America, Europe and Oceania. The FS95 Default World - Metro entry is fundamental to the operation of FS95 and cannot be edited. When you installed FS95 each of these areas (except the METRO area) had a folder installed under C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT GAMES\FLIGHT SIMULATOR\CACHE with a matching entry in Scenery Library. Check this now by loading Explorer. Find the FLIGHT SIMULATOR folder and then look in the CACHE folder. For each of these areas there will be a SCENERY and TEXTURE folder. The SCENERY folder holds the BGL files when they're read from the CD. They're probably empty if you don't have FS95 running. By default, this scenery will not have been loaded onto your hard drive. It remains on the CD and the simulator reads it directly when required and stores it temporarily in the CACHE\AreaName\SCENERY folder. These seven continent entries must always remain as Regional. If you wish to transfer the CD scenery files to your hard disk to greatly reduce the pauses within FS95 you should read my document NOPAUSE.WRI uploaded to the FS and SIMGAMES Forums. 1.3 Local Finally we have the Local Areas. These are located above the Regional Areas and will be at the top of the list in Scenery Library. Examples include Boston, Tokyo and London. When you installed FS95 you were given the option of installing the scenery files for several areas of the world including these areas. For each area that you selected you will find a folder on your hard disk under FLIGHT SIMULATOR\SCENERY. They contain the BGL files that are on the CD in the corresponding BOOSTERS folder. These BGL files reside there permanently. For each of these areas you will find an entry classed as Local in the Scenery Library. If you opted not to load one of these areas to your hard disk the entry for it will appear under the FLIGHT SIMULATOR\CACHE folder instead. It will still be a Local area. As you fly around such an area data will be read from the BOOSTER folder files on the CD and placed in the relevant sub-folder under the CACHE folder. When you exit FS95 these CACHE folders will be purged unless you specify otherwise. More on that later. Now select Cancel twice to exit Scenery Library and return to FS95. 1.4. Virtually all the 3rd party scenery that you download and install into FS95 will be Local scenery unless otherwise stated in the scenery's accompanying documentation. It will require an entry in Scenery Library above the Regional and Global entries. The Microsoft add-on scenery for the Caribbean and Japan comes under this category. You should never install 3rd party scenery into the main SCENERY and TEXTURE folders unless the author specifically instructs you to. Loading files this way will create utter confusion and will make the task of removing unwanted scenery extremely difficult. Most 3rd party scenery should reside in its own set of folders. So to recap .... There are three types of scenery - Local, Regional and Global. I've described them this way since this is the order they'll appear in when you open the Scenery Library. There can only ever be one Global layer but there can be many Regional and Local layers. All the Local layers must come first followed by the Regional and finally the single Global entry. There is probably an upper limit to the number of entries but no-one seems to know what it is. Certainly over 150 layers can exist. All the data appertaining to your scenery and its placement is contained in a single file - WORLD.VIS. It is most important that you backup or copy this file on a regular basis and certainly before you make any changes to the Scenery Library. 2. Adding Third Party Scenery. This is a two-step process. The first step is to create the necessary folders on your hard disk and place the scenery files into them. The second step is to point FS95 to the contents of these folders using Scenery Library. 2.1 Compatibility with FS5 Scenery. FS95 will generally be compatible with FS5.1 3rd party scenery but there are no guarantees. Unfortunately the only way to find out is to install it and hope that FS95 does not crash. This is why I cannot emphasis strongly enough that you must copy the WORLD.VIS file prior to loading 3rd party scenery. If you don't and the simulator crashes you will not be able to restart FS95 and will have to revert to WORLD.1ST which is a copy of WORLD.VIS when you installed FS95. Obviously if this was some time ago you will lose all the scenery areas you have created and will have to add them again manually. The warning message that accompanies these crashes contains the following text:- FLTSIM95 caused an invalid page fault in module KERNEL32.DLL at 0137:bff78040. If you see this message it's your cue to replace the corrupted WORLD.VIS with the copy. Note: If you wish to install Microsoft scenery for Hawaii, Caribbean or Japan you should follow the instructions contained in the README.TXT file in the FS6 folder on the CD. Installing Hawaii scenery using these instructions will disable the default North American scenery. You will need to re-enable it afterwards. Instructions for installing the Europe1 scenery are also given in the README file. The add-ons for San Francisco, Las Vegas, Washington, Paris and New York are now included in the default FS95 scenery and installation of these is unnecessary. 2.2 Creating the Folders. When you download and unzip a scenery package you will find it contains several files. BGL files contain the scenery components. The other files such as R8, OAV, TXR are texture files and do not contain scenery objects. If two 3rd party scenery add-ons contained conflicting information in the BGL files it usually resulted in Database Errors in FS5.x. These have been eliminated in FS95 which is a very welcome step. BGL files also contain navigation information such as ILS, VORs, NDBs, ATIS and Airport data. You will still have occasional problems with BGL files but these can usually be resolved with exclude files. More on those later. One other word on files. Many authors include a set of standard OAV files named AIRPTnnn.OAV in their scenery. The nnn refers to a number in the range 001 to 008. There may be other AIRPT files also. Files with an OAV extension should be placed in the main TEXTURE folder. You only need to keep one set of these files ensuring that the version from the new scenery only replaces the existing one if it's newer. Let's suppose that you've downloaded scenery for Memphis. The file MEMPHIS2.ZIP by Chuck O'Kelly is available in FS Forum, FS5 Scenery-West. These files are normally compressed or "zipped". You will need access to a decompression utility such as WinZip or PKUNZIP. Follow these steps to create the required folders. Please note I have used the default path of C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT GAMES\FLIGHT SIMULATOR Open Explorer and find the SCENERY folder under FLIGHT SIMULATOR. Create an new folder under SCENERY and call it MEMPHIS. Then under MEMPHIS create two further folders and call then SCENERY and TEXTURE. It's important that you use these names as FS95 will expect them. Your folder structure should look like this - FLIGHT SIMULATOR SCENERY MEMPHIS SCENERY TEXTURE Unzip all the BGL files from the package and copy them to the SCENERY folder - C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT GAMES\FLIGHT SIMULATOR\SCENERY\MEMPHIS\SCENERY Place any AIRPTnnn.OAV files into the main TEXTURE folder - C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT GAMES\FLIGHT SIMULATOR\TEXTURE If there are any DOC or TXT files you may wish to place these in the main MEMPHIS folder for reference. Place all the other files into - C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT GAMES\FLIGHT SIMULATOR\SCENERY\MEMPHIS\TEXTURE Before you exit Explorer make a copy of your WORLD.VIS file in the SCENERY folder. Select it and drag it to the main Flight Simulator folder using the right mouse button and choose Copy Here. Then select it again and using the right mouse button select Rename. Change the name to WORLD.ORI (or whatever your preference is). You should do this each time you create a new scenery layer. 2.3 Pointing to these files in FS95. In order that FS95 can use the new scenery we need to point it to the contents of the folders we've just created. Load FS95 and select World / Scenery Library. Clear the warning message by selecting OK. Select Files. Select the Add button. In the Scenery Area Path type the path C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT GAMES\FLIGHT SIMULATOR\SCENERY\MEMPHIS\SCENERY\*.BGL For those of you unfamiliar with the * symbol it represents a wildcard. All files that have a BGL extension will be included. You will notice that as you type the last character the other boxes become active. This is your confirmation that you've typed a valid path. Type Memphis in the Scenery Area Title. Always try and keep the title short. From the Scenery Area Type select Local and select Scenery Area Active. The button will illuminate. The Scenery Area Layer number can be defaulted at 001 for the time being. Select OK. You will return to the previous screen and should see Memphis top of the list. Note that under Layers the number 001 has a + sign next to it. This indicates it is active. A minus sign indicates the area is not active. By active I mean that FS95 will read the corresponding BGL files for that area when it loads. Select Arrange Layers. Select the entry for Memphis (it will be top) and select Lower Layer. Move it down to layer 2. Now move it up to layer 1 by selecting Raise Layer. This is just to get you used to using this option. You will find that with some scenery the ordering of the layers is important but generally you have a reasonable amount of freedom as to the actual placement. I usually place my favourite local scenery areas near the top of the list. Try and avoid using Auto Arrange. You should always control scenery layering manually. Finally select OK three times to confirm the entries and return to FS95. When you select the final OK FS95 will update WORLD.VIS. 2.4 Using the New Scenery. From World select Go To Airport. From the Scenery Area scroll down until you find Memphis, West TN. Then select Memphis (MEM) 18R from the Airport list. Select "Set Radio Frequency to New Location" and select OK. With some scenery the radio frequencies may not be set. Memphis is such a case. I'm not sure why this happens but it's easily solved as Chuck has supplied the frequencies. 2.5 Double Runways and Exclude Files. Normally you would get double runways as Memphis also exists in the default North America scenery. But, because Chuck had the foresight to create an exclude file you haven't got this dreaded double-runway syndrome! The placement of an exclude file and the layering of the relevant scenery areas in FS95 is important. The order of entries in Scenery Library / Files determines the order of scenery priority. BGL files contain objects such as buildings, runways etc. If you have two BGL files covering the same latitude / longitude and with the same runways in separate folders with their corresponding entries in Scenery Library you will experience double runways. I can best demonstrate this with an experiment. If you haven't already done so load FS95. Place your aircraft at Memphis Rwy 18R using the add-on scenery NOT the default. Open Map View and maximise the image by hitting W. If it won't maximise Select Views ...View Options and deselect Auto Full Screen. Zoom out until you can see the majority of the airport. Make sure you can still see the runway. Select World / Scenery Library / Files. Select the first entry - Memphis and select Edit. Select Scenery Area Active to turn the layer off. Select OK three times to update WORLD.VIS and return to FS95. After a short interval you will see the effects of turning off the Memphis layer. All the add-on scenery will disappear to be replaced with the default scenery. The default scenery was there all the time of course. It's just that it was covered by the add-on scenery. If there had been any runways or other objects in the default layer these would have been visible. Now reverse this action by opening Scenery Library and turning back on the Memphis area. The original Memphis runway is in a BGL file in SCENERY\NAMERICA\SCENERY or CACHE\NAMERICA\SCENERY depending on whether you've enacted on NOPAUSE.WRI. We also have a runway for Memphis in a BGL file in SCENERY\MEMPHIS\SCENERY. Normally it's preferable to let the 3rd party scenery have priority since it will usually contain enhanced scenery over the default. To give our new Memphis layer priority it needs to be placed higher than the default FS95 CD-ROM North America layer in Scenery Library. If you were to move Memphis down the loading order to below North America the default runway would take priority and we wouldn't see the 3rd party scenery although the double runways would still be visible unless we moved that exclude file. You can easily identify an exclude file as it will always be 148 bytes in size (when created by SCUTILS) and will usually have a suitable name. Select it in Explorer, right click and select Properties. The size will be displayed. If there wasn't an exclude file you'd get the double runways. We can prove this quite easily. You will need to load FS95 and Explorer for this demonstration. Open FS95 and select World / Go To Airport. Select Memphis, West TN from the Scenery Area and runway Memphis (MEM) 18R. Now open up Map View and hit W to maximise it. Now switch to Explorer but keep FS95 running. Just select Start ... Programs ... Windows Explorer. Find the scenery folder for Memphis and move (not copy) MEMPHISX.BGL into the main MEMPHIS folder. Switch back to FS95. Make sure the Map View is still maximised. Select World / Scenery Library and after clearing the warning message select OK. The scenery files will now be re-scanned. After a short delay you will see the effect of removing the exclude file. Double runways will appear! Now can you see why these exclude files are so useful? If you would like to try creating exclude files for yourself download SCUTILS.ZIP by Peter Dowson. The executable file has its own help built in and is easy to understand. OK, we don't want double runways at Memphis so let's reinstate the exclude file. Select Explorer from the Taskbar and find the Memphis folder with our exclude file in it. Drag it back to the MEMPHIS\SCENERY folder. Now select World / Scenery Library and select OK again. Shortly you will see the double runways disappear and the 3rd party scenery again rules the roost! 3. Scenery Caching. 3.1 To avoid loading all the world scenery onto your hard disk FS95 defaults to reading some of it directly from the CD. For those who don't have large hard drives this is a welcome boon. However by reading the scenery files in this way there is a loss of performance which is most noticeable by the frequent pauses whilst scenery is loaded. Even mirroring the booster files (as they're called) from the CD to the hard disk doesn't stop these pauses. Only by creating a new scenery folder and copying all the booster BGL files from the CD to the HD and then disabling caching can these pauses be eliminated. This is covered in a separate document NOPAUSE.WRI available on the FS and SIMGAMES Forums. The downside to this is the extended time it takes for FS95 to load. Unfortunately there is no way round this. 3.2 The seven CD-ROM scenery areas - AFRICA, ASIA, EUROPE, NORTH AMERICA, SOUTH AMERICA, OCEANIA and ANTARCTICA can be copied to the hard disk and have caching disabled. Please follow the instructions in NOPAUSE.WRI on how to achieve this. 3.3 A third alternative is where the files read from the CD booster files are retained on the HD and the cache is not cleaned out when you exit FS95. How successful this is compared to loading the files permanently to the hard disk has yet to be established but it does offer another option for those with limited HD space especially if the same area is always flown. Normally when you exit FS95 all the files temporarily held in the cache are discarded. When you reload FS95 and select the same area the files are once again read from the CD. To avoid this repetition you can opt to retain these files on your hard disk after FS95 closes. Then, when you restart the sim and select the same area the files are already in place. This probably won't prevent the pauses but it depends on how you want to manage your system. It may prove more beneficial for some. To retain these cached files load FS95 and select World / Scenery Library. Clear the warning message. Select Performance. Select FLTSIM95 CD-North America. Select Edit. From Cache Cleanup Strategy select "Do Not Clean On Exit". The default value of 5000k (5Mb) should be sufficient but you may wish to experiment. Amending it to 60Mb would eventually allow all the North America scenery to remain on the HD! Repeat this for as many areas as you wish. Select OK three times to effect the change. Now when you exit FS95 the scenery for that area will be retained on the hard disk. 4. Scenery Problems 4.1 Floating Runways Sometimes after loading a new scenery area you will find that the aircraft floats above the runway. Unfortunately there's very little you can do with these problems apart from bringing it to the attention of the author. Altitudes are stored within the BGL files and reordering the scenery layers may work but this requires advanced understanding of BGL files and scenery and is outside the scope of this document. This type of problem may be more common since the arrival of FS95. Whilst the scenery itself is compatible some of the altitudes in the default scenery have changed from v5.1. 4.2 Exclude Files - What they are and how they work. The purpose of an exclude file is to remove or "exclude" objects in other scenery areas. It will NOT exclude scenery in BGL files in the same folder as the exclude file. When an exclude file is created latitude and longitude values are specified as delimiters. Most scenery objects existing within these delimiters will become invisible in underlying scenery but there are exceptions. The "ugly green and brown hills", as they're referred to by some, will still be present. The Memphis scenery folder contains an exclude file and as Memphis is placed first in the loading order in Scenery Library the exclude file will effectively exclude all compatible objects within its delimiters in underlying scenery areas. An exclude file can only exclude objects than are placed lower in the loading order. It cannot exclude objects that are placed higher. If Memphis was at Level 3 and there was clashing scenery at Level 2 the exclude file would not work as intended unless Memphis was raised to Level 1. 4.3 Removing Scenery. There may come a time when you no longer want a 3rd party scenery layer. To uninstall it correctly follow these steps - Start FS95 and select World / Scenery Library. Clear the warning message and select Files. Locate your scenery area and select Delete. Select OK to confirm. Exit FS95 and load Explorer. Locate the relevant parent folder; i.e. C:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT GAMES\FLIGHT SIMULATOR\SCENERY\MEMPHIS. Select the folder icon for MEMPHIS and right-click. Select Delete and confirm as necessary. Under no circumstances should you delete these folders before removing the entry in Scenery Library as the WORLD.VIS file may be corrupted. 4.4 Storing Downloaded Scenery Files. Once you have loaded the Memphis scenery you should archive the MEMPHIS2.ZIP file to a floppy disk and store it safely. After all, it's cost you money to download it. You may care to share it with your friends. Freeware software has no limitations provided you don't add, remove or amend any of the files. 5. Summary. I hope I've covered all the queries you have with Scenery Library in FS95. It's not a particularly complicated topic but it can be quite problematic when you have conflicting scenery areas. Some scenery designers are occasionally not very exact in determining the spread of their BGL files and these can have quite an effect on airports several hundreds of miles away in extreme circumstances. I was once baffled by an airport disappearing from my listing even though I knew the BGL file which contained it existed. I tracked the problem to a BGL file in another scenery folder where the author had extended the co-ordinates of the file far outside of the area he/she was designing scenery for. It had effectively zapped everything that was loaded lower in the Scenery Library. There are tools available on the FS and SIMGAMES Forums which help enormously in managing BGL files. You should, at some point, download and experiment with SCUTILS.ZIP by Peter Dowson. An application to create exclude files is part of this package. Flight Planner which is contained within FLTPLN40.ZIP is excellent flight planning software. It also contains a very useful BGL viewer. This tool has been invaluable to me in identifying the contents of BGL files. It's author - Math Maessen - has produced a first class product. Math has just uploaded V4 which is now even better! Both these utilities are freeware. The only cost to you is your time in learning how to use them and sending a postcard to Math! If there's anything else you'd like to know feel free to contact me. Alternatively you could always read the extensive Help file that is part of FS95! . Don't forget to read the README.TXT file on the CD as well. Finally, when you download software from the Forums (or elsewhere) please take time to thank the author. A lot of effort goes into creating the scenery and a few words of thanks will always be greatly appreciated. If the software is shareware please send a donation. In the long term this will give the author the incentive to donate more software. Acknowledgements: Microsoft for Flight Simulator for Windows 95. Chuck O'Kelly for Memphis Scenery v2. Math Maessen for Flight Planner. Peter Dowson for SCUTILS. Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this document. Please understand that you carry out these recommendations at your own risk. Ray Proudfoot. 100651,450 Cheshire, England. January 1997.